beautiful house, beautiful family

We stayed one night with really good friends who just moved to Victoria from Edmonton.  They have only been in their new home for a few months, and already I was loving all the letterpress posters and framed photos on the wall everywhere.  They have lots of plans for more paint and wallpaper - along with the character of this heritage home, it's going to be amazing! Of course our visit was full of laughter, good stories, great food and lots of getting used to a house full of girls (i.e. fairies & dressing up in fancy cloths!- so cute!).

the Barbee's

Barbee Dahl Boys: Ages 4, 6 & 8

Oh yes, and we can't get away without a silly shot...

The one little excursion we took as a family while in L.A. was to visit our friends Ray and Stefanie.  Ray Barbee is a professional skateboarder, musician and now photographer- his wife Stefanie is equally talented as a teacher in an inner city LA school and is an amazing mom to their 2 boys.  We got to know Ray about 10 years ago when he came up as a Pro for an early Skate Camp that my husband Dean started.  Ray has such an amazing ability to weave his art with his life in the best possible way.  He was showing us some of his photographs- all in black & white film, which he develops in a college dark room.  I'm looking forward to seeing where his art takes him, considering the success of his skateboarding and music career so far.  You don't often meet someone who has his hands in so many things and can do them all so well- pretty inspiring! Check out his music video- he plays all the parts. 

hospitality

Photos from our friends' place in Campbell River.  We've known Eden & Paul for a long time- 14 years or so.  Eden and I met in 1st year French in College.  She was one of those people I knew I could be friends with right away. 

Eden's got great style and is an amazing cook.  Her gift of hospitality was well felt by us all- the fresh apple juice from their own apples tasted like gold, the lattes were delicious, pancakes amazing, not to mention the strawberry cake.  

We are just finishing up our visit to the Island with my sister and her family.  I'll be back next week with some more bits of inspiration that I gleaned from our time here.  Hope you have a great weekend!