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.

BUDAPEST! (Are you Hungary?)

A long time ago in a land far, far away- a young sister missionary sat at a desk in the Mission Office in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala overlooking a dusty street where young boys were playing soccer. This missionary was reading a letter from one of her favorite friends. This friend was telling the missionary about her own mission call to Budapest Hungary. I was that young missionary and I was still a new missionary, struggling with a foreign language and trying to appreciate a new culture. I was almost green with envy as my friend was heading to eastern Europe where I had dreamed of going and working in orphanages! (To add salt to the wound- she also told me that she was dating the ONE boy that I would have given a couple of teeth to have dated!) At the time, I knew that I was where the Lord wanted me and now I can absolutely see the truthfulness of that! If I never went to Guatemala, I might never have met the man who is now my husband and definitely would not be where I am today.

I am thrilled that I had the opportunity to go to Budapest last weekend with my favorite people. We took Kailey's good friend Kirsten with us and had a wonderful time!


Shelby and Kirsten with the snowgirl they built.


Kailey and Madi in the pool.


A picture of Claire (that Jake just couldn't resist jumping into...) at the pool.


Claire and Danny


The water was so nice and warm! It was a swim through pool- where you could go through a sliding glass door to the pool outside.


Jake didn't really have time for a picture- but loved the steamy pool.


We had to see Budapest as well. This is in front of the eternal flame, near the Parliament.


The kids by the Parliament Building. It is a gorgeous building. (365 towers and 300+ rooms- Did you know that Hungary lost 2/3 of it's land after WWI?)


It is equally beautiful inside- we saw the crown and scepter (plus the changing of the guard) and this is the room where the members of Parliament meet.


Shelby with the Parliament building. Our tour of Budapest was a long one and we enjoyed swimming so much in the morning that we didn't have enough time to eat before the tour. (The kids thought they were starving in Hungary!)


So, the kids didn't really want to listen (plus although the Parliament building was interesting- it wasn't thrilling for the kids). After we left the Parliament, we met up with another tour group and the tour guide had to say everything in both English and German. (This may be the quickest way to lose your short audience in a very short amount of time!)


This is what the kids did instead of listening to the tour guide.


Here we are at Heroe's Square.


Jake and Madi with the St. Matthias Church in the background. (By this point we had left the tour and had a nice meal at a little cafe. The hot chocolate was lovely!- We also stopped at a little grocery store and stocked up on snacks.)

The real reason why we went to Budapest was the AQUALAND Resort. It is the largest indoor waterpark in Europe. We stayed in the Ramada Resort and had great little apartments that were very nice and the waterpark was connected to our hotel.

Emery on a slide. They had great stuff for all the different age groups.


Claire on the rainbow slide.


Claire in the wave pool.


It looks more like Thailand than Hungary.


Shelby on one of her favorite slides.


What a nice sister! Claire helps Emery get her towel adjusted. (Sorry about the view in the background. Ewww.)


I had to smile a bit. I was definitely the woman with the most clothes on. Most women wear bikinis whether their bodies look good in them or not. Danny felt like he fit right in with the "Hungarian Bellies." (I'm glad he wears trunks and not a speedo. Double ewww.)


Jake won the award for most covered for men and boys.


Kirsten, Shelby, Kailey, Emery, Madison, Jake, and Claire.


Madison and Emery totally enjoyed the crepe with cocoa.


A vacation is not a true vacation without ice cream. Jake, Kirsten, Kailey, Claire and Shelby enjoy their Magnum bars.

After swimming, we went into the city for dinner and a little bit of shopping. Typical for us- instead of Hungarian- we found a nice little italian restaurant.

Madi really enjoyed her italian hot chocolate. (It is thick and super chocolaty and I love it too!)


The Russian/ Hungarian (?) Stacking dolls- aren't they cute? (It was in this store that Emery got her hand stuck in the glass door. OUCH!)


We went to church on Sunday and even found a congregation that held their services in English! (We met a very nice family who are in Hungary with the U.S. Embassy.)
Kirsten was very sweet and took our family photos.


A view of the Chain Bridge from the tunnel on the Buda side.


This is the Chain Bridge that crosses the Danube. You are looking at the Pest side.


Kailey took some fun photos as we were driving by. Budapest is a very pretty city during the day but it is absolutely gorgeous at night. (Sorry we don't have a picture to share of that.)


The sky was blue on Sunday! You can see Gellert Hill and the Liberty (or Freedom) Statue. (FYI- it was erected in 1947 to remember how the Soviets saved Hungary from the Nazis.)


The Oktagon- the area where we had our final meal in Budapest. (T.G.I.Friday's- not a real traditional Hungarian establishment...)

Thanks for the great memories Budapest!