Delayed posting...

Sorry for the delay and today's post will be short and lacking description because I only have 8 minutes on my internet and somebody is waiting to use the machine. We are now in Pisa and heading to Siena tonight. We have not had internet access the last few days. A lot has happened this last week and we have taken thousands of pictures that we will soon post. We are having a great time in Europe though some sadness has changed my trip a bit...my Grandma (last living grandparent) died this week and it has been a struggle to be away from my family. I have talked to them, but it is not the same as being there. I did get to talk to my grandma the day before I left and I know she always loved my blog so I will have to shape up in the next few days and get it updated to her standards...hahaha It goes to show that you should never leave things unsaid because we do not know when our time will end. My grandma lived a long full life and she loved to travel so I will keep traveling because she would want that--I know she would because she verbally told me not to come home if anything happened. gotta go!!!

Arrived in Paris

Wow, what a whirlwind few days...actually the last week has been super crazy. After Portland to Coast...which I still need to post pics...I started getting ready for Europe and had Monday off work to finish up. Janelle and I piled our bags into her car and drove to Seattle ....ok, I am really starting to get tired so you will have to wait until tomorrow for the rest of the story...we made it safely to Paris!!

It's Fair Time!!

A group of us went to the Benton Franklin fair---in my opinion the Grant County fair is way better but maybe because I grew up going to that fair. We got some greasy expensive fair food, went to the animal barns, played some games, ate some more greasy fair food, visited and rode the bus back to our cars. Fun times with friends.

Birthday Weekend

My birthday weekend started early Friday and went until late Sunday. It was a great birthday--I got to talk to/visit with most of my family and a bunch of old friends and a few new friends. I will be able to go to starbucks for quite a few vanilla lattes thanks to all the gift cards--thanks everyone. My Aunt Debbie made an excellent chocolate cake for me and my grandpa's famous molasses cookies (with Uncle Joe's help). I will soon be making creme brulee with my fantastic new torch!! I got to go camping, ate at one of my fave restaurants and had dulce de leche ice cream---can life get any better? I submit that it cannot! (--to the friends)

A little catching up...crazy times!

Wow, the last few weeks have been a little bit of a blur. I had a great time at Michelle Syth's (now Leib) bachelorette party a few Saturdays ago. I had to get up early on Sunday to help with Higher Grounds and then Sunday night I did my presentation to the church for my trip to Poland and the rest of Europe. I was really nervous to get up in front of everyone but it went ok.



We had a BBQ with the Ensign family and had a nice time laughing and catching up. Wednesday was Lauren's birthday party at Anthony's--our server was unique (is that the best word to describe him) and then we went for cake and icecream....Ryan made the cake and used a few secret ingredients, but we all survived!! Thursday was dress rehearsal for the Friday wedding and then the guys went one way and the girls went another way.
The late night Thunderstorms were absolutely amazing around 11pm. I actually stopped and got out of the car to watch until the rain came. The wedding on Friday started as a panic but ended beautifully! Once the tables (and wedding party) dried out from the 6pm shower and wind storm, we buckled down and got everything set up for the ceremony. There was good food fun dancing and laughing with the friends.



We got up early Saturday and piled into four cars to drive over to another wedding in Seattle. The Wetterling wedding also had its share of rain and actually moved their wedding into shelter. It was really beautiful!


After the ceremony and reception, a group of us headed for our hotel to relax for a bit... ...and then we headed into Seattle for dinner and comedy. We were shut down on the comedy so we went back to the hotel and spent the evening just hanging out. Sunday turned out different than we thought and we found ourselves in decent seats at a Mariners game. They lost horribly but it was fun nonetheless!




After a trip to IKEA, Fry's and dinner at The Tav we finally made it home late Sunday...just in time to start another busy week!

Kim & Lisa are in town so I had dinner with them and was a baby hog with Amelia. I got some Zander time in as well, both are soooo cute and growing like crazy! We went to the movies to see The Dark Night---not a favorite but I liked some of the special effects. Tonight is dinner and a movie with a friend--girls night without kids! the rest of the week in planned and then camping on Friday and Saturday--my first trip up to Hell's Half Acre this year and probably the only one this year...bummer! One more week until Portland to COast and then three weeks in Europe! I am tired just typing so I need to rest up for all these activities!! I hope you all are well!!

Michelle's Party--not mine

We started the party at Bonefish and Matt stuck with us girls. We went to Joker's to listen to a comedian. He was fairly funny and the drinks were big.

We moved to the Grizzly bar and lost Lauren on the way--another one down. We met up with all of our guy friends there and did a little dancing and visiting. We called it a night and had our DD's drive us home. Crazy times but everyone had fun!

Getting ready for the other Michelle Bach. Party

MJ at work