Wowie Does Time Fly!

I can't believe its almost February! We've been keeping busy... John is enjoying his work (and we are enjoying the free tix we've gotten to the Jazz games from work with dinner and snacks included...wahoo). He's still home for dinner every night! He got called to be 2nd counselor in Young Men's and coaches the YM's basketball team which is fun. The YM have campouts every month though!!!! Ahhh! I'm not too excited about that. I got called to teach Relief Society which freaks me out! So we'll see how that goes! Mia's loving carpooling to preschool with a neighbor girl.... Norah loves going to her "school" (aka... the child care at our local rec center where I pay $3.50 for them to watch Norah and Ruby for an hour while I work out. Its been FABULOUS!) We like going to BYU athletic events (basketball pictured here).... this past weekend we went to a gymnastics meet which was fun. Norah yells "Go BYU" anytime she sees a sporting event on tv. Gotta start her young! haha. Ruby just keeps growing. She is sitting up and eating solids and still a joy. There's a brief update on us.... more to come shortly. Hopefully some pics of the house soon. I feel like I'm finally starting to get it together. hooray!

Christmas Party!

We had our ward Christmas party in which Santa made an appearance! Mia was super excited... Norah on the other hand was very hesitant, but then once she saw he was giving out candy canes she thought he couldn't be that bad :)

Halloween!

Peter Pan, Wendy, Tink, Captain Hook & fellow pirate....We had fun at halloween parties and the kids loved trick or treating. Norah sure caught on fast :)

Gardner Village

We are getting settled in here in Utah. So far so good. Mia has started preschool and is enjoying it. We have loved playing with cousins on a regular basis. The girls and I are exploring all that Utah has to offer. We went to Gardner Village last week with my sister Megan who is only 40 minutes away now. Hooray! Gardner Village is a cute little village all decorated for Halloween with witch displays all over the place. We enjoyed it. Here are a few pics Megan took while we were there.

Next week we close on our house which we are super excited about. Pictures to come :)

Germany

We did it! We made it to Berlin Germany and back! Here's just a few pics from our 11 day trip. This pic is my dad meeting Norah and Ruby for the first time at the airport after 14 hours travel time! It was sooo great to see my mom and dad! We flew 11 hours to Frankfurt and then took an hour flight to Berlin. It was a miracle... we saved a ton of money by not getting Norah her own seat, and both on the flight there and the flight back there were empty seats near us so she could have her own seat. It would have been a nightmare if she had to stay on our laps the whole time. I think we had all 3 children crying at only 2 times during the flights ... not bad. They were troopers. Thankfully John's sister Kristina came with us. It would not have been possible without her.

Our second day we took the subway into downtown Berlin. We were a bit jetlagged.... 9 hours time difference takes a toll on your body!

This is us at the Brandenburg Gate in downtown Berlin...

This is a fortress we visited.... Mia loved that we went to a REAL castle...

It was fun that my dad got to take a few days to be grandpa.

The drawbridge and entrance to the fortress..

We went to Wittenburg where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses...This is the door...

This is the church in Wittenburg where the first german mass was given.... the first time religion was accessible to the people.... the beginning of the reformation and eventually the restoration. Amazing!

Norah chillin' in Wittenburg...

Aunt Tina and Mia

This is Dresden... the girls using their preferred mode of transportation :)

Mia in Dresden...

We love Nutella!

Ruby and Grandma :)



















We loved seeing the mission office and going to a zone conference to see my dad teach the missionaries. He has 210! Its the largest mission in europe right now.

It was great to see my mom and dad and brother Mike! We had a fabulous trip! We saw all sorts of amazing sights (too many to put here..... John and Kristina even rented a car and drove many hours to see the church where their great great grandparents were married. Pretty cool!) but the best part was being with my parents.