Hampstead Heath

Yesterday Nate and I took a little day trip to Hampstead Heath and Kenwood House. This Heath (Park) and English Heritage site is in North London. It is not that far from the center of London but it was so nice to get a break from the city. Nate and I are both country folk at heart and we get a little stir crazy in this big city. Hampstead Heath and Kenwood house are very popular summer desinations for kite flying and picnics. Kenwood houses some really cool Gainsborough's and Reynold's paintings. They also have and amazing Library that Nate and I want to copy someday. You may recognize the scene in some of the pictures if you are a Julia Roberts/Hugh Grant fan. This is where they filmed that scene in Notting Hill where she is doing the period film and he goes to visit her.

I loved this picture so we walked over this muddy field to get to the bridge and discovered that it is not a bridge at all. It is one bog piece of wood with no way to get across. They put it there to make the scene prettier. I thought that sounded like a lot of work and they may as well just finish the bridge. We felt a little jipped and very muddy but it was still really beautiful.

Nate is a good sport to do stuff like this with me. His hair gets longer and longer but he insists he won't cut it until we get home.

We tried to recreate Julia's scene here but I didn't have a big fancy dress or makeup artists or anything. The house is really pretty.

Personal Histories

As I promised months ago I am now posting mine and Nate's personal histories that we wrote for my family newsletter this January. They had to be only two pages so they are a very brief synopsis but may interest you nonetheless. I am putting them in the comments section otherwise this would be the world's longest post and I know how Shawn hates the falling walls of text. Enjoy!

Dover

Last week Nate and I went to Dover. We took a train through the countryside and went to the castle and the pier. It was really cold but it is a beautiful and sleepy little town. We pretty much had the castle to ourselves. Our favorite part by far was the Secret Wartime Tunnels. We went on a tour and saw all the inner workings of the the War Machine. We were a little disappointed that we weren't alowed to go in the "Dumpy" level that was reconstructed to be a backup head quarters for the government during the Cold War but it is not open to the public. I think they still have classified military goingson there but who knows. The castle is old and pretty but quite touristly like the Tower of London. The bay was really pretty and we walked all the way out to get a good look at the White Cliffs of Dover.

This is a view from the top of the castle. The whole place was quiet and really pretty.
Here is Nate on the hill overlooking the bay. It was kind of foggy, but hey, that's Britian for you.
Here's me on the bridge leading up to Dover castle. It goes over this huge ravine that leads out to the Channel.
I love this picture with the sun coming through the clouds. It really was a cool sight.
This is a view from the Prince Charles Pier. These are the White Cliffs and you can see the balcony of the secret Wartime Tunnels.

House sitting

This week Nate and I are house sitting for a family in our ward. They went to Paris and EuroDisney for the week. I love coming to their house because it feels like I'm in a beautiful home in Draper, UT (that's where they are from so that makes sense). Nate and I are so used to teeny tiny apartments that this house is a little daunting. There are four stories so when I'm here alone it's a little too big. The Larsens are the nicest people. I am so glad we have friends in this big city!

Kaitlynn's Visit

After Christmas and our trip my friend Kaitlynn came to visit. Kaitlynn and I have been friends since high school but I had not seen her since the year I graduated so it was good to catch up. We did all the tourist stuff but we also went and saw the town of Windsor and Windsor Castle. The Queen was there that day so we couldn't see the state apartments but the rest was really cool. When Kaitlynn was here we went and saw Mary Poppins. It was amazing. I don't think that Nate and I would have seen it if Kaitlynn hadn't wanted to but I am so glad we went. We were on the front row right behind the conductor so we could see the actors really well. It was one of the best shows I have seen, especially the "Step in Time" number. Kaitlynn and I were in Guys and Dolls in high school and she has been in a million shows since and is majoring in musical theater at ASU. She will be moving to New York soon so keep an eye out for her.