In Utah!!

Well, we arrived in Utah today. For some odd reason it is hotter here than it was in Tucson - by about 6 degrees. May not seem all that much but the jump from 95 to 101 is a bit much. We're having a good time visiting all of our friends and family and shopping. Seriously I have a shopping addiction and I think I need to stay away from Old Navy. Shopping in person is way better than online and my kid's closets will definitely benefit, while my checking account won't.

I've had all sorts of TT that I've come up with but of course I missed Thursday altogether - I'll have to start keeping track for fun things to do when I have time.

Okay, have to get back to reading Harry Potter - my brother-in-law just finished it and I have 4 chapters left so I have to make sure and get it finished before he let's something slip. Normally I would have had the book read already but I can't read for very long in the car so it's basically one chapter at a time with breaks in between. Ugh I can hardly stand it!

I'm Off

We are headed to the states in the morning and I'll be there a month. Starting our trip with a few days in Tucson then we have a week up in Idaho Falls. After that I'll be spending 2 weeks in California soaking up the sun and shopping. I'll try to blog when I can. Don't forget about me because I will be back for good in a month!

Sunday Story

Today I was taking one of the little girls from my daughters Primary/sunday school class to the bathroom. On the way back I asked what she was learning in class. This is what I got:

Lindy: "We are learning that we need to be like Jesus"
Me: "Oh that's a great thing to learn, it's good to try to be like Jesus."
Lindy: "But I don't WANT to be like Jesus!"
Me: "You don't? Well why don't you want to be like Jesus?"
Lindy: "Because I just want to be Lindy!"


I think if more of us thought that way - trying to be the best Me that I can be it would pretty much take care of the rest.

Good-byes

I hate good-byes. Okay well I guess most people do. Of course there are those moments, those people, those places that you are just ready to leave behind. The ones you can't WAIT to pass. But for the most part good-byes are not fun. Our good friends left this morning to go back to the states. We came here together from Tucson, our husbands work for the same company. Here we are 3 years later and they are going home and we are still here. As much as there were things about them that drove us crazy - they are the "whispering" couple that like to tell secrets at dinner - we are going to miss them.

They were the kind of friends that you could call at 7:00pm and they would be over to play games by 7:30 until all hours of the night. We shopped together, we travelled together, we sent our children to the same school and we saved eachother seats at all those wonderful school functions.

Now I am alone. Sure, I have a few other friends but we all know the difference between the "drop everything to be there friends" and the ones that you have to call and plan things a week out.

Oh, and to top it off they had the nerve to take my BABYSITTER with them too!! Now I'm going to have to go back to calling and arranging sitters instead of them dropping their 3 kids off here and us going out. Oh wait - guess we won't be going out so no need for the sitter now right?

Thursday Thirteen #7

#7 Thirteen Things About Me and My Hubby Me and My Hubby I was tagged by Are We There Yet to do a meme with 8 things about me and my hubby. Since that was Wednesday and today is Thursday I have decided to turn that meme into a TT. 1. I met my husband when I was 18 – we were married almost 1 year later. I was 19 and he was 22. We’ve been married for 14 ½ year.s 2. We met at the College Formerly Known as Ricks, in Rexburg Idaho. (It is now known as BYU-Idaho. 3. We actually met in our bowling class. Wait, correct that, ADVANCED bowling class. I thought he was a nerd, he stalked me, we became friends and the rest is history. 4. We got married in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple. This is where all of his family were married and my parents as well. It was December and it snowed so much we almost didn’t make it to our honeymoon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They basically closed the roads behind us and we were snowed in for the entire 3 days we were in Jackson 5. When we got married we had no money, no jobs, nothing. We opened our first bank account with the money we received as wedding gifts and the bank teller felt so bad she invited us to dinner. We didn’t go. 6. I am originally from Orange County, California – The hubs is from Idaho Falls Idaho. 7. We have lived in Bountiful Utah, Logan Utah, Tucson Arizona and North Yorkshire England. 8. I have a degree in English with an emphasis in secondary education. The hubby has a double Bachelors in Math and Electrical Engineering with a masters in Engineering. All obtained at Utah State University. 9. My husband took 1 year off of school so I could finish and during that time we also bought our first house. 10. After I graduated I taught 7th grade English and Utah History. Three years later hubby graduated and I retired to become a stay at home mom. 11. We had our first child after I graduated from college. We had our last one after HE had graduated. (We only have 3) 12. The year our daughter was born my husband spent more time in England than he did in Arizona. That is why we decided to move the family here. 13. Hubby has one of those jobs that if he told you what he does he would have to kill you. LOL Okay not really kill you. I have a vague idea what he does – but let me refresh your memory that I have a degree in English – he has a degree in Math/Engineering – even if I KNEW what he did I still wouldn’t understand it.

Service

When I was 16 we did a road show at church. This means that we put a play together and performed it along with all of the other wards/church youth groups. Our theme that year was "service is an attitude". Well I just want to let you know that today "service is a bad attitude!"

We have a family at church that is moving. Heck lots of people move here. It is what is done. They come and live for 3 years more or less and then they move (this family has been here 9). I am self sufficient. I managed to leave Tucson and clean my own house. I managed to move here to England and unpacked my own house. Why are other people unable to do this? Perhaps this explains why I don't have that many friends at church? I have been told it is because I am not "needy" enough so that's why people don't reach out. What does that mean? Okay anyway.

I get a phone call today asking if I can come "clean" Sister M's house. I know for a fact she has had people in and out of her house for the last 3 weeks. Seriously, we went over there on a Sunday afternoon to set up a canopy for her things to sit under outside that were not to be packed by the movers and she had us moving couches and tables all over the house - on a Sunday afternoon! So, the call comes today and I tell her that I have 3 children home from school and I am not available. Oh, but could I just come and pick up a bunch of food to take to church to give away. Fine, will do. Service with an attitude. Then the compassionate service lady at church calls me twice - second time on accident - to see if I'm available to help out Sister M. I tell her that I already am. This woman calls me at least 2x a month to provide service for someone. I always say yes - so of course I'm on the good call list. If she only knew that today that was "service with an attitude".


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Update - I left my house at 1pm with 3 kids in my car. I arrived at her house and loaded up my car and took things to the apartment they are staying at for the next week. Then went to the apartment they stayed at last night and loaded my car and took it to the other apartment. Then back to her house. Did I mention the 3 kids in my car? I suggest letting them play in the backyard - husband of the house turns up his nose at that and my kids run up and down the sidewalk with my car blasting Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back. I have never seen so much stuff in a house that needs to be EMPTY for inspection by 9am tomorrow morning. My car is loaded up once again with things that this time I am to take to the church and leave in a pile somewhere for other people to pick through. It is 4pm. I came home - I am not fighting traffic to get to the church right now. And you know what they say about one mans trash is another man's treasure? Let's all just admit that sometimes trash is just trash!!

The Moaning Meme

I've been tagged!
Oooh a meme! I've been tagged by Captain Poopy/Christie with a meme originating from The Freelance Cynic and this one's about my groanings. Affectionately called:

The Moaning Meme

4 things that should go into room 101 and be removed from the face of the earth.

-Confetti that people put in birthday cards that then is scattered around my house.
-Packing peanuts- not for environmental reasons but for the same reasons as above.
-Big Brother – it is like a national obsession here. How many hours a day do we need to watch people sleep and use the toilet?
-Runescape!!! My husband is addicted and it needs to stop.

3 things people do that make you want to shake them violently.

-Overtaking(passing) me on that blind curve on the way to dh’s work.
-Saying they “hate” kids and won’t teach a Sunday school(primary) class for me.
-Ignoring their children who are coloring on the carpet because they are too deeply involved with having a conversation to notice the destruction their child is causing.

2 things you find yourself moaning about.
-The rain – it has seriously rained here everyday for WAY too many days and we never even see rainbows this year.
-The kid across the street who CALLS instead of just coming over and knocking on the door. If the voicemail picks up he breaths heavy as if I don’t have caller ID.

1 thing the above answers tell you about yourself.
-I apparently would like people to parent their children better.

RULES:
Link to the original meme at freelancecynic.com so people know what it's all about!
Be as honest as possible, This is about letting people get to know the real you!
Try not to insult anyone - unless they really deserve it or are very, very ugly!
Post these rules at the end of every meme!

Today I'm tagging:
Moving Mama
Inga
Are We There Yet
And anyone else who would like to play! (Amazed - not sure if you do meme's or if a moaning one would fit with your blog so I won't force tag ya. lol)

Have fun!

Wow - I'm Honored!

I am a pretty new blogger and I'm trying my best to get around and read new blogs and make some connections. Sometimes I feel a bit odd wondering if I should comment when it's a blog with hardly any comments or noticing it's a blog with several people who are friends IRL. But hey this is sort of like my normal life. Standing on the outside wondering if I should join the circle. Guess what - I did join the circle and NOW I have been rewarded. Moving Mama has awarded me with a
Most people use the pink badge but I am going to use the one that Moving Mama used since she is the one that tagged me!

Normally you tag 5 other rockin' girl bloggers but I went through my list and so far it looks as if a lot of people have been tagged. Moving Mama released me from that contract anyways - knowing the badge has already been around a bit. So I will tag:

AlisonWonderland - Because she was one of the first people I found and she inspires me to get back to reading more!

Ciara - when she DOES post she makes me laugh. Especially her latest story about her son's musical taste.

If I come across anymore I'll add them to the list.


If you want to see how all of this Rockin’ Girl Blogger thing started, click here.
If you want to see who put together this alternative Rockin’ Blogger badge, click here.

Brag About the Girl

Let me just tell you how excited I was when I opened up my baby girl's first end of year report card. There aren't any "grades" on it just comments about each subject and how social she is etc etc. What I was really proud of? Her chronological age is 5 years 4 months. Her literacy age is 6 years 8 months!! I finally have a reader and a good one! My boys struggled with school at the start (okay Jared still does) and most of that is my fault. Seriously whose idea was it to have boys in July and August and then send them to school immediately when they turned 5? Alright before I turn this into a rant or something as I normally do I'm just going to say - HOORAY JORDAN!!!

Yet Another Performance

It sure seems like a lot of my recent posts have been about my children and their drama productions. Jared is in drama club at school and he had a competition last night so we went to the theater and watched 4 plays. Jared's play was called The Happy Prince and the next group performed Daniel. I could go off right now about the school's drama teacher also being the director of the group that performed Daniel and how much more she puts in to that group but she's leaving the school so I'll leave it at that. The third group was a small group of 7 girls that did a fairly depressing play on school bullies.

The last one was called "A Real Happy Meal". It was an unbelievable bash of McDonald's performed by 9 and 10 year olds. They covered it all even the 12 year old girls in China making $5 a day to make your toy that you throw away the very next day. I think the best part was when they said "this box doesn't make you happy it gives you diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease!" I just don't think a junior drama competition is the place for some person to spout off on their hatred of McDonalds. LOL The funniest part was that Dh actually left the theater for the last act because he was hungry and WENT to McDonalds.

They also made a jab at American's and their adding of artificial sweeteners that cause cancer. LOL They put the DIE in diet coke ya know.

When we were leaving Jackson said it was all funny because it wasn't true. Ah what a child who lives in the age of television - can't tell fact from fiction - crap! I'll just go buy him a Happy Meal, that will solve it all.

Thursday Thirteen #6

#6 Thirteen Pubs Around Here I couldn't think of anything extremely interesting this week but came up with an idea while out at lunch with a friend. So, here is a list of 13 pubs around The Yorkshire Dales. 1. The Queen’s Head – our local pub. The pub you can walk in to and everyone knows your name. 2. The Royal Oak – best lunch menu out there and the home of the best sticky toffee pudding around! 3. The Shoulder of Mutton – went here just last week for a friend’s birthday. It was across the street from the next pub. 4. The Star and Garter – seriously what is that name all about? 5. The Old Station Inn – exactly what it says it is – an old train station. 6. The Squinting Cat – this is actually a kids play place – think crappy pub food with a ball pit. 7. The New Inn – these are all over the place. The best one we have found though is out in Appletreewick. They make a great Greek Burger and you can even watch the little lambs out in the pasture that will someday become a great Greek Burger. 8. The Black Sheep Brewery Pub – they have a pretty decent lunch menu and we even did the brewery tour once. Jordan absolutely hated the smell and let me tell you if you actually SAW how they made that beer it might make you think twice about drinking it. 9. The Craven Heifer – we drive by this one on the way to the airport – can’t help but love the name. 10. The Wellington – affectionately known as the Welly. 11. The George – my hubby was at the Queen’s Head once and they were discussing the best Sunday meal in all of Yorkshire – the owner of the Queen’s Head claims that they do the best meal. My dear hubby then asked “well is The George in Yorkshire?” 12. Guy Fawkes Arms – of the Gunpowder Plot fame. This little village of Scotton is one of the only ones that doesn’t celebrate Guy Fawkes night. 13. The Joiners Arms– From what I hear this is not a kid friendly establishment so I haven't been but we drive by it everyday on the way to school.

The Car Park

As I sit banging my head against my steering wheel I have to wonder how some people can be so self centered. We have this woman at school who acts as if she owns the car park. It is a simple process. You either park in the parking lot and walk your children up or if they are old enough you drop them at the roundabout. In the afternoon we all have to park and you either walk up to get your children or they walk down to you. I am always in the walking catergory because of Jordan. The boys are old enough to walk on their own, she is not.

Anyways, where the story begins, 2 weeks ago I went to a Mum's coffee morning with some of the mom's from Jordan's class. I enjoyed a nice hot chocolate and muffin and listened to the regular gossip and complaints. This took place at the local fitness club and somebody asked about the woman outside playing tennis - was she a mom from our school? And then the ranting began about how horrible she was, how inconsiderate and how she wouldn't talk to you if you weren't driving the right kind of car. I said "well I guess I'm out since I just drive a Toyota Picnic." While it is a Toyota we all need to admit any car with the name picnic in it can't be that posh. The main complaint on this woman is her behavior in the car park. She has no problem pulling in and blocking the entire driveway between the 2 carparks so she can chat with a friend. Hmmm, the rest of us would like to drop our children off or pick them up - could you MOVE.

You're wondering what more I could have to add to this post - it's boring enough already, yes I know. So, I see her in the carpark following her usual routine of blocking traffic and I glance at her black SUV. SUV's are very popular here, so if you think all of England is driving tiny little economy cars come to Yorkshire and you'll see how untrue this is. Back to HER SUV. The woman who someone said "wouldn't talk to you if you weren't driving the right car." I take a look at the shiney black car and then I start to giggle. It is a Hyundai! Fine if you drive one, I'm not REALLY knocking it - okay yes I am. It is a Hyundai. In a world of Land Rover's, BMW & Volvo SUV's, and a few Mercedes tossed in for good measure I have to laugh. The car is a Hyundai Tucson - trust me Tucson is not so glamorous as to have a car named after it. I'll stick with my Picnic and truly prove I'm not trying to be anything other than who I am.

Speech Day

Last Friday was speech day at the kid's school. What is speech day? Good question. LOL It is actually very similar to a graduation ceremony. They focus on the kids who are in Year 6 that are moving up to secondary schools next year. Since it is a small school every single year 6 child leaves the school with some sort of an award. They even can win a Cup/trophy but the funny thing is that they can only keep it for a year. Then the cup has to be engraved (at the winner's expense) with their information and sent back to school to be passed on to the next year's winner.

I almost didn't attend speech day this year. It's usually an hour and a half of speeches by the Board of Governors, the Head Mistress, and a guest speaker. I decided at the last minute to go and I'm glad I did. My Jackson got an award - and I actually had the camera to take a picture. What a good mom I am. He is in year 5 and he received the award for progress. There are 2 awards given to each year 3-6 class, achievement and progress. Achievement is rewarding the top student and progress is for most improved. Woohoo!

The picture is of Jackson receiving his award from Peter J Murray the guest speaker. If you click on the link you will see he is an author of children's books. Jackson has read a few of them so this was pretty cool. (We're inside a marquise that they have to rent because the school doesn't have a large enough room for all of the students and parents. They also use it for the school's summer pta ball but we chose not to attend since the price is 55pounds a person - my hubby and I are NOT spending $200 just to go to a dance with people who don't talk to us. LOL)

Oh - and of course our little American contingent sat together and at the end complained again that they hadn't provided us with the words to God Save the Queen. As tempted as we were to sing My Country Tis of Thee we resisted.

Starring Jackson as........

This week Jackson was in a musical at his school. Their class did a very short rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat where Jackson played Judah. He did try out for the part of Joseph but he isn't much of a singer and he needs to work on his stage presence. The part of Joseph actually went to a girl. I think they did a fantastic job. We were treated to 3 productions. All of year 5 did Joseph, one of the year 6 classes did a short bit of Grease. And let me tell you we were all pleased that Greased Lighting makes the chicks scream. It's still a bit weird to hear 11 year olds singing about getting friendly down in the sand. The last group of year 6's did a bit from The Boyfriend.
While the last 2 were good Joseph REALLY outdid them. Jackson's class year is full of girls with very nice voices. The year 6 girls are just average. I took a video with my digital camera but it just doesn't do any of it justice.

Had we figured out that our video camera wasn't working BEFORE the lights went out we could have taken a decent video. Lesson learned and next time we'll give it a test shot before the play begins.

A group of the teachers also performed in the middle. It was quite comical as they all came out dressed as nuns and sang My Favorite Things. Which of course include when the bell rings, our children go home, and a bottle of wine. LOL

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Saw this on another blog - hmm I think I have a spelling problem. Now if I could get my sentence structure back up. LOL

I Scored a 100%!

Thursday Thirteen #5

#5 Thirteen Things I Like About My Kid's School While I know it's the 100th Thursday 13 day I've just been way too busy this week to sit down at the computer and find 13 TT that I have really enjoyed. So - you're stuck with 13 Things I like about my kid's school. 1. Largest class has 14 students in it. 2. They have lots of play time. 3. During lunch they have a whole hour in which to eat, play, or join in a club - like choir, computers, or sports. 4. My son can take guitar lessons AT school. 5. My daughter was able to start school at 4. LOL 6. They learn all sorts of cool history. Ask my 7 year old about Romans and you'll get an ear full. 7. It is such a small school that every child knows everyone. 8. The grounds are beautiful. They have this gigantic tree called The Magic Tree that you can go inside and climb around. This is Jared inside the tree. 9. They perform in all sorts of plays/musicals/speeches and every child participates. 10. They take a class called Religious Studies and learn about other religions each term. While I'm sure sometimes it is on a biased slant I still think it is important that they are able to learn basics of other religions. 11. They wear uniforms and I don't have to buy very many clothes for outside of school. 12. They get a lot of scattered holiday time with Term breaks and 1/2 term breaks - makes for visiting other countries/sites around here easy. 13. And my number 13? They go to school from 8:45-4:00!!!

Purchase of the Day

I spent the day at Stoke-on-Trent - the English Pottery district. My big purchase of the day? 12 Spode Dessert plates. Total cost? $30!! Woohoo!

About Me meme

I'm off to the Teapottery today but thought I would post this meme I saw on another blog.

What zodiac sign are you? Aries


Do you regularly read a horoscope? No – but when I was about 10 I was obsessed with horoscopes.


If not, why not? I don’t have time and I don’t “believe” it like I did when I was 10.


Married or single? Married – 14 ½ years – yes since I was 19.

What do you like to do with your spare time? Things like this. LOL Also, reading, watching tv, hanging out with the family.

Is your life worse, better or about the same as you imagined it would be someday? Definitely not worse – sometimes it is just different than I had imagined but it’s all good.


Is your family larger or smaller than you expected? At one time I wanted 5 kids – hubby made me compromise with 3.

What do you collect? Thimbles from all the places I’ve been. I collect snow globes for Jordan. I also have a fairly large Disney Winnie the Pooh beanie collection.

What are three major turning points in your life? Graduating from college, getting married, having children.

What do you think your greatest talents are? I am a great teacher – wow that’s humble isn’t it. Let me clarify I am a great teacher for those that are 18 and under. Right now my specialty is Sunday School.

What do you think your greatest weaknesses are? I am sure that I don’t have any real friends here in England. I have convinced myself that I am not “church friend” material. I also get frustrated with my children a bit to easily.

What books have affected you the most? John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony – this was the first book that made me cry that actually brought reading to life for me. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby – I decided after I read this in 9th grade I was going to name my daughter Jordan and 15 years later I did. I also loved Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible and my list could go on and on. But there – one book from childhood, one from highschool and one I read as an adult – that should suffice.

Are you left- or right- brained? Right

What magazines do you subscribe to, if any? People Magazine and 2 church magazines – The Ensign and The Friend.

What’s playing on your C.D. player right now? Currently on my Ipod was Hannah Montana as I was taking the children to school. Yesterday I had it on shuffle and you name it it was there.

What are some of your accomplishment you’re most proud of? Graduating from college and teaching for 3 years. My oldest son is 10 but so far I can say that I’ve raised some pretty good kids.


What are some things you still want to accomplish? I am in a rut right now and I can’t actually think of what I would like to do. I enjoy staying at home with my children and I hope that I will be able to raise them all in a way that they make the correct choices as they grow up.

What kind of athletic activity do you like? I do not do anything athletic. I attempted skiing this past February in Germany. I made it through the 3 hour ski school class but that was enough for me. As far as my children – we encourage Jackson to play basketball – we are fair weathered sports fans and he is a good ball player. They all enjoyed skiing this last year as well so we will probably continue with that and I can get a lot of reading in during the week. Nothing like a ski lodge and a good book.

The Inlaws

I bet I could make an entire blog just to rant about my inlaws. Hmm now I wonder if there are blogs out there already devoted to this? Now that will give me something to do this afternoon while my scuba washes my kitchen floor.

Okay back to my topic/rant of the day. Saturday I was discussing with my husband the fact that we only have a few more weeks before our vacation to the states and that we need to plan a few things. My middle son will turn 8 on August 5th and in our church that means he will be baptized. We are choosing to do this at the inlaws because we were told since father in laws heart attack just a month ago he isn't up for a lot of travel. Fine we'll make this easier on them and do it there. There are arrangements that need to be made. We will have family from both sides coming and a few friends. This also means that we will need to feed these people afterwards. Can't really baptize your kid on a Sunday afternoon and then take everyone out to dinner. Well we COULD but probably not the first example we want to set in keeping those commandments like "keep the Sabbath Day Holy". Okay, so I decide that we should ask my sister in law if we can have a bbq or something at her home. My mother in law is a horrible cook as of late and the whole thing would stress her out and me out. Plus I've never done the dishes at her house and I am not going to start now - so I am NOT having a party at her house that I would have to clean up after.

So, we make these decisions and the hubby gets on the phone to make arrangements. He calls his parents several times, no answer. He calls his brother, no answer. His sister, NO ANSWER. Finally he tries his sister's cell phone. She answers and yes she knows where everyone is. Yes they are all together. And here comes the best part: they are at a family reunion celebrating hubby's grandmother's 90th birthday! HELLO! We didn't even have a clue. I know we are in England but don't you think this is something that you would mention? So Grandma is there with all 8 of her children, their spouses, their children from all over and nobody tells us a thing. The sick thing is that hubby turned down a free trip to Tucson last week. Had he known about this he would have taken the work trip and stayed 2 extra days and driven up to Salt Lake. The good thing is that he got to talk to his grandmother and wish her a happy birthday so we don't look totally worthless over here.

I married in to this family 14 1/2 years ago and I still can't figure them out. Actually I think I'm going to quit trying.