We're Back!

We had a wonderful trip to Germany. I have been typing and erasing, trying to figure out how much detail to include in my travelogue, but have decided that less is more. Therefore, for your viewing pleasure, I include some photos from our stay in Heidelberg. I was not a vigilant photo tourist this time: one day my memory card was full after about 5 pictures, and another day I left the memory card in the laptop and didn't have it with me, so I could only take a few pictures with the camera's internal memory. Nevertheless, I did manage to record a few details of our trip.

Tim and I in front of a cool arch thingy at Heidelberg Schloss (castle).


The kids we took with us- they were a good bunch and actually gave me hope for my future teenagers!


Model United States Senate- I was super impressed at how professional and knowledgeable these high schoolers were. They debated some major issues and came up with good ideas. It was pretty cool to watch.

Tim, looking out over Heidelberg. What a beautiful city!


What's left of one of the towers of the castle- glad I wasn't there when that huge chunk fell off!



That was a super-abbreviated version of the trip, but right now I'm just ready to go sleep it off. We're glad to be home, and to be a family again- we missed those crazy kids!

Memories...

I have seen several blogs lately that have done a "looking back" type post, and it sounded like fun. I guess we'll see how good my memory is...

1 Year Ago:
Wow- this time last year I was just a little stressed out. We KNEW that we were going to be moving to the Azores to teach... but we had no earthly confirmation of it yet. We were planning, packing, selling, and most of all praying, hoping beyond hope that we would hear something before May 15th, so that we would know whether Tim should sign his contract for the next year of teaching in Manila. To make a very long story short, we did NOT know by then, and in fact didn't hear a thing until the last half of July. But look... we're here... in the Azores! What an amazing experience that was- we really had to learn to trust our ability to receive personal revelation. I am so grateful for that whole experience.



5 Years Ago:
Emma was a brand new baby. And what a sweet thing she was... huge cheeks and tons of dark curls. She was the kind of baby that makes other moms jealous! At this point, I was kind of thinking we were done... but I am so glad we weren't- we would have missed out on Annalise! Also, we had just moved into our new house in Manila, on a wonderful half acre with lots of big trees. I miss lots of things about that house now... especially the kitchen! On a serious note, we had just found out that my brother Tom had a brain tumor. It's amazing how quickly life can change.


10 Years Ago:
Oh, boy. Price and Josh were 2 months old. I was a wreck. We had gone to the hospital in February to have a baby, and we came home with two! We literally didn't know that we were having twins until after Price was born. Everything worked out for the best... they were healthy and huge (6 1/2 and 7 1/2 pounds), but what a shock. On the upside, I think having surprise twins just 6 months after moving to the small community of Manila really helped our transition into the ward. So many people helped us through that time, and in the process we made lots of wonderful friends.


15 Years Ago:
If I'm figuring this out right, I was in Duisburg, Germany, serving a mission for the church. We lived right on the Rhine River, in a very scary, rundown apartment, right across the river from a steel factory. However, I was having wonderful experiences, meeting amazing people, perfecting my language skills, and learning the gospel (not to mention riding lots of strassenbahns!). This time influenced my future life greatly.


20 Years Ago:
Hmm... I was just finishing my junior year of high school in Woodland Park, Colorado. Mostly, I try not to think about those years too hard, although I was having a great time. About to start working at McDonald's.... As Rebekah approaches her teenage years, I find myself thinking more and more about that time in my life- I'm trying to figure out exactly how I can help her navigate the teenage minefield successfully. Sorry, no picture this time.

25 Years Ago:
Okay, the fact that I can even remember 25 years ago is pretty scary. I was 11, going on 12, and my family was preparing to move from Forest Grove, Oregon, to Walla Walla, Washington. I have visited both places in the last few years, and it has been fun to explore the places where I made so many great memories.
This is Harvey Clarke Elementary School in Forest Grove,


And Sharpstein Elementary in Walla Walla.



I think that's enough. it was fun to look back on some of the milestones in my life. It has also made me think about all the other things that I haven't written about. I have had such a full, wonderful life so far, and I look forward with great anticipation to the rest of it. Heavenly Father has truly blessed me.

It's Marian's Birthday!

Marian is one of my three favorite sisters in the world! Today is her birthday, so I've been thinking about her. In honor of the day, here are some of my favorite things about Marian.

1) She has gorgeous hair- I envy her shiny, silky dark hair.
2) She runs 6 1/2 miles every day. I get winded just thinking about it.
3) She is wonderful with children- I don't think she's ever met a kid she didn't like (except maybe in her inner-city classroom last year).
4) She absolutely detests having people buy her clothing. It doesn't matter what it is- if you buy it without her approval, she won't wear it. I haven't gone there in a long time, but Mom will never give up. She still gets her Christmas pajamas every year... and Marian passes them on to me!
5) She is a very talented musician and teacher- taught very challenging kids for two years, teaches piano lessons now, and even has her Kodaly certification!
6) She is my kid's favorite aunt (sorry, everyone else, but it's true!)
7) When she was little, Marian didn't like to change what she was doing- when it was dinnertime, for example, she would start screaming when it was time to stop playing and eat. Mom would just sit her up on the dryer in the laundry room and let her scream while we ate. I think she's past that- at least I haven't heard her scream for a long time! Good memories....
8) She has a wonderful husband (it's a good thing he was persistent).
9) Marian makes me feel good about myself while not taking myself too seriously- it is a real talent, I think.
10) She is (and always has been) a great babysitter. She watched the twins once when they were just a few months old. I hope she doesn't still have emotional scars.

I could go on, but it's my bedtime.

Happy Birthday, Marian! We Love You!

The 3 "Doughs"

At family prayer tonight, Price regaled us all with an original composition. I don't have a recording, but here are the lyrics.

Dough can be dough that you make into bread.

Dough can be money that buys you a bed.

Doe can be the thing which you hang up its head....


on the living room wall.


It's a good thing I have kids to keep me laughing.

Photo Shoot

We tried to do a "photo shoot" today. I made everyone take a shower this morning, and even talked Tim into taking the boys for haircuts at the base barber (this happened after I tried to comb Price's hair and noticed that I was needing to comb his sideburns, too). We were almost ready to start taking pictures when it started raining. Hard. It stopped after a few minutes, but then everything was wet (duh!). When we got over that, the kids were all squinting weird because they said the sun was too bright. We finally did get a few good pictures, I think. Sigh... what moms do for the sake of posterity.

Rebekah will be 12 in a month! She gets prettier every day.


My boys aren't little any more- here's Price, growing up fast!


Josh is nice to have around... and good-looking, too!


We almost got Ethan to stay out of the water long enough to get his picture taken. He's only a bit damp. Unfortunately, you can't see his missing tooth in this picture!


Emma trying her best to look grown-up and serious. This look cracks me up. I can't believe she'll be in kindergarten this fall!


Here's Annie- she obviously wasn't into holding still for the camera- but she's still very cute!


Rebekah took this one- I'm not posting the one where we're kissing... our kids are already grossed out enough.

Storm

So I wasn't kidding about the storm today- we drove along the coastline near us to see the wave action, and it was pretty intense. These are pictures of our normally very calm swimming hole- the water has washed up into the street, as is evidenced by the seaweed and fist-sized rocks on the road. We are hoping the storm blows through soon- I need to send the kids outside to play!

Yesterday, spring... today, definitely winter!

We are in the middle of spring break, but today is definitely an inside day- there is a major storm raging outside. The wind and rain have combined to make us want to stay holed up in the house with the heaters on! It's a good thing we got out yesterday.

We visited Duck Lake (I think there had been a population-control "duckocide", since there were way fewer ducks than the last time we were there).
Then we drove to a point where we can see the nearest islands to us- it's really bizarre to realize how close Sao Jorge is to us (less than 30 miles), but how hard it is to actually get there. You can see it in this picture, although it's a little hazy.

We then drove to the top of Santa Barbara (the highest point on the island, at about 3300 ft). It was clear and beautiful, but we didn't last long in the 46 degree weather at the top (with windchill it was probably below freezing). This is a view from the top.

To end our day, we stopped at a fun park on the northwest corner of the island and had a picnic.

While we were gone, Karla cleaned, so we came home to a clean house. I told Tim that this is my idea of heaven: spend the day having fun with my family, while someone else cleans my house!

This is one more random picture from our drive- it's my favorite house on the island. It's old, run-down, and probably cold and drafty, but I LOVE the setting. The picture really doesn't do it justice.

Disclaimer

Before everyone runs out to rent Back to the Future, I thought I should add this to my last post: we tried to watch the second movie today, and I ended up turning it off because of the language. There is quite a bit in the first movie, too, but we managed to justify our way through it. We were wishing we had one of those filtering dvd players! All three movies are rated PG. We're kind of wondering if the rating guidelines have changed a little since 1985- the second movie got pretty bad!

Today was the official first day of spring break for the kids (Tim still had to work, poor guy), so after sleeping until almost 8:00! and a full morning of chores, we took off for the base library. Yes, it is FINALLY open again, after being closed for almost a month. We came THIS close to not making it that long without new books and dvd's- but we've had our fix now, and things can get back to normal. (Actually, I cheated on the dvd part, since we bought "Meet the Robinsons" and "Enchanted" during the time they were closed.) Once at the library, the kids fanned out to look for books, and I perused the dvd selection, trying to find movies that would keep us all entertained and busy for the next week of no school. Suddenly, without warning, this caught my eye:
Yes, it is indeed "Back to the Future", the complete trilogy. Well, of course I checked it out, and we indulged in a reminiscing and 80's partying at our house tonight. Let me just say what an experience it was to watch this with my kids. Back to the future, indeed.... And it is definitely not flattering to have the kids making fun of the 80's hairstyles, music, etc.. It can't really have been 23 years since this movie came out, can it? I can't be old enough to remember that long ago.

Here are a couple of pictures from our walk the other day. These are both from a walk I took with Emma and Annie the other day. This walking path (we call it the "boardwalk", even though there are no boards around), is about a block from our house, and follows the ocean for more than a mile. Tim and I take our walk here every day. I'm trying not to take it for granted now, since I know I'm going to really miss it once we're back in Utah. For all its great qualities, Utah just doesn't have a good ocean view.

Enjoy this photo of the pretty lilies that are growing everywhere right now. They are gorgeous, but it's relatively rare to find them undamaged by rain or wind. These were perfect.