mclaws family reunion

This weekend we went up North for a couple days for the McLaws Family Reunion in Pinedale, AZ.  It was a short trip, but turned out to be really fun.  The weather was beautiful, being up in the pines was lovely, and we made a lot of fun, new memories (except maybe Steven who ended up twisting his ankle doing the "Kilts on Stilts" competition...)

Showing off the "man shorts" underneath the kilts.

Faith modeling the utilikilts we all got. 

 How many Scots does it take to put up a tent??

 When we arrived, John kept running around picking up sticks for the "the fire"

 J.R. bought a claymore.  "Are we going to pillage?  I have a sword!"

 The family crest we came up with for this weekend!

 Enjoying some Cool Ranch Doritos at the Friday night talent show

 The best MC ever!

 Real Highland dancing!

 Mom composed an original poem to explain how the name McLaws came to be.  It's awesome!

 McLaws family singers.  They were the best of the night!

 Learning how to do a Highland dance

What better way to do a flag raising ceremony than with a cannon??

 Uncle Frank reciting Patrick Henry's famous "give me liberty, or give me death" speech.  

 Cooking breakfast.  Why does food always taste so much better when you're camping??

 Practicing for a repise of last night's song (it was so popular they were asked to do an encore at lunch)

 John had the best seat in the house!

Grandpa McLaws (Grandma ended up staying home because she wasn't feeling well. Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and I stayed at the Overgaard cabin Friday night instead of camping with everyone else.)

 We got some drizzle and a few sprinkles Saturday afternoon.  It was so nice!

 After Steven twisted his ankle :(

 John loves marshmallows!  He found the bag they had in the car and was walking around just smelling them and having everyone else smell them.  "Smell them!  They smell REALLY good!!"

Watching J.R., Papa, and Uncle David play horseshoes out in the drizzle.  Good times!!

confession wednesday

In the last three days I've: eaten a cheeseburger, a medium fry, half a loaf of bread (as toast), half a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, and two 20 oz Dr. Pepper's.

So much for being a vegan and staying away from gluten.

It's been a rough week.

I hate hormones and PMS.

pioneer day

We celebrated Pioneer Day a couple days early this week.  Mom had everyone come to FHE on Monday dressed in pioneer clothes.  Luckily we have some from the different treks that family members have been on over the years.  We sang pioneer songs at FHE and Mom told a couple stories about some of our pioneer ancestors.

I am so grateful for all my pioneer ancestors!  We sang a song on Sunday during Sacrament Mtg, and then we sang it again at FHE.  I love this song, but this year especially it has really touched me.  It's been in my head this week.  I keep thinking about it, and I echo the words.  I bless and honor the pioneers (past and present) in my family, and all those who followed the call of the prophet and the Lord and did whatever they were asked.

THEY THE BUILDERS OF THE NATION

They, the builders of the nation,
Blazing trails along the way;
Stepping-stones for generations
Were their deeds of ev'ry day.
Building new and firm foundations,
Pushing on the wild frontier,
Forging onward, ever onward,
Blessed, honored Pioneer!

Service ever was their watch-cry;
Love became their guiding star;
Courage, their unfailing beacon,
Radiating near and far.
Ev'ry day some burden lifted,
Ev'ry day some heart to cheer,
Ev'ry day some hope the brighter,
Blessed, honored Pioneer!

As an ensign to the nation,
They unfurled the flag of truth,
Pillar, guide, and inspiration
To the hosts of waiting youth.
Honor, praise, and veneration
To the founders we revere!
List our song of adoration,
Blessed, honored Pioneer!

revised bucket list and new goals

Now that I'm back from my vacation, it's time to update and revise my bucket list (since I've now crossed some things off of it) and to make some new weight loss and fitness goals.


My Bucket List

Stand at the top of the Eiffel Tower
Learn to scuba dive
Visit the pyramids in Egypt
Learn a language
Visit the Colosseum
Own a BMW
Drive a 1968 red Corvette Stingray
Get a stamp in my passport


Weight Loss and Fitness Goals

Lose 50 more pounds by 12/31/2013
Go to gym three days a week
Complete Color Run 5k in November
Do Slim in Six DVD three days a week

home sweet home

Last leg of this fantastic journey I've been on the last two weeks!

I am so incredibly grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime experience I've been able to have.  Even though not everything turned out exactly as I wanted it to, and we had a lot of...interesting experiences, I wouldn't trade a second of it.  The things I've seen, the history I've experienced, the memories I now have are all priceless to me.  I can't wait to get home and put together my scrapbook and blog about this trip so I can always remember!

Last night we finally went to bed about 11pm, Utah time.  I was SO TIRED, but probably only slept about 5 hours.  My body was achey from our travels, it was a new and unfamiliar bed, and Kristy had a really loud clock ticking in her room.  But at least I got a few hours in.  I'm going to try to stay up all day today and then probably go to bed early tonight so I can get back on my normal sleep schedule as soon as possible.

Luckily, I don't have to go back to work until Monday (which I planned on purpose), so I have the next few days to sleep and recover.

I woke up one time last night, it was still dark and I sat up in bed, still half asleep, and kind of freaked out because I didn't know where I was.  Eventually my brain woke up enough for me to remember I was at Kristy's apartment and I went back to sleep for a little bit.

We got up about 7:15am, got ready, and left her apartment to get me to the Provo airport on time.  We stopped at Carl's Jr. for a quick, unhealthy, non-vegan, non-gluten free, All American breakfast.  I seriously need to go on a juice cleanse or something the next 3 days to detox from this trip and get back on track with my weight loss goals.

We got to the tiny Provo airport with plenty of time to spare.  Just a couple more hours and I'll be home!

I wonder what amazing travel adventure I'll go on next...

Julia and I are planning a trip to Orlando, FL/Disneyworld next year sometime, and she's looking into doing a study abroad semester in Ireland next summer.  Maybe I'll fly over and meet her when she's done.  That would be so cool!

When we were planning this trip and bought our tickets, Kristy told me I would want to travel all the time once we were done.  She was right.  Granted, I don't want to travel anywhere right this second, but I definitely want to start planning my next trip.  There were several things we didn't get to do in Paris that I would love to do = the Opera house, go back to the Louvre on a day when it's not a million and a half degrees and when there aren't so many tourists, etc.  There was also a church called Sacre Coeur, or "the balcony of Paris" that several people told us to go to, but we ran out of time.  Plus, our hotel was so awesome I want to go back.  So, Paris is definitely on my list of places to go/go back to.  Ireland is on the list, along with Scotland and England.  I want to go to Australia, go on an Alaskan cruise, and Egypt (although this last one may have to wait until the Millennium when it's not so scary and unsafe...).  There were things in Rome that we didn't get to see, but right now I don't care and don't think I'll ever go back.  Maybe some other places in Italy - like Florence, or Venice, or into the Tuscan countryside.  I'd also like to go to Switzerland and up into The Alps.  There are so many beautiful and amazing placed in this world to visit and see!

The flight from Provo to Mesa was uneventful and quick (relatively speaking compared to the long flights yesterday).  It was so good to finally be home!

endings are always sad

The adventure is coming to an end.  I was really sad and didn't want to leave Paris last weekend, but today I am anxious to go home.

We had to get up really early this morning in order to check out and be ready for the driver that was coming to pick us up and take us to the airport.  (The best money we spent on this trip was getting drivers to and from the airport in both cities!)  The alarm wen toff at 6am.  WAY too early!  I drug myself out of bed and got dressed.  We went down to get some breakfast then finally were all packed up.  We checked out and found our driver was already waiting for us, even though we were ready before the 8am pick-up time.  This morning's driver was much more personable and friendly than the one who picked us up at the airport on Saturday.  He asked how our trip was and we talked about the things we'd seen.  He showed us a few more sights on our way out of town and pointed our others.  Very nice.

Once at the airport it took a little figuring out to find where we were supposed to check in.  Eventually we found the right line then made our way to security.  Holy long lines!  The Rome airport is the craziest, most disorganized mess I've ever seen in my entire life!!  But, we made it through even though they wanted to search Kristy's carry-on bag.

We made a pit stop at the bathroom, and then at a couple gift shops to make a few last minutes souvenir purchases then headed down to our gate.  We got a really good panini at a sandwich place by our gate then stood in line with everyone else going to Boston today (we had a 3 hour layover in Boston before flying to Salt Lake).

Finally, they started letting us board...a bus.

Once again, we were on a bus, this time going to our plane out on the tarmac.  We found our seat.  Turns out we were not sitting next to each other, but we were the only two in our row of 4 seats.  It was REALLY nice to have so much space and not feel crowded and squished up next to the person beside me.  We both slept for a couple hours, after they fed us (an interesting veggie lasagna and some fruit...kind of good but mostly gross...).  Then we watched the two movies they showed: "Jack Reacher" and "I Don't Know How She Does It."  I liked the second one.  I did not like the first one.

They fed us another meal about an hour after the second film (if you can call it a meal) of a small piece of yellow cake with apple pieces in it and powdered sugar on top and a BIG piece of foccia bread with some sort of shredded cheeses and veggies on top.  It was fine, but at that point I was hungry for real food, since I hadn't eaten very much of the lasagna earlier.  I played a couple games of Candy Crush on my Ipod then we finally landed in Boston.

Finally back in the U.S.A!!!

So glad to almost be home!

We went through customs and got our bags rechecked for our connecting flight to Salt Lake.  While at customs the Boarder Control Agent was asking me different questions about my trip and I started freezing up and having a brain fart!  He asked me how long our trip had been and I couldn't remember!  I just kept thinking, "Don't ask me anything else.  I'm not a criminal I swear!  I'm just not a very good test taker!!"  Finally, he let me through.  Whew!

I've never been to Boston before.  Now I can say I have.

We discovered, after going through all the customs stuff and rechecking of our bags that our flight from Rome had landed on one end of the airport and the terminal for our flight to Salt Lake was clear across at the other end.  It felt like we walked across the entire city of Boston to get to our second flight!  On the way we mad a pit stop, I bought a magnet to show I've been to Boston, and we got some dinner.  We decided to go to Fuddruckers.  It was nice to have such a long time between flights so we could take our time and not feel like we had to run from one gate to the other.

Something random and unique about the Boston airport:  There is a big, white, wooden rocking chair at every gate by the other seats.  Weird.

Our flight out got changed to a different gate down the terminal due to a weather delay with the flight that was at the gate before our flight.  At this point, however, we were both more than a little punch drunk due to sleep deprivation and we were getting giggly at the gate.  People were probably wondering if we were drunk.  Our flight from Boston to Salt Lake was delayed about 20 minutes and was SUPER crowded!  I felt like we were back on those trains going to Pompeii where we were squished in like sardines.  Remember how we just had an entire row to ourselves on the way over here from Rome?  That was nice.  Once we were on the plane we taxied for a little bit, then were told over the intercom by the captain that we would be sitting for about 15 minutes due to traffic and waiting time for us to take off.  UGH!  Just let me go home!

At this point we'd been up for about 18.5 hours.  I was exhausted.  Next time I do this I am NOT having any layovers and I'm flying first class so I don't have to worry about being in someone's bubble and so I have one of those cool chairs that turns into a bed for overnight/cross-Atlantic flights.  The plane was warm as we sat on the tarmac, but we've survived a week of places that were way hotter than it, so it wasn't that bad.  I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep for about a week, but I knew if I did I wouldn't be able to sleep when we got to Salt Lake and back to Kristy's apartment.  I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to getting home tomorrow and being able to sleep in my own bed again!!

Things I will never take for granted again after this trip:
-Being some place where everyone speaks my language
-Never having to worry about someone pick pocketing me, or snatching my purse

I'm going to have to go through a serious detox once I'm home.  I have eaten nothing but gluten and animal products for the last week and a half.  It's been awesome!  But, I need to get back to my usual routine which isn't going to be fun.  I'm interested in seeing what the scale says when I finally get home.  I wonder how much damage I did on this trip...

We finally took off but there was a SCREAMING baby in the row in front of us the ENTIRE time.  Annoying.  But, I tried to remain patient because I know how hard it can be to travel with little ones.  Remind me never to fly when I have a baby.

Have I mentioned how tired I was at this point??

This was probably the WORST flight of my life!  Five hours has never gone by so slowly, and the screaming child didn't help matters.  They did show a movie, "Admission," which I wanted to see and started watching but I was SO TIRED, I couldn't keep my eyes opened and ended up falling asleep about halfway through.  I slept for maybe 45 minutes, then was woken up again by the crying baby.

I've been awake now for 23 hours.

My restless legs are twitchy and being annoying.

My ankles are swollen.

I'm dirty.

And I wanted to strangle this screaming child.

Luckily, we eventually landed but then we still had to wait for our bags and Kristy's roommate to pick us up.  Finally we made it back to Kristy's apartment in Pleasant Grove.  I threw an outfit into the washer so I wouldn't totally stink everyone out on the plane to Mesa tomorrow and we both crashed.  Finally get to sleep!!

the vatican

We had plans to be up at 8:30am this morning, but when the alarm went off, we hit the snooze for another half hour.  I tried to go back to sleep for a little bit, but someone was doing some sort of maintenance work right outside our door--drilling something.  It was annoying.  So, I just got up.  We got dressed - sans make-up--and went down to breakfast so we didn't miss it.  After we ate, we went back up to our room to finish getting ready for the day.

Finally, we headed out with the plan that we were only going to go to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel, then come back and take it easy for the rest of the day.  Here's how things went down:

We took the bus from our hotel to the train terminal then got on the hop on/hop off bus to take us to St. Peter's Square.  Once there, we ran the gauntlet of street peddlers trying to get us to buy their wares: sunglasses, hats, umbrellas, purses, and almost any other touristy knick-knacks you can think of.  We got our passes to be part of the next group going to the Vatican Museum.  While we waited we went into the souvenir shop next door to the tour group office.  I got a magnet and we bought fans because it is so freakishly hot here!

Finally our tour group assembled and we followed the guide clear around the entire complex to the museum entrance which, turns out, is located at the back of the basilica.  Ugh.  I was not prepared for that kind of hike today.  There was a group of American teenagers in line behind us that were SUPER annoying.  They were being typical teenagers: loud and obnoxious, and were complaining loudly about everything.

Dear American Teenagers Traveling in Foreign Countries,
Stop it.  You're making the rest of us look bad.

We finally made it into the museum and past the security check.

We made a pit stop at the bathroom then headed up stairs, thinking we would just head to the chapel, marvel at the beauty and wonder of it, and call it good.  Turns out, you can't do that.  They have the whole thing set up in such a way that you HAVE to walk through the ENTIRE museum before getting to see the chapel which is at the very end.

Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of really cool statues, tapestries, and paintings that we saw, but at this point I am so beyond museumed out that I couldn't really take the time to stop and appreciate everything like I should have.  Plus, we were hot, sweaty, thirsty, and hungry!  By this point it was almost 2pm and we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.  Eventually we made our way through the seemingly never-ending maze that is the Vatican Museum, and made it to the Sistine Chapel.  Gotta say...kind of underwhelming.

It wasn't as awe-inspiring as I thought it would, or should, have been.  Part of that was probably because of the aforementioned hunger, thirst, and fatigue.  It is an impressive sight, don't get me wrong, but I was expecting to LOVE it.  And I didn't.  That's how I've felt about a lot of the things here in Italy.  This part of the trip has been kind of a let down.  I LOVED the Colosseum and would have spent the whole time we were here there, if I could have, and Pompeii was really cool, but everything else has been underwhelming.  I LOVED Paris and would go back in a heartbeat.  Rome and Italy...I'm not sure I'll ever come back.  Which is sad.

It was also interesting to me that at this "holy" place, they allow any and everyone to walk through it.  There were little gift kiosks all over the place, and a giant cafeteria and pizzeria where people can eat.  Very different from the holy places of worship we have.

After we spent a few moments among the crowds in the chapel, we tired to exit the museum--through more of a maze.  Finally we found the pizzeria and stopped to get a slice.  We ate then left.  As we were walking back to the tour bus that would take us back to the train terminal, we stopped and bought a couple souvenirs from a corner booth.  I got a really cool gladiator helmet key chain that I LOVE.  We also stopped and got some ice cream.  Not as good as the gelato from the other night, but cold and good nonetheless.

While we were walking, a Scottish guy asked us if we wanted a guided tour.  "Ladies!  Do you speak English?  Scottish?  Irish?  Welsh?  New Zealand?  Australian?"

We had been ignoring the panhandlers all day and just walked past the guy, but as he continue listing English speaking countries we laughed and looked back at him.  Then he kept trying to get us to stop.

"I'm rich and single!"

We kept laughing and walking.

We finally got back to the tour bus, but they wouldn't let us on with our ice cream so we had to quickly eat it while standing on the sidewalk.  While doing so, we noticed the bus driver and tour guide were both dressed professionally in suits (something they haven't been in all the time we've been here and been riding the bus), and there were two guys with camera equipment.

Curiouser and curiouser...

We finished our ice cream and got on board.  We sat in the very back and ended up sitting by a very nice, older couple from India.  We were sitting and fanning ourselves with our new fans we had bought when the camera guy came up to us and filmed us for a few seconds.  It was weird.  He didn't say anything to us, so we have no idea what it was for.  Maybe the tour company is doing some new advertisements?  *shrugs*

We laughed about it then started talking to the Indian couple.  They were in Rome with some of their children and grandchildren.  They were in London, now Rome, then were headed to Amsterdam, then back to London before flying  back to India.  The man kept telling Kristy how pretty she was and they both told us we needed to come to India to visit.  He talked all about his career as a pilot in the Indian Air Force and all the languages he knows.  It was fascinating.  I think that has been one of my favorite things about this trip - all the people we've met from all over.  This morning, while we were waiting for our tour, we met a lady from Sydney, Australia.  We talked about some of the places we've been around town and commiserated about the heat and humidity.  We asked her if it was humid in Australia.  She said only in February.  Apparently that's when it's the most humid.  Good to know!

Everyone we've met has been so nice and it always seems that when we're tired, or cranky, or something hasn't worked out quite like we hope it would, we meet somebody that makes us laugh and we forget about what went wrong.  It's been so great!

We finally got back to the train terminal after a much longer than normal ride on the tour bus (I think the guys with the cameras were taking a lot of extra shots of the sights as we drove by), and found we had just missed our bus back to the hotel.  So...we decided to go into the terminal to see if they had a gelato shop since what we'd gotten earlier was not the real thing.  We didn't find one so instead decided to get a McFlurry from McDonald's.  I got the brownie one and Kristy got one with Smarties (which are not the same thing as Smarties in the US...they're like M&Ms but have flavors to them).  Once again the McDonald's over here is weird.  They just filled up a cup with ice cream and sprinkled the brownies (which were itty-bitty little freeze dried fake chocolate things) and some cocoa powder on top.

Dear McDonald's in Italy,
You're doing it wrong.  Stop it.

We ate our ice cream as we walked back out to the bus stop.  Finally, our bus came and we rode it for the last time to our hotel.  We decompressed in our room for a few hours - Kristy took a shower, and I repacked my stuff.  Then we went down to dinner for the last time at the hotel restaurant.  We told our waiter that it was our last night and he stopped and looked at us funny then said, "You haven't watched the news?  Turn on the TV.  The airport is closed.  There's supposed to be 4 meters of snow tomorrow.  No good."

We laughed.

Then he said, "You have to stay for 6 more months.  Call your bank!"

LOL!!

We ate another amazing dinner of authentic pasta and then decided to splurge and get dessert.  We each ordered a piece of chocolate cake.

Here's the thing with the desserts we've tried on this trip...they've all been disappointing except for the gelato and the cake we got in Versailles.  Sigh...

Tomorrow we've got to be up and packed, ready to be picked up for our transfer to the airport early.  I'm said this vacation is almost over.  It's been AMAZING and so incredible, but I'm ready to be home in my own bed, and not living out of a suitcase!

Steps walked: 11,092