AS THE SUN RISES

The Post in Which I Couldn't Decide, so . . . I Included toooo Many Pictures!

2012-01-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

This is where I have been for the last Month and 1/2. I don't know if I might just stop blogging after this, because I am such a pathetic part of the blogging world. Posting every 1 1/2 months? Not acceptable.

So right before we left to Santa Barbara for Christmas we were blessed with two little visitors, Mighty Marissa and Epic Enoch. It was seriously beyond awesome, it was like we were roommates again, only we were allowed to have boys sleepover- so rebellious (please don't tell my mommy).

Then on the 23rd we headed down to Southern California where we would be starting out 2 week vacation. "2 weeks" you ask? How can that not be your not students anymore?

Don't mess with us we are spoiled, okay.

Spoiled because I get to be in the presence of these two crazy beauts.

Christmas time in Santa Barbara is magical/ weird. It was 70+ degree weather the entire week. Also Christmas eve was spent at a Cafe on the beach in the morning, the zoo, and out to dinner for a fancy restaurant. I am use to coldness and coziness indoors ONLY. Both good, both favorites.

Also, during this time we celebrated Kath's Golden 28th birthday. It was a very crazy day filled with fun adventures and a few ups and downs but in the end it all came together with a bang. We were all assigned characters and we put on the show of our lives! K, well not that dramatic, but it was super coolschool.

My Jabberbabywalkie!

Sam loves wine.

Well, that week was awesome. Then on the 31st of Dec. we headed down to L.A. to meet up with my family on the Princess Cruise boat. It was freaky how big those things are.

David loves posing with horses, it is one of his specialties.

It seemed that most people wouldn't go to the clubs at 10pm so we had the dance floor to ourselves before our co-cruisers alcohol would set in.

This is when Sam got to participate in the magic show, he so happy. (P.S. check out how amazing my sock bun is.)

We went to a class that taught us how to make paper carnations, Bryan took it to a whole new level.

Lots of shuffle board.

Thanks for that Sam. It is representative of how we all felt after the cruise.

Seriously, one of the most magical times ever. I ended up going to Oregon last week, last minute. This is the only picture I have of the event. I am wearing my Grandpa's old Norwegian sweater. And Bryan is the size of a newborn next to me. Thanks B.

Lastly, we had Sam's holiday work party last weekend. First time I have seen people I know get drunk. Weird stuff. These people with me didn't get drunk though-just to verify. (they are mormies like me!)

With lots of hugs and kisses.

Reags

Girlish Time

2011-12-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

So this week I have been alone, very alone. Sam has spent every waking minute at work. He is working on a crazy case right now that is filing at the end of next week. I mean every waking minute, as in I am in bed before he gets home and he wakes me up in the morning before he leaves.

Last weekend I spent my alone time setting up our Christmas tree, Christmas shopping in chinatown (my favorite place to spend my free time, the place makes me laugh lots), watching wonderful movies that Sam would NEVER watch with me. ( I am talking about movies that involve miley cyrus and hillary duff).

But today was different today I got a little more time with him. This was due to the fact that he was the "back up" Santa Clause for our ward Christmas brunch. So after barely being able to wake up at 9 this morning (since he returned home from work last night at 4am.) We ran out the door so as Santa Clause wouldn't be late to his own debut.

He really looked fat and jolly in that suit. At the party I won an awesome prize from playing Bingo. I call it our new puppy, Pottery Barn.

It is the squishiest, softest blanket I have ever owned. Our awesome Relief Society President is a "buyer" for pottery barn (coolest job ever by the way) so she hooked the party up with sweet presents.

So today with my afternoon alone I went on a run in the park and then watched the sunset at the beach. It was def romantic alone time. Weird, but romantic.

Although I definitely would prefer to have husband time, I have really enjoyed my girlish time. Well, it is now time for me to say goodbye so I can be off to watch another teen drama that makes me wish I had true teen love and not wish for it- all at the same time.

MUCCCCCCChhhhhhhhhhooo Thankfulllll

2011-11-30T21:26:00.000-08:00

BEST. WEEKEND. EVER.

Rollerblading in Golden Gate Park Thanksgiving morning.

There was so much joy that even when I fell down wet cement stairs I felt happy!

The boys played flag football and then Leigh joined in (she had been aching all morning to play). She had a ridiculous amount of falls, leaps, jumps and no ball contact at all. She put on quite the show. I don't even know if the guys realized she was on the field.

My new birthday coat.

Thanksgiving dinner in Chinatown.

One of my favorite pictures of bryDyl of all time.

I miss em so much!
(I have a million more pictures but I can't get pictures off my camera so it's your lucky day)

k. bye.

I Love Visitors!

2011-11-20T14:00:00.001-08:00

Spur of the moment decision for Kath and Darci to join us last weekend in the city. I love sharing San Francisco, especially with people like these people who really appreciate it.

First of all we walked downtown and shared them where we work.

Went to the top of Sam's building.

Went out to the piers and walked around the Farmer's market. Look at this awesome Candid shot Andrea (Sam's cousin) took.

She also got this awesome shot of Daren (another cousin), who lives here in San Francisco with us.

And this amazing, confusing candid of Katherine. Poor Kathy.

This happens to be where we ran into Paul Walker with his 14 daughter, just shopping along side of us on Haight.

I llllove SF. (Almost as much as I hate the Breaking Dawn movie that just came out.)

This is me and Kath just gossiping out front of Daren's girlfriends AMAZING place. She lives on the top of Russian Hill.

And this is the amazing view from Daren's girlfriends apartment.

It was an awesome weekend.

Love and Hugs and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

My O So Special Bird Day

2011-11-14T21:23:00.001-08:00

I would have posted about this way long ago but I couldn't find a way to upload all my awesome pictures. But now I have them and now I am sharing them. Looking at them makes me happy all over again.

Before I talk about the bird day I just wanted to share a few pictures from our October month.

Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin Mac and Cheese in the Half Moon Bay harvest festival.

Anyways for my birthday I was able to work the morning shift (5:30am-2pm) so I could have the afternoon for myself. Celebrating at work consisted of a delicious cake, being covered in whip cream, a rap song sung by a fellow co-worker, flowers from another co-worker, lots of weirded out customers, and Sam and his co-workers coming into my work and all singing me happy birthday.

Afterwards I went home to enjoy a nap before Sam got home. I came home to a clean apartment that was wonderfully decorated!! When Sam got home we decided to take the cable car (first time for the both of us. Also did you know the cable car is the only mobile national monument?) We took it over to the marina.

We brought our rollerblades and longboard and we rolled along the marina.

Then we went out to dinner at this amazing Mexican restaurant.

Delicious.

When we got home. I had to go to the bathroom ubbbbeeeerrrr bad! So as I was sitting on the toilet with the door open (obviously), I thought I heard noises in my apartment. Good thing I had a bunch of friends hiding in my apartment while I was sitting bear bummed on the toilet. Anyways besides that awesome moment, the night was quite pleasant full of games and laughing and of course presents!

Then that weekend we went and played croquette on the beach with some friends. It was so beautiful!

How Come?

2011-10-25T20:32:00.001-07:00

It is not that I don't like posting, it is just that I don't always wanna do it and most of the time I don't like it.

But since I am enjoying looking through my pictures right now I would like to share a few. So lately me and Sam have started making some good friends, Yea!!! But I still really wanna find a good buddy. A girl in the ward I can just go over and visit whenever and call her whenever. Sadly, the only girl that I am pretty close with lives all the way down in San Jose. So we tend to go down there about once or twice a month. And we usually end up playing croquette or having some cooking adventure. How come having a good friend is the best?

How come family is even the bestest and makes me cry tears of laughter? ( I got to go home for a weekend for my cousin's wedding and it was like magic being with all my favorites)

How come when I am around L and B I tend to think everything is funny and Sam never quite understands the humor in it? (I guess that is how I feel when I am around him and Fred)

How come Jenny is so pretty?

How come when Jourdan and Rod pose together they look amazing?

How come when Jenny and Chase pose together I am a little creeped out but at the same time enchanted?

How come these newly weds are the best, in the worst/best way?

How come we all aged so well?

I love my cousins way more than people can comprehend!! How come?

How come my sisters are magic?

Why is it that when we go to something fancy (like a luncheon at the Grand America) we spend the majority of our time dancing in the bathroom and wondering why my mom is so creepy?

How come when we are at said elegant place we think it is okay to pour something that looks like electric pee into our fancy cups, stuff all the chocolates in our pockets so they are bulging, make lots of loud noises and pass around papers, when we should be crossing our feets and handies and smiling o so perfectly? (How come after this wedding my mom wanted to have an FHE on manners- even though she has 6 adult children she still feels that way?)

How come this baby is too cute for words?

How come my husband is so hott? (Yea, I use double t's, meant to.)

This are the questions I ponder at night.

The post in which we smile alot.

2011-09-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

So, a couple of weeks a go we went river rafting with Sam's company. It was da bomb. Lots of pushing in the water, giggling, singing and other weird stuff. Sadly, the only proof I have of the event is the picture featured below. Just accept it.

Appreciate me.

Hate me, love me.

Then the following weekend we met up with my family who was staying in L.A. While Sam spent the Friday working in the L. A. office I spent the day at Disneyland( Didneyland, as my dad made us pronounce it all day) with Leigh and my Dad. My dad happens to be the best disneylander I have ever seen- he doesn't get worn out and he makes about 400 new friends by the end of the day.

Thanks dad for existing.

We stayed for the fireworks show and then did some more rides after. We didn't leave the park til the doors were closing.

The following morning we headed to Santa Barbara to meet up with all the Nelsons at the beach. What! I love them folk. They crwazy.

Then we all headed up to San Francisco, before we went to Portland the following weekend for a boss wedding. Since they came to my new home town, I took them to some of my favorite places. The first one being a focacceria (probably the only one in CA) in little Italy.

Lombard St.

Then the ever so amazing and shocking- Chinatown. Yes, this is a truck full of chickens. Ready to be defeathered and hung in the nearby window.

Chinatown reeks . . . lots of reeking.

I feel like my mom has a half Asian heart. She is always her most naturalist when she is battling with Asians for dumplings or some other weird food.

Lots of weird dried things that I have never heard of, or never really want to.

Then before we headed up to Portland some of Sam's family came up to San Francisco for a night. I like having people come be with us.

Grandma's house!!!!!

I finally got to see these punks whom we haven't seen all summer!!!!!

Portland always means . . . hard core cousin time!!!!!

My mom always finds the most amazing treasures at thrift stores in Portland- Belt. (thanks B)

Three generations of crazy awesome.

Best friend, Beau.

I barely saw Sam this weekend he was to busy hanging out with his new girlfriend, August.

After the wedding celebrating- we did the thing we do best in Portland. Swimming and night games. We started early and ended late. It was beyond perfect.

I love Oregon. I love family. But I am happy to return home to normalish life.

A really long post, full of love

2011-08-22T19:46:00.001-07:00

Well, we have began our habitation in San Francisco. Did that make sense? hm. In other words we are moved in. We are slowly aquiring furniture and begining our exploration of the city. Our new friends Katie and John took us to this new spot they found that has an incredible view. We packed our Sunday dinner and went for a picnic a few weeks back.

We unpacked almost all our boxes in a single day since we were having our first guests come and stay with us that night! So excited. The sad news was our couch ended up not fitting into our apartment so we had to sale it and order a smaller one. So our guests ended up spending their week vacation on a wood floor.

The following week we left all together to Bass lake for the big Nelson reunion. It was full or singing, boating/tubing, swimming, eating, an awesome triathlon, volleyball, kayaking, sunburns and lots of fun memories.

Sam has even mastered fishbraiding my hair. Which is awesome because I am sick of my arms going numb.

The first places of the triathlon for the boys, girls (me), and the relay team. (yea, I did put this picture up just to show that I got first place. I was proud okay!)

Our amazing volleyball team.

Cubbie looking amazing as always.

Yea I am freaking amazing at boating.

Then that following weekend after bass lake we had a couple more awesome visitors! Love me some Sista time!

Annie, Jackson, Jamie

Andrea also joined us. Andrea you rock.

Us watching those sloppy seals.

See, nasty. In a good way.

@#*$&O#% China town! It stinks pretty bad.

Of course they wanted to pose next to the most posh theatre in San Francisco. (Sam, actually works with this gay dude who told us even to gay dudes this place is super trashy. It was really funny to hear him talk about it, though.)

Hiding our 6th rider from the cops, good times.

We bought sandwiches at one the best places I have ever had a sandwich and took them to the park and ate them. For dessert we played soccer.

Well before the babes left we went to the top of twin peaks and had a good view of the entire city. It was fun. and cool. And I REALLY wish they lived in the city with me so we could have peeps with us all the time. I miss peeps, but I am obsessed with San Francisco. Seriously though. Who is next to visit me? Come please. Soon.

When Reagan's not around...

2011-08-08T11:56:00.001-07:00

I wrote this post a while ago, but forgot to post it:

I was telling a coworker the other day that I'm starting to realize how much I need Reagan as a result of how badly I fall apart when she's not around.

Two examples:

1. See picture. Who knew you could screw up cooking chicken on a George Foreman so badly. I guess I shook the salt shaker a little too hard.

2. Unfortunately I don't have a picture for this one. I drove home from Bass Lake alone because I had to get back to work. Reagan stayed the whole week of course. I got home at about 2am and had to carry a whole bunch of stuff a few blocks to our apartment(parking is horrible by our apartment). One of the things I had to carry was my long board, so I thought I'd free up some arm space by riding the board while carrying several bags. I think I moved about 15 feet before the wheel caught something, I fell forwards, the bags flew everywhere, and the board shot backward down a hill. I immediately popped up and started sprinting down the hill trying to catch the board, which I did after it had passed through a major intersection and slammed into a curb. I collected my things and made my way to the apartment. As soon as I got inside and put down my things, I realized I didn't have my car keys with me. I made my way back up the hills to the spot I had fallen and found my keys lying there. I'm not sure if I laughed or cried myself to sleep that night, but either way it took awhile.

Personal Take-Aways: 1) Don't ride a long board while carrying more than 2 bags. 2) Don't ever do anything by without supervision

I missed you Internet.

2011-07-18T17:07:00.001-07:00

Hello, again. It's me Reagan. Yea, I am still alive. So a little update (more for me and Sam and our records). Sam left for San Francisco on the 19th of June and I was planning on staying in Utah for the next 3 weeks while he looked for an apartment and I packed up our stuff. So I spent my time with all my siblings who were in town for the summer. Those few weeks were full of some of my favorite things- family, baking and the sunny outdoors.

Then I got a little surprise. Sam showed up at midnight on the Friday of 4th of July weekend. I don't think I have ever been given such an amazing surprise or ever felt so happy! Me and Leigh just starred at him for the 20 minutes after he arrived. I had 2 weeks without him and that day I had been missing him the most and had told Leigh all about it. It was beyond perfect.

Well, the 4th weekend was awesome and I love it so much when family is in town. Isn't maggie a dream! Her mom Emily busted that outfit out the night before the 4th. It rocks my world. A week later I flew out to San Francisco and since out stuff isn't here yet (and wont be for about another week), me and Sam have been enjoying our time out in the city, cause there is nothing to do at home! We eat dinner on the floor and it makes us happy.

Living in the city is so much fun. Our apartment is walking distance from everywhere. We are just around the corner from H&M and all the great shopping. There is delicious restaurants everywhere and so many new places to explore.

Since I don't have a job yet and am still searching I spend my free time exploring San Francisco, checking out items from my library, and also volunteering on Alcatrez. Every Wednesday and Friday I take a ferry over with the other volunteers and we weed the grounds. I also can explore the island as much as I want for free. It is so fun, I have met so many amazing people.

Artichokes growing on the island. I even met a guy who was there signing books, who grew up on the island (his dad was one of the officers over the prison).

The island is full of flowers from all over the world. Gardening was a big thing on the island for the families and also for some of the prisoners.

A little side note. This male strip club is just down the street from us on our same block, aren't we a lucky pair.

Well we are beginning our culinary quest to eat at all the best restaurants in San Francisco and our first stop was Katana-Ya. It is just a couple blocks from us and is know for its Ramen noodles. Although the line was way too long, it was very delicious.

O and btw I am a Ginger now, and both me and Sam love it. If you can't tell then just picture me red, cause I am.

The Story of Sam Nelson's Hair

2011-06-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

It had its good days, it had its bad days. There were feminine days, there were masculine days. It made us all smile, it made us all cry. But one thing is for sure, I will never forget that hair. I cry a little everytime I think it is gone. I know some of you couldn't see the beauty in that large party, but I am sure you would have if you had gotten the opportunity to run your fingers through it-like I got to everyday.

Why did you have to leave me, I'll never forget you!

Jammin' with Evan

2011-05-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

Here Comes the Sun - You can tell Evan is a musician... and I am not. And Evan learned that song about 3 minutes before we sang it.

Final Hooray!

2011-05-04T15:05:00.001-07:00

Our last two adventures included Venice and Milan. Both amazingly beautiful. Especially Venice, I just think the city is incredible.

In the old town of Venice motor vehicles aren't allowed, mainly because there are no roads for them. The only means of transportation is boat. The taxis are boats, even the public "bus" is a boat. I wish I lived at this home. It's true.

We ate lots of gelato here and yes, don't worry the gelato is good in Venice, too. We made sure.

The city was jammed full or tourists. It is that way year-round. Me and Sam had a discussion trying to figure out which city in Italy gets the most tourists and I am leaning to this one.

The coolest part of Venice is their masks. There are hundreds of shops selling different masks. Anywhere from theme masks, film characters, or just artistic ones. Cool stuff.

And lots of other weird/huh?/cool type stuff.

Of course, Gondolas are every where. The best part was seeing all these romantic couples go by and then seeing these 6 Italian teenagers get a gondola together. They look soooooo cool. Not. Losers. Jk. So romantic.

Here is where the real love is at. woo hoo!

Us on the "public transport."

Some ancient important building. Cool huh. No, really though be respectful.

I know I am always posting pictures of us eating, but it is important. It is REALLY important. It is our explanation for why we carry this extra baggage around our wastes and justification for this poundage. Accept it.

Here is the cathedral in Milan. It is by far the most eye-catching thing. Very gothic style and HUGE.

These were our last Gelatos. (I capitalize Gelato out of respect).

Our last moments laughing together. Sorry that Sam looks like this when he is laughing.

. . . and our last moments watching ancient wrestling matches.

We loved it all, but now we need to move on. We miss you America and are glad to be on your land. Posting from JFK.

Hello and Goodbye

2011-05-03T07:08:00.000-07:00

That has basically been the motto of our trip. We meet new people we are staying with, or see people we haven't seen for a very long time and then a day later we are saying goodbye. Our last weekend in Europe was that same way. We spent it with Sam's cousin and his wife, Ben and Kasie, who are living near Venice on the air force base. Even though it was sad to say goodbye, the weekend was perfect!

The weekend started out with us ordering "the best pizza in town" and going out to the local hot spot . . . Go Cart Racing! When your a little town like Aviano, Italy, it is easy to have the best pizza and be the local hot spot. The pizza was huge though. (just like Sam's muscles, hehehe).

We look so good in uniform.

These things went so fast, it was kind of freaky.

I was sooooo good at it. (yea I didn't even get a placement that is how good I am.)

This is us not being allowed on base while they went and got the AMERICAN groceries for our hike that day.

Okay, so that is the view outside their back window and that is the mountain we decided to climb. It had no switch backs only a path straight up.

Here are a few shots from our awesome hike. It really was so fun and beautiful. There is something special about being with family and no journey across the world can replace it.

Italian Alps

Then on our way down we decided to not take a path but go our own way. DUMB BUMS. 10 minutes into our descent it started to rain, then pour, and then hail. It was actually kind of amazing. The problem was there was a ravine on both sides of our "path" and the mountain was getting slippery.

After about 2 hours we eventually found our way to the bottom with only a million mud stains but no broken bones (which we were all a bit worried we would end up having).

We are excited to see them again at Bass Lake!

FLORENCE!!!

2011-05-01T00:59:00.001-07:00

Hi, Hows it going? We went to Florence. We have both already been to Florence, but we still thought it was pretty and stuff. We only looked at a few sights and then we headed straight to the market. I love the Florence market. You don't really hear any Italian in that market. Only English, and other language that sound like baby talk to me, but for some reason people understand them (I think).

We got a few cool purchases at the market.

Sam went around bartering for a sweet belt because he wanted one to match his new italian leather . . .

Shoes.

This was my saving grace that day. It is everyday. Actually about twice everyday.

I feel like if he can do stuff like this, he probably could get a sweet job somewhere and not have to do chalk on the streets. But maybe he likes drawing on the sweets, maybe he feels like it challenges himself? I didn't ask him, so I can't tell ya.

Ponte Vecchio.

Reagan+ Sam+ Ponte Vecchio=

Cool Italian with crazy red curls. Yes, they were natural- and Yes, he was Italian- and Yes, he did look like one of Sam's friends back from Seattle.

Cinque Terre

2011-04-28T09:59:00.001-07:00

Can you tell we are excited to hike cinque terre (the 5 cities) again! This is mine and Bryan's second time but everyone else's first, but this time we have a tour guide. One of Dylan's "old" (old in age & in investigatingness) investigators- Robbie. For some reason Robbie knows everything about everything in Italy and loves to share it. We are so excited!! This was my favorite part of my last trip in Europe. GEE!

Within 15 minutes of hiking we were mesmerized. Me and Sam kept pinching each other, but it wasn't really hurting so we figured this all couldn't be real. So in case you are wondering these next few pictures are not reality.

The second the of the cities. We went on a long swim here and all of us got cut somewhere on our feet or hands from the barnacles. It was magical.

After all that hard exercise we stuffed our faces. Nice Robbie.

The third city.

The rest of the kiddies had to get back to Genova earlier than me and Sam so we stayed and finished the hike. Is just so happened that the last stretch of hike was called pathway of love. I know, I know, crazy stuff. So gooshy deliciousness. Here I am being so sexy on the pathway of Love. Don't be tempted by my body that is covered in sweat, dirt, and saltwater.

But if this guy doesn't tempt you, I don't know what will.

This is the last city. This is the one where all the ladies and I stayed our first travel here. And this next picture is where last time Bryan cut her foot open on a broken beer bottle and the paramedics came and clean her up and bandaged her and everything for only 15 euros. But then a few weeks after our trip my dad made her soak her foot and a another piece of glass fell out of her toe. I guess you get what you pay for, no?

This was one of the funnest days ever. Go Funnessestness!

Dylan's Genova

2011-04-28T09:39:00.001-07:00

Me and Sam tagged along with the Mckinnons on Tuesday. Dylan gave us a delicious tour of one of the cities in his mission. The tour started out with a variety of different focaccia breads. Dylan is here displaying the deliciousness with his stuffed cheeks. Thank you D.

Then Dylan took us to this cool restaurant for lunch that creates a new menu each day. They simply write up on paper what they will be serving that day and when they run out they just cross off that option on your menu. You pay a flat rate of 9 euros and get a drink, first plate, and second plate. It was so fun. We were all so full when we left.

We be walkin'.

We be stoppin'.

We be posin'.

Yo.
Our view from our balcony. Mckinnons rock for letting us stay with them. The best part about staying with them (besides the free bed, of course) was the up-late game playing we did. Boo-ya.

Due Anni in Portofino

2011-04-28T02:23:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our two year anniversary on Monday. Yea, I know. Weird. Anyways, in celebration we did this sweet hike that Dylan suggested. This hike goes along the coast of Italy and it is all through this national park. It was fun, hard, cool, and cool. We packed up our bags with towels, food and lots of treats.

This is the thing I wanted to bring home with me from Italy. But the owner of the car told me no. Rude. It is about the size of my checked luggage.

Well, let's get going on the hike.

A big part of the hike smelled like lilacs.

This is the little village we hiked down into and had our lunch and swam and saw lots of nakedness. It was perfect.

We Finished.

We ate lots of delicious focaccia bread because it is famous in this part of Italy and because we don't need a reason.

This is the city we finished our hike in. Well, when we got there I asked Sam to braid my hair and these three older ladies walked by and asked if they could take a picture cause they thought it was so cute. Anyways, they eventually came back over and started talking to us and you could tell they had had a little too much wine. They were from New England and they were cool/crazy/tipsy/funny. It was nice that we could celebrate our special day with them.

The lady demanded to have my camera so she could take pictures of us. I was almost positive she was going to run off with it. I know I would have if I was sloshed. I would do lots of cool things if I was drunk, I am almost positive.

Happy 2 years in Portofino to us. Go love.

Faces of Siena

2011-04-24T04:58:00.001-07:00

Thanks Siena, it was . . . . fun?

Nice, France and Old Friends

2011-04-24T00:32:00.000-07:00

My old neighbor Evan has been living in Nice, France for the last two years as a traveling musician. He's the guitarist in a band called the Phly Boyz that travel all over Europe and parts of the U.S. performing at private parties for rich people. He's a PHENOMENAL singer and started the band with a few of his friends and a drummer from England. He pretty much lives the life that thousands dream of, and he totally deserves it because he rocks. He and his two friends live in the heart of old town Nice and share two flats between the three of them. They let us stay in one of them for a few nights. They rock.

We got there on a Friday evening. It ended up pouring all day Saturday... I mean all day! But we still loved every second. We went to this little market right around the corner from Evan's place and ate the best pain au chocolat I've ever had. No one really spoke any English or Italian, so it was fun trying to get around with hand gestures and the two or three words of French we know.

Rainy beach day.

Evan treated us to France's attempted at American food for lunch. It was delicious. We giggled while watching all the French people around us eating burgers with a fork and knife.

It was great to reunite with Evan and reminisce about all the dumb things we used to do, which included a lot of singing to Back Street Boys and N'Sinc in his basement. Since it was raining, we decided to do a little jam session. He pretty much could start play any song on the guitar right after listening to it, so we had a blast. We even did a little recording of "Here Comes the Sun" using the sophisticated recording technology of IMovie on my computer. (we'll see if I can get it posted)

Reagan always happily returns my love.

Cloudy beauty at the beach.

We bought some candy at this little stand which ended up being terribly sour, and equally overpriced. We had a competition to see whole could hold a straight face the longest after shoving some in their mouth. I won. I also won the ugly face contest. I always win that one.

Here's Evan and two of his band buddies. I walked upstairs to their flat one evening and they were playing the theme song from the TV show Friends (which happens to be one of Reagan's favorites right now). I told them that Reagan would love to here it, so we went down and knocked on the door. As soon as she opened it, they burst into song. She was mesmerized, and they were awesome. Then we spend the next hour playing the card game version of Monopoly. Evan rocks. Nice rocks.

Siena has Reagan's heart

2011-04-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

After a good long train ride to Siena we headed into the city so I could tell Sam all about my time in Siena 3 years ago. Well on our bus ride into the old town of Siena the ticket inspectors came onto the bus and we didn't have tickets. We actually had no clue where you bought them so we just jumped on the bus since it seemed like on one else had tickets either. Sam quickly whispered to me, "Act like you don't speak a word of Italian." They came up to us and said "biglietti? (tickets)" and we just stood there blinking. Finally, when the bus came to our stop the ticket inspectors walked us off the bus and pointed to a store and said tickets. I think they wanted us to go buy tickets and bring them back to them but instead we walked over to the store and then ducked down some street and hid for a while. Then we quickly walked downtown and never saw those dudes again. This is me whilst in hiding. I look sneaky huh?

Two minutes later we were distracted by this blinking sign. This gelateria is the best one in Siena and I use to go there all the time. I got a pine nut flavored gelato. It was killer. And Sam was obsessed with grapefruit. We went twice within an hour.

My favorite thing about Italy. The oldies.

This is the street where some of the other students lived and where we would all hang out.

This is my street.

. . . and my door!! Me and two of my favorite people in the world lived here and we had some amazing adventures on this street.

This is where I took classes.

This is some of the nastiest pizza we have ever had, I don't know why he is smiling.

This is where my internship was. Down in those gardens I would help cook and translate. I even helped with a few cooking classes for kids.

Don't worry next time we rode the bus we made sure to have bought their silly tickets. We won't get in trouble again by those suckers.

So to sum it up:
We got delicious gelato.
We ate nasty pizza.
We walked around where Reagan did her study abroad.

We got caught/not caught by some ticket inspectors.
We chilled in the piazza del campo.
We got more gelato.
We bought a flag.
We road a taxi.
We missed our train the next morning.
We were happy.

Mixed Emotions but Obviously We Chose Rome.

2011-04-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Rome had it's good and bad moments. First of all let me say that every time I have come out of the metro station in Rome and it opens up to the colosseum and it is just starring back at me, all big n' stuff, I get goosebumbs. It's kind of unreal. I like to just stare at it and I think it stares back at me. It's a moment. But there is one part of the whole "Rome blows my mind" stuff that goes sour. Read on.

Here is were we started out our journey. . . the spanish steps. Try and find Sammy.

Sam after he dipped his head in the fountain that your suppose to drink from. Always takin' it to the next level you crazy tourist. Or does he look more like a tennis player?

Now try and find me!

K, I don't know what it is but I just thought it was so funny to see this tiny little police car parked next to this ancient monument. I just can't take the police seriously when they drive cars that would crush if I just stuck my luggage on top.

This is my FAVORITE gelato place in Europe. It has 100 flavors and the best granitas in the world. Last time I came here Bryan ate two within minutes, and we felt we needed to do the same. The granita that blew our minds and is still today is a peach mango granita.

Cant. Explain. In. Words.

But wait it gets better, in my other hand is a sesame seed and honey gelato and bronte pistachio gelato. SO HAPPY.

Pantheon.

Some dudes standing in the Trevi and screaming something against the destruction of art. It was so crowded we decided we would come back the next day. Actually all of Rome was stuffed full of people because it is Easter week and everyone is on holiday.

Most of the metro is covered in Graffiti in Rome.

Colosseum. Sam. Cool.

Our first night in Rome we met up with a friend from Murcia who lives in Rome and we went to a Tango bar with her and her friends. It included dark lights, lots of dancing, delicious food, and cool drinks.

Sadly the night didn't end well. After a couple hours at the bar Sam stared feeling uncomfortable and stomach sick. We didn't end up getting home til almost 1am and by the time we did he was sure he had food poisoning. Well, once we got to our friends place we also realized our bed was a single sized mattress on a stone floor with a tiny blanket. We both couldn't fit on the mattress when laying flat so we both had to be on our sides and even then I was basically half on the mattress, half on cold stone -miserable. Basically, we didn't sleep all night. In the morning I found out Sam had been puking all night long and when I felt him his body was incredibly warm. Right then I went to priceline.com and found the cheapest hotel I could and we went straight there at 11 in the morning the following day so Sam could sleep. He looked so miserable and he kept saying he felt so cold. So that day we only had a couple hours in Rome but we made the most of it.

Another down point in Rome is that my favorite pastry shop had turned into this crap hole. A gun shop? really? I can't believe you would throw away the best cannoli's in Rome for murder weapons. Where is the humanity?

Also I distinctly remember these coca-cola umbrellas because there were right next to my favorite pastry shop but when I was here they were red. Love it.

So I bought cannolis elsewhere. I bought two- one for me one for Sam. But oops, I forgot Sam doesn't have an appetite for anything. Darn. I guess I will eat two. My bad.

My miserable hot husband in St. Peter's square.

He really even pooped out while sitting down in the shade, so he had to lay down. People stare, but they don't understand.

Here I am offering you some of my delicious gelato, round #2.

Well ciao to Rome, we loved you but are grateful to leave the throw-up behind us. Call me when you get my pastry shop back. And when you are interested in giving me free flights for another visit!

The Wonders of Trapani

2011-04-18T14:43:00.001-07:00

From London we flew down to Sicily to spend a few days on it's western coast. We didn't know much about the place before buying the flights, but the flights were cheap and the place seemed cool enough so we bought them. Now we only wished we had a few more days there.

After a whole day of traveling, we're finally enjoying our first true Italian gelato of the trip.

Booking hostels is always pretty risky. We found one on hostelbookers.com that had bikes to use for free. We expected a dump, but were surprised by a spacious room with a small balcony, fast internet, and great breakfasts daily. There were 3 beds in our room, which we had all to ourselves.

We took off on the bikes Sunday morning to go to church, but after an hour of searching we returned home unsuccessful. I was most sad because I really wanted to show off some of my new clothes that I bought from Primark in London. Sorry about how ugly the face is. Many people say I have a knack for ugly faces.

Here's a few shots of our bike ride down the coast.

Believe it or not, Reagan is actually where a swimsuit in this pic.

Show casing my long locks.

Cool looking boat.

For lunch we stopped at the ONLY place that was open in town, this little restaurant/bar. They had the food sitting out, and all they did was throw it in the microwave and serve it to us, and it was still tasted like what you'd eat at a restaurant in the states. Reagan's rantings and ravings about Italy were not exaggerated.

There's a mountain right next to Trapani called Mount Erice (pronounced Eriche). There's a small, ancient town on top that use to be quite an important one until the Carthigians conquered it during the Punich Wars. We decided to jump on the bikes and climb it.

We ended up walking about have of it because the wimpiness of the bikes (mine only had one gear) but we eventually made it to the top.

Here's a few pics of the city on top of the mountain, also called Erice.

Reagan was so beat once we got to the top that she had to sit on a bench while I ran around to find an affordable place for us to eat. Lazy bum.

Pizze and arancine (fried rice balls filled with yumminess, a sicilian specialty). One of the arancine had pistachio bits mixed in with the meat filling. Sicily is know for their Bronte pistachios so they use pistachios is everything from their meat to their gelato. ( Reagan's favorite was the pistachio cream filled croissants).

Cannoli and other unknown pastry. The cannoli was mind-blowingly awesome, Sicily is also known for their Cannoli.

The ride down was AWESOME! It was roughly 6 miles of down-hill with a beautiful view of the ocean. No peddling required.

We ended the day with a romantic walk on the beach during sunset. The perfect ending to the perfect day.

Nightmare ending to the perfect day...

2011-04-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this out of order because Reagan is too fast for me. And sorry about the novel; this is more of a journal entry than a blog post.

Our perfect day of driving around southern England didn’t really end on a happy note for me. We went to a gas station to fill up the rental car before returning it when we realized the wallet was missing. I had the wallet the whole day, and after having lost the passports in Spain, I was walking on paper-thin ice. We searched the whole car and could not find it anywhere! It could have been anywhere along the 5 hour car route we had taken that day. I was happily surprised to not have received the beating I deserved from Reagan for being a complete airhead. We drove home having agreed to make a phone call to the grocery store and bowling alley that we’d visited that day. Right before going inside I opened the glove box to find our cheeky little wallet hiding there. We both thought the other had checked there. Geniuses.

I then went back to drop off the car. I checked the route right before I went to make sure I didn’t get lost, but I am of course hopeless (note: this is 10:30pm). After a few minutes of driving I take a wrong exit on a roundabout and find myself on an expressway into London (a city where I vowed never to drive) with no exits for 10 miles. After reaching the end of that, I discover that the same expressway is closed on the way back! I made my way through ugly traffic back towards the car rental place, but soon found myself completely lost. I asked a bus driver who was off duty and he pulled out his smart phone to give me directions (I REALLY need one of those). After another 15 minutes of driving, I finally got there… 2 hours later. (The drive should have been 20 minutes.

Don’t worry, it’s not over yet. Because it was 12:30am, there were no shuttles back to the bus terminal from the car rental place. After cussing under my breath a few times for the first time in years (maybe ever, I don’t really remember, and don’t worry, just D and H) I decided to start jogging until I found a bus stop where the bus I need came by. Luckily it only took roughly a mile. 30 minutes later I was home.

While I was running, yelling, and whispering replacement cuss words I had decided that I would tell the woman who had been worried sick that I’d been in an accident or something that I didn’t want to talk about anything. I just wanted to sleep. But while I rode the bus, the whole traumatic experience began to be humorous to me. Reagan and I just talked and laughed about it together when I got home. Sometimes things are so crazy you just have to laugh.

I Fancy You

2011-04-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was a market day, renting bikes day, and a show day.

Sam has deep appreciation for Justin Bieber. He tells me he is suffering from the fever.

Sam made a friend at the market, that girl is totally jealous. She was flirting with the steel worker for hours and then Sam comes up out of no where and they are like bffs.

I look at Sam with such pride. The following are a couple pictures from our bike ride around primrose, Notting Hill, and some parks.

Then we ended the night with this really cool musical Billy Elliot. The lead of the play is 12 years old and tonight was the actor's first performance. He had to train for 1 year before performing. He was so adorable. You could obviously tell the musical was British because their had no filter for the language.

THE NEXT MORNING. OXFORD. (meaning this morning for us). I turn the time over to Sam. Hit it Sam.

Oxford is the type of town I picture when I imagine what England is like. Old, brick buildings with ivy growing up the side, square buildings with a courtyard in the middle, and things like that.

We went on a tour of the University and parts of the town and learned loads. For example, Oxford is made up of 38 colleges that are actually quite independent. When applying to Oxford, students generally apply to a specific college. Many colleges even offer many of the same subjects. I think it is actually a rather bizarre set up. Crazy brits.

Below is a picture of the Bodlein Library. Unlike most libraries, you have to schedule a time just to sit and read. I "shot from the hip" on this picture, but it actually turned out decent! Reagy's cute.

Courtyard of Lincoln College.

Dining hall of one of the college. Looks like Harry Potter, huh? They filmed the movie in a different college, but they are all designed the same.

On our tour we discovered that C. S. Lewis got a great deal of his inspiration from things around Oxford University and around the pub where he and J.R. Tolkien use to meet. The inspiration for the lamp post from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is pictured above and Mr. Tumnus is below.

Grooms wedding cake. Biz.
Reagy with her famous victory pose. This picture is the first one she's seen of the pose, and I'm afraid we may be seeing less of it in the future.

Game of hang man on the train home. I nearly got her with I F A N C Y Y O U. By the way, they actually say that hear from when a person likes another person. I always thought it was kind of a joke, but I've overheard a number of people say it. Again, crazy brits.

Road Trip on the Coast of Southern England

2011-04-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Hold on to your boots cause this post is a bit lengthy. Not in words just in pictures. No one is making you look at them though so don't get all whiney on me, k? Here we go.

This day was BY FAR my favorite day. It had the perfect combination of deliciousness, beauty, breeze and fun. Look and LOVE.

First of all we needed our necessary road trip treats and then Sam seated up in the right side of the car preparing to drive on the left side of the road. It was scary, I'll admit it.

We stopped first in Brighton where we saw this sign and we couldn't pass up some mushy peas!!! It really was good though.

We ate it on the beach and we liked it. They also had the option to pour vinegar on our fries which I had never done before. I liked that as well. We are very 'liking' people. I think this trip is really changing us. I like change. O crap there I go again liking stuff. SHUT THIS GIRL UP!

We couldn't resist the fun that was going on at the pier. So we joined them.

And then Sam persisted on beating the high score of this basketball arcade game.

And the result was Sam's tickets=210

Reagan's=40. This was something I DIDN'T like.

These were our AMAZING prizes. I mean seriously put $$$ into their games and you get prizes worth around 2 dollars. LOVE IT!!

Then as we headed farther along the countryside we saw a nearby bowling alley and we couldn't pass it us. It was wonderful to be inside the alley with about 200 kids for some weird kid's birthday party. Spoiled brat. No, I can't say that, I am sure he is a total sweet heart, but why did he need 100 girls at his party. Can't boys be satisfied with one girl these days!! Come on your only 14!

These next 1 million pictures are just pictures from coastal towns. I couldn't limit okay, they were all pretty to me and I was never good at leaving some people out-especially when it comes to pretty pictures.

Then it comes to the point where me and Sam's minds were blown. This is the white cliffs. I think they are shown on the Hollywood Pride and Prejudice. Anyways they were amazing and you could see the coast of France from them. When Sam and I first saw these cliffs we were almost speechless and kind of just embraced each other for a moment because we had reached that moment where you are so full of love for nature you just need to share it. I wish so badly that my cousins Jourdan and Kelsey could have seen this because this place is them. I don't know why but they should have been there.

Can you spot Sam?

We are happy.

So we are like in London and . . um . . totally cool.

2011-04-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

First of all the English DON'T sound like that, and secondly we think all their accents are fake. Seriously though at first I was obsessed. My thoughts consisted of "if only a man of such an accent could grace my lips with his" but then I lived in Spain for a while- and my eyes were opened. All the Spaniards are all like "British this, British that, I wish I could be British and wipe the Britishes A's for them." And now the British accent kind of bugs me. I know it isn't fair to them, but I just can't help thinking that maybe their accent is not real and they are just doing it to sounds posh and have the Spanish worship them, just like I did before I found out the truth.

Anyways we are in London and LOVING every second. Almost each new day of adventure we say to each other "this day was better than the last." It just keeps getting better. Here is a little highlight of what we did for our first two days in London (Sunday and Monday).

This is us at Westminster Abbey. Coolio yo yo bear.

I am sorry that most of these pictures are of me and not The Hottie Sam or not of cool english celebrities. I am not quite sure why this is but I am starting to think Sam is totally into me or something, when I figure out the details for sure I will let you know in the meantime enjoy my face.

This is where they do the changing of the guard.

London definitely brings out the good side of me.

Kensington Palace . . as the sun is setting. O yea.

Reagan Jenny Brown Nelson Mermaid WoWo Mary. (My full name. Ask my family)

The big hype right now in London. Even the Relief Society for the London ward is making hats the week before the event and reserving a section of the park to watch the wedding on big screen TVs that will be placed around the park for the whole city to see the wedding. There is even an official bank holiday for the wedding. Um, hello, where were all these people when I got married. My husband is totally hotter than some prince willagabobmin.

This was Sam's first time on the top of a double decker bus. WE WERE SO EXCITED! (Sam is starting to have to wear cute headbands now to keep his hair out of his face. He calls them "sweatbands" or something, but he isn't fooling anyone. We all know he wants to look pretty.

This is just the building of the natural science museum, but it is a sweet building, huh?

This is one of the animals that I thought was sweet. It is a fox bat. So totally flippin coo.

This is a snow leopard which happens to be Sam's and his good friend Dallin's favorite animal.

This is a replica of what the size of a blue whale would be. Gulp. No seriously though . . are you kidding me.

We bought our dinners and went to go eat them in the park before we went to our show that night, but as soon as we got to the park the sky got dark and it start to rain. Seriously out of no where! So I grabbed my delicious hummus salad from pret-a-manager (a deliciously delicious place I had been missing) and Sam grabbed his crap from asian-ville, and we dashed under the nearest tree that we shared with a bunch of other no-gooders. It was actually quite awesome, and it was fun to look around Soho Square and see everybody dashing under the nearest shelter. (Sam's food wasn't that bad it just wasn't posh like mine).

Walking through Picadilly Circus on our way to go see . . .

It was perfect. It was Sam's first time and my second. I loved it just as much as the first time.

TOOOO Relaxxxxiiinggg . . . .

2011-04-09T02:10:00.000-07:00

This last week in Malaga Spain contained a lot of chilling out. The week consisted of...

rock skipping at the beach:

Scorching our skin:

Sleeping:

Reading on the beach:

Late night walks on the board walk and the coast:

Nose picking:

Sam learning to fish braid (getting good no?):

Ping Pong:

WAY too much helado:

Fresh mouth-watering fruit:

Me attempting to turn my hair red but I ended up with a bright pink that I eventually attempted to save and ended up with this pooey maroon color.

Random animals walking around on the streets:

Beautiful scenery:

Yet, it included none of this:

(Exercise)

We really enjoyed our time in Spain! The food, the people, the beaches - all of it was breathtaking. But we couldn't be more excited to take the next step in our trip and see the amazing city of London.

More news of our adventure to come.

"WHERE ARE THE PASSPORTS!"

2011-04-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

I (Sam) have been doing some really dumb stuff lately. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I think that I'm just getting dumber. A few of the most recent incidence include buying train tickets for the wrong week and dropping my wedding ring down a flight of stairs to have it break in half at the bottom. The worst was somehow letting my fanny pack out of sight long enough to have it stolen, along with my wallet, checkbook, and both of our passports. Brilliant. We got off the bus, crossed the street to the train station, and while waiting in line to buy tickets I reached for my wallet and realized it was gone. I sprinted back to the bus, searched it with the help of the bus driver, but to no avail.

We filed a police report with the national police, talked with the resort and called the embassy. The embassy said that after we get a copy of the police report, we need to come in the next morning to fill out an application for a temporary passport, and that it would cost us 260 euros! (appr. $370) We were devistated.

Fortunately, this story has a happy ending! The next morning, we were woken up by a phone call that scared the pants off me. They found our passports! It was about 30 minutes before we would have left to go get the new passports. If they had called 30 minutes later, we would have been on our way to spend the morning getting passports and paying big bucks only to come home to find out they had found our old ones. We were ecstatic, and extremely grateful. We had to take a train about 30 minutes into the city to get to the national police station. Everything had obviously been rummaged through, but everything was left except for 25 US dollars. Thank goodness for understanding criminals!

Relaxing Last Moments

2011-04-06T15:59:00.001-07:00

Our last couple moments in Murcia included some wonderful adventures. First of all we packed a delicious authentic lunch and headed to the pools up in the mountains (a common place many locals as well as people across the country, come to relax). This is a special dessert they have in Murcia around Easter. It is a sweet bread with a hard boiled egg and its shell placed in the middle.

These are the pools. There were hot pools, cold pools, indoor pools, outdoor pools and my personal favorite (which you may be able to see in the back) beds in the pools where you could lay and have your back sprayed-like a massage.

This was our last moment at Abuela's for lunch. Isabel said this is where everyone stands for pictures at grandma's, it felt like a special place to stand.

And for our last big dinner (since it was April fools in America) we decided to pull a prank on Borja. He definitely wasn't expecting it since their Fools day isn't till December. It was kind of a dumb prank but we couldn't really think of anything else. We put a bunch of salt in his beloved coke. Instead of getting mad he just sort of giggled. It was worth it.

Lastly I just need to say that any of you that like to cook you need to start following my sister-in-law Heather's blog http://sugarbetty.blogspot.com/. She has these most amazing recipes and is continually winning little food contests back in Boston. She puts all her winning recipes on her blog. She also does tons of healthy stuff because my nephew needs a very healthy diet because his immune system is so weak, and she wants to mix up the type of foods he needs to eat.

Just follow her stinkin' blog, okay!

Love you guys.

Rota Was Our Freedom

2011-04-01T01:01:00.000-07:00

After Cadiz we headed back to Rota and that is where we spent the rest of our time. Rota is an army base and Marti's husband was returning the following day from the Congo after teaching the locals how to disarm bombs. So me as Sam spent some time on the beach together before we headed back to their place to begin decorating for Isaac's return. Marti and Issac are like the coolest peeps. They were the best hosts and we stayed up late playing games and laughing about really nothing.

This is their home.

This is us preparing the decorations. Sorry I am a little big creepy but decorating brings out a really beautiful, raw emotion inside of me.

And the beach seems to do the same for Sam. (Okay if Sam is going to pose like this for the camera he can't expect me not to post this for world to really see his talents.)

Part of our decorations, and the happy (woken-up early) couple, preparing to take us to the bus station. They rock. If you guys knew their story you would think they rock too.

Well good-bye to Andalusia, we will be back next week!

What the Cadiz?

2011-03-30T00:51:00.000-07:00

Having successfully toured Sevilla, we spend the next day in Cadiz. We stayed with my sister Kim's friend Marti (who totally rocks and we'll talk about more in the next post). Her and her husband live in Rota, which is just across the bay from Cadiz, so we hopped on a ferry in the morning.

Saying goodbye to Rota, the ferry took about 30 minutes.

Reagan looking hecka excited as we pull into the port.

Catedral Nueva. We really liked how bright and happy this one was. Most look so dark and

gloomy, but this one reminded us more of a temple.

You can't really tell from the pick, but this one is of a permanent market where locals sell food. Around the outside there are a few dozen fruit stands and all the meat is on the inside. Super cool.

There's nothing that Reagan loves more than a market, especially if it means fresh strawberries.

At the highest point in the city there's a tower called Torre Tevira where you can get a 360 degree of the city. It was by far our favorite part. The do a little presentation inside the tower where they use this funky technology to reflect an image of the city onto a screen on a table. Everyone stands around it as they explain different parts of the city. It was weird because it looks like a still picture, but then you see birds flying around and people walking on the streets. The view from on top of the tower, as you can see, was awesome.

I bought those shades for a few euros on the street.

Reagan made me put this one up. I was trying to block a picture she was taking, but just ended up looking like a ______. You can fill in the blank.

Reagan attempting to do a jumping picture. Though her athletic ability looks less than impressive in this picture, I assure you that she can jump higher than 3 inches.

We had to include a round of helados.

And we liked them so much we had another round. (check out that hair - impressive, if I may say so myself)

Though we say this after every city we visit, Cadiz has been our favorite so far.

On to Sevilla!

2011-03-29T03:10:00.000-07:00

O Hi! Welcome to Sevilla. We took a bus to Sevilla that was 8 1/2 hours and went through the night, so we arrived in the city at 6:15 a.m. (in case your wondering why we look so tired in some of the pictures, that's why)

This is the Cathedral. It's the largest gothic cathedral in the world.

So this is us watching the sun rise above the Cathedral.

This castle looking thing is called the Alcazar. It's filled will small palaces and gardens and was built by the Moors.

These are beautiful flamenco dresses. We wanted to dance all night in the flamenco outfits. We just wanna fit in.

There were building this huge construction cover over the middle of the city, we weren't sure what it was.

A fresh fruit market that goes on daily. These markets are in most of the cities and they are in the same area that they had the markets hundreds of years ago.

The remains of the old city wall. One side is the old town and the other side is big highways and ugliness.

"O hi, we are just sitting on the city wall enjoying ourselves. You're welcome to join us."

Sam thought this bridge was cool because it used those cords and leverage to hold it up.

Okay this part rocks. See that old dude working out? Yea, me too. All along the river there were these little park areas with exercise machinery just build into the dirt. You didn't have to pay to use them. It was basically like an playground for adults. Weird, but cool.

See that garden up in the sky, cool huh. Don't know what it is for, but it is cool.

Torre de Oro.

This is the plaza de Espana. It was huge!

Look how sweet the floor of the plaza is, I loved it.

All along the outside of the plaza were these art thingies that told stories of different cities' histories.

We ended the day with some helado before we caught the bus to our next adventure/city.

Sam is 90 and loving it!!

2011-03-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

For Sam's birthday we bought tickets to Valencia because there was a huge celebration going on there. But then the night before we would have left we canceled our bus tickets and decided to spend his birthday in Murcia. We realized we didn't want to spend 8 hours of his birthday on a bus. We started celebrating Sam's birthday Friday at midnight with some Tapas at the local bar and some classy games of BS. We taught BS to our friends and we have probably played about 30 rounds of it since. That game gets us all laughing so hard 'cause we all really stink at lying. Must be the Mormon in us.

The following morning we headed straight to the grocery store (Carrefour, which I think is a french chain store . . . Jane Ann?) and bought the necessities for a picnic. The grocery store was packed to the brim. March 19th in Spain is Father's day and lots of stores close on that day, and since this grocery store was still open, the store was spilling over with spaniards. Crazy spaniards.

Then we headed out on our biking exploration along the river.

And guess who we happened to see . . . just my favorite animal the CAMEL!! He was preparing for his big performance in the nearby circus. Such a good dude.

Yes those are high-rise pants. No I am not pregnant even though it looks like it. And yes I am eating fresh strawberries. They are so cheap and so delicious here. Go strawberries.

Here is the list of things Sam decided he wanted to do for his birthday. So this day was set aside to accomplishing that list. And boy, were we successful.

(Sam is shimming here.)

This is us trying something new. It is called a lazo. (but the people here pronounce it latho, because of their weird theta.) It was actually kinda gross.

Then back to our friends for some more BS and a loonnngggg game of monopoly.

The next day we had ALL our friends over (2) and celebrated Sam birthday the right way with candles, hugs, and Ana stealing all of Sam's attention.

Happy birthday Hot Stuff you rock my world.

Cartagena y La Nena

2011-03-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the beautiful city of Cartegena! This is a famous port city that the Carthage empire operated out of during the Punich Wars against the Romans. It is super beautiful and a very clean city.

Hello naked man, how you doing just chillin? Are you enjoying your view? I sure am. Cool, catch you later. (Lucky duck).

We packed a picnic and came and sat at the harbor together. It really was beautiful.

This was the first submarine ever, built in Spain in 1888. Wohoo

Now here are a few pictures of Ana from the weekend. This first one is of Ana and her friend that we met up with in Cartegena. The Spanish sure know how to dress their kids. Since most people here only have one or two kids they spend tons of money are their children's clothes. For example for Ana's second birthday her mom bought her an outfit with shoes, bow, and jacket, and dress all costing over 200 euros. This outfit isn't that outfit but I just thought I would tell ya. O and seriously that girls bonnet . . . nice.

Caught trying on Sam's shoes.

We had Thais and Valerio over for games and a dinner on Saturday night and Ana loved Thais! I know she isn't expressing it on her face but see means it inside.

Lastly, I just need to share this picture I took of abuela's (that mean grandma) table. She asked Sam for my dad's information the first week we were here incase we got hurt or were in trouble for any reason. Abuela is exactly how you would describe a spanish grandma. She is continually checking up on us, asking if we are being safe, giving us advice, has funny comments, and constantly serving us and trying to get me to put on enough layers to stay warm. She has made me put on her sweater a few times. In case any of you were worried that we aren't safe, abuela will calm your worries. (Oh, and that is a picture of her when she was young and a baby picture of Ana.)

Sunday Stroll

2011-03-11T02:40:00.001-08:00

On Sunday we went for a little stroll in the park and had lunch. The lunch part was less than enjoyable thanks to a little dog that kept trying to eat our food. Isabel (the mother) was adamant that she needed to share the food with the starving dog, which of course led for an afternoon of pestering. I don't mean to start off so negatively, but I just don't really like dogs. (sorry to dog lovers; I've had a lot of bad experiences)

After lunch, when the dog left us alone, we had a great time. Here's one of Isabel, Borja, and the dangling Ana.

Reagan and Ana having a blast; Ana LOVES Reagan.

Ana's impression of Sloth from the class film "The Goonies." I think she's pretty good at it.

Borja and Isabel got married in this church (the park is right behind it). It sits up on a hill overlooking the city. Totally awesome. We actually went inside for part of the service until Ana flipped out because we wouldn't let her go up by the priest.

Cool old car next too what looks to have been a tomb of some sort.

I know, we're total scrubs.

Me, looking over the valley pondering the important things in life.

My beautiful girlfriend... well I guess she's my wife now, so my beautiful ex-girlfriend...

A wonderful sunset to end a great day.

Hi, from Granada!

2011-03-07T08:35:00.001-08:00

So, we headed to Granada this past weekend. This city is seweet! The Moors, an Arab people, controlled the much of Spain for a few centuries, and Grenada was the last city taken back by the Spaniards. On top of a hill in the city there's this place called the Alhambra. It was the place for the Arab royalty with their palaces and gardens and hanging out places . . . You know where the cool kids hung. Okay so this post is full of pictures that probably just look like a bunch of old brick and stuff, but when we were there it looked a lot cooler than I could capture on camera. Deal with it. This city was very beautiful though, very green and lots of beautiful color. It also had delicious food which was a plus for me!

The Alhambra

This is Thais and Valerio. It was Valerio's birthday and so we celebrated it together. I always tell Thais that she is an African goddess. That is what her name makes me think of. I don't think she likes it though.

(Note from Sam: Reagan totally wasn't into me in this picture)

We went shopping on the streets but pretty much all the gift shops in Spain sell the same things: aprons, bags, magnets, that kind of nonsense, but we did find one piece of gold in all our shopping (find at end of post).

We went to this funny looking restaurant and got Kebab sandwiches. On one side of us was a lesbian couple that kept kissing and on the other was a gay couple that was cuddling. I guess we gotta get used to it before San Francisco. Also, Valerio convinced the waiter to give him a free dessert for his birthday. It was delicioso.

Okay this was the worst. These women kept coming up to us and trying to get us to buy a little stick of rosemary. They basically stood infront of you and put it in your hands and then would follow after you until you gave them money. If you wouldn't buy it they would tell the guys that they are bad men and should buy them for us. They seriously grabbed our arms to try and stop us to buy their stupid rosemary. Rosemary sucks.

O hi! I am just a random, beautiful orange tree growing in the middle of the city next to super old building. I know you love me.

This random old home had a for sale sign in it's window-cooool.

I know it looks like they are just walking down the hill but really they were walking up the hill backwards. Valerio thought it was easier, he has a weird brain.

These are the beauties we bought. Don't be jealous of Sam's pants hangin' to the flo'.

Granada also had this huge mountain that people travel for boarding and skiing, I think it is the only place that gets snow for hundreds of miles around. Sam's pants rock, Granada rocks, Spain rocks and love rocks.

Okay, Madrid is for Cool People.

2011-02-28T13:54:00.001-08:00

A few days before we left to Madrid we basically didn't know anything about it other than the bull fighting. So we did lots of research (meaning Sam did) and we asked around and by Thursday night we had a wonderful trip planned ahead of us. This first picture was our first encounter of Madrid life. It is a bunch of dudes selling crap. . . no seriously it was like used hairspray bottles, used shoes that looked two steps away from falling apart and other stuff that was probably cheaper new from the store than it was from these guys.

Museo del Prado

This was the first attraction we went to. It was so funny to me because there are these historical, old important monuments in the middle of intersections- ancient world mixed with new world= madrid (well more accurately Europe, but for the sake of this post lets just say Madrid).

It's really foreign to the life of an American though.

Once we were worn out from all our hard work site seeing we stopped and got the most amazing smoothies I have ever had. Mine was mango and mine was better.

It's so funny because in Europe McDonalds are classy. They always look super cool with funky colors and modern layouts and lots of them have two floors or a basement.

We ended up booking our hostel really late and so we were placed in different rooms. Me with 4 girls and a dude, then Sam with 4 girls and a Mom. If you couldn't tell neither of us slept that well but they gave us free breakfast and it only cost 18e a night. The hostel was a 5 minute walk from the middle of they city it was so cool! (but not the sleeping seperate part, of course- that was kind of freaky.)

Right in front of our hostel.

Art.

Can you find Sam in this picture?

Her is a close up of where he was. Is that palace huge!

Now try and find me!

Well, if you couldn't find me in that last picture you sure won't miss me in this one (I am the one with the thighs.) This shoes are basically the only ones we have and they rock (my toms and Sam's Nike frees-sorry about the commercial break.)

Then we arrived at my favorite part- the food market! I will give you a moment to drool. Seriously, this market stays open til 2 am and offers a variety of desserts, spanish specialties, fresh fruit, meats, fresh bread, lots of wine, and tons of other stuff that made me weak at the knees. I could have spent all our money here in a heart beat. This was more inciting then any architecture or museum.

We took a break in their huge park, a break meaning he read, I slept. The weather was so good I couldn't resist.

Then we headed to see one last thing before we caught the bus home- the famous ancient bull fighting arena. . . I was so excited to see this.

. . . but when we got their this is what we found . . .

And this is Sam's reaction to the news . . .

They were having the circus inside the bull fighting arena and so we couldn't see inside the arena unless we bought tickets to the circus . . .

So we did!!!
Here is how it all went down. We were looking at the prices and thinking we really shouldn't spend that much money and we were debating whether it was worth it when this lady came up to us and said, "dkfjselifnsgliedkg." Which I guess meant "our two friends didn't show up so we will give you their tickets for half price." I quickly responded to her YES! and I think she knew what that meant. This was the first time at the circus for both of us. And what a great time to do it . . Madrid, Bull fighting arena, Spanish clowns. . . It was all to amazing. We ended up taking a later bus so we could watch the circus and then go back to the city center and eat more.

Being in Europe gives me the right to eat more and eat lots of treats, right? Good, cause I'm not slowing down and we sure know Sam isn't either.

That's so American

2011-02-24T15:03:00.000-08:00

The family has been asking us to cook for them typical American food. . . HELLO! What is typical American food? . . . um . . . how about every single culture's food combined. Besides apple pie and hamburgers I felt like American cuisine doesn't exist.

Then Sam got this bright idea and was all like "I know! Lets make them grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup ."

Me being someone who loves to cook and makes things fancy and pretty was all like, " You can make them that, but that is not my idea- who likes tomato soup?"

And he was all like, "Fine, I will do it myself- it will be just from me."

And me being the typical hottie brat type responded, "you do that."

It was an epic moment in both of our lives.

So in an effort to contribute I made brown sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies.

Trying to convert a recipe into European measurements and covert it to there oven is not cool! Also trying to find the right american ingredients isn't easy- I had to use this weird brown sugar.

Oh, but wait, here is where my brattish nature is proven wrong. Sam ended up doing this amazing homemade tomato soup and used mozzarella and spanish ham with an olive oil, garlic glaze on his sandwiches. It really was amazing and I would eat it for any meal. They all worshiped the ground he walked on afterwards, seriously. I worship that ground the most though, even with my brattish natural tendencies. (but i am one of the hot brats so it makes it okay).

On a side note this is us shopping for the groceries for the rock hard core awesome dinner, and here is Sam helping to teach English in the classroom of Isabel.

Bicicletas, La Manga, y Una Fiesta

2011-02-21T00:17:00.000-08:00

A few days ago we decided to go biking into the city to have a look around. We ended up biking through the city and out the other side where we found a cool trail. The sun happened to be setting, which contributed to a great evening.

My lovely lady. She hates in when I make her pose for pictures, but she does anyway because she loves me.

I love this picture. Along the path there were a bunch of lemon and orange trees. With the sun setting, it was remarkably nice on the eyes.

We met a young Brazilian couple at church who recently moved here to teach English. Their names are Valerio and Thais. They invited us over for an FHE with the sister missionaries. I gave the opening prayer and pulled the classy move of expressing thanks for Valerio and ... his wife ... for having us over. I totally couldn't remember how to pronounce Thais' name. Afterwards we played monopoly and Reagan dominated. I was the worst performer by a wide margin.

The next day we hopped on a bus with them to go visit a place called "La Manga." It's this really narrow stretch of land that incloses a piece of the Mediterranean in a body of water called the Mar Menor. The part we went to was probably only 100-200 yards wide with beach on both sides. It was pretty rad. Unfortunately, because it's considered winter time, the place felt kinda like a deserted island (even though it is 65 degrees out).

We ate lunch at a little pizzeria on the La Manga. I love this picture. I've always wondered what I'd look like if I put on 100 lbs. Now we all know.

After La Manga, we showed up an hour and a half late to this little girls (3rd) party. Luckily we're in Spain and nothing ever starts sooner than 2 hours late. The poor little one was sick and crying the whole time so neither her nor her mother was able to enjoy it. The food totally kicked butt.

One of Reagan's favorite things about Spain is the old people. They always hang out together and chat and go on walks, but not just with their spouses. You can always see a pair of old men walking down the street chatting about who knows what. The two oldies on the right are Reagan's faves.

Spain does good things for Sam . . .

2011-02-18T02:57:00.001-08:00

. . . And his hair.

Spanish Loooooovvvvvvvveeeeeee

2011-02-16T03:47:00.001-08:00

We had a simple Valentines date full of tapas, plazas, helado, spaniards making out in front of cathedrals, candy shoppes, random fountains, and lots of smiles. We are happy together, kinda like 2 birds of a feather.

Happy belated Valentines you sappy dorks!