Wii love it!!

As a last minute decision right before the builder was about to start sheet rocking our place we decided to have it pre-wired for surround sound. We finally got our system installed and working, I guess it's been about 2 months. Apparently it was quite the job because we have all the hardware in the office, including the wii. It works great though.

It is finally set up and as you can see, almost life size with our huge TV. (Eric picked the enourmous TV out...not me)

My boys like to play Hotwheels Beat that. Good Times.

Land that I Love!!

I love the fourth of July

...being with family watching fireworks and remembering what makes our country so great. I love watching the fireworks, I love how they illustrate celebration and victory, but also help you (in a teeny, tiny way) imagine what those who serve our country experience. What a blessing to live in The US of A, and what an privledge it is to celebrate that every year!!


ps. I grudgingly add the last photo of me in the collage...besides the family shot this is the only one taken of me. Not a lot to work with, but since this is one of my favorite holiday's I figure I had to document my presence in more than one photo.

Family Reunion

My family had a reunion over July 4th near Wolf Mountain. My entire family was there exept one. (my sister's husband) I was impressed we got as many as we did. We stayed at a huge house-- every family got there own room. The house was really nice and it was so nice to have everyone together.

Canada in a day

We stayed at Butchart Gardens until they kicked everybody out at 10pm. We were staying at a condo with Eric's parent up north near Nanaimo. It took a couple hours to drive there so we didn't get in and settled until very late. The kids woke up and went on a really cool walk with Eric and Grandpa. There is an inlet from the ocean that was empty because of low tide and I guess it was like one big tide pool...I have to use my imagination because I stayed home and watched Meg and Elijah, and there is no documentation of the "most awesome/you really missed out on a great time" walk. A few highlights I heard about...mud...Huge purple star fish...spotting a bald eagle...mud...finding a whole sand dollar...lots of seashells...mud. They had a great time.

We then headed out for lunch by the time we got there poor Elijah was already beat...

We ate at a really great place on the shore. Someone said they had great Halibut Burgers. I was a bigger fan of the clam chowder. Good food and great view.
Our next stop was Milner Gardens...not quite Butchart Gardens but it was very pretty.
Milner Gardens was a lot less manicured then Butchart. It is a woodland by the ocean. Near the end of the trail is a beautiful cottage looking house that has the most amazing view and lawn area. Well worth checking out.

Eric's parents enjoying the view...

So the picture above is the house...gorgeous! the picture below is facing a way from the house. The setting was spectacular. Huge forest, a big yard, gorgeous house, ocean front property, what more could you ask for?


After our visit to Milner Gardens we went back to the condo, ate dinner, got the kids all cleaned up, and then walked around to enjoy the sunset.

This whole area behind Grandpa and the kids is really shallow and empties out when the tide goes out.


This is Meg in her "happy place". My friend made this sling for me. I have never used one before but I LOVE it!!! It has been a life saver, especially with all the trips we've taken.

After enjoying the sunset Grandpa took the older kids to see the fireworks, I guess July 1st is Canada Day. It was another late night. We got up early to catch a noon ferry back to the USA.

We headed straight to the Seattle airport to catch our flight to Utah for my family's reunion. I told one of our friends that we decided to go to Canada on our way to Utah and was informed that Canada was not really on the way. We still had a great time!

Butchart Gardens

Eric was in heaven.

After crossing on the ferry and driving around Victoria very briefly we headed up to Butchart Gardens...we were very impressed. It was beautiful and the roses were in full bloom!!
We met a portrait photographer as were taking photos of Emma he suggested we leave her hair messy and let the sun shine in. Well since her hair wasn't done on this particular day the "messy hair" part was easy.
The background looks fake here, this is looking over the "Sunken Garden"...it used to be a quarry but when the mine dried up someone decided to turn it into a garden. It was beautiful.


We met up with the portrait photographer again and he took this shot for us...it turned out Okay, I just wish I had done my hair and make-up.

The rose garden was the highlight for Eric. He hopes one day to have a formal garden similar to this.

Japanese Garden....


We got Gelato at the end. It was yummy and I am told a lot better for you than ice cream.

Oh Canada!!!

We went back and forth about whether to go to Canada with Eric's parents. But we finally ended up going kind of last minute. We packed up after church on Sunday and started heading north that evening. We stayed the night in Port Angeles and then caught the ferry the next day to get to Vancouver Island. This is looking toward the USA as we leave the port.
Here is our attempt to get a normal picture of our boys on the ferry. Come on guys work with me here!!


We arrived in Victoria and took the scenic road up to Butchart Gardens. We stopped along the way so I could feed Meg. Eric took the older kids on a walk along the coast while Meg ate and Elijah slept in the car. I really liked this picture of my kids.
We took a ton of pictures of Butchart Gardens and I thought it was worthy of it very own post...stay tuned...