Happy Halloween!

We're boring- we have no plans this evening which is fine by me. We also are not dressing up. Should we decide to take a walk or something fabulous, William will be a little blue bear. This week though, he's been festive sporting some new jack-o-lantern robeez courtesy of Grandma Fawni! So cute! We had a ward Halloween party last weekend which was fun. It's just becoming more of a challenge to be out of the house after 630. William is ready for bed no later than 7!

We've been pretty boring lately- and here are the highlights: ;)

William chewing on his new book. That's what you do with books, right?

This is Jacob Hughes (son of some of our fav. pals out here)- dressed as Harry Potter. I think he's just so stinkin' precious!

We went to a new restaurant last night for dinner. Nathaniel wanted to get a picture of William and I both wearing green.

Party animals: William and Nathaniel

William's Favorite Time of Day:

William's favorite trick:

Heute

This past week William has been really trying so very hard to lift up his bum and get mobile. His efforts aren't yet effective, but they are entertaining! Also this past week I've finally realized that his blocked tear duct (since birth) has FINALLY cleared up!!! YAY! I'd begun to wonder if it ever would. Finally no more people saying "oh, he's crying", or "oh! what's wrong with his eye?" Nothing, he just had eye boogs. What a handsome little devil. Also this week we've been really working on a consistant bedtime and moved it an hour earlier! Efforts seem to be paying off!. He'll now sleep up to 5 hours at a time at night. Ohh so wonderful. Many thanks to my friend for getting me the book Healthy sleep habits, Happy child.

There never was a child so lovely but his mother was glad to see him asleep.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kurbis Festival

Last Saturday we went to a Kurbis (Pumpkin) festival! The theme was Noah's Ark- and it was pretty impressive. The cafe sold pumkin everything- quiche, rice dish, burger, soup, muffin.... It was interesting. I was good with the muffin, but Nathaniel tried just about everything! What a brave guy. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun- eventhough we were still dang tired from the race.

William was very tired and I couldn't get him to look at me. What's a momma to look at when there are so many cool pumkins around?!

Noah's ark and pumkin camels. There were many other pumkin animals- It was pretty darn creative!

This is the 2nd place winner in the pumpkin contest. It weighed over 900 lbs!

The festival was held on the grounds behind this castle (ths is just a wing of it- so pretty!).

This senorita greeted us when we got there. haha.

We did the Mash

We did the monster mash. The monster mash. It was a grave yard smash. We did the mash! It caught on in a flash. We did the mash.... waa ooooh.

On Friday Nathaniel, William and I did a 13k run up to Frankenstein's castle! I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I think that was a good thing. It was freezing cold (which was great once we got moving) and the terrain was all on rocky dirt trails, roads, and hills. I told Nathaniel that I would take the stroller if he would run ahead and win me a t-shirt. Only the first 350 people got t-shirts and 900+ people competed! The trail was absolutely beautiful! Nathaniel finished in just over an hour (8 minute miles- placing 164/900) and I finished just under two (they stopped placing people after 300 I think- at least I wasn't last!). I was doing really well until the last hill up which had pesky tree roots covering the steep, forever-long trail making stroller navigation extremely challenging!!! My hero met me 1/2 way up the hill, winning t-shirt in hand, and took the stroller the rest of the way up. What a champ! He ran all the way up the horrible hill and then still came to save me. It was a very good thing. Pushing the stroller up that hill was a full-body workout and my muscles were burning all over. I pushed it the last 500 meters or so though because I'd done so much of the race with William that I wanted to cross the finish line with him. :) When we made it to the top of we were both too tired to even go see the castle. Another time, maybe, when we drive to the top. Before the race 1/2 way point!!

The final stretch! I put the rain cover on the stroller to keep William warm.
"A smile to mask the pain" - Nathaniel

William was such a good boy! I was concerned how he would do on the long ride. He fell asleep as soon as I started our run/walk, slept for 45 minutes and then just enjoyed the scenery the rest of the time!

Strasbourg, France

We had a wonderful time, and we were all a bit sad to leave the delicious bread and easy communication (at least for one of us) behind. We arrived on Friday night and were surprised by an enormous hotel room. We'd booked the basic, but because we'd booked late they didn't have anymore of the standard and we were upgraded! 6 beds (including the crib) for the 3 of us. Fantastic. On Saturday morning we set out into the town to see the sights and find Nathaniel his much sought after bookstores...my darling little dictionary addict! We saw the cathedral, went on a boat tour, bought some dictionaries and then headed off to the church to catch the Saturday morning session of conference (aired at 6pm here). Sunday we walked into Petite France just for a quick look around before we had to get back to the church for Priesthood session airing and following sessions. Monday we went back to the cathedral and hiked up the 66 meters/300+ stairs to the top! Man. My legs were tired and I found out something new about my sweet husband: heights make him very dizzy- though I'm sure going up a spiraling staircase for that long didn't help. France was beautiful and the people were all wonderful and friendly. We can't wait to go back!

Family photo on the boat ride of Strasbourg.
Picture of a church taken from the boat. I would have more info on this, but my stupid headphones on the boat kept going out on me!
The Strasbourg Cathedral. On Sunday we were there right before Mass. Besides the tourists- the church goers were slim pickin's!
View from the cathedral platform.

William is always such an eager helper! Nathaniel went out on Saturday morning to come back with this delicious feast for us! What did he have for breakfast? A pan chocolate (chocolate filled croissant) and a chocolate eclair!

William, of course, enjoyed his breakfast too.

Ha. Excellent. Slender, Fine, Fiz. How did they know?!
This is the oldest building in Petite France. Again- wish I could tell you more, but the whole headphone thing really set me back. I think it's from the 1400s.

Just chillin' on a bridge.

photo shoot with mommy

While Nathaniel was watching Priesthood session on Sunday, William and I hung out in an empty room upstairs in the church trying in vain to get him to take a nap. Realizing how fabulous William looked in his outfit and how lovely the lighting was, I busted out my camera. I'm no Jeri, Aubrey, or Christie, but here is what we came up with:

This one is actually from a walk earlier in the week. Pumpkin hat season!

What an honest face... he looks like a born salesman in this one.
Trying to crawl!
"Ha! This chair is hysterical!!"

Flashback Friday

Later today we're going to France! Last time Nathaniel and I were there together was when we got engaged (in Annecy. June 04). Unfortunately- I had a horrible sinus infection. I'm hoping to enjoy the scenery a bit more this time around! It's so amazing to get to go on such fun travels and adventures with the person that you love most! And our sweet baby boy (fun for us- he won't remember any of this anymore than I remember Guam).

Together in downtown Annecy

Together in Leon


Our engagement picture taken in Monterey, CA

Sleep

Sorry for all the posts- playing catchup during W's morning nap.

Our bed here sucks. Either side of the bed has a little dip in it and it feels almost like one of those cheap camping beds you'd find in an outdoor cabin in Tahoe. Also- as you can see in the below picture- N and I each get our own blanket. This might sound appealing initially- but it's actually quite a pain- the covers get twisted all which way and you never know in the night whose blanket you're grabbing. In the morning Nathaniel and I wake up achey and stiff!The twin bed in W's room is great. It's like a giant foam camping bed with no springs. It's soo much more comfortable! Our bedrooms here don't have doors. They have curtains (apparently this is very Euro... but I CANNOT see the great perk to this). At night we can hear William's every whimper, *sigh*, and even roll-over. So. At night when he makes any noise at all it wakes me up out of my 1/2 sleep on my crummy bed and I go in to hold/nurse/pat his bum/find his binkie. Being without my faithful rocker-glider at home, I laydown on the twin bed with him to comfort him.... and I promply fall asleep. Then I have to wake up AGAIN to put him back in his bed and go back into my own bed and fall asleep again. Since I wake up to every little thing he does, I find myself getting up 1/2 dozen times a night and I feel like I'm not really getting any sleep! Any fabulous tips out there?

Around Town

Living in Germany doesn't necessarily feel like living anywhere else, unless someone tries to talk to me. Aside from the whole language thing- some of the things that I've noticed are:
- Cigarette vending machines. They're everywhere! In grocery stores, restaurants, on street corners, in neighborhoods. It's very crazy! Apparently though, starting yesterday you can't smoke in public places (not sure if that just means indoor places though). Yay!
- At the grocery store it is required that you bring your own means of carrying your groceries home, or you pay for a plastic bag there. This has advantages and disadvantages. I haven't seen any of those plastic sacs torn up stuck on trees anywhere. But the other side is that I wouldn't exactly want to do any bulk shopping anywhere when I have to carry it all in my little canvas bag. Euros dont' tend to shop in bulk anyway though, so I guess it works for them.
- Bikes. Everyone has them, and I love it.
-Think gas is pricy back home? Here it is like the same price PER LITER. Filling up our rental car with disel gas would have cost us the US ecquivalant of $100.
- Out for a run- I only got one "cat call."


Last week William and I went to the Palm Gardens. It is 50 acres of gardens, green houses, etc. It was pretty amazing. Here are a few of my faborite pictures of the day:

This is the enterance to the train stop!

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Now that William is into solid foods- we needed some dishes, etc. We headed out to toys r us, and ran into an old friend:

March 27, 2007

Today, sweet William is 6 months old! It is amazing how time flies. When he was brand newl i tseemed like he would always be that little. But now- Everyday he is learning something new. He never ceases to amaze me! We are so happy and feel so blessed to have such a special boy in ourfamily.

I always feel like such a nerd when I hear myself on the little videos- but oh well. Here is some fun footage of my little buddy. Happy 1/2 birthday big boy!

3 days old vs. 6 months old

Hello World

And the little one said, "roll over"

chit chat and reaching for mommy's camera!

The Heidelberg Schloss

On Saturday we did the essential errands, and then hit the road headed for the hills! I've been anxious to see a castle since we got here. There are so many so close! We've heard great things about Heidelberg and it's a pretty short drive (especially thanks to the autobahn- no speed limit!) so we set out. We were very impressed and of course, William was a hit. At one point I realized that we were that family. The family with a kid missing a sock. I've always wondered when I see a sock somewhere how someone loses a sock! It just fell off while Nathaniel was packing William around in the bjorn. I scanned all of the ground that we had covered, but in vain. I then forgot about it until I paused to take a picture and Nathaniel kept walking. When I left to go catch up I heard a woman say to her husband, "Did you see that baby back there? He was missing a sock!" Haha! I laughed, ran up to William and took off his sock. There, now he's the kid with NO socks. All in all it was a brilliant day. Great scenery, fabulous weather, and a happy baby (until we got home, naturally).

Ready to go out and see the world! (This child looks nothing like his mother!)
Our first view of the schloss. The castle was first damaged during the 30 years war and then rebuilt, but then destroyed beyond inhabitable repair when France invaded Germany. For many years thereafter the town used it as a quarry! Free building materials- I can't believe it! Finally someone stepped in to stop that and fixed up/added an event hall of sorts and restored what they could of it. It's really amazing. I can't help but imagine what it must have been like in its glory days.
William is obviously very excited to be there.

Um... pride and prejudice anyone?! The grounds made me feel near and dear to Pemberley (wrong country, but still).
Ooh...This was an interesting one. Very masculine...right? They were doing some renovation work, but can you see the awesome sun clock?!


This is a view from the terrace of Heidelberg. Below is a little video of the view but I took it mostly to capture the sound of all of the church bells ringing.

Frankfurt & Fun

On Tuesday night we got out to Frankfurt with a church group. There was a tour guide, but there were really too many people to hear very well. We had fun just seeing the sights anyway!

Nathaniel and I in the downtown square.
Such a happy traveler!

Inside the churches there were some amazing pieces of art. This picture turned out best of all that I took. Of course none of them do the real thing any justice though.

In our downtime, we find ways to have lots of fun and laughs:

Playing with William's toys.
Sucking toes...Really, William is the only one in the house who participates in this activity. Can you see that I didn't even get to finish putting on his diaper?

Oh this blessed toy lion- W loves it! The poor thing's tail is looking pretty mangy these days though.
Playin' with daddy. CHECK OUT THOSE KNEES. My sweet little chunk-a-monk.

and play some more with Daddy: the flight
and landing! (Even though he's smiling, this activity always make me so nervous!)