Kasee & Jason

Utah Christmas

2012-01-09T11:53:00.001-07:00

I had an awesome trip in Utah since I got to arrive a few days before Jason! The best welcome I could ever get was these girls picking me up at the airport.

Having hot chocolate!

Silly girls!

Love this lady :)

This is why we are friends. I love y'all!

Fabulous dinner with Jess at Guru's-our favorite!

Don't judge my 2 plates...one of them is salad

Hanging out with Caroline

Lunch at Zupa's with Caroline and Aaron.

IT was so nice to be home with my family, just hanging out and enjoying the view.

Even if there was barely any snow while we were there!

I was also lucky enough to have my movie star brother record my first cooking video for The Apron Gal. He was awesome and we had so much fun shooting my Coconut Macaron recipe! Look for it on my blog in coming weeks.

Christmas was great! Lots of clothes for Jason and kitchen stuff for me! But mainly it was wonderful to be with family and just hang around. We love you guys!

Don

Mom

Brother Jay

Uncle John

Jeff!

I didn't take nearly enough pictures as you can see but I did snag a cute one of me and my big brother!

Merry Christmas family, We love you!

Thomas Family Christmas

2012-01-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

We had such wonderful Christmases with families this year. First we saw the Thomas family in Utah for a mini Christmas and then again for a week after Christmas.

Here are some pictures from our "mini Christmas":

Our 14 month old niece, Shayla. Could she be cuter?

She loved the bow but wasn't so interested in this present.

She did like her bear that we got her, though!

And this little apron to keep her clean. From her auntie, The Apron Gal. hehe

Karen enjoyed opening presents....I think?

Shay enjoyed climbing on presents for sure! haha

With Uncle Jason

Got Jedd and Karen some Texas attire! Represent!

We love our new Bose already. We listen to music and read books.

We are very sophisticated despite what our awkward thumbs up may display to the contrary! Thanks K and J! [the originals not us]

Shay enjoying the Christmas aftermath. lol

Reading scriptures with Daddy before bed. precious.

Then after Christmas we spent a week in Idaho. We went shopping, saw Mission Impossible, visited Idaho Falls and ate some delicious Olive Garden, watched lots of football and basketball and just relaxed. A lot. It was wonderful, so wonderful that we didn't take one picture until our final night with the cousins.

Cousins Brit and Addie

Silly boys

Love these ladies! Addie and Aunt Jan

Anyways, I am so lucky to have such a great family of in-laws. I lucked out to not have 2 great families of my own but now a 3rd great one too!

Next time we will be better at taking pictures I promise!

Merry Christmas 2011!

2011-12-25T17:44:00.001-07:00

We feel so blessed with so many wonderful friends and family!

We love y'all and hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

A Very Merry Christmas

2011-12-19T22:25:00.002-07:00

It is only December 19 and we have already had 3 great Christmases! We are blessed to have so many families all over!

First we had a Christmas party with our friends. It was a blast and we consider our Texas friends practically family now!

We had lots of food, white elephant exchange and Christmas charades! You learn so much about people while watching them perform charades. It was very entertaining!

Cami, Juan and Amelia wore their awesome headpieces! We love their Christmas spirit!

Landen and Adam with their white elephant gift! lol

Matt, Andrea and Addy under the mistletoe!

Intensely discussing charades rules.

Juan makes us laugh. We love him.

Merry Christmas from the Thomases!

James and Alison

Lindsey and Blakely!

Cam and Steph

We had a fabulous party and it was so fun to hang with our friends!

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in Round Rock. We couldn't ask for better ones!

Then Jason and I had our Christmas together. We always do our gifts to each other in our own home so we can establish traditions and do fun things! This year we read scriptures, drank Martinelli's and opened presents-it was perfect!

Our beautiful tree! We love it!

Luke 2: The Nativity

I got Jason a Nike sweatshirt, movies, and lots of other little things.

Jason got me a creme brulee torch! I love it! I can't wait to torch stuff....

We had a great Christmas just the 2 of us!

Merry Christmas boo, I love you!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-12-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

We have had such an amazing holiday season in Round Rock. It seems like we have had a holiday event every day!

First we had a Ward Christmas Party where I helped the Primary kids make Christmas cards so I didn't really get any pictures.

Then we went to Blakely and Lindsey's for a "Gingerbread Showdown."

Ours was the "Best Overall"- it is our apartment complex, complete with little families and all!

Juan and Cami made this sweet Hunchback and Bell Tower. They won "Most original"

The chaos from 16 people making houses. haha.

How cute is this family photo of Jannsen, Bart, and their little girl?

Andrea and Matt. :)

Steph, Cameron and Andy with their Provo Temple gingerbread house.

With Alison :)

Then on Tuesday, I took Jason to a UT Basketball game as part of his Christmas present.

It was kind of a quiet game since it was during UT finals week but we still had fun!

Did I mention I was also crafty and made this Christmas wreath?

I was pretty proud of myself!

That's it for now! More Christmas festivity photos to come!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving and Texas just go together to me. Lots of good food, family and perfect fall weather. Not to mention smoking the turkey, fall leaves and mule rides.

Jason and I drove up to Dallas on Tuesday night and after sitting in 5 hours of traffic, arrived safely, albeit tired.

Wednesday we ate some delicious Mexican food, smoked the turkey and just hung around before prepping for Thanksgiving.

This is why I love my brother. And my handsome hubby.

Gorgeous Sunsets and perfect fall weather!

We had a great Thanksgiving meal and it was so fun to catch up with family.

I only got pictures of half of the attendees but of all the kiddos, hehe.

Grandpa Wes and Emma

Grandpa Wes, Emma and Grammy C

Is this the sweetest picture you have ever seen? MeeMaw and Baby Broxton

Lawson with Baby Broxton

Grammy C, Amber and Emma

Can you see the resemblance???

Jay and Kimmy. They both provide lots of entertainment :)

We even hit up Target on Black Friday and it wasn't too crazy!!

Lawson had fun in the toy aisle.

O and Dave let Jason drive the Corvette! Thanks Dave!

It was quite a ride! Jason definitely wants one now...

We had a great Thanksgiving trip and it was so wonderful to see such great friends and family. We are thankful for all of our loved ones at this time of year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mildly Unusual

2011-11-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Austin's motto is "Keep Austin Weird?" Well, it is, and Austins are very proud of that. We live about 15 miles north of Austin in Round Rock aka the suburbs/Dell Land. Did you know that Round Rock's unofficial motto is "Keep Round Rock Mildly Unusual?"

just a little FYI. haha. We suburbanites are so witty.

The past week or so we have really been exploring our city, Round Rock for some good food!

Friday night we headed to Moonie's for some delicious burgers. Jason got a guacamole bacon burger and I got the western with BBQ sauce, bacon and the essential onion ring. They were delish and I loved their fries. We had a blast with Juan, Cami and Amelia. And even with Steph and Cam playing Apples to Apples after.

Western Burger. yum.

Amelia loved her hands as much as we loved burgers.

Juan being awkward

This is us having so much fun. haha.

We are serisouly so lucky to have made such amazing friends here in Round Rock!

We even recorded this little video while we were here. Probably no one else thinks it funny, but we were being ridiculous and Amelia thought it was hilarious so at least she is cute!

Then the next morning we went for Round Rock Donuts. Yes, I know, we are obviously on a health kick as this post proves.

Round Rock donuts are famous for being delicious and its "Texas Sized Donuts." Apparently Man vs. Food has also stopped by.

It opens at 4 in the mornings and closes at 6pm and I think there is always a line to get in.

Eating donuts outside. Please excuse my tired face!

There she is ladies and gentlemen, the Texas donut.

Then that night after eating lots of veggies [ha] we went to Freddy's for custard. I know this isn't just in Round Rock but we hadn't been. Jason was skeptical because he thought custard was pudding [so naive] but we loved it!! The custard is thick and so creamy. They only have vanilla and chooclate but then you get cool combintaionts like my brownie sundae and Jason got a turtle sundae. We both devoured ours in minutes. We recommend them!!

And finally, last night we went out for Thai food with Jason's "class" for one of hte girls birthdays. The food was great and it was fun to meet people from work. The only pictures I managed to snag were of Amelia and my yummy sushi.

One day I will get a picture of her smiling, until then I will settle for these hilarious yet equally cute faces.

So we are enjoying our 70 degree weather and gearing up for the holidays around here.

Jason survived his first quarter end at Dell and

I had an interview this week so we will see what lies on the horizon!

yay for Round Rock. yay for Texas. yay for Food.

Passion In All Things...or at least trying

2011-11-04T12:45:00.000-06:00

You may or may not have noticed yesterday that I changed our banner and added a new tagline as well.

Awhile ago, I renamed our blog, "Passion in All Things." I wanted to show how wonderful life is but also that no matter what you are doing you should have passion for it and that doing things in life half-way just aren't worth it.

I still stand by this mantra. More than ever actually. Since then I have only developed my love of food and baking more and my food blog is the best its ever been [even if it has a long way to go.]

On that same note, I am still married to the most wonderful man. We love each other more and more each day-which 3 years ago, I would never have predicted. Aren't you supposed to be the most in love when you are dating, engaged or newlyweds? They never tell you how your love only grows and gets deeper and more complex over time. I love it.

On a different note though, our lives are nowhere near perfect. Don't get me wrong-life is great. I know that Texas is where we are supposed to be. I am SO grateful for all the amazing friends we have here, they have definitely made the transition so much easier and so much more fun. We love the weather, the food, our ward and our apartment. We are very blessed.

But Jason is working a lot and he is at times feeling overwhelmed with the stress, expectations and pressure of a new job.

Not to mention that I have way too much time on my hands since I am still gainfully unemployed and home all day.

Did I mention Jason's sister is pregnant with twins and who knows when we will meet those cuties? Or that both of our adorable nieces are getting bigger and cuter and we are missing them like crazy??

I have been called at church to work with the youth-specifically the young girls from age 12 to 18. It has definitely been a learning experience working with them-they are not only sponges about everything but they are in such teenage angst about everything. Drama drama. Not to mention they think their parents are dictators and want them to have NO fun. Little do they know how wonderful their parents are or how much they will miss them one day.

Anyways, I don't know if you are getting the gist of this post or not.

Life here isn't perfect by any means, but we are doing our best. We grow and learn each and every day. Jason may fall asleep at 9:30 since he is so exhausted from work but I don't love him any less for it. I may be home all day and not get one thing done and he doesn't love me any less either.

Life is beautiful. Life is crazy. I think it's all about perspective. Cherish what you have. Try your best to be passionate but don't fret on those days when all you want to do is cry, scream or sleep away your worries.

We are still figuring out this thing called life but we are enjoying the ride.

At a recent Dell happy hour

Halloween

2011-11-03T16:53:00.000-06:00

We had a great Halloween with friends this year both at the ward "Fall Festival/ Trunk or Treat" and by having a party at our new place!

We thought we were pretty creative this year going as a cop and an inmate:

I have no idea why I am grinning like an idiot here.

The Farmers: Steph and Cameron [see their little chicken below]

The honey bear and Flower: Juan and Camie [see their bee below!]

Matt and Andrea

Cutest bee ever- Miss Amelia

Cute mommy and baby chick!

Then for our party we had dinner and treats! We had taco soup with cornbread for dinner along with veggies, spinach dip, and mini weenies. Then for dessert we had carrot cupcakes, caramel apples deluxe and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I would say it was a success!

Spooky Dessert Bar

Caramel Apples! Oreo, Snickers, Monster, Butterfinger, Reese's etc.

I like this picture, I think its spooky!

Costume change to pumpkin, farmer and cat!

Steve Job zombie and a Witch!

Amelia wore her cute Halloween PJ's to the party.

No smile here but clear.

Great smile but a little blurry!

Jazz fans and a skeleton baby! Lindsey, Blakely and Baby Charlie

Social Media: Mark Zuckerberg & Twitter! James and Alison

Boys hanging out

Anyhoo. We had a great weekend! It was all treats and no tricks!

So glad we have such a great ward and friends here in Round Rock.

Happy Halloween!

It's My Birthday!!

2011-10-26T16:18:00.000-06:00

It was my birthday last week. It might have been one of the best birthdays I have ever had. And that is saying a lot because I am famous for my monthlong celebrations in my family.

I had an awesome day with friends and family but I just couldn't believe what an outpouring of love I had from all my favorite people in my life.

All day long I received phone calls from my family and best friends. So happy!

Then my favorite Round Rock ladies took me to lunch at Pei Wei and shopping at Sam Moon. What more could a girl want?

I also got to spend some time with 2 of my favorite kiddos:

Baby Andy who is 4 months old and sooo happy! We are buds.

And Miss Amelia who is 19 months old.

She loved Sam Moon too cause they had lots of nail polish.

She is such a girly girl!

Then my husband came home with pretty flowers and a cookie cake before whisking me off to Bed Bath and Beyond for shopping, Sprint for new Iphone 4s's

and Romano's Macaroni Grill for dinner.

How could a girl not be happy with this stud of a husband???

Yummy bruschetta.

Birthday tiramisu for free!

Then of course it was time for birthday clown, cake, & presents!!

Jason got me a keychain with my name on it since I never had those growing up cause my name is spelled "uniquely", haha. So sweet!

Then he got this pretty blue dutch oven! I have been making soup in it all week!!

Karen got me this gorgeous pastry/dessert book! I love it! Thanks Karen [and Jedd]!

Jason also got me cute clothes from Old Navy, I was very impressed.

And from many family contributions....this beauty should be arriving in the mail tomorrow:

I have been waiting many moons for this beauty

so thanks to all for making my dreams come true :)

Anyways, the moral of the story is that I had an amazing birthday and I acknowledge that:

1. I have an awesome family

2. I have awesome friends, near and far

3. I am spoiled :)

Thanks to everyone that was so sweet with calls, texts, cards, presents, Facebook messages and all thoughtfulness. I am one lucky girl!!

LA Visit!

2011-10-22T15:19:00.000-06:00

Last week I went to Los Angeles to see my brother and my mom and uncle happened to come along too!

It was so fun to be back in LA and to see all our old stomping grounds.

My brother has lived there for 7 years and this was my mom's first visit so we took her to see all the sights!

First we had pancakes and went shopping on the Third Street Promenade.

Then we went to the Getty Center. It was perfect weather!

Riding the Tram!

Self Take

If only the guy told us we were in all in shadow....

Then we went to Venice beach and had some yummy food.

Then Uncle John came and we celebrated his birthday with some delicious seafood!

Look at my cute family!!

For 2 days we stayed in this cute little cottage and it had this beautiful backyard with lemon trees. We chilled outside in the perfect weather and it was wonderful!!

I want this to be my house in Texas. Its too stinkin' cute!

Brother using the lemon picker on the lemon tree.

Then of course we went to Hollywood to see Graumann's Theatre and the walk of stars.

Mom, I can't remember whose shoes you are in. John Wayne maybe?

Judy Garland's hands.

Finally, we saw Moneyball and visited Jay's stomping grounds-Bodega Wine Bar that his friend Red owns. Red grew up with Jay in Texas so my mom knows his too!

Partying at Bodega!

Special people make the wall of pictures. Recognize these too?

That's my Mom and Dad!

We had a great trip! It was so fun just hanging out, eating out and shopping with the family. Thanks Mom for making the whole trip possible! Hope you had as much fun as I did!

Love you brother,

Bub

Jason Turns 27!

2011-10-07T21:07:00.001-06:00

Monday was Jason's 27th birthday! I think he had a pretty good celebration.

First of all, the birthday clown came to visit. With presents and all! This was probably Jason's favorite part of his birthday week!

Then I threw him a little birthday gathering with friends complete with Oreo cupcakes and homemade cheesecake ice cream.

Look at the birthday stud!

Cameron and Stephanie! We seemed to not have gotten pictures of anyone else...sorry Camie, Juan, Amelia, Matt, Whitney, James, Alison, Landen and Adam.

Next time we will do better!

Boy do I love this guy.

Then on Jason's actual birthday we went to Mighty Fine Burgers.

Its kind of like part 5 guys part In and Out. Jason loved it.

I liked it but want to try it again before I give my "love" approval.

Then it was time for presents.

I hope I can speak accurately for my hubby in saying he had a great birthday with good food, friends, and some time with the wifey not to mention some football and tent nightstand o and a car wash gift card. What more could a guy want?

Pecan Street Festival

2011-10-03T12:55:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we went to the Pecan Street Festival in Austin.

Before they changed the street names to numbers in Austin they were first all tree streets. So this festival was actually on 6th street but as on homage to the past they call it "Pecan Street Festival."

All the couples from our complex were there but it was hard to stay together since it was so crowded!

We had lots of fun looking at vendors, eating gyros and ALLIGATOR on a stick!

It was HOTT but we were glad we went! Here are a few fun pictures I managed to snag:

Lindsey and Blakely! They are awesome. She had her baby on Friday! So exciting!

Jason Thomas = famous

Taking my dad here whenever he comes to visit!

This is where we go the alligator from!

My favorite gal Steph. We liked this blinged out longhorn.

It was a fun day!

Our Home

2011-09-28T23:34:00.001-06:00

Without further ado....our new little home in Austin.

Our living room with new and improved picture wall. I like being able to see these photos more often in our living room now. They add some color to the room too!

Still need to change out some photos [less wedding and more friends/family]

but a lot of those were already printed.

Other parts of living room

Our little BYU shrine!

The kitchen. I love how open it is and there is tons of counter space. What a dream!

Did I mention I have an entire food blog area? It works like a dream! This was seriously one of the biggest sellers of this apartment to me. It is so nice to have a designated blog space and a place to keep things!

Dining Room

Our bedroom.

It is kind of our Tuscan getaway now! I love that giant mirror that we stole from my parents' house.

Thanks Dad and Carol!

This is our makeshift dresser. We already had this cube thing and we didn't want to spend any more money on furniture so we just bought these bins and use them. They actually are super practical even if they don't look awesome. One day we will buy a new dresser but for now this works great!

Another of my favorite things. All the room for my accessories! Did I mention I get the whole dresser, this jewelry armoire and THE WHOLE closet? We aren't allowed to have any kids soon since Jason wouldn't have anywhere to keep his clothes then. ha.

Our bathroom with a "garden tub"

Finally, the GUEST BEDROOM/OFFICE for all our future guests!!

This bed is all made and ready for YOU to come visit! Not to mention you get your own bathroom and TV/computer combo! Plan your trip soon before we book up!

Our full but functional office. I sit there every day so its nice to have all that stuff. haha.

This bathroom is much bigger than ours but I guess closets were more important to me than bathrooms.

haha

Well that's it folks! I should take pictures of our complex one day, its nice and we even have a little balcony.

Anyhoo, we are very happy here and have lots of great new friends but that doesn't mean we don't want to see old friends! Or family!

Let us know if you decide to make a reservation with us. :)

Yee-Haw!

2011-09-19T23:34:00.000-06:00

Whew.

We did it.

We survived:

BYU
Graduation
Europe
Living with parents
Road trips
Doubts/concerns
Impatience

All so we could end up here:

That's right folks....We now live in Austin, TEXAS! Or rather 15 minutes north in Round Rock Texas!

Sorry our previous blogging has been sporadic but we are finally settled and so happy about it!

We have been in Round Rock for just over 2 weeks and are finally all moved in, have friends, a ward, 1 new job and lots of adventures ahead of us!

I will post pictures of our new apartment next but here are some pictures from our first trip to downtown Austin.

We went to the State Capitol which is pink if you can't tell!

Ate some delicious food and met nice people at Jackalope!

Jason rides the Jackalope.

Please pardon the profanity on that...

We watched the bats come out downtown from the bridge...an Austin "must do"

Wandered around the famous 6th street and just soaked up our new home!

So far we love:

Jason's 3 minute commute to and from work
The other 8 BYU couples that live in our same apartment complex
Not needing to buy any furniture or decorations for our apartment
Going to the pool with friends
A great ward that's close by
Jason's program at Dell that is going to be great

So things are good! I am currently looking for a job so hopefully I will find something relatively soon but we are just soaking up finally being settled somewhere and looking forward to our new life here in Texas.

We are stoked.

Did I mention we have a fully equipped guest bedroom? Any takers? [photos to come just in case you don't believe me!]

Love Y'ALL.

Kasee & Jason

Cuties

2011-08-29T22:11:00.000-06:00

Since we only have 2 days left here in Dallas, I thought I would show one of my favorite things about this summer-getting to get hang with three little cuties!

We went to see Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth! And I think it really was!

They had 8 tigers!

We had a blast at the circus!

We also had fun making treats!

[don't mind me sans makeup after the pool...]

I think Addy liked the popsicles!

Emma was the best helper for making krispie pops.

See the recipe at The Apron Gal.

We had a great summer! We love our nieces and nephew!

Pacific City, Oregon

2011-08-23T21:35:00.000-06:00

We are going to rewind time a little bit and go back to the beginning of the summer and our trip to the Oregon Coast with the Thomas family. When we got back from Europe we figured that we needed a vacation from our vacation and lucky for us my family had planned a trip to Pacific City, Oregon. Growing up this was one of my most favorite vacation destinations. We would drive up to Richland, WA first and spend the night at my grandparents house. Then we would continue on to the coast.

I love the Oregon coast for many reasons. First of all it has all of my favorite things in one place. It is forested all the way to the coast and it has beautiful sandy beaches . Our spot in Pacific City is especially nice as it is nestled between 2 state parks making it nice and calm and less touristy than other towns nearby. But the main reason I love it there is because of all the great memories that have been made with family. It was special sharing this place with Kasee and with the other "new" members of the family.

This was the view that we had out our window for the week. I could look at forever and not get sick of it.

My cute niece Shay fell asleep when when we were walking around the beach. I had no complaints.

The family took a trip to the local aquarium. The C family had a great time as you can see.

We also took a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We left full of a lot of cheese and ice cream.

We spent the week running down the sand hill, site of infamous moment when cousin Brit rolled down the hill laughing and wetting himself.

True love is written in the sand:)

M, C, and lil S.

We had a great time!

Until next time Oregon coast...

Summer Update!

2011-08-11T22:42:00.000-06:00

Well, you may or may not be wondering if we are alive. Yes, we are alive but we are roasting in Texas!

Here is the very mini recap of what has happened since the end of our Europe trip.

Spent 7 days in Oregon at the beach with Jason's family on vacation! Soaked up time with our little nieces. [more photos to come!]

Said goodbye to our home of more than 7 years for Jason and 5 for Kasee and many old friends.

And a few new ones.

Sniff.

Moved from Provo to Dallas, Texas to live with Kasee's dad and step-mom for 2 months of summer. Welcome to the heat!

Kasee officially re-launched her food blog, The Apron Gal. She is working on her cooking and photography skills and is loving it! Remember to spread the word please! She spends many hours each week cooking, taking photos, staging food, marketing, researching etc. It is a labor of love for sure.

Now we are working full time for Kasee's dad the portfolio manager & step-mom the CPA. Kasee is acquiring some awesome Quickbooks and tax skillz. Jason is becoming a real estate expert :)

Went to the Texas Coast: Rockport for the 4th of July. Hung out and ate lots of seafood. yum.

Visited Austin to see Dell & we picked out an apartment in Round Rock! We are so excited!

Spending time with Texas nieces & nephews. Water park trip. Making goodies. Circus?

Eating fatty fatty delicious Texas food. mmmmmm

Visiting old friends: Regan and Rylan & Angela [no picture, sad!]

The Mac died. Sad day.

Kasee is applying for jobs. 4 down. 785902.56 to go!

Threw a Paella party for 50 people.

We Love love love Texas. The accents. The country. The food. The PRIDE.

"I'd rather be a fencepost in Texas
than a King in Tennessee."

Tomorrow we head to celebrate our 2 year anniversary with a little weekend getaway!

Someday we will start doing real blog posts again! Hope you are having a good summer!

Paris!

2011-07-25T23:33:00.002-06:00

Well you are stuck with me (Jason) again. Kasee has been working hard over at theaprongal.com so I told her I would take over the reigns for a little bit to keep the family "journal" going. Plus I think it will be fun to relive Paris.

We absolutely loved Paris! By the time we drove from St. Omer, France to Paris and got to our hotel we only had a day and half in Paris but we saw a ton. One wonderful thing about Paris is the metro. It was super easy scooting around town. The first day we saw the hotel de ville, Notre Dame de Paris, Le Louvre and walked the Champs Elysees and did some shopping as the sun set on our way to the Arc de Triumph. A lot in just a half day. At the Hotel de Ville they had a jumbo screen set up to show the French Open. It was a pretty cool to watch tennis with a bunch of Frenchies with the backdrop of the hotel de ville and Notre Dame de Paris along the river. It was a great way to start our stay in Paris.

We only walked by the Louvre. I know, we went to Paris and didn't go inside the Louvre but unfortunately we just didn't have the time. It was beautiful walking around the grounds though.

Notre Dame was awesome. It was fun comparing the cathedrals of Rome to France. Notre Dame definitely holds its own against the Roman ones. It was beautiful walking in the Cathedral and walking around the grounds along the river.

Although its not pictured we finished the evening with a trip to the Champs Elysee. It was beautiful and very romantic. To remember the evening we stopped off and picked up some very "cute" skirts for Kasee.
The next morning we headed straight to Versailles. It was one of my favorite stops during our entire trip. It was beautiful and more grandiose then I even imagined.

After Versailles we headed to the Rodin Museum. Kasee had been to Paris before and tried to go to the Rodin Museum and failed so we rushed to make it before it closed. You may recognize some of these famous pieces. My favorite was the Thinker. "The Kiss" is Kasee's favorite work of all time and she was so excited to finally see it in person. She is a big art history buff and Rodin is her favorite artist.

To close out our trip we headed to the Eiffel Tour. I didn't understand the appeal of the Eiffel Tour before... but now I see why. Not only is it a beautiful area but the view is truly one of a kind. Kasee gave in to my request to hike the stairs to the second platform instead of waiting in the long line to take the elevator. I really thing that hiking up really made me enjoy it a a lot more. Maybe its because I didn't have to wait in line for 2 hours.

After walking back down the Eiffel Tour we headed to our hotel and prepared to head back home to Utah. Although we were sad to have our adventure end we were excited to come home to family and friends.

Next up is our trip to Oregon with the Thomas family and our move to Texas!

My Food Blog - The Apron Gal!

2011-07-12T08:02:00.001-06:00

Well it's finally ready, my new and improved food blog!

Check out my first post and giveaway at The Apron Gal.

I am so excited to be sharing recipes again as well as starting some new things like guest bloggers, giveaways and "Foodie Fridays."

Please tell all your friends to check out The Apron Gal, I promise they won't regret it!

To enter the giveaway for this cute apron go to TheApronGal.com and follow the instructions! I also listed them below but remember to enter on TheApronGal.com and not on this blog!

Required for entry:

Become a public follower of The Apron Gal & tell me something you would like a good recipe for!

For each additional entry:

"Like" The Apron Gal on Facebook
Follow @TheApronGal on Twitter
Blog about The Apron Gal and/or this giveaway specifically
Add my button to your blog {grab it from the top right on The Apron Gal}

Please leave a different comment for each entry on this giveaway post on The Apron Gal.

This giveaway is open until Monday August 1st at Midnight! Winner will be announced on Tuesday August 2nd! {Giveaway open to residents of the United States only, sorry!}

Now go check it out!

France!

2011-07-07T21:53:00.001-06:00

This is Jason again providing the next installment of our trip (I promise only Paris is after this post). We continued on with my mission theme by visiting a few more of my cities. To do this we rented a car and headed to France. We first stopped off in Lille. My actual area was mainly Villeneuve d'Ascq but as there is not much to see there we checked out mainly downtown Lille as well as the chapel.

On the way to downtown Lille we stopped off to see the Gare de Lille. One of my favorite parts about France is the old stations. I think they are fun to watch people as they come and go. We walked around the center of town for a while and enjoyed the good weather!

We spent the afternoon eating baguette sandwiches and walking the streets.

We stopped by my old chapel in Villeneuve D'Ascq on our way out of town. We made it to St. Omer, France by the late afternoon. St. Omer was probably my most favorite area during my mission. St. Omer is a small town in the countryside. We got around by bike and I was lucky to be there during the spring and summer when the town was beautiful and the weather was wonderful. Some of my best memories are here with Elder Smith and Elder Smith (Yes, I had two companions in a row with the last name Smith).

While there we picked up some French style Chinese food (I wouldn't recommend it) and ate a bunch of delish pastries (not pictured but probably should be).

We took a walk in my favorite park as well. We were surprised with a little rain but that didn't dampen our spirits.

On the way out of town to Paris we stopped off at a windmill overlooking the countryside. We took in our last gulps of fresh air before we went back to the city for our final stop! I loved being back in my mission. It was so much fun to speak French again and see the familiar sites and people.

Next stop: Paris!

Belgium!

2011-07-04T16:56:00.001-06:00

Lets see if you can tell a difference in blogging style between Kasee and me (yes, Jason is writing a blog post for the first time in 2 years! Did you know that I am the one that started our family blog only to relinquish the reigns after 2 posts?) After Morocco we boarded the plane in Tangier and headed to Brussels, Belgium. Although we witnessed many differences between each place that we visited I found the airport security differences to be very interesting. Security in Morocco consisted of a metal detector at the door and one security guy that didn't seem to mind when it went off. Anyways on to Belgium.

You may ask why Belgium? I went on a church service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (www.mormon.org) to Belgium and north eastern France. What this means is I spent 2 years teaching people in French about our church as well as providing service for anyone in need. During the two years I agreed to not phone home (emails were ok), watch movies, date girls, or even stay up past 10:30 and sleep past 6:30 am. These rules were in place so I could focus 100% on missionary service and I loved it!

We were welcomed to Belgium by my good friend Patrick. Patrick and I met when I was in Namur, Belgium, my last stop before I went home. He would meet us for lunch every Friday and we developed a great friendship that has lasted over 5 years since I have returned home to the states.

With Patrick we went and visited Namur. I'll be honest, we didn't see or do anything too exciting to the average tourist but it was wonderful to be back walking the streets of my old cities and hearing the familiar French accents in each town. I was also able to see my old apartment located within the house of Madame Bourginogne. She was an angel at 89 years old. She loved taking care of us even if that included a scolding for not wearing warm enough clothes when it was cold outside. She passed away a few months after I left.

We also visited the Citadelle in Namur. It provided us with great views of the city!

We were lucky to be in Namur on market day. The market was full of clothes jewelry and delicious local produce. We also tried to local favorite "le cuberdon." It was a grapish chewy treat.

For lunch we got what I had been waiting 5 years for... Belgian frites. They were as good as I remembered. I made myself sick trying to eat all the fries that we bought but it was totally worth it!

To finish the day with Patrick we stopped off in the small, quaint town of Dinant. It was fun to hang out with the Mrs. and with Patrick while exploring the streets of this little town. [The inventor of the saxophone was from Dinant]

The next day we said our goodbyes to Patrick and headed to Liege. Liege was my first city that i lived in during my two year stay. We spent the morning walking the streets and again revisiting the familiar memories of my mission.

We couldn't leave Liege without eating at my favorite friterie. We shared a mitraillette: a large baguette topped with fried meat and tons of Belgian frites and then topped with your choice of delicious sauces.

After Liege we headed over to Nivelles. We enjoyed a romantic walk through the park where I used to hang out on preparation days during my mission (this is the 1 day during the week where missionaries can do something besides missionary work).

We also checked out the local LDS chapel as well as my old apartment and downtown Nivelles.

We even lucked out and they were having a little carnival in the center of town. As a missionary I always wanted to participate so it was fun to be able to with Kasee. Kasee got a barbe a papa which is the term they use for cotton candy.

Barbe a papa directly translated means dad's beard which Kasee demonstrates in the picture below.

After an evening of hanging out and eating we retired for night at our countryside hotel. To get there we followed our GPS. Our GPS, however, did not warn us that it would be taking us on a windy 1 lane road through the countryside to get there. Although it was nerve racking to taking blind curves for about 20 minutes we did see the beautiful countryside and arrived safely at our quaint little hotel.

Next stop: France!

Morocco Part 2

2011-06-26T20:46:00.000-06:00

Well I realize I have gotten behind and although we are in Texas I still want to finish our trip posts so just a few more and then we will be done!

Taha also took us to the beautiful city of Chefchaouen that is known for its blue and white houses.

It was a beautiful city and so fun to wander the streets with Taha!

We had a wonderful time in Morocco and definitely want to go back and explore more!

Morocco

2011-06-16T07:00:00.001-06:00

After Spain we took a ferry over to northern Morocco, Tangier for a few days. One of my best friends on my study abroad [remember my "floating university?"] was from Morocco. His name is Taha and we stayed with him and his family in their house in Tangier. He was an amazing tour guide showing us all around town and his family was so wonderful to us. Taha took us to all his favorite places and acted like a tourist with us :)

Taha greeted us at the ferry wearing a BYU soccer shirt I had bought him before so he was easy to spot! That day we explored the medina [old part of the city] and had an AMAZING lunch at this awesome little Moroccan restaurant.

Taha / Local mosque/ cool door

This is the back of the restaurant where the owner gave me lots of gifts and showed me how he makes this amazing fruit wine that everyone drinks with dinner.

That pot smelled so good and the man was as cute as can be!

That afternoon Taha let us be tourists and ride camels. I have to admit, even if its not authentic, it was awesome. Taha says when he meets people from outside Morocco people always ask him "Do you ride camels everywhere?" he laughs and says no. Its like people asking Texans if they ride horses everywhere. Although, people in the desert parts of Morocco really do use camels for transportation and goods transport.

Anyways, camels are huge! It was so fun to just ride around the beach and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Definitely worth the 6 dollars each we paid!

And of course in true Scholar Ship form, we had to do jumping pictures:

Then we went to the Hercules Caves. Doesn't the cave hole look like a backwards Africa?

We also dressed like the traditional Moroccan mountain people which was fun for one picture. We actually saw a lot of the mountain people daily selling their vegetables or goat cheese at the markets.

I was also lucky enough to get to cook with Taha's mom! [she asked that I not post her picture] She speaks only Arabic but through sight and taste and Taha's occasional interpretation I learned a ton! She taught me how to make several traditional Moroccan dishes, which of course, I will be sharing with you on my food blog, The Apron Gal! Here is a look into the food we ate that weekend both from my cooking lessons and from eating out! Every single thing we ate was delicious!

Part 2 of Morocco will be tomorrow!

Espana

2011-06-15T01:07:00.000-06:00

After our cruise we flew from Rome to Malaga, Spain. For those of you who don't know here is my connection with Spain:

After I graduated from high school when I was 18, my step-mom and my Dad offered to send me to Spain for a month as part of a homestay program. I told them I thought it would be boring...haha. But then I came to my senses and decided that it might be okay to go to Spain for a month. So I packed my bags and headed to Estepona, Spain to live with a Spanish family for one month. To make a long story short, I loved every minute in Spain and more importantly I loved my Spanish family and every minute with them. I considered them my 3rd family [or 4th with Jason's now].

So over the years I have returned to see them twice since my original visit and this is the third return visit to see them. And it was wonderful as always! I was so happy for Jason to meet them and for them to meet my husband, even if neither of them could communicate with one another since my Spanish family only speaks Spanish, ha.

On to our visit!

We really didn't do anything but hang out with my family, eat my favorite Spanish foods and go to the beach! It was perfect! We had delicious churros for breakfast, walked along the streets showing Jason all my favorite hangouts from previous years and just enjoying one of my favorite places in the world.

We relaxed at the beach and of course, had to have amazing Magnum ice cream bars!

I also got to spend lots of time at home with family just hanging out and particularly eating and cooking with them. Here Manolo [my dad] is squeezing me fresh orange juice for breakfast. They spoil me every time I come! My mom, Mari Carmen, gave me some of my favorite Spanish recipes which I will be sharing on my food blog, The Apron Gal, soon! She has the most infectious laugh and we love to tease each other constantly. Pedro, one of my brothers is so kind, he seems like a tough guy but he is a momma's boy and has always been so good to me.

My Spanish family is very traditional so they served fish for three meals along with octopus salad and paella. Jason was a trooper trying all kinds of new food and he actually liked everything!

We had such a great trip with them, unfortunately I only got to see my one brother and parents since the other two sibilings live further away and we didn't have time to see them...just means we have to go back again, right?

Here are my parents and my awesome brother, Pedro!

The biggest thing that amazed me about my time in Spain was how much things hadn't changed. My Spanish family welcomed me home with open arms! They call me hija and nina [daughter and child] and we still have all the same inside jokes from over 5 years ago. They cook for me and buy juice and treats just for me. They handed me a key the second we walked in the door telling me how nuestra casa es tu casa [our home is your home]. All the wonderful memories of years of visits flooded back to me instantly. My Spanish came quickly but not without struggles. It was so amazing to be able to show Jason this family and for him to better understand me from my experiences in this magical place. I hope to keep coming back to see my Spanish family for the rest of my life. They were strangers who went above and beyond for me and grew to become my family. I love them and I am so grateful to know them!

Next Stop: Morocco!

Linda's Vintage Giveaway!

2011-06-13T18:27:00.000-06:00

Ok y'all! I am interrupting our trip extravaganza posts to let you in on exciting news!

My stylish, beautiful and talented friend Jessica has started her own shop, Linda's Vintage. She makes gorgeous handmade vintage inspired hairpieces and hats.

Here are a few of my favorites:

And YOU have the chance to win the lovely piece below by entering her giveaway!

Lucille Ball

Here's how to enter:

-follow Jessica's blog

-visit the shop and leave a comment telling Jessica who your favorite Old Hollywood actress is

For additional Entries:

-tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your tweet

-blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your post

-like linda's vintage on facebook and leave a comment

-follow Linda's Vintage on twitter and leave a comment

The giveaway will be open until Friday, June 17th!

She will announce the winner the following Monday!

Now go enter!

Cruise Stops

2011-06-12T23:52:00.000-06:00

Now that you have seen HOW we traveled on the ship see WHERE we traveled!

Our first port was Messina, Sicily. We caught a bus with some other cruisers and headed to the nearby town of Taormina. Taormina is high in the hills of Sicily and has gorgeous views. There wasn't much to do there but it was pretty and cute. We ate yummy calzones and walked in lots of cute little shops. It was a great day!

The next stop was a big one: Athens, Greece! We were probably the most excited for this one!

On our way from the ship to the train station we made friends with some other cruisers and they turned out to be from Plano, Texas! We also met a very nice Greek man who showed us all around for a couple of hours! This made the day so much better and easier! After exploring some famous places along the way to the Acropolis we finally made it!

The day we went to the Acropolis turned out to be National Monuments Day in Greece meaning that all monuments and museums are free but also that there were people everywhere! We waited in this massive pile of people for 10 minutes [it was going to be 3 hours] but then the doors opened! We piled in with hundreds of other people in the heat and climbed up to the Acropolis. The Acropolis is the ancient city center of Athens. It is mainly ruins now but you can see from what is left of the Parthenon what splendor it used to hold.

While we were hiking around the acropolis it started raining! So there were all these tourists running onto the monuments trying to find shelter...pretty sure that wasn't allowed! haha. Anyways, we were a little wet and cold but we finally made it down after trying not to slip ten times on the wet marble.

After the Acropolis we went to the new Acropolis museum and wandered around the city. Then we had the most amazing lunch:

It was seriously so good!

Anyways, Athens was great! Next was Turkey!

After Rome and Athens we were a little "ruins" out so we decided to just hang around the port city of Kusadasai, Turkey. We spent most of the day at the Grand Bazaar just shopping and we definitely got to work on our bargaining skills. We had another great doner kebab there and took a walk around Pigeon Island. We also got some great Turkish delite, pottery and baklava!

Here is a great view of our ship from Pigeon Island:

Finally our last stop was Chania, Crete. This was one of my faovrite places. It was a beautiful tranquil island. We walked to the beach and just relaxed and it had the prettiest harbor area with restaurants and shops, it was a beautiful day and the perfect last stop on our cruise!

Cruise was awesome. Next stop: Spain!

Cruising the Mediterranean

2011-06-05T09:13:00.000-06:00

After Lake Como we drove back down to Rome to start our 7 day Mediterranean cruise. This cruise was a graduation gift from my parents and were so excited! This was the first cruise for Jason and me [other than the Scholar Ship].

Our ship, the Navigator of the Seas, was huge! It had 14 passenger decks, an ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, mini golf course, casino, nightclub and a large promenade of shops and restaurants.

Our ship stopped in Sicily, Athens, Turkey and Crete! The other days we got to spend on the ship just hanging out!

We played mini golf:

Made great friends in our dinner group. Hnin and Micky were from LA and they just got engaged in Paris 2 days before coming on the ship! Angie and Reine are newlyweds from Germany and they were so wonderful! We lucked out to get such great people at our dinner table because we looked forward to hanging out with them every night!

Dinner was so fun every night getting to try all kinds of new food and our new friends were awesome about letting me, the food blogger, sample everything! :) The food was great and it was a dream for me to get to try as much as I wanted for free! We always ordered a few appetizers and main courses each! That counts as research right??

Hnin calls these our Titanic pictures on the stairs!

It was fun dressing up for formal nights even if we weren't that dressed up! Ball gowns don't exactly fit in with 5 weeks of traveling clothes, lol.

We also got to play shuffleboard with our friends, hit up the casino [just $10 we swear!] and take in beautiful sunsets. We really had a wonderful time!

We got blackjack on our first hand! It was fun to do for 3 minutes,

but I can definitely see why we are NOT allowed to gamble!

Jason really wanted a "King of the World" picture!

The entertainment on the ship included a Broadway musical night, ballroom dancing show, Ice dancing show, Ice sculpture demonstration, 70's night and lots of other stuff. We tried to do as much as we could for our first cruise!

It was a blast and we will definitely be cruising again! Thanks Dad and Carol!

Next post: Cruise destinations

Venice

2011-06-02T15:48:00.000-06:00

We went to Venice after Florence and although it was a bit stressful arriving and paying 20 E to park for 24 hours we made it okay! We walked into the city and it took a minute to realize that there were no cars anywhere and that we were in Venice!

We checked into our hotel and wandered around the city. We wanted to do a gondola ride but 80 Euros for 25 minutes just didn't seem quite worth it! We opted for a "vaporetto" ride, or the local water taxi. As a tourist you can just make a loop and only 6 euros instead of 80! We thought that was a good idea :)

And I have to say, still romantic :)

There were so many cool houses and buildings to see on the water I wanted to share a few older ones and more modern ones too!

After our little water tour of the city we went to St. Mark's Cathedral. It is a very different style than most of the other Italian churches we saw since this has a very Eastern style. Still beautiful though!

Then it was time to eat and we decided to splurge for a nice dinner right on the water to watch the sunset. Good pizza and pasta made for the perfect date night in Venice!

As we wandered through the narrow streets of Venice on our way home, I couldn't help but take pictures of how the city sparkled at night.

In our short one day in Venice we could definitely see why people find it enchanting. Life changing? Maybe not, but still a fun place to see even for a few hours! We loved just wandering around to all the bridges and getting lost on dead ends! Often you would try to get somewhere only to end at the water and have to turn around. A nice day adventure and a good place before Lake Como. Since I already blogged about Lake Como that is the end of the Italy part of our trip! So wonderful!

Next pictures: Mediterranean Cruise

Lake Como

2011-05-28T15:37:00.000-06:00

I realized I haven't gone through all the Venice pictures so I am skipping to the next destination: Lake Como.

Lake Como is in the north-western part of Italy and it's actually where my Dad and Stepmom got married 17 {ish} years ago!

The name of the lake is Como and lots of little towns are located around it. It really is absolutely stunning. A narrow winding road led up to our hotel and we had a beautiful view of the lake and the lush green mountains surrounding it. Not to mention our hotel was super cheap and absolutely adorable.

The view from our balcony:

I just loved the greenery there!

We spent two days in Como just enjoying the gorgeous views, exploring and relaxing. It was wonderful and very romantic :) Our first day we did take a boat ride around the lake to see a few things and wandered around the city.

Then, we had an impromptu photo shoot in this little park since it was such a beautiful day!

We found these old caves and wandering in the forest we felt like we were in a rain forest, complete with lizards, insects and humidity. Jason got to count that as his "nature walk" for the day!

We even made our own caprese in our room and ate lunch on the balcony.

There wasn't much to it but we loved our days there! If you are looking for a romantic getaway we recommend it!

Florence

2011-05-27T07:50:00.000-06:00

Against all recommendations by every travel book and blog, we rented a car in Rome. We weren't gutsy enough, nor was it necessary to have it during our time in Rome but we did have to pick it up in and Rome and navigate our way out of the city.

As a pedestrian in Rome, you may think to yourself, "Are there any laws here?" or "Wow, I almost just died."

As a driver in Rome, you may think to yourself, "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

To outsiders, driving in Rome seems like a suicide attempt but Jason described it as "controlled madness." He also said it was fun since it was like driving in a video game [which provided me little comfort at the time, as I braced for dear life because there are no lanes, no speed limits and very few rules at all. People cross streets whenever and cars park literally wherever.

Jason was a champ driving out of the city and for the next 6 days as we drove from Rome all the way around northern Italy only to return to Rome.

Driving through the Tuscan countryside was beautiful. Lots of green hills and very tranquil. The red roofed homes were straight out of Under the Tuscan Sun [remember Cortona, our first post? that is where that movie was filmed].

After Cortona we made it to Florence for a gorgeous sunset. This view is from the Piazza Michelangelo at the top of the city.

Needless to say this was a gorgeous night and a great way to start out in Florence. Our bed and breakfast was also so nice. We had a very large room in an old home of a lovely Florentine woman named Carla. She was hilarious and like the Italian grandmother I didn't know I had. We also had a great night with other guests from Turkey discussing American, Turkish, and Italian culture.

On our next and only full day in Florence we headed out to see the city and of course, the famous Florence Duomo, or cathedral of the city [pictured above and below].

It was beautiful outside, but to be honest, not as cool inside as I had imagined, I think its hard to compare other churches to the amazing ones of Rome. The doors above were gorgeous though and again, something I had studied extensively in art history.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and just enjoying ourselves!

Then I was lucky enough to spend 4 hours cooking with Carla in her kitchen making four traditional Tuscan dishes. Again, awesome. More will be told about this later on my food blog, The Apron Gal.

Florence done. Next stop: Venice!

End of Rome

2011-05-26T19:21:00.000-06:00

I am condensing the next 2 days of Rome into this final Rome post so I can tell you more about other parts of our trip. Since I am in Morocco right now its hard to focus on going in order when I just want to post current pictures but I am trying to go in order!

Anyways, the next day in Rome we went to the very cool Campo Di Fiori market where vendors sell spices, fruits, vegetables, olive oils etc. It was a food blogger's dream!

You better believe I bought some spices right then and there but I bought pasta at the grocery store as that was much more sensible [and cheaper].

Then we went to the Roman Forum, the ancient ruins of Rome. It was very cool to imagine the thriving city that was once here with temples, government and law buildings and markets. It requires a lot of imagination but the foundation is there, literally, to help you picture it.

Needless to say it was cool to see!

After the Roman Forum, we went to the Capuchin crypt where the bones of more than 4,000 monks are arranged into artwork. It was very moving, fascinating, and sad all at one time.

You aren't allowed to take photographs but here is one from the internet to give you an idea.

Then we headed to the Pantheon. An awesome building to behold and really makes you understand the size of the Roman forum if it were still standing in all its glory today.

On our last day we went to the Roman Catacombs. They take you on a tour several stories underground and it is very interesting, again, no pictures. But it was cool to get out of the city a little bit and to see the respect that was shown for all the Christian martyrs then and today.

Finally, we stumbled on the gorgeous San Giovanni church on our way home from the Catacombs. Honestly, it rivaled the Vatican but not quite there. It was originally home to the Pope in Italy before the Vatican which is probably why it was so large and beautiful. It was one of those great accidental finds.

So that is the end of Rome! We had a great 4 days! Next stop....Florence!

Vatican City

2011-05-25T17:56:00.001-06:00

Next in Rome was a day at the Vatican!

We arrived at St. Peter's Square and it was awesome to behold such a famous place. Then we were able to chat with three priests from around the world: Burundi, Thailand, and Scotland. It was a warm welcome to such a holy site for 1 billion people.

After we figured out how to enter the Vatican Museums, we got the student discount and had zero lines! Take that annoying tour guide people harassing us all the way in about "1.5 hour lines."

Anyhoo, the Vatican grounds and museums were awesome, here are a few of our faves:

So many of my favorite and most famous pieces of art I have studied were housed in the Vatican Museums; apparently the Vatican has the largest religious art collection in the world.

We then got to see Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel which was beautiful but you are not allowed to take photographs. Sorry!

Then on to St. Peter's Basilica itself. One word: BREATHTAKING. Not only was it the biggest church I have ever seen; it was gorgeous! It has a long nave with a huge dome and an awesome baldacchino. It also had huge amazing sculptures by Bernini and the famous Pieta by Michelangelo. Definitely a must see if you visit Rome. I also strongly recommend following a secret path: follow the tour groups instead of individual people when you leave the Sistine Chapel if you do this you can cut straight to enter the St.Peter's, otherwise you have to exit and return all the way outside and back in.

It was beautiful and very much a must see in Rome. Probably our favorite place in our whole trip.

Then we walked down to Castel Sant' Angelo and along the river.

After the Vatican, we found a nice dinner and then stumbled on this main shopping area. We then got delicious Nutella gelato and sat down to eat it on some big steps. They turned out to be famous Spanish steps where lots of people hang out or meet friends and is one of the most famous gathering places in Rome.

It was a great day and we saw so many cool things! Rome continues tomorrow!

First Stop: Roma

2011-05-24T10:04:00.000-06:00

Alright, I am catching up on all my pictures and our first destination was Rome!

After we finally found our way to our apartment we found this:

A beautiful private room and delicious breakfast every morning!

Our first night we walked around the main part of the city to see a few things like Capitoline Hill and the famous Trevi Fountain.

Trevi Fountain is where a lot of famous movie scenes are filmed, everyone takes their picture wishing with a coin here. Hundreds of people sit on the steps and people watch here as well.

Rome was awesome in the fact that no matter where you went there were gorgeous buildings or ancient ruins. It was a wonderful feeling to be in a city filled with so much history.

On our second day we headed straight to the Colosseum!

It is so strange that the Colosseum is just right in the middle of the action of Rome, you are just walking and look up and there it is. It really is quite impressive.

We were smart enough to buy a Roma Pass and cut all the lines for entering the Colosseum and then we spent a few hours wandering around it. Jason particularly loved it! It was cool to imagine all the gladiators and emperors there [albeit sad].

There were also cool exhibits and its interesting that there is so much ancient stuff in Rome that people just sit on old marble pillars [see photo] like they are chairs, haha. I guess when you have history everywhere you can't protect and encase everything.

People would see us take these funny photos and then copy us. It was very entertaining. haha

The Arch of Constantine is just outside the Colosseum.

After the Colosseum, we headed to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore but not before getting a kebab: Jason's favorite European food, and definitely one of mine too!

Then we went to the church where the famous St. Teresa in Ecstasy sculpture by Bernini is located. [all 3 of these are pictured in the collages above]

Finally, we headed to Villa Borghese. This is the 2nd biggest park in Rome that is gorgeous! You can ride these little bike trolleys around, which we wanted to do but couldn't seem to find one! So we settled for a tranquil boat ride in a small lake. It was very entertaining since neither of knew how hard rowing is!

Needless to say at the end of this day, we were pretty exhausted. But we rested up for our next day: The Vatican! until then....ciao!

Europe & Cortona

2011-05-15T02:11:00.000-06:00

Welp, today is the first time I have had time to sit and do a blog post. I do wish I could have blogged from day one of our trip, but would I give up all that we have seen so far? nope.

Wanna hear how we got to where we are now?

[Outside Pisa, Italy that is, 12 days into our trip]

Great, cause I want to blog about it for journaling purposes so please endure the next 25 posts of our trip, haha.

It all started innocently enough, planning a trip to Europe. A graduation present to ourselves for many years of hard work before moving on to real jobs in the Fall. However, originally we were going in October and not May, which ended up being 3 weeks away when we booked everything. So in a whirlwind, we booked hotels, bed & breakfasts & and rental cars. Luckily we had been saving for this trip and with the help of amazing family [thanks to all!] we were able to make this dream a reality

So we planned the big stuff-flights and where to sleep and figured we would figure out the rest along the way.

So the day before we finished packing and getting ready and decided to be spontaneous...dying my hair blond anyone?

Yes, Jason and I thought it would be fun for me to go blond the night before our 5 week trip to Europe. So at 11 pm we started the process, as you can guess it didn't end up pretty. haha. My hair was a combination of pink and orange and rather unsightly. If it was cute orange/pink I would have left it, since I figured that would fit in around Europe. But it was more atrocious than cute. So at 1 in the morning Jason ran to get dark hair color, 2 applications worth just in case and we returned my hair to normal, finally retiring for bed at 3 am. Nice, right?

We got to the airport with oodles of time [note previous blog post] and hung around prepping for our trip. Our flight wasn't boarding but we figured it was running behind so we paid no attention. Suddenly, over the loud speaker we heard our names being called to board, as in EVERYONE was on the plane but us. So we ran and luckily the guy who checked us in was like, "do you want to go to Rome or what?!" So we made our flight, but barely.

2 flights later,which were not too bad, we arrived in Rome. From our bed and breakfast directions we figured out we needed to take a train to Rome. Unfortunately, we boarded the wrong one and ended up in a way far part of town. Needless to say, Jason and I were exhausted and frustrated with each other and we both wondered if we could survive 5 weeks of 24 hour a day togetherness [probably a first in 3 years?]

But we managed to make it to our bed and breakfast and it was great. After a nap, we quickly learned the tram, bus and metros that could get us home and settled in for 5 days of Rome.

On to our trip!

We spent the first 5 days of our trip in Rome, and honestly took so many pictures and ran ourselves completely ragged that I can't even begin to sort through the pictures! So I will probably be going out of order for where we went.

Cortona

We only spent an afternoon in Cortona, Tuscany but we were completely enchanted by it. A town of only 10,000 set in the gorgeous hills of Tuscany on a high hilltop. The people were so friendly and the town so quiet it was such a nice change from bustling Rome.

Unfortunately, my computer is dying, but needless to say, Jason and I found our traveling groove and our trip has been fantastic. We have been trying to find a balance between seeing as much as we can and relaxing. More pictures of adventures, food and scenery to come. Stay tuned!

ps next time I will have commentary on photos!

Graduation and Next Steps

2011-05-03T10:58:00.000-06:00

I know I am way behind on blogging so I thought, as I sit at the airport, that I could at least post some pictures from graduation!

We had a wonderful family filled weekend and were so grateful for everyone who sacrificed so much to be with us on our special day!

Michael and Jason

Jason and Fam!

Saying goodbye to the Y-serve office!

The Graduates!

Don & Mom!

Jedd and Karen

With Uncle John & Jay! Dad and Carol were there too but not pictured!

The big brother. I love you :)

We had a blast! Off to Europe now ! Talk soon!

Boot Scootin'

2011-04-11T22:42:00.000-06:00

We had such a great Texas graduation party with our friends!

We donned our boots and had such a good ol' time.

Everyone came and enjoyed delicious Texas favorites like pimiento cheese, pulled pork sandwiches, black eyes peas, pecan pie, queso dip, mango salsa, beau monde dip and other stuff. haha I had fun cooking!

{Look for these recipes on my food blog in coming months}

True friends wear cowboy boots together :)

We love all of our friends. Thanks for coming to say bye & thanks for being our friends for the past 5 years. We love you and we will miss you!

Antsy

2011-03-29T12:41:00.000-06:00

I am antsy!
I am antsy to be done with school stuff so Jason and I can do all the fun things we have on our list left to do in Provo!

Upcoming plans:
-downtown Springville/Spanish Fork date [sounds lame but it will be great]
-Conference with Mom & Don [includes organizing old pictures which is always entertaining.]
-Girls night during conference. Happy Sumo?! yum!
-Sammy's date [groupon half off!]
-Spark. I will get there before I leave no matter what.
-Graduation Party, Texas themed. Can't wait to show my friends the joys of Texas favorites.
-Dance showcase with Mom

and that's just the half of it!

We did have a good weekend with family up in Idaho. I took only 3 pictures all of which included our darling niece, Shay. We enjoyed lounging, Mexican food and entertaining baby time. Good times.

Matching uncle & niece

Tell me she isn't so adorable?

We call her a cabbage patch doll because she is so cute when she moves it doesn't seem real!

We also had an In & Out date the other night. Here's the proof.

Jason wore this shirt when we were first dating and it always gives me butterflies

since it goes so well with his blue eyes. sigh.

Enjoy your week!

Grown Ups

2011-03-24T15:11:00.000-06:00

I can't help but talk about graduation every day these days. All of our current and future plans revolve around that one day.

April 22

The day that my husband and I graduate from college.
The day we become grown ups.

Honestly, we have been pretty grown up for awhile now: bills, major life decisions, trials etc.

But I know that this is the mark of a new chapter, usually considered the transition to being a grown up out there in the big scary world.

Now, you and I know differently.
That no one can make you grow up.
No one can prevent you from staying up all night watching Psych. No one can prevent you from getting frozen yogurt every other day. No one can make you stop giggling or tickling or being ridiculous just because you are becoming a so called "grown up."

And I am glad of that. I am glad that although we are quickly approaching this new chapter, that Jason is still Jason and I am still me.

Sure, lots of new adventures, trials and discoveries are nearing on the horizon but I am still trying to enjoy the here and now.

I am still soaking up seeing the gorgeous mountains as I walk around campus. I will miss those.
I am still soaking up every possible girls' night because I will miss those ladies.
I am still soaking up:

my job
my friends
my education
my memories in the place that brought me:

best friends
the love of my life
a knowledge of who i am
desires for the future in the world & in the home
finally appreciating my parents and family
fears about all the things in the world I can't change
but hope for all the things that I can change.

I am ready for the next step.
But I am not ready to leave behind all that I have found here.
No moving, no graduation and no "being a grown up" can take all this away from me.

Thanks BYU for bringing me all this joy in my life. My time here will never be forgotten.

Flat Stanley

2011-03-22T21:17:00.000-06:00

This weekend we had a special visitor.
His name is Flat Stanley.

For those of you who don't know him, let me explain.
Flat Stanley is a character from a book that became famous as teachers around the US began this project with their students. The students usually aged 1st -3rd grade make a Flat Stanley cutout and then send him to people around the US to have adventures. The person writes about the adventure and the goal is to encourage literacy as the children read what Stanley did and write letters back as well.

Flat Stanley has met President Bush

He even went to the Oscars with Clint Eastwood.

Anyhoo, my niece Addyson, sent us Flat Stanley and we promised to show him a good time right here in Utah.

We showed him around BYU first. He really liked it. He said he wants to go here when he grows up.

He really liked BYU creamery ice cream and he loved going to class with Jason.

Then we took him to Sundance. It was cold but he really liked it!

Since Flat Stanley came all the way from Corsicana, Texas he had never seen so much snow!

He was amazed!

He even rode the chairlift at Sundance. Lucky kid!

Most importantly though, he loved hanging out with Aunt Kasee and Uncle Jason.

After all, Aunt Kasee did make him some sweet ski clothes to go back to Texas in.

Check out her mad sewing skills:

Sadly, you can't see the sweet pom pom on top of his hat. o well.

Thanks for visiting Stanley! Come back and visit anytime!

Lately

2011-03-13T14:19:00.000-06:00

Lately we have been doing all sorts of things. Here is a little recap.

We had the privilege of attending dinner in Park City with the fabulous Veater family. We had both amazing company and amazing food:

We also got to attend a BYU basketball with "Jimmer." It was quite a show and so fun to see all the hype! It even included the amazing old ladies dancing during half time and a crazy light show at the beginning!

Last Saturday we headed up to Salt Lake since I had some training for an event I was working for my Event Planning class. We stopped by the little French bakery in the Grand America hotel. We had some cute cupcakes [which actually weren't good at all]. Perhaps next time we will try the macaroons!

Way too many cute things!

Then we headed to Temple Square. We were able to go to the Salt Lake Temple! It was amazing, such a beautiful temple and such a unique experience. I seriously loved it and if you haven't done a session there before, you must! The temple is so beautiful and its so amazing to see how much hard work the pioneers put into that sacred building.

After the temple we went to the Church History and Art Museum. They have lots of pioneer artifacts and cool things from presidents of the church. They also have a children's exhibit featuring drawings/painting from kids in the church called "The Gospel blesses my life."

They were all so sweet and it was so cool to see the different areas that kids found blessed their lives: missionary work, the gospel, family, temples etc. Here are a few of my favorite pieces, some funny, some quite talented and then a few pieces of art from his and hers truly.

Baby blessing. A little creepy but so cute.

Check out the thought bubble:

Kids say the darndest things.

I think a Japanese kid did this. Isn't it amazing?

And finally....we drew each other on this electronic drawing pad. Here are our creations:

This is Jason, by me.

Apparently I am a missionary? haha. Jason is very talented.

Anyways, we have been soaking up time in Provo & Salt Lake and loving every minute.

To come: Rex Lee Run, adventures with Flat Stanley, and loads more fun stuff.

Did I mention we graduate in less than 6 weeks.

WOAH.