Beautiful coast of Spain

As my foot stepped off the plane and entered new international soil and onto Spain's airport concrete I never expected to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Spain... I was surprisingly shot down when we entered the taxi to our hotel I just took in the wonderful atmosphere of this new country! I feel in Love with what Spain had to offer me and this new adventure!!!
(picture of Josh and I with my fat rolls but it was such a cute picture)
Our first day we got settled into our crazy cheap in price hotel and we all decided to upgrade our room to something of a little bit of a higher standard for not much more a night! After that we headed out for our first day of adventures... When we walked down these seemingly crowded streets through the street vendors shouting out I give you good price!!! We headed toward the sunshine and the sound of an ocean...
Once we entered the beach we did a little exploring and picture taking of the coast of LLorett Del mar. The beaches sand wasn't really sand it was like this rock that exfoliated our every footstep!! Our feet looked really great after walking through the beach!! Max Josh and I crossed the waters onto this rocky island we all almost got taken by the water!!
The beautiful beach front has a pathway leading up to a sculpture it was so pretty... Max wanted to show off his gymnastic moves and Josh was trying to help him... LOL!!! Not really more like push him around a little bit...
These cliffs were so pretty and you can see the sculpture at the top of the cliffs!
Everyone wanted to show off there ability to climb this side of the cliffs!! Great job!!!
Even though we were on a plane and had like no sleep we took time to take a group photo don't we all look beautiful!!!
Josh took a little break while I talked to this nice guy who ended up taking our group photo for us!! He was really nice and gave us pointers of the area... he lived in the UK which was only 2 hours away from Llorett del mar!!How lucky!!!
Llorett had a really awesome city center which over looked the ocean the orange looking stuff was a walkway that lead to the building and on the sides was little restaurants. They had great desserts our last day we ended up making friends with one of the workers and he gave us some free coupons for the clubs in the area to bad we left that day! O well...
In the center of all the shopping was this interesting looking church called Art Modernista Catala... It was really neat all the stones were really colorful!
Spain is amazing for food... all the places we ate had really good food... Josh and Max loved the food so much that they ended up drinking the salsa How funny!!!! I highly recommend Spain to everyone!!!! Our hotel was really nice also Josh got a Chocolate wrap were they exfoliated his whole body with Chocolate exfoliator and then they rubbed Cocoa butter on his whole body!!! I had a much needed facial and my nails done... Max got a full body massage and a facial and Val just got a Half body massage!!!

Barcelona

Barcelona, the second day of our trip!! We took a bus and then took the train into the city center of Barcelona... the anticipation the smell of gross things and the noise of an ocean outside our train made the ride a little more exciting... Every few stops someone would get onto the train playing music and asking for money the awkwardness and scary situation we were placed in made it a little more appealing to enter the big city... Our train finally came to a complete stop, after we got lost and many train laters and one door smashing of Ang because we almost missed the train... We entered the almost clear skys of Barcelona...
The first adventure running through the town square chasing birds and seeing the gays making out on park benches... Gay marriage in Spain is legal!!
On our walk through the big city sparked our interest when we turned the corner to a small art museum displaying an egg since my irresistible husband has an upside down egg shaped head he decided to express his likeness by rewarding himself with a picture!!!
After our short detour of egg pictures we found La Sagrada Familia By Antonio Gaudi it has been under construction since 1882 Perfection is an art WOW!! Gaudi was such a perfectionist in his building standards that it takes a whole new level. Walking through the doors that are covered with construction work was a real eye opener... the detail of his work and his perfection of sculptures and detail is so indescribable. We video recorded much of the inside because I felt that a picture wouldn't do it justice it is a must see!
Thank goodness Sagrada wasn't like Prague's castle were you had to walk all these stairs we just had to enter a scary small box of an elevator that only fit 8 people and the fact that the elevator seemed to be made in 1882 was not a joyous ride but much better than hiking the many stairs to the top... Once the doors opened and we poured out (because it was so scary) of the elevator we made our way up to the roof top and drank in the gorgeous landscape of Barcelona... of course Max's face did add to that beautiful scenery ( he is so going to kill me for putting that up but I am willing to risk my life for one funny picture)
The story of this picture is a really cool story... there are these birds that live on top of Sagrada that are almost extinct they came onto the endangered species list in 1999 a few of the survivors live on top of this building!!! I think this is the bird... it is not a pigeon or a seagull trust me so I came to the conclusion that is one of those birds!!!
There are two parts to the Sagrada the second part has a bunch of ducks and this water spring that you can drink out of... They had a restroom that was open like this so we had a pretty picture to add to our album.
La Ramba street is a street that use to be the cities sewers they turned it into a very busy street were you can buy flowers, food and many other things... they also have street performers that you can go and pay them so you can get a picture with them but be careful they try to pick your pocket... But anyways I LOVE FLOWERS and when we were walking down the street they had the most beautiful flowers that I have seen in a long time for sale well Josh went missing for a while and when he was gone he bought me a beautiful flower!!! What a wonderful loving husband I am so lucky!!!!
Funny story... Max wanted to live in an apartment in Barcelona and he kept saying I want to live here etc.. we actually found an apartment for him for rent!!!
Val was picked to be on of the performers little helper!! She did a great job...but the person that helped with her was willing to take off her clothes which she almost did if the magician didn't stop her she would have gone the whole way!! But Val did a good job... When the sun started to descended over the horizon the weather started to turn and the wind began to pick up! We wanted to take shelter desperately... we started to head towards the ocean and we stumbled upon a BIG shopping mall!!! My dreams came true!!!! I got to go shopping!!! We bought coats and got Josh some sweaters and me tights to be able to last the next couple of days of cold weather!!

Halloween

Josh and I decided to have a small get together for Halloween just so we could get dressed up and laugh at each other... Josh was a military man in his Exercise clothing with his shorts really hiked up... I was suppose to be Madonna and I had made some cone breast but instead I ended up looking like Marylin Monroe... It was so funny Josh also placed stuffing in his belly and would go around stretching in some very interesting situations!

Hedgehog

It was a dark and cold night... Dolche was eager to enter the great outdoors to sniff his way around till he found something new and interesting!! Once he spotted something of interest he set off his alarm with his annoying bark till Josh and I heard him!! We sprang from the couch and ran to the door sitting by a wet puddle that had been created by several days of rain was sitting this precious flea covered hedgehog... the biggest one we found so far!!! Since Dolche was so excited by this little guy we brought him inside gave him some water and took him to a park nearby!! The hedgehog was so neat!! It had interesting spikes and a funny little face!!!

Alton Towers ScareFest

Alton Towers SCAREFEST!!!! Alton Towers is a Theme Park in England that is close to where we live and ITT asked me to help with the Tour for there Halloween park experience!! It was so much fun!!! Max couldn't go with us because he had to work so it was Josh and I that went!!!
The Park was so beautiful!!! The park has an Awesome Castle in it!! The Castle was turned into a haunted house for the scarefest and had a ride in it that turns you completely upside down we thought but the room moved not us! It was really cool!!!
My favorite ride are the swings for any amusement park so I made Josh ride them with me!! The funny part of it we were waiting for the ride to take off and we were having so much fun we started picking on this children that were sitting in front of us...
As you see Josh was kicking them (so was I) they were so funny and they were really getting into it!! They seemed so excited by us not only were we USA citizens but we were fun adults playing around with them... Once we started pushing them around they started pushing us back and laughing about it!!!
Our fun trip to Alton Tours was a blast and they had some really fun workers that really got into Halloween!! Just a little side note... the British don't get into Halloween like us so it was exciting to see them so into the Halloween season!!

FOOTBALL

Saturday Morning we got up early and headed out 3 hours away to arrive in Birmingham to an AWESOME or BRILLIANT Football game That's Soccer for you Yanks!!! It was a great game and we had so much fun!!! The Phillips Family had the great idea to go to a Football game and invite us along!! It was so much fun!! We were there a little early and the city wasn't very nice so we sat in the stands till everyone arrived but the Stadium was awesome!!
Here is us with the Phillips getting all excited before the game starts!!

So the fans and us got so into the game!! We were yelling and screaming!!! The opposing team Fulham scored the first goal and we had to show you the excitement of the team members of Aston Villa!! They weren't so happy!! But Aston Villa ended up scoring two goals in the second half and winning the game!!It was so fun!! The members of the fans get really into the game!! It's like an American High School Football game, the stands screaming back and forth , but its not like a couple of hundred its more like 36628 people screaming back at each other, its quiet and exhilarating experience.
The little section with hardly any people in it was for the opposing team! The little yellow people are the security guards and police protecting the fans because they were getting so into when they scored the first goal they were giving us the English Bird and yelling at us!! They were louder then us and we had way more people then they did!! They didn't like it all when we scored the final goals and won the police had to escort the fans out because it was a little crazy for them if you don't know what I mean you need to see the Movie Green Street Hooligans (it is rated R though for violence and cursing! But it is so like how it is!!!
Finally at the end of the game we took a picture outside of the Stadium!! This was so much fun!! I recommend everyone that visits England to go to a Football game and find out for yourselves how much fun one of these games are!! We will be definitely going to another game!!

Prague

Welcome to Prague... a really beautiful city with great architecture and SHOPPING!!!!! It was a great trip to celebrate Josh and I's 4th Wedding Anniversary! It was a lot of fun. Day one of our trip we woke up at4:25 and almost missed the bus to the airport... we were running to the bus stop so therefore we forgot a lot of stuff like toothbrushes and other nessicities! But we made it!!! We went out to eat that night at a really nice restaurant and we had fresh seafood and what they mean by fresh seafood that it is raw!! The Lobster was really good, Josh though was in heaven he ate it the rest of it!! Then we went on a ghost tour of Prague. A cute fun little activity to do but it wasn't any true stories or anything it was a more funny than scary!! But a good time!!
Our second day was the busiest because we were leaving the next day to go home so we had to do everything in that time!! Let me tell you we did some walking!!! It took us 45 minutes to get to the castle!! We had to cross this beautiful bridge to get there it was so beautiful and the architecture on the bridge was beautiful Sculptures everywhere!! Once we got to the castle we went to the Cathedral that is inside of the Castle...This is the Beautiful streets of Prague leading up to the Castle!!! It is a nice hike but they town is so cute and close together!! Josh really liked this picture because it is call the Holy Trinity and there is clearly 3 images depicted in the picture on Jesus Christ being baptized and God looking down from heaven and the Dove as the Holy Ghost this picture was the oldest thing in the Cathedral and it dates back to the early 1400's.
We couldn't leave the Cathedral without putting a little holy water on our forehead and Josh giving a little confession!!




























On the tour of the Cathedral they had these little stairs that were in this room that is off side of the castle and we didn't think much of it!! So we were like lets go up these stairs just to see where they lead we thought it would only be made up one level and that is it... No it was 247 stairs and It was almost a mile high or maybe even higher I am not sure!! But it was a beautiful view... (I don't really know Josh told me and took this picture it was a little high for me but I did climb those stairs!)
The Final leg of our trip was a river tour at night of the city!! It included dinner it was so nice and what an experience watching them move us through some really tight spots on the river!! It was so much fun and a good experience but the food wasn't that good but it was fun!!!

London Temple

Today Josh and I decided to take a little break and just be with each other and enjoy one of God's most precious gifts that he has given us here on this earth the temple. It was nice to be able to breath for a little while since we have been under a lot of stress and have some really hard times these past months with finding out some things we really didn't want to find out. But it was a nice time the Temple was really Beautiful and we really felt the spirit today! It was really hard to leave we didn't want to go... We tried staying longer so we could do a sealing session but they didn't have enough workers on Saturday... O well... It was great! For those needing a little break I encourage you to enter the house of the Lord and take a little breather! And for those that haven't entered or can't enter I recommend that you become worthy to enter his Holy Home! It was a great time!!!

Our week in Germany

Hey everybody this is our adventure in Germany , We hope that you all enjoy the pictures.Germany is seriously the most beautiful country we have been to yet... The Area of Garmish is so beautiful! we had the opportunity to stay for 7 days and explore the surrounding areas. We also got to stay in a resort that military members could stay in for really cheap! It was wonderful they have a really big hot tub in the resort and after our travels we would sit and relax in it almost every night. Garmish also has many beautiful mountains so rounding the town not only can you hike and see it you, can drive from town to town and see its beauty.

On day One we went to Dachau Concentration camp...It was so sad and the way the people were treated, was awful! A lot of the camp was torn down because when the United States came in they turned it around!!! GO USA!!! The picture to the side is of the camps front entrance You can look at the tower that the SS would watch over them while in camp and shoot anyone that got to close to the fence.


The picture with Josh in front of the door is the entrance to the camp. The people would come in by train and walk through these doors... some didn't make it back out. They said that at times there were over 100,000 people within this camp. The picture of the men standing there wasn't a real picture it was propaganda taken by Hitler to show the people that they were well treated and they were well taken care of it was like a boot camp, or retraining. But Dachau was actually the worst of all concentration camp.

The one picture is a smaller version of the ovens used at the camp... it was in use for a little time but because so many people were being burned they had to build a bigger one that was four times bigger. Josh and I took a picture of us outside of the bunkers they only have two standing the rest were torn down.




The picture of the hall way is of the prison of the camp if you didn't think the concentration camp was bad enough the prison was horrible... They would hang the people by there back arms for 36 hours and then they would have to stand 72 hours in a cell that was just big enough to stand you couldn't even sit or lay down... the man that attempted to kill Hitler with a bomb was one of the many people that stayed here! Many leaders and solders stayed in these cells!! The people that stayed in the camps didn't want to ever have prison time because it was a million times worse!!! It was a long day and very sad and I can't believe that people were treated that bad!!! Also how people in the town didn't know what was going on!! There is no way because the town was that close to the camp... the Americans made the town people come in and look at what Hitler and the SS did to the people in the camp and how no did anything to stop it, they just sat there and did nothing!! It was a good learning lesson! But it was very sad!!!
On a lighter note we went out to eat at this Germany restaurant in Garmish it was good food and Great Sauerkraut!! The Sauerkraut in Germany is wonderful!!! We LOVED IT!!! They had these little German boys come in and dance for you we didn't stay long enough to see the Girls dance but it was great!!!

Can you tell if this is a man or a women??? She was really interesting and we had to take a picture of her!! You should really zoom on this picture, is that Face Plastic?!?!?!?
Our next adventure was Neuschwanstein it was beautiful. Every year 1.3 million people visit a year... It is really beautiful... the Seven weeks after the death of King Ludwig II in 1886, Neuschwanstein was opened to the public. The shy king had built the castle in order to withdraw from public life. He was crazy but made some beautiful Castles even Walt Disney copied it!! Before we made our hike we saw these German guys dressed up and needed a picture!!


The one part of the hike you can hike over this bridge... It was so scary!!! But it has a great view!! I was terrified though because the bridge is stable but the wood part that you walk on shakes it is so scary!!! I was screaming the whole way but I did it!!!

This picture is of the bridge that you can hardly see I am at the bottom just to show you how high it is... Josh and Matt wanted to do a little more exploring I would have went with them but all I had on was sandals but was really pretty and they had to get into the water people were taking pictures of them and asking me if they were teenagers... Not they are grown men one is a father!!! The only thing that made me really mad was the castle is not child friendly at all!! Also this handicapped girl that already paid for a ticket they wouldn't let her go in because they only had an elevator that ran only two times a week... Don't worry I started yelling at them but they wouldn't let her go in and then on our tour there was a little child that was crying and they told them to leave!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! Other than that it was really nice!!

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at another German restaurant in the back yard of it they had these Goats that were playing on the jungle gym in the back they even went down the slide it was funny so I had to take a picture!!!


Since we were only hour and half from Austria we went to the Swarovski crystal place!!!
Swarovski Crystal is in Austria and only about an hour from the resort, so we had to stop by.....
They have this waterfall thing when you first come in that is really neat looking!! Picture opportunity!!! We didn't pay for the whole museum tour thing we just went to the outlet!! It was really neat inside of the outlet and they had so much jewelry!!! Josh wanted me to get something really big because we were going to spend the same amount on two items but I looked at it as more the merrier !! I purchased a necklace and a bracket!! But some of these people were going crazy buying a lot!!

Since I got what I wanted all Josh wanted was a picture of the outside with this statue at the outlet place!!! Him and Matt had to have this picture!!! The other picture is of me inside of the outlet!!

The other reason we went to Swarovski was for Candy's birthday, Happy 21..... Later that evening we went out to eat at an Indian restaurant!! The food was amazing and the water was great!!! The bottle of water was so big!!!! We had a great time!!!


Since we were all tired from all the traveling and such we had a back massage the next day!! It was nice but my back still hurts!! After our massage Matt and Josh decided to have a guys day and go hiking!! The area was beautiful and they had a great time and they came back with a lot of blisters though!!!
They hiked the whole area and it had beautiful waterfalls through out the whole place but us girls thought they got lost and we were about to send out a rescue search but they came back in time!!!Thank goodness!!!






After they were done we went for a walk into the town to eat!! It was so pretty!! We got some beautiful pictures of the town!! We ate at a sushi restaurant it was all you could eat and they came out on a little convair belt it was so cool!!

The next night we were going to eat at this Restaurant named MukkeF**k that you can see in the picture but it was really trash looking so we didn't eat there!!


Finally on our last day we went to the top of the Mountain!! It was so neat!! It was a little Cloudy but it was beautiful I could hardly look over the edge It made me really sick but I did it!! You ride up on these little ski lift things with windows all the way around you!! It was beautiful!! Germany was wonderful we would like to go back but is a must see so if anyone comes and visits we are going back and you can stay with us in the really cheap resort!!!


****Click on the picture to see the whole thing they are really beautiful!!!******