Happy Holidays ... a long overdue update

Well, for the four of you that check my blog on a regular basis, you'll see that I CLEARLY fell off the blogging wagon. Hopefully things will pick back up in the new year.

So, what has happened with us since, oh early November? Well, since I can hardly even remember what I did yesterday, trying to think back over the last two months may be a bit of a chore ~ but I'll try. So ... November ... hmmm ... well, baby Bella was introduced to the world. Congratulations Ivy and Jamie!!! She's a doll!!! What a great little present in time for Christmas!




Can't forget a little updated pic of my other favourite little munchkin ... Damiano!


We also got to visit with Linds. She was in town for a few days when she came back from Hawaii! Its always great to see her! Check out the pics from our night out.

Oh my ... don't even ask! Look how tanned Lins is! WOW!

I won the hula hooping contest that night!

Oh ... Chris and I both got a year older. You know what that means ... me closely approaching the cougar status. Chris already considers me a cougy, but until I start wearing tight leather pants and develop some sagging tits, I'll never be a cougar in my eyes! Plus, I'm married ... go figure. We had a quiet celebration this year at Moxies (remember those pictures of me on the chaise couch from my wedding, that's Moxies) with Erin & Geoff, Dee and Kyle and Sam & Luis! Couples central! Food was great, company was even better! Unfortunately, I wasn't very camera happy that night so I don't have any pics to post. Our birthday presents to each other was a little rendezvous in Whistler. We booked a great place through our RCI points and got to enjoy the lap of luxery for three days. It just so happened that it was the BEST snow fall in a long time ~ what prime timing, right! WRONG! For Chris, the avid skiier this was excellent news, for me, a novice at best, this was not such gret news. You see, I have no idea how to ride in powder since I have NEVER had the opportunity to do so in the past and well ... lets just say that I struggled. I had a great day of riding on the first day (before the powder dumped) ~ it was cold, but nonetheless I had a confident day getting back into the swing of things. I can proudly say (that after a few beers) Chris convinced me to ride from the top of Whistler to the village! Yahoo ... what an accomplishment. Okay, so then it dumps and dumps and dumps ... and now I'm screwed. Now that I'm all proud of myself for picking up where I left off last year, I have another new obstacle ... powder! Suddenly I couldn't even connect two turns .... argh ... I'll digress before I even get started. Suffice to say that I did NOT have a good day. We made up for my hurt ego that night over a great dinner, a yummy bottle of wine and an overflowing bubble bath in the most amazing soaker tub ever!!!!!! Are you supposed to put bubbles in a jet tub? Hehhehehehe ... we had so many bubble we didn't know what to do with ourselves! Here a few pics from Whistler.

Moby's new toy!

We got back to Van in time to participate in the festivities of Jon Jon's birthday. Chris had to ref a hockey game that night so he didn't make it. Was a great little surprise birthday ... good work Eileen! I paid for that night the next day, yikes!! What can you expect when you start drinking at noon (we had our work Christmas party earlier that day).

Well ... I'm doing pretty well so far with my memory. Hmmmm ... what else??

So now its December .... ummmm ... well, Chris went to LA for a few weeks of work which is great since he typically doesn't work at all this time of year. If he were typing out this blog, he'd have a lot to tell ... but I'll sum it all up for him .... he worked for a few days and in all his spare time ... he hung out at the beach, went surfing, went to Disneyland for FREE, went to the aquarium, went to a jam session with Smashmouth and some other budget band ... that's bout sums it up! Rough life huh? I stayed here ... worked and finished our Christmas shopping. He worked ... and I spent all the money! Muahahaha.

Now for my favourite time of year ... Christmas!!! Its here ... and .... oh wait ... its gone already :( Chris and I went over to Gibsons to spend Christmas with his mom. She was very busy working at her store ... so Chris and I decided pull a "While you were out" on her! We stripped the wallpaper off in her hallway, put on a fresh coat of paint and put up news door casings and baseboards. Turned out really well! She was totally shocked when she came home, but of course she loved our handy work! The rest of Christmas was very relaxing, visited family, ate lots of yummy cheese and dranks lots of wine!! Was excellent. Lets not forget to mention how spoiled we got this year! Jeesh!!! Its overwhelming how generous our families are! Thank you!!!

So here we are ... a few days before News Years! We are heading up to Kamloops to go skiing, hang with our family and with our friends Tammy and Shawn! I'm really looking forward to it! Stay tuned for more pictures.

I hope you have all had a great holiday season. Thinking of you at!!!

PS: I hope you all remembered to have a drink for us!

New favourite commercial!

I love this commercial ... makes me dance like a child every time I see it! I'm know ... I'm crazy!

Halloween 2006

Well ... here you have it, the pumkpins for 2006! You will note that there are a few repeats this year, but they were done by different people! You be the judge.

I made a huge ass lasagna for all the carvers ~ it was so big that I seriously could have fed a family of 20! I must say it was the best one yet ~ props to me! Unfortunately, I couldn't carve a pumpkin this year since I took a field hockey ball in the finger the day before. It still hurts 5 days later :(

Luis' pumpkin

Josie & Joe pumpkin

Chris' pumpkin

Chris' pumpkin

Eileen's pumpkin

Luis' pumpkin

Sam's pumpkin

Sam's pumpkin

Nissan X-Trail - Bonavista

This is just too funny! Not quite as funny as the current add on the radio, but I can't find the radio one.

Halloween carving fest ...

Halloween is almost here!!! Props to Sam, Luis and Chris for their wicked pumpkin carving skills last year! Way to go guys! We'll see if they can top them this year! Stay tuned ...

Sam's pumpkin

Chris' pumpkin

Luis' pumpkin

That kitty pumpkin is mine!

Next Stop .... San Fran!

Alas ... the unveiling of the "mystery trip" ... S-A-N F-R-A-N-C–I-S-C-O!!!

Wooohoooo. Props to my hubby for keeping nosy me in the dark the ENTIRE time. I have to admit that I did see the itinerary on the printer at home, but it took everything in me to not look. I'm so glad I didn't cause it was well worth the surprise.

Here's the deats ... so, the night before we're supposed to leave, he's online trying to book some sort of "major league game" tickets. I'm like "I know where we're going, I know, I know ... it's New York ~ you got tickets to the New York Yankees ~ yahooooooooooooo". He totally played along with it. Given the smug look on his face, I was certain I was bang-on-the-money with my guess. Gullible ol' me. I was so excited I called my mom and Erin ranting that I was going to New York. So we pack ... I don't sleep cause I'm too excited; get up and get ready for work (dress pants and all). Chris was going to drop me off cause he had some errands to run that morning, then he was going to pick me up at 11:00 am for a 2:00 pm flight. Sound believable? I thought so. Anyways, that morning we're driving in and he takes a detour and goes down 12th. No biggie. Stops for Starbucks and then continues down 12th to Cambie - suddenly he bucks a hard left instead of a right towards down town. I'm like "what are you doing? I have to go to work" ... his response (with the most smug "I got cha" look on his face ... "um, honey, you're not going to work today"! Okay, in hindsight ... maybe I'm a bit naive for not seeing that one ... but I was seriously clueless (keep the blond jokes to a minimum here kids)! Airport bound we are. Alas we make it ... we're filling out the airport declaration cards ... and he goes, "um honey, you might want to put Oakland as our destination not JFK Airport" ........... WHAT!!! Needless to say, San Fran here we come!!

For those of you who haven't been to San Fran, it truly ROCKS!!! Such an amazing city! After we checked into our hotel (ahem, the Hilton), we hit the pavement. We ended up w-a-l-k-i-n-g (more like crawling) UP THE HILL to the pier. I have attached a copy of what I mean when I say HILL ~ San Fran is A-L-L hills! It was a trek and half, but was well worth the journey. We hung out at Fisherman’s Wharf, saw the bazillion barking sea lions and ate some yummy clam chowder for dinner. The next morning we took our first trolley ride on the Rice-a-roni trolley car!! Off we go to rent some bikes for the grand tour over the Golden Gate Bridge! It was incredible! Along the way we stopped to catch some of the Red Bull air races. Turns out it was Fleet Week and there were tons of air shows going on. It was nuts! Check out the attached link, its pretty cool stuff: Red Bull Air Race World Series. With many pit stops along the way, we biking about 13k to a place called Sausalito (a cute little village-like town), had an ice cream and hoped on the ferry back to SF. Super cool experience. We ended up going for a wicked dinner that night to a place called Mangarosa. It was kind of a Brazilian/Italian infused type selection. We had their famous Steak Rechaud, which is a flavourful steak that arrives tableside on a piping-hot grill with traditional and you cook it yourself! We complemented that with some of the BEST gnocchi that I’ve ever had. Oh my gawd ~ so good! Who would think to pair steak with pasta, but it was amazing, I promise? Top that all off with a bottle of amazing Italian vino and you have the perfect night! Okay, day three … of course we did the infamous Alcatraz tour! We had to pull some serious strings to actually score some tickets, but it all worked out. For future reference, you MUST book in advance to ensure a spot! We had to get up at the butt crack of dawn to get tickets. In any event, Alcatraz was every bit as eerie on the island as it looks at from afar. Very cool tour! When we arrived back on the mainland there were thousands of people everywhere. Flight Week was in full force and effect; Americans love their fighter jets. We ended up joining the masses scoring front row seats to the Blue Angels airshow. Chris was in heaven. He must have taken about 20 photos of the planes. So, the only thing left that I had to do was see Lombard Street. Given that there were thousands of people everywhere for the show, there was no way we were getting on a trolley car. So, my husband has the brilliant idea of walking. Okay, so we tackle THE biggest hill I have ever seen. KILL ME NOW. I was dying by the time we got back to the hotel, but I made it (after much whining of course). Suffice to say, Mama needed a nap after this hike. A least we got a good picture to remember the torturous experience. Anyways, another night, another great dinner.
No real time to do much shopping, but that’ll be another trip!!

There you have it, my surprise first year anniversary trip in a large nutshell! Thank you bear!! I love you!

Views from up above!

The bridge connecting Oakland to San Fran.

The infamous clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl.

Look at them all!

Blubber heads!

Smush his face!!

Sunset the first night at Fisherman's Wharf.

My man!!

Reflection of the sunset in the window

Rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat!

My first trolley ride!

Had to have one of these shots!

Bike Tour! How cute are you?

Aughhhhhhhhhhh ....
Almost there ....

Look what I found at the end of our ride! My Street!

Eerie Alcatraz!!

Can you even believe this!

I've been a bad girl ...

Is that how its done, honey?

From Alcatraz looking towards San Fran

View from Alcatraz. The street furthest right is the
hill to Lombard Street. The grueling trek.

Look at all the people!

Ohhhhhhhhh .....

Ahhhhhhhhh ..... pretty cool shot babe!

Check out that slope!

All that hiking for a picture of this!!