London

So I thought it was about time I blogged our trip! I'll start at the beginning. :) So our layover was in Detroit Michigan. We spent most of the 4 hour layer in this tunnel. It would change colors to music as you can see in the pictures. we sat there and enjoyed the light and music show while people watching.


We were lucky enough to have a perfect place to stay in London. This is at my friend and his wife's flat. They live 5 minutes from Buckingham Palace. They were nice enough to let us stay there even though they were in Belgium at the time.


These are the sweet taxis.
Shauna just had to make a collect call home real fast.


It was really hard to choose which pictures to post. There was just so much to see and things to take pictures of. We took over 1000 pictures our whole trip!
This is the sign into Hyde Park. It is such a beautiful park. It has a lake and tons of grass. There were so many people here with their families and friends. We saw people playing cricket, roller blading, kicking arounf the soccer... I mean football, and making out!

Wicked was amazing. We were bummed when they came to Salt Lake and weren't able to go because we were saving up for our trip. We were stoked when we walked by the Wicked theatre and saw that it was playing. We got good seats for a pretty good price. We loved it! It was everything that we hoped it would be and more!


Buckingham Palace. There was so many people here! We tried to see the changing of the guards but with so many people it was really hard. Shauna tried to get a better view by climbing up on to a statue, that was short lived because a cop came and told her to get down. She got down and found another statue to climb! :)
This is like a mile away from Buckingham Palace. This is where they start their march.


The band was clearing the way and jamming out in front of all the guards.
We thought this was funny! Horses are so last century!

Down town London.
We were happy that we were two of the 34,274,552 million people to walk by that sign!
This is the London Bridge! We were a little scared that it was going to "fall down" on us!
This is a jail right in front of the London Bridge.
This is the London Eye. They say on a clear day you can see all the way to Paris from the top.Parliament is huge! Big Ben is also connected to the Parliament building. We were so amazed at the size of this place! There is also so much detail on this building. Every inch of the building is sculpted!
The famous Big Ben


Kensington Palace
This is speakers corner in Hyde Park. This is the area people go if they want to be heard. There is only one stipulation, you must be 6 inches above the ground. That way you are not on English ground and you can say anything you want.

This guy had a lot to say.......well, in his case, actions spoke louder than words.

Sand Dunes!

May 22nd- 24th  '09


As if I didn't get enough adventure traveling through Europe, getting home just a couple days prior to this :) Some of my family was heading to the dunes for a couple days! I just can't pass up stuff like that! :) Matt chose not to go, but I missed him! But I was sure happy that Jon and Kyle let us come with them and all their friends! :) My dad, Jess, Josh and I all went down there to meet up with them. We had a great time!!!!!! See for yourselves.......

Jess and Kyle

I think the family looks good playin in the dirt! :) I could get used to that!

Maybe we had a little too much fun! :) But it was worth it

I guess I'll tell you the story about this lovely burn! :) I was driving the four wheeler, with my dad on back, when  I had a little mishap when I went over the top of the sand dune! Ya see, when you are going up a steep dune you have to be going full throttle to make it to the top without tipping. So I was doing just that and when we reached the top we found "a launch." Let me explain, when the wind blows, sometimes it creates a lip at the top of the dune, which you would never know about until you are flying in the air!!! So at the top of the dune we hit that lip and were launched into the air! We landed on the front two tires which is when my leg went flying forward into the blazing hot engine! Luckily we didn't flip, our back tires landed and we were fine, but I had quite the crater of a burn on my leg! Isn't it beautiful? No biggie, life happens, and scars are the tattoos of life!!! Hopefully it turns out to be a sweet looking scar!!!! :)

Now to end on a sweet note....

 Wahoo!!!

Lent!

I decided to participate in Lent this year because I think it is a wonderful way to show devotion to Heavenly Mother, Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ our Saviour! I really wanted to give up something that meant a lot to me and would be difficult for me to give up! So guess what it is that I gave up... ICE CREAM! Holy cow, it was a very long 6 weeks. :) On Ash Wednesday, the day I gave ice cream up, Matt and I went grocery shopping and he was so sure that I would last longer than a few days that he bought me a whole new 1/2 gallon of cookie dough ice cream and he bought himself a 1/2 gallon of strawberry swirl. He ate it right in front of me and when he finished his whole thing in about 2 weeks I had to watch him eat my whole carton! By the time I could eat ice cream again that whole carton was gone!!!

But on a real serious note it was wonderful to give up something that I love to show my devotion to God! I thought about ice cream so much that it made me think of Jesus and his example, sacrifice and love! It also was a real strong reminder of the sacrifice that was made for me and all mankind. I was grateful to have something that helped me keep a true perspective 6 weeks before Easter.

Lent began on Ash Wednesday (February 25th) and concluded on Holy Saturday(April 11th), the day before Easter. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.

The number forty has many Biblical references: the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God (Exodus 24:18); the forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8); God made it rain for forty days and forty nights in the days of Noah (Genesis 7:4); the Hebrew people wandered forty years traveling to the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33); Jonah in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh forty days in which to repent (Jonah 3:4).Jesus retreated into the wilderness, where he fasted for forty days, and was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-2, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-2).

I truly enjoyed participating in Lent. I know I didn't follow every tradition of lent but I at least wanted to give up something to show my devotion to God and keep my mind focused on my Saviour. I definitely felt more spiritual as it got closer and closer to Easter. The sacrifices that were made for me and everyone else in this world are absolutely indescribable and really unfathomable. I try to think about how Christ must have felt and what all he went through! My mind can't even understand a small portion of it, it is far too great a sacrifice for anyone else to understand but Christ himself! This year I thought about that sacrifice every day for 6 weeks and I felt closer to Him. What a wonderful tradition to keep. Even though I am not Catholic I wanted to participate in Lent because I think it is a tradition that anyone who is spiritual and believes in Christ could enjoy and benefit from participating in. I'm sure glad I did and I think this will be something that I will participate in each year!