Life moments July- 2016

Just doing one of our favorite things in England...feeding the swans.
The ducks can have some too.

Yes, it is July and we are wearing jackets!

Baby swans...poor ugly ducklings. Just wait, you will be gorgeous!

                      Just a Sunday that I was admiring Kaylie's beautiful, thick, brown locks.

Sam had to do projects for his classes. This was a project about the book Animal Farm. They could bake things and he was so excited to do this! I quickly learned that the food coloring here isn't very good. Our pink is quite brown. I finally ordered some American food coloring! :)

This was when we went to see Dallin preform in his school musical, Mack & Mabel. We couldn't take photos of the musical, so one of the kids thought it would be funny to take photos of Mom and Dad while chatting during the intermission. A little blurry.

Photo bomb by my Sammers!

Beavers!

Nathan has decided to join Beavers, which is a community scout
group for boys and girls aged 6-8.
Here he is getting invested into the group.
James Webb, who is in our ward and has been a fabulous friend
and help to our family, is his leader.

One Year Anniversary - 29 June 2016

I adore this girl in her rain gear- so sweet!
Picking Nate up from school.

We have made it! We have been here for 1 year! 

What a year of opportunity and growth!

A Victoria Sponge Cake to celebrate!

Tree Cathedral- June 2016

In our town there is a cathedral made of trees and bushes, called The Tree Cathedral. It is very interesting and creative. The key tells which trees are used for the different parts of the cathedral. No one worships here, it is just a place of peaceful meditation.
It was a great Sunday afternoon outing. 

A Little Bit of Home - 25 June 201

Preston and I went on a date tonight to the adult session of Stake Conference. We are part of the Northampton England Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

We saw a lovely rainbow all the way across the sky on the way home.
 Of course, the photo doesn't do it justice, not at all really.

Smash Burger recently opened up in Milton Keynes, the first one in the UK,
 and we couldn't wait to go! I love this sign on the wall there. It made me sad to see 
how far from home we are!

American milkshakes are hard to find here. We know where to go now when we are needing that fix! British milkshakes are what Americans would call flavored milk. Um...not quite the same.

YUMMY!

A little dressed up for a burger joint, but we didn't care!

Lacock- 18 June 2016

 

 On the way home from Bath we stopped at the village of Lacock. Lacock is in the Southern part of the Cotswolds. It is a place where I felt like I was stepping back in time. It has been the sight of filming for many period dramas and even some Harry Potter scenes(surprise, surprise!)
We went to the Abbey first. It was founded in 1232!

Sheep in the neighboring field. A common sight here. 

Climbing roses!

The Cloisters of the Abbey

This is where the founder of the Abbey, Ela, is buried here.
She was quite an amazing lady! Especially for the 1200's.

I love these old(hundreds of years old) worn staircases! Many nuns went up and down these.
 I'd love to hear their stories.

They stored wine barrels in this room at one point.
They had to carve some of the stone away so that they could get the barrels in!

Really old artwork on the walls.

The Sacristy
I love this photo because it really shows the age of these place. The floor was really uneven and walls where crumbling. It was cold and dark. My imagination can see it in it's splendor.

The Book Cupboard

 

Some Harry Potter was filmed here, but this wasn't a prop, it's been here for a long time. See the next photo. Do you remember these HP scenes?

The ONE fireplace in the whole abbey. It is COLD and so WET here, poor nuns.

   We then walked through the village. 

You will soon see that it has basically been untouched and it the perfect place to film period movies and t.v. shows. One of my favorites, Pride & Prejudice, was filmed here as well. 

This is the fictional village of Meryton.

Mr. Darcy in Meryton. See The Red Lion behind him?

Wish the cars weren't there. They ruin the photos, don't they?

This is the tithe barn. People would pay one-tenth of their farm's produce to the
church and this is where it was stored.

This was the village's prison cell, attached to the tithe barn.

Tithe Barn

 Good-bye