London Bird

You may now call me Aunt Emmy!

2009-08-28T14:49:00.001-07:00

Okay so I know it's been about 9 months since I last posted but my life as been something that neither you would want to read about nor me write about. But as of yesterday that has since changed. I am now a first time AUNTIE!!!!!! Jenny (my sister-in-law) and Derek had their baby yesterday. She was 6 lbs 2 oz and 19 inches long!! Just a little bundle of cutenss. As of today she is still baby harbie, but hopefully by tomorrow, she will have been given a name. She as been anticipated for so long and she is all we all could have hoped for. She is beautiful and deek and jen are going to be great parents! Out of it being their baby I will wait to post pics for bit!!!

The Time has Come

2008-12-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well I guess this is it....my last post from London and although I am excited to come home, it will be hard to leave. At the beginning of the semster, one of my professors said, "London will become a second home", at first I just laughed, but now that it has come to the end and I am looking back on this grand adventure that I have just complete, I truely do fell that London has become my second home. Home in a sense that I have found a place of belonging here. I have grown and learned so much about myself that half of me is because of London. We had a testimony meeting last night and due to the lack of time and sobbing girls, I didn't get a chance to stand and express my gratitude for the opportunity that Heavenly Father has given me that come here. It was a fulfillment of a life goal and I am extremely greatful for it. I also am so grateful for the support that mom and dad have given me, through helping me pay and giving me a chance to work and earn it. It truely has been amazing and I have loved every minute of it. So until I am here once more.....it is cheerio for now.

Love the London Bird!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

Well I did it! I blogged. Enjoy!

this is the baptism font of the first members in wales!

Coal mine in Wales-BTW we got lost in the mine
Best 10 pounds I ever spent
King Henry's summer house
We went to the Paris catacombs: there was over 6 million people worth of bones down there
My Hunchback of Notre Dame face!
Me: Esmerelda Kayla: Quasimodo. There was a guy laughing at us while watching us pose for this picture.
On top of Notre Dame!
We went to Notre Dame and took a seat while waiting for some people in our group and this man came up to me and asked me if he could take a picture with us. So i said yes and he took a picture then all of a sudden it turned into a photo shoot. this is a picture of this man's whole family. It was hilarious! little more involve then that but that is the jist of it.
Church of the Sacred Heart in French: Sacrea Coeur. It was one of the coolest churches I have seen yet! Loved it
Us at the Louvre after a day full of museums-Great day but crazy busy
Hey Dumb Dumb give me some gum gum!
"The Thinker" by Rodin at the Rodin Museum
The clock at the museum D' Orsay. An impressionist museum that mom and andi went to while we were there-it used to be a train station converted into an amazing museum!
Sorry that some of these are flipped my computer doesn't work right.
Awesome crepes on Mufatard Road! this road is a open air street market with really good chocolate and huge crepes-we shared this one and i wasn't hungry for the rest of the day!
this is Maria Antoinette's personal palace
Versailles: Hall of Mirrors!
Eiffel Tower obviously! It is blue because the President of France is the President of the United Nations and to honor him, they blued the eiffel!
Chartres Cathedral outside of Paris

Wa Wa Wa WALES north that is

2008-11-05T10:19:00.001-08:00

Okay so it has been a few weeks since I have written... between three papers, a trip to north of Wales, a trip to the south of Wales, Oedipus, Mozart, Winston, Halloween, Thomas Becket and sack lunches I didn't Have much time to write!!! This is part one of three

A little English History for ya: Today is Guy Fox night AKA British Halloween celebration! They celebrate the day with fireworks and bonfires. They are celebrating the foiling of the gunpowder plot, which was a plot to blow up Parliament during one of their sessions. Guy Fox who was supposed to set it off but was caught before he could light the fuse. They used to burn effigies of Guy Fox but now they just celebrate with big bonfires, fireworks and the Lord Mayor parade. Cool huh! If you want to full history of it-google it.

Well crazy past two weeks i'll tell you. It all started with a weekend trip last weekend to Northern Wales with four buddies! We had a blast! The first day we were there, we bought a day bus pass and saw the whole of northern Wales from a bus window! It was the best thing we could have done-we saw it all for only 4 pounds. We touched the top of Snowdin- which is the highest peak in the UK and where people train for Everest on and we saw Gelert's grave-poor, poor doggy. We also visited a cool castle that I don't remember the name of but it is famous and big:)! And ate great food! Next day was up the hill on a tram in the freezing cold and wind then it was down to Conway to see the Conway castle and to the food festival. UMM UMM UMM UMM good! We then came home on Sunday! Fun Trip i would highly recommend it-and so does Rick.

2008-10-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

HAPPY AUTUMN!

2008-10-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

Chatsworth.....Mrs. Darcy!!!!

2008-10-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

1st Picture of Hillary in front of Beatrix Potter's House

2nd Picture of McKenzie and Laura on our boat ride around the lake

3rd-5th Pictures from the Bronte parish-cemetery, house and town

2008-10-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

1st and 2nd: Outside our hostel it was beautiful!

3rd is from the 5 mile morning hike we took

4th and 5th is of Dove Cottage where Wordsworth Wrote his famous poetry and the surrounding town

2008-10-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from Preston. First is of the home of the first missionaries in England. Second is of the Preston temple. Third is of the Preston seal and last is a picture of the River Ribble where the first members of the church in England were baptized.

2008-10-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

LIVERPOOL!!!!!

I I love Museums!

2008-10-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of Quarry Mill. We weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside, but they still work the mill. Not that they produce cotton for sale but that the machines work and you can see what life at the mill was like in the early 1800s. They had their own little community with stores and a physician.

I Wandered Lonely on Strawberry Fields

2008-10-13T04:22:00.000-07:00

So I've been sitting here trying to figure out how to start this blog, but my creative cap seems to be in the wash at the moment so I am just going to start!

This week was our trip up to the north of England to Liverpool, Preston, and to the Lake District. We had class on Monday and the Tuesday we headed out. So here is a run down of the week:

Monday:

Was consisted of classes discussing what we were going to be seeing and the importance of it to the Church and to the classes that we are taking. Then we went out shopping and I just happened to buy some really cute clothes that you are all going to be jealous of!

Tuesday:

Was an early start. We had to be on the coach at seven and we headed up to the North to visit some textile mills. The one we stopped at was the Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire. It is a mill that specializes in cotton and the manufacturing of cotton material. It was quite an interesting tour. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside, so I'll try to describe it too you. If anyone has seen the movie North and South it shows exactly what these mills were like. They were run by a waterwheel for power. There were machines that separated the cotton from the seed, then spun the cotton into thread, and then looms that created the material. It was amazing. Many of the students in the group had grandparents that worked in these mills. After the tour of the mill, we headed to the Lady Lever Museum to see some art. I got bored so me and MacKenzie found some dress ups in the gift shop and entertained ourselves until it was time to go. After the museum it was off the hostel in Liverpool. We got there late so that night we just walked around the docks and hung out in the hostel after it started to rain.

Wednesday:

There were a few hours in the morning that we had some free time to explore Liverpool. The hostel was too far away from many of the Beatles' sites to walk to, so we just got to go to the shop and stand outside the museum. We then met up at the Liverpool docks with the faculty. There is a statue at the docks that was donated by the church to the Maritime Museum. It was quite a spiritual experience. Many of the students had ancestor emigrate from theses docks to America. I don't know if I have any but we could feel the spirit of the place and of those who sacrificed so much to go to Zions as we sang "Come, Come, Ye Saints". The song was written by William Clayton, who was one of the many saints who sailed across the Atlantic to join the Saints in Zion. What a place! I also was able to reflect on a past trip to some of the Church history sites in the east and midwest. The sacrifice both of these groups endured has been quite a testimony to me and has helped me deal with many of the sacrifices I have had to endure in my life.

After the docks and a tour through the Maritime Museum (had an emigration exhibit) we headed to Preston. After a quick stop to the temple grounds for some pictures, we headed to the town of Preston. We had a foot tour through town by a church historian and professional guide. We stopped at many of the sites, where the early missionaries slept, taught, converted and baptised the first saints in Britain.

The tour ended and we took off the the Lake District in Ambleside. We got there late so we walked around and took a chilly dip in the lake! Quite a jam packed day!

Thursday:

We started out the day with an early morning 4 mile hike through the gorgeous countryside. I took pictures but they don't even come close to doing it justice. It is quite an amazingly beautiful place. The day was really cold but the mist just added to the mystique of the plac! The hike ended at Dove Cottage. Dove Cottage is where the romantic William Wordsworth wrote the poetry the made him famous: I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and other such poems! After a session of poetry reading in British accents and homemade gingerbread, we headed to Hill Top. Which was the lovely cottage of Beatrix Potter and little Peter Rabbit. The rest of the day was filled with a boat ride on the lake, cold weather and playing the guitar with tattooed hostel workers!

Friday:

We headed out of Ambleside to Haworth. Haworth was the home of the Bronte family. The Bronte sisters were the authors of some famous British Women literature. Jane Eyre and Withering Heights were some of their more famous works. After a short tour of Haworth we got back on the coach and drove to Chatsworth. Wow is house was freakin' amazing. It sits on 70,000 acres of land and has over 700 million pounds worth of art on the walls! It rivaled King Louis XIV's Versaille in amazingness. It is also the interior of Mr Darcy's house in the new Pride and Prejudice, along with the hall of statues and the statue of Mr. Darcy's torso.

After all the pictures of swooning girls around the bust, we headed home.

Saturday:

Spent the day in the park and talking with crazies like a guy we named Albert

Sunday:

Was my first experience since being in London to visit Preacher's Corner. Where I was Cornered by three Bible Bashing Muslims for over two hours. I found out two things from this experience: 1-I don't know the Bible very well and 2-Bible Bashers make things up. But I did get two Muslims to commit to read the Book of Mormon if I would read the Koran!

Well that just about wraps up my week. Hope you all enjoyed this super long blog-this is why i was so frustrated yesterday!

Have a super Monday

love ya

2008-10-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

I hate computers! I spent an hour typing my blog and now it is gone so i will do it tomorrow...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Birthday bashes and Oxford Cookies

2008-10-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

Well you are now reading the post of a legal adult now...and I'm not sure how i feel about it all. Just to let you know my birthday was a smashing hit....there were two other girls that had a birthday the same day! What are the odds 3 out of 42 having the same birthday? But I had a super day even though I had to share it. After getting lost for most of the afternoon trying to find the British Library, we ended up going to a really good chocolate shop and then to the musical Hairspray to celebrate! It was great! And the greatness continued the rest of the week. Wednesday we had a day trip to Blenheim Palace where Winston Churchill was born and home to the Duke of Marlborough today-it is massive! Then we went to Oxford University. Just to let you know if you are not the Harry Potter fanatic as some are-the Chirst Church college at Oxford is where they filmed the great hall in the first movie! We also visited the Magdalin College where people like C.S. Lewis graduated from and got ideas for his Chronicles of Narnia from. We also had the opportunity to go the Anglican Evensong-it is the ending daily service. It was interesting and a one time thing for sure. I'm glad I went but once is enough for me!

Friday we took a tour of the Tower of London and went to a Shakespeare play at the Globe-Marry Wives of Windsor. It rained while we were there and it was freezing but the play was a laugh despite the weather. Then that night a lot of the girls went the YSA dance at the stake center-British people cannot dance....think of the scene from Hitch and you've got British dancing:) Anyways...yesterday I finally did find the British Library. There is a treasure room there that have old historical artifacts. Like Illuminaries, a Guttenburg bible, the Magna Carta, handwritten copies of books by Jane Austin, Emily Bronte, and the guy who wrote Alice in Wonderland. Handwritten lyrics from John Lenon and the crew. It was awesome! That night a few of us headed to the stake center to watch conference, and who should be there but our good friend Thomas and his girlfriend.

Well I hope everyone's week was as awesome as mine and next week will be just as great! And I want to give a special shout out to Jeff and Tat!!!

Night all

love em

Oh just to let you all know next week is a week trip to the north so i will be away for the week!

I am twenty going on twenty one-what am i to do?

2008-09-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

Why hello my fan club, cause if you are reading this, you are most defiantly a fan of me!!:) I hope life is going well for all of you...and if you would like to let me know what is happening in all of your lives, I would love to hear about it! Emails are great, a mail would be even better! I would be happy to give you the address.

So this week was a slower week as compared to the past weeks that I have been here. Monday we had a tour of the Globe theater. Tuesday through Friday we had class each morning, which i am not used to so it was kind of hard to sit through it all. But Wednesday we did get to go to a play at the theater, A Mid Summer's Night's Dream. We were groundlings, so we stood in front of the stage the entire play. It was alright cause the play was really funny and kept your attention off your feet and on laughing. Nothing much happened the rest of the week until Saturday.

Saturday:

We had the opportunity to go an a nine mile walk through the Kent countryside. It was set up by a brother in the stake that we are in. He apparently does it for each of the groups, and this weekend had the best weather he has seen in like nine years or some crazy time like that. It was beautiful! Him and his two brothers came who aren't members and the rest of us went. We walked through lavender fields, ate lavender ice cream, ginger beer tasting, corn field trudging, sidewalk strolling, and castle storming. Funny story: so we were on our way back to the center and we were parallel with another train going the same direction. While we were passing them, we were waving to the people looking at us, most just stared/glared. Then we slowed down and they passed us. As they passed us, we waved again and got some better reactions. Then we passed them again, and as we passed a particular window that had like six guys in it, one of them mooned us. The funny part was that we were sitting by a few girls that had never been mooned before! They started screaming and then hysterically laughing/crying. 35 girls laughing on a bus for five minutes, full of nonemotional English people! It was so funny!

Well I love you all, and hope that this week is spectacular!

Luvallyurguts!

2008-09-21T16:14:00.000-07:00

St. Michael's Mount-the castle is way up at the top

2008-09-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

I fell into the ocean within the first minute that I was at the beach.....my pants were wet for the rest of the five hour bus ride we had

2008-09-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Bliss

2008-09-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

2008-09-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Exeter Cathedral

2008-09-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Um this was when tide was out at St. Michael's Mount-and plus i really like this picture

2008-09-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ask me about this sometime

2008-09-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

2008-09-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

The beautiful beach that I never thought England was capable of!

2008-09-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

Thomas Hardy's Birth house

2008-09-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

I love...I love....I love you

2008-09-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

Same bridge but i really like this picture

2008-09-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

The bridge that Lizzy runs across on her attempt to get away from Mr. Darcy.

I want to sing and dance and be a pirate of Penzance!

2008-09-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Arrrgh Matey!

This was a jam packed week. Staring off we had classes Monday and Tuesday which were fine, but come Wednesday we packed our bags and headed out south. Our first stop was to Stourhead. This is the place where all of the lake scenes from Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley. It was gorgeous! We then headed of to see Thomas Hardy's house. He was some famous author who wrote Tess of the D'Urbervilles, sorry it was the house where he was born, not where he lived. We then headed out to Penzance to spend the night at a YMCA hostel. It was surprisingly a lot nice then I was expecting. We got there about eight and the whole town was asleep so we just went down to the beach and walked around then walked back. Thursday we went to a beach-who knew a really pretty beach could come out of England!?-but it was a cornish beach with a great story to go along with it-you should ask me sometime! We then went to St. Michael's Mount. It is an island in the morning when the tide is in then once it goes out you can walk across the causeway to see it. It was some fort that some monks say they saw the Archangel Michael and now it is a house that some duke lives in or something like that, i wasn't really paying attention when they told us why it was important. After a few hours of St. Michael's we drove and spend the night at another hostel in Exeter. And just like Penzance the whole town shuts down really early so we entertained ourself with a walk along the Exeter river and singing show tunes for men in windows. Friday was a little confusing, we had other plans but due to poor planning they fell through. So instead of our original plans, we went to the Exeter Cathedral-which really is the only thing to see in Exeter-then headed to Lyme. Lyme, in case you didn't know is where they filmed the movie Persuasion. We reenacted a scene from the movie-watch it and you will understand. After a few hours at the beach in Lyme, and eating super yummy ice cream we headed home. So there is my week in a nutshell, hopefully the pictures will help the explanation.

Well best be off

Love you all

2008-09-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well here is the update for this week.... I've never had done so much walking in my life (mom you will love my A1C when i get back)! We started classes this week and I think I just might fail cause I would rather be doing London then my homework. The classes I am taking are london walks which are at least two miles of sight seeing , British History, Shakespeare, religion and Humanities.

This week we went the British Museum and saw the Rosetta stone, and the National Gallery. We went to Bath-which mom, I think we need to take a girls trip there, Stonehenge, 39 steps play, the Thames Festival, Parliament(we could only take pictures in one room), and today was the first Sunday in our individual wards. I am now a member to the Lea Valley ward for the next 3 1/2 months. It is about a hour northeast by tube/train but I think I will really like it there. The girls that are there with me and I will probably be working with the young women or in primary.

Bath is a city in, I think, southeast of England about two hours from Wales. it is where Jane Austin wrote most of her novels, and it is also the setting of some of them. It is also a Roman bath city. There is a natural hot spring there that was converted into a Roman bath house. You can tour the place but you can only feel the water. There are a lot of shops and tourist places. They have a pump room where you can get tea and scones, which we did(herbal tea that is), there is a fashion museum, ballrooms, and just a million of little shops everywhere. I'm pretty sure Andi and Jenny would love this place! You can also try some of the spring water, it isn't very good, it has a really metallic taste to it with horrible after taste.

It was a jam packed week of fun! And this will be just as busy, but I hope everyone back at home is doing well and enjoying life

love ya Em

2008-09-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

So for one of my classes we do "London Walks". We have a section of the city that we walk through with descriptions of what we see. They are to help to get more acquainted with London and to get us off our computers and out of the center, cause really some of us need a push out the door (not me in case you were thinking i was wasting my time online) But this picture we were on the "Londinium" walk that was freaking like ten miles long-it goes along the outer stone wall (shown behind me) of the old London. It started to rain but what's new!

2008-09-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

So apparently we live in a really wealthy part of London. Our flat alone will go for probably 10 million pounds. And ours hasn't been refurnished or remodeled in awhile so it would go for even more then that. Every morning I walk out and see this beautiful car to the left. When we got here on Saturday there was a Maserati. So to say the least we got a good set up here!!!!

2008-09-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well I just wanted to let everyone know that I have made it! And everything went smooth and good and I am really glad I only had one bag. Three of the five people that were with me had two plus their two carry ons and it was horrible. I took us forever to get to the center because the girls couldn't lift their bags. Anyways... just a little tour of the center:

first of all i am living in one room with 14 other girls...kill me please! It is one flat with five floors. there is a room of girls on each floor with the one guy on the second. There is one class room, one dining room, and one library. So for how many people that are here it is really really small. But London is really big so there are plenty of places to go to get away!!

Well that is about all that has happened up until this point

Monday should be a little more exciting cause that is when we start classes

Well love you all-peace out

Ciao - Au revoir - Hasta - Good bye

2008-09-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

To friends and family,

This is your London Bird bidding you farewell for the next four months... I will log all my travels and adventures here, on this blog. So stay tuned!! If you want to contact me directly click here. I hope you all miss me. I will see you in December!

Cheers!

Em