BBQ AND OUTDOOR POT LUCK DINNER BEHIND TEMPLE

Setting out the dinner out behind the temple  for our BBQ .  We played games and had fun.
Hobbs and Pres. and Sister Fagg watching the program

Jackie Strader, Terrell, Gaylon and Cheryl Gneiting singing to entertain the group.
Gaylon and Tim Hobbs cooking the burgers on the bbq.

WINDSOR CASTLE JUNE22,2009

St. Georges Cathedral at Windsor Castle, where the royal family worship when they are at Windsor.  Beautiful stained glass windows and  tombs of family members.
Our group in front of the private suites where the family live, at Windsor.  We couldn't take pictures inside but it was so opulent and beautiful, amazing to see how royalty live.
They did a mini changing of the guard that we watched then stood by the motionless guard to take our picture.
Cheryl Gneiting in front of the castle before we went inside.  Wish we had inside pictures.

BASILDON WARD SPEAKING ASSIGNMENT

Cute windwill we drove by, out in the countryside not too far from  home.
On Sunday June 21, Terrell spoke in the Basildon Ward and Martin and Karen Nicholls invited us to their home for dinner afterwards.  It felt so good to be in their home and we had a most delicious meal.  They have a great family and are good friends with Bart and Sue  Anderson from Cardston.  They have been home to Cardston more recently than we have. 

We had a great time visiting the Basildon Ward.  The missionaries who were serving there were Elder Anderson from home and his companion.  They came to dinner at Nicholls as well.  It wads a fun reunion.  Sue and Ken Barfuss were in this ward when they were living in England and are good friends with the Nicholls as well. 

NORTH LONDON TRIP WITH BROOKS

We have been interested in the many chimneys in England on every building.  These were some of the best chimney pots we have ever seen and are on a building near the big cemetery where Karl Marx is buried.

At the Alexandra's Palace we sat down for a bit before going out on the grounds for a picnic.  Terrell bought a big yummy watermelon and we had fun trying to eat it and open it with only a tiny pocket knife that one of the guys had.




Nelsons, Skinners, Brooks, Turners, Hobbs,Smiths and Strader enjoyed seeing all the places the  President and Sister Brooks grew up and were married and raised their family.
Our trusty temple van that takes us everywhere to church, shopping and fun trips, got us to London and back!,

OSBOURNE HOUSE ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT

The childrens playhouse on the extensive grounds of Osbourne house,  which was the summer home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and is found on the Isle of Wight.  They had 9 children and loved to bring them here.  There were gardens of vegetables and flowers all along in front of it.
This is the Bath house of Queen Victoria.  It is on wheels and she used to have it pulled down to the sea and out a ways into the water, then she would already be in the house with her lady in waiting and when it was in the water she would go down the stairs and into the water to swim.
This is shown in the movie of Mrs. Brown , all about Queen Victoria.
The beautiful gardens are out behind the house which was more of a palace.  They wouldn't let us take pictures inside but there were statues and friezes and paintings with much of the Italian and Greek influences.  Most of the art pieces and statues were gifts from Albert to Victoria.  We really enjoyed seeing this place and learning more of Queen Victoria. 

The outside of Osbourne House doesn't look very grand but it is set on several hundred acres and is a beautiful place  with many gardens and roadways and forested areas for the family to roam and enjoy.

NEEDLES PARK ON ISLE OF WIGHT

Beautiful varied color sands at Alum Bay below the chairlift and down  on the beach at the Needles Park on the Isle still.

Us down on the sea shore  below the chairlift.  I just had to take off my shoes and wade in the water and play on the sand.  In the background are the Needles of rock sticking up out of the ocean.

The chair lift going down the steep slope from up at the Needles Park down to the sea shore.  We enjoyed the ride instead of the many steep stairs .

These are the famous needles out in the ocean.  There is a saying that Isle of Wight has Needles that you can't thread, Cowes you can't milk, Ryde where you walk, Lake in which you drive, Newport you cannot bottle, and Frehwater you can't drink!  We enjoyed seeing this park!

MORE OF ISLE OF WIGHT

Us o the beach at Sandown on the eastern coast of the island.  This is where our hotel was and lots of quaint shops down the street above the beach and beautiful sea views!

A very typical English pub with all the sign boards out front but this one has a thatched roof which we love to see.  This one is outside of  Sandown  but we didn't stop to eat there. 
A great walk down a path to the white lighthouse.  Thaynes, Nielsens, Gneitings, and Terrell.  Martin Nielsen got lost somewhere??The gravestones at the All Saints Church in Freshwater Isle of Wight.  They are so hard to read and most of the old ones don"t even have legible writing on them any more.  

Cool white  lighthouse on the south coast of Isle of Wight.
Freshwater Bay on the west coast of Isle of Wight, near where Terrell's Theobald ancestors were from.

OUR FUN TRIP TO ISLE OF WIGHT JUNE 6,2009

We went to the far  west end of the island and went to the All Saints Church of Freshwaer.  This is where  Beckstroms told us to find our Theobald ancestors.   There were many Theobald and Stevens  gravestones we found . This is the church they attended and the town they lived in.

Along the way we drove by this darling little cottage with the cutest thatched roof we had seen!  It even had a thatched roof little well there on the left.
The Isle of wight is about as big as Bear Lake and so we drove around it to see all the great countryside.  This is part of what we saw looking out to the sea and sailboats in the distance.

Outside our hotel , the Montrene Wight Hotel, in Sandown on the east coast .  Nice little town.  We ate my birthday dinner at a nice chinese restaurant we found.

We drove to South Hampton  and caught the ferry over to Cowles on the Isle of 

Wight.  It was a cloudy  and windy day but we enjoyed the trip.   It took an hour to get there on the slowest ferry ever.  Gneitings, Skinners, Nielsens, Thaynes.

This is a great day for Terrell, since I turned 65 and am now  bringing in money each month for my old age pension!  Happy Birthday to me!

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL JUNE 1,2009

A huge stained glass window that reached from about a mans height to the very top of the building.  My camera wouldn't even get it all in.  Wish I could remember what story it is telling.

This is only one of several side chapels around the main big chapel.  There are several above ground tombs that you can see all carved and decorated and very ornate all around the cathedral and in all the small chapels.   The  stained glass windows are so beautiful and often tell a Bible  story or  a saint. 
The height and detailed work on those ceilings and walls is amazing!
Inside the cathedral  with part of our group.  Joseph,  Quay Simons, Nelsons and us.  It is an amazingly beautiful church built sometime after570AD.  It has been a pilgrimage site since 1170.  We couldn't imagine how they could have built such a structure  in those days  with no modern tools.

Huge and beautiful Canterbury  Cathedral.  Terrell and Joseph Cox and I.

This was a cool fountain in a little stone building called Oberons Palace
in the gardens as well.  This is all behind Arundel Castle.  The town was really interesting, with cobbled streets and  lots of little old  antique shops that were fun to browse in.

The castle gardens were really nice with fountains and beautiful flowers and trees.

The long stairs to the tower  prison in the top of the castle.

Gaylon wantd to know all about his armor and wanted to try it on.  He told us about how it worked and even bent.

ARUNDEL CASTLE , MAY 25,2009

They had  a medieval festival on the grounds and we watched  some jousting skills demonstrations.

Terrell found a traveling  minstrel  and he was also a great storyteller that we enjoyed.

This is a big castle, picture taken  from down below.   There is a medieval  festival on the grass.

Smith and Western, a favorite place to eat

Our gang in front of  Smith and Western where we enjoy  food a little more like home.   Us, Nelsons, Turners, Sharon Nielsen, Cheryl Gonzales, Carol Simons, Dawna Thayne, Holly Hutchings, Cheryl Gneiting.
Two tables of temple missionaries waiting for dessert.

In the garden there was aWisteria tree (behind us)  beautiful hanging purple clusters of flowers I loved.  There was also an aviary with tropical birds in it. 
Part of the stone grotto we had to go thru to get out of the maze.

Leeds has the best maze of any of the castles we have been to.  We all made it to the top and then  had to make our way out via a grotto.
This is the library in Leeds castle.  Great old books and furniture and fresh flowers.  So many lovely rooms.