(not so) wordless wednesday

Well, it started out to be 'wordless' until I found these photos that I knew needed some sort of explaining. So I'm not really playing by the rules of 'Wordless Wednesday', technically anyway.

I've spoken about our love for geocaching, and what a family ordeal it has become. We really do have alot of fun, and Dave's usually laid back enough to let the girls take turns finding the cache .. but he generally gives me a run for my money when I truly am on a mission to find the cache first. He hogs the GPS, sometimes won't relinquish the printed page with the little hints (sometimes the cacher will leave hints as to the location of the cache, so the cachee's have an easier time .. this especially helps if the area is well wooded with huge BC trees blocking direct satellite contact), and although I don't think he realizes it .. he's my opponent and I get this little fire building inside me, the urge to find that cache first drives me on as I try to look all casual about it. But this post isn't about me. :P

I find it quite humorous to watch my man, really enthralled in searching. He stands, reads the GPS .. making sure he's on the spot (this is only accurate if the tree's aren't overly large .. like I previously mentioned). He'll check the printout, then start surveying the area. You see, there's the most obvious places caches are hidden. In tree trunks, under fallen trees, behind large boulders, etc. You can sometimes tell where something could be hidden, when you see bark or rocks hiding a small hole .. and then again, this can be misleading and it's just pure coincidence that those things look a little off (not naturally placed).

He calls us over when he thinks he's in the general area (or when I'm completely off), checks his GPS yet again and starts looking again. These photos are a little misleading, because this particular cache we were in search of on Sunday was set in a nature path with large trees, rocky cliffs and a beautiful river and falls trailing through. If you've ever been to BC, you may know that Vancouver Island houses some of the largest (in width and in height) trees in our gorgeous province and they provide a problem when trying to read a GPS. So the cacher gave a point of two arbutus trees growing in a V, then giving so many meters in a true North direction. Only thing is, Dave had to figure out how to switch from magnetic to true on the GPS .. and this gave us a little grief in finding the exact positioning of the cache.

My man .. I could watch him all day .. perhaps that's why he finds more caches then I. *blush*

deliciously cool

Ahhhhh .. the perfect way to stay cool on a hot summer's afternoon!

just two more

Because I had a very laid back morning, I played a little more and got two more digi wedding layouts done. I'm seriously nearing the end! Yipee!

sketch by Pam, Memories Kit by Rhonna Farrer; 2 peas

sketch by Pam Bumbaca, Kit by Rhonna Farrer Feb '06

the end of July

It's hard to believe July's over already! That means we're about halfway through summer holidays, and school will be starting far to quickly then we're ready for. I always make it my mission to make the two months of summer filled with fun and memorable moments, and most of our summer days are spent relaxing at some beach or park, swimming, playing, even spending lazy days at home. August is going to bring our family holiday, and the last and final week the girls are attending VBS. It seems like it's going all to quickly and I'll have to scramble to make sure every day counts, and all to soon it will be over and I'll be walking my first and third graders to school. *sniff*

But alas, I cannot dwell on that. Live for the moment, not the future!

So I must share a couple more wedding digi layouts.

Lisa Howell Scratchy Paper, Deb F Lauras Pocket Alpha, KsharonK Designs Flourish, Ink Drops by Me, Chipboard Tab by Shabby Princess Dinner Party Kit.

Page template by Joyce Designs Quick Page, Font CK Jacque

I'm nearly finished with the wedding layouts and can then have one of those gorgeous photo books printed up! :)

just call me ...

Loopy Gizzard Chunks
That's my name according to Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants.

Hailey's reading these books, with a fury .. and in this particular one ^ they list how you too can change your name. You just use the first letter of your first name, first letter of your last name, and last letter of your last name. We got a kick out of discovering first, our families names and then later anyone we could think of. Talk about a great past time while driving out of town, yesterday.

sunny sundays

I'm not sure if I'm raising girls or boys or just well rounded little people .. but whatever the case .. my girls love little creatures and the latest is this little lizard and a newt (or otherwise known as a salamander). We were out exploring all yesterday afternoon, and in amongst the rocks this little lizard was found. My pleads of leaving the poor thing alone and in it's own habitat, fell on deaf ears. Dave was excited to know we just scored on a great find that could otherwise cost us well over $50 if we were to go to a petstore. I tried reminding him that we wouldn't even think about buying one, not because they're expensive, but rather because I. don't. want. reptiles. in. the. house! Simple as that! Oh then the girls let their long term memory kick in and remind me how I allowed them a little Red Racer snake earlier in the spring. But after a few days, I did talk them into letting that go, and I hope I can pour on the Mama charm and do the same with these two little creatures as well. But for now .. I'm letting (and let me tell you .. that's just so huge for me!) them play and be entertained, because they COULD be doing worse.

There's more to share, like ...
... the three geocaches we found
... watching the guy from Australia, jump off a cliff into a raging river/falls (which Dave did when he was a teen but protests that even HE wouldn't do that at this age and time in his life) (and the guy was about our age, with a son approx the same age as our oldest, who was there watching his Dad jump and now I wonder how he'll explain to him that he shouldn't do something that foolish. And I have the video clip to prove it!)
... so many great photos
... trying to pick berries, but didn't find enough to even make a small pie/crisp
... world famous icecream, and a missed photo op

but alas .. I only have so much time, and so much room and that all will have to wait for a non-eventful day.

white men CAN dance!

Let me prefix this video clip before you watch it. If you're not a fan of airsoft guns, being shot at and men acting like kids .. perhaps you may want to skip this. No one was hurt during the making of this video and my daughters know the harm ANY gun (including water guns) can do. We've taught them the utmost respect for anything that lofts any object from it's chambers (remember Dave's a hunter) and they can only participate under strict adult supervision. There, I think I covered all the child neglect comments I may get.



Watch away, and try not to laugh. Oh yes, and that's my hubby dancing. hee!

(darn, I can't get the imbedding html to work so I've linked it)

... and the story continues

If you've followed along with The Experiment, and read my addition to the amazing story unfolding .. you'll be interested to know there's a new bit just added. Go ahead, read it and when you're finished, just imagine where else the upcoming authors can take the storyline. Engrossing, don't you think?

3-2-1

I'm feeling restless. There's ten days until we leave for 7 blissful days away camping, visiting with some family, attending my nephew's wedding, and more visiting, soaking up the sun, reading, enjoying night-time campfires, more visiting and not to forget .. some relaxing. I'm having a hard time waiting. It's really what I need right now, actually. Yes sure I've been basking in the wonderful summer thus far .. be other then weekends .. we haven't been doing many family things because Dave's a workaholic. [he does this so I don't have to work outside the home, and for that, I'm thankful] I miss my husband (is that possible when we live in the same home?), I miss my parents, I miss my sisters and brothers! It's time for a vacation .. and I just can't wait!

So in honour of my restlessness .. I changed up the blog header. The flower's one I took recently (I've posted it just days ago), and the rest is super simple touches. The paper is KsharonK Designs.

its all so ... unthinkable

I finished reading 'the Notebook' by Nicholas Sparks yesterday, and although I had watched the movie when it first was released, I had forgotten the ending. But now, it hit me a little harder. Why? Because the leading lady (in her golden years) suffers with Alzheimers .. and within the past few years, my very own father has had the great misfortune of being touched with this horrible disease. He's not in the same stages as the female character in the book, yet as I read the story, I realized that within as little as a year this may be his story. I ache for my Mom, because I know that eventually my Dad may not know who she is. He's already shown this characteristic with his very own children at times, and I just can't fathom what it would be like to see the love of your life be snatched away from you mentally, yet physically be there.

The book best describes this disease so allow me to include an excerpt.

"It is a barren disease, as empty and lifeless as a desert. It is a thief of hearts and souls and memories."

The male character (Noah) sits beside his wife (Allie) every day, reading to her their life, their story that they wrote together in a notebook after she was diagnosed with Alzheimers, for him to read to her when her memory no longer allowed her the delight in recalling those blissful times .. and she has no idea this is her, and the man beside her is her husband. Tho she does have days where moments come and she knows who he is and that he loves her very much.

And I wonder and I dread those days with my Dad, and I feel so very sad that my Mom may have to be the quiet stranger that nurtures and loves him through it all. I know that THAT is true love!

blossoming friendships

I had the utmost pleasure in visiting with Krista and her wee family (in part) yesterday.

(Krista and I met through blogging more then a year ago and met up by accident one day at a local little playground last summer. Since then, we've seen eachother in passing once while both our families were out walking a great little Nature Trail but never really visited as of yet, until yesterday.)

I can't tell you how wonderful they are, and how natural and comfortable our conversations were. Could it be that we have much in common, despite the difference in the stage of life we're at? It's been six years since I felt those emotions of cradling my newborn babe while dealing with the hustle and bustle of the home .. and yet I've easily forgotten most of the trials, and savored the wonders .. tucking them neatly into the corners of my memory, I felt I could so relate and understand much of what we spoke of.

I can't even begin to describe how beautiful Krista's three youngest children are. They are so well behaved, sweet and fun little children .. and that little Hillary .. oh my! How can one hold and admire a wee little face and not totally melt? Perhaps that's why children have a way of wrapping us around their fingers so easily. ;)

And the girls and I were indeed lucky to savor a fresh and tasty carrot straight from Krista's lucious garden. Sinking your teeth into a carrot with such flavour is something we have so missed since Dave's Dad moved away. He always grew such big, abundant gardens with many organic treats to enjoy throughout the summer. Carrots and cherry tomatoes are the two most missed treats!

From the little walk over to the playground, the visiting in your backyard, the tasty little carrots and lego play .. thank you for such a nice morning, Krista. I hope we can do that again very soon!

wordless wednesday

the scariest bull in town


this horse kicked the cowboy off and is doing a little freedom dance ;)

participating in the wordless wednesday by way of 5 minutes for mom blog

geocaching, berry picking, parks day .. Saturday

Our Saturday consisted of some fun'ness. The day was a tad overcast and later became quite wet, but the rain did hold off for the majority of the time we needed it to.
First, we found a geocache on our way to the campground in which we were visiting friends who were camping. The trip up Island was relaxing and fun despite the little tiffs we had to break up, and finally threaten the two culprits. But I digress ...
Around our friends' site were some lucious huckleberry bushes that the girls dove right into and picked clean. Have I ever mentioned how much they love berry picking? It's a good thing too, because they'll be put to work later this summer when the blackberries ripen. Tho, most of the ones they pick tend to find their mouths instead of the bucket, but that's all part of it. :)
And we were lucky to have visited on Parks Day! All the provincial parks were celebrating this particular day, and they had cake, banner painting and even Jerry the Moose paid a visit. I had to do a little persuading to get Hailey to pose with the Moose but she finally did. Usually she's the brave one, but I'm thinking she's getting past that age of wanting to be in close proximity to overly large, people stuffed animals. (see her embarassed giggle?)
And later, when we got back to our city, we attended a retirement party for a co-worker of Dave's. Just his department of guys and wives were there, and our girls the only children (most of the guys have older kids or grandkids already), and they were doted on. The rain came pouring down, yet that didn't stop the girls from wanting to jump on the very scary trampoline (read: no safety net) set up in the front yard. Oh my! I had to really suck up the protective mommy in me, and just let them go at it. Thankfully the girls are very cautious, and mostly jumped one at a time, or together on their bums or knees .. but let me tell you how soaked they got. Every bit of their soaked beings were giggling and entertained for most of the time we were there and reluctant to leave, tho when we did call them down, they discovered they were rather chilly. So we took our drowned rats .. err pretty little girlies .. home. :)

saturday goings

We're heading up island today, to do a little geocaching and visit some friends that are camping.
Lets hope the sky spills forth sun, instead of the forecasted rain .. otherwise we may return very, VERY wet!

yum yum brownies

This recipe is super easy, and super delicious. It was in a child's cookie recipe book, and Hailey and I made them together in a matter of minutes. I think to make them more decadant, one may want to drizzle a caramel sauce over them, but to keep them 'heathier' we opted not to make any sort of sauce and keep them finger food friendly.

Butterscotch Brownies

Oven 350 degrees
Makes 16 brownies

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons butter or marg.
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the margarine in microwave, pour into mixing bowl and stir in brown sugar, vanilla and egg with a wooden spoon, until mixture looks smooth and glossy. Blend in the flour, baking powder, and salt until all of the ingredients are well combined.
Scrape the batter into a 8 or 9" square baking pan. Bake for 25 mins (8") or 20 mins (9"). While warm, cut the brownies into squares.

We doubled the recipe quite easily, and used two 8" pans.

our thursday

This is what the sky looked like when we decided to venture out for a walk. There were clouds, yes, but there were also some beautiful sunny breaks and tiny bits of blue sky.

The girls explored the plants along our favourite little path in behind our place ...

while I took pictures of rain droplets on wild sweet peas. And as we were enjoying the brief sun, the rains started to sprinkle down. We casually walked home, but no sooner had we stepped inside, and WHAM, it started beating down. The girls fetched their umbrella's, jackets and boots and went out in it for some wet fun.

One little missy decided it would be more fun to catch water, then dump it over her head. I guess staying dry wasn't important?

And the other one didn't mind getting drenched either.

wet day

We've had a few days of rain so far, and the forecast is that it continue on into the weekend too! What on earth am I to do with two little girls itching to get to the beach and build more sand castles and snorkel? So far, they've been occupying themselves quite nicely, but how long can this peaceful zen last?































photo credit: http://astrangeboat.blogspot.com/2006/02/umbrella.html

wordless (sorta) wednesday

This is the sunset we were so fortunate to see the other day. I had a hard time photographing it without wires and poles getting in the way, but still .. so stunning!

cake and dancing!

The two best things about a wedding! Hah .. just kidding! I'm still widdling away at our wedding photos and did these two layouts yesterday before we hit the beach for a swim and a tan.
Our first dance together was done to the song "I Swear!" by All 4 One (it seemed to be a popular song the year we married, tho had I known we would have changed it to another song we both loved, by KISS! hah!).

Credits for #1: Shabby Princess 'Express Yourself' Kit, Jen Caputo Template.
Credits for #2: Shabby Princess Solid Paper, Veronica Ponce Papers, Chris Ford overlay, Font .. Impact, Template .. Jen Caputo

anual silly boat regatta

The Silly Boat Races have fast become one of THE events to watch. They first started 23 years ago, and it's grown with more and more entries every year. This year I believe there were close to 60 entrants and they're raced in heats, with the winners of each heat racing the final. The money raised goes to the Child Development Center, so you know all these people are in the cold ocean waters for the sake of all the little children in need of the CDC's specialties.

Some boats don't have a hope of getting far from the starting line. (school bus boat)

Other's do really well, and make that corner around the buoy and back to the finish line, no problem!

This year there were a few entrants that we knew and could cheer on. First was our neighbour (back right guy on the raft) and his carpentry class. I had my doubts about that raft with four grown men balancing on it .. but later I found out they had it all decked out with flotation devices underneath, which helped stable and keep it afloat.

And in the very same heat as our neighbour .. was my BIL, J. He was racing for their church (hence the Noah's Ark boat). They really did do an awsome job, their boat was going fine until they got muddled up with other boats around the buoy turn, and they lost their lead. They came in third, and our neighbour was second in this heat.

I'm not sure who won the overall race, because we left just as soon as this heat was over, to beat the huge backup in traffic.

it's wedding time

We attended a wedding yesterday .. just Dave and I. The girls went to spend the entire day with friends of ours while we enjoyed 12 whole hours of being a twosome. A hockey buddy of Dave's was getting married, and neither of us knew the bride .. tho Dave recalls having met her once. It still was an honour and delight to be invited. The ceremony was at 11am, and the reception not until 5:30pm. We would have killed time in between, with Dave's brother and SIL but they had prior plans, so instead .. we went for lunch, browsed the cd store and purchased the new Bon Jovi cd and Big and Rich (I'm a huge fan of the prior and Dave of the latter one). Ordinarily I'm not huge on buying a full cd, but would rather find the MP3, but JBJ never has a failed song and after listening to the entire disc (tho very countryish) I'm swooning.

So, back to the wedding...

We knew a handful of people, and thankfully were assigned to the same table as them (dubbed the hockey table) and let me tell you .. these boys know how to have fun and entertain. Get a few drinks into them and yep .. they're fully replaying their boyhood all over again.

I'm a horrible budding photographer. I didn't take my camera to the ceremony OR the reception partly because I didn't feel the need to have photos of people I didn't know so well. So this photo of Dave and I, I took during the in-between time, while we were at home trying to cool off. Because after our lunch and cd buying frenzy .. we came home to play poker (him) and read (me) for a little bit.

So .. two weddings down .. one more to go yet this summer! *hoot*

PS .. oh yes and while we're on the subject of weddings .. let me share one more layout for my own wedding book. :)

a little bit of colour

Finally, after waiting for months for these flowers to grow from seeds, they're now starting to bloom and are simply gorgeous! They're Bachelor Buttons and I think have such a pretty bloom. The ones I have come in shades of blue, pink, white and I believe there's some red too .. but we may just get a surprise colour too.

Playing with my macro a little, to find focus on this pink closed bud.

And here is the other thing we've decided to try our 'thumb' at this summer. Sunflowers! The girls picked the giant 8ft kind, and we started them out as seeds back in May. I transplanted them at the beginning of June when it was just 4-6" tall and now this one has grown into a nice stalky and large plant. There are two steps leading up to our front door (barely seen on the left side of the photo), so you can sort of see how tall it's grown.

Cori was talking the other day, about how she has a 'black thumb', and I do believe I have as well. Generally I tend to forget about watering, or over water and slowly the plant/flower dies. I have no idea about right lighting, soil, and all that jazz, so every thing tends to be a big experiment for me. This summer, however, seems to be my year! I'm excited I'm actually able to grow something so green, so colourful, and gorgeous .. hence the reason why I'm showing them off. :)