My Trip Home: Night 5 - Booty Tooch

I totally forgot about our matching jammies "Thor" night! I mentioned that we watched "Thor" and that he is the most fabulous looking man next to our husbands, but I neglected to mention that we did so in matching jammies from Grandma Gucci. We put on our jammies and then laughed about striking our best "America's Next Top Model" poses. For those avid ANTM watchers, you will know what the "booty tooch" is :) Basically a pose is better when you tooch your booty just a little, so we laughed ourselves silly putting this advice into action. Here are pictures of our best booty tooches. Sherri decided to pass on the tooch, but 82 year old Grandma Great was ALL about the tooch.

Shan's tooch

My tooch

Grandma Great's tooch

Gucci's tooch

Birdo's tooch

The girls all in our matching jammies. 

I think we are a pretty cute bunch, but more than that we are a whole lot of fun bunch!

My Trip Home: Day 5 - Fascinators and Avengers

When Sherri came to UT she had a special request for me to teach her how to make "fascinators" for her Girls Camp. So this morning Sherri and I headed out to Michael's craft store to get some supplies.  Sherri is the Girls Camp Director in her area for our church, which I had the privilege of being for 3 years in mine. I LOVE girls camp all drama aside. I knew that her idea for fascinators would be an instant success among the girls. I have no pattern for fascinators, just my brain, and some people may think they aren't fascinators at all, but I think they are close enough.

I have desperately missed my crafting lifestyle in the US :(

These are the ones I made with the Youth group I volunteer with at our church here in the UK. I taught her how to make them this same way.

After we finished our fascinators we headed to see "The Avengers," a film we all wanted to see but worried that our Hubby's would be cross with us for seeing without them. You can see we only felt bad for a short time before caving in and going. Can you tell which girl is which character? The film was AWESOME and I will definitely be seeing it again....and again.....and again....okay I'll buy it and watch it until I wear it out! It was really great. We all pretty much sat and ogled Thor, who is the hottest man on earth next to our husbands.

Here is the guy who plays Thor and is also starring in "The Huntsman," another film I am DYING to see. We are yearning for him....*snicker*

The critics give the film 2 thumbs up....and we are harsh critics.

After the film we went to our favourite frozen custard shop "Nielsen's Frozen Custard." Mmmmm..... I ordered my favourite caramel cashew frozen custard and Sherri got the cherry almond. We had mom's friend over for dinner again and enjoyed some of Birdo's fantastically marinated Teriyaki chicken grilled to perfection. Tonight was Birdo and Sherri's last night before they leave to go home. So sad. Another great day all together.

My Trip Home: Day 4 - Ashley Get Yer Gun!

We headed out first thing this morning to take Gucci to the Dr.'s and get her on a medication for her shingles. Birdo stayed with Gucci at the Dr.'s whilst Sherri and I took the car to Walmart. What Sherri and I didn't realise was that Gucci has a fancy car that doesn't take a key, but has some sort of key fab that allows you to open the doors and start the car when the fab is near the car. Well......Birdo had the fab, but since the car was running when she got out of the car she didn't think to give the fab to us. When Sherri and I arrived at Walmart we realised we didn't have a key to take with us when the car shut off and therefore we were stranded at Walmart. Worst of all is that we were meeting Aunt Donnie for lunch and she was on a time restraint. We called Birdo who had her friend pick them up from the Dr's. and meet us at Walmart with the fab.

Our "oh so sad" stranded at Walmart faces.

We managed to get a hold of Great and Shannon and had them meet Aunt Donnie, get a table, and order since we were running late.

Aunt Donnie and Great

Me and my Aunt Donnie who is my Grandpa's sister. Aunt Donnie and Grandma Bliss are the same age and went to school together. My Aunt Donnie is AMAZING and I am so blessed to have her in my life. Aunt Donnie never fails to remember a Birthday or Christmas even though I am her Great Niece. We love her to bits and thoroughly enjoyed seeing her again.

After lunch we decided to go to the Cinema and see "Dark Shadows" the film with Johnny Depp. What a freakishly odd film that I can see becoming a cult classic. It is a really quirky film with some of the greatest verbiage I have heard in years. I am pretty sure we will be memorising and quoting lines from this film for years to come.

Birdo, Me, Sherri, Shannon

Birdo, Me, Gucci, Shannon

After the film we decided to go shooting with my baby brother. I have NEVER shot a gun (with the exception of a bb gun) in. my. life. Since moving to the UK I have endured many comments about "gun wielding Americans" from random peoples. I can tell you right now, all Americans don't wield guns, stereotypes can be rude and hurtful, and shooting a gun responsibly is in fact a BLAST! As we pulled up to the shooting range I saw something that made me chuckle...

Nice eh? Imagine this baby with a gun rack on the back cruising around. I can only imagine the comments I would hear.....*snicker* Perhaps this should be my first purchase when I return to the US?

Best interpretation of the creepy cut out man.

I will be completely honest, the idea of shooting a gun was terrifying to me. I am not a weapons person myself, thats not to say that weapons people are bad, weapons just aren't my kettle of fish. I was however terrified, but excited to learn about guns and how they operate. I think that you are less afraid of something or judgemental when you educate yourself about it :)

Birdo terrified to shoot.

We were able to shoot a couple of handguns and this 22 rifle. I personally preferred the 22. I thought about my friend Sally and her pigeon mating doves as I shot this gun. Sally, it would work wonders for your little problem ;) ;) AND I could totally see you wielding this little rifle, "Watch out pigeon dove maters here comes Sally!"

Sherri had shot guns with my brother before so she was already expert.

This was my target with the 22. Not too shabby for a first go at it.

But then my steely determination kicked into gear and I got the head and the bulls eye. Don't mess with London!

Shannon has a great eye and a steady hand.

This is me shooting the hand gun. I felt like I should be on an episode of C.O.P.S. with this gun instead of deer hunting in the bushes with the 22. 

I loved this shot of me shooting the zombie. You can see the gun firing, which is pretty nifty.

When we finished we decided that we needed a picture in front of the nature mural wearing our glasses and ear muffs. When I asked the guy if he would take our picture he said "sure, do you want some guns in it?" I asked the crew and they all said "sure." So we sauntered over to the counter where the guy started pulling some serious guns including an AK47 which Shannon is holding. In my ignorance I asked him what an AK47 was and he told me it was the weapon of choice for "bad people." Aaaagh! Definitely a moment I will never forget.

Sherri, Me, Dode, Shannon, and Birdo

Despite the fact that I am certain this guy is a straight shot, he had the fine motor skills taking the picture of Tigger on crack. Give me a break! Blurry pictures, but the only ones I had of all of us together. Dode is my 6'3" 250lb. baby brother. Love that kid so much and am glad he took us on this shooting adventure. I certainly will not be getting a gun carrier permit any time soon, but it was interesting learning how to load and fire a gun in the event that I needed to defend myself. I will say that you do feel a lot more capable of self defence when you know how to fire a gun.

After shooting we went to our favourite UT mexican eatery "Cafe' Rio." We ordered all of our favourites and headed home to watch/oogle/drool over the film "Thor."

We had a great day and managed to pack every minute full of adventure and fun.

My Trip Home: Day 3 - Mother's Day

Today was Mother's Day in the US, and one of the reasons Mom flew me home. Since my parents divorce a year and a half ago (after 40 years of marriage) my Mom has really struggled being alone. Any grandparent would relate to Mom's situation, all 8 of her grandchildren live out of her state or country, which makes for one sad and lonely grandma. To go along with that is the fact that 3 of her 4 children live out of state or country. Therefore, Mom felt a strong need to have her children in her home with her..... especially on Mother's Day. So she flew us girls in. It would have been a small fortune to fly all of the families home, so we lucky Mom's were Gucci's choice visitors. 

It was fun being all together at church on Mother's Day. When we arrived at church it was a friends sons Missionary homecoming. A mission is a 2 year voluntary act of service for 19 year old boys in our faith or an 18month service for 21 year old girls. If you have a missionary come to your home that is older than that, it probably is not a missionary from our Faith. Anyway, when we got there one of the leaders of our church was at the meeting, so Sherri had Birdo take a picture which I weaseled my way into. Don't judge us because our sins are different from yours. We took the picture in the chapel, we know you shouldn't, but we had to seize our opportunity :) After the meeting we had a chat with President Uchtdorf, and Grandma Great swooned at his "hotness." I invited him to come and visit our Stake in the UK, he just smiled.

After church Sherri and Shannon agreed to come on a walk with me while Birdo and Sheldon prepared for dinner. It was a gorgeous day and I thoroughly enjoyed our stroll around the hills and golf course.

Shannon and Sherri

Shannon, Sherri, and Me. I love the shadow from us trying to take the picture.

We invited mom's friend to join us for dinner and games. We played a game called "Imaginiff" that could not have possibly made the poor fellow feel more uncomfortable. The game goes something like this: "Imaginiff Ashley were a dessert would she be: 1- a Tart, 2- a Chocolate Cake, 3- a Bread Pudding, 4- Lemon Sorbet." You then have to put which you think they would be and usually explain why. Well this man did not know us from Adam, so he had to guess without offending us......poor fellow. We had a good time with him though. He and mom are not in a relationship, they are just friends and keep each other good company. We all really like him, he is very simple, and very attentive to mom.

At the end of the day we discovered that Mom had broken out in painful shingles all down her left side of her back, bum, leg, and groin. Mom was in terrible pain, but this woman is such a Rock Star that you would never know just how painful it is. My Mom is not a complainer, she just pulls herself up by the bootstraps and carries on. Birdo was able to get her a Dr.'s appointment and of course she was diagnosed to have the rare nerve pain associated with the illness.

A tribute to my mom:

I get really emotional when I think about my mom, she truly is the most amazing woman I have EVER known and feel like if I am 1/10 the mother she has been then I will have done a good job. Mom's shoes are WAY too big to fill, but I try my hardest. I feel like the best way to tell my mom thank you for being such a good Mom is to try to be the kind of mother she is. My mom is a creative genius and an entrepreneur. Mom has had a dancing school for over 40 years and has 250 students and a waiting list each year of people trying to get into her school. My Mom is a woman of Faith, has always put God and Christ first in her life, and has served diligently in our church. Mom is funny.....like super funny. Mom and I can laugh our heads off at anything and we both LOVE people watching. Mom and I love bumming around in ball caps and old t-shirts, but we also know how to and love to glam up for special occasions. Mom is a fearless warrior and a hard hard worker. Mom is compassionate, thoughtful, grateful, and caring. My mom possesses all of the qualities that I would wish to have. I am grateful each day that I have her for my mother and her stellar example to emulate. Thanks mom for birthing, nurturing, teaching, disciplining, and encouraging me. I love you.

My Trip Home: Day 2 - Running, S'mores, and Charms

Despite the fact that I had been completely sleep deprived, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 a.m. Time to go for a run. Mom's home is set up in the foothills and is really near to where John and I lived before we sold our home and moved to the UK. I know these hills well, but wasn't ready for the change in elevation and dry mountain air. Wow. I loved the run even though my lungs were heaving out of my chest as I ran through the hills. I have always been a fair weathered sort of a girl, so the blue skies and sunshine were like heaven to me. I always told John that he could not move me anywhere colder than UT...... Needless to say, our next move will be somewhere hot with a pool :)

I finished my run and had to take a picture of home. I feel like we live in the most beautiful part of the state. We have the mountains to our right and great views of the Great Salt Lake to our left. There was never a day when I would run over the past 6 years that I did not feel like I lived in the most beautiful place on earth. There are a lot of beautiful places, but my running route is definitely one of them.

After my run Gucci, Melissa, and I went shopping. It was so much fun to bum around like we used to do all the time. There is no relationship quite like that of mother and daughter and sisters. After we spent the day shopping and buying all the things I can't get in the UK we headed home to prepare dinner for Gucci's Mother's Day party.

Gucci invited the Mother's-In-Law of my sister and SIL's to come for a special Mother's day dinner. John's mom was out of town helping his step-sister and John's step mom was unable to make it, understandably, as it was her first mother's day without her daughter. Therefore I was flying solo. We decided to put Gucci's fire pit to good use and do tin foil or camp fire dinners.

Grandma Great.

Melissa's sister-in law Ann brought her MIL Linda and then stayed and joined us for the party.

My SIL Shannon and her mom. I always laugh because I am 10 years younger than Shannon's mom and Shannon is 10 years younger than me. It is really strange because I was Shannon's dance teacher for MANY years and remember her mom bringing Shannon to dance when her mom was my age. It really makes me realise how fast time goes by.

My SIL Sherri and her mom Cathy. Sherri and I have been friends since she was 19 and I was 17. I feel like Sherri and Shannon are just as much a blood member of our family as my brothers are......and I usually like them better than my brothers ;) We have a very close and tightly knit family and I am grateful that despite my parents divorce a year and a half ago we have been able to keep the strong ties that we have always had and not be tempted to quarrel or take sides about the divorce.

My hot mama!

Melissa AKA Birdo, Me, and Sherri

My sister nearly had heart failure when we left to go shopping and I came upstairs sporting my cheetah leggings. We'll just say that fashion in the UK and fashion in the US is a little different. I will also say that I did get a few uncomfortable looks in my cheetah leggings in UT that I had never received in the UK. Uncomfortable as in I felt uncomfortable because of the way some fellows were looking at me.

My YW who have been to girls camp with me laugh because I am notorious for my GIANT tin foil dinners. I seriously love campfire dinners and am pretty darn good at making them.

You can see other dinners around the fire pit....and then there is mine in its shining silver glory.

After our campfire dinners we made S'mores. Mmmm......I love S'mores. The marshmallows cooked to a golden perfection and tasted divine. We had chocolate frosting, peanut butter, and chocolate bars to put on the graham crackers.

Perfection!

Sunset view from Gucci's back yard out over the Great Salt Lake.

Gucci gave us girls a very special gift for Mother's Day. My great grandmother had a charm bracelet that mom had inherited when she died. I remember staring at this charm bracelet as a girl and sneaking into my moms room and jewellery box and playing with the little charms. My mom took the bracelet apart and divided up the charms and added them to a bracelet for each of us girls. I have a charm bracelet of my own and when Adessa was born I started a charm bracelet for her that she will receive when she is 18. We have been collecting special charms and then writing down what each has been for since Ads was born and then we will give it to her on her 18th Birthday. I am thrilled to have these special charms that Adessa will one day inherit and add to her bracelet.

Each of us sporting our bracelets.

We laughed about our cheesy hand pose with the fingers intertwined. Look at Birdo's tan hand! We were all thrilled with our gift. Gucci also gave us a book about her grandmother and her parents. My Mom feels very much her Bliss heritage in her life right now and shared some sentimental things with us. We had a great Mother's Day celebration and I enjoyed seeing everyone with their mother's and MIL's.