First of a new blog and lots of Europe Pictures

So, I finally got a new blog set up!! Go me! I sit here at home, sick with pneumonia, so I am going a little stir crazy and needed something to do. So, I decided to start our new blog.

Lots of things have gone on since my last post on our previous blog. The most exciting is that we sold our townhouse and moved into a house! We feel so fortunate to have sold our townhouse so quickly and gotten a good price out of it. We have been here a little over a month and we are loving it. We love not having to worry about being quite for the neighbors. Although, we do miss our next door neighbors, the Barbers. Hopefully they will be moving up this way soon. We love having a HUGE backyard for the dog to run around in. Having a 2 car garage is great, but we still haven't parked 2 cars in it because the other half is full of boxes yet to be unpacked. Having 3rd car parking on the driveway is super nice too. Also, we love having a storage shed to put extra stuff in. Lastly, we are loving our new ward, lots of nice people and the bishop is such a great guy, he is super friendly.

Another exciting thing that happened was that we went to Europe!!! It was a life long dream of mine and I feel so lucky to have gone at the age of 26. I will post a few pictures for you guys to look at. We started in Paris and spend 4 days there. It was everything I thought it would be and more. The food was amazing, the people were super nice, the architecture was incredible and the artwork was beautiful. After Paris, we went to spend time with our friends, the Heugets in a costal town called Caen. They were wonderful hosts and absolutely hilarious! I love Vincent and Beatrice. Funny story with them. We were there the first night and it was our wedding anniversary. So with dinner they offered us wine and we told them politely that we don't drink wine. Then after dinner, it finally clicked that it was our actual wedding anniversary and they offered us champagne. We again told them we don't drink and their response was, it's ok it's not wine. Jon and I had a good laugh about that. Another funny highlight was Beatrice telling me she married the most beautiful man in all of France and funniest too, that she laughs everyday with him. While in Caen we went to Mont St. Michel. It has been a dream of mine to see it since I saw it the first day of French class in high school on a poster that my French teacher had hanging up in the classroom. After Caen, we took the train to London. It was a fun city and we saw lots of neat things, most of all the Tower of London and the Eye of London. After London, flew up to Edinburgh to spend time with the Adams, Steve and Kristen. We had so much fun with them, even if the weather was not the most pleasant. The food actually wasn't that bad, the chocolate carmel cookies that we got at the store by their house were soooooo good and the thai place we found right of the royal mile was so good. We also enjoyed a Thanksgiving lunch at Deacon Brodies' Tavern. Jon, Kristen and I also enjoyed a beautiful concert at St. Giles Cathedral, it was a very good start to our Christmas season. We also got to see the lighting of the Edinburgh Christmas tree. Then as our last adventure, we went to the Edinburgh Christmas market. We saw some interesting things there. Guys dressed in drag as angels riding around on segways. It was comical to say the least. Then we flew back to London, took the train back to Paris and got back late on a Friday night. We spent one more day in Paris, where we got our picture drawn at the artist's square and bought a few paintings. We also went back to Notre Dame and saw it all decorated for Christmas. Then we walked up the Champs Elysee and saw its Christmas market. It was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back to Europe again. Oh, and this also explains the name of the blog, La famille de Casper this means The Casper Family in French.

Lastly, we had a good Christmas at home with Jon's family. We are also excited to have a new member of the family. Jon's sister is getting married next month. He is super nice and we are all happy to have him in the family. Jon is still working at Pitney, he has been there for 3 years now. I am still working at the nursing home, it is hard at times, but I am still liking it. Alright, enough of the boring stuff for now, here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

This picture is of us inside of Mont St. Michel. If I look red, it is because I was hot from hiking the 500 stairs to the top of the Abbey.

This is us at lunch inside the town at Mont St. Michel. We had a great lunch with the traditional omelet and tart tatain. Which a delicious apple tart with fresh cream, it is soooo good.

This is the beautiful Mont St. Michel! Even more breath-taking in person and an amazing site!

Our friends the Heugets, Beatrice and Vincent. This in their home in the family room. Love them!

The Eye of London, it is absolutely huge!! It takes 30 minutes just to do one revolution!

Us on the River Thames and behind us Parliament and Big BenThe Eye of London lit up at nightWe found the Church on the bus map so we had to go see it. This is also the headquarters for the London Mission.

The Bloody Tower at the Tower of London, this is where prisoners would be held before being beheaded.

Jon trying on his kilt for the first time at a shop on the Royal Mile.

St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile, so beautiful!Jon and I inside the Edinburgh Castle overlooking the cityThe Edinburgh Castle lit up at night, one of my favorite shots from our tripKristen and I freezing waiting for them to light the Edinburgh Christmas tree.

Jon and Steve modeling their kilts for me! It was quite a site to behold for sure!