Ah, Venice.

Jesse and I spent last week visiting his cousin an hour from Venice. It was one of the most memorable experiences we've had. Venice was more beautiful than I thought it could be. We enjoyed good pizza, water buses, and gelato. Lots of gelato. But I gotta say, the best part of the trip was hanging out with the Lazenbys. What a great family. We got to meet the new baby, Pamela (or Panny cakes), and get to know the older kids better (and fell in love with them). Also, stealing their scooter and driving around the hillsides was pretty dang great. Italy was balmy and the jasmine was in bloom, so the whole place smelled like flowers. Sigh.

Sigh.

Anyway. Back to reality. We also took a drive with the whole family into Slovenia and Austria. It was gorgeous country and interesting to see how the cultures all blend near the borders.

Where are they now?

The past few days, Emma has been gone, so Sarah and Annie have been feeding and exercising the puppies. Basil went off to seek his fortune with his new family a couple days ago, and Mia and Cocoa are left.

Remember this face?And this one?

Here's little Mia now:

Here's little Cocoa.

The ladies of the ward...

These past few weeks have provided quite a few adventures in the ward, with the Relief Society sisters.

Last Friday I went to the Stake Relief Society camp, and I am really glad I went. When we first arrived the ladies from Canterbury were working on a skit. The style was soap opera, and apparently they needed to mention Santa and something else.

Laura was pregnant by a dead beat Santa.



Amy was 'mad' that she had to play an elf. Joe was the dead beat chav Santa. Marian was (I think) Santa's wife. And I still don't know what Shelley was... although the storyline was all from her.



I really don't think the skit had any moral to it, but it was funny. I know for a fact that the Canterbury ward had the best laughs, and the best audience response. Probably because those of us from the Canterbury ward are pretty loud.

Sadly I don't really remember the other wards skits... just remember a lot of falling over.

Then we had french skipping rope, and all I learned is that I don't like jumping. Also we had some games with the hula hoop, and I learned I don't have the right moves for the hula hoop. Then we gathered around the camp fire.



Then there were songs and actions around the fire; some songs I knew and remembered from Young Women's camp from my youthful years, and some I had never heard before. The one that made me laugh till I cried was the one involving a penguin. I loved how enthusiastic everyone seemed to be. The arms motions made it even more worth it.



Now Naomi claimed to have an excuse not to participate. Apparently a child continuously kicking you in the ribs is a valid excuse. I honestly think she is drunk... I mean the camera doesn't lie.



Amy and I were reminiscing over memories, me of girls camp, and her of cheer camp. It was really fun



Then we had a wonderful testimony meeting that made me feel close to all of the women there; even those who's names I didn't know.

Now the second event was last night we had our enrichment evening. It was a murder mystery dinner. And I think it went over very well. At first everyone wasn't too sure what to do, but then as the eating started, then everyone started to get into character, and adding their own flair to it.

In the end one table found out the true murderer, and the other table condemned an innocent lady! But we were all happy eating Annie's delicious cake!




The end of the night sadly came, and ended in a bit of brawl. Naomi trying to kick Esther, Esther nearly running down Naomi. These women can be fierce. But luckily it was all in fun, and we laughed our way home. On the ride home home we were singing along to Glee... a great way to end a night.

I don't know what I'm going to do without these wonderful women.

Things I'll miss about England

1. wonderful friends
2. beautiful walks
3. apple trees
4. our ward
5. watching Pride and Prejudice, then stepping outside into a Jane Austin Novel
6. our windows
7. getting our groceries delivered by Tesco
8. our bedroom
9. Bugsy
10. Tilly and her pups: Mia, Basil, and Cocoa
11. the stupid pheasants who live at Pilgrims
12. trains
13. a huge dairy selection
14. words like buggy, nappie, trolly, mince, tinned, well-good, cheers, veg, lie-in, chav, etc.
15. sheep
16. wild bunnies everywhere
17. suppers with our landlords
18. naps
19. almost everything else
20. Free health care

Things I am looking forward to in the U.S.:

1. Family
2. Having a freezer and storing ice cream!
3. Costco (and buying things to put in our freezer)
4. non NHS health care
5. having a car and the freedom to go where we like when we like
6. snuggling with our real dogs, Jud and Molly
7. sitting on our couch
8. toilets that flush properly
9. faucets with combined hot and cold taps
10. pioneer attitude
11. words like gosh, dang, diaper, bathroom, sidewalk, zucchini, movie theatre, round-trip, one-way, bucks, hitch-in-your-giddyup (Jesse purposefully used this on a Brit. Completely confused. He also once said to our landlady, "I hear your weedwacker is on the fritz." Utterly stumped.
12. our ward
13. other things I have forgotten about.