My Apologies... My Christmas post is finally here

I really have nothing to say for myself in lieu of an excuse for my long and terrible absence from the blogging world. Have I been busy? Well, kind of. I suppose the idea of this blog just seemed a little daunting because there are so many things that I want to include. It's like when you have a really big journal entry you need to write, but you put it off because you know how long it will take.
Without further adieu, the big reveal...

Christmas and New Years in Barcelona and Italy!

After a long and frustrating dilemma, including an overnight stay, at the JFK airport - due to late flights and not running fast enough through the International terminal at the airport - Russ and I finally made it to Barcelona! I was so excited to see my family and just spend time hanging out and relaxing together. We watched a lot of movies, ate some wonderful food and spent a lot of time laughing. (Jonathon's alter-egos "Nigel" and "Linguine" were certainly big contributors to the amount of laughing Russ and I enjoyed while we were there!)

And now through pictures, while in Barcelona, we...

Went to church, as well as the Bario Dos Christmas Party. That was interesting, as always.

We went to the beautiful maze near our house. Jonathon beat us by a long shot.

We went to Montserrat and took family pictures in Barcelona bull t-shirts.

We took family pictures at the Roman gardens near our house. It should be noted that the photographs were taken using the self-timer on my Mom's digital camera and we set it up on a tripod that we made out of cardboard boxes and duct tape.

We went to a Barca game and we won! Russ said this was absolutely his favorite thing from the whole trip - it even beat out Italy. :-)


We went to the port for the arrival of the Three Kings.

And now, as if all that wasn't already enough, a few pictures from our trip to Italy. We went to Rome, Florence, Milan and Lake Como.

Church in Rome. Turns out my Mom's best friend has a son serving a mission in Rome and we happened to show up at the ward he is currently serving in. Then we saw him again on the metro!

Obviously, the Colosseum
Outside the Vatican

In front of the doors at the Duomo in Florence

View of Florence from the Bell Tower

My favorite place from the whole trip - the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

Beautiful Lake Como