Across the Ocean and Back Again!

My first trip to Europe was amazing! We went for a medical conference that was being held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Joe had worked tirelessly on a research paper for the last year so he could present his findings at the conference. At first, I tried to convince him that we shouldn't go, that we shouldn't spend the money, but he told me he was going to present his paper and he would love to have me join him. :) (In other words, I'm going and you are too) I didn't make up my mind until the day before he purchased the tickets!!! I'm so glad he convinced me to go! We stayed 7 days in Edinburgh and 2 in London! We had a great time and I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity!

Bag pipes were everywhere! Why was this a surprise to me? I was in Scotland!

Downtown Edinburgh-One of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen! (ok, so I haven't seen many, but still...) It is filled with old grand buildings, wonderfully preserved for hundreds of years, amazing architecture, a castle set on a hill, and it was sooo clean!

Edinburgh Castle-it is nestled within the city up on a hill. It is something to behold! Almost like a city within itself.

Beautiful country lane in Rosslyn, just down the hill from Rosslyn Chapel. This was my favorite place to see during my entire trip. Its' history is fascinating (DaVinci Code), the chapel itself was simply unbelievable. I'm not used to seeing something so old (built around 1446). It was undergoing conservation at the time (notice the scaffolding behind us) so we didn't get great pics of the entire chapel. I loved it!

These next three are taken at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. It was home to Mary Queen of Scots. Also has a fascinating history! It is still used when the royal family comes to Scotland, particularly for the Highland games.

About halfway up Scott Monument, built in honor of Sir Walter Scott. It is 200 feet tall and has 283 steps up winding narrow staircases to the top. Yes, Joe went all the way up and lived to tell about it!

Yep! You know I went and saw Wicked! How could I not? We were in London, for crying out loud! It was amazing as always!

Home again! Boy did we miss our kids!

GO BULLDOGS!

Queen Creek High versus Higley High is the biggest rivalry of our football season! It's always a crazy game with a crazy turnout of students and fans, this year was no exception! We weren't about to miss this one! Joe and I and all of our kids plus my mom and Karalee and Kinlee were all there. (Aaron coaches for Higley, sorry Aaron!) It was a great game until half way through the 3rd quarter when it started to sprinkle. Being the fans that we are, we didn't let a little rain scare us away from a game we were currently winning, so we sat tight in the stands. Little did we know, the sprinkles were just the beginning. Before long the rain started pounding down and lightening became frighteningly close. When both teams headed for the locker rooms, that was our clue go somewhere besides those tall lightening rods called bleachers. That was it, everyone had the same thought as us at precisely the same time. It was seriously worse than leaving a D-Backs game. By the time we reached the car we were SOAKED to the bone and then had to wait in the parking lot for 40 minutes to exit toward home! What an grand adventure!!! How can anyone be upset about rain in Arizona???

****The game was rescheduled for Saturday morning where we beat Higley in overtime! GO BULLDOGS!

SERIOUSLY....has anyone seen a goose egg this size before?

Steele seems to be demanding a lot of blog time lately, but gees...I couldn't leave this one out, now could I? It's been a couple of weeks now since this happened and the bump is almost (yes, I said almost, not totally) gone. I'm almost embarrassed to say it, but the thought behind taking the pics was so that I could eventually post them. That is really twisted, huh? Well, here's the story..... We had just finished with scriptures and prayers and Colten and I were trying to get out the door to Walmart. Steele wasn't ready for bed yet, so I told Bren she could stay up and read for awhile so she could watch him for me. She sat him down on the recliner while she turned to the couch to get her book and Steele just took a nose dive right off the chair and onto the wood floor. I do have to say (in Bren's defense) that Steele knows how to climb up on the chairs and couches all by himself and get down as well, so she didn't think a thing of setting him there. We just don't think he realized where he was. It frightened Bren and Gunner pretty bad and even I thought we might be taking a trip to the ER. Joe came home soon after and assured us he was fine. (I still had him give Steele a blessing!) Anyway, this was the result and just so you know, these were taken about 10 minutes after it happened so the lump has already gone down significantly! It looked like a golf ball was protruding off his forehead. Yuck! I'm so thankful that babies are resilient and that our dad holds the Priesthood!