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.

"Track and Shield" Inaugural Race

A slightly more positive event from the weekend for you today.

On Sunday morning we ran our first race of the season.

The Edmonton Police Foundation Half Marathon 5K.

{Though I do love how our medals say half marathon. 

It was tempting but I just couldn't lie to you guys.}

It was a great day for running {this was prior to our late April snowstorm} and the race kicked off at Fort Edmonton Park, a great venue.

It was so nice to get out as a team.

I was even able to spring this photo-op on everyone before they could put up a fight.

This event gave me a chance to chat a bit more with Cecile {painter} and Gabe {bodyman}.

Since I do most of my work for the shop from home I don't get this opportunity often.

Gabe talked a little about his kids and their involvement in track and field.

I was never big into the sport but have fond memories of these events in my younger days.

As I was recalling this conversation today it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Track and Shield" is THE name for this venture.

Sorry "Team Shield", you're out.

First of Many, I'm Sure

Apparently this is a really busy time of year for us.

I still haven't finished telling you about last weekend and now another has passed.

This one was as eventful as the last.

Mostly good but as is customary, let's start with the bad news and get it over with.

Cedric had his first hospital visit on Sunday.

If you've met Cedric you know this kid is chill and super active.

How can you be both of those at once?

Beats me, but this kid has it down.

So when he started arching and wailing in pain we knew something was up.

I am determined to not be that parent that has their kid in the hospital unnecessarily.

For many reasons.

One being, I don't want a Peds Emerg Doc all like "your kid has gas, over-react much?"

On the other hand, I don't want to regret not following my gut for the rest of my life.

The latter would be MUCH worse.

Jeff and I decided to watch him for a while.

After 15 minutes of watching he went white.

Like his ears and lips were white.

That's when we got scared and split.

The Stollery Emergency is amazing.

We were in a room right away and seen within 20 mins.

They hooked the little guy up and vitals were looking good.

When in the room he even gave the nurse a half smile.

As she was about to leave he started another episode of pain and vomited his afternoon snack.

After that he had more colour and energy already.

The doc {who asked us to call him Kevin, so refreshing} was happy with his condition but asked us to hang around for a bit.

Soon after, another throw up produced a decent amount of dirt.

Yep, good old earth.

Turns out when the kids were "helping" me cultivate the garden, Cedric snuck a taste.

I knew this was happening but had no idea the extent of it.

I would say he swallowed a couple of mouths full.

Once this was all out it was business as usual.

He was up flirting with anyone who passed by the room.

Lesson learned, Cedric has yet to develop his garden helper skills.

This is not something that would have happened with Fiona at one.

You boys sure are a handful, you know that?

You Auto Know is 1

I made it.

I have blogged for a year.

A whole year.

I'm exhausted...

But back to blogging.

Sorry, I got distracted, blame the exhaustion.

Being introduced to the world of bloggers was life changing.

Really, it was.

It's one of those things that you can't imagine what you did without.

Like children.

Or a smartphone.

{Not that I'm comparing the profoundness of the above life changing experiences.}

But really, some folks who share their lives online are brilliant.

I honestly believe that I live my life better because of these people.

I'm inspired daily by the blogs I read.

I'm also inspired to experience more because I can't wait to share.

Most importantly though, it's given me the kick in the pants I needed to document more.

Jeff and I used to be the type that would come home from a vacation with 2 pictures.

Now I'm battling with the "not enough storage" messages on my devices due to the abundance of shots.

Thanks to everyone who reads this little outlet of mine.

Thanks especially to those who comment and follow.

It means a lot.

On another note, we spent time outside today you guys.

Our backyard is no longer a lake and the bike made the big move to the great outdoors.

This was a good day.

Shield on Shine

I meant to share this last week but it slipped my mind with everything we've had going on.

Jeff headed down to the Shine FM studios and got his radio voice on for our new ad.

I've posted it below for your listening pleasure.

You're welcome.

Fiona's Butterfly Party

This weekend was jam packed and I can't wait to share it all.

First and foremost though was Fiona's 3rd birthday celebration.

Thank you Chris for capturing this moment.

Having your birthday before the snow melts limits the spectrum of activities to chose from.

Fiona loves her gymnastics classes {and I love how tuckered out she is after them} so when I saw that they offered parties we were sold.

I punned like crazy on Cedric's invitation so in the spirit of fairness gave it another go.

Fiona chose a butterfly theme so we ran with it.

The mason jar terrariums were my favourite.

Homesense came through with some butterfly napkins.

Dollarama was to thank for the net, greenery and butterflies.

Since the chocolate cake recipe I used for Cedric's birthday turned out so well it made a reappearance.

The butterflies {yes, they're butterflies} on top were made of fondant using this recipe.

 There were too many fabulous pictures of the gym time for me to choose from.

Thanks Diana for these, they're fabulous!

 Grandpa West even helped Cedric get in on the trampoline action.

Fiona cleaned up with some amazing gifts so I'll share more about that soon.

 Thanks to all our friends and family who celebrated with us.

This Weekend

The Edmonton Motorshow is here.

This is our third year participating in the show and we're so glad to be back.

This event always falls at a busy time for our family.

In 2011 it was on the weekend of Fiona's 1st birthday.

Last year it just ended the day before Cedric's due date.

Now again, it falls on the weekend of Fiona's birthday.

I've never claimed that our lives weren't hectic right?

It's absolutely worth it though.

Here's a preview of our booth, the guys did a great job setting this up.

Most attend the Motorshow to see what's new and exciting from the manufacturers.

The Edmonton Motorshow has them all and many do have 2014 products on display.

We like to think though that the real action is at our end of the Expo Centre, in the Auto Emporium.

Here you can find everything you need to maintain and enhance your vehicle's esthetic and performance.

{Remember that show "Pimp my Ride"?  Is that still going?}

Even if you're not interested in an extreme makeover there's something for you.

The show runs today and tomorrow 10-10 and Sunday 10-6.

If you get a chance to go make sure to stop by the booth.

Hope to see you there and have a great weekend!