Happy Birthday!

I just wanted to give a quick shout out and wish all our Birthday Buddies a great day (Or hope you just had a great day)! Happy Birthday Charlotte, Dad C., Ryan, Kendra, (of course myself:), Grant, Cory, Susan, and Mom M.! We love you all! (if there is anyone else who is having a Birthday and I am unaware of the date, Happy Birthday to you too! And, let me know so I can add you to our monthly list!

Reader Beware - It's an Epistle

Well, about my trip to England.... there are probably only a few of you that want to read all about it, but since I was horrible about doing any sort of journal while away, I want to record about it here for myself. So here goes, please bear with me....

For starters, we had a GREAT time!! It had been almost exactly seven years to the day that I last went to the UK, and it was so neat to go back. It was something I had always wanted to do and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do it.

As you might of guessed, there was a lot of this:

this:

and this:

but so totally worth it!

The trip started out a little rocky with flight delays, missing the connecting flight, the possibility of coming in 10 hours late, (mind you we were supposed to meet my mother-in-law there, thus her having to wait for us for an extra 10 hours!! And THIS was the best option compared to an entire DAY late!) not to mention the Denver to London direct flight, changed to a Denver to Chicago, to Washington Dulles, to London flight = NOT FUN!!!

However, while we were looking depressed and unsure of what to do at the payphone by the baggage claim, we received an answer to silent prayers and the nicest baggage claim girl in the whole world, (seriously) informed us that she thought we could still make our flight in Denver if we caught a Frontier flight that was about to board, (don't ask me why this wasn't an option at the ticket counter...I should have been more forceful) and she quickly re booked us and we RAN to the gate, made it, and then RAN to our next flight and to our relief and joy, we made it again!!! We were SOOOOOO happy, and when Jan saw us waiting for her in London, instead of her waiting for us, she was SOOOOO happy as well.

Our bags were not so fortunate though, and we were finally reunited a mere TWO days later!! Not to worry though, we could all fit into Jan's clothes:) That is not to say that United will not be receiving a strongly worded letter about the matter though.

Once we arrived in London, our first couple of days were to be spent in the countryside, which necessitated us renting a car, and I was the lucky one elected to drive:) As I was the only one even the least bit (and I do mean just a least bit) familiar with driving on the wrong side of the road, I didn't mind and I was confident we could do it, but not entirely stress free about the matter until we had successfully handed the keys back over to the rental car company . I am happy to report that we did so without incident, and it is one more thing I can add to my list of "things I didn't know I could do". It was actually a team effort and I must give credit to Jan and Cayly - never before have I actually wanted a "backseat driver"- but it was a big help to have all of us paying attention to the road. Jan also did most of the shifting (which was on my left hand side) so I could focus on the road and that was a big plus. The whole way of driving may be a bit nerve wracking with the tiny streets, tons of cars, and very few street lights, but I must agree that it promotes a much more defensive driving style and I actually felt a lot safer with the other drivers on the road than I do often times here in America.... But onto the fun stuff.

We successfully found our countryside B&B for the first night just outside of Bath. The home, hostess, and view were all fantastic and it was a great experience. We walked up the lane to an old English pub for dinner that night and ate by fireside. It was quite, quaint, and over 300 years old!

The next morning we awoke to an amazing breakfast of croissants, yogurt (which is much better than in America I must say), cereal, juice, tea, fruit, and THEN a full English breakfast!! It was fantastic and by far the best "English breakfast" I have ever had - and I have had several. (For those of you who are wondering, that usually consists of eggs, bacon (but its more like a slice of ham), mushrooms, cooked tomatoes, sausages, and toast, or sometimes they have beans too.) We didn't want to hurt her feelings when there was no way we could eat it all, so we ran up and got a plastic bag and hid 3 huge sausages in it to throw away later. If she really thought that we ate it all, she probably thought we were pigs...I don't know what the better thing to do was. She was probably having a good laugh while she let us go to town on the first course and then brought out the "English" portion. Oh well, we were smarter the next morning and just asked for a few of the options.

After breakfast we set off for Bath and strolled through town, popped into the Jane Austen museum, and then toured the Roman Baths. We were fortunate (we thought) to get to watch Becoming Jane on the plane ride over, so it was fun to go right to the countryside where she lived and based many of her novels. We enjoyed many of our own countryside walks while there:)

After Bath, we headed for Lacock Abbey which boasts the Fox Talbot museum (inventor of photography) and the window which he chose as his very first subject to be immortalized on film. It has had a fascinating history including playing host to hundreds of children during the war as a makeshift school and more recently as movie set of several films including Harry Potter. I guess that is about as close as any of us will ever get to Hogwarts, (with its magical protective charms and all:). We navigated our way through several more small villages and found our way to our next nights lodging which was also hundreds of years old. It was actually an old mill even mentioned in the Doomsday book. It had a delightful little pond and our host had a lot of character. It was a "jolly" time, as she might have said. We enjoyed another pub meal of fish and chips and reunited with our luggage late that night.

On Thursday morning, we were able to go to Stourhead gardens and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After our 2 1/2 mile walk around the grounds, we then climbed 200 and something steps up King Alfred's tower! It was a beautiful view and totally worth the climb.

Our next and last stop on the countryside tour was Stonehenge where we were especially lucky to also get to see a wedding taking place, a very different wedding, but a wedding none the less. I don't know if they were druids or what, but it was strange. It may have been the guy in the black cloak with the antlers, or the hopping hand in hand over a very old looking broom, or the leaning on the stones in the main circle (like they were gaining some special power from them or something), but it felt a little funny. Anyway, we couldn't stay long as we needed to return the car, but it was good to see all the same.

We had an awful time trying to return the car, (note to self: signage around Heathrow Airport - not good, and I should listen to the navigator better) but after an hour of driving around (after having been just blocks away from our destination), we finally made it. We were then off to central London and Wicked that night.

We arrived to our hotel, and although we initially had some reservations, we were pleasantly surprised with it and had a great stay. We settled in and headed to Wicked. Awesome. That is all I can say. If you ever get the opportunity to see it, don't miss it.

Stay tuned for part II of the exciting three part trilogy....

Easter Weekend

Although it is VERY belated, I wanted to post pics from our fun Easter weekend. I had spent the week in CO with my little sister and she had returned with us for Easter weekend. On Saturday we were able to go to an Easter Festival at a local Farm. We had tons of fun and will definitely go again. We enjoyed pony rides, balloon animals, face painting, wagon rides, participated in and Easter Egg Hunt, and even met the Easter Bunny! It was a little chilly (so we will come more prepared next time) but still had a great day. The Easter eggs were filled with candy, gift certificates for bowling, and some had slips to get prizes at the prize table. We were lucky enough to find one of those and although I expected something small - perhaps even a cheap stuffed animal - we totally scored when we walked away with a Radio Flyer Inch Worm rider!! The kids think it's great, (although we are still learning how to ride it) and we were very impressed with the quality of the festival overall.

Husband of the Year

Yes I know, my blog has seen another drought. It isn't that I don't want to write, I just seems that I am continually finding myself taking on new projects or finding new distractions. You may be asking yourself, "Don't we all? We can still find a minute to write about it..." and you would be right. I have no excuses.

When I am involved in one thing or another, besides usually creating an added mess of some sort, I tend to let everything else fall by the way side until the particular project is accomplished. It is just the way I work. It isn't that I CAN'T do other things, I am just not that interested in doing them until my mind can focus on them. Of course, there are things that have to be done, but if it doesn't have to be done, it probably won't be. Any of my former roommates could attest to this fact. When I would have a project due for school (and there were a lot) I would be spread out all over the place, (markers and paper everywhere) and would sometimes be up all night trying to get it done. Then I would rush out the door with a promise that I would clean it all up as soon as I got back. I usually did, (after a nap) and actually felt it was a little cathartic. This is typical of my life still. I get involved in something, make a mess doing it, and then relieve the stress of doing it all by cleaning it up when the project is done and deadlines are met.

So... my house is a mess, we have had food to eat, (but not really anything that resembles a real meal), and it is definitely time to do laundry again (except for the sheets-Alli's potty training and Jakie's mischief have necessitated those chores to be done)...But, I have a wonderful husband, who among other things, has given me reason to once again drop out of the blogosphere. He is sending me to London!!!

My sister-in-law and mother-in-law have been planning a trip to England this spring. They have never been and had been wanting me to go along since I had been. As it truly is one of my favorite places in the entire world (albeit I haven't been to much of the world yet), I would have loved to join them, but we had decided that it really wasn't in the budget this year. I was totally fine with that. I was helping Ryan's mom a little as she was trying to put it together, and then on one of those nights where she called with another question, Ryan blew us away when he suggested to her that he wanted me to go too!! I was in CO babysitting at the time and as soon as he hung up with his mom, he called and proposed the idea to me. I was shocked and SOOO excited!! He had been thinking he would surprise me for a while. He is always so thoughtful and has a way of sweeping me off my feet time and time again. Well, of course no sooner had I hung up with Ryan then I received the call from his Mom, obviously excited. Her first words were: "Have you talked to Ryan yet?" I bet she was just as happy with him as her son as I was. (You raised good boys Mom C.!) I really wish Ryan could come too, but I guess that budget bust will have to wait. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband that works so hard to provide for our needs and even some of our wants:). Thank you so much sweetie!

Anyway, the point is that I have been very preoccupied trying to plan my vacation. I think we have it mostly done though, just the looking forward to it part left. That along with the many other activities and obligations of the past weeks have kept me distracted. (Posts related to these other activities to follow soon).

So here's to the hubs! I. love. him.

P. S. He also scored big in my book this week when he surprised me again by bidding on and winning two more Serve-a-snack hostess sets for me on Ebay! They will match the set I have of my grandmothers and give me service for 12! I can't wait to have my sisters for lunch! He is the greatest!

So much to say...

So, life has been busy lately. We have had a whirlwind few months! So I am going to spare you ALL the details (because there are a lot) and proceed with a TOP 10 of Happenings (but more in chronological order than order of importance):

1. We moved! Still getting settled, but happy to be here.

2. Became landlords again. But first had to replace laundry room floor in said unit after we discovered a valve had been leaking for almost a week following the removal of our washing machine, necessitating a complete removal of floor and sub floor.

3. Prepared for the Holidays, and had a "pre" Christmas Morning before we flew to CA for 2 weeks.

4. Enjoyed Christmas with Ryan's family and attended the baby blessing of little Madelyn.

5. Upon returning from our trip, jumped right back in the saddle with my little sister's wedding and another trip to Colorado. I acted as florist and co-wedding planner, and even got the opportunity to littleraly chase down the FedEx man! It wouldn't be a wedding without some stress though right?

6. Celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with an overnighter and dinner at a wonderful spanish restuarant!

7. Alli turned 3!

8. Jacob can now crawl up AND down the stairs all by himself, so my life just got much easier!

9. We had a terriffic "Valentime's Day" (as Alli calls it)! Ryan made me breakfast in bed with a vase of flowers and then I made a romantic candelit dinner that night. We gave Alli a teddy bear that she now adores. When I gave it to her, I brought her into our bedroom and had her stand outside my closet door and close her eyes while I retieved the gift from inside the closet. She was so excited! The next morning she brought me in and made me stand outside the closet and close MY eyes while she got me my "Valentime". Unfortunately, she couldn't find anything suitable (which I figured). I did however find several shoes strewn on the floor later, as if they had been a consideration. It was so darling.! Alli is so sweet and loving. She loves to be affectionate and cuddly lately.
She surprises me often with her compliments and thoughtful gestures, like the other day when she told me I was " a good cooker". The best part is that I know she really means them, which goes a long way when you are feeling guilty about just making Mac n' cheese for dinner, but too tired to do anything else. Anyway....

10. We unpacked and hung on the wall at least two pictures that hadn't been touched since I packed them for THE LAST MOVE, over a year ago! Hooray!!

Thank you Eve (& Grandma) for these!!! What would we do without all of your thoughtful gestures, time, and love for our family!? We certainly wouldn't be nearly as stylish at next years football game! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Any Resemblance??

Ok, so I have a million tasks to do, but I had to take a blog break and record this.

I was just putting A. to bed, reading stories like usual. Tonight she chose to read some Sesame Street book where they basically do an entire show in one book. It is really one of my least favorites - it gets pretty wordy... Anyway, when it was time to play "Journey to Ernie", A. began to go through and point to each animal in turn and say, "Tiger Ernie, Turtle Ernie, etc." but when she go to the Water Buffalo (or Yak, or something), she very matter of factly stated, "Mama Ernie..." WHAT???? Do I really look like that Water Buffalo?!

I'm still chuckling... but really, she said it like it was fact, not even a hesitation like she just didn't know what it really was... those silly kids.

Running Away With My Thoughts!

Ok, so does anyone know if it is possible to switch the order of entries on your blog? I know it probably is, but I haven't figured it out yet...among other things. Anyway, I started an entry about Halloween, but didn't get all the pictures put on until after I had published the pumpkin patch one, and moving, which have now been up for a few days. I go to try and finally publish Halloween, and it appears before the other two and I don't know how to fix it, and most people will miss it now. So anyway, any helpful hints on this would be great, but for those of you that have been asking, scroll down a few posts to see the kids in their Halloween costumes.

Also, the above was probably one of my favorite moments that day! Can you say Casa Bonita?!