Priceful Memories

Friday, April 20, 2007

Burn Frosty Burn!

Sechselauten. It's a Zurich holiday we celebrated on Monday, April 16th. This is one of those holiday traditions that is disturbing to outsiders but normal if you've grown up with it. I can't help but wonder if this is how foreigners see Halloween... Anyway, this is how Zurichers celebrate the end of Winter. They have a mock snowman filled with fireworks on top of a haystack. They light the haystack and cheer as the snowman burns. If his head blows off in less than 15 minutes, it means it's going to be a hot summer. Here's the website http://www.z-z-z.ch/Index.php in case you want to check it out. We're in for a hot summer this year which is unfortunate considering I'll be in my third trimester.

An unsuspecting snowman relishes in the spotlight. Thousands of people have gathered just to see him!

Frosty recognizes maybe the center of attention isn't the place for him.

AHHH!

Those pieces of burning snowman are his head blowing off.

There was also a parade that came down the city streets which caused problems when trying to meet up with my hubby & friends. There were thousands of people packed along one or two streets city streets. To my single girlfriends, here are plenty of Swiss men for you to date...

After a few hours, Tally and I finally found eachother later that night back at our place. This is our view of the city from our balcony at our corporate housing apartment.

On Tuesday, Janelle & I got to go to the Bern Temple. It was so beautiful and it was nice to see that the church is the same everywhere ... except the language.

Then on Thursday, the American girls got together and went to the Lenzburg Castle. I didn't get any good pics of the whole thing, but I got a lot of pictures of some cute kids (not posted)!

Alyssa & the kids in the dungeon!

Here is a pic from the pamphlet to show you what it looked like.

Playing around with my new camera.

More of Zurich from this week of us just hanging around.
I love this style of this building.

Tal & I overlooking part of Zurich.

We just learned the outcome of when this happens...

Sometimes if you stand back a bit you get the best shots.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Lugano, Switzerland

The day before Easter, we went down to the Swiss/Italian border to the quaint little town of Lugano. They were having an "Oster" Festival and had over 150 little stands with everything from crepes to life-sized chess matches. Oh, and we loved the authentic dress of the street choir. Look at those socks with clogs!

Tally snapped this of me looking for baby clothes.

Janelle & Tally were like two kids in a candy shop when they saw the Haribo stand.

We ate at a great little pizza place right next to Lake Lugano.

It was a warm day, so we couldn't resist a ride in the paddle boats. The boys paddled us out and we paddled back in - and even parked the boat.

Tally & Jessie overlooking the city of Lugano

I'm definitely showing now!

Lugano reminded me so much of Italy and I loved it there.

Tally and I wouldn't mind ending up in Lugano...in a beautiful Italian-style home like this.

Zurich - Home Sweet Home

We made it to beautiful Zurich! We arrived March 17th and it snowed for the first 5 days. About a month later, we feel like we're in the middle of summer. The weather has been unusually hot for spring and we've been reaching temps of around 80 degrees. The heart of the city is Lake Zurich. We love all the boats and the view of the Alps in the distance. Tally's already excited to wakeboard. We'll have to become friends with someone who has a boat. Although there are a lot of cool cars (which Tally will show you once he's got a good collection of pics), most people use public transportation. We're getting used to not having a car and are becoming pros at the train, tram and bus systems here.

Here is our new place that we move into on April 23rd. Ours is the one in the middle with the balcony. On the other side of the street there are houses and then the lake. The next picture is the view of the lake from our balcony.

Here is one of three parks by our house. We can't wait to lay out and BBQ!

Or go surfing...just kidding. Although we did see some surfboards down by the lake. We're not quite sure what they do with them here. Maybe they surf behind the boats like Uncle Todd.

This is the main city park. The kids closest to the camera were smoking something more than cigarettes!

There are lots of random statues around. This happens to be one of our favorites.

Here are some other cool pics we have taken...

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Fun in London

Our first stop on the European Road Map was supposed to be Zurich, but we took a two week detour in London. We did get Janelle to visit from Zurich, such a treat. Although Jessie was still a bit sick, we got out to see the sights and soak in those London rays. The weather was great - it only rained once the whole time we were there. And when the rain let up for a minute, we saw the most beautiful rainbow! We also saw this little fox two days in a row in the middle of the financial district in London.

We were able to go to the Tower Bridge, Tower of London, changing of the guards, Tate Modern Museum, Westminster Abbey, Kennsington Palace, Big Ben, St. James Park, Natural History Museum (Tally loved the dinosaurs), Les Misrables, National Gallery Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral (outside only) and of course, Herrods. In between sight-seeing, we made time for a little make-out session in a phone booth.

Kelsey Speaks

April 14: Advertising works, even for kids. Kels just came up to me with my iPhone and the app "Team Umizoomi" ready to purchase. I asked her how she knew about it and she said, "this mom put team umizoomi on for her kids and it teached her kids and he did it all by himself!" I've seen that commercial too, but never realized how much she soaked in! I'm a sucker, I downloaded it.

March 14:

We were having a new babysitter come and Kelsey wanted her to play a game but wasn't sure she'd know how. "What language does she speak?" I said, "English." Kels said, "Oh no!" I said, "Kelsey, did you know that YOU speak English?" She looked surprised, "I do!?"

October 17:

We had our carpet pad replaced today and the carpet guy was using a heavy duty iron that smelled like burning. Kelsey came in and said, "Mom, is that dinner I smell?" Thanks Kels, thanks. Says a lot about my cooking!

October 11:

So I'm on the phone and the Kelsey does soemthing that makes Aiden cry. I tell Kelsey, PLEASE make it better, say your sorry and make him stop crying. She starts singing, "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine..." I started cracking up. I think she's a little too obsessed with Tangled.

February 19:
Family prayer
"Thank you that Aiden is incredible and that he could watch Incredibles with me. And thank you that mommy can change things."

February 9:
Family prayer tonight by Kelsey: "Thank you that mommy could be a good listener (?), thank you that mommy can be so stretchable...in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I laughed and asked her what stretchable meant. She said it meant that I can read Aiden books and change his diaper, put us to bed, play with us, and wiggle us and throw us, stuff like that. Does that mean she's grateful I can do mommy stuff?

January 5:
While at my mom's house in California, she said, "I want to stay at Mimi's forever!" I asked, what about your toys and our home in Utah?" She replied, "I like Mimi's toys downstairs." "But what about your friends back in Utah?" She replied, "they can get in the car and drive really, really far and come see me!" She has it all figured out.

January 4, 2011:
Tally read aloud a sign as we passed a church, "Jesus is making a list." She said, "No, Santa is making a list, and checking it twice."

December 20:
She was sad after I scolded her for taking her brother's food. I asked her why she was sad and she said, "My life hurts right now."
"With Christmas just a few days away?" I said. She perked right up.

December 13:
Tal was going to bed early and we all jumped in bed to give him hugs and say goodnight. Kelsey said, "I like it when our whole family is in bed together. Dad, you're hot. But I like it hot. You're the hottest."

December 9:
I had made a big effort to go to the gym and literally had 30 minutes to work out and then be back before everyone came over for play group. I get Kelsey out of the car and walk around to get Aiden. Kelsey says, "Mom, you can't wear THOSE shoes to the gym!" I looked down and sure enough, I was wearing my Crocs. I'm so glad she saw it before I'd gotten Aiden out of his car seat, gotten the kids checked into day care, and stepped on the treadmill. 10 points for trying, right?

October 22:
"Mom, I don't wanna have a baby in my tummy. I don't want to have a baby doggy come out."

October 3:
"Mom, you shut up and I'll shut down." (playing around with the word shut up to get a reaction from me).

September 30:
"Aiden, you have pretty eyebrows."
August 15
While sitting in our master bathroom, Kelsey said, "You guys have two sinks."
Us: "Yes, we have two sinks, isn't that nice?"
K: "No, I don't like it, you need to take one out. I need more room to sit."
Tal: "When you get married, you can have one sink in your bathroom."
K: "When I marry Aiden?" (who she said she wanted to marry when we were talking about weddings the day before).
Tal: "You can't marry Aiden, he's your brother."
K: "I want to marry DADDY!"
Jess: "He's mine, darlin. Daddy is already married to mommy."
K: "My cousins?"
Us: (Laugh, gave up...we'll have this talk one day when she's ready) She is constantly playing with my bouquet of silk flowers in my room and saying, "I'm getting married mom." I guess she picked that up on her own...I don't think I've ever talked about the flowers with her!

August 11:
As I'm putting her to bed I said, "Kelsey, your little body is so tired because you didn't take a nap today and little bodies need naps."
"And sometimes big bodies do too?" she said.
After the gym today, we caught her doing her hand clasp thing. Tally said, "Don't do that, you're doing it so hard you're getting sweaty."
She replied, firmly, "Well I just back from the gym." (which is true, but she was at the play place at the gym)
May
(While shutting herself inside the kitchen pantry)
K: Alright Aiden, I'm going bye-bye to Lily's house, 2 seconds, and when I come back, I'm going to Zoe's house. Okay? Okay, see ya later.
(about 2 seconds later, she opens the door)
K: Oh, hi Zoe's house!
She has been cracking me up (mixed with a little worry) with her imagination. If you ask her what she did today, she'll say she played with her cousins. We don't play with cousins everyday, but she does, in her imaginary play. She'll tell Libby and Zoe to come downstairs to the playroom or come outside with her. Then I'll hear her telling one of them to go hide or that this doll is for them or that they are nice. She will also throw in Lily and Edie, and an occasional Colton, Carter or Spencer. But that's more rare. Maybe because she sees them the most? Or because they are boys.
She also loves to pretend she's mommy and I'm Kelsey. She'll ask me, "is your pee-pees coming, mommy?" (No, is yours?) She'll also say, "you want a treat Kelsey? Okay. " Or my favorite, "You go in time out mommy, no-no." When I ask what I did wrong she'll say it's because I hit Aiden. Shocking.
She is also such a good sister. When I was reading my friend Mary's blog today who just lost her baby girl and bawling, she came over and gave me a big hug and said, "it's okay mommy." Then, because I wasn't paying attention to the fact that Aiden had run out of Cheerios and was "asking" for more, she fed him her Cheerios. Then she came up to me and said, "mommy, Aiden wants more Cheerios." She's a great little mommy.
5/?- (while Tal is at work)
K: Mom, I want to tell dad I had fun at the doctor today - daddy, I had fun at the doctor today - oh you did - yeah, dr. M was really nice. Yeah? Yeah.
She has little conversations with herself as she imagines the conversation she had or will have. These crack me up. She does it all the time, I just need to remember to write them down.
5/29 -
K: Mom, don't let Swiper come swipe our new house, okay?
M: Okay, I will. I'll tell him, Swiper no swiping, okay?
K: Yeah!
She's on this kick where she says "everytime" or "everday" with almost every sentence. I guess she's learning how to tell time/days?
She also sings all the time, usually "I am a Child of God." How can I ever get mad at that sweet little thing?
February 1, 2010
J: "Kelsey, get up on the stool so we can wash your hands."
K: "Mommy, you need to pull my pants up first."
J: "Okay, sorry"
K: "You don't need to say sorry mami."
She's been saying sorry to EVERYTHING and so I think she's heard that a lot lately from me. It's funny to hear your own words come from the mouths of your little ones.
January 28, 2010
K: "I want to be baptized."
J: "You do? How old are you?"
K: "TWO! Aiden wants to be baptized too."
J: "You have to be 8 to be baptized."
K: "Oh, I EIGHT!"
A little boy was baptized last Sunday and she started noticing it more in her books about Jesus and we talked about it a few times this week. But the subject hadn't come up this day - she said it out of the blue.