merry christmas!

we hope everyone had an awesome christmas with family and friends! we had a relaxing few days and were happy that steve had work off.

christmas eve day was a little crazy as i spent my morning/afternoon delivering plates of cookies to families that steve home teaches and to a few others around our area. i did all of this during brynn's nap time (and i HATE not being home for nap time as she only naps in her crib. not ANYWHERE else) so she was pretty cranky with me. i even stopped by a german mcdonalds and grabbed her some fries and a milkshake but punk didnt touch any of it! anyways...it was nice to see people smile and get rid of all the baked goods (as i have no self control) that were taking up all my counter space.

that evening, we went to the nielsen's for dinner. we had a good time laughing and stuffing our faces with them. brynn loved stalking baby emma the whole night so we had to watch her as she doesnt understand that babies dont like to jump and eat candy. we also opened our christmas jammies there and hung out in them. i love how comfortable i feel with my friends! i can be in sweats and look homely and not have to worry that they are judging me. plus, the waistband wasnt so tight on my pj bottoms so that always makes life easier when youre trying to eat as much as possible.

brynn is an amazing sleeper so steve and i decided to wake her up at 8:45 christmas morning as we were getting a little impatient! only one of steves presents made it in time for christmas (im still waiting on the rest...so much for shopping online back in november! i thought they would all get here in plenty of time) but he is awesome and didnt mind only opening one gift. brynn tore thru all her presents and even helped us with ours. next year i will be better about spacing out time inbetween each gift as its no fun when its all over in 7 minutes!

we had a little christmas brunch at our place during the early afternoon and invited the schuster's and nielsen's over. it was nice to again, eat more food and watch our kids kill each other and play a little. brynn and ethan have a love/hate relationship so we always have to watch them carefully. it doesnt help that brynn is always jamming her fingers in his face trying to "tickle" him. it hurts! she does that to me a lot and i have to remind her that poking my eyes out isnt funny.

we spent the rest of our christmas day watching "a christmas story" (and i had never seen it! crazy huh?) and hanging out on the couch. ahh i love being lazy!

this evening we were invited to our landlords house for a typical german christmas dinner with our american neighboors and had a blast. beate made these german dumplings and this deer stew with cranberries that were amazing! im always a little hesitant to try new things over here as you never know what you might bite into. but it was awesome and brynn didnt tear down the house. edgar is a huge hunter and had this bench in the living room which was covered in 40+ fox pelts (+ two rabbits) and brynn was terrified of it! when she was acting up, edgar would bring one over to her and growl! she kept hiding her face in my shoulder while all of us laughed. ahh, good "fun for some" game. poor brynn! always being targeted for others enjoyment! that is why you have children right?! KIDDING!

she looks a little homely here as she was running around and being crazy. but, i finally got a picture of her and edgar. he is so sweet to her and always call her his "prinzesschen". plus, we all dig his insanely low voice. such a nice guy.

its a good thing i got jillian michaels "30 day shred" dvd for christmas as i need to get rid of these 5 pounds ive gained from eating like CRAP this week! its so hard to be good around the holidays when there are so many temptations everywhere.

good santa, bad santa

we didn't think brynn was going to see a real amercian version of santa this year (she saw the german version aka st. nickelaus earlier this month) but at the last minute, steves work decided to have a really small children's party. so all this morning, i psyched brynn up and told her how awesome santa is and how she was going to get a present if she went up to him. i didnt expect her to sit on his lap at all, but she actually did! i also think it helped that there was a room full of children and parents encouraging her to go up. she was very reserved and cautious when she first approached santa, but did awesome! no tears this time! we ended up bringing a cute little peoples train, which was wrapped, that she opened while sitting on his lap. she was thrilled as shes been into trains. so thank you grandma and grandpa peterson for the awesome gift! she hasnt put it down since!

a few weeks ago while i was driving on base, i saw this hilarious stuffed "santa" mannequin chilling in a sleigh with the word "attack" sprayed on the front. (the base's motto is "seek, attack, destroy" so im sure it has something to do with that) i have always wanted to get a picture of it, but never had my camera on me when i see it. after this little christmas party, steve snuck away from work and we all ate at the chinese resturant on base. this weird santa mannequin is right across the street, so i convinced steve to go and take pictures with it after lunch. brynn was THRILLED that we were going to see another "santa" as she thought she would get another present...well, as my pictures below show, that wasnt the case. we are such mean parents! i was DYING from her expressions when she first layed eyes on this plastic stuffed santa! it took everything i had to not drop the camera as my whole body was shaking so hard from laughing! of corse all the people driving by were probably calling family advocacy to report us! mean ole petersons...

when i was uploading the pictures off my camera to the computer, the sequence shown below from brynn's reaction about made me pee my pants. poor brynn! i need to find something else to entertain me...

did anyone else take pictures with this thing?!

trier christmas market

all over germany in december, there are several christmas markets that take place. steve and i love going for the food, looking at the interesting things people sell, and checking out the stores. wait i take that back, i love going to the stores. h&m being one of my favorite but steve always gives me a time limit as he isn't into letting me buy anything EVER! thats why i have to go with my friends and not him...anyways.

trier is pretty close to us (approx. 4o minutes) and we are pretty familiar with the city, so we choose to go again this year for their christmas market. i really wanted to go to rothenburg which is 4 hours away, but due to poor planning on my part and steve not being able to take leave, we decided to go somewhere closer. we always love going to trier, so i didnt have to beg too much to get steve to agree.

here are some pictures from our day yesterday (saturday).

brynn and i in front of the porta nigra. this gate was built in 180 AD and is still standing today. trier is considered germany's oldest city because it has so many roman ruins scattered throughout it. i will definately miss this city!

steve waiting for his favorite dish; these saute'ed mushrooms and potatoes with this unreal sauce! i forgot to ask what they are called (also pictured below)

i LOVE this stuff (called poffertjes)! these people cook these mini pancakes on this griddle, (as shown) throw them in an edible bowl, (tastes like an old fashioned icecream cone) chop up some banana's, and drizzle nutella over them. they are UNREAL! this year i decided to boycott the booth as the ladies got nasty with me when i took this picture and told me to leave! chill out people! taking a friggin picture isnt going to expose how the magic works! needless to say i was pretty embarrassed as their booth was packed and germans have no problem at all starring you down. i walked away with my tail between my legs feeling like an idiot.

potato cakes with applesauce. i normally like these, but they were so greasy that i was only able to eat half of one. plus, the cardboard plate was translucent due to the high amounts of grease so that made me a little sick!

me, devouring a nutella crepe (and if any of you havent tried nutella, youre missing out! its this hazelnut spread which is amazing with fruit, breads, your fingers...anything!). they are definately better in paris, but this was good too.

we always get a bag of toasted candied almonds each year. they are really good! i have to hide them from steve when we get home as they are pretty addicting. i forgot to take a picture of this at the stand, so here i am standing out our front door. notice the evil metal stairs?

the following pictures are of the market and some stands.

ummmm....chocolate covered fruit! didnt get any this year, but i drooled over them each time i passed the stands!

it was a great day! they finally put in an h&m kids store in the indoor mall so i grabbed a few knee socks for brynn to keep her warm in this friggin cold weather. i want to go back and buy everything in that store as their stuff is just darling! although figuring out the european sizes is a little hard...

bunny fever

brynn has always loved bunnies. she has a handful of bunny books that are worn down from being used so much (and from her chewing on them) so when i told her we were going to visit teach one of mommy's friends who had a bunny, she was thrilled! she wouldn't stop talking about it the whole 15 minutes it took to get to brittnie's house so i had a headache when we first arrived...anyways, i let her hold one of their bunnies for a few minutes on the couch, took a picture so she could remember, then put it back in its cage as it was getting a little jumpy and scratched brynn's hand. she was mad that it had to go back, but eventually played with the other kids there. i noticed that she kept rubbing her eyes so i grabbed her to put her hair up in a ponytail as i thought it was her long crazy hair that was bothering her eyes. when i saw her face i knew that wasnt the case! poor thing is allergic to bunnies just like her dad! i was so sad as im a huge bunny lover (ask anyone who knew me when i was younger. i spent years in 4H for rabbits and had 50 rabbits in my backyard at one time. and did i mention we didn't live on a farm? yep, in a suburb of seattle baby with tons of bunnies in the backyard crammed in hutches and cages!) and wanted to get brynn a pet bunny of her own someday as they are fairly easy pets to take care of. luckily, brittnie had some benadryl so that helped brynn's "sloth" face clear up. yes, she resembled that 1985 epic movie "the goonies" character sloth (minus the ghetto teeth. she has nice teeth but definately had the droopy swollen eye and puffy face).

needless to say, steve was happy as now he has a legitimate reason as to why we can't get a bunny. i guess our mean cat mango will have to do for now.

finally!

dang! sorry for the gap of time since my last post! i meant to get on here sooner once steve came home (as he had the good computer which allows me to upload pictures) but things have been a little crazy here. steve is a champ and was able to get over the jet lag and adapt to germany so quickly! im jealous as it normally takes me 2 weeks to get back on on schedule! ahhh...i hope it doesnt take me quite as long when we move to alaska in march.

so, heres what we've been up to these past 2 weeks. there are a lot of pictures so brace yourselves:

the wednesday after steve left, our area was hit with 8 inches of snow! it was not cool. im not a fan of shoveling the stuff and cant drive too well in it. for some reason, all of the surrounding villages got maybe 3 inches so i was jealous of that as i drove brynn to school one hour late dt getting all of the snow off our stairs. this is a picture of my car AFTER i went outside and cleaned it up a bit. man, what i wouldnt give to be in africa with kristen! I NEED A TAN!

on december 6th, germany celebrates "st. nickelaus" so my landlord beate arranged for brynn and our american neighboors 3 kids to be visited by out towns appointed st. nickelaus, angels and the dark one (who wasnt allowed to come in as he is dressed like the grim reaper and that would have freaked the kids out. i wasnt quick enough to catch him with my camera to show you all what he looked like) brynn was TERRIFIED of the guy as she was thinking he would look more like the santa decorations that we have up in our house. he looked like a catholic priest to me! i guess that can be scary?! hahaha yeah if youre a little boy....anyways, before friday night, i wrote a letter of all the good and bad things brynn has done this year and he read it off while beate translated. whenever the st. nickelaus dude would speak, brynn would cry so she was happy when her turn was over. the angels then handed each child a gift (that we had wrapped ahead of time and left outside as if they brought it themselves) and brynn was terrified to take it.

i had to drag her with me to take this picture! doesn't she look thrilled?! man i hope the visit with santa on base goes better then this did.


beate and brynn. she is such an awesome landlord who is so helpful and kind. we definately lucked out! her husband edgar is brynns best friend as she digs his incredibly low voice.

i invited the nielsens over for dinner sunday night and of corse they brought their ADORABLE chubby little baby emma. brynn LOVES her to death and was thrilled when i told her they were coming over. and of corse, she didnt object when i wanted to get a picture of her and emma. she will make a good big sister some day...

the owie from last tuesday. it seriously looked worse but by the time i took this, it had gone down a little. good thing brynn heals quickly! that and ive been rubbing neosporin into it. (nah nah nah neo, SPORIN. ahhh, good ole kung pow)

steve took this picture in the south jordan area in utah to show me how low their gas prices are! ahhhh! its $2.10 per gallon here on base and i was thinking that was great! im happy at least that the prices were going down. it feels amazing to fill my car up for less then $30!

steve hung out with the stephenson's friday and saturday when he got into utah and took a few pictures for me. i miss their kids so much! its sad that the last time i saw them was LAST may! janae was still preggers. here is grandpa and cute claire! brynn would totally follow this little princess around if given the chance. she's a professional stalker.

(hope you dont mind me posting a picture of you louise in your pjs! you look great i think) here's grandma giving early presents to jeff and janae's little kids erik, claire and megan. they are such good kids!

steve in logan and my favorite store back in the 2003-2006 days. it closed down since im no longer there to buy their stuff! hahaha jk but i did spend a little too much here...

steve at our favorite resturant "tandoori oven" in logan. its in a sinclair gas station, but don't let that scare you off. the food is AMAZING and the family that runs it is so friendly. we have tried indian food in paris, a few different places in germany, in amsterdam and in belgium and nothing compares to this place! seriously, go try it if you live in the area. my favorite is their chicken tikka massala with rice, garlic naan, a strawberry lassi, and their awesome rice pudding dessert. i was seriously jealous that steve ate there while i was stuck here eating cold cereal! blah!

(this picture was taken in the summer...it was dark when we got there so i wasnt able to get a good picture) on saturday night, steves work had their christmas party at a castle in a local town called rittersdorf. this place is sweet! the place even has its own moat and draw bridge. we were up on the left side on the 2nd level. the food was amazing! it was buffet style and of corse i ate as much as i could! isnt that the point of a buffet? hahahaha....fat americans...i being one of them...

every year, the party planning committee has an ongoing game as to who will dress up as the santa, elf and fairy for the party. you put money down on who you want to wear these costumes and this guy won. we also had a white elephant gift exchange and when you picked your gift, you had to sit on santa's lap first. as you can tell, steve was thrilled! its funny bc people kept calling him "chandler" (off of friends) as the argyle vest totally made him look like him.
they also played a "how well do you know your spouse" game and steve and i won! i was shocked as some of the questions i drew a blank on. like what was steves favorite show as a child? he says batman and i was thinking it was little house on the prarie! but we rocked it and scored a $20 giftcard to the bx. note to self, grab that before steve uses it towards another lame computer game. we also nabbed some wine glasses and beer mugs and everyone thought that was funny as we are the only ones that dont drink in his squadron. we also won the wii but already have one so gave it back. see! we're nice people! dont hate!

me, bloated after eating my weight in german cuisine. thank goodness i wore something black!

after years of not touching my viola, i was asked to play in our wards christmas program night last in a trio and survived! i was shaking so much and made myself sick from being so nervous. im seriously considering joining a mini orchestra in anchorage as i miss playing and need the practice. my inner orchestra nerd is dying to come out again! i've forgotten so much and its frustrating. thanks dani and rebecca for putting up with my lame questions and multiple mistakes!

mommy sleigh

its been butt cold here in germany this past week and a half and our area has had lot of snow, rain and ice. for the past 2 days, it had been raining so luckily all the white puke (aka snow) was beginning to melt. this was great as it is much easier to get into my car without slipping on chunks of frozen snow and worrying about shoveling my stairs and walkway as we all know lindsay isnt good with a snow shovel. where is steve when i need him?!

i had plans to pick up my friend shelly and hit a few stores in wittlich this morning as we both wanted to get some german christmas decorations before they ran out. brynn of corse was slower then heck this morning and i was running late as usual trying to get everything together. i had a lot of things to bring with me (gym bag, brynns backpack, my purse, boxes i needed to mail to our parents on base, and a big toy that i was going to let shelly use for emma) so i decided to make as few trips as possible out to the car to save on time. it looked really cold outside and i could tell that the trees and my wreath on the door were frozen so i knew our freaky stairs would be hell. so i took brynns hand, and flung my 3 bags over my shoulder and walked very very slowly down our frozen metal staircase. i was doing pretty good until i reached the last 5 stairs and my stupid boot slipped and caused me to fall. i was so mad. i remember being mad not scared as i fell, twirled and slid the rest of the way down on my back as i dragged poor helpless brynn down with me. all i could see was this look of horror on her face as she was so confused at why her mean ole' mommy was pulling her down with her! i should have let go of her hand as i slipped, but i tensed up and pulled her down with me. i was so mad and started to cry as i lay at the bottom of our stairs with my sobbing toddler on top of me. brynn started screaming at this point as she could tell that i was upset so i pretended everything was ok and tried to calm her down. i tried to get up but my leg was numb and i was shaking like crazy so i couldnt pull myself up. so i held brynn and looked her over and all i could see was the right side of her forehead was a little red and scraped up. i was so relieved to see that she was better off then me so i sat up and pulled myself up with the help of the bottom step. my right shin and ankle got a little banged up and the stupid steel spikes on each of our steps gauged me below my knee. i eventually got up and walked around and felt ok. i think my gym bag took most of the impact so i was grateful that i had that with me as i would have been worse off.
i got brynn out of the car when we got to shelly's place and her "owie" on her forehead looked ten times worse! i took a picture of it when we got home this afternoon and will post it later as this POS computer doesnt allow me to upload for some reason. its so sad! i took her hair down to hide the area but you can still see her huge bump and scratches. poor brynn! so from now on, if my stairs are this icy again, im staying home. no one likes a mommy sleigh when there is no snow involved. i am not going to miss our deadly metal stairs.

(and thank you steve for "hijacking" MY blog. hahahaha! it needed a new entry so i thank you for doing that. now come home and give me my food! lol!)

Hijacking at its finest!

Lo and behold - Steve has hijacked the blog! Yes, I have been the faithful and quiet sidekick of this blog and have never caused any ruckus - only bliss. However, from the looks of it, I have disrupted the blogging cycle by being TDY back here in the States. It is my duty- no, it my honor, to be able to input a least one post before I return back to Germany and render my service back to the Queen of the Sanctuary.

I was out in Denver for a few days at a conference for fellow Finance folks. I thought of all these different restaurants that I could go to, but Arby's sounded like Heaven. I went to The Macaroni Grill when I got in, but I think Lindsay must've put a curse on my stomach as I couldn't eat my food. I have faith that it would've tasted good, but alas, I did not partake.

Yesterday I came out to Utah to visit my sister Janae and her fam. It has been great to see her and catch up on some things, as well as get harassed by everyone. Why does everyone pick on me? (a classic by the Bloodhound Gang) I'm going up to Logan tomorrow until I go back, and that should be good - I've gotten half of my Christmas shopping done so far and I know exactly where to go to finish. What happened to the procrastinating Steve the shopper?

Seeing baby Megan (Janae's youngest) makes me miss my family. I love seeing the mountains out here and my siblings/parents, but I miss my family. Seeing Brynn at the end of the day just makes my day. Hearing stories from Lindsay of what's she's seen/done with Brynn cracks me up. I'm so proud to by a Dad and love being a husband. I can't think of anyone else other than Lindsay I want to be with forever. Our humor is perfectly intertwined and she is my best friend. She even convinced me to quit WoW! Going on a year of being clean. That's love at it's finest!

It's been good to be out here, but I long to be back in Germany to be with MY family. Sorry for the hijacking...

MIA for a while

steve leaves tomorrow morning to denver for some finance conference for work then going to utah to see family, so i may be missing in action for a while. he is taking the laptop with him so im stuck at home with the nasty dinosaur desktop thats slower then crap. so, i dont know how often i will be online. im going to have to find another hobby around here to keep me busy! i guess there are always things to clean around the house...
im really jealous that steve gets to go to the states for 2 weeks while brynn and i are stuck here in kraut land dealing with the nasty weather. i told him he better bring me back bread from great harvest in logan or im not letting him in the house! i seriously miss that place along with logans firehouse pizzeria, tandoori oven, and caspers. if there was only a way to keep indian food and icecream shakes good on a 15 hour flight AND get by customs, he would be hauling that stuff back to me.
so janae and louise, make sure steve takes lots of pictures for me! he tends to forget about using the camera and it drives me crazy. i wish brynn and i were able to come along as i havent been to the states since june 2007! not cool...
(and valerie r, THANKS A TON for helping me with my hair and makeup today! if it wasnt for you, i would have looked a little funny. and annie p, thanks for devoting your afternoon/night for me! i had a blast and cant wait to see the pictures! you are awesome and crack me up)

hilarious craigslist post

today i came upon an actual craigslist posting (thru a friend) that had me and steve DYING! this is exactly what it said, i swear i didnt add/change anything!

Ferocious attack kitten is available for adoption to any home willing to accept him.

This destructive kitty has been trained as a proud warrior and will fiercely defend your house, even against you. Well-trained since 10-weeks of age to attack anything in his presence, he will protect your family from evil things, including the following:

* insects

* other trained attack kittens

* babies

* toilet paper

* anything under a blanket

* unwanted house guests

* paper bags

* floor rugs

* Chuck Norris

* Feet.

Great with children (assuming you don't like the children). Probably best used for professional catfighting. He is housebroken, but only because he wants to be. This attack cat has trained himself to seek out his food anywhere you hide it and rip the bag open to feed himself, great for those who travel extensively. Also trained to drink water out of toilet bowls and dishwater from items in the sink. Knows how to open some doors. He will find you wherever you hide. Neutered (trust me, you wont want to him to procreate). Has not been declawed, but you'll figure that out really fast. Understands and responds to a variety of vulgar and profane verbal commands. Has a very soft and furry belly, like a teddy bear - however he will bite your face if you try to touch it. Willing to accept trades. Potential adopters must have experience with trained attack-kittens... please be prepared to show scars. For the love of God, someone please take this thing out of my house.

LMAO! LOL! hahahahaha! if only we could think of something this clever to get mango a new home! i love funny people...

hope everyone has a fabulous thanksgiving! im planning on devouring my very own pumpkin pie along with a huge tub of cool whip! gotta love a holiday that youre supposed to be fatty on.

twilight

(if you havent seen the movie yet, DON'T read this as i dont want to hear you say "ahhh lindsay! you ruined it for me!)

since everyone else in the world has been blogging about the twilight movie, i thought i would join the ranks as you know i am a huge follower!...hahahaha

it didnt seem like the movie was going to reach our area for a few more weeks, so a few people from the ward were going to drive to belgium (i think it was in liege?) this coming wednesday to go and see it. i didnt see that working out too well with me as finding someone to watch brynn the whole day was going to be hard as our normal babysitters would still be in school. luckily, stacy p from the ward heard that a german movie theatre was showing it near ramstein afb (about an hour and a half away) so people called in, reserved tickets, and we were able to go and see it saturday night. i wasnt too crazy with the people they choose for bella and edward, so i had a hard time getting into it as whenever they spoke, it took everything i had to not bust out laughing!

here are a few of the parts i thought were hilarious! (and they werent supposed to be!)

-seeing jasper! WTF! dude looked like a mime! but a lot of people in our theatre laughed too when he first appeared on the movie

-seeing the vampires dance around the fire in the ballet studio when they were burning james

-the way emmet was dressed. i dont remember him being a "gangsta" when i read the book. did someone catch that part when they were reading the books? maybe i missed it...

-edwards sparkling skin. hmmm...i understand that that would have been hard to do though in a movie so i cant complain too much

-edward running around with bella on his back

-all of the vampires powdery complexions! it looked especially awful on carlisle.

-alice jumping on james and breaking his neck/taking his head off.

-edward's face in biology class when bella first came in and sat by him! that actually was pretty good acting!!! totally how i pictured that scene to take place in my head.

now, i understand that there is no way they could have made the movie as great as the book, so i wasnt expecting that when i watched it. all in all, it was on ok movie, but i prefer the version i made up in my head when i read all of stephenie meyers books. yes, i think everyone should go and see it for themselves and try and not let "my" opinion alter theirs.

this is a pretty funny spoof that i found on youtube a few weeks ago that i think is worth sharing. if you watched the original twilight trailer, you'll get the humor.

my favorite part is when "edward" runs away screaming "hey, im immortal"!!!! LMAO!

german fashion show

here is the video i promised over a month ago of some weird german fashion show that my friends emily, shelly and i witnessed while on a shopping trip in trier. i guess they all incorporate dancing into their shows? i dunno...it was entertaining to watch though!

and it happens yet again...

(i meant to blog about this sooner but we've been busy around here)

saturday morning, brynn and i had to go to base to run errands and hit the gym but we encountered a slight problem. as i started the car, it would hardly turn over. when it finally got some power, it was shaking violently and on the verge dying again. i knew right away what the problem was (as we had dealt with it twice already!) and couldnt believe it. to prove what i was thinking was in fact the issue, i popped the hood, and this is what i saw:




yep. we are the victims again of those $%&#@% weasels! GRRRRRRR! i couldnt believe it as we've been spraying our engine with this special spray and i was under the impression that they wouldnt return! so we're back to sharing the ol' bmw again and it seriously sucks. its a good thing that steve has some work buddies that live relatively close as they've been kind enough to have him carpool with them to work.

i called an auto parts store this morning and luckily, they think they can get the spark plug shtuff for the crv in by tomorrow. the guy told me that it sounds like a family of these bastard weasels have marked our car and will continue to return unless we give the engine a good cleaning. so it looks like thats what i'll be doing when brynn goes to school tomorrow morning. have these disgusting rodents become immune to this special spray? i think so...i cant wait until we can have a garage!!!

on a better note, ive discovered this local website www.spangdahlemyardsales.com and am thrilled to know that something like this exists in our area! i have a butt load of things i wanted to sell, but posting them on the bulletin board at the post office isnt getting the word out. so if you live in the bitburg area, check it out! steve and i just purchased a bike trailer for brynn this morning for $50 and cant wait to try it out! sure beats the retail price of $299! AND the one we bought has only been used a few times. this makes up for the above situation...

new pictures

annie came over this afternoon to drop off the cd from our photography session last weekend and im in LOVE with how great they all turned out! again, thanks annie for devoting your saturday morning for us! its about time we had some good family photos!!! here are a few that i saw for the first time today and a few others that annie sent to me earlier in the week.

i've been tagged!

annie p tagged me a few weeks ago and im finally getting around to it! sorry im a little slow...

rules:
1. post the rules on your blog
2. write six random things about yourself
3. tag six people at the end of your post.


1. I HATE RUDE DRIVERS! here in germany, it seems like they are everywhere! people constantly tail gate, flash their lights when they want to pass you, and are always in a hurry and have no problem passing you when there are other cars coming. every day i think im going to witness a head on collision and it freaks me out! i am a very nice person, but when im behind the wheel, i have no problem at all beeping my horn and giving people the ole skunk eye when they've pissed me off/done something ridiculous. it drives steve crazy as i dont think twice about laying on the horn and this embarasses him.

2. i am terrified of public speaking! i respect those who can get up in front of large groups of people (especially without notes!) and carry on like its no big deal. thats why you wont see me lining up to bear my testimony or volunteer to give a talk in church. i always stammer over words and feel like a complete idiot when i do speak and that really frustrates me. so please, DONT ask me to talk at anything as i will turn you down! and that leads me to my next point...

3. i have a hard time saying no to people. this drives me crazy! when i do have to tell someone no, i feel awful and worry about it for days. i worry if i have hurt their feelings and i never EVER want people to be upset because of me. lame i know! i need to understand that i cant please everyone all the time and thats ok. i try to avoid as much confrontation as possible as i dont deal well with that.

4. i cant relax if my house is a mess. this can be a good and bad thing... it motivates me to keep a clean house, but at the same time i cant do anything else until i have tackled the mess and that tends to make me late for appointments and other things. ive been known to stay up till 2am working on a sharing time lesson for primary on a saturday night as i felt i had to clean the kitchen, scrub the shower, do the dishes, and put away the laundry first. so if im looking like butt at church, you know why. but hey, at least my house looks good right? hahahaha

5. when i was 17, i was held at gunpoint and robbed working at baskin robbins in renton washington. it sounds a lot worse then it really was...all i remember was that i was incredibly calm and didnt get a good look at the guy which pissed the cops off. i was more traumatized by the cops then the guy as they were so mean when they were questioning me! my mom demanded that i quit right then (i was having issues with my boss too so this just made the decision easier) and i was off to bigger and better things...pizza hut baby!

6. i really like shopping online...like a lot. its not a good thing! but i try to justify myself to steve with my "oh, but i got free shipping from retailmenot.com" and "i found a 10% off coupon on this one site". hey, its hard out here without the conveniences of malls, walmarts, and targets! getting package slips in my box totally makes my day! i love getting presents...even when i buy them!

so, i tag tami, sarah, kristen, heidi, janae and shelly.

bastogne belgium

since today was veteran's day, we thought it was appropriate to go and visit bastogne. in this town close to the luxembourg border, thousands of soldiers died in WWII during the battle of the bulge in the winter of 1944-1945. the whole town is filled with those reminders, including a star-shaped american memorial that we visited. we didnt make it inside the museum as it was sort of pricey ($35 bucks for all of us to go in) and brynn didnt take a nap on the way there so we opted to skip out on that. we decided to walk the grounds instead, check out the cute city, and stuff our faces with awesome pastries. steve and i LOVE bakeries (and that shows!) and like to try different types when we go to different cities out here. in belgium, they speak french and dutch (and i dont speak either of those!) so ordering was a little crazy for us! we always feel so stupid trying to get our point across and get embarrassed when the locals stare us down. leave it up to the petersons to represent the americans with our crappy knowledge of the german language combined with awkward hand motions! "uhhhhh....ein bitte cherry danish thingy with those sprinkles on top danke shurrrnnnn...tchusss!

i was happy to find some cute cheap childrens stores and grabbed a few warm shirts for brynn. i also found some cute pacifier retainers (they are crazy popular here in europe!) as im going to three baby showers here in the next 2 months and havent found any gifts yet.

it was friggin butt cold but nice to get away from our house and do something locally. we only live a little over an hour away from bastogne so driving wasnt bad at all. crazy how right when you hit the belgium border there are street lights everywhere! has anyone else noticed that out here? driving in germany at night is awful as its so dark and nothing is lit up!

we will definitely miss living so close to so many things! thank goodness the airforce sent us out here as we would have NEVER come to europe on our own.

i love this picture of brynn! she looks so funny bundled up in her blanket.