Happy as a Clam

WALES!!!!!! What is there to say about wales? Well, let's list a few of the things: 1) The Castles are amazing! The castle we visited, Castle Coch (I was craving Diet Coke the whole time I was there haha) was fully furnished and pretty much had just jumped out of a fairytale. Not to mention, th e surrounding forest was beautiful. It reminded me of the forests in the mountains back home but so much prettier. 2) The beaches are heavenly! One part of trip took us to Northern Wales where we crossed a bridge to the Isle of Anglesey and stayed in the little town of Beaumaris. I think almost every girl would rate this her favourite (as the English spell it) part of the Wales trip. We stayed in The Bulkeley Hotel where Queen Victoria stayed so so many years ago. It was a hop and a skip from the beach which was lovely (although on parts of the beach there is quick mud, very similar to quick sand, and not too long ago 23 people died in it!). There was a cliff we could stand on and look ...

For Valentine's Day this year I didn't give out candy, I didn't buy cards, and i didn't think about boys. I hung out with the girls and had a party that made the neighbors complain (literally)! We dressed up 40's style, shared romantic and embarrassing stories, ate pineapple and cookies and danced the night away. It was so much fun! It was sort of nice breaking away from the traditional celebration and doing our own thing. The stories were all either really cute or really funny. What can I say? We're an interesting group of girls. We had a gift exchange/ secret Valentine. Everyone drew a name and had to buy that person a present for under 5 pounds. It wasn't hard to find something they would love with all the souvenir shops around and all of us love souvenirs! I was pretty excited when I got some Kit Kats. My favorite! One of our professors and his wife gave us all roses which was sweet. We had fun taking pictures with those. I hope everyone else had a great...

Sunday during church the 10 and 11 year old boys couldn't pay attention to Amanda's lesson because snowflakes were falling. I was surprised how fast they ran to the windo w. Within half an hour it stopped. Sunday night during the fireside WE couldn't pay attention to the stake president because it was snowing outside. This time it didn't stop! Monday morning we wake up to about 3 or 4 inches of snow! The tube was closed. The buses weren't running. Over 600 schools closed. Millions of Londoners didn't go to work. London had its biggest snow day in almost 2 decades! London had no plows or salt so to venture out of the centre was like walking into a Winter Wonderland. Everyone built snowmen on the sidewalks, they were sledding and sliding down hills across from Big Ben and Parliament and Hyde Park was one giant snow ball fight. London was having a blast! (until they realized it costs a couple million dollars to shut down a city. Eek!) Well, I sadly didn't get ...