trio

we made a girls lunch date last week in salt lake, and trio was our place. (i told my beehives that i went to lunch earlier that day with my mom to cafe trio, and they thought it was a crazy cafe rio wanna-be. love em) the food was exceptional and i can't believe i have been missing out on this place. the salmon was amazing, and my butternut squash ravioli was so refreshing. i will surely be getting the rosemary flatbread appetizer again next time. yum.

such a princess

he couldn't take his eyes off that meatball for a pic

afterward we went next door to tulie bakery. it was a charming atmosphere-loved the brick walls, wooden tables and wall decor, and metal chairs. i thought it was good but am not dying to head go again.

it took us ten minutes to decide what to get at tulie, and at trio for that matter. isn't ordering food sometimes so hard?

if there is one thing i will miss in belgium it surely will be loved ones.

carpet of flowers

a few people have asked what i'm looking forward to doing in belgium, and i always say i want to see the castle where william tyndale was imprisoned and then killed in 1536 (you will remember that story from this past conference in his talk). it is only an hour from where we are living.

besides that, i haven't investigated much... until saturday. i googled images of brussles and these fantastic flower carpet pictures kept popping out. i thought it was a one time thing and was in awe of how pretty it was.

then a day later, i noticed that this flower carpet event happens every two years and the last time it happened was in 2008. i hunted down the date, and you can bet that this is where we will be on august 12, 2010!

ONE WEEK LEFT!

Good Things to Come

I've been a fan of this talk for years, and this author. Now that it is a film, it is fully amazing. Enjoy.

Its about time I tell ya

Here are three pics taken at the Belgium Airport almost one year ago. They had a future in them that we didn't know at the time...

our baggage

sleeping devin in front of a fav store

a store with a name fitting for me.

Why pics in this airport you ask?

well

big

news:

DEVIN AND I ARE MOVING TO BELGIUM IN AUGUST!

We are going for Devin's work. There is a factory an hour south of Brussels that Dev will take charge of. We plan to be there beginning of August til December. I got a work visa, and will work right alongside Devin. There is an apartment we will be staying in that the company owns in the same building as the factory. I can't wait to see it. The city is in the Walloon region, where French is the primary language. We are 2.5 hours from the Holland Temple.

I remember flying in to Belgium last year. It was early in the morning. There were green fields everywhere. The houses all resembled each other, and looked small and brown spotted with little blue pools. Then, I already had good vibes about the place because a friend has lived there and loved it. In the airport, three languages were spoken for any announcements made, one in French and one in Flemish(a French influenced dialect of Dutch) and of course English. Little did I know that the last country we traipsed around in, even if it was just for a wee three hour layover, on our way home from our backpacking rendezvous would be the next returning european destination for me and home for a little while. We know it won't be long term, at most about 6 months.

We are excited. We've felt the Lord supporting us. We feel humbled. We don't speak French-ahh! We have faith. We will miss our family terribly. We are excited for the challenge. We look forward to the missionary work. We are about two hours from Paris=we want and welcome visitors:) We've heard it is a beautiful country. We know that if we trust in God, all things will work together for our good.

On that note, there is much to be done in about a month. Namely, soak up America and family and see as many of you as possible before we leave! Gotta cram it in while we can!

girls camp and a bday

so girls camp was a success, even though i was mistaken many a time for one of the girls. i am enlivened and strengthened from the faith of others, not to mention how much i adore my sweet beehives. the scenery was a perfect retreat-yet glad to be home of course.

i got home on friday from camp and it was dev's birthday. toy story three in 3D, dinner with the fam, (check out devin's smile--wanna be nacho libre. he kills me), and perfect presents rounded off a great day. the weekend was spent in our sweet home, together and low key. can't ask for anything more.

no time

i leave for girls camp at 6 am tomorrow for four days. no showers. no cell phones. i sometimes long for that kind of simple life. sort of waldenesque. sounds grand to me. just wish i could get around the title "girls camp" and bring along devin:) guess we'll have to go camping on our own.

pic from interlocken switzerland. oh nine.

sunshine

we bid utah adios and went down to the sunshine-florida with the killpacks for a week vacation. though i had been to some of these places before-epcot, melbourne beach, and the temple were all firsts for me-and they were probably my favorites too. i love the weightless rise and fall of floating in ocean waves. i loved every second of the roller coaster rides too, and we crammed in our fair share. it was a week full of memories, humidity, torrential thunderstorms, waiting in lines, sunburns, sleeping in, nephews, food, and fun. thanks to dear parents for the trip.

next...

graduation and birthday both this past week! woooo. left our camera in provo for pictures so we crammed in a quick photo booth session on the actual birthday. it was spent perfectly-watching the sunset in the mountains and eating salad and sweet potato fries. bring on summer and the next stage of life!

polaroid

devin surprised me with a real polaroid camera the day before we left to europe. it was a deal and i've wanted to have polaroids adorn my house for some time now. it was perfect to get one before europe cause what better than to have polaroids of euro.

pic uno was soooooo exciting: devin showed me his newly finished chair, and we used the camera for the first time. i love how much giddiness it brings back.

pic dos we took in amsterdam. we brought the monster camera to europe and two rolls of film. we reasoned about 2-3 pics in each country. i was always asking devin if he thought each place would be a good shot for the polaroid. we found this old cobweb-ed bike on the side of the canal, the sun was setting. it was perfecto, we both knew this was the shot.

regretfully we must've bonked the camera around in our packs, and it stopped working for a sec. we reloaded the second roll and must've done it incorrectly. whatever the case, we have no more polaroids to document our travels abroad. sigh.

aren't you loving the weather? i wore a skirt sans leggins yesterday and today i have on my great grandmother's perfume. roses. yumm. life is good. happy saint pats!

getting antsy for

general conference is less than a month away and i cant say if i've ever been more excited. got this sweet message in an email daily gem from the church. it sparked more excitement. i can feel it in my bones-april is gonna be a good month.

"A few years ago, when Arturo Toscanini was musical director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in New York City, he had a Saturday afternoon radio broadcast. And one day he received in his mail a crumpled little note on some brownish paper which read:" 'Dear Mr. Toscanini, I am a lonely sheepherder in the mountains of Wyoming. I have two prized possessions: an old violin and a battery radio. And the batteries are getting weak and beginning to run down on my radio, and my violin is so out of tune I can't play it anymore. Would you please sound an A next Saturday on your program?'"The next week on the program, Arturo Toscanini announced: 'To a newfound friend in the mountains of Wyoming, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra is now, all together and in unison, going to sound a perfect A.' And they sounded the perfect A. Then that lonely little man was able to tune the A string and then the E string and the D and the G from that perfect A."Isn't it interesting to reflect in our own lives and in the lives of the many people who may hear me at this time—those whose violin or lives may be a little out of tune—that we are able to come to a general conference of the Church and hear the marvelous messages that are spoken?"