Ricky's Project

So for a while now Ricky has been working on rebuilding a V6 engine to put into my car, along with a few other things. He's gotten it to the point that he can finally do the swap. And this last week he officially began the swap.

My poor car with no engine.

It's gonna take a while since he's pretty much doing it all himself and can only work on the weekends and a little bit before work everyday. But he has set September as his deadline to have it completely done and running. So hopefully in a month or so I can have my car back (or he can have my car and I'll just take his).

Family Reunions

Back in March Ricky was able to take some leave and we were able to go back home together. It was the first time he was able to go back to the states in 2 years. It was a great trip! We were able to see almost all of both sides of the family, which was great! We were able to go to Disneyland in California with Ricky's Mom and Step-dad, all three brothers, and Grandma! That was a great trip! First time for several of us to go to Disneyland! We got to spend a lot of time at the beach, and Ricky even got to learn how to surf!
Ricky, Ken, Tony and their surfing instructor.

Family Photo at the resort we stayed at.

While we were in the states we really kind of splurged because shopping online isn't all it's cracked up to be. Ricky particularly loved going to auto hobby shops. All the tools and car parts… Let's just say we went to them more then I wanted to and way more then was necessary. 

He's sad that Germany doesn't have stores like this.

We also got together with my family and did a big family photo shoot so that we could surprise my mom with them for mothers day. Since Daryl was back from his mission we were able to get all of the kids and grandkids together for this first time in over 2 years. They turned out really great! 

Everyone!

Just the grownups.

All in all it was an amazing and very much needed trip!

Projects

I got the motivation to do a couple of projects in January. I needed a new church bag, and I had some extra fabric laying around so I figured I'd go on pinterest and find something I liked and make it. Luckily the one I liked ended up having a pattern I could follow. 

I really like how it turned out.

 The only thing I would do differently is add a pocket or two into to hold pens and small things.

The other thing I did was sign up for a frame making class on base. It was great and because I did it, I became certified to use the equipment unsupervised. So now I can go back and make my own frame for a small fee and the cost of the materials! 

Here's the frame I made in the class.

I want to find a better picture of my dad to put in it but this is what I had at the time, so it will have to do for now.

Christmas

We had a quiet Christmas. We did splurge on a couple of very nice things including a new German knife set for me, Apple TV and an iPad for Ricky, and several Christmas movies and Christmas books because I feel like those make it feel more like Christmas then anything else. I didn't take many pictures cause I got caught up in the excitement of it being Christmas but here are the 2 I did get.

Ricky opening a present.

 A new Christmas sweater!

Also we were kind of late taking family photos this year so we did Christmas ones.

Ricky is wearing a Christmas sweater that has dinosaurs on it (along with his bow tie and ridiculous glasses). 

 Why? I don't really know. I figured it was Christmas, let him do what he wants.

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas! It is probably my favorite holiday, followed closely by Thanksgiving. I love many things about Christmas, including, but not limited to, the food, the decorations, the presents, and really just the feeling in the air. I love it all! But I've really enjoyed the traditions this year. It's been interesting meshing Ricky's and my traditions together, but fun. We've even started some of our own. One of which is to make ornaments every year. Slowly but surely we will have enough home made ornaments to cover our tree. We don't have all of the first ones we made cause they didn't make it more then a year or 2, but others have lasted and it is fun to remember where we were when we made them. 

Here's what we made this year!

They turned out pretty cute!

Back to Germany

The month really flew by. By the end I was torn between wishing it was longer so I could stay with family and enjoy the comforts and luxuries of the States, and shorter so I could finally be with Ricky again. But eventually time ran out and I had to fly back home. Or at least I thought so. I made it to Baltimore no issues, but got stuck there for 3 days waiting for a seat to open up so I could fly back to Germany. I thought I had timed it pretty well, but I guess that everyone, all 185 people that showed up thought the same thing. And unfortunately there were only 123 seats available. The worst part? If one other person hadn't shown up, I would have gotten on that flight. It was so frustrating being that close to making it home, and then not. 

Luckily the military has some very strong bonds that are easy to develop, and because of that I was willing to share a hotel room with 2 complete strangers for the night so that I wouldn't have to stay in the Terminal 2 nights in a row. Granted we still spent enough time there (over 24 hours) that I was starting to feel like Tom Hanks from The Terminal by the end. The next flight out came and luckily for me there were less people and more empty seats! Enough that not only me, but the 2 ladies I stayed with were able to make it on board (not without a little drama of course, it wouldn't be space-a without it). We did a little celebratory dance to celebrate! 

It wasn't a bad experience, but it did test my willingness to "be the leaf". And even though it was tough and frustrating to go through, I look back at it now and be grateful. Grateful that I am part of an amazing military community. Grateful to have only been stuck for 3 days, and not the week that one of the ladies I stayed with was. And mostly just grateful that I felt safe the entire trip. Not once did I feel scared or afraid for my safety. Talk about blessings!

Priesthood Blessing and Temple Work

I don't often share spiritual stuff on here. Ok I never share spiritual stuff on here. I don't really share it period, and that is a little sad, because I have so many amazing spiritual experiences. Granted some of them are very personal to me. Others I forget a little too quickly. But I did have one that I do want to share, at least a small part of.

While I in Idaho, I was able to receive a priesthood blessing from most of my brothers (two weren't able to be there) and can I just say how wonderful it was to know that all them were worthy and willing to give me a blessing. I felt surrounded and protected by a wall of love before the blessing was even started. And almost from the very start I could feel my dad's presence, stronger then I've ever felt him, around me. It was a beautiful blessing and I cried the entire way through it. I only wish I had thought to record it so I could hear those blessings again.

Right after my priesthood blessing, most of the family was able to go do baptisms for the dead in the Twin Falls, Idaho Temple. If you ever get a chance to go to the temple with all or most of your family, do it. The whole experience is so much more meaningful and filled with so much more love then when you're there with strangers. 

Of all the things I was able to do while home This day was my absolute favorite and most cherished of them all. 

Me Like Hockey

Have you ever heard that song "Me Like Hockey" by Arrogant Worms? Well, while going around and staying with family, I was able to do a weekend trip with my brother Travis and his family and my brother Robert and his family up to Jackson Hole Wyoming and see my very first Hockey Game and I couldn't get this song out of my head. 

 It was just a minor league game, but still very cool to watch.

 I had that song, and clips from the Might Ducks going through my head the entire time I was watching.

 Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

The next day we did a little sight seeing and looked around the town. I was able to text Ricky and sent him some awesome pictures of amazing friends I made there.

 Like this elk, 

 And Einstein to name a few. 

I also found this amazing fur Jockstrap. It was a little out of my price range. I was a little sad cause it could have been the most epic of Christmas gifts ever!

Oh, The Simple Pleasures

While I was in Idaho, I tried to spend time with all of my family, not just certain family members, and that included the in-laws. It was great to catch up with them and get to know Gunner, my 4 year old brother in-law, better too. He is one very smart kid who LOVES construction equipment. He has a very fun imagination that really showed itself when I brought out my crocheting. He was fascinated by the hooks and how they worked the yarn.

After playing with my stuff for a little while he decided that he needed his own hooks and yarn. A five dollar gift that he could use for so many things. I was all for it, but I'm not sure his mother is ready to have yarn all over the place just yet.

New Babies!!!

My sister-in-law had her baby while I was home! Everyone was so excited cause they didn't find out what they were having, so it was big surprise. They really wanted a boy to help offset the 2 little girls they already have.

They got what they wanted! They named him Benson Boyd Kent. He was just over 5 lbs and about 20 inches long. He was already eating very well and gaining a little weight, which is good cause he's gonna need all the strength he can get to survive the not so gentle loving his two older sisters have been constantly giving him.

Chocolate Lover

This little darling is a girl after my own heart. 

We both love us some chocolate! 

Especially German chocolate!

I'm gonna feel deprived when I won't be able to get it regularly.

Birthdays

I don't really feel like telling about my trip in chronological order, so you're gonna get it in crazy madness ways that suit my jumbled sleep mind right now (jet lag is no fun). And since there were at least 6 birthdays while I was home I'm gonna talk about those.

My nephew, Riley, turned 5. And I got to help his mom make the cake. He wanted an octopus cake. He even helped decorate it!

I think it turned out really cute!!!

I decided that I wanted to go see the movie Frozen in theaters and since he's a very big movie lover I took him for his birthday present. 

He loved it! And so did I!

My niece and nephew have birthdays within a week of each other, so their parents decided to do a combined birthday party for them. 

She made some pretty awesome cakes too!

 Hudson's motor cross cake.

Saylor's Minney Mouse cake.

I can't believe how old they are all! I still remember holding them all as newborns. It is so much fun to get to know them better as they get older. 

Going Home Part 2

After the making it back to the states and sleeping in the airport (or at least trying to) things got a lot better traveling wise. The friend I was traveling with and her daughter were both able to get some much needed sleep. Our flights were early so we got home sooner, which when you're bouncing on the seats with excitement about finally getting home, is always a good thing. Our rides were both there before we got all of our luggage so no long waits in the airport. I made it back to Rupert before dinner. And stayed up all day! Granted I crashed around 8 pm and was up at 4, but such is the life of a jet lagged person. 

Everything worked out wonderfully, timing wise for all of my family (still located in the area) to get together that weekend. It was probably the best welcoming I could have asked for. And it helped me decide how I wanted to spend my time there. I decided to spend it with family first and foremost, and friends would be more of an after thought. And I'm happy with the results of that decision and have no regrets. 

Going Home

I had the opportunity to go home for the entire month of November this year. Ricky had couple of TDYs right after each other and rather then spend my time home alone and miserably lonely, I decided to fly back to the states to be with family. It was a much needed trip, not only for me, but for my family as well. It's been over a year since I was able to see any of them in person.
Before I even left for the airport, problems started. So right then and there I decided my mantra for this trip would be, "Be the leaf." It's a quote from a show I watch and basically means that I just need to go with the flow. It helped me calm down when anything that would normally be stressful and freak me out came up, and I was able to deal with each issue that came my way. There were a lot of issues throughout the duration of that trip, including but not limited to, the threat of not getting seats on the plane, the 2 year old I was traveling with getting sick and throwing up 3 times on the airplane, the flight coming in late, sleeping in the airport because getting a hotel room for 4 hours sounded like a stupid idea. And that was just the first day of traveling. 

Projects

So I've been really enjoying crocheting and have been making a lot of hats but I wanted to branch out and try something a little harder. 

Ta Da!

I made mittens!!!! 

They are pretty awesome, and I'm very proud of myself for completing them!

Now to decide who to give them to.

Bigger and Better

We got a new (to us) freezer! It's so wonderful. I know it's weird that having more freezer space is so exciting, but you try storing food and not having enough room for ice cream. That is not ok for this girl.  

But now there is tons of room for not only ice-cream but also for freezer meals! (hurray for lazy cooking days)

Tradition

So we made it! We survived our first year in Germany! It wasn't easy, but we did it!

And to celebrate 1 year in Germany we went back to Bernkastel-Kues for the wine fest. It was our first real trip here and we loved it. So we're going to keep going! 

This year we were a little more prepared and knew what to expect. The food was fantastic! So was the wine.

 I know what you're thinking, "OMG Ricky what are you doing!" Don't worry it's kinder wine. Basically really fancy grape juice. Ricky really liked it. I'm more of a Welches girl myself.

 I love the random faces Ricky makes when we take photos together. 

We stopped to have ice cream. Ricky couldn't resist mimicking the statue. 

Once again the firework show is one of the best I've ever been too! We didn't take photos this time, preferring to just enjoy it and be in the moment. Looking forward to next year already!

Summer of Outings

So my ward did had this great idea to do day trips to places within a few hours of here. I was able to go on a few and it made me wish I would have gone on more. It was great getting to see more of Germany. 

The first place I went was Idar-Oberstein. It's a large village that deals with gem stones. There were gem stones everywhere. If I was rich I would have gotten a beautiful gem stone bowl, but I'm just poor enough that extravagant decorations aren't in the budget.  One of the other amazing things about Idar-Oberstein is that it has a beautiful Cathedral built in the side of a cliff. It's still in use too!

There's also castle ruins further up the hill but it was a hot day and by the time I made it up to the Cathedral I was done. 

Another trip I was able to go on was to the Devils Table

This was an amazing park that had a trail that led up to this very cool rock. It also had a sweet slide that went from the top of the trail back down into the park. The park also had a splash pad, a zip line, and a maze. I still feel a bit like a creeper coming to parks without kids. Luckily I was there with friends with kids so it wasn't as weird as it could have been. 

Lego Land

Recently I got incentive to actually plan a trip! I know, right? Huge for me, but I really did it (with some help). I wanted to go to Lego Land for the 4th of July, but moved it to that saturday so that some of our friends could come with us! Everything is better with friends! We really enjoyed the day! 

Getting ready to go inside!

 We were all super excited!

 Getting to go on her very first ride!

 Ricky and my first ride of the day!

Ricky's 2nd ride!

 Face painting is awesome!

 2nd ride!

 The play grounds were awesome, and she didn't want to leave them!

 Camel riding!

 My turn!

 Ricky's turn!

 Thumps up for adventure!

 The aquarium!

I do wish there were more rides. Not that the legos were fun to look at, but it did make me miss Six Flags. I'm hoping that the other 2 parks around here will have more of that super awesome gut wrenching rides that I was hoping to experience. 

But even will the lack of rides it was a great day! I got a sweet Lego Batman Key chain! And Ricky got a lego batman set! (you can't go to lego land and not buy legos) Thank you, Guy and Alison and Evey for coming with us!

Fathers Day

Fathers Day wasn't nearly as big a deal as Mothers Day, but I did try to make it a little bit more special. I got Ricky a 3+ lb bag of Swedish Fish and made him a bow tie! 

Isn't he just so classy!

The tie turned out ok but Ricky didn't really like the colors.  :(  But he did say he would love a simple red bow tie! So as soon as I can afford the fabric I will be making him a new one!