Thanksgiving

Long story, but we had quite the crowd for Thanksgiving. We ended up having 23 people including ourselves - way more than I've ever hosted before. We had wall to wall people. We even had Brittany and her friends sitting in the back entrance. We had an interesting mix of people. We had friends from California, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas and Oregon as well as England, Scotland, New Zealand (Maori) and our friend who is a Native American from the Hopi tribe.

Mission call

We had an exciting Thanksgiving this year. Just before we got ready to sit down to eat dinner we got a call from Jeffrey in Utah. He had the family gathered together there and was getting ready to open his call. I don't know how he managed to wait to open it. He found it in the mail the night before, but waited till everyone was together before opening it.

He had a phone held up to each ear - a three way call with us and Ken's parents and a call to Kenny in Pullman in the other ear. He is going to the Chile Concepcion South mission and will be entering the Provo MTC on February 10th. I was so excited that I just wanted to tell our guests that Thanksgiving was cancelled. We had more important things to think about :)

ROTC competition

We went to an interesting event last weekend. Stuart is participating in the ROTC drill team and color guard this year and they had a competition with another DoDEA (Department of Defense something something) school. There were several different events where they had to march in formation, do routines with rifles etc. It reminded me a bit of District III marching band, without the music.

Stuart's team did very well, taking top honors thoughout. The most exciting part came at the end though. Both teams were out on the floor and a sergeant was calling out commands. None of this had been rehearsed, and they had to execute each command perfectly. There were several judges walking among them and as soon as anyone made the smallest mistake they were tapped out and asked to leave the floor. The kids got eliminated pretty quickly and soon there were only four left, then three. These were kids who had been in for three or four years and and had done a fabulous job in the other competitions. We were so excited to see that Stuart was still out on the floor, one of the three. The three eventually became two: a third year student (who had trained Stuart) and Stuart, the first year cadet. Then there was one ......... STUART!!!!! We were so excited that we forgot to take pictures at the end :) What a way to make a name for yourself at a new school :)

Roasting Chestnuts

Everyone has heard the Christmas story about chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Well, Sunday we are watching conference on the internet. I had picked up some chestnuts while out walking earlier and thought I might try roasting them. In my mind, which operates at a somewhat simple level, I figure you just toss them in the oven for little bit and they pop like popcorn or something. So I have them in the oven and we are in the other room watching conference and I hear a thud that came from the kitchen. I figure that must have been a chestnut popping open. So off to the kitchen I go. Before I get there I hear some more substantial bangs. I open the oven and chestnut is everywhere.

After further research I find that you are suppose to puncture them like potatoes or they explode, just like potatoes. Needless to say I had to clean out the oven. Julie thought it was funny after she found out she didn't have to clean up the mess. After all that I find out chestnuts aren't really all that good.
-Ken

RAF Duxford Airshow

We traveled to RAF Duxford for the Flying Legends Airshow. Duxford was a RAF base that was used by the Americans during the war. Now it is part of the Imperial War Museum. It has a large collection of American planes as well as other types of aircraft and museum stuff.

This is a B-17G which would have operated from nearby airfields like RAF Molesworth and RAF Kimbolton.

F-86 Sabre of Korean War fame.




This would have been a familiar site at RAF Duxford during the later part of World War 2. A P-51 taking off from Duxford.

A Supermarine Spitfire landing at RAF Duxford.

The Spitfire doing a flyby.

A Hawker Hurricane. This was the most numerous fighter involved in the Battle of Britain. It shot down more German aircraft then all other means combined. It is a interesting plane in the fact that the rear of the fuselage is frame covered in fabric. This made the explosive shells used by the German fighters somewhat useless since they would pass through with out exploding.

The Battle of Britain Memorial flight. A Lancaster bomber and a Hurricane fighter.

This is Stuarts favorite plane. The new Eurofighter Typhoon. This is just going into service with the RAF and is due to rotate to Persian gulf in a few months.

Enjoying a ice lolly (Popsicle).

Ward Bike Ride

The ward had a bike ride around Grafham Water. It's about 10 miles around the lake on good trails. Everyone made it including Brittany.

Steve

Our house came with a very large hedge named Steve. We thought that Steve was looking a little ragged and he needed a hair cut.Steve is so large that Stuart had to stand on top of him to give him a trim. Funny thing is that Steve apparently thought Stuart might taste good. So about half way down the hedge, Steve swallowed Stuart. One minute Stuarts was there and the next he was gone. You could here him screaming though. Must have upset Steve because he spit him back out.