Dublin, Ireland~ Oct. 24th-27th

THIS was the marathon that Darren was training for ... We were fortunate to find a young couple in our ward willing to stay with our kids, and just Darren & I went to Dublin. We got there Saturday afternoon. So, we had half of Saturday and all of Sunday to tour the city ...

We started on the hop-on-hop-off bus and did the whole loop around Dublin. Then we found a bus to take us near our B&B. We dropped off our luggage, and continued walking. We mostly just window shopped, and looked around.

On Sunday, we got up, had breakfast, and headed to where the start/finish line of the Marathon would be. Darren wanted to make sure I would know where it was, and we picked a meeting place. I liked that the lamp posts all had some sort of shamrock on them ...

This is the big-wig in Ireland's house ... (can't remember the exact title)

Right across from the big-wig Ireland house is this house ... If I remember correctly, it is the U.S. ambassador to Ireland -- who, the tour guides like to point out, owns the Pittsburg Steelers.

Front/Side view of Trinity College (above)

Inside the campus of Trinity College (below)

We went to the college to see the "Book of Kells", which is the orginal translation of the 4 gospels by some monks. Very elaboratly decorated, and all had written on vellum (calf-skin paper) ... very impressive. What is even more impressive, was the "long room" -- the library ... AMAZING! Two stories high, with rows of books stacked floor to ceiling, and ladders at each section!! The don't let you take pictures ... Apparently, Trinity college has some copyright that requires that any book written in Ireland or Great Britian, they get a copy of! So, we saw the old part of the library ... but somewhere there is a new part that has all those books - they have to add about a half mile (I think that is what they said), of books every year to the library ...

Then, it was off to jail ... There is a jail that was first used in the mid 1800's until it closed in 1924. It was a very interesting tour. It gave lots of history for Ireland, because so many of the famous men and women from the Ireland uprisings were held in this jail. It also told about the reformation of jails. How they went from keeping all the prisoners together (even women and children with the men), to seperate cells, to sperate cells with a window - very interesting.

Entering the gate of the jail ... you are "lower than a snake's belly" ...

One of the doors to the old cells. These cells had no windows, just that peep hole... In the hallway, there were some windows - which apparently didn't have glass put on them until some time in the 1900's -- on purpose!

Inside the newer part of the jail. This was a model for new prisons. The workers could stand in the middle and see all the cells at one time. The guide told us that this part of the jail has been used in several movies -- can't think which ones right now ....

The Church of Christ? or St. Patrick's Cathedral? Can't remember which ... (above)

Our B&B wasn't far from the course... In fact, there was an "offical cheer station" at about the 3 mile mark -- that's where I started watching the race ...

After this good looking guy went by, I back tracked on the course, to get to the starting point ... It was interesting listening to the commentary of the announcer. He gave a lot of interesting facts - like, only 10% of people who run marathons will ever come in under 3 hours. This marathon was a lot different from the 1/2 mararthon in Lux, and the marathon in Koln. I could actually hear the announcer at the end! No loud music at the finish line!

The first group of "elite runners" ... the white guy is the Russian who won last year and holds the course record ...

This was the most ammount of runners they have had in the Dublin Marathon ... over 12,000 or 13,000... (or as they would say, "twelve or terteen tousand")

It's Ireland ... gotta have a Leprechan in the race ...

This is the FIRST place winner .... he ran 26.2 miles in 2 hrs. 9 min and 11 secs ! It was his first marathon, and he is only 19! If he had beat the course record (he missed it by 6 seconds!), he would have gotten another 5,000 euro!

Waiting at the finish line, I saw a lot of this!! I didn't realize how many people had to be helped across the finish line, collapse right before the finish line, collapse right at the end, and how many wheelchairs they go through!! I began to get worried when the pink pacer balloons went by! Darren's goal was to stay between the black and pink pacer balloons ...

YEAH! There he is! Running all by himself!!

RIGHT before the finish line ... literally about 30 yards ...

"The Tart with the Cart", Molly Malone... And my cute hubby! CONGRATS!!!

Conference Weekend -- Oct. 4th

Darren has been training for his Marathon in Dublin on Oct. 26th. As part of the training, you run increasingly "long runs" once a week. The longest run you do before the marathon is 20 miles... Well, there was a friend of ours in the ward that planned to run the Koln Marathon. He asked if Darren wanted to run it too, maybe only doing the 20 miles and walking the rest. So, Darren signed up and was ready to go -- but, being in the military, things always change, and the other guy was sent TDY to the Azores (tough assignment!) ... So, Darren was left to decide if he still wanted to run ....

Of course he did ... Did he only run the 20 miles? No! He ran the whole thing!! Nope, that's not him in a skirt, or as part of the diaper chain gang ...

THERE he is!!

How he can still smile at the end of 26.2 miles, I'll never know ....

CONGRATS on another great race!!!

Seminary ...

When our Bishop's family moved this past summer, we also lost our seminary teacher (the Bishop's wife). Unfortunately, lots of families moved this summer, so our ward lost: YW president, 2 High Councilmen, High Priest Group leader, Bishop, Seminary teacher, RS secretary, Cub Scout leader, Nursery leaders (3!), pianist, 2 organists, primary teachers, RS teachers, Activity Day leader, and some great families! So... when the new Bishop was called half way through the summer, there was a lot to be done!

Scout Camp, Girl's Camp, and Youth Conference marched on .... As did the youth ....

I know that I finally let you all know that I'm neck deep in Seminary, and that is why I'm behind on my blogging (and my laundry, cleaning, cooking, shopping, emailing, etc.) ... But I'm not sure I ever mentioned the strange preminition of the youth in our ward ...

After Youth Conference, one of our youth had finally gotten her driver's license, so... let the mischief begin ...

Sunday morning after Youth Conference was over, I awoke to this outside my bathroom window ....

I immediately knew that I was loved. I know, from my own experience that you only T.P. people that you love .... I went to church and told them all how excited I was that they loved me! They laughed and told me all about their adventures (the mayor lived across the street, and TPing is not something that Germans do, so they were very curious to see what these hoodlums were doing).

The funny thing is -- 1) we still had No seminary teacher, 2) I had made the unfortunately mistake to tell the seminary kids (when I substituted last year) how we used to TP our seminary teacher's house every year the day before Seminary started ...

Being in the Primary Presidency, I wasn't worried about a seminary call .... (notice the forks in the lawn by the tree -- they TPed AND forked me:)

Lucky for me, Shelby & Spencer were good sports and cleaned up for me ..... Well, as you know, I DID get called to teach Seminary ... Since I was only a substitute to begin with, I thought I would begin with some mischief of my own .... The Seminary kids' parents were only TOO willing to help out! I made a nice invitation to seminary for them (see below), and their parents T.P.ed their rooms for me! On the back of the sign was a note saying see you at seminary tomorrow!

They have been a fabulous class so far! We only have 7, but they are great! We have seminary in my basement, so I decided to paint the room... It had been a lovely PEACH color on the bottom, with a swirley strange colored border, and then little peach flowers on top ...

I was able to borrow a chalk board from the church that had been taken down and wasn't being used ... We have our Scripture Mastery pictures and accompanying action cards hanging at the front of the room ...

On the small wall, we have started finding the more than 100 names given to Christ in the Book of Mormon ...

And along the back wall, we are starting our "one liners". I love the enthusiasm and energy that these youth have. It is a fabulous way to begin my morning, and I am continually awed by their scripture knowledge and insights ... I'm truly being blessed ...

Labor Day trip to Rome

There are only 3 places that Devin has said that he wants to go : Rome, Athens, and Istanbul ... Not sure why those 3, except that I know he studied Rome... So.. the Ryan Air tickets were cheap ... so, it was off to Rome for the Labor Day weekend ... The kids had a great time ... as you can see in these pictures ... When in Rome .... Spencer was amazed at all the history ...

Shelby was puckering up for a smooch from a cute Italian ....

And Devin, he was just speechless ....

Roman ruins ... there are a lot here ...

Fancy fountain somewhere in the city ...

One of the ceilings in the Vatican Museum ....

A veiw from the top of St. Peter's Basilica ....

Another fountain in the city ....

Trevi fountain ... Darren & I had thrown the coin over the shoulder when we were here before ... Spencer is the only one who would this time ... guess he's the only one coming back!

A view from the top of "Spanish Steps" ...

Roman acquaduct, somewhere in, well, Rome ...

Teenager pondering life as a Roman ... Oh, to be a gladiator in the Colesseum ...

happy, happy children in the Colesseum ...

The Great and Spacious building ....

The very important building in Rome, that Mussolini declared Italy entering WWII ...

Circus Maximus .. where the chariot races were held (thus, the two rut tracks in the field)

Constantine's arch ...

A veiw of one of the walls of the Colesseum. I like how you can see the arches still standing, and the ones that were starting to crumble... A large portion of the Colesseum fell during an earthquake.

Besides all the great food and pizza, and GELATO .. Italy is one of my favorite places. I love the weather, the beaches, the history, and the neat old ruins ...