*cool running*

Oh Sanka, i feel just like him right now..."Im freezing my royal rastafarian ne-ne's off!"-sanka  It is SOOO cold. I look at all of my clothes in the morning and think " I freeze in this!"-sanka. Then when i walk camilla to school or go outside at all, all you see is big puffs coming from everyones faces and i think "sanka whatcha smokin??" "im not smokin, im breathin!!" Im afraid my hair is going to break off like his. I HAVE to blow dry it now :( I've gone 3 months without any heat touching my hair, hoping it would grow but this stupid cold is dryin out my hair even worse and its breaking ahhhhh all i want is mermaid hair! Not fair. Thennnnn when i either push leone in the stroller to the school or have to hold both of their hands on the way there, my hands get so frozen that once we get inside i feel like harry&lloyd from dumb and dumber where they finally make it to aspen and harry is frozen onto lloyds back hahaha my grip feels stuck. Its so cold that as soon as you get inside the difference in temperature makes your nose run and you sweat all of a sudden so i take my jacket off at the exact moment i walk in the door and rip off my scarf haha i feel like the grinch " i hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, double hate, LOATHEEE entirely" the cold. And constantly dressing little kids in clothing for it is so annoying. Leone hates his jackets so its always a fight trying to get him to wear them and then he hates walking in his snow boots so he just cries and then his face gets extra cold so i have no choice but to hold this poor little kid and he is heavy! Its snowing right now...been snowing for the last like 6 hours straight...i have a love hate relationship with it...inside, i love looking out at it but i know once im in it im gunna be like okayyyyy wheres the sun? My feet have always been cold, so now that im actually in cold weather, they are like blocks of ice i swear. Same with my hands (im typing so freaking slow right now) Its just so weird!! Buttttt it does seem very christmassy and i LOVE that :)

its beginning to look alot like CHRISTMAS! :)

^i hope you all sang the title because i did :) Ahhh i just love this time of year especially when the house is dark and only the christmas tree lights are on and the cinnamon candles are lit with a cup of hot chocolate MMMMMM  if only i had my christmas cd gosh i cant believe i left that at home. Aw well, actually i might be coming home for christmas. im not positive yet. My visa expires in 11 days and we've been callin all over the place to figure out what i need to do. At first they were like okay we will just send you to london for a few days or a week to stay with their friend but then they remembered my brother gets married on the 21st and depending on how much it is they might send me back to mesa for 2-3 weeks (but im not sure if i go home if they expect me to pay the travel expenses so im kinda confused) and then have me meet them in florida -_- just my luck for vacation and then go back to italy....we dont really know yet hahah everythings up in the air, i might not even have to leave. So right now i have no idea. Anyways i got lost goin to church today. my gps wouldnt turn on and i thought i knew how to get there haha well actually i did. i saw the exit and i tried to get over but like i said these italians are maniacs and it was either make the exit and possibly dieeee or miss it and live so i chose the later and thought it would be just like america exits so i exited the next one...."wrongooo" (the grinch) the exit put me onto a differnt freeway that didnt have an exit for 18 miles and i had to go through toll booths oh my gosh i was talkin to myself and yelling "ahhhh which one which one?!!?" cuz they have a pre-paid thing in their car so i can go into a different lane and it will open automatically, like i wont have to roll down my window and pay, it just charges the thing in the car. Everything is written in italian so i was driving with cars behind me using process of elimination tryin to decide which line to get it. I GUESSED RIGHT :) i ended up drivin for over an hour through a couple little towns and reading tons of signs as fast as i could until i recognized either lago di garda/brescia/milano/verona and headed in that direction and thinking "seriously im trying to get to church help me out here!" haha but i made it to church for half of class and sacrament so i didnt miss it all just half! Oh and the whole time the light for gas was on but he said he had a reserve tank or something so that i would make it to church and back but i was freakin out cuz he said i would make it TO church AND back...not knowing i'd get lost and end up driving over 30 more miles so i was scared plus i dont know how to work the gas machines here since they are all different and in a different language and i ran out of money on my phone so i had no way to call them...geez do i gotta get my crap together! :)

 "Martha-mae-who-ve-ayyy has the best lights" hahahahaha i miss all the christmas movies, i hope i can find some on TV!

 I LOVE the big wooden stars. All of her ornaments are so fancy, i know you cant tell in the pics but the tree is so pretty.

Sometimes i catch myself staring at the trees instead of watching the actual tv :)

stupid computer

I had like 30 pics and a few stories all written up and all of a sudden everything got deleted so now im just mad cuz it took a long time haha soooooo im not even gunna re-write the stories. to keep it short- i can not wait to have little boys of my own!!!!!  i love christmas. we went to Brescia. i will smuggle leone back in my suitcase cuz i am obsessed with him. um lucio and luisa went to verona and there was a flash mob of 17,000people danging the gangnam style dance, now i cant wait to go to verona cuz they showed me lots of pics and its been raining alot. The end.

 i spent 50 euros on this expensive chocolate :/ but it had our name on it i couldnt just pass it by!!! Plus it wasnt for me so i dont feel like i wasted it on myeslf haha but geez thats equivalent to like 65 bucks and i am not even close to done buying chocolate for you guys.

 ^ hot chocolate ring around his head& my gelato lunch date :) i finally got up enough nerve to go into a shop by myself and order. but only cuz there was no one in there so i didnt feel like an idiot :)

Nutella...breakfast of champions right here!

So they tuned the piano...still sounds like crap and the keys stick and are broken buttt its better than nothing. Leone would take his hammer and hammer each time she would use hers aww he is so cah-ute! Also when i would play he would yell "bravo a-ca bravooo!" and clap after each song. too cute.

NYPD and camo=he's so hardcore

hahah hi bummmm! if he couldnt see me, he didnt think i could see him...

this picture cracks me up cuz he was so determined to smile even though it was hard with the sun so bright.

he loves chickens...LOVES.

doesnt he look like that thing off of the lion witch and the wardrobe movies? half goat/human. SO many leaves!

For reals? pink hello kitty bmw bike? way to ruin it huh?

Ancient Brescia stuff

pepper spray

Luisa, her sister &brother-in-law (visiting from cape verde) and the kids went to their grandma's houses for 2 days so its just me and luciano here. He is very protective. He had to leave for a few hours to go to the doctor and then the gym so he was like "ahhh i feel bad leaving i know you'll be safe but i just ummm do you want a gun or pepper spray at least?!" (he knows i like guns and we shoot birds outside sometimes) i just laughed tho and told him no worries i'll be fine but he didnt care, he still brought me some pepper spray and makes sure i take it with me where ever i go now. So today i walked down to the post office and he made sure i had it with me. He was being funny showing me how to hold it certain ways so that if someone were to try to take it, my grip would be better so they couldnt knock it out haha idk he was so serious and i just thought it was funny. It reminds me of KOOOOTEN cuz my brother has always joked about how i need pepper spray and how he would get me some but he never did. So im at the post office and there are two men in there. one in my line and another off to the side. The guy off to the side said something to me and i didnt know what it was so i just said sorry i dont speak italian. (i always have someone as me something at the post office and every time i just reply sorry i dont speak italian and they usually just say ohhhh english okay and leave me alone) He looked at me with like *eyebrows* and goes english? I just looked at him like ew you sick-o and didnt say anything. He asked me another question but i didnt understand so i started to have a not so good feeling about him. So i decided i'd let him get in front of me in line. I thought it was smart cuz if he was behind me and came out looking for me afterwards he would come up behind me and i would rather be in control so i figured if he was in front of me, he would exit first so when i would walk out of the post office he would be in front of me and i could see him. So he is at the window and keeps turning around looking me up and down like not even trying to hide it. Um no! First of all you're freaking old and like muslim or from pakistan or something he had like an orange turban type thing on and dark skin just no. He wasnt like a skinny muslim guy i think more pakistan or iraq or something, he was thicker and wore different clothes than the normal muslim people i see her. He also smelled really bad there were 2 flies literally that kept buzzing all around him and moved with him where ever he went haha! Also i realized that when guys look at me i have a potty mouth. ha oops :P nothing came out, i just think all sorts of bad names in my head and chew them out in my mind haha! Me and kaylee were always pretty straight up with guys that would stare or cat call or something like im not a dog so dont treat me like one ya know? So i have very little tollerance for idiotic men. So i looked at him like "no a-hole turn around" So he finishes and leaves the post office whewwwww and i get my letter all sent out. As i leave im thinking okay lets see if this mother is outside waiting for me. Just as i thought, i go out the glass doors and he is standing there looking in the glass waiting for me "i am the smartest man alive!!!" -billy maddison....thats what i thought when i saw him haha! and right as i make eye contact with him he pretends to be looking thru papers. Then waits for me to walk in a direction and he just hapens to go that way too....he says something to me and i pretend not to hear cuz we were kinda in a corner so i quickly walk towards the street and he runs up and cuts me off. (i have my pepper spray fully gripped in my coat pocket) and so i change direction and start walking at like an angle...sorry its hard to explain but anyway he cut me off again but i managed to get across to a street corner so we were more in the open and i just looked at him with my b-word face and say "what?!" like rude and fed up. Then he starts asking me where im from. I just stared at him like c'mon terrorist you think im gunna tell you? (i guess you could say im racist? middle eastern people just freak me out.) Then he asks where i live...same thing i just looked at him with my pissed off look and say "i dont understand you(even tho i did) and i dont want to talk to you, now leave me alone." and i try to go around him to keep walking but he sidesteps and tells me camla calma ferme which is like calm down hold still or something like that. so i looked at him like dont freaking tell me what to do and he starts asking me where im going so now im really like upset. not even so much scared just more thinking like bro please come at me cuz i would loveeeeeee to try this pepper spray out. For like the third time i say i dont know what youre saying and you're disgusting get out of my way. He says calma again and i yell NOOO i dont understand you, you dont understand me youre wasting my time leave me alone and push past him and keep walking fast. He runs across the street, gets in his car and just stares at me the whole time so i stared back haha is that wrong to do? idk but when you stare at a dog if they look away first that means you have control over them so when people stare at me i like to make them coward down first and let them know im not scared. So i stared back at him with like a "what!?" face and took the long way home since he drove behind me since it was the only street -_- So i crossed through a park and lost him. Im glad luciano gave me it an i will not go anywhere without it now because it felt so good holdin it in my hand knowing in case i need to use it i'll be okay but geez some men are just so stupid. Then after i lost him there was another guy on a different street that looked at me flirting and then said something to me and put his hand out as i walked past and i dont know what to say so i just look at them with "the face" haha. I've always been told i have a b-word looking face.  People always said i was intimidating and scary lookin, and that if they didnt know me they would never talk to me cuz i just look mean. I've been told i have the look that says i demand respect from everyone haha, Thanks?  And whenever my sports teams would be together for a while we'd all say first impressions like what we thought of eachother when we first met them and everyoneeee always says they were scared of me or thought i was gunna be such a b-word. So i like to use that to my advantage :) So yup that was  my day today!

My lovely pepper spray.....i dont look that mean right? :) oh a plus note i got this scarf for only like 6 euros and im obsessed with it! and momma those are my real nails look how long they are!!! :D

sunday :)

Sundays are always great days! Earlier this week i had the best spiritual experience so i have been pumped about church all week just cuz how do i expect to keep having those experiences if i dont go ya know? I feel like if i dont go then its like a slap in the face to Heavenly Father for answering my prayers so quickly but so many things have happened to try to get me not to go today. (too many im not even gunna name them off butttttt I MADE IT! :) So im in class....3 african men, one guy from england and a sister from the phillipines and the missionary from idaho w/ an investigator from china only i didnt know he was an investigator. ya....huge! Anyways during the lesson it was on missionary work which obviously makes me pumped so i was all jazzed up about it. The guy asked if anyone had any missonary experiences to share and no one volunteered and i hate how when all else fails everyone looks to the missionary to say something so instead i raised my hand and decided to share Tiffany's conversion story. So i told them about how her family had been giving her a lot of crap for wanting to join and telling her just a lot of bad and untrue things about the mormons but it made her happy and she knew she wanted it so she did it anyways and now that she is a member even her mom has noticed she is happier and admits its because she joined the church....after the lesson the elder came up to me and told me the investigator is in the exact same situation and hoped that me sharing that story would help him because his situation is so similar. So the rest of church me, elder johnson and (i already forgot his name oops!) the investigator sat together and just talked and answered all of his questions so i am SO glad i went. I came back home and lusia, melissa (cousin), luciano, camillo, paola(sister and brother in law from cape verde) and camilla decided they were gunna go into Milan for the day/evening to some circus show so its just me and leone here at the house hanging out. I love when its just me and him. And after playing for a few hours we are now gettin comfortable with all our pillows and blankets and this awesome couch to watch a film...guess whats on?! THE COWBOYS. ah so excited. john freakin wayne <3 One of my favorite movies so im convinced this day couldnt get any better. We watched aliens vs. cowboys last night and as we were watching it i was thinking dang i wanna watch a JW movie right now and see my home land or new mexico but close enough. And ta-dah today its on! So....imma go watch that now and then skype my family later :) Have a great sunday everyone!

 Movie night! :) yes we paused the movie just so i could upload these haha he loves his horses, he is so intense watching it.

new trail

Leone and i go on walks all the time because what else are you supposed to do with a 2 year old all day!? So yesterday we went on a 3 1/2 hour walk on this trail oh my goodness its my new favorite. Its along side a river and it has been raining all weekend/monday so there was only 2 days left for everything to get dry...exo facto- lots of mud butttt yesterday was such a good day i was determined to go for as far a walk as possible. We did a lot of "off roading" you could call it, so it was lots of fun :) Leone is so cute and calm when we go on our walks he just sits there quietly and takes it all in and then occasionally he'll turn around and smile at me and say "hi acaw, tutto bene?" and then i'll answer him and he'll just smile again and turn back around. He is so sweet. Or he'll turn around and say "acaw cheeese...acaw cheeeeese!" that means he wants to take a picture, he likes pics a lot. Which so do i so it works out perfectly :) The leaves are so pretty....mesa obviously doesnt have a fall season haha so i've never really seen this many trees with different leaves, i love it. Yesterday was just an awesome day the whole time walking i just kept thinking "holy heck im living in italy....IM LIVING IN ITALY?! is this real life...." haha it still doesnt feel real. And this girl jessica posted on facebook "sometimes when i drive i like to count my blessings...i could drive for days." So i decided to do that when i walk now. Walking on these beautiful paths with such a cute little kid and being able to be in a different country seeing how they live life really makes it easy to be thankful for so many things, so it was definitly a good day! :)

 obviously he is superrrr excited :D

 Leone and i at the secret garden...i love all of his faces!

 Ohhhhh yeah i love teeter-totters! we stopped twice to play on this :) oh and i thought it was genius that they put tires underneath it because then when the other person tries to be a jerk and let you fall on your butt super fast, you get a little cushion! perfect.

 ha he is so stinkin cute i love how he raises his eyebrows and opens his eyes wider.

 Awesome trail...

 Leone hiding each time  a car would drive by

 River

 I love the vines growing up the trees

 yellowww :)

ha! Is this normal? idk but there was a whole group of old people taking turns walking down this path with their skii poles haha practice makes perfect i guess?

 

 

 

 

Oh he was sooo happy to  play in all the leaves!

 

 

 There are people out there picking some plants? idk what they were im still curious about it haha

 

 

 

Dairy

Just cuz i knowwww you all wanna know ;) Bad dairy- Leone has been sick and has had the run all friggin day. I've bathed him and changed him so many times today from all his explosions and i gagged changing him...that bad. However luckily i never got any on me :)...but if i would have, it wouldnt have been the first time a child has crapped on me haha! Poor kid...poor me...i cant wait to be a mom -_- haha but really :)
On a good note! The dairy products here are so good. Back home, i hated milk. Only with cereal and like brownies or cookies. Or NESQUIK! <3  butttt here the milk is amazing its like dessert. I drink milk plain now and yogurt oh my gosh yoplait no thankyou i dont know if i'll be able to eat that stuff when i get home. The kind here is awesome i eat so much yogurt every day. mmmm yogurt and milk is  a dessert by itself.

Taken -_- GOOD LUCK

So before i moved here everyone was giving me crap about the movie "taken" where that girl gets kidnapped by an albanian group of men who sell the girls as sex slaves all around europe...anyways, i am teaching english lessons kinda to a guy named elson. I forgot he said he was from albania before and on tuesday night we were talking and he said "Good luck" oh my gosh i froze and got goosebumps, i looked at him like he had 3 heads, i swear my eyes popped outta my head. Scared me half to death and then he was like what what did i say it wrong?! So i told him about the movie and he has seen them so it made him start laughing so then my fear turned to laughter haha geez he sounded JUST like the man in the movie it scared me so bad. KKK heres some pics from this week :)

 

 

 Goat on the roof?! yeah no big deal, totally normal...

 Camilla learning to draw a person with a body haha i make it with dots and then she connects them. She loves it, we've been doing it with watercolors the last couple days too.

 Oh ya know...me and camilla just love taking pictures making funny faces :P

 Never too old to play inside a smurf house...maybe a little too big but when 2 kids are begging you to crawl inside with them, you get down on your freaking hands and knees and cram inside haha!

 The sun was bright pink it was so cool!

 ^uh-ohhhh nazi action in the park....

 Isnt he a doll?

 nibbling my boots!

 My favorite!! I love when he does this, "makes me melt like a posicle on the fourth of july!" -little rascals :)

 This hill...leone and i were walking and he went off the path and i was like nooo leone come here you'll slip and fall welp right as i reach for him we both slip and ate it all the way down! Im talking yard-sale. my purse flew off and my phone &ipod fell out...leone's shoe fell off and when i finally stop rolling i look over at leone thinking great hes gunna be crying this is gunna be awful...he just looks at me gets the biggest grin on his face and goes "tutto bene aw-caw!?" sooo stinkin cute. We both were covered in mud but it was too funny.

 Oh genius idea until i let go of the jacket and opened the doors and camilla tried reaching out to push herself with her hands on the tile...tipped over...split her chin open :/

 Story- camilla loves taking pics on my phone so she tells me shes taking a pic so i smile at her then she goes noooo nooo sticks out her tongue and points to it and says you! She is obsessed with tongues!

 Leone and i built a fort out of his bed :)