Saturday, September 11, 2010

Allie's Wedding

August 31, my niece Allie was married.  When you have a large family such as mine, and someone is getting married, everyone gets put to work. Of course I piped up to do the flowers. It was so fun. Shopping for flowers and then trying to put together something my niece would like. She was very particular about not having bushy center pieces and she wanted "sticky" looking things out of mason jars. (That was hard). The wedding was at the grooms house and they had a beautiful tree in the yard that we hang mason jars from. It looked beautiful in the dark and I think it all turned out in the end.








My sister Shelly and her clan- Bailey, Allie, Nikki, Krew, Javie, and Cade.  Her 4 grandchildren, Taylor, Junior, Dana and Blake.  

This is the Bedke side of the family.  
CJ, Allie, and her sisters.  I've always said Allie looks like Hillary Duff.
Allie and her nieces

CJ's Parents

The Rumis Family

Love this one of Allie
Very Cute!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

BEST-EST FRIENDS

Oh yes, we had so much fun with us girls, we almost forgot our husbands were there. 
I have the BEST-EST FRIENDS in the WHOLE WORLD!!!  Friday (9/3) to my surprise, my best-est friends in the whole world threw me a surprise 40th Birthday Party.  (Yes, I turned 40 years old this year.)  I really was surprised seeing that my birthday was 2 weeks earlier.  The Pulsipher's had tried to get us to go out 2 weeks prior, but we were so busy with soccer every night we couldn't plan anything until 2 weeks after my birthday.  I did not suspect anything until I walked in Ivory's house and Rebecca and Ivory got a little weird. (Weird meaning; they couldn't keep these funny little grins off their faces)  They kept repeating- "OKAY- lets give her her present now!!"  Seconds later everyone yelled surprise!!

The best part about the whole night (besides the company) and what makes them the the bes-test friends in the WHOLE WORLD - was not so much the "SURPRISE" of the party (because who at the age of 40 aspires to have a "SURPRISE PARTY' thrown on their behalf?) but their undertaking of the whole night.  They researched and dug up information and planned and prepared to make it just right for me.  The whole night was GLUTEN FREE and CASEIN FREE- which is quit a challenge in the kitchen, (bear in mind, gluten is hidden in hundreds of other names besides the obvious.)    I did not have to worry about any of the ingredients!!  (Rebecca had been quizzing me saying she had a friend of a friend who just found out they had celiacs as well and needed some advise.  If she only knew her friend weighed on my inner being all week and I felt so guilty I had not tried to get a hold of this so called friend to help her through her first few weeks with the new Gluten free diet.)  They totally tricked me!!

They even had a chocolate birthday dessert as well.  Yum Yum!!

We had a good time and missed a few of my other favorite people in the whole world!!!!

Girls if you are reading this THANK YOU for the great evening and thanks for the lifetime friendships!!
XOXOXOXOX

Monday, August 2, 2010

Bedke Family Get Together

Yesterday was our Bedke Family get together.  It only seemed appropriate since CJ, Carly were visiting from England, Mitch, Gail, Meier and Christian from Park City and Staci, Nicholas, Abbey, Maddie and Ryan from Georgia .  This is also the first time we have seen Carly and CJ as a married couple.
This year we missed out on Michael, Irina, Kajai, and Akasha, Gary and Shannon and their 2 kids, and also Baileys 3 children.  ( WOW that took a lot of getting out)
Of course when you combine all these people together you are bound for a day of fun that always ends up with food in the air and on a lot of bodies. Leave it to all the teenage boys and grown up boys for that matter.  (CHRIS)

We tried our best to take a grandchild picture.  We were missing 4 grandkids and 3 great- grand kids.  We have decided we have to jump on the chance when the chance arises.  We have fewer and far between visits from all the grandchildren at once.   I also begged my family to please please let someone take our family picture for Christmas.  I know it seems a little early, but if you understood how difficult and how full of excuses they are you would start in August as well.  I ended up posting one of them to our blog, so it looks like these will not be our Christmas pictures after all.

This year since we are getting so big we decided to go to Poway Lake.  We had a great spot --besides the folks next to us who were  "The Poway Lake Sunday Drunk White Trash Family", who asked us to join in their volleyball game (if that is what you called it?)  It only lasted one serve, before they were screaming the serve was to hard and then that turned into a fight.  (Good thing we were only drinking Diet Coke.  It could've gotten ugly) We soon moved on to a baseball game, while some went on on a boat.  We had a little soccer with everyone, water balloon launching and grandpa's favorite; a talent show,(where he is still insisting Cyd, Cassi, Staci and I sing Starlight Express). 

Summers are the BEST!!
Below are some highlights.









Tuesday, July 27, 2010

14th Day in France/Zurich

Today was a day we thought we could leisurely take our time getting out of our hotel, until the maid knocked and clearly looked frustrated we were not out. So we packed up quickly and headed to the train station to go to Champ Elysee and the Arc de Triumph.  We were going to go through the Arc de Triumph before we watched the last stage (21st stage) of the Tour de France, but it was closed.   We then decided to eat lunch before the tour starts. ( If you do not eat lunch before 2:00 you do not get lunch.  They stop serving until dinner.)  Rebecca and I heard the floats coming for the tour and decided we would go out and and stake out a spot to watch the Tour.  We ended up finding a spot which meant we had to scale the wall.  I did and thought Rebecca would be right behind me.  She was laughing and motioned she would just go around.


Once again it was exhilarating to watch the tour.  They were so incredibly fast.  Where we were at they would make a 2 or 3 mile loop 8 times.  We watched 5 of those loops and then decided we would have to beat the crowd to the metro.
 
The yellow jersey 

Good- Bye Paris- Hello Zurich( for only a few hours for Erik and I)

Things we learned about France,
1.  Men and women share the same bathrooms
2.  Bathrooms are definitely limited.  No wonder the French are so small, they don't eat or drink because their country has no toilets. 
3.  Most of the French smoke.
4.  The roads and the streets are impossible to figure out and drive in.
5.  The French like to put raw eggs on lots of their food.
6.  The French start counting the number "1" with their thumb. (A little confusing when the French man was trying to ask me how many waters I had ordered with my meal and I thought he was asking me if the meal was a thumbs up meal.  I kept nodding and putting both thumb's up saying I liked the meal it was good.  He would repeat the counting in French and put his thumb up and then his second finger as he pointed to Rebecca.  I thought he was asking if we both liked our meal!  (1) me and (2) her.  So I am putting both my thumbs up motioning we both liked our meal and I'm kissing all ten of my fingers trying to get my point across that "yes, it was good."  He finally had to walk over and point to the waters for me and say, un and un.  I got it then.  
7.  Diet coke in Paris is $8.00
8.  All soda's are served warm or with no ice. 
9.  The French don't understand French when it is said with an american accent.  I kept asking for a banana , which is banan in French.  I am saying banan and 2 men are saying it looking at me with a question like '
"We are not sure what you want"  I say "banan?" again and they look at each other and question with their hands in the air as they say "banan?"  Finally I use my sign language and pretend I am peeling a banana and while I am peeling I say "banan?  and they finally say OHHHHHHH BANAN!!! ( I thought that is what I was saying!)
10.  They are nice.  We did not encounter any really rude French people.  

Sunday, July 25, 2010

13th Day- France

After getting some rest yesterday, we set out early, got on the train and headed 30 minutes outside of Paris, to Versailles.  King Louis XIV's estate which is said to be, "The most beautiful castle in the world."

Before we went into the castle we all had to hit the bathrooms.  In France, men and women share bathrooms, so for 2 euro's Erik, Daniel, Rebecca and I all got to use the potty together.  A picture you would never see in America.

Versailles started out as a hunting lodge by King Louis XIII and was later turned into a powerful estate by his son Louis XIV.  It was ridiculously beautiful.
The Versailles Chateau

























The Kings Bed
The Queen's Bed
The Versailles Garden 


























After Versailles, we went to the Army Museum.   On our way, transferring trains and busses, some man tried to pull Daniels wallet out of his pocket.  Daniel pushed his hand away and then he and Rebecca saw the same man grab something out of a women's purse.  Glad it wasn't me. 
Erik at the Army Museum
Ancient Armor
Yes, Nazi attire

We ate dinner downtown, and actually got home early at 10:30 pm. 


Saturday, July 24, 2010

12th Day- France

We were so tired from getting home from the Eiffel Tower this morning at 1:00 AM, that we decided to sleep in, and hang around in town where we are staying.  We were going to go to the pool and just relax but it ended up raining, so we went to the local mall and did some shopping.  Erik and Daniel went for a ride and Rebecca and I watched a movie.  We had lunch in town and it was a very relaxing day.  Tomorrow will be full of adventure.

Thought I would post the cute little house  we are staying in, in Paris


















Friday, July 23, 2010

11th Day- Paris France


TEAM CHARBECCA

Today we are off to PARIS and we have demanded that the guys from "TEAM DANERIK" support the girls team of  "CHARBECCA" ( a name Rebecca came up with for us. They are great sports and have agreed!! We followed them for two days and they will follow us!)

We got on the train and went into the city with our first stop being Notre- Dame. (I had to explain to my kids that this was the church that the movie "Hunchback of Notre- Dame" was inspired after)  It was beautiful as all the others, this one though had a line that snaked through the courtyard, with hundreds of people.

 (Little History)Notre Dame broke ground in  1163.  The people who built the church "had hopes that someday their great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren might attend the dedication Mass 200 years later."
The location that Notre- Dame sits on is also considered the center of France, "the center where all distances are measured."


This is Charlemagne (Charles the Great," 742-812) King of the Franks, whose reign marked the birth of modern France. 


This is Joan of Arc- she is looking directly across from her into the center of this window which is a picture of Mary and Christ.  This window is one of the original windows from the time Notre Dame was built.
We all had to use the bathrooms and they have no bathrooms on the street so we thought that we would stop to eat so we could use a bathroom.  (That is one thing about Europe- they hardly have any bathrooms and you sure don't get to use the limited ones they have unless you are a "customer")


Our next stop was the Louvre. [LOO-v] (This is where the Da Vinci Code book took place.) The Louvre is a museum where most of Europe's history and antiquities lie.  I guess the Louvre started out as a collection of old art open to the public close to 8 centuries ago.  It has accumulated over 300,000 pieces of art.  As you walk in the courtyard entrance and you look all around you the Louvre surrounds you on all 4 sides.   The pictures of us with the glass pyramid in the background is also a part of the Louvre, which goes underground.  There was so much to see we could have stayed in there for hours.   My favorite was looking around the Greek and Roman antiques.  Here are a few pictures. (Of course we are with 14 year old men who kept laughing at the greek statues that were naked.  Rebecca and I had a good laugh as well.  WHY?????? are they all naked?? we kept saying.


This angel was originally on a ship that was dated all the way back to  190 B.C.


Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1503

Aphrodite, was sculpted 400 B.C. 
We then headed over to The Orsay Museum which also holds a lot of art mainly impressionist artists like, Vincent Van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Toulouse- Lautrec, Paul Gauguin and Claude Monet.  I would have loved to take pictures but they do not allow cameras.   My father would have loved it. 

We were wiped out after all of this, but had yet to see the Eiffel Tower.  We bought the tickets to go up the tower and then waited our hour in line.  It was so beautiful at the top and of course very high up.  We later went to dinner at 10:00pm next to the Eiffel Tower, a photo shoot of the Eiffel Tower at night and then a trip on the train home!!  We walked all over Paris all day long. Everybody says Paris is all within walking distance.  HUH!!  We must have waked 10 miles today.  We were exhausted and did not get off the train until 12:30, walked another mile (no lie) to our car and then home by 1:00 AM.  It was a long marvelous day. 



The Eiffel tower at night. 

And after I took this the whole Eiffel Tower lit up with sparkly lights.
This lady was at the restaurant we were eating at.  I think she is some sort of star in Paris.  She did not want me to take her picture, but I'm American and a momarazzie!
I think this is her on the cover of a magazine in Paris!!