Montmarte Paris

Back in February I had a chance to visit Paris for a few days on my way home from the trip to Scotland / England. While the trip to England was with Dan, Chrystal and Chris I was by myself in Paris for about three days.

Montmarte is the old romantic artist district set on a hillside a few miles out from the city center and the Eiffel tower. As you can imagine it's really something all lit up at night and then the views overlooking the city are well worth the hike. Violinists were playing live music, sketchers were set up curbside as I wandered the tiny streets behind the Sacred Heart. Aromas escaped every corner restaurant. I grabbed a crepe for dinner and just walked, stopping to look for a good magnet for my collection.

Later in the trip I went back up to Sacred Heart Basilica (Sacre' Coeur) and took a walking tour where I got to see Picasso and Van Gogh's different homes and hear of their painful woes depicting the artists life, which was fascinating and impressionable.

Baltimore with Daniel and Luke's Families

Luke called days before Thanksgiving and invited me out to Atlanta via a buddy pass. I got there in time to drive with them from Atlanta to Baltimore to spend the long weekend with Daniel and Dalynn's family.

The day after Thanksgiving we drove out to the countryside to pickout a Christmas Tree.

At the Christmas Tree Farm

The kids had a lot of fun, but I think the dads may have had more...

Dalynn cheers Luke and Daniel on as they heft the tree up on Daniel's rig.

They did it!

I stayed with Daniel and Dalynn's family for over a week in which I was able to spend a few days in Washington DC thanks to Dalynn lending me her car! I was able to do a session at the DC temple one day. I went to the Middle-Singles Ward and a few of their activities.

One hightlight was an afternoon spent with the girls at the Museum of Natural History. I got to see the Hope Diamond and did lots of walking.

One afternoon Dalynn and the girls took me out to see Gettysberg, a place I had never seen before. This is a picture in the front of the Museum with Lincoln.

One of the best parts of the trip was time with nieces and nephews. They are so cute and growing ever so fast!

Noah climbs the girls bunkbeds.

Karly shows me Gweneviere's picture in her school (back in Atlanta).

Berry smiles for the camera.

Back at Will & Jenni's

I made a second trip to Washington this summer; this time to help out with the "last days" of Jenni's pregnancy. There's not a whole lot of news to share but we'll send pictures as soon as the little fellow arrives - sometime this week.

I'm still shopping for a car and am even more confused. I thought maybe I'd find something here in Seattle since there's more cars to choose from, but I may be taking the bus back to Idaho Falls after all, which is fine. That's what I've planned all along. It's just if I did find something, that would be great too.

Fancy isn't going to happen. Inexpensive makes me scratch my head. I think I might be interested in something and then I wake up the next morning feeling blah. I just want something that runs well, won't zero out the bank account and is reasonably enjoyable to drive for the next ten years. I've scoured Autotrader, Kelly Blue Book, Craigslist, KSL and more. Help!