The Best-est Day Ever!!!!

Making memories on Mother's Day!

I feel so blessed to be a mother!!! Yes, at times it hasn't been the most glamorous job, not to mention the time and effort it takes to raise our 4 wonderful children!

However, when the phone rang yesterday and it was BRITTANY calling from Mesa, Arizona I nearly wee'd myself! For those of you who don't know - Brittany is currently serving a mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in Mesa. She will be out for a total of 18 months and has completed nearly 12 months already! We only get to speak to her on Christmas and Mother's Day, so it was a real treat to hear her voice and hear the spanish "accent" that she has developed. (Brittany is in a spanish speaking mission)

A very EXCITED Mum!!! Trying to keep my emotions in check!

Next Jeremey got his turn to speak to Brit!
During parts of the conversation they were speaking spanish - so not sure what was being said! I do know that he misses his sister but is so proud of her!
The the PAPA got his chance to speak to his daughter!

What a proud daddy!!! He truly is wrapped around BOTH his daughters little fingers!!!

Here is PIXIE waiting patiently for her turn to talk!!! HAHAHA

Then to make my day even better I recieved a call from HILLARY and then right after I hung up with her GREG called!!! I truly am blessed to have such wonderful children!!!! My day couldn't of been any better and I couldn't of asked for more!

Spending the day with the love of my life, Ed and my favorite youngest son, Jeremey..... Getting calls from my 3 kiddos that are stateside, chocolates from Germany (Jeremey had a track meet there and brought some home for me!) and a statue of BIG BEN!!!!! My day was PRICELESS!!!
Thank you for loving me for ME and allowing me to be your Mother and friend!!! I feel like I am on top of the world!!!

SMOOCHES - Mum

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

We are finally back online!!!

We are finally re-connected to the cyber world! We have recently "moved house" (as they say over here in England) and believe you me, getting your cable and internet switched to your new location is a "ROYAL" pain!!! However, we are finally (after 3 weeks) back online!!!
Over the next few days or weeks I will try to update what has been going on in our lives...
Pictures of our new home, Jeremey,his date, and the CMR Prom, Fish and his Track adventures, not to mention the adventures of Ed and Nancy returning to the college classroom!!!
So stay tuned, check back as often as you'd like...
Until next time.... We hope all is well in your neck of the woods!!!

Nancy had a little lamb.....

Living in England has it's "perks" believe it or not.... Where we currently live is in a small village called Summerbridge in the Nidderdale/North Yorkshire area. This is a farming community outside of Harrogate.
We have been waiting for the arrival of S P R I N G here on the island as the gloomy days are getting quite old! Well, I believe that although it hasn't SPRUNG it surley is on it's way! The sheep have arrived back in the fields.... We are seeing lots of baby lambs with their mums grazing in the pastures as we go to and from the base.
From our deck we have a great view of a farmers pasture below us and so I thought I would share this sign of spring with all of you....
We had a bit of "mist" (fog) this morning and hopefully it will burn off as the day progresses! Oh, how I miss the sunshine!!!


Soon these views will be gone as we are in the process of moving to another village a bit closer to Harrogate. We won't have these views but we WILL have a garage, back and front yard (garden), 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms (that's heaven in it's self! as currently we have only 1!) & our OWN driveway!
I am hoping to take some other photos this week of the daffodils and crocuses that are blooming in the area that are just gorgeous!!!
Has Spring sprung in your neck of the woods?

Oh how we MISS Germany!!!

After all the basketball games were completed and we were on our way back to the airport we took a bit of a detour to some of our "old stomping grounds!"
For those of you who don't know (not sure if anyone but our children read this blog) we spent 7 wonderful years in Germany... 3 while Ed was serving in the Air Force and 4 for Ford Aerospace as a contractor after completing his time with the AF... We were stationed at Hahn Airbase which is no longer in existence over there, however, they have turned the once base into a small airport! So when we fly from England to Germany we land at what we know as our old home!
We feel right at home everytime we are there... Something just clicks for us, maybe it's the people, the scenery, the bread or the FOOD! Of course it is the Food!!! We had our fill of Schnitzel and Spatzel.... Black Forest Cake, Apfel Strudel, German Breakfasts - YUMMM - O!!


Our first stop was at Traben-Trarbach... This is down on the Mosel River and in what's known as "Wine Country!" Traben is on one side of the river and Trarbach is on the other...

This ice cream shop was one of our favorite places to take the kids for a yummy treat! Of course they don't remember it - but it had the BEST ice cream!!! We were there on a Saturday afternoon and they were closed.... Everything in Germany closes at 1pm on Saturday and re-opens on Monday morning!!! How awesome is that!!!

This is another photo of the Mosel... Some of the scenery that just reminds me of the time we were there! We spent a lot of Saturdays along the Mosel having a picnic while watching and feeding the ducks. Then off for a walk and some ice cream!

This is a photo of the Cochem Castle which is also along the Mosel... We used to go on school field trips to a lot of the castles in the area when our oldest son Greg was in Elementary School over there... I have fond memories of climbing the windy cobblestone streets to the castle while I was 8 months pregnant with our 3rd child Hillary!!! It was great exercise, but it sure didn't make her come on time!!!

Just another photo of the whindy narrow streets that make Germany so Fairytale like! We had an enjoyable time walking around some of the villages which brought back wonderful memories of our 4 littke ones - which are now 4 BIG ones!!! Where did the time go.... :0)

We are hoping that one day soon we will be able to take all 5 or 6 of our kids back to Germany... This includes our son-in-law and most likely by the time we can afford to do so we will have a daughter-in-law too!

We have truly been blessed with the opportunity to live overseas. It hasn't always be the easiest of decisions but it has always been the right one.... We will now have more memories to add to our portfolio as we travel to various places while we are in England....

We have been to Tenerife (Canary Islands), Germany, Scottland, as well as various places in England. We hope to visit Egypt, France, Corfu, Italy, Ireland and many more! We do miss America and come back often, however, this is a time we may never have again so we must take advantage of it while we can!!!!

I could do with a In & Out Burger "animal style" and fries though!!! YUMMMM -OOOO :0)

Championships in Germany - FINALLY!

I am finally getting my act together and posting some photos of Jeremey at Europeans this year. He played well and his ankle hung in there and didn't give him TOO many issues...

We all arrived in Germany on Tuesday the 17th of Feb. Ed & I via the airplane (Ryan Air) and Jeremey and the Mustangs via "THE BUS!" They traveled for approx 18+ hours, crossing the chunnel, going through France, Belgium and into Germany!

Our first game was on Wednesday morning at Mannheim... They boys seemed to be on their game even though none of them went to bed before 2 am!!!

Here are the "supportive" Dad's! (aka the "Vocal" bleacher commentators!!!) If somethings NOT called right - WATCH OUT!!! They will certainly let you know! However, they are some of the best guys I know!!!

This is the second year that Jeremey (FISH) has played for the Mustangs. This year he played a lot more and has been a real team player! He has had the most injuries this season (at least ones that require a visit to A & E - emergency room for those that don't speak British!) LOL

We are now finished with Basketball and on to TRACK!!!! He is quite the runner and hopefully we will get through Track season without a trip to the ER!!! Fingers crossed!

Oh, by the way we came in 4th place out of 8 teams. We played Siganella Italy, Incirlik Turkey, Rota Spain, and the Netherlands!!! We had an enjoyable time and looking forward to next year!!!

European Basketball Championships!!!!!

We are heading to Germany tomorrow morning bright and early for this years High School Basketball Championships! They are being held at Mannheim Airbase which is not too far from Heidelberg. Ed & I are flying, however, Jeremey and all of the team players are being BUSED to Germany this year!!!! It will take us approx 1 1/2 hours to arrive but their ride will be a whopping 18+ hours!!!! Sure glad we are flying!!!!

We are hopeful that Jeremey (FISH) will get some playing time - as some of you know he RE-injured his ankle at Fridays game! We spent 3 hours in the A&E which is their Emergency Room.... Xrays showed that it was NOT damaged anymore then he had previously damaged it 6 weeks ago in London... So, fingers crossed with a bit of taping and a strong ankle brace he will be able to finish out the season...

We will be returning to England late Saturday evening - and to our humble abode in the wee hours of Sunday (4 or 5 am). We will post photos and info on how the Mustangs did this year! So far so good - with a bit of luck and NO more injuries we could come out on TOP!!!!

Auf Wiedersehen!!