This is where it all started

Actually it started the season before (I know they spelled my name wrong). We were working as bartenders in different lodges in Alta. I was at the Goldminer’s Daughter and Gary worked at the Peruvian. As you can see from his pass Gary had been in Alta for a few years (1998) I spent a season up there in 1997 and to make a long story short we had a mutual friend (Johnny B) who thought we would be good for each other. You see my aunt Laurel had given me tickets to a film festival. I ran into Johnny and figured he was harmless because he had a girlfriend at the time who was in Spain so I asked him if he wanted to go with me and he turned me down saying that I should ask Gary that he would really like to go with me. So I took Johnny’s advise and asked Gary to join me and the rest is history. Johnny is still proud to this day that he was such a successful match maker. I always remind him that we owe it all to him.

We celebrated our 5th anniversary on Saturday. We spent our first night without the wee one and ventured north to Lava Hot Springs. Turns out Ellie had a better time walking and talking with Grandpa and Grandma McKenney. Our experience in Lava well… lets just say we wont be going back and yuck pretty much sums it up. We tried to make the best of it.

Back to the important stuff though, Gary and I have had 5 years of joy, love, tears, laughter, stress, companionship, and all that makes up a good marriage. Over the last 5 years we have lived near the mouth of Little Cottonwood in Sandy, at the Entrada Ranch outside of Moab, in the “Slanty Shanty” in old town Park City, and now here in our little cabin in Timberlakes. We have had some good times and some hard times in all those places. I am looking forward to what lies a head of us and the many more adventures we are going to have together.

The family that get’s tats together stays together…

Compliments of our friend Jodi.

BRUGGE

On the 16th (Ellie’s Birthday) we spent the day checking out the wonderful city of Brugge, Belgium. We fell in love with this little city. We were expecting a big bustling city like Brussels but were surprise by its quaint little streets and shops. Now don’t get me wrong Brugge is still a good size city but it had a different feel to it. The first thing we did was head to the clock tower where we heard there were excellent fritts to be had. We filled our bellies and oriented ourselves around the square.

This city had a lot to offer but I think what will always stand out to Gary and I is our visit to the Church of Our Lady.

We approached it in a round about way where we actually benefited from getting lost and came across a woman making lace in a little alley. My sister has a great post about this and a little video clip you don’t want to miss showing the lace ladies skills. her fingers moved so fast I was totally mesmerized. Like my sister I regret not purchasing some of her handy work.

We also came across a cool little path leading to the Church of our Lady that crossed a canal and offered an intimate glimpse of what Brugge has to offer. We were able to sit and enjoy the canal and the cute little cottages for a few minutes before we were overtaken by a tour group.

The big draw to the Church of Our Lady is that it is the home of Madonna and Child the only work of Michaelangelo to leave Italy. She is BEAUTIFUL words can’t realy describe we were humbled to say the least and I felt very privileged to have been able to feast my eyes on the mother and child.

Gary and I were able to take a moment together and explore the Church while Ellie was entertained by her cousins and watched over by Mark and Leslie outside. It is a beautiful building and we were filled with a sense of awe as we looked about and took in it’s history.

There is still more to share with you all about Brugge, but I feel my writing skills are exhausted so I’m taking the lazy route and sending you yet again to my Brugge Flicker Set. Pictures really do more then words sometimes…

One last thing though look what we picked up on our morning grocery trip…

Leslie had informed me that this little treat existed just after they had made the move to Germany, so when I saw it with my own eyes I couldn’t resist I had to get some myself.

Ellie’s First Birthday

This picture was taken on August 16th Ellie’s official birth date. We were in Brugge Belgium the day she turned one so we celebrated Ellie’s first Birthday a few days earlier with the Frandsen’s and their neighbors Freddie, Claudia, Michael, Monfred, and Erika. Claudia’s Mother Annalee and her husband Victor were there as well as some friends. We had a BBQ German style. Freddie has a great set up for BBQ, he has a big cast iron bowl that he made the fire in and a tripod which the grill hangs from and he swings to avoid any hot spots. Freddie and Claudia are excellent cooks. We all contributed with salads and such and Mark grilled Salmon or Lox as well. It was a fabulous meal to say the least with good food and good company to boot.

I did get a little teary eyed while singing Happy Birthday to my baby girl. I can’t believe it has been a whole year. She is a toddler now not my wee babe. Well, she is still a little wee… but you know what I mean. I’m so glad that we timed it right so we could celebrate with the Frandsen’s. I thought that it was appropriate because they have not had a chance to get to know her yet and vise versa. So thanks to Leslie, Mark, Bailey, and McKenna and their neighbors and friends for making Ellie’s day very special for her.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDstjrMQwoI[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46QqNUTTaNA[/youtube]

If you would like to check out more videos there are plenty here

and if you would like to see more photos there are a bunch here

Hallo Von Deutschland

Everything is going great. Busy busy. We plan to catch everyone up soon. But haven’t had a chance, yet. I have so many photos but no time to download and such. I’ll have to put up a photo post when we get back to the states.

So far we have visited the Barfuspad (Bare foot Park) Where we got our feet wet, muddy, and lets say worked over. The kids were troopers and walked the whole thing, even Ellie demanded that she walk some as well.

Next up was a Medieval Festival in a village about an hour away. Where we were able to enjoy a jousting tournament amongst some feuding knights. We also enjoyed some authentic German Brats and picked up a few souvenirs.

We celebrated Ellie’s 1st Birthday a little early with the Frandsen’s German neighbors. We had a German style BBQ and Ellie had her first taste of cake followed by her first taste of brats as well.

We went to Heidelberg Monday on our own. By train, then bus. Good adventure. Train ride was about an hour and a half.. and was a challenge getting the city bus to where we were going for the day, from the train station. Once there walked around Castle ruins.. originally built in the 12th century, but vacant since 1619. Then toured the huge “Walkplatz” (walk plaza – shops, etc.) with Ellie in backpack.

While we were gone Leslie got everyone caught up some on her blog, she has some photos, here’s the link:

http://mlfrandsen.blogspot.com/2008/08/bright-sunshine.html

Tomorrow we plan to do a Rhine River cruise, but am afraid Ellie has hit a wall this evening. Seems to be running a low grade temperature. We’ll cross our fingers and hope some rest will take care of her. She has really been a wonderful baby so far as usual she is wide eyed and absorbing as much as she can take in.

We are also looking forward to a weekend trip to Brussels…

More soon..

Love, G/D/E