We Outnumbered Them...Honestly!

These pics made me laugh! You see, we adults outnumbered the kids 6 to 5 and when Rod was there then we were a man up so the ratio of adults to kids was 7 to 5. You'd think that would be enough right?

I'm sure these pictures will tell a different story!

Rose, getting a better vantage point on all the backyard action.
Eliza using her monkey as a cushion and after deciding that colouring on herself was much more fun than in the book.
And finally, Miss Maisie. I took this picture as she breezed by me. Where was she going?
Off to the deck to find the bottle of soda, take it down from the table, remove the cap and 'try' to take a drink. I'm sure it would have been her very first sip of soda but I think it's pretty safe to say that she wore it rather than drank it! Oh yes, the girls did keep up hopping! And....we wouldn't have had it any other way!!

Favourite Pics of Utah Bloggy Bash....

Wanted to share a few more of my favourite pics from the trip....

Ro(l) and Ree(r), smiling for the camera

Tess, Queen of the Taggie. Seen here with Taggie III, or Taggie IV....or maybe even Taggie V!

Lisa and I, knowing Tess' love for her taggie, wanted to make her feel welcome right from the moment she saw us so we decided this would be the very best way to meet her at the airport!

She knew immediately that we were 'her people!'

I snickered when I took this pic of Tiffany and told her that she was exactly what my image of motherhood is going to be, right?

Tess' first piggies! Isn't she adorable?!!
On Sunday afternoon at the Children's Museum Ro allowed me to hold her hand as we walked over to visit the horse. Oh my what this did for my heart!! Thank you Ro!!!


Maisie grocery shopping at the museum


Ro and Ree feeding the horse


Mary-Mia and I. So happy we were finally able to meet!!

Eliza was adorable when she put black olives on every one of her teeny tiny fingers!


Ree helping out and drinking for 2. Look at those adorable little eyes! If you listen carefully you can almost hear her giggles through this pic.

Tess...all tuckered out after a long weekend of fun and adventures with her friends!


Sweet, sweet memories indeed!

Gifts from Friends

As is the case with bloggy get-togethers, there were wonderful gifts for all the girls! Tess was excited to share her gift for Hannah so Friday night she gave me this adorable little winter hat...
...and modelled it too! I loved seeing pics last winter of Tess wearing her hat and I know that Hannah will appreciate hers when she encounters her first Canadian winter.
Other neat gifts were: a book about how to draw animals from Maisie and Lisa (that my niece already had fun with this morning), dress up shoes from Tate and Lisa W, a cute fall t-shirt and handmade hair clips from Eliza and Tiffany plus Rose, Marie and Mary-Mia gave us R&M's favourite Dr. Suess books!
The books were made extra special by Rose and Marie taking time to autograph them themselves!
My gifts for the girls were taggies for all (fully endorsed by Tess) so my sewing machine was a whirring the week before as I had 15 of them to take with me.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful gifts for Miss Hannah but more than anything, thank you for your friendship!!! I can't wait for the day when I can introduce you to Hannah in person and meet Tate too!!!

Celebrating 18 month LIDiversary!

It has been a busy week so this post is late but I still wanted to share it anyway. I was thrilled to celebrate my 18 month LIDiversary last Sunday surrounded by friends who have or are in the process of adopting their daughters from China! What a great way to celebrate this milestone!!

Celebrating being 18 months closer to my sweet Hannah...and the precious friends God has brought into my life as I wait for my daughter! Miss you already everyone!!!

Wow...just WOW!

Sunday morning Rod, Lisa S and I had the priviledge of attending a live taping of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (Hey Lisa, is that your friend on the left side of the group displayed on their home page? Sure looks like him!)

The choir was amazing! The sound that these 360 voices make together is nothing short of breath-taking! Each syllable and note is spot on and absolutely beautiful! If you ever have the opportunity to hear this amazing choir in person do yourself a favour and go for it!

A nice gentleman asked Lisa where she was from and she shared why we together. He asked her to see him after the performance and he asked us about the girls (and saw a pic of Rose and Marie as great Daddy Rod had one in his wallet!) and then he gave each of us a CD of the choir. What a wonderful keepsake.

Afterwards Lisa W met us and took us on a tour of Temple Square. So pretty and inspite of the original weather forecasts you can see that it was a beautiful day.

What a neat experience to visit a place I have only seen in pictures. SLC is a beautiful city and I look forward to the day when I can return and see more of the sights around it! And, maybe meet Donny? LOL!!! Until then, this pic will have to do. This is for you Deb!

Bloggy Bash Extrordinaire - Utah Style!

My dear friend Tawni (pictured here in Georgia with Susie on the far left, then Tawni and myself, Kris, Tracy and Krista)
offered to hold a BBQ on Saturday for some local families as well as those who had flown in for the Utah Bloggy Bash Reunion. Wow! There were so many people there (still not sure of the final count) and we had an abosolutely amazing time!

It was so neat to meet Tawni's husband and what a great guy he is!
He BBQ'd in the rain so that we could have hot, tasty food. Thanks John!!

Here is a pic of Tawni and John's 3 adorable boys and you know what? They're as kind and sweet on the inside as they are handsome on the outside!

It was also neat to meat Kim B and her family. Last year I followed their family as they travelled to China to meet Pearl (front) and I look forward to following their next journey to meet their son in the future! It was great to meet you Kim!

Before I left, Tawni gave me a beautiful gift to capture memories of Hannah. Thank you Tawni!! You are so generous and I look forward to the day when I'm creating pages for Hannah wearing her pretty pink shoes!



I love you dear friend and am SO GLAD that we were able to spend some time together. It wasn't nearly enough but I'll be back for sure and you know that you're always welcome here too. I couldn't believe that we didn't get a picture of the two of us together but that could have a lot to do with the bloodshot eyes we were both sporting after our teary goodbyes. (((hugs))) sweet friend. Miss you already!! xo

Dog Sleds and Driving

Contrary to popular belief, we Canadians do not live in igloos, drive dog sleds and we even have electricity and summer temps into the 100's! (I'd have said in the 30's and 40's but that would just have confused everyone. :o)

Being the lone Canadian at 3 of the bloggy bashes I've attended I've taken (and dished out to myself) many 'Canadian' jokes. Being the lone 'foreigner' can be a tough row to hoe but I'm happy to do what I can to dismay the myths about Canadians. Sure, I hear snickers when I say, 'house' and 'about' but hey, my aunt who lives only 4 hours from me thinks I says those words funny so maybe it's more a Catherinism rather than a Canadianism?!

Saturday afternoon I needed to pick up some groceries so Lisa offered to lone me her car. She and Julie felt it was necessary though to first ensure that I'd be able to make a smooth transition between driving my dog sled at home and her automobile! We discussed what side of the road to drive on (after Lisa had just moments before driven down the left side of a street to get us closer to a house! Oh yes, there was oncoming traffic at the time too, albeit driving very slowly checking out the 3 crazy ladies on the wrong side of the street!)

We discussed such important rules of the road such as, 'What does a yellow light mean?' (Floor it baby...that's easy!) There were other questions too and when they were satisfied I could handle driving in Utah, I was given the keys to the car. Wahoo! Let's go!!

I drove to and from the grocery store without incident...sorta. Hmmm. Is it legal to turn right on a red light? Guess I'll give it a try and see if anyone freaks. Hmmmm #2...is it legal to make a u-turn when you miss your street and need to go back? Mary-Mia and I had already mastered that in the exact same location an hour earlier and the 'California u-turn' had been born so I used this new skill and skillfully completed my very first California u-turn. Oh yes, I was driving in Utah and having fun!

Now, on to Sunday. We went to a mall so that Julie could check out a store she really likes online called Naartjie and I wanted to make my regular Bath & Body Works stop. Ummm...guess I bought a lot as that encouraged an inexpensive luggage purchase at Tar-jay later that evening. (I was able to prove one thing though. It takes exactly 1 flight for a new suitcase to be scarred for life by an airline. The one on the left was encased in the one on the right. Oops!)
Oh well, it's only luggage and hopefully it will gain lots more travel tales over the years to come.

Back to Sunday afternoon (oh man do I wander when I tell a story!) and to this picture...it says it all!

After answering 20 questions before 'da foreigner' could drive the car, this my friends is how Lisa parked at the mall! Notice the round yellow line snaking under the car? Yup...that's because she'd created her own spot and oh boy did I laugh! And, take pictures of course!

Such fun, fun memories of a wonderful weekend together! Thanks for the lone of your car Lisa, and the parking chuckle Sunday afternoon!

Oh yes and umm Lisa, care to share what happened when you were driving for meet Tiffany and Lisa for supper Monday night? Let's just say the HOV lanes are well enforced in SLC!

Where there's a will...there's a way! :o)

On Saturday when I went into Lisa's freezer to get some ice I saw a package of these little gems and my tast buds starting popping!
One of my favourite Saturday morning treats is to make up a package of Pilbury's cinnammon buns and sit back with a cup of hot coffee and enjoy. Mmmm! When I saw these were orange flavour my thoughts immediately turned to, 'How can I take a package of these home with me?'

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon when it was time to head to the grocery store. I borrowed Lisa's car (more about that in the next post) and headed to the store. I found all the ingredients for my appetizers and then looked for my next item, 'Rhodes Orange Rolls.' Sure enough they were right there in the frozen food area and before I could help myself (ya right...as if I was even trying!) a package had hopped into my cart and I was heading to the checkout before you could say, 'warm yummy orange rolls covered with icing!'

Lisa made a package of these for b'fast Sunday morning and I knew they were worth the effort to carry them home.

Monday morning arrived and as I was packing my suitcase it was time to pack the rolls. Thinking of what frozen buns could do when left in a warm area, I bravely double bagged them and placed them in my suitcase. Visions of the old story of the lady driving down the highway and having a package of the rolls explode in her car drifted through my mind but to have these at home I was willing to take the risk. After all, it's pretty cold in the belly of the plane so at least at that point they'd be at the right temp. I hoped! Little did I know that I'd land in the middle of a heat wave in Toronto to temps above 80o! Still...I knew it would be worth it.

I arrived home in the early evening and began to unpack my suitcase. Hmmm...maybe packing frozen food in my suitcase is the secret to getting me to unpack in a timely manner? (Ok...there was See's Chocolates to unpack too which I had to get at!)

With little concern I opened the packaging and was happy to find that other than a little shifting, my orange rolls were in perfect shape and guess what...the oven was already preheated and just waiting for those yummies!

They travelled across 2 countries but as you can see here, these delightful little morsels were well worth the effort they took to bring home! Too bad we don't have 'smellavision' on blogs but take it from me, these treats are yumm-mmy!

Giggles, Love and Fun for Everyone!

Wow, wow...WOW!! What a great weekend! It was wonderful to see
Julie & Tess again,
as well as Lisa and Maisie.
It was also neat to meet so many friends in person that until this past weekend I had only known via bloggyland, emails and phone calls: M3 and Ree
Tuba Dad, Ro (l) and Ree (r).
Our first stop when we got off the plane was to visit Tiffany & Eliza!
Lisa (holding the adorable Tess) and I have LID's a couple of weeks apart from one another and she generously opened her home to Julie and I and it immediately felt like home! Thank you Lisa for being such a great hostess...and even letting me try out driving a car! (More on that in another post). I'm looking forward to the day when this pic has your sweet Tate in your arms!
Sunday morning he girls posed for our own red couch photo. L to r: Elize, Tess, Maisie, Ree and Ro.
Sadly this was the last time we were together...for this trip. A great dinner at a Chinese buffet offered us an opportunity to snap a group pic! L to r: Lisa, Tiffany and Eliza, Lisa S and Maisie, M3 with Ree(l) and Ro, Julie and Tess and myself!
Thank you SO MUCH for inviting me to join the Utah Bloggy Bash Reunion Tour! I had the very best time and can't wait until we're together again....with Hannah and Tate too!!!

Heading West For A Few Days of Fun!

I'm excited to be heading west tomorrow to meet up with some wonderful bloggy friends. Some I have met before, others on the phone and some only by blogs and email. Last year a wonderful group of ladies met together in Utah for the Utah Bloggy Bash! Unfortunately Donna was unable to make it this year and they asked if I'd like to join them. I was excited to accept their kind offer!

This year's bloggy bash reunion tour consists of Julie & Tess, Lisa W (who kindly invited 'the foreigner' to stay at her place), Lisa & Maisie, Mary-Mia, Rose & Marie, Tiffany & Eliza, Tawni and Susie. It will be wonderful to see 4 of the bloggy friends again that I've met at other times and meet 3 new ones too!

It is going to be a wonderful weekend of sharing time with friends, their hubbies and, trying to keep up with all their little ones! It's so neat that Rose, Marie, Tess, Maisie and Eliza were just twinkles in their mommy's eyes last year and this year they're here with us! I'll be celebrating my 18 month LIDiversary this Sunday and I can't imagine any better way to celebrate this milestone then surrounded by friends and their precious children! I love how the timing of this worked out. I see it as one more little reminder that God is in control and He is interested not only in the big things but in the details too!

Praising God!

Some of you may remember this post that I shared with you in June. Earlier this year, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and he went through a series of 20 radiation treatments.

Today we got the initial results and I'm thrilled to share them with you! His original number (not sure what 'number'....PSA sounds familiar but then that could be how you measure the pressure in tires :o) was 13. All things going well he was told that after the radiation his number would drop by half to 6.5. He got the tests from his initial post-radiation blood work todan and was told today that his number is now 2.5!!! Wahoo!!!

Praising God for answered prayers and for dad's health! Love you Dad!

PS - Thanks for your help painting the garage today. Greatly appreciated.

Waiting Mommies Dinner #6

Saturday evening was another night of fun for our local group of Waiting Mommies. Those at this dinner were: (back row l to r) Michelle, Dolores, Kathy, Doris, Bev, Lisa, Leslie (front row) myself, Liz & Ava, Julia, Suzanne, Deb with a sleepy Mercy and Lori.

We enjoyed the wonderful company of our guest Doris who was in town for the weekend. It was GREAT having you with us Doris! Hopefully you can come again soon!!

This was the first time that we were able to meet Mercy and oh what a sweetie she is! Absolutley adorable and too precious for words! I think all of the excitement was too much for her and she quietly fell alseep in her (Mickey Mouse! :o) stroller. I'm so glad you and Mercy were able to be at the dinner Deb. You help to encourage all of us.

Little Miss Ava lit up the room with her smiles and giggles all around. She will never know how much her 'lap hopping' did for all of these mommies who still hold their children only in their hearts.

We were happy to celebrate Rhonda's birthday with her. Happy Birthday Rhonda! Hope you had a great day of celebrations!

One of the fun parts of the waiter was our great waiter John. He made us smile, was a great guy and called us all by name as he noted our nametags. Psst....don't you think this adorable guy could be Mr. Bean's son?

Thanks for another wonderful dinner ladies! See you November 9th.

And...if any of you bloggy friends from near and far want to join us, just let me know. Doris joined us this time and we're SO GLAD she did! We're always welcome to new people coming and 'guest visitors' from across Canada and the US are always welcome!