back to blogging again ......

Well hello there strangers !!!  Yep - it's been quite some time since I've sat down to share anything online except the occasional Facebook or Instagram update ...... To say my life has been busy is the understatement of 2014 for me.  I wanted to take a minute to catch y'all up on where i've been, what i've been up to and where I think i'm going :))

First off ...... around the time of my last post waaaaaay back in June I was getting heavy into show season with Em and her horses.  She started the summer in Vancouver and she saw huge success .....



..... we then headed to Spruce Meadows in Calgary for the first time ever and that is where she fell in love ...... with Spruce Meadows that is !!!  We all had such a great time and enjoyed ALL the AB family and friends coming out to cheer her on ..... she can't wait to go back ......

 

We came home and got to spend several weeks at our new home in Duncan with our new pool and new friends enjoying learning as much as we could about the Cowichan Valley.  We had a blast ...... Alex's birthday was AMAZING and the weather was fantastic !! The pool was full and we had kids over for hours .... a great way to turn 9 !!

This was Alex's first year playing baseball and he LOVED it !!  Back catcher was his fave position (just like his Mom ;)) ..... it was such a great few months watching him fall in love with my favorite sport !! His team played very well and ended the season 2nd overall ..... silver medal for my boy :))

In the middle of July Emma was lucky enough to have been chosen to compete on the BC Summer Games Equestrian Team !!  It was the most incredible experience and she finished the games with both individual silver AND team silver too !!  Something she will never forget ...... so proud of her !!

The kids even went to Kayak camp for the first time .... It was so beautiful out on Maple Bay every morning .....

In the 3rd week of July, we packed up our new living quarters horse trailer and headed back out to Calgary to spend the month of August at Rocky Mountain Show Jumping so Em could spend some time showing in AB again ....

We had the most amazing month ..... Waking up to the big open skies every morning (and a few prairie storms too ;) was an amazing way to spend the end of the summer.

 

Emma saw incredible success and won many ribbons on both of her horses .... 

She made some new friends and loved the barn she was riding with.  She was laughing, smiling and learning so much that she didn't want to leave !!!

....... so we filled out applications for private school in Calgary, rented a furnished house and then headed back to Vancouver Island to pack !!! 

It was a tough decision but the opportunities were so exciting for us that we had to continue to live every day as we always have.  Life is about the journey and we felt that our journey was taking us back to Alberta (Scott is from AB and we'd lived there together years ago) ....

We have so many family friends in and around Calgary that it was exciting to think about living close to them all again !!!  Emma and Alex love an adventure and were really looking forward to their new school ..... Scott loves the prairies and I love seeing the sunshine every day - even if it is - 40 !!!

We took the ferry for the last time (for a while anyway ....) and started driving.  We packed the small horse trailer full of all our clothes, sports equipment and some toys too and were on our way .....

We made the trip over 2 days as we had the dogs (and Alex's fish too) and by the time we fell into our new beds in Calgary we were excited, happy, exhausted and I was a little sad too ...

For me I had finally found the house I loved in a little island town and was busy making it my own.  We had moved my store Scrapbookin' Adventures, to Nanaimo at the start of the year and I was settling into my new home in Duncan very nicely ..... The kids were registered to go to Queen Margaret's School in September and all was well ...... I truly never thought in a million years that we would be moving AGAIN so so soon after our move to Duncan ......

....... but in life there is change and I knew this was going to be great ..... I mean seriously, on our very first day living in Calgary we got to take our daughter literally across the road from where we are living to watch the Spruce Meadows Masters ..... her first time watching this incredible tournament and she took about a thousand photos !!!

In the few months that we've been here, there have been long days, challenges and even a few tears too, but most of all a lot of laughs ....

Emma and Alex have settled in beautifully, school is fabulous, the new barn is fabulous, hockey is fabulous ..... having our kids live near their cousins is fabulous ..... 

...... the winter isn't nearly as bad as you'd think and we've all gotten proper winter coats and boots and I'm happy to report that it hasn't rained a day since we got here (i hate wet feet) !!!!

Sooooooo ..... short story long ..... we moved and its going well and we are happy :)

There are still changes to come with my business but I am happy to report that I am back to blogging and I never stopped creating so I have LOTS to share with you in the coming days, weeks and months ....

Make sure to come on back for more ...... and thanks for catching up with me today ..... I've missed this and you !!!

Talk soon ....