Newest Addition!

*** Disclaimer: The baby referred to in the following post is not an actual tiny, cute, precious bundle of joy like you might think. One of those isn't in our future quite yet. Sorry.

A week and half ago I was driving on the freeway to meet my carpool for dance when my car decided it wanted to die instead. Motor=dead. I guess there'd been a slow leak and it was completely out of oil. Awesome. So I waited for my wonderful husband and father to come tow it away and bring me to safety.

But that left me without a car. It costs more to fix it than it's worth so fixing it was pretty much out. So we went car shopping the next night and found this beauty.


2008 Nissan Altima
Power locks, Push start button, dual climate control, heated seats, moon/sun roof, Bose sound system

This baby had everything we hoped for but figured we'd have to sacrifice. And we could afford it all. How awesome is that?

This was my first big purchase of my life. I've never bought anything on credit or that's more than $1700. So of course I needed to sleep on it. The next day we went back and another couple was looking at it... That's about all it took. I wanted that car! We shook the guys hand, did all the paperwork stuff and drove away with my new baby!

I found myself being all protective if someone gets too close or cuts me off. I yell at them sometimes.

A week and half later and I couldn't be happier with our purchase. I probably would have looked for weeks and then gone back to it only to find it was gone and be so sad. Thank goodness I have a husband who is smart and can help me make decisions.

So if you see me on the streets don't be jealous.
And don't drive to close or I'll yell at you :)

Europe Trip Recap: Bayonne

After the Running of the Bulls we started our stay

with the Ero Bat group in Bayonne.

We loved every second of our stay there.
The buildings, the food, the people, performing,
and dancing and hanging out with the group.
I just didn't want it to end.

Our host family was so kind and funny.
They didn't speak hardly any English but
it made communicating all the better.
I truly hope to see them again some day.


After a performance at a Nursing Home we all went for a bike ride along the beach. Hands down the most memorable and fun activity of the tour. It was so relaxing and beautiful.

Clog America and Ero Bat dancing in their studio.
These guys we so much fun!

Fez with Remi and Fanny in Bayonne.
I loved the feel of this city. It was so cute.

There was a medieval festival in Bayonne with lots of cool tables to visit. We tried goat cheese and it was actually pretty yummy. One thing I loved about Bayonne was how proud everyone was of where they were from. The Basque flag and cross (pictured at the bottom right corner) were everywhere. They loved to tell us about their heritage. It made me proud to be an American and want to show that more.

Group picture at the Virgin Mary statue at Biarritz

Family picture at Biarritz.

Our host brother Remi.
I think he could kick higher than me!

Our host sister Fanny performing for us.
Isn't she just beautiful!?

We performed in a bull arena with the Ero Bat group

With our host family - Dominique, Fanny, Sandria and Remi.

At the beach on Bastille Day (the French Independence Day).
It was the only good beach day we had the entire trip.The guys playing Rugby

We gave bandannas to our host family just before we left. Dominique acted like a robber and then made me a "toro". It was so sad to leave. But it was nice to know we would see the group at International Days in South Jordan only 3 weeks later.

Europe Trip Recap: Running of the Bulls

After our Paris fun we went to Bayonne, France. We were going there to spend time with the French dance group Ero Bat. But more on that tomorrow.

When we got to Bayonne we basically ate dinner and got on a bus that took us to Pamplona, Spain for the Running of the Bulls. We arrived at 8:30 pm and the bus was coming to pick us back up at 9:00 am the next morning.

All night in Pamplona couldn't be so bad could it?

The first thing we did was get some food. It was nice to see spanish and be able to somewhat communicate with people after being in France for 5 days. Around 10:00 we decided to check out the shopping and find the bull arena.

This was my initial reaction.

(I don't know who captured this moment but it is spot on.)
As we started wandering through the city we found this...

It was amazing how absolutely disgusting the streets were already. It was only 11:00 pm. Littered with bottles, garbage, and all sorts of bodily fluids (I'm sorry... TMI). Made me wonder what the city looked like 1) in the day time and 2) without it all. I think it would be a cool city to visit.

We made our way to the carnival around midnight.

This is what we called the "family area" because it was not as much of a party place and, well, there were families there. Little kids (2, 5, 7, whatever age) with their parents enjoying the concerts and sitting in the park. At 2 am!

The bull pen where the bulls were kept all night.

This is at the bull fighting arena around 3:00 am. We were going to wait here the rest of the night but the partying was progressively getting worse and we just didn't want to stay there and witness it.

We found a quiet spot on some stairs by the starting line at 5:00 am and waited. The streets started to fill up with runners and excitement started to build.

We didn't coordinate with each other very well because everyone took video of the bulls running, but NO ONE took pictures. Oops. It was pretty awesome but really only took about 10 seconds and it was over.

I was so exhausted after the night's events I fell asleep
in the middle of telling a story. Who does that???

All in all we are glad we went to the Running of the Bulls.
It will be an interesting experience we'll always get to share
and be able to tell our kids of our crazy adventures.

Would we do it the same way?
NEVER.
And you shouldn't either.

Europe Trip Recap: Saintes, France

After our Paris fun we headed to our first festival

in Saintes, France.

This festival was.... interesting.
Let's just say we were all happy
to only be there for 2 days.
But I'll just give the good highlights. :)

But there were some great countries
there that we were happy to have met.

Hanging out with Venezuela and India before rehearsal



This is the usual Ravioli park.
It's not that interesting cause they're everywhere.

Bro and Sis!

India

Peru
These guys were members!

Taiwan

Venezuela

I love this girl.
My feet hurt so she offered me a piggy back.

We saw this guy on our hour long midnight parade
that led to nowhere and was for practically nobody.
At least he had a sweet outfit.

Our awesome band!
We are just the garnish to them.
Unless they mess up ;)

This is quite possibly the
WORST picture taken of me ever.
My sweet husband has impeccable timing.

Europe Trip Recap: Versailles

We did a performance for the members in Versailles so we went to the palace and gardens of Versailles before the performance. It is a HUGE place! Thanks to power hungry King Louis XIV, who in building this ridiculously massive place made the country bankrupt, the French Revolution began.

Basically every room looked like this with more paintings, mostly of him. He sure did love himself. And every room was a different color. This color was our favorite.

Hall of Mirrors

The King's bed.
Slightly disappointed.

The Queen's bed

Can you see where the green trees end?
That's also where the gardens end.

The gardens were "free" that day.
That also meant they were closed.
So disappointing.

This is what Fez did while we rehearsed. Lucky...

Definitely not one of the better pictures taken of me. Fez seemed to be really good at capturing my worst faces this trip. Wait until you see the one from Saintes...

We sang Clive Romney's own rendition of "Love One Another" after the show. The spirit was so strong! It was a testimony to me that the church is true everywhere in the world and those that were there to see us were our brothers and sisters. We spread much more than our love of music and dance: we share the gospel and spirit of Jesus Christ.

Europe Trip Recap: Normandy

We went to the Normandy American Cemetery July 4th.

It was an incredible experience.
I felt so blessed and proud to be an American and to
honor those soldiers on our Independence Day
halfway across the world.



A diagram of the invasion made on D-Day.

The statue behind us is a monument for those Killed In Action.

There were 15 soldiers that died during the war. We visited the 12 graves that were at the cemetery and left Utah and American flags there.

Graves with Omaha Beach in the background.

Carl Yarrington was from Ogden, UT.
I read a letter from his niece during our program which was very sweet and touching. We left the letter there for any family members that may visit the grave to read.


Storming the Omaha Beach

This is after about 20 takes.
Laura had done enough jumping :)

Pointe du Hoc.
Marines scaled the cliff walls and took hold of German forces.

Actual gun used in World War II.

The land was left the way it was from the the bombs.
It was hard not to imagine the scene that took place there.
Such humility and reverence for those that serve our country each day.