Need a Laugh?

I just realized a few days ago that two of my sisters (Alysa & Kelsey) have blogs. Kelsey actually has like three of them. I put links to their blogs under my favorite links which you'll see on the side of my blog. One of Kelsey's blogs is called "Doggy Diary" and it's all about her seeing eye pupply Lamar. I was reading it today and came accross this post about a trip to Wal-mart with Lamar. Click here to read it. I was laughing out loud for a while after reading it!!! Kels you just crack me up!

SPRING IS HERE!

I am absolutely LOVING this weather! Sunday, yesterday and today were gorgeous spring days! At work I have a window right next to my desk (since I switched desks a few weeks ago) and the window has been open all day yesterday and today - so even at work I can sorta feel like I'm outside. It makes work so much more bearable. Nice days like yesterday and today are when I really wish I didn't have to go to work. I'd love to be outside doing yard work or playing with kids or anything outside! Oh well, soon enough...

This spring Jon and I have big plans for working outside at our house. We're going to clear the bushes and weeds from the one side of our yard and plant grass. Then we'll have enough room, hopefully, to put up a volleyball net and we're going to get a picnic table and make a fire pit so we can have picnics this spring, summer and fall. We're also planning to re-paint the porch and I'm hoping to re-do all my flower beds - they're looking pretty terrible right now. We'll see if that all gets done! :)

Jon had an interview at THP Monday so we were in high hopes that he would soon be able to stop working two nights a week and start getting experience in his field. Yesterday they called to say they don't have a job for him... Jon was disappointed and I'm a little bummed but oh well - THP's interview process is very strange and it's pretty much a game of luck whether you get in or not - it really doesn't make sense. Before Jon even had his interview I had prayed, asking God that if it was His will for Jon to get a job at THP, that He would work things out... so it must not be God's will for Jon to work at THP. Now we need to wait and see what is His will. Jon's submitted his resume a few other places and is also starting up a sort of side business with his cousin Stephen - they're going to be making websites for people - they already have 3 or 4 people who want websites.

While I'm on the topic of jobs and positions. My position at THP is in the process of changing. I'll still be working on the same team (the IT Team) but my supervisor is changing and I will be working more with the Help Desk, which is helping people with computer problems or anything else technically related. I'm only going to be doing very simple technical stuff, fixes or updates, etc. and I'll also be helping to monitor and administrate other projects and requests for other people on my team. I should be keeping very busy as time goes on and I move completely into my new position. I'm excited about the change!

As far as other things happening here at our house... Last week I don't remember much of what we did - my memory is horrible! Sunday we had Aron and Melissa Osborne and their kids over for lunch after church. We enjoyed hanging out and talking with them until almost 6:00. The kids watched a movie and played Lego's upstairs after lunch so we could talk.

Last night we had Kassia, Alysa and Kelsey over for dinner and games. That was fun too! Jon cooked hot dogs and chicken on the grill and we had noodles for dinner. Yumm! That was our first meal on the grill this spring - we love cooking on the grill when it's nice out. After dinner we played a game of Clue and a game of Sorry! I'm not usually a big game person, but those two games are fun. I remember being a lot better a Clue when I was younger though :). Kassia won the game of Clue but for almost half the game of Sorry she couldn't get any of her little pawns out of her start circle! Everyone was starting to feel bad for her but she came back and ended up coming in third place. Haha!

And that's pretty much what's been happening! Tomorrow I'm excited for Manda and Sarah to come over and scrapbook with me! It's been way too long (over a month), since last time we got together. I'm still working on my wedding album and now I have hundreds of Germany pictures added to my waiting-to-be-scrapbooked pictures. I need to work faster and talk less when the girls come over :).

Well, Jon was working tonight and now he's home so I'm going to go spend some time with him :).

A New Look...

Please bare with me as I'm in the process of changing the look of my blog and it may be a few days until I get it to look how I want it :) Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Last Days in Germany

Back home and back to always being busy! I’m finally getting around to finishing my journal of Germany… I left off Friday night when we were on our way back from Austria… Saturday was a pretty relaxing day. We were able to sleep in and then went to Robert & Conny’s to pick up Oma and take her home. (btw… I had been spelling Conny’s name wrong in all my previous posts, that’s why it’s different now) On our way to take Oma home we stopped at Globus, a 2 level grocery/department store. There, we bought all kinds of caandy - mostly chocolate and gummy bears - to bring home. After dropping Oma off and saying a sad goodbye, we drove back to Conny and Robert’s for dinner - which Conny made!! The salad dressing was made from scratch and was delicious! I got the recipe :) Jon also said that the chicken with onion sauce was really good. I had pizza because I’m not a huge fan of onions :). Benjamin & Daniel’s Cousin Andre (sp?) - who came over for our wedding with Benjamin - was there for dinner as well. It was nice to actually meet him when we weren’t completely distracted with wedding stuff.

Sunday - what we thought was our last day - we again were able to sleep in late and then went for a nice walk with Jon’s parents in the park next to our hotel. After picking up Conny, Robert, Benjami, Daniel and Andre we went to visit another castle which was actually still occupied by the royal family who had passed the castle down through the generations for over 800 years. It was hard to get a picture of this entire castle because it was huge and spread out right in the middle of a town. Here's a glimpse:

After visiting the last castle we didn’t do too much. We sat around at Conny and Robert’s for a while then said our goodbye’s and went back to the hotel to pack up and go to bed.

Monday we left for the airport after breakfast and waited in line for what seemed like forever, only to find out that there was a problem with our tickets and we weren’t booked on any flights that day. By that point it was too late to fix the problem in time to fly out Monday so we got to stay another day! We stayed at a hotel right near the airport and took a taxi into the center of Frankfurt to do some shopping. Frankfurt is one of the bigger cities over there so it was a lot different than anywhere else we had visited. Jon found a pocket knife and I found salt & pepper shakers! :) I’m so excited that I found them because I’ve been looking everywhere I go and haven’t been able to find any for months! Here are some pictures from in Frankfurt:

A Church we visited:

Our entire trip to Germany was a lot of fun but Jon and I both agree that the highlight of our trip was going to the top of the mountain in the Alps! It was just so amazing!! We were glad to be home Tuesday night though. It’s always great to go on vacation, but it’s also great to come home afterward :).

I think that’s about it. I probably forgot to tell about something but I don’t want to bore everyone with all the little details anyway. If you want to know more, ask! :) We've also got over 700 pictures!! :)

More Stories From Germany

Right now we’re driving again. The Alps are behind us but still visible. It’s Friday around 6:00pm. I’m going to try and remember everything we did in the last two days since I typed out the last post. That was Wednesday and we were still on our way to the Alps. After we arrived at our hotel in Austria, we unpacked and then went for a walk thru the little mountain town. It was a very quaint, cute town surrounded by huge mountains with snow covered peaks. It was a little overcast so we couldn’t see the tops of the mountains. After our walk we at dinner at our hotel and called it a night. Here's a picture of the town and our hotel is on the right with lighted railings:



Here is a picture of the view from our hotel:


Yesterday (Thursday) we woke up and realized it had rained during the night and was still drizzling and very foggy. We had planned to go up to the top of the tallest mountain in the German Alps – which was right by our hotel - but because of the weather we decided to drive about an hour to the city of Innsbruck instead. The Olympics were held in Innsbruck a few years ago. On our way to Innsbruck Jon and I were once again in the car with Oma, Benjamin & Daniel. Oma makes me laugh because she talks almost constantly to herself in the back seat. At one point we noticed she was counting; then we discovered she was counting cars that passed us… when she finally stopped she had counted 500 cars! :) She was just doing that again recently. Her favorite word is “schoen” which means “nice” and she is always pointing to things and telling us they’re schoen. That makes me laugh too.

In Innsbruck we walked around exploring the town, had lunch and visited a big, elaborate, Catholic Church. The whole time we were also looking for wireless internet so I could upload my blog entry. We couldn’t find it anywhere! It’s not like around home. We found one internet café but they didn’t have wireless internet. Later we found out why… they are charged per-minute for internet, there’s no flat rate in Austria. So when we got back to our hotel we were able to use a computer in the office and transfer my blog entry using a USB port and our camera. It took a few steps but we did it. Here is us in Innsbruck:


When we got back from Innsbruck it was too late to go up on the mountain so we had some free time to explore the town some more. Jon and I went into a grocery store to see how different it was. They had some of the same things but almost everything was different. And their milk comes in little cardboard cartons that are less than ½ a gallon. For dinner we had pizza again. Yum! I love the pizza over here! Oh, and it was also Benjamin’s 23rd birthday yesterday. The hotel decorated our table for breakfast and brought out a chocolate cake with candles.

Today was the really busy day! This morning we packed up all our stuff and loaded the cars, then we went up to the top of the mountain called “Die (The) Zugspitze”. It was awesome! To get to the top you went in something like an enclosed ski lift – I’ll show a picture of it because I can’t describe it. It was kinda scary, especially on the way back down. When we got to the top of the mountain we were above the clouds. The view was incredibly breathtaking and unlike anything we had ever seen. I’ll post a few pictures.

This is a picture of the cart we rode up the mountian:


This is up at the top of the mountain. In order it is: Daniel, Connie, Robert, Jon's Mom, Jon and I:

After going up the mountain we drove to see an old castle built back in the 1800’s. That too was amazing! It was huge and very elaborate – built on the top of a mountain with taller mountains around it. To get to the castle we had to take a bus up a tight road with sharp turns and a steep drop-off on one side. The bus driver seemed un-aware of the steep drop-off because he drove that bus way faster than I even would have with my car! Here's a picture of the Castle:

We left the castle about an hour or so ago. Now we’re on our way back to Friedberg where Jon’s cousins live. We still have a few hours of driving till we get there! There’s nothing big planned for our last few days (that I know of). My stomach problems are pretty much gone. I haven’t been having much trouble other than being hungry often. Jon’s sore throat is a little better too, and he’s feeling pretty good.

I’m sure we’ll tell all these stories in much more detail with pictures when we get home. We’ve already taken almost 600 pictures (there are many doubles though)!

The first few days of Germany

Well we’re here and safe. As I write we’re driving about 115mph in a mini van on the Autobahn, and its raining. We’re on our way to Austria. Jon and I are driving in a car with his 2 cousin’s Benjamin and Daniel and his grandmother, who we call Oma. It’s funny, most of the music on the radio over here is American music.

We arrived in the middle of the night Sunday – our time - and it was around six in the morning on Monday here! Jon and I only got about an hour of sleep on the plane so we were tired. From the airport we drove to Jon’s cousin’s house in Friedberg, where we had a breakfast of fresh, delicious rolls and lunch meat. We were all a bit delirious but we couldn’t get into our hotel till around 11:00am so we spent some time there talking. We went to our hotel as soon as we could and got about 3 hours of sleep. Then we drove to Bad Orb (another city) to pick up Oma. We ate dinner at a Greek restaurant in Bad Orb. It was us, Oma and good friends of Oma’s. Jon and I both had Wiener Schnitzel (pounded pork, breaded and fried), I liked it. It was so strange having dinner and seeing elderly people drinking beer and then taking shots after dinner; Even a young kid (about 7 years old) at the table next to us was drinking wine and had a shot after dinner (Instead of after dinner mints they have after dinner shots, haha). Benjamin & Daniel said it’s not normal for kids that young to drink over here. The official drinking age is 16. Monday night after dropping Oma off at Robert & Connie’s (Jon’s cousin’s parents) we went back to our hotel to finally get a good night sleep.

Tuesday (yesterday) we had breakfast at our hotel and then went to Robert & Connie’s. We went with everyone to see an old Roman fort that was built back in 48 AD. We stopped at a McDonald’s for lunch and saw some US troops. It was nice to hear someone who speaks English. The McDonalds had things we don’t have in the states, along with the normal stuff; and it had a McCafé. On our way back we stopped and walked around the city of Friedberg (where Jon’s cousin’s live). There were so many old buildings and cobblestone streets. I bought a pair of slippers and Jon got a video game :). They have bakery’s everywhere over here! And the bread is delicious :). Last night we ordered pizza for dinner. I think that was the best pizza I’ve ever had. Each person gets an individual pizza that’s about twice the size of a Pizza Hut personal pan. Pepperoni over here means peppers, and pepperoni is called salami. I almost got peppers on my pizza because I ordered pepperoni.

I’m learning a few German words. I know how to say thank you “danke” and yes “ja” and no “nein”. Oma loves to talk our ears off in German and doesn’t realize Jon and I have no idea what she’s saying :). We just nod our heads and smile :).Benjamin, Daniel, Robert & Connie all speak pretty good English so we can communicate. Robert and Connie amaze me! They are both blind. They have all kinds of gadgets that talk to them or help them. Connie cleans and cooks and does dishes and everything!!

As I said earlier, right now we’re on our way to Austria where we’ll be staying for the next 2 days. It’s about a 5 hour drive. We’re going to the Alps and to see an old castle. Robert, Connie, Daniel, Benjamin and Oma all came with us. Jon caught a cold of some sort so he has a sore throat and runny nose and I’ve been having stomach problems. It doesn’t help that we’re still not caught up on sleep. So we could use prayer for health and continued safety. I’ll try to post again in a day or two.

It's now Thursday afternoon and this is the first chance I got to use internet and post this. I don't have time now to tell about the rest of the day yesterday after I left off. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance.

Check out these cool things I can do with a German keyboard! Üüü Ääää ÖÖööö ßßßßß-jon

Here is a picture of us in front of the Roman Fort:

Here I am in front of an old Castle in the city of Friedberg:

This is Jon at a McDonalds:

Germany & THP

Our trip to Germany is almost upon us! Unbelievably I haven’t even started packing yet… which is very unusual for me. Tonight I am definitely starting to pack! Jon’s finally finished his finals projects as of today, after two very late nights and just in time to help me pack and get ready to leave on Sunday. :)

I just found out yesterday that THP is looking for interns to do graphic design (that’s the field Jon is going into) so between yesterday and today I’ve talked to Jon and a few people at THP and things are moving along. Jon is applying today and will be going through the interview process. They’ve already said they are very interested in hiring him so hopefully he’ll have no problem getting it. I’m excited because that will mean no more working at night for Jon and he’ll be getting expierince in the field he is going to school for. We’ll see what happens.

Well, I don’t have much else to say. There’s not much happening these days. If we have internet access in Germany MAYBE I’ll get a chance to post some pictures and details about our trip. But I’m not promising anything :).