Can't Wait!!

10 years

I know I am a few days early but I watched this video and wanted to share. It has been ten years since 9/11 and its still so surreal that something so devastating happened. This video absolutely breaks my heart but I think it is so important to remember all the people who lost their lives ten years ago. I am so grateful to live in America and for all the people who sacrifice so I am able to live in a free country.

On my mind as of lately...

1. Finally saw Harry Potter... AMAZING! Could Neville be any cuter? I loved him in this movie! I can't stop thinking about it and how much I wish hogwarts was real!

2. One more week of school! Then a few weeks off.. and then back to school I go.. 

3. Speaking of school.. this one is to the kid that sits next to me.. Do you really have to bring two bags of chips to class EVERY day and then insist on chewing in my ear? Everything the teacher says does not need your personal feedback or a story from your childhood. And if you flick ear wax in my general direction one more time i.will.hurt.you. 

4. So excited for a week in bear lake.. a week of doing nothing but relaxing sounds absolutely perfect
5. Went to two rodeos last week and watched 8 seconds... Now im really wanting to marry a cowboy. My parents aren't very fond of that idea. Hopefully my date didn't notice me checking out all the cowboys??!
6. Nordstrom Sale :)
7. I can't stop watching teen mom.. I should be embarrassed by that but well. im not.
8. I finally have somewhat of a tan.. took me half the summer and it will probably be gone tomorrow
9. I no longer have a morning to sleep in and its KILLING me. I either have school or trainer and I am so craving a morning to sleep past 7!
10. I am obsessed with Charlie. Shocker right
11. So mad constintine left on the Bachelorette! Wow I watch to much tv.

Well thats all thats on my mind for now. Real exciting stuff I know.
Sometimes I wish I was really intelligent and had like crazy smart people stuff on my mind all the time but this is about as deep as I get and I am ok with it because crazy smart people would try and tell me that hogwarts could never be real, and I like to think otherwise. ( I am smart enough however to know that that is a run on sentence!) 

Happy birthday Charlie!

Its charlies birthday (not that anyone really cares! but I sure do!!) He is one and just as cute as he was when I got him! I love this little guy! You better believe we are going to the pet store so he can pick out a present!
Sent from my iPhone

Eternal Families

Somebody showed me this blog and said that I needed to read it. I don't know this person but when I read it I absolutely fell apart. I cried through the entire post.  It just shows you how short life is and how things can change so quickly. I am so thankful for the gospel and the promise of eternal families. I can't imagine going through something this tragic especially with young kids involved without Heavenly Father the knowledge of eternal families. I know that it must be so comforting to him to know that he will one day be with his wife and daughter again.

http://www.dennyandwendy.blogspot.com/

Happy Mother's Day

To the greatest Mom ever!! I am so blessed to have her as my mom. She literally is my best friend. She spoils me rotten but she has also taught me what is most important in life. She is an incredible example of the mother I hope to one day be.

I love you mom have a wonderful day! 

Not to mention I have the greatest family ever...

Seriously.. I must have done something right 

European Experience

My European Experience...
- Madrid, Rome, Venice, Paris, Ireland, London
- Eight Flights
- One train ride
 -Seven hotels
-Lots of Carbs!
-About a million calories in gelato and crepes
-Five Million Bueno Bars
- One broadway play
- One gondola ride
-Almost missing a flight, and running through the airport
-Sore, swollen, blistered feet (occasionally bloody! gross I know)
-The best and worst food I have ever had.
- Warn out boots
-Paying Kylee 3 euros for a foot massage-so worth it!
-Weird looks when we told people we didn't drink!
- 4000 pictures
- Dancing in an Irish Pub
-Laughing until it hurts
- Many memories made
- 23 things crossed off my bucketlist
- Best experience ever!


Beware: longest post ever!

And the trip begins!

Madrid, Spain

Me and Ky arrived in Spain at 7:40 in the morning and were suffering from some serious Jetlag! When we got to our hotel we were pretty impressed with the place. It looked as though they had just done remodeling and it was pretty nice! The took us to our room which was on the very top floor. When we got to our floor there was huge holes in the wall and sweaty construction workers everywhere and a little door in the corner.  We opened the door to find two mattresses pretty much just set on the floor and a bathroom that was smaller than the airplane ones! We were mortified! We asked for a different room and then we were taken to this. A incredible improvement! Ha last time they tried to pull a fast one on " miss america" as they called us!

 

View from our hotel. 

After checking in we walked around beautiful Madrid

The Royal Palace. 

I missed them! 

Puerta Del Sol 

Rome, Italy 

We got to Rome late at night and had some trouble getting into the apartment. Finally the lady showed up to give us the keys.. and well she was just a tad drunk. It took about ten min. for her to open the door. 

Apartment in Rome ( sorry its very messy!)

Hands down the best pizza I have ever had! ( don't mind the weirdos in the back-we don't know them, but they sure loved Phoebe!)

Our first day in Rome we went to the Colosseum! It was so incredible and pictures don't do it justice! 

After the Colosseum we went to the Palatine hill and the Roman Forum. 

 Piazza Venezia 

 Throwing our coins into the Trevi Fountain 

 Our 9.50 gelato. yes I said 9.50! Thats what happens when you don't speak the same language. Oh well live and learn.  

 Spanish Steps 

 Pantheon 

 Inside the Pantheon. The lighting is bad but it was beautiful inside. 

 Navona Square 

 The owner of the restaurant we ate at. He was beautiful and had the sexiest accent! 

( he is not the one by me. The one by me was well.. creepy.) 

The first day and my boots decided to fall apart on me. And yes they are the only shoes that I brought. I thought I was so smart to bring one pair of shoes that went with every outfit. Bummer.  Not to mention by the end of the day I had three huge holes in the back of my shirt. Oh ya and I had a scary moment involving my credit card! Long story. It just wasn't my day. But I was in Rome so there wasn't much to complain about! 

Our second day in Rome we went to St. Peter's Basilica. This was by far the prettiest thing I saw throughout the trip. 

Hiking to the top of the dome. When I say hike I mean that literally. We were sweating by the time we got to the top.  

The higher up we got the walls started to slant and they got very narrow!

View of St. Peter's Square from the top

After we went to the Vatican City Museum. We had a tour guide take us through and it was so incredible. I wish I could post all the pictures but there are to many! 

Best attempt at the Sistine Chapel! Your not allowed to take pictures of it so this is kinda a bad picture. But the Chapel is beautiful! 

Venice, Italy 

I was so excited to go to venice. Rome was exhausting because there was so much to see, so it was nice to kinda relax and enjoy the scenery! 

 On the water bus 

 St. Mark's Basilica 

 Gondola Ride! 

 Kylee getting serenaded! 

 Our tiny room! 

 Trying tiramisu. Later Lexis sister informed us that tiramisu has coffee and alcohol in it. whoops!

 Biggest dilemma of the trip... choosing a pizza! 

 Jens reaction to the picture above!

 Describes our trip perfectly! 

" You only live once."

Our matching Venice shirts. We are such tourists. 

Paris, France 

This is our cute apartment in Paris. It is about a ten min. walk from the Eiffel Tower. The inside is very cute but lets just say the hallway/stairs to the apartment was alittle...ghetto!  

Our first stop in Paris was of course the Eiffel Tower. 

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower 

Napping in Paris. 

The Tower sparkles every hour. It was so incredible 

Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral 

Louvre Museum 

Winged Victory 

Code of Hammurabi 

Mona Lisa 

The next day we went to the Catacombs of Paris. I had no idea what this was until pretty much that day. And lets just say when I found out I was alittle nervous. Basically along time ago they wanted to clean up the city so they dug up the bodies and put them underground. It holds over 6 million bodies. You could say it was alittle freaky not just because of all the bones but the passage ways were very small and dark. 

Arc de Triomphe 

Shopping on Champs Elysees. Its a famous street with all kinds of shops

Cork, Ireland 

We had such an amazing experience in Ireland! We arranged to stay with a couple, Art and Kay, that we didn't know to well so going into it we were alittle nervous. When we got off the plane Jenny was like this is going to be either really good or really bad. It turned out so good! They picked us up for the airport and they were so cute. They bought all our food and wouldn't let us pay for anything. They said if we even tried we would be sleeping with the dog. They offered to pick us up even if it was 3 in the morning. They took us all around Cork and then to Kinsale and other places in Ireland. Art even called the radio station and had them give us a shout out on the day we were leaving.  They were so sweet!

 Lismore Castle

 Where St. Patrick lived 

Walking to the beach 

 The self-timer was to quick for Lex 

The dock where the Titanic left from. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am obsessed with Titanic so I was so excited. I think Kay and Art thought I was alittle weird because I was so thrilled! I even made everyone listen to Celion dion in the car after we left. 

 Acting out Titanic on the ferry boat

 Best fish and chips I have ever had. 

Arts surprise for me.

Us with Art and Kay before we left 

London, England 

We had alittle bit of drama when we first got to London. We got to our hotel and it was a nightmare! It was dirty, scary, and ghetto! It looked nothing like the pictures. So at midnight we left the hotel and went searching. Ky and Jen found a hotel up the street which was so much better! We got checked in and the next morning they informed us that they didn't have room for us for the next two nights. So we frantically called every hotel! After hours of looking we found one. After much drama we had a wonderful day! 

The London Eye 

Westminster Abby 

Houses of Parliament 

Big Ben 

The changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace 

Buckingham Palace 

These are me and Ky's Chinese tourist pictures. 

Tower Bridge 

My nerdy tourist friends! 

While attempting to fix my shoes I super glued my shoe to the floor!  

Best cookie I have ever had! 

Harrods. Someday I will return to London and actually be able to afford something here. 

The last night in London and our trip we decided to go to a broadway play. I had never seen Wicked and I absolutely loved it! It is one of my favorite things from the entire trip! 

Lexi is a Harry Potter nerd so she HAD to see the Hogwarts platform! Im just glad she didn't bring her Harry Potter wand. She did however sport the Harry Potter glasses. We almost had to cut it out because we just didn't have time but she wanted to see it so bad we went at like eleven at night! Look how happy she looks! It was worth it. 

Ky hates Harry Potter. She was not happy to be going to Hogwarts. 

Well those are the high points! It was alittle difficult to narrow down 4000 pictures! Im impressed if you actually made it to the end. I could go on and on about this trip and post alot more pictures! 

I had the most incredible time and I am so glad that I got to experience it with some of my best friends!