Au revoir Bruxelles!

Rich and I are bidding farewell to Belgium tomorrow and it is such a bitter sweet feeling. I have been so anxious to get home this week that it has not hit me until today how sad I will be to say goodbye. Belgium has been an experience Rich and I will talk about for the rest of our lives. It truly has changed us. My eyes have been opened to so many things and the people we have met have made such an enormous impact on us. We have grown to love each and every one of them. We finished out our last day here, by running to the chocolate outlet to buy three huge boxes of chocolates for our friends and family who have heard us bragging about it since the day we arrived! Our friends Anja and Uros met us there and then we had lunch by the square one last time. We have a special place in our hearts for these two! They are such fun people and Anja and I have shared a dungeon of an office on our very own floor at work day after day laughing and trying our best to actually get some work done! It was a perfect end to our time here. Wish us luck hauling our four HUGE suitcases onto trains, buses, and metros tomorrow!

Christmas Fun in Belgium

This weekend Rich and I went with our friend Karolina to see the light show at the Grand Place and the Christmas markets. It was a freeeezzziinng cold night but the lights and decorations really got us in the Christmas spirit! Enjoy the video! (I wasn't thinking at the end and turned the camera for a different angle like a dork, but you get the idea!)Hope you all are having as much fun as we are shopping and getting ready for Christmas day!

Happy Turkey Day!

Today I am so grateful for:

This Man.

This place.

And these people.

We hope you all have a great Thanksgiving holiday and take the time to think about all the wonderful things in your life!

MEDICA 2009!

Since the very first day we started working at Obelis the focus has been on preparing our team for the largest Medical convention in the world! This convention took place in Dusseldorf, Germany last week. It was an exhausting week, running around on our feet from 9-6 trying to sell Obelis' services to as many people as we could! If you know me, you know this gave me the worst anxiety I have ever experienced! Sales is really not my thing, but after the first day I was much more comfortable and was able to get the job done! By the end of the week our small team had made 1167 contacts! We worked hard, but the evenings were great! We were taken to the nicest restaurants in town and had the best time hanging out with all of the Obelis employees. And the best part... Rich got to share a room with the Boss men the whole week! ha. We stayed in a woman's home the whole week and somehow Rich was the lucky one who got to sleep with Gideon and Doram which made his week a little more interesting! They definately kept Rich busy running around and doing all the extra jobs like setting up and taking down the Obelis booth and anything else they could think of to throw his way! Our time here is almost up! We are trying to enjoy every minute we have left. Some of you requested some pics of our bosses (which by the way if you want any great stories on these two hilarious men just ask Rich!) and the event so here they are!

Barcelona, SPAIN!

A few weeks ago Rich and I went to Barcelona, Spain for four days with two other couples. Some of the things we saw were all of Gaudi's artwork and buildings, Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia, Las Ramblas, and Tibidabo. My favorites of Barcelona though are the beautiful views of the city you can find and the beach! After days of walking everywhere, we decided it was time to rent bikes! This was the best decision we could have ever made. We spent two hours riding around and along the beach in the sun (which we had so desperately missed since we NEVER see the sun in Brussels). Barcelona was another wonderful trip! It is a BEAUTIFUL city!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

Yesterday, November 1st, Richie turned 26! Going to Bastogne was all he wanted for his bday but of course we had to make his real bday special too! The day began with church like usual on Sunday and then there was a baptism right after. There is a family here that all decided to get baptized and Rich has been going with the missionaries to help teach them. Their eleven year old wanted Rich to baptize her so that was very special for him! After church I made Rich his "Bday Dinner" and then we invited two other American couples and another friend from church over for some cake and ice cream and games. The night was a success and I am so happy we were able to celebrate his bday with our new friends over here!Happy bday to my amazing husband! Love you LOTS!

Bastogne

This weekend Rich and I traveled to Bastogne. It is about three hours away from Brussels and the ride there was so beautiful. There were so many huge fields of cows and trees with all their bright colors. Fall is my favorite time of year! Once we reached Bastogne we tried to find a tour that would take us to the sites. The lady at the information center (in really broken Enlgish I might add) told us that there were no tours running that day (of course!) but we could walk to the sites. So like anyone else we thought well sure it is a beautiful day and walking never hurt anybody so we took off! At first it was ok because it only took about 20 minutes to get to the first monument which was made to honor all the American soldiers that died during the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne. After that we went to their Historical Museum and saw all the uniforms, weapons, and other cool war stuff! Everything was great up to this point until we started our trek to the next site where an hour later we found ourselves on this tiny road in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by cows! When we finally reached the next monument we were dreading the walk back and not too thrilled we tried WALKING everywhere! We should have known! But by some miracle, as we were taking pictures by the second monument a car pulled up with two men from America one a soldier and one a marine asking us where the next site was. We told them where they needed to head and slipped in the fact that we had been walking everywhere and the next thing we knew we were getting chauffeured to the remaining sites we wanted to see! At first I was pretty wary jumping in the car with two strange men, but we ended up having a blast with them and they couldn't have been nicer! The last site we went to see were the foxholes in the forest of the Ardennes. The soldiers stayed in these throughout the Battle of the Bulge to protect themselves and they are still there today! It was crazy to see. We walked out into the woods and you could see these foxholes everywhere among all the trees. I kept imagining what it must have been like. Especially since it is only November and already freezing outside! They spent a month holding back the Germans in the middle of the winter waiting out and sleeping in these foxholes! Incredible! This trip ended up being one we will never forget and it truly made me appreciate even more our American soldiers that fought so bravely in Bastogne!

A Night Out!

Since we started working at Obelis, Rich and I have been grilled for not going out enough with all the interns. Yes, I will admit since marriage we have mellowed down a lot... maybe a little too much cause these days our favorite thing in the world on a Friday night is having a good dinner at home and watching a great flick and we are completely satisfied. What has happened to us?! We are already an "old" couple! So we decided this weekend we would show all our fellow Obelis friends we still know how to have fun! (Really the main reason why we have avoided going out with them as much is because they are some hard core partying Europeans and being Mormon, we weren't sure how exciting we would be drinking our water and all) BUT the night ended up being one of the best nights we have had here in Belgium! We met at our friend Anya's place and visited for hours before we actually hit the town. We had the best time getting to know everyone better and other local Belgians that joined us that evening. I seriously think Rich and I laughed nonstop! Then we went to this Celtic club that is exactly what you would expect for a club in Europe. Tons of strobe lights, too many people, crazy techno music, and of course a fog machine. We danced our little hearts out that night until about 3:30 in the morning and finally called it a night. We even had to ride a taxi home because all the public transportation doesn't run that late! We probably won't be making a habit of this every weekend, but I am so glad we went and for the friends we are making. The people here are the best!

Living the Belgian Life

So I thought I would post some pictures of random things we have been doing since we have been living in Belgium. Nothing too exciting- Just thought some of you might enjoy!

We LOVE Plaka- Best gyros in town!

Beautiful Waterloo (Again-sorry I like this one!)

Always falling asleep when we travel!

We get lost a lot so sometimes we have to go to ghetto internet cafes and look up directions!
Momma Romas... YUMMY pizza!
Feels like we are always standing in the cold waiting for a tram or bus

With friends walking around the Grand Place

A hotel in the Grand Place (Main Square)

Belgium's Beach!

Mini Europe- This is a model of the main square in Brussels- notice the umbrella... it has become my new best friend since we have been here!

Our favorite waffle place at the Stokkel Market

More waffles!
Mannekin Pis... a statue of a little boy peeing and the Belgians love it!
The Royal Palace
Us with the Atomium- we can see this beauty from our balcony

We are loving life!

Waterloo

Yesterday Rich and I went with Meghan and Brandon to Waterloo. For all you history buffs, Waterloo is the place where Napolean met his final defeat in June 1815. The monument is a 28 metric ton Lion on the top of a hill which symbolizes new-found peace in Europe. It was a very quick trip down but it was well worth it. To get to the top of the hill you have to walk up 226 steps which completely worked Rich and I since we have not been exercising over here as much as we would like! We both can feel the burn in our legs today which is sad! Anyway, it was a peaceful day and the view from the top of the monument was beautiful. It was nice to get away from all the noise in the city for a bit and learn something new! Europe has taught me a ton since we left the states!

The Hague Netherlands Temple

I got way behind blogging and I like to keep my posts seperate so if you noticed I am making three new posts on the same day you are right! A few weekends ago Rich and I went on a ward temple trip to the Hagueu Netherlands Temple. It was a two hour bus ride there and back on a cold rainy day. The ride was beautiful though. All the leaves are changing and the homes we passed were probably the cutest things I have ever seen. People around here keep their yards in tip top shape so everything always looks so clean and nice! It was an amazing day and the temple was gorgeous!