our wedding...

Yes, it's nearly been two months. Hard to believe how fast time flies, but then again, I should know better. What a year it has been! I am happy to say, that our day was perfect {except for the fact that I think its warmer on November 26th, then it was the day we got married} but all in all, our day could not have been better! 

So October 1st, 2011 at 3:00pm we got married at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Swinton Park. This is the church that I grew up in, and the minister, Rev. John Hogarwaard who was preaching at our church when I was younger, married Neil and I.  Surrounded by 160 of our friends and family, we said our "I do's" - it was the best day of my life, and I think Neil would say it was the best day of his too. 

As apart of our ceremony, we incorporated some memory candles for those who were taken from us over the passed year, and would have been there for our big day. Jamie-Lee and I designed this candle holder for this exact purpose, and it will forever stay in our home. I love it. 


After the ceremony, we went down a sideroad and had some pictures taken with our wedding party! I cannot wait to get our pictures back from Amanda! I am sure they are going to look amazing!


We then met up with our family at the Holstein Community Park for family pictures and more wedding party shots! 

 I surprised Neil with arranging to have a fire truck from Dundalk come to the park, I wish I could have arranged to have someone take a picture of his reaction, better yet a video. The siren sounded, and he looked at me. I just kind of shrugged it off, and then he saw the truck coming towards us, filled up with some of the Milliner Clan. He was so surprised, and all the {little white } lies were worth it just to see his reaction that day.  

I look at this picture, and remember thinking I want this to last forever. If you're not married take in every moment with this day comes. The day flies by. So many friends of mine gave me the save advice, and I took it but wish I could have slowed things down even more then I tried that day. I mean, don't drag your feet, but you know - take it all in - moment for moment. 

Our reception was held at the Egremont Optimist Hall in Holstein, we had that place decorated to the NINES in my eyes, and I loved every single aspect of what we did to dress that place up for our big day. It was perfect in every way, and exactly... EXACTLY how I pictured it in my mind for the last year. Our caterer was Peter Chaplin from Markdale, and I cannot tell you how many people have said how great the food was at our wedding. Each time someone comments about our wedding, it's about how nice the hall looked and how great the food was {no, not about how stunning the bride looked... }.. they must have forgot about me?? LOL Just kidding. 

 My decorating vision was put into reality because of a very dear friend of mine, Jamie-Lee Higginson, of Prim Pickins. We basically tore my house, and her house and work shop apart bringing things to decorate our wedding. Her and I made the centre pieces, the favours, and so many other things that tied into our theme, and added so many little details that everyone noticed and will always remember. Thank you Jamie-Lee for everything you did for me, as I said in my speech, you're not just the "girl who makes everything in my house" to make my love of country decor, in my home - you're a dear friend to me too. Thank you! <3

In addition to the "surprise" fire truck at the pictures, I also had Debbie our family friend, who made our wedding cake do a "grooms cake" for Neil, surprise!! Another fire truck. She did a great job and all of the cake was delicious! We saved the top layer to eat next year, it's in the freezer.. anyone want cake? LOL I was told it's a tradition, who knows what it'll taste like a year from now. 

We loved our wedding cake, it was one of the first things we decided on and loved it from the moment we found the picture online. I helped Debbie make the leaves from gumpaste and we painted them with edible paint and shimmer. They looked amazing! Thank you Debbie!!


Our bouquets and flowers for the wedding, were done by Lisa Marshall from Country Petals in Dundalk. I would highly recommend her  business for any flower arrangements, as she took a picture I had picked and adjusted the flowers (still keeping in the same flower families and colours) to to my budget! Thank you Lisa for your wonderful talent! I appreciate everything you did for our flowers, we LOVED them!!

I cannot WAIT to get our wedding pictures back and share them with you, they should be coming very soon, just in time for Christmas!! I cannot wait. Amanda Arch Photography, you are one AMAZING photographer and business lady! I congratulate you in your first year of business - you have become super successful and the one and only person I send my friends to to get their family, newborn and any other kind of photography they need. I hope you continue to grow in your business, and your talent! Love you lady!! Here is the sneak peak we got from her.. don't you LOVE IT?? WE DO!!

Our wedding dance was a huge party, I loved that everyone had a lot of fun and tons of people were dancing all night long. I could have danced all night long, until I stopped and realized I could not feel my feet anymore, and at 2:00am - we called it a night! Wasn't that a party!?!?

And that was our wedding day, it flew by quicker then I thought but we enjoyed every single moment. I wouldn't change a thing for the world, except for the temperature but I wouldn't have wanted to be too hot either. A girl can't ask for much more then that? 


Thank you to our family, friends and wedding party - our day was perfect because of you. We love you all and cannot wait to share more memories with you!

Love From, 

The Mrs. Milliner-Cowan <3

{ we're married }

Will write all about our wedding day, another day - but until then, here's some special pictures from our day! <3

hello.. yes, it's been a while...

Well well.. look who it is, me. Yes, it's been a while. I have been working like never before, if you can believe it - and the wedding is still on! We're managing well. We have been so busy, and time is FLYING! 



It's been quite a summer, after training since early March, I started off on my own at my new job in June, it feels like yesterday but here we are on my fourth month on my own! I am REALLY enjoying it, and it's SO nice to be working close to home. I really love the people who work there, and it's nice being in the police station where the action is! I have been working a lot of nights, which I am getting used to. It's meant a lot less time at home with Neil, but he's adjusting well.


Our laundry machines went on us a couple weeks ago, what a disaster that was! Needless to say someone is coming to pick them up tomorrow, and we're getting new pretty ones delivered on Friday! Nothing like a "happy wedding" present to each other
 before our upcoming nuptials! 

We had two beautiful and spoiling showers in August. We got so spoiled, and feel so blessed with everyone's generosity! We have already started using some of our new stuff! 

My Aunt passed away after a lengthy battle for her life a few weeks ago. I have grown quite close to her during her ups and downs of her illness, as most times she was in Credit Valley (where I work) for her hospitalizations. It was hard seeing her so sick, and I feel blessed to have spent the time with her that I did. I know she wanted very much to be at our wedding, she would tease me about wearing this silly "posey" in her "wedding hat". Though I wish she could be at my wedding, I know she is not suffering any longer, and I know she'll be there in her own little way. 

We had great engagement pictures done in July with Amanda Arch Photography, after seeing them - it makes me so excited for our wedding pictures! This lady is sure to impress! Not only is she an amazing photographer, she is a WONDERFUL friend.



So we're 23 days away now - we are both so excited. Neil seems so relaxed, I don't know if he knows what he's getting to, but he says he knows. :) 

We've been doing a lot of "crafting" for the wedding - as Jamie-Lee would say, the two of us making 250 wedding favours; it's no longer "crafting" - it's like a factory. Neil has even came up to the "work shop" after work to help out! Thankfully, the rest of the stuff we will make will not be into high numbers! I have really enjoyed every minute I've spent with Jamie-Lee in the workshop this summer! I'm looking forward to the wedding planning being over, and hopefully spending even more time helping her with her orders! 

We're working on our honeymoon plans.. we're thinking Jamaica, Cuba or Mexico. Any suggestions? The highest vote is for Jamaica right now - however a travel agent I was in contact with sent me a really great deal for a beautiful 5 star resort in Mexico. I don't know what Neil is going to say! A few girls I work at with the station say that Mexico is safe if you stay on the resort, which I'm 100% sure we would if we were in Mexico. Geez.. though it's scary to think about! 

So I'm trying to make up a "do not play" and "please play" music list for the wedding.. any suggestions are welcomed! What's the best songs to dance to at weddings? I just heard "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" - love it! Doesn't it make you want to dance? The "Chicken Dance" is most definitely on my do not play list.. ugh, annoyed just talking about it! Ok, so help me out - good tunes please!!

Less then 100..

Hey Everyone - sorry but the posts have been super sparse. I'm telling you, it's not for lack of trying - I have sat down tons of times, and then got side tracked with wedding details, phone calls and catching up with friends. 


Work is going great, I am on my own now and I have really enjoyed working with all of the other dispatchers that I didn't meet on my training. I am really enjoying the job, and I LOVE being 10 minutes from home. Twelve hour shifts don't seem to be such a drag anymore and I am happy to admit I don't even mind starting at 5:30am as it means I am home in time to eat a normal supper time meal. The nights are good too. When I used to work a lot at the hospital, and working a night about 4am you'd wish the clock said 7am. The shifts seem to go faster when they end earlier, even though it's the same amount of time spent at work. 

My garden is growing at a rapid pace, which is very exciting! Everything has come up so far, and is looking very good. My radishes are mostly ready, and I think beans, peas and beets won't be too far from being ready too. Tonight we wedded the better part of the whole garden as it really needed it, as Neil said it was hard to tell what was a weed and what wasn't - there was A LOT of weeds!


Our buck & doe was on June 18th, and was a huge success! We had so much fun and are so thankful for our wedding party and families for all their hard work and help to make it such a great night for us. It was certainly overwhelming to know a little more than 300 people were in the same building, to support us. It was an amazing feeling. 

Our house got it's 1st Birthday Present - about three weeks ago, we along with our friends Meredith & Sonny, and Neil's dad, and Jeff installed new front steps. We love them, and they look great! 












Our neighbours have given us wonderful compliments, and everyone who comes to our house say how nice they look! About a week later, we bought a screen door for the front door. It's hard to believe on June 25th, we've been here, at "our house" for a whole year. Hard to believe!!








I went to a beautiful wedding this passed weekend with my sister, in Drayton. It was a friend of hers from work, and I was so glad to go with her. It was a beautiful day, with a beautiful Bride named Denise, and a really sincere and wonderful groom named Rob. The wedding was beautiful and really got me excited for ours. Lynsey and I had a really great time together, and we started the morning with pedicures and breakfast! Thanks for the great day Lyns! 

I will promise to post pictures of the garden soon! I better before the weeds take over again! 


We had Holli and Drew over for dinner tonight, I made some killer ribs which were a huge hit! I'm telling you, ribs so are easy! For these ones I made a dry rub, with some spices. Then I made a home made chipoltle barbecue sauce to baste them with on the bbq. I had them in the oven for about 4 hours at 250 degrees, and then finish them on the BBQ. I throw a bunch of things together, and how it turns out as good as they do, I will never know - but damn, these ribs had it going on!! We had baked potatoes, and garden salad (lettuce from my garden!), and Holli brought a Snicker's cake for dessert! Yumm! 


If you haven't already guessed.. it's less than 100 days til the wedding! As of today, 94 to be exact!


Will write again soon, 

Four Months to go, and finally I think SUMMER is HERE!

Four months today, Neil and I will be exchanging out wedding vows, and I will call him my husband, and I will be his wife. I just needed to write that down. It's reality, I'm getting married! That, my friends is crazy but I am so excited. 


Our buck & doe is on June 18th, it's coming very quickly and we're very excited! I cannot wait to see our families, and friends together to help us celebrate this new chapter in our life!

Our garden is at a halt, but I want to get it planted by the end of the week. I've got some green and red peppers, tomatoes, leeks, lettuce, zucchini, spaghetti squash and tomatoes going in planters on the deck for now. I've got everything planned out for the garden, just need to get some compost worked into the ground before I plant it. I never imagined I would be planting it this late, but I hope to get it in very soon!

Veggies waiting patients to be planted! 

The fire department has been very busy, it feels like they have been out at least once a day, sometimes twice a day for weeks. Ofcourse, Neil is enjoying keeping busy while I am working a ton of nights, so it's keeping him happy!! 

Neil filling the tank down the street from our house.

I'm pretty confidant that spring never really came. The past two weeks have been rainy, and miserable. I spent many nights driving home from work in thick fog, which was pretty scary and tended to double the time it would usually take me to get home. With that said, I do believe SUMMER is here! The weather the passed three days has been HEAVEN and everything that I have growing it tripling in speeds because of this great weather! 

The view from where I am sitting to blog, with the sweet smell
of lilacs and the strong warm breeze. I love our home. <3

Life is good otherwise, I am nearing the end of my training at the communications centre, and will be on my own next week! I am really looking forward to it. This weekend is going to be a very busy one, but I am looking forward to being off with Neil for two days. On Saturday morning we'll be going to a Cattle Dispersal Sale for our extremely missed friend Ron Wooddisse. I think Neil plans to take Friday off to lend his help to prepare for Saturday. This will be so bittersweet for family and friends. Afterwards, we'll head Tammy & Paul's wedding - we are really looking forward to it. Tammy and I have been swapping decor stories since we got engaged so I am really excited to see all her ideas! 

Sunday I will be attending a bridal shower for a friend, and then coming back to our house to have our wedding party over for dinner! It's going to be a busy weekend! Well I better get ready for work. It's so nice out, I just don't want to move. 

Four months and counting... lots of love..

Spring has Sprung..

Despite what you may think, I am still alive. 

It's been busy, and needless to say - I think many people will find this time of year much more exciting then the winter months - when a weekly, or something daily tradition was to update the world on my life. Now, well it's too darn nice outside to sit still, and blog. It's tough to keep up with the growth of the grass on our property let alone challenging myself to a blog!

So work is going well. I am going to be signed off by around the first of June from training, which is about a month of the initial plan - so I am excited and thrilled to be soon on my own. I am still working 1-2 shifts a pay at the hospital for right now, and once I get into the swing of things at OPS I will hope to pick up more hours again.

Wedding plans are going great! We're in the final stages of the invitation design - I LOVE them. My Uncle Wayne is SO talented!! The Buck & Doe is coming up quickly, June 18th so we're really excited for that big night in Dundalk too! Time is FLYING!!

Neil is doing well - he's been a huge help around the house while I am away from home many nights now. I am SO lucky to have such a great husband-to-be willing to help out with the laundry and dishes. It sure feels good to come home and know everything can be taken care of. He has been spoiled while I was just working at Credit Valley, and I think he knows that. 

Lennox`s - 6 weeks old

Lennox is still growing like crazy! Her 1st Birthday is this Saturday. We are renting a doggy safe blow up castle, having a doggy bone cake and everyone`s invited!! Keep an eye out in the mail for your invite! So come on over and bring your puppy too! JUST KIDDING. I am totally NOT that person. This girl is working at the hospital, nights! We have a busy day on Saturday, but of course she`ll get some extra loving. 

Lennox & Neil - Love On the 1st day
we brought her home. 6 Weeks Old

She is crazy about Neil. I can be home with her all day, she is good and barely bugs me. She loves being outside, and cannot get enough of the birds. When Neil gets home, she wants ALL of his attention, and wants to be played with. One day I tried playing with her before I knew he`d be home, to try to tire her out - and I wasn`t good enough. The moment he got home, she was bugging him to play. She is even as suggestive as to bring the ball in the house, and set it on his lap. She is so funny!

She has been testing the `water` out at the river which is about a 5 minute walk from our door, and she is loving it! She`s so funny to watch. 

She is also loving running alongside Neil on the walking and biking trails by our house. As soon as we get out bikes out, she knows. I have a feeling most summer walks will turn into swims in the river, so just loves it!

W

orld.. meet Dexter! This is Lennox`s cousin! This is my Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Al, and cousins Fraser and Adam`s little puppy Dexter. He is around 10 weeks old now, I think. Isn`t he ADORABLE. Lennox was SO good with him, and he was adorable with her. I think they`ll be great friends.

Our beautiful pear tree - I just love the smell and flowers!

So finally, spring has sprung - we`re testing out the skills of our greenhouse and my green thumb and trying planting some peppers, tomatoes, and herbs early to give things a little head start. They have slowly started to come to life. I also planted a couple planters of wildflowers for the front of the house. They are coming along too. Here`s the progression of the planters.. the tomatoes, peppers and herbs have a little less `noticeable ` growth but they are still coming along. 

Last week we cut out grass twice. Over the weekend we worked on rototilling the garden, and weeding out the flower beds. I am bound and determined to get a green thumb and get my mother helping me out with the gardening thing! She always has such an awesome garden and I want one too!! I got some pansies at the farmers market on Friday so we planted them and Mom brought me some perennials too, so I mixed up the stuff and planted it around. Hopefully in a few weeks everything will look really good!  

Ok, I will update you all again soon. xoxo

Hoppy Birthday & Hoppy Easter!

We have had such a busy weekend, I am so exhausted but wanted to post a few pictures and tell you all about Neil's Birthday and our weekend! 

On Thursday Neil went to pick up Mandi in Waterloo to come home for the weekend. We have been totally spoiled seeing Mandi two weekends in a row now, and we REALLY love having her around! We went for a quick dinner at The Chop House before I headed into work for my night shift. 

The Birthday Girl & Boy.. 

Friday I slept in as I worked nights, and Neil and Mandi helped tidy up the house as we were having Neil's family over for Birthday and Easter celebrations! Neil and his Mom share a birthday (April 23rd) so we got together, had dinner, dessert and presents before everyone got busy with their weekends. We played games until almost 1am when I had to head to bed, I could barely keep my eyes open and was running on about 5 hours sleep! 

Saturday was an extremely busy day! We got up early to head to an farm auction sale. We were in search of some rusty sap buckets for the wedding, but unfortunately they were not the type that we were looking for - so instead we visited with neighbours and had a look around. Lennox came along with us, and was very excited to be around so many people. We headed over to my parents once we left the sale, and I got ready to go to Jocelyn's Shower. Neil stayed back at the farm, and had a nap! 

Jocelyn's Shower was a really nice time! Her & Kyle were so spoiled with love!!

Myah Tupling & Wyatt Bailey
- they are cousins! SO CUTE!! 

Hudson Tupling - Myah's Little Brother 

These adorable children are those of two incredible women that I feel so fortunate to know, and call my friends.  They are two of the strongest sisters I know, and their relationship with eachother and their amazing family support is a true testament to how they get through each day.I just have to post these pictures of Myah & Hudson Tupling and Wyatt Bailey.




Since it was Neil's birthday on Saturday, Grant, Lynsey, Neila and I went to Steve's for supper in Markdale before the buck & doe! The buck & doe was such a great time, they had a really great turn out and by the end of the night they had completely sold out the bar! What a great night!! 

My birthday boy and I...

We had a family Easter today at my Milliner Grandparents. We did a little bit more work on the wedding invitations which was a lot of fun. Thank goodness for Uncle Wayne, he saved my "corrupted" camera card { - this is the second time this has happened!}  The boys were in football mode, so I took a few pictures of them outside, having fun! Neil is the oldest, yet the smallest!! Lynsey and I are outnumbered with boys, and adding Neil to the mix adds another boy to the team. Adam (orange shorts) plays football and is very good, so it was fun watching him and the boys play today! It was a really fun day! 

Last but not least I promise to show my birdhouse creation from the Prim Pickins' workshop last Monday night - I had a really great time!!