Italy #1

These first 6 pictures are some of my favorite scenic pictures from the trip. I'm debating which ones to blow up for the wall in our living room, if anyone has an opinion. Italy is breathtaking!

A view from the water taxi as we went from Venice to the island Mirano.

Gondolas at dusk, just off of St. Mark's square

VENICE!!!

Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean. This is one of five villages. The hike from the first, where our hotel was to the fifth took 7 hours. This is the view from where we stopped for lunch. My bootie was mighty sore the next few days from all the steps. Unfortunately, it was to choppy for kayaking, which gives us a great reason to go back someday. We didn't find a scuba/snorkel place open until nearly time to get on the train back to Milan. So we settled for a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean in one of the villages that had a more sandy beach.

Cinque Terre!!!

The double columns around St. Peters, Vatican City.

Dave's mom is very affectionate! After not seeing her favorite (Okay, ONLY) son for 2 and 1/2 years, she went a little crazy. I had to pry her hands from his body and insist that she not sleep on the floor outside our door.

The Mission Home in Milan Italy. We stayed in the room on the bottom right. It was very comfortable.

Seeing family was of course the best part of the trip. I've said it before, but again "I have absolutely the most amazing in-laws in the entire world"!!!

This photo was taken on a little street in Bergamo. It started a trend for the trip of us taking what we called "Engagement Photos". Everywhere was just so post card beautiful.

At the beginning of October, Dave and I went to Italy to visit his parents (his dad is in serving in Milan as a Mission President). Dave's sister watched the boys, which was a huge blessing and I think she should be sainted, especially because all the kids got the flu while we were gone. I don't think she did anything but laundry and clean up puke for several days. Needless to say, we definitely owe her some babysitting, home repairs, a kidney or something.

We spent 10 wonderful days in Rome, Milan, Bergamo, Venice and Cinque Terre. Dave and I are a bit crazy when we travel (maybe when we don't too!). We try to squish in as much as we possibly can. We took a GPS and for 4 days in a row, we hiked, ran or walked over 18 miles a day. This was nice, especially with all the delicious Italian cuisine we were enjoying.

Milan was our first stop. Here we had a wonderful time catching up with Dave's parents and his 11 year old sister, who we hadn't seen for 2 and 1/2 years.

Funny and Embarrassing Moments!

Taking a 4 year-old shopping can be quite embarrassing and funny, either way it's definitely entertaining. Today as we were shopping Porter said, "Mom, pretend you can't even see the shoes, just close your eyes and keep on walking". A little while later he exclaimed (way to loud for the proximity of the lady he was talking about), "Mom, she looks like the lady on the Biggest Loser". Yikes! I smiled awkwardly and we quickly walked away to a place where I could explain why that wasn't a great thing to say even if you were just talking about the lady's hairstyle.

Caleb's Wasp Encounter

Yesterday, I dropped Porter off at preschool and headed to the track with Caleb. While I was running around, Caleb was attempting to squeeze himself under a closed gate to get to the bleechers. He started crying and as I made my way over to him, I figured that he had gotten his head stuck under the gate (He has a huge head). As I got closer, I saw that yes he was stuck and to my horror, he had disturbed a wasp nest and was being attacked. I quickly pulled him out and loved him. He was sobbing and hitting his head with his hands. I counted 12 stings on his face, arm and tummy and there had to be more in his hair. Poor little guy. Luckily, no allergic reaction. He was done crying by the time we got to the car and I gave him a little Ibuprofen when we got home. Amazingly, he didn't seem bothered by it the rest of the day. He did see a house fly later and said, "Oh mommy...bee...bee...OWEEE!".

Primary Porterisms

I have to write these down or I forget them.

Today in Primary, Porter turned to his teacher while the other kids were singing and randomly said, "I have Optimus Prime underpants on today". Apparently he didn't thnik she believed him because he also had to SHOW her! Oh my, Oh my!!!

He also informed his class that his mom is going to have a baby, it's a girl and we are naming it Jesus. This was very interesting because I AM NOT PREGNANT.

And finally a few weeks ago they were learning about the atonement. At the end of the lesson the kids were coloring and Porter's teacher noticed that he had drawn some crosses with people. She asked if one was Jesus and he said yes and then she asked who the bright green person was on the cross next to him. Porter said, "That's the green Power Ranger, he is going to save Jesus." So cute:)

Well hopefully some of you got a little chuckle because we sure did. Thank you Sunbeam teachers

Porter's Obama Obsession

My father-in-law, a very conservative Republican, will be surprised to hear this, but Porter, our 4-year old, has become somewhat obsessed with Obama.  It started when he was seeing his picture in the newspaper everyday and started asking me, "Who is that brown man?".  I explained that he was our new President.  Part of Porter's interest may be because he has started noticing the different skin colors that people have, who knows. 

A few weeks ago, I went into Porter's room and he was taping pictures up on his wall.  They were pictures of Obama from the newspaper, that he had cut out himself.  Hilarious!  I asked what he was doing and he said he was hanging up pictures of the prophet!  Yikes!  I explained the difference between the two, but since we do call President Monson, President, I could understand his confusion.  So yesterday the newspaper came with Obama's 100 days and approval rating and such on the front page with lots of pictures.  Porter saw it and said, "Wow, I gotta cut these out!".

Neither Dave or I consider ourselves Democrats, but we do find this obsession amusing.  I'll have to post some pics of Porter's "wallpaper".

WE DID IT!!!

Wahoo!!! We finally bought our tickets to Italy! So Milan, Venice, Rome...here we come! I have been checking airfare for months and months AND stalling because we didn't know if we should take the boys or find an extremely kind relative to take them in... One of my friends said that asking someone to watch your kids for an extended period of time, is like asking someone for their kidney. Ha, ha, but definitely a true comparison. I think that having them on an airplane for 20 hours may be worse than giving someone my kidney. My boys are great, but they are 2 and 4 years old AND 13 days is a long time. Alelujah...Dave's sister graciously accepted the challenge, even with her additional 4 children.

We will be spending half of our time around Milan, visiting Dave's parents, and we are planning to also visit Rome and Venice. If anyone has ideas of great places to stay, things to see or general Italy traveling tips, I would love to hear them! Ciao!!

The Naughty Corner

Porter had to sit in the Naughty Corner the other day, which is at the end of the hall. When it was time for him to come out he said, "I want a new house Mommy." I asked why and he responded, "I want a house that doesn't have a Naughty Place." I assured him that ALL houses have Naughty Places. He replied, "Well, how about a house with a window in the Naughty Place then?" Oh, I laughed and laughed and gave him a big hug and tickle.