Portugal Week 1

After leaving London, we headed down to Portugal. It was a surreal moment when we steped into the airport that we were in 3-4 years ago, leaving as missionaries, and now we are tourists. It was crazy. We visited my areas first (the northern part of our mission). We visited Braga, Maia/Porto, and Gaia. Gaia was actually the area  that Tyler and I both served in and where we met a missionaries.

Landing in  Porto. It was nice to see the red roof tops again.

Tyler was so excited to buy Guarana at the airport.

After words he realized it's the same one that we have here in the US.

BRAGA:

Hanging out in Braga, with by bestest friend, after mission curfew.

It felt so weird to see the city so dark.

A garden in dowtown Braga.

The view of Braga from Bom Jesus.

Bom Jesus.

A classic missionary picture from Braga.

Our VIP tour of Braga Stadium, thanks to Felicia!

Guimaraes, my last mission area,

and now aparently the Culture Capital of Europe.

Castle of Guimaraes, a few schools on a field trip.

Too bad we don't have castles we can visit on field trips here.

Outside the Castle

Junior and Joana the Newlyweds.

Joana is a recent convert that I taught many time in Braga.

One of the sweetest people I know!

Nadine and I waiting for a play to start.

Nadine worked alot with the sisters in Porto.

Familia Dias, our home away from home for 3 days.

The best food and company of Portugal.

GAIA:

Pastel de Natas, the BEST pastry in the world!

No joke, I probably had 10 while in portugal.

Tyler's favorite pastry.

Our old missionary apartment in Gaia.

Pons...one of the weirdest, and funniest member of Gaia.

The Golden Girls of the ward.

Celeste with the red scarf is the oldest and longest member of the ward.

She remindes you every time you talk with her. :)

I had the most fun lessons in her house.

Familia Ribeiro. Cutest boys ever!

MAIA/PORTO:

Familia Silva.

This family is the strongest, and humblest family I ever met on the mission.

Familia Filipe.

These boys were shorter than me when I was in Porto, crazy!

The mom was the Relief Society Pres. when I served in their ward.

The oh so famous subway stop for zone conference.

Next stop...Combatentes, we heard way too many times during our mission.

The mission office.

We had some awesome interviews with President Henry here,

and learn many life lessons from Elder French here too.

The Mission Home.

A great place to have your first and last night in Portugal.

If Tyler had his wish we would visit every soccer stadium we could,

after seeing Chelsea and Porto I was done. :)

A view of Porto from Gaia.

Porto Bridge designed by the same man that did the Eiffel Tower.

When we left for the southern part of the mission, we had to stop at the metro stop, that we have a picture together as missionaries. I thought my companion wanted to say goodbye to Tyler because they had served together in another area. But come to find out, Tyler planned it so that he could see me again before he came home.

2008

2012

London

To say our summer has been a busy one would be an understatement!!! Since June 4th we have been home for a total of 24 days this summer. We have been home for the last 2 weeks straight and that is the longest this summer! Even with the craziness it has been so fun and exciting. Two days after school got out of school, we headed to Europe. We visited London for a couple days.

We were there right at the end of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It was amazing. At first we were going to stay away from downtown and avoid the crowds, but we really wanted to see the Royals. I ended up being able to see all the royals except the Queen. It was so cool! We visited all the amazing places in downtown London and some of the famous places a little further out. I would love to go back again and visit more the countryside. But it was definately a fabulous adventure.

Our first stop off the plane was the Chelsea Stadium, with our bags and all. It sure was fun (not!) carrying our bags up all the stadium stairs. But, we had to wait until we could check into the hotel.

 

After a stop at the hotel, we were off to Downtown London...

Big Ben

Buckingham Palace as they are taking down he stage from the Queen's Concert.

We traveled to Hogwarts.

We tried to find Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in Notting Hill.

Throughout our whole stay we heard the recording

on the "tube" remind us to MIND THE GAP. Tyler and I

got really good at saying it with a British accent.

The view of London from the Eye.

Piccadilly Square

sidenote: the whole time we were there and the rest of the day I had One Republic's "The Good Life" song stuck in my head, you know the one...Woke up in London yesterday, Found myself in the city near Piccadilly.

We went to the free section of Ripley's,

since it was almost 30 pounds EACH, to go in!

The Beatles made out of stamps.

Me standing next to the tallest man in the world.

I'm the same height as his cane, now that's just sad!

Searching for Royals!

The crowds were huge, but british people are hilarious. Maybe it's the accent. I loved seeing and hearing the little girls' reaction to the Royals. Especially when the Dutchess came around. Tyler had to put me on his shoulders so I could see the happenings on the street. Such a nice guy, that Tyler.

I took a video of the precession, however, I was so super excited to see a real life princess that I forgot I was recording, and it didn't turn out too good. But it is forever burned in my mind. If that helps any of you. :)

The home of the Royal Wedding.

Westminster Abbey.

One of the greatest places we've ever visited.

The side where Kate entered for the wedding.

This truly saved our lives in more than one occasion!

They are so accommodating to us foreigners.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

The home of the original Royal Wedding,

Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

While in London we went and saw my FAVORITE broadway musical.

 I had actually never seen it before but was dying to see it.

It just happened to be playing in London while we were there.

Let's just say the stars were aligned.

Tyler and the Tower Bridge, during our river cruise.

(Now for the Olympics they have the rings hanging from the top)

Tyler trying to fit in around London.

I leave you with the best picture we took in London.

I just wish Peter Pan was flying in the picture. :)

Tyler's Birthday!

It's the big 2-6!!!! Wow, times flys when your having fun!
(Now don't mind that his birthday was a week ago, better late than never, right?!)

For the big 2-6 I surprised Tyler with a night on the town on Saturday, okay more like an afternoon around Layton with my parents and brother. But believe me there was never a dull moment. Especially when Moroni is around talking about who know what.

We had lunch at Chili's Tyler's new favorite. Then we went on a shopping spree. Tyler wanted to get some new shoes for his birthday. This kid has only one solid good pair of shoes at one time our whole marriage. So I broke him into the shoe world by getting 3! One brown, one black, and one white. Now hopefully we won't have any brown-black combo again!

Tyler's haul after shopping!

WSU posters from Kyle

In the mist of all the shopping we had to stop at home and check out the Chelsea game. It actually turned out to be one of the most exciting games I've ever watched. I thought Tyler was going to have a heart attack.

On Tyler's actual birthday (Monday) we met my parents and brother again at Tucano's, aka HEAVEN, according to Tyler's brother. We can't stop at the Gateway without stopping at Aeropostale! That would be blasphemy! So we both got shirts for our trip!

Tucano's!

In other news...4 days of school until our 1st year completed! I will have to move my classroom out to a portable, so that will make for a busy summer. On top of that we have trips and activities planned up the wazoo! London/Portugal (9 days!), Disneyland/Universal/Sea World in July, and the USA women's soccer game! This summer will bring many a blog posts so stay tuned!