Newton, AL: Baby Shower and Party

The next week or so was a combination of trip preparation, relaxing, baking, and family time.

On August 16 people began arriving for the weekend of festivities. Inha and Uncle Tommy and Yvette and Randy all arrived on Friday and we all had a drink and some time to catch up.

Dad opened his Springbank 15-year old whisky (one of our wedding presents for him). It was very smooth, but surprisingly smokey. Allan said he remembered his dealer (a friend and avid whisky fan/collector from work) saying the “Springer 15” was a smokey.

Inha also tried gin for the first time. I can't believe she'd never tried it! And Freya and Kai had to take turns saying hello to everyone - those dogs are just so similar! Freya definitely recognized Inha and Uncle Tommy from our time in Ludlow and was happy to see them.

My practice run on my lemon raspberry macarons was also going down a treat.

On Saturday (August 17) all the girls loaded up in the car and headed out to Fort Moore for Sarah's baby shower. My macarons seemed to be all intact and ready to make the 2-hour trip. We had a pretty easy drive there, albeit a bit of a boring one with nothing to look at.

When we got there we met some of Sarah's friends and enjoyed some of the food. I was so relieved when everyone liked the macarons because it had been so long since I'd made them! We played a couple of quiz games and I was actually pretty impressed by how much I knew about Joe. I did terrible at the first game which was about the pregnancy, but the quizzes on mom (Sarah) and dad (Joe), I aced them 🤓.

After the quizzes, everyone suddenly just disappeared! Mom thought we were going to have to leave the party early to head to church, but we ended up helping clean up and then headed out to church.

After church we made the drive back to Newton. Then it was time to cook some huli huli chicken! Man, that stuff is so good! We also had edamame, which I hadn't had in forever. I forgot how tasty it is! For dessert, I’d made strawberry blondies.

The next day, Sunday (August 18), was our Just Married party. Mom and dad had been up early prepping. The brisket and ribs were in the smoker, and dad had gone out to pick up the cupcakes while mom got breakfast ready. We had mochi waffles, fresh berries, and a hash casserole. Everything was so tasty. Then it was time to prepare some appetizers, before people arrived, as well as some things for dinner.

My mom and dad have gotten very good at throwing parties and everything, from the appetizers to the dinner and margarita cupcakes for dessert, was incredible.

Everyone was swimming, chatting, drinking beer together, playing corn hole. It was a nice atmosphere to catch up and celebrate. Allan also surprised everyone by wearing his kilt for dinner.

Because it was a Sunday, after dessert everyone left to get kids ready for school the next day or prepare for long drives back to FL. It was a really nice day to end a nice weekend celebrating different things.

On Monday (August 19), we got ready to take Freya up to Nick. Unfortunately, the skin had rubbed off of her paws, most likely a combination of the hot paths and dry grass. We couldn't really get her out for a good run with the ball like we wanted to, which might have been a good thing, but we still had lots of cuddles. Overall, the time at home this past week was busy, but in all the best ways.Baca lagi