Hi There...

I apologize for not blogging more frequently. Thanksgiving is this week, and I honestly don't know where November has gone! Really nothing new our way. We're hosting Thanksgiving dinner at the casa, so we've been planning for that. And I think we're going to Germany for Christmas, so we've been looking in to that as well. We did have time to check out one of our local castles this weekend, so I've attached some pics. I've also included some unrelated photos that I hope you'll enjoy and find interesting.

We're quickly approaching the holiday season, and we miss our family and friends more than ever! Know that you're always in our thoughts and prayers, and we hope to see and/or hear from you soon!!

Several towns will have their own castle...this is the one in Caneva where we live.
"Castello di Caneva"
The castle sits at the top of a mountain. The drive up is very steep and narrow....scary!!


Entrance into the church at the castle. You can find a church around every corner in Italy. Apparently, even at a castle!



Beautiful view of Caneva from the edge of the castle.
We took pictures on the way back down the mountain as well. This is some sort of a fruit tree that we see everywhere. The fruit looks like an orange, but it's more firm like an apple. I don't know if you can eat them, or if it's even a fruit! But I think the tree itself looks super cool. Especially now that it's fall and the leaves are falling off.


Just to prove that there is no wasted space in Italy, check out how they've leveled the hillside to make it functional for a vineyard. VERY cool!!


I took this pic on the way home from church today. There are several routes to get to our house, but this is one of my favorites. I think the view at this turn epitomizes Italy with its multi-colored row houses and church bell. I love it!


This picture was taken from base...just wanted to show you how it's starting to snow in the mountains. I can't wait to try snowboarding!


Last, but not least, here's a recent pic of the babies...just in case you've forgotten what they look like. :) Ciao for now!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Ramiro and I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary today! How in the world has it been 11 years? Where has the time gone? I can remember hearing couples talk about being married ten or more years and thinking, "Man, they've been married FOREVER!" Suddenly, ten years seems like a baby step! My parents, on the other hand, have been married for 45 years!! Can you imagine? I've decided that 45 years will officially be my new "forever"....only 34 years to go!

Let me start by saying that Ramiro and I aren't big "gifters", and we typically don't buy each other a lot of presents. Just being together has always been enough, considering deployments have kept us apart on more anniversaries than not. So it was no surprise to either one of us when we decided to keep it simple and not do gifts this year. After all, my surgery squashed our original plan to spend the day in Venice. And let's be honest, what's more romantic than a day in Venice to celebrate an anniversary....am I right? (Don't worry, we'll still make that trip!) Well, regardless of our spoken intentions, we both ended up getting a little something for each other. The funny part is that we got each other the exact same gift....a fragrance. And not just any fragrance....the EXACT same fragrance! We both chose euphoria: by Calvin Klein. (euphoria original for him and euphoria blossom for me....very nice fragrances if you're looking for one.) We sat and laughed as we looked at the boxes....what are the chances? There were literally hundreds of fragrances to choose from, and we chose the exact same one. Hmmm, maybe it's a sign. Forty five years? Looks like the odds are in our favor. :)