I have the best dad

I know everyone says they have the best dad and blah blah blah. But I am being honest when I say, I, Ali Van De Graaff have THE best dad :)

He makes me cry at the right moment. You can't see my face here, but I am balling. So good thing you can't see my face. 

And like Sister Dalton said, "The most important thing a father can do for his daughter [and son] is to love their mother."  And my dad is the greatest example of this. There is never a moment he is not treating her with respect and dignity.

When I tell people I have four sisters they ALWAYS say "Oh your poor father!" HAH!! If they only knew my dad LOVES it and that we are all little daddys girls! When my dad was Bishop he changed the fathers and sons campout to fathers and children campout. It was the best!!

 We get our love for Disneyland from him (and my mom). 

Not only is he a great dad but he is also a great grandpa!

 He loves to throw around the pig skin with his four sons in laws.

 One time he came all the way to Hawaii to visit me. Now that's love!

 He is always in tip top shape, exercise on vacation?! No thanks!

 He (and my mom) are the biggest Cougar fans around.

He takes his crazy kids on bike rides.

All in all I have the greatest Dad (and Mom too!)

And to top off all this awesomeness, I have the best Father in Law too!

Hallstatt

After Hungary we drove to Austria. I am in love with Austria. The drive was gorgeous. Usually I don't like long drives but we could have driven forever in Austria and I would be happy.

The hills are alive!

 Hallstatt was our first stop in Austria and probably my favorite lil city of the whole trip. It is seriously out of a fairy tale.  I am going to live here someday!!

I mean can this town get any cuter??!!

We bought this awesome little nativity carved out of wood. I am in love with it.

And my cute husband picked me some wild flowers while on a walk.

Next up Salzburg!

Kosice and Budapest

Kosice was the last city we went to in Slovakia. I can not get over how gorgeous every city is here! Nathan is a lucky man to have been able to live there for two years! While Nathan was on his mission I sent him this picture from Hawaii. He sent me a similar picture in front of a fountain doing a similar pose. I wasn't sure if he was making fun of me or just being weird. Now I know he was making fun of me :)

So we recreated the picture again of course.

Over in Slovakia and the Czech Republic they have this soda called Kofola. Its kind of like Coca Cola but with a ginger and black licorice taste to it. At first I did not like it at all but after drinking it almost every day I started to like it! Also, we loved the mug I was drinking out of below so much that we asked the waitress if we could buy it and she said we could have it for free! Booyah!

We met up with some more members while over there. Nathan is actually distantly related to Brother Van Dallen, he is from the Netherlands.

 We also visited these two sweet members. They are so sweet and kind. They made a whole cake for us  to take home! The one in the middle is actually a Jewish Holocaust survivor. 

Budapest was an awesome city. So huge but very clean. We went to this amazing Communist museum called the House of Terror. After going through the museum I can really see why it was called that.

In a park they have some bars with tons of locks on it.  You are suposed to put a lock on it with your "lover" with your initials on it, lock it on the bar, and throw the key into the Danube river and it signifies eternal love. 

We went on a fun, but long and hot walking tour that showed us some cool places.

Next up is the fairy-tale city Hallstatt! 

Banska Bystrica and Tatra Mountains

Bonska was probably my favorite Slovakia city. It was so beutiful! Nathan and I went on a hike with some members. It is so green there! Well, I guess everything is "so green" to me because I am from Arizona...

We love Lucia and Valeria!

 We also saw the Avengers there in 3D! There movies are in English and have Slovak subtitles.

Nathan with one of the members he baptized.

 The ward, pretty small huh??! And he taught those missionaries in the MTC!

After Banska we drove to the Tatra Mountains. It is soo gorgeous up there but I forgot to take pictures!! I am so mad at myself for that. We attempted a hike but it started pouring a few minutes after we left our cabin and it poured the rest of the day :(

Poland was only fifteen minutes away so we headed over there for an hour to add that country to our list! :)

The view from our cabin

On our drive we saw this castle. I cannot remember the name of it but it is one of the largest castles in Europe, it is over 5 kilometers long!

Next up Kosice and Budapest!