Those Guys...

goodbye for now!

2011-06-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

HELLO!!! Okay so managing two blogs is just way to hard. So this one has been made into our travel journal and our new family/inspiration blog is here at Tell LOVE and Chocolate.

Thank you for everyone that has followed this blog through our travels, ha ha if there is any of you still out there :) Hopefully you will follow our new chapter on life...our new son!

love

The Walks

Lauren & Colin's Wedding

2010-07-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

So we're back! No more travel videos. But here's a wedding I shot recently if you don't have facebook or know my site!

My Film Site

Asia Clip!

2010-06-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Here's the remainder of our trip through Asia! It was so awesome...

Music by: Beach House and Broken Bells

Halong Bay

2010-05-30T05:27:00.000-07:00

One of our first days in Vietnam we went to check out Halong Bay and it was AWESOME!! such a fun experience. You just get on a boat and they bring you through all of the rocky cliffs, have lunch (on the boat), and then hike through the most beautiful caves.

I just liked this boat...so I took a pic :)

crazy cave ceilings

This part of the cave was called "heavens doorway" so so cool!

ha ha this made me laugh....did they just go to clip art on Microsoft word and type in MAN and WOMAN? so random

This picture I took on the way home in the van....What an amazing sunset!

AMAZING experience in Vietnam

2010-05-26T04:14:00.000-07:00

We have been in Vietnam for almost 2 weeks and while here we had the opportunity to help with a few distributions of wheelchairs through the Free Wheelchair Mission. FWM is a non-profit organization that helps provide wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. It was truly an amazing experience to be with these people, to hear their stories, and to know and see these wheelchairs change their lives.

Here are a few of the faces that I will never forget....

This is Di. He is 74 years old and probably the cutest old man alive, I loved him to death. He couldn't really communicate because he was practically deaf, but his smile lit up the room. This is his first Wheelchair and it helps him so much because it is so painful for him to walk because of a broken hip that has left him in severe pain. Without the wheelchair he would not be able to leave the house.

Meet Dao. He lost one of his legs as a result of the war in 1972 and ever since has been walking with old broken metal crutches. He helps provide for his four children as a fisherman making $1 a day. He is such a sweet heart and this wheelchair will make it so much easier for him to get to work every day. He has been waiting for a wheelchair for 38 years.

Her name is Ni, she is 17 years old, and is so so sweet. She was born without the use of her legs and she has had many surgerys that have left horrible scars all over both of her legs. Her father takes her to and from school everyday and all she has are some crutches. Ni loves to draw and wants to be a fashion designer.

This is Hai, I just LOVE his smile!! He is 38 years old and a father of 3 children...oldest in 4th grade and youngest is 1 1/2 months old. When he was a child he got a horrible fever and the medicine that was given to him caused paralysis in his legs. This wheel chair will help him so much with work and being able to care for his children.

more of the amazing people we had the opportunity to meet...

look at these crutches....can you imagine walking with these for 30 years?

This is such an wonderful cause I really urge you to make a donation. Each wheelchair only costs $59.20 and this includes delivery!! I can honestly say that I have seen the difference it can make.

I have to say thank you to Whitney for everything!! She is a friend of ours and works for Free Wheelchair Mission, so she was the one that set all this up for us.
Can you believe this is her job?? That she gets to make a difference everyday? I am so envious...but if you met Whitney you would know it is the perfect job for her...she is amazing!
Thanks Whitney :)

Bali Flick! And a little bit of Singapore

2010-05-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

I love Bali. Almost as much as I love my wife... who wakes up with me at 5:30 in the morning to film me surf... I know I am spoiled...

oh how we LOVED Bali!

2010-05-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Okay...Austin and I LOVED Bali it was so incredible!! The people, the beaches, the food....and yes even the heat. Well okay maybe not the heat. But it seriously was amazing!

We first got into Kuta the main city of Bali. It is so hectic and crazy so we rented a scooter and headed out to Uluwatu. Its about 30 min away by scooter and on the southern tip of Bali. Its so quite, beautiful, and completely rural. I loved it!

here was our mode of transportation for the next two weeks...

ha ha so we had to pack everything on to travel out to Uluwatu....it was crazy, and at times a little scary. Especially if you see how everyone drives!

Once we got to Uluwatu we found the most amazing place for only $8 a night!

okay there are lizards...EVERYWHERE, but mostly just little ones! ha ha so the first night we went to shower and there behind a towel was this guy...he is about the size of my arm, and scared the crap out of us at first. But we grew to love him and named him Dre...he frequented our place throughout the week.

and then there are the MONKEYS...these guys are everywhere too! And they are sneaky little guys...and theifs, but cool all the same.

Were you get gas...it was so weird. You just pull over and they take some reused bottles out and fill up your scotter...

One night we went to see a FIRE DANCE. It was probably one of my most favorite memories of Bali. We got there ....and we were the ONLY people there to watch the show ha ha! I think because we were out in Uluwatu and its so small and rural, and not as touristy. So it was pretty much just for us. It was so cool, so authentic and cultural...and the performers were fantastic!! and they totally involved us in the show :)

The monkey was our pal! ha ha me with the performers

okay now lets talk BEACH!
Lots of laying out, surfing for Austin, Swimming, exploring...amazing!

and lets not forget the food....so so good. Nasi goreng and Mie goreng...YUM!!! So good I forgot to take a picture of it before we started eating.

Well we decided to do a little tour to go and see the temples and things...
I love this picture!

such cool temples!

So random but these people really wanted to take pictures with me and Austin....I dont know why?

We decided to do a tour (not like us) and it started to rain...and rain and RAIN!! it was insane. Everything was flooded in a matter of minutes...and we got soaked! While walking back to the tour van Austin and I had to wade through shin deep water in the parking lot. We were laughing so hard, it was awesome! I haven't been caught in the rain in a long time...it felt good :)

me sopping wet.

Our last night in Bali....we got to have dinner with Cory and Mark. Cory is a friend of mine since middle school and her and her husband happened to arrive in Bali a day before we left. SO we went out to dinner and then all got massages. (did I mention massages are only $5? its amazing) It was so fun! I just love them both :) Wished we could have hung out more.

love you Bali....we will be back!

Good Bye

2010-05-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Good Bye New Zealand!
Goodbye to crazy Kiwi's
Goodbye to weird words like "munted"
Good bye to beautiful New Zealand Beaches
Good Bye to farms and cows
Good Bye to Hell's Pizza, Burgerfuel, and boysenberry ice cream
Good Bye to good friends!!!!
Good Bye to 4 months of work and fun with amazing people!

and Thanks to everyone that was so amazing to us while there....especially Dave Ski and Amy and THESE crazy folks below.....
We will miss you guys!!! (ha ha please look at Brads face in the back....so so scary!)

Hello Indonesia!!!

road trippin it...

2010-05-01T06:00:00.001-07:00

About a week ago Austin and I embarked on a tiny road trip to Rotorua to see more of good ole New Zealand. So let me take you along with us....

First and MOST importantly was the SHEEP SHOW!! ha ha yes that is what I said, a sheep show....a show with sheep....sheep doing a show. What more could you possibly ask for? Well I say nothing. And was it all it promised to be you may ask? Oh yes! and much much more. And anyone who knows me, knows that I love animals and for some reason they make me laugh more than anything... so needless to say this show was comedy hour :)

here are some of my fluffy friends...

Let me introduce you to....Jaba the Hut (on the left) and Perm (on the right) (named by me and Austin). These 2 were hands down my favorite....notice Perm smiling? He is just happy to be a part of such a fabulous show!

I had to take a solo pic alone with Jaba and he even showed a little leg... what a tease

What happens in a sheep show?
Well, I now have an increased knowledge of many different kinds of sheep and differences in their wool. I saw a sheep get sheared, a cow get milked, a sheep dog do tricks, baby lambs....and yes even 3 ducks made an appearance. It was a full farm extravaganza.

Now what could possibly compare to a sheep show? A Luge of course. It is fantastic....its like skateboarding down the most gigantic hill but getting to steer.

Away we go...

Now as you read the helmet you will see that...

SO up we go for a second round!

The view from the top so so pretty :)

After our first day of festivities....it was time to camp it out
(in the car because everywhere we went tried to charge us to camp)

The next morning we decided to go and see the "Buried Village". Sounds interesting, scary, maybe a little adventurous?? WELL.....it was NOT! It actually,we decided, might have been the worst thing we have ever spent our money on, ha ha, which made it SO funny. It is basically an outdoor museum about a little village that was buried under a volcano...and what is displayed? Oh you know... those exciting broken plates that were found, replica bed sheets and an old oven (that looked like a dirt hill to me)...ohhhh it was thrilling. ha ha but we were the only ones there so it was pretty fun we just fooled around and had leaf fights.

So since I had no desire to take pictures of the village itself here is a little of the beautiful nature

After the Buried Village we thought we would hit up some hot pools (pretty much what Rotorua is known for) We asked a local about some hidden hot pools that were free....and she told us about this place.
It was amazing warm bath like water, no one around and so pretty. It was so exciting....so we dove right in and started swimming. THEN we got to the other side and what awaited us was volcanic rock and boiling hot mud. It was painful and awful and we instantly decided to head back. But to get back meant to cross back over the incredibly sharp rocks and boiling mud. Austin decided to just steam roll the whole thing, but me? Well I came up with the genius idea of trying to dive OVER everything into clear safe water.
The diving idea was unsuccessful and THIS happened to my leg. It was so painful and the worst part was I had to swim back to the other side.
We tried to clean it up as much as we could....bandaged it and continued on to Raglan.
This is Raglan... so so beautiful. I just sat here on this grass and watched Austin surf at sunset, it was amazing and made Raglan one of my favorite places.

We were going to camp out and stay another night in Raglan BUT my leg was on fire and throbbing and needed some more care. So we headed home at 2 in the morning.

So this road trip was probably one of my favorites, I laughed, I cried and I was with my best friend, it was awesome :)

Okay just one more pic of Jaba.... I've gotta end this post with a bang!

My NZed accident

2010-04-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

YES I got in an accident.
In a country that is not mine....in a car that wasn't mine....with children that arn't mine....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Good news, the kids were fine (I think they actually thought it was neat once the initial scary part stopped happening), I was fine, the other driver was fine and it wasn't my fault
Bad news....I totaled their car :(

What happened?? Well I was driving the kids that I nanny for to their play center and I was driving down a two way road, I went to turn right (mind you we drive on the left side of the road, so it would be like turning left) and some guy in a camper van decided to pass me on my right side on a solid yellow line....I turned right we hit I lost control and landed in a ditch.
I cried, freaked out that I killed the kids, panicked cause I am not in America...and then calmed down. All in all everything was okay, but I still felt really bad :(

Some really kind people stopped to help, one pulled the kids out of the car because I couldn't get to them....the other took pictures, another called the cops, and some just consoled me.

phew glad that is over!

Easter

2010-04-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

On Easter I had a hard time finding eggs....so these guys helped me out

ha ha we were house sitting over Easter weekend, it was a lot of fun and so nice to have a house to ourselves. And while we were there I got to take care of their chickens. They were amazing, they just would follow you everwhere. Austin called them "constantly hopeful" ha ha because they were always thinking that you were going to feed them.
When I own my own house some day I am going to HAVE CHICKENS! They are so so funny, and they give you eggs every morning, I just love em!

Funny N ZED! (That's right, "Z" is prononuced "zed")

2010-03-27T03:44:00.000-07:00

Well we have been living in New Zealand now for 3 months, and in that time I have come to notice things...
funny things...
like the fact that people in New Zealand just don't like to wear shoes. To the market, around the street, or pretty much anywhere. Kids just go to school with no shoes on ha ha its very strange

Or their weird traffic rules....

But what I have come to really love are their funny words!! I just am picking up on more and more of them, and I felt that I had to share some of my favorites with you all :)

Jandals- Sandals/flip flops
Nappies- Diapers
Pram- Stroller
Full stop- Period
(like at the end of a sentence (punctuation wise), or if they're trying to emphasize something, like:
"I told you I'm not doing that..period!" They would say, "I told you I'm not doing that...full stop!" ha ha)
Sweet As- Cool/ Awesome
Flash- Fashionable/ Nice ("that car is flash")
Togs- Swimsuit
lollies- Candy
(this one confused me because I thought everyone was talking about lolly pops)
Munted-broken or messed up
Chippies- any kind of chip
Chips- Fries
Park or Parks- parking spot or parking lot ("I cant find a park")

and my all time favorite...."I cant be bothered" ha ha this one is amazing!! People say it all the time. Austin and I went to open a bank account and the manager went up to one of the tellers and said "can you help these two" and she said I CAN'T BE BOTHERED!! and it's totally fine, its just their way of saying I'm busy or I cant, but it sounds like they are being lazy.

Rugby

2010-03-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

Our first Rugby game.....

It was a lot of fun! And even better we got in for FREE! ha ha we just walked up to the gate and a lady came up to us and said "hey you guys want some tickets, I don't need these"
Sweet As (as they say in New Zealand).

Now I don't fully understand the game....especially this part....

But it was fun!

???

2010-03-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

What have we been doing???

We have been in New Zealand for over 2 months now and well, I have not posted much....so this is what we have been up to....

WORKING!! ha ha yes!
We both agreed, along our trip around the world, we needed to stop somewhere and make some moolah...SO what better place than NZ? and why you ask? well basically because everyone here speaks English (or close enough)
So after about a month of getting work visas, buying a car and a scooter.....searching and submitting applications and resumes...we both got jobs!

Now what are our jobs?

Well..... Austin landed a job as a program tester for an online medical school. So basically he sits in front of a computer and tries to find mistakes and problems with certain programs....actually pretty neato for a quick little job. He really likes it BUT the hours are intense and when I say intense I MEAN intense....for example one day last week he went to work at 7 am and didn't leave till 4 am! He is such a hard worker...I love him!

I am a Nanny....for a family of cow farmers :) ha ha I never really considered myself the city type...but after this...I think that I am! I love the family they are so incredibly nice and the kids I just adore One is 6 one is 4 and one is 2, I love my job.....besides all of the strange things like...smelling cow pies most of the day, driving about 45 min out into the country every morning, and a few other things that I will share later...but I really do have a great time.

So that is what we have been doing...besides the escape to the local beaches almost every weekend...we are officially not bums for the next couple months, we are back to the grind (at least for the time being) and it really feels nice :)

Piha

2010-03-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful NZ beach....and one we go to the most....Piha

New Zealand part 3

2010-03-02T23:39:00.000-08:00

BEACH BEACH and more BEACH.
ha ha that pretty much sums up what we have been up to in New Zealand....so excuse the beach pictures...and the many more that will be coming.

New Zealand part 2

2010-02-18T01:53:00.000-08:00

My favorite day...

We have been in New Zealand for about 2 months and so far this was my favorite day. We went to 2 of the most amazing beaches I have ever been to
-hot water beach
-Cathedral cove

Hot water beach
is so cool....basically you dig a hole in the sand and you have BOILING hot water....so you have little hot tubs everywhere. You have to mix in some cold ocean water or you pretty much scold your skin...its really neat.

Austin is NOT naked in this pic (even though he looks like he is)

ha ha Brad is just relaxing and enjoying it

Now Cathedral Cove....
It is so wonderful. You have to take a 40 min hike to get there and it is so breathtaking....and then you get to the beach and it looks like
THIS!

AND I went swimming....and didn't even rash that much! yay it was so fun swimming out to this rock with Austin.

a little cave...

NEW ZEALAND part 2

2010-02-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

Well I have to say when we got to New Zealand we didn't really do much. After 4 time changes and 4 flights we were pretty tired. So we just relaxed for a couple weeks, and soaked up some sun at the local beaches. Then we had to buy a car....then we had to find jobs....and after all was accomplished it was time to
HAVE SOME FUN!

Here are a few pics from a casual little hike we did one day. There are pretty much A MILLION fields in NZ, they are so beautiful I just love them.

our picture perfect poses....ha ha I loved this frame of the scenic view such a fun idea. For sure a picture opp

one of the many fields...its my favorite at sun set everything is so golden

Next we went to check out the Waitomo Caves. They are unreal! We heard about these glow worm caves and had to check it out. Unfortunately we couldn't take ANY picture inside the caves, it was not allowed. So here are just a few from the internet.....

these are what the glow worms look like up close. These arn't the actual worms but the sticky strings that they build to catch bugs....but they are so beautiful and delicate.

Well first you hike through a crazy cake (picture on the right) and then when you get to the very bottom it is pitch dark and this is where you see the glow worms. It was so incredible it was just a starry sky of little blue lights. And you are just floating in the dark, in a boat, in complete silence...it was so magical, I loved every second.
(the picture on the left is kind of weird cause it was really dark ha ha no spot lights on the boat)

New Zealand

2010-02-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

BOWLING New Zealand style....

Well, we are staying with the Crouch family at the moment. So we have family night with them every week....this week we decided we needed to go bowling...AND dress in just plain weirdness. It was amazing...and all a surprise. No one mentioned what they were dressing like, and the unveiling happened right before we left...It was so so funny.
The whole night was so much fun. In the first game, I bowled better than I have in my whole entire bowling career...then I really sucked. Austin dominated like usual, was it because he was painted all black?? ha ha I dont know, but he looked frighting.

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite pic ha ha...thank you pillows!

Austin just looked plain scary....

ha ha you cant even see his face....he is just a big black BLOB!

The whole gang!

DUBAI

2010-01-31T23:33:00.000-08:00

I must say I was really excited to see Dubai. It was so amazing because we got to see a little bit of everything, the older city and then the new (ridiculously expensive) city. I must say the UAE loves making the biggest and the best.

When we first got to Dubai we took a little boat ride around the bay...it was so beautiful and so much fun I loved every min!

our boat driver....

the line up of boats, or should I say TAXI's, because that is exactly what they were

some people going to and from work....

ha ha I loved the trash can filled with coconut drinks....not what you usually see

the beautiful ocean!! (Lisa, Anne, Scott and Austin)

ha ha I thought this sounded so weird....we love babies?? kind of creepy? and what do they share?

ha ha we saw this while on the boat....it was so funny...do you notice the CARS under all the boxs?

Giveaway

2010-01-30T20:53:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY!!! on my other blog...check it out.

tellloveandchocolate.blogspot.com

most adorable hat :)

UAE continued.....

2010-01-22T02:42:00.000-08:00

ABU DHABI....a little bit of randomness.

So the first day we were there we went out to lunch with the Price family and they took us to this hole in the wall place and it was SO SO tasty!!

just a table full of yum!

One of the days we went to the Emirates Palace, it was AMAZING! Its a hotel...and we kind of had to sneak in cause they don't let people just walk around. It was beautiful and there was GOLD EVERYWHERE!!! ha ha even on these little cakes....YES that is what I said pieces of REAL gold on these cakes....you EAT them....WHAT?? they are that rich that you can eat gold ha ha it was crazy.

this may look like a painting but it is a CARPET!! yes a hand woven carpet....it was awesome and absolutely huge, it covered the entire 2 story wall

Austin in the fountains outside the hotel...

We went to the fish market...it was so awesome, but smelled NOT so awesome. When we walked out we saw this guy...and I had to take a picture....scary? yes a little :)

Abu Dhabi Sky line...

UAE- Abu Daubi

2010-01-17T04:46:00.001-08:00

Well let me just say I am a total slacker....We are currently in New Zealand and have been to Malaysia, Australia and I still have to talk about the United Arab Emirates.....so here goes....

Well we arrived in Abu Dhabi and were greeted by Gary Price (such a great guy) who took us to his beautiful home, we just loved their family.
(They were the family that we spent a week with in Oman.)

I cant even explain how rich this county is ha ha its so crazy. One of my favorite parts of Abu Daubi was their White Mosque it was the most beautiful building! It is the second biggest Mosque in the world (the first being Mecca in Saudi Arabia) so lets just say it was pretty magnificent. They spent about 1 billion dollars building it and during the whole tour...the guide was like "and this is plated in gold....and this is painted with gold.....and this IS solid gold."
(ha ha you can see how it would cost that much)

Well before I was even allowed on the Mosque grounds, Scott (Price) and Austin had to go and get me an Abaya to wear, (you can rent one from the Mosque... Woman have to wear one no matter what and the guys only have to wear a covering if they were in shorts)....even when my hair popped out I was told to hide it. It was pretty cool to get to wear one...but I must say they are REALLY toasty.

This was our guide....he was awesome and so funny!

tiny me...

This carpet was AMAZING...it is the largest carpet in the world and they flew over 2000 woman from Saudi Arabia to sew it inside the Mosque....very cool! I liked this shot of the woman just standing there...

This is my favorite picture!

And this is the largest Chandelier in the world....it is pretty huge!!

Austin with his new Muslim wife :)

More of the UAE to come.....some more Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

United Arab Emirates Clip

2010-01-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and yes the White Mosque, with the biggest dome ('doom') in the world... (that is on a mosque)...

Oman too!

2010-01-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

oh sorry I forgot about this one....it is my favorite!!!
(Oman too)

OMAN

2010-01-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

O MAN I love OMAN

Austin pretty much explained in his video...but we went on a week long trip with the Price and Kacher family and explored the country of OMAN. It was absolutely amazing, all of the hikes, the culture, the GOATS, camping, thousand year old tombs, Sloppy joes, camp fires, Sea turtles and beautiful beaches...it was so unbelievable and so unforgettable.

GOATS everywhere...and I mean EVERYWHERE! They make me laugh...crazy goats

we were wandering through a small mountain town and this lady walked by....I love that picture

This hike was amazing...so beautiful and nothing like I expected Oman to be like

I loved this sign...you see it as your leaving the Abu Dhabi boarder into Oman

Oman Clip

2009-12-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

So here is our Oman Trip... It was unbelievable! We initially only planned to be in Abu Dhabi for a couple days, but then we got invited on a trip to Oman that we couldn't turn down. So we changed our flights (the benefit of having no plans) It was epic...

While we were in Oman we got to go watch sea turtles come on the beach and lay eggs... planet earth style. Anyway, you'll see in the clip a little guy..."Tyson." He was special to us because the stat is that like 1 out of 1000 baby green sea turtles survive. They give strict rules and regulations to make sure you do not interfere with nature, as it might disrupt the natural process of things. Anyway, so Tyson was among his hundreds of other brothers and sisters fleeing from the sand to the water. Well a bunch of stupid tourists kept flashing their camera lights into his eyes and he got confused and starting running the wrong way... The guide simply said that we had to leave him, because it was nature and the turtle would just get eaten by the birds or crabs. Well, as I'm sure you can all imagine, Sara was not about to accept that. Her argument was that nature doesn't flash point and shoot cameras in turtles eyes that throw off their bearings! So she pretty much coached this little turtle to victory. She'd smooth out the sand and build walls to guide it. It was pretty funny....

Anyway, we spent about a week roaming Oman with the Price and Kacher Families and had a blast. The food was awesome, the scenery was awesome, the company was even better, and we had soooo much fun! Thanks guys!!

ISTANBUL final part

2009-12-27T02:19:00.000-08:00

Alright this is the LAST Istanbul post and it is bitter sweet... Here are just a few pictures at random

One of the most famous things to see is the Blue Mosque, it is pretty awesome inside...

The Blue Mosque from the water....it is so massive!

US :)

This was the street where our hostel was....I just loved it, cobblestones and all

some food on the go....how neat is the boat restaurant....they just made fish sandwiches and then sold them to the people on the dock

the next few are some rainy day pics....oh how I LOVE rainy days

Trolley in town and steamed milk by the water...

This Mosque is right across from the Blue Mosque...they are like sisters....this one is the Hagia Sophia its a Muslim Mosque that was converted into a Catholic Church and then into a museum...

At night on the Bosphorus

....the beautiful skyline of Istanbul!

OH and did I tell you we got to celebrate Halloween there? We stayed with an American Family and they set up a good ole American trick or treat with a BUNCH of other families!
Me and Austin stayed behind and passed out candy....dont you just love our costumes ha ha we raided their kids' dress up box....notice Austins peg leg and parrot (hand made by me) and my sweet Napoleon dynamite hair and 80's tennis outfit? pretty snazzy!

All I have to say is that we LOVED Istanbul, it was unbelievable! Thanks to the food, the Markets, our new Friends( the most fantastic family) , the People, the sites and just every single memory. I miss it all! I will most definitely go back one day!!

CHRISTMAS CARD!!

2009-12-24T00:12:00.000-08:00

Well, since its a little difficult to send out Christmas cards because we are traveling at the moment, I made this!

....so
MERRY CHRISTMAS
we love and miss all of you, thank you for all of your love this past year!

ISTANBUL part three

2009-12-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

Things that made me laugh ....

ha ha this sign was so funny...

okay I have to say this was one of my favorites...this is the Turkish tow truck, it is pretty much the most amazing invention! This is how it works....it pulls up besides the car...these little fork lifts come out it picks it up and then puts it on the platform...and it is gone in 5 min haha people dont even know what hit them!

Now im not sure why but Turkish cabbages are like the size of watermelons, its ridiculous. I bought one for dinner one night and used about an 8th of it and it fed a family of 5!

This was just scary.... the suicide lane, its just a big free for all

ha ha "NO TRUMPETING" this one is for you JoAnne! These were all over the place....funny looking horn...guess they dont like honking :)

ISTANBUL part two

2009-12-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

I would have to say one of my favorite sites I saw in Istanbul was the Basilica Cistern....
its all underground and there are hundreds of columns rising up from pools of water...They have red lights illuminating each column and it is absolutely beautiful and so amazing that something like this was built underground and so long ago....it was unreal!!

so beautiful!

Austin looking creepy

Okay so this was our National Treasure moment....So there are these two columns in the Basilica that have Medusas head at the bottom of them. They are the only two columns like that out of the hundreds...one of the heads is straight and the other one is tilted on its side...No one knows why and they are facing these strange ways. Researchers have said it is only for the sole purpose of being bases to these columns but their opinions are not enough and still people wonder to this day....
SO after some thought and consideration on our part we have come to the conclusion that it is part of a map describing a code, and that the Medusa heads are leading us to a secret passage way that will unlock a hidden Turkish treasure....ha ha so THERE... we have unlocked the hidden mystery of thousands of years in our short tour...but needless to say we did not follow through and continue our destined path of uncovering treasure and went to see the rest of Istanbul...we will leave it for someone else :)

The mysterious heads....

Okay and also.... look at THIS column... this was the ONLY column that had this design on it...WHY? we are not sure we didnt come up with a theory on this one...but it is very I..n..t..e..r..e..s...t..i..n..g.........if you have any theories please share!

ha ha so there it is our adventure underground! And it was my favorite!! If you ever go to Istanbul (which I would highly recommend) you must visit this place it is totally magical

more of Istanbul to come....

ISTANBUL part one

2009-12-10T01:43:00.001-08:00

I seriously LOVE Turkey! We lived in Istanbul for about a month with the most AMAZING family....we got to see and experience so much while we were there it was so much fun :)

The people, the beauty, the food, and all of the experiences have been some of my favorite memories so far....It is just such a spectacular country

so (I am a little behind...but) here are pieces of Istanbul...hope they help you to love it too!

This is one of my favorite pictures...this was at sunset and me and Austin were walking home, we stopped on this hill to look at the view and it was so amazing...

First and most Importantly....THE FOOD!

wow the food was unreal....seriously unreal!
(this was me and Austins favorite meal ever)

this was apple tea...so yummy its like drinking an Apple Jolly Rancher....and Baklava the most delicious treat

more delicious things we ate...

yum. Turkish Pizza!

Next....are the fantastic Markets....So much to see AND buy :)
There is the Spice Market...and then the Grand Bazaar, I loved them both

Austin feeling right at home with a bunch of other fruits ha ha...(that was for you Dirk)

I bought a bunch of these bowls....I just couldn't resist they were so neat

this guy is selling Simits...they are really really tasty, and they sell them EVERYWHERE

Another pic I love :)

More of Istanbul to come....

Israel

2009-12-06T02:45:00.001-08:00

Israel....Jerusalem

I have always wanted to go to Israel and especially Jerusalem, there are so many wonderful things to see and to just think of all of the miracles that happened there...it is so exciting. Unfortunately we were only there for a couple days....but what we got to see is so memorable to me!

Well one of the first sites we saw was the Weeping Wall...I guess I never knew of the significance of this wall to the Jewish Faith till I got there and was able to see the reaction people had to it and got to learn of its history... it was really interesting. The wall is separated into a men's and woman's side. When I went up to the wall it was swarmed with people, woman were crying, and others were praying. It was really cool to see.

this is the men's side....

Next I must talk about the markets. Lots to see AND eat! So we had to stop off for some good ole Falafel….YUM! I don’t think I can ever get sick of Falafel.

And next the shops, so neat and so much fun stuff….I loved all of these crazy jars and pots and vases!

I also bought our first Nativity scene there (I'm sad I didn’t take a picture of it before I shipped it back home) but it is seriously so amazing I love it.

this shop was absolute chaos....

This building was in the market and I just loved it….don't you just love Mosaics?

I have to say one really weird thing is all of these 18 year olds walking around EVERYWHERE with these semi automatic riffles.....ha ha so many girls too....it was kind of strange.

Now I saved the best for last….. The Garden of Gethsemane and the Garden Tomb.

The Garden of Gethsemane was so amazing, so beautiful I loved it! The trees there were so unusual.... It was just amazing to be able to picture what it might have looked and been like. The Garden is right under the mount of Olives where there are hundreds of olive trees....

the view from the top of the mount of olives

The Garden Tomb was so amazing, all of it is just how I pictured it would be...

the entrance

The tomb....you could go inside

after you look at the tomb you walk through a small garden and then you are at Golgotha

its weird cause right underneath Golgotha is a bus station....but it still doesn't take away from the meaning and what happened there.

I loved Israel and hope to go back again some day :)

check it out!!

2009-11-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!! Sorry I have so much more to post and so little time....BUT I am doing a FANTASTIC giveaway on my other blog Tell love and chocolate....check it out and enter :)

Egypt Part TWO

2009-11-22T06:53:00.000-08:00

Dahab and Mount Sinai

So after an 8 hour bus ride we arrived in Dahab....such an awesome town I loved it there!! Its a little beach town right on the red sea. We were so tired when we got there that we just passed out...but the next day we explored the town.

I love the no camels on the beach sign....

so pretty

just some random sights of the town

They had a whole street of these amazing restaurants right on the water...so colorful and so pretty all lit up at night

The Red Sea and ME

This was an old broken down building on the boardwalk but I just loved this picture and the sun shining through

After checking out Dahab we were off to hike Mt. Sinai. This was one of the most amazing experiences ever. You leave for the hike at about 11:30 at night and ride a small mini van for an hour out to the mountain. The hike starts at around 1:30 am....and it is EXTREMELY cold!

There are hundreds of people that are hiking but you have a guide and your own group. We had about 9 in our group and once we got our guide we were off.... Honestly it was SO incredible at night, it was pitch black with no light whatsoever and you are hiking through these canyons with the most vivid stars overhead. I loved every second! I saw about 7 shooting stars and that is only when we stopped to rest....all in all it was INCREDIBLE

here is my attempt to try and capture the stars....I was so rushed cause we were in the middle of hiking...and that is hard to do with such a long shutter speed

After 2 1/2 hours of hiking you come to the "750 steps"...yes that is right Seven hundred and fifty steps that is the actual name....ha ha the last thing I wanted to do was climb up that many steps...but we did it :)

Once at the top they have all of these Bedouin huts set up so that you can have some hot chocolate and tea before the sun rises.... It was a cold wait. Here is Austin with some of our group

The sun not up yet...but still so beautiful

snuggling up...trying to stay warm...and watching the sun rise

my favorite moment....so breathtaking...probably the most gorgeous sunrise I have EVER seen

views after the sun came up....ha ha so that is what we were hiking through in the middle of the night...you never would have known

It was so amazing to think that Moses hiked up these mountains at one time...just amazing

The hike back down....for some reason this was so much more exhausting to me....probably because I did a 3 hour hike in freezing cold weather and hadnt slept

some sights on the way down...you could rent camels to help you walk up or down the mountain...I just love camels they make me laugh

Egypt was amazing, I almost wish we would have spent more time there....such kind people and such beautiful places. My favorite was Mt. Sinai what an incredible experience, one that I will always cherish.

Now off to Israel

Egypt & Israel Clip

2009-11-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Here ya go... Here's some footage from our mini-trip to Egypt and Israel. If you want to watch it in HD, watch it on Vimeo. Sorry for the clumsy camera work... oh and I didn't think the Bedouin funk was appropriate for such sacred sites... and was too lazy to find something to fill the silence.

The Holy Land from Austin Walk on Vimeo.

Egypt Part ONE

2009-11-19T07:32:00.000-08:00

Cairo Egypt

First I want to give a shout out to Turkish Airlines....pretty much amazing! We took a flight at 11:30 at night to Cairo Egypt and the flight was only 1 hour and 55 min and they gave us a full blown menu and meal!!! Now THAT is my kind of airline!!

This was sooo good (roasted veggies, rice and beef kebabs) Is that weird? Good airplane food?

We got into Cairo Airpot at 2 in the morning so we slept there till about 8 and then headed out to go see the pyramids....they were so awesome!

I just had to do this....Its like not leaning on the leaning tower of Pisa ha ha

I loved the Sphinx and Pyramids they were so massive....and amazing!

next it was time to get some dinner before we took the bus to Dahab...

so we had THIS... its kosheri (im not sure if I spelled that right) but Austin swore it was tasty tasty...and he was right!! YUM! Its like noddle goodness!

Crazy Cairo...

These were just some random lights but they were hanging all over the city....I thought they were so cool

Cairo was the craziest city that I have ever been to, but I had such a good time :)

Off to Dahab and to climb mount Sinai!!!

Turkey part 3

2009-11-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ephesus!!

Its an ancient Roman and Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, it is absolutely amazing, and the coolest thing is you can touch and crawl in and out of everything I loved it! And to think that Apostle Paul preached all over this city, it made it so special!

One of my favorite parts of the whole city was the Library of Celsus, it was incredible!!

there was so much detail, it was beautiful!

little fact: It used to hold about 12,000 scrolls....so neat!

this was on the wall inside the library...it looked so cool!

just some more sites, I loved all of the columns

So while we were walking around and exploring we found this building that we had to crawl to, we got even more curious and ended up hoisting ourselves up onto these barred window sills....behind the bars were all of these tombs, or tomb stones, it was amazing!! Definitely something that was NOT on the tour.

So another one of my favorite parts of Ephesus was the Theater, It was HUGE and so amazing. Austin even did a little ballet performance there (secret footage in the video)

little fact: Used to seat around 44,000

Ephesus was fascinating and such a fun way to end our week tour along the coast of Turkey!!

Pamukkale

2009-11-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

next...PAMUKKALE (means "Cotton Castle" in Turkish)

These hot springs have been around since the second centruy BC, and the Romans used them to bathe. Basically they are hot springs that are on travertine, and limestone which is what give it that white snowy look. ha ha a little science for you

So after Cappadocia we headed over to the next natural wonder...and it was amazing! We got there late so we thought we should go check it out at night....it was so awesome!!

I totally felt like I was walking on the moon, and it was awesome because there was NO ONE there so we had the most amazing view all to ourselves.

I love this picture!!after our night exploring....we were ready for our day adventure

Next morning we put on our bathing suits, and went to play in the water....

just lounging in some streams
I loved the pools they were so cool
ha ha Austin totally submerged Then after you hike up all of the hot springs they have all of these roman ruins up top it was so so cool!

Such an amazing place, we loved it so much!!!

Turkey Clip

2009-10-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

you'll probably be able to tell...but we're having the time of our lives.

(click "HD" tab on the right and it will take you to Vimeo to watch it in HD)

Turkey from Austin Walk on Vimeo.

Turkey part 1

2009-10-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yay Cappadocia!!

So last Monday we took a night bus (about 12 hours) and started our week long trip through southern Turkey.....and we started in..... CAPPADOCIA! It is by far one of the most amazing places in Turkey, it is truly incredible. (so this is one of quite a few other posts to come from this last week)

First off I want to give a shout out to the buses in Turkey. They are fantastic! It is like you are on an airplane. The buses are so nice inside and there are little stewardesses that walk around passing around drinks and snacks ha ha. The only problem are the bus drivers...I'm pretty sure they are crazy and dont realize that if they go 90 miles an hour around a corner on a mountain pass that there is a SLIGHT possibility that you may tip the bus over a cliff. One of our bus drivers got mad at another car and tried to run them off the road....THAT was interesting.

It is honestly the place of natural wonders. And so on arriving we found a hotel in a cave....ha ha yes a CAVE! It was so fun I loved it!

This is our cave room

the patio overlooking the city

Please read the sign of our hotel very carefully...ha ha we loved our wiewover and the roop!
Next we rented a scooter and just spent the day scootin around and exploring!

All over Cappadocia are all these houses built into rocks....like entire cities it is amazing...we pretty much spent the whole day crawling around and exploring all of the homes...and the best part is most of the time we were completely alone :)

I have to say my favorite part was our hot air balloon ride the next morning....we had to wake up at five because the balloon floats over Cappadocia at sunrise... it was so amazing!!!

getting ready to take off..

so so amazing!!

soaring!!! I have to say I think that Cappadocia was my favorite part of the trip! Such a beautiful place with so much history, so many amazing natural wonders, hot air balloons and my best friend...all these combined
= greatness!!!

Madrid Flick

2009-10-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a flick from our time in Madrid... Don't get confused... we are in Istanbul right now but just lagging on our productions haha. Anyway... Here it is... Oh ya, did we mention we loved Spain??

Untitled from Austin Walk on Vimeo.

P.S. I'm going on an island and I'm gonna bring a Sailboat, pencil, alligator, igloo, and napkins... try to come, I dare you

Morocco Clip

2009-10-15T09:18:00.001-07:00

Here is some footage from Morocco... I have to admit... the video is pretty pathetic. I should have put more effort into it. Sorry...

Untitled from Austin Walk on Vimeo.

Madrid!!

2009-10-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

Let me just sum up Madrid in a few words....

Gonzo's amazing house, water-balloons, futbol (soccer), eating, the Island game, cookies, playing, and pretty much just chillaxing!

so once again Gonzo and his brother Borja made our stay in Madrid oh so special. First off we stayed in their most amazing home with the best terrace ever. And every day we would eat breakfast outside and and just chill. The post might be a little scattered but here are some stories in no particular order....

1st.... let me introduce you to TASTE OF AMERICA.
Yes that is exactly what it is..a taste of America. They have everything American...to name a few, brown sugar, peanut butter, skittles, measuring cups, vanilla extract, nerds, brownie mixes, bagels and much much more. This store pretty much has everything that doesn't exist or is extremely hard to find in Madrid. After Gonzo bought the supplies we were off to make some good ole American cookies. Which is pretty much what we ate every single day while in Madrid. (I guess you just start to miss the small stuff after awhile)

2nd... Laydown. Well Austin did a little video about this place but Gonzo took us out to dinner one night to this amazing restaurant where you lay in beds watch a show and eat. I mean what more could I ask for...lounging and eating. It is really cool and the music was awesome and the food... unbelievable!
(we even tried Carpaccio...it's thin slices of raw meat...yes a little scary but i guess really popular)

me and Austin on our bed :)our little table we eat off of...
3rd...Waterballoons.Well let me just start out by saying i didn't have anything to do with this debauchery but I did watch. (not true, Sara hucked a couple off the terrace without even looking!) So for Austin's birthday I bought him a pack of water-balloons..well he would throw one here or there but THEN we got to Gonzos and he lives in a huge apartment on the ninth floor, has a patio, and is right across from a street with about 20 taxis every day all day...so needless to say he was excited. lets just say they threw water-balloons at the taxis all the time and before we left Austin had turned Gonzo into a water balloon monster (he ended up being more addicted than Austin)

4th... Six Flags...well sort of.
So they have a mini six flags in Madrid and Borja and Gonzo took us. It was a lot of fun..here are some of my favorite pics.

ha ha right before we left they wanted to go on this weird spinney ride (which i opted not to ride). It ended up being really really lame and not fun at all...this was captured right after it was over...ha ha they were so disappointed and Austin was so uncomfortable!
5th..The Bernebeu!! (real Madrid soccer stadium)
Well Gonzo's family has season tickets to Real Madrid and so they get free tours when ever. So they brought us! (A few weeks later Austin went with Gonzo to a Game!)

the field

this is where the team sits during the game... a streaker ran across the field ha ha not really...but seriously...
the museum
our press conference...

Austin and the FAKE Casillas...

Austin and the REAL Casillas...yes he actually got to meat him weeks later. We were just lounging outside and he drove up in his car so Austin got an autograph and a little chat.

Gonzo chatting with him...
6th.... The Madrid Temple.
How amazing is this picture...i took this right after conference it looked so pretty at night
We had a chance to go to the temple and do Sealings...then we spent the next two days at a conference-athon. Cause of the time difference they show like 4 sessions in one day but it was so wonderful I loved every second!

7th...Just random pics of Madrid

relaxing on Gonzo's terace

the view from his terrace....so pretty

Gonzo and Nieto

look he really is a PRINCE!

Thanks Spain and especially to Gonzo and Borja for everything that they did for us. We are so blessed that we met them and can now call them friends. I hope one day we can do as much for them as they did for us!
We love you guys :)

check it out!!

2009-10-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hi sorry Ive been slacking on our travel blog, its pretty much because we have just been slacking period...I mean ha ha who doesn't need some down time? So we have pretty much just been vegging out!! But I have lots to tell about Madrid!! very very soon

In the mean time check out my other blog TELL LOVE AND CHOCOLATE Im doing my first giveaway this month!!! so enter to win :)

TheLaydown

2009-10-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is a flick from our favorite restaurant in Madrid. It's called the Laydown... you eat, while you laydown. Genius...

Laydown from Austin Walk on Vimeo.

The Sahara and Couscous

2009-09-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

This

+ This
= So much fun in Morocco!!

So on to Morocco part two! I have so much to share....okay i have to backtrack because on this post i will give you a little idea of the trials of TRAVEL through Morocco. On my last post I failed to mention the train ride from Tangier to Rabat....

Travel story #1
Once we got on the train we found out we had to get off at one stop and then get on another train that would take us to Rabat...this sounded fine...but once we got on the second train i realized it was going to suck big time! the whole train was packed...and i mean PACKED with people. So much in fact that you couldnt sit in any of the compartments but had to stand in this tiny isle and not just stand but be completely packed in between so many hot and smelly people. ha ha at first we were like this is okay it is only like 40 min....till we talked to the girl next to us who told us it was actually 3 hours UHG!! So finally we got to Rabat but now the problem was getting off the train...so we fought our way through all the people to the exit only to find that the door was jammed so we had to fight our way through to the other side of the train car to the other door...but the train had already started to go..i looked back at Austin and was like.."yeah?" and he nodded and so we both jumped off the moving train....ahhhh at last in Rabat!

now on to Marrakesh

Travel story #2

This time the train ride wasnt bad. It wasnt packed, in fact it was just Me, Austin, and two other woman in the train compartment. So half way during the train ride the woman next to me took out a small box, turned to me and then offered me a cookie....i was very excited, i took one and then she offered one to Austin...well this was the start of a beautiful friendship (especially when it involves delicious cookies). We all started talking and ended up talking the rest of the train ride. Her name was Rashida and she was on her way to go see her daughter in Marrakesh to have a celebration feast after their Religious month of Ramadan (this is a month long celebration including fasting for 30 days from sunrise to sunset). At the end of the train ride she asked if me and Austin would like to join her family for the celebration dinner....and we agreed!!

so the next afternoon we went to her daughter Wafa's house to eat....it was amazing... the food the people everything!!!

here were some tasty treats, little appetizer cookies yum!

now on to the main course....oh my gosh seriously this was the best couscous EVER!!!
Rashida just put it in the middle of the table and we all grabbed a spoon or some used their hands(which i guess is how your supposed to eat it) and just dug right in and started eating!
This family was so much fun we laughed so much and then all shared pictures and stories we had the best time and are so blessed to have met our new friends!
(I'm sad Rashidas husband isnt in the pic...he wasnt feeling well and had to lay down)

So Marrakesh has been my favorite city it is so crazy and there is so much to see i just loved it!! They have this huge market square where there are dancers, performers, snake charmers, food and then a huge market where they sell pottery, purses, sandals, spices and pretty much EVERYTHING!! it was so so cool and there are so many authentic Moroccan hand made goodies.

i would have taken more pics but you have to be careful because once you take a picture they freak out and demand money ha ha so you have to be sneaky :)

a picture of the square at night
One of the lantern shops in the market
some spices, pottery and sites (traditional Berber clothing)
the fun market ha ha also crazy...notice the bike riding through? this is NOT a street
more of the marketour hotel in Marrakesh has been my favorite so far! Here is a nice patio on the roof

our room and bathroom....yay our own shower AND toilet...i was so so excited!!

Marrakesh was so much fun and even better once we met Rashida and her amazing family!!!

now off to the Sahara Desert!!

Travel story #3 (by far my least favorite)

well we wanted to go to the Sahara but unfortunately there are no trains out there so we had to take a bus....a 14 HOUR BUS! here are some of the highlights...

1. it was incredibly old (and i mean GROSS and old and smelly!)
2. the driver tried to charge us to put our bags under the bus that we already payed for so we ended up cramming all of our stuff around our feet leaving no room to move at all
3. someone had smeared their lunch all over the seat in front of me so that is what i looked at the whole ride
4. They advertised that there is air conditioning...but what they really meant was that they would have one little window open
5. we were so so so SO stuffy and hot and uncomfortable and this was only 2 hours in
6. The guy sitting squished next to Austin smelled so badly and was passing gas non stop
7. We were on a paved road only 10 percent of the trip the other 90 percent was on dirt
8. The lady right by us decided that she wanted to blast the music from her cell phone and it was HORRIBLE music
9. The bus driver stopped the bus and started yelling at this old guy they got in a fight and he got kicked off the bus...what they fought about? i have no idea
10. We only stretched our feet once
11. Everytime we feel asleep we would hit a pot hole or something and we would smack our heads
12. and the craziest story for last....
so we were sitting there at one of the stops and this girl comes in and sits down in the seat right in front of me, then 5 seconds later this guy gets on the bus...takes the girls hand, leans in like he is going to talk to her and then spits in her FACE, then runs off the bus. Me and Austin were in complete shock!! I then offered her a wet wipe for her face. So then her friend comes to sit by her and then the man comes back onto the bus... well me and Austin both start yelling at him to get away from her, and Austin stands up to get him off the bus. One of the girls turns around and says no to us (telling us to stop) then the guy that spit on the girl turns to Austin and starts yelling at him in french we were like uhhh okkk??
Then he turned and got off the bus. We both just kind of sat there and were like what the heck just happened? So then the girl sitting in front of Austin turns around and thanks us profusely (in broken English) and continues to thank us by giving us jewelry and buying us snacks. What we ended up figuring out was that he was the girls ex husband and he just came on the bus and spit on her 16 year old sister...why? we dont know.....and why they thanked us a million times? we dont know either ha ha cause we didn't do anything but oh well!!
they offered for us to come and stay at their home but we had to continue on our trip.

well finally we arrived at Rasani, our destination at 5 in the morning...we got off at the scariest bus station ever and then had to walk into town to get a taxi to Merzouga ...but finally we were at our hotel...we took a nap and then headed into the Sahara for our trek....

was that crazy awful 14 hour bus ride worth it?? YES!!
because we got to do this...

camel ride into the Sahara
have a sweet guide
stay in a berber tent
look at the most unbelievable stars
eat a tasty meal
watch the sunrise over the sahara
and have one of the best experiences of all time!!

now its time to meet Bernard (my black camel), Sid (Austins brown camel) and Sayid (our guide)
by the way we named our camels ourselves :)
Well we hopped on our camels and were off for a trek into the Sahara!

view from my camelpicture i took of another group in front of us (taking pictures on a camel was very hard...ha ha so bumpy)

once we got to our camp it started to rain and there was a thunder storm....so cool!! it barely ever rains in the Sahara so that was neat....but it only lasted for 20 min...

our sweet tent!

me and Austin in our tent...with our little dinner table :)

Sayid and Austin chillin in the tent.....we loved our guide

the amazing meal that Sayid cooked for us...we had bread grapes and Tagine which is basically chicken and veggatables and spices steamed and cooked in this special pot...it was SO good!
and actually pretty romantic just me and Austin eating dinner in the middle of the Sahara ha ha on our tiny table!

next morning we woke up hiked to the top of a HUGE sand dune (i thought i was going to have a heart attack) and then watched this, the sun rise over dunes of Algeria! So beautiful.... (except the night before there wernt any clouds and it seriously looked like a scene from lion king i wanted to sing.... Nats ingonyama bagithi baba sithi uhhmm ingonyama...these are the begining lyrics to circle of life if anyone wanted to know)
...but of course i didnt take any pictures

just chillin on some sand dunes

back at the hotel eating breakfast

so that was our trip in Morocco!!! We are now back in Rabat and are heading back to Spain to grab the rest of our stuff and then off to ......Turkey!!!

thanks Morocco... for your craziness, for the sweet and generous people, for the awful bus rides, for the beautiful desert, for the annoying tourist hunters, for the disgusting hotels and for all the nutty stories it was a wonderful adventure!!

Morocco

2009-09-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

Crazy MOROCCO!!!

Okay i have so much to share about Morocco...we are still here and i love it!! ha ha it started out a little crazy but just keeps getting better and better!!
this is how our trip began...
We left spain at 12 at night took a 6 hour bus then walked to a train at 7 in the morning took the train till 12 pm then hopped on a ferry to Tangier at 2....it was a long day but we FINALLY arrived in Morocco

Austins friend he made on the ferry....(this guy thought at first that Austin was Alexander Hleb the soccer player)

on the ferry and then our first view of Morocco...

once we were off the ferry we just wanted to find a place and sleep....duh duh DUH this was the place we ended up finding....oh my gosh yuk!!! I was so upset about the bathroom i did NOT shower even though i felt extremely dirty!

So the next morning we headed off to Rabat...i liked it much better

one of the Crazy markets in Rabat
our second hotel in Morocco....this was better....
here was our room....much cleaner...but had a weird smellOn to Exploring Rabat....

We walked up to the Kasbah de Oudaias...then right behind it are these old houses over looking the water...i loved this place and all its cool blue and white buildings, and winding side streets
after roaming the blue and white town you ended up here over looking the ocean it was so pretty...ha ha and so windy
next we went to explore an old grave yard...it was sooo cool and so so huge!!

the streets at night
Here are some of my favorite pics of Rabat....

there is so much more to tell...but i will save that for the next post

Its a bird, Its a plane...

2009-09-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

Gonzo the prince....and now THE HERO!!!

I mean literally Gonzo is a hero. So here is a crazy story for all of you, and let me just tell you i wish you were all there cause it was WAY better in person!

and so the story begins....

So on our first day in Madrid we decided to do a little sightseeing. We headed over to a place called Plaza Colon, where there are these huge rocks everywhere. Well we decided to take some pics.....

Gonzo was setting up the tripod and Austin was filming, and while all of this was happening I set down my purse and camera next to me. Well we took some pics, then I went to grab my camera to take some too and......my purse and camera are GONE!! Yes, that is right, GONE!! Instantly my heart jumps into my throat. I look up and both Austin and Gonzo are talking to a guy who is pointing up the street (and telling them in spanish that someone just took my camera and purse and left) Well I jump off the stoop and just start running...for who, I don't even know, I just am so upset I don't know what else to do.
While I'm running, two people intercept me and start talking to me in spanish (way too fast) and keep pointing to the left.... I'm frantic cause I don't know what they are saying to me.
Well I then look to my right and I see Gonzo beating this guy up, holding him in a head lock, giving him a few face punches, and then giving him a good kick. The guy struggles and starts to run away....and all I can think is... this guy isn't holding anything...who the heck is Gonzo beating up?? So I run back to get the stuff that we left over by the rock (that this guy was watching for us). Austin runs up and I tell him that these two people are pointing up the street, so he hands me a backpack and Gonzo's camera and takes off in that direction.

I'm still in a panic and Gonzo comes running up all bloody and hurt and he is like "do you have your purse??"
I'm like..."NO"
he says "look in the backpack is it all there? "
At this moment I realize I'm holding a backpack that doesn't belong to any of us...I set it down, zip it open....and there it all is!!! my purse and my camera!!!

Okay.....so now that you heard everything from my point of view...let me just tell you what REALLY happened (the part I didn't see).

After the guy pointed that someone took my stuff....Gonzo just ran around the rock looking for the guy. Apparently the thief took my stuff and shoved it in his backpack. Gonzo knew immediately and ran up behind the guy, tripped him, then took the backpack from him. He then told him he was taking him to the police and the guy started to get away. So Gonzo hands the back pack over to Austin and then goes running after the thief. That is where I saw him...beating up a guy that was empty handed.
Meanwhile (the thief's friends) were telling me to run in the opposite direction giving him time to get away.... which is where Austin started running..

Ha ha but little did we know was that Gonzo had already retrieved my stuff and was trying to take the thief to the police!!!

Honestly I don't know what we would have done if Gonzo wasn't there. First off I would have been looking for a guy holding a purse, and never would have looked for a guy with a backpack. Plus me and Austin were looking in the opposite direction!!!

So the story ends so happily!! I got my stuff back!! Gonzo honestly saved the day....I would be without my camera, wallet, i-touch, money, and left with a headache of problems to deal with!

here are some of Gonzo's battle wounds

ha ha this shirt used to be white....THANK YOU GONZO!!!!!!

San Sebastian PART 3

2009-09-12T14:58:00.001-07:00

San Sebastian Part 3

Staring the prince of Spain Gonzo and his Brother Borja (two of our all time favorite people)

San Sebastian's last post

wow we seriously did so much, saw so much and played so much that I had to do 2 posts and now here is the third and final post. There is honestly so much to tell that I am going to be pretty short and sweet and just share a whole bunch of pics.

First... the sites of the beautiful place we lived for a month

The La Concha beach in San Sebastian

sun setting at the Zurriola beach

bridge into Old Town

this is one of my favorite sites....me holding my favorite helado yum yum yum!!El Buen Pastor...an amazing church in down town
us three just hanging out. We sat here in this spot playing cards and eating cookies till it got dark it was so fun!!

So one day at Ingrid and Javis house they had a surprise party for the Branch Presidents wife. It included food and musical chairs. ha ha it was so funny, if you lost you had to pick up a balloon and pop it and do what ever it said inside. Austin lost one round so he had to propose to this guy in a Cuban accent...everyone loved it!
Im really going to miss this family they were so wonderful to us!!! Ingrid taught me how to make home made taquitos...pretty much the best thing ever!

One day we all took a mini road trip up to Asturias to pick up Gonzos Girlfriend Eugenia ....while in the car the guys decided to have a cheese ball eating contest...Austin 35 Gonzo 34 (but Gonzo did run out of cheese balls so the score could have been different)

ha ha they look so uncomfortable in the pictures

all of us in Asturias such a pretty view
the view of Asturias

So one Saturday Borja and some of his friends came up from Madrid to do a surf day. It included all day beach, yummy kebabs, and dinner at Gonzos house it was an amazing day :)some new friends

back at Gonzo's house...the boys playing with the underwater camera
One night a few of us took a walk along the water....you end up at this area with these blow holes. You wait for the waves to crash under the stone walkway and then this big gush of air shoots up its so funny!!
cute pic of Gonzo and Eugenia

Last but not Least....Gonzos Summer house in Getaria

This summer house is like a dream it is so unbelievably gorgeous, green and so peaceful!! We felt so lucky we got to go hang out there. It is decorated so beautifully, and used to be a hotel how fun???

look at these studs cooking sausages!!!

here are some pics from one of the times we ate there...so yummy! And see those things in the top left corner? Well those tasty little guys are called torrijas (they are kind of like little french toasts) and they are oh so goodBosco

So Gonzos mom is the most amazing decorator ever!!! seriously!! Here is one of the cute bathrooms.Their dinning room (his mom designed the chandelier....it is so beautiful) and how cute is the stove in the kitchen??
well that is all there is to tell of San Sebastian!! It was so much fun honestly we had the best time in one of the most beautiful places ever!!! Now off to Madrid

Rocket Queen!

2009-09-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

Borja, Gonzalo's brother, came up to San Sebastian from Madrid this weekend with his bike. The surf sucked, but the weather was beautiful and Borja was pumped to ride so we made a short film... Haha, it was fun. With Gonzo trying to ram me into trees as I hung off the side of the jeep, dodging tractors, and searching the house with knives for intruders, it was truly a weekend to remember...

Here ya Go...

rocket queen from Borja Sáenz de Miera on Vimeo.

San Sebastion PART 2 (and a little bit of France)

2009-09-04T01:25:00.000-07:00

And now on to part two.....

Spanish Food and Water water and more WATER

as I talked about in San Sebastian Part One there are bars/restaurants that sell things called Pinchos (appetizer foods) here is a list of the things that we have tried....

Squid
Pigs Blood
Kangaroo
Fried Yellow Asparagus
Goose Liver
Spanish Omelet

yes very interesting........

These HUGE fellas are EVERYWHERE!! They are pig legs.....huge pig legs and they are in all of the stores and restaurants (this is my fist encounter of them at the grocery store)

this was the squid and believe it or not out of all of the crazy food Ive tried in Spain this was my favorite...surprised...yes so was I

Now on to the water.....

Now let me just say that Gonzo and Austin are like little fish...they are in the water constantly....whether its jumping, snorkeling, surfing, or just being crazy...here are a few photos of them....

This is what they did pretty much every day :)ha ha and this too....

And this is Austin Snorkeling.... you wanna know why? cause he lost his wedding ring ha ha yes it slid off when he was swimming...but he is so wonderful cause he seriously looked for it forever (no luck though) and was so so cold after ! oh well guess he is single for the rest of the trip ha ha

So one day when the tide was in and the waves were huge....Austin and Gonzo went for a swim. It was nuts the waves were crashing against the wall and there were so many people watching it was crazy. Out in the water were a bunch of body boarders who would wait for a wave coming in and a wave going out(after it hit the wall) causing a huge wave once they crashed together.... ha ha so Austin and Gonzo decided (even though they didnt have fins or a body board) they would go in too.....

Getting in without getting smashed on the wall was a challenge....

while they were out in the crazy waves....

and getting out was just as hard....run for your lives ha ha

FRANCE (Hossegor)

So for Austins Birthday he really wanted to surf Spain and France in one day...and since he is friends with the prince of Spain.... it happened!

In the morning Austin surfed Spain and then Gonzo took us all to France for the rest of the day to hang at the beach and eat crepes :)

Austins birthday crepe ha ha i mean we were in France its only fitting
Luis, Eugenia, Gonzo and Austin who is to busy enjoying his crepe to look up!

France was so much fun! Happy Birthday love of my life :)

.......next San Sebastian part 3 (yes there is so much to tell seriously)

San Sebastian Spain PART ONE

2009-08-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

Wow there is so much to blog about San Sebastian...i dont think i can do it in all one post.

Well Austins video pretty much captured how are first week in San Sebastian Spain was like...seriously the best time EVER! We had no idea it was Le Semana Grande when we arrived, which is basically a huge week long festival of live music, vendors, street preformers, people EVERYWHERE and the most unbelievable fire work shows every night right on the beach. And to top off the best week to arrive we also met the best person WHEN we arrived...Gonzo and thus our stay in Spain begins...

We ended up finding a place from some members of the church, they dont speak ANY English so sometimes its hard for me but Austin is pretty fluent so he is there to translate :) But they are seriously so incredibly nice and i love them and especially their little daughter Viviana or Vivi!

This is our room...Austin sleeping :)

The view outside our window...

Vivi!

Vivi again...
the family we are staying with...(Ingrid and Havier)

Right after we met Gonzo he took us to the most beautiful view overlooking our new home for the next month

So let the festivities begin.... (here are some pictures from Le Semana Grande) just a quick recap of what was on Austins Video

Lots of Pinchos (which are appetizer like foods... there in EVER bar, you just walk in and start putting stuff on a plate!)
Gonzo took us to eat some the first night we were there. We tried some pretty crazy stuff but I will get into that later...

ha ha which one is his wife?? These are some of the nicest girls that we met...some of Gonzo's friends, we were all hanging out by the pier watching a midnight surf contest

Gonzo, Cameron and Austin all geared up in their boardies to watch the fireworks in the water

All of us eating dinner on the beach before the show.... Gonzo brought some homemade sandwiches with some cheese that his family buys from the local Shepard...yes that is what i said SHEPARD....how cool is that?? It was the best cheese ever!!!

About an hour before the show the whole beach and streets literally fill up with tons and tons and TONS of people....
Amazing Sunset before the firework show....

RIGHT before the show....again so beautiful!

More sunset pictures...
AND MORE sunset pictures...i couldnt help it we were at the beach for 6 nights watching fireworks and i saw so many incredible sunsets
One of the days we were walking to the carnival and seriously 50 kids started yelling and running out of this street...we were like what the... ha ha then we saw these big headed guys running after them with balloons and hitting them it was so funny!!! and following them was a parade. Im not sure what or who those big headed guys were supposed to be, but it was funny!

Crazy crowded streets....

One of the nights we thought we should watch the firework show overlooking all of San Sebastian...so we brought some dinner..some chocolate croissants and sat and watched the show.

Dancing in the club till 4!

So pretty much for a week we had Gonzo the best guy ever show us around and really help us experience the week long party!! Carnivals, parades, live music, performers, food more food and more food and of course FIREWORKS!!!
Thanks GONZO we had the best time :)

whew...well San Sebastian part two is coming soon :)

San Sebastian, Spain-One eventful day....

2009-08-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

So Spain is unbelievable. The countryside, the people, the everything! We just so happened to get lucky and arrive in San Sebastian on the first day of La Semana Grande, (The Big Week). Nobody really knows the history of it but we think it's pretty much just an excuse to party and have a firework contest. Each night there is a firework show put on by a different city and there are judges that judge color, rhythm, size, etc... It was by far the best fireworks we've ever seen, especially because they explode right on top of you! haha. So this video is pretty much what everyday was like during La Semana Grande.

P.S. Ugh... I'm really sorry about the quality of the video... I'm trying to get down my compression specifications...

P.S.S. Yes, Gonzalo really IS the Prince of Spain! (Well at least to us anyway...)

NEW BLOG!

2009-08-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Well I have been working on this blog for a few weeks on and off and Im done! I just wanted a blog where I could share my Photography, things I see and love or pretty much just simple things that make me happy...Its pretty much just my Inspiration Blog but please check it out!

TellLOVEandChocolate.blogspot.com
(here is the link)

Sweden Clip

2009-08-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

Don't get too excited... This isn't that spectacular. Just had some old footage from Lund Sweden that I forgot to post. It's short and nothing special, just a cool old town outside of Malmo. Yes we're in Spain right now (having the time of our lives), so don't get confused with the Sweden footage haha

Germany and Italy and a fond farewell!!!

2009-08-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

Wow I have not posted in awhile so I am a little behind....

GERMANY

Well I can honestly say we didn't see to much of Germany (ha ha mostly from our crazy road trip in our rental car) but we did get to stay with the sweetest girl in Frankfurt, Jenni!! We found her on couch surfing and she was so sweet to us and so much FUN! When we got there we all went out to dinner and she introduced us to the most delicious kebab restaurant (hands down the best we have had). She has the cutest apartment we had so much fun just hanging out and talking, Im hoping we get to go see her again!! Thanks Jenni for everything, and for the amazing map we never got to use!!!!

Saying good bye in Sweden.....

Well on our last night in Sweden we wanted to take Rolf and Annette out to dinner because they made our time in Sweden so special....the food was extremely tasty...and the company amazing as always...they even gave us a Swedish key chain

yes those amazing fluffs are potatoes....and they were pretty fantastic

This is probably the first real salad I have had the whole trip...and if anyone knows me I LOVE my salads...oh how I miss those leafy greens :(The day before we were able to go and see Michelle and Helene for one last time, she gave us each Swedish soccer shirts ha ha they are amazing, we are really going to miss that sweet duo!

Good bye Sweden and to everyone that made our stay there so incredibly wonderful!!!

ITALY

Well Italy was amazing basically because I got to see my friend Staci!!!! She is in Rome for 2 months for work (how cool is that???) so i was excited to go and see her. Me and Austin flew into Pisa and then took a train to Florence for the day...i just love that city....but i was so excited to go to the Uffizi Museum! They have one of my favorite paintings of all time there and it was truly amazing to see it in real life and so close up...

I loved this...Italian painter and vespa parkingOutside the museum

Here is a picture of my favorite painting... we couldnt take pictures in the museum so this is off the Internet....

So stinkin sweaty on the train ride....
After spending the day in Florence we took a train down to Rome to see my pal! So Staci felt the need to give us a wedding present (even though she didnt need to AT ALL) so her idea was to take us out to dinner all three nights we were there!!! Seriously it was the best wedding present ever, getting to eat dinner in Rome with one of my friends!! Thanks so much Staci you are seriously so amazing! And to top it all off she let us stay with her!! It was so fun to see Rome with her :)

So the night we arrived in Rome we went back to a very special place... (I think most know that story)...who knew that two years ago when I left a treasure in the walls of the Vatican city, for this guy I was "sort of" dating, that I would be able to come back to the same spot as his wife!!!

ha ha yes we are that lame that we did this...how cool are our hand made Michale's craft crowns that they had for us? they really went all out!
So they have these drinking fountains all over Rome and you just plug the hole with your finger...are there you have it...the water is seriously so good!!

One day while me and Austin were wandering Rome...it was seriously like a million degrees outside so we stuck our feet in a fountain along with a bunch of other people...ha ha we even saw a grandma get in and start swimming around and doing the backstroke...yes the backstroke in the fountain...needless to say she got in trouble :)
The Vatican and us striking a pose

YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!ha ha doesnt look easy to ride
Gelato....DOUBLE YUMMMMMMMMM!!!

ha ha so one day we were walking back from the Vatican and Staci said she always wanted to lift up one of the loose stones on the walk way and see if there was a treasure underneath....so Austin being the buff man that he is, helped her accomplish this dream of hers...well...sadness...there was nothing underneath so we decided that for the next adventurer to look under a loose stone WE would leave a little treasure (or note) ha ha it was fun :)
The NOTE
Yay Italy once again you did not disappoint!! Thanks Staci for everything we had the most amazing time!!

Road Trip Video

2009-07-31T15:10:00.000-07:00

Here ya go!

Sorry... the Compression specs were kinda funky and you tube didn't help so the picture quality doesn't look so hot, but just wanted to get this up for everybody to see.

*This movie is dedicated to my hardcore wife who ate nothing but bread and cheese for 10 days, got attacked by a ferocious feline, had to shower sporadically, endured non-stop heat, put up with her husband, slept in: an airport, in the hallway of a ghetto polish train, on a platform in a train station, a sweaty sticky hostel in Poland, on a couch, and in a car... but who still managed to whip up some bomb meals, look beautiful, smell girly, and have a smile on her face!

My mother land...POLAND

2009-07-29T01:28:00.000-07:00

Can I just start out by saying...POOR POLAND. There is so much history and sadness in this country. Because of War and Communism there is a lot of poverty and run down buildings but they are very resilient and have always come back.
And no one speaks English (ha ha just a side note) well actually a few do.......We started our tour of this crazy country in Krakow and then went on to visit Warsaw.

Along with their run down buildings, ha ha their trains weren't any better....they honestly sounded like they were braking down or derailing every 2 seconds and not to mention NO air conditioning and it was seriously 90 degrees with 100% humidity ahhhhhhh!!! This is Austin looking SO happy in the heat.... I didn't look much better :)

Once we arrived in Krakow we were totally impressed, the down town square was beautiful!! And can i just say Poland is VERY cheap! So we ate in the square both nights we were in Krakow, and our hostel was a 5 min walk from here.
Their parking was pretty much amazing...EVERYONE parked on the sidewalk
So i thought this sign probably meant watch out for little children? OR small scary girls with giant candies on sticks??? ha ha who knows

These little stands were EVERYWHERE! Apparently Poland likes their funny round pretzel bagels? I have to say though they were super good :)While staying in Krakow we took one day and went to the Auschwitz and Birkenau museums. This was honestly one of the saddest and most emotional experiences. They are ACTUAL Concentration Camps from World War 2 and Auschwitz was one of the largest of the death camps. You start out the tour by seeing a movie that was recorded right after the Ukraine troops invaded and is actual footage of the people and tragedy (so hard to watch), and then you continue through all of the museum which are actual bunkers all over the camp. You see so much, including rooms full of hair and shoes that they found when they invaded the camps, you actually go into the gas chambers and crematory rooms... everything we saw and heard really impacted me. I was so affected by all that I saw, I honestly broke down. It was something I am so glad I was able to see, I learned so much that i never knew before and it put the holocaust and what happened in a whole new perspective.

You weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum (all the bunkers in the camp) so all these pictures are ones I took of around the camp....... and to be honest i wouldn't have wanted to share pictures of the stuff we saw in the museum.
After staying in Krakow we headed up to Warsaw. This was the old town in Warsaw (hands down the prettiest place in ALL of Warsaw)

This picture is my favorite...this building looked so beautiful all lit up at night. We stayed at a hostel (our first night) 2 min from the square it was so wonderful!!
Austin eating a chocolate donut that they are supposedly famous for..... YUM!
Lots and LOTS of Lody (ice cream in polish) so so good!!So while we were in Warsaw we decided to do some Geneology work (my ancestors come from Poland). While we were at the church(doing Geneology) Austin met Marcine who offered for us to stay at his house with his wife Beata. They were both recent converts and were the sweetest most humble people ever!! Ha ha Marcine was so sweet he made me laugh! He LOVED maps and seriously had a map from EVERYWHERE!! ha ha you could quiz him on any place and he knew where it was.... the rest of their apartment was so fun and interesting. Beata loved Elephants and they were everywhere, and they honestly had hundreds of books about all sorts of things. They were so kind to us.

Just a picture from one of their bookshelves....
Him and Austin playing ping pong at game day at the church!
We ended up staying in Poland for a few extra days and attended church there. It was in an office building (they only have one church building in ALL of Poland). It was so awesome...it was an international ward so they had a translator so we wore earphones, and guess who spoke?....yes AUSTIN! We were at game day (the day before) and they needed another speaker so they asked Austin...he honestly did such an amazing job, he talked about sacrifice and EVERYONE after came up and said how wonderful it was!! It was hard cause he would say a line and then had to wait while it got translated into polish. I love him so much!!

On our last night In Warsaw we were able to have dinner at Marcine and Beatas with the Branch President and his Wife. They are on their mission in Warsaw and are from Arizona...they were a lot of fun and the dinner Beata cooked was sooooo good!! Yummy polish food.

Poland was awesome and we were able to see some amazing historical sights that I am so thankful for :) Yay Poland!!

Prague (Praha)

2009-07-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well we packed up some small backpacks (leaving most of our stuff in Sweden at the cabin we have been staying in) and did a mini trip to a few different countrys...and our first stop was Prague in the Czech Republic. This is probably one of the most beautiful cities we have seen!!

I have to say me and Austin have seen some pretty awesome things on this trip so far but when we turned the corner and saw the St. Vitus Cathedral for the first time we actually Gasped ha ha OUT LOUD! It is really THAT amazing!

This was what you see right as you enter the church.....WOW!

After getting out of the Cathedral you come over to a view of the whole city of Prague! It is so amazing!

ha ha so me and Austin were relaxing on this bench, I got up to take some pictures and when I turned about someone had taken my place...and she was sitting just as close ha ha I couldnt stop laughing...I had to be all sly while taking this picture cause I didnt want her to see.

Charles bridge down town

They had little Marionette shops all over the city

There were so many amazing streets that looked just like this one, and everywhere was cobblestone streets... and the view of the Tyn Church in the Old Town Square was so cool, it looked fake!

After a day of walking around the city we ended at a park on top of Petrin Hill, it has rose gardens, restaurants and the most beautiful view of the city. So we sat up there and watched the sun go down and then saw all of the city light up at night, it was so wonderful!!!

Late at night back on Charles Bridge looking at the lights of the Prague Castle

Austin in the Subway

Lastly... I LOVE this picture. We were on the bridge and this band was playing such cool music and the man in the middle was playing a wash board... how fun!!!

Sweden and Denmark!!!

2009-07-12T12:25:00.001-07:00

WELCOME to Malmo Sweden....
Let me start out with the two people that
have made this whole Sweden experience
possible... Anette and Rolf...
Well we arrived in Malmo, and Anette and Rolf
picked us up from the train station... and it has been
fun with them since...
They have been so amazing to us the whole time that we
have been in Sweden. They let us borrow their car,
they find us bikes, they take us on tours of Sweden,
they help us find anything and everything!
Honestly I dont know what we would do without them...
and best of all they invite us to sweet BBQs
with their fantastic friends.
This was the first night we got there and they had us over for a BBQ.
We pretty much were there for six hours laughing uncontrolably.
Rolf and Annette, and their friends, are seriously the best!

Then the following weekend... their friends, Violet & Peter,
invited us to another BBQ/Kareokee Bananza!
They dominated the mic, while Austin and I butchered
Sweet Caroline haha. (But they didn't seem to notice).
This pic is of Peter singing 'California Dream'n' (dedicated to us)
everybody else showed off their skills, and there was
dancing...yes dancing!!! it was pretty much
AMAZING!!

We have been staying at this amazing little cottage
(compliments of Rolf and Annette)

And let me just say this is pretty much what we
have been doing in sweden....

-Bike Riding (around town)
-Going to the Beach(on our bikes)
-Bike Riding (to the store for food)
-Lounging around the cottage
-Bike Riding (to church)
-Playing in the sprinkler
(it had been so hot and ha ha yes we are 5)
-Bike Riding (just for fun)
ha ha yes we have been doing a LOT of bike riding...
pretty much all of Sweden rides bikes...most of the time,
it is so much fun and I love it...
BUT sometimes when it is windy and im in a skirt riding home
from church...then its not as much fun.

Bike riding to Anettes and Rolfs to pick some cherrys...
yummm!!

ha ha Rolf and Austin eating a Swedish hot dog!

Me and Austin at the pier where EVERYONE goes to lay out...
its not the beach but it sure is pretty.

So basically the ward that we found in Sweden has been so
incredible I am really sad to leave (We have been there for 3 sundays
so we have been able to get to know everyone). They speak in Swedish
the whole time but EVERYONE (and I mean everyone) speaks
English in Sweden (unless your over 80 or under 7) so we
have translators in every meeting. The people in the Ward
have been so kind we cant even begin to thank them all.
..............................
This is one of our favorites, this is Helene and her daughter
Michelle. They had us over for family home evening and dinner.
ha ha we had the best time ever and we are going over again next
week.... Helene is so incredibly sweet and her daughter is so funny!!

ha ha the shopping carts in Sweden...they look like the ones
you hold in your hands but they have wheels...ummm you
cant buy too much with these...Sweden does not buy in
bulk that is for sure!!!

I love this pic of the phone booth...so cool!

Me and Austin in Lund, a small town outside of Malmo..
it was super cute!!!

This is pretty much what I see everytime I look at Austin...
AM I ON REALITY TV?

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.... Copenhagen DENMARK!
So since we have been staying in Malmo, Copenhagen
is just right across the bridge!!! ha ha oh so convenient so
we thought we would check it out.
This was by far my favorite place in Denmark it was
this little boat town named Nyhavn it was so incredibly
cute me and Austin just sat next to two guys playing
their accordians and chilled it was GREAT!!!

I love this pic!!!

Just chillin outside of the palace!

So at twelve noon at the palace they do a changing of the
guards...we couldnt miss that!

We were so lucky...we got to do a session at the temple in
Copenhagen. It was such a neat temple and we got to go with
three other people from the ward, which included the
De Sousa Family. They have been OH SO nice to us....
having us over for soccer games, dinner, taking us to temple sessions,
laundry you name it talk about giving service!!! We have
been so blessed to have them :)

and yes.... there is more bike riding in Denmark!!

Well I have more pictures of downtown Malmo to share
a little later.... so ta ta for now!!!

"Sweet"en & Denmark

2009-07-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

This video is dedicated to Maddy, Rolf, and Annette... Oh don't worry, Sara will inform you of all their goodness and grandeur when she posts!

2009-07-04T01:06:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone :) A couple people congratulated me on the video but Austin is the master mind and the videographer!! I didnt want to take the credit ha ha.

IRELAND FLICK

2009-07-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video of Ireland I put together. Youtube kinda botched it but here it is none the less... Click HD on the bottom right... Yeah Yeah
-Austin

Ireland Country Side

2009-06-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

Well first off I want to say thank you for all of the amazing
comments from everyone! It makes me happy and it feels like
Im really not that far away when I still hear from everyone,
so THANK YOU!

Well the country side in Ireland has by FAR been my favorite part of the beautiful country it is honestly breathtaking! So SO SO much GREEN and cows and sheep ha ha its awesome. You just drive through miles of nothing but fields and then you come to some cute little town I just loved it. So here we go.....

Driving this is a picture from the car...

We went to some very famous places in Ireland.... first was the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge its in the most beautiful landscape and you cross this little rope bridge (mom dont look ha ha you would have died) over this big raveen and you cross over to MORE beautiful fields on a rocky ledge it was so awesome!!!

Hiking to the bridge...

This Guy Was SO ANNOYED at me for stopping and posing in the middle of the bridge
(I guess someone was afraid of heights ha ha)

ON THE OTHER SIDE :)

NEXT... we headed over to the Giants Causeway which was soooo cool. I guess the story goes that there was a Giant named Finn McCool and he built the Causeway so that he could go fight his arch-nemesis in Scotland named Brenandonner (cause I guess they have the same thing over across the water in Scotland) Scientifically the columns were caused by volcanic eruptions in these pockets..... all in all it was AWESOME!

MORE pictures of driving through the country side.....

ONE of my favorite towns that we drove through so cute... I love the picture of the boats in the water....

This Town has to be my favorite in Ireland. Its called Enniskillen and it was so nice I would totally live there! We ate lunch by the river it was the best, and then wandered through town and and found a hidden park all to ourselves overlooking everything... what fun :)
On a side note they had a store called TESCO, and it was the first real grocery store we had been to the whole trip i had a field day buying normal food :) ha ha that made me like the town even more!

This sign is the BEST... watch out for those Elderly People you never know when they might dash out in the middle of the street ha ha

Lastly we Drove all the way to Galway to see the CLIFFS OF MOHER we got there and slept in our car (worst night of sleep ive ever had ha ha me and Austin curled up in the back of the car with the seats down) But it was amazing because we were literally the only ones there when we woke up so we got to see the cliffs all alone and it was so amazing and peaceful!

Watch out! you might fall off the cliffs ha ha

Duh duh DUUUHHH....Last But not least...... my cow experience! Well we were driving by so many fields of cows and sheep that I asked Austin to pull over so I could take a picture. ha ha this made me laugh so hard.... after I got out of the car and started to walk over to take a picture it was like when someone walks into a dance club and the record scratches and everyone stops and stares.... they all stopped eating and just starred at me. Then once I got to the fence all the cows walked toward me and then just stood there right in front of me and stared at me ha ha with just no reaction. No matter what I did yell or laugh or wave grass in their faces they just stood there and stared! oh I still laugh when I think about it :) Then once I got back in the car they all dispersed and went back to eating. ha ha crazy cows!!

And that is it for Ireland!! Next is Scotland and SWEDEN :)

BELFAST

2009-06-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived in Belfast on Friday afternoon and met up with the couple that we were couch surfing with (its a web site where you meet up with people online and crash at their house, just in case your not sure what that means). It was the first time we were meeting them and seriously they are the coolest and sweetest couple ever we were so lucky! Nikolett and Istvan are both from Hungary and came to Ireland to study English! They were the best hosts ever and live in the cutest flat! We spent 4 nights with them so much fun.... (actually make that 5 im here right now, we just missed them way to much, so we came back)

They had a whole welcome package of pamphets for everything there is to do in Belfast. This is the view from their flat and this is a picture of them.... so cute :)

One night Nikolett cooked us a traditional Hungarian meal...
its called BAKONYI SZELET.... it was sooooooooo good!

Nikolett took us around Belfast and brought us to see the University and the botanical gardens! I love the pic of Nikolett walking through the tropical gardens :)

Then they both took us to see the Belfast Castle.... How Amazing!!!!

Things I like....
What a fun way to say Yield :)
And if you didnt know I lOVE recycling, these little guys were all over the city, way to GO GREEN!

Things Austin Likes....
Chocolate Milk (from Mike and Spencers)
ha ha caught red handed AGAIN!

Sorry had to share this... me getting my luggage!
Very Monumental ha ha!

well....Belfast was so much fun,
especially now that we met
two great people
that we now call friends!

Well so many pictures so little time but the best is yet to come.... We did a road trip through the country side, which is the true Ireland, green Green GREEN! (and my favorite pictures) Im so excited to share but for now it is time for bed but here is a sneak peek..... ha ha

DUBLIN

2009-06-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well this is the start of our journey at the airport...little did I know that was the last time I would see my bags for three days :( But I survived!

Well Dublin was so cool it was for sure the most confusing city we have ever been to it took us so long to find our way around, but all the architecture was the best! I took so many pictures so Im going to make a lot of collages so that I can put a lot of pictures on our blog.

Can we stop and talk about this sign? Does anyone know what this means?...because we thought it meant dont turn right ha ha but apparently not, because everyone was going right at these signs. Once again very confusing... but it made our drive all the more adventurous!

slacker to the max!!!

2009-06-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

Ok I know I know....I suck. I have been the worst blogger ever and so much has been going on.... First off, sorry for the lamo blog ha ha its totally under construction so welcome to the ghetto stage and second we are leaving on wednesday!!! ahhhh so much to do so little time. But dont you fret because we will be back up and blogging (on a prettier blog) in no time :)

Bon Voyage next time were blogging it will be in Ireland :)

Im gonna miss everyone so much!!!

Birthday and Easter!!

2009-04-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

Well this has been a fun month so far... First I had my Birthday which was so amazing because I got to spend it with friends and the man that I love. I went out to sushi with some friends and even got to eat Costco cake (seriously my all time favorite!) and i honestly had the best time!! I brought everyone goodie bags, Elementary school style and dinosaur party hats ha ha yes!!! what party is complete without dino party hats? All in all it was so much fun I just love all the girls that came :)

But I have to say my very favorite part of the day was when I got home....I walked in and there were ten presents sitting on the floor and Austin had surprised me and set up a game where i had to pick obstacles out of the jar and in order to get my present i had to complete that obstacle....ha ha it was the best way to open presents ever!! There were so many fun games to play, one included a quiz about us and another I had to be blindfolded and taste 10 different flavors from our favorite yogurt place and identify each one. That one was my favorite! He got me so many fun things but the best was present #10!! It was a new camera for when we travel!!!Ahhhh I was so so so excited :) He is so wonderful I love him so much!!! He is honestly my best friend and comes up with the most amazing and fun ideas. He really made my birthday special.

Well that weekend we all went to Arizona to celebrate Easter with Brit, Seth, Madi and new baby Mya. I had such a wonderful time I love going out there to see them. And it was awesome because I played with my new camera the whole weekend and took a million pictures of Madi she was so fun to photograph here are a few I took. I cant wait till i get photoshop and then I can really make them look sweet :)

5k Derby Days Race

2009-04-06T18:43:00.001-07:00

Well on saturday Austin and I ran in a 5k out in Santa Anita. Austin had a hurt foot and I didnt train at all ha ha but it was super fun. We ended on the Santa Anita horse race track which I thought would be cool but when you are tired running on dirt and sand it isnt the best. But it was all for a good cause so all in all it was awesome!

After the race :)

Photo finish!

ha ha yes austin with the derby days horse!!!

Ewwwww

2009-04-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

So Austin was playing soccer last week and he jumped up to hit the ball and then came down on his foot weird and really hurt it. It seriously looks like he is a fat corpse, his foot is SO swollen and is black and blue everywhere....and he lost his toe nail to top it all off...GROSS! ha ha thought I would share.

Yay Book Club

2009-03-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Well on Thursday night we had our second book club meeting. It was seriously so much fun I just love all of the girls in the club!! I hosted it this month and had everyone over at my house... ha ha I wasn't sure if all eleven girls would fit but they did. The book we read was HUNGER GAMES it is seriously such an amazing book!!! One of my new favorites. We are trying to bring foods that have to do with whatever book we are reading that month so I had everyone bring different breads like how in the book everyone has a bread that represents their district (ha ha you gotta read the book to know what I'm talking about) I cant wait to get together next month. Yay book club!!!!

Goodness...

2009-02-16T16:03:00.000-08:00

That's what Sara is.... Goodness. Best Valentines Day so far! Sara made a heart colage of good times and stuck in on our wall in the kitchen! Haha I love it! I salute it often. And she iced the gift-cake with Flight of the NoChords season 1... What else could I ask for? Nothing. Nothing else

Disneyland's got Nothing

2009-02-15T20:25:00.000-08:00

For my valentine present Austin took me to SeaWorld. Ive never been before and have wanted to go for so long! I had the BEST time!!! I am pretty obsessed with marine animals so to me this was the happiest place on earth (sorry DisneyLand). My favorite was the "Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue" ha ha it was so funny :) I just love that I got to feed and touch so many different animals and be there with my best friend, he always makes everything so much fun! Here are a few of my favorite moments.....

Bat Rays I dont know why but they were one of
my favorites.

Ha ha Austin getting romantic with the bat ray! It was so rad he was making
kissing sounds and the bat ray kept coming further and further out of the water.

Clyde and Seamore waving goodbye!

Du Du....Du Du...Du Du Ahhhhh!!

ha ha so sleepy!

I love this picture! The bird was just catching a ride on the walrus while he was swimming.

Admiral Biggenbottom!!!

Ha ha this was one of my favorite parts of the show,

when the little guy brought out the pepsi!! ha ha so cute!

This was the dolphin show!

One of the dolphins we were feeding,

he was talking to us it was so fun :)