Edmonton 2010

So much happened recently that I don't even know where to start! The biggest event for us in May was a trip that Evan and I took to Edmonton to visit with family and friends for my Mom's 85th birthday. Evan felt very special traveling on his own with me and in addition to visiting, we saw a lot of the city.

Mom had a great time being the centre of attention, and after 85 years, doesn't she deserve it? She looks fantastic for 85, but then again, we think she looks as great as most at 65. Mom is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, but still, she socialized and felt special the whole time. Happy Birthday, Mom!

We didn't manage to get everyone into a photo at her lunch celebration, but at least we managed a partial group shot. All of the guests (excluding Evan) were present for her 80th birthday 5 years ago. Interestingly enough, it was the album I created for Mom's 80th that started me scrapbooking five years ago now.

Evan loved spending time with his cousins. Aeden is even more adorable than she was last year, if that's possible! (See a layout I made of her at age 1 year here). She latched onto Evan whenever he was around, and Evan thoroughly enjoyed being the older cousin to her, Jaren and Nathan. (See the boys here).

Outside of visiting family, Evan's biggest wish for our trip was to see West Edmonton Mall. We spent almost two days there, mostly in Galaxyland playing arcade games. Here we are playing 18 holes of mini golf with my friend Cathryn. Somehow, despite that I managed to get two hole-in-ones, Evan still won. :-}

We visited the house I grew up in, my childhood schools and church, and other places that I lived and worked. Here I am in front of my first apartment. It's a heritage building and is still standing despite that the surrounding buildings have been torn down and modern high-rise condos have been built.

We were lucky enough to visit Connie Nichol's home, where Evan had a blast with Ben and Marty. The boys got along like peas in a pod, so they had water fights and played while Connie and I had a lovely afternoon chat. Of course, no trip to Edmonton is complete without a stop at Treasured Memories!


In closing, here's a silly picture that, if I didn't take it myself, I wouldn't believe it. The owner of this car put an orange dot sticker in front of the zero on this plate, so that it says "Over .08"! Police must be suspicious of this driver just based on that plate! After taking this pic, I got as far away from the car as I could!

I still have projects and layouts for Scrapalicious to post, so once I'm caught up again from our trip, I'll get moving on that. Thanks for checking in!

Another Year...

. . . and another RAK!

Not only did our girls' 7th birthday just fly by, but my blog turned 3 years old yesterday too. Wasn't that fast? Plus my blog just passed its 15,000th view! Wow, thanks so much to all of you for spending time here. I appreciate it so much! Since I'm late in having RAKs for each of those events, how about I just give out one big one?

Remember this post when I mentioned that after sorting all of my scrap supplies, I wanted to give some stuff away? Well, the time has come! Tell me what scrap supply you originally thought wasn't all that interesting, and now you can't live without it. Maybe you thought glimmer mists were passé, but now you don't make a layout without them? Or perhaps you didn't see yourself using bling, but now you love it! Leave a comment by March 14th, and I'll include your name in a draw for a kit of scrappy goodies I've put together.

Better yet, become a follower of my blog, and I'll throw in an extra entry! :-}

Oh, and I haven't forgotten this RAK! Details are coming soon. Have a great week!

One Year Later

I was tagged by my friend Kimmie in this post and asked to go to my 6th photo folder, post the 6th photo there and tell its story. This photo came up for me, and it really makes me smile. It's a photo of my hubby with our two girls on our first day in Disney World last year, and we were all so excited! It was taken close to exactly a year ago, and the girls have grown so much since then!
Here are the girls from just a few days ago at a celebration at school. Vanessa was quite excited to have lost her 2nd tooth that day, and shows it off in this photo. The girls turned six last month, and it leaves me wondering - where exactly does the time go? The girls are now in their final year of kindergarten and they will be moving on to Grade One in September. Seems just yesterday that I was carrying two infant seats everywhere I went!

I am tagging some blogging friends - a few who blog regularly and a few who need a kick in the pants ~ you know who you are! ;-}

Trish, Connie, Lee, Angie, Tara and Leanne. (Happy Birthday to my friend Leanne, by the way! Leanne is a brand new blogger, so keep checking back for her posts as I'm sure her blog will be gorgeous - once it happens!)

Here are the instructions for this blog tag:
Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
1. Pick the 6th Folder, then select the the 6th picture in that folder.
2. Post that picture on your blog and the story that goes along with the picture.
3. Tag 6 other people that you know or don’t know, to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog or an e-mail letting them know you chose them.

I can't wait to see what photos come up for these cool folks! Thanks, Kimmie, for including me in your tag.

Happy Birthday Leanne!

Please join me in wishing a wonderful birthday to my friend Leanne. Leanne is a great scrapbooker who is constantly thinking not just of scrapbooking, but of how she can help others to have a great time while scrapping, too. Leanne is the organizer who makes sure that scrapbooking retreats and crops happen amongst our little group of scrap friends.

Leanne makes things happen, and we all appreciate it so much!

Leanne, I want to wish you a wonderful year full of happiness and a summer filled with wonderful weather for boating! You deserve the very best! Have a beautiful, scrappy, family and friend filled, fun and happy birthday!

Where Did It Go?

I know it's cliche, but I really don't know where the time went.
My boy is 8! Wow - I really can't believe it.


























Enough said?

A Blast from the Past!

It's a busy birthday time around our house, so (slightly belated) Happy Birthday wishes are coming a number of people's way today!

Not only did my darling husband just have a birthday, but so did his Uncle Danny, our good friend Nicole, and my sweet friend and former co-worker, Heidi (left). Since I left Consilium behind just over 3 years ago, I haven't made the loonnnng trek out there very often - but Heidi's birthday was definitely a good reason, so last week I paid a visit!
Visiting with my former colleagues was wonderful, and it's funny how sitting and chatting with them makes it feel like it's been ages, yet just yesterday - both at the same time. Sadly, my camera wasn't in my purse that day, so I was forced to dig out some older photos for this post. These are from 2004 and 2005.

In the second photo, Jane is posing with me and a few pictures that Evan made to thank her for some little gifts that she sent home with me for him back then. Suitably, the photo I'm holding is his sketch of the office building we're standing in. Isn't it cute? Jane was kind enough to give it back to me when I left, so I'll be able to scrap it one day!

It was great seeing Heidi, Jane, Michele C., Candace, Robin I., Michael G., Josie, Wendy and Andrew, talking to Lisa on the phone (I hope you're feeling better now), and waving to a number of others while they worked. And Laura-Lea, I can't believe I missed you again, but we'll definitely hook up soon!

On a blogging note, technology has not been my friend lately - I've had some blogger access issues, in addition to problems with my slide account and with my access to gmail. Grrr! So those of you I owe e-mails, RAKs or other things to, please bear with me. My head's above water, but barely!

Next post, I will update you on the four final layouts I created for the Scrap Away the Winter Blues challenge at Scraptivity. And yes, I created all four in a frenzied scrapping marathon last weekend! More on that to follow, so stay tuned. :-)

My Very First Niece!

I'm thrilled at the arrival of my brand new, very first niece! Little Aeden Marli was born on March 2nd to my brother Chris and his wonderful wife Lisa. While I don't have photos to share at this point, since this precious little darling lives far across the country, I will share this wall hanging I have created for little Aeden. It matches the decor of her room, which is decorated in a pretty pale lilac.
I blended a few colours of acrylic paint to create the background colour. I wanted her name to be what stood out most on the canvas, so I matched the paint colour to the Basic Grey letter stickers that I used for the for the descriptive words, to make the words as subtle as possible. I then added tiny watercoloured butterflies, which were created with my new Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

I arranged the nine butterflies to represent the nine months that Chris and Lisa anxiously waited for Aeden, and the single butterfly next to her birth date to signify her happy arrival. As a finishing touch, I added ribbon trim from Basic Grey and May Arts around the edge of the canvas.

Chris and Lisa, I hope that you are happy with how this wall hanging looks in little Aeden's room, and I can't wait for the chance to meet her!

Blogoversary RAK!

Wow! This little blog has hit its first birthday! I find it hard to grasp that time has passed so quickly. Can you believe it?

Looking back to that first hesitant blog post, I didn't know whether I would be able to keep a blog going. It was an experiment, and one I was worried would be short lived. One year later, I find that creating this record of my scrapbooking work, friends, events, photography and family is a gratifying part of my everyday life.

I'm truly grateful that there are family, friends and friends-I've-not-met-yet who make a visit to this blog a part of their daily routine. Without your support and encouragement, I don't know whether I would have kept this little diary going. So thank you!

As a little gesture of gratitude to those on the other side of the web, I've decided to offer up a RAK of this handy new tool by Fiskars - the Easy Stamp Press. I bought one for myself last week, and think it's one of the handiest inventions since white-core cardstock, so I picked up an extra one! If you're not familiar with it, watch this product tutorial by Christine of Scrap Time.

Scrap Time Fiskars Stamp Press tutorial . . . . isn't that cool!

Of course, in order for me to select a RAK recipient, I need you to leave a comment on this post. To be entered in the RAK draw, please tell me what your best stamping tip is. For example, what kind of ink works best for you? Any suggestions for using different paint types with stamps? What's the coolest technique you've tried? Do you have a favourite, totally versatile stamp set that you turn to over and over? Let me know, and don't forget to include your name so that I can congratulate you if you win! :-)

Post by March 24, 2008 to be eligible for the RAK draw, but if you're reading this after that date, post your tip anyway, just for fun!

Thanks so much once again for your loyalty and support. Here's to another great blogging year!

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!

I'm seriously behind on birthday wishes for some great people. I am without a picture of most of the birthday celebrants (and if you know me, you know it's not for lack of trying!), but my best wishes are extended nonetheless.

Birthdays have come and gone for my dear sister-in-law Lisa and my good friends Mary and Cathryn. I'm glad I saw each of them back in January in Edmonton.

My great scrapbooking partner in crime, Leanne, was happy to be able to celebrate a birthday this year, just like she does once every four years! She says she can't wait to be a "teenager" eventually!

Here's a layout of Cathryn I created back in July for Scrapalicious.

On that note, stay tuned for a sneak peek of the kit I will be using for my next DT creations for Scrapalicious, coming soon. And please join my in wishing this great group of people all the best in the coming year!

Five is Fun!

After celebrating the girls' birthday all week at Disney World, we kept the celebrations quite low key here at home. We had some family over for cake and a small party, sang Happy Birthday and the kids entertained the grandparents with all of their Disney World tales. The cake had Disney princesses on it, naturally!
Later in the week, we headed out one night for a family skate at a local rink. Well, it was a family skate, all right! For a good part of the night, our family had the whole rink to ourselves. It was a great way for the girls to practice, and they are getting quite good. Evan didn't stop the whole time, of course, not even for a photo or two!

Can you believe that it's been five years already? Happy Birthday, sweet girls!

A Peek at our Holidays

Our Christmas holidays were wonderful, and we managed to squeeze a lot of activities into our time off. Together with celebrating the reason for the season, we have a number of other annual family traditions. We always set out cookies for Santa, and race over to the cookie plate on Christmas morning to check whether Santa visited and ate his treats. Of course, he always does!
One of the girls' favourite gifts this year was a beautiful white satin wedding gown. They love taking turns walking down the aisle, and playing maid of honour on alternate turns. Here Vanessa is the blushing bride, and Alicia plays her best friend, maid of honour and flower girl in one. Notice the rose petals scattered on the floor!

Evan was big into SpongeBob this year, as well as the toy of the moment - Bakugan. His overall favourite gift, though, was our new aquarium. We're lucky enough to have a cousin who works at a pet store that specializes in fish, and his whole family participated in selecting our very first fish tank. The kids were over the moon!
Having a birthday close to the holidays often means taking a back seat to other Christmas activities. My sweet hubby and the kids made certain that didn't happen to me this year. We spent the whole day together; saw The Bee Movie, sang Happy Birthday, and had a wonderful chocolate cookie cheesecake for dessert that night. Who could ask for more? Happy Birthday to me!
We took advantage of all of the extra Family Skate times at this time of year, and went skating a number of times together. The girls are getting better with each skate! Evan, of course, was skating circles around all of us, and loved playing tag and skating backwards. We also managed to get the sled out to the local hill before the warm weather came and melted away all of the snowy fun!

Visiting with family and friends, getting used to our new fish, eating up the gingerbread house, reading (and a touch of homework here and there) and getting the house back in order also kept us busy throughout the holidays. I even fit in a bit of scrapbooking too!


We've had a wonderful visit with my Mom, and will sure miss her when she heads home at the end of the week. I guess like all good things, even great holidays must come to an end!

We've Only Just Begun...

Well, it's that time of year again - the season for tons of events on the social calendar. Even though the Christmas parties haven't kicked in yet, we've been out on the town quite a bit lately. Here we are at Greg and Julie's wedding a few weekends ago. It was a wonderful occasion for two special people, and a ton of fun, too!
It was a blast totally surprising Virginia, DT Co-ordinator at Scrapalicious, who had no idea that the function she was heading to was actually her surprise 40th birthday party! She truly thought it was a Christmas party. Next time you see her, ask her about "vodka sunsets"! It's possible that she might remember... ;-)

In the wedding group shot, we are Stephen, Holly, Greg, Julie, Rob, Emily and Adam. Good looking group, don't you think?!

At the birthday party, I am with Lancia, one of the owners of Scrapalicious, and the birthday gal herself (wearing the party hat!) Happy Birthday, Virginia!

If this is the holiday season just warming up, it's looking like it's going to be a lot of fun!

Aedan's 1st Birthday Party

We had the pleasure of being at the 1st birthday party for the adorable Aedan last weekend. Is he sweet or what?

It's so hard to believe that a year has passed already and he is one year old - exactly when did that happen? Aedan's Mommy, my cousin Tara, just went back to work after her maternity leave, yet still has the time and energy to throw great parties and to look as fantastic as she does here!
This family is one of the few we know that - like ours - consists of 3 kids. They moved to a new home about six months ago, and already they've done more work to give their home their own touches than we have in the five years we've been in ours. Truly, I don't know how she does it!

I managed to capture each of the kids, but of the adults, somehow Anthony and David managed to get away without being photographed! I don't know how that happened! :-) I also didn't get any pictures of my own kids, who were at the party, but you wouldn't know it from the photos.

That's what happens when you drop my kids into someone else's toy room environment - they go in and don't emerge for hours, not even for pizza and pop!

Take a peek at the slide show and enjoy this sweet little boy's party!

It's Rosa's birthday...

...and to celebrate, I thought I would post a few photos from her recent bachelorette party. Rosa and Stephen's brother Justin are getting married next month, and a few weeks ago we celebrated with some girl time. We had a blast both at our house as well as - let's just say "out on the town!"
Here are the party girls - left to right, Carol, Gloria, Maria, Andrea, Rosa, Vanessa, Sarah and Holly.
I hope you have as great a time on your birthday as we all did at your bachelorette, Rosa! Take time to relax and be pampered. You definitely deserve it.

Happy birthday Rosa!

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

I have been teasing my friend Patricia and her husband Miles for a while now that I need some recent pictures of their lovely family.

Other than a photo of their darling daughter Cameron each Christmas, I have no recent photos at all of this beautifully photogenic family. What a shame!

One cute fact about this couple is that they share a birthday - same day, same year and everything! It's almost enough to make me believe in astrology! I wanted to do a birthday blog post for them. I've cajoled, even threatened to post a photo from the delivery room after Cameron was born, all to no avail. Still no new photos!

So, both in recognition of Miles and Patricia's collective birthday, and as well in celebration of the fact that they arrive this Thursday for their first visit to this house ever, here is a layout featuring their sweet daughter saying goodbye to her first house, on the day of their big move a few years ago. Lots of Basic Grey Dasher in this one along with some Heidi Swapp.

So, happy birthday to Patricia and Miles, and have a safe trip here! Aren't you glad you're not looking at that photo from the delivery room? See you soon!

It's No Surprise...

...that we wish Tessa the most wonderful birthday possible!

My cousin Tessa is hitting a milestone this month - the big 40 - and while it looks like there will be neither a surprise party nor a celebratory getaway to Vegas in the picture right now, at least we can look forward to having a visit with her whole family in a few weeks. Have a super birthday, Tessa!

(P.S. Hmmm....this whole scenario sounds a little familiar. I think it is some sort of bizarre what-happens-when-hubby-tries-to-plan-a-surprise-party-for-his-wife's-milestone-birthday phenomenon! And hey, it happened to me, too!)

It's Doug's birthday....

and believe me, that's a big deal! He's an important guy!

Why? Because it was through Doug that I met my husband, Stephen - and the rest, they say, is history!

Doug won't be stopping to celebrate his birthday with his wife and girls until next week, but we will be thinking of him all weekend.

Have a super birthday, Doug!

A Surprise Party for Candace

I was thrilled a bit ago to receive an invitation to a surprise birthday party for Candace's 40th birthday. Candace and I worked together for years at TELUS, delivered a major, long-term project, and were pregnant at the same time - she had Crosby around the same time I had the girls.

OK, so I completely forgot that it was supposed to be a 60s theme party, but nonetheless, I had a fantastic time. It was great to see a few former colleagues that I haven't seen in ages, and although I had to leave before Jennifer R. arrived, I did chat with her on the phone.

Candace and her husband Matt have a wonderful lakefront home, and their backyard housed a live band and bonfire for the evening of the party. It was a great event, and I think it will live long in Candace's memory.

Happy Birthday Candace!

So Thankful

As I just started blogging in March of this year, today is my first September 11th as a blogger. And I'm pensive. I think many of us are on a day like today. My blog posts usually come to me very easily. I write freely, naturally; I don't have to struggle with words or dwell on the details of what I'm writing. It just flows.
Today is different.

I think back to September 11th, 2001 and I remember how different my life was back then. We had one small child; we were struggling with infertility treatments and the monthly cycle of hope and disappointment. I had a corporate job and a long commute, and while I don't miss the commute,
I do miss my former colleagues, who were a huge part of what made that job great.

(Happy birthday today, by the way, to both Laura Lea and Candace! I really miss you gals, and hope you're reading this!)

I guess I feel an obligation to be less frivolous today; more meaningful. And it's fitting; my life now is full of meaning. Of course, I do miss the pace and passion of TELUS, but I love where my life is right now. I am truly blessed. Stephen and I have three great children, a growing company, each other, as well as a tiny bit of time (which we take whenever we can) for fun with family and friends.

And I love the passion I have found for scrapbooking; the wonderful friendships I have made in the scrapbooking community. I've been published once, and have three more pages coming out in this winter's Canadian Scrapbooker. It's fulfilling; it makes me happy and proud.

My cup runneth over.

In some small way, I want to give back today. I want to pass along the emotion I feel when I think back to that fateful day. But can I do it justice - me, so removed from the tragedy of those who perished or lost family members on September 11th, 2001?

What can I possibly add?

Here, perhaps, is my answer. I'm not a cardmaker, but I was moved by a challenge recently posted on The Scrapping Nook by a fellow scrapper, Corinne. She is putting together a package of Christmas Cards to be sent to the Canadian troops overseas; those who will be on duty and far away from their families at Christmastime. So, despite my lack of cardmaking prowess, I put together a set of cards and sent them off to Corinne for her project.

So that is my tiny contribution today. I hope that the meaning I am searching to share will be evident to the men and women who open those cards, and help them feel the gratitude and respect, the hope and honour I feel for those at risk and those lost to tragedy, whatever the date.

Today, more than most days, I feel so thankful.

Happy Birthday Carol!

We had a wonderful time hosting a gathering for Stephen's mom Carol this weekend. She celebrated her 60th birthday, and we were not going to let that occasion go by without a big party!

The weather was a little less than perfect - right around the time that everyone was arriving, an absolute downpour started. We didn't expect to have to run out with umbrellas and escort our guests in through the garage as a shortcut, but hey - we adapted!

It was great that most of the family, along

with a few close friends, were able to attend. The kids had a wonderful time but truly, this was a party for the adults. The weather cleared up after dinner, and we talked and ate great food well into the evening. It was a fantastic celebration.


Happy Birthday, Carol! Here's to many, many more!