Gabe is 8 months!! (tomorrow)

I cannot believe how fast time has gone. I remember giving birth to our handsome little man like it was just yesterday! Now almost over night he has just blossomed and learnt a whole new array of tricks. He has been such a great blessing on mine and Joel's life and I am so proud and honored to be his mum :) 

8 Month Trick List:

• Says mama and dada (although because he has just learnt dada trying to get him to say mama is painfully hard haha)
• Crawls properly
• Stand on his own on EVERYTHING. Climbing peoples legs is his favorite past time right now
• Walk along furniture
• He can feed himself finger foods
• Hold his own bottle
• But boy can he throw a tantrum!! This is my least favorite achievement right now. He certainly has discovered his lungs full potential

I am so proud that he is growing and progressing so well but also so sad that my little man is growing up. I guess its inevitable, and i am enjoying his cuddles right now but dang son SLOW DOWN!!

We love you Gabriel <3

MUST SEE!!

So recently I have been watching an AWESOME TV series called Once Upon A Time. It is so so good. It is basically and adult version of the fairytales we know and love today with all kinds of awesome twists. I am completely hooked and in love and EVERYONE should watch it :)

The best part is, if you go to http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/ you can watch all the series for FREE :)

You can thank me later <3

The U S of A

Well it has been a LONG Time since I blogged. But my sisters in law insisted that i started again so here goes nothing!

So we have been in the States for a month and a half already and our time here has been interesting. Adapting has been easier in some ways but for many things it has been a challenge. One thing i really miss is roundabouts. It sounds stupid but there are so many traffic lights here. I get travel sick driving a mile down the road with all the stop starting. I adapting to driving on the wrong side of the road really fast surprisingly  Its really not that hard and i even drive in Utah so that is saying something as drivers here SUCK! I have literally never been so scared for my life on a road before, and i have been to some places where they drive pretty bad.

Anyways, we started off in Idaho with Joel's parents. It was great but there was just nothing to do. People back home in Ixworth, you think its bad there...seriously there is NOTHING in Fruitland haha appreciate the park and fish and chip shop ;) Its been fun hanging out with Joel's family. We would stay up late with Joel's mum watching spooky shows. More often then not i was so scared i wouldnt walk upstairs on my own haha. We have eaten so much delicious food, I cannot tell you how different alot of the food is but so so good. And Reece you think you love Mexican food....You haven't tried anything until you eat a taco from an authentic Mexican.

2 Weeks ago we moved up to Logan, Utah to stay with Joel's brother Adam, his wife Kari and there 3 awesome kids. We have been getting settled here and Joel managed to get a shelf stacking job to get us by until we can find something a little better. Kari has been a life saver in keeping me sane. It is so nice to share a house with someone who has a baby too and some one who is such a good friend to me. We have been having so much fun here, we are just 10 minutes from the Logan Canyon and it is seriously one of the most beautiful places i have seen in a long time. I took a long drive up there last week and drove so far into the mountains i hit snow! I have found all kinds of beautiful parks, creeks, cold springs, rivers and mountains to explore. I love just getting in the car and driving to see where i end up. We actually just got back from Salt Lake City. The weather has been much like British weather so that was awesome in comparison to the burning hot sun we had before that. We got to introduce Gabe to his aunts, uncles and cousins for the first time and even Joel got to meet the last of his nieces and nephews he hadn't met in person. It was pretty cool to be around so many cuties. It was such a beautiful drive too, the mountains were huge and i even saw my first deer!

I'm not going to lie tho, the first few weeks were so hard. I missed my family so much, just the convenience of being able to get in the car and come see you all. Now its all time differences and bad internet connections. It makes me appreciate my family much much more that's for sure. Mum, after the way things panned out here I miss you so much. I never really appreciated you as much as i should and yes we made our mistakes but i wish i would have never been so harsh to you. I wish so bad i would have made it to see my aunties more too. Its so strange to me that Joel doesn't see his aunties or cousins much. I remember from being a tiny little girl always spending time with you all. I love you all so much and i just want you to always remember it :)

Well one more piece of news that might suprise you all. Hopefully by the winter i will be working for the United States Air Force. Its something that i have thought about for a long time. We had planned on me joining after Joel was done in 2 years but since he got out early im planning on signing up as soon as my visa is here. I have a lot of preparation to do but i know im just going to love it!

I miss you all in England but hopefully this blog will give you a look into what im up to and help you to worry a little less.

Hugs and Kisses

The Clements'

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Baby Shower

Saturday was my baby shower and boy was it great!! I was so tired tho! I struggled to keep my eyes open but i was just so grateful to everyone who came and Darcie for organising it! We played some great games and the food was awesome. And the gifts we got....beautiful! I hope you enjoy the pictures and i will blog again soon.

Love Charlotte

I was given the BIGGEST piece of cake!!

33 weeks...make room for the hippo!!

So i have love love loved being pregnant but now i am getting really impatient and i really want to meet our baby. I love having my appointments and on Saturday i have my baby shower! I am so excited about my shower and it is exciting as it really is an American thing haha. Plus there are a lot of officers wives in my ward so i should get some nice things haha.

Joel is doing really well, you probably won't hear from him a huge deal in the next few months as his schedule is kinda crazy. He is on a fitness frenzy too haha so he is `pumping iron' alot lol. He is getting really excited about meeting Gabe but i know he is bummed he can't be here. 

The last week has been really nice. I have seen friends and family all week and my little brother is staying with me and we have had a huge baking afternoon. We made dinosaur cookies, duck cookies, brownies and vanilla and coconut cakes. It was so much fun but man am i BEAT!! haha he goes home tomorrow as i have my first birthing class which should be interesting. It makes me sad that Joel won't be there to laugh through it with me but i will make sure he gets all the nasty details.

Well i need to get my brother to bed but here are some photos for you to enjoy and i will be back on here soon! 

Love Charlotte

xxxx

Espana

Our first day exploring

So before Joel left we decided we wanted to take a trip to Spain. It was a great get away, even being pregnant. The flight out there sucked so bad. I love flying and i have never got sick flying but this flight was a whole new kettle of fish!! I was dizzy and nauseous but luckily it was just an hours flight. When we got to Spain it was so hot! Man did i feel it haha but the airport was just 15 minutes from our hotel so that was a bonus! We got checked into our hotel and it was beautiful :) Of course the first thing we did was try the food haha.

Over the week we had some amazing trips. We went to a water park which had dolphins in it and they were spectacular!! It was sad that i couldn't go on any of the slides but the dolphins were fantastic!

We did a trip out to sea on a catamaran which was pretty cool. It was beautiful when we set off and we sun bathed and swam in the sea. Joel had a blast putting on the diving gear haha even if he didn't use it. On the way back to shore tho we got caught in a storm. We were all in summer clothes so luckily the captain had rain coats for us. It was thundering and lightening and it got real rocky! I was pretty scared to be honest but i just fell asleep on Joel lol.

We went to one of the best illusion shows in Europe. It was amazing, it was run by British people who had set the club up years ago. They did some awesome tricks and i even got Joel to go up on stage. The trick he was involved in was one where basically they put another persons 50 euro bill in a envelope and Joel had to set it on fire, however Joel `did this too soon' (part of the trick) and burnt it all up. Amazingly the exact same bill that they first put in the envelope re-appeared in the middle of a banana! I have no idea how on earth it happened but it did and it was insane! There was one of the worlds greatest magicians there visiting too and his trick were mind blowing! We met some cool guys from Wales there too so that was a great evening overall.
Joel did a day on his own with the guys we had met at the magic show at the biggest theme park in Europe. The pictures looked crazy and he even recorded himself going down the biggest roller-coaster in Europe lol. He was exhausted when he got home but i think he really enjoyed himself. We then did a day shopping in Salou. We found this great little cafe that had THE BEST crepes i have ever tasted in my life!

Joel goofing around in the sea

The day before we left we did a huge tour around Barcelona. It was brilliant. We got to see the football stadium, a church that has been being built for hundreds of years and still not finished, the entire city from one of the peaks of Barcelona, the shopping mall, the olympic stadium and the fountains. The fountains were my favourite part of the whole day. I was exhausted and my feet hurt but the fountains were just so romantic! The shows were amazingly put together and we really enjoyed watching them.

Joel at the Olympic stadium

The unfinished church

Me and Joel at the palace

The fountain show

Overall even tho i was lame and pregnant and not able to do much of the cool stuff i was so grateful that we got that chance to spend time together in another country and appreciate spending time with one another. We had nothing to worry about and it was so nice to relax and sleep in!