Paris, France - Day 3

Well, my camera battery died, and of course I forgot my charger. I was unable to get the pictures off of my mom's camera too so I will have to post pictures later but I wanted to log what we did for the day.

We started out at the Notre Dame. We went to the chapel yesterday but the tower was closed. Today we got to climb 400 stairs to the top! We saw the 3 ton bell and took lots of pictures from the top.

Next we went to Saint Chapell. Of course, the chapel had a lot of incredible detail. It was built in the 1700's. It had incredible stain glass windows.

We went to the Pantheon. The basement was a crypt. One of the many tombs there was Joan of Arc. It was pretty amazing and of course massive!!! Next we headed to a museum that had a lot of amazing paintings and a lot of weird paintings, and a lot of naked paintings! I don't understand their obsession with fat naked ladies. If only the world still loved fat ladies (not naked though)!!! Anyway, many of the paintings were by Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, and Dennon. I hate to sound like I don't appreciate art, but seriously, some of those paintings I can't understand. I do not know how they are worth millions of dollars...call me CRAZY! Still a neat experience.

Next we saw the Arc of Triumph and went to the top. This time we opted for the elevator! The Arc of Triumph is a monument dedicated to the unknown soldiers. It almost seems like the middle of the town. There are about 10 streets that start (or end) at the Arc. It's really neat.

We accomplished a lot today and tried to see a lot more but there were several museums that were closed today or closed early. It must be because of FHE!!! Anyway, we'll hit a lot more tomorrow!

Oh, I caught a pick pocketer opening my moms backpack. It all happened so fast so I didn't have time to beat him up. You have to be really careful here!

I love and miss all of my friends and family! Thanks Luke for being such an awesome husband!

Paris France - Day 1 and 2!

Here are only a few pictures from my trip so far. I wish I could put more pictures on but the internet here is much slower for loading the pictures plus it is 11:40 at night and I need to get some sleep. Anyway, the pictures are not in order from my first day to my second day but oh well, I don't have time to make it pretty, just to keep records!These are sculptures from 2300 BC, according to scientists anyway. I have a lot of awesome pictures from this era just because I think it is incredible that they have so much stuff from that time. Pretty crazy! I pictured the movie...The Testaments and all of the carving they had made.

This is Louis XIV and Charles X chambers where they fed many people. The picture does not do the room justice. It is very beautiful and so much detail on everything.

This is on a ceiling. All of the ceilings are so incredible, I can't believe the detail and time it would have taken.

Mona Lisa...She kept looking at me!

This painting was HUGE! I had to take a picture just because of the size of it. Of course, it's pretty too!

This is me right off the airplane after only 2 1/2 hours of sleep. Across the river is The Louve. The building is massive and so beautiful.

This is the view from my hotel room. Very pretty. We are right across from the river and a mini Statue of Liberty.

The Eiffel Tower!!! The base is shockingly huge.

I'm obsessed with European roads. I just love the shapes of buildings and walking down quite streets lined with beautiful apartments and shops.

I miss you Luke and kiddos. I love you so much! Be good and remember that I think of you constantly! Thanks Luke for all of your support!

My Lucky Charm is 6!

Today is my little Ollie's birthday. He was born 6 years ago on St. Patrick's Day at 1:00 am. He has been such a joy in our lives. He was a great baby with lots of smiles and that has not changed at all. He is still such a happy boy with so many smiles. Here are some pictures of Ollie from this year.

This picture was taken this morning. This is one of his "wired" smiles!

This is Oliver's school picture. Sweet smile!

I love Sundays because Ollie is so cute and handsome when he's all dressed up for church.

Oliver is always full of smiles in the pool. His swimming teachers have always commented on the fact that they are surprised he doesn't swallow all the pool water because he always has the biggest smile on his face when he comes out of the water.

We had a birthday party this morning. We invited 7 boys over for a Star Wars/Ninja Pizza Party. We had pizza, played games, presents, cake and ice cream, more games, then they went home. It was crazy and fun!

I thought these were the cutest picks for a cake. I love the mini light saber!Last night we made shamrocks out of chocolate covered pretzels. Then we outlined them in green. It was a fun party favor!Party treats! These are cupcake balls covered in white chocolate then decorated. I thought they turned out really cute!Last, but not least...the ice cream leaprachaun. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was really hard to get the frosting and the cherry to stay on the face and not slide off the ice cream. I think that I will pass doing this one next year. Cute, but not as exciting as I thought it would be.

First ever quilting project!

If you are a quilter, you may laugh! This project is seriously not complicated but I have been so inspired by my friend Christy. She is an awesome quilter! I decided to give it a try and start simple. I made this table runner and was surprised how much fun quilting is. It's just fun to see the material you pick, come together. I was also surprised how hard it is to pick material. It's just hard for me to visualize how it will look. This was intended to be a March/St. Patrick's Day table runner but I think it will work for all of Spring. Anyway, for my first time, I think it turned out okay.

Thanks Christy and Melanie for your inspiration! I will definitely quilt again!

Another Swimming Weekend - Hotel - Birthday Party!

We had lots of family come watch Sabree swim again this past weekend. This event was the B/C finals (I have no idea what b/c stands for). Anyway, you had to have qualifying times to enter each event. It was nice to have so much support for her. Grandma and Grandpa Adams drove from Scipio to watch and Great Grandma and Grandpa Turner also came. After the event we had a little birthday party for Oliver who turns 6 on St. Patrick's Day. Grandma and Grandpa Adams brought him some presents and Grandma actually made cupcakes too. It was really cute! Thanks everyone for your support!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the presents. As you can see, Oliver is very excited!

The swimming meet was Friday and Saturday so we got a hotel in Salt Lake. I don't know why hotels are sooooo fun for kids but they could not wait to get to the hotel...just to sleep. I thought they all looked so cute pulling their own suitcases.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Turner with Sabree

Above, Grandpa Adams and Sabree; below, Grandma Adams and Sabree

Sabree did such a good job at her meet. She improved her breaststroke time by almost 2.5 seconds, her freestyle by .5 seconds, and her backstroke was AMAZING! Out of 42 girls in her age group, she got 3rd place. She improved her own time by 3.5 seconds. She was awesome!And then...again we ate at an all-you-can-eat restaurant the day before Fast Sunday (our Fast Sunday was a week late because of Stake Conference last week). This time we ate at Chuck-a-Rama. Just an FYI...Golden Corral is way better. A lot more choices with many more healthier choices. Anyway, it continues to be a fun tradition (to tell you the truth, I'm already sick of all-you-can-eat restaurants, this being our second month, but the kids LOVE it).

Yummy New Recipe! Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

I love new recipes and this is a good one. I got it off of the blog Our Best Bites. It's called Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos. You can get the recipe here. They were really easy to make. My girls helped me and we had a great time! Luke and I are on a health kick so we made our taquitos with whole wheat tortillas, and low-fat cream cheese. Our kids prefer white tortillas so I used the tortillas that you bake at home. I also made a yummy sour cream dip to go with it. I use this dip for almost all of my Mexican food dishes. It's nothing fancy but we like it!

Cilantro-Lime Crema

• 8 ounces reduced-fat sour cream (I used fat-free)
  
• 1/8 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Salt and pepper

Stir together sour cream, lime juice, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.

Lots to blog about...

These snow pictures are a little older but I wanted to post them anyway. We went sledding with some friends on Presidents Day. It was such a nice day and so much fun. The kids eventually took off their coats and gloves, it was so warm.

Oliver sleddingSabree and her friend Jaiden
We built this igloo. It took a while but it was a lot of fun. This picture is Oliver, Sabree and our little neighbor friend, Rylee.
Here's Jaylee looking so cute! I still can't believe that I can get her to wear snow clothes!
Luke came out to shovel in shorts. It was really funny! He shoveled several people's walks in shorts too. Not too often you see a foot of snow and someone in shorts shoveling!
We had a very busy weekend. It started on Friday at Sabree's swimming meet. Her meet was in Salt Lake so we had a lot of family that came to see her. The picture above is Eli and Mandy (Uncle and Aunt, Eli is Luke's brother). The picture below is my sister Jill and her kids, and my mom. Sabree was so excited to have them there to watch her. She really appreciated it. After the meet she said, "Mom this meet was so special to me because of all the family that watched me." Thanks everyone for coming! Sabree swam really well. She beat her 50 freestyle time by about 2 seconds, her 50 breast stroke by 4 seconds and she swam her first 100 IM in about 1:40. She's such a cute little swimmer.
On Saturday, we had a baptism to attend. Our niece, Gracie, got baptized! It was fun to see all the family and be a part of her special event.

Oliver and Luke. I love this picture. They both look so handsome!

Jaylee and her cousin Addie.

Sabree and her cousin Gracie.

On Sunday, we got together with my side of the family for all of the March birthday's. This month is Oliver's birthday. I can't believe that he is almost 6. He's getting so big! These are some pictures from the party.

Jaylee was reading to her cousin Katie. It was really cute and by the way, we did not plan the twin outfits!

Sabree, Grandpa Oliver, and Oliver. Grandpa had just gotten home from work. It was fun to get a picture of him in uniform.

Oliver and Grandma.

Sabree and her Aunt Jana. Sabree is starting to look so grown up. She's really a pretty girl just like her Aunt Jana!

Yummy, Healthy Protein Bites

My new favorite healthy snack are these protein bites. I got them from a friend and they are awesome (thank you Sadie and Mary!)! My kids love them and even Luke, who loves no bake cookies, thought this was a great substitute for them. Now you too can enjoy them! Here's the recipe:

2 1/4 cups peanut butter
1 cup Agave Nectar

Warm together in the microwave and mix well. Then add:

3 cups Quick Oats
3/4 cup craisins
3/4 cups slivered almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 scoops any protein powder (I used chocolate)
1 Tbsp flax seed (OPTIONAL)

Mix well and put in a mini muffin tin. Makes about 44.