thelang6

Medieval Wedding

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:16:00 +0000

The lovely couple cutting, er...slashing the cake made by Paula K.
The king and queen of the groom (knight)

The Minstral (Gabe) playing for the couple

Mr. and Mrs. Greek after they were announced

thelang6 dressed for the occasion

This was a fun wedding! It was the first wedding we have gone to in a while, and it was the first wedding that was our friends kid. I guess we are hitting that age where most of our friends are already married, and now the children of said friends are getting married. It was also weird going to a wedding and only having to bring a gift, show up in costume, eat and leave!

The wedding was held at Campbell Valley Park, and it was a gorgeous day for sure! We saw a lot of people we haven't seen in a long time, I love that about weddings!

My dessert last night....

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:12:00 +0000

Jenn made us this applecrumbley, caramel icecream goodness last night

from scratch (of course!)...

thats all I have to say about that!

Our Alaska Hwy Epic

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:17:00 +0000

This picture was actually taken half way through our journey. We flew from Vancouver to Whitehorse a few days before this to help my brother Aaron move his lovely little family down to the coast (thats what they call where we live!). Funny thing in Dawson Creek, we met our good friend Ray Spence here, quite by chance. I mean how does one bump into a friend 800 miles from home?

The nephews did VERY well. But occasionally as shown above, they got car sick...We named Aarons car the vomit comet... It smelled so baaad.

Jenn and I at the Continental Divide. The rivers all flow to either the Arctic Ocean, or The Bering Sea from here. We were THAT far north, but a VERY gorgeous spot on the map.

The Alaska Highway was FULL of beautiful things to see. In this case a herd of wild buffalo greeted us ON the highway. I asked my brother what we should do, he said "Wait for them to move, they won't move unless they feel like it!". (Kinda the same attitude as some of my tenants!)

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:50:00 +0000

We are headed off on an adventure, no we're NOT moving!
Well... we're not moving US!

Finally, 4 kids in school!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:00:00 +0000

As a lot of people do, we take a 1st day of school picture, this year is our first one that ALL four kids are going to school. Gabe is going into grade 11, Josh is going into grade 7, Ethan into grade 3 and Emily is in Kindergarten.

The funny thing about having this many children this far apart is that we will have something like 23 years of getting kids ready for school by the time Emily graduates. We again have 3 different schools to get kids to this year so we are bussing again this year. Bussing is good!

Coming Back...tomorrow!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:54:00 +0000

There will be a new post here tomorrow, promise! I'm already working on a simple post for the first day of school.

Landscaping

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:58:00 +0000

I'm sure everyone has an ugly corner of their yard. Our ugliest corner was the back right corner. We decided to take that very ugly, overgrown, waste of space and make some use out of it. We decided to extend our driveway all the way to the back. This is no small task, as our yard is 249 feet long!

We removed an ugly green shed, 2 trees, a pile of bricks, a pile of broken toys, and a 6 year old 4 foot deep by 60 feet long compost pile. ( I had visions of it being a beautiful garden one day...)

We also had to remove a freaking HUGE stump from the yard. My good friends at Stump Express helped me out with that! I'll update the pictures once I get it cleaned up.

January Highlights

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Hello all of you that have been pestering me to update my blog! I will promise to update at least once a month. I won't bore you with the usual craziness of our lives, just give you some updates of whats happening. Like my birthday!
I got to go to Hemlock Valley for an incredible day of skiing with some of my favorite people, and then met some other favorite people for a great dinner at Blustone. I lost my keys and glasses that night... I found my keys in the engine compartment of my minivan... weird...

Ethan had a birthday too! My youngest boy has turned 8!! Ethan is an incredible little boy. I was praying with him one night and thanking God for his abilities, and I just kept on listing, and listing them. He is good at art, spelling, hugs, writing letters, giving gifts, lego, models, making juice, cleaning, organizing, building Ikea, scrapbooking, baking (he made and decorated his own birthday cake), matching clothes, really the list endless!

We went skiing/boarding again, but this time in Kamloops at Harper Mtn. While the boys were on the hill, the girls went shopping and got Emily's ears pierced. She did really good too! A little crying at first, but since then has been very 'big girl' about her earrings.

We wrapped the month up with a visit from my dad (pictured below). A good 10 day visit to reconnect with the family and get some shopping done that you can't do in the Yukon.
January was a fantastic month, filled with a few birthdays, a couple of trips, a New Year spent with friends, and so many events for what is traditionally a slow month. We do live a fantastic life!

Merry December!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Hello Friends! This month had Emily's FIRST Dance Recital ever! She danced with her class at the Clarke Theatre in Mission. I was moved, I cried, I definitely needed a tissue! A very cool thing about her dance school is that Sarah is in it too, so it was awesome to have the two of them on stage that night.

Emily is 2nd from the right in the front row of pink

We once again had our Christmas Eve with the Lang's at our home. We didn't let 'a little' snow slow us down. Once everyone was off work (they are all in the snow business) we partied, exchanged gifts, laughed and had our traditional Christmas Eve , BUT without church. Our 3 options for a Christmas Eve service all cancelled their service.

A highlight of the month was our new addition, seen above. Jenn has been looking for the right piano for 4 years. We finally found THE piano at a local store and it was EXACTLY the sound and price we have been holding out for.

So far this has been an amazing December. It felt like we needed a good month, we've had a lot junk happen in the last while. That said, we are expecting a terrific run to the end of the year!!

2nd Time for 1st Cell Phone

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:01:00 +0000

Joshua got a cellphone today. The coolest part is that Gramma arranged it AND is paying for it! Could you imagine as a almost 12 yr old getting a cellphone when we were kids?? Oh, wait...they didn't exist...

Gabe got a cellphone at 13, does this mean I have set a dangerous precedent? I wonder if Ethan will want one too...Then Emily?? EEks...

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:20:00 +0000

We were at Costco today where we discovered a box-o-fun, more commonly known as the Gingerbread House Set. We bought 3 sets, invited the neighbours over, and VOILA! Christmas fun for a Monday night!

Emily and Gabe did trees
Ethan was in on the construction phase - of course!

2 finished homes by kids and mom

The perfect Aunty Sue built home - just like on the box!

What a month!!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Needless to say, we have been a bit remiss in our blogging. but don't worry, we haven't been sitting at home. On October 18th we (Dan, Jenn & Diane) took off for a conference in Louisville, Kentucky. (Dan came along just for fun). We arrived two days prior to the conference, cuz the flights were WAY cheaper, and did some touring around the area. On day one we went to Churc.hill Downs museum and tour. Diane and Jenn loved it. Dan was a good sport and came along. On day two we decided to take the 2.5 hour drive to Nashville, Tenessee. (With a detour through Hodgenville, Kentucky the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln). In Nashville we visited the Country Music hall of fame, Grand Ole Opry and a beautiful old Confederate estate called 'Belle Meade'. We ate at the most amazing restaurant called 'The Loveless Cafe'. Totally southern cooking. We had BBQ pork, southern fried chicken, grits and even fried catfish. YUM.

We then attended a two day conference in Louisville. One day (Jenn's birthday actually) we drove to Georgetown, Kentucky to tour the Toy0ta manufacuting plant. It was amazing. We also had time for a short trip into Indiana.

On the 23rd of October, we boarded a plane for the Caribbean. Jamaica to be exact. We spent 8 fantastic days there. The resort was amazing, the food was incredible, the ocean was gorgeous and warm, we sailed, snorkeled, kayaked, swam, and did some incredible scuba diving. All in all it was an amazing vacation.

We are certified divers!!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:33:00 +0000

Jenn and I have been doing something out of our comfort zone, and a little adventurous lately. We decided to take up a life-long goal in my life, and that is scuba diving. Jenn graciously agreed to taking the course with me. We did 4 classroom sessions, 4 pool sessions and 4 open-water sessions to hopefully become a certified open-water diver. We both scored really well in our classwork, and really well in our pool sessions, but the open-water was really tough on both of us.

On Saturday we went to Whytecliff Park (near Horseshoe Bay) and attempted our 1st and 2nd open-water sessions. If you remember last Saturday was still OCTOBER, the water was super cold, but our wetsuits kept us sorta warm.
Today we skipped out on work and parental duties and went to Porteau Cove (near Squamish) to do our last 2 open-water dives. Our instructor Les, has been an amazingly patient man. We know him from our days at APA. He owns the Langley Dive Center and gave us (basically) private lessons.
It was a long day, but at the end of it Jenn and I overcame some fears, and achieved our goal. We can now scuba dive!! It was an awesome feeling to have achieved something I have wanted to do (badly) since I was 15 years old. So, next week we are going to do a little scuba without wetsuits ;-) There will be a full report when we are done.
Thanks Les!!

We ARE Thankful!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Jenn's side of the family was away in Hawaii this Thanksgiving, so, sadly, we were on our own this year. But that's okay! The Lang6 are survivors, we found a dinner!! The Ever-Amazing Stewart clan invited us to join the other Stewart's in a gorgeous dinner for 13. Diane pulled out all the stops and created a masterpiece dinner complete with Turkey and gravy, ham and gravy, potatoes, cranberries sauce (from scratch!), Ambrosia, carrots, green salad, corn, beans and onions, and tomatoes! Oh and some very lovely wine :)
Our family is so small that we don't usually have 'the kids table'. But this year we did, I must say that rocks!!
And of course during the entire festivities Sarah and Emily were trying on all of Sarah's dance costumes, VERY cute!!
It was an awesome day, except for the Canucks losing miserably on Pay-Per-View :(
Many Thanks go to our God for providing us with all that we have and are, as well as good friends to share all of life with.

Sheryl Crow Concert

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:08:00 +0000

Tonight was date night, and one of the things we like doing is going to concerts. This evenings selection was Sheryl Crow.

The Jim Cutty Band (from Toronto) was the opening act...They were alright... Sheryl opened with a ballad, and then played a tonne of her hits, like "Love is Free", "A Change Would do you Good", "If it Makes you Happy", "Everyday is a Winding Road", "Soak up the Sun", "The First Cut is the Deepest". She did 3 songs in her encore, which made for a pretty late night.

And as always, the people in the crowd were fun to watch. There are some people out there with NO rhythm!! And there was a few "What were they thinking wearing THAT??" kind of moments too!

Great Weekend - so far!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:43:00 +0000

Hello! Our past couple of weeks have been pretty mundane as far as blogging goes, not much going on to blog about. This weekend that changed.
We decided to do something we've never done as a family before. We signed the whole family up for The Mercy Walk. Its a 5 km walk around Stanley Park to raise money for a women's shelter that our pastors are directors of. Although the weather wasn't the greatest, we all trekked out to Vancouver early on Saturday morning to take part in the event. Our family (mostly Jenn) raised a bunch of money and we walked with about 150 other people.
The worst part of the run is that we got separated from Josh. He was riding his bike and through some miscommunication decided to go on an adventure. We were very nervous (to say the least) about our 11 yr old son riding his BMX through Stanly Park all by his self. He thought it was okay to ride with the front of the line group, and then decided to go some places that he didn't get to check out last time he was at the park with his cousin. Needless to say we were frantic, and did end up finding him. The ironic thing is that he had no idea that he was lost and said he had his best bike ride ever!!
Today, Sunday, our church had its 1 year anniversary! It was a great party, with lots of guests, jumphouses, bbq, cotton candy, face painting, corn-on-the-cob, sooo much fun! Pastor John spoke from the heart and was so excited about what we are doing in Abbotsford.
Emily had a particularly good Sunday. She won the how-much-candy-in-the-jar contest, got a butterfly painted on her face, and a balloon puppy!

Finally went camping!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:24:00 +0000

We had such a busy summer, yet we didn't get to do one of our favorite things - go camping! We have motor home, but decided to tent it this time instead. We didn't own a tent so we we went shopping for one at our favorite online mall - craigslist. We got two 10 man tents for $200. They retail at $329 each! They are in near perfect condition, and with the room dividers work out perfectly for the 6 of us. Jenn and I even fit a queen size double thick air mattress in our own 'room'.

Saturday morning Ethan and I(Dad) went and did a little fishing at Mike Lake. No, we didn't catch anything - stop asking.... We'll let you know when we do!
We had some visitors, it was real nice that Piper brought her parents to come hang out with the Lang6! We did the same thing at their campfire last week, it is fun sharing campfires!
Of course Jenn cooked some fabulous meals. This one pictured below is the best of those meals! Salmon with onions, chilli's, and lemon cooked perfectly over the fire. Asparagus, steamed over the fire. Baby potatoes drenched in butter, sour cream and bacon, cooked in foil over the fire, and pasta salad (not cooked over the fire!).
And we went to the main beach at Alouette Lake for a while on Sunday afternoon. Except for the view, this beach sucks. Its super loud because of all the boats coming and going, the beach is rocky and the water is murky. We don't recommend this beach, The one at the campground is way more peaceful and relaxing to be at.
That may have been our first and last camping of the summer, but it sure was a great trip. The weather cooperated, and we didn't kill the squirrel...although we realllllly wanted to!

The 1st Couple of days

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:33:00 +0000

It was a pretty fantastic summer for us, but there was a lot of excitement over this school year start up around here. Gabe is in Grade 10, a sophomore. That's a little weird to me as it seems that was the 'real' high school year when we grew up.
Josh's foray into middle school started as well. Dropping him off in front of 'not the elementary' school was sobering. He seemed so small, compared to last year he seemed huge as 'the big grade 5er' in the school.
Ethan's grade 2 experience was probably the smoothest transition. He just went into class, saw all his buds from last year, waved goodbye to mom, and that was it; grade 2!
Emily started school of a different kind on Tuesday, she started Dancin' School!! There is only one other girl in her class, and Oh my! Were they adorable!
Oh yeah, we figured 4 kids in 4 different schools meant a lot of driving, so this year we budgeted for the 2 oldest to take the bus. Man, its only been 2 days, but what a difference. I don't have to leave work for an hour to pickup and drop off, Jenn doesnt have to dash out the door. They just magically appear after school at the front door! Love it!!

Hello Again Blogworld!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:45:00 +0000

It has been a fantastic summer for the Lang6. We did a tonne of stuff and went a tonne of places.

In Review:

We went to Prince Rupert for a week.

We bought and sold some real estate.

We went hiking, and campfire visiting - not camping :(

We went fishing.

We went to Kamloops - of course!

We went to Seattle.

We went waterskiing at Cultas.

We had a visit from Calvin.

We helped start a new business.

We went to singles camp.

And a bunch of other stuff!!

It is our hope to start our blog back up for September. We have taken a tonne of pictures, most of which are on Dans FB account. Glad to be back!

Water Park Fun

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Last week Di and Jenn took the kids down Past Olympia Washington to a place called Great Wolf Lodge. It's a kid friendly Hotel with a massive indoor waterpark. Josh has been asking to go for about 2 years, but until just recently the closest one was in Niagara Falls. Not a day trip by any means. We didn't tell the kids where we were going, just that we were going to Seattle. When we arrived, they were very excited. It was a lot of fun.

Another great day at the lake

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:17:00 +0000

The great thing about having family as our neighbours is that they like to share their toys. Sunday was a great sharing day! We gathered up a lot of family and friends and headed to Maple Bay for an afternoon (after church of course) of water-play.
We brought the barbecue and cooked up some hamburgers and hotdogs right on the beach.
Gabe showed us his hidden talent of wake boarding. Jenn and I were beaming with pride at his skills!
Our friend Cheryl brought her kayak for us to try, I think we may make this purchase one day, it was so relaxing and a great way to snoop at the other boaters setups, sneak up on geese, and cruise Lindell beach's cabins.
Even Ethan gave it a whirl! Thanks Ryan and Sue for a terrific day!!

Canning Day

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:12:00 +0000

Today Aunt Sharilyn surprised Jenn with a couple of LARGE buckets of freshly picked strawberries! At our house we usually just eat 'em, but there were so many Jenn decided to can 'em!

When I got home I was super-stoked to see her busy canning! I absolutely LOVE the smells and sounds of canning, something my grandmother did all summer. The memories that come to mind just thrust me back to my childhood summers on the Island...

4 batches later we have 12 cans of strawberry jam - and everyone of them 'popped' and seem to be setting perfectly.

It's Alive!! (Our blog that is)

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:14:00 +0000

As some of you know, as soon as we returned from our Spring Break trip to Florida, we purchased a cruddy, dirty, smelly townhouse to renovate. Attached, for your viewing pleasure, are pictures of the cruddy, dirty, smelly townhouse. I suggest you not be eating when you view these pictures. and, for the full effect. You must unplug your fridge and freezer, leave them for three months, open the doors and sit by them as you read this blog. I won't be hurt if you don't. The pictures (from left to right)

Dining room, Living room, patio
Hallway, master bedroom entry, Master bedroom
Master bath (YUCK), Master bath, Patio.

Basement (after we had already spent 3 days cleaning and organizing the junk that the previous inhabitants had left behind). The last two pictures are of the Garage.

And..... Ah..... These are the pictures of the newly renovated, smell free, ready to be moved into, townhouse. You can unwrinkle your nose now. It's really quite nice.

Needless to say. we didn't have much of a life during the past 3 months. We spent every spare minute here. Now that it's done, we are enjoying having our lives back. We did a few fun things during the past 3 months. Like....

Our very wonderful friend Diane celebrated her birthday on the 28th of April. She wanted to go to Whistler for the weekend and bring along all of our scrapbooking stuff, and scrapbook our trip to Florida. So we did. We were joined by Shawn & Kristen for most of the weekend. We rented a conference room and brought along all of our scrapbooking stuff and had a great time. We also enjoyed some fabulous food at the Bear Foot Bistro and Rim Rock Cafe.

AND....we did this...

We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary on May 12. Dan rented a convertible Mustang for the weekend. Now that's fun!!

It was a beautiful weekend and the kids loved driving around in the car.

More to come....

I suppose we SHOULD blog!!

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:14:00 +0000

Hi!! We have soooo much to blog about - but no time to do it :( I'll try to get some of the cool stuff up sometime soon, sorry for ther non-action...Love ya all!!

Spring Break - Club Med

thelang6@shaw.ca (The Lang 6) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:05:00 +0000

Sunset from the adult pool deck

Our Spring Break this year was an amazing gift of Florida. We got to spend 10 days in the sun, with 7 of those being in Club Med Sandpiper located just north of West Palm Beach. Its an all inclusive resort with a full kids program. One of the best parts is our friends the Stewarts were there too!!

Josh climbing to his trapeze lesson

When I say kids program, I mean Trapeze, archery, sailing, golf, soccer, roller blading, pool time, treasure hunts, table games, painting, basketball, volleyball, dancing, theatre...

Josh at his sailing lesson

Most of the days were beautiful, so the adults spent most of our time at the adult pool just laying, and reading. The resort was all you can eat, and drink. I tried MANY different drinks, I found that the smoothie drinks were the best. Nothing like a Pina Colada on a pool deck while watching your kids sail!!

Emily as "Penelope"

The kids club program practised everyday and Emily ended up being the star of the -4 group, she was Penelope and her man Justin was trying to win her heart. there is a You Tube Video. I'll try to figure out how to get that on here later!
All the kids did a hip hop routine, this was Gabe's. he wow'd the audience (about 300 people) with doing his now famous break dancing move - The Worm.

Gabe (right side) in his hiphop routine.

Club Med was an amazing adventure. I have more pictures of the food, the resort and lots of family pictures on my facebook page if you wanna see more.