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!