Lakes, mountains, castles...

...all picturesque in the snow - what more could we ask for?

A few shots of the gorgeous lakes we visited:





Check out the reflection in this one!




And, of course, how could we not love the Alps?



Todd and Dad went hiking in these amazing mountains - and they weren't the only ones: apparently Slovenes love to hike YEAR-ROUND. Everywhere you go, you see people setting off with those long hiking sticks that look kind of like ski poles. It made me admire them for really taking advantage of the opportunity to live in such a lovely place.






Finally, you can't go to Europe without seeing a castle or two (I think we saw three). Doesn't my Dad look handsome next to this drawbridge-style entrance: Mom's knight-in-shining-armor. ;)







I figured I'd also include the view from the castle pictured above.



I bet you can see why Slovenia is considered Europe's best kept secret.


P.S. Tomorrow we'll finish up these trip posts with baby pictures and skiing shots...

My two favorite missionaries

This trip reminded me of how lucky I am to have such awesome parents. Sometimes when they feel a little sad that they cannot be with us for big events (like births, graduations, etc.) while they are away, I just remind them that being on a mission is the very BEST thing they could be doing for me right now. Their sacrifice brings blessings not only to them but to their kids & grandkids as well - blessings that I certainly couldn't do without. So thanks, Mom and Dad!




We timed our visit so that one event Mom and Dad wouldn't have to miss after all was Anndra's baby blessing.




I really enjoyed attending their branch and meeting all the wonderful people they serve with on a regular basis. Being in a country where the church is still so 'young' (the very first Slovene to ever be baptized is a member of their branch)... was a great experience because you can feel their pioneer spirit.

It snowed SO MUCH the Saturday night that we were there. We were afraid church would be canceled and figured we'd just have the blessing in Mom and Dad's apartment. Thankfully, it stopped in time for the roads to be cleared - and I'm glad because that Sunday was definitely a highlight of the trip!




Now, just as a side note: tomorrow's Slovenia post is going to be more of the beautiful places we saw - but I have to confess that by "we" I mostly mean Todd. It was so cold that when we went sight-seeing, Mom and I usually stayed in the warm car with the baby while Dad and Todd tromped out into the wind and snow to take pictures. Although, as you can probably tell from the pic below, my honey was LOVING that weather.




There were even a couple of days that we three girls just stayed home while the boys went to play. I've told a lot of my friends here in Florida that it was the best vacation of my life - I think that is because I got to do what I needed more than anything else in the world: eat, nap, chat with my Mom, and have time to just love my baby.

attempting to blog our trip to Europe

Hello everyone. I've been trying to sit down and post some pics of our Slovenia adventure for almost two weeks now - seriously, where does the time go??? So I think I'm going to have to do it in chunks because I never seem to have more than 5 minutes at a time to work on this - such is life!

Here goes... today's chunk will be pics of Slovenia in general - it is a beautiful, beautiful place. So very glad I got to see it.

Our Baby is 2 months old!

Sweet little Anndra turned 2 months yesterday - and to celebrate I'm finally posting a few more pictures.

Halloween Happiness

Parker decided to be a GI Joe character this year - I just love how kids pose when they're in costume.



Lincoln was a cute little Superman. Parker was thrilled to finally have a sibling old enough to trick-or-treat with him.




Our little pumpkin stuck her tongue out for her picture. :)




All 3 kids:




Lincoln digging through his loot at the end of the night:

Parker turns 7!!!

We had a fun SPY themed birthday party for Parker this year. He invited five friends. Here are the party guests from left to right in the picture below: Ian, Parker, Zane, Todd, Zoe (Ian's sister), and Sincere.



We told the kids that they would be training to become secret agents. Each game was a "training exercise" and each prize was a different "spy gadget" so that by the end of the party they each had a complete secret agent kit in their own "top secret briefcase."



For example, the picture above shows an exercise where they were training to infiltrate a high security room in enemy headquarters that was armed with laser beams. The only way to deactivate the lasers was to follow each one to its point of origin. So the kids had a blast winding the string around the little cardboard handles as they climbed under and over each other's "lasers."

Another training exercise involved using the dress-up clothes to disguise themselves so that no one would recognize them when they were spying. (Sorry that we didn't get a picture of you too, Zane).












Our spy version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey used a big red target and suction cup darts.




After all the games, it was cake time!



The birthday boy watching us light the candles.



We even dressed Anndra up for the occasion.

4 weeks old!

The past 4 weeks have FLOWN by! Our little one is growing fast. Here are a few pictures taken during the three weeks between bringing Anndra home from the hospital and Halloween.