Jones Family

playing hard

2012-02-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

Eric, Remi, Broden and Parker in front of the Tower of London

This week was filled with lots of fun events. Lots of tag, hide and go seek and wrestling at night when Blake and Eric are done working. Also, Blake and Eric are playing on the Med Group basketball team, so we watched them play on Thursday. Friday we played Wallyball with some friends and Saturday headed to London for the day!

When we were in London we first went to see The Tower of London, followed by walking across Tower Bridge. Then we jumped on the Underground and headed to Picadilly Circus for lunch. We walked through China town and chased pigeons, then jumped on the Tube again and went to Westminster. Remi's reaction when we walked out of the Underground station was priceless. Right in front of us was "The Eye of London"(like a huge ferriswheel). She shouted, "The Eye of London," then turned around and saw St. James' tower and yelled,"And Big Ben, AWESOME!"

They studied London at school for like 2 or 3 weeks. She knows most of the important sights and some facts about each one. So she loved seeing Westminster Abbey, The Rives Thames, The Eye of London, Trafalgar Square and The Houses of Parliament. We even paid to go in the Houses of Parliament for a tour. It was more for us to get the little ones out of the freezing cold. It was well worth it though and the kids were awesome! Blake, Eric and I were all kind of in shock at how well behaved the kids were for the whole 70 minute tour.

Alissa was cute during the tour. She was amazed by all the paintings on the walls and that some of them were princesses and Queens. In one room she was looking at the pictures and said,"Uh, oh." I asked here what was wrong and she proceeded to tell me that one of the princesses shoulders were showing. I told her that she was right, the princess should cover her shoulders. She said the princess is too high I can't reach to fix it:)

We have been strict with our girls from day one about modesty. We don't put them in sleeveless shirts or dresses because I don't want to have that argument when they get older. They will just know it has never been allowed. I haven't really said much to Alissa, but she is watching everything I tell Remi and listening.

After Trafalgar square we headed to Hamley's Toy Shop and we all got overwhelmed by toys and the lists of "I wants". Then we ate at Subway and watched the snow start to fall. It was beautiful to be in London at night when the snow was falling. But we were exhausted and decided to head home instead of staying. It was already 6:30. So we jumped on the Tube and rode back to our car. There was snow on the ground when we arrived and we let the kids, including Blake and Eric play before we drove home.

Sunday morning we woke up to snow covering everything! The first snow on the ground since we have been here. It was so peaceful. Church was cancelled, so we enjoyed a morning of french toast and omelets followed by snowball fights, "Testimony" meeting, reading scriptures and a yummy dinner with our next door neighbors. I missed church, but it was a great, relaxing Sunday!

Enjoying a lemon from mom. Thought I would get funny face pictures, but he loved it.

Yes, he found the butter dish and ate it!

Hair by Eric

The front of hair by Eric

Riding the Tube

Dad helping Parker chase pigeons

Eric, Remi and Broden with The Eye of London in the background

The Lion in Trafalgar Square

Parker playing in the snow

Broden throwing snow at me, in the house:)

The boys wrestling in the snow

I think the teams were everyone(Blake, Remi, Broden, Missy(neighbor mom), and Olivia(neighbor) against Eric. Then I joined Eric's team. Fun times!

Parker reorganizing my cans on the table.

A Visitor!!!

2012-01-29T13:46:00.000-08:00

Nice view of a church in Warwick

Our first visitor in England has officially arrived! My brother, Eric came on Thursday morning! Alissa, Broden, Parker and I left for the airport at 6:00am Thursday morning. Eric's airplane landed an hour early so he was waiting for us instead of us waiting for him, but that's ok!

So far Eric has been in bed every night by 7:30 or 8:) Tonight we are staying up and playing games though. I think he is all adjusted to the time.

The kids were so excited for Uncle Eric to come! They were so willing to help clean and organize to have someone stay with us for 6 weeks. We set up the bunk bed in Broden's room and got some drawers to go under the bed. The office/craft room is all set up too so Eric can just work out of our home. Remi has still been going to school and Broden and Alissa have been suprisingly good when Eric is working. They understand they can't go in the craft room when Eric is working. All weekend they will ask if Eric is working if he is ever in the craft room using the computer. It's great that they are well enough behaved that it is working. Hopefully they keep it up.

Saturday morning we woke up and went to Warwick Castle. We left at 9:15 and were supposed to get there at 11:15, but after a huge detour we finally got there at 12:30. We spent the day at the castle and it was awesome. We saw all the towers, the princesses, the bird show and peacock gardens and some of the grounds outside the castle. What an amazing place. Still hard to believe that these buildings are 100's sometimes thousands of years old. One of Remi's friends came with us. She is also our next door neighbor and they have so much fun together.

Cool tower in Warwick town

Outside Warwick castle

climbing up one of the towers

climbing a the wall

climbing some more

Amazing views from the top

Beautiful view off the side.

playing dress up

Princesses posing

feeding peacocks

More fun trips to come with our visitor!!!

Lovin' life

2012-01-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

Life seems to be back to the uneventful for a while and I love it. We spend our days reading, playing the piano, doing laundry, playing games, doing dishes, cooking and just being together and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Remi and Broden both started piano lessons in November and are doing great! They take them from a 12 year old girl in our ward and they love it. She is amazing! She played for the primary program and also got called as a ward pianist and plays in sacrament meeting. Such talent. Remi and Broden are really good and practice every day. They also do reading ever day. Broden is doing a book where he learns to read in 100 days and is a little over half way done and I love the results. It is an awesome book! Remi is also becoming quite the reader. She enjoys reading scriptures to us sometimes at night and always has books from school to read. Alissa also likes to do her "piano and reading." She'll sit down at the piano and talk about doing her piano lessons. Then she gets Broden's reading book and wants to do reading. We have done a couple lessons with her, but we are waiting a few months to actually do it hard core.

Parker is so fun these days. He has such a fun personality and is starting to babble things like dadadada, mamamamama, and this morning he was saying mimimimimi, which is how Alissa says Remi. He also likes to say GO and Ba(ball) while he is running and kicking things. He also is getting taller and loves to push the little kid chairs around to get things off the counter. He has succeeded in getting cinnamon rolls, brownies, cups of water, and a knife(scary). He also has learned how to climb out of his high chair and he will stand there and scream until you get him out or he will try climbing down. Sometimes he just sits on the tray in whatever mess he just made eating. This week he had lots of firsts! They are in the pictures below.

Broden kept yelling Parker is in the toilet. We stopped what we were doing thinking he was playing in the toilet and this is what we found.

Literally in the toilet. Luckily we had just cleaned it.

Yesterday he learned how to climb on to our dining room chairs and on to the table.

And he thinks big people cups are really fun. I think he has spilled water down his front 6 times in 2 days.

As hard as it is keeping up with him and 3 other little ones I love it. They keep me active and I like the challenge of trying to accomplish things during the day while being a mom. This week we cleaned out, organized and decorated the craft room(that was a 5 day job!) we reorganized toys(again) and made dinner every night without going to the store! I love trying to feed our family healthy meals without spending a ton of money. I love baking and coming up with new recipes that don't have oil and sugar or artificial anything in them. It is fun for me and even more fun when everyone eats it and likes it:)

My goal when I went shopping 2 weeks ago was to make the food last 2 weeks. It did! We only had to get like 6 things at the store. But now we are out of all fresh fruits and veggies and flour! It was nice to have meals planned for 2 weeks. I think I will do that more often. Now I just need to get the guts to ask someone if I can grind wheat at their house because I don't want to risk using my wheat grinder on a transformer. It's supposed to be hard on motors.

It's amazing how much of a difference it makes when we are trying to do what is right. Scriptures, church, prayers, FHE, all these things we have been taught our whole lives. Things still happen(see toilet picture) but we have a different attitude or perspective. Those things don't really matter when you look at eternity. They just give us a chance to laugh while we are learning. Things are still hard, but we know we can do it. We are promised that we won't be tested with more than we are able to handle.

And so it begins...

2012-01-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

The Davis Family(Jenny's parents and children and their families) has started a 2 month health challenge that involved eating lots of fruits and veggies, exercising and other healthy habits. We are doing boys against girls. So We started this week and I went shopping for that on Monday. This is what our fridge, freezer and counter looked like when I was done. We are lucky our kids love salad because we had different salads 5 nights this week.

Frozen fruit for smoothies, yum!

Broden and Alissa wanted to do my hair one day, so I let them. Then Broden wanted to take pictures and have a dance party. So we did. We did 45 minutes of Zumba, "air plane" Hokey Pokey, ring around the rosies, follow the leader and anything else that was good exercise. The kids loved it and I got a good work out. Remi wants us to do it again when she is here.

Playing "Quelf" This wasn't part of the game, its just Blake being silly

Playing "Quelf" with friends of Friday. Thanks for playing with us and for the pics Lauren!

All dressed up with our leg warmers.

Yesterday we got to go swimming at the Mildenhall pool, then go out for pizza. It was a perfect family day and we all had a blast!

The week

2012-01-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty low key week. Monday we let the kiddos have a sleep over (Alissa, Remi and Broden) in the living room on the air mattress. In the morning they enjoyed sliding down the stairs in their sleeping bags. I remember doing this when I was a kid. The rest of the week was same ol, same ol. I loved it! Remi went back to school and I got to stay here with Broden, Alissa and Parker. We didn't even leave the house until Thursday for Piano. It was great!

Friday was Parker's check up at the doctor and it took FOREVER! I'm not going into too many details because I am still really bugged. In a nutshell we completed his appointment and while there they had me fill out a postpartum depression survey, apparently I marked occasionally on a red flag question, so Me and all 3 kids got escorted up to mental health. The "escort" (nurse) stayed with us until the tech met with me while all the kids are being, well.... kids. Then the doc met with us and played the ask a bunch of silly questions game while the kids destroy his office. By this time we have been in the hospital for 2 hours and Parker is way over due for his nap and I am running out of snacks and entertainment. When we get done there we head down to fill up Alissa's script for an ear infection. Then to the lab to get blood work down. Wait in line 20 minutes to be told we can't do it because only Parker and I can go back and I didn't have somewhere else to leave the kids. So we head to get Parker's shots. 40 minutes and 4 shots later we are headed home.

Everything is fine. Parker is healthy, Alissa is healthy and I am fine. I realize doctors are trying to help people when they do those surveys, but they didn't even talk to me about it. I'm not so sure having a mom with 3 little kids go all over the hospital for 3 hours is going to "help" with anyone's sanity.

Friday night was much better. We enjoyed dinner and bowling with Ingersoll's for Drew's birthday, followed by a sleepover and some soccer in the morning.

Remi sliding down stairs

Broden sliding down stairs

Playing soccer with Ingersoll's (the goal is what santa gave us for Christmas)

This little boy loves soccer. He will "dribble" anything. The big die, dice thing I made for primary, he dribbles it. The bowling ball when bowling, he dribbled it too.

Remi enjoying a game of UNO

Alissa even loves UNO

Broden has "UNO"

Our latest favorite pass time when it is cold or dark outside.

London Date

2012-01-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

Blake planned a date in London, called a babysitter and everything! We picked up the babysitter and left at 9 in the morning to drive to the Epping tube station. We rode the tube in and went to see the houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey then Piccadilly Circus and China Town. Then we walked to Hyde Park and rode the Tube the Natural History Museum. Then we rode the tube back to Piccadilly Circus to get dessert at the restaurant and see the Christmas lights. It was such a relaxing day compared to last time we went to London. Lots of walking, but not pushing strollers and it was all at our own pace.

We ate Chinease food for lunch by Piccadilly Circus, just before turning the corner to discover there was a whole Chinatown. Hmmm..... We probably could have had better food, but ours was good. At Hyde park we walked through the Christmas Market and checked out the ice skating. You have to reserve a time to skate:( This is the one thing I wanted to do is skate in Hyde park. Oh well. We headed to The Natural History Museum instead and same thing. All their skate times were later than we could stay. So we walked through part of the museum instead and just enjoyed our time together.

For dessert I got some kind of layered pastry with strawberries and cream. I asked the name like 5 times, but didn't ever understand what it was called. It was delish the first half. Then it was just too much. It turned my tummy and I felt a little sick for about 12 hours. Blake had lemon cheesecake and was disappointed. Oh, well.

We got home about 7:30 and the kids had been pretty good for the babysitter. They were all alive and so was she! They had sooooo much fun with her. They seriously love when we get babysitters. Now we want to go back to London to see a show. Hopefully Wicked!

Looking across River Thames at "The Eye of London"

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Piccadilly Circus

Chinatown

Natural History Museum

In the Natural History Museum

Christmas Day

2012-01-01T09:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning Remi woke up at 7:30 and was SOOOOO excited! The top of our stairs had been wrapped with paper, so we knew no one had been downstairs to peek, but the kids were SURE santa had come! So we took a few pictures and headed down to open presents. Alissa was so excited for Jesus birthday, and Jesus surprise. She had been talking about it for weeks.

This kids got so many fun presents from grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. They also had a few from us, Santa and eachother. We let then draw names for eachother and Blake helped them pick presents. Remi got Alissa a bike helmet, Broden got Remi a hula hoop, Parker got Broden nerf bullets for his gun and Alissa got Parker some fruit snacks and fruit cups.) He LOVES food! I also helped them make little gifts for eachother. They gave eachother wood with slits cut out to hold cards for card games(uno). They helped paint them and pick out paper and shapes to decorate them with. Broden also gave Remi a clip board that was decorated really cute. I still love home made gifts. Maybe it is childish, but I love making things for people. It isn't just because I am cheap, but I try to make it thoughtful. I have fun doing these things with the kids too:)

Parker slept through presents and woke up when we were just finishing. He came down and we helped him open his, then we had home made cinnamon rolls for Breakfast. Then we spent the rest of the morning jump roping, riding scooters, playing soccer, trying on clothes playing with toys, and playing games. We had church at 1:30. The primary kids sang "Picture a Christmas" and I was so nervous for it, but it went great! They sang with the piano for part and the flute for part and it was beautiful.

Waiting behind the wrapping paper at the top of the stairs

rushing down the stairs

SOOOOO excited

loves sparkles these days

Card holder from Alissa

Gift exchange with Ingersolls

After church we enjoyed a relaxing evening with the Ingersoll's having a delicious Christmas dinner and playing games. I was so worried about being away from our families for the first time ever on Christmas, but it actually turned out just fine. We stayed busy enough that we didn't get too homesick. We are also lucky to have such good friends like our family away from home.

Bath

2012-01-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

The day before Thanksgiving we headed down to Bath. There is a military R&R place that we can stay in for only 10 pounds a night, so we decided to spend a few days there. We got there about 6 pm and got checked in. It was a little single wide trailer with 3 bedroom, a kitchen, bathroom, living room and dining room. It was perfect for us. We unpacked and watched a movie!

The next morning we headed to Bath. It was a city built a long time ago and it is where the Romans came to use the Roman Baths. I'm not too good with the history, but it is really old. We saw the Abbey, the Roman Bath's, the Jane Austen Center and walked around the town taking in all the history. It was very pretty. Then we headed back to our hotel and spent the evening playing games and watching a movie.

View from the bridge

Bath Abbey

Roman Bath's from a natural hot spring

Roman Baths

Roman Baths with Bath Abbey in background

Remi and Broden with a man in costume

Bath Abbey

Christas Market with Abbey in background

Friday morning we headed to Cheddar Gorge, the birthplace of Cheddar Cheese. It was a huge canyon with lots of caves and this cute little town built right into the cliffs. We got to explore the caves and town, then climbed the hundreds of stairs to the top of a mountain, then more stairs to the top of a tower to check out the view. The kids were troopers. They had fun and I didn't have a heart attack watching them go up and down the stairs. It was a straight shot of stairs, so one slip and you go all the way down.

Looks like a water fall, but it is all rock, not even wet!

Yes that is a straight drop off behind them.

After Cheddar Gorge we stopped in Bath on our way back to the hotel. We wanted to see the Market at and lights at night and let the kids ride the carousel.

Saturday morning we checked out and drove through Lacock, where part of Harry Potter was filmed. There are actually tons of movies filmed there. Then we drove to some stone ruins, then to Stone Henge. It was neat to see, but not really the highlight of the trip. I thought it was interesting that you pay to go walk around it. You can't touch it or get near it. You can see it without paying, just on the other side of the fence. It was neat to see, but a little too much history and speculating for me.

Lacock Abbey

stone ruins

Family at Stone Henge

Put her right to sleep

We had so much fun on this trip just hanging out and being together. I enjoyed seeing all the sights, but I think the "hotel" was my favorite part. It was so fun to play games, watch movies and read books and have no responsibilities. The kids were so well behaved too. It is getting easier to take them to do things and I think they have more fun now too. I'm excited to discover more of these R&R "hotels."

When we were in Cheddar we bought some "real" cheddar cheese. We took it back to the hotel, but were too full to eat any that night. The next day when we got home we searched all over for it, but couldn't find it. Bummer! We decided Alissa must have put it in some random drawer. Hopefully the next people found it before it started smelling:)

Pre-Christmas Activities

2012-01-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

Remi's Christmas Program She was an elf

Krinkle elf

Watching a movie with dad

Getting ready to deliver 12 days of Christmas gift

Building Gingerbread(foam) house

Finished project

Boys building Santa's house

Finished project

Parker sneaking a cookie

Ready for movie night, snacks by Remi

Movie night with friends

Alissa hiding. It was a good hiding spot, never would have found her except she pulled everything out of the cupboard and left it.

Throwing Reindeer food so Santa can find our house

The glitter glistens so Santa can see our house and the reindeer eat the oatmeal!

December was filled with so many fun activities! We started off making decorations and buying a $20 fake tree from the base thrift store. It was actually really nice. I wanted to do the real meaning of Christmas, so we made ornaments having to do with that. Stars, gifts, candy canes, wreaths, bows, and angels. We talked about the real meaning of each and sang songs while we decorated the tree. The rest of the month was filled with so many fun activities!

Remi's Christmas program
Making and decorating cookies
Doing the 12 days of Christmas for a family
Christmas shopping
Trying to catch the Mad Elf doing 12 days of Christmas for us
Making foam gingerbread houses
Making frames, cookies and reindeer food at the Boden's house
Watching our elf, santa and reindeer grow
Coloring
Making a gingerbread house
Drinking hot chocolate
Broden's Christmas party
Broden's last day of school
Singing songs
Eating cookies and candy
Reading stories
Skype Christmas party and Piano concertat Grandma and Grandpa DD's house
Treasure hunts for movies and a Children's nativity
and most importantly thinking of ways to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!

Thanksgiving

2012-01-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving table

Parker sneaking food from Drew's plate

The week before Thanksgiving week was crazy! Blake informed me Sunday night(after watching our friends 3 kiddos for the weekend and another friend's little girl for an evening while they were at the hospital with newborn) that he was in charge of the Dental Squadron Thanksgiving dinner. Then he fell asleep before giving me any more details. I was a little panicked thinking we were supposed to provide Thanksgiving dinner for over 100 people. He cleared it up the next night though explaining we are in charge, but everyone is bringing food for a pot luck and that there are people in charge of kid activities. Basically we were in charge of organization, decorations and adult entertainment.

So, being cheep as I am, and having no time to order anything online we got creative. We went outside for walks and hikes and collected sticks, pine cones, berries, and leaves. We needed center pieces for 20 tables and some extra decorations for the walls and food tables. We didn't bring any of our holiday decorations, so we couldn't even use what we already had. They are still in Nebraska. So, by Thursday night I had 10 jars with pinecones, berries and branches and leaves in them and 6 pumpkins with fresh flowers(left over from Relief Society activity). I still needed 4 centerpieces.

I had some fabric someone had given me in Ohio that was perfect fall colors. So I cut into different size rectangles and sewed them into tubes with one end sewn shut. Then I put some rocks from outside into the bottom and stuffed them full of plastic bags. I hot glued the top shut around a stick, wrapped some twine stuff around them, then pulled some leaves off another decoration and glued them on with some grassy stuff left over from a project a few years ago. And tada, I had 10 little pumpkins that I loved.

So We decorated the 20 tables and 5 food tables and I spent a total of $0!!! I did end up buying some stuff for the kids activities, but nothing for decorations. Blake came up with some Thanksgiving word searches and trivia and a little game to figure out what language the "thank you" was in. There was a theme of Thanksgiving around the world so I made a little subway art thing that had thank you in a bunch of different languages. I wish I would have taken pictures, but amid all the craziness the kids started getting sick and Remi had an eye doctor appointment. So the top picture is all I have. I used the same things at the Dental party.

At the beginning of the week we had planned to do a Thanksgiving dinner Saturday afternoon, but when Friday came we were tired and the kids were sick and Ingersoll's kids were sick. So, we postponed it to Sunday after church. Saturday we celebrated Parker's birthday and did some of the cooking. Then Sunday we finished up the prep and had Ingersoll's, Sanderson's(Broden's church and school teachers) and Brother Marrott(his family moved back to the states already) over for a fun, yummy Thanksgiving dinner. There were 8 adults and 7 kids. We are so grateful we have friends to spend time with when we are so far from family.

Parker was so proud of himself for climbing up onto this table. I tried not to laugh, but he was so excited and was clapping. I couldn't resist clapping with him.

He's 1!!!

2012-01-01T07:03:00.000-08:00

The week of Parker's birthday was crazy! But we are so grateful for him and had fun celebrating his first birthday.

Parker is so much fun and is such a good baby. He started sleeping through the night about a month before his first birthday and was still taking 2-3 naps during the day. He stopped sleeping through the night while we were in Brugge, but as soon as we got home he was sleeping through the night again. His last time nursing was on his 1st birthday:):(

Parker loves his brother and sisters. Often when he wakes up I will just send someone upstairs to play with him for a while before I go get him out of his bed. They will go climb in the crib with him and just play. He loves it! He started walking when he was 10 months old and hasn't stopped since. He has also learned to climb onto the little kid chairs and table we have. I was trying to teach him to show how old he was the week of his birthday. I would say,"Parker, how old are you?" Then I would hold up 1 finger. Then I would help him hold up 1 finger and start clapping and say, "YAY!" So, eventually I would say,"Parker, how old are you?" He would just look at me, smile and start clapping. It was too cute. I guess he thought we should just clap instead of showing the age:) We love Parker so much and enjoy watching him learn and develop.

Opening presents from Remi, Broden and Alissa

About to grab the candle, Alissa was going to stop him.

Clapping to show how old he is:)

Yummy pumpkin bread with frosting

Present from Gma and Gpa Jones

Presents from Gma and Gpa DD, Cindy and Robbie!

Castle Rising Castle, Hunstanton and Heacham

2011-12-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Castle Rising Castle

On October 15th we headed to Castle Rising Castle. It is up north of us on the way to the coast. The castle was fun to explore and the weather was great. I had us all dressed warm because I thought it was going to be freezing, but it was beautiful!

Alissa loves to be in all the windows and alcoves for pictures.

The stairs up from the "banquet" room

Alissa in a fireplace, maybe?

Blake feeling tall:)

The perfect seat

Rapuzel and her prince, or Remi and Broden

This room had tons of windows. It was beautiful the architecture and everything.

More of these crazy stairs.

Remi helping Alissa down the steep stairs.

Exploring outside the castle

After the castle we headed to the beach. On the way we stopped at a little country store and bought a little baked cake. I think they called it apple bread. I was expecting something like banana bread, but it was more like a cake. Delish!!! Blake and the kiddos love the candy stores, but my weak spot is definitely the baked goods.

We went to the down of Hunstanton and drove through trying to decide where to park and what to do. We parked and Blake took the older kids to the beach, and I walked through the shops in town. Then I headed back down to the beach to enjoy the nice afternoon withe everyone. It was so pretty there. The tide was out so we go to find shells and explore.

Broden showing our shells to the people passing by.

Blake and his girls

Remi and Broden

Look at the colors of those cliffs. They were so pretty. You couldn't see them unless you walked down stairs or a ladder to get to the beach below the cliffs. We drove through the town on top of the cliff and had no idea it was so pretty just below us.

Blake and Parker

Alissa, posing. She loves to pose and I love to take her pictures

Blake and I holding hands, being silly:)

Eventually we left the beach at Hunstanton and headed to Heacham. In our "Back Roads of Great Britain" book it says you can watch the sunset from there, even though it is technically the "East Coast". It is in an inlet, so the sun actually sets over the water. It took us forever to actually find the beach and both Parker and Alissa were asleep so Blake stayed in the car, while Remi Broden and I ran to the beach to see the sunset. We got to the top of the hill just after the sun set. It was still beautiful though. We'll have to go back again for the real sunset. Another amazing day.

Temple trip and Dover

2011-12-04T03:54:00.000-08:00

September 23rd we took off and drove down to the London Temple. The temple here has a 9:00pm session on Friday nights, which was great for us, so we could each do a session. We checked in to our hotel and I went to the temple. It was so nice to go again. I miss living a few blocks from the temple like we did when we first got married. Saturday morning We took Blake to the temple, then went back to the hotel. We got all dressed and checked out then went back to the temple visitor's center. There was an older missionary there who was awesome! He used to be a principal of an elementary school in the states. He had a guitar and sang primary songs and nursery rhymes with the kids for like half an hour. When Blake got out of his session we walked around the grounds, then headed to dover.

We went to a place where you could walk along the Cliffs of Dover. It was so pretty. There was no fence or anything next to the trail, just a straight drop into the ocean. It made me a little nervous, but the kids were great.

Cliffs of Dover

They were beautiful

After the cliffs we headed to the Dover Castle. It was huge with lots of different buildings and lots to see.

The way they built these castles always amazes me. The stairs are crazy. They have the huge winding stair cases that just branch into other stairs, or hallways or windows. I could easily get lost in a castle. I wonder how the architects did it back then.

There were people there dressed in costumes and acted as though they were from way back when. We got to have lunch with the King and Queen, the princess and this was Sir Duncan. It was fun to sit at the tables and see how the King and Queen acted and how they ate.

Everyone had to stand when the Kind stood and there were all kinds of formalities. The reason we don't put our elbows on tables is because the tables back then were just wood put onto saw horse like contraptions. If you put your elbows on the table it would make the table tip and all the food would be in your lap. They picked people from the audience to serve the food. It was great! Remi and I also got to talk to the queen.

View from a tower in the castle.

Another view from the top. Of the sea

Somewhere over there you can see France

By the end of the day the kids were exhausted!!! We had peanut butter and Jelly for lunch then were going to find something to eat before we headed home, but as soon as we got in the car the kids were out. Another fun day in Great Britain!

Pumpkin Please

2011-12-04T03:12:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a trip to the local "pumpkin patch" to get our pumpkins. They have made it very americanized because of the area. So they have all the pumkins set out and they have a corn maze you can do. We opted not to do the maze, but we let them each pick a pumpkin.

On our way home from the pumpkin patch I was looking down at the camera, going through the pictures and all of a sudden I felt a thud and heard glass breaking. I looked up and my mirror was broken. Blake was driving and the road was one of the tiny roads with a 65 MPH speed limit and another van drove by. I guess neither of us got over far enough because our mirrorrs hit. We pulled over and checked out the damage and then just kept going. Now we need to order a new mirror.

Later that week we had a family pumpkin carving party. We let each of the kids pick how they wanted their pumpkin, then we helped them carve them. We moved our dining room table out the dining room doors to the patio, then in the conservatory room doors, because this room isn't carpeted. It made for much easier clean up! I love how they turned out.

Broden carving his pumpkin with a real knife! Dad's idea.

Remi scooping out seeds

Broden's Pumpkin

Remi's Pumpkin

Alissa's Pumpkin

Parker's Pumpkin

The finished products!!!

Halloween

2011-12-04T03:01:00.000-08:00

So when we were moving to England I didn't bring lots of our holiday items. One thing I left behind is all our Halloween costumes, because I didn't think Halloween was celebrated over here. But because we are at an American air force base, they do celebrate. We made do with what we had though.

Some ward friends invited us over for dinner and trick or treating and we enjoyed the company and candy and the kiddos loved getting so much candy. We only went around 2 blocks and the kids each had a gift bag full of candy. I guess one of the benifits of living in the base housing. They are so crammed together you don't have to walk far on Halloween to get a bag of candy:)

The Ingersoll and Jones crew: Livi the witch, Alissa as Tinkerbelle, Remi as Rupunzel, Broden the cowboy, Drew as Superman and Avery as a Fairy ballerina.

We made Remi's hair from yarn I am hoping to finish into a blanket someday, and her dress was old fabric I had in my stash!

We had all these things for Broden to be a cowboy. He even knew what to put on when I suggested the idea. He found the bandana, holster and gun without me telling him what to get. It was cute.

Alissa didn't really have a choice about what to be, but she loved her costume and wore it ever day for about a week after halloween.

We didn't dress Parker up on Halloween, but at Blake's office party he was a cowboy like Broden. He just wouldn't keep his hat on.

Wells Blakeny Seals and Crabbing

2011-12-04T02:34:00.000-08:00

Boat ride to see the seals

Parker on the beach

Broden in "Baywatch"

Looking for crabs

Crab legs

Remi holding the hermit crab they found

Parker enjoying the sand

Boats beached at low tide in Wells

Saturday September 10^th we left about 9:00 am and headed north again. We drove straight to Wells-Next-the-Sea and bought some crabbing stuff. We spent like 5 pounds on 2 nets, some bait and a bucket. Where we were crabbing was at a little inlet from the Ocean. The tide was out so there was like a 15 foot drop to where there was about 2 feet of water. There was a rail to keep the kids away from the edge, but within the first 5 minutes we almost lost 2 shoes, a stuff` puppy, one of the nets and we did lose the bucket into the water. Luckily it was windy and the bucket blew over to a muddy bank by a ladder. I climbed down the ladder and walked through the slippery mud and retrieved the bucket. An older couple even applauded my success! Then the man grabbed the bucket so I could climb the ladder. We tried the crabbing for about half an hour with no luck. We did see a good sized crab and tried to get him to grab our net, but he wasn’t interested.

Eventually we got in the freezing water

After crabbing we headed out to the beach. There was a path from the inlet all the way out to the beach. Because the tide was out it was a REALLY BIG beach. We actually didn’t even see the ocean. It was like rolling sand dunes that were wet, with a little stream going through the valley. We did play there for a while though. The kids started out just collecting shells. Then they were making a home for the baby crab Broden found. They dug in the puddles and made paths for the water to fill up their channels. Eventually they were getting a little wet in the puddles, but by the end they were full on playing in the water. They had so much fun. We took off Parker’s clothes and let him just wear his diaper. He even enjoyed crawling into the freezing cold water.

Eventually we decided one of us better walk back to get the car and come pick up everyone else. We didn’t have an extra diaper for Parker, or any towels. We did have some jackets though. So we stripped him naked and rinsed off the sand the best we could with out making him scream too bad from the cold water. Then we wrapped him in Remi’s pink jacket and I walked back with him. He looked pretty cute in the pink jacket. I did stop every couple minutes to make sure he hadn’t peed or that his little pee pee wasn’t hanging out. That would probably look pretty funny to the oncoming walkers. A little girl, wrapped in a pink jacket spread eagle, oh wait, it’s a boy. We made it to the car and he hadn’t peed! I got him into a clean diaper and back into his clothes. Then we went to pick up Blake and the kids. Luckily we had an extra set of clothes for everyone. So we took them into the bathroom and rinsed off and got dressed.

We ate Peanut butter and honey sandwiches on our drive to Blakeney. I think the kids were starving. We had eaten breakfast at 7:30 and they only had a couple pretzels and it was 1:45 when we ate. Remi and Broden each had 2 whole sandwiches and Alissa 1 and a half. When we got to Blakeney we saw the person we needed to purchase the tickets for our boat ride from. She was right next to a “car park.” All the car parks are pay and display. So Blake went to pay for parking and buy our boat tickets while I got the stroller, kids, snacks, jackets and anything else we might need all ready to go. He came back with the news that he had paid for a days worth of parking, only to find out when he bought our tickets that the boat actually departed from an inlet about 5 miles up the coast. Luckily Blake caught someone just before they paid for their parking ticket and they just paid him for ours.

Blake in front of his sign

Seals on the island

And his hotel

The little village of Blakeney was really cute. We were only there for about half an hour, but we took pictures and I even saw a few people catching crabs. We left there and drove to the place where the boats depart. When we got there I think there were only about 15 cars in the huge car park. It was about 2:30. We parked and walked around. It was like a little ghost town or a ghost boat dock I guess. There were a bunch of docks where our car was parked, then a trail that went away from the parking lot and there were a bunch more docks. I could tell we weren’t in the US because all the docks were really old, with no safety features. They had something to hold on to sometimes, but there was like a 15 foot drop to the ground. The tide was still out when we got there. We had hoped to try crabbing again, but there wasn’t enough water. There was only like 6 inches. We walked around for a while then went back by the car. The kids were playing on one of the docks while we were getting things ready, again. Broden walked around the side of the car with a panicked/guilty look in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong and he said,” I was playing Remi’s game and my shoe came off.” I realized his shoe had fallen through one of the cracks in the dock and was under the dock. Luckily it wasn’t too far down in the mud. I stepped on some rocks and held on to the mossy dock and used my flip flop to reach his shoe under the dock.

Alissa playing on the scary docks

After that we decided we better put everyone In their tennis shoes and socks so we wouldn’t lose any more shoes. We headed to the bathroom then went back down the trail to the docks. By this time it was 4:10 and the parking lots were all PACKED! There were tons of people all getting ready to board the boats. It was amazing to watch the tide come in. We all watched a big piece of sea weed that was about 4 feet from the water. Within about 15 minutes the water had reached it. Then by 4:35 we were loading onto the boats that just 1 hour earlier had been beached with no water near them. We heard when the tide is out it is about 5 miles out!

Remi and Broden waiting for the tide to come in

This seal came over to say hi

We crammed onto a boat with about 50 other people and headed down the channel to the ocean/sea. We were headed to see the seals. It was fun seeing all the different boats that were anchored all over in the channel. After about 15 minutes we were out into the ocean and came to a couple islands that had hundreds of seals all over them. It was amazing. They had just had their pups about 3 weeks ago, so there were some little seal pups. Some of the seals were swimming and playing in the water. Most of them were lounging around the beach. We drove back and forth by one island a couple times then went to another island and watched some more for a while. The kids loved it. Remi has always loves seals, so it was fun to see them in their natural habitat out in the middle of the ocean. Then we went back up the channel and they dropped us off at the dock closer to the cars because the water was so much higher. The kids loved the seals and also loved getting splashed by the water every time we hit a wave.

When we got back to our car we decided we wanted to go back to Wells to try crabbing again. We used our first “car park” pass and parked right by the crabbing place. Alissa and Parker were both asleep so we just took Remi and Broden. We threw in our nets and let them drop to the bottom. It was now 15 feet of water. We would wait about 3-5 minutes and pull them up. There would be crabs in the net and hanging on to the bottom. We put them into our bucket and dropped in the net again and again. It was so much fun and so much easier than fishing. I used the same bate on Remi’s net the whole time. We just used little pieces of raw bacon. We drew quite the audience. There was a family from the Phillipines that walked by and Broden was happy to show them all the crabs. They were very intrigued by the crabbing. So we let them try and they loved it. I think they hung out with us for like half an hour.

Broden loved showing and telling anyone that walked by our crabs. There was an older couple in their car right by where we were crabbing. Broden went over to their car window to show them the crab. Then there were 2 ladies who had been on the seal boat with us. They also came to Wells to try crabbing. Broden went over by them and “helped” them crab for a while too. He would tell them where to throw their net and how long to leave it in. He was quite the entertainer. Remi got brave and would hold the crabs. She would get so upset when they would hang from the bottom of the net and drop off before we got them over the bucket. Sometimes she would grab them off the ground before they could make a break for the water.

Eventually it got Parker and Alissa woke up, it got dark and we decided we better eat some dinner. We walked across the street to French’s Fish and Chips which was highly recommended by the other “crabbers.” Blake and I split a large cod and chips and we got chicken nuggets for the kids and a long awaited pineapple fritter for Broden. Finally at 8:30 PM we headed home.

I absolutely love going on trips like this with our family. Yes, 4 little kids can be a little crazy when we do things like this and yes, people look at us like we are crazy sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. When we are together as a family we have so much fun. The kids play together and get along(for the most part) and we are just happy. It makes me so grateful to be a mom to these 4 happy kids and the wife to an amazing man who is willing to take us on these fun adventures. We are excited to have many, many more in the next few years, and forever!!!

Buh Buh Buh....

2011-10-31T06:32:00.000-07:00

We've been doing letter sounds here trying to catch Broden up to attend British school. We did A, then B and Alissa listened to us doing it. She came over and said Buh Buh Buh Broden! I though wow she caught on fast. Since then it has been
Buh, Buh, Buh Alissa!
Buh, Buh, Buh Parker!
Buh, Buh, Buh Remi!
Buh, Buh, Buh Daddy
Buh, Buh, Buh Mommy and even
Buh, Buh, Buh Grand Ma(which is how she says Grandma)
She's too funny.

He's 5!

2011-10-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Our cute 5 year old on his birthday

Breakfast

Yummy breakfast in bed

Money and card

opening HUGE present

Bakugons!

Apple pie for dessert

Broden turned 5 today and what a fun day it was with him! We started the day out with breakfast in bed. Remi was sure to tell Broden last night that he needed to stay in bed for a long time so we could surprise him. He came into our bed about 7, so Remi and I fixed him his breakfast and took it to him in our bed. He loved it of course. He got cinnamon rolls and eggs.

After breakfast we let him open his presents. He was so excited to get money and bokugons. The big box, with smaller one inside and a smaller one in that was a big hit! He played with them until it was bath time. We all got ready then attempted pictures of the kids, then family pictures. Broden was a trooper. He was so well behaved and insisted that everyone call him "Birthday Boy." Then we headed to church!

Today was the primary program and Remi and Broden were SOOOO excited. Broden told everyone he talked to on our way to Sacrament meeting that it was his birthday and that he is 5 now. It was pretty cute. Both Remi and Broden had their parts memorized and said them so well. Everyone could even understand them. Remi's parts were, "Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration," and "Living the Word of Wisdom shows respect for my body."

Broden had 3 parts. His first was,"where did I come from," then "I can be a missionary now," and "God has commanded his people to build temples." Broden did them perfect. He did have his own twist on the last part though. He said,"Heavenly Father told his people to build tons of temples."I thought it was pretty cute and added character.

Broden was a great singer. He can sing really loud and everyone commented on how well he did singing:) He didn't sing as loud as he did in practice, but still loud enough to stand out. After the program the kids went to Primary and Broden got to go up for everyone to sing to him. I'm sure glad they remembered him because he has been talking for days about how he will go up front and get candy! He loved it. Then his teachers gave him a card and more candy and they also got candy for being so good in the program. He was in heaven! He felt so special because he got so much candy and cards.

After church we talked to grandmas and grandpas while we made dinner. Broden's conversations talked about so many things. He told them that he loves tator tot casserole and that we are having tator tot casserole for dinner and that Ingersolls fixed tator tot casserole for dinner when he was there and at our last house we had tator tot casserole tons of times and here we have only had tator tot casserole once but that tonight we are having tator tot casserole for his birthday because he loves tator tot casserole. He told them what his parts were for the program and even sang part of "Scripture Power" his favorite song. Broden said to grandma and grandpa,"I want to stay here forever and never leave because the person in my class that was the first friend I met and my teachers gave me a card and it was the best ever so he doesn't ever want to leave."

I think his mind was going about a hundred miles an hour because he was so excited! I can't believe how much he has changed in the last 2 years. He has gone from the boy we knew we needed to put in preschool so he could adapt socially and learn to be around people with out mom and dad being their, to the most outgoing friendly boy who loves to make new friends. He loves to talk to everyone and will tell complete strangers all kinds of funny things.

I love how helpful Broden is. He usually does whatever I ask him to do. He usually will do one job then come right back and say what job can I do now mom! It is wonderful. He is also a really fun person to do nice things for because he is so grateful. It never fails, as soon as we get back in the car from doing something fun he always thanks us for taking them to do it. He also is always grateful when I fix him something he loves. There aren't very many foods he likes though so it isn't very often. He loves tator tot casserole, spicy chicken, spicy shrimp and rice. These are about the only dinners he will eat. He loves lunch type foods and fruits and veggies, but the main dish is still a battle. He would live off tator tot casserole if I let him and he asks for it almost every day.

Some cute things he says lately are:
Yes Sir, while soluting to Blake and sometimes to me
Yes my Majesty to Remi
He likes math and will say things like 2 and 2 costs 4(he hasn't caught on that everything isn't money)
Best day ever! If something is fun.
Best mom, or dad ever

We love our Broden so much and are so happy he had a fun birthday!

Bruges, Belgium

2011-10-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

Bruges, Begluim

Venice of the North

Belfry in the Markt

In the Eurotunnel

Signs in Belgium, I think the language is Dutch?

Another cool sign

And another

Not quite sure what this sign says...

Across the street from the bed and breakfast

Amazing buildings and plant

Our room at the B&B

B&B stair landing going to the room above ours

Our room

On the stairs climbing the Belfry

Gears that run the clock and bells

How many stair we climbed!

A wood model of all the bells.

After climbing the Belfry.

Walking to the Canal for the boat tour.

Canal

Restaurant with Blake's lemonade and bread

Blake at restaurant and my yummy drink.

My chicken and fries. DELISH

Blake's meal, interesting, but good.

In the Markt at night

First breakfast at the B&B

Blake loving the Nutella on bread.

Headed to Choco Story in the rain

Bet you didn't know these facts about chocolate. Unfortunately it only applies to the real chocolate. Not the stuff most of us eat filled with sugar and fake stuff.

Apparently chocolate doesn't cause cavities

Hmmmm..... interesting. No wonder chocolate is a romantic gift.

When Parker was born Blake was in the middle of residency, so he couldn't take time off to help out. Normally the military will give fathers 10 days of Paternity leave. Thankfully Grandma Jones was able to come to Nebraska to help out. Blake's commander told him he could use his paternity leave for up to a year and that he could request it at his next base. So, when we got here we looked at Blake and Remi's schedules and decided he should request paternity leave the same time Remi had time off school. So he did and got 10 days off!!!

school on our walk to Markt

We started looking into planning a trip for the time off and between the ward being split and primary program practice and the actual program, Broden's birthday, Blake's Halloween work party, and the ward trunk or treat we didn't have too much time left for a vacation. Blake and I decided we could just go somewhere and the kids would have just as much fun staying with their friends. So we looked at plane tickets and quickly realized that because it was the British Holiday the tickets were 2 and 3 times as much!!! So were the hotels and pretty much anything in Europe. But, some friends from church had just gone to Belgium and so we decided to just do that.

Chocolate in the window

Restaurants in Markt

We booked our tickets on the Eurotunnel or Chunnel and booked a bed and breakfast in Bruges, the Venice of the north, known for their Chocolate, French Fries and Waffles, Perfect! Parker isn't quite on his own eating wise, he still nurses once right before bed, so he got to join us. Remi, Broden and Alissa were so excited to stay with the Ingersoll's. They each got to pick a treat to take with them and had so much fun! It is so great to have friends we are comfortable with leaving the kids with. We were so grateful!!!

Tapestry window desplay

Monday morning we woke up early and got everything ready. We took the kids to Ingersoll's at 7:15 and headed to Dover, where the Eurotunnel is. Our scheduled departure was at 12:20 and we got there at 10:30. They said we could get on right then if we wanted, so we did. We drove down the ramps, right to the train and it was the craziest thing, we just drove right on the train. They put like 5 cars on each car of the train, I think 2 layers. 5 on top and 5 on bottom! Then you just sit in your car, or stand by it while the train crosses under the English channel. It only takes like 30 minutes. They make little announcements about how fast you are going and what you are supposed to be doing. Turn off your engine, don't walk between cars, put your windows half way down, prepare to depart, etc. When we drove off the train we were in France! Blake says, "I am and American, who speaks spanish, driving a British Spec car in France."

Boat tour

It was a little crazy driving on the right, or correct side of the road again. Also, being in France we couldn't read the signs very well:) We drove north and crossed into Belgium which had even more interesting signs. They speak Dutch there, or Finnish and it is even more interesting than French. We had the address to our bed and breakfast in our SatNav and followed the directions. It told us to exit and we did. There were signs saying something, but we just kept following the directions. Then we came to a road block. HHMMMM, what did it say? What did it mean? We figured it was probably meaning we weren't supposed to go that way. So we went back the other way and found some orange signs that said Bruges, so we figured it meant detour, so we followed them.

Eventually, we got to "Home Sweet Home Bed and Breakfast and got all checked in. Our room was on the second floor and was perfect. We stayed in the Charming Room and had our own bathroom next door to our room. Our room overlooked the cute little street and had a cute little table with everything you need for tea next to the window. The lady who owns it was really nice and spoke great English, which was awesome.

Windmill in Damme

After getting settled a little bit we headed to the town center. We loaded everything we might need into the stroller and were off with our map and our guide book. Our b&b was about a 10-15 minute walk from the town center and it was a great walk down the cutest little streets with amazing old buildings. I loved how old and cute everything was. It seems like in most old cities the buildings get run down, but here they looked like they were new, just built to look old. Pretty amazing. On the way we grabbed a sandwich from a little sandwich shop. It was ham and cheese, but so much better than any regular ham and cheese. We couldn't decide if it was the ham, cheese or bread, but something had tons of flavor to it that made the sandwich delish. It was on a baguette that they toasted, then they smashed the whole thing to be a flat sandwich. Hard to describe, but wonderful to eat.

Road(not sidewalk) in Damme

Christmas display

Building in Damme

When we got to the town center or Markt, we looked around then decided that since the weather was so good we should climb the Belfry so we could see everything. So we went and paid and climbed, the stairs and saw a little museum, then climbed some more and got to see the gears to the clock, then climbed some more and saw the big bell and then climbed and climbed and climbed all 366 steps to the top where we could see out windows all the way around and see the whole city. There were also lots of bells in the middle and they rang when we were up there. It was so amazing that the clock works with gears, that are connected to a cylinder that has different bumps on it that signal when to ring what bell. So when the clock gets to a certain time, the bells play a song. It is like those piano's that you can push the petals with your feet and it plays songs.

view on bridge in Damme

Lots of the doorbells were like this

After climbing back down all 366 steps we went out of the belfry and came to our first chocolate shop. AMAZING!!! Everything was made out of chocolate! They had a huge window display with balls, ghosts, houses, pumpkins, mushrooms, dogs, cats and lots of pralines(chocolates with a filling). We went inside and bought a little bag of chocolates to have later with our herbal tea. MMMMM....

Funny Faces

2011-10-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

I've said it before. This girl's faces make me smile. Here are just a few of her faces. Isn't she adorable!!!

Firsts

2011-10-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Parker started taking his FIRST steps the week Alissa turned 3! He was the cutest little walker. All our other kids have learned to stand holding on to something then would walk holding our hand then eventually get the courage to let go of something and take some steps. Not Parker. He would just squat in the middle of the room, then stand up, or use his hands to push himself up to standing. Then he would just start taking steps. At first it was just standing, then a step or 2, then at Alissa's birthday party he took 8 steps and hasn't stopped since. He still doesn't like to hold our hands when he is walking.

Remi started her FIRST day of First grade! Her First day of British school! Here she is in her FIRST uniform. She was so excited to go to school and to be in the same class as her best friend Avery. Her teacher Miss Arnold is really nice and Remi Loves school.

Broden also had his FIRST day of school ever!!! He goes to a school called Busy Bees. It is on a farm and they get to go see the animals and feed them. He loves it. I miss him, but I am excited to see how much he loves learning.

Our Baby girl is 3!!!

2011-10-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

Birthday Breakfast

Helping frost the cake:)

Homemade pizza dinner

Birthday outfit

Surprise

Sharing candy

cupcakes

The Decor

Opening presents

Alissa Livi and Lauren playing puppets

Princess Alissa getting pampered

Playing with balloons with friends

Checking out the burned hair from the candle

I can’t believe Alissa is 3! She has SOOOOO much personality. I wish I could catch all her facial expressions in pictures. They would make me smile all day. Alissa continues to be very independent. She always wants to do everything herself whether its getting in her carseat, getting buckled, getting dressed, shoes, pour her ketchup and mustard or ranch and even do her hair. Some things I don’t let her do yet (her hair), but she continues to want to do it. She loves people and knows how to be a people pleaser when she wants to. I love that Alissa is talking so much now. She didn’t talk very much for a long time because she didn’t have to. She has Remi and Broden to do everything for her. She loves them and always wants to be with them. It is hard for her when they go play at their friends’ houses and she doesn’t get to go. She still loves sharing and says the funniest things. She loves to call me silly when I do something. I just went to lock the door and she said, “You lock it? Silly.”

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Something Alissa has always loved doing is singing. She started “singing” during the sacrament meeting hymns when she was just a baby. Now in the car she will say, “Temple please. My pabrite.”(I love to See the Temple is her favorite song) She can recognize the song within the first 3 notes of the intro music. She also loves to sing Uhnbeam( Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam), Head Shoulders( Head Shoulders Knees and Toes), Popcorn, noman (once there was a snowman) and just about any other song. She also enjoys dancing while she sings. I love watching her when she doesn’t know I’m watching. She puts on the best shows singing and dancing. Or she will line up her toys, animals or dolls and talk to them and play with them. She stops as soon as she knows I’m looking though. She’s too cute!!! We love our LISSA!

For Alissa’s birthday we celebrated on Friday the 16^th. It was kind of low key because none of our stuff is here yet, but still fun. We had the Ingersoll’s over for cupcakes and played pin the crown on the princess or prince. I drew a princess on one glass door and a prince on the other. I forgot wrapping paper, so we used pillowcases (almost a tradition now) and boxes. She got dress up jewelry and a crown, a puppet theatre, lunchbox, Dora movie, Lion King game, and some silly bands. I also got her a little skirt almost like a tutu. She loves it. It’s a little big and I don’t know what I was thinking when I got the shirts to go with it, but they are size 7/8. So I haven’t taken good pictures with that outfit yet.

After dinner Blake took Alissa for a walk and while they were gone we decorated and got everything ready. Ingersoll’s came over and we hid behind the curtains with all the balloons and surprised her when she came in the door. She didn’t really know what to think.

We were creative with her cupcakes. I don’t love going to the store, so I will figure out a way to do most things with what I have. So I didn’t have food coloring for the frosting, or anything to put the cupcakes on besides red plates(which doesn’t go along with a princess theme). So I thawed blueberries and raspberries and used the juice from them to make the frosting pink and purple. Then I added cream of Tartar to make it thick again. I frosted them using a plastic bag with a hole poked in it. We used the foil cupcake pans, which I actually love. I use them until they are no longer useable, then throw them away. They actually clean up better than my real pan. I put the cupcakes on a pot lid turned upside down and covered with foil. It looked kind of like a platter. We used streamers and balloons for the rest of the decorations. Oh, and for the crowns to pin on the princess and prince we used striped paper. It’s all we had. We made Alissa a crown out of a grape-nuts box covered in foil and Remi got a jewel at school to put on it and made her a friendship bracelet. Broden helped me all day getting ready for her party. He just kept asking what job can I do now.


Enjoying cupcakes! Remi, Avery, Broden Drew, Alivia, Alissa and Parker in the window.

Happy 3rd Birthday Alissa!!! We love you!

Sandringham

2011-10-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day we headed to Sandringham. It is where the Queen goes for Christmas. You can even go there on Christmas and all the children can give her a flower! They had amazing gardens around the castle that you could walk through. We walked on the grounds to the castle, and then went inside. They had the rooms on the main floor set up so we could walk through and see them. There was amazing furniture, decorations, swords, paintings, tapestries and anything else royalty might want in their home. Many of the things are hundreds of years old and given to the queens, and kings by other countries as gifts. After the castle we went in to the ball room where they had pictures and boats all about the sailing the men have done. I don’t remember much, pretty embarrassing, but sailing has been a big part of their life. I have lots to learn and remember. We are trying to find a good book about the royalty. We can’t keep them all straight.

After the ballroom we walked to the museum. It had a little display of a wood shop and some of the things built out of wood. It also had a game room. Back in the day before TV, computers and radio the royal family would sail to other countries and go hunting. They would bring home their kill and have it mounted and all these animals were all over this room. Then the men would sit here and talk about their hunting trips. This is what they did for entertainment. Sounds like the Jones boys would fit right in with the royalty.

Next was the car area. They had some of the Royal Cars that they don’t use anymore. It was awesome to see and read about them. Most of them were custom made!

After walking around the garden some more we headed to a little town called Wells-Next-the-Sea. It was on a little inlet from the ocean/sea. We ate lunch here(the adults, the kids had PB&J in in the car) I got a ham and cheese sandwich and Blake had fish and chips. It was yummy. Then we walked through some of the little shops and checked out the people crabbing and decided we needed to come back again and give crabbing a try. Another fun, fun day.

Cambridge

2011-10-02T05:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday September 3^rd I got up early and ran some errands. Then I came home and we had lunch. After lunch we left for Cambridge. When we got close we parked at a Park’n’ride and rode a big double decker bus into down town Cambridge. When we got off the bus we were by a huge park that had flowers and paths all over. We headed to the area of town that our book had listed as a good place to do a walking tour. We walked down the streets and saw lots of old buildings, cathedrals and colleges. Cambridge has 3 Universities(I think) and 31 colleges. The ones we saw were all in really old buildings and were beautiful! The one we walked into the courtyard of was Queens College. There was a couple who had just been married in the chapel there and they were walking out the door. There were people playing flutes as they walked out the door. It was neat to see.

Then we continued our walk and it went over the river where everyone was punting. It is riding in a little boat and using a long stick to push your selves along instead or oars or paddles. We stood on one bridge watching people do this. We even saw one guy fall in the water. His stick got stuck in the mud and his boat kept going and he fell in. We decided to go give it a try. We opted for a guided tour though. I didn’t see us using a long stick to push along a boat in a little river with 4 kids and no life jackets as being a responsible parent thing to do. So for 35 pounds we got a tour on the river that goes past some of the colleges of Cambridge.

On our punt (I think that’s what its called if the actual action is punting) it was family and 2 other older ladies and our guide. He took us under probably 7 different bridges and behind some of the most prestigious colleges of Cambridge. It was beautiful. I am still amazed by how beautiful those buildings still are that are hundreds, sometimes a thousand years old. They sure knew how to make things last back then. Some of the colleges were Queens College, Trinity College, St. Claire maybe and some others. All of the grounds were amazing. Our guide told us stories while he was punting. He said that Claire had married 3 different times to very wealthy men and each of them died. So, she had lots of money and she started a school with it and left the money to the school. It is a really old school so it was a really big deal for a woman back then to have enough money to start a school. The other school he talked a lot about was Trinity College. This one has the most money and land because someone left them tons of land. They are one of the top land owners in England. I think it is their students that live in an old castle looking building. One of the bridges we went under was originally built with no nails. I think they used wooden pegs maybe. It has been reinforced now so it will last longer, but it was cute. Another bridge had something to do with prisoners going across it to Jail or something. They still call it the name though because it is where the students go from their living quarters to the testing center.

Another funny story our guide told us is there is a club at one of the schools that puts things up on top of the buildings in the middle of the night. One morning when he was punting there were Santa hats on top of all the spires on the buildings. Another time there was a small car on top of one of the buildings. The professors were so impressed with the ingenuity of the students that they sent wine to their rooms. They had disassembled the car and over the space of 3 months carried the pieces up to the roof. Then they reassembled it in one night. So in the morning everyone woke up to a car on top of the building. Pretty funny.

There were a few buildings on the boat ride that weren’t so impressive. One of them was a very modern concrete building. It didn’t really fit in. The other building was built in the seventies and I guess the architect was trying to make it match the forest across the river from it. The base was supposed to look like the ground, then it had beams going up that were supposed to look like the trunks and the windows were supposed to be like the sun coming through the trees and somehow there were branches somewhere. We couldn’t see it and I guess the guy was actually found to be not all there mentally. Everyone just kind of accredits it to being “oh, it was the seventies.”

After the punting tour we continued our walk and went down one street that was amazing. It was the front of one of the colleges and had a beautiful cathedral in front. There were people all over just sitting and talking. There weren’t any cars and it just felt like a very relaxed atmosphere. The next street we walked down was definitely a touristy street. They even had a Disney store there. We grabbed food at a little store that had a deal where you get a sandwich, drink and treat for 3 pounds. So we each got something. I think one of Blake and the kids favorite things here is trying the different candy’s. So far we love the Cadbury chocolate. We have had the ones with caramel, fruit and nut and Alissa got one that was nuts and raisins. YUM! After we got our food we continued past that street. We aren’t the touristy tourists. We don’t love all the expensive shopping they have to offer in those areasJ especially with 4 little kids. We took our food back to the first park and ate on a bench by some pretty flowers. We took some pictures and just relaxed. Then we caught a bus and went back to our car and came home to get ready for church the next day. It was a beautiful, relaxing day!!!!

Move in Day

2011-09-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

We moved into our home in Lakenheath Village on Thursday September 1^st!!!! I absolutely love it. When you come in the front door there are stairs to go up, or a hall to the bathroom under the stairs and the kitchen straight ahead. If you turn right when you come in there is the living room and connected to that the dining room. To the left is an extra room for an office or storage. The kitchen is HUGE!!! I really feel spoiled in this house. Off the back of the kitchen is a huge glass room, or conservatory. It is like having a screened in porch with heaters so we can use it in the winter. The conservatory and dining room both have double glass doors to the back patio. We also have a shed in the back yard. The yard is even a good size. Also off the Kitchen is the laundry room. It even fits a washer, dryer and full size fridge.(the kitchen only has a mini fridge.) In the kitchen there is a double oven and dishwasher. Did I say I feel SPOILED?

Remi, Broden and Alissa playing in plastic from mattresses

When you go upstairs there are 4 bedrooms. The master is to the right and has a big closet and alcove window area with big windows. There is a master bath, or ensuite off our room with a shower, toilet and sink. I love the showers here. It has a start stop button for turning on the water and you can control the temperature and water pressure on the same control. Also all the shower heads have adjustable heights and can be removed. Two of the other bedrooms are a little smaller, but still have big closets. The 4^th bedroom is pretty big, with a big closet. There is also another bathroom upstairs that has a big bathtub and a shower. And in the hall there is a water heater closet that also has lots of shelves for storage. Each bathroom has a little cabinet under the sink for some storage, but the water heater closet will hold everything else.

Alissa's costume, I think Remi made her into a bride

It is definitely a British House, but I love it. I feel like it has what we need and some! We are still trying to decide where to put all our furniture, but it isn’t here yet, so we have time to decide.

Wednesday we got to pick up our van from the shipping company!!! It was so nice to have it back. We packed everything Wednesday night and loaded most of it in the van. Thursday morning Parker and I came to the house at 8:00am to be ready for the Military people to bring us our “stick” furniture.” It took me about 10 minutes to open the door. I could not figure out how to unlock it. I almost went next door to ask the neighbor how to unlock the door(the 2 houses next to us are exactly like ours with the same landlord). I finally got it though. Parker and I had fun exploring and dreaming(looking for stains, dings and other broken things) until Blake and the kids got here around 10:30. Then the movers got here about 11:00. They brought us a queen bed, 3 twin beds, a crib, couch, 2 end tables, 2 easy chairs, a dining table, 6 chairs, 4 dressers and a portable closet thing. The mattresses on the beds are plastic and the furniture is all a reddish color, but it works.

Broden's plastic crown from Remi

One thing we were counting on is the “loan locker” where we got our loaner kitchen stuff to also give us bedding, but they stopped doing that the week before. Sooo, we scrambled for sheets. Luckily we have an amazing ward family/friends/sponsor who gathered sheets, blankets and towels for us. Most people when they move here do an early shipment that has sheets, towels and blankets that will come earlier that the rest of their stuff. Offutt told us we couldn’t do that, so we figured these things would be given to us when we got here. I don’t know what people do when they don’t have friends where they were going.

Blake went back to work after lunch and the kids and I put things away. The kids were SOOOO excited to be in our new home. That is an understatement for how they felt. They were running all over and having so much fun. They especially enjoyed pulling all the plastic off the beds. They played with the plastic for like 3 hours. First, in Remi and Alissa’s room, then Broden’s room, then in our room. Then they took all the plastic down to the conservatory and played in it for another hour.

Some people might think I am crazy for how much I love everything here I do feel very blessed to be here. I feel like so much of what we are doing is a new challenge. Different driving, different house, different appliances, different stores, different money, different schools, different locks and keys and the list goes on. It might sound like I am complaining, but I actually like challenges like this. Some other nice things about where we live are that we are just 4 houses from the school where Remi goes to school and hopefully Broden too soon. We are just 5 minutes from base, where Blake works.

Alissa as a bride

Remi as a bride

Some facts and figures for us to remember! Blake gets paid in American dollars. The military pays for our house and a little extra to cover utilities. Our house is 1200 pounds a month, which is about 2,000 American dollars a month. We will pay 50 pounds a month for water, about 50 pounds for electricity and the oil that we use for heat is about 1 pound a liter and our tank Is about 500 liters. We don’t know how long that will last, but I have heard it is VERY expensive. Our cell phones are 60 pounds a month and our phone and internet are 50 pounds a month. Our car insurance went up 100 dollars a month to 180 and I don’t know yet what our garbage bill is. We do have to get a MOT, which is an automobile inspection every year and that is 50 pounds a car and then we have to pay taxes each year on each car. So I think our monthly expenses are going to be about 580 dollars a month. That doesn’t include the MOT, taxes, or oil. Not to mention the shopping is WAY more expensive here. Yes we can shop at the commissary, but they only have name brand foods. I am so used to shopping at Walmart, where I just get Great Value everything. Our food bill is going to go WAY up. We could shop off base, but unless the food is half as much in pounds it isn’t worth it because the exchange rate. So we will be learning to have an even tighter budget so we can have money for fun things like traveling. Yes we do still get paid the same, which is a great income. It is comfortable for us to live in the United States and get paid Blake’s income, but when you live where everything costs twice as much it is like cutting your salary in half. I’m glad we are fresh out of Dental school and have lived pretty close to the same way for the last year. It will make this much easier. I actually think it will be fun. It’s just one of the things I love to do though is to figure out ways to make things work for cheap. It’s like a game for me. It probably drives some people crazy but one of my favorite quotes is,”Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

TLF

2011-08-30T07:29:00.000-07:00


Alissa trying on Remi's shoes

While we have been in TLF we have been through more shoes than anything. The first week one of Broden's flip flops broke, then we lost his other pair of flip flops. We lost Alissa's only pair of church shoes besides boots, Remi lost a strap to one of her new shoes and Broden has grown out of the brand new school shoes I bought him. Not looking forward to buying shoes here. They are the same price, except in pounds, which is almost twice as much!

Parker enjoying the view

Watching some more

He loves his toothbrush that lights up

Alissa playing on the shelves

Remi and Alissa's room. There are drawers under the beds and a huge closet.

The living room/Broden's room.

Broden sleeps on the pull out couch in this room and keeps his clothes in the drawers under the TV. When he is doing something and we ask him to stop we say you need to stop or you'll have to go to your room. He gets the biggest kick out of it because he says he is in his room.

View to bathroom and kitchen

Kitchen and dining area

Our bedroom.

View out the window. It is right on the edge of base

Parker sleeps in this crib in our closet

Parker loves when we pull out the bed. He love sitting on it and bouncing on his bum.

Broden playing with something he found on the tree outside


Showing me his thing that has a fish inside of it.

The kids found these our first few days here and came up with the idea that they will turn into fish. So they thing they are things that have fish inside of them and if you keep them in water they will hatch into a fish. Too funny. They do look like puffer fish.

We will be leaving TLF and moving into our house on Thursday. I have been thinking a lot about what really matters in life. I actually haven't minded living in TLF. I think the hardest part has been that our cell phones don't work because of the security of the building and they charge us to call of base on our room phone. So when I want to make a phone call I have to literally hang out the window to get service.

We have huge closets here and I actually like not having all of our stuff. The kids have had to actually be creative. They have some toys, but they also build forts, play hide and go seek, and we even played games like London Bridge and the Farmer in the Dale.

We have decided to put Remi in British schools. I am excited for her. Its funny but one of the reasons why I am excited is because she gets to wear a uniform. I like the fact that all the kids wear uniforms and I think it makes them equal. It takes the clothing issue out of things. I don't want Remi to think that she is better than anyone, or not as good as someone based on her clothes. I want her to not judge because of what people are wearing and not be self conscious because she doesn't have certain clothes. I think uniforms are good for this.

After being in temporary housing I have realized how lucky we are. I am fine here, except that it is like a hotel, so we have to come up stairs to get to our room. We are so lucky to have a big home though. It has a laundry room and more rooms than we have had in any other house. We get to have a yard, we have cars to drive and the list goes on and on.

I think back on the way I was raised and I am so grateful for the things my parents taught me. They didn't have lots of money and I don't remember if we had tons of toys or not. I do remember playing in the fields on the ranch, playing with our animals and being creative with what we did have. I remember taking one of the eggs from my Grandma's chickens and wrapping it in socks and putting it on the heater hoping it would hatch. This is when we lived in a doube wide trailer. There were 8 of us there and I don't ever remember being unhappy having to share a room with my sister. I loved sharing a room with my sister Julie. We would talk and talk after we were supposed to be sleeping. Then when my little sister was born I got to share a room with her. This was HEAVEN!!! I got to get up with her at night and take her to my mom to eat. Then I would bring her back to her crib. I didn't mind at all that we lived in a trailer, I never remember being self conscious of it or caring what my friends thought. We were happy.

I hope somehow I can teach my kids the same things. I don't want them thinking they get anything they want. I don't think they should learn that their happiness is based off what they do or don't have. It is a choice they make. I want them to learn that we just need to be happy with what we have and not always want more. So if I seem like a strict mom that doesn't give my kids anything this is why. They don't NEED everything they want. They do NEED to learn to be happy with what they have. Yes it is ok to want things. I want things too. Everyone does. But they do NEED to learn to be happy even though they still have wants. What we have and don't have isn't as important as how we treat those around us and what kind of person we are. We have been working on this while we have been here in TLF. We have told our kids multiple times when we get back from doing something fun for them and they ask for something. Our answer is can't you just be happy with what you just got to do. Why do you always need more. We have started saying no to them when they immediately want more. We get them a treat at the store and as soon as its gone they ask for something else. So our answer is now no. Well anyway. We are those strict parents, but hopefully our kids grow into happy adults anyway:)

London

2011-08-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Well I had a really nice long post about London, but it didn't save, so now its going to be a short post about London because I don't feel like writing everything about the day again.

Remi, Broden and Alissa trying to see The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Watching the guards march past

Dad, Remi, Broden Alissa and Parker in front of Buckingham Palace

Remi and Broden with Guard picture in front of the Guard Museum

We did finally get to see a guard marching in front of the palace when the crowd cleared.

Dad in front of cool building near The Tower of London

Remi and Broden in front of the Tower of London

Dad, Remi and Broden checking out the people in costumes in front of the castle.

Remi and Broden feeding the pigeons. They could do this all day and be happy.

Mom and Remi in front of Tower Bridge

Dad and Remi in front of Tower Bridge

Dad, Remi and Broden walking across Tower Bridge

Mom, Remi and Broden in front of Tower Bridge

Remi and Alissa on the Tube

Friday we decided that Saturday we wanted to go to the Robin Hood Festival. It was only about 2 hours away and sounded like lots of fun for the whole family and it was cheap. So we watched the Disney version of Robin Hood and prepped the kids. After they were in bed Blake went to print the schedule of events and realized that the Festival had been the weekend before. We were so bummed. We decided we might as well go to London instead.

So on Saturday August 27th we took a trip to London as a family. Driving to London is crazy with the traffic, the fee you have to pay, a congestion fee possibly and not knowing our way around, so we opted to drive part way and park at a tube station and take the tube. The tube is London's version of an underground rail system, or subway. It was pretty nice and user friendly. We just bought a day pass for Blake and I and under 11 are free!!!

We left TLF at 8:00am and drove to Epping Underground station. It took us a few tries with our GPS malfunctions and our lack of knowledge about the area. We finally reached the station at 9:30 and took the tube to the stop where we could catch the next tube to go to Buckinham Palace. We got on the right one, just headed in the wrong direction. So we had to go back and catch a different one and eventually we made it to the stop by Buckingham Palace. We got off and hurried towards the Palace hoping to make it in time to see the changing of the guard.

We got there at 11:30, which is right when they do the changing of the guard. We missed the guards marching with the band and got caught in a HUGE crowd, we couldn't move anywhere and couldn't see anything. Eventually a police officer directed us out of the crowd and we got to see the top of the guards hats as they marched past the park we went to.

Then it started pouring and we only had 1 umbrella because I was waiting for a "good deal" on umbrellas. I guess I should have just bought some because Blake and I got SOAKED! When the rain stopped we ate lunch in the sun and tried to dry off. Then we headed to The London Tower and Tower bridge. The castle was awesome and the bridge was beautiful. It is the one you see pictures of. It is called the Tower Bridge, not London Bridge. That one isn't so grand. We didn't go on any tours, but now we know what we want to do next time and what is good to do with kids and what we should do by ourselves!

After The London Tower and Tower bridge we rode the Tube back to our car. We ate dinner in Eriswell. I dried lamb kebob in a pita. I thought it was NASTY! I don't like Lamb I guess. Blake had Chicken Shish. The girls had chicken nuggets with chips and Broden fish and chips. His poor fish was so burnt you could only taste burnt batter. We were not impressed with that place. It was nice that we had the whole place to ourselves though. Now we know why.

We got dessert at a local market. We were hoping for a little candy shop, but everything closes at 6, so we got delicious chocolate cookies and some jam filled donuts at the store. They were day old and cheap, but so yummy!!!

What we're up to

2011-08-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

We are getting a little more settled, but are still working on our have to's while trying to enjoy a few outings. The weather here is up and down. It will get up in the seventies, then drop into the 50's and be rainy. Yesterday there were even some snowy flecks in the air. I call it snow, but I don't think anyone else really considers it snow.

Cheap Bowling!

We took a little walking tour of base and went in some of the buildings to see what they had to offer. We got some library books and movies and checked out the gym, the skating rink, craft building, bowling alley, and theater. Last Tuesday we decided to go bowling. We took the whole family and had a blast bowling. We just did one game and that takes long enough. The price was AWESOME!!! 50 cent shoe rentals and the first game is FREE. So since we rented shoes and only played one game it was only 2.50 for our whole family to bowl!!!

Friday morning we headed to Erisweel barn. This is one of the coolest places so far. It is only like 2 minutes from base. Someone converted this really old barn into a place to auction off furniture or whatever else people want to sell. I went the first time the week before and checked it out and loved it!!! They have really nice furniture you can get for really cheap. Some furniture dealers around the area will take their furniture here when they don't carry a certain line. Also I think lots of Military families take their stuff here when they are leaving.

Waiting outside the barn

So we checked out the goods on Friday morning, then headed to a town that was supposed to be about an hour and a half away. It ended up being about 2 hours because the traffic was so bad. When we were about 15 minutes away I was looking at the sheet about the car and realized it said the car only had 4 seats. Great! Not something we would consider buying, except that we had just driven 2 hours. So we looked at it and it ended up having 5 seats, it was just listed wrong. We ended up buying it for a good deal. It was 690 pounds, which is about 1,400 dollars. I don't know what year it is, 2000 maybe? I think it has 110 or 120 thousand miles and runs great! It kinda smells like smoke:( but we are getting that out. We were just glad to have found a car and be done with that hassle of searching.

Hiking at Anglo Saxon village

Since we drove there, we had 2 vehicles to bring home. That meant I had to drive 2 hours home on CRAZY British roads. After we left the guy's house that sold us the car we drove to a gas station. I got out and opened the door to the gas thing. It had a lock. I tried putting the key in and couldn't get it to fit. I was looking all over for Blake for help, but didn't want to go to far from the car because Remi and Parker were in it. A nice British lady realized I was a silly American and tried to help me.

Eventually Blake came over and I realized there was another key hiding on the key ring. We got gas then went across the street to the grocery store to get some treats for the drive home. As we were leaving Blake was following me because I had the GPS. I went to pull out at the round about. Here you go left around the round about. I needed to turn right, so being an american driver I naturally just stopped, checked for traffic then headed right. LUCKILY no one was coming and I realized what I was doing and jerked the wheel left and corrected my mistake. I'm sure Blake was just laughing at me. We eventually made it home though and decided we don't really enjoy the backed up traffic and are glad our house is close to base so we don't have to experience it every day.

Picnic by Anglo Saxon Village

Saturday morning we went to the barn again for the auction. I bought a Dyson vacuum for 30 pounds. Its probably more than I would normally spend on a used vacuum, but they are supposed to be really good vacuums.

Swinging on trees during hike

After our big purchase we tried to find a little park we had seen on our way home from Bury. We drove in circles a couple times and finally just drove toward the place the sign called Anglo Saxon Village. We passed a picnic area so we stopped and had a picnic. Blake, Remi and Broden played soccer for a while and we just relaxed. Then we continued driving towards the Anglo Saxon village. It did turn out to be the park we had seen on our way home from Bury. I actually remembered the name and that there was a sign! This doesn't happen very often. Blake definitely has a better memory than me with things like this. That's why its exciting when I do remember something.

Enjoying the park

When we got there we stopped in the visitor center to see what we could do. They offered tours, but we didn't actually tour the village because it was kinda pricy They also had a couple trails around the park and to a lake, so we took one of the trails. We just had a little umbrella stroller for Parker, not the best on trails. We just turned it backward and pulled him along and it worked out fine. He even fell asleep.

Climbing the wall

After we hiked we headed back to the parking lot and let the kiddos play on the play ground. Parker LOVED the sand. He didn't even try eating it, which amazed me because he loves eating anything he can off the ground. Remi loves to play with the other kids at the playground now, so there aren't very many pictures of her. She was too busy with her new friends. Blake did finally convince her to come build the little stick houses with him and Broden. They had fun building those. Then Broden climbed the rock wall. I was impressed that he could climb so well all by himself. He did need help getting down when he got to the other side, but we couldn't reach him to help, so we just talked him through it. It took him a while, but eventually he got it.

Building Anglo Saxon style houses

After the park we came home, ate and bathed and got things ready for Sunday. Sunday Blake and I got called to be the 6 year old Primary teachers. There are like 120 kids in primary. I think there are like 14 in our class alone. It will be fun, but completely new for me. I have only been in Young Women's and occasionally taught the youth for Sunday School. So teaching Primary will be a fun change. It will be fun to enjoy their innocence. It will be fun to prepare lessons with Blake too, and to hear him teach. I love hearing him teach our kids too.

This is Parker's new found love. When I do laundry and leave the door open he will crawl over and just watch the washing machine. I think it is so funny. He will watch the water run down the glass, then when it starts spinning he will get really excited and start bouncing. Better than any Baby Einstein movie yet!

The first of many

2011-08-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

Today we got to go to our new ward for the first time as a family. It is so comforting to know that wherever we go in the world we can walk in to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and feel like we are home and like we have a family. Blake already knew some of the men in our ward from high school and dental school. I love that the kids can go to primary and already know the routine. They know that they will have singing time, sharing time and a class. This routine is so important to them, especially Broden. He has a hard time with change and I think because primary is pretty much the same wherever you go he did ok with it. I also love knowing that no matter where we live we will be taught the same lessons. It doesn't depend on our bishop, or Stake President or anyone in our church building, we are taught the same lessons, or same values and principles as the rest of the church throughout the world. I also love meeting new Young Women. It is great getting to know them and seeing them interact with my kids as babysitters. Although these things seem small, they strengthen my faith. I know that God is unchanging. His true church is on this Earth and I find comfort in the consistency I have found in church.

City sign

Today after church we headed to a town called Castle Acre. I researched online castle ruins, hoping to get to a castle that was free to go into on a Sunday. We found one to explore. There isn't much castle left, but it was fun to explore.

Walking to the church

We put Castle Acre in to the SatNav and headed up there. When we got to the town it was the cutest little town with beautiful old houses and cottages. We parked and headed to the biggest building we thought was a castle. It was the church and it was amazing. I think it was built in like 1116 or sometime around then. The gentleman working there was great! He showed us how the top part lifts off the font? I think that is what it was called. I am so bad at history, probably because I don't remember things. This was just a couple hours ago and I already forgot most of the things he told us. While we were there I took Alissa to the bathroom. While we were gone he let Broden ring the bell. Broden thought that was AWESOME! Then he showed us a huge key and let the kids hold it. Then he showed us how it opens the smallest door in the church where they keep the treasury I think he said. Broden said, "I want to see the treasure." The man explained that all the treasures are locked up in safe's to keep them safe.

Phone booth on the way to the castle

The kids didn't know what it was for

After we left the church we headed to the castle ruins. It was neat to see something so old. They had signs showing what it probably looked like at different time periods. It was called a Motte and Bailey castle. I worried that Remi wouldn't think it was that great because it didn't have a real princess living in it, but she still thought it was great. She is very into the history. She asks lots of questions like, why are most of the princesses dead? Who broke the castle? Where do the princesses live now? Why did the kings fight eachother? Where did the bad guys come from?

Castle Acre church

The font

I guess Blake and I need to do our research so we can answer all her questions. It will be fun to go to the castles that have tours so she can ask the guides all her questions.

Huge Key

When we got to the grassy area by the castle there was boy teenage rugby team playing some kind of game in the grass. When we got done looking at the castle we walked past them and they were having a little afternoon tea. When we walked past them they offered the kids some rockcake. We all thought it was really good. It was like a mixture between a cookie and a biscuit. I liked seeing all these teenage boys just lounging in the grass having tea and little cakes in the middle of a grassy meadow. That was the picture in my mind of us in England. Having relaxing afternoon picnics in the grass by castle ruins. I wish we would have taken a picture of the boys and their picnic.

Listening to the gentleman explain the key

After we explored the castle and walls around it we just played in the grass and had races and just enjoyed our Sunday afternoon together. What a fun day in Great Britain. We are excited to explore more!

Sitting in the chairs the munks would sit in

Castle Acre Castle ruins

Opening little door with key

old gate to the castle

Rock cake

Running in the grass

Bury St. Edmunds

2011-08-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

Some of the shopping on the little street

We headed to Bury on Thursday to get phones FINALLY! I knew we used our phones a lot, but we really know how much now that we experienced a few days without them. An example, we were headed to Bury with our friends the Ingersolls. We met in our TLF parking lot(we had to change rooms that morning, so did they) and decided to have them follow us to Bury. So we leave the base and turn and already don't see them coming. We followed the signs instead of what the SatNav(GPS) said to do. So we pull over at one of the rare pull offs and wait, and wait. Then we decide maybe they went a different way and followed the GPS. So we continue, hoping we end up at the same place, but not knowing because of no phones.

Part of the church

When we got to Bury we realized how big of a city it is. It is quite the touristy place with TONS of shopping. We asked where the cell phone store is, and head in that direction. We park the car in the "car park" and Blake goes to wait in the "Que" to pay for parking. Then he realizes you have to have coins to pay.

Trying to open trap door

So I stand by the car while he goes to get some change to pay for parking. Then we walked to the cell phone store that is in the middle of a big shopping area. It was really nice. About 5 minutes after getting into the store the Ingersoll's walk in. YAY!!! We made it without phones. Lauren and I took the kids into a store while the Men figure out the phones. Then we explored the city and a church. It was a cute place and someplace I want to go back to without kids, so I can shop. I have a hard time shopping with kids. It isn't my favorite thing in the world to do, but with kids it really stresses me out. They had some really cute kids clothing stores though and a great antique furniture store.

Remi trying to open trap door

Alissa and Livi knocking on door

Update

2011-08-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!! Just wanted to check in real fast and tell you what's up. We are safe here at Lakenheath, if you have heard about the riots we aren't anywhere near them. We wouldn't even know about them except that our yahoo home page is the UK news now and they are on that page. I actually just figured it was like that all the time in London, but I guess not.

I'll just give a recap of our week. Saturday we kept the kids awake all day, and we stayed awake too. We put them to bed at like 8:00 so they could sleep and wake up and be on England time! Sounds good, right? Well, it would have worked except Parker woke up around 12:00am, I fed him thinking he would go right back to sleep. NOPE. He was wide awake and would just cry when I laid him down. So we brought him into our room to play on the floor and be happy, so everyone else could sleep. At like 1:30, I tried laying him down again and he wouldn't sleep still. He cried and woke up Alissa. I thought Blake was with her and Parker got quiet. Then I hear Blake banging around in the bathroom trying to fix the toilet by filling up the garbage can and dumping it into the toilet. A heroic thing to do during the day, not so much at 1:30 am. He was still half asleep and not thinking clearly.

So Parker started crying again. I thought Blake had him, but went into his room and Remi had him. She loves to be a little mom, but it doesn't work very well when Parker is going to sleep and she just wants to rock him and hold. Now everyone was AWAKE! So we said they could watch a movie downstairs if they promised to go to bed when it was over. Of course they said they would. Blake and I went back upstairs, I fed Parker and he went back to sleep. Then Blake and I fell asleep.

I think after the movie Broden went to bed, or maybe Blake took him to bed. I'm still not sure what Remi and Alissa did for 2 hours, but at 5:45 they brought Blake breakfast in bed. He wasn't too happy. He told them to go to bed. Remi was in the same room as Parker, so as soon as she got in there, he woke up. I fed him, but he again wouldn't go back to sleep. So we headed down stairs and he ate Blake's cereal.

At 7:00 Parker went back to sleep, so I slept until 8:00, then jumped in the shower. At 8:45 everyone was still sleeping. We had someone coming to pick us up at 9:15 for church. I was set that we were ALL going to church. but, that didn't happen. The kids wouldn't BUDGE!!!. So I went to church with our friends. It was weird going to a new ward with no family.

Church was great and everyone was really nice. It has a lot of military people in the ward and the bishop said 20 families are moving out in the next couple weeks. That is crazy! By the time church was over I was SOOOOO tired. I came home and slept for a few hours (got a stiff neck) The kids didn't wake up until noon. After my nap we went to our friend's house for dinner. This family has taken such good care of us. Food, rides, car advice, everything!

When we got home we put the kids to bed and went through the same thing almost. We just did the movie and had them go to bed after. Monday Blake went to work. I spent the day looking for houses and trying to set up appointments. We rented a van that night. Cars are only like 80 dollars a week, but vans are like 300 a week! We found one to rent for like 180 a week, so that isn't as bad and it is tiny. I have to slide my seat on the left(passenger side) really far forward so I can jam Parker's car seat into the car.

Monday night was a little better. Alissa woke up, but Blake layed by her and she went back to sleep. Remi woke up and wanted music. So we gave her the eMP3 player. She has learned the words to most primary songs and I could hear her singing out loud! Parker woke up! I had her go into my room and got him back to sleep. It was funny trying to talk to her.

"Remi."
"WHAT", she yelled.
"Don't sing out loud."
"WHAT?!?, she yelled.
"You can't sing out loud when we are sleeping.
"OH, OK! I WON"T", she yelled.

I thought this was so funny. She didn't understand why I was laughing. I had her just sleep in our bed and she still hummed until she fell asleep.

Tuesday we all got up at 9 and got ready for lunch with Blake. He said he would come get us at 11:45. We were all ready early so he wouldn't have to wait for us. We went outside at 11:40 and waited, and waited, and waited. We went to the bank across the street to sign papers and came home. We waited and waited some more. Finally around 1:30 Blake came home wondering where we were. I guess while we were in the bank he came home and we missed him. He thought we were already at the lunch so he went there. It is hard getting used to not having cell phones and texting! That night we went out and looked at a few houses. So sad to see our first 2. They were small with small washers and dryers if they had them at all. Some of them you choose between a dishwasher or clothes dryer. Then we drove around for fun and had a picnic with food from a real england grocery store. It was yummy cheese, crackers and chicken. Dessert was kind of dry though. Brownie was not too yummy.

I shouldn't make fun of Blake's driving skills, because I'm sure I'll be just as bad when I get up the guts to try driving. He hit the curb and about killed us only a few times:) Just kidding, but it was scary sometimes. Like when he is turning right. In the states when you turn right you only check traffic coming from the left. So he checks left and proceeds to pull out right when a car is coming from our right. Because you have to cross the traffic to turn right. We are alive though and he is getting much better.

Today I went with him to class. It was a driving class and we already have 2 babysitters we can use here. They live across the hall from us in our temporary living quarters. They watched the kiddos so we could go. It was a 3 hour class on safety and driving. Then we took the test and both passed!!! It is a hard test if you haven't heard.

This afternoon I looked at houses and decided I loved the first one I saw. It felt good when I walked in. Nothing like US homes, but it felt like something I could make a home and be comfortable in. It even has a laundry room, which I haven't had unless I am visiting someone else. I don't count our basement laundry areas as a laundry room. It is still a British house, but at least I get American washer, dryer, fridge and closets!!! It even has 4 bedrooms, so we will have a guest bedroom for visitors:)

We will hopefully post pictures soon!

We are here!

2011-08-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to inform everyone that we made it here safely! Our flights went smoothly. Possibly the easiest flights yet. On the over night flight we each had our own TV on the seat in front of us. So the kids and Blake watched Kung FU panda 2, then ate dinner and went to sleep. Alissa fell asleep almost before the plane took off. Then she woke up about 45 minutes before we landed. Remi and Broden woke up when it was time to get off the plane. Parker fussed a little, but basically only when hungry or poopy. Other than that he just slept or played.

When we got to England we got all our checked baggage(9 bags 2 car seats and a stroller) and our carry ons(2 carseats, 3 backpacks and a purse) and got them situated on 2 carts. When I got our stroller I realized the wheel was broken off. I looked closer and a piece of plastic had snapped and it wasn't repairable. It would work, kind of though. So I headed to customer service and they filed a claim and told me what to do. Basically I go buy a new stroller then submit the receipt and they will reimburse me. A pain, but I guess we get a new stroller. It was pretty funny watching me push the stroller. I would stick the front left wheel under the stroller where it was supposed to go. It would work just fine until I put pressure on the back, then the wheel would roll right out from under the stroller. When we go to TLF(temporary living facility) I duck taped it so it will work for now.

Our sponsor, Tony(Dentist here assigned to take care of us) met us at the airport with a driver and a huge van to haul us to base. It took us about 3 hours to get from London to the base and we got checked in and kind of moved into our little temporary house. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, patio tons of closets and a full kitchen. I could handle living here for 3 years! Too bad we have to move out on Thursday.

After moving all our stuff into our room we headed to the commissary for a few grocery's. Blake and the kids hadn't eaten anything healthy. When we got back Tony and his wife Audrey and their 3 adorable boys came over. They brought us 2 dinners and other essential groceries for living in a new place and not knowing anything or having a car. Amazing people!

We ate our yummy lasagna, salad, bread and veggies, then Blake took the kids to the park while I cleaned up. Then we put the kids to bed. Ingersoll's came over for a few minutes, and now I am headed to bed too. Blake is already sleeping. Like it here so far. Most things are foggy though. Not enough sleep.

Graduation

2011-08-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

Blake and his parents at the graduation

Blake getting his diploma from the commander

Blake and the commander

Me and Blake and the beautiful roses he got for me

Grandma Jones and Parker(she rocked him to sleep during the ceremony)

The graduating class Chrissy, Fran, Amber, Mark, Andy, Scott, Blake, Jeff and Tim

Blake graduated from his Advanced Education of General Dentistry the Friday before we moved to England. I am so proud of how hard he works and the standards he has as an officer in the Air Force and as a dentist. He is so hard working and always tries to do what is best for the patient, regardless of whether it takes more time or not. He is always trying to learn more and the better way to do things. I love this about him.

At the graduation we enjoyed a nice breakfast then they had a few speakers and handed out nice pictures to all the graduates. Then all the boys in the class gave their wives roses. It was a great ceremony.

The Wednesday before we left we went to Chrissy's new house for a barbecue. It was so much fun to be with most of the residents one last time. When I told Alissa we were going there she asked for Jeff. I said yes Jeff with be there. She got so excited yelling MY JEFF, MY JEFF then added MY AMBER!!! All the residents became the kids aunts and uncles while we were in Omaha. We will miss them!