Commissary Find!

Need I say more?

And well, Edward is the tastiest one:

Caramel filled chocolate! Yum!

I have a friend here that went to Volterra not long ago! Cool huh?

Look who came to visit!!

Yay! The Spear family visited with us for a evening and it was so fun! Isn't it great to see friends and just relax with them because you don't have to get to know them! That's nice! They came over for dinner and play time. We played the Great Dalmuti! If you haven't played that game you should try. It's really fun! Then we saw them on Ramstein a couple days later so we ate lunch at the Macaroni Grill! Yummy and so German right? :)

Just a Little This and That

I wanted to write this down because I didn't want to forget!

First off, Sophie made her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich today, cut it into 4 little triangles and cleaned up and put everything away without me saying a word! Wow huh?

Secondly, Luke is such a sweet kid man! Today, when he got home from school, he looked through his backpack and I noticed that he put something behind his back. But he didn't know that I saw. Then, he said," Mom, I saw something on your bed today, no, I mean, I saw something under your pillow." Then he rushed off upstairs and then came down a few seconds later and said,"Go take a look." So, I acted surprised and went up there to find an envelope addressed to Mom and Dad. I opened it and it was a note from Luke saying thank you for a handful of things and then it said he thought we were the best parents in the WORLD! Isn't that so sweet? I went down and said thanks to Luke and that I was going to keep it forever!! That put a huge smile on his face. I love that kid!

And you already know how awesome Jenny is. She made choc. chip cookies tonight and has been helping Brett organize his first big project of the year. I told Jenny that Brett really should be doing his own work but she said it was fun! OK.

And Brett...he's my sweet 11 year old who looks 15, doesn't know his own strength and who is a good traveling companion. I think he was really happy that I picked him to go down to Paris

with me! I really think it is good to have some one on one time with your kids...I know you all can't take them to Paris but...:) Well, we had a BLAST!

On a Cold Dark Dreary Night....

I thought we were going to die! :) Yes, it's true. It happened like this:

We planned a trip to Garmisch to stay at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort over Labor Day weekend.

It was a four day weekend so the plan was to leave at 3:30 on Friday, right after the kids got home from school. Well, we left about an hour late so we thought that would put us in Garmisch at about 9:30 p.m. We didn't want to drive in the dark but that's just the way it worked out

Around dinner time, about 2 hours into the drive I just casually told Dave that I thought the brakes sounded bad. Dave said," That noise is the brakes?", looking a little alarmed and concerned.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure it is," I said.

Then it starts to rain....rain hard....like down pour... you can barely see out your windshield kind of rain.

We stop 1 1/2 hours later to get gas and as we were slowing down the brakes made a terrible grinding noise, like the brake pads were gone kind of noise. Every time we put on the brakes it was loud and terrible sounding.

And it was still raining HARD.

Then our GPS continually tries to take us down a closed road....how annoying is that??? Oh, and it is DARK. I think we are going to die or get in a serious car accident so we say a prayer. Everything will be fine.

And the brakes sounded terrible and it was raining cats and dogs and we didn't know where we were and we didn't have a phone number to the lodge or a confirmation # or anything. We just had a broken car and a GPS that was annoying us... and a prayer.

We finally get back on the autobahn but we don't drive fast because we don't want to use our brakes very much if possible. (they still slowed the car down but they sounded terrible, definitely metal on metal) It is dark and rainy and our GPS tells us to get off on an exit that doesn't exist. Then it tells us to make a U-turn on the autobahn for quite a few miles. Yeah, OK. Let's just make a U-turn.

Dave wonders if we should just go back home after traveling for 5 or so hours. So, we regroup and check out the GPS and make sure our new route ends in Garmisch. It does. So, we head on to the autobahn.

We go into Austria not knowing we were going into Austria because you need an international driver's license to drive in Austria and we only have our German ones and our WA ones. Well, lucky for us, noone stopped us to ask about our licenses and we made it to Edelweiss at about 11:30 pm!! Thank goodness. Our prayers were answered.

Even better, there is a Mercedes/Dodge dealership only 3 miles from Edelweiss and they were able to repair the brakes for only $800 on Monday morning! We weren't able to go to any tourist sites because of the car but we rented bikes and went on a few bike rides. It actually turned out to be a very fun and even relaxing vacation!!

We took a 14 mile round trip bike ride one day and it was beautiful!!

Here is a natural spring that was on the trail where we could fill up our water bottles. The water was very tasty!

We biked up to a lake and the water was so beautiful. Look at that BLUE! It looked so pure and clean. We loved it!

One night there were fireworks, we were there over Labor Day weekend so there was a big celebration and boy were the fireworkds great although, Dave slept right thru them!

The moon looked really cool that night!!

Here we are exploring around downtown Garmisch. It was fun but I must say it was a little unnerving riding on the streets with cars zooming by.

And here is the view from our hotel suite! Pretty nice eh?

Luke's Baptism Day

Luke was baptized today. I don't think I'll ever forget that he was baptized on 9/11/09. I guess because I remember so well that he was two weeks old on 9/11/01. I remember that day so clearly that it's hard to believe that 8 years have passed.

Luke was exactlly 2 weeks old and as most new borns, was up at different parts of the night. I remember coming into the living room around 7:00 a.m. to turn the tv to Nick Jr. so when Brett and Jenny woke up, they could turn on the tv and let me sleep for a little while longer. The news was on so I watched it for about 10 minutes before I switched it to Nick Jr. I think at the time, they weren't sure if it was a small plane or a large plane that had flown into the 1st tower. I watched for a little while and since they didn't know how serious it was, I thought, well, I better switch it and go back to bed for a little while cuz I was tired. I'm wasting good sleep time! :) I know, doesn't that sound terrible? Well, around 10:30 or so, Bev called me and asked if Iknew...I asked, "About the plane that flew into the tower?" She said," Yes, and the other one that flew into the other tower, and the one that flew into the Pentagon, and that the twin towers collapsed onto themselves!" I remember thinking,"What? Oh my gosh! Someone has attacked America!" I remember holding Luke a little closer that day and being thankful for my kids, my husband, my family, my country and my God and religion. I just wanted to be with my family.

Eight years has passed and lots has happened. Even though we are still fighting that war, I can't help but feel optimistic. Life is good. Do we live in dark times? Yes, but there is so much light around us too. Luke's baptism was a spiritual rebirth for him. He is accountable for his actions now but he also has the help he needs to make good and righteous choices. And of course he has the Savior to help with what he cannot do alone. It is so great to know that the God of this world knows what is going on and is concerned for His children. It is reassuring to know that God is in control and he allows trial and hardship to come to us all to help us grow and gain experience so we can become more like His son, Jesus Christ. Yeah, life is good!!

Today was great too. Luke had a great service even though no grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles or cousins were there. It was small but sweet. A couple very nice families showed up to support Luke including his CTR 8 teachers from church. Isn't that great to have devoted teachers that support the children they have been asked to look over! Thanks so much!

Jenny gave a fabulous talk on baptism and I'm very proud of her. We had most of the service in the chapel so it was a little different than the primary room but she did a great job. Brett and Sophie gave prayers and I talked about the precious gift of the Holy Ghost. I told Luke to remember that this is the best gift in the universe! I really believe that! (Well, aside from the gift of Jesus Christ) Dave was able to baptize Luke and confirm him and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very special day. One to be remembered! It's not every day you get to see one of your children baptized into the church of Jesus Christ in Germany!!

A Little Squishy

Well, all our furniture arrived today and I'm wondering why I feel so squished. It could be because I had the perfect house in DuPont or it could be because I've gained a few pounds since the 1/2 marathon and my pants are a little tighter. Hmmm, it is probably a little bit of both! :) You laughed didn't you? Because honestly...that was pretty funny. Anyways, I am going to try to download a few pics of the place before the boxes and chaos. The internet is a bit slower over here and it is hard to download big files so hopefully it works!!

THE BATHROOM
The bathrooms here are tiled from top to bottom. It is actually pretty nice!
This bathroom here is actually bigger than our kitchen. Crazy!

Our pretty backyard. We live in the country where there isn't alot of traffic so there are lots of places to roam which is one thing I loved to do as a kid. Roam and explore! I think I'm going to explore Rome in December if you were wondering :)


The girl's bedroom! Originally, Jenny was going to get a Queen bed all to herself but the boxspring wouldn't make it up the stairs and thru the little door (this room is on the 3rd floor). So, Brett gets it! And he is estatic! Loving every minute of it! Asking Jenny if she is upset, while she is yelling at him to not talk to her!! Yeah, I think she's upset!!


The View!

The Burgs

This past weekend we took off to see one of many many castles in Germany! One of Dave's friends told us about Burg Eltz and said it was his all time favorite! So, we said, "Hey, let's go then" It was only about a 2 hour drive. The drive was nice and quiet. I remember this because lately it has not been all that quiet! The kids have been pestering each other lately...it must be part of the "adjustment period" that everyone goes thru! :) Although, I haven't been pestering anyone. Anyways, the drive was nice and beautiful. We drove along the Rhine for awhile. Luke really liked that river. "It's so big! I thought it was a lake," he said. There were speed boats and sailboats on it which I thought was really cool! Well, we went to the castle without Euros! Oops. We had to spend 50 Euros in order for them to take a credit card. Bad for Dave, nice for me! :) I purchased a really cool plate with the castle etched into it! I don't know if I should keep it or give it to a family member for Christmas! Hmmm, we'll see! Dave just realized that he is actually interested in history! Who knew? He loved listening to our guide tell us about all the interesting little facts about this castle. It was hard for me to listen because Luke had to go to the bathroom so bad he truly thought he might have an accident. I told him he absolutely could not have an accident in the castle!! He managed to make through just in time to run to the bathroom! Thank goodness! Well, two of my favorite facts from the tour are: 1) This castle was one of the very very few that has never been destoyed. Not even Louis IVX touched it. That is because the Eltz family is very political...and knew all the right people. (But, the tour guide assured us that they were always on the "right" side of the battles/wars.) and 2) The Eltz family still lives in the castle after all these years...it was built in the 12th century! Cool huh?

Burg Eltz on a foggy day!

Cool view from an old look out post! The coast is clear!

On our way back, we saw this other castle up on the hill. I believe it was called Burg Thalias. It was a very foggy day so my photos didn't turn out great but oh well, it was still super fun and beautiful!

The castle looks over the Rhine River

Looks like we made it!

Hi to all my blogging friends! I know, it's been awhile! But, since I'm here in Germany, I thought I'd better try to keep track of some of my memories cuz if I don't, they will fizzle out and won't be memories at all anymore because I won't remember them!

We had a great flight over...quite uneventful which is SO nice. Flying with 4 kids is a piece of cake. I may feel this way because they are older or it may be because Lufthansia has TVs for every seat and they had 3 or so movies (good movies) that the kids could watch. I think even I watched 3 movies! And they were ones that I actually wanted to see in the theater but never got around to watching and they were all edited for kid eyes! Very Nice!! And to top it all off, we didn't die! And we didn't hit any turbulence! Well, a tiny bit but it was nothin'! And our plane didn't fall apart like the one that recently broke apart over the Atlantic coming from Rio. I bet you didn't know that flying terrifies me. Hate it! But it must be done or else I wouldn't be able to have these fun adventures!Now, traveling with 11 carry-ons and 12 check-ons wasn't all that fun but we managed!! We had three trollies piled high and enough big people to cart them around the airport. The elevators are really small at the Frankfurt Airport so we had to take the carts down one at a time. Dave had what's called a sponsor who picked us up in a big van that fit all of our stuff and he dropped us off at out temporary lodging which is where we will be til Aug. 11th.

Here we are with all our bags and we are super tired. This is where the jet lag started. And I'd say it lasted about 4 day. It is hard to adjust to a nine hour time difference!

We also went to the largest pool in Europe and I'm guessing there isn't one this size in the U.S. either. It was huge. It was built in 1908 and a natural spring supplies its water. It was cold but not that cold. We had German sandwiches, Schnitzen or something like that which is pork and they were really good. Dave had a bratworst hot dog which wasn't bad either. And the chocolate over here is GOOOOD. German chocolate is yummy!

On Sunday, after church we went on a walk up to Nanstein Castle which is right here in Landstuhl. Driving on these little roads is a little nerve racking (and we had to take a little road up to the castle) but I'm hoping to feel more comfortable over time! Anyways, it was a short 5 minute walk up to the castle from the parking lot. This castle is where the last known Knight fell in battle. Yeah, I didn't know that Germany had knights to be honest but hey, they were the last country to have them! The castle was built around 1162 and was damaged or destroyed and rebuilt twice. There are walking paths around the castle and down the hill that it is on so we decided to go for a walk on one of them...have you heard about the rain here? Well, it sneaks up on you and then it falls like there's no tomorrow!! That's what it did to us! We got drenched and it was so much fun! We are looking forward to so many more fun adventures!!!

Before the rain!

During the rain!

We ran back up the trail to find shelter somewhere and this is what we came up with. There was a little cafe type place not too far away and I think the owner was looking at us and I'm sure she was happy that we didn't slop into her business!

The Long Awaited Super Smooth Fudge Recipe

OK! Here it is! The fudge recipe! I know, it is super complicated and
requires exactness of hand, heat, and spoon but I think you all can
handle it! Click on the pic if you need a better view of the recipe!! Enjoy!


Although, I did use a smaller pan. 11x7 I believe and I didn't put the
nuts in. I prefer my fudge nut free!

Mother's Day!

Isn't Mother's Day great? You get breakfast in bed (usually but not this year), you get to put your feet up and relax after church (usually but not this year). You get GREAT gifts from your kids! I love my homemade gifts. My kids are always so proud of what they create. Brett believes that he may well be on his way to clay craftsman of the year! And Sophie and Jenny are still into flowers which I LOVE and Luke made this awesome Calendar with a picture of me on it! Good job Luke! I love being a mom to FOUR FABULOUS KIDS. Really, there is no better job in the world...actually, it's true to say there's no greater privilege in the UNIVERSE! Motherhood is something I cherish above all else!

God's Creations are Beautiful!

Here are some of my favorite nature shots from the Tulip Festival!

This one is my favorite! Love it!

Just Stop and Smell the Roses. Oh, ummm, I mean Tulips.

Wow! It has been awhile so I thought I'd spend a little time blogging tonight! I suppose I will start with our camping adventure that we took about a month ago! It was so much fun! We went up to Skagit County to count the flowers...we got to a hundred and then stopped! :) We camped on Friday night, May 1st at a KOA nearby and then spent Saturday at the Tulip Festival and at a State Park (the name I have forgotten)...no wait, I remember it now. It's Deception Pass! That was really cool too! Here are a few pics. from the trip!

Luke chopping some wood. He was really good at this as was Brett!

Sophie and her flowers. She loves flowers! Just the other day she had a choice of flowers to pick and she chose the beautiful dandelions!
Jenny made this dandy crown for Sophie!
Jenny and Sophie at the Tulip Festival!
Dave and I
Brett and Sophie having some fun!

Jenny, Brett, Sophie and Luke
The Fam!