July 26, 2011

Back in the US of A!

I had a great time in the UK and can’t say that I was in a hurry to get back to my responsibilities here at home, but I WAS glad to see Spence and my kiddos.  The moment we pulled into the Potato Farm it was back to life as usual…we stopped to do chores before we ever set foot at home.  As I looked around at the not-so-green landscape, I was still glad to be home.  Arizona has a charm all of its own and life out in Salado couldn’t be better!

Me and HonkyTonk.

DSCN1397_3242

They must be making fun of me because they are laughing their heads off and I don’t appear to be amused.

DSCN1400_3243

My baby girl, Reebles. She and Chase looked so tan to me!

DSCN1386_3236

Hayes was missing Ree so bad by the second week of our trip…he was dying to see her.

DSCN1368_3225

Here was the surprise they gave me the next day…a flying baby…so safe!  She loves it though, in the last photo, she’s waving to me…..

 

Don’t call CPS or I’ll ban you from my blog!

They’re Back!

As many of you know, Hayes and I took a trip to England to “bring” Spence’s parents home from their Leeds, England Mission.  We didn’t really go to bring them back, but we planned it so that we could spend their last week with them in Leeds and then travel together to London for a week.  We couldn’t have asked for better tour guides or travel companions.  They showed us a wonderful time and we fell in love with England, both the city and the countryside.  Leeds is in Northern England and is still a big city, but you would never know it.  We took trips all around Leeds to see castles and abbeys and beautiful countryside.  We loved our time in Leeds.  We were also able to see Jay and Trish in their “natural habitat” at the institute and meet all of the “kids” there.  It was so fun.  We also met their friends and neighbors.  Everyone was so sad to see them go; they made quite an impact on everyone they came into contact with. 

We then spent a week in the hustle and bustle of London, riding the tube and the train and walking and walking and walking! :) We saw tons of sites and saw some really cool shows and in general had a ball.  It was the experience of a lifetime.  I took close to 600 photos, so don’t expect to see the trip all in one post.  I will try to do them in lots of shorter posts.  And for those of you who will get bored of all of my trip photos, which will be most of you, feel free to skip them.  I will be using my blog as a little travel journal, so I’ll be adding all the details just so that I can remember it all…so it may get a little looooooong.  So if you find yourself rolling your eyes or nodding off, remember, this is the only journal I have (for the most part).

A very small sampling of my photos in and around Leeds:

DSCN0733_2931

DSCN0730_2928

DSCN0477_3151

DSCN0414_3192

DSCN0497_3168

DSCN0521_3041

DSCN0548_3068

DSCN0561_3080

DSCN0599_3118

DSCN0613_3132

DSCN0636_2952

DSCN0696_3007

DSCN0697_3008

DSCN0418_3196

On our way from the airport the first morning we got there, we drove past a man working his sheep with his border collie.  Jay said he had been hoping to see someone work their dog while he was in England, but had not seen it until that morning…what luck!