When in Rome, do as the Romans

Eat their food...

(This one's for you, Mom)

drink their water....

... and enjoy their scenery

A few other things I have learned in these past two days:

Church in Italian + Jet lag is not a good combo. But we enjoyed it nonetheless.

I learned that I have a phobia of enclosed spaces. Especially the hot enclosed spaces leading to the top of St. Peters.

And no, my camera isn’t tilted- it’s the walls!

However, 600 steps later, the view was definitely worth it.
Even after going to St. Peter’s a few times, the sheer size of it still amazes me!

We even have a great view of it from our hotel

Another thing I’ve learned is that I think I like taking pictures of objects and buildings more than of people. So Marissa, these are for you.

at the Forum

at theVatican

The obelisk at St. Peter's square

Lampost at St. Peters

Leaving on a jet plane...

Well, I've officially packed my suitcase for the eighth.. and probably final time this summer.
I'll be calling this place home for the next three months.

Here's the school that we'll all be going to - and the blog of our program.

But don't worry, I won't be completely out of commission. I'm familiarizing myself with the world of cyber communication... meaning skype and webcams. It's a whole new realm for me!
Oh yeah, and I plan on making many more blog posts in the near future!
Wish me Luck!
Ciao!

Kansas City

I've been lucky enough to make it out to Kansas City quite a bit this summer to visit Nick and Aaron who are there working for Platinum. You might not think Kansas City has a lot to offer, but I love it more and more every time I go. On Sunday afternoon, Nick and I drove downtown to Union Station. It's a very historic restored train station that now houses lots of museums and restaurants. It's really beautiful inside.

I didn't take this- but this is what it looks like from the outside

We drove over to the Nelson-Atkins Museum which is also in downtown KC. The museum was closed by the time we got there, but there is an awesome sculpture park that we got to see.

Contemporary art....





Nick's self-photography skills


and a personal favorite....

Paris

I had been planning a trip with my dad to Paris for a couple months. But, at the last minute, (the day before actually), Scotty and I decided to leave a day earlier to navigate the streets of Paris on our own for a day. Otherwise, we would have only had one afternoon there with my dad on his layover.

We got on the non-stop from SLC-CDG. And ten hours later... we landed. LOVED the fact that we didn't have a layover in Atlanta. Very Convenient. So with our map of the metro, map of the city, and help from google maps of course, we hopped on the metro, rode about an hour into paris, and walked a couple blocks to our hotel. We were lucky to get to stay in my dad's crew hotel-The Novotel- it's about three blocks down from the Eiffel Tower.
We spent the rest of the day touring the city by foot. I think we must have walked at least seven or eight miles. We took the metro to Notre Dame, and by the end of the day we were finally back at the hotel. Our feet hurt so bad! But it was definitely worth it.
Here are some highlights:
Notre Dame

The Louvre

Arc De Triomphe

Our diet consisted of: Crepes, French Bread, Cheese, Yogurt and Orangina. That's about it.

One of the most beautiful sights in Paris! I think they should keep it blue year-round.

Sacre Coeur with Dad

And possibly the coolest part of the trip... we took a segway tour! It was my dad's idea and turned out to be SO much fun- even in the rain. I highly recommend it! Notice the stylish florescent vests- we had to wear them because it was a "night tour." I'll take a segway over walking any day- even if I have to wear a tacky vest. ha!

In front of Napoleon's tomb.

Helping Dad in the cockpit just before leaving Paris

Here are some fun pictures that I took for my sister to play around with. They turned out great thanks to her amazing photoshop abilities!

The Opera

Notre Dame

Lake Powell

Out of all of the places I've been in the world, Lake Powell definitely tops the list. Even after being there for a week, I still can't get over how beautiful it is! Our friend Linda Perkes and her family invited us to stay on their houseboat with the Gregorys, another family from their ward. There were ALOT of teenagers on board. Between the boat and the two jet skis, there was always something fun to do. The weather was perfect the entire time were there, and of course, the water temperature was AMAZING! My brother and I slept in the boat every night and it was so fun to just gaze at the stars for hours. I'm not quite sure if I'm a fan of bats though. Anyway, my family woke up every morning at dawn to get the "glass" before all of the other boats came out on the water. I think mornings at lake powell are some of the most amazing. Pictures don't do them justice!

Perfect wakeboarding water. Waking up early is definitely worth it.

Our house boat was parked at the very end of Moke Canyon- here's a few pictures of what we saw every day..
One of the mornings that took my breath away. Just as the sun was coming up, there was a full rainbow on the other side of the sky. I wish I could have had a panoramic camera!

Scotty is starting to become quite the little boating expert. He probably drove the boat half the time we were there. We're pretty sure he's about ready to pull a back flip on the wakeboard... probably even the air chair too.


My parents are champs. My dad's still wakeboarding, but is really starting to love his airchair. He can go for miles on that thing! And then, my mom finally got up on the wakeboard- we were all pretty excited for her.


And then there's me.... even though I don't quite have the guts like my little brother, I still enjoy my time on the wakeboard.. and the airchair.


Our last night there we took a group trip up to Forgotten Canyon to see the indian ruins.
On the way back there was an amazing view of an almost-full moon next to the red cliffs. So pretty!