AUGUST BLOG

The August blog has arrived!!! We have had an exceptional month with some lovely visits, as well as some delicious side trips here and there. We consider ourselves very blessed to have the summer we did and are looking forward to what Sept. will hold. -I LOVE FALL!!!- This first pic however, is from July. Our anniversary! Danny surprised me and took me to this DELICIOUS Italian restaurant in Vancouver. The owner is from Italy and owns a cooking school and Tuscan villa. It was phenomenal!

Our adventures began this month with a "camping trip" with our friends Curt and Jihan. We headed up to the always lovely and hot Okanagan where we set up tents in Curt's uncle's backyard-due to the fact that all the campsites were booked up. It was still fun though- we managed to soak up some sun at the beach twice, do a little mini-golfing-which by the way near the end everyone was taking WAY too seriously in my opinion, and they were also annoyed that I wasn't taking it SERIOUS enough. :), and we did a nice wine tour as well at the Mission Hill winery. That place is STUNNING. I would sleep there if they'd let me.

We then had one brief night to ourselves at home, and the next day Danny's parents arrived. We had a great visit with them as well-featuring a delicious meal at Cardero's on the water and some shopping and sight-seeing. Danny was able to hit up the Leadership Summit too with his Dad which was great for them to be able to do that; while his Mom and I went for a bit of shopping greatness on Granville Street.

I kept busy with school this month and Danny has been working hard too. We rewarded ourselves with an absolutely wonderful, chill and relaxing show by the one and only-Jack Johnson. Now I don't think words can express what a big deal this was for me. Jack Johnson has been quite famous for a while now-however, I have been a big fan of his since I was in grade 11. His first favorite song of mine was Bubble Toes. I can still remember where I was sitting when I heard it. I have literally been waiting EIGHT YEARS to see him in concert. That is like one third of my life! It was a good show though, and it was great to see it with Bonnie and Jon-and I even got mini doughnuts!

The next big thing that happened in August was that our girls came to visit from Edmonton! Who are "our girls" you ask? They would be the lovely Jillanne, Nicole, Kayla, and Jenna-4 of the youth girls from Beulah. We had a fantastic time with these lovely ladies taking them on adventures around the city of Vancouver and EVEN to Seattle for a day trip. Danny wrote a message in Chapters one day to share his excitement...

We took the girls to Michael's craft store to find some crafty things to do on a rainy day. We weren't successful, but there is always stuff to look at IN the store.

We also took them to Cafe Artigiano in West Vancouver. This cafe is one of our favorite latte spots in the city due to its perfect latte art, and fun atmosphere.

On a not so rainy night we went to Wreck Beach. I have been there before, but have been warned that it is in fact-a NUDE beach. We have thankfully been spared nudity in the past because we have only gone in the spring for sunsets. The weather has been too cold in the past, and we were okay with that. However, this particular night was a little different. Danny had literally JUST given the "warning, there is the small potential you may see nudity talk, but its unlikely" to the ladies, and before we knew it-BAM-there were 3 naked people running on the beach directly in front of us in the distance. We had a good laugh as we all awkwardly looked down and tried to avoid looking anywhere else but at each other and the ocean.

Granville Island is always fun. I don't really get tired of it because its so intricate and there are flowers everywhere, and people. LOTS of people. And delicious coffee from JJ Bean.

These shopping bags you see below are representatives of our beloved shopping experience in the States. Girls like to shop. It's hard to avoid. We had to rent a car to drive down because our car only seats 5! Good thing it had a big trunk!

The border crossing had this rad Canadian Flag made out of flowers. It was really cool.

In the Pike Place Market area there is the ORIGINAL Starbucks. It is always lined right up! This time there were some men busking outside that were just so entertaining to watch as they belted out their tunes and harmonized.

I had to post this photo of me at the SAM (Seattle Art Museum)-store. The reason being... I actually, for the first time in my entire life thought a mouse was cute. I can't tell you how much I despise mice but this one-he was just cute. I couldn't think he was anything else but cute.

We took the girls to the place where they throw fish in the Pike Place Market. The customer orders some seafood (fish, crab, whatever)-the guy yells out the order, and all his co-workers yell it back, and then one of them throws the order to the guy. And he hands it to the customer all wrapped up and ready to go. These guys thought it would be funny to yell out an "order" and then throw a fish AT US instead. The guy catching "conveniently" missed catching the fish and it hit Nicole. Thankfully it was FAKE. We all screamed.

I had to mention this bookstore. If you can call it that. It may also be a slice of heaven on earth. Danny and I are BIG fans of bookstores. I am pretty sure we could spend hours on end and not get bored. We both love books. I am so glad we both do otherwise one of us would be bored all of the time. Anyways, this bookstore takes the cake. She is one of the most interesting and beautiful bookstores I have ever been in. I could get lost here. I think I almost did once.

This was a little nook I found as we were walking. It made me want to melt and drink coffee and read there.


Seattle was great. We had SO much fun, I can't even post 1.2% of the photos we took. We still had days left in Vancouver once we got home to go on more adventures. I love this building right near English Bay-covered in leaves. HOW COOL.

These next couple of photos of mine are from a store called 'The Cross' in Yaletown, in Vancouver. I cannot really explain how beautiful this store actually is. I don't talk about it that much, but I am head over heels in love with home decor magazines and shops. I could spend countless hours hopping from one to the other, and checking out all the details.

We miss the girls already, we had such a great time with them. August is nearly over, and what a way to go. Today is the RAINIEST day I have seen in a while... it almost seemed snowy. The rain is blowing everywhere and I am unimpressed. However, I think I am going to a concert in a cafe tonight-which is a glorious and cozy thing to do on a rainy day!!!

JULY

As promised... here is my blog post for JULY! To say this month has been CRAAAAZY is an understatement. Seriously-between juggling guests, travels, homework and work... we have hardly kept our heads on straight! Where to start?

Our first visitors were Steve and Clark, and Steve's fiance Kim... although we never got a group photo unfortunately. Kim was in town doing school though so she was staying with family. The boys had a lot of fun though, and I know Danny really was so happy that he got to spend time with Steve; one of his closest friends. It was nice to have them around!! Steve and Clark got in more rounds of golf than humanly possible. Although Danny missed out on that! :(

Canada Day was a lot of fun. We got together with a big crew from our church...mostly small group peeps, and had a large picnic... mixed in with a little bocce ball, croquet, frisbee and good chats.

Our next guests were the lovely Danae and Danny Lee and Zhen the dog. We had a blast having these guys out. It was really nice to spend time with them and show them the city. They were only here for 3 nights though I think. So much too short. We did loads of walking, and shopping-but not a lot of buying... and enjoyed some movies too. Danae and Danny made it out to Chinatown too and Danae managed to get a fake sleeve tattoo. It was pretty funny.


After they left, my Mom, Dad, and sister Natalie came. We did loads with them as well. Once again a lot of walking and sight-seeing, and it was glorious! We headed over to the island too where we spent lots of time with extended family. Such a blessing to live close to extended family now.



My Mama and Papa are a very funny elderly couple. We always have a lot of fun chatting with them. Papa is such a goof. He is almost like Danny but 60 years older!


My Auntie Pip sells some of her art at a coffee shop called Moziros in Cowichan Bay. They have the BEST chocolate and BEST coffee there.

I was getting sun stroke I swear...so I had to wear Papa's hat on the boat, and Danny found this oh so humorous, so he literally took like 10 pictures of me in this hat! My uncle took us crabbing, which is always fun to go around on the boat. Only problem is...I don't eat crab!

My cousin Kayden is a little trouble maker. But we have lots of fun with him too. Nat and him are close in age.



After our time at the island was over Natalie came back with us, and we went to the Jimmy Eat World concert. WOW was it good. I really think I was their biggest fan growing up, and was lucky enough to see them in concert once when I was in high school. They were just as good the second time.
Then a few days past and Danny and I lept onto a plane to VEGAS for our 2 year wedding anniversary! We treated ourselves to many things such as the COLDPLAY concert and Cirque du Soleil; "O"-the water show. Our trip was only 3 days long though and man was it stinkin HOT. Like melt your face off hot. But we had a blast shopping, and sightseeing and floating about in the pool.





Cirque du Soleil is actually amazing. If ever given the chance to go-DO IT! I insist. I was telling Danny its almost like you want to go up to each person at the end of the show and just hug them and tell them how amazing they are. The things they did are absolutely insane and suspenseful. People would like disappear under water and not come up!! And then like 10 minutes later you would see them diving or something. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the actual show though.







The Coldplay concert was by far one of the best shows I have seen my entire life. Beyond entertaining. It was a giant sing along and everybody was SO into it. We reeeeeeaaaally had a good time. They are incredible live.



When we got home my family was still here, and my parents left the day after but Natalie stayed for an extra week. We did so much with this girl; took a mini cruise/aquabus around the water and saw fireworks, went to restaurants, and the list goes on.

We watched the fireworks again over the weekend with Bonnie and Jon too but have no time to download those pics yet! The fireworks competition is in town, so we get fireworks every week!!! July is nearly over and tomorrow is our TWO YEAR wedding anni! We are both so excited! And then it will be almost August. We get to go camping this weekend though and I am pumped! Okanagan here we come!!!!! I can't believe how fast time goes by. It's scary!