The Big 26

It's this guys birthday today.  And that means he is 26.  Is it just me or is time flying by?  Time flies when you're having fun right?  Well to celebrate his birthday, I'm going to do the typical wife blog and tell you 26 things about him you may not know.
1.  He is a total goof ball.
2.  He puts 100% into EVERYTHING he does.  (ex. running, the dirty dash, hobble creek, skiing, etc.)
3.  He is the biggest ski junky I know
4.  He LOVES his job
5.  He likes singing Cotton Eyed Joe in the morning.  It's surprisingly upbeat and gets us up and at it in the morning.
6.  Loves 99s
7.  Can always make anyone laugh
8.  Cuddles with our dogs at least 3 times a day.
9.  Loves sports, whatever season it is that will be what's on at our house
10.  Super handy.  We will have a project to do, and all of a sudden he is building or repairing something.  I'm starting to think that guys are born with this "handy" gene
11.  He will do ANYTHING for his family
12.  I'm starting to think he loves little kid toys more then our nephews do.  He'll always be the first one to put it together and "test" it out for them.
13.  Loves his car, even though it is the SLOWEST car on the planet
14.  He can spend hours in REI
15.  Is the most athletic person I have ever met.  He is seriously good at EVERYTHING.  It's seriously not fair.
16.  Doesn't like dressing up for Halloween
17.  Loves pizza, mostly Totinos.  Our freezer is always packed with them
18.  Always encourages others
19.  Helper, he is constantly offering to help with anything around the house.  It is VERY nice.
20.  Knowledgable.  He picks up facts fast.  For instance, ski and snowboard tech facts.  He can spit them out and my head is literally spinning when he is talking to someone about product.
21.  Singer, he can always brighten my day by saying, "I picked out a song for you" and it'll be something like G Love "She's got Sauce"
22.  Evan is very spur of the moment.  We go on walks with the dogs at 10 at night or go on car rides up the canyon just because we feel like it.  Also all the trips we take.  It's nice to be married to someone who has the same adventurous drive.
23.  Love for life.  Everyday he lives life to it's full capacity.  Whether that be laughing until our sides hurt, or fitting as much time in a day as we possibly can.  He never lets a day go by without doing something.  It makes life more fun.
24.  He has the curliest hair ever and longest eyelashes.  I have total hair and eyelash envy since mine is stick straight and I have the shortest eyelashes ever made.
25.  Super organized.  Evan is great with organization.  All our closets are organized with tupperware and he is super good with numbers and takes care of the whole household.  It's positively wonderful.
26.  He has taught our dogs to give hugs every morning and at night.  I never thought a dog could do that!

Overall, I think I hit the jackpot.  Evan is the most caring, loving husband I could ever have asked for.  That is only 26 things people may not know about him.  Most probably already know all of that because he is that special to anyone that has met him.  I hope you have a wonderful birthday Ev!

Last two stops

The last two stops, we didn't do an excursion so we were on our own to wander and figure out something to do.  It was so hot on both of the days.  We went to Naples first, then Palma de Mallorca.  My ultimate favorite was Palma de Mallorca.  I loved that island.  It was so pretty and almost tropical in some cases, but still had historical places, such as cathedrals, and castles.  Naples, was dirty.  Like piles of garbage all over the streets.  It was pretty gross.  But I found some delicious gelato there.  One thing we kept on forgetting is you have to have your shoulders and knees covered in order to get into the cathedrals.  I die in hot weather, so I would have the knee part covered, but I would wear a tank top or something with the long skirt.  So I wasn't allowed in anywhere.  We got some stunning pictures in Palma, not so much in Naples because we didn't really see that much.  Italian people are super friendly too.  We never felt taken advantage of or anything for not being able to speak the language.  We had a great experience on this trip, and it was nice to go on such an amazing trip together and get away from everything!

 A castle we found in Naples

 Apparently a cannon ball was still stuck in a door, they had it on display

 Pretty cathedrals I couldn't go in

 These are the back streets that we found.  Notice, no tourists.  

 Palma de Mallorca

 The streets were extremely different, notice clean

Palma had more of a tropical feel, extremely pretty place.

Rome

After Pisa, we had one sea day and then off to Rome.  It was a long drive in, and a pretty hot and humid day for how much walking was ahead of us.  But we started off with driving around the city, then drove past the original Ceasar's Palace.  We then parked, and saw the Trevi Fountain, which was PACKED with people.  We were extremely careful who we asked to take our pictures, we mostly asked Americans or people in our tour group.  Some of these places had sketchy people walking around.  After the Trevi Fountain we walked through town and into the Roman ruins.  It honestly was at the center of the city and they still had pillars and all sorts of remains of buildings still around.  And the water system still pumped out water.  No, I didn't try it even though our guide insisted it was the best water around.  As we exited the ruins, we saw the Colosseum.  This is amazing to see in person.  Plus the history behind it.  They used to have water games in the Colosseum and fill it up in the center and have sea creatures in the water as well.  Also they had cages, or stalls ground out into the stone and they would put a fake stage on top of these stalls and that's where they kept the animals, or people who were fighting.  The original marble seats are still in tack as well as the second story and the original stairs.  All of it was mind boggling.  I can't believe we were there.  This was the highlight of the trip for both of us.  Plus, the reason why it is half demolished on top is they used some of the stone for the Vatican.  So they reused this stone for St. Peter's Square and the pillars they built in the square.  After the Colosseum we headed off to an authentic Italian dinner, with espresso.  Ps, if America had coffee/espresso like the Italians did I think I would drink it more, and Starbucks would go out of business.  It's so so so much better!  After lunch we were off to St. Peter's Square and to see the Vatican.  The line was forever long and we only went into St. Peter's but just being in that area was wonderful.  I'm bummed we weren't able to see the Sistine Chapel, but hey save that for another trip right?  Overall Rome was a whirlwind but totally worth it!  Picture overload below.

 Original Ceasar's Palace

 Streets of Rome

 Trevi Fountain

 Original Roman ruins

 Colosseum

 You can see the white seats, those are original marble seats

 The stalls, and the stage they would put over the top

 Closer view of the stage

 Higher up view of the whole Colosseum

 St. Peter's Square

 The never ending line.

 The Pope's balcony

 One of the Vatican guards.

 I personally thought all these statutes on top were a little creepy, but still super historic at the same time.

 The square exiting the Cathdral

 Part of the Cathedral ceiling

The entrance to Vatican City