SEATTLE VISIT

OK!  I finally got my phone photos saved on the computer so I could post about our trip to Seattle area to visit Austin and Laura and kiddos!

We arranged our trip back from France to stop in Seattle so we could see them a few days and it was so awesome to get over our jet lag with them!!

(Laura, feel free to send me any other photos I may need to add to this!)

Saturday I got to go to Dance Class with Brooklyn and see her in action.  Watch the portion of her recital number at the end of this post!  ADORABLE!  She is so graceful!

Wish I was closer to get to see the kids in lots of their activities!!

We brought bags for the kids to color, a cat and a lion respectively for Brooklyn and Evan!
And we got Mackenzie's footprint for our Christmas Tree!!

We made crepes for breakfast Sunday morning.  YUMMY with Nutella and strawberries and whip cream!!

Monday we went to the 9 month check-up for sweet Mackenzie!  She is perfect in every way.  Although she really did not like her height being measured or the toe prick!  OUCH!










Evan was SO EXCITED to take us to his favorite place...the MUSEUM OF FLIGHT in Seattle!  It will be a tradition until he is tired of it!

This museum is GREAT!  Play area above with helicopter, small jet and pretend airport to play in.  Control tower area where you actually listen to a real control tower and can watch jets take off, WWI and WWII jets in a huge exhibit, and an outside area with tons of real planes that you can walk through and look at outside.

Inside the museum they also have these cockpits the kids can sit in.
This one is maybe a F-16 or something?  Austin and Evan can correct me!

And this one is maybe a Blackbird?
Not sure, but we had to keep a close eye on Evan as he was prone to run quickly to the next exciting thing in his favorite place!!







We were so happy to visit Austin, Laura, Brooklyn, Evan and Mackenzie!  They are a wonderful family and we love them so much!



Here is the cute recital practice!

MARCH AND APRIL 2017

It was a sweet and very busy March and April for us!  Not a day with out something going on!

We had some sealings to go to...(Caleb and Elizabeth Leonhardt)

We had a APM Dinner to host.

Scott went a day ahead of me to see the placing of the Moroni Statue on the Rome Italy Temple.

I joined him later that day and we stayed at the Rome Mission Home with our friends the Pickerds who we served with in Phoenix. He was Area Seventy at the time.

It was fun for us because we knew all of the missionaries serving in their ward since they came through our branch at the MTC.
We even saw two of our most recent that we had been in church with in Provo the previous Sunday!




We spent the next couple of days touring around Rome...and eating gelato.

The
--> Coliseum in Rome.

The Duomo in Florence.

Near the Ponte in Florence.

At night in Venice.

On a gondola in Venice.

At the Duomo in Milan.

On the roof of the Duomo in Milan on a Sunday.

That same Sunday at the Allens in Milan.  They are Mission President and wife there.  We watched conference with them and met 4 of our former MTC missionaries again!




Then we spent about 5 days in the beautiful Cinque Terre area hiking and enjoying the 5 quaint villages along the coast.

 We stayed in Monterosso and went out from there each day hiking to different towns.

This is on our way to Vernazza from Monterosso.

Here is Scott above Vernazza.

We stayed in a cute little bed and breakfast high up in the town with over 100 steps to get up to it but a great view.

We really did not get souvenirs on our trip, but when we saw these ceramic houses, we could not resist!  Someday they will be the focal point in a room!

When I got back from Italy, the yard was so pretty!  Everything was in bloom!

And I got to be with LOVE IN BLOOM with Breanna and Elliot for their engagement photos!

Then we went back to France the next weekend for another week so Scott could cover the Open House for the new Paris Temple.

This lovely window is in the Visitor Center there.

The Temple is in Versailles, which is a huge palace with a more huge garden area full of fountains and on special days with water shows and music piped in.

We were lucky to go after church on Sunday when it was one of those days!
We spent all afternoon there!!  Incredible!!

Then we went to stay in Paris for a few days.  We walked up the Champ Elyees to the Arc de Triomphe.  Sporting our BYU jerseys for a photo op.

We went to the Eiffel Tower in the evening and decided first to go up the elevators to the top, and then after, to get a photo with the lights on.

We met up with one of our Returned Missionaries from Paris and she suggested we go on a boat tour of the Seine to see everything from the river.

Here we are with Christie Mejia on our boat.  It was us and a bunch of Chinese tourists.

We spent the next day at Notre Dame with the gargoyles...

And the Louvre.  Huge.

Yes, we saw the Mona Lisa picture from 100 yards away.  :)

Yup, that is it behind the crowd.

It was not very big, but it was lovely.

We had gone to about 6 other museums including the SEWER MUSEUM.

 Yes, they have an interesting tour underground about how they built the first sewer system and such.  Stinky but interesting. (That big ball was used to clean out pipes)

One of our favorite places was the little Hamlet Marie Antoinette had built in her area at Versailles.  It was so adorable!!

Back in Utah it was back to work and school and more weddings!

Andy Marble and Rachel.



And back to our branch we had neglected.  Almost ready to go to Italy and Romania!!

FEBRUARY 2017

That's it!  We need to make sure to take a photo at our family get-togethers to prove that we get together...and my blog posts would be more interesting!  February brought lots of getting together with people that are important to us, but I do not have photos to prove it!

We went up to help Carole and John unpack in their new home a couple of times and had such a rewarding time getting lots done!

We celebrated birthdays with James family too and had a lovely dinner together!

We had the Janulis over for a week while they were attending Rootstech in SLC.  Here we are with one of our RM's at the Saturday Family event. The speakers were great and it was fun to see some of the booths at the expo center.
And...I have spent hours this month working on Family History just checking things out and trying to attach records through Ancestry to some of our ancestors.  I need lots more practice to really find some of the missing dates though...it is completely addicting!!

February we also hosted our monthly RM Dinner on a Sunday evening.  We love those times to catch up with them and see how they are doing.  Lots more couples are attending as they are finding companions to stay with a lot longer!

Monthly we also host a FHE group for older ward members...we call it "Wheezin Geezers"  You will never guess who made up the name for our group... Hmmm.

Anyways, it was at our home again this month and such a fun group!

I think you know that I serve on Prove Energy Board.  I was able to help out on an additional committee December and into January to help decide what to do with solar charges and how to support that type of energy while still making it fair for non-solar customers.  We were able to make recommendations to the City Council that they have adopted and we will see how it goes!  In February we also had a house bill that would have been really tough for Provo if it passed...regarding using Energy funds to help pay city services through a transfer to the city budget each year.  With Provo being about 50% tax exempt properties, they cannot fund city services like police and fire and street lights etc through property tax alone because the 50% who are not tax exempt...like us...would be paying for big tax exempt groups like BYU and City, County and State Government buildings to have those services too.  Luckily, many city leaders met with the proposer of the bill ahead of time to express those concerns and it was shot down.  Whew!

February has been more WEDDING PLANNING around here.  These are the ADORABLE dresses I found for the little girls Brooklyn and Mackenzie for the weddings.  I will put flowers or a sash to make them look good for both color combinations.

We are enjoying very much having Braden live back at home and this means we get to see McKenna a bunch more too!
And we love the phone calls from Breanna with wedding detail updates!  A beautiful dress is the latest acquisition!

So...we thought we were done with snow...


And this week, Wednesday it came down so fast that it shut down Provo roads.  It took Braden 45 minutes to get to campus and me 25 minutes to get back from home to the Rec Center making me miss a class.  I kept thinking that maybe another northbound road would be better, but they were ALL like snails.  An hour later, it was all under control!  Crazy!

But, there is hope.  Our brave little crocuses have been blooming throughout the snow and all.  I know Spring is truly on the way.

Faith is sort of like that dormant bulb in the ground.  I know the crocus is there, and that it will come up when it is time.  I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that I know is there too.  I see the evidence blooming in all the good things around me like YOU in our family and so much more.

I know there are tough things.  There are really bad things. And I will try to do my part to make a difference for GOOD to help out.  I'm trying to focus on the positive, look for the bright side.  I'm not always successful, but have found a real connection to being positive and "turning outward" and the level of joy in my life.  Just a thought.

And, to finish up my month...(actually to start off March)  I had time to go to our beautiful temple and it was the most cold and lovely day outside too, I just had to snap a shot!
Wish you all could have been there to just sit and visit!
Love you all!!