ohhhhhh england....

ENGLAND.... you NEVER cease to amaze me. Really, though??? It's New Year's Eve and everything but pubs closes at 8 tops??? Really? Is that what's happening right now? WOW.

Haha CANNOT wait to go back to the land of 24/7!!!!!!!!!! And even if things ever do close early, it'll be by such a small chunk of time!

OOHHH my word... (huuugggee sigh)

ODE to miss house!

This post is dedicated to my love and good friend Melissa Ray House!

We were both trying to get a hold of each other yesterday on Skype and it didn't happen. :< I was very sad. But I got to thinking about how much of a gem she is and I wanted to write this post about her!!! Here are some facts and memories of mah grl, organized into a very messy 'ode' hah.

Ode to Melissa House:

-She is the FLYEST dancer. It's just INSANE how much she brings it. She wows errbody on that dance flo!
-She is the tytest thang to ever hit REXBURGGG Idaho. I don't even know how that hero lasted there that long with all them zeros!
-She knows almost as much about rap as my big brother. I try to be as cool as her but it is pretty much a pointless goal!
-Whenever I hear JT's 'Chop Me Up', I think about us getting down in the Jack in the Box drive through to it blasting in my car. :>
-She is so forgiving and understanding. She puts up with my stressy self.
-Melissa House saved me at a horrible time in my life when I was at BYUI. I had some mad drama that she helped me through like nothing else. I tear up when I think about how much I needed her and how selfless she was at ALWAYS being there for me. SHE IS IN MAH HEART!!!!!
-Melissa almost made my dreams come true when she was dating someone that I very very very much love. My dream was for love and marriage. But it didn't work out. But I still love her and it's okay that my dream didn't pan out. :P
-MELIZITCHKA is SO talented. It's unreal. She is rocking it out almost graduating at the hardest med school ever, Johns Hopkins, as a nurse. She can sew up anything or create anything in the world. She is SO crafty. She is SO brilliant!!! She made my baby son the most adorable quilt and I love it so much! I will treasure it for life.
-Melis and I had the most infamous time partying it up in PARIS, FRANCE!!!!!!!!!!!! It was an unforgettable time. With the canckles and the crazy Chinese hostel and the yummy food and the Louvre and the photoshoots and the HOW FAR DO I HAVE TO GO TO GET TO YOU?? SHOW ME THE MILES! NAUTICAL MILES!! Hahahah it was so amazing to be there with her!
-Melissy just gets me. And she did from the very start. From the like second minute that I met her.
-Her heart is too big. TOO big, she is so caring and rips her self apart if someone she loves is in trubs or has any problem.
-Last but not least, with Melissa House and I, it was just plain jane true love from the start! We have so much fun together and I know she'll be a bffe fo lyfe.

I ain't no homo. I just love my boo Melissa Ray House!

Mr. Giles' First CHRISTMAS!!!!

This post is about my baby's first Christmas!
It's been such an exciting time preparing for Christmas! I've loved shopping this year soooo much. We've had a bit more money this year and I've loved to buy nice things for my loved ones without feeling sick to my stomach about not being able to get a lot. Oh, don't get me wrong, we did spend more than we should have hah but it truly is so great to give, much better than to receive. So I've loved getting things this year! Giles really is a gem in shops, too. He is so good, he rarely whines and he is usually so chill.

For Giles' first Christmas, we bought him a floor piano that he can kick at or tap at on his tummy. It plays in piano, trumpet, drums, and violin. We bought it so he can enjoy his tummy time more. He is getting better at it but yeah he does get fed up still sometimes hah. He's very strong with his head and arms and lifting himself up, but sometimes still after a while he wants to roll onto his back.
We got him this little musical trumpet thing, a 'First Christmas' book, some finger puppet books (one's Old MacDonald with animal fingers and the other is Noah's Ark with animals and Noah on the thumb hehe), a Sunday sweater and collared shirt, and some other things. Josh's co-worker for secret Santa also got us a 'Baby's First Christmas' Hand print set. We took his hand and foot print and carved the date and his name! So preshhhh!

Other gifts he received were a monkey hand puppet, a Noah's ark boat with stuffed animals and a stuffed Noah inside, a Bible pop-up book, a Greg Olsen Savior book, a foot cosy for his stroller to keep his feet warm, a hilarious t-shirt from my sister, a musical puzzle, aaannnnddd..... A MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL KIT!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited that Dave and Lorna got him one. He is our proper British boy now with his football jersey, shorts, and Nike socks! He'll play for England one day! hah!

Giles was okay during Christmas, he's been having a bit of a rough time lately. He is starting to teethe really bad now. We can tell it's paining him now, it's not just the excess drooling anymore. He really chomps hard on things and whines a lot. Poor poor baby :<. So he wasn't the happiest on Christmas! He also had constipation a bit so he was a bit off and on. But I'm sure he will enjoy his new toys a lot!

Josh and I had a really great Christmas with his family as well. It was a nice happy day with good food and good company! For Christmas, I bought Josh 2 DVDs, Inception and How to Train Your Dragon. I also surprised him and bought him a fancy Superdry Hoodie. He really loved it and was so happy to have it. He shined up my wedding rings for Christmas, he bought me a huge Toblerone, an awesome Muppets t-shirt, the 'It's Complicated' DVD, and GORGEOUS glittery festive red flowers. The gifts were really sweet, he is so good to me!

We also got a gym membership for the remaining time we're going to be in England, we got sweatpants, a cute Union Jack frame and pillow, new scarves, sneakers for Josh, a pretty purple jade and ameythest necklace and earrings for me, an HMV gift card, and we also received tickets for a date out! Dave and Lorn got us tickets to attend a classical music concert on New Year's Day. So that will be fun to have a date together!
My mother mailed us a package of Christmas jammies and American candies, but stupidly IT GOT STOLEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, she mailed it like 2 months ago, and we haven't received it, so pretty much it's gone! But she did get us money so Josh and I could get some clothes, and she mailed Giles some more clothes because the little sprout is growing so fast out of his clothes he has already!

Totally aside from the gifts we received, we really had a lovely holiday remembering our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his birth, his life, and all that he did for us. On Christmas Eve, we read from the Bible, watched the church DVD Joy to the World, and had a lovely devotional. Christmas Day we also had a little devotional together. I tried hard to keep Him in my heart extra much! The reason for the season (forgive the rhyme haha) is Jesus Christ, and I think this year I've realized most that that important fact is SO completely hidden from the world today. Christmas to the world is SO SO SO very much unconcerned with the Savior. It is about shopping and bling and money. This is my first Christmas as a mother, and I've realized that I have to work very hard for my kids to really know that Christmas is about the Savior, Heavenly Father's gift to us.

It has been such a lovely season. I have loved spending extra time with Josh and I've loved being with my gorgeous little boy Giles! It has been a great first Christmas as parents and I am SO ecstatic to celebrate many more and with more kiddies coming in the future and our family and our traditions building up and up and up!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL!

xx

mah little man

GILES UPDATEEEEE:

-He is still nuts about standing up. He loves it and would rather do that than try to roll over or anything of the sort. Maybe he'll skip crawling and go to walking. I know that happened to this little baby girl I used to babysit. She just up and walked one day haha!
-Lorna bought me this dancing and singing reindeer guy that sings 'Jingle Bells'. And Giles LOVES it haha! He always smiles at it and wants to hold it.
-There is this show here on CBeebies (Children's BBC) called Waybaloo. I always make fun of it because it's like the new Teletubbies. So freaky and weird. But when I was doing my makeup this morning, I saw Giles smiling huge behind me in the mirror. I walked up and he was smiling his face off at this creepy Waybaloo show!!!! HAHAH! I guess I can't make fun of it because he really likes it!
-He is still going bald :<. Within a space of 3 days, his whole cute little spiky quiff fell out and he is still thinning. I hope his real hair comes in soon hah but he is still just adorable any which way.
-He discovered his feet a while back, but he's loving them more now and always grabs at them all day.
-Giles is going through a crazy separation anxiety phase. When I go even 1 ft. out of his eyesight he bursts out crying. And when I come back again he bursts out laughing. Talk about bipolar haha! Hope he grows out of it soon because it can be exhausting!

Well, that's my little man for ya.

And for the record, there is a little bit more to my life than my baby Giles, haha. I know it's all I write about on here, but he is just too fab and too cute and too precious so it's hard not to, ya know??

So here's a Mall and Josh update, I guess:

-We're almost done Christmas shopping. I already know what Josh is getting me, he is getting my wedding ring and my engagement ring cleaned and replated (it's white gold so needs to be re-sparkled up about every year). I am ring-less at the moment and it does feel a bit weird.
-Haven't heard back about Josh's visa for a couple weeks. They need to tell us about when his interview at the embassy in London will be, and when to schedule a medical appointment for him to enter in to the US. Hopefully they give us a date soon. We are pretty sure that that is the final step and then his visa will be in our hands! We're still hoping for a month to three months before we can finally get over.


TTFN. Ta ta for now. Yeah, I just quoted Winnie the Pooh. And yes, that is allowed. I am a mom now, so I'm allowed to know all the goofy things of life. :P