Nous sommes à Paris!

Translation... "We're in Paris!"

We got to the train station at 10:00 ready to take the Chunnel to Paris. We laughed and talked so loud that people sitting around us got up and moved. It was dark for awhile as we went under the English channel but when we came back up we enjoyed the most beautiful views of the French countryside. Green green hills, little towns with perfect little churches. It was amazing.


When we got to Paris we took the Metro close to our hotel and sent the boys the rest of the way by taxi while we sat in a cafe and had a 'much too strong' brie sandwich awaiting their return. Once they were back we headed straight for the Louvre. It was here that I started saying... "We're in Paris!" about every ten minutes. I couldn't get over how amazing it was... here we are standing in front of the Louvre in Paris! With only an hour till it closed we ran in and made our way straight for Mona Lisa. The crowds were especially full around this work of art so we stood to the side for our girl shot. We wandered through a few hallways. More than the actual paintings, I was impressed by the building itself. Beautiful architecture, archways, staircases, intricate ceilings. It really was remarkable. Next we photographed the 'Winged Victory' (one of the most celebrated statues in the world). We are a little blurry here but the statue is crystal clear. After we 'celebrated' for a minute or two they started ushering us out and we enjoyed a few more exhibits as we left.

(downtown Paris building)

(Chris and I in front of the Louvre)

(Inside ceiling of the Louvre)

(Lisa, Terri, Missy, Geneva, Stefani ... and Mona Lisa)

(In front of the Winged Victory Statue)

(view from inside the Louvre)

(view of the courtyard from inside the Louvre)

Out in the courtyard we walked to the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, an archway directly across from the Louvre and aligned perfectly with the Arc de Triomphe a mile or so away.
After clicking our cameras a few more times we headed to Notre Dame... "We're in Paris!" I said again. The 700 year old cathedral was full and Mass had already started but we were still able to walk down the side isle and take pictures of the beautiful gothic details. Even confession was open. We offered to wait for Doug but we were short on time and the line looked long.

(Notre Dame Cathedral)

(pictures of inside Notre Dame)

(outside along the wall of Notre Dame's entrance)


(along the Siene River)

The streets were amazing. The old old buildings, the cobble stone streets, the hanging flowers, the cafe's, the views of the Seine River... "We're in Paris!" We wandered down a narrow street full of cheese shops, quaint little stores, gelato shops (still mad we didn't make it back there!), pastry shops, markets, flower shops and cafes. We jumped to the side when a car came through, but mostly we walked in the middle of the cobblestone road. Aside from looking up to see a man in tight speedo underwear staring out the window, I'd say this little street was perfect.

"Table for ten please" meant that we couldn't eat outside on the tiny round tables outside the cafe. They found room for us in the back and totally thirsty we all ordered Sprites and Cokes -- to the tune of 4 euros each... that's $8.00 for one little bottle of Coke and another $8.00 for my half glass of Sprite. It was funny that later on in the trip if we found a drink for only 2 euros we thought that was a good deal. We ate 'frites'... FRENCH fries of course, and they were delicious. Chris and I shared a Creme brulee... one of our favorite deserts, and it seemed only fitting to eat one here.

(The Siene River at dusk)

We made it to the Eiffel Tower as it was getting dark. It was all lit up in blue lights with the circle of stars to show that France is the current leader of the EU... European Union. "We're in Paris -- and I'm standing by the Eiffel Tower!" I whispered to Chris for the hundredth time. We took pictures and then walked to the base but tours to the top weren't available. We made a pyramid, took group pictures, and enjoyed the sparkling lights and then took the Metro and a crowded bus back to our hotel. Another fabulous Marriott.

Flying into London...

Our flight to London was 81/2 hours long. I met up with Chris, who had spent the previous week home working and went out to dinner at our favorite Houlihans restaurant... and then met up with Jared and Geneva in the Atlanta airport. Our flight left at about 10:30pm. The plane had two seats on either side and five seats in the middle and I think was one of the largest planes I've flown on. They served us dinner, we watched movies, read our books, tried to sleep and then were served breakfast. When we arrived at the Heathrow airport it was 12:00 noon London time but only 7:00am Atlanta time, 5:00am Utah time (where I was coming from), and 4:00am Vegas time. Needless to say, with only a couple hours sleep we were feeling a little wonky. We got our luggage and headed for the subway which we rode for almost an hour. Every time the subway stopped a female voice said, "You are on the Piccadilly line to Cockfosters" with a perfect English accent and Jared and Chris laughed every time.

Once off the subway we walked a couple blocks towing our luggage behind us. After almost getting run over by a taxi we learned that pedestrians do not have the right of way... good to know.

Brian and Terri were waiting for us at our Marriott hotel downtown. The views from our room were amazing... the Eye of London, Thames River and Big Ben were right outside our window. It was kind of a gloomy evening but not that cold.

(the view from our hotel window)

(the Eye of London and our hotel... our room was right at the end by the eye of London about half way up)

When Doug and Missy and Troy and Stefani got there we headed out to find some dinner. We rode the subway to the theatre district and found a perfect corner restaurant with an empty upstairs dining room. I felt starving... probably just because the time difference cheated me out of lunch. I ordered fish and chips... which were fine... the best part... mashed peas. So good. After dinner we crossed the street to the Apollo theatre and got seated for Wicked. My third time seeing it! It was fabulous (although I'm still partial to the Chicago cast.)

After Wicked we walked around enjoying London's night life. We hit Piccadilly Circus, saw Big Ben all lit up, walked by the camped-out protesters by the Parliament building and stood outside Westminster Abbey. At midnight we decided we'd better go back to our hotel and try and get some sleep. Our 'first time in Europe' adrenaline rush was wearing off fast.

Baptism Day

It is days like this that make me feel so grateful.

Grateful for a beautiful daughter so excited to be baptized. Grateful for a mother daughter shopping trip to find the perfect dress. Grateful for a husband worthy of the priesthood. Grateful for family and friends who made the effort to come and share this day with us. Grateful for those who participated in Katie's program per her request. Grateful for Grandmas and Grandpas. Grateful for good examples for my kids. Grateful for the spirit. Grateful to see my daughter bear her testimony. Grateful for my own testimony strengthened. Grateful for the gospel.

Happy Birthday Katie!

We celebrated Katie's 8th birthday while we were together with family in Utah. That's two years in a row she's had her birthday at John and Nikole's house! We interupted our red, white and blue celebrations on the 4th for a brown and pink birthday party. It was just perfect... to see more pictures on Katie's very own blog click here.

Stay tuned...

We're home.

After 5 1/2 weeks of vacationing... we've returned to our perfectly wonderful house in hot and humid Georgia -- and now, after unpacking suitcases, doing laundry, going through the mail, paying the bills, signing up for soccer and ballet, organizing a preschool meeting, catching up on email, scheduling a termite inspection for our annual service agreement ($200), stopping by the school, and picking up a few things from the grocery store (thank you Chris) we are ready to unpack the 2000+ pictures from all our adventures.

So stay tuned... it's going to take awhile.

The Fourth

John and Nikole were so great to let us hang out at their house the whole day. We went over in the morning for homemade cinnamon rolls, fruit and chocolate milk with Chris parents and Ashlyn and Kyle. In the afternoon my parents, Amy, Scott, Elisha and Molly came to hang out as well. The kids jumped on the trampoline with Kyle, traced eachother on the cement with chalk, played in the baby pool, had a water balloon fight, went down the slip and slide, had fun on the swings and loved being with their cousins. We enjoyed John and Nikole's new porch and BBQ. We ate great food, did lots of visiting, played with sparklers and looked over the valley to see lots of fireworks. It was a great day. Thanks again Moons!

Grandpa and the babies... Luke and cousin Kayla.

Waiting for Uncle Kyle's water balloons... and instructions for who to get soaked!

Grandma suggesting Emily go get Dad!

Dad got Grandma!

Ryan happy to be in the middle of the water balloon fight.




Uncle Kyle trying out the slip and slide!


Somebody got Uncle John!






Tyler and Spencer soaking up all of Ryan's DS and Pokemon knowledge.

114 degrees. Lake Mead. Fabulous.

When Jared asked Chris if he wanted to switch his flight and come out a day early to go boating on Lake Mead, it didn't take us long to decide.

The Chuggs boat fit both our big families comfortably. We found a perfect beach to hang out, set up some shade, and prepare for the day. The kids loved being pulled behind the boat. They piled on the two tubes and had fun going over the wakes, bumping into each other, bouncing up and down and occasionally flipping off. Even Luke had a turn.

Ryan and Jake waiting for their turn. They liked going fast!Ryan, Katie and Hanna all tried water skiing for the first time. Katie and Hanna did great popping up out of the water and skiing for 100 yards or so. We were so proud of them! Ryan got up and skied several times around the lake. Finally, after thinking 'he must be done' Chris dropped the rope and caused him to crash into the water. When we pulled up close to him he said, 'hey, I wasn't done!' He loved it.

Chris and I skied for the first time since we've had kids. Crazy! Chris did great but I didn't get a good picture. I crashed a couple times and then finally got up skiing in a perfect line behind the boat. When Chris suggested that I finally try to go over the wake I agreed knowing that I would crash, but being ok with that since I was already exhausted. Little did we know that the next day all of our skiing muscles (every muscle in our entire body) would be so sore we could barely move! Jared, of course, showed us up with some great wake boarding skills.

We all loved riding in the boat. Every couple minutes we'd stop and jump out of the boat. It was so refreshing to swim around and get wet before speeding off again. We had tons of fun playing at the beach, jumping off the swim dock at the back of the boat, eating watermelon and all kinds of great food and just being together. It was a great day. Thanks again Chuggs.