Irish Adventures with Nancy

My sister, Nancy, came to visit and we had such a great time. Sadly, for much of her visit the weather was COLD and yucky. There was even sleet and snow. One day she and I took the DART into Dublin and enjoyed a few hours exploring.


You don't usually see kegs of guinness on the cobblestone streets of Orem, Utah.

The whole family was going to go to the Wicklow Mountains, but we had car issues. Shelby was the only adventurous Carrell, so we took her and headed to the mountains.


Nancy and Shelby at the Powerscourt Gardens. It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful place to explore.


Then we went to the Monastic Ruins in Glendalough. I love old sites like this and Glendalough is gorgeous. Glendalough (from the Irish - Glen of the two lakes) was originally started by St. Kevin in the 6th century. The buildings you see are from the 10th - 12th centuries.


Nancy and Shelby in the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. Glendalough has 7 churches!


Shelby is sitting on the ledge under this cool window.


Now you can see how high up Shelby was.


This is another church- it's called St. Kevin's church or St. Kevin's Kitchen.


Me and Shelby in front of the Round Tower. It is 30 metres high- that's almost 100 feet!


Nancy and Shelby- if you look to the left of Nancy's head, there's a large cross. It is a high cross and legend has it, that if you can put your arms around the base of the cross and touch your fingers- you can have one wish.


Shelby with the ruins in the background. You can also see that the bridge over this little stream washed away.

Wicklow was wonderful and we had so much fun with just Shelby. What a fun day.

Note to self- Don't let the girls do this again!

Shelby, Claire and Emery have loved to play "rock climbing" lately. I knew it involved the bunk bed and loft bed- but I didn't really want to know anything more. Then, I found Shelby's camera with proof! Yikes. I promise, I really am a good mother.


Here is Claire in between the two beds. She is straddling the beds on a piece of fleece fabric that has been tied between the beds. (Think hammock here.)


Shelby is relaxing on the same fleece.


Now Shelby is hanging upside down! Thankfully, no one got hurt. We really are blessed and the girls had a ball. I hope they enjoy the memories because this will not be happening again!

Madi's Blessing Dress

Almost two years ago, Madison was blessed at our church. She wore a beautiful little white dress that grandma made. My mom has made each of my girls their own little white dress. When Madi wore hers- she was itty bitty. She found this dress hanging in my closet the other day. She wanted to try it on- so I let her!


The sad thing, is that I don't think I have a picture of her in this dress from when she was tiny. So, I'm glad we can see it on her!


I think she looks adorable in it.

Madison's Two!

I can hardly believe that our BABY is now two years old!

This is Miss Madi in her new Minnie dress up dress pushing her new stroller.
We love her.


Madi with Aunt Nancy. Madi likes to wear her swim cap along with her big sisters while they are swimming. It's her own little way of supporting them. This last week- she decided she needed goggles too.


This is my sweet Madi when she was just a newborn. We had just brought her home!


Madi was TINY! In fact, Jake still calls her Tiny. She has always loved her big brother.


However, now if you ask if Jake is a good boy or a bad boy, Madi always says, "Dakey a bad boy!" (But she says it with a smile.)


She is full of fun and LOADED with personality.


Miss Madi- two years old- two cakes- two candles in each cake.

Happy Birthday Madi! We are so thankful that you are part of our family!

Anele and Emmanuel's Wedding

On March 20th, our friends Anele and Emmanuel were married at the Finglas Ward Building of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (our church) in Dublin. It was a beautiful day.

The happy couple!


Ivana (the maid of honour) with the flower girls and flower boy. Aren't they cute?


The ring bearer (yes, that is our Jake.) In fact- a few of our family were involved in the wedding. In addition to Jake, I played the piano (for 30-45 minutes prior to the service starting. Sadly, I should have had a larger variety of music prepared...) and Danny spoke (and did a wonderful job.


Claire and Shelby with Anele, the flower girls and twin boys (who weren't thrilled to have their photos taken).


The Carrells with Emmanuel and Anele (Claire was off playing with a new friend and we didn't even notice until we uploaded the pictures...). Congratulations Anele and Emmanuel! Thanks for letting us be part of your wedding day.

St. Paddy's Day- Dublin Style

Last year we were in Switzerland on St. Patrick's Day. The year before, we were in London. So- we decided to actually stay in Ireland for the most Irish of all holidays. We even braved the crowds and went into town to see the parade.

All of us (including Kirsten) after purchasing hats (Danny said my green shirt was putrid- but it's the only green shirt I have.)


A few of the kids had to get whistles as well (Can you say LOUD!?)


Kailey and Kirsten


Drake, Julian and Jake (we found their families at the parade)


Emery, Claire, Shelby, Madi and Dad


Madi and Daddy (things are always more fun with a lolly!)


Shelby amid the throng of people


We just missed the bagpipes...


St. Patrick looks a bit different than I had thought...


The littlest leprechaun


We also saw Ivana and Simona Stefanokova (sisters we know from our church) and I thought the statue behind us was cool. (Too bad you can't see the top. It's a statue of Daniel O'Connell)


After the parade we found a little carnival area and Madi and Emery rode this ride. You can't see Em very well- but Madi laughed the entire ride. She kept saying, "This is fun!"


By the statue of James Connolly (another famous Dubliner). You can see that some of our people are less than thrilled!


Shelby, Claire and Emery in back of the Customs Building

We enjoyed our St. Paddy's day Dublin adventure but were happy to hop on the DART and come back home to our (relatively) quiet home and finished off the holiday with a lovely pizza dinner while watching HOLES. (What a classic movie- plus it does have Camp Green Lake in it- so it's fitting for St. Patrick's Day.) And- the yellow spotted lizards only gave one person nightmares...

Weekend with the Halls

Our friends, the Halls came to visit from Paris a few weeks ago. We think they are so great.

We met them at the Hard Rock cafe in Dublin. (We had never even been to the Temple Bar area in Dublin City.)

We walked across a bridge over the River Liffey and the sunset was beautiful! I think my family looks pretty good, too.

We don't see the Halls super often, but our kids get along so great together.

Emery and Axelle at a Youth activity at our church on Friday night.

The Halls stayed at our house Friday night and most of the kids had such a great time. Sadly, I wasn't as prepared as I should have been and I did not have an extra crib for one of the twins- so neither Parker or Penelope (or their mom) slept very well. (Sorry guys! I will do better next time.)


On Saturday we went to the Dublin Zoo.


Parker thought Emery was really funny. (Kailey took this photo and was fascinated with Parker's cool cochlear implant. What a great invention.)


Claire and Hannah


Axelle and Emery


Hannah and Claire with Penelope. They are such good sisters!


Shelby and Abby with the rhinos.


John carrying around Axelle and Em


(the moms in the background) John carrying Claire and Hannah


John with Shelby and Abby


The dads had to show their immense strength. John and Danny are actually picking up 6 little girls! It was impressive.

It was so fun to reconnect with these great people. Sweet Parker has had more than his share of medical issues in the last year. He was diagnosed with meningitis and the nasty bacteria attacked the hearing center of his brain. Hence- he has had a cochlear implant so he can hear. The Halls showed us several different signs. Kailey has always been interested in sign language and the next day started to teach Madison new signs. (Her ipod touch has an ASL app.)

Thanks for coming Hall Family. We love you guys.