{Flashback Friday - England}

**In an attempt to blog the unblogged I'm going to do some flashback Friday posts. When I post
the next flashback the current one will be moved to it's chronological date within the blog.

First up . . . I thought since my parents came home from their mission to England this week,
I should post a few details and pictures from my trip to visit them last December.



It has been 18 months since I have seen my parents and it was so good to see them. I debated long and hard  about taking Sarah because my parents haven't met her yet, but in the end I went child free : ) I'm grateful for an amazing husband who stepped up and took care of everything, including a sick Sarah so that I could go.

December is not tourist season in Manchester England and many of the sites were closed for the winter. My favorite place we were able to visit was Chatsworth House. I won't go into the history but they used this house to shoot the scenes of Mr. Darcy's Pemberley Estate in 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. It looked so different with the snow and all the Christmas decor. I wasn't able to get any good images to really represent the sculpture gallery because they had it really dark with heavy decorations and blue lighting. My favorite piece of the day was the Veiled Lady. She's carved out of marble and is simply beautiful. The great dining hall was incredible. Can you imagine being invited to have dinner in such a grand room? Can you imagine the clean up afterward? All the delicate intricacies and art throughout the house were amazing it's hard to think it was actually someones home.

Most of my trip was spent enjoying time with my parents. I think the last I had this much one on one time with them was when I was two and didn't have any sisters or brothers yet : ) They were able to take off a couple of days from the mission office so we could relax and see a few things. We watched movies, did a little shopping, and saw a few tourist attractions. I even crocheted a hat and finished a book. It was nice to go to church with them and meet friends that have been so good to my parents. Thanks for a wonderful time mom and dad

{Flashback Friday - Hannah's Ninth}

**In an attempt to blog the unblogged I'm going to do some flashback Friday posts.
When I post the next flashback the current one will be moved to it's chronological
date within the blog. I thought since Hannah's 10th birthday will be coming up in a
couple of months, I better get around to posting details from the 9th : )




Hannah and I decided to go with a cooking theme for her 9th birthday. She's done a little sewing and has wanted to do more so we decided we would make aprons for all her guests. We had fun going to JoAnn's together to choose the fabric and ribbon. One side was the turquoise with a striped section along the bottom, the other side was brown with polka dots. We used ribbon for the neck strap and ties. With guidance, Hannah did most of the cutting and sewing and ironing. I was really proud of all the time and effort she put into the project.

In the process of making chocolate chip cookies, we did a little staging for an invitation photo. Her chocolate cake was designed to match the aprons. We started things off by making dessert. The girls each frosted their cupcakes, sliced marshmallows for the petals, arranged them on the cupcake with a yellow mini marshmallow for the center, and added colored sugar as a finishing touch.

Next up, we let the girls make individual pizza's. They rolled the dough, spread the sauce and added the toppings. We had a little lesson on getting things in and out of the oven and then let the girls try it out with there pizza's. Some had done this before, but for others it was a first.

While the pizza baked, we started on smoothies. We had a few fruits for the girls to choose like strawberries, bananas, blueberries and pineapple. They followed a recipe to add the various ingredients and used the blender to mix the smoothies.

When everything was prepared, they had all sat down to enjoy what they had made. They laughed and talked and laughed. There was lots of 9 year old girl craziness and silliness and fun. After dessert and opening a few gifts, I sent them all out to jump on the trampoline while they waited for their parents. Each girl went home with their decorated cupcakes, an apron and a mini dessert cook book by Betty Crocker we had found in the dollar bins at Target.

After all of Hannah's friends had gone, we continued the celebration with a few family gifts. There were doll clothes for her American Girl doll, speakers for her MP3 player, nail polish, a brush and comb, and a NEW BIKE! What a fun birthday celebration for our wonderful girl.