Jethro’s Baptism

So, Jethro got baptized in July on his birthday.  (I didn’t post about it yet because I was waiting for someone in our ward to email me one picture.)  I’m so proud of him, and it was wonderful to have some family here to support him.  You can go here or here to learn about why this was such an important day for Jethro.

    Some of the pictures are blurry because this just happened to be the day my camera decided to slowly die on me.  (Luckily, I know what Brett ordered for me for my birthday!!)  But handsome men nevertheless.  (This was the picture I was waiting for.)

And his birthday icecream cake.

For his birthday Jethro got two history books- which is what he asked for.  They are pretty cool, I’d recommend them.  He also got some other things including legos and the first Harry Potter book.  He is now addicted to reading in a serious way.  I love Jethro and am so proud of him!!

p.s. I am ashamed to admit this, but to be honest, the evening of Jethro’s baptism I got in a tiff with Brett and was sooo SOOO mad at him that I was completely in the wrong spirit the for the whole thing.  I was so ornery and really let it ruin the evening for me.  Learn from my mistake— don’t ever do this!

Third part of the trip- Switzerland.

  This was when we drove over the pass between Italy and Switzerland.  It was a really gorgeous place.      We got a flat tire when Brett ran over a peg-thingee.  So we got to play around on the mountainside while he fixed it.      This is the day we went up Pilatus (a cool mountain).    Going up.  Unfortunately, not much of a view, since it was enveloped entirely in a cloud. But kinda cool anyway.  The cable that leads to nothing.  We saw two ibex on the next mountaintop.  This is when we went to Luzern.  While the kids were feeding bread to the ducks and swans, I kept telling them they should try feeding them right out of their hands.  Well, Hazel did, and then cried when the swan bit her.  It was pretty crazy and very funny.  That girl is awesome.  She’ll try anything.       

Swiss gorgeousness, driving home through the Interlaken region.  It is such a BEAUTIFUL place.           This is from our own little Bern.  A very kind official came and said Hazel should get down, but I could take a picture first.   This is from the cheese factory at Gruyere.Where we watched them make a LOT of cheese.  Of the gruyere variety.  We all got free samples (free meaning included in the expensive entry price).  Lots of cheese. Cute little clock.  One funny story I remembered-  when we were in Salzburg we went to a nice restaurant.  It took quite a long time for our orders to arrive, and so even though I took Talmage outside for awhile, he still had a hard time waiting.  At one point he got up and started going out, so I got up to get him.  He started running, and since he had quite a lead on me, I started running a bit too.  Then I tripped on a rug and fell flat on my face.  Everybody on that side of the restaurant saw me.  It was highly embarrassing.  Later, when Brett and I were driving I asked him if he still loved me even though I had been such a klutz.  He said, “I love you more, for being such good entertainment.”  :)

Europe, again

So the last place we went in Italy was La Spezia.  I think I had the best time there because we HAD more time, and we went to the beach a couple times.  We also went to church there.  We left to find it an hour early, and still only made it five minutes late, and that was after a VERY nice person led us there.  We knew we would be looking for a building that didn’t look like a church, but we still had a bit of a time until we saw someone riding a scooter in a white shirt and tie and we followed him.  :)  They were very nice but it was hot as they didn’t air condition the building.

Italy is just a really cool-looking place all around anyway.  I love all the bright yellow and orange houses and buildings.

  Beach pictures (careful, try not to look too hard- people don’t find always find swimwear necessary).  It was Brett’s first time in the ocean.  It was salty.  I know that everyone says the ocean is salty, but they’re not kidding! 

   Brett and I like to smooch in the ocean in Italy in the sunset.  (But we like to smooch most anywhere, so…) Talmage LOVED the water. See?  Pure excitement.  :) Blake loves Julia.  Awww. Brett is hot- I won’t deny it. See those rocks in the background?  I swam out to them.  It was cool.  I wished that I could take a picture of the beach from there, but I couldn’t really figure out a way to strap my camera on to the top of my head while I swam out.  Nobody was willing to swim with me.  I missed my siblings. Eating dinner.  I like American pizza much better than the pizza we had there.  This is what a lot of our trip looked like.  Hot, sweaty, tired kids.  Good times.