Patti Cakes

Yesterday, I had our bishop's wife and two of her youngest sons over. We had such a nice visit. Afrcouse we had some finger foods, raspberry cheese cake and caffeine free diet coke. I was excited to be able to hold her brand new baby boy. I just LOVE babies and would have another one today if I didn't have to be pregnant. ( I know that sound horrid, but pregnancy just not my thing ) I tell Troy that I am so gratfull that we will be able to have more, a lot more babies after we get exalted. And thank heaven, we will have wisdom in knowing how to take care of those babies.
Today, Was fantastic! Lucky for me, and as an answer to many prayers....we had Utah family move into our word! Ashley is seriously like a gift send from heaven. We have SO much in common (some of it is kind of scary), we felt connected shortly after we met. This girl has such a bright perspective on life and world around you...I love it! Sometimes I need someone like her who can just shake me up, speak up her mind, and help me to see all the sun rays through the clouds.
She called me up and off we went by the train to Bromley. We didn't do anything big. But it was BIG for me. I was out of the house, I was breathing cold but fresh air (in the exception of the occasional smoke air), I was laughing and experiencing my day of life with a GREAT friend.
Thank you Ashley for moving to England!

P.S. I just Love THIS idea.

Troy has been doing some research on I-601 waiver, what it takes to be approved, what evidences Home Land Security needs etc. We have heard for a while now that it all has to be well documented. But what does it mean? What do we need to document? So in his research he came in contact with this lawyer who apparently does 90% of her practice in preparing I-601 waivers.
She has great approval percentage rate. So Troy contacted her and we had over the phone consultation. During our visit, she said, that I should of left to Russia and Troy should of staid in the US with the kids. (what?) She said, that we should do that even now, for it will THEN be an extreme hardship. She felt in her professional opinion that only then will we be able to see a possibility of my 10 year bar being removed.

I didn't sleep well that night....the images of me being with out my family just killing me.
Troy joked and said, that maybe we will be jipsys, traveling for the next 10 years. looking for job, home, school...I don't know......(sigh)
I get so tired of this at times.....seems like my whole life has been a limbo state....I can't even begin to tell you how that altered me as a person. I hate that my children are dragged into it! I just want them to have a normal life!
The only strength I find is on my knees. He knows! He has a plan! Trust Him! Find happiness!

The next day I find THIS talk. I would encourage you to read it. It has given me hope and trust that I can have bright life despite my circumstance. I believe many of us will relate. I felt like it was written just for me.

Thou I can put on a good argument about this one being a necessity, we all know it is a luxury!
Hair color...it is expensive and of high maintenance. But boy oh, boy does it make girl feel purdy!

Number 7 on my list of luxuries is NAP!!!!
A recent study showed that you will be 37% less likely to die from heart disease if you take three 30 minute naps per week. To me this is like finding that eating pack of Oreo cookies will make me skinny.
I love taking naps, always have. But lets face it, not everyone can take naps in the middle of a day, so for me to be able to do it is a luxury.

This is my #6 luxury item! Hobo Wallet.
I bought it for myself as a Mother's day gift from Troy ;)
(I do that sometimes) It might of been his fault. He might of forgotten about Mothers Day last year ;) And now I have this fabilouse luxury item! I LOVE IT ! I LOVE IT ! I LOVE IT ! Thank you darling!But I have to say...I might of thrown up a little when I bought it...I have never spent that much money on the wallet.

So, I was debating if I should put this one down or not. It is not a "thing", but more of an ability.
My number 5 of luxury in my life is ability to stay home with kids. Now, I know many of you will probably say that that is not luxury. But I truly believe it is. I was always very grateful, that even at the hardest moments (financial) of our marriage, I was able to stay home with the kids. Since we have come to England, I have ever more so realize how much it is a luxury to be stay at home mom. Economy here is really created on 2 household income and it makes impossible for mothers to stay at home. EVERY single mother that I have come in contact with at my kid's school, does some kind of job. (most of them do house cleaning) I have spoke to one of the sisters in our word here and have learned that government here really frowns upon mothers who don't work...As soon as her youngest daughter went to school, she start getting letters that her health care will be cut back if she doesn't return to work....
Yes, it is a luxury for me to stay home! And I am grateful for it!

My number 4 is this I used to sell this products for about 5 yrs. LOVED IT ! Stopped doing it after Drew was born, bcs it got in a way of me being a full-time mommy. However, I still use some of their products, have been for the past 12+yrs, just bcs I love it so much. And I can really tell the difference in my health, when I use it right. If I could afford, I would honestly use almost every. single. one. of their products. I totally believe in it! As a distributor I saw people getting an amazing health results.


{Disclaimer: I am not promoting this product to you, but IF you choose to buy it,or have questions, you may want to talk to me. I might be able to get you a good deal}

Remember this post? Ok lets move on....this has been so good for me...recognizing my abundances.
Luxury~~~~something that is an indulgence rather than a necessity.

Number 3 on my list is shoes, not any shoes....this ones. I think they are so cute in an ugly kind of way. They are costly...but boy they are worth every penny! You feel like you are walking on air. My feet never get tired or sore. I was introduced to them when I was hugely pregnant with Drew and was Christmas shopping with my mom. My feet were killing me and then we walked into Nordstrom, I saw them, tried them on and the rest was history. I came home telling Troy that Santa is going to bring me this lovelies for Christmas.






Since that day I have been lucky enough to have few
this one-->
<--and this one
Yes, this are definitely luxury.

Here at school, kids get to take RE (Religious Education). At first I was a bit stand-offish about it. I was concern for my children being confused about religion. But it turn out to be not that way at all. I love that my kids get to learn what other people believe. Rylee comes home with all kinds of different information and it allows us to talk to her about what she has learned. It's been really great! The other day they were talking about prophets, Rylee asked her teacher if there are still prophets on the earth today? To which her teacher said, "no, they are all dead".
That night Troy challenged her to share her testimony of a living prophets with her teacher. A few weeks passed and today, she came home smiling from ear to ear. " Mom, dad, I did something that I was really scared to do." -she said. What is it? " I went to my teacher and told her if she remembers us talking about prophets and how she said that they are all dead. Well, there are prophets on earth today and we have a living prophet." Her teacher proceeded to talk to Rylee and telling her that she will have to go and find out what prophet has to say.
Well done Rylee!

This little beauty was made between 1920-1940 and it is on sale at this store.
The other day we were at the Blue Water's Mall it's HUGE. In that mall there is a store with glass wall, from top to bottom and it all field with antique sawing machines. We didn't have our camera with us, but I told Troy I will have to come back and take picture of it. Pure joy!

Luxury~~~~something that is an indulgence rather than a necessity.

I was at the store today doing our weekly grocery shopping....I went to check on flowers...."hmmm"-thought me, "flowers are luxury" So that led me to this post....I would like to make a record everyday for a week (7 days) of luxuries in my life.
1. Fresh flowers.
Shortly after we moved here, I have written this post, Troy saw it and made me a promise, to which I must say he has been very faithful. "While we are here, I can always have fresh flowers." I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes me. English people love flowers! They are being sold just about every were. And as a spring starts approaching, I know the options of those pretties and places they are sold will only get better.
2. Books.
Oh, how I love them! No, books are not luxury, but buying them is. I have a confession to make.....I own many books I havent read yet. I buy them bcs I fall in love at first sight! One day I will read every single one of them. As of right now I play catch up game. I don't think there is enough life time to read them all. I walk by the isle and I have to stop...they are so captivating. I just stand there looking.....it's if they are beckoning me to pick'em up, and I do. Mmmmm....I love the feel, the smell, the look of the books. Yes, I have to say I judge a book by it's cover! I could never have one of those electronic devices. I rush home and hope that I can dive right into it.

What is your luxury?

Today, was another day that I really wanted to decorate my house....(sigh)
I walked around and looked at my bare walls and windows. My miss matched furniture or luck of it. I sat on the couch and my mind went wondering in how cozy I can make this place look and feel....
Troy has been gone to London for conference from 7 am till 7pm...I don't go to pick up kids till 3 pm and so it is me and my little Ryder. I try very hard to keep my mind busy...I look into my babies eyes, I make him laugh, I take him to play with his toys.....lunch time and he goes down for nap. It is quite, very quite and bare, sooo bare! I feel like I can hear my heart beat. I'm stairing at the wall....am I really that materialistic? Why my heart longing for creating beautiful things around me? I start thinking....WHY DO WE put book shelves and pictures in picture frames, and colorful pillows on the couch? Why do we need rugs? Why do we need curtains? And when we do have them why is it important that it is certain style and color? Why do we buy end tables, and coffee tables? And all the things we put on those tables. Why is it matter if our plates are white, blue or green? When you look at your porch, do you feel like you need to put something there? Why? When you see empty corner in the house or bare wall do you say: " That "....." will look so good in there." Do you plan flowers in your yard? Why? My 5 year old draw a picture and the very next thing that she did is taped it to the wall in her room. Why did she do that? Do you buy soap? Lets hope so....do you smell it first? Why? Do you smell candles, before you buy them? Why? How about your laundry soap? Maybe not all of you care, but I know some of you do. Why do we care about our surroundings so much? Am I so materialistic? Or maybe, just maybe there is more to it then meats the eye.
I'm just grieving...and longing.....and listening, and hopefully learning in the quietness of my home. Do I not know how blessed I am to have my family, and to have them with me? I do know that, and I give thanks to my Heavenly Father for that. And if my soul earns for beauty does that make me ungrateful and materialistic?

Woke up at 7 am as usual.....went downstairs to find this.....Com.....m...mon! Who's kids are those? It is 7 in the morning on Saturday, what 5 and 7 year old play chess? Well, apparently mine kids do!
Troy and I have purposefully decided not to get TV when we moved to the UK (aside the fact that you have to license your TV in here if you have one and it is like 300 backs/year)
So we don't even have a TV set. I do miss it every once in the while, but I have to admit, the absence of it has brought much good to our family.
For Christmas we got a lots of board games and have been enjoying playing as a family every single day. Kids always loved books, but now they are specially love them. One of the first things that Rylee asked me when we got here is if England has library cards. " Yes, honey, they have library cards" Got to love that girl.
They play with each other all the time. And Troy and I have been almost daily amazed at the imagination of their games. They love putting on a play or perform a dance that they choreographed. Their props are what makes it so funny most of the time. The other day I got to be in one of those dances and got to wear high hills. (no I will not post video of it, thou Troy did record it, while laughing his head off) Brooklyn was IN LOVE with me. She keep asking me to walk around so she could hear the clicking sound. I believe I got to find her high hills shoes to play in, she will love it.
Little Ryder is so entertain with the kids and is so eager to do what ever the kids are doing.
Life is simple at the Patti's, but our kids make it so much fun!

Dear Friends and Family, Troy and I feel very humble about the blessing we have had recently. We had an amazing opportunity of being interviewed by the Church radio station "Mormon Channel" why I believe. Because we got to share our testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it influenced our life, we want to share this with you. If you choose to listen, make sure you have time, for it is long, 1 1/2 to be exact. We hope you enjoy it, and that it would bring good into your life. We love and miss you all very dearly, and are grateful for your daily prayers in our behalf.
Click HERE to listen

For the memory sake, I had to post the picture of our tree....are you impressed?
Soooo not my kind! But it was free and kids got to decorate it.
"It's just one year, don't look. Kids love it. Deep breath. I survive." were some of the thoughts that flew in and out of my mind. And guess, what? I did survive. We had good Christmas regardless of what the tree looked like.

People here are very big on giving cards, which I think is awesome. Our kids got over 30 cards from their school...it was kind of crazy! The first card that Drew brought home was from a girl and he was all embarrassed that it said "love" I could tell that it made our kids feel loved by their class mates. We should write cards more often to each other, that personal hand writing does something to your heart, doesn't it!

I have bakes 17 of this beauties! I don't know how bakery people do it? It took me all day.
But it was so worth it. All the kind people who has been so nice to us got this scramtiousnes.
It is an apple bread, but they all here call it apple cake. Whatever, cake it is!
The next day Troy and the girls took a lot of it to people all over Bromley area. They were gone for almost 6 hrs. Thank you babe for doing it!

Kids decided to have sleep over party for the week of Christmas. They brought all the mattresses into one room and even little Ryder got to snuggle in a little. This are the things that I know kids will remember. I worry a lot about all the "perfections" of life, but it really boils down to this...simple... time together. I'm so grateful I have Troy who reminds me of it on the daily basis. And who also always remembers to take a picture.
Ryder absolutely LOVED it! He felt like he was part of the gang, all so grown up and such!
Christmas eve....new pj's! They begged me and begged me to open their pj's at like 5pm! Crazy kids....I lasted till 6.30. They actually set the timer on and counted down the last minute.
Who knew they would be so excited about new pjs'?
Now, this kid, didn't want any pj's. He was just happy the way he was!
And our little monkey had learn how to say " Ho,ho,ho! " Its the cutest thing ever! He gets his face really into it.
Ryder is excited that Santa brought him toys.
Next to our house we have a cute retired couple that are so kind to us. They have invited us to come over for a "drink" around Christmas time. After us not showing up....well, the date and time wasn't exactly set up...so it's not like we really didn't show up. At any rate, David came over (or call on us, as they would say here) and said: "Hey, beautiful people, will you come for a drink tomorrow at 2?" We were delighted to be called beautiful, but had to let him know that we don't drink alcohol. He was ok with that. I don't think they would of serve alcohol to us anyway. Who drinks at 2 pm? And they just didn't seem the kind that would anyways. They served some fun and testy finger foods. We talked a lot and found out they used to be teachers, so they miss kids. They were really good with our kids, I would trust them to watch'em if we ever would dare to inflict that on them. Sometimes we will have to take a picture of them to remember them. But for now just the kiddos on their way to Dave and Heather's house.

In over all, we had good Christmas! We missed our family and friends a lot. I think Holidays are the hardest to be a way from your family, but we had each other and counted our many blessings!

Note to self:"When starting fireplace first check if there is a towel stuffed up the chimney."
All the creative ways we keep cold air away from our house.