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| Okay, so I miscounted the days. There were actually 44. This picture reminds me of you because it is pretty much the last view I will have of England before I fly out tomorrow morning. This is the view from my hotel window. You can see London Heathrow Airport on the right. I'm very excited to get on a plane tomorrow morning so I can see you tomorrow night! |
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| This picture reminds me of you because, well, it is you. You made this for me the day before I left. It has been on my desk since I got here and it has gotten me through some hard and lonely times. It has been so wonderful to be able to see pictures of you and the kids every day, whenever I needed to. I am excited to pack it in the suitcase in a few minutes because that means I won't need it anymore. I'm on my way home. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you love to shop, especially for the kids. This is the Westfield London Mall, which was built just a couple of years before the Olympics. It is the largest shopping center in Europe. This picture captures only a small section of it, but you can see that it's three stories and very big. I must say I was glad you didn't see some of the things I saw because we might have spent more money than we have. |
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| These pictures remind me of you because I was lost and confused the entire time we were on the subway. You have a much better sense of direction than me and you are a better multi-tasker. This is the second largest metropolitian transportation system in the world (after Shanghai), and it was downright overwhelming! My day in London would have been a whole lot less stressful if you were here to help me stay oriented. Nevertheless, it was a very cool experience to travel this way. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you would have loved to see Buckingham Palace. The flag is raised all the way up meaning that the Queen was inside. The palace guards were dressed as I thought they would be but you couldn't get very close to them which was disappointing. The palace was beautiful and there were thousands of people there. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because one of your dreams is to ride on the London Eye. This massive ferris wheel stands 443 feet high, or about 40 stories. I couldn't stop thinking about how bad I wanted you to be with me yesterday to see everything I saw in London. I promise to take you on the London Eye when we come back to England, even though it costs about $30 per person (ouch!). |
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| This is Big Ben and part of the Palace of Westminster. I took this picture from Westminster bridge over the River Thames. The palace looks crooked, but it is just an illusion caused by its sheer size. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you love this movie. If you were here, I would definitely take you to the theatre to see this play. I know this seems like a lame picture from my trip to London, but I took this from the inside of a subway train that was seconds from leaving. I saw it, grabbed my camera, lunged to my knees, and snapped this shot for you. I promise that when I get home we can have a date together and watch this movie with your favorite treats. |
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| I thought you would like this. This is my best impersonation of Winston Churchill, whose statue is behind me. You can also see part of Westminster Abbey behind me and to the left. I am facing Big Ben which is just right across the street.I loved London, and you will too, but I was missing you all day. I am so excited to bring you back so we can experience all of this together. Plus, there was a lot I didn't see, so it won't all be old to me. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because few creatures are more beautiful and graceful than swans. It's hard to see, but there are two swans swimming together in this picture. They reminded me of you and Kate. I learned that it is illegal to own or harm a swan in the United Kingdom because every swan, no matter where it is, is owned by the Queen. The swan is one of her symbols, I suppose. It all makes sense now that you and baby Kate rule the bed, leaving me a peasant's portion at the edge, if I beg for it. |
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| These pictures remind me of you because you love fantasy novels. This is Moseley Bog, the area that supposedly inspired Tolkien's Ancient Forest and Dead Marshes. It looks quite a lot like the books and films depict those places. You can almost picture Sam and Frodo hiding in the bushes from the encroaching orcs, or Merry and Pip sitting on that log eating 'second breakfast' or 'elevensies'. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you love the Lord of the Rings. One of my favorite things we have done is have a marathon with the extended versions of the films. I walked a total of about 15 miles today, during which I saw the home Tolkien grew up in and several other areas that inspired aspects of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. The home is now privately owned so I only saw it from the outside, but it was still neat to try and picture little Tolkien sleeping upstairs and dreaming about hobbits. |
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| Just a side note: I walked the long way so I could stop by and see our bench. It was sunny and the clearing in the glen was beautiful. As promised, I didn't sit down, but I assure you that we will sit on this bench together one day. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you seemed so fascinated when I described this to you. This fancy contraption is a pulley-operated rack to hang and dry clothes on. I know what you're thinking, why did we pay 450 dollars for our dryer. The answer is because this is heavy, it stains my clothes yellow, my garments are hanging out in public like the American flag at the Capitol building, it takes 36 hours to get clothes dry, if the weather is reasonably warm, and it always feels like these are going to fall on my head when I get something out of the fridge. Other than that, I think we should look into switching over. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you love the rain. It poured all afternoon. Then right before I left for home (with no umbrella) it stopped and the sun came out. It was cool and you could smell rain in the light breeze. All of the flowers were covered in shimmering droplets and you could see the clouds in the puddles. I thought about you the whole time. As a matter of fact, I think about you whenever I see anything beautiful. You're gorgeous, I love you, and I can't wait to see you soon! |
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| These pictures remind me of you because we love to wander through neighborhoods together and talk about life and our future. During those walks we also talk a lot about the type of house and yard we want to have. Well, as you can see from these two pictures, there wouldn't be much to talk about if we went on those walks here. No yards and all the houses look just about the same. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because the other day you were telling me that you are excited to go whitewater rafting. I think that will be a very fun tradition for our family when the kids are older. This is a lookout point several hundred feet above the river, and if you squint you can see kayakers in the river below. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because Nutella is more popular in England than peanut butter. It is a milk chocolate hazelnut spread. I had never tried it in my life before yesterday, and it was delicious. The people her could not believe I had never had it, and I don't think you have either. You would absolutely love it. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because this is the forest where a lot of the last Harry Potter movie was filmed. I still remember ordering the 7th book for you weeks in advance and waiting in line with you at midnight to pick it up. The next day, to show your gratitude, you told me I was not allowed to talk to you once while I drove us down to St. George so you could read the book. We were about halfway there when I asked if we could talk to help me stay awake. You replied, "Jesse, you promised!" So, I figured Harry Potter's most devoted fan might appreciate seeing where he found Godric Gryffindor's sword. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because we normally make these cookies together, and because the cookies in the middle molded together serendipitously to show you how I feel about you. Making them was a bit of a nightmare. They don't have shortening here, they have lard. Everything is in grams, and the oven was a little weird. Plus, it just wasn't the same making them without you. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you're working on losing baby weight, and this is a weight loss program especially for that. The British word for Mom is Mum. I thought this was a clever rhyme. I pass this almost every day and think how glad you should be that your kids don't call you 'Mummy'. And when I get home I will help you continue your 'Mums Bums & Tums' fitness program. I love you. You are gorgeous. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because it looks just a little bit like parts of the hike up Mill Creek Canyon in Salt Lake. I'll always remember our day-long date up there. We had a great hike, a delicious picnic, and lots of time to talk. I was about halfway through Pride and Prejudice when we went. I was trying to impress you by reading your favorite book. I quoted a couple of passages from the book, and you looked at me like I was speaking another language. When I realized you weren't impressed, I stopped reading. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you spend more time at the hospital or doctor's office than anyone I know. This is Birmingham's new medical center. In 5 years you've had 3 babies, which have included pre-natal check-ups, deliveries, and post-partum appointments. You've also had hernia surgery, several exams with thyroid specialists, strep throat, and immunizations for our Fiji trip. That was all just for you. Including Landon's speech pathology appointments and our recent string of dental appointments, you are in a doctor's office almost weekly and sometimes several times a week. Thank you for all you do to keep yourself and our family healthy! |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you love Penny so much! Okay, that's not always true, but I think you love her deep, deep down even when she annoys you. This was a big poster in front of a booth in downtown Birmingham where they were giving out free dog food samples. I did a double take when I saw it because it's almost exactly life-size and it looks just like Penny. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because it was taken while I was looking in your direction. I climbed to the top of one of the highest hills in the Birmingham area to watch the sunset this evening. I was thinking about you while I looked southwest for a few minutes. Maybe you were looking northeast at that very same moment and our eyes met...sort of. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because I really wanted you with me on my walk this afternoon. I went on a two-hour walk through Cannon Hill Park, along the River Rea, and into Holders Lane Woods, where this picture was taken. There was no one around and all I could hear were birds singing and squirrels playing in the trees. I saw this bench and decided it is 'our bench'. I did not sit on it because I want you to be with me the first time I do. I promise I will bring you back to this exact spot, and we will sit on 'our bench' for the first time together. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you hate guessing games. Example: I say, "Guess what?" You reply, "What?" I say, "Just guess." You reply (sternly), "Jesse, just tell me." There are no full-time caretakers at the Gadfield Elm chapel, and probably not enough visitors to make it worthwhile, so they have a combination lock for people to get in. The code is not given, you have to figure it out using the clues in the picture below. The Wards made me do it before we could go inside. See if you can figure it out. And then figure out why that combination is signficant. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because we did baptisms for the dead in the Manti Temple when we were dating. I remember it being a cool experience. I already knew I was going to marry you at that point. It was just a matter of convincing you. This is part of a much larger stained glass window in Gloucester Cathedral. It seems strange to see this in a 16th century Anglican church, but the temple baptismal font was actually described in detail in the Old Testament. It just doesn't say what it was used for. It took a modern day Prophet to figure that out. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because I'm pretty sure daisies are your favorite flower. This is at the Gadfield Elm, the first LDS-owned chapel in Church history. It was donated to the Church by the United Brethren, an entire Christian sect of about 600 members who were baptized in just a few short weeks. I was going to doctor the photo to reduce the glare on the daisies, but then I realized that this is actually a very rare photograph in England. It's the brightest sunshine I may see during my entire stay. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because I thought you would laugh at this. Most of the cities in England are several hundred years old, and they can't just tear down historic buildings. So they make do with what they have. You may have wondered if KFC would have looked a bit out of place on a 19th century British street. Now you know. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because you often describe yourself as being too blunt (and I sometimes agree). I thought that the Surgeon General in the U.K. must share that personality trait with you. This is what it says on every cigarette carton I've seen here (and I've seen a lot, smoking is much, much more common here). |
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| This picture reminds me of you because several scenes from Harry Potter were filmed in and around this cathedral. I saw the hallway where they faced a troll and the lawn where Harry had his first quidditch lesson. It was cool but I was only excited because I knew you would be. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because every time I eat lunch on those picnic tables I look at these roses and think about walking with you in the rose gardens at Thanksgiving Point when we were dating. I think some of my greatest memories of us have been talking to you during long walks. When I look at these, I also think of Lily's nickname for you: Rose. In her letters she used to write: "You mustn't let your Rose wilt." |
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| This picture reminds me of you because I would be dry if you were here. If you were here you would have followed me to the door and made sure I took an umbrella with me this morning. I thought about that every time I stepped in a puddle, every time I hunkered under a tree waiting for the rain to let up, and especially every time I passed a dry person who had an umbrella. |
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| This picture reminds me of you because your single biggest pet peeve about me is my piles. I tend to stack my to-do lists, receipts, and "3 x 5 cards of good ideas" next to my bed. My argument is that I need them (which I do) and I use them (I always intend to), but you still ask me at least once a day if you or I can throw them out. You proposed a compromise by buying me a "Bedtime Buddy", which is your name for a small notebook for my to-do lists and "good ideas". Unfortunately, I didn't bring either of my "Bedtime Buddies" with me (you're the other one), and you can see the messy (and all too familiar) consequences. |
