We’ve lived in the UK for 2 1/2 years now.  Caleb has been training at the same gym the entire time.  By British Gymnastics ruling, Caleb cannot place in any British Gymnastics competitions, although he is allowed to enter just for the experience.  We are told that 3 years is the magic number when that restriction is taken away.  As a parent, I can’t wait for that day.  It’s hard to watch your son work so hard at something and be denied any rewards for it.

However, grades are different.  In the UK, grades are what defines the level you are in a sport or musical pursuit.  At the younger stages, it goes by year of birth, however you can be put into the standard grade competition or in elite grades.  The first year we were here, somehow Caleb was put into a higher elite grade level than his birth year.  The second year, he didn’t perform very well.  This year, Caleb turned things around and showed what he’s made of.  I wasn’t able to attend the competition because the girls had other places to be that day; I only got the commentary results from Chris.  I cried when I read the text that Caleb came out on top, winning 1st place all-around for his elite grades for all England.

This boy has come so close to quitting a number of times.  I am so glad that he has tasted victory again to spur him on further, through all the hard times.  These gymnasts are made of more ‘stuff’ than I can fathom; no wonder it’s considered one of the hardest sports, physically and emotionally.

Caleb, Evgeni, Colton, Tom

A spur of the moment trip to the theatre is never a bad thing.

A friend was given tickets for Matilda the Musical and invited the girls of our family along.

There is a reason the musical has already won so many awards.  It was amazing!!

If you get a chance to see it, don’t hesitate!  We’ll be making sure Chris & Caleb go to see this as well!

Yesterday our youngest family member turned 6 years old.  It was a happy day for her and one of mixed emotions for me.

So far 6 has been a magical number as her separation anxiety that has plagued us for MONTHS has vanished.  Hallelujah!!

Cami’s birthday celebrations started the Wednesday before, as she took cupcakes into her ballet class to celebrate.  I did a search online to see how to make her cupcakes a little more snazzy and found a great idea how to make ballerina cupcake toppers.  They were a hit – girls and parents came up to us afterward to thank us for the cute ‘girls’.  Cami was as thrilled as could be!

On Saturday, Cami chose a fun family outing . . . ice skating.  We tried a new skating rink and enjoyed it.  Our skills are improving each time we go.

We stayed after free skating to watch the Zamboni do it’s ‘thing’ as well as watch the hockey players warm up for a game.  It was quite fun.

Yesterday after church, Cami got everything set up for her birthday celebration.  As soon as Chris walked in the door from his meetings, she ushered us all in the living room so she could open her gifts.

Staying with the ballerina birthday theme, Cami saw this ballerina cake at the grocery store and insisted that’s what she wanted.  So after her dinner of pasta, bread, and corn we enjoyed eating the jam filled cake with mint chocolate ice cream.

6 Things About Cami at the Age of 6:

1.  She LOVES to dance

2.  She has the most contagious laugh

3.  She wants to be a surfer when she grows up (no idea where that one came from, but she’s been saying it for years)

4.  She says her favorite color is purple, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the way she gravitates to pink

5.  She loves to dress up and ‘look pretty’

6.  She continues to be our most polite child, always saying ‘yes, please’ or ‘no, thank you’ without being prodded

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAMI!!

As soon as Cami lost her first tooth, she realized the tooth next to it was a little bit wiggly.  Sure enough, it quickly became more and more loose.  Fast forward to yesterday when it was just flapping in the wind again.  I was a little afraid she’d lose it during her ballet class, but it was still there when she came out.  On the way home, she wiggled it around with a tissue.  When she put the tissue down, she saw the tooth inside the tissue and starting yelling in excitement.

I had nothing to do with this one coming out . . . it was all Cami.

Cami’s Tooth Gap

I think we’re over Cami’s tooth trauma . . . especially when she knows a shiny pound is the reward!

While most of the UK had two weeks off of school for Easter Holidays, we opted for one.  Getting out earlier at the end sounds like so much more fun than taking it right now.  So, we stuck around London and relaxed for our one week of break.

Emma and Hannah enjoyed a week-long camp at a local acting school.  They both had a great time in their separate classes.  Hannah took the same class that she did last year – ‘A Play in a Week’; and Emma dove into ‘Young Actor’s School.’  She learned all about the differences for acting on stage versus acting for camera.  They are both looking forward to the next holiday classes they can take.

Caleb and Cami were my constant companions during the week.

So, we enjoyed . . .

Park Days

Caleb & Cami at the Park

Frisbee Throwing

Cami

Caleb’s Form

Baking

Zucchini Breads

Library Trips

On our last day of break, Hannah and Cami had been invited to a horse-riding birthday party for a good friend.  They were so excited to both be included and to get to go horseback riding.

“The Girls”

Hannah’s Pony Ride

Cami’s Pony Ride (AKA Bucket Racing)

It was a great week, although I’m not so sure we’re ready to start back to school.  Three more weeks until our next school holiday – May Day!  Definitely counting down the days!

Cami had her second dance competition yesterday.  She was so ready for it . . . at least for her modern dance.  It had been changed from the last time and was polished.  Her classical ballet piece, not as much.

She danced the classical first and forgot a couple parts but did well on stage, continually smiling.  She loves to dance classical.  She stood on stage with the other girls afterward, looking beautiful in her tutu and tiara,  and didn’t win anything.  She was disappointed, but we reminded her that she had just finished learning the routine the week before and had never performed it in front of a group before.

Then it was time to perform her modern piece, for the last time.  Next time she’ll have a new routine.  She went out there and gave it all she had.  When they announced the 3rd place tied winners, I thought Cami had no chance of winning since they were both really good.  As they announced the 2nd place and I was trying to figure out who the 1st place would probably be, they announced Cami’s number.  I felt my mouth drop open.  I was so surprised and excited for Cami!

She was excited too!

Congratulations, Cami!!

Chris’s Zig-Zag Egg

A highlight of Easter this year was being able to color eggs with Chris.  We couldn’t even remember the last time he joined in on this event!

Egg-celent Personality

It really was great because Chris brings out his creativity and helps the kids start experimenting as well.

Emma

We had rubber bands and crayons to aid in the decorating.

Hannah

Because all our eggs here are brown, sometimes the wait is a bit long to see the coloring.

Cami Waiting . . . and Waiting

But, eventually they come out with beautiful rich colors!

Caleb

The end result:

The kids were quite excited to find all these eggs scattered throughout our front room Sunday morning.  They were up early and all ready for church in plenty of time.

Emma’s Egg Hunt Finds

They had enough time for an egg hunt and to go on their personal scavenger hunts to find their goodies!

Scavenger Hunt Clues

Thank goodness the Easter Bunny didn’t hide them in any obscure places like in years past, like the toilet or the car trunk.  We didn’t have time to go digging around too much.  I think next year we may encourage the Easter Bunny to come a day earlier so he can attend church on Sunday without being too tired!

Cami’s Goodies

The kids found their goodies and emptied their plastic eggs into their baskets.  Each one got a ‘big’ gift from the Easter Bunny.  Cami and Hannah each got a new outfit for their American Girl Dolls.  Cami was ecstatic to get to change Kit’s clothes!

Kit’s Reporter Dress

Caleb got some really neat Frisbees, while Emma is sporting a new watch.

As we rushed out the door to be at church early to set everything up, I realized we didn’t get a picture of all of us decked out in our spring finery.  One more reason for a Saturday Easter Egg Hunt, I guess.  But, that was that and we had a wonderful day at church celebrating the Resurrection and what that means for each of us.

Happy Easter!!

I read about this event on a friend’s blog and I’m so glad I did!  I quickly booked tickets the week before and we went together as a family on Saturday.

Peacock Theatre

‘My First Sleeping Beauty’ was put on by the graduating dancers from the English National Ballet School.  It was only 1 1/2 hours with a 20 minute intermission, geared for children 3 and up.  There was a narrator, which was wonderful as it explained the dances and what was going on inside the dancers heads as they danced.

We all loved it and will be on the look-out for more events like this!

We took advantage of Chris being home for Good Friday to go explore a part of London that we hadn’t been to yet . . . Greenwich, home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian Line.

Greenwich isn’t the easiest of places to get to, as we took the train, the tube, and then a separate light rail train.  But, it was all worth it.  The town of Greenwich, itself, is very cute and enjoyable.

Our first stop was lunch, which is always a treat.  Gourmet Burger Kitchen is always a favorite in our books.

Full tummies are always a must for being happy tourists, at least for our kids.

Caleb Devouring His Burger

Our first tourist attraction was the Cutty Sark, the last clipper ship to be built as a merchant vessel.  It was built in 1869 and has been here in Greenwich in dry dock since 1954.

It was damaged in a fire a few years ago so has been undergoing renovation work.  It reopens for touring at the end of the month, so our extent of viewing it was from the outside.

We really wanted to get to the Observatory and the Planetarium so we quickly walked through the Old Royal Naval College grounds and the National Maritime Museum.

On our quick run-through the museum the kids found some fun little kids’ displays.

Pirate Cami

We also got to experiment hands-on with how ships communicated through time.  It was a very kids-friendly museum.

Emma Talking to the Ship’s Captain

We made the trek up the hill to the Observatory and Planetarium.  The climb was steep but the view from the top was beautiful.

Greenwich from the Hill

Right now they are getting the grounds set up for the Olympic Equestrian Events so it looks a bit different than normal.

At the top of the hill, we were able to set our clocks to the Master Clock in Greenwich.  We weren’t too far off.

We really wanted to be able to straddle the Prime Meridian in this exact location (we had straddled it at the O2 Arena when we went for the London Prepares Gymnastics events).

We stood in the queue for an hour . . . just so we could have this picture:

Straddling the Prime Meridian

The kids look less than thrilled, but we were so happy to finally be at the front of the queue and mindful of everyone else waiting to take a similar picture.  Chris did hop in quickly to get a picture of his own feet straddling the line.

Chris Straddling the Prime Meridian

Once finished at the Observatory, we walked over to the Planetarium.  There were so many hands-on exhibits in here as well, but we had bought tickets for a show so went directly to the theatre, which had just reopened that day!

Planetarium

We had a great time watching the planets and an informative film about the Voyager Space Probes that were launched in 1977.  It was really interesting to see what had been learned from them.  The seats in the theatre were so comfortable as we leaned back to see the screen above.  Cami was even enthralled.  It would be fun to go back for different shows, as it’s the only planetarium in the London area!

Our last stop of the day was for something to munch on while we journeyed home.  We love these little sweet shops!

Sweet Shop

A fun day out in London . . . with another thing ticked off our ‘to-see-in-London’ list!

Cami’s Lolly

As we begin April, my thoughts turn to a post from about 3 years ago.  For some reason, I’ve been in the same mind-frame . . .  just thinking about all that I am thankful for in my life.  I felt it was worthwhile for me to repost it, for my own benefit.

Reposted from April 10, 2009 –

This month is a month of assorted anniversaries for me. It’s always a contemplative time as I count my blessings and realize how much my Heavenly Father loves me and watches over me.

April 8th – In 1993, I was involved in a fatal car crash while my friend was driving us home from track practice. I feel it a blessing that I don’t remember the horrific scenes after the accident or most of my hospital stay. I do know I became a true believer of seat belts as my lap belt in that old car saved my life.

April 13th – In 2000, Chris’s sister, Cami, passed away at the age of 24. I can’t say enough about Cami’s goodness and strength. She was just one of those people who touched everyone around them and didn’t let her illness keep her down.

April 19th – In 1995, the end of my senior year of high school in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma City bombing occurred. We heard the blast in the morning while we were in 1st period band. We didn’t know WHAT it was until the next hour when every single classroom had their television sets on the news channels. I only knew one girl who lost her father but that didn’t stop everyone from pulling together. Our Laurel class made candy leis and took them down to the site for the firefighters and families who were waiting to hear news of their loved ones. I will never forget that day.

Sweet Is the Work

(“FYI: For Your Info,” New Era, Dec 1995, 32–35)

When disaster struck in Oklahoma City last April, rescue workers were on the scene almost immediately. Many workers, who gave up regard for personal safety, made one request. They wanted some candy—it helped to keep their energy up while they were working.

Laurels in the Choctaw Ward, Oklahoma South Stake, went to work, stringing candy “leis” together for the workers to wear around their necks. Other leis were given to bomb victim’s families as a symbol of the love and prayers the Laurels were sending to all the people involved.

“We took the leis to the hospital and met a man whose wife and two sons had been hurt in the bombing. Our leis let them know they were loved and we were behind them,” says Laurel Rebecca Nevin.

April 19th – Two short years later in 1997 (after one month of dating), Chris proposed to me on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, UT.  Four months later we were married and I couldn’t be happier.

April 29th – In 2006, our own Cami was born.  We named her after Chris’s sister, which was hard at first.  Every time we said her name, we only saw Chris’s sister, but our Cami has grown into her name and really is a “Cami.”  We are grateful for how she rounds out and completes our family.

Some of the saddest and happiest moments of my life have happened in April.  I feel it a blessing that they occurred during spring and Easter when we are contemplating rebirth and newness of life.