Wow! I have not had the motivation to maintain this blog. I can't believe the last time I posted on here was August. I probably should just delete this account and stick to FB and Pinterest. But, for some reason I am going to try harder and not give up just yet. It is supposed to be about our travels around the world so I will try to catch up on some of the places we have visited this past year. Stay tuned and hopefully later today I can get some photos up. Wish me luck!

So here I am in August already to update our family blog! YAY! I am actually on time with my update. Hard to believe with some of the chaos that seems to always be going on. First, tomorrow we are moving to a place on base at Kelley Barracks. Yes, we are leaving our beautiful Black Forest home in Sillenbuch to go live on base in what is called the "stairwells". We haven't lived in apartment style housing in a long time. This should be interesting. However, I am looking forward to it for several reasons. First, we save $ which I always love, and second there are 9 other LDS families from our Ward here that will live either next door, upstairs, downstairs or on the street over. It will be AWESOME! to live that close to so many great LDS families. Hans will have friends to play with, I will have some walking partners, we are already planning our "fire pit" area for roasting marshmallows and sipping hot cocoa on the cold winter nights that are already on their way. Last maybe I will be able to open up my lungs and BREATHE again! The weather feels like Fall here. The leaves are already changing. Where was summer? I think it came in April and was gone by May. I am not really complaining since there is no air conditioning in the homes so it makes it nice to not be so hot! However, I have missed sunny days, cool salt water and sandy beaches this year. I do LOVE Florida and the beautiful Gulf Coast. It has been a busy summer and Rhett has actually been around more than usual which has been nice. Hayden went to Florida to visit for the summer and we have missed him. Heidi is on her way for a couple of weeks at the end of this week. I will not rest easy until she is safely in the company of Hayden and our family in Florida. She will be the first of our children to fly transatlantic alone on a commercial airline. I guess it's time. She will be 18 in a couple of weeks. They are all growing up so fast. Hans will be here with me and Rhett. He has Cub Scout Twilight Camp next week and I will be teaching a couple of classes so we are both looking forward to that. Rhett is busy right now with an "Exercise" once he finishes we may go for a short trip somewhere with Hans. School starts back on Aug. 29th so it won't be long and we will be busy again with school, sports and life! Holly and Morgan continue to be doing well in Utah. We miss them and are planning for them to visit in December. I can hardly wait to have everyone together. It is going to be so great! Well, we are gearing up for the big move tomorrow. I know it will all go well. (Power of positive thinking!) Once we are settled into our new place I will post some new pictures. Until then....have a good life! : )

Catching Up!

Well it seems April, May and June prooved to be too much for blogging. It's not like I didn't want to I just never found the time to do it. I figured once a month would not be too much but once again I was just wrong! I do this same thing with my journal writing. I used to write in my journal every day. Then I got married, had kids and found that every day was just too much, so I went to once a week. Then I had more kids and a house to run so once a week became too much so I went to once a month. Now, for 15 years that has been my "goal". I have to admit there are some times when several months go by before I set aside the time to record. So...I guess this is going to be the way it is with "blogging". It is July and so I am going to try to catch up once again. Now, Holly has managed to convinced me to add Pinterest to my list of things in the virtual world I should be doing, so who knows how it is all going to come together? I do like the Pinterest thing, I really do! So many cool things, ideas, recipes etc. Where were these people when I was a young mother trying to find interesting things? Back when I had energy and enthusiasm to try just about anything! Well, it is here now so I just hope I can find the time to enjoy it! As for our living in Germany update, things are finally settling down some. I still continue to look over my shoulder for what might be going to happen next. As if looking will stop it from coming?! We are moving in a few weeks to base housing. Some of us in the house are looking forward to the move, others (Rhett, Hayden) not so much! Well see! I think it will be a good move and wish we could have just gone there to begin with. Our house here in Sillenbuch is wonderful, but (there is always a but) I have learned what allergies are and can tell you that a house with black mold can kill an otherwise healthy person. I now have sympathy for those who suffer with allegies but hope that once I am out of here I will never know what it feels like to not be able to breathe or to constantly feel the constriction in your chest and throat. It's not fun! I will post a few pictures from the spring flowers blooming. This yard is gorgeous with it's gardens and fruit trees. It's been a nice stop, now on to the next evolution!

The Town Clock

Well our little town has a town clock. This is not so unusual for European villages but what's so neat about ours is that it is just 3 houses down from our home so we can REALLY hear the clock when it rings. Funny thing is we have a couple of cuckoo clocks in the house that were left by the owners and probably the second day we were here the kids asked me to take the batteries out so we didn't have to hear the clock striking on the hour, or every fifteen minutes. However, I kind of thought it was neat, so after a day or so I put them back. Everyone moaned at first but now no one even notices. As for the town clock, I don't even look at my watch when I am home because I can pretty much tell what time it is by listening for the clock. Here's how it works (for those who do not have this great event going on in your town) Say it is 10:00am, the clock will ring 4 times in one tone and then switch to another tone and ring 10 times. If it was 10:15 it would only ring 1 time in the tone for the minutes, 10:30 2 times and 10:45 3 times. At the top of each new hour it rings the number of times the hour is. It also has certain times of the day that the bells just ring rapidly for several minutes. 8:00am when school starts, 12:00 for lunch, and 6:00 for dinner. On Sundays, since the clock tower is attached to the Lutheran church it rings rapidly for when church starts at 9:00. Thankfully it stops ringing at 11:00pm and doesn't start again until 6:00am. each day. It is interesting how the people use this town clock to measure and plan their time. While I also have the cuckoo clock here in the house that tells me what time it is, I have come to depend on the town clock to tell me what time it is. Now, I must tell you that it still does not get me to places on time. I am still late for many things, but I do like the town clock. Matter of fact, it is ringing right now as I type. :)

Our New Home in Sillenbuch Germany

Well, here I am trying to figure this blog thing out. I have issues with everything being in German and trying to translate. Hopefully I have figured out how to fix the language and can update this more often. Our new home is in Sillenbuch, Germany. It is called a "Black Forest" style home. Lots of wood in the home and old traditional German style layout. It has two stories and a basement. This home belonged to a well recognized German conductor. His name is Professor Schneider. His daughter and son in law own the home now. Their names are Hans and Sigrid Radke. They have been so good to us. They are very attentive in all the needs for the house and to help us get adjusted to life in Germany. They have left wonderful rugs, antiques and the most prized custom made Grand piano, which Hayden has laid claim to. He loves that piano and plays all the time. It has been a blessing to have this great piano for him to continue practicing. The house is warm and comfortable. We are enjoying the space and look forward to enjoying some of the patios and gardens during the summer. Our little town is great too. More to follow about that. (It deserves it's own post.) So for now, this is our new HOME~

Our Home in Florida

Well I am finally getting to the family blog! My daughter Holly and my niece Laura have asked me several times to start a blog. They both know that we have lots of things that go on and could be funny for others to read. They also fear that Facebook may decide to start charging me for all the photo space I take up on there so I decided why not share our "crazy" life? It could make most people feel so much better about their own. Actually we do have a crazy life but it's a great life! We are blessed with many experiences that help create the memories that we know will last forever. For most of you that read this blog you will know that we are a Marine Corps family which alone makes for lots of changes and adventures. Rhett and I have been married for over 25 years, we dated 3 years before that, so basically we have spent about half our life together. We have 4 children, Holly Anne, Heidi, Hayden and Hans. We have a wonderful son in law Morgan. We also own 2 dogs, JD, a chocolate lab, Nike, a black labradoodle, a cat, Tiger (which we had declawed so he couldn't live up to his name) and 2 cows, Sofia and Natalie which are on vacation at Uncle Henry's Farm, aka Dr. Terry Nichols, in Graceville Florida. We, with the exception of Holly and Morgan, live in Sillenbuch, Germany. Our home is in Florida but for the next few years we will be living here in Germany. Please join us for lots of jaunts, adventures and just plain ole' everyday life!