My Favorite Christmas Smell

I love this stuff!  The counter top cleaner and dish soap make my kitchen smell heavenly!  And they actually clean really good too.  Now the house smells ready for Christmas as well:)

Early Gift

This is just about the cutest Christmas toy I have seen.  Tyler has been playing "Santa's Workshop" all afternoon.  The sleigh is loaded with presents that you can open and inside are toys!  I am not sure if it is available to buy anymore and that is too bad.  Tyler has had fun delivering presents to his toys, but only the good ones.  And then he is quick to add that "Jesus loves everyone, even the bad guys."  Thanks to our friends for giving us such a fun toy!

Love Notes

This morning I was packing lunches for my boys and I finished by writing them a little "love note."  And that is just a little note telling them that I love them and to have a great day.  As I wrote this morning and then signed it "Mom" I was overwhelmed that I was actually their mom.  All growing up, I looked forward to being a mom and now that I am, I love it.  It seems so easy to become side-tracked with friends, self-improvement, work, social things, etc. that sometimes I actually forget that I am a Mom to four boys.  It is the most important thing I do, so I guess I had better work on it!

We Are Ready!

Our stockings are hung

The tree is already

Tyler got to see Santa

We are ready for Christmas!  It is my FAVORITE time of year!

Life Is Good

My friend gave me this wonderful idea, we have been writing down things that we are grateful for on post-it notes and then sticking them on the back door.  It has been so much fun to see what the kids come up with and even better to see them every time we go through the door.  Tyler has even done a great job at writing.  I think we may have to make this a tradition!  We have so much to be grateful for.  

Piano Recital

Does anyone else have this problem?  My boys obviously don't know how to smile.  Mostly just the twins, but with Ethan's missing teeth, he is just as goofy.  This is just painful.  

Saturday my boys played in their piano recital.  It was sooo much fun to watch them.  All of the kids who participated are friends and neighbors and nearly all were boys!  We live in such a great neighborhood.  I am grateful for all of the wonderful friends and neighbors that we are surrounded by.  

After viewing the first picture, this was our second try, not sure if it was much better.

 Afterwards, we were treated to yummy food and the boys couldn't keep their hands off of the piano.  Love this picture!  

The Big 5

Tyler turned 5 years old and has been entertaining himself with his new toys ever since.  The only downside is that he doesn't get to start kindergarten today.  It will be here before we know it.  He is such a joy to have in our family.  He is full of love that helps bring us all together.  This afternoon he told me he would miss me when I get old.  I guess I just won't be the same.  I will miss him a lot when he actually does start kindergarten!

Random Stuff Continues

Whenever I work out I sweat buckets!  And sometimes I just sweat when I am not working out.  It drives me crazy and can even be a little embarrassing, but I have learned to live with it.  A couple of weeks ago, I purchased some of that prescription strength deodorant that you can pick up at the grocery store.  It has changed my life.  I still sweat buckets when I work out, but I no longer get sweaty at night or during the day.  It is good stuff! 

Today we are going to a football game.  Tyler has been a trooper going to all of his brother's soccer games and football games.  Lucky for him he can usually find a sibling of another player, a park, or a dog to entertain himself.  Today's game will be in a stadium.  This morning we were discussing the possibility of going, the older boys are all excited and want to go.  Tyler's response was, "Does it have a park?"  Poor little guy.  Just not that much fun for him.

My window displays some vinyl letters that read, No Soliciting.  Why doesn't anybody notice this?  Maybe I need to make the letters florescent or add a little vinyl family to go with it.  How do you keep solicitors away?  I did get my carpet cleaned by the Kirby people while I made dinner.  It was great multi-tasking:)  I informed them before they entered that I would not be buying anything, but they cleaned anyways. 

Time For A New Post...(warning, this is very random)

First of all I will start with something post-worthy.  And a picture.  Last weekend, my mom, sister, sister in laws, and grandma went to Park City.  We only spent one night (you might think otherwise because of the picture) and it was great fun.  My mom loves to make cards and tags and lots of crafty things.  So we set up in the living room and went to work making all kinds of Christmas tags, listening to Andre Bocelli's new Christmas CD (the one from Costco and it is really good).  Since we were celebrating my mom's birthday, we did something she loves, it was fun and I think we all loved it too:)  The next morning we got up and headed for the outlets.  It was definitely a good shopping trip with too many things to buy and not enough time and money.  

Eventually we had to come home.  I went straight the twins' play-off game.  They lost.  But I never would have predicted their reaction, tears, tears, and more tears that lasted a LONG time.  The tears were not so much for the loss as the official end of the football season.  I NEVER would have guessed they would have loved it so much.  But they did.  And we will be doing again next year, with 3 boys.  I dread the practices.....

So the flu is all over the place.  And so is talk about the vaccinations.  Who picks which strand of flu that they will vaccinate against?  Is is like a lottery and they just pick a strand out of a hat?  I have written in the past about my mixed feelings regarding flu shots in general, and they haven't changed.  But add to the mess the H1N1 business and I think it is crazy!  In the beginning I heard the H1N1 was so dangerous because of it's mutation.  If that is the case, how do you vaccinate for it?  I never know what to believe anymore.  This year I will not be in line for shots.  I think I am about the only person.  So tell me why, why do you get flu shots?  I really want to know.

Early this week the kids had a late night and invited over a few friends.  Kirk was running to the store, so I asked him to pick up some popcorn and licorice.  I should have been more specific.  What I ended up with was a box of snack size popcorn packages and cherry flavored red vines that tasted like cough syrup.  I didn't even know they made such a thing!  I was beside myself that he could mess up a request that I thought was so simple.  We laughed about it, he told me at least I would have something to blog about.  I wasn't planning on writing about it, but I decided to include it because despite him being unable to buy groceries, he is an amazing husband.  Last night he let me buy a little something for our house that I am so excited about!  Maybe when it arrives I will tell you about it.  I can't wait, I hope it lives up to my expectations.

The kids have been off track and so have I.  I forget about everything when they are home with me all day.  I forgot preschool, piano lessons, play groups, all kinds of things.  I am really looking forward to them going back, because I need to get back on track, I am driving myself crazy....

Halloween 2009

Shopping With Myself and St. Paul's

This is St. Paul's cathedral. I actually took this picture on the day I visited the Tate Modern Museum.  It is an amazing cathedral.  Inside they have stairs that lead all the way to the top where you can get out and see the city.  You can walk around the base of the dome and then walk up even higher to the top of the dome.  It was a lot of stairs and a little bit scary on top for me, but it was beautiful and totally worth it.  I would do it again. 

The view from inside the dome.

The front of the building.

Kirk at the top.  

After we toured the cathedral, Kirk had to leave for some meetings so I spent the second half of the day shopping.  There wasn't enough time to see all the stores.  I had so much fun.  Unfortunately Kirk took the camera with him, so I didn't get any pictures.  Some of my favorites were wondering through Esprit and United Colors of Benneton.  They are pretty much extinct over here, but not over there, it was fun.  The Anthropology store over there was heavenly.  I have never been in a prettier one.  Zara was another store I quite liked.  I don't think they have them here, at least not that I know of, but it reminded me a little of Banana Republic.  H & M was on every corner and I had a blast shopping there, wish we had those in Utah.  The stores just went on and on and there were people everywhere!  London had started hanging all of their street Christmas decorations, I bet it is beautiful lit up.  Most of the shopping I did was on Oxford and Regent Street.  Later that night we had some fish and chips and as we walked back to catch the tube we found a little Belgium waffle place on Oxford.  We got one for dessert and it was amazing!  I had heard about "real" Belgium Waffles and everything I heard is true.  They are soooo yummy!  I have got to figure out how to make them.  It was by far the best thing I ate all week!  It was a great way to end the trip.  The next morning we woke up early and made our way to the airport.  Kirk had to go to Canada on his way home, so we were on separate flights.  I just used frequent flyer miles which left me with a 5 hour lay-over in Houston.  But is was the best lay-over I have ever had.  One of my best friends from college picked me up and we got to have dinner and hang out for a little while.  I owe a special thanks to her and her husband for making that possible.  It was a fun time! 

And that is the end of my London trip.  Of course it would be a dream to go back.  There are so many things I didn't get to see, just not enough time.  And an even bigger dream would be to take my kids with me.  That would be the best!

Last Sunday

Last Sunday in London, we went to the Hyde Park Ward for church and it was a neat experience.  I love visiting different wards.  It is amazing how different the world is and how the church is the same where ever you go.  The people were so friendly and we were greeted by several members.  It was a sweet ward and a very diverse ward, which wasn't too surprising.  After being in London for just a few hours, you get an idea for just how diverse the city itself really is.  There were lots of Americans and lots of missionaries.  It was fast and testimony meeting, so it was neat to hear from a variety of members.

The church building is next door and right across the street from several museums, so we slipped back into the V & A and had lunch in their cafeteria.  I thought is was so pretty and such a fun idea to have a cafeteria/deli in a museum.

Then we headed over to the London Tower.  It is an old fortress.  At one time it even had a mote.  It had an amazing display of armour from King Henry VIII and it is also where they keep the crown jewels, which were out of this world!  I can't believe England still has a monarchy and carries out coronation ceremonies and crowns royalties.  It is both fascinating and weird.

The London Bridge in the background, just outside of the Tower of London.

We did a tour of the tower with a Beefeater (that is the tour guy dressed is red and blue and no one knows why they are called Beefeaters, but they are).  It is an elite status to be a Beefeater, this guy actually lives in the tower.

The view as we entered from the outside.

The view as we came up from the tube.

We did get a chance to ride a double decker bus, too.  It was a lot of fun, they are all over in London.

He was guarding the building that housed the crown jewels.  I expected to see this type of guard while we were at Buckingham Palace, but we didn't.  Are they normally there, anyone know? 

An Early Morning Request

This morning we slept in and were lazy, the kids are off track and Kirk has been taking it easy after having been gone so much. We made a big breakfast and when we started cleaning up, Kirk asked me for a favor, "sure," I replied, "what do you want?" He asked me to go play some Les Miserables on the piano. So I did. One of the highlights of our trip to London was seeing Les Miserables. When I go back, I will see as many plays as I can. There are so many to choose from and they are way more affordable than seeing them here. And way better! Les Mis was incredible. I have never really been into theater, in fact in high school I probably made fun of the people who were, but now I really appreciate it. When Fantine sang "I Dreamed a Dream", it made me cry. The actress/singer was amazing and she just took you in, like you were her, it was beautiful. It was an experience of our trip that we both keep talking about. 

The theater where we saw Les Miserables

London is huge and parts, like near the theaters, it is CROWDED all the time.  We saw these people dressed up in what looked like some kind of Adams Family wandering through the streets.  I don't know if they were advertising something or what, but there is definitely some good people watching to be done in London.  

Before the play, we went and saw West Minster Abbey, which is right across the street from Big Ben and the Parliment Building.  This was the day we got rain, but it was a pretty light rain and didn't last very long.

West Minster Abbey was really neat and just as much as a morgue as a church.  There are lots of people who have tombs there, or are buried there, like Sir Issac Newton.

Big Ben, with the London Eye in the background

Big Ben up close

A part of the Parliment Building, a lot of it had scaffolding

P.S.  I am sure you are probably sick of me talking about London, but these posts are mostly just for me to document a little of my trip

Continuing Education

I have never liked history.  It has always bored me for the most part, but when I was in London, I was really wishing I knew some history.  On Friday Kirk had meetings, so I set out to visit a few museums.  First was the V & A or the Victoria and Albert Museum.  It was my favorite!  In fact on Sunday I took Kirk back.  It is a wonderful museum with lots of interesting things and also focuses on fashion and design, loved it!  I also visited the Tate Modern Art Museum and enjoyed that as well.  These photos are from the V & A and show the exterior that used to greet visitors, it now has a different exterior, but once inside you can find this courtyard and see this beautiful building.  The words above the front door really struck me.  It says "Better it is to get wisdom than gold."  I just love that.  And it really inspired me to continue my education, especially a humanities, design, or history class.  I want to look into BYU independent study.  I wonder what the process is...

Later that night we met up with one of my friends from college.  She is living in London and working.  We talked to her about what brought her to London and she spoke about her love of being in a city.  I can totally relate.  I love the energy, the life, and the opportunities a large city can provide.  That day in particular I kept thinking of my kids and how much I wanted them to see and experience what I had been doing.  There are no museums, theater, or culture where I live that can even compare to what London has to offer.  Anyway, it was so much fun to see a dear friend clear across the country.  She loves London as well, how could you not?  And while I envy the experience she is having and I do love London, I am perfectly content raising my family and living where I do.  I just wish we had a money tree and I could take my family there for the experience.   

I Finally Get "It"

Last Wednesday I left for London.  I traveled by myself since Kirk was already there.  So when I finally got there, it was 9 hours from Houston, it was about 8:00 am Thursday morning.  I had the hotel address and was really hoping they would let me in early.  My phone didn't work and Kirk was up in Scotland, so I was still on my own.  I impress myself at my ability to do things all alone.  I sometimes forget that I am a capable adult as well as a stay at home mom.  It was super easy to find my way around.  I was surprised at how easy it was to navigate myself through that huge city.  I love the "tube" or as we might call it, the subway.  After checking into the hotel, I slept for a couple of hours and then Kirk showed up.  We went to Buckingham Palace and Green Park.  I can't say enough how much I love London.  I have heard others say this or dream of going there, or talk incessantly about it, and I never really got it, but now I do.  It is amazing and I can't wait to go back.  And I must say, we had the most lovely weather for the whole time, we only got rain on Saturday and the day we left.

The Green Park

Buckingham Palace

(The Queen was not there, no flag)

Inside Green Park

We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe which was near the Palace and has amazing nachos!

And of course Kirk got a chocolate shake, they are his absolute favorite!

Choices, choices, and the nachos were definitely a good choice.  This Hard Rock Cafe was also the very first one, I didn't know that, maybe you did...