Calgary Country 105

I have to say Europe doesn't really grasp the concept of cowboys or country music. If you see a guy in a cowboy hat he's most likely an Airman from Texas hanging out in his casual clothes while off duty. I adore country music and I tried to date every cowboy in my singles ward, but I love that I got a man in a different kind of get up, and that we live a fun/stressful/adventurous/unique life together. I still get my country music fix by logging on to Country105.com. They are always live so no matter what time I listen (usually your midnight to noon) I get a cheeky DJ, the current hot songs as well as the classics. Thank You Calgary for keeping me in touch with where I come from and what I like to listen to.

Remember When. . .

Now I know I have a lot more amazing pictures on my external hard drive but I don't know where it is right now so these are some I have found in random folders. They make me laugh and I hope no one minds that they are up here, it's all in good fun.

Remember when Peyton had puffy hair

Remember when Tre was just a small dude

Remember when Michelle was blonde

Remember when Jim and Jenn had a dog

Remember when Dave was a stud in Boot Camp

Remember when Jenn had the shortest hair cut ever, and still looked awesome

Remember when Dave decided he wanted to be in a play

Remember when I had a kitchen that seriously looked like this

Remember when my sisters (I now have 1 more) were my bridesmaids

Remember when I first visited St George and was nervous to hang out with Miranda

Remember when the punkalot videos were created

Remember my first dog Kibbles

Remember when Dave went hunting with his brothers

Remember when I touched a fish for the first time

Remember when Katie had long beautiful hair

Remember when Scott grew a beard

Nigella Express is heaven to watch

Since we have moved to England and started watching British TV I have fallen in love with a cooking show. It's called Nigella Express. It's shown on the BBC Food channel and Dave has told me stories of investigators having it on their tellies in Australia. I have always liked watching cooking shows but other then for a short stint when I was young never missing an episode of The Urban Peasant have I ever wanted to drop everything and watch a cooking program. She has a calmness and grace about her as she prepares simple and satisfying meals for friends and family. She LOVES to eat and never lets her creations go to waste, she even ends each show with a clip of her sneaking to the fridge for a late night snack. Some of her recipes are a bit exotic for my taste, I don't like lamb or often buy smoked salmon, but the way she guides you through each creation is a half hour of heaven.

Here is a clip of one of her shows from Youtube (It has some strange narrating in the background which isn't normal) I just love to watch her.

We hit the beach Great Yarmouth style

So we heard of theis really cool place called Great Yarmouth. It's North East of Red Lodge and it's on the North Sea shore. This place reminds us of the Jersey/Delaware boardwalks. There are rides, food and entertainment all along the beach. We thought it would be a perfect way to spend a Saturday and it was until Ava decided that rides are scary! We first played on the beach and threw rocks into the sea (wich Ava thought was a blast.) Then we tried to put her on a few kiddo rides. This is how she looked before it started:

And this is what she looked like after 2 times around the track. If you look close you can even see the tears. She was freaking out and screaming, so the man stopped the ride and gave us back our tokens. Dave and I look at each other and said "well I guess a Disneyland trip is out of the question!"

Now we had to figure out how to use 4 unrefundable tokens on kid rides. Most of them didn't allow parents but the Haunted House ride did. Dave and I each took our turn and it was ghetto. Cheese cloth rubbing on your face, scary loud screaming, and flashing lights, Ava would have been traumatized for life.

I love the mothers in my life

To my mom on Mothers Day. I love you, you are truly a gift from Heavenly Father to me. I am so thankful that you were there for everyone of my accomplishments in life. You bought me a beautiful white dress to wear after my baptism, you attended everyone of my dance recitals, watched me walk the stage and graduate from high school and college. You helped me pack and move into my first apartment, you laughed and cried with me as I prepared to get married and move away. You work and struggle and give everything of yourself for your family, and especially me your only daughter. I love you and wish you a Happy Mothers Day. May God bless you with health and a long happy life. Love Di

Mom Miller, I love you. You have raised a wonderful son who has blessed my life. You have taught him how to treat a lady and to be an understanding, peace making husband who always tries to look on the bright side of life. I love visiting you in the beauty shop! You make me feel warm and welcome even from the first time we met (awkward as it was) I appreciate the way you always remember my birthday, anniversary and even the mothers day gift I got in the mail yesterday. You are a beautiful lady and I love you.

Beautiful Weather and Cambridge

It's been so nice here for the past few weeks so we are getting out of the house more. Ava has been loving her play house and the new BBQ addition. It came with one hot dog and one hamburger which she is constantly "cooking" us for supper. She calls the ketchup bottle "sauce" and makes sure you have plenty of it on your food, it's really hilarious.

On May first Dave tried to teach me the park and ride system in Cambridge. It's not hard but it's confusing to a girl who has never taken public transportation in her life. There are so many different buses in different colours and you can only get on and off on a specific side of the street. . . Laugh if you want but for me it's annoying.

The college students charge a small fee for a boat ride up and down the cannel, it's called Punting. This is the definition according to Wikipedia:

A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting refers to boating in a punt. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole. A punt should not be confused with a gondola, which is propelled by an oar rather than a pole.

Punts were originally built as cargo boats or platforms for fowling and angling, but in modern times their use is almost exclusively confined to pleasure trips.

There are more experienced Punters and then there are amateurs. It's fun to watch them because often they can get in jams and collide with each other. I thought the guy punting the boat in the middle of the bottom picture looked a lot like my brother Dave. Who knew Dave went to school in Cambridge?

We saw a crazy cricket clock on the street. It was a little scary but cool at the same time.

We left Cambridge and stopped in Kentford (only a few miles from Red Lodge) for supper. We drive by this restaurant every time we go to church and think "I wonder if the food is any good?" When we walked in, it was smaller then we thought and they said they were booked all night but they did seat us at a small table near the fireplace. The food was good but the name is comical. British people have a traditional dessert called "spotted dick" which is served at this restaurant. I went home and looked up how to make it. It's a steamed raisin log served with "squirty cream" or warm custard. You might think I'm 10 years old right now but it's all too funny not to blog about.

Do you remember this piece of junk?

Do you remember when I posted THIS picture? I bought this piece of junk from Lakenheathyardsales.com. The lady lived so far away that when Dave finally found her house it was dark outside and he couldn't see what a lemon he was buying. When he got home and drug it into the house I was sad and we called her and asked if we could bring it back. She got cross with Dave and he hung up on her. We had 2 choices: make it into something better then it was, or throw it away.

These pictures don't really show the scale of uglyness it actually was but after a lot of labor (not much of it being child labor) and 3 major set backs which almost lead to it being driven to the dump. I have a finished product that works well and holds a lot of food. My tiny kitchen has been saved from over crowding! I no longer have to store food on top of the cupboards.

The first time we tried to paint it was too cold outside (just look at what Ava is wearing)and the paint went on as bubble gum pink then began crystallizing. We quickly put it back in the garage and waited for better weather. Later I re-sanded the entire thing and spray painted a coat of primer. Then I began the endless number of coats. RED PAINT is ridiculous, but beautiful. This British paint was so dumb! It chipped, scratched and pealed off even after the primer and both were latex. Anyway I decided that all of the imperfections would look OK if tried to make it look old and abused. It's still isn't finished, I bought some beautiful wall paper to put on the back panel but we need to get a new one cut. The present one is loose and full of "cut out" holes for a TV and it's chords.