Day Two Hundred and Eighty-eight

Its been snowing for the past couple of nights, making everything clean and fresh just in time for the new year!

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-seven

Roses are red, Violets are blue, these are a week old and still like new!

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-six

Who shrunk the TV? The television cabinet which Amanda's Dad fetched out of storage for her dwarfs the TV a little...

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-five

Everything is bigger in America; houses, cars, food servings, and even it appears drinks. This one I picked up when getting a Chinese takeaway. "What size cup would you like sir?" "Oh, I'll take that two litre one thanks". Needless to say we (yes we shared it) didn't finish it.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-four

Keeping warm and snug with a glass of red and some cranberry and vanilla scented candles.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-three

The snow is falling! Just a day too late for a white Christmas though.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-two

After attending Midnight Mass here last night, but being rather ill (why do I always get sick at Christmas?) and unable to recall much of it, I came back again today for the Christmas Morning service.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-one

This is St Jude's Church in Cedar City. Its the closest relation to Church of England to be found in America and in fact formed out for the CofE. When America gained its independence, clergy of the church were unable to continue to swear allegiance to the Monarch of England who is the head of the CofE, forcing the formation of the first Anglican Province outside the British Isles, the Episcopate Church.

Tonight I'll be attending Midnight Mass here.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty

Holidays are coming,

Holidays are coming,

Holidays are coming,

Holidays are coming....

You know the Coca-Cola Commercial you see every year? Well today it came to Cedar City!

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-nine

Christmas is just a few days away now and everyone's house is full of decorations. These are at Amanda's parents...

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-eight

You gotta love Netflix! In fact internet tv altogether. In the middle of 2010 (April to September) cable and satellite companies lost over a quarter of a million customers. Actually its not just the growth of internet programming but also the boom in digital TV.

Amanda and I don't have cable or digital TV and in line with many other twenty-somethings in America are taking preference to internet tv because of the flexibility it offers. Never miss a show because its there waiting for you, we don't even need to hit record. Free shows are available (legally) all over the web, from The Amazing Race on cbs.com to Sunday Night Football on nbc.com in America and BBC iPlayer and ITV Player in Britain

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-seven

This is in a sports store. I'm sorry, but killing is not a sport.

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-six

"On any given Sunday you're going to win or you're going to lose, the question can you win and lose like a man?"

So over breakfast I'm reading the previews for the day's NFL games. This is the Salt Lake City Tribune and therefore naturally I'm not expecting the a huge preview on my beloved Cleveland Browns, however an injury report, maybe expectant starters, a form guide or even just a prediction would be nice. This is what I found....

All men are born equal, and so are football fans, its just that some are more equal than others. It doesn't matter what team you support, whether they make the play-offs every season or whether they are constantly 'planning for next season', they are still your team and you still love them and hate them at the same time. Any football fan understands this.....except the journalist up in Salt Lake. Jerk.

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-five

Up the mountain! Today we wrapped up super warm and heading up the slopes for a couple of hours of sledging. So much fun, its one of the few things in life where you get to act like a child again, love it!

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-four

Here is the candy (gingerbread) house we made last night, we barely kept it together when building it and were pleasantly surprised when it was still standing this morning....

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-three

Can't beat good back rub can ya! Train them while they're young!

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-two

Can't beat a roast dinner! And, no, before you ask, I didn't have Marmite on it, that was just left out from lunch.

Day Two Hundred and Seventy-one

All I want for Christmas is.....

Luckily, the real Father Christmas came by Cedar City and we all had a chance to tell him what we wanted for Christmas. I was about to quiz him on why I didn't get what I wanted last year (a winning lotto ticket), but another excited bunch of kids pushed me out the way!

Day Two Hundred and Seventy

Today Landon was 'Star of the Week' at his pre-school. Taking lots of photos pays of on days like this, as we talked through all the exciting things Landon had done this autumn to his class.

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-nine

I love to listen to the piano, tonight Amanda jumped on a played us a few Christmas songs.

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-eight

Time for some Christmas shopping! We had a busy day down in St George today, its a bigger town than Cedar (similar to Wycombe), so there's many more shops .... which made Amanda happy!

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-seven

The most oversized cup in the world?

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-six

Christmas is almost here, its cold outside but nice and cosy in our living room!

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-five

Panda Express: Amanda love her Chinese takeaways!

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-four

I caught Landon doing some arts and craft this afternoon, here's what he made for his mum...

...except he lost it just after finishing it so all Amanda got to see was a picture!

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-three

Never seen this before....Strawberries in December! One of the many joys of being in America is that you can get whatever you want, whenever you want.

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-two

At the end of a long weekend Landon was exhausted, so we cranked up the heating and tucked him right inbetween the pillows to relax and watch a movie. (He still wouldn't let go of the toy my sister brought for him though!)

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-one

Cedar City's Christmas Parade! This town has many great things about it, the Christmas Parade is another one of those. This year Amanda dressed up as Queen of Hearts and Landon used his Ironman outfit from Halloween. It was a cold day, but the Main Street (closed to traffic) was still lined with people.

Here's Chuck and Amanda getting ready at the beginning of the parade in a classic Mustang.

Day Two Hundred and Sixty

Our Christmas package from my family in England arrived yesterday, lots of wrapped presents and a couple of surprises too. My favourite Christmas CD was in there and also my Christmas stocking I made when I was just a little boy! Here it is hanging in Amanda's front room already...

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-nine

Here in Utah everything is quite far away, luckily though I quite enjoy driving. Amanda and I thought it would be a good idea to buy a audio book to help the drives go fastest. Two months on, we still haven't finished it and now it just floats around the car like a bad smell. Audio books? Good. This particular one? Terrible!

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-eight

There's a sense of irony that America is the country the world turns to so often when things go wrong, yet the country remains intent on destroying the world's environment. America's recycling and CO2 record is awful when you consider its one of the richest and most developed countries in the world. Its one of the most notable differences you see when you come to America, no one cares. It difficult for me to comprehend coming from a place where we have separate bins for paper & card, for plastic, for cans, for garden & food waste, and for general waste (there's also 49 places in my town to take your glass bottles).

What started me off on this rant?

Well today I made a quick trip to WalMart and brought three things. The check out assistant (who bags for you in America) managed to use four non-biodegradable bags. That's more than one bag per item!

America isn't the worst per capita polluter in world, that honour goes to Australia. At least they're making progress though. You want a disposable plastic bag to put your groceries in? In South Australia you'll pay a 10 cent (0.10 USD, 0.06 GBP) tax on each bag. Its not a new idea, Ireland lead the way on this and it saw plastic bag usage drop by 95%!

Rant over.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-seven

The snowstorm finally stopped yesterday leaving about a foot of the white stuff everywhere. Here is our home and, besides having to clear the driveway of it, we can still appreciate how pretty everything looks.

Day Two Hundred and fifty-six

IT'S FREEZING! Actually, its beyond freezing. I've never been in an environment this cold, except maybe on school ski trips but I don't remember too much of those. This is the temperature reading on the rear-view mirror in my car.

And for the Americans amongst you!

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-five

Our first Christmas present came from Amanda's Mum and Dad.

The Three Wise Men were carefully put in their place in the nativity scene by Landon.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-four

Its less than one month to Christmas now so it seems like a good time to put up some Christmas decorations up! Next year well get a real tree...

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-three

After catching up on the CBS' Amazing Race and Amanda trying to convince me that we'd be able to take part, here is a picture of my young lady carrying my bag downstairs, shortly before announcing "I'd never be able to backpack anywhere". Which is lucky really, because winning a backpacking race without a backpack is great tactic (you can run faster)!

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-two

It's Thankgiving!

My first ever experience Thanksgiving in America, we spent most of the day at Amanda's Grandparents house and feasted on some splendid cooking...

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-one

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-one: Part One

Up extra early this morning to catch the morning flight out of Adelaide, it'll be the first of three flights in what will end up being the longest day of the year. Just had enough time to grab a full Aussie breakfast (which is essentially just a full english but with everything upside I guess).

So this is where it gets confusing. After my first flight from Adelaide to Sydney, I board a second one just a few hours later bound for Los Angeles. On this second flight we view the sunset to the west and several hours later the sunrise in the east, and somehow its still the same day.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty-one: Part Two

At this point I'm walking around in a rather confused state any time-traveller might experience, but I looked at a newspaper in LA airport (Marty McFly style) and it said it was definitely still Wednesday, so I found my way the departure gate for my third and final flight to Las Vegas where I landed at 10am.

The most unbelievable part of it? Some twenty hours after eating breakfast in Adelaide and its not even time for lunch yet...

Day Two Hundred and Fifty

The 'turn around point'. Each morning since I've been in Australia I've ran along the coast, the path on the sea wall is always filled with joggers and cyclists making the most of the area's beauty. These photos are from Brighton Jetty (pier), about 5 km south of Glenelg, the perfect place to stop, rest and enjoy the surroundings before heading back north.