Berlin

We arrived in Berlin and immediately loved the atmosphere. Each city just kept getting better and better.

Our first night we tried a doner kebab.

The second day we went to the top of the tv tower and then wandered around a bunch. We saw the Berlin Wall memorial, the murdered Jews memorial and checkpoint Charlie. Berlin is fascinating. David loves history and World War Two especially, he loved it here. It was also interesting to learn so much about the war his grandpa fought in. 

 My favorite thing in we did in Berlin was go to the 1936 Olympic arena. It was seriously so cool. I love the olympics every year so this experience only added to the fascination. 

 On our third day in Berlin, We visited a concentration camp. It is hard to describe the feeling of being there and the memory of thousands upon thousands of people murdered. It was unique and very somber. We are grateful to have been able to go and experience something to remind us to live life a little more fully. 

 After that event, we went to the east side gallery and explored the city.

The next day we went back to the memorial of the Jews and went through the museum. I love history but after many days of learning more and more about the people of those horrific events, my soul needed something a little happier. 

4th of July

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love that it is no stress, relax, have fun, watch fireworks with no extraordinary cooking, costume wearing (i'm talking halloween here), or present buying. I also think it is crucial to really focus on freedom and what it means to be American. 

Saturday we went to Lagoon for their 2 for one date night. The main purpose was to ride the new ride that opened last year. We were able to walk on to most rides and were able to see and do everything we wanted to in three hours. Money well spent. 

We went up to Bountiful to watch the fireworks at the golf course by my parents. It is always so busy, but there is always a place to sit and watch a fun show.

On the actual fourth David had to work at 2am the next day so we had an early night. We did have a fun lunch date and did a little shopping and just enjoyed the day off of school and work.

I love this country!

Amsterdam

After a night in Brussels,  we hopped on a train to Amsterdam. We love love loved Amsterdam! Why is the world so incredible? I will never have the chance to experience it all!

We explored, had the best Pancakes of my entire life, saw the floating flower market, took the obligatory tourist photo in the I Amsterdam sign and just wandered a lot.

The second day we visited the Anne frank house. It is hard to describe such a sad experience. The place was much bigger than I imagined but still a horrific event. A definite must see in your life time. 

We went to breakfast at the pancake bakery because it was recommended over and over and after our pancakes the night before, I was not impressed. Skip it and eat all of your pancakes at pancakes! Amsterdam- way better. After that we took a dreamy canal tour. The architecture is incredible and it was a fun way to see the city. Plus there were only two other people on our boat. 

We wandered around some more and decided to finally try the much talked about Winkel 43 for some apple pie. Everyone says it is the best apple pie in the entire world and they are correct. It is not traditional apple pie but it was so good we went back a second time. 

Our last day we went to a windmill and wandered around dam square.

Amsterdam is a such a unique city. Between all the bikes, smoke coffee shops, stench of weed everywhere and friendliest people ever, I can definitely say Amsterdam is a hard city to top.

Side note: the Amsterdam airport is by far the most efficient airport I have ever been to. 

 the cutest red shuttered buildings

we did it!!

We Graduated!
I have been dreaming about the day I would write this post for a loong time. You see, I never really wanted to go to "real" college (a university). I opted for hair school instead. Well, turned out I did not really love doing hair in a salon after school either. I went on a mission and knew when I came home that I needed to finally go to "real" school. I gave myself 3 years to finish.

And guess what?!?

I did it. I graduated with my husband.

As excited as I am to graduate, I am also pretty sad. I love this University more than anything. I have loved being involved in everything possible and while I may not be the most traditional student, I am so happy to have completed this.

I get down on myself a lot because most of my friends graduated from college 4+ years ago, but then I realize how many things I have accomplished in my life and realize the path I took led me to my husband and he is the best part of my life.

Our families got together and we had dinner at my parents house. David's dad got us an ice cream cake and we all just hung out and spent the day getting ready for our European adventure we were going on the next day.

newsies!

Let's interrupt Europe for a minute to talk about NEWSIES! I have seen many Broadway shows (not traveling, actual Broadway in New York), but Newsies is definitely my favorite. The combination of the catchy music, incredible choreography and fun story gets me every time. I love it. I love it so much I saw it twice in New York. When I heard they were traveling to Salt Lake, I knew that would be a show we would have to go to.

It did not disappoint. We may have had to miss class for a night, but it was completely worth it. We LOVE Newsies. 

European Adventure Part 3

Paris-> Brussels

This is a baby post because we had less than 24 hours in this city but Amsterdam was so wonderful it deserves a post of its own.

We hopped on a train to Brussels and fell in love with this city.

Brussels was incredible. I had heard so many negative things about it when planning locations for this trip and almost didn't go but I am so glad we did. It was gorgeous and the architecture was amazing. What a fantastic city. It was very interesting to see how they were remembering the attacks that happened not so long ago. With Shrines set out in front of churches among many other things. You could just tell the city was United.

 We explored the grand place and a bunch of other unique building as well as the man skin de pis.

We had a waffle.. Or two, or three and they were seriously the best of my life. Waffle love has nothing on the real thing. 

We tried Belgian chocolate, which was also easily the best chocolate I have ever tried and we wandered some more. We had 12 hours in Brussels and felt it was ample time to explore.

I included this picture because David could tell I was tired of carrying my bag and walking and he so kindly took it. 

European Adventure part 2

London-> Paris

After our time in London Town we had to catch a train to Paris. The train was delayed and it was pouring rain when we arrived to we quickly found food and slept. That rushed meal actually turned out to be one of the best meals of our entire trip.

Lets just go ahead and excuse my poor photography for the rest of these posts.

We got super lucky and were upgraded to this massive room with two bedrooms where we were greeted with a gorgeous view of the twinkling Eiffel Tower. The next morning we headed to Disneyland!

 The first time I went to Disneyland Paris was kind of awful. It was fun but was so busy and just blah. This time was awesome! It wasn't busy. We rarely waited. It was just so much fun. It poured rain almost the whole day but we still loved it.

There were so many random characters there not found in the parks in the states. Like Abu, and baloo also showed up in the parade as well as the lion king. We loved it.