We Heart Vancouver

Our trip to Vancouver was amazing. It is such a pretty, friendly and fun city. I urge everyone to check it out. I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't know much about Canada before taking this trip but now I can't wait to return and learn more. What a lovely place full of lovely people.

The hundreds of photos Tripp took while we were away seem overwhelming to me so here are some quick snapshots of the events. The first covers the sights in Vancouver the second our Olympic experience.

That's right, we had the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the Winter Olympics. Aggreko (the company Tripp works for) is the official supplier of power, chillers and heaters for the 2010 Olympic Games. Anyway, Tripp received the President's Award last year - a pretty big deal in his world. I think he gets embarrassed talking about it but it was a huge accomplishment and I'm beyond proud of him. He received a couple of standing ovations which I think about did him in. With the award, he was given this trip to the Olympics. We are so grateful and truly feel blessed for the opportunity. Thanks Aggreko! They were so generous and really made certain we were taken care of. Everyone from the President of North America/Canada on down couldn't have been kinder. A darling girl from their marketing department, Erica, did a fantastic job organizing the trip for us and the Aggreko Excellence winners.

We fell in love with the Olympics as well. I would never have guessed but I now see why people with the means to go do so and continue time and time again. Here is a quick breakdown of our trip:

Thursday - Arrival

Friday - Opening Ceremonies. We were in that stadium for a really, really long time but it was so fun. So very different than watching it on TV.

Saturday - Mens 5000 Meter Speed Skating. I've never watched speed skating before but I definitely see why it's popular. These men go so crazy fast. Amazing. Stood next to Will, from Will & Grace while waiting for some of our group to take pictures with the Olympic mascots. I have no idea what his actual name is so needless to say, I just stood next to him and pretended that I didn't realize he was famous.

Sunday - In the morning Tripp & I visited Capilano Bridge. Hung out by Cindy Crawford and her family as we were waiting for the bus and she was waiting for her guide to get all the arrangements settled for her family to go in. One of the most beautiful outdoor experiences of my life (the bridge, not Cindy Crawford. Although she is annoyingly lovely even without much make-up or fixing up). If you are ever there, make sure to go. Evening, Pairs Short Program Figure Skating. Again, never been a figure skating fan but I quickly fell in love...and got a terrible stomach ache at the same time. Watching those skaters fall again and again is way too stressful for me.

Monday - Mens 500 Meter Speed Skating. If you watched at all, this is the event where the Zamboni kept breaking down and there were a bunch of problems with the ice. The media made it seem like such a horrible time but inside the stadium, not really a huge deal. One American dropped out because he lost his Chi during the long wait (but he never would have medaled anyway) but otherwise, everyone was in good spirits. Don't believe everything NBC is saying about how the glitches are causing a problem...no one there really seems to care. Even the torch not lighting in the opening ceremonies...no big deal.

Tuesday it was time to head home. Such a fun vacation. On the way to the 500 Meter SS we sat on a shuttle with two former Olympians. Tripp calls them "The Grumpier Old Men" but they were so funny and so fun. Both were speed skaters, and each competed in two consecutive Olympics (1948, 1952, 1956 & 1960). So fun to talk to them about speed skating and the Olympics in general. What amazing guys. (Photo featured above) Might have to call it the highlight of the Olympic experience.
I could go on and on but I think I'll leave it relatively short and sweet. A quick but wonderful trip. A huge "Thank You" to MamaThom and PapaThom who watched our kids while we were away. I think they had just as much fun as we did (the kids that is...not really sure about the grandparents).

POTD

This little bit of soft, chubby goodness is my new little nephew Ryan, Ryan M. Griffeth to be exact. He was born yesterday and is snugly, and warm and full of goodness. I could have hugged him for hours. But he likes to eat and sadly, I had my own family to attend to (drat).

But now that his family lives a hot, skip and jump away, I can really see him almost any time I want. Like tomorrow.

Baby and mommy are doing great and expect to head home sometime today. I'm sure Lindsay will post all the details soon.

Photos and details on the Olympics to come....

Happy Valentine's Day

A Happy Early Valentine's Day to everyone. We hope you all have a wonderful day filled with love on Sunday and a great President's Day holiday on Monday. MamaThom and PapaThom arrived this afternoon, I finished canning the apple crisp today (with Rachel's help of course!) and we are trying to tie up all the loose ends before we hop in the plane to Vancouver tomorrow.

See you all next week....

POTD

Without knowing the other had bought the kit or even started the project, both Lindsay and I started Project Life - 365 Days of Photos at exactly the same time (or within a day or two of each other). Our cousin, Jen, did it last year and is friends with the architect of the whole project so she is definitely a good source of information and inspiration. The idea is to take one photo every day for 365 days and write a small journal entry about it. The entire kits comes ready to go, all you have to do is take the photos, get them printed and fill out the small journal cards. Easy peasy.

This is my photo for today. These three girls are the best of friends. I used to say that Ruby was Abbie's BFF but she is truly Daisy's as well. All three girls love to play together and my girls are definitely kinder to one another and play better together when the third musketeer is around. When Ruby arrived for the much anticipated play date this morning (we've had to cancel a couple times and both girls have been jazzed about this all week), they ran into the playroom, put on dress-ups and started dressing the Snoopys. I barely heard from them the entire time Ruby was here. They played so well and had so much fun. We heart Ruby.

Applesauce

I made and canned applesauce this weekend. An absolute first for me. It started with a bunch of boxes of lovely Washington farm apples that I got for a steal then with encouragement from my sister-in-law Jennifer and the borrowing of her family's applesauce maker and canning equipment I was in business.

I made the applesauce Saturday. It was a time-consuming process with just me but once Tripp got home from "The Move", the two of us finished up like pros. That's right...Lindsay and Wes are settling in today in their house just down the street! Well, the next neighborhood but it is less than five minutes walk from my house...maybe three. I'm excited to have them close for fun, borrowing and maybe more lessons on how to doctor-up my blog photos!

Anyhoo, I didn't get as much done Saturday as I'd hoped so Tripp helped me can the sauce Sunday after church. It was a breeze...definitely the easiest part. We now have plenty of homemade applesauce for the family!

A special "Thanks" to Jenn for encouraging me to try it and to her family for loaning me the equipment. She is the best.

Up next, canning apple crisp and possibly breaking out my wheat grinder for some homemade bread!