England Day 6

Sorry, no pictures today. We had to check out of our nice two story hotel, with separate rooms this morning so we could travel to London. We stopped to visit with one of Ryan's new members. She was great. You can tell how much she loves the Gospel and how grateful to Ryan she is for sharing it with her. It was a surreal moment. She even prayed for us, which we knew was a big step for her. We then went back to the mission home to get Ryan's address book that he had left there, and dropped off some food we couldn't finish at the hotel. Elder Cox was so excited, said it was the most he had ever gotten. Made it a great Christmas for him. I'm sure he was exaggerating. After that we drove down to London to the Notting Hill Gate Hotel. One small bedroom with 2 double beds and a cot in the middle, and a tiny bathroom. Chris and Ryan drove the rental car back to the airport to turn it in, since it's too scary to drive in London. I took a short nap. When they got back we went to eat at some restaurant. The food wasn't great. It was too late to do much else, so we came back to the hotel and played games and I caught up on blogging. So now we're all caught up. Yeah!! There is more to come. Hope you enjoyed this. Tomorrow, a day in London. But may not get posted until I get back.

England Day 5

The Mace family invited us to go to Derbyshire Dales with them to go hiking. So we did. Of course I didn't bring my hiking boots with me, and the shoes I wore were not good for this. I'll tell you why in a minute. We went down a nice smooth trail, it was VERY cold though. At one point the kids and Chris went hiking up to a cave. I went with a few others down the trail further. Bro. and Sis. Mace then decided I needed to go up this hill because the view is so pretty. So, I went. Got to the top of the hill. It was gorgeous! Rolling hills and sheep and cows. Thought we would then be going back down. Well, no that was not the case. Everyone else had come back from the cave and came up. So, they decided we needed to walk around the hill to go back down. But, that wasn's what happened either. We went around the hill and up more hills and through a ton of mud. Well, as I was walking through the mud, it decided my shoes tasted good or something and decided to have it for lunch. So, my shoe was stuck and I completely stepped out of it. I then had to step back in the mud in my sock so I could dig my shoe out as everyone else is walking way ahead. I finally get it out and continue carrying my shoe so it doesn't get eaten again. Finally get out of the mud and have to put it back on. This whole thing was so frustrating. I'm trying not to cry because I keep thinking it's my only pair of shoes beside my heeled boots. My feet are cold and muddy and tired. I want it all to be over, but it kept going for a little while longer. I was so glad when we made it to a church and Chris and Bro. Mace went to get the cars and came and picked us up. We were suppose to go straight back to the Mace's but I felt gross and frustrated, so we went back to the hotel so I could change. Chris was able to clean my shoes real good, but they were wet so I couldn't wear them yet. But we were only going back to the Mace's so I wore my heels. At least I was clean. Sorry I didn't get pictures of my shoes. We stayed and had dinner and played games, while Ryan and Chris and Bro. Mace went to visit a few people.

England Day 4 (best day ever!)

Well, when I had asked Ryan which ward we should go to while there he told us to go to the Lichfield ward and to contact the Mace Family. I had emailed them prior to going and had arranged to meet them at church and to have dinner with them afterwards. We went to church, the building was smaller than our building and it was the Stake Center. But it was only 10 minutes from the hotel, and we were in the ward boundaries. Huge coincidence. Anyway, the meetings were reversed, but everyone there was so nice. After church we followed the Mace Family home. We had a great time with them. We sat and talked for a long time, and ate of course. They are very easy to talk to and very friendly and generous. We could see why Ryan loved them so much. After dinner they took us to the Lichfield Cathedral. Wow! that was beautiful. Amazing to see the architectural details inside. We then walked around the little village area to look at the shops and plaques. Then we went back to the Mace's home and talked some more until it was time to pick up Ryan. Sister Mace was so worried we would get lost, she insisted they lead us there. So, we followed them to the mission home where we waited a few minutes to pick up Ryan. It was so weird when he walked in, he hadn't changed a bit. Still looked the same. We got to meet all of the missionaries going home the next day. Most of the missionaries kept telling us how awesome Elder Lee is, which we of course agreed with. President Moffatt then took us aside with Ryan to tell how us again how amazing he is. Says he was a great missionary and he doesn't exaggerate or lie. He was a missionary that the others looked up to. After leaving we went back to the hotel and talked for a while. Then we finally went to bed, since he was pretty much falling asleep anyway.

England Day 3

We went to Nottingham today. Nottingham itself was a lot different than I thought it would be. It was very old, and busy. So many people and cars. It was very difficult to get around. The castle grounds were beautiful. But, the castle itself is an art museum. We did not tour the caves. Getting around was so frustrating we ended up eating at McDonald's which did have a more extensive menu than we're use to. The food pretty much tasted the same. We went to the grocery store which was strange in itself. Very crowded. Eggs not kept in the refrigerated section. Strange flavor chips, like roasted chicken and praun and seafood. Their frosted flakes are called frosties. Roundabouts are horrible. They are so confusing. So glad we rented the Tomtom (GPS) Best thing ever! If you ever come here, rent one with the car! We went back to the hotel and took it easy the rest of the day. The boys went tothe pool and I watched the BBC version of Emma and drank my Galaxy hot chocolate.

England Day 2

We went to Warwick Castle. It was pretty much the only thing open on Boxing Day, except for shopping. The castle was so beautiful and huge. There were tons of stairs (my legs were sore for 3 days afterwards) We only got to spend 2 hours there because of parking. We ran into another LDS family there. We figured it out because they were wearing BYU sweatshirts. We stopped them to talk to them. Part of the family is living there, since he is in the military, but the oldest son had served in Ryan's mission about 5 years ago. The funny part is, they were stopping in Gainesville on the way home because they have a brother there. What a small world it is in the church. We then went to Pizza Hut for dinner, how original. This day we were glad we had insurance, but Chris doesn't want me to say anything. (We didn't end up needing it in the end though).

England Day 1

I finally have access to a computer here in England, so will try to catch up on our days in England.
First, on our long, hot flight we watched movies, tv, ate an airplane version of a traditional english Christmas dinner. We finally arrived and got our rental car. We had reserved a mini-van, but have discovered their version of a mini-van is nothing like ours. Much smaller than we expected. I will post pictures of this later. It was also a manual, when I had reserved automatic. Chris kept trying to start in 3rd gear at first, then trying to drive down the motorway he kept veering to the left. He must have looked like a drunk. It didn't help that he kept trying to talk like a Brit, which sounded more like an australian. Then he was imitating sheep. One thing we noticed on the motorways was there weren't any SUV's or pickup trucks, or billboards.
The scenerey was pretty much as I had imagined, a lot of green rolling hills and farms with lots of sheep. A lot of old buildings and churches with their spires raising high above trees.
Our hotel was very quaint. You have to take a narrow windy road to get to it. The views were beautiful. When we arrived, we asked about restaurants, and they informed us that the restaurants in the area would be full because it was Christmas day. But, they went out of their way to squeeze us in before everyone else was due to arrive. So, we had the real Christmas Dinner. It was very nice and formal and amazing.
We got to talk to Ryan that afternoon. He said it was so weird knowing we were so close. He was still nervous about going home.
The TV here is a lot like ours, pretty much the same shows. We did get to see a first run Dr. Who Christmas show, that was pretty awesome.

Loads of fun!!

These are the latest changes to my house. Thanks to Delilas Corbett in my ward for helping me with these. She first cut them for me and then she even came over and helped my put them on the wall. She did most of the work. I wasn't having much luck getting them off the paper. I love them. They are so fun in my laundry room. Maybe this will help me want to be in there more. Or...... maybe not.

Surprise!!!

This morning as I was getting ready for work I got dressed, went downstairs made breakfast, put on my boots which felt a little funny. I took the boot off, adjusted the inside sole and put it back on. I was walking to the car and realized it still felt funny, but I was running late and figured I would readjust it at work. I've been known to put the gel soles in my boots in the past. Thinking I had done this and it had probably scooted to the toe didn't think much of it. However, I came into work and couldn't take it anymore. So, I took off my boot and reached in to readjust things again. Things felt really weird in there. I couldn't figure out what it was. As I'm pulling it out it felt furry. I look down and see I had started to pull out a MOUSE. I quickly threw my boot and mouse away from me. Needless to say I was freaking out. I ran to the bathroom to scrub my hand and my coworker was kind enough to dump the contents of my boot into the trashcan. Moral of this story is CHECK YOUR SHOES BEFORE PUTTING THEM ON. I'm still freaking out just thinking about it!!!

The magic of Christmas

I love the lights, the decorations, the traditions, and the feeling they bring to my home at Christmas. I think this is why I'm always in a rush to get them up right after Thanksgiving. Everything always seems so magical. I love sitting in the living room in the dark staring at the tree. It's so peaceful. My favorite time of year. I love to entertain, and to be with my friends at this time of year too. There's just magic in the air.

Thanksgiving 2008

Blogging isn't as easy as some people make it look. Most people have a lot more exciting things going on, or just know how to make the mundane look exciting. I always feel like anything happening here is boring and no one would care. We had a great Thanksgiving here. My nieces came and the Olson's came. All my friends usually post lists of things on their blogs too. So, in honor of them I will list 10 things I am grateful for, I came up with the number since we had 10 people at my house that day, and no I am not going to list them individually.
1. My husband- he has stuck by me through a lot.
2. My kids- They really are great kids.
3. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
4. Ryan serving a mission and his love for what he's doing.
5. My extended family- both sides
6. My friends- They are really a great support for me, and they have no idea how much they have helped me.
7. The atonement- What a great blessing!
8. My testimony
9. Ryan is being release from his mission in 27 days!!!
10.My family and My friends- Oh wait, I already said them. But, they really are my rock, I just can't give them enough gratitude.

There are many other things I'm thankful for, but my blog would get too boring.

PS- After seeing that last picture I have decided I am never eating again! But, I wanted you to see everyone else.

Moab Mountain Bike Trip

Well, It has been a long time since I have posted so I figure it is way over due. So, I thought I would get around to posting some stuff about my Moab trip with Mike B. and Gary H. All-in-all it was a really good trip. We all arrived in SLC on Wednesday the 8th of October and put our bikes together. I had been working on building Ryan's bike up nicer than it had ever been and decided to take it to give a test ride and break in the wheels (yes, I had Ryan's permission). In the morning on Thursday Gary's brother Dave and his son Chris arrived with another friend and their Jeeps in tow to take us down to Moab. The trip went well and pretty quick. After arriving we tried to find a part for Gary's Fork that had broken but nobody carried it. We even tried going down the the manufacturer's tent at the 24 hors of Moab endurance race that was taking place but no luck. So we just headed out for the first ride of the trip. we went up to Porcupine Rim and had a good ride down. The winds were pretty high due to a storm that was supposed to be moving in but it was not too bad. I refused to do the big 5 ft drop though due to high wind, low experience, and a lot of nerves. I also developed some shifting problems in the latter part of the ride and by the end I could not shift at all. Turns out my shifter cable had slipped. That made the end of my ride not so fun. Gary helped me fix the shifting problem before we hit the jacuzzi. We grabbed a traditional Moab Melt at the Moab Diner and called it a night. The next morning we headed back out for Porcupine Rim. Mike and Gary do have an obsession with this route. This ride was once again pretty windy but with my shifting problems fixed and one run for experience I was swayed into doing the 5 foot drop. It went great and Mike got a nice picture of me in mid flight riding over Gary's head. The ride from this point continued well and I began to see why they are obsessed with it. After lunch we returned for another trip done Porcupine Rim. Yes at this point we had decided to make this trip and "all porcupine" trip. Once again this ride started out great. once we started to approach the big drop I started to experience some slight shifting issues and could not keep up. When I came to the jump I was unable to get sufficient speed for a good jump. I landed it okay though a bit too much front wheel first. Instantly on landing I felt something was wrong. Upon inspection it turned out I broke the rear Triangle on Ryan's frame and it pushed into the frame itself also. Needless to say my ride ended there. I had to begin a five mile hike down the mountain carrying the broken bike. Bike shoes are not meant for walking. by the time I made it down the mountain it was dark and my right knee and hip joints were killing me. Oh well! The frame was old and I am not a heavy rider so I guess it was just time for it to pass away. I ended up going down the next morning, while Mike and Gary made a final ride, to talk to the Ellsworth folks at the race about getting a replacement frame. Well that is pretty much the end of it from my perspective. I was not the only casualty along the way though. Dave broke the frame on his jeep twice and Gary ended up breaking his thumb on the last ride of the trip. We came close to a clean get away but once again some of us took some lumps.

Becca Olson on the news

If any of you would like to see Becca on the news click here.

Happy Halloween!!!

OK, so I'm real bad at this blogging thing. This is a picture of our pumpkin that we entered in the pumpkin carving contest at our ward trunk or treating. I usually don't enter these things, and this occasion was the reason why. They tell you there's a pumpkin carving contest, you go through the effort to carve the pumpkin and have fun with it, then you take it and the judges take the easy way out and say they all win. There were three other pumpkins all carved with the carving kits you buy. Mine was the only original one. I'm biased, mine should have one. But, I wouldn't have cared if it didn't if they had actually picked a winner. Oh well. Live and learn. Hope you enjoy it!! Hope you have a fun Halloween. Trick or Treat!!

Sad, Sad Day

Today was a very hard day at church. They took a chunk of Manassas 1st ward and put them in Manassas 2nd ward. We were part of the chunk. It wasn't a large chunk though. I was fine when they first announced it. But as sacrament meeting went on, and looking around at who wouldn't be in my ward anymore it got harder and harder. I was crying at the end of sacrament and found it difficult to not cry after, when everyone would come up to me and try to talk to me. I am so glad we have the Kunz family and the Padilla's coming with us. Now I know why you were so sad last night Andrea!! Remember, we did discuss this possibility when we moved over here? At least we have each other right? And, we still have our friends in the Manassas 1st Ward, so they better have more parties and invite us over. Just like we will. We will miss all of you!! We love you!! When's the next girls nite out??

Tropical Storm Hannah

When it rains it pours. I thought when we moved out of the apartments that our washing the cars in the rain was done. But, guess not. Here's Chris washing his brother's car that we are trying to sell.


This one is harder to see because it was raining so hard, but it was taken from the road right behind my house. When we get a lot of rain we get a river behind our house. This one is 4 feet deep. So, we have to go all the way around the large block to get anywhere. Such a pain, especially if we want to go to the Kunz's house. Our 1 minute drive turns into at least 5 minutes.

Les Miserables

Last night we had the opportunity to go see Les Miserables. WOW!!! it was incredible. Everything I had hoped it would be. We went to see it at Wolftrap. We had seats so close we could see the spit fly. For the most part they weren't bad seats. Next time we'll sit in the middle orchestra a few more rows back. After reading the book 3 times, I couldn't wait to see it. I've always loved the soundrack and will love it even more now. If you ever have the opportunity to go, DO IT!!!! Make sure to invite me, though. Just kidding. Hannah came earlier than expected. We were under cover, so we stayed dry. Those poor people with lawn seats, most stayed even in the pouring rain.

Labor Day at King's Dominion

We went to King's Dominion with the Olson's today, We had a great time. The weather was awesome. Not humid at all and sunny. Wasn't too hot either. Couldn't have asked for better. Again, the advantage to being the one with the camera, is I don't end up in the pictures. Yeah, just the way I like it. We took a picnic lunch and didn't buy any food at the park. Well, except for Eric who bought a hot dog and got outed later. Ha Ha. Serves you right Eric! Kyle and Eric don't like roller coasters so they would do their own thing while the rest of us had fun. We rode almost all of the roller coasters. A couple Leslie and Chris didn't ride because we don't like to be whipped around. My favorite is definitely the Volcano. I don't like to spin or drop so I skipped those, that's why we have pictures of those rides. Afterwards, we all stopped at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Fredericksburg for dinner. Fun time had by all. Thanks Olson's for inviting us.

Newseum

Today we went into DC, and picnicked on the mall with the Garver's. It was a great day for it. A little humid, but otherwise great weather. We hate and tossed around a football (o.k., I didn't). Rachel jammed her finger, poor thing. Then we walked to the newseum. Had never been. It was a fun, interactive museum. Very up to date. There were displays with yesterdays VP picks. Then there was a fun game area for the kids, and they can pretend to be newscasters too. We also went to a 4-D movie. That was pretty interesting.  There were parts that were just cool, because you remember them happening. Or were close to it at the time it happened. Like the sniper. Chris knew someone in one of the pictures from Waco. 

Concert

Heart playing

More Heart

Journey Revolution

The new singer of Journey

On Wednesday, Chris and I went to the concert that I had won tickets to a while back to Journey, Cheap Trick, and Heart. It was fun. It would have been a lot better if I had actually felt better. But, of course I had to go and get sick.  Got there at the very end of Cheap Trick, but heard them in the parking lot on the way in. Not a big fan. Then came Heart, they were our favorite. Knew most of their songs. Then came Journey, which we also enjoyed.  Didn't feel their new singer (Arnel Pineda) fit in with the band though. First, he was too young. And, he was way to bouncy. Was the original singer bouncy??