Random Happenings

 Well, we are still here even if I have been a little slack on my blog updates.  January has been full of everyday happenings as well as some real crazy moments.  The biggest thing to happen was our basement flooded.   We woke up Friday, January 14th, ready to start packing for our trip to Frieberg.  Hyrum had a four day weekend because of the Martin Luther King holiday and we had a few fun things planned.  The boys were the first to discover the lake in the basement.  I believe they went down there to hide one of Julian's toys (they are always hiding his favorite toy.)  They came upstairs and said, "mom, we have a swimming pool in the basement!"  I thought the worst and ran down looking for a broken pipe or the sound of running water but I didn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary that would explain the 5 inches of water in my basement.  Hyrum came down and we decided it must be ground water seeping in through the basement walls and floors.  Bavaria had about 39 inches of snow in December when the average snowfall is about 8 inches.  Then January came along with warm rainy days and all the snow melted at once...not good.  Our landlady who grew up in the house we are now renting said the whole time her family lived here the basement has never flooded.  The good news is we didn't loose anything too precious other than a few framed pictures and some books.  Most of the things we could just take to the laundromat and clean up or hang outside on our front porch to dry.  Still, it ruined our whole weekend and we usually get to explore something new and fun on a four day weekend!

You really can't tell how high the water got from this picture but just look at the sides of the cardboard boxes to see how high the water rose.

 

Here is Townsend showing off the gingerbread man house he made for his classroom gingerbread village.  Yes, I know it's made out of cardboard, but it had to last the whole month at school!

Do I really need to add a caption to this cute photo?  

OK, so the second crazy thing to happen in January (gee, the month isn't even over yet and we have had two major upsets!)  Yesterday I was making Julian a very nutritious and well balanced lunch (OK, so I was opening a can of spaghettios) and I sliced my finger on the open lid of the spaghettios can.  At first I grabbed a paper towel and applied pressure (thank you Girls Camp for the first aid lessons!)  The bleeding didn't stop and so I called Hyrum at his office and told him I was on my way.  Lucky for me he was on his lunch break so I wasn't interrupting his schedule.  When I got to his office he decided the best course of action would be stitches.  Those of you who know me well know I am the biggest wimp when it comes to needles so I wasn't too happy about this but I also wanted my finger to stop bleeding.  Hyrum's very nice nurse took Julian for us (she bribed him with gummy bears!)  Hyrum had to give me about 5 injections of numbing medicine to make sure my finger was nice and numb and then he proceeded to sew me up.  I was very brave but also very nauseous and light headed when it was all over.  I am posting the G rated picture because I can't even abide looking at the stitches and I didn't want to expose anyone else to the gore.

So there you have it.  January has had some ups and downs but we are still here!

Happy 2011

Another whole week with no school? What am I supposed to do with these kids for 7 more days? To make things worse Hyrum had to work 2 whole days this week (I know, pretty crappy right?) Here's a run down of how we said goodbye to 2010.

Monday: We headed over to Mega Play, the giant indoor play area that is usually a mad house. We got there at 11:30 and left at 12:30 and we never saw ANY other kids the whole time. We had the entire play area to ourselves for an hour, it was awesome!

Julian and Townsend at Mega Play

Tuesday: We headed out to Bamberg, about an hour and a half away. We went to the Natural History museum which has a fantastic collection of birds. After the museum we walked around the city a bit and had some hot chocolate, it was a pretty good day.

Townsend and Emerson examining some of the birds on display

Townsend and some birds

Some of the Christmas decorations were still on display in the city

Mommy and Julian on the bridge in Bamberg

Wednesday: Hyrum was at work so the boys and I went to Burger King for breakfast. The boys were so excited to get the french toast sticks!

Thursday: We went to Weiden in the morning and Hyrum switched out a sweater I bought him for Christmas for a larger size. We walked around briefly in Weiden but it was super chilly so we didn't stay out long. Thursday evening we went to our friends, the Platt's, for some yummy pizza and popcorn as well as some fun games. The boys LOVED running around their house with their 6 year old son Cael. They especially liked that Cael had a slide to get off his bed!

Friday: We did a bit of grocery shopping and got the boys hair cut. That evening the Platt's came to our house for movies (the kids watched Scooby Doo) and for games (we played Ticket To Ride and Quibbler...lots of fun!) At around 10:30 PM we decided it was late enough for the kids to be up and we decided to torch our Christmas tree to bring in the New Year...see video clip at the end of this post. I really like how you can see the sparks going up into the air as the snow is coming down.

Saturday: We headed to Nuremberg to visit the German History museum. There is A LOT to see in this museum and our boys get tired after about an hour in a museum so we had to be pretty picky as to what we saw. We saw the worlds oldest globe, so old that America was not on it yet! We saw some paintings by Albrecht Durer as well as Rembrandt. The museum itself is housed in a pretty cool building so it was just fun walking around. After the museum we grabbed some lunch and headed over to the Roxy theater, one of the few theaters near us that plays English language movies. The boys and I watched Tangled while Daddy took Julian for a walk. We tried to sit in the theater with Julian but he is just too young and wiggly at this age to sit for long.

Mommy and the boys at the museum

Townsend and Emerson in front of the very old globe

Our family in front of an exhibit showing how a hunting lodge would be furnished back in the day.

We survived another week with no school but I have to admit I am really happy school starts again tomorrow:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Merry Christmas To All

Another festive Christmas has come and gone. The boys last day of school was Friday December 17th so Hyrum and I had to come up with some fun activities to keep them busy all last week. Fortunately we have lots of Christmas markets to visit and Auntie Paige came to play on Wednesday evening and stayed until Christmas. Hyrum only worked one day last week and so we were able to spend a lot of time together as a family. We hope you all enjoyed your holiday!

Townsend and Emerson dipping candles at the Nuremberg Christmas market

Nothing beats a warm Nuremberg sausage on a roll when you are out walking around in the cold

Julian at the dinosaur museum in Bayreuth.

Julian throwing snow onto the frozen pond at the Hof Garten in Bayreuth

Townsend and Emerson were allowed to play a bit with Daddy's ipod touch on the train ride home from Bayreuth.

The Christmas Eve feast. We had invited the Senior Missionary couple, the Rivera's, over as well as the young Elders. We also had a lady from our church named Martha as well as Paige here, so we had a full and fun house on Christmas Eve.

Paige at our Catholic Cathedral here in Pressath. We Johnson girls have a tradition of going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. It was really nice to hear Silent Night sung in its original German

The tree on Christmas Eve. Hyrum and I stayed up until 2:00 AM wrapping gifts and getting our new tv set up.

The Durtschi traditional Christmas morning breakfast. Rolls and cocoa, a German Christmas cake called stollen and some orange juice

We had to take this picture fast, Julian is not a fan of hats!

The boys in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning

Julian sort of understood Christmas a bit more this year. He did unwrap a few gifts and played for a bit with some toys but then he got bored with the whole thing and began playing with his old toys.

Townsend and Emerson unwrapping the gifts they bought for each other

I think Julians favorite part of Christmas morning was playing with all the wrapping paper!

The post Christmas morning mess

We went sledding on Christmas day. We had gotten almost a foot of fresh new powder snow. We thought it would be perfect for sledding but it turns out all that fine powdery snow blows up into your face as you sled down the hill and makes for one very cold ride!

Auntie Paige and Julian on the sled

Did I mention it snowed a lot over Christmas? It took a while to shovel our very long driveway but we finally made it possible for Auntie Paige to get out and on her way home.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My Favorite Time of Year!

I know this is everyone's favorite time of year but I have to add my 2 cents. Here in Germany the best part of the Christmas season is the many outdoor markets. Even our small little town of Pressath has a Christmas market . It sure helps to brighten the gray and cloudy Bavarian winter to walk around a market and see the lights, taste the warm cider and hear live music.

The boys received an advent calendar filled with chocolate from the Christkind at the Pressath Christmas market. The Christkind is the traditional bringer of gifts for some parts of Germany and Austria.

Hyrum trying to stay warm at the Weiden Christmas market.

Auntie Paige spent 7 hours in her car trying to get to our house. This trip usually takes only about 3 hours but the traffic combined with crummy road conditions resulted in an awful trip. We tried to make it up to her by taking her bowling...yeah,nothing but the best for our guests!

Emerson and Auntie Paige

I would bring the bowling ball right up to the lane for Julian and then he would give it a big shove. He liked to watch the ball knock down the pins at the end of the lane.

Townsend strikes a pose after a successful hit!

Our house is beginning to look like Christmas. We got our tree set up with all the decorations. I pulled out my nativities and set up as many as would fit in my small living room. We have our advent wreath on the piano and have enjoyed lighting one candle for each of the four Sundays before Christmas. I can't believe Christmas is in less than a week!

Our tree in all it's decorated splendor

Some Christmas flair:)

We got out and braved the cold Bavarian winter for some sledding fun. Julian was skeptical at first but as soon as Hyrum got to the bottom of the hill with him he said, "more" which is what he says if he really likes something. It's great taking the boys sledding now because they are old enough to haul their sleds back up the big hill. The boys really go shooting down the hill with their sleds and they don't seem scared of crashing at all. I love to see them having fun and laughing.

Daddy and Julian all set for their first run

Emerson gets set to go down the hill

My very own snow angel

Big brother Townsend shows Julian how it's done

I am thankful for...

I am thankful for Hyrum. This Thanksgiving was so wonderful because Hyrum was home. Last year we missed having our Daddy home for the holidays and it made this years festivities so much more meaningful.

I am thankful for my two boys who practiced their parts and participated perfectly in their classes Thanksgiving concerts.

Emerson with his class

Townsend with his class

I am thankful to Mother Nature for providing a few inches of fresh snow on Thanksgiving morning. The boys woke up around 6:30 AM and wanted to go outside and play in the snow. We told them they had to wait until the sun came up but as soon as it did (around 7:00 AM) they were outside! They played in the snow for almost 3 hours leaving our house relatively calm and quiet so we could prepare our Thanksgiving meal in peace!

Julian loved the snow. I'm pretty sure he doesn't remember snow from last year so it was really cute to watch him stomp around in the snow and have fun.

Our Thanksgiving feast. Hyrum told me the other day, "Rachelle, you are pretty lucky to have me cook for you." Yes, I know I'm lucky!!!!

After dinner we headed outside to build a snowman. Our friend Ian Campbell was over for dinner so he and Hyrum helped the boys roll those giant balls of snow. It turned out pretty good, don't you think?

I am thankful I live in Germany. It's so great to live here and get the chance to experience how another culture celebrates the holidays. The Christmas markets are officially open and we made our first trip to one the day after Thanksgiving. We went to Regensburg to the Thurn und Taxis castle and walked around the market they had set up in the castle gardens. It had a medieval theme and all the stalls sold hand made crafts. It was a pretty cold day but I'm glad we went and enjoyed the market.

Here we are at the market, all bundled up for the weather!

I am thankful for my family of hikers. Hyrum grew up hiking through the woods with his family. It has taken me many years to appreciate the pleasure of a good hike but I believe I have finally come around. Today we went up in the hills near our house where it had snowed even more than where we live and hiked around in the forest for a while. I have to admit is was wonderful and beautiful to be outside, even though it was pretty chilly. I love watching my boys explore the world around them.

Doesn't Julian look cozy in his sled?

The snow was really deep!

It was so beautiful with the trees covered in snow

Julian decided to walk on the way back to the car so the boys bummed a lift from Dad.

I am thankful for fun times with my family and a beautiful world to explore. We hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday.