Baby Jack!

Last night Christy and I got to hang out while our sweet hubby's went to Christchurch men's BBQ. It was so nice to be able to spend some time catching up as we have both been out of town and keep missing each other. It was also great to play with little Jack too - we took him to the pool which he adores! So very cute. I don't have any pictures of Christy or myself but I do have one of little Jack who is growing up so fast! And we even caught his amazing smile on camera!


I have to laugh posting this picture because, while we don't have children of our own yet, recently this has been a baby oriented blog! We are at that stage of life when all our friends are having children which means we get to play with them, take cute pictures and then hand them right back!

Old Friends

While we were visiting Dave and Amanda we met up with Dave and Jane Wright. Dave was the youth pastor in Hartford when dad was the pastor there. It is always strange to see people in a different context and this was no exception. Very bizarre to think that having started in little old Hartford England they are now in Charleston SC and we are in Atlanta GA! It was good to catch up as I really miss them!

This photo is missing Steven as the one we tried to do with the timer turned out horribly, so Steven took on the role of photographer for this one!

When we were out walking around the market in Charleston in 100 degree heat, we popped into the year round Christmas store to enjoy their air conditioning. For those of you who know Steven well, you will know that he cannot survive without his Diet Coke so we found the ideal Christmas Tree ornament for him:


Needless to say, as fitting an ornament as it was, we could not bring ourselves to buy a coke can to hang on our tree!

On the way home on Sunday we stopped by to see Mays and Becky Boyd. Mays is Steven's friend from when they were in Kindergarten together so they go way back. They have just had their first baby, Tucker Mays Boyd. He is tiny and so precious! Here is the latest addition to their family.



All in all it was a great weekend away seeing family, friends and babies!

Our Precious Little Niece!

Thursday night, having both got off from work late, we headed down to David and Amanda's house (my brother and sister-in-law) to meet our sweet new niece Abigail Joy. We arrived at about 12.30am having driven rather fast to get down there and sung songs at the top of our lungs to stay awake! We then got to spend two days with the latest addition to the Gardner family. Here she is in all her cuteness!


We went out for brunch and Abigail slept through the whole meal!



But we kept her involved too! ;)

I could not get enough cuddles with dear Abigail!

Steven was a natural too!


Dave is such a proud dad!



Here is the happy new family!

A Few Final Tidbits from England!

While we were at Granny's house Steven and I went to the pub across the street to see if we could watch some of the World Cup. It is a quiet pub but we had gone there last time we were at Granny's and loved it so we decided to go back. We arrived and it was surprisingly quiet. After ordering a beer for Steven, wine for me and chocolate cake (amazing!) to share, we headed through the pub to try and find somewhere to sit. We found a room with nice couches and a TV which, to our horror, was not turned on! So we promptly put on the footy and enjoyed the game with a few interruptions from other guys who were jealous that we had found the TV while they were having to sit through family dinner! The room we were in was entertaining too with an old English phone box in it!


The final stop on our whirlwind tour of England was to Hartford where I spent my teenage years. We made a few impromptu stops at various people's houses and saw people who I hadn't seen in years. It was strange going back to Hartford for the first time in ten years, but it didn't really feel like I had been gone for that long other than the fact that all the trees seemed to have grown - funny huh?!

Here is Hartford church where dad was vicar for 13 years. I had always dreamed of getting married in this church (for obvious reasons) but, sadly, that could not be. But my other dream did come true...Steven finally got to see the church where I have so many memories.




Here is the new church hall which is just being completed. Awesome to see how the church is continuing to grow!



This is the house we used to live in right opposite the church:


And here is the post office next door to our house where we would run to get chocolate after school before mum and dad got home!


After a quick tour of Hartford we went for a cook out (or BBQ for all my English friends!) at Amie's house. Amie and I were at high school together and I miss her terribly! It was fun to be able to spend time with her family as I hadn't seen them in a long time. Steven had fun watching the footy with Martin (Amie's dad) too while us girls caught up! I would post a picture of us all but we all looked so awful in it that people might not forgive me for posting it! Amie played chef too - very impressive. We both had a great evening and didn't want to leave by the end!




We spent the night in Hartford with friends and then flew out the following morning from Manchester.

It was such a quick trip but, as you can see, we managed to squeeze in lots. Sorry to all those people we didn't get to see - we love you and there will always be next time! We are now back in the baking heat of Georgia and are happy to be home. England will always have a special place in my heart but, I am happy to call Atlanta "home" for Steven and me... at least for the time being ;)

Up North!

From London we headed up to Yorkshire to see Granny. We had a leisurely drive up and stopped for lunch at a great pub. We also saw this beautiful English castle too.















It was hard to see her as she is getting much older and more frail but nevertheless we had a lovey time with her. I think we exhausted her when we first got there, she was so excited to see us that she had to go and lie down! Throughout our trip Steven was the only one who was insured on the car because he arrived two days after me so picked the car up on his own. Much to Steven's dismay, because I wasn't there in person, they couldn't insure me on it so poor old Steven had to manage all the single lane roads around Granny's house on his own. He did great though! We took Granny out for a drive on Thursday night and even though her eye sight is going she was able to tell us very specific directions - I guess that is what comes of having lived somewhere for 25 years! Because Granny is getting older she really isn't up to doing too much but we took her for a walk around the neighborhood in her wheelchair. Or rather I should say, Steven pushed her, and I just strolled along next to them laughing at the fact that the pavement was in such bad condition that Granny felt as though she was on a roller coaster. Much to Steven's horror she suggested they just walk down the road instead! Steven looked at me as if to say, "is she serious?" when we realized she was he literally didn't miss a beat and there we were, the three of us, walking down the middle of the road!


























We had great fun on Friday as we headed to Durham where I went to university. Steven had never seen it so I enjoyed showing him around all my old haunts. Unfortunately we ended up visiting on the week of graduation and anyone who knows Durham will also know that graduation is the most crazy time ever. It happens in the cathedral so sadly Steven did not get to see it in all its glory but it was still a good day. Here are some photos of the university town which I love!
















The cathedral with the graduates!















Another angle of the cathedral















The river running through Durham with the castle and cathedral


The street to Riverside for classes every day



The Bailey (my college is to the right on this picture)


Inside the cathedral (rumor has it that this was used in one of the Harry Potter movies)


Another angle of the cathedral

London!

After the wedding we headed down to London to see Jonny, Charlotte, Naomi and James. We stayed with the Hendry's who are dear friends from many moons ago - I was in their wedding when I was 5! Crazy! They were so sweet to put us up as Jonny and Charlotte didn't really have enough room for us to stay so it worked out well. Unfortunately almost all the photos we have of our time with Jonny and Charlotte are with the kiddos which is great in theory, but not for anyone taking the time to read this! Unfortunately because of security I can't post photos of Naomi and James. But I can try to tell you all about them.

Naomi had her third birthday while we were there which was wonderful! She had such fun opening all her presents. I had no idea that it would take so long though for her to get through them all! She even opened all the cards before the presents, we were very impressed. We had bought Naomi a tea set and Great Granny got her a kettle which makes a boiling noise and a pouring noise - much more fun than when I was a kid that's for sure! Steven was a great sport and drank many imaginary cups of tea for hours on end! Each time we asked Naomi "can we have a cup of tea please?" she would say "of course you can!" in her sweet voice, or we would say, "Naomi can you clean up please?" "Of course I can!" I think it was more funny/cute in person than on paper but you get the idea! Jonny took the day off work and we all went to the park. Naomi had a blast playing hide and seek. She thought it was great to run into the middle of an open field and hide, burying her head in the grass thinking that if she couldn't see us then we couldn't see her! Fun times!

James is simply the cutest nephew ever (I can say that seeing as I only have one nephew at the moment). He is such a happy baby with the sweetest smile and giggle. We had lots of cuddles which was lovely. At the end of Tuesday evening Charlotte said "when we used to spend the day with other people's children before we had our own we were exhausted by the end of the day - is that happening with you?" As we sat slouched on the couch we just looked at each other and laughed, we were pooped! It was certainly a great form of birth control ;) It was so lovely to see the family, I only wished we all lived closer and could see more of each other.

On Wednesday Steven and I headed into the city to see friends. I met my dear friend Rachel for lunch and we went to a little tiny cafe where the food wasn't the best but the company was great! Steven went to an architecture museum while Rach and I caught up and then we all went for ice cream. Here is a photo of Rach and me, thanks for meeting up with us Rach!














After lunch Steven and I went to British museum in the sweltering London heat. I almost fainted walking around. Who knew that there wouldn't be any air conditioning?! Here is the British museum:














In the evening we met up with Jennie, Stewart, Emma and Neil. Jen and I are like sisters, and Em and I have known each other for years so it was nice to finally meet their other halves. We went for tapas. It was such a fun night although I forgot how expensive food/drink is in England! It was worth every penny though and we didn't want the evening to end. We only just made the last train back to where we were staying which added some drama to the evening! Thank you guys for taking time to hang out with us. Miss you already!

A Trip Across the Pond!

We just got back from a wonderful trip to England for Liz and Tim's wedding and a whirlwind trip around the country to see family and friends. We had a great time although we both came home in need of another vacation as we were so tired from it all! Steven survived me taking him to where I grew up including Oak Hill College London (dad was a professor here until I was 7 years old), Hartford where I lived from the age of 7 until I was 18 and then Durham, where I went to university. We had great fun seeing old friends along the way and seeing family.

I hadn't realized how American I had become but apparently it is not simply my accent that has changed! It was a strange trip 'home' for me as for the first time since moving to the States, England actually felt like a foreign country. Everything was so small! Quite amusing really! Realizing we are spoiled, I am not ashamed to admit that we were very happy to be home in our King Size bed! It was also quite refreshing to realize that 'home' is now with Steven in Atlanta and I love it!

We spoiled ourselves over Liz's wedding weekend and stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast up on the moors. It truly was an amazing place, we only wish we had had more time there to enjoy the moors more. Here are some photos of our room and the view:
































The weather was absolutely amazing for our entire week! Here we were with a suitcase full of layers for the cold rainy English weather that we have come to expect in England, and we ended up needing clothes for Florida weather - amazing! Although with no air conditioning it was quite the killer!


Liz and Tim's wedding was simply marvelous! The bride looked stunning and the wedding went off without a hitch. It was such an honor to be one of the bridesmaids as Liz and I have been through so much together over the years and she was in our wedding two years ago. Thank you Liz! Below are the bridesmaids with the bride, and the bride and groom with me.
































It was great fun to see my dear friend Amy from college (below) too at the the wedding. There wasn't enough time to catch up with each other but we did a pretty a good job!
















Steven got to dance his first Ceilidh too but unfortunately I don't have any photos documenting it. It was so much fun!




From the wedding we headed down to London to see Jonny, Charlotte, Naomi and James, but that will have to be saved for another day as I need to go to sleep!

It's Finally Time to Start Blogging!

Ok so I finally decided to stop stalking other people's blogs and write one of my own. Correction-- I will still stalk all you fine people, but now you can stalk me back in return!
The purpose of this blog is to keep all our friends, wherever they may be, up to date with the random world of the Simms! Enjoy!