OY! Check out Brook's British Accent!

I know that most of you have seen this...but I also know that some of you don't visit facebook. So for all who hasn't seen it or whant to see again, here is the video of the girl that makes us laugh.

Honey, did it snow last night?

Last week we got to experience something that locals say almost never happens...We got snowed in. We got more snow then England has seen in almost 20 yrs...that's what they told me.
Honestly, I think it was about what we, in Utah get all the time. But here they are not very good at cleaning the roads, nor are they prepared in how to handle it properly. I guess, when you don't get that much snow on regular basis, it is easy find yourself in a state of emergency.
All the schools got closed. Public transportation got canceled and many, if not most people were forced to stay home.
On the first day of the snow we were advised to get ourselves to the grocery store and buy as much as we can fit into our tinny fridge...we were told that food supply will get low and they will have no deliveries till snow melts...yes, melts! City will not clean it...go figure
So, I got geared up, grabbed Ryder's stroller and up I went to the local store which is located at the top of this very steep hill. It was CRAZY!! I felt like I was in a twilight zone! Everyone is wearing RAIN boots...that's right, rain, not snow. People walking up or down the hill pulling snow slates full of food. NO ONE was driving or even attempting to. It was quite challenging to hike up the hill with 2 ft of snow and then pushing stroller through it....
Arriving to the store I found it to be almost empty! What the heck? It's just snowed for a day. Well, I grabbed as much as I could to put on my stroller and then some....and off I went thinking it should be easier to go down the hill...well, it wasn't It took a lots of muscle to push that stroller full of groceries through 2 feet of snow. When I arrived home, I was exhausted! That was an amazing work out!
I was also extremely grateful that I knew how to make bread (they were out).
For 5 days we were snowed in. No TV, Internet or way out of our town. I'm proud to say that kids were able to come up with some interesting games and way to entertain themselves. On the 6th day, believe it or not, but it RAINED! HARD! Crazy England!
What was incredible to find out on Sunday, is how much members of the church take care of each other. I have learned that many sisters walked miles to bring food to their sisters. I am not talking about walking a block, none of the members leave within that close of a distance. I'm talking about walking for maybe an hour or more just one way. What an amazing example of service and love for one another. I have a lot to learn from this fine sisters, that's for sure.

Over due words on gratutude!

Though it is way pass the time of Thanksgiving, I didn't want to not record anything, for I do have a lot to be Thankful for!

It was just over a year ago that Troy (he was in St.Francisco at the time) got disturbing phone call from me...Canada refused to except my case and our alternative was me being deported to Russia for heavens knows how long...

Troy was sabbing....I was sabbing and we found ourselves in the valley of hopelessness. It was then that I heard a voice...."just get angry with God"...he said. I had every reason in the book to get angry with God, but how could I? God is my ONLY hope! Oh, how grateful I was then and now that my testimony was strong enough to recognize the evil one!
I felt down on my knees and cried my girly heart out: "Oh, Father....Please don't separate my family! Don't let this little children be without their mother!" I was so overwhelmed with emotions that that is all I said...I just cried mostly...for a very long time....
Troy's disturbance of the news has brought attention to one of the co-workers he was with. Troy was offered and given a priesthood blessing in which the Lord has repeatedly told Troy to do what he must to keep family together.
Troy has spoke to his boss in expression that he might be quieting due to our circumstance...Few weeks passed and Troy employer offered Troy to open up their office in the UK! Coming to the UK on work visas and being under a completely different jurisdiction then in our previous attempts with different countries,London office saw that it would make sense to have my case being processed in the UK where my family has to move due to the work of my husband.
So you see, the Lord does hear us! He answers our plea!
So I want to Thank my Heavenly Father that my family is together! My children are with me. And I get to snuggle to my sweetheart at night....

Troy's many talents

Troy likes making vlogs and home movies. Though he has limited tools, I think he does an AMAZING job!

I have posted some of his videos over here---------------------------------------->

His very first one was about a year ago, that he made for me for our 10 year anniversary. You can watch it BY CLICKING THIS LINK, if you want.

But for today, I would like to share this one that he put together for YM/YW combine activities. Kids spoke a little bit to soft, so you really have to listen. But I thought you might enjoy the accent, while watching my baby's creation.

Halloween Week

From what we heard people of England don't feel that Halloween is a big deal of a celebration holiday. We got mixed opinions about dressing up, trick-or-treating, decorating etc. When I went to the pound store (dollar store) to find some decorations we were quickly identified by the amount of Halloween stuff that we bought.
So, Troy and I decided that we will try to have Halloween in the best way we can, just for the kids.
We made some sugar cookies

Chocolate covered apples

Draw hundreds of scary pictures. Which became our wall decorations as well.
Carved pumpkins that we picked ourselves from the farm near by

Baked some pumpkins seeds

And then we decided to have few kids over for the party.

We eat pizza, candy, played fun games. Kids had blast. It was really loud in our house with all the children excitement and sugar overload!

And just as we thought Halloween was over and our kids didn't miss trick-or-treating, Sunday rolled over and guess who came to our door? Yeap, Trick-or-treaters! I have never felt more embarrassed! I felt like Grinch that stole Halloween. We only had 5 kids that came by....but those 5 were the kids from Rylee's class. So yes, she was embarrassed as well!
The next day we went to see Russian Moscow Circus. It was a lots of fun. The acrobats were amazing! Kids were thrilled to see all the tricks they can do. Drew was at the end of his chair with permanent smile on his face. I can just read his mind in wounder, to see if he can do it at home. Lovely!

In over all our Halloween turn our great! Troy and I have decided that we loved having Party for the kids and we agreed to have it every year!

It's do or die

I do miss home terribly, but in so many ways I'm glad we are were we are. In so many ways it has been such a blessing for our family. I can't even begin to explain all the wonderful personal and family changes that this has come to us. As a family we are SO much closer together. Kids have learned to rely on each other and found to be best friends. We don't go out hardly ever (do to leaving expense in here) and we don't have TV. But we manage to keep our selves busy, nevertheless. We have great home teachers, who happen to be also my RS President.;) and her husband. Troy calls her Marie Poppins...she is lovely lady, and when she comes over all the children(Troy and I included) just igger to seat around her and listen to her speak.(that English accent is captivating) We have one great friendly neighbor. They have been very kind to us and kids really love their kids. We have surrounded ourselves with "church" everything. It has brought us so much closer to the Lord ( I don't know why we allowed ourselves to get so distracted back home) The Lord has blessed us with an amazing calling opportunities. It is so nice to feel needed.
This day Troy is at the church with YM and YW having 24 hr merothan read of the Book of Mormon.
As you know I teach Youth Sunday School. I love it. It's neat to teach kids here. I think they really get it, they have to rise up every day to what they believe. I just love that! And that is what I also love about our kids being here. Is that they get to "play on the field" sort of speak after we teach them at home and church.
I love how many talks we had to have with all of them, every single day for all the gospel principals here became reality. From modesty, to word of wisdom, to church going, to clean language,obeying sabbath day, recognizing the Spirit, the list goes on.... Leaving here gives us as a parents stronger motive to teach, then we send them out on the "field", then fallow up with them and teach again. The circle never ends and we hope they will learn and get strong. I suppose that that is what we should do no matter what our address is, but being here it's almost like do or die. And we can't let our kids die. The opposition to the truth is right in our faces, right in our kids faces. I am grateful now, more then ever for the gospel in our life. What a safe harbor it is for our family! And I am so proud of my little kids for being such a great examples of faith and purity to those around them. Nothing brings more joy to Troy's and mine heart then hearing character appraising comments from teachers, neighbors and parents. Rylee sais, that she feels like she is being a missionary. And she sure is. ;)

First time on Double Decker

Was looking through some of our pictures and have realized that I did miss an event that needed to be recorded.
A few weeks ago Troy had to drive to London for his job and we were left with out a car at the house all Saturday. I really wanted to do SOMETHING! So kids and I are decided to go the "pound" store for Halloween decorations. The fun part about it was the "how" we were going to get there.
Double Decker here we come!

It was about 30 min drive, but the kids LOVED every minute of it! They all run to the second level and got to seat in the front row. They all had huge smiles across their faces, and they all told me that they feel like they are riding a roller coaster!




At the store we found few things that we got and people at the store asked us if we were from US. "Is our accent really give us away?" I asked. "Yes, and the fact that you bought this much Halloween decorations" said one lady. (Just for the record, I didn't buy "that" much. There wasn't much to choose from to begin with)
Anyway, I thought that was funny. At church, RS has asked me to tell'em about how Halloween is celebrated in US, it just made me miss home that much more.
This Friday we have decided to hold a Halloween party for the kids.We will have a few games, pizza, candy you know the usual stuff. And for my wonderful sisters-in-law and nieces and nieces-in-law I say lets start doing this as a tradition when I come back (you can start doing it with out me, of course)Here are some gals that've done this and loved it: Angela ,Caryn , Breanne
Anyway, I thought it might be so much fun for us girls. What do you say?

Hewiit's Farm

This Saturday we decided it is time to go and find some pumpkins. I actually had to google to find if they sell them here and where. (Halloween is not a big deal here). Lucky for us 20 min away is the pick your own farm. Those actually are popular in here. We saw them a lot in the summer. Well, anyways. I got my kids in there worm clothes and told them to put some rain boots on and off we went to Hewiit's Farm. We had sooo much fun out there and wished we had someone who could of taking pictures of all of us together. But we managed to take some good once of kids and with some creativity of my husband we even snapped a few with all of us in the shot.
Kids had such a blast picking their own fruits off the trees, and running freely through the orchards. I don't understand this, but orchards have always brought feeling of home into my heart. I think I had one of them, long time ago in the different "place"
We have found some divine looking vegetables and fruits and the weather, though wasn't worm or sunny, it didn't rain and we were greatfull!

Ryder is ONE!

Time surely doesn't stop, doesn't it?
On September 30th our little guy turn 1. He was sick that day, actually that whole week ;( So we just held him a lot on that day. Which he loved. And once he felt better we got together with our neighbors and had pizza, cake, ice cream, balloons, and presents.
Ryder has 5 teeth, 2 on the top and 3 on the bottom. He has darling light curls, mostly on the back of his head, that both mom and dad just adore. He is just about to start walking on his own, we think. He likes to hold on everything around the house(walls included) and walk that way.When he is done eating he troughs the rest of the food on the floor and often would finish it after we take him out of his high chair. (silly kid) He still screams! And at this stage we know he is doing it on purpose.(stinker) In the past few days I have found him laughing at....I'm not sure what....he is just cracking himself up, and talking his little baby talk in between loughs. It makes me giggle to hear him do that. He loves his brother and sisters and truly misses them when they go to school. He gets so excited about food. You would think that we don't feed him. He likes to point to things and he signs "give it to me" (I was trying to teach him how to sign "milk" somehow, it got lost in translation and now "milk" means "give it to me", or "come here" or "I want that")
On the sadder note, he has been getting his head banged more then I ever remember other kids doing it. I don't think his head has been bruise free ever.Poor guy.
He likes to cattle and he will give you those wonderful, open mouth baby kisses, if you ask him or if he feels like it. He says mamma, babba, and tink (thanks)He is our sweetheart and we ALL love him to pieces.

New Friends

We have gotten a couple of new friends in our house. The first one is Hopkin, he is old and rusty. Heavy and used. Loud,but could be quite. He likes to be touched and if you know just the right way to touch it,it can let out the most wonderful sound. Troy found him for 10 pounds on ebay, and we were excited to bring him home. Let me present to you Mr.Hopkin, Rylee's new friend

Rylee has been expressing interest in learning piano for quite a while now, so we are very excited for her. You should have seen her jumping up and down and out of her skin ;) when she found out we bought this and she gets to take lessons.
The second one is much smaller and she is on the loan to our home. Her name is Toyah. Her owner didn't know what to do with her and she was happy to let me train her. All the gifts that have been given her, she hasn't discover yet, for she is new. But I believe deep inside she knows she is great! I am trilled to help her to see just how wonderful she is. I KNOW she is going to bring much, much joy to me. Let me introduce you to Miss Toyah, my new friend.

Did you see that piano stool? I believe my friend Toyah will weep up something marvelous to make it look darling. First project is calling my name. I'm soooo excited!

Drew's education

Do you ever wright posts in your mind? I do. Tons of them. But they hardly ever make it to the blog ;( How sad. I have got to do something about it. I am open to suggestions. In the main time...
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We don't have TV, which has been great for us (though, there are days, I wish I had it) It's crazy... you have to license it if you get TV or watch shows on line. We can't access most shows from Home due to US/UK licensing agreement, and so we have found library our new friend(which is fantastic) Every night Drew asks me if he can fall asleep in our bedroom (Ryder is sleeping in his, and he can't turn the lights on) this is what we have been finding almost every night.

i love his choice of book....must learn everything about succer in here
Drew has been learning a lot about Greeks this year and I am happy to report that now he knows all about
"true love"

Reptile Zoo

Sensed school has started not much has been going on outside our house. Kids get home around 3.30, I start making diner very shortly, then home work and before you know it it's bed time.
Troy and I have been talking about being better organized in planning our weeks. Neither one of us are planners, but leaving here is forcing us in learning how to be one. I have to say we are failing miserably, but we still trying!
This Saturday we went to Reptile Zoo. It's only about 10 or so minute drive from our house. It is a low key zoo (actually zoo is way to big of a name for it), kids had a great time being outside the house and doing something different. Here are some pictures of us and "others"



Kids all thought, this was the coolest snake ever!

I have seriously almost peed my pants, when I saw this creature. He is huge! And evil looking! And that tong.....gush! I'm glad he was inside the cage.



Troy and I have finally got church callings. I am a Youth Sunday School teacher(15-16 yrs olds) and Troy was called to be Young Men President. I'm REALLY excited for him!!!
I have always wondered WHY he never had callings with teenagers? I feel that he is so wonderful with them. Troy just has a nook for youth, he just knows how they feel and what they like. And he seems to always know how to talk to them so that they listen. Anyway, though, he has NEVER been in YM organization and now he has to be president, I feel that he will do nothing short of a brilliant job!!!! That's just how Troy is!
Though, we miss our home back home and being around our comforts and friends/family, we feel that being here has cause us to be a better latter-day-saints. This has somehow refined us (and we still in the proses of it) I can REALLY tell BIG difference in Troy (it started a few months before we left UT). At times when Troy speaks or does something, I have to stop and mentally register and accept this "new" men in my life. It's not that Troy ever locked any of this newly visual characteristics, its just they are really surfacing up this days and becoming who he is.
We really like our word here. People are really friendly and just lovely! They give you kisses on both cheeks. Which was odd at first but I am getting used to it now.
I have asked Troy if it's crazy to see other man kissing me? He said, it wasn't. I guess it's all in the Spirit of it!So that's good ;)Women here are SO blunt! Kind, soft spoken ( I cannot picture them yell), but very honest! Which makes me feel right at home! Troy is like that. Not the soft spoken part, but the blunt one! I always can count to know where I stand with him. I remember when we were dating, he would often take me by surprise with his comments. I would ask my self, if I like this guy or hate him! In the end, I end up marring him! Thank goodness! He is the best!
It's getting REALLY cold here, really fast! I'm actually excited to go shopping for boots. It's a must have item in here! And I am very excited to get dress coat for Troy. He is going to look really smart. (really nice).I love all the different way people are talking in here. But mostly I love that we have our own little 5 yr. old "British" girl in our house. I kid you not, Brooklyn is 100% perfect accent and all, British child. I know people wounder if she is ours when we on our outings. At times Troy and I just look at each other and laugh, in disbelief of her speech. She has always been the cause for laughter in our home and she sure is now.

School

September 2nd my three little birds had started Oakland's Primary School.
Back home Rylee would of gone to 4th grade, Drew to 2nd and Brooky would of started Kindergarten. However, because school system is slightly different here, Rylee went to what they call year 5, Drew is in year 3 and Brooklyn is in year 1. Not having any schooling she is going straight into 6.5 hrs/day of school. :(
I have spoke to the teachers and some school officials and they didn't think that academically it's going to be a problem. They had kids in the past from the US and they have always been able to catch up. So catching up we do: Drew---time's table. Brook--abc's, site words, reading. Rylee---she said she hasn't heard anything that she doesn't already know :) OoooKay!!! I mean, she was ahead in Reading, but "anything" ?
Hmmmm, I guess, we will have to wait and see.
As you may already know they have to wear uniforms and I just love that! First of all, it was soooo much chipper to do school shopping this year. Uniforms for Primary kids are dirt chip here, thank goodness! Their school colors are white, red, grey, black. They even have PE kits/clothes and book backs (back packs) in those colors. Also coats and jackets, the whole wardrobe is color coordinated.
It sure was a site to drop our kids off on the first day and see everyone dress so proper! Troy was trying to take some pictures, but was politely asked to stop doing it. It is against school security. Speaking of which, they are really streak about that in here. I can't just walk into school and bring my kids lunch box, if they forgot it at home. It's gated and locked! If I must see my child, I have to buz by the gate and tell them who I am and why I am here. And then they will buz me in and have me wait in the reception. I guess, I shouldn't complain about security and safety of my kids, I'm glad they have it. It's just different and so I am blogging about it. They are very health promoting in here as well. For example: Kids, can't bring sweets in their lunch boxes. They can't have PB&J, or sodas, or anything that has sugar in it. They must have water bottle to help them to stay hydrated. And they must bring fresh fruit for snack during their break. Also, kids can't throw a way anything from lunch box. They want parents to see how much lunch their kids eaten....
Well, I'm sure there is a lot more going on that is different, Rylee should update her blog. She will know much more, I'm sure. But here are some photos of the kids in their uniforms. I just think they are so cute. I have hard time not snapping a shot of every outfit they put on. Skirts,slacks, and dresses. Short sleeve blouse, long sleeve blouse. Grey cardigans, red cardigans. Knee high socks, or grey tights. You got the idea :)
Anyway, here they are, in some of the choices of clothing they can wear.