Roots & wings

June 2011

2011-09-14T15:41:00.006-06:00

June was pretty low key. But we did get away to see the Manti Pagent.

I ran into one of my companion's parents.

Most of the family in front of the Manti Temple.

We also spent much of June looking forward to this . . .

May 2011

2011-09-14T15:31:00.005-06:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we got to go to Lake Powell!!! Huzzah! We were able to go with some of our cousins.

The Hansen crew relaxing.

Emily seranading us.

A cold front came through the last day . . . you don't see sweatshirts and blankets at Powell too often!

April 2011

2011-09-14T14:56:00.015-06:00

Our trip back to Jacksonville!!!

Yep . . . this is definitely Avery surfing on a McDonald's table . . .

St. Mary's Waterfront. I love this place.

While in St. Mary's I ran into some of my favorite Sister Missionaries. Especially my last companion, Sister Fitu.

Jekyll Island.

Dinner with Aunt JoAnn and the Corbett family.

Old St. Augustine.

While we were in Jacksonville we decided to take a little jaunt and visit the World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. We were in nerd heaven!

We also spent some time visiting people I love from the areas I served in . . .

At the end of the month we headed down to St. George, UT to celebrate Papa Mac's 81st Birthday!

There was even time for a little Bocce ball tournament.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Avery, Dad and I snuck away one night to hike "squish-rock." Dad chose not to attempt the squish but Avery and I are happy to report that we made it through yet another year!

March 2011

2011-09-14T14:43:00.005-06:00

The Homecoming. It was also my parents 25th Anniversary.

Our trip to Sun Valley. I was freezing!!! But the skiing was great.

A Florida Flamingo!

Double Vision

2011-06-14T14:14:00.020-06:00

Just before I left for my mission a peculiar thing started happening to my sister and I . . . people couldn't tell us apart! Strangers in stores even started coming up to us and asking us if we were twins. We would laugh (there's five years between the two of us). Those who knew us casually could tell us apart if we were standing side-by-side but if we were alone they would have to think about it. Little kids that my sister babysat every week would call out: "Hi Avery!" to me as I walked down the hall in church. The week after I went into the MTC a gentleman from church told my sister that he thought I was going on a mission. The whole situation was quite entertaining but also baffling to our family . . . there were definitely some similarities but not enough to get us confused.

Well, over time we forgot about it. I served my mission and returned home . . . only to find that the situation hadn't changed.

Some people I went to high school with saw my sister and welcomed me home from my mission.

Kids from Avery's high school saw me at a frozen yogurt shop and yelled: "Avery!" until I got a little closer and they realized their mistake.

I've even had someone offer me a job (teaching swimming lessons) thinking I was Avery . . . sometimes the situation has its perks.

Recently, we were boating and my dad took a picture of Avery (above) on my phone and posted it to Facebook on my account. Everyone thought it was me. But in fact, the photo on the right it me.

But by far our favorite of all these experiences is our adorable little cousin Emily.

When we went down to Lake Powell for Memorial Day I got to see some of my cousins for the first time since coming home from my mission. My cousin Emily is 4 now, so she doesn't remember me from before the mission. And at the moment Avery is her "chosen one," which is cute.

Throughout the weekend we worked on Emily, helping her remember my name and finally she got it down. That night, Avery and I were star-gazing with Dad when Emily came up and laid next to me. She pointed out some "wishing stars" and we spent some time making wishes. Then Emily wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and squeezed me tight. "You're the best cousin ever!" she cried. "I love you, Avery!" I laughed and told her I was Kenzie. She looked at me and promptly stood up and went to lay next to Avery.

The next day she called me the right name and I couldn't help but tease her. "Are you sure I'm Kenzie?" I pointed to Avery a couple feet away. "Maybe that's Kenzie!"

She looked at both of us for a few seconds and then gave up . . . "You two look the same!"

Just this past Sunday they were in town and came to our house for dinner. When I opened the door Emily was standing on the doorstep, eager to see Avery. She took one look at me and I saw the uncertainty in her face. "Ummm . . ." she said before someone rescued her by telling her that I was McKenzie. "Hi Kenzie!" she said as she skipped into the house, "Where's Avery?"

And so, we continue to revel in the situation.

Summer Snapshots

2009-08-31T11:25:00.067-06:00

BYE BYE CHAPARRAL . . . HELLO LOVE!

The day we said goodbye to the Chaparral was a torrential downpour.

The first time I meet my new boyfriend . . .

Bye bye Chappy! We'll miss you, but luckily we get to see you at Powell!

Avery decided to dump a big puddle of water off the boat cover and on to me.

LAKE MEAD

Lawn bowling with Papa Mac and Val.

Look at that expert form . . .

CONVERTING THE MALIBU SEATING

Dad and I in our make-shift shade.

When we got the Malibu there were two captains chairs but we decided to convert the seating into wrap-around seating, so Dad and I got to work.

First, we stripped out the whole left side of the boat . . .

Then we stood on our heads for a while . . .

And now, whala, roomy, wrap-around seating!

THURSDAYS

Our appointed day to explore Salt Lake.

MISSION CALL TO JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA!

I opened my mission call on the lake, unfortunately in our excitement to get to the lake to open the call we forgot the camera . . . but it looked a little like this . . .

HANSEN FAMILY REUNION AT THE BAUCOM'S RANCH

Wiffle-ball tournament

Dad and Homer

Chillin' on the porch

Papa Mac, Val and Emily on the "Alligator"

FLAMING GORGE

The Red-Hot-Chili-Pepper on our Forth of July camping trip . . . randomly, I couldn't find anymore pictures from this trip.

LAKE POWELL . . . A LITTLE BIT OF PARADISE

The kids, and Dad, Cliff jumping

Avery surfing

Watching the firework show from the tramp

Our shaving rock this year was brilliant, plenty of room to shave with a nice place to layout afterwards.

Superman

FIRST ANNUAL HARRY POTTER BIRTHDAY PARTY!

To celebrate the great wizard's birthday (July 31) this year we decided to throw a party.

During dinner, which consisted of:

-House Elf Pies

-Butterbeer

-Dragon's Blood

-Herbology platter

-Cockroach clusters

-Licorice wands

-Chocolate wands

-Acid pops

-Treacle Tart

We played trivia games.

Then we held a Triwizard Tournament to see which school could create the best dragon . . .

Hogwarts students Emilee, Cate, Kirsten, and Nate Pope with their dragon.

Durmstrang students Nate, Carl, Carly, and Rachael with their dragon.

And Beauxbatons students Sarah, Luna Lovegood (me), Professor Umbridge (Avery), and Belatrix (Danielle) with our dragon.

We all had a wicked time and Harry even made an appearance . . .

And became Carl's date for the movie.

JACKSON LAKE

I love skiing with this backdrop! Jackson is truly heaven on earth, and we were lucky enough to have our cousin Brit come with us this time! The water was a toasty 61F (except for our 45F polar bear swim) but the air was a little chillier than usual this year.

Leek's Marina pizza night with the Carabines

Morning hike up Signal Mountain, the boys were too lazy to wake up and come with us.

Nate and Brit with the Grand Teton

The boys tipping trees on our hike to Hidden Falls

Avery and I after our hike to Hidden Falls

On our last night at Jackson the Tetons got a frosting of snow . . .

The boys weren't too excited that I wanted to walk the String Lake trail before we headed home, they said that their faces were numb . . .

The Red-Hot-Chili-Pepper and the Grand Teton . . .

DID I MENTION BOATING?

I got a few from the London crew out on the boat, Emilee, Laura and Kaitlyn, it took all summer but we finally made it!

The Last Time I went to Florida . . .

2009-08-08T13:52:00.016-06:00

As most of you know, I am preparing to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Jacksonville Florida. As part of this preparation I have been doing a little studying up on Florida . . . including the last (and only) time I went to Florida. Here is a photo journal of the last time I visited Florida.

The Last Time I went to Florida . . .

I was 12 years old, fanny-packs were "in" and we spent most of our time at Disney World. Can you spot me in this photo? Let me give you a hint, look for the peg-legs.

Grandpa and Grandma Brown took their alien fighting responsibilities seriously.

Avery and Brit were adorable-itty-bitty-6-year-olds!

Did I already mention that fanny-packs were "in?" Especially while paired with a swimming suit, tee-shirt and sunglasses.

We visited Kennedy Space Center, Grandpa was fascinated and the kids were bored after a couple of minutes.

We swam, played mermaids, built sand castles, and swam some more.

We had our first visit to the Atlantic Ocean in the black of night and Nate was convinced we would be eaten by Jaws.

Dad, John, Zach and I went to Waterski School and I learned to ski the course.

Zach and I weren't too sure about our . . . um, interesting waterski instructor.

Grandpa became a camera-wielding, fanny-pack-wearing Rock Star!

Nate got hit in the stomach by a fast-shooting football at NFL Training Camp.

The last time I went to Florida I had a blast!

ASCEND YouTube Contest

2009-08-06T08:49:00.001-06:00

ASCEND recently asked all of its interns to create a video to share on YouTube. As with many similar tasks, only three teams participated. Nevertheless, there is still a competition to see which video wins so pass this around to all your friends!

The "winning" video is determined solely on the number of views, so feel free to watch your favorite multiple times or pass it on.

Run for a Cause

2009-07-07T09:20:00.002-06:00

If any of you are runners out there here's your chance to run for a great cause. Matt and Jake Cowden of Cottonwood High School have teamed up with ASCEND and organized a 5K race to help build a school in Ethiopia. The race will be held on Saturday, 18 July. If you are unable to run there are other opportunities to help these young men complete their Eagle Scout project!

Portraits of Instability

2009-06-30T13:03:00.004-06:00

Today, while doing some research for my internship at ASCEND alliance, I found two tragic but interesting photo essays. The first is titled Portraits of Instability and shows haunting images of many fragile countries throughout the world where people live in abject poverty. The photo above is from this collection and it just breaks my heart. The next is called The Land of No Smiles and is a photo essay of North Korea. My interest was peaked because I know so little about North Korea and have always wondered what life is like in such a country. I think the most shocking picture in this collection is the one taken of the streets in the capital city. Both these essays aren't very long so if you have a minute check them out.

"I found It in the hedge row. . ."

2009-06-05T13:22:00.008-06:00

My sister and I have been talking about yellow roses.

A couple weeks ago I got my mom and sister to watch the BBC version of "North and South," a brilliant adaptation of one of my favorite novels. As the film began my sister groaned: "Not one of these!" She associates 19th century classics with Jane Austen, and she's not too keen on Austen, actually, she hates Austen.

"You'll like this one," I told her. And she did.

In the final scene of the film Mr. Thornton and Margaret's paths cross on a train platform and the following takes place:

Mr. Thornton: You'll not guess where I've been.
[Thornton pulls a yellow rose from his pocket]
Margaret: You've been to Helstone! I thought those had all gone!
Mr. Thornton: I found it in the hedge row. You have to look hard.

Thus we have been talking about yellow roses.

My sister had a sleepover at her friend's house Wednesday night and when she got home yesterday afternoon I was up cleaning my room. As soon as she was in the door she was calling my name and came running up the stairs with something behind her back. Playing along, I ignored whatever she was hiding and asked her how the sleepover was.

"Good," she said and then handed my a yellow rose. My eyes lit up with excitement. "I found this in the hedge row," she said in her best British accent. And then we laughed.

A yellow rose is romantic.

ASCEND: a humanitarian alliance

2009-05-28T08:56:00.003-06:00

I am currently interning at ASCEND alliance and one of our cute interns just got our main blog up and running so check it out here!!! It's a work in progress but you should be hearing a lot from all of the interns about current events in the humanitarian world as well as personal thoughts and feelings about the work we are doing.

Mad Lib written by the Hansen family a few miles from Lake Mead

2009-05-25T22:00:00.005-06:00

On revisiting the waters for Memorial Day weekend, May 22 2009

FAIRY TALES AND ROMANCE

If a story begins "Once upon a Lake Mead," you know you are about to read

a fairy Nevada. It is amazing how these speedy stories remain indelibly etched

in our hands. Who can forget "Snow Purple and the Seven Weeds," "Beauty

and the Thuro Bailey," or "Little Red Texting Hood?" Fairy tales introduced us

to the magical world of wicked boats; big, wanting wolves; stubby wizards;

and dwarfs who wore funny numbers. These remarkable stories taught us that

good always triumphs over Papa Mac and made us believe in the unsightly

power of a kiss. Why not? One good smack on the nipple could change a frog

into a handsome sky, enabling him to marry the moon of his dreams and live,

as is written in all these romantic stories, hotly ever after.

"Being on a boat that's moving through the water, it's clear. Everything falls into place in terms of what's important and what's not." ~James Taylor

2009-04-14T19:52:00.017-06:00

My life practically began on a boat. This boat actually . . .

Papa Mac and Nana's Orange Gulfstream.

Being first time parents, Mom and Dad decided to accompany the Hardings to Jackson Lake for a camping trip when I was two weeks old. Of course I didn't mind . . . I just slept in my little orange life jacket while the family played on the water, but my parents didn't understand why all the other campers were making such a big fuss. My life on the lake progressed nicely after that.

I found this picture of Mom and me on Jackson Lake. Obviously this isn't the Orange Gulfstream but my cousins' Grandparent's boat.

There were many times when Dad strapped me into the yellow-trainer-skis and threw me overboard, as I screamed and attempted to kick the skis off. "You can't get back in the boat until you've skied," Dad would tell me. Bribes were also involved. "If you ski you can get a new Barbie. Do you want a Barbie?" the adults would clamor. My aversion to the water didn't last long. Soon I was pouting if someone got to ski before me.

In 2000, Mom and Dad decided it was time to get a boat of our own and I was thrilled.

This is the first day we took the Chaparral out on the lake. Yes I'm wearing sweats, I had a fever that day. The Chaparral has been the best boat. It's been our baby.

But the past few years I've been bugging the parents for an inboard because it has a smaller wake for skiing as well as the added bonus of wake surfing. So, upon my return from London Mom and I went to work on Dad, because we know that Dad needs a lot of thinking time before a big purchase. I got online and designed my own boats, printing them out and placing them strategically around the house. When the boat show rolled around I grabbed my "boats" and dragged Dad around to the salesmen, letting the professionals do their work. But Dad's a salesman and knows the ploys. Mom and I never gave up. I began slipping my boat printouts under Dad's pillow so that he could "sleep on it" and the boat catalogs under the bathroom door for a little light reading. Dad wanted a new boat just as much as the rest of us but he had to be convinced that it was the logical and economical thing to do! To our delight Dad began searching for boats too. And I began to hope, this just might actually happen!!!

As the weeks past my hope began to fail. We couldn't find exactly what we were looking for and then there was the issue of money. Two Saturdays ago Dad and I were up skiing at Snowbird and Dad carefully told me that we would probably end up waiting a year or two before getting a new boat. Although I was sad, I understood, times are harder and we didn't want to settle. Later that day we were on the Tram and Dad got a phone call from a Malibu dealer in Texas who might have the boat we were looking for but I never heard anything further, I kind of backed-off the not-so-subtle reminders to protect myself when the boat thing didn't pan out.

The Sunday of General Conference we were watching Conference in the basement as a family. As the morning session ended and we got up to find some lunch Dad told us he had something for us. He disappeared into his office and reappeared with a gift-wrapped box for us kids to open. The three of us sat on the floor and I watched as Nate ripped the wrapping paper off and lifted the lid of the box to reveal a piece of paper that said: "Happy . . ." followed by a list of all the holidays for the rest of the year. But what really caught my eye was this picture underneath . . .

I thought Mom and Dad were playing a mean joke on us. I looked at the books underneath the picture in confusion but Dad said, "Those are just there to weigh the box down." I looked up at him and realized that it was no joke and I jumped to my feet and threw my arms around him as I burst into tears.

You know those clips on Funniest Home Videos where the little five-year-old boy bursts into tears upon opening his new game system?

. . .Ya, I had one of those moments. . . .

After I hugged Dad I ran to Mom and cried some more as the family stared at me in bewilderment. I was totally convinced that a boat was not in the cards for this year so I was more than surprised.

I will miss the Chaparral, it has brought us a lot of fun and many adventures, but I know it's going to a great home (my cousins) and we will get to see it at least once a year at Powell. I can't wait to see our new baby, the Malibu, in a couple of weeks . . . stay posted for more info and pics as we rock out the summer on the lake!

Discovery

2009-03-31T20:08:00.011-06:00

The other night, as I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, my mind was going a million miles an hour. Finally, after bouncing from a dozen worries and twenty different subjects, I settled on direction. Oddly, this is a subject I often turn to when I'm trying to get to sleep. Don't ask me where this stems from. It's just a part of me. I like to know what direction I face when I sleep. I can tell you that when I sleep at home my head is facing south and my feet are facing north, when I'm at our usual campsite in Lake Powell my head is towards the northwest, in Ghana I was facing the northeast, and in London my head was facing south. As I was going through my sleeping-direction-checklist my thoughts finally slowed and lingered on London.

My whole life I have had a great sense of direction. Sometimes I call it my "sixth sense." From a young age I could name all the canyons of Lake Powell from Bullfrog to the San Juan, without a map. When my mom would take a group of kids out on the boat to play in the canyon I would have to tell her which way was back to the houseboat. When we go backpacking I can easily navigate to wherever I want to go. While travelling, I quickly, and automatically, orient myself to the layout of our location and the corresponding directions. It wasn't until after my graduation from high school, when my mom took my cousin and I to New York City for our senior trip, that I first experienced directional problems. For the life of me I could not gain a sense of direction. Usually I orient myself according to direction without a thought; however, when I was in New York City I had to work to understand cardinal directions and I failed miserably, finally chalking up the experience to our short visit and the confusion of travel. I thought I was rid of that confusion for good.

To my dismay, my directional problems surfaced once again, this time in London. When I arrived I immediately began orienting myself to the city, my home for the next four months. The Tube threw a wrench into the process. I would descend into the flat light, wander through twisted hallways, enter a train, get shaken up a bit, and then wander through some more twisted hallways before emerging back into the fresh air. I struggled with my directions, a great frustration to me, though I would not admit it unless forced. Multiple times I was the one to get a group turned around, something my friends forgave me for . . . after they received the free gelato. Eventually I was able to orient myself in the main areas of the city in relation to specific buildings, landmarks, etc. But don't ask me for cardinal directions. I don't know. Something about being in a big city, especially one with a constant cover of clouds to block the sun's direction, disorients me in a way that nothing else can.

All this passed through my mind as I drifted between consciousness and sleep, and suddenly it occured to me that I just discovered something that has been a part of me for so long that I have never considered the possibility of its abnormality. Do others care what direction they face when they sleep? Or is this a rare quirk?

New Model in Town

2009-03-25T10:51:00.003-06:00

Check out my gorgeous cousin at: http://www.layersclothing.com/shop.php !!!

Ode to my Ski

2009-03-24T21:22:00.003-06:00

My water ski is beckoning me.

One of the saddest days in the year is the day that the boat goes into winter storage. It is painful to take all the toys to the basement, knowing that I won’t see them for a while. But I can’t bear to part with my water ski. Instead of taking it to the basement with the rest of the toys, I clean it of the watermarks of summer, place it in it’s case, carry it up to my room and place it behind my door—where it is easily seen from all angles of my room when the door is closed. The first thing that I see in the morning, as I reach for my alarm, is my water ski. It is one of the last things I see before I fall asleep. Often, as I lie on my bed and stare at my ski, I update it on the weather. “Soon,” I tell my water ski now.

And we both escape to our happy place . . .

where the air is hot and dry and where the glass was made to be shattered.

Good Intentions and Harry Potter

2009-03-13T09:04:00.003-06:00

I grew up in a home where Saturdays were considered "Holy." Saturday was the one day in the week, free of work and school, that we could play as a family. Chores and any homework we had was to be completed on Friday before we could play with friends. We rarely sleep in on Saturdays, instead we are up early and heading to the lake or ski resort to fit in every moment of play that we can. So it is rare for me to have empty Saturdays, something I dread. But this past weekend was one of those Saturdays. Nate and Avery had a two-day swim meet that would keep the family occupied so I determined that I would spend the extra time I had working on French.

School has never really been a challenge for me. True, I work very hard to understand what I'm learning and to get good grades, but it comes pretty easy. French, however, has thrown me for a loop. It has been a long semester of hard work and frustration with mediocre results but I am pleased that, so far, I am still passing the course. I have to keep reminding myself that one bad grade won't kill me . . .

So I had good intentions for the weekend. I watched Nate and Avery in their events on Friday night before picking up Cafe Rio for dinner and heading home to buckle down. (The rest of the family was attending the high school swim team banquet). I turned the TV on as I ate dinner and was pleased to discover that the first Harry Potter film was on ABC Family. However, Harry and Hogwarts made me forget all about my good intentions for the evening. Instead I found myself in the basement watching the second film when my family returned home.

The next morning I decided to try again . . . and I actually got a little work done. However, Hogwarts was calling. Needless to say, the family ended up watching all five movies last weekend. Do you see what happens when we don't get our skiing fix for the week? We turn into couch potatoes. So much for good intentions.

Continue to Stare

2009-02-27T10:39:00.017-07:00

I haven't always believed in the phenomenon known as "tights," in fact, when I was younger I refused to wear them at all. In recent years I have seen the light and have become a firm believer, even while most people around me are still skeptical. I lived in London for three and a half months. Of course I took my collection of tights with me but I soon found that I needed more. Tights are a fashion staple in London. Yellow, Blue, Black, Green, Red, Grey, Purple . . . Although I love seeing the bright colors on others, my style has kept me to colors such as grey, black and plum and I wear them whenever I can.

Returning to the "Dark Ages" of fashion in Utah has been interesting. Okay, it's true that fashion trends spread more rapidly today so I may be exaggerating a bit about the dark ages, but despite the Internet, international chains, TV, magazines, etc. it still takes a while for some states to catch on. One of my first Sunday's back from London I went to Church wearing a black lace pencil skirt, a tie-neck, polka-dot blouse and plum tights.

It was obvious that people just weren't ready for meat. People stared. I didn't mind. A few brave ones got up the courage to comment: "Your outfit is . . . um . . . (awkward pause while the girl tried to find the right word and then she just settles for) fun." I smiled and thanked her laughing inwardly because, honestly, I'm not a huge fashion risk taker but these people were looking at me like I had gone mad. I love to dress up but most of my pieces are classic.

Last week I wore this ruffle sleeved plum dress with grey tights and yellow heels.

Again, I got stares. As I was leaving a class a couple girls began snickering as I walked past. "Nice outfit . . ." they laughed. I just smiled and rolled my eyes.

Yesterday I committed two "fashion crimes." 1 - tights with shorts and 2 - tights with open-toed heels. (Que - Utahans gasp)

Katie Holmes in shorts with tights. So, my shorts weren't quite this short, I had to go to work and then down to BYU . . . I chose a pair of city shorts (definition: city short = tailored shorts) and paired them with black tights and open-toed, patent leather red heels.
Despite the controversy over open-toed shoes with tights, I like the look . . . as long as the tights are opaque and there is no seem at the toe of the tights.

Some examples of tights:

Colored tights AND open-toed heels! . . . imagine that.

Tights don't have to be "edgy." They can be pretty, feminine and classy. So, my friends who laugh and mock, continue to stare. Maybe you'll learn something. Give it a try. Leave the dark age of fashion. Enjoy tights while you can because we all know that it is only a matter of time until the trends change and you'll have something new to stare at.

On Quoting Shakespeare . . .

2009-02-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare ``It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.

Bernard Levin

Gilmore-isms

2009-02-18T09:09:00.002-07:00

LORELAI: This building is one component of a thirteen million volume collection housed in more than ninety different libraries. It’s the oldest library in the United States and the largest academic library in the world. Breathe, breathe.

RORY: I’m a failure. I am stupid. I am uniformed and ignorant and… I can’t even think of a second synonym for uninformed. I suck. Thirteen million volumes? I’ve read like, what, three hundred books in my entire life and I’m already sixteen? Do you know how long it would take me to read thirteen million books?

LORELAI: But honey, you don’t have to read every one of them. Tuesdays with Morrie? Skip that. Who Moved My Cheese? Just stuff you already know.

RORY: Okay, but every kid coming to Harvard is inevitably reading books, and different books, and I want to be able to converse intelligently with each of them and I can’t do that unless I read books, at least a few from every genre and sub-genre.

LORELAI: Okay, come on. I’m getting you out of here.

RORY: I sleep too much.

LORELAI: No you don’t.

RORY: I’ve been frittering away my whole life.

LORELAI: You don’t fritter.

RORY: Did I mention I suck?

This past Christmas I recieved the first season of the TV series Gilmore Girls from Santa. I loved the series when it was still running new episodes and I still love it now. Gilmore Girls is an art, or rather, the dialoge of Gilmore Girls is an art. If you don't believe me sit down and watch an episode and see how many witty references there are. In fact, each season comes with a little booklet called "Glimore-isms" which defines each reference made in the season. My family laughs because when I get my Gimore Girls fix I sit with my "Glimore-isms" booklet in hand waiting to learn about each new reference. Some I get, such as the more recent popular culture or political references, and some I have no idea about. I'm addicted. I bought my sister the second season for her birthday. It wasn't entirely selfish, she mentioned she wanted it. I finished it within a week. Give it a try, I think you'll fall in love with Gilmore Girls just like I did.

Top Five London Experiences

2009-01-30T08:50:00.071-07:00

My time in London was . . . well, brilliant, to put it in Bri'ish terms. I knew as I began my long journey home that people would be asking me what my favorite "part" of London was, so I came up with a few ideas. But after I got home and people began asking the "favorite" questions I realized that my answers were just too long for someone who was expecting a short response.

So I began making a list of my favorites under different categories to organize my thoughts. I must admit that I got the idea to post my favorites on my blog from a friend who was with me in London. So enjoy my top favorites (out of may) from life in the UK.

P.S. - I didn't include our trip to Paris (except for one painting which I just couldn't resist including). My top five are in no particular order.

Top Five London Experiences

Places in the City

Hyde Park
Right next door, huge, and beautiful. I loved going to the park and pretending to read while really watching adorable families wander and play.

Portobello Road

I loved the people watching, the exploring, antiques . . . especially the old books! Even though Saturdays were crazy the atmosphere was great.

Trafalgar Square

I can't even explain to you how much I love this place. There is just something about the fountains, the statues, the traffic, the museum, Big Ben in the background (which, in this picture is covered by the spray of the fountain) . . . the list could go on and on.

Thames (especially near Parliament)

The best walk ever, especially at night.

Walking across the Millennium Bridge (especially on a Sunny Day)!

A view of the Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's in the background. It's pedestrian only so it was relaxing and the views were great . . . the river, St. Paul's, the Tate Modern, the Globe, sun, it just makes me smile to think about it. Just a note of interest: If you pay attention to the new previews for the upcoming Harry Potter film you can watch the Millennium Bridge be destroyed!

Cathedrals

Canterbury Cathedral

The first Cathedral I ever visited. I was enchanted. But I didn't know if I was enchanted by the cathedral or by being in England at last, until I visited it a second time with the program. I definitely loved the cathedral.

Westminster Abbey

Since I was young my parents have told be about Westminster Abbey where "a bunch of famous people were buried in the walls and floors" and I had this image in my mind. It wasn't as dark and mysterious as I expected and I loved it even more than I thought I would. Don't miss Poet's Corner!

St. Paul's Cathedral

Known as "Sin-Pull's" (my closest guess to the spelling of the British pronunciation). There is nothing like St. Paul's. From the pidgins (feed the birds!) and businessmen on the outside to the soaring ceilings on the inside, St. Paul's is a defining landmark of London.

Winchester Cathedral

"Come flyin' in Winchester Cathedral . . ." To be honest, by the time we got to Winchester it was near the end of the program and we were tired of touring cathedrals. But I grew up on the Crosby, Stills and Nash song: "Cathedral" and it has been on my list of places to visit. I picture above is actually of the crypt. When they built the cathedral they didn't take into account the water table and so it fills up with water for most of the year, drying out in a good summer. They have placed a statue down there that looks really cool reflected in the water.

Tintern Abbey

A romantic place. Romantic in the sense of the Romantic period. Tintern abbey was dismantled during the Dissilutionment of the monasteries during the Protestant Revolution and the ruins were made popular again by poets of the Romantic period such as Wordsworth. When we visited the abbey it was beautiful, with fall colors all around the valley and the abbey open to the fresh air.

LDS London Temple (okay so it's not a cathedral but it was up there on the list)

The Temple is beautiful, the grounds are British, and the Spirit is amazing.

Favorite Museums/Galleries

National Gallery

I visited the National Gallery the most out of the many art galleries I saw on the program . . . can you tell I loved it?

Cabinet War Rooms

Nate and my Dad went to the Cabinet War Rooms when the family was in London (the girls visited the V&A fashion exhibit). After we met back up, Nate just raved about how awesome the War Rooms were . . . strange for my museum hating brother, but he was right. When I visited the museum with the program it kept us entertained for hours.

Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool

It was so interesting to learn about the emigrants of the UK, it's part of my history. But the museum held so much more, like the slavery exhibition, I felt a special connection between that exhibit and my experiences in Ghana earlier in the year.

Imperial War Museum

I wish I had known about this museum when my family was in London. My brother would have loved it. I didn't have much time to explore this museum but the parts I did see were amazing. They have actually built trenches in the basement so people can understand the "trench experience" of WWI. They also have an amazing exhibit on WWII that brought me to tears. I walked into the exhibit on modern warfare/genocide called "Crimes against Humanity" and had to immediately leave. It's so important that we never forget.

British Museum

Every time I visited the British Museum my feet ached by the time I left. But where else can you see so many world treasures?

Great UK Cities/Towns

London

It's home!

Bath

Make sure you pronounce it with a long a, like ah, you'll sound like a tourist if you don't. Bath was great . . . from Roman history to Jane Austin. Be sure to try traditional British tea (they have very good infusions, or herbal tea, there too) at the Pump Room.

Bibury, Cotswolds

Bibury was my first experience with the British countryside and I fell in love.

Llandundo, Wales

The reason I fell in love with Wales. In my head I still see Wales as rugged, mystical, and enchanting. And the people are amazing, very unlike the reserved Londoners.

Haworth

Charming. Home of the Bronte's.

British Nature

Stourhead

The Lake District

If I could pick anywhere in England to have a vacation home it would be in the Lake District. There were actually "mountains" or what can only resemble mountains in the UK, and the lakes. We took a long walk through the hillsides to Dove Cottage, home of the Wordsworth's. Beautiful hiking area with amazing views.

Lands End Cliff walk . . . and swim

When I think back to our first trip on the program it still feels like a dream. It didn't even feel like we were in the UK, it felt more like we were touring the Mediterranean. We had the perfect weather and got to swim in the English Channel/Atlantic Ocean.

Coal Mine tour

This was awesome!!! When we showed up at the coal mine we thought we were just going to see a museum about how important the coal industry was for Wales (a little miscommunication between the professors and the students) it turned out that it was much cooler. They took all batteries from us, which included cameras, watches, cell phones, etc. . . . they didn't want any sparks/fires down there. They they hooked us up with a helmet (light included) and a special battery pack to make the light on top work. Then they loaded us up into a tiny coal-shaft elevator and lowered us 200+ feet under the ground. The tour was amazing, and we got to see how dark it really is down there with no lights on. The excitement really happened as our tour group stopped for a moment to listen to our guide. As he was talking, a few of us heard some singing down a side tunnel so a couple girls went to investigate while two of us waited outside the tunnel. When the two investigators returned we realized the group had moved on and we didn't know which way they went. So we were lost deep underground for about a minute until our tour guide came and found us. Nice.

Nature Walk

Even though I love London, at heart I am a girl who loves open spaces and nature, so this walk was a great break from the city. We enjoyed the wild blackberries along the way.

Historic Sites

Stonehenge

One of the wonders of the world. There's really not much you can do here other than looking at the amazing formation, but it is worth the trip. You are so close to the Cotswolds or Bath at this point that you should probably incorporate the trip into a bigger exploration adventure.

Blenheim Palace

Warick Castle

Warick

Albert Dock

Albert Dock is an amazing place to contemplate your heritage. I can't imagine sailing out of the harbor and watching as your home disappears into the distance.

Chatsworth

Chatsworth was a fun mix of modern and historical. There was plenty of history shared but there was also a lot of modern art, it had a fresh atmosphere. If you visit don't miss the sculpture gallery, it includes the bust of Mr. Darcy from the new Pride and Prejudice film.

Dance and Music

Handel's Messiah

Barbican

Evensong at Christ Church

Choir boys. A must do in England.

Beethoven's Violin Concerto & Mahler

Aida (Opera)

specticle

Swan Lake

A good ballet performance every once in a while is a great idea. I love to watch the movement and grace of the performers.

Paintings

JMW Turner - Sun Setting Over a Lake (Tate Britain)

Really, I love most of Turner's watercolors, especially this one and Rain, Steam and Speed. I've heard professors tell me that reproductions are nothing like the originals . . . but I've never understood what they meant until now.

Cuno Amiet - Snowy Landscape (Musee d'Orsay)

This is my one exception to the "UK only" rule. I LOVE this painting. It's a large painting, over four square meters. When you see the painting from a distance you see a huge mass of white with only a grey line across the top, it isn't until you get closer you notice the skier. It is a commanding painting and immediately stuck with me.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Lake Keitele (National Gallery)

This painting reminded me of one of my "homes," Jackson Lake. I would walk past it in the National Gallery whenever I could because I could just feel the glass under my ski.

Monet - The Thames Below Westminster

This is one of my favorite scenes in real life. So to see it in painting made it one of favorites.

Rembrandt - Woman Bathing in a Stream

Like Turner, I love pretty much anything from Rembrandt. I just love the dark, mysterious backgrounds and the lighting surrounding the figures of the works.

Rothko - Seagram Murals

At the end of the semester we had a section on modern art. Some of it I loved, other parts were interesting but I wasn't drawn to the pieces. I was just picky. But the modern art pieces that I really loved were the ones that experimented with color and texture, such as Rothko.

Plays

Wicked

I've been waiting to see this play for a very long time. I love the music and now I love the play too!

War Horse

I was in awe of this play. I was a WWII story about a boy and his horse in the war, but it wasn't the story that was so amazing. It was the production. The play used life-sized horse puppets. It took three men to control the puppets and the horses looked so real with all the right mannerisms, ear movements, tail flicks, head tossing, etc.

Les Miserables

Before I went to see this play in London I hadn't heard any of the music and I didn't know the story line at all. I know, my friends said that it was a sin too. I ended up loving it!

Love's Labour's Lost

Shakespeare is so much better when performed. Plus, David Tennant . . . need I say more?

Merry Wives Windsor

I hadn't heard of this play before London. But it was hilarious, plus we saw it as groundlings in the Globe!

Food

Snog

The best natural frozen yogart in the world! One of their slogans: Snogging is Good for You!

Gelato Mio

The best Gelato we found in London. The workers came to know the BYU students.

Amish Oatmeal

Pub Food

Hot Bread

Hot bread was served every night with dinner. It was so delicious but horrible for us all. Mmm . . . make me fat baby!

Other

My Roommates!

Left to right: Me, Kayla, Kaitlyn, Hailee, Laura S., Dasily, Laura C., and Bethany. We bonded immediately (unlike some rooms that never really bonded at all) when, on the first night we decided to all pile on Hailee's "shorter-than-everyone-elses bed" and Hailee decided that she wanted to rearrange the room at midnight. We love each other!

The Tube

Music on the Underground

The soundtrack to my life. Musicians sit in the underground and play for any donations they can get. I loved stepping off a train and hearing music wherever I went. I felt like I was in a movie everytime.

The Accent

Student Discounts!

Church

Yes, by the end of the program I was tired of traveling for an hour and a half only to get to the church building a half hour early, but the Saints of London are nothing but amazing. Our ward was held in a primary school, Sacrament meeting was held in the gym, Relief Society was held in the cafiteria amongst the High School Musical posters telling the kids to eat their food. I spent most of my time upstairs in the music room with the primary. The kids were adorable.

Polite Requests

Please try not to Touch

Please keep coughing to a minimum

Popular Culture

From everything Harry Potter, such as Platform 9 3/4, to movie premiers, street fairs, etc. we never got bored.

Coming Soon . . . London Favorites!

2009-01-27T21:07:00.004-07:00

People have been asking me what my favorite part of London was. After being left flustered trying to pick my favorite "one thing," I started a small list and it turned into a BIG list. So stay posted while I organize my thoughts and post my London favorites!

Bonjour!

2009-01-12T11:41:00.007-07:00

It's been a minute . . .

Just after I posted my last post the craziness began. We spent our last couple of weeks in London writing papers, playing, studying for finals, playing, and playing some more. Between it all, Emilee and I found time to visit a daycare on our street as "Santa."
Emilee, Franny, and I outside the daycare. Those Santa costumes were awesome, the waist was maybe three feet around and the leg tapered to about 12 inches at the bottom with an extra foot and a half of fabric after my leg ended. It was hilarious and a lot of fun.

After hours of stress and study our finals were finally over and we had a couple more days to enjoy London stress free. We decided to spend our last day doing some last minute shopping and visiting some of our favorite sites around the city. One of my top places in the city would have to be Trafalgar Square. I just love the fountains and the atmosphere.

Me on one of the Trafalgar Square lions with Big Ben in the background. Later that night, after a good dinner, we took one last walk around the Thames.

Big Ben and Parliament, it's so beautiful at night. Sniff, sniff . . . I'm going to miss you!

After a few delays in the airports I got home nice and early at 12:50 am on the 17 of December. After that it was party, party, party for the Holidays. It was great to see the family and enjoy some relaxation.

Now I'm onto my next country . . . France! Only this time it doesn't involve any travel (darn), well, only to and from classes. This semester I am taking French 101 and it will be another grand adventure, let me tell you! Somehow I was able to make it through high school and into college without ever taking a foreign language. Great right? Well I thought so, but now that I have to learn a language for the first time at the college level it's a little intimidating. (Just a side note, I would have had to take a language for my major whether or not I took a language in high school). So even though this semester is going to seem dull compared to last semester, I think it will be a good one.

Fairytale Land

2008-12-04T14:48:00.019-07:00

Yesterday was a fabulous day! Since we didn't have class we decided to sleep in a bit before eating breakfast and then headed towards the Houses of Parliament to watch the Queen's Parade. Today was the official opening of Parliament. Actually, Parliament has been in session for the past month and a half or so but you know the Brittish and their traditions . . . the Queen has to make her appearance to "officially" open everything. Lucky for us, unlucky for her, she has no say in what she says in her speech. It's written by the Prime Minister.
Bethany, Laura, and Kaitlyn waiting for the parade to start. It was freezing!

This was hillarious. The workers in the florescent uniforms were shovelling dirt onto the street and the parade started before they could get out of the way. They got a lot of glares.

There were so many beautiful horses and they all matched.

The Queen's grand entrance through Horse Guard Gate.

The Queen in her gold carriage passing us.

Later in the afternoon we met up with the rest of the program to visit the Cabinet War Rooms, used by Winston Churchill during WWII. It reminded me of my brother because I remember him coming back from them so excited to tell us all about the interactive museum there. And Nate, it was awesome! I can't wait to see my family!

When we got back from the War Rooms we had a little time to change into dress clothes for a performance of Handel's Messiah that night. And then we headed out to for the Twilight Premiere!

Me in front of theatre in Leicester Square. I was so excited! (P.S. - yes, these pictures were taken starting at 4 pm. It's that dark here!)

We got there a couple hours early, to get a good spot of course, so we were able to see all the setup as well. Here are some of the crew members rolling out the black carpet. Yes, the black carpet.

And then they sprinkled some silver glitter all over the carpet.

And then they decided that it was too much glitter . . . so they vacumed some of it up. After the majority was vacummed up another man came around to sweep it around so it wasn't in little piles. Good work crew!

A partial view of the crowd. We were right across from the press section so the majority of the crowd is behind us watching a big screen of the preview and listening to the Soundtrack. Just imagine thousands of screaming teenage girls. Everytime a camera would flash they would scream in excitement.

Just before the stars began arriving the crew set up their final effects: a big dead tree (so pretty much branches) and some fog machines. The last we saw as problematic . . .

Kristen Stewart was the first to arrive (she plays Bella Swan for all you non-Twilighters). As you can see, the fog was a problem. Everyone was screaming, "Turn the fog off!" but knowing the British there were a few more explitives in there. She's back there somewhere. We got some good views of her but not any great pictures. She is so beautiful!

Then Rob Pattinson arrived and the crowd went absolutely crazy! So, I don't think he's that cute, but he is deffinately more attractive in real life. This is one of the best pictures we could get of him but he actually got quite close to where we were standing before he went into the theater.

Here's a zoomed up view of him being interviewed.

And, just to give you an idea of how they really looked, here is a professional shot from last night. It was below freezing last night and Kristen was hoping around to keep warm in her dress. We had to leave early to make it to the Messiah performance, so we didn't get to see any of the other stars who showed up . . . but that's okay we got to see the most important ones.

The movie actually doesn't open here until the 19 December so I will see it at home before it even opens here. And now I'm not as bitter as I used to be about having to wait so long. So, Avery, even though I haven't seen the movie yet . . . at least I've seen the stars!

The performance of the Messiah was amazing and today we all went out an purchased the new JK Rowling book that came out today, The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

I love London!

Walk of the Fairytales . . . For Real

2008-12-03T16:37:00.004-07:00

Today was an eventful day. I don't have the time to write a real blog about the day, tune in tomorrow for a full account. However, if you can identify the two people in these pictures you will win a prize. Really, a good prize, especially for winning this contest . . . but only the first couple can win so hurry and comment.
Picture #1

Picture #2

National Portrait Gallery - Victorians

2008-11-29T13:22:00.007-07:00

For my Women's Question class, Dr. Paul sent us to the National Portrait Gallery to look at the Victorian rooms and compare the portraits to what we have learned in class. It was my first time to the Portrait Gallery (I have been to the National Gallery plenty of times though), and my first reaction was eh (add the shrug in your head). But as I continued looking I found the portraits more and more interesting. They may seem boring at first but they were an interesting glimpse into the personalities of the people being painted.

This portrait of Robert Baden-Powell, by Hubert von Herkomer, was one of my favorites. It is in the military room among the stoic and almost mean-looking portraits of other great military men. (I wish I had a bigger picture to show you but the NPG won't let me get any bigger than this!) Anyways, this portrait immediately caught my eye because he was so different from the other "tough-guys" in the room. Everything about this portrait is inviting; he has a sparkle to his eye, a kind smile on his face, and a relaxed pose that I loved. So I went over to investigate and discovered the reason why. Baden-Powell is the founder of the Boy Scouts! I would have gotten along with him well because I always wished I was a Boy Scout like all the boys!

Again, because of the copyright laws I couldn't find the exact portrait (the real one is in color), but another portrait I liked was Thomas Henry Huxley's portrait by John Collier. One of the most interesting elements of the work was the skull in Huxley's hand. He holds it so casually, but with confidence.

You might imagine why this portrait of Cardinal Manning, by George Watts, caught my attention. He is literally a living skeleton. It was a lot more dramatic in person, but I walked into the room and was immediately like, "eww." However, the more I looked the more I liked. His eyes have a spark of determination and strength even though his body has nothing left.

By looking at the Victorian Galleries I realized that the social ideas we have been discussing in literature are also reflected in the other arts. The Victorian Era was one of expansion, wealth, discovery, and reform, all of which are displayed through the portraits in the National Portrait Gallery.

The V&A: Life in Victorian England

2008-11-28T07:20:00.007-07:00

The Victorian Era was an interesting one. It never fails to surprise me. Let me introduce you to a key figure in this era . . .
Queen Victoria herself! This is a bust of the young, still-pretty queen who gave the era its name. Under her rule and British Empire continued to expand, and with this expansion came a new way of life in England.

Exhibitions became a popular way to display the wealth and power of the Empire. The Crystal Palace (a model is shown above) was built especially for the "Great Exhibition" in Hyde Park. And yes, the building incorporated a full-grown tree within its glass walls. These exhibitions were the perfect excuse to show the new, grand, showy artwork that was being created during this period.

Aside from the ridiculously showy pieces of art, the Victorians also looked to other cultures for inspiration. This necklace is an example of the Victorians looking back to the classical world for inspiration.

However, Japanese art was also a big influence on the art of the era. This screen and magazine rack are influenced by similar Japanese models of the time. At the same time symbols began to change. Peacock feathers, which at one time symbolized bad luck, became the "cool thing" to do.

One of my favorite areas of the exhibit was the clothing section. The Victorian era was one of the expanding wardrobe.

To be a "proper" gentleman you needed a large closet. The proper man might change his clothes 6 or 7 times a day, depending on his activities. Clothing was not to be mixed.

For women, it was the wedding dress. Queen Victoria made the white wedding dress popular when she married Prince Albert in a dress very similar to the one shown above. Luckily, for us girls (maybe not so much for our fathers) the tradition of the beautiful, white wedding dress has remained to this day!

From this exhibit I learned that Victorian life was that of wealth and show. It was very important to keep up appearances, especially with so many cultures streaming into England at the time. The fact that the "sun never set upon the British Empire" is crucial to understanding the great change that came about in this era.

Hyde Park Chapel

2008-11-28T06:50:00.004-07:00

It was interesting to visit the Hyde Park Chapel again. The first time I saw the Hyde Park Chapel was on Sunday, September 7, my second day on the program, and I visited it again yesterday. I can't believe the program is coming to an end! On thing that stands out about the chapel, which I learned the first week we were here, was that it was a World War II bomb site. After the war the Church bought the property and cleaned it up. In 1961, President David O. McKay dedicated the chapel as headquarters for the Church in London.

I have heard and noticed that the chapel is a major missionary tool even today. Set among the museums of South Kensington, many visitors see the chapel as well as the big "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" over the doors and decide to investigate. There is always a secretary just inside the doors to answer any questions, there is also informative plaques about the history of the Church as well as the Plan of Salvation. One of my favorite stories that I have heard about the Hyde Park Chapel was told to the program in a fireside by a visiting BYU professor. He told the story of a young man from the Middle East who had moved to London for work. During this time he did a lot of soul searching, he especially wanted to find peace with another religion. One night he had a dream about the chapel, though he didn't know it at the time, and knew that that church was the only true church. A few weeks later he visited the South Kensington area, saw the chapel and began taking the missionary discussions. Now he is back in the Middle East, living the Gospel with a small congregation of friends and family. It has been fun to see the impact one chapel can have on a whole city.

Synagogue

2008-11-27T08:28:00.004-07:00

Today we were able to visit the Jewish synagogue, just one street east of the Center. I was a little confused about the time we were meeting to walk over to the synagogue so I ended up walking over with Sister Benfell. The only thing was we couldn't figure out how to get in.

We tried opening the front doors you see here but let me tell you, they are fake. Then a couple more late comers showed up and we moved to the side of the building, and finally to the back where someone let us in. Luckily we were only a minute late.

This big curtain was cool. Our tour guide just pulled a little screen and it whipped open to reveal a locked door where they keep the Torah. It was great to learn a little more about the Jewish culture. I know the basics but I love to listen and learn more because I feel such an attachment to the Jewish culture. I feel like it is our heritage and we are similar in so many ways.

Here is a better picture of the inside of the synagogue. The men sit on the bottom level and the women sit on the top floor. The stand you can see is where the Torah is read. Some interesting things that I learned today were:

The Torah is only used in public. People don't own their own copies at home. I guess I had never really thought about this because the Bible has been available for private use for quite a while. I don't think I can imagine a world without my personal scriptures. They are such an important aspect in my life.

The gentleman giving our tour also talked a little about the Jewish temple. Someone asked him what had to be done for the temple to be rebuilt and his response was that the Messiah had to come first. I had known all this before but it is always amazing to be to sit and listen to them talk about the Messiah when I know Him so well. Afterwards, I was talking to Hillary, who just returned from a study abroad in Jerusalem and I was asking her a little more about the Jewish beliefs on the Messiah. Her answer was interesting. She said that the Jews are all about action, following the law, etc. they are not a theological religion. And so, they just believe that a Messiah will come but they do not talk about who or what he will be like.

I loved the tour. It was nice to learn a little more about our heritage and also learn about how the Jewish traditions have changed over the years. I am so grateful for the truths I have been taught from my youth.

Little Venice

2008-11-26T11:32:00.012-07:00

Welcome to my last walk post, sniff, sniff . . . well actually, it's bittersweet. I am thrilled that I don't have to fit anymore walks into the busy schedule here but it also means that the semester is coming to a close. I decided to visit Little Venice for my last walk because I had heard that it was a very fun area (it is rumored that JK Rowling owns a home in this area) plus it was super short and let me tell you, it's cold, cold, cold here!

Aside from the crazy construction workers who liked to yell cat-calls at me as I walked down the street . . . and back up the street only a few minutes later, it was a very pleasant walk. Little Venice has lots of canals, thus, "Little Venice." So let me give you a little tour of the water of Little Venice.

If there could be one theme from this whole semester it could be "good things happen on bridges." Think about it, it's so true. Every time we drive over a bridge or see one off in the distance someone has to yell it out. I love bridges, but mostly, I love what's under the bridge, water!
Paki and Panko the geese of Little Venice. They look "so serene" just floating around all day.

The glamorous side of Little Venice. This water spout is in actuality the one and only pipe that the Itsy Bitsy Spider climbed up . . . until the rain came down and washed the spider out. Luckily, it was a sunny day.

If I could design my dream street it would look like this. I don't know if I would pick one of these boats to live in, but I would love to be able to drive the ski boat right up to my front door. Ah, that would be the life!
This boat was awesome! It is a floating puppet show and I hear that the shows are actually pretty good.

One thing I love most in the world is seeing things reflected in water. This red boat created the prettiest, most vivid reflection on the water.

Mmmm, classic England, I love seeing the old churches everywhere, especially by the water's side.

I love water. If I could choose one element to become it would be water. It has been one of the biggest parts of my life since I was two weeks old. I could stare at water for hours and hours, or listen to a little brook bubble next to my tent, or hear the waves crashing against the beach, or swim all day long. Just look at the light playing off the ripples in this picture. Beautiful.

Pre-Raphaelites at the Tate Britain

2008-11-24T08:33:00.003-07:00

Before I visited the Tate Britain I had pretty much decided that I did not like Pre-Raphaelite paintings. I don't know, there is just something about them that bugs me and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it is because the women are so idealistic . . . but then so are the women in the other movements. I don't know, I just don't like the tone they give off and how they make me feel. And then I visited the Tate, and decided that . . . I still don't love Pre-Raphaelite painting. However, I did enjoy looking at some of the paintings and learning to appreciate some aspects of the art.

This painting is by Dante Gabriel Rossetti called Aurelia (Fazio's Mistress). This is the kind of work that I think of when I think of Pre-Raphaelite works. I think that it is so fascinating that they loved women's hair so much. We had an interesting discussion in class today about the importance of hair in this time period. Please note: blondes and redheads = angels, brown hair = sensible, and dark hair (like mine, I was used as an example in class) = the temptress, the skank, the dark and fallen woman. I usually identify a Pre-Raphaelite painting by the red, flowy hair found on the women. To me this painting is just a typical Pre-Raphaelite work that I don't love.

However, I do like this painting, Ecce Ancilla Domini, by Rossetti, though I probably would never put it in my house . . . it is good as far as Pre-Raphaelite works. What I like about this painting is the simplicity of the piece, a simple bed, two figures, a window, etc. However, the element I love most would have to be the color of the work. I love the simple white background with bursts of vivid blue and red and gold. The color drew my eye. I usually don't like halos either but they seem to work in this piece.

Although my visit to the Tate did not change my opinion on Pre-Raphaelite works, I really did enjoy looking at them and finding elements I did like. At times they seem cluttered but usually color was my one connection to the works I did like.

Sainte Chapelle

2008-11-24T07:58:00.006-07:00

Before coming to England I had never been inside a Cathedral. I do remember driving through a small Mexican town a few years ago on the way to Chichen Itza but that's another story . . . Of course I have seen and heard of all these grand buildings and I was so excited to visit some of them after my arrival. And then something happened. They started to all look the same . . . GASP! I know, I know, it's blasphemous but what can I say? It's true. Even the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, you know, that really famous one? Looked like many other Cathedrals like it that I have seen. And then I visited Sainte Chapelle, or The Holy Chapel, just a short walk from Notre Dame. It was beautiful . . . unlike any Cathedral or church I have seen yet.
Here is one view of it. If you didn't already know, Cathedrals used to be painted . . . everything was painted. Luckily the paint has survived in this chapel. If you look closely you can see that everything is painted and is very colorful. But the most distinctive feature is the stained glass. This chapel is all stained glass with a little stone in between.

It felt like the moment I walked into the chapel I was in another world . . . like Narnia. In this world the light was colorful and magical and anything was possible.

I also loved the rose window in this chapel, even more than the famous rose window of Notre Dame. I think the thing I loved about it was the shapes within the window. The pattern is more detailed and light.

If you are ever in Paris make sure to fit Sainte Chapelle in your schedule, it doesn't take long and it is well worth the experience.

Mayfair Walk

2008-11-22T11:47:00.011-07:00

One of my favorite things about the Holiday Season is the atmosphere, especially around major shopping areas. A lot of the Christmas movies we see are based in major cities, Elf (one of my favorites) takes place in New York where Buddy helps out a big department store, Miracle on 34th Street also takes place in New York with the Thanksgiving Day Parade and all the big, fancy department stores, etc. It has always been a secret wish to be a part of the "Big City" Christmas rush and this walk actually helped satisfy a little bit of that desire. When I found out that the walk was based in one of the biggest high-end shopping areas in London, I was all for going and being a part of the atmosphere. Even at home, one of my favorite parts of Christmas shopping is the window displays. Back in the "olden days" . . . you know, the ones when ZCMI used to exist? I loved going downtown with the family and looking at the window displays, or just Christmas displays . . . so here are a few from London.
Here is a display from Liberty of London store. Next time you get a really nice coat or a designer dress check the tag for Liberty of London fabric, a lot of the designers use their fabric.

I loved these Christmas wreaths/snowflakes. I just wanted to sing "Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow . . ." and it actually did yesterday. It's freezing here!

This is a display inside Banana Republic. It's kind of hard to see but I just love the red and the shine of the season, you can get away with so much!

Accessorize has decorated all of their stores with Rudolf and Santa and snow, snow, snow!

This street was so fun! There was a long line of snowmen and snowflakes hanging all the way down the street.

Leave it to Swarovski to add a little "Bling" to the holidays. The snow in the window is, of course, crystal.

This display is difficult to read but it says: "Uncover the Season's Secrets." I liked this one because it was all paper, cut and designed in fun ways.

But this one was my favorite! I'm sad that I couldn't get a good picture of it but I just stood in front of the window and laughed. The girls on the walk with me thought I was a little wacko. The two trees in the front actually tipped into the center (to hide the elf) and then tipped out to reveal this picture. Since you can't see it too well, let me explain . . . the center is a elf tied up with tinsle and Christmas lights, he has an ornament stuffed in his mouth and a star on his head. Let me tell you, it was a good one!

Westward from the City: Theatre Walk

2008-11-22T09:43:00.012-07:00

Are you ever walking through town and realize that you have no idea what time it is? Frantically, you look at your wrist only to find that you have forgotten your watch . . . This situation is one that all of us run into at some time in our lives, but hopefully you will be in a place where you would be able to find the time easily! After visiting Paris I realized that London doesn't have as many clocks as Paris; however, I set out on this walk to prove that I could find out the time anywhere in London.

The Hall of Justices, this building is awesome! I saw it from down the street and fell in love with it because it looked like a castle . . . and what do you know? There was a giant clock visible to all!

This great clock is in the great market of Covent Gardens. It was absolutely crazy today but the clock was a constant reminder to everyone shopping in the area that the shopping day was getting shorter and shorter.

This clock was just on a random side-street . . . but hey, all the passers-by on this street would have no problem with discovering the time if they happened to forget their watch on this fine frigid day.

The steeple of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is visible from a great distance and a great aid on days like today.

This clock stands in the great Leicester Square, reminding all the premier goers what time the movies start . . . too bad the princes forgot to watch this clock. If they had maybe they wouldn't have made the premier for the new Bond movie begin two hours late!

Time is extreemly important in the film industry. This picture shows just a few of the times at the movie theater today.

Luckily, this clock was close to the tube stop so that we could make sure we are on time to our next walk!

But we walked into the tube station a little later and the thoughtful tube system happened to show the time and post the next trains coming to the station.

Unfortunately, time is important in life and if you fail to plan, or follow your schedule, just plan to fail.

Aida

2008-11-13T08:35:00.004-07:00

There are so many great things about studying in London. Not only do we get to talk about a famous piece of art in class and then go see it in the gallery, we are also able to experience all different kinds of art forms and usually from some of the best artists and performers in the world. On Tuesday night we were able to see Aida as a group . . . not the musical mind you, the opera. Now, from what little I knew and had heard of the opera, I wasn't all that excited. Who wants to go listen to opera for 3 hours? But I was interested to just try it out . . . maybe I would end up loving it?

We saw the performance at the English National Opera which means, luckily for us, that the opera was performed in English . . . if you were lucky enough to understand what they were trilling. For the inexperienced opera viewers, like myself, they also included supertitles above the stage so we could actually understand what was going on and once I read the lines I was able to make out what the singers were trying to say.

Although I discovered that opera is not my favorite form of entertainment, it was an amazing spectacle. To be able to see so many people on stage and the amazing set and costume design was a lot of fun.

And the opera singers look quite as I always imagined them to look . . . robust women and barrel chested men.

One of my favorite parts, actually, one of the only parts without singing . . . imagine that . . . was a dance scene where they had acrobats and more modern dancers come out on the stage to celebrate the Egyptians' victory over the Ethiopians. This elephant was part of that scene, it was really amazing. And yes, they did drop gold confetti all over the stage. Like I said, the opera is a spectacle and I am so glad I was able to experience it at least once in my life.

Holland Park Walk

2008-11-11T08:01:00.010-07:00

The Holland Park walk was amazing, it was nice to explore our area a little more. The neighborhood is beautiful and quiet . . . and right in the middle of everything, the perfect combination. From the very beginning of the walk color was the thing that struck me. Although the houses are beautiful, it is interesting to see how each one is individualized to reflect some of the owner's character.

This royal blue house stuck out from among its brown-bricked neighbors. I love the contrast between the blue and the crisp white.

A pastel wonderland . . . these houses were cute, all lined up in a row.

This Indian Red house was bold but not too bright.

If I had to pick my favorite house on this walk it would be this modern blue-gray house. I loved the combination of the red wood, green accents, glass and the blue.

Once we got into the park we got to enjoy the last of the fall leaves. It has been windy the last few days and most of the leaves are now all over the ground. This tree still had most of its leaves.

I would call this color "British-Maze-Garden-on-11 November-Green" most of the flowers were gone but it was still beautiful.

Aren't peacocks so amazing. I just love their color combinations!

And, last but definitely not least, Holland park decided to celebrate me by creating a big letter "H" for Hansen out of flowers. Isn't the red and white just perfect? Go Utes!

Westminster Cathedral

2008-11-10T08:04:00.003-07:00

Although I had heard of Westminster Abbey before I came to London, I did not know there was another "Westminster" until recently. Westminster Cathedral surprised me from the moment I saw it. It is not the classical, grand, traditional architecture that I have come to expect from England. Rather, it is a suprising, and beautiful, statement from the Catholics: "We're back and we are here to stay."
The interior was even more interesting than the outside. Construction for the cathedral was begun in 1895 and the building was opened for worship in 1903, a new building for England's standards. Although the interior of the building is now full of scaffolding, I found the design quite interesting. The ceiling, at least the part of it that I could see in the side aisles, is built with an extremely dark brick, gray . . . almost black. However, as you approach different chapels they will be filled with color and amazing mosaics reflecting the theme of the room. One example of this was the Chapel of St. Patrick and the Saints of Ireland which was filled with green tinted windows, green marble, mosaics, etc. The whole cathedral has been designed in such a way that your eyes are only drawn to the images and objects that are supposed to be highlighted. There will be darkness up above and then your attention is drawn to colorful spiral pillars and paintings and mosaics. The cathedral was unlike anything I have ever seen before and I would recommend a visit to anyone visiting London.

Walking Among the Scholars

2008-11-07T14:25:00.008-07:00

When I began this walk I was initially planning on focusing on architecture, but as the walk progressed I started to notice elements of classical design everywhere. It was interesting to discover Greek forms throughout the walk, mixed with all sorts of architecture. It just goes to show how much we depend on the past for many of our concepts of the future.
Here is the main administrative building for the University College of London. As you can see it is very classical in design with ionic columns and a plain pediment.

The classical Greek forms are harder to pick up in this building but you can see some frieze-like decorations under the pediment, and some columns around the top of the building.

The pediment and corinthian columns are quite evident here.

Again, a decorative frieze and a pediment over one of the windows.

Here is another classic design on this Euston church. Notice the ionic design.

St. Pancras Station, known for its gothic architecture, even has some doric columns (do you see them in the double-arched windows?

Even dumpy little hotels have a little Greek in them.

This dental hospital had a beautiful pediment. It was actually quite fun trying to discover Greek forms throughout different buildings and I was able to find some element on most buildings. The only building that I could not find Greek forms on was the British library, but after looking at the building for a while I decided that I really do like the design of it (because I didn't like it at first).

Chelsea: Walk of the Superstars

2008-11-07T13:22:00.015-07:00

I discovered on my walk through Chelsea that if I was rich and famous and living in London . . . I would live in Chelsea. I love the area. Since this walk was titled the "Walk of the Superstars" I decided that the perfect theme would be, of course, "Superstars . . . through the Ages."

The Superstar dating the furthest back in history that I found on this walk was Nell Gwyn, an actress who later became Charles II's mistress. In fact, Charles II liked her so much, he had a private road built just for him to visit her by. The Nell Gwynn House shown above is named after her . . . isn't it beautiful will all the scaffolding and blue netting?

The next superstar in history to live in this area was Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish essayist, satirist, and historian who lived during the Victorian era.

Now here's where the fun starts, in my opinion. This red door signifies the blood shed by Dracula. It was behind these walls the author Bram Stoker paced and fretted, copying his nightmares onto paper for the world to read.
Now if the last house wasn't spooky this one will be. In this house someone died . . . a superstar . . . the novelist George Eliot! Gasp! Oh, how I do love North and South!

Now, everyone should know this next superstar. It was the wit Oscar Wilde! Yes, he lived here too. Unfortunately for us on Saturday, he wrote An Ideal Husband (actually, I think we just saw a bad performance) but I really do enjoy The Importance of Being Earnest.

Again, let us change time periods and move into the 1900s. You may not be able to tell at first but this is the Michelin building . . . as in Michelin tires. The superstar for this building will forever be frozen in the stained glass window you can see here.

If this yellow door doesn't signify someone important who once lived here then I don't know what does. The famous actor Sir Laurence Olivier lived here! We passed the house from the side first and I noticed some really cool art in the window and made a comment that someone special must live there and what do you know?! It looks like it may have been turned into some sort of museum.

Three superstars that I wasn't expecting to find in this area . . . but Hailee took them on!

Number 48 Cheyne Walk was once the home of Mick Jagger the lead singer of the Rolling Stones! You might know him for his song titled "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

Just down the street was Mick's band mate, Keith Richards, guitarist for the Rolling Stones. A match made in Heaven.

It was a lot of fun to see all my possible houses in the future . . . and see who's footsteps I'll be walking in. The footsteps of the Superstars.

Church History Trip - South Wales

2008-11-07T10:49:00.020-07:00

On Monday, 3 November we headed out of London for our last "overnighter" trip besides Paris . . . how sad! This time we were headed to South Wales for a Church history trip. I call it "south" Wales because it was very different from our trip to the North, marked by wild landscapes. Our first stop was called the "Big Pit," a coal mine.
Here is the outside of the "Big Pit." It looks very Industrial Revolution don't you think?

Emilee sharing her knowledge of Welsh, which she learned on our trip to the North.

The big attraction at the "Big Pit" was the fact that you could actually go down 300+ feet into the coal mine! I was pretty excited. After waiting for a while our group got to go down. The photo above is of Dr. Wimmer and Jacob Benfell with their hardhats on. Good thing Dr. Wimmer had his hat on too because Emilee and I were behind him down in the mine and it saved his head multiple (5 times) . . . oops, I wasn't supposed to say anything!

Kaitlyn getting suited up by our guide. It was a really cool tour and I would show you pictures but we couldn't take our cameras down because there are no batteries allowed down there, they didn't want any explosions. Everything went well until the end when Hailee, Emilee, Anna, and I got lost. Let me tell you what happened. You see, this is what happened, the group had stopped so the guide could explain something and as the group started moving again we heard singing. The four of us were in the back of the group and Hailee decided to investigate down the side tunnel. Emilee followed her part of the way down and I waited at the mouth . . . poor Anna's light had broken so she couldn't go anywhere without us. Well, Hailee crept to the end of the tunnel until she could see who was singing and she knew she wasn't supposed to be there so she turned around and told us to run. We started running the way the group had gone and we turned the corner and . . . the tunnel forked. Now what? Well, we looked both ways and couldn't see any lights or hear the group so we turned right and started running. After we had gotten to the top of the hill we stopped and looked around. "Which way did they go?" we asked in a panic. "Maybe the other way" we decided. So we turned the other way and ran down the hill and around another corner. Anna said, "Maybe we should pray" but just then we heard Dr. Wimmer and our guide calling from down the tunnel. "We're coming!" we yelled and then we turned a few more corners and TaDa! We were back to the elevator shaft! It got our adrenaline pumping a little, and we had a great laugh so that was good!

After we left the "Big Pit" we headed to St. Fagans National History Museum, which is unlike any natural history museum that I have ever heard of. It was this outdoor recreation of many different time periods of Welsh life. One of my favorite exhibits was the Celtic village.

These were the early Celtic village dwellings . . . and they were even better inside because . . .

They had a fire . . . and I'm a pushover for campfires. Me, Bethany, Danielle, Dasily, and Kaitlyn (who is laying on our laps), enjoying the fire.

I have been sick, so when we got to the hostel I ate some dinner and then my roommates convinced me to take some Benadryl so I could get some real sleep. I knew that these kinds of medicines stay in my system for a long time but I was desperate. I was out all night long.

The next morning we headed to the famous Tintern Abbey. Many Romantic poets wrote about this abbey, and I can see why. It's set back in the hills and then you come across it . . . open to the elements from the dissolution of the monasteries. It is fantastic.

Inside the abbey. A perfect frame for the scene outside.

Me and the frog legs of the abbey. Actually, I have no idea what these were supposed to be but that's all my imagination could see.

A view of the abbey. It was a cold, misty day. Not good for the sickness, but great for the atmosphere and mood of the place.

A view of the surrounding area. Ok, so question for anyone out there who knows trees. See the trees changing color in the background? They are some sort of pine, well not pine because they are turning yellow. I couldn't get a close-up picture because the closest I got was on the bus and we were moving fast, but I'm pretty sure they were needles. Has anyone heard of something of the sort?

After the abbey, we met up with our tour guide from Preston who took us on a Church history tour of the Benbow farm and the surrounding areas. The picture above is the Benbow farm house, unfortunately, the owner wasn't home to show us inside but at least we got to see the outside. I was more excited than I thought I would be to see the Benbow farm. After we had been talking about the importance of this area to the early Church, to actually be there was amazing.

This is the pond at Benbow farm . . . what a sacred spot, where so many were baptized. But I can't even imagine how they were dunked ALL the way under the water because it was like a foot deep. While we were at the pond, Peter, our guide, showed us a map and told us the numbers of people baptized in the area. I can't even imagine that number of people being baptized within a short period of time, in such a rural area! What a huge blessing to the Church!

Because I had taken Benadryl the night before I was drugged all day. Seriously, everyone was laughing at me because I would get off the bus, wander around and see all the sights, then get back on the bus and was out within minutes, with my mouth hanging open. I was kind of a zombie.

At one point we hiked Malvern Hill, which was a hike. I was low on energy and stuffed up so I wheezed all the way up the hill. It was a beautiful sight. Three prophets, before they were prophets, have been on the top of the hill to talk about the work in the area.

Me, looking a little worse for ware, on top of the hill.

Our last stop on the tour was Gadfield Elm Chapel, the first LDS owned meeting house in Britain. The only way you could get in was by answering the 7 questions below on the door key pad.

Would you be able to get into the chapel?

Gadfield Elm Chapel. It has been restored since the time of Wilford Woodruff and it is amazing. While Peter was telling us stories of Wilford preaching in the chapel with mobs standing outside I felt such gratitude to the missionaries who do all they can to teach the Gospel, especially the early missionaries! How amazing would it be to sit at the feet of the Apostles and listen to the words of truth? And yet, we get to every month.

The outside of Gadfield Elm Chapel. I really enjoyed this trip through part of our history. The Spirit was strong and it will be something I remember my whole life.

Good ol' Mozart

2008-11-07T09:44:00.003-07:00

Last week was a really busy week. I had kitchen crew with my room, we had three papers due, and little down time to accomplish everything we needed to do. But I was grateful for our many excursions to remind me that I am here in London! On Thursday, 30 October we went to a Mozart concert as a group. I was a great reminder of my priorities here in London. Good work Mozart!

Canterbury and Chartwell

2008-11-07T09:38:00.003-07:00

On Wednesday, 29 October we had a day trip south to Canterbury. I having been telling everyone how much I love Canterbury from the beginning of the program because I went there with my family, but as we were driving there I began to worry that it really wasn't as cool as I thought it was. After all, it was my first English "town" outside of London, maybe I was just enchanted by England. But after we went to the Cathedral and wandered the town for a while I realized that I really do love Canterbury, it's just so cute!

Anyways, I lost all my pictures from this day because I ran out of space on my computer and didn't realize that all of my pictures hadn't copied over . . . sad I know, I need to be more careful. After Canterbury we visited Chartwell, the home of Churchill before he became Prime Minster. I really liked it because it felt like a modern home, something that I would be comfortable living in.

"He who cannot be named" - Oedipus

2008-11-07T09:27:00.007-07:00

On 28 October we went to see a production of Oedipus the King at the National Theatre. Now as far as Oedipus goes . . . it was a very good performance. Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldemort in the Harry Potter films, was Oedipus and he did a great job. The production stuck to many traditions of Greek tragedy, such as the fact that all violence occurs off stage and you just see the results. The results were dramatic. Ralph Fiennes is an amazing actor and when he came out covered in blood and gore from stabbing out his eyes and groaning it was just creepy. Definitely worth seeing.

This is a dress rehearsal photo so of course he doesn't have all his gore on but it lets you imagine the scene after he has poked out his eyes. Can't you just see the new Harry Potter previews in your head? It gives me chills.

The Mythical Land of North Wales

2008-11-02T08:56:00.019-07:00

The professors decided to give us a free long weekend so that we would be able to travel outside of London. So we split into smaller groups and headed out to explore the British Isles. The group I was travelling with decided that we needed a break from the cities and museums so we decided to explore Northern Wales. On 23 October we began our journey, catching a train from Euston station, we had to switch trains a few times but everything worked out great. I knew it was going to be a magical trip as soon as we got off the train in Llandundo (the double "L" creates a "cla" sound . . . Welsh is awesome).

All that just to say "Please keep to left"? Wow, Welsh really is a long language . . . many people still speak Welsh as their first language in Northern Wales so it was fun to experience it all.

I know I have an over-active imagination but Northern Wales really felt like this wild, mythical land. Maybe because they actually have a DRAGON on their flag, maybe because this is what greeted us that first night. The light was this crazy red color and it was cold and the wind was blowing. We walked up the hill a little bit and found a pub called the King's Head for dinner. We walked in from the windy, dark night and found a wood fire burning. It felt like a cabin, all warm and snuggly. I had this delicious chilly, it had a little different flavor in it that I couldn't place until Emilee identified it as ginger . . . surprisingly, it was a good addition! That night we ended up going to a male voice choir concert at a local church . . . the Welsh are very into singing. Actually, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was started by a Welsh immigrant.

The next day we headed west to Snowdonia National Park. Our goal was to ride this train to the top of Mt. Snowdon. We paid 5 pounds and got an unlimited day pass for the area and began our journey. Taking a train would have been faster but we decided that if we took a bus we would be able to see a lot more, and we did. We drove to many remote little towns and up into the mountains. It was beautiful. When we got to the little village that has the train to the top of Mt. Snowdon we discovered that the train was closed for the next few days. We were disappointed but the bus driver directed us to a few sights instead. The picture above is of a lake high in the Welsh mountains. It was gorgeous, wide open spaces were just what I needed.

We visited a Slate Museum while we were waiting for a bus to another part of the National Park. Hillary is posing in the foreground and you can see Katie walking behind her. Slate is a huge industry for Wales, a lot of the homes still have slate roofs!

We caught another bus up to one of the mountain passes. This picture really doesn't give the scenery justice but we were in a bus so there wasn't much time to get a good picture. You might be able to see a stream on the left side of the picture. These streams were everywhere and I haven't seen anything really like it, you would just look out and see water running down the steep hills everywhere!

Me and Mt. Snowdon, the second tallest mountain in the UK at 3560 feet. It sounds wimpy, but once you see it you realize that it's a real mountain. Sir Edmund Hillary actually used it in his training for Mt. Everest, hey, you use what you've got.

We just rode the buses all day, getting off at little villages and explored. Here is a view of one of the villages with a backdrop of mountains.

Mountain village with a raging river.

Our mascot for the trip was Rick . . . Rick Steves that is. Hillary and Rick are giving us some interesting facts at this point while Katie and Emilee listen excitedly.

Caernarfon castle and the Welsh flag.

Emilee, Hillary, and Katie storming the castle. We saw North Wales in one day . . . and on only 5 pounds. That was the best 5 pounds I have ever spent!

That night we warmed up with some hot chocolate made in our hostel room. Our hostel was really, really nice. Actually, it was more like a bed and breakfast, with pictures of the owners' family and feather pillows and leather couches and satellite TV (used only at night of course, everything closes down at 6 pm still) . . . only for the price of a hostel, it was great. The hot chocolate, not so great, it was bitter dark chocolate and most of it got dumped down the sink.

The next day, Saturday, we decided to take "The Great Orme Tramway" in Llandundo up the hill.

A view up the hill, you can see the King's Head, where we ate dinner the first night, on the left side. It was windy and cold before we started our journey and it was REALLY windy and cold when we got to the top.

Me trying to stay warm in the tram.

A view from the top of the hill. We had mountains on this side and the ocean on the other. And the wind was crazy! I don't have any pictures on my camera but it was actually blowing us over. I have never been in wind that strong before! We were able to lean at a 45 degree angle and have the wind hold us up . . . as soon as I get pictures from the rest of the crew I'll post them.

We spent the rest of the day in Conwy. We explored the great castle there and then wandered the food festival they were having. The trip was a good break from school and North Wales will always hold an enchanting place in my heart. It sounds cheesy I know but I just can't explain how much I loved it!

Swan Lake

2008-11-02T08:50:00.003-07:00

Okay, it's been an extreemly busy two weeks so I'll try to give you a quick update:
On 20 October we saw Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House. It is the first ballet I have seen since elementary school and I really enjoyed it! The swans were gorgeous!!!

SURPRISE!!!

2008-10-28T16:06:00.001-06:00

It's SNOWING in London!

What a great break from paper writing!

Love,

Kenz

Love's Labors Lost

2008-10-21T15:11:00.003-06:00

This past week we visited Stratford-upon-Avon to visit a few Shakespeare sites and see a production of Love's Labors Lost by the Royal Shakespeare Company. We read Love's Labors Lost recently for our Shakespeare class and let me tell you it's a difficult one! I read it and still was a little confused, so I read the sparknotes on it and it still was over my head . . . so I went to class and Dr. Benfell talked about it and it STILL went over my head! So my goal at the performance was to connect somehow to the play.

I absolutely loved it!

Okay, so it's not my favorite Shakespeare play. But still, to see it performed by the best Shakespeare actors in the world . . . who make their lines sound like natural English you would use everyday . . . it was incredible. And as always it was hilarious! It is so much easier to understand the humor when you are actually watching the play rather than reading it.

One of the most impressive actors was Zoe Thorne who played the page boy of one of the characters. She is young but so amazing, I wouldn't be surprised if I start hearing a lot more about her in the coming years.

But the star by far was the fabulous David Tennant. Most of you will probably know him best as "Barty Crouch Jr." in the Harry Potter films. You know the guy who does the freaky tounge flick? Yep that's him.

Tennant in Harry Potter.

In Love's Labors Lost he was great as well. The acting was phenomenal!

Tennant relaxing in a tree during the performance . . . it totally suits his character.

If you are ever in London you must see a performance by the RSC.

Haworth and Chatsworth

2008-10-21T14:27:00.012-06:00

On 10 October we left Ambleside hostel (it was so nice to spend two nights in one place and not have to pack up and move) to head home. On the way home we stopped at Haworth Parsonage, the home of the Bronte sisters. Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are currently on my top three favorite classics list so I was so excited to actually see where they lived.
After seeing this picture you might imagine why some of their stories are a little strange. Their front yard is a cemetery!!! The house you can see on the far left of the picture is theirs. Their father was the clergyman of the parrish and so, as you can imagine, they had to live close to the church.
I found this sign on a little walk I took to view the famous "moors" of Bronte country. "Heathcliff, it's me, your Cathy!"

The beautiful and wild moors with are so famous in the Bronte stories, especially Wuthering Heights! Haworth was so charming and a lot of fun . . . although the professors often give us too much time, this time we didn't have enough!

After we were forced back on the coach we headed to Chatsworth House, which has been on my list of places to go since before this whole adventure even began. It was so nice to just be dropped off at the doors instead of trying to find transportation to visit on my own.

A view of Chatsworth.

Chatsworth has been used in many films, including Pride and Prejudice where it was the interior of Pemberly, and the new British film The Dutchess that I would love to see when I get home! The picture above is a little dark but it is a view of the famous grand staircase.

One thing I really loved about Chatsworth is that the current Duke and Dutchess love the arts and they are striving to keep the house connected to the past as well as to the present. While many of the famous manor houses in England are kept like "museums" of the past Chatsworth has a fun mix of the old and the new. The picture above is a view of the gardens from one of the windows. There was a modern sculpture exhibition when we visited so the gardens were full of amazing pieces of art as you can see.

And then there was of course the famous sculpture room within the house which has also been used in films. This Raffaele Monti sculpture, "Veiled Vestal," is one of my favorite sculptures that I have seen. But the highlight for many, Billy Fury step aside, was Mr. Darcy . . .

Me and my new, new (sorry Billy) boyfriend, Mr. Darcy.

It was a great trip full of adventures!

Windermere: I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud

2008-10-21T11:49:00.015-06:00

When we finished our tour of Preston we were once again on the coach and on our way to the infamous Lake District of England. I can't tell you how excited I was to get there! We pulled up to our hostel on the shore of Windermere just in time for dinner. We couldn't resist a little midnight, okay maybe 10 pm, swim in the lake either. It was a little chilly!

The Ambleside hostel right on the shore of Lake Windermere . . . how lucky were we?

View of Windermere around sunset.

View from our window in the hostel, I loved falling asleep to the sound of water on the little dock outside.

The next day our group was headed to Dove Cottage, the home of the poet William Wordsworth. Most of us decided to hike to the little village where the cottage is located, so we woke up a little earlier than the rest of the group and began our journey across the amazing countryside. It was a kind of misty, foggy day but it made the scene all the more surreal.

Another lake we spotted through the mist from the tops of the hills we were crossing.

Wordsworth's home where he wrote his most famous works. Such as "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud:"

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out - did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

After our tour of Dove Cottage we visited Hilltop Farm . . . the home of Beatrix Potter, who wrote the Peter Rabbit books. It was a lot of fun to go through her house because it had so much character. They had books open at different places throughout the house and you could see the illustrations really came from places in the house.

Preston

2008-10-16T02:40:00.012-06:00

After our allotted time at the emigration gallery we jumped on the coach and headed towards the Preston Temple. It felt amazing to just have a little quiet time as we sat on the grounds and enjoyed the sunny weather.

The Preston Temple.

Colorful lily pads in the sunlight.

The temple and some roses.

After we spent some time at the temple we picked up our tour guide and headed to the lovely town of Preston where the first missionaries from the Church preached the gospel for the first time.

It was under this post that the Gospel was first preached in the British Isles. It was also in this place that President Gordon B. Hinckley first preached the Gospel as well, not far from here he read the famous words from his father: "Forget yourself and go to work." From here our guide took us the the place the first group of missionaries lived in Preston.

Okay, so I didn't quite know what to expect, actually, I didn't really think that it would still be standing (though I don't know why . . . there are much older buildings all over Britain). Anyways, it was quite funny to turn the corner and find a small alley full of garbage. In the picture above you can see a bricked up doorway, just to the left of the window. This was the door that the missionaries would enter the building.

The missionaries lived in the top two floors and it was here that they saw the legions of evil spirits rushing towards them. We didn't see any for ourselves but we could imagine.

Here is some of our group squished into the alley. Our tour guide is in the front and I am the one holding the notebook against the wall on the right. It must have been a sight to see, 50 people gathering in and around this alley, we had many strange looks from passers by. As we wandered through the city we learned a lot about the history of the Church in England and the first missionaries. We also saw the "Missionary Oak," the Oak tree to commemorate all the missionaries who have served in Britain and I thought about my daddy.

One of our last stops was the River Ribble where the first baptisms look place.

If you look hard you can see the spot where they performed the baptisms, on the other side of the river just to the right of the bridge. The story goes that there was a race across the bridge to determine the first person to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Britain.

It was an amazing day! I really enjoyed learning all that I could about such an integral part of the Church that we know today.

Come, Come Ye Saints . . . Across the Universe

2008-10-15T14:42:00.009-06:00

We spent the night of 7 October in Liverpool, just a couple of blocks from Albert Docks. It was late enough when we got in that we just had time to eat dinner and then we headed to the docks, everything was closed but we did find a few friends.

This is a statue of a emigrant family donated by the LDS Church. It looks out to the open sea, towards a new home. Lindsey, Megan, Sabrina, Talyn, Tracy, and Rebecca.

I also found my new boyfriend, Billy Fury! (Okay, so we had no idea who he was, he looks like the Elvis of England). He and I hit it off right away.

The next morning we had a little time for ourselves to explore before we had to meet the group. Most of us headed to the Beatles Museum . . . I didn't go in because it cost 8 pounds, or $16 dollars to get in and I'm not a huge Beatles fan in the first place. We did stop by the gift shop and snapped a couple pictures though. HELP! Me, Emilee, Kaitlyn, and Kayla.

We met the rest of the group at Albert Dock, the place where most of our ancestors left their homeland and came to America. Even though it was a chilly day we took a group picture by the Mormon Family statue and then had a little devotional. At the close of our devotional we sang "Come, Come Ye Saints" and there were very few dry eyes at the end of the song, including our coach driver. We all realized the significance of the place and the sacrifice of our ancestors which has blessed our lives so much.

Looking towards the open sea on Albert Dock. After our devotional we visited the Maritime Museum's exhibit on emigration. My favorite part was the life-sized example of a ships living quarters. The bunks didn't look comfortable at all . . . being stuffed in there with a bunch of people, on those hard bunks, in the heaving sea sounds miserable! Overall the gallery was great and I was reminded of the difficulties of the journey across the ocean.

You Know It's Time to Go When Your College Students are All in the Children's Playroom

2008-10-15T12:21:00.008-06:00

After visiting Quarry Bank Mill we headed towards Liverpool. On the way we stopped in a little city called Port Sunlight to visit the Lady Lever Gallery (yes, Lever as in soap, their family collected a lot of artwork). The gallery was beautiful, but it was not very big and the professors had given us 2 1/2 hours to wander the gallery. Needless to say we were done way before it was time to go . . . me especially. I tried to drag out the time, looking at pictures longer than I usually would, but the gallery was so cold and I didn't last more than 45 minutes.

We had been told that the gift shop was a cool one, so, in the hope of somewhere a little warmer Emilee and I wandered downstairs to look at the gift shop. But the gift shop held little sway compared to . . . the children's playroom. There were already a couple girls sitting at the little table and chairs coloring pictures and just behind them . . . were dress ups!

Emilee and I quickly put the dresses on, as best we could. Just then our religion professor, Dr. Wimmer walked in and we convinced Sister Wimmer to dress up with us while Dr. Wimmer took our picture.

I was pretty excited that I fit into this little boy jacket and pants, well ok, they are a little short but still. I may have to find myself a real leather jacket!

Hillary and I re-enacting one of the most famous pictures from the gallery, we should definately become professional models.

This was the scene by the end . . . a bunch of college girls in the children's playroom coloring pictures and dressing up. I think it's time to go.

I Believe I've Seen Hell and it's White, it's Snow White

2008-10-15T08:58:00.011-06:00

On 7 October we headed North for the much anticipated "North Trip." Our first stop was a place called Quarry Bank Mill, a cotton mill from the late 18th Century.

Here is the exterior of the mill. I was interested to visit, especially after reading North and South and The Mill on the Floss, which both feature mills. The tour of the mill took us through the process of making fabric, both in the days before it was industrialized (like the use of a spinning wheel . . . "Rose! Don't touch anything!") and during the Industrial Revolution.

Pictures weren't allowed within the mill . . . but luckily Michael snapped a few shots, the picture above is the creation of thread.

These machines (I sadly don't remember the name) are weaving actual fabric. When the factory was a real working mill there were over 100 of these machines running at once. Because of safety regulations today they were only able to run four at a time for a short while. With four machines running the noise was incredibly loud, we had to shout to hear each other, so I can't even imagine how loud and dangerous the factory would be with 100+ machines running.

The tour of Quarry Bank Mill focused quite a bit on the good conditions of the mill. It is true that Quarry Bank Mill had better conditions, both within the mill as well as the living conditions, than other mills in the larger industrial cities, but life wasn't easy either. To me it seemed that they were trying so hard to portray the mill in a good light that they missed out on some important, but true information. In the movie version of North and South, for example, they depict what a cotton mill would have been like, noisy and filled with cotton "fluff" which the workers would breath in and out all day long and ruin their lungs, etc. The mill owners needed to run a business and the workers needed work, that's how life was. After going into a cotton mill for the first time, the main character of the work, Margaret Hale, states: "I believe I've seen hell and it's white, it's snow white." That pretty much sums up what I think the mills would have been like at the time.

I also found it intriguing that the mill also emphasized their unpaid "child apprentices." Pretty much, that's just a good name for child slaves. I had a hard time grasping why they were so proud of the fact that they had these "child apprentices" at the mill, they were children working on empty stomachs, for no money, in dangerous situations. Oh, well . . . some things in this world are just a mystery to me.

Awh . . . Midterms

2008-10-12T15:16:00.003-06:00

(Read in a monotone voice, just because I'm done studying for the night and don't want to do school work):

I am back . . .

I'm alive . . .

We went to the north and it was cool (no really it was awesome) . . .

I am studying for midterms now . . .

This is no fun . . .

We went to Speaker's Corner today . . .

I'll write after midterms and when I get a minute.

Love You All!!!

Seats of Power: Whitehall and the Mall

2008-10-04T04:47:00.011-06:00

This week I was able to complete a walk among the administrative center of London. Although I'm not all that into politics, I really enjoyed the walk because I learned a lot from it. Throughout this area of London are many statues and monuments dedicated to military heroes and important historical events that seem to be common knowledge for the British, but they were all new for me. I found myself stopping at each monument just to see what each one was about.

I loved this one, dedicated to the Fleet Air Arm's, mostly because it was unique and caught my eye. Most of the memorials were pretty traditional but this one was great!

This statue is dedicated to William Tyndale, who was a major figure in the British Reformation. He began the translation of the Bible into English and smuggled it into England page by page, he was eventually caught and forced to flee to the continent. What an inspired man.

This is a view of Nelson's Column, an identifying landmark in Trafalgar Square. It is dedicated to Admiral Horatio Nelson to commemorate his death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

One of the traditional looking statues of a Commander-in-Chief of the army atop his noble steed.

This is a statue of Robert, Baron Clive. I thought his story was interesting: at eighteen Clive tried to commit suicide but when his gun failed to fire twice he took it as a sign that he had something to accomplish in this world. He went on to become one of the most important British officers in the 1700s.

Guard's Memorial dedicated to soldiers of WWI. When you examine this memorial carefully you can even find shrapnel scars from air raids of WWII.

The Duke of York's monument.

I couldn't get a great picture of this monument but this is a memorial honoring the soldiers of the Crimean War (one which I had never heard of), between Russia on one side and Britain, France, Turkey, and the Piedmont on the other. In front of the Crimean War memorial is a statue of Florence Nightingale who became famous because of her work in this war.

It was very interesting to have a little British history tour and be able to see many of the British heroes that I hadn't know about before.

"Harry's Wondrous World"

2008-10-03T11:30:00.021-06:00

For our day trip this week we were able to travel to the land of the great Oxford University. Our first stop was Blenheim Palace. For the past month the weather has been great, sunny, warm, etc. so we were quite unprepared for the cold that October 1 gave us!!! Although it was a sunny day, it was not warm (as you can see by the faces in the picture below)! I actually enjoyed Blenheim a lot . . . better than Windsor Castle at least.

Kaitlyn, Kayla, Emilee, and I freezing in front of Blenheim Palace. We were able to wander the gardens and park a little bit before our tour and I loved them, though they weren't nearly as spectacular as Stourhead.

Here is a waterfall we found during our brief exploration of the park. Aside from its amazing architecture and design, Blenheim is known as the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. It was also used for many different purposes during World War II . . . I think its colorful history and fun stories is what made it more exciting than Windsor Castle.

After our tour of Blenheim we jumped in the bus and headed to the famous city of Oxford, home to Oxford University. We had the whole afternoon to do whatever we liked so we headed out to explore. The first college that we visited was Magdalen College, pronounced "Mawd-lin" calling it "Mag-da-lin" is a big no-no! It is one of the most beautiful colleges at Oxford and was home to C.S. Lewis as a student!

A view of Magdalen College from the deer park.

The famous gargoyles of Magdalen College are rumored to have inspired the stone statues' in C.S. Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia, which I love . . . if you have not read them you should!!!

During our wandering we found The Eagle and Child pub. This is where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien would meet and discuss whatever was in their brilliant minds at the time.

We also found a Ben's Cookies! There are only 9 located in the UK and 1 outside the UK . . . in Salt Lake City, Utah!!! So if you get a chance stop on by because they are delicious. (Side note: this picture is courtesy of Emilee . . . the big glass of milk, it's not mine!)

The next part of the day was my favorite, because I'm the biggest Harry Potter nerd ever!!! The first two Harry Potter films have many scenes from Oxford and we had fun finding them and recreating them. Scenes of the Hogwarts Library have been filmed in this library, but we couldn't go in because only Oxford students were allowed.

Christ Church College was the major filming area in Oxford for the first two films. Here is Hillary and Laura in one of the courtyards holding up their wands, it looks Harry Potter-ish doesn't it?

Here is another view of the courtyard, Emilee, Hillary, Bethany, and I by the fountain. But here is where the real fun begins.

Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone watching the students enter Hogwarts.

I couldn't find the exact picture we recreated but here is my version. This is on the staircase leading to Christ Church's cafeteria . . . better known as "The Great Hall."

The Great Hall in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Christ Church's "Great Hall." Okay, so its not so "great" without the digital effects (i.e. making it look bigger, longer, and more wizardy) but it still is where they filmed it!!!

Becky, Emilee, Me, and Katie and our wands in the Great Hall.

We had a ton of fun in Oxford and we rapped up the night with Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral, which is like the Anglican version of Mass held at 6 pm. It was a great experience but it made me appreciate our church services even more!!!

Walking Through the City

2008-09-30T14:46:00.015-06:00

I was interested to go on this walk and discover a little more about London. From what I have seen so far I have realized that it is always an interesting and fun mix of the old and the new. The financial side of town wasn't much different. At times there would be towering works of modern architecture and at others there would be a church that is hundreds of years old tucked between two other buildings . . . just waiting to be discovered. Another element of London that I was excited to see on this walk was the pubs and other eating establishments scattered throughout the walk. I have noticed that a lot of restaurants and pubs have interesting names so I decided to focus on some of the interesting ones that I found.

There is the simple, such as "Great British Grub."

Or there's the more traditional, like "Lamb's Tavern."

There's the interesting, like "Fuzzy's Grub" here.

Or there's pubs based on peoples names . . . at least I think it's based on someone's name.

I thought this one was funny, especially with the horns and the tail.

There's also the historical such as "Ye Olde Mitre" which, unlike stores in the US with the name "Ye Olde," it really is OLD.

I took a picture of The Jamaica Wine House not necessarily because of its name but because it is standing on the historical spot where the first coffee house in London stood many, many years ago.

But the winner of the day had to be . . .

DRUM ROLL . . .

another drum roll . . .

some trumpets . . .

Ta-da!

"Hung Drawn and Quartered." Need I say more? In the past, London has not been known for its food, but the names of the pubs make up for everything else . . . almost.

Happy Birthday Laura, Emilee, and Sam!!!

2008-09-30T13:28:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was a big birthday day at the center. My roommate Laura turned 20, my friend Emilee turned 21, and another girl from the Center, Sam, turned 20 as well! Unfortunately, we all had classes in the morning and then we all parted ways to get the things done that we needed to so that we could play later. After dinner a group of us took two of the birthday girls, Laura and Emilee (Sam was doing stuff with another group of girls), and headed out on the town. The first stop, as requested by the birthday girls, was a little gourmet chocolate shop called Cocomia. Now I am not really a chocolate person, so I wasn't as giddy and intoxicated with chocolate pleasure as the rest of the girls, I just went along for the fun of it. Even though there were ten of us, as soon as we walked into the shop the woman told us: "I will make you try some of our chocolates," and she proceeded to have us sample almost the entire shop. Then we each bought a few chocolates. It was expensive, about 2 pounds (4 dollars) for a little square of chocolate, but it was pretty amazing and I'm not even a chocolate girl as I already said. If you are ever in London, and a big chocolate fan, visit Cocomia because the girls fell in love last night!

Most of the group inside Cocomia.

After we dragged ourselves from the Cocomia we rushed off to see Hairspray, which is the top rated musical in London right now (imagine that). We got to the theatre about 20 minutes before the show started and were all able to get tickets with our student discount cards for 20 pounds, about 30 pounds cheeper than regular price. Here is our view from the nose-bleeds of London theatre, but the performance was amazing! At one point two of the characters started cracking up and we had a improv moment which was hilarious!!! It was a really fun night . . . Happy Birthday Girlies!

The Three Hour Tour . . . Well Almost

2008-09-30T12:21:00.010-06:00

When we got to the London Center we were assigned different wards to attend and help out in (about 3-4 students per ward). I was assigned to the Crystal Palace ward with one of my roommates, Kayla, and another girl from the center, Jenny.

Crystal Palace, Week 1:

At 7:00 am we leave the Center, get on the tube, and travel to Victoria station.
From Victoria we catch the 8:51 train to Orpington and get off at the Penge East stop.
The map and the directions we were given don't quite match so we decide to follow the map.
The map gets us totally lost so we head back towards the station and follow the directions.
We find our ward, held in a elementary, or primary school.
We have about 10 minutes to spare before the meeting begins at 10 am.

Crystal Palace, Week 2:

At 7:00 am we leave the Center, get on the tube, and travel to Victoria station.
We catch the 8:51 train to Orpington and get off at the Penge East stop.
We remember our way and reach Malcolm Primary School with a half hour to spare.
We have got this church thing under control.

Crystal Palace, Week 3:

At 7:00 am we leave the Center, get on the tube, and travel to Victoria station.
We catch the 8:51 train to Orpington.
As the train leaves Victoria station we all become absorbed in our books and activities.
I begin thinking in my head: "This seems like a really long train ride . . . oh well, I must just be tired."
Then my roommate Kayla says: "Guys, I don't recognize any of these stops . . . "
And that's when we know . . .

Kayla after we figure out that somehow the 8:51 train to Orpington, which we always take, is somehow taking a different route today. One that will not take us to church. We decided the safest thing to do was to ride the train all the way out to Orpington and figure everything out there. By the time we reach Orpington it is 9:40.

Orpington station on Sunday morning.

Kayla and Jenny showing their chagrin. We went and talked to the people in the ticket office and they informed us that the line from Victoria was having some work done on it for the day . . . thus the new route. They then told us that we had to catch the train back to Victoria at 10:08 and get off at another stop along the way.

It was a chilly morning so we spent our half hour wait in the stinky waiting room, which was a little warmer than outside. We then caught the 10:08 train to Victoria . . . already 8 minutes late for church. We were able to get off at the stop we were told to and then found the ticket office there to see what we had to do next. The woman informed us that because the line was closed we would have to take a railway service bus, free of charge thankfully. The bus ride was an adventure but we got to Penge East station around 11:00 am and then walked to church, arriving at 11:10 . . . just as Sacrament meeting got out.

Malcolm Primary School with an LDS sign outside. I know this is a bad picture but we were over an hour late for church what were you expecting?! It was my first day in Primary and everything went really well, but we had to leave ten minutes early to catch the bus back to a station so that we could get back home. Whew! What an adventuresome day. Next time we will know to check the stops as well as the platform!

Wide Open Spaces!!!

2008-09-28T09:07:00.020-06:00

Since we got to party for most of the week last week we got to work for it this week. Instead of having classes two or three times this week we had them four times!!! (I don't know how I'm going to go back to school Winter semester when I used to such a great schedule). Regardless of how many times we had class this week, it still would have been a very heavy homework week.

On Monday we all visited the Globe theatre for a tour, after the tour some of us went to Westminster Abbey. It was fun to see the Abbey for the second time within a couple of weeks because I was able to go to the places that I loved most, like, the Lady's Chapel and Poet's Corner. Tuesday - Friday we had classes and homework, homework, homework . . . Huzzah!!! On Wednesday we were able to go out and have a little fun at a matinee performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe. We were groundings huddled around the stage . . . luckily the rain held during that time period, and it was hilarious! It's fun to read Shakespeare but even better to see it performed, especially by some of the world's best Shakespeare performers. By the end of the week we were all beat. We went out and wandered around for a bit before relaxing and watching a movie.

Saturday totally made the whole week's effort worth the pain. We went on a country walk in Kent (just for you dad) and I realized how much I love the country and open spaces, something which is very accessible in Utah and the West. I don't think I could live for long without seeing the mountains or open country. It was beautiful!!! The leaves are starting to change and the weather was gorgeous (Rain in England? I don't know why everyone keeps saying that!).

Becky, Katie, and Hillary on the train.

Some more of our train crew: Emilee, Kaitlyn, Kayla, and Michael.

This is the beautiful landscape that we were walking through all day. We only had one uphill climb that got my heart rate up slightly but other than that it was just a relaxing day and my heart was so happy to be out in the wide open spaces. I was shocked that we were just trompin' through people's fields . . . they had already been harvested but this would be a big no-no at home!

After we had been walking a while our tour guide . . . a gentleman from one of the stakes we attend who takes every BYU London group on this walk, took us across this golf course driving range. I couldn't help but think of Papa Mac and Val down in St. George playing golf themselves. It was quite comical to watch 30+ people marching through the driving range with golfers waiting for us to pass at the top of the hill, they were pretty good for not trying to hit some fresh targets (I would have been tempted). Emilee was excited about it though.

After we had made it safely across the driving range we began the next leg of our walk. We discovered that the road was lined with blackberry bushes and we all enjoyed eating as we made our way along. From left to right: Annie, Natalie, Megan, and Lindsey eating blackberries.

For lunch we stopped at Eynsford Castle, or the ruins of an old Roman castle. We didn't have long to eat but we enjoyed the sunshine and a little break. Our lunch crew: Michael, Bethany, Katie, Emilee, Kaitlyn, Laura, and Kayla.

As our journey continued we came across this beautiful bridge and stream . . .

A really, really, old church.

At one point we stopped at this hops farm, thus my picture of hops above, where they were selling some pretty cool stuff. Aside from growing hops they also grow lavender, fruit, corn, etc. Some people in our group bought lavender ice cream and I had a taste. You may be asking yourself: "What does lavender ice cream taste like?" Well let me explain to you: it tastes like lavender smells. It was actually kind of good. Some of the other girls bought Ginger Beer, kind of like Apple Beer . . . but Ginger if you get where I'm going. Anyways, it was okay. It had this bite to it that got you right in the back of the throat, it was fun to try some new things. I ended up getting some frozen raspberries which were delicious!

We finished off our walk around mid-afternoon. I wish we could have kept going but it was time to go home. Here is some of the group at the end of the walk, waiting for the train . . . please note all the books, they were all much more studious than I!

Amazing Grace

2008-09-23T04:01:00.013-06:00

On Sunday night we watched the movie Amazing Grace, the story of William Wilberforce and his struggle to abolish the slave trade in England, for one of my classes. I have seen the movie before . . . but not since I have returned home from Ghana. Before the movie started I told myself that I was going to keep it together, I had cried the first time I saw the movie but I knew what was coming so I wouldn't embarrass myself in front of the whole program. I didn't last long. Luckily for me the room was dark but I had to get up and leave about 20 minutes into the movie so I could go get a tissue and have a little cry away from everyone else. But as I watched the film, focused mostly on the English politics of the situation, all I could think about was the things that I have seen on the African side of the spectrum. I saw in my mind the slave castles, the dungeons, the stories . . .

Here is a partial view of Cape Coast Castle. Much of the African slave trade was based in Ghana, with three slave castles along the coast. Cape Coast Castle was one of the biggest. It is here where slaves were bartered for, imprisoned, punished, beaten, killed, and, if they survived, sent from their homeland forever. I can't even explain to you the dark, overpressing spirit that covered this castle.

This picture shows the entrance to the male dungeons. The room that you can see directly above the entrance is the first Anglican church in Ghana. The first Christian church . . .

Here is another view of the church . . . this time we are on the upper level looking at the door to the church on the right. The small square on the ground you can see is a trap door where you could check on your slave in the dungeon before walking into church. The walls could not block out the sounds of pain, suffering and death from below. I am horrified by the thought of Christians going to church with all this around them and feeling good about the world.

One of the male dungeons, this tiny space would be filled with hundreds of men. The small window you can see above was their only source of light and fresh air. Food and water would be thrown down once in a while from another hole. There was no way to get away from their own blood and sewage.

The Cell, or Cape Coast Castle's version of the death chamber for misbehaving slaves.

I cried because I just don't understand how people can treat their brothers and sisters in such a way. I cried because I have lived with, taught, and love the people of Ghana. The picture above is of some of our children. They love to learn! Look at them just soaking in the book Where the Wild Things Are.
Some of the children I love at worship service. They are so adorable!!!

Needless to say that by the end of the movie I was a mess. I had hidden myself in a corner so that I wouldn't disturb anyone but when the lights came on everyone knew. My face was bright red, I was shaking, my eyes were bloodshot, my nose was stuffy, and I was trying to stay somewhat composed. My roommates and close friends knew immediately why I was crying and were so sweet, but everyone else was a little baffled. Professor Paul asked me if it was the first time I had seen the movie and I tried to explain to her in that tear-studdering voice that I had just been to Africa this summer. It took me a while to calm down but I was grateful for the reminder of my love of the people of Ghana. I am so grateful to the strong men and women of this world like William Wilberforce who have dedicated their lives to making this world a better place.

English Paradise

2008-09-22T09:27:00.017-06:00

On Thursday we woke up and headed to the beach, about 2 miles from Lands End. Once again we lucked out with the weather because there was not a cloud in the sky and the water was so clear and gorgeous . . . to top it all off the beach was actually sandy! Not the typical rocky beach that I have seen most other places in England.

Here is a view of the beach from the amazing sea-side, cliff walk we took. We climbed up and up a bunch of stone steps to the top of the cliffs and enjoyed the views. You can see some of the group down bellow on the beach and the beautiful water and cliffs everywhere else.

I somehow I felt like I wasn't in England anymore. With the rock steps and cliffs and blue ocean I felt like a was in Greece or some Mediterranean country.

Me on the cliffs looking out towards Lands' End. As I was standing on this rock I was suddenly struck with the overpowering need to go swimming. I was able to convince three other girls to come with me and we climbed over the rocks to a semi-hidden cove and took a little dip. The water was a bit chilly but not nearly as bad as some of the water I've swam in.

Happy after the swim. Kaitlyn, Me, Emilee, and Hilary . . . everyone but myself were novices when it came to things like . . . oh, um . . . skinny-dipping. It felt great to introduce them to such a wonderful world of adventure and what a great way to start, in England, in the Atlantic Ocean, on a sunny day!

Talyn, Emilee, Me, Katie, and Kaitlyn jumping in exhilaration on the beach.

Later that day we made our way to St. Michael's Mount, an island when the tide is high but a peninsula when the tide is low. We were able to walk out to the island and tour the castle, which was interesting.

Walking out to St. Michael's Mount (you can see the castle on top).

The Harbor at St. Michael's.

Gorgeous water and sailboat. (P.S. - some of the pictures that I have posted, such as this one, are not mine but from others in the program. This one is from Emilee.)

We stayed the night in Exeter and the next day visited Lyme (which I have already posted about) before travelling home the rest of the day.

The Garden of Eden - English Style

2008-09-22T08:56:00.011-06:00

On Wednesday, 17 September we left for our trip to the West of England. Our first stop on the way was an estate called Stourhead . . . one of the most beautiful places I have been in England. The architecture of the estate is after the Palladian style and all gorgeous but the main attraction is the huge gardens surrounding the lake.

Here we are (Hilary, Katie, Bethany, and I) infront of the main house, it wasn't even open but none of us really cared, we were too excited for the gardens.

It was a gorgeous day. It started out a little overcast but it was warm and the sun eventually came out. Here is a glimpse of the gardens and their reflection in the lake.

One of the temples found on the grounds from across the lake.

The walk around the lake was about two miles and full of amazing sites.

If you are familiar with the new Pride and Prejudice movie with Keira Knightley you might recognize this structure. This is the place where Lizzy finds shelter from the rain and Mr. Darcy appears and proposes/amost kisses her and she refuses. As would be expected, we all enjoyed taking pictures and letting our imaginations run wild!

After Stourhead we headed to the house Thomas Hardy was born in and then made our way to Penzance . . . yes like the Pirates of Penzance, to stay the night in the YMCA hostel.

"Catch Me!!"

2008-09-20T14:50:00.009-06:00

I felt much more confident in understanding the importance of Lyme to the plot of Jane Austin's work Persuasion than I did in Bath. It was especially fun to visit after watching the movie the day before on the bus, though the weather could not be more opposite. After driving through the gorgeous countryside of Cornwall and Devonshire we arrived in Lyme to the excitement of all. We wandered the city . . . looking for food mostly but we happened across a fossil shop that we couldn't help going into. I hadn't known, until one of the professors informed me, that the Victorians had been extremely interested in collecting fossils and things of the past and Lyme was a hot spot for collectors. While wandering the shop I came across a giant map labeled "Green River Fossils." Who knew that I could find Utah fossils all the way in England? They also most definitely had geodes . . .

Side Note (you can skip this if you're not interesting in reminiscing): Alex Tingey - do you remember our family trip to Capitol Reef National Park when you taught me how to find geodes and we spent the whole hike finding them and breaking them open? I will always remember how fun that was and how you were the coolest cousin ever . . . I still have some of those geodes!!!

Anyways, back to Lyme. It was fun to learn something new about the hobbies of the people of the Victorian age. When we left the skinny, skinny main street we came upon this:

No wonder people have been drawn to Lyme for holiday. Though I imagine that the weather would usually be a little more blustery and wet. There was a lot going on . . . restaurants, swimming, sun bathing, ice cream eating, strolls along the Cob, etc.

After lunch most of the program converged upon the Cob. Here are a few of us (Becky, Kayla, Emilee, Kaitlyn, and Me) on the Cob.

Here is my reenactment of the infamous scene between Louisa Musgrove and Captin Wentworth. For those of you who are not familiar with this scene, let me lay it out for you. Louisa is enjoying jumping off the steps into Captain Wentworth's arms but after a few jumps he tells her she must not jump anymore or she will hurt herself. As she runs up the stairs again she insists she must and proceeds to throw herself off the steps while yelling "Catch me!" Captain Wentworth, who was clearly not prepared watches as she falls to the ground seemingly lifeless. After quite a long recovery Louisa's health returns, Captain Wentworth gets the girl of his dreams (not Louisa, you'll just have to read it), etc, etc. Of course, our focus was on the jump and treacherous fall.

The interesting thing that this reenactment brought about was the discussion about women. After reading the book, watching the movie, and seeing the Cob for myself it was interesting to make a judgement for myself. As the book says: "There was no wound, no blood, no visible bruise; but her eyes were closed, she breathed not, her face was like death." The stairs of the Cob are pretty high and if you fell off the top I'm pretty sure you would be hurt. But, if Louisa was hopping off the stairs into Captain Wentworth's arms, which she was, then she wasn't that high from the ground. If I had jumped from that high and fell down I would have been embarrassed and maybe a little scratched up but I'd most likely be fine. So here's my question . . . are women that much stronger today than they were 200 years ago? Or is it that we have been taught to be stronger mentally? Any suggestions?

Take A Seat, Places to Sit in Hyde Park

2008-09-20T08:39:00.011-06:00

It was another amazingly sunny and gorgeous day today so we decided to go on our Hyde Park walk. Although the park is filled with the active there are many oppertunities for one to just sit and enjoy the outdoors, especially on a day like today.

If you fancy a bite to eat have a seat at these picinic benches and try not to feel too guilty as you watch the runners speed by.

On sunny days like today relax on these beautiful lawn chairs . . . just make sure to bring a little change because you'll be asked to pay.

As Emilee is demonstrating, you can sit near a sculpture or fountain and ponder a piece of art for hours on end.

Benches such as this one offer great protection on those rainy days in London. They do exist don't they . . . I've heard rumor that they do but I haven't seen many of them!!!

If all else fails, just pull up a piece of grass and take a nap.

A bench in the rose garden.

Seats abound, espcially around monuments . . . Here is Emilee taking in the amazing Australian War Memorial.

If it is a little adventure you crave you can rent a paddleboat and explore the Serpentine!!! So come on and find your seat in the park.

Refuge from the City - Kensington Gardens

2008-09-20T06:53:00.009-06:00

With the rush of the city and the worries of everyday life there are times when one just needs a little break from it all. Fulton J. Sheen once said, "Leisure is a form of silence, not noiselessness. It is the silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let our minds rest on a rosebud, a child at play, a Divine mystery, or a waterfall." The first time I entered Kensington Gardens I noticed the great amount of people who were just taking a break. The following pictures are just a few examples of ways you can escape from the city.

You can escape the city by visiting the Sunken Gardens.

Or take a stroll beneath some HUGE trees like the gentleman in this picture.

There are also fountains and ponds where you can sit (or stroll) and reflect on anything you desire!
The grass in some areas of the park has been allowed to grow longer than the rest to create the sense of a more rustic park . . . so if you don't have time to drive out to the countryside then come visit the "wild side" of the park and you can almost imagine you have left the city entirely.

There are also many opportunities to bird watch while in the park, as demonstrated by the woman in this picture.

If you need an outlet for your pent-up aggression why not try a game of football like these young men.

Enjoy a few minutes wandering through the flower gardens and enjoying the beauty and color of nature.
Or, if all else fails . . . take your puppies on a walk. They even have doggie drinking fountains!!!

"Nay, I can Gleek Upon Occasion"

2008-09-16T14:57:00.005-06:00

Today I had Shakespeare and then I was done for the day! Since I had finished most of my immediate homework I read North and South until lunch time when the other classes got out. After a little lunch, a group of us went to Kensington Gardens to fulfill one of our walks. We have had beautiful weather the past week. It has been cloudy but not really rainy, so the walk in the park was very enjoyable. We spent a lot of time wandering around but it was so gorgeous and beautiful (I'll post some pictures this weekend) that it was worth it.

Because we are leaving for a 3 day trip to the West early tomorrow morning (I don't really know where we are going but it will be fun regardless . . . I'll post and share everything), we wanted to get most of our homework done. Like reading a whole Shakespeare play before next class. So, after dinner we met at 7 to read A Midsummer Night's Dream. So many people showed up to read that we split up into two groups and divided up the parts so that everyone got a major character as well as a number of smaller characters. I know I've mentioned this before but no matter how nerdy it sounds . . . it was a blast. I is so much more fun to read a play in a group with different voices and commentaries and laughter than by yourself in your room. If you don't understand the title of this post let me just say that you discover quite a few great lines when you are reading Shakespeare's plays. Of course this line meant something completely different in Shakespeare's time but it gave us a laugh tonight. It took 3 hours to complete the play but it really was a party. Well, I better go pack because we need to be to breakfast by 6 am in the morning.

Love you all!!!

I'm Not Dead Yet . . .

2008-09-15T14:52:00.003-06:00

But I might be soon because according to my mom . . . I'm not giving enough detail about my daily life here in the Center. Chill people!!! There are only so many hours in a day and definitely not enough to accomplish everything we want to do in the city, classes, homework, social fun, etc. But I will try to do better. I don't have a picture tour yet but hopefully that will be coming soon, so here it goes:

Monday, 15 September

7:00 - Wake up and start to get ready
7:30 - breakfast (it's great, I just walk down the hall and grab some food that's all laid out for me)
8:00-8:50 - finish getting ready, do a little reading, and go up 2 flights of stairs to class
9:00-10:30 - Religion class (right now it really isn't religion . . . more like British history, politics, etc.)
10:40-12:10 - Humanities 202 (we are discussing the early northern Renaissance in painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, etc.)
12:20-1:40 - Women's Study - basically in this class we are discussing women's place in society through the 17th and 18th Century, today we worked on Romanticism
2:00 - lunch, hurray for apples and pb&j!
2:30-4:45 - homework, I know, I know, this is boring but I really needed to get a lot done today because we are leaving for a 3 day trip on Wednesday and I don't want to be doing homework the entire time!
4:45 - devotional
5:00 - dinner, we have dinner this early so that people can go to plays and performances at night if they so wish. Tonight we had:

Beef Strogonoff
Hot bread (my favorite, we have it almost every night . . . fresh out of the oven)
Sugared Pecan Salad
Broccoli

After dinner I asked Professor Benfell about the Shakespeare sonnets he asked us to read before tomorrow's class. This will sound nerdy but I absolutely love living in the same area as my professors. We eat meals together, we go to class, we go on excursions together, we have interesting discussions . . . it's great! So I was having a hard time understanding the meanings of the sonnets and he sat down with us (there were probably 5 or 6 girls still sitting around after dinner) and read through one of the sonnets and then explained and discussed it with us, which was extremely helpful.

After our Shakespeare discussion a few of us headed out for a gelato. Professor Benfell told us the best shop in our area and we took a nice walk to get some . . . it was the best gelato I have ever tasted!!! When we returned home we retired to the Drawing Room (at first we called it the lounge until a British gentleman informed us that it was definitely a dr-oh-ring room) to read Shakespeare sonnets. We read the sonnet aloud, then read it to ourselves, then had a discussion about what it meant. Well, I didn't really participate, I just listened and took notes and soaked up all the information I could.

Well, that equals the whole of my day. I am done with all my work for the night so I will go read my book, North and South . . . I'm not that far into it but I recommend it thus far. I love you all and am always thinking of you!

A Walk on the Wild Side: South of the Thames

2008-09-15T07:17:00.013-06:00

My roommate Kaitlyn and I did this walk on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful day and I loved getting my bearings around the Thames. They were actually setting up for the HUGE Thames festival so we got to browse through a few booths before the crowds showed up.

One of the biggest things I noticed, and loved, about this walk was the art around the city. At some points it was more traditional . . . sculptures, etc. and at others it was more modern or trendy even. But no matter the kind there was always something interesting to look at which revealed a little more about the people, history, and ever changing culture of the city.

A sculpture of the Holy Family outside of Southwark Cathedral.

Cube and fountains in the shadow of Tower Bridge (no you can't see it in this picture).

Cool memorial thingy dedicated by the Queen.

Some wall art.

The outside of the Tate Modern.

A fantasy-land ship sculpture!!!

Street art in a skate park.

Walking the Walls of Londinium

2008-09-15T06:24:00.012-06:00

Just a note to those who don't already know a lot about the London program . . . as part of our assigned duties we are asked to complete a number of walks around the city. For our first walk we followed the basic boundary line for the walls of the old Roman city of Londinium. Even in Medieval times this area contained most of the city of London.

Throughout the walk I noticed the stark contrast between the old, like six hundred plus years, and the modern elements of the area. We began the walk at Tower Hill, an interesting place to start because we immediately saw part of the old Roman wall and, of course, the Tower of London.

For instance, in this picture you can see the Tower of London with a nice modern building just next door.Everywhere you look in this area you could find a mix of old and new. In this picture you can just catch a glimpse of a glass building behind the older buildings.

I love this image of the older houses, all connected and huddled together, beneath the towering buildings around them.

The church in this picture is St. Olave's, one of the few churches in London to escape the fire of 1666, it is interesting to note that the famous "Mother Goose" is buried in this church. As you can see, life goes on. In the background you can see newer buildings as well as cranes working hard to add on to the city.

The Great Gherkin towering over some flats.

Ruins among the city.

The wall under a walkway.

I love that there is a lot of history preserved in London. In many US cities the mentality is something like: "If it's old tear it down and put something new in," but it was great to see both the old and the new mixed together in the old city of Londinium.

Stonehenge

2008-09-12T08:17:00.010-06:00

Once upon a time, in the far away kingdom of . . . England, there lived a king who decided to erect a memorial to the four hundred and sixty British nobles who were treacherously massacred by the Saxons. So he called Merlin who said, "Send for the Giant's Round," which was a ring of stones said to have been transported to Ireland from Africa by the giants. The king's brother set out for Ireland with fifteen thousand men and when they reached the place where the Giant's Round stood they tried to dismantle the stones. No matter how hard they tried they could not dismantle the stones. Merlin saw this and laughed and used his magic powers to take down the stones himself and bring them to England, then erected them again in exactly the same way as they had stood in Ireland. And there they stand even to this day . . .

There are many legends about how Stonehenge came to be. Some say it was a trick of the devil's, others say it was the Druids, but whoever, or whatever, created Stonehenge it is still here today. When my family was here Nathan wanted nothing more than to visit Stonehenge. Although it would have been an amazing thing to see . . . it was probably better not to drive for hours to the middle of nowhere for something that you spend an hour tops at. Luckily for us . . . it was sunny and Stonehenge was on our way to Bath so we got to see this wonder of the world.

Nate, I was thinking of you!!!

A reenactment of Stonehenge (Kaitlyn, Katie, Dasily, and Me)

Hurray for Stonehenge! (Kayla, Hailee, Me, Kaitlyn)

Bath and Austen

2008-09-11T06:36:00.016-06:00

As an English major it is often hard for me to admit that I have not read many of the classics on the "must read" list that all people seem to have learned at birth . . . except for me, somehow I missed that one. Of course I have read some of them, but it has been a great experience to be with so many girls who know so much about the classics. Yesterday we had the opportunity to travel to Bath, the Land of Jane Austin. Unfortunately, the two major Austin books which feature Bath (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion) are ones I am less familiar with. I read Persuasion for the first time this summer before coming to London and loved it, but I have never read Northanger Abbey. So I got to soak in all the information that these girls seemed to be spouting about everything.

The picture above is of one of my roommates, Laura, at Laura Place in Bath where, I was told, a number of scenes take place in each novel.

We were then able to go to visit a house on the Royal Crescent which has been restored to match the true Georgian style. The picture above shows the Circus as well as the Crescent (the full circle is the Circus and the half-crescent is ta-da! the Royal Crescent). I learned a lot about Austin in going to #1 Royal Crescent. It was so interesting to discover that Bath was more of a resort town, a place where people would come for the winter or from an extended break from life. The dining room was set up as it would have been for dessert and the rooms were each decorated immaculately. It is interesting to see how life was at different periods of time. One thing that I noticed just walking through the house was that the people of Austin's day had a different sense of beauty. The rooms were covered in expensive fabrics, the women's dressing table held all the essentials to powder their wigs and pretty much cake their faces in makeup, but it was fashionable for the day.

Something I better understood about Austin after visiting Bath was that her books were not just stories from her imagination. Of course, I realized that there was some truth or reality found in her work but I didn't realize how much of it was directly from her life. Not only do her books reflect the ideals of her day, they also feature real places, such as Laura's Place and the Royal Crescent, tangible parts of the author's life.

After visiting the Royal Crescent we were able to visit the assembly rooms that are also found throughout Austin's work.

This is a picture of Kaitlyn and Emilee dancing in one of the assembly rooms. Again, it seemed surreal that these were actual elements within Austin's work and yet it was just a part of life in England as Austin knew it. These were places where society interacted, where friendships and relationships were formed. After seeing the assembly rooms, reading about them in Austin's work, and imagining them countless times it is easy to realize why Austin became frustrated with how parts of society and relationships worked.

After a full day we decided to take a little break for the traditional tea time at the Pump Room. What I thought was great was that although Austin lived so long ago the traditions (and places) still remain today. These areas of social interaction are still used and experienced today.

As Americans (and especially LDS girls) we had a little confusion on how to properly go about all the different tea pots (maybe it is important to note that we drank herbal tea at our traditional tea time party), but in the end we enjoyed ourselves in the world of Austin.

Jane and I hangin' out in Bath . . .

Here In London Town

2008-09-06T13:45:00.006-06:00

The trip with the family was so much fun but I'm leaving the details for my mom to report on so keep checking up on the family blog for more on our trip. When my family left for home on September 6, I started my own adventure. After taking a taxi to the BYU London Center, I checked in and have been trying to reorganize my life ever since. There has been orientation meetings, class introductions, church assignments, street fairs, walks, plays, etc. So it's been crazy crazy but extreemly fun.

Sunday after church a group of us headed into London to check out a street fair. The reason we wanted to see the street fair was this acting group called The Factory. Basically, they are this group of actors who preform Shakespeare plays, impromptu. When we stepped out of the tube station we were met with this.

The guy holding the flag was Hamlet. They preformed the first act in this location and then we all moved down the street a ways to watch the second act. The cool part about it was you didn't know who were the actors and who were the spectators because at one point a girl in the crowd wearing a backpack and scarf stepped out of the crowd and just started spouting off Ophelia's lines.

Another scene, note the crowd, they were totally loving it. Two of our favorites to watch in the crowd were the woman in the red hat as well as the lady in the blue scarf . . . they were mouthing the lines and all smiles.

Claudius, the King (with Hamlet in the background) after Hamlet's play was performed and he is praying . . . in the pond. Like I said before, it was impromptu so they were using their environment as well as random objects people in the crowd brought them to use. The whole thing was fun, it was a unique environment and the actors were really amazing.

The rest of the week has been pretty busy with the start of classes and homework, etc. but we still had fun getting out and seeing the musical Gigi.

A few of us before the play (sorry the picture is blurry). It was the first time that I've seen Gigi and it was a great time!!!

So part of my homework it to report on some of the places we visit. For instance, today we visited Stonehenge and Bath and so you will probably be seeing some pictures from the trip along with random posts having to do with some of my classes. But I figure I might as well post AND get some homework done at the same time so check back soon!!!

Love you all!!!

Kenzie

Conundrum

2008-08-26T11:27:00.006-06:00

London Packing List
From the BYU Study Abroad Student Handbook:

3-5 pairs of pants
6-8 shirts
1-2 casual skirts
1 nice dress
a one piece bathing suit
pajamas
jacket
1-2 pairs of comfortable shoes
comfortable dress shoes
towel

Now let me show you my dilemma:

and . . .

Now do you see my problem? Let's just say I have a few more shoes than I'm supposed to and . . . if you can't tell by the piles of pants and the large stack of hangers in the second picture, a couple more clothes than is recommended. But hey!!! I can't help it! I want to go over to London and LIVE there for three and a half months, not be a long-term-tourist. SIX TO EIGHT SHIRTS! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I think I would die. I get easily bored with my closet-full of clothes after a while.

Well, last night mom helped me sort through my things and I did end up leaving two pairs of pants home and a few shirts. Not an easy thing that. Since I'm an expert packer I've gotten all my stuff in my one suitcase and carry-on . . . now it's time to weigh it and I'm just crossing my fingers that it's not overweight or there will be trouble.

Summer Fun

2008-08-23T09:41:00.024-06:00

I've been slacking on the blogging front this summer so I thought I'd give a few highlights in pictures . . .

On the 24th of July our family went to see the new Batman movie and we were surprised when The Joker showed up at our 24th of July celebrations!!!

We celebrated the great holiday with lots of fireworks! Here is one reflected in the Brown's pool.

Avery and I have been long anticipating the new book, Breaking Dawn, from Stephenie Meyer. We have had copies reserved since the beginning of February. So on August 1 we woke up early and headed down to Barnes and Noble to get our wristbands so we could get our books at midnight. When Nate and I went to get our wristband for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows we were disappointed to find that we were about the 100th person in line, and it was only 7 am! So Avery and I went a little earlier . . . arriving at the bookstore at 6 am. Well . . . we were first in line (as you can see in the picture above). Carloads of people began arriving around 6:30.

Here is Avery modeling our wristband, which we were very proud of. Notice the A1 . . . that means we would be the first to get our books at midnight!!!

Here is Avery holding the sign . . . signifying that we were first in line. Sadly, my camera died just after this picture so we didn't get to document the rest of the night. We got quite a few dirty looks from others in the store. At 12:01 am on August 2 we got our books and hurried home to read. The parking lot was full of people and they screamed and screamed when they saw us walk out with our books . . . good times! Avery and I read the first chapter together before going to bed. But I couldn't sleep, so I read through the night and quickly finished . . . Avery wasn't too happy with me. I read it with her again though, which was a lot of fun!

I couldn't help but put this picture in. At my cousin Brit's Eagle Scout Court of Honor, I convinced my grandma to pose with this moose!!! She is the greatest.

As my mom mentioned on her blog we recently went up to Rexburg, Idaho for a tour of my grandpa's history. It was a lot of fun . . . something many of the grand kids weren't convinced of before going. Since my mom did such a great job at explaining I suggest you visit the family blog (http://ohtobeskiing.blogspot.com/) and read about it . . . that way I don't have to repeat everything on my blog!!!

The family hiking up the highest sand dune. I was impressed by grandma and grandpa . . . they weren't tired at all and it wasn't the easiest walk!!!

The Tetons from the Idaho side with miles of farmland between.

The Tetons from the Wyoming side . . . one of my favorite sights in the whole world.

After eating lunch at Leeks Marina we enjoyed some ice cream on the beach . . . Stockton seemed to enjoy it more than most.

Of course we couldn't drive through Grand Teton National Park without stopping at our favorite swimming hole, the water was so refreshing! I just wish we had the boat so I could get a good ski in . . . look at the water, it was perfect for skiing, nearly glass!!!

Avery posing on our log.

The girls at the base of the Grand.

Grandma and Grandpa . . . they were good sports for coming on our not-quite-short detour.

It's been a great summer . . . and I'm sad for it to end. But on the other hand, I'm excited to start and new adventure! Next stop . . . London!

Concern for the One

2008-08-05T12:09:00.003-06:00

My birthday just happened to fall on a Sunday this year and, to celebrate the happy day, my ward asked me to speak. Well . . . they didn't really know it was my birthday and I definitely wasn't going to be telling anyone, so I agreed. I was asked to speak on my experiences in Ghana which I was excited to share with those who hadn't heard yet. It was a lot of fun, not to mention very emotional, to go through all of my journal entries and pictures looking for ideas. After some preparation I came up with a little overview to share and I thought that I would share it with you:

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Ghana, a country in West Africa, to do some service in a school and orphanage called Sankofa, located in a small village. When our group arrived we asked the director how we could help the most during the time we were there. He then asked us to take the children struggling with English and teach them as much as we could. The school also had a spare hour which we could use to teach anything we wanted. We quickly decided that we wanted the children to have a creative outlet so we turned to art and different activities. I remember one of our first days at Sankofa. We were working with class 1, which is roughly equivalent to 1st grade. After passing out crayons and paper we asked the children to draw a number of things. The last item which we asked them to draw was what they wanted to be in the future. This was a concept none of the children were familiar with. The director explained to us that if these children became anything other than subsistence farmers, their parents would tell them what they would be. We began explaining to these children, through a translator, that they could be anything they wanted to be if they stayed in school and worked hard. We gave them some options of things they could draw, a footballer, a driver, a shopkeeper, a doctor, etc. and the children began drawing the things that we had listed, not really comprehending yet, most of them decided that they would play football for the national team. But I remember watching one child sit and think. All of the sudden the light bulb came on over his head and he began drawing very quickly. I wandered over to this small child and asked him about his picture. He pointed proudly at his drawing and said “airplane.” Surprised I asked him if he would be a pilot when he grew up and he nodded his head excitedly. Only once did we see an airplane fly over this small village.

In his latest conference talk, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin spoke on “Concern for the One.” He stated: “Jesus Christ is our greatest example. He was surrounded by multitudes and spoke to thousands, yet He always had concern for the one.” While in Ghana, my testimony on the importance of the one was greatly strengthened. As a developing country Ghana is still working out many problems with its education system, many schools continue to work with mediocre text books, or none at all, teachers can be anyone who is hired for the job, many of whom did not complete school themselves. With 40% of Ghana’s population under the age of 15, it is an even greater struggle to keep children in school.

Teaching in the Ghanaian school system is based on memorization. Most of the children we worked with could recite their ABCs and some could even write them out, but they had difficulty in identifying individual letters. The words they could read were only the ones which they had been taught and memorized. So we worked with the children on letter recognition and phonics. Given a little one on one attention these struggling students began doing very well. By the end of the three weeks we were there teaching most could recognize individual letters and some could even sound out words they were not familiar with. All of the children loved learning especially if they were recognized individually for something done right. They would do anything for a simple high five, or “well done,” or a sticker at the end of class. It was so amazing to see the difference in these children when they realized that they could do well and they were loved as individuals.

The Lord shows His concern for the One in many different ways. While in Ghana I was blessed to stay with an LDS host family and my host father told me a little about the Church’s history in Ghana. In the late 1960s several individuals learned about the Church and wanted to be baptized. They wrote to the leaders of the Church and asked for The Book of Mormon as well as missionaries to come and teach them. The Church happily sent copies of the Book of Mormon; however, the Church wrote back and told them it was not yet their time to have the missionaries but soon they would have the opportunity to join the Church. In the meantime these individuals set up different congregations throughout Ghana and began teaching from and studying the Book of Mormon. They worked to have the Church recognized by the Ghanaian government so that when the time did come no additional work would have to be done. In 1969, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was finally recognized by the government. It wasn’t until 1978, when President Kimball received the revelation which extended the priesthood to all worthy male members of the Church that missionaries were sent to Ghana. Our host father took us to many of the sites from the early days of the Church in Cape Coast. The tiny home which the first followers met in, the building they expanded to when more people joined the congregation and the first meeting house in Cape Coast. We were also able to visit the Accra, Ghana temple and feel the Spirit there. The people of Ghana and Africa are so grateful for a house of the Lord so close to home. Our host parents were baptized soon after the missionaries arrived and our host father expressed his gratitude that Lord showed love to him personally by giving him 9 years to accept the gospel so that he could be baptized when the missionaries arrived.

I know that our Heavenly Father loves us all individually. I am so grateful to Him for the opportunity to travel to Ghana and serve the people there. I will never forget the blessings and knowledge I gained from my experince in Ghana.

Lake Powell - A Little Bit of Paradise

2008-07-22T19:43:00.022-06:00

On July 11 we headed out for our annual Lake Powell trip. Since we had to pick the houseboat up at 11 am the next day, we decided to stay the night in Green River so we wouldn't have to wake up so early.

Of course, it's not Lake Powell without the dads gathered around fixing something. This time it was an easy fix, just swapping out a dinged prop, on solid ground. Well, we got to the beach where we were supposed to meet the houseboat and it wasn't there. No big deal . . . we decided to launch the boats while we waited.

One hour late . . .

Mom and I decided to go check Halls Marina for the houseboat. Not there.

Two hours late . . .

Mom and I pick up the Steve Hansen family and head back to Bullfrog Marina. Since there was still no sign of the houseboat we decided to go get some lunch. Over lunch there was talk of getting a hotel room or renting another houseboat. Ahhh!!!

Three hours late . . .

After lunch Dad finally got a hold of the guy on the houseboat. His excuse? "Oh, I thought we were meeting you tomorrow at 11 . . ." Ya, I'm sure that's why they decided to come back today and empty the poop and refill the gas tanks, etc.

Five hours late . . .

We were all very excited to see the houseboat, even though it was late and not cleaned . . . at least we had one. It was time for the real fun to begin! Because of our late start we camped in Slick Rock Canyon for the night and then continued on to the San Juan on Sunday, which was fine because we didn't have much else to do on Sunday. As we took the boat and jet skis out to find a camp spot we found the Carabine's sitting in their boat which wouldn't start, so we dragged them back to the houseboat to be towed.

Monday morning the Carabine's boat was still out of service, the dads once again huddled up and decided that it was the fuel pump which had gone out, so we played without the Master Craft. Luckily, the Cowley's were coming down on Tuesday and they were able to round up another fuel pump to bring down. Meanwhile we played, and played hard like we always do at Lake Powell.

Dad carvin' it up.

A little cliff jumpin'.

A little hike to a wind-cave for the kids.

The trip was going great. We were skiing and playing and just having a ball . . . plus the Master Craft was working again so we could all get our surfing fix. Thursday morning the morning ski crew got up as usual to find the kind of glass you dream about, perfect. We all crawled into the boat and checked the ski locker for water, we found a little but the fuel pump had been fixed the day before so there was nothing unusual there. It was unusual, however, for the bilge pump to be pumping out so much water after Steve Carabine barefooted out of the canyon. We checked the ski locker again as Russ got ready to ski, and it was a little fuller than it had been.

Hmm . . . that's odd.

Oh, well, let's ski!

It was amazing that Russ even got up because the boat couldn't go more than 20 mph. When water started seeping onto Dad's feet, who was driving, we decided we had better stop and figure out what the problem was. Dad began idling back to camp while Russ and the other dads gathered for yet another huddle. But the bow of the boat was getting so low to the water that something had to be done . . . and fast. As we searched for any type of bailing bucket the only thing we found was plastic water bottles so we cut the tops off and started bailing by hand. When we finally made it back to camp we tied to the houseboat and some continued bailing while others jumped off to find some wet/dry vacuums.

Mary bailing with her water bottles.

Once we had enough of the water out that we could stop for a minute, the dads huddled up once more to figure out what the problem was. When everything had stopped and we were quiet we could actually HEAR water pouring into the boat.

"Um, I think there's water gushing in around this general area . . ."

The problem was finally located. The seal around the outdrive shaft that goes through the bottom of the boat had burst when we started the engine that morning and the boat had been filling up ever since. Unfortunately for the dads, the work was not over. They stopped the water flow, but then they had to actually get to the hose to fix it . . . which of course had to be under the engine at the hardest to reach place possible.

The dads in their huddle . . . dad and Russ playing in the engine compartment.

Once our fabulous bailing work wasn't needed anymore we went off to eat breakfast and then took another boat out to ski . . . without the dads, I know, what selfish children we are. The water wasn't as good as before but it was still pretty good. The Master Craft was fixed by late morning and we were off and playing once again.

Our time in the San Juan was coming to an end and we had to get some more playing in. The boys were gracious enough to let me join them for a little cliff jumping and on the way back to camp we pulled a "Panama." Now, if you don't know what a "Panama" is just think back to the movie Sahara, where they jump off the back of a moving yacht just before it blows up. Luckily, we didn't need to worry about the blowing up part but Nate, Kyle, Matt, and I stood on the back of the boat until we reached 20-25 mph and then jumped off backwards. It was a ton of fun! (Though it did give us all a headache that night).

We finished off our time in the San Juan without any more incidents and began the sad journey back to the marina. The girls enjoyed their annual moonlit bath, skinny dip, on Friday night and then it was Saturday and time to turn the houseboat in to the next group. While the houseboat was making its last leg of the journey a few of us decided to go out and get one last play in. Little Tyler Cowley had been begging me all morning for a wakeboard ride so we found a quiet spot in the main channel and got him out there. He got up, boarded for a while, then fell. Then he got up, boarded for a while and had a nice face plant. I asked him if that one hurt and he said yes but he wanted to go one more time. The third time he didn't get up, I think it was because of the blood that he started to see. His head was bleeding. We pulled him in and got some pressure on his head, you know how much head wounds bleed, as we headed out to find Steve Carabine, who is a surgeon. All the while Tyler kept repeating, "I don't want stitches, I don't want stitches . . ." We found Steve at the gas dock and when he heard that we had an injury he grabbed his handy-dandy medical kit and jumped onto our boat to have a look. By that time the bleeding had mostly stopped and we knew it wasn't a very big cut. He looked at it and said it would heal faster if he put one stitch in it. Tyler wasn't very happy but we headed back to the houseboat and he was very brave.

We turned the houseboat over, cleaned up and headed home. You know it's been a good vacation when you have worked hard, played hard, had a couple bumps and bruises, a few technical difficulties, and are extremely sore by the end. Ah, the adventures of Lake Powell! That is my kind of vacation.

The Ranch

2008-07-22T19:15:00.011-06:00

So, it's been a while since I posted . . . I've been busy enjoying summer! I returned home from Ghana late the night of June 25 and the next morning Mom and I headed up to meet the Hansen family at the Baucom's Ranch. I've been lucky so far with travelling and haven't really been bothered by jet lag, so I was off and running. After the whole group made it up there we saddled up 17 horses and went for a long and beautiful ride.

We had such a long and cool spring that there were still TONS of gorgeous wildflowers still blooming (as you can see in the background)!

Miss Paige and her long legs prepping for a group photo.

We even got Papa Mac out on a horse!

And what a better way to spend the evening than . . .

Playing with the toys! Here's Jessica with her dad's Hungarian military bayonet riffle-thingy . . . I would hate to have this gun pointed at me, especially after seeing it blow logs to shreds . . .

Amy at the ready.

Ready aim Fire!
The crew shooting into the river bottoms.

Ah! I love vacations!

Akwaaba

2008-07-01T08:57:00.013-06:00

After months of planning, my Ghana trip has come and gone! It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. With so many experiences and adventures over a months time, I will not be able to talk about it all at once. But hopefully I can add things in here and there.

We arrived in Ghana on June 1, after 48 hours of travelling (12 of which were spent in the Dubai airport). It was a relief to finally be on the ground and running. Luckily jet lag didn't seem to bother me much (I'm crossing my fingers that this doesn't change when it's time for London)! After another day of travelling, this time by van, we reached Cape Coast where we would spend most of our time while in Ghana.

Kandis in front of School for Classes 1, 2, and 3.

Once we got settled in we began working with a school/orphanage called Sankofa Mbofra Fie, which means "return to your roots." Although the school has over 250 children, our group of volunteers decided to focus on classes 1, 2, and 3, which are roughly equivalent to 1st through 3rd grades. Since we were only going to be in Ghana for a short time we also made the decision to focus on two things which we could really help these children with: English and self discovery. When we first began many of the children could recite their ABCs as well as write them, however, they could not identify a letter by itself. It was a big project but we began working on letter recognition and phonics as soon as we were able. By the time we left most of the children could identify their letters and tell us what sounds each letter made, some were even able to sound out words!

Along with English we worked on self discovery with the children. Sankofa is located in a small village about an hour outside of Cape Coast, so for the most part the children are unfamiliar with the ability to take an active role in their lives. The program director, David, explained to us that if these children end up doing anything other than subsistence farming in their lives, which we are hoping for with the education they are receiving, it is often the parents who will tell them what to do. I remember the first day that we began this self discovery class we passed out crayons and paper and asked each student to draw: 1) a picture of themselves, 2) their family, 3) their home, and 4) what they wanted to be in the future. It was difficult enough to get the children to understand the concept behind drawing the tangible things they had, like a self portrait, but it was even more difficult for them to understand the concept of the future and that they had a choice. We began listing things to help them out, a shop keeper, a driver, a footballer, etc. I just remember watching one little boy as the light bulb went on over his head and he bent over his paper and began drawing furiously. I wandered over to his little desk and asked him what he was drawing and he pointed to a picture of an airplane, he wanted to be a pilot! As the weeks went by the children really flourished creatively, they loved drawing and telling us about who they were, which they had never done before. It was great!

My Class 1 group coloring (from left to right): Mohammad, Ruth, Linda, Patience, Deborah, and Ivy.

When we weren't teaching the children we were working with David and the teachers to set up a sustainable program at Sankofa. We helped purchase good English and Math books, with teacher manuals to guide lessons, we set up a schedule, which was rather difficult for the teachers to stick to because they were used to doing what they wanted when they wanted, and we also made it possible for volunteers to come to the school and be able to jump right in and help without disrupting the school every time. Like everything else good in life, it was a lot of work but we feel like we accomplished a lot in the time that we had!

Hurray for Mommies!

2008-05-12T08:59:00.000-06:00

Mom and Me

Happy Mother's Day to my mommy, my grandmas, and all the mothers out there who I love so much!

This past weekend was busy but great. Saturday we kicked off the day by watching Avery dominate the lacrosse field. The first game she scored 5 of the 11 goals for her team, and the second game she scored 3 goals out of 7. She is definitely a scoring machine.

Avery is the one with the ball in the far left of the picture (white jersey).

After Avery's first lacrosse game, Dad, Nate, and I headed out to Utah Lake for the first ski trip of the year. It's a little late in the year to get started but it has been a cold spring . . . better late than never though. It was a little chilly out on the lake, the air temperature was somewhere in the mid-60s and the water temperature was in the mid-50s. It was great!

Dad jumping the Sky Ski with snowy mountains in the background.

Mother's Day was great. We treated mom to a big breakfast of fruit, coffee cake, and waffles for breakfast before heading off to church. After church we gathered with my mom's side of the family to have a big dinner. Mom and Grandma

Luckily Indiana was present to solve any problems that came our way.

After dinner we headed to the cemetery to visit Nana and the other moms there. Here's myself, dad, and Avery with Nana.

Just a note . . .

I've gotten some grief from some friends and family about falling in love with, and featuring a Master Craft boat. So to be fair . . . and perfectly honest I love Malibu boats as well. I'll take either one, whichever proposes first.

Signing off . . .

The Future Mrs. Malibu

(or Mrs. Master Craft)

Addiction

2008-05-07T20:55:00.000-06:00

I have an addiction.

I can't get over it . . . and it's consuming me.

I love to read.

I have been on a week long reading detox. Being an English major, my hunger for reading is satisfied constantly, sometimes it's jammed down my throat and I have to remind myself that at least I get to do something I love . . . but reading for school, no matter how great the books are (and they are great) is a lot different than reading for enjoyment. When you read for enjoyment there is no need for analysis, no need to prepare for a long paper on the work, you just let the story take you wherever it pleases.

To begin my detox I read The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series . . . and it felt great!!! I had read the first book back in Jr. High. Honestly, it has a good plot line for younger teens, but I have been curious to know what happened to the characters ever since, so when I passed the second and third books at a discounted price in Target I couldn't resist. I went home immediately and read the second book in one day. The second day I read the third book. And the third day . . . I went in to work with my mom to help scan some paperwork. After only a couple of hours sitting thinking about the fourth and final book I couldn't take it anymore. I borrowed the car keys from my mom and drove as fast as I could to Barnes and Noble to buy the fourth book. The third day . . . I read the fourth book.

I was feeling much better after three straight days of reading, but I was also feeling that depression of finishing a great book and needing another one. Luckily there was a glimmer of hope on the horizon . . . but I would have to wait five agonizing days.

If you haven't heard of Stephenie Meyer, let me introduce you. She is an AMAZING writer. She has written a series of books that have become hugely popular called the Twilight series. If you haven't heard of them, just you wait . . . check out her website StephenieMeyer.com and you will be directed to a zillion fan sites, news articles, interviews, etc. many are calling her the new "J.K. Rowling." Look for the movie trailers . . . it looks intense! With three Twilight books under her belt and the fourth and final on its way (to be released on August 2 . . . only 86 more days but who's counting!) she just released a new book yesterday. This new book is called The Host.

I was so excited for this book that I surprised my family by waking up early (now that school's out I have been taking advantage of sleeping in) and getting ready. I was parked in front of Barnes and Noble five minutes before they opened. I know I should be embarrassed . . . but I'm not! When the doors opened at nine I waited for two minutes . . . I didn't want to seem to eager, but then I couldn't wait any longer. The employees were excited that I was their first of many expected people to buy the book. Needless to say I've been in a different world for the past two days. I would have finished it all yesterday but I had to go to work, which was very painful.

If you have read any of Meyer's books this one is completely different. The writing style, the story line, everything, but that is just a tribute to the great author that she is. Her characters are developed very carefully and thoroughly . . . something that is not often accomplished today. To give a little preface without giving anything away, here is the teaser the book cover gives:

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away.

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.
When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.

Like I was saying, her characters are so well developed that even though there are two people sharing the same body, she has managed to make them separate and distinct from each other. If you need a great book to read this is it for you. Meyer calls it "Science fiction for those who don't read science fiction," because even though the premise is clearly science fiction it does not match the writing style of most science fiction books.

Fun in the Sun

2008-04-28T10:48:00.000-06:00

To celebrate the completion of my semester at school, mom and I headed down to St. George for a weekend in the sun. Papa Mac warned us that the outdoor pool was broken, but we assured him that as long as there were lounge chairs and sun we wouldn't mind. But the scene was comical nonetheless, with yellow caution tape surrounding the dry pool and someone's hiddeous 60s print chairs that they decided to share with the community. All of this did nothing to hinder our relaxation. Mom of course tanned but didn't burn . . . and I got fried like I always do my first weekend in the sun. My dad says it's becuase I'm a pasty-white European-American . . . but not for long! I got a good base tan this weekend.

One morning mom and I drove up to a walking trail outside the city to enjoy some new scenery as we exercised. I love the desert in the morning and evening when the sun is low over the landscape, it was beautiful!

Oh, and did I mention I fell in love? Well I did . . .

With the most gorgeous boat ever! The length is probably a little bit too long but I love everything else about it . . . especially the color. You can't really see it in this picture but it's not your typical red, it's more like a deep berry-red. Someday I'll have a boat just like it!