Summer 2011

Coming back into the States was a bittersweet experience.  We loved the inexpensive food and the fact that Adam wouldn't have to keep track of a billion different coins anymore and we could enjoy not sharing a room and bathroom with 14 other people.  Not to say that we didn't enjoy our experience, but it was nice to not have other people hanging up their underwear to dry from the bunk above us.

As we waited to hear back from law schools we postponed the job search for me and spent our time enjoying the awesome weather.  Tennis became a new passion and we played at least four times a week.  Other than that we hung out with family at family reunions and had a blast going to Bear Lake for a week at a time, playing pickup soccer games with friends, and camping of course.  

For the Fourth of July the week before we spent in Bear Lake before coming back down to Centerville where we ran the Centerville race and attended the big breakfast in the park and parade.  The boys gave their best shot at the climbing wall while Belle and Olivia had a blast in the bounce house. 

It just so happened that the festivities were held on Adam's birthday this year.  He turned 24 and we celebrated with a family barbecue.  We stayed at my house in Alpine with my sister Jessica while the rest of my family was at Bear Lake.  It worked out great because we could be there in case she went into labor - which we were praying that she wouldn't until Ezra got back from China, or at least until my mom got back.

On the actual Fourth we were able to go to the Freedom Festival in Provo with Bronson Kelly.  We were on balloon crew duty, so we helped to unload the balloon and get it blown up.  Unfortunately, the balloons got grounded because of bad weather, but luckily we have gone hot air ballooning before.  They were allowed to stand them up on the ground, however, a huge gust gave everyone a scare as we all jumped on the basket with all our weight to keep it from flying away.  

That night my cousin Sara invited us to go to a Real game with her and a bunch of friends.  Fortunately for us, we had amazing seats right on the half line with free food and fireworks.  No complaining there.  Adam and I both love soccer and even though they only tied it was well worth watching.  

Also, given the lack of restriction on aerial fireworks, Alpine was a great spot to sit on the front porch and enjoy spectacular fireworks in any direction.

Just a few short days later we headed up to Aberdeen, Idaho for a Taylor family reunion.  It's always a blast to get together with family and go swimming at the American Falls Reservoir as well as play volleyball and a whole lot of kill.  Nathan almost got killed after he pushed about every member of my family off of the dock into the water when they weren't expecting it - leading to a friendly water war.  The only downside to the whole weekend was the cropduster that must have flown past about 100 times at 5:30 am.  Uncle Frank who is 88 made up for it by going off the tree swing which is over 10 feet off of the ground.  

McKay for sure had the sweetest toss into the water being thrown by both my dad and Adam.

People got tossed, shoved, pushed, coaxed, thrown, and pulled into the water.

Of course with Adam there I had no chance of not getting wet, and although try as I might - sure enough Adam swept me off my feet once again. 

This is me trying to pretend like I didn't care... haha.  Notice Adam is the one still in the water.

Next was cliff jumping.  Or in Adam's case cliff diving.

Dad was the official egg frying champion and I believe over the course of the weekend cooked over 400 eggs.  Way to go dad!

After Aberdeen we headed back up to Bear Lake for another week of sailing, swimming, tennis, and the beach while celebrating the 24th.  Ezra was back from China and we were still waiting on the twins to make their appearance.  I had fun helping out with Jessica's baby showers and working on the baby blankets that Adam and I were making for the twins.

Of course with Ezra back it also meant that we got to go flying--which is always a blast.

Finally, on August 7th, after the longest labor known to mankind, followed by a c-section, Fae Lina and Ila Jane were finally born!  These two little cuties are the most adorable little girls ever and we are thrilled to have them in our family.  Fae is on the left and Ila on the right, I stole this picture from Jessica's blog.

Summer concluded with a trip to Zion National Park doing Subway and Pine Creek canyons.  No summer is ever complete without a trip to Southern Utah.  

August 15th marked the first day of orientation for Law School at the University of Utah.  The following Friday we celebrated my birthday just the two of us with a night on the town in Salt Lake, complete with Macaroni Grill and a carriage ride and flowers, followed on Sunday with the annual Ricks start of school race and dinner, and then Monday with dinner with my family, Marie Calendar's chocolate satin pie, and then Aida starring Josie Nilson - who did a fantastic job in the performance.  

Adam is excited to be back in school and has now survived his first week - only way too many more to go.  I've started the job search and life is just so good here in Utah where we are happy to be staying for the next few years.  

Back to Rome

From Venice we headed to Rome. The seats on the train were sold out for the day, but with a quick train hop in Bologna we weren't delayed for very long. It was weird to be back in Rome after almost a month of traveling elsewhere - like coming home, but not.

The first day of Rome take 2 included the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basillica, St. Peter's Square and the Angel's Castle. We put our faith in the trusty Rick Steves free tours that we had downloaded on our ipods to take us through the Vatican Museum which is huge.

I personally was in love with the Russian eggs. It all started with Farberge making these amazing eggs for the Russian Imperial family. Jewel encrusted and incredibly intricate detailing made each of these eggs so unique, and what is hidden inside is also quite fantastic.

Other than the eggs there of course was the Sistine Chapel. Even though the chapel was constantly filled with chatting, picture taking, rule breaking tourists - and the guards trying to shush them, we were able to enjoy the incredible ceiling painted by Michelangelo. My favorite part was the famed creation of Adam.

After making our way out of the chapel we headed over to St. Peter's. We were overwhelmed by the incredible structure and artwork including the Pieta.

St. Peter's Square is also quite the feat in and of itself. After dinner and a jaunt back to the Pantheon where we fell asleep listening to our audioguide - along with a guy whose kids were shaking him to try to wake him up - we headed back for the night to go swimming, feeling confidant that our next couple of days would be plenty enough to get everything else done that we wanted to do in Rome.

Our last days in Europe passed as planned. We were pros at the public transportation system, eating pizza and pasta, and site seeing. We visited enough cathedrals that we could probably be considered Catholic now, and we had played more games of connect 4 than any two people ever should. Adam had to start giving me tips on how to play, so I would keep playing, since I lost so many times. We tried chess on his phone, but that was a disaster - ever heard of the 5 move checkmate - yeah, well lets just say it cost Adam any hope of me ever wanting to play chess with him ever again...

From the Spanish Steps to the Colosseum and Roman Forum, we did it all and loved it! Although the Colosseum was even more gruesome than I had originally anticipated it was still cool. Thumbs up has a whole new meaning for me. I guess it was only fitting that we watched the movie the Eagle on the flight home.

In the end we had the most incredible experience in Europe and loved it all. Truly it was an enchanting place where we had the opportunity to see and do things that we will never forget. We are thrilled to be home, but we will go back to Europe someday - next time I am thinking London and Paris, but that won't be for a while, that is for certain.

And here we are right back at the beginning.

Venice

On our trip Adam and I both read the book The Thief Lord, which is a fun story about two little boys who run away to Venice to escape their aunt.  A detective comes looking for Bo and Prosper through venice and it all ends up in a grand adventure with flying lions and thieves and evil old men.  So, when we showed up to venice I expected to see winged lions everywhere, however, we looked in all of the wrong places and somehow missed them.

Venice's streets would be a perfect place to play hide and seek, the only problem would be ever finding each other again.  The walkways are windy and small and we felt like we were walking in circles all day.

What I was most excited for was our Gondola ride which was my anniversary present from Adam.  Although more expensive than we would normally pay for something like that, we had to because we were in Venice and the odds of us going back to Venice anytime soon are nil.

As we walked through the streets we weren't sure how to get a Gondola ride.  I am not sure if this is normal etiquette, but we just walked past some Gondoliers and asked how much they charged and hopped in.



Gondolas are especially cool because they are asymmetrical and it takes years to learn how to be a gondolier to steer without running into walls or bridges while making their way through Venice.  There are just over 400 gondolas in use around venice, and each gondolier has his own gondola.



It was fun to go under the bridges of Venice and down tight alleyways.  It was the perfect gift for our first anniversary.  I got this picture while almost tipping the Gondola while trying to turn around to get a picture of our gondolier.



After a wonderful thirty minute ride we hopped back off and set on our way venturing through the rest of Venice.  We went over the Rialto Bridge and found tons of shops with the most unique and beautiful masks in them.

Instead of staying in Venice we headed about a half hour outside of the city and stayed in a little bed and breakfast in Treviso.  Treviso just so happened to be a place that was the setting for the latest Grisham novel that we traded for with a girl in Prague, The Broker, which is a great read.  We got lost several times on the way to this B & B in 90 degree weather carrying our backpacks.  As we got more and more frustrated it got hotter and hotter.  Finally we found a gelato shop, stopped to regain our composure and ate cantaloupe, watermelon, Lindt chocolate, and pear gelato to boost our spirits and finally made it to our place.

Hunger got the best of us as we dropped our bags and headed back out to find dinner.  Not wanting to try anything new we ordered a pepperoni pizza to go without really thinking much about it.  They handed us our pizza and we walked out the door and made it halfway down the street and decided to take a look at our pizza.  We were totally confused because our pizza didn't have any pepperoni on it, instead it was covered in yellow peppers.



It was only then that it dawned on us that duh, peperoni in Italian means peppers.  We took the pizza home and were a bit nervous to try it out.  It was amazing.

Italian pepperoni pizza is by far my favorite kind of pizza that we had on our whole trip.  The roasted peppers were delicious and added great flavor to the pizza, so our lack of travel sense turned into a unexpectedly delicious meal!

Early the next morning we went back into Venice to catch our train back to Rome only to find out that all of the trains for the day were booked.  We had forgotten to make reservations the previous day and our Eurail passes wouldn't do us any good without a reservation.  Luckily the man at the ticket window worked some magic and after making a few extra stops and changing trains a bit we made it safely back to Rome and to our last few days of our adventure.