Segovia by Night

This is Segovia at night. Segovia has a lot of interesting history. As legend has it, the great grandson of Noah, Hercules Egipcio, founded Segovia in 1076 B.C.

Although Segovia was populated by the Celtiberians and evidently by the Romans, the fact that neither Visigoths nor Moors left any mark on the city leads some to maintain that it was abandoned after the Moorish conquest of Spain and only repopulated as part of the reconquista, towards the end of the 11th century.Our day time visit was not as stunning and glorious as this night view of the Cathedral with all the lights on it.
These aqueducts were built by the Romans around the 1-2nd centuries to carry water from a source in the mountains some 14 miles away. The Romans used over 20,000 granite block and no mortar was used to seal them together. They are all free standing and the only force holding them in place is gravity. They are truly magnificent.
This night shot is with me and our new friend S. Jewell with the aqueduct in the background.
I love the streets and the little meat shops . Of interest, is the history behind why Spaniards

hang pork legs in their homes and shops. Early in Spanish history, when the Moors (Arabs) had taken over Spain... the Spanish Christians decided to reclaim their land and push the Moors back to Africa. Hanging pork in the windows was a way to declare Christianity. Neither the Jews or the Moors (Arabs) eat pork or ham, but the Christians do.

Of course nothing is like the nights in the streets of an ancient town. In Spain, the old women and men dress up around 10:00 pm and stroll the streets hand and hand. They all have their best clothes and jewelry on. It was so great to watch.

Segovia by Day

After, spending the evening and night with the Jewell's we headed out alone to go through the Segovia castle. It was, of all the castles we have visited the most beautiful. From the outside it reminded us of the Disneyland Castle in Los Angeles. The rooms and furnishings were as exquisite as this stunning facade.

More prominent than the castle is the Cathedral. From a distance and more elevated view this Cathedral stands head and shoulders higher than the castle. Here Gramy is posing below the castle near a garden area at the foot of the hill the Cathedral rests on. This castle is where Queen Isabel was crowned Queen of Spain with King Ferdinand.

Pop in the front side view of this most beautiful castle... It was hard to get a front view because of the trees... A river runs below it and there is a mote surrounding the castle.

Yes that is Casey. She is all grown up and is such a sweet and pretty girl. This is at Colleen's wedding.


Caden and Cody crusing around the neighborhood . They are so close, Caden is always playing with Cody.

Disneyland, what fun!!

We went down to LA for Cal's sisters wedding. While we were there we spent a day at Disneyland. The kids had a lot of fun on all the rides and seeing all the characters. This was Cody's first trip. He had a great time.

Cody! HE IS SO BIG!!

Here is Cody playing with his toys. I can't belive how fast he has grown up, yet he has hardly grown at all. Yesterday I took him for his one year check and still only weighs 17 lbs. That is a wopping 1% on the growth chart and he is only 5% for his height. He is a smart active little guy. All the kids love to haul him around sometimes a little more than he would like.

We work... We really do work...

For those of you who are thinking that all we do is sight see.... We do work... This is our temporary home.. the office... We will be moving the office June 11-12. to a better location.The office here is surrounded by bar's and so first thing in the morning it is very smelly in the office and is offensive to our Mission President. The smell of cigarettes is so strong that our clothes even smell like smoke, at the end of the day.

Day in Madrid

Every Wednesday across the street from our chapel in a park is a open air market. We decided to go with Kelly... My new best friend. She reminds us of Jodie.. She is so kind, generous and good to Richard and myself. She has 4 young children and her husband is a Exec. for Pepsi Cola.
After going to the market with Kelly, Richard, the missionaries and me, went to Madrid to a different Market.. It is "jaw-dropping" with cheeses, bread, fruit and vegetables as well as many tapas shops inside. You can stand or sit at (many) a bar and eat any tapas known to man.. we snacked on a few and then hit the streets.

At Madrids cathedral, there was a statue of St. Peter holding the keys to the Priesthood.... and the boys just had to have their pictures taken with it.Well, it is official.... I do not like Spanish food. Richard and the Elders are enjoying Paella and I can't stand it... It looks so good but the spanish rice is "mushy"... and the dish is very "fishy".... This place is a very well known place for great Paella too. I love the Spanish markets, fresh fish, vegetables, fruit, cheeses etc.. but I want to go home and cook it myself... all of the restaurants which cook Spanish food which we have gone to, are very bland and tasteless. It is very curious to me how a country can be so close to France/Italy and have horrible food!

Just wanted to Brighten Your Day!

Rachel loves getting her picture taken - as you can see - so I thought I would post these photos to make you smile. We miss you and love you. We are so glad that you are sacrificing to serve the Lord. I'm sure it is not what you expected, but you will be blessed for your service. You are a great example to all your grandkids. We look forward to more pictures of your "vacationing". LOVE YA!!!!!!

Sane enogh to blog

I am finally sane enough to get my pictures on the blog. I am sorry it has taken so long! The first few days home I was in such a daze, but today I am doing much better.
Delivery was crazy. After all was said and done, it looks like I had mild preeclampsia. There were many ups and downs through out this whole process and needless to say I am so thankful it is over. and although it was the most difficult thing I have ever done, I am so grateful for the out come. She is just beautiful.

Day Off

I know that it appears that all we do is travel, since we have arrive here in Spain... But, let me re-assure you that we do work. We arise and get to the office by 8:00-8:30 am and usually work until 6:00-7:00 pm. We work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Most of the time, we plan a day trip on Wednesday's and Saturday's. On Wednesday, the two missionaries that we work with in the office wanted to go with us sight seeing. So, we planned a whole day seeing things they wanted to see and things we had not yet seen. By the end of the day I was exhausted. We had gone to three different cities, and gone up and down ancient stairs, walked and walked and walked. That evening, I couldn't walk. Even on Thursday, Friday and yesterday I was still recovering and in bad shape, so we decided to stay home on Saturday and get some of our chores done then go on a little car ride.

Our grocery stores are so interesting, that I took pictures of the store to show you. It is like a super Walmart, with food, clothes, bedding, outside furniture etc.. But the food is UNBELIEVABLE! Every time I go grocery shopping I think of Carole, and how she would LOVE the markets... They are so fascinating.

The fruits and veg. and meats here are fantastic. Such great flavor. I don't know why they taste so much better here..The sea food is unbelievable! Fresh and abundant. The pork is the BEST!

After we went shopping, we decided to go for a little car ride north of our home. The scenery is much like Arizona. Very hilly and rocky. And the wild flowers are breath taking... Every week I think that they will be gone, but they are even better!!!

Cuenca

This is the town of Cuenca. It is about 2 hours south/east of Madrid. The whole iberian peninsula was a part of the Roman Empire when in 700's Muslims decided to build a fort here on top of a plateau between to vast gorges. It was a great idea because you can see forever. Then in the 12 Century some Christians in Spain decided to kick out the Muslims and retake the fort, which they did. In fact they eventually kicked them back to Africa. So this city has many Roman and Muslim influences.

The town in famous for the "hanging houses." As you can see they were built right on the cliff. If you fell you would fall probably 100 feet or so. And people still live in the houses today.

The next picture is my favorite. I love the roof lines, tiles, and crosses on each building. It was just stunning. I think if any of my friends or family come to visit we will have to make a trip to Cuenca.

The last picture is of the arch way into the city. It is Roman in style and way cool!

Cuenca

This is the city of Cuenca from a distance. You can see some of the buildings built on cliffs.

Every, town has a Cathedral some are more elaborate than others. But they are all beautiful. The taxes must have been enormous on the people for the Catholic Church to have built so many beautiful buildings. The insides are all just beautiful rich in history.

The main plaza has such colorful house fronts and so Richard wanted to take a picture of me with the colorful houses.

Our Trip to La Mancha

Today, Saturday Richard and I went on another car ride. This time we went to the State of La Mancha. It is famous, of course for the windmills. This is the area where the book Don Quote was written in the 1700's and the windmills still stand. This castle is in the city of Consuegra. It was 2 hours south of Madrid. You can see that it is pretty windy up where the windmills are..... I am a mess!
We got to the castle at 2pm... so guess what happened.... They were all going home for "medio dia" and we were told to come back at 4pm if we wanted to go threw the castle.
I couldn't help it.... on the way to the windmills... the wildflowers were so beautiful! I had Richard stop while I climbed into them for my picture...

This picture of a bull on a hill.... In spain several years ago... a local brewery put these massive pictures of a bull all over Spain, as an advertisement. It looks like black sheet metal... When the advertisement was over the people of Spain loved them so much that they did not want them removed. So they are scattered all over Spain on hillsides.

Greetings from Spain, and Happy Mothers Day to all.... This week we went to the temple on our day off and had a great time. The weather as gone from warm to cool and windy. We are inside more than outside so it doesn't really matter. We have finally completed most of the paperwork for our residency ... The paperwork and running around is incredible. The line on Wednesday (after we went to the temple) at the police department went around the block. So many people are wanting to come to Spain to work. Most of them are from South America. (Even thought there is not any work here.) A very sad situation. Today is Friday and so we have tomorrow off. I think we are going to the south of Spain to a state called La Mancha. It is were the windmills are that Don Quiote thought were monsters and so he fought them. I think it will take most of the day to drive down and come back.

The pic of us with the missionaries are our "saving grace". Without them we would have probably gone home soon after we arrived. They have helped us with everything... I want to adopt them when we get home. They are so sweet and nice.

The other picture is of us with our Mission President and his wife. They are from San Jose, Ca. and are fluent in Spanish. H. Watkins reminds me of Jacquie Bullock at times. She has been such a great help to me also. The picture was taken just after I had my hair cut and had not gone home to wash and blow dry.. It looks better when it is fixed.

I will write again when we have more pic's to share... I love all of the participation in the blog from all of you.

Kendra, we are all praying for you and hope the baby comes soon and safely. Gram

Happy Mother's Day Hermana Grams

Happy Mother' Day Grams! We are all thinking of you this week.
Love, the Wright Fam

Baseball Times Three

This is my very first post EVER! This is for you Mom. Well, we are Deep into baseball season at the Wright home. Every Saturday is packed from morning till eve with 3 games. T-ball is the cutest thing I have seen in a long time! Jaxson is doing such a good job. He gives the ball a good whack ever time and runs to first like he sees the big kids do. He has had a lot of experience watching the big kids. Lauren is playing ball for the first time this season and she is a natural. Her coach is really impressed and has been e-mailing us her batting adv. and she is in the top three on her team. So we have had a great time watching her have so much fun. Zac is playing his first year on a competition team. It is awesome to watch! It is real live baseball. Those pitches are lightening fast and those kids make plays that will make your head spin. I love watching all the signals that the coaches give the players. I am learning a bunch of new terms at these comp. games. Madisen and I haul our chairs and drinks from field to field and try to keep up with all the action! So there is my update, we sure miss you Gram and Pop. We love that you are out on your adventure for the Lord. You are always in our prayers. You better be learning your spanish! Work Hard! we love you all, Julie