Trip with the girls

Just wanted to give a quick update of my trip to England. Most people who know me know that England is my favorite place on earth. I certainly enjoyed this trip. I got to drive on really narrow roads, see Stonehenge, eat digestives, eat English sausage, see lots of castles and old buildings, travel to Paris and see Wicked.

Stonehenge

Roman Baths in Bath


Abby in Bath



Notre Dame


Eiffel Tower




Parliment in London




Yeomen at Tower of London

Angie is in England!!

Angie is touring around England this week with some friends and I am attempting to manage the boys by myself. If you are a wife and giggling at the thought of your husband trying to do it all you may be on to something.

I am beginning to suspect that there is a lot more that goes on at home than I am aware of. Apparently there is no a meal fairy that cooks meals, or dishwasher fairy that emptys the dishwasher or homework fairy that tutors the boys through their homework. I think Angie may do some of that stuff!?!?!?

Little things have already stopped working right. Angie was gone less than one hour when I looked up at church and noticed our oldest passing the sacrament with white ankle socks underneath his suit pants. Clearly something that someone (Angie) would have noticed and fixed under normal circumstances!

This morning was our first school morning on our own. I had to make executive decisions about after school activities (yes), book reports (next week when your mother is back) and whether or not batting practice in the backyard could take the place of piano practice this week (yes again--sorry Angie!).

Luckily for me, I have low expectations of myself this week. I will consider the week a success if we can make it through the week with the boys wearing clean clothes to school every day and without starving one of the pets (goldfish or Shaggy the dog). I am going to give myself bonus points for anything else that gets done such as laundry, boys making it to scouts on time, boys playing less than 2 hours of Guitar Hero per day or us eating out no more than once per day.

So if you see my boys wearing the same clothes this week, you will know I have failed miserably and there is a good chance that one or more pets at our house needs to be replaced.

Thank you in advance for your prayers!!

-Chris

Anarchy in the UK

So poor Angie had to deal with us driving all day last Sunday back from vacation in California just in time for me to get on an afternoon flight to London. I was gone an entire week for business. It was tough leaving Angie and the boys right after vacation (not that it's easy to leave any time!).

I spent the first couple of days just outside of London. I realized as soon as I landed that I had accidentally left my jacket in hot Phoenix and it was rainy every day in London. A cab driver and I shopped a thrift shop and I found a nice wind breaker for 5 pounds (about 10 bucks). It had a little school insignia on the jacket but I didn't worry about it until I got back to the office and looked up the name of the school and realized it was a school for teenage boys with emotional and behavioral problems! How fitting, some of you are thinking! I just hope that people who saw me walking around with it thought that I was a teacher and not a student :)

I did get into London for some meetings but I also had a nice dinner with my friend Adam who lives in London. He and I started at the same law firm in New York many years ago. Later when Angie and I were in Frankfurt, Adam's future wife, Karen, was dating him in London on the weekends and working in Frankfurt during the week, where we met her also. Anyway Adam and Karen now have a cute house in London and a cuter new baby and it was wonderful to catch up. It was also fun to walk the London streets again and see the tourist sites: parliament, Westminster, Big Ben, etc. Mostly I missed touring with Angie!

Later in the week I went North for several days. I did get to play hooky on a Friday afternoon and trained to York, a beautiful old city. Here is the York minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Europe outside of Italy:

Here is a medieval street in York called the "Shambles". Notice the rain and the crooked buildings down the street:

On the train I met a man from Zimbabwe, where the inflation is so bad because they just keep printing money. You have to spend money as soon as you get it because prices double every day. He gave me a 50 billion dollar note, currently worth about 50 pence (or $1):

On Saturday I went to a football/soccer game in Newcastle. The Newcastle fans were in a near riot with protests and chanting because the coach had just quit and fans blame the owner so it was a lot of fun and quite a scene! Here I am with my new football friends (notice the Newcastle team Jersey and school jacket):


The home team lost 2-1, but I did get to see Michael Owen play. He is a fantastic player for both Newcastle and the English National team. He is also very popular with the girls. Angie is a fan of his soccer skills!


I am so excited to be back home and have the best wife for putting up with trips like this. Traveling just isn't as fun without her and I can't to get back to England with her!!

Highland Games

A couple of weekends ago we were in Flagstaff watching Cam play baseball. While we were there, Flagstaff was having their Highland Games. We had the best time! We ate lots of food- scones and sausage rolls, we watched men throw telephone poles, bought the boys swords, and bought Chris a Kilt. Good times were had by all.

Weekend Away

My sweet husband surprised me (although the way I was surprised is a story all by itself) with a weekend away. This was no ordinary weekend away. He had managed to get tickets to the biggest game in English football. That's right we were on our way to England. It was really a crazy trip- We flew-went to the football game-and flew home. It was a blast and I got to see my favorite team play. For those of you who don't know we are huge soccer fans and I love the English team Manchester United. So we were off for a weekend in Manchester. A huge thanks to the Richins for watching our kids. Here are the picts. Thank you Chris- I love you!!!

Skiing in Utah

Okay- so I am watching basketball and feeling a little guilty for wasting the day. So I figured I would blog a little. On our vacation we spent Tuesday skiing. Chandler, Jackson and Christopher took lessons in the morning and then spent the afternoon skiing with Chris. We were lucky and spent the day with the Shaws, Mom, and Laura. The boys loved skiing and I loved watching them. I only had a little frostbite by the end of the day.

Christopher was ready to ski!

This is Chandler's first run down the hill.

Jackson hated the lessons- he knew how to ski as soon as he put them on.

Chandler and Michael had a good time together.

My talented husband can now email and ski at the same time.

Our Trip to Scotland

A couple of months ago, Chris and I went on our first vacation without boys. We flew into Manchester, England and drove up to Scotland. We spent 8 amazing days exploring castles, driving all over Scotland, and having interesting discussions about food. I really did love Scotland, but I have to say that my heart belongs in England.

We visited a village where Chris' ancestors came from, Loch Ness, the Highlands, Culloden, Stirling and Edinburgh. On our last day in England I got to visit Old Trafford- the stadium where Manchester United plays.

I was very excited until we realized that they were locking the doors as were trying to start shopping. I think I actually started crying.

We had a great time together and it made us realize that the two of us need to take more vacations.