Kayden-Rayden-Rooskie-Tooskie

Kayden is the best baby anyone could ask for and this picture proves it . . .

*Doesn't this picture just make you smile too?*

Lately he's taken up the hobby of "getting into everything".  I love it and hate it at the same time; I love that he is mobile and exploring the world around him but I hate cleaning up after the little rascal.  He's also mastered going up the stairs . . . coming down is a whole other story (thankfully we've been there to catch him).

He has also become a master parrot and loves to copy Brett and I, especially with "uh-oh".  One of our favorites is his mimicking my "allergy-cough" . . . I didn't realize I coughed that much until he started copying me.

*Rockin' the cool "T" and stellar shades*

Who knew you could love someone so much?

P.S. You can all thank the Larkin's for that awesome title as it's his nickname they gave him - it stuck.

Late Night Rants

So it's midnight and I'm up wishing I was on a bike and with Brett in St. George enjoying this: 

and this:

(it's a form of hiking done in Zion's)

I have had a little time on my hands with my husband down "south" on vacation.  Even with a "little tornado" that is Kayden these days.

So, I made these:

Graham Crackers

And you certainly can't have Graham Crackers without these:

Homemade Marshmallows

And then topped it all with some delicious chocolate . . . salivating yet?

I also caught up on some movies whilst making these delectable treats...

Pride and Prejudice (a Sunday tradition)

Up

and

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

The last movie really made me laugh at some of the parallels to our marriage (TMI?).  For one, we are not assassins, but we certainly have had our times where we wanted to "kill' the other person:

More about this movie

Another is how competitive we both are and I certainly don't want 
to be the one holding the 

"girly gun".

Lastly, even though we have wanted to "kill" each other 
and may be a bit over-the-top 

competitive, we sure do make a great team:

Last of the Trip

2.5 weeks later:

-Brett and I are still married and alive despite being with one another almost every minute of every day of this trip.

-We have a "bazillion" pictures and I don't even know where to begin as to what to do with them.

-Brett and especially myself can't wait until we are in an english speaking country (Brett has been doing most, if not all, of the translating . . . he's done).

-My love for the Spanish culture/people has grown - they are sooo passionate about everything they do especially flamenco dancing.

-I'm ready for a REAL salad, not one of these "fake" european/spanish salads that say they are salads.

-I can't wait to watch American T.V. again.

-I am not going to miss the rainy days here; my face explains it all in the photo below:

-Cana (pronounced can-ya), oh you chocolate filled goodness, you will be missed and I will try to replicate you at home.

-"Non-Smoking" just about everywhere . . . one of the many things I love about the U.S.

-The Architecture and food here is and has been incredible; there is nothing like it:

-We are NOT going to miss doing this:

We can't wait to give him a big hug and kiss on those chubby little cheeks!

Homeward bound . . .

Corrida de Toros

Last night we went to a bull fight in Sevilla's Real Maestranza. While it rained a bit in the first three fights the last three the sun came out and it was beautiful! I must have taken 200 pictures but will only bore you with a few till I get the rest uploaded in a slide show. If you are interested in all the rules of the fight this site is really helpful Click here. All in all you should remember that the bulls that are bread for these events have a much better life then those beef cattle we see in pastures in the states. They are left to roam huge plots of land without seeing a human the entire time. Beef cattle are killed at the age of two years, bulls that fight in these fights live for over double that. I do not condone or agree with either side of this controversy but do think it is very interesting. The "corrida" it self is beautiful and is very passionate. It is more of dance between the bull and matador then a "fight" as we have translated it into English.

We are headed to Faria tonight to see Flamenco dancing and the horse shows, should be lots of fun! Hopefully we get some sunny weather.

A day at the beach! (said in a high pitch tone)

We hopped on the train in Sevilla yesterday morning to head to Cadiz (pronounced Cadith), the oldest functioning city in Europe. The city where they went for materials to build King Salomon's Temple in the bible. The sun finally came out and it was about 78 degrees, perfect weather for sun bathing and swimming in the ocean.The back drop to the white sand beach is a beautiful Cathedral and the walls to the old city.  I have never seen such a unique beach.

On the return trip our train broke down for three and half hours. We sat there in the middle of nowhere watching as the locals got off the train and started walking.... who knows where. There was talk of taking us back to the last city and letting us off there, not good for us as we had no one to call or way to get back to Sevilla. Finally at about 930 the train started to  move again and continued on to Sevilla. We arrived sunburned, tired, and very hungry.

Granada, Alhambra, Carrera Del Darro, and a crazy lady on the train.

We got up early to head to Granada to see the Alhambra, one of the 7 man made wonders of the world.  We got to the entrance of the Alhambra and were informed, along with about 500 other people that they were all sold out till the 25th of this month..... crap.  We decided to look around the city and see as much as we could while we were here.  We headed down out of the hills to the city and ate lunch and then headed up a touristy looking street. It was literally the most beautiful street I have seen! The pictures do not do it justice. We ended up in an  ancient part of the city, all of the houses were built into the mountain side, most of the people living there were Gypsies but have in the past been inhabited by Jews, Moors, and Spaniards.

After exploring some of those houses it started to rain so we headed to the Cathedral but it was closed so we headed to the train station. While boarding the train there was an American woman in front of us. I made a funny comment about the sign on the bathroom looking like someone strangling a baby..... she lost it.  Apparently it is people like "us" that give americans bad names. She ended up sitting directly in front of us, facing us.  I guess it was just too much to handle because they switched seats. While walking by me she told me to pull up my pants... I (Mallory) just need to interject and say that Brett had a belt on that morning, but just as we were walking out the door at 6 am the buckle broke.  His pants weren't really that low, but when he was moving around they would start to head "south" with out the belt.  I laughed it off wondering  what she had against me. Mallory got up a few minutes later to use the bathroom (and I was just going to use the bathroom but then decided to tell the lady about his belt breaking and that she should maybe give people the benefit of the doubt), after a few minutes I heard some loud americans talking and looked back to see Mallory up in her face giving her a piece of her mind.... nothing like your wife standing up for you! I LOVE YOU!  I didn't realize I was "up in her face" until after the fact.  I approached her with what I thought was "calm" but she instantly got defensive and put her finger in my face saying, "you just need to go sit down little girl", "you are just a spoiled little rich american girl" and "quit making a scene, you're giving American's a bad name".  I still kept my cool but told her that her judgmental attitude is what really gives American's a bad name and that her assumption that I'm a "spoiled little american girl" is proof that she is extremely judgmental. The couple got off before us, which is unfortunate because I wanted a picture of them for the Blog.

I hope you all find yourself well, it is about 8 pm now so it is time to wake up and head out for the night.

What?

Day 6 - Atleast Half of Day 6

Well, I can't believe it's already been 6 days since we've been gone but as you can see, our laundry speaks differently.  Mmm . . . fresh, crusty clothes!  In the 'short' amount of time we've been here, Brett and I think we've logged almost 300 miles so far . . . people here walk EVERYWHERE and all I see the women wear are these fancy dress shoes!  They must have extremely strong feet, or they must not feel anything from their knees down.  We keep having to take breaks with elevating our feet and naps.  Good thing we have a place to call home for a little while, especially during mediodia (when everyone shuts down from 4-8 pm)!

Today we toured the Sevilla Cathedral - the largest cathedral in the world.  It was crazy to see ceilings that tall and almost every wall adorned with saints, Mary and Christ.  

These are just a few items in the Cathedral Treasure room - I wouldn't mind just these items in my personal treasure room.

This is the Tomb of Christopher Columbus - yes the one who discovered America, not the one who directed the first and second Harry Potter movies.

This is the view from the Giralda tower - that is the Plaza de Torros (Bull Ring).

We 'hopped' on over to the palace to see the architecture there and quickly became amazed at how ornate the building was along with the beautifully laid out & kept gardens.

Once in the royal gardens we followed the 'cries' of the peacocks and found this; we named him Kevin.  We were pretty sure that it was a boy.

It just all keeps getting cooler and cooler.