Showing posts with label Hyde Park 2nd Ward. Show all posts

Day One-Hundred and Fifty-Six: Good-bye Sister Loveland!

Monday, August 18, 2014

One of the best things about living here in London is getting to have the missionaries over a whole lot more since Todd only works until 5:30 or 6:00pm. I still can't believe that Todd is home every night at that time. The other night he called and told me that he wouldn't be getting home until around 7:30pm and as I started to get a little bugged by this news, I stopped and had to just laugh at myself! It has been so good to have him here in the evenings!

These two cute sister missionaries are like living angels on earth! I am not joking when I say I have very rarely ever met such good to the core, sweet girls. Sister Loveland the beautiful girl on the right came over for one last time tonight, as she will be heading home this next week while we are on vacation. She was such a delight to get to know, and I cannot say enough what a privilege it was to have these two come into our home on a regular basis. Love me some good sister missionaries! 

Sister Beck and Sister Loveland...
My boys have huge crushes on these girls! Who can blame them?



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Day One-Hundred and Fifty-Two: Outing to the church...

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Today we woke up and I announced we were all taking an outing to the church to take some pictures of Tagg for his upcoming baptism. This was met with lots of complaints and groans from my naughty boys, which gave me a slight satisfaction. No just kidding, it sent me into a fit of rage. But after all of that we buckled down and went to the church....


While we were there the boys were silly of course and Tate loved the attention from all the missionaries. I took several photos of Tagg, and was happy to see tonight that some turned out pretty good even though I am no photog.

Before we left the Sister missionaries asked us if we wanted to see a new-ish movie that the Church put out called, "God's Plan". We all watched it and I loved it. It was just what I needed today.

The naughties as we were waiting for our cab home...



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Day One-Hundred and Forty-Eight: Survival Sundays

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Sundays are the hardest days for me here in London. So, I have labeled Sundays, "Survival Sunday" and that is pretty much sums it up! Every Sunday I wake up and say to myself, "good luck" and then if I survive at the end of the day I say, "Yay you did it! Here is some Cadbury chocolate as your reward!"  No, but seriously, Sundays are exhausting, and today was particularly hard because Todd was sick, so it was me and the three musketeers on our own! Ayyyyy!

Leaving the flat started us out on a chain of crazy events...

First it was raining which always puts a damper {ha ha! pretty punny!} on things. Then my cab was late. Then once we were semi-close to the church the cab driver tells me the main road that goes to the church is closed, so he had to drop us off in the middle of Hyde Park. Not ideal. So picture me and the 3 kids in our Sunday best walking in the rain walking to church. Oh and Tate was ticked and screaming. Oh and the big boys were fighting each other with their umbrellas. 

Then we got to church and I threatened my boys with eternal grounding if they didn't help me set up the Primary room...which they did. We were behind in starting Primary because I was late. The primary room also doesn't have AC, and it was super humid today. So now I am all nice and wet from rain and sweat. Oh it was lovely!

We somehow got through Primary, and I got through teaching two sharing times, one of my honest to goodness highlights of Sunday. I love Primary so much, I love teaching and being around those kids. I am not even kidding when I say it is the best place in the church to serve.  

When I went to pick Tate up from nursery I could tell he was so tired, but also super hyped up on sugary snacks, which made for a really fun sacrament meeting {we have sacrament meeting last}. Tate and I spent a lot of time out in the Visitor Center, and again I threatened Thatcher and Taggart with eternal grounding if they didn't sit and behave while I was out with Tate. 

After church was over we went outside and I tried to hail a cab, but couldn't. My app that hails cabs kept telling me "there are no available taxis at this time, please try again later". So after 10-15 minutes of this I told the boys we were just going to start walking. So we did. And while we walked I kept trying to get a cab. We walked all the way up through Hyde Park, and still no cab. Oh, and it was raining again. We kept walking in the rain and I kept thinking to myself that I wanted to sit down and cry for a bit, and how bad I would have sucked at being a pioneer, just when we finally saw a cab with it's light on and pulled it over. 

Here is Tagg inside the cab, finally...


Tate crashed on our journey through Hyde Park and slept all the way home in the taxi. 


The cab driver tells me..."a lot of roads are closed, so it's going to take extra long to get there today". I don't even bat an eye. Of course it will. 

We got home an hour and half after church ended, and we came in,  had lunch, and then all had rest/nap time. Boy Sundays are rough! But worth it. Just super tiring. Thank heavens for Sundays when you can take a good Sunday nap! And good thing Saturday comes before Sunday so you can gear up, and also Mondays are always LOW KEY around our house, so we can all recover. And by all I mean me. 

Speaking of recovering, Tate was feeling so good after his Sunday nap he was trying to do handstands...


Weirdo! This boy is so crazy and funny and does the most hilarious things. He is totally the baby of the family, he loves to have us all laugh at his silly antics.

But looking back at tender mercies and positives from today...I am thankful I am not a pioneer, I am thankful for umbrellas and the waterproof cover on Tate's stroller. But mostly I am thankful that I am able to do things beyond my own abilities through "the strength of the Lord", I know it is very, very real. And I am also so grateful that Thatcher and Tagg really stepped up and helped me out a ton today! I mean I only had to threaten them with eternal groundings twice...that's pretty good!


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One-Hundred and Forty-One: Tate's 1st Day in Nursery!

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Today was a huge milestone for Tate! And for us!  He went to nursery for the very first time!! Woohoo! ...AND he actually stayed for the full 2 hours!! We have a great nursery leader here who I am sure made it easy for him to feel welcomed and I know he had a great time. I was one happy mama! We put him in a week early since Todd had to teach Elders Quorum, and I was busy in Primary. One of the perks of the job I guess...bending the rules just a little. I kept peeking in on him during Primary and it was so cute to see him sitting at the table with the 'big kids' eating a snack, or chasing bubbles.  Oh boy, my baby is growing up! Sniffle! 

Here is our big {almost} 18 month old! Where has the last 18 months gone? 


Tate is not having a bit of sacrament meeting lately. First of all, there is no AC in the chapel. To say it is stifling is an understatement! It is almost not breathable in there. Also Tate is tired, and grumpy, and wild and hyper, so we make it through the sacrament most Sundays, and then we end up out in the Visitor Center portion section of the church. 

Tate loves to run around the visitor center saying "hi" to everyone, and we usually end up here...next to the large Christus in the window. 



Tate always stops dead in his tracks and looks up, and then smiles and reaches for Jesus. I can't help but be very touched every time. 



I love that there is a Christus in our church building here in London. I love that the boys love going up to it every Sunday. The other day Tagg, who is usually bouncing off the walls, went up to the Christus and kinda snuggled up to it and tried to hold Jesus' hand. It was really sweet! 
{even though I am not going to lie part of me kinda panicked that he would knock it over!! Ha!}

It is amazing that no matter who you are, as soon as you see it you feel a reverence come over you. I have seen people on the street walking by, and just stop and look up at the Christus. I have also seen people come into the church from off the street, just to see it. It is beautiful, and you can feel the love of the Savior while looking at this wonderful representation of Him. 




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Day Nine: Our 9th day here, and Thatcher's 9th Birthday!

Monday, March 24, 2014

It seems like just yesterday I was baking a Wall-E cake for Thatcher's 4th birthday while we were in Kentucky for Todd's internship with Amazon.com.  Now today I woke up and decorated our flat for Thatcher's 9th birthday.  Ayyyyy!  I am not kidding when I say I feel like I blinked and saw him grow before my eyes.  Time is going by so fast, I try to remind myself as I get caught up in the day to day busy, that these boys are not going to be living in my home forever and I need to cherish each day with them.  Even when they are driving me up the wall into crazytown with their whining and fighting.   

Thatcher has grown into such a sweet young man, with a big tender heart and a real love for life.  He is like our little sponge, soaking up all that he can from learning and life.  He now talks to me and teaches me about things he has learned, especially anything to do with science.  He has always been wise beyond his years, and he is also so thoughtful and caring.  He wants to be good and do good and he is the perfect oldest child and big brother to Tagg and Tate.  We couldn't love these handsome boy anymore. I don't know what I did right to be chosen to be his mom, but I am so grateful I am! 

Here is the big birthday boy at church in his white shirt and tie, little missionary in the making.  Do not even get me started on that.  I've had him for 9 years, and get him for 9 years more, and then I send him off for the Lord to have him for 2 years of service.  Ay.  Cannot even think of it without tearing up.


We got to go to our new ward today, the Hyde Park 2nd Ward.  We got a taxi to pick the 5 of us up because getting out the door on Sunday mornings is hard enough without having to worry about a 45 minute tube or bus ride.  It was the greatest idea ever as we were at church in 15 minutes.  Pretty sure that will be a weekly tradition.  

The building is located on exhibition road, which is the road with all the museums on it in London. 
It was so great to see this building in the midst of the city.




In the front part of the church is a visitors center  they revamped for the Olympics.  It is really nice with a big Christus and displays on church history in England.  
I loved seeing the cute missionaries that staff it.



The boys by the Christus.


The ward was so great.  We are so happy to be here and be apart of this ward.  It is a great mix of nationalities, with a lot of Americans.  There was such a special spirit there, and me loving church history I couldn't help but get a little choked up thinking about all the amazing people in the church who either served their missions here or came from here and impacted our history and lives so much.

We all felt instantly welcomed and the boys were happy to make some friends.  The primary is considerably smaller here than our Frisco ward and Thatcher was very excited to be able to participate more.  I think we will really enjoy our time here.

We took the tube home which was long and I don't know if we will do again, we just might taxi it up both ways from now on.  By the time we got home and I started to make Thatcher's birthday dinner and cake, it was way past 3:00pm.

Here's the gang ready to eat for Thatcher's choice of dinner for his birthday...


He requested mexican food.  Mexican food in London?! Ummm this isn't Texas anymore!  He loves these creamy chicken taquitos from OBB.  They are REALLY good, and I was eager to take on the challenge of finding the ingredients here.  I will say it wasn't TOO hard, except this jar of salsa that you see below, I ordered online and thought it was a BIG jar.  Nope.  I paid about 7 bucks for this sucker. 

The 9 year old of the house...


 ...and the baby, Tate's been charming everyone he meets.


The presents and a little peek of our flat.  (More pics to come soon!  Promise!  Just finishing some stuff...) I put together this collage wall on Saturday.


Getting ready to open gifts...he's such a big kid!  I know I keep saying it, but I can't handle how grown up he is getting!! 


Thatcher trying to keep Tate from throwing the presents, because that is what he was trying to do. 


Since the boys are so close in age, Tagg get's just as excited for Thatcher's gifts because he knows he'll be playing with them too...punk.


I love this shot.  My three sons. 

Thatcher is such a cute gift receiver.  He acts so happy and thankful for each gift. 



Thatcher requested red velvet cake.  Red velvet cake and mexican food.  Yeah I think you could say he's pretty much a true southern boy. 

Okay before you knock this cake, because it looks awful, it's the best tasting thing in the world.  Promise. Try it, you'll love it.  The recipe is from Ree, she's the best.  This icing didn't set up well because I'm here in London and things are a little different here.  I need to tweak it a bit.  

Red Velvet Cake with the best frosting EVER. 


Classic blowing out the candles puffy cheek shot...
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All in all it was a great Sunday and birthday for Thatcher.  Tomorrow is a BIG day with Todd's first day on his new case and Thatcher's first day of school.  He is excited and I am nervous for him.  We will see how it goes!


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Location: London, UK
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