Fun!

We have been enjoying some fun, busy weeks!!  With summer hitting us late the weather is awesome and we are soaking it up!!  We have had visits with friends, bbqs with family, jamming and canning with friends, bike rides, many swims in the pool, weddings, puppy selling, etc, etc :) 

Auntie Reina came over and we got an updated picture:) We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of fresh sockeye and then went for a walk around the block....  was great!! 

Before Ben's parents and two sisters left for a 2 week holiday to Ontario (to visit 3 siblings and there families) we had a bbq, swim, and camp fire at our house! What a great time we had... [now we are looking forward to having Dan and Dustin, Courtney, Dallas, and Daniel come over for dinner and a swim this afternoon!]  I tried to take some pictures of the nephews and nieces swimming late in the evening...  even though it was dark we still got a few nice shots:)

On Labour Day Monday Ranen and I joined my parents, Ivan, Steve, Cath and Cayden for a little boat cruise on Harrison Lake up to Rainbow Falls and then back to Greenpoint where we were joined by Derek and Janine for a bbq... what a beautiful day!  The weather was gorgeous:)  [Ben was helping a friend with their first day of robot milking so we will be going back one day with him so we can all enjoy it together:)]

At Greenpoint for our bbq... love the lighting :)

Getting Ranen to smile for a camera is like pulling teeth - frowns are much more common!!  ... just getting her to look is difficult (she loves find Mommy's eyes or nose so that is usually how I get her to look!)

Lounging like the adults...

I just love this picture....  Cayden we love you very much!

Then on Tuesday we canned 100lbs of peaches... with my fabulous friend Christy and wonderful sister-in-law Cathrine... we had a great time!  We combined all our expertise (because everyone cans so differently) and the peaches look [and taste] fabulous!  I also made blackberry jelly with Christy the week before that and plan to do salsa yet sometime in the coming two weeks (hopefully she won't get too sick of me by then!!)

The last month and a bit at the farm have been absolutely wonderful for Ben - the robots are running very smoothly and thorougly enjoyed!!  And we have been loving our extra time with our wonderful man!!  He is so good at teaching Ranen new things... and remembering to show her the interesting things... here they are watching this grasshopper!

And just a few more pictures of Ranen...

Ranen absolutely LOVES fruit...  she easily eats 3/4 of a nectarine, tons of strawberries, half of a banana etc!  I strip her down so that she can make a mess and I don't need to stress about stains! :)

We only have one puppy left, she is supposed to be picked up today!!  Ranen will miss them!  She spends a lot of time outside by their kennel!

One of my favourites!

Hope you are all enjoying this delightful summer weather!

Next up...  pictures of the wedding I photographed at!!

Pet Week

It is pet week over at I Heart Faces photo challenge!  I am entering a photo of one of the puppies we still have left to sell... 

This is our yellow female purebred lab puppy who is still for sale...  she is gorgeous - an independent one who loves exploring and enjoys the water bucket!

Head over to I Heart Faces to see more of the entries:  Click on this link...

Chemainus

The first week of August we took a little break from the 'rat race' at home!  Ben has been putting in 80-90 hour weeks for quite some time and has spent many a frustrating hour with the robots...  (just for the record - things are going rather fabulously now... it was just that the transition period from parlour to robots taking longer than initially expected) :) 

We booked a bed and breakfast in Chemainus (on the island just south of Nanaimo) and had a great time!!  What made us choose Chemainus?  Not sure, other than the fact that we couldn't find any nice available b&b on the sunshine coast for the days we wanted to go...  [oh and a little underlying reason... they have a candy shop there that sells these AMAZING bon bons...  an absolute must try!!]  And this b&b had a pool and a hot tub...  Ranen really enjoyed the pool :)   If ever you travel through Chemainus try the restaurant 'Odika's' - and don't forget the bon bons at the candy shop :)

Waiting for the ferry (oops, I had made one wrong turn and apparently that caused a 3 hour wait for us... we missed the one ferry by about 20 cars!!)

So we enjoyed this apple from the chocolate factory!

Ranen and Daddy loving to be together... 

Chemainus is the town famous for its murals... we took a horse drawn tour to see them... quite neat!  Many of them take years, even decades to complete and they are still creating more today...  Ranen loved the horse.  The first day we were there we toured Chemainus, the next day we went to a historic foresty thing and Cowichan Bay (another neat town) and then the last day, before the ferry home, we stopped at raft trevor beach!! [we are going back to the parksville area soon...  we are hoping for a week of camping in September... it is such a beauty place!]

One of the many murals... this one and the next picture are two parts to the same mural.

A few more pictures from our time away...

Beachcombing at the bed and breakfast...



Enjoying their pool with mommy!



Lounging in the sun...

Ocean was much cooler than the pool!!

Our view out of the b&b's windows...  we were quite a ways up from the water but still right there!!  Each morning the sun came pouring in the windows for us :)

Enjoying Raft Trevor Beach before catching the early afternoon ferry!  This picture was before we decided to just put Ranen's swimsuit on... she LOVES water!

So if you decide to swing by Chemainus... let me know - because we may need some more bon bons! :)

Flowers

One of the enjoyments of moving is having new flowers to be my willing 'models'... they never complain, they hold their smiles continually without looking fake, and they show such natural beauty...

Here are a few of my favourites!

Hope you liked these!

The other day I made a big jump...  I bought a new camera lens!!!  Can't wait to show pictures from that lens:)  I am looking forward to seeing what it produces!!  With my new lens I am able to get a lot more focus in one particular area with much more fading out behind... can't wait!!

And if you are looking for someone to take family pictures, special occasion pictures etc. you can contact me at info@yourprintedmatter.ca   We are looking forward to doing a wedding on August 26...

Remembering...

...our dear son, Landon. 

Our precious firstborn was stillborn on August 14, 2009... tomorrow might have been his second birthday. 

So often we think of what might have been...
   ... in many moments in life we think of where he might have been, what he might be doing, who he might look like, what he might have sounded like, what he might have liked or disliked, how him and Ranen might have played together, would he have been a mommy's boy or would Daddy have been is super hero, would he have liked the tractors and the cows, and the list goes on and on... 

Mostly we think of you in silence, once in a while we say your name, always we remember you...

"What we have once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose,

for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us."

Helen Keller

Ranen's First Year!

Finally a chance to create the post that I having been dreaming of for a while.  Our precious daughter turned 1 on July 27 - a joyful, exciting day(s) for us!  We had a great time with family and friends and have treasured the many moments we spent together. 
It was also a bittersweet day. -thinking of what might have been and of what we miss.  We try not to dwell on this fact but it is also good for us to express it at times... rather than suppressing it.  While it was the first 1st birthday we celebrated, we were thinking of the other first birthday that never was and of what it may have been like to have a 2 year old helping Ranen celebrate... Thoughts that will always live with us from day to day. 

Ranen`s first year was a special one for us!  ...we hope that we may be blessed with more years like this last one! 
Back on the morning of July 26, 2010 we went into Chilliwack General Hospital to be induced and were expecting a rather quick delivery because our last one was...  Not so - Ranen decided she was not quite ready and decided to wait until July 27, 7:02 p.m.  Our bundle of joy arrived weighing 8lbs, 4oz.  The feelings that followed these special moments are undescribable - very mixed emotions! 
From this day on we got to treasure all our precious moments with our little girl...  She has grown quickly, made us laugh, made us cry, shown character, cuddled, stolen our hearts and so much more!  We love our precious bundle and truely hope that we will be blessed with more years together. 

I find it amazing to look back at the pictures and see how much she has grown...  I will share some of my favourites...

Cuddling with my proud Daddy...  he treats me the best!  He is such a fabulous Daddy... I love him to bits and pieces:)

One of the few pictures with my mommy...  (thanks Auntie Grace)

I was swinging my hands at things on my mat at 4 weeks.

I was in the jolly jumper (and LOVED it) at 4 months...

My first snow! (mommy cares more than me!)

Sitting on my own at 6 months...

(loves mirrors... still now!)

 I love the calves and the calves love me!

I can be goofy too!

Please mommy... can we go visit Daddy!

I started taking steps and furniture walking at 10 months but was a little too chicken to really walk until my first birthday!!  Now I really go!

My birthday present from Daddy and Mommy (and the baby is from Opa and Oma Lindhout)...  suddenly I have turned into a real mommy!  I even know how to back up when I walk into walls!

Baby gets a kiss!

Hope you enjoyed the snapshots of moments into Ranen`s first year... 

Hopefully I can improve at updating regularly so that you all don`t get sick of opening to`...oh, still no new one!!` Thanks for your patience everyone!!