WEEKEND ROUND UP

this was our weekend away - make a cuppa before you begin and happy reading....lol

* i thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with my gorgeous husband on so many different levels. we love our kids with every fibre of our beings but it was nice to be husband and wife again for a few days without the added weight of being a dad and mum too. and let's face it 9 hours in a car together does force you into conversations to help pass the time - not that talking to mark is ever something i have to force.
love you babe and thanks for getting us out there and back in one piece
(despite me getting us lost in brisbane of all places)


* it was great to go to a different part of australia and do a little bit of exploring. made me appreciate living near the coast and in a bigger town even more.

*on the way to taroom we caught up with the oh-so gorgeous ruthy, her daughters, emily and gabby and her lovely sil, julie. mark helped em out with a computer problem she had, ruthy made morning tea and we all sat in ruthy's lovey NEAT and relatively new scrapping room while i tried not to drool on her albums as i looked through them. took some great pics (they are on ruthy's camera though - including a special message for a special friend that will be revealed soon *wink*) and just laughed and laughed. i am so looking forward to the scrap heap retreat in july now.

* nathan and bec's wedding was "interesting" with some very explosive family dynamics that were barely contained over the weekend. poor bec was just on tenderhooks all day saturday but some fairly stern words from her extended family to the "troublemakers" seemed to smooth things over. her and nath were so appreciative that so many of their friends travelled so far to share in their special day. it's just a shame that petty jealousies and nit-picking by certain family members couldn't be put aside to make their day special for them.
bec's nan put on a huge seafood feast for us on the friday night as it was good friday. it was a nice relaxing way to meet people who would be attending the wedding and i spent ages talking cameras and photography with the guy who took the wedding pics.
most of bec and nathan's friends pitched in on sunday morning and helped with the clean up of the town hall where we had the reception - "many hands make light work" is the saying and it was certainly true on sunday morning.

here are just a few happy snaps from nath and bec's special day.

nath, bec and nath's mum and dad, pam and warwick
pam and wawrick cooked a lovely bbq breakfast in the park the morning after the wedding.

the old milk truck that took the wedding party off to have their photos taken.
pity the guys all had to get out and push when it wouldn't start on the way back to the reception...lol

their gorgeous (and yummy) cake.
each cake was a different type of mud cake - chocolate, white chocolate and caramel.
and yes....those flowers were real.

the amazing bread rolls that were stamped with bec and nath's names.
the people at out table had all sorts of weird and wonderful theories as to how they were created.
i went with the oompa loompa theory....lol

there were so many people taking pics that mark and i eventually gave up on getting a perfect pic of them so we just snapped whatever we could - not perfect pics but we will get some of them off nath and bec once they are settled back in darwin.

* after learning that my gorgeous friend miss marie was a native to the area that we visited i took a few "here's proof" snaps for her.
hope you like them, marie.

don't quite know how that strange woman got in the pic....!!!

proof we were actually, almost there....!!!

* on the way back home yesterday we went through toowoomba and went to look at the old house that mark lived in when he was at uni up there before we were married.
it has changed SO much but just being back in that street and feeling very nostalgic brought me to floods of tears.
mark and i had so much fun in that house and we then spent the rest of the trip back into brisbane reminiscing about old times and old friends. our life is good now but part of me longs to go back to those days when it was just the two of us and we were so in love and young.
like i said before, we wouldn't trade our kids for anything and we love them with every inch of our hearts but life was so much simpler then and i guess a lot less hurried.
oh dear....i am getting all nostalgic and teary here.

* the kids had a ball with nanny and grandad. kait got her scarf knitted and nanny has gone on and knitted another 4 today for the mother's day stall i am running at school. she is a knitting demon with those needles i can tell you.
they all had a visit from the easter bunny although being a chocolate-free household because kait can't have it saw minimal eggs delivered - they were replcaed by dvds this year.

* i have to work 1/2 days for the next two weeks. "not happy jan" that mark authorised holidays for the other girl in the office during school hols (she doesn't have any school aged kids)
let's just say he won't be doing that again.
i spent all my school hols when i was a kid being farmed out because mum worked and i vowed i wouldn't do that to my kids.
hmmmm....like i said "not happy jan"

if you have read this far.....well done.
if you have gone to sleep, it's time to wake up and get yourself off to bed.

thanks for reading my blog and a special thanks to those who leave comments.
it's nice to know that i have friends out there in cyberland.
it's even nicer to meet some of you in person *waving ruthy*
and it will be the "ultimate nice" when i finally get to meet some of you in person, some day soon *winking miss marie*

i wish you all a happy tomorrow.

~*~ shazz ~*~