Our Trip!

I have been SOO bad at blogging, but I wanted to share our Europe trip with you all! I know that so many of you have been asking about our trip and I'm sorry that I haven't had the chance to share with with you! The summer was pretty jam-packed! I started with teaching 5 weeks of summer school which went well.  Then, we left for our cruise!  I'll break it down by each city:

ROMA: After a twelve hour flight, we finally landed in Rome!  Peter slept for almost the entire flight and I watched four movies... haha.   We arrived in the afternoon, got a little lost on the metro, but finally made it to our hotel.  We wandered around the city and had some dinner at a cute little cafe.  The next morning, we had a FULL day of touring.  We saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum (where there were excavations from like 4 BC and 5 AD... amazing!), Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel, the Pieta, St. Peter's Basilica, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and more.  It was amazing and it was crazy to think many of these buildings have been around since before Christ.  It was sad to see how so much of Rome used to revolve around the Christian church, but how it has now been warped.  We really did enjoy seeing everything though and the buildings were beautiful! Here are some pictures:

Okay, then we arrived at the port and boarded our ship.  I have never been on a cruise before and it was incredible. We had a room with a window near the front of the ship so we could watch where we were going. One of the best things about the cruise was dinnertime and it wasn't just because the food was amazing, but we got to eat with the same people every night.  We became like a little family and shared stories about our days.  We really enjoyed the other couples and families that we got to spend time with.  The first day on the cruise was a trip to Messina, Sicily.  We arrived here and traveled to a little town named Taormina.  This was one of those cute little Italian towns that you might see in a movie and so I loved it.  Here is a picture from this day in Taormina:

The next day was a day at sea as we were on our way to Athens, Greece.  Athens was SUPER hot and humid, but we still enjoyed ourselves.  We went to the Acropolis and saw the Parthenon and a few other cool buildings! Pictures would probably show it best:

  

The Parthenon

After we left Greece, we made our way to Kusadasi, Turkey.  This was the most obviously foreign.  When we were driving through Italy and Greece, I felt like we could be in different parts of California.  When I saw the coast of Turkey, I felt like we were really in a foreign country.  This was the first time that I had ever been to Asia since half of Turkey is technically Asia Minor.  This was our longest tour because we spent most of the day in Ephesus, then went to St. John's Basilica, and then to a Turkish Rug place.  Ephesus was amazing.  I got to sit in the Grand Theater which is where Paul is said to have preached his last sermon before being killed.  Despite the whirlwind of a day, I really tried to focus on just how amazing that was.  The Turkish rug place was hilarious to end the day because they tried to sell us a very small rug that was $4000. We tried to leave as quickly as we could :)  

I was sitting in the Theater looking down.  Pretty awesome!

The last day was in Crete where we didn't get many pictures because we were wiped out.  It was a beautiful Greek island though.  The cruise was wonderful and it was so nice for Peter and I to have time away from our crazy lives!

We got back and had a week at home and celebrated my bday!  Then we left for Lake Powell for a week with the Knicks.  It was a great, relaxing, active week.  We enjoyed ourselves but were ready to come home and get some rest.    Here is a picture at Lake Powell: Craig (father-in-law), Jackie (family friend), Kelly (sister), Kathleen (sister-in-law), Jamie (family friend), Jake (Kristin's boyfriend), Kristin (sister), Dawn (mother-in-law), me & Peter all at the Rainbow Bridge!

Now I am back to work and starting up Year #2 in First Grade.  It has definitely wiped me out, but I'm enjoying my job.  I want to thank all of you for how you have been supporting me and my family throughout the past month or so.  We have really felt your prayers and are so thankful that we have you in our lives.  I especially want to thank those that were at the hospital with my mom when I couldn't be there.  I love you all and hope to see you soon!

Happy Summer!

I hope you are all doing well!  I'm not very good at updating this thing, but here are a few new pictures of our house.  It really looks like a house and it is fun to add things here and there.  To update you all on what we have been up to, Peter has been pretty busy with work and I have been teaching summer school and tutoring.  It is nice to have a job that doesn't require a lot of time during the summer because I have been able to get other things done.  The thing that we are most looking forward to is our trip coming up!  Peter and I decided to splurge and we are going on a CRUISE!!!!!!!  We will be flying into Rome on July 28th and leaving for our cruise on the 30th.  We will be visiting Messina, Sicily; Chania, Crete; Athens, Greece; and Kusadasi(Ephesus), Turkey.  It is a 7-day cruise and we are getting more and more excited!  We will definitely have to show you some pictures once we get back! 


Here are some pictures of our recent updates:

The Backsplash

More of the new backsplash:

We also mounted the TV and of course the snowboard too!  Haha :)

Happy Easter! We have a kitchen :)

We finally have a kitchen that works and I am so excited!  The oven works, the sink works, the dishwasher works, the ice machine in the refrigerator works, and we have COUNTERTOPS!  You never realize how much you appreciate these things until you are without them for a couple of months.  Here are the pictures to show the beautiful, almost completely finished kitchen:

We still have to do the backsplash, but it is really starting to come together!

Here is the built-in desk on the other side of the kitchen:

We also have the two bedrooms almost completely set up, which means that we have a guest bedroom that all are welcome to stay in!  :) Here are the two pictures:

Master Bedroom: (we still need a nightstand and lamp, but it is getting there!)

Guest Bedroom: aka Zac's bedroom

I should take some pictures of the rose bushes out front too and our grass is actually starting to look green!  Hope you are doing well and that you have a wonderful Easter reflecting on the sacrifice that the Lord has made for us. 

Wow, it has been awhile!

This will be a long post full of lots of pictures so I can update you on all that we have done in the couple months!  Christmas was a very busy season spending time in Saratoga and then a week in Mammoth with the Vidlocks and Knicks!  Now school has gotten started again and I have been busy with my little first graders.  Peter and I have also been busy with a couple weekenders to Mammoth with family and college friends.  The house is definitely showing some progress though even with our lack of work time!

My mom came and planted flowers in our front yard! Definitely adds some nice color to the house! Thanks Mom :)

The baseboards were a really nice addition to the room! New wood floors, new baseboards, and new paint all in the family room!

Now the kitchen demo... the biggest project! Notice the window in this picture, we replaced it and you will see a new one in later pictures!  

The other side of the kitchen...

We now have wood floors, new electrical and plumbing, walls closed up and a new window! Peter did a great job replacing it and I love it! 

So next we decided to paint the kitchen.  We had both envisioned a really warm kitchen and we had seen a few green kitchens that looked really nice.  We decided to go for it and after we painted it we both said ... WOW, that is really green!!! I just had to preface the next picture; however, the color is definitely growing on me.

Once we got the kitchen painted, we were able to lay out the cabinets so that they were ready for installation. 

Eventually a built-in desk will be here...

Starting to look like a kitchen! Look at that beautiful new oven that is staring at me ready to be used!  It isn't quite hooked up but I can't wait to bake some cookies in there!!! :)

WOWZA!! I feel like theme music should be playing.  Now there are still many things that need to be done, but it is really starting to look like a kitchen!  With all the cabinets installed, the green is definitely more doable.  

Now you are up to date! Sorry for waiting so long to update the blog!  Hope you are all doing well :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Its starting to really feel like a home now that we have a Christmas tree and some decorations.  We haven't quite decorated the Christmas tree, but here are a couple pictures with some decorations!

The angel was passed down to me from my Grandma Alice and the ceramic tree was passed down to me from my Grandma Reva :)

Time for some cabinets and paint!

We put in some cabinets in the family room that we are really excited about!

 Trying to pick out the color of stain for the countertop

Painting away in the family room!

 The countertop is stained and we have painted our walls!  So exciting to have some color in the room!

Colors, colors, colors....

So the little paint sample papers lie to you.  The colors are WAY brighter than it seems.  Here are some pictures of the colors that we tested on the walls.

We are doing a green color in the kitchen and a warm yellow/tan color in the family room! Woo!