Barcelona!

Christmas in Barcelona:  mostly sunny, some rain, 50-60 degrees, minimal or no coats.  Now THAT's Christmas weather!  Remember - there was no snow in Bethlehem.  White Christmas was the mission obtaining its goal of 400 baptisms this year - a true miracle!  Mom and Dad are amazing.  Where do they get all that energy?  We went everywhere, with and without them.  They took us to their favorite Tapas and hot chocolate restaurants, favorite stores, and favorite sites.  They took an entire day and drove us to the Costa Brava and their favorite beach resort town Tossa de Mar.  Gorgeous.

We went with Mom and Dad and Spencer all over La Rambla (fun shopping/restaurant district), the Maritime Museum (the medieval shipyards!), Sagrada Familia (the Gaudi designed cathedral, still under construction after 150 years), Parc Guell (the Gaudi designed park - you feel sort of like you've stepped into a Dr. Seuss book), the Columbus statue overlooking the sea, the Montjuic 16th century fortress overlooking the sea (where Mom and Dad take all incoming missionaries to give them an overwhelming view of their new home), and so many other places.

I spent an incredible hour in the National Museum of Catalon Art, soaking in the collection of 12th century frescos.  Absolutely incredible.  It is touted as perhaps the best collection of medieval art in Europe, and I certainly agree.  It took me awhile to really be able to process all that I had seen.  The rest of the museum is incredible, I'm sure.  I just spent so much time in the medieval section that I didn't have time to get to the rest of it!

We loved spending time getting to know the missionaries.  Ellie wanted to spend all her time in the mission office following the elders around.  It was cute.  I could go on and on with stories, but I'll let some of these pictures say a thousand words.  We're saving our pennies to go back!

SIX!

January 2, 2004

Happy Anniversary!

We had a low-key day today, mostly trying to get unpacked and recover from sleep deficit after our grand Christmas vacation in Barcelona.  Another post coming with that report.  Today I want to list SIX of the hundreds of things I love about being married to Rob:

1.  teamlesan.org.  Rob is a computer geek, and our home runs without any technological hiccups.  I hear about other people (even in my own family, gasp!) who have periods where computers are broken, data is lost, Internet is down.  Not so chezLesan!  For our first Valentine's Day after we got married, Rob bought the "teamlesan.org" domain name for us.  Awwww, how romantic.

2.  We bought hiking and backpacking equipment at REI with some of our wedding money as an investment in a sport we both enjoy.  We've loved using it in scenic places!  For last year's anniversary, we opted to spend some hiking time in Zion Canyon.

3.  When Rob knows he's facing a busy day at work, he goes in early rather than risk staying late.  He is sometimes at his desk by 5:30 am just so that he can get home at his usual hour (6:45 pm) to spend time with me and the kids.  He doesn't even complain that I am totally incoherent during morning prayers on those days, and I love that he would rather sacrifice sleep than time with me.

4.  When Rob walks in the door after work, the kids go running to him.  Matt points and giggles and squirms away from me to get to Rob as fast as possible.  Ellie yells, "Daddy!" and hugs his legs.  Sometimes she likes to hide somewhere and then jump out when he walks through the door.

5.  Rob is the funniest person I know, and he keeps me laughing all the time.  It was one of the reasons I loved spending time with him right from the start!

6.  Rob loves the gospel and makes gospel living and serving in the Church a priority in his life and in our home.  Even in our very first conversations together, I felt the depth of his testimony.  I'd never met anyone who I connected with so closely on that level.

Sometimes life feels crazy with two active kiddos, and things don't always run perfectly.  Good days or crazy days, I'm so glad I get to share them with my husband!  I love you RCLIII!