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…

Well, I’m back from Apex Mountain and we all had a great time there snowboarding for New Years!

I can’t believe it is 2009 already. 2008 was a year full of ups and downs, surprises, excitement, and many happy moments.

In 2008 I…

… rang in the New Year’s at Disneyland, finishing up an amazing one-month-long surfing, snowboarding, and scuba diving road trip throughout the States to Portland, San Francisco, Tahoe, Death Valley, Mammoth Mountain, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Catalina Island, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Snowbird Mountain, Idaho, Mission Ridge Mountain, and Washington…

… went snowboarding at Big White, Whistler, Cypress, Mt. Washington and Apex…

… parted ways with the first video game company I worked for… and moved to a new, dynamic video game company…

… took a three week trip to Costa Rica for some warm water surfing and travelling…

… went camping, partying, and surfing in Tofino dozens of times…

… caught some seriously large Halibut going deep ocean fishing…

… enjoyed grocery shopping at Granville Island every week…

… traveled to Korea for business…

… and Japan…

… started to learn to skate and play hockey…

… sold my Nikon D80 and got my grubby little hands on a new camera set up with the Nikon D90…

… started working on an HD snowboarding movie project…

… went to Trevor Linden’s retirement night…

… completed my AST-1 Avalanche Training course…

… went to Apex to finish 2008 and welcome 2009!

I couldn’t be happier with how this past year has gone. I feel like I’ve learned a lot, tried new activities, grown as a person, realized how wonderful my friends are, made some new friends, and saw lots of new places.

Plans for 2009:

• Take more photographs of people, improving my fashion and portrait photography
• Grab better, more steady footage for HD snowboarding movie project
• Travel somewhere warm
• Travel somewhere cold
• Keep apartment clean and tidy
• Cook even more
• Do something active at least once a day
• Not worry about what anyone thinks of me!
• Finally finish Gears of War 2 because I’ve been a complete slacker

Thank you to my friends, family, loved ones, and coworkers who have filled the past year with so many laughs, hugs, discussions, activities, and happy moments! I hope you all have an amazing 2009.