12 Years

My wedding anniversary was on the 19th and I have officially been married for 12 whole years!  Getting married during December was lovely!  I have always thought Christmas was so romantic anyways.  That is probably because of all those silly Christmas songs and I have always loved Christmas music.  Anyway, December wedding = perfect!  December wedding anniversary = disaster!  We are always so busy, busy buying gifts for other people, going to Christmas parties, and trying to get ready for Christmas.  So, when an opportunity to take a quick little weekend to London came up, I couldn't pass it up and I told myself, it was for our anniversary.  So just before Thanksgiving, I joined Kirk in London for a weekend.  London = perfect, anytime:)  I slept in a lot and we shopped a lot, it was awesome.  Our anniversary fell on Sunday this year and it was pretty anti climatic.  My parents were in town for the weekend, we were babysitting 2 extra children, and we had the ward Christmas party.  Not really a romantic weekend, but we did enjoy a wonderful dinner with my parents on Friday night.  And I still think my husband is wonderful and most important, I am happy.  Life is good:)

 The Christmas lights were beautiful.  Last time I went there were all hung up, but I never got to see them lit up. 

 It was very crowded, out on the streets, lot and lots of shoppers.

 We went to down Regent Street to Picadilly Circus (I think that is what is was called, but don't you just love their names?) to get discount tickets to a show.  Everything we wanted to see was sold out, so we spent the day shopping:)

 These were the lights on Regent Street.  The lights were stars draped over the streets.  It was dark by about 4:00 everyday.

 Lights on Oxford Street.  Our hotel was right off of Oxford street this time, it was a great place to stay.

 And our hotel was right near the Belgian waffle place that I fell in love with last time I went, we of course went again and they were still just as yummy!

 After a day of shopping.

 Hyde Park

 They were having a big Christmas carnival in the park.  It was so much fun to walk through and see everything and hear the Christmas music playing.  I loved this double decker bus on the merry go round and the reindeer ride below.

 We met my exotic friend Rebecca for diner.  She is lovely.

We only had a few days together, but it was the best!

Saudades

Saudades is a word in portuguese that means missing, nostalgia; longing, yearning. I miss Brazil a lot and cried the day my plane left the ground because I worried I might not ever get back there and see so many people that I love. But today "suadades" is the best word I could think of to describe how I feel about London. Maybe it is because I got to visit London this time of year last year, maybe it is because I need a vacation, maybe it is because my husband has been traveling and frequent flyer miles are adding up in my head, maybe it is because I love London and I think it is my favorite destination to date, maybe it is because I so enjoy meeting my husband in a foreign country, maybe it is all of this stuff, but I do know I need to quit daydreaming, unless of course day dreaming will somehow get me there!

Shopping With Myself and St. Paul's

This is St. Paul's cathedral. I actually took this picture on the day I visited the Tate Modern Museum.  It is an amazing cathedral.  Inside they have stairs that lead all the way to the top where you can get out and see the city.  You can walk around the base of the dome and then walk up even higher to the top of the dome.  It was a lot of stairs and a little bit scary on top for me, but it was beautiful and totally worth it.  I would do it again. 

The view from inside the dome.

The front of the building.

Kirk at the top.  

After we toured the cathedral, Kirk had to leave for some meetings so I spent the second half of the day shopping.  There wasn't enough time to see all the stores.  I had so much fun.  Unfortunately Kirk took the camera with him, so I didn't get any pictures.  Some of my favorites were wondering through Esprit and United Colors of Benneton.  They are pretty much extinct over here, but not over there, it was fun.  The Anthropology store over there was heavenly.  I have never been in a prettier one.  Zara was another store I quite liked.  I don't think they have them here, at least not that I know of, but it reminded me a little of Banana Republic.  H & M was on every corner and I had a blast shopping there, wish we had those in Utah.  The stores just went on and on and there were people everywhere!  London had started hanging all of their street Christmas decorations, I bet it is beautiful lit up.  Most of the shopping I did was on Oxford and Regent Street.  Later that night we had some fish and chips and as we walked back to catch the tube we found a little Belgium waffle place on Oxford.  We got one for dessert and it was amazing!  I had heard about "real" Belgium Waffles and everything I heard is true.  They are soooo yummy!  I have got to figure out how to make them.  It was by far the best thing I ate all week!  It was a great way to end the trip.  The next morning we woke up early and made our way to the airport.  Kirk had to go to Canada on his way home, so we were on separate flights.  I just used frequent flyer miles which left me with a 5 hour lay-over in Houston.  But is was the best lay-over I have ever had.  One of my best friends from college picked me up and we got to have dinner and hang out for a little while.  I owe a special thanks to her and her husband for making that possible.  It was a fun time! 

And that is the end of my London trip.  Of course it would be a dream to go back.  There are so many things I didn't get to see, just not enough time.  And an even bigger dream would be to take my kids with me.  That would be the best!

Last Sunday

Last Sunday in London, we went to the Hyde Park Ward for church and it was a neat experience.  I love visiting different wards.  It is amazing how different the world is and how the church is the same where ever you go.  The people were so friendly and we were greeted by several members.  It was a sweet ward and a very diverse ward, which wasn't too surprising.  After being in London for just a few hours, you get an idea for just how diverse the city itself really is.  There were lots of Americans and lots of missionaries.  It was fast and testimony meeting, so it was neat to hear from a variety of members.

The church building is next door and right across the street from several museums, so we slipped back into the V & A and had lunch in their cafeteria.  I thought is was so pretty and such a fun idea to have a cafeteria/deli in a museum.

Then we headed over to the London Tower.  It is an old fortress.  At one time it even had a mote.  It had an amazing display of armour from King Henry VIII and it is also where they keep the crown jewels, which were out of this world!  I can't believe England still has a monarchy and carries out coronation ceremonies and crowns royalties.  It is both fascinating and weird.

The London Bridge in the background, just outside of the Tower of London.

We did a tour of the tower with a Beefeater (that is the tour guy dressed is red and blue and no one knows why they are called Beefeaters, but they are).  It is an elite status to be a Beefeater, this guy actually lives in the tower.

The view as we entered from the outside.

The view as we came up from the tube.

We did get a chance to ride a double decker bus, too.  It was a lot of fun, they are all over in London.

He was guarding the building that housed the crown jewels.  I expected to see this type of guard while we were at Buckingham Palace, but we didn't.  Are they normally there, anyone know? 

An Early Morning Request

This morning we slept in and were lazy, the kids are off track and Kirk has been taking it easy after having been gone so much. We made a big breakfast and when we started cleaning up, Kirk asked me for a favor, "sure," I replied, "what do you want?" He asked me to go play some Les Miserables on the piano. So I did. One of the highlights of our trip to London was seeing Les Miserables. When I go back, I will see as many plays as I can. There are so many to choose from and they are way more affordable than seeing them here. And way better! Les Mis was incredible. I have never really been into theater, in fact in high school I probably made fun of the people who were, but now I really appreciate it. When Fantine sang "I Dreamed a Dream", it made me cry. The actress/singer was amazing and she just took you in, like you were her, it was beautiful. It was an experience of our trip that we both keep talking about. 

The theater where we saw Les Miserables

London is huge and parts, like near the theaters, it is CROWDED all the time.  We saw these people dressed up in what looked like some kind of Adams Family wandering through the streets.  I don't know if they were advertising something or what, but there is definitely some good people watching to be done in London.  

Before the play, we went and saw West Minster Abbey, which is right across the street from Big Ben and the Parliment Building.  This was the day we got rain, but it was a pretty light rain and didn't last very long.

West Minster Abbey was really neat and just as much as a morgue as a church.  There are lots of people who have tombs there, or are buried there, like Sir Issac Newton.

Big Ben, with the London Eye in the background

Big Ben up close

A part of the Parliment Building, a lot of it had scaffolding

P.S.  I am sure you are probably sick of me talking about London, but these posts are mostly just for me to document a little of my trip

Continuing Education

I have never liked history.  It has always bored me for the most part, but when I was in London, I was really wishing I knew some history.  On Friday Kirk had meetings, so I set out to visit a few museums.  First was the V & A or the Victoria and Albert Museum.  It was my favorite!  In fact on Sunday I took Kirk back.  It is a wonderful museum with lots of interesting things and also focuses on fashion and design, loved it!  I also visited the Tate Modern Art Museum and enjoyed that as well.  These photos are from the V & A and show the exterior that used to greet visitors, it now has a different exterior, but once inside you can find this courtyard and see this beautiful building.  The words above the front door really struck me.  It says "Better it is to get wisdom than gold."  I just love that.  And it really inspired me to continue my education, especially a humanities, design, or history class.  I want to look into BYU independent study.  I wonder what the process is...

Later that night we met up with one of my friends from college.  She is living in London and working.  We talked to her about what brought her to London and she spoke about her love of being in a city.  I can totally relate.  I love the energy, the life, and the opportunities a large city can provide.  That day in particular I kept thinking of my kids and how much I wanted them to see and experience what I had been doing.  There are no museums, theater, or culture where I live that can even compare to what London has to offer.  Anyway, it was so much fun to see a dear friend clear across the country.  She loves London as well, how could you not?  And while I envy the experience she is having and I do love London, I am perfectly content raising my family and living where I do.  I just wish we had a money tree and I could take my family there for the experience.   

I Finally Get "It"

Last Wednesday I left for London.  I traveled by myself since Kirk was already there.  So when I finally got there, it was 9 hours from Houston, it was about 8:00 am Thursday morning.  I had the hotel address and was really hoping they would let me in early.  My phone didn't work and Kirk was up in Scotland, so I was still on my own.  I impress myself at my ability to do things all alone.  I sometimes forget that I am a capable adult as well as a stay at home mom.  It was super easy to find my way around.  I was surprised at how easy it was to navigate myself through that huge city.  I love the "tube" or as we might call it, the subway.  After checking into the hotel, I slept for a couple of hours and then Kirk showed up.  We went to Buckingham Palace and Green Park.  I can't say enough how much I love London.  I have heard others say this or dream of going there, or talk incessantly about it, and I never really got it, but now I do.  It is amazing and I can't wait to go back.  And I must say, we had the most lovely weather for the whole time, we only got rain on Saturday and the day we left.

The Green Park

Buckingham Palace

(The Queen was not there, no flag)

Inside Green Park

We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe which was near the Palace and has amazing nachos!

And of course Kirk got a chocolate shake, they are his absolute favorite!

Choices, choices, and the nachos were definitely a good choice.  This Hard Rock Cafe was also the very first one, I didn't know that, maybe you did...

 

Preparation

Soon I will be joining my husband in England.  Who knew I would get so much use out of my passport this year?  Not me.  I love traveling and seeing new parts of the world and I can't help but tag along as much as possible with my husband.  And he has had to travel a lot lately.  It is hard to have him gone, but I am grateful he has a good job.  Plus all of his traveling has enabled me to fly with his frequent flyer miles, gotta love that!

Getting ready for a trip is a lot of work.  I have been trying to clean the house, do some grocery shopping, arrange carpools, and write out schedules.  On top of that I have had to volunteer at school, parent teacher conferences, of course the car needed its oil changed, the kids still need haircuts, and there is rescheduling that needs to be done.  I have been very busy and I hope that I can pull it all together before the day is over tomorrow.

Saturday night I ventured to the mall with my four boys.  They had played hard all day.  Most of them still wore the remains of their previous athletic events.  I was in need of some dress pants.  I hauled them through lots of "fancy" stores at the mall and got all kinds of looks and comments.  It was kind of funny.  They were well behaved and my trip was a success.  We celebrated at a buffet style restaurant (they chose).  It was a fun night.  

When I got home, we all got cleaned up and went to bed.  I opened my scriptures and was reading in Alma about how this life is the time to prepare to meet God.  I thought about my running around to different stores trying to find the right dress pants.  I thought about all of the preparation I had been doing and had planned to do in order to leave on my little trip.  It was a lot.  And then I thought about what I am doing to prepare to meet God.  It is true, I am not doing as much as I should.  These thoughts have stuck with me for the past couple of days as I have continued to prepare.  It has been a good experience for me.  I really need to work on preparing to meet God.  Sunday we had conference and it was wonderful.  They talked a lot about the temple and temple attendance.  It inspired me to do better and I am going to do better and prepare!