London, SWBy's B-day, Dance, and Easter!

As usual, this post is long overdue! There is lots to catch up on and many, many pictures! President's Day week I had the AWESOME opportunity and privilege of going to London with my mom and good friend Cindy! It was so fun! My mom and I went shortly after I graduated High School but only got to spend a few days there. This time we got to spend 8 wonderful days discovering London and England history. I must admit I became a little bit obsessed with the history of England and it's monarchs. I found it fascinating! One day we ventured outside of London and were able to visit Bath, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. London has such cute, quaint little towns and homes! I loved seeing it. I didn't realize how green England was and as we drove through the countryside it was so green and beautiful with rolling hills and fences made from stacking stone upon stone with no cement. It was a great trip!

This year London is hosting the Olympics so we got to see a lot of Olympic paraphernalia! This is Cindy and me under the Olympic Rings in the train station in our hotel.

This is the hotel we stayed at. It was a really fun hotel.

Mom and Cindy in front of Big Ben one of our first photo opps on the way to Westminster Abbey.

Here Mom, Cindy and I are leaving Westminster Abby, where Will and Kate were recently married and where every important person (it seems) in England history is buried or memorialized. Here, Queen Elizabeth I and Bloody Mary are buried side by side. Mary Queen of Scots, Geoffrey Chaucer, Tennyson, Charles Dickens, George Frederic Handel, and many more are buried here as well.

Our next stop was the Winston Churchill War Rooms museum. This museum is all underground as it was the underground bunker Churchill and his men used during World War II. There are many rooms and offices in it and it was fascinating to see it all. It was neat to learn more about Winston Churchill and how instrumental he was in winning World War II.

Cindy and I found this delicious cupcake shop among the shops under our hotel. They had some tasty treats!!!

I love London phone booths and couldn't resist the photo opp!

We took one of those cute black London taxi cabs to see Shrek the Musical and here mom and Cindy are enjoying the ride.

We loved Shrek the Musical. The music was great and I hope it comes to SLC so I can take my kids!

The ceremony of Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace. This ceremony only takes place about every other day but it is a big ordeal and fun to see.

Mom and me in front of Buckingham Palace.

Me with the first woman Yeoman Warder. These Yeoman Warders also known as "Beefeater's" give tours at the Tower of London. They also live within the walls at the Tower of London and are responsible for guarding the crown jewels and looking after any prisoners held at the Tower of London. I believe the last time the Tower of London had prisoners was in 1952.

Tower of London. There are actually 21 Towers within the Tower of London walls.

Changing the Guard at the Tower of London. There was some renovation going on here.

This is the site where prisoners held at the Tower of London were beheaded. This is outside the walls of the Tower of London. Prisoners were led outside the walls and up a hill to this spot where they were beheaded for the public to see. After the beheading the heads were taken and displayed on spikes on London Bridge. Only 7 people were beheaded within the Tower of London walls on the Tower Green. Among those were 2 of King Henry VIII wives, Ann Boleyn and Katherine Howard.

Another view of Tower of London. This is the side where the Traitors' Gate is located.

Cindy and I on our tour bus, headed to Bath, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. This was the only day we had rain.

Arriving in Bath our tour guide showed us the cute little cafe where we were to meet after our time in Bath was done. He introduced us to something called clotted cream. It was so good. This little cafe takes the clotted cream and puts it on a biscuit with some jam and it is the tastiest little treat ever!

Entering the Roman Baths where many believed they would be healed if they came and bathed here.

This is one of the Roman Baths. These Baths are hot springs that the Romans found. They built temples around them and many people came to bathe in them believing them to have healing powers.

Roman Bath

The Abbey Church of St. Peter and St. Paul or Bath Abbey. This is right outside the Roman Baths. Bath is a beautiful place. I loved it! Everything is built out of the same limestone and it makes for a very pretty place. Jane Austen lived her towards the end of her life and wrote Persuasion and Northanger Abbey here.

Stonehenge. This was pretty neat to walk around. It was a bit chilly and rainy though so it was a quick walk around!

This picture of Cindy shows how windy and rainy it was!

Here we are in Salisbury. Behind us is Salisbury Cathedral and home of the best preserved of four surviving of the original Magna Carta.

Just a house with a red door that we thought was so cute in Salisbury.

Here is mom with our tour guide Phil. He was a great tour guide, very entertaining and knowledgeable. I felt like we were with a living breathing version of the man from the Monopoly game!

Windsor Castle. Primary residence of Queen Elizabeth II.

Windsor Castle

St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Here, King Henry VIII is buried with his favorite wife Jane Seymour.

William Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

The River Thames and you can see St. Paul's Cathedral in the background.

We went to see Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap which opened in 1952 and has been running ever since. It has the longest initial run of any play in history. It was really entertaining. It was kind of like Clue. I thought is was so fun!

Here we are at Hampton Court Palace. Which King Henry VIII took from Cardinal Wolsey as he fell out of favor. It is supposedly haunted. We learned here that the court King Henry VIII kept was so large and ate so much that they had to move palaces after they had used up the lands resources.

Here is one of Hampton Court Palace Gardens.

Outside Hampton Court Palace crossing a bridge over The River Thames.

The Tower Bridge

Beautiful London

Lunch by the River Thames. We ate lots of Fish and Chips!

At Borough Market. This was insane! There were so many vendors and so many people. It was really a neat market though.

Valentine's Day!!!

Maddy LOVES to get on SWBy's bed with him!

Happy 4th Birthday SWBy! We took SWBy and his friends to the family fun center for bowling and playing on the inflateable bouncy house! After, we came to our house for cake, ice cream and presents! SWBy had a great time!

Yea!!! Presents!!! So excited!!!

Another birthday celebration for SWBy with the family! I got him socks for his birthday because he needed some and after opening all the fun stuff his socks were not very exciting. He was so mad he threw them! We need to discuss manners!!!

SWBy doesn't ever eat the cake only the frosting so I thought a big cookie cake would be a good idea! He still only ate the frosting!

I thought this was so cute!

Dad and SWBy!

Bay had a Utah Jazz pregame performance on SWBy's actual birthday. I was dreading this day because Bailey gets so nervous for her performances and her last performance she didn't go on. I was just hoping and praying that she would have the courage to do her performance so we could celebrate SWBy's birthday after. She did and she was great! She didn't look nervous at all!

Here is Bay with her dance group and a couple of the UT Jazz dancers.

Mom came up for SWBy's birthday so she got to see Bay perform! It was a fun day!

Never have I had a baby that gets into so much so quickly as sweet Maddy! I have to be careful and keep a close eye on her or this is what I find!

Happy Easter! The kids with their Easter baskets. The highlight gift this year was Mario Kart. The kids love that game. Even my dad enjoyed playing it while he was here for Easter. I believe he even got in on the Mario Kart rotation with Bay and SWBy.

Sweet Maddy Eatser morning!

The kids in their new Easter clothes!

On their way to hunt Easter Eggs!

Cute Maddy was happy to find 1 egg and then walk around the rest of the time!

The kids with their spoils!

Enjoying Easter treats!!!

Bay on a saddle in a barn on Antelope Island! My Dad and Step mom and sister came for Easter. It was so fun to have them with us and we really enjoyed their company. They took us to Antelope Island one day when they were here. It was our first time! It only took us 4 years to finally get out to Antelope Island. It was fun and made me think I need to take the kids out there more often!

Grandma Jo and Maddy at the Ranch on Antelope Island.

SWBy riding a bull at the Ranch on Antelope Island!

SWBy and Bay in a sheep corral in the barn at Antelope Island.