Deer Harbour, U.S.A., last weekend...

Second Lunch Treat....

.... and day two.... same lunch bag.... but this time with a special note inside :)

First Day of School - treat for Mummy!

Well the first day of Grade 4 and Grade 6 (eek!) went off without a hitch.  But NOT without a treat for me!  As it was the start of school I decided to make the kids lunch (they ususally have to make their own).  But unbeknownst to me, Brooklyn decided to make ME lunch too !

So there on the counter, as we are walking out the door to head off for school..... I see this:

Two Words: PRE....CIOUS !!!!!

SOMETHING NEW!

So my 'something new' was Cupcake Wrappers !!! I'm really excited about this... our friend Emily, whose wedding was a couple of weeks ago, was having trouble finding cupcake wrappers in black that didn't cost an arm and a leg.  So, after working with some different templates I finally found one I liked that matched her vintage theme and made them for her.  And the great thing is, I can make these in any colour to match the wedding theme, as well as patterned cardstock.  Here is a picture of them with her cupcakes.  More details on the cake website (right hand side).

Something fun coming.....

So I have branched out, of sorts, with regard to wedding cakes.... only in a little way but I'm quite excited about it.  There is a bride who is getting married this weekend, who couldn't find an item that she wanted at an acceptable price.  So, after experimenting a bit I am now making (well, in this case have made) the item she is looking for..... and I think I will have it available for future brides who wish to order it from me in the future.

But you will have to wait until after the wedding day before I post any pictures.  Wouldn't want to spoil it before the wedding day :)

And in other cake news, after not being pleased with the Shaw web page I had for my cakes I now have a new cake website.  It's only one page as it's using Blogger which has some formatting restrictions.  But it does have a gallery and directs everyone to my email address for inquiries, pricing etc.  Check it out on the right hand side if you haven't seen it before.  It's basic but hey.... it's also free ......

OUCH! Band-Aid off.....

Well I finally did it.  I've been threatening to for well over a year but I finally bit the bullet and took care of business.

I just closed my Facebook account.

I LOVED facebook (as those of you who were my friends can attest to....) for many reasons; quick way to get hold of people, GREAT way to share photos - especially with friends and family out of town and great way to 'escape' from work for a moment or two.

The problem was multi-fold - there are 'friends' who aren't really friends, if you know what I mean, and things were getting a bit weird with a few of them.  Not creepy-weird just, 'you shouldn't normally know that about me' weird.

So, as I realized that too much information gets shared on facebook, and it is too easy to waste precious time that could be had with my family instead, I've opted out.  The thing I think I will miss the most is the free advertising for my cakes business.  So, if you have any friends getting married, please feel free to pass on my info to them!  I may add a facebook business page down the line but for now we will just stick with the old blog.

And so as not to leave my family photo-less in the process, here are some photos from teen camp in July.  Super-smooth camp this year and, as usual, SOOO much fun.  Cheers.

Banquet on the last night - 80's theme!

Beautiful baptisms, Jonathan our babysitter and then the kids 2nd cousin Ethan Richmond

Our great group of counsellors (shame about the shade....)

Waiting for their turn on the inflatables.

The 'other baby'

By now many of you will have heard that we finally purchased an item that Darrell has been dreaming of ever since I've known him.  We are now the proud owners of a boat.

When his family was younger they owned a boat along with 2 other families and enjoyed many good times together cruising around and exploring new worlds.  I have to admit, I had to be coaxed into this.  Never having been a boater (except for cruise ships!! haha) I wasn't exactly 'onboard'.  Pardon the pun.  But now that it made its way up to Victoria from Bellingham, and had its inaugural launch, and subsequent first sailing, I have to admit it's pretty fun.  And I am relishing the thought of my children spending more time with nature than they currently do in front of screens.

We took 4 boys out to celebrate Zachary's 11th birthday and that really has been the only trip thus far due to our crummy weather in May.  June is looking up!  A quick jaunt over to Sidney Spit for the day and immediately everyone seemed more relaxed as they ran around the sand looking for eagles and snakes.  It is really beautiful there and I can't believe that with having lived in Victoria for two separate stints of time, I had never made it over there before.

Now we can plot trips to Friday Harbour and various Gulf islands we have yet to visit.  Fun.