Cousin Time!

Bubba and Chubba became great friends.
Chubby said that he doesn't want to go home. All right by me!

Our annual pilgrimage to Cabelas to pay homage to all dead things. Can't you tell we are having SOOO much FUN!!!!!

Buh Bye, Bidet!

We just finished with our last hurdle in coming home from Spain. The church has given us a "honorable" release, and our duena (landlady) has said that our conditions for breaking our lease was acceptable.

So now all we wait for is our tickets home. Richard will e-mail church travel tomorrow to let them know we are good to go.

We both are looking forward to coming home and moving on with our lives with our family. Thanks for all your support.

Santiago de Compostela

On Friday we left Madrid for Santiago de Compostela, a 6 hour car ride. It is in the upper left corner of Spain above Portugal. Not only did we hear that it was a very interesting place, but it is very cool and green.

The Way of St. James has existed for over a thousand years. It was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times. Legend holds that St. James's remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where he was buried on the site of the Cathedral.

The most popular route is from Southern France, across the northern border of Spain to Santiago, because the trek on foot is about 4-7 weeks (and most Europeans have 4 weeks of vacation each year). This year, more than 200,000 will arrive at this cathedral.

In the 12 and 13 century the town had its greatest importance when Pope Alexander III declared it a holy town, like Rome and Jerusalem. Pope Calixto II declared that the pilgrims who went to Santiago in a Holy Year should be free from all their sins. Al Ano Santo (Holy Year) is celebrated each time when the Apostol's day (July 25 is a Sunday).

Little did we know that when we arrived on Saturday July 24th... we were not only going to be accompanied by 10,000 other people... BUT WE ARE FREE FROM OUR SINS!!!

On Sunday we drove to the Portugal border, to the Spanish town of Vigo and went to church with some of our missionaries. Vigo is a port town and was beautiful and cool.

In the background you can see a Roman wall, built several hundred years BC, surrounding the city.

And that beauty, sitting on the wall is ME...

Pink and Blue

It doesn't get any cuter than that!

Sad, Sad, Susan

Richard has a friend/client here in Spain visiting with us for a few days... We asked Clint what he would like to do while visiting. He wanted to spend Friday at the Naval Museum in Madrid. So we packed up and went into Madrid. We were walking (Richard and I hand in hand) and Clint behind us. My purse was over my shoulder and all zipped up. But the bag was more at my back. Richard asked me if I had any money and I said "of course". I went to look in my bag and the zipper was open!!! I knew immediately that I had been robbed. Clint said that "just a minute ago two men pushed their way behind me and in front of him", but he didn't suspect that we were being robbed... within 1 minute it was all over. No one knew that it even happened. We discovered my wallet missing with 1. my VISA card. 2. My drivers license 3. My Spanish residency card. 4. Some money.. Fortunately, our passports were not taken.... We came home immediately, and called VISA to report our card stollen. It was very upsetting but could have been much worse. I could have had all of my sources of identification stollen.

Saturday, we took Clint to Segovia for a "suckling-pig" lunch. "Suckling-pig" is very popular here in Segovia (as well as all over Spain). The baby pig is just a few days old when he is harvested for lunch... Back home, PETA would have a field day on this one...
See... here in the window is a "happy little sucking-pig" just waiting to be cooked and eaten.
Just a pic of Richard and Clint on one of the streets in Segovia. We had a fun day... and came home exhausted.

Tenerife, Canary Islands

I know that for our friends and family, it might be confusing with all of the side trips we go on. Well, here is how we look at it. We work hard and play hard. For the past 2 weeks we have worked nearly every day for anywhere from 8-12 hours. Richard works mostly 14 hour days. So when we take a long weekend we don't have any guilt.

Tenerife is a volcanic island off the coast of Africa. It is much like Hawaii, but with a Spanish flair, because it is owned by Spain. The temp. year around is nearly perfect. We stayed in a town called Puerta Cruiz and we couldn't have chosen a better location to stay. It was a little cloudy (which kept it cool) but warm enough to swim and sun-bathe. The room was not as great as some we have stayed at but the grounds were beautiful, and it was quiet. The island is used mainly by the Germans for holiday. We ran into more Germans than we did Spanish.

Also, the food was fantastic. We had a great relaxing weekend. It was wonderful.

This is the kind of a mission that I could really get used to...

One of the afternoons we went into Puerta Cruiz and walked the streets looking at the shops and stores. We enjoyed all of the excitement and colors. But all of the shops have the same things in them, and fortunately it is nothing I need or want.

Sunday evening was quite exciting because of the World Cup playoff. Spain won the world cup and as they game ended the whole city erupted into fireworks and honking. This lasted long into the night. It was fun to be in Spain while this very exciting and historical day happened for them. VIVA LA SPAIN!!!

Happy Birthday Zac!

Zac says thanks for the money and card Gram!

The Big Game

Tonight is the BIG GAME and the crowds are already beginning to gather... The bull horns are being blown. And flags are flying in all of the windows... (by the way our piso is the top windows)
Incase, you Americans don't know what I am talking about... IT IS THE WORLD CUP!!! And Europe (Spain) is erupting... Every time Spain scores a point... the bull horns go off....fireworks go off... and there is total ma-ham in the streets. This will go on way into the night!

All of the apartments have the Spanish flag flying... and everyone is wearing Spanish soccer jerseys with the faces painted in Spain's colors.

Last week, dad and I went into Madrid, to the Sophia Museum. It is a more modern museum, with many of Picasso's paintings... as well as many other famous painters who also paints with the "cubism" style. It was fascinating.

We went on the train and got off in the Altuche station... The station is huge.. It is like the Chicago train hub. Everything starts and ends there. This, also is where you pick up the rapid trains that go across the country.

The one thing about the Altuche station which is famous... this is where the Madrid train bombing took place several years ago.

Party at the Monson's

In a weak moment, Lori and I headed to Wal-mart to get some chocolate cake. We had to settle with vanilla cupcakes :( Baked goods seem to be the best kind of therapy sometimes. As you can see, the kids enjoyed themselves!

Happy Boy!

We were outside hanging with the neighbors while they washed their car and rhino. Dan was in LOVE!!! Jason promised him that when he was done he would take him for a ride. He couldn't stop smiling. Look closely in the back and you can see Danny in the shadows.

He is such a monkey!

Her first white dress

We blesses Sadie last Sunday. It was a beautiful blessing and she looked gorgeous. We missed you guys.

Moving Into Our New Office Diggs

We have spent the better part of this month moving from one office to this one. It is much improved from our last Mission Office. No smoke filled room when we arrive. It is so clean, airy and much more comfortable. For the past 2 weeks all of our office computers have not worked and so we all are feeling very stressed out trying to get caught up.

Along with changing offices we have also changed our Mission President... Richard is now sitting in for President Watkins... Just KIDDING! But doesn't he look good in the President's desk?

This is how our desks are situated in the office... I love it because I now have more control over Richard. I can kick him or throw something to get him to "shut it"....

I hate office work, ... So this is where I type, file and smile.... It seems to work because no one knows how miserable I am except for Richard.

Once again, Richard is in charge of all of the money... He takes care of the mission finances. His job is much more time intensive than mine... Gratefully....

Movie Night

We are back to "Early Marriage"... going from a 100 inch/diam. surround sound HDTV projector... to a little computer screen to watch movies... In any case we love to come home from work and watch a movie at the end of the day...

She loves to nurse...

She even dreams about it while sleeping.

Happy Fathers Day!

Church

Our chapel is just a small office space but it is surrounded on all sides by bars... So, Sunday morning when we go to church, the smell is quite interesting.... We all go home with tobacco on our clothes and smell like we have been partying hard!

Salamanca

Well, we headed to a different city today for another adventure. Salamanca is 2 hours northwest of Madrid. Here in the distance is their beautiful cathedral. There is a "old" part of the cathedral which was built in the 1200's but the remainder which is called the "new" part built in the 1500's. The view from a distance reminds me of a scene from "Star Wars". This city is very young and lively because of the University within.

Saturday in Salamanca

Here is the front entrance to the University. It is the oldest University in Spain. It was built in the 1200's. Columbus came here to learn some travel tips before leaving for America. For over 400 years, this University was one of the most prestigious in Europe. Today, it is not that well known except for American's who come to Spain for summer exchanges.
The streets are quite charming. We loved walking them and looking in the shops.
Believe it or not, we found Earnest Hemmingway and had lunch with him... Actually, his name is Ed and is an American living in Spain. We began a conversation with him and then he took us on a short tour of Salamanca. Plaza Mayor, here in Salamanca, is considered the finest Plaza in Spain. It is large, beautiful and very relaxing.

I have learned to love the Spanish hot coco and a churrio. The hot coco, is hot chocolate pudding, thick and rich and the churrio is similar to churrio's at Cost-co but not sweet. You dip the churrio in the chocolate and eat it. On cold days (our weather has turned cold, which we understand is very odd this time of year) such as we have had, hot chocolate and a churrio is perfect.
Not far from the Plaza was this park with vendors from different parts of Spain selling their wears... It was fun to look at but there would be no way to get this stuff home..