The United Kingdom: Elementary my dear Watson

This day was largely uneventful and yet much needed! It kind was a day we left open in order to take it easy and so we decided to head back to London for a a quick stop at the Sherlock Holmes Museum and them some souvenir shopping in Picadilly circus.

of course we start with tea!

Elementary my dear Watson!

We didn't actually go inside the museum because so many reviews said that it wasn't worth admission. But we did take pictures out front with some hats and props that were provided for tourists and then we poked around the gift shop! 

The rest of the afternoon was largely uneventful in London, and included a stop at Lillywhites in Piccadilly to check out their football (soccer) swag and a late lunch on the edge of Covent Garden in a pub.

Aaron's favorite Premiere League Team!

A view of Trafalgar Square from our pub window! Also love the Tudor Rose details in the window.

We then headed back to Reading to spend the evening with Carla! 

When we planned this trip, we wanted to make sure we got in a HUGE chunk of time to spend with Carla and her family, so the whole weekend in between England and Scotland was just going to be spent with her. So on this evening, we met up with her after she finished up work and had dinner at Bill's (like I said, it was a favorite of hers) and then just hung out at our hotel talking and processing life and just being together! It was so wonderful and set the perfect tone for the rest of our weekend with her.

getting to try Eaton's Mess dessert! Delicious!

The United Kingdom: The Tower, Churchill, and Carla

After a full night of sleep, I still woke up wishing I could just relax and stay in bed! But we had another full day in London ahead of us and it began at the Tower of London. If you only have 2 days in London, you HAVE to go to the Tower! It has so many awesome stuff to see, not least of which is the crown jewel vault!

While the first day was warm and sunny and bright, this day was hazy and cool and rained a little bit too and it truly felt like a perfect London day!

waiting for the Crown Jewels

Tower Bridge

trying on some armor

a dragon made of armor

The Tower was so fun and so busy! We didn't get a chance to take the Yeoman Warder tour, but that is definitely a must if you have never been. We just didn't have enough time after seeing everything else. The Crown Jewel display was definitely a favorite! So many huge glittering pieces. The wealth was overwhelming.

After the tower, we headed across the street to a pub for lunch. It was sunday afternoon and we were definitely catching the after church crowd. One of the best things I saw was a couple of ministers taking in a pint together. Truly a typical British Sunday afternoon.

Following lunch we headed back down to Westminster to check out the Churchill War Rooms. The War Rooms are literally right around the corner from Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, so we quick shot a photo op we had skipped the day before... the obligatory photobooth shot!

This was at the top of Aaron's list for what he wanted to see in London and I was excited because it was the first place we went that I had not been before! This was another place that we could have use so much more time because there were too many things to read and take in about the rooms. The displays were so fun to see and to get an idea of what it was like in World War II and how Churchill essentially ran the country from below ground. So crazy to see it all and read all about his incredible life. 

We had been planning on meeting up with Carla for dinner than evening, but because we didn't have cell phone service we had to rely on wifi in order to get messages throughout the day with updates of when and where we would meet. Luckily the Churchill War Rooms had wifi, because surprising to us, Carla came into London early and met us right outside the museum!

One of the things I was most looking forward to in England was getting to start telling people that I was pregnant! We still hadn't told our families yet, because we thought it would be fun to tell them when we got back and gave them each their souvenirs from our trip, but I could tell anyone I wanted in England. Carla was one of the first people who I got to tell!! We left the War Rooms and headed into St James Park to walk over to Buckingham Palace. We were chatting and discussing how excited we were about being back in London and Carla mentioned how she was DYING to come back for a visit to Phoenix and I told her that February would be a good time to come because that is when our baby would be due!! She was in complete shock and squealed in delight and just couldn't get over it! I loved that she knew and was able to celebrate for us and be excited with us!

After the excitement of our news, it was back to being tourists!

Can I just say that I decided that St James Park is one of my top spots in London. It is so lush and shady and just overflowing with flowers and pathways that you could get lost in. It was such a lovely stroll and then we ended up at Buckingham Palace.

Sadly the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace were closed for touring, but someday I will see inside this gorgeous palace!

We finished up taking pictures and continued catching up with Carla as we walked down to Trafalgar Square and then dinner in Covent Garden at the Lamb & Flag.

one of my favorite pictures of the trip! (photo cred: Carla)

Dinner at the Lamb & Flag

Love this amazing friend!

 This was one of my favorite meals of the trip! Such delicious traditional British food! We had planned on trying the traditional Sunday Roast, but they ran out before we got there. No worries though because my steak and ale pie was incredible!

Steak & Ale pie!

Aaron's Bangers & Mash

Aaron and I had already gotten use to the awesomeness of the pub payment system where you order and pay right away and then they bring the food to your table and you can leave whenever. However, I didn't realize that this pub worked differently. Aaron had not paid yet and he popped into the loo as we were getting ready to leave, and Carla and I headed out the door. We stepped over the threshold and the server rushed out after us demanding that we pay. I was so confused and embarrassed and Aaron came out of the restroom and had forgotten he hadn't paid either and it was all a big misunderstanding that we laughed about and the server didn't find very funny. Hahaha.

It was time for Carla to head back home and while I knew we would see her again at the end of the week, I just hated saying goodbye! It is so encouraging and honoring and sweet and fun and hilarious and honest and real to get to be with her and catch up on life and talk about all sorts of things from family and friends, to God's truth, to the future and all in between.

After Carla left us, Aaron and I finished out the night walking through Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus!

Aaron wasn't very impressed with Piccadilly

Such a fun and full day in London!

Wedded Bliss Part 1...

DON'T WORRY!!! I will not be breaking down each week of marriage by week, but the first week of marriage was particularly eventful, so I wanted to share a few fun details about our first week of wedded bliss.

Lets start with our awesome wedding night hotel!!! I am a travel agent in an international programs office (no, I can't help you plan you vacation to the Bahamas, or find you hotels in Southern California for cheap... I work in an international programs office, so unless you are studying abroad with one of the universities we work with, I can't do much for you...), and every so often I find some pretty sweet agent discounts. It is rare and most of the time I can find an equally go deal for the general public on Trip Advisor or Kayak. I wanted to take a chance for our wedding night accommodations and low and behold, I found it!! Note: I have checked a couple times since November and have not found this deal at all since!

Aaron and I got to stay at the Royal Palms hotel for the night for 85% off!!!!

The Royal Palm hotel is one of the fanciest hotels in Arizona, nestled at the base of the iconic Camelback Mt. It boasts to be the most romantic hotel in the Valley. So gorgeous! What a treat! It was such a sweet gift for us and something we never expected. With the low cost, Aaron's parents paid for it as a gift.

So as Aaron and I drove away from our wedding, we drove to the Royal Palm hotel, gave our car keys and baggage to the valet and walked into the lobby. It has been a dream of mine to walk into a public place with my wedding dress... to have people stop and stare and know that we just got married. I think it is because I love when a see a bride and groom at a hotel or Disneyland or around town taking their wedding pictures... it just makes me so happy to know this is a magical day for them. So walking through the Royal Palm lobby was everything I wanted. People congratulated us and asked us how the party was. So fun!

We got to our room, which was an upgrade from what we booked. They put us in a private room in the back of the property. Very secluded and romantic. The back patio opened up to have the most gorgeous view of Camelback (however, we couldn't see it till morning).

"Have you met my wife, Miranda Mertz?" - Aaron posted this on facebook just moments after we arrived at the hotel

Just moments after getting to the hotel room, there was a knock at the door and Carl (our booking agent) had sent over a platter of chocolate and fruit with champagne!

Thanks Carl!

There was a fireplace in the room too... and although it was probably 67 degrees outside at the time, we turned the AC up to make the room chilly, so we could use the fireplace - hey, we aren't paying the power bill :)

The next morning we woke up early and ordered room service to eat on the patio. It was such a yummy breakfast and after a week or pre-wedding nerves, my appetite was coming back and I was starving! We walked out onto the patio and this is what we saw...

Seriously Phoenix! With all it's heat and desert and brownness... there are moments when we get a glimpse of majesty and beauty! Good job Camelback Mountain! Way to look awesome for my first day as Mrs. Mertz!

We requested late check out, so after an early breakfast, some relaxing and a nap, we left in the late afternoon to head home. Both of us were so ready to be at OUR HOUSE! To go home for the first time TOGETHER to the SAME PLACE! After living 45 minutes away from each other for our entire dating relationship, this was a definite highlight so far of being married!

When we walked it another joyful sight met us...

GIFTS!!!!

All our lovely wedding gifts filling our guest room to the brim! We immediately opened all of them! Just the two of us... husband and wife... opening the beautiful things people gave us for our new home! It was so much fun to be in our house, with Aaron... my husband ;)


We had monday off of work and so we spent the morning around the house and then Aaron and I went to pick up Carla from Elisabeth's house (my old house) and bring her back to spend the afternoon with us before her flight back to London. We ended up taking her to Chelsea's Kitchen at Sky Harbor Airport for dinner (I love that the airport opened up some awesome restaurants!)

So hard to say goodbye!! She was here for a whole week and kept me sane leading up to the wedding. What a blessing it was to have her with us in all the celebrating :) Love her so much!



The next day Aaron and I went back to work... and then things got interesting! Aaron went home early on Tuesday with a horrible cold... and by Wednesday night I also was righteously ill! Seriously I have never felt that miserable in a long time... chills, aches, weakness, fever, runny nose - the worst cold! I was glad to have a companion to be sick with, but I was sad we were both so miserably awful. We also had our Disneyland weekend honeymoon scheduled for that Friday through Sunday and I was so worried I wouldn't be better in time. I went to bed praying my fever would break during the night and finally at 5:30a my fever broke and I was so thankful! Disneyland plans were not be thwarted!

In the words of my brother Shawn, "Disneyland IS the cure."

Reception!

And now the party!!!

This was the point in the night, where everything important had been done, and now it was time celebrate!!!!

John Lynch wrote this on his Facebook wall the morning after our wedding and it perfectly describes the night:

I helped perform a wedding last evening. But it was an entire historic community marrying off Aaron Mertz and Miranda Thompson. It is easy, in the day to day, to forget the power of life-giving community which stands together long enough, allowing a setting for God to do His wonder. Under a canopy of lights and perfect weather, in a magical backyard, God showed us His glory, power, love, patience, timing and grace. Friends laughed, mingled, danced and reunited, with great joy, not even noticing they'd been the heroes in this story. Sandy Mowen came out of retirement to shepherd us with grace and masterful skill, Don Nelsen did his magic with sound, David Pinkerton was the perfect MC, Kelsie Pinkerton and Sarah Doyle floated around the event, taking majestic pictures, Chris Tinard filmed with brilliance, the legendary JoAnn Stern made the cake, the Mozingos and great friends served up food fit for heaven. Nancy Hahn and friends helped present incredible desserts. Pat and Laurie, Randy and Linda showed how healthy families give their kids away, dozens of heroes helped serve, Mark Williams embarrassed us with dancing that is banned in several states. Dozens of others served without notice or fanfare. Last evening, I stopped several times and just stared at what love looks like in a community. Well played community. Well played.           ~ John Lynch

And with that, there is no better way to describe the night except to just give you more pictures - 

A picture of our Venue - The Hearn House - after dark

Thousands of twinkle lights provided a magical glow

Nancy Hann did a flawless job of designing and coordinating our dessert table. She asked people to contribute and people made the most delicious treats for our guests! Literally perfection! I got one of the S'mores treats before they were all gone.

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Mertz!

Our first dance was to "Today" - by Joshua Radin

My dad and I danced to "Mandolin Rain" - by Bruce Hornsby. I have had that song picked out for years. It is one of my dad's favorite songs and I think of him whenever I hear it. When I told him months before that it was the song I'd chose for us, he nearly cried. Nailed it!

Aaron and Laurie danced to "My Wish" - by Rascal Flatts

I'll do a separate post for the dinner, but it was in a word - Phenomenal!

After the dancing and before the food, we watched a slideshow of mine and Aaron's lives. Shawn put it together for us and it was a hit! So fun that so many people at the wedding were in pictures with us when we were little or in high school. Amazing!

Andy gave the "best man" toast

Kendra gave the "Maid of Honor" toast

After dinner, it was cake time! Aaron was a gentleman and didn't get any frosting on me... I on the other hand gave no mercy.

Get you're dance on!

Another photo favorite! He looks so terrified... what is going on here?

Another must at my wedding was to have Mark Williams dance to "Shout!" He has done it at all of his kids weddings, and I had to have him dance at my wedding. His break-dancing is truly something you can't look away from, but kind of want to! ha! He also asked me if he could wear his kilt to the wedding, and Aaron and I could not refuse!

There it is... those who weren't prepared for it, were in awe - NOTE: He does have something on under the kilt... no worries :)

Josh and Kate did our guestbook and they are getting married in May!!!

with John and Stacey Lynch

Bruce was a groomsmen of course, but he and Janet did our pre-marital counseling. So blessed by them as friends!

These are my girls! We have stood by each other for the last 10 years! Can't believe I get to have each of them in my life! (From left to right: Kelsie, Nicole, Heidi, Sarah, me, Tara, Jessica, Jeannette, and Meredith)

Our amazing Photographers Sarah and Kelsie! They are responsible for all these beautiful pictures!

My nephews, Jonah & Nathan, made a night time appearance at the wedding!

Read on my mom's blog about how she made the boys onesies with vest... such a sweet story!

During the dancing and dessert time, we had a photobooth open for our guests to have some fun! Our friend Rod Gipson did the photography! What a sweet keepsake to have our guests pictures from the photobooth. We also saw some crop up in this years Christmas card pictures! 

Aren't we adorable!

The groomsmen

Fun with Sparklers!

And the Grand Exit!

A perfect end to the wedding!