Olympic Fever

We went downtown last Thursday to check out all the hap, hap happening stuff going on. We only went for a very short amount of time. We picked Wika up from work and headed down via skytrain. We knew we didn't have much time - we got down there around 6:15 and left around 8...so there was a lot to do in a very small amount of time! We only made it down to Robson Square and down to the Cauldron, so we obviously are going to go down again!! Here are a few pictures from our outting!

That night was the night of the Canada vs. Sweden game. It was a pretty intense game that Canada ending up winning in a shoot out...we were down there for all of this. Hockey isn't "just" a game down here...it's a religion. So when that game got out and Canada had won...it was CRAZY downtown. It was Awesome!! This picture is a bunch of people gathered around the CTV tent watching the game!!

Lantern Forrest

Emma, just enjoying the ride with her french fries!
OH CANADA

The Ice Skating rink at Robson Square, just another FREE thing to do downtown!

(we didn't do it-because it's free there is a nice long line!)

This was a TV on the wall of a building, just another great place to stand and watch the olympics

Family photo at the cauldron

The Beautiful Cauldron that you can't get close to, thank heavens for the 12inch hole in the fence so you can take a picture...without the fence.

That is it for day one of the Gordon-Smith trip to downtown Vancouver!! Can't wait for day two, we are trying to get tickets to a medal ceremony on Wednesday...keeping my fingers crossed!

OK, so maybe TWICE in a lifetime?

Yay for the Olympics!! We have yet to go downtown and partake in the festivities...and we plan on doing that a couple of times!! What an opportunity, to be living in the host city again for the Winter Games!! The atmopshere and energy is SO positive!! It really is so exciting!!

The Olympic torch came through Surrey on Monday Feb 8th, and it just so happened to come by just a block away from us. Unfortunately Wika had to work, but Emma and I made sure we were there. It was scheduled to come by around 2:55 pm...so I woke Emma up early from her nap and we headed up! It was amazing to see the street lined with people of all ages dressed in RED and White (Canada has always had such GREAT colors...don't you think??)

They had a lot of "sponsor" trucks come by handing out flags and coke and they were playing music!! Emma LOVED it!! She was mesmerized by everything going on!! She would wave her flag with pride while dancing...it was super cute!!

Here are a few pictures...I of course will put up more when we head downtown to Olympic Village!!

Emma waving her flag so fast I couldn't really get a good picture

There is the Beautiful Torch!

Then later that night they had a celebration at Holland Park...it was the end of the torch relay for that day...so we picked Wika up from work and headed down there for FHE. Boy was that insane...total MAYHEM!! Barely could even get around. So we waited in line to get some free COKE (even though we don't like Coke-but they were special Olympic bottles, so why not) then we waited in line to hold the torch and get a picture!! YAY for us!! Then at 7 we "watched" the actual torch come in for the night...all we got was the flame!! That was pretty much it for the night, it was cold and way too crowded.

that right there...is the Olympic Flame!

The walk back to the car, she was just so excited to be down and walking around-since she did just spend an hour on daddy's shoulder's with NO opportunity of getting down.

And just remember...I will always be an AMERICAN but this Canadian spirit is AWESOME!! SO with that...GO USA and GO CANADA!!

*Canada got their FIRST gold medal on home soil yesterday...pretty AWESOME!

Alexandre Bilodeau

it's a great feeling to be here while history is in the making!!
More to come when we go downtown...

why don't I post very often....

This is why!



and this

Temple Youth Celebration

and let's not forget the best for last



That's right...you can call me President!! I was just put in as the new Young Women's President!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! And am so excited...and super busy!! But it's totally worth it. I have AMAZING girls and can't wait to get to know them better!!

Also, we have the HUGE Youth Temple Celebration coming up! This consists of ALL the youth in our Temple district! Approx 1000 youth! WOWSER! It's a big celebration of song and dance...and it's going to be amazing!! And of course I wanted to help...this all happening before I was called as YW pres of course, so I am the Dance Liason for our Stake! I get to teach the youth of our stake their routines!! YAY!! No really, we are talking BIG deal. We have rehearsals every other weekend starting mid February. The actaul celebration happens on May 1st, one day before the Temple is dedicated!! Which means, the PROPHET will be there!! Oh it gives me chills just thinking about it!!

And last, well Wika starts his new job on Monday!! We have been SO spoiled!! Even before Emma was born my husband had an amazing job that allowed him to work from home! He was there for Emma's first EVERYTHING!! We know we were so lucky but times have changed...and it's time to act like the rest of the world!! We have really treasured our last week together with daddy home!! Lots of walks, movies and tonz of LAUGHING!!

This is a great big SHOUT OUT to my sweetheart!! We love you SO much and thank you for all your hard work and everything you do for us!! YOU ARE THE BEST!! Good luck on Monday babe!!

So you might see this as an excuse...I see it as an incredible journey!! At least I know I HAVE to blog!! I do it for me, my family and whom ever feels the need to read our blog!! To you...I hope to be better and keep you updated!! Until then,

Ciao

Everything that has happened since my last post and Christmas!!

So A LOT has happened, and I know that I am not so great at updating the blog. So here is the "quickest" recap I can give you. It's a long one full of A LOT of pictures!! Hope you enjoy.

We put up Christmas the Monday after Thanksgiving and Emma enjoyed helping daddy decorate.

This is the product of spaghetti and brownies...so cute!

One Monday evening for FHE we decided to make a gingerbread house. Here is daddy and Emma just after we put the house together...

Emma patiently waiting to "decorate" (aka eat the candy) the house

the finished product (if you look close Emma ate the snowmans head)

This is attempt #1 with Santa. This was at our ward Christmas party up in Surrey, as you can see she did ok.

Here she is excited for 2 reasons:

1. she is off Santa's lap

2. she got a present from Santa

What was her present you ask? It was a puppy!! And she LOVED her puppy

Here is attempt #2...we are now in Utah and my brother in laws work had Santa come by their office so we decided to stop by. Now by the looks of this picture she looks as though she is okay with Santa, but in reality she was sliding right off his lap and I just happened to capture a picture that made it look as though she was actually sitting on his lap!

This picture says it all....please don't make me sit on that mans lap!

Thanks for the candy cane Santa! I am sure you are a very nice man but I am going to enjoy you from over here.

So we are now heading down as a family to see the lights at Temple Square, Emma thinks she can get us there the fastest!

Emma walking hand in hand with Saydie and Sadie's mom, Syd. Too cute for words.

Family photo op. The only picture we got...SO COLD

There you have it!! That's what's been going on over here.

I can't wait to tell you about our Christmas Eve and Christmas, but that is another post. I promise not to wait another 2 months!! Please stay tuned!!

Happy New Year!

Guess who's 18 months old?

You know what that means? NURSERY!! YAY!! Today was Emma's first time in the nursery (without mom or dad in there) and she LOVED it! We are SO happy to have those beautiful 2 hours to actually learn and grow without the little munchkin!! We love you Emma and are SUPER proud of you!!

actually she is 1 week away from 18months, but it sure didn't stop us!!

Happy Halloween!

We had a WONDERFUL Halloween!! Emma got to go Trick-or-Treating AND Trunk-or-Treating!! She absolutely LOVED it, as did her daddy because he now gets to eat all the candy that she isn't allowed to eat!! Let's just say, BOTH my kids are VERY happy!!



As you can tell she was a cheerleader, not just ANY cheerleader...A UTAH CHEERLEADER!! She was so stinking cute too!! She cheered SUPER hard, and it worked. THE UTES WON!! GO UTES!

Pickin' Pumpkins

Last Monday for family night we decided to head to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins! The night before we had quite the down pour, but Monday was actually a pretty decent day! So we loaded up and headed to Abbotsford!!

OOPS, remember how it rained?? YEAH, it was SO muddy!! So we parked on the street and walked into the farm...did you know that broccoli STINKS!! It took a good 5/10 min or so to walk in and we still got our shoes nice and muddy. And of course as soon as we got there they owners showed up with the nice ''tractor train'' that brings you in and out of the farm! NICE TIMING!

Anywho, we had a lot of fun in the cold wet mud collecting our pumpkins!! Emma loved just being able to run around!!

CHEESE

On the train with daddy

playing with the goats, they later kind of bit her....she's okay though

on the train, again, with mommy


Back at the car THANK HEAVENS!!