5 Years Down...Lots More to Go!

Happy Anniversary to us! This week five years ago we were married at the Jefferson Street Mansion, in Benicia, California. The Canadian family came down on the'love bus' and joined the wild American family for the wedding of the year! The last five years have gone by in the blink of an eye. In five years we have graduated from university, lived in another country, moved four times, adopted Bella the Cat, opened a store and mostly have had a lot of fun. We were only 21 & 22 when we tied the knot but it is still the best decision that we have ever made!

In celebration of our first five years of bliss we decided to explore Vancouver Island- Parksville specifically. We played at the beach, met some lovely goats in Coombs & chilled out at the Grotto Spa. It was a blast! We definitely would like to return to Parksville later this summer to hang out at the beach, camping anyone? The following are a couple of pics from the past weekend.

Dinner at the Cedar Room

The Goats on the Roof at the Old Market in Coombs

The amazing beach at the Tigh-Na-Mara Resort. The tide goes out really far every day & leaves warm pools of water.

Sweating like Superstars

On Sunday, April 29th we strapped on our running shoes and raced with 8,500 other runners at the Victoria Times Colonist 10k. We competed on Sarah's work team the "Neverblue Neon Sweatbands," hence the beautiful neon bands that adorn our heads in the pictures shown below.The weather was clear & sunny- perfect for working up a sweat. In the end our times were Ben- 50min and Sarah-54min. The times were just OK, they will motivate us to train harder for next year! Next up on the running agenda... the Victoria Marathon? We shall see!


Ben pushing it during the run. Notice the look of agony on his face!

Looking a little bit grotesque but happy after the run along with Gareth from the G Team

ahhh... the Finish Line!

Spring is in the Air!

The grass is green, the tulips are blooming & you can buy Easter chocolate at half-off... Spring is definitely here!

The Strong family gathered from around various North American locations and converged at our place for the Easter Weekend. It is so different hanging out with siblings and parents now that everyone is grown... it is almost fun. Just kidding, it really was fun. The following are a few pics from the past weekend. Enjoy.

Tiff & Eric enoying their Easter Festivities

The Girl's Tea Time

The Group Shot

Ben's Birthday Part 2- The XBOX

Today is Ben's official 27th B-Day, he is now officially in his Late 20's. One would think that as a man matures into his adulthood things like video games would not bring joy to his life. For Ben this is absolutely NOT the case. As you can see in the pictures above Ben is showing expressions of pure delight at the unveiling of his favorite gift: the Xbox 360. I have a question for all of you ladies whose husbands indulge in Xbox on a regular basis, what do you do with all the hours (days, nights, weekends) apart from your signficant other?

Birthday Part 1- The Keg

This past weekend officially kicked off Ben's Birthday Celebrations. Yes, I said celebrations plural. Birthdays are Ben's specialty and he likes to celebrate his several times and with style. On Saturday night, a group of 16 headed over to the Keg Steak House to celebrate the March Birthdays of Ben, Beth & Rayael. The Birthday Prince and Princesses dined to their hearts' content and then headed over to la Casa de Gulbrandsen for further eating festivities.

Ben the Birthday Boy & his Favorite Wife Sarah

Sienna trying out her kung fu moves on her cousin Anders.

Be sure to stay tuned for Ben's Birthday Part 2 coming after March 19th- it is sure not to disappoint.