Heatwave

We're in the middle of a heatwave in Oxfordshire. I've been sucking down ice cubes, sitting in front of an electric fan, and wearing only my underwear to bed at night. I'm a sticky sweaty mess, but just so we're clear, I'm not complaining - I'm totally LOVING it! After getting cheated out of a proper summer last year, England's own Mother Nature is finally making it up to me.

When I left work today, my car dash said the outside temperature was 29 celsius (84 fahrenheit) so let's keep things in perspective here, that's not much of a heat wave compared to Utah's blistering summers. But man, I'll take whatever I can get (even if it does come with this suffocating humidity). Mmmm, Summer, I love you.

Want to know my complaints about a hot summer day in England? Central air conditioning is rare in many homes and businesses (yes, that would include my home and workplace). Which usually means we sleep with the windows open, and because the English haven't quite figured out about putting screens on windows, we are usually left with moths and flies hanging out with us. Also, it's pretty tricky trying to find a really cold drink around here. The things I would do for a 7-eleven.

And while we are on the weather subject.... We have a digital weather station in our house that my mom gave me for Christmas. It shows the outside and inside current temperatures. Our favorite thing about it - check out our weather lady! In the winter she is fully clothed (boots, coat, and all) but the warmer it gets outside, the more clothes she takes off. Trashy lady. Miles isn't allowed to speak to her, or even make eye contact with her.

Last Weekend

Miles's brother came to hang out with us for a few days. Here's what was on the agenda:

Friday: practice for the Formula One British Grand Prix

{Miles and Jeremy checking out the competition - a McLaren F1 car}

{Miles, Austin, & Jeremy}

Saturday: Surfing in North Devon

{Jeremy, Justin, Miles, & Aaron - I love how old school this photo looks}

{Jeremy & Miles}

{Cutie!}

{Jeremy}

{Miles on a wave - Ladies, I better not catch you checking out my man in his sexy tight wetsuit}

{Aaron - the boy who grew up surfing in cold English waters}

Sunday: more Formula One - The British Grand Prix. It was awesome. (Don't judge me too harshly - it's the one Sunday of the year that I don't go to church. Can you blame me?!)

{Our Williams f1 car flying past}

{A Braun car going past - the crowd was here to support their very own English driver from this team - so much for poor Lewis Hamilton. Fair weather fans, I say :)}

{Oh man, were we proud and excited to wear our Williams pit crew shirts - We are total nerds}

Monday: pub dinner after work

Rhine River Tour

While Miles and I were in Germany, we took a long boat ride on the Rhine and saw castles and wine vineyards on the hills surrounding the river (This part of Germany is known for their wine).

There were pretty towns all along the river with vineyards on the hills

We stopped off and explored a few very pretty towns.

More vineyards

We hiked to a castle on the hill

The view of the Rhine from the castle

Wine barrels were sticking out of the walls all over the place.

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Our last day in Germany was spent in an old Roman city called Trier.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg is one of those places that you see for the first time and almost start to cry (a few places in England have done that to me too). That's seriously how pretty this city is. I think it is the colorful painted buildings, the flower boxes under the windows, the cobbled streets, the painted store signs. Unbelievably pretty. Have a look at these photos and tell me if you agree!

I don't think my color blind husband appreciated the colors of the painted buildings the way I did. Poor Miles!

I have no idea what it says, but I love how the store names are painted onto the buildings, and in such pretty fonts.

The cutest and best ever Christmas store!

This old fortress wall goes around the city

So what do you think? Do you need a tissue? More to come tomorrow from our boat adventure on the Rhine River (and lots of castles too!)

Heidelberg

Day two in Germany my aunt & uncle showed us around the city of Heidelberg and Rothenburg. First Heidelberg, which has a lovely old castle.

Inside the castle

The view from the castle

Heidelberg Castle on the hill

Bratwurst & sauerkraut ( brat=yum, sauerkraut=yuck)

We wondered through the streets of Heidelberg

Miles with my aunt & uncle

A market in the square

I just love the painted & carved wood things in all the souvenir shops. The smoker dolls were my favorite, with those cute little fat bellies.

Deutschland baby!

Did I forget to tell you that Miles and I went to Germany for four days?  (We stayed with my aunt and uncle who are stationed there with the military).  Now we are back, and I have to tell you, I'm pretty much in love with Germany.  I'm excited about overflowing this blog with photos, so be prepared. Here's what happened on day one:

We spent the day in the Black Forest region. First was Triburg, which is a cute little town nestled into the mountains and pine trees.




We hiked through the pines to a pretty waterfall.


Saw a million cuckoo clocks - as the Black Forest is where most of the world's cuckoo clocks come from.  Miles tried on some nice hats.

This giant clock outside played music and the little people came out of their windows and doors.  It was so cute.


Ate some seriously yummy bread. No way was I going to share.


Enjoyed a bag of my most favorite gummy bears ever. Who knew they actually come from Germany!


We then drove to another little town in the Black Forest called Calw. The view on the drive there was incredible.

And the town of Cawl itself was heavenly. I love these colorful timber frame buildings.



I hope you'll stick around for day two.  It was my favorite day in Germany.  Just you wait my friends!

Our Kite

We love flying our kite.  Miles and I spent an afternoon on some random beach near Bristol and had a grand time flying our kite.  We felt like kids again. 

Sketching

I hate to admit it, but sometimes I don't have the best attention span in church, so I like to ask Miles to sketch pictures for me.  Today I asked him to sketch a thatched cottage, which he did... but then he added a Porsche parked in front......  with a long antenna with Mickey Mouse ears.

Then he sketched a Williams Formula 1 car.....   go figure.

Church in Utah vs.Oxford

I had a comment on my blog a few weeks ago asking how the LDS (Mormon) church in Oxford differs from the ones back home in Utah (the blissful bubble where 70% of the population is of the same faith).  I thought it would make an interesting Sunday post, so here is what I've come up with:

1.  In Utah most LDS chapels actually look something like a church building (like this).   Our chapel in Oxford looks more like an office building (as seen in the photo above).

2.  In Utah, as soon as the three hours of church are over, everyone bee lines it to the exits as quickly as possible to get home for their Sunday naps.  But in Oxford, as soon as the last meeting is over, it turns into social hour.  Seriously, pretty much everyone stays after and socializes for almost an hour after.

3.  You know all the old (strange) English hymns in the songbook that no one ever sings in Utah?, we pretty much sing all of those hymns here.  And it goes the other way around.  We very rarely sing the hymns that seem most popular in Utah (like:  I Need Thee Every Hour, I Believe In Christ, etc).

4.  Come the month of July, in Utah we hear many talks and testimonies shared about the earlier pioneers of our church.  In Oxford ward, the Mormon pioneers are very rarely mentioned.

5.  In Utah, the majority of the ward members were born into the church and come from a long line of Mormon ancestors and Mormon pioneers.  In Oxford we have many many many converts and first generation members.  (This is one of my favorite things about going to church outside of Utah.  It strengthens my testimony to hear new member conversion stories and to hear them bear testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel).

6.  In Utah there are LDS Chapels everywhere, so it's usually just a few minute drive to get to a church.  In England, it takes Miles and me 10 or 15 minutes to drive to our chapel.  For other members it takes longer, and many people come by public transport.  (Even our Stake center is about 45 miles away!)

7.  In England, the words damn and hell aren't four letter words like they are in Utah.  In fact, we've heard these words used over the pulpit many times.   Better yet, if you show your middle finger to someone (give them the bird) it's not offensive.  Miles and I were trying really hard not to giggle one Sunday when the Bishop of our ward was teaching a Sunday School lesson and unknowingly kept giving us the bird!

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Despite these few differences that I have found, really the great thing about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is that no matter where you go in the world, His church is always the same.  The doctrine, the ordinances, the organization is all the same.  It doesn't matter if I'm in Oxford England or in Salt Lake City, Utah, where our Prophet resides.  

I will never forget my first Sunday in the Oxford ward.  Although Miles and I were in a foreign country, far from anyone we knew, we actually never felt  alone or lonely.  Our ward was like an automatic family and support group given to us.  We love knowing that we can always turn to the people of our church for support and friendship, and in return we get to offer the same thing right back to them.

New headboard

To me a bed doesn't look complete without a headboard, so for the past year I've been anxious to get a new headboard since our old one wouldn't fit up the stairs in the cottage. (Sadly it's sitting in the horse stable gathering dust and cobwebs.) Well, I finally found myself a new headboard that I love. The best part, I won it for only £11 on eBay!