Philip and Jaime Connor

Our second stop on our busy day was the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was an amazing sight. Construction on this cathedral began in 1163 and it was not completed until 1345. We spent some time taking pictures in front, and then went into the cathedral.   Chase and I posing in front. The carvings and statues around the doors are incredible in their detail and workmanship.   Gargoyles The inside of the Cathedral was beautiful. So many colorful stained glass windows. These pictures do not do them justice! The colors were so much more brilliant and vivid. My camera was not the best, especially in low light. I needed to change Chase so I was looking for a bathroom. I couldn't find one, so I had to improvise by finding a quiet corner with a bench (which happened to be in a nook where there was shrine to Joan of Arc) where I could lay down a blanket and change my baby. It was quickly accomplished and we continued our tour of the cathedral.   The famous rose window   Unfor...

Friday in Paris was to be our busiest day. We were going to hit all the major Parisian attractions, so we got going early. Our house happened to be not far from Montmartre, which is the name of a hill in Paris and also the name of the surrounding area. Back in the day, it was a place where many artists had studios or worked around the community. You may recognise some of their names: Salvador Dalí, Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh. Today there are still many artists who set up their easels in the area, try to capture the essence of Paris and sell their work to the tourists who pass there heading for the basilica of the Sacred Heart or Sacre Coeur. That was our first destination. We left the house and started to walk. After awhile, we became uncertain about which way to go, so Dad and his trusty French came to the rescue, as they had so many times during our trip. He asked this cute French woman to point the way. She did better than that, she offere...

I was just looking through all of the pictures we took last year and as I got closer to the end of the year I noticed that there were a bunch of pictures that I had intended to put on the blog that never made it, so I'm having a "do over" moment for November and December Pies aplenty, pies galore First I have to post a picture of all of the fabulous, yummy pies that I made for Thanksgiving dinner. They turned out so delicious that I have to brag a bit. I made eight (I think) and I had so much fun it occurred to me that I should take orders next year. The closest two are the cherry and apple. They were my favorites. "And you're just a good citizen helping out." Also in November, Joslyn got awarded the "Good Citizen" award at school. She was very happy and Phil and I were able to go to the little ceremony held on the front lawn. Yeah Joslyn! Six years old! Next I want jump into December and put up some pictures of Joslyn's birthday party. I...

Here is a picture of the kids with Santa at the ward Christmas party. Caleb was afraid of him, so I figured that the best way to get a good picture was to stick the kids all together so that the little ones would feel reassured by the presence of the bigger ones. Worked pretty well, didn't it?

We left our beautiful chateau on Thursday morning and headed for Paris. After a quick stop at a bakery for some delicious breakfast pastries (including some chocolate eclairs) we were on our way. Jo and I sat in the front with Dad. We were charged with guiding the van through the city to the house where we were staying. Jo and I plotted a course using our map and we felt pretty good about our game plan. Unfortunately, our map was not that great and after spending two hours attempting to navigate the city (blast those rond points!), Dad was about to come unglued and the rest of us were at our wits end. Dad was ready to pull over and ditch the car when we finally found the road that we had been seeking. Using this street as a starting point, we were able to successfully navigate our way to our house. Whew! We unloaded all our junk and then Dad, Mom, Laraine and Jo turned the van into the rental company and came back to the house using the trusty subway system. While they were go...