Our lovely coloured walls and linens. We're going for a spicy theme, and the wall colour makes the room look a lot warmer.

The bedroom--and proof that the sun DOES shine in Grimsby.

Our Christmas tree--it was so hard to find crafty ornaments for it! We strung the cranberries and popcorn garland while we cuddled on the sofa and watched a movie. Ahhh, romantic.

Our living room is really starting to look lived in. See that lovely coffee table? Martin made it for me. The best part of it is that the legs are hinged so we can fold it down and push it under the sofa when we get the dining table out to eat!

My trip to the supermarket...

I know this is my second post of the day, but I just had the most amusing trip to Asda ever, and I wanted to share.
So I went to buy grenadine because we're going to a dinner party tonight and Martin and I are doing alcohol free cocktails. Grenadine, for those of you who don't know, is a cherry flavoured syrup. It has NO alcohol in it. In fact, you use it to make Shirley Temples! It took some finding as it was hidden with all the brandys and stuff, but I finally managed to get some. I took it up to the checkout and got carded when I tried to pay for it. Made even funnier by the fact that the legal drinking age in England is 18!
So that was my experience at the checkout, but it gets better! As I was walking out the door, I got stuck behind a Chinese couple. There was an older English guy stuck behind them as well, and we were listening to the couple speaking Chinese to each other. This English guy turns to me and says, "You hardly ever meet any English people any more." As I turned to him and said, "And I'm not one of them," he turned to me again and said, "It's all bloody foreigners!" He started to blush like mad when he heard my American accent, and I started to giggle. We turned away from each other, he was embarrassed and I was laughing, and walked to our cars. I sat giggling in traffic for the next ten minutes!
Don't you think you should take in the situation fully before you open your mouth and say something racist and inflammatory???

The January Sales...

Cathy and I are going shopping today--in the famed January sales. We are going to brave the horrible queues for returns in pursuit of the ultimate bargain, and I am cringing in anticipation!
Seriously, the January sales are such a huge thing. I think the whole country must go shopping for clothes this week. I'd probably give it a miss, only I need new clothes so much! I didn't bring hardly anything with me when we moved,
It snowed a few days after Christmas, and I think it's funny the way the English react to a bit of snow. I already told my family about it, but this country seriously comes to a grinding halt when it snows. We got about three inches or so, and people were encouraged to stay inside and only drive if they absolutely HAD to. Three inches of snow, and you don't go to the grocery store, just to the hospital??? Sure, they don't really have snow plows this far south (Scotland gets a lot of snow, so they are prepared for it), but still--that strikes me as a little ridiculous. Most people over here think nothing of driving in a really bad rainstorm, and a pea-souper is not a big deal to them. But if you put the liquid in powder form, they freak out!
Martin and I did have a close call on Tuesday night. We spent a lovely afternoon in Lincoln, had lunch with Martin's cousin Gareth (really cute and desperate for a greencard all you single ladies!), did some shopping, etc. We took the A46 home, and it was a clear, warmish night when we left. It had snowed, but there had been enough traffic earlier in the day that the roads were just wet, not snowy or slushy. People were driving ridiculously slow, so Martin passed about 8 cars in a row. Then, between Faldingworth and Middle Rasen, the road got slushy and icy. Martin took a curve in the road a little too fast. He was in the process of slowing down, but with the brakes instead of the engine (big mistake in the snow!).
To make a long story shorter, Martin lost control of the car on the curve and we ended up sliding off the road and missing a few rather large roadsigns by about 4 inches in the front and 4 inches on the passenger side. Miraculously, we weren't hurt at all and the car wasn't damaged. We were able to back up onto the road and drive away. I felt really blessed, and VERY shaky. Needless to say, we slowed down after that. But we still didn't drive as slow as most of the other drivers on the road.
We spent the day with Martin's family again yesterday, and it made me miss mine even more. Everyone played games together, which was fun, but everyone had been drinking and they were getting to that really annoying stage where they think they are really funny. All the same, we had a good time. I wish we were in Utah right now.
The homesickness has really set in now, and I keep catching myself making fun of England and the English. I shouldn't do that, because I am sort of outnumbered, but I just want to talk to my fellow Americans and feel warm and relaxed and see friendly faces on the street. I want to be around a lot of people who don'tsmoke and aren't alcoholics. I miss my family, the climate, the culture, everything. I've lived in England longer than I did last time now, and I'm feeling it. Of course, last time I was a newlywed and only wanted to be with Martin. I still love him as much as I did when we got married--maybe even more. But now I'm realising that I need more than just my husband. I need the rest of my family, too.

Christmas was a success!

Homesickness aside, Christmas was really great. I didn't want to go to Martin's parents house because thy sort of fight a lot and Christine gets really stressed out about the dinner and the presents and the decorations. Plus, I really wanted to be at MY parents' house. But Martin wanted to spend Christmas eve there, so we did. It worked out all right, and we enjoyed ourselves.
We went to a beautiful midnight communion service on Christmas eve at the church in Wootton, one of the small villages nearby. We sang Christmas carols and listened to the vicar preach about loving others regardless of their religious persuasion.
Martin's grandparents came over for Christmas dinner, and it was a great meal. Not as nice as Thanksgiving dinner, but still nice! Cathy and her boyfriend Karl came over later that day and we played blackjack and roulette on the casino set that we got from Santa. Then came the highlight of my day--my family's phone call! I miss everyone back home so much, and it was great to talk to them!
The presents were great, of course, but to me Christmas is more about being with your loved ones and celebrating the relationships that are most important to you!
I'll post some pictures later--we had to borrow Martin's dad's digital camera as we left ours home. I'm going to download the pictures on Wednesday when we go out to Ulceby again. Lovely Christmas though!

Happy Christmas!

Sounds weird, doesn't it? Merry Christmas still gets said over here, but not as often!

I am done with work until the 2nd of January now, and it's good to be off. I have been looking forward to a week off almost since I started working at Volvo. Today was weird. We only worked a half-day, and everybody still left early because the boss was gone. I was blown away by how irresponsible everyone was, and how they are completely unable to work without supervision. I guess not everyone had my daddy to teach them how to work!
I am going to make Russian Tea Cakes tonight, which are my favourite cookie in the whole world. They're so easy to make, too. Every time I bake something I amazed by how easy it is, yet people are so impressed when you do it. Cooking really is becoming a lost art. I AM stalling, to be perfectly honest, because I don't want to spend a lot of time in my tiny, cold kitchen.
Last weekend was great. I went shopping with Cathy, and had one of the best shopping days I've had in a long time. I have lost so much weight that I was able to buy styles I haven't been able to wear for a long time. And I was pleasantly surprised by the sizes I bought. It's always nice to be pleased with your size during the holiday season.
My work party was a good time, though it turned into a night of drunken debauchery about 1 hour in. One of the guys was trying to take his clothes off, and a couple got caught in a delicate situation in the Ladies' room. It makes me very happy to be a non-drinker when I see people's inhibitions fly out the window like that. Plus, Martin and I remembered everything that happened. The same can't be said for a lot of the people there that night.
We had our church Christmas party on Wednesday, and it went well. The Primary kids did their Christmas Nativity program, and I played the piano for it. They were adorable, but I had to play all these bouncy, happy, jolly songs. I also got roped in to playing a few carols for the rest of the ward to sing, and I would have loved to be able to sing instead of play. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be stuck behind the piano until the day I die.
Anyway, I need to get to these cookies. Maybe it'll warm up our freezing cold house!

Wow, I guess people really ARE reading my blog! I got a lot of e-mails over the last few days, so I guess it’s worth while to continue posting.
Not much new here, as usual. This weekend should be interesting though. Martin is working tomorrow morning, and I am going shopping with my lovely sister-in-law, Cathy. She always looks like a star, and I could use a little help. Tomorrow is the office Christmas party, and I want to look really good.
The holiday season in England is manic! There seems to be so much pressure to have the perfect Christmas, though maybe I just get that impression because of my mother-in-law. So much time and money is spent on decorations and presents and Christmas dinner. People usually gasp in amazement when I tell them that we used to have hamburgers or soup on Christmas day. They always forget that we have our huge family meal in November for Thanksgiving. Nobody wants to cook an elaborate feast on Christmas day!
The weeks leading up to Christmas at work are a little different, too. All of our suppliers have been coming in with gifts on their sales calls, and it’s usually a bottle or two of wine. I have two sitting on my desk right now. Everyone’s being taken out to lunch, which usually includes a lot of drinks. There are street vendors everywhere selling hot, mulled wine. It’s like the whole nation turns into a giant pub crawl. They estimate that one in three adults in England will drink and drive over the holiday period.
I am still not used to how heavily drinking is involved in the culture here. Being Mormon in this country is weird, because social occasions almost always call for a cup of tea or a pint. It really is difficult to be friendly without one or the other in your hand.
When you grow up as a Utah Mormon, it’s so easy to believe that the whole world lives basically like you do. For all practical intents and purposes, they do. If you don’t often leave, you never experience life in any other way. You get used to hardly anybody smoking, almost never seeing alcohol except next to the Coke in the gas station. People talk about Enrichment Night at work, and read the Ensign or the Book of Mormon on their lunch breaks. That’s what is normal.
Hearing our friends at church here talk about a visit to Utah is so funny. It’s completely bizarre for them to run in to the church outside of church. A trip to Provo is sort of surreal. They talk about their experiences like the strangest things just happened, and Martin and I nod our heads and say, “yeah, so?”

Jamie recently posted a message in regards to English cooking and how bizarre and quite unsavoury it can be. And from the sound of a lot of them, you might be right in agreeing with her.

But what you have to remember and, ultimatley appreciate, is the sheer ingenuity and economy of it. Yes allright, it is the leftover bits, like innards and blood. But then, when they came up with these dishes, that is all they had. So they utilised it and adapted it, and made it so it could be eaten.

We really are no different from other cultures either. In India, they developed their wonderfully flavoured dishes, not for the taste, but to mask the taste and smell of rotten meat! So, is it really that big a stretch to see the similarity between indian and enlish cooking.

Now, one thing you hear so often is "eughh that sounds revolting" and you know what? It does! But that doesn't mean it tastes bad. Properly cooked and served a lot of the dishes which Jamie describes are, surprisingly, very tasty. But so many people don't try them because of their contents.

This does lead us to one of my pet peeves. the question is asked:"do you like...(insert dish here)?" "No" next question "Have you tried It?" and here comes the kicker..."no, but it doesn't sound good, so I haven't" And there it is. Such a cutting insight into many peoples perception of food, and many other topics. In Jamies defense, she is quite willing to try many weird and wonderful foods, so I can' criticise her. But people, wake up! there are so many great culinary delights that are open to you if you can just get past that little hurdle of a description. Go on, try those sweetbreads! Delve into offal! Please?

The disadvantages of a blog...

It seems like I don't get many personal e-mails lately, and hardly anyone ever posts comments to my blog. Not to sound neurotic or anything, but is anyone even reading this? Sometimes I feel like I'm doing all this typing for my own benefit, and that's really not necessary. I type a lot every day at work. What's going on?

hello everyone!

Hogpenny Cottage, home sweet home!

Eating in England...

Anyone fancy some bubble and squeak?
How about some bangers and mash?
I could really go for pie, chips and mushy peas!
Spotted dick sounds smashing!
A bit of sponge would be lovely for pud!
Ooohhh, I love scampi!
Spaghetti bolognase sound OK for tea?
Black pudding for breakfast?
Dead man's leg for dessert.
Haggis, neaps, & tatties for Burns Night.
Cockles and Whelks are lovely if you're at the seaside.


Does this sound like a foreign language to you?

The food over here is lovely, but man it is weird for someone who grew up on mid-west cooking! And the names they give their food--why can't they just call it what it really is?

Translation:
Anyone fancy some bubble and squeak? / mashed potatoes and cabbage, fried (leftovers only)
How about some bangers and mash? / sausage and mashed potatoes
I could really go for pie, chips and mushy peas! / meat pie, fries, and boiled, mashed peas (a lot like refried beans but radioactive green instead)
Spotted dick sounds smashing! / a sweet suet (shortening) cake with raisins
A bit of sponge would be lovely for pud! / cake for dessert
Ooohhh, I love scampi! / breaded and deep fried shrimp or monkfish
Spaghetti bolognase sound OK for tea? / pasta with meat sauce
Black pudding for breakfast? / a nasty concoction not fit to be consumed by man OR beast that the English eat fried up on a plate of death! Congealed blood mixed with herbs and oats and stuffed into a sausage casing
Dead man's leg or jam roly poly pudding. / cake and jam rolled up together
Haggis, neaps, & tatties for Burns Night. / Oats and herbs and ground up "meat" in a sausage casing which is steamed and served with rutabega and potatoes
Cockles and Whelks are lovely if you're at the seaside. / small clams and other strange shellfish, eaten with vinegar

Is it any wonder that I've been losing weight!

Saying that, I should be gaining it instead. Look at all the potatoes on the list above. Not to mention all the desserts (annoyingly called "pudding," even when the substance does not resemble pudding in any way, shape, or form). The desserts are almost always served with cream as well.

This whole country seems to think they are either back in the dark ages or still on post WWII rationing and they eat accordingly. Go into a traditional butcher's shop some time--I dare you. Most likely you will eaither vow to eat ONLY steak or become a vegetarian! If you want a research project, find out what's in Brawn!

Martin has a rebuttal to type, but I personally think he's biased!

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Working in England…

It’s a whole other world working in England vs. working in the U.S.—especially in this industry! It’s been quite a job, adjusting to the working environment here. In some respects it is so much more reserved, and in others it is much more informal.

For instance, back home we all talked about our home life at work. It didn’t absorb us completely, but we would chit chat about what we did over the weekend, mention it if our husbands had done something silly, gush over cute things that kids or pets had done, etc. Here we very rarely discuss our home lives. Even in the times when nothing much is going on it seems to be a taboo topic!

In my previous jobs we were never very formal. I always called people by their first names—even my superiors. Still, the casualness of things here is shocking. I have never been called so many pet names in my life! It’s always “love,” or “darling” or “chuck,” and it’s nice! Maybe it’s just that I am working in an industry that is mostly male, and the women tend to get pampered a little bit. Some people find it a bit condescending, but it’s quite nice to be treated like a lady.

It also seems that the further south you go the more American the working style becomes. I hear that northern men tend to be chauvinists, and I guess I can sort of see that. But maybe it’s not that they’re chauvinists—maybe they’re just more traditional in the way they see gender roles. When we call depots down in the London area, it seems to be business as usual.

Phone calls are a bit strange as well. Other than not knowing whether I’ll be able to understand people when I pick up the phone, the manners are completely different. For starters, when I pick up the phone and say hello, the person on the end of the line usually sounds surprised. How can they be surprised that someone is answering? They called me—they should be expecting to hear someone’s voice!

The niceties are usually done away with as well. Back home we always said “how are you,” or something like it. Here, they tend to jump straight into business.

In the U.S. the person who placed the call is usually the one to end it. It seems like common courtesy to me. Not only are they the one paying for the call, but they phoned you with a purpose. Once they have got the information they needed, they should signal that by ending the call. Here there seems to be this extreme reluctance to hang up first. So many times I feel like I’m hanging up on someone. They say thank you and then wait. There’s this moment of awkward silence—I usually end up asking if there’s anything else I can do for them, and that is even more awkward.

Someone should teach a course in telephone manners so we can standardise them! I’m sure I’m being rude a lot of the time and just don’t realize it.

All these differences aside, it’s amazing how many similarities there are. People are people, no matter where you are. We all tend to have the same needs, wants, fears, desires, and insecurities. We grow up so differently, but we end up pretty much the same.

Where to start?

Nothing's really new, but life is good all the same. Martin and I had a great weekend, even though we didn't see each other very much.

On Saturday I went down to Lincoln with my friend Sam. Her husband kept the baby, so we had a total girls' day out. The Christmas fair was on, and it was very groovy. They open up the castle grounds and have loads of craft stands, food vendors, and kid's rides. I got most of my shopping for Martin done, and it was so good to just hang out with Sam. It seems like ages since I've done something without Martin.

Speaking of the cutie, Martin worked on Saturday and went down to Lincoln later that afternoon. He shopped for me, and then he had a work party. I went to bed early and was already asleep when he got home. But we slept late the next day and went to church together, and it was great.

We got our "poor man's double glazing" up this weekend too, and our house feels much warmer already. The house is really starting to come together. We're still a little short of storage and the walls are a little bit bare, but it's all good. We have what we need, and we're settling in. We are even going to start looking at houses to buy soon, which will be great!

Still no word from the fertility clinic--I'm hoping we'll have some news on that front by Christmas. It's really exciting to think that by next Christmas we could have a baby, or at least be expecting one.

I always thought that I would have kids by the time I turned 27. Life hasn't exactly gone as planned. In some ways it's better than I could have ever imagined, but some areas are a bit disappointing. Maybe that's part of growing up though--coming to terms with what you've got in life, making the best of the crummy bits, and enjoying the really great stuff.

Success...

Thanksgiving dinner went over really well! The pumpkin pie was gorgeous, and the rest of the meal was really good as well. We watched the misionaries tuck in to the food, and they told us that they had both gained about 30 pounds since they'd been on their missions. It reminded me of another success--I've lost 15 pounds since we got here! Maybe not after that dinner, but still, that's cool.

Martin and I had some small success in the family history area as well. Last night we went over to Beverley. It's a groovy little city in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Not only is it a great market town, but it is also the parish headquarters for the Church of England in the area. One of my ancestors was born in Hull, and my grandma has been unable to find out his parents' names. We looked at microfiche last night until our eyes were blurry, and we couldn't find Edward Lofley. But we DID find what looks like his brothers and sisters. We can't confirm that yet, but it was really exciting to catch a glimpse and at least have a maybe where before there was nothing.

Isn't it funny how we always want to succeed? Failure makes you feel so empty and worthless, and it's terrifying to think that you weren't able to make something happen. But those failures stack up on each other, and eventually we succeed because of them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, sort of anyway! I haven't worked on Thanksgiving day since the last time I lived in England, 4 years ago. This day is supposed to be all about family, so I am actually a little bit sad. But we are celebrating on Saturday with Martin's family. Plus, we've invited the missionaries over. One of the Elders is from Utah (Harriman, for any of you who know where that is), and this is his first Thanksgiving away from home. I thought it might be nice for him to be able to celebrate with us.

This will be the first time I have cooked my own Thanksgiving dinner, and I'm a little bit nervous about it. Martin has taken some time off work, so he did all the grocery shopping. I'm taking tomorrow off work and we are going to do all the prep work (plus sleep in, if you want a little honesty) so we only have to cook on the day. We had quite a job trying to find a pumpkin at this time of year. We checked every grocery store in town earlier this week. Martin finally found one at the market, so I am making a home-made pumpkin pie for the first time ever tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, we are both doing well. Martin is enjoying his time off, though yesterday it was too foggy for him to go golfing. He's going today instead, and then he's going to Hull to play in a five-a-side soccer tournament with work. I've opted out of sitting and watching him in the freezing cold, and will be going to ward choir practice instead.

I've been sick for a few days as well, and I thought it was just a cold. It turns out that it was my asthma as well. It's strange, because I can never tell when I'm having an asthma attack. Back home it was immediately obvious because I couldn't breathe at all. Here at sea level, there's so much more oxygen, I can still breathe--just not as well. It only dawned on me this morning that maybe I should use my inhaler because I didn't feel that short of breath. I'll learn.

Martin and I went in yesterday to have our tests done for the fertility clinic, and I was very pleasantly surprised with the efficiency in the pathology lab at the hospital. It was actually faster than having bloodwork done in a U.S. hospital. Sure, I had to take a number and wait, but they were fast and efficient. And they said that my doctor in Scunthorpe should have the test results within 3-4 working days. We are almost on our way to having a baby!

Can you believe they call this a kitchen? It's about the size of mom and dad's bathroom!

The beautiful Lincolnshire countryside--can you believe this photo was taken in November?

Martin's Grandad Priestley--fast forward 40 years

Finally, a Saturday at home!

I have a few minutes today because Martin isn't working and we have nothing planned. Well, not entirely true. We don't have a long drive planned. We are spending the whole day just bumming around Grimsby.

This morning we are going to buy some paint for our bedroom and some plastic stuff to put in our windows (in a desparate attempt to keep our house warmer). I'm going to get a hanging basket for our courtyard, and maybe we'll get a TV stand. Pretty soon our house is going to look like a home!

I tried to take a picture of the house earlier this morning, but our digital camera has a serious aversion to sub-zero temperatures, and it is FREEZING outside--literally. We had our first hard frost two nights ago, and it was nasty. However, I still maintain that cold and wet doesn't feel as bad as cold and dry!

One thing that I find really cool about winters over here is the fog. Because of the ocean currents, the sea is much warmer on a cold night than the land and air are. This usually means that a heavy mist develops over the sea, and since we are coastal here, that heavy fog moves in and settles over everything. I thought I understood fog from driving over the Utah mountains in snow storms, but this fog is so thick you can almost taste it. England should be famous for it's "pea-soupers." You literally can't see more than 2 feet in front of you sometimes!

Anyway, I need to get ready to go out shopping this morning. But here's an idea for anyone who wants to send us a Christmas care package. I want yarn, the soft, silky, thick kind, so I can make myself some hats and scarfs and mittens! I also want Stephen's gourmet sipping hot chocolate, preferably the vanilla kind. It's kind of bulky, I know. But you could take it out of the tub and put it in a zip-lock bag. PLEASE?!?

We have finally got internet access!

Of course, more importantly, we also have a phone (and a telly, for Martin)! Anyone who wants to call us, just e-mail me and I will give you the number. Don't worry--an international call doesn't have to be cost prohibitive. Martin and I used 10-10-987 and it was actually less expensive than calling across the state. 30 cents to connect, and 3 cents per minute.

Life in England has been getting steadily better and better since we got into our little Hogpenny Cottage. Of course, the day to day things like work and doing dishes are still the same, but what I thought would happen already has--I feel like we finally have a home. Our house IS about the size of a postage stamp (it's smaller than the one in Cedar City, for any of you who saw that one), but it is charming. If I can find our digital camera this morning I will take a few photos of it.

In other good news--Martin and I got our referral to the fertility clinic! They've been in touch via post, and we are going in to have some more tests done early next week. By law, we have to be seen within 13 weeks of our doctor receiving our test results, so we will be having our first appointment in less than 4 months' time. That wasn't as long as I thought it would be. Keeping in mind, of course, that the 4 months is a MAXIMUM! We could actually be seen a lot sooner than that. Fingers crossed everyone.

Martin is still frustrated at work. He is having a hard time adjusting to how his company is run here versus the U.S. Some days are better than others, but Martin is usually so easy going about everything and he's not right now. He's currently looking for something new, even if he just transfers to a different office. My job, on the other hand, keeps getting better and better. Yesterday was a great day for me--hardly any mistakes, and I knew what I was doing virtually the whole day! They've also asked me to stay on until after Christmas, and if my position goes full time I am virtually guaranteed to get the job. That would mean a pay raise and benefits, which I am thrilled about!

So that's the update in a nut shell. Now that we have internet again, I'll go back to posting more regularly. Remember to e-mail me for our phone number, and when you do call, remember that we are seven hours ahead of you!

The Gilberts have a new home!

Martin and I moved in to Hogpenny Cottage on Friday night, and it is wonderful! Martin and I are both really pleased with our decision to move there. It was especially wonderful when it came time to go to church and we only had to leave 10 minutes early instead of 30. The neighborhood is really quiet and it feels really safe, which is a good thing in Grimsby. Parts of it are really rough.

So here's the complete new address:

Martin & Jamie Gilbert
Hogpenny Cottage, 43A
Algernon Street
Grimsby, Lincs
DN32 9QS
England

We don't have our phone hooked up yet, but I'll get the number to everyone when that's available. We obviously don't have internet yet as our phone line isn't up yet, so that means I won't be posting to the blog very much--just when I can sneak a few minutes at work. And absolutely no pictures, unfortunately. But I am taking a lot of pictures so I can show everyone what our house is like. Hang in there--I will post them eventually.

Martin and I took a trip to Preston on Saturday and went to the temple. I love the Preston Temple--it is so beautiful and peaceful. I don't know why, but it seems so much more quiet than the St. George temple. There is usually an interesting mix of people there as well.

We also bought a second car last week. It's another used one, but this one is nicer than our Seat. It's a Ford Mondeo, white, and it is very comfortable. It's a turbo diesel and gets about 50+ miles to the gallon.

In one week we've gone from living with the parents and making due with one vehicle to our own house and one car each. It feels like we are finally getting on our feet again, but boy are we ever broke!

Smudge--

No, he's not our dog. Smudge is the Gilbert family dog--they got him when Martin was about 13 or so. He's the dumbest animal I've ever seen, but he's so good natured and loving. Martin would like us to get a dog, but I told him we can't have one until we have a baby as it is approximately the same level of committment!

Lots of stuff has happened over the last week or so. First things first--Martin and I have a house to live in now! Our new address will be:

Hogpenny Cottage, #43A
Algernon Street
Grimsby
Lincolnshire

I don't know the post code yet. It'll be DN32 6 something something. Apparently the last two digits of your post code are VERY specific--they tell where you are within about two houses. I'll keep everyone posted. I don't know what our new phone number will be yet. Later!

We went to Ikea and bought a bed, and now we have all the essentials--sofa, TV, bed, nightstands, table, chairs, etc. We even have a microwave (luxury!). They're not as nice as what we had before, with the exception of our new mattress, but we'll gradually get nicer things. The important thing right now is having a place of our own.

Speaking of Ikea, I'd never been before, and it was an experience. We rented a huge van from Enterprise and drove to Leeds. Once we were there, we spent about 3 1/2 hours just wandering around their showroom. That place is enormous! We were both a little shell-shocked when we got out, it was that exhausting.

We drove to Scunthorpe and saw a movie in town, and we didn't park in our usual place as the van was too big to fit in the multi story car park. When we got back to the van we discovered it had been broken in to. Luckily, nothing was stolen. But we did have to drive around with no window for another day, and it rained! We called the police, and they basically told us we shouldn't have parked there. This area has a really high crime rate!

Smudge the super Springer Spaniel, going for a run down Carr Road

What is Haggis, you ask?

Apparently there has been some confusion about haggis, which I wrote about earlier. Well, haggis is a delightful bit of Scottish cuisine that consists of oats, herbs, and all the left over parts of meat from the butcher's shop. It's all packed into a sausage casing and steamed. It sounds nasty, I know. Trying it was pretty scary, but I believe you can't really say you don't like something if you've never tried it.

Nothing new here, really. Martin and I are enjoying a quiet night in, watching Star Trek, Nemesis. We are so boring! He has to work tomorrow, so we are not going out partying this weekend. Tomorrow is going to be spent in more house hunting and a little bit of Christmas shopping. We have to send our American Christmas gifts by the end of the month if we want a guarantee that they'll be there in time.

Our weekend after this one is already planned--we're going to Mablethorpe to visit Martin's grandparents. Both sets live there, which makes a visit very efficient. I'll make sure to bring the camera so we can get some pictures of the North Sea on the blog. Mablethorpe is right on the coast. I'm looking forward to next month. Martin is going to take me to Donner Nook, which is just north of Mablethorpe. Apparently the seals have their pups there, and you can walk right up to them. That'll be a picture-worthy trip!

We'll keep you all posted on any new stuff--if there is any! Bye for now!

It's been a shockingly long time since I posted to the blog--Martin and I have been really busy with various things, and going on line takes low priority sometimes.

So what's new? Well, we had a little bon voyage pub crawl for Martin's mate Adam. He's moving to Canada for the next 18 months or so. There was a big group of us, and we just went 'round to several pubs in Grimsby. Martin and I sucked down Coke and ginger ale all night long. His friends are all amazingly understanding about Martin not drinking any more. Of course, he could never hold his drink anyway from what I gather. At any rate, Adam had a good send off. We'll both miss him.

We also had a church Stake swimming gala, which Martin and I both participated in. All the wards in our stake competed against each other in races divided up by age & sex. After the racing, we had a free swim. That was even more fun than the pub crawl. When we go to church activities, I feel like I'm home again. That's the only place you really see a lot of families with their children.

Also on the church front, we had a fancy dress party. But it wasn't really "fancy." We got dressed up in the most mis-matched clothes we could find. Everyone in the ward did it, and it was hilarious. Martin looked fantastic. He wore a pink Wrangler western shirt, a paisley tie, and his fish pants. Martin's mum took a picture, and I'll try to get a copy of it posted here soon.

We also got some good news, and my faith in the National Health system was restored. I went to see my GP on Tuesday, got a refill on asthma meds, got a flu shot (called a "jab" instead of a shot here), and got an automatic referral to a fertility clinic. The whole visit took less than 30 minutes and cost me £6.50 (for the prescription). Now we just have to wait for the fertility clinic to call us--we've gone as far as we can on this one.

So that's all for now--I'll update in more detail when I'm not at work!

I tried Haggis!!!

Well, that's the news of the week. I sampled a little bit of Scottish cuisine that most people would not, and it was fabulous!

Nothing else has really happened. We went to look at a flat yesterday, but the whole thing fell through. We are starting to get really frustrated in the house hunt. We looked at a little house on Algernon Street in Grimsby on Friday night that we are considering. It's called Hog Penny Cottage, but little IS the operative word in this case. We might take it anyway, out of sheer desperation!

In church related news, Martin and I have both received callings in our ward. I have been called to be the Primary music director & pianist as well as the assistant ward pianist. Martin has been called as the assistant ward missionary. We were already set apart, too. Not sure how we feel about it, honestly, but we will serve with smiles. I may learn how to play the organ, as I will have to play in Sacrament meeting on occasion anyway.

I did receive a great blessing when I was set apart that eased my mind quite a bit. To be perfectly honest I have been wondering if we'd done the right thing or not, moving to England. But today we learned that we ARE in the right place. What a relief!

Anyway, that's the only news for now. Not even any pictures this week, because we haven't gone anywhere cool. But next weekend Martin isn't at work, so hopefully we will go someplace groovy then. More later, when something exciting has happened.

York Minster--how'd you like to get married there?

Castle Howard (a family actually LIVES here!)

FInally, a few of the pictures from our anniversary weekend in Yorkshire. Have I mentioned what a fantastic weekend that was?

The weekend is finally here! Martin's job is improving every day. He is carpooling to work now with a guy named Gareth who is pretty cool, so the ride to work is a lot more fun than it used to be. He has also applied for an assistant manager position in Grimsby, and it will be great if he can get that.

Work is going well for me, also. One of the women I work with is really unpleasant to me, but I can't tell if it's because she doesn't like me or if that's just her personality. At any rate, everyone else there is lovely and I am getting a little better at the job all the time. If it turned in to a full time position, I would consider staying.

Christine has gone to Helensburgh, Scotland, and Laurie has gone to Liverpool, so Martin and I have the house to ourselves all weekend. It's like heaven. I'd forgotten how nice it is to be able to do whatever you want and not feel guilty if you don't do the dishes right after dinner is over (we still did them, but we didn't have to).

We still don't have any callings at church--apparently the ward clerk is having a hard time getting our church records transferred over. That should change fairly soon though, and we'll let you all know what happens on that front.

That's all the news--this is a lot of posting in not too many days, so feel lucky and hopefully not too bored!

I think I've got the pictures thing sorted out. I'm going to try a few just to make sure, and then Martin and I are going to go watch a movie. I have to get all dolled up, because the women and girls here really get dressed up to go out. I think it might have something to do with the fact that they tend to have strange looking features and have to compensate for that by being very stylishly dressed all the time. Just a theory. We can discuss it at greater length some other time.

The Gatehouse at Thornton Abbey--about 2 miles from Wendover, Carr Road.

I'm gonna figure this out!

It's my goal to figure out the pictures thing later tonight or maybe tomorrow at the latest!

Martin was kind enough to post last night--I went to bed at 9:30pm and slept until 7:30 am. I think the lack of sunlight is starting to get to me.

As Martin mentioned, I am working for Volvo in their PDI centre. I am classed as a secretarial/admin worker, and I am doing a little bit of everything. I answer phones, laminate and post certificates, code invoices and enter them for payment, raise jobs and purchase orders, etc. The work isn't hard, just very very involved. I am frustrated, but every day gets a little bit better.

Last weekend we didn't do anything really exciting. Most of the weekend was spent at church watching general conference. We did manage to look at a few places for rent, but nothing really grabbed our attention. On Friday night we went in to Grimsby and played Snooker with Martin's friend Adam, which was a really great time. Snooker is sort of like pool, but the table is twice as big and it involves different colored balls that have to be hit into the pockets in succession. Way fun, and very difficult. I'm terrible at it!

This weekend we are going to look at more houses and flats. We were looking at buying an old Methodist chapel, but backed out of it when we discovered that there wasn't going to be much property sold with it. If we had bought the land at the back, it would have cost us an extra 30,000. That's pounds, not dollars. At the current exchange rate, we would have been paying $60,000 dollars for a piece of property about the size of mom and dad's family room. It didn't seem like such a good idea.

Anyway, that's the news. I'm going to try to figure out the picture thing now, so hopefully we will have some pictures for your viewing pleasure soon!

Okay, so this is an update plus an apology of sorts. We keep promising pictures, but we are having technical difficulties on that front. In light of this, we are making efforts to resolve this so we can show how much fun we are having.

In the meantime, in between fun and games, we have to do the work thing! I am sure most of you know I am still working for Enterprise, but it is a whole different kettle of fish to what I have been doing in the U.S. Not bad, or worse, just different. And about a tonne more paperwork! It all seems to be a bit more involved if you ask me.

Jamie has actually started working for Volvo. "Oh" you might say, "she is working at a car dealership?" Well, no. She is actually working at the PDI centre for Volvo Plant machinery. PDI stands for Pre Delivery Inspection. Now, Jamie doesn't do the inspection, but what she does do is take care of invoicing and working with salesmen as well as doing a bit of everything on the paperwork front. I don't know the exact details but I am sure if anyone has any major questions, you can direct those to Jamie.

We both enjoyed conference this weekend, althought having to put on church clothes and physically go to work was a bit of a pain. But the whole thing was still quite edifying. Someone did inform us that it can be watched through Sky TV, which is the english equivalent of ish Network, but we didn't find this out until too late. So, next year we are going to get it taken care of earlier so we can watch in the comfort of our home and wear pyjama's instead of church clothes!

That's about all for now. Hope to be in touch with you all soon.

Our Anniversary...

Well, Martin and I have been married for four years now. Hard to believe, but true all the same. I think we have stayed married longer than most people thought we would.

Our actual anniversary was Thursday, and it was a good day. We both worked, and I drove in to Scunthorpe from Immingham to pick Martin up. Then we went on a date, which was a lot of fun. It had been a while. We had a Big Mac and fries, then went and watched "Pride and Prejudice." Fabulous burger, fabulous movie.

The real fun started on Friday night, when we drove to Bielby and camped out for a few nights. We were about 20 minutes away from York, and that's where we spent the day on Saturday. We wandered the open market in the Shambles, had cream tea at Betty's, and walked all around the city wall. York is still my favorite place to be.

We had a fantastic curry back at the campground, and an early night playing Rummy. After a rainy night, we woke to a sunny Yorkshire morning. We packed up the caravan and got on the road to fabulous Castle Howard. It's the home of the Howard family, and the current Earl of Carlisle & family. We spent quite a few hours wandering the house & grounds, and it was really incredible. The estate encompasses 10,000 acres and features the castle, private woodlands, extensive gardens, a chapel, a working farm and nursery, fountains, and they even have their own lake! When we figure out how to get the pictures on here you'll be bale to see all the cool stuff

Hello there all, I think this is the first time we have sent out a posting since we arrived on the beautiful shores of my home land (this is Martin sending this one out) We have been fairly busy since we got here, buying a car, catching up with friends and also work. Actually it has just been me working but Jamie is in the process of finding some form of gainful employment, maybe with Volvo. Who knows we might get a screaming deal on a new car.

We have already made one trip whilst we have been here. We went to a place called Tatershall Castle which is in the sam e county as the one we live (map to follow in a future posting so you know where the heck we are talking about) Quite impressive really when you consider that it was just someone's house. Of course it was in quite a state. In fact, not too long ago it was being used to store livestock. Anyway, a fine day out, if not a little soggy (this wonderful nations fantastic weather coming into play again)

We are planning to see as much of this country as we can as soon as possible, just for the fun of it really. We will keep you up to date on our travels

Sorry about the picture being sideways, I forgot to change it around in the download. Just turn your monitor on it's side, then you'll be able to see it better!

The job hunt begins!

I have started looking for a new job, and Martin has started his. I went in to the job centre yesterday, and found the people to be genuinely helpful for the first time since I got to the UK. Their computer system is really advanced and user-friendly, and the people were wonderful. I have several different jobs that I will be submitting resumes for this afternoon, and I hope to have a job by the end of this week or the first of next. Fingers crossed!!!

Martin is finding his job to be a little bit frustrating. He is using a different computer system over here, the car classes & rates are all a little bit different, so are the procedures, etc. In short, he already knows how things should be done, but he doesn't know how to do them any more. I know how he feels--it's hard to go from a job where you know everything to a job where you know nothing. It's also hard to step down from a leadership role and become one of the plebians again. But he'll adjust, and I know he'll rise up through the ranks again soon.

We've also bought a car, and it sure is nice to be mobile again. We had a rental all last week, but it's different when it's your own. The car is a little green Seat Cordoba (pronounced SAY-ought), and it goes really fast (not so sure that was a good idea, in hindsight. Martin has a lead foot!)! It's actually a boy racer car--the kind that young single guys tend to buy and fix up with fancy halogen lights, body kit, booming sound system, etc. But it's a little older now, and was undoubtedly discarded in favor of something new. It suits our purposes perfectly, and now we are deciding what we'll do this weekend--the world is our oyster as long as we don't spend more than about £100. So much to see, and so much time to see it--Ahhh, the joys of living abroad! I hope my next post will be about the fantastic sights we saw over the weekend.

We made it!

Martin and I have been in the UK for 4 days now (it seems like longer) and it is wonderful to be here. England in the summer time is just as beautiful as I thought it might be, and I think autumn is going to be even better.

We've had some minor setbacks, and I'm finding the difference between Americans and Brits to be more pronounced than I remember it being. When you go into a bank or the doctor's office in the States, everyone is so very helpful. You ask questions, and they volunteer the information that you need. Here, people seem to be more reticent. If you don't ask the right question, you don't get an answer. And instead of people suggesting different options if they are unable to provide something, people just say, "Oh no, we can't do that," and leave it at that. It's infuriating, but I suppose I'll have to get used to it.

I'll try and post some pictures this weekend--took one of Martin in the Queen's Head pub, and got a couple of other good ones.

We bought a car today, and I am going to the temple on Saturday. We're going to Hull tomorrow to do some family research. Keeping busy, and I should actually have stuff to post about every week--at least for a little while yet.

Well, here we are in beautiful (and cool) Nephi. The move up from St. George was an adventure. Mom and dad helped us move, and they came down two days earlier than they said they were going to. Plus, we thought we were going to take two days to do it. Plans changed, and we did the whole thing Saturday night. It was so incredibly difficult, compounded by the fact that I kept having mini panic attacks. Let me just point out that I have never done that in my entire life!

We had a ton of help from our friends down south, for which I will be eternally grateful. We couldn't have done it without you Rick, Alice, Becky, & Greg!!!

Since we got here we've been sleeping and relaxing and finishing packing, and we are now done packing! Our boxes have been shipped, so now it's just a matter of getting ourselves there. We are both starting to get really excited about things. Martin's dad is going to make sure we have a car when we get there, and Martin starts work on the fifth of September.

Last night we took my dad's jeep for a drive in the mountains, and it really hit me how much I'm going to miss Utah. Martin and I were talking about it--how I get homesick and he really doesn't. We decided that for him, where he's at is just where he is; for me, where I'm at is a big part of who I am.

Things are moving right along on the move. We've got one more week of work, and are really looking forward to our built in two week vacation during the move!

We got some great news last week--our property management company has rented out our apartment as of 9/01 so we don't have to pay a buy-out on our lease. That was a huge weight off our shoulders as it was going to be $1700.

We still haven't managed to sell our cars, which is getting kind of worrying. I'm sure it'll all work out for us though. Everything else has worked out, and we really feel this move is the right thing for us.

In other exciting news, we picked up a prescription for Clomid (fertility drug) last week. Most people know that we are moving to England mostly so we can have IVF, but we haven't tried fertility drugs yet. We figured that we should try them here while we don't have to wait, and then when we get to England we can honestly say that we've tried everything else. Hopefully we won't have to be on a waiting list for quite as long this way. We're not really expecting the Clomid to even work, but it's worth taking all the same.

So the packing continues and the move is loomingcloser and closer. We'll keep you all posted!

Well, this is the beginning of the end of the beginning...

Martin and I are currently in the process of packing up all our worldly possessions. We leave for England in just under three weeks, and we're both getting pretty excited. Our flight leaves from Salt Lake City on August 27 at 11:30 pm. Goodbye sunny St. George, hello not so sunny North Lincolnshire.

This blog is dedicated to our coming adventures in England and will hopefully be a means for our family and friends in the U.S. to stay current.

If anyone is curious as to where we will be living (we know that most people think of England as London and a few towns surrounding it), you can go to http://www.mapquest.com and search for Ulceby. We will be living with Martin's parents when we first get there (the current exchange rate is brutal), but of course will let everyone know when we move into our own house or flat.

Time to get back to packing. Ugh!!!