4th March, 1pm MST through 5th March, 10am GMT -OR- Where did all the time go?

Ok, so we've been here for 2 weeks now and I'm finally getting around to blogging about London. Woot! Aren't we all just so excited?! Well, be forewarned that this is a long post with a lot of words and not too many pictures. I won't be offended if you skip it, it's mostly a journal entry for Brent & me to remember the day we flew here.

Our plane left SLC at 1:30 and we got to Chicago around 5(?). We had 40 minutes to make our plane change which happened to be to a completely different terminal. Yikes! Luckily, the bus to catch to get to the other concourse was only 5 or 6 gates down from ours and it dropped us off 2 gates from where we needed to be. We got there after general boarding was done but in time to sit there for 5-10 minutes and get settled before they closed the doors. It was perfect. It was the biggest plane I've ever been on. It was cool. I just wish we could have convinced Zurich to pay for premier class, or at least business class.

The flight was long, but not as long as we had expected. It was 7.5 hours and with all the time changes we were set to arrive at Heathrow a little before 8am. The goal was to relax, watch a movie, eat some dinner and then sleep for as many hours as we could (I was hoping for at least 4). Ha! The best laid plans...etc. About 2.5 hours into the flight, after eating dinner and watching The Day The Earth Stood Still (pretty good, btw) I decided I'd like to try to sleep so I took out my contacts, changed the movie channel to a classical radio channel and laid back. Brent eventually tried laying down a bit too. After 30-45 minutes of not even coming close to falling asleep, we gave up and looked for another movie. That's pretty much how the rest of the flight went. An hour or 2 of tv/movies/reading/staring into space, then 30-45 minutes of trying to fall asleep. Brent slept for about 20 minutes until it was time for breakfast to be served. Ugh! So, no sleep. 7.5 hours in a coach seat with the people in front of us reclined completely back. And WAY to much excitement to get here. It was fun. Well, parts of it were.

Flying over the English countryside was beautiful. I just wish I would have snuck my camera out to take some pictures, even though they had already asked for all electronics to be turned off. It was like a picture book. Big open fields lined with trees. Little country roads lined with trees with little European cars driving on them. Some big, old churches and cottages all lined with trees. Gorgeous! Flying over the city, it got cloudy so we couldn't see much but we did catch a glimpse of some palace. My best guess is Windsor Castle.

So then we were here! Ahh! So exciting! We totally forgot how tired, and dry eyed and sick we were. For a few minutes anyway.

The line to get through immigration wasn't too bad, it only took like 10 minutes. I would have taken pictures to document all of this but it strictly said no cameras until we cleared customs. Darn! As we were waiting in line for our turn with the Border Authority I was reminded of this movie. We heard the other people in line in front of us being asked all sorts of questions so we were getting all geared up for our turn. No questions. Well, just one or 2. "Are you traveling together?" and "May I see your work permit please?". I guess when you already have visas that say you're going to be here for 2 years and the proper documentation to back it up, they don't have any other questions. They guy just looked at our passports, then us, then our visas, then us again, then stamped a few things, wrote some stuff down on our landing cards and then we were done.

We got our luggage easily, I guess it had been spinning around on the thing long enough that the attendants took it off. We grabbed 2 trolleys (they are free here!) and headed over to the toilets. They aren't "bathrooms" here, they are toilets, which I think sounds worse, but whatever. The pictures on the toilet signs crack me up. The girl has a poofy skirt! Awesome! I probably shouldn't have looked in the mirrors in the bathroom because, well, yikes. I looked like I'd been awake for almost 24 hours and was sick. Oh well.

After the luggage, we thought we were done but to exit the airport, you still have to go through customs. Huh. We thought that was the first thingy where they stamped our passports. Good thing they aren't too strict on the cameras thing because I took some pictures with our luggage. So we head over to the "area" and there are 2 lines, one that was labeled "Nothing to Declare" and the other "Declarations". There were no attendants, no security, nothing. So we went in the nothing to declare exit. No harm no foul, right? I don't think we had anything to declare. We just had a bunch of clothes, some paperwork, our cameras and some snack foods and things to do on the plane.

We headed over to the taxi line and got our cab. It was so cute! All the taxis here are old timey looking cars. I think it's the same concept as all the cabs in the states being yellow. It's for show. Anyway, the driver loaded up our things and off we went. The driver had the most perfect accent. It was awesome. He was very nice and made a point to ask questions and answered some of ours and he pointed out landmarks. At one point, he called the Duke of Wellington a "bloke". I don't know the major roads around here yet but I'm thinking he may have taken the specific one we did because we passed the major museums, Buckingham Palace, St. James Palace, and all kinds of other things. It was our own personal little tour. I didn't take any pictures of things though because the windows were fogged up and we'll go on proper sightseeing tours later.

It was so crazy to be on the wrong side of the road, especially on the freeway (or motorway, I should say) having all the cars zipping past on the right side. Weird. Not to mention the whole driving on the wrong side of the car. I guess it is the right side to them. Ha! Get it? Right side? Yeah, anyway, it's going to take some getting used to. We're still working on which direction to look before crossing the road. Obviously, the "look both ways" things still applies but you really need to know which way the oncoming cars are headed. Brent saw a guy almost get hit by a bus the other day.

It took about an hour to get to our apartment because it was rush hour driving into the city. The taxi cost us £70! We knew it would be at least that much though so it didn't matter. And it is being reimbursed by Brent's office. We could have taken the tube or a bus or something but we were so tired and had NO idea of where to even start and we had tons of luggage so a taxi was just easier. And fun! It was the first time I've ever been in a taxi.

Anyway, we got to our apartment, The Marlin Apartments, at 30 Queen Street but our room wasn't ready yet since check-in is 3pm and it was about 10am at this point. The concierge said it would be ready around noon so we dropped our luggage off in the closet and headed out for a walk. I'll pick up there on the next post. I just need to get this one up before Brent needs the computer for studying because if I don't it'll be a couple more days.

One Last Stop

Saturday, the 28th, we drove to Utah for one last stop before the big move. I got a call about 8 hours into our drive from my sister, Cami, saying that 2 of our siblings (Teri & Nathan) would be at her house around 6:30 for a little bit because they happened to be in town for their grandmothers funeral and that we should stop in on our way up to Taylorsville. It worked out well, because 6:30 was right when we were driving through Provo, anyway. Good timing! It was good to see them all. I hadn't seen Nathan since 2005 at our Grandmother Black's funeral and we hadn't seen Cami or Teri since our trip up for Christmas. We were pretty tired from driving all day but we had a few good laughs and shared some stories and things. Not the best circumstances to see them, but nice nonetheless.

Sunday we went to church with Brent's parents and then after church the rest of the Gray clan and the extended family came over for dinner and socializing. We had fun playing with Hannah & Jocelyn (the babies) and talking to all of the cousins and aunts and uncles. I didn't get very many pictures and what I do have is of the little ones, but they are the best part anyway, right?

Monday morning we were going to go to the Draper Temple open house but I was REALLY sick. I starting feeling sick late Sunday night and by Monday morning I couldn't even stand up without practically falling over. So, I took some drugs and went back to sleep while Brent, his parents, Camille (his sister) and Jared (Brent's cousin), Ceyln and Jocelyn Pond went to the temple. Brent said it was beautiful and that the celestial room has the tallest ceiling he has ever seen. The chandelier is 13'-14' and is hanging from a chain at least that long.

Monday afternoon, I scraped myself out of bed and we drove down to Utah County to visit people. Our first stop was Spanish Fork to see the Rowley's (Luke & Sarah and their 3 kids), friends from California that moved back to UT a couple years ago. (Funny side story: Luke lived in the same ward as me when I was in junior high/high school and was friends with my older siblings. It was funny to meet back up with he and his wife in Studio City, of all places.) We had lunch and visited for about and hour or so but didn't take any pictures. Darn!

Then we went to Provo, back to Cami's house. We hung out and giggled and played with Luis' sister, Ana's baby Kenley, and ate food and talked about fabric and making things and watched a dog show (yeah, yeah, I know) and the boys played video games. For a couple of hours, my dear friend, Jessica, came over to visit. I haven't seen her in a couple of years so it was nice to hug and what not. She is my oldest friend that I am still close to. We have known each other since elementary school. I love her.

After a few hours there, it was getting late and I was feeling pretty crummy. You can see in the photos how I'm all flushed and shiny. I had a pretty bad fever off and on the whole time we were there. Ugh! So we left. We had a few other people we would have loved to have seen but I was too sick.

On Tuesday, I was feeling a bit better so I did a little last minute shopping with my mother-in-law, LeAnn, while Brent stayed home and took care of some last minute financial things to make sure we were all settled with our accounts and things before we split the country.

That evening, we had a big family picture taken with the whole Gray clan. They are getting the pictures back tomorrow so maybe I'll be able to post some here in the next week or so. They turned out pretty cute. It's getting harder to have family pictures taken because we have so many people. Isn't that just a wonderful problem to have? I love it. Hopefully soon, we'll be too big of a group to fit in a studio.

That night, Grandma & Grandpa Duzett and Jared, Celyn & Jocelyn all came over and we had a bit of a party. Some of us watched a movie and some of us played Scotland Yard because, well, we just had to! It was a blast and we stayed up way too late and we said most of our goodbyes.

We gave Dan & Andrea the present for Hannah's birthday which is coming up next month. I made it for her back in LA before the packing and moving all happened. I got the idea from my friend's website and then made up my own pattern. I think it's hilarious. Possibly the funniest thing I've ever made. Those long, bendy legs sure do match Hannah's!

Wednesday morning Brent's dad gave us father's blessings so that we could feel settled spiritually before this big adventure and we had a nice breakfast with Brent's mom. Then we spent a couple hours packing and organizing and shuffling weight between suitcases so that we wouldn't be paying too many overweight bag fees. We got it all settled except for one bag was 11 pounds overweight. We figured since we didn't pay for the plane tickets, we could pay for one bag fee. Little did we know that ANY overage on international bags is $350! Good grief! When the lady at the airport told us that, we found a way to get rid of some excess weight, we carried our small duffel of dirty clothes on board with us. It was odd but it worked. The Salt Lake airport is notorious for being ridiculously meticulous with the security so we were worried we'd run late but everything was smooth and we still had 30 minutes before boarding. Then off we went!

Life As A Gypsy -or- How We Survived With Nothing But A Few Suitcases Of Stuff

The Monday after our weekend in Fresno, we drove back to LA so Brent could go back to work for a week. We checked into our corporate housing and upon entering, set off the alarm!! Ahh! They did not tell us about an alarm when we picked up the keys and no one answered the phone at the secretary's desk OR the security desk. So we were standing there, with the alarm blaring, waiting for cops to show up but no one ever came. Eventually the alarm stopped. But then it started again. Still no one answered any phones we called. No cops. Not even the gardener whose truck was in the driveway came. Odd. So Brent went back to the office to the check-in desk to get the code. He came back, ready with the code, then the gardener showed up. Dumb. The experience was scary, then annoying, then REALLY loud, then annoying, then just dumb. AND no one ever responded to the alarm. Sure made me feel safe. Oh well, we were in a good neighborhood and Brent's office was literally across the parking lot in case anything did ever happen. So that was the beginning to our week.

During the week, Brent worked, I slept in and ran some last minute errands that didn't get taken care of before we moved out. I also went to my last Young Women's activity. They had a little party for me. It was nice to see them all one more time and they gave me a tote bag full of goodies and snacks and magazines for the plane. It really came in handy, several times. I also went to the library a few times to use the internet. That was weird. And gross. The people at the library using the computers generally fall into these categories: creepy, homeless, creepy & homeless, pervy, kids skipping school and sad ladies looking for jobs on monster.com. I wonder which one people thought I was?

Corporate Housing was kind of boring, kind of relaxing and there was a housekeeper to make my bed. The house was pretty nice. It was a pretty big house with all of the common areas and 6 private rooms with bathrooms. Of the 6 rooms, 2 of them were filled, us and the dude in the room next door. Not sure why they put the only 2 occupants next to each other but whatever. He snored like a chainsaw! Luckily, we were so tired, we usually slept right through it.

The diningroom, looking into the breakfast room & kitchen


The hallway to our room (#2) & our room. Pardon the mess, I should've taken pictures before we settled.


The entryway & livingroom, us on the morning we left

Brent loved his commute and we went out to lunch together at some of his favorite places almost everyday. We also ate out for most of the dinners, 2 of which we shared with good friends. Eating out got old, though. And I'm pretty sure I gained back the 5 pounds I stress-lost during moving week.

Our house and the view of Brent's office from our bathroom.

All in all, it was a good week. An interesting one to say the least but a good one. Saturday morning we loaded up the car and hit the road. We thought it was pretty cool that we drove out of LA on the same freeway we drove in on. This might not mean anything to those of you who don't live in LA but there are dozens of freeways and the one we were on we've only taken twice, on the way in and the way out. I kept trying to get a good picture of the city out the back window but by the time I'd get a good view, get the camera ready and take the picture, it was all wrong. Oh well! It was strange to think that it was the last time we'd see LA for awhile. We reminisced about the day we drove in and saw that skyline and felt overwhelmed at what we'd gotten ourselves into. Now it's "home". Or I should say, was. I got a little teary. Shocker, huh?


What could have been a really awesome picture if I would've been a little faster & the picture that will have to do.

Next stop? Utah. I'll try to get that up tomorrow. No promises though...

Fresno Farewells

After packing up all of our belongings, we drove to Fresno for a few days to see my family one more time and to unload our Penske full of storage stuff.

We got there late on Friday night and just crashed for the night. The next day, after Brent got all drugged up and slept for a few extra hours (remember, he was really sick), we went out to lunch with my parents, my sister Tiffani and her baby Sam & my brother and his girlfriend and their baby True. We ate at Tahoe Joe's. It was super yummy, I had the Calamari Steak. Best. Calamari. Ever. It was fun to have some "grown-up" time.

After lunch, we went back to my parents' house and unloaded the truck. My step-dad had extra room in his trailer for us to put our stuff in and is so nice to let us keep it there for the 2 years we are here. It is saving us thousands in storage fees or the alternative was sell all our stuff, which seemed uneccessary and we'd still have to find a place to store all of our memorabilia stuff. Then we dropped the piano off at Kris' house so he and his girls can babysit it for us.
(I told you he was very creative in packing the truck!)

Saturday night we relaxed and hung out with mom and Bob and watched tv and movies and talked.

Sunday, we went to Stake Conference with the Makely's while mom stayed home and slept (remember, she was really sick, too). After church, we went back to the Makely's house and played games and had food and talked and snuggled babies (well, Brent couldn't because he was sick but I sure did!). Kris and the girls and mom came over for awhile, too.


Sunday night, we went back to my parents' house and had a yummy tri-tip dinner with them. Bob knew we'd have a hard time finding his quality of tri-tip over here so it was a "last supper" kind of deal. Yum! Yum! Yum!

We'll miss our weekend trips to Fresno!