Happy Hogmanay! Let's Ceilidh:D

If the title sounds like a foreign language, it is:) Let me translate: "Happy Hogmanay" is similar to "Happy New Year" and a "Ceilidh"(pronounced kay-lee) is pretty much a party with dancing! And not just the usual kind of "eh, dancing" this is full blown "DANCE YOUR SOCKS OFF!!!"

I mean, as soon as we arrived our friend Cameron practically dragged us onto the basketball court (all Mormons know this as the dance floor:) Everyone was super helpful and friendly (and forgiving:) and the music was so...ALIVE! Pretty soon that's all we wanted to do, was dance!

I think that's what impressed me the most. (Besides the shear number of men in kilts:D) That EVERYONE would dance! And there were A LOT of people there! Old and young, male and female, (pregnant and not pregnant ;) EVERYONE!!! As well as the fact that everybody was dancing with everybody. Haha! I LOVED IT!!!

You can see a lot of our friends in the ward in this vid, starting with Brother & Sister McLaughlin:) Then the Clemen's. What cute couples! Liking the close up of Dovile and Cameron there and a sneak peak of Mairi:D

The band is called "The Jiggers" and they were PHENOMENAL! This whole ordeal actually reminded me of Square Dancing...They'd call out the moves and we'd doe-see-doe and stuff:) Interesting.

Love their accent <3

Here's a good list of all the different dances they do. Ceilidh Dance Instructions. It's actually quite a long list! I don't think they ever repeated a dance...!

"The Flying Scotman"

Yeah, I'm about 30 weeks pregnant here...

I must say I was moving and feeling pretty good:) But I will be honest the "Orcadian (or Shetland) Strip the Willow" dance almost killed me! It was just so many people and so much skipping and spinning and it was so warm and...I'm...dizzy...! I could barely walk the next day:( I felt worse than when it took me 13 hours to hike Mt. Timpanogos! But so worth it:) 

Some middle aged woman nearly took Lars off his feet with her enthusiastic spinning :D 

Anyway, here's the unlucky guys who's picture I took just because they were wearing kilts:) but there were so many others! 

Well, of course we did the countdown to midnight. (It was right in the middle of a dance. They just stopped everything for a couple minutes to do the countdown and for everyone to wish each other a "Happy Hogmanay" or "Happy New Year" and give a kiss on the cheek:) Then they jumped back into the dance!) 

Also of note, at the end of the night we got everyone on the floor into one large circle, ended up splitting and creating a second circle of people inside the first one because there were just so many people, and we all held hands and sang "Auld Lang Syne". It was very moving.

One of the traditions called "first footing" is that the first person to set foot in your home will bring a symbolic gift intended to bring luck to the householder. "Traditionally, tall dark men are preferred as the first-foot." I have no idea why???

Our first-foot was our good friend Niall who brought us a Moses Basket, setting our luck for the rest of the year:) He also took our "announcement" pics:

Some of the "Out-Takes"

So, Happy Hogmanay! I hope you find yourself a ceilidh to attend. I highly recommend them:D

Christmas DUMP!!!

The title just means that this post may seem unorganized and disconnected. Oh well:)

So, the Christmas season brought lots of fun! Here we go!

Lars got the first pics of some Christmas lighting while he was downtown to catch a show by "We are the Physics". This link will take you to one of Lars' favorite songs of theirs. Lars says that they are a lot of fun LIVE. Very high energy! Three out of the four band members are named "Michael":) Lars got to know lead singer, Michael, and "he's a pretty cool guy!"

"We are the Physics"

This was also about the time when we were being pretty "cheeky" by posting this pic on Facebook. At the time we were still keeping the fact that we were expecting a secret. So I cropped this picture to not show any tummy and deleting any comments that might insinuate...anything...

So cute:)

Lars and I had never really been left to ourselves during the Holidays before and we are not the type to buy a tree and decorations that we'd have to leave behind anyway. So, it was super nice of my Visiting Teachers, Vin and Hazel, to loan us a Christmas tree and lights and decorations:) We were a bit surprised that the tree was BLACK! but we were very thankful none-the-less:)

The only thing we didn't have was a star to place on top. So we took some cardboard, cut out a star (that looks like it's jumping for joy. Thanks, Lars:) and colored it yellow. Then, for a little shine, we cut a star out of a candy wrapper and stuck it in the middle of the yellow star. Along with some cards we received (or made) and the crafts we did at FHE with the YSA's (candle wreath and stain glass windows), some stockings I borrowed from Mairi, and of course  candy and prezzies:) we had quite the festive display:) Oh, and I can't forget how much time Lars put into these little streamers:

We received the "NOEL" sign from our good friend Josephine who left around this time to return home to India:( She is AMAZING!!! 

Such amazing women:) Love them!
Mercy, Rachel, Josephine, Mairi, Spring

These girls really made me feel so welcomed and loved when I first arrived in Glasgow! I hang out with them often to watch chick flicks and the occasional "shoot 'em up" macho films too:)

Mairi even took the time to show me around town. Most importantly she lead me to the infamous Primark!!! I had heard them talk about this magical place where you could buy fun and cute clothes for pretty cheap. I had to see it for myself.

I'm still very happy with the belt I bought that day for one pound:D 

Mairi showed me George Square:

I guess some scenes from the new movie with Brad Pitt, "World War Z", were shot around here...

There's actually an ice rink over here. Lars and I never took the opportunity before they disassembled it

:(

Buchanan Street gets REALLY busy!

Buchanan Street is also where we had to go to find Princes Square. We were helping out the YSA's by singing in their choir in a shopping mall called "Princes Square", not Princess Square mind you:P haha.

Anyway, the YSA's were to give the missionary choir a break so we were recruited to help:) We got a bit lost and showed up late (seriously, the door to this giant mall was tiny)...maybe sang one full song with them but it was cool! We stayed to hear the missionary choir. 

We got lost. Didn't help that this entrance was TINY!

Missionary Choir

Pretty cool shopping mall. Very posh!

Lots of levels. Easy to get lost. Especially when their "Ground Level" would be our "1st Floor":)

Afterwards, we went exploring a bit. We had heard that there was a Christmas market down the road. Later finding out that they were closed...on Christmas Eve...? But we did find a market that reminded us of a Chinese market...The Sloan Market:)

We also came upon SO many buskers, or street entertainers. Whether they were singing, playing guitar, or trumpet or violin or bagpipes or...accordion???

Anyway, that Christmas Eve we were hanging with, guess who? Yep, the YSAs:) We just can't get enough of them! It was a fun mash-up of YSAs and friends as well as two sets of missionaries, Elder and Sister Whitney and Lars and I. Very enjoyable evening at Rachel and Mairi's flat. They had a REAL Christmas tree and everything!

We spent Christmas Day opening presents, eating candy and also eating a delicious lunch/dinner with Eric and Erin Olson:) It was so good! Delicous potatoes, giant slabs of beef, fruits and vegetables, home made egg nog and wassail. And Lars had fun playing any retro video game he could think of on Eric's all-emulating PC. 

As the Scots say, "Happy Christmas!"

The Hokey Pokey - Scottish Style?!?

After Thanksgiving I was at our nearest grocery store - Tesco. I was just doing my usual food run for the week. All the sudden, as I'm grazing the vegetable isle I hear bagpipes:) Not just that but a whole pipe band, which includes drums as well! They were playing a very familiar tune which I have found is called "Scotland the Brave". You will definitely recognize it.

Another very recognizable tune played often in Pipe Bands is "Amazing Grace". Very beautiful.

Listening to these songs and of course the bagpipes make me want to watch "Braveheart" :) Okay, I'm getting a little too carried away with these links :P (I've always been a sucker for instrumental soundtrack type music:)

Well, they continued to play throughout my shopping experience - epic much? When I got to the cashier I asked her about the pipe band and she seemed annoyed saying, "They play every thirty minutes!?!" I guess they'd been playing all morning and had gotten on her nerves:) Poor girl. At least I was enjoying it!

I was of course kicking my own butt because that day of all days I had not brought my camera with me:( But I wanted to share my pleasure so I called up Lars:) He could barely hear me over the band! I don't think it's as enjoyable over the phone as it was in person...

So, once I got home I made him go back with me (and my camera:) to see and experience it for himself.

Upon my return I find that they've switched things up a bit to make it more fun:) And what's more fun than the Hokey Pokey!!!

And what you've all been waiting for...The VIDEO!!!

ONLY IN SCOTLAND!!!

A Non-traditional Thanksgiving!!!

I've mentioned previously that Lars has gotten quite close to the Chinese speaking missionaries in our Glasgow Ward. It was quite the surprise when we realized how large the Chinese population is here in Glasgow, Scotland!

Things only got better when we were both called to be Ward Missionaries specifically for the Chinese members:) The Chinese are SO ready for the gospel it's amazing! There's been at least 6 Chinese baptisms since Lars arrived back in September (2012).

Lars is definitely on the Chinese missionaries speed dial if they ever need someone to accompany them to a lesson.

So, Thanksgiving, an American holiday, was coming up and we weren't sure exactly what we were gonna do. The Scottish don't celebrate this holiday:) and we've never had to do Thanksgiving by ourselves. (We have always been blessed to be with extended family or with a group of other American, young married/single adults.) So when we found out the Chinese speaking missionaries, from America, were also "left out in the rain" we decided to do something together.

Being the only woman, I was concerned that the task of cooking a Thanksgiving meal was gonna be left to me (a bit sexist, I know, as well as daunting!) But I was pleasantly surprised when the missionaries suggested we get "Kebabs".

Now you will see tons of little Kebab shops everywhere...

...and I had been hearing about these infamous kebabs since I first met Elder Moser and Elder Bayer. I guess these kebabs have left quite a wake of salivating Elders. They are known as "The Best Kebabs in the Mission"! Once you try one you will have been "Kebaptized":) Haha!

I wasn't sure what to expect but I knew it was gonna be good:)

Ta-DAH!!!

THIS is a Kebab:)

,,,Maybe you're thinking what I was thinking when I got my first glimpse of this concoction...

What is it? Haha:)

Well, it is (I think:) Lamb, beef, chicken, doner <- will talk more about this later. A kebab also contains cabbage, onions, special sauce and naan is included...What do you think?

Before you decide, let me tell you more about this controversial doner "meat". This is where I got my information...after eating it, of course:P http://www.desiblitz.com/content/doner-kebabs-whats-really-in-them. Short, interesting article; good read.

Yikes! Next time hold the doner:( But despite this questionable meat it tasted pretty good. I'm actually craving it right now...yum. Lars may even be craving the doner...(yuck:P)

We really enjoyed our little Non-traditional Thanksgiving with the Elders and can now say that we've been kebaptized :D Check that off my bucket list:P

Spring, Lars, Elder Moser, & Elder Bayer

Also, wanted to thank Bishop and Sister Green who were so kind to invite us to their family Thanksgiving Dinner. It really was a pleasure to share that with you. (Especially since it was only a couple days before you had your twins!!!) Thanks also for the games played:) Molly is such a doll!