helsinki, finland

For some reason I was really excited to visit Finland. I don't know if it's just because it's not a common destination spot but in my mind it just sounded so pretty ... and it was just that.

We first drove through Helsinki and learned that it was the center of Finnish commerce and culture, as well as the nation's capital (we already knew it was the capital). Our first stop was Temppeliaukio Church (Temple Square in Finnish) one of the most unique structures in the world. It was built out of a large rock and has excellent acoustics; it's quality is ensured by the rough, virtually unworked, rock surfaces.

After the church we drove 45 minutes outside of the city to the quaint village of Porvoo. Porvoo is an old town situated at the mouth of River Porvoo and is one of the most photographed views in Finland. I loved Porvoo; the country side was so lush and green and the views from the old bridge of the red riverside storehouses were picture perfect. After taking a few shots at the bridge we walked through the charming little town of Porvoo with its idyllic little houses and narrow winding streets. We visited a few of the small handicraft stores but our favorites were the jewelry, candy and toy shops. We found several beautiful pieces of jewelry made out of fresh water pearls at the jewelry shop, but unfortunately the girl couldn't get her credit card machine to work and didn't accept dollars, so we had to leave all the lovely jewelry behind.

Our tour guide told us to be sure and stop at the local candy shop and try some of the delicious Finnish truffles. Little did she know she was on a bus full of grocers who had to try the amazing truffles along with everything else in the store. The store was pact with tourists and the little shop workers were going crazy. But she was right, the truffles were amazing! The toy store was perfect; I tried to find something for my future children but ended up helping my mom find something for Shae.

We were sad to leave Porvoo but we boarded the buses and headed to Haikko Manor for lunch. Once again, the Manor was breathtaking and we had a delicious traditional Scandinavian dish that was just a whole bunch of comfort food (just what we like). The fun (somtimes annoying) thing about this trip was that every time we would go somewhere we would always sit by someone new and learn a little bit about them. At this particular lunch we had the pleasure of sitting across from Kurt Bestor's parents. For those of you who don't know Kurt Bestor he is a very gifted LDS composer and performer and my mother and I both LOVE his Christmas CD's and have been to several of his Christmas concerts. He has lovely parents who shared several amazing stories about their family and their travels and who soon became our new cruise buddies.

Next we made a stop at Sibelius Park that had a beautiful monument for Sibelius, the most famous composer in Finland. Last we made a stop at the Senate Square where we had some time to stroll down the (hard to walk on) cobblestone streets and where we found the amazing Market Square. It's sort of similar to Union Square's farmer's market but it was fun to see the different local fish, fruits and vegetables.

Our mission on this trip was to find some unique jewelry that we could bring back with us. After our disappointing experience at the last jewelry shop we thought we wouldn't be finding anything in Finland. Luckily, we found a cute little jewelry stand with very unique rings that were just what we wanted. We found several other Finnish treasures for Shae and then we headed back to the boat.

Finally, as we entered our stateroom my moms luggage was sitting on our bed. We were both so excited we almost cried and the rest of the evening was spent going through all my moms stuff and finally enjoying some decent shampoo. At this point, my mom had gone 6 days without her luggage. Everyone knew her story and began to recognize that she still didn't have her luggage because she wore the same pants everyday. She was so excited to just wear anything else and show everyone that her luggage had come. Moms video camera was also in her luggage and she was very disappointed that she had missed so much, so she immediately pulled it out and started recording to make up for lost footage. This was probably my favorite part of the trip, my mom is a nerd and loved to bust out the video camera and start talking to it every chance she got (yes, she is one of those tourists). And the sad thing is, she's probably the only one that will ever watch it (love you, mom).

I'm kind of back and forth but I think out of all the stops on this trip, Porvoo was my favorite.

Porvoo






Inside Temppeliaukio Church



Sibelius' Monument


Around Helskink



The big boats that brake up the ice in the winter time


Some of our Finnish friends

st. petersburg, russia (day 2)

The second day of our stay in Russia was spent visiting the Summer Palace's of Peter and Catherine Romanov. Apparently their Huge palace's in St. Petersburg just weren't enough so they built summer palace's in the country.

Once again we had our lovely tour guide, Alexandra. She was such a cute 22 year old that knew everything, spoke 4 different languages and loved our silly American questions. Every time (without fail) she went to address our group she would start with "Dear ladies and gentelmen ...." we tried to catch her and see if she would start talking with out saying her opening phrase, but not once did she let us down.

The summer palace's were about 45 minutes outside of the city and we were all excited to get a change of scenery from the day before. I can say that other than the palace grounds, the Russian country side is not pretty. It just seems like a sad, gloomy country. I expected to see beautiful homes but apparently most Russian's live in apartments in the city and can't afford to own a home. We also learned that it is too expensive to have a lot of children and most families only have one or two.

We first arrived at Catherine's palace. Like the other palace's in the city it was a large museum with several rooms filled with gold. My favorite part of the palace's were the grounds and gardens. Once you've seen the inside of one palace you've seen them all. But they really know how to keep they're royal gardens nice and it was so fun to stroll through and see the amazing landscapes.

Next we headed to Peterhof, or "Russian Versailles" where we took a tour of the GRAND palace and park. The Peterhof was by far, the nicest of all the palaces we saw in Russia. It was Peter the Greats summer palace so of course it had to be the most beautiful palace of all. The rooms were beautiful but our favorite was the Amber room. This room's was were completely covered with Amber. There wasn't one inch that was bare. Now I think it was a little much and that Peter the Great was asking a little too much when he demanded the construction of the room, but I did enjoy seeing a room completely covered with presious stones.

The best part of Peterhof was the amazing grounds with its 150 fountains, cascades and various pavilions. The fountains were everywhere. In fact it was so beautiful that there were several brides getting their pictures taken there (basically the equivalent to our Temple Square). After walking around the grounds and taking pictures of all the fountains we walked down to the water and boarded a Hydrofoil (really fast boat) that took us back to St. Petersburg via the Gulf of Finland. There we said goodbye to our cute tour guide and boarded the ship and set sail for Finland.

Catherine's Palace



S&J waiting to go into Catherine's Palace


A crazy Russian bride and her groom's legs


The many fountains at Peterhof





The Tree fountain


The Hydrofoil

st. petersburg, russia (day 1)

Before we left on our cruise we were informed that the only way we would be able to get off the ship in Russia was to either book a day excursion with the travel company or get a visa. We figured we wouldn't hassle with trying to get a visa so we booked our off-shore adventure with the travel agency (we actually booked every off-shore adventure with the travel agency). Every time we got off the ship we were able to walk directly to our buses and climb aboard but in Russia we had to give them a copy of our passport and have our passports stamped when leaving and coming back to the boat. It was kind of a pain and it was interesting to see how strict the rules are in Russia but I was also excited that I got another stamp in my passport.

Our stay in Russia lasted two days. The first day was spent exploring downtown St. Petersburg where we saw several palaces which are now museums. It seemed like every time our tour guide showed us a palace she would say it was now a museum. One of the highlights of our first day was seeing The Church on spilt blood. This church was just as I imagined Russia would be. The onion domes were amazing and I loved the colors and details they used on the structure. We were rushed through the interior but basically, this church was built on the exact location where Alexander Romanov was slain - inside was an alter where they claim was the exact location where the first blood was spilt. After the Church tour we walked across the street where we got some great deals at the local flea market with our Russian rubels.

Next we took a boat ride along the Niva River and many canals that connect the city, where our tour guide pointed out several other important Russian sites. One thing I did learn on this trip was that the Russian czars were very spoiled. Whenever one wanted a palace they got it - if I were a Russian back in the 1800's I would have wanted to have been a Romanov. Our favorite part of our boat tour was this little boy who would wave to us at each bridge and then hurry and run to the next one so he could wave to us before we went under. He was so entertaining and each bridge we would come to we were cheering for him to make it in time to wave to us. Of course, at the end of our trip he was there to give us one last wave and take our tips. We thought we were the lucky boat that had a special friend to entertain us but we later learned that every boat had a little friend ...I guess it's better than begging for money on the streets.

After our boat tour we enjoyed some authentic Russian cuisine. As we were seated we were treated to a glass of fine Russian vodka. I'm sure the waiters weren't disappointed to have a large group of Mormons that didn't partake of the alcohol. We all wondered if they were sipping our drinks in the back after they took them away. For our meal we had a thin slice of raw salmon with some other weird fishy thing for our appetizer, spinach soup, beef stroganoff and a Russian tart for dessert. The soup and stroganoff were good but the rest was a little interesting. But I'm not picky and it was fun to try the local cuisine.

Last we were off to explore the Winter palace that is home to the famous Hermitage Museum. This palace is HUGE and I remember as our tour guide was mentioning it, that it was the palace in the movie Anastasia. As she was telling us stories I quickly realized that Anastasia was a Romanov and that the stories she was telling of Nicholas II was the story of Anastasia's family. So I got really excited and acted like I knew what she was talking about but when I asked her if the movie Anastasia was based on the Romanov family she quickly just said yes and moved on. So I'm not sure if maybe she'd never seen the movie or perhaps the Russians weren't to impressed with Fox's take on their famous family. Or maybe she knows that the actual Anastasia is really alive and they are hiding her from the rest of the world (who knows). But for the rest of the trip I was singing "Have you heard, there's a rumor in St. Petersburg".

The Hermitage was amazing. The rooms were filled with gold from floor to ceiling and the crystal chandeliers were beautiful. The collection highlights were both of Leonardo's Madonna with a baby, a Michelangelo sculpture and several Picasso's and Rembrandt's. My favorite was the portrait of the "Return of the Prodigal Son" that portrays the father embracing his son after he has returned. If you look close, one of the fathers hands looks like a man's hand and the other a females, to represent both the father and the mother embracing their son. Our tour was a little long but we had the cutest little Russian tour guide that entertained us along the way. After The Hermitage we went back to the ship and got a good nights sleep for our second busy day in Russia.

S&J in front of St. Isaac's Square


The Church on Spilt Blood




Along the canals


Our little friend at the bridge


One of Leonardo's "Madonna with the Baby"


Inside The Hermitage

tallinn, estonia

After getting acquainted with the ship (finding our life jackets and emergancy boat in case the ship sunk) we had a day at sea to catch up on sleep before our first port in Estonia. I get a little car sick and don't do well in the crazy taxi cabs so I was nervous about sailing. My mom reassured me that it wasn't that bad and she threw in some Dramamine just in case. Well, we were up north and the waters were a little rough the first night. At first I was having a really hard time and it was driving me crazy that there was nothing I could do to stop the spinning. Of course the Dramamine was lost in the luggage so a nice crew member told me I could go to the infirmary and tell them I lost my luggage and they would give me something to help. It turns out there is something better than Dramamine that doesn't make you sleepy and luckily it seemed to do the trick.

Before we left on our trip my mother and I decided that it would be best if only one of us brought the hair supplies (shampoo, hairspray, blow-dryer and straightener) to conserve on space in our tiny bathroom. Unfortunately, it was my mother who volunteered to pack it all so there we were with our frizzed out hair, and nothing to help calm it down. My hair actually wasn't that bad and the ship did provide us with a blow-dryer but my poor mother has very course hair and needed something to calm her wild mane. Luckily cruise ships have everything, including a salon, so she made friends with the workers, told them her sad story and they were nice enough to let her use their straightener. I will add that my mom was such a trooper and never once let the fact that she didn't have her luggage, ruin our trip.

After our day at sea we sailed into Tallinn bright and early and were ready to embark on our first little adventure. Every day before we set out we would read up on the city we would be visiting that day to get us excited and that day they described Tallinn as being: The beautiful capital city of Tallinn is one of the Baltic's great surprises, a fairyland jewel of medieval architecture perched dramatically above the sea. So after learning this we were very excited (my mother and I are both very gullable so anything you tell us we believe. That being said ... it doesn't take much to get us excited)

Tallinn was a lovely little country that in 1991 won it's independence from the Soviet Union. We took the Medieval tour that included the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevski with the infamous onion tops, several tiny cobblestone streets with their parliament buildings, scenic views of the lower town with its red rooftops, several Amber shops (too expensive to purchase but fun to see), and the market square where you can purchase several local wool and linen products. Of course, my mother and I had to taste the local toasted almonds and we both had to buy a woven linen scarf to wear in the cold winter months.

Our tour was short, but fun to see such a quaint little medieval village. Estonia is a small country with a total population less than NYC. I was shocked, but it was interesting to learn that most of the Scandinavian countries don't have a large population (to cold I guess).

The Russian Orthodox Church


Lower Town


Along the cobblestone streets


S&J outside one of the Amber shops


A cute little restaurant along the street


The Market Square


The girls that toasted the almonds


One of the towers at the entrance to lower town


Sadly, my mom's luggage was not in our room when we returned from our tour of Tallinn. They told us that the airlines would not deliver it to Russia so she would not be receiving it until Finland. We were spending two days in Russia so this meant my mom wouldn't be getting her luggage for 3 days. At this point we both started crying but realized there was nothing we could do. My mom made do with what she had, had her clothes dry cleaned at night and took over my wardrobe. Maybe it's a good thing my dad didn't come?

cruising time

**Warning: This is the first of many long posts, so feel free to skip ahead to the pictures.



At the beginning of August I was able to go on a cruise with my mother along the Baltic Sea and it was so nice to spend this time with my mom. Originally my parents had planned to go but unfortunately (or fortunately for me) my dad wasn't going to be able to make it so I go to go in his place. This was the first time I had travelled out of the country and I will admit, for some reason this thought made me a little nervous. We went with a touring company and I knew everything was taken care of but it was my mother who was making the plans so I felt like I didn't really know what was going on, for those who don't know I'm a planner and I always like to know where I'm going.

The plan was for my mother to fly from SLC to Atlanta and then on to Newark where I would meet her and together we would fly to Copenhagen. Well, things didn't really go according to plan (a common occurrence on this trip) and due to a two hour thunderstorm in NY my moms flight wasn't going to make it in time to make the flight to Copenhagen.

So there I was at Newark with no mother, no itinerary and no idea where I was going once I landed in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, my poor mother was trying to stay calm in Atlanta. She kept asking the airlines if there was another flight that she could get on to Newark and they told her no, she would have to wait. So when her flight finally started to board they put her on the front row of the plane so that she would be the first one off to try and make it to her connecting flight. She finally got on, got seated and then received three crazy phone calls from me, my father and the travel agent telling her to get off the plane, she was never going to make it to Newark in time and that there was another flight going from Atlanta to Copenhagen that they would try to get her on. So right before the door was about to close my mom told the flight attendant that she needed to get off the plane, and surprisingly they let her off. So there we were, me and my mom, alone in two different airports on our way to Denmark.

Now I'm not complaining because my commute to Denmark was a lot less stressful then my moms but I can not get comfortable on plane's and 7 hours was long enough for me. Before I left for Copenhagen my mother had gotten on the plane from Atlanta and she told me that her plane would be arriving at the same time, so I went through customs alone (I was really nervous for this but it was no big deal) then I found my luggage and patiently waited for my moms flight to show up on the screen. After about 20 minutes of waiting I realized that my mom had probably given me the wrong information. As I was sitting on the bench with all my luggage a nice gentlemen that worked at the airport had obviously seen that I looked like I was lost and asked me if I was okay. I was fine; I am a big girl and have flown several times by myself, I was just confussed and I guess ... a little lost. With a some help from the nice Danish man I learned that my moms flight wouldn't be there for another two hours so I decided to make myself comfortable and bust out the ipod. Every once in a while my little friend would come back and make sure I was okay and ask me if I wanted some coffee or tea and after several no's I think he learned that I really didn't want any. I really loved this little Danish man; he was trying to make me feel so comfortable. We chatted about life, he asked me what my mom looked like, and as people walked by he would ask me if they were her.

Finally, my mother arrived and we had a joyous reunion for about 2 minutes and then went to look for her luggage. Of course, her luggage stayed on the plane that she had been told to get off of and was now in Newark. But we figured this was the case and was reassured that her luggage would be on the next morning’s flight from Newark to Denmark. So we didn't let it spoil the day, said our goodbyes to my little friend and headed for our lovely hotel.

Now you know when you watch a movie and the characters are traveling to Europe and they get stuck in this crazy little hotel where nothing works? That's exactly where we were staying. We checked in and found out that our room was on the main floor, but realized that the main floor was basically the lobby. Come to find out, you have to go into the elevator, push a button, and the other side of the elevator magically opened up to a hallway full of rooms (very sneaky). We decided we would unload our luggage (my luggage), try to some rest for a little while and then go explore all of what Copenhagen had to offer. We were so tired that we didn't even bother messing with the lights or the AC and fell right to sleep but woke up in a sweat about 2 hours later. My mom tried to look for a thermometer to adjust the air and I tried to turn on the lights but only one little light by the door seemed to work, there was just a little brown box but no thermostat. Now I think we would have cared more if we had, had a little sleep but we were too tired to worry about it.

We weren't going to sleep through our day in Copenhagen so we decided to get up and check out the sites. Just down the street was a beautiful canal that I can't pronounce with ferry tours around the city. Now you would think before traveling to a foreign country I would make sure I knew what each countries currency was and the conversion rate, but I didn't. I guess I just thought they all used the Euro and that I would be able to exchange my worthless dollars anywhere. In Denmark they have the Danish Krone but the nice ferry boat we got on took our dollars.

The tour was lovely; we were on the last tour of the night so it was just me, my mom, the tour guide and her friend, so we got our own private tour. Copenhagen was a beautiful city on the water with several canals and waterways connecting all the islands. A few highlights of the tour was the royal palace, the mermaid statue, the hippy island (yes hippies still reside there and refuse to follow the laws), the parliament buildings, the royal ship (the royal family was in town)and many other beautiful sites that I can't really remember.

After our tour we walked down to Trivoli Gardens, a famous square in Copenhagen, with several high-end shops and boutiques and even more 7-11's. I don't know why but on one street there were three 7-11's. No gas, just the convenient store. We found a little hidden street with a few little outdoor cafes and had some dinner. The one thing I loved was that it got a little chilly at night so the cafe provided a blanket on each chair to wrap up in while you ate. My mom wasn’t too excited to wrap up in a blanket that someone else had used but I thought it was a nice little touch, and everyone else was doing it, so I did as the Danish do, and wrapped the blanket around me and ate my pasta.

That night we returned to our dark, stuffy hotel room and tried to get some sleep. After bearing it for long enough I went to the front desk and asked the (not so fluent in English) worker if there was AC in the rooms. She told me no and the rest of the night we just sweated it out. A few days later we learned that the little brown box by the door had a slot in it that you put your credit card in to pay for the AC and lights. (Who knew that AC and lighting were an additional charge, and why didn't they explain this to us at the beginning? Or at least tell their workers what AC means in Dutch)

The next morning there was no sign of my mom’s luggage, apparently the flight from Newark had been canceled and she was promised she would get it when we arrived at our first port in Tallinn. So we got on the bus and were on our way to board the Eurodam (the name of our ship).

The canal


The Mermaid Statue that gives you good luck (our tour guide compared it to our Statue of Liberty)


The old stock exchange building




Next stop … Tallinn, Estonia.

so proud

I've been on vacation with my mother and Jason is still in Utah and I haven't seen him yet but I just wanted to congratulate him. While I was gone Jason received a job offer from the firm he worked for over the summer and I am so proud of him. He had such a great experience during his internship and from the first time he was introduced to White & Case there has always been something about this firm that stood out to him. He has been able to get to know so many great people and I am so excited that he now has the opportunity to work with them.

My last post was our 4th anniversary and it seems like law school has always been apart of our marriage. After we were married Jason started preparing for the LSAT, then it came time to apply to law schools, the decision to come to New York, leaving our families and moving across the country, and dealing with the stress of studying and finals. It has been such an exciting adventure for us, and while I realize we still have a ways to go (3rd year and the bar), it feels like we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Jason has worked so hard to get where he is today, I have never seen anyone more dedicated to something in my life. I know this is something I could have never done but I just want him to know that I am so proud of him and I feel so lucky to be a part of his exciting adventure. New York - we are here to stay!

4 years ...

and I love you more and more every day.



I'm so sorry I'm not there to celebrate our special day.
-Love you