The warm weather enticed me to buy some strawberries and make some homemade jam. Well that, and the fact that they were on sale. Yummmy.  

Happy Easter from Condo Row!

The day was beautiful. Seriously, one of the most warm and best Saturdays in a long time. The great day started off with some friends at West Mountain shooting some guns. I just love to be outdoors. And as Heather put it, "I think I secretly belong on a ranch."

How does playing double dutch for a few hours sound? Well, it rocked! After tanning (yes, it is in the 50s and my ward decided it was warm enough to tan.) on a roof we broke out the jump rope. We decided we needed some signs that said children at play to warn cars to slow down because it was like we were children again.

To end a great Saturday I tasted one of the best unknown candy bars out there. My ward may be obsessed with these. If you haven't ever had one you better change that asap. They are everything a Butterfinger should have been. 

The sun has come out in Provo! We may have celebrated by skating around and playing baseball with oranges. You know, the normal stuff. 

I got to spend the day in the sun with these beautiful ladies in St. George. We partied it up and ran all over the town. We also managed to find time to do the necessary girl things such as getting our nails done and going to see Safe Haven. All I know is that after this weekend away from Provo I am going to be a few pounds heavier from all the candy and cookies we ate. Faaaat. So worth it.  

Tennis is always fun with this girl. And yes, yes we do match.

Another Summers Day

    Waking up in the Lake District is wonderful. I wish I could stay in this stop for the rest of our trip. I love it here. We drove through the green hills to William Wordsworth’s home. He wrote many of his poems from his home in the hillside. It was gorgeous. Reminded me a lot of Oregon, and girls camp actually, but probably prettier. We then made our way to another famous writer’s home, Beatrix Potter. If you don’t remember, she wrote Peter Rabbit. Her house and gardens were very eloquent. There were even little bunnies bounding around the grass. When you take a tour of her house you can see the places she used as inspiration for her illustrations. They would have the books open to a certain page and you could look at the drawing and then see the exact spot in the room. It was really cool to see that. It made me want to go back and read all these wonderful children stories. Beatrix Potter was also an important figure for the Lake District. She began to buy different farms and lands to give them to the national trust to save them from industrialization. 

    Okay, enough with authors. Sometimes, you just need to do something crazy. Anne and I have worn everything in our suitcases besides one item. Our swimsuits. So this thought led us to swimming in the middle of a lake in England. Our group has some crazy ideas sometime. Surprisingly, the water wasn’t that cold. The sun even came out! A big group of us made our way to the lake, found a good spot to go in and went for in. Swimming with the fish and everything. We were a little hesitant at first but then we started splashing, swimming around and having a good time. It was very fun! And what would a summer be without a dip in the lake? It makes it even better that we were in the Lake District. 

 William Wordsworth's house.  

 At Beatrix Potter's home. Pretty sure that is Peter Rabbit.

Just going swimming.

Hogwarts? Oh wait, it is Oxford instead.

After Paris, finals, packing and saying goodbye to London it is safe to say the whole group was a bit tired today. And it was hot. (Though I am not going to complain too much because I have been wanting the sun this whole trip!) But today was not necessarily the best day for a walking tour around Oxford. This place is pretty sweet! Did you know the Oxford University is actually made up of lots of many colleges. Because that is some of the useful information I found out on said tour. And I saw some of the spots the filmed for Harry Potter. So that was pretty neat. During the tour I just looked around and could see that everyone was just so beat. It was funny to see people leaning against the wall and half listening to the tour. I am still glad we went on it. Oxford is great. I would go to school here. You know, besides it being super expensive. No big deal. The town around is pretty adorable too. I mean, I got a free fudge sample. That in itself made the day great! 

   Oh, I totally forgot. This morning we took a tour of the Oxford Printing Press. We learned a lot about the Oxford English Dictionary. Yup, that is all I have to say about that. 

 Bye bye London. I'll miss you.

 Oxford Printing Press.

Oxford University.

 This is my, "It's famous, will you take my picture?" pose. 

 This is for the Harry Potter fans.

   This is the dorms we are staying in at Kable College a part of Oxford. Pretty nifty if you ask me.

The Irish Ocean!

   You know how yesterday I was thrilled to be driving by the ocean? Well today I got to actually step onto the beach sand! Inch Beach to be exact. It was as cute as the name. Reminded me a lot of the Oregon Coast. Very, very windy. But I loved it. After exploring the beach a bit a few of us sat down in a cute little cafe with windows facing the ocean and wrote post cards. So blissful. 

   I guess we did some other pretty cool things today too. I mean, if you think a fort that is 3000 years old is pretty cool. I mean, you know, I guess. Just kidding, IT WAS AWESOME! And sitting right by the ocean which was spectacular. (This trip is really going to widen my range of synonyms for beautiful.) We walked around it, inside it and all about. We also visited "Beehive Huts" which are really old houses made just of stone. I don't truly understand how they stay up. But the rocks support each other. All I know is I could have never lived in that time period. I am thankful for beds and roofs not made out of stone. It is the simple things in life. 

    After our trip around the coast of Ireland we came back and I had my first real experience with fish and chips. So delicious. We went to an Irish pub to enjoy the whole experience of it. Jessica, Heather, Marie and I also went and found a cute little ice cream shop called Murphy's. We have the night to explore Dingle and do some studying... I guess. Sometimes I forget I am suppose to learn and that this just isn't a vacation. But hey, I am multiple tasking right now and working on homework! 

Dunbeg Fort.

Dingle Peninsula. 

Inch Beach.