our first real assault on italy: florence

florence was our next stop. cade and i decided that the majority of our trip would be definitely a budget tour of europe; however, before leaving we decided that one splurge would be sufficient as a sort of treat for us. we got a special offer for a four star hotel in florence that was really new age and we thought- why not... so we booked at UNA vittoria, a little hotel in the heart of florence. we loved it! it was full of mosaic tiling and our room was strangely lit with all these blue lights. there was a special pillow service where they would bring you any pillow of your choice from a list of like ten different materials and stuffings. we loved that- especially after wondering how many other thousands of backpackers had drooled on my latest hostel pillow. anyway- we loved the hotel. great breakfast, great location, great splurge. here is a picture of our room. i guess it kinda looks like a techno dance club with a bed.

after settling in our hotel we went out for some gelato and called it a night. we set off to conquer the sights early the next morning- but apparently we weren't early enough. the first place i wanted to see was the uffizi museum, which is hailed as one of the top art museums in the world. when we got there we realized our 'let's go europe on a budget' book forgot to mention the incredible wait you must suffer through unless you reserve your place in line at least a couple of days in advance. not knowing this vital information, we waited in a small line that never seemed to move for close to three hours. cade and i made the best of it by switching off line holders and exploring around the outside of the museum. unfortunately that left cade looking ever so handsome with my purse in tow.

cade and i also entertained ourselves by listening to harry potter on our ipod. this was a great way to pass line and train time throughout the trip and we really were engrossed in the book- so much so that cade started speaking in an english accent everywhere we went despite my protests and would repeatedly use the word 'wizengamot' because the word would get in his head. this led to more than one awkward moment as the only other people around us who spoke english were from britain, he would accidentally slip into potter pronunciation and give directions or bus info in a phony english accent to the english. usually i would have to pinch him to make him realize what he was doing and then he would come back to reality. a little awkward...

the uffizi was amazing once we finally cleared the line. one of the most famous paintings in the uffizi which has grown to be one of my favorites is botticelli's the birth of venus. it was huge! this painting also brings me to a new topic: nudity. i was always told the nudity was pretty rampant in europe and all the stories added up. it wasn't offensive but it is always an interesting moment when large groups of people gather around a sculpture of a naked man wrestling a bear or something and everyone examines it... the art was beautiful and it was fun to see such old architecture and way of life.
after the museum we wandered in and out of churches and art showcases always stopping for the occasional gelato. finally we made it to the statue of david- another nude statue that is so amazing. this picture is a replica outside of the uffizi museum and it is the only picture we have because you aren't allowed to take pictures of the statue itself. the good old japanese, however, didn't seem to apply to this rule. peace!


we ended the night at a nice outdoor restaurant where we ate authentic pasta with cream sauce. a nice end to an exhausting day in florence. overall i really did love florence. it is a beautiful city with the river running through and the old feel of everything is so different from anywhere we've been.

these last pictures are of the river and the bridge we loved so much. at night we gathered on the bridge to eat gelato, write a couple postcards and listen to a street band play.
i just asked cade for any final thoughts he had on florence to which he peeked over his tetris game and replied "loved it."

usa to amsterdam to brussels to bergamo

it is overwhelming to report on all of our many travels thus far. we have finally returned to our little apartment in belgium and are gearing up to start work on monday. yesterday, we called some family to check in and such and it seems people are somewhat interested in hearing about the trip so i thought i might as well dive into the depths of our adventure and pound out a post for you all...but mostly for my worrying mother. i figure i may as well start at the beginning of the trip and i will take you through in what i project to be a series of posts. don't be a hater.
our trip started early in the morning on the 25th when we packed our bags and headed to the airport only to arrive in belgium many, many hours later. i just asked cade how long it actually took but he just looked puzzled and started rambling off random times... this is due to the fact that cade and i completely lost the 26th- meaning, i don't think we ever lived it. this was obviously apparent as our ragged faces turned up in the brussels airport. we were told that someone from the company would be there to pick us up and take us to the apartment so we could drop our luggage off and prepare for our flight to italy. we scoured the place looking for a guy named kevin, who i had never met and cade had met like twice. panic started to set in as we realized nobody was there and we had nowhere to go. i kept eying anyone and everyone who looked the least bit american in an effort to convince them it was me they were looking for but seriously no luck. cade figured out how to use one of the airport phones and it wasn't too long before we finally found dear kevin who had been scouring the airport looking for us...he turned out to be one of the american looking people i stared down earlier. he drove us to our new apartment which is so fun and different. we have bits of sparse ikea furniture and a charming little kitchen...we are excited to make it our home. needless to say, by the time we arrived, we were pooped! our plane to pisa, italy didn't leave for like 4 hours so we decided to take an hour nap and get to the airport early- just to be safe. we set the alarm and passed out.....
for those of you who know me well, you may have already guessed what happened- we woke up like 3 hours later, blundered our way to the airport and missed our flight. what a start! we were able to catch another flight headed to italy that left as soon as we booked it, but instead of heading to pisa, we were on our way to bergamo- not really on our itinerary but italy nonetheless. fortunately, we had purchased a book called 'let's go europe: on a budget' which gave us the name of a little hostel in bergamo that has 24 hour reception. after a while, we found the hostel, bought some rolls from a vending machine and passed out again in our 8 person dormitory. we were the first to fall asleep and slowly as the night went on, more and more people sneaked into the room and into a bed. the time change threw us for a loop as cade and i both found ourselves wide awake at 4 in the morning listening to a dutch guy's snoring- neither of us aware the other was awake. it was interesting sleep in separate twin beds after sharing a bed for so long. it made me have horrible dreams that cade took one of the dutch girls in our room to the bar and left me alone in the room. i woke up mad at cade and it took my emotions a while to realize it was all a dream.

we decided that since we were in bergamo, we may as well see what it had to offer before we took off to florence- we had hotel reservations there that night. bergamo turned out to be a cute little town. we walked the streets, saw some churches and, after realizing how expensive everything is, bought a huge pizza that we ate for lunch, linner and dinner. then we set off for florence...

ciao bella

it really happened... we are in italy. it has been quite the adventure thus far. the past week we have spent our time touring through italy and loving every minute of it. this internet cafe has no port for our sd card- so sorry no pictures, but rest assured... some cool posts will come when we get a chance. so far we have visited bergome, florence, pisa, cinque terra and venice. everything we see is out of a book, i swear. today we spent the whole day getting lost in venice, which turns out to be very easy. we just got off the bus and started winding our way through canals and skinny streets all day with no real agenda. we would find cool antique shops, cute little ladies and the most gorgeous views of the canals. we loved every minute of it.
really- i apologize about not having any pictures but to satisfy your craving, i highly suggest googling cinque terra. we spent 2 days there and roughed out the hardest, most beautiful hike in the world. this place is AMAZING.
tomorrow morning we fly to barcelona to start our sweep of spain and hopefully there we can get some pictures going.
we miss all of you already and love you all.

first things first

this summer was a summer of firsts... cade and i moved into our first apartment together and have thus far survived our first 104 days of marriage (thank you facebook for that priceless nub of information). we went on our first family vacation, made our first married clan friends, lost cade's first wooden wedding ring, i cooked for the first time in my young girl life and we even volunteered as doggysitters for the first time... which resulted in some other firsts.


now we prepare to move for the first time- and as you all know, it's no small move. in 5 short days we will make our first appearance on european soil as we travel for 20 days through itay, spain and morocco- all firsts for us. after the whirlwind travel extravaganza- we will work in the same office for the first time in brussels. we couldn't be more excited about all of these incredible firsts and we are hoping all of you are considering being our first guests in belgium. we look forward to reading all your blogs while we are away and don't worry- we'll be sure to post all the pictures and experiences so you won't miss us too much.

My Celebrity Look-Alike

Ever since about ninth grade people started telling me that I reminded them a lot of a John Stamos. The phenomenon has gradually increased throughout the years, although some people scoff at the idea and don't believe me. I decided to put all doubt to rest and take the Celebrity Look-Alike Test. The results are found below...

we love the olympics

if any of you were hoping to catch a glimpse of cade and i over the next few weeks- you are out of luck. we will be glued to the tv watching all of the olympic action. we are nerds- but it is better to embrace it than to hide it.
already this morning i watched the women's volleyball match, usa vs. japan. you can imagine how my heart was torn. after living as a giant in japan for a stint, i had a hard time believing the japan team wasn't made up entirely of robots...women that tall don't exist there- trust me. but alas, the usa human giants prevailed, proving yet again that scientific robots will never compete with real human muscle. i still love japan...but go usa!

what happened to our blog?

i don't know what happened- but i went to my blog today and it was just an advertisement. can people change my blog? yikes! now i don't remember where i got my old background! i feel so violated.

meet me at the orange chicken

I love going out to eat. New environment, new food, no work…etc. There is, however, one type of restaurant I hate more than anything in the world: THE BUFFET. Now I realize that many people in this world love buffets, but there is something about them that gives me anxiety beyond relief. A buffet generally consists of warm buckets of substandard food that people end up gorging themselves on just to get their money’s worth. This vicious cycle usually leads to a condition I have come to call ‘rock gut’ or worse- something my dad and brother came to know quite well- the Norwalk Virus. Nothing about that description is appetizing to me in any way.

Now enter my anti-buffet arch nemesis: THE COUPON. A coupon is a tricky factor in the marketing world. It can make you do things you would not normally consider. In my case, through a simple half off coupon I was persuaded to enter Chinese Gourmet with Cade last Saturday night. I was hopeful- coupon in hand with a love for asian food- but the experience was not so tasty. Cade, on the other hand, was loving life. He immediately made friends with the entire staff who called him my ‘cute boyfriend’ the rest of the night. He also recruited a pair of Hispanic hecklers who would loudly criticize me if I walked past their table without enough food on my plate. ‘hey lady- you need to eat more! MORE!’ they howled. Cade giggled himself silly as he nibbled on doughy pizza. I hated my life more than ever. Rot gut quickly set in and I was in the worst mood. Poor Cade became the recipient of my frustration as I told him I wanted to leave.

As I was being a brat, I saw how sorry Cade was for the hecklers, his army of admiring asian waitresses, and even the crab leg he tossed in an attempt to make me laugh. He went to the bathroom to “make room for the ice cream bar” as I sat sulking. That is when I realized that Cade did all of those things to make the experience better for me. He was trying to make me happy in a situation where I was choosing to be angry. And by me choosing to be a beast, I was really making it hard for him to have a good time as well. It was while he was in the bathroom I realized how lucky I am to have such a loving husband- and also how glad I am for the principles of agency. We can choose to be happy and we can choose to be beasts- but if there is one thing I have learned from Cade more than all the others it is this- you make your own happiness.
I don’t think Cade and I will be making our own happiness at another buffet anytime soon- but nonetheless, I would like to thank Joo Syung, Daisy Ho, the Hispanic hecklers, the man in the American flag tee with the massive pile of crab legs, and all others who helped contribute to a great experience at Chinese Gourmet.

A Post from Cade

Ashley and I have been playing faithfully on our ward softball team (only missing one week the whole summer). Last night's game was probably a pinnacle in my top-ten greatest sports moments of my life. Our ward has gone undefeated the whole summer. Last night were matched up against a good team with only one loss. They take it very seriously. They were by far the best competition we've had. Due to a tied game we had to go into an extra inning. They were up to bat and miraculously scored four runs. We hadn't scored more than three runs in a single inning. Now it was our turn to bat. The pitching was horrible, all pitches were over the head. Our players kept swinging anyway. By the time I got up to bat we already had two outs. Talk about pressure. There were runners on first and second. Even more pressure. Due to the big holes in right field (and the fact that they were usually staffed by unconfident girls) I had been hitting opposite my previous two hits (with a single and a double to right field, mind you). The pitching continued to be horrible. No joke I seriously let at least 20 pitches sail over my head, directly at me, or so far out you would think the pitcher was throwing the ball to first base (not quite that far, but you get the idea). With our Stake rules, there are no walks. I wasn't going to let my swinging at a bad pitch lose the game for us. Finally on about the 25th pitch, with nerves tense and pressure on, there was one low enough I could swing at and - crack! Never have I hit a ball so far (I have never been a power hitter). It felt so good to see the guy in Right-Center (they had now moved over much farther to the right remembering my previous two hits) run up, and then stumble backwards realizing the ball was sailing over his head. It was no home run, but the best triple I've ever hit - probably the only triple I've ever hit. The rest was history as the kid after me belted a home run tying the game at ten runs a piece. Unfortunately the next guy up swung at another pitch to his head and the fly ball was caught. Too much time had expired and the game was called at a tie. Surely it would have been better if we'd won - but by not losing we still go undefeated.

slow down summer- you're moving too fast

july has been a crazy whirlwind...and it is quickly coming to an end. this post is dedicated to our busy schedule. the craziness started with our ward campout (which- lucky for you- yields no pictures). after the campout, we raced back for the oak meadows pool party i had to plan. my favorite moment is pictured above. cade and i opened the volleyball net we bought for the full sized pool. clearly, this package lied. nowhere on the package did we read, 'bathtub size'. the party went well and the craziness continued.

next up: our adventure at LD's restaurant. this gem located in richmond, ut has always been a source of intrigue after my brother and his wife moved out there. it is shocking to see the huge sign on the outer wall that reads LDS Bar and Restaurant. only in richmond will you find an lds bar. anyway, cade's friend, jason, was kind enough to get him a gift certificate for one sirloin steak and a coke at LD's probably laughing to himself thinking we would never get out there to use it. well, checkmate jason! we went with fellow richmondites jeff and heather. cade got his sirloin steak, i got an odd chicken and ham slab combo, heather got something that actually looked good, but finally, jeff ordered a chili burger. please see photo below.

somewhere in this burger lies buns and a meat patty. unfortunately, you have to use your imagination to understand how jeff ate it.

next up: lagoon. my work gave us free food, parking and passes so we joined the tattooed masses in line at wicked. this time i didn't lose my camera or my cell phone on any ride. progress! the day turned out to be a blast. above, you'll see a picture of some co-workers and some boys who cade befriended in line...something i am growing accustomed to. and below- leslie and austin.

the fun at lagoon was cut short as cade and i sped down for a concert that same night in salt lake. one of our favorites, andrew bird, was playing in the twilight concert series at the gallivan center. *note- nothing about the twilight concert series relates in any way to the popular book series that every thirteen year old girl totes around. it is simply a concert series that happens, coincidentally, at twilight. it was so so so so good. andrew bird was fabulous. he played a bunch of new songs and some of our favorites and we left that night full after a long feast of succulent tunes. josh ritter played that night- also a great artist. that shouldn't go unmentioned. a big thanks to the summer concert series for bringing these great artists for us to see for free.

finally, this picture graphically depicts the side effects of a good concert. grady unfortunately got gum stuck in his armpit. but did i mention how great the concert was?