baby shower

This is a little late, but Sunday the 5th, we threw a baby shower for my Sister In Law, Leslie. She is almost 8 months pregnant and is due August 4th. I am so excited to meet my nephew. There were a lot of girls that pitched in to make the shower a success and it didn't hurt that it was BEAUTIFUL. Honestly, we couldn't have picked a better day. It was perfect because we were hoping to keep everyone outside. Everyone was so generous and Leslie walked away with almost everything she needed and more.

drink table.

buddies.

baby shower fun. Les is thrilled :).

The belle of the ball.

goofball

Leslie had lots of help opening her gifts.

22 Months

Another month gone by...I am currently drinking coffee and watching "be be beast", which is clearly beauty and the beast, for the umpteenth time. We watch princess shows every day. Because, "pincesses" are Liv's new favorite thing everr.

Liv requests princesses every morning and the way she says it is too cute to deny her. She drops the 'r' and sometimes adds a few 's" to the end, ex. "pincesseseseses". Her dad had to go and buy her 2 more pairs of princess pajamas because she wants to wear them to bed every night. Every. Single. Night. God forbid I change her diaper and take her princess pj pants off, because that is just wrong in her eyes.

She also loves to talk on the phone, especially with gaga, auntie Dani, or Pat if he's not here. Skyping has become more fun too. She used to not want anything to do with it, but now she gets excited to talk to all of our family.

Liv is extremely bossy. She tells us to sit all the time...this phrase is not reserved for only the dogs, its for everyone. She likes to say "no dada, no, bad dada". I like to think of it in a positive way, I spin her bossiness to mean that she knows what she wants and goes after it...she's clearly very ambitious. I clearly should have went into public relations.

She has also started to play so much nicer with other kids. Which thrills me because I am so that mom that gets glares from other moms because my kid doesn't like anyone to get in her way or play with a toy that she possibly had her eye on. Her hugs also used to resemble wrestling moves. She is getting it now though. For the most part, she will listen to me when I tell her to wait her turn or that she has to share. She may not like it very much, but she does it and thats all that matters.

It definitely gets easier. Liv is easier to reason with and is learning how to act like a little human being and not so much a caveman. I am starting to feel like I can have another baby. Not saying that this will happen soon, but I can confidently say in a year or so we will try to have another baby.

we spend lots of time at the park.

we try to let liv be as independent as possible...but the worrier side of me has issues.

hello liv.

loves to walk lily.

we go on lots of walks too.

not happy about getting her picture taken with mom.

hello husband.

Wedding Edition

I thought I should do another update on the progress of our reception details. Everything major is booked, but I will admit that I'm stressing about all of the details. I am completely doing all of the decor and centerpieces myself and by myself I mean me and some devoted friends and family. I love having complete control over the situation, however it does lead to some stress.

Here are some sneak peeks of  ideas that I have used for inspiration.

I'm using a variation of this idea for centerpieces

another touch for the centerpieces

photobooth and some fun props

I love the simplicity of this photobooth

Also, these are the shoes I'll be wearing.

I found these by mistake when looking for a pair to wear to have my dress hemmed...$30 and I'm in love.

So I am running into one wee problem. I don't think there is anyone that can do my make-up for the big day. Small town problems, but I was thinking about going somewhere in Calgary and explaining that I need to do my own make-up for my wedding, get a little tutorial and buy a few products that I love. Any advice for me? I'll add that I'm not very good at putting make-up on and usually just wear the basics, so I need some sort of help!

Home

We had so much fun in Victoria. It was the first time Pat and I had ever taken a vacation together so it was very nice and a long time coming. Its so weird because I'm used to having him gone all the time, we've done long distance for a majority of our relationship...so really, just living in the same place feels like a vacation!

Our first day we did some exploring, had dinner and a few pints at an Irish Pub, so our style. We were in bed by 9 because Sunday we were driving to Tolfino. I of course woke up early every day of vacation. It always works out that way doesn't it? It took us about 4 hours to get to Tolfino and in retrospect we would have booked a room there because this little town was amazing. So much to do and see. The drive there was a bit scary and I had to close my eyes a few times. Lots of narrow roads and steep drops, but the view was out of this world.

When we arrived, we booked a whale watching tour, had our best meal there at this place called SOBO, went to the beach and spent the rest of our time there with some grey whales! I took some pictures, but of course its hard to see anything in them. I will admit the boat ride did end up making me a bit sick for the rest of the day but it was still worth it.

Monday we spent the day exploring Victoria, we watched the Victoria Day parade, walked A LOT, and went to the wharf where we saw some house boats and seals just hanging out and being fed some fish. We had a night out and woke up early the next day to have breakfast with a friend.

It was so much fun to just enjoy each other and putter around. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit antsy to get home and see Liv. Her reaction to seeing us didn't disappoint. She was so excited and I missed her so much. I swear I leave for a few days and she grow up a little bit more. It makes me never want to leave her again!

driving to Tolfino...the trees her ginormo

I saw my life flash before my eyes a few times

wouldn't you like to live in that house on the ocean?

walking from the beach...it reminded us of sugarloaf (mqt)

whale! our skipper said "there she blows" every time ha.

a tail...so hard to see

sea lion colony

beautiful hotel in Victoria...known for there afternoon tea :)

capitol building

house boats on the wharf

having a snack

at big bad johns...our last night in Vic.

this place was hilarious

the decor.

29

Happy Birthday to my Husband!! He turns 29 today...and I like to remind him frequently that its a year before 30 (even if he can do the math himself).

When I remind him, I like to remind him that I won't be 30 for four more years, and how lucky he was to snag a younger woman.

I'm so excited to be able to celebrate his birthday with him. With all of our long distance stunts we have performed and usually dealing with hockey schedules, we rarely got to spend each others birthdays together. So I'm thrilled to be able to let Pat sleep in and tell him "Happy Birthday" when he wakes up.

Once again, Happy Birthday Love.

I know a secret!

I totally found out where Pat and I are going on Saturday.

Weirdly enough, it was a complete accident. I love it when things like that happen.

I had messaged a friend of Pat and mine to get his address for the reception...his response was something along with lines of "Hey how are you doing, Pat called me a few days ago and said you were coming to Vic".

"Vic" as in Victoria. Its located in British Columbia and is on the Southern tip of Vancouver Island!


You know I immediately called Pat and blurted out "I KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING!". He couldn't do much but laugh because it was his own fault for not telling his friend it was a secret....oh how the mind of a man works.


So we are staying in Canada, which honestly is a relief because I'm not quite ready to cross the border again. Not that I've ever had a hard time, but its so much explanation and blah blah blahing. I have never been to B.C. and I have only heard great things about it. The weather is going to be nice but not short nice...so I'm glad I found that out and didn't waste any space on things I won't wear.


Wish us safe travels!

Books

Ever since we incorporated books into our bedtime routine, Liv has taken on a new and obsessive love for them. She has become much more opinionated about which books I read and I swear she tries to pick out the longest ones at bedtime, but her favorites have remained the same: She loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Sesame Street books (yay Target dollar bins), all Olivia books, and her Puppies, Kitties, and Duckies books (they have buttons that bark, meow, and quack...go figure).

She also likes to "read" to us. Some of the books she knows so well that she can tell her in her toddler way what is happening on the page and other times she just babbles. Through her Duck book, she quacks for every page...because obviously, thats what ducks do ha. My favorite example is who knows what book she was reading but according to liv it said "blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah....chicken". All I know about this book is that it had nothing to do with chickens.

story time

more books

"where do you think you're going?"

reading to easton

booty tooch?

end scene.