one week in and things are ....

Well, I'll let you decide how things are. A bit messy?

First, here is our "dining room" that will eventually be our computer/media room. It is the worst place right now.

An the living room with ALL the furniture. Some of this is going in other rooms. We just can't move it yet! 

thriving in chaos

This week has been a while in coming, and as stressful as it is I'm so happy to see it! Moving is always a fun time. I love it! I really do! I hate the month of packing and unpacking but everything else is a blast.

Today, I am the official own of two properties! Yes, two! I actually have a primary and a secondary residence. Problem is, I don't feel like I am living in either place. Probably because I'm not. I will be soon. Until then, here is a run down of my week...just so I can remember how much fun it was, in a year. :)

Monday: work, close on town home, deliver furniture to garage, work on utilities.
Tuesday: user conference, carpet/upholstery cleaning, packing up the last little bit.
Wednesday: movers, user conference, powder puff game.
Thursday: close on Hyrum home, unpack.
Friday: unpack, Danette coming for a visit.
Satuday: unpack, Mom & Dad coming for a visit.

And that is it in a nutshell. :)

a major change is on its way

Today, I served Lee with divorce papers. This will probably come as a shock to some people. Well, most people actually. I did not come to this decision lightly and have thought my way through it for many years. I can't explain exactly why I decided to start the process now but I did. Things are bound to get crazy, shocking, upsetting, and (hopefully) finally good. All I can say for sure is that I'm about to exit from everything I've known for the last 19 years.

40 and fabulous!

Forty feels great! I love that there is so much ahead of me to look forward to. I thoroughly enjoyed my day. Slept in, took tons of phone calls (thanks everyone for the birthday calls!), went for a 22-mile bike ride (in the wind and chilly air, it was cold), enjoyed my first tanning session ever (thanks Danette for an amazing birthday present), received a dr. pepper and package of rolo's from Wells, was promised a skirt from Kaitlyn, and received a puzzle mat (on that allows me to roll up the puzzle and put it away) from Lee. I even start a new puzzle. I have several that I have never opened but love that I can start one and not have to rush through it because we need the space for something else.

So, what is store for me for the next 40 years? I really don't know but if it is anything like the last five, I know I will have a few adventures, see a few new places in the world, and generally have a lively time.

Middle age? over the hill? Bring it! :)

ireland - day 6

Today was Sunday. We didn't go to our church but spent the day in churches (kinda). This was our castle/cathedral day and we loved it. We got where we wanted to go when we wanted to get there and enjoyed a beautiful day. When we woke up, we saw sunshine! It was the first sunny day we had had since tuesday so were very glad to see it. We asked our host about some ruins we thought about going to see but couldn't decide if it would be worth it or not, so she googled it for us and we decided it was not. We told her this was our castle day and she told us about their local castle that was just around the corner (about a 10 minute walk). We decided to walk down there to start our day and put off a car ride for a bit. I am so glad we did as it was my favorite place of the entire trip! I loved it. Then off the Blarney Castle and then the Rock of Cashel. We found our B&B without any problems, went to the pub for dinner, and learned all about Hurling, the most famous game in Ireland. We researched Hurling and found that it is native to Ireland. No wonder it is so popular. The game was fascinating to watch and we were not in a hurry to get back to the B&B so stayed and watched it for a bit. This was the friendliest B&B we stayed at (so far). Phyllis greeted us by name, which was nice as we knew we were in the right spot. I had lost our voucher and she made phone call after phone call to get a replacement so I didn't have to pay for it again. Phyllis was fabulous! If you go to Ireland, please stay at her place! She's right outside Waterford so where you want to go anyway. Here are our three castles for the day.

The kids dubbed this mama's castle. I loved it so much. i think I loved it because it as not restored. Everthing that has fallen is still on the floor inside and you can see the trees and such growing up out of it. It was just amazing. So, what I thought ruins should be.

Next to the castle was an amazing stone bridge.

A view of the river from the bridge.

I like this picture. :)

Walking down to the bottom of the bridge. Really enjoying the sunshine.

A view of the outside of the castle. It really was stunning. I also loved the double tower. One is the stairway for the rooms on the other. I've never seen that before.

There was several other walls and structures near the castle. This looks like part of a church and there is a walled space beind. It looks like it might have been the stables or maybe garrison.

Second stop...Blarney Castle!! The castle is amazing. The entire thing is open and you can walk all the up to the top, which is where the Blarney Stone is. It was very interesting to walk through and around. But, the best part are the grounds. Wow, they are ah-maze-zing!!!

Looking at the dungeons of the castle and the caves. Legend says that once where the castle was under seige, the entire garrison (minus a very few) just disappeared! The caves, legend says, at one time stretched all the way to coast on both sides. That would be some amazing caves but a great legend nonetheless.

So, most of the floors/ceilings are missing so there are random hearths in the middle of the walls.

Hanging out in the family room. This room would have been pretty dark given it was in the middle of the castle and one of the bottom floors. There were some windows but wow, gloomy times.

Looking up from the family room. This actually shows three different levels/floors. The bottom two are pretty obvious but on top of the arch was another floor where the chapel would have been. I guess that tells you about priorities. Family spent time in the bottom, dark part of the castle but the chapel gets the topmost, lightest floor.

Looking down from the top of the castle. It was pretty far down there.

Another view from the top.

A section of the grounds called the Rock Close. It was amazing with lots of nooks and crannies and surprises around every corner. I'll just let you enjoy the pics.

I just loved the trees. I wanted to climb up and read a book.

Wells loved, loved, loved Blarney. He said it was his favorite place of the trip.

Blossoms on the grounds. Made me happy to see signs of spring.

A tapestry in the dormitory on the grounds at the Rock of Cashel. Yes, I have a thing for tapestries.

Inside the dormitory, they rebuilt the arched, beamed roof. I love these structures.

Entrance to the Rock of Cashel. This structure was really a cathedral and not a typical castle. It was used strictly for religious purposes. But that wasn't enough, so at some time two additional abbeys were built at the foot of the hill or different religious orders. Interesting that it was such a religious center.

One of the main arches.

Main hall of the Rock of Cashel.

A very small piece of the plaster that at one time covered the Rock. This is literally the only piece left. What was interesting is Kaitlyn was asking how this cathedral compared to the ones I saw in Italy. I told her that all the walls would be covered with plaster and paintings, etc. We then turned the corner and there was this piece. Helped her better imagine what I was talking about.

Some of the stone carvings in the Rock.

The town of Cashel is literally right there at the bottom of the hill. Can you imagine waking up to the view every day? Maybe it is no big deal to them.

One of the beautiful markers in the cemetary at the Rock.

What I love about this stone is that is shows how a single plot serves generations of a family. Here marks four individuals: Abby Phillips died 1837, Samuel Phillips died 1861, John Phillips died 1978, and Samuel B Phillips died 2010.

Hore Abbey from the grounds of Rock of Cashel.

The outside of Hore Abbey from a closer vantage point. 



So, this is by far my most favorite picture of the trip! I think it really sums up our experience. We loved the ruins, Kaitlyn got to be epic, and we had a fabulous time.

ireland - day 5

Today the plan was to drive south along the coast, take in the cliffs of moher and drive the ring of kerry. Well, we decided we were tired of driving. So we chatted with Mary at the B&B and she suggested we spend the day in the Burrens looking for ruins. She first tried to tell us to go visit their mountains. We told her we were from Utah and saw mountains every day. We wanted to see something different. So, she sent us to the ruins and told us we had to go to Bunratty. Armed with a map that had little pink stars on it, our GPS and the amazing navigation skills of the kids, we had a pretty good day! After Bunratty, where we stayed longer than expected, we still had a two-hour drive to our B&B, as I thought we were going to be much, much further south by the end of the day. I was a bit anxious to get there but we made it.

 The first place we went was right on the road. This parking area was flanked by houses with thatched roofs.

 Dunguaire Castle. Pretty small but still imposing right on the road. The gates were closed. I guess it doesn't open until later in the spring. It looked like you could walk right up and in but we, obviously, didn't.

 The entry to the inside. We wished for a bit.

 We did walk around the castle (took us about 10 minutes) and enjoyed some stunning scenery. The following are all pics from outside the castle.

  

 Our next stop was Corcomroe Abbey. We passed a woolen mill on the way and thought we found it but then decided to go back and ask for sure. At the woolen mill, I bought a sweater and the kids both got tin whistles. We then asked for directions and it is a good thing we did or we would never have found it. It was tucked back in behind a few farms. We were very glad we had stopped though. It was interesting. You can see some of the peaks have been rebuilt but a lot of the main structure is original. And check out the date...1182. That's older than Kaitlyn's persona! :)

 

 Next on the map was the Alliwee Cave. This cave was discovered in the '40s but not explored until the '70s. When they explored it, they found bones of bears that have been extinct for 1,000 years. I guess that was a very exciting find. We toured the inside, about a mile walk.

 Straws. The beginnings of stalactites. The insides are hollow and as the water and minerals drip down the hollow section, the ends grow...about 1 cm/50 years.

 And when the hollow center gets plugged for some reason, the water and minerals drip down the sides and create what we expect in cave. The stalagmite in this picture has been dated to be 10,000 years old.

Random water fall. Pretty cool pic. After this, we went looking for the Leamaneh Castle. We passed and drove by Cahercommaun Stone Fort (looking pretty much like what the round tower). We were a little lost and drove by a castle that looked interesting but didn't stop. About five minutes later, Kaitlyn figured out it the Leamaneh Castle that we wanted to see. We got to see a drive by but no pictures!

 Then on to the Cliffs of Moher. Have you seen the cliffs of insanity in the Princess Bride? Or the cliffs where Harry Potter looks for a horcrux? Well, we say them in person! Beautiful place. The tallest point of the cliffs is 700 feet high.

 Looking good!

Looking at the cliffs from the southern view point. See that little town up on the hill? Well, believe it or not, it is pretty tiny. A person fills the doorway. I was really surprised to see that is was that small. I guess when you have the cliffs to help protect you and you have such a great vantage point, you really don't need anything big. 

  A close up of the tower. 

See that ledge down there with all the people on it? It was beyond the safe wall but wells went out there anyway. He was pretty smart about not getting too close to the end but other people are not so smart. Anyway, wells got an amazing shot of the cliffs. See next.

 We feel in love with this saying. Not sure how to say it in Irish, but in English it is Safe Home. No, drive safely, be careful, or anything like that...just Safe Home.

 So, our next adventure was to find Dysert O'dea. This was definitely our biggest adventure of the day. The maps were not a big help to us and we ended up on some pretty back roads. We stopped and asked for directions twice and finally made it, but seriously, look at this road! The people who gave us directions kept saying "It is a really narrow road. Be careful."

 After more time than we wanted to take, we finally made it to Dysert O'Dea Castle. We went to find the high cross and were disappointed we couldn't see it...or go in the castle. But then! When we were walking back to the car, we saw a sign for the abbey and high cross.

success! We finally found a Celtic High Cross! My trip was now complete. :) We kinda hurried through Dysert O'Dea 1, because it took us so long to find it and 2. because we wanted to get to Bunratty Castle before it closed and it was still a 45 minute drive. So, off we went.

 When we got to Bunratty Castle, we found that the clock in our car was an hour slow. So, instead of it being 3:30 and having 2 hours for a tour, it was 4:30 and they wouldn't let us in the castle. The kids were very disappointed. This was the one castle they would be able to see that was restored! So, we got tickets for the Folk Park and started walking around.  The following are just random pics of the folk park.

  

  

 Kaitlyn storming the castle! She felt like she could actually take the kids' version.

 

 While we were walking around, saddened that we couldn't get into the castle, we thought about our options. So, we decided to stay for the Medieval feast that night. That would let us in parts but not all of the castle. The kids felt it was a good consolation prize.

 Going to dinner at Bunratty.

 Stairs you walked up to get to the great room.

 The kids started dancing to the music. It was fun to watch them. People around us didn't know if they were part of the show or not. That was humorous.

 A peak into the dungeon.

 We were sitting by the funnest group of Irish natives! We got to talk about all kinds of things, that were not necessarily touristy. They agreed the Irish roads are magical. The following pic is a shot of the map we were trying to follow all day. Weren't we adventurous?