We had a great time in Hawaii.

For spring break we visited Andrea's family in Iowa.

 

Grandpa making Alayna laugh. 

 We met Devin, Deanna and Alayna at Andrea's in Des Moines.  It was fun to see the little girls all together. 

Grandpa helping Mckenna feed the Llama.

 

Brielle 

 

Mckenna

 

The end of April some of the Smith family met at the Logan cemetery to put a plaque on Elizabeth Cranney's head stone in honor of her crossing the planes.  Grandma Great shared some great stories of Elizabeth's daughter, Jane, who she lived across the street from when she was a little girl.   Elizabeth and Jane were great women.  I am grateful for the chance I had to be there.

Tara and Kaylee

 

Eric, Grandma Collins with Kaylee on her lap, and John.

 

Eric's family came to visit during Christmas.  We had fun with them the week they were here.  Kaylee smiles every time you point a camera at her.  She will be turning 1 in May. 

Brittany and Nathan had baby Levi on December 2nd.  They moved to California for an internship and will be back to Idaho in September.  Levi will be half grown by the time they come back.  :(

Our vacation is nearing its end :(

We have been able to attend 2 temples here. We went to the Preston Temple, and the London Temple. This is a picture of the London Temple.

After we went to the temple, we thought we would drive to Wimbledon to see what we could find.

Wimbledon is a city outside of London. They not only have Wimbledon Tennis, but golf is pretty big. These are some practice tennis courts in Wimbledon. We had been following the signs and thought we were going to see the real Wimbledon courts. Little did we know, they were quite a ways away from where we started.

After much looking, we finally found them. We couldn't get any closer then this though. They had high security in the area getting ready for the tournament that started this week. This shows some shops and restaurants outside the courts.

Wimbledon tennis courts from a distance.

While we were looking for the tennis, we ran across some horse jumping competitions. They were kind of fun to watch.

This is a sign we ran across at a convenient store. We have had lots of chuckles over signs we have seen the last couple of weeks.

We found another castle! This one is called Warwick Castle. This is the entrance. Pretty cool walking through this tunnel.




This Castle was built in 1068. It is in pretty good shape for as old as it is.

Another picture of the Warwick Castle.

Walking back from the castle we walked past a church.
This is one of the headstones in front.

This lady was born in 1320, and died in the 1390's.
This is by far the oldest headstone we have seen.

A highlight of the trip will be touring the Manchester United Football (soccer) Stadium.

Here is the stadium. They shave the grass after every season, level the ground, then replant. This was replanted a couple of weeks ago.
We had to promise several times not to touch the grass.

Here are the seats the players get to sit in when they are not on the field.

Here are just a few of the trophy's they have won over the years.

This is a place called Salford Quays.
You can see the Manchester United Stadium on the right.

This is a swan swimming by at Salford Quays.




We have had a great time here in England. I'm sorry to see it end. We have seen lots of neat things, and met some nice people along the way. Maybe someday we will get to come back.

Life in Cumbria

Here are some stones that were strategically placed by people here a long time ago. They used this place for ceremonies, and for trading good with others that would come into the area.

There are tons of sheep here. There are more sheep here then cattle in Idaho.

This is a close picture of the rock walls that keep the sheep where they need to be. These walls are everywhere as you drive from one city to another.

John works during the day, so I spend lots of my time walking around, finding different interesting things.

All the cars in England are small. They have lots of the same name brands, but the models are much smaller then we have in the states. I did find a smart car that is older, but I thought it was a cute little car.

I found my first castle. It isn't much of a castle, but it was one. It was built in 1134. People still live in it on one side, the other side is breaking down. They won't let anyone in it except for special occasions like the summer festival in July.

I toured through the John Wordsworth home. He was a famous poet that lived in Cockermouth. It was interesting to see and learn how this family lived. This is a harpsicord that was in his house. I wished I had brushed up on my Beethoven, because they let me play it.

We are limited in space for our way home. I told myself I could find one thing to remember this trip by. Through all my looking this was it. The English are know for their tea, cakes, and pastries. This is something they would use to serve their cakes and pastries when they have their tea. And it matches what I have at home already.
Good find!

On our way to Cumbria

I am amazed at how pretty and green everything is. These pictures were taken next to the river Ribble where the early missionaries that came to this area baptized several people.

As we drove to Cumbria we saw several fields full of sheep. Instead of fences, they have built rock walls. Those rock walls, I'm sure, took forever to build and are many years old. They are flat rocks stacked with no mortar of any kind.

This is an old church house that was built by one of George Washington's Grandfather's. I think it was built in the 1400's.

Outside of the old church's there is always a graveyard. Some of these headstones date back to the 1500's, and are as recent as 1975.

This is the house where John Taylor was born.

This is a plaque the church had made to mark the home.

Next to the plaque the owner's now have an egg stand, where they sell fresh eggs. Kind of funny.

These are some more pictures from the River Ribble, where lots of Saints were baptized by Heber C Kimball and others who served in this area. (Pres. Hinckley served his mission in this area, but I am sure he did his baptizing in a font.) The top picture is a picture of a garden area the church keeps up in memory of the missionary work in this area.