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| Fall in Utah 2025, Guardsman Pass |
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| Outing to Eden for the Balloon Festival. Seth was sent to collect pizza! |
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| Bryn and Isa join us during their Fall Break |
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| We had some incredible sunsets. |
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| NO KINGS DAY!!! |
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| Penny and baby Emilia |
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| From left: Hamilton, Colie & Mats, Flinders, behind Luke is Norby, Bryn, Suzanne, me tom and taft and Hedi, Packers, Cardons, Wilson. Seth in front with Penny and Jonah and Cora/Jules. |
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| Neighbors below from left: Morris, Tom, Pitts, Kottle, Cowan, Sabey, Wolsey, Bond. And above photo of the GRANDS: Bryn, Taft, Luke Jonah and Penny and Cora and Jules. |
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| It was a beautiful Fall in Utah. Not glorious like in past years, but still super pretty. Some outstanding sunsets. We enjoyed Isa and Bryn who visited during their Fall break. Had fun going up to Eden to see Seth and Heidi and kids for the balloon festival (but the festival was cancelled due to high wind). We felt VERY supported by friends and family before we left on our mission. One party was for our friends and family that came to our Sunday farewell, and the next night we had our neighborhood over. Our Stake President set us apart for our mission and we had so many people that we love there! |
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| Bellagio |
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| Bellagio dock |
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| Our dream apartment in Como...at this point we still didn't think we were going to get it! We didn't have an Italian bank account, Mirea the real estate agent was getting us our Codice Fiscale, and the utilites set up. As of today we still don't have internet (the internet technician comes the ONE day in January we can't alter, tickets for the Last Supper). Getting the gas turned on was a full day activity. Not an easy task to secure an apartment. Luckily the church stepped in and 'took over'. Makes you appreciate what the immigrants face. |
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| Carrefour crab sandwich! |
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| Did we really live here? We DID! And we loved every second of it. |
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| Paul Bakery obligatory hot chocolate |
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| Sablon market |
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| Sablon |
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| Brussels big, fat, moules. In season! |
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| We landed in Italy on Nov 1st. Lots of hotels and Airbnbs for a month but we found an awesome apartment. We had great weather in the Fall and took time to see the area, including a boat ride to Bellagio. That first month we also had training in Frankfurt (had a day and dinner with the Bluths) and took the week-end and went to Bonn! and to Brussels! Two of our favorite places in all the world. |
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| Rome! |
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| Rome! |
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| Dave and Mandy Simons at Rome temple visitor center. We were in training there. |
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| Rome! |
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| Top of hill off the funicular |
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| Brunante, from the funicular in Como |
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| Milan Cathedral. Beautiful inside as well! |
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| Galleries all decked out for Christmas, Milan |
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| Castle in Milan |
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| Breakfast in Milan |
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| Street guitarist in Milan. AMAZING. |
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| Milan, Canal restaurant area |
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| We also went to Rome for training and took a few days to re-visit dear Rome. So many, many memories! We ran into the Simons at the visitor center! We took the funicular here in Como and couldn't believe the stunning views! Had some business in Milan and stayed a couple of nights and grew to appreciate that lovely city. Helps that the whole place is decked out for Christmas. We did eat in the Galleria. Expensive and not worth it! |
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| Menton |
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| Cape walk around Cap Martin |
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| 'Woman at the Well'....Olive garden on Cap Martin |
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| Christmas morning cornetto! With fresh squeezed OJ. WOW! |
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| Sondrio |
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| Sondrio |
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| Sondrio |
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| For Christmas we took off for Menton! Spent Christmas day walking and enjoying one of our favorite places on earth. Fabulous food at L'Orangerie. That place never disappoints. When we got back we needed to apartment minister in Sondrio and since it is 2 hours from here we decided to stay an extra day and found a beautiful place to hike. And we found snow! For New Year's Eve, our neighbor was kind enough to invite us over to watch the fireworks over the lake from her balcony. Jarath Jacobs. We love that lady because for the past month she has let us use her internet because ours is STILL not installed! |
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| ARCA. Discussing garden area for their residents. |
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| Tom chatting with Davide Lotitto after a dinner in Rome. |
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| Training in Rome at Temple Visitor Center. Hours and hours of training with no breaks! |
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| Marco Paolino at Zone Conference |
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| Took missionaries out for a treat. Ended up at McDonalds eventually! |
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| LaRotonda |
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| ARCA concert in Milan. Blankets were the entrance fee |
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| Apartment ministering in Merate |
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| Terre Des Hommes |
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| We have done some churchwork/missionwork while we have been here! We did a week training in Frankfurt, and a week training in Rome. We have also visited several NGOs : Terre des Hommes, ARCA (and attended their concert at San Fedele in Milan), La Rotonda. We have done apartment inspections for 4 apartments (picking up two more for next time for a total of 6). We attended a zone conference where we hooked up with Marco Paolino. We have taken the missionaries out for dinner a couple of times. I submitted a newsletter article. Filled out CHAS for completion of prison project. Added documents to CHAS for Terre des Hommes. Also finding a new missionary apartment and setting it up with furniture and utilities. Big job! See, we also do mission stuff, not just fun stuff. A good mix of both in my opinion! |
It has been a wonderful 2025 all-in-all. Of course there were the lows, but there are also always the highs!
