Happy Halloween...

...from our cute little giraffe!

Tea Time for Two (and Two little Toddlers).

Thursday, 8 October 2009

Awww...this day was one of those as-close-to-perfect-as-can-be days. SO fun.

First off Rebecca made up a bubble bath for me and watched Brie while I soaked and enjoyed some quiet time to myself. What a treat, thanks Rebecca!!



Since we had a big Girls' Day Out ahead of us I actually got ready...you know like blow dried my hair, put on eyeshadow and all :0) This is a VERY rare occurence these days. (Just ask Bry or my family. Usually my outfits consist of different pajama pants paired with tshirts...no matching required :0))

Auntie Emmie would be proud, I even "did" Brie's hair :0)

And off we were to Fort Langley! Now don't be fooled here. If you're like me, it sounds like it'd be a boring historical site, but it was this quaint little part of town with restaurants, boutiques, etc.
Since Rebecca and I love herbal tea we were determined to get tea while out. The first tea shop we saw was closed and for rent so we continued down the road.


We happened upon this little aromatherapy shop and what was the first thing the store keeper asked us? If we'd like a cup of tea while we wandered around the shop. Of course :0)

(Oh, have I pointed out that these are the scarf necklaces that Rebecca bought for us? See, that's the only way you can describe them. More pictures to come.)

Next we headed to Gasoline Alley. Another winner name, I know. But it was the quaintest little lane with such fun and ecclectic shops.

(A mural seen as we walked in.)

A shop dedicated to...Cranberries. They are ALL about cranberries here. If you didn't notice the picture of the banner coming into town, they have an annual Cranberry Festival! We missed it by TWO days. Schucks!

CUTE Julia and Brie enjoying the roses and little water fountain.

Speaking of fun ecclectic shops...they had a HAT shop. If you've never meandered around one you should. (This particular one had quite the selection of hats from fancy schmancy to tuques and so on.)

I fell in love with this one.

Too bad it was $250...and that there really aren't any occasions these days that merit such a hat.

After several hours the girls had had it.

Thankfully they fell asleep in the stroller...

...yes, as odd a position as it is...Brie was asleep. Poor girl, I guess it was only way she could get comfortable. And check out the folded straw in Julia's mouth. Normally she would fall asleep with her binkie, but we accidentally left it home...so apparently she made do. Creative :0)

To finish off our lovely day at Fort Langley

we headed to the White House...

...for High Tea (For those of you who don't know what that is, I didn't, I guess it's tea time, but with little sandwiches and pastries.).

Perfect, we thought, the girls are sleeping. We sat down in this chic little café and went to order, only to find out that they didn't serve herbal tea. Bummer. Then my camera batteries decided to die. (Go figure :0) Thankfully I was able to turn it off for a few minutes, turn it on just long enough to take a quick shot and it would die again. But hey, we were able to get a few pictures of our delightful little meal.) And THEN Brie decided to wake up and join us :0) Thankfully I kept the little Breebsie happy with somecheese & graham crackers,

and we ordered a few Sweet Petits to start off:

(Here are the ones we ordered. Yummy, eh?)

and then French Onion Soup Du Jour & White House Greens. Delicious.

Right as our food came Julia woke up from her nap. Didn't the girls get the memo that they were supposed to SLEEP through our meal? :0) It was more fun that way...having our two sleepy little sidekicks spreading crumbs everywhere and spilling water. Honestly though, aren't the REAL moments the best?

What a DELIGHTFUL day!

You may have thought all talk of tea was done, BUT...we thought it'd be fun to get tea cups as a momentum of our trip. Back to Value Village where I found these two beauties:

Now humour me on this one...

I decided that the one on the LEFT would be Rebecca's, because...

...it's a little frillier and a bit taller.

AND that the one on the RIGHT should be mine because...

...it is a bit shorter and stouter :0)

In any case, we now both have a dainty little tea cup.

.

.

.

To top it off, Justin was a great sport and did a mini shoot of me and Rebecca with our necklaces. I know, I know...but this is what happens when you've been best buddies for ages, you live in different countries and only see each other a few times a year.

Friends since First grade. Not too shabby, eh? :0)

Rebecca, thanks for such a LOVELY day.

Backyardigans. Baguetterie & Blackberry Cobbler, well kind of.

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

My friend occasionally watches this little cutie, Sophie (the little brunette pictured below on the right). So on this particular day she came to play for the day. She was definitely a sweet little girl, but there was just something about having 3 little "toddlers" around...having different nap times and always having one of the girls awake and needing attention or food or a diaper change...I just found myself frazzled at the end of the day. And that was just ONE day! How do you moms do it day in and day out with MULTIPLE kids?! Hats off to you!!!

Here are the three girls watching "The Backyardigans." Such cuties, eh? And can I just say that after watching several episodes with Julia and Brie...I love this show! SO cute :0)

Here's Brie on her tippy toes watching Pablo the Penguin. Cute.

We decided to make lasagna for dinner and of course needed some french bread. Yay for a cute little baguetterie in the area!

AND for dessert we made a raspberry cobbler, thanks to one of the Pioneer Woman's delicious recipes. (We fully intended to make a BLACKBERRY cobbler, but the raspberries were much cheaper, and hey...you can never go wrong with raspberries!)

(Have any of you heard of the Pioneer Woman? I LOVE her website! She's a city girl turned rancher's wife. She's big into photography and cooking...AND taking pictures of her cooking ventures. It's right up my alley. On top of that she so down to earth and hilarious!)

Yummy, eh? :0)

We finished off the evening by watching an episode of "Cranford".

Love it! Ever seen it?

Bubblism, Tisane and Roasted Almond Chocolate Trifle.

So I've got to admit that as much fun as it's been to do a travelog...I'm losing steam and wanting to be done :0) SO, I still want to document the rest of the trip but with not quite as much detail. More of just the high lights.

6 October 2009

~An afternoon in Langley...

Value Village

Asian strawberry smoothies from Bubblism

Rebecca buying us beautiful scarf necklaces

(that's the only way I can describe them...some pictures of them will pop up in later posts.)

from a fair trade store, Ten Thousand Villages.

This was definitely a high light of my week in BC...

...a Girl's Day Out. Thanks Rebecca!!

Watching Brie feed herself mashed potatoes. Priceless :0)

This totally reminds me of "the Christmas Story"...

"Show mommy how a piggy eats!"

Julia's first time trying whipped cream,

fresh off the beaters nonetheless :0)

An Evening of Thanksgiving

(Gratitude journals and thank you cards)

with the young women in Rebecca's ward.

Also, talking to one of the young women, Elizabeth, about how courageous she is to stand up for her beliefs at school, and then providentially happening upon an amazing talk on power and strength that comes to us by keeping our covenants.

(To read the talk online click here.)

Having herbal tea.

(Traditional Rebecca & Sarah sleepover beverage :0))

Notice that the tea packet is in FRENCH....Tisane = herbal tea.

Brings back GREAT memories from my mission in Québec!

5 October 2009

~Rebecca introducing me to the CUTEST cartoon series, "The Backyardigans"

~Brie being such a great sleeper on the trip (7:30pm-8:00am!!)

OK, so this wasn't a high light of the trip, BUT I had to document it anyway. Little Brie cut herself and Rebecca was WONDERFUL to help keep a paranoid mother calm! In order to keep the bandaid on we had to put a sock on AND in order to keep the sock on we had to wrap medical tape around the wrist.

Brie managing to get around with her little club for a hand.

It didn't slow her down much.

~Going out to run some errands with our sidekicks---
EFADS (Everything for a Dollar Store), London Drug and Safeway.

Rebecca realized that 8 years ago on this day was when they met (oh shoot, or was it 8 years from your first date? I can't remember.) In any case, she decided to fix a fancy dinner to celebrate.

YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE :0)

We made Roasted Almond Chocolate Trifle for dessert and....

Broccoli soufflé with a mushroom cream sauce for dinner.

Wowsers, SO good!

Here's the table all set and decorated.

~Gmail chatting with Bry online (we decided paying long distance fees for an hour each night would be a bit pricey!)

4 October 2009

It was so fun seeing the dads (Bry and Justin) play with their girls...YAY for conference weekend!

After the last session of conference we headed over to Aunt Linda & Uncle Phil's place for taco salad with the family. It was so nice of them to welcome all of us over in addition to the family they were already planning on.

AND, I love that Linda turned her formal dining room into a play room for the grand kids.

That's the kind of grandma I want to be :0)

Julia fast asleep on the way to BC

After dinner it was time to hit the road...Bry headed to Richland for a week of work and I headed to BC with the Soderquists. As excited as I was to spend a week with my best buddy and her family... it was definitely sad to watch Bry drive off without us :0( With all the traveling Bry has needed to do for work, it was especially nice to spend a whole week together as a little family.

Bry I sure love you! Thanks for making this trip possible :0)

3 October 2009

Grandma and Grandpa made us dinner...check it out!
Thanks you two.

I just loved how this picture turned out...the Soderquists were watching conference and the light from the window behind them made them look...enlightened. How fitting.

The girls playing with Barbies.

Well Julia was playing with them and Brie was eating them :0)

Julia was having some graham crackers in the kitchen and I couldn't help but grab my camera and do an itsy bitsy little photo shoot...here's one of the pictures.

TOO cute...Julia and Bry exploring Grandpa & Grandma's garden.

Before the guys headed out to watch the priesthood session of general conference, we had some spaghetti. So as to keep spaghetti sauce from any hungry shirts or pants Grandma pulled out some of her aprons. The one that Justin happened to get was very feminine and Rebecca SO wanted a picture...Justin wasn't so keen on the idea :0)

Brie with a five o'clock spaghetti shadow,

definitely ready for...

...BATH TIME! :0)

2 October 2009


Collin and Brie playing together some more...

I love the look on Collin's face here...

"What does this little Brie think she's doing? Taking my cars?!"

Michelle teaching me how to make
the Graden's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies!! YUM! And thanks :0)

Gradens...thank you SO much for letting us spend a few days and nights at your place. We had SUCH a fun time and sure love you guys!