Happy Easter

For Easter Tricia and I decorated eggs as always. The we colored brown paper bags as our traditional Easter bag and hid them from each other until the morning. Tricia found hers when she went to the dryer to get some socks. The Edwards family invited us over for a wonderful dinner with games afterword. Jeffrey got to play with the Edward boys and was excited about playing with some of their toys.

Happy Feet

As requested, here are a few photos of Jeffrey featuring his new shoes.

Drill is a subject taught at the Academy, but often it gets out of hand as the companies try to out do each other on the day of the Acadmey competition. Time that should be spent in the class learning other subjects is cut short to get more time on the field for practice.

Changing Weather

The weather in Grafenwohr, Germany can change very quickly and unexpectedly. While out at STX we went from beautiful warm spring time weather, to a fast regression into winter again. A blizard can blow in here quickly and be gone in ten minutes with the sun shining deceptively the entire time. We are celebrating a white Easter.

St. Patrick's Day Ceili

We had a party yesterday with my dancers. It was fun! So casual and informal but I loved it. I'm not all about the high stress of competing and performing. I just had fun with my little dancers. And let's talk about an answered prayer. I only had 45 minutes to get into the room we were using, clean the mirrors, set the tarp and chairs down and get everything worked out. I was so worried that it wouldn't happen, but it did, people showed up early and we got everything set up with plenty of time to spare.
Practicing in the hall right before.
Waiting to go on!
My little dance group!

My dance Planxty Drury. (The girls kept asking why I didn't have a skirt too. I told them it was because I had a baby and they did not!)

Tagged again.

10 years ago i was...Living in Layton enjoying my junior year? I was struggling to make it through AP American History and dreaming about being drum major the next year. Thinking I was as cool as a bag of fritos. Oh how mistaken I was. ;)

5 things on my to do list:
1. Clean the kitchen (we neglected it after last night's performance)
2. Grocery Shop (Ugh. That's all I have to say about that)
3. Buy Paige chocolate.
4. Finish choreographing the spring dances.
5. Read to Jeffers because he likes it (or so I tell myself)

5 snacks i enjoy:
1. Runts (which I CAN'T get in Germany)
2. Pistacios (I was on a bag a day habit when I was preggers.)
3. Popcorn
4. Cold water in a straw
5. Chocolate

5 places i have lived: Germany, Colorado Springs, South Jordan, Kaysville, Layton, Kearns, West Jordan, West Valley (in reverse order, that's everywhere I lived)

5 jobs i have had: Jeffrey's Mum, Dance Teacher, Medical Receptionist, Secretary, Assistant to the President

5 things you don't know about me:
1. I am quite adept at using my feet for hands, so should I ever have a terrible accident and loose the ability to use my arms, I could use my toes to do stuff. I have incredibly muscular feet from dance. (Though Paige and most of my family knew that already.)
2. I hate laundry with a capital H! I don't know what it is, it just feels like slave labor to me. Maybe because in another three days there's yet another mountain to do again. Can someone please tell me how adding one TINY member to the family triples the laundry?
3. I can remember everything about my shoes. I remember when I bought them, where I first wore them, what I was wearing with most of them and I feel quite an attachment to them. They are my pretties.
4. I've always wished I could climb Mt. Everest.
5. When I was little I used to pretend that when I grew up I would be discovered as a long lost princess and I would never have to clean my room again. (I had lofty goals then.)

New Toy

We got this for Jeffrey recently. It's not made for hardwood floors because we end up chasing the balls all over the place, but he still thinks it's hilarious to watch. He tries to catch them as they first come out, he doesn't get that they roll down and he'd have more time to get them then.

Jewelry for Spring!

I updated the jewelry blog and the website so you can check out a few of my new designs, I'm running a little special for anyone who's interested and does a little hunting (check out the blog! or the website!)

Happy St. Patty's Pics from my dancers' Ceili party later!

Going to Work

Jeffrey decided to take his chances as a stow away in Dad's bag while he got ready for work.

Standing On His Own

Jeffrey is more and more determined to stand on his own. Anything solid is subject to his testing for supporting properties. Just a day ago he stood on his own with no support for several seconds before falling to the floor on his bottom.

Jasper Morris's Birthday Party

Jeffrey was invited to Jasper Morris's birthday party, which of course meant that Tricia and I would attend too, along with all other parents of primary children invited. I jumped at the chance to take my camera and get candid photos of all of the children at the party. After returning home from the party I printed off 14 of the best photos and Tricia made a book from scratch to hold them. We will give the book to Cori Morris on another day.

Something to pass Naptime...

So you can tell the difference between our posts right? Cory's are artistic and well written, mine are gabby and rambly. Take your pick! ;)

A- Attached or single: Very attached.
B- Best Friend: Cory
C- Cake or Pie: Cake, but I'm not crazy about either.
D- Day of choice: They all feel the same, Sunday is the only different, different day.
E- Essential Item: Food
F- Favorite Color: Pink
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Haribo gummy bears...or those other ones that are circus animals...ah the German candy stores...I shall miss you!
H- Hometown: I'm a transient being (which is why I learned to adapt to the military lifestyle), but I feel most at home in South Jordan.
I- Indulgence(s): Chocolate.
J- January or July: July (but not in Spain, it's the surface of the sun then!)
K- Kids: One sweet boy who I just adore!
L- Life is Incomplete Without: Family
M- Marriage Date: May 12th (almost 3 years)
N- Number of Siblings: 3 older brother, 2 younger sisters.
O- Oranges or Apples: Those cute little clementines.
P- Phobias or Fears: I am claustrophobic.
Q- Quote(s): "Only boys who wear ther wellies have a chance with me." (Two gold stars if you can name where it came from! Though that would have meant more before google!)
R- Reason To Smile: I have a wonderful life!
S- Season: Spring!
T- Touchy person, or not: Yeah, I come from a big family and I'm very close to my sisters, we'd all hang out on the couch watching movies.
U- Unknown Fact About Me:
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Apparently written by a veggie...but I'm an oppressor...though when pregnant, I had a hard time with meat.
W- Worst Habit:
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds show you cute babies (or blobs that you're told are babies!)
Y- Your Favorite Food: Right now? A wendy's burger and frosty, just because I haven't had one in over a year. I really live chinese food though and an actual chinese place opened up just down the road, not a german-inspired place.
Z- Zodiac: Cancer

So, if you didn't do this (I nicked it from Jamie), you should it's fun and passes some time.

A New Angle

I went out into our training area for a walk to work off some tunnel vision from working in the office for several hours. I took my camera with me with the intent to find something interesting to photograph. It did not take long to find some trash that had been in the area for a long time. I looked at it from all different angles with my camera to find the most interesting ways of seeing these ordinary items in a new way. That is what I love about photography; finding new ways of looking at ordinary things and then being able to show others this new way of seeing the every day.

Class A and Barrack Inspection

The class A and barrack inspections are getting out of hand. The 1SG does his own pre inspection, which has grown to take nearly four hours of our training day. Two days later the

commandant comes through and takes another three to four hours of our time. It is nice for the SGL because we are not there at the inspection giving us several hours of work time without having to entertain students. The problem is that every flaw in the inspection comes back to the SGL. Why was someone not wearing their name plate? Why did someones shoes have mud on the edges? Why was someones wall locker display out of place? It is frustrating trying to train students in an environment where they can take charge so that they can learn from thier successes and failures, but at the same time I have the responsibility to make it look neat and pretty all of the time.

The Best 20 Minutes of My Day

I learned long ago that with so many demands on my time even after returning home from a long day of work, things go a lot better if I take my first 20 minutes after arriving home just to talk with Tricia and play with Jeffrey.

Another Day at the Park

I managed to make it home early and the weather was so nice that we simply had to take Jeffrey out for a swing.

MAT 116 = (y + 3) - (X + 5)

I am finally through with MAT 116, and intense algebraic experience. I did learn the following.

• Time taking notes <>
• f(x) = the total number of problems solved in practice before a test from the number of practice exercises availible, where x = my final score on an exam
• [(read through the material at the begining of the week x 2) know the project at the end of the week]
• working alone < (working with the algebra genius Tricia)^2

More than meets the Ears (in this case)

[Geeky rant] I am a band geek, well reformed band geek. I haven't picked up an instrument since the day I last played in High School. But I still have a deep appreciation for music. When I put my iPod on shuffle you hear quite the selection of music. One of my favorite playlists is called "Sleepy Time Music" because I'm an insomniac I need to hear something to turn my mind off at night so I can sleep.

I like to listen to music soundtracks, I'm a geek, I can't help it. I've always loved to listen to the music in movies. (Side note: I made a DVD called "Jeffrey's Day" and put 10 songs on a 30 minute movie. I like music!) I have the Pirates Soundtracks, Pride and Prejudice (My favorite!), The Chronicles of Narnia, and one of my all time favorites has been Rudy. When we saw Transformers I loved the soundtrack (I had the Linkin Park song from the end long before the movie came out though.) but they didn't release the score as the soundtrack much to my disappointment.

From what I understand, they weren't planning to release the score, just the Soundtrack with a lot of loud and screamy type music, but apparently people blogged, wrote, complained and petitioned the studio. Today I FOUND it on iTunes and I'm so excited! It's a little overpriced, but I have a coupon from Cory for a free iTunes album, so I'm cashing it in. So if you like soundtracks, I highly recommend the Transformers score. Yup. [/end geekyrant]

Adventure Close to Home

Tricia and I have agreed to take full advantage of our last year here in Germany by going on as many adventures as we can, especially the ones close to home. All of the towns around us have ice cream shops, bakeries, grocery stores, restaraunts, parks, walkways, and specialty shops. We will be visiting them when I get off from work. Waiting until my cycle break only gives us a chance to do something fun and memorable every 30 days. That is too far inbetween.

Yesterday we went to the grocery store just around the corner from us and picked up a box of frozen pretzel to thaw and bake. The trip only took us 25 minutes from putting our shoes on to hanging our jackets back up, but it was a memorable trip and gave us a good time to talk to each other outside the familiarity of the walls of our home.

New Calling

So way back in December, during our tithing settlement, the bishop said "I wasn't planning on saying anything, but I'm going to anyway." Nice starter to a conversation right? Well he said that they were going to change the primary presidency and the name that kept coming back as president was mine. I wanted to look back and say, "Are you sure it's not someone named Farisha MacBill? Because I can see how you could get the two confused." But I didn't, I was in too much shock. He said they were hoping to change around the first of the year so if I wanted to accept I could start thinking about names for counselors. Well long story short and two bouts of pneumonia later, yesterday I was sustained and set apart as the new primary president in the Graf ward.

Am I intimidated? Darn tootin'! (Paige, how's that for pulling a reference out of the archives and dusting it off?) But I'm excited, I've been in primary since I was in Utah (over 6 years) so I feel like I am about as prepared as I could be, it's overwhelming but I love the primary kids!

Back from the Doctor

I thought that I was going to have to throw away this trusty camera after the sensor on it went out. We have been to Korea, Iraq, Colorado and Germany together. Fortunatley Dad knew of a place that would look at it for free and sent it back to Canon for a warranty repair. Not only has the sensor been replaced, to do so required that all of the insides be cleaned. It takes a photo like a brand new camera.

Smoothies with My Pal

To celebrate the warming weather Tricia and I decided to celebrate with our first smoothies of the season.

Favorite Game

Over the last few weeks Jeffrey has learned to enjoy himself exploring the contents of the refrigerator.

Pop and Tot

Grandpa's Knit Cap

Jeffrey's Sunday Suit

Now that Jeffrey is big enough to be in his suit each Sunday he is the sharpest looking kid at church.

Tricia's Swee Skills

As a thank you to a sister in the ward that watched Jeffrey on short notice. A thoughtful thank you can go a long way when it is said or presented in the right way.