This past August, Allan and I threw an engagement party for our friends and family at my parents’ house here in Vancouver. It was a blast to see all our family and friends together in one place! Here is a photo of Allan and I with my parents who were hosting the party.

It was so nice to share this special day with close friends.

My parents completely transformed their backyard… it tooks months of cleaning and clearing to get all the junk and vegetable/fruit plots out of the garden and make it suitable for a garden party. We also put up a tent and put a bunch of patio furniture out for the party.

I love this photo of all my girl friends from high school (and Allan)

We were blessed to have a few of them fly in from out of town! We’re still friends after all these years, and some of them I am even friends with from elementary school!

I created a drink list for the party. My favourite was the strawberry rhubarb gin fizz which I made with a fresh fruit puree.

Mmmm mojitos…

I also served my signature drink, which is an iced watermelon mojito.

We had a champagne toast!

It was so hot that day there was almost no ice!

My dad and Allan BBQed up some delicious ribs with my dad’s secret recipe.

My mom and dad and cousin made all the food for the party from scratch! I really couldn’t believe what an amazing spread they put out.

From calzones and other appies…

… to chicken satays and hamburgers…

… to all sorts of other dishes!

It was a hot day but we tried to keep cool with a keg, some shade and iced drinks!

Yay for awesome friends!

Enjoying the food…

Hanging out…

A planter on the patio…

My dad was making cappuchinos, espresso and coffee!

My mom served homemade gelato with homemade waffle cones!

Not to mention a lot of other dessert like her tiramisu…

… chocolate macarons…

… and a fruit parfait!

It was a wonderful day to spend with our friends. Thanks to my parents for hosting and all our amazing friends for coming! We had a blast!

I’m finally beginning to attack my backlog of photos. I think I still have snowboarding photos and videos to edit from last year, plus a few of our trips this summer and our engagement party still to do! Aaaah! My camera lens was also broken halfway through this Hornby trip, so sadly half the photos are from my little point and shoot.

I can’t even begin to describe the ridiculousness of this trip… I wasn’t able to post all the photos (some are too ridiculous to show), but I think I was able to capture the essence of the fun that was had.

Our trip started out in Ladysmith as we met with the pastor that will be marrying us next year. We then traveled up to Courtenay to visit with Allan’s mom and step dad. Maybe it was the time of year, but the flower bouquets everywhere were BEAUTIFUL. I had to include one.

We made sure to make a stop at Hot Chocolates in Courtenay, by far one of my favourite sweet shops. They actually make all their gelatos and chocolates in house, and they are incredible. I think it’s probably the best ice cream/gelato in British Columbia.

A close runner up is the little lady that makes her own ice cream by the side of the ferry to Hornby Island (on Denman Island). This sweet concoction was homemade chocolate rhubarb ice cream, with amazing chunks of rhubarb and served up in a still-warm homemade waffle cone. Yum!

Then it was time to board the ferry to Hornby Island. It’s still one of my favourite places to go in BC. So beautiful.

It’s small, but very picturesque…

And amazingly relaxing…

One of our friends’ parents (Trev) owns a piece of property on Hornby Island, and every year he invites his friends to come stay and/or camp at his parents’ house. This cute roundhouse has amazing views, and his parents are wonderful hosts. They have a great vegetable garden, cows, a waterfront property, and a large area to camp on.

It really is a wonderful place!

Allan and I always have a great time.

The next day it was off for some diving through Hornby Island Diving. It is run by a couple (Rob and Amanda) and is one of the best diving operations we’ve tried so far.

We saw tons of underwater life including some sharks, a nudibranch, huge ling cod, rock fish, and colourful anemones. It’s a shame we lost our GoPro that day, but fortunately it was recovered a week later by a customer of Rob and Amanda’s! Thank you Axel!

We also saw seals playing right beside us…

And a HUGE elephant seal!

Super cool.

Oh, and we had to stop for some of the best fish and chips ever in the Hornby Island marina.

Then it was back to house where Trev’s bird said hi to Allan.

Max found a GIANT zucchini.

We decided to make some mojitos to welcome our friends who were just arriving.

Cheers!

Then it was off to explore Little Trib for a bit before our golf tee time.

Boys will be boys!

We had a great day of golfing the little golf course on Hornby.

Off to the beach (Big Trib) for some tanning in the sun and fun… until a ranger poured out ALL our drinks and beer.

So we took to the water…

… and had a great time anyway Yes, that is a floating pool bar you see!

Floaty awesomeness.

Some volleyball…

This all started so innocently…

… and turned out hilarious. LOL! It took us a good 15 minutes just to dig Kyle out of there.

Then it was back to the house for champagne in the hot tub!

And some very tricky “icing“… (involving a trap door and a rope… good job J!)

Followed by some tent pranks in the woods… hahaha…

And well, the long weekend ended way too fast.

Goodbye till next time Hornby Island…