England May 2012

I feel like every time write on my blog, I have to catch up on a million things that has happened! I don't blog as much as should or want to. My life is about to get a little more busy and exciting in the next few months. Right now I'm 24 weeks pregnant, due on October 26! :) We are busily preparing for a little girl to join our family. I am also happy to say that I have not been sick - (knock on wood), yes tired but feeling great! Paul would say I'm a little "fussy" here and there, which is maybe true, but I'm allowed to be fussy right?! I love having a little spirit grow inside me. It is such a miracle!

In May we got back to our big trip to England. Paul and I both took 2 weeks off and went off to England! Paul and I tagged along with my mom and dad and Paul's sister Kim. We saw all the sights we could. It was a crazy trip and we would all go back in a heartbeat. We were fortunate to get to stay with Paul's brother Curtis and his wife Becky. They are living in England right now with their five kids. It was a long time to be away from home, so it was really nice to be with family and eating some American food! We were grateful to have them to stay with. It worked out really well!
We took the train everyday we went to London. Curtis and Becky live about a 40 minute train ride outside of London. We would try to catch the train with no stops to Waterloo, which was where we got off. We always seemed to get to the station just before one was leaving! On the last day we went into London, we finally caught a train with no stops! We were all excited.

Great family picture in front of the London Bridge

We were so proud to see St. Bartholomew's Church. We were sad that we didn't get to go in. The preacher walked out and said he is little English accent: "I'm afraid the church is closed." :( There is also a St. Bartholomew's Hospital right around the corner from the church.

A stinky red telephone booth, but we totally all had to take pictures in it! It's a RED telephone booth in England. This is one of the things on Kim's list that was a must do! 

The famous Tower of London! Lots and lots of history at the Tower of London. This is where all the crown jewels are! Lots of bling and gold everywhere in the tour. There was no cameras allowed so we didn't get any pictures, but there were some pretty stunning, expensive and beautiful things in this exhibit! There was a gold punch bowl that could hold over 130 bottles of wine! We learned about when and where certain crowns and other things were worn. They have carried on traditions that  people have been doing for the past 500 to 1000 years! Another exhibit in the Tower of London was the royal armor (English spell it armour I think.) As we walked through we saw different armors from the many kings England has had. We also got to check out some ancient swords and other weapons that were used way back when.  There is tons of history everywhere in England, everything is so so so so old. We also got to attend the ceremony of the keys, that has been going on every night for the past 700 years! The ceremony of the keys is basically in a nut shell, the guards and the beefeaters locking up the Tower of London. It's very interesting how much they go through just to lock a door. You know what they say, American's think 100 years is old like English think 100 miles is long. 100 miles? We did that 2 times in one day going to and from Grandma's house - many times! 

Old fashion train car. I don't know what else to say, England is also known for their trains - and here is a old one :)

The famous Big Ben! For those who didn't know, Big Ben is the bell, NOT the clock.

Windsor Castle where Queen Elizabeth lives most of the time! Windsor Castle is huge! One really cool thing about many of the places we went to, had what was called an audio tour. Many of them looked like old cell phones and some where Ipods. Parts of the tour would have a posting of a number, when you typed the number into your device, a voice would continue to tell you about what you were looking at. We spent a lot of the tour asking each other what number we were on... "Paul, number 12 was back there, we are looking at 18." ;) Windsor Castle, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace Muse had an audio tour. Some very interesting things were learned, ask Dad about the man whose body was preserved in brandy!

Paul enjoying his very missed Kebab! (No, it's not on a stick- I thought the same thing) He was so happy :) The meat that is in the  Kebab is cooked on a large skewer for long time. It's a really big chunk of meat so as the out side cooks they take big ol' knifes and cut off the cooked meat. This meat then is then used the Kebab. Meat and other veggies are put in a pita and enjoyed! I never got my own, but I did try it, kebabs are very tasty.

One of my favorites, Saint Paul's Cathedral! We hiked to the very top of this building! It was 1,167 steps to the very top, I counted every step. Just kidding, that's how may google said it was. I thought it was a 1,000,000 steps it was so many! The view at the top was incredible, we could see all the way around the dome. It was a beautiful day and it was worth the hike!

The Big Red Bus Tour! We had this tour for 48 hours. During this time, we could get off and on as much as we wanted. The bus had a route it took around the main part of London. We listened to the tour guide tell us about many of the things we passed. It was a really cool to see lots of things all at once. We got to ride in an open top double decker bus! One thing we passed along the way was the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. Embassy in England is the only one in the world that the land isn't owned by the U.S. When the Embassy was built, the land was not for sale, so they couldn't buy it!

This is the famous tube! We rode it lots when we were getting from place to place. The transportation systems in London are virtually flawless, it's amazing! Everything is well marked, it's like an airport, only you are riding in a tube 5 stories below ground, in London England! So many of the people who live in London don't own cars, train, tube and bus rides are so easy to navigate through. Believe me they get used, it seemed like every moment of the day the stations were buzzing with people rushing to catch the next train. By the end of the week, we were pros at finding what route we needed to take!

Another highlight was going to see Wicked! I can't believe that we got to see Wicked in England! Mom and I were so excited. It was a little different since all the actors had accents. It was very cool!

After visiting the London are for about a week, Paul and I got to go to the Island of Jersey, one of the places that Paul served on his mission. Jersey is a 5 by 9 mile island, so small but so beautiful, and surprisingly 90,000 people living on this little island! We stayed with Debbie, a lady that Paul baptized while on his mission. It was very fun to see her! She took us to all the sites Jersey has. On one side of the island on a clear day, you can see the cost of France, unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so we weren't able to see it. But the island is actually closer to France than England. This picture (above) is a view of a lighthouse off the coast.

The next picture down (above) is a picture of Elizabeth Castle. While the tide is out, you can walk to the castle! It was so cool walking out in the middle of the ocean with out getting wet! There was a pathway to walk on, so you aren't walking on the wet wet sand. When the tide is in, you can take a boat out to it. 

Castle Howard a stately home in North Yorkshire 

After we spent couple of days in Jersey we took a train up to the north part of England. It was about a 4 hour train ride. Paul has a mission friend, Jon Tilley, who lives in Scarborough. We got to stay at his place and hang out with him and his girlfriend Rachel. It was fun to see North England! It was a little different than the south, more open and less compact and huge like London. Tilley took us all over the Scarborough area.

It was a great trip to England! It was a new experience to see how other people live in a different country. I would defiantly go back to visit again.