Week 35 -- Back to Normal??

We title this one "back to normal" thinking that our time for sightseeing was finished and that we needed to be about business.  Little did we know what really laid ahead.

Monday we were hard at it back at our digitizing.  Tuesday we worked as usual -- in the Family History Centre.  Wednesday we worked hard most of the day, but that was a day of celebration.

Annie had connived and planned and put together a nice surprise party for Paul's birthday.  If you can believe it, she made a cake on Tuesday while Paul was watching TV and doing family history.  Wouldn't you have thought that he would have walked in on her while she was doing the cake or certainly a person with any smelling abilities would have smelled the cake as it was baking?  Not Paul.  To top it off, she got up a little early on Wednesday and baked a second cake.  Annie always wakes Paul up when she get's up in the morning, but if it happened that morning, Paul missed the whole thing again.

Anyway, on Wednesday, everything seemed pretty normal right up and including the lunch.  Then as we were finishing lunch everything broke loose.  The cakes came out, ice cream was brought in, other camera teams from the basement came up, some of the staff members of The National Archives came in, and it was quite the gathering.  Needless to say, Paul got his birthday song, his cake, a rootbeer float, a back scracher, and lots of well-wishes.  What a surprise!

The Party & The Cakes

Party with TNA Staff & Henry

That evening we went out and tried a new Mexican restraunt.  It was only fair, but what do you expect in England?

On Thursday we realized that we had run out of things to image, so we spent most of the day doing other things including getting Annie a new haircut, shutting down our English bank account, and getting ready for a class next week that Paul will teach on Tuesday.  On Friday we managed to find some digitizing work to do for one of the missionary couples upstairs so we did go up stairs and work in the Family History Centre and the other couple came downstairs and did some digitizing.  We must mention too, that we were invited to go to downtown London on Friday night and have dinner with the Family History Centre people and participate in some training.  Friday was one very long day since we didn't get home until after 10 pm.  We went down about 11 so that we could get a few hours sleep before our dedicated BYU fan, that's Paul, got up in time to watch the ball game at 2 am. 

Annie's Hair Before

Annie's Hair After

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BYU Cherringtons - Corn Dog's - Wow

When Saturday arrived, we kind of took it easy for a while.  Then Annie went wild on a shopping spree for a few sorely needed new clothes -- shoes, blouse, sweater, stockings -- needless to say, we had a happy camper at the ole flat!  Paul spent time doing some research and we both spent time trying to get ready for our presentation at Catford Ward.  Some of you may recall that we had been asked to give a presentation on family history for their 5th Sunday, combined Priesthood/Relief Society Meeting. 

On Sunday we left the flat at 8:15 am, walked to the tube, got on the underground, changed to a different underground line, changed to a train and 1 1/2 hours later arrived at the Catford Ward.  We then attended the block with them and did our presentation.  Then the local missionary couple there invited us over for dinner.  Finally about 4:30 we started for home again.  After another 1 1/2 hour trip, we made it back and are writing this to some of our favorite people.

In case we didn't mention it last week, Paul was supposed to be sustained as a counselor in the Sunday School Presidency today.  Don't know if it happened because we weren't there.  Oh, additionally we have been assigned three families to home teach.  We're kind of excited about this (yes, we know that we must be hard up to be excited to do home teaching, but we have some really neat people here that we have learned to love).

Time to close this.  As you can likely tell, we're busy.  We love being busy because it helps us to not miss all of you too much.

We are saddened and very prayerful about our dear Mikell who has had kidney problems and continues to do so.  We are excited for the progress on Steve and Rachell's new home that they are building.  Aaron and Audra and family seem to be settling in down in Las Vegas. Our other Aaron and Becky just got back from an anniversary trip to Mexico and Becky just got a new job with the state of Utah that she is happy about.

Take care and remember we love you all.  We are grateful to be serving the Lord on this mission and have strong testimonies of the gospel. 

Mom & Dad, grandma and grandpa, Elder and Sister Smart, Paul and Annie

Eye at Dusk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Ben - Houses of Parliament at Dusk

Week 34 - Great Week with Kathie

Monday we went to the Archives to digitize as usual.  Kathie was on her own roaming the streets of London during the day.  We all participated in the "Jack the Ripper" walking tour Monday night in downtown London.  Lots of history in the tour and interesting facts about Jack.




Tuesday was back to The National Archives where Paul and Annie worked in the London Family History Center.  It was a busy day with lots of people needing help.  Elder Smart did a presentation in the "talk room" on searching techniques with FamilySearch.

Wednesday was a fun play day with Kathie (meaning we left work behind).  We took a bus out to Hampton Court Palace.  Paul and Annie had been there twice before, but it is always interesting and so much to see.  Kathie saw Henry VIII's home for the first time.  She especially enjoyed the Palace gardens.

Annie with Henry VIII and George

Hampton Court Palace

 

Elder Smart resting in the court

King Henry VIII and his fiance' Elizabeth

 

One garden view at the palace

One of ceiling murals in the palace

 Following Palace visit, we took a boat down the Thames River to Westminister.  It was about a 3 hour ride. The boat ride offered  beauty, history and lots of brisk air (Annie said "cold" air").

Annie and Kathie on the boat

One of the beautiful sights from our boat

Houses of Parliament from boat

We experienced a lock at Teddington

We then walked to a  souvenir shop at Westminster near the "Eye" to get a pin that Kathie had seen last week while we were there.  (She had found a hat that she decided to adorn with various pins.) We quickly grabbed a bite at the McDonald's and headed home on the underground.  It was very late when we got home and 3 tired tourists were glad to be back at the flat.

Thursday Paul and Annie were back at the Archives, but Annie left early to go shopping with Kathie for British snacks to take home.

Kensington Palace

We went to Kensington Palace (home of Prince William, Kate and the new baby, George) on Friday.  We also visited Royal Albert Hall,  Natural History Museum, Piccadilly Circus and Westminster Abbey.  Kathie finished her souvenir shopping at Trafalgar Square. 

Into the Center of the Earth--Natural History Museum

Royal Albert Hall

We finished the day at Helen and Paul Baden's home where they served us a wonderful dinner.  One highlight was the ride home in a car!!  We forget what it is like to ride something other than buses and trains.

Saturday morning we were off to the airport on a 6:30 a.m. bus.  Things went smoothly at the airport and we said a sad goodbye to Kathie.  She made it home for the sad game in Provo.  Guess it was just a sad day all the way around.

We enjoyed Kathie's visit.  Family is so very important to us.  Service to the Lord is also very important to us.  We are grateful to have such a wonderful family that supports us in our service here in London.  We enjoy visits and we also enjoy the wonderful Skype visits and the visits we are blessed to make on the phone.  Thank you all for your love and support.

A very special birthday wish to Audra on Tuesday.

Love to all of you,
Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie, Elder and Sister Smart

Week 33 . . . Play, Play, Play :o)

Monday of this week started out early.  We were up for the earliest bus we could get to be at Heathrow Airport by 6:45 am.  Kathie was arriving from America.  It took about an hour to get through all the arrival hassalls and then we were off for our flat.

Waiting at Underground Station

Will the real dummy please stand

We did everything we could to keep her awake since she was arriving just in time to go to bed (American time).  We rode the tube, went to a crepes restaurant, Hyde Park chapel, Harrod's department store, and then headed home.  Kathie was a little dragging after her first day.

We went to our work on Tuesday and got off a little early so we could do some more sight seeing.

Wednesday Kathie was off on her own for the day.

Buckingham Palace

Thursday we spent the day together.  We had tickets for the London Eye; saw the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. Then we had the opportunity of having lunch with our friend, Helen Baden (she's also a member of our ward).  After lunch, we went by Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the Admiral Nelson monument, the National Art Gallery, the changing of the Horse Guard, 10 Downing Street and the Victoria Station.  After a busy day we made it home.

 

London Eye

London Eye from Inside

Horse Guard

Big Ben-Houses of Parliament

Trafalgar Square

Black Taxi?

Friday was another day of digitizing while Kathie was on her own.  Friday night we had planned to do a Jack the Ripper walking tour, but it was raining.  So, Kathie and Annie went shopping, while Paul tried to do a little more digitizing.

Annie and Kathie shopped until they dropped (well, at least until the money ran out) on Saturday.  Paul worked on a class presentation that he is doing on Tuesday at The National Archives.  We all hooked up together around five.  It wasn't raining too much so we got on the underground and went back to London and saw the lights at Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. Made it home just in time to get to bed.

Dinner Leicester Square - Mexican

Leicester Square

Sunday we were up bright and early, ready to head to Church.  After two buses and 1 and 1/2 hours we made it.  Annie taught primary again so Kathie and Paul were on their own.  Helen accompanied Kathie and they did the Gospel Doctrine Class and Relief Society while Paul attended the Gospel Principles Class and Priesthood.  It was one great day -- again.  One thing that we would like to share from today's church is:

The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles declared, “Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities”

We love you all so much.  Having Kathie with us has certainly reinforced how much we miss you all.  Yet, we know we must work hard and do our best to serve the Lord so that we can be good examples.  We have a testimony that as we serve, our children and grandchildren and even our friends will be blessed.  Thanks for being who you are.  Thanks for trying so hard in aspects of your life.

We love you all so much and we testify that the gospel is true and that families are central to Heavenly Father's Plan.

Love to you all,

Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Annie and Paul, Elder and Sister Smart

     

Busy, Busy, Busy...Week 32

Our life has been full this week.  We have tried to work a few more hours when we can to make up for all the time we keep needing off for temple trips, and visitors.  I guess in all honesty, Paul has tried to put in more time and Annie has worked hard but hasn't really wanted to spend extra hours. We have taken some pictures of some of the documents as they are found after a couple hundred years.  We then took pictures of what they look like after the the conservators prepare the papers for us to digitize.  It is quite a process for all of the old documents to go through before you see them on the internet.

Documents before conservation

one package of documents

 

Finished product ready to digitize

chapel of the Catford building

Catford chapel

We spent all day Saturday working in Blackheath  with the  Catford Ward in East London doing a Family History Open House.  The word is spreading that one of the Senior Missionaries is a professional genealogist.  Another Ward in southeastern London has recruited us to speak in their Ward on the last week of this month.  Sister Smart is learning enough to contribute some and is expected to add her part each time Elder Smart is recruited.  Here is a picture of the chapel we worked at Saturday.  This is posted especially for Paul's brother-in-law, Randy, who served in the Catford Ward on his mission. After the open house we went to dinner in Blackheath with Elder and Sister Bradford and then took the train back to our home in Kew.

We got home in time for Paul to attempt try to get some sleep before he got up to watch the BYU game on our computer which is hooked to Kathie and Matt's TV through a slingbox.

Try as we will.....the sleep never happened and he was ready and excited to watch the game scheduled to start at midnight our time.  I am sure you have all heard about the monsoon in Provo and the start of the game was postponed for two hour.  Annie woke up at 4:00 a.m. to find him glued to the computer screen with a big grin upon his face, enjoying the game.  It was 5:00 a.m before he got to bed and then had to get up at 7:45 a.m. to make it to church on time. As dedicated missionaries we were at church on time even with almost no sleep.

4:00 a.m.

Once again, we enjoyed having the sister missionaries over after church for dinner. The sisters have been going through some tough times.  Annie has been a great confident for them and Paul gave one of them a blessing.  They have a lot to learn to understand each others culture -- one of them being from Australia and the other from Uganda.

Just for the record (not sure what record) this is the third week that Annie has taught primary.  The regular teacher has had some surgery and Annie is a great teacher.  She is learning to love her 4-6 year olds and they definitely enjoy her.

We are excited about this next week.  Kathie is on the plane to London right now.  She will arrive at the Heathrow Airport at 6:25 a.m. Monday morning.  It takes us at least an hour to get there and so our night will be short again tonight.
 
Happy anniversary this week to Spencer and Cyntha.

We want you all to know that the church is true and the Lord loves you and so do we.

Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie, Elder and Sister Smart.

Baby duckling with mom.  Growing fast

Fantastic Week (31)

This week started off with our "bank holiday" (kind of like Labor Day only a week earlier).  We thought that we would try something really wild and entertaining; something that would really be worth remembering once we get home.  So, on Monday we went out and found the British Walmart.  It's actually called ASDA, but it really reminded us of Walmart at home.  We did some fairly heavy shopping there, so we took our little pull along cart with us. 

Double Decker Buses

We can't leave that story without mentioning that we road a double decker bus on the way home.  Annie said she had always wanted to go up on the second level of one of those buses, so she did.

We really only did our digitizing one day this week.  We spent Monday, as mentioned above -- the Archive was closed.  Tuesday we spent the day in the Family History Centre helping patrons with their family history, while the couple that should have been doing this, went downstairs to the basement to digitize.  Wednesday, we spent digitizing as usual. 

Some of you may remember that we have been teaching a temple preparation class in our ward.  Well, Thursday and Friday were the culmination of that class.  Two of the seven that attended the class wanted to get to the temple before it closed (it closed for 2 1/2 months at the end of the day on Saturday, 31 August).  That meant they had to go sometime during the past week.  One arranged to go on Thursday and one arranged to go on Friday.  Some of you are probably going to ask why they couldn't go on the same day.  Well, it just wouldn't work out. 

The two that went are both women and they had requested that Annie be their escort.  At first we thought we would travel to the temple and back on Thursday and then repeat the same travel on Friday.  As we came to our senses, we decided to try to stay at the temple overnight in the temple patrons' accommodations.  We figured that there would be a slim chance of getting a room since it was so close to the weekend and since the temple would be closing for an extended period.



Sister Baden on Her Temple Day

Sister Gunasinga (Dee) - Her Temple Day

Temple Housing - Our Room

 We called and called on trying to get them.  They just wouldn't answer.  When we finally got through, they told us we were very lucky.  Someone had just called and cancelled their room.  Therefore we had a room for Thursday night.  There is a modest charge for staying there, but it is well worth it.




We can't tell you all how smoothly things went at the temple.  Not only was everything timely, but everyone seemed to threat our two ward members so well.  They looked so good.  The spirit was so strong.  It almost seemed that they had been in the presence of the Lord.  Anyway it was a choice experience and we are so thankful for the blessings of the temple and the marvelous truths that are taught in it!

We enjoyed Church today, as well.  Annie taught Primary, as a substitute.  Paul also enjoyed his meetings and had the opportunity of giving a blessing to one of the ward members.  We had the privilege of having one of our neighbors, a couple that has been so good to us, give us a ride to Church -- the Goodlets.  We are always grateful for a ride to Church, especially when we have been up until 2 am trying to watch and listen to the BYU game.  :o(

BYU Football in England

 This week we want to recognize Kathie and Matt for their efforts in helping us watch the football game through the use of their slingbox.  We want to congratulate Aaron and Becky on their anniversary.  We also thank those of you who have Skyped us.





Again, we close by telling you all that the gospel is true.  We are grateful to serve.  We are grateful for the love that we have for each of you and for your love and kindness to us.

Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister Smart, Annie and Paul