Birthday Weekend

Last weekend June, 7th I turned 27. The girls woke up bright and early and Danika cut up all our fruit and made me a fruit salad and Steve made poached eggs. Later In the morning Steve took Danika for her birthday present... to get her ears pierced! She has been wanting this for quite some time, so we finally did it! We did some serious research and Steve took her to a tattoo parlour in duncan, that many friends have recommended. Danika was absolutely terrified as the piercer looked pretty rough. He told Danika they were putting hoops in and apparently everytime he turned around Danika was shaking her head wildly because the guy had huge hoops in his ears! Steve said that it was a really good experience though, he put on numbing cream and Danika didn't even feel it. She was very excited! 

In the afternoon my Aunt and Uncle from Oregon came up to visit. They stopped by in the afternoon to drop off boxes of delicious food and drinks! We were so spoiled. After they checked into their hotel in Duncan, they came back and Uncle Gary helped Steve set up his Birthday/ fathers day present... a new BBQ. We finally caved after a couple bad ones and bought a Weber... hopefully it lasts a long time! 

Auntie Dolores and I took the kids and dog for a walk and once we got home we ate delicious BBQ'ed steak, a few different salads and then they brought us a birthday cake complete with Champagne and Martinellis for the girls! 

It was a lovely evening! 

The next morning was Danika's birthday. We woke up, she opened a few of her presents, had french toast with whipped cream, sprinkles and a candle! 

Beautiful new dress from grandma

We went to church and then met Uncle Gary and Auntie Dolores at Birds of Prey. 

It was very interesting... we spent 4 hours there and stayed for both flying demonstrations! 

 This is a stork... he was hideous! When we walked up I told the girls, that that was where babies are from... I got quite the laughs from other people around... but the stork did deliver babies on Dumbo! 

 We brought Lize along for the day, the girls had lots of fun! It was HOT outside!

 We left Amara home with a babysitter, as it would have been impossible to sit and listen with her. Plus it was during her nap time, so it worked out perfectly! 

We went home for Danika's requested birthday dinner of a taco dinner and then we got to open some presents. The girls both had new wardrobes from my mom and Auntie Dolores. I remember as a kid when Auntie would come up from the States with giftbags full of clothes and the girls got to experience that. Dolores went into the room with the girls and they did a fashion show for us. They were pretty excited at all the beautiful new clothes!
We had a wonderful weekend! 

Perfect day for a Wedding!

Last night we went to a wedding to celebrate Kayla and Dennis Gillard.  Kayla has been our church children's ministry leader for the past year and the kids just love her. It was a beautiful evening celebrating at the guest house at camp (where we used to live!)  The girls had such a wonderful time. We left Amara with a babysitter as we wanted to be able to sit and enjoy, and she did wonderfully with the babysitter... almost too wonderfully! She didn't even miss me! 

 Beautiful little set up, with the ocean behind 

 Penny and Adessa 

 Best Friends- Lize and Danika 

 Adessa and Kailey 

 Girls snapped one of us

That little cottage behind us, was our first home on the island, for a year! It was neat reminiscing last night, and how God has worked in our lives since then! 

Steve says I apparently talk everytime he is trying to snap a picture... here is the evidence!

 Beautiful sister shot

 Steve made me... can you tell I felt awkward?!

 Beautiful girl

 My loves 

 Cutest 

 There was a dance... the girls started interpretive dancing... Too much sugar! 

Such a wonderful night with so many of our good friends!

Church at Qwanoes

This past weekend was the Camp Qwanoes work weekend... the weekend Steve feared every year. It is a wonderful week for the camp as so much stuff gets done, but gearing up for it was extremely stressful for Steve. He doesn`t miss it at all! 

That being said, a bunch of our church members had attended it, so our church service was combined and we went there Sunday morning. It was gorgeous out. A nice service, with a HUGE plug (like 30 minutes) to financially contribute to Qwanoes and send your kids... we don`t miss that speaker! 

After the service we stayed with a few family friends for a picnic. It was really nice! 

When we got home, everyone was sweating. It was HOT!!! So we set up the slip n`slide in the backyard and the girls had a blast! 

Moms day off!!!

Caroline and I have been wanting to plan a girls day away with some of our hard working mom friends in our life group. So we fianalky picked a day, put it out to everyone, no one replied so we went ourselves! And we realized this was probably one of the only times we have actually got to get away without the kids! It was wonderful!!! We left at about 10:30 in the morning went to the mall to do some shopping, I scored some sweet deals on shoes for the girls (funny how the one day we have no kids, we are only thinking of the kids!) but I also got myself a couple "pre" birthday tank tops! 

We grabbed coffees and then headed downtown. I was driving Steve's truck and normally would have gone underground, but would have taken off the top of his truck had  I tried! So parked right near the ocean. Caroline and I walked the wharf, checked out the cool nick knacks and then browsed chapters, coming out to me realizing as  I stared at a parking meter that I never paid for parking!!! "Doh" it was in this moment I realized I took my hubby for granted! He does those things for me... And I apparently don't get out much! Came back to a $40 ticket, or $20 if I pay right away... Such a bummer! 

We paid parking them went back up to cactus club for lunch! On the way home we were laughing because both our throats hurt... Weve never had so much time to talk! It was such a special wonderful day with a very special girl! 

Meanwhile as I text home to see how things are... Steve texts me this photo saying she popped out the screen door and was making a break for it. Also she walked across the living room!!!! The time mommy leaves! But she wouldn't do it again, so he couldn't get it on video. 

The next time I checked in, I get this photo.... Saying they drove up Mt. Tzouhalem to hike around! So crazy! We have only been up once and it is a cliff edge overlooking the entire Cowichan valley. Needless to say I was a bit worried, but he called once they were done to say everyone survived! Thank God! 

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who wanted me to have a get away today and held down the fort at home... It looked like a bomb went off when I got their, but he did good!