A visit from Grandma and Grandpa

This past week my parents came to visit. It has been a lot of fun having them here and the boys love playing with Grandma. Grandpa enjoys relaxing and reading a good book but he has been seen playing frisbee with the boys and pushing them on their swing.

We went down to Rothenburg last week. Rothenburg is a pretty in tact Medieval town and has an old town wall you can walk along. We had fun exploring the town and seeing the old buildings. The boys favorite part of the trip was a visit to the "Criminal Museum." They had lots of torture devices and different objects on display explaining different punishments for "crimes." For instance, if you were a gossip you were made to wear a metal mask and stand in the town square for everyone to see. If you were caught sleeping in or skipping church you were made to wear a massive rosary around your neck that weighed about 80 lbs. I told the boys that if they don't start behaving I would build my own cage and hang it from the tree in the front yard...they weren't scared.

Me and my little man

My mom and dad outside the old town wall

Exploring Rothenburg

The boys spitting off the city wall...whose kids are those anyway?

Julian and Grandma checking each other out

Random Images

Because my favorite part of looking at my friends blogs is to see their kids and the crazy things they do I'm posting a "random images" blog to share some recent photos. If you can't tell from the photos we love living in Germany and take every opportunity we can to get out and see the sights. Come visit, we'll show ya around:)

The city of Erbendorf celebrated it's 900th anniversary this last weekend. We went and joined in the medieval festivities. Hyrum and I debated over getting the boys these "toys" (as if they needed something else to hit each other with!)

Who's the cutest baby in the world?

The boys being silly in Amberg

Our first ever attempt at a garden. So far just the peas are growing but those are my favorite anyway so I'm OK with that.

Taking full advantage of the fire pit.

Emerson, Julian and Townsend hanging out in their jammies

What can you do with 136 dominos?
(The boys set this up all by themselves. They said it was a Greek city)

Four of the best looking guys in Germany!

Oh yeah, it's worth it!

Mothers Day is the perfect time to reflect on my life as a mom. I will admit that I do my share of yelling and some days the level of frustration is overwhelming when they are being disobedient but overall I am in awe of these three boys. Their quick minds and active bodies amaze me. Sure they take a screwdriver to the walls, pile dirt up in the yard just to jump in and wipe their cheesy Dorito chip fingers all over their Sunday shirts, but it's worth it! Take a look and see for yourself. I love you Townsend, Emerson and Julian!!!!!

Happy Mothers Day

To all those wonderful moms out there, Happy Day!!! Here is a little story to boost your confidence in your parenting skills:

We went to our favorite pizza place this last week. We haven't visited since before Julian was born so the boys were excited to go again because at the end of the meal the waitress always brings them "soccer lollies" which are lollipops that look like soccer balls. Anyway, the boys had been very good for me that morning while I had to drive an hour to a stake primary meeting, spend 2 hours in the meeting and then drive an hour home.

Hyrum was not feeling very well and had a runny nose but we decided to go out anyway. The first thing that happened was after the waitress left with our order Emerson leaned over the table to look at something and caught his hair on fire from the candle that was burning on the table. It only singed his eyebrows a little but it scared him a lot. Then Julian started fussing in his car seat so I stood up to pick up his car seat which was next to Hyrum and move him next to me. Well, I tripped on something and fell over, right on my back, and Julian and car seat went crashing down next to me. Luckily he was strapped in his seat still so he was just a little shaken up and not actually injured at all. Oh yeah, as I was falling down I hit the vase with flowers on the table next to ours and it too went crashing down and shattered glass everywhere. All this time Hyrum is blowing his nose and Emerson and Townsend are complaining that they are hungry.

There, now don't you feel better about the job YOU are doing as a mom?

10th Anniversary

Well Hyrum, I have tricked you into staying married with me for 10 years now. I never thought you would put up with me this long!

Thank you for showing me the beauty of a good hike. Thank you for supporting me through all my craziness trying to figure out how to be a good mom and wife. Thank you for being so willing to show our boys how things work and letting them help you fix things when I know you could do it faster on your own. Thank you for reading to our children each night and teaching them to love books. Thank you for holding my hand when we go for walks. Thank you for all the yummy meals you have cooked. Thank you for loving me and your boys.

And thank you for waking up early this morning so you could pick me white lilacs and have them on the table for me when I woke up...you are the love of my life!

I love this photo of us

The years we spent in Missouri for medical school were some of the most wonderful years of our marriage.

Happy Day!!! May 1, 1999
I remember my cheeks hurting by the end of the day because I was so happy and I couldn't stop smiling.

Our honeymoon in Australia, good times

You have a wild natural side to you that I love

Hiking in Utah

The last picture of just the two of us before we brought those crazy twins home. I'm so glad we had 5 years of alone time together.

I loved you then and I love you now.

Yours always, Miss Elle

We miss you Oma and Opa

Oma and Opa left this past week. They got here to Germany 3 days before Julian was born and were able to help out while I was in the hospital and then recovering from c-section #2. We miss all the good talks we had in the evenings after all the boys were in bed. We miss Oma's great cooking. We miss Opa's laugh. They were such a pleasure to have in our home and we are so grateful they took the time to come all the way over here to visit us.

We love you Oma and Opa, come back soon!

Oma on a walk with the boys

Oma and Opa took the boys to this amazing rock labyrinth while Hyrum and I were in Austria together

Enjoying the beautiful weather

We LOVE you Oma and Opa

Oma really loved holding Julian and I really loved getting a break:)

I love my family

I have done and seen so much since my last post that I have been putting off blogging because it seemed like such a chore! So, I decided to just make a "happy blog" and write about how much I love my family and post some fun pictures of all of us enjoying being together.

Hyrum is the best husband and father and such a great help to me. I love him so much. He always does the bedtime routine with the boys and that is a huge help because it allows me to get a few things done in the evening that I otherwise wouldn't have time to do. He has always supported me in my goals and encourages me when I feel like a failure at being a mother. I couldn't ask for more:)

Townsend is a real sweetie. He loves to take care of Emerson and always makes sure that Emerson is happy. What a great big brother he is. He has a great sense of humor and is really good at making us laugh. Just this morning the boys were getting all their instruments together to have a concert and when they were all set up Townsend said, "OK Emerson, let's rock-n-roll!"

Emerson is a joker. He loves to make people laugh. He also thinks about things and asks really great questions sometimes. Tonight I told him a story about a beehive that was built inside of a hole in a tree and after I was done he said, "Mom what about the owls, won't they get stung?" I guess he figured only owls live in holes in the trees and he was concerned that perhaps maybe the owls weren't aware that other animals like to live in trees too. He wants to be a space scientist when he grows up and the other night he told Hyrum that he had to read 7 pages each night from his space book so he can become an "expert" on space.

Julian is a real joy. He sleeps well, he eats well, he is playing and smiling more each day. There is something magic about your little baby when he looks up at you and smiles. It's like he is saying, "I love you mom, thanks for taking care of me." It melts my heart!!

Sorry for the cheesy post but this is my blog and I'll do what I want with it:)

My family

My two little crazies

My angel boy

I love this photo because it looks like Julian is saying, "oh well, I guess it's time to cut my fingernails again, I guess I'll just sit here until she's done."

You gotta love that smile

Hyrum is such a great dad!!