Wedding

Just before Christmas my cousin had the pleasure of marring her wonderful boyfriend. They had been planning the wedding for over a year. It just seemed to take a long time coming round.

Of course all the family were there for it.

My 3 guys

Me and my boys

Looking good, looking good

Me and my mum

Crazy group of people!

Nice family picture

Whilst in the church Alex kept Grandad busy by reading the bible with him. Now Alex has not had anything to do with churches and Dad is a sworn Atheist, so to watch these 2 together was just awesome. I got some wonderful shots of Dad and Alex in deep conversation.

The main conversation was to do with the maps that were in the bible, as we have lived in many of the countries being shown and Alex thought this was wonderful.

Lucy and Gareth got married in Rotorua and had their reception up the Skyline Sky Ride.

Beautiful Bride

Handsome Groom

Their reception was actually held half way down one of the luge tracks in the venue that is hidden in the forest. Of course there were only 2 ways to get there, yep that is right, you could do the boring thing and sit in the van and get driven down OR you could be wild and adventurous and luge you way to the venue.

Bridesmaids

Father of Bride

Bride and Groom

Guess which way most people went? Yes a lot of fun was had just in the sheer pleasure of getting there. The kids all thought this was awesome.

The venue was a devine marque in the middle of the forest and the food was, as always, lovely. Loads of fresh seafood which the Skyline always offer.

A wild party evening was had by all and everyone had a great time celebrating the happy union.

Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Lucy,
Happy Birthday to you....

Happy Birthday to my cousin Lucy, grand old age of 22 today

Magazines

When I got engaged last year I of course acquired several Bridal Magazines.

Nothing ever actually jumped off the page for me, but I did get a few inspirational ideas about things I liked.

6 months later and I finally cleared the magazines from under my bed this weekend just gone.

I looked at them long and hard and racked my brain to see if I could think of anyone I could pass them on to??

There had to be someone I knew who was getting married?

Would you believe, no one!

So with despair I walked to the garage and placed them in the paper recycle box.

Today I have had the awesome pleasure of retrieving them from the garage because my Cousin Lucy has just annouced today that she got engaged over the weekend to here boyfriend Gareth.

Yea, so happy, they are so great together.

So even though she has told me it will probably be end of 2010 before they actually get married I am really happy that I finally have someone to pass these magazines on to. I mean they are really expensive and such a waste to chuck out when they are useful for many years after you have brought them.

So congratulations to Gareth and Lucy, so happy for you both.

Hand Me Downs

My sister in law and I got together several years ago and decided we would have 2 boys each and we would mix them in with the ages and then hand me downs would work well.....yea right!

My sister in law and I are very lucky in that we do have 2 boys each and their ages mix together quite nicely. She has Ellis who is 8, I have Ben who is 5, then she has Harvey who is 41/2 and I have Alex who is 31/2.
It also means that when Ellis is turning 21, the same year we will have an 18 yr old, a 17 yr old and a 16 yr old! Imagine those 4 together in the same house for the weekend!
Not that we planned any of it, but hey, that is life.

I have a friend who has a 10 yr old boy and she is wonderful in passing on old clothes to me, I have happily kept them in the cupboard until Ben fits them, but then decided that in fact Claire could get more use out of them with Ellis, so they now go there and because Harvey is slightly bigger than Ben, even though he is younger, as long as they are still in good condition when they have finished with them, then my two still get to see them as well.

So hand me downs are doing the long run with all of us.

Cousins

I love the fact that the boy's cousins now live only an hour away not 24!

Ok we don't get to see them too often at present but when we do it is lovely to see them all together.

Ellis is 7, Ben is 4 1/2, Harvey is almost 4 and Alex is almost 3.

So they are all pretty close in age, as I had Ben, Claire (SiL) fell pregnant with Harvey and a year after Harvey I had Alex.

Can't wait until Ellis is 21, Ben will be 18, Harvey 17 and Alex 16, what an interesting time that will be with all 4 boys.

Maybe at their birthdays we can keep showing this picture

Chance Meetings

Don't you just love chance meetings, I do, especially when it is family.
Now I know a small amount of people here in Auckland, mainly work colleagues, so I don't bump into too many people I know very often, who are not connected with the Hospital. Auckland is just so big.
So I met a girlfriend for lunch today and she suggested we went to the Medical School across the road from the hospital, she said they had a good canteen.
So we sat and had lunch and it was really nice, when suddenly I looked up and there was my cousin sitting across the room.
I have 2 cousins in Auckland, the only relatives I have up here. They are both attending Auckland University and the Medical School does come under Auckland University.
Kerry is studying Chemistry but I was not aware that she had any lectures in this part of the campus. So I bundled over to her and said hi. She was quite surprised to see me and apparently this was only the 2nd time she had ever come here.
So it was a nice way to finish lunch having a gossip with my cousin before she went back to study and I continued work.

Here At Last

My brother and his family are here at last.
Iain is my little brother, oh and my only brother. He is married to Claire and they have 2 boys, Ellis who is 6 and Harvey who is 3.
They have emigrated to New Zealand for a new life and are going to be living in Rotorua.

Finally my boys have some other relatives their own age around.
So cute to see all the cousins together, they all got on really well, which is great to see.
Although how can you not like each other when playing with a Thomas the Train Set and Lego.

Claire and Harvey, still a little wide eyed from jet lag, but doing well.
Ben getting use to Uncle Iain being there.
I am so glad to have them here, I haven't seen Iain for 4 years, and prior to that would have been when I left England 10 years ago.
So I can honestly say I don't really know my brother and his wife, but I am so looking forward to getting to know them and their boys and having them in our lives much more than when they were 10,000 miles away.

Welcome to new Zealand Iain and Claire, Ellis and Harvey, we wish you all the best.
You know where we are in Hamilton if you need us for anything, so please do just call or come visit, our door will always be open to you.

We are so glad to have you here.