Cherry Blossoms Spring is here!

We are happy to say we have made it to the Quad for family pictures again. It was crazy crowded today and everyone was trying to take pictures with or of our girls. Good thing we didnt stay to long. Here are some photos of all our girls under the same tree around the same time after they were born. In order of birth Virginia, Violet, Vera (who happends to be two and a half months older than the other two).

And here are all the girls together this year.




I added this one because its very adorable. :)

Happy Spring!

Olympic Dreams

The family headed two hours north to Vancouver for some Olympics action! It was Ben, Bri, Vera, Brandon, and Ashley. It didn't take us long to find some mounties. Oh yeah, and we brought signs!

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Abbotsford. We had plenty of opportunities to try out Vancouver's mass transit. Here's Bri trash talking some Canadians.One of our goals for going to Olympics was to get on TV. Well it happened at our second of four events. It was a men's curling match (our first event was a women's curling match). Ashley made a sign encouraging the skip of the USA team, who had lost some tough games. The camera liked it and we were shown on TV four times during the match. The "GO USA" sign was mine. We received a visit from John Shuster's fiance who gave us some team USA curling pins for our effort. To cap it off team USA won on an overtime rock that hit thick and curled into the four foot circle. Here's at a look at the US men sweeping a stone. Shuster is on the left.

We had lots of time to kill so we went to see the torch. It was fenced off and very crowded. If I look like a vampire in the picture it's because we were all sleep deprived.

At the Belarus-Germany Hockey game that evening we caught up with Quatchi and Miga, the Olympic mascots. They rock.

On the way home from the hockey game Vera was serenaded by some very friendly, very drunk Canada fans. Their repertoire was a delightful mix of old country songs and Christmas hymns with modified words. Early the next morning we got on a bus for Whistler where we saw biathlon. For those of you who don't know, biathlon kicks butt. It's a mix of two very cool things; cross-country skiing and shooting. We saw the men and women's mass starts. It was riveting action.

Ashley made an intelligent sign that made it on TV a few times, though only in the background. (The five black circles are what the athletes shoot at, each the size of a half dollar from 50 yards) We had a great time at the events, absorbing Olympic atmosphere, and we even raided the official Olympics store; it was a 25 minute wait just to get in the front door. Bri and Ashley racked up pins; bought, given, and traded. Here they are at the bed and breakfast in Abbotsford.

Luckily we were close to the Vancouver temple being built in Surrey. We stopped by to take a look. The outside is complete, they're just working on the interior. All you can see is lights in the windows of the steeple.

Conclusion: The Olympics are awesome. We especially love the winter Olympics. Vancouver rocks. It's like Seattle, only friendlier (and Seattle is pretty friendly by US standards) and has better public transport. Vera was an angel. She slept through the night four straight times.

Baby Shower, Bri Birthday, and Baby Blessing (talk about the B's)

Alright, sorry about the lack of posting. But I bet you can give me a break considering I had a baby two months ago.
Here are some pictures from my baby shower my new ward threw me. They did a great job and they were so nice to even throw me one. :)

This is Becky my VT and I at the shower. She was the mastermind on the blue and white winter theme we had. It was beautiful. Thanks Becky!This is the spread of goodies. Look at the awesome snowy tree centerpiece. Also check out the hanging hearts that Shannon put up in her house for V-day.

These are the party favors, they are so adorable. Little hot cocoa packets with marshmallows, mints and kisses. They even say Vera's name on them. :)

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Then there was my birthday: on friday the 5th I celebrated with my niece Olivia. We share the same birthday. We had a cowgirl party. I made horse cupcakes, chocolate and vanilla from my Hello Cupcake book.

For festivities we played "pin the tale on the horse" and we bobbed for apples. Here is Olivia going for it.Even I did it, only took one dive.


Here are the birthday girls together. For some reason I have extra bandanas stored on my hat. Love ya Liv!

On the morn of my actual birthday my sister-in-law Ashley took me to brunch in Seattle. YUM! Thanks Ashley, you spoil me! After lunch I met my best buddy from college, Tawona for a movie and cupcakes. We saw "When in Rome" and it was cute.

Ginny took this picture of us infront of the cupcake shop.

Later we had dinner and games at the Maxfields. Jessica baked me that lovely, decadant cake you see on the table. It was delish! Thanks Jessica! So I was more than spoiled on my birthday. Thank you everyone.

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Lastly, on Valentines day Ben blessed Vera. We were really excited to have all of Ben's local family in the circle with him on this one.
Here is Vera in my blessing dress

Here is the family on that day.

Thanks to all who visited, we love you!

Redemption on Amabilis

Last year in March I tried to cross-country ski up Amabilis Mountain. Brandon barfed in the first quarter-mile. Despite my skis AND snowshoes I still found myself waist deep in powder and had to turn back half way up.
This year things went a little better. I got to test my skis that I stole/bought from Joe's when they went out of business last spring. We (myself, Brandon, and Chris) zoomed to the top in great snow conditions. Unfortunately, there was no view to speak of, which is too bad because you can apparently see Mt. Daniel in good weather. But things were pretty nonetheless (see picture). The ski down was quick and fun. Yay for cross-country skiing!
Coming soon: what I found when I got home.

A new treat and Christmas

I don't know if any of you have heard of this before? Bacon filled cinnamon rolls? I thought this would be really greasy and quite odd... but it turns out it was delicious. Thank you Cakespy! Click here to find out how to do this.


Here are some of my favorite holiday photos:

Present Violet


Vera in stripes.

Happy 5th anniversary!

Ginny rides her new bike for the first time!

Vi and Vera matching jammies.


All the cousins on christmas eve.
We are missing Hally, Alec and Cooper.

Baby Vera plays Jesus, Olivia plays Mary.

Grant.

Violet sings Jingle Bells.

Meet Vera Winter

Baby number three is here! Vera Winter Wilson was born at 12:17 am on 12/17. She was 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long. Don't worry, we have the details for all you delivery junkies out there. Bri was induced this time around thanks to some back-room dealing with her three-time ObGyn. We were in the delivery room for 14 hours! Most of the time was spent sitting around being bored. They gave her a very small petocin dose and refused to break her water. Bri got a little sqeamish when they put the IV in (like always) so the doctors were worried about the delivery going too fast. We passed the time messing around on Ben's laptop and the wireless network. This changed when Bri's Doctor arrived on the scene and kicked things into gear, about eight hours in.A few hours and an epideral later, it was time to start pushing. It took all of two contractions, maybe four or five minutes, to push the baby out. Not bad Bri! We were able to get a good amount of sleep then host some guests the next day. Here she is, Vera Wilson, age 12 hours. At this age, she looks exactly like Ginny and Violet did.

We're all excited to have a third little girl in our family. Ginny and Vi-Vi love their new sister.

Thanksgiving and Christmas goodies

So the girls and I have made some fun yummies we thought we would share with you.

Here is an Angel Mocha Pie (sans mocha) my grandmothers creation and a thanksgiving tradition in my family. Along with spice cupcakes with carmel frosting that look like turkeys. This is from my hello cupcake book.Up close turkey A whole family of turkeys

Here is my Gige she is excited about cake pops. Yes Cake Pops by our beloved Bakerella (see my cool stuff links for her blog).We made these for our ward christmas party on the 4th. And boy did they dissapear fast!

Yummy! oh just incase you were wondering they are chocolate inside. :)