Dresses, Dresses, Dresses

Brian and I made a quick trip down to Abby... I wanted to spend some time with family after Nana passed and needed to work on some wedding stuff, so, we made the drive!

Cali and Sophie modeling their flower girl dresses...  super cute

We found Julie an awesome Maid of Honor Dress (the one around her neck in the purple color she is holding)

Bribery will get you every where with kids.... cupcakes for those little girls who behaved in the Dress Store!

Oh Sophie... hard to get her sitting still!

It was a quick trip... but I got lots done. Jeanie and I planned out their back yard for the wedding... Brian asked John to be the best man, Nadia and I hit Michael's to go over ideas for hair clips and decor... and, we have 3 contacts for wedding commissioners!

Dog Walk

I took the dogs for a walk around lunch time today. Tag needs the exercise, Kona needs to burn off energy and its good for me too! We went on the main trail we already knew about and when walking around the neighborhood I found for sure at least one more trail entrance and one possible (it's not marked). If there wasn't so much snow everywhere I would have checked it out more.

Master Bedroom Painted!

I finished painting the master bedroom today. Brian and I both really didn't like the burgundy color the room was, it just felt to dark and it was not the best color. When we were selecting colors, we both really still liked the  dark colors, but I wanted to make sure the room felt bright so I suggested a feature wall... I wanted to do something different.... hope you like the end result!!

Before with the Burgundy (not our stuff either)

Another before... note the wooden plank coat hanger... we removed it!!!

After! The wall at the head of the bed is a very light purple/grey color and the rest of the room is a dark eggplant

I added the birch tree decals as something different to give the room a bit of character.

I still need to repaint all the moldings and doors to freshen up the white... but the changes are starting to look so nice! Can't wait to get the floors redone too... but that's probably a year or more away. Old carpets for now!

Main Bathroom Toilet Installed! Yaay!!

Sorry for blogging so much about toilets! Its kind of a big deal when the 2 in your house aren't or are only partially functioning! The main bathroom toilet had to be replaced first as it is not working at all. Our problem as mentioned before was that the toilets were only 14" and the standard now is much higher, therefore, the counters built around the toilet has to go!

Before - The short broken toilet

Toilet removed, counter almost gone

Counter fully gone, new toilet going in!

New toilet good to go!!

I am so impressed with Brian... other than taking these pictures and buying the toilet seats at Home Depot yesterday,  Brian did the whole demo and install! He did an amazing job... now I am sure you are looking at the wall behind the toilet and thinking "what is she talking about?" We are going to finish that part of the wall when we replace the counter. There is no point in repairing it all and painting when its all going to have to be ripped up again.

Ok... just trying to get motivation to finish painting the bedroom today... only 1 more coat and then I can show it off!!

Happy 33rd Birthday Julie!

33 is a good year... I know you will enjoy it! Wish I could be there!!

In Memory of a very special Nana....

Nana passed away last night. I will miss her so much as she was so special to me. In June she would have been 97 years old. She has had a great life full of wonderful family and experiences. Here are some random photos I took from the albums I dug out of boxes this morning (we are still unpacking).

Grandpa and Nana with Victoria

Marie and Nana

Me and Nana this past Christmas, as it turns out, my last visit with her.

Nana with Kristy and me at the cabin

Nana on the deck at the house in Mission

Grandpa's Ash spreading in Kelowna with all her kids

Christmas with Elaine and Bob... probably about  13-15 years ago

Nana with Diane and Elaine

Nana with Donald and Bob

Bathroom Reno(s)

As mentioned before... we have spent a lot of time shopping for toilets. Who would have ever guessed its harder to pick out than paint or appliances!! Ugh... anyhow, we finally settled on 2 American Standard Dual Flush toilets. An oblong for Brian and a round bowl for me.... now the next fun part.... installation

We no longer have a toilet in the main bathroom... this was the broken one, so it has to be fixed first otherwise if something went wrong with the other one, we would have no toilet. The other fun problem we were having was that the old toilets and counters were made for midgets... well, not really, but a 30" counter isn't good for Brian or me especially with being tall. Not to mention, the counter has a pork chop that jets out over the extremely short toilet (14" bowl height! wow). Brian has cut out the pork chop in the main bathroom... but now we are thinking we might as well replace the cabinets too, get it all done in one shot. We actually found a cabinet for the en suite last night at Home Depot for $89 and it even comes with a mirror... we are talking about the cabinet for the main bathroom as it costs a bit more, but sure would be nice to get it all done at once especially since we are trying to paint over all this darn yellow in the house... have I mentioned everything is yellow?? 

Tag... never too far away.... He has been sticking to me like glue lately, he always senses my stress or upset and thinks he needs to watch over! haha... what a great dog.

Photography by Holly Resurrected?

Its been an interesting couple weeks.... all the stresses of moving and on top of that, loosing your job. Today is the official first day of unemployment. I had to give notice at my new job 2 weeks ago because of something I discovered (not going to get into the details here and it was nothing I did wrong) but even though its a scary thing to loose a job, its not a bad thing. Lucky for me, an ex-wedding photographer, I have moved to the wedding capital of BC! Anyhow, I am going to jump back in again... wish me luck! Don't worry, still looking for a great position with a company, but isn't it nice to be self sufficient? Takes the stress off a bit!!

We Moved!

We have finally made our move to the new house! But not just the new house, our own house! Unfortunately I have no pictures of the actual move as its the first time we have moved where we did it on our own. Yes, couches, beds, everything you can imagine that is heavy, I helped Brian take it down a flight of stairs at the rental house and into the moving truck... and then we unloaded it too. It is a week later now and I am still sore! We were very fortunate to have the help of Andy Bet and Barbra on day 2... they met me at the rental house and we put in a good 4 hours of cleaning and packing the remaining stuff which ended up taking 3 vehicle loads so we had to call in Uncle Donald with the Tahoe! We then caravanned back to the new house and unloaded and had cabbage rolls for lunch that Andy Bet so thoughtfully brought along. What a weekend!

Picture of the laundry room paint job in progress.... I needed to get this painted before the new washer and dryer arrived.  Unfortunately, the ones that came with the house were gone when we took possession so it was a necessary purchase.

Ahhh.... can I say that I am in love with my new appliances?  They were not as necessary as the washer and dryer as the old ones were still in place, but, I guess I don't need to explain... you all know how I am! Anyhow, once you try a convection oven, you will never go back! Wow!

Ok, I lied! I have one picture from moving day... classic McDonald's for  breakfast with any event in life... haha, it is always the thing to do!

Toilet shopping... 4 stores later, we finally picked out 2 that we are happy with, American Standard  Dual Flush (we have to pay for water here so it made sense to go dual flush to save water). Did I forget to mention when we moved into the house the main bathroom toilet was broken and the ensuite toilet (which we already knew was cracked) was leaking in a not good way. Ugh....

We love our new house... so many projects on the go and projects for the future. I will post more pictures soon as there are going to be alot of changes!!

Painting...

We spent probably over 2 hours at home depot today. Our time is limited right now because of working, lawyer appointments, showing the rental house for the landlords so we stood in front of the paint color boards and figured out what we wanted to do with every room in our new house. 5 cans of paint later... we have a bit of work ahead of us! (Don't worry Mom, we took advantage of a rebate deal on the paint!!)

More Sold Pictures

After driving by how many times? We finally got out and took our pictures with the sold sign. No one to take our picture together... but, you get the idea!!

SOLD

How exciting is that sign? Still kind of in disbelief about the whole thing... only 8 more days until we take possession!

I never envisioned moving in the snow, but, seems that is the reality this time of year in the Okanagan... thank goodness we have at flat drive way at our new house (can't say the same for the rental)

Flower Girl Dresses have arrived!

Brian and I are having all the nieces as flower girls in our wedding. I found some super cute dresses on Ebay and after collecting sizes from all the mommies, I placed the order! They arrived today and are super cute. What a fun package to get in the mail. Lilah, Cali, Sophie, Scarlett and Olivia are all going to look so sweet.

Tuesday Night...

Just a boring Tuesday night and a puppy rub...

Kona's Vet Visit

We finally got Kona in for her spay appointment yesterday. The vet said she did just great, no problems at all, she was a very good patient. She was so doped up when I picked her up, she wasn't herself at all. When we got her home Tag was pretty worried about her. He kept trying to lay next her on the dog bed. Kona is back to her normal puppyself this morning. Big appetite after not much food yesterday. We have to keep her inactive for the next week so she can heal... no running, jumping, stairs... that will be the challenging part!

Court Day & Our First House

The idea was to drive to court in Kamloops and be there to bid against anyone trying to scoop our house out from under us... As you can see from below, we got quite snowed in. As we were making our attempt to get to Kamloops, it was snowing so bad and the drive was so slow, there was no way we were going to make it. We cut our losses and had breakfast at McDonald's and then headed home to shovel snow and wait to hear the fate of our new home. Our realtor was just great, he was texting me the whole time letting me know everything that went on from the other realtor showing up with his clients to making our 2nd offer to WE WON!! We got our first house! We are so excited, we take possession on Jan 31st... its sooo quick but feels so far away!

The endless task...  and our truck stuck at the bottom of our driveway

Its like we have a tunnel for a driveway... you keep shoveling snow on top of snow!

Looking out the door onto our deck... 

We have icicles all around the house... I thought it was pretty until Dad told me that meant the roof isn't properly insulated and the snow is melting... haha... oh brother

Kona loves the snow...  she is always asking (barking at us) to go outside

Away for the Holidays!

I have always wanted to go away for the holidays and this year I got my wish, except, it was us heading back down to the coast to stay with family! It was a whirlwind trip... we stayed a week but it felt like 2 days. Special thank you to Mom and Elliott for taking on us and the dogs that whole time!

Doggies all packed up ready for the trip!

We braved the highways and made it through just fine (can't say the same for the vancouverites who were headed the opposite direction, wow!!)

Braving the 97C... it wasn't that bad, Hwy 5 was much worse going north, lucky we were going south!

We arrived just in time for a last minute wedding dress appointment for me. Mom and I met Julie, Cali, Sophie and Nadia at the bridal shop to see what they had! It was a great appointment, but I didn't see what I was looking for even though I had no clue what I wanted.

Trying on Wedding Dresses (not the one, but man it made me look skinny!)

Also not the dress... but one of the favorites after the fact

I wanted to make sure I got a visit in with Nana as I haven't seen her in such a long time now. It was hard as she has changed so much, its what you expect, but catches you off guard.

A visit with Nana

Poor Nana was so sleepy for our visit

Me and Nana

 Mom, Elliott, Me, Julie and the girls got all 4 of the dogs out for a run at the park. Everyone had a great time, especially the dogs who ended up in the lake at one point... yuck, wet dogs in the car!!

We got Tag, Kona, Max and Iggy all out for a run at the park!

Parties Parties Parties...Sunday night Brian and I headed to Doug's for another of his great family parties. It was nice to see that everyone was there (Gordon, John, Stefanie, Sarah, Marcus, Lorissa, Nick, Elanne)! Monday I had lunch with Nadia, visited Dad and Jeanie and then headed back to Mom's where Brian and I joined Elliott's family (Jonas, Deanna, Teresa and Matt) for Christmas Eve Chinese food dinner! Christmas morning Brian and I were treated to breakfast from Elliott while opening gifts with Mom and then we all rushed off to Greg and Julie's place. Brian and I had a wonderful time visiting with Greg's parents Erika and Jozeph (Julie said it was the best visit they ever had). We then headed off to see John, Stefanie and the kids...which was a shorter visit than we intended. Little Jack was so cute, he is all about "Angry Birds" this year. Then we were off to my family Christmas dinner at Dad & Jeanie's where I proceeded to wipe them out of the eggnog (if you have had Jeanie's eggnog, this would be understandable!!!)

Brian did really well this Christmas, he loved his new hunting Knives from Elliott

Oh boy...

Christmas Day at Dad's (thanks for the pics Julie!)

Me and Sophie!

Me Sophie and Lilah

Thank you to everyone for a wonderful Christmas!!!!! We had a great time (and I dont think Brian and I have ever socialized this much in our lives! haha)

Poor Brian was working most of the time we were out, but, of course its hard to sleep in with dogs. I found that dropping Kona on the bed worked to wake him up... but of course Tag wanted up too!

Dropping Dogs on Brian in bed seemed to be a good way to wake him up, too bad the dogs liked laying there so much!

Dad put together another of his AWESOME breakfasts on Thursday so all of us who could go showed up. I had to leave a little bit early as I arranged one more appointment for trying on dresses. Just Nadia and I went to this one as it was a new shop and I really didn't know what to expect. From the time I got there I was unexpectedly surprised. From the beautiful dresses, to the great prices... I guess what was missing at the last place was the 'sparkle' I was looking for. Long story short, I said yes to the dress on a gorgeous dress that was my size, that I bought off the rack for... ready? $500!!!! When everyone see's it in July, you will be shocked. Both Nadia and I agreed I would never find the same thing again for such a great price. Special thank you to Nana, as with my sisters, $500 was the contribution to the dress, who knew I would stay on budget?? I certainly didn't expect it... Can't wait to show everyone. Brian does not get to see the one I bought. Nadia and I went to the Tea shop across the street after to celebrate. It was very exciting!!

Trying on dresses again... (this one isn't my dress, but  was the most expensive one I tried on at $1375... just so we are clear, that was well out of my budget and I don't know why they gave it to me to try on!!!)

Brittian Creek rest area on the way home... roads were great, but man was it cold!!

After a week away from home and a wonderful visit with everyone... we headed back home to our spot on the Mountain with all the snow. We will miss everyone but will see you all again soon... That wedding will be here before you know it so sorry if I start getting annoying to anyone!! Merry Christmas everyone!