My Phone Has Photograpic Evidence Of The Last Two Weeks

We have been a little busy lately having fun!  The weather has been glorious and we've spent a lot of time with friends at our local beach:

We have participated in sack races at the ward BBQ:

Rosie was found sleeping in her den one night:

I read my book/skygazed on the trampoline:

With my Noah:

I've also received declarations of love (which won't turn the right way up!):

James and I were privileged to witness the sealing of Gemma, Nick and their boys at the London Temple.  It was beautiful.  Here they are with the grandparents:

Today the sun has been replaced with rain.  That means it's indoor games day:

We are almost through week four of the summer holiday, I can't believe how fast it is going! 



Feeling French

Dear Jay

Rosie and I were dress shopping and came home with two lovely dresses.  She then insisted I take pictures of her in them so you could see:

Aren't they yummy?!

Love Naomi xxx

I Need A Holiday To Get Over My Holiday

The first week of the summer holiday is over and man did we pack in a lot of fun!  I give you fair warning, there are a lot of photos in this post.

Saturday:
We left home for west Wales to camp at James' sister and brother-in-law's farm in Plwmp (pronounced 'plump').  We enjoyed our holiday there two years ago and decided to repeat it!  This was the view from our tent, and where the children could be found most of the time we were on-site:

Sunday:
We attended church followed by dinner at James' parents.  There is no photographic evidence of this but rest assured that the gammon was delicious and the brownies for desert were scrumptious!

Monday:
We went to our first beach of the week, Newquay.  The children enjoyed rock pooling, Rosie found a crab:

Ethan caught some tiny fish:

Ben dried out his wet feet:

Noah played with the rocks:

And so did Daddy!  Like father, like son.  Look at my two lefties:

That evening our good friends the Wright family arrived and after helping put up their tents we gathered around for the first campfire of the week.  (There was one every night, of course!)

The children toasted marshmallows and bread, Ethan and James kept a close eye on the food:

Tuesday:
James, Ben and Ethan spent Tuesday walking a mountain.  James helped his sister Amy out by taking her and the young women from church up Cadir Idris.  Ethan walked up part of the way with Nanny Miles and Ben made it to the top with James and some of the girls!  Rosie, Noah and I spent the day with the Wrights relaxing on my favourite beach in Wales, Mwnt.  (Pronounced 'munt'.  I still don't understand the Welsh language or their spelling habits!)

Rosie was straight into the water with her friends (she's in the middle):

Noah spent his time digging in the sand and looking cool, despite the rising temperature:

The children caught a jellyfish in the sea...I still don't understand how they weren't stung in the process!

Wednesday:
As the sun was still gloriously shining, we went to another beach, this time it was Llangrannog.  (Pronounced Clan-gran-nog.)

Look, I got another photo of Ben!

Rosie carried on body boarding:

As did Ben:

Noah dug some more holes with his friend April:

Ethan also dug a big hole... and buried himself:

Thursday:
The children spent the day playing with their cousins on the farm while we packed up our tent.

I'd like to say that the sunny photo above was taken on Thursday, but it wasn't.  Thursday was a typically Welsh day: permeating rain!  We said goodbye to our family and friends and returned home rather late to Devon.  I am definitely a fair-weather camper, I do not like rain!

Friday:
We attended the wedding of Asenath and Ollie!

Twelve years ago Asenath was my Beehive (I feel so old) and recently we served for a couple of years together on the Young Women's presidency.  She is fabulous.  This next photo serves as a reminder to you all that I am not in the slightest bit photogenic or good at posing.  Why is my arm in the air?

After the wedding service James and I travelled with friends to the London Temple for Ase and Ollie's sealing.  If I were a good photographer I would have taken the following picture at an angle where the temple could be seen.  I am not, so you get to see the lovely couple in front of the accommodation centre instead:

Saturday:
Day two of the wedding celebrations: a garden party with a hog roast!

There was lots of dancing:

Noah enjoyed a boogie with Zilpah:

This brother and sister were the sweetest dancers:

Isn't this the cutest red-head you have ever seen?  I may or may not have wanted to steal her:

I have had the best week, but now I think I may need to lie in a quiet, dark room for a while.

Moving On

Today was Ethan's last day at primary school and I attended the Leavers Assembly at the village church along with the other year six parents.  The great thing about living in a village with a school close to the church is that we get to sit in a beautiful chapel with vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows!  The assembly is an opportunity for the school children and teachers to celebrate the achievements of the year six pupils and to wish them well in their secondary school.  Here is a bad shot between the heads of many parents of Ethan collecting his dictionary and mug from his teacher:

A big part of the assembly is for each year group in the school to sing a special goodbye song to the year six children.  Now, I am not known for being a teary person but that all goes out of the window when I listen to a piece of music that hits the right spot.  Today that was when the year four children (including Rosie!) sang 'Greatest Day' by Take That.  These lines were the ones that set me off:

Today this could be the greatest day of our lives

Let's make a new start, the future is ours to find

Can you see it?  Can you see in in my eyes?

Can you feel it now?  Can you hold it in your arms?

Oh, stay close to me, stay close to me

Watch the world come alive tonight

Stay close to me

Hold your head high, arms open wide

And the world starts to come alive

When you stay close to me

For me it summed up the children moving on, growing up and embracing the world, but wanting to stay close to watch their journey.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the church, teachers included!  Here's the band's video of the song:

I thought I was safe after that incident, but the assembly concluded with the school song 'World In Union'.... you should check those lyrics out too, it was a total blubfest!

From now on I only have two children left at St Michael's, Ethan will be joining his big brother at Teign School in September.  When did they get so grown up?

Cross Dressing And Facial Hair

Today was the performance of the year six's play 'Oink!' for their parents.  It is a tradition that marks the end of their time at St. Michael's as they leave to start secondary school in September.  I have been busy these last few weeks helping with props and costumes and it was great to finally see everything put together.  Ethan had volunteered for a role in the play that no one else would take... the Bearded Lady in the circus scene!  (He had lots of extra house points for that.)

I think Ethan rather enjoyed the wig and dress, he was subconsciously twirling his 'hair' and swishing his skirts!  It was a fun play and the singing was fantastic.  The children were told they could go home in their costumes and return in them a couple of hours later for the evening performance.  I said to Ethan that he could change before leaving school, but he chose instead to go home on his scooter looking like this:

Saturday's Smile Lines

Today we were in Exeter and after a couple of hours shopping with Rosie we stopped outside the cathedral to wait for James and Noah.  The bells started to ring.

Rosie: 'Oh, they're playing the Hell's Bells song!'

Me: 'No darling, churches don't play AC/DC songs!'

Oh, I Get Lost In My Mind

The Head and the Heart.  I have loved this six-piece band from Seattle since I first heard them last year.  I was so excited to finally see them live last night, I knew their show would be something special and they didn't disappoint!  (I know, two concerts in two days?  Good times!)  James and I travelled to Bristol to see their first headlining gig in the UK; they played at Thekla, an old Baltic coaster turned into a club:

It's a great intimate venue, the small stage area is in the belly of the boat and the metal rivet walls are lined with wooden benches.  We sat close to the left of stage for the opening acts; for some reason the crowd didn't venture near the front.  Maybe it was the close proximity of the bands that made the crowd a little shy... but not me!  When The Head and the Heart came on I was up on the dance floor foot-stomping, hand-clapping and singing along with the biggest grin on my face!  The harmonies were delightful, the energy was explosive and the music was a little slice of heaven.  Here's what an awesome band playing in a boat look like (excuse the blurry phone pictures, I was trying to avoid looking like a stalker with my bigger camera):

See Josiah here?:

He was an angel.  After the show I was chatting to him (um... gushing) and asked him to sign my CD.   I had lost my pen and he hunted high and low for another, made sure all the band signed the CD and gathered up as many of them as he could for a photo.  As if I wasn't already in love with the band, they were just so darned sweet!

If you haven't heard them already you really should, here's two songs from their encore.  (I was sat back on the bench for this so I whipped out my camera!)

The Head and the Heart from Naomi on Vimeo.

Laughing In The Open Air; Have Yourself Another Dream

Yesterday my concert-going-partner-in-crime Dawn came with me to see Brandon Flowers at the Eden Project in Cornwall.  I have never been to a more beautiful venue, the stage was at the bottom of an old clay pit which is now home to a few biomes and a vast amount of greenery.  We dedicated ourselves to queueing under the shade of some beautiful trees and were rewarded with front row views of Mr Flowers:

I don't think I have ever heard Dawn scream so much! It was a fantastic show and we really didn't hold back on our singing or jumping up and down, I especially enjoyed Magdelena and Only The Young.  We were also treated to a few Killers songs, which went down rather well with the crowd.

Would you like to watch?  Click here:

Brandon Flowers - Crossfire from Naomi on Vimeo.