Thursday, February 21, 2013

It's Been A Year Already? WHAT THE!?

WOWZA!  That went by awfully fast!  Rick stared his job here in Germany 1 year ago....leaving me home (big, fat preggo woman) with 4 other kids to look after.  Today, he is, ironically  in Utah....I am left home alone (once again) with 5 munchkins to look after.  Luckily he will be home in less than two days and the insanity that is motherhood can subside a little with his return Saturday morning (breath Anna, just breath!)

Oh so much has happened since last February  it hardly seems possible that it all happened to me....and in one year.  In April I had a baby boy (Henry...cutest baby yet!), 3 weeks later we hoped on a flight with all 5 kids and a mound of luggage to rival Mt. Everest  and set off to Stuttgart, Germany.  Upon arrival, we all felt TOTALLY and COMPLETELY overwhelmed with our new life.  Kids started school, Rick resumed work, I began to get used to a new baby and a toddler at home, and basically life went on.  We have made so many wonderful lifetime friends, I can't imagine our lives without them!  We have traveled to France, Switzerland, and Austria.  We have explored the Black Forest, The Ulm Cathedral, Sound of Music Tour, Salt Mines, Barfuss Park, not to mention all the amazing parks they have for kids here in Germany....us Americans have NO IDEA how to build a park right....just an observation.  We toured Hohenzollern Castele, Ludwigsburg Castle, and have made the 45 minute drive to and from music lessons almost every Saturday!  WHew!  Just typing this makes me TIRED!  Clarissa, Sam and Thomas have all ventured to Patch Elementary School and have LOVED it.  Thomas' German is coming along quite nicely, he even gets the whole flem-in-the-throat action going!  He translates what they are saying on the radio for me....a feel like an immigrant.  

Recently, um, well, actually TODAY.....our house is being sold!  Yes, our lovely home-on-the-hill in Tree Town is no longer ours as of 9 O'clock on Thursday morning.  I have had VERY mixed emotions with the decision to sell our home.  It was very hard to let go.  We LOVED living there for almost 8 years.  Our older children will probably always call Tremonton home.  Our ward family was so AMAZING, we loved our little  school (Heritage Foundation School) that the kids attended and miss it so much!  I feel blessed to have spent a good part of my life there....oh Tremonton, you will be SORELY missed by this family.

So what's next you might ask.....well, who the heck knows, really?  We will stay in Germany, maybe longer than we had anticipated, and enjoy it while it lasts.  We are venturing to England and Wales in a few weeks with Ricks parents and brother Charlie!!!!!  SO EXCITED, I CANNOT WAIT!!!!  Legoland Deutschland is in the works for Sam's birthday...WAHOO!  And Clarissa is planning a daddy-daughter weekend in Athens....so there you have it!  It's a WONDERFUL LIFE!  Oh yea, we (meaning me and the 5 kids) will probably be spending the summer of 2014 in Utah, so make plans to come see me!