England Day 1: Travel

As you can guess, I didn't sleep well the night before we left. I was so excited, but also incredibly nervous. I had never been so far away from home before, and I have never been away from Brian and the girls for so long. I also had no idea what to expect, or what was in store for me in the the next two weeks.

Our flight was suppose to leave from Las Vegas at 11:30. We were to have a short, 40 minute, layover in Detroit, MI. The plane was scheduled to land at Heathrow International airport, in London, at about 7:30 the next morning, September 22.

Brian got a call for a job the night before I was so leave, so we decided that I would drive the swagger wagon (the mini van) to the airport. He would get a ride to the airport later that afternoon, and bring it home so that we wouldn't have to pay for airport parking. I was up, of course, when he left. I then went over my bags about 900 times, paced the house 900 times, checked facebook 900 times and at 8:00 drove around the corner to pick up Patricia. We were allowing 3 1/2 hours to get there, and get checked in. Everything was going according to plan.

Then I got a flat tire on the freeway. During rush hour.

I can't change a tire. I guess it's one of those things that I should really learn how to do. Patricia had no idea how to change a tire either. I called Brian, but he was in Boulder City and there was no way that he would reach us in time for us to catch our flight. Patricia, Brian, and myself tried calling everyone we could think of, but since it was a Tuesday, everyone was at work.

So we called a taxi. Apparently, taxis are not allowed to pick up people on the freeway. So we called a tow truck, thinking if he could drive us to the repair shop, we could call a taxi from there. The soonest a tow truck could be there was 45 minutes. Not fast enough. We were really starting to panic.

Luckily, Brian got a hold of our friend Hyrum, and he was able to get us to the airport. We left the car on the side of the road, and Brian picked it up a couple of hours later when he was done with the Boulder City job. We got to the airport about an hour and 15 minutes before our flight.

We got checked in, checked our bags, made it through security and sat down feeling relieved that we had made it! Then we got called to the ticket counter.

Our flight had been delayed. Because of the delay, it meant that we would miss our connecting flight in Detroit. I was starting to think that God just really did not want me to go on this trip. But then they told me that they had worked out some different flights for us. We were to leave two hours later, on a plane to Minneapolis, MN. There would be a two hour layover, and then we would catch our connecting flight to Heathrow. We would land in London at about noon the next day, instead of 7:30. That really messed up our plans to tour London upon landing. We weren't to happy about that, but decided we could live with it as long as we could get on a dang plane! Then, the lady told us that to compensate us for our troubles, they were upgrading us to the exit row (more room) on our domestic flight and to first class on the international flight! We was positive that we could live with that!

We finally boarded our new plane. We took off, and landed without any further problems.

After landing, we had a couple of hours to kill, so we got a cup of coffee and chilled in the terminal waiting to board our plane to England. It seemed like FOREVER. Then, they announced that it had been delayed. I was not a very happy camper at this point. Luckily, it was only delayed about 45 minutes, and we would still land in London at the scheduled time.

By the time we were finally able to board the plane, it was about 9:00 PM (7:00 Vegas time). I hadn't really slept in over 24 hours, I had spent all day sitting around airports - I was really tired and ornery! But once we saw our seats on the plane, I felt alot happier! First class is AWESOME! There was two seats in the same space that fits three in coach, and there was so much leg room! You didn't feel cramped at all. The best part was, that the seats laid down flat, into a bed. And we got real pillows and blankets, instead of those crappy fleece throws and travel pillows that they have in coach. We were greeted on the plane with Champagne and orange juice! And when it came to the dinner, we were handed an actual menu, and served a three course meal with real silverware (not plastic) and cloth napkins. Being in first class made the next 8+ hours go by alot faster! I was actually able to get a couple of hours of sleep too!

England!

So apparently I have REALLY neglected the blog, lately. I am going to be working really hard on catching up. I have a couple of posts about summer and the first day of school... etc. But I am going to start with my recent trip (September 21 - October 5) to England before I forget any more of the details.
I am going to be making quite a few posts about England over the next few days. I have found that it is much easier to make a post about each day, and to try and lump it all together. I will just take a minute to say, that I had the most amazing trip and I am extremely thankful to everyone who helped make this trip possible: Patricia, my mom, Kirk, Reed, Josie, and Brian. It was truely a once in a lifetime opportunity!!!
I fell in love with England. It is such a beautiful country! Much of the culture is the same as ours, here in America. But it was also different in alot of ways. I am really excited to share my adventure with the blogging world!

I remember, so I'm voting...

Summer Break!

For better or worse, summer is officially here! Alot has happened so far!!!

May 21 - 23 we drove to Phoenix to visit Mike and Misty. I hate that our visits are so short! There are so many people that I would love to see but we really just don't have the time!

May 28 - 30 we went to Utah to pick up the boys and visit out family in Gunnison. While we were there, we made a trip to the Fayette Spring. The kids had lots of fun catching guppies, and swimming. The boys even caught a couple of leeches. YUCK!

The girls were officially done with school on June 2nd. And the were more than ready! Especially since their brother's were here and they had been out of school for a couple of weeks! Their last report cards were excellent! Ady had straight A's and Alysa had all A's and one B.

The following weekend, June 4-6, we went camping with our friends Jim and Kim, and their kids Justin, Kayla, and Jordan. The A/C in our house went out, the day before we left, and they had issued an extreme heat warning for the weekend. We were really happy to be on the mountain and not in the 116 degree weather with no A/C!!!

Oh June 23 - 27 the girls and I made the journey to Gunnison, again. We brought my friend Kim's daughter, Kayla along with us. Kayla had never been to Utah - let alone a really small town, before. So we showed her around. We went on the Sanpitch River walk to see the Sanpitch Dragon (a huge mural under the overpass), swimming at the Gunnison pool, picnicking in the park, fishing for Crawdads, to pet the baby calves at Yardley's dairy, saw some elk in Mayfield, and participated in the Sanpete County Relay for Life at the GVHS track.

Since my mom is a cancer survivor, she was asked to speak at the Luminary Ceremony at the Relay for Life. She gave an amazing speech. She had a TON of support from both sides of the family. All of her kids were there, except Craig, who is Pittsburgh for the summer. But Craig's wife Erika was able to get off work to join us. Kirk's kids RaShelle, Mariah, and Clint and his wife Celicia were able to make it too. Reed and Josie, Steve and Tina, and Kiersten were also there. It was fun to spend the entire night with both families! We stayed until 4 AM!

In between all of the little trips, we have been able to have alot of fun at home.

In June, I met my Aunt Syd and Cousin Jill for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Henderson. I haven't seen either of them in YEARS! We had alot of fun catching up!!! There's nothing better than great food, and wonderful company!

We have taken a couple of trips to the drive-in movies with the kids. The picture and sound quality is always bad, and it seems like we always end up parking next to some Mexican family with about 100 little kids that run around yelling in spanish through the whole movie... but we still love the drive in. It's super cheap, and it is just fun to sit outside to watch a movie. We have seen Eclipse, Despicable Me, and Toy Story 3 so far this summer.

On the 4th of July, we had a bunch of people over to BBQ. Taylor cooked steak for us, and made the yummiest fruit salad. People are STILL going on about how good his food was! After eating, we sat out in front and watched all the firework shows across the valley, and let the boys light a few that we had bought.

We took the boys in for eye exams, and EVERY one of them needed glasses. That means, that all eight of us now wear glasses. CRAZY!!!

That has been our summer, so far, in a nutshell!

Marc Kahre Day

Every year the girls' school host a celebration in honor of Marc Kahre - a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. It is a pretty big deal. They have hundreds of police officers at the school all day. In the afternoon, they have a parade. The police helicopter flies overhead while, cops cars, motorcycles, the K-9 units, police horses, Swat vans, etc. circle the field. Then they have a police K-9 demonstration.

This year, our good friend Jenn Finney happened to be visiting us. So, she and her two boys, Scott and Tagge got to go with us. My friend and neighbor Patricia, and her granddaughter, Lauren, also joined us!

Lauren and Brylee in the SWAT van

the kids petting a police dog

Tagge, Lauren, Scarlett (the little girl that I babysit), and Brylee

Bry and Lauren

Visit from Sarah Carter!

Sarah Carter made the journey from Minnesota to visit us for an entire week in April. I was so happy to see her again!


We didn't do a whole lot of exciting things while she was here. We spent a lot of time hanging out at home, and in the hot tub. She had just turned 21 in March, so we made sure to take a trip downtown. We ate at, Fellini's, in the Stratosphere - one of my favorite restaurants, and hung out on Fremont Street. A couple of days later, I took her out to play some blackjack. I won $5 - not much, but it's a whole lot better than losing five bucks!


I was sad to see her go. I really wish that Las Vegas was closer to the Twin Cities. Hopefully, sometime I will be able to visit her in the great state of Minnesota!

Pet-a-Palooza 2010

Every year in April, the radio station that we listen to hosts a "Pet-a-Palooza" at the Star Nursery Fields in Las Vegas. It's basically, an all day concert that people can bring their pet to. Best of all - it's only five bucks a person. This year, Orianthi, Kris Allen, Five For Fighting, and the Barenaked Ladies were playing. Being a HUGE 90's music fan, I was really excited to see The Barenaked Ladies.

Unfortunately, the wind blew all day and The Barenaked Ladies really sucked. But Five For Fighting was awesome, and we had fun checking out all the costumed dogs, playing the free games and getting our faces painted.

Five For Fighting

The Barenaked Ladies