Italy

the wait is finally over...here are some pics from Italy for your viewing pleasure. steve took about 500 pictures. literally. so these are just a few of my favs.

Roma

the Colosseum

the Arch of Constantine (not the Arch of Titus)

part of the Forum

Marcus Aurelius equestrian statue

Martime Prison - where Peter and Paul were held

the Pantheon

the Sistine Chapel

St. Peter's Basilica

outside St. Peter's

me threathening steve outside the Castel Sant'Angelo

the Colosseum at night

views from the top - on the Victor Emmanuel Monument

Venezia

standing on the Rialto Bridge

cruising the Grand CanalSt. Mark's Square

Cinque Terre

hiking through the 5 towns

watching the Giro D'Italia time trial. we saw Lance Armstrong (above).

w-o-w!

Firenze

view of Florence

Pointe Vecchio

a fake David

Santa Croce Church

for more pics and more details check out steve's blog here.

loved this trip so much. Italy's got to be one of my favorites places. and being there with steve. that was my favorite too.

friends, romans, countrymen

in two weeks we'll be here...

then here

and then here

can't. even. wait!

rhode isle

continuing on...we took a train from penn station to providence, rhode island to visit my brother
and his little family...i guess 6 kids wouldn't really be considered little would it...? i've been so lucky to be able to visit them in every state that they have lived in. i think the total is 8 {outside of utah}. notice the license plates. oregon. rhode island. maine. haha.

while we were there, we got to celebrate jess's b.day

have a water balloon fight

and play guitar hero.

steve loved teasing jo-jo, who was glued to the tv. go diego go.

our second day there we ventured out to do some grave hunting. one of my ancestors {on my dad's side} Elizabeth Tilley Howland, who came over on the mayflower, is buried in a providence cemetary.

it took some looking but we found it! i called my dad immediately. i've never heard him so excited. seriously, he loves headstones. and he LOVES that i was there, standing in front of it.
family history, i am doing it, my family history.

from the moment we got there makayla {4} was smitten with steve. can't say that i blame her. but she wasn't the only one...she instantly had him wrapped around her little finger just as tight, reading her books, jumping on the trampoline, and letting her take pictures with his camera. her favorite book the cat in the hat comes back ... and steve re-read it to her over and over and over again. so sweet.


sometimes she'd let me squeeze some special time in too. :)


we spent alot of time on the trampoline. which i loved, since i practically grew up on one. after our water balloon fight we even put the sprinkler under the tramp and i got to re-live my childhood. briefly. i so miss those hot summer days of yesteryear, jumping for hours, making up games and new impressive tricks. {sigh}



our last day we went to this amazingly huge park, the Roger Williams Park. it had a zoo, a botanical garden, a museum and lots of other stuff. at the botanical garden steve {and makayla} took some artistic pics and we got to see carnivorous plants {like the kind from little shop of horrors}. crazy.


we finished off our visit at the lake, where we were attacked by geese. fur real. okay, no one got hurt but it was seriously scary. we were surrounded and they were hissing their little faces off.
freaky freakterton.

our short visit just tuckered jo-jo right out. we had so much fun. i love those people so much.
only wish we got to play more often. thank you for having us!

can't wait to visit beautiful rhode island again soon..