My Kadey baby's first decade!

This be the man himself. 

Feliz Cumpleaos!

&

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

T.E.N.

            

 

Anyone that knows this kid knows that his crazy, goofy, comical self has a way of making you feel like a million bucks. Can't wait to celebrate his belated when I get back.

LOVE YOU BUD!

               

The island of Cabrera and my city of Palma

Event of the week was our boat excursion to the island

Cabrera.

We started off the journey at 9 am, lunches packed, and ready to take a relaxing boat ride to this island reserve we had heard so much about.
Psych.
Instead we were drenched with the saltiest sea water from head to toe within the first 5 minutes of the ride. Literally, this water leaves your skin with an extra coat of salt, handy for anyone lacking in their sodium intake for the month?

We got to spend a good 5 hours on the island. Here's what we saw:

View of the 14th century castle

Castle staircase

And then to my favorite part, the

BLUE CAVE.

Ho. Ly. Cow.

I'm tempted to say I've never seen anything so breathtaking in my life... it's definitely up there.
From above the water we were in aw, this water was literally a glowing cave of the richest blue. We were swimming around like we'd never seen water in our lives.
But wait,
then a blessed fellow-tourist had a revelation sent from heaven to lend a pair of snorkel goggles (we had jumped off the boat so excited, we left ours behind)...

My. Mind. Was. Blown.

I had her laughing pretty hard when I came up just gasping. Hardly breathing. Mouth in an "O". And then plunged back down. What I'd give to be able to post pictures of the scene I saw under that water for you all! The best description I can think of is to imagine swimming in an enormous body of aquarium water so clear that not a single fish was ever out of view. The bottom of the sea cave was clearer than if there were no water at all, it couldn't have possibly been any more luminescent blue. More blue than your fancy backyard waterfalls or pools with the deceiving blue-bulbed lights shining on them.
Unreal.

Oh. And I had my first encounter with a new friend, the Jellyfish. He didn't like my foot much - ouch :"(

August 27th

Sittin on the dock of the bay, wasting time...

Most definitely not a waste of a day buuuut surely a goody. I left asap after Marta got home today and took the first bus I could catch down to Palma.

The day turned into roaming without a care in the world for 5 hours straight completely caught up in the magic of Palma. I checked lots of good shopping for the family off the list, walked through a great museum, stopped to smell roses, sat to listen to some super talented street musicians and caught a few shots of the great city I live in.

I was around the corner when heard some music that made my heart skip a beat and HAD to see what he was all about.
Dear Enrique had perfect style to sing American classic oldies with catchy rhythm and almost a twang to his voice. LOVED this
He was from Uruguay but living in Mallorca at the moment. Had played for 20 years in a little band with other strings entertaining hotels and little parties. He let me choose his final two songs of the day before packing up and didn't disappoint me with his version of, Sitting On the Dock of the Bay.
Mmmmm

  Loved this fellow also, Blai Vidal Ponieku - He had me mesmerized for a good long while

Palma Cathedral which was started in 1226 and not completed until 1601
It's HUGE.

Final Thoughts...

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” 

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist 

HIGHLY suggest the book. It spoke in a few lines exactly a conversation we were having and more eloquently than I ever could have.

Just read it, you won't regret it :)

Some perfect days in La Colonia

 First, the FOOD.

My pride in my skill to make beautiful, DELICIOUS salads has yet to fail me.
What. A. Beauty.

For a more Spanish experience- The classic Pamboli.
Bread with oil, tomatoes, cheese, and various forms of jamon (ham). 

Both Kacey and Kelsey's families are now at their vacation homes in La Colonia for the next 3 weeks. It's yet another gorgeous beach full of beautiful sunsets and only a hour and half walk from where I go every weekend. Take a look at what BLOWS my mind over and over again...

                                

One of the catches of this hour and half walk is about mid-point. One of the most beautifully-known beaches within this area happens to be a nude beach. Don't you worry folks. I was 12 years old again when I stumbled upon this the first time ALL BY MYSELF. I was cracking up inside and was dying because I didn't even have anyone to act crazy goofy with. Let's just say I'm replacing loads of these images with more of the ones above ;)

La Colonia

 

Beach babes

 This view is of what I saw during one of the most relaxing moments in La Colonia. Kace and I found a little shade of trees late one afternoon, flung out our towels and sprawled out with no worries in the world and our riveting books in hand. I ended up falling asleep and woke up to a blue sky, sailboats and blue water 20 feet away and this beautiful tree looking over me.
whataday

  Rafa, Kels's papa, took us out on some good spins on his speed boat. And yes, we were both captains of the Mediterranean for enough moments to feel pro!

A Sunday's Thoughts

Tender mercy topper of the week:

So there's this light that is unmistakable in peoples' eyes and on their faces. I've been blessed to see this light within many of those whom surround my daily life and also to have an understanding of where this light comes from. When I see this light, I feel an overwhelming sense of happiness and determination to be a better person in hopes of emitting such a light myself. It's almost inexpressible at times to adequately describe the way this light affects me. In relation to my travels here, I think about missionary work for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the power missionaries hold in simply their presence. What a testament, in itself, this presence of being can be to many. I've a re-committed desire to be an example of the believers each day of my life. I love this gospel! 

- My thoughts and scripture focus this week had been on this topic and having the Spirit's visible companionship when a lil glimmer of my Heavenly Father's love shown on down to me today at church. The smallest comment completely made my week and will never be forgotten. Spoken by our cute Relief Society president, "Here are my girls, now just seeing your bright faces is a testimony that my God lives!", and she shuffled on her cute way down the hall. I'm thinking God was mindful of my prayerful thoughts this week... :)
Also, I was our sacrament pianist today, goodness I love the piano. I loved every minute of our little branch singing along and then got a good chuckle out of our Nigerian Sunday School teacher, Monday's, chastising chat with me, "Now what you hide yo talent fo? You suppose to let yo talents be seen fo all, now you been here two months and we just now hear yo piano?". Bah love him and that accent of his, sure will miss our new style of Sunday School learning.

Pirates of the Caribbean

I sure hope I've made it clear how incredibly grateful I am for the people who have made this excursion the picture perfect trip that it has been. Honestly, had it not been for the countless amounts of strangers that continue to offer such generous acts of kindness, this trip would be about a billion times different and also, not near as dreamy! A mere, Thank You, sounds so insignificant, but it holds the most sincere meaning when I say it.

Meet the Gabriel Rydin family

Gorg, right? Don't worry, they're all models or something. For reals. Anyway, Kace had met Gabe back in High School when he was in Orem on a foreign exchange for two weeks. He happened to be vacationing from his home in Sweden this last week and I was able to meet him and his awesome family. 

This week we took a trip back to Soller, the port city I talked about a couple weeks ago. We had only visited the actual port last time, so a nice walk around the actual town was filled with new sites and a gorgeous cathedral. 

Gabe and his family had no idea how they made our day when they threw a little invite our way. Last week we were roaming tourist shops and stumbled upon a picture perfect post card that was apparently, the greatest beach on the island. From the looks of this post card, people weren't lying, and we instantly added it to our, ¨Someday we may make it there...¨, list, and carried along our way.

Gabe's invite was to none other than our beloved Sa Calabra, and by use of a CAR. A car people! We were peeing our pants. Of course, we accepted, and were stoked to get to spend more time with the family.
The adventure began by winding down the tiniest of tiny ¨streets¨ which was definitely and adventure in itself. The road was designed to fit the natural landscape rather than the convenience of cars. This made the 12 kilometer drive a 35 minute cruise, complete with the danger of wild goats, the fear of toppling over the edge of this monstrous cliff, and of course, our classic European drivers around every sharp corner.
Car sick much? So worth it.

Little shop at the top of the mountain before we began winding down.

The tunnel through the rocks to the beach area

I think this picture is the best depiction of the history of the port. Way back when, it was known as a pirate hot spot, seeing as it's cove was the perfect hide out for mischief. Even up until the 50's it was used for all sorts of smuggling. Welcome to our very own Pirates of the Caribbean cove!

We felt like we were literally jumping on in to the movie itself. But a billion times more gorgeous and less dangerous...

We used a rope to climb up the rock to the left, hiked up some stairs carved into the rock, and jumped of the side. AMAZING

Post card worthy. Picture perfect day.

I was absolutely SOAKING up Gabe's little brother, David. He is my lil bro, Kade's, age and I was in complete heaven playing with the little guy. We're pals ;)

Saturday us gals had the special treat of meeting up with ALL of our families together in La Colonia. These are mine, Kels, and Kacey's kids all chowing on some pizza. Loved this night.