Bolsover Castle

Our First Castle

The weather finally warmed up here in England it felt like summer for about a week and now its cold again. While it was warm we decided to make the best of our Memorial Day weekend and see a castle. They where having a medieval event and it had so many fun activities for the kids. We decided to leave the stroller home on this trip and honestly it was the best decision ever. I don't know if anywhere is completely stroller friendly. It was honestly easier without it. This Castle was totally kid friendly and Fun for the family



such an amazing view



A whole room just full of sand for the kids to play in. It was inside. so nice to be out of the sun

He looks so big with all the armor on.
My Knight

So beautiful

Watch out

Sheringham Beach

On June 5th so Tuesday my husband woke me up at 6am and told me that the weather is beautiful outside and if i wanted to go to the beach today is the day. He was so right i couldn't ask for a better more beautiful day. 60degrees but the sun was shining. Jacob is on break from school and I really wanted to do something fun with the kids. A negative about having your kids in British school is most holidays aren't the same as my husbands.
This was the 1st trip i have ever made by myself with the kids. It was only a 2 hour drive so not bad thank goodness for DVD players. 1 movie and we are there. I knew England was an island, but i never realized how close the coast really was. I am loving it more more here everyday. I wish it rained less but the sun is up from 4 am til 10pm and some might think that is a negative but We love how much we can get done in a day. I honestly wish it would stay like this.

He was so determined to get to the water

Waiting for the Train

 Our 1st Trip To London

Jonathon had Monday off work since it was Columbus Day, so we decided to go exploring. It was scary but a lot of fun. We weren't in a rush so even though every tire on our new stroller was flat we didn't care taking a detour in a unknown city to find a bike shop to put air in the tires on foot.

We started our day kind of late but anyone who knows us, knows that's normal for us. 

First time on the Tube

We decided to take the tube into London. The kids loved it plus it saved us gas and it only cost at 16 pounds for the entire day of riding buses and trains. Ill be perfectly honest the transportation system is very confusing for a visitors. We got lost so many times.  luckily the people here are so very friendly and helpful. 

Always wanted to see a real one of these.

I was scared to make this trip at first because we had a couple people on base tell us we were crazy for going into London with 3 children and a large stroller. They compared it to New York city. They told us the people were always in a rush and  very rude. honestly that's how Disney World was no one cares about taking turns or being nice. if you stop to tie your shoe you are going to get ran over, but London was not like that at all.  

So Beautiful. Big Ben. My Husbands attraction he always wanted to see.



The people were so helpful. we got our stroller fixed for free, people stopped so we could take pictures and would even offered to take pictures of all of us together.  Only bad thing is everything is expensive, so we just did some sight seeing. Good enough for us .there was so much to look at. we had such a good time that we are going to head back on Wednesday  to go to a History and science Museum which is free, so Yea.

We would love to do the tour bus and some of the other attractions but we have no problem waiting for discount tickets from the base.  

We are definitely going on the London eye next time.

London is amazing but sad thing is that it is not wheelchair friendly there are elevators but most of them are out of order and a pain to get to and very narrow. we took the stroller on them a couple times but we still had to fold it up. Lots and lots of stairs to get anywhere. 

its hard to take children but they are free so why not take them. 5 and under free for transportation and rides so great. it will be nice when they get older, so we don't have to push them and carry them. But my kids are skinny and eat like birds so there cheap taking them to eat. Cant wait to do it again and again.

Wouldn't you love to spend your day doing this



Your art will be remembered forever.





The Longest week of my Life

We have been in England for a little over a week and to be honest it feels like forever. Its been a really hard adjustment, but finally we have our feet on the ground.
Our trip started out great and sad. we had great friends and family take us to the airport, so much help. The Airplane ride went great. we met a very friendly woman name Tammy who traveled with us from Little rock all the way to London. She is also military and was so helpful it made life easy.

Jonathon and I didn't sleep much on the plane but our kids did great. no crying fits or anything. The flight attendants where so incredibly helpful.

I Wish I could of stayed on the plane and never got off....

We finally arrived and realized all we had was each other and 3 children.  plus 20 pieces of luggage.
I packed way to much, they give you 3 bags a piece for traveling over seas and I packed so much that we could live for months without anything else.

Lesson learn its not always a good thing to over pack.

UP for over 24hours now. Our cell phones didn't work the moment we landed. it took asking several people to figure out how to use their pay phones here. And we had no idea if our dog landed or how we were going to get her and all of us and our things to the base.
so I busted out my laptop thinking its like the united states free wi fi in airports, ya not so much even the Internet in public places cost money.

My husband left to go find a taxi that would fit all of our belongings and dog.

move out Tanner I need that spot



Kids are so exhausted passing out anywhere.
Can I fit in there too.


Another word of advise for our military friends always know what your credit limit is for your gov travel card. Ours was not a whole lot and we were declined.

Good we had a little money in our pocket for a $300 taxi ride.

Another lesson learned always have a sponsor. we did not get one and so we had no hotel room when we showed up to the base.

lost track of time now and very cranky. don't know our left from right out here. no car, no phone, no food and no stroller.
had to get rid of because it wouldn't fit in taxi. doesn't sound like a big deal but being a mom with 3 children a stroller is my lifesaver.

we finally got into a hotel for 1 night and another room the next day.  life is really hard right now. only food we can get at this point is whatever jonathon can go get on foot. don't know where anything is and even the phone in the hotel room charges 25 cents a min.

I WANT TO GO HOME.... LOTS OF TEARS.

the next day did not get any better we where kicked out of our hotel room at 11am and couldn't check into the next one til 2. so we lived outside the hotel on a picnic bench for 3 hours with all my kids dog and mountain of luggage. can life get any worse oh yes we had to switch hotels and do this all over again 2 days later.

So Sad.  No rooms for pets. Sariah has to be in a kennel for 30 days.
We will miss you.
luckily military is paying for it.

positives we borrowed a car Friday from a good friend Derick who just moved here a month ago. But i cant drive here its crazy being on the other side of the road.  Ive never seen my husband be so mad and stressed at me while teaching me to drive.  I feel like Im 16 years old all over again.

we are into Saturday now got into a hotel room that we will be in til we find a house. Yea. but way to tired to unpack. i packed a one day bag for all of us to share and our friend took our mountain of luggage to his place Friday night. met a member in burger king invited us over for dinner Monday night.


good Julianne is skinny because we ran out of her diapers so she had to wear newborn diapers. no leaks yea.

got our luggage Sunday mist you luggage.

I'm getting exhausted just remember the week we went through. But it has got a lot better I'm not completely unpacked yet but oh well. Were just going to have to pack up again soon

On Tuesday the 4th of Oct we bought a cheap land rover. Jonathon wanted a newer one but its hard when we have a house we are still paying for at home and utility bills plus nothing has sold car wise. so this $2000 car will have to do for right now.

Thursday we started house hunting, not fun, i never realized how small British houses are wow even if we only had 1 child it would be tight.

Friday yea I'm finally current on my blog.
Found a nice house today little back yard but at least it has one with a fence. 4 bdrm 1 bathroom. it will do and its in our budget.

Next on our list is a cellphone, stroller and definitely a GPS. soon to come.

Now we know where to go to church because we know were we are living. lots of members out here. 2 big temples with all day hours.

Cant wait to start traveling soon.

No more tears were doing great and really love the British people out here.

went shopping for the first time just for fun in a little village store. I just wish our dollar was worth more then their pound.

Love it.

Hate It Mommy.

I Will Not Green Eggs,

but Jacob will and he did.

Jacob would never eat eggs, no matter how we cooked them or what we topped them with. We felt as though we tried everything cheese, ketchup you name it. But then one day when i was helping at Jacob's school, I noticed The classic book we have all read, Green Eggs and Ham. That was the solution, Jacobs favorite color in the world is green and anyone who has been around him lately knows it. His favorute clothes, shoes,and every piece of art work is green. so he came home from school and we read the book together, before i could even finish the story Jacob was jumping up and down saying he would eat green eggs. so we made them as soon as we finished the book. And he loved them... Thank You DR. Seuss

What do I DO?

I dont know how but Julianne Got into food coloring, I have scrubbed and scrubbed any advise to get this girl clean.

Jacob's First day of School

Thursday was Jacobs 1st Day going to school and i have never seen a kid so excited about it. I thought to myself maybe he is so excited because he doesn't know what it is. Today is his 3rd day and he still loves getting up early and going, even when i go to pick him up at 2:30 after being there since 7 he still wants to stay. He just loves everything about school. especially nap time, his teacher always tells me he sleeps the hardest and they have to wake him up. I hope he stays this excited his whole life. My favorite part is picking him up and hearing the new adventures he has had with his teachers and friends.

This is our neighbor he was waiting for his bus and Jacob was so happy to see other kids where going to school too.

unfortunately Jonathon was out of town on Jacobs 1st day, but he was able to take him for day 2 so yea.

Get Out Mom

I Peeked in the bathroom to see why my kids where being so quiet and I got yelled at by Jacob to get out and close the door. I guess he was in the middle of potty training JuliAnne

Went So Quick

Final Class, 1 month went so quick now its up to me to take this new knowledge i have learned and master it at home.

cake decorating, cake 1

So I recently signed up for a cake decorating class at michaels. I have always had this hidden passion to be able to make beautiful birthday cakes and maybe one day wedding cakes, Ive done little things here and there but i knew i needed some professional guidance and direction. The first night was just basics; how to make frosting, different thickness, how to level a cake and of course how to frost a cake like a pro. The second night was more hands on for us. we had a lot of practice time making stars which i still need to practice on. stars sound easy, but to get all my stars to match in size was a hard task. then we worked on figure piping, which then the teacher wanted us to draw a cupcake. so here it is. it doesnt look very good to me, but for a first timer at least people can recognize its a cupcake.

JuliAnne's 1st birthday

So the day is here my baby is 1. Still not walking or standing alone, but quite a talker she is. she loves to say mama, dad, dog, off, and adam. We still are not sure on her eye color some days they look blue and other days they look brown one day they might make up their mind. She has 5 teeth and seems to always be cutting a new one. This year has gone fast sometimes i want her to walk and other days i tell myself not to push she will do it when she is ready. Happy Birthday JuliAnne we Love you.

I thought i would post some pics for you Ash. Its been so much fun being in arizona again with family and close friends. Jonathon will be home in less then two weeks and off to arkansas we go. I will miss everyone so much. Love you guys and hope to keep in contact with everyone. I have notice something while i have been here about best friends. Best friends could go days, months, or even years without seeing eachother and when they hang out its like they never were apart. I love it. Im grateful to have such wonderful life long friends in my life.

JuliAnne's 1st time swimming

I bought this for JuliAnne but jacob I guess thought it was his.



I couldn't pass up this ballerina swimsuit it was just too cute

Its been such nice weather lately so my sister and I decided to take everyone swimming it was a lot of fun. The water was freezing to me but Julianne and jacob didn't seem to care they loved it . It was hard to get them out to leave after 2 hours. my little fish kids. I wish we had a pool but then again i have enough maintenance to do.