Las Vegas, Cologne, and Paris

I haven't written a blog post in a very long time. I decided that it would be easier to load all the pictures first, then to do the writing. Now prepare to hear all about our trip! We flew out of Las Vegas because it was $500 cheaper for each of us. We were all about saving money where we could. We left late Thursday night and drove to St. George where we stayed the night. We had our last American breakfast at Village Inn and did some last minute shopping for things that we needed to get before the trip. Then we were on our way down the strip so we could get some pictures with the fake Eiffel Tower. We were so hot and just ready to get on our way. We hurried to Calli and Aaron's house to drop off our car and head to the airport. They were so sweet to take us and pick us up. It was so fun to see them and their cute new baby Olivia.

M&M World 

We tried to wait for the water show, but didn't end up

having enough time. 

The fake Eiffel 

We were on our way. Little did Whitney know 

that we flew with a German Airline company and when

she asked for water it wouldn't be what she thought. haha. 

It was such a long flight. Luckily, all of us got some sleep and were able to watch some good Disney movies. We had a long trip ahead of us. Our plane was an hour late and a member was waiting at the airport and he was ready to go when we finally arrived. We had to do a little sight seeing in Cologne. Who knows when we are going to get back there again.

Cologne Cathedral 

Most people don't like this window. It was built 

in the last couple of years and everyone thinks it

is too modern. 

This is one of the normal window and what the 

Germans are used to seeing. 

This is always under construction because it is so old and 

has so many things that needs to be fixed. They say that when

the cathedral is finished, or not under construction, it will be the end of 

the world. haha.

So windy!!

This is the "Love Lock Bridge" As we were touring throughout all of 

Europe we saw these all over the place, but this was by far the best 

one. There were so many locks and one of the first places that they 

started the tradition of writing the love of your life's name on the lock with 

yours and locking it to the bridge. Then finally throwing the key into the 

river. It is supposed to make your love last forever. They were scared

 that the bridge was going to collapse because of all the extra weight. 

Cologne Ward members. The Nowak's threw a big BBQ 

party for Spencer so he could see all the members in the one day 

that we were there. Such a fun group. They were so sweet to us the 

whole time and made us feel so welcome. 

Stop number 1: Cologne, Germany

Our first train ride to Paris. We didn't know what we 

got ourselves into. 

After only being there for five minutes a young man came up to us and asked if we wanted help buying our tickets. I figured why not? People had told me how mean people are in Paris and someone was already being nice to us. I like to give people the benefit of doubt. Boy did I learn my lesson. He scammed us! He did some weird thing where he bought it on a card and then our tickets only worked once. I was so mad and went to get help from a information center and she wouldn't even speak English to me. You work at a help desk you are supposed to be willing to help! After I cooled off a little we were on our way to the Eiffel Tower. We waited three hours to go up. It was really cool from the top, but it is something you only have to do once. Next time we will remember our jackets out of our bags. 

Eiffel Tower

On top of the Eiffel Tower. So high and we were so cold! 

We were all freezing and headed back to hotel to get our jackets. We found a restaurant and got a quick bite to eat. Then it was off to see the next thing. 

The only thing that I could we could read on the menu was a burger 

so that is what we got. No one wanted to help us, not even the 

restaurant. Just speak English, please!

Cruise down the Seine River to see the city from a different view. 

More pictures with the Eiffel Tower.....

Finding Henry was how we knew we were in the right spot to 

go on the boat. We had to take a picture before we left. 

Notre Dame at night 

We walked an hour to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle. It looks a lot 

closer than it actually is. It was well worth the walk and we made it just in time. 

We were very tired and ready for bed. 

Stop number 2: Paris, France 

We woke up the next morning and headed to Notre Dame to see the inside because it was closed the night before. It was very interesting to say the least. There were a lot of people and it was very dark. The best part of finding the gargoyles instead of angels that the people built because they weren't getting paid enough. So cleaver. 

Notre Dame 

They were trying to have mass while all the tourists were walking 

around. How can you feel the spirit in a setting like this? It was so

weird for me! 

Then we were off the the train station. Apparently there are four main train stations in Paris. We had no idea so we thought we had 20 minutes to spare when we got there, but little did we know we weren't even close. I pulled out the train tickets and started asking anyone I could for help. They pointed us in the right direction and we ran with our big packs. We saw the stupid boy that scammed us the day before and it was a good thing that we were in a hurry. I was not happy with him. We got to the right train station with two minutes to find our train, no we didn't find it. It was game over, we were stuck in Paris! We went to the ticket desk and the nice man must have seen that I wasn't in the best mood and was totally gone. He switches us to the next train for free. He kind of changed my mind about French people just for a minute. Spencer went to call his friend that was picking us up to tell him that we were going to be late. He couldn't figure out the pay phone and the nice man let him use his cell phone. Then it really changed my mind about the French. There are nice people, you just have to look a little deeper. Maybe that is why we got stuck there so I could learn that. I just know I was happy to be on my way to Switzerland! 

Kellie & Andy Are Here

Kellie was in town last weekend and we had such a good time together. Sometimes it seems like she never leaves when she is gone and we just pick up where we left off when she is here. We started out getting some lunch at my favorite place, Siegfried's. They had never been there before so we decided to give it a try. Then we decided to go shopping at City Creek. We helped Magen get some new cute clothes. After we were all tired and Spencer was ready to be done we started heading home. As we were driving the car right next to us got hit by a car that ran a red light and the car tried to correct and almost hit us! I was just sitting there eating my waffles and all of a sudden everyone was honking and slamming on their breaks. Good thing Spencer was driving because he always starts out so slow, which made the car hit someone else and we were hidden behind them. That is a close call that we didn't need right before Europe! We had to stop and wait for the cops so that we could be a witness. Meanwhile, we met up with Kell and Magen who were lost trying to find our house. We finally made it home an hour later. We just sat around a talked for a long time and ate some dinner. We also waxed our noses so we would be all ready for Europe.

We also headed to Plain City on Sunday to have family dinner with the Mckenzies. I hadn't seen them for a long time so it was fun to talk to them and just have a relaxing night. We took a few pictures before we left. Thanks for spending so much time with us Kell and Andy. It was fun to see you guys again.

Hardest Hike of My Life

There are a lot of pictures in this post, but for a very good reason. I went on the hardest hike of my life this weekend and I don't want everyone else to have to go through that! If you look at the pictures in this post you will get a good idea of what it looked like without feeling like you are going to die with every step. I am not over exaggerating or anything. With every step my body was telling me that I needed to stop. I wanted to see the view from the top and if you know me at all you know that I don't give up once I have started something. The name of the hike is Twin Peaks. It is located up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Here are a few facts about the hike:  it is 10.7 miles long, we did half of the hike in snow where you take a half step because you slide in the snow everytime you step, the best part of the hike is sliding back on your butt because the snow is too hard to climb down, it took us 11.5 hours, it is straight up the whole time and it never levels out for you to take a break, you gain 5,000 feet from the start of the hike to the top of the peak, because you gain so many feet the look the the hike changes every hour of the hike, you can see all the way from Provo to Brigham City once you reach the top, and it is the highest peak in the Salt Lake Valley.

Our first stop by the waterfall.

The Beaver Dams

Good old "red hat" just chillin' and eating some lunch.

I thought this was the stopping point, but it kept going.
This is called The Ridge.

At the very top if you look close in the background you can see
the Great Salt Lake.

This is why it took us so long. We had to climb up
straight rock wall at the end of the hike to get to the top.

Showing off our wet bums.

Spencer scraped his leg on a rock while trying to slide on his butt. Ouch!