Redandyellowandgreenandbrownandblue....

Mike and I were cast as Naphtali and his wife in Joseph and the Technicolored Dream coat. After looking over the rehearsal schedule, we realized something...we have FOUR kids! It was either hire a full time nanny, or only have one of us be in the show. Because he would have more of a main role, I decided to let Mike do it. The kids will be in the chorus..(except Jack,...I am working with him, but he just can't seem to sing on pitch yet...he can almost spit up on pitch so that's something..) I am excited to see the show. I'll keep you all posted about performances and such.....Go Go Joe..I mean Mike!

Who gets up at 4:30 am to wait in a line to sign their kids up for swimming lessons?

All us Crazy ladies!!!

So you think you can draw....

Annie decided to sketch her cousin Trinity. I was amazed at how much it looked like her! What a talented little artist I have.

Wrong day, but oh well...Home Sweet Home

I forgot that Monday was actually not the Temple. We went to the Temple on Tues. Monday we visited Churchill's underground Bunker, hung out in Hyde Park, shopped in Piccadilly Circus and went to another show called 39 Steps. (see, when I don't have my camera, I forget things.)

So THEN we visited the Temple on Tues, and THEN it was Wednesday and we headed home! I had been fine with being away from the kids until we started on our long journey home. I can honestly say my arms ACHED to hold Jack again! I couldn't wait to hug Ellie and see all of Annie's latest drawings. I also was anxious to see Casie and hear how everyone REALLY behaved while we were away.

We had SUCH a wonderful time on our vacation. I loved spending so much time with Mike...and he loved spending time with me..(I just asked him..) We both agree that our favorite part of the trip was EVERYTHING. We also had tons of fun hanging out with our parents. They were great traveling companions. We also want to thank my sister Mindy for watching our kids. Everyone should check out her blog and see what they did. She was so awesome and blogged, in detail, the events of every day. Then Mike and I got to read it every night in our hotel. She also posted sweet little videos of Jack every day for our viewing pleasure. How cool is she!? A MILLION BILLION THANKS TO MINDY! I am SURE she was more worn out than we were at the end. She kept the kids VERY busy.

The London Temple

After going to Mass instead of watching General Conference, we decided to repent and attend the Temple. (hee hee). We took a train out of London on Monday morning to the city of Surrey. It was great to get out of the city and see some of the charming towns of London. Mike and I were like little puppies in a pet store window as we stared at the passing villages from the train. We were eager to see every little quaint, ivy covered neighborhood. England is such a beautiful country!

Once we arrived in Surrey, we took a cab to the Temple. The cab driver, though not LDS, was proud to point out the new Angel Moroni that had just been placed on the steeple just weeks before. I loved how the Temple exterior seemed to fit in with the old English country side. And as expected, the Temple grounds did not disappoint. They were breath taking! So peaceful and beautifully manicured. (My Mom came with us too, but she didn't make it into a picture)

Mike's Mom and Dave have traveled all over the US on an on-going "Temple Tour." I wish I could remember how many they have been to. I know it's an impressive number. (maybe she will comment and tell us all the number) While in England they visited two temples. One here and one in Preston. Pretty cool!

Once we entered the Temple, we noticed there was something missing. Where were the cute, little old ladies smiling at us and pointing the way? We wandered around until we stumbled onto the area to rent our temple clothes. Then we wandered some more to find the dressing rooms. It was funny. I never realized how much I depend on those dear sisters with their directing arms. :-)

The London Temple was built in the 1950's. Of course upon entering we felt that peaceful feeling that only the temple can bring. But I also noticed certain things that dated it a little bit. Just little things like faucets, light fixtures and the carpet. (do I sound like a Temple snob?...just cause I live by 2 brand spanking new temples...I notice the little things..) Anyway, I only mention that because of the contrast I noticed once I entered the Celestial room. It was BEAUTIFUL! I have never seen such a gorgeous room! The decor was buttercup yellow walls and furniture, with a sky blue ceiling and crystal chandeliers and sconces. There were also two HUGE window paned mirrors on the walls. It was breath taking! I wanted to stay there forever. What a calm and wonderful contrast between that room and the busy London streets we had wandered through. I am so glad we made the effort to attend.

Oh, and I mentioned that there were no little old ladies pointing the way, but I guess that was one less chance for Mike to get yelled at! hee hee hee

We interrupt this vacation again...

....to tell you we are CRAZY!!! Mike and I just tried out for Joseph and the Technicolored Dream coat. We both made it to call backs which were today. We will find out on Friday if we got a part!! Our kids don't have to try out. Here we go again!!!!! Yipeee. :-)

Swapping spit with 500 people

Ok, now that there are no more slivers shoved in places slivers oughtn't be, (knock on wood...ha ha....I kill me!)...we can get back to vacationing...

Our fifth day in England was Palm Sunday. One of the places on our list to visit was Westminster Abby. We found out that the only way to see the Cathedral on Sunday was to attend the Sunday Services. We were really glad we did! It was amazing! The sound of the choir resonating off the high high ceilings of the church was incredible! I am assuming that not all Mass services are this exciting...you know, just like every Sacrament meeting can't be the Primary Program..but there sure were a LOT of people there. We started out in the main foyer where we were each given a cross made out of a palm leaf...(I told Mike I could just imagine the "Catholic Relief Society" feverishly making all the crosses for the service.) Then the choir started to sing and led us all in a song as we walked around the church to our seats. Then they proceeded to sing the story of the Atonement. It was so beautiful.

Oh, to top off our wonderful meeting, a little old English lady sitting in front of Mike turned around and yelled at him for having such long legs. Apparently his foot was in her space. After she turned back around, we all cracked up. We quoted her rant for the rest of the trip. If you want to try and say this sentence with an angry English accent, you might understand why we all laughed..."Excuse me!! What is that foot doing sticking out there!?" Oh and for a funny visual, she was a tiny lady with scarf tied around her head...ya, Mike was really scared.

After Mass we rode the train to see Windsor Castle. HOLY HUGE BATMAN!! It was SO cool....on the outside. By the time we got done with our lackadaisical dinner at the Royal Oak Pub, the Castle was closed to visitors. DOH! Oh well, it was still really fun to see the outside. We tried to do some shopping, but apparently EVERYTHING closes there at 5pm. We didn't really care though...we were in ENGLAND! Just walking around the town was really fun. We ended up buying Ellie a super cute little English Tea set at one of the stores there. It has purple and yellow flowers on it. It's very dainty. :-) She loved it, and has played with it every day since we've been home. She is taking really good care of it too. She washes out the cups and re-wraps everything in bubble wrap before putting it back in the box. Today she hosted a tea party for her friends Samantha and Lexi. They were served sugar water and Cocoa puffs.

Does anyone else find it cool to see this modern flying contraption soaring over this royal historic dwelling?
ok , just cause you gots on yer fancy hoop skirts and ruffles, it don't make you look like a princess if your hair is all shabby-like. Put some ringlets in your hair for crap sakes! (I'm not referring to you Dave. Your look is timeless.)

This is us wandering about after we found out that we couldn't go inside the castle. The guard nearest to the castle told me everything we COULD have seen if we had made it on time. He also laughed at me when I asked him if it was free admittance. Stupid Americans!

PS I would have posted some pictures of the tea set, but on the way home from Windsor Castle I must have left my camera on the train...bummer! All the pictures from here on out were taken with my Mother-in-laws camera. I guess Mike will just HAVE to buy me a new camera.. :-)

we interrupt this vacation.......

.....to bring you a huge sliver in Annie's nail bed!!!



This is a bad picture. (I used my phone because my camera is still riding the trains of London.) :-( Look closely, the sliver is all the way from the top of her nail and slants all the way to the bottom! Annie was helping Brother Hansen (our downstairs tenants/ live in grandpa) peel paint off a wooden fence. As she was coming down with the scraper, her hand slipped and a nice long splinter was shoved under her nail! OWIE!!! The sweet thing is that the first thing she wanted to do was to pray. She wanted to ask Heavenly Father to help the sliver come out easily. She wouldn't let me touch it so we headed to the instacare. Although the Doctor's visit was full of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, the sliver did come out easily. If it would have broken or was too deep they would have had to cut the nail off! After trying a few times with no medication...and lots of screaming.., We ended up numbing her finger..(on my request) and then she was able to let the doctor do what he needed to do. In case you wanted to know, it's really not fun to see adults holding your daughter down while she is screaming STOP! STOP! IT HURTS!!!!. Poor Annie. Once the sliver was out, she was SO hyper. You know the relief you feel when something stressful is resolved? I think she was on a bit of a high because of the tension relief. I am glad that she was brave and that we got that nasty sliver out! For some reason later that night, I found myself telling the kids that shoving wood under peoples nails is a method of torture. My intention was to validate Annie's belief that her sliver was very painful...but I think I just disturbed them.

***After reading this post to Annie, she reminded me that I forgot to mention one nice thing that she said...As we were walking into the Dr. office, Annie said, " I'm glad that Ellie and Casie didn't get a sliver in their finger nail" She told me that when people read this, they will say.."Oh, how sweet." (it really was sweet and sincere at the time)

I'll get you my pretty...and your little dog too!

Day four was a super fun day! First we took a ride on the London Eye. It's a HUGE Ferris wheel with glass pods for viewing the city. It was such a beautiful clear day..(unusual for England..but it was like that every day we were there!) we could see for miles. Mike used his magical tour guide powers to get boarding the pod within minutes of arriving...(well, maybe it was the 5 extra pounds we paid, but still...it beat waiting in a 25 min line.) It was awesome to see the city from such a height. We were proud of my Mother in law for facing her fear of heights and going on it with us. It was fun to pick out the places we had already been and the places we were going to go see.

After the Eye, we had a little lunch and headed off to Wicked. Hmmm....are there words to describe how cool this play was?...maybe WICKED AWESOME!!! (ok, that was dumb, but it's late) Seriously though, it was incredible. The girl who played Elphaba, (aka, the Wicked Witch of the West...aka Kerry Ellis) was breath taking. She was so good, I even let Mike rave about her....(which I don't usually do because he is only allowed to think that I am a good singer...."Why don't you have the Wicked Witch of the West Make you a meat loaf?")...ANYWAY...yes, it was good.! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!! I recommend it to any and all. :-)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ6mmfG5Yhs&feature=related

Here is a link to see a bit of the show....shame on those who illegally film Broadway shows....and we're reaping all the benefits! lol This clip is kind of long, so if you want to just fast forward to the end you can get a taste of the amazing voice of Kerry Ellis

I see London..I see France....

Here I give you a chance to guess where we went on day three...If you have been to this amazing city, you might be able to name some of the places we saw. You will not receive a prize or an award, but you will get bragging rights of being extremely cultured.:-)

#1

#2#3 ( The picture below this one is a Hint. You will see Mike posing as a Man who lived in the bell towers of this building)

#4 Name the painting Mom and I are viewing...it's hard..I know...

#5 (sorry for the explicit nature of this picture,... but can you name the sculpture?)

#6...If you can't guess where we are here, we might need to buy you some hooked on phonics..lol#7#8

Ok, that's the end of that quiz, now to talk about our trip to Paris....er,..uh, I mean the city that you are suppose to be guessing.....

We LOVED LOVED this place! We thought it would feel a lot like London, but it was so different. This was our first day on our own with out a tour guide. We felt foot loose and fancy free as we found our way around the city. The people were so helpful...(who says the French are rude?) and you could tell they had a lot of pride in their city.

We laughed at this car. I think Mike could have picked it up if he wanted to. :-)

I bought a cute "Frenchy" hat at a little shop. We all had to get a picture while wearing it. Mike was really excited when it was his turn for a photo. It only LOOKS like I am forcing his face to be upright while I took his picture.

I didn't get a picture of Kent wearing it...I considered trying to put it on him on the train ride home. He was sound asleep with his mouth wide open..(all the Hyde's will know what I'm talking about...I think we all have a picture of him like this)...I decided not to attempt it but Mike an I giggled at the thought.

Of course we would see a dog like this being walked on the streets of Paris.

You can't go to Paris without getting some crepes. If you ever find yourself ordering..(or making) crepes, make sure you put bananas and Nuttela on them! So good. Hmmmm..would it be frivolous to fly back to Paris to order another?

coming home!

We head home tomorrow! I can't wait to see my kids and chew on my baby!!! We have had SO much fun. I am a bit behind in my blogging...hopefully I will be able to remember everything once I get home so I can catch up! See you all soon!!!!

I love technology...

This is how we have been talking to the kids each night! I love it!! It makes it so much easier to be away from them. (well, a little easier)

Day 2

Day two took us touring London. It was so fun to ride on the bus and hear about the History of every corner. We disembarked at Kenzington Gardens to visit Kenzington Palace which was the last residence of Princess Diana. That's one thing I have noticed about Britt's...they LOVE their royal family. It's fun to hear the pride in their voices as they speak of the Queen. I am proud to say that we were in London the day that our first lady Michelle Obama hugged the Queen...quite the scandal!

Here we are at Kenzington Palace....oh and by the way, it was REALLY chilly! My ankles were a bit cold....I'm such a tourist with my socks and shoes and Capri's.

Next we went to see the Changing of the guard. I didn't realize what a Ta-Do they make about this ceremonial tradition. Everyday at precisely 11 am, a team of Mounties and a complete marching band escort the New guard down the street to Buckingham Palace. Another fresh set of Guards come from the other end. They meet at the Palace and exchange places. It's a tradition that has been done for over 700 years....(according to our tour guide Trevor).

I thought it was pretty cool that this Mountie passed REALLY close to me....that is until the horse sneezed and a drop of an unknown moisture landed on my lips. Mmmmm, royal snot.

We decided to have a nice cup of hot chocolate to warm our chilled bodies. Wasn't it sweet of me to take this picture of my Mother in law when she didn't know I was going to?....wasn't it sweeter of me to post it on my blog? :-)

One of the most amazing places we have visited so far was St. Paul's Cathedral. I am starting to realize that these old churches are AWESOME and becoming quite an addiction for me! I wish we could have taken some pictures of the inside. This picture is a PITIFUL representation of the real thing. It's only about a quarter of the building and I'm at a weird angle...anyway, this building is truly awe inspiring. We have added it to the top of our list of favorites.

You may THINK that this looks a little like the Salt Lake Temple, but don't be confused....it's slightly different with a slightly different purpose.... I always thought the Tower of London would be a really big..tall...uh, Tower.. Not so. It's actually a mid-Evil Castle/prison. I think Evil is a good word for the old place. It was used for many dark and gruesome purposes. One tower was called the Blood tower because they would take the Kings illegitimate children there and "do them in". They would also hang the head of a beheaded prisoner on the wall so everyone could come and celebrate whilst looking upon it. Cool crazy stuff! (once again, this is only a fraction of the structure...I need like a big screen camera to take with me to London next time.)

The London Tower isn't all horrid...it also houses the Crown Jewels! This is the Jewel House. The incredible Jewels are guarded by an armed Guard...I decided to obey the rules and keep my camera in my bag.
This is the London Tower Bridge...and this is us standing by a tree...:-)

Our day ended with a river cruise. We enjoyed seeing the city from the water. I didn't get the best shots, but here are a few of the sights we saw

On our tour we found out that if you kissed the one you love as you pass under a certain bridge you would have good luck! So far so good..:-)

Continuing on our first day.... We visited a very cute little town called Stratford upon Avon. It is the town where William Shakespeare was born. This is the the home where he was believed to be born. One thing I learned about Shakespeare is that he had three children. One was Juliet, one was Hamlet and I can't remember the others name...maybe it was A mid-summers night dream or something like that. :-)

"Scratching could not make worse....a face such as yours" ~William Shakespeare After a beautiful drive through the Cotswold's, we came to Oxford University. I wish I could capture in my photos the essence of these amazing buildings. It's impossible to show through a picture how majestic and awe inspiring the architecture is here! We felt a little smarter after walking the streets of Oxford. We were disappointed that we didn't get to go into the Hall where Harry Potter was filmed though. Stupid Literary Conference! PS One thing we learned about Oxford is that you must have a 4.0 all through High School, and pass a strict interview to be accepted. After that, it's a mere 8,000 pounds a year to attend. Casie, Annie, Ellie and Jack....get saving! (we would love to come and visit you her in Oxfordshire)

I forgot to mention that the Queen came to greet us as we were visiting Warwick Castle. Doesn't she look well? Her skin is so smooth....almost waxy.