Celebrating the new year

After we got home from England, we decided to spend a few days at trev's parents' home. We had our second Christmas, exchanging gifts and relaxing!

Luke enjoys playing with his cousins. He only has boy cousins (on both sides!). I like to see him play with other kids and now he's getting a bit bigger he can play with them more. The above picture is (L-R) Braylen, Quigley, Corben, Luke. The below picture is Luke and Corben playing a duet! They are 8 months apart.

We played in the snow too. It was fun. They didn't have as much snow in Wyoming as we had in Utah, but there was enough to play in.

We had a nice time and wish we could see both of our families more. Trev is very busy with school and work. I'm so proud of him, that he works full time in a physically demanding job, maintains a 4.0 whilst taking 15 credits, and on top of that he is a brilliant dad and husband. I am so lucky!

Baby trousers

These baby trousers aren't half as cute as I thought they would be. But never mind. They're for my nephew, who was born last week.

Any time I use a pattern to make clothing, I feel the need to change something. I think it is an urge to 'create', rather than just follow directions. (I do admire people who have the patience for following things exactly, though!)

In this case, the pattern was for very simple cotton trousers. Well, I decided to use denim, and make them lined for extra warmth! I hope they fit the baby. I might make a pair for our baby, if I find the time...

Our English Christmas

We flew to England for Christmas. This was my first time being home for two years, and our first trip as a family. We were really excited! The flights went quite smoothly, and Luke was as good as gold.

Walking around my home village, in the typical wet English weather! It sounds funny, but I was hoping for rain, after being in the Utah desert for a couple of years, you do miss it!

We met our nephew, Nathan, for the first time. He's even cuter than he looks in the photos, and just adorable. Luke enjoyed stroking his cousin's head :-)

Here's Nathan on Christmas morning. What a sweetie!

We enjoyed a lovely mum-cooked Christmas dinner of turkey and all the extras. It was delicious! I wish I could have eaten more but the heartburn is getting me big time this pregnancy.

Of course, everyone made a big fuss of Luke, much to his delight :-) I loved watching him interact with my family. He really is quite a friendly and confident little boy most of the time. I know that he had lots of fun and hope that he will retain some kind of memory of them all, at least until he sees them again.

We had a wonderful trip and the only problem was that the time went too quickly. We hope we can go back soon!

London!

Many of you know that Trev, Luke and I had the wonderful opportunity of travelling to England for Christmas. (I'm getting to my Christmas post, I promise!) Anyway, a few days before Christmas, my mum and John offered to take us to London for the day, along with my sister Sophie. I've been to London quite a few times before, but never as a 'tourist'! It was actually very fun to go round taking pictures of all the buildings and landmarks. They really are beautiful and historic and I should have taken more notice of them in the past.



Here's us in front of Big Ben (the clock tower), which adjoins the Houses of Parliament.



Us on a bridge spanning the Thames river (the main river upon which London is built) In the background you can see the London Eye, which is a very tall ferris wheel type ride. I think it's about 450 ft tall, and is designed for the purpose of observing London.

We were treated to a ride on it, by mum and John (thanks!). They looked after Luke while we had a 30 minute date :-) Each capsule holds up to 32 people, but we had just 4 in ours. Lucky!

Trev got double rides that day, as a pursuaded him that it was time for Luke to have his first carousel ride...

After hours of walking around, and navigating the London underground train system, we were ready to sit down and relax (while mum, John and Sophie continued shopping- I have to admire their stamina!) We all decided to go to Harrods, a massive, upmarket department store. After studying the map of its 5 floors, Trev and I selected a family friendly cafe, and went for a bite to eat. We quicky discovered, however, that the prices were a little higher than anticipated, so we bought a couple of fruit smoothies instead!

Altogether we had a brilliant day, and created some more lovely memories. That is what we were hoping for in our trip to England.

Luke is one!

Luke turned one on December 22nd. We had a small celebration for the event. He seemed puzzled, awe-struck and happy with his cake! My mum found some candles which burn with flames that are the same colour as the wax, so we used all 6 colours for effect.

Luke has grasped the concept of opening gifts, and it was fun to watch him open presents from his grandparents, aunties and uncles. He received several books, a snail toy, shoes, bath toys and money.

Happy birthday Luke! We've loved having you for this past year. You are already getting so big and every day you surprise us with how clever you are. We are proud and happy to be your parents xx