Noah's Baptism

Noah has been planning his baptism for months. He chose the songs and the speakers, who would say the prayers, the witnesses; he even picked all his favourite food for the lunch afterward! It was sweet that he was so excited.

I like to watch my childrens baptisms from the side of the font where the changing rooms are. (Most mothers stand in front of the font with the congregation.) I feel closer to being a part of the ordinance as I wink at them when they take a deep breath in as they step into the warm water and look back at me with wide expectant eyes. I get to see them immersed, their feet and hands splaying everywhere. I see their happy and excited faces when I wrap them up in a towel and those few precious moments we have alone while they get changed and tell me what it was like for them. Noah wanted to do it all again, it felt so good! I told him he could do it when he was twelve for other people at the temple, and he replied 'I can also baptise my children if I have any!'. I love that he thinks that far ahead. I love that Noah decided to have this special day.

It's Great To Be Eight

Mr Noah turned eight today! He has been counting down the days for weeks now and is excited that he gets to be baptised on Saturday. He was anticipating his birthday morning so much that he was awake at 2am, 4am, and 6:30am. (It's like I have a newborn in the house again!). It's a good job he's so lovely and gives me plenty of kisses to make up for it. My favourite photo of today is this one: 

Such concentration on the blowing! And yes, that's a baking tray you see in the photo. The birthday boy wanted a tray bake instead of a regular cake, so that is what he had. Happy birthday Noah!

Christmas Mug Shots

It's that time of year again where I make the children stand close to each other and try to make them smile and look at me, all at the same time. Honestly, the things they have to endure so that I can send some photos to family. I compared the 2011 picture with this years photo (same fake tree!) and realised just how big my children got:

I'm slightly concerned that Ben won't ever stop growing, he is fourteen and a half and is five foot ten inches! Can you believe there is only seventeen months between him and Ethan? I also noticed that Rosie's hair grew at a ridiculous rate over the year, and my little man Noah isn't so little any more.

 

Well, now that I've got my nostalgia out of the way, let me wish you a very merry Christmas from the Miles family!

A Word Of Advice...

...don't lose your committee of four the month you have to organise, decorate and cook a roast for a Downton Abbey themed Relief Society Christmas dinner for 69 people. It's stressful. Also, try not to get your budget slashed in that same month. My proudest achievement of the year is that I managed to decorate the church hall for the grand sum of £10.58. It's not quite as grand as I had originally planned but the sisters loved it all the same:

It looked so pretty in the evening with all the fairy lights and low lights:

With the help of some good friends we managed to get the roast out to everyone and enjoyed one anothers company. I love that at Christmas we have a chance to welcome sisters who haven't made it to church all year, and friends that have never set foot through the chapel door. It's truly a privilege to serve the women of the Newton Abbot ward (in and out of the gospel) and I love that we do this every year for them, to show them our love and gratitude for all they do.

(Last tip: get more men to help with the washing up and drying!)

Ethan

Today is the day I have two teenage children. Lego, adventure books and Nerf guns were Ethan's favourite gifts; I love that he still like these things and isn't in such a rush to grow up. Though I might have to admit that he does look a little bit grown up in his cool glasses, eating birthday pizza:

Happy 13th Ethan!

Cam

My nephew Cameron is a cheeky monkey who will run rather than walk anywhere. He loves to wrestle and play fight, and is the best at being excited and smiley when he sees you and runs over to say 'Hello!'. He also could not wait for a Sunday to be baptised and had to do on the very day he turned eight.  Happy baptism day Cameron!

Wednesday's Smile Lines

Noah: 'Mummy, I love you all the way to heaven (that's higher than space isn't it?) and all the way back down to the lava in the middle of the earth!'

Feeding My Soul

I've often said gigs are like buses; nothing for ages and then they all come at once. On Tuesday I finally got to see Ben Howard with Dawn, after an error with the ticket company prevented us from going two weeks ago. Thanks to the kindness of Mr Howard, all 1200 of us that were over-issued tickets were given free entry to the extra show he added to the tour to make up for the error. What a nice bloke! It was also great to only travel down to Plymouth to see him, not many bands make it so far down into Devon, but he's a local so of course he had to play here.

Let me tell you, this band is one talented bunch. They all played multiple instruments throughout the night, and Ben was doing some seriously ridiculous guitar playing. There were times I couldn't believe he was plucking those strings so fast. As for the drummer, he likes to play the bass guitar and drums at the same time, check him out:

It was a beautiful thing. If we could have listened to him playing on a beach by a roaring fire it would have been perfection!

Yesterday James and I took a road tip to Oxford to see Imagine Dragons. I'd been looking forward to this one for a long time, and it was everything I'd hoped it would be.

It was a loud, drum-heavy, energetic set with lots of crazy dancing and jumping around from both the band and the audience:

There were a couple of moments when Dan was almost in tears, he couldn't believe that so many people in the UK turned up to see them and knew all the words to their songs, even though the album isn't released here yet. (Thank goodness for the Internet!)

But here's the thing I wasn't expecting, the band sound so much better live than on their album! Don't get me wrong, I really like the album, but without all the extra production that comes with some of the album tracks, they were stripped down to the bare rock of guitars, drums and keyboards...and it sounded so good! We left that evening feeling hot and sweaty, with sore hands and feet from clapping and stomping so much, but with smiles a mile wide. If you get a chance to see them live, you must go!

 

P.S. What could be cooler than appearing on the band's Instagram photo?:

Walking The Coast

I spent a couple of days last week walking along the coast and on Sunday afternoon we took the children out to finish it off at the Dawlish part. There's a stream that runs through the town and joins the sea:

The famous black swans live on the stream:

There's a train track that runs alongside the beach, and the children enjoyed walking under the platform, especially when the trains rumbled by:

There is a jetty or two to wander down while trying to avoid being splashed by the waves...

...and lots of pretty rowing boats...

...and rows of beach huts:

I love where I live:

Bonfire Night

Oh, I do love bonfire night! A good night has to start with jacket potatoes, baked beans and our traditional cake:

Swiftly followed by lots of fireworks and sparklers:

You know you've had a good night if your nose and toes are cold, and you can smell fires and burnt powder in the air.

Halloween With The Killers

I have a list of bands I want to see before I die, and I finally get to tick The Killers off that list. (Last summer's solo gig from Brandon didn't count!) I went to Birmingham with my gig buddy Dawn and after queueing like true Brits we were rewarded with a front row spot in the mosh pit (which should really be named sweat pit). The set started with a short Halloween themed band video shown on the big screen just before they came on stage. Their opening song was one of my very favourites, and aptly titled Bones:

Ronnie was dressed for the occasion in a skeleton costume (love him!):

His drumming was spectacular:

For the next two hours we were treated to an amazing, high energy performance. The new songs sat really well with the old and got just as enthusiastic a reaction from the crowd.

 

The song that got the loudest sing-along of the night? Mr Brightside:

 There were pyrotechnics going off...

...and a few showers of confetti (I found some lightning bolts and K's in unmentionable places on the way home!):

At the end of the set Brandon came down from the stage and made his way slowly (brave man) along the front row...where he looked me in the eye and high fived me...and I kind of held onto his hand...ahem...

Then the band threw lots of Halloween chocolate to the audience:

I am pretty sure I'll never have a Halloween to top this one.

Smile Lines

I love this photo of Ethan with his cousin Isobel:

A couple of weeks ago we set off on a trip to my sister-in-law's farm in west Wales. Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic for hours so we spent an unexpected night at my sister's house in south Wales, halfway to our destination. It was worth it to have some extra snuggles with Isobel!

The next morning we avoided the motorway and took the scenic route to the farm through the Brecon Beacons. You can't help but fall in love with the place:

We spend a lovely couple of days with James' sister and family, the children loved spending time with their cousins and being at Mikey's baptism:

I love waking up to a sunny Sunday at Gellie:

My other highlight of the month was this:

Ten and a half years ago when we moved into our home, James took off the living room door which had a huge hole in it. We hadn't got around to replacing it until last week when I finally decided to buy one. I can't tell you how happy I was when it was hung and I could close out the sounds of the house when I wanted! It's the little things in life...

Smile Lines

My favourite smile lines of the week:

James: 'You look lovely....pretty....or whatever....flowery?'
Me: 'You're such a romantic!'

Noah: 'I've decided my favourite Killers song is Prize Fighter, then Flesh and Bone. But my favourite Brandon Flowers song is still Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts!'
Me: 'I've taught you well son!'

Autumn Music

September seems to always bring a rush of new albums. I enjoy something new to listen to when the seasons change, and this month has been a great one for new albums from artists that I already love:

My soul is happy!