Aaron Baillio’s Blog

Hey all!  Well, I had a pretty good Father’s day too.  Although it got started pretty early…5:15am early!  If you haven’t heard yet, I’ve been asked to serve in the bishopric!  2nd counselor.  It’s kind of scary and kind of cool.  I’m looking forward to it but I am really intimidated by the call as well.  I want to be able to serve others the best I can and I don’t know if I’ll have all that it takes, much less the spirit to uplift others and discern how they are feeling.  So, cool but scary.

Anyway, so I had early meetings and church was good.  I had to stay and do tithing as well but it wasn’t bad.  When I got home we had the gift opening.  Kristin got me a book called Men of Influence.  Its pretty good.  I haven’t gotten to far into it but its about using he priesthood.  You know, stuff that we should all be doing but either don’t recognize we don’t or don’t understand.  So, it should be a good read.  I also got two really nice cards.  Then Kristin made one of my more favorite meals, chili!  I know, it’s simple but I like it.  It must be one of my comfort foods.  The rest of the day was relaxing.  I didn’t have to do anything else or go anywhere else so that was nice.

Last Saturday I went up to the temple with the youth to do baptisms!  That was really fun!  I hadn’t been to the temple in a while so it was fun to be able to go up there and be with the youth. 
It made me want to recommit to taking Kristin back up.  Now that Ellie-Jayne is a little older and doesn’t need constant attention I think we can venture it now.  Especially with some looming life decisions ahead it will be nice to get some clarity and some direction.

That night I came back and we went to an adults only party and played some guitar hero into the late night hours!   It was fun.  I LOVE that game.  I could play for hours.  I sang, did the drums and played some guitar.  All around rock star!  We played the new Smash Hits one which is really cool.  They have some great songs that haven’t been previously accessible to us Wii owners.

Anyway, that’s about it.  Well, there is a lot going on and life just got even busier with this new calling but I’ll try to update later.  I have a fun date planned for Kristin.  She doesn’t know much about it yet so I hope it goes over ok.

Hey everyone! Sorry for the late posting. No excuse except that I’m just lazy.

Anyway, we went camping last weekend…just me and the boys. It was really fun. We went to the Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold France. It is the largest American cemetery outside of the US. Plus it’s really close to home. Anyway, we got out there around 7 or so which was plenty of time for us to set up our tents in the daylight. We then walked around the grounds a little bit getting some adventuring in. We went up to the grave markers in one area and the spirit was so strong. It was just me and the boys and I could sense the reverence of the area. So, we went to a grave stone and I showed the boys the name and why this person died here. I felt impressed to say a prayer and give thanks for these people who sacrificed their lives for our freedoms. So, we kneeled down there and said a short prayer. I don’t know if any of it sunk in with the boys, but they were having a good time so it didn’t matter.

Then we went back to the tent and made some frito chili pie. The boys had about 5 or 6 bites worth and then wanted to play in the tent some more. So, I ate all the food! Then we went over to the single camp fire they had for some smores. The thing with Europe is that they don’t really allow camp fires. Here we were able to have 1 since we were on an American site. So, there was this huge fire with a gazillion kids from about 6-12 throwing whatever they could get their hands on in the fire. Then they would take sticks out and run around with them. It was chaos. I tried to ignore it, but it was bad. I hate that when parents let their kids go wild…especially around something so dangerous. So, we had some smores. The fire was too big and so hot that even with the long sticks we had for the marshmallows, the boys couldn’t really get close to the fire. So, I had to do that. Then they wanted to have a fireside (stake organized campout). Well, that’s all fine and good but we led off with a 45 minute stick pull competition that was so boring and the boys were bored to tears. Then the fireside started! By this time is was nearly 10pm! Finally got through that and hopped in bed.

Well, sleeping wasn’t great. We had an air mattress but it had a hole so by morning both boys were snuggled right up next to me since I was in the middle. That was actually okay since it was freezing cold! I didn’t think it was going to be so cold. I had to have my head under the sleeping bag! But, Asher didn’t like it over his head so that was kind of a fight. Anyway, we did some more adventuring after breakfast. We went to the memorial on site and looked around. Again, very awe inspiring and humbling.

Since then we’ve just been doing little things here and there. Nothing major I guess. Been a nice easy summer so far. Although, the last few days it has been in the 40’s! It summer for goodness sake! We had to turn the heat on! Oh well, what can you do.

Well, I know that was a short update. I’ll try harder to post more often!

Well, we went to Metz again.  One of our favorite places.  This time we took some friends.  I wont go into details…just be jealous that we get to go to France whenever we want and have some awesome pastries.

This is us in front of one of our favorite hang outs, Le Temple Neuf. 

This is us at one of our favorite hangouts, Le Pont Neuf.

This is Will being Will!

Back at Le Temple Neuf with our friends.

One of our favorite pit stops...doner kebabs! Yummm!

Metz Cathedral