England Mania

Ok, here we have it, the long-awaited England post! I started out with the definite highlight of my trip- seeing "Wicked" at London's West End. It rocked. I bought a shirt.

Here is me at the Picadilly Circus stop in the underground tube system. It was interesting to see all the stops with the different themed decoration. The ones at this stop were my favorite- huge tile mosaics of hot air balloons.
Here are some of my girls from the team at Hyde Park. It was kind of dark the first time we went there, but really beautiful!

This is my friend Natalie and me on the tube, going I don't-remember-where, most likely Buckingham Palace. . .
This is me outside of Buckingham Palace. The palace itself isn't that impressive. I must be a palace snob now, but really, the palace in Sevilla is WAY cooler-looking than this, so I opted to take a picture by the humongous statues/fountains in front of the palace which were really awesome.

Natalie and me down the street from Buckingham Palace at a plaza with a few war monuments and this awesome arch. . . the name of which I must admit I have forgotten. . .

Well, it was fun, it was awesome, it wasn't long enough, but I am so glad I went! Thanks for all your help!
Oh yes, I have no pictures of the actual competition, let me just say that we won second in our Standart medley and fourth in our Latin medley. It was a great experience and so awesome to see professionals competing and to check out the other formation teams around the world!

Sun, Sand, and Bocce Ball!

What do you get when you get Patrick, Emily, Isaac, Eve, Esther, Mom Darby, Ryan, Sarah, Aaron, Dine, Jenny, Alyson, Joseph, and Kirsten together for a weekend of AWESOMENESS!!!!

---SUNBURNS!!!!

We all got together this past weekend for a family campout in Snow Canyon,  near St. George.

View Larger Map

If anyone wants to camp out in a way more personable location than Zion's National Park, go here and choose campsite 16a.

 

We all drove down on Friday and spent Saturday hiking around. Here's the overview.

Everyone, except for Emily who was suffering from jet lag, climbed all over the big rock you see on the right hand side. It was a lot of fun.






Saturday evening was loafing and bocce ball around the campsite.

 and then the drive home. Esther found her own ways to amuse herself and Eve just adopted the thousand yard stare.

Annual Sheep Shear

Summer is here and it's time to shear the sheep!

Hogle Zoo

I (patrick) took the kids to Hogle Zoo today. We had a great day.

here's the link to the bigger pictures  

http://picasaweb.google.com/ptdarby/HogleZoo53008

A lone man in the wilderness...with my mom and kids

Day 5: The natives have become restless. Five days without their mother has left them in a feral state, half-child...half-beast.

I suppose Emily is doing well. I think she is having to much fun to let me know. Her Standard Medley team got 2nd place. Those darn Germans gave a bigger bribe to the judges. Darn dollar isn't worth squat in England.

My Mom has been a huge help with her gone. My brother Aaron got a new camera from my brother Joseph and gave his to us, so I took some pictures. Here they are. Isaac, Eve, Esther with their cousins Jenny and Allison.

Crazy Reserve Weekend

This weekend we were in Salt Lake City for Patrick's Navy Reserves family week. Of course, I don't have any actual photos of the Navy stuff- BUT I did bring the laptop and take some for other places we went!
Keep in mind that I am half-blinded by the sun while taking these and I can barely tell what I am taking a picture of, since the sun is shining on the laptop screen. We couldn't find our camera before we went. . . . SO here ya go:

This is us resting on our way back from this park-esk location down from the parking lot across the street from the capitol building. The way down was pretty steep and we had to rest often on our way up in the hot, hot sun!



Small monkies outside the visitor's office across the street from UT Capitol building.






A crazy little boy and his mother.

Esther-loo outside the UT Capitol building.

Here is Isaac outside the UT Capitol building. He posed himself.

Happy Mother's Day!

It was a beautiful day in Provo today! The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, the children were singing. . . . a great Mother's Day!
It began with a pile of chocolate and a wonderful breakfast- what day starting out with chocolate could go badly? I was also able to conduct the Primary chorus singing, "Mother, I Love You" in Sacrament meeting. It rocked. They were so cute and sang so nicely, I was very proud of them!
After church we went to our good friends' house for dinner.
It was a very nice day.
Patrick and I have been busy these last few days, working up our Mother's Day present to our mothers- SO, just keep in mind that we are not professionals- but we hope you like your present!
I have a great mother- and a great mother-in-law- Patrick and I like to say that we totally lucked out. My mother is my example and the person I go to when I have a question or I just need some inspiration. Paddy's mom is the most patient woman in the world! You'd have to be with seven boys! SO, Mom, and Mom, we love you!! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!