Stockholm, Sweden

We were able to stay with my good friend Anna Linda and her husband Tobias in Stockholm. We had such a great stay with them and we were able to relax more and catch up on sleep and I think that helped me get over the cold I had. We got there late and night and had authentic Swedish pizza that was really good, it has a tad bit different taste than ours but not too much! The next day we were able to go to the LDS temple and it took awhile to get there and back. We went back to Linda's and Tobias'. We had a great dinner that Linda made and did our laundry. The funny thing about the laundry is they turn off the electricity so the wash didn't ring out all the water and we had no dryer so we hung up all our soaking wet clothes and thought they would dry by morning but no, it took two days so Monday morning when we woke up we had to put the still damp clothes in the dryer before we had to leave the country. It was great fun!
On Sunday we went to church and none of my clothes were dry so I had to wear Linda's clothes and I tried to fit into her shoes but they were about 3 sizes too small. We listened to church in Swedish and it was interesting because it just sounds like gibberish but it was also really neat to listen to. Tobias and Linda's father translated for us some and that was helpful so we could understand what was going on. It was very nice of them, I had never had anyone translate for me before. After church we went to Linda's parents house and they made a FABULOUS four course meal for us! It was so sweet of them! They made us raw salmon with a cured lemon (it was okay, wasn't expecting it to be raw but the lemon cure was good) and we had reindeer with a horseradish put into a tortilla that was actually REALLY good. Then we had potatoes and carrots and meat. They eat meat with jelly because it is normally salty meat and the sweetness of the jelly evens it out. It really was a good authentic Swedish meal. After dinner Tobias and Linda took us all over Stockholm and gave us the grand tour. It was a gorgeous city that is built on tons of islands that are connected with bridges. I think it was like 9 different islands, but not for sure.
On Monday we were able to go to a few museums. At one museum there was this huge ship built around the 1400's that sank like 15 minutes after it was taken out to sea. It was built to tall and not wide enough. The ship sank and they dug it up in the 60's and restored it so this museum is all about that ship. It was pretty neat to see and it was a humongous ship. The power went out on the island we were on so the museum gave us our money back, so technically we got in for free. We then toured old town and went to a restaurant that was in a dungeon that served as a prison in the 1400's. It was pretty cool so you will see pictures of that. We also saw were cannonballs were stuck in the walls from a war and also the smallest street in Stockholm. It was really fun and so neat to see such old cities. It is weird to think that these cities are so old. I thought my house that is over 100 years old was old, but not compared to Europe... the USA is quite young. After we were done with lunch we went and caught our ferry to Finland.....

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen was an fun place to see and we started to get into the Scandinavian countries and we knew it would be a lot more pricey and man let me tell ya, IT IS! We saved a lot more when we got out of those Scandinavian countries. Denmark was gorgeous as was most of Europe! We walked around Copenhagen and took a walking tour. We saw tons of the main sites in the town. You can see Luke with this purple man in the picture below. It was sitting on a famous town square and just this huge blown up purple man (I called him Bunny cause he looked like one to me). Well, we later found this guy advertised everywhere but never figured out what he was. oh well.... There is also a picture with Luke and his hood on cause we took a canal ride throughout the town. It was really a lot of fun and saw things like Bach's old house and all the pretty boats on the canal. Some places even had house boats that you lived on permanently. One of the more famous sites in Copenhagen is the mermaid on a rock that you can see behind me. Its head has been knocked off a few times but they keep putting it back on.
You will also notice a weird looking tree, but I think it was dead just put in a huge basket and put in a park. You will also notice Luke has a bike. We were able to rent bikes for about 3 kroners (about $0.60) and then once we returned the bike we got the money back. They do this all over Europe and I think it is really neat, even though I am not a big bike rider but it just makes a lot more sense and it is a lot healthier. Copenhagen was the place that had the most bikes by far and it is known as "the city of bikes." The last few pictures of are of the Copenhagen Temple that was beautiful and for those Mormons, we met the guy who plays Christ in the Testaments video. He was the nicest man. And then the other pictures are random of Luke in a park and me in a train station. The scariest moment we had was at the hostel we stayed at. We stayed in a room with 9 beds and one of the guys was from Sweden and looked like he came from the 80's. He was totally drunk and in the middle of the night scared me so we switched rooms... it was weird! But anyways, overall we had a great time!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

We were only in Amsterdam for about 6 hours because we were trying to catch up from being behind... but really I think that was good for us. It would have been nice to see other parts of The Netherlands though so hope to go back there someday and also Luxemborg. Well, for those of you that don't know Amsterdam is a pretty risque city. It was big on gay rights, anything dealing sex (they even had museums just for sex), and a lot of dirty pictures around... It was definitely interesting but we were able to go to Madame Tussad's was museum which was pretty neat and fun. You can see some pictures of that with Anne Frank and me with Bush and Luke with Bono. It was fun to act like we were with the stars. We also went to Anne Frank's hideout where her journal was written. Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures inside because they don't let you so you can see the outside of the house. It was really neat to learn more about her story and see where it actually happened. It was really a beautiful city with lots of canals running through the whole city and located pretty much at every other block. I wish we were there when the tulips were in bloom but maybe another day. One of the first pictures was of the train station and the metro. That is how we got around most of the towns and the main train station is how we got to all the other countries on high speed trains. The funny thing about the main station is how nice it is, and it wasn't only in Amsterdam. All the cities main stations looked like this, they are older building and definitely don't look like a business.

Brussels, Belguim

Brussels was totally awesome and they had belguim waffles of course and they were SO DANG GOOD! I am craving one right now. They had this carmelized taste to them when you bit into them and we got strawberries and bananas and powdered sugar on top. It was way good!!! Brussels had some really pretty gardens around the city and the most famous this in the "Peeing boy" statue. Luke and I were expecting this huge statue that was peeing but as you can see from the picture, it is quite tiny. It was this punny thing but it was really funny and we were glad we saw it. The one cool thing about Europe is that everything is so old compared to America and all the buildings were amazing and kept up very well. We really enjoyed the architecture and I know my dad would love it.

Paris, France

So, Paris was way cool and we saw a lot of things there. Unfortunately I got a little sick and jet lagged so we ended up staying there a little longer than planned (which pushed the rest of our trip back a few days too). But we were able to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Lourve, Arc de Triophe, La Grande Arche and many other randoms sites that were there. It was beautiful city but America's influence was all over the place and not only in Paris but throughout Europe. I was a little surprised at this and was expecting more of a culture shock but there wasn't as much of one as I planned on. One of the random things we saw was this big thumb with Luke standing by it. It was weird but cool too!

First week in Europe!

I know you all have been desperately waiting for this so here it goes... I am going to post the first week for now because I don't have time to do all three weeks in one sitting.
So, first off... we had problems before we even left for the airport. Luke had been in Minnesota the week before on a business trip and was expected back Thursday night, the day before we leave. But because the weather was bad the plane got delayed quite a few hours so he missed his connecting flight so instead they would fly him out the next morning. Well keep in mind that Luke hadn't packed yet and we were flying out of Salt Lake so we still had a 4.5 hour drive to go once he got home. Well the next day, his flight got delayed AGAIN so we thought he better just fly to Salt Lake and I would meet him there and pack for him. So, I ran home and started packing like a mad woman to get it all done... it was crazy man, you should have seen me! I made it though just in time and Luke made it to Salt Lake so we were okay. So, we flew out of Salt Lake that night at 11:30 pm and made it to New Jersey the next morning at 6 am (or 4 am our time) and we didn't get much sleep. My cousin Alan, his wife Amanda and son Jonathon was very nice and able to pick us up because we had a 15 hour layover. We went back to his house, napped and then went off to New York City to see the Statute of Liberty (see photos). We had a really good time and walked around the city a tad before we had to go back to the airport. We flew out that night on Air India. There is a reason that airline is a lot cheaper then others. It was not the great. There was Indian food which was okay but I am not a huge curry fan and their meet was really fatty. Plus, the Indian stewardess was not so nice, she kept telling us to put up our seats when other people still had theirs down. Here is the gross story... I was napping and all of a sudden I smelt this REALLLLLLLY BAD smell, so I tell Luke and he whispers, I think it is my blanket. Sure enough it was! They wrapped in plastic to act like it was washed and new but nope, it stank like the dickens! It was AWFUL!!! Can not stress that enough. Luke thought maybe it was the guys feet next to him because he just put his feet pretty close to Luke's face... it was funny but not funny! Anyways, to sum up Air India, it is just really disorganized and not the cleanest plane.

Europe update!

I will be posting pictures and comments about our lovely trip to Europe soon... check back! Give me to Thursday or something... haha:)

Dallin's baby blessing

Dallin got blessed the day after we graduated so we all went down to Provo for his blessing. It was a lot of fun till he pooped on me (you will notice those pictures with me holding him up) ... but I still love him!!! He is such a cute baby boy!


(The proud parents and son)

(this was when Dallin was born but it is too cute)

(This was when I first noticed...)

(the poopiness)

Our graduation!!!

On May 4th & 5th of 2007, Luke and I both officially walked for graduation from Utah State. Luke got his masters in Consumer Science and technically he got it in August of 2006, but I made him walk with me in May. I still have yet to get the degree on my transcript but it will be there August of 2007, but we both walked and it was fun. Luke's parents came to see us as well as Lisa (sister) and Linda (sister) & Joel with their new baby Dallin. It was great fun and it rained almost the whole time!!! Here are some pictures of us walking (and Luke being hooded) as well as pictures of all who came...

(Luke being hooded)

(Rachel walking)

(cute Dallin at 2 months old)

(Luke likes to take random pictures but Rachel is excited to be done!)

Just thought we would show you our cute little trailer (in the freezing cold that Logan is, and the sunny weather) that we just moved out of... We miss certain things about it (like our pipes getting plugged) but really we were ready to move on, but we were glad it was our own. You can also see our three cars from all the pictures... we are crazy, we know.

Aubrie's Graduation

We went to New Mexico a few weeks ago to see my little sister Aubrie graduate. I can't believe she is that old already, when I left home she was only 13. That must mean we are all getting old... oh well. It was a fun trip and much needed after finishing so many years of college. It will be fun though because Aubrie is starting school in a few weeks at the Y and she will be closer to us, even though we don't live in Utah anymore. Here are a few pictures from that trip.