Clint and Jess

About a month ago Clint and I took off to his family's cabin in Heber for the weekend. We played a round of golf at the Wasatch State Park golf course before heading up to the cabin. The next day we picked up Myrtle and Gyrtle (Clint's family's horses) and went for a horseride up past Sundance. It made for a great weekend....and better yet...the bruises on my bum, from the horseride, reminded me of our fun weekend all week long!

This is the couple we were partnered up to play our round of golf with. They were quite funny to play with! Clint and I heard every term of endearment under the sun as this man would call to his wife! We snuck a picture of them fishing their balls out on one of the holes.

Clint fixing the shingles that had come off the roof.

Myrtle and Gyrtle (they are sisters). Clint rode Gyrtle and I rode Myrtle. Myrtle turned out to be quite the stinker for me (hence bruised bum!)

Clint riding along the trail. He looked so cute riding along with his cowboy hat on :)

Myrtle liked to eat constantly along the way! She would eat and just take her time. Gyrtle would become impatient and call to her...Myrtle would then run to catch up to her....but then slowly fall behind...this process was repeated multiple times...

It was really pretty up there!

Side Note: Notice Myrtle eating!?!

This was before Myrtle decided to run down the mountain and I couldn't stop her! Horses always seem to know when they are on the return trip. As she ran and ran I would just bounce along and hold on for dear life! (Hence why my bum was so bruised!) All in all, we had a lot of fun :)

It has taken me a little bit to compile this blog....but I finally finished! A few months ago my parents, Clint and I went on a cruise to the Mediterranean. The cruise was a graduation gift from my parents (because I graduated from BYU this past April). It was also mine and Clint's "One Year Anniversary" coming up so the four of us took off to Europe. We spent a few days in Rome and then got on our 12-day cruise. We visited many neat places and then ended up in Venice where we spent a couple more days before coming home. I feel very blessed to have been able to see so many amazing places with Clint while we are still young, and create many memories that will last forever. It was also fun to get to spend some time with my parents.

Rome, Italy
Our hotel in Rome was on a tiny one way alley right by the Roman Forum. It was built on ruins. It was fun to explore around them in the basement of the hotel.

Each morning we would eat breakfast on top of the hotel. It was really peaceful up there.

The Colosseum was a five minute walk from our hotel.

We loved filling up our water bottles in all of the drinking fountains around the city.

My mom a.k.a. "Rick Steve's" was our guide around most of Italy. Below is part of the Forum.

Throwing our coins into Trevi Fountain so we will be able to make it back to Rome someday.

I love this picture of my dad!

Like my new apron??

The beautiful Pantheon! This place was so big! There is a big hole in the roof where are all of the light comes from.

We loved our daily Gelotto! My mom's broke and fell on the street so she had to get another...we think she secretly did it on purpose so she could go back for more!!

The Vatican was amazing!! This place was huge! We had fun going on a tour of the place. We even climbed the stairs to the top of St. Peter's Basilica. The view was amazing from up there!

Paintings in the Sistine Chapel.

Below is the famous one of God and Adam's fingers almost touching.

The view from the top of St. Peter's looking down on the front square of the Vatican.

Trevi fountain at night!

Colosseum at night! I loved this place :)

Riding the train to the cruise port at Chivetticea, Italy. Notice all our luggage in the background!? There's nothing like riding the train in Italy in the public compartments.

Monte Carlo, Monaco
Monte Carlo was our first port after leaving Rome. We loved it here! It was so beautiful and clean. The Grand Prix - Formula 1 race that takes place on the streets of Monte Carlo started a couple days later and so they were busy setting everything up for it. It was fun to later watch the Grand Prix and see them racing on all of the streets we walked along. I have never seen so many nice cars and yachts in my life!! They say that Monte Carlo is the playground for the rich and famous and after being there...I think it's true!

Clint in front of the castle.

The Philips team trailer setting up their stuff for the race.

A couple of the many NICE yachts. One was so huge two boats fit inside the garage of it!

Nice cars lined the streets of Monaco!

Florence and Pisa
Our second port of call was Livorno. From here we were able to see Florence, Pisa and the Tuscan Countryside. Our highlight of the day was climbing to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

Clint and I rubbing the boars nose so we will be able to return to Florence!

A replica of the famous David statue. We were able to see the original inside the museum, but they don't allow you to take pictures. The original was breathtaking. I was surprised at just how big it was. After seeing so many pictures of it in all my art history classes, it was amazing to see it in real life. Michelangelo was one talented man!

For lunch we ate at a five-star villa in Tusancy! The food was really good! To stay a night here, rooms start at $4,000.00! Ya, I think we won't ever being going back! Madonna rented out the entire villa for a whole week for all of her friends! WOW!

After lunch I had fun swinging. I still couldn't believe that I was in beautiful Tuscany!!

The LEANING Tower of Pisa!

Clint taking one of those CHEESY pictures pretending to hold the tower up! Okay, so I told him he had to do it because who just comes to Pisa and doesn't!?

Climbing to the top of the Tower. It was crazy because you can totally see how the tower slants when climbing it and also once on top!

Naples, Italy (Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius and the Amalfi Coast)
Our third port was Naples. We didn't spend much time in Naples. We spent the day going to Pompeii and then driving along the Amalfi Coast which is one of the most prettiest drives in the world! We hired a private driver for the day so we could see all of these places.

Some of the ruins at Pompeii. This city was buried in volcanic ash after the mountain Vesuvius erupted. Many years later it was discovered. It was neat to see all of the ruins that were preserved so well from the ash.

Our driver....he always liked to stand close to my mom so we had to sneak a picture!

Clint and I along the Amalfi Coast. It was really beautiful. The road is super narrow and just winds along the coast.

The town of Positano. It is suppose to be the most picturesque town along the coast. It was really beautiful.

Santorini, Greece

Santorini was our favorite island in all of Greece! It was so beautiful. White homes line the clifftops and from far away it looks like snow! Santorini was formed by a volcanic eruption. The only way up the mountain (the crater wall) was by foot, cable car or donkey. We chose the donkey which turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip! We rented a jeep and spent the day exploring around the island.

Riding the donkey up the mountain. My donkey liked to race the others up the mountain! It would just take off...I couldn't stop laughing the whole way up. It was sooooo much fun!!

My cute donkey!!

The black sand beaches :)

Sailing away from beautiful Santorini!

Clint and I chillin on the boat

Kusadasi, Turkey
Our next port of call was Kusadasi, Turkey. The area of Turkey we visited was very pretty. Lots of rolling mountains with pine trees. While in Turkey we visited the Virgin Mary's house, St. John's Basilica, Ephesus (where the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians) and the beach.

Virgin Mary's House

Clint and I thougt this picture was really funny. The store is adverstising "Geniune Fake Watches"!

Our taxi cab driver we hired for the day.

The Library of Celsus at Ephesus. This place was amazing!!

Community toilets at Ephesus.

Original tile floor at Ephesus. I thought the duck was so cute!

Sharla....the famous tourist. While at Ephesus all of the turkish kids would surround her.

Basilica of St. John. -- Supposedly this is the site where he was buried.

Ahhh the famous Bazaar. The people think if they say "hello hello, excuse me, hey Americans, etc. etc. that this will be able to lure us into their store. They say if you see something you like not to look at it and pretend to look at something else....that way you will get a better price!

Mykonos, Greece
Mykonos is known for its night life. Since Clint and I aren't the biggest partiers like that we just enjoyed walking around the island. The water, like most of Greece, was really beautiful. The streets are really narrow and random. They built the city like this so when pirates would attack they would get lost!

Jess in front of the "Little Venice" district.

I love how the people would mop the cobblestone streets!

All of the homes and buildings are white and blue!

A couple of the famous windmills on the island.

Athens, Greece

We found Athens to be a very very large city. Over half of the population of Greece lives in Athens! Including Clint's relatives!! We rode the metro in and went to the Acropolis and saw the Parthenon and everything!! It is so amazing to see places like this that you always read and see pictures about, but then in real life it is even more amazing! It was very hot in Athens! After seeing the Acropolis we went to the first modern day Olympic stadium (it is also where they held the 2004 opening ceremonies), and saw some other sites then spent the rest of the afternoon meeting and visiting with the relatives. Their english was definitely better than our Greek! Afterall it was "all greek to us".

This is a picture of Clint and my dad at the Acropolis in front of the temple of Athena Nike! (notice they are even wearing their Nikes)

My parents in front of the Acropolis.

Clint and I in front of the Acropolis.

My dad and Clint in front of the Temple of Zeus.

My dad and I in front of the Olympic Stadium.

The Relatives!!! We had a lot of fun visiting with them and getting to know them!

My dancer buddy Xenie and I!

Olympia, Greece

Our boat docked in Katakolon which is part of the Peloppenese Penisuila. It was very lush and green here. The town of St. George "Agios Georgios" is where Clint's great grandfather is from. We rented a car and drove to this village and tried to find the home and land where his grandfather lived. It was fun to watch Clint try and talk to the locals for directions. We finally succeded when a greek man had Clint ride in his car with him and drive him to the home. The home is now a summer home for the family (but nobody is there right now). After here we headed to Ancient Olympia where the Olympics first started!!

The Papadopolus Family summer home.

The gang at the starting line for the running races in Ancient Olympia!

One of the entrances into the Olympic Games

Corfu, Greece
Corfu was our last port of call in Greece. It is one of the most northern islands in Greece, right by Albania. Corfu was really lush and green. We spent the day going to the fort and then off to one of the many beaches on the island.

My dad on top of the fort. For those of you that know my dad you know he always goes to the extreme to do any videotaping or taking pictures! What you can't see if that it drops off right where he is standing.

At the beautiful beach! Except....Clint and I both got some tar on our feet!

Our cruise ship! The Crown Princess.

Crown Princess

We had a couple days at sea on our cruise. We enjoyed mini golf, relaxing by the pools, hot tubbing, meeting new people, eating pizza, ice cream, hot dogs, hamburgers, did I mention the pizza and ice cream!? Our boat had a big outdoor movie screen which they called "Movies Under the Stars"....it was pretty relaxing to lounge out, and watch a movie as we sailed along.

Clint and I technically did not celebrate our One Year Anniversary while on the boat but they had decorated our door with Happy Anniversary balloons.

Venice, Italy

Our last port of call was Venice, Italy. I cannot think of a better way to end our amazing trip then in Venice. What a magical city!! A highlight of the trip for both Clint and I was sailing along the Grand Canal in Venice on the cruise ship as the sun was setting! That night we took a water shuttle ride into Venice to see the city, at night! The next day we said goodbye to our friends we made on the ship and spent a couple more days in Venice before heading home. I love Venice!!! We went out to the island of Murano for a glass blowing demonstration, explored th streets of Venice, went on a gondola ride AND danced in St. Marks square to the orchestras playing music at night!

One of the movies they showed on our boat was "Confessions of A Shop-Aholic" Here is a picture of my mom and I being tempted by the manicans in the shops of Venice.

We went to one of the famous mask shops in Venice. We all had fun trying on different masks!!

Clint was our tour guide around Venice. He liked to hold the umbrella up and lead us down the streets.

For dinner Clint and I both tried clam pasta. There were tons of clams (notice the plate to my left of empty clam shells), but it was really good!

Below is a picture of our Hotel we stayed at in Venice. It was about a 3 min. walk to the main square from our hotel. Our room overlooked a tiny canal and if you leaned out the window you could see the famous Bridge of Sighs.