Back from Great Britain

Well, we got back from Scotland and England last week. It was a wonderful trip, but I can honestly say, I never would want to live there. It has taken us this long to get back on schedule. It was great visiting with Olivia and Stephen and being there for their wedding and little Evan's blessing. We were able to do a lot of sight-seeing and Brian was able to do some family history. He found where his great-great grandparents and great uncles died and were buried. We went cemetery searching, something we never dreamed we would be able to do!

The fights were long and the time change was very difficult...but we survived. The currency exchange was enough to make a grown person cry! Brian did great driving on the wrong side of the road. I would never have tried it! We found ourselves on some very interesting roads, enough to scare the devil out of you! The weather started out true to the island rainy and chilly, but turned out beautiful! It only rained the first couple of days there, then they ended up having their own mini heat wave. Not the 105 we left in Vegas, but in the 70's!!

The wedding and reception were very nice. Stephen's parents did a wonderful job! They did so much for us while we were there, making us feel so welcome. They had a little luncheon before the wedding and then had a buffet dinner after Evan's blessing, as well as did all the wedding and reception. We are grateful to them.

We took advantage of every opportunity to go out and enjoy ourselves, since who knows if we will ever be able to go back again. Unfortunately, our computer crashed while we were there. HP believes the motherboard is fried. So, it is now sent back to the company to find out what happened. It was only 5 months old! Hopefully, it can be fixed or replaced.

It was a great trip and we are grateful we were able to go. But, it sure is nice being back in the USA!

Us getting ready to land in London after 12 hours of flying. By this time we had been on the go for over 18 hours! We were a little weary.

On one of Scotland's little jaunts in the pouring rain.

Here we are at Loch Lomond. It was beautiful!

Dinner out on our 32nd anniversary. We went to a fantastic Italian restaurant...GREAT food.

We are the tiny people in front of the William Wallace Monument in Stirling, Scotland. The hike up was difficult. It was so windy that they had to close down the top, first time in over 6 months. But, we did climb 260 of the 267 steps to the top!

Olivia and Stephen on their wedding day, 9 September, 2009.

Brian and I with Olivia. Doesn't Brian look quite Scottish in his kilt? That is his family tartan, the Lamont's. Little Evan wore one to match his Papa's, that I made for him.

Olivia, Evan in his little kilt, and Stephen Gillespie.

Us visiting Edinburgh, Scotland. That is the Edinburgh Castle behind us. We took a bus tour of Edinburgh and hopped off to walk up to the castle. We didn't go in, as it cost too much, so we had ice cream instead. It was a very interesting city to visit.

Little Evan in his blessing outfit.

Evan's blessing day, 13 September 2009. All of Stephen's family came as well as most of his aunts and uncles and his grandmother's It was so nice to have little Evan's family represented. I think that we doubled the size of the ward with our attendance! Also, Olivia has a fantastic bishop. We loved him instantly.

Us at the luncheon Stephen's parents gave after Evan's blessing. Great food and great company.

Stephen, Olivia and Evan on the morning we left Paisley. We had a great time visiting with them!

Us with little Evan the morning we left Paisley.

We did two sessions in the Preston, England temple. We were the witness couple in both sessions. Afterwards, we stayed in the Patron Accommodations Center for the night. (Saved us big bucks on hotel accommodations!)

Us at Stonehenge. What a neat place to visit. I have always been fascinated with it, I never thought I would be able to visit.

Us sight-seeing in London the day before we left for home. We are in front of the London Tower Bridge. We paid for an 8 hour tour, which stunk, but we did see some great sights. (Like the cruise ship coming under the bridge. Maybe our next vacation?)

Us on the London Eye. It is a HUGE ferris wheel with pods on it that hold 20 people each. It takes half an hour to go around, giving you a sight of the entire city of London at the top. This is us almost at the top. Our last big sight before we left.

So, there you have a pictorial of our visit. I hope that I didn't bore you! Just wanted to share it with all of you.

Rapper Hicks

Rounding Rap

Find the place value and circle the digit.

Move to the right and underline, get it!

0-4 circle stays the same

5-9 add one to the game.

Now, flex your muscles like a hero.

Underlined numbers change to zero.

All other digits remain the same.

Yo! You're a winner in the ROUNDING game!

A couple weeks ago I taught a lesson on rounding and my teacher gave me a rounding rap to perform for the kids. So I decided to dress up for the rap and the students absolutely loved it! I also enjoyed myself. The rap is great because it has everything in it that you need to know for rounding, and I mean everything. It was so nice to hear the students referring back to the rap later on in the week when they had to do rounding problems.

Bring on Second Grade and Kindergarten

Today was the first day of school and the boys in my house couldn't have been more excited! This year Bradyn is entering the 2nd grade. I can't believe it myself. And Parker is starting Kindergarten!!!!!!!

Here are all the kids after we arrived at the school. I totally forgot to tie Audrey's hair back so she can't see a thing.

Here is Parker seeing his classroom for the first time. Look at that happy face.

He even gets a locker. So awesome!!!!!!!

Here he is at the end of the day. He doesn't have a happy look on his face, but trust me he had a blast.