HELLO EVERYONE who still reads this!!

THIS POST CONTAINS SOME OF THE CATCHING UP THAT I HAVE WANTED TO DO! HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.

A FEW MORE PICS FROM THE BEATLES TOUR...

the "real" Penny Lane in Liverpool

...by Strawberry Field

LIVERPOOL - Fab 4 Beetles Tour -- this is the gate to Strawberry Field. A few posts back I had already posted some pics from this tour...however, I was having problems doing the post and it was taking me forever, so I stopped. I just now decided to put in a few more pics, but I can't remember which ones I left out...and I don't know how to go back to look without messing up everything I have done so far!! So, sorry if I am repeating myself. I LOVE this gate.

THE TATTON GARDEN SHOW in CHESHIRE

The following few pics are from the Tatton Garden Show. The flowers and gardens were gorgeous!

Amazing! If you can see...there are flowers and plants in the seats of the chairs and all over the table.

CEMETARY ADVENTURES IN CHESTER

...in the cemetary...

Rachel and I went for walks in the evenings--several times stopping in at this old cemetary near our home. This was tucked back in the trees and we found it quite unexpectedly! It was kind of creepy. No one else was around....oooooooo boo!

BEESTON CASTLE RUINS in CHESHIRE

The view from the castle ruins. Very beautiful!

Me and "B" at Beeston Castle...

"A BIRD OF PREY" -- this is for Richmond who LOVES these things! We saw this at another castle (it's newer and is really a hotel) and is located a little ways from Beeston Castle.

This is the entrance to the ruins of Beeston Castle which is very close to where we live--in Cheshire. It was a beautiful day when we went...Rachel was still here so it was the three of us. The castle is up on a high cliff and you can see if from miles around. Brian sees it everyday from the train on his way to work. The hike up is not bad at all and on the way down there are trails through the trees to walk through.

A VERY "FEW" SHOTS OF LONDON

London was such a neat place, but I really didn't take a lot of pictures. A lot of the places we went to see you weren't allowed to take pictures. Rachel and I went a few days ahead of Brian and he joined us for the weekend. We learned to ride the tube everywhere. It was easy and fast--we liked it!

I "think" this was Trafalgar Square???? OK--it was so long ago it seems that we were in London and I'm not sure anymore...but hey, I LOVE the fountain! (Ask LoAnn where this is!)

The gardens at Kensington Palace. We went inside also, but for me--a big disappointment as most of the Palace was under renovation and only a small portion was opened and it was just--disappointing!! HOWEVER, outside of the Palace was "The Orangery" which was a small restaurant so we had lunch there. It was so yummy! That kind of made up for the previous disappointment :)

Sorry about the blurrrrr....we went on the London Eye--recommendation of Carolyn Mildenhall! It was pretty cool. We went at dusk so could still see the city and also the lights.

While we were down by the London Eye, we ate at an Italian restaurant called Caffe' Vergnano. The food was great--we love Italian. I decided to skip dessert and instead ordered a hot chocolate. Well...let me just say it was the BEST stuff I have ever had and quite a surprise! It was thick drinkable chocolate with whipped cream on top. I just couldn't get over how good it was. Brian asked them how they did it and they said they sold the mix. Well, we came home with a can of it and WOWeee ZOWeee...we don't have it very often, but it is fantastic. The ingredients are just chocolate, sugar and thickener which is mixed with milk. We looked it up online and found a demo on UTube where this guy was making his own home-made version. It is similar to the cooked chocolate pudding. YUM. Then I remember watching the movie "Chocolate" and remember the chocolate lady pouring the old lady a cup of this thick chocolate and then put a pinch of red pepper in it. I found some chocolate in a candy shop here in town that has red pepper in it and bought it for BRIAN. He let me have a taste and it was GOOD. OK, I know this sounds like all I do is eat chocolate, but not true. I just can't believe how good it was. Look it up and try some for yourself! It is the best treat ever.

OH -- also I just learned how to make scones...thanks be to Shirley Burgon! They were to die for. I gave most of them away to my VTs because if we ate them ourselves we would be as big as England itself. I'm not fat -- yet.

A couple weekends ago, Brian and I went to the Preston England Temple. It was so beautiful!! I didn't realize it, but there is a Missionary Training Center on the Temple Grounds--I snuck a pic of the Missionaries in their white shirts while in class...I think they are so great!

There is so much church history in this area and I am excited to read about it. A lady named Jill Sharp in our Ward told me of a history book that was written a while back and given to all the members who live here. She doesn't think it is in print anymore but is going to let me borrow it. She was telling me stories of people who left England and crossed the plains, etc. This is also where President Hinckley served his mission so long ago. So much to see and learn here.

The people in our Ward are amazing. They are so humble and sincere and I love to hear them talk, because their spirits are HUGE and they are so gifted in being able to express exactly what is in their hearts. There is just something so special about them and I don't know the words to even begin to explain it. I think I am falling in love with all of them! They have a great sense of humor--which I am learning to figure out--because it is a little different than ours. I am enjoying their accents also. They think "I" have one!

This past Sunday we were able to attend a Stake Youth Fireside (because Brian works with the Young Men and I tagged along). I have to say it is the best one I have ever been to. It was all about having the desire and having the spirit in your life as a guide and the great blessings that are ours as we keep the commandments and live close to the Savior. Gary Burgon (Shirley's husband) was the speaker and he had made a dvd to show at the end which showed some of the boys (one of them was one of his sons) as they had grown up, served missions, and then married their sweethearts in the temple for time and all eternity...You would have to see it and feel the spirit that was present that night to know what I am saying here...but it was so good.

This Saturday night is the Chester Ward Harvest Supper and Hoedown. The ladies are telling me they are "Mad as Hatters" -- meaning they are crazy funny?! You know, they don't know me yet. Caroline was telling me about a skit (only she called it a "Pantomine") some of them do. I said, "Yea, I know all about skits--we do them all the time back home!" hehe

(SIDE BAR: I know I have it easy in that I didn't have to learn a new language in coming here...but they use different words for things sometimes and I am scratching my head saying..."HUH???")

Love it.

HELLO...is anyone reading this anymore?

Once again...I have put off writing my post...why? I don't know. I think I feel like I am so far behind in what I wanted to write and pics that I wanted to put up that I put it off because I am so far behind. My last adventure of trying to put up a gazillion pics of The Beatles Tour was way too time consuming and so it has made me not want to return to do more. Well, no more of that. I have decided to start with the present and skip the "behind" stuff. I really will try to do better. Thanks for still checking in once in a while. I truly want to be able to do this once a week. I'll see how it goes.

Recently Brian and I took a long weekend and went to Edinburgh, Scotland. Wow...was it ever beautiful there! We were so lucky to be able to attend the Edinburgh Military Tattoo which is held each August and it's a BIG DEAL!!! I didn't know about it until I started looking into what to do while there and read all about it. The tickets go on sale around December 1st the year before and usually sell out within 1-2 months. When we checked in at our hotel, the Conciere asked us if we were going to the Tattoo and of course, we were not--tickets all sold. Lucky us, he had four behind the counter and so we were able to buy two of them from him. It was SO COOL!!! All the military bands and the bagpipers coming out through the entrance of the Edinburgh Castle. The Citadel from South Carolina was a guest this year so we were able to see someone from "home". If you ever get the chance to see this--DO IT!! It was really neat. While there we also toured the Edinburgh Castle, walked the Royal Mile, toured the Holyrood Palace (where the Queen stays when she is in Scotland--it is a working Palace)...I loved the Palace. There is a cafe outside the Palace with the BEST scones ever. Yum Yum!! We had a scone and some fruit tea.

(SIDE NOTE: Speaking of SCONES...Shirley Burgon is our RS President and she is awesome. I told her how much I loved scones and wanted to learn to make them. Bless her heart! She brought me a beautifully wrapped package of some that she had made along with the recipe. I will be trying my hand at making some. I try not to eat them very often as they just want to hang off the hips...haha)

OK--Back to Edinburgh. We were lucky that the weather was not too bad. It only rained one time for about 5 minutes and it was at night as we were walking back to the hotel. The rest of the weekend was chilly and we wore sweaters and jackets. Some sun and some clouds. I love the clouds there (well, here in England, too). They feel like they are lower and closer to us and they are so pretty and the sky behind and around them is so blue. We did several other things while there, including going to Roslin, which is a small town just outside of Edinburgh. Roslin is where the Rosslyn Chapel is--the chapel that was in "DaVinci Code". It was amazing. They are currently restoring it but have already done a lot to it. We saw it the morning that we were coming back home--and the night we got back we watched the movie (just so happened to have brought it with us) and it was kind of weird to watch it, knowing we had just been all through it the very same day. Anyway...it was a fabulous weekend. We want to go back and see the Highlands some day.

By the Way...we took the train from Chester to Edinburgh. I LOVE riding the train. It was a 4 hour ride but relaxing and you could just watch the countryside go by.