Good Friday

The lack of sleep starting to compound at this point. We slept maybe 7 hours on Thusday morning and then didn't get to bed until almost midnight. Then the kids were up every hour or so and we had to be out the door Friday morning at 8am. The kids were grouchy and so were we. Ethan refused to eat anything for breakfast. Isaac brought his leftovers into the car and proceeded to dump and squish them into his seat.
We stayed in a hotel out by Gatwick airport so we had to drive into downtown for the marriage Friday morning. London is such an old town that there are no interstates or even major roads- at least from what we found. Our GPS worked some of the time and not others so it was quite the adventure to find where we were going. It also didn't help that their lanes are seriously tiny and you're often driving right next to a double decker bus. It was a little scary at times and at one point Taylor told me to practice my lamaze breathes and stop shrieking. Another funny thing was that the stop lights don't just go from green to yellow to red and then back to green, you get a second yellow after the red which is kind of like the "get ready" yellow. Londoners treat it as such too and they take off with a vengeance when the green actually comes and sometimes even earlier while the light is still yellow.
We made it down to the Hyde Park Chapel in one piece and settled into the back with toys. Arty and Esther's bishop performed the ceremony and it was a nice, simple, but beautiful event. Taylor got to be one of the witnesses and was very excited to sign his name on the registrar. He's very proud of his signature. Ask him sometime. He'd love to show it to you.
How cute are they? Seriously love these two and wish them the best!
See this sign? I think they must paint them on every crosswalk for all the stupid American tourists. Cause we almost died several times when we went to cross a street, looked left, and started to go only to have a monster, red, double-decker bus come barreling through the crosswalk.
Our kids were a little uncontrollable so we ran out right after the ceremony to put them in the car with the plan that Taylor would run back in and meet up with everyone so we could follow them to lunch. Oops, we took too long and they left us. So again we got to navigate the exciting streets of London on our own. At one point I was looking down at the GPS and looked up to see a car coming straight at us. Taylor was in the right hand lane so I screamed at him that he was in the wrong lane, this of course caused him to swerve left and almost plow into another car. Oops again, he was actually in the right and correct lane because it was a one way road and we were turning right. The car coming at us head-on was also turning and I hadn't noticed the cement barrier where we were going to turn. Oh well, we lived and didn't crash the car.
It was actually wonderful that there was so much driving on Friday because our kids got to take naps. It may not have been very comfortable, but it was sleep.
Poor things, they don't even realize this is just the beginning.
Taylor's uncle Rick and family also came to London for the wedding and he took everyone out to lunch after the civil ceremony and before the temple wedding.
Lunch in a castle? Not too shabby. I couldn't figure out how to get a picture without the wall blocking most of it but the place was beautiful.
While I was gawking at the castle, their bishop told me this is nothing, that there are thousands of castles around England and that in fact he had stayed the previous weekend in a castle that was 1000 years old. So maybe we'll have to go back to visit someday and actually have time to sightsee.
I had to include this picture because Taylor is carrying both our monster diaper bag and a separate monster sized toy bag. We must have looked insane all week dragging around 3 kids and so much gear so that we could entertain them, change them, feed them, etc. on demand, but it worked.
Lunch was amazing and then we all headed off to the temple. The wedding was small and intimate and beautiful. Temples are just the most peaceful happy places I know. Afterwards I went with Esther into the brides room to help her carry out her bags and get ready for pictures while Taylor went to collect our boys from the car where we'd left them with David as a babysitter again and a portable DVD player to watch. Poor David. Ethan was apparently not feeling well (maybe we should have known since he refused to eat anything all day and was very crabby and whiny) and he threw up all over himself and the car.
So no cute boys in these pictures. Isaac ran around outside while we cleaned up the car. Miles sat in his car seat like the angel child that he is and Ethan sat in the front seat in the extra clothes I brought for him (once again it pays to be prepared) quietly crying, poor thing.
So here's the whole group minus their bishop who got stuck taking the pictures and me, Isaac, Miles, and Ethan.
L to R: back row Glen (Esther's brother), David (Esther's brother)
front row Rick (Arty's uncle), Becky (his wife), Esther, Arty, Taylor, Jessica (Rick's daughter-in-law), Danny (Rick's son), Josh (Rick's son)
I just have to give a shout out to Rick for being such a great uncle. He came all the way to London and on to Dubai and brought along his family members that could make it. And to top off that, he had previously arranged with some mission companions of his to pay to fly his Japanese mission president over to Utah so that they could have a mission reunion with him and all the old missionaries. It was scheduled for Good Friday (right before Conference of course) and he missed it to be at his nephews wedding. What an amazing sacrifice. His mission president is in his 80's and he may never see him again and still he gave that up to be there for Arty. I'm grateful to be a part of such a wonderful extended family.
Ethan threw up once more before we left the temple and then once more at the hotel that night. If he had to get sick on this trip, he did it at the perfect time. We didn't have anything else that night and hadn't planned anything Saturday morning (except maybe seeing a few castles) so it was good to be able to just hang around the hotel, pack up leisurely and let everyone rest.
I don't feel like I saw much of England but we saw the most important things we could have there and I'm glad we were able to go.
Good Friday turned out to be a Great Friday.
One funny aside, After Ethan threw up for the third time, he turned to Taylor and asked, "Dad, since I'm not feeling good can I do whatever I want?" Taylor thinking he wants to watch TV or something says "Sure, what do you want?" Ethan's reply: "To hit Isaac when he's bad." CLASSIC!