Happy Birthday to me!

For the beginning of my final young year* I went on a French Macaroon hunt. We drove to many a "french" bakery and no one even knew what I was talking about. So we went to PF Changs and Anthropologie (sean almost died at the prices in there hahaha, if he makes me live in America for the rest of my life I'm positive that the entire house will be a showcase for anthro, take that Mr.) and I tried to spend my Christmas present gift card. As always when I have money to spend I never find anything I want to buy. I came home to a delicious birthday dinner (thanks bethy) and Pavlova and Larkrise to Candleford (a TV show that actually did exactly what I wanted it to). Oh and Sean was super fancy and made crepes for brekky. happy birthday to me.
Funniest moment of the day came from zac, as soon as we started singing happy birthday he started trying to blow out the candle, by the end of the song he was on top of the table and had crawled all the way to the pavlova and still couldn't blow out the candle. Yes I only put one on the pav, have you ever tried to put more than that? We only got a couple of really blurry photos, better ask santa for a camera next year.

By the way Bethy and I did end up finding some French Macaroons after driving to 2 farmers markets we stopped at Central market to find the ingredients to make them and once we had all the stuff we found a little tray of macaroons in the bakery. so of course I got one of each flavour and it was disappointing. guess I'll just have to go to France to get some yummy ones. We did end up making them and I liked ours better but they weren't yummy enough to validate the finicky work that you have to do to make them.

*In highschool my friends and I decided that once you turn 28 you are no longer young. 28 being the magic number when you would have to give up all things teenagery and be responsible citizens. Pretty sure this conversation came after we saw an older lady trying to wear tween clothing. not pretty.

Can we fix it?

Huge pile of laundry.

Washing machine leaking.

Sean to the rescue!

All better.

New load of laundry.

Kitchen floods.

Christmas!

Christmas Eve arrived and we ate! Then wrapped, talked, read Christmas stories, went to see the lights in River Oaks. Will loved the house that had life size toy soldiers 8 of them guarding the gate. Sean is still amazed at how big the houses are. Zac promptly fell asleep 5 mins in. Bethy wanted to keep the massive tree covered in lights in her dorm room.

Bethys Christmas wish of a sweet thunder storm came true, we watched While you were sleeping and I only cried twice and then we stayed up late for no reason. Will and Zac woke up about 10 times until William announced Christmas morning had begun with .... vomit! He was a sweet boy and ran to the bathroom to finish, a 4 year old who pukes in the toilet is a Christmas miracle. Of course zac tried to vomit too but then was content with eating some cereal instead of the Christmas cinnamon rolls (will ate his later on).

After we were done opening presents with some lack luster reactions ...

Oh a bike - Will. Its ok because Zac made up for it by being excited about his scooter and spiderman.

I took a holiday nap and woke up to find that Santa didn't come and do my dishes!

Merry Christmas!

BRUCE Guardian of Gifts

Christmas Pavlova!

That's all the pictures I took because we video taped the whole thing, so we can be bored watching it in 50 years.

Time for the decorations to come down and for my birthday celebrations to begin!! In case you were wondering this is what I want and here is my new favourite song for today, here is my new favourite for yesterday and here is my new favourite for tomorrow.

Camping!

Camping! What! I didn't go and they didn't stay overnight! my kinda camping. Fun outside without all the mess to clean up.

Williams take on the day was the spiders were scary he helped chop the fire wood and marshmellows were goopy.

Zac loved the marshmellows and warned me about the spiders and he liked the fire and hayden touched the dirt, yucky and he pooped on the tent.

Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh!

We went to Tangled today. Great movie but I enjoyed the previews way more than the movie. Will saw the new cars 2 preview and thought all his dreams had come true. But the preview that made it all worth it was Never say never. Yes little Justin Beiber and his movie. So at the beginning of the preview zac started dancing. Aww so cute. Then pointing to the screen he said 'I can be that when I grow up'. hmm ok buddy. Then at the end of the preview when everyone is quiet zac yells "YES" with two thumbs up in the air. And we may be in trouble.


Any good music suggestions? Its probably my fault for watching too many Jonas episodes.

Mr Bean and Spiderman

Zac is black Spiderman and Will is Red Spiderman.

Hood on, Spiderman. Hood off, Peter Parker

My Nativity set that is never set up nicely.

That's what happens when you have a robot, a zebra, a giant snake and a monster truck invade.

Conversations

On the way to Target
Will: Jesus is coming over for Christmas?
Zac: he died! he died!

Walking into Target
Zac: mum what do that say?
Me: it says expect more, pay less
Zac: no mummy it says 'no buying toys'

At Bedtime
Will: Muuummmmm I need a drink
Me: ok
Will: That's a good girl mum.

Pizza!

In an effort to get my kids to eat food other than cheerios I let them make their own pizzas.

don't they look fabulous? zac was very particular on what went where then he promptly put in hands in and mixed it all around.

By the time they were ready to come out of the oven both boys had lost interest and neither of them ate any pizza.

Packages

Note to self. Do not open any packages. Probably Christmas presents.

We love our presents Eric and Tricia. Thankyou.

Thanksgiving

With Bethany and Amys help we made a non-tradtional thanksgiving feast. Roast Lamb, Roast asparagus, sweet potato and carrots, greek salad, fruit salad, ceaser salad, rosemary peasant bread, yum yum potatoes and a green bean casserole. Sean invited his friend to come and eat with us because he would have been eating taco bell instead and I am all for saving people from refried beans and well you know because it was thanksgiving too i guess. We cooked, ate, cleaned, watched football and looked at black Friday deals. no football playing here (except for Sean who's turkey bowl was apparently way too serious to take the boys).
So aside from purposely skipping the turkey, stuffing and apple pie I completely missed out on thanksgiving decorations! I was going to blame this on the lack of a sweet dining room table and dinner set but yep i think I'll just blame it on that.

jacob watching football with sean
no one wanted to look at the camera.

Thanksgiving

I stole this idea but I thought it was a good one. A Gratitude tree.

yes Jillian that is you, Dawson, Lucy and Hazel are there too. William was a star and said he was thankful for specific people unlike my blanket friends and family leaf. What a good boy.

I love thanksgiving. Food and Family. What more could you want? besides a maid to clean up. duh. So I was thinking of writing a lovely I am thankful for post about how much I am thankful for my Family and my knowledge of the Gospel but I decided that even when I'm 80 I'll probably remember that I was thankful for my family etc when I was in my 20s so I'm going to record the stuff I probably won't remember

Here is my I am thankful for list...

How cute Will and Zac look when they are wrapped up in a towel after the bath.

That I can call Amy and not have to have a reason and that I don't have to worry about cancelling plans or even making plans

That Bethy doesn't complain when I want her to help me cook

That Mum and Dad took me to England!

Dads tour guide knowledge

Mum can keep a secret from everybody

Cuddles from Jacob

Zacs I'm concentrating/going to sleep humming song

how Will does a little dance in front of the toys that he likes in target

Joshies smart remarks, make me laugh

Explanations of the world from Avey

How Hayds says hello Jewey-ette

that Chels got as fat as me (sorry chels but it makes me happy)

That La is going to experience the marathon of sleeplessness we call parenthood

for anthropologie, even if I can't afford anything there it is nice just to see all the beautiful things

for netflix and hulu

for the smell of lamb roast

for the little squeaky sound a guitar makes when the player changes chords

for Amy Butler Fabric

for fabulous friends here in the big city who inspire me to conquer new things

William, William.

um I think this is really cute but you probably won't so save your time and stop reading.

Whenever we go to Amys house, Will always finds a toy any toy before we leave and asks to borrow it. Today Will asked if we could borrow Jacob, we explained to him that we didn't have a crib for him to sleep in. Will left dissapointed. As we got into the car he asked if I could help him build a crib.

He asked the other day when we picked Bethy up from the airport and dropped her at Amys house if we could "keep her at my house"

After playing at Dawsons house
Will: Mum why'd you come back?
Me: its time for bed, we gotta go home.
Will: I want to stay at Jillians
Me: Well everyone there is going to be too
Will: oh ok well tomorrow when we wake up I'll go to Hazels house and knock on the door
Me: is hazel your friend
Will: Yes
Me: because she like cars and dinosaurs just like you
Will: Yes and spiderman friends forever! zac is friends with lucy and dawson
Zac: and black spiderman

The Future

I was getting ready to go see Harry Potter I walked into the living room and saw the future.

I'm not sure if it was because Zac is holding his pizza the regular way or if it was a backwards case of deja vu but I know I'll be seeing this same picture in the future probably with more pizza.

Baby Logan

After seeing a picture of Baby Logan...

Will: is he at the doctors?
Me: at the hospital most babies a born there
Will: whats that thing on his arm?
Me: I don't know. Isn't he cute?
Will: uh huh can i pet him like Jacob
Me: You can hold him, hes our cousin just like Jacob
Will: oh so we can borrow his toys.



Zac: oooohhh baby logan?
Me: Yes
Zac: aunty chelsea?
Me: Yes
Zac: oooooo I love baby logan, Weeyam (william) baby logan!

Happy Birthday William

William is 4!

yes zac just ate some of the cake. He is trying to look innocent and Will is giving him the what are you doing look.

Mr. William,

• I named you after Fitzwilliam Darcy, thank me later for dropping the fitz and don't tell your father he thinks it was William the conquer/William Wallace/Prince William etc.
• You can identify a Porsche, Skyline, Corvette and Lamborghini but have trouble with your colours.
• you are forever asking "where does that come from" and my most common answer ends with "and then we buy it at a shop.
• You tell Zac what to say so you can have the conversation with him that you want to.
• You are a very kind hearted boy
• You love to run, jump and wrestle
• Your favourite game is "Monsters" which involves announcing you are Ironman/Spiderman/Astroboy/Super William/Batman and jumping on Dad.
• You still say Computer with a french accent
• You are really good at playing Forza2 motorsport on Xbox.
• You love to read the scriptures - my favourite scripture of yours is "Jesus died and said be kind"
• You love dinosaurs, cars, sharks, crocodiles and motorbikes
• At bedtime you sing Jesus said love everyone and I love to see the temple almost every night.
• You ask me nearly everyday when we are going to the aquarium again. I say not today. You say Oh my grandpa will take me.
• You are a great big brother and always look out for Zac.
• Whenever we leave the YMCA you like to hold the door open for everyone until there is no one left in the hallway.
• I love it when you are trying to convince me to do/get something and you smile, raise your eyebrows and start nodding and say that's a good idea mum.

End of Soccer

Today was Williams last Soccer game. I think he kicked the ball maybe 3 times and still hasn't got the concept of which goal to score in but he did get a trophy. I thought he'd be really proud of the trophy since we have never had anything like it before but all he wanted was his after game snacks. Then after the snacks were eaten he was excited about his trophy.

Will in action

Will and his Coach

Sweet Trophy!

Halloween Party

I didn't grow up celebrating Halloween and never thought my kids would ever celebrate it but since we are in America I figured we should go to the Trunk or Treat ward activity. I have to admit that I wasn't very excited about bringing home all that candy, having to try and stop the boys (or me) from eating it all, and dressing up just seems like a lot of work (too many ballet recitals?) So you can imagine my delight when our awesome friends decided to throw a Halloween party! It was perfect! yummy Halloween treats, fun Halloween games and lots of friends to play with.

William went dressed as a fireman and Zac was McQueen. I didn't manage to get a picture of them in the costumes because it got too hot for Will to keep his on and Zac didn't love running around inside McQueen. The boys and I had heaps of fun. Best Halloween ever!

I'm not quite sure whats going to happen when the boys realize they have been missing out on trick or treating and free candy for all these years.

uh this was the best picture I could get for a group mostly 5 and under

Will asked me multiple times for a light saber and I'm pretty sure Zac thinks that K&S are the real Woody and Jesse.

Oil Ranch

This year we went to the Oil Ranch with some friends from the ward. The Oil Ranch is a city kids farming fantasy land. You can ride trains/tractors/haybails/horses, they have animals that you can touch! an Indian village, pumpkin patch, jumping castles, playgrounds, petting zoos and mazes. (Thank you Jillian for taking pictures!)

Married

Mummy Rule #6
You can eat on the couch when you are married.

Me: Hey Will are you going to get married?
Will: Pfffft. Yes.
Me: Where?
Will: In the temple. Then I can sit on the couch all day.

Going to the Zoo

We have been going to the zoo lately since the weather has been so nice. William loves the jaguars, Isaac wants to pet everything and both of them like fake elephants.



While I was looking at this

see how cute the baby elephant is?

I turned around to find this

no interest in watching the real elephants.

and we haven't been to see the dinosaurs at the zoo yet

(which happened to be on my summer to do list)(this is the only dinosaur you don't have to pay to see)

New Big Boy Beds

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Berensen Will and Zac are now the proud owners of big boy beds complete with drawers underneath. And thanks to Grandma Gordon Williams bed looks fabulous with his new quilt.

Soccer

Will started playing Soccer at the Y. Last week he scored two goals one for his team Kansas city and one for the other team which is an improvement from last week when he scored 2 goals for the other team and only one for us.

Romeo, Romeo and Oxford.

Mary Ardens farm was the first stop on my last day in England. Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mummy and they have set her farm up just like it would have been in 1573. All of the people working there were dressed up and we supposed to talk to you like it was 1573 but we were pretty much the only people there so they didn't. Mum, dad and I spent the majority of the time in the kitchen talking to the ladies there. They were cooking the farm workers lunch with the equipment and food a working farm would have had in 1573. it was really interesting to find out what kind of food they were eating and how they cooked, you know without electrical appliances and supermarkets.







After Shakespeare's Mums house we went to Anne Hathaway's house, Shakespeares wife. Who was older than him and preggers when they were married. We also went to the house Shakespeare was born in. It amazes me that these houses are still around. A ton of famous writers in history have been to Shakespeare's birth place. I guess they thought it would be inspiring.

Dad checking out the Hathaway Home which has stood the test of time rather well.

We kept driving through the countryside to Chippingham Campden where we found the church and Dad started the search for one of his ancestors. Turns out that she was baptist and not buried in the church cemetery. what a rebel. However its kinda sad since i think it is the nicest cemetery I've ever been to and it has my new house across the street.

After not finding our relatives we stopped at Blenheim Palace for a quick look (meaning we didn't go inside). This place was given to the Duke of Marlborough after he won a big fight. Which i would say is very generous of her because after seeing Windsor castle and Buckingham I would have kept Blenheim and given those away. Really it was gorgeous and I was sad that we didn't have enough time to look through it. oh and Winston Churchill was born there.

This is just part of the house. I'd need a fancy lens to get it all in one shot.

The lake and the monument way back there.

Off to Oxford. Mum and I went on the most informational tour of Oxford. Seriously no juicy tidbits at all. The best piece of information was given by Josh before we went. He told me that Bob Hawke had the drinking record at one of the pubs (for all you Americans reading bob Hawke was the prime minster of Australia) which explains why he was/is such a idiot. Oh and in the middle of the tour it started raining! the first rain we had for the entire trip. so the only picture I took in Oxford was of a rainbow. I'll have to go back there because the Alice shop was closed and by the time we found Blackwell's book store they were closed too.

Oxford Rainbow

We drove back to Heathrow, I packed my bags and lamented the fact that I can't pack up my family and move them to London. Maybe I'll convince Sean to become a writer then we could move anywhere. Or maybe I could start dreaming about vampires and write a bestseller then cast the ugliest guy to play the lead in the movie but tell everyone hes super hot now and make enough money to live in London.