SO LONG JANUARY

Ok, when Becky came to dinner today I told her I was going to scold her for not posting on the family blog.  Thanks, Becky, for rallying to the cause.  I have just sent texts to the other slackers who have not showed up on this blog.  Actually, the invitations expired that you got several weeks ago when Bonnie set it up.  SO the invitations have been issued again, and I am hoping for some results!
It's amazing to me how quickly we lose track of each other.  Some of us see each other regularly, others seem more distant, but these family posts help with information and insight no matter where we are geographically!

Ok, scolding done.  It's been a busy month for me, but now things have slowed down quite a bit.  I've reported to most of you about my trip to Dominican Republic.  It was ever so good....in many ways:
enjoying friendships, humanitarian opportunities, a break from the same-o same-o, perfect weather, and good old fashioned pampering...all combined to make it good.  But just as I enjoy going, I enjoy coming home.  So good to see everyone again, and be back in my home...my sanctuary.

 Events this month included:
JANUARY
3-A funeral dinner for a Sister in our Ward
3- Wilson's wedding reception at Reeta's house (helped with that!)
5-Taking down Christmas (ugh!)
6-Seeing Greg in a hilarious play at Hale THeatre in SL...."Is He Dead?"
13-Taking my van into be repaired because the Honda dealer told me it had a heating and cooling problem that could be a big deal.  I took it to EP Auto, the little repair shop that Poppa always liked, and they told me it just needed coolant or antifreeze or something like that....charged me $8! This is where I'd put a smiley face if I could figure out how to.
16-24 Trip to Dominican Republic.  It was ever so good....in many ways:
enjoying friendships, humanitarian opportunities, a break from the same-o same-o, perfect weather, and good old fashioned pampering...all combined to make it good.  But just as I enjoy going, I enjoy coming home.  So good to see everyone again, and be back in my home...my sanctuary.  Had a great conversation with a journalist from Germany on the flight home from JFK airport.  We talked politics...she was very liberal and very astute...I felt like I held my own, tho it took all I had. Even got a plug in for the church.  

26-Spent 4 hours this Monday afternoon helping to clean a basement apartment that should have been

condemned.  I don't know where to start, except to say I've never seen anything so bad.  As I cleaned and scrubbed, I was absolved of all feelings of guilt for being spoiled in DR.
27-Lunch with a friend of a friend who lost her husband a year ago December.  He was hit by an impaired driver (prescription drugs) on a Sunday morning on his way to hear his son speak in church.
The woman was BITTER.
28-Book Club with neighborhood ladies.  Always amazed (and a little appalled) at the challenges these women have.  Memorable (and awful) quote: "If I had it to do over again, I would never have married and never had children."
30-Another fun play with Bonnie..."Barefoot in the Park," while Dennis and Reed and families watched the Jazz game at my house.
29-30-Stake Conference.  Very good.  Our stake has 103 full time missionaries in the mission field.  Way to build the kingdom,
30-Piano recital for Davy, Eli.  Bravo!
Feb 1  Overblown Super Bowl.  Beck and family and Mary & Trent came over for dinner.  We had the tv on part of the time...tried to keep it low key.  Most interest for me was generated by the half time show.  Not bad.

Throw into that mix some Temple shifts, RS meetings, Emery tending, Zumba, etc etc, and the month is done.  Now for a few pictures:

Wild Welcome Party at the resort...a bit decadent

DR classroom taken through the window...these kids were Haitian refugee children...throw away chidlren in the DR.  The DR is already poor.,..Haiti is many times worse.  They are often abandoned or orphaned (parents with AIDS, etc) and DR does not take care of them.  This school was opened by a 23 year old girl from the states who wanted to do something about it.  She schools only Haitian children..no govt funds, just donations.  She also houses several of them at the school.  Amazing

Delivered shoes to a village school.  I helped this boy find these...he was so excited.  Hoping to do something like this in Mexico in June!

Back at our villa...the contrast was stark.

    Maid came in and made us breakfast each morning.  Shameful, I know; but I loved it!

                    Yep.....spoiled rotten (for a little while)

                             

                                   
                                                       Boys at a piano recital

                                       
                                      Oh, and yes, one more boy at a private recital    
                                                         The tradition lives on.....

                      That oughta do it....love you all!

The Brothers Griffin and One Princess

Sorry everybody that I didn't post last month.  I'm sitting in mom's family room sort of watching the Super Bowl.

What to write about?

Ben has been busy with basketball, got his eagle project done, and "failed my driving test."  Can you believe he's going to be sixteen in two weeks?   I can't believe we have become basketball parents. We whine and complain about politics just like the worst of them.  But I'll spare you.  Ben has a good team, and he's learning a lot.

Eli and Ricky just had a piano recital.  Ricky was born with more confidence than he needs.  But he's awfully cute when he goes up there.  No jitters for him.  Eli did well too playing Hopak, by a Russian composer who there is now way I could spell.  It starts with an M an ends with a Y.  Eli has decided he's not too fond of Russians.

Both Eli and Ben are their quorum presidents.  That means I get to hear things all the time like, "What?!  Another meeting?!"  or "Why do the leaders make us plan this stuff?  Why don't they do the work?"  or  "Why do the meetings have to last two hours?"  So yeah, we're training them for future leadership positions.

Last Saturday I spent all afternoon at a ballroom dance performance.  For Davy.  There are times when you wonder why you try.  I kept praying that he wouldn't run into the couple behind him, and let's just say my prayers weren't answered.  What I don't understand is how can a boy struggle in ballroom and then show such amazing aptitude at snowboarding?  I would think there would be some kind of correlation between these skill sets.  

Yes, he just tried out snowboarding for the first time last month, and his teacher said he was a  natural.  Go figure.  The snowboarding lessons were the reward for doing ballroom.  Obviously, he thought showing up for ballroom was enough.  "I'm only here so I don't get fined."  He's still pretty darling out there on the floor.  The funniest thing was that he was about a foot taller than everyone else.

Deborah  is still my #1 fan.  Everyone needs a fan.  She always wants to cuddle with me or
"hang out" with me or go wherever I'm going.

 She wants to go everywhere.  "I'm just going to drop Ben off to practice.  I'm not even getting out of the car."  She still wants in.  She will even watch Masterpiece with me.  Now that's dedication.  I would recommend that everyone find a #1 fan.  She's cuddling with me now, putting her arm around mine.  She's such a sweetheart.  I have already told her all about Nonnie, and it seems like they have a lot in common.  Deborah is totally into sparkle sparkle and thinks I need to wear brighter lipstick.

David has taken up cooking.  It's been great.  He's been making chili and chicken noodle soup and chicken tortilla soup and chocolate chip cookies and orange chicken and the boys are now demanding that he do all the cooking.  I'm trying to decide whether to be greatly hurt or just milk this for all it's worth.  

I will try to get a picture or two posted soon.  I'm doing this on Mom's computer.  Trent had to walk me through logging in.  Love you guys!

Rebekah



 

Superbowl, Chemistry, and Bowling

Hey everyone!

January is always kind of a welcome lull after all the holiday craziness.  It makes for a nice chance to relax, but not a very exciting fast Sunday blog post.  So sorry if it's dull, but I do want to keep you all updated!

Trent has started winter semester classes.  He's doing genetics, O-chem 2, abnormal psychology, psychology of gender, history of creativity, and bowling.  So far he's done really well to keep up in his classes.  This week will be the first round of midterms, and I'm sure he'll do great.  Last night we went bowling with Bonnie, Agatha, Marianne, and Adam, and Trent showed off his amazing skills.  I did less favorably, which is just fine by me.  Trent is also volunteering at the state mental hospital for his abnormal psychology class.  He's been able to work with adolescent boys, many of whom are in the hospital due to rough family situations.  It's been a really neat opportunity.  Every day I am reminded of how lucky we are to have the family, lifestyle, and general peace of the gospel in our lives.

I have been in the trenches of applying for the master's program in organic chemistry at BYU.  I have spent a lot of time gathering letters of recommendation, writing my statement of intent, and preparing for and taking the GRE.  I just took the test last Monday, and am anxiously awaiting the results for my scores.

A lot of people advise you to establish contact with professors before admissions.  Because I only want to do a master's, I'm at a big disadvantage to all the students doing a Ph.D.  If I can get a professor who knows he wants me in his lab before they make the admissions decision, I will be at a much better spot.  Trent and I went to dinner with a couple of professors a couple of weeks ago.  It was way fun.  We talked a little science, and a little bit about general life plans/stories.  I think it was good to get my name and face out there, and the food was delicious.  I've also met with another professor, and will meet with two more next week.  Fingers crossed!  I feel like I'm doing my part to get in, so I have to be content either way that the admissions go.  I find out April 15, which seems SO FAR away!

We are now gathered at mom's watching the Superbowl Game.  Well, every male right now is watching the game.  Each female is on some electrical device doing something else.  It's awesome.  I snapped some quick pictures, thinking especially of Mindy. :)

I told Davy multiple times to smile normal.

Other than that our life has been pretty standard.  We have watched a lot of BYU basketball.  I've been tutoring Ben in chemistry a little.  When I asked him how his test went, he said, "Alright."  When I pressed him for a few more details, he then said, "I dunno.  I got 100%."  That sounds pretty good to me.  We've also watched a lot of Psych.  Have any of you watched that show?  We really like it.  We're in the very last season.  It's one of the best funny:clean ratios I've seen for a long time.  It's been good.

We love you guys so much!  I hope everything is going well!

Love, Mary and Trent

BIRTHDAYS

So, this will be short but I wanted to share with those of you not here...our birthday party tonight.  January is a big birthday month for our family, and since it generally quiets down in January, we usually get a chance to honor the birthday people.  THe only thing I feel bad about is that the June, July and August birthdays usually get the shaft cuz there are SO MANY of them, and there always seems to be SO MUCH going on that time of year.  So, we resolved tonight to do justice to our summer birthdays...a real commitment to give them the honor and recognition they so richly deserve (I'm laying it on thick, aren't I?) when the time comes.  We entertained the thought of making each day in Mexico a birthday for a different deserving birthday person, and celebrating in style.  Hold me to it, will you?
Anyway, about tonight.  Mindy, you will be happy to know that in an effort to connect with you, I made the same birthday cake recipe that you guys had on YOUR birthday.  Were you feeling the connection tonight?  We did the same old routine:  dinner (lasagna, cuz I heard this week it is a "comfort food"and I figured everyone could use some comfort), wishes, cake, candles.  We gave wishes to all January birthdays:  Becky, Reed, Amber, and even Aguette.  It was just so nice.  We sat around in the living room and watched June and Hyrum lying on a blanket next to each other on the floor.  They are so cute in their development...their personalities are emerging and they captivate us all.    I only wish I had taken more pictures!  In the future, I will remember this blog, and be sure to do so.  Meanwhile, our hearts are with you who were not here...Tammy & Trav, Phil & Kathryn, Mindy & Ben and families....We love you!

Next time I will take more than one picture for sure!  What happened to Becky and why is Sheri Dew in this picture?

Ten minutes before this, about 8 people were huddled around this game that Phil & Kathryn gave to Bonnie & Greg for Christmas.  They loved it!

December Happenings

So fun to have a family blog up and running!  Mom has a great idea on rotating turns, and I think she should pitch it to the family!

We are really enjoying our time here.  It gets better and better… that's just the nature of this military lifestyle.  The first year in a new place is typically very challenging, the second year you become more comfortable, and by the third year into your station you are feeling VERY much at home.  I'm glad that we are at this stage.  It's awesome and now I don't want to leave here!

Anyway, we really had a wonderful month of December, once we got readjusted to the jet lag that is.  That was KILLER. 

  I absolutely love Christmas in Germany.  It's so festive as each city, town, village, and even some of the castles have their own unique Christmas markets where they sell all sorts of fabulous woodwork, made right here in Germany from ornaments to nutcrackers to pyramids (like what we got Mom) and much much more.  They also sell super yummy food and treats, mulled wine, and kinderpunsch (the kid version of mulled wine, minus the alcohol, which is what we always get).  Many of the markets also have rides and activities for the kids.  So, next Christmas will be our last one in Germany, and if you haven't come to see me yet, you might want to consider coming during the holidays… it's so fun here!

One of the many many MANY booths at the Christmas markets

During December we did two mini overnight excursions, one to Ulm (birthplace of Einstein) and one to St. Gallen, Switzerland.

 The actual week from Christmas to New Year's Day was super relaxing.  We didn't go anywhere.. and it snowed!  Our post has some amazing hills and we went sledding a ton with the girls.  Even James got in on the action.  I baked and cooked a lot, which was fun.  I picked up a copy of that Christmas cook book Mom bought at Deseret Book and they have a great easy homemade salsa recipe.  Leading up to Christmas I baked cookies and made rolls, wassail, homemade hot chocolate, and a pork roast on Christmas Day.  It was really nice how Christmas fell on a Thursday this year… so Ben got Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the 26th off, and then it just flowed into the weekend.  Then he worked three days the next week and then got New Year's Day off (Thursday) and then the rest of that weekend. It was so nice to have the kids out of school and Ben around.  I just loved it.  We were thinking about it and we've never had this kind of break over the holidays where we weren't traveling or moving.  

So, leading up to Christmas, we hosted a neighbor Christmas party.  It was a lot of work building up for it, but was worth it in the end. We sat around and ate salsa and wassail and hot chocolate and lots of other goodies the others brought.  We sang Christmas songs around the piano.The kids had a blast running around with each other.  It was nice, none of them are LDS, but it's nice to have them in our home, hopefully they can feel the spirit in our home.

Ben got to go to Bastogne for the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge… he went with some guys from work.  They did a 20 km walk/march on the actual anniversary, through the woods where the battle was fought and came across all of these hardcore re-enactors, so cool.   And bonus… it snowed!

Re-enactors.  It looks like a movie set, doesn't it?

We went to Ulm and visited their fun Christmas market and climbed to the very top of the cathedral… it has the highest spire in ALL of Europe… it was 786 steps to the top (The Eiffel Tower was only 666 by comparison).  All three kids did it.  Em leading the charge, C crying all the way, and J on Ben's back.  

Getting closer to the top!

This is the entrance to the needlepoint spire at the very tippy, tippy top.  So tight, plus a two way staircase meaning when someone came down it was almost impossible to squeeze past

View from the top… so worth it, right?  Now I would say yes. 

It was SUPER windy and cold up top.  C, NOT a fan. 

  That's the Danube River… you know the famous Waltz on the Danube by Strauss?

Inside the cathedral at the altarpiece. 

Train at the Christmas market

We also went to St. Gallen, Switzerland. I wrote more about this trip and posted a ton more pictures on my blog:  www.benandmarindashaha.blogspot.com

This is where Maria Magdalena Mauchle came from, our great-great-great grandmother.  We went Dec. 23-24, just a 2.5 hour drive from Stuttgart.
 

Most likely the river where they were baptized, New Year's Day, 1863 (same day as Emancipation Proclamation)

 

Surrounding area:

Came home Christmas Eve Day (after a visit to the pediatric ER for Em's ear infection… ugh!).  We summoned our strength and did a nativity… C played Mary and INSISTED I play Joseph.  So twisted. And Ben played the lowly donkey. 

So Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!  

Try to have fun without me at the birthday dinner!

Fast Sunday...or a Welcome Slow Sunday

      

Yes, this has been the first slow day in a LONG LONG time, and I am enjoying it (wouldn't want itevery day, tho!)
I feel like the roller coaster began the end of October, when Debra and I took a little road trip with Trenton and Mary to Denver, where we joined Phil and family for Jensen's baby blessing.  It was lots of miles, and a quick trip, but it was oh so good to be there!  It helped that Trent did almost all of the driving...don't know what I was thinking when I planned to go alone with Debra!  We got home Sunday night, and I left Tuesday morning for Israel.  After that amazing trip, I returned to a few days of recovery before Mindy and children arrived from Germany.  I didn't have a real firm footing yet, and never did regain it through all of the holidays!
Mindy's visit was fast and frenzied and a great blessing.  Mindy had made a huge effort to get here, and I felt like her siblings tried their best to make it worth her trip.   Phil and his family arrived for Thanksgiving week and the schedule escalated:  gatherings were ongoing as we tried to make the most of our  time together...gathered siblings, gathered cousins, gathered babies, gathered everyone, countless meals, over and over again.  Oh, and don't forget to throw coughs and runny noses into the mix.    Thanksgiving Point, movies, Jumping place, game nights, shopping, Pizza Pie Cafe, Temple Square (never again on Thanksgiving weekend) and never ending meals...the biggest and grandest of course being on Thanksgiving Day, when we were blessed with Ben's arrival from Germany, and a new family member, Aguette.    It was all gloriously exhausting, and I wouldn't have had it any other way (with the exception of Travis and his family joining us).   Phil's family headed home, then Mindy's and Christmas was staring down it's barrel at us.  Decorating, shopping, wrapping, mailing packages,  partying, Christmas carding (my first time in three years).... the roller coaster was in full swing.  Throw in a couple of ward funerals, and the scene was complete.
The days got so busy that my journal keeping, which I have been so faithful at for so many years, came to a halt...so I suppose this will be the closest I come to a record of those days.
Oh, how we loved having Mindy's children around, then to be joined by Phil's.  The cousin bonding was in full bloom, and it was precious to watch.  So many personalities, so many funny and cute and wonderful ways, so much joy.  Things are so hectic when you're in the middle of it, you don't appreciate it fully until you reflect on it, as I have done.
And, of yes, there were the BABIES!  Three of them!  Beautiful, perfect, blessed babies.  Getting them all here safe and sound involved no small effort and a few worries along the way, but here they are, and we are SO GRATEFUL for them.
Might I also mention tho it was nice to have Dennis & Ashley BOTH at our family gatherings TOGETHER?!?  It was nice to sense their happiness at having their family restored.  They have had many prayers offered in their behalf....
OK, that's a wrap for now. Since Christmas, I have attended Wilson's temple sealing in Idaho Falls, given a Relief Society lesson, reorganized Visiting Teaching, celebrated New Years Eve with friends, and partied with you all (finally got Tammy & Trav and family with us!) on New Years Day.  I'll post a few random pics, taken over the last few months...hope it all works!

Oh, and lest you think our gatherings will EVER come to an end, I'd love to have you all next SUnday at 5 for a birthday dinner for Reed and Beck.  Mindy and Phil...send your wishes and we will read them!

Cousins in Denver....raking leaves!

Hyrum's Blessing Day

And the cousins begin to gather....

The Big Red Van....put to good use!

Curious Cousins at Curiosity Museum

Lining Up for Dinner

In the Jaws of a Blow up Monster

MY OTHER LIFE

And oh, yeah, lest you think I don't have a life other than kids and grandkids (tho of course that is my #1 life) I will post the pic of my New Years Eve celebration at cousin Diane's....We had crab for dinner and played Rook...great stress buster!

And stay tuned next month for a report on our trip Jan 16 to Dominican Republic.  Those gals and me....go ahead, be jealous

Julie, Diane, Lorrie and Me....Forgot how fun it is to play Rook! Let's take Rook cards to Mexico