Second day of travels with Mom and Dad.

This was on our way to Grindelwald, which ended up being a bit of a flop as it wasn’t open for the season yet.  But still pretty scenery.
 

So instead we went to a see the Giessbach Falls. 

Here is a part where you walk right behind the falls.  It was quite cool.  (You can see Brett and Talmage and my Dad in the picture.)

And this is from almost right behind the falls, looking at the hotel.

Here’s cute Talmage.

After we hiked up a short way up the trail was taped off for some reason.  So we hiked downwards and went to the lake. 

Where we all took off our socks and shoes and put our feet in the water.

It was really really cold.  But oooooh so inviting.  Then I started harassing everyone to jump in.  Brett wouldn’t.  I tried talking Jethro into doing it by offering him 5 franks if he would.  He wouldn’t. 
But Hazel did!!!
She took off her clothes and Brett held her hand and she went in up to her neck.  It was freezing, but she – like the awesome daredevil she is- didn’t squawk at all.  (Too bad she’s not so tough when I tell her to do a chore that she doesn’t like.  Then there’s lots of squawking.) ;)  It was WAY impressive. (p.s. I love making our kids do cool things.)

Then Ethne did it.

Then Talmage.
 
He was proud of himself.  :)
   
Then after a bit of rock-throwing, we got ready to hike back up.
 
Mom and the girls and I wanted to see the inside of the hotel, so we walked in while the guys waited outside.  It was very beautiful.  We used the facilities and they were nice too.  :)

The hotel had GORGEOUS views of the falls on one side, and the lake (Brienz) on the other.

So.   Funny story.  After we came out of the hotel, we found the guys where they were laying on the ground resting/napping/waiting for us, and the little boys were playing around.  Then Talmage grabbed Brett’s hat, walked a little ways away and did a kindof “nana nana boo boo” type of noise, then ran over to where there was a lawn or something fenced off, and held the hat up to the top of the fence showing that he was going to throw it over (it was a short fence).  Brett said something like, “You’d better not!” and Talmage threw it over.  Oh my gosh, he laughed and laughed and laughed.  It was so awesome.  So THEN, just a bit later, as we were gathering up to go, Brett took Talmage’s hat and went over towards the fence, well, this time the joke was not so funny.  Talmage was SCREAMING and crying in indignation.  Hilarious.

We stomped on Mom and Dad!

So, two different nights while my Mom and Dad were here, we played Rook.  And both nights, Brett and I WHOMPED them!  Yeah, including my getting a 300 hand (with the assistance of Brett for the very last hand—in fact I looked down and Dad had played his 14 of black and I was like, NO!, but then I saw that Brett had played the 1 of black woohoo!).  Dad told me I’d better not post about it on this here bloggy, and threatened me with bodily harm and taking me out of the will, so of course it was the first thing I had to tell.
We had a fabulous time.  We got to eat LOTS of chocolate, cheese, and wursts, among a few other good things.  But mostly cheese.  YUM. 
My ward had a breakfast on Sunday morning for Mother’s Day, and Mom and Dad got here just in the nick of time to come to that.  Then after church we went into Bern and showed them around our turf.
 

Stuff

Summertime and school getting out is not too far away.  So, heads up.  My sister Andrea homeschools her 4 kids (her fifth kid is a little young to be schooled, at just 2 months old).  She’s got some SWELL ideas and curriculum and stuff.  Just hark back to this, which I wrote four years ago (awww, cute little Jethro and Hazel):

This is Hazel and Jethro with their river that they made. My sister Andrea has been writing a little preschool curriculum and mailing it to me along with all the little worksheets and things. So, we learned about rivers and went on a walk by the river to gather all kinds of stuff like shells and grass and sticks and rocks. Then we made salt dough and made our river bed, and sprayed it with glue spray and put sand on it, then put all the stuff we gathered on top. It was fun. I should have taken pictures of our sugar cube pyramid from last month when we learned about Ancient Egypt. We spray painted it gold and everything. I could totally homeschool. That is, if my sister did too, and just sent me all of her plans. :)

Well guess what folks- we are IN LUCK because she has made such a thing possible.  All HER cool plans and ideas along with book recommendations and other resources are available for US to just grab up.  Now, I do not homeschool.  And I never will.  However (I am finally getting back to what I mentioned in the very beginning), this would be ideal for summertime learning.  Because they’re fun and interactive and pretty darn cool- and the thing is- she’s already done all the prep putting everything together.  Currently she has these units:  Reptiles, Mountain Men,  Native Americans, Fish and Birds, Insects, and Slavery.  They are $5 each.

Okay, so to find these, hop over to her blog (also a great resource—honestly you could follow it just for the awesome book recommendations if nothing else):  http://homeschoolfrolic.blogspot.com/ 

Here’s the specific link that talks about purchasing the units: http://homeschoolfrolic.blogspot.com/2011/04/units-for-sale.html

And, I have insider information that she will be having a giveaway for some of her units/lesson plans on a really neat blog, so stay tuned in to her blog and watch for the info so you can go enter!

So.  Anyhoo.  In other news my mom and dad will be here TOMORRRRRRRRRRROW!!!!

And I’m almost got everything all ready (wursts bought, plans made, house cleaned etc.).  It pretty much goes without saying that I am SOOOOOOOO excited!!!!!! 

Funny story:  So Jethro is a bit like my sister Kami in that the number of words he reads and understands far exceeds the number of words he has heard and therefore knows the correct pronunication of.  And throw German as a second language in there and it gets even more mixed up.  So yesterday I printed out this Harry Potter spells crossword puzzle and gave it to him to see how well he would do (he got 9 of the 18 I believe, which I thought was amazing, I think I would have gotten 2 or 3, and I have in the last few weeks read the 1st-5th books), and anyway right after that I was tickling him or harassing him or something, and we started yelling some of the spells at each other (he kept saying ‘Accio!’ and I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t have a wand for you to disarm me of!’) it was quite fun and funny, but then he yelled ‘Stupefy!’ except instead of saying it the correct way he said ‘Stoo-PEFF-ee!’ and I almost died laughing, it was so hilarious.  Oh, good times.  Made me miss Kami.  :) 

Speaking of Jethro, he’s pretty funny lately.  He randomly does these dances where, well, I just tried to find a way to describe them but I really can’t.  You’ll just have to take my word that they’re funny.  Maybe I’ll have to catch one on camera sometime.

Also, Talmage is crazy.  Suddenly the only thing he ever wants to do is FIGHT.  He’ll grab the couch pillows and come at you all the time.  And whenever Jethro’s around and willing, they’ll wrestle, wrestle, wrestle.  On the one hand, I think it’s awesome that they’re old enough to do some good brotherly fighting, and on the other, Talmage always ends up bonking his head or getting hurt and that’s annoying.  But, apparently he thinks it’s worth it.  Boys. 

So, another funny story: This week Brett has been at an Expo in the French part of Switzerland for work, showing off his robot (yes, he was gone for our anniversary, the tragedy) but he came home tonight and he ate dinner and did a few things, and then he was unpacking his bag and he came and gave me a little box with 4 elegant chocolates in it and said “Happy Anniversary.”  And I was like, “Mmm!  Thank you!”  And then I said, “Did you get these for me?”  and he said, “Yes.”  And then a minute later he’s like, “Well, actually we were given them at the Expo.  But I saved them for you.”  And I was like, “That’s what I thought.”  Ha ha.  (And then I ate all  the chocolates in about twenty seconds and they were DELIIIIIIIICIOUS.)

And, I’ll leave you with this awesome song:

  It’s a good ‘un.

google readers

If you read in google reader, I think you'll have to go directly to my blog in order to see the video on my last post. I don't know why it didn't show up- sorry.

10 years with my love.

So, since it is after midnight, it is now technically my 10th anniversary (at least where I live) and I can post this.

10 whole years! Really?? I can hardly believe it. 10 years, 5 kids, 2 continents, 4 homes, about 50 million vehicles (no really), two hundred fights, a whole lot of hugs and kisses and laughter. (was that too cheesy? ;) )
I don’t know how I lucked out to get to marry Brett, but I’m so happy that I did. Of course, it’s not really being lucky but blessed beyond measure.
I remember before I was officially engaged to him and I went home for Christmas and every time I saw anyone I knew I would pull out his picture to show them and I would honestly just tingle and my heart would swell and I would feel amazed that he loved me too. I felt like that every time I saw him. And then I got to marry him so we can share our lives and be together forever. He is my favorite and my best and I love him a million gazillion.

A little quote (lyrics?) for the occasion-
When my life is through,
And the angels ask me to recall
The thrill of them all.
I will tell them I remember you.

Happy First Decade to us!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Easter eggs and other listed items.

1.  So, Easter came and went- quickly.  I’ve been seeing all these fabulous family pictures with everyone in their church clothes and Easter dresses and I totally didn’t even think of that beforehand.  What?  Miss an opportunity to buy the girls new dresses?!  :)  But the kids got some Easter candy and we did play with eggs.  I bought a different kind of dye kit, you put the dye in “special rice” and shake it and looks kinda neat. 

 

 

 

2.  Orrin is cute.  See all that fuzzy hair on top of his head?  I buzzed it off.  Now he’s bald.  But still adorable as ever!

  

See?  Nice face- hee hee.  :)

 

3.  Beautiful rainbow.

 

4.  Ethne brought in these flowers and put them into our drinking cups.  I thought they looked really neat.

 

 

Oh the cuteness of that face!!!!  Such a cutie-head.  Mmmm- I love him!

 

 

5.  I’ve been trying to get everything ready for when my parents come in THREEEEEEEEE days!!!!!!   Aaaaaaahhh- I am soooo excited!!!  So so so so so so so so so so excited!  Except I’m almost NOT wanting them to actually get here, because then I know it will go by so quickly and then they’ll be gone.   Oh well, I guess that can’t really be avoided.

But I have been cleaning my house- really deep-cleaning in anticipation of their coming.  And because, like a child, it’s not enough for me to just have the satisfaction of doing something, I also need to tell others just what I’ve accomplished, I will now tell the world (insomuch as the world reads my blog) what I have done so far.

1- washed windows (not all yet) 2- washed the table and chairs (all the legs and everywhere) 3- taken things out of my cupboards and washed the inside and outside of them (at such times I am grateful for my small kitchen) 4- washed my fridge (at such times I am grateful for my small fridge) 5- washed out my oven (mostly- I didn’t have oven cleaner, so I just did the best I could) 6- cobwebbed the whole house 7- cleaned all the greasy gross gunk out from the fan-area above my stove

6.  I talked to my sister Andrea on the phone the other day and told her that I was having a hard time knowing just how much to do because if I cleaned things too soon, it wouldn’t be clean anymore by the time Mom and Dad got here.  But obviously if I don’t do enough, I’ll run out of time before I get to everything.  She agreed that it was a substantial dilemma.   Then a different day I called my sister Kami and told her that I was annoyed with myself because I had been wasting time doodling around doing whatever, and then as SOON as I finally buckled down to get to work, Orrin would wake up.  That happened to me several times in the last while.  After I told her that, she said to me in a very serious voice, “That scenario has never happened to me.”  I told her I was never calling her again.  Ha ha!  Potlicker.

7.  Brett is gone tonight to a conference type thingee in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.  I can’t remember the name of the city- Mourier?  Anyhow, he’ll be gone tonight, probably tomorrow night, and Thursday night.  And Thursday is our anniversary.  How rude.  Oh well, we’re celebrating later.

8.  So Brett has wanted to put an application in to a job in the States, and I kept telling him and telling him to start working on it –he had to write a philosophy of teaching and a research interests statement.  And he put it off forever, and finally he had to really work on it and he kept moaning and whining and said, ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner?”  Luckily, we have connections and my dad will read it and he said he’ll have a friend of his in the engineering department read it too.  Awesome.  I was instant messaging a friend of ours tonight (because he and his wife are going to visit us in June- I’m so excited!) and I told him about Brett saying ‘How can I have a philosophy of teaching if I’ve never taught?” and Carlos said, “Do elders quorum lessons count?  Cause he did a great job with those.”  And then he said, “He should just say his philosophy is to teach by the spirit.”  Ha  ha.  It totally made me laugh.

9.  Speaking of instant messaging with people, I was messaging with my sister-in-law Lindsay Ann tonight too, and she was asking me about something that she would like Wyatt to maybe buy for her, and she said, “Maybe I should just use your trick.”  And I said, “What trick is that?”  And she said, “You know, ask for it right before going to bed with him.”  Ha ha, now that she mentions it, I do remember giving her that advice once upon a time.  Works like a charm.  :)

10.  Why can’t Talmage just potty train himself, like Ethne pretty much did?

11.  Why did Brett think it was a good idea to put Talmage in underwear for church on Sunday, thereby making it necessary for us to have to bring him to church in sweat pants after he had an accident in his only church pants (and only other pair of clean pants) before we even left the house?

12.  Why does H&M only do crazy huge sizing gaps?  I was looking for a t-shirt for Talmage, and they have size 1-2 or 2-4.  2-4?  I think there’s a bit of difference between the size of a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old.  It irks me.  

13.  Why can’t anyone seem to make the perfect t-shirt that is nice-looking, not too tight, not too short, not too low-cut, and not too loose?  Actually, Target did make some perfect ones a few years ago.  I kept looking every summer to see if they’d come out again, but they didn’t.  Not exactly the same.  If I could go back in time I would buy a million of them. 

Okay, I’m off to bed.  Goodnight.