Heartwarming Housewarming

So yesterday I had planned on picking berries with Farm Girl and Jaime, but when hubby got word of my plans for Saturday morning, he quickly put a stop to it because little did I know that plans had already been made!  I was already expecting my Dad to come up for the weekend, but I had planned on being back from berry picking around the time that he was expecting to arrive early afternoon.  Apparently that plan that I pleaded with hubby wasn’t acceptable and I couldn’t understand why.  That is until my the mob of cars all simultaneously pulled into our driveway like cop cars would at the moment that the Chief had given the go ahead to make the move on the bust!

My incredible and beautiful pseudo mom Aunt Shirley had planned a family housewarming party for us!  Firstly, ya’ll need to understand that while I only live 1 hour and 30 minutes away from my home town, coming to the “big city” of Halifax (even though I live on the outskirts) is never a road driven by some of my family members, including my mom and grandmother.  So for 13 of them to all pull up at once like and all swarm the front door was a sight I never ever would have thought to see in my life!  They had gifts and food in tow and smiles on their faces.

Let me tell yas I could not be more touched than I am by this.  First of all while I came from the same place with the same economic hardships as all of them, today I am much better off than many of them financially and even still they thought enough of me to come with gifts that I know were not easily afforded.  I felt a bit guilty for being the object of receipt of their generosity, but simultaneously choked up at the sincerity and love of the entire situation. 

There was food (of course!).  If you’re a shrimp lover (which I most DEFINITELY am!), you’d be in heaven with this dip made with an extra ingredient of thoughtfulness from my aunt Shirley:

    

Fruit tray and homemade guac:

 

I have no idea how I did not get a picture of my grandmothers mini muffins (they were the cutest bite sized muffins I had ever seen) and gingerbread (:-( )

And of course CAKE (pic modified to protect the innocent):

You all know about my empire red KitchenAid affection.  I’m now the proud owner of matching measuring spoons and measuring cups (which I have picked up and put back down many a times while shopping):

   

Knowing how much my Aunt Shirley would know I’d LOVE the dip she made, I got this card:

 

inclusive of the recipe:

 

Maybe some of you will remember that I got married last September and it is approaching our one year anniversary on September 6th.  Given that we have just moved into a new home and have had many things to do around the house, I had not planned on doing any gardening except for acquiring some hydrangea bushes to plant as a one year anniversary memento in our new home.  Hydrangeas were my wedding flower.  I love them.

My Aunt Florence brought a hydrangea bush as a group gift from her and my uncle as well as my cousin Wanda (who works at a green house) and whose four children (one + the triplets) were my flower girls and ring bearers.  Member these cuties??

I couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate gift:

   

Can’t wait to get it in the ground!

Oh and did you know that roosters are good luck?!  We got ourselves a little rooster for luck too ;-)

So I know that not all of my family members read my blog, but I know that a few special members of them do, so thank you from the very bottom of my heart.  I want to blather on like Ann Shirley would from Ann of Green Gables and start talking about the depths of my heart and all of that, but I won’t because I’d just make a fool of myself (I just typed food! lol).

I love you all so much.  I never thought my grandmother would ever see the inside of our house!  I hope that this is just the beginning of those visits, but I won’t get too greedy on that request!

THANK YOU!!!!

Oh and since this is a weight loss/health/food blog after all, you’ll be proud to know that after our guests left, we promptly made a 3 hour appearance at the tennis court where I burned off 800 calories, so I’m pretty sure even after all that yummy dip and cake I’m in the good books with the calorie gods:

Oh and hubby wanted to make sure that I tell ya’ll that I’m 0 for 3 :-(    NEXT TIME BUDDY NEXT TIME!!!! :-P

MWAH!!!!!!!!!!!