Dreams of Paella...

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to a beautiful Spanish chalet just outside of Valencia with our new Spanish friends. Our friend Santi's family owns an amazing villa in Llíria, Spain. Santi offered to take our group out there for a night to experience a traditional, Spanish holiday. And that we did! (With a few American traditions thrown in the mix....).

The highlight was just having quality time with friends, new and old, playing games and learning about each other's cultures, traditions, and language (complete with "English night" and "Spanish hour"). Brian taught all the guys how to play beer pong, which was a huge hit. It was pretty hilarious to watch the Spanish guys taking the game so lightly after witnessing how seriously Brian and his friends are with the tournaments back home. 

We cooked them a Mexican-American feast of fajitas the first night and they reciprocated with spending three hours over an open fire practicing the art of making paella for us. This was our first homemade paella and definitely left an impression! The word "paella" actually translates to "for her" and as our new friend explained, you are not a "real Spanish man" if you don't know how to prepare an amazing paella. It was such a cool experience to watch the process, from start to finish, and we all sat and enjoyed the paella in the traditional fashion- everyone sharing from the same paella dish at the center of the table.

We feel so incredibly lucky to be blessed with these travel experiences. Experiences people may only hope for or dream of. Experiences that we have, for some unknown reason, been able to experience and share in during this incredible European adventure. This was definitely a weekend we will never forget!

The gorgeous chalet.

Paella cooking away!!

Lauren and Brynn with the final product!