It’s never a nice feeling to have to throw out food, but sometimes it can be hard to break bad habits. Houzz put together a great article with tips on how to prevent food waste. One of the most important suggestions we liked was creating a weekly “use it up” dinner to get rid of extra food before it spoils. Also meal planning for the upcoming week is a really helpful way to grocery shop only for things you will need for that week. To check out the full article, click here.

Looking for a fun family activity? Well look no further! On Saturday August 19th, a free movie will be featured at Memorial Peace Park from 9pm to 10:30pm. Don’t forget to bring blankets, lawn chairs and snacks! The movie featured will be “Ice Age Collision Course”, for more information please visit their website.

As we‘re sure you’re aware, the wildfires have been relentless throughout BC and our hearts go out to everyone who has been affected during this difficult time. We wanted to take a minute to recognize the residents from Fort McMurray that have rallied together to help those in distress, having been in the same situation just last year. Garrett Shaw, who lost his home in the fires only a year ago, collected a load of supplies driving them to BC and commented “any stress that we might be feeling is overcome by the excitement that we have that we’re able to return the favor – that we’re the people running towards the fire this time instead of away from it”. Hundreds of Fort McMurray residents are offering their money, time and resources and it is truly amazing how this community has come together to give back in such a time of need.

Maple Ridge Alliance Church is in search of much needed blood donors, specifically on June 30^th from 12pm to 7pm. It’s hard to believe, but Maple Ridge actually needs 450 blood donors per month! If you’re looking for a way to give back, please book your blood donation appointment today at www.blood.ca or download the GiveBlood app.

Even though it’s June and it seems like summer will never come, why not put yourself in the mood for summer so that when we do get those nice hot days, you’re ready for them. Houzz put together some great suggestions on how to get ready for summer which included setting up your deck for parties, creating a fun, summery bar or simply decorating with more summer looking elements such as driftwood and sea shells and using brighter colors to decorate your home. If you’re looking to get more into the summer vibe, check out Houzz for more inspiration!

We couldn’t resist showing you this creative little garden that Simon Orchard designed for his 3 year old son. Orchard described his client as “quite demanding” and that “he had a lot of things he wanted included in the design of this garden” but together they finally built a garden that satisfied all of his sons requirements.  Orchard built the garden from an old farmhouse sink, which turned out to be the perfect foundation for the dinosaur park. The Dino Park includes a pond, rock features and all sorts of neat little plants and trees. If you’re interested in creating something similar, be sure to check out the Houzz article here.

We are so excited at the progress of our upcoming community, Viridian. We have started framing our first show home and are on track for our launch in mid-September! Don’t forget to register today so that we can keep you up to date about this exciting new community! “Respect the environment” is one of our core values and something we strongly believe in. We have demonstrated this in our, , integrated storm water management system, the first of its kind in Western Canada that we put into all phases of Silver Ridge and Nelson Peak. We are again, committed to adhering to that value at Viridian. Being on the bank of the Nicomekl River, our siltation control systems are critical in protecting this important waterway. Not only do we have multiple siltation ponds and sediment filters throughout the community, we also have a multi stage water treatment system. The water treatment system takes site run off and puts it through a multi stage treatment plant where flocculants are added that take the fine silt out of the run off. The end result is that the run off released from the site has a reduced turbidity, actually much less turbidity than the Nicomekl has to start with.

The Canadian Home Builders Association announced the winners of the 2017 National Awards for Housing Excellence and much to our delight we received the award for Detached Home – Production for our Hummingbird plan! The President of CHBA noted “Our award winners represent the best of the best in new homes, home renovations, community development and marketing across Canada and the housing industry takes great pride in their accomplishments” which is why we are so proud to have received this award. We would like to extend a special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Sarsfield for allowing us to enter their beautiful home in the SAM awards and to congratulate all of the winners!

On Saturday May 13^th from 11am to 3pm, Kwantlen’s Langley location will be hosting science festival where the public will have an opportunity to have fun with science and participate in science experiments! Relive your childhood or bring your kids and have fun watching chemistry magic shows, music, art, interactive science labs, brewing lab tours with tastings and much more! If you would prefer to help out, you can also sign up to volunteer as well. For more information and to register for free tickets visit their website here.

Summer is coming which means more time will be spent entertaining both inside and outside of your home. May is the perfect time to get your home ready so that when nice weather hits you don’t feel overwhelmed with cleaning and organizing your home. Houzz came up with a wonderful May Home Checklist to help you get prepared for summer that we wanted to share with you. Some of their tips include getting the bbq ready for grilling season, checking exterior lighting and refreshing the bedrooms. For the complete list of helpful May reminders click here.

There are so many neat ways to use succulents in your garden and Houzz put a list together of some great ideas as to how these plants can be useful. We all know how much watering a lawn can require especially when just last year when we were experiencing some pretty intense watering restrictions, but did you know instead of having an expansive lawn, you can use succulents to recreate the look of a lush green lawn? They also look great in planters and you won’t need to worry about dead heading and all of the other maintenance that flowers can require. For all of the other ways you can use succulents, check out the article here.

While living in nature is a beautiful and relaxing feeling, we must remember that we are living in nature’s environment. Recently we have had a fairly large Black Bear wandering through the community and causing some damage to fencing. As a reminder, please do not leave garbage outside or anything that may attract wildlife, including bird feeders. We certainly do not want any human vs: bear conflicts to arise. For more information click here.

Well for starters, they both know how to pick the ideal Residential Community! We know we have shared a lot of news about awards lately, but we couldn’t resist sharing with you that we won two Ovation Awards this past week! We were thrilled to take home the award for Best Single Family Residential Community Award. This Award reinforces the fact that our Homeowners are the smartest people in Metro Vancouver but also will serve to protect and advance the values all of you have in your homes. We were also honoured to receive an Award for Single Family Detached home for Neil & Susan Sarsfield’s Hummingbird Home. Congratulation to all of you!

We are very excited to be a finalist in the SAM Awards for the Detached Homes – Production category for our Hummingbird plan. This award was a little more special than usual because the home that we entered was actually one of our home owners homes! While every homeowner in Nelson Peak is living in an award winning community, the Sarsfields’ have certainly earned bragging rights having had their home featured in not just the SAM Awards but also the Georgies and the Ovation awards. We would like to extend a special thank you to the Sarsfields’ for allowing us to photograph their beautiful home.

Valley Fair Mall is hosting a “Pick your passion fair” which is perfect if you’re looking for ways to make a difference by doing something that you care about. If you’re having trouble figuring out what you’re passionate about, this event is a great way to learn about all the different options there are out there and where you would like to dedicate your time. This free event will occur on April 29^th from 11 to 2pm at the Valley Fair Mall, for more information visit their website.

The wonderful thing about creating a natural looking garden, is that if you do it right it should take less work to create a master piece because you don’t have to waste time ensuring that everything is perfect. Houzz put together a great article with step by step instructions on how to create a dream garden and they cover topics like such as spacing, allowing plants to move around, how to utilize dead trees, embracing dry spells, and everyone’s favorite, the benefits of predator bugs. To read about how you can transform your garden, check out the article here.

When you have children, it’s so important to foster their creative side and one of the ways you can do that is by creating a space that allows them to use their imaginations. Houzz featured a renovated basement that blew us away with its creativity and we really wanted to share it with you. This family renovated their basement and chose a woodland inspired theme and actually installed real tree stumps with the condition that they had to be climbable and that they would have ledges and a ladder so that their four year old daughter could sit in the trees and read. To check out all of the photos of this amazing play room click here.

You’re finally ready to purchase a home, but being a first time homeowner can be overwhelming and it can be difficult to know how to prepare yourself the home buying process. Well CMHC has thought of everything and put together a wonderful guide called “Homebuying Step by Step – Your Guide to Buying a Home in Canada” which includes information to help you figure out what kind of home suits your needs, how to calculate what you can afford on your budget, purchasing and mortgage terminology and answers to other questions that you may find yourself asking. They have also included a really helpful checklist called “Homebuying Step by Step Workbook and Checklists” so that you can prepare yourself  for when you find the perfect home. We have attached the guides here, but be sure to check out the complete article by visiting CMHC’s website.