Yay for Mums! :)

Sunday, May 13 - Day 19.

HAPPY MUM'S DAY!!!

Do I have the best mum in the world?  

Why, yes.  Yes I do.  

Other's may disagree, claiming their own is the best - but, I'm sorry.  Mine definitely out-rules all, and displays the epitome of wonder, strength, and just overall greatness. ;)
Ha... and I have to share that I send my "mum" an e-card today (or 3), from a UK e-card site.  She got a kick out of the fact that all of them said "Mum." :)

I love you Mum!!

Wanna know something weird though?  Here in London... it's not Mother's Day.  Their Mother's Day (aka: "Mothering Sunday") is celebrated on the fourth day of Lent--which fell on March 18th this year.  I'll admit - it's weird not celebrating it now, probably mostly cause I feel like I've kind of "missed" it now.  Not really though, cause of the beautiful invention of Skype ;)  --But I'll also admit, their logic behind when Mother's Day falls does make sense.

So, another Sunday, another day of church. :)  I really do love my ward, even though I don't do well "socializing" with people- I just like being around them.  They have nice spirits about them.  

It was kind of humorous to me today, because a good majority of what was taught in church today tied into the Priesthood (So I got a bit of mom and dad with me today! --Not that I don't always have a bit of both of you with me! ;) ha.)  But they were nice lessons.  It just reminded me how fortunate of a person I am to have had the true power of the priesthood around me my entire life with such a wonderfully perfect dad and brother.  And now, even living away from home -when I'm in Provo I'm also fortunate to have friends who know and keep the same high standards to respect that priesthood -- and here in London too, with amazing Professors from school.  

Another portion of church today was directed toward prayer.  There have been multiple times when I've heard people say that "praying is like having a conversation with your Father - you need to listen."  But, also never (until today) have I heard so. many. comments about truly listening.  Someone pointed out that if you're having a conversation with someone and either you or they aren't really listening - it's not actually a conversation.  You don't get anywhere with it.  Learning to truly listen to our Father in Heaven while we pray may take patience, but I know it's what we all need, and something that can be continuously improved in our lives.  

One more thing about prayer that stuck with me was that you need to have faith in your prayers.  I know, this sounds obvious, and it kind of is.  But, for some reason it just struck me in a different way today that I'm not too sure how to express... -It's not just your beliefs in the church, or the things you wish or hope for to one day happen, but to have faith in all things you pray for.  Ha-- it's kind of crazy if you think about all the things we have faith in, just within our daily lives.  There's a lot.  

So, yup. :)  Just a pretty normal Sunday here in the flat :)  Hangin' with the girls, --didn't have a fireside tonight, on account that Tim got stuck in multiple tube stations as he tried to rush here, then just called us saying he wouldn't be making it anytime soon, so they'd see us in class tomorrow.  But it's okay -- we'll just have a double-ly amazing fireside next Sunday to make up for it ;) 

Oh!  And I got pictures of my church building today :)

Our cute little Lea Valley Building - In the White Chapel ward ;)

Anyhoo-- I should be off to bed.  Class early in the morning, and then...... I'm off to Paris :)

Windsor!

Saturday, May 12 - Day 18.

Today is another one of those days that started as "I'm up for anything!"  And ended up being SO wonderful.  --Well, let's be real.  That's how every day has been.  I'm really just a "go with the flow" kind of person.  Believe it or not, there's really not too many things I actually plan out, which is definitely something new I've learned about myself on this trip.

But I ended up going to Windsor Castle today with Cassie, Kyla, Caroline, Lacey, and Taylor.  Super pretty - with super crazy cool things inside.  -I'll get to that in a minute.
We took a guided tour for the first 45 minutes or so, which is always kind of cool cause you get to hear all the background little details and such.  This castle was originally built in 1070(? -I think) in WOOD.  But during 1150 - 1250, and years after was re-built into stone, and had portions added on and what not.  But honestly - the thought that this castle has been here since 1070!???  Can you even think as far back as a year ago?  Let alone 1070!??  Crazy crazy sauce.

Another cool thing about this castle?  The Queen lives here, on the weekends.  (So, yes, she was there while we were touring! Ha!)  She lives at Buckingham during the week, but Windsor on the weekends.  How lovely would that be?  "Oh- I think I'd like to stay at the Windsor castle tonight..."  -I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than that.  ;)  But, still.  The queen also has horses at the Windsor castle that she enjoys riding each weekend, when weather permits -- meaning, she probably hasn't ridden in a while.  She possibly could have this weekend though! It's been super nice!

At the end of our tour around the outside of the castle, we were led to where we enter inside - to see the doll house of Queen Mary, along with a bunch of different rooms, such as:  The china room, armory, king's bedroom, dining, Queen's bedroom, Queen's "audience" room, the Presence chamber, St George's hall, the grand reception room, garter throne room... etc.  Lots of rooms.  All with crazy cool artifacts, paintings, and....everything there.  SO pretty.  The paintings?  ALL CRAZY BEAUTIFUL.  There were quite a few that had beautiful light painted into them.  Very very talented painters.  Oh!  And at least 3 of those rooms had painted ceilings.  SUPER cool.  Each room also seemed to have a theme, in a way, also.  Ex: Dining room? Food.  Haha... There were bronze sculptures of food lining the walls, food painted into the ceiling painting, in the sculptures....everything/everywhere.

SO pretty.

Welcome, to Windsor Castle. :)

Wanna know what that little flag means?
That the dear Queen Elizabeth II is in the castle today :)

Significance of this stone wall?  Many things.
- This is one of the 2 main types of stone used to build this castle
- It would have cost them 5 cents, per brick, to cut (back in the 1800's, that was expensive!)
- The "shine" within the material of this stone acts like teflon - water slicks away
- Again with the material of the stone: Made it difficult for intruders to climb - too slick!

The Round Tower

The "Dry moat" around the Round Tower -- yes, purposely dry.

Dry moat

See the circles?
Those are holes that the guards could pour hot oil and other things down into this chamber,
in order to keep enemies away during attacks on the castle.

Elizabethan Era built building 

The building where "important" people stay.
Our tour guide even gave us the example that when Obama came a few years back,
he got to stay in the center, "best view"/"most important" room...

Unlocking the gate...

Now some artsy pictures... :)

St. George's Chapel

Yup.  I look awkwardly nervous.  But... I felt weird, standing next to a real man, who doesn't move.
However, he still managed to hit on my dear friend Cassie in the process of taking pictures... We were all a little weirded out about it.

After we all finished with touring the castle, we sat down for a bit of lunch we brought with us, then headed out so we could get back to the flat and have a bit of a break before we went to....

BYU Singers!

Waitin' for the train...

Artsy pictures :) 

Kyla, punching me with her ASL CTR ring :)

Haha.  Yes.  You heard me right.  The BYU Singers are touring right now, and 2 of the places they got to sing were here in London.  So some of us got to see them perform in St. John's Chapel this evening. :)  A LOT (out of those who went) were saying how funny it is that we've never seen them perform at BYU, but when they're in London - by all means!  We'll totally watch them!  Haha...

St. John's Chapel  

St. John's at night!  

I really like street lamps... in case you couldn't tell...

Then, of course, because St. John's Chapel is right by Big Ben.... There had to be more pictures taken of good ol' Ben on our way to the tube. ;)

Becca, attacking me with hugs :)

I really am considering making a photo album on Facebook called "The Many Faces of Ben" ...Cause, well, I have a problem.  I just can't resist whipping out my camera, every time I walk out of the tube and Ben is just... RIGHT THERE.  So amazing.  Can't get enough. :)