Where's 2008

Honestly, where did December go? For that matter the entire year. Last January 8th I kissed good-bye to Meg at the Airport and on the 9th good-bye to Daniel and Step. Wow, I then proceeded to go to Europe 3 times ( London, Paris, Germany, Prague), California 4 times (San Diego, Torrey Pines, Disneyland twice), Alaska(on a cruise), Seattle(and Victoria), Mexico (Mexico City, Pachuca, Xalitzintla, Nealtican), and probably somewhere I am forgetting. Oh, Midway!!!!

I had so much fun with everyone. We took a lot of great pictures and a million fun memories were created.

Also, we are still in the middle of our remodel. Painting the house is a much bigger project than we anticipated. We keep adding more. Probably the hardest part is parting with furniture that we purchased in the past and really do like. Most of it doesn't "fit" in this home. We are really happy with what we have done so far. The house feels warmer and more inviting. More like us.

Adam graduated from the "U" in May. That's huge, for anyone, I am really proud of him. He is working for Sentry West. What an accomplishment. Meg is in the business program at the "U" and has one more year. Her Semester abroad put her back a semester.

Mark was put in the High Counsel at the University Stake of Married Students. It has been a fun calling. He speaks everyother month and we have been teaching the Marriage class together. Those kids are great!!!!

I love my calling in the Young Women.

Well, I was happy when the scaffolding came down on Christmas Eve. We had our Christmas tree outside this year. It was pretty funny!!!

We are happy and healthy right now!!!! Yeah!!!!

I just found a blog by a Sister Missionary in Daniels mission. She posted a darling picture taken on Sunday. It was really fun to see Daniel in Pres. Li's (a recently released Stake President) home and with his companion. We are anxious to hear from Daniel today. He is always happy and optimistic. We love hearing from him and Step each week. 

Germany and Prague

Well, here I am again. We had a wonderful time in Europe! We took Grandma Bets and Grandma D. They were great travelers and a lot of fun to have on the trip. Besides Mark and me, we were with Britt and Bry, Adam, and Meg. Everyone brought a special kind of  fun to the trip. Britt spent months organizing, making reservations, and studying what to do. We had a pre-trip family night to go over the itinerary, and what to pack. (I should have listened better)We traveled by Plane, Bus, Train, and on Foot. We went to Berlin first! There we hopped on a City Tour after checking in to Hotel Berlin Berlin (in a great location!), we saw some great sights on that tour. It was a hop on hop off type thing so we spent a lot of the day in some neat places. We were able to see where the wall had been and parts still up. We drove between East and West Berlin, it was really interesting. Our first hop off was at Checkpoint Charlie. I loved that, especially the museum. It shows many events and several escape methods that happened at the wall. It was interesting to see the lengths people will go to get their freedom. Also how thin people were, it was crazy some of the places they fit. (like a suitcase, and not the size of ours) 

We also got off at the Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz, it is probably the most famous sight in Germany and is a gathering place for many important events. Around the corner is the new Memorial "Memorial to the Killed Jews of Europe". It was truely amazing, as well as emotional to see the field of grey steles symbolizing the murdered Jews. 

We drove down the Unter den Linden and later walked through it. It is a beautiful street lined with trees and many important historic buildings. We drove by Potsdamer Platz and later spent a little time there. We were staying at Hotel Berlin Berlin which was in the heart of a great district called Kurfurstendamm, there was a cool looking burned and bombed out church, and a great shopping area. The KaDaWe store was the scene of our first meal there. Mark and Dolores were smart and got some great German food there. Well there is a lot more and I will blog it later. 

Terrific Traveling Times

Carlos, Silvia, and Mark at their home in Pachuca
Well, more traveling has taken place since my last blog with Britt. Mark and I went to San Diego and stayed at Torrey Pines Lodge on the Golf Course. It was a blast. (Funny side note: this trip was paid for by Lehman Brothers, our host had to leave because the announcement of their failure came while we were in San Diego.) Mark and I were able to take many long walks together through Torrey Pines Park and we drove around a lot. We went to old town where we found out that our favorite restaurant is under renovation, but were we still able to share some great Mexican food. The Lodge is incredible and we loved being there. The Grand Californian in Disneyland is patterned after the Lodge so Mark was especially in Heaven. Anyway, it was a fun and fabulous get-away for us. Mark serves on the Board of Utah Housing Authority which is the reason for the trip!

Alma and Me after our Sunday Drive

Then we were off to Mexico to check on our students at Bene and a few of their families. We had fun with Adam and we were able to travel to Pachuca where he served for about 7 months. We met some families there that were special to him. We also visited with Carlos and Silvia Zepeda. Carlos was the Director at Benemerito when we first began the scholarship program.

Our Families in Xalitzintla

Step with his new Package from Us

We enjoyed time with Alma and Martin Diaz. Martin is our driver. They have been helpful getting us around and to our locations. We feel we have many friends in Mexico. We were also able to drop a package to the Mission Office for Step. From the picture he sent, it looks like he really enjoyed it.

Mark and I had a lot of fun this week in San Diego. We stayed at "The Lodge at Torrey Pines". It was really beautiful. We went on a lot of fun walks, ate a ton of great food and Mark golfed while I went to the Spa. It was very relaxing. We also took a couple of scenic drives up and down the coast. What a great place to live. I think our favorite thing to do was walk around the Torrey Pines State Reserve. There were several neat trails and a lot of greenery. We loved learning about the Torrey Pines themselves and took some great pictures. We had breakfast on the deck and had fun watching football. We loooooove San Diego!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've been on the blog. Britt and I just finished a great trip to Seattle and Victoria BC. It was fun, but cold. We did a lot of walking and we went to Pike's Fish Market a few times. The highlight was the little French Bakery with Chocolate Almond Croissants. We split two of them and had to restrain ourselves the third day. We spent one day driving to UW and exploring University Village. We found Moleskin Planners which we had been on a mission to find. Then we drove out to the Williams where we were treated to the best dinner of Thai Wraps, grilled Salmon, Chicken, asparagus and a mango bowl for dessert. Fun Fun.
We flew, drove, monorailed, clippered, and flew in a float plane. Butchart Gardens in Victoria was a blast eventhough Britt wasn't too excited in the beginning. It was really pretty. We had High Tea at the Empress Hotel and were a little sticker shocked at the cost. But it was a lot of fun. We sat at a little table for two by the front windows and ate Cucumber Sandwiches, and a lot of cute pasteries. We had caffiene free Berry Berry Tea and laughed while I continuously dropped sugar cubes on the table. (Just couldn't hold on with the baby tonges). It was a fun trip!!! I loved it Britt.

Wow---Home from the Alaskan Cruise! It was amazing. There really is no way to describe the beauty you see there. Between the glaciers, the wildlife, the landscapes, and open ocean. I don't think I have seen so many neat things since the last Europe trip. I will put up a couple of my favorites. This first photo is of the edge of the Juneau ice field. I took this from the floatplane we were on. These ice fields go for miles and miles. The color is fantastic.!!!!!!!!  We had two formal nights on the cruise, I was extremely seasick for the first one. We also dressed up on the last night. It was a lot of fun. The food was fantastic, and the company the best. From left to right--Mom, Me, Ruth, Amy, Dolores, Joan. Don't we look great!