Dear Diary

Dear Diary,
I haven't written in awhile so today's entry might be a long one. You know that I always like to update you on what the kids are up to to I'll start with the littlest one.
Jessie is as always making me laugh. The other day she asked me what Sunday was. I said that I wasn't sure what she wanted to know and to explain further. She wanted to know if it was linger longer Sunday or fast Sunday or slow Sunday. She also just finished her soccer season. She won the season (or so she says).
The school that the kids attend started a new thing this year called GradeSpeed. It's were parents can go online and check on the kids grades at any time. The teacher update them with every assignment. This has been great for Charlie. She, of course, has all A's and M's. Of course, I don't know what the M's are but I'm sure they are great. Soccer just ended for her also and she really had a fun time. She had great coaches and happy teammates.
Gavin will be finishing Soccer this weekend. We are really happy about this. Because I don't volunteer to coach I never feel like I can complain about those who do and I'm not now. I'm just going to say that I'm happy that the season is almost over for him. Hopefully next year will be a better experience for him.
Taylor...Taylor...Taylor...I'm not sure what to say here. OH I know, she just finished cross country. She didn't qualify for Europeans but she is really looking forward to basketball starting in a few weeks. She gets herself up for seminary everyday(almost) and is anxious to get there everyday. That GradeSpeed thing that I mentioned has actually turned out to be a bonus for her. When we saw that her grades were a little low she pulled them right up. Yeah for me(or is that Yeah for her).
So Sean got another calling in church. He is the branch president. I said another calling. He didn't get released from his old calling so I think he is still the Young Mens Pres. also. He has taken up road biking here. So he still leaves for 3 or 4 hours on Saturday but it's not for golf anymore.
Speaking of church calling something sorta funny happened to me. In Feb. I was called to be the primary pres. I loved it. It was just the calling for me. Then about a month ago I was asked to be the Relief Society Pres. I said of course I would do what ever they needed me to do. The funny part is that they didn't release me from the Primary first. So for about 3 weeks I got to be President Squared. That was what our old Branch Pres. called me. Now I'm just in the RS. Wait I don't mean just I mean only. I've been crazy busy getting ready for Halloween. Making costumes, arranging a party for the kids and getting ready to visit the rest home. Oh and did I mention trick-or-treating. Maybe we'll just opt out this year. We'll see.
Thanks for listening Diary. Write more soon.
Julie

Taylor on the run

I know that the brothers will be interested in this. Taylor is on the Cross Country team. This was her first meet. She came in 9th. But she was the first one from Vicenza. Her time was 25:45 for a 5K. I think that she did fantastic.

Here she is crossing the finish line. She made us proud today.

Camp Darby

We went to Camp Darby last weekend. Some of our friends went with us. Lexi and Dave Higbee with their kids Haylee, Trent, Logan and Laycee. Chad and Terrilee with their kids Kirra and Christian. We went to several places such as Pisa, Florence and Lucca. But we spent the most time at the beach. I didn't get very many pictures at the beach but I hope that you enjoy posts that I have added today.
Julie

One night in Pisa

One night while we were camping at Camp Darby we went into Pisa to solve the mystery of the leaning tower. And to our surprise with so many people trying to hold it up, it still leans to this day.

After we took our turn holding up the tower we needed to get some refreshment. So we stopped for some gelato. Sean and Chad really enjoyed theirs on a cone.

We lined up the kids so that we didn't lose any to the night. First Kirra, then Jessie, followed by Trent, Charlie, Haylee, Gavin, Christian, Laycee, Logan and Lexi on the end to keep them from escaping. Dave and Taylor stood guard.

After we were fortified with our gelato we decided to take a stroll down by the famous Arno River. However, our friend Terrilee decided to do a pole dance and she even made a buck. LOL ( the payee is her husband, Chad).

This is us on a bridge that spans the river.

This is what it looks like at night. On the far right side of the picture is a church that we wanted to look at up close. The last time that we were in Pisa I was amazed by the craftsmanship that went in to building it. However, the lighting was so bad that we couldn't get any really good pictures of it at night. Oh well, maybe next time.

All in all, our second visit to Pisa was as fantastic as the first time. Even better because we got to see it with friends.

Firenze aka Florence

This is a great view of Florence. So Sean was having problems operating the camera, this picture is black and white with color accents. I'm just not sure of the colors.

This is the bus that took us on a tour of some highlights in Florence. Our friend Terrilee is taking the picture and her husband, Chad and two kids, Kirra and Christian.

This is an old monistary that was turned in to a museum. We didn't have a tour guide so we just looked around ourselves. There were a lot of interesting paintings and rooms. The courtyard was very relaxing.

This is the Duomo in Florence. Sean tried to get it all in the picture. However, it is so big that it wouldn't fit. We went inside and it was amazing. Very well preserved.

On our way to see the Duomo we walked right over this picture on the sidewalk. Most of us didn't even notice it.

At the end of our day, we wanted to go in to see the "David" by Michaelangelo but we decided that we hadn't planned to spend that much to get in to see it, so we went to McDonalds instead. We can't wait to go again to see all of the things that we missed.

One month ago

So when I logged on to add something today I realized that it has been exactly one month since I put something new on. I have been getting the riot act from all sides. I decided that with the kids out of school and Sean coming home and then being on leave that I just haven't gotten into the swing of it again. So I'm going to post a little today but then don't be surprised if I disappear for a few more weeks. Sean goes back to work and the kids go back to school the last week of the month. So look for more after Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy.

My soldier returning home

This is Sean catching a ride out of there. This was the first of many rides to get him home. We are thankful that he made it safely.