Italy: Venice

We were so very lucky to have Matt's brother, Rob, and his wife, Corinne come visit us on their European adventure.  We drove to Venice while they were here.  We left our children with a babysitter and off we went to celebrate our 10th anniversary!  We had a great time walking around the city, eating good food, and we even had a singing tour guide on our gondola!  I've been wanting a painting from Italy, but never found "the one".  The search ended here.  I found my painting.  Thanks RC for a fabulous weekend.  We love you guys!

On our drive we drove through the German and Italian Alps.  The Alps are our favorite part of Europe.  It was fun to show them our version of the Utah mountains!

Girls' Week

For Mother's Day this year, my sweet hubby bought me tickets to fly to D.C. to see my parents and sister {who just got back from a mission for the LDS church in Ecquador}.  I was so excited to see my sister.  I missed her so much for the year and a half she was gone.  I'm so proud of her.  She now speaks Spanish fluently and changed so many lives.  {Love you, Kate!}  My mom took us to the First Ladies Luncheon.  We had a great time there.  LeeAnn Womack was the entertainment.  I just love the song, I Hope You Dance.  We also got to go to a fundraiser for my dad {yay, Matt Salmon...any of you CD 5's out there...make sure you go vote for him on AUG 28th!}  We also hit Georgetown and went into some fun stores and stopped for some cupcakes from Sprinkles.  We did some serious damage at our fav outlets in Leesburg, VA {seriously the best outlets EVER!}  I just loved being with my parents and Kate...

Then to top it all off, my besties from OH made the drive to come see me.  I LOVE them.  We got pedicures, ate at Cafe Rio and Cheesecake Factory {where I ate like a happy piggy totally had self-control}, and hit the mall.  I just loved staying up chatting like old times with my girls.  I also loved snuggling their babies that I hadn't met yet.  Although I like change, moving on from them was super hard.  Good thing I have a hubs who lets me travel!  Thanks Jenny for the awesome pics...love you all.

Here's a shout-out to my awesome man who not only took care of the kids for the week, but also braided G's hair...he's awesome.

G's New Room

I just put the last finishing touches on G's quilt.  I love this fabric line: "Little Apples" by Aneela Hoey.  It was perfect for G because aqua and green are her favorite colors.  This is the first quilt where I really just added to and changed as I went along.  I love the way it turned out.  The prairie points are my favorite part!  I've had too much fun quilting this past winter...more pics to come.

That awesome little scotty dog was made by one of my best friends here in Stuttgart.   She made one for each of my kids when we moved on base.  She's been a lifesaver for me...love her!!!