U2 in Rome!

After sleeping in the airport for the night, Kade and I finally made it to Rome! We spent Friday walking around the city and enjoying the major sites to see.

That night U2 was playing at the Stadio Olympico! Kade is a big fan, and thought it would be cool to see them in Rome! We stood outside the stadium for a few hours before the concert started and ended up buying tickets from a random person on the street!! When we got up to the gate, the tickets ended up being fake.  We were NOT happy.  We went to find the person that sold them to us and of course he was gone.  We went back to the gate and I acted as innocent as possible and told the guy I didn't know the ticket was fake. He didn't speak ANY English at all, and ended up letting us through quickly.  The concert was AWESOME!! 

The next morning we went to Hertz to pick up the rental car we had reserved.  We were going to take a two day trip and drive back to Milan so we could see the Tuscan landscape.  We had a hotel reserved in Siena, about halfway there.  Well, Hertz had a rule that you can't rent a car on the weekends without being 23. We ended up having to take a train, but we made it to Siena!

The next day we woke up and got on another train to the city of Pisa! 

The streets were enchanting to walk through... and....

we made it to the Leaning Tower! Even though we didn't get to do our road trip, the sight from the train window was just as good.  We made it back to Milan and ended up being so grateful for public transportation!! 

Welcome to Milano, Italy!

We finally made it to our little home in Milan! There is a family of four that bought a warehouse, and remodeled it to be their home.  They made the back part of their house an apartment to rent out, or for their parents in the future.  We rent the apartment from them and their two kids made us this sign when we arrived! It was sitting on the ground right next to our front door. 

We had no idea what the house looked like before we got there... we were in for a treat! 

This is our cute little kitchen:

We don't have a stove, microwave, or toaster... so we have made great use of the oven! It has worked out really well.

Next is our bedroom which is a really good size! It has started to get cold lately so the lady we rent from gave us one of her comforters to put on our bed.  Nice and colorful, it keeps us warm! 

We don't have a dresser... so we got creative! Two ironing boards and our suitcases! It has worked perfect! 

This is the cupboard that we are supposed to hang our clothes 'in'. We actually hung too many clothes the first day, and the bar fell down.  It is now propped on top of the cupboard doors and we keep it balanced so it doesn't fall.

This is our little kitchen table! Good thing there is only two of us or we would have some problems! 

This is Kade's desk inside our bedroom

This is our bathroom... don't you love the tile? One thing that comes in handy is all of those shelves! We love it! 

This is the Duomo in the center of Milan.  Sometimes we go into the city at night to walk around and have some gelato! 

Life is good and we are loving our four month honeymoon!

Honeymoon!!

And the adventure begins!!! I wanted our honeymoon to be a surprise, so Kade was careful not to talk about it around me during our engagement.  All I knew was that I had to pack up as if we were going straight to Milan to live until Christmas.  We spent our first night in Park City, and the next day we went home to pack last minute things and say goodbye to our family. The second night we stayed downtown so we were close to the airport.  Kade finally told me during breakfast before we went to the Airport that we were headed to Venice, Italy!!  He didn't tell me how long we were staying, or if we were going anywhere else.  He acted as though we were going to Milan straight after.  I was definitely in for a treat!! 

After spending three nights in Venice, we headed to Hertz to rent a car.  We were driving back to Milan is what I thought... how fun!! Kade and I each had two 50 lb. suitcases, a carry-on, a backpack, and I had a purse.  When they pulled around our car, we just started laughing.  It was a tiny little Fiat with only two doors.  I had zero faith that all of our luggage would fit.  Kade starting working at it, and after about 20 minutes of re-arranging and squishing... we finally got it! Kade's knees were up to his chin because we had to slide his seat forward while I drove, but we managed to get the last carry-on in the car! We were on our way! We stopped in a little city called Verona to have lunch up in the mountains, and ate at a pizzeria that over looked the whole city.  Kade made this pit stop because it is the city that Romeo and Juliet takes place.  Isn't he cute? After driving for another hour we started seeing signs for "COMO."  They were pointed in all the same directions as Milan so I didn't think anything of it.  There came a point when Milan was left, and Como was right.  Kade made me go right and I immediately put two and two together!!! We were headed to LAKE COMO!!! It was beautiful!! We took an hour boat ride out to a town called Bellagio, and stayed our first night up at the top of the mountain overlooking the whole lake.  Here is a pic of the view:

This is where we had breakfast:

When Kade reserved the hotel room, he also reserved some bikes! We went on a bike ride all the way down to the shore and through the streets of Bellagio.  The weather was perfect!  Kade really enjoys painting so we stopped along the way so he could take some pictures to possibly paint.  The view was incredible. 

The second and third night in Como, Kade reserved a hotel a little closer to the shore of the Lake.  The window in our hotel room was the size of the wall and by the push of a button, the entire window would open to this view:

One day we went on a boat ride to the little villages nearby.  I had my feet hanging off the edge of the boat and Kade told me to take my shoes off before one of them blew off.  I started bringing my feet back into the boat and on the way in, I hit the edge of the boat on my foot.  Yep, my shoe was then floating on top of the water.  The boat was so big we couldn't reach in to get it... all we could do was watch it float away and laugh.  I wore Kade's sock on my foot until we were able to find what seemed like the only pair of shoes in the entire village for sale... a children's pair of flip-flops with cartoons on the front.  We were both puzzled as to how it came in a big enough size for my foot, but we were really grateful. I was then referred to as "Little Brittany" for the rest of the day as Kade treated me like a little child. HAHA  I love Kade's sense of humor.  He could have been so frustrated with me that it had happened because he warned me, but instead it makes a great memory.  Laughing is a good cure for everything and we try to laugh as much as we can.  

We had a really fun honeymoon and I loved that it was a surprise.  Kade did such a good job planning it... I am so lucky! It was fun to be able to read in little parks, relax, walk around the little cobble stone streets, and just be together all the time.  Life is good!

Our wedding day!!

The big day finally came!! Kade and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on August 27th, 2010! There was such a peaceful feeling in the temple, what a great way to start off our day. When we walked out, our family and friends were waiting to congratulate us.  We could not believe how big our support system was, we feel very blessed.  Kade went to go hug his little sister, and I realized I was just standing there.  Everyone was taking pictures, but no one was moving.  I felt a little awkward, looked to my friends who were standing the closest and said, "Where are my hugs?" They all laughed and then the hugs came to both of us. Kade and I could not stop smiling. :)   

When our photographers were done taking pictures of us, we went back to the temple to change out of our clothes.  When we walked out again, it was pouring rain!! We were grateful that we were able to get all of the pictures we wanted, but we were a little scared as to what the weather would be for the reception!! 

Turns out that it rained through the ring ceremony, and the entire reception!! We kept hearing from the guests that it was supposed to be good luck if it rained on your wedding day!! There was also a double rainbow in the sky that some people took a picture of for us. It was raining on us while pictures were being taken, and unfortunately we were only able to get a few.  We didn't get any family pictures but at least we have the ones from the temple! 

Our wedding cake sat inside during the reception and then I asked my Dad to move it outside while we cut it.  It didn't care to cut it in the rain, just wanted it out in the open so the people under the tent could see.  Right when they brought it outside, the rain stopped and there was only wind.  Everyone was able to stand on the patio to watch us cut it!  We had a little too much fun... it ended up all over both of our faces! I actually got it in one of Kade's contacts, I felt really bad! 

Kade and I then shared our first dance together... in the rain! We didn't care, we were too happy that our day had finally come! 

Kip always told me when we were planning the wedding that he was going to wear shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt to the reception.  He then told me that if he was going to wear the tux, it was coming off at 9 when the reception was supposed to end.  Of course the reception lasted longer and as Kade and I were having our first dance together, all of a sudden we saw Kip walking towards us.  The outfit you see above is what he was dressed in when he tapped Kade on the shoulder to dance with me. He wasn't lying when he told me that the tux was coming off!

We had planned to leave with sparklers but didn't think it was going to happen because of the wind and rain.  All of a sudden my brother called down to us and told us to run upstairs with our stuff.  Everyone was lined up on the walkway leaving the front door, all the way to the car.  Ketchup, toothpaste, whipping cream, and oreos were used to decorate it... and there was a string with cans hanging off the back.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect night.  We are so grateful to everyone that helped.  There were so many people involved and I cannot imagine what the cleanup crew looked like from the rain.  Thank you for making our day so special!