Ljubljana

At the beginning of December my friend Kerry and I went on a trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia (say: Loo-bee-yana) It was fantastic. Slovenia, formerly part of Yugoslavia has been a country since 1991. They have always spoken Slovenian and been Slovenian but have great pride that they are now technically Slovenia. It borders Italy and was about a 4 hour bus ride to the capital city of Ljubljana. They are very friendly and everyone speaks English as well as Italian and German. We had a great time. It was cold and rainy but that didn't stop us from having a really unique European experience off the beaten track of London, Paris, Rome etc.

A Franciscan Cathedral


A Famous Slovenian Poet








The girl in the white coat was our tour guide. She gave us a lot of info that you would never get by just wandering around by yourself.

The Dragon is the symbol of Ljubljana. Here is one of the four dragons on the Dragon's Bridge, or Mother-in-Law Bridge as it is also known.



My friend Kerry that I went with and the cool necklace that I bought there

HE WALKS!

A Cute Video of Oliver Dancing

Skiing in the Alps

Kirby and I went on an awesome day trip to the Alps this weekend. This was my first time ever skiing. It was a lot of fun and I only fell down a few times. Most of the time I cautiously slid down the mountain. The place we went to was called Madonna di Campiglio, and it was BEAUTIFUL. The sun was shining and it was an all around great day.

Romp and Stomp Video

Oliver and I go to a play group every Wednesday. The first time we went the people from AFN (Armed Forces Network) were there with video cameras doing a report on the play group. Sure enough a few weeks later the news spot comes on and there we are on TV. We are about a 1:15 into it. Enjoy!

Roma

Our friends Jhoda and Jill recently got married, and although we couldn't make the wedding, they honeymooned in Italy and we were able to meet up with them. We hopped on the train to Rome. Its a pretty long trip especially if you take the slow train, which we did. The baby was really good the whole way, he even took a little nap. Children are pretty rare commodities here in Italy, so it seemed to really make people happy to see a smiley happy baby boy in person. We got to Rome and had dinner with Jhoda and Jill, then spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the hotel catching up on old times. The next day we were going to go with them to the Vatican, but really couldn't make it work so we ended up just saying goodbye and taking the train back home (it was Sunday and Kirby had to work the next day) This time we got the fast train. They ended up actually seeing the Pope, pretty cool. Oliver had woken up that morning really warm, and slept the whole way home. We took his temperature and he had a little fever. His first one ever. The next few days we just kept him hydrated and he slept a lot, but bounced back pretty quickly. We are planning on taking another trip to Rome in the coming days, since we really didn't get to see much of it on this trip

Oliver's 1st Birthday

Oliver had a great first Birthday! We had a little party with 5 other kids. It was a lot of fun and Oliver got a bunch of great presents. He liked his cake but was a little wary of it at first.



Clockwise: Logan, Eva, and Kaitlyn. The two boys that came were on the other side of the table.









I'm so proud of these cakes that I made. Food coloring is awesome!

The Last Five Months

Well its been a while since an update, so here are the past 5 months in pictures. If you hold the cursor over the picture it will freeze and show a comment. Enjoy!

Goodbye LA, Hello Daddy

Off to Redding for Grandpa Bill and Grandma Patsy's 60th Wedding Anniversary

Up to Washington

Across the Ocean and back to somewhat normal life

4th of July Trip

Oliver and I made a trip up to Shreveport and to my parents house over the Fourth of July weekend. We started the day by getting the dogs groomed so they would also be presentable guests. Don't they look nice in their red white and blue neck thingies?



Our first stop was to Cathie and Rob's house where we hung out and played with our babies. Here Oliver and Alex donned their matching outfits for a picture op.




Watch out Alex, there's an Oliver coming to get you!



Once we got to East Texas we had a great time catching up with old friends, most have babies now too. Here is Oliver's first time swimming. The water was really cold but none of the kiddos seemed to care. Oliver mostly wanted to eat the blades of grass floating in the pool.





Clockwise from top: Isla (3 months) Oliver, Nathan 3, and Sarah (10 months)





And when we got back to LA there was a nice bug waiting for us.