England: Day 1 and 2

DAY 1
So, my parents picked us up at the airport in Manchester 7:30am-ish local time. (11:30pm MST) We get out to the car, and first of all... I had to get in the sliding door of the van on the left side. Weird right? And then my Dad climbs in on the right side. I mean, you know they drive on the left side. But it is a weird sensation when you are actually riding in the car.

So we head to Chorley to see the Preston England Temple and the distribution center. The temple was beautiful (as always). But oh, the green! I mean there were varieties of green trees, and colors of green on the bushes. And you'd see one bush growing into another, so they trim it to look like this sculpture molding together. And these vine archways that go over the walkway. SO PRETTY! Yeah, we were dead tired, so we did not do a good job of picture taking. Then we went and checked out the church book store in Chorley, cuz my parents needed something.

Then we went to Downham. Downham is this town, that when the missionaries in the 1800s came (and it was someone well known, but for the life of me, I can't remember), the entire town was baptized into the LDS church. It was very pretty, and there is this cute little bench that was given to the town as a memorial to those people.

Then we headed to Leeds. We got to my parents house, which is this cute little semi-detached home. I loved the cute personality these old homes have. The stairs are super narrow. The sinks are dinky. The doors have knobs, but the knobs don't function as knobs. Anyways, we unloaded our luggage and headed out for food.

We went to Murgatroyd's for fish and chips! I could've sworn I took a picture of my first "official" fish and chips, but I cannot find it! It was so yummy. It was HUGE though. Especially considering it was like barely 8am MST, we weren't that hungry. It was very yummy, I especially enjoyed their malt vinegar and tartar sauce. We both enjoyed it, and even Reid partook a little. Poor kid started losing it about here, due to sleep deprivation.

BUT, we needed to stay awake a little longer... so we went grocery shopping to ASDA to get a few things. ASDA is apparently European Walmart. And wow, did it look like it. It was interesting how it was the same, but also different. The coolest part was the Travelator, it is part escalator part moving walkway. Basically it functions as an escalator, but instead of steps it is flat like a moving walkway, and then you take your shopping cart with you, and it sticks. It doesn't roll up or down. I was very impressed. They also have this brillant idea. You put a 1pound coin in this slot on your shopping cart, and it releases it from the other shopping carts. If you bring your cart back to the place and relock it in... you get your money back. No runs for shopping carts. It was very nice.

At this point we headed home. My dad got this futon mattress to fit in between our two twin beds. It wasn't perfect, but it did provide a very crib like feel, even though Reid could crawl out.

Around 5pm, Matt crashed... Reid of course got his 7th or 8th wind... I lost count. So he was wide awake. I finally got him to settle down at about 7pm. I finally, and blissfully laid down to sleep myself. Then Reid woke up screaming about 45 minutes later. I begged Matt to take a turn since he'd had about 2 hours of sleep. But 10 minutes later, I could still hear Reid screaming downstairs. So down I went. After a few minutes with mom, he fell asleep in my lap. So back upstairs we went. Where we slept beautifully for about 4 hours. Then, Reid woke up. I mean, no wonder... it was midnight where we were, but it was only 4 in the afternoon back home. So I got him a bottle, and we tried sleep again. Luckily, he gave in. We got about another 5-6 hours before Reid woke up and joined me in my bed... but that was fine with me, because I got one more hour.

DAY 2
Well, I sent Matt downstairs with Reid to eat some breakfast while I got my education on how to shower. They use a boiler, which is like an instant, on-demand water heater right there in the tub. I did not figure it out my first shower, because my entire shower went from just a little too hot to just a little too cold. But I made due.

My parents are assigned to a ward across town, so we left for church about 45 minutes early. When we got there, I met lots of wonderful people. They were all so kind and friendly, and I just loved listening to all of them talk. Reid did really well during church, and even took about a 45 minute nap. I was still sleepy, but I enjoyed the comfort you feel at church, even across the world.

After church we drove to see where my great-grandmother lived. Here is the council housing that she lived in once upon a time.


Then we stopped to see the church where my great-grandmother was married. Here is the St. Matthias Church of England.
All I could think about as we drove around this church, is how over 100 years ago, there was a girl dressed in white, so excited to marrying the man of her dreams. And how they were just starting out on what ended up being the biggest sacrifice for me. Little ol' me. I was awestruck to think how she probably had little idea that she would join the LDS church, be disowned by family, leave their loved ones and travel by ship to America, all because of what they believed in. I was touched and amazed to be there at the same place she once stood on what was the one day of her life that started her incredible journey.


It was very cool to see some of these places, not because they mean anything to anyone else, but because they mean something to me.

After that we went home for some R&R... and yummy fish! Mom and Dad made salmon for us... and it was so good. The fish there is something yummier than you will ever get in the desert here!

Then the mission president invited us to his home for ice cream. We had a lovely visit with them. The mission home is beautiful. The garden was unreal. It really was. I can honestly say, I've never seen anything so green. I mean their "backyard wall" was a hedge. A gorgeous 10-15 foot tall dark green hedge. The grass was so soft, and the flowers, so pretty. And they don't even have to water anything there... NOTHING. No watering lines at all... weird huh? It was really fun visiting with the mission president because he is retired from a job of personal security for the President of our church. So he has traveled far and wide and had the opportunity to acquire many amazing items. He shared with us many of his experiences travelling throughout his job. It was very cool. I know he will do a great job serving there for the next 3 years.

That night we went to bed around 10pm, after some more yummy ice cream bars with Mom and Dad. (My family's tradition of eating ice cream on Sundays)


So far, we had been taking it easy, but part of that was the time change and part of that was we just enjoyed visiting with my parents. But get ready for the next few days, cuz whoo... it's a doozy!


(see facebook for more pictures)