Vieux Port and La Notre Dame De La Garde

Ok to continue with our 1st day adventure after we came back from seeing the Chateau D'If we went on a tour of Marseille which stopped at the Notre Dame De La Garde which is a basilica in Marseille France. It is located on the highest point in all of Marseille and there for you can see it from everywhere. It was built between 1853 and 1864. It was built to watch over the sailors. It is incredibly ornate and beautiful inside. I didn't understand most of the symbols and things inside but I did understand it's beauty. On top of the building is an enormous statue of Mary and Jesus. It was the biggest gold statue I have ever seen.

This is a picture of the statue on top of the building. I hope you can tell how enormous it is

These are some pictures of the inside of the building. It was stunning

This is a picture of the ceiling. I was so taken with it I had a hard time looking at anything else.

These pictures are of Vieux Port, from the stairs of the Notre Dame with Troy and Me standing on the stairs. It is just stunning. I was amazed at the history that was staring back at me. Also that you can have a building that has been around for hundreds of years that has an electronics store in the bottom level. The differences in the building and what it housed were striking.

These are some of the buildings that are around Vieux Port which I thought were so neat and I so wish we had buildings that looked like that here in the USA

This is a picture of Nouvelle Cathédrale de la Major. I don't know much about it because we couldn't go inside but I do know that it was the biggest church in Marseille and it was very ornate even on the outside. I wish I could have seen the inside. The little speck in front is me and Troy.

While walking around Marseille to see all of these fantastic places I was struck with how beautiful this city was. Even the clothes hanging out on the lines added color that I sometimes think that our cities lack. The people were overall extremely nice and patient with me and my broken french. I loved the time we spent here.

My "Last Minute" Trip to France

I know it has been a while since I posted anything but I have a really good excuse. I kind of went to France!!! About a month ago Troy was working from home one day and out of the blue grabs my attention and says "Honey, I think I might go to France!" and of course MY response was " I don't care what you have to do but you get me there too!!!" Two weeks later I had my tickets and I was going! From the time we found out that he might go to the day Troy left was just over 2 weeks. That is where the "last minute" thing comes from. Anyway Troy was going to be there for 14 days and that was a little too long for me to be gone, so he left on Saturday and I left the next Wednesday. So to tell you about our trip and what we did in France I am going to copy Jaryn (because she is just the cutest) and tell you what we did from day to day. Before I start I want to say how grateful I am to my mom and my sister Kara because they are the ones that made this trip possible. Without their selflessness and willingness to take on my 4 I wouldn't have been able to go. And just to blow my sister's horn she did it alone with all 8 of our kids because her husband went out of town too. (She is my HERO!!!)

Ok Day 1

I have to tell you about my travels because it is quite the story. So I started by flying from Salt Lake to Houston, no big deal. But Houston's airport is currently under construction and so you have to get yourself to a shuttle to drive you over to the international wing of the airport. Well I don't trust the airlines so I carried everything on with me so my bags weighed 1,000 lbs. Each!!! (that isn't measured but that is what it felt like) Anyway you can imagine me this little 5ft. nothing weakling struggling with my bags to get on and off this shuttle it was a sight. I decided that I would find my way to my gate that then grab myself something to eat. Well when I got there it was such an ordeal that I didn't want to get lost so I decided to wait and eat on the plane (I was starving, I practically bit the poor attendant's hand off when she handed me my plate!) The flight to Paris took 10 1/2 hours. I watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" The strangest and longest movie I have ever seen. It felt like it took half the flight to watch it. Didn't sleep very well but really who does. After I arrived in Paris I then had to find my way to the train station which was some where in the airport. Again I decided to find the trains and then find something to eat because I had 4 and a half hours before my train left. (oh your read right!) Yet again when I got there there was absolutely nothing to eat. I have learned my lesson, I just want you to know! This train station was soooo cold. I had worn flip flops for the ease of security so my toes were freezing. I had on a sweat shirt which wasn't near enough! So I couldn't sit down and read for very long because I had to keep getting up and moving around so that I could get my blood moving to my feet again. (also I can't ever reach the ground on chairs so that didn't help either!) Also the weirdest thing in the world, the french post their trains and flights by time, and they don't post a train until 20 min before that train is scheduled to leave. So I spent most of that 4 hours hoping and praying that I was in the right station. Anyway I finally got on the train and promptly (as I was worried about) fell asleep! I woke up just before the train was supposed to stop at my stop thankfully. But not to be out done by my horrible wait in the station they announce that there has been an accident and we are going to be 30 min. late. A little back story. . . When Troy bought my train ticket online he bought one to take me to Marseilles. We found out later that there was a possibility that it would stop in Aix-en-Provence where we were staying. We weren't a hundred percent sure so I told Troy to go the the Aix station and if I wasn't there go to Marseilles. You can guess what was going through my mind when they said that we were going to be late!!!! Thankfully thankfully thankfully Troy had gone in and asked if my train had come through yet and found out about the delay and stayed and waited for me. Needless to say when I saw him after I got off the train I grabbed him and hugged him and kissed him and CRIED!!! (see I told you it was a story worth telling!!)

Day 2

On my second day but our 1st day of sight seeing we went into Marseilles which is on the Mediterranean it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. We started by going out to the Chateau D'If built in 1525-1531, which if you have read or seen "The Count of Monte Cristo" you know is the prison that Edmond Dantes was housed in.

This is me and Troy in front of the prison

This is hole that (were it a true story) Abbe Faria comes out of and befriends Edmond.

This is the view of Marseilles through the bars

This is Troy and I standing on top of D'If with Marseilles and the Ocean in the background. Isn't it/he gorgeous!!

This is the Ocean it was so beautiful and clear. You could see the fish swimming around in the ocean. It was amazing.

Ok so this post is already long so I will finish ths story about our 1st day tomorrow. (gotta keep you coming back for more!!)

Our Spring Break Adventure

I know what you are thinking from the title that we did something amazing together as a family for spring break. Well you are going to get an inside look into the minds of me, my sister and my parents. We are all totally nuts. Its ok I came to grips with this fact a long time ago. I am ok with it. Anyway back to the story. So for spring break we couldn't go anywhere really because we are all spending our money elsewhere, Kara is getting a new car I am going to France. So our play money is gone!!! So we decided that we would take the kids on a train ride on the Front Runner. The Train that (right now) runs from Ogden to Salt Lake. They say that one day it will run all the way to Nephi. That is going to be cool!! So we drove up to the light rail station in Sandy and started our adventure. The kids were really excited and did not want to sit still but as the train started to fill up they didn't like the strangers so they sat next to us. Except for Sam. He was a nightmare from start to finish!! Did not want to sit on my lap and also did not want to sit in a chair. The poor people that got on our train regretted it instantly. But we rode the train to down town and then got on the big double decker train. That is when everything got interesting. Sam started screaming (he was tired) the kids were running up and down the isles. I think someone had spread the word because no one sat up on the upper deck with us, they learn fast. Finally Sam feel asleep, the train pulled into Ogden, we found the bathroom, and my dad went and bought doughnuts. Things were looking up. The kids (and adults) ate their doughnuts and made a nice mess. And just as we were finishing up eating the lady in charge of the train came up and asked us if we wouldn't mind keeping out kids in their seats. She didn't want them flying across the train if we came to an abrupt stop. Whatever! We bribed her with a doughnut and she went away. The rest of the trip went really well we laughed and talked and the kids had a good time. All in all a great little adventure. We probably won't do it again any time soon but. . . . still a fun day.

Starting out our trip. The girls sitting nicely

Even the Boys sitting nicely

This is how things ended up

Sam trying really hard to spill water all over the place.

Mikayla pretending she is super grown up.

My cute parents making out on the train (not really but it will embarass my mom that I said that)The kids obviously not in their seats but having a blast.

Trying to keep Andra on the same level that we were on.

Do you see the crazy in our eyes? Look closer you will see it!

I just had to post the cute Easter pictures I took of the kids. I am sure that I am biased but they are just the cutest kids EVER!!! I didn't however make the dresses this year but now that I have a new sewing machine I am feeling inspired again! I think that we (the girls) all need matching skirts. We will have to see how it goes. Well anyway,

Happy Easter Everybody!!!!

Remember what it is all about.

Samuel and his CHEESE

Owen in his oh so cute Easter outfit. He HATES the tie, I LOVE the tie. He cried and cried begging me to take it off. As you can see I won.

Morgan sitting pretty. She loves to wear this dress. I love to see her in it. She looks so cute and girlie. A RARE thing for my Morgan. She is definitely a sweats kinda girl.

Miss Mikayla thinks that she is a super model so getting her to smile in a cute happy smile is nearly impossible. But knowing that I used to think that I was a super model and smiled weird myself I can accept it.

The cutest kids on the planet if I do say so myself!!!

I Give Up!

My attempts to spur on spring by adding Beach Boy's songs to my blog has failed. It is still snowing and plans to do so for the entire week. Why oh why does Utah insist on hanging on to this horrible thing called winter. How many more days will I have to drive, white knuckled, all the way to the school. I am at a loss. Does any one have any ideas how to trick spring into coming out of hiding? I guess I will just have to wrap myself in my snugly blanket and sulk!

BOO SNOW!!!!

I am going to wear my flip flops under the blanket though just in case! :-]

A Big Birthday Wrap Up Post

Because we have 3 out of the 6 birthdays in our family within 3 days of each other in the shortest month of the year, it is hard to get it all in without having a ton of new posts. So I am going to quickly do a wrap up in pictures. They are not all the greatest quality so please forgive me. I am saving for a really nice one. Troy says that the one we have is fine. I have to disagree. Anyway, I already posted about the first birthday party with my family and Troy's dad. We had a party with Troy's mom and his brothers and sisters for Sam, Owen, Me, and Marc (our brother in law)

Here is a picture of the boys blowing out their candles

This is all of us getting ready to blow out our candles. My mother in law made two cakes one for the kids and a yummy chocolate one for the adults.

Then we always have family home evening. And this is what a family home even looks like with the Beardall family. There are 10 grandkids, 4 of the kids are too young to even attempt sitting still (Sam is one of them) and the adults are the ones that have a hard time being reverent. It is funny to watch. As you can see Mikayla thinks that she is too mature to have to sit with the rest of the kids on the floor.

Then on my actual birthday my sweet friends Megan, Katie and Renee had a party for me and made me a cake since my mom was out of town and I have a hard and fast rule about never making my own birthday cake. They were so kind and generous. I am lucky that I have these ladies as my friends.

This is Megan, Me and Katie, Renee took the picture. She is sneaky, I couldn't get her to pose for a picture.

Then a week later so as to extend my birthday fun as long as possible, I went to lunch with Cuca and Heidi. They are two of the neatest ladies!!! They have taught me to bring out my wild side!!! Hello NKOTB!!! I am so happy that I have been able to get to know them and call them my friends too. They are so fun to be with and laugh with. Can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with them.

And Last but not least on Owen's birthday we took him to Chucky Cheese's. He had the best time. It was fun to watch him play with his dad.

His favorite was the play place. He loves to climb up and slide down.

He would come to the table for a bite of Pizza and a drink and then go back into the tubes. I loved to be able to have the one on one time with him.

So those are our birthday adventures. The best part is that we get to do it all again next year!

What do you do when you have time to waste?

I will answer that question for me but I will answer it with a story. One of my oldest and dearest friends Melanie and I both have February birthdays and every year we pick a day usually in the middle of the month to celebrate them both. This year it happened to be Friday the 13th. We had planned to go to dinner/ice cream at Leatherby's Restaurant. The best ice cream in the valley as far as I am concerned. I am drooling just thinking about it. And then to see the movie Twilight. An indulgence for the sappy at heart which we are. Well we thought that we would have to wait longer to be seated at Leatherby's so after we were done we had about an hour to waste before the movie. What did we do you ask. . . . we went to PAYLESS SHOES of course!!! I am one of those girls that love shoes and shoe shopping. We "played" the entire hour trying on shoes and laughing and wishing that we could have them all. These are some of the pictures that Melanie took of the shoes that I tried on. I bought 2 pairs of shoes that night and a purse for $ 24. I love their buy one get one free deals!!!. Oddly enough though I didn't buy any of the ones that we took pictures of. I love these girls night outs and look forward to them every time!!! Thanks for all the shoe finding fun Mel!!!! oh and the ice cream and the movie too. Lets do it again soon!!

80's Party

Our ward throws the best parties. on Valentines day every year (ok twice, both years we have lived here) throw and adults only dinner dance. This year we were to dress in 50's 60's 70's or 80's. As you can tell from the picture (thanks Brandy) I went for the 80's with my friends Melissa and Katie. I am still creeped out how easily it was to "rat" my hair back into its former (late) 80's glory. We had the best time. I did the "Boot Scootin' Boogie" again for the first time in probably 16 years (sad really sad). Can't believe I did it!!! Got to dance and sing and have fun with my friends. Troy did dance the slow ones with me, but preferred to sit out the fast ones claiming he has no rhythm. This is not true P.S. we took a dance class in college and that boy can dance. I do have to say that I had the greatest time shopping for the outfit with Melissa. Those are real honest to goodness Girbaud jeans I have on there people. $6 at DI. If you had told me when I was 16 that I would by Girbaud Jeans for $6 one day I would have laughed!! Thanks to the ward party people you did it again!!! Thanks to my friends for dancing with me. And thanks to Troy for taking me. It really was a great time!!!

P.S. Did you know that the show Hannah Montana stole the name of Jake Ryan and gave it to their heart throb. Wrong very wrong. Melissa is wearing the true Jake Ryan tee shirt!