Ode to Joy

There is no need to tire my fingers by outlining all the many talents Lana has. This post focuses on the fruits of just one of her many activities. Several months ago Lana joined the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra. As there were no open spots on clarinet, she went for cello, an instrument she's rarely played since high school.

(I know, wouldn't it be handy to have a repertoire of instruments to choose from when deciding to join a musical group? The girls wanted her to play flute.)

At first the music was daunting, but with diligent practice, she 'made the cut' and was welcomed into the fold. As a side note, the kid she sits next to in the cello section is the same boy I stand next to in one of the Cathedral choirs.

July 3rd marked the 20th anniversary of the Orchestra, and the keynote number performed was Beethoven's 9th Symphony complete with soloists and choir, all within the awesome setting of Peterborough Cathedral.

Lana raised many eyebrows as she sold over a dozen tickets-apparently a high number for any single person to sell. Oddly, her fellow instrument players were surprised she knew enough people to sell that many tickets. We can only assume they thought as Americans we would somehow be averse to 'talking to strangers' and making friends while here. Of course, Lana makes all our family friends and I am lucky enough to hang on to her coattails and pretend I am friendly too.

Below are pictures from the performance on July 3. It was an amazing experience for her, me and the other hundreds of people there (seemed like nearly a full house). If you get a chance the next concert features selections from Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals on 18th September at the Cresset.

You can just see her at the far right of the pictures.

There's always room for

C-E-L-L-O.

  Tuesday night I auditioned for the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra.  The audition itself lasted about 40 minutes, then I was asked to join the 3-hour rehearsal that evening.  I wasn't sure if anyone was impressed with my playing because I made more than a few errors.  But even after not playing cello since we left the States (18 months ago), I managed to fumble through Verdi's La Forza del Destino well enough to earn a place in the cello section!

I'm really excited!  It's quite an honour to play with a real symphony orchestra - my first non-university music post as a performer! This is something I've always dreamed of...   I'm particularly looking forward to the big 20th anniversay concert series at the cathedral this summer.  Would be great to see some friends in the audience (hint, hint).  

Helping Hands

Today, throughout the entire United Kingdom, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worked together on various service projects for their local communities. It is known as "Helping Hands" day and is an annual event. Our project for the Peterborough area included cleaning up the Nature Preserve at Railworld. We weeded, laid paths, painted a bridge, dredged ponds and even drove in fence posts. It was a beautiful warm day and we had a lot of fun working together with our fellow church members of all ages.

Below: my little girls and their friend, Olivia, work together to "chop out" the weeds near the picnic area.
My good buddy Julia and I worked on painting the bridge.
The boys got to play with large hammers.
Even the Mayor, herself, came to behold this massive effort. She seemed pleased and posed for a photo with the group of us that were painting the bridge, then took a tour of the grounds with our Bishop.

As we were finishing up with our service activities, the Nene Valley Railway's steam engine pulled in and we got to see it getting filled up with water. The girls were really impressed.

Afterwards, we headed into the city centre for a few hours at the Medieval Fayre, part of the Peterborough Heritage Festival. We saw demonstrations on medieval craftsmanship, toured a replica of a Viking longboat and enjoyed the Roman and Viking soldiers re-enact battles.

A Happy Anniversary

A lot has happened since we got married 9 years ago. We started by finishing.

...University, that is. I graduated from BYU in 2002 with a BA in Music. The following year I taught school and a lot of piano lessons until Matt graduated cum laude in 2003 with both his bachelor's in accounting and a master's in tax (also from BYU). We have fond memories of those years - as most newly married couples do - during the times of educational pursuits which, like most, included a lot of working hours (both in school and out of school), a tight budget and a few adventurous internships for both of us.

By the middle of 2003 we were ready to leave all the adventure behind, settle down, start a family and be "normal." We got pregnant, moved to Minneapolis, bought a house and Matt started his accounting career with KPMG. But, much to our surprise, the adventures continued...

In July 2003 our house burned down; a week later our first daughter was born. It's worth noting that we coped a lot better with the house burning down than we did adjusting to a new baby. Ironically, that did not prevent us from having another baby 2 1/2 years later.

Our second daughter joined us the end of 2005, December 29th to be exact, and Matt was especially thrilled... because her early arrival meant we would get the child tax credit for 2005 instead of having to wait another year.

By 2006 our "new" house started to feel small and Matt was working such long hours at the firm that Toddler Amy began to ask why Daddy didn't live with us anymore. This prompted some discussion and within a few months, Matt had landed himself a tax position with Caterpillar in Peoria, IL (and consequently, a better work-life balance).

We moved to Morton, IL in May 2006 where we spent the next two years in relative peace - if you consider "peace" including potty training children, removing wallpaper from every room of the house, ceramic tiling bathroom floors, and manicuring a 1/2 acre yard with over 25 rose bushes, a vegetable garden and a 2-tier playground/sandbox combo. We loved every minute of it and were glad to have finally settled into that "normality" we had sought after those years earlier...

We have since learned to not seek after "normality" as it doesn't really exist.

In February 2008 we accepted an overseas assignment with Caterpillar and now find ourselves loving another new adventure in life, this time in Peterborough, England. The house is smaller, the yard is smaller, and the WORLD is smaller. Just in the last year alone we've not only traveled throughout England, but also Scotland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Malta and Egypt and have plans to visit a few other countries as well - something we had only dreamed about for our retirement years!

The little girls continue to grow beautifully and never cease to amaze us by exceeding our expectations in so many ways. We love everything about our family; it is our greatest blessing.

So because of that day, 9 years ago, when Matt and I were married and sealed together in a temple of God, for time and ALL eternity, we celebrate this little bit of TIME we have spent together and look forward to all that awaits us both in this life and in the eternities to come.

Girly Weekend

Matt went with the youth from church to the London temple on Saturday. It was a 3-hour drive to get there, then several hours of baptismal work and then a 3-hour return trip. Thankfully, the traffic wasn't too bad on the M-25 or the timing could have been a lot worse!

All of us girls were sad to have a day without Dad, but we made the best of it by doing some fun activities. First, we went to Ferry Meadows park and fed the swans and played at the playground. We even brought along a picnic lunch with special snacks we don't usually eat - like crisps (potato chips) and chocolate biscuits (cookies). In the afternoon Amy went to a friend's birthday party and Emily and I went for a long run with my friend, Gillian (we made it 3.4 miles before Emily fell asleep in the buggy). Gill headed off to her daughter's ballet recital and I grabbed a quick shower before heading off to collect Amy from her party. Then, we all came home to watch "High School Musical" and make pizza, popcorn and American-style lemonade.

Yesterday was "Mothering Sunday" here in the UK... equivalent to Mother's Day in the States. I was treated to breakfast in bed: Amy made the toast with butter and jam all by herself. Dad cooked scrambled eggs and Emily poured the juice and decorated the tray with My-Little-Ponies wearing dress-up necklaces.

Matt also cooked a lovely roast beef with potatoes and my favourite: raw bell peppers and broccoli with ranch dip. For dessert we ate trifle (becoming a Mother's Day tradition in our house!) This year though, we stepped it up a notch and added crushed chocolate pieces on top of the whipped cream... that idea is definitely a keeper!

Overall, it was a fabulous weekend to spend with my little girls and husband. I am so blessed to have them and look forward to many more Mothering Sundays together!

Where would you go?

With our limited time living in the UK and having a great desire to visit many places throughout Europe, we had decided that we would not return to the United States during the next 3+ years unless absolutely necessary (someone dies, potato famine, etc.). Unfortunately, life doesn't always go as planned.

Whilst talking with some fellow ex-pats here in England, I learned that non-U.S. citizens (like me) need to have a re-entry permit to go back to the US someday. Leaving the US without one means trouble. The law firm that took care of our UK visas, etc. failed to mention anything of the sort. So I had Matt check into it.

Turns out that I do need a re-entry permit and I have to be in the United States for a minimum of 7 days in order to file it. Then I need to return about 3 weeks later in order to have some biometrics done. Such a grand irony that the moment you think you've got Europe at your doorstep you get forced into 2 trips to America.

But lets look at the bright side: Caterpillar is going to finance the airfare and probably some of the other associated costs. It also looks as though I can go to ANY location in the United States (so long as the second location has a biometrics facility).

So, my friends, pitch it to me... If you could go anywhere in the United States, where would it be and why?

Wrapping things up...

We're beginning to get things all wrapped up in time for Christmas - literally. Each year seems more stressful than the last... possibly because we keep adding events to the usual traditions we keep. In addition to baking an ample variety of cookies, caroling, visiting neighbours/friends, shopping, school plays, etc. we added a a trip to the annual Glinton Church light turning-on ceremony. Amy signed up to sing with the primary school children and we braved the cold, dark night through several verses of some of the most obscure Christmas carols ever written... all to see one tree with blue lights turn on... but the mince pies were tasty and we got to try our hand at ringing the 13th-century church bells!

Another time-consuming project has been this year's installment of the home-made Christmas gifts: cloth activity books (otherwise known as "quiet books") for the girls. I used a pattern called the "I Can Do It- Cloth Activity Book" (available online for $7.99). I shared the project with several of my international friends and it was a fun way to use up some scrap fabric/notions. Here is the finished product:

Page 1: Velcro Baby's diaper (nappy). I substituted my own pattern for this page, opting out of the "I can Count" page that the original pattern calls for with velcro shapes. There are already enough velcro-matching pages in this book (see below).

Page 2: Tie the shoe.
Page 3: that's a mirror in the left-side pocket and a comb on the right-side.

Page 4: zipper on the tent (another substitution: the tent in place of a plain zipper on the page)
Page 5: velcro the shapes (matching).

Page 6: the train wheels snap on.

Page 7: self-explanatory!

Page 8: I put a few American pennies in the purse and a tube of chap-stick.

Page 9: the flowers button onto the stems.

Page 10: I replaced the original pattern of the fruit basket with an apple tree. The child can pick the felt apples and put them into the harvest basket.

Page 11: Teddy Bear fits inside the quited blanket.

Page 12: the clock hands are cut out of plastic and move freely around the eyelet/brad. I embroidered the numbers on with my sewing machine.

Page 13: the traffic lights velcro on.

Page 14: the dog house door opens and closes to reveal a little embroidered puppy that attaches with velcro (special thanks to Laurie's Mom who used her fancy embroidery machine to make the puppies for all of us).

Page 15: the pony's tail snaps into place. I added some left-over trim from some curtains I sewed last year to serve as the pony's mane (instead of drawing it on per the pattern's instructions).

Page 16: a little drawing pad and pencil.

Enchanted Yuletide Ball

Matthew (a.k.a. James Bond) and I went to a ball this past weekend in honour of a wonderful couple from our ward - Jim and Manita Martin - here in Peterborough. We danced - really danced (waltz, fox trot, swing), ate fancy food, and especially enjoyed socializing with our many new friends. Unfortunately, we got so caught up in the festivities that we completely forgot to get a good photo of us all dressed up in our formal attire... I think there may be one out there, but in the meantime, this one that I snagged off my friend's Facebook album (thanks Lorraine!) will have to do for now...

I'd also like to thank my sponsors: Holli, for the diamond necklace and black ring; Katy for the beautiful pale yellow bridesmaid dress that I wore those years ago at her wedding (I've heard it's rare to have a friend who can pick out a classy bridesmaid dress); and Matalan for the black sash and jacket-thingy that I wore over top the yellow dress to fit the "black tie" attire requisite.

"Hobbying" for Funds

I've had dozens of projects going on simultaneously over the past few weeks, but one that I am about to set aside for the next couple of weeks is my (unofficial) hair bow business. They have been quite popular in the village since I began tacking them onto birthday presents for Amy's classmates. Here are just a few of my most recent creations - which are being donated to the Glinton Primary School for their annual Christmas Bazaar.

Be on the lookout for some fabulous new creations in the new year because although my stock of ribbon is sadly depleted I will soon receive reinforcements from the New World!

Remember When?

I copied this from Alisa's blog... she was concerned about her 10 year high school reunion looming... well, mine is looming in a matter of weeks! Yikes. I just try to remind myself that I was always extremely young for my grade.

Anyway, here are your instructions:

1. Add a comment on my blog. Leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.