Almost feels like the Caribbean...

almost. I looked up the tide times for our local beach (can you believe it's only a five minute drive from our home?) on Friday evening, with the intention of getting up early to make the most of the sun before it got too bright. High tide was listed as 7:30am - perfect. Any earlier and we wouldn't be able to get the boys out of the house in time.

We arrived to find this. It was almost breathtaking. The beach doesn't always look this good, we have such varied tide levels that most of the time the water isn't this close. It was so fun for the boys to walk along it and throw pebbles. What a blessing to have this on our doorstep.

Our bird feeder

Last week Grandpa bought us a new bird feeder. It's a beauty, a 4 star restaurant for our sparrows. I've had the little wooden house style feeder for a couple of years now, but our local neighbourhood birdies haven't been impressed. About 4 weeks ago I filled it up with some yummy grubs. It took a while for the birds to notice it was filled with such a delicious snack, but when they did they went crazy for them! We have heard that it takes a good few weeks for birds to notice an enticing snack when it is laid out for them, so we were surprised when we then hung their grubs on the bird feeder full of wild bird seeds, that they took to the new feeder instantly.

Each of us has had so much joy watching the birds come to feed in our garden. Jarom loves to relax in the evening with a pillow, a few garden chairs and a pair of binoculars (even though the birds are only a few feet away). It's so great to know we are supporting their survival, up until this point we haven't even had a black bird in our garden, we were beginning to worry. However our birds have expensive taste and they're getting through mealworms so quickly, we can't keep up with the demand!

Pictures of my boys...

A bright sunny Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago meant that we retreated to our local woods for a family walk. The boys were in good spirits and didn't mind having a few photographs taken. The sun was so strong at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but the shade and cool of the trees was lovely. We were surprised when we were joined by the boy's Beale cousins who were taking their little dog Benji for a walk. We were reminded of how good it is to live so close to our family, and what a joy it is to spend time with them.

So many good things this weekend...

It was so wonderful to spend time as a family for father's day yesterday, being together is so good. I have pictures to follow, my little niece Ashley had so much fun in our little paddling pool with Tayler yesterday, and I took the cutest pictures of her.

I absolutely love the you tube videos that our church produces, as you know, and this latest one is just so special, truly uplifting. Once again is was Nie-nie who introduced me to it. She needs prayers right now, I will be sending some her way. I know from personal experience that when we do, pray that is, good things come!

10 lamps

On Tuesday evening we had the second part of our young women's 10 virgins choice and accountability activity. As you can see we dressed for the event and had our pictures taken.

The first part of our activity took place a month ago at our local pottery workshop, owned by Bill Moore. He is such a wonderful craftsman and showed us all how to create some truly beautiful lamps. The girls and leaders each got to create their own lamp and I was so impressed with the creativity of our girls. They are an inspiration.

Our evening on Tuesday involved learning more about the parable of the 10 virgins, understanding the functions of the lamp and challenging ourselves to commit to filling our lamps daily through making wise choices.

The dressing up and photography element was inspired by the Reflections of Christ fine art photography by Mark Mabry, and although our picture doesn't look a bit like his, we have a lot of fun creating it!

Our Photograph - Weston-super-Mare YW

Mark Mabry photograph from Reflections of Christ.

Summer is almost here...

When the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament starts I know that summer is almost here. I'm not a big footy fan, and although I never have enough time to sit & watch a whole tennis match, I do love the buzz.

So this year I was very surprised to see that it looks as though I really am doing my bit to support the tournament on every single bottle of Robinson's fruit juice.

How hilarious is that? It really does look like me, doesn't it? It's not a fake. Check it out next time you're in your local supermarket. I haven't been doing any part-time modelling, I much prefer being behind the camera! So if it is me, then Robinson's have a lot to answer for, stealing images from the internet! No, I actually think this is just and amazingly good double. Maybe I could employ her to come over and do all the chores around the home? My boys would never know.

I'll leave you with the cutest bbc add for all the action starting next week, I just love the little ball bouncing up the stairs. It makes me feel happy.

Stuff n' stuff

Tayler sometimes uses the phrase 'stuff n' stuff' I have no idea where he get's it from, but I think it's pretty cute. So today's post is all about stuff - mainly stuff from this weekend. Firstly I picked up these adorable shoes for Nathaniel from H&M on Saturday evening, we all love them, and he really does strut around the house when he's wearing them, he know's he looks good!

Of course I can't miss out that Saturday was England's first world cup match, the boys were so excited about watching it - though I think they weren't too impressed whilst actually watching it. They celebrated with an England verses America dinner - Hotdogs with England flag ketchup, Root beer, chips and Bakewell tart football cakes. This was Nathaniel's outfit for Saturday - chosen by Daddy I hasten to add, I wouldn't possible dress him like this myself (he, he!). He ran out of his bedroom shouting 'ball', one of his new words, to show me his cute little football shorts.

It was virtually impossible to get him to sit still for a photograph.

Finally, my attempt to be more patriotic around the home. I just love these cushions from TKMaxx. They work really well with the colour scheme around our home. We have started several little DIY jobs again around the house, and finally got a plasterer in to finish off some terrible walls we've been living with for a while now. I absolutely can't wait to have these projects done, it's amazing how wearing it can be living with the mess etc of unfinished DIY jobs.

12 Years...

12 years ago today Jason and I were married for time and all eternity. How busy our first 12 years together have been, and yet as part of eternity they seem to have flown by.

Today as part of my YW lesson at church I shared the story of how we met, and the importance that prayer played in us getting together. The first time we met I knew Jase was the 'one', I just felt it, there's no explaining it, how could I have fallen for a guy who shoved his toe in my face and asked me if I thought it was broken? (I'm not a foot person!) And yet I knew there was something special about him, so much so that my prayers that evening were all about him, how great he was and my requests to the Lord to find me someone like him, someone that I could be best friends with and spend the rest of eternity with. I know those prayers were heard.

And so here we are, 12 years, three children, one mortgage and no more broken toes (let's hope) later! A true example of the power of prayer, and love at first sight!

Two years...

Today marks the 2nd year anniversary of my mummy passing away. I often think about that day two years ago, our last earthly day together, we spent it well I think. It was a blessing to sit quietly by my mummy's side all day long. I learnt so many things that day - how much I loved my mummy, and how proud I was of her; the power and reality of the atonement and the resurrection, and probably most importantly, that I have such a strong faith and hope in these two principles.

So today marks two years closer! Two years closer to being together again! I love you mummy! We are living our lives the best way possible so that we can be together again. I echo my last words to you again today, 'See you soon'!

Jounalling

I really do love keeping records of our family's life. I love keeping this blog, and updating it is an important part of my week. I'm always thinking about the next post, the next thing to share, or record. I don't keep a paper journal anymore, all my thoughts are recorded here. However the boys have taken an interest in Journal writing recently, Tayler being the most avid fan. This is a short excerpt from a recent entry...

I'll translate, as his spelling is still in the early stages, it reads - "I Tayler Beale, about Family Home Evening I been taught the gospel, now I will tell you about it...", very Nephi, don't you think? I really do think he took first Nephi as his inspiration. I'm so glad that he is so interested in record keeping. What a good boy he is.

Peonies...

My neighbour and I have two beautiful peony bushes growing in our gardens. Hers always blooms before mine, and I have to admit the shade of pink, with the deep green foliage is absolutely glorious (hers is pictured below). My dusty pink is also beautiful and I love the delicate fine petals that grow from the centre of each flower.

Each year I marvel as each of these plants appear out of the soil. I love it when they start of bud, and I await the arrival of the blossoms. I truly love peonies, I really should invest in a few more in the garden. It's one of the only beautiful flowering plants I currently have, so funny because the men in my life love the structural, hardy plants, all evergreens, truly functional, and their choices take over most of the space in our garden. My peony, an absolute marvel in my opinion is just pure beauty, and at this time of year just outstrips them all!

Sunny Weston-super-Mare

We had fun this afternoon on the beach. Nathaniel loved it - the space, the freedom, the feel of the sand in between his fingers and his toes. I couldn't believe what a little beach baby he was. Jarom and Tayler also loved being in the warm outdoors and they especially loved spending some time with their cousin Lottie. We didn't build any sand castles, just took a couple of balls and a blanket to sit on, I also packed wet wipes, sun tan lotion, hats & glasses.

The wipes came in particularly useful when Jarom decided to go for a paddle in the quickly retreating sea (we experience high tides that swiftly retreat leaving mud behind). Jarom quickly learnt this for himself as he quickly became stuck in the mud and found the only way to extract himself was to leave his brand new Timberland sandals behind in the mud! He did manage to retrieve them eventually and returned to us looking a very much like a hobbit with over sized brown feet. Ah well, nothing a good wash wouldn't put right!

I found a copy of an old poster advertising holidays in Weston-super-Mare online this evening. We used to have a copy of this exact one in our old bathroom - very vintage. The town was so busy today because of the good weather, it was so nice to see. I hope there are good times ahead for our little seaside town, and that it may return to it's former glory, as in the days this poster was advertising. There is certainly plenty of development going on down at the seafront with the building of the new pier and the sea defence works. We also have a new children's water park under construction which my boys are particularly excited about. I will definitely have to get out with may camera and take my own pictures, I better hurry up so that I can take some before and after shots, some of the development is nearing completion, and most of it will be ready for the summer holidays. With all the good weather we've been having it seems as though summer is already here.

What have I been up to lately?

Despite the boys being on holiday and dad being quite poorly I have managed to find the time for several hard hours spent at the computer editing my first set of professional portraits. I am so pleased with the end result. Have a look on my photography blog for more information if you're interested. It really is a labour of love, and something I find so much joy doing. It stretches me both creatively and mentally, I feel incredibly blessed to be living my dream of becoming a professional photographer.

So now I need to spend a little more time with my boys and weather permitting we're off to the beach tomorrow for cricket on the sand, it will be Nathaniel's first time at the beach, it should be fun - no pictures I'm afraid, just can't risk getting sand in the lens.