Remember...

When we would get off the bus, and I would get you out of your stroller after we crossed the street so you could run the rest of the way home? And half the time, you would stop to climb on this rock?

And how you liked to ride in our elevator? And how we would "buzz daddy in" and then you'd wait for the elevator to open so he would appear?
the duck pond?
Before shopping at Aldi, we would ride the parking elevator to the top? And when we looked out the glass window, we would pretend we were flying? And when we got to the top, we would yell, "Rebecca!!" and it would echo? And then we'd do it again on our way out of the store?
Yah, that was fun :)
Just some pictures I found that got me reminiscing about how we spent our days in Munich.
I wonder how much she will remember, and how much she already forgot!

Cheers

We celebrated with thisand the cat on Rebecca's cup is waving, bye bye...

to Little Black. Goodbye, car. Have a nice life! Can you tell I'm not really sad?
It was sitting there for 2 years so...ya know...
though I do have fond memories of some first dates in that car and falling in love with it's (previous) owner ;)

Guess Who's Two?!

The darling
Natalie Anne Aldrich

better pictures here
She is a doll.
I can never get enough of that girl, and neither can her cousin.
We love you, Natalie!

This Week at our House

Peter Pan fought Captain Hook!

outfit by Birgit

We celebrated Omi's Birthday!
hahaha...Rebecca helped put up the decorations
Jim made that delicious cake

I made dinner!
and thought it was pretty enough for a picture

And Rebecca asked, with concern:
"What ya takin' pic-tchers of?"
She wasn't in the mood for a photo but I am mean

Some funnies from Rebecca were:
When Jorg wanted to see her sunglasses,
"Dad, just look...don't touch because you might break it. Just look with your eyes."

Jorg says, "aaaah!"
Rebecca pauses to think and says,
"Daddy said, aaah...Dad is a letter!"
and then she cracks up.
(get it? The 'A' says aaaah)

Obsession with the "Wild Hings" (wild things)
Rebecca: "Mom! Don't go upstairs. That's where the Wild Hings are, and they'll get ya!"
This morning when Jorg was leaving for work,
Rebecca: "No daddy, stay home. Don't go to work today. There are Wild Hings there!"

This week we also went with Mimi to get Rebecca's first real hair cut! She was very serious about the whole thing and sat v e r y still.
We Like It!

2010 Eve

We spent the evening with some of my awesome extended family.

Fun times!

Christmas 2009

I would like to add photos that I will soon steal/borrow from other people :) I don't remember to pull out the camera much at Christmas, and later I wish I would have! Just like each preceding Christmas. This one was THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

Pageant at Aunt Kay's
Mimi and Steph getting the angel ready:
Steph, me, em, and Joel in the mirror looking at the angel cousins:
THREE angels! and one missed her nap!
Little angel Olivia recovered and the three angels were a delight to all: (except when mine decided it was fun to plow into the other delicate heavenly beings!)

And then they turned into the three Santa's! With one of the CUTEST elves...whose head is invisible, but just imagine darling Harriet's face. We're missing Natalie Claus here, but I'm sure Em has a picture I will steal/borrow:
Back at the our place, I'm showing off the earrings Jorg got me :) Even though my hair's in the way:
And here is Rebecca's darling new house! Built & designed by Omi Birgit! Jim and Birgit were able to come down Christmas to spend the day and assemble the house. It's simply amazing!
We Like It!

Christmas Miracle

It came! It was on our doorstep Christmas Eve morning. And Rebecca got her "fuzzy penguin" for Christmas. Even though the bag was ripped, the contents were in tact.

Merrry Christmas!

The past several days

At Home:

We've been reading a Christmas story by the tree every night before bed.
Jorg's company party:

She was very much hoping that "Santa would Know 'bout...that she's Peter Pan." For you see, she is. Day and night (since last Sunday). I am Wendy. Jorg is Captain Hook. And she is Peter.

Santa did not know she came from NeverneverLand, but I think she forgave him.
This is the Santa that always come to our ward parties when I was a kid! He is a long time friend of my family, so it was fun for me to see him too.
Rebecca told him she wants a purse and a penguin.
The penguin we got her is in our lost luggage, so I hope we get it by tomorrow??

I was very proud of Jorg up there. He is so funny & handsome, I must say!
and we also continued the tradition of making gingerbread houses with my fam! It was fun to see those two darling cousins (Natalie and Rebecca) reunite. I will get some pictures of that night to add here.

I wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas

Horray!

photo from Nov. 2008
We made it home!
The traveling part is all a big blur. That 11.5 hour flight...but it wasn't so bad.
We were blessed to be able to have the experience!
And are blessed to be home sweet home.
One suitcase got lost. We are still hoping it turns up.
In the meantime, I put the decorations up before unpacking. Priorities, you know!
And we're Christmas-ing!
And we like it!
And we hope that you too are having a wonderful weekend and holiday season :)

"My boyfriends are here."

said Rebecca with a shy smile.
We had the Greers over for dinner last night to say goodbye.

The kids were wild for about 2 hours and then they crashed in front of Spounge Bob.
We will miss theses guys!

First Snow

(my coat sleeve, taken with the macro setting)

Christmas Decor

Is limited since we didn't bring any. But we bought a few things at the drug store! And my mom made us a darling table cloth. Just didn't get pictures yet.

we like it, of course!

bus-train-bus-plane-trolley-train-bus

and 8 hours.
that's what it took to get us to Hannover last weekend!
and then we did it all again on the way back, adding 1 train.
it was crazy to drag the luggage and the stroller
but It was cheap and it was worth it.

and Kristin and I got to have a girl's night and see New Moon!
even though we're not HUGE fans, we both liked the movie
and we're both on team Jacob.
It was my first time going to the movies in another country
It was the same but different:
they had assigned seats
sugared popcorn
and
ice cream!

Sunday Afternoon

at Kleinhesseloher See
a lake in the English Gardens

and, NO, Abby...we have not seen any naked people. Though there is a part of the garden where nudity is allowed.
And we've been there! But not on purpose. It's a good thing the weather is chilly.

Well I guess we need to come back to Europe soon so Abby can show us around the "special" part of the enlish garden here and Mar can show us around France!

Food glorious Food

I will miss the mozerella balls, spetzela, yogurt, chocolate, and bakeries the most!
Here are some of our meals at home.

There are bakeries like this everywhere. I snapped this picture inside a mall.

I like to get rolls, pretzals, try new cakes & pastries, and my favorite is: Apfel Tashen.
Rebecca and I call it our "apple treat". It's like an apple pie with a glazed flaky crust.
and We Like It!

Munich Daily Photo

Well I just think this is a cute picture of my parents from the first night they were here:

And I wanted to share a website I discovered shortly after we arrived in Munich. I really like the style of the author and I learned a lot about "our" city from reading his posts. Sometimes I would look at the daily photo and go and find that place! Pretty fun. Here is the site: click

P.S.

Re-reading the post below makes me realize how much better I can understand my adorable husband now. And how much he will miss his country, sisters, friends, language, Muller milch, sausages, cheese and weird meats ;)

And speaking of my adorable husband, GET HOME JORG! I am going crazy here. I need an adult to talk to. He was supposed to be here 3 hours ago but his plane landed at another airport, due to slippery conditions on the runway. I'm glad he's safe!! BUt this is turning into the longest day of my life!

Dear Jorg,
I took Rebecca to the "forest" (English Garden) earlier. The part by our house. It's strange how at some points, I could look around in every direction and see nothing but sky, trees, and grass. No people, cars, buildings. And I wondered, am I really in a city of 1.4 million people right now?

Rebecca imagined that Malificent was there, waiting to get us. Around every corner. And we stopped at a bench to eat Amerikaner cookies.

Just giving you the play-by-play, honey...since you aREN'T HERE! Even thought it's not your fault. Could you make the bus drive faster?

Love, EM

No Place Like Home

This was taken on our street, while waiting for bus 59.

I can't believe we're down to 2 weeks left!

I'll cry when we leave here because changes always make me emotional and sentimental. And we have made great memories to last a lifetime. I love Germany, I love Munich, I love the people, I love the parks, churches, castles, museums, and I love the food.

I'll also cry tears of joy to be HOME. With the rest of the people I love. To be back with my family, friends, ward. Back to my country. Back to my house, mountains, washer/dryer (we have coin operated here), car, cafe rio, playdates. Back to understanding the language. Back to my other shoes and clothes. Back to my own kitchen with my appliances and pans, to bake Christmas goodies. Back to my nativity set and Christmas tree. Back to a new freeway exit & road to our home in Springville. And the list goes on...

Munich/Springville...on the whole, I can't say that one or the other is a better place for people to live. They're good in different ways. I will miss it here. But
there's no place like home.