Livin' the Dream in Utah

We've been back in the states for six weeks now and I must say it has been WONDERFUL to be back. The actual trip was horrendous. We missed both connections in Frankfurt and Chicago and what was supposed to be a 20 hour trip turned into a 50 hour trip!! Honestly, the worst and most exhausting traveling experience of my life, and that's saying something. BUT, it has been glorious to be back in the states. During my first outing to Target it felt so awesome to be able to approach an employee and ask her in my own language where something was and understand her! Back in my comfort zone again. Sigh of relief.

But then there were other things that kind of bothered me. Like how many dang restaurants there are, particularly burger joints! It was seriously difficult to find any good joints in our Warsaw neighborhood, but I swear within a 2 mile radius of my mom's house in Orem you have a plethora of choices from the likes of Apollo Burger, Arctic Circle, Carl's Jr., Wendy's, In-N-Out, etc, etc. It kind of grossed me out. After about my fifth burger in one week I was done. And I'm done with burgers for awhile now. Something else that struck me was Utah's vast arid desert climate. Poland had such a cool temperate summer, plus it has so many trees. Utah was a 30 degree difference, so HOT!

Here is a recap of our last six weeks in Utah.
At the airport in Warsaw before our whole debacle unfolded. Em was too cute pushing C in the stroller, but what's even more interesting is Ben in the background. Notice he is wearing a backpack on his back AND front and carrying the mother of all car seats. Those were just our carryon items!
I had to laugh when I looked up from my magazine and saw Em like this. The rest of the trip was too awful to take any pictures of... so let's fast-forward to the land of milk and honey...
My mom's backyard. So happy to be off the plane.
And check out that beautiful American backyard grass. Missed that like crazy.
The girls got to hang out with cousins they hadn't seen in over a year.
At the Shaha reunion C fell in love with the Cozy Coupe. In and...
Out.
We went to a cousin's wedding
C was a self-appointed flower girl
Em and her Gwampa
And her Uncle Steve
Cousin Natalie
And you got to love the forced tortuous photos... must get all the cute cousins together!

Dave discreetly trying to hold up his 10-day old baby's head cracks me up in this one.

Sunday of Mary's farewell. All the girl cousins playing out on the lawn

We said farewell to my sister Mary who is departing on a mission to Argentina. The four daughters.

An outing with the grandparents... C loved the carousel

And every now and then I unsuspectingly find a photo like this on my camera...

We spent some restful time at the cabin... although it is tough to go back there as my dad's thumbprints are everywhere.
The kids bunk together in the loft.

We always go rafting down on the reservoir, like we're all piled on this old inflatable raft while all around us speed boats are zipping by... so this time around someone actually offered to take us for a spin on their "Great Big Mable." When I said, "Wow, this is so nice of you to take us for a spin!" The guy was like, "Yeah, we saw you rowing your raft over there and thought, 'that would seriously suck.'" Thanks, I think.
The fearless riders included Phil, Reed, Beck, and myself. Oh my, it was a lot of fun.
No trip to the cabin is complete without a game of "King of the Court."

After the cabin, a visit to Grandma Williams in Jerome... she turns 90 this month!
After a trip to the city pool. C won't wear a hat, so I tried to rub sunblock on her scalp... the result.
So precious
My very awesome, funny, spunky roommate from college, Kat. I have so many fun memories with her. Her four year old daughter took the photo, hence the slight crookedness.
A walk around the temple grounds at Timpanogas
Em and Ricky really endeared themselves to each other. They were so cute together!!

Mom, Bonnie, and I did initiatories one morning at the Provo Temple.

Em with her Blackburn cousins

Em has become quite the bookworm.

My innovative brother Dennis duct taped C's slipping skirt to her shirt.

A visit to my dad's grave on the night of a full moon. My dad loved full moons.

Mischievous smile

And Em's first bona fide haircut (that would be excluding anything I've attempted on her). She got it cut into a cute bob.

My sister-in-law's baby shower. These are all my beautiful Payne cousins...

Ben and his cousin Chris at the BYU/Utah game. This bright and happy picture was obviously taken before the game kicked off.

And another random shot found on my camera.

Well, here I am back in good ole Utah, living' it up in my mom's basement for the past month. We've been having a blast hanging out with family and friends but the blog has been seriously put on the back burner. I have lots of good stuff to catch up on, and one thing I haven't recorded, which I've been totally meaning to do is Pat and Nancy's visit to Poland last May/June. I know this post is a good three months overdue, but better late than never!

This is Pat and Nancy, Ben's parents. Aren't they nice looking people?
No tour of Warsaw would be complete without a visit to Lazienki Park. The azaleas were out in full force
This could almost pass as our Christmas photo if the girls had been looking at the camera and I wasn't about to fall over
We ate a quintessential Polish meal down at the square in Old Town

Ben kept Caroline entertained

In the old town square... then it was off to Prague!
Prague was an amazing city, but we seemed to hit it at the height of the tourist season... it felt like Disney Land. This is the old town square with a view of the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, built in the 15th Century. Prague is dang old! This church reminded me of something out of Harry Potter.
The astronomical clock in Old Town. It was a bit overrated.
And a beautiful view of Charles Bridge, built in the 1300s, also dang old.

A walk across Charles Bridge... suck it in Marinda!

Emily was fascinated with the marionettes.

A visit to the Jewish Quarters... a really interesting place where we did some fun souvenir shopping
One of the coolest things about Prague was all the amazing views it offered. We hiked up to this outdoor restaurant overlooking the city... the picture doesn't do it justice!

We went up to Petrin Park, and got some nice pics.

The view from atop

And once again, the bridges in Prague, amazing.
We also visited St. Vistus cathedral... C had a great time walking around

This picture cracks me up. Here's Em, once again, in a front of a massive European cathedral, and she is obliviously content to be reading "Big Red Barn."

The stain glass in this cathedral was amazing, dozens of windows like this one, each telling a biblical story.

Pat and Nancy watched the girls one night so we could go out to eat... this restaurant was on a docked boat on the Vltava River.
And this was our beautiful view

At home for a small break, in case C ever questions my love for her, I can refer her to this pic
Next was Krakow... Ben's favorite find
My very "cool" daughter
Pat and Nancy in front of the Wawel Castle
Nancy and I took a day trip to Auschwitz and Birkeneau. Very sobering.
The sleeping quarters were in old horse stalls
It was paradoxically a very beautiful day...

And the last highlight of our trip was a visit to the Salt Mine... This chapel is all carved out of rock salt.