Praha

I finally got my butt out to Prague a few months ago. It was pretty spectacular! One more place on my 'places I would absolutely live in a heartbeat' list!

There was art everywhere, from jewelry to glass to paintings to handiwork to some pretty cool street art. Even musical and performance art, everywhere. This is also where the Lennon Wall that I posted about here was. 

It has a very interesting history because of it's communistic roots, which were only disconnected in the early nineties.

Alphonse Mucha made this stained glass! (I made SURE to visit his museum!)

Love locks:

From the Easter street festival and market:

 I hope I get to go back and experience it all more in-depth someday!

Dear Grammy Esther.

I started to compose an e-mail to you the other day. I wanted to tell you about all the flowers I saw in the Alps this past weekend. And thank you for the card you wrote for Johnny the day before you had your stroke. He is lucky to have met you, and I can't wait to tell him all about you and grandpa as he grows older. I found these pictures while looking through photos from a few years ago, they are from the first time we visited:

I can't believe how small he was. He changes so much every day. We spend so much time outdoors now that it's spring time. We finally have gotten him less afraid of bugs, he loves to watch ants and hold ladybugs.
I'm afraid that moving to Arizona will inhibit his learning about nature and trees and plants and bugs and animals. I actually plan on spending a lot of time in the mountains where he can do a little more exploring than he can around our house in the city. It'll be a big change from here, but I think we'll acclimate okay.

Strawberries are coming into season again here, and all I can dream about is your strawberry rhubarb jam! I've been buying and freezing rhubarb by the handful in order to make a few jars once the berries are in full swing. I'm so glad you showed me how to make it all those summers ago.

When we get to Tucson Brenda and I are thinking of continuing with our cupcake business. I'd love to add pies to our menu. Every time I bake a pie I think of you and my mom.

I'm so blessed to have had time with you in your kitchen, and with Grammy Dawn and my mom. Eating cookie dough from a spoon isn't just delicious, but it's a sentimental past time as well :)

I have errands to run today, so this is just a quick note. I love you and miss you more than I could ever express in this silly blog-letter.

xo,
Kari Beth.

Ps.
 I've been saving all of my avocado pits in hopes of starting a small orchard one day. I wonder how long the seeds will last? They look like peach pits when they dry out!

Ambitious?

I have a new goal in mind for this blog. There has been so much going on and I barely have time to post pictures on facebook, never mind document it all here (or even email my family members, and I should be doing at least one of the two later things.)
So, during our transition back to the States I will be making much more of an effort to get it on here. I want to do so for you, and for myself, to remember the move back years from now. I hardly remember moving here to begin with, and that was just seven years ago. One day a week I will devote to blogging... hold me to it!

I suppose I should start off by telling you we will be calling Tucson, Arizona home really soon. There is often a lot of emotion that goes into waiting for your assignment, and it was no exception around here, for several weeks we were all on edge. But now we know and we can prepare to move forward. Part of that preparing is saying goodbye to the area we've called home for awhile now, so some traveling has been happening. At least once a month I've been hopping around with friends and family trying to take it all in one last time.

Sigh.

We do have the added bonus of our friends moving with us. Z&B have been living next door for almost 6 years and they have called Tucson home previously. I feel beyond blessed that they will be there to help us acclimate to such a 'foreign' part of the world! ;}

~~~~~~

The most recent adventure I want to share is our hike across Liechtenstein! We started at our hostel, walked up the Rhein river for a bit to the Swiss boarder and walked (shortways) across Liechtenstein to the Austrian boarder. It didn't take too long, considering we had a toddler in tow!! Think from a little after breakfast until late afternoon (with a stop for lunch and several restroom breaks). We took turns holding Johnny in the backpack and he walked for about 20 minutes of the trip. The weather was perfect, and we ventured up into the Alps for an afternoon playing in what little snow was left. The mountains in summer are everything I had hoped them to be!

We'd been planning this for at least a year, so it was nice to finally drive out there and DO it! 

 Lala starting out in good spirits! 

The Swiss border:

Halfway...

Crossing into Austria!! 

The view from the top ;}

Does anyone know what this flower is? I took a lot of pictures of flowers, something about Alpine flowers has always intrigued me. 

The fields were breathtaking.

Snow balls!! 

The only evidence of edelweiss that I could find: 

I'm so excited to have SO many amazing memories of Europe to take home with me. One of my favorite things when I was a kid was listening to the stories my family told of living overseas. I look forward to telling all of these stories to Johnny!