Pete and Lori at Home in Europe

Mostar, Bosnia February 2010

2010-02-21T06:31:00.000-08:00

This picutre was taken from our terrace. This significant historic bridge and much of the city were completely destroyed during the war in 1993. The bridge was restored and opened in July 2004.
The Neretva river flows through the heart of Mostar.

Even though it was still cold we were surprised to see a kayak. In the summer people dive from the top of the bridge!

Left, street designs using river stones.
Below, a fountain in the courtyard of a mosque.

Above, we thought this was a creative and effective security method on the top of this wall.

Below is a view of the roof tops that are made from big heavy stones. I counted 6 mosques and two churches within view from our terrace. The tall thin steeples are minaretes that broadcast the call to prayer.

We had fun wandering around in this beautiful city. There is something magical about Mostar.

Snow at Home

2009-12-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures of how much snow we got. This is our back porch.
I know this was kind of mean, but I wanted a picture of Diesel in the snow so I threw him in our back yard. He just was outside for one minute I promise!
A rose bush outside near our front door.
I couldn't resist putting the Christmas monkey out in the snow to kind of jazz up this picture. I knew Nick missed seeing him....
This is a picture taken from our front porch. It is a good thing we have a 4 wheel drive truck with new snow tires!
The snow makes everything look so beautiful!

Snow!

2009-12-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

We have had so much snow the last several days. On Saturday we spent the entire day running errands in preparation for our trip home and for Christmas. It was so fun to be out driving around listening to Christmas music. It was a good way to get in the Christmas mood. Our last errand was down in the "old town" and so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures. The only problem was the parking is not too close so we had to walk and we got all wet and were frozen by the time we were ready to leave.
The first picture is of a local landmark called "Pigeon Square". In better weather there are pigeons everywhere.

A fountain outside one of the many mosques around Sarajevo. Several times a day they have a "call to prayer" that you can hear all over the city.
This is a close up of the fountain from the top picture. There is a legend that says whoever drinks from the water from this fountain will return to Sarajevo. Well, I drank from this fountain when Rebecca, Michele and I were here visiting Pete in 2004, so I guess it is true!

Plitvicka Lakes Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-29T12:30:00.001-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to take advantage of the five days we had off and all the beautiful weather we have been having. We left our home Wednesday morning and drove to Plitvicka Lakes in Croatia which was about a 6 hour drive. It is a huge National Park that is a main tourist attraction in the region. It is a series of several lakes that are all connected by waterfalls. We spent several hours on Thursday walking around the park and enjoying the beautiful nature. There was hardly anyone there because this time of year is off season so we felt like we almost had the whole place to ourselves. We let Diesel off the leash which is something we rarely do because he doesn't mind us at all! He had so much fun romping through the leaves and acting like a real dog. It was a great way to spend Thanksgiving.

Zadar November 2009

2009-11-29T12:25:00.001-08:00

Zadar is a beautiful seaside city in Croatia. It was only about a 2 hour drive from where we were visiting Plitvicka Lakes. There is much history and interesting things here but one of the things that Pete thought was most interesting is it was the birthplace of the famous basketball player Kresimir Cosic. He remembers watching Cosic play at BYU when he was about 13 or 14 years old. He is like the Michael Jorday of former Yugoslavia and is still famous today. There is a huge basketball arena named after him near the monument that Pete is standing by.

We visited the outdoor market which is in every city here, but there were some really unusual seafood and interesting meat hanging from the rafters. I am sure the people at the market thought I was crazy, but I couldn't resist taking a couple of picture!

There was also some beautiful ancient structures like the picture of this old well inside a beautiful courtyard. It really feels like you have stepped in to another century.

More Zadar

2009-11-29T12:20:00.000-08:00

The most unique feature about Zadar is they have a "sea organ" which is made up of these stone stairs that these fishermen are standing on. The waves force water into a series of underwater pipes and up through small niches carved in the stairs and the result is mellow musical notes. We had read about them but had to see them to really understand. They are pretty neat. We sat there listening to the strange music and watched the fishermen for a while hoping they would catch something while we were watching but it was windy and a little chilly so we didn't stay too long.

This is St. Donat's church was built next to the remains of an original Roman forum. This church was built in the ninth century (which is about 1300 years ago). Hard to believe. Many of the original stones used in the forum were used in building this church.

It is so interesting because all of these photos I have posted are within one small town. We saw all these places in only a couple of hours because everything is so close. You have the really modern and fashionable shops, restaurants and cafes right next to the churches and cathedrals that are thousands of years old.

We had fun just wandering the narrow streets. This picture is of a group of school aged kids on a field trip of some sort. They were running along holding hands in a long line. Kids are the same all over the world!
The white decorations for the Christmas holidays were being hung while we were sitting in an outdoor cafe having something something to drink. Mid afternoon we decided to head to our final destination, Sibenik, another seaside village that was only about an hour away.

Sibenik - the last stop in our trip!

2009-11-29T12:15:00.000-08:00

Sibenik is a small seaside village nestled in the hills with a fortress at the top of the town. The city streets are extremely narrow and winding. We had a couple of hours on Friday afternoon before it got dark and the next morning it had started to rain. I wanted to explore a little more so I went off on my own to look around and I got lost in the narrow and tangled up roads. I thought I would be able to find my way back with no problem because I planned to use the sea as my point of reference, but I couldn't see the water when I got in the heart of the city. It is a small place, so I was only lost for about a half an hour, but I was starting to feel a little nervous. My language skills are pretty much limited to saying hello, how are you and counting to ten, which would not get me far....Yikes!

One of the many intricate details on the cathedral.
I love the way people hang out their laundry on these tiny clothes lines from the windows. I think there are some red long underwear hanging from the window at the top of the picture. How cute!
This is taken from at the top of the town outside the fortress walls. The fortress was closed so this was as far as I could walk. There was a really old cemetary at the top of the hill overlooking the sea. It was such a beautiful view.

We enjoyed walking around the narrow streets and walking along the path along the waterfront. It was a great way to relax. We were so glad we had beautiful weather until the morning we were heading home. It was a really nice trip and we will always remember it!

Michele Then

2009-11-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

We are so happy Michele is in our family. She is smart, talented, a good sister, a good daughter, beautiful, kind and a really good person. She has brought joy into our lives for 20 years.

We love her very much and are very proud of her.

Michele Now

2009-11-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

Happy
Birthday
Michele

At Last!!

2009-11-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,
I bet you never thought you would see the day where I actually created a Blog. Even though it has been over a year that I have been promising to do this, at last it is started. Please be patient as I figure this out.
My goal in having this Blog is to share the amazing experience we are having here. It definitely has been an adventure. We hope you enjoy getting a glimpse into our world.
Since we have been here so long, I am planning on posting our most recent trip photos and work backwards.
This is such a great thing to be able to do because there are so many times when we are traveling and wish we could share it with you, this is the next best thing.
We love you very much and think of you everyday.

2009-11-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

Belgrade, Serbia October 2009

Downtown Belgrade. Former capitol of Yugoslavia. This is a very large, vibrant city with many old communistic buildings and lots of history.

This hotel was right across from where we stayed. It is called Hotel Moskva (Moscow) and it has been a major landmark in Belgrade since it opened in 1908.

This picture is of me and a Serbian woman named Violetta. She was doing a photo display in the Kalemegdan park. We had fun talking to her (she spoke English which was nice for me). We ended up buying the book she was selling which was a book of beautiful photos of Serbia by her brother in law. He had worked for many magazines and papers including National Geographic.

Belgrade, Serbia

2009-11-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

Kalmemegdan Park is a huge beautiful park in the heart of town with a large fortress in the center.
Fortress walls with historical military equipment.

The park goes on forever with winding paths, fountains, gardens and tennis courts.

More Belgrade

2009-11-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

The top picture is of me with a Serbian woman named Violeta. She was helping her brother in law with his photo display in Kalmegdan Park. The photos were lined up along the river on a walkway. The photos were so beautiful we ended up buying the book. The man who was the photographer had worked for National Geographic magazine, among other prestigous papers and magazines.

The middle picture are a couple of musicians who were playing at a wedding that was taking place in the large park. It added to the charm of the day.

The bottom picture is one of the largest Orthodox churches in the region. It is hard to tell how big it was from the picture. It was like a huge cave on the inside with lots of ornate stained glass and gold candle holders etc.

2009-11-11T11:30:00.000-08:00

Zagreb, Croatia September 2009

We had fun seeing the capitol of Croatia. It is a very modern city with lots to see and do. We were lucky and had great weather. The hotel we stayed in was at the heart of the downtown area and for just being there for a weekend, we saw quite a bit. We found a great Chinese restaurant there and ate there two nights in a row! It was a great bonus.

Sabina's Pitas

2009-11-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

Every month we have a "wives coffee" which is basically a gathering of the wives in the Embassy community. At this one a Bosnian friend of mine, Sabina, agreed to come show us how she makes "pita". It is a dough filled with a variety of things. Some are filled with a feta type cheese, some with cheese and spinach, some with meat, etc. Using a big long stick, she stretched the dough out so thin it covered a dining room table then rolled it up in the shapes you see below, like a cinnamon roll. She made spinach mixed with cheese and meat. They were so delicious!
It was a lot of fun to see how this local staple is made and it was really fun to eat them.