A Varied December

We went to Brussels to get my cholesterol checked after the high count I had in August.  It had been 3 months and we went back the week-end that the Christmas markets opened.  Brussels has really cranked it up and is giving Germany some stiff competition.  We took an overnight to Bonn just to be sure, and indeed it's stiff competition!  (However nothing beats that dumpfh-nudel in vanilla sauce and cherries!)

I think it's because there is no other Square quite like Brussels.  They can concentrate all their money and time on that space to make it amazing.  The sound and light show is jaw-dropping fantastic.

This was cool.  The moon just dropped down inside the center of the town hall.  You can see Dad underneath it looking up.

And to think this is where 5 out of 6 of you graduated from High School.  Unique in all the world.

There is a new monument to the victims of terrorism that has been constructed off of Schumann circle.  They put this in place after the bombings of  March 2016.

Pebble Beach, The Bench.  Great food, outside fire pit, stunning scenery.  Thanks to Dad's expertise in procurement, he was asked to come and teach in Monterey the same time that Heidi had her baby.  Free flights....hmmmm.  No way we could say 'no' so we went to CA ....Dad worked and I got to see Penny!

If I could arrange it, I would live near the beach.  Really, I would.  There is something extraordinary about the beach.  

These yahoos had a lot of fun together.  Cora thought Luke was hilarious and everybody thinks Cora is hilarious.  

What a delight to meet and hold and cuddle Penny.  And especially nice because she was still basically a newborn, and I LOVE newborns.  They are the best.  It lasts such a short time.  Congrats to the Seth Herway Family!

Colie with Cora in the backpack...we were taking a walk in Snow Canyon.  Seth took us to some caves where we cut open glo sticks (Glo in honor of Penny Glo I guess).  It was a really fun outing.

Of course me, Mom, had to get a good photo of my kids....

Civitta de Bagnoregio.  It's an hour and a half North of Rome.  Cool in and of itself, but at Christmas it is transformed into a living and breathing city of Jerusalem.  The whole city participates as volunteers.  They came up with the idea because the church in the old village was in desperate need of repairs and they needed to come up with funds for the repair work.  Thus was born the idea of a vivante presepe (live crib/creche/nativity)  With the foot bridge being the only entrance into the old town, they charge a small entrance fee and voila, they earn funds for the repairs.  It's really a clever idea and with the whole village participating it makes it work.  

complete with lepers

and candle stick makers

an open market where you can buy nuts and produce and bread, etc.

Just a cool shot of the old town as we were leaving.  It was an overcast evening.  The city is all made of stone with climbing vines and windy cobblestone streets and piazzas.  Put this one on the bucket list if you find yourself near Rome at Christmas time!

Just for your Information

Dear Elders and Sisters,

Gilles has asked us to remind you that it is important to talk with him about plans to return home for any reason during your mission.  These plans need to be approved by the Area Presidency before you begin to make plans for travel.  This is important because we are set apart full-time missionaries and because the Area is responsible to account for you if there is a security event in the Europe Area.

  

The process for approval is the following:

1. Prior to making any commitment, discuss your needs with Gilles who is your direct supervisor.
2. After Gilles’s approval, talk with your mission president who is your ecclesiastic leader.
3. These two approvals are then sent to the IFR (Missionary Department in-field representative in Frankfurt) to obtain Area Presidency approval.
4. Your mission president will let your stake president at home know you are returning for personal reasons.
5. At times the Missionary Department of the Church will need to give approval before the senior missionaries are able to book their flights. 

We realize that this is new information for many of you and may contradict what others have told you, but it is the policy of the Church for senior missionaries worldwide and the Area Presidency who hold priesthood keys to direct the work here in the Europe Area.  Those who direct your work and the work of the Lord through you are interested in your needs, your work and your safety.   We can assure you they will listen with understanding and do what is best.

Warmest regards,

Elder and Sister Lindsay

Europe Area Welfare Specialists

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Porthstraße 5/7

60435 Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland

Ph:  +49 69 5480 2231

Mobile:  +49 176 1449 2230

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Dear Family,

On Thanksgiving our hearts turn to all of you and hope your holiday is a beautiful, relaxed, with friends & family time and your hearts of course are full of gratitude.
Since we don't get to be with any of you, could we ask you to share just one or two Thanksgiving memories of the past, and where you were last year!

I'll start:  One Thanksgiving in Brussels, Brynn Huntsman invited us over.  She claimed Thanksgiving was a 'slave day for women' and so they catered a meal at the cafeteria at the Huntsman Company and the women did NO WORK or cooking at all.  There were tons of people and it was all catered and since those who catered were working on a normal day anyway, it was a win/win for everyone.

Another memory was the Thanksgiving that my Mom was married.  I flew to AZ and Tom and all the kids were left behind in Brussels.  We had invited his cousin Dorothy and her family that year.  I had prepared what I could in advance, but Tom was in charge.  Dorothy didn't help so Tom did it all!

Last one:  I hate the cooking part, but never minded the cleaning up.  Mom let me ski all day on Thanksgiving day as long as I was back for the 4:00 meal and then cleaned up.  Perfect!
And last year (2016)we were in San Diego with Seth's family and their friends the Christensens.

Now over to all of you!  If we don't get to talk to you all b/c of schedules and having so much fun, no problem.  This will be our way to share the day together, okay?  xoxo, Mom

I remember that Thanksgiving with Dad’s cousin.  I’m going to pin point that as the exact moment I started getting pissed off when people don’t pull their weight.  “These freakin potatoes aren’t going to mash themselves.”

I have great Thanksgiving memories.  The turkey bowl with the priesthood up on the BAS football field and many other turkey bowls since.  The colors and food up in Driggs.  I love the traditional meal.  Pies with fresh whipped cream and day after turkey sandwiches with cranberry and mashed potato in the sandwich too.  I realize I’ll never fully understand the extent of the work that goes into prepping the meal but I definitely am grateful for it.  Clean up is the easy part!😉

We’ll be in Zions Park tomorrow.  We’re going to hike the Narrows and then we’re considering building a fire and doing turkey foil dinners (red neck imu).  I’m excited to make more Thanksgiving memories tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving, my family!  Love you all!

Dan

On Nov 22, 2017, at 4:05 PM, Natalie Portugal <natalieportugal@hotmail.com> wrote:

What a great idea mom. Love these memories from you and Seth.

I remember the year you essentially said if we don’t help and stop whining then Thanksgiving is cancelled. What a bunch of brats we were. We didn’t want to help cook and we didn’t want to help clean up. So we went to Domus. The missionaries came with us. 

We have spent the last 12 Thanksgivings with Noel’s sister’s family. She cooked the turkey every year but one. Mostly because she wanted to and I was happy to let her. Haha. This will be our first Thanksgiving without them! 😢

We are cooking our turkey Hawaiian style in an imu this year!

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 22, 2017, at 11:27 AM, Seth Herway <seth.herway@gmail.com> wrote:

I remember the Thanksgiving where you were gone and dad was in charge. I also have good memories of a few Thanksgivings with Dan and Lara in Driggs when I was single. I remember being just off my mission and watching Brandon Doman score the winning touchdown in LaVell Edwards last game against Utah with Blake and Dan there.

We have had the last 7 Thanksgivings with our friends the Christensen's since we both were living far away from family and it's been nice to have someone to share the holiday with. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

This is great!  Thanks to my (eternal) companion.  She had this idea on our walk last night. 

I remember as a kid my mother making huge amounts of food for Thanksgiving.  She lived in the kitchen.  They did that back then.  Mike and my favorite was the mince meat pie.  Good ol' Edna.  After dinner the men would go watch football for hours. When we lived in Maryland we would spend Thanksgiving with my uncle Bodge Bowles' family who lived in Annandale, very near from our house on Sabra Lane.  That is why we bought a house in that area.  

I loved that Natalie remembered going to Domus for Thanksgiving.  I can't remember if that was out of pity for Mom or if she insisted on it.  Probably the latter.  

Turkey Bowls at the BAS football field were a tradition in Belgium.  Thanks, Dan.   I remember we played tackle football one year and, just as I was trying to juke someone, Rob Wadsworth locked up both my legs in a vice grip from out of nowhere and sent me smack down face first.   I'll never forget that helpless feeling.  

Happy Thanksgiving.  Love to all.

Dad

Jake:  I got my wisdom teeth removed one Thanksgiving. I was wrestling so it helped keep weight. Came back to school and one of the Patterson boys asked how much pie I had eaten. When I searched why he asked, he said he could tell I’d put in weight in my cheeks. Still swollen. I think. 

One year I learned that I can do more than toast in the kitchen.  I can also do mashed potatoes. Thanks Mom. 

IHOP with Mom, Dad and Steve in Charlotte. Mom convinced us turkeys were overrated. Pancakes aren’t. We got a lot of raking in that year too. 

Renting cabins in the Poconos the last few years with friends. 

Macy’s parade.



Nicole:   This is fun to read memories that are part of my memory too: going to Domus with the missionaries on Thanksgiving, the Huntsman catered Thanksgiving (which was not even CLOSE to the quality of Mom's cooking, but I get the joy of having it catered), Jake's wisdom teeth Thanksgiving (i remember praying that I didn't have wisdom teeth that night!), and many many Thanksgivings with the Portugals at the Durst's house in TX.

 One of my favorites so far: Mom surprised Grandma at Natalie's for Thanksgiving in 2012. If I recall correctly, Grandma thought she was going to be with only the Portugals, but then Mom and I came as a surprise. Grandma started crying when she saw Mom. It was so sweet. We made a full, legit, homemade Thanksgiving and it was divine. We played card games constantly, talked even more constantly, and had a blast with 4 generations there (Gma, Mom, Natalie/me, Portugal girls). Definitely one to always remember.

This one was my first real "parenthood" Thanksgiving. Cora threw up for the second time in her entire life TODAY...TWICE. Poor thing. She felt better by the time we had Thanksgiving (with Aunt Suzanne), but the poor girl only was able to stomach a single roll. Yet in the evening she told me all about how wonderful Thanksgiving was and how she liked the turkey and the mashed potatoes and the pie. She's a sweet one, that girl.

From Steve:

I remember the Huntsman Thanksgiving. I spent most of the time running around with Rachel Huntsman and Kimmie Harrison playing hide and seek in all the empty offices.

I also remember going to IHOP with Jake and Mel in NC. They had just barely moved into their apartment and weren't equipped to host a Thanksgiving dinner so we casually figured we would just go out to eat somewhere. As we drove around nearly every single restaurant was closed or required a very advanced reservation with the exception of IHOP and Waffle House. I voted for Waffle House, but was overruled.

Other than those two I don't have very specific Thanksgiving memories. In general, I remember a lot of food and favoring the stuffing - which is a crime because that's probably the food item that Mom put the least amount of work into. I don't recall doing any Turkey Bowls at BAS. I do remember doing dishes. Lots of dishes.

I got spoiled rotten this Thanksgiving. We took Felicia's brother, Bradley, to a friend's house from NY; they have a kid that plays really well with Kent. The friends prepared most of the food (they had a 30 lbs turkey!!!) then Felicia prepared a couple of sides and a gluten-free pumpkin pie, which meant little to no clean up for us! Not to mention the NY friends prepared a true NY cheesecake. Mm mm, good! Afterwards I took a nap on the couch while Kent played with his friend, then woke up in time to watch the Redskins beat the Giants.

S-p-o-i-l-e-d.

And that's a Thanksgiving wrap for 2018.  Thanks for sharing everybody.  You are a fun group.  We are thankful for each of you.  Now you are each in the process of creating your own Thanksgiving memories with your kids:  don't you wonder what they will remember????  We have had some good laughs and have enjoyed reliving some of those experiences through your memories!   Love you all!    xoxo Mom and Dad

Dads final comments:

Steve-o is right.  The Turkey Bowl was in the early years of our sojourn in Belgium.    

I think it ended when the Mulhollands left (late 90s).  So he missed out.  Sorry.  But basically it was just us getting all muddy and bruised.  So you didn't miss out on much, Steve.  

I have to tell you here in Italy they make a big deal about "Black Friday".   All the stores have signs advertising Black Friday sales.  But they don't celebrate Thanksgiving.  So how can there be a Black Friday without Thanksgiving?  Makes no sense. 

Maybe Noel will understand Thanksgiving better if you tell him we have it so we can have Black Friday. 

Fun Photos from November

Today we really needed a breath of fresh air so we took a 1/2 hour ride from our apartment and found a sandy and clean beach!  Hard to find in Italy and it's at our back door, who would have guessed.  This tower was bombed by the US in WWII.  Bummer.

Girls day out.  From left:  DeAnn, Laurie, and Cynthia.  Laurie is the wife of the building supervisor of the Rome temple.  DeAnn is the wife of the garden architect of the temple, and Cynthia is the mission nurse.

Area of Rome I had never seen....great street art.  The area is Testaccio.  I also learned about a new food called Trapizzino...basically a sandwich, but quite tasty.

The pyramid in the middle of Rome.  Of course, makes perfect sense.

At our Refugee Couple conference in Athens we took a few days with the Scovilles (the other Italian refugee couple) to see a few sights near Athens.  This was the Poseidon Temple an hour south.

We also took 2 days to drive to Meteora again.  With the Scovilles.  It's still a jaw dropper.

Don't you think?  I had a hard time picking just two photos.

The Scovilles and the Herways at the Parthenon.

We saw Pope Francis.  He gave a speech on All Saints Day.  He even started out "Dear Brothers and Sisters"  (Caro Fratelli e Sorelli)

There are 4 major basilicas in Rome, and we finally made it to St. Pauls without the walls.  Right on the metro line.  So we have seen them all now.  The best?  Still St. Peters, but if you want to skip the lines, then this is 2nd best.

Inside of St Pauls Basilica.  Truly incredible.

Some little known treats of Italy

Appia Antica.  It's been on our 'visit' list since we arrived.  We finally had time this week to visit.  It's an amazing place.  So old, like 300BC!!  So much history.  It's the original road from Rome to the coast.  Here you can see the ruts made from the horse carts and chariots.  They still allow cars to drive on this road because amongst the thousand year monuments, there are modern day gargantuan villas.  We drove here and from our apartment it is less than 1/2 hour away.

This place has a feeling that is hard to put into words.  It's very peaceful, very serene.  It echoes of the innumerable people who have walked here for centuries, yet it feels like you are alone.  They do rent bikes because it is 6 km in length, but we walked it and really soaked in the feeling.  I will admit however that we have done it in stages, not all 6 km in one shot.

Originally there were monuments that lined this main road.  Monuments to people who had passed on.  They weren't buried here, just honored here.  There were old villas, chapels, and remnants of history and battles all along the road.  It's really a must see while you are in Rome.

This 'Monster Park' was interesting.  The Orsini family was very wealthy.  They built a lot of castles and villas and this was a park that was created for a deceased wife in honor of her.  This park is located about an hour north of Rome.

A 'crooked house' in the monster park.  The park is a whimsical place with lots of mythical statues and houses, and chapels, and fountains.

This is the piazza of San Lorenzo in Viterbo.  The pope wanted to live here and for a time in history this was the center of the Catholic Church.  It's a nice little village and combined with the monster park, makes for a nice day outing from Rome.

Now onto Torino....St. Valentino's castle in Torino.  How about this for those 10 acres in Heber?

From the terrace of the castle of St. Valentino in Torino

We spent an afternoon at a cafe along the river Po in Torino.  The river was active with rowers and kayakers.  We sipped thick hot chocolate that was simply to die for (the cafe is part of the medieval village along the river)  as we enjoyed the scene on the river.

Torino has an area of Roman archeological sites, and this was the original northern door to the city.

This apartment is definitely the place to stay if you come to Torino.  It's called:  Palazzo Del Carretto Art Apartments.  It was originally a villa and they have restored the frescoes on the walls.  It's newly renovated  and cool and comfortable and luxurious.  It is right downtown and you can literally walk everywhere.  

At the movies....oh oops, guess they won't be watching, will they?

Torino.  Full of porticos, arcades....and street after street like this with high end shopping.  There are numerous huge plazas and palazzos with fountains and statues, benches and people.  It's an overlooked, undervalued city, and it's marvelous!  I can't decide if we should let the world know?

Just another beautiful mall.  The mountains are not far from Torino, in fact this was the location of the winter olympics of 2006.

Oh my goodness.  How is it that the Italians have their hot chocolate down to a fine art?  You have to eat it with a spoon, it's a tad bitter instead of too sweet....and they charge you way too much for it and yet we still indulge!  Did I tell you that Torino is where nutella was invented?  Steve, you must make a pilgrimage here.

Just Gorgeous

This was what we saw when we took our morning walk from our hotel in Lipari.  You can sort of see Dad in the bottom left side of the photo.  The island across the water is Vulcano.  It was quite a hike UP but very much worth the effort.

Same area as the above photo.  Only this one is just a photo, whereas the previous one is a panorama shot.  Such a difference!  I remember when I would be in a gorgeous place and wish like heck that I had a panoramic capable camera, and now it's on your phone!  In fact, I remember sending off film to the store and getting them back and 3/4 of them were blurred or horrible, etc.  Its' amazing that any photos were worth keeping in the 'old days'.  You would spend money on film.   Not know what your photo looked like.  Had no way to edit them.  Send them off to be developed and wait weeks.  What a process.  Today it's all so easy and quick and you can edit and see immediately if you captured what you wanted.  Just sayin' I am grateful!!!

Belated Birthday Celebration for Dad

Lipari harbor.  Lipari is part of the Aeolian Islands just NE of Sicily.  This is the best island to base yourself and then take day trips to the other islands.  It's a great little village, lots of restaurants, a fortress to visit and a great bus system to tour the island itself.  I wanted to add information about transport here:  We flew Veuling airlines from Rome to Catania.  Online we made reservations with Alibrando Salvatrice Srl (info@alibradno.net), a bus service from Catania to Milazzo.  They take you to the port and we caught the hydrofoil , our online reservations with Liberty Line (although there were plenty of people buying tickets right at the port)

Do you know those photos where they have you guess what it is....(but I have them backwards)

Can you guess?  Tomatoes.  Sun-dried tomatoes in process.

Day long boat ride to gorgeous places for swimming and snorkeling.  Yes, Senior missionaries have it good.  We have a conference this upcoming week in Palermo and we decided to make a little holiday beforehand.  

The boat stopped in two different villages for us to stroll through.

This was one of the swimming stops

Best pizza ever!  Seriously, haven't tasted better.  Restaurant: Franco Manca. (Our boat tour went around Lipari island as well as Salina Island)  This pizza place was on piazza Marina Garibaldi, Salina Island, village of Lingua.

On our boat there was only 15 people, we had perfect weather, we decided this was the REAL celebration for Dad's birthday.  His b.day was in Rome and it was so hot we couldn't even muster the energy or desire to move or go anywhere!  So it didn't count....

The next day it was a cloudy, rainy day and that makes for gorgeous photos

Vespa!

Lipari old town

Wish we would have stayed at this hotel!  We took a tour of their rooms just in case we go back....the pool is sea water overlooking the sea.  Across the way is the outdoor restaurant!  Hotel Giardino sul Mare.  Stay here if it fits your budget!

Lipari harbor, with the 'rock fortress' in the background

The rock fortress in Lipari

Ancient Greek ampitheater at the rock fortress

View of the harbor from the other direction

We took a bus ride around the perimeter of the island.  You can buy a 6-pass for 10euro.  That meant we could stop 3 times.  This was our first stop.

Quattropani is the name of the village.  The bus stops here (2nd stop) and you have to get off.  We were thirsty and looked for a place to buy water.  We found this small agrituristica hotel and had a most lovely meal of bruschetta, pasta and salad.  All home grown in the lava soil and it was the sweetest tasting meal I can remember.  The hotel/restaurant is called Tivoli.  You can stay there but it's really too remote.  We are planning to take the bus another day just to eat lunch there! (aargh, we did it another day and the food was just okay.  Sometimes it's better not to try something again if it was so perfect the first time!)  From there we walked one hour to the next town called Aquacaldo and picked up the bus again that took us back to Lipari.

This is the island Panarea where we stopped for 3 hours.  Nice place to chill.  We couldn't figure out why 3 hour stop however until we found out that the one and only sand beach in all of the islands was here...1/2 hour walk away.  Tom is looking at Stromboli island, where we cruised past at night to watch the volcano eruptions.  Next time I want to walk to the top, because there is true action up there! (the smoke is from the constant eruptions).  If you go be sure you make the night trek to the top, which we didn't do and I regret that.   Makes you wonder why anybody would live on that island, but they do.

The one and only sandy beach is just over the hillside.  Island Panarea.

Not all is perfect.  While swimming in the gorgeous sea I was stung by a jellyfish.  OUCH.  Within minutes it's deadly sting made my arm swell.  Luckily they had some medicine to put on it right away.  But today it really itches.  Oh well, don't swim with jellyfish!  Oh, our trip was the last week of September.  Nice weather but it has had many spells of rain.  One morning we took a walk and got caught.  We have never been drenched so thoroughly:  it was if we had gone swimming with our clothes on!  The road turned into a small river with a current!
So now you have the itinerary, the hotels and the tips:  Aeolian Islands should be on your bucket list!!