The Hill Family

Switzerland is famous for cheese. They have these Show Dairies in different parts of the country and we were able to visit a couple of them. This is the Emmentaler Schaukäserie. We got to see the cheese being made the old fashion way. Simon and and I both got to stir the cheese with the huge wooden spoon. This is the cheese after he pulled it out of the pot and let it sit in the mold. The taste is really bland until they salt it. Afterwards we enjoyed some locally made yogurt and bought some cheese for some seriously delicious grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. There were four different castles on the Thunersee (the lake). These were my two favorite ones. I think royal life would of suited me well. We stayed three nights in a city called Lauterbrunnen. This is Staubach falls. We could see this from the balcony of our hotel. Chateau de Chillon We got to tour this medieval castle on our own. Hiking with two little kids is not particularly convenient, but we were in the Swiss Alps and ...

After our little stay in the hospital, we decided to head home to Munich to regroup and see how Auburn was doing. We came home and Auburn played, so we did laundry, and made plans to continue in the morning. Well, Auburn jumped out of bed so we headed onward ... to Switzerland. We just prayed that the second part of our trip would be better than the first, (which it was). While Auburn and I were in the hospital, Simon had to find ways to keep Conley and himself entertained. Conley was allowed to stay at the hospital very long. Luckily we were in the Eisenstadt which is about one hour from Vienna and the same to Bratislava. One day they headed to Vienna. This is St. Stephens Cathedral inside. Simon said it was really psychedelic with the lights. The next day they headed to Bratislava and caught the Slovakia v. Andorra game. Apparently it was poorly attended, but Conley had a blast ! We spent our first morning at Achensee. It is a beautiful lake in western Austria. We all stuck our toes ...

Simon and I planned this super awesome two week road trip. We were going mainly be in Austria and Switzerland with a little bit of time in Slovakia, Croatia and Slovenia to see his Uncle Dave. We thought it would be such a shame to be so close to these countries and not really see them. Well, the first week turned out to have a lot more unexpected excitement than we would of like. A brand new rental car breaking down on us in the middle of nowhere, a sick kid, a trip to the hospital... Not fun stuff. The second week was awesome. I decided to blog about the first week first and then end on a good note We started out by driving to Austria and Conley and Auburn both threw up. My stomach couldn't handle the clean up because I was car sick myself, so Simon got clean up duty. We cleaned up and then went for a beautiful walk around this Gosausee. Breathtaking. We then headed to Hallstatt where we ate lunch, walked around the city, and visited the Beinhaus. We then drove to Liechtensteinkl...

This happened way back in May, but I am trying to catch up.... My favorite sister Carrie has had quite the adventure. She graduated from BYU Idaho in December and then went to Mexico for four months to teach English. After being home for only a few days she hopped on a plane and headed to Germany with her friend Wendy to see Europe for three weeks. That is my way to party after you graduate! We loved having her here with us. She was able to travel all over, Salzburg, Florence, Rome, Venice, Paris and London. I was able to fly out to London for a short weekend to meet up with her. (Thanks Simon for watching the kids). It was my very first time away from the kids. I cried when I left, and I missed them, but it was great. We stayed with my friends the Zabriskies, thanks! We spent the day at musuems, went to a musical and just walked around the city. Thanks for letting me hang with you Carrie! me and Buckingham Palace National Gallery My sister Carrie Us enjoying Jersey Boys (I am not so g...