Sarah + Tim

Let it Snow

Last Saturday, it began to snow in Vancouver and by Monday morning we had received over a foot of snow. Not content to leave the snow undisturbed Saturday night, we bundled up and strolled through the snow. We shook baby trees and got covered in snow, threw snowballs and made a snow man at Kensington Park. But not just any snowman. As you can see he is sitting on the park bench, has arms and legs, a big smile, and a heart.

Unfortunately our snow friend met an early demise. By Monday morning, Tim went toboganning with my family and he was no more. Punk kids... On with the memories!

Stanley Park Excursion

Something you can't not do during the summer in Vancouver is go for a jaunt around the seawall. And half the fun is getting there! Stephanie bought some fashionable sunglasses in Prague which allowed one to capture their reflection in them. Thoroughly amusing I thought.

En route to Stanley Park, I sat next to Stephanie we took a bunch of pictures in the car including this one of her biting me...

Rather reminiscent of our earlier days, don't you think?

On to the park! Tim and I rented a tandem bicycle to ride around. They say that if a couple can get around the seawall on a tandem bike alright, it will determine whether or not you will stay together. We got by without a hitch! (This may have been because Tim was doing much of the work -- exhibit A! -- as I took these pictures!)

This is the Lions Gate Bridge:

It took us until Siwash Rock (going counter-clockwise) to catch up with Mom, Saundra, Steph & Joe (who clearly weren't renting). This is Joe getting a free ride near the end...

Near the journey's end:

Pool Time!

Whenever we had the chance, we would find our way to Kitsilano Pool to escape the humid Vancouver heat.

These visits often consisted of coaxing Joe into the water -- in the end, he was always glad he jumped in.
I would often judge who made the biggest splash, or the littlest splash, or the most creative entrance into the water. It's hard to document the best part of a splash on film, so we have not added any splash photos.

The most rewarding aspect of our pool visits? The suntans we got to take home. No more farmers tan for Tim!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have thought of our marriage as a merger of sorts between our two countries, one benefit being being we get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice (any excuse to have more turkey, cranberry sauce & stuffing!). While we will be celebrating with my family Monday evening, Tim & I decided to make a mini-Thanksgiving meal of our own, just to prove that we could. Since there's only two of us, we decided to get a baby turkey (apparently called a chicken), as well as Stove Top stuffing, potatoes, yams, carrots, cranberries and brussell sprouts. At the end of it all, we had a fabulous and filling meal! We even made our own gravy & cranberry sauce! Turns out that cooking a bird is one of the simplest meals you can make -- spice it, stuff it, and cook it for an hour and a half. Still left to do... successfully complete a pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

July Memories

On June 17th, Tim's brother Peter Funk married Paige Gillespie in the Denver, Colorado temple. Although we were unable to attend the actual wedding itself, the Funks hosted a reception in their honor on July 1st which our family attended. Here is a photo of Paige, Pete, and the parents.

They had prepared these great party favors -- they were 2 pear shaped cookes with a tag that said "Pete and Paige -- the perfect pair." Awww... Pete and Paige met at Brigham Young University where they were both going to school. Paige had recently sent off a missionary, and was actually preparing for a mission herself (much like me!) when Pete swept her off her feet, proposed in a parking lot over Christmas with a beautiful princess cut, and the rest is history.

Every summer, Vancouver has fireworks in English Bay and draws nearly one million people from all over. The fireworks have been something I've avoided for several years because it's so incredible crowded, but this year we had the generous offer from a lady named Ellen to watch the fireworks from her roof. Her apartment building, situated right across the street from English Bay, was the perfect place to take in the magnificent display of light.

Here are more photos of our view from the top...

June Memories

What a summer we've had!

In June, my sister Stephanie returned home from Prague where she's been studying

communications for the last year. In the Czech Republic, apparently foreigners are unable to hold student and working visas at the same time, so she came home to work for the summer. When Tim and the scouts went camping on Vancouver Island in August, Stephanie moved in and we had a blast. When the scouts were rained out and came home earlier than expected, we were disappointed that our bonding time was cut short. Stephanie flew for Prague on Wednesday but hopefully will transfer for UBC in 2007.

Our birthdays are 2 days apart (Stephanie - June 17, me - June 19), so we often had joint birthday parties growing up. For old times' sake we celebrated our birthdays with another joint bday party! Joe and Tim masterfully prepared a cake for us, but put the whipping cream on while the cake was still warm from the oven, so it began to melt! It was still delicious, of course. We cut the cake, and then Stephanie unceremonioiusly smashed it in my face...

To celebrate my birthday, Tim and I rented a car and drove up to Whistler for a few relaxing days. We found a great hotel in Penticton which is a few minutes out of Whistler and stayed there. Tim made me breakfast on my birthday, then we drove out to Whistler where we wandered lazily through the village, walked along the trails and bought books. We bought marinated chicken shiskabobs, ribs and caesar salad, then took it back to the hotel and BBQ'd our dinner poolside. It was absolutely delicious!

More to come!

Our Garden

We spent Mothers' Day at Grandma's up in the Okanagan this year. Tim had the idea of planting some flowers in her garden, so we sneakily found out from Grandma that she only liked perrenials & wanted some yellow irises. We found just that & planted them for her so she can celebrate Mothers' Day all year.

Well, we were inspired and when we came home, found time to hit Home Depot and build our own garden on our patio.

The finished products

The previous owner of our apartment laid down these tiles on our patio without properly sealing them. We decided we liked it better without them.

The materials

Our beautiful calla lillies

Getting our hands dirty.

Steven's Farewell

On May 22nd, my not-so-little brother Steven reported to the Missionary Training Centre in Utah. For the next two years, Steven will be known as "Elder Ward" & will be serving in the Toronto West mission.

Mom's glad he'll be so close to home :)

The night before he left, we all went out for some sushi

On Monday, family came to see Steven off.

The cousins, Catie, Dallin & Nolan made Steven some cute cards.

One of the messages was "Don't die" :)

Steven with Gung Gung & Popo, Mum's parents

Backstage with the Voice Killerz (& friends) before their show

Mark Wilburn provided the vocals for "I Believe in a Thing Called Love"

This message has been brought to you by Sarah & Tim, and the letter B!

Voice Killerz - May 10th, 2006

On Wednesday, May 10th, the Voice Killerz hosted a private show featuring Cry of Silence & Screeching Pygmies at the Tom Lee Music Hall. Tired of playing battle of the band shows all the time, they decided to create a new venue for themselves & their friends.

These are some of the photos.

Enjoy.