Not my Favourite time of the year!

It might be cold outside but that doesn't stop my boys!

Jacob proves that even 17 month olds can use a rowing machine!

Josh wanted a pic of him and Hallie to take to preschool

Jacob loves talking to Daddy on the phone ;D

Its always hard to move on after Christmas, and we had such a good one in our home. But School starts again for everyone and it keeps everyone busy. Travis has just finished his exams - they were no fun, but then when are they! He is glad that he is now done with all his Math classes for the rest of his degree! YAY! Lauryn had an Egyptian Gods project at school and she did really well. It was her first one. Everyone is back in swimming lessons and progressing well. Katie & Lauryn are in the big pool swimming laps, and Josh is now swimming without any kind of aid. I am really proud of all of them. Jacob & I have started swimming weekly with the girls (Jen & Christine) and their babies. I am hoping it will help him with the water. He doesn't like it too much!

Primary is keeping my busy and out of trouble. I feel like I am finally getting on my feet. Who knew that it would take over my life! But I am learning alot and that can only be a good thing. If anyone has any cute ideas for a Valentine's Sharing Time, please let me know!!!

Happy New Year

Pictures with my awesome brothers Mike & Pete, and sisters Louise & Jen
With Mummy


So we had a really great New Years. It was the best. New Years Eve was spent at my brothers house, with all the family, Louise & her family who had arrived that afternoon and waiting the arrival of Pete & his family flying in that evening. It was so good, hanging out with them all again. The kids played lots of games, on the Wii, watched Wall-e and we ate the usual food you have to eat at new years. Jacob got tired so I spent the last hour or so holding him while he slept. I was so tired anyway it didnt matter. Yeah old fogie that I am now. We did have some fireworks but it was so cold, who really cared about going out side and freezing to the bone to watch some meager display courtesy of tesco. No thanks. We were quite happy watching the BBCs coverage of London Eye & Big Ben anyway. What a way to bring in the new year. ;D The big boys went off to play footy with the Ward, and Davina and I slobbed around chatting till lunchtime, when I figured I'd better get on with it and cook the dinner! Oops that I had put the Ham in, WAY too late, so we had sausages with our dinner, and the Ham was saved for our Sunday lunch get together with the family anyway. Nevermind the company was great and that was all that mattered. In the evening we got to witness my nephew Luke's baptism at church, that was great. Over the last couple days its been pretty intense all being together, and I will miss them all so much. But I have plenty of memories and thats what matters. We will miss Noah & Maya playing and Maya walking around after Jacob calling him every 5 seconds. I have a pretty treasured experience on Sunday night when the 5 of us were with Mum for a little while. xxx

Christmas Season

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas season, and hope that its a joyful time for you all, with lots of love from Travis, Amy, Lauryn, Katherine, Joshua & Jacob xxx

"He didn't have warm blankets,

Or a soft & cuddly bed

He had a manger filled with hay

And swaddling clothes instead

He didn't have a stocking

Stuffed full with candy & treats

But shepherds came to visit Him

Through Bethlehems dark streets

He didn't have a christmas tree

With coloured twinkling lights

He had a new and special star

Shining in the night

He had but few of earthly things

On that first christmas day

But He came bringing love from God

And gives it still today!"

My Girls

Here are my beautiful girls in their school photo 2008 ;D

My Boys

This is Josh's preschool photo, Jacob was invited to be on it at the last minute, so I rushed home for his matching t-shirt!! ;D I love this pic, of my gorgeous boys XX

Bonfire Night & Halloween

We had a fun Bonfire night at my brothers house, and the kids enjoyed the Sparklers & fireworks, food, and marshmellows (burnt in my case!! YUM) For Halloween they dressed up as Lauryn - A pink witch, Katherine - Batgirl, Joshua - Troy from HSM 3, and Jacob - Frog

We went to the ward party which was a Doctor Who theme, but not really something my kids are into and so they dressed up as they usually do, in whatever they want. ;D

Grateful for the important things in life....

I want to express how grateful I am for the influences & feelings that I have felt this last month. A few things have really changed my perspective on life, and I have to say I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. During conference in October I recieved so many answers to questions and worries I have been having for many years. I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who opens our minds and hearts and gives us these inspired messages through the apostles & our prophet. I am thankful also for my wonderful Mum & Dad, although they cannot speak to me in person are still teaching me and letting me know the course of my life and how I should live it. I am thankful to the past lessons they have taught, and for those memories that have helped me put myself back on a course of strength & happiness. I am so grateful for the Temple, I cannot even put into words to express how I feel about the Temple, but I am thankful for its renewing effects that I have really needed in my life.

I am thankful as always for the support of my wonderful husband who has done nothing but support me ALWAYS in all my ups and downs and trials. Thank you Travis for everything. I love each of my children so dearly, more than life itself, and its for them that I want to be a better person. I hope they can live their dreams and be all they want to be.

Life is for living and we don't know how much of it we have, so for me I will live each day as if it were my last and enjoy and treasure each moment.

Cheeky Monkeys

I posted a new photo of my 4 cheeky monkeys for our blog title. They are mine and I love them to bits, arent I just a lucky Mommie!!!!!!

10 Years Together !!!!!!!!!!!

This week, Travis & I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. We are making a week of it, with school commitments, we were not able to go away so have split it up over 2 weekends. We love spending whatever time together that we can. We celebrated the 2nd with a dinner at Brewer's Fayre (our usual haunt) & on Friday, after the children's swimming lessons we went to the British Musical Fireworks Championships which is hosted annually here in Southport every year. It was so good, the weather stayed dry - depsite being extremely cold, the kids were well wrapped up in snow pants, coats hats and gloves, and we took lots of blankets. It was such an awesome evening together, and a nice way to celebrate our anniversary. It is the best of the best weekend so all the winners of previous years are battling it out, hence the displays were fantastic. We had a day at the outlets, and then we enjoyed the rest of the weekend listening to General Conference. We are always so lucky that Conference falls on our anniversary weekends. We love listening to our church leaders, and they give us so much great counsel. In between sessions we went to the woods - it was such a beautiful day we couldnt resist the opportunity to get out there! Also we stopped in as a family to visit Grandma Harbon (my mum) who had a seizure for the first time this weekend, and I was desperate to see how she was doing. There was a beanbag in the room and the kids entertained all the oldies in the room with their antics throwing it around, and laughing. Mum was happy, and calm although extremely distant, we were just so glad to spend a bit of time with her. This coming weekend we are off to London, to take care of Katherines US passport renewal at the embassy, and then off to France. We can't wait.

So its been a good month, lots of changes for everyone (except for Jacob & I) the girls have gone back to school. Lauryn is absolutly loving her new grade, and for the first time has a male teacher. He is great, full of energy and is the sports teacher too, so they do alot of active things. So good for the kids. She is enjoying new classes now, with Drama, Music & Spanish being added to her regular curiculum, and she is in the Judo club (much to my surprise she begged to do this) and loving it. She moved up a class in swimming and is now diving in the deep end of the pool! She is progressing well. She loves swimming so much.

Katherine, also loves her new class and teacher. She said she is going to be in Year 2 forever.... :D She has a great group of friends and likes to spend time with. We often meet at the park behind our house after school, us moms can chat and they get to play. She was moved up a class in swimming also and is now in the big pool. Her swimming is fantastic, she has developed great skills very fast and we are really proud of her. We are really glad she has found something she is excelling at, as she isn't really the most sporty of kids, she often gets frustrated with things of that nature. But she loves swimming.

Josh, has had a rough month, he has not liked preschool one bit. Its been hard on him loosing all his friends to 'big school' and he misses them like crazy. He has one friend Rhys, that has also just turned 4, that he loves to play with. He tells me everyday that he and Rhys are the only ones who are 4. He is really proud of that! Josh started his own swimming class this month, he is in the beginners. He has been desperate to start but has had to wait for his 4th birthday. He plays around alot, and likes to kick off with his noodle wrapped around his body when he is suposed to be waiting at the side of the pool!! We often notice his teacher grab Josh's ankle and pull him back LOL!!!! Its very entertaining. He loves it though and its his favourite part of the week. He had a big crash on his scooter, as he rides it so fast and just jumps off the thing to stop (despite being told to slow down etc- I don't think that boys understand the concept of slow!!) he got some nasty injuries to his face. So he has been banned from his scooter for a while, and will be back on when he is wearing a helmet and knee and elbow pads!!

Jacob is walking!!!! Thats our big news of the month. He is still cruising alot, but will now take off unprompted to walk across to something across the room. Its so good to see. He is really funny though because he finds it so hilarious and gets so excited he tries to run!! And then falls flat on his face. Which he finds even more funny. He's such a funny guy.. So cute and I love him so much. Its nice as he changes and becomes more aware of the things we say to him.

Trav is back at school now, and in his 2nd year (3rd year at Liverpool uni). It's going good. He is glad to be back. So we are good, and we are so happy together. I am so thankful I get to be married to my best friend, and that we were able to make the sacred temple covenants to each other all those years ago. I love him with all of my heart.

Travis & I at the Preston Temple

We are celebrating already being together for 10 years, which feels so good to us. We look back and have loved all that life has brought to us over that time, and we are so glad that Heavenly Father directed us to each other. We knew that we were meant to be together quite soon after we met, and I am so thankful to my wonderful Dad who I miss so much, for all his support, for without him - getting together would have been much more of a challange than it was. I can truely say there is nothing better in my life than having Travis as my best friend. I am grateful to him for everything he has given me, most of all for our beautiful treasures (our children). We have learned alot thru the experiences and challanges and good times that have we have been blessed with, and marriage is not always easy, but its certainly worth it to battle thru it and become stronger for it. I can think of nothing better than spending the rest of our lives and eternity together. It might sound really cheesy, but nothing matters more to me in my life than Travis and my children, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ - which, is the only way our forever means something. It was so good to be able to spend time in the Preston Temple that holds so many awesome memories of our beginnings as it was opened and dedicated 10 years ago (May/June 1998). We will always love sharing our anniversary with the Preston England Temple! Thank you my darling for everything xxx

Joshua 4 Today!!

Josh turned 4 today! What big boy! He has been looking forward to his birthday for months. Unfortunantly the weather is nasty, but it's not going to stop him having a good time! He planned his party with his friends from preschool, and wanted it at the Brewer's Fayre restaurant we go to regularly. He invited Zach, Mackenzie & Alfie. He was so excited to wear his new power ranger (urgghhh!!) costume all day! He was excited with his new V Smile computer, but Daddy bought the wrong adaptor, so it doesn't work yet! (Just had to do a rush order from Amazon!!) ooops!

He had a great time with his friends, and they came out of the place sweating from all the running around and wrestling they did! They enjoyed their food, and Josh had his candle on his ice cream and we sang Happy Birthday to him! He loves his presents (TMNT movie & playmobil). He was very good and put up with the girls swimming lessons that we go to on Friday evenings, not a very fun way to celebrate a birthday I know, but the cafe at the Pool has a lovely kids menu, and it was a treat for him to eat something there. He and I had a look around as he is starting his first swimming lesson next Friday, and he wanted to have a good look at his class and teachers. He came to the Chippy with me and we ordered some Fish & Chips to eat together, and then later on in the evening his cousins and Auntie Jen & Uncle Mike came over to have birthday cake and more presents. Josh was really tired by the time the day came to an end, as he sat up late putting his Playmobil toys together he got from the family. After waking up early to see Daddy before work, and going to bed extra late, it was a very long - but fun day. Josh, I love you so much XX

August

The kids with Travis on the route to Stickle Ghyll

Noah & Josh (best friends & cousins)

Amy, Kate & Travis in the storm shelter

Lauryn & Katherine doing the laundry at Dunham Massey

Lauryn & I in the courtyard at Dunham Massey

Summer Holidays!!!!! We had to split this month up since the first half we still had Travis around, and so got lots of days out packed in. We used our National Trust membership to visit Dunham Massey near Manchester, which turned out to be really cool day. The kids loved seeing the deer up close, squirrels, rabbits etc, and the girls got to dress up and try out doing the laundry the victorian way! They loved it. We had a picnic in the grounds and took some family pictures. In the gardens they went on an adventure trail. We drove up to the Lakes and had a day hiking from Wrynose Pass, up to the summit of Crinkle Crags, which Travis and I have been wanting to climb for some time. It was tough on the kids, as the weather was not so good, but we got to use our new storm shelter (courtesy of Trail) and that was awesome. So lovely and warm inside. Jacob was so good considering how cold he got, and we got to really get the benefit of our new baby carrier for Jacob, which this new model has raincover (and wind protection!) we could not have made it that far without it. We are really proud of the kids who made it up all 859m. The beginning of the month we had my brother Pete, his wife Davina and their 2 kids Noah & Maya living with us, in their interim to moving to Austria. We loved having them stay with us, and we were all so sad to see them leave. :(

Travis started working at United Utilities as a Student Engineer, for the rest of the summer until University starts back up in October. He is really enjoying his work and learning so much. He wishes he could just skip the last 2 years of school and just keep on working. He car pools with 3 others from Ainsdale and so that saves on the Gas! The children are so impressed that he gets free hot chocolate and fruit - which we find so funny :) Hopefully all going well they will have him back again.

We had a overnight stay in Langdale at the Bank Holiday weekend, the campsite was a mudbath (from previous rain) and so we got very muddy, especially Josh who was like a magnet to the mud. No matter how hard he tried he always ended up on the ground somehow. However he did not like the shower (clothes and all) he had to have at the end of the day to scrub it all off!! We hiked up Stickle Ghyll part way, which we have done twice before, but the waterfalls were in full force (due to the rain) so it was so beautiful this time around. We had a fun time.

We had alot of fun on Jacob's birthday, he is such a cute baby! We especially love his "funny face"!

School starts back up in a couple days, Lauryn in Year 4, Katherine Year 2, and Josh in his final year of preschool.