Jones Family

First day of School

One morning when I was walking Remi to school the Head Teacher stopped me and told me they would have some openings in reception soon so I needed to reapply Broden for reception. So I did and he was accepted. We couldn't decide when we should start him because he was going to be staying with a friend when we went to Rome, then a week and a half later he would be leaving for the states, so he would miss 3 days before their big break and a week after.

The Head Teacher said they would prefer he started Monday the 12th of March because they had 4 new students starting at that time. So we decided we would do it. It was so fast I think the shock of sending him to school all day every day didn't have time to set in. He was ready for it though. He was so excited to finally be going to a big boy school.

All ready to go!

The whole uniform

uniform, bag, lunch and done with pictures!

February 17th we loaded the car and headed to tour Eric's mission. We woke up on the 18th and drove to Liverpool to explore there. First we went to the Liverpool Cathedral. I was massive!!! We thought 1 hour of parking would be plenty, but it was too big to see in 1 hour. Especially because the kiddos thought they could just run wherever, so we had a hard time staying together. It is so amazing to me that the could build buildings like this so long ago.

Liverpool Cathedral

Broden, Remi and Blake in front of the Cathedral

Cool building

Eric giving us the tour

After the Cathedral we parked and walked around by the docks. We saw the "Yellow Submarine" or the little yellow boat that gives tours. It was driving along in the water, then drove right up the ramp and down the road. I didn't realize it could do that. The kids were pretty amazed by it. Remi even included it in all of her art work in the car on that trip. It was pretty cool.

The "Yellow Submarine"

Another cool building

Remi and Eric enjoying the view(it was freezing)

This statue is where the saint from England boarded their boat to come to America. It amazes me the faith these saints had. They were willing to give up everything because they knew the church was true and they wanted to do what the prophet asked them to do. They had a long hard journey and I'm so grateful they were willing to do it. They were a good example of giving up everything for their religion.

Another cool building

After our walking tour of Liverpool we headed to Preston to see the temple. The MTC is also on the temple grounds. It was fun to hear Eric's stories about being in the MTC and see it. The temple was beautiful and peaceful of course.

After the temple we walked around Preston. We got to see where the first baptisms in England were performed. The river was huge! The park around it was so pretty.

I'm so sad I didn't take more pictures while we were there. After we walked around the park we went back to the car to find a ticket on it. We were only like 4 minutes past our parking time and couldn't see a parking officer anywhere to talk to. Finally we tracked one down and I realized that it was a ticket because we had improperly displayed our parking pass. I talked to her and she said there was nothing she could do, I would have to mail it in to fight it. So I did and eventually they let us off without paying it. Thank goodness:)

Then we went to downtown Preston. It was so funny when we were going to park. Eric said go up here then turn left and go down the hill. The last little road on the left won't have any parking signs, so you can park for free. Sure enough, we followed his directions and found a free parking spot!!! Not a big deal in Idaho, but a big deal in England. The things the missionaries learn. We also saw the house of one of his converts. That was cool.

We walked through some of the shops in Preston and ate at a little cafe then headed to another of his converts house. He had been dating a member when Eric was on his mission and Eric taught him and he got baptized. He married the girl and they now have 2 little girls. We visited with them for a long time and had tons of fun. Their house was amazing. He bought it through an auction and they remodeled the whole thing. They had picture albums of the whole process, so it was fun to see that. The building process here is so different than in the US.

After we left their house we headed back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we went to Eric's old ward in northern Wales. Blake went to park the car with Parker, so Eric and I went in with Remi, Broden and Alissa. People just assumed we were married and they were our kids. It was fun to meet people Eric worked with on his mission. He had to explain to everyone that I was just his sister:)

After church we went over to a family's house for dinner. We visited with them then tried to find a cool hike to some castle ruins, but we couldn't find it. Instead we went to some of Eric's converts houses and got to visit with one of the girls he baptized. She was really nice and I think she appreciated the visit. Then we went to a castle and let the kids get their wiggles out before we stopped by Eric's old house for a picture then headed home.

Sunday bike ride

Sunday, February 26th Blake, Remi, Broden and I got to go for a bike ride. Eric stayed home with Alissa and Parker. It was so nice to just be able to jump on our bikes and go without making it a huge affair. It is kind of a process to get the bike trailer, the bike seat and everyone all ready to go. So us 4 just jumped on our bikes and rode to a little nature area by our house and walked around for a while. The Remi and Broden had fun climbing trees and hiking around.

Oops!

I thought this day deserved a post of its own. It was such a good day. I got the house clean, laundry done and dinner all made and ready to go in the oven all by about 3:00. Then at about 4:30 I was at the front door talking to someone and I looked back towards the kitchen to see Alissa standing next to the stove and the food on top smoking. It hadn't been cooked yet, I had just started to preheat the oven. I ran in, and scooted her out of the way just as the glass pan exploded!!! There was glass EVERYWHERE. Counters, floor and in the other pan of enchiladas. It scared Alissa so bad and I was furious.

I was so excited to have a relaxing evening with everyone and not have to worry about what to cook and stress about getting it done while still trying to do reading, piano and homework. Not to mention I had made an extra large batch of chicken enchiladas so we could have leftovers. So all that food plus the pan was a huge chunk of money going in the garbage. I was so mad I just left the mess for Blake to see. Well I cleaned up the floor and counters a little so it was safe. So instead of yummy enchiladas with home made guacamole we got to have grilled cheese and tomato soup:(

If you look close you can see glass all over the counter

Here you can see the glass shards

Valentines Day

I like to make fun dinners for Valentines Day, so this is what I came up with. Simple but fun. We had Chicken Cordon Bleu with salad and Jello. I tried making the salad as festive as I could with the semi heart shaped eggs and red tomatoes:)

I have a horrible memory, but I'm pretty sure we had the Ingersoll kiddos over for dinner in trade for them watching our kiddos.

Wednesday Eric had meetings in London, so at lunch he went and got us all Wicked tickets. Blake and I headed down after work and met Eric at a "pub" for dinner, then headed to the show. It was so much fun! The kids stayed the night with Ingersolls and had a blast. We are so grateful we have such good friends we can trust to watch our kids.

Fun Pub in London!

Outside the Theatre after Wicked

Bath

Friday the 10th of February we decided to take Eric down to Bath. We had so much fun the time we went over Thanksgiving and the hotel is so cheap we thought we would try it again. We got there Late Friday night and all the kids were ready for bed. So we tucked them in and watched a movie. In the morning we headed to a little town called Glastonbury.

They had a cute little museum that was free, so we enjoyed walking through it. It had all kind of things about how life used to be, like the bathroom, how they made boats, soap, cooked etc. They also had a little farm outside and the kids of course had to chase the chickens and sheep. The barn by the museum was huge and so pretty. I thought it used to be a church or something, but it was just the barn that went with the Abbey. I wonder what the Abbey would have been like:)

After the museum we headed up the hill, hiking to the Tor. It is a big hill that has a tower on top. The view was amazing! It was a nice day too, a little foggy, but not freezing cold. We even took off our coats for a while. We walked through the rest of Glastonbury and it was a cute little town. Lots of free spirited people.

We left Glastonbury and headed to Bath by way of Wookey Hole and Cheddar Gorge. Both are cute towns, but very touristy. We got to Bath after dark and went to the Abbey where they were having their services. We listened to them sing for a while and it was very interesting. The preacher would sing part of his sermon and the choir would repeat the message with different words. I couldn't understand most of what they were singing, but it was fun to hear. The kids were even entertained by it for a few minutes. We had to go though because they were getting restless and they had to go to the bathroom. So we walked around for a little while then headed back for a night of games and bed.

Sunday morning we got up and headed into Bath again to look around a little bit before church. Church was Awesome! We just went to Sacrament Meeting and the talks were great. The members were very welcoming too. After church we went to a park and just let the kids play before heading home. They got sooo muddy, but had lots of fun.