Bella Italia

Since our blog will soon be dedicated to our new little one I thought I should at least do one quick post about our amazing trip to Italy this summer.




Everyone always asks us "what was the best part?" I usually say the food (which was amazing)...but honestly it was EVERYTHING!! The architecture, art, history, people, Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Napoli, Sorrento, Mediterranean sea, Pompeii, shops, resturants, on and on...We loved it all!!! It was so fun to see many of the areas that Dave served in as a missionary and discover new places together. His Italian came back to him quickly and he was a great tour guide. So here is a brief recap of our trip of a lifetime.

We didn't want to waste a minute of our time in Italy, right after our 14 hour journey we headed straight to the Collosuem and Forum to see Ancient Rome...It was Spectacular!

Us at The Colloseum and Our Travel Buddies (my parents) Lindy and Cindy. They were the best! We were all Jet Lagged and hot but they were up for ANYTHING, we walked for miles each day and saw everything! We are so glad we got to do this trip with them.

We learned quickly the first day that there are two things that don't exsist in Rome, places to sit and bathrooms...kind of difficult with a bilateral amputee and a pregnant woman...but we improvised well.

The Second Day we saw the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's and all. It was beautiful! That evening we did a night walk of the City.

Amazing art work throughout the Vatican Museum.

Dave in front of a Painting of Sardania, an island he served on for several months. We didn't make it to Sardania, but we figure it is our excuse to get to go back one day.

The beginning of the night walk. It was a beautiful evening. So amazing to see the fountains, buildings and piazza's all lit up. This was also the night we started the standard of having Gellato at least twice a day yum!

The third day we visited the Borghese Gardens and Gallery (beautiful!) and returned to see many of the spots we caught on the night walk during the day.

Day four we were able to go to the same church Dave went to in Rome. In the evening we went for one final walk around ancient Rome, probably one of our favorite spots in the city.

On the fifth day we traveled to Florence where we stayed for three days. Dave has an old companion that lived there who was very eager to show us around his city. We saw far more than we ever would have on our own! It was a beautiful city.

Florence

Sunset on the River in Florence

The Churches in Florence were by far the most Beautiful!

Tuscany!!

Dave's old companion Pietro.

Dave's new companion, me.

Pietro took us to this amazing medival city call San Gimignano. Touristy for a reason!

We found that the best gellato, hands down, was in Florence. Ironically it was also the cheapest!

On our Eighth day we took the train to Napoli.

The View from our Beautiful Hotel, the New Castle, with the Mediterranean and Vesuvius in the background. Our first day we explored the city and ate the most delicious pizza at one of the oldest pizza places in the world. They claim to being the birth place of the Margherita pizza. Napoli was colorful, beautiful and very tasty!

Dave in front of his favorite place to eat on his mission, unfortunately they were closed for the holiday when we were there...I guess we will just have to try again later.

The second day we went to Pompeii. This city was far more vast than I anticipated. It was amazing how well preserved and large it was. We took hundreds of pictures. This one is probably my favorite it is of one of their public baths.

After Pompeii we visted Sorrento and the coast. Apparently you should yeild if you drive into the ocean. Sorrento was a beautiful, small town. We did a lot of shopping (but no buying) and had a delicious pasta lunch.

Our last day in Napoli we shopped (by far the cheapest place we visited in Italy), ate more great pizza, and walked around the busy but beautiful city. We were warned extensively that it is a very dangerous city, but we fortunately had no problems and felt very safe.

Our final night in Italy we returned to beloved Rome....you can guess what we did:



It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip!

Greatest summer of our lives.

Dave and Mandi agree that this has been one of the greatest summers of their lives!!!! Both of them had time off of school and were able to take full advantage of that time off. Here are a few of the highlights (in no particular order).

Dave traveled to Guatemala with other students from Midwestern to serve his third medical mission. He had a great experience and was able to polish up his spanish. More pictures to come later..probably.

Here is Dave hiking a volcano you can see a little lava behind him. Very Hot!

While Dave was away, Mandi was able to go to San Diego and spend some time with Liz and the Moores. It was a great trip!

Dave and Mandi were able to go home for the 4th of July. They ran a 5k, Mandi's first, and she beat both of her brothers...by a LOT...a LOT (it is the first and likely the last time she will ever do that so she is savoring it while she can)!!

Sweaty, and so happy it is over!

After the race Dave and Mandi were able to see Grandma Lu and the gang for food, fireworks and a lot of fun! They love Richfield on the 4th of July!!!

They got a Beautiful new car. Seriously the nicest thing either of them have ever driven, AND it pretty much saved Mandi's life today...long story. It is a 2005 white Toyota Camry...LOVE IT!!!

Dave had gotten tickets for Mandi to see WICKED, it was even better than she remembered from New York Dave loved it too!!

WICKED!! not a very cute picture...but you get the idea.

We got a new, beautiful neice, Elsie. We will be meeting her this weekend, so no pictures yet but they are coming!

To end the Summer Dave and Mandi were able to take their dream vacation to ITALY!! It was absolutely AMAZING!!! More details and pictures to come later...most likely.

Dave and Mandi with Rome in the background. They had always hoped to take this trip before they were blessed with children so it is a good thing they did it when they did because....

They are having a baby!!!

Due March 21st.

By far the highlight of the Summer!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

To the Dad's in my life:

My Dad Lindy is one of the most incredible people I know. He works harder than any person I have ever known. He has always made me feel loved and cared for. I couldn't ask for a greater dad. The older I get the more my love and admiration for him grows. I am eternally grateful for his love, support and example. I love you Dad Happy Father's Day.

Dad with an old Peruvian man. For Christmas Dad took the whole family to serve the people in Peru. He has always taught us the importance of service through his amazing example!

My Father-in-law Phil has always made me feel like one of his own. Our whole marriage we have lived far away from Dave's parents but they have always made a strong effort to be close to us in other ways. I am grateful for his kindness and example. I am especially grateful for the incredible father he was to Dave and the contributions he made to create the person that David is today.

Phil was serving as Mission President for the Puebla, Mexico Mission when Dave and I were married. This cutout was made so Dad could still be in the pictures. We missed having him on our special day but we are so grateful for his service and dedication to the Lord.

The Future Father of my children Dave. Anyone who knows us knows how much I love and admire my husband. And anyone who has seen David with children knows how amazing he will be as a father. David is one of the most selfless and service oriented people I have ever known. He works hard everyday to be able to provide for his future family. I am grateful for his hard work, his love, patience, kindess and dedication to the Lord.

Dave with one of the Peruvian children. Dave is currently serving his third medical mission this time in Guatemala. He is always looking for opportunities to do things for other people.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!!!

Tag - you are it. and other stuff.

As many of you know I NEVER follow through on a tag...but there is always a first. My dearest and best friend Stacy tagged me on this one...so this one is for you Stac.
here are the rules:

1. Go to your documents/pictures

2. Go to your 6th file.

3. Go to your 6th picture.

4. Blog about it.

5. Tag 6 people to do the same.


This is a picture from our first trip to Peru in May of 2007. If I remember right this was the first village we went to. On that mission we traveled to villages off of the amazon river only accessible by boat. In the villages we set up medical, vision and dental clinics. It was a life-changing experience and we are so grateful that we had the opportunity to go, and return there again with my family the following year. The people in Peru are so beautiful and sweet. But for anyone who knows me I was especially in love with the children!

I tag:
1. Jenn Tullis
2. Brie Wheelwright
3. Mary Evans
4. Collette Goodman
5. Wendy How
6. Kristin Augustus


To appease my mother and others who have reminded us that we have not blogged in a while I will take this opportunity to do a quick catch up in pictures.

Since I last blogged Dave and I had the opportunity to go home for Thanksgiving:Kick off.

My brothers, Dave and a group of their friends played in their first annual "Turkey Bowl" Here are dad and I watching them play. We ate lots of food and had a great time with our friends and family.
About a week later Dave had his White Coat Ceremony:

He is so-o Handsome!!

Both our parents flew down for the Ceremony. We are all so proud of Dave and all his hard work. We loved having our parents in town. It was a great weekend!!

We didn't go very long without seeing family. Just a couple weeks later we returned to Utah for Christmas. It was so great being with everyone again for the holidays. I had the chance to catch up with some old friends:

My dear friends Jessica Bott and Stacy Moss Stevens (mentioned above). We have been friends for over 10 years. I absolutely love these girls and it was so good to catch up with them while we were in town!

Since everyone was in town we also took LOTS of family pictures.
Johnston Family. Taken at my parent's home. Thank you Stacy you are the best!! Isn't my mom's tree so cute! And just for clarification my nephew sitting on my sister's lap is just pulling a weird face he does not have CP.

Freestone Family. This was taken out doors, it was very cold that day and the sun shining off of the snow was very bright (thus Thomas' eyes) also, Lilly is being smushed....but considering the circumstances all of the kids were being great sports!

After the Holidays we returned back to real life. We have been so busy with work and school that January just flew by. Dave celebrated his 27th Birthday!! We ate out (Thanks mom and dad Freestone) which for us is a big treat and Dave took the night off from studying.
So now we are caught up...till next time!

California trip!!

With school and work and finals we were in some desperate need for some fun and relaxation! Which is just what we got this weekend with the Freestones in beautiful California. The first couple of days were spent in San Diego at Amy and BC's home. We were able to play and eat and enjoy time together at their home and the beautiful beach in La Jolla.Dave and Thomas....this basically sums up what they did the whole time at the beach.

The Girls...Digging away.Enjoying the Sunset


Kayaking. BC was kind enough to take us Kayaking on Saturday. The weather was perfect, the water was crystal clear. You could see Leopard sharks swimming all around us...it was AMAZING!!
BC and Kenny enjoying the Kayaking as well.

On Monday we left San Diego for the Happiest Place on Earth!!! Disneyland that is!
It was a BLAST! It was the first time for some of the kids. The weather was perfect (again). The lines were next to NOTHING! We saw Tons of great characters (including all of the princesses). They had the parks decorated for the Holidays and it was beautiful.

Jessie working super hard on that sword...She is very strong, I think if anyone was going to get it it was going to be her!

Thomas just barely made it on to the Soarin' California Ride.

The Beautiful Princesses and Adorable Prince with Aurora...Lilly got Thomas to go up to the Princesses and say "Your Prince has arrived!" It was very cute!


The Princesses...Jasmine and Jill are babes!

These girls were so much fun! Emma was SO-O brave she even did the Tower of Terror (a ride BC wont even go on!). And we so wish we had a picture of Jill on space mountain, way too much fun!!!!

Dave and Mandi in front of Bourbon Street all decorated for the holidays.
Mom and Dad Freestone in front of the beautiful castle.

It was so nice to spend time with the family and create so many happy memories...
Can't wait for the next trip!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to all. This year Dave decided to go as one of his professors, Dr. Nydam. He pulled it off really well and even won Best Overall Costume for his class (Mandi is so proud). The "Just for Men" beard die was kept on a little long...and still lingers today even after a good shave...but it was worth it!