The Butterfield Family

Cutest Laugh Ever!

2012-01-13T13:05:00.001-07:00

Emmett's First Christmas

2011-12-24T22:48:00.001-07:00

Emmett's Birth Story

2011-12-11T19:31:00.001-07:00

3 Weeks Old

At 12:45 in the morning on August 19, while we were sleeping, Reini's water broke. We rushed to the hospital in anticipation of the birth of Emmett. After an uneventful labor, he was born at 3:19 pm. He weighed in at 8 lbs 4 oz and 19 3/4 inches long.

When he was born, he wasn't breathing and his skin tone was blue/grey. They immediately started working on him. We were terrified!

They called in a recovery team and almost instantly the room filled with people.

They continued the process of resuscitation. He pinked up quickly and they reported that his heart rate came up as they added oxygen. However, he was having a hard time breathing on his own, so they rushed him to the Newborn ICU.

Jared went with Emmett to the NICU where the team immediately went to work on him. Before long, they had him stabilized. They had to hook him up to a CPAP machine to help him breathe. The CPAP is the thing that looks like a snorkel coming out of his nose. After about an hour, they were able to take him off the CPAP and he began breathing on his own.

About two hours after he was born, Reini was finally able to meet him for the first time. (They had rushed him out of the delivery room before she was even able to see him.) After all of the turmoil, it was an emotional time for her to finally meet him.

The proud Daddy got to hold Emmett after Reini.

We immediately fell in love with him.

He was very uncomfortable that evening. The doctors decided to keep him in the NICU for observation. They expected to release him in the morning. The next morning, they came to tell us that he had started having seizures in the middle of the night. They wanted to rush him to Primary Children's Medical Center for an emergency CT scan to check for bleeding on the brain.

Jared went with the AirMed team for the walk from the University of Utah Hospital to Primary's. On the way back, Jared told the nurses that Reini was having a hard time because she had only seen Emmett for a few minutes and was really worried about him. They offered to swing by her recovery room on the way back to the NICU. They took Emmett out of the incubator so Reini could hold him. This was a very special moment. We were touched that the AirMed nurses would go out of their way for us.

The CT Scan came out clear, but Emmett continued having seizures all day long. The doctors had to give him three doses of Phenobarbital throughout the day to get the seizures under control. Unfortunately, the medication pretty much knocked him out for the rest of the week. He would wake up a little bit throughout the day, but he was always very groggy.

He always looked so sweet while he was sleeping.

This was his little setup in the NICU. While he slept, the doctors ran every test under the sun to determine what was causing the seizures. After having an MRI, he was diagnosed with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE). In short, at some point during the few days before he was born or during his birth, he had a shortage of oxygen for about 9 minutes. We don't know when it happened, but it caused some minor brain damage. Less than 10% of his brain was damaged and most of the damage occurred in "quiet" parts of the brain. He has some damage in the area that controls right side motor function. The neurologists tell us that it is very difficult to know what the long term effects will be. A brain this young has some ability to compensate for damage, so we may not know for several months or years if he will have long term difficulties.

After the diagnosis, he still needed to become stable in order to go home. During his stay in the NICU, the nurses were sure to involve us with everything. It was nice to have a lot of opportunities to take care of him while we were waiting to take him home.

We were always encouraged to spend time holding him. These were some of our most cherished moments in the NICU.

During most of his time in the NICU, he had to eat from a feeding tube.

When he was starting to stabilize, the doctors told us that if we could get him eating and get the feeding tube out, we could take him home. The next day we started him on the bottle. He loved it! He took 7 of his 8 feedings by bottle that day.

The next day, the doctors told us that if he kept eating at that rate, we could take him home the following day. They told us to prepare to go home.

He kept eating like a champ and they sent us home the next day.

After 11 days in the NICU, we finally got to bring him home.

He still had minor oxygen problems when we brought him home, so we had to keep him on oxygen until he grew out of it after a few weeks.

We are so happy to have him home!

He is now almost 4 months old and is doing great! He had an EEG when he was one month old and we were told that he was seizure free. We were able to slowly take him off the phenobarbital. The doctors told us that the brain damage that he had when he was born probably caused his brain to swell which caused the seizures. Once the swelling went down, the seizures went away.

He is now growing and developing well. He loves to talk and laugh. He is doing great at reaching for his toys with both hands and he is learning to roll over. So far, the doctors say that he is on par with where he should be at this age. Hopefully he will continue to amaze us!

We are thankful to all of our friends and families who have offered countless prayers in his behalf. We feel these prayers and know that they are helping him. We are also thankful for the excellent medical team that took quick care of him when he was born. We know the outcome could have been much worse if we weren't at a top notch hospital.

We feel blessed to have him in our lives! We are continually amazed at how deeply we fall in love with him on a daily basis!

Maternity Photo Shoot (34 Weeks Along)

2011-08-01T21:30:00.000-06:00

Our friend Mike Blommer is a pretty serious hobbyist photographer and volunteered to take maternity pictures of Reini a few weeks ago when she was 34 weeks along. We are really happy with how the shots turned out.

"Baby-moon" April 2011

2011-06-26T22:05:00.000-06:00

With the baby due in August, we decided to take one last big trip with just the two of us. We have been told that this is called a Baby-Moon. We cashed in some SkyMiles and booked a trip to Hawaii. We spent four nights on the Big Island and six nights in Kauai. We had a great time getting away together and spending time in such a beautiful location. Since Reini was only four months pregnant, we were able to be quite active and really enjoyed our time there.

BIG ISLAND

We rented a kayak on the Big Island and paddled over to the Captain Cook monument. We saw some dolphins in the bay that were swimming within 15 feet of our kayak. It was awesome!

We saw some turtles while we snorkeled.

We went to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and stayed in this little cabin.

The cabin was 4000 feet above sea level and got quite cool at night. We had a fire each night to keep warm. It was fun and a unique activity in Hawaii.

We hiked to a lava cave in the park that was hundreds of feet long.

It was crazy to see all the new lava rock. This flow crossed a road several years back. Unfortunately, there wasn't any active lava while we were there.

We took a short hike to Akaka Falls.

KAUAI

After spending four days on the Big Island, it was shocking to see how green and lush Kauai is. It is a beautiful and relaxing island.

This was the view from the beach of our hotel.

Kauai has a large area that is privately owned or isn't accessible by car. We decided to take a helicopter tour to see the whole island. We flew over the entire island and even flew into the volcano crater. It was an amazing experience that we will never forget. This is something that should never be missed!

We flew over this waterfall that was on the movie Jurassic Park.

The most amazing part was flying over the Nepali Coast. This is on the North end of the island and has miles of green rocky cliffs. It was beautiful to see it from the sky.The next day, we hiked along the Nepali Coast. It was beautiful hike that took us to a remote beach. It was fun to see it from the ground after flying over it the day before.

Snorkeling at a beach near the Nepali Coast.

Beautiful view of the island with Reini showing of her little four month pregnant belly.

We did a tour where we tubed down some 100 year old irrigation ditches. It took us through some beautiful parts of the island.

There were several tunnels that tubed through. Some of them were over a half mile long.

We had a great time on our "Baby-Moon". We will miss having the flexibility to take off on vacations without worrying about little ones. But, we are so excited to welcome our little guy into our lives. We look forward to taking him on some great adventures in the future.

It's a ...

2011-04-03T12:07:00.000-06:00

... BOY!!!

We had the 19 week ultrasound this week and found out that we are having a boy. We are so excited! It is also a relief that the ultrasound revealed the baby is healthy and growing correctly.

Profile of our little stud

He's already a thumb sucker...

Our Next BIG Adventure...

2011-02-02T19:02:00.003-07:00

Over two years in the making

Our Next BIG Adventure

Coming August, 2011

2010 Year in Review

2011-01-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

We haven't been exactly diligent at keeping up on the blog this year. To make up for it, this post is going to summarize the entire previous year. Enjoy!

APRIL - MOAB

We took a quick weekend camping trip with friends to Moab in April. Moab is always great!

MAY - HOLLAND AND BELGIUM

Jared was sent to Holland for a work trip, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. While Jared was at work, Reini spent the day shopping in Eindhoven. On the weekends and in the evenings, we did as much touring as possible. In Holland we went to Amsterdam, went to the Keukenhof Gardens (where we saw more tulips than you can imagine), saw windmills, and even sat in a giant wooden shoe.

In Belgium, we ate some amazing waffles, visited Brussels (where Jared ate some mussels), visited Bruges, saw the "Mannequin Pis" (yes, that is the real name), rode bicycles, and saw some more windmills.

JUNE - PUERTO RICO AND SAILING IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

Our niece, Marilee, graduated from High School in June. For a senior trip, her parents decided to take her and her brother sailing with us in the Virgin Islands. Since we absolutely LOVE sailing, we were more than happy to skipper a sailboat for them. Our flight to the Virgin Islands was routed through Puerto Rico, so we decided to spend a couple days there on our way down.

Puerto Rico was awesome! We did several hikes in the rain forest, saw a cool old fort, and went on a night time kayaking trip into a lagoon that is full of bioluminescence plankton. After dark, these microscopic plankton will glow when they are disturbed in the water. It was amazing! Just splashing in the water would make the plankton glow like magic!

Sailing in the British and US Virgin Islands is always an awesome trip. However, it turns out that it is rather HOT in June. In the future, we are going to stick with sailing in the winter. Everyone had a great time regardless of the weather. It's really easy to have fun when you are floating through beautiful tropical islands on your own sailboat.

We brought a climbing harness and hoisted our nephew, Kyle, up the mast. He took some sweet pictures from up there.

AUGUST - ANNIVERSARY TRIP - MESA VERDE & TELLURIDE

We have a tradition that rather than buying presents for each other for our anniversary, we go on a trip. This year, we went to Mesa Verde and Telluride. Both places provided a great escape from the August heat. Everything was beautiful and we enjoyed the time together for our Fifth Anniversary.

One of the big things to do in the Telluride area is to take a drive on some of the old mining roads. Most people call these "Jeep Roads" and claim that you can't drive them in anything that doesn't have a Jeep badge on it. We figured they were wrong and decided to take Reini's Honda Pilot on Imogene Pass, which is a road that goes from Telluride to Ouray. It is certainly a steep, rough road, but the Pilot did quite well. The only shortcoming of the Pilot is that it really needs low-range. The transmission got a little warm on the way up and the brakes got a little warm on the way down. But, other than that, it did great! We got some REALLY funny looks and comments from a bunch of people in Jeeps that were surprised the Pilot could make the trek. At 13,000 feet the view and the drive were breathtaking!

OCTOBER - MOAB

We can't stay away from Moab. We went camping with friends again in October. It was awesome.

NOVEMBER - MISSOURI AND KANSAS

Jared served his mission in Missouri and Kansas. We finally made it back there in October. We put 1200 miles on the rental car in just 4 days while driving around all of Jared's old areas. We got to spend some time with a member that he was close to as well as a family that he taught. He really enjoyed catching up with them and Reini was happy to finally meet them. We also visited the many church sites in Missouri (Independence, Far West, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and Liberty). And, we can't forget to mention the awesome barbecue that Kansas City is famous for!

Yes, it is that flat.

CHRISTMAS

We are happy that we were able to spend a quiet Christmas at home visiting with friends and family.

Thanks for catching up with us. Hopefully we will be more on top of things this coming year!

Way past due....

2010-10-06T07:41:00.002-06:00

Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since our last entry.... here is a quick update as to what we have been up to since March:

In May, Jared had a work trip in Holland and I was able to go with him! It was an absolute blast! We spent time in the Netherlands, Brussels and Burge.

In June, we took Jared's oldest sister, her husband, and 2 oldest kids sailing in the BVIs. It was a lot of fun to take family and show them what sailing is all about!

August 3, we celebrated our 5th Anniversary!!! Jared surprised me with an extended weekend trip to Mesa Verde and Telluride, Colorado! It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun! I can't believe it has been 5 years!

Other than that, we have been working and just hanging out.... hopefully it won't be months until our blog is updated next!

Pure Luck!

2010-03-18T21:05:00.004-06:00

I learned from my sweet mother that you should enter as many contests/drawings as you can... so I do. Jared always laughs at me because I enter a TON of contests and get excited every time and never win! I figure that eventually my time and effort will be awarded.

Last month, for an entire week, I tried calling 107.9 twice a day, in hopes that I would be caller number 10. The very last day of the contest, I was caller number 1, then 3, and then 10!!! I won tickets to see.... Wahoo!!! I can't wait! It will be such a fun concert! The other night, I was listening to 107.9 while I was making dinner and they announced another concert. Adrenaline kicked in- I grabbed my cell phone and home phone. My heart was racing. Could I be caller number 10 again? This is how it went down: I was caller number 1 and then a few rings later, caller number 10! In July, Jared and I will be seeing...

I can't wait! All I can say is that it is PURE LUCK!

Egypt (Days Ten & Twelve)

2010-02-21T15:58:00.005-07:00

Days Ten & Twelve - Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

(Final Egypt Post)

We spent both day ten and day twelve enjoying our resort in Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea. After spending the previous days doing a lot of traveling, it was so nice to just relax at a beautiful resort.

This was the view of the Red Sea that we enjoyed from our room.
The resort was amazing. After spending the previous week and half in the desert, it was refreshing to see so much vegetation.

The resort had several infinity pools just feet from the Red Sea.

One of the coolest features of the resort was the floating pier that went to the edge of the reef. This made it very easy to go snorkeling without disturbing the coral in the reef.

The reef by our resort is one of the best dive spots in Sharm el-Sheikh. The water was crystal clear and full of beautiful coral and fish. After five minutes of snorkeling, we both came to the surface and agreed that this is the best snorkeling we have ever done.

Every part of the resort was perfect, especially the restaurants. While talking to our server at one of the restaurants, we were surprised to find out that we were the only Americans he had served in the two years he has worked there. We don't know where the other Americans are... this place is fantastic!

This was a great way to wrap up a trip of a lifetime. We are grateful we had the opportunity to go and see so many historic and amazing places. We also enjoyed the time spent together for two weeks during another adventure. Traveling always brings us closer together!

Egypt (Day Eleven)

2010-02-07T15:54:00.007-07:00

Day Eleven - Petra

I know, I have skipped day ten. Don't worry, it will be in the next post.

From our resort in Sharm el-Sheikh, we booked a tour to go see Petra in the country Jordan. To get there, we were picked up from our hotel at 3:00 am. From there, we had a 5 hour bus ride up the coast of the Aqaba Gulf. Then, we took an hour long ferry ride across the Red Sea. Following the ferry, we were back on another bus for 3 hours. Finally, we were at the trail head for the mile hike that leads to the city of Petra. We ended up being gone for over 22 hours before we returned to our hotel. It was an exhausting day, but we were glad we did it!
There are several options to get down the trail. You could ride in a carriage like this.
Or, you could ride a horse like this lady. (Seriously, isn't this the best picture ever?)
We decided to just walk the trail. It reminded us a lot of Southern Utah.
This is our first glimpse of the Treasury.

It was stunning! You might remember this from Indian Jones and The Last Crusade. This is the temple they enter at the end of the film. The formal name for this is The Treasury, however that name is misleading. It was originally built as a tomb and never held any treasures.

This is the side view of the Treasury. We were surprised to see that a cafe sits in the same area.

This is what the inside looks like. The sandstone was beautiful. It doesn't go any further back than that. The inside that was shown in Indiana Jones was all fake.

This is the view from inside the Treasury looking back at the canyon that we hiked down.

We were surprised to find that there are over 1000 tombs in Petra. These five tombs are right around the corner from the Treasury.

We were shocked to find this amphitheatre that can seat thousands. Petra had several thousand inhabitants anciently.

Again, the sandstone was stunning.

Here are several more tombs etched into the cliffs. It was amazing to go explore through the various tombs. We only had about two hours to explore since we had a long journey back to our hotel, but we enjoyed the time we had to look around this incredible site.

On the way out, we passed this little shop. They are still living in the fame that Indiana Jones brought to this area.

Egypt (Day Nine)

2010-01-24T20:24:00.005-07:00

Day Nine - Abu Simbel

We woke up today in Aswan. We caught a flight to Abu Simbel, had two hours to explore, then caught a series of 3 flights that finally took us to Sharm el-Sheikh. It was a long, but amazing, day!
As we were approaching the airport in Abu Simbel, we saw the Ramses II temple that we were coming to see.

This temple is another one that was going to be flooded when the Aswan dam was built. Again, UNESCO stepped in. They built a dam around the temple, dismantled it, built a fake mountain a few hundred yards away, and reassembled the temple on this fake mountain, exactly the same as it had been before.

We couldn't take pictures inside, but we were able to take a few through the door. The inside of the temple was the best we had seen in Egypt. The entrance was lined with large statues.

The giant statues guarding the entrance were meant to show the power of Egypt to people who were entering from other countries since this is right on the boarder of Egypt. It was meant to intimidate enemies. I bet it worked!

Seriously, these guys are huge!

It was crazy to think that the mountain surround the temple is man made.

Nefertari's temple is only about a 100 yards away. It was also quite amazing.

The view of these two temples side by side was incredible and completely worth the flight.

After we left Abu Simbel, we began the three fight trek to Sharm el-Sheikh. We missed one flight because the staff of Egypt Air are entirely inept.

Once we finally made it to Sharm el-Sheikh, we took a taxi to our hotel on the shore of the Red Sea. We had booked the cheapest room in the resort: a queen bed with a garden view. When we arrived at the front desk, the guy who checked us in smiled and said, "I have upgraded you to the suite." When we entered the room, we were shocked! We had a full kitchen, living room, giant bathroom, washing machine, king size bed, and two large balconies with a beautiful view of the Red Sea. We couldn't believe we got all of this for less than $100 a night!

Egypt (Day Eight)

2010-01-13T19:59:00.005-07:00

Day Eight - Aswan

Our Nile Cruise ended this morning, so we were back on our own. We decided to hit a few locations that the tour groups never go to.

We started the morning by hiring a boat to take us to a few sites on the Nile. The boat captain would take us to the sights and then wait for us to go to the next site.
Our first stop was the tombs of the nobles. The nobles were a step or two below the pharaohs, comparable to a governor. The tombs were built into cliffs that overlook the Nile.

We found that they are rarely visited since the stairs are almost completely covered in sand. Also, we were the only ones there.

We found that several of the tombs were locked. Two guards were willing to open the tombs and let us take pictures in exchange for a tip and a promise not to tell the other guards. It was well worth the small price!

It was fascinating to see the inside of these tombs that are rarely seen.

The colors inside are original and were amazing!

We found these baskets inside one of the tombs. They were filled with bones that appear to be human... but maybe they weren't?

This hieroglyph was unique since it shows a man with a crutch. We never saw anything like this anywhere else that we visited.

Some of the tombs had expansive exteriors as well.After the tombs, we went to a Nubian village that is on an island on the Nile. Nubians differ from Egyptians in that they are African and Egyptians are Middle Eastern. Nubians tend to stick together in their own villages. Our guide book told us that if we came to this village, the chief of the village, Hamdi, loves to talk to people about his culture. Sure enough, right as we walked into the village the guy in the photo above showed up and said that he was Hamdi and would like to show us around the village.

He took us into this guy's house who keeps baby crocodiles as pets.

Reini was a bit nervous to hold it.

Parts of the village were brightly colored.

While other parts were completely demolished and forgotten. It was so interesting to jump into a different culture without hoards of tourists.

Egypt (Day Seven)

2010-01-03T15:22:00.007-07:00

Day Seven - Aswan

We started the day with a trip to the Unfinished Obelisk. This obelisk was partially carved out of granite thousands of years ago. While carving it, the granite cracked and the project was abandoned. If it had been completed, it would have been the largest obelisk in Egypt at 120 feet tall.
It was incredible to see that carving marks in the granite remain after all these years.

Next, we went to the Aswan dam. This dam was built progressively from 1898 to 1960 in an effort to control the flooding of the Nile. In the end, there are two dams that now form Lake Nasser, the largest reservoir in the world. The Egyptian economy depended on having the Nile flow controlled. Therefore, it was more important to created the lake than to deal with the problems it would cause. Several ancient sites were flooded as the lake filled with water.
One of the sites that was flooded was the Philae Temple. We took this little boat out to see it.

This is the Philae temple. It was completely flooded by Lake Nasser. In 1960, UNESCO funded the project to move this temple. They built a dam around the temple, drained the water, disassembled the temple, and then moved it to a nearby island in the exact same orientation it was originally built.

When the temple was underwater, sand had partially covered it. The dark line in the picture above shows the waterline.

Overall, the temple is in surprisingly good condition.

Most of the hieroglyphs are in excellent condition.

After the temple, we went on a Felucca ride. A Felucca is a traditional sailboat that has been used on the Nile for a long time.

Our "Captin" had this sweet "welcam" painted on his boat.

The Felucca took us to an island on the Nile that is a botanical garden. It was so nice to see some vegetation! This garden island is heavily watered and provided a nice place to escape from the desert heat.

Egypt (Day Six)

2009-12-11T20:29:00.004-07:00

Day Six - Edfu & Kom Ombo

We started the day by touring the Temple of Horus in the city Edfu. Amazingly, this temple was covered in sand for thousands of years and wasn't discovered until the 1860's. It's shocking to think that something this large could be lost for that amount of time. Fortunately, this helped to preserve the temple.

Many of the ceilings were either still in place, or were easily repaired. This made it easy to image how the temple originally looked.

This is the Holy of Holies. It was the center of the temple and was where the people came to worship. The shrine is a reproduction, but it was neat to see how it looked in the temple.

The falcon statue is original and is in perfect condition. The detail in it is amazing.

This wall is one of the highest surviving pylons and stands about 125 feet high.
In the evening, we went to the Temple of Kom Ombo. It is unusual in that it is a double temple that is dedicated to two gods with two Holy of Holies side by side.
This hieroglyph is of the various medical instruments that the Egyptians used. Some of them are still used today. The two figures on the left are on birthing chairs. For thousands of year it was traditional for women to give birth in chairs like these.

This is considered the best hieroglyph in Egypt. The detail in the figures is incredible. Every muscle and detail is perfect.

It's fascinating that the detail in the columns has remained for so many years.

I just like this picture.

Egypt (Day Five)

2009-12-06T16:12:00.005-07:00

Day Five - Valley of the Kings & Cruising the Nile

We started the day early with some tours of the West Bank of the Nile near Luxor. The statue above is one of two that used to guard a giant temple. The temple has long since been demolished, but the statues are quite impressive.
We went to the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings. Both locations do not allow any cameras, so these photos were downloaded from the Internet. Both sites are where the Queens and Kings (Pharaohs) of ancient Egypt were secretly entombed with all of their treasures. Unfortunately, the secret got out and all but one of the tombs were pillaged thousands of years ago. King Tut's tomb is the only one to be discovered untouched in the modern day.

The more important Pharaohs had large corridors leading to the tombs. In some tombs, like Ramses IV, the corridor was over 200 feet long and covered with detailed, colorful, hieroglyphs.

Around the tomb, the hieroglyphs still hold the vibrant colors from several thousand years ago. It was breathtaking to see. We also went inside King Tut's tomb and saw his body. It was fascinating to see the relatively small tomb he was buried in since he died unexpectedly at the age of 19.

Next, we went to Queen Hatshepsut's temple. This temple has been heavily restored to the way it would have looked during her time. About 25% of it is original. Regardless, it is very impressive.

Giant statues line the temple.

This is the view from our room in the cruise boat. It was fascinating to watch what was happening along the Nile from the view in our room or from the pool on the roof of the boat.

Small boat fishing is very common to see along the Nile.

We felt like we were floating through a National Geographic magazine as we saw cows swimming along the Nile.

We found many kids happily playing in the water.

We spotted this great shot from the top of our boat.

The small boats that seem to be attacking the river boat are actually trying to sell souvenirs to the tourists on the boats.

They would line up along the side of the boat and yell out to the tourists on the top deck.

If someone was interested in buying, the men would throw the item all the way to the top of the boat. Then, the tourist would place the money in a sack and throw it down to the men.

Egypt (Day Four)

2009-11-21T00:01:00.008-07:00

Day Four - Train & Luxor

We woke up on the the train after a poor night of sleep. As soon as the sun came up, we looked outside the window of our cabin and found that the train was rumbling through some areas of Egypt that never see tourists. I grabbed the camera and took the following pictures for the next 3 hours until the train finally made it to Luxor.

Camels are still used for transportation and as work animals.

We passed many fields while on the train. It was common to see families working together.

This shot is of a field with some trash being burned. The mosque in the background is a very common site.

When we finally made it to Luxor, we got on our four day Nile cruise, the Jaz Royale. This is very different from an ocean cruise. The boat only had 47 guests. It would make multiple stops each day at various sites along the Nile. At night, it would dock at a town so we could walk around at night. It was an amazing experience to float along the Nile.

After we checked in on the boat, we had a few hours to kill before our first tour. We decided to check out the local market. It was very different from Cairo. The street was dirt and was filled with shops for clothes, food, and other local goods. Check out the size of the lettuce in the photo above!

I can't get over how awesome it is that Egypt still uses donkey carts!

This kid had a crate packed full of baby chicks he was selling.

Once again, the big digital camera caught a lot of attention from kids as they were coming home from school. These boys were so excited to get their picture taken.

This darling girl ran all the way across the street to get her picture taken.

Our first tour was the Karnak Temple. It is the largest temple in Egypt and was built over many years. Almost every pharaoh added to the temple, but most of the construction was done under Ramses II. That is why these giant Ramses statues guard the entrance.

These ram statues used to line both sides of the 1.5 mile long road that separated the Karnak Temple and the Luxor Temple.

The Karnak Temple is filled with giant columns that are covered with hieroglyphs. The color that is visible on the stones on top of the columns is original and hasn't been restored. The Egyptians ground up precious stones into a paste and then painted it onto the hieroglyphs. They used precious stones because the color would not fade over time like natural pigments would have.

Next, we went to the Luxor Temple. This temple was also built mostly by Ramses II, but many other Pharaohs contributed. The photo above is the main entrance. Originally, there were two obelisks in front of the temple. However, the one on the right was removed in 1829 and given to France as a gift. If you have been to the Place de la Concorde in Paris, you have seen the other obelisk that used to stand in front of the Luxor Temple.

The hieroglyphs inside in the temple are in very good condition and have incredible detail.

It was neat to be at the temple at dusk. As night fell, the lights made the temple look spectacular.

After the Luxor Temple, we went back to the Karnak Temple for the sound and light show. Similar to the Giza light show the story was pretty cheesy and over dramatic. However, the light show was great!

Egypt (Day Three)

2009-11-05T20:47:00.007-07:00

Day Three - Cairo

Today we hired our driver again and he took us to some of the sites in Cairo that are relatively new . . . less than two thousands year old.

This is the City of the Dead. It is a four mile long area of Cairo that is formally known as the Northern Cemetery. Traditionally, Egyptians built small house-like mausoleums for their loved ones where they could stay during the 40 day mourning process. Also, when they came to visit the dead, it gave them a place to hang out. The City of the Dead is filled with these small houses. Today, the area is filled with thousands of homeless people who have moved in and live with the dead. They have even set up markets and coffee shops amongst the tombs.

This is a view inside one of the mausoleums. If you look behind the bars, you can see the tomb.

Next, we went to the Citadel. The history of this area goes back to the year 810 A.D. and has had many uses. The position of the Citadel, on a hill overlooking the city, made it a great location for military defense and was even used to defend against the Crusaders.

Many different mosques have stood within the walls of the Citadel. Today, the Mohammad Ali’s Mosque dominates the site and is quite stunning.

The inside of the mosque is beautiful and unique.

The view from the Citadel is supposed to include the pyramids, but the pollution in Cairo is so horrible that there is no chance of seeing that far. You can smell and taste the pollution all day long.

We then went to Coptic Cairo which has had Christian roots since about the 3rd century A.D. This is the Hanging Church. It was probably built in the 8th century, but stands on the same spot as a church built in the 3rd century.

Near the Hanging Church is a Christian cemetery. It really should be in a scary movie. Seriously, I'm sure at night this place has dead people walking around everywhere!

Another view of the city on a clear day.

That night, we got on the sleeping train that took us on a 12 hour trip to Luxor.

This is our little room on the sleeping train. If you've ever ridden on a train in Europe, this train isn't anything like that! This thing rocked and rumbled down the track. Occasionally it would just slam on the brakes. I was sure we were going to hit another train. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night.

Egypt (Day Two)

2009-10-31T16:05:00.007-06:00

Day Two - Cairo

This is the only photo we have of the Egyptian Museum since we had to check our camera at the door. The museum was AWESOME. If you ever thought there might be a shortage of Egyptian artifacts, you were wrong! They have so much stuff jam packed into this museum that they obviously don't know what to do with it all. There are rows and rows of sarcophagus stacked 3 or 4 high. They also have about 20 mummies on display, which was fascinating to see (and the only room in the museum with air conditioning ... we loitered!)

King Tut's loot takes up an entire wing of the museum. The mask above looks incredible in person. It's crazy to think that they buried King Tut, who was only 19 when he died, with all of this stuff. Ramses II was 97 when he died. It's too bad his tomb was looted thousands of years ago, I'm sure it would put King Tut to shame!

After the museum, we went on a walk through Cairo. I saw this huge pile of trash that has long since been forgotten and decided to take a picture of it. An instant after I snapped the photo, a guy came up to me and said sternly, "Don't take pictures of rubbage!"

We found this great overlook that looked down onto a crazy intersection. Cars, people, buses, and motorcycles all randomly crossed in all directions. To our amazement, no one got hit! We also saw a lot of other interesting things...

... like this guy carrying a dresser on his back (You also might notice the two fellas walking with arms linked. Homosexuality is not tolerated in Egypt, but it is very common to see heterosexual men walking arm in arm or even holding hands.)

We also saw these two women, one with a TV on her head and the other with a bundle of packages on her head. It is very common to see ladies carrying stuff on their heads. You might think it's pretty rare to catch a lady with a TV on her head, but you'd be wrong. We saw it again about a week later.

These little mini-buses are public transportation. Most of the time they never come to a complete stop. They will just slow down, the door opens, people get out while others get in, and then off it goes. In this photo, the guys getting off are at a brisk walk.

I just thought this was a cool shot. That's all.

We saw this mosque and thought it would be cool to go check it out and take some pictures. This is the only photo I managed to get because right as the camera came out, we were swarmed by the little kids in the pictures below.

They LOVED getting their picture taken and then looked at the screen so they could see themselves. We got the impression that they have never seen a digital camera before.

We took about 35 pictures of these boys before we had to leave, they tried desperately to get us to stay and continue taking pictures.

That evening, we went to the sound and light show at the Pyramids. The narration was horribly cheesy, but the light show was impressive!

Egypt (Day One)

2009-10-27T21:28:00.012-06:00

From October 7-21, we went on an amazing trip through Egypt. We traveled through Cairo, took a trip up the Nile, spent a few days on the Red Sea, and went on a day trip to Jordan to visit Petra. It was remarkable to travel through all of these historic areas that were built thousands of years ago. We took 2900 pictures!
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Over the next several days, we are going to put several posts on the blog (with only a few of these pictures) to show some of the things we saw. Enjoy!

Day One - Giza, Saqqara, Dahshur, and Cairo

On our first day, we hired a driver that drove us to all of the pyramids around Cairo. He was with us for over 9 hours and drove us for about 100 miles. This personalized service only cost $36. We quickly found that prices in Egypt are much lower than at home.

The Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx are amazing! It is difficult to imagine the size of them until you are standing at their feet.

We took a camel ride. It was a crazy experience! We both thought we were going to fall off.

We went inside the Pyramid of Khafre. It was amazing to walk through this structure that was built over 3000 years ago! The passageways have very low ceilings. While walking through the pyramid, it was fascinating to see how each block fits together perfectly. We couldn't see any gaps and the blocks were perfectly smooth. It was very hot and humid inside the pyramid. It was probably over 100 degrees and close to 100% humidity.

Reini thought the Sphinx was pretty hot!

After the Pyramids of Giza, we went to Saqqara and Dahshur to see the Step, Bent, and Red pyramids. These are older than the Giza pyramids. We were able to go inside the Red pyramid. It was only the two of us and the guard inside the pyramid, which was a little creepy. The passage down to the tomb is about 70 feet long and only about 4 feet tall and on a very steep angle.

Near the Red Pyramid, we visited a carpet school. In these schools, children come at the age of 8 for a six year apprenticeship on how to make hand tied silk carpets. After the apprenticeship is over, they can either work for the carpet company or they are given a loom and can work from home. A large carpet like the one in the center photo would take one person over 2 years to complete. The cost for this carpet in Egypt is about $13,000. Needless to say, we left only with pictures.

Donkey carts are alive and well in Egypt. It is very common to see them going down the street. Jared snapped this picture on our way back to Cairo.

This was our first Egyptian meal. This item is called Koshary. It is a very common food in Egypt. It's not bad, but it's not very good either. We quickly discovered why you never see Egyptian restaurants in America. There is really no market for it. We made a good honest effort to try the local food, but eventually we just gave up and ate western food (which is very popular).

Spice stores are very common in all Egyptian cities. This is one we found in downtown Cairo. They always have big barrels or bags full of various spices.

Home Improvement

2009-10-04T10:25:00.005-06:00

Ever since we moved into our home, we didn't like the wall that acted as a railing next to the stairs. We always wanted to remove the wall and install a real railing. When our friend Jeff Brown told us he could hook us up with the materials for a REALLY good price, we decided it was time to get to work.

This is what it looked like before.

Another before shot.

Jared took the first swing at the wall.

Reini took a few swings too.

The hammer was takinig too long, so Jared got serious with the Skill saw. However, the dust it created set off the smoke alarm twice and covered the entire house with a thick layer of dust. I highly recommend removing sheet rock with a knife rather than a saw!

After the sheet rock was removed, the studs were the next to go.

Once the demolition was complete, the building began. The box beam for the newel post was the first thing installed.

Then some trim and a skirt was added.

Finally, the rest of the trim, the railing, and the base was installed and ready for stain.

Reini made a time capsule and put it in the newel post before the cap was installed.

After a coat of stain and three coats of polyurethane, the metal balusters were installed.

Following two months of hard work, it's finally done!

We're thrilled with how it changes the look of our home.

Coming Soon.....

2009-09-16T08:14:00.002-06:00

Binky clips and baby girl bracelets!

After trial and error and several "mom" opinions, I think they are ready!

Pictures will be posted soon...

Alaska Cruise

2009-08-09T14:20:00.015-06:00

July 17-24 we went on an cruise to Alaska with Reini's mom, her two younger brothers, her aunt and uncle, and her grandparents. We had a great time hanging out with the family! The cruise was beautiful and a great escape from the heat in Salt Lake!

Day 1: Cruising the Inside Passage

We woke up the first day to find the ship surprisingly close to shore while sailing through the Inside Passage. It was breathtaking!

Reini's brothers spent a good part of the day looking for killer whales.

Day 2: Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan is a charming little town and happens to be the fourth largest city in Alaska.

We saw a lot of bald eagles, It was awesome to see them in the wild.

We went on a zipline tour through the rain forest with Reini's mom and brothers. It was a blast!

While on the ziplines, we saw this black bear walking through the woods.

After we got back on the ship, the cruise was offering a free round of Bingo (it usually cost $30). We each got a single free bingo card. Reini won $141 after they had only called six numbers!

Day 3: The Hubbard Glacier

Instead of stopping at a port, the cruise ship took us within about 1/3 mile of the Hubbard Glacier. It was crazy to see all of the ice floating in the water while we were approaching the glacier. Occasionally, the ship would hit a small piece and you could hear a small thud on the side of the boat (we were going too slow to do any damage).

The glacier was HUGE! It is about 200 feet tall. Every once in a while, a giant piece of ice the size of a house would break off and go crashing into the water. It was amazing. Some of the ice had a deep blue color. The photo above only shows some of the color (I don't have photoshop installed, so I can't bring the color up to where it belongs. You'll have to imagine!)

It was mighty cold for the 20th of July!

Day 4: Juneau, Alaska

We went on a beautiful seven mile hike in a rain forest by the Mendenhall Glacier (the glacier is the white thing in the middle of the above picture).

The rain forest was incredibly lush!

After our hike, we went on a cable car ride to the top of a mountain above Juneau. We had a great view of the town, mountains, and our ship.

Day 6: Victoria, British Columbia

In Victoria, we went on a whale watching tour where we got pretty close to countless killer whales that were all swimming together.

It was amazing to see them all swimming together. Way better than Sea World!

All week long: Dining room fun!

Everyone became experts at the spoon on the nose trick, including Reini's brother and mom......her aunt...... and even her grandma. Needless to say, we had a good time dining together!

Also, Jared and Reini's brothers all tried the various "specialties" on the menu including frog legs. It turns out that frog legs are delicious!

Happy Anniversary

2009-08-04T09:54:00.006-06:00

Dear Jared,

Happy 4 year Anniversary!

Thank you for making me the happiest girl in the world!

I still get butterflies and weak in the knees every time you are near..

I love you sweetheart!

Love always, Reini

Taiwan

2009-03-22T17:24:00.020-06:00

Last week, I went on a work trip to Taiwan. The trip was short notice and was scheduled to be very busy, so Reini wasn't able to come, which was a big bummer because I missed her a lot and we would have had a great time seeing the sights together. The trip ended up being incredibly busy. But, I took every opportunity I had to go see some of the sights.

In Taipei, my hotel was right across the street from this building, Taipei 101. It is the tallest completed building in the world (some gigantic building in Dubai is under construction that will be the tallest building in the world).

The view from the top was amazing and reveals how green Taipei really is (something I didn't know).

I toured the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. This is the guy that helped lay the foundation for the Taiwan government that helped set it apart from the China government. (My history knowledge is lacking; that is the info I gathered from the high school girl that gave me a free tour as a school project to practice her English.)

I walked around the Lungshan Temple. It was jam packed with locals. I was one of only three white people at the temple. I'm not sure if I was supposed to be taking pictures, since I only saw one other person taking pictures, but no one ever stopped me. It was really neat to see the locals worshipping. They would light incense and worship at seven different stations. They would put one incense stick into a big metal cauldron thing that was in front of each station. Also, there were several tables packed full of fruit, pastries, and desserts that were being offered as sacrifices (you can see this in the last photo above). In the center of the temple, people were singing. It was a really neat experience and may have been my favorite part of the trip.

I went to a few different night markets. They had a variety of little shops and food. I bought a big plate of food for about $2.00 that was the best Chinese food I've ever had. Also, one of these markets had a guy that had snakes hung from ropes that he would cut open and drain their fluids into a flask. I can only guess that people drink this stuff, but I never saw anyone do it. While he was talking to the crowd, he had two Cobra snakes, at attention, just sitting out on top of the cage. They would occasionally snap at him. It was NUTS! (I didn't take the above picture of the snake guy because the only sign in English on the entire street said, "No photos" right next to him. And seriously, I wasn't about to mess with the dude that has two cobras on display. So, I pulled this photo off the Internet.)

I also went to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. It was an impressive set of buildings!

For work, we traveled to the city Chiayi on this crazy fast bullet train. It got up to 186 MPH!

One last thing, who doesn't like some funny Chinese-to-English translations? I took the above photo of a sign on a vending machine. After I read it, I had no choice but to buy a drink!

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It was a pretty good trip, but it was missing one very important thing: Reini. I really wish she could have come along...

Elder Oaks

2009-03-15T17:09:00.004-06:00

My heart is full. Today we had a special stake conference with Elder Oaks as our guest. What an amazing man! I have never known too much about Elder Oaks, but I left the meeting today with a strong testimony of him. His spirit was sweet, his words gentle, and his message was filled with hope. What a great way to start another week!

Butterfield's MIA

2009-02-28T11:29:00.002-07:00

The month of March starts tomorrow. The Christmas post seems to be a little out of date. So, this post is simply to acknowledge that we haven't written for a while. But, don't loose hope! We will!

Christmas Lights

2008-12-20T15:23:00.006-07:00

Last night was the perfect night to see the lights on Temple Square. Snow was gently falling and people were everywhere enjoying the lights. Nothing brings the Christmas spirit quite as much as walking around Temple Square. It's one of those traditions that must be done each year.

We brought our new video camera and took a few quick shots while trying to keep the snow from ruining the camera. You can check out the video below.

Merry Christmas!

Simple

2008-11-13T16:07:00.022-07:00

There are a few simple things in my life that make me smile...

that Meredith has her Dr. McDreamy & that I have my very OWN Dr. McDreamy: Jared

how cute our baby ducks were during their 1st bath- they were SO excited to be in the water

how incredible my girlfriends are

what an overwhelming feeling it is to be
an American

how Jared's smile melts my heart-

that is one of the first things

I noticed about Jared... his warming smile

that our cat, Cody, is always willing to let
me have cuddle time... I sure do love him

how amazingly calming & relaxing it is to be amongst dear friends on a sailboat

that any yummy treat can brighten someone's day

how much I LOVE my family & Jared's

the sound of fall leaves beneath my feet
that I can be my complete self with Jared & he will still LOVE me
how really good fireworks can be felt in your chest
how honored & blessed I am to be a member of the LDS faith and to be sealed to Jared for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple
how a quiet little stream will creep up on you when you would least

expect it, but how the timing couldn't be better- aahh how wonderful it

feels to have cool water flowing over your blistered; sore feet

when Jared comes home, I have to stand on my tip toes to kiss him

I simply love life!

New York, New York!

2008-10-25T11:36:00.025-06:00

Jared was sent to Montreal and New York for work, so we decided this would be a great opportunity to have a weekend together in New York. Reini flew in on Thursday, October 9 and we spent the next five days together seeing everything we could until we flew home the following Tuesday. Here's what it looked like:

Right after Reini landed, we went to the Empire State Building. We were there for sunset and got to see all the city lights turn on.

Times Square

The next day, we went to the Statue of Liberty.After the Statue of Liberty, we went by the World Trade Center site. As you can see, it is just a large construction site now as they have began building the memorial. However, there is still a heavy, mournful feeling there. People are still leaving flowers and gifts for their loved ones. Unfortunately, there are also vendors selling mementos about 9/11 which just doesn't seem appropriate.The following day, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we saw some very famous artwork like this Renoir and ...

This amazing green rectangle! And...Blobs of paint on a canvas! And, our favorite piece...A GIANT balloon wiener dog!!!

Later that day we also went to the Museum of Natural History and ate at a great little restaurant just down the street. We also walked by the New York LDS Temple. We walked in the lobby and were amazed at how strong the contrast was of the hustle of the city and the peace and spirit of the temple. The following day we got tickets to the musical Spamalot. It was hilarious and very well done. One of the main rolls was performed by Clay Aiken.

And, if you look close, Jared had a supporting role!After the show, Reini had Clay Aiken autograph her play bill.We were pretty excited to have seen Clay Aiken, but little did we know that we would end up running into a LOT of famous people that night, including Morgan Freeman AND...Robin Williams...Jared even got a picture with President Bush!And, his luck got a little better when Jennifer Lopez let him snap a photo with her! And look at him cupping a feel!

Okay, okay, we are not this lucky in one night. We did in fact see Clay Aiken, but after that we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. It was incredible how real they all looked. It was like we were invited to a Hollywood Party.

Another picture of Times Square. Because it's awesome!The next day we went on a bike ride in Central Park. During our ride, we took a detour so we could see the Restaurant that Seinfeld was filmed at. The Brooklyn BridgeThe highlight of our trip! We got standby tickets for a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman. We waited in the standby line and got the LAST two seats in the theater! We were lucky! It was so much fun to see the show in person. Dave came out before the show started and answered a few questions, then the show began. Tina Fey was his main guest, followed by a comedian and a band. It was a blast! After the show, Jared got a picture with Paul Shaffer of the CBS Orchestra (by the way, the CBS Orchestra plays during the commercials and are fantastic!). We got up early Tuesday morning before our fight and went to see the Today show. The anchors were really nice and kept talking to the crowd. At one point, Reini called her mom and had Meredith talk to her. It sure surprised Reini's mom! Our exceptional view from the 48th floor of the Millennium Hotel overlooking Times Square.

Blessed...

2008-10-06T06:39:00.008-06:00

I just wanted to tell my wonderful husband how much I love & adore him. He is my world! He continuley amazes me with his optimistic outlook on life, his dedication to the Lord, his strong work ethic, his warming smile, and the ability he has to make me feel so special. I am very blessed and honored to be his wife!

I love you babe!

An Apple A Day...

2008-10-04T17:03:00.004-06:00

You have all heard the saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Well in my case, an apple is a case for a visit to the ER. I was at work this week, enjoying lunch with some of my coworkers, eating my apple, when I noticed I was having a difficult time breathing- a piece of apple was stuck in my throat! I did everything I could to relieve the apple, but nothing was working. The charge nurse had Ashley and Liz take me to the ER.

After two hours, the pain was finally relieved. An IV was placed and I was given a hypoglycemic agent, which was supposed to work in 45 sec. Needless to say, after 5 minutes the apple was still stuck and I was having a harder time breathing. The nurse then gave me Nitroglycerin, hoping that it would relax all of my veins/arteries and allow the apple to dislodge; if that didn't work, I would then be sent to endoscopy.

As soon as the Nitro dissolved under my tongue, the apple dropped! It was so cool- I am still pretty excited about how quickly it worked! Luckily, I work at a hospital because the ER has served me well this year!

The State Fair (AND FRIED PB&J!!!)

2008-09-14T17:16:00.006-06:00

Reini and I took a trip to the Utah State Fair this week. As always, we had a blast seeing all the farm animals, walking down the midway, and watching the people. However, this year was especially exciting for Reini because she discovered a little booth selling fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It has been three days since the fair and she is still drooling over it. In her words: "It was just heavenly!"

Feline Gerontology 101

2008-09-14T17:00:00.003-06:00

We learned a bit this week about the health problems that a 17-year-old cat can have. (Yes, that's right, our cat, Cody, is 17-years-old. Jared has had him since he was in the sixth grade.) On Monday, Cody was quite sick and lethargic. We were worried. After the first trip to the vet, we were told that his ailment may in fact be "Feline Diabetes". After an extensive and expensive blood workup, we found out that Cody does not suffer from diabetes. Also, the vet was surprised by how good his health is for a cat his age. It turned out that his illness was nothing more than a toothache caused by poor oral hygiene. On Friday he had his first trip to the dentist. The vet put him under, cleaned his teeth, and ending up pulling one tooth. $400 later he is a happy cat again!

Day 4

2008-08-28T12:45:00.005-06:00

My butt has been kicked... this is how I feel after day 4 of Boot Camp! I came home and cried to Jared. He reassured me that boot camp is all about breaking down a person and then building them back up... it is sure working! Today I wanted to turn the 20 lb vest in and never go back.

Boot Camp...

2008-08-25T10:24:00.003-06:00

After much convincing and encouragement, I signed up for boot camp (thanks Katy). I arrived this morning at 4:50 and wondered if I knew what I had gotten myself into. The class is designed to be intense, with a mixture of cardio and weight training everyday. The atmosphere is similar to that of The Biggest Loser. There were three other girls in the class with one trainer, might I add that had such an incredible shape and she is probably only 25! Slightly intimidating...

For the next hour, we were constantly moving. We started by running on the treadmill for 1/2 a mile and then were in the middle of the room where there were 6 different exercises we had to rotate doing. After we would do 2 exercises for 2 minutes each (lunges, running with medicine balls, scissor kicks, stationary squats, etc), we were back on the treadmill sprinting for a period of 20 secs with a 10 sec break in between, repeated 4 times!

This activity of treadmill/floor exercises lasted about 50 minutes. We then did abs and stretches as the next class arrived. To make boot camp even more difficult, this entire week, I have to wear a 20 lb vest while working-out! I could hardly run, jump, or do lunges without falling over... This morning was pure torture! To top that off, if you forget to bring your towel or water bottle to class or with you during the floor exercises, there are consequences. In between each exercise, we have to run to the next event, if there is any walking, there will be push-ups or whatever the instructor feels like. Towards the end of the class, we all walked over to the treadmill and had to do 10 push-ups... I will never walk again in that class!

When I was leaving, there was a piece of paper with 3 names on it stating, "you owe me 2,000 ft on Jacob's ladder, 1,000 sit-ups, and 600 push-ups... do it when you arrive." I am not sure what those 3 people did, but it was a good lesson for me, to always listen to the instructor and do as I am told!

Reini is Officially an RN!

2008-08-18T20:31:00.006-06:00

On Monday, August 11, Reini took the NCLEX exam. This is the grueling exam that must be passed in order to receive the title of "Registered Nurse". Reini had studied for, well, it seems like she studied forever! She was worried sick as she went to the test, but she was cautiously excited that all of her studying would finally pay off. Upon exiting the test, she was certain that she didn't pass. (Of course, this is one of those tests that makes almost EVERYONE feel like they didn't pass. Those of you who are RN's (or are married to one) I'm sure can sympathize.) Before I left for work at 6:30 Wednesday morning, I checked online to see if her results had been posted. Sure enough she had passed and was officially an RN. Even though this was Reini's day off, I pulled her out of bed, dragged her into the office, and sat her down in front of the computer. She immediately started to cry. She is ecstatic! I am ecstatic! And, I am so proud of her! She put everything she had into this test and it payed off. Way to go nurse Reini!

P.S. We are way behind on our blog. Don't worry, we'll catch up... now that Reini doesn't have to study anymore!!!

Backpacking Trip to Island Lake

2008-07-09T22:14:00.009-06:00

Our friends Mike & Katy Blommer have a tradition of going backpacking over the Fourth of July weekend. Reini had to work on the fourth, so we got up early the next day and drove up to the Uintas to hike in and meet them. We went to Island Lake; an easy four mile hike in. It was beautiful! The weather was perfect, the scenery was great, and there were hardly any mosquitoes! This was our first time backpacking this year and we were so excited to finally go. We love being in the outdoors together; we always have so much fun!

Graduation

2008-06-05T18:57:00.001-06:00

Pinning ceremony for nursing

The big moment of "walking"

Hooray!

Although Reini officially graduated with her nursing degree from Westminster College in December, last weekend was the graduation ceremony. May 30 was the pinning ceremony for the nursing department. The pinning tradition goes all the way back to Florence Nightingale when she gave each of the nurses who studied under her pins as a symbol of their achievement. The following day was the school convocation. This was the big official "walk" across the stage.

I am so proud of Reini! She has worked so hard these last several years, many times wondering if the light would ever appear at the end of the tunnel, but she made it! Way to go babe! I love you!

Athens

2008-05-25T15:14:00.000-06:00

The Parthenon

Reini is soaking up a view of the Parthenon in her sweet 6 euro sunglasses.

The Temple of Hephaestus

Cine Paris movie theater

Tomb of the Unknown Warrior (sweet outfits!)

The first Olympic stadium

After a week relaxing in the islands, we had two busy days sightseeing in Athens. We have seen Ancient Agora, the Parthenon, Mars Hill, The National Archaeological Museum, the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, the original Olympic stadium, and we even made it out to the beach. All of these sights were amazing! It was breathtaking to stand at these monuments that were made over 2500 years ago. It is awe inspiring to think that the Parthenon has stood over the city of Athens through countless generations. From almost any street, we could see the Acropolis looking down over the city.

Saturday night we decided to take a break from sightseeing and shopping to watch the new Indiana Jones movie (in English with Greek subtitles). The theater was outdoors on the roof of a building with a fantastic view of the Acropolis. It was a date night we will never forget!

Sadly, the never-ending trip is coming to an end. We spent our final evening in Greece sitting on the top of Mars Hill with a view of Athens and the Acropolis. Tomorrow night we will find ourselves back at home with memories that will last forever.

Skiathos

2008-05-25T01:27:00.000-06:00

Floating dock that broke.

After five days of sailing, we had Thursday and Friday to explore the island of Skiathos on our own. (This island is were the movie Mama Mia was filmed).

Thursday morning we were rudely awakened by the sound of the neighboring sailboat crashing into our boat. We jumped out of bed and found that the chains holding the two piers together broke. The other boat was tied to the floating pier and it had began to drift away, swinging its bow into the side of our boat. The damage was minimal, but the workers had to spend several hours repairing the dock.

After our early morning, we spent the rest of the day resting on the beach. It was very relaxing.

The following day we rented a Jeep and explored the island. About half of the roads on the island are unpaved and lead to little beaches with only a few people on them. It was great to venture through this beautiful island.

Over the last week on little Greek islands, we have grown to love the Greek people. They are so kind and hospitable. Two workers at a restaurant on Skiathos would always yell out to us as we walked by, "Hey Americans!" We love it here.

Ahoy!

2008-05-24T14:34:00.000-06:00

Skipper Jared!

Dolphin!

We're official.... we're skippers!
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We flew to the island of Skiathos to take a sailing course through the neighboring Greek Isles. The course was designed to give us the skills and abilities we need to handle a boat on our own. We were often reminded by our British instructor, "You are on a course, not a holiday." His words rang true each day as we were focused on learning from sun up to sundown. Nonetheless, we still had a marvelous time laughing with our three British classmates. After 5 intense days, we can now charter a sailboat in any part of the world!

On our last day of sailing, several dolphins swam right next to our boat. Two of them followed us for a while and even came right up to the bow of the boat to check us out. They would swim from side to side on the bow of the boat and were about 3 feet from the side of the boat at one point. It was amazing!

Sorry about the lack of pictures. The Greek Islands are absolutely beautiful, but the great pictures are on the other camera...

A YUMMY taste of Greece!

2008-05-16T06:11:00.000-06:00

The first gyro...

We are in Greece! We have only spent a few hours here, but we quickly fell in love with the people, food, and way of life. We are esctatic for our sailing portion of our trip! We most likely will not be able to keep you updated for the next week, seeing that we will be going from island to island, but when we get back to Athens, we will give you the full report!

Hope all is going well back at home! Thanks for the comments, they are a lot of fun to read! Mom- I can't wait to see the guinea pig... what a great Mother's Day present! Ev is so thoughtful!

Tivoli

2008-05-16T05:49:00.000-06:00

The "Hundred Fountains."

Today we went to Tivoli, which is right outside of Rome. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end this portion of our trip. We visited Villa D' Este. It once was a mansion owned by a cardinal, who installed water fountains throughout his gardens. These fountains were created in the 1500's and are all run by natural water pressure. They were absolutely breathtaking! We felt like royalty walking around...

When in Rome...

2008-05-16T03:44:00.001-06:00

In front of the Colosseum.

The Trevi Fountains.

Before I get started, let me tell you all that this is coming from Jared.

We had 3 crazy days in Rome. We came into Rome late Monday night. Tuesday morning we had to get up and return the rental car to the train station in central Rome. The traffic was a nightmare and we were more than ready to give the car back and get back on our feet.

We spent Tuesday seeing the Colosseum, The Forum, Capital Hill Museum, and the Parthenon. The Colosseum wall was visible from the exit to the subway before we even walked out the door. It was incredible to finally see it! It is such an icon of Rome. How many history books is it on the cover of? And we were there! Similar feelings of awe followed us through the other sites we visited that day.

When we went to tour the Capital Hill Museum, we were told that I needed to check my camera bag. And no, I could not carry the camera with me. So, I handed over the bag with $4,000 worth of Mike's camera equipment and we entered into the museum. Within the first room it was soon obvious that I was the only one touring the museum that day who was not allowed to carry his bag. Everywhere we looked people had bags larger than mine and people not only had cameras out, but they were taking pictures! I began to worry about the security of the camera. Also, it was rather annoying because the museum exit was in a different location than the entrance, so we would have to walk all the way back to the entrance at the end of the tour to gather the bag. I decided that I wanted my bag back. We returned to the bag check. When I requested my bag back, I was asked if I was finished touring. I said no, but that I wanted my bag back. They said, "Impossible!" I said, "Have you ever walked through this museum? EVERYONE has bags and cameras!" The guy grabbed my bag off the shelf and said, "FINE!" and slammed the camera bag back on the counter. Then, we continued our tour.

While we were touring the museum, we found a room that was closed, but you could still see inside. We looked inside and saw two armed police with automatic riffles on tripods. In one synchronized motion, they both picked up the guns, placed the tripods on the window seal and aimed the guns out the windows. We were panicked! None of the friendly museum staff would tell us what was going on. Finally, we decided there must be someone special coming and this was the added security. We exited just in time to watch the President (or whatever the number one guy in Italy is called) of Italy pull up and enter the museum. So, it turns out that I very aggressively demanded to take my large heavy bag into the museum at the same time the president was scheduled to arrive. And they LET ME!

Day two in Rome:

Today, we saw the Pope! This event was just as unplanned. We walked into the Vatican and there were thousands of people standing at the steps of St. Peter's Basilica. Within minutes the Pope-Mobile arrived. It was neat to see him give his speech to the crowd. While this was a pilgrimage for many, it turned in to long lines for us. Oh well, how often do you get to see the Pope?

After the Pope, we saw the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. Both were amazing! We climbed to the top of the Basilica and had a fantastic view of the city.

Tonight, we did a night walk through Rome as recommended by Rick Steves. It took us past various squares, the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps. While we were at the Trevi Fountain, we realized that we were going to miss the train back to our hostel. We tried to return via bus, but after being driven all over Rome (including some very scary neighborhoods) we found ourselves back at the exact bus stop we started from. Yes, we had taken 45 minutes to go nowhere! It was now past 1:00am. We finally gave up and caught a taxi for $40.

Our third day will be covered in a separate post by Reini. Thanks for listening!

Cinque Terre and Pisa

2008-05-12T15:42:00.001-06:00

The City of Vernazza.

The view from the hiking trail above Vernazza.

Entering the city of Monterosso Al Mare.

In front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

I just love this picture, so I had to post it...

We spent yesterday at Cinque Terre, located on the Mediterranean. What a beautiful place! Cinque Terre means "5 cities," each city can be reached by foot, train, or ferry. We stayed in Vernazza and took a two hour hike to the neighboring city, Monterosso. We fell in love with the quaint town and incredible views. We felt right at home because we were by the ocean...

Today we saw Pisa. It was fun watching everyone taking the classic picture of holding the tower up. Of course, we took that picture too, but it is on the other camera. Afterwards, we drove to a secluded city, where we were the only tourists. It was nice to see what Italian life is really like. AND when you visit a place not populated by tourists, the gelato is DIVINE!!! They topped the ice cream off with a heavy cream.... it really was a little piece of heaven. You would have loved it mom!

Sad News

2008-05-12T15:36:00.000-06:00

"The Butterfield Babies," (our fish) as Asha calls them, have passed away. Only 7 out of 18 are living. We found out the news this evening. We are really sad, seeing that they have been with us for a few years. They were just as much a part of our family as our cat is. Our much loved Gordon (the big blue one that stole everyone"s heart), was also included. We will sure miss them...

Bon Journo Florence!

2008-05-10T13:59:00.000-06:00

Standing outside of the Duomo.

As close to "David" as we could get with a camera, seeing that we could not take pictures in the Accademia of the real "David."

Jared enjoying the beautiful view after our picnic.

The stunning view from the city overlook.

Today was wonderful! We started our day early and ended it late. We saw "David" this morning; I loved watching Jared. He was overwhelmed by the masterpiece. We then visited the Duomo, baptistery, and the Orsanmichele Church. After our walk through the city, we grabbed a yummy Italian sandwich and gelato and were on our way to the Ufizzi gallery and the Palazzo Vecchio.

Tonight we went to a local grocery store and made our way to the city overlook, the Piazzale Michelangelo. What stunning views! Jared was in his element being the photographer with the "nice" lens, thanks to Mike. I enjoyed watching the locals and taking in the scenery. We watched the sunset on the steps of a monastery overlooking the city, while holding hands and falling more in love!

More from Venice!

2008-05-09T16:20:00.001-06:00

View from the Rialto Bridge.

Beautiful flowers found in the Rialto Market.

One of the many times we stopped for delicious gelato!

Gondolas.

Attempt #2 at the blog... last night was rough seeing that it was late and we were being charged per minute. The trip thus far has been incredible! The first half of the morning was spent feeding the pigeons in the square and wondering the streets, looking for the perfect painting.

It was difficult leaving Venice. Both Jared and I fell in love with the magic and charm that is felt while walking through the streets of Venice. It was romantic being in this city with the one I love the most.

This afternoon, we took the train to Florence. We are staying in our first hostel.... what a fun experience! The rooms are darling, the internet is free, the manager is hilarious, and there is even a washing machine! We are looking forward to seeing David tomorrow and the other tourist sites.

We love and miss you all!

Ciaò from Venice!

2008-05-08T14:03:00.000-06:00

After a long 16 hrs, we finally made it to Venice! It has been wonderful roaming the streets with Jared, having more gelatos in a day than we should, and having tired feet at the end of the day. Wednesday, we took a boat down the grand canal and explored the streets of Venice. Today, we visited all of the tourist sites: St. Mark's Basilica, Bridge of Sighs, The Doge's Palace, The Frari Church, and Correr Museum. Tonight, we had dinner and were placed at a table in between two couples that spoke French. They were sitting only inches on each side of us and spent the night speaking French across our meal.... it was an experience we will never forget!

Arrivederci!

2008-05-05T12:00:00.000-06:00

Jared and I thought this would be a perfect time to enter into the world of blogging, as we are leaving the country for three weeks. Tomorrow we are leaving to backpack through Italy and learn how to sail through the Greek Islands. We are estactic for this new adventure... we have talked about this trip since we met!

We will try to keep everyone updated as we explore the treasures of Italy and the beautiful beaches of Greece!