Baby Love

I have so much to share from our trip.

It's actually overwhelming me a little so I'm giving myself some slack in the prompt blogger category.

I do however want to tell you about one of the most special aspects of our vacation.

This Valentines Day I would like to celebrate love in it's purest form.

Toddler love.

Parent-toddler love is so special but that's not the love I'm thinking of.

The love Fiona has for the friends she's known all her life is amazingly strong but even that is not the one I'm focused on.

The fast and beautiful love between the two peas-in-a-pod below was one of the best parts of our time in Germany.

And that's saying a lot considering the beautiful trip we had.

The shot below was taken on our first day in Dusseldorf, after a mere 4 hours of acquainting time between Fiona and Alessandra.

They had so much fun and could have been friends for years.

In fact they could have been siblings considering the way they loved and fought.

 They insisted on matching hair for our first day in Amsterdam.

 And both loved any time in front of the camera, requesting multiple "running" pictures.

No argument here, they were always so sweet.

 On our final day there were no tears.

It was like they knew that they would see each other again and could pick it up right where they left off.

Not surprising of course since this has always been the case for me and this beauty's parents.

Happy Valentines Day!

Better Late Than Never?

People often remark how they're surprised I can find time to blog.

Well, obviously, sometimes I can't.

It's been over two weeks since I told you we were celebrating our 5th anniversary.

That feels like a really long time ago.

It was a really long time ago.

Regardless, I still want to share.

We started the day mid-afternoon with massages.

Not a couples massage, I did enquire but am I the only one who doesn't see the point?

We had a couples massage once and it was a little awkward. 

{Granted, that could have also been because of the TV crew in the room and knowing that we were live on Breakfast Television in the nude with a thin white sheet as the only barrier shielding us from indecency.  Just another hypothesis.}

I am the type that wants to be dead to the world while being massaged.

So, we had separate rooms next to each other and it was fabulous.

Jeff {of course} headed back to the shop for a couple more hours which gave me some time to get dressed up.

Getting dressed up is a big deal for me.

I used to buy many lovely clothes and take my time picking each outfit carefully.

Since those days are long over {am I right Moms?} I love any chance to spend a bit more time on my appearance.

{Hence the questionable bathroom selfie below.}

We continued our celebration by opening the bottle of wine that we received for our wedding that was marked for the 5th anniversary.

{Thanks Alex!}

You may know how I love finding significance in numbers so having a 5 on the top of cork made me happy.

 My parents babysat and also snapped this pic before we left.

{Thanks Mom and Dad!}

Thank goodness Movember wasn't really a thing when we were married.

I have resigned to the fact that Jeff will always have a 'stache on our anniversary. 

 We chose Three Boars as our dinner destination and it was great.

Described as your friendly neighbourhood Hutterite this place was truly original.

They used parts of animals that other places wouldn't.

Or, more accurately, other places wouldn't dare to admit.

We ordered dishes that used gizzards, jowl and pork fat powder.

And we loved every bite.

The Amazing Date

I feel like I can't say often enough how great our families are.

We both grew up with much of our extended family in another province.

So for our babes to have two sets of grandparents, 4 aunts, 1 uncle and even a great-uncle close by is a dream.

It also means that Jeff and I get the occasional night to ourselves.

Last Saturday night we had just that.

The kids were off to my parents {thanks Mom and Dad} and we had a date night.

If any of you parents out there are all "date night, what's a date night?" as we were until recently you're gonna want to have one of these.

Jeff and I sat next to each other, chatted without interruption, held hands and strolled leisurely.

No joke, there was leisure.

We finally made it to Noorish for dinner.

We have been meaning to go since Uncle Will gave us a gift card for Christmas.

And this place is amazing. 

Completely vegetarian with many vegan and gluten free options.

The majority of their ingredients are also organic and locally sourced.

The menu opened our eyes to many combinations and food prep that we weren't aware of.

Have you seen Baby Mama? 

It felt at first like we were in that restaurant with the "yeast ball for the table".

Then the food came and blew us away.

We had onion rings to start, a coconut curry and their award winning Bohdi Tree Burger.

It was all delicious and so satisfying that Jeff had to bring half of the curry home.

After dinner we headed down the street to the Movie Studio.

Also not a joke, there is still a movie rental store kickin' in Edmonton.

After a quick search it looks like there may even be a couple more.

This was a truly nostalgic experience for us.

Remember when video stores were huge?

It wasn't even that long ago.

 When we moved into our neighbourhood in 2007 there was the cutest little independent video store tucked into a local block of shops.

Once the big guys took the late fees away, she was done for.

It wasn't long before those big guys followed suit though.

Jeff and I have always loved browsing the aisles for movies.

We were two of the 15 people who were devastated when Rogers and Blockbuster shut their doors.

We had assumed that they were all gone so you can imagine our excitement when we noticed this little gem was still alive.

They even dish out free popcorn.

The night was amazing but that free popcorn really took it to the next level.

Now That's How You Do a Surprise

Americans celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday.

{And Happy Thanksgiving to you.}

Though we had our holiday a while back, the sentiment was definitely felt this November 22nd.

Last night we bundled up the kids and headed to a party.

Ready to get our celebration on for two of our very best friends.

{They also happen to be Fiona's best friend's Moms and our neighbours.}

They met 10 years ago with a dance and,  to paraphrase Stacey's beautiful words, the dance hasn't ended.

It was a party to celebrate the last 10 years of memories, little did we know, a biggie would be made that night.

Halfway through the night, the jazz trio {yep, I said jazz trio} took a break and Stacey rounded everyone up.

Her sister Marcey warmed up the crowd with a poem that would put Dr. Seuss to shame.

Then the girls took the floor to reminisce about the truly fateful day they met.

A real life love-at-first-sight story.

As the story faded into an introduction of a new face in the crowd, the room burst into cheers and applause.

We all realized what was happening.

We were at a wedding.

The person being introduced was a Commissioner.

And we couldn't have been happier.

I also couldn't reach for my phone fast enough to freeze the moment in photos.

I'm so glad I did but trust me when I tell you that they don't do this event justice.

If only I could have captured the beautiful vows they both wrote.
If only I could share the pure joy felt by their parents.
If only you could feel how honoured I was that Kerry asked me to witness their marriage.
If only I could show you that the beauty these two have on the outside doesn't even begin to demonstrate how beautiful they are.

So yes, I {as I'm sure all in the room did} felt so thankful yesterday.
Thankful that I live in a country that respects love in all forms.
Above all, thankful that I count these two among my friends.

A Long Time Ago...

Well, it really wasn't that long ago.

4 years to be exact.

It just feels like ages since our wedding day.

So much has happened since then, how could that only have been 4 years?

The decision to get married wasn't if, but when.

We had been living together for 4 years.

We had 2 dogs.

We owned 2 properties and had been through 2 already.

Not to mention the businesses.

Jeff proposed in September 2008 and we were married in November 2008.

{To be fair, we had started planning in August.}

We didn't give our guests a lot of notice but they sure came through.

We had almost all of our family from Ontario and even some amazing friends from Denver.

{Love you Charmian and Heather!}

We were married at Murrieta's here in Edmonton.

Our ceremony was during cocktail hour and we loved walking down the aisle while our friends and family sipped their wine.

The dinner was great, as it always is at Murrieta's.

Finally, we danced until they started setting up for breakfast.

It was a perfect day.

I know this is probably more than enough pics but if you want more check out our feature on Style me Pretty.