Day 81-92 -- Another Mini Series.

        So after church today (81) I watched some more of those awesome church videos!  They're great.
This past week was really great!  I can't remember all that we did...but Samuel's playschool ended!  Now I get to chill with him all day!  Actually...one day I was sitting in my room one day when all of a sudden he came in to tell me that he wants two pets: A chameleon dragon and a dog.  I guess Miss Martha May isn't good enough for him?  I thought it was hilariouso.  I went to Institute that Thursday, which we had a great lesson, like always.  That Saturday was spend in my room playing Spider Solitaire.  No stop!  -don't think "poor paigey pie" (mom I know you probably did) because I have a nonexistant social life.  But this is probably my fault anyway.  Good news though!  I got to the Advanced level in my game instead of Intermediate.  I had an outloud "yay" moment.
        Yesterday I had the oppurtunity to go teaching with four Elder missionaries!  I really loved it, they taught a 19 year old girl who is getting baptized in a few weeks!  I was glad to input a few little thoughts here and there.  Plus, I was really glad that I was able to actually see missionaries teaching, and how they do it!  It was a learning experience for me for sure!

Day 80 -- Sat Ur Day.

          The Grants had a chapel building reunion, Michelle's childhood building, so we all headed a few hours away to attend!  There were many people there...who I didn't know of course; but it was still fun to see a bunch of new faces.  Rebekah and I got a tad bored...so we took of to the shops!  While walking there it began to pour rain (what other type of pour is there?).  We got soaked!!!  No joke.  Water even soaked through our jackets!

Day 79 -- I Love Neville Longbottom.

          The midnight showing of Harry Potter was fantastic!  I love movie...probably because I never read any of the books.  People say that it is a little different...but that's okay with me because I don't have anything to compare it to!  So once I got a few hours of sleep...I got to hang out with Samuel all day!  Later that night, Dustin took me to go see The Tree of Life.  That was the strangest movie I've ever seen.  I couldn't help but to laugh right in the middle of the serious parts because I was so lost!  Basically...there is a family with three boys.  The dad is extremely strict (like human nature) and the mom is very earthy and loving (divine nature).  So they have their story going on when all of a sudden the movie stops to show us the creation of the earth which contained every type of earthly event ever!  An hour of watching fake dinosaurs and volcanoes made me laugh.  After that stopped...it went straight back to the weird story!  Okay I'm done.
         After that movie, some friends called Dustin to ask if we wanted to go see Harry Potter at midnight.  We accepted.  So I watched that movie twice in the same day.  Hooray!  (No Sarcasm)

Yeah.  It was in 3-D alright.  I look like I have a rat's nest resting on my shoulder.  Don't be frightened; it's only my well-groomed hair.

Day 78 -- Harry Potter? Yeah.

      So this past week...I've been watching all the Harry Potter movies in preparation for the last movie's midnight premier (which I am attending with Michelle and Elena!).  I am a new fan.  I know, I know...I've never liked that kid before.  But it really is so much fun to get into!  I feel like I want to go pull screaming plants out of pots and things like that now...anyway.  Just another hour til the midnight showing!  Oh shoot...I probably should have slept or something...

Day 77 -- Pinterest.

              Michelle introduced me to my new favorite website!  It is called Pinterest, and I added it to my blog pages up above.  Basically, it's an online dream board!  And its such a great idea because every picture you pin, keeps the website with it!  So you never have to write any information down or anything!  I am a pinning fool.  Plus...it's so easy to use!  Even my mom can use it-no offense mom.  Mom:  I think that you would love this pinning thing!  You could make a board for your future home or pictures that you want to draw one day!  Its great!  Check mine out.  You'll love it!

Day 76 -- Bunny Hop. Now!

         While walking home with Samuel from picking him at playschool...I jumped into a pole.  Yeah.  I was holding his hand and talking to him about how to jump like frogs and bunnies, not looking at where I was going.  He told me to jump like a bunny and WHAM.  I smacked the street light with my whole body.  It was such a cartoon moment where I had no idea what just happened.  I stood there for a few seconds, Samuel pointing and laughing at me, then noticed the line of cars waiting for the street light to turn green right next to me.  I didn't make eye contact with any of the people inside the cars.  It hurt.  I even bruised me knee.

Day 75 -- Pretzels Do Not Belong In Mini Umbrellas.

            This morning looked like it was about to pour rain.  So I took my coat and hot with me while I walked Samuel to playschool.  On the way back home, it got really hot and sunny!  I was seriously sweating...I think I got sunburned.  After I picked Sam back up, we had some strawberries.  He didn't want to eat anything else except for pretzels.  So I made myself some lunch; Cucumber stuffed with tuna!  Yum!  When I went to go get Samuel, I saw that he filled a mini umbrella with his pretzels!  As soon as I told him, "Pretzels do not belong in mini umbrellas," I had to laugh at myself.  I never thought that I would ever have to say that sentence.  Of course I never even thought up that sentence to say...but it was just funny.
           After lunchish, we painted a paper mache dinosaur that we've been working on for a whole week now!  That flour/water mixture takes forever to dry.  Then we walked to the corner shop and bought some smarties and Rolos to melt onto pretzels.  They were delightful!

Day 74 -- Talk Away.

             I spoke in Sacrament meeting today!  I wasn't really very nervous, and the girl who went before me was even more nervous...so that made me feel less nervous.  I spoke about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and I would like to share a really sweet quote I found:

Elder Mark E. Petersen (1900–84) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “We can readily see that observance of the Sabbath is an indication of the depth of our conversion.  Our observance or nonobservance of the Sabbath is an unerring measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward his suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in very deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of his atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us.”

            That night, I watched the story of Joseph Smith's history.  http://lds.org/media-library/video/feature-films?lang=eng#2011-03-01-joseph-smith-the-prophet-of-the-restoration  I tried to also watch a documentary of the current prophet, President Monson, but it kept getting all choppy.http://lds.org/media-library/video/feature-films?lang=eng#2009-09-01-on-the-lords-errand-the-life-of-thomas-s-monson

Day 73 -- Best Surprise Ever.

        So Elena and I caught a train to Manchester today to go shopping!  We searched through Zara (same store where I bought my blazer) and the sale was still going on!  I wanted everything, but they were about to close!  So we only had a few minutes until we had to purchase whatever we wanted!  She bought the nicest white jeans, and I found the cutest pair of little shoes for 16 pounds!  As the lady scanned the shoes, she only asked me for nine pounds!  They were on another sale!  I was surprised and got really happy.  The end.

Day 72 -- Wales.

        I can officially say that I've been to Wales now.  After Dustin and I walked around the city of Chester, he drove me through a little bit of Wales!  Even though it was really dark and I couldn't see anything extremely cool (except for the signs all had English and Welsh writing on them), it was still fun to go!

Day 71 -- Lazy.

       I skipped Institute tonight because I felt like being lazy.  Plus...I liked just sitting in my bed.  Like I said, lazy.  So that is what I did :)

Day 70 -- Happy 70th Day Celebration.

            I've been living in England for seventy days already!  Can you believe that?  I still feel like I just got here!  And I am still not used to the crazy weather.  I woke up this morning so a very gloomy and dark sky.  I brushed my teeth, then walked straight back into my room and noticed through my window that it was as sunny as ever!!!  Terribly fickle.

Day 69 -- Fish and Chips.

              Thursday, Dustin took me to get real English fish and chips!  But then we realized that it wasn't actually real fish and chips because it was too nice of a place.  And Michelle said that the real fish and chips are served on newspaper then you eat it on the beach.  And at the place we went to...we ate our fish and chips with...a fork and a knife!!!  I've never eaten fries with a fork before.  I actually hated it.  It did not feel right at all.

Day 68 -- Fourth of July

Isn't he so cute?!  He wanted his picture taken looking like an octopus!

                             

                       Because the Fourth of July is my absolute favorite holiday…I really missed being home with my family and celebrating our freedom together.  But don’t worry!  The Grants threw me a Fourth of July dinner party!  We made paper party hats, and the kids decorated the walls with little American flags!  I appreciated this so much, they have no idea!  We ate traditional American food; Hamburgers and hot dogs, of course!  Michelle even stuck mini flags into each brownie, so adorable.  After tea, we played American bingo!  Michelle called out each state while we searched for them on our paper.  We played for Smarties-sweets like MnMs.  I had a lot of fun!

While playing, I ate my sweets.  So I had to resort to using chicken skin and cheese bits as markers.

                                Later that night, Dustin called me and told me to look out my window.  I was actually pretty creeped out.  All of a sudden, fireworks began to go off in the park right by my house!  The lights sprinkled across the sky for just a few minutes, but it made me feel like home!

                                I realized today that I am even more patriotic than I thought!  I am so thankful for my wonderful country where I was privileged enough to grow up in.  I know that our founding fathers were inspired by God to declare independence so that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints could be restored to this earth through the prophet, Joseph Smith.  I know that the United States of America is a divine country where everyone can live free lives and pursue the American Dream in any of the fifty states they choose.  I am extremely thankful for all of the soldiers who have ever fought, lived, or died for my freedom.  The United States of America is such a young country, but we have come so far in such a short period of time;  Not even two hundred years later, USA was the one providing Britain and France with war goods to defeat Hitler, just a small example.  We changed the whole entire world by bringing all sorts of remarkable revolutions and being an example of successful freedom.  So many miracles took place on American soil, and I couldn’t be more proud to be able to call myself American.

Day 67 -- I Love Sundays.

          Yes, I do love Sundays.  I went to church and had a great time!  Not the same kind of a "great time" as jumping on trampolines or anything like that.  But better!  Because it's church!  I skyped my family once again!  They're really cool people.  I was talking with my little brother, Jesse, when we realized that we have the coolest parents of all time.  How did we get so lucky?  We must have done something pretty darn spectacular in the pre-existence to deserve them.  Once we were finished talking about their possession of awesomeness, I told Jesse to let me talk to them again.  He informed me that they feel asleep on the bed by the computer.

 The boys surprised me with a sign they made out of poker chips :)  I love it!!!

Jacob's (Age 13)  Wayyy too hilarious and gross.

Day 66 -- London.

Dustin picked me up at 6:30 in the morning and drove us to the Stockport train station.  We grabbed our seats and arrived in lovely London two hours later.  I remembered my mom’s intelligent advice on how I must take lots and lots of photos.  So here is number one of the train station.

                      We automatically bought underground tube passes, which we used throughout the entire day.  Right off the bat, we went to Harrods; you must have heard of it.  I swear, it was the nicest store I’ve ever been in.  I felt like I was going to run into Marilyn Monroe at any moment!  It was also the probably the largest store that I have ever been into.  Everything was exceptionally expensive, except for the sale floor.  I couldn’t believe my eyes!  They were selling designer jeans for an amount that I would actually pay for!  However I didn’t get my shop on because I didn’t want to take up all my time in London on shopping…that would not be wise.  I’ll just have to go back then…

                                

                                Buckingham palace!  It was a pretty building, but covered in tourists because it was right in the middle of the changing of the guards; which we were able to catch a moment of the soldiers marching to their posts.  No, I did not see the Queen.

                                The house of Parliament was a serious sight to see.  So gorgeous and intricate! 

                                We decided to go find the blue door in the wonderful film Notting Hill.  The owner changed to door because they were sick of tourists coming and taking photos on his stoop…but I still got a picture in the threshold!  We dug through every antique shop on Portobello Road to find myself an antique bottle for my collection.  We finally found one after the shop owner talked our ears off for ten minutes. 

                                The London Eye (big Ferris wheel) was a little bit overrated.  We went really high over London and got to see the whole city…but it honestly wasn’t that cool at all.  I would never pay to go on it again, but because I am a tourist…I was obligated to.

                                Remember when I was complaining about my height?  Yeah well Dustin found the first, real measuring thing!  So he took me there to try to figure out my real height.  Every time I tried to measure myself, I got five foot and other false measurements.  It was worth a shot.

                                We then caught the train back home around nine.  We played a really stupid dot game on paper.  Two hours later, I got home!  I really enjoy London!