Tahoe!!!

Over the weekend we went to Tahoe and met Kelly and her girls as well as Rachel and her daughter and Heather. We had so much fun... as you can tell from the pictures below. Matt and I were only able to stay for 2 days but we had fun anyways. We stayed on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe but spent our time on the East Shore (Sand Harbor) and a day on the North Shore too. Tahoe wouldn't be Tahoe without spending time in the places that we love with people that we love even more:)

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Matt and the girls. I guess they couldn't decide who got to sit on his lap so they both did!

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Sand Harbor! I love this beach (even though I have really only been there twice now) with its huge boulders and great views. The water was also a lot warmer this trip since it was late July and it was fun just to swim and float in the water! All of the adults took a turn on the inflatable chair to simply float out in the water and soak up the sun.

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Matt and Tess having a little chat. Either that or she is mesmerized by her reflection in his sun glasses. I don't know.

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Chillin' on the beach. Tess enjoyed sitting and eating pretzels some of the time but also ventured out into the water a ways. Such a cutie.

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Relaxing on the beach :)

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Matt and I enjoyed the short break from work and school for a quick summer trip. It was totally worth it to be away for even two short days.

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Peek-a-boo!

Tess hung out under Matt's legs to catch a break from the sun, watch the sand slip through her fingers and fill his pant pockets full of sand! Silly girl.

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Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

Aunt Heather taught Tess and Gabbie how to jump on the hotel beads and then we couldn't keep them from jumping on the couches after that! But they had fun at least:)

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Callie and Kelly on the balcony from our hotel rooms.

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What mother (or aunt, uncle, cousin, friend, distant relative, anyone...) wouldn't love this face?

Tess had fun at the park on the North Shore for a while on Sunday.

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Right before we left on Sunday night, the girls held still long enough for Matt and me to get a picture with them. These girls are the greatest ever. Love them to death.

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What a great, short, fun, but too quick trip to Tahoe to see these cute little girls and Kelly, Rachel and Heather. Thank you for letting us come and hang out for a few days of your vacation!

The Best Bolo's Around! (and some other places in Portugal :)

On this day, we traveled around with President Walton as he did his interviews with the missionaries in a few different cities. The first stop was Viana de Castelo, the home of the best bolo's in all of Portugal (according to the missionaries and mom and dad).

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Mom and Callie in the Bolo shop buying hot bolos for us :)

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Mom, Matt, Kelly, Tess and Callie in the main square of Viana de Castelo eating bolos.

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Danielle and Matt in the town square. It was all decorated for a medieval festival with roasting pigs, falconers with their falcons, bread stands, and other medieval wares. It was so fun to enjoy this city with the locals.

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Tess (and her pouty face), Kelly and Callie in front of one of the churches in the town. Beautiful architecture.

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This is the castle at Guimaraes, and Callie and Matt. She was so excited to see another princess castle!

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Mom, Matt, Callie, Tessa and Kelly in front of the castle in Guimaraes. (Beware, this castle is a lot older and much less restored than the last castle we visited.)

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Stopping on one of the HUGE boulders from which the castle is built for a goofy picture:)

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On the steps of the castle to walk around the interior. We were all a little scared with the littles ones, so Tess was always carried and Callie had to hold someone's hand. It was a long drop to the rocky central area below and we did not take any chances with so many people around. Callie was pulling everyone's arm to go faster!

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One of the guard towers where Tess, Danielle, Mom, Kelly and Callie are standing. I like this picture because you get an idea of the size of this castle and get to see the beautiful green mountains of northern Portugal in the background.

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Matt and Dani atop the castle keep.

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Callie and Matt danced on this boulder before finally posing for a picture. Such a cool old castle! Very different from the first one we visited but I kind of liked the roughness of everything.

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Tessa and Callie posing for yet another picture, this time in an alcove in the church where (supposedly) the first king of Portugal, Alfonso I, was Christened in 1109.

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Two adorable girls! I couldn't help myself!

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One adorable family.

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This was hilarious! Once down in the city of Guimaraes and she was finally put down to walk on her own, Tess put her hands behind her back and strolled around the square! She was so serious as she did it too, like she was an old man taking an evening stroll. Such an amazing little girl.

Conimbriga, Coimbra Baixu and Comibra University

Back to Portugal. We traveled south of Porto to visit several pretty neat sites beginning with the Roman ruins at Conimbriga. Here there are very clear and well preserved signs of civilian life during reign of the Roman Empire. There are massive homes (the largest of which was 32,000 square feet) and fountains and the main attraction, mosaic floors.

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Beautiful mosaic floors and all very different from room to room. The bright colors were amazing to see as well.

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Callie showing off her muscles by some Roman columns.

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Callie was running towards Matt and myself in this picture and her face was pure joy. I am so sad that my auto focus ended up focusing on the ramp instead of on her sweet face :( A sad reminder that I need to be more careful when I am taking pictures of the girls but it was adorable anyways so enjoy it:)

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Callie and Matt "sword fighting" with our umbrellas in the Roman forum in Conimbriga.

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Just the the sword fight came to an end, we began walking back towards the main ruins and the sky opened up with a fury! We all got soaked and Callie had her umbrella flip inside out as she ran! We ran and laughed all the way to the covered ruins to escape the rain.

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I will let this picture talk for itself :)

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This is the way to travel! Tess knows how to enjoy a walking trip around Coimbra Baixu (historic downtown Coimbra).

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Trying out bolos in Coimbra Baixu. The best bolos are sold in another town but we wanted to have something to compare them too. These did not make the cut but were still pretty good and I loved Callie's face, ready to devour that thing!

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Tess and Callie exploring the rock collection in the historic Coimbra University courtyard. This university has been in use since around the year 1300 and is one of the oldest universities in the world!

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To end the day, Tessa enjoyed chilling in an alcove on the Coimbra University campus. These girls are great travelers and were happy most of the time :)

A day in Porto!

Matt and I went on a little adventure where we rode the metro into the old town square of Porto and then just got lost as we walked around in the little streets and walkways. It was a lot of fun and we saw some pretty amazing and neat places. Here are photos of just a few...

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Aliados, the old town square in Porto and the location of preparations for the World Cup! All of these little white stalls in the center area are book stalls where you could find any book, old or new; novels written by Portuguese authors and children's books by Eric Carle (an American Children's book author, think "The Very Hungary Caterpillar"). It was fun just to mingle with the local people, look over the book selections and enjoy the beautiful old buildings surrounding it all before making our way further into town and away from the river front.

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I couldn't help taking pictures of the various cobblestone patterns all throughout the city! So many that were so intricate but this one was my favorite with the wide open space and an old tree in the background.

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Where three churches combine into one. Each one was build at a different time but have grown together and now lean on one another to stay stable.

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These steps begin down by the river front and go all the way to the top of the hill overlooking the river. We did not start climbing from the bottom but we did climb a LONG ways, all up hill. I was hot and sweaty by the end but we did have a great view of the city from above. Thanks for the idea Matt:)

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This is the front entryway into the main train station in Porto. The blue painted tiles depict the history of the country and are very traditional Portuguese paintings.

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Once we got back form our walk around the city, Matt took Callie to get Dad from the mission office for dinner. They all looked so cute with their umbrellas up as they walked home.

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We also did a little shopping at the nearby mall and Kelly got these cute Portugal jerseys for the girls to sleep in. Super cute!

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July 7th

Happy Birthday Clint.

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Here is to you. You are the big brother that I never had and will always love.

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Miss you. Love you.

Portugal Part 3- The Beach and a BBQ!

We are on June 7th of our trip to Portugal and what did we do on our parent's P-Day? We went to the beach of course! It was a beautiful day and we went to another area of the beach this time and got to climb on some pretty cool rocks and just enjoy the sunshine!

Tess all ready to go with her sundress and sunglasses!

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Matt and Callie scrambling on the big rocks on the beach.

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Can you tell that she loves this beach?

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Lunch.

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Soaking in the sun!

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Tess and her glasses again! She liked just sitting in the shade mostly.

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Tess, Matt and Callie watching the waves come in.

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Tess, Matt, Callie and Dani at the beach in Porto, Portugal!

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That night we had the office couple and the office elders over for a BBQ. Tess and Callie were constantly showing off to the elders and wanted them to play!

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Callie finally found a playmate and improvised with the hose to make a swing!

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Elder and Sister Lyman are the office couple who have helped out Mom and Dad a lot. They will be leaving soon though and they will be missed!

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