Day 2: Church and Madrid City Center

Just a side note, our hotel has the tiniest elevator I have ever seen. It says the capacity is 4 people, but with the two of us and our backpacks, we were SQUISHING big time to fit in.

I don't think we could have packed more into one day that we did today. Last night, Rodd found out where our LDS ward would meet and we mapped out our trek via the Metro. We left just before 9 am to be there by 9:30 am, but got a little lost along the way and ended up being a little late. We found the building because a few other church members were late too (nearly half of the small branch) and waiting outside of the locked gates to be let in. Their church building is located on the bottom floor of an apartment complex. We buzzed to be let in but ended up having to wait a few minutes. One of the families we met while waiting to get in was trilled to meet a family from Utah because their daughter had just returned from a proselyting mission in Salt Lake four weeks earlier! It was fun to speak with her and see her excitement for the Gospel and her love for Utah! Her mother was also excited to have us there so her daughter could practice her English. :)

The meeting was really good. We love attending church in Spanish because the spirit is always so strong. It is great to meet and share with members of other cultures our wonderful Gospel. What a wonderful blessing to come to a strange place and instantly have 30 new friends. We felt so loved and so welcome.

Rodd outside of the Madrid Barrio 4th ward building after church.

We headed back to our hotel to change our clothes and find some food. We hadn't eaten since yesterday morning on the plane! We were able to get some delicious grub up the street at a restaurant called Cafetería Con Duende. Our waiter just so happened to be Dominican, which was fun. The food was delightful.

Appetizer

Seafood Paella and Bistek with papas (fries)

Flan for dessert. :)

                                       

Waiting for the Metro, map in hand...

Metro de Madrid

After lunch, we headed to the downtown neighborhood of Sol. Here we saw some wonderful architecture and beautiful buildings!

This was one of our favorites! We stood outside for a few minutes wondering what it could be. We later found out it was for El Banco de España... not what we expected.

Metro entrance by el Banco de España.

Auntamiento de Madrid. (capital building)

Calle de Acalá

Statue of Oso y El Madroño in Sol (city center)

We were able to find the statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza!! 

Rodd's favorite and the highlight of our day!!

We tried some candy that ended up being sour and this is face Rodd gave me... classic Rodd face. :)

 Jardines Del Campo Del Moro... Rodd is excited!

  Jardines Del Campo Del Moro. Surrounds the Palacio Real (Royal Palace).

   Jardines Del Campo Del Moro... Peacock included.

 Palacio Real

 Cathedral across from the Palacio Real.

 Apartments across from the Palacio Real.

 Downtown Streets of Madrid.

 H&M!! (This one is for you, Mom! :)

We stopped at this restaurant to eat before heading back to our hotel for the night and I ordered french fries with blue cheese... They came and were awful! Rodd hates blue cheese as it is, but I love it. 

NOTE: Blue cheese in Spain is NOT the same as in the U.S. (Yes, it looks gray...)

We both left still feeling hungry, so we tried a Turkish restaurant up the street from our hotel. It was good! I liked it more than Rodd did, but it was a good ending to a great day. Not to mention Pistachio Baklava for dessert! 

All-in-all it was a wonderful day, filled with lots of sightseeing and exploring the city!! Tomorrow we meet up with our study abroad group and head to Salamanca! 

Day 1: Getting there...

Wow. What a rush the last couple of days have been! I finished my last final at 8:30pm Thursday night and met up with Rodd to finish some last minute errands before heading home to pack and get ready. Rodd ended up falling asleep around 1am and I was up all night. Around 3:30am we got up to shower and load the car. We headed up for our 6:45am flight to Houston.

We're found ourselves saying to each other... "This is really happening..." ... "We're really doing this" ... I guess it didn't hit us what we were ACTUALLY doing until we got to the airport. We had left ourselves with less time than we usually do and , when we got there, were surprised to see a huge line just to check our bags and an extremely long line for security. Long story short, we ran to the gate and made it to the plane with only 8 minutes to spare.

Three flights in all. SLC to Houston to Newark to Madrid. We left around 6:45 am and arrived to Madrid around 10:30 am (2:30 am Mountain Time). We wasted no time and headed out to explore. We purchased tickets to travel on the local metro and buses and headed to the Madrid Temple.

Just got off the subway, looking for the temple.

Rodd at Madrid, Spain Temple

                                                                   Madrid, Spain Temple

By the time we got there, ready, and inside, we were both so tired from lack of sleep we could hardly stay awake! It was still a good experience. I love doing temple work in Spanish. :)

When we finished, we found a hotel in the city and went straight there on the Metro. It was already 6pm in Madrid and we told ourselves we would only sleep a couple of hours, then look for a place to eat dinner. 9pm came and we were both too tired to get up! We slept until 11pm and made plans for the next day, then back to bed at 2am. 

The Countdown Has Begun!

For all of our friends and family that will be following us while we are away, I'll be updating our blog as often as I can with pictures and such.

Thanks for all of your support!

Countdown: 6 days and counting!

I'll try to post our itinerary this weekend. :)

Total Money Makover

As I mentioned before on Facebook we are doing the Total Money Makeover. I am now a Dave Ramsey fan and am reading the book. We really focused last year and paid off all of our debt in August 2011 (before listening to Dave). We are now completely debt free except for our home and we are now working on paying our home off early while building savings and retirement. For those looking to make their money work better for them, READ HIS BOOK! I am even happy to loan it to you if you want (I have it on Kindle and a hard copy).

He is on Talk Radio each night from about 7pm-10pm (105.7fm or 570am) and I love his view on money. It will change your life. It's not rocket science, but he does make it very plain and simple. He calls it as he sees it and will put you in your place when needs be. :)

We didn't have any consumer debt, but were able to pay off both of our cars and a student loan. It feels amazing and a huge weight has been lifted! What I love about his book is that it doesn't matter how much money you make, you can always make a way to be come debt free and live financially/payment free! I am looking forward to the day when we no longer have to make a mortgage payment. WOOHOO!

 I hope we can turn as many people as possible on to his plan so they can experience the same joy we have by relieving yourself of the weight of ANY debt. It's amazing and totally worth it. We hope everyone will join us in living a payment free life. :)

This year so far...

It's been a great year so far! We are so blessed.

I continue to work and go to school full-time and Rodd is also working really hard. I am looking at some options for working part-time so I can finish my degree sooner. Again, we are so blessed and have been surprised at the number of options available. We have a lot of decisions to make.

His birthday was on Tuesday, right in the middle of my finals week. My birthday is also in the middle of finals for the fall semester. What's up with that? I had finals on both of our birthdays this year. Since he would be heading out soon to work for a while we did a Birthday Week Marathon and did all kinds of fun stuff all week: movies, dinners, nickel arcade, gifts, games at home, etc. It was quite the weekend and so much fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY! :)

I think that Facebook has kind of replaced my blogging as I feel I have already posted most of this stuff there... but I still  need to do better.

NYC - Day 5: 9/11 memorial and Wall St.

9/11 memorial
Back for nap
Wall st
Late show w David letterman
Sushi, pizza, nuts
Times sq., Bom on broadway
Change in flight plans, staying an extra day
Duane reade for some treats

pics to come.

NYC - Day 4: Times Square and Empire St. Bldg

Squires Diner for Breakfast
Got ready, changed rooms for view. Awesome!
Times square
Madison Sq Garden
Saw Hugh Jackman outside of his show on closing night
5 napkin burger for dinner, cupcakes treat
Chrysler bldg, Empire St. Bldg

Pics to come. :)