Welcome to the World

Dear Baby Eli,

You don't know who I am but I already love you lots. You are only one day old today. You are so amazingly lucky to be born into such a wonderful family. You have a big brother and 2 big sisters that can't wait to show you how to run and jump. How to find the best tasting blackberries and how to pick up snakes you find in the yard. Your dad is a great guy and lots of fun to play with. Your mom is amazing. I don't know any other person in the whole world that still makes bread for her family. She can grow just about anything in her garden, she can keep her house and (now 4!!!) kids organized, she is a great cook and she knows how to listen.

I know you are an angel sent from heaven. Thank you for making life more amazing and beautiful for your already amazing and beautiful family.

With love and best wishes for a happy, healthy life,
Miss Rachelle

PS:
This is sort of a random post but I am just so happy for my very good friend Kari that just had baby #4 yesterday. I can't wait to meet this new little Christensen!!!!

Spring Break: Part I

There are many fabulous things about having my sister here in Germany. She can come over for holidays, she got to hold Julian when he was first born, she lets me come and hang out at her house when I can't take being a mom anymore. It is about a four hour drive to get to her house so unfortunately we don't get together as often as I would like but in some ways it makes it all the more fun to see her when we do get the chance.

Part one of our Spring Break was going to visit Auntie Paige for the day. We left here Friday (April 9th) in the morning. We got to Paige's and had some lunch and then headed over to the dinosaur park. There is a huge playground and water feature, not to mention all the dinosaurs you can climb on. The boys were happy to get all their wiggles out after such a long car ride. The flowers were in their full springtime glory and the sun was shining and I was with my family. What a great way to start a vacation.

Paige and the boys

Our Family (Julian does not look impressed, but I think the rest of us look OK)

Emerson playing on the ropes course

Townsend monkeying around

They love this park

Home At Last

WOOOHOOO!!!!

Woke up this morning: 5:00 AM
Boarded a plane for Frankfurt: 8:30 AM
Sat on the runway: 45 minutes
Flight: 2 hours 30 minutes
Time it took to get luggage and into our car: 45 minutes
Drive home: 4 hours (stupid traffic!!)
Home at last 6:30 PM

I will post photos and more later but I just wanted everyone to know that we made it home safe and it's really good to be home!

Stuck in Spain III

We have a flight to Fankfurt scheduled for tomorrow morning, wish us luck!

Madrid is actually a really fabulous city and one that was not on our list to go and visit while here in Europe. I can't wait to get home and post some photos, we have been able to do so many fun things the last 2 weeks from a visit to my sister Paige, a trip to the Canary Islands and now a few days in Madrid.

I'm hoping my next post will be titled "Home At Last" and not "Stuck in Spain IV"!!!!!

Stuck in Spain II

So to answer a few questions: yes I have my kids with me...2 six year olds and a one year old. We are actually stuck in Madrid Spain, which isn't a bad little city to explore if you have no options. The train suggestion would be a great one except the train workers are on strike in France and the only way to get to Germany from Spain is through France...it just gets better and better, doesn't it? As far as compensation from the airline, it's really not their fault so they aren't offering hotel money or train fare, we are sort of on our own in that department.

We have a flight booked for Wednesday morning but who knows if the airport will be open by then. The boys are happy and doing well, they are excited to miss some school and feel like this is an "adventure." Hyrum is a little stressed about work because he hates having to cancel and reschedule 3 days of patients, but I'm sure it will work out fine.

I'll try and keep you posted as the adventure continues!!

Stuck in Spain

I guess there are worse things that can happen besides being stranded in an airport in Spain for a few days...but I can't think of any right now! Hey Iceland, you suck...you and your dumb volcanoes!!!

Easter Weekend

We had a fun filled Easter weekend. Saturday was just beautiful so we decided to hop on the train to Bayreuth for the day. The train ride is about 45 minutes long and the boys loved looking out the windows and walking around to explore the train. Luckily there were only about 3 other passengers so they didn't bug too many people with their wanderings around. When we got to Bayreuth we headed over to the "Easter Carnival" which we thought would be like a Christmas market, only Easter themed...we were wrong. It was an American style small town carnival, complete with "carnies" trying to get you to play expensive games for really cheap prizes. The boys liked the couple of rides they went on and Hyrum was nice enough to go with them on some of the scarier rides. We went to a playground and had a snack and then headed over to the dinosaur museum. I was pleasantly surprised by the museum. It was really tiny but had some very interesting displays. The boys loved all the fossils and rocks and models of dinosaurs. We grabbed a few bratwurst on rolls for dinner and then headed home on the train. It was a good day.

Sunday started off wonderful with some yummy German Easter bread and hot cocoa. We went to an Easter egg hunt sponsored by one of the doctors Hyrum works with. There was only one other child there besides the twins so needless to say they came home with WAY too many eggs filled with candy. It was another good day.

We were also able to watch some of the General Conference broadcast by the LDS church. What a wonderful weekend to listen to the prophets talk about Christ and his role in our lives. I am so grateful to celebrate this Easter season with my family.

The boys enjoy a snack on the train

Having fun at the carnival

You could look but you wouldn't be able to find a more beautiful boy

The boys got a little too close to the T-Rex cage. I love Emerson's "I'm dead" face:)

Mommy and Julian explore the dinosaur park

This is how Julian gets around these days. My fingers sure hurt by the end of the day but I'm hoping all the "practice walking" will pay off and one day he will be on his own.

The boys at the Easter egg hunt. Townsend found the Golden Egg for a special treat, a cake shaped like a lamb.