How to Act When Pregnant

Amy is a very astute observer at home. If this is good advice then I would say Jenny is well on her way to a healthy pregnancy.

Half Term

The kids had a week off of school for the half term break, so we decided to take a trip to Italy. We took an evening flight to Pisa and got to our hotel in nearby Livorno very late at night. We woke up the next morning to warm sunshine and blue skies. Blake asked us why Italy is so bright (I guess it's been overcast in England for the past few weeks, but we didn't really notice until we got to Italy and were overwhelmed with all of the sunlight). In Pisa we saw the Leaning Tower, the Duomo and Baptistry, and the Camposanto.
Amy and I even climbed the winding stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I took this picture from the top. The baptistry is the round building in the back, the Duomo is the big cathedral in the front, and the Camposanto is off to the right.

I knew Amy had a fear of heights, but it wasn't until we were on the top of the Leaning Tower that I learned that Amy has a paralyzing, tear inducing fear of heights. We stayed up just long enough for me to get a couple pictures and to wait for everyone that was still coming up the stairs, and then we headed back down. She was a very good sport and recovered very quickly.
On our second day we drove to the Tuscan hill town Volterra. We just strolled around, enjoyed the views, and had a little picnic lunch.

Cade was very uncomfortable with Blake climbing up on the wall.
On day three we caught a train to the Cinque Terre, which is a series of 5 villages perched on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We hiked the trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola where we stopped for lunch. The kids had the world's most delicious spagetti (I don't even like spagetti and it was delicious), Matt had pizza and I had ravioli with pesto.


Then we ate gellato as we hiked to the next village- Corniglia. By the time we got there it was getting late, so we just caught the train to the last village, Monterosso, where we spent an hour playing at the beach. When the kids were nice and wet, we caught the train back to our car.
We spent day 4 in Florence. We saw the stunning Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore, and the baptistry with it's Gate of Paradise.

Then we walked to the Piazza della Signoria where there is a copy of Michelangelo's David. Later in the day we went to the Galleria dell' Accademia to see the real thing.

This is my favorite picture from our trip - Matt, Cade, and Florence.

In Florence we ate pizza, gellato, and this is Blake trying some cannoli.
Day 5 we went back to Florence and started with a visit to the Boboli Gardens which had wonderful views of the city. We happened to be enjoying the views when all of a sudden it was 12 noon and bells from all over the city started chiming the hour.
Then we crossed the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge built back in the 1300's.

After a big lunch of pizza and calzones, we left Florence and headed up into the mountians to find the Ponte Della Maddalena, also known as Ponte del Diavolo (Devil's Bridge). Legend has it the devil had a hand in making this bridge. This may have been my favorite part of the trip. I was very uncomfortable watching my kids walk across it because the top is very high, but it was a beautiful bridge set in some stunning scenery. We spent some time letting the kids throw rocks into the river before crossing back over the bridge and heading home.

On our way home we just happened to be in the right place at the right time and got this awesome shot of Pisa.

My morning sickness was fairly manageable on the first 5 days of our trip, but on day 6 I was miserable nauseous and couldn't do anything. We took the kids to the beach and I sat in the car trying not to move or throw-up. Then I spent the rest of the day on the couch in our cabin while Matt took the kids bowling on the American base. I feel very lucky that I felt well enough to do stuff for the first 5 days because ever since then I have felt pretty horrible. Early the next morning we caught our flight home. We had a great time on our trip, but it was so nice to be home where everyone speaks English.

Happy Halloween

We spent Halloween morning carving pumpkins:

This year Amy was Hermione, Blake was Darth Vadar, Matt was a creepy guy in a kilt, I felt too lousy to dress up, and Cade was supposed to be Luke Skywalker but ended up refusing to wear a costume.

We went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat party which was a lot of fun, and then we went Trick-or-Treating on the American base. Everyone seemed to overlook the fact that Cade wasn't dressed up, because he still came home with a ton of candy.

Happy Halloween!

Best Souvenir Ever

Check out the awesome souvenir we are bringing home from England:

Baby #4 is due to arrive in early June. We are very excited, and yes, I am very sick.

Fall

Just some pictures from the walk we took today. It was such a pretty, foggy fall day.

I absolutely hated playing soccer as a kid. It just wasn't my sport. I thought it was very boring and my mom said I spent a lot of time turning cartwheels in the middle of the field during games. So when Matt wanted to sign the kids up for soccer this fall, and the kids seemed genuinely excited about it, I just rolled my eyes and figured if I let them play they would find out for themselves how lame soccer is.
But they absolutely love it! Amy loves to run and run up and down the field, and Blake has a lot of natural skill and confidence. And for the first time in my life I can actually sit and watch a soccer match without suffering from agonizing boredom. So, much to my surprise, we will be doing soccer again next year.

What we did today:

Today Matt played (American) football and Blake had a soccer game.

Later we picked out pumpkins from a nearby nursery

(Blake's was very heavy)

Then we went to the Holiday Bazaar at RAF Molesworth

In the evening we had some friends over and we decorated Halloween cookies

Then all of the kids ran around outside playing with glow sticks in the chilly autumn air while the grown-ups hung out and talked. It was a pretty great day.

Dovedale

Today we drove up to the Peak District and went for a hike at Dovedale, which is an extra pretty ravine area of the Dove River. The kids were unusually good and happy and we had a very nice time, especially when we got to cross the river on stepping stones. We finished our hike with ice cream cones. This is Matt making sure the stroller got safely across the river.

Peak District traffic jam

Before heading home we stopped at Arbor Low, aka "Stonehenge of the North" which was built around 2000bc. It is a big stone circle, but all of the stones are lying down. It is in the middle of a sheep field and to get to it we had to walk through someone's farm. The countryside was beautiful and the boys enjoyed chasing sheep, but we all agreed this is nowhere as cool as the real Stonehenge.

Cade vs. Black Ears

Yesterday morning Cadertot came into our room at about 7 AM and crawled into bed with us. He and I were laying there chatting when Black Ears came in and meowed and meowed. I assumed it was because she was hungry because I usually feed her at 5:30 when I get up so I ignored her. We kept chatting while she kept meowing until we heard her scratching the floor. Jen yelled "your cat needs to go to the bathroom!" so I jumped out of bed but it was too late. The poor kitty just needed to go outside and I ignored her until it was too late. She wee'd on the floor. I wasn't too upset because she really did try to warn me and since we have wood floors it wasn't too hard to clean up.

Later that night, I got Cade out of the tub, wrapped him in a towel, and went to get Blake out. When I came back in his room, Cade announced he had wee'd on the floor. He has a tile floor, but unfortunately he was standing on his big rug at the time. I think I was more upset that Cade wee'd on the floor than the cat because Cade didn't even try to warn me. And he should know better. Besides, I always assume he unloads in the tub anyway and wouldn't have to go afterwards. Also, now we have to go on base and wash the rug because it won't fit in our washer at home. I probably like Cade more than I like the cat, but this instance didn't help his case.

Oxford

Matt didn't have to work on Monday, so after we dropped the older two kids off at school, Matt, Cade, and I went to Oxford. This is the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, and we climbed winding stone stairs up to the 13th century tower to see the views of Oxford. (for some reason I only took one picture of the church and it turned out awful).
The round building on the left is the Radcliffe Camera, which is closed to the public and I think it is used as a reading room for the library. On the left is All Souls College.
The walkway around the outside of the tower was only wide enough for one person, so it was a bit awkward when people had to squeeze by. Usually I don't have a problem with heights, and we've climbed old church towers before, but having my three year old up on the tower made me very uncomfortable, even though he was perfectly safe.
We had lunch outside the church, with the Radcliffe Camera behind us.

The last of the birthdays

Birthday season came to a close with Cade's 3rd birthday (We all have our bdays within a 3 month period). For months before hand, Cade had been talking about how he wanted to go bowling for his birthday, so after Amy and Blake got home from school that is what we did. Cade is still at the age where if we don't help give the ball an extra push it takes about 10 minutes for it to roll all the way down to the pins.

Can you tell we are big Mr. Men fans? Cade got some new books and a Luke Skywalker costume for his birthday. He loves Star Wars (the old school movies IV, V, and VI) and gets mad when I try to dress him in trousers that don't have a belt loop on them because that is where he hangs his light saber.

We absolutely adore Cade. He is sweet, spunky, mischievous, and has been called "cheeky" by more than one local. He is an excellent traveler and usually about 45 minutes after we've left on a trip he will finally think to ask "where are we going?"

Amy's Big Day

Our little Amy Lou had a big birthday last month when she turned eight. First we celebrated with a Harry Potter-themed family party. Jen found some "potions" we could make with the kids that they enjoyed. Then we ate Amy's choice for dessert: Harry Potter cheesecake. This was mysteriously like a normal cheesecake but with Harry Potter figures on top.Doesn't she look like Hermione with that hair?


For those of you who may not be members of our church, eight is the age we are baptized. Amy was lucky that her Grandma Chris was visiting and got to be there for her big day. I have since gotten a haircut.

We are very proud of our little girl. She is so smart and clever and such an inquisitive little girl. She is very brave and we are happy for the decisions she has made so far and hope she will continue to do so. Big hugs and smooches for Amy.

I'm Tired

This past week we had visitors! My mom and my sister Andi flew over for their first trip to England and Andi had a huge list of things she wanted to see. We went to Harrogate where my dad served a mission for the Mormon church 30 some years ago, visited the Lake District, saw the Preston temple, toured Canterbury cathedral and walked along the cliffs of Dover. We spent a day in Bath, visited a castle just across the border in Wales, saw Stonehenge, the Cotswolds, and did some serious shopping in Cambridge. We even spent a day in London where we rode double decker buses and saw Les Miserable at Queen's Theatre.
This morning they caught a train to Paris and I sat at home in an exhausted stupor. I had such a fun week, and I loved being able to do some shopping with girls.

I have very few pictures of our week because my sister is an awesome photographer and I figured I'd just get pictures from her later. But here is one I took of my mom in Harrogate.

Greatest...Invention...Ever

So I got an itouch last week. It is awesome. Unfortunately I also have a wife and kids (see previous two and a half years of posts for proof) and a job so I don't get to spend 24 hours a day on it. Otherwise I would. I have found myself sitting in front of the computer tapping out web addresses on the little mini keyboard because it is more fun than doing it on the real thing. The best part about it is that last night I found myself going to bed at 12:30 AM and I realized the BYU game had started. I was able to quickly download an app allowing me to stream ksl 1160 and dock the itouch in my player in the kitchen so I could listen to the game on the radio while I cleaned. Halftime came at 2 AM and I figured I had better go to bed. So I downloaded an ESPN app that allowed me to follow the game tracker where they show you the progress of everyplay. I sat in bed for 15 minutes watching the start of the 2nd half but finally turned it off. I was awakened by Black Ears at 5:45 this morning and quickly turned on the itouch to see the final score. Needless to say I couldn't go back to sleep right away and had to read the recap--all from the comfort of my nice warm bed. I love it and now I only wish I had gone for a 16GB instead of the 8 GB model.

First Day of School....Finally

Well Amy and Blake finally started their school today. After a fitful week of making sure we got the right uniforms and finally getting confirmation that they were even registered at the school, we got them out the door this morning. If reading Harry Potter has taught me anything, today was a typical first day of British school. It always seems to be pouring rain and windy and dark while Harry is on the Hogwarts Express and that is how today began. We queued up outside the school with the other freezing children and while we were waiting a group of girls came over and introduced themselves to Amy and found they were in the same class. They seemed much bigger than her because due to her late (or is it early?) birthday she was put in Year 4 which is equivalent to 3rd grade. So essentially she was forced to skip a grade. She seemed to like the first day though. Blake was a little less sure of himself, but he went right in when they rang the bell. Blake says he isn't going back tomorrow, but Amy is pretty excited.

Also, being the great dad I am I totally embarassed Amy twice in the 10 minutes we sat there. There is a little wooded area behind their school and I asked the girls who came over if that was the Forbidden Forest and if Hagrid's hut was over there. They just stared. Then they asked what Amy's nickname was since they all had nicknames for each other. I said I call her Amy Lou, which is true. As soon as it was coming out of my mouth I realized a Loo has a whole different meaning over here. I quickly blurted out that we don't mean a toilet because in America it doesn't mean toilet and then I just shut up for the rest of the time.