Five lessons I learned in 2013 (and how to avoid my mistakes!)

I’m overwhelmed with all of the wonderful things that have happened to my wonderful friends and family this year.

I’ve “awwwed” over pictures of your new little babies, squealed over school acceptance letters, and swelled with pride over your exciting job opportunities.

There have also been many tragic moments that I've witnessed in your lives.

I’ve felt devastated over the loss of your loved ones, cried when hearing about miscarriages, and felt stinging disappointment as some of you have been passed up for desperately-wanted jobs.

It makes me wonder- what defines your year?

For me, 2013 is a million small moments. Some happy, some sad, some silly, some heartbreaking.

The joys have fuelled my soul, but it is through the struggles that I’ve come to know myself. I’ve also learned something that is true for every single person: You are stronger than you realise.

A few months ago, an amazing role model and dear friend passed away; my sweet grandma. It’s been a difficult process, but I’ve come to understand something my dad taught me – life is for the living. My grandma has accomplished everything she needed to do on this earth, and the greatest tribute I can give to her is striving to live like she did. It’s not always easy to carry on, but it’s the only way to fulfil life’s mission.

There are so many tests, but somehow through the tears, we manage to feebly rise to our feet and accept the challenge to continue.

Despite the trials, I’m learning to wake up each morning and feel my own heartbeat, realising with gratitude that God has given me another day to learn in life’s great classroom.

Here are my top five lessons learned this year:

1. People are ALWAYS most important. When someone is talking, put down all electronic devices and look in their eyes.

2. If you don’t have enough time in your day to laugh, you are too busy. Cut something out.

3. Always believe something amazing is about to happen, and learn to redefine your definition of amazing. You’ll be astounded by how many miracles you witness in a single day.

4. Be patient with yourself. Lasting improvement takes time.

5. God will never let you down. Even though sometimes you’ll feel like you’re all alone, He’s always got your back.

Here are five less-serious but nevertheless important lessons I learned:

1. Hunger must be addressed first if anything else productive is to follow.

2. Gnomes are creepy. Really creepy. Like right up there with clowns kind of creepy.

3. Tourists walk slowly in London and will always walk slowly. You do too in unfamiliar places so be patient.

4. The morning will go so much better if you get everything ready the night before. There’s nothing less attractive than a frantic wife shrieking that she can’t find socks.

5.  Find a spouse that is endlessly compassionate, even if you ignore your own advice to plan ahead and then shriek that you can’t find socks. Thanks for being wonderful,Tom!

Thank you all for letting me learn from your examples this year. I’m overwhelmed by your love, support, and true kindness. Life would be nothing without the incredible people in my life.

As Thomas S. Monson says, 

"Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey and share

our love with friends and family. One day, each of us will run out of tomorrows. Let us not put off what is most important."

Here’s to 2014; may the Lord continue bless you and your families in the New Year.

Here's me pretending to kiss
a creepy gnome. 

Love,

Wendy

When in Roma

It's been a whole year since Tom and I got married. To celebrate, we decided to spend a few days in Rome.

So off we went! It still boggles my mind that Italy is only two hours away from London.

After we dropped off our luggage, we headed out to experience a great Italian masterpiece. No, not the Colosseum. I'm talking about the FOOD! Yum!

The four cheese pizza was divine!

It was only after we had eaten that we explored the Colosseum (priorities, people.)

Amazing! But much more on that later.

We got a good night's rest to take on the Vatican the next day.

Unbeknownst to us, the Pope was speaking so the square was absolutely packed. Tom even got photobombed by a couple on their wedding day.

After a picture, we quickly ditched the crowd and headed to the Vatican Museum.

It was amazing to see such great works in person, especially after seeing tiny pictures of them in art history textbooks growing up.

The Sistine Chapel is breathtaking! Technically, you're not supposed to take pictures in there, but the way I see it, Tom was taking a picture of my hair and happened to snap Michelangelo's famed ceiling in the background.

Then we were off and stopped by an ancient castle on the way to lunch.

Seeing old fortresses certainly helped me work up an appetite. Italy has these amazing pizza takeaway shops where they cut off pieces with scissors and charge you by the weight.

Tom got one with pumpkin cream and goats cheese, while I went for the more traditional margherita pizza.

Then it was Pantheon time.

 Tom holding on to the oculus, which actually is just a massive hole in the top.

We had a stroll through the city and came across just mass ruins. It's crazy that there are large open areas all over that are littered with the derelict remains of ancient civilization.

They don't call Rome the largest open air museum for nothing!

Our day was nearly done, but not without another walk around the Colosseum. I told you it would be popping up a lot in this blog!

It was time for, you guess it! Dinner. Followed by my new favourite yummiest treat ever: GELATO! Gelato is amazing. We got it from one of the oldest gelato shops in Rome. Fun fact! The US army took over the shop during WWII to produce ice cream for US soldiers.

 Fresh mango sorbet with real cream on top. YUM!

Then it was off to rest before the next day's adventure.

We got up really early to go to the Trevi Fountain before all the crowds got there. I am unashamed to say I first heard about this Fountain when I watched The Lizzie McGuire Movie.

Tradition has it that if you throw a coin over your left shoulder into the fountain, you guarantee a return to Rome someday. I threw in two coins just to be on the safe side.

After the Trevi Fountain, we went to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Absolutely stunning! It really is incredible to get a glimpse of ancient people simply from the buildings they left behind.

Then we were off for our underground tour of the Colosseum. Make sure you do the underground tour if you go to Rome. It's totally worth it!

Here's Tom standing on a recreation of the stage.

Growing up I've seen pictures of the inside of the Colosseum, and they looked like this:

I always wondered why it looked somewhat like a maze. Then I found out that what you're looking at is actually under the stage where they would hoist up animals through trap doors. The stage used to completely cover the maze bit so the audience wouldn't have been able to see it.

I was so excited when I found some ancient graffiti. 'Vindicomus' is the name of a gladiator, and there's a symbol also scratched on it that means death. Apparently fighting to the death wasn't great for gladiator morale.

Another fun fact about the Colosseum. There are massive holes cut out of it, but that isn't from wear and tear. It's actually from people stealing the rock and wire supports after the fall of the Roman Empire.

One of the biggest culprits was the Vatican, who took loads of rock and used it to make the lovely pillars below, found in the square just outside the Vatican.

After a fun-filled day exploring ancient Rome, it was that wonderful time of the day. Food time! 

We had an amazing few days in Rome, and a great time celebrating one year as a married couple. I love this man!

How I almost fell in a giant hole (but didn't)

I started off the week weighed down.

I felt like I had too much to do and not enough time to do it. Therefore, I stressed. I’m rather good at stressing sometimes. 

I was anxious all the way to work, so much so that my jaw was sore from clenching my teeth. I was so distracted, I almost walked straight into a giant hole in the ground where construction workers were drilling. Thank goodness one of them yelled at me, "Look out!" 

Filled with dread for the day, I opened by notebook and looked at my to-do list. “How am I ever going to get this done?” I thought.

I realised there wasn’t any possible way to do it on my own. Instead of freaking out, I paused and realised I needed more strength than I already had.

I’ve been taught my whole life that there is a God in Heaven who loves me and wants to help me. It’s funny though how quickly I forget that when things get rough.

Instead of worrying, I decided to trust in Him. Not only did I get everything done, I was able to do it better than my normal capabilities would have allowed.

Some may say it’s a coincidence. I say it’s miraculous.

I get so caught up in the day-to-day that I forget that I already have someone on my side who sees the end from the beginning. If I trust in the Lord, He will help me. Simple, right?

It’s obviously easier said than done at times, but I’m writing this down so I remember it the next time I feel overwhelmed.

I especially like this quote from Ezra Taft Benson:

“Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life.”

Sometimes I feel so small in such a huge city. Yet, I know that The Lord knows me and can make so much more out of my feeble efforts than I can.

He gives me the chance to change and be better. Life can be so difficult at times, but there is always hope.

I don’t know very much, but I do know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings me happiness. I find peace, strength, and love as I try to live better.

My life doesn’t always turn out the way I had planned. Sometimes things seem really hard. But I know now that matter what I'm going through, the Lord can help.

Watch this little clip and find out what a little one-winged bird has to do with God. Trust me, this bird is adorable!

With lots of love from London,
Wendy

Happy happy birthday!

My parents were born the day after each other in September (minus a few years).

When I was really young, I used to think I would be required to marry someone born around my birth date, too.

The coolest part about having parents that share the same birthday week is the ability to brag about them in the same blog post.

Here are the five best things about my parents.

5. Their ability to laugh at the crazy things we did as kids. 

We didn’t make parenting easy on them. In fact, the classic line used around my house was, “See, this is why we can’t have nice things.” 

I remember my little brother using markers to color all over the walls when he has younger. Instead of getting upset, my dad put his arm around my mom and said, “I think he’s going to be an artist just like his dad.”

4. Their excellent taste in music. 

On long car trips when we were kids, there would come a point (usually around the Utah/Nevada border) where dad couldn’t take Radio Disney anymore. It was at this time when we were treated to “the classics” as he called them. Us kids would complain that we didn’t want to listen to his “old fogey music,” but nevertheless we endured mom and dad singing Journey, Billy Joel, Donna Summer, Styx, and Steely Dan at the top of their lungs.

Now that I have some perspective, I realize that my parents were right: some of the best stuff did come out of their era, 90’s music did rip a lot off of disco, and no attempts to copy Michael Jackson’s style will ever be successful.

3. Their resiliency through tough times. 

They always see the best in whatever situation they’re in. It is through their faith that I learned to gain my own.

2. The fact that they are still crazy in love. 

When we were growing up, they would sometimes kiss in front of us kids, which we would respond to by shouting “Ewwwww!” Since I’ve grown up, it’s much less “eww” and much more “aww!”

1. That they loved each other so much, they wanted to be married forever. 

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that families can be together for all eternity. By getting married in the temple, our family will continue on after this life. After all, true love stories have no ending!

Happy birthday, Mom and Dad! Thank you so much for your amazing examples and for raising some pretty cool kids (if we do say so ourselves).

Love you!

Fish & Chips

Life has been quite exciting lately.

Tom finished up the school year and we headed down to the coast to see his family.

We had the world’s best fish & chips! Complete with salt and vinegar of course. Some will be disappointed to know that in England, most fish & chips aren’t served in newspaper any longer, but they do come in elegant Styrofoam containers. (Fun fact! The Brits call Styrofoam ‘polystyrene’. )

 The fish was caught that day from this beautiful seaside.

No trip to the beach is complete without some frozen Cornish clotted cream.

We also got to visit this amazing Victorian house.

Note my hubby supporting the his favorite NBA team. Whoop whoop!

We encountered this age old truth:

Plus we found the schoolroom.

We found this old man wearing the coolest music vest ever.

And finally discovered what I’m sure would be a fascinating book on Christianity.

Everything was wonderful.

Love my sister-in-law!

These are fields where Tom used to compete in cricket. He’s been teaching me the rules, which I’m sure I’ll understand at some point.

It was an amazing trip!

What’s next? We’re off to visit the grand US of A for a few weeks. Then we’re moving to a different part of London where Tom will start teaching in his new school! 

Sending love to both sides of the pond.