First and foremost, my last few weeks in Jerusalem were nothing short of incredible. I celebrated my 20th birthday, so a few friends and I went out in the city to celebrate my newest decade!! I'm no longer a teenager, which is crazy, but wonderful. We got ice cream at McDonald's and enjoyed the night-life there. The last few days we focused on the last week of Christ's life. We walked the path from Gethsemane to Golgotha, and the spirit was incredible. It was unbelievably hard to leave the Holy Land, and I'll never forget the experiences I had there.
The big 2-0!!! Woot woot...
Me and the girls at McDonald's for the last time
My birthday present to myself...my first tattoo! Ok, so maybe it was just a stamp-roller someone had, but it served it's purpose of making me feel like an adult. Don't mess.
This is believed to be the actual street the Savior walked up to be questioned and charged. Definitely a crazy thing to realize, but I loved it.
This was our last day in the city, and a bunch of us met up at the Dome of the Rock. It was one of my favorite days there, all of us moving from site to site as quickly as possible to fit everything in. I miss looking out my window and seeing this beautiful building...
After Jerusalem I met up with my parents and Chelsie in Barcelona for a few days. We bummed around there and then got on a cruise ship around the Mediterranean. Although it wasn't the most relaxing trip, it was better than I could've imagined. We got to see Malta, Sorrento, Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Villefrance. Woot woot. We didn't have a lot of time at each place, but we saw incredible architecture and took some hilarious pictures. Although I was a bit homesick by then (or shall we say "America-sick") I enjoyed every bit of it. We had some trouble with our flight connections on the way home, and lost a few bags in the process, but we got everything back and finally made it home!
Chels and I all "dressed-up" for dinner one night. We may have had a photo shoot in the lobby of the boat...but we enjoyed it. The food on the boat was incredible, and I even tried 3 new dishes, including 2 different kinds of fish!
All four of us in beautiful Malta...are we a good-looking group or what?
Notice anything "Eurpoean" about our tour guide...? Ha ha. I couldn't resist
One of the many gelato stops we made...this was in Florence, which was possibly my favorite stop of the cruise!
Me at the Vadican - I LOVED this place too. The artwork was incredible inside, and the Sistine Chapel was everyting I'd imagined.
Another Italian tour guide we had - does anyone else feel like he resembles a certain character from "The Wedding Planner"? ...Mosimo? Ha ha. He had the exact accent, and was kind of a creeper - Chels and I were dying, we had to get a picture with him.
After the cruise I came home and tried to get everything back in order. Our house flooded a few days before my parents left for Europe, so there was a bit of fixing up to do. My parents are still in the process of re-doing the upstairs, and it's been a great excuse to paint and get new carpet up there. :) I spent some time with Aaron (who I'm actually no longer dating) and he taught me to wakeboard. I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical of myself, but I got up and was doing great on my second try...I even got in and out of the wake. :) Definitely one of my new favorite things, so I can't wait til next summer for that. Anyone who has a boat...can we be friends?
I've been offered to be sponsored by multiple companies, but I'm keeping my options open for now. ;)
Another updateable (totally not a word...) event was the now-annual Colors Concert up at the Sandy Ampitheater. I met up with my family there, and Hydee was kind enough to be my date. :) It was a beautiful night, and the music was as great as expected. Afterwards Hyd and I went back to her house off 90th South and had a slumber party. Her husband was at his brother's for the weekend, so it was fun to have a little girl-talk and look at her wedding pictures. We also put mud-masks on our faces, and it was my first experience with it...definitely comes highly recommended by me!!! It was a great weekend - thanks for letting me come stay, Hyd.
Us three hung out together...all without our men. (Well - the other two actually HAD husbands to be missing, and I was getting used to single life). It was a party... :) Colors is the BEST.
Post-concert facials...
Well - that's about all the excitement one post can handle these days. I don't have a lot to update anymore except for school, work, and track. I changed my major from PE Teaching and Coaching to Home and Family Living, with a minor in Coaching. Definitely a great move for me, and I'm loving my classes now. Track is going well, and we have a lot of promise this coming season. I can't wait to tear it up, so keep praying I don't get injured or sick again. ;) I'm working for BYU Intramurals again, supervising volleyball and football. I love the social scene, and watching the games while getting paid isn't a bad thing. I'm easing back into the social life here, and I'm surprisingly enjoying it. BYU football has been incredible, and I'm still in awe from last week's blow-out. Congrats, cougars...and let's plan to destroy Wyoming tomorrow!
