An egg-citing Easter weekend!

So lots has been happening! My blog has to be renamed...any ideas? Chilling in Milton Keynes just doesn't appeal! Yes the job search was proving fruitless in Shropshire, we headed down to visit By's family for the weekend in Milton Keynes and By found a job within one day and I found one two days later!! so we have relocated and will be staying here now until we head off to Bangor.  It's a shame we couldn't find anything in Shropshire, as we were quite enjoying the country life but you have to go where the work is!

After a week in Milton Keynes we headed back to Shropshire for a whole action packed Easter weekend with all my family.  The weather was amazing and I actually managed to break out the shorts to show off my tanned legs for once! 

By and Arne were in charge of BBQing us a Good Friday Feast which we were able to enjoy outside:

and after lunch we decided to make the most of the sunshine and harking back to our younger days we created a slip and slide and had hours of fun being as crazy as we could!  

Looking wet but happy!

...and after we worked up an appetite we gobbled down 1000 calories in my Easter Dessert Bar:

On Saturday we headed to Chester to the Crocky Trail, an outdoor adventure trail full of rope swings, mazes, slides and all kinds of challenging obstacles!

Here's Mara and Mel sliding around...

and us with a giant Iron Man! The boys were pretty happy that they finally had a weekend that didn't revolve around shopping...being surrounded by a family of girls can be hard on them sometimes! but we made sure this weekend was all outdoor fun! 

Mara won the challenge for staying upright the longest in the hamster wheel!

and she also won in our log wrestle, unfortunately as I fell to the ground I managed to take her down with me! The boys are looking on and loving it in this pic!!

and of course no trip back from Chester is complete without stopping of at The Ice Cream Farm.  They have over 30 amazingly yummy flavours...here's just a few:

It's always impossible to choose but I went with the White Choc, Raspberry & Oreo - it was delish!

Arne was less than impressed with his vanilla bean after requesting 'clothed cream' but someone mis understood his order, it must be that Irish accent of his! but he was still all smiles for this pic! 

After a lovely Easter service at church on Sunday we came home to a lovely Lamb roast, and Mom took a picture with her girls (or the ones that like to be photographed at least).

Then we heard the exciting news that the Easter Bunny had been! Yes we are 24, 28, 29 and 32 and we still have Easter Egg hunts in the garden...don't judge! We love it! and Easter certainly wouldn't be the same without them! 

It also has to be said that the Easter Bunny certainly hides them in trickier places year after year...this year I was having no luck at all until the last few minutes of the search when I finally found one! I was probably finding it so hard because Byron was finding all of them one after another...he is an egg hunting machine! 

Here's a few snaps of how it went down! Mel was her usual competitive self, taking out anyone who stood in her way of some chocolate! Luckily there weren't too many casualties and Arne didn't even have to be subjected to having an egg cracked on his head this year! 

After we'd all eaten far too much, we decided we'd walk it off by a hike up the hill to find a disused mine we'd discovered on a previous afternoon 'stroll'.  

This was inside the mine..

and this was a spot of tree climbing, check out the view!

Not to be outdone, daredevil Mara preceded to climb a tree twice as high as mine!

Luckily my dad brought along his rope in his 72 hour kit (incase we got stuck down the mine!) so we were able to do some rock climbing too!

 

It really was a lovely view from the top! 

and we had to snap this Converse shot for future scrap fodder.

The Bluebells were out in full swing on our walk back down the hill...

and my dad led the way...hat and backpack and all! 

On Monday we had some 'pre-birthday' celebrations for Byron.  As you may well know Byron is a meat loving South African so really there was only one option in my mind as to where we should take him, we headed back to Chester to track down Tropeiro - a Brazilian Steakhouse...but first a spot of pedal boating on the river to work up our appetite for what was to come:

I think has got to be one of the first bank holiday's in history where we have had sunshine and blue skies the whole weekend...amazing!

Here is our very own little Gaucho, a.k.a the meat man! who brought us 7 rounds of meat feast! 

Byron was absolutely loving it, in fact we all were...here Mom is toasting the meat! and if you're not a meat lover the banana fritters are worth the trip alone!

Here I am with the birthday boy...25 years old, getting old...

but never too old for ice cream, we had another pit stop and chocolate waffle cones were the order of the day!

He opened a few South African treats on the day...

and we celebrated with a Smarties and Kit Kat cake I made...By's fave choccies! 

which brings us around to the present!

Last night I headed off to Nando's to meet up with Jay-dee, or so I thought! and then these 3 little faces popped out hiding in the booth!

It was a lovely and unexpected surprise and so nice to not only be enjoying delish delish Nando's, after so long without it, but also with great friends!

It was great catching up and they even spoilt me with a balloon and giant cupcake - they know me so well!

A week in the country

So we've settled into Shropshire living quite nicely! It's been a week of exploring, mostly to find different cupcakeries, but along the way we've discovered some lovely sights too! like this beautiful garden in the town of Oswestry, which was a war memorial... 

and I was particularly impressed to find this bible reference from John on a slab of stone.

We also followed a sign one day to Moreton Corbet Castle, it's only about 15 minutes from my parents house but I had never been before and it was a beautiful sunny day too.

By decided to do a bit of impromptu 'rock climbing' in preparation for when we join the rock climbing club when we head to Bangor! 

and I had a go too.

A nice arty shot of the blue sky through the old windows taken by Byron...

and a snap happy shot of the both of us!

We passed this lovely rape field on the way home and I just had to hop out and take a picture! I have a new found appreciation for the English countryside and have just not stopped snapping since I got back! 

Yesterday was another beautiful day in Shrewsbury...it was the start of a mini heatwave here this weekend and I counted 15 guys out and about without their shirts on (how chavvy!) there were people out in shorts and flip flops and there were even some girls tanning in the park...

clearly I haven't quite adjusted from the Caribbean climate yet and so it was still hoodies and hats for me! 

We found the most amazing flower garden that has been built in place of an old quarry...

have you ever seen such a beautiful tulip with purple inside?! amazing!

and I love how well our new camera captures these vibrant springtime colours! 

Can you believe how blue that sky is! It was the perfect backdrop to accompany this exquisite garden.

By just couldn't get enough of that blue sky! it's not often we have a cloud free day here in England! 

We're certainly living life and loving it! By bought a pair of wellies and has been busy all week at our house digging a vegetable patch, so far he has planted potatoes, carrots, beans and cucumbers.  Yesterday he had to buy some steel toed boots for a day of work he got through an agency today, and we've even been out trying to get him a cheap pellet gun this week so he can do a spot of target shooting in the garden! He's clearly loving country living! and with all these wonderful quaint villages and picturesque places nearby it's not hard to see why! 

Home! Sweet Home!

So last Thursday I took one last look at those amazing turquoise waters and said farewell to Turks and Caicos.  I had a stop over at JFK...and I was really hoping that I would miss my connecting flight back to the UK and get to stay overnight in New York! It happened to the last two people who came to visit me in Provo and my layover was even shorter than their's so I thought I was in with a good chance! I'd even planned my cupcake crawl I would do hitting up 8 of NYC's best cupcakeries...

but it was not to be, it was the one day that American Airlines decided to be competent (my flight even landed EARLY at JFK!) and so unfortunately the runway at JFK was the only part of New York I got to see! I consoled myself by buying copious amounts of Oreo brownies and cakesters in the little airport shop along with some I heart NY pyjama bottoms! 

I wasn't sad for too long, because a quick 7 hours later I was in London! and it has never felt so good to be back in England! despite the grey cloudy skies...it felt so good to be home! and I didn't care about the jet lag, I had spent 7 months on an Island with no shops so I put my tiredness to one side and after By picked me up at the airport we met up with Mara and did what we do best when in London! 

We went straight to Selfridge's - one of our favourite haunts! and it felt so funny to be in such a huge shop again! I was loving the Philosophy section of goodies! 

of course it was on to the cupcakes next, we stopped at Lola's and picked up some mini's.

Oreo for me and red velvet for Mara, with a little sneaky shot of Big Ben in the background! 

Then we headed to Covent Garden which was buzzing, as usual, and there were plenty of street performers out entertaining the crowds of tourists and shoppers alike.  

We ate lunch at an amazing Mexican restaurant called Cantina Laredo...I had looked it up online from the Caribbean and knew I needed to pay it a visit when back in the UK, I didn't waste any time! and we finished off our afternoon of fun in London with a few more cupcakes from Ella's Bakehouse, and after a bit of a standstill on the M6 on the drive up to my parents we grabbed some Ikea hotdogs for dinner! making sure I visited alot of my fave places all in my 1st day back! 

This was the view I woke up to on Friday Morning! A field full of cows and that lush green grass...sure it's not the same as a view of the ocean, like we had back in Provo, but I think it's pretty special all the same! 

By got us a new camera while I was still in Provo so I've been a bit snap happy with it! it takes such great pictures, I can't help it! plus everything around me just seems so exciting right now! You should have seen how excited I was to feel cold when I got off the plane in my t-shirt at JFK - it was refreshing and awesome! 

and this past weekend in Shropshire, the air was cold but crisp and I loved all the little signs of spring all around like these lovely daffodils...

and the green of the trees! 

In true Jones Family style, we had a rather spectacular homecoming! with polka dot homemade bunting courtesy of my mom...

and a whole host of welcome home cards and prezzies from friends and family! 

I was ready for some more shopping so we headed into Shrewsbury where I continued snapping all the 'English' things I could find like these lovely old school buildings! 

and we treated mom to a Mother's Day lunch at Ask.

Hmmm good Italian pizza - how I have missed you! 

and how I have missed the fun and frolics with my fam! 

Here I am with my fave shop in Shrewsbury - Vinegar Hill, it's an amazing home and gift shop...the likes of which you just couldn't find in Turks and Caicos! 

When we got home we had the amazing homecoming dessert bar Mara and my family had planned in our honour! 

It was more than a little amazing with cupcakes (of course), brownies, lamingtons, cookies and cheesecake! 

On Sunday it was UK Mother's Day, which was even more special with our whole family back together again! Mom got busy opening some presents,

and was most delighted with her Key Lime Pie Cheesecake which went along with the Key Lime candle we brought her back from Turks and Caicos! 

Unfortunately it needed a few more hours to defrost so she couldn't have a piece for breakfast! 

Although the cheesecake was a present via me, it was handmade by Mara and so it was definitely finished with care! and we definitely indulged in some after dinner and it was super yummy!

There's nothing we love more than spoiling our mom.

We had a great Sunday roast cooked by Chef Arne, my brother in law, and there's nothing better than a roast dinner with the whole family around the table! 

Mom was much more willing to have pictures taken once she was no longer in her pj's! 

So we asked our pro photographer By to take a few snaps of Mom and her girls outside...unfortunately only 3 of her girls were up for it! 

Group hug! 

and here's one of Mom with her two favourite, and only, son in laws! Don't they make us all look small! 

Today Mara had taken the day off from work so the cupcake and shopping fun continued in Chester...

finished off with a few sweet treats from Starbucks like red velvet whoopies...

and rocky road cake pops! 

So I've only been back for a total of 4 days but with the amount of shopping and cupcaking I've got in it feels like longer! 

Today in Chester it was 9 degrees celcius, about 48 degrees fahrenheit! and it drizzled on and off all afternoon, we didn't see blue sky once...a far cry from our days in T&C but my skinny jeans and Uggs are here to stay and I've still never been happier to be home!