cleaning and moving

taking pictures after Ry's graduation just two months ago!

I don't normally make posts in one day, but this morning I decided to do some deep cleaning of our bathtub, oven top and sink and even though I'm coming to love cleaning (my family will attest that I'd much rather organize than clean, and even then, I have a hard time going through with big organizational projects in a timely matter…) it's made me think about moving and it's sad! We've had friends over pretty consistently this past week and we're constantly thinking of places to go and food to eat before we leave and all the friends we want to see and it's a little heart-breaking. I'm excited to move and start over. To get more creative with our living space and to organize and get rid of our junk before we move, but I'm also sad to leave everything that I've become so familiar with these past 5 years! I never thought I'd be in Provo this long, and I never thought I'd be so sad about leaving, but I really am.

Here's to all the happy memories, all the awesome friends we've made, and all the memories and friends we'll make in the future!!

Also, we're moving in about 12 days, so hit us up if you'd like to do something fun. And if you're in the Phoenix area, San Angelo area, or Columbus area, we'll be driving that as we slowly go to Boston, so let's hang out!!

Grand Canyon!

We've been trying to be especially adventurous lately as we approach the two week mark before we leave. It's a little crazy that after 5 years of living in Provo I'll be saying good-bye, but we're so excited as well. Also, now we can cross off another thing in our 101 in 1001 list!

So two Saturdays ago we left super early in the morning and went on a day trip to the GC. I know, it's a little crazy, but we only have so many days left!! I'd never been and I can't wait to go to the south rim so that I can say that I've seen both sides!

can this be my backyard, please?

Ryan got so nervous about how close I was to the edge on this one. What a cutie. I dared him to go too so we could have matching pictures and he obliged. Maybe I'm not the best influence sometimes…

And on a side note, this ridiculously slow car made our trip at least 30 minutes longer than it had to be. It was like the driver thought he was driving a hummer and didn't know how wide it was and put it's breaks on at every curve, every time a car drove by… please don't let me be a bad driver when I'm older...

I can sew!

Ok, so I know I kept telling Amanda this over and over again (bear with me again, sorry), but I totally feel like I'm in young women's all over again when I sew. I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing and someone has to guide me through it all.

Thankfully, Amanda was there all the way and now I feel a bit more confident in my abilities. Since my mom is gracious and amazing and fantastic, she's agreed to let me take her old sewing machine. She's got a fancy embroidery awesome one now and I'm so excited. Thanks mom! I figured that maybe I should get starting now instead of being alone in our Boston apartment (while Ryan is studying ridiculous long hours I'm sure) and not knowing what I'm really doing.

So, today I made a onesie, a burp cloth and a bib, thanks to Amanda, and I'm loving them. We got the onesies and material from Wal mart (I'm really in love with it and may just go back one more time before we leave to get more) and she already had the terry cloth.

Look ma, I can sew!

I'm seriously in love with that little airplane onesie… good thing I have friends who are having boys! But really, the possibilities are endless…I have a good feeling about this new hobby of mine...

FLORENCE!!

I'm ridiculously sorry this post has taken forever. But here's the rest of our awesome, amazing, fabulous trip to Italy. It's a long one, but I'm afraid if I don't get this thing up, it'll never happen. Also, I love re-living everything we did. It was so bomb.

After the early train trip, the first stop was the Duomo! It was rad. And totally looks like pajamas (there are green and white stripes along the facade…it's so colorful it almost looks fake!).

Right across from the Duomo are the Baptistry doors. They're sweet and made out of real-life gold! Ok, actually, these are replicas. The real-life ones are in the Duomo museum, which were getting restored when we went (it's where we went next…after snacking on some dill-flavored spitz sunflower seeds and making all the birds think they were actually getting food…I know, we're mean)

The museum!

Ry looks just like the statue, no?

Uh…we totally forgot what Ryan was doing in this picture…Apparently we took it so we wouldn't forget and then promptly forgot.

[edit: Ryan just remembered for me. We was the finger of Philip and the tooth of St. Gerome. Ahhh relics. I love 'em (read: think they're rediculous but secretly wish I was Catholic so I could have them all around my house and see them all the time)]

Yes, I'm awesome.

Ok, this gelato place is A. MAZE. ING. For real. Grom. In Florence. I highly suggest it. They keep the gelato in metal tins instead of out like at an ice cream place. And they have to almost lather it up to get it out because it's so darn creamy. Also, they had the best lemon and grapefruit gelato ever. I'm telling you, grapefruit. gelato. ridiculous. bitter and creamy. Seriously, I can't brag more about this.

Also, thanks to our friend Rick Steves, we found Dante's house! Ryan also told me all about Dante. In a video. That I recorded. It's the cutest thing in the whole world.

Next up, Piazza de la Segnora. Here's the statue called "rape of the sabines." Ok, so it's not the most uplifting thing ever, but it's sweet because a) it's the origional (and even has rad wires all intertwined so that it'll shock and kill any bird that tries to touch it and b) you can see the imprint of the guy's hand on the girl's behind. Literally, there are indentions in the marble. It's sweet and I'd never be able to create anything as cool as that in a thousand years. Go marble statues!

Michaelangelo's "David," ever heard of it??? Actually, the statue below is a replica (we saw the real deal on day two…can you believe we're still on day one? Sorry to exhaust you guys. Maybe take a little water break now and get on with you lives, you can come back tomorrow and finish it and there won't be any hard feelings or anything.) Anywho, the statue below is a replica outside of the Medici Palace. There was a raid or something and someone threw a rock out of one of the windows and it totally broke off David's hand (don't worry, they put it in a cast for a few weeks and now he's fine, thanks for asking!).

After this, we were now right by the Arno River, so we ventured over the awesome bridge (Ponte Vecchio) and decided to make our way to a little mini hike so we could see an awesome view of the city. And an awesome view we found.

It looks like it came straight out of a painting or something!! So rad. We took a billion and one pictures. And each one is awesome. And when we get to Boston, we're framing it. Florence is the classy Rome. You can quote me on that one. I dig it. And can't wait to go back.

Also, quick shout out to Rick Steves. And the Provo City Library for letting me check out this book and take it all the way across the world. We made sure not to write in it or doggy-mark any pages, promise.

The view was awesome and I'm seriously the luckiest girl in the whole wide world. The view was also sweet because below us there was a sweet cafe playing chill songs, like adele and awesome coldplay covers so you could just stare and have awesome music playing. Awesome (sorry, I can't find another word to describe it right now.

After our hike we ventured around the piazza (the one with the fake david and the awesome (and terrible all at the same time) rape statue to find the leather shop where Ryan got his wallet two years earlier. It was rad. I even tried on a leather jacket just to see what it felt like. Amazing. But sorry sir, even with the fake student discount, $300 just isn't up my alley right now. Or in the next 10 years. Or 15. Maybe 20.

Brief interruption: I had to use the bathroom and saw this sign while washing my hands. It reminded me of the Ellen skit about washing hands with automatic sinks and lookings/acting like a racoon. I laughed out loud and took a picture so I could remember it forever.

One last look at the Arno before we headed back into the city. It's so beautiful. And there's a private yacht club that's at the bottom of the picture. We totally saw men there  lifting weights the next day. In nothing but little European shorts. Ridiculous. But we were in the Uffizzi museum and you're not supposed to take pictures so I refrained. You're welcome.

After this we went in search of a pizza place and found one! For 5 euro they made a fresh pizza for us. It was like a Hot n Ready pizza but a bajillion times better.

The next day we went to both the Academia and saw David and the Uffizi, which had really awesome Reneissance paintings. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures at either one, but it was such an awesome experience, to see all that history and art…ahh.

For lunch we went to this tiny little place…not a restaurant because you could only sit outside, and not a stand because it was totally built into the wall…either way the panini were amazing. I got one with goat cheese and arugula and proscuitto, and Ryan got one with sundried tomatoes and something else (obvo mine was super duper amazing, since I remember it to a "t"….)

See??? So tiny! And so good...

And last, but not least, we rode the train! I know, I already talked about riding the train, but here's a little more evidence.

WE RODE THE TRAIN! A REAL LIFE TRAIN!

We went back to Rome, got a quick bite to eat and then stayed up all night so that we could be awake for our 3:00 AM taxi to the Rome airport. That's a story for another day though…

Anyway, we had loads of fun and whew, you made it to the end of the post! For that, I congratulate you.  And myself for that matter, and for finally getting it done. :)

I'm a guest post-er!

You know when your favorite bloggers go on vacation or have a baby and they have people write guest posts while they're gone? I always thought that it'd be pretty sweet to be one of those people.

Well, ladies and gents (to the three of you out there…ha) that day has come! While interning last night I wrote a post for Whitney Lewis Photography about a shoot I went on and it'll be on her blog today. In fact, it's there RIGHT NOW. Check out Whitney's blog, please.

Check it out, write a comment, or just come back here and write a comment. Which reminds me of the Flight of the Concords "hiphippopotomus vs rhymenocerous" rap. I do believe there is a line in there that says something about "be more specific with your feedback" and it totally cracks me up each time.

Have a good day, and that Florence post is coming….sometime. Check back, it'll be the next post for suuuure!

An update from Emily

Ok, so now not now not only am I busy with work, but sick with some sort of dumb summer cold. I know, it's terrible. Also, I'm a wimp. Either way, I've got loads to share, not only of Florence and our trip back, but some awesome family pictures I was able to take a few weeks ago, and just random updates that have been happening as well. Since Ryan is staring me down that we have to leave for work NOW, I'll leave you with this picture of Tuscany. Ahhh, I can't wait to go back!

I'll be back soon, promise!

Rome Day 5: A day of surprises

We celebrated Sunday in typical Italian fashion: go to church, eat too much, and go home. Nevertheless we ran into a few surprises along the way. 

We got to church early that morning and even ran into another BYU couple that was traveling across Europe. They flew into Constantinople only to spend six weeks backpacking Europe with the goal to somehow catch their flight back to America from Paris. That would be one fun trip. Anyway, the members in Rome treated us very graciously, helping us feel as comfortable as possible.

Things became tricky, however, when a BYU study abroad group showed up for Sunday School. Suddenly our class doubled from about 40 to 80 students with only half understanding Italian. With the missionaries tied up in the gospel principles class, they called on me to do the translating! I stood next to the teacher, and after every few sentences I would interpret. It went very well for the most part, save a few comical mistakes on my part. For example, instead translating the Italian word "pastore" to "shepherd," I simply referred to Christ as a pastor. Even better, the teacher at one point called Christ an "Amico" with a capital "A." Naturally, in my translation, I explained, "Christ is our Friend with a capital 'A.'" It took everyone a little while, but they got the message.

After saying farewell to the LeMaistres and Vanderwerkens (they flew home that evening), we headed back into Rome to meet up with Tobia. Here is where a little background could be useful.

Tobia is from Northern Italy -- Piedmont, to be precise -- and lives in Rome where he studies tourism and works as a waiter. His boss has a sister who works in the Italian department at BYU and generously offered Tobia the opportunity to live in Provo for a few months to polish his English. While in Provo, I met Tobia in several of my classes and invited him over for dinner. We discovered that we would be traveling back to Rome at about the same time and Tobia told us that, if possible, he wanted to treat us in Rome.

The possibility became reality.

So after church on Sunday we met up with Tobia and his parents. He took us all to the restaurant where he worked. It is near the Spanish Steps on a street that is just off Corso. By the way, do I not look like a giant compared to these people?

There, Tobia was treated like a king. If you ever thought while watching the Godfather, "do Italians really treat one of their own so friendly," you were correct. Every single worker, including the boss, approached Tobia every few minutes to greet him. As we sat down several platters of various cheeses and meat were placed on our table, followed later by a sampling of various Italian desserts. Mind you this restaurant has over 200 fresh cheeses everyday and certainly was  not in our budget! Thanks to Tobia's connection, however, the meal was completely gratis!

To accentuate how lucky we were on this trip, the weather, which had been perfect all week long, suddenly took a turn for the worst on Sunday. As we made our way from the Metro to the restaurant it began to rain. As soon as we sat down to eat, it poured. As we walked out to head home, the sun broke through the clouds and all was well.

That night Emily and I did a little laundry, meaning we filled our sink with detergent and tried to wash a few shirts etc. We repacked for Florence and got a good nights rest for the next journey. I know you're thinking, "where is Emily and why is her husband lowering the quality of this blog?" I promise she'll be back soon!!

Rome Day 4: Wrapping things up in Rome

Exhausted from our long walk home from the night before, Em and I decided to sleep in a bit on Saturday. The sleep felt wonderful, but we ended up with a bit of a late start on the day. We quickly rushed over to a church near the central train station that has one of the most beautiful sculptures by Bernini that you will ever see, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Sadly a kind old Nun informed us that the church was closing for mass.

Instead, we rushed over to St. Peter's where we thought we could check out the underground tombs of past popes under the Basilica. We ran into enormously long lines and decided to abort our plans. We did, however, send off some postcards!

Sadly, the Vatican has a much more reliable postage system than does Italy. On a side note, I remember that almost ever letter my mom sent me in Italy was torn on the side. Mailmen apparently recognized the neat, feminine penmanship from the States and decided there was a good chance something valuable was inside. Too bad all they found was treasures of wisdom written in English! I digress…

After the our semi-failure at St. Peter's we went back to visit St. Teresa's. Before the church opened back up we went by a bar (trust me, they don't exactly resemble bars in America) and bought a Magnum bar and chatted it up with an old Sicilian gentleman who told us a woman stole his heart and convinced him to move up to Rome.

Just around the corner Emily and I went into the National Museum of Rome. It is a little treasure that many tourists often overlook because there's just so much to tackle in the Eternal City. We loved it especially because the museum had air conditioning and lots of comfy seats for us to rest on (by this time our feet were swelling from our long days of walking). Of the many sculptures we saw, we liked

this sculpture that looks like the thinker, but he's actually a Greek boxer,

and you have to love the discuss thrower. Nice form.

Emily bought this maxi dress especially for our trip. I think she picked out a winner.

The day was starting to wind down, and Emily and I didn't quite know where to go. Em read somewhere about having a picnic in Italy and really wanted to do it, so we set out to accomplish that goal. On the way we took a quick break and enjoyed some Coca Cola light (see prior Italy post) and Chinotto. I love that drink. I love it so much that I took a picture of it right next to a Fiat 500!

Shortly after that we stopped in at an alimentari (grocery store) to get some grub. We had stopped by before and gotten to know the owner a little bit. We spoke with the butcher and explained to him that we had 15 Euro to spend on dinner and we needed the nicest assortment of salami and cheese possible. While he sliced up our dinner of antipasti I found out that our butcher was an NBA basketball fan and loved Mike D'Antoni (former coach of the Suns). He lauded D'Antoni's intelligence (to which I politely disagreed).

We finally found our way to Piazza Navona and ate our delicious meal. Below is a video in which Emily summarizes the evening picnic. I figure since she can't blog she can at least make an appearance this way!

Rome Day 3: The Vatican

Day three - time to visit the capital of Christendom. We got up early and met our good friends, the LeMaistres and Vanderwerkens at the Vatican Museums. Our friends found a primo apartment right across the street from the museum and right above some of the most inexpensive, yet delicious gelato you can find in Rome. If you really want bang-for-your-buck gelato, that's the spot.

After waiting in line for a short time, we entered the Vatican Museums and collectively decided that Rick Steves, the author of the tour book Emily and I brought with us, should provide us with enough of a tour to bypass the guided tours offered by the Vatican.

The Museum was breathtaking. I had been before with my mom, but we had only seen the Sistine Chapel (I use the word only as if we had somehow been cheated?). This time around we saw art from ancient Egypt, Laocoon, tapestries, the gallery of maps, the Raphael Rooms and much more. Of particular note we were entranced by works much like the one below.

Believe it or not, that is a 2D image!! Maybe it doesn't come through well in the photo, but it was pretty surreal as we tried to figure it out ourselves. Amazing what kind of technique the ancients had! Here are Josh and Miriam taking a look at the Gallery of Maps! Miriam was six months pregnant at the time -- what a trooper!

We eventually made it to the Sistine Chapel where we studied and read about the famous works by Michelangelo. Although it has always appeared smaller than I imagined it, the artwork is remarkable. It amazes me that Michelangelo did not consider himself a very good painter. I'm not sure if he was aware of it, but he did all right for himself in that field.

After the Museum we all went out and had lunch at a small restaurant a few blocks away. It felt like a typical Italian dining experience: servers lackadaisically attended us, but the food was quite good.

We went back to the Vatican to walk inside St. Peter's. It is the largest Basilica in the world. What made the trip that much more memorable was that Pope John Paul II (or PJP II as we called him in high school) had just been beatified. All around the square stood giant posters dedicated to recounting his life story. Inside St. Peter's and immediately to the right we found this breathtaking beauty: The Pietà.

No wonder Michelangelo didn't consider himself much of a painter when he could sculpt like that. St. Peter's swallowed us up with its larger than life sculptures and monuments to past pontiffs and popes. While we were there they held a special mass for newly ordained priests (these are not to be confused with awkward 16 year old boys; rather, they are men those graduating from seminary training in the Vatican).

After we perused the Basilica we traversed up the Cupola to get one of the best views of Rome you can find. Below are the Vanderwerkens and a few shots from the top.

Doug and Charisse right behind us during the climb. Too bad they had to leave Wymount so early!

Bernini designed St. Peter's square to resemble the "outstretched arms" of the Church.

Notice the protruding white figure in the view? That is the monument built by Mussolini to honor King Victor Emmanuel II. See a prior post for details about that monstrosity.

After taking in everything that day, we gave ourselves a deserved rest. Suddenly I found myself enjoying one of my most treasured moments of the trip. Just underneath the row of columns that constitute the "outstretched arms" there is quite a bit of shade with a few steps that substitute nicely for benches. The six of us sat down and rested our feet, chatted about our journey in Rome as well as what life had in store for us afterwards, all the while soaking in the ambiance of the crowds, the culture, and the history.

Based on a recommendation given to Doug, we walked to the Trastevere district of Rome to find a small restaurant on a small street hidden from the beaten path. The food was outstanding. I don't think any one of us walked away disappointed with our meal. Not only that, the chef came out to speak to us and our server was as cordial as can be.

The only downside that evening was walking home. Rome is currently building a new Metro line, so our line shut down at 9 pm. We walked for over an hour back to our apartment. On the way we passed by Campo dei fiori where Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake. We also managed to buy some gelato and had perhaps the best pistachio flavor we've ever eaten. We got home utterly exhausted, but completely satisfied. More on Day 4 later.

Inside St. Peter's. Emily managed to look remarkably cute the entire trip, as evidenced here.