New Years Eve!

I can't believe it's New Years Eve! It seems so strange not to be home with the NB gang. We'll definitely miss them!

Jamie, Chris and I started preparing early afternoon by heading to the grocery stores and getting everything we needed for food. The 3 of us spent a few hours cooking and getting it all together. Most arrived late afternoon and we had quite the full house. The evening ended up being pretty quite with all of us just sitting around chatting. I tried to get it going by bringing out the shooters. It worked a bit but most of the alcohol didn't seem to kick in until after midnight. It was also strange to ring in the new year knowing it wasn't 2008 in Canada for another 4 hours.

I wanted to talk to Karen and wish her a happy new year so I decided I'd call the legion as I knew she'd be there and I could surprise her. It ended up working out perfectly as I was able to talk to her, Graham, Jeffrey, Glorie, Travis, Shannon and Kelly! Couldn't get anymore perfect! They were all quite surprised.

All in all it was a good night but much quieter than previous years. I guess that comes with age though!

Link to New Years pics:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82303&l=e826f&id=732460083

Back Home!

Keith and Eric had crawled back to the room at some stupid hour this morning in fine form. I made a bed on the floor for Eric from the pillows on the pullout couch - yeah, he didn't want to sleep on the couch. It was more of a fort really. Keith was so drunk I had to take his shoes off and unbutton his cuff links. Haha. It was kinda funny.

There were some headaches this morning but after a nice greasy breakfast in the hotel restaurant we were good to go. Well, I could have used many more hours of sleep! At lunch time we went to Lauren's parents place where Emma and Dave were hosting a little gathering for the Canadians. Dave made an amazing stew called African Beef Stew. He grew up in Kenya and his mom still lives there so this was a recipe he grew up on. And no there were no funky animals in it! Haha. After lunch Jamie, Brad, Carolyn and I headed out. I was anxious to get back home and wanted to get the drive over with.

A few hours later we were home. I could have slept the drive I'm sure, but it wouldn't have been very safe since I was the driver. We borrowed Emma's car for the week since we had so many people without cars coming to ours for New Years. Keith, Eric, Chris and Vern hit the road not long after us. Everyone (Jamie, Chris, Vern, Eric, Brad, Carolyn, Phil, Karin) who was in Helston for the night came to our place for supper. We ordered Indian and enjoyed a great variety. It was an early night as we were all bagged from last nights festivities. Plus, we have to prepare for tomorrow's New Year's gathering.

Dale & Lauren's Wedding Day!

Lauren was up early and headed to the Fox & Hounds to meet the girls and have her nails done. Chris and I waited at the house for Jack to have a nap then we headed down to meet everyone. Lauren was brave enough to have me do her hair so with Laura's help we did it. After we were finished it was my turn to get my nails done. I wasn't very smart about this as I should have gotten dressed first because I basically had to get dressed as soon as my nails were done. You can imagine how nice my french manicure looked then! Chris and I rushed around getting ready then getting the boutonnieres up to the boys at the house. They looked fantastic! But sorry guys, Lauren looks fabulous! We had a few minutes at the house and then it was off to the church, which is just a few minutes walk. The wedding went perfectly and was a beautiful ceremony.

Afterwards we went back to the Fox & Hounds Inn where the dinner and reception were held. We had about an hour of drinks and mingling than sat down for dinner. The dinner was incredible and was a really nice, cozy venue. Everyone did their speeches and Dale's made me and many others cry!

After the dinner it was time to start dancing. Olivia and her cousin Molly got the floor warmed up. It wasn't long and the dance floor wasn't empty for the rest of the night. We had such an excellent time. Everything came together so well. The pub in the hotel was perfect in size and atmosphere, the band was excellent and just the family and friends together made a great mix. I can't say enough praise about the day. Except that Keith and I have a tough standard to meet when we finally have our wedding!

Congratulations Mr & Mrs Dale Esliger! I'm honored to have such a wonderful brother and sister-in-law! xo

You'll have to follow these 2 links to my Facebook albums as I still can't upload pictures:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81686&l=18fdc&id=732460083

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81698&l=6a655&id=732460083


I think the quality is causing the files to be too large to upload to Blogger.

Hen Party & Man Day

Today was Lauren's day to spend with her friends and Dale's day to spend with his. The guys spent the day golfing in the rain and pigeon clay shooting. The girls spent the day bowling and having lunch at the Exeter Inn where Lauren used to work. Late afternoon everyone met up at the recreation centre for a game of football. Jamie and I weren't interested in playing so we went for a walk through town, then her, Chris and I made the centre pieces for the wedding.

After everyone was back, the girls went to Jane's for drinks, munchies and the chocolate fountain! I bought the fountain a few weeks ago on eBay and it was a hit. Afterwards we went back to Lauren & Dale's for a drink, then went to the pub just down from their house. All the Canadians hung out and enjoyed being together. It was awesome. It felt like we were back home in Canada.

Off to sleep for Lauren & Dale's big day tomorrow....

The Canadians Arrive!!!

I am SO excited! Jamie, Eric, Brad and Carolyn arrive today! Everyone but Eric is traveling together as he's flying in from Denver where he lives. He called last night to say his flight was cancelled and he's on a different flight.

Jamie, Brad and Carolyn are taking the bus from Heathrow to Exeter where I'll pick them up. The wedding rehearsal is today so everyone else will be busy. I wanted to go anyway because I was so anxious to see them. It's about an hour to Exeter. When I arrived at the bus station they were already there. We headed back to Dale & Lauren's and everyone was back from the rehearsal when we returned. Eric was intending on getting a bus to Exeter, then another to Chulmeigh as a bus comes right to Dale & Lauren's. He was to catch the bus around 6pm but at 6:30pm while we were on our way to the pub for the rehearsal dinner. Eric called to say the bus never showed in Exeter.

I dropped everyone off at the pub, went back to the house to pick up Jamie for company and we went back to Exeter for Eric. Poor Eric, when we got there he had already been traveling for 24 hours and was bored stiff at the station. We came prepared with cider as it's legal here for passengers to drink. It was a very quick trip to and from Exeter as we wanted to try and make it back for the rehearsal dinner. We went straight to the pub and we had such good timing that everyone was just getting their main courses. We thought for sure we'd miss it because we were gone for 2 hours. We were happy to make it and order some much needed food.

Boxing Day

Congratulations Angie & Bruce on their engagement!!! They spent Xmas in Paris so Bruce proposed at the top of the Eiffel tower on Xmas Eve! Can you get any more romantic than that? We are so happy for them!

Happy Birthday Alexandra! Today is my best friend's daughter's birthday.

Christmas is over already? It's amazing how long we prepare for the day and it's over so quickly. Today was a quiet, relaxing one for what I remember. This is another day I can't remember a whole lot of what we did. I do remember Chris cooked sausage and peppers for supper as it's one of our favorite meals. AND Angie arrived! Angie & Bruce arrived after a very long evening of driving and not killing each other. Haha. It was Bruce's first time driving in the UK and to add the darkness and unknown territory to it all was not easy. They spent the evening with us which was really nice. They're staying until the 30th as they have to be in Ottawa for another wedding in Bruce's family.

Merry Christmas!!!

'Merry Christmas Baby' and a kiss on the forehead was what I woke up to this morning. That made my day already. This is mine and Keith' first Xmas together. Can you believe it? We've been together for 6 years or so and have never spent Xmas together. And out first Xmas together is as a married couple!

So far this doesn't seem so bad. Went down stairs as everyone was just getting up (around 9:30am or so). Olivia started the gift opening and she made Xmas! Xmas is not the same without kids. It reminded me of Matthew and Graham when they were young and how excited they'd get and the piles of gifts they would open. We took awhile to get through all our gifts and I didn't even fill up as I was opening my gifts. I kept my mind off the thought that it is Xmas and I'm normally opening these with my parents, brothers and grandparents. Whew, made it through!

After we opened our gifts we decided to meet Lauren's family for a walk in Eggsford forest where there's a nice walking trail. It's a really nice day out, mild and of course no snow because that's rare here. We slapped on our rubber boots as it's a bit muddy and headed out. Spent an hour or so walking and it was really nice for us all to be out.

Not long after our walk we all headed to Jane & Terry's (Lauren's parents) for Christmas appetizers and eventually Christmas dinner. Jane & Terry had a fantastic spread as always and we enjoyed smoked salmon, herring (I think) and even some caviar! Later we had Christmas dinner with turkey and ham and more fixings than I ever thought possible. It was amazing. Once gifts were exchanged and we were all stuffed, we headed back to Lauren and Dale's.

I called home before we went for our walk, then again when I got back from Jane's. It was weird to wish everyone Merry Christmas over the phone and to ask what they got for Xmas and tell them what I got. This was also Matthew's first time away for Xmas. He spent the day with our cousin Dawn who is also living in Calgary so I was relieved he wasn't spending it alone. I wasn't able to have much of a conversation with Mom as the first time we were kinda running out the door, there was no time during the day and then later the connection was so bad we couldn't talk so I was really disappointed about that. The same when I called Dad, Nan & Gampie, Matthew and Nanny Neil. I wasn't very impressed as it was my only way to spend some time with them today. But we (me & them) all made it through the day so I was very happy about that. And spending Christmas with Keith was excellent.