Wild wedding weekend

Two weeks ago Dad called us up and said that we just had to come to my Cousin Amy's wedding in England and that he would sponsor our flights over. Well we couldn't say no to that :) We booked our flights to leave on Thursday and return on Tuesday! We arrived in England on Friday and straight away we were off to a blast by going out to lunch at a 300 year old pub that served some wonderful french cuisine. We then went back to Ania and Dad's house and got to know the local pub life and some fabulous polish cuisine. I'm not sure what we were debating in this photo but we put the world to rights that night so I'm sure it was fascinating ;)

The next day we got ready for the wedding and I realized that we should have taken it a little easier the night before :)
Dusty hates this photo because he thinks it looks posed but I just snapped it while he wasn't looking and I love it.

Dad and Ania after the service - we nearly all caught pneumonia because the church was so cold!

Outside the Church - the wedding was held in the church featured in 4 weddings and a funeral. It was so beautiful and the service was lovely (even though the lady priest was completely bonkers)

After warming up with Champagne and Canapes, we all felt a lot better and the new couple Mr and Mrs Skelding were introduced at the reception.

The reception had a traveling theme and the food reflected this with dishes from all over the world. We then had the speeches followed by a fantastic drumming band that surprised us all.

The couple then had a cake cutting ceremony which ended in the tower of profiteroles falling over. I wish I had a photo of this instead I have a great one of the family dog who would do anything for some food -he even had a bow tie on!

A live band then started performing and we all had a great time on the dance floor.

I am so glad we made it to the wedding - it was something I will never forget.

The next day we stayed at my Aunt's and we had a great night with more food and drink.

My Cousin John, Dusty and I thought it would be a great idea to try and make fizzy wine - as you can see it wasn't such a good idea!

It was still very amusing!!

John and I thought we would relive our childhood by making the English version of pudding. Let's just say it was a memory better left in the past - as you can see my Aunt wouldn't even try some (she is a lot wiser).

This is the collection of veils that Amy had left behind and of course it provided a great family photo - don't you love Dusty's flair!!

On the last day we went to see my other family and my Aunt had created lovely lunch for us. If you think that was a lot of food -we then went out for dinner!! We went back to the US on Tuesday and I think I've only just begun to want food again :)

This Blog is dedicated to my Dad - Thanks Dad for so many memories that we'll never forget!

It's a couple thing!

You know when people say that after a while couples start to look the same - well I think it's true.......

Tim's Birthday and the last camping trip of the season

Tim's 8th Birthday - can you believe he's that old!
Don't you just love James' expression

Tim loved his new meet the Robinson's game

We also got him a little rocket which he loved but unfortunately the batteries were dead and it didn't ignite so we'll have to try it out another time. It was fun to make it with them though.

The Grandparents filled up Tim's scrapbooking supplies and he has been none stop creating since.

This fall also featured the boy's first season of soccer - it was really fun to watch their games and see their personalities come out on the field.

We also took the boys camping for the last time before it got too cold. We had the perfect weather right before the plummet in temperature which was depressing. No more summer fun :(

We went with Leisha, her friend Cecile, her hubby Nicolas and their kids. Nicolas found this snake in the bush in the first 2 minutes. All the boys young and old couldn't get enough of it!

Action shot of Tim - there were 4 boys and they were all over the place. It took 5 adults to look out for them!

This pretty much sums up what the kids were doing the whole time - running, hiking, trying to light things on fire and messing with each other - it was hilarious!

I have to end with this photo - this is my personal assistant Mr. Muttons.

The mother of all updates!!

I have been completely slack in updating my blog lately but I'm trying to make up for it today by updating to show our lives over the last few weeks.
Today we went to the Brazilian Festival and it was so much fun, it makes me realize how much I miss city life. There was so much going on, we even had a chance to see the Dew Tour next to the festival.
The had a Tucanos booth where you could get a plate of yummy food for $6 and their awesome lemonade for $1!!

We made it in time for the parade and the Jujitsu show - it was great!

Dusty liking the festival :)

Last week I had to go to Kansas city for an executive meeting with the CEO of my company which left me exhausted but I was able to enjoy a little of the city and this was my hotel.

This was downtown Kansas City, MO. It was really chill and had loads of bars that I didn't get to go in unfortunately.

Leisha, Dusty and I went camping the weekend before I left and for some reason we only took one photo of Dusty but it was really fun!

The last update is of our road trip to Idaho. We drove and camped all around the state. It was so nice to get away and see the beautiful scenery of Idaho.

One of our delicious camping meals :)

It was hard to find camping sites that weren't camp grounds but after hours of trying we found a great spot each night.

This was the coldest, prettiest river.

Camp fire time

We roasted fresh Idaho potatoes and corn and I have never had such a juicy, delicious potato in my life!

Twin falls - I can only imagine what it looks like in the wet season if this is the dry season!

Twin falls bridge - looking at it gave me vertigo

We visited the City of Rocks park and it was obvious that you needed to climb in this park to be respected so we followed the pack

You can just about see all of the rock climbers on the top of the left rock.

Our first camp was up in the mountains behind the city of rocks - it was really nice to enjoy the peace and quiet of the mountains. I had to run to get in this photo and it didn't quite work out but it was fun trying.

It was an amazing view!

There were rocks everywhere and we had a great idea to take a few for a pathway in our lawn so they traveled with us the rest of the trip and they now look great on our lawn :)

We found this house in a little town by the city of rocks and I immediately fell in love with it. If we ever build a house, I want it to look like this..

Camp Hiking

Last weekend Dusty and I decided to check another item off of our summer list and go camp hiking. I was a little hesitant at first because work had me stressed to the limit but I am so glad we went. Exercise is such a stress reliever and I got to rant and rave about work all the way up. Dusty listened patiently and agreed with me while I let off steam - a sign of a great husband!

Testing out the not so comfortable bed. This is the first time in ages that we haven't had an air mattress to sleep on and my bones were aching by the morning.

We set up a sweet table out of logs to hold our drinks and food.

This is our little camping spot and that is dusty making a fire pit.

I don't know how Dusty got the fire started in such damp conditions but he did it and we had awesome ramen noodles for dinner thanks to his hard work.

Inside out tiny junior tent. It was really cosy!

The Brithday Desert Trip

Okay, I can hear the combined groan in blogger world as we're posting yet another camping blog but hey that's all we do so sorry!
We found this little well out in the desert by an old homestead and there were loads of massive tadpoles floating around (they didn't look very healthy).

We passed through Calio, a little tiny town in the middle of the desert and found this great old house and the funniest thing was the mail box!

We followed the old pony express road and found a few crumbled stations, this one was at the top of a massive canyon which was really impressive!

We always seem to have a theme when we go on road trips, not on purpose and this time it was water. We found springs and ponds everywhere. Can you believe there is so much water in the desert!!!!

We then drove up a really rough road to camp about 90 miles from Wendover and found this abandoned mining cabin. Someone had tried to weather proof it about 10 years ago and then left it to rot. The really interesting thing was that the glass was still intact and must have been about 100 years old.

We went inside and found this cute rat and lots of food in cans that expired in 1992.

The next day we found this warm springs swimming hole - it was bliss after being so dusty and dirty.

It was really hard to stay upright by the falls - it was a surprisingly strong current!

Dusty took this photo from a hike he went on while I napped in the jeep.

We then found some incredible salt flats and with the storm rolling in it was really dramatic.

We both tasted some of it and it was the saltiest salt I've ever tasted (if that makes any sense)!

We then found sand dunes and had to get some photos - cheers!

This is the famous truck of the desert - it's been shot so many times it practically in pieces.

Our second camp took us up the rockiest off road trail and I drove up there without hitting the bottom of the car once - I'm pretty proud of my off roading skills. Maybe one day I'll be as good as Dusty!! ;)

This was our fantastic dinner, ramon noodles yum! We forgot to bring a pot so Dusty fashioned this tin foil pot and it worked pretty well, only half of the liquid came out ;)

YUMMY!

We were chilling out and a heard of wild horses walked by our camp on their way up the canyon. It was so cool to see them with a little foal and they were neighing the whole way up!

Climbing up in the nearby caves, the rocks were so sharp we got quite a few cuts.

The view from the cave

Dusty enjoying the cave - I think??

The sunset was fantastic and knowing that there wasn't another person for miles and miles was really freeing!

A Rob Zombie inspired moment and maybe just a little too much vodka!

Yeah - I had a pretty bad hang over the next day!

Last Weekend and Dusty's 27th Birthday

We had our first proper summer camp out last weekend and it was awesome!! We went out just past Eureka and into our own little canyon. We scouted out the area on the 4 wheeler so we could be sure that the truck and trailer would fit up the tiny canyon road but we made it and it was so worth it - we had this gorgeous canyon to ourselves!
I was testing out our camera timer and it worked really well :)

This is our cool little trailer - I love it!

Yummy hamburgers!

We rode up to the top of this really steep ridge and I'm quite surprised that we made it back down without rolling the 4 wheeler (I let Dusty ride it down while I walked - it was just too scary for me)

Sparkler time!

Dusty's family came around for a BBQ on Wednesday which was the day before his actual birthday but he had school until 8pm the next day so this was the best option.

Dusty nearly burnt off his beard with all the candles but we had a great time with the family and lots of yummy food!

Today, on his actual birthday, I made him german pancakes for breakfast and he got to open presents when he got back from school :)

Tomorrow I am taking the day off work and we're going on a 3 day desert camping trip - I can't wait but if we're not back in a week please come looking for us :)