Germany

We were lucky enough to find a great priced direct flight from Salt Lake City to Frankfurt Germany, and we didn't check any luggage so it was pretty smooth. There was a guy on our 3 person that moved to another section after the flight took off so we had the row to ourselves which was nice. I do not sleep well (at all) on planes so I was very tired when we finally arrived, but I was so excited my adrenaline kept me going. 

Day 1: 

Jamen picked us up at the airport with some delicious pretzel type bread to welcome us to Germany. We had an hour drive to his little village called Fockenberg-Limbach. It was such a charming little village and their house had the most gorgeous view of rolling hills. I came to see that Germany was full of charming villages and amazing scenery. I fell in love immediately. After lunch and nap we were able to go watch one of Kai's soccer games. This was actually one of my favorite parts of Germany. Not having my side of the family nearby it's so fun for me to be with my family and see their lives. The place he has games are interesting. They don't have lawn chair or stadium benches seating like the US, in stead they have these concrete steps people stand on with metal poles you can lean on. And Kai's team won!

After we went out to dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant of all places. There was a school dance so Ander went with his friends. But Kai and his date came to dinner with us before they were dropped off at the dance. 

Day 2: We slept in (so tired) and went to church with Krista and the boys. There congregation was much smaller than ours. The Relief Society was held in an office with 4 other woman besides me. After a delicious dinner cooked by Krista we went on a short drive to see Burg Lichtenberg Castle. Largest Castle Ruins in Germany. This was the first castle Jamen and Krista visited when they first came to Germany which was cool. The castle was so cool and the view from the tower was so picturesque.

We found a plaque with information about the castle's hisory and found the name "Woodstock" which was fun. 

Day 3: We had a 3 hour drive to Triberg in Schwarzwald (AKA Black Forest). It was a cute little tourist town with lots of fun shops (since I'm a tourist). It reminded me of Park City's downtown main street.  I got the boys Christmas ornaments and a doll for Andrea. We stopped at a German pizzeria. Jamen said the pizza wasn't very Germanic but it was absolutely delicious. 

We took a short hike up to see the Triberg Falls. The fall leaves were so dreamy. Steve and I kept saying it almost didn't seem real. Pictures, as always, don't do it justice. 

We then drive to stay the name in Konstanz. I am quickly going to run out of adjectives to describe all the amazing places we stayed at in Germany but I'll do my best. Konstanz was old world chic. Loved walked around with Steve. It had a beautiful lake we were able to see at sunset and sunrise. And I finally had my first authentic German meal. I had schnitzel with noodles. The schnitzel was delicious. The noodles were just ok. 

Our hotel had a this small deck I sat out on in the morning and watched the sunrise over the roofs. 

Day 4: The next morning we caught a Ferry Ride to cross the lake and drive to our next destination. The lake was stunning in the early morning. We

We drove to Schloss Hohenschwangau to see the famous Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein Castles. The Hohenschwangau was smaller, brighter, and extrememly interesting but I'm glad I went to that one first because the Neuschwanstein was unreal. They don't allow pictures inside but it was so ornate and extravagant it's almost unimaginable how many hours and skilled artists and laborers it took to decorate. I can understand now why they never finished it. We took a horse and buggy to the top, which was charming, and the view from the castle balcany with the fall foliage was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I still dream about that view. 

After our tour of the castles we drove to Rothenberg, a medieval  era village. The name "Rothenburg ob der Tauber" is German for "Red castle above the Tauber", describing the town's location on a plateau overlooking the Tauber River.We checked into the most charming inn I have ever, or probably will ever, stay at. Jamen took a picture of the outside to send Krista and I could see him from one of our windows so I hurried and stuck my head out the window to photobomb him. He didn't even notice until I pointed it out. Can you spot me? 

Day 5: Woke up to this amazing view from our inn room. I will never get over the rolling hill of Germany. 

One of my favorite parts of Europe are their breakfasts. I started each day with a cup of tea, bread, meat, cheese and fruit. So yummy. 

Rothenberg has a medieval era city wall that goes all the way around the village. This inn was built with part of the wall as part of the inns wall. 

Some of Steve's favorite things are history and old stuff. So he loved all of Rothenberg and loved the museum full of medieval artifacts and checking out the original wall that dated back over 1000 years before. 

I loved seeing all the beautiful scenery and the charming village. 

City walkway that went all the way around the village (used to be a fortress). 

One of my favorite parts of this town was the former owner of the inn we stayed at. His daughter now owns the inn but he works the front desk occasionally to help her out and break up his retirement. He reminded me of the guy from the pixar chess movie. He was so cute, kind and left us a sweet note on our receipt. 

Plonlein "Little Square" is probably one of the most iconic spots in the town. So of course we had to go take a picture of it before we left. 

This was our last tourist stop in Germany. We had a long drive back to Jamen's house. I kept forgetting to get my international drivers license until it was too late so Jamen had to drive the whole time. I felt so bad. But he was a trooper and we made it back safe and sound to his house only to turn around the next day and head to Paris. :) 

Europe!

We pulled the trigger! We've been savings for a couple years to go out and visit Jamen's family and try to hit at least one other country near Germany. We wanted to go for our 15th wedding anniversary and Steve's 40th birthday. I wasn't planning on going until 2023 but on Steve's birthday last year I realized he was turning 40 this year (I can't ever remember how old we are and I totally thought we had another year haha). Plane tickets were still at a low post-covid price to I booked ASAP -even though it was a year away and got a great deal. Jamen is the best brother in the whole world and planned our entire itinerary! I usually love doing stuff like this but was so overwhelmed with life at that point it was so nice to have it taken off my plate. 

 

Preschool Fall Fieldtrip

The day before Steve and I left for Germany we went on our Fall preschool to the pumpkin patch. 

 

Life's Weird and Sometimes Hard

Robin had a white sore inside her mouth on her gums. She asked her dentist about it at her semi-annual cleaning and he referred her to an ENT. They did a biopsy that turned out to be cancer. It had spread to her jaw bone. She had to have a 12 hour surgery at Huntsman Cancer Institute where they removed a bunch of teeth and a small chunk of jaw. They took bone from her wrist to replace what they took from her jaw and then took blood vessels from that same section of her arm to put in her neck to feed blood into the transplanted bone. They also took a skin graft from her left to put on her wrist. It was delicate and time consuming but they were successful. In fact they felt so confident that they got everything that she didn't have to do any radiation after. The surgeon said she was her first patient in this particular situation that she didn't refer to radiation. It wasn't all good news though. She had to be intubated and because she got nauseous and threw up and may have aspirated. Also, Robin's had a weird heart thing for a while that would make her pass out if she got nauseous or was in pain. At one point her heart stopped and she had to get CPR from a male nurse. They were able to get it going again but doctors felt strongly about giving her a pace maker to help her with this. So they had to keep her incubated until after the pacemaker surgery. So she had couldn't talk for about a week, I felt so bad for her. 

It definitely brought back a lot of memories and past trauma from when my mom was at Huntsman. I was with her all day during the surgery but left for the night and felt so guilty leaving her there so helpless. I called Steve and cried most of the way home. 

She was in the hospital for about 2 weeks and we were so grateful to have her back home. 

One tender mercy was that I had not asked her to babysit while Steve and I went to Germany. When we were planning our trip last year I had a feeling that I shouldn't ask Robin to babysit. It made more sense to ask her but just felt like I should ask someone else. So we asked Steve's sister Jessica if we could pay to fly her and Wells out to babysit instead. We didn't find out about this cancer until a few weeks before our trip and Robin didn't get home from the hospital until less than a week before we had to leave. She still needed a lot of care and not only would she not be up for watching my kids but I would have felt very nervous leaving her home alone for so long. But luckily I had already asked Jessica to come and she was able to be here for not only my kids but Robin as well. 

We're so grateful for the good result and hope she can stay cancer free. 

To say Spencer really wants a cell phone is an understatement. He has Robin's old phone but can only connect to wifi to text Steve and I. He's written essays, sent texts, and many many conversations trying to persuade us. I'm still not quite ready but getting close. 

Celebrated my mom's birthday with almond joys. It's been 10 years she's been gone now. It definitely feels easier to have her gone, but will always miss her. 

With everything going on with Robin, while still doing school, work and planning out trip I was very stressed. My good friend Cait Markeson was such a sweetheart and sent me a gift card to take our family out and take a night off cooking. 

 

September

We had a women's picnic with the ward. 

Spencer got to go with Tristan and his dad to a BYU football game. Front row seats right by the tunnel. 

Spencer and Rod did flag football. Dad coached Spencer but I didn't get a picture of them. Here's Rod trying out quarter back though. 

Andrea wanted to take some pics of Hudson Southwick while we were babysitting him. We watch him two mornings a week and all the kids think he's the cutest. 

She also took a silly picture of me. 

Steve's favorite thing was always to take naps with our babies. This is our last baby, I think he'll be sad when she's too old for this. 

Spencer learned how to make German Pancakes and it's his new favorite. 

Some cute, little rascals had some fun with face paint. 

Mrs. Sanderson is seriously the best. Despite being pregnant and late on a school night, she came to watch some of the boys in her class play football because they asked her to. 

Volcano day at preschool. Baking soda and vinegar. A classic hit. 

Rod- always up for something silly. 

Jeffrey after his last soccer game. Soccer is not his sport. He was bored and only came for the treats, but he got some exercise and fresh air which is all I wanted.  

Ms. Katie's Preschool

I've taught all my boys at least one year in preschool. I was hoping to do the same with Andrea but I couldn't find any mom's in my neighborhood that wanted to do a co-op. This is my last full year with Andrea since I'll be starting school full-time next year so I really wanted to still teach her. So I decided to do a little mini preschool with Andrea and 3 other kids that I heard weren't going to go to a preschool this year. I taught once a week and charged $25 per month. I thought it would be a good experiment to see how I liked teaching. :)