EUROPE

Europe was so much fun! I am kind of overwhelmed doing a post about it because we went to so many places and saw so many things that I don't know how to narrow it down. Sorry for the picture overload...

First of all, after 3 days of trying to get on an airplane to Germany, we finally made it there! That was quite the adventure in itself. When we got there, we rented a car and started our journey. Our first stop was COLMAR, FRANCE. Abe went on his LDS mission to Belgium, France & Luxembourg, and Colmar was "in" his mission. He had never been there, so thought it would be fun to go. The town was so charming and it was fun to walk around and sight see.






Next stop: INTERLOCKEN, SWITZERLAND
I loved this place! The first night we went to the train station and picked up our travel buddies, Amanda (my sister) and her husband Mason. We got on a Gondola that took us up to the little towns in the Alpes, which have no vehicles. We started in Murren and then walked to another town called Grimiwald. The Alpes were huge and so pretty. Abe and Mason already want to plan another trip there in the wintertime to go boarding and such. While we were there Amanda talked them three into going bungee jumping 450ft over a glacial lake out of a gondola. I was happy to be pregnant that day... an easy out. It was fun watching them though!















CINQUE TERRE, ITALY
After spending two days in Switzerland, we drove to Italy. We took a train into the 5 cities and did the Via dell'Amore (Lover's Lane) hike. All the little cities were so charming and OLD. I loved every part of the cities, minus all the tourists. We also got some beach time in and rented some incredibly expensive lounge chairs on the beach. One of my favorite things here... Gelato!










ALICE BEL COLLE, ITALY
We stayed here kind of by accident. We randomly picked a place on the map to split up our long drive from Cinque Terre, Italy to Paris France. We arrived at our hotel pretty late and were wondering if we were in a bad part of town, or where in the heck we even were because it seemed like we had driven on so many switchbacks. In the morning we were pleasantly surprised to look out our window and see that we were surrounded by vineyards on the top of a hill.





ANNECY, FRANCE
This was another town we decided to stop at on our way to Paris. I loved this place as well. It was so charming and was right next to a beautiful lake.






LOOK at this gross bathroom that I had to go in. Not easy being 6.5 months pregnant and going in/on this thing.


PARIS, FRANCE
We spent the most time here (haha, 3 days). I loved our hotel and it was fun to go sightseeing. It seems like people always talk about how dirty paris is and how rude the people are. I beg to differ. It was surprisingly clean and the people were so nice. One of the days we walked about 7 miles and stood for several hours more on top of that. We thought it would be a good idea to see the entire Paris on foot. Great because we got to see so much, bad because I felt like I was going to die by the end. In Paris we said our goodbyes to Amanda and Mason who took a train into Germany to fly back home.















BRUGGE, BELGIUM
This was probably one of my favorite towns (out of Annecy, Colmar & Brugge). I loved the look of the buildings, the little town square, shops and I LOVED how everyone rode bikes there.





LUXEMBOURG CITY, LUXEMBOURG
We didn't actually stay the night at this place, but stopped by on our way back to the base in Germany. Abe served a lot of his LDS mission here, so it was fun for him to reminise a little bit. Unfortunately we hardly had any time to spend here because we were rushed to make it back to base to wait on a waiting list to see if we could get a room that night. I'm happy to say that we did get a room and didn't have to pull an "all nighter" on the streets or something.





Our travels home went a lot smoother than getting there. We decided to hop on a military commercial flight that was carrying a bunch of troops home from Iraq. It was only like $27/per person and was a REAL flight w/ flight attendents, hot meals, movies, etc. Well worth it. It flew to Baltimore, so we just stayed a night in Baltimore and bought flights home the next day. If anyone is Military and wants to travel to Europe via space A... talk to me first. We learned a lot!!

I.Love.her

(click on picture to enlarge)

So we are finally back from our trip. This week has been a crazy one and I am just trying to get caught up on life. Abe and I had the time of our lives in Europe. I promise to post pictures in the next couple of days when I have an hour or so to spare.

I missed Adeline SO much. I cried every time I got to talk on the phone to her. Not because I was sad, but she was just so darn cute and it would make me emotional. In fact, I feel like in this past week I have cried at just about everything that she has done. Not sure if it is the pregnancy hormones, or figuring out that she is growing up so fast... but I love her!

My mom was a saint when we were gone and made sure that Adeline had the time of her life. I'm sure she is probably bored now that I am home. She is now COMPLETELY POTTY TRAINED! (thanks mom :) Adeline knew how to go in the potty and everything before we left, but was never consistent... and either was I. My mom was not afraid to take her out in public in her underwear. This entire week we have been home, she has not had one accident and we have been out and about all week. She even insists to take her naps in underwear. So far, so good.

She talks SO WELL. She is like a little person and it is so much fun to be around her. She talks in full sentences and it's crazy how fast she is growing up.

She started gymnastics. She loves it and wants to go everyday. She is the youngest one in her class, but seems to have more interest and attention span than most of the kids. I ask Adeline, "What do you want to do today?" She always answers with " ummm... gymnastics". "Adeline, when is gymnastics?", ..."umm... today". "No, what day is gymnastics?"... then she replies "Monday!" So Mondays will be her favorite day for now on.

Trying to get to Europe....

Just thought I would update on our Europe trip so far... mostly b/c I need to document this crazy experience. So we are supposed to be flying to Germany and were planning on meeting my sister Amanda & husband Mason there. From there we are going to travel to several different countries. They bought actual plane tickets and flew out yesterday. We on the other hand were planning on flying Space A travel, which pretty much is hopping on a military cargo plane free of charge. The plane we wanted to get on usually leaves Monday, so that is when we were going to leave. Pretty last minute we found out it was leaving Friday instead b/c of the Labor Day weekend. Luckily my mom had already flown out to watch Adeline, so we heading onto the base terminal at 1pm on Friday (yesterday). We were supposed to leave at about 2pm.... well, the plane kept breaking over and over and they kept pushing the flight time. Finally after 11 hours of sitting there they cancelled the flight. Great. There was one other guy trying to get to Germany with us, so I guess we made a new friend. We had him sleep over at our house last night, and then we all drove 9 hours together to get to Dover, Delaware to try to catch flights out of here. It is now 11:15pm ( Saturday) and we still are not sure if we are going to make it on a flight. The terminal is PACKED with people. I am just hoping we can get 2 out of the 30 seats available.... even though there are WAY more people here than that.

So wish us luck. Hopfully we won't have to sleep in a chair or something tonight w/ no flights. Luckily I am not a miserable 6 month pregnant person or this would be REALLY rough.

Utah, wedding, 2nd birthday, Montana...

Sorry for the absence in blogging. I was out of town for 3 weeks and I have been too busy to blog since I've been home. Unfortunately it feels like more of a chore at this point. Hopefully if I am better at keeping up it won't seem so bad.

I started out my Utah trip in Mt. Pleasant so that I could help my mother-in-law with wedding stuff. Adeline loved being able to spend time with her grandma and grandpa Barker and her Barker cousins. My sister-in-law Roni got married and it was such a fun wedding. All the little kids were hilarious and danced all night long. I couldn't believe how much Adeline loved dancing. Abe was able to fly out for Roni's wedding and the weekend. It was so much fun to have him there, but not very fun to say goodbye after only 4 seemingly short days so he could get back to work... wait, school... :)
-here is Adeline in her cute little wedding outfit

-and here is the beautiful bride and groom

-one of adeline's hightlights of the whole trip: kitties. Grandma & Grandpa Barker had a ton of kitties and Nana & Grandpa Smart also have 2 farm kitties. Adeline was in heaven and wanted to carry them around ALL THE TIME

Adeline turned 2 while we were in Utah. We had a little get together, swimming party for her. She had a blast! Thanks for those of you that attended. It was fun seeing all her cousins and little friends.

-here is the cake my mom and I threw together literally last minute

I was able to see my roommates from college and their little babies (and baby to come). I had only met Beck once and had never met Nash. They are so darling and I hope that I get to see them more in the future and Adeline can become good friends with them (and your baby too heather).



The next part of my Utah trip was at the Weber Cabin. It was fun being up there with my family and just hanging out. Sierra, Johanna & Emerson we also there, so it was fun that the little girls could play together so much. They had so much fun. All they wanted to do was ride horses and go swing on the swings. Adeline did catch a little 24 hour flu or food poisining, but luckily it didn't last long and no one else got it!








And the last week was spent in Hebgen Lake, Montana where we had a Smart family reunion. It was so fun having my immediate family there (minus Chase & Abe) and seeing all my aunts, uncles and cousins again. It is crazy to see how much everyone has changed since I live so far away now. Our time there was spent boating, eating, horseback riding for some, and relaxing.

One of the days we were there, Obama flew out of W. Yellowstone. Sierra and I went to see him off and were the last car that got let in. All we really saw was the Air Force One, lots of Helicopters and lots of security, but it was still a fun experience.








-The smart clan, minus a handful of us :(


No promises that my blog will be updated any time in the near future :) I most likely will not have time to blog until we get home from our trip to Europe!