Giving Thanks for Friends

Indulge me, while I take a moment to reflect sentimentally. It is, after all, a weekend for giving thanks. 

I'm a firm believer that all things, good or bad, happen for a reason. And as chance would have it, after my first year of working full time, Jill was installed in the office across the hall from me. 

Up until that point, I hadn't made much of an effort to make friends at my company. I had deep roots with my high school friends, and my introverted nature meant I wasn't all that keen on putting myself out there. 

But I still remember, distinctly, giving myself a pep talk when Jill moved into that office across the hall. "Amanda, it's time to move out of your comfort zone. You're going to try to make friends with this girl, Jill."

And here we are, over ten years later, and there are so many good things in my life that I can trace back to befriending Jill.

First and foremost, the connection to all these beautiful ladies! You've all been there for me through ups and downs, and I don't know if I would have bonded with you all, if it hadn't been for Jill!

The time we hiked to the Burgess Shale.

Or Goat Lake. Or Crypt Lake. 

The time we baked over a hundred cupcakes. Or ten epic recipes of Christmas cookies. Or 600 mini cheesecakes. Or a bajillion perogies. Or wontons. Or homemade tortellini...

The time(s) we packed all those boxes for Operation Christmas Child!

The time we went to Vegas and discovered you get SUPER hangry!

The time a cowboy tried to drink beer out of your straw hat (that didn't end well)!

The time we saw Paul Brandt, Shania Twain, the Dixie Chicks, and Aaron Pritchett and Doc Walker.

Or the times we've spent with the Lakeview Ladies-- the team where we all met, ten years ago.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to help Jill celebrate her wedding, as one of her bridesmaids. To have a place in her wedding party meant more to me than I am able to express. Jill is someone who I know will always be there for me, good or bad, and I was so happy to be there to support her and take care of her hangries, when she had more important things to think about on such an important day.

Jill looked so stunning and beautiful. And there's something indescribably wonderful about seeing your friend marry the love of her life-- to have found that person who will be there with her through thick and thin, and who loves and respects her.

Jill-- thank you for being an amazing friend. Thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone. Thanks for listening to my occasional (and by occasional, I mean frequent) rants, for going to country concerts with me, for coffee breaks, and for faithfully discussing Survivor contestant strategy each season. You are THE. BEST.

Congratulations, Jill and Jared! I'm so happy for you two, and I wish you nothing but the best in all the years to come. 

For the Love of Pickling (and Soup!)

My first experience with pickling last year went really well. No one got botulism, and after two rounds of pickling our yellow wax beans, I had a better idea of how much seasoning to put in each jar for maximum flavor. Round 2 of 2017 pickled beans were much better than Round 1!

So, part of my excitement for our current garden crop was to try my hand at pickling again.

I admit, I was a bit disappointed by our bean crop. The yellow beans we had last year grew and grew and grew. The raw yellow beans were the opposite of tasty, so we decided to grow green beans this year. But the green beans we planted were small plants, not the same sprawling vines of their yellow brothers and sisters. So we got enough green beans for one meal, and the rest I picked for pickling a few small jars.

I love how they look in the jars, the colours are so vibrant and fresh looking.

I was two for two! Both jars gave me their satisfying pops when they sealed!

I was also very excited for our carrot crop. We planted about three times as many carrots this year, and two different breeds. I tried to harvest them all before our first huge dump of snow, but I didn't get them all out, and ended up having to excavate some from a foot of snow.

These carrots came in every shape and size you could imagine! So I made three small jars, and two mini jars with carrot nibblets in them. We're hoping we can crack these open at Christmas!

Seven for seven! All these cans popped after processing as well!

And finally... Beets.

You guys, I hate beets. Tom loves 'em, but to me they taste like what I imagine sewage would taste like. Gross, I know. I hate the smell of them, I hate how they dye your hands bright pink, I hate how they dye your insides! But, as a testament to how much I love my husband, I took our remaining beets, and pickled them into a one large remaining jar.

And there you have it, we're eight for eight on successful canning for 2018.

As a final salute to our garden, Tom harvested our onions, and made some homemade French onion soup. It was delicious! Ooey gooey cheese, soft chewy bread, and amazing flavor. Two thumbs up!

On the night we made our French onion soup, we discovered Tom's brother was making borscht out of his garden beets. So we proceeded to have a soup-off, and the weirdest dinner combination, ever (French onion soup and borscht).

And as a beet hater, I will admit, I was leery about the borscht. But it was pretty freaking good!

We've learned some lessons this year with our garden. I'm looking forward to the 2019 gardening season. Lacey will be a little older, and a little more able to help. Maybe she won't blast the plants with the hose from point blank range!

Adventures on the West Coast - Tofino

By the time we reached Tofino, we were nine days into our trip, and Tom and I were both feeling burnt out. Without the familiar routine of home, both girls were a little off (especially Lacey), and none of us had been sleeping very well. Travelling with a baby who isn't sleeping through the night... Who thought that was a good idea?

So I think it's safe to say, when we arrived in Tofino, we had never been happier to see Lacey's grandparents in our life!

Tofino.

I think Tofino is our happy place.

But Tofino... Never a place to count on nice weather. The forecast looked absolutely depressing as we were approaching the Tofino leg of our trip. It looked like it was going to rain every single day, all day. 

And so for the first few days, we made the best of it. Sandcastles in the rain!

But Tofino... Never a place to trust the weather forecast. The weather was actually a lot better than it was forecasted to be. The rain stopped for a little bit each day, and we even saw some patches of blue sky and some sun!

Lacey loved digging in the sand, investigating shells, and pulling washed up kelp along the shore.

We enjoyed the scenery.

We ate good food. Salmon rice bowl from Sea Monster Noodles!

We saw this super cool spider web outside another restaurant.

Andrew enjoyed some surfing, Tom and I got away from our second kid-free dinner since Scarlett was born, and we took Lacey on a short hike. Lacey loves hiking. In our every day life, she often wants to be carried around, but when we are out on a trail, she insists on walking almost every inch of it on her own. She loved tromping on the wooden boardwalk-- she's a real trooper!

  

But mostly, we enjoyed some good times with the family!

I'm loving this annual Tofino tradition! And with Ashley and Andrew expecting in December, I can't wait for what chaos we'll enjoy in Tofino 2019, with three kids in tow!

And even though our flight landed WAAAAAAAY past Lacey's bedtime, she was surprisingly chipper while waiting for our luggage!

Until next year!

Adventures on the West Coast - Victoria

It's been two years since we've been to Victoria. Some of my mom's family lives there, and it's always nice to reconnect with them. My cousin once removed, Laura, is the closest cousin to my age and after we've visited, I always leave thinking it's a shame we don't see more of each other-- we have a lot in common!

The trip from Vancouver to Victoria is about 2 hours. One of the great things about the commute is that it's mostly a ferry ride. We may be stuck on a boat, but at least Lacey was able to get out and stretch her legs.

Lacey: I'm on a boat!

The novelty of being on the ferry didn't last for long, but we entertained Lacey with snacks, and walking around. We also played a round of shadow tag on the deck of the ship, which people seemed to enjoy watching! After that, we embarked on a short drive.

This is what Scarlett thought of the drive:

We arrived in Victoria around Lacey's nap time. But it was too much to ask that she nap right away in a new place. She could not be coaxed into laying down, so we took her to a park. By 5pm, she was ready to lose her mind with exhaustion. She was whiny, quick to cry, and uncooperative.

And then...

She passed out on the floor on her change pad. Blissful sleep! She needed it.

We enjoyed the rest of our trip visiting family, and exploring a bit of the city. We went to the government buildings by the water, and walked around. 

We went to the Beacon Hill park, we stopped at the Phillip's Brewery to pick up some beverages, had lunch at the Blue Fox, and we visited a farmer's market for fresh berries, nectarines and vegetables. And we were absolutely spoiled by our hostess, my cousin. Her fridge was piled high with food for us, and we enjoyed lasagna and salmon dinners. She also kept an eye on Lacey during one of her naps, and Tom and I walked to a nearby restaurant and had a drink by the ocean (Scarlett was asleep in her car seat, but she enjoyed the outing too). We also took Lacey to a nearby beach and let her dig in the sand. Overall, another great visit!

After four days, we headed off for our last stop on this trip. Our third annual trip to Tofino!

Adventures on the West Coast - Vancouver

Tom and I embarked on our first holiday as a family of four. Lacey is now 2.5 years old, and Scarlett is approaching 2.5 months. The first challenge was packing. Previously Tom and I would share a suitcase, and Lacey would get her own (large) suitcase. This time, I mashed Lacey and Scarlett's belongings into one suitcase. I was actually amazed by how compact I managed to pack their bag!

Expertly packed luggage.

The next big step was getting all of our stuff in the car, and to the airport. Honestly, we only had two more items (another car seat, and a small bag) more than what we travelled with, with Lacey alone. But we also had a second child to navigate through the airport with. Luckily everyone we encountered at the airport was both understanding and helpful as we hauled our load, and herded our family along.

We arrived in Vancouver with one major toddler meltdown (which in retrospect-- was totally our fault), and got everyone to bed in our hotel.

The next morning, we started visiting! We spent the majority of our time in Vancouver with Tom's aunt and uncle. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, and we were able to enjoy their back yard, take Lacey to the park, and get out and about in the city a little.

Scarlett and Lamby enjoying family visiting.

We visited the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. The conservatory is a refuge for some large birds-- various parrots and other breeds. Lacey enjoyed seeing all the colourful plumage. The conservatory is perched at the top of a hill, and offers some beautiful views of downtown Vancouver. Lacey was not interested in the views, she entertained herself by going up and down a set of stairs several dozen times. 

Vancouver skyline.

We had hoped to take Lacey blueberry picking, but we never managed to find the time to get out to a field. Lacey loved picking raspberries of her grandparent's bushes earlier in the summer, so we thought she'd enjoy picking blueberries (which she loves to eat more than raspberries). But we figured we'll be back another year, and she'll love it even more when she's a bit older.

We rounded out our Vancouver visit with dinner at Tom's cousin's house. They have a beautiful 100+ year old home in Vancouver, and Lacey enjoyed jumping on their trampoline, and starting a band with yours truly-- which included a bright yellow ukulele, and some sort of bongo drum. Lacey was the entertainment for the night, marching around singing and dancing, and bossing people around.

Lacey and Mommy band.

Our next stop... Victoria!

Ten Years in the Making

It took ten years, but my set of plates is finally complete. I made the first plate ten years ago, when Tom and I moved in together. At the time I had only planned it as a one-time gift, but as the years went by, and different milestones in our life together and our family passed, it made sense to add another one.

I was dreading putting Scarlett's hand and footprint on the back of the newest plate, because Lacey FREAKED OUT when I did hers, But as we are already seeing, Lacey and Scarlett have very different personalities, and Scarlett was game for getting a little dirty. She took it all in stride.

It could be a long time until there is a new addition. So for now, we'll call the set complete. 💗

Garden Progress

If there's something satisfying about watching your garden seedlings grow, I don't know how to describe the satisfaction of watching vegetables take form!

Our garden has been growing away the last few weeks, and Tom and I have already learned some lessons that we'll have to work around next year.

First of all... Buy carrot seeds as seed tapes, rather than randomly sprinkling seeds. Our garden is so overrun with carrots, we had to pull some so that they didn't crowd each other out! And when I say "we" had to pull some, I mean my dad pulled them for me!

Some sort of flock of birds keeps eating our peas! I think we'll have to develop some sort of net system to keep them out next year. We only got peas for a couple weeks before the birds ransacked the vines clean!

Cucumbers are super prickly! I don't even know how you can eat these things... I haven't tried to pick them yet, because the spines are so sharp!

Pretty much everything develops spines! Even the shafts on our lettuce has developed spines! They aren't as sharp as the cucumber prickles, but equally surprising! We have so much lettuce... Last week, Tom picked enough lettuce for six of us to have salads for dinner, and you couldn't even tell that he'd cut anything out of the lettuce patch! The lettuce is also very tasty-- I think we'll grow it again next year!

The animals in our neighbourhood are relentless. For the first few weeks of August, we were reveling in a huge abundance of the most delicious and tomatoey tomatoes I have ever tasted... And then... The squirrels discovered they are delicious, and the magpies discovered they are delicious. Now there are half-eaten tomatoes all over our fence, and I find myself banging on our glass patio door, trying to scare animals away on a regular basis. And one particularly cheeky squirrel is totally unfazed by the banging. He darts off for a few minutes, and then comes right back!

Our zucchini plants keep falling ill with some sort of mold or mildew. Little white patches have been growing on all the leaves. So far, we've only gotten to eat one zucchini, and SOMETHING (PROBABLY THAT DAMN SQUIRREL) took a bite out of the other one that is growing in the garden!

Green beans grow from the loveliest little purple flowers. And green beans, unlike the yellow wax beans we grew last year, do not grow upwards in vines. The plants stay relatively small, compared to what we've previously seen!

And finally, sometimes letting your toddler randomly pick seed packages works out really well. Lacey latched on to a package of mixed flowers when we were at Lowe's, and she insisted that we buy it for the garden. After she wildly sprinkled the seeds into the garden, I had a really tough time telling what were flowers, and what were weeds when they started to grow. It seems like I did a pretty good job of leaving the flowers in place! We have quite a nice collection of purple, blue, white, yellow and orange flowers now!

I'm hoping that I can pickle some carrots or beans this year-- I really enjoyed them last year!

Welcome, Scarlett!

Scarlett arrived very early, and in a hurry, on June 22 at 6:27am. Although the days seem long to two sleep deprived parents, the first five weeks with our little one have flown by.

Tom's version of my second labour experience, which I've copied below, is succinct, and I can (now) laugh at it... So, enjoy!

"Amanda's water broke at 2:30am and we were at the hospital by 3. They sent us back home around 4:30 telling us to come back when her contractions became longer and more intense - which the doctor thought would be in about 12 hours. By 5:45 things had changed dramatically and the longer and more intense contractions hit Amanda like a freight train and I'm sure the whole neighborhood heard her screaming via the open window in our bedroom. I sped to the Rockyview, threw Amanda in a wheel chair and raced to the maternity ward. After twenty mins of pushing, Scarlett was born."

To quote the doctor who sent us home, "Oh... I see things have progressed VERY quickly."

Things have seemed a lot easier this time around. Scarlett doesn't seem as fussy--or maybe we just know what we're doing this time. I've physically healed a lot faster, which allowed us to get out and about more. During our time off we were able to go to the zoo twice, for a walk in Griffith Woods, for a picnic on Prince's Island, for a walk on St. Patrick Island and to the Riley Park Splash Park. I won't claim these outings were smooth. It was hectic, and no easy feat getting both kids out the door, but with team work, we managed!

Scarlett is thriving, and Lacey is figuring out how to share the attention that was once solely focused on her. She's very affectionate with her baby sister, and rushes into the house after a day at daycare to say hello to her and give her a kiss. But she also acts out when we can't immediately focus our attention on her. Overall, I'd say everything about her transition into big sisterhood has been pretty typical for a two year old.

There have been a few bumps-- we all had a cold the first week home from the hospital, and I managed to get mastitis this last weekend (which was the devil). But our little village of family and friends have pulled together to offer us support, and we have gladly accepted.

Life is sweet, and so are our little girls!