KNELL PLACE

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-12T17:37:00.001-08:00

I made my first real gingerbread house this week.

After spending an entire fun day with my girlfriends decorating one myself, the rest of the family really wanted to make some too.
So we bought the "pre-assembled houses" at Costco for them and spent our Saturday morning making festive gingerbread houses.

Lucy was very particular about lining up colors together.
She and McKay kept at their houses longer than anyone else.

Sadie went with bright colors all over and a cute pattern on the roof with mini candy canes.

McKay's coconut rooftop and his shiny walkway were awesome.

Zach got in on it for a while but left early to play in a concert and never came back to finish it.

Dad had the best roof.
Unfortunately the frosting wouldn't harden fast enough and it slipped
out of place a little by the time he was finished.

He also surprisingly lost interest after the roof.

Here is our finished Christmas gingerbread village.
We had such a fun time making it!

Show Time!

2010-12-12T16:18:00.000-08:00

This time of year is always busy I know but yesterday was crazy busy!

We had three separate performances all in one evening.
Sadie and Lucy had their end of year gym/Cheer/Dance recital, Sadie had a drama performance and Zach had a guitar performance.

Sadie has spent 4 hours a day on Mondays and Wednesdays at Whitney's gym all Fall. She loves it and can't get enough of it!
Because she is so involved there she was in FOUR of the seven performances for the evening. The girl did probably 30 bank-handsprings, 3 back tucks plus aerials and front tucks in between and did this for three different performances. By the final performance she was huffing and puffing, but she was a trooper.

I loved watching my girls perform together.

Here's Sadie is in her dance performance. She is so graceful!

Sadie's All-Stars cheer squad did their routine they will be competing with this season.
Their squad ranges in age from 6 to 12 and they are really good!
The girls are most excited to compete at Nationals at Disneyland in February.

Here she is during a tumbling pass. Look at that air!

Lucy performed with her gymnastics class.
She recently learned a round off back-handspring. She was very nervous to hit it in her performance but she did so great. She had straight arms and everything!
MY favorite part about watching Lucy was her smile. She kept it the entire performance.
She absolutely LOVED being out there!

What a sweet smile!

After the girls were done I ran Sadie up to her Drama performance. Luckily they had performed for the school earlier in the day so Abe and I were able to catch that performance.
After dropping Sadie off the rest of the family drove down to Dixon Middle School to watch Zach and his friend Ben Maughan perform at The Ohana Festival. This is a celebration of diverse cultures for the Holidays for the families of Dixon.
The boys performed three of their original songs.
"Life Like a King", "New World' and "Shine On".
They were part of a program of cultural performances including a Native dance of Fiji and some Hawaiian dances.
We decided Zach and Ben were representing the White boy band culture!

Braces for Sadie

2010-04-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Today was a BIG day for Sadie...
she got her BRACES on!

We started out the day with a before picture
to remember her cute teeth the way they were.

When we arrived at the orthodontist
she was super excited.

One of the hygienists took us back to get her all set up
with x-rays, pictures and preping her teeth.

She had to put a mouth stretcher in to keep her teeth dry.

Sadie HATED it and HATES that I took this picture
while Dr. Trapnell put her brackets in place.:-)

It was a BIG choice deciding on which color bands to put on.
FINAL DECISION...
ORANGE on top
and PINK on the bottom.
I think it was a good choice!

We had the funniest conversation at lunch after wards.
She said
"I'm going to have to learn to eat all over again".
I said "I'm sorry, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it quickly".
She said
"that's ok it's kind of fun.
I haven't had to do this since I was a baby"

I love it! just look at this grin.
What a cutie! Love 'em bugs...can't wait to see how they turn out.

Redrock

2009-02-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

We visited St. George recently as a family (thanks to an offer by Monte Magleby) and had a fun weekend playing...we golfed, swam, watched movies, the girl's had pedicures and we all enjoyed the warmer weather together.

One afternoon we spent a couple of hours CLIMBING around the rocks and exploring the caves at Pioneer Park.
I loved the beautiful REDROCK at sunset.

The Opening Act

2009-01-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

Zach and his friend Ben performed as the OPENING ACT for Ty Turley -Trejo's annual concert "Night of Piano Love" Saturday.
Ty, a BYU music student, heard about them through his brother Bjorn, who is a friend of ours. Ty came out last week to "audition" them and after hearing a couple of their songs asked them to perform at his concert at the Tahitian Noni Auditorium Saturday night.

These two boys have been writing original songs together the past several months and really are quite gifted. They have about 10 songs completed and are working on a couple more.
Ben is a talented pianist and musician and Zach loves to write lyrics , melodies and sing so together they are quite a team!

LULLABY ROAD

FOR THAT GIRL

The reaction to their performance was FANTASTIC. All who heard them were very kind and complimentary after the concert. They were invited by one man to come to his recording studio and one girl even told them she wanted them to sing at her wedding:)

Snow Day

2009-01-02T13:20:00.001-08:00

Thanks to the Magleby's we enjoyed a couple of days
at Sundance after Christmas.

A highlight of the trip was sledding outside the cabin.
The kids were crazy zipping down the hill and off the jumps...practically clearing the street below a few times.

Here's the little line of kids hiking back up the hill.

Hans making sure the run was smooth and fast!The action shots...
After a day in the snow
the parents deserved a night out at the Foundry Grill

Christmas Eve Traditions

2008-12-30T06:29:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Eve is full of traditions.
First off the kids always get new P.J.'s when they wake up in the morning.
This year we did robes instead.
The search for "The Pickle" is a favorite for the kids. Abe hides the pickle ornament somewhere on the tree and the kids search for it. Whoever finds it gets to open the special Pickle present. This year it was a decided tie as the ornament fell to the ground when Zach moved a bell on the tree and the three oldest all saw it at the same time. Sadie picked it up and claimed victory while Zach protested that he had won. Then we make yummy CREPES for breakfast.
Lucy loves to help Dad get out all the ingredients and blend them up.

Then in the afternoon we head up to my mom's house for our
Christmas dinner. My brother, Rolf reads a Christmas story to Lucy, Elsa and Liesel.Then we play Christmas carols on the bells and have a talent show where each child chooses a talent to show off.
This year we had a dance, a drawing, a recitation of "The Night Before Christmas", a homemade gun made from PVC pipe and a typing demonstration...some interesting choices:)Acting out the NATIVITY gets more chaotic each year as we add new little actors.

This year we had no baby so the role of baby Jesus had to be played by a doll.
Sadie was Mary as she has been since birth and Olle was Joseph as usual. Leif and McKay carried the roles of Shepard and wisemen and the little girls were angels.
Zach carried three roles, Shepard, wiseman and Donkey.At the end of the evening we head to our nephew Finn's spot at the cemetary and sing Christmas Carols and light luminaries.
Then we head home for hot chocolate and sweet dreams!

Tis' The Season

2008-12-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

I love CHRISTMAS!

I love the music, the smells the feeling of excitement and the memories.

I've enjoyed re-discovering my love for photography lately

& spent a morning last week capturing some of my

Favorite Christmas Things

I love the way the mantel looks

with the stockings hanging from it

and the way my kids tell everyone who comes over

which one is theirs.

I love the wreaths on all the doors.

I don't know why...it is just something I love.I love our tradition of

"THE PICKLE"

We hide the pickle ornament on the tree & on Christmas Eve

the kids search for it.

Whoever finds it get to open a special "Pickle gift" a day early.

I love the RED and GREEN.

The cranberries and lights on trees and on the houses

and ribbons and wrapped gifts...

I love that at the center of all the celebration

is the memory of

a little baby boy who changed everything!

TIme for a new post?

2008-12-01T14:27:00.001-08:00

Sparky

2008-09-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Zach and his friend Chase Heiner found a rabbit in the field by our house. We let them bring it in thinking it was our neighbor's as they have a few pet rabbits.

It took us a few days to get ahold of the neighbors. In the meantime our kids were enjoying caring for said rabbit who was living happy in our unfinished basement. We did finally get ahold of the neighbors and they informed us that this rabbit was, in-fact not their rabbit. Our kids quickly came to believe they now had a new pet. The boys even came up with the strapping name of SPARKY which fit our little rabbit quite well.

WELL...Mom does not particularly enjoy rabbit droppings and carrots spread randomly throughout the basement and I began to form a plan to get rid of Sparky.

My brother's son Finn is buried at East Lawn Cemetery on the east bench of Provo. In this cemetery we have often spotted rabbits hopping around the lawns. "Why not let Sparky join the multitude of rabbits at the cemetery?" I ask myself.

I explained to the kids how I simply did not want a rabbit...after-all they are not a fun pet, they run away they don't make any sounds and are not loyal to their owners. "We'll get a good pet eventually I say". "How about if we take Sparky up to Finn's spot and let him go free?"

Well they finally agreed to it as they love Finn and think it would be a good memory. This way we can look for Sparky every time we go to visit his spot.

Last Sunday we transported Sparky from our basement to the great outdoors where he immediately disappeared under a pine tree. We are sure he has made lots of friends and that Finn is smiling down on his new little rabbit friend.

Football, Friends and Fun!

2008-09-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

We've made a tradition out of going to an away BYU football game every year with some of our good friends. This year we chose Seattle and the University of Washington game.

Husky Stadium (Lake Washington in the distance)

We had a blast shopping, eating at Ray's Boat House, visiting the Space Needle and having lunch in the rotating restaurant, shopping, walking along Pikes place enjoying the fresh flowers and yummy food, shopping some more and of course watching the Cougars beat the Huskies!!

Revolving Restaurant on top of the Space Needle

Pike's Place Market

Thanks Maglebys, Dials, Larsens and Astles for another great one!

Dinner at Ray's Boathouse

Our Westridge Idol

2008-08-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

Zach has been preparing for this moment for two years and he finally did it...Westridge Idol Winner 2008!

Two years ago Zach placed runner up in a duet he sang with his friend Holly Orton but this year was his year to shine all alone.

He was determined to do well in his last year at Westridge...and perform well he did! He blew us all away singing "Life Is A Highway" by Rascal Flats.

Zach sent in his audition video via email last Spring while we were in England and became one of the 6 finalists from his school chosen to perform at the school carnival on August 25th.

Zach's best friend Tyler Dial was also one of the finalists and placed 2nd runner up.

Congrats guys!

Back Home and Back To School

2008-08-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love when summer wraps up and you get back into the swing of a school schedule again?

Our kids were especially excited to get back this week after a longer time away from school friends this summer.

Zach is entering 6th grade and has a new teacher at Westridge, Jennifer Cannon.

Sadie is in 4th grade and has the fantastic Mrs. Frandsen (Zach's beloved 4th grade teacher.)

McKay is in 2nd grade and has Miss Giles with only 18 students this year...YES!

Lucy is in her second year at Learning Dynamics Preschool in Orem. I can't believe next year she'll be in kindergarten.

Lucy's teacher Mrs. Linford at Learning Dynamics Preschool

Cheers England!

2008-08-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

We thought it very fitting it rained on the morning we left England. We were all excited to get home but sad to leave such a peaceful and wonderful experience. England isn't really England without the rain right? The rain is what what makes England so beautiful and green.

We left home early on the morning of 8/8/08 for the airport. Our friends the Kleins offered to take all our luggage in the back of their truck to the airport. It took two hired cars to drive the rest of us. The kids were exhausted because of course they couldn't fall asleep the night before.

At this point in the trip Sadie and McKay were still awake.

By the time we arrived at the airport they were all out.

Our piles of luggage again. Note that most of the bags are behind us!

We arrived at Gatwick in plenty of time. We checked 13 bags and then having an hour and a half to spare decided to grab some breakfast with the Kleins.

Vern and Dana Klein (and Abe)

Zach and Sadie with Charlie and Alice Klein

So after breakfast we headed up towards security. As I go to pass through the gate into the line the officer tells me to place my carry-on into the cage to see if it fits. Mind you we have flown out of Gatwick three times this summer with these exact carry-ons and they have never once asked us to place them in the cage.

It fit except for the wheels and they guy says we have to take all three of our carry-ons to check them. I try to explain that we have been in England for 5 1/2 months and we have already checked 13 bags!! He doesn't care and at this point his senior whatever comes over and gets involved and really ticks us off. We got a kick out of seeing Vern, a very happy go lucky guy, get completely annoyed with this lady.

When we saw that we were getting nowhere we headed back to the check-in desk and explained the situation and the lady tells us we'll have to pay 250 pounds ($500) to check these 3 small bags. Ridiculous! Abe pleads with her and she calls her senior and we finally get the fee waved and check the bags.

By this point our hour and a half cushion has disappeared and we headed off through security at practically a run to get to the gate.

We were sure they were closing the gate by the time we arrived but to our surprise we were fine, in fact we actually got bumped up to first class! This definitely made up for earlier inconveniences.

Cheers England thanks for having us...HELLO USA!!!

A Day With The Dallimores

2008-08-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had a fantastic day at Poulton's Park, a local amusement park with Mark and his two daughters. Mark was Abe's first hire here in the UK office and our first friend here in England.

We were worried as we headed out that we would have rain all day but within minutes of arriving at the park the sun came out and we had a lovely afternoon.

Mark's two girls Kayla and Millie are absolutely darling and Lucy had so much fun with them. Note their curls...I thought marrying Abe I would surely get curls like that in my girls, since when has straight hair been the dominant gene?!

I would like to announce that Zach has officially overcome his fear of roller coasters as he rode on "The Cobra" 6 times and loved every minute of it. In fact he was trying to convince the worker to let us ride it one more time at park closing. Way to go Zach...this is quite a breakthrough for you. Next comes California Screamin!

McKay turns 7

2008-08-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Daddy took McKay out for a special birthday evening. They ate at Little Frankie's, our local "American" Grill and went bowling.

(McKay's favorite!)

We also took him to build-a-bear workshop to get a new friend...as did Sadie and Lucy on their birthday's. He choose a cute Koala, bought him a Batman suit and PJ's and named him Koala Wayne...nick-named KiKi.

McKay you are a joy to have around. Your sense of humor keeps us rolling on the floor, you are always willing to share, you are loyal and kind and we love you sooooo much!

Happy Birthday kiddo!

Going the Welsh Way

2008-07-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

We still have so many sites we want to get to before we leave but are realizing it just isn't possible to get to everything.

The Abbey in Bath

The Avon River in Bath

Saturday we drove to Bath and then on to Cardiff in Wales. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather. We had a rough start to our day when Sadie threw up about a half-hour into our journey and finding that McKay had forgotten to bring shoes along.

Sick Sadie in the back of the car!

Also, we were having a hard time getting any money from an ATM. Short version... our debit card was ripped off in Italy with $2000 taken from an ATM in FLORIDA! So we had to cancel that card. Then our Visa company had put a hold in our Visa

card due to "suspicious activity" on it around Europe! We had our UK mobile phone but could not call internationally on it to get ahold of the Visa Company. We also had an American Express card but most places here do not accept American Express so we were stuck.

This dilemma kept us from actually entering the Roman Baths in Bath and almost kept us from getting our car out of the car park. We did finally solve it by going to a bank and calling our Visa Company from there so we could take the hold off and get $$$ from the ATM!

Standing outside the Roman Baths because they didn't accept American Express

The Roman Baths we would have seen if they had taken American Express.

So putting Bath (which was actually a very pleasant town) behind us we moved on towards Wales. We drove across the Severn Bridge over the Bristol Channel. This was an impressive drive crossing the lower part of the channel which opens to the Celtic Sea. Really, really beautiful!

The Severn Bridge crossing to Wales

We enjoyed Cardiff. Its castle and huge Football stadium were impressive. We also

ate at McDonald's for the shear goal of saying we have eaten at McDonald's in every country we have visited this Summer. I recognize how sad this is but there are very few fast food places. I don't know that we will ever need McDonald's again.

Cardiff Castle

Along the drive home I enjoyed the English countryside I love so much.

Totally Tennis

2008-07-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

The kids have been taking tennis at a local club here, Totally Tennis.

They have an excellent kid's program and we have really enjoyed our Tuesday afternoons at the courts watching their skills progress.

Lucy has been designated ball girl. She runs the courts during practice picking up balls and re-filling the baskets. We've seen her skills progress as well:) She can't wait to get started with lessons next Summer.

Today was their last day of tennis as summer holiday is beginning and we're leaving before the regular schedule starts up again.
These are Sadie and McKay's fantastic coaches James and Andrew.

Ciao Bella!

2008-07-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

ROME

FLORENCE

Our final "big" trip before returning home was to Italia.

We toured Rome and Florence for five days and our travel companions were Abe's brother Roger, his wife Allie and daughter Marissa.

The Italian architecture and art are truly impressive. We were in awe of the art of Michelangelo, Da Vinci and so many others as well as the beauty of the buildings and the gelato...WOW! We picked that up twice a day.

There were Vespas, smart cars and Motorcycles everywhere because there is no where to park.

We really enjoyed the markets filled with leather handbags, wallets and jackets and the silk scarfs and ties.

We were however, not enjoying the filth. Why is it none of the money brought in from tourism seems to go to cleaning the streets? I have never seen so much dirt and grafitti.

Also, you know how in American culture if you are caught staring at someone you immediately look away and act like you are doing something important? The Italians take another approach and don't look away. In fact they stand about a foot in front of you and stare to their heart's content. I think we were quite the novelty with our four children as we saw very few Italian children at all.

We stayed in convents in both cities. The nuns were very nice and the place was clean and it was a good way to get a place near the heart of town for a good price (in Rome we were 200 Meters from St. Peter's) but, we had uncomfortable beds and our room in Florence was a little creepy with a very bloody picture of Christ's feet on the cross, creeky doors leading down a corridor to the bathroom. We also had five single beds and twenty foot ceilings with paintings covering them. McKay asked one afternoon when he was getting tired, "Can we go back to our "Sisteen Chapel" now?"

Happy Birthday Baby!

2008-07-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

She is officially four years old folks!

Lucy you are... Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Darling, Exciting, Funny, Gorgeous, Happy, Innocent, Joking, Kissable, Loveable, Marvelous, Nice, Optimistic, Perfect, Queen, Righteous, Sweet, Talkative, Unbelievable, Vivacious, Willing, X-actly the right size, Youngest, Zed:)

You make us smile. You are truly a "light" in our family and we love you so much. Hope you had a fun Birthday in Florence, Rome and London!

Happy Birthday!

Mom, Dad, Zach, Sadie and McKay

Magleby Moments

2008-07-09T02:57:00.000-07:00

Yay...more friends from home!

Hans and Traci Magleby spent a couple of days with us over last weekend. We spent all day Saturday in London visiting Covent Garden, Portabello Market (where we had giant pea's and yummy crepes again), China Town for dinner and wrapped up the evening enjoying Jersey Boy's. Sunday, they came to church with us and in the afternoon we had some ward members over and ate and watched the amazing Wimbledon final together on T.V.

It was so much fun having you guys here and introducing you to our English friends.

We love that you took a couple of days off of your 15th Anniversary celebration to spend some time with us. Thanks and have fun in Vermont and New York!

Independence Day

2008-07-09T02:17:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Independence from England IN England was a fun experience. Our cute ward asked me to help plan a July 4th party for the ward.

We had a BBQ complete with potato salad, corn-on-the-cob and Root Beer floats. The Root Beer floats were not great as the Brits just don't do Root Beer well. We found an English brand called Carters and it is NOT real Root Beer; but, oh well...it's the thought that counts, right?

We tried to teach the gang how to play baseball. This was hilarious as they have never played it. They only know baseball from movies and try to mimic what they have seen. They play a game called rounders and they have cricket, both of which are similar but not exactly the same.

The firework laws are very different here and we were able to get a lot of big ones...the kind that are illegal in Utah. We were about half-way through our box when a shirtless, big guy with shows up yelling that we have to stop. He was a little drunk, and a little crazy I think, but we stopped in the end. Turns out he was a gypsy that lives near the church and has given them trouble before.

The highlight of the night was our sister-in-law Allie losing our car keys and the entire ward searching the premises for them. They were searching drains and bushes and garbage sacks, anywhere you could imagine a set of keys disappearing. It was incredible what they were willing to do for us. In the end we didn't find the keys and hitched rides home with other members. I am happy to report the keys were found last night (July 8th) while Abe was at Young Men's. Roger found them in the decoration box in the Relief Society closet.

In the end my favorite holiday turned out to be great...even in the country we defeated.

Happy 4th everyone!

Queue up!

2008-06-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

Someone pinch us! Did we really just spend a day at Wimbledon?

What a fantastic day. The sun was shining when we queued up in Wimbledon Park. The wait went on for over two and a half hours but it was well worth the prize.

We spent our first hour watching a couple of matches on courts 18 and 19 near Henman Hill. The courts were so stunning...perfectly level and so green.

We noticed another queue and having enjoyed the first one so thoroughly we joined in. Turns out this one was for resale tickets to the show courts. We spent several hours taking turns holding our place in line and taking in matches around the grounds before we purchased tickets to court one for only 5 POUNDS a piece!

A funny thing happened during our last half hour of the queue...a lady showed up in line that we had not noticed before. We figured she was with the man in front of us. After ten minutes of watching them not interact at all I decided to ask the man if she was with him. He said he hadn't seen her before. I asked the people behind us if they had seen her and they answered no as well. They brought it up with her and she swore she had been there. Funny in the four hours of waiting and conversation we hadn't noticed her bright red polka dot dress! Anyway she tried to hold her ground against the people behind us but an official finally came and told her he would not sell her a ticket even if she did wait it out. It was quite the comedy!

Turned out the tickets we purchased were awesome. Two of them on the 3rd row behind the players chairs. We could have almost spit on them...not that we would have:)

We watched Andy Roddick's 1st round match against Schwank and Jelena Jankovich's 1st round match. They were both so unbelievable. We tried to take it all in as best we could.

The kids were so good for the long day. I think they really enjoyed the experience almost as much as Abe and I did.

We loved it...it is so fun to be right here while it is going on and the BBC coverage is amazing. We can see any match on the first five courts at any given time. So we miss nothing.

Gadfield Elm

2008-06-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

Friday night, I headed North with the Stake Relief Society to Gadfield Elm, where the oldest chapel owned by the church is located. In 1840, at Gadfield Elm and nearby Benbow Farm, Wilford Woodruff, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and others baptized hundreds of people within just a few months. Abe's ancestor, Ann Green, was one of those converts so the place held special meaning to me.

The chapel and land were sold off by the early British converts for their journey to Zion. The place fell into ruin. In the Nineties the land was placed on the market and some local church members regained possession of it and restored it to its original condition at great personal sacrifice- then gave it to the church. The chapel was dedicated in 2004 by President Hinckley.

We stayed in the campground adjacent to the chapel. I was kept completely entertained by the energetic and hilarious English women. They sang, danced, laughed and told stories until the wee hours of morning. We finally headed to our tent for more giggles until, finally, the tent began to get lighter and lighter We heard the birds beginning to chirp and knew we should probably doze off. I really love the sisters here and admire their kinship with one another.

We returned home Saturday afternoon to see another baptism. Colin Puddephat, a sweet gentleman we have come to know and love was baptized by Abe. His wife Paula will be baptized soon. I also learned that Vivian, a Chinese woman, has committed to baptism. I am so thrilled for her. She has a strong testimony already. I have been on two visits with the Sister Missionaries and it has been amazing to see the gospel change her. I love being able to go.

A neat thing about Vivian. When the Sister's committed her to live the covenants of baptism they asked what she thought. She bowed her head. Sat for a moment. Then said sincerely "I will keep my promise." It was an incredible moment to witness.

Sadie, Sadie Little Lady

2008-06-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Sadie girl!

Has it really been nine years since we

brought home this little bundle in our arms?

Here's to lots of laughs,

lots of hugs and kisses

and lots of great memories from your birthday here in England.

We love your smile,

love the tasty treats you make for us

(including the omelets this morning),

love to watch you make friends so easily

and love having you around to make us happy.

We love you sweetheart.

Between Heaven and Earth

2008-06-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

Our fantastic adventure this past week was a trip to the Alps.

We spent Tuesday through Sunday in a little town in the Berner Oberland of Switzerland called Wengen. It sits on a beautiful cliff overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley and is only accessible by train or foot. We rented a chalet that was just finished being built last Fall. It was perfect for our kids to have space to move around and be loud ...which they are quite good at:)

We purchased a mountain train pass and traveled as much of the area as we could. We took a mix of trains and gondolas to the top of the Jungfraujoch (Highest peak in Europe), Grindlewald, Murren, Mannlichen, Lauterbrunnen, etc.

We also took a day to go back to Meiringen, where I lived the summer of 1995 as an intern through BYU. I kept trying to use my German to impress my kids; but, I am afraid I have forgotten a lot. Of course, when I did use it, they were very impressed but had no idea how many mistakes I was making.

We woke up Saturday morning to the sound of massive cow bells ringing through the valley. Herds and herds of cows were being led through town and past our chalet to the high fields to graze for summer. We also loved picking wildflowers, hiking to a waterfall, eating fresh Swiss chocolate and bread, and playing chess on the giant chess boards.

EuroCup 2008, the European football championships, is going on in and around Switzerland. The boys got Swiss jerseys and cheered on the National team. We spent a few hours on the last day in Bern where some of the games were being played and it was crowded with crazy fans. Our favorite was a guy who entered the fan plaza with a big red Swiss hat with cow horns coming out of it and a huge cowbell strapped around him with his face painted with a Swiss flag. He was cheering something at the top of his lungs and had a laugh that was contagious. We loved it!

Later that day we took a train to Zollikofen, a little town out of the city, to the Swiss Temple. The kids ran around the grounds for a while in the rain before we boarded a train for a two-hour train ride back to Zurich and our flight home to London.

The Boy Who Lived

2008-06-04T04:37:00.000-07:00

In our search to find activities to fill up our evenings here as a family (especially this week with Abe gone on business to Dubai) we have started reading "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" as is it known here in the UK.

The kids have really enjoyed having me read it to them...we get more of the jokes and proper English vernacular than before and picture many of the places she writes of now we have spent three months here. They are also big enough to enjoy it now. Zach was just a baby when this was first printed.

We took a trip to platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station. There was actually a line of people to take pictures at this historic site:)

I am enjoying discovering this story all over again as it has been a long time since we first heard of Harry Potter, "The Boy Who Lived."

Called to Serve

2008-06-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have brought some really neat missionary experiences for us. A week ago we had the sister missionaries and Stan Plosa (the same man we took to the temple grounds a few weeks back) to our home for a discussion.

Sister Petersen and Sister Eyre were introducing the Law of Tithing to Stan and we were able to share our own testimonies of tithing. It was a sweet experience sharing a basic principle of our beliefs with him.

The sisters also told Abe that a wonderful English couple, Collin and Paula Puddyfat have made a commitment to baptism and have asked Abe to baptize them. They will be baptized in a few weeks.

Yesterday I accompanied the sisters and two investigators, Stan and another man named Terry, to a baptism in Aldershot, a town 30 minutes away outside our stake boundaries. The man being baptized will be in the Farnborough ward in our stake, but Farnborough does not yet have their own building and meets in a school for church. Stan and Terry are both considering baptism and were interested in knowing what to expect on their baptism day.

The missionaries are required to bring a member of the ward along with them on all visits. This is a fairly new rule put in place just last fall. The sisters say that they have seen it be very effective in integrating new members into the ward and helping build relationships with local members.

I really enjoyed going along with them. It was an opportunity to look at baptism from a new perspective and to feel the joy of missionary work. The gospel is true, I know it and I am thankful for it.

Kew Gardens

2008-06-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

We had heard the Kew Gardens (The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew) are beautiful and a "must see" and as we had a sunny day yesterday, we decided to check them out.

To be honest, we were a bit disappointed with them. It was very hard to park and so spread out we didn't see as much as we probably could.

We did however climb the steps to the top of "Tree Walk", a new exhibit opened just this month. It was built along the treetops and made us a little weak in the knees as you could see through the walkway to the ground below. When arriving at the top, McKay said "this is freaking me out!"

We also walked past the Great Pagoda, a Japanese pagoda built back in 1762 and the kids spent a lot of time wrestling on the grass in front of it while Abe kept trying to get pictures of the airplanes flying overhead headed for Heathrow. He wanted to get a good picture of an airplane with the Pagoda. Never really succeeded I'm afraid.

We had been to the National Botanical Gardens in Ireland in April and really enjoyed all of the different plants and flowers it had, I was a little less impressed here...but perhaps we were a little late in the season and a little too tired to get around to everything. I am sure Mark Magleby, our local garden expert will be disappointed in our Kew Experience, he'll have to come back with us sometime and share his knowledge with us.

Beach Day

2008-05-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics from a fun trip to the beach last week.

The kids, my mom and I packed up and headed south to Bournemouth.

It is about and hour away on the southern coast of England.

We didn't expect it to be such a nice beach nor such a warm day and we really enjoyed our afternoon soaking in the sun.

I am sure we will visit this beach several times this Summer!

Oui, Oui Paris!

2008-05-13T03:19:00.000-07:00

We've seen London we've seen France....

This past week we boarded the Eurostar and rode to Paris for five beautiful, and HOT days!

(We figured out why the French have a reputation for BO- it is because of the heat, cramming into crowded trains and lots of walking through dirty Metro stations :) The reputation is real by the way....amazing.

The Eurostar, on the other hand, was awesome. It was a smooth, quick, 2-hour ride from London to the heart of Paris. Lots better than the train to Dover, Hover-craft across the channel to France, and then another train to Paris like I did as a kid.

Bamma joined us for this trip!

We were able to experience just about everything we had hoped
without feeling like we had to rush everywhere to cram it all in.

The Eiffel Tower was a favorite for everyone.

It's hard to fit everyone in and the whole tower too!

A benefit of traveling with young children is being able to see a variety of public restrooms around the city. We especially enjoyed one at the Orly airport guarded by a very gruff looking lady we named "Tanya the Toilet Troll". Tanya wanted coins and she would not let us in no matter how we begged, even with our kids dancing in circles after an hour of searching for a restroom.

Another favorite potty experience was here at the top of the Eiffel Tower, where another Toilet Troll waved Lucy and me into the Men's restroom - we came out of the stall minutes later to find the urinals lined with very surprised looking men! Maybe she thought I was a guy? I WAS having a bad hair day as I forgot my shampoo, conditioner and hairspray.

We visited Notre-Dame at a perfect time of day for pictures.

Abe and I decided we want to come back to Paris on another anniversary and stay on the Champs-Elysees. The cafe's and shops are purely European living.

We stopped in a few shops and had some Ice Cream.
Abe bought me a new watch at the swatch store for our anniversary.

Our last afternoon in Paris we visited the Montmartre neighborhood. We loved it! A street performer was standing on the steps leading up to Sacre-Coure doing tricks with a soccer ball, we had the best chocolate/banana crepe I think I've ever had
and we found some great artwork to take home with us.

My favorite moments of the trip were riding to the top of the Eiffel Tower (even after waiting in line for over two hours), eating Quiche at the open air cafe by Notre-Dame, a quiet anniversary dinner with my sweetie, and walking the Montmartre area with its Cafe's, shops, artists and yummy chocolate-banana crepes.

We spent our 12th anniversary taking the train out to Versailles
and touring the palace and gardens.
It was very beautiful and very HOT!

Lucy and I tried sitting down on the grass and it felt like heaven.
About two minutes after sitting down we were asked to please stay off the grass!

The fountains still work and they did a whole production with music and the fountains.

Sunday we found the Paris branch of the church and attended meetings there in French.
It is always a treat to attend a ward in another language.

After church we went to the Louvre for a few hours.

I love these pictures of the kids looking out the windows of the Louvre.

We had to check out of our hotel early in the day
although our train back to London was not until evening.
We decided to leave our luggage in a locker at the train station.
Lucy climbed right in.

This was the kids game every time we were waiting for a train to come.
They would claim their space and see who guessed where the door would end up.

Looking out the back of the train

Happy 12th Anniversary!

2008-05-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

May 10th, 2008

A dozen years and 4 kids later...

better than a dozen kids and 4 years later!

Abraham Knell

Glory Days

2008-05-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

The Reading Stake had a "Sports Day" on Monday as it was a Bank Holiday. This is a tradition that has been going on in the stake for over twenty years. We met at the Palmer Park Sports Stadium in Reading in the pouring rain with no idea what to expect except that members from the ward seemed very interested in whether or not we could run.

Turns out it was a full on track meet, very competitive between the Reading, Oxford, Woodley, Bracknell, Farnborough and Basingstoke wards which included every track event except the javelin, pole vault and high jump.

Zach competed up with the 12 and 13 year olds and I competed for the 30-49 year olds. We each competed in the 100 M, 400 M, 800 M, and 1500 M as well as the 4X100 M relay and the long jump.

Each ward needed two racers per age group for every event and though I was excited to relive my track and field days it was exhausting to run so many races. We did make our ward proud as Zach brought in a first in the long jump, 3rd in the 1500M and 2nd in the relay and I brought in 5 first place finishes.

As the day progressed the sun arrived and the activities for the primary children, sack races, skipping races, sprints and 3-legged races began. Sadie and McKay really enjoyed themselves but Lucy couldn't take the pressure when we lined her up to run the 25 M race for the 3-5 year olds she burst into tears and was disqualified.

Abe offered to help when we got there and they made him the official for the long jump. He ended up stuck there all day, but was a good sport about it.

Overall we all came home sunburned and feeling proud.

Wish I had more pics but I was running much of the time:)

About Town

2008-04-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

Visiting London is always fun and we are finding new things to love every time we go in.
While the Dials rode London Eye we played on the playground nearby along the river and got some great shots with London Eye behind.

Along the walkway that lines the Thames river.

Westminster Abbey

The new things we got to this week were Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery with its amazingly inspiring works of art including Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Monet, Manet, Renoir and many more. Some of my very favorites and we really loved it.
Sadie and McKay found the art intriguing and asked lots of questions about it.

Brandon and Kristi took Tyler and Zach to see Wicked.
Abe and I decided not to go again as I've seen it twice this year and Abe once in LA.
We are looking forward however, to going to the theater soon when Scott and Kari come.

Saturday we had a babysitter come early in the afternoon and Abe and I headed back to London to meet Brandon and Kristi for a nice night out.

Here they are at Covent Garden.

We found a delicious Indian restaurant near Covent Garden where we ate.
We also watched some of the street performers as we wandered.

We browsed through Harrods enjoying the myriad of displays. Outside Harrods this Audi R7 was driving past and the guys actually ran a block to catch up and get a good look at it.
The guy driving it was so arrogant.
He saw the guys checking his car out and actually flexed his arm muscles...So lame!

We walked Hyde Park and past Wellington Arch
and then headed back towards Waterloo and the train home.
On the way we took a short stop to see the almost surreal view
of Parliament and Big Ben lit up at night.

The day before our trip into London while Abe was working, I drove the Dials to Wimbledon. We enjoyed touring the grounds and the Lawn Tennis Museum.
Can't wait to get back in June for the real deal.

Dialed In

2008-04-25T01:30:00.001-07:00

Yay, our first visitors from home!!! Kristi Dial, Kristi Dial, as Lucy says every second. The Dial Family...well part of it at least, flew in on Tuesday and are staying for a week. We have LOVED having them here. They are such wonderful friends and bring so much happiness and news from home. They also brought the sunshine making the sightseeing more enjoyable with good weather.

Picking the Dials up at Heathrow we packed the day with visits to Oxford, Blenheim Castle, the Cotswolds and Stratford-Upon-Avon, where we saw William Shakespeare's birth and burial places. We were trying to keep the Dials awake by cramming so much into the day.

The next day Windsor Castle was on the list to watch the changing of the guard but when we arrived the castle was closed for the day. We still are not sure why, probably a dignitary visiting. We saw no castle and no guard changing- oh well. I guess we should have checked ahead!

We licked our wounds and headed onto Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. Five minutes after arriving at the cathedral, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate. We spent twenty minutes on the lawn as three fire engines came with sirens blaring. They determined some dust from construction set off the alarm and we were able to head back inside. We were just glad it wasn't one of our group pulling the alarm. The cathedral was a first for all of us, and we enjoyed it. The tower is breathtaking and the cathedral holds the oldest working clock in the world and an original of the Magna Carta. This amazing document was handwritten beautifully on vellum in latin script.

The Dials are awesome and make everything fun! We have enjoyed the sites and talking til late. Zach is loving Tyler being here as well.

A new friend

2008-04-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Abe had the opportunity of accompanying the missionaries on a visit. They were meeting with a man named Stanislauf "Stan" Polsa. Stan is from Poland and has lived here in Basingstoke for 6 months. He is earning money and sending it back to his wife and three children in Poland.

The missionaries asked Abe if we could pick Stan up for church today as it was his first time and he has no car. He told Abe that he had waken up this morning feeling weighed down over his job situation and then remembered that he was going to church today. His mind was lighter and he was looking forward to it.

After the meetings we asked Stan how he enjoyed it. He said that he was there for three hours and yet it was so entertaining it went by very quickly.

We stopped at home quickly and made sandwiches and then took him to see the temple and explain about eternal families and the differences between the chapel we had met in earlier and the temple. Lucy really took to Stan as she does with almost anyone.

We are amazed at the work of these Sister Missionaries in our ward. Sister Peterson and Sister Eyre. They had about 8 investigators at church today with 3 committed for baptism and another 4 that have been baptized in the past month. They really have an awesome spirit about them and are doing the Lord's work. We have enjoyed getting to know them as well. Sister Eyre is from Salt Lake and is the youngest daughter of Richard and Linda Eyre she has been on her mission for three months now, and Sister Peterson is from Ogden and has been out a little over a year.

A couple of weeks ago they were over to our house for dinner and family night and shared one of their lessons with the kids. It was on communicating with Heavenly Father through prayer. The kids loved it and it really got them excited about missionary work. The kids even watched out the window as the Sisters knocked on our neighbors' doors and when a neighbor would let them in they would get all excited for them and ask if we thought they would get baptized:)

Shamrocks, Seasides and Starfish

2008-04-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

When Abe scheduled a meeting with a client in Dublin a couple of weeks ago we looked into taking everyone and making it a weekend trip. Thanks to Ryanair we were able to fly very cheaply the day AFTER dad. Mom was a little nervous but other than a half-hour delay the short flight went very well and we arrived at the Dublin airport to meet dad with no problems.
Dublin has a nice feel to it. We liked it except for the crazy streets. Thank goodness for GPS to get us around.

We spent all day Friday and Saturday covering as much
of the eastern part of Ireland as we could.
We visited Malahide Castle where we had a delicious breakfast in the cafe
inside the castle and took a guided tour.
This castle was owned and lived in by The Talbot family up until the 1970's.

After visiting the castle we drove on along the coast to the port-town of Howth where we took about a 2 mile hike along the cliffs and around the end of the peninsula.

These thorny bushes with the yellow flowers grow wild all over here are called gorse. They smell just like coconut and remind me of Summer.

Saturday we drove further up the coast and found a great park for the kids to play at.

When we had driven for a couple of hours we came across a golf course Abe about wept over, it was so breathtaking. We got out to take pictures and found a walkway that led down to a little private beach that we played at for a while and where Sadie found a starfish that we enjoyed handing around and then eventually sent back into the ocean. I've decided Sadie may be a marine biologist when she grows up, she loves the oceans and the animals in it.

The kids begged and begged to bring some of the rocks from the beach back with them to England. After enough begging we eventually caved in and let them take some only to have all the kids bags searched through security at the airport and the rocks confiscated. McKay was so crushed he cried all the way down to the gate. Later today we discovered a few they had overlooked so all is well.

When we arrived back in Dublin we decided to visit the National Botanical Gardens.
They were beautiful.

I'm dreaming of a white...April 6th?

2008-04-06T03:59:00.000-07:00

Didn't we move to England?

This is what we woke up to this morning along with loud thunder and lightening.

Abe is driving to Reading with the bishop this morning for Priesthood meeting. We are all supposed to return this afternoon to watch Saturday afternoon session tape delayed and then Sunday morning session live at 5pm our time. Frankly, I'm a little scared to get on the roads with the Brits who rarely see snow and NEVER get snow like this, especially in April.

Oxford Adventures

2008-04-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

Being seven hours ahead of Salt Lake, our first session of General Conference was not until 5 pm. Our stake center is in Reading, 20 miles north of us- so, as we would be driving a bit anyway, we decided to take in Oxford before conference.

It has started to be a running joke that the sun comes out whenever we're indoors but as soon as we get outside it clouds over. Truly it was sunny and beautiful on our drive, and literally, the moment we stepped out of the car, the wind picked up and the clouds came rolling in. Then, the second we got back to the car the sun started shining away again.

We enjoyed a short visit to Oxford. We popped into a couple of museums. One had a special exhibition on Gulliver's Travels- with a trail for the kids to follow along with Gulliver to explore inventions and to explore the small microscopic world. At the Bodleian Library there was an exhibit on John Milton with original pages of Paradise Lost and his Areopagitica. The blossoms have been coming out and they were so lovely against the backdrop of the stone architecture.

We left Oxford with what should have been enough time to get to Reading, but half-way there the road was closed by the police. We were sent off to discover a new way to Reading. We traveled through some quaint little villages with thatched-roofed cottages and beautiful bridges and streams, BUT we we had no clue where we were and luckily meandered back to the road headed to Reading. Sadly, we were 20 minutes late to conference and missed the sustaining of the First Presidency and calling of Elder Christofferson. But we did catch some of the end- including the calling of Sister Dalton. Oh well, we did get to see some of England we may never have visited right?

Fun with face paints

2008-04-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

One of the things we have absolutely loved about being here is how our kids have learned to entertain themselves. We have no cable hook-up so no T.V. shows only playstation or videos and up until yesterday had no internet at home so the kids have had to be creative in what they do together for fun.

The four of them have spent days pretending they were auditioning for American Idol and filming their performances, for a couple of days they set up an entire fashion design studio in the office with Lucy as their model, we've had competitions of who can make the best animal sounds (these are a riot by the way) and this particular afternoon Sadie was having a face-painting booth.

Happy Birthday Zach

2008-04-03T05:23:00.000-07:00

Our Zachie turned 11 yesterday. I can hardly believe he's this big. He wished to be back home with all his friends for his birthday but had to settle for a digital camera and a night on the town with dad.

Sadie wanted so badly to do something for him for his birthday. First she wanted to make brownies but we were out of eggs so she decided to make a smiley breakfast for him. He loved it!

Happy Birthday Zachers we love you buddy.

A Sunday Drive

2008-04-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday after church the weather was beautiful for the first time in weeks and we just couldn't stand staying indoors so we decided to take a drive to the London temple. The temple is in Surrey about 40 minutes from our house so we soaked in the sunlight and the kids tried to find animal shapes in the clouds as we drove.

The temple was small and beautiful, much like the Swiss temple I enjoyed while living in Meiringen. The grounds were covered with daffodils popping up at random all throughout the lawn. It was lovely.

After we finished at the temple we decided to go home the long way and drive along the coast from Brighton to Southampton. It took a couple of hours but we loved the little beach town of Brighton and running around on the beach a little and having a contest of who could find the most interesting shell on the beach. McKay won unanimously with a beautiful little shell that amazingly had not been smashed by the many rocks along the beach.

Later we passed Arundel Castle.

I personally loved this castle and not surprisingly as this is where the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table originated from.

Trains, Towers, Traitors and Troy

2008-03-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bank holiday here so Abe wasn't working and we decided to go into London again and see a few more things and to say hello to our friend Troy Holmberg who is in town for a conference at Oxford.

After spending lots of money on train tickets into London last time around we thought we would drive in a bit to where we could just get on the tube and take it the rest of the way in because the kids can all ride the tube for free and we would certainly save money this way. So we drove to Wimbledon and parked at the train station and took the tube in which took twice as long and actually with the cost of gas and the fact that the van we bought is a major gas guzzler I don't think we saved any money at all and just made the journey longer. I was glad to see Wimbledon though and hope to get back there to see the Lawn Tennis Museum and of course some matches come the middle of June.

We decided to visit the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We spent about three hours touring the towers, traitors gate, and exploring the armory and seeing the crown jewels.

I was young the last time I was there and I think they have added some things since. When you go into the Jewel House they have video of Queen Elizabeth's coronation and other videos about each of the jewels. It was really neat and it brought things to life for the kids.

After our time at the Tower we headed for the British Museum to meet Troy. After about fifteen minutes in the museum they started turning out lights and shutting things up and said the museum was closing in a few minutes. We were so sad that we got there so late and that it closed at five o'clock. So we didn't even get to see the mummies or the "Lindow Bog Man" or any of the fun things for the kids. The only really good thing we did see in time was the Rosetta Stone and that was cool. After being kicked out of the Museum and then talking outside with Troy for an hour or so we headed to China Town to find some dinner. We didn't know which place to pick and opted for the one that had the best looking buffet. The food however did not taste as good as it looked and we left very disappointed with Mr. Wu's Restaurant- it left us feeling a bit queazy, I'm sorry to say.

Carrow Road

2008-03-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

We experienced our first true professional football game Saturday. Norwich Canaries vs Cholchester (the oldest town in the UK) Eagles and it was an awesome experience!

We tried to join in with the fans and purchased our green and yellow Canary garb including a very nice jester hat for McKay. Sadly he had to hand his lovely hat over to Zach before the match because we we were divided into three seats in the home section and three in the away section and Zach took the jester hat and sat with my cousin Ruth's husband Rich and his Dad who are actually from Norwich and avid fans and Abe, McKay and I headed anonymously to the away section.

The energy in the stadium (Carrow Road) was tangible, especially because of our placement between the away fans and the home fans. McKay hardly moved the entire first half of the match because he was so overwhelmed. He did try to join in on one of the chants until I realized what he was saying and informed him that we don't say those words! The only thing the entire crowd actually agreed on was their hatred of "the scum of Ipswich" their common rival.

Norwich is affectionately called the "YO-YO football club" because they keep jumping up and down between the premier league and the championship league but they shined Saturday (along with the sun for a few minutes) with a win of 5-1. Of course those who are in the know wouldn't say we have attended a proper football game yet but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Modern Architecture

2008-03-25T13:06:00.001-07:00

The drive to Stonehenge is really only thirty minutes from our house, but we of course headed down the wrong road and took a detour through Salisbury and Old Sarum passing some pig farms along the way. When we first saw them we thought the pigs were cows they were so enormous and there were hundreds of them.

When we finally made it to Stonehenge we were fascinated with the story and history. I had seen pictures before but never really knew all that went into it. These stones are not native to England they were brought here from Wales and other areas around 3000 B.C. and all the research is still conflicting as to why exactly.

We listened to an audio tour and walked around for a bit and took in the beauty of the English countryside. We decided to purchase an "English Heritage" card that allows entrance into many of the castles and other landmarks around England and Scotland.

The nice thing about being here in March is that there are very few tourists and we can generally walk into every site we go to. The down side however and the reason there are no tourists is that it is FREEZING! This weather is crazy. It goes from raining to sunny to snow flurries within an hour and the wind chills you to the bone. We can't wait for it to warm up:)

"Up in Town" and Windsor

2008-03-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

First of all the drive to Windsor from our house is beautiful. It winds through tree canopied streets past the Ascot Downs Racecourse and is breathtaking. We love everything about this fantastic castle including the views, Waterloo Hall, and the State Apartments. The kids were hoping to find the queen at home, but her colors were not flying. They told us she usually spends Easter at Windsor so she'll be there in a couple of weeks. Sadie enjoyed the gardens most, McKay the guards that marched around and the cannon, Lucy liked the fact that princesses lived there and wondered when she could meet the queen and Zach just like everything about it.

We needed to take a train ride so we headed to London. I don't think McKay moved once the whole trip, he was entranced with the whole experience. We arrived at Waterloo station and walked down along the Thames enjoying the street performers and freezing. It is NOT warm here yet but we are promised it will be beautiful by Easter. We decide to go up in London Eye (a huge ferris wheel overlooking the city) and loved it! We could see Parliament and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and everything else all the way out to Wembley Stadium. Brilliant! (to use our new favorite word)

Then we head to Westminster Abbey, take a ride on a double-decker bus through the West End and visit Covent Garden.

You're checking how many bags?

2008-03-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

It wasn't exactly easy but we made it across the Atlantic with loads of luggage and several children.

The kids actually were very good throughout the trip except for a near loss of a toe in a people mover and a melt down by Lucy at the Cincinnati airport that was quickly cured by a toy offered from the Chick-filet clerk. Lucy took to hitching rides on the rolling carry-ons and brought out several smiling looks from passers by.

The long flight across the ocean was quite empty so we were all able to stretch out over several seats and sleep somewhat comfortably, more so for the kiddies than adults.

Upon arrival at Gatwick we tried to wait patiently through passport control and being sent to get stamps at the Health desk and then back to passport control again. After an half hour or so we made it through to gather our bags onto three trolleys with Zach trying to control one, McKay trying to heave the Golf clubs, and Lucy continuing to hitch rides. Not our finest hour to say the least!

England Here we come!

2008-02-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

Well it's official... we've purchased the airline tickets!

I can't believe we're leaving in a week.

Here is the scoop on our upcoming adventure...

We're flying to London Monday, March 3rd. We will be picked up by Mark Dallimore (UK country manager Abe hired last month) and another hired car service to get our masses and the mountain of suitcases we are taking with us to Basingstoke where we will live.

After two houses falling through we are almost nailed down on a house that we are excited about. We have made the decision on renting it from pictures sent from Mark so we hope it is a cute as it looks. We do love the location as it is near Abe's office, the LDS meetinghouse and the Tennis Club:) We also love that it has plenty of bedrooms so lots of you can come visit!

We have tickets to return on August 18th (the first day of school) but we don't know for sure if that is when we'll come back at this point. We may stay through the end of August.

Anyway, that is the scoop so far... so watch for posts starting next week.

We love you all and please keep in touch we would love to hear from you!

For those of you who are interested in seeing where Basingstoke is on the map, here is a link to google maps.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Basingstoke,+england&ie=UTF8&ll=51.68618,-0.315857&spn=1.191969,3.114624&z=9&om=0