Overload

I posted a bunch all a once, I'm using internet at home on borrowed time. It was supposed to be turned off yesterday, but for some reason, we still have it today. Our landline has been turned off, but our internet remains, so I took advantage of having it this morning to post some recent fun. Our computer will go to Utah tomorrow with our first shipment of things, so I will have to be using Matt's computer at work or the computers at the library. We are counting down the days and getting very excited to make our way to Utah!

Branch Farewell

The Pettys were so nice to host a goodbye party for us and the Frosts who are making their way back to the states as well. We had a wonderful evening, they have a beautiful house and yard!


We played...


We chatted...


We ate...


It was such a nice evening. Here is us with the Frosts, we are really going to miss everyone! The Frosts live in Denver, we hope to see them before too long!



The topper of the evening was the scooter rides that Frank gave to each of the kids, they LOVED it! Ellie is smiling from ear to ear!!

One last trip to Switzerland

Twelve of us in the branch were able to make the trip to the temple in Bern. The Davis family in our branch were sealed in the temple, it was an awesome trip!! I have to hand it to the temple staff, they were ready for people speaking many different languages. It was a wonderful experience.


This is the Davis family with the beautiful Swiss temple behind them.


We went home by way of Interlaken. It was nice to see that gorgeous area one last time. Here are the Openshaws, missionaries in our branch.

This picture is so washed out, doesn't even do the real thing justice!!

Beautiful Tuscany

We began our journey in Vinci, as in Leonardo "di Vinci." We visited two museums there, it was fun to see a lot of Leonardo's inventions. They were things that he had drawn and someone had created from the drawings.


The first museum was cool, kind of cave-like.

One of the flying machines.


One last visit to the leaning tower.


Florence was our next stop. This is the huge cathedral there.


We also visited Michelangelo's David, an awesome sight. We were not allowed to take pictures, but here is a picture of a copy that is in a piazza outside the Uffizi Gallery.



We went to Siena, which we loved!



We also loved San Gimingano. Sydney was able to ger her favorite strawberry gelato.



Matt was able to get a couple of scoops from the Gelato World Champion 06/07 gelateria.


I thought I'd finish with a picture of the beautiful Tuscan countryside.

Our Last Trip to Venice...

Adam, Amy and Baby Matt came to visit April 4-14. They did Rome on their own, we went with them to, Vinci, Pisa, and Florence. Then our last day in Tuscany they went to Cinque Terre while we visited Siena and San Gimingano. We had such a great time with them. We especially LOVED hanging out with baby Matthew!! Here are some Venice pictures.




Matt and Adam in Venice.



The kids eating their huge pizza in Venice. Cooper didn't head to Venice with us, he spent the day with a friend.



A tie shop just before the Rialto Bridge. So many ties, so little time!



Amy and Adam ready for their romantic gondola ride.



The two Matts "sharing" a gelato.

Robin Hood with the Missoula Children's Theater

This was the second year for Noah and the first year for Sydney to be in the Missoula Children's Theater production. Two young actors from the Theater travel all over Europe to different military installations each year to spend less than one week at each location. This is offered to us free of charge, which is so nice. It gives the kids a small taste of being on the stage. This year the production was a musical version of Robin Hood. After school on Monday the kids auditioned, a group audition that really is a cool process to watch. Noah was cast as a forester and King Richard and Syd was a skunk. The kids practiced each day after school, and yesterday, Friday they had two performances. They all did a terrific job, it was really fun to watch. Last year when Noah was part of the Jungle Book production we were lucky enough to have Grandma Annette and Giddee visiting. And this year we were lucky enough to have Uncle Adam, Aunt Amy and little Matt visiting. Here's a few pictures of after the performances. We're not allowed to take any pictures during the performance, only after.



This is the entire cast.


Noah as King Richard in the end.


Our little stinker.


A picture of all of the skunks, along with our very own King Richard, getting something to eat in between performances.

Easter Weekend 2008

We started off Easter weekend by participating in the Caserma Ederle Eggstravaganza. Ellie and Sydney "searched" for candy. Do you like their "Easter baskets?" Who forgot to bring those along, anyway?






After candy "hunting", the girls had their faces painted. They both wanted to be bunnies. They both look a little sinister to me...



Next we headed over to the movie theater to see Horton Hears a Who, a lot of us from the branch were there. Here's a few of us...



After the movie we went home to dye eggs. If I were an organized person, we would have done that in the morning, but since I hadn't bought the eggs yet, it didn't happen until the evening. Sydney looks a little scary in this picture!



Noah, Sydney and Ellie still have fun with dying the eggs, Cooper was too cool to do more than walk over to the table, plop one egg into each of the colors, fish them out, and walk away.







We had a great "day before Easter!" It was filled with lots of fun and good friends. This has gotten a little long, I will post Easter Sunday a little later.