Average Snowy Day

We woke up this morning to MORE SNOW! I'd rather have grey & cold WITH snow than grey & cold without snow. Unless the snow is so bad that it's scary. But this is good snow. I used photo booth (built in computer cam) to take these pics and MAN is it a whole lot easier than having to upload, convert, edit and post!

Here are the kids playing by the window right after waking up. Kelsey loves when it snows. Mind you, there was already snow on the ground - there's just more of it today! I heard there is even snow in Spain right now, which boggles my mind. Mike & Anna, you're missing out ;). Poor Aiden basically gets tackled when Kelsey finds him playing by himself.

I did a photoshoot this morning for Oscar, who I shot when he was one (he's now two). He and Kelsey got their snow suits on and sledded down the snowy sidewalk in our backyard. They thought it was great. Check. I took Kelsey out today and played with her in the snow. I'm a good mom today. Aiden happily slept upstairs while we played. I mention this shoot because it is my last photoshoot in Switzerland. This makes me painfully sad. There is so much potential here, such an untapped market.

We've had lunch, and I told Kelsey it was naptime. She freaked out. We've been having trouble with sleeping these days (she's waking up several times a night, wanting to sleep in our bed or the couch - we chose the couch. She's fallen off a couple times which wakes her up even though we have pillows on the floor. She's waking up early and going to bed late and sometimes not napping STILL. I hope it's just a phase that passes quickly). I told her she at least had to have quiet time and she could have it in her crib or on the couch. She protested even the couch quiet time. Only moments later...

YES! Now for this one...he's almost there. Uh-oh, he heard me come in!

Now here I am blogging. I showered today AND dried my hair. No make-up, but oh well. I'm making a stupid face - but I'm not going to sit here and waste time taking pictures of myself on my computer.

I'm trying to enjoy every bit of Switzerland I can before it's time to go. I'm fighting off the daily pangs of sadness in my heart. It breaks my heart to be leaving right now, in Winter, when Switzerland's finest seasons are ahead. There are so many more trips I want to take, so many friendships still in the blooming stages.

A lot of my friends will also be moving this year, so I guess it wouldn't be the same anyway. And don't get me wrong, I'm stokt to be around family and friends again in Utah. It will be such a blessing. We'll just have to get out and DO in the US. Off to bake my favorite chocolate chip cookies (thanks Erin). Ciao!

Thoughts from the Treadmill

We're back from our month-long states stay and things have been crazy. Some big changes are coming our way so January isn't going to be slow like I'd hoped. It was a great trip, and it feels like one big blur. It also feels like a big burden to blog about. But it will come, slowly but surely.

I went to the gym today, exactly one week after having come home from our trip. It felt good to be there, and to have my kids being baby sat one wall away. Having forgotten to charge my iPod, I had 45 minutes of just me, my thoughts and I. So, I wrote a post while exercising.

First I started to watch the tennis match. I really liked the one chick's outfit. 'Maybe I should start playing tennis...' And then it hit me. I'm already 26, too old to be a professional athlete. Not that I was planning to become one, just the fact that it's wiped off my white board of possibilities caused me to ponder. I could do a triathlon someday. It may not be professional, but it's more my style. That's still on my possibilities list. Whew.

'How long has that girl been on the machine? It must be more than 12 minutes...ahhh...30 minutes, you go girl. I wish I was already 30 minutes into this. No I don't. I can go through this, it's good for me.'

Kelsey is doing so far with potty-training. We started on Friday or Saturday and we've had 5 accidents total (2 were the first 2 times with underwear on, 1 was in the shoe store). She really seems to like it and she's good at telling us when she needs to go. We have also been home a lot the past week so I wonder how she'll do when we're out. My friend Jenna gave me the idea to bring the portable kid potty with me in the car, which has been used several times. At home, it's been nice to have the stack of diapers stay stacked. We've gone through a lot more toilet paper though. It takes a lot more time right now though. She's waking up some mornings with dry diapers and even though it's annoying to have her call for me at 11 or 12pm to go pee or poop, it's progress. At least she's not using it as an excuse. She loves her sticker and lollipop rewards. When she fills up her sticker wall, she gets a mermaid doll head and a wooden beauty set. I can't wait to give it to her.

'I hope this machine was wiped off well before I got here. I hope I don't get sick from it. I hope the kids don't get sick from the day care today. We need to get used to all the Swiss germs again.'

Aiden's being a good boy, he's been a bit fussy the past few days. Poor guy had an ear infection earlier this week - fever and everything. He's better now, just a bit fussier than usual. I hope he's not going through a "mommy only" phase. He's sitting up on his own now and he loves the freedom. He reaches for everything and is pretty good with his hands. It's bad at the dinner table. I guess I'm not used to him being able to pull over cups and grab plates. He's also talking a lot..."dadadada...." is his favorite.

'So if I keep going this fast for this long...that's 8x5...which is...35! No, crap. It's 40. Why am I still so bad at my multiplication table? Just because I had kidney surgery and was in the hospital for much of my 3rd grade, doesn't mean I can still have that excuse for not knowing them. Gosh, that's embarrassing. I need to re-memorize them for when Kelsey starts learning them otherwise I'll lose all credibility. So let's practice...' I proceeded to go through several multiples, but then I got bored.

'Why does that guy keep looking back at me? I'm looking at the TV, not at him!

I'm glad I didn't have an iPod today! Are iPods making us all stupid because we no longer think while we do things, we just mindlessly listen to music?' I love doing that, especially while working out.

Anyway, I know this is a random post, but this is the closest thing to a post you may get for awhile. Why you ask? Because we're moving back to the states in February or March. I have mixed emotions about this. I'll write more on that later. As for now, LOTS to do!

To the Tune of Patty Cake

Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye Kelsey Marie
Sleeping without your binky is hard as can be
You toss, you turn, you cry "mommy, daddy!"
No binky and jet lag means no sleep for Kelsey and me!

(written at 5am, you took a cat nap from 10-1, but haven't so much as yawned since)

Paisley and Chi come to visit!

Tally's sister and brother-in-law booked some last minute flights from Dublin where Chi had been on a business trip. Tal picked them up from the airport late Friday afternoon. Paisley had brought Kelsey and Aiden a Dora book and several Sandra Bounton books (Kelsey LOVES them and I'm sure Aiden will too). They got settled in at our house and then we headed to Marco's in Rapperswil for some YUMMY pasta. Marco was there and served us in addition to cooking for us! We walked around sleepy Rapperswil and went up to the castle. On the way home, we picked up some Mõvenpick Swiss Chocolate ice cream. When we got home, Paisley read the books to Kelsey and they became fast friends. Once the kids were in bed, trip leader Tally mapped out a route through Europe with Chi & Pais.

Saturday morning, Pais & I went for a run and then Tal & Chi went for a run. I was supposed to have a photoshoot but it cancelled because of sickness, which in this case, was okay with me! We all headed up to Zurich. We had fairly warm, nice weather and had a great time walking around together.

Our one child? I guess Kels was in the stroller.

The circus was in town

The kids and I waited downstairs in Grossmuenster while they all went up to see the 360 degree view of Zurich. Kelsey wanted to hold Aiden. He's getting a little big for her and it scares him to be held by her. Can't imagine why.

We ate lunch at this restaurant that I've been wanting to try. It's called Felix in Bellevue. It reminded me of Angelina's in Paris. Notice the woman in the bottom left corner. I swear that's not why I took this picture ;). I loved how everything was decorated for Christmas! It made it a bit magical.

Paisley and Aiden cuddling

Kelsey eating my hot chocolate. I was feeding her too slowly so she took matters into her own hands. She spilled less than I did...at least at first.

Paisley showing how TALL this club sandwich was! She had to eat it in pieces.

We went to the Sprüngli Store to get some fresh, delicious chocolate. When you buy something, they give the kids a free Luxembourgli. Kelsey is showing me her's here.

Paisley with all the chocolates behind her

Then we went jumped in the car and went to Lucern. It was already getting dark so we quickly visited the the bridge and the Lion Monument and then picked up some Italian pizzas on the way home. Paisley and I wrapped some presents for Kelsey to open when we get back from the states, made pumpkin bread, and talked "Clean Eating" recipes while Chi and Tally firmed up their itinerary (Of course, Tal had the BYU game on as well).

Sunday morning we went to church and Chi and Paisley entertained Aiden and Kelsey the whole time. It was nice to be able to pay attention. We had a quick lunch and then took some pictures before they headed off to Lake Como and Venice.

I love the expressions on their face - they're having a conversation.

Paisley is currently the favorite aunt for sure!

We loved having you guys here and miss you already. We hope you are having fun in Italy and that it doesn't rain too much!

Swiss SVP Billboards

I've mentioned this SVP, conservative party before in my blog. I think after the latest ad, it deserves another mention. Here's the latest ad:

It's to encourage people to vote yes on making the building of minarets illegal. Minarets are the spires on Muslim buildings.

Here are some spoof ads, at least some people recognize how far right, out-dated, and racist the SVP party is (however, the SVP party is the majority party in Switzerland).

A Swiss man with a match, as though burning down the minarets

And a party leader as the grimm reaper

This is the one that first enraged me...this one is the revised version, with the one sheep being stabbed as though to say that is a criminal sheep they are kicking out. The first versions were with three healthy white sheep kicking out a black sheep. Um, yeah. That's called RACISM.

This one is basically saying to put a stop to handing out citizenship to foreigners. We would have to live here for 12 years, speak German and Swiss German, and be voted in by the town we lived in to gain citizenship. I don't think they are "handing" it out! The kids, who were born here, must live here 6 years to gain citizenship.

This says basically the same thing

MANDATORY: One Week Vacation

It's not every day your boss tells you to take a week of vacation right before you are about to take a month off. So, when Tally's boss told him to, he listened. We decided to go to Salzburg for 3 nights.

Baar, Switzerland

Before we left, we took "daddy" somewhere that usually just mom & the kids go: the POOL! It was nice to be able to take Aiden in too. I wouldn't do that if I were by myself with Miss Crazy in the pool.

Marienplatz, Munich, Germany

The last time we saw Marienplatz was last September when we went with Tal's parents. It was dark and we only stopped for a few minutes on our way back to the hotel from Oktoberfest. We thought we had missed something great in Munich so we made it a stop on our way to Salzburg. It's a big city with some cool buildings worth seeing but I don't see a reason to go back. There are lots of cities I'd rather spend the day in, but I'm partial to smaller, quainter towns.

The Glockenspiel

My mom still raves about seeing the Glockenspiel in Munich when we went together in 2001. My response was, "we went to Munich?" Seeing it in daylight still didn't jog my memory, sorry mom.

Kelsey rode in Aiden's bassinet while Aiden rode Baby Bjorn style with me.

After being unsuccessful at finding a bathroom in this bookstore, I caught this daddy-daughter moment. Tal is such a good daddy and he looks more excited about finding whatever creature was on the front of that calendar than she was.

One of the many booths in the market

Kelsey taking pictures of us in the parking garage. I showed her how in the first one, the rest she took, with a little help.

Salzburg, Austria

We got into Salzburg Monday night, checked into the Sheraton and took a walk to the Bärenwirt restaurant for dinner. It was authentic Austrian and really good!

Aiden asleep on the bench

I had the dumplings and Tal had a Cordon-Bleu like schnitzel.

Kelsey loved the dumplings.

Walking off some energy

We shared an apple strudel - we had to request the vanilla ice cream though and by the time we got it our strudel had cooled off a bit. It was still yummy though.

The Family Bed

No, we made the kids sleep in their cribs, but we had fun hanging out and playing games before bedtime. Once Kels & Aiden were asleep, Tal and I enjoyed the spa.

To those of you who don't like McDonald's breakfast and/or have never lived in a place where they have McDonald's that don't do American breakfast, this picture will have no meaning for you. For the rest of us, feast your eyes on THIS:

An entire breakfast menu. We found the Holy Grail of McDonald's a few blocks from our hotel. I ate TWO Egg McMuffins. Yum. I felt like crap afterwards and probably wont eat there again anytime soon but it was a few minutes of heaven.

The next morning we decided to take our drive to the scenic places near Salzburg.

Driving through the hills that were alive with the Sound of Music

Hallstatt, Austria

We have had this Webshots picture on our desktop computer since 2004. Every time I saw it I thought, "Oh, I would love to go there!" Now I have and feel so lucky. I almost cried while looking out at the lake. It truly is beautiful.

Here's a picture I took of a poster

Here's my version of a similar angle. I learned that you need to be there in the morning to get the sun shining on the village from this angle and you need to go in the spring/summer to get the green hills and the flowers coming out of the yellow house.

Here's the view from the other direction

See the church steeple in the distance?

From the pier by the church, looking at the North Eastern end of town

Hallstatt is known for one of the oldest salt mines in the world dating back 7,000 years to the Celts. However, this is the closest we could get. They don't allow children under the age of FOUR. I've heard this is a must-see tour. Maybe one day, huh?

Mirrors are so much fun

Tal with the kids

Kelsey can ALMOST take a picture of us. She just needs to learn how to hold down the shutter. And how to keep her finger off the lens.

Isn't he handsome?

A few of the sites you would see in Hallstatt

I love those orange lantern plants! Oh, and Schmuck means jewelry. I wanted to get a picture of Tally next to the sign, but it was too tall to look like it was pointing to him. Plus, I think he would have caught on.

They have pear trees that grow up the sides of several of the houses.

The Reformed church

The town square or platz

Kelsey kept bugging him so he couldn't fall asleep

(yes, this is when a double stroller would be nice)

Finally, he fell asleep...sitting up

He looks like a doll

Eagle's Nest, Obersalzburg, Germany

This is as close as we got to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. It had closed the week before, which we knew might be the case. It's up so high on the mountain that it had too much snow! We did take this trip a week or two too late in the season, but at least we missed the crowds ;). This is a close-up.

Here it is from the road out of town

Salzburg, Austria

Here it is at dusk from the bridge by our hotel

Aiden wasn't so happy about sitting on Kelsey's lap

The house Mozart was born in, the house he lived in, and an authentic Austrian

A church and the University of Salzburg

I love the way the city is built up on the rock, so picturesque

Putting style back into daddy's beanie

Mirabella Gardens - these are famous gardens in Salzburg and our hotel was right next to them. Part of the Sound of Music was filmed in them. Kelsey ran away from me when I first tried to take pictures of her.

Then she started "hamming" it up for the camera. She would stop every few feet or so and turn to me and say, "CHEESE!"

What started as a picture with one Asian tourist

Became an invasion of Asian tourists, each taking individual pictures with Kelsey. There were even more than this - I just had to stop taking pictures of her and go help her look at the cameras and not be scared. She wouldn't smile, she just looked like she was standing there because she didn't know a way out of it. In the end, she liked the attention and said "nee-hao" for them. She learned that on Dora, and yes, they were Taiwanese and say "nee-hao" for hello.

Tally says there were at least 3x that many - he wishes he could have taken a picture of it.

We walked up this super steep hill to get a good view of Salzburg. I pushed the stroller for exercise and boy was it hard work! Slow and steady wins the race ;).

Kels & Tal pose by a cool tree for me

Finally at the top! Isn't it gorgeous?

A hobo (or several) were living at the top. We didn't see them, just their stuff. It was kinda nasty up there.

Kelsey didn't mind., she loved running around up there.

I can't believe she had energy after hiking up the hill with us. She walked the whole way up. She's becoming so European.

The very openly gay couple - that purse has a little frilly dog inside

Once back down into the city, we walked around looking for a place to eat.

Those are all beautifully hand-painted eggs! I was enthralled.

There were several ROOMS of them.

We settled on Moredos - an Argentine chain restaurant. Random, but perfect for Kelsey. They had colored pencils and a menu to color on, toys, a kids menu, and kids ice cream. She was in heaven. They even had a candle for her to blow out (as a table decoration, not on the ice cream). Unfortunately Tally spilled the candle wax all over the floor and my hat just as we were leaving. Luckily, not on a person.

So to sum it up, we weren't in love with Munich, we loved Salzburg and loved Hallstatt. I would only go back to Hallstatt though if I could go on the Salt Mine tour. I thought Salzburg was very quaint for a big name town. It had a lot of character. Oh, and they have these Mozart Balls of chocolate filled with Marzipan and other stuff. They're not very good but are somehow addicting. Our hotel gave us some every night and they seemed to disappear. I think you've at least got to try them when you go to Salzburg.

We're really glad to have been able to spend some family time together and feel very lucky to have gone on this trip.