Can I Hitch a Ride?

So... in the middle of September Seth came home from work and told me he needed to go to London for a conference. "Lucky!" I thought, "He gets to go all the exciting places." Another week went by and then Seth announced that he and his partner would like to bring their wives. So all I had to do was go find my passport and dust it off a bit. Except, you can't use a passport that has already expired! Ooops! Word to the wise, keep your passport current or it might cost you a pretty penny to expedite it like we had to! Seth was sweet to make it happen and I was glad to hitch a ride.

The London Eye
Most of these pictures were taken from a red double decker bus. We were only there for a couple days so this was a good way to see a lot really quick.

Another view of Big Ben. There were flowers out everywhere also. In front of stores, above the pubs. So pretty! We were really lucky with the weather. I don't remember ever really needing a jacket and I really expected it, but didn't get any rain in London.

I think this is called Picadilly Circus. This is what happend when you wait too long to post your pictures. Your memory starts to fade! We didn't get off the bus here, but I thought it was really pretty.

Now, I really have no idea what this place is called! I just thought it was a good example of what a lot of the architecture looked like in London.

This is Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. I was really excited to see this, although we weren't allowed inside for some reason so I was bumbed. But it was neat to see. Heaven forbib I actually get a human being in any of these pictures! If you look really close you can see Seth's little head in the bottom-left corner.

Ok, finally a picture with human beings in it!! This is me and Kristin Miller. Sean Miller, her husband, is Seth's business of the last 7 years. Our husbands spend all their time together, so it was nice to get a little time to chat with Kristin.
A few more things we did in London: We saw "Sweet Charity", a musical, the second night we were there. It was fun to get dressed up and go do something fun with the guys. Kristin took me jogging on morning around a park near our hotel. We ran around a large pond/lake and saw ducks and swans and people in wet suits swimming (yuck, it did not look so clean) We staked our claim at a pub near our hotel, which is where we ate a couple of our meals.(London is not a place you travel for their amazing food, by the way!) Kristin and I also tried to find Notting Hill one day while the guys were in their conference and were not very successfull. I wanted to see the area that is in the movie. We walked atleast a half an hour before a lady told us Notting Hill was down another direction. By then the guys had called us and told us they needed more business cards, so are little adventure had come to an end. After the conference Sean and Kristin went onto Ireland (which is a place I will see some day too!) And we pushed on to Italy. Poor us, right?

This was the first picture I took once we got on our road trip in Italy. We flew in to Milan and rented a car. Before I proceed, you should know this was not your average site seeing trip. Seth was focused on house hunting for our future. Can't a guy just kick back and enjoy being in Italy? For a long time now Seth has wanted to move the girls and I over to live in Italy for a while. The time limit we live there is a topic of constant debate! I can tell you while we were there I liked the idea a whole lot more than when I'm at home!

This is the view from an area that a realtor took us to look at. Who goes out with a realtor when they're on vacation anyway? Pretty though, right? This whole area was around Lake Como and Lake Lugano. These cities are right near the Italian/Swiss border. I really liked that we were close to the mountains, it made it feel like home, just much more green!

These are some condos that had the above view of the lake. Everything is built with concrete! It was good to get an idea of what things could be.

After thinking about it, we thought we might like living in the city right near the lake more. Who wouldn't want to take long walks here in the evening after dinner? There were a lot of families down here strolling around. We thought that the girls might enjoy being a little more involved in city life where things are constantly going on. These next few shots are of a a city called Lugano. It is an italian city in Switzerland. You have all the advantages of being in Switzerland (good government, health care) and all the advantages of being in italy(fabulous food, fabulous food, beautiful scenery etc.).

The #2 photo with a person in it! Not sure why I have a funny look on my face though.

So ends our little lakeside road trip. It was so fun to be with Seth and look for a place to live, maybe! We stayed in a couple really nice little hotels too. All I have to say is Italians really know how to do the continental breakfast.

We spent our last day in Milan. This is the Duomo, in the middle of the city. It was huge! Each italian city has a duomo,or church. Some are just more notable than others.

This was the entrance to a shopping and eating area. We had Marghereta pizzas at a cafe inside and had to wait 30 minutes for our bill because our waiter was flirting with every girl in site!

Another view from the duomo

This was a butcher/deli on the second floor of the subway we were at. Can you imagine going grocery shopping in the subway? I guess it makes sense, because everyone's either coming or going home from there.

Check out that tub of Nutella! They are not messing around! Seth bought some mozzarella di bufala. When he got to the register the lady gave him a funny look and said something in italian like "Are you sure you want that much? Cause that's a lot!" When we got back to our room with our cheese and bread we realized we did have a lot, but you don't need much more than cheese and bread in italy, especially when you can find it in the subway! What a great time we had. I'm really glad Seth decided to take me along. I hope business needs him abroad again real soon!

Up the Cabin Road...

Here we are again for the elk hunt around labor day. We don't mind getting dirty up here, because this is one of our most favorite places to go in the whole wide world! Seth's family, on his mom's side has a cabin up Manti canyon. It was built in the 1940's and it's authenticity has reamained, except for a flushed toilet which has been added in. The cabin has cement floors, log walls, no electricity or running water and we all kind of prefer it that way! There are so many stories and memories hidden up inside you feel like you know everyone that's ever come before. I'm so glad it's still there for the girls to enjoy:)

We had the cabin to ourselves the first night. It was really peaceful and we kept really busy watching the squirells. But it also meant that I was head chef, so we suffered through sloppy joes, water melon and corn on the cob. Jill's gourmet would come the next night.

Cute little forts that someone had left behind

Love my baby girl!

It's grandma's job to pass out the candy, right?

The amazing view from the cabin

A side view of the cabin

We were hanging out in the cars while the men were out hunting and this group came by that was taking their horses into the canyon. Of course the kids were throwing their shoes on so they could get a look. They sure got a treat when each one of them got a little ride!

She was loving it, just not showing it. I didn't get a picture, but a man I didn't even know took Alayna out of my arms and hoisted her up on top of a very tall horse. She tolerated it pretty well.

Movie time outside. So much fun being with Tagg and Tyne. Brynn, unfortunately became an easy target for the mosquitoes. Her face was a little poka dotted in the morning!

Playing in the sticks and dirt was better than any toy I could have brought her. Although dirt was the least of our worries. In the cabin she stumbled upon rat droppings and a mouse trap! The crawling/walking phase was interesting to watch.

Take me for a ride daddy!

Don and Seth have always agreed there is no faster way to fall asleep than to have a sleeping baby in your arms. About 2 min. after this photo was taken Don was out too.

Brynn became the little chauffeur for the cousins that wanted a ride over and over and over again. And that let Seth off the hook! Brynn was pretty proud to know how to drive on her own. Here is Tagg surfing/skateboarding behind:)

Cute, happy Brynn

A traditional ladder pose picture! Everybody that comes up to the cabin takes them. It's a good way to gauge how much everyone's grown.

If Seth had his way we'd live up here. That is if we could get a strong enough internet signal so he could work in the canyon. There is something so special about the mountains, I struggle to put it in to words. The mountains mean family, they mean contentment, they mean hurry up real fast and come back soon!!