Kayla's Baptism

February 2011

Kayla's cousins from London came for Kayla's baptism.  On Saturday we went to Happy Land, and on Sunday Kayla was baptized by her wonderful dad and received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Kayla even got to wear a baptismal dress instead of jumpsuit.  She also got a new white dress.  Kayla's former primary teacher, Sister Thomas, gave the talk on baptism and gave her bread and honey butter as part of an object lesson.  Kayla, Jessenia, Sabrina, Marissa, Theron and Elizabeth sang the song "When I am Baptized."  It was really sweet.  I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and her cousins and uncle shared stories and testimonies on baptism.  It was a really special day.  We were so glad that the Huish cousins came all the way out to visit and share the day with us.

Kayla's 8th Birthday

Kayla had a slumber party for her 8th birthday.  We invited 9 friends, but 2 ended up sick, so we had 8 girls total.  Kayla had me make her cake with all 10 girls crowded on the cake, and we made butterfly cup cakes for her class.  Kayla's  friends are all really sweet girls - Sofia, Delaney, Meghan, Elizabeth, Theron, Lauren and Karley were able to make it.  The girls had a great time making tin foil costumes, mummy wrapping each other, painting nails, decorating surf boards and watching Kayla's favorite movie, "Barbie and a Mermaid Tail."  For her actual birthday, Kayla had pancakes in bed.

The Championship Team

Allen had a great time playing on several base intramural volleyball and basketball teams.  They Med Group was the champion on many occasions, but this was the only year that I actually took a picture.

Honey Bee Bear & Three of a Kind

January 2011

Kayla got to bring home the class Honey Bee Bear to share in her adventures for the week.  Honey Bee Bear went to ballet with Kayla and Delaney and got to participate in practices for the play "Three of a Kind."  Kayla was one of the three little pigs, and she even had a few lines.  It was musical, so everyone in our family learned the songs along with Kayla.  Kayla's really lucky to have Mrs. Harvin as her 2nd grade teacher and drama club teacher.

Garmisch Hockey Tournament

 Allen played in his first games and hockey tournament.  It was a military league, so the games were supposed to be no contact, but there was still definitely some contact.  The boys and I went to cheer him on, but Kayla wanted to stay with a friend so that she didn't miss school and practice for her upcoming play.  Go Allen!

We had a great time staying at the Edelweiss Army Lodge.  It's fun to swim in the pool, go out in the snow surrounded jacuzzi and eat American food.  We were also lucky enough to find a great sledding hill. 

Skiing at Snow World

 January 2011

We took our 3 would-be skiiers to Snow World in the Netherlands to teach them to ski.  We made the mistake of taking the kids down the "big" hill first.  To us, the hill seems like a bunny hill, but with 3 of them and 2 of us, it was chaos.  We could really only handle one non-skiier each, so Allen ended up taking one a little way, then hiking up to take the other one a little way, and then repeating that process.  He's basically a super dad that was not having a super fun time.  After we got down the hill, we discovered the true bunny hill complete with conveyer belt.  Kayla and Brayden loved that.  Spencer just loved it when he took off his skiis.

Fun with our Cruise Family

 January 2011

We met a really fun family on our Greek Island cruise - The Ulmers - that live near the neighboring base 1 1/2 hours away.  So we decided to meet up with them for some play at an indoor playland, and then we went to dinner at a good Mexican restaurant (a rarity in Germany) and the restaurant even had a kids play area.  We didn't take many pictures, but we got a couple of their daughter Kate with Spencer and Kayla.

Happy New Year 2011

 For New Year's we took the chunnel to visit my brother Jared and his family in England.  It was so fun to go ice skating with them, make fresh hand squeezed lemonade, decorate gingerbread houses, listen to Jared's midnight bugle call and set off fireworks next to the Thames River just behind their housing complex.  We also ate dinner at an English pub and enjoyed pot pies and bangers and mash.  Brayden tried to taste his lemon while it was still in his cup.  The kids were really good.  (Our waiter was pleasantly surprised.)  Brayden especially loves seeing his cousin, Steven, Kayla loves to play with Sabrina (and Marissa too), and Spencer loves following "Senia" or Jessenia around.  It was a fun visit!