Of course, Henry and I couldn't just let that go...
Daddy stayed safely inside with the camera. :)
Thursday, 31 July 2014
Dancing in the Rain
We had a sudden, and very quick, burst of rain today. We were just getting ready to put dinner on the table, when Derek opened the front door to reveal pouring rain!
Of course, Henry and I couldn't just let that go...
Daddy stayed safely inside with the camera. :)
Of course, Henry and I couldn't just let that go...
Daddy stayed safely inside with the camera. :)
Sierra Redwood
In the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden, are quite a few plants from the United States. One of them, is Henry's favorite tree: a beautiful Sierra Redwood.
Its on the western side of the Garden, not far from the entrance. The branches extend all the way to the ground, and Henry loves scampering around the bottom and collecting the pine cones. He also loves to pick up the needles and dirt and bring them to me. I'll sit on the ground and he'll bring me handfuls of dirt and dried foliage over and over again. He's very giving that way.
We like to sit beneath the tree and talk, and I love to tell him about California where Grandpa Shaw lived. I tell him all about Grandpa's ranch--the horses, the cows, the goats. Riding on the tractor with Grandpa and helping Grandma clean the barn. I tell him about the special moments I had with Grandma and Grandpa when I went on the wagon trains with them, about the time I broke my arm, and about playing in the yard with my siblings.
This week, we went and played under the tree a few times, and I told him everything I could think of about Grandpa. It was hard, being gone when he passed away a few weeks ago. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to Skype with him a few days before he died, and even more grateful that he was able to meet Henry last June when we went to Scotty's graduation.
In a lot of ways, the great Sierra Redwood tree reminds me of Grandpa. Tall, strong, and firm. Unyielding in a lot of ways. The foliage is quite bristly, which reminded me of Grandpa's mustache. But the amazing thing we've discovered, is that the tree has a soft side. When you lean against it, putting your cheek against the bark, it feels just a little bit soft. Most importantly, the tree makes you feel like someone is watching out for you.
I always knew that Grandpa was there for me. Through thick, thin, and in between, he was there supporting us. Not a birthday or a Christmas went by without he and Grandma sending us a card. He made it to my plays, my graduation, a few of my concerts when he was in town. For a grandfather who lived so far away, he sure made it to a lot.
The thing Grandpa valued the most, was his family and friends. I know he didn't always show it in the way most people do, but I know that we were number one in his life.
He was strong man, who overcame so much. I'm so lucky to call him Grandpa.
Its on the western side of the Garden, not far from the entrance. The branches extend all the way to the ground, and Henry loves scampering around the bottom and collecting the pine cones. He also loves to pick up the needles and dirt and bring them to me. I'll sit on the ground and he'll bring me handfuls of dirt and dried foliage over and over again. He's very giving that way.
We like to sit beneath the tree and talk, and I love to tell him about California where Grandpa Shaw lived. I tell him all about Grandpa's ranch--the horses, the cows, the goats. Riding on the tractor with Grandpa and helping Grandma clean the barn. I tell him about the special moments I had with Grandma and Grandpa when I went on the wagon trains with them, about the time I broke my arm, and about playing in the yard with my siblings.
This week, we went and played under the tree a few times, and I told him everything I could think of about Grandpa. It was hard, being gone when he passed away a few weeks ago. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to Skype with him a few days before he died, and even more grateful that he was able to meet Henry last June when we went to Scotty's graduation.
In a lot of ways, the great Sierra Redwood tree reminds me of Grandpa. Tall, strong, and firm. Unyielding in a lot of ways. The foliage is quite bristly, which reminded me of Grandpa's mustache. But the amazing thing we've discovered, is that the tree has a soft side. When you lean against it, putting your cheek against the bark, it feels just a little bit soft. Most importantly, the tree makes you feel like someone is watching out for you.
I always knew that Grandpa was there for me. Through thick, thin, and in between, he was there supporting us. Not a birthday or a Christmas went by without he and Grandma sending us a card. He made it to my plays, my graduation, a few of my concerts when he was in town. For a grandfather who lived so far away, he sure made it to a lot.
The thing Grandpa valued the most, was his family and friends. I know he didn't always show it in the way most people do, but I know that we were number one in his life.
He was strong man, who overcame so much. I'm so lucky to call him Grandpa.
Corn on the Cob
Sometimes, it's tough to live on an island. A lot of the food we love to eat has to be imported. Generally, the packaging explains where our food comes from. Our grapes come from Egypt, our cantaloupe from the Philippines. You know, places like that. We didn't realize how incredibly spoiled we were to live in Utah, where a lot of food is grown locally or within a day's drive.
One of the things we have really missed this summer, is corn on the cob. Man, do we miss Hayward Farms stands!
I decided, however, that with how much Henry loves corn, he needed to have some off the cob. So, I spent the horrific amount of £3 for just four pewney little cobs so he could enjoy it.
He loved it!
But it took him a while to figure it out--even after we showed him. Once he did, he loved sucking off the butter we had slathered all over it and gnawing on the corn.
One of the things we have really missed this summer, is corn on the cob. Man, do we miss Hayward Farms stands!
I decided, however, that with how much Henry loves corn, he needed to have some off the cob. So, I spent the horrific amount of £3 for just four pewney little cobs so he could enjoy it.
He loved it!
But it took him a while to figure it out--even after we showed him. Once he did, he loved sucking off the butter we had slathered all over it and gnawing on the corn.
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| I think he really enjoyed just holding it! |
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| This is a face I see a lot--he likes to turn his head like this and talk--cracks me up! |
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| This is how he tried to eat it for a while..it worked, sorta. |
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| There we go! |
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| Butter fingers!! |
Monday, 14 July 2014
Wimpole Farm
Henry and I visited Wimpole Farm with our friends the Calls a few weeks ago. Kristin, Alona, and Devon invited us, and we couldn't say no!
Wimpole Estate is just a few minutes drive from where we live, though we haven't had a chance to get out there until now! The estate is HUGE--we only visited the Home Farm area, as it is definitely the most kid friendly. I'd love to go back and spend a full day there, though.
We got to ride on a cart pulled by a tractor from the car park to the farm and back, which Henry really enjoyed. I think he wanted to drive the tractor himself, though!
The kids had a lot of fun running around the farm and looking at the animals. My favorite part was definitely the Shire horses, but the piglets won Henry's heart hands down. He could have spent all day sticking his fingers in and touching their squishy pink noses.
The kids got to "milk" rubber gloves, play on a tractor, and we were even there in time to see the milking demonstration of a real live dairy cow!
I have to admit--even though I didn't grow up on a farm, all of this stuff I have seen in real life. But I LOVED watching Henry and his friends discover the farm.
We didn't stay too long--poor Alona wasn't feeling well. But it turned out to be good anyway, as all three fell asleep on our drive home.
Thanks, Kristin, for inviting us!
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| The kids trying to "milk" the cow. |
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| getting them all to look at the camera was exciting--smiles were just a bonus. |
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| I'm telling you, he LOVED the pigs. just watch the video and you can hear how excited he was. |
The boys LOVED the tractors. Henry and Devon both wanted to be pushed all around the farm. When Henry's older, I'd love to get him one of these!
Saturday, 12 July 2014
London Zoo
Mama and Daddy took me to the Zoo on Saturday! It's the first time I've ever been to the zoo and I had so much fun.
The first thing we saw were the gorillas. Well, we saw some tropical birds on the way in to see the gorillas, who were all taking naps when we got there. They were snuggled up in their hammocks. Daddy said we could go back later that day, which we did do. They were awake and eating the second time we went!
After we saw the gorillas taking their naps, we went in to the Reptile House. Mama doesn't like very many reptiles, but there were actually a few in there that she really liked! My favorite part of the whole day was seeing the Chameleon. It was walking right at the front of its house where I could reach out and touch it...if there hadn't been glass there. He had such funny little feet! He was bright green with orange eyes. Mama liked him, too. We also saw the cage where Harry Potter talked to the Burmese Python! The python isn't there any more, though.
There were too many snakes in the Reptile House for Mama, though. She didn't mind when we decided to go sit outside and have our lunch.
Right after lunch, we went into a bird place that Daddy called an Aviary. There were some tropical birds in there that were so pretty. One almost flew into my head! Daddy even caught that on video--you'll have to watch our video about the zoo to see it. I liked playing in the puddles in the aviary.
Then, we went to see the Galapagos Tortoises and the Komodo Dragons. I loved the tortoises! They were so big. They were eating their lunch when we got there--big leaves and things. I got to climb right into a pretend tortoise shell. It was nice and cool in there, away from the sun. The Komodo Dragons were pretty awesome, but a little bit scary. Mummy told me they are very poisonous and not very nice. The one that we saw was named Raja. He's a movie star--he was the model for the Komodo Dragons in James Bond!
Our next stop was the outback! We saw Kangaroos--or Wallabys as they say here in England. There were tons and even a baby! They were all just chilling in the shade though, because it was so hot. I wanted to see one jump, but they were too tired. Maybe next time.
We decided that we wanted to get out of the sun, too, so we went in to the aquarium. I saw a Nemo fish and a Dory! And lots of other fish, too, but they were my favorite.
It was right after the aquarium that we went to see the gorillas again, and saw some other monkeys on the way out. There was a baby monkey that was playing outside! I saw him climb up the fence, go for a ride on his Mummy's tummy, and eat a little bit of lunch. Mama and Daddy say that he is just like me--figuring out the world.
We went to see the tigers! There are 5 tigers at the London zoo--three of them are just babies, 5 months old. We saw the Daddy tiger, then we looked a little bit closer and saw the Mummy and her babies taking a nap in the shade. I was pretty excited to see a baby tiger!
The next place we went was to see some of the animals in a show. We saw a Burrowing Owl named Bob, an Eagle Owl named Max, and an Armadillo named Harriet. We also saw two awesome cockatoos named Freckles and Frank! They flew all around. Bob's wing touched Daddy on the head once! It was so cool. Of course the Armadillo didn't fly--but she did knock some logs over. The Zoo Keeper said that Harriet likes to knock things over and rearrange her house all the time. (Mama said that she must be like Nana--she likes her house to be beautiful all the time!)
Mama and Daddy really liked our next stop--the Butterfly House. I was feeling really tired. It was way past my nap time, but I didn't want to take a nap and miss something! (I stayed awake the whole day, until we got on the tube to go home.) I liked the butterfly house, but it was so humid--Mama was ready to get out of there.
I got to make a friend at Penguin Beach. He came right up to the glass and followed me in the buggy. He put his nose up to my hand! He was so much fun.
After that, we saw Pygmy Hippos, Zebras, Giraffes, and Okapi. Our last stop, we saw some Otters who were having so much fun playing in the water and then the Meerkats. We got there just in time for the Zoo Keepers to feed the Meerkats. They were eating all the bugs and the fruit--they were so excited for dinner!
By then, the zoo was closing. We had been at the zoo almost 6 hours! But we had so much fun. I loved seeing all the animals. I can't wait to go to another zoo and see even more animals!
--Little Brute--
Mummy's Note: We saw lots of other animals, too--but we can't remember them all! So there might be others in the pictures that Henry didn't mention.
**Second Mummy's Note: We really didn't take a lot of video this time. So, while there are some fun little scenes in here, we didn't capture everything we did. Or even get a video of a sign that said "London Zoo!" Oh well--I guess that means we were having too much fun. :)
The first thing we saw were the gorillas. Well, we saw some tropical birds on the way in to see the gorillas, who were all taking naps when we got there. They were snuggled up in their hammocks. Daddy said we could go back later that day, which we did do. They were awake and eating the second time we went!
After we saw the gorillas taking their naps, we went in to the Reptile House. Mama doesn't like very many reptiles, but there were actually a few in there that she really liked! My favorite part of the whole day was seeing the Chameleon. It was walking right at the front of its house where I could reach out and touch it...if there hadn't been glass there. He had such funny little feet! He was bright green with orange eyes. Mama liked him, too. We also saw the cage where Harry Potter talked to the Burmese Python! The python isn't there any more, though.
There were too many snakes in the Reptile House for Mama, though. She didn't mind when we decided to go sit outside and have our lunch.
Right after lunch, we went into a bird place that Daddy called an Aviary. There were some tropical birds in there that were so pretty. One almost flew into my head! Daddy even caught that on video--you'll have to watch our video about the zoo to see it. I liked playing in the puddles in the aviary.
Then, we went to see the Galapagos Tortoises and the Komodo Dragons. I loved the tortoises! They were so big. They were eating their lunch when we got there--big leaves and things. I got to climb right into a pretend tortoise shell. It was nice and cool in there, away from the sun. The Komodo Dragons were pretty awesome, but a little bit scary. Mummy told me they are very poisonous and not very nice. The one that we saw was named Raja. He's a movie star--he was the model for the Komodo Dragons in James Bond!
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| That's Raja in the background |
Our next stop was the outback! We saw Kangaroos--or Wallabys as they say here in England. There were tons and even a baby! They were all just chilling in the shade though, because it was so hot. I wanted to see one jump, but they were too tired. Maybe next time.
We decided that we wanted to get out of the sun, too, so we went in to the aquarium. I saw a Nemo fish and a Dory! And lots of other fish, too, but they were my favorite.
It was right after the aquarium that we went to see the gorillas again, and saw some other monkeys on the way out. There was a baby monkey that was playing outside! I saw him climb up the fence, go for a ride on his Mummy's tummy, and eat a little bit of lunch. Mama and Daddy say that he is just like me--figuring out the world.
We went to see the tigers! There are 5 tigers at the London zoo--three of them are just babies, 5 months old. We saw the Daddy tiger, then we looked a little bit closer and saw the Mummy and her babies taking a nap in the shade. I was pretty excited to see a baby tiger!
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| Mama wanted to get this picture because it's a Mummy tiger holding her cub. I just wanted to hold the cub's paw... |
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| A few of the animals we saw, including the Baby monkey and baby tiger! |
The next place we went was to see some of the animals in a show. We saw a Burrowing Owl named Bob, an Eagle Owl named Max, and an Armadillo named Harriet. We also saw two awesome cockatoos named Freckles and Frank! They flew all around. Bob's wing touched Daddy on the head once! It was so cool. Of course the Armadillo didn't fly--but she did knock some logs over. The Zoo Keeper said that Harriet likes to knock things over and rearrange her house all the time. (Mama said that she must be like Nana--she likes her house to be beautiful all the time!)
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| Watching the Eagle Owl fly around |
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| She's holding Bob! |
Mama and Daddy really liked our next stop--the Butterfly House. I was feeling really tired. It was way past my nap time, but I didn't want to take a nap and miss something! (I stayed awake the whole day, until we got on the tube to go home.) I liked the butterfly house, but it was so humid--Mama was ready to get out of there.
I got to make a friend at Penguin Beach. He came right up to the glass and followed me in the buggy. He put his nose up to my hand! He was so much fun.
After that, we saw Pygmy Hippos, Zebras, Giraffes, and Okapi. Our last stop, we saw some Otters who were having so much fun playing in the water and then the Meerkats. We got there just in time for the Zoo Keepers to feed the Meerkats. They were eating all the bugs and the fruit--they were so excited for dinner!
By then, the zoo was closing. We had been at the zoo almost 6 hours! But we had so much fun. I loved seeing all the animals. I can't wait to go to another zoo and see even more animals!
--Little Brute--
Mummy's Note: We saw lots of other animals, too--but we can't remember them all! So there might be others in the pictures that Henry didn't mention.
**Second Mummy's Note: We really didn't take a lot of video this time. So, while there are some fun little scenes in here, we didn't capture everything we did. Or even get a video of a sign that said "London Zoo!" Oh well--I guess that means we were having too much fun. :)
Thursday, 10 July 2014
Five Years
As of today, Derek and I have been married five years. Wow--time really does fly. We've had so many adventures together and learned so much. We've had our ups and downs and even a few sideways. I've been amazed, though, at how all of these things have just brought us closer together. Just last night (er, this morning) we were up laughing and playing solitaire, just as we did when we were dating. At then in the next minute, we're talking about our son and how we can't imagine life without him.
I generally get quite mushy, but I'll keep this simple: my life has improved 100 fold since I met Derek, and even more when we got married. I'm so incredibly lucky to be married to my best friend, the one I want to be there for everything. I feel an incredible amount of gratitude for all Derek has done to support and encourage me. And even more grateful that we have kept our covenants and we're on the road achieving our goal of a life together in the Celestial Kingdom. I wouldn't want to have anyone else on my side as I go through this life and the life to come.
Happy Anniversary, my darling. Volim te.
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I put together a video of photos of us from the past 5 years. WOW! We've been all over the place and enjoyed so many adventures. Here's to adventuring for the rest of forever!
p.s. yes--this is the song we danced to at our wedding. :)
I generally get quite mushy, but I'll keep this simple: my life has improved 100 fold since I met Derek, and even more when we got married. I'm so incredibly lucky to be married to my best friend, the one I want to be there for everything. I feel an incredible amount of gratitude for all Derek has done to support and encourage me. And even more grateful that we have kept our covenants and we're on the road achieving our goal of a life together in the Celestial Kingdom. I wouldn't want to have anyone else on my side as I go through this life and the life to come.
Happy Anniversary, my darling. Volim te.
I put together a video of photos of us from the past 5 years. WOW! We've been all over the place and enjoyed so many adventures. Here's to adventuring for the rest of forever!
p.s. yes--this is the song we danced to at our wedding. :)
Monday, 7 July 2014
Le Tour de France Stage 3: Cambridge Style
Our time here in Cambridge has brought us several "once in a lifetime" opportunities. This week, Cambridge was lucky enough to host the start of Stage 3 of the Tour de France!
The City was bedecked with bunting for nearly a week. Yellow, green and white with red polka-dots appeared everywhere in celebration of the top riders (more on that in a bit). Bicycles painted yellow were strapped to buildings, several of the art galleries in the centre of town hung bicycle themed paintings and image or displayed bicycle related sculptures. Bicycle wheels wrapped with yarn were hung above the major pedestrian streets where Christmas lights had hung in December. Ever light post had a banner announcing the race on the 7th of July 2014.
We got in to the spirit by making sure we wore the 3 essential "jerseys".
Derek wore yellow. The "general classification" is for the leader of the race--the one with "the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race." So, he has won the most stages.
I wore the white with red polka-dots (one that we made the night before with a potato stamp!) which represents the "King of the Mountain" or "mountains classification." This is awarded to the rider with the most points from climbs. So, for each hill that they score, the first, second, third, etc. receive a certain amount of points for reaching the top.Whoever has the most points, wears that jersey. Make sense?
Henry wore the green (yes, I know his shirt is inside out. It had to be to be pure green!). Points are given to the rider who is first to reach the end of any stage in the tour.
(all of the jersey information is via Wikipedia if you want to find out more.)
While some people had their spots staked out hours before the race started at 12:15pm, we decided to hang out at home until perhaps 20 minutes before. That was definitely the right choice! We found a great spot right along the fence on Trumpington Street not too far from our home. We waited 20 minutes to watch less than 30 seconds of cyclists go by! At the point we saw, the riders were still "warming up." It was like a little parade through Cambridge, not even the real racing yet. That was ok, though. It was all very exciting.
Henry loved all the people around us and when the cyclists did go by, he was pretty excited. But I think he was mostly happy about being on his Daddy's shoulders for such a long time.
Derek and I agreed that the reason seeing the Tour de France is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" is simply because after you've gone to see it once, there is no reason to go see it again. Sure, it was cool, pretty exciting--but seriously, as you will see in our video, it was for 30 seconds worth of cyclists going by. Woo-hoo!!
We did REALLY enjoy watching the rest of the race online, however. Cycling is quite relaxing when you don't have to pedal. :)
So yeah, super cool. I'm really glad we went out and enjoyed the moment with all the other people of Cambridge.
P.S. At the end of the video, Derek and Henry crossed the spot where the start of the race was. It had been painted a bright yellow! We were surprised that they had already scratched off the yellow paint by the evening of race day! We had hoped to capture it in its yellow glory, but no such luck.
The City was bedecked with bunting for nearly a week. Yellow, green and white with red polka-dots appeared everywhere in celebration of the top riders (more on that in a bit). Bicycles painted yellow were strapped to buildings, several of the art galleries in the centre of town hung bicycle themed paintings and image or displayed bicycle related sculptures. Bicycle wheels wrapped with yarn were hung above the major pedestrian streets where Christmas lights had hung in December. Ever light post had a banner announcing the race on the 7th of July 2014.
We got in to the spirit by making sure we wore the 3 essential "jerseys".
Derek wore yellow. The "general classification" is for the leader of the race--the one with "the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race." So, he has won the most stages.
I wore the white with red polka-dots (one that we made the night before with a potato stamp!) which represents the "King of the Mountain" or "mountains classification." This is awarded to the rider with the most points from climbs. So, for each hill that they score, the first, second, third, etc. receive a certain amount of points for reaching the top.Whoever has the most points, wears that jersey. Make sense?
Henry wore the green (yes, I know his shirt is inside out. It had to be to be pure green!). Points are given to the rider who is first to reach the end of any stage in the tour.
(all of the jersey information is via Wikipedia if you want to find out more.)
While some people had their spots staked out hours before the race started at 12:15pm, we decided to hang out at home until perhaps 20 minutes before. That was definitely the right choice! We found a great spot right along the fence on Trumpington Street not too far from our home. We waited 20 minutes to watch less than 30 seconds of cyclists go by! At the point we saw, the riders were still "warming up." It was like a little parade through Cambridge, not even the real racing yet. That was ok, though. It was all very exciting.
Henry loved all the people around us and when the cyclists did go by, he was pretty excited. But I think he was mostly happy about being on his Daddy's shoulders for such a long time.
Derek and I agreed that the reason seeing the Tour de France is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" is simply because after you've gone to see it once, there is no reason to go see it again. Sure, it was cool, pretty exciting--but seriously, as you will see in our video, it was for 30 seconds worth of cyclists going by. Woo-hoo!!
We did REALLY enjoy watching the rest of the race online, however. Cycling is quite relaxing when you don't have to pedal. :)
So yeah, super cool. I'm really glad we went out and enjoyed the moment with all the other people of Cambridge.
P.S. At the end of the video, Derek and Henry crossed the spot where the start of the race was. It had been painted a bright yellow! We were surprised that they had already scratched off the yellow paint by the evening of race day! We had hoped to capture it in its yellow glory, but no such luck.
Friday, 4 July 2014
4th of July
We celebrated Henry's second 4th of July here in England. A few weeks ago, I was feeling glum about not having fireworks on my favorite holiday, when posters began appearing throughout the city for "The Big Weekend." Mom mentioned it while she was here, so I checked one out--lo and behold, they were advertising for fireworks on Friday night. The FOURTH!
We had a BBQ with the Brownlows and the Smiths--hamburgers, pork kebabs, hot dogs, fruit, chips and dip, Red White & Blue krispie treats--the works! We had a great time, eating lots of yummy food and visiting. Henry's favorite was definitely the blue berries, stabbing with a fork them all by himself a few times.
We had a BBQ with the Brownlows and the Smiths--hamburgers, pork kebabs, hot dogs, fruit, chips and dip, Red White & Blue krispie treats--the works! We had a great time, eating lots of yummy food and visiting. Henry's favorite was definitely the blue berries, stabbing with a fork them all by himself a few times.
After eating and chatting, we met up with the Halls and the Calls on Parker's Piece (with the Josh and Daly) for fireworks!
I found some Monster Sparklers (seriously, they were huge) and we brought a bunch of poppers to share. The kids loved the sparklers. That was definitely the highlight of the day. Henry was completely fascinated by them, while our friend Lydia couldn't take her eyes off them (she's a few months older than Henry). I hate to even think about how many sparklers I could have bought at home for the same amount of money, but I'm so glad I decided to get them!!
The fireworks started around 10:15--the kids were tired, but all of them loved watching the beautiful colors burst in the sky. Henry tried to run up to them and get closer--he was so excited about them. By the time we got home, he was totally wiped and ready for bed.
We had a wonderful Independence Day. We had a laugh about celebrating in the country the U.S. broke away from---good thing our two nations are the best of friends now days.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!
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| Favorite photo--definitely. |
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| The boys got to ride on their Daddy's shoulders on the way home. Lucky! |
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