Trip Part Three: Tuesday/Wednesday in London

Tuesday was our first full day in London. We started out by taking a walk all together (me, Jeff, dad, Kathryn, and Jenny) around one of my favorite places in London - Hyde Park. The BYU center is just a few blocks away, so I had spent a lot of time at the park when I lived in London before. Here I am with Jenny at Kensington Gardens.

Then Jeff and I got our tube passes and headed off to explore the city. It was so fun to not have kids with us. We would just pack our backpack for the day and head off without having to really plan and we could stay out as long as we wanted. It reminded me so much of my college days when I had done a lot of travelling. It was funny, but it made me feel so young! We went to a number of sites and were able to catch Evensong at Westminster Abby. It was great because just to go into the Abby was 15 pounds(we couldn't believe how expensive EVERYTHING was there!), but if you went for a service it was free.

After that we had dinner - curry from a take-away shop, and then walked down by Big Ben and the Thames to have a treat. While we were there some family walked up to us and gave us four free tickets for a river cruise. We had arranged to meet dad, Kathryn, and Jenny there in the evening to walk around, so we all got to go on the boat cruise instead, which I loved.

It was a beautiful evening!
And after we got off, we got to walk along the Thames. Here is Tower Bridge in the background.
Wednesday we bought a three day London Pass, which gets you in to a ton of the tourist sites. And we definitely got our money's worth out of it! First we went to the Tower of London. We got into a group led by one of the Yeomen Warders (or "beefeaters"). This is in front of the gate that comes in from the Thames where they used to bring prisoners in.

Jeff just outside of the Tower of London.

Nest we went inside the Tower Bridge and saw a short documentary on the construction of the bridge. We got to walk up all of the stairs to the top of the bridge and walk across to the other side. It was an awesome view from up there.

And then we took a tour of the HMS Belfast. It reminded me of when we lived in London the first time as kids and Jon Jon had his birthday party there.

After pounding the pavement all day we got something to eat and then went to the Apollo Victoria Theater to see Wicked!!! Jeff was a champ and had woken up early that morning and went to the theater to see if we could get some of the last minute tickets that the cast had not used. He was first in line and got us center seats on the front row for 35 pounds!! It was so fun to see the show again, but I have to admit, it was better in LA!

Trip Part Two: Wales

Sunday evening we got dropped off at our hotel near Conway Castle (you can see it in the background). Jeff had served close to this area when he was on his mission, and when I was on study abroad in London in college we had taken a weekend trip up to the area and had loved it.

They claim that this is the smallest house in Great Britain.

We walked down by the bay and then walked the castle walls that surround the city.

Pretty cool view! After walking around we got fish & chips for dinner and then relaxed at the hotel.

Monday we had breakfast at the hotel and then Jeff picked up our rental car that he had arranged for the day. He did great driving a stick shift on the opposite side of the road! We pretty much drove around the whole Isle of Anglesey, which only took a few hours and was absolutely beautiful. This was our first stop at Beaumaris Castle.

We stopped at llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which is the city with the longest name. After that Jeff wanted to see if he could find Lizzie, a woman he had baptized on his mission. I could not believe it, but he drove right to her house without an address or anything.

We had so much fun visiting with Lizzie. She was hilarious and had us cracking up the whole time. I was amazed how much she remembered about Jeff and other companions he had served with that we know. We were sad to learn that her husband had recently passed away.After touring the Isle I wanted to take Jeff to Betsws-y-Coed, a little town in the mountains that I had visited and loved eleven years before. It did not dissapoint! It is beautiful there.

These pictures do not do it justice!
I wish I had a better picture of Betws-y-Coed. It is the cutest ilttle town with shops and restaurants and a tiny train station. We ate lunch and walked around a bit and then headed back to Conway to catch a train to London.

Trip to England Part One: Manchester

Jeff served his mission to Manchester, England, and for as long as I have known him, he has wanted to go back to visit the people he met. Last year my dad was asked to be the director of the BYU London Study Abroad for Summer and Fall 2009. As soon as we found out, we knew it would be the perfect opportunity to go back to England. We planned a trip for late July, and now that I'm expecting, it turned out to be the perfect timing - minus my being so sick!

Jeff's parents agreed to watch our kids for ten days (yes, they are saints!) so that we could go alone. Thursday night we drove down to California to Jeff's parent's house. We got there late, slept for a few hours (had to be up at 4am), and we were off to the Ontario airport. We slept most of the way to Atlanta, where we had a six hour lay over. We knew we couldn't wait at the airport, so we bought tickets for the MARTA (local train system) and went off to explore down town.

We ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and then walked down to the Centennial Olympic Park. It was a really nice day, and we were happy to stretch our legs a little. Then we headed back to the airport for our all night flight. Neither of us could really sleep, and the next morning we were in Manchester!

Ihrfan and his wife, Hannah, picked us up from the airport. Jeff had taught and baptized Ihrfan while he was on his mission. Hannah's dad was the bishop of the Stratford ward back then, and a few years later, after Ihrfan served a mission to London, he married Hannah. They live in York, but they came and stayed at her parent's house (the Saunders) in Manchester, and arranged for her parents to watch their kids so they could host us for the weekend - and we stayed there, too. So nice of them! Really they were just amazing to us.

We were really tired when we arrived, but we knew we had to stay awake most of the day to get used to the time difference. So, they took us downtown in Manchester and past several places Jeff remembered from his mission. Then we ate at a kabob shop - something both Jeff and I had been craving since we planned the trip to England.

Saturday afternoon we visited Janet. She had been inactive for decades, and Jeff and his companion visited her and helped reactivate her. Since then she has served as Relief Society President in the ward. She was so sweet and fun to visit with.

We took a short nap in the afternoon and then went to an indoor skiing place called Chill Factore. I've never seen anything like it. Then went miniature golfing and ate at a huge mall there called the Trafford Center. It was a really fun day, and we were definitely ready for bed that night.

Sunday we went to the ward there in Manchester. It was pretty small, but everyone was so friendly! Several people came up and welcomed us. Jeff recognized many of the ward members from his mission. And we had a "small world" moment. There was a couple there serving a mission. I knew the wife looked really familiar and it took me a second to figure it out, and then it hit me. They were the Hafens from Las Vegas. Their twin daughters, Julianne and Marianne had gone to BYUH with us. Marianne dated Jeff's roommate/friend, and in the summer we all met up at the Hafen's house in Vegas for a few days and stayed with them.

Anyway, church was great, but I was starting to feel the jet lag. It totally made me think of the general authorities and wonder how they are able to travel all over the world and be tired and jet-lagged and then sit through hours and hours of meetings!

Ihrfan, Hannah, and two of their kids (I think it was Luke and Marianna?)

After church we went back to the Saunders, and they fed us a full traditional roast dinner with yorkshire pudding, roated potatoes, gravy, etc. It was delicious!

The Saunders - you could not find nicer people! That evening Jeff and I were heading to Conway Castle in Wales, and we had planned to take the train. Ihrfan and Hannah absolutely insisted on driving us. After several attempts to try to get them to just drop us off at the train station we gave in. They were too good to us, and we hope we can return the favor and host them here in Vegas sometime.

House Hunting

A good part of May and June was spent house hunting. We were obsessed with the MLS listing. I'd constantly search and re-search on a few different websites. My real estate agent, Amy, is a friend of ours, and she has two little girls. Once or twice a week we would pack up our kids and meet to walk through different houses. We found several that we liked, and we made a number of offers. Then we'd wait to hear back, always with the same response: your offer has been rejected.

After making several good offers on houses I started to feel like I was wasting my time. I knew we would find the right place, I just thought maybe this wasn't the right time for us to move and we should wait a few months to look again. The week before the 4th of July we got another rejection, and I just had to take a break for a week or so. When I got back from the weekend, I decided to start looking again, and for the first time I went to an area called Iron Mountain Ranch. We saw a few houses on Monday and then a few on Tuesday. We submitted a few offers, and Wednesday morning I got a call from Amy saying our offer on a house we saw Tuesday was accepted!

That night we went back to the house so Jeff could see it. It was a foreclosure and needed some work, especially in the front and back yards, but we were really excited about it. Some of the things we loved were:

-we could raise our family here and never have to move

-master and kids rooms on the same floor

-it's in a small gated community

-our street has eleven houses and ends in a cul de sac (minimal traffic)

-close to church (it's literally one house away - first thing I thought of was that I wouldn't have to drive to early morning seminary!!)

-close to schools (a few blocks from elementary and high school)

-has a pool and tons of potential in the back yard

-proximity to shopping (Costco, Walmart, Target, Best Buy within five minutes)

The closing date was set for early September, which was nice, because it gave us time to get ready for the move. That Sunday we visited the ward, and we loved it and felt right at home. People were so friendly, and there were tons of young families. Everyone also raved about the elementary school we were zoned for. So, the first part of my summer was spent looking for a house, and the rest of the summer was spent preparing for the move, meeting people at the house to get estimates on work to be done, and packing.

Chuck E Cheese

One summer night we wanted something fun to do with the kids, so we took them to Chuck E Cheese. I don't know who had more fun - the kids or Jeff! He played the basketball game over and over again to try to beat the high score. He got pretty close! Maybe next time...

4th of July

This year for the 4th of July weekend, we met the Banners in Utah. We got there Thursday night and stayed at my parent's new house. They had moved in just before they left to London for a few months, so they weren't there. The house was in the process of being renovated, and I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Friday morning we met the Banners at the Paxman cabin up Provo canyon. It was fun to visit with my grandparents and let the kids play in the creek. Then we all drove up to the bottom of the dam and tubed the river with our four little kids! (I wish I had a picture) That is one of our favorite things to do when we're in Utah in the summer.

Then we arranged for my niece and nephew to watch our kids so we could go out. We ate at Tucanos and saw The Proposal.

Saturday morning we met my grandparents, Isaac and Liz and kids, and a few of my cousins at the parade. Jackson went right up and sat on my grandpa's lap. It was so cute!

Sarah is a cheerleader for Centennial Middle School, and they were in the pre-parade this year.

After the parade we went up to Pope's for lunch. It was so beautiful up Hobble Creek Canyon. We ate, hung out, went four wheeling, and Louis shot off bowling balls in the cannon. We got to visit with Jord and Taryn and cute little Abby for a bit, too.

After that we went back to my parent's place and just relaxed in the back yard.

The kids loved running around and jumping on the tramp and looking at the flowers.

That night we ate at Brick Oven and then found a spot on BYU campus to sit and watch the fireworks. (Note to self - don't ever take a picture from that angle again! haha)

Banners

Me and Jackson. Notice his legs. He crosses them all the time. My favorite is when he's stretched out on his back with his arms behind his head and his legs crossed. So funny to see a two year old doing that.

Sunday we drove back to Vegas with the girls in one car and the boys in the other. It was so fun to have that time to just visit and catch up more with Lindsay.

Vanessa's Wedding

Father's Day weekend we went to San Luis Obispo for Jeff's cousin's wedding. All of the Luszecks had come up for it, too. It as a LONG drive from Vegas, especially for a short weekend - and since the sick phase of pregnancy had already set in for me, but it was a lot of fun.

Saturday we went over to Ashley and Tyler's place in Cayucos. It was so fun to meet Merrick for the first time and see where they lived. We all walked down to the beach and on the pier. It's such a cute little town, and it made me miss living close to the beach.

Then we got ready and went to Vanessa and Matt's wedding. It was at a really nice outdoor facility. They had a nice ceremony, dinner, and dancing.

Bride & Groom
The cake


The tables had decks of cards, so Bailey and uncle Reid played a game

my boys
Vanessa and all of the Luszeck cousins

After we ate, Jackson found a dancing partner! We were all cracking up

And Lexi loved dancing with Vanessa. All day she referred to her as "the princess."

Sunday morning we ate breakfast together and then played at a park with Ashley, Tyler, and Merrick before heading back to Vegas.