Looks like we're stuck...

For those of you who don't know, we have
been debating between a few different names for
our baby girl.

The plan was to go to the hospital with 3 different
names and see which one "fits" when we get her.
We have only had 2 names for a while now though..

While we were in Hungary I thought for sure we would
find that 3rd name.

Instead, we found something else.

Logan saw these and fell in love!  They are so gorgeous!

 

So, it looks like it's either:

 Bridget

or

Sandra.

Can't wait to get her and see which one she gets!!

That icky "T" word....

Yep, you guessed it: taxes.

Looks like someone needs a haircut again...  I can feel another post coming soon.. ;)

 

Have you finished yours yet?  We have!!

And......the government is sending us a check once
again!!  Hooray!

It is going straight to:

Logan's car

Can't wait to have *almost* no car payments!

the Galen fund

and tons of stuff for our baby girl.

So, anyone getting back tons and using it for
something a little more exciting than us?

Weird, quirky, and interesting...

A few weird, quirky, and interesting things
I saw over in Hungary:

At all the grocery stories they have huge aisles of water
but, it's all mineral water.  Eww!
I already am not a bottled water fan and adding
all that extra flavor is no bueno.
 

They also have huge aisles of wine..

Here is Logan trying to narrow down his choices.

**PG-13 moment!**

Yes.

Those are condoms.

Right in front of every check stand next to
the gum and candy...

I guess "megallas" wouldn't fit as well on the
signs so they came running back to us Americans.
Saved the day again. ;)

Pecs.

They play English music in the stores!
All different kinds - old stuff, new stuff, you name it they have it!

Love how they do the parking strips!  You never
have to repaint lines!  And it's so cute!

The forests are all in rows.  Thank you Russia.

They don't have ice!!  I am dying without it!
Every McDonalds (and KFC) we see I make Logan ask for
cup full for me.  They all look at him like he is crazy
but at least I get my frozen water!

No one knows how much 500 ml is so they tell you
on every drink bottle..

The list could go on and on (and on and on.)

I loved loved Europe and would go back any time
but, I sure am glad to be an American!!

Walking in the fog.

Well, we sure haven't done much walking over here.
My poor pants can attest to that.

It doesn't help that I'm short...  But these were almost new when we got here!

The last 4 days of our journey we hung out in

Budapest.  The day we got here we dropped our car off

at Hertz and have been on our feet ever since.

Not that I'm complaining.  I love walking!

It is such a great way to see the town and all the

sites. 

Although seeing the town has been a little hard

with all the fog there is over here.

 

This was heading up to Gellert Hill.

*Quick funny story: There was an old man who kicked our trash getting to the top of this big hill..

             Even though he kept stopping for smoking breaks.  That sure made me feel out of shape...

This is St. Stephens Basilica.  Huge.

 Logan and I on the Chain Bridge.

You can't even see the middle of the bridge let alone all the way to the Pest side.

This is Parliment.

 There is always a part of it that is closed to clean the

smog build up off the outside.

You can see the difference from the clean part and 

the black part.

Makes me almost miss the Salt Lake inversion.  At least our buildings don't turn black.

As you can see it is very foggy over here.

It amazes me how it can still be so beautiful!!

Well, by the time this post goes out we will be on a plane

heading from Amsterdam to Minnesota, then on to home!!

Don't worry I have a few more pics to put up so if you aren't

sick of my Hungary posts yet, there is still time. :)

Can't wait to see my bed!!  Oh yea, and all of you!!

I think we found our new home!!

Ok, well not really.. But living in a castle would

be super cool.

That's right, I said castle. We have seen a bunch
since we have been here. 4 to be exact.

**Warning - this is a bit of a long post. I can't
skimp out on any of the 4 different castles so you will
just have to stick it out. :)

Holloko (Raven Stone)

This castle totally made me think of

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.

It was closed for the winter so we could only look at

it from a far - major bummer. The outside was beautiful

though and I was amazed at how much of it there still was to see.

Since we could not explore the castle we decided to check out

the town because it was kind of an older one.

Love the cobblestone streets!! So cute!

Eger

This castle was huge! This is Logan and me walking up
to the wall around the castle.

Not too much of the castle was still around.. just lots of
pieces.

There were lots of memorials for people who fought
for Hungary and lots of graves around. This one was my
favorite. It was so pretty with all the fog, my poor little camera
does not do it justice.

There also were lots of cannons left around to show that

the people of Hungary actually did fight back - not that

it helped too much in the end.. it's the thought that counts.

Looking down the cannon out to the city.

And of course the flag standing tall waving in the wind.

Sirok

This castle was my favorite. The hike up to it was
a bit rough with all the ice but it was so worth it.

Most of the top of the castle was gone but the underneath
rooms were still carved into the rock and so fun to explore.

We were the only people who braved the cold to get up there
so we could be as loud and obnoxious as we wanted.

The well was huge to match the rest of the castle.
Logan and I had fun spitting down it to see how far down
it was.

The things we were able to see where definitely worth
the dangerous perils we had to face to get to them...

First we had all the icy stairs.

Then we had to get past the guards on duty.

Logan trying to be tough like the guy carved into the wall.

Then just when we though we were safe, we

had to keep on the look out for giants!

Seriously, who makes stairs that big?

In the end we got to the flag so all was well.

The view of the town from the top.

Budapest

So, just kidding about Eger castle being huge.
In its hayday this place was gigantic!!

Not very many "castle pieces" are still around though
so it was kind of hard for me to wrap my head around
the size of it. The parts that were still standing were under
going restoration so we didn't get to see too much castle.

Just to give you a slight idea of the size of this thing -
the building Logan is standing in front of is the Palace
(where the President lives.) Past the Palace are 3 or 4
more buildings at least the same size. They all probably
fill up about 1/3 of the castle area.

Huge I tell ya!!

We did not get any pictures of the castle walls
because everything was closed down and not looking

so good... But we did get this cool video of all the fog.

You can't see anything but we are up pretty high over looking Buda and the Danube.

As cool as all the castles were though, I think we still

like our house most.. Guess we will just have to pack up

and head back home tomorrow!!

See ya soon!!

Update

You have heard how we have been doing
but how about our goon?

She is doing great!  She is growing like a weed.
In this picture (25 weeks) she weighed 1 lbs 11 oz.

In this picture (which is not a very good one, sorry)
she is 2 lbs 1 oz! It is at 27 weeks so only 2 weeks later!

We always get lots of feet pictures...

Guess that just means she is gonna be a runner. ;)

All is well with her and me so we will

continue to enjoy our vacation.

Can't wait to get back and start getting things

ready so she can come!!

Roman ruins and holy water

On our wanderings around Pecs we found a
few things worth paying to check out.

The first of these places was the Cella Septichora.

A long time ago they were digging a moat for
a castle and came across some ancient Roman ruins,
burial grounds mostly. 

You can see some of them through a glass ceiling while
just walking around on the ground.  But, to see the cool
stuff you have to go under ground.

Logan walking on the glass above the ruins.

This is what is right under the glass.

 Looking up through the glass to one of the big churches.

 

Since the ruins were mostly burial chambers there

were lots of graves.

Someone was actually buried in that... Eww..

This sarcophagus was the only one to still have

remains in it when they excavated the ruins.

Poor guy... No one wanted to steal his rotting,

dead body..

 I told Logan to pretend he was dead...  Pretty close!

Saints (we think) Peter and Paul had a burial spot here as well.

The paintings on the walls and ceilings were so beautiful.

It was sad they were so worn down.

 **Park and Sis - remember these pictures.. I have a feeling you may be seeing them somewhere

very soon.. ;)**

It was so amazing to be walking around this place

and try to think back to when it was in use a long, long,

long time ago. 

It is so hard for me to imagine!

We also decided to check out one of the cool gigantic

churches in town.  (The same one at the end of this post

and the one in the picture from under the glass.)

I had a hard time taking pictures inside because

there is just a part of me that feels it is kinda wrong..

I could not help myself when I saw this though.

REAL Holy Water!  Well.. as real as it can be anyways..

It was so weird to see it in real life and not just

in a movie.

I really wanted to touch it to see if I would burn..

But thought better of it in the end.

Couldn't pass up this picture either.

 Galen praying for...  something..  Not really sure..

Exploring Pecs was a lot of fun but in the end

we had to leave.  Good thing we have a tiny car or

we would have been stuck there forever!!

 Everything about the streets and cars here just screams Taci to me...

She would fit right in with her dream smart car. 

Well, off to Eger!!

Hope all is well back home! 

Missing our fam

Even though we are having a blast out
here, we are sure missing our family back home.

Saw this street and had to get a picture.
**That's right - I read it and I knew what it said..  I am learning. :)

Kiraly means King

and utca is street.

Totally thought of you King family!!

Hope all is going well back at home.
Love and miss you all.  See ya in a few days!

Pecs

We spent two days in Pecs. (pay-ch)
It was a beautiful old city, just like Logan was
told it would be.

The streets are so tiny!

Sunday morning we decided to go to church.
The internet told us Sacrament meeting started
at 9:30 but when we got there we saw it was really 9..

We walked in right as the first speaker was starting to talk
and I could understand her every word!

As cool as it would have been to say I had been over
come with the gift of tongues it wasn't true...
She was a senior missionary from Utah and she spoke English!

Of course, she had a translator so everyone else there
knew what she was talking about..  Get ready for an
awesome story:  We had met the girl doing the translating before!
No, not at the store down the street the day before, but back home!
 
After the meeting we chatted with the two senior
couples and the missionaries for a while.
We also talked to the girl we had met.

She was a missionary on temple square and after a
performance there of some sort (we can not remember
why we were there) Logan had a nice chat with her in Hungarian
where she told him to read his scriptures so he wouldn't loose
the language.  (Which he had been, and it has paid off.)

Small small world!!

After church we decided to wander around the city
center and check out the sites.

There was some really cool "modern" art.

First, start with a cool little fence.

Add a lock or two.

Maybe a few more...

And before you know it, it's art!

There was also a way cool wine cellar.
I have never seen a wine cellar before so they
are all pretty cool to me...

It was closed on Sunday when we were there
so we didn't get to go inside, but the outside was really cool..

Especially this statue of everyone getting drunk and loosing their clothes.

There were quite a few huge churches around.

This is part of one of the many Catholic churches.

To say the least we had an awesome day!
For anyone planning a trip to Hungary any time
soon I highly recommend this beautiful little city.