Europe Part I

My mom came to visit us for Mother's Day this year, it was fun to spend some time together before we left on our big trip this year. She was nice enough to stay and watch Ellie for us while we went on a Mediterranean Cruise, thanks again Mom! We took a quick trip to Tahoe while she was here, but mostly laid low before leaving.







You heard me right, we decided to do something we've always wanted to do and go to Spain, France, and Italy. This was several years in the making. The first attempt was over 2 years ago when we bought non-refundable tickets to Barcelona. Joni ended up getting pregnant and had some complications and her doctor told her not to go. It ended up being nothing, but we were pretty dissapointed to say the least, and lost out on our tickets.

We almost didn't make it this time either, it was like it wasn't meant to be. We were all ready to go when we were told the plane landed in Reno "too hard" and the flight was cancelled. Three different phone calls and 3 different people told us there were no flights and absolutely nothing they could do to refund our money or get us there on time. Not only that but the cruise was non-refundable. After several hours on the phone and almost cancelling everything, we tried one more time. A lady in Chicago ended up putting us on a flight that would get us to Barcelona 2 hours after we were supposed to board the ship.

Long story short, we sprinted through the Newark airport and dodged several near misses, travelled from Thursday through Saturday with no sleep and we made it. It was the most stressful trip to get there ever and we were pretty messed up for a couple of days. I don't think we'll ever travel on Friday the 13th again.

One of our most favorite days was Villefranche and Nice France. It was the most beautiful port, pictures don't even do the place justice. It was straight out of a movie, beautiful city on a hill, cobblestone small streets and walkways. We ended up walking a ton this day, including to the very top of a hill to overlook the whole city.



The weather was perfect except for a little rain, but when that came we just ducked into a little cookie shop and ate French pastries until the rain let up. We were planning on spending most of the day at the beach but it was really rocky and the water was freezing.

We walked through a fun farmer's market with some of the biggest and most colorful fruits and vegatables you could imagine. This place was so colorful and unique, and one of our most pleasant surprises of our trip.







Joni fell in love with all of the different kinds of doors, we were walking around on Sunday while the church bells were ringing, it was such a special feeling there.














The first night on the Cruise was formal night. We had a great time on the ship too, there was so much to do and surprisingly very few Americans on the ship. We made sure we stayed active while on the ship playing games, going to shows and even competing in an adult dodge ball tournament. The highlight of that was that Joni's team beat mine to win the gold medal right after I got hit with a dodgeball in my sweet spot. To make matters worse the ref had a microphone and made a comment about me getting hit in the "jugglers" to which the crowd got a good laugh at my expense. Joni's not gonna let me live that one down.

Day 2 was Rome. I've always wanted to go to Rome, it was so cool to feel the history of the place but it also wasn't what I expected. It was a very unique city as well but much more metropolitan than I would have imagined. The wierd thing is that ruins were all over the place, and the Coliseum is right off a very busy main street.



The Vatican was a powerful place. We ate some Gelato's at the Trevi Fountain, and rode the city bus around other parts of town.

We bought a couple of italian soccer sweatshirts as the day started off a bit cold. There is so much history and amazing sculpture to the buildings and fountains in Rome. You would literally walk around a corner and a famous landmark would be right in front of you. Funny thing was that I recognized most of the places we saw from the movie Angels and Demons...whatever works.

By the end of the Rome day we were pretty tired. The 9 hour time change as well as long travel and tons of walking was wearing us down.

We ended up walking around the Vatican walls and then just laid on the steps in St. Peter's Square because we couldn't move anymore. We took the train back to the ship and crashed early that night.

Europe part II

Day 3 was Cagliari, Sardinia. Sardnia is an island off the coast of Italy, and Cagliari is the capital, it is actually closer to northern Africa than Italy. We took a bus to a beautiful beach on the western side of the island, again the water was too cold to swim in but the view was great. We spent a couple of hours there and then went to a vineyard for authentic cheese tasting.
The dissapointing thing is that we were having issues with the camera and couldn't take as many pictures in the 2 Italy stops. The vineyard was beautiful, neslted up in the mountains, with rolling hills right down to the coast. Pictures never fully show the true beauty of a place. The cheese, honey, jam, meat and bread were amazing and we filled ourselves up pretty quick. It was fun to try some authentic food every place we went.







Barcelona was another one of my favorite places. Talk about unique cities, this place is borderline nuts and I loved it. Our hotel was in the old gothic part of the city with small little cobblestone streets and tons of history. There are all kinds of hidden "treasures" in Barcelona.

We did a lot of people watching and we were able to explore most of the city. One of our favorite places we found by accident, Guell Park.


















We felt so fortunate to be able to see so many beautiful places, and fortunate that we actually made it. The only downside was the exhausting travel, if we ever do it again we'll plan more time over there in the future. Taking a cruise was a great way to get a taste for the different cities. In the end that was our goal and the most rewarding part of the trip, to get a feel for the places we've always wanted to see.

History in the making.

Joni here.
Last week my uncle Don called and asked if I would write a short "History of the Moores" blurb for a geneological book he his putting together. He asked that it show my personality, and explain how our little family came to be. As I started typing, I realized that my life been blessed in ways I hardly deserve. As silly as it sounds, I got emotional several times thinking back on the last 7 years.

I'm including it here as a blog entry because I want it in our next blog book... so here is a brief history of "us" from my perspective.




My name is Joni Marie Moore, and I'd like to give you a history on my little family. Rewind back to 2002, I was studying Dietetics (...and cute guys...and the art of eating cookie dough straight from the package) at Utah State University in Logan. One evening my roomates and I attended a fundraiser for one of my courses. From across the room I noticed a dashing young man, and as luck would have it, the dashing young man happened to be my roomate's high school friend. That night I met the love of my life: Paul Clark Moore.
We spoke just long enough to exchange names, and soon became aquaintences. Over the next few months our aquaintence turned to freindship, and on June 5, 2004 I married my best friend for time and all eternity in the Vernal UT temple. That year Paul graduated from USU with his bachelors degree in Spanish with a History minor. For the next few years he worked at Lowe's to support us as I finished my Dietetics degree and completed a mandatory internship in Dallas, TX. In fact, our move from Utah to Texas was the first of SEVEN zip codes we would inhabit over the next seven years.

In 2007 I (finally) became a Registered Dietitian and took a turn supporting Paul, working as Dietary Director at a nursing home in College Station, TX. Paul received a master's degree in Human Resource Management from Texas A&M University and was recruited to work a summer internship for General Electric in Lousville, KY. After completing the internship, G.E. hired Paul and in 2008 we moved to West Hartford, CT.

By this time Paul and I had been married four years, and we decided it was time to expand our family and make a mini Moore. I spent most of my pregnancy in CT, and then we moved to Hillsborough, NC with a month and a half to go. We debated dozens of names for our little girl, but couldn't decide. I delivered at UNC hospital in Chapel Hill during a UNC vs. Duke football game on November 6, and at 12:02am Nov 7th we finally got to meet our baby. The first moment I saw her she was looking my direction with blue eyes, wide open. I knew in an instant that they were "Ellie" eyes. We named her Ellie Ryan (after her uncle) Moore, and the name couldn't fit more perfectly. Ellie made herself at home quickly by peeing and/or pooing on every family member who came to visit.

Our next move was to Longmont, CO. The opportunity to live in Longmont was a dream come true because not only was it close to Vernal, but it was also where Paul was born and raised. Ellie experienced many "firsts" in Colorado, including first birthday, first steps, first words, and first time sneezing sweet potatoes all over mommy's face. After 10 short months we were sad to say goodbye, but eager to settle down and stay a while in a new place. Which brings us to the present. We are currently living in the quaint little town of Garnderville, NV, just south of Carson City. We plan to stay here for several years and look forward to planting roots and adding another mini Moore to the family.

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Love you all, have a happy Thursday!

Joni

Joni and I had a fun Easter with Ellie this year,she actually understood the concept of putting eggs in a basket. I still understand the concept of stuffing my mouth with treats too. Funny thing is we bought Easter candy a month ago thinking it was at the beginning of April. Then when Easter actually came all the candy was gone...so we had to buy some more.

A friend from work invited us over for Easter dinner, there were little girls in Easter dresses everywhere and Ellie soaked it all in. She's not too social yet, she just kept sticking the frisbee over her face and walked around like a blind drunk.
We saw a cool rainbow on the way to church Easter morning, I've never seen one on the ground like that.
Yesterday we walked around at the chili and craft fair in Minden. When you live in a small town you have to find ways to be part of the community or you'll go crazy. Ellie was a hit walking around with her shoes that squeak, must have had 40-50 people make comments about them.


Today we went to the park to play as the weather is finally warming up, Ellie loves to be outside, and so do we. Other than that not much is happening, we love how beautiful it is here.