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Sep 22, 2014

We've been up to...


...no good. Obviously.

Last week we took a little hike up Arthur's Seat (a very extinct volcano!) with Marisa and Paul. It was super foggy so we didn't have much of a view, but the mist itself was beautiful. We had a lot of fun, and Eleanor did great until we reached the summit, which was quite cold. She had some makeshift mittens (socks) on her hands, but her face was exposed and it was windy. So we scurried on down after just a few minutes up top.










Neal has mastered the 'summit pose'.


Marisa is moving back to the US tomorrow! Sad :( She's been such a huge help to us as we've made this transition.



On Saturday we took the train to Preston, England with our new (also ex-pat) friends, Dallin and Becki Barker. They have the most adorable family-- 3 (almost 4!)-year-old twins and a 15-month-old--all girls! Becki and the kids were actually on our flight from Chicago to Edinburgh (her husband had arrived a few days prior to get settled a bit) and they were just in front of us in line to board the plane. The next Sunday, we saw her sitting in the lobby as we walked into church! Dallin is also here for grad school-- getting his masters in HR at University of Edinburgh. Obviously we have a lot in common, and planned a temple trip so we could take turns going through as they watched Eleanor and we watched their girls. We took the train, and it was so much fun!


Out the train window: not *the* bridge from Harry Potter, but cool nonetheless

The girls did so well all day. Eleanor was in heaven watching the older kids play.  It's so hard for us to get a giggle out of her, but she just thinks "big kids" are hilarious. The twins, and her new hero Deaun, had her cracking up. The last half hour on the train home was pretty entertaining--all the girls were hungry, past due on naps, and approaching bedtime, and they were deliriously tired and giggly. It was kind of an exhausting trip, but so worth it. Hooray for new friends!

We also had Stake Conference, and of course it was wonderful. Our Stake President is way young--like 34 young--and he's been President for 5 years! Crazytown. After church, we put Eleanor down for a nap and Neal and I both just crashed. She usually naps for one hour max during the day, so we didn't set an alarm and just figured she would wake us up shortly. Three hours later I woke up, groggy and confused, and looked at my phone to check the time. It was 4:53PM. I was so out of it, I could not figure out what day it was, and I was 95% sure it was actually Monday morning. I shook Neal in a panic and asked what time he had class. I thought my phone must have reverted back to Kansas time or something because there was no way that was right...could it be that we had slept until dinnertime on Monday?? Was Eleanor alive? It took me a good 3 or 4 minutes to remember that we had laid down for a nap and it was Sunday afternoon. It was the worst and best feeling in the world! I hate to nap through an afternoon like that but obviously the three of us needed a good chunk of sleep. And I was so relieved we hadn't slept through an entire day. So we made some chicken curry for dinner and took a walk for some fresh air.





It's fall in the 'hood.
Monday has been full and busy. My mouth is dry because I've spent the last two hours talking on the phone to family members back home. We have a magic jack number that is FREE to call from the US, so if you want it, message or email me and we can chat!

My student has fallen asleep while studying after a long day of class + internship thingy. I can't bring myself to wake him up. But I can bring myself to take a sneaky picture.

Yep, that's this blog post! Now I'm going to hit 'publish'

2 comments:

  1. you are going to be so skinny with all this walking around carrying the baby

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    Replies
    1. Tabs, I would love it if this were true, but sadly I have a major chocolate addiction and zero interest in quitting :-/

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