Bike Ride

Last night Jon and I were planning to go watch Grace Community Church’s Softball team play their second playoff game. Jon thought up the crazy idea of biking there and back and, for some reason, I agreed. So soon after I got home from work we headed out – an hour and a half before the game time. 10 miles later and after a quick stop at Taco Bell for a small dinner, we arrived at the game during one of the first few innings – sweaty and tired - and boy was I sore! After the game Brendan Alburger offered to drive us home but Jon said no – he’s trying to get me in shape to bike the 40 miles down to Philadelphia in a few months - and so…we headed home :).

The ride home didn’t actually feel too bad. Instead of going back 309 we took a different route through Lansdale which was a little less hilly than 309 would have been. We got home just before full darkness hit. I still didn’t feel too tired but I discovered quickly that my legs were pushed past their limit. Jon called me upstairs to look at something he had been working on earlier in the day so I started climbing the stairs…about two steps up my legs collapsed and I had to catch myself from falling flat on my face! I proceeded up the stairs a little more carefully and made it to the top. When I turned around to come back down the stairs my legs gave out again! So I basically crab walked the rest of the way down and at the bottom stood up - only to fall right to my knees!!! LOL

Jon picked me up - laughing and at the same time apologizing for laughing, but I was laughing too. I am so out of shape! I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to come to work today because I wondered if I’d even be able to move. I woke up this morning sore but able to move so I did come to work.

I know I haven’t posted in a while and there are a few things I want to write about but I keep putting them off so I decided just to write this post and I’ll catch up with the rest later. I need to write about Passion Fest and a trip to the cabin that we took a week or so ago, but I have pictures for both and my laptop is currently being repaired so I can’t get to the pictures.

Jon’s away for most of next week at a video game conference in Texas, so I’m hoping to catch up on posting while he’s away… we’ll see.

Dorney Park

Yesterday Jon & I, Nate & Shawna, Alysa, Kassia, Kelsey, Steve, Aaron, Mike Kemmerer, Mike Alburger and Eilee went to Dorney Park. When I woke up to see overcast weather I was bummed. Jon and I drove to my parents in the pouring rain to meet up with the rest of the group to car pool up in the Kemmerer’s van. As we got closer it was still overcast but the rain had stopped.

It was perfect! The day turned out to be a really fun time! It was overcast till mid afternoon but there was no more rain. It being overcast didn’t stop us, but it kept the crowds away, so there were absolutely no lines all day! We got right on the rides within a few minutes of standing in line. We’d had our fill of roller coasters and water rides and were ready to head home by around 7:00 pm. Unfortunately, once again, I did not take any pictures! I just hope by the time I have kids I’m better at this picture-taking-thing! :)

Book Sales!

For anyone that attended New Attitude this year, listen up! If you’re thinking about buying any books or resources, Crossway is offering a 40% discount AND free shipping on anything in their online store! You must go to Crossway’s site through New Attitude’s website to get the discount.

If you weren’t at New Attitude there’s still a chance for you to get great books at a great price. Desiring God Ministries is offering every book in their online store for $5 on June 27-28 (tomorrow and Thursday) Jon and I are placing an order! Click here to go to their store.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

I can not believe it! Jon and I have been married for one whole year! Yesterday was our anniversary!! With everything going on the last month it was a little hard to plan ahead, but Saturday, after Stephen and Matt left, Jon booked a hotel in Philly - right by where we got engaged - and we packed our bags and took off! Saturday night we walked around South Street, ate some yummy pizza for dinner and went down to the water front - where we got engaged - to look back and reminisce the last year and a half. So much has happened but yet it seems like it was just yesterday. Random times throughout Saturday and yesterday we would stop and think about what we would have been doing at that time one year ago. It was really fun.

This is where we got engaged:

Sunday we didn't have to be out of the hotel till 12 noon so we slept in and had a continental breakfast. Then we headed home, planning to eat lunch at the Olive Garden in Montgomeryville. As we started driving though, traffic was looking pretty bad and we were both getting hungry. Just in time, Jon looked up the closest Olive Garden with the GPS and it told us to get off at the next exit (less than a 1/2 mile from where we were). It led us to an Olive Garden right in the middle of Philly. That was fun!

When we got home I was really tired for some reason so I laid down and took a quick nap. I woke up to the sound of Jon laying a bouquet of flowers on the bed next to my head! :) He's so cute! He ran out of the house as soon as I had fallen asleep and got them for me. We then went for a walk around the yard - since it was such a nice day out. Last night Jon made steaks on the grill and we had a delicious dinner at home. We pulled out our toasting glasses from the wedding and had the same kind of sparkling wine as we did for our wedding.

After dinner we just felt like watching a movie together so we ran to blockbuster and rented the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie and watched it. I know, that's not a very romantic movie, but we've never seen it and we want to go see the third one in theaters before it ends so that's what we wanted to watch :).

And that was the end of our One year anniversary! We both really enjoyed our quick get-away and a leisurely day together. Now we're full speed ahead into our second year of married life. Ha! I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us! These are the flowers Jon got me:

New Attitude, Jons B-day, OC & More

Ok, so it has been FOREVER since I posted last. When I tell of all that has taken place since then hopefully you’ll understand.

Let’s see, I left off right before we went to New Attitude. The conference was great and refreshing. If you’re interested, all of the messages we heard are being offered free of charge from Sovereign Grace Ministries here on their website.

After New Attitude was Jon’s 21st Birthday! What I said we would be doing in the last post was not actually what was happening. I planned a surprise party for Jon at Fox & Hound in King of Prussia. It was just him and I and a small group of our friends. We REALLY got him good. He was planning on meeting up with all his friends at 8:30pm at a bar that’s about 5 minutes from our house. Knowing that, he was getting really worried as we kept driving farther and farther away from our house to go to a “surprise” restaurant for dinner together. He kept saying stuff like “where are we going?” “We shouldn’t be going this far away! We’re never going to make it back in time!” etc… I was laughing inside :) We had a great time hanging out when we got there, and everything went smoothly. My big gift to Jon was a GPS system - which has come in handy quite a few times since Jon’s birthday. Here are a few pictures from the party (click them to enlarge):






Thursday night after Jon’s birthday party was crazy – just as I had expected! I was up till late doing wash, packing and straightening up the house; getting ready to leave for Ocean City. Friday June 1st I took a half-day at work so we could make it down to the shore in pretty good time after finishing up packing.

Our week down in Ocean City was a nice break from work, school and normal busy life. We had great weather most of the time too. It only rained for a day and a half. I’m upset at myself for how few pictures we took while we were there, but we weren’t really doing much that was picture worthy. I did get a few though so here are some:




Jon had all kinds of fun with his cousins Stephen and Matt – who came in from Oklahoma the Monday after we got down to Ocean City. As usual they were up till the early hours of the morning almost every day. I was excited to find a store on the boardwalk that sells previous-year Gap clothing. I came home with a few extra pieces of clothing then I went with, and a cute ‘Life Is Good’ back-pack bag.

This past week back at home with Stephen and Matt still here, went by incredibly fast. Every night Jon and his cousins were doing something. And we had a nice family dinner at the Inn Tuesday night in honor of Jon’s birthday. Since we left for Ocean City just a day and a half after Jon’s birthday, my parents and family never got to celebrate with him and neither did Jon’s parents. So our two families went out for dinner and then back to Jon’s parents for desserts...yummmy!

So that’s a very quick summary of what has been going on in the last few weeks. There’s one more thing though, but I’ll post again to talk about it…

Catch Up!

WOW! It has been a LONG time since I posted last! Almost a month ago. So many things have happened - which is part of the reason I haven't posted. My sisters and Grandma Bea planned a surprise 25th Anniversary party for my parents on the 18th. It went well and I believe they were surprised. Kelsey and Alysa made and served them a nice romantic dinner at their house and had them all dressed up in a tux and dress. While they were eating people were arriving and staying in the other half of the house. Right as they were being served dessert we all walked in and surprised them! :)

Only a few days after that (which would have been this past weekend) Jon and I went down to Wildwood, NJ Sunday after church till Monday night. My Aunt Kathy had booked a bunch of rooms down there and all of my dad's family was invited down at any time throughout this past week. It turned out that everyone was there at the same time so it was quite a party! I got burnt pretty much all over because I laid out on the beach for a few hours Monday and only had SPF 4 on...but now I have a semi-nice tan so it was all worth it :). Jon went out fishing with all the guys on Monday morning and caught a bunch of sharks (small ones), some small blue fish and some other kinds of fish - I forget all the names. He had a lot of fun. Wildwood is definitely more of a party town than Ocean City. The hotel right across the street from where we were had a bunch of seniors there for senior week. Sunday night they were throwing beer bottles out of their balcony's and hitting a nice mustang parked across the street. Nate and Jon went and told the hotel security which created a scene that we all enjoyed watching. The cops there aren't very smart, is all I have to say.

Tomorrow Jon and I leave for New Attitude in Kentucky. We'll be there until next Tuesday. Normally New Attitude is a conference put on by Sovereign Grace Ministries for singles of all ages. However, this year they also invited young marrieds to attend - which is why we're going. Jon and I are excited and looking forward to learning, fellowshiping and encountering God there through what will I'm sure be some very good teaching and worship.

Next Wednesday, the day after we get back from New Attitude, is Jon's 21st birthday!! He's SOO excited :). We're going out for dinner and then out with some of the guys.

And then...next Thursday... I'll be rushing around just about going insane trying to do wash, pack and clean to leave for Ocean City Friday afternoon!! We're going down for a week with Jon's family. I have no idea how I'm going to get everything done in basically one night!?!

Speaking of not know how I'm going to get things done... I haven't even started packing for New Attitude yet and we're leaving tomorrow at 8:00. Plus tonight we will hopefully be FINALLY selling our old Audi! We've been trying to for the last few weeks but the guy we're selling it to is just not very with it. He supposedly now has the money together and insurance so as long as he shows up we're good to go!

Well, I better get going. Lots to do and not enough time :).

Flowers

My flower beds are finally finished! Yesterday I picked up pansies at Ray’s Greenhouse on my lunch break and last night as soon as I got home from work I started planting! I got done in just enough time to water all my new plants and bushes and be done before it got too dark. I’m happy with how the flower beds turned out. Since I started re-doing them I’ve moved or done away with a lot of what was in my flower beds and planted 4 new bushes, peonies and pansies. I bought the peonies as just roots so they are still underground which leaves a couple silly looking big openings in the flower beds – hopefully they’ll come up soon! Here are some pictures of the flower beds:





Working out side is pretty much what’s been keeping me busy the last week or so. Last Saturday Jon and I raked the whole yard and then spread grass seed and weed & feed all over. Ever since then we’ve been watering and watering!

Equinox Visual

As I mentioned before, Jon and his cousin Stephen recently started a company together called Equinox Visual. In the last week and a half or so, they've been busy creating their company website and Jon designed business cards to be printed. He just emailed me a picture of his finished business card (below). I just had to post a picture of it because I think it looks really neat!



If you know of anyone needing a website created or re-vamped or someone who needs a video produced or is looking for stock media (images, videos etc.) let them know about Equinox Visual! :)

Before & After Pictures of the Yard

Here are two pictures I took near the very begining of the day:

This is the middle of the day - we had started the first fire already:

You can see in the picture above (at the very bottom) my pile of dead mums that I pulled out of the flower beds. :)

And here are the pictures I took at the end of the day:

So there you go. It's kinda hard to tell by the pictures but it really looked different when we were done. We still have a little ways to go but there's much improvement.

Poison Ivy Update & More

Yay! My poison ivy is all dried up! It actually has been since yesterday. I still have scabs all over and it looks horrible still but at least I’m not itchy anymore. Poor Jon still has his! I was using Rubbing Alcohol quite regularly when mine was bad and I think that really helped.

Saturday I spent most of my day working out in my flower beds. It was a great day to work outside because it wasn’t too hot but it was warm enough to wear shorts and not be cold. I dug out the random blubs and other plants that were in the flower beds before and then shoveled all the mulch off the top so there is room now to put new mulch on. Friday night Jon and I were at Costco and bought two holly bushes and some blubs and then yesterday we went to home depot and bought two more bushes. Tonight I think I’m going to start planting things. I love to work outside in the flower beds, especially when it’s so nice outside!

Jon’s been keeping really busy these days. He and his cousin Stephen started a web design company a few weeks back called Equinox Visual. They’ve already made one website for Stephen’s dad’s company and they have a few more jobs lined up and waiting for them. Today when I got in to work I had two more emails from people within THP who are interested in having Jon do work for them! I think we’re both excited that this is taking off so well. Jon’s also been working on selling my old Audi, I think we might have a buyer for it finally but we’ll see if the guy goes through with it. Supposedly he already took out a loan to buy the car so we’re hopeful.

I know I still need to post those pictures of our yard before and after we cleared it! I actually need Jon to edit them before I can post them because when I took the first pictures I didn’t have the camera set on the right setting so they’re really dark… I need Jon to lighten them up so you can actually see the picture :). Maybe tonight I’ll get them posted.

Yard Work & Poison Ivy

It seems that spring weather is here to stay. This past Saturday Jon and I - with the help of my sister Alysa (thanks so much Lysa!) – FINALLY were able to start working in our yard! We started a little before noon and worked until around 3:30pm. I had no idea we would get done as much as we did. I started with pulling out the dead mums I planted last year in my flower beds; then we all worked on the side yard. We dug out bushes and trees, picked up big rocks and branches, raked leaves and smaller branches and cut off some dead branches from bigger trees. Jon and Alysa did most of the digging out and cutting down of the trees and bigger bush-like plants. I stuck with pulling out weeds and smaller bushes and picking up sticks. Mid-way through we started accumulating pretty big piles of wood and leaves so we started a fire and piled everything on.

I took some before, during and after pictures but don’t have them with me now, I’ll post them later. Our yard looks so different. We still have one small corner to finish up but we had to stop on Saturday because Jon and I actually went up to Shady Maple in Lancaster for dinner with friends!

Sunday my worst fear about working in the yard came true: I had poison ivy! It’s all over my right arm and some on my left, as well as on my feet, little bits on my legs and some small areas on my face and neck! I must be much more allergic to the poison than Jon and Alysa are because neither of them got it as bad – at least I don’t think Alysa did. Jon’s got some on his legs and a little on his arms.

As for me… I despise poison ivy! It’s absolutely the worst! I hate looking at it or feeling it. I can’t even rub medicated creams on my own poison ivy because I can’t stand the way it feels and I get the irresistible urge to pop it all. Jon has been so sweet! He’s more than willing to help doctor me up. He puts the itch cream on for me and Monday night, when I just couldn’t take it anymore, he drove out to Wal-mart to pick up this expensive scrub stuff (called Zanfel). Then he took the time to scrub all my poison with it and wash it off! Ahhh! That stuff really works on the itch. I hardly have any itch now even though the rash has been spreading a little each day. Hopefully it will go away altogether soon!

Well, those are the big things that have happened lately. I’ll post the pictures of the yard as soon as I get a chance.

Dorney Park Trip

I am planning a dorney park trip for anyone that is interested. Call or email me to sign up or ask questions!

SNOW!?!

I could not believe it when I woke up this morning to see snow covering the ground and still falling! What ever happened to spring? Are we really in the middle of April? My word! I've heard this weekend we're supposed to see mid-60s and sunshine which I'm very excited about. Jon and I have been itching to get outside and start working in the yard and flower beds but the weather has kept us inside. We haven't just been sitting around doing nothing though.

Easter Sunday we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for Easter with my Mom's side of the family. Even though all of my cousins and I, as well as Jon and Shawna now, are well past the age of Easter-egg-hunting, my parents and aunt and uncle still insist that we do an Easter-egg-hunt. They just can't bear to see the tradition stop. This year, because of the weather, we had an indoor hunt. For some reason it wasn't quite as embarrassing as last year - maybe since Jon was there to keep me company. It was pretty crazy in the house with 10 of us pushing, and shoving our way to the eggs first. Well, I wasn't pushing and shoving, but the guys were. :) My cousin Drew, for the first time in his life, found the prize egg and won the big chocolate bunny! He also ended up with a red light-bulb in his bag (everyone got a good laugh out of that).

Monday and Tuesday nights were nice and relaxing. We had nothing on the calendar so Jon and I stayed home and spent time together. Two nights in a row with nothing to do is pretty rare for us.

Thursday Jon took off work and went to a concert with some of his buddies so I went over to Sarah's house to keep her company since Brian was away on a business trip. We had a great time talking and scrapbooking together. I amazed myself with how much I got done too. :)

Friday night we went over to Doug and Steph Miller's house for dessert. They had asked to see our Germany pictures - which aren't sorted or printed out yet - so we took the laptop to show them. I hope they weren't bored by the time we got through our over 800 pictures! I have to get around to sorting them out :)

Saturday night we had a surprise party for my sister-in-law Shawna's 21st birthday. I think we actually surprised her, she's normally really nosy and hard to surprise. :)

And then finally we come to yesterday. Dave and Tanya Newman came over for cheesesteaks after church and we had a great time laughing and talking with them - getting to know them a little better. They are a fun couple and I now found someone who is almost as paranoid and scared of animals and bugs as I am! Although, Tanya's not afraid of thousand-leggers and spiders... EWW! I can't stand them!

Last night after Dave and Tanya left, Jon and I decided to just stay home and relax. I got out my scrapbooking stuff again and Jon hung out in the living room with me and played video games. It was so nice and relaxing! I wish we had more nights like that.

I really need to keep up with my blog more! It seems like its always a week or so in between my posts and then I have so much to say I forget some of it or don't write it because the post is getting long... like right now. I think I'll save the rest for tomorrow (or another day).

Good Friday - Day Off

Since it's Good Friday I had OFF WORK today!! It was great! I always enjoy a day off work :). I assumed Jon would have off school as well but he didn't. This morning when I woke up to my alarm going off at 6:30am I quickly shut it off, glad for the extra sleep - completely forgetting that Jon still had school and would need to wake up in time... Jon woke up 5 minutes before he was supposed to be at school and realized what I'd done - I was still sound asleep. Oops!! He was pretty late to school but luckily it didn't really affect anything.

We were hoping to start working in our yard today and tomorrow but since its all of a sudden so cold outside I stayed in most of the day.

I did something today that I haven't done in a long time... cut hair! Jon was in need of a hair cut and we just recently purchased a buzzer and hair cutting kit from Costco, so I gave it a try! Jon was kinda nervous about me cutting his hair :). It turnned out pretty good despite the buzzer not working the best (we're returning it). I didn't realize though, that he normally doesn't get the top of his hair buzzed, they normally cut it by hand - and Jon didn't tell me until I was half way done buzzing the top of his head - so his hair is a little shorter than usual... but I like it! We'll see if Jon lets me try again next time he needs a hair cut...

Ocean City Monday night was a fun change of pace. We drove down, ate some Mac N' Mancos Pizza, and then drove home. It was cold on the boardwalk so everything was closed and there were only a couple people out. It was nice to have the long car ride to talk, uninteruppted. We don't often get time like that.

I was just thinking about a book coming out somewhat soon, that I'm really excited for. It's called "Shopping for Time - How to do it all and not be overwhelmed" You can read about it here. That question "how to do it all and not be overwhelmed" runs through my mind a lot so I can't wait to find out what the girl talk bloggers have to say about it!

Alright, it's getting late, I think I'll call it a night!

Since last Thursday...

Sarah and Manda came over Thursday night and we had a blast talking, laughing and scrapbooking! Well, Manda and I scrapbooked, Sarah showed up earlier than normal...but without her pictures! So, she was supposed to do most of the talking so that I'd get more work done...that didn't happen! I only got one two-page spread done the whole night!! I just had something to say about everything we talked about :). But Sarah's coming over again this Wednesday (hopefully this time with her pictures :)) and I'll try again to make more progress on my wedding album.

Saturday morning Jon went to the men's breakfast at church and then was in and out of evangelism seminars all day while I was babysitting Hailey, Justin and Sydney across the street. He stopped in for a while before lunch and played outside with Hailey and Justin while I made lunch. Then he was back again for dinner. He really enjoyed all the seminars and took pages of notes.

Sunday (yesterday) we had a relaxing day. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch and then went home so I could get some wash done and so we could just relax. I was so tired I actually took a nap for about 1/2 an hour! Last night we went to the final evangelism seminar together. The guy speaking was obviously very intelligent and Jon got a lot out of the meeting. I, however, was struggling just to understand what he was talking about!

Tonight Jon said he wants to go down to Ocean City to eat dinner and walk around the boardwalk. So I think we're doing that, it should be fun!

I think that's about all that's going on lately. I'm keeping very busy at work in my new position (which isn't official yet). It's great because the day's go by so much faster and before I know it it's time to go home!

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)!