My sisters

I was blessed to have two of my sisters and their husbands come and visit me here in England. I don't know if it was really me they wanted to see or the country and all of its splendor, but I assume responsibility for their travels.

They arrived Saturday morning and they were in a daze for about a day and a half from the time change. I didn't give them much time to adjust because as soon as they got here we were off and running. We picked up a 9 passenger van and drove downtown to pick up David. We went to the pier and had some amazing fish and chips and then it was off to Edinburgh.

We stopped at Alnwick castle and Bamburgh castle, but didn't go in either one of them.

Finding our hotel in Edinburgh proved to be quite a challenge. The many obstacle that faced us were the Mike wasn't used to driving on the wrong side of the street and car, it was a standard car, the roads in Edinburgh are horrible, every road is a different name, they don't continue on, so that was a disaster, and of course it was dark. We finally got a taxi to show us the way and we stayed in our hotel.

That night was bad. Apparently there was some concert that night at the airport so all of the groupies got hotels all over town. they came back from the concert expressing their enjoyment at the concert, VERY LOUDLY. it was bad.

The next morning we hit Edinburgh and I tried to be the best tour guide with limited experience in the town, but I think they saw everything they wanted. The castle, the hill, the palace, royal mile, a fun ma and pa shop for lunch, souvenirs shops, museum and even church. We left that night and headed to Keswick, which is in the Lake District.

Keswick is a fun little town right near the lake and has a lot of outdoor shops so it was fun for the men to look around. We didn't stay long because we needed to be on the road heading south. Our destination was unknown, we just needed to head south and through the Coswalts. We stopped in Stratford upon Avon which is where Shakespeare was born and saw the local scenery. It was a fun little town with old buildings and cute little streets. We kept driving through the Coswalts, (which is a group of little towns still with the old time charm with building with thatched roofs and uneven walls)

We were tired of driving and the kids were ready to get out. We had stopped a little town because the buildings were picture worthy and we decided to stay. It was such a quaint little town and our Bed and breakfast place was super nice. It has the old town feel but with huge updates like surround sound, spa bathrooms and Internet. It was such a fun unexpected place to stay.

Our hotel in the Coswalts

This is the shower in our room. It had a sprinkler over head, about 30 different jets, feet jet, back jet, neck jet, it had a radio and it had a little door to keep the towel in the shower and dry. it was the coolest shower ever.
A church and the cemetery in the little town.

We drove to Bath the next day and it was great. This was the Roman resort. This is the place where people went for vacation. There were many baths, all natural. there was a steam room, a cold bath, warm bath, swimming bath and all sorts of rooms. It was so neat to see how this could have been the vacation spot of the 1st century.

one of the baths the Abby near the bath and pump room
some of the architecture in Bath


Melinda and Eliza in the Abby at Bath
We headed to London that night and we saw most of the touristy spots. The London eye, Buckingham palace, big Ben, west minster Abby, parliament, Tower bridge, London tower and then my sisters saw a show that night. I left them that night and drove back to Newcastle with the kids.

West Minster Abby

West minster Abby was amazing and had so many monuments inside of famous people and all of the royalty. It had monuments to Shakespeare, Geoffry Chaucer, Jane Austin, Darwin, Newton, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and a lot of kings. It was awesome to see the history come together under one roof. This is the place that royal weddings and funerals take place and also the inauguration of the new king or queen.

The London tower was also awesome. This is where some of King Henry VIII beheaded two of his wives and held prisoner many others. This is the place where many people were beheaded or hung. It was quite interesting to think that these gruesome things happened right there. And of course this is where the crown jewels are kept and that was spectacular. We saw all of the crowns and sceptors and swords and dining sets from hundreds of years. It was amazing.

The main white tower at London Tower The outside gates of the whole London Tower
Memorial to Anne Boleyn

It was an very busy 5 days but it was so great to be with my sisters and their husbands. They helped so much with the kids and I hope they had a great time and saw all they wanted to in England.

the joys of Lucky Charms

I couldn't imagine the joy that cereal might bring into ones life, but that is exactly what a box of Lucky Charms has done. My mom sent us a package and inside was a box of Lucky Charms.
When David came home from studying, I had Fenton take him the box of cereal and David held in up in the air triumphantly. England doesn't have really sugary cereals, you can find Lucky charms here but it is in only one store and it is quite expesive, so have Lucky Charms is quite a luxury. We have thoroughly enjoyed this box of cereal and I especially love that Fenton picks out all of the marshmallows first. Oh what joy.

just my day

today was a great day. we went down town to give David some money, went to the art museum where the kids had a great time playing. We went to the local farmer's market and bought bananas, apples and tomatoes. We went home and took naps. We went to the store to get some more food then played at the park. We came home had some sort of a dinner and took baths and now are relaxing watching a movie.
it was a nice day to walk around and we had a great time. The kids were great.
I am grateful to have this time in a different culture, to not only visit England but live here and have a life here, to set my home and family here to enjoy the different culture, people, and landscape. I am truly grateful for David and that he is willing to sacrifice so much now to prepare for career in the future. It is hard to remember the long term goal when you are in the midst of studying everyday.

my kids are silly

Fenton is truly a boy. I have heard of other mothers telling me their story of their boys, but I never thought it would happen to me. I got up to get Fenton and he had taken off his pants and diaper and yes, he had pooed in his diaper and was checking it out, to say it nicely. This has happened a couple of times now and I can't leave him long with just his diaper on, because within seconds it will be off. He loves being naked.
so about Eliza,
We were riding the metro and she was standing on the seat touching the glass, then she decides that it needs to be clean, so she licks her fingers and wipes it on the window. This is not good enough so she licks her whole hand and wipes it on the window. This starts to gross me out, so I get her a wipe so she can use that to wash the window in the metro. That kept her attention for a few minutes, then of course that wasn't good enough either, so then she licked the window!!! GROSS!!
Eliza is starting to recognize letters and when she sees me wearing something with letters she will point out the letters she knows. I love it. Well I was wearing my Jackson Hole sweatshirt and she recognizes some letters so I help her out, I say "this is an H" and the she responds " and an "o" "l" and "e". "that right" I reply and then she says "that says mom". I just had to laugh that she spelled hole and referred it to me.

January 21, 2010

4 apartments, 1 house, over 20 states visited, 7 countries, 2 degrees and one in progress, 2 cars, 2 children and 5 years later, we have celebrated our marriage in the temple.

David had previously declared that he wanted to be in charge of all of the big anniversaries, like the 1st, 5th, 10th and so on. So I kindly reminded him that I was planning on date night, nothing fancy, and he looked at me like I was crazy, he was going to study all next week. Then I reminded him that it was our 5th year anniversary and he jumped up to the challenge.

He planned the whole day and it was great.

He got a babysitter to come on Thursday morning and he whisked me away to Edinburgh, Scotland. He bought me a new outfit because I am getting low on pants that don't have holes in them and pretty much I am sick of all of my shirts, so it was refreshing to wear something new. It was quick train ride up there and we dropped off our stuff at the hotel and hit the town running.

It was such an amazing city, so unique.

We started off at the hill that overlooks the city, sea, and castle. We looked at a few of the monuments nearby and then headed to the queen's palace. It is the only residence of the Queen's outside of England. On the way there we stopped at an old cemetery, very old and unique. The oldest tomb we found was from 1806. We had lunch at a local cafe and then headed up the Royal mile. It is the mile from the palace to the castle.





It is lined with stores and churches. We stopped at the cathedral and really were able to enjoy the architecture and history in the old church. A man came and talked to us and gave us some history of the church and of some of the relics in the cathedral. My favorite was the English flag that was flown at the revolutionary war, against us.


We then continued on to the castle and it was very interesting. It was like their own little village inside the castle wall. There was a hospital and a church and a prison. My favorite part was the Honour of Scotland which is basically the sword, scepter and the crown of Scotland. It was interested to learn about the history how they signed the treaty with England and buried these Honours, then 100 years later it was discovered and brought back to their glory.





This was also the place that Mary Queen of Scots was crowned queen when she was 9 months old. That whole story is interesting also.
We were cold and tired by 5:00 and headed back to our hotel. David had gotten reservations for dinner and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner.
It was such a fun day to be just with husband, to walk around with my best friend and enjoy a new experience together. I love being with David and have missed him since he has started med school. I am grateful that he planned this day that was just him and I. He is so sweet, thoughtful, dedicated, determined, a great father and a good example of living the gospel. He is so appreciative of what I do and helps whenever he can or is home. I love him and I am glad that he chose me to have all of these adventures with.
HAPPY 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

Eliza goes to Primary

Today was Eliza's first day of primary. I was a little hesitant because she loves nursery so much, I didn't know how quickly she would adapt. She went to primary and stayed the whole time. She was great. She lead the music in and then the primary sang a song in Sacrament meeting and she went right to the front, with the baton and again lead the music. She was adorable.
Two weeks ago she had her first solo in sacrement meeting. She sang the whole first verse of "I am a child of God" by herself. It was amazing. She stepped up to the microphone and sang her little heart out. She asks me now if she can sing again. She loved it.

Global warming

Our Global Warming problems here in Newcastle