Quick trip to England for a wedding

My sister decided to fall in love with a wonderful British man so I took a quick and crazy trip to England for the wedding. 

I traveled with my other sister, Kamie, and could not have asked for a better travel partner.  We almost had too much fun!

Queens Terminal -- my first introduction to the UK.

We found the bride and hopped in a cab.  So fun to be together.

We had 6 hours to see as much of London as possible.  First stop -- Harry Potter's platform.



Wellington Arch

 Buckingham Palace!

Queen's horses' stable

Somehow we ended up in London on the most beautiful day when the sun was actually shining.  It was perfect!

Big Ben -- I think my favorite part of the city!

The longest escalators I've ever seen.

A store in our honor ;)

Part of My Fair Lady filmed here.

 St. Paul's Cathedral -- we may or may not have been the most irreverent people inside...but we couldn't bear to throw away our hot chocolate!

Feed the birds...

Tower bridge

Statue at the train station

Train ride to Derby

We'd been traveling for quite a while by this point!

So tired, our food looked like Elmo to us!

 

I will try to add more pictures to the post but let's at least get the highlights while I remember.

 

Morning in Nottingham:  We about died laughing trying to navigate ourselves around on the left side of the road. Parking on a hill did not help at all. I hope to never forget our giggles!  We made a quick stop at Woloton (Batman's mansion) and Nottingham Castle.

 

English Tea:   so awesome.  I could totally get used to this.  We stayed at our hotel for this, which happens to be the most beautiful hotel I've ever stayed.

 

The wedding!  Beautiful bride and groom and the most amazing helpful ward members.  The highlight was having my parents and sis join us via the computer.  Pretty amazing.  I got to sing with Kamie -- a treasure we get to do that together. We sang an arrangement of What a Wonderful World/I Believe -- Kamie is amazing!

 

Car ride back to an airport hotel for an early morning flight out. Longest trip home possible.  But we took advantage of our 7 hour layover in DC and headed into the city.  Fun to see that wonderful place we've both been many times.

 

We got home at 1:30 in the morning after traveling over 24 hours!  I don't think I've ever been so exhausted but we made the most of it.  We were so delirious and giggly by the end.  Pretty sure fellow passengers thought we were crazy, or at least drunk!

 

Crazy, fast, fun, memorable, exciting, exhausting trip. Grateful for everyone that took care of my family so I could go.  It took a crew!  And so glad we got to be there to witness the joining of Richelle and Harpreet.  What a special day! 

Spring Break

We had a great Spring Break week at the end of March.  We spent the first few days here and made a trip to Planet Kid with cousins.

 We also squeezed in a lady party for my birthday.

On Wednesday we headed to Twin Falls and met my parents and inlaws for dinner.  When we got to the house my mom had a birthday pie waiting for me. 

 Thursday the boys spoiled me with a birthday present parade!

 I took a quick ride up Evel Knievel's jump to try out my new gear.

My mom had breakfast waiting for me when I got back.

 Then we hopped in the car and headed to Utah to meet up with "Laustin" and "Bruke" for dinner at Ruby River.

 

 

The next day we went to the Museum of Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.

 Then off to Provo.  Aaron and I made a stop at the BYU bookstore.  It's always so fun to revisit that campus. 

Fun cousin time too!

 We started a pretty mean game of catch as well that continued at the park and into the dark.

Saturday morning we took advantage of the hotel pool

...while the boys headed out on a mountain bike ride.

Then we went to Grandma's - one of my favorite places on this earth!

 

 

 That night we headed back up to Salt Lake and were able to meet up with my awesome cousin Jared.

The next morning we walked to Temple Square.  It was really neat to show our boys those sights.

Dillon was really interested in the layout of Jerusalem.

Dillon was also our photographer!

 We were there on a perfect Spring day

We hopped on the Trax for a couple stops on our way back to the hotel.

(We stayed in 3 different hotels and somehow survived all 6 of us in 1 room!)

 Then hit the road back toward Boise, stopped for dinner in Twin Falls.

 Dillon is so great at connecting with his great grandmothers.  It's a gift.

It was a nice little get away and chance to see family and a few sites  Our children hadn't been on Temple Square before, so I'm so glad we fit that in.  Whenever we attempt trips we are often flustered during the adventure, but so grateful afterward that we did it.  Four boys keep things exciting!  I'm so grateful for my little family.