Bruxelles!

This beautiful city means so much to me since it was the mission headquarters during my 18 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has been nine years since I was there. It's hard to describe the feeling of being back... it's almost like a dream (maybe because I've had recurring dreams of returning to my mission?). Have you ever had the desire to go back in time and visit a happy or meaningful period in your life? I felt like I was going back in time when I visited Brussels... all the old memories, sights, smells, feelings returned. It felt like a dream. And I'm so happy to share it with my husband and girls..

The Grande Place. I was here on my very first day as a missionary. It was the first European city I had been to and the first place I talked to people (in my elementary French) about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sharing it with my girls

And my husband

Caroline is obsessed with dogs

And I had to put this one in there... oh the sweet taste of a bonafide Belgian waffle!

From the Grande Place we went to Mont des Arts which offers stunning views of the city. C LOVES climbing stairs, and is super fast at it.

The girls running around at sunset. It stays light so late up here! It's not quite dark yet at 10:30

Em's first experience of enjoying a fresh baguette.

The Parc de Cinquantenaire, the massive monument was built in 1905 to celebrate their 50 years of independence.

Just a few minutes walk from the monument is the old neighborhood where I lived. This is right outside the apartment... I walked down this street every day.

The metro we took every day.

Now, you might get jealous looking at this blog and all the cutesy smiling pictures of us... but please bear in mind it doesn't tell the ENTIRE story! We are traipsing all over Europe with a 3 year old and a 1 year old!! So, yeah. If you have kids, you understand... if you don't, you can only imagine. The ratio of work, frustration, losing your nerves to fun is about 3:1.