Thad and Ella's Swim Lessons

We have this awesome family in our ward that lives a couple of streets over from us.  Their daughters teach swim lessons in their backyard pool each summer.  Jane (to the left) is the one who taught both Lily and Skyler to swim.  Bekah (to the right) just started teaching this year, which was great because Ella and Thad could practice at the same time while Lily and Skyler played in the deep end. 

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but Thad really doesn't have any fear.  He would happily drown himself and has tried several times.  He just comes out of the water breathing heavily before he jumps back in and tries drowning himself again.  Hence the swim lessons.

This video actually was quite the achievement for Ella.  She's much more afraid of the water, but she has all the coordination that Thad still lacks.  That little woman has overcome a lot of fear in her two weeks of swim lessons.  She went from barely being able to blow a couple of bubbles in the water to swimming.  And all of this at a low teenage teacher price.  Totally worth it.

Look at how great she's doing!

Thad's jump into the pool -- every single time it makes me laugh.

His coordination isn't quite there yet, but I think after swimming this summer and taking more lessons next year, he'll have it down nicely.

I accidentally took this picture but it is one of my favorites.  Thad and his eternal wedgies as I call them.

Bubble-butt.

Thaddeo and Bekah

Ella and Jane

The way Thad always jumps into the water cracks me up every single time.

And this video of Ella always makes me laugh.  I'm such a good mom.

End of the Ballet Year

For some reason, the end of each ballet year always makes me so emotional.  I guess I'm just so proud of how much my girls have grown and how much better they are at dancing than when they started that season.  But watching their recitals come together is a beutiful thing.  

Lily and Ella with Ms. Carrie

I think one of the biggest heartbreaks that Ben and I have had to experience as parents thus far has been missing Ella's first ever ballet recital.  We booked tickets to England just days before we found out that we would be out of the country during her recital.  Fortunately, she had my parents and Becca (and baby Colby!) there to support her along with the siblings.

This is Lily's second year performing at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.  Ella loves going to all things dance related and so she wanted to come watch Lily's rehearsal.

Lily is in the front on the left.  They performed with the 13 year-olds for part of their song.

My little beauties are growing up!

Classical Conversations

It's the end of another school year and that means another Classical Conversations end of year program.  Classical Conversations isn't a co-op, it's more like a homeschooling Christian school you attend one day a week.  We go to a local Presbyterian church with all of these wonderful people and the kids learn things I either didn't learn until high school or never learned at all.  Each week they cover math, English, Latin, geography, science, music, art, and history.  I feel like I'm forgetting something, but anyway, my point is that these kids learn some pretty intense stuff.  And what surprises me is that they get it!  We truly underestimate kids.

Lily's class dressed like they were in from the '80's ( I clearly didn't see the memo in time, ha!).  Their presentation was about the Industrial Revolution and the Conservative movement between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

Skyler's class spoke about several different past, present, and future conjugations in Latin.

And Ella's 4 year-old class presented their 2 and 9 times tables, the area of a rectangle, and e=mc2.

Elder Hancock and Elder Barton

Every now and then you have a couple of missionaries who you just bond with way more than the typical missionaries you have assigned to your ward.  For us, it was Elder Hancock and Elder Barton.  They both got transferred into our ward at the beginning of January and were transferred out right as we were leaving for England in May.  That's a long time to have a set of elders in your ward anyway, but they also spent a ton of time with us in and outside of our home.

Elder Barton's got mad skills.

They also eat a lot of Taco Bell.  Which, btw, is how they met Erica.  Someone we also came to know and who eventually got baptized.  Elder Hancock baptized her and Ben confirmed.

They had me take their pics outside the church so that they actually had pictures to update their facebook profiles with.

The missionaries who served in our ward right before them were both really short so when I met these two for the first time it kind of took me by surprise because they're both a little taller than Ben (and that doesn't happen often).  Elder Hancock is 6'5" and Elder Barton is 6'4.5".  

If we could count up the hours we spent with these guys, I'm not sure how many it would add up to be.  But it would be a lot.  It would also be a lot if we we were to add up how many pounds of food we ate together.  

They came over right before we all assumed they'd be transferred out so that they could say goodbye.  They somehow stole my phone without me realizing it and took the following pictures of themselves:

What gems.  Their future wives are going to be some lucky ladies.  And if you're single and interested, Elder Hancock (left) will be home in December and Elder Barton (right) will be home in May.

Easter

The kids were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to get going on their annual egg hunt.  The Easter Bunny hid their baskets in some hilarious places (like hanging from the kitchen table chandalier).  The kids didn't get tons of candy this year but they did get books.  And they didn't get any Easter grass, so really I think I'm the winner here.

England Trip -- The Last Day

I can't tell you the kind of sadness that accompanied me that last day in England.  Neither of us were ready to leave.  But unfortunately my knee injury flared up our final morning in England and so we were really limited as to what we could do.  First things first -- skip the all inclusive hotel breakfast of toast and cornflakes (and literally nothing else, lol) and go get a full English breakfast.  We've been wanting to try one for a long time.  We each got our own and it didn't disappoint.  The mushrooms and the fruit tea we had were our favorites.

In case you're unfamiliar with the term "Full English Breakfast" it includes eggs, beans, bacon, hashbrowns, mushrooms, sausages, toast and baked tomatoes.  It's a lot.  And I couldn't finish it.  But I plan on re-doing it one of these days.  Also, in case you're curious, those beans are just like any canned beans in the US.

We went to King's Cross to visit Platform 9 3/4.  You have to wait in line to get your picture taken and they have staff members there to take your picture and to throw your scarf in the air as you jump.  I cannot tell you how fun it was to be standing in line with Harry Potter fans from around the globe.  The reason why our picture is so blurry is because the Israeli teenager we made friends with had no idea how to focus a DSLR.  Lol.

I'm a Hufflepuff...

... and Ben's a Gryffindor.

Naturally there is a Harry Potter store right next to it full of all things Harry Potter.  We seriously could have bought one of everything, but we figured we could get any of it on amazon for cheaper and so we actually left without buying a single thing.

We also decided to go to Portobello Rd. since it was only a 20 minute walk from our apartment.  I didn't really get too into it, but Ben really liked it.  There was store after store of silver plating serving pieces that he loved.  I mostly just liked looking at the old globes and compasses and things.

To some it may sound like such a waste of a day in England, but those were literally the only two things we did that day.  We were SO TIRED.  So we went back to our hotel, opened the window to listen to the rain, and we read in bed for the rest of the day.  And to be honest, that was another great English-y experience.  

We went to England to have a break from all the hardships we've been facing for the past year and a half with my miscarriages.  England didn't heal anything.  In fact, I feel worse now than before we left.  But England was something neither of us will ever regret doing.  I feel such a pull to go there again.  It was an incredible bonding experience for us.  If I could compare it to something, for me it felt like getting a big gulp of air when struggling to tread water.  It was an experience that gave me the will to keep going -- to keep trying.

England Day 7 -- Chatsworth House

Monday was my day.  We went to the train station and booked some expensive tickets to Sheffield.  Have I mentioned that traveling within England is supposedly some of the most expensive traveling in the world?  But it was more than worth it and I'd shell out the money again in a heartbeat if it meant I could go to Chatsworth again.  Before I begin this post, let me say that though this post is long and full of pictures, it is because this is the one place I desperately want to go back to.  I wasn't ready to leave when they closed and I speak the truth when I say I'd rather live at Chatsworth than Windsor.

Breakfast at the train station.

 A lot of Chatsworth was being renovated and so the outside was covered in scaffolding and cloth.  This is the entrance.

The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire still live at Chatsworth.  

This stone fountain was built into the wall as a beautiful way to physically support the house.

There are no details undone.  The entire house is beautiful.

The courtyard within the house.

The chapel was on the inside of the home and had no windows.  It was small and dark but very beautiful.  Since we were there while they were having a display of clothing worn by those who have lived at Chatworth through the centuries, they had these wedding dresses on display.  Some of them were even married at Chatsworth.

An old baby pram.

I have always been curious of a scene in "Emma" where Mrs. Weston is putting flowers in one of these beautiful porcelain vases.  I asked a worker at Chatsworth what they were all about and he told us about how the wealthy would put these all over their homes and fill them with flowers -- usually tulips.  Tulips were worth more than gold once upon a time, so to fill your home with flowers meant that you were incredibly wealthy.  The pieces come apart and you can stack as many as you wish.

The house stores several pieces of artwork by famous painters (including DaVinci!).  They regularly cycle them in and out of storage to keep them preserved.

I might be wrong, but I think this was the room Queen Victoria stayed in when she came to visit.

The library.  You weren't allowed to go in and there was a worker standing at the entrance to make sure no one went past the barrier.  When I first looked in I gasped and she burst out laughing.  I'm not kidding, I want to move there y'all.

The statue room that was made famous by the Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice.  Apparently the Duke and Duchess didn't think much about it until the movie came out, but then after seeing how beautiful the statues were through the film, they decided they should put more effort into maintaining the statues.  My only let down of the day was that my favorite statue wasn't there:

But you could buy it in the gift shop for a handful of pounds.

Ben can tell you that I would have bought the whole gift shop if I could have.  There were so many cool things I would have loved.  This was the last picture I got before my camera died.  There was a book that gave knitting guides to recreate dozens of scenes from Pride and Prejudice.  I was laughing my head off flipping through the pages.  Priceless.

The "stables."  I put that in quotations because, apparently, their horses live much fancier lives than we do.  They turned the stables into a few different restaurants, one of which we had afternoon tea in.

**Cool fact.  After re-watching the 5 hour Pride and Predjucie with Collin Firth, I can say that the stables are the only genuine part of Chatworth that is in the movie.  They use the outside front of Chatworth to portray Pemberley, but none of the inside is used.  The stables, on the other hand, are in the movie.

My Mother's Day present and one of the top highlights of the trip.

And yes, we did skip lunch so that we could pig out and eat it all.

One of the best parts about tea was the couple that sat behind me.  They were there celebrating the woman's 82nd birthday.  The husband was struggling with his digital camera and so Ben went over to help.  Over and over again the husband would say, "Smile for the camera, dear," and she would hold up her glass and say, "Cheers!"  Then he would say, "Oh dear, I didn't get it."  This would happen so many times in a row that Ben and I just about died.  They were the cutest couple and we had a nice conversation with them before we left.

After we were done with tea we went exploring in the gardens.  There are 1,000 acres of garden, and we only had so much time before they sadly closed at 5:30.  But we literally explored until 5:30 on the dot so that we could see as much as possible.

They even have their own coal mine.

This picture just assures me for the millionth time over that Thad and Ben are clones.

The very left is of this picture (the part you can't see at this angle) is where you get your famous view of Chatsworth from the front.  From this angle you cans see just how deep it is.  It's HUGE!

This fountain was built in the 1700's and is gravity fed.  The water comes from lakes at higher elevations.  Each set of steps is completely different from the last set so that as you walk along the fountain it sounds different every so many feet.

One of my favorite little details about England is that they have these tiny little white flowers growing in the grass everywhere.

Our first ever garden maze.

A wild pheasant let Ben get really close to take a picture.  How English is that?!

Even the area by the outdoor bathrooms was fancy.  :)

We virtually had the house and grounds to ourselves while we were there.  Plus, this was the only day it was actually rainy.  It was actually a lot of fun exploring the gardens in the rain (my favorite weather).  This was the perfect day.  I wish I could have spent two days there, actually.  So if you ever go to England, and if you want to see the incredibly beautiful countryside of Derbyshire, I highly recommend Chatsworth.  You won't regret a single penny you spend getting there.