Recent comings and goings...

About a month ago we decided to take off to Dana Point (near Laguna Beach) for a night. We had a lovely time relaxing and exploring and rode our bikes along beaches of the Pacific Coast Highway. We ended off with a cycle along Manhattan Beach.

View from the Marriot Hotel in Dana Point (where we did NOT stay!)

We had some SA friends over for Sabbath lunch a while back too - the Fosters, Uncle Robin (Baxter), Vaughn and Lorissa Grant and Celeste (Powrie from Helderberg/Silverleaf) and her American hubby - Jim. It was a good time and Sara put on a yummy spread for everyone including tofu pastries which were absolutely scrumptious!

We are always so happy to visit with Ken and Crystal when they are in town:) They were on their annual vacation recently and spend a couple of days in Loma Linda so we went out to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast with them and had a good time catching up! Thanks for the visit guys xxx

Carly's Wedding Vol. 4 (Reception)

Janine and her boyfriend Mike (Mike - this is for you - you're first on our page!)


Aunty Jen, Uncle Derek, Neil and Wayne checking out a video of Barry and aunty Viv doing "the twist" on the dance floor (hence the laughing!)

Carly's ready to throw her bouquet!

Our first pic with Mr. and Mrs. Curran :)

Jesse and Carly listening to speeches

Yummy (and beautiful) cake

Jesse smooshed some cake on Carly's face - not too bad though (Clark wouldn't have gotten away with it if he'd done it to me!)

Uncle Phil all dressed up!

Heather with LeAnn's (da Silva nee Swenson) little girl, Sophie - she's so beautiful!

Janine's speech (if you know what softies these girls are you would be proud of them for getting through the day with as little tears as possible!)

Aunty Viv's speech - really beautiful and very heartfelt

Uncle Phil's "Father of the Bride" speech

with our Aussie cousins - Wayne, Neil and Barry

The rest of the family

Sam with her boyfriend, Steven. They are both going to be at Loma Linda University one of these days.

First dance...

Table settings (we got up early Sunday morning and met aunty Viv, aunty Jen and ALL the Lansdown men and helped set up tables)

Our two Cali aunties - we love them!

Carly's Wedding Vol. 3 (Ceremony)

Ceremony pics...

Aunty Viv being escorted down the aisle by her new son-in-law. She looked lovely in her buttercup yellow chiffon dress...the elegant mother of the bride:) and we were so proud of her - she was very strong, we didn't see her cry really but there were definitely moments that she was choked up and her eyes were teary!

Janine - lovely maid of honor:)

The ring bearer (cutie pie!) was Logan (aunty Muriel's [Swenson] daughter, LeAnn's little boy) He was bribed with candy:) if you look closely you can see him holding the candy in his little hand!

Just to give a glimpse of the back of Carly's dress - really pretty.

The front of the church (the arrangement in the middle was made by Aunty Shirley)

Heather (talented young lady she is) played the harp while the guests were waiting - she's really picked up the instrument very quickly - I think she's only been playing for a year or so!

Jesse's sisters lighting the candles.

Wayne escorting aunty Yvonne down the aisle - it's so great that she could be there for Carly's special day!

Carly's Wedding Vol. 2 (Rehearsal)

Okay...Friday's finally here and I have some time to breathe! so I'm going to try and put up our pics of the wedding (and other recent photos if the computer co-operates!) This bunch are from the rehearsal....

The lovely decorations on the pews - a combined effort of all the aunties and aunty Nat and aunty Jen put them up during the rehearsal with Sam, Sara and Jason helping to stick double sided tape (yes, a very important job!)

Jesse and his boys! what a fun group:)

Here comes the bride with her dad:)

Aunty Shirl working hard on the flower arrangement for the front of the church.

Aunty Nat and aunty Jen decorating.

Carly's Wedding Vol. 1

We have just gotten home from a lovely (but busy!) weekend in Camarillo where amongst visiting with overseas family, the highlight was seeing Carly Lansdown become Mrs. Jesse Curran!!! I am exhausted and need to get to bed (it is 11pm and I need to be up early since I'm starting a hospital internship tomorrow) so I am just posting these tidbits quickly and tomorrow night when I get home and have some more time, I will post more:

As you can see, Carly was a stunning bride....just look at that radiant smile!

Mr. and Mrs. Curran:)

The first dance....that's Janine and Jesse's brother (maid of honor and best man) on the left.

Cutting the cake... that cake was DELICIOUS! Carly used to work for a shop called "The Bread Basket" and they make wedding cakes and her old bosses gave her this cake as a gift. It had real white chocolate icing and was filling with assorted berries and cream.....mmmmm!