lifes a beach

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Youth Conference 2010--Special Olympics


Zac Cawley, Marissa Barnard, Julie Lund, Michael Campbell
and Katie


Thursday night fun pictures for the slide show
L-R Spenser Turner, Marissa Barnard, Julie Lund
Katie, and Zac Cawley


Weston Almeida (boy from our ward) and Julie

Everyone. Julie is front and Center almost, and I'm on the
very left.

Friday night, during the dinner

Our "Family"
Back l-r Emily Chamberlain, Mckenna Wright, Taylor ? Me and Mel
front l-r Brittany Ting, Peyton Startup and Katlyn Abeyta

All of the Youth Leaders
Julie is back row, 3rd from the left
Making the posters Friday night
closest going clockwise--Taylor ?, Emily Chamberlain
McKenna Wright, Tanner Farnsworth, Brittany Ting, Peyton
Startup, Katlyn Abeyta

Those funny boys

Greg Peterson, Tanner Howe, ? Tanner, Paul Russavage
Cheering on the athletes

Shortly after we got home, actually, it was the day we got home
from our trip, we were called by our Bishop and asked if we
would be a host family for 6 youth, for our Stake's youth
conference. We really had a good experience 2 years
prior, so I said yes. We had a nice group of girls, and the
boy family that we were linked up with, were dolls also.
The first evening we were involved, we had a hamburger
dinner, then Quinn Eliason talked to everyone about his
trip to India, and his Eagle Scout project donating 650
wheelchairs to the "Free Wheelchair Mission". The
slide show was pretty touching. Then after the
presentation from Quinn, the youth went over to a
dance. It was only about an hour and a half, but they
seemed to enjoy it. After that, we brought the girls
to our home, and the boy family later joined us. They
had to make posters for the Special Olympics. We
played a little game after the posters were made, (we
had scads of junk food and candy for them to have) had
a short devotional, and then it was midnight, and the
boys had to go to their host families home. The Johnson
family. The next day we had to arrive at Cal Poly Univ.
between 6 and 6:15 a.m. Eeeeek. I am not an early
riser. They fed us breakfast burrito's and then it
was off to getting set up. The youth got things going
in no time. At around 8:15, we marched on the track
and then made way for the Special Olympians.
What a sweet treat. So sweet and appreciative of any and
all recognition. We stayed until just after 2 p.m. and
headed home for a little R & R before dinner and the
testimony meeting. It was really such a sweet experience.
Then on Sunday, they had a fireside and Brother & Sister
Rockwood spoke. His message was to reach out to people,
and make a difference in their life, and your life.
I was enriched by the whole experience and I enjoyed my
time as a host parent again.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Day 11 Finishing in Lucerne, passing through Bern, and onto Geneva


On Tuesday morning, we woke up and checked
out a few more things in Lucerne. this is Fritschi
Fountain. Named after a possible farmer, who
made people laugh and gave the poor free wine.


Possibly the Jesuit chapel

First mentioned in 1356, this is Kornmarkt: town hall
where grain was possibly stored.

The Lion Monument. It's to be a reminder of the mercenary
soldiers from Central Switzerland serving the French King,
Louis XVI that were killed during the French Revolution at
Tuileries in Paris in 1792

Julie and I in front of the Swiss temple. Notice the swiss flag

The Swiss Temple in Bern, Switzerland
Wanted to show the German writing.

After we left Bern, we were onto our final destination.
Geneva, right next to the airport. Our final train ride
Mel
Joneel

We shopped at the COOP for lunches while we were in
Switzerland. We were very happy to find a COOP restaurant
the last evening in Switzerland. Good prices. YAY It was
with in walking distance from our last hotel, the Express
Holiday Inn
After getting quite the trip through Switzerland, and being
able to see Paris, we felt like we'd really seen a lot, and
done a lot. I loved being able to stop in Bern and see the
Swiss temple. I'm so glad we ran into the missionaries that
were able to give us very detailed directions, so it was easy
to find. By the time we'd come back to the Geneva airport,
we were ready to head home. We left the hotel at 6:15 am
and waited for our 7:45 am flight. I am so glad we left on
that early Wed. morning flight. Later in the day the volcano
went off in Iceland, stranding the passengers in Europe.
I enjoyed my time there, but to me......There's No Place
Like HOME !!!!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Day 10 Grindelwald-Jungfrau


This is in Grindelwald, the view from the balcony. There
were clouds on the mountains, so we didn't know what type
of view we'd have up above.


Another view

The train that took us up the BIG MOUNTAIN


This is where we went and saw the Eiger, MÜNCH, etc.


Never could figure out which one each was

A view of the Alps

I thought this was the Eiger, but it could have
been MÜNCH

Eiger, or MÜNCH

again

They had an ice "palace"

Mel walking through the ice "palace"

see the carved penguins?

can you tell how steep the slope is that the train is going
down?

Grindelwald. Totally picturesque

We ran into some Missionaries on their P-day. It was
a highlight.

Trying to capture the turquoise water color.

again

When we transferred from one train to another train, it
was a real close call, so there was someone to show us which
platform, and help us move our luggage. He also had candy
for the "ladies". Julie ate a bit of half of them, and gave the
rest to Mel.

Mel goofing off. Chocolate mouth!

Julie and I got goofy also. When you have that
much time on the trains, you have to find
something to pass the time.

another goofy pose.

Our hotel room in Lucerne

We had a little bit of time that evening to take
a look at Lucerne. This is Chapel bridge to the
left, and the Water Tower that was built in the 1400's.

Julie and I standing on that bridge, with a pretty view of
Lucerne in the background.

My hubby and I on the bridge

an unobstructed view.

looking outward, the other direction.
Man, did we try and fit a whole bunch in one day. Whew.
We got up fairly early to go up to Jungfrau. The clouds were
at the middle of the mountain, and upwards, so we didn't know
if we would get above the clouds or not. AND, luckily we did.
On the way up, there were lots of skiiers getting on the train,
and also lots of Japanese tourists. The ride up the mountain
was amazing. Through the last portion of the ride, it is through
the mountain. And it is so high up, that you can feel the thinness
of the air. I almost felt like I couldn't breathe. Eeeek. A little
scary to me. We stopped in part of the mountain tunnel, and
Mel got out and took a picture of a glacier. Then when we got
to the top, we were so happy to see that the clouds were all
down below, and we could get a clear shot of the mountain. I
really don't know if it was the Eiger, or mt MÜNCH. oh well
But once again, the weather was good, and not windy at all.
The only bummer was that because of the clouds down below,
we couldn't see all around, because Jungfraujoch means
Top of Europe, and you can see a gorgeous view on a clear
day. But we did get to see a gorgeous view up above. After
we came down from the mountain, we happened to run into
2 missionaries, and then 4 more missionaries. It was truly
a highlight. We chatted for a while, and then found out they
would be on the same train as us, so we got to chat for
a while longer. We shared a couple cookies with them, and
they shared their strawberries with us. We then took a
picture with Mel's cell phone, and e-mailed several of their
parents. We got responses back from them shortly after
we separated. They also gave us detailed directions to go
see the temple in Bern. So, that got put on our agenda on
our last day in Switzerland.
When we got to Lucerne, we went and looked close to out
hotel and walked across the bridge in the picture. I think
I read that it was built sometime in the 1400's. amazing.
we were pretty tired, so didn't walk much further that
evening. We went to dinner at Burger King, and it cost
us 12.90 for a whopper meal. CRAZY!!! I had a real hard
time with the prices over there.
Our time was coming to a close, and we had seen a lot. We
had a little more sightseeing to do the next day, then off
towards Geneva the next day.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Day 8 Grindelwald


Waiting at the train station in Lausanne. We were leaving
Lausanne and heading to Grindelwald.

I thought the little villages along the way were so quaint,
but pictures just do not capture it.
I kept trying though.

Trying again, to capture the beauty.

This is where the camera fails miserably. At Interlaken, the
water is turquoise. I have never seen water quite this color.
I wanted so badly to capture the color. this was the best I
could do. It was one of my favorite places that I saw. So
darn beautiful.

Just strolling around Grindelwald.

Hotel Central Wolter

It was Sunday when we arrived in Gridelwald. Julie was
just having her day of rest. = )

Something else that was fun to have a picture
next to.
Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast at the
Hotel Elite in Lausanne. That was our last day at that
Hotel. It was the one we stayed at the longest. At each
hotel we stayed at, they included breakfast. Our
breakfast would consist of sliced lunch meats, sliced
cheese, crusty breads on one table. Then at another
table they had juice, milk, 3 types of cereals, 3 types
of yogurt, and cut up fruit. Then on your table, they
would bring you a bowl of different breads. The
croissants were great. We also had hot chocolate
each meal. We ate at the Hotel Elite 5 mornings. We
almost felt like it was our home base. But, we were
off to other places now. We got on a Golden Pass line
which had panaoramic trains. Even though the train
rides were long, they didn't feel that way, because of
the beautiful countryside we could see. When we came
to Interlaken, I had discovered my favorite place in
Switzerland. Mel had told me he thought it was really
beautiful. Now I could see what he meant. I really
wish I could show you the color of the water in these
lakes. MAN. Anyway, it wasn't much longer and we
were in Grindelwald. It was similar to Zermatt, but not
as crowded. A very touristy, or rather, a place where
people came to go skiing. Just like Zermatt. Kind of
like a Small Park City. We had come on the last day of
the regular ski season. They were shutting down the
town basically. But we walked around a little, explored
some of the things there. (A few shops, an ice skating
rink, possibly the place where they practice for the
Olympic curling team). And we looked up at the huge
mountains that we would be exploring the next day.
The Eiger, MÜnch. They were breathtaking, even with
the cloud cover that was part way up, so you couldn't see
the whole huge mountain. The weather was a little
unsettled so we wondered if we would have the clear view
like we did at the Matterhorn.