Girls Weekend

editted to add that you can now see great pictures on Laura's blog here.

Well, I forgot my camera and no one else has posted pictures yet so I can't steal some for you. Girls Weekend happened. We left here right on time, Erin, Rhiannon and I, at 12:15. We drove without too much incident and my Dad's directions turned out to be pretty good so we pulled into my parents place just around 6. Everyone else started to arrive at pretty much the same time. Pretty soon the place was packed full of girls and babies and the fun began.

The food was fantastic - we took turns making meals, so each one was a feast. We took our largest chicken (9.9 lbs), Erin made a chocolate mousse torte from the Rebar Cookbook and Amy made yam fries and we had a yummy salad with "Little Creek" dressing from the Okanagan.

Friday afternoon we started with the crafting for those who were interested. We worked on Bethany's baby quilt and a rag quilt for Adriel (I'm waiting for that picture, Sarah!) and finishing the binding on Katie's "I Spy" quilt for Elizabeth. So there was lots of cutting and sewing. Thank goodness my aunt Mina was there or I am sure we would not have been able to finish.

Saturday morning was Rhiannon's favourite time. We went to the bird sanctuary in Ladner. We got to see some sandhill cranes which was pretty amazing and a different kind of heron and lots of different kinds of ducks and some hissing canada geese. Her favourite part, though was playing in the bird blinds with her cousins. They were pretending that they kept moving to bigger and better homes...heh.

I got to see my cousin I was very close to growing up. She came with her sister and mother for an afternoon visit. We went to BYU together and I hadn't seen her in years - around 20, I think. It was a happy, if brief, reunion.

Amazingly all the quilts got finished and some movies got watched while babies got held, food got made and the the kitchen got cleaned. We had about 25 people there for most of the time. I even made it to that yarn store in Steveston where Amy picked out some yarn for a hat. It was a very nice yarn store, I have to say but I think Art of Yarn in Kelowna is a close rival. I forgot to look for more yarn, though, to match the gorgeous yarn that Laura gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I had one adventure that involved going out to buy some peppers and ended up in me getting lost and crossing both the Queensboro and Alex Fraser bridges as I tried to return the few blocks to my parents place.... I still maintain that Vancouver is one of the poorest marked cities in North America!

We left Sunday morning, picked up a load of Erin's stuff from my brother's garage and made it home just after 3pm with a niece in tow for a week's visit. I am filled up with sister loving, mad quilting and good food. I am still tired! I try to think of what was the highlight for me, but I can't. Would it be the first night sleeping on an air mattress with my oldest daughter? Seeing her dark head beside me on a pillow? Was it holding my youngest nephew (3 weeks old) and having him fall asleep in my arms? Was it Carmen who so charmingly kept insisting for me to teach her how to knit? Was it hardly seeing Rhiannon as she was completely involved in many kinds of play with her cousins? It would probably be just being there with my sisters, laughing, talking, comparing boobs... a time worth having, that's for sure!