Well it has been too long since I last entered something here. Christmas seems like a distance memory ... until I see our bank balance.
What a busy few weeks we have had! This afternoon we returned from Tauranga after a busy few days for Steve and Shanz's wedding. We travelled over on Wednesday and stayed three noghts at Roshanna's sister's house in Welcome Bay. This was the venue for the Hens Night on Thursday, and we had PLENTY of fun at that!
On Friday I was thrilled to catch up with an old friend (Shelley) in Tauranga, and also met her gorgeous wee boys. It had been at least 7 years since we had seen each other.
Very early on Saturday morning I was woken by the sound of rain, and the wedding day in Tauranga dawned a little overcast ... just perfect actually as the previous few days had been extremely hot! We packed up early and headed to the Motor Inn where we were staying Saturday night.
We spoke to Brendan on Skype and were excited to her that the baby was on his or her way, perhaps it could arrive on Stephen's wedding day, after all, this was the reason they couldn't make it over!
After hair and make-up (this consisted of me playing hairdresser and make up artist to the girls) there was a last minute rush to get me sorted, then to the church for the ceremony. My first job as MC got off to a great start when I gave the guests the wrong directions to the reception venue, but they still seemed to all arrive!
The actual wedding ceremony was very moving, and Roshanna and her sisters - Virginia and Kimberley, looked beautiful. Steve and Mike scrubbed up pretty good too.
The reception venue was again, just lovely, and as the night wore on, there were some great dance moves. Ian managed to break out 'the worm' on the dance floor and Kendall was booty shaing and krumping like nobody's busness, much to the delight of the guests. I forgot to mention that J, B and K all spoke really well, surprising Steve and Roshanna, and Ian and I were really proud of all of them. James played DJ again, and Brianna barely left the dance floor, having a great time with Roshanna's cousins.
It was also great to have Brendan and AT beamed in 'live via satellite' from japan with their message for the bride and groom. They were dressed appropriately in their suits and ties, that was until they stood up to turn off the camera, and the bottom half was a little less dressy - boxer shorts was it? In any case, a great surprise for all the guests.
The night ended all too soon, at around 12.30, and we were tucked in bed after a bit of a post mortem by around 1.30am.
The morning rolled around all to quick, and before we knew it we had to clear out of our room and pack up and head to Brian and Jude's for a lovely brunch. We got to see the photos from the day before -all 600 odd!
We were home by around 3pm, and were exhausted, and the gear is still lying on the family room floor as I write this.
We went to 6pm Mass, and it was here that dad told me of the new arrival in our family, a wee boy for Aki and Brendan (Joshua) was born in Japan. (The triple threat, as James calls it, of James, Jack and Joshua). The boys now outnumber the girls in the cousin department. That could change though!
Well, I was going to post photos tonight, but I have work in the morning and think it will be better to haul myself to bed, and finish this tomorrow.