Interrupting Spain for a minute

Before I forget, I wanted to put up these cute, last pictures that we took while we were still in Utah. Yes, Alicia and I got to see our twinner girlies play together for a few minutes. It was so much fun to watch them wander around Scott and Alicia's house together, curiously playing with all Brielle's toys. They especially loved it when we put them in Brie's crib together. They thought they were putting on a show for us or something... tag-team comedians!
Both girls were at the end of a lot of revved up "family" time, so they were pretty tired and ready to sleep. But Brielle managed to show Samantha around for a while. Here she is showing Sam her new ball blowing toy. Sam didn't like the noise (remember how she's scared of loud noises that sound anything remotely like a vacuum), but after she saw Brielle wasn't afraid of it, she toughened up a bit and acted like she thought it was cool.

Here's Alicia and me, trying to get the girls to pose for a picture with us. As you can tell, it wasn't working. Samantha cried every time I tried to get the phone off her face, and Brielle had a hard time wanting to sit on Alicia's lap. Oh well.

And here's one of the two cute little baby bottoms together. We were all amazed at how much taller Samantha is than Brielle. (And we won't say anything to compare the amount of hair, will we?)

We had such a good time visiting with Alicia and Scott. It was a perfect way to end our visit home... only it was waaaaay too short, just like the rest of the trip! 

Córdoba -- la Mesquita

Our first stop in Spain was to Córdoba, a lovely village with cobbled streets and winding ally-ways. The central square of the town is a gorgeous, massive church/cathedral/mosque (not sure what to call it, actually) the official name is la Mesquita. It was built in the 13th century as a mosque, but later turned into a Christian church during the crusades. The architecture was fabulous, both outside and in.

Here's the front courtyard, notice the palms and the orange trees! Truly Mediterranean.
Okay, so this picture below is not about me (blurry, dark and not smiling), but about the gorgeous red and grey arches framing the building, hundreds of archways in perfect symmetry. (I made Brian put me in the picture after he took several without anyone, just because I like pictures with people... and I love to pose, of course). We could hardly see from one end to the other. Brian said that when this was a mosque, on specific prayer days, the entire building-- as well as the courtyard outside-- would have been filled with people praying on prayer rugs.
A more artistic view...
Tucked away inside this massive framework is an intricately carved chapel, with amazing lighting and murals on the walls and ceilings. Apparently this chapel was added after the Crusades, when they turned the building into a Christian cathedral. The place is so large that we were walking around for a good 8 to 10 minutes before we even came to the chapel, hidden away in the center of the building.

Here's Sam and Kam in the chapel. It was all decorated for Christmas, with poinsettas and lights everywhere. It is sad to me that it's a building rarely used for worship now, even though that was its obvious function.

Back from Spain

After our trip home for Christmas, Brian took one more week off work so we could enjoy a relaxing getaway to Southern Spain. We flew into Granada and spent time in Cordoba and Malaga as well. It was soooo nice to relax, to be on the beach, to sit in the sun! We really loved everything we saw and did there. We visited some of the most gorgeous ruins from the 12th and 13th centuries... mosques and palaces built by the Moorish people who used to live there before the Crusades in the 14th century. It was all just gorgeous!!

I want to write pages about every place we visited and everything we did. But not right now, unfortunately. We are in the process of moving to a new flat this week, so I should technically be packing boxes right this very second instead of writing a blog. (shame on me!) Well, so I'm just adding a brief intro here, then I'll add more pictures and commentary later on.

Here's the fantastic view from our hotel in Malaga. We stayed there two nights and relaxed on the beach and by the pool. (actually, Brian relaxed by the pool, and I relaxed in our room since I forgot my suit and Samantha's, of all things!)

Here's Brian outside of one of the palaces at Alhambra in Granada. It was seriously one of the most fascinating, beautiful places I've ever seen. I'll add more picts of the place later.

And here's Brian and Samantha with part of the Alhambra complex in the background. Keep in mind it's January, and just imagine what this place must look like in the middle of the summer! Even being January, it was still quite lush and green.

One Year Photos for Samantha

While we were at home for Christmas, we got Samantha's one year photos. Hard to believe how much she's changed in just one tiny little year. Thought I'd share some of the cute picts...

more cuties, just for fun

Here's little Brittany, modeling her new glasses. Cute!
Here's a very cool four-generation picture, with my mom, her mom, me and Samantha.

Here's the closest to "posing" we could get with Sammie in her Christmas Dress.

Packed up and ready to roll! Sam loves anything she can climb in. She spent awhile in Brian's little suitcase since it was empty.
 

Fun times at home

While I'm here, I better add a few extra pictures, since it will be awhile before I add more and by then I'll probably have new stuff to post. So... here's Samantha bundled up to go to Grandma Eva's and Grandpa Doug's (across the road). She loved the snow.
Here are some cooool cousins... Tristan, Brandon, Brittany and Josh. Sam had glasses too, but we couldn't get her to sit for a photo shoot. rats. Don't they look so cute? I think Brandon and Brittany's family brought them for all the kids.

Here's Sammie and Grandma opening a present together. A set of really cool balls from Sara. Thanks! Sam loves them already.

Here's our little family on Christmas Eve, right after church. We wanted to get a cute one of Samantha in her little Christmas dress, now that we got some new black shoes and tights that fit her.
 

Merry Christmas in Idaho and Utah!

We just got back last night from a very lovely holiday break. We went home to be with our family at Christmas, and it was wonderful. It was sooo good to see everyone and spend time catching up! Samantha and I went home in the middle of the week before Christmas, and spent a few days with my family. Then when Brian arrived, we visited with his brothers and sister in Utah and drove up to Nampa to be with his parents on Christmas Eve and Christmas. While we were there, we spent awhile looking at houses... thinking of buying for when we eventually move back to the Boise area. Then we went to Blackfoot and spent some time with my family. Then back to Utah to see Scott and Alicia for a few hours before flying home. That's the trip in a nutshell. I just wanted to put up a few picts for fun.

Here's Sam hanging out in the recliner at my parents' house, having her morning bottle. I took this one to compare to the one I took back in February when she first got to lounge in the recliner. When I find that one, I'll add it here.

We got a few shots of all nine Hone grandkids together. It was awesome! The best part was watching all the moms fuss around and try to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time without dropping the tiny babies. I think this is the best one I got... three smiles out of nine, not bad?

Bishop cousins... We went to church with Brian's brother's (Brent and Jenalyn) family, and his sister (Janice) brought her kids over after for a quick hello. I just thought these three sweeties looked so cute together. Sammie, Allie, and Ashton. (what is it with babies sticking fingers in their mouths all the time?)

Here's Christmas morning, Samantha opening her first present from Dad and Mom. It turned out to be a cute little wooden caterpillar that wiggles along when she pulls a string.

Happy Birthday Samantha!!

It's hard to believe, our little Samantha is one year old! Such a big girl!! We had a fun birthday celebration on her birthday -- Thursday, the 14th. Since Brian was headed to work and we weren't sure when he was coming home, we started with birthday apple muffins, complete with a song and candle.
Then Sam opened her presents. She was really excited about her new walker. She is soooo much more confident in her walking, even in just the few days since she started using it. She also got some fun lights-and -music toys, some cute clothes and books from both grandparents, a lovely purple handbag (she loves putting stuff in and taking it out of bags), and a little pink and blue mobile phone (from Grandma Hone). She loved all the attention and could hardly stop playing with one present to open the next.


Samantha had a nice lemon cake for her birthday. We made her own cake in a little ramiken and gave it to her on a plate. Brian even got to come home in time to sing and help blow out the candle.
One more quick cute picture... On Friday afternoon, Sam got herself stuck in the fireplace grate. If you zoom in on her, she's actually smiling. I watched her first stick hands down there, then her head, then the rest of her and her feet came off the ground. I waited for her to get frustrated when she discovered she couldn't get back out. But she didn't! She just sat there smiling, and I pulled her out after the picture. Silly girl--- tried to climb right back in.
 

Family Christmas Pictures

We decided to use the handy-dandy self timer device on our camera to take a little family picture for our Christmas card this year. Now I know why many people prefer to hire a professional photographer to do their pictures and get the little ones to cooperate...




You'll just have to wait for your Christmas card to arrive to see the final result of our efforts! 

Us in Venice

Okay, I know this is way too many posts about a one-day trip... just goes to show we took way too many pictures. Oh well. I thought I'd include some of US on our trip, rather than just buildings and crowds.
The best way to get around quickly in Venice is to take a water taxi. They go up and down the Grand Canal and they are CROWDED, we discovered. We waited in a long line in the rain when we first arrived. Having the stroller proved inconvenient at first -- everyone kept pushing in front of us and we missed two taxis. But then I got smart and pulled the rain cover off and pushed back the top so everyone could see the adorable Samantha inside. As soon as she started chatting with people, we were generously shoved to the front of the line and had no problem getting on the next taxi. We met a nice couple from Boston with a baby. They live in Germany and he's been in Iraq for a year with the service. Nice to meet some Americans. Here we are, on the water taxi...

Venice has some nice food markets, which we almost missed because we were googling over the jewelry. (Okay, actually I was googling, and Brian was enduring... he pointed out that I should be worried if he started googling too much.) We bought some delicious cherry tomatoes that we ate with our dinner, and some amazing clementines that we brought home with us.

We stopped for lunch in a little restaurant and bought a pizza for me and a calzone for Brian (and baby food for Sam.) I decided to order hot chocolate as well, and Brian got a sprite. I include the picture of the hot chocolate, because it was more like chocolate soup, it wsa so thick! It reminded me of the chocolate Alicia got in Paris that was all over her arm, cheek and somehow, her neck! When we got our bill, it looked like the hot chocolate and the sprite cost more than the food. The server assured us that wasn't the case, but we left wondering how it added up to 16 euros for a quick bite! Be warned: Venice is expensive.

Here's daddy Brian and the little Sam, waiting for the taxi to take us home. I just thought it was such a cute shot, had to include it.