Happy Birthday To You!

In late June Ady turned 4 years old!  It was a much anticipated birthday for her.  She spoke of it to everyone she knew months before it arrived- and had some people convinced that it was going to be a life-changing day for her.  The slightest mention of any birthday or the number 4 on TV or in random conversation would get her SO excited and would send her straight to the topic of her own birthday.  She would say things like, "Guess whose birthday is coming up? ... This girl's!" and then point to herself. "And guess how old I'm going to be? ...4! (mouth wide open in happy astonishment)"

Since we live so close, we thought it might be fun to let Ady pick out one of her birthday gifts from Hamley's Toy Store, one of the most famous toy stores in the world.  For months, Ady had been telling people all she wanted for her birthday was a little pig.  We all shrugged our shoulders and thought she was just jabbering something to answer the question.  Who just wants a little pig?- and what does that mean, anyways?  We figured she had no idea what she was talking about.  In the meantime, we had all forgotten about this and went on with our lives.  We wandered around the five or so floors of Hamleys and Ady was not feeling want for anything.  [She is much like her dad!  They are both just so happy and content with what they have that they don't crave anything new (which is wonderful- except when you are trying to get them a gift!)]  After almost leaving with nothing, I led Ady over to a wall of animal figurines, thinking she might find some great peacock or ostrich or crazy animal to add to her collection.  And do you know what Ady found?  A little pink baby pig (the size of pen lid that cost only 2 pounds)!  It all came flooding back to us.  I guess she was serious about the pig!  Our trip to Hamley's was a success after all!  And Ady's wish for a pig was granted.  It was so adorable to me that she was not wanting any of the flashy, big, button-pushing, crazy expensive toys.  She just wanted her little pig and was beaming when we found one.

                      

The night before the big day, we decorated her bedroom while she was fast asleep.  The girl LOVES Dora the Explorer- so we created a gift hunting adventure for her.  She had fun following the map and discovering her hidden presents, Dora style.  Her favorite thing, though, was finding all the birthday signs that said her name on them throughout the flat, especially the one above the loo.

One of the things Ady was anticipating most about her birthday was bringing to life her self-created recipe of the infamous "Chocolate Milk Cake."  This included: 3 apples, 5 scoops of chocolate milk,    Stir.  Cherry on top.  It sounded more like chocolate apple soup to me, but I thought it would be fun for her to actually make it according to her recipe and see if it turned out to her standards.  So we had a go.  

That day at school, Ady's class was taking a field trip to Kentish Town City Farm (and I got to go along).  We had fun seeing the animals and learning all about them.  None of the photos turned out very good- but these 2 (below) show a glimpse.

After class, Ady and I headed to the store so she could pick out a special birthday cake and some ice cream.  She chose a cake with flowers on it and some strawberry/vanilla swirl ice cream.  That night after Tyler got home, we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and scarfed down some dessert.  It had been a very eventful day!

The party continued a few days later with some friends from school.  Ady and her closest friend, Ruruko, have their birthdays only about a week apart.  We all got together at our flat to frost and decorate birthday cupcakes.

Grandmas and Grandpas from both sides of the family made Ady's birthday extra special by sending some surprises to her in the mail.  What a lucky girl!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Ady!

God Bless America!

I am still catching up on the blog- but I am getting closer...  I now present early June... 

After 9 months away, we returned to Utah (and the sunshine!) the first week of June.  Our schedule was so jam-packed that, in the end, there was much left undone and many people we weren't able to see- but we had a great time with the time that we had.  If only we could have had 1 more week!  

It was surprising to me how easy it was to plug right back in and exist in Utah as if we had never left.  It felt so natural and familiar that it seemed like more of an odd dream to think that our life, home and our belongings were waiting for us thousands of miles away across the globe.  

One thing that was instantly different and noticeable about returning to Utah was the amount of space that each person/thing could enjoy.  So much room to breathe and move!  I literally sensed all the space available per person in multiple dimensions of life.  In London, every belonging is smaller, in general, and serves multiple purposes, personal space goes as far as the inner-most layer of your own skin, and everyone/thing is allowed much less space to exist.  It made me realize how much I truly miss space -and also how much I deeply appreciate the freedom and peace of mind that extra space provides.

Here is a quick run down of some of the things we did while in town:

* I took the final test for my class

* I got surgery done on my eyes- so I can now see without contacts!  Wahoo!  I was expecting to get Lasik, but found out that I have thin corneas, so the doctors recommended I get PRK, which takes much longer to recover from.  But I went forward with it anyway- and am very happy with the result.

  

* We caught our nephew Bryson's last baseball game of the season while enjoying some greatly missed Cafe Rio and visiting with family.

* Because most EVERYTHING is much cheaper in the U.S. than here, we had to get a ton of shopping and other things done.  A couple of products we have missed the most in jolly England are good quality floss and mouthwash- the stuff there is awful and expensive.  I now understand a little more why Brits have bad teeth.  We loaded up on clothing and shoes and other necessities.

* Ady got to play with her cousins!  Seeing her play with them made me have guilt that we live so far away.  She loved so much being one of the gang.  Thank you to Jen and my parents for letting Ady stay over with you.

* We celebrated Ady's 4th Birthday early with family

* Tyler spent a couple days visiting his friends and co-workers in the Salt Lake office.

* We spent time with family playing at Tracy Aviary, making sushi, playing at the bounce house, & going to Seven Peaks.

* We stopped in to see how our house in Stansbury was holding up, to meet the couple (and their dogs :( ) living there, and to check in with a few of our friends and neighbors.

* We took a drive over Guardsman's pass to get some much longed for time in the mountains and a breath of fresh air.  We couldn't go too far past the top though, because a front was moving in and the visibility through the low clouds got poor quickly.  It was awesome to watch the clouds dropping so quickly over the mountains and down into the meadow.  The temperature at the top was a chilly 30 degrees!  We weren't expecting that.  We took a quick jaunt from the car (in our shorts and flip flops) to get out into the clouds and go touch a patch of snow.

* We loved staying at the Baron's condo in Park City.  It was so beautiful and quiet up there.  A BIG BIG thank you to Clark and Joyce for your generosity with your condo and your vehicle!!!  We had some bad luck and timing though, because the vehicle sprung a major radiator fluid leak and had to be towed away, and we discovered a leak in the plumbing at the condo that subsequently required some major (and probably expensive) repairs.  Oh dear!  I think we brought some bad luck with us.  We felt awful to leave Clark and Joyce with these problems.  So in addition to a big thank you, we want to send you a big sorry as well.  And a big sorry to my grandma and grandpa Ed who we could not go visit the night of the car trouble.

* Without a vehicle, we discovered how great the Park City bus system is!  We were genuinely impressed!  Park City really is a great place.  We had a nice time there.

*  We enjoyed visiting Swaner Nature Preserve in Park City.  We had signed up to attend an Owl Prowl hike where we would see and hear the owls there, but they misquoted the time and location, so we couldn't take a bus to the new location and we also had to leave early to get Ady to bed- so maybe we'll try another time.  Sigh...

* We had a great time eating some mexican food and chatting with friends.

It was so nice to see our family and friends again and we miss you all.  The end of our trip came way too quickly and we found it a bit difficult to leave.  Living in London has been an amazing learning and growing process for us.  It has helped us learn a lot about ourselves and things we want in our lives.  Going back to Utah after being away for 9 months brought clarity and ideas for our next phase in life.

Here are a few photos from our trip.  (We were still without a camera for much of the time- so thank you to those who shared photos with us).

The TRUE Story of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

We were so excited that we would be in London for 2012.  It was the year of both the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.  Queen Elizabeth celebrated 60 years on the throne this year- and a party unlike any other was in order... including a flotilla carrying thousands of people down the Thames!  This was something we needed to see.   ...Or so we thought.

Daily Show: The Queen Who Stares at Boats

Click the link above and play the video if you want to see how the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Flotilla really went down.  

Despite the BBC reporters' forced enthusiasm, trying to convince TV audiences that this was "the most amazing thing we have all ever seen!," the flotilla was a complete flop!  The weather was largely to blame, I imagine.  It was a cold and gray day with pouring rain.  I don't think the Queen was too amused either.  She did not even break a smile once.  And to add to it, her husband, Prince Phillip, was hospitalized that night.

We were just a bit embarrassed that we postponed our trip to Utah for this "amazing" event.


The day before the official flotilla, we took a walk along the Thames to see some of the boats.

This was what our Diamond Jubilee party looked like- strawberry shortcake and packing.