Italy!!!! (Days 2 & 3 of our trip)

It is SOOOOOOOOOOO amazing here!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even describe how great it is!!!!!
( I have added albums of our days - TONS of pics! Just skim or look at them all if you want!)

I love how Joe has described the first part of our time here.

November 7, 2009
Got up and packed and took the trains to the airport. That was quite a chore. Sat around the airport for like 4 hours. Did a lot of reading and listening to my Italian tapes. Then some old Turkish woman who looked just like an old Russian Babooshka came and asked to use our cell phone. She wanted to make a call to Turkey. She didn’t speak a lick of English. I finally communicated to her that it cost too much money for me to call Turkey on my cell phone, and she went away, lol. The flight to Italy was quite long. Jen slept ok, but I maybe got in 30 minutes of sleep. I mostly read and listened to my Italian tape.

November 8, 2009
Arrived in Italy about 7am local time. We found our tour bus, but they only had 1 bus and were expecting 50 ppl, but we needed 2 busses as we had 90 ppl. So we sat around the airport for like 2 hours waiting for our second group to arrive and the tour ppl to get their stuff straightened out. When we all finally got on the bus we were missing 1 person. Turns out it was someone whose bags got lost, so when we couldn’t find her we just left. Poor Girl. The busses took us to our hotel, but the rooms weren’t ready so we unloaded all our bags into 2 rooms. One of the guys had to argue with the cleaning woman about how she couldn’t clean the room with all our bags in there. Then we got on the bus, with no time for lunch, and headed out. This was about 11am local time. So many ppl were tired and sleeping during the tour. We got out several times. We walked around the coliseum, and walked by a soccer field that was all dirt and mud and pools of water from all the recent rain, but ppl were still playing on it. These adult teams with some pretty old ppl playing too. That was really funny. Then we got out at the Vatican and saw the front of St. Peter’s Basillica. Then got out one last time to look at some square, I forget the name. Then they dropped us off at our hotel, and we took our bags to our room then went out and explored Rome. That was way cool. We went and saw this church down the street, then I bought Jen an orange rose from a roadside florist. On the way to the church we stopped at a bakery and Jen got a truffle. Then we wandered up to this other church but didn’t go in, saw the Laundromat, then back to our hotel. I got in another 30 min nap then we went to dinner. We sat with Paul and Sarah which was fun, and had a great dinner. Bread, soup (minestrone kind of), mashed potatos and meatballs with peas. Then this weird dessert in a shot glass. Some kind of custard. Jen says she thinks that the alcohol wasn’t totally burned off because she felt a little tipsy. I didn’t taste any alcohol in it. After dinner we went back and took a bath. The towels smelled like vinegar, and they weren’t incredibly absorbent. The toilet is like a 5 gallon per flush thing that splashes when you flush. And the beds are about like box springs. But with the windows open we can hear Rome, which is all scooters and crazy European sounding police sirens and cars driving by. It’s so awesome to listen to.

Day 2
The flight was pretty uneventful. I got some decent sleep and felt great when we got to Italy. We got to the airport and had to wait for the other group. We loaded the buses and headed to our hotel in Rome. Once there we dumped all our crap into 2 rooms and headed out to see parts of Rome. We started out on a bus tour of Italy since the rooms weren't ready yet. We saw all the major points(The Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, Santa Maria Maggiore, Altare della Patria, St Angelos Castel, St Peters Square at the Vatican and Piazza Navona) and made notes of what we wanted to make sure we saw better with our free days. Once the hotel was ready for our group we took our stuff to our room and we headed out to see Rome on foot. We saw some beautiful churches and were able to actually witness a baby christening!!! That was pretty cool. Found a yummy bakery and had this great chocolate treat. Have no clue what it was called but I want one again! We had to head back to the hotel for dinner where we stayed till they kicked us out of the dining room.

The next day(Day 3) was a free day in Rome!!! We just wandered all day! Some of the best things were
-Trevi Fountain
-The Spanish Steps
-The Pantheon
-Basilica di San Giovanni
-All the things we saw the day before only at night!!!
-Tons of soccer stores
-Great food
-GELATO!!!!!!!!!!

We bumped into a couple in our group Riina and Junstin. They are from Colorado. We had lunch with them and enjoyed a few of the sites then split into our own directions. I had hoped to find them at the Pantheon so we could get gelato together bit we didn't see them. We did quite a bit of shopping at the shops for soccer jersey's. I think Joe found 5!!! (I'm keeping a tally for my shoe revenge) It rained off and on all day. It wasn't too cold so it was pleasant I guess... We wandered the streets of Rome as night fell. We found our selves in front of the Colosseum with all teh lights glowing. It was breathtaking. We walked around that whole area again seeing all the buildings lit up. We found the restaurant that a student had blogged about. It was perfect!! It reminded me of what JP's would be like if they were in Rome 20 yrs in the future. It felt like home. The food was excellent and we told everyone about it when we came back.

ITALY Here we come!!!!!!!!! (Day 1)

So with all the craziness of getting ready for our trip I completely forgot to do a blog about Cali!! Not to mention the first snow AND Halloween! I will add them on the airplane and post it when we get to Italy.

For now I will update on our trip so far.

We headed out Thursday morning for NYC! We have had a blast!!!!

Thursday we got to our hotel later then we had wanted to and got settled. We decided to stay local and have dinner at the Pine which is adjacent to the hotel. AMAZING FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We then went back to the room to watch the REAL kick Ohio's butt!!! It was an awesome game!!!!

Friday we had a leisurely start and spent the entire morning walking Central Park! What a great way to spend the day! We had lunch from a side walk stand and later on hot chocolate (which I promptly burnt my tongue on...)

After we saw all we wanted to see of Central Park we headed to the 5th Ave area and did some shopping. Got the kids great gifts and I got a new vest! I LOVE it!!!

We headed to Times Square did the whole site seeing thing and had dinner at Chevys. Not fancy but delish!

Now we just finished repacking so we can head to Italy!!! We are SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!

Enjoy the slide show!

Bear Lake

For this years choir tour we decided to make it way low key and way fun. Usually we go somewhere far and exotic (Caribbean cruise, Hawaii, ect...) This year we stayed in a couple homes up at Bear Lake. The original plan was for me and Joe to take the motorcycle up there but when we found out Zi-hyun and Anja would be with us and that Zi-hyun would not be going with us to Cali we decided that the girls should go with me.

We had a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!

We headed up and stopped at the spring up Logan Canyon. We met the rest of the choir and gang at the Pickleville Playhouse where we had a fantastic dinner and watched an amazing cast put on Annie Get Your Gun. It was awesome!!! One of the leads is my brother Bradley's best friend so my parents and Brad and his wife Janelle met us up there too!




We stayed the night with my family in some of Janelle's families cabins then spent the next morning with them at the lake. At lunch we said goodbye and headed to where the choir had a spot at the North Shore.




We got there just in time to eat and play! Anja and Zi-hyun took the canoes out for a while then we all piled in Shauna and Rusty's boat and had our turn on the 3-man inner tube. THAT was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUN!!!!!!! I wish someone had gotten pics!



As we were packing up to head back to the cabin to make dinner we decided to make a potty run. The car got stuck in the sand!!! Laron and Jim had to come and help pull me out. Again no pics... :( it was pretty funny though!

Once we were back at the cabin a began to prepare for dinner. I was in charge of that nights dinner to feed ALL of us. As I got the chicken going I went to locate the rest of the ingredients only to find that they had been left behind, at home, in my garage!!!! We all silently prayed as Kathy and Jen ran to the ONLY store that they would have ingredients that would work. The returned triumphant much to everyone's astonishment. The store had exactly what we needed in the exact quantities we needed! Dinner was delicious!


Dessert was cobbler and it was heavenly! While it was busy cooking in the dutch ovens we had bells playing and a mean game of Apples to Apples going.

It was a great night!!!

Sunday we woke and went to the church in the area to sing for their meeting. It was awesome and they were all so impressed that they have asked us to come and perform in the Paris, Id Tabernacle concert series! After church we headed back to clean and pack and head home.

Us girls stopped at a market to get our raspberry shakes. They were way yummy!

WE stopped at the Ut Id border for a photo op when we heard someone on a bullhorn talking to us. We looked around and saw it was a cop! He wanted to know if we wanted him to take our picture!! It was so awesome!!!



We made it home, unpacked, washed and packed again so we could leave in the morning for Cali!

Brynn's 7th Birthday!

Brynn wanted a Hawaiian birthday. I found this WAY cute idea for cupcakes but for weeks could not find the things I needed for it.

They day of I still hadn't. I took Anja with me and we went to the stores to try and locate said items. No luck... so we improvised. We made up an entirely different cake and it was just as good!




We started out by listening to Hawaiian music and the kids just danced and played. Once everyone arrived they all went for a swim. I lowered the hot tub temp so it was perfect for swimming and playing in on a REALLY hot day.



After the kids were exhausted and starving we made fruit kabobs. The kids had a blast making those and eating all the fruit. Then cake and hawaiian ice creams (thery were in REAL fruit shells!)



More swimming then presents then everyone got to go home.



It was a great party!

Time Flies...

...When your life is INSANE!!

I can't believe it has been over 2 months since I last blogged!!! As usual it has been crazy in the Eames house.

The kids have been super busy with soccer and dance and school. They are now all in this years Christmas show at the OBT. X-MAS MEN!!

Katya - began Irish dance lessons and loves it! She is doing well in school and has been chosen to participate in a talented and gifted program for those with high reading and English scores. She is really excited!

Taylor - is LOVING being goalie. She loves her soccer team and has also been taking private futsal (footworking tricks) lessons. Tay also got glasses! Not sure where my kids are getting it... Joe and I both don't have glasses. Well just 4 days after she got them she was reffing a tether ball game (she couldn't play as she had broken her thumb playing tether ball just the day before) She got whacked in the head with the tether ball and her glasses broke! *sigh*

Brynn - is just plugging along. She hasn't found anything besides acting that she really enjoys doing. Except torturing her brother. She is doing well in school and really likes 2nd grade.

Ryan - is finally done with soccer! Woo hoo! Tuesdays were killing me! He is really excited to be in the play with "real X-Men"

Since my last blog this is what has happened.

• I placed my last student!!!!!!! We're going to ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
• B-day party for Isaac Platt in Sugar house
• G-pa Eames took the kids to teach them to golf and we lost Katya
• Anja came and we had SOOOOOOOOOO much fun with her!
• All my foreign students arrived
• Celebrated part of Brynn's b-day at the OBT (her party will have a blog)
• Took Anja and Zi-hyun to Bear Lake with me for the choir trip(look for its own blog too!)
• We all (except zi-hyun :( ) went to Las Vegas and California and had a BLAST!!!!!! (separate blog)
  
• Anja and I went to the Great Salt Lake for sunset
• We had Zi-hyun's birthday at a Korean restaurant
• One of my students ran away back to Thailand
• We also celebrated G-ma Eames b-day and Anja's b-day and Zi-hyun's with the rest of the family
• I took the exchange students to Park City. They LOVED the Alpine slide!
• Celebrated my sister Melissa's b-day
• Took the kids to the zoo again this time with G-ma Eames
• Canned 10lbs of chicken and some pears
  
• Made Halloween gingerbread house
• Went with Ryan's class to the zoo
• Been looking up places to eat and see in NYC and Italy!
• Joe and I went on a diet for 11 days. Lost 9 lbs! We are doing it again!

So been busy to say the least. Watch for the other blogs. They will have pictures

Another month has past

And the Eames have stayed busy. What else is new right?!

Ryan turned 5 on July 2nd! He will start Kindergarten This week!!!

We had Ryan's Ben 10 party. I had all these great plans and then it RAINED! Right as the party started of course.... so I had to superhumanly fast put up the walls to the gazebo and move everything else inside. It was crazy but the kids all had fun!


We never made it camping. Too many other things going on and schedules just didn't match up with our friends.

We spent the 4th at Riverton Days. It was a very nice relaxing day and we just did what ever we felt like! On Sunday we had Ryan's and my brother Steven's family party. We had such a great time!!! We BBQ'd and just sat and ate and talked then opened presents. After, we made a fire and made s'mores til it was dark and then did fireworks. The kids had a blast! I love how my family is growing and my kids have all these cousins!

Ryan went to the Instacare AGAIN.... this time he was "quietly" eating his PB&J sandwich while I was in the shower. Next thing I know I have a million screaming girls telling me Ryan's head is bleeding. SO I get out and throw on my robe, come down the stairs to find him laying in a tiny puddle of blood with a gaping gash in the back of his head. He was rocking back in the chair, it fell out from under him and he hit his head on the back. 3 staples in his head and a Popsicle and sno cone later all was well.

Joe's office had thier summer BBQ. We had great food and played a wild game of wiffle ball.

I went to my sister Sarah's band camp concert. I love going up to East Canyon every year to hear them. It amazes me how little time they have to rehearse but it sounds as though they had rehearsed for months! I got home just in time to go out for girls night at Chili's. I love my friends... I got another girls night for Joelle's b-day the next day too!!! Saw the Proposal! LOVED it!!! Definitely buying that one!!!!

We went up to Logan on the 19th for my newest nephew's baby blessing. We almost didn't make it but I am so glad it all worked out and that we got to go. It was so good to see family and be there for Brad and Janelle.

I took the kids to the zoo and we met our friends Joelle and her son Kaleb there. It was so much fun!! We had a great time just seeing what we wanted to see and let the kids just do whatever. No agenda. It was nice.

Well it has been a week since I began this post.... Will life EVER slow down?!

My niece Leah celebrated her 4th birthday at Chuck E Cheese then back to my sister's house where the rest of the family joined us for cake and ice cream.

We FINALLY made it to the Oquirrh Mtn Temple open house. It was so wonderful to take the kids there and to tell them of special ordinances they will get to participate in soon. The temple is so beautiful inside. Def in my top 10!

We are teaching RY to ride a 2-wheeler w/o training wheels. It is going well but as to be expected is full if crashes and tears. He will get it I just know it!

Last weekend Joe and I went on a much needed reprieve. We took the motorcycle up to Park City for 3 days and rode all over the Heber Valley. It was so beautiful and relaxing. I needed the break. We had a wonderful time reconnecting after the crazy last few months we have had.

In amongst all of that I found time to place 2 more kids bringing my total to 10. 1 more and we go to ITALY!!!!!!!!! To help that along I went to Cedar City over Pioneer day with other CETUSA coordinators to find a few more host families and finish filling the schools down there. It was a fun trip and I met a ton of great people. If you have any connections down that way let me know!

Marina is from Spain. She will be with a remarkable retired couple in their beautiful home in Fruit Heights.






Maria is from Brazil and will be in Midway with the family of a Spanish teacher at Park City High.

We picked up Zi-Hyun from the airport and have begun to get her all settled for college at SLCC. We are excited to have her home!

Ryan began Kindergarten!!!! He is so excited to be at school and looked so grown up all ready to go. He is in Mrs Cleggs class and has friends there already! He got to go to school on the motorcycle with Dad. (I was at SLCC with Zi-Hyun at her Orientation.) We are on B Track this year. Katya is in 6th grade and has Mr Stirland. She really likes him. Taylor is in 5th and has Mrs Bowser. Tay is happy with her teacher so far. Brynn is in 2nd and has Ms Peterson. She says she is really nice. Eventually I will get a free min to meet with them. I was working the Kenney Chesney concert on Back to School night. I think this year will be a great year! All 4 are in school together. Its exciting!!!!

My exchange students have begun to arrive. Most of them will be here this next week with 4 arriving on Saturday! I am really excited to see what this year will bring as I include all these kids in my life.

My choir has begun rehearsals again. We will go on our local tour this year to Bear Lake. We will perform a couple times up there in various places, see Annie Get Your Gun at the Pickleville Playhouse and play on the lake.

Anja arrives this week to be with us for a month. We will go on vacation over Labor Day week. Sadly by the rules of Zi-Hyun's visa she will not be able to come with us on our vacation. We are sad that she can't come...

So life is ever still crazy but we are enjoying every minute of it!!!

Is it REALLY Summer?!?!

I think it just finally might be!! After 3 weeks of straight rain and thunderstorms, with only 2 days of sunshine stuck in there, we are now on day 6 of sunshine!!! But I am NOT excited AT ALL...

I am sure some of you thought I fell off the face of the planet. Nope... just the blogging world. We forget to take pictures off the camera and so where is the point in blogging. And there is this little thing called Facebook that I am NOT addicted too.

That said I will quickly(maybe) update the last 2 months. Has it really been 2 months!!! Almost 3!!! I am such a slacker!

April started the new theater classes. A few girls from our ward and neighborhood joined Brynn and Taylor in the casts. It also held my birthday! I had a great birthday this year. My best friend Danita came into town! We had a HUGE group pf us all go to the OBT for the opening of Transmorphers: Mormon meets the eye. Written by Logan Rogan. HILARIOUS show!!!! I wanted to go see it again and again but alas life is busy and we didn't make it back... we stayed for the improv show after and they did a day in the life of me again! It was awesome! I love that theater and everyone there. I don't have pics cuz our camera broke and I haven't moved the ones Danita put on our laptop to my computer.

April was also the real start of my new job as an exchange student coordinator. I absolutely love this job!!! I have a goal to place 11 kids this year. I placed 2 kids in April.

JiYoung form Korea who will reside in Provo and Lucy from the UK who will be staying in Alpine!

Oh and my other job as the fundraising coordinator had it's first chance to shine. We now run the huge pizza stand at the new Rio Tinto stadium. I am incharge of making sure I have enough people signed up to work and then make sure they get there. We had quite a few events in April. Its really fun!

May was INSANE!!! We had play rehearsal for Brynn and Taylor. Soccer for Ryan and Taylor. More events at Rio Tinto. I was all over the valley doing presentations at high schools in the classrooms to find host families. I have met so many great people!! On top of the presentations I was meeting with the host families to help them choose thier student and sign paperwork and answer questions. I placed 2 more in May. The first of the 2 came in just in time for the deadline for me to get a bonus on each kid I place! Thats 4 so far!! I know the Lord is truly helping me find these incredible families. My kids this month are a boy -
Jean from France who will be living in West Jordan and Luisa from Germany will be in Draper. Luisa has a twin sister who had not been placed. I made it MY goal to find her a family and I did it!!! It was official last week! I don't get the placement because the family is in Virginia. But I am just happy she has a home!


May also was Taylor's 10th birthday!!! We had a Harry Potter birthday. I will make a photo album for it since it was so cool! It was an amazing party! So much fun to do!

We also made our box garden and planted pumpkins, zucchini, radishes, red and green peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, and iceberg and romaine lettuce. The pictures were take just 2 weeks after we planted! I over planted the 1st garden. I'm not really sure why... but I am so glad I did. It took us nearly 6 weeks (cuz of the storms) to get the kids garden built. Too late to seed.. But once it was done I had starts big enough to transplant!



We also got a new couch thanks to the Gordons! Thanks Summer and Dennis we LOVE it!!!! So comfy!!June felt like I was finally going to be able to breathe. Yah right!







The girls performed their play. It was SOOOOOOOOOO cute!!! It was about pirates becoming stranded on an island with disco monks. It was really funny! If you ever have the desire to see a kids play or your kids want to we should have the DVD soon! Soccer ended so we had a bit more free time. We got a new camera but the SD card won't download to the laptop so now we need a cord to DL the pics of Tay playing soccer. I thought technology was supposed to make things easier... The end of school drew closer and finally summer break started!! But the rain didn't...











We had Katya's 11th birthday party!!! The day began at 2. We went to the salon and everyone got manicures. Then back to the house for a fashion show. On to IHOP for dinner then down town to the OBT for cake and presents and the new play Utahoma! They pulled Katya and her friend Laura(who's b-day was the day before) on the stage and the WHOLE audience sang Happy birthday to them! It was a great birthday!!

I finished up my presentations at the schools and then started all the phone calls. I put ads out on the internet bulletins and all over Facebook. All my hard work paid off!! I have 4 placements in teh month of June alone!!! For a total of 8!!! I only need 3 more to reach my goal!! I have a few leads and more opportunities coming my way in July that I am sure I will make my goal and I may even pass it!! My kids this month are Juliane from Germany who will be in Orem. Claire from France whos family is in Kearns. Yeen from Thailand will be living in Salt Lake(Ft Union area) and Akbota from Kazakhstan will be in Layton.
I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited to be the coordinator for these kids. I can't wait for what the new year will hold!





Our garden is growing really fast now that we have sun. I have not take recent pictures but we have already harvested most of our first crop of radishes!

My sister Sarah came and helped me de-junk the kids rooms while they spent 3 days at g-ma Eames house. I can't believe how much stuff 1 child can hide so well in their room! I knew they had an over abundance of toys and clothes ect... but I hauled out 2-3 bags of garbage (school papers in desk drawers, wrappers, broken toys ect)
PER ROOM!!!! All 3 rooms are now clean organized and decorated! They had better stay that way or else!

Our next adventures look like they will take us to Riverton Days for the 4th and camping with friends and a trip to Cali with the family!