Monday 24 March 2008

Here comes Peter Cotton Tail

Easter has always been my favorite holiday and I loved it this year as well although it was different...



1st being away from home means that I actually had to cook an Easter breakfast (usually we go to my mom's for a D-LICIOUS brunch and to the Flamm's for an equally yummy dinner).


2nd I made some pancakes since we didn't have a ton of time before heading to church. While putting the jam away I managed to drop the bottle and I had raspberry glass mess all over my kitchen. Not Fun! Brady and Millie headed out to church without me and when I went to leave I couldn't...Brady had locked me in the house!


3rd we woke up to yet another snow storm. It's the third one this week and the 1st time we have seen snow here at all. What happened to Spring?



We did have a great day and Millie LOVED Easter! I think she liked it more then Christmas because of all the treats. I have never seen anyone eat a peep so fast! They make me gag, but thanks Nancy for sending them to us. Brady and Millie sure love them! The weather did get better as the day went on and we were able to go on a walk and have some good quality family time.


Happy Easter!


With a whole peep in her mouth!


Millie giving Brady a kiss in hopes of another peep Playing Puzzles with Mommy
Our Family





Millie rocking her new shades from the Easter Bunny


Monday Millie and I played dress up and did a little dancing. Sorry everyone I didn't get any footage of me shakin my groove thing, only Millie.




The daring little dog in the video clip is"Cocolicious" she belongs to our friends The McGills. Jodi had their sweet little boy Gerald "Wryer" McGill a little over a week ago and since Wryder was early he is going to be in the hospital for awhile longer. He was born at 32 weeks and he is very strong for such a little guy. Wryder is a head of the curve and doing great! All his tubes are out minus the feeding. He still needs to learn how to eat on his own.


We are so excited for Tony and Jodi and we can't wait to meet your little man.


Sunday 23 March 2008

Jeffrey comes, Hillary goes!

It's been a crazy week. My dad was scheduled to come into London for a business trip, and was going to visit us while he was here. His meeting got cancelled, so he spent three days with us. During the same time, I had my exams, finishing my second term. I'm now through with the first term (Michaelmas Term), and the second term (Hillary Term), so I just have the third term (Trinity Term) left and a consulting project this summer, and then I'm done.
Exams weren't too stressful this term, as I only had three exams. My other classes had final papers, which took a lot of time, but were last week, so I didn't have the stress of all the finals within a few days.

Me and my dad in front of the examination school. Last term we took exams somewhere else because work was being done on the examination school, so this was the first time I had been in there. It was amazing in there and I wish I could have taken pictures, but for obvious reasons I couldn't take a camera with me. I first went up a beautiful marble staircase to the huge where I wrote my exams. The room had beautiful woodwork on the walls and ceiling, and giant portraits on the walls. My favorite part was the giant clocks on the wall, showing how much time we had until each exam ended.

My dad found an antique store by the examination school, and they had great old photographs and sketches of Oxford. We found some great sketches of Merton, my college.


My dad is famous in 29 states and 6 countries for his power naps. I remember when I was a kid and we'd be boating, he'd occasionally take a quick nap behind the steering wheel while the next skier got geared up. Here he is taking a nap in Millie's bed.


Here's Millie with her "Grandpa Jeff" on top of Saint Mary's Church.

My beautiful daugther!


We went with my dad to Bath for the day. Here's a picture of the abbey, although it doesn't do it justice. We went into the abbey, and it was spectacular. The abbey itself was beautiful, but it was made much better by the music being performed inside. They were rehearsing for a performance of Bach's Passion that evening, and their voices echoed beautifully.

Here's a picture of the old roman bath. It was really cool to see. Unfortunatly this was the only picture we got of the bath as we (me) hadn't recharged the camera battery. The baths are filled with hot water from a spring, and are about 2,000 years old.

Millie got a sticker book as we entered the bath museum. Of course, she had to lay down and use all the stickers right then and there. She's a cute little one...

We got back to Oxford 10 minutes before my dad presented at the business school. We barely made it! The timing wasn't good, as the last exams of the term finished an hour earlier, and many students had therefore begun drinking 59 minutes earlier. We had a surprisingly good turnout, and the presentation was great. I think my dad's background with starting Health Benefits America is very interesting and different than what we often imagine when we as students think about starting a business. I liked how he emphasized doing the right thing, and taking care of your clients and employees.


For those of you who don't know me well, I'm a geek when it comes to pets. Amanda and I took Millie to a pet store in a nearby town so that she could see the animals. She loved it, but I may have enjoyed it more than she did. She liked all the animals, from the snakes and frogs, the bunnies and parrots, to the fish. She would go up to each animal and say something like "Ooh, pretty snake!" or "Hi little guy!"

We went to Blenheim Palace with Steve, Danalisa, and their friends the next day. It was great, but very windy and cold. Millie was interested in the palace, but much more interested in the sheep nearby.

Millie on the palace grounds in her Easter outfit.

Millie and Owen, who apparently tells very funny jokes.

Millie and I checking out the sheep farm next to the palace.

This is me in Banbury the next day. I don't understand the weather here. This is the first snowstorm of the year - the day before Easter. Isn't this supposed to be springtime? Shouldn't it be getting warmer? Not in England...

Monday 17 March 2008

March Madness

Things have been crazy since I got back from Salt Lake! Brady has been trying to study for his finals that started today and Millie and I have been staying busy until school gets out on break. We can't wait to spend some much needed family time together with Brady! He did however take some time off to color and make paper airplanes with Millie. She loved it. It was cute to watch them play together.


Our friends Jodi and Tony had their baby boy this past weekend and they are both doing great. Jodi was only 32 weeks along, but their little Wryder is breathing on his own and holding strong. Jodi was able to deliver completely natural; Go Girl Go!


Friday we got a call from a friend of Brady's that he met on his mission in Germany saying they were in London and wanted to know if they could come visit us. They ended up spending the night on Saturday and hitting church with us Sunday. It was so fun to see Rebekka again and meet her new husband Thomas.


Last night while cleaning up from our company and getting ready for Jeff to come I walked in to find Millie playing in her nappy cream! I was so mad but had to grab a picture or two before the clean up. Oh man was it ever a mess! I don't think I will ever get all of the cream out of her carpet. Looks like we are losing our deposit!!!


This morning Brady headed out to take his 1st final and his dad got into town for a visit. We should have a full week and I will post some pictures of Jeff's trip to Oxford later on this week, then if all goes right we'll be off to Ireland.


Here are some pictures from the past week...



Coloring their airplane




"Look dad it goes high, high, high in the sky"

Rebekka and Millie playing puzzles


Brady, Millie, Rebekka, Thomas

When I walked in she was going for her face. Isn't she lovely...

Thursday 13 March 2008

Got Tagged

What is your husbands name? Brady Ellsworth Flamm

How long did you date? We dated secretly for about 2 months and then 6 more months before he proposed.

How old is he? 27 (I think) haha

Who eats more? Brady does most of the time.

Who said "I love you" first? Brady did and I just stood there with my mouth wide open in shock.

Who's taller? Brady (6') I'm 5'7

Who can sing better? Brady hands down. I suck!

Who is smarter? Ya, I would have to say Brady since we are here in Oxford for his degree and not mine. I do know a thing or two more then he does when it come to Social Work...

Who does the laundry? Me

Who pays the bills? In SLC I always did, but I can't have a bank account here since I'm not a student so Brady has to deal with it.

Who sleeps on the right side? I do

Who mows the lawn? We both do.

Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time, but Brady is an excellent cook and he whips up something delicious every now and then.

Who drives? Brady does when we are together, but we don't have a car at the moment.

Who is more stubborn? I would think Brady would say I am, now I'm not sure I believe that...

Who kissed who first? I kissed Brady 1st. We were watching Father Of The Bride and I don't think either of us could tell you how it ended if you know what I mean!

Who asked who out first? We didn't really go on dates at 1st since it was all secretive.

Who proposed? Brady did on Valentines Day. He says it's the only day you can make a special dinner and have roses everywhere and not necessarily expect a ring at the end.

Who has more friends? Hahaha. I would say Brady does. He makes friends really easily.

Who is more sensitive? I think by nature I am but part of why I love Brady is because he is more understanding then most men out there.

Who has more siblings? Brady has more then I do. He has 6 kids in his family.

Who wears the pants? We take turns wearing the pants.


NOW WHO'S NEXT?!?

Thursday 6 March 2008

Sad

Some of the pictures aren't coming up but if you want you can Try to right click and hit "show picture"...
I hope it works. Also, if you want to see even more of our trip home you can always check out Lindsay's blog at our5people.blogspot.com

"Home Again Home Again Jiggy Jog"

Millie and I just returned back to the UK from our 3 week visit to Utah and I thought I would share some pictures with ya'll. We were sick a lot of the time, but we defiantly had fun in between flu's and colds.
Hope you all enjoy.
Jager with Oliver Millie with Oscar
Millie LOVED playing with the twins! She thought it was the best thing in the world when she would get to hold a baby.
My sweet sisters decided they would spend Valentines Day with Millie and I So all the girls, their honeys and kids headed to the Skybox for some din din.
Our first weekend in town we were able to join the Flamm Family for some snowmobiling at the Ranch. Both Millie and I got a pretty nasty cold but we had a great time anyway. Millie loved the "motorcycle". She would have ridden the snowmobiles all day if I had been feeling up to it. Carly and her friend took Millie, Abbie and Hannah to see their favorite horse Bruno and Millie was able to go for a short ride. We love the Ranch!
(sorry the pictures are so some, I don't know what happened)
Millie's cousins Abbie and Hannah
Millie on Bruno
Millie, Abbie, Hannah
Millie and Mommy
Uncle Bry and Abbie
(thanks Bry for taking pictures for us!)
Since Codie doesn't work on Mondays we decided to take advantage of her time so we sent the day at Gardner Village. Millie screamed during most of lunch, but we had a good time despite her tantrums.
Brianna and Cyndell striking a pose The kids playing Simon Says. It was cute to watch Millie and Jager play with the older girls.
While having lunch in Bountiful at Codie's house Kaylee decided to show us her hula hooping skills and us moms needed in on the action!
I could actually do it! I could even spin in circles!
Codie didn't have as much luck...
Lindsay got it with some added fancy leg action. Go Girl Go!



Millie always loves playing with Nana's matching Quilt. I love this picture, you can really see how much they love each other.

I was really lucky to be in town for the Flamm Card night. We really made some extra cute cards this go around.


Nancy, Melanie, and Carly working away
Aunt Carly, Me, Nana, Grandma Ellsworth (Millie's great grandma)

Lilly, Cyndell, and Millie hanging out at Aunt Lindsay's house

The last week I was in town it was the Rosecrest 1st ward annual Basketball Tournament. It's the BEST! The whole ward past and present, young and old, member or nonmember gets together to help the Young Women make some money for their girls camp. It includes a lot of laughs, some good B-ballin and a ton of fantastic food.

Jager and Millie watch Aunt Lindsay work her stuff
Lindsay getting ready to steal the ball from the Bishop's wife
SHE GOT IT!!!

Oscar on the other hand wasn't too interested in the game.

Playing in the hot tub at Grandma Jager's (don't worry she turns it down for the little ones!)

I was so happy to find a little extra time to see two of my favorite girls. Carly volunteered to watch Millie for a few hours so she could get some one on one time with her before we headed back and I was able to get some lunch and catch up with old friends.
While we were there I had some guy come up to me and say I was a twin to his sister. It was pretty funny and Mary took a picture of us together so he could email his sister. He sent us a picture of his sister too and I wasn't as convinced as he was, although we did have the same eyes.

Mary, Me, Elisa

We're going to the Zoo zoo zoo
The Twins

She's getting so big
Millie loves, loves, loves cats and it was so sweet to see her snuggling with Jasper the day before we left. Cute cute.


Well we had a fantastic visit and although I was sad to have to cancel with a few people because of all out illness' we made the most of our time and saw our families and a few friends. We are so grateful for all your love and support and we can't wait to see you all again.

Love you!