Becca-Lou

I'll take what I can get, and if it means only visiting once per year, that's what it means!  Kids can sometimes throw wrinkles, but I was determined not to let Simeon's fever or Kate's swollen eye get in the way of my yearly visit!  Thank you Rebecca for driving all the way up to Tottenham. (Thank you Simeon and Kate for being well enough that we were only kind of bad moms...) 

Friends are such wonderful blessings.  I love the blessing of friends both near and far.  I love being able to spend part of a day talking about everything and nothing and just enjoying hanging out with a friend!  Here's to next year - and maybe I remember to take a picture of us!

Goodbye for Real

I love that we live so close (relatively speaking) to Eric's parents.  That means we often get to see more of the Jakob family!  Tonight we were invited over to Eric's parents for a farewell dinner.  We had a lovely time visiting - head trauma aside. 

Someday I will learn to use photoshop, and I will be able to take three slightly goofy pictures into one awesome picture!  Cute kids aside, I'm so thankful for technology.  The Jakob family is really only a few key strokes away.  Bonne chance!  Bon voyage!

Dundas Driving Park - McCartney Family Fun

I took many, many pictures yesterday.  Today, I enjoyed chatting, chasing my kids, and not taking pictures.  Today was calm-post-wedding-hanging-out family time.  It was nice.  The cousins had fun together.  The adults had fun together.  It was also a goodbye to the Jakob family.  They leave on Tuesday to go to Morocco.  Jennifer will begin a three year posting at the Canadian Embassy in Rabat, the capital city.

When I think about Jennifer and her family moving so far away I have mixed emotions.  Right now we see them 2-3 times a year.  We are bums and we haven't been up to Ottawa since Kate was 1.  We will probably see them only once a year for now.  It would be amazing if we could get ourselves to Morocco to visit them, not sure there's any chance of that, but it would be amazing!  Right now I'm very excited for them, for what an exciting opportunity this is for their family.  I will miss them at the family Christmas get together, but I will look forward to seeing them next summer.

I didn't take pictures of the circle of camp chairs underneath the shade of a lovely big tree, but we did make the siblings and Ma and Pa pose before everyone dispersed. They sure know how to take some crazy looking pictures! 

A Wedding

Weddings are lovely aren't they?  Last week was my family, this week, it is Ken's!  Meagan and Chris got married today - sealed for time and all eternity in the temple.  It was a beautiful day.  It was a beautiful wedding.

We got to the temple just on time.  My Mom and Dad met us there to watch the girls for us.  The sealing was lovely.  I love going to temple weddings, they are so special!

After the sealing we had lots of fun taking pictures at the temple.

Ken packed a picnic lunch that we enjoyed at the temple, after taking pictures.  Then we started to drive west.  We took highway 7 all the way to Kitchener and we had a lovely drive.  Little girls had naps, Ken did too - a little, and it was just lovely.

The reception was more formal than I expected.  There were a number of speeches during the family dinner, then during the dance there were the traditional first dances, there was a ring ceremony (I missed this which made me sad - children!), and cake cutting.  Everything was lovely.  The girls loved the chocolate fountain that was surrounded by marshmallows at just the right height.  Fiona had fun walking around and around and around, and only got flattened once.  Kate and Alice loved playing with their cousins.  And we all just had a lovely time being with family and celebrating the beginning of a new family!  YAY for Meagan and Chris!