Good Times This Year

I just wanted to share some of the good times Mindy and I have had this year. We work hard so we can play hard. We are very blessed and we are grateful for all we have. We have such great families and friends and we have enjoyed the time we get to spend with all of you.

Back Home

Our Europe Trip was truly amazing. We actually sold out early in Ramstein so we got to tour a little extra in Frankfort.By the way everyone at Ramstein was so friendly and helpful it was so fun working with the people on base. Since we sold out we got to go to the best zoo in Europe and saw some real old animals, and Ry and I were able to attend the Frankfort temple on our anniversary which was quite a treat. Germany was so beautiful tons of green rolling hills and wildflowers and cute deer that got Ryan excited for the deer hunt. We feel so blessed to have gone on this trip and experience everything we did. It was a trip of a life time. We sure missed everyone while we were gone and our glad to be back stateside.

When in Rome

Italy was awesome, so many sites to see, and so much history. We started out by visiting the Roman Colosseum where gladiators battled to the death. It was crazy that they were able to create such an amazing structure so long ago. There were many beautiful fountains and ruins all over Rome. We enjoyed seeing St. Peter's Basillica, it was definitely a great and spacious building. Next we were off to Florence. Florence was a great city, crowded, but cool. We saw the statue David by Michael Angelo, it was bigger than I thought and his pee pee was showing so Amber liked it. We experienced gelato on top of waffles which was delicious. The Italian Pizza was definitely a let down. The food situation wasn't looking good from Italy, thank goodness for McDonalds(the most crowded place in Europe). Traveling in and out of Florence got interesting a couple times, we spent hours waiting for bus number 2...bus number 2 never showed up. Our favorite Italian word "eschusi". It basically means excuse me. We drove out to the Italian coutryside and saw hundreds of grape vineyards, but unfortunately they were plucked clean. We saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This is the most popular mistake in the world. Italy was a great start to our trip, we really enjoyed our time there.

Switzerland

Breathtaking is what they should call Interlaken, Switzerland. It was so beautiful. We stayed in a cute little hostel with lots of people that snored,but that didnt matter because it was amazing. We started off with a good meal at Hooters, and got ready for some adventure. Ry, Amber and I all decided to go Paragliding. It was so fun the instructors were awesome. What a fun ride. Our second ride was on mountain bikes around a beautiful lake. The scenery was so pretty and the hills were pretty steep or should I say extremely steep. By the end of our bike ride it wasnt the scenery taking our breath away it was those hills!! wow. Our last day we snowboarded in the ALPS. Oh yeah we boarded the ALPS!!Even though we almost got ran over by a bus and the fondue was bad we didnt want to leave, but we moved on to Milano then London.

London and Paris

London was so much fun. It reminded me of New York with great British accents. It was nice to be speaking English again and eating some normal food. We got to go to the Lion King and Chicago. They were both great so entertaining.We saw Big Ben, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, and everything else that looked touristy.Did I mention we had a day in China Town. We ate at a China buffet and got a massage from the little chinese ladies. Im so glad we didnt get sick and no asia bang bang. Ry rented a car our last day in London so we could drive to Windsor Castle, and Stonehenge. The queen was actually at the caslte why we visited she gave us the peace sign from her window.She seemed real nice. Stonehenge was so cool we could not believe we were actaully seeing it with are own eyes. We had a great last day. It was so funny watching Ryan drive on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car and shift with his opposite hand. It was so trippy I kept getting in on the driver side hehe. The GPS ran out of battery we got a little nervous but Ry successfully returned us to our hotel so we could head to Paris. Paris was not our favorite place thats for sure. First our hotel was more of a campout little too scary so Ry got us a place at good ole Best Western. After we walked a few hundred miles out of town we got settled and ready to take on Paris. We saw everything in about a day. It was so cool seeing the Louvre,and Mona Lisa. We went to the Notre Dam and got shhhhed. They dont really like Americans we couldnt help but giggle. Eiffel Tower was the highlight. we hiked to the top with the help of the elevator. It was super tall. We went back at night and saw it all lit up So so pretty!! I think Ryans favorite part of Paris was watching Fast and The Furios in English and getting on the plane to Germany. Next stop Berlin.

Berlin

Berlin was so awesome!! Did not think we would like Germany so much. It was beautiful clean and hip (they actually like graffiti little extreme). While we were there we went on a walking tour with Mike from New Zealand he was hilarious and loved the history so we learned everything about everything. It is unbelieveable and sad. We saw the concentration camps, Berlin Wall, House of parliment, Jew Memorial, Hitlers Bunker, and much more, Ry got it all on the video. The main saying that they use in Berlin is POOR BUT SEXY!!So since we spent all of are money on the trip Ryan fit right in. Did I mention they had subway and great donuts. Ask Ryan about the pink donut if you get a chance.