This was my homework.

We were assigned a collaboration project and given minimal instructions or requirements on execution.  We were supposed to "play," so we "snuck" out one night, and this is with what my group came up.  We incorporated both writing and art to spell the word CREATE based off of Elder Uchtdorf's mormon message.  Yes, we do school here, the real kind, and I love London.

Copenhagen… A home away from home.

This month we visited my family friends, the Bridge family, in Copenhagen for the weekend.  First we had to go through an intensive petition to convince John and Peter that there was value in our visit to Copenhagen, but after our letter of sorts it was final.  It was so nice to stay in an actual home and be with a family.  It was much colder than London had been, but I still got my classic ice cream cone.  We wore winter clothes, bought homemade jam in the countryside, drove to Sweden, snuggled up in bed to watch Forrest Gump, saw the Carl Bloch exhibit, visited Hamlet's castle and Karen Blixen's house, went to church, bought plenty of chocolate, marched beside the Queen's guards, and we all found a liking for Danish boys.  Karen also taught me the three phrases necessary for survival in Denmark and the only Danish I know… 1. Tak=thanks  2. Jeg Elsker Dem=I love you and 3. Kan du huske mig=Do you remember me?.. We covered all the basics while there.  It has been my favorite trip yet.    

THE GROUP = Al Smil, LaLa, Me, Laurel, and Magaroon

Karen and I outside Church of our Lady.

I became a mermaid….

Bear stole my heart.

Luckily the Iraq embassy was directly across their house… 

The ice cream was impeccable.   

Our favorite London-based band was in Copenhagen - the Ryan O'Reilly Band.

Suzannah was a sweetheart.  

Temples are for me.

General conference was a little different for me than usual at the center.  London is seven hours ahead of Utah, so we were watching conference until 11:00 PM on a live stream off the internet.  I was so excited for this conference and in some weird way felt more connected to my family and Utah while watching it, knowing that we were both watching the same messages.  I am so grateful for such a universal church and look forward to sustaining the church leaders each conference as the prophets and apostles of our day.

I can't even begin to explain my emotions when President Thomas S. Monson announced the new temples.  I seriously listened to when he announced the new second Provo temple four times, and I got the chills each time.  This will be the third temple built from a preexisting building following the temples built in Stockholm and Copenhagen (that I recently visited).  I can't believe that the tabernacle will be a temple!  I have attended stake conference there for so many years, and have even sung in the choir, so I feel a personal connection to this temple that hasn't even been built yet. I have such a strong love for the temple and feel such a peace and strength when I attend the temple, "in this noisy, bustling, competitive world, what a privilege it is to have a sacred house where we may experience the sanctifying influence of the Spirit of the Lord".

"Let's become a temple-attending and temple-loving people.  I bear testimony that the temple is about families.  I also testify that everything in the temple testifies of Jesus Christ.  His example of love and service is felt there.  The temple is His holy house.  I know that He is the Son of God, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Mediator, and our Advocate with the Father.  He loves us and wants our families to be happy and to be together forever.  He wants all of us to be active in His temple."



President Gordon B. Hinckley "The Privilege of Going to the House of the Lord" 
Richard H. Winkel "The Temple Testifies of Jesus Christ" 

Disney's Debut in London

RAPUNZEL HERSELF.

The weather in London has been rather unusual for this time of year. It's been in the 80s in OCTOBER. I've been bummed, because I love the cool crispness that fall brings and the sweaters, and mostly because I didn't bring any "summery" clothing, so I've been roasting, but Sunday's warm weather seemed to be way too suiting for the occasion -- a royal coronation for Princess Rapunzel! Rapunzel is now Disney's tenth princess, and we got to see the parade. The nine other princesses were present as well riding in horse-drawn carriages. We took a two minute walk to Hyde Park to see them all ride by. We were surrounded by mostly little children five and under, and I kind of wished I had brought my Rapunzel attire to London Town, but it was a good sunny day. The coronation took place at Kensington Palace, where Kate and William stay on the weekends. I was so excited to see Ariel and Aurora and Cinderella and Jasmine and Tiana and Pocahontas and Snow White and my favorite, Mulan. We live in such an amazing place, and the parade was the perfect Sunday activity between conference sessions. (I'll blog about conference later, because it was more than amazing).

*I of course wasn't able to catch a picture of Rapunzel, but luckily my friend Kendal was willing to share her photo. :)

Waiting was a rough go for us all.

The welcoming banner

Tiana

Pocahontas and Mulan two of my favorites had to share a carriage. Disney couldn't round up one more carriage?

Belle-- I used to dress up as her on the daily when I was younger.

Ariel -- Love the hair.

Aurora

Cinderella -- She's a classic.

Jasmine-- Arabian beauty

Snow White

Guess who was probably the most excited? This kid (Can you spot Lisa?).

Notice the extreme hair cut…. It was a brave move on my part.

We Are College Girls.

We visited Cambridge and bought a sweatshirt, so now we're true college girls. And on the way home we listened to country music, because I was missing America just a little bit…

I'm twenty, but I'm still a teenager.

I've never really been a Taylor Lautner fan, but tonight… He was looking kind of, really cute. And tonight I got soaked for him in the London rain.

London Town.

Everyday in London thus far has been full of adventures, so my weak attempt to summarize this past week will be in list format:

1. Our first play in London was Legally Blonde the Musical at the Savoy Theater. We all logically dressed in black white and pink. We looked like a sorority.

2. I was called to teach young women’s.

3. We all went to the Royal Albert Hall for the Philadelphia philharmonic symphony. (It was so good they gave two encores).

4. Richard III. Long. Thriving on Richard…

5. Kitchen duty. I will never complain about dishes at home after dinner prep/ clean up for 60 people.

6. Vogue Fashion’s Night Out. London 2011. September 8. There was a free Vogue photo booth, Leonardo did my hair, and I finally bought my rain boots for 25% off.

7. I had my first pub experience. Fran met a drummer and next thing we knew we were at their show… The Elgin was the cutest pub to hear the Ryan O’Reilly Band.

8. I have fallen semi-in-love-with McDonalds, and I’m super embarrassed about it, because I usually hate fast food, but I had to get my share of protein, because I promised my mom I’d be a semi-vegetarian while here in London. Mad cow disease? = I ordered a chicken sandwich.

9. I went running in Hyde Park around Serpentine Lake.

10. I attempted to watch Notting Hill in our classroom on Friday night, but I of course fell asleep. (Maggie summarized what I missed).

11. I ate at Café Diana and accepted free baklava from the restaurant owner after we clarified that I wasn’t actually Arab or Greek.

12. Visited Primark way too many times.

13. Slept in a total of once = 9:30 AM.

14. Done laundry twice (washed my sheets twice).

15. Lied in Stephanie’s twin-sized bed with three other girls to watch the BYU game at midnight. Devoted fans.

16. Camden Market.

17. Portobello Road/Market.

18. Failed to communicate to our cook in Portuguese and Spanish...

19. End of Summer Festival.

Off to Scotland today!