lately = london blues

i can't believe that i have already been home for two months. who knows where the past 2 months have gone. there is so much that i miss about london and although i thought adjusting back to life here in utah would be easy, it has been a lot harder for me than i thought it would be. i miss the city and especially all of my friends that i made there. while in london, i loved the life i was living and i was changing constantly and i learned so much about myself. now that i am home, i am still trying to take in everything that i learned there and make it fit with my life here. the past few weeks have been pretty relaxing. which is good because after being gone for so long it was really nice to lounge at home and hangout with the fam. here's what i have been up to lately: (this is for you rach & mar, since you're the only peeps who read this)

quick girls trip to phoenix. 1st girls trip with steph & my mom since steph is officially a married woman.. and it better not be the last girls trip. it was so much fun!

[steph & i with our little cousin, caroline, who lives in mesa]

[so ghetto... but we had to go! plus steph got a pair of tory's exactly like my black ones for $70! can't beat that!!]

steph graduated from the u of u.

mother's day. i have the BEST mom in the world.

midway trip with friends from london & going down to provo to see london friends.

[with the birthday girl.. and our creepy form of a candle, a sparkler haha. happy happy birthday ash!!]

[carly got engaged! now she has a beautiful diamond ring.. and us 3 still have our claddagh rings haha]

congrats carl! i love you!

got a new nanny job & i love it! never realized how hard it is to be a {mom} and how i have so much to learn before i can be a mom haha.

memorial day in st. george with the fam... so so much fun!

[had to try & keep the tradition alive of taking this ice cream pic at dq]

[only in utah would you see this car on the freeway]

so that's some of what i have been doing the past 2 months. i hope that i will stop feeling the london blues soon! haha, until then.. i am just hanging out & waiting for utah to finally heat up and offically feel like summer!

belgium & somme.

well i ate my way through belgium for the 3rd time this year haha. every since october, the first time i went there; my entire family fell in love with the food. there's just something about those sugar waffles, frites, more frites, speculoos, and of course belgian chocolate. although this trip wasn't with my family this time- all of my friends can fully agree that they are as good as i have talked them up to be.

we all got on the coach at 6 am on monday.. luckily we had our favorite bus driver who keeps his bus clean, drives smoothly so we can sleep, and our favorite is that he handles our bags with care when putting them in the bottom of the bus. we drove for 2 hours to get to dover, where we were supposed to take a ferry to france. (it's a big & the bus drives onto the ferry) of course our ferry got canceled because it was having problems- so luckily we were able to catch the next ferry, but bad news is that we had to wait there another few hours until it was time to leave. after the wait and then the 2 hour ferry ride.. we had made it to france. haha, we got back on the bus and drove for 2 more hours to get to brugge, belgium. we lucked out because it was the most beautiful weather! so sunny.. we didn't even need a jacket. it was the best weather that we have had while being in europe. we checked into the ibis and me and kins shared a room for the trip. we went out to see brugge, and went on a canal cruise. after seeing the city and buying some souvenirs- we got dinner at a restaurant in the main square. before heading back to the hotel for the night, we of course had to get some frites & then later shop to get some chocolate.

[on the ferry]

[boat cruise]

tuesday morning, we checked out of the ibis and all headed to get a tour of the chocolate museum. after we explored the city. we were on a hunt to get more frites and to find waffles haha. since kins and i had already tasted the real belgian waffle.. you could say that we were a little picky in finding the perfect waffle. (dad- nothing compares to the brussels waffle)

we left belgium that afternoon- and every one the bus couldn't stop talking about how much they loved brugge and how they had never eaten so much in their lives haha.

[in front of the chocolate museum]

[guest sign in book]

[twins & didn't even plan it]

before

&

after

later that day, we drove to iepen, belgium, and went to the flanders field museum. we learned a lot about ww1 and saw a lot of cool stuff. after the museum, there was a fun little carnival outside & let's just say we got a few more treats.... and for the rest of the day we felt SO sick haha. we got back on the bus and drove to amiens, france. once getting to france- we checked into the ibis and stayed in for the rest of the night.

wednesday morning, we walked from the hotel to the notre dame d'amiens cathedral. this is the largest cathedral in europe, and it looks a lot like the notre dame in paris-- but way way bigger!!

after, we got on the bus and drove to somme and to some of the battlefields from the battle of the somme. there are trenches throughout the field where the men would live, hide, and fight. it was crazy to actually walk through the trenches and to see "no man's land."

after seeing the battlefields, we headed back to the ferry & then home to london. for the past few days we have all been so tired. haha, the month of traveling is finally over-- and as much as we loved it.. we are all pretty excited to have the next few weeks to spend in london!

ireland.

last week we all went to ireland for 4 days. i have always dreamed about going to ireland, and i have to say that i had pretty high expectations for it. we got onto the coach at 3 am on tuesday so that we could drive an hour and a half to the far away airport. after checking in and going through security.. we had to split into two different flights, because there wasn't room for all of us on one. needless to say, we did a lot of waiting around and sitting in airports. after all meeting up in the dublin airport-- we had a bus waiting for us and we drove to the guinness storehouse. i know what you're thinking... why is a group of byu students going to the guinness brewery!? haha, i guess when you go to ireland-- you have to see all of ireland! it was actually pretty fun and interesting even though we were all really tired!

after the guinness storehouse, we checked into our hotel and attempted to take a nap. we were all loving that we were in a legit hotel instead of a hostel! our professors made a reservation at the brazen head (the oldest pub in ireland) for that night. the walk to the pub was really pretty and the food at the pub was yummy! it was a fun night!

wednesday we spent the day shopping around, getting lunch, and seeing the city. we of course had to go to carroll's-- which is a big souvenir shop everywhere in dublin. we found too many funny outfits and weird trinkets, everything was green and we got everything that we needed for st. patrick's day!

thursday, we woke up and started getting ready for the big st. patty's day festivities! we were doing green makeup on our faces and spraying our hair green. right by our hotel, was the street that the big parade went down. everyone went full out and it was so crowded and GREEN! it was so fun to be in ireland over st. patrick's day.

later that day we checked out of the hotel and took the coach to kilkenny (a small town an hour outside of dublin). we stayed at a hostel.. and it was the nicest hostel that we have been to! you know you've been traveling around europe for too long when you start to love hostels and think that they are way nice haha. we hungout and got some rest.

friday, we slept in a bit and then explored kilkenny. later, we got on the coach and drove through the beautiful countryside to see the rock of cashel. (i know you love our matching sweatshirts)

it was liz's birthday today... so we tried to have a fun day, even though you can't do much when you're on a bus for most of the afternoon, driving to the airport, flying to london, and then a 2 hour drive back home to the centre. but we did get her dinner before boarding the plane at the only place open-- burger king. hahaha so so nasty. let's just say we'll be making up for that birthday for the next few years.

happy birthday liz, love youuu!!!