Here's the deal with BLOGGING: You Blog.

So my good friend Emilee posted a comment regarding me neglecting my blog...my biggest excuse is that I don't have any cute kids doing cute things to put up on the blog, so I'm working on getting some (there kind of expensive :).
I will be at my new nephews baby blessing in a couple of weeks with nieces and nephes galore...so look for a great posting then. :)
Things are good here, Darin is so busy with school and work I keep saying I feel single with no roommates. This is my busy season at work and I am in charge of a campaign called "Week Without Violence". My department puts together about 10 events open to the public to educate people about the effects of violence on our community...I work on it all year long, so I am including a link to the list of events and activities here.

Democratic National Convention

So Darin and I were sitting around the house last Wednesday at about 10:30 pm watching the commentary on Bill Clinton and Joe Biden's speeches at the DNC, and decided to be a little spontaneous. We jumped in our car and drove until 4:00 am where we stopped and slept for a few hours and then drove the rest of the way to Denver. We had an amazing time walking around talking to other Obama supporters, listening to bands and standing in line...We really enjoyed Al Gores speech, and LOVED Obama's acceptance speech, however I did not love that we drove back right after his speech and got home at 4:00 in the morning just in time to go to work at 8:00. We are both spending as much time as we can this fall volunteering for the campaign, but with Darin in School full time and working full time, and me in my busiest season of the year at work and teaching 2 classess at Salt Lake Community College we are a little limited.

When in Rome do as the Romans...

We stayed in the most BEAUTIFUL hotel!!! We thought about just staying in the hotel all three days in Rome because it was so nice...but eventually decided to visit the Coliseum, Forum, Pantheon, Vatican, Trevi Fountain and the Sistine Chapel. We also spent a lot of time eating...and I constantly wondered how we would ever be able to go back to eating American food, but somehow we are managing.

FRANCE (Nice, Monte Carlo, Monaco)

The first thing we saw in France was a port where several multi-million dollar yachts were "parked". Some had helicopters on the back, others just had mini boat garages on the back...but ALL of them cost $100,000 dollars A DAY to be parked right outside of NICE. We probably won't be sailing our yacht their any time soon. :) We visited the second largest city state in the world (Monaco) where Grace Kelly was the princess and her son is now the prince. We also drove past the largest casino in the world in Monte Carlo where it cost 100 euro (equal to 150 American dollars) just to enter. Lots of people with lots of money...

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona had the most incredible architecture...we saw several buildings designed by Gaudi, and spent the morning eating Tapa's...it doesn't get much better than that!

Venice...the city of water

Venice was beautiful! We took water buses and taxis everywhere. We ate Gelato, Gelato, Gelato and spent lots of time in St. Marks square, Dodges palace and even took a beautiful Gondola ride with a man who'd been a Gondolier for 44 years.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Naples

Naples was the first stop on our cruise...and luckily they had just ended their year long garbage strike (still a little smelly!). Pizza was invented in Naples, and let me tell you, I have NEVER eaten such delicious food/pizza in all my life! Naples is also about 20 minutes from POMPEI the city under Mount Vesuvius which errupted in 79 AD and Pompei was preserved immaculately by the volcanic ash...It was so amazing!

Italy, Spain, France and Croatia

Darin and I left for the longest/farthest vacation either of us had ever been on July 31st. Our flight got canceled last minute and Darin pinched a nerve in his spine...so we were off to a great start. Because of the flight cancellation mishap (and the strong sentiments I expressed towards the airline), they flew us first class from Salt Lake to New York and then New York to Italy...Darin loved first class so much, that I wondered if anything on our vacation would ever be able to compare with the flight over. :)

Blogging...so much to learn :)

I finally started a blog (against Darin's wishes), but here we are. My biggest fear about blogging is that I'm not sure we can ever compete with all the cute blogs that include pictures of babies...so, that being said, I will do my best.