Season's Greetings 2006!

Merry Christmas
& Happy New Year!!
2006

Reflections on 2006: This year has been divided into three; three different locations, three changes, three purposes. The first third began snowy and cold in Littleton, Colorado. I was working in one of the best jobs ever created by man - a special education teaching assistant for severe needs students. It was my favourite job ever! I worked with the most incredible Special Ed Team in existence and loved my three little students. Life brimmed with joy. However, as the school year was winding to a close, I started questioning, ‘What next?’ Several paths lay at my feet. I love the unpredictability of life. While treading in one direction, opportunity reaches out to turn you in another. And that is what happened to me.

Dressing Up as Vowels (See that?! So committed to Education!):
Five members of Copper Mesa Elementary’s
Special Ed Team 2005-2006 (I am the ‘U’)
Littleton/Highlands Ranch, Colorado

In March, I travelled to the UK for the first time with my friend Amy Choate. We enjoyed a whirlwind tour of London ala our wonderful English friend Ted. I was in awe; I was actually experiencing all of the places I had only known from pictures and textbooks! Loved the food, the accents, the life. We flew up to Glasgow and spent four lovely, bitter cold days exploring Scotland. I loved the sheep and castles. And kilts. And bagpipes. While in the UK, I determined to visit Leicester University. I had had my eye on their Victorian Studies Masters program since I was an undergrad at BYU. Saw it, liked it, tucked it away to think about. Then I chose.

Above Left: Sheep in Scotland; Left: Amy & Ted;
Center: Me in the Tate Modern; Right: London

Immediately after the school year ended at Copper Mesa Elementary School, I left dear friends, job, etc to relocate across the Rockies, materializing on my parent’s doorstep in the sleepy haven of Sanpete Valley, Utah. And thus began third #2 of my year: the best summer of my life. Within a few days, I found the sharpened reflexes of city-life uncoiling as I was coddled in the mildness of Spring City with my family. I found myself driving 5 miles under the speed limit rather than 5 miles over. Sunsets in the garden, listening to all of the farm animals was my favourite! The Osborne Inn (our family’s Bed and Breakfast www.osborneinn.com ) had her grand opening this summer and graciously showed off her splendorous insides. We were in business. My family had already done extensive remodelling/redecorating earlier in the year. My family is amazing! My little sisters especially! So, I became the official Innkeeper of the Osborne Inn, but my whole family worked together to make it all happen! It was fantastic. We quickly learned that running your own business meant a 24/7 to-do list! It was gratifying work though, and we did our best to try and make guests feel special. We got to meet many interesting people doing many interesting things! I feel so very, very blessed to have had that time with my family.

My Summer
Above Left: Me and Mom in Spring City; Left: Family!
Centre: The Osborne Inn!; Right: Biking on Mackinac Island

Now I live in Leicestershire, England. Wow. What a change! I am studying for an MA in Victorian Studies at Leicester Uni. I am researching special education in the Victorian Era. It comes full circle! England is great. Living here is so different from anything I have ever experienced! I have been stretched and have learned tons. I have learned to enjoy ‘English Sunshine’ (a.k.a rain) and now understand why the English get so much mileage out of discussing the weather. There are so many different cultures in England; I feel like the whole world meets here! And I get to meet them too!

Leicester, England. My new home!
Above Left: Leicester Uni in Autumn; Above Center: An English Garden;
Center: Me attempting to work a Victorian knitting machine (such a creative contraption it was!) Right: Some of my lovely, lovely new friends enjoying ‘English Sunshine‘!

Life is full and wonderful. I thank God for blessing my life so immensely. Every blessing in my life I can trace back to the goodness of the Church, His Gospel, and His promises. I am thankful for this time of year to remember the birth, life, and mission of Jesus Christ. Peace on Earth…Good Will to Men! Merry Christmas and Happy 2007!
Love to Each of You,
Brittany

Jen In Snow

This is Jen, one of my best friends, partying with her inner child after Colorado's most recent blizzard. The pics were so flippin' awesome I had to post them! I can hear your laugh from here, Jen! You rock! 

Miriam

This is my indescribably fantastic housemate Miriam

 

Thanksgiving

This is the one picture I have from Thanksgiving before my camera batteries died. :( I celebrated with Sarah, a fellow American in my course, and her cute little family. It was wonderful. She and her husband and two daughters live in Oakham, a delicious little historic community (I guess every town is historic here!). They also invited another American family from Oakham. Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot of Sarah's family...her husband's face is hidden by his youngest daughter :), but their oldest is in the foreground. The food was amazing and the company was fantastic; it was a very memorable day! 

YSA Church History Tour: Preston, England

 

This apartment on the corner is where President Gordon B. Hinckley received his father's monumental letter encouraging him to "Forget himself and get to work." 

The sun came out at the perfect moment to take this picture. The first men to ever get baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS in Great Britain literally raced across this bridge to see who would be first. :) They were baptised very near this spot in the River Ribble (above).

This is a tiny town in the countryside surrounding Preston. It has been purposely preserved in it's 19th century ambiance. Telephone lines, etc are all underground! Apparently when Mormon missionaries first arrived to this area, nearly everyone in this town was converted. One missionary writes of his departure, stating that nearly the whole town came out to wave their handkerchiefs at him in goodbye. He had to stop several different times at the creek alongside the road to wash away his tears.

My English Home

Greetings from Leicester, England! This is my new home! My bedroom couldn't fit in the picture; it is the third bay window to the right. The home is only a ten minute bus ride away to Leicester Uni, where I am beginning an MA in Victorian Studies. I lodge with a fantastic LDS family.

My "landlady" Cathy is on the right, pictured with her daughter Claire. Cathy is a fantastic cook and takes prodigious care of her large and beautifully decorated home. Claire works planning events and activities for a local company. 

A couple more snapshots of the home.

 

My bedroom. I love it. It has everything I need. I am most excited about the desk and bookshelf!

 

This is Cathy's back garden. A home with such a lovely, spacious garden (yard) is the minority. We hang our laundry out to dry. 

Bonding With My Ancestors

Long ago, from the genesis of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century, my ancestors were there, working in the cloth & woolen mills of Wiltshire, England. I now feel more akin to them. Cathy, Claire, and I went to the Wigston Knitting Museum. A remarkable place...it is an old Victorian home with an adjacent knitting factory. Socks and gloves were its specialty. Apparently in the 1950's, the owner turned the key and left everything, untouched. It was a real treasure for historians to come in and find everything in its decaying Victorian splendour. It is now a museum. I am sitting in the factory, being trained on how to use the knitting machines. It was quite involved, not as easy as I assumed it to be. It was such a creative contraption and involved a lot of coordination with many different steps to follow, just like a complex dance! The work required much more concentration and physical labour than I thought. The noise emitted from the machines was excruciating. I got a keen sense of how man could become physically, mentally, and spiritually numb, sitting at one for 14 hours a day, in all states of weather. Like a dancing partner, he needed to become part of the machine to make it work appropriately. He would have to fight not to become a machine himself.

Inside a Victorian home. Note the larder on the right. Food was kept surprisingly cool therein. 

Friends of the Museum created a Victorian Garden in the backyard. It was absolutely gorgeous. You can see the back of the home and factory. 

Caught sitting on the labourer's "long drop!"

 

London

I seek every opportunity I can to sneak down to London and visit with my dear friend, Ted. I was in London this weekend (13-15 October) attending a conference on Charles Dickens at the University of London (my excuse to sneak there) and Ted was my kind host for the weekend. This is my favourite picture of him--he's sporting the bush hat he wore during his WWII years in SouthEast Asia! Just think of all the things that hat has been through....

One of the highlights of this trip was the opportunity to visit with my cousin, David! He does open-source work for British Telephone Co. and finds himself in London several times a year. We ate dinner at an Italian Restoirante overlooking the Thames and Tower Bridge. It was lovely! 

Five others from the Victorian Studies Centre at UL attended the Dickens Conference. This is Wudi and Eriko (from China and Japan respectively) standing in front of the British Library, where they actually bring the books to you!

My amazingly adorable neices! Love them to pieces. They had incredible stamina with those curlers...their mom put them in the night before in preperation for our family pictures, and they did not touch those things for nearly 24 hours. They love the resulting "curlies." Ohmigosh--the looked soo cute!!! 

Got my wisdom teeth taken out. Ouch. New kind of pain.

 

My 24th Birthday!

Angie made me scrumptious blueberry muffins for breakfast.