Happy Halloween!

William found his Pumpkin dad whilst walking home along the river last night. A pub crawl of people all things Halloween where delighted with William!




Sorry i haven't blogged a lot lately...iv been lazy. But some stuff iv been up to over last couple of months......

Had me some good veg that i grew my very own self. Lots of beans, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, more beans, more tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, carrots and onions.

Started evening classes in Clothes making and ceramics and LOVE it! I love going along and enjoying that feeling of school again, don't know why but i thrive in environments like that, love learning and love the social. Tried to be cool on first day of dress making class with all the other cool stylish girls.....couldn't figure out why they where all getting perfectly straight lines and mine looked like id been on the gin all night...finally figured out the foot of the sewing machine (the thing where the needle goes), was up in the air and also didn't see that there are guide lines on the machine! May have to take another term in this subject!
Also tried to be cool in ceramics, got my first pinch pot to big and thin and it started to split...decided to save it by being arty and abstract and gathered it together to make it look intended. Week later went to collect pot. Was shamefully embarrassed to admit it was mine as it looked like William had made it! Teacher made me keep using it to practice slip and glazes on so had to carry it round for a few weeks after too!

Anthony moved his office into shed. He loves his man space now. And i love not sharing Williams room with Anthony's office! It was necessary for our marriage to continue! So we did a big clear out and made some cash at a car booty! I was amazed at the magpie people who bought all our junk!



Love Autumn. Love Love Love it! Love taking Autumn walks in the parks, wading through the leaves and the colours! London looks great in autumn.
Some pics of a sunset along the river Thames behind our house.

Every group of friends should have a kelly boy!

Kelly boy, you are wasted in the police what ever it is you do there service, seriously are centre parcs paying you on the sligh??

OK so we are gearing up for what has become an annual winter trip to Centre Parcs. For the last hmm so many years (my first trip was 2004) we (meaning me and friends of mine), have organised a trip to centre parcs. At first we simply jumped on the band wagon of the furbancs' Christmas tradition, and when we where single we'd all pile in on floors etc...but each year we continue to go back as we multiply (babies...not aliens).

This is now mainly due to Kelly Boy who organisers it each year. If it wasn't for him well we would all be to lazy to sort it out and leave it too last minute where we then wouldn't be able to afford the late booking prices. But early bird Kelly now organises it a year in advance. I know I'm boring you but just check out how on top of it he is,
This is a facebook message he sent out today:

Kelly Boy 27 October at 12:56 Reply • Report
Ok, some more info...the lodge comes with one cot and one high chair. More are available at a cost, another high chair is £6, cot is £13. Please let me know if you need to order these items, we have a spare travel cot that we probably wont be using.

Last year some people complained of allergies, if this was down to dust then there's not too much we can do. I'm hoping this wont be an issue in the newer style lodges. If this was due to the duck down duvets, you can either bring your own or we can request synthetic during our stay, subject to availability.

There are some local shops, a good size tesco is a 2 min drive away, postcode IP27 0ER. A large sainsburys is a bit further, IP24 3QL, and a 24hr tesco with pharmacy and petrol the same distance, IP24 2RL. (kelly will love that bit!)

The postcode to use for Center Parcs is IP24 3TR. You can arrive anytime from 10am and use facilities, although the swimming can only be accessed from 2pm on arrival day. The gates open at 3pm for us to drive to the lodge, we will need to return our cars to the main car park soon after. From personal experience there is usually a fair bit of traffic soon after opening time.

Technically, due to the number of kids, we should be staying in two lodges, they will be expecting 2 under 2year olds and thats it. I will pre-check us all in so when you turn up at the gate just have the booking ref number and lodge number (found at beginning of this thread) and there shouldnt be a problem, we will have to kind of smuggle hudson and one more kid, either annabelle or eli, whichever one is 2 or over. They dont really go through the cars and check. (sorry for the length of this message)



Sheeeesh!

This is just one example of his SUPER centre parcs knowledge! haha.
So Bravo Kelly.. and i hope every one is lucky enough to have someone in their circle of friends who is organised enough to sort these things out other wise we'd never do anything! Thanks Kelly Boy!

oh OK, so for those reading who are wandering why i name Kelly's gender after his name, this is because Kelly, a Mormon English boy, happened to meet a Mormon English girl also called Kelly. Against the eerie Indiana odds(and really what are the odds), they fell in love and got married and now have a child called......Hudson! Not Kelly haha as if...they're not Hick ville! Anyway to differentiate between the two we now call them Kelly Boy or Kelly girl or as plural; The Kelly's.


So centre parcs here we come!

Amazon Kindle Commercial 2

I think this ones my fave...but then i change my mind. I just wanna see more! love 'em.

Amazon Kindle Commercial 1

I LOVE these Amazon Kindle adverts. Im a bit of a fan of stop motion illustration.

TV

For some interesting telly, check out The trouble with the Pope, and Jamie's American Food Revolution. Hopefully i wont be offending any of my american or catholic friends with these suggestions but they made for good TV.

And bless our Jamie, I love im I do, for all he did for our School Dinners here in Britain, but he gets some hard goin from the american town he's in. They just dont get him.

And id like to throw my tuppence worth in, as a mormon we live a commandment called the Word of Wisdom, which is where the none drinkin, smokin, drug takin part comes in, but it also advises good health, the clue is in the title of the commandment really, use Wisdom. Now us mormons are partial to a bit of cake and cookies and anything bakeable. Everyone knows the scenario of getting sick and someone pops round with a cake, makes sense, if SICK eat CAKE.

But there is a lot of food that will kill you as much as cigerettes can, as our Jamie explains.

And since my spell of seriously bad sickness, i did some of my own research and found links to all the additives in food these days as a likley contributor. And now im becoming one of those tree hugging foody health fanatic hippies as a result. But i genuinly believe its about time we all started to take more responsibility of what we are putting in our bodies. And we seriously cant trust the food companies since its a big fat money enterprise for them, just google aspartame to see what i mean!

on that healthy eating note, hypercrytically, have you tasted

GU Chocolate Souffle Puds??????

Because they actually do come from Heaven!! Seriously the best thing iv had all year, not a cheap indulgence mind at £3 for two pots! But pop 'em in oven for 13 precious minutes, let the dark chocolate aroma seduce you then cave in to those tasty babies. As the packaging states 'the rich chocolate is so big that it may well be all ü remember of the night. Still at least, ü'll be smiling". I was smiling. and now after several more purchases, I have to avoid the isle they are on every time i pop into my tesco express. I have run the scenario through my head of OD-ing on them as a way to stop loving them, trouble is I LOVE the scenario to much it would just incur complete addiction.

So Moral message of the day is Eat Smart Kids!

Now im going to finish my very buttery crumpet before it gets cold!

And Now the reason we came to Switzerland.....

The Wedding of Jess and Damien. And the most amazing wedding location Iv ever been too (i very much doubt it will ever be topped). It took place in Montreux, a stunning Swiss town built into the hills/mountain side overlooking the lake and more impressively big mountains.
Unfortunately after a superbly sunny week, it relentlessly poured down with rain on Saturday. However I still enjoyed the spectacular location and it didn't seem to dampen any ones spirits.
Jess looked amazing as did all the wedding party and I had such a giggle with my uni friends who I don't get to see as often, For some reason when ever Ruth and I get together we seem to revert back to our silly 18year old selves. I was sorry some of the others couldn't make it across! You where missed!
We started in a 15th century Church on the mountain side looking over the lake and mountains.


Then we moved on to The Victoria Hotel, also set in the hill side of Montreux, with beautiful gardens and views. At the hotel we enjoyed canopies and drinks as well as watching a a hundred doves fly off into the .....i want to say distance but i should really say fog.....they disappeared quite quick but i still enjoyed the novelty of it!
And then onto the CASTLE, or CHATEAU DE CHILLION! a famous Swiss castle on the lake at Montreux, dating back to the 1100's! That's right, older than ya gran for sure! This was AMAZING and by far the high light of the day for me. The guests had an hour to roam around this amazingly preserved piece of history. It had look out towers, dungeons, original tapestries, wall painting and coats of armour, and my personal favourite which appealed to the child in me, was the secret passage ways!

Trying out the toilet facilities
and below, Ruth's hunchback!

These stairs where quite dodgey, but can be forgiven since they're 800 yrs old!

And then to finish the evening off in the castles banquet hall with a delicious french style meal (in other words, lots of courses spread out over 4-5 HOURS), interspersed with music, speeches and some dancing.

I LOVED this wedding, it was every little girls dream -to feel like a princess, and I'm pretty sure Jess did!

Congratulations Jess and Damien! It was urr incredible' and magnifie'

The next morning we began the journey home, blowing all our remaining money on Cheese at the french border!
The drive through the mountains was beautiful, my camera was dead so couldn't capture the striking views and old train bridges coming out the side of the cliffs and back in again and across the mountains like some worm eating its way through an apple, and instead was refreshingly able to appreciate it with out my annoying 'must take a photo of EVERYTHING' anxiety disorder interrupting the view!

...phew...finally finished blogging about the trip...think I'l take a blogging brake now.

The land of Milka and honey!

Switzerland.

Everything you imagine it to be.
green rolling hills
snow tipped mountains
crops of apple orchards
rows of berry bushes
fields of sunflowers (unfortunately we clearly arrived a little late in the season to see full bloom....I was disappointed at the drooping almost dead heads! Like a sunflower zombie movie!)
patisseries..chocolate croissants
choclatiers
bread, beautifully baked
cheese glorious cheese
fruit as sweet as can be.
Swiss chateaus with turret towers
Hansel and Gretel-esque houses in all colours shapes and sizes, complete with window shutters.
Fresh water lake in front of impressive mountains, complete with novelty sailing boats and token swan gracefully swimming by.
I have to say we live in a beautiful world. And Switzerland is one of the lookers of the family!

Driving out of the mountains, down to Lake lemon. Rolle.


We arrived about 8pm, the camping areas for tents where chocker, there was no room at the inn. Needing somewhere to pitch the tent and put William to bed I walked along the camper van pitches on the lake, Convinced (obsessively honest) Anthony to be a bit cheeky and pitch up here.........

.....and enjoyed an undisturbed five star view all week!

One of Life's unexplained mysteries:
Why when we have bbq's or camp does the roles of cooking protocol suddenly reverse without question?
I'm not complaining, I loved it being the mans job all week!We enjoyed chilling by the lake, swimming by the lake, cooking by the lake, eating by the lake, sleeping and sunbathing by the lake, walking by the lake, playing tennis and boles by the lake, running along the lake side, swimming in the lake, watching the sailing boat races on the lake, getting the ferry across the lake, drinking hot chocolates at night by the lake and watching the sun set over the lake! An altogether great time....by the lake!

As i enjoyed wandering around the grounds of the Swiss chateau i come to find Anthony marveling over what he describes as ' a lovely bit of turf'(see below). This would be Anthony's ideal garden, where as mine would be a wilderness of wild flowers and Victorian style vegetable garden. It appears that no matter where we go, Anthony still only gets excited by anything that resembles anything football!



We got the boat across to the medieval village of YVOIRE.










I t was the most beautiful village i believe iv ever been to! The Medieval village was pedestrianised so no cars...and original little cobbled lanes to wonder around. It was a delight for the eyes, Little doorways, balcony's, shutters, greenery and flowers cascading down from every building.




I loved all the boutiques, i especially loved the antiques shop we found and sneakily took a photo of the children's section. This was a cave of treasures, I spent quite a bit of time in here but couldn't afford anything more than a few old french postcards!

One last photo before i sign off.........This sign has quite a different meaning since Madeline McCann!

Interpretation:Beware of pedo men who try to lead your children away in 'centre ville'!