Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Our House ~ Photo Wall

Our house is finally starting to feel much more like a home. 

I have been really working on putting up a lot of our art work and personal photos. One project that I finally manage to tackle was the photo wall in the family room. I wanted a very clean look to the photos so I decided to put them up along two parallel lines. 

It took some serious math and effort but I really love how it turned out. (Please excuse the crappy photos. I couldn't find the charger for the good camera.)




Mrs. E

Out and About ~ Mont Tremblant

Mont Tremblant was honestly one of the most amazing places we have ever been.

It is amazing how you can travel all over the world only to find such a beautiful spot in your own country. We had the best time walking up and down the cobble stone streets, eating non-stop, checking out tiny shops, riding all of the Gondolas (which Sydney referred to as "weees" or "gaga") and taking in the Ironman festivities. Here are a few photos from our time there. 

~ Family photo on the open air Gondola ~ 

~ Eating delicious French Fries ~

~ Enjoying a nice meal ~

~ Syd got in on the French Fry action too ~

~ Then she and Daddy played tickle, tickle ~

~ And she tried to tickle me too ~

~ A beautiful sunset ~


~ Our Little Girl ~

~Riding the Big Gondola ~

~ Girls on the Gondola ~

~ Doing some light hiking ~

~ Mommy and Sydney Love ~


Mrs. E

Friday, August 24, 2012

Ironman Mont Tremblant

My husband is so incredible. 

He is one of the most motivated individuals I have ever met in my life. His is constantly setting incredibly high goals for himself and he achieves everyone. He has a work ethic that I think is almost irritating and I cannot believe the list of accomplishments he has amassed. 

Last Sunday, David achieved one of his other goals. He completed his second Ironman.



David was awake and our of the condo well before Sydney and I. I got up at 5:20am and got everything ready for the day before waking Syd up. If you have ever been to an Ironman... you know that it is an impossibly long day for both athletes and spectators. We packed up the Chariot and ran the two kilometers to the start line. When we got there we were greeted with this....


We couldn't see anything! No big deal. I knew if we turned around and ran back to transition that we would get a great spot to see David come through. We ran back to transition and on our way a 518 plane flew over head three times to signal the start of the race. Sydney was so incredibly tired. 


We were lucky in that David's bike (appropriately named Stella because she is sexy) and transition zone was in the aisle closest to the fence. We had a clean line of sight to where he would be coming through. 



We waited and waited and after an hour and eight minutes in the water, a quick change and a run through transition, he was there!!!




We cheered so loud that we distracted him and he almost ran into some other athletes on their way out... oops!





While he was off on his bike, Sydney and I went back up to the room and had a very long nap followed by some nice brunch. 



We really had to hoof it down to transition again to see him dismount his bike. While most athletes took their time getting off of their bike realizing that their legs may be shaky after 180km... David flew off hitting the ground running. He had an amazing bike time of 5 hours and 22 minutes!


The next time we saw him, he was half way through the run. We jogged over to us and gave us a few kisses and hugs all while admitting that he really wasn't feeling great. He was so disappointed in how he was running and his biggest fear was that he would not break eleven hours. 


At around 26km in to the run, David found a running partner who had the same sub eleven hour goal. Neither were feeling great but knew they could push each other. They raced the rest of the run together and both accomplished their goal.

David finished in a time of 10 hours and 53 minutes. That is 28 minutes faster than his last Ironman time! He crossed with arms in the air while I cheered and cried. I am so proud of his incredible accomplishment and perseverance. 



The finish line at an Ironman is seriously the worlds biggest party. It is so much fun and everybody is so pumped up and happy for their loved ones. The music is pumping all the way up to midnight and the announcers call everyone across the line yelling "You Are An Ironman!"





Sydney got a brand new shirt for race day. It says "When I grow up I want to be an Ironman". 



After the race it was all about the food! We started with pizza and pasta....




And moved onto the caban a sucre for some maple taffy. Yum! They basically poor hot maple syrup over packed snow, you wait 45 seconds and then you roll it up onto your stick and enjoy! It is so tasty!




Our last stop was for beaver tails. David had the apples and cinnamon version and I inhaled a cinnamon sugar one. It was so good!


In the end it was an amazing day. Months of training and sacrificed family time culminated in an incredibly emotional journey to the finish line. There were a lot of tears, some anxious moments, relieved embraces and perfect memories made. 



Mrs. E

Marc & Alysha Wedding

On August 11, two of our closest friends got married in a beautiful ceremony downtown.

I have known Marc since I was fifteen years old. We worked together at the waterpark and can probably share many stories of being dumb teenagers. David and Marc have known each other for just as long... if not longer. We met Alysha when she and Marc started dating and we knew from the start that they were perfect for each other. They are so different in so many ways yet have many similar interests. They are a great balance to one another. 

On Friday night before the ceremony we attended the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Sydney tagged along and got to wear one of her pretty fancy dresses. Marc's parents put together a delicious dinner at their beautiful home in the south side. It was all so amazing. 


Scott and Kenna came back from LA for the wedding. It was so good to see them and catch up again. Sydney had a great time hanging out in between the two of them. They scouted out bunnies together and Sydney showed off her mad  cleaning skills after she accidentally spilled one of their drinks. 



The ceremony the next morning was held at a beautiful church down town. Alysha was absolutely stunning and you could tell that Marc was thrilled. Kenna and I went as each others date as both of our husbands were in the wedding party. 







The details of the wedding day were so cute. Everything had a vintage quality to it and it all fit perfectly into the Wedgewood room at the Fairmont Hotel MacDonald. 






The food was unreal! We ate sweet potato and vanilla bean soup...


Salad with berries, pecans, goats cheese and vanilla bean vinaigrette...


Herb seasoned chicken breast with delicious vegetables...


and a vanilla bean cheese cake with strawberry sauce for dessert. 




If that wasn't enough food.... They had set up a Poutine station! The groom is very French and it was such a nice way to pay homage to his family heritage. 






It was such a fantastic night! Only two more weddings this year. We are on the home stretch!

Mrs. E