Scotland May 18-28, 2018

I had an incredible opportunity to go to Scotland with my family. What an experience! We saw so many things, and yet there is still so much more we did not get to see. I would love to go back someday!

We first flew into London, Heathrow Airport. That was the longest flight I have ever been on. Also they fed us every two hours. They first gave us a small snack of a chip/pretzel mix. Then they brought dinner (I had rosemary chicken and vegetables). Then at like midnight (our time) they brought out a sandwich. In the morning (but in our time it was like 2 am) they gave us breakfast. I was so full by the time we landed.

I didn't sit next to any of the family on the ride there. I never got the name of the man I sat next to, but he was very kind. He had gotten up to get himself a coke, he brought me a sprite so that I would stay hydrated. When we flew over Windser Castle he pointed it out to me. When we were first on the plane he asked me if I was flying to London for the wedding it took me a second to realize who he was talking about. All I could think was I don't know anyone in London and Emma (my former roommate) wasn't having a destination wedding anytime soon. Finally I realized he was talking about the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. Well I definitely missed that wedding.

Driving was interesting. Kate did the majority of the driving and overall I thought she did well. We had a 9 passenger van we rented. It was weird driving on the "wrong" side of the road, aka the left side. The roads are all so narrow. By the end I was use to it, but at the beginning I would cringe every time we passed another vehicle, especially trucks. Some of the roads were one lane roads. They would have little pull offs for passing. We saw these the most on Isle of Sky.

Isle of Sky also had some of the worst roads to travel on. One lane and pot holes everywhere! We hit one hard enough that the by the time we made it our hotel that night we had a flat tire. So we had to wait for a repair man before we could leave the next morning.

Some of my favorite signs we saw say, "Elderly Crossing" (the picture below is of an elderly couple with walkers). "Heavy Plant Crossing" what does that even mean? "Otters!" They had otter crossings at some of the bridges. "Think once. Think twice. Think bike."

Kate, Laura, Stephanie, and I road the Hogwarts Express to Mallaig. We shopped around for awhile as we waited for Uncle Stan, Aunt Jerilyn, Uncle Boyd and Aunt Mary to get there. Mallaig is known for their fish soup called Cullen Skink. Guess what, I actually tried it. It tasted similar to mom's corn chowder. Speaking of food, one of the morning I had the full English Breakfast which consists of bacon that is lot more like ham, sausage, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, and haggis. I got mine without haggis, but I did try a bite of Kate's. It reminded me of meatloaf. Also, we tried so many different kinds of candy bars, but my favorite is the Double Decker.

Some fun stories about Uncle Stan. On the first day there we were all so tired! Uncle Stan was tired enough that he fell asleep at the dinner table. He then started talking in his sleep about a birthday party. I can't remember what exactly he said, but it was hilarious. Of course he had no memory of it the next day.

We were late getting to the William Wallace Monument. We decided to take this small shuttle that looked a lot like our van. Uncle Stan was the last one to get it, so he would have to ride up front. Well the poor man got a little confused. He would not get in. I think he thought he was driving since the front passenger seat is where the driver sits in the U.S. Finally he exclaimed, "Wait a minute! Who's driving this thing?" The driver from behind the wheel answered him saying, "The man behind the wheel. Just like in your country." It took Uncle Stan a couple of seconds to comprehend what the man had said. Once he did, a smile spread across his face and he laughed at himself and said that was alright.

My last story of Uncle Stan happened one of the nights at dinner. We were ordering our food. Uncle Stand asked how big the bowl of soup was. The waiter was confused (I don't think he was from Scotland. He had a different accent). So we rephrased it asking what the quantity was. The waiter told us to wait a minute and he would go find out. When he came back he said the bowl of soup is 300 mL. We all just broke out into laughter and still a little unsure of the size, Uncle Stan (and Kate, Laura, Aunt Mary and I) ordered the soup.

The plane ride back was fine. We had a layover at JFK Airport. On the way to JFK we had the feeding us every two hours again. We had the same snack, lunch, ice-cream, and a wrap. When we got to Provo, I was so tired. For me it felt like it was 5 am not 10 pm. I felt bad for the rest of the crew they had to drive back to Wellington that night. Kate originally was going to go all the way to Moab, but she decided to stay in Wellington. I also forgot my purse in Aunt Mary's car that night. So instead of staying home and getting some rest from the trip I drove to Wellington to get it. On a fun note, Mom, Mary, and Meg were leaving Orangeville so they stopped in to come see me and I could give them their souvenirs.

Thanks family for the trip of a life time! I hope we can all travel together again!

These are a few photos from the trip.

Plane Ride (This is about how dark it got)

Edinburgh Castle

This is where J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter

Stirling Castle

At the bottom of the William Wallace Monument. The two extra men acted/told the story of William Wallace.

The Macfarlane House. This is where my ancestors lived. They were caretakers for the Doune Castle.

Done Castle

Hogwarts Express aka Jacobite Train

Sign outside of the train station. Macfarlane is one of my ancestor names.

View at Cluanie Inn

Feeding the Highland Coos

Isle of Sky Fairy Ponds

Isle of Sky Kilt Rock

Most photographed mountain in Scotland the Buachaille Etiv Mor

Dinosaur Footprints at the Beach

Phone Booth in the middle of nowhere Isle of Sky

Isle of Sky Fairy Glen

Building a Fairy House

King's Arm Hotel

Eilean Donan Castle

Boat Ride in Loch Ness

Urquart Castle

St. Magnus Cathedral Orkney Island

Skara Brae Houses of the past.

Skaill House

Standing Stones of Stennness 

Old Italian Chapel

Duncansby Lighthouse

Clava Cairns

Outlander Rock

Aviemore Spy Mission

Highland Folk Museum

Getting Uncle Boyd in his Kilt

Palace of Scone

"Crowning" Uncle Boyd

Highland Games

Blair Castle

Rosslyn Chapel. This pace had very intricate stone carvings on the inside. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos. This building was also used in the film The Da Vinci Code.

My souvenirs

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! I have been blessed to have had many moms in my life. So thank you, especially to Mom, Carol, Becca, and my aunts! You are all amazing women and I am so lucky to have you in my life.

Graduates

Emma graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Sociology form BYU this year. I am so proud of her! She worked so hard for this and I am happy for achievement. She is moving Alabama to do Teach for America. She will be a secondary school math teacher. I wish her all the best of luck! My cousin David graduated in December with his MBA from USU Eastern. Congratulations David! I can't even imagine the kind of work it took to get you where you are today. Good luck to both of you as your new future lives begin!

BYU Year 2 Semester 2

I can't believe another semester has come and gone. Crazy how fast it went. I survived all my finals and I am ready for summer break. This semester was full of fun times, I didn't take as many pictures as I did the semester before. So it doesn't look as epic, but I promise it was.

We had another ward cabin trip. As always, it was so much fun! We went back to Brother Horn's cabin. This was the first time Emma and Helena were able to make it up. We ate dinner, played games, watched Wait Until Dark, and just got to know each other. 

On our living room wall we have this map. On this map are many blue stars. No one knows why the stars are there. So one night, when we were all in that tired/silly mood we came up with a back story to the stars. We said we were tracking natural disasters (many have happened this past year) and the darker the blue, the more destruction there was. Also the hashtag about Coke deals with a day that Emma thought the world was really ending, but her teacher was really just referring to regular coke on campus (previously you could only buy caffeine free).

In one of my classes we had to come up with 3 things we wanted to rid the world of. We were in teams and my team went with Pornography, Tobacco and Illicit Drugs. The team that came in second voted off the MARB building, late fees at the testing center, and night time PDA. 

My Relief Society Sisters. My ward is big enough that we have 2 Relief Society's. So I am in RS 1.

On Valentine's Day we decided to have a movie and chocolate party as roommates. We watch the movie The Lost Valentine. Helena's friend Matt came over and joined us as well. We ate Dove Chocolate's and I can't remember why but there was one that said You're Melting my Heart or something along those lines. So far the rest of the night and really semester that became our joke anytime anything sweet happened.

I competed in the United States National Championship Dancesport competition. Really and truly it was just another dancesport. My partner and I danced the 380 Mambo and we made all the way through the semi-finals. Personal best for me. Thanks Landon! Below I will post a video of my 380 Dance Class' performance.

I made homemade chicken noodle soup for the first time. It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself. I will have to make it again someday.

I chopped my hair off. I was tired of growing it out, because it wouldn't get past the length it was at. I think it looks great and that's what matters.

I had the opportunity to attend the URTA Conference. This was a good opportunity for me to see a little bit of what Recreation Therapy is all about. Another fun bonus is I got to see Staci Bingham Piquet. She grew up in Altamont, but has since moved to Idaho.

Sometimes when it rains I get to see a rainbow. This one was while I was at work. They just remind me of God's love for me and his children on this earth.

 To end the semester, I decided to have a fondue night with my roommates and some friends. It turned out great! Most of them had never fondued before. Even if they had, they hadn't ever had it Gardner style. It was a lot of fun!

So as we know I went to several stage performances last semester, 3 of which are pictured below. The only one I made it to this semester was Ballroom Dance Company show. Emma came with. It was incredible! I loved all the music and the dances. A few of my class members are on team. It was really fun to see them!

380 Dance Class Performance

This was my dance class performance. We dance to Time of Your Life from the movie Dirty Dancing.  It was a lot of fun! My roommate Emma, Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd came to watch me. I appreciate all there love and support. Enjoy!

Easter 2018

Easter 2018 was awesome! One of my best friends and former Mission Companion Cat (Sister A.) came out. We went to our mission reunion Friday night. We didn't tell anyone that she was coming. I wish I could have recorded some of the reactions. Let's just say there were a few squeals and a lot of smiles.

That night we headed to Green River to meet up with the rest of my family. We spent the rest of the weekend there relaxing, watching General Conference, and celebrating Easter. Side note from General Conference, my mission president, President Patrick was called as an area 70s. That was cool. I had just spoken with him and his wife the night before. All too quickly the weekend was over and I took Cat up to Ogden to meet up with her cousin who took her back to Rexburg. I stopped in to visit my dad for a couple of hours. 

Monday was when the rest of the Mathis Clan was getting together for a party. I decided that the party was more worth it to me then going to class. So I skipped all my classes and went back to Green River for our party. We took the new bike trail in Green River. It was only suppose to be 5.1 miles. No it was 6. I biked, pushed Meg's bike for a little over 1/2. Thanks Nathan and Amy for stopping and waiting for me at the one spot where I don't think I would have gotten Meg's bike up it myself! It was pretty much vertical rock that I had to push/carry the bike up.

After that we went to Blimpe's and got sandwiches to eat and went back to Aunt Ann and Uncle Lee's house to visit and play more and have book club. Our book is called Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen. It was about how the Constitution of the United States came to be. Uncle Stan led our discussion and I learned quite a bit (I only had time to read the first 3 chapters).

All in all it was a great Easter Weekend!