Congrats Brent!

We just wanted to say congratulations to our good friend Brent Kutlesa.  He just finished competing in the NPC National body building competition.  He did great!  He entered in the welterweight division and came in 7th.   It was a national event and there is no all natural division (meaning some use "products" to help them build muscle).  However, he still competed against all the "not natural" athletes and did well.  Congrats Brent we are proud of ya!

Check out his pics: http://contest.bodybuilding.com/gallery/contestant/67352/jim/

Cute Backgrounds

I used to think I was computer savvy...and I'm totally not. But changing your blog background is a cinch. At the top left of my page there is a blue box saying something about cutestblogontheblock.com or something. If you click on it you can easily change your background to the season (or your mood) and not lose any of the layout, etc.
They have a reminder in their directions to change your layout in blogger to minima...I'll just tell you now...this is VERY important. I almost lost my computer, my mind and a large glass window in our house over this step. Just FYI. :)

Bee Happy!!

Right now Tristan is waiting for me in the gym at school while I "check my email" on the computers just outside the door, but it's Saturday and suddenly I'm finding excuses to not have to go workout...so here is the new summer blog!! Yes, it is amateurish looking and I hardly did any work (just clicked a few buttons) but it's cute, isn't it?!

Grandpa

At about 12:20 pm I got a call from my mom.  She told me that Grandpa had died around 12:00 pm there in the hospital.  It was only a 2 min conversation........ I had been expecting it, but its still hard to find words when you hear the news.  I was with a friend at the time and I told him what happened.  He tried to relay his condolences but I said that actually it was a good thing. He had been suffering for a long time had gone through several extreme surgeries including having plates and screws put into is back and having a kidney removed.  He had been told several times that he probably wouldn't make it through this surgery or that one.  Even towards the end when the doctors had no idea what was happening and said he wouldn't live through the weekend he found a way to get better and to leave the doctors scratching their heads.  We all new why he kept getting better.  It's because Grandpa was a tough old country boy who was as stubborn as a mule.  There is a line from the movie Cowboys that always reminded me of my Grandad: "I am thirty years older than you are, I had my back broke once, my hip twice, and even on my worst day I could still beat you." This is really quite funny because many people, including myself, think that he looked an awful lot like John Wayne. I have often said that when I die I don't want people to mourn my passing but instead remember and celebrate the good times.  I hope to do that now for him.

Herman Shoemake was born on Oct 6 1925 in Mississippi.  The eldest of three brothers he was often left to take care of the family farm.  He would tell stories of when as a young boy he would carry 3 100lb bags of fertilizer across a plowed field.  This might not seem like such a feat of strength to some..... however, one should know that he only weighed about 140lb and he carried them all at once.  He would also tell us stories of how we would terrorize the local pastors.  He would get to laughing so hard that tears would start rolling down his cheeks.  Even with being 140 lbs he was 6'2.  The family was poor and to put it into perspective when he went off to basic training where most people lose weight he gained 40 lbs because of all the food. 

   

When WWII broke out he enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific theater.  This was a part of grandpa that he didn't share until much later in life.  He would tell of which ships he served on and all the trouble that he and his shipmates would get into.  When I was on my mission, the zone would get together and they would ask me to tell stories about my Grandpa to help pass the time.   He came back from the war and got his education and got married.   My grandma was 9 years older than him and they had 3 children.  They eventually got divorced and he would then remarry and become a quality inspector.  This job took him all over the world, after which he would move back to the family farm.   We always looked forward to when grandpa would come to visit.  It was a time of stories and of great barbecue, something he became famous for among my friends.  (They always seemed to make their visits coincide with dinner time while he was in town.)  Later during the summer we would get to go stay with Grandpa on the farm.  After helping with chores me and my brother would go down to the pond and fish or hunt for snakes.  Grandpa was always quick with a joke and could usually strike up a conversation with just about anyone and make them feel comfortable.  He had a very teasing sense of humor and a quick wit.  Not much got passed him if there was a joke to be made. (Now Tricia should know where I got that trait from) As he got older his health began to fail.  He couldn't do many of the things he used to.  He fought until the very end.  However, I am sure he would not want to be remembered as the man in a hospital bed but as a man who loved his family, worked hard, served his country and loved to laugh and make others laugh.

Grandpa I love you and miss you.  

Tristan 

7/17/2008   

Europe

Tristan has a friend whose mother is Croatian. They invited us to tour some cities in Europe with them. Conveniently stimulus checks and tax rebates arrived about that time. Is it even a decision?

Here is the condensed version of our vacation...I hope you like pictures. :)

We happened to arrive during the Eurocup, Europe's soccer version of the Superbowl. The only difference is the WHOLE country celebrates. I'm wearing a Croatia bandana...how supportive am I?!

Overlooking Zagrab, Croatia. This is just after we arrived...such a LONG flight.

This is how they tow cars in Europe because the roads are to thin to do it as we do in America. Everyone calls it the spider. I guess you can't tell what is really going on...they wrapped chains around the tires adn picked the car up from the side to lift it on the bed of the truck.

In Vienna we saw everything from the homes of Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss, to masterpieces of Monet, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. This picture above was in a museum that housed actual mummies. Tristan is next to a sarcophagus. There were also actual statues from Rome, etc. The items in these buildings are so neat that you often forget to look at the building that houses them which are in themselves amazing.

One thing I'll never forget about Vienna was the ice cream.....SO good.

This is Schonbrun Palace. I'm sure I just slaughtered the name, but it is HUGE!! The picture below shows the palace from the other side and the gardens and land around. Yes, hidden in the trees is a zoo...and tropical gardens, etc. etc.

In the background at the very right you see a tall cathedral. It is Stephansplatz. The tower is 445 ft. tall!!! When you stand next to it, it is dizzying.

Venice is just as beautiful as I ever imagined. Some surprises were that sitting was not allowed unless you were at a cafe...and you had to order something to sit there. Just to get money out of tourists...speaking of tourists...there were SO many here. It wasn't as quaint as I'd thought....too many people...and pigeons. Only walking on the island...no bikes or cars...mostly because they couldn't fit down some of the streets that were no more than 20 inches wide. The gondolas were awesome! We didn't go on one, but spent alot of time on the bridges watching them going on underneath. 

We stayed in Maribor, Slovenia and used it as a hub as we travelled from city to city.

Here is the Parliament building on the Pest side of Budapest. Below is a crown used by the kings for centuries. It is over 1000 years old. Next to it is the King's orb, scepter and sword.

We had a chance to see Hungarian dancers in their cultural clothes. They danced traditional dances and sang traditional tunes, which I didn't care for. They sounded so sad...like a sad chant, but the rest was neat.

This is Loseijn, a city on an island just off Croatia. I took a picture of the trail we had to walk (hike) to get to the beach. It reminded me of all the fairy tales I had ever read or heard that took place near the woods.
Anyways, the whole island was rocky....you can see that in the picture of the beach. Everywhere were rock walls. People had to clear land for buildings and homes so they built walls and more walls. Having no sand made the water SO clear...you could easily see over 40 feet deep in the water.
We had to be careful with the pictures we took because on Europen beaches, clothing is optional.

We ended our trip here. We had so much fun but made a lot of realizations that really let us know how blessed we are to live in America and to have the gospel. The world is such a neat place...we both love learning about the history of cultures and to actually see the works of those we've always read about in books. We actually saw originals...and truly old buildings of the kind that are non-existent in America. In the end, there's no place like home.

We're Back!!!

Now you all get to replenish your TNT quota. We're sorry you had to wait so long, but it made us nervous to post online that we would be gone for a whole month and an empty house waiting for us. But here we are again and we have LOTS of pictures to post...so make some popcorn or buy your favorite food (tell your significant other that you had to buy 3 bags of nibs because I said so...it's a good reason :) ), get settled and enjoy our very condensed (and yet somehow still long) travel log.