An English Christmas in California

Our 'English Christmas' this year was a success! I cooked up all the traditional English foods that we normally eat and served them to Jason's family... I was a little nervous because I have never cooked that big of a meal for anyone plus I was nervous that they wouldn't like it! But they did!Here are all the preparations... sprouts, carrots, parsnips and apple for the apple Meringue!
YUMMY... Bread Sauce!! Mum sent me stuffing and bread sauce and gave me all the help I needed to be successful! I hope shes proud of my creations!
Here is my yummy big turkey! I stuffed it with sage, onion, orange and carrots... its was so yummy!
The finished product! Sprouts, mashed sweed and carrots, stuffing, little sausages and parsnips.
And finally, the best bit... Apple Meringue!! A family specialty. Even the top of it was crispy!

Thanksgiving with a difference

On Wednesday 21st we drove up to Jason's parents house for Thanksgiving. We drove up in style in a bright green and purple mini bus type car. It's Ryan's work van! It was hilarious, we were getting some of the craziest looks!
We arrived pretty late and went straight to bed.While we were at jason's parents we took Jonah for his first haircut. It seemed like a good idea at the time but the result wasn't what Jesi wanted!

While we were there we went up to a friend of Ken & Sue's who owns a working ranch. We got to hang out with the cows and mules. We even got to ride a mule. It was good fun trotting around on a big mule.

We got up and went for a nice walk by the lake.

All Clear ahead!

I went for some follow up blood tests on November 13th to make sure that my thyroid gland was functioning properly after the surgery and healing. I had to allow at least 6 weeks after the surgery to give the gland time to adjust to the change of only being half!

I got a phone call the same day which was a little worrying but the call was to tell me that I had the all clear and that my thyroid function was perfectly normal.

That means that I do not have to take any medication and that I can function normally with only half a gland.

The scar is healing nicely although I am still getting some pulling when I swallow and some sharp shooting pains, but that is to be expected for about a year because the surgeon had to cut through a lot of nerve tissue and so now its all trying to heal.

Baby Jill Arrives

Our friends Daren & Sarah had a baby girl on 2nd November at 5.30pm.
Her name is Jill Eleanor Blomquist and she weighed in at 7lbs, 9oz and was 19in long.
She is absolutely adorable.

Natalias wedding - More Party Time!

All the bridesmaids toasting the bride & groom.

All the bridesmaids get down and party!

I had fun too... as you can see my poor feet were hurting and
so I called out the big guns...!

Natalias wedding - Party Time!

The reception started with the yummiest dinner EVER! I ate all of mine and some of the other bridesmaids food while they were talking to the guests!!The First Dance.
Bride & Groom looked great as they danced their first 'married' dance!

We all got down and boogied the night away to a mixture of tunes. It was amazing watching Natalia & Will dance to Brazilian music.

The sunglasses were worn for a reason... Natalia & Will asked all their guests to bring sunglasses because one of Natalia's favorite songs is
'I wear my sunglasses at night... so I can, so i can be cool!'

Natalias wedding - The ceremony.

The ceremony was amazing and Natalia looked absolutely stunning.
Will was so happy to see her.

Natalia's Mom gave her away. They looked gorgeous.

Natalias wedding - The decorations

Here are the decorations that Natalia chose and that Jesi and I put together.

We got to the wedding site early and started to set everything up.

In the end everything looked amazing... even if I do say so myself!

Natalias wedding - The dresses go on!

Now that all the hair and make-up is done and everyone is looking good its time to add the eagerly awaited dresses!

A few fional touches were added to the bouquets and all the ceremoney and reception decorations were set up.
Almost time for the brides dress... the bridesmaids were ready and waiting!
On goes the brides dress! There were certainly a few tears shead!
Natalia's mom is on hand to help with the final details of the dress and brides outfit.

Natalia's sister helped her to put on her shoes. She had a little difficulty bending down to put her shoes on and doing up the buckles!

Natalias wedding - Girls getting ready!

The night beofre the wedding Jesi, Natalia, Leah & I stayed at my house so that we could add the final touches to the flowers. We got up nice and early and got ready and headed to the hair salon so that everyone could be made beautiful!

Jesi decided to do her own hair! Looking good... looking real good!

We managed to get in some lunch once we left the nail salon and headed to the hair salon! Yummy sandwiches!

Natalia had all her make up down by a professional... she looked amazing!
Some of the make-up was done by 'airbrush'. I have never seen make-up strayed on before so it was a learning experience for me, thats for sure!
The finished product! A hot looked bride to be!
Next the hair! All of this took us about 2 hours or so! It wa fun hanging out and pretty much taking over the whole hair salon!

Snazzy new haircut

I finally got around to getting my brown rooted ratty hair cut and coloured! I went to see a great girl called Halina, who has been cutting my hair for a while now and she made me a new younger looking hair cut!
These photos were taken as we were getting ready for Natalia's wedding.

Out of hospital I go

I was sent home from the hospital the following day and was extremely tired. I was up on and off all night getting pain medication, antibiotics, and being checked on. I got myself comfortable on my sofa and didn't actually move for 3 days! I had to sleep sitting up because I was in pain when I laid down!

I did manage to get myself some more pain medication though! I was taking an extremely powerful pain killer that made my head spin! Our friends from our church group brought us over dinner a few nights becauseI couldn't move! I had to put anitbiotic cream on my incision 3 times a day which was kind of weird. I also had this weird looking random stitch sticking out of the emd of my incision!

As you can see from my hair, I was not allowed to wash my hair for 4 days! I ws living with that head band on to try to make my hair acceptable!
Looking good... Looking real good!!
My boss sent me this amazing flower arrangement that was just beautiful! It smelt soooo good and brightened up my living room!
This is my best shot!! My hair from behind!

Into hospital I go

On September 19th at 5.30am I went to Anaheim Memorial Hospital and had the right side of my thyroid gland removed. Before I was allowed to go into surgery I had to get ready. I was given a blue gown, hair net, little blue booties and the worst NET UNDIES you have ever seen... the nurse told me 'they are no Victoria's Secret but they do the job'. It was hilarious!

Jason was told to write on my neck to know which side of the gland to take!This is me all ready to go inot the O.R! I had thought of E.R in my head! Stand back, we're gonna shock her'!! I went into the O.R at 7.10am and was out for the count until about 10.45am. I was eating yummy hospital lasagne at 6pm.

I had a crazy 'drainage tube' in my neck for 1 day and it was basically as its name suggests... to allow the blood to drain! It was freaking going to the toilet thats for sure! The photos were taken on my cell phone which is why they are a bit blurry!

Flamingo... cha cha cha!

We all went to a typical Flamigo night. We were sat in a little 'cave' that was all decorated and then out of no-where a little band comes in and then these crazy ladies start dancing.

They were amazing. The aldies were of all ages but were all very good. They were stamping their feet so hard and clapping.

There was one older lady who was singing to all the men... she was hilarious. Then, I get pulled up and have to dance with this lady!