Hallo

So, I’ve been having a fun week. On Monday we had a little FHE about helping others, including a little object lesson where I had Jethro kneel down on all fours and then I put a cup full of water on his back and told him to stand up (obviously without spilling the water). We gave him a while to sit there and “try.” And Brett helped spill the water on him as he moved (so it wouldn’t get ALL over). Then of course, we asked him if he needed help. Talmage LOVED this and pointed to the cup and each person until everyone had had the cup on his head (it had morphed into the top of our heads instead of our backs). Then we played some Uno because Brett had brought home a pack of cards from the store that day. And we had BEAUTIFUL, DELICIOUS homemade raspberry icecream. (Recipe here, called Texas Peach Icecream. Since I have a teeny freezer I put it into a zip-lock bag and just squished it around every so often. DELICIOUS I promise!)

On Tuesday, we had a babysitter come and Brett and I went swimming in the Aare (the river that loops around Bern) with a friend from our ward. We had gone in before and I LOVED it, but it was a very short little spot by the Marzili pool in Bern. Our friend showed us a way cooler spot where the river kindof goes in a U-shape, and there’s a tunnel underground that cuts across, so you end up having a long float time (~15 min), for a very short walking time. It was soooooo great! I love love love swimming in natural water- lakes, rivers, oceans- so anytime I can I feel so happy. This is particularly neat because the current is REALLY fast, and you get swept along with it. There are some places where the current goes around and comes back on itself, and it’s pretty wild. We floated the route twice, and I was glad Brett had brought along a little blow-up toy thingee, cause on the second run I stole it from him for quite a while. I couldn’t believe how sore my arms were when I got home. It took a lot to keep up! It was SOO fun.

Here are the only pictures I snapped, just of some random people coming down right where we got out (after we went under the bridge). I wish I could somehow have my camera with me as we swim, because we go through some really beautiful beautiful spots. (Have you noticed I keep repeating words and using parenthesis? (awesome awesome)) To sum up, it’s cold, it’s fast, it’s thrilling. Try it.

And yesterday some friends came for dinner that we last saw in Chicago, Illinois. See, they were actually my sister’s friends first, but we would occasionally hang out with them too, when we went to visit Kami in Chicago. In fact, we did quite a lot with them, like going to parades, car shows, New Year’s Eve dinners and the like. Then they moved back to France (Thomas is from France and Jenny is from England), and are visiting Switzerland, so we stole them. It was really really fun, and I made more homemade icecream (peach and strawberry this time, mmmmm). We are planning to see them again and perhaps take them swimming in the Aare. :)

And here is a little video of my adorable son, showing off each and every word that he knows- oh, I take that back, he also can say ‘loo’ for hello. I like how he starts to sing, then decides to be ornery instead. I love him!

Talmage from Kayli Bell on Vimeo.

And also, because many of you said you couldn’t get it to work, the video of Hazel’s kindergarten class singing Happy Birthday to her.

Singing to Hazel from Kayli Bell on Vimeo.