Forever and Always- Mr. & Mrs. McEvoy

 The main reason that Leigh and I came back to England was for the wedding of our dear friend Abigail Sulc to her wonderful man, Adam McEvoy. 

Their wedding was the most amazing wedding that I have ever been too. This wasn't just because of the two extremely cool Americans who started off the show with a reading... No, it was the overall feel of the entire day. Abby had done a great job of planning that everything flowed perfectly and was a relaxing day. Well, for most people... I had a bit stressing since I was taking flower/moving flowers/ worried about flowers blah blah blah...What would a wedding be without me stressing of these things!

Abby walked down the isle to the song "Seasons" by the band Mae. Leigh was in heaven because Mae is her favorite band. During the music portion of the program, Adam's dad was rocking out of the drums. It was so cool to see this beautiful old Anglican church so loud and full of music. The music was really great and even non-church goers enjoyed it immensely!

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

The Message (MSG)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

² If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
^3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

After the ceremony, family and close friends went to the reception venue for a nice meal. The food was amazing. Appetizer was bruschetta. My main course was an amazing lamb shank on a bed of mashed potatoes. For desert you could either order a brownie or strawberry shortbread. This is where I went completely wrong. I had told Abby months ago that I wanted both...but I had to pick one and I went with the minority- the strawberry shortbread. I had tasted numerous brownies in my time in England and I was repeatedly disappointed so I thought that I would try my luck with the shortbread. Who would have known that this would have been the first good brownie ever made in England! Luckily the bride filled up, and I got about 1/3 of hers... It was wonderful!
After the dinner, which was spread out over hours, there was a time of cleaning up (which is when we found time to take another jumping picture) and then on the dancing! Guests from the wedding showed back up to take part in the dancing and appetizers. Adam had some fun groomsmen and groomswoman that were fun to hang out with. It was such and amazing night. The dancing was fun and British people at weddings are fun and wild dancers!  

It really was a perfect day! Congrats to Adam & Abby McEvoy!

I like this tree. At first I thought it looked lonely. But it's probably not lonely, It's probably just independent. Strong. Then I thought that it probably has a best friend tree - and that just because you can't see the best friend tree in the picture doesn't mean it's not there.

...'cause in the end, best friends are always there.

A day with Angie & Malcolm

While we were in England, we really wanted to try to see all of the people that had become part of our family a few years earlier. One thing that Leigh and I both really looked forward to was going on a walk with Angie, Nel, and Malcolm. These walks were truly treasured during our year in England. They got us out of the city and into nature! This year I was hoping that we would be in England during the blooming of the heather on the moors. Unfortunately I was a few weeks early, which is sad since it is on my bucket list! I guess this just adds another excuse to go back to England! :)










We went on a hike around Ogden waters. This happened to be our first walk with Angie when we came to England. This photo is from 2010 on top of the moors. --------->





We tried to take a photo at around the same place to recreate the picture from 2 years earlier! This photo is from 2013. --------->

Gosh! I missed Nel! What an incredible dog. One of my favorites that I have met! We could tell that she had gotten a little older, but she still had an amazing amount of energy! 
As we rounded the last bend of our walk it started to sprinkle...We thought that it would be a typical slow light rain in England, but BOY were we wrong! IT POURED as we ran to the car. The hardest rain I have ever seen in England! And funny enough, Angie parked far away up a hill to leave space for other people. I think she was regretting that decision in the end. We all looked like drowned rats. 
Afterwards we went back to Malcolm and Angie's house and enjoyed one of their lunches with some of Malcolm's homemade bread! YUM! 
Thanks Malcolm and Angie for a great day!

Blackpool- Abby's Hen Do

BLACKPOOL! When we would tell people that we were going to Blackpool for Abby's Hen Do, they gave us some pitiful looks...Were we going to be those crazy girls running around with penis memorabilia? Nope... not necessary! When you are with some of your favorite people in the whole world, that is not needed! Abby had already had at least 27 Hen Dos before we even made it to England, so we really wanted to do something that was different. And as long as we were together, it didn't matter what we were doing! 
Early in the morning we drove to Blackpool, which was only a couple of hours so it seemed like a normal drive to anywhere for me, but I have a feeling for the Brits, it was a bit of a drive! ahah 
We found our hostel/hotel and checked in to shots. Yes, like shots of alcohol.... Nevermind it was 11 in the morning! I think they were trying to promote the fact that they had a bar in the hostel. Whatever. 
We were nervous since it was meant to rain and our main activity for the day was to go to Blackpool's Amusement Park, Pleasure Beach. The day turned out to be absolutely beautiful for England standards, and the rain debuted only as the park was closing!

In earlier years, this amusement park and surrounding areas had to be just hoppin'! It was obvious that many of the rides and decorations were outdated, but that is what made it unique. In 1994, Pleasure Beach was home of the tallest roller coaster in the world, the Big One! Now it is known as the Pepsi Max Big One. This was my favorite ride for sure! As you ascended up the first hill you are climbing towards the sea, and at the top you go over the edge and can just see the sea. It was beautiful and we rode this close to sunset, which made it even more magical! Another unique ride was this horse race ride was the Steeplechase. This is the only operating steeplechase style roller coaster left in the world. The riders sit upon a horse shaped vehicle which can seat on or two people in line. 
Another one that stood out was the Avalanche roller coaster. Avalanche opened in 1988 and was the first ever bobsled type roller coaster to be constructed in the U.K. This one did not have a track that the cars went on, but instead was like you were on an actually bobsled run. I just prayed that there wasn't a malfunction while I was on it! These old school rides made this day fun and unique!

As our day at the park got close to ending, some of the girls wanted to go on one last ride, Valhalla. This was a water ride, but not a normal water ride where you get wet on the occasional descend from a slope. No, this ride was with water just falling on you all the time. The people coming out of this ride were completely SOAKED! If you were wanting to stay dry, you had no chance. As Abby and I watched and waited for our girls to come out, we noticed everyone else coming out. Every person had the same reaction- shocked that they got that wet! I'm not sure why they were shocked...As you wait in line for this ride you see the extremely wet people coming out of it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to find the correlation. June tried her best to hide all of her dryness with the poncho you could purchase...Instead she just managed to add some phallic entertainment for the rest of us!

Noah's ark, equipped with people, deer, pelicans, and of course dinosaurs.... 
As we were leaving the part, there was a perfectly situated rainbow over the ark!

The seaside wouldn't be complete without a nice giant helping of fish & chips and some 2p gambling! Abby introduced me to this bad habit. The 2p machines are like the quarter machines in the States. Unfortunately, what has stopped me in the past (each turn cost 25 cents) could not stop me this time! Each turn was 2p. That is 50 tries in 1 pound!
Abby and I disappeared for a long time. Helen, June and Leigh all left to go back the hostel, but Abby and I stayed to continue our habit. AND we went back the next day to play again. Of course, we didn't win big....I'm not sure that is possible, but it was so much fun while it lasted. As we were leaving Blackpool, we realized we had a problem. The first step is admitting there is a problem... 
Luckily, after England, I am back to where those games are a waste of money because they are expensive. I went cold turkey, but I look forward to my next trip to England and the sea side! 

I love these girls so much and it was great to all go away together and get to spend some quality time in England with just the 5 of us! So...thanks Abby for getting married and giving us all the best excuse to come from around the world to reunite! 2015 America!