Hello 2011 ~ Farewell 2010

 So this is my first blogging experience.. bare with me. I may not be "grammatically correct" - excuse my spelling errors, and as a friend of mine has also said in her blog - I will type how I talk, not how things should be said.

With that.. here we go!

My name is Ashleigh, I am 26 years old, engaged, a home-owner, a Labour & Delivery Unit Coordinator, and a house-fiance [wife need not apply yet!] Neil is my fiance, a full time roads worker and volunteer firefighter who luckily works 5 minutes from our home. We have a 6 month old puppy named Lennox. We live in a country subdivision about 10 minutes west of Orangeville. We are starting out our "road" together.. wish us luck!

2010 has been a memorable year for Neil and I, and our relationship. 

In April we put an official offer in on our first house, and within a few days we were signing paperwork to buy our first home. We moved in June 25th, 2010. Moving day went over without a hitch, well the rain poured as hard as heck, but we had a ton of great family and friends helping us out and making sure our belongings made it safely inside our home.  

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Within no time at all, we realized almost every single family in our small country neighborhood has at least one dog. I am a complete, 100% dog lover - and a cat was not in the cards with Neil's allergies. We had kept our eye on a few online classifieds advertising puppies for sale, and then we laid our eyes on this wee bundle.. it was love at first sight and before we met her, we knew she was the girl for us. 

Lennox [Lettuce] [Dennis the Menace] Cowan

Born: May 28th 2010



Lennox Christmas 2010



On Tuesday, September 21st my family and friends lost two extremely loved, and strong men in our lives, Ron Wooddisse and Michael Tupling. The extremely sudden loss, on the exact same day of these two friends have given Neil and I the "live our lives to the fullest, every single day" attitude. Ron's great advice, extremely smart regard, his leadership in the beef industry, his friendship with my dad and love for his family and friends is something I will always remember.  Mike's love for his wife Shannon, their daughter Mya and expectant baby, his infectious smile and saunter, his leadership with youth, and his friendship through the years is something I will cherish forever. We miss you both so much.

Ok, dry my tears.. I have exciting news! On Monday October 4th, I had worked a long day at work, took the one hour drive towards home, and safely arrived. We came down the the basement, and without copying the story from our wedding website [http://www.ewedding.com/sites/MillinerCowan/ ]  Neil asked me to marry him! Ofcourse, I said yes! We're getting married, on October 1st, 2011 in Swinton Park! We are so excited! 

We have done a lot of entertaining in our new home already, but I decided there "is no time like the present" to try to make a turkey dinner - so Neil and volunteered our home for a family Christmas! Without going into detail it was a huge hit, we did turkey, ham, whipped potatoes, sweet potato & banana caserole, corn... and you know, all the fixings! It was a huge hit, and turned out great!

Our first Christmas in our first home, was definatley great! We decided to not exchange Christmas Presents, and ofcourse you can assume we did anyways. Lennox loved tearing the wrapping paper off her bones and toys, however we now realized we may have just allowed out puppy for the rest of her life to shred all wrapped presents from now on. Our tree died well before Christmas (likely around the middle of December) and everytime we walked by it a pineneedle waterfall came off the tree. Lennox found it entertaining to wag her tail wintin the tree and make everything do the waterfall thing again. Neil and his amazing dad and sister Mandi took down the tree on Boxing Day [because it had to last until Christmas] while I was at work! I was so thrilled to come home and see the dead tree gone, and our wonderful new fireplace unit and kitchen lighting put together and installed. Gosh, I am such a lucky girl!

We're thrilled to be spending New Years Eve with our friends Keri, Dale and Haley. We'll be taking it easy and enjoying each others' company with, as always at their house, indulge in some fantastic food! 

So as mentioned in the title, Hello 2011 ~ Farewell 2010 - Happy New Year my friends! 

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