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!

France!

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!

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

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

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

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!