Aah...Home Sweet Home

A week ago today, we landed in Utah. We will be here until mid-August. James gets almost eight weeks off of "home leave" for taking the Germany assignment. Some people choose to take a little right away and then spread it out over a year, but he's heard of too many people that once they started working again, they weren't able to take the time off and after a while you lose the days...so he decided to take it all in one lump.

So far, we have had a fantastic time, spending time with my family and running into a few friends. We have enjoyed the shopping and the restaurants and the customer service! This week, we have also been to the dermatologist, the dentist, I got my hair cut & colored and today I got my nails done. James & I also went on a little two-night getaway at a local bed & breakfast. I also got to finally see "Eclipse"!

The kids have been having a wonderful time at my mom & dad's place. They have a huge yard where they can play with water, or in the sand pile, or on the swing set, or Thomas can drive a 4-wheeler or Toby can drive his little motorized tractor. OR, they can go over to the farm and do things over there. Toby likes riding in the tractors with Grandpa Dan and Thomas likes feeding the baby calves. They are thoroughly entertained all day long!

On Sunday, my sister announced that she is pregnant! It was a shocker! They have been married for 10 years and I wasn't quite sure they wanted to have kids and had kind of quit asking her about it. She is at the beginning of the 2nd trimester already. How exciting that my mom & dad will finally have three grandchildren, and this one will live close by which will be nice for everyone!

Tomorrow, we are heading down to James' mom & dad's for about a week and a half. Thomas and Toby have 13 cousins that all live close by so it should be a incredibly fun time there as well!

Until later,

Emily

These Blue-Eyed Boys are Comin' to Town!

I am dreading the plane ride to Utah something fierce. I am preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. It's going to be a LONG day. From the time we get to the airport until the time we get to my mom's it will be approximately 19-20 hours of traveling. Thomas, on the other hand, cannot wait. He has been upset the last three mornings because he wants to go to the airport and "go to Grandma's".

We will be there soon...

Until later,

Emily

PS: Happy Birthday Mom!

Good Bye Germany!

In a few days, we will depart from Germany. The PCSing process (moving) has been time consuming and stressful. Somedays were absolutely nightmarish. If you've never done it, you will not understand, but you can take my word for it.

We are wrapping up the last of the loose ends (shipping our Mini Cooper tomorrow, shipping the last of our boxes, organizing our suitcases and packing our carry-ons), and James still has quite a bit to do in the office before we fly out at the end of the week. But the end is near. (And I can't say that without adding a little jingle to those five words!) I have a long list of things that I am looking forward to, after all, we have lived here for three years and it's been two years since we last visited. To say that we miss the United States of America would be an understatement.

But, I also have a list of things that I will miss here in Germany:

1) Above anything else I will miss all the special friends I have made here, I was lucky because I had A LOT of support; not to sound like I'm bragging, but I made friends everywhere, I had wonderful neighbors, church friends, work friends, DODDS preschool friends, ISW friends and gym friends...but good bye's are hard, and I actually didn't say too many...they were too painful.

2) I will miss my neighborhood. I loved living in Bremthal (I can now post it since I don't live there any longer). It felt safe. The streets were wider than many German neighborhoods. I loved having the park next to my house. Well, most of the time.

3) I will miss the autobahn. I loved driving on it. And I drove fast. I like driving fast. It was absolutely thrilling.

4) I will miss Thomas' school, the International School of Wiesbaden. It was a great experience for him. The class size was so small and he had great teachers. I feel that he was truly lucky to go to school there.

5) I will miss the traveling. The first year was frustrating because weren't able to get out and do a whole lot, but I think we made up for it during the second and third years. It was hard with the kids, because they were so little (especially Toby) but I'm glad we got out and saw things.

6) I will miss Pipistrello's (Italian) and Jade Drage (Asian), they were restaurants in my neighborhood and I will miss them because I thought they were both darn good and the fact that they were close by was secondary.

7) Schwepp's Bitter Lemon soda

8) Good chocolate

9) Fasching

10) Christmas season in Germany

11) New Year's fireworks

12) I will miss Charley's Steakery at the Mz. Kastel base. Sometimes it was the highlight of my week, especially at first. A regular veggie sandwich minus provolone with lettuce, tomato, mayo, jalapenos, banana peppers and a side of buffalo sauce. MMM, mmm good!

13) I will admit that while I won't miss "base shopping" I will miss the commissary baggers. I know a lot of people don't like that the baggers are not included in the price/they get paid in tips, but I didn't mind giving away a few dollars each trip to have help with putting my bags away in the car and taking my cart back. Most of the time, all I had to do was get my kids settled into their booster seats and the groceries were practically unloaded. It was kind of like having James with me shopping only once I got in the car, I had full control of the a/c and the stereo.

14) I will miss the girl that did my nails. She also gave me occasional pedicures and waxed my eyebrows. Maria @ The Arms Hotel. She is fantastic.

15) The beauty of Germany, especially in late Spring, all of Summer and early Fall. I have never seen more beautiful autumn leaves. I have decided I loathe Winter no matter where I live.

Until later,

Emily