blackpool competition, day one

So blogger/slow internet is really, really annoying for uploading pictures in posts. I've taken over 100 photos in the past 2 days, but within this post you will find maybe 8? which is still a lot...but not fully representative of the exciting adventures I've been having!

Yesterday we went to Preston, England and visited a few church history sites including the River Ribble, where the first people were baptized in England, the obelisk where Heber C. Kimball and his companions first preached the gospel in England, the house where I can't remember who...probably Heber C. Kimball and a bunch of other people were staying and they cast out some demons (it's the house in my header picture), and the oak tree President Hinckley had planted to commemorate missionaries in England. We got to have sacrament meeting in the park right next to the river, which was really cool. We also went to the Preston temple, which was very pretty.

This photo is to prove to Aaron that brightly colored doors are adorable. So many of the houses in Preston (and pretty much everywhere else actually) have them and I love them! So cute!

the River Ribble...more proof that England is absolutely beautiful

obelisk! aka location of preaching (it's also right in the middle of a carnival, which was interesting for us to parade through in our matching clothing-long black skirts and nasty plastic brown jackets with leopard lining, Alex said we looked like Jehovah's witnesses, we get the weirdest looks everywhere we go)

Afterward we went to this uber picturesque little village called Downham, which is exactly what you'd expect an English village to be. I couldn't stop myself from taking a million pictures of sheep...or posing in front of rustic stone walls, wooden doors, wheelbarrows, etc...

my future home

posers.

sheep! this place was better than a petting zoo

beautiful stained glass window in the little church (a warm up for France, yeah?)

me in front of said church

Today was my first day of dancing at Blackpool. We competed in Amateur Latin...which was scary...and kind of fun...

and....

we made it back to the next round!

So tomorrow I'll be dancing again! And that is all I expect to dance, haha. I never expected to make even one round, so this is quite exciting.

me and Mike after dancing, love the makeup

Once the dancing was over we went shopping. Love, love, love Primark, Next, and New Look. The shopping is great here! I got a pencil skirt at Primark for 7 pounds. BAM. And I also bought a couple of Cadbury chocolate bars. And a couple postcards. (Side note: I was so excellent at picking out the correct amount of coins to give the salespeople. I am so pro at paying in pounds/pence.)

Today is probably pretty representative of what the rest of the week will be like. The next round of amateur latin is tomorrow, then the standard formation and amateur standard are on Wednesday, and latin formation is on Friday.

I look forward to more shopping (I've got to get myself a British world cup shirt), more dancing, and more wandering around Blackpool. :)

Cheers!