Oh Say Can You See....

Being an American is such a great priveledge! We hope that you can relate to what we are feeling this 4th. We are grateful to be citizens of such a great country (political issues aside here for a minute) where we enjoy many wonderful freedoms and bounties. We missed our traditional activities in America, Bryan worked until 5 pm, but we were finally able to celebrate with a big bbq at our home. We had close to 50 people come..... where we ate until we were sick! Dang overeating Yanks! It was a great feast of friends!

Little Ulyssa and her "Walow Melon"

Bryan conducting the choir....huh? Must have been prayertime, otherwise that hat would be stuck to his head!Sister Ostler, Izzy and puppies

Our traditional 4th Jello. All the Romanians thought it was funny and were very intrigued by the idea of jello salad. No CoolWhip here, we handmixed some "topping", then had to setup for 4 hours in the fridge.

Olivia, Missionaries (Elder Bigu and Sister Hardy) and Mariana (Our branch president's wife--she is an incredible linguist and an all around incredible person)


Our kind neighbors Elias and Nina. He is a Seaman (ship engineer) she is the sweetest lady, a plant expert...told Lisa she was Sexy! ha ha also says cinnamon will give you the same results. They had us over one night and treated our family like royalty. She always cries when she hugs our girls.Elder Castro and Elias our neighbor, both Navy boys. Other Romanian friends from church

Random shot of someone's plate??Fielding is from Hibbard...Julie, he says he knows you from Highschool. Nice guy
In red T-shirt is Tibi, a one-of-a-kind Romanian from church. As an actor, he really knows how to pump up the fun and likes to include lots of people in his plans. He thinks Ethan is da bomb

Lacey Potter our fun, sweet, crazy friend...Dome Wife, like me! Here's her other half...Troy, He's taken a liking to Olivia and Ulyssa who give him big hugs, he and Bryan are co-captains on this Romanian Project.

Lily, Niku and Lucas...Romanian friends from work. She translates for Dome. Lots of
romanians speak with western accents (vs the British accent)from watching Cartoon Network and Hollywood Movies, I love it. Aren't they a nice looking family?



Izzy prepares for company! She's just coming out of her shyness....ha ha!Our full yard, the party spilled over into every part of the yard and house, we had company until 11:30. So fun, notice there are no pictures of Lisa. She was running circles with the kids and food and camera! We had friends from America, Romania, Italy and Rwanda. Can't think of a better way to celebrate our country's diversity!!!

Histria....Romania's oldest city...incredible ruins

Just about an hour north of us, in the deltas, where the Danube River meets the Black Sea is Histria...Officially the oldest city in Romania, settled by the Greeks in 600 B.C., later resettled by Romans. We all agreed that being able to walk along the trails and climb the walls was an awesome way to explore this ancient city built on the sea.



We live in Constanta, look just above to find Istria on the map.

Jason South, one of our long time friends (also son of Barry South) was in town for the weekend. He is a structural engineer, so it was like a kid in a candy store for him to come to Histria. He had some great insight on the architecture...like this column.

This area was excavated in a way that it looked like part of the sewer system. What do yu think?

Looking out from the highest point on the outer wall....I love photos at sunset

Lisa and Stats, looking toward the walls of the city (huge by the way) with the Black Sea beyond



Columns taken from the city, there was absolutely no one watching anything. If this was America, there would be National Park Employees watching your every move, more yet, you probably wouldn't even be allowed to walk through the old city, but would have to view a model or look at it through glass. It felt special to walk through


Walls of an old Roman Thermae (like Turkish Baths) community bathing facilites with pools, steam and natural mineral baths. Knowing what we know now about the locals, privacy was not an issue.




Bryan impressing Ulyssa with his Robotic moves in the attached museum. They had the coolest stuff! Everything was out the open, the no-touch clause didn't exist here.

Jason, he was so excited to find these ancient water channels used to pipe water into the city. They were cut out of rock and all fit tightly together,..he was feeling tempted to lift one or two back to the states for his architectural collection :)
Bathtime for Stats?

Our clan at the archeology museum, I like how Bry is looking at Jason!

Haircuts, Smoochies and Hanging out

First of all...HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all the great Dads, Grandpas, Uncles, and Brothers in our lives. Thank you for keeping balance in the universe with your logical ways of thinking, your fix-all mentalities, your funny quirks that make you a man, and the tender ways you love and provide for all those in your lives. We especially honor the dad of this family. We love you Bryan and hope your day is great!
Bryan and baby Stats, getting so big! The baby, that is! Bryan looks handsome too, but it had been a long workday! They are hoping to inflate the big dome next week, which means we won't see much of him. For a little added drama, they failed an inspection, but they suspect the local inspector is buddies with a competing concrete company that they didn't use. He has caused a lot of trouble here for our guys. It sounds like he is under investigation, so happy days with new inspectors. They are working some nice long hours here, hopefully things will even out a little so we see him more. The good news is that he has a killer farmer tan.


Olivia the Ballerina! Ash took Olivia out for a photo shoot and this is the result. Love this action shot of her doing her best pirouette, she even got some air time! Nice one Livi!

Ethan's Hair was looking....well, funky, it's like those old pants that stand themselves up in the corner....so, we hired this crazy old lady in glasses to cut his hair. I'm not sure if she knew what she was doing....here's the result though.


Cute eh? Notice, all photos of Ethan involve him holding something with potential for disaster, like sticks on fire or hanging upside down, etc.




















Our Little Statton just turned 4 months old! Here are some cute picts of him working Ashlee's face over! Don't you love his expression at the end..."Huh?"
Everyone was laughing as he gnawed away, look at the grip he has on her juglar vein....









Olivia and Ulyssa our dress-up girls!


Ulyssa checks herself out in the mirror, wearing her new birthday tutu (looks like SOMEBODY forgot to clean the mirror).




"Mmmmmm-mmmm, do I look good!"




A birthday pout, everyone is entitled to at least ONE on their birthday, this was Ulyssa's.
Isabella and Ashlee are awesome big sisters, always dressing up and ooohing and aaahing over their little sisters. Check out the face painting job Ash did on Olivia....remember the girl from Indianna Jones with her eyelids painted?


Last weekend, we had a big bbq here with all the American workers and their families, and 2 sets of missionaries. (Picts later.) After it was over, Troy Potter (Dome superintendant) and his wife Lacey, took our 4 girls on a impromptu shopping spree and spoiled them rotten! Totally unexpected and way too generous, but the girls came home with huge ice cream covered smiles and some fun toys. Here's Izzy sporting her IPOD shuffle, and a pict Ashlee took with the digital camera they got her! Olivia and Ulyssa got dolls that they take everywhere. It was a very sweet surprise, thanks Troy and Lacey!


Love to all of you. Hope your summers are cool and comfortable, can't wait to hear from you!