Italy and some other business.

My camera stopped working in Florence, yes, very very sad. The girls I was with though took some fabulous pictures, so if you're interested in looking at theirs, click on their names on the side.

Jenny

Ambree

Krystle

Jana

Whitney

Maria

Also, Jenny's boyfriend Kyle flew out here to surprise her, and I would highly recommend looking at her blog to watch the video.

They're so perfect.

my mom is at girls camp, so i'll post my own letter.

I changed emails because I'm sick of the bohovintagechic one. It's just annoying to tell people because i have to spell it out for them and no one really knows what it means. Also, in college, a majority of people just have their names as email addresses...so it's just not ideal. And I was needing a change. And I want to start new where I can organize it.

So when are you leaving for Seattle and how long will you be there and who is going? Sounds like Kathryn is really excited to come. I'm excited to see her. I was looking at my calendar the other night, and wondering why I decided to stay TEN extra days haha but I know it'll be fun. I just think that when the time comes, I'll be ready to come home. But I'm pretty much not homesick anymore. I miss you guys a lot, but it's not like it was in the beginning, so that's good. I'm excited to show Kathryn around since I know my own way around Vienna now.

Did Cady change her mind about the perm because of me? Tell her I'm sure it'll be cute and she can do it if she wants. I'll help her do her hair when I get home too if she wants me to. I just think her and Leah have gorgeous hair and I don't want them to change it, but you had a good point about doing it while she's young. Also I've just never seen a perm that doesn't look perrm-y. That's cool that she's getting contacts too, jeeze, it's weird to think about. My widda miss is getting all grown up! When are you guys going to see Eclipse?

Haha, I know you hate lines. What are we gonna do at my wedding reception?? Even though it's not even on the radar, maybe you should start brainstorming ideas of other things we can do instead...

Last night I dreamed that Leah and Cady were both getting married, and I wasn't married yet. I woke up crying because I was so worried about them doing something that I hadn't tried out first. I feel like since I'm the oldest I always test things out and then tell them how to do it better. Made me kind of wanna come home and check on them haha.

Is Levi still doing his blog of letters to me? I guess I need to check it. It's kind of hard to check another portal for information though...maybe you could suggest that he email me the letters he posts so at least I know when he does that?

So we went to Starbucks yesterday like I told you, and they had all these delicious things like cookies and muffins and cinnamon rolls, and I'lljust say...I'm planning on going crazy with the baking when I get home. There might be a new dessert every night. Possibly. I miss cooking.

How are the animals doing? Are you making sure Simi gets her medicine? I really want her to live long past when I get home.

I wish I had longer than only 2 weeks to be at home when I come back. I'm trying not to think about it, but I think I have to go down early because of work. Ugh. I wish I had longer. Or at least a car I could come back in anytime. Have you guys gotten my letters yet? I sent at least 4 a couple weeks ago, I'm hoping I put enough postage on them! I'll be really mad if they never get there. Jeeze, if I sent one now it might not even be home until I get home.

So my flight gets into Salt Lake at 9:30 on a monday night. How are we gonna work that out? Are you guys gonna come pick me up? That's gonna be a long day.

Okay, well I need to give Krystle her computer back. Mine is being freakin stupid and hasn't gotten the internet in like 3 days. None. At all. Retarded.

Have a good Sunday,
Love you
kayla

cafe hopping

why did you take the computer into the shop? the big one? maybe i'll try to upload the letter, that's weird it wasn't working. how was the temple? i just barely added all the other kids onto my blog, i thought it would be fun for you guys to see some other pictures since i can't get very many up. are you just sayin that about my pictures, about them being that good? haha thank you, even if you're just saying that. i'm gonna try to send my camera on monday. do i need to send anything with it? the charger? the hookup for the computer?

how are leah and todd doing? she seems to enjoy writing to michael. weird that she's in that phase of life already...it's almost over for me!

excited for girls camp? what's the theme and everything? has there been any drama? i'd wanna stay in a tent with you too...remember how everytime i was in a new yw class, or even when i got into yw you would be called to something else, and then as soon as i graduated you were called back as the woman in charge? yeah, that bugs me.

thanks for putting the money in. i should email you when i plan on taking money out. do you want me on some kind of budget? i write down everything i spend money on and try to just be wise with the spending, but do you want me to be more careful than that? it's so nice to be back from italy and not spending much. whew. i don't really know what the others do...i think a lot of them just take care of it themselves maybe. actually i don't know.

good for you about the painting! i loved your picture, it was blurry when i made it bigger, but it looks great. yay mom! you better make it a part of your routine or somethin, that's exciting. i want to get my stuff together and bring it to provo with me when i come back. you know, my little table easel and everything. and i'm sure you can do fabulously on your own, not just in class! having a teacher always there to look over your work probably gives you more courage and confidence, but i'm sure you'll do just fine when you do it on your own. think of all those paintings down in the craft room!

well we didn't do much today. krystle and i met some of the others at the flea market and walked around for an hour or two. then we went with jana to the hundertwasser haus -- look it up, it's a famous piece of architecture/art. it wasn't as cool as we thought it would be, but fun anyway. we went to a cafe and ordered drinks because we're all so tired from italy still i think. then we got up and left, not sure what we wanted to do, and then decided we wanted muffins from starbucks, so we went to another cafe and sat for a couple hours. we left at dinner time and walked around for a while and found a thai place to eat, so basically we spent the whole day hopping from one food place to the next. my excuse is that i'm still recovering from italy. and i went running this morning.

last night i was going through my wallet, which i don't carry around. i found some quarters and other american change in there and played with it for a few minutes because it felt so weird! hahah yes, i might be a weirdo, but after not even seeing american change in two months, it felt really strange in my fingers.

anyway.

what's new? i miss you guys!

kayla

{Vienna} Florence

The river and famous bridge cutting through Florence.

Fake David. We actually saw the real one, but of course pictures of him aren't allowed.

We ate pesto paninis at this cute restaurant for lunch.

I snapped this picture of a man on his bicycle, and even though it could have been better, I was proud of myself for getting it anyway.

Cafe.

The main cathedral in Florence. I don't remember what it's called...the Art Nouveau or Art Deco style is really interesting though.

Skyline of rooftops outside my hotel window.

Below my window.

Perhaps my favorite part of Italy.

{Vienna} More From Rome

The public transportation was slightly more...colorful...than Vienna's.

We got to see the Pope at Vatican City! We were literally six feet away.

At the Vatican.

Can't get enough yellow.

{Vienna} Rome, Italy

The holy water in the Pantheon.

The Pantheon! Sadly, under construction. I like the way Krystle said it, "Shouldn't ruins stay ruined?"

I'm not sure about this picture, but I think maybe it has potential. Just a side street in Roma.

Love Rome. Love it all. This is at the Forum, overlooking the ruins and the city. I think there's another name for the Forum, but I don't know what it is.

The Forum. Or whatever it's called.

Very cool ruins. Love ruins. It's fun to imagine all the things that happened in these places that date back to Christ.

The Colosseum. Loved it.

This might have been my favorite site in Rome.

It was so incredibly huge; I think they said it held 75,000 people. The BYU stadium is huge to me, but I heard that only seats 22,000.

So charming about Europe - the fact that they hang laundry out the window. Also, I'm in love with yellow.

meet the girls. we're world travelers.

{ambree, jenny, maria, kayla, whitney. photo by krystle.}

i just have to say...

i love these girls.

this is the mediterranean sea in rome.

that would be italy.

we are chic

and fun

and exciting

and

we're seeing the world.

Vienna, Dorfgastein's Charm

Silly girls. I love them.

We made daisy crowns and wore them up the mountain; we felt just like Taza. One lady even smiled and pointed and said, "Schonn!" Which means 'pretty' in German.

Dad, you would have loved this place. I swear the milk came straight from the cow that morning.

Those, my friends, are the Alps.

This is something I will be cooking for all of you when I get home. Crepe deliciousness. Secret recipe.

Arrived in Rome

Hi, I love Rome! It's fantastic here, older than Vienna and so
interesting. We got lucky with an amazing tour of the coliseum and the
forum, I loved it. The coliseum was surreal, it was so weird to
actually be there. I've been to the Trevi fountain both tonight and
last night, and it was amazing. So crazy to see these thousand year
old statues, not to mention they were on Lizzie Mcguire...you guys
didn't get to the Trevi fountain did you? I wish you could've. Also, I
didn't think gelato could get any better, but Italian eis is even
better than Vienna eis. I got stracciatella and this chocolate cherry
hazelnut kind, and I'm still wanting more. I'm considering opening an
eis shop in Provo. Business would be great. Tomorrow we are going to
the beach...bring it on. Well im on the ipod, and it's taking forever to type.
Oh I found the others ok and were all in the same room in a nice
hostel so things are fine. I'll write tomorrow hopefully. I'm sure
I'll have a chance. Love you!

The Opera - Troubadour

Hey, thanks for emailing me. I'm ready to leave in about 45 minutes, and Krystle's up so I'm using her computer. The opera was cool, did I tell you it was in Slovakia? So now I've been to three countries -- Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and I'll be in Italy tonight! The opera was called The Troubadour, and I'd never heard of it before. We read the summary, but it was still hard to follow because it was in Italian and the subtitles were in Slovakian or whatever the language is. I think I would have been able to understand it better even if the subtitles were in German. I'm really behind on pictures, sorry. I haven't even got the pics from Dorfgastein posted, so I'm going to have some catching up to do when I get back from Italy. Can you believe we're halfway through? It's so weird. Also, can you believe I only have a month and a half left of being a teenager? I'm not sure how I feel about that. Well I hope you guys are good. Maybe someone should send me some pictures so I can see what everyone is up to! How are girls camp plans coming? Are you expecting a good turnout? Tell everyone hi for me.

I'll be safe, thanks. I love you!

Vienna, Sneak Peak at Dorfgastein!

I'm sorry everyone, I've gotten behind on my picture posting! I'm going to be in Italy for the next 10 days, so I won't be able to post until I get back. Here is a little peak at the fabulous weekend we spent in Dorfgastein, a tiny town in the Alps.

Trips to Salzburg & Dorfgastein

Hi Mom,

I'm sorry about my little freak out the other day. I didn't mean to just be in a whiny, hot tub of self pity. Bad day I guess. I'm still trying to figure out my sleeping situation for a couple nights in Italy, I'm going to get it done tomorrow at school. If the internet quits like it did today, I'll have to go to Burger King or McDonalds where they have free wireless.

Tomorrow is our last day of German 101! Our final is on Friday, so maybe pray a little prayer for me. We've learned a lot though, and I'm glad to be learning it. I'll send you our plans for the 10 day trip, I'm not sure if I'll be able to contact you at all during it. I might bring the iPod, and that way at least I could send you an email every other day or something to let you know where I am and how things are going. We're all trying to pack super light so we don't break our backs and so we don't have to worry about things getting stolen. I'm going to try to fit it all in my backpack...

I got the letter from Dad, Cady, and Porter in the mail yesterday! I was so excited to see that fat envelope next to my breakfast plate where our Frau put it. Thank you! For some reason real paper letters are so great. I love hearing about all the things you guys are doing and the silly things going on around the house. Dad, I've asked a few people about skiing. I've heard that it's not quite as popular within the huge cities, like Vienna. I asked a man in Graz about it and he said, "Here, you're born with skis strapped to your feet." Mostly they downhill, and people of all ages do it. The older woman who works at the institute and took us around Dorfgastein last weekend said she's downhill skied all her life, but recently she has done more cross country because her knees are bad...she's in her 70s.

You also said to visit the Coliseum and eat pizza. We will most definitely be going to the Coliseum, and I've made it a goal to eat pizza every place I go. Probably not the healthiest tradition I've come up with, but rewarding all the same. We go to the international ward, and it's good. I don't really know why all these people are in Austria, besides the ones working for the government. The bishop is so awesome, he also teaches our Sunday School class and he's a riot. We went to a karaoke party at his house with his family on Sunday...not a typical bishop.

I don't think I've told you about Salzburg and Dorfgastein yet...

Salzburg was really cold and pouring rain the whole time. Really unfortunate; it was amazing in the fog and rain, but I'm sure it's way better on a good day. We had a tour guide and he showed us around for two hours in the freezing rain. He showed us some interesting places, but my favorite sites were definitely from the Sound of Music. I felt a little guilty that I didn't care as much about seeing Mozart's birthplace as I did about seeing where Maria and the von Trapp children sang Do-Ray-Mi! I'll post pictures soon.

Dorfgastein was SO GREAT. It's my favorite place I've visited so far, it was so gorgeous. It's just this tiny tiny town enveloped by the Alps, so green and lovely. There were only a couple restaurants and a few bed and breakfasts and some quaint gift shops -- we could walk from one end to the other in 5 minutes. We went on a hike the first day, just a little one. I went with Krystle, Mika, and Will, and it was only supposed to take an hour to hike the trail but we took the long way apparently and it took us like 4 hours. We eventually found the end of the trail, which is the house/pub of this very Austrian family; they have a diary farm I think, Will ordered milk and the man poured it straight from the bucket.

We attended a celebration in their little church for a holiday celebrating something about Christ. It was really interesting, many people dressed up in traditional outfits and then there was a mini parade with a marching band with instruments I've never even seen before. Old fashioned tubas or something...

The second day we took a tram high into the mountain to a lodge. We drank hot chocolate (Levi, you'd be in heaven here. I've never drank hot chocolate so much in my LIFE.) and waited for the fog to clear. Some of us hiked down, the views were amazing. I don't think you'd approve of this hike, Dad. Taking the ski lift thing up the mountain and only climbing down? I wasn't sure how you'd feel about that, but I definitely felt like I was cheating!

I ate pizza for dinner both nights, it was the best pizza ever. After dinner we all went to the local pub, don't worry, I don't think they're as crazy as American bars. Although, I wouldn't know since I've never been in one. They had a free jukebox with plenty of Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, and Justin Bieber, so we were right at home. I ordered a crepe with ice cream one night and an ice cream sundae thing that was dripping with raspberries. The second night the man gave us all a free mini glass of wine! It smelled really nasty, that's for sure. Sort of awkward when Jenny told him we don't drink. His response was, "You don't drink?! You're missing out on a lot in life." Mmmm...not exactly the same perspective I had in mind.

I just loved how much slower the pace was in Dorfgastein than in the city. It was calm and quiet and I had plenty of chances to hear myself think. It was fabulous, I think you guys would all love it.

Today we swam in the Danube! I didn't have too much of a problem getting in, it was chilly, but not even as cold as Bear Lake, let alone those glacial lakes in the Wind Rivers Dad loves to find for a nice, icy dip. It's getting really hot here, fine with me. It's been like 33 degrees celsius. Is that in the 90s? I'm so sick of being wet and cold, especially since I wasn't prepared for it when I came here.

How are all Cady's 4H things going? How many is she in, like 6? How are the kayaks working out? Have you gotten Toby into one yet? Are you guys remembering to give Sim her medicine? Don't forget, it's important. How have your workouts been, Mom? Do you keep teaching aerobics in the summer? I've been running a lot, it feels really good to get out and loosen up my body. I'm so tight and sore all the time from carrying a heavy backpack. Also, I get charlie horses in my calves in the middle of the night ALL the time. What the heck is that about? They stay sore after that for like 3 or 4 days. Anyway, how's the garden? Cady and Porter, have you been sleeping on the tramp? Thanks for your letters, I taped them in my journal so I can read them all the time! I finally got some postcards in the mail, so be lookin for those. Anything else new?

I need to write a little more often so I don't have to write a book to catch up for a weeks worth of events. Well, I love you guys

so

much.

Miss you like crazy.

kayla

Vienna, People

Jessica.

Ambree.

Chip.

Krystle.

Maria.