Friends and Family

This weekend saw Seth and I heading back to Norwich for the weekend. It's always great going back home to see everyone but the main reason for this particular trip was because our wonderful friends, Elodie and Matthias were over visiting from San Antonio, Texas. Elodie used to live in Lowestoft, Suffolk and we have been friends for ages! Matthias is in the US Air Force and was posted over here for a couple of years, which was how they met. And the rest, as they say, is history. They have been living in San Antonio for a couple of years now and have a beautiful son, Noah. They are expecting their second child in March. Obviously, since they moved away, we don't get to see them except for when they are back over here so we were looking forward to seeing them again.

On Saturday during the day Seth had to do a lot of revision, so he was home all day doing that while Mum and I spent the day in Norwich shopping. I felt sorry for Seth having to study but it was lovely getting to spend some time together, just me and Mum. We were looking for a dress for me to wear to Seth's work ball in November and we walked pretty much the length and breadth of the city but there is just nothing around at the moment at all! Well, nice ones, just not suitable ones. Hopefully I'll find something nearer to the time. Mum and I had a lot of fun looking around though and trying on pretty dresses is always fun. Well, I tried on the pretty dresses anyway, Mum was the appreciative audience.

In the evening, Seth and I went for dinner with Elodie, Matthias and a couple of our other friends, Thomas (Elodie's brother) and Naomi. Naomi is wonderful and I love her loads. We have had a lot of fun times together and crazy road trips. It was so lovely just to be able to spend the evening catching up with our friends and hearing about all that they have been up to. I miss them a lot so it was great being with them this evening. Going to Mambo Jambo's was an added bonus as well, it's my favourite restaurant in Norwich, the food there is so good and there is always so much of it!

The obliging waiter took the photo below of us all. Naomi thought he was rather lovely and said to Thomas, who she was sitting opposite, "let's make sure he knows that we're just friends!" That girl makes me laugh!

Naomi's reaction to the waiter :)

After dinner, we went to a church dance. We didn't realise that Seth's cousin, Hayley is over from America at the moment so it was a lovely surprise to see her there and for me to meet her for the first time.


We went to church on Sunday, as always. It was so great to chat and catch up with people who we've not seen in a while, I love being able to do that when we come back to visit. We got to meet Sam Dockrill, the newest addition to our friends' Emma and Seth's little family. They have two lovely daughters and Sam is just gorgeous. I even got to have a little hold which was lovely, even more so because he didn't cry on me! Babies usually cry when I hold them, I think they smell my fear. Although I might actually be improving, I held my friend, Kathryn's baby boy a couple of weeks ago for ages and he didn't cry, I was quite proud of myself! Anyway, back to the matter at hand! When we left church, Seth and I took Sam and Caitlin in our car. While Seth was sorting out their car seats, I decided to get my camera out and told them to smile nicely. This was the result.

Typical Sam and Cait! At one point I put my face really close to Caitlin's so we were nose to nose and asked her if she thought I was beautiful. She said to me in a very matter-of-fact tone, "well, you are beautiful, but when you do that, it's just a little bit creepy!" Ha, love that girl! We had a great afternoon with all of the family, eating tasty food and chatting away. Jess introduced me to her new digital SLR camera, Rigsby. I find it funny that she names her cameras, but even more so that she names them after her favourite people from "The Mentalist".She already has Cho. She told me that she's not sure if she wants a Van Pelt, a Jane and a Lisbon, because they're just not as cool. Obviously.


Now that Seth and I are home, I must say, we're feeling pretty tired but we've had a great weekend with everyone so it's more than worth it.