A Weekend In Vancouver, And A Wedding

  The whole family spent the weekend in Vancouver.

Trips with the entire family are soo fun!!

How many family members can YOU fit in an elevator???

We all stayed at the River Rock and they had the best hotel pool/slide/hot tub combo that we have experienced in Canada.

{and let me tell you, my children are self-proclaimed experts on this topic}

Can you see the slide in the background?

Check out our cushy robes!

Cousin time is abundant on family trips!!

The purpose of this trip was to attend Shelley's wedding.

Here are a few of the details.

10 adorable cousins all lined up!

Caiters was an hour past nap time at this point and quite unwilling to be happy about a photo session.

{I am sure we will look back and laugh but I never feel like this sort of uprising is funny at the time.}

PS..I realise my son is untucked. It's not ideal, I know but I'm choosing my battles carefully these days people:)

Grandma Crick was able to make it somewhat better for Caity.

Purely for cuteness, here's a look at my little Cambria.

Happy, happy little girl.

Still happy.

The bow didn't last outside the hotel room.

She's not a bowhead.

Here's our prom shot.

That's one pretty bride:)

                                

Shelley and Caleb

Sister shot.

Driving to the wedding.
{notice the toddler finally got her nap}

See those feathers in my lap?

                 

Those my friends are attached to this.

The cake.

Which I baked in Kelowna,

assembled and decorated in the hotel room.

While 7 members of my family were getting ready. 

{insert props to amazing helpful husband here}

All that work and the only pic I got was this one...with my phone.

Lame.

It had a monogram with their initials that you can't even see in the pic.

Bummer.

Anyways, back to the wedding...

The beautiful bride walking down the isle.

Cutting the cake.

My Caleb getting tossed around a bit by some crazy uncles.

Some cute party girls:)

Baby corner.

Cambi played nicely with her baby cousin and a little friend.

Buffet breakfast at the hotel.

Cambi tells Jamin how to eat a grape.

The kids loved this awesome curved escalator.

Here's me and the trusty phone.  

Regrettably,  I take fewer pictures with my DSLR because this bad girl is so much more compact and convenient.

When I look through my pictures after an event, I am never as satisfied with the shots that come off my phone.  I was looking for a fantastic picture of Cambria recently and I realized most of her baby pictures are off my phone.

I really must change this.

I want some extra time.

Please?

Just a couple hours to set up a little photo shoot.

Oh and a babysitter/nanny to keep the other kids away while I do that.

Oh- and some sunlight too, If I may be so bold.

How do you balance smart phone/ real camera???

The Valentine Crafts

Pintrest is so fun.

It gets my head spinning with ideas and projects.

This year, thanks to Pintrest, I let the kids go online and plan out their Valentine crafts.

They even invited a few friends over to make Valentines with them.

Here is what they came up with....

(I do realize Valentine's day has come and gone...better late than never, right?)

Friendship bracelets!

(They handed these out in their dance classes)

The bracelet just slipped on the little tag.

The tag was a printable.

Get that HERE.

We decided to make our bracelets double wraps with a button closure.

Supplies needed were few.

So clever:)

Mikayla made them for her sibs and cousins as well.  

She crossed out "our class" and wrote "my life".

I liked that.

So pretty!

The girls sewed their own buttons on and everything.

I did a whole lotta nothing for this craft.

{Except foot the bill of course.}

Cute colors!

This is what the kids chose to make for their teachers!

(there is a package of Rolos inside)

The kids found this idea HERE,

I have been feeling a little maxed recently.

I was going to try to skip Valentine's day but the kids were on top of it and I was impressed, they really completed these two activities on their own!

What did you do for Valentine's day?

Insta-I-Finally-Got-Around-To-Posting-Day

Sorry Insta-Friday.

I like the thought of you a lot a lot a lot.

But it's not me.

Not every week.

And probably for sure not on Friday.

It's just not a day that works for me.

Let's just agree that I will post the phone pics whenever I willy nilly feel like it:)

Caiters 

"um ya so I have to go tause I'm nursin my kid and so ya ok bye"

no joke.

she's edible.

Someone took away Jamin's carrot...

Just a fun little collage of bunches of my Instagram pics.

Looking back is such a great reminder of what a full and happy life we have.

I am thankful!

The day to day rolls on...

Spelling tests galore around here!

The dance studio had "red and pink week".

My kids (and myself) love dress up opportunities!

Mailee especially, she takes it to a whole new level.

I love that she isn't afraid to be herself!

Maddie made this little collage to document her new Lalaloopsy dolls!

We are quite into Lala's around here.

Too cute I say, too cute!

I made these in a pinch the morning of a Valentine's party.

I love when I actually have on hand all the ingredients for something that I feel like making.

These are fantastically refined sugar-free!

{maple syrup and coconut sugar were used}

Caleb made paint chip bookmarks as his valentines to pass out at the party.

They turned out cute.

{He's pretty cute, too!}

I love his cute little guy printing!

{he sharpie-d my writing for most of it but his name was written all by himself}

Grocer-guy wrote this on my bag of ripe bananas.

I want to know what it says?!?!?

Cambi Love is exploring EVERY inch of our house these days!!

Caity and her {2} doggy backpacks.

Because every girl needs more than one doggy backpack when she sits down to watch Dora.

Lastly, this song has infiltrated our house.

Much like Dynamite, Drops of Jupiter and MANY Taylor Swift songs.

Click the link above to watch little Caity sing along.

So cute!

Click HERE to read Mikayla's very thoughtful post on the same song.

This week I was talking about the meaning and significance of a beautiful old poem with Mikayla and I saw a spark of interest and excitement in her eyes that was thrilling for this mommy! 

Go check out her post, leave her a comment or thought of your own.

She is making a shift from "get the work done" to thoughtful thinking and it is so fun!!