Chartwel, Churchill's house

Went to see another property near us. House of Sir Winston Churchill. He had an amazing property. Gardens, lakes, pounds, darling benches to set and think deep thoughts. Beautiful, beautiful land.
If you don't know who he is, you can read about him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_ChurchillLink
And here are some pictures of us wondering around.

Welcome to the UK!

Oh, the phobias! I have few.... not bad ones, but the kind that get me just enough to create a little bit of anxiety in my life. (like I don't have enough)
One of those phobias is fear of my kids catching international illnesses. (can you blame me for that one?)
So the other day I have heard our neighbor talking about "slapped cheek decease" What the heck is that? I said. Oh, it is common illness all the kids get it here around springtime. Sweet! I immediately wanted to have my kids stay at home. But they can't. (If your child isn't seek and at home they may send county rep and charge you 100 pounds (about $170) for absence in school. Joy!)

Few days later, Drew comes home with unusually red cheeks. Fiver? Nope, not hot. Were you running? No, he didn't. Hmmmm? The redness staid for 2 days and then it was gone. He had no other symptoms, so I didn't think much about that, anymore. Except a few days later Brooklyn came home with shiny slapped looking cheeks. Honey, did some one hit you? Were you scratching your self? Were you running all day? No, no and nope.
So I got really curious and went to the play ground to talk to some moms at kid's school.
"Did she have a cold a few weeks ago?" asked one mom.
Now that I'm thinking about it, yes, she did.
"Yep", she has slapped cheek.
"What is it?" I asked, "I have never heard of it"
"Oh, really? Well, welcome to the UK! it is very common here.
SWEET! MY KIDS GOT INTERNATIONAL ILLNESS! AAAHHH!

Slapped cheek syndrome is a common childhood viral infection. However, it can affect people of all ages. The most common symptom of slapped cheek syndrome is the appearance of a bright red rash on both cheeks (hence the name). Slapped cheek syndrome is cause by a virus called parvovirus B19.

Slapped cheek syndrome is also sometimes known as:

• fifth disease, and
• erythema infectiosum

Slapped cheek syndrome usually affects children who are between 3-15 years of age. Most cases develop during the late winter months or early spring.

The symptoms are similar to a cold or a flew and you don't even know that you have it till about 2 weeks later when the rash appears. At that moment , there is nothing you can or need to do. Rash is illnesses final symptom. And once you have it you are not infectious.
Adults rarely get it, but if they do it often really bad and it could be fatal for pregnant women or people with weak immune system.

Well, Welcome to the UK indeed!

Knole

We have decided to purchase National Trust pass for family (btw, Hailey, we have put your name on our pass as well, so hopefully you'll be able to come and see some of the beautiful sites of England)
So we have been trying to see something new every Saturday.
A couple of Saturdays ago we went and saw Knole House. Oh, my! It was magical!

Knole is an English country house in the town of Sevenoaks in west Kent (about 15 min drive from our house), surrounded by a 1,000-acre park. One of England's largest houses, it is reputed to be a calendar house, having 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards.
It was build between 1456 and 1486. In 1566, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, it came into the possession of her cousin Thomas Sackville.
The many state rooms open to the public contain a superb collection of 17th century royal Stuart furniture, perquisites from the 6th Earl's service as Lord Chamberlain to William III in the royal court, including three state beds, silver furniture (comprising a pair of torches, mirror and dressing table, being rare survivors of this type), outstanding tapestries and textiles and the original of the famous Knole Settee.
The house was amazing, but what made me really giggle of unbelief and pure joy is this.
The 1,000-acre park is the only mid-evil park in Kent county. The trees looked mid-evil for sure, and I felt like if they could talk, boy they can tell a story or two. And then there is deer! Wild, free roaming deer. Everywhere! They weren't afraid to come in contact at all! Wild, right? We were advice not to feed them and not to touch little baby deer. They are wild and they can charge! Here are a few pictures of our day there.

Natural History Musuem

We have decided to have family outing every Saturday (heck, there is so much to do and see, I don't think we will ever run out of things to do.)
Last Saturday we went to Natural History Museum. 4 kids, train run, tube ride, walk in the middle of London....the whole thing. Which if you remember in my earlier posts, would freak me out.
Well, it is still a bit stressful but I believe we are getting much better at it.
{ Ryder freaking out because we forgot his dummy(binky) }
I think now we know what to expect and we are better prepared in how to handle it in less stressful way. Yes, we are adapting! ;) Yea, for us!
{Blowing into Ryder's face to keep him from screaming on the tube ride. He hates crowded places}{This part in the underground gets kind of stressful, usually it is packed with people rushing through, and you hope they just wont' carry one of your children along with them}Here are some pictures from our trip. Once we got inside, our camera batteries run out ;( so we don't have a wh0le lot of pictures inside.

The building itself was once described as a 'true temple of nature', the Natural History Museum is one of the most distinctive buildings in London inside and out.

It looks just like castle and has amazing paintings and architecture of nature that is the very skin of the building.

Les Misérables

I think of being brought up in a culture rich city and country, one of the things I grew up loving is theater. I love pretty much anything that has to do on the big stage. Love it!
When I served my mission, our mission president allowed us to have 2 super activities/mission time. I chose to see Phantom and Les Miserables. I was also lucky enough to have seen it by seating on the 3rd row from the orchestra! It was like being in the middle of a story as an invisible person. You see and hear and mostly FEEL like nothing else. I cried the whole way through the play. I really felt in love with this amazing story and music of Les Miserables.
For a long time I would tell Troy that he HAS to see the play. (it isn't his cup of tea)
Here in London, Les Miserable is playing year round (well, it has been sense June) so for my Valentine gift I bought the tickets. They were the chippest seats in the house, but I figured we have to see it and if Troy will fall in love with it as I did, we can comeback and see it in Ut and get seats near stage, with out paying 70% more for the ticket. At any rate. It was amazing! Just as I knew it would.
Queen's theater is an old theater and it is small and charming.

Troy liked the play as well. He said that it had some powerful lyrics in the songs. Now he will have to see it up close and personal, where you can smell the sweat and see the emotions of the actors. Where you can be swallowed up in the experience of the front row seats.
BTW, London is well alive and beautiful at night.
Dinner before the show.
We were grateful to have this "just the two of us" night out. Thanks Ashley, for watching our little piggies.

Playing tourists

We have been in UK sense June and yet have gone to London to see the cites. Why? Well...We kind of felt "frozen" in a way, I'm not going to go into that. But also, it is SO different if you are resident here vs a tourist. In short...finances were not allowed us to be tourists. We had to pay our bills, which aren't chip here. And especially that we pay them in US dollars which means that we pay 60-70% more then the price is. (exchange rate isn't kind) Sucks, big time! But we are trying to change somethings around here and take advantage of as many things as we can.
This week we played proper tourists. I think I had smile on my face the whole time we were in London.
As soon as our kids were walked to school, Troy and I jumped in our car, drove to our church, which is gated here, but we had code to get in, and were told we can park there. And so we did.
We walked to the train station and in 30 minute or so we were in the middle of London.
London is a BUSY city! And most languages that you hear aren't english. Yes, it is a havely toured city.
I have to say, I HATE crowds and crowded places, but I am learning to deal with it. For that is what London is. I am also learning to deal with cigarette smoke....not happy about that!
First, we walked to Buckingham Palace. It is one of the 3 homes to her majesty, here in the UK. The Queen lives here and you know if she is there, if the flag is displayed. You can also see it inside, but only in the summer and on certain days and times. So we just went to see the change of guards.
By the palace it was crowded, and frankly it was hard to see what was going on behind the gates. I think you have to come way early and camp at the gates or something crazy like that. Troy did get some pictures, and as much as we saw, it did fulfilled our "been there. done that".

I have to tell you something funny. While we were there, Troy got all romantic, and tried to fully make out with me. It didn't go well. I couldn't pretend he was my Bachelor, as he insisted I would think of him. ;) He was disappointed and said I was no fun! I guess, I'm getting to old to make out in front of Buckingham palace.
After turning him down for a make out session, we walked to the Wesminster Abbey.


Westminster Abbey is steeped in more than a thousand years of history. Benedictine monks first came to this site in the middle of the tenth century, establishing a tradition of daily worship which continues to this day.The Abbey has been the coronation church since 1066 and is the final resting place of seventeen monarchs.The present church, begun by Henry III in 1245, is one of the most important Gothic buildings in the country.

This is where Prince William and Kate will be getting married on April 29the, which is btw is the same day Troy and I got married.We are still considering on going to the city on that day and see if it'll be worth the trip. Locals are talking us out of it. They say it will be way to crowded. Just watch it on telly (tv)

We took an audio tour inside and it was really awesome! I loved every minute of it. It has virtually every royal burial for the nearly 500 years between the deaths of Henry III in 1272 and George II in 1760 took place in Westminster Abbey. The two notable exceptions were Henry VIII and Charles I, both of whom were buried at Windsor Castle. ( which we hope to visit soon) All monarchs from George III onwards have since been interred at Windsor. The Abbey is also the final resting-place for the great and the good of the nation. Many of Britain’s most celebrated statesmen, scientists, writers and composers are buried here, while others among the notability – such as Shakespeare and Churchill – have memorials in the Abbey, even though their remains lie elsewhere. (Home of Churchill is like 15 min a way from our house)
Some of the names you may recognize, such as: Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, George Handel, Laurence Olivier and many other amazing man in history of music, poetry and science. It was amazing to stand in that presence.
You are not allowed to take photos inside, so we didn't...well....Troy did take some (notie, notie) but they weren't any good.
Time flew by fast and we had to rash home to get kids from school. And on our way home we stopped at this French booth in Victoria train station to grab some food.
This french pastries are fast becoming an addicting scramtiousness for me. I will be in BIG trouble if I ever make it to France. Croissant with ham and cheese and apple are my favorite. We run fast to our train so we won't miss it. ( we run a lot here, to catch trains) and on our way home we were licking our fingers from eating delicious french bakery treats. It was a great day!

Who needs London when there is cool cemetery?

I think cemeteries here are sooo cool! Everyday that we drive by some old churches we see this grave yards and there is something about them that invites me to come and visit. Odd, right?
At list that what my children are thinking. I, on the other hand, love it. Some of the graves are so old you can't even see the names on the tombstones. I don't know...it is just a cool feeling to be in the presence of something that old.
I think the door to this old church is really cool looking. Most churches are leaving churches, which means they still have services there. I actually went to one, Rylee had School Christmas program in one, it was a neat little church. Dark inside, with woman priest, who blessed us all as we were leaving. That was fun! We should of given her booklet on restoration of the priesthood.
Brooklyn isn't sure about this one. After few minutes she was hugging it.
No one wanted to take pictures. ;( I don't understand why?

O2 Arena

Right before we left Utah, this amazing show came into Salt Lake City, "Walking with Dinosaurs" We couldn't go at the time, but felt like it would of been so much fun. So the other week I was talking with one of moms here and she was going to go to the show, here in London. I got so excited that without farther investigation I just went on line and bought the tickets. I was so excited to tell Troy of this (he is the one who wanted to go to the one in UT).
When we have arrived we have realized that I bought tickets for something totally different. Still cool, but not quite as cool as it would of been the show we wanted to see. We went to the largest interactive dinosaurs exhibit in London. Which is at this COOL arena, called O2. They hold all kinds of concerts and shows in there. It build in a way that creates a little city under the same roof. With restaurants and shops and all kinds of exhibits.
Though exhibit was cool, we were a bit disipointed, for we thought we were going to see a complete different thing. Later we found much needed spanish restorant where we grabbed something to eat and off we went back home fighting traffic. Fun!

My favorite sounds in the world.

It is not quite 7 am here in England, I went outside to put laundry into the dryer....that's right,my dryer is outside...here,it is a common practice to air dry laundry. Our house is not hooked up for electric air dryer, so when we bought one we had no choice but to put it outside in the shed. When it rains (which in England is a lot)or when it is really cold, it is kind of a pain to go out side with my wet laundry. But the early mornings like today, it has inspired me to write this blog.
So, back to what I wanted to write. As I went outside this morning, what I heard is a songs of what it seems like hundreds of bird...It was loud, but oh, so beautiful! Early mornings,so untouched,fresh and peaceful. I like everything about early mornings, I think there is something sacret about them. Back home, we have couple of trees in our front yard. I looked forward to the spring and summer season, bcs every morning, on one of those trees there was a bird singing. Just one bird, every morning, every spring and summer. It might sounds silly, but I thanked Heavenly Father for that faithful little bird, who made my mornings bright, by singing to my soul. I'm being cheese, I know, but that's just how I feel.
My second favorite sound in the world, is my children's laughter. Oh, how I love hearing it. As a parent you really know when your children laughing, bcs something is funny or if they are laughing with that full heart and soul, joy to the top kind of laugh. Do you know what I mean? When they laugh like that I just want to bottle it up, somehow.
My third favorite sound is kind of similar to the second. It is exactly the same as the second, except it applies to Troy. I love when something really makes his belly jiggle. It's not just any "ha, ha, ha"...I don't know...I don't know how to explain it, but I just know when it happens.
My fourth favorite sound is violin. I can't play it, nor do my kids play it. But I just love, love, love listening when some one plays violin. When the music starts, I feel, like the unseen door to my soul opens up. And an incredible wave of emotions start flowing in. Cheese again, I know, but that's how I feel.
And my fifth, is rain. LOVE. IT! I love laying in bed and listening to it. Or reading a book with it's sound on the back ground. There is something calming about it. And then there is a smell.....but that is a different post.

Brighter days!

Yesterday, I had our bishop's wife and two of her youngest sons over. We had such a nice visit. Afrcouse we had some finger foods, raspberry cheese cake and caffeine free diet coke. I was excited to be able to hold her brand new baby boy. I just LOVE babies and would have another one today if I didn't have to be pregnant. ( I know that sound horrid, but pregnancy just not my thing ) I tell Troy that I am so gratfull that we will be able to have more, a lot more babies after we get exalted. And thank heaven, we will have wisdom in knowing how to take care of those babies.
Today, Was fantastic! Lucky for me, and as an answer to many prayers....we had Utah family move into our word! Ashley is seriously like a gift send from heaven. We have SO much in common (some of it is kind of scary), we felt connected shortly after we met. This girl has such a bright perspective on life and world around you...I love it! Sometimes I need someone like her who can just shake me up, speak up her mind, and help me to see all the sun rays through the clouds.
She called me up and off we went by the train to Bromley. We didn't do anything big. But it was BIG for me. I was out of the house, I was breathing cold but fresh air (in the exception of the occasional smoke air), I was laughing and experiencing my day of life with a GREAT friend.
Thank you Ashley for moving to England!

P.S. I just Love THIS idea.

Lawyer's opinion

Troy has been doing some research on I-601 waiver, what it takes to be approved, what evidences Home Land Security needs etc. We have heard for a while now that it all has to be well documented. But what does it mean? What do we need to document? So in his research he came in contact with this lawyer who apparently does 90% of her practice in preparing I-601 waivers.
She has great approval percentage rate. So Troy contacted her and we had over the phone consultation. During our visit, she said, that I should of left to Russia and Troy should of staid in the US with the kids. (what?) She said, that we should do that even now, for it will THEN be an extreme hardship. She felt in her professional opinion that only then will we be able to see a possibility of my 10 year bar being removed.

I didn't sleep well that night....the images of me being with out my family just killing me.
Troy joked and said, that maybe we will be jipsys, traveling for the next 10 years. looking for job, home, school...I don't know......(sigh)
I get so tired of this at times.....seems like my whole life has been a limbo state....I can't even begin to tell you how that altered me as a person. I hate that my children are dragged into it! I just want them to have a normal life!
The only strength I find is on my knees. He knows! He has a plan! Trust Him! Find happiness!

The next day I find THIS talk. I would encourage you to read it. It has given me hope and trust that I can have bright life despite my circumstance. I believe many of us will relate. I felt like it was written just for me.

Day 7 (what is your luxury)

Thou I can put on a good argument about this one being a necessity, we all know it is a luxury!
Hair color...it is expensive and of high maintenance. But boy oh, boy does it make girl feel purdy!

Day 6 (what is your luxury)

Number 7 on my list of luxuries is NAP!!!!
A recent study showed that you will be 37% less likely to die from heart disease if you take three 30 minute naps per week. To me this is like finding that eating pack of Oreo cookies will make me skinny.
I love taking naps, always have. But lets face it, not everyone can take naps in the middle of a day, so for me to be able to do it is a luxury.

Day 5 (what is your luxury)

This is my #6 luxury item! Hobo Wallet.
I bought it for myself as a Mother's day gift from Troy ;)
(I do that sometimes) It might of been his fault. He might of forgotten about Mothers Day last year ;) And now I have this fabilouse luxury item! I LOVE IT ! I LOVE IT ! I LOVE IT ! Thank you darling!But I have to say...I might of thrown up a little when I bought it...I have never spent that much money on the wallet.

Day 4 (what is your luxury)

So, I was debating if I should put this one down or not. It is not a "thing", but more of an ability.
My number 5 of luxury in my life is ability to stay home with kids. Now, I know many of you will probably say that that is not luxury. But I truly believe it is. I was always very grateful, that even at the hardest moments (financial) of our marriage, I was able to stay home with the kids. Since we have come to England, I have ever more so realize how much it is a luxury to be stay at home mom. Economy here is really created on 2 household income and it makes impossible for mothers to stay at home. EVERY single mother that I have come in contact with at my kid's school, does some kind of job. (most of them do house cleaning) I have spoke to one of the sisters in our word here and have learned that government here really frowns upon mothers who don't work...As soon as her youngest daughter went to school, she start getting letters that her health care will be cut back if she doesn't return to work....
Yes, it is a luxury for me to stay home! And I am grateful for it!