Cuddle bugs

Why oh why does Jane even have a bed?  

The moment I've gone through the "goodnight routine" and walked out the door, Jane hops out of her bed, scurries over to Chrissie's bed, and snuggles right up to her.  And Chrissie, being the affectionate sister that she is, sings to Jane and rubs her back or her "bace" or her legs or her hand, whichever Jane demands.  The best part is Chrissie loves it and says she hopes Jane snuggles with her forever.  And poor Matthe, upon hearing of his sisters cuddling, is now sad that nobody sleeps with him.  So, he remedies that by coming into our bed every night.   

Summers in Phoenix

 We've spent many a summers in Phoenix roasting in the heat.  Oddly the kids have never complained.  In fact, the other day, Matthew said, "Mom, I love it hot."  Still, no matter how positive they are, it's hot.  So to embrace the heat, we spend the whole summer swimming.  

This summer Matthew and Chrissie are in their own class learning how to be "starfish," make ice cream scoops, and perfect their strokes.  I love looking over at Matthew who is constantly dunking his head and swimming around (I'm sure giving his teacher a heart attack).  And seeing Chrissie's arms and legs splashing about.  She has taken after her dad and is all legs and arms.  Jane and I are in a class together and she is absolutely crazy, fearless of the water.  She has learned how to swim in her own way.  And I enjoy the one-on-one time we have together. 

Father's Day

Father's day this year started off with a bang.  It marked the beginning of Rick's last year of residency.  We had a big Father's day breakfast, which Rick insisted on making.  And then we were off to the BNI graduation.  

Rick's a wonderful father and we loved celebrating him.  

Brooke Garrett and I at the BNI graduation.  

Brooke's husband Mark is a year ahead of Rick.  Brooke is one of many friends here at the BNI who've made residency possible.  Brooke warned me about the transition from sixth year to chief year: from Rick having a "normal" schedule to the usual crazy schedule that comes with his career.  Oh man was she right!  There has definitely been an adjustment but at least I had been warned.

(my dad and matthew)

Father's Day of course has me thinking of my own father.  I feel blessed to have been raised by such a loving and selfless father.  One of the things I love about my dad is that he "gets" Matthew.  It's great when he is around because I get a break from the craziness that comes from having kids.

Back home to the U. S. of A.

Our return to the states was as exciting as it gets.  I loved flying into to Salt Lake City because that is where a lot of our family lives.  The flight back was not optimal.  The kids did great.  I, on the other hand, well...I vomitted the entire second leg, the elven hour flight from Zurich to Chicago.  Oh how glad I am that, that is all over and done with.  But the best part about returning to the states was my niece, Audrey, was getting married, which meant a heap load of family festivities.  Five of my six siblings all came to the wedding (even my brother from China).  We had so much fun just laughing and being together.  I absolutely love my family.

 Audrey and my Dad. He is so handsome. She is beautiful.

Audrey's wedding dress, really her whole look, has been added as my new favorite.  I love that she hardly wore any makeup.  I loved the elegant but classic look of it all. And the cathedral veil was just stunning.  

This has been my favorite wedding so far that I've attended.  The food was delicious, the decorations simple but beautiful, and the band was great!  I loved that they used sparklers as CJ and Audrey ran to the car.  It was a real celebration.  We had so much fun dancing.

And lastly, my good friend Lynsi and I loved that her nephew and my niece got married.  We're practically family now! 

Farewell Germany

Leaving Germany was a bitter-sweet experience.  We missed home, family, and the regular happenings of the states.  But we absolutely loved our time in Germany and Europe.  I had some friends throw me a surprise farewell brunch, which was so nice.  We also met some great friends, the Sorbers, right after Christmas. They were like family to us. They were from the states, our kids were the same age, and we are both expecting our fourth at the same time.  We had many a good times with them.

(me and Rachel Sorber)

Paris

We woke up at 3am to drive 14 hours to from Budapest to Paris...let's just say once we got there, we were done sight seeing and driving.  The poor kids had been such troopers.  

We met Rick's parents and spent a week with them outside of Paris.  I'm ashamed to say we spent most of our time at Disneyland.  And when we did visit Paris we spent most of our time eating.  I can never grow tired of the French cuisine.  The bakeries were amazing.  Every single one we would go into, you could see the baker in the back creating something delicious.  I love raspberry tarts so Rick and I tested several bakeries to find the perfect one.  Paris is by far my favorite city.  It is so beautiful and I'm sad we were too travelled-out to enjoy it's many beauties.  This was our last stop before returning to Hannover for our flight back to the states.  Actually we stayed in Belgium for two days but we have no photos of that trip.  We stayed in a bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere.  And we were so worn out all we did was visit Waterloo, which Rick loved.  I loved Belgium.  The homes, the farms were all so dreamy. 

We met up with our good friends from Phoenix, the Hetttingers, in Paris and watched their daughter finish a marathon. 

We took one photo of our family in Paris, might as well be the Eiffel Tower.  Pretty pathetic.

 Disneyland Paris

 Matthew waiting in line for his favorite ride: the Buzz ride.

 Jane's favorite ride was the carousel and Dumbo.  Chrissie loved Thunder Mountain.

Budapest

After our quick stop in Munich, we drove to Budapest.  We first visited Rick's cousin, Elder Walker, who is a missionary for our church in Hungary.  Thank goodness for GPS, we drove out to the middle of nowhere to see him and wouldn't have found the small city other wise.  We spent the next couple of days in Budapest, which is actually two cities Buda and Pest.  We toured around, visited the baths, visited markets, and enjoyed the amazing Hungarian food.  We were most surprised with their cuisine-so good.  

 Elder Walker taught us how to use a whip.  Apparently a tradition in Hungary.

Budapest

 Jewish Synagogue

The Baths