We remembered!

You might remember the report of our Guy Fawkes celebrations last year. Here's year two of the tradition...

The glow sticks were a huge hit with the two kids (three if you include Trev) haha. hem...
They waved them around and made designs on the floor with them, and Luke even managed to use the little connectors to join them together. (Tip for all parents- glow sticks are really inexpensive, and make a fun activity.) I don't know what I'm going to do when my kids are too old to be fascinated by these things. Hopefully by then we'll live in a state/country that allows fireworks year-round!

Also, can I just say that photographing these things is addictive! It's so fun to put the camera on night mode and see what kind of effects you get.


And although halloween was a few days ago now, there were still some ghosts lurking around. Can you spot them?

Yes our bonfire night celebrations are a little pathetic, but we try! Happy Guy Fawkes Day :-)

bonkers about conkers!

Have you ever collected conkers? Or better still, had a conker fight? Conkers are the fruit of a horse-chestnut tree, and are one of my favourite autumn traditions.

We always used to go gathering them with dad. He would throw sticks to knock them out of the tree, and the kids would gather them up. Apparently nobody does this in America, because the tree I went to had hundreds of conkers, already open, on the ground! So I didn't even have to lift a finger- Luke did all the work (and loved every minute of it)

I really want to have a fight, but I keep getting my needle stuck in the conker, so I haven't got it threaded yet. But until I do, I can enjoy the sight of these shiny beauties in my home, reminding me of my childhood.

On another note...here's the apron I made for my Trev's mom for her birthday. Not a great photo, I know.

And finally, just because I can't resist. And who could resist those cheeks?!

The dress turned out ten times better than expected. If only she'd keep the headband on...

Reunion fun

We had the opportunity to attend the family reunion of Trev's mum's side of the family. We had a lovely time, relaxing, playing games, talking, eating (of course!) and camping out at night.

Luke having fun with daddy and uncle Jake

The blanket on the ground for the babies (and not-so-babies, as you can see)

Quigley had some serious bed-hair

Apparently, they were making hot chocolate

Lainey having her first dip in the creek



Luke doing his favorite activity...throwing rocks into the water

The theme was clowns, so we all dressed silly for dinner one night

Luke playing on the tractor




It was really very fun. Luke got to sleep over with his grandma and grandpa two of the nights, in their big spacious tent. He played with his cousins and ate junk food to his heart's content. We all came back feeling quite refreshed, and it was a shame that we had to get back to reality so quickly.

Yee-haa

We went to the Cache County Fair and Rodeo. Trev has been to tons of rodeos in his time, but I'd never been to one. We were quite confident that Luke would enjoy it. He did, but he probably would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't have started at roughly the time that he usually goes to bed. But he did enjoy the cows and horses.

Since I have a few readers from England, I'll describe a few of the events. First there was bareback horse riding, where the horse is bucking like crazy and the cowboy just has to cling on for dear life. There was also a similar one, but they had a saddle. There was also a contest where the cowboys had to rope a steer and throw it to the ground. And another one with steers, but this time they were on foot and had to get it's nose into the ground somehow (I wasn't sure exactly what was going on with some of the events!)

The cutest, most adorable part, was called 'mutton busting'. Little children riding sheep! Those little kids just had to cling on to the sheep's neck as it walked or ran across the arena. It was so cute and funny to watch how tenacious they were!

Part of the rodeo tradition includes a rodeo royalty, pretty young cowgirls who are crowned queen, princess etc.

We were also treated to a couple of impressive displays by some teams of horses. The way they drive these teams is amazing. There was even a man who could drive six horses, whilst standing on their backs.

My photos really don't do it justice. I wasn't sure what setting to use on the camera. But it was a fun night. We did have to leave before the 'main event', the bull riding. The kids were getting tired and starting to whine, so we decided to call it a night.

Easter and St. George's day

Luke enjoyed searching for plastic eggs, which we had hidden around the living room. We bought him a trike and some sand toys too. I feel sorry for him that his birthday is so close to Christmas. So we thought Easter is a nice time to get him a few bits for the summer.

We've been taking his sand toys down to the sand box in our community's play area, and Luke has been learning to share. It's lovely to watch kids play together.

I also decided to make a tradition of taking photos with the English flag, on St. George's day. I did this last year as well and I think we'll do it every year. I know it seems like I do a lot of 'English' holidays, but I promise I am going to do July 4th too, in fact I am already planning their outfits!

And the last piece of wonderful news is that the semester is over, and Trev is finished with classes for a whole month :-) yippeeee!!

Festivities

We enjoyed a quiet and humble Thanksgiving meal at home. Trev had to work that day, but I wanted to make it special. I cooked a turkey, stuffing, and various vegetables. We ate lots and lots and had plenty of leftovers! I must say, although we do not have Thanksgiving in England, it is a celebration that I enjoy and respect. It seems to be traditionally a time for family, food, and counting our blessings. Who can find fault with that?!

A couple of days ago we put up our Christmas tree. We wanted to be able to enjoy it for a couple of weeks before we go to England for Christmas. Getting the ornaments on the tree was a challenge, since Luke was pulling them off as quickly as we could put them on, but since that night he has more or less left the tree alone, and only pulled it over once. I think it gave him enough of a scare to keep him away! I'm trying to add to our collection each year with at least a couple of handmade ornaments. This year I bought some ready-to-finish plaster shapes for us to paint. But then I got impatient waiting for Trev to have a free evening, and painted them myself. He didn't seem to mind too much.