Bon Voyage

The preparation for our trip to Europe started two years ago when we committed to save up money each month so that we could go and visit Trisha's brother, Todd, and his family is Switzerland. We saved vigilantly and are so grateful that we were able to go on this trip. When it got close, we knew that we had to pack as lightly as possible due to small cars in Europe, traveling while holding two kids, etc... However, this is hard to accomplish because of said two children. Toys, food, formula, diapers, wipes, medicine, many changes of clothing. It is hard to fit it all in. We got it all down to 3 big bags and 3 carry ons. Seems manageable.

Our bags are packed and we're ready to go

We left SLC on July 22 at 11:00am

 Sam loving his own chair on the plane. We debated whether to buy Sam is own ticket or not. We decided to buy him one to keep him contained in his carseat. It was the BEST decision we made!! It was worth the loads of pennies that we paid for it! Sam loved it to. He felt like such a big boy.

We flew from Salt Lake to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam, and lastly Amsterdam to Brussels.

This was the awesome contraption they set up for Kate to sleep in. Wow, this thing has some serious potential and with Sam in his own seat, we really hoped to get some good sleep on the flight. Well, Kate would not sleep in that cardboard box thing. She can't be blamed for the no sleep, she slept pretty well in Trisha's arms. Unfortunately, Trisha and I both decided to watch the Hunger Games and therefore got no sleep.

We arrived in Brussels around 11:00am (the next morning). One of our bags got lost in transit so we got our rental car and we went and sat in it in the parking garage and slept for a few hours before our bag showed up in Brussels. Then we started our drive into France, but not until we took a small detour to a little town in Belgium.

Mons was the second city that I served in on my mission. I have not been back since I left it 10 years ago. That means we got lost several times trying to navigate around the city. It was a nice reminder of the wonderful streets of Europe; all the one-way streets. I profited from the detour by buying a millefieulle, which was delicious!! We walked around town for a minute and with every turn we made, thoughts and experiences came to mind of the many times I walked down these streets with Elder Shannon and Elder Hafen on my mission. It was cool. The city is more beautiful than I remember it.

Trisha rubbing the head of the lucky monkey who sits right in centre ville for all to pass

A view of centre ville

The belfry (bell tower) which I had never seen without scaffolding on it. It's all cleaned and pretty

These are the cobblestone streets that gave me my ingrown toenail which I had to have removed while still serving in this city. I went in to a shady hospital, fitted with equipment and furniture straight out of the 80s, for a simple ingrown toenail removal and came out with no toenail and NO pain medication plus a 1 hour ride on the bus back to my apartment. It was the most pain I have ever experienced in my life! Brutal. As a side note, I do not think that socialized medicine is the best way.

This was my favorite eatery. I know what you're thinking! Salmonella? Ring worms? Pin worms? This place looks more than shady. I swear that it did not look like this when I was there, although I am sure that it was not upscale. I used to love to eat frites (fries) and a frikandel (a deep fried hotdog type thing that is rumored to occasionally have horse meat in it) at this place. It was only a block away from our apartment. I also watched some of the opening ceremonies of the olympics in SLC from this frite shop. It was crazy to see SLC and the University of Utah on tv but it was a really cool thing for me.

It is crazy that it is all so familiar and yet the details I can no longer remember. It took us 20 minutes of driving in circles (literally on the same streets) for me to find my old apartment (we passed it 3 times before I finally decided that was the right place). The place that I lived for 6 months. I use to could walk there in my sleep from any point in town, but no longer.

Other things that I can remember from this city. Working on activating Sister Tammy Jesse. We worked on her for 6 months and finally got her to come back to church after being very offended by the bishop of the ward. I remember lots of walking the streets. I remember lots of American food, since there was an American airforce base nearby and a European army base, both of which supplied about 3/4 of our ward members. They would buy their delicious food on the base and just drop some of it by our apartment (including Taco Bell and fresh milk). We were eating in style in this city. I remember walking to the store every week. I remember walking to church which was about an hour away because the bus system didn't run on sunday. I became a senior companion here after only being out on my mission for 3 months. It is here that I learned French because I had to in order to communicate and do the work. I remember traveling to nearby LaLouviere every week for district meetings with two other companionships and the nicest older couple from France. We also traveled to LaLouviere frequently and played soccer on P-day. I met and became friends with Elder Nick Hafen, with whom I would serve again in another city and with whom I am still very close.

I love MONS! It was cool to be able to go back and walk these streets again and recall the sweet memories in my mind.