Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A Berlin-ese Update

For all you who thought that I never really existed, here I am contributing to Rosie's wonderful blog (mostly I didn't want to blemish it). I have been here in Berlin for five days now and let's just say that it has been a unique experience.

The apartment I am staying in is a little (believe me when I use that word) standalone place in someone's back yard. Don't get me wrong, the people who own the place are really nice and the yard is very large, nicely kept and just rather enjoyable. But to give you a mental picture (sorry, no real pictures till Rosie gets here) the ceilings are about 6 feet tall, the main room area that has the loveseat/bed and such is about 12 feet by 15 feet or so and the only other section of the place is the bathroom which measures in at a hefty 3 feet by 6 feet (including shower, sink and toilet). The shower is almost big enough to turn around in, but it's better than nothing. There is no real kitchen, though in one wall there is built a little sink/two burner stove and mini refrigerator. But it serves my needs for now. About the really nice owners, they have a larger place that they will put Rosie, Allison and I when they finally get here (six weeks can sure feel like a long time when your staring down its business end).

As for the city itself, it is rather noticeable that for a decent amount of time the two sides (east and west) developed at their own paces. The area I live in is on the east side and has old cobbled streets and dirt sidewalks and has a very little country village vibe to it while the west side is what we would call more modern. All the church buildings are on the west side, which leads me to a very funny story. Sunday rolls around and I decide to go to church, I know where the building is despite being far away. So I take my scriptures and dictionary and head out. I transfer at the train station that I need to, hop on the next train and we get to a station where we stop for some time. When the train gets going, we go back the other direction. Turns out this was the only weekend where they decided to shut down a portion of the train tracks for maintenance. So I go back to the one stop, get on a bus that takes me to the next working stop, hop on another train and finally get to church. Total travel time: 2 hours. But I suppose that is okay, because at least I made it. When I got there, the only person I really spoke was a guy from Thailand and we spoke in English. The ward is small-ish (only 80 or 90 members, it looks like) and they cram them all in to 6 rows of pews.

As for the rest of daily life, I can't say much about work yet, since I am still in the learning stages of using the software and all, but in the other facets, let's just say that right now I stick to things that don't require much talking. That is because on a qualitative scale, my German rounds to, oh, roughly NOTHING. But I am learning and the people are patient with me, so that is good. I have been able to form some coherent sentences the last day or two, so there is hope that I will be able to communicate, at least on a simple basis, by the time I leave. Well, that is it for me here, but I'll keep you "posted".

Thursday, April 24, 2008

9 months old!

I can't believe that my little baby is already 9 months old! It seems like just yesterday she was a teeny, tiny, completely dependant infant. Now, she's pushing closer and closer to that toddler stage. Allison had her 9 month well-child visit and she is just going to be a little kid. She only weighed in at 16.5 pounds... that only the second percentile!

Sure love you, muchkin. Love you, love you, love you!

Monday, April 21, 2008

More scrapbooking...

My sister-in-law Ashleigh decided that she needed a photography blog... I probably need a scrapbook blog. Maybe when I get back to Europe (since I won't be doing any scrapbooking while I'm there...).
Anyway, last week was my spring break, so I pulled out all my stuff and made a big mess that I left all week long... here's what my mess accomplished.

The Kissing Page: we had SO MANY kissing wedding photos! Title and journaling going in the two blank spots.

Groom Pictures: Title to go across the bottom of the photo on the left page, journaling in the big blank spot on the right

Bride pictures: Again, title and journaling still need to be added. =) Still looking for the perfect fonts for titles on these pages.

The Kissing Game: This layout I did in scrapbook club and finally got some photos on it this past week. I'm not super crazy about my title (I may decide to redo it) but I LOVE the bottom border... the 3 squares without flowers say Happy, Smile and Laugh, which really fits the page if you read the journaling. If I redo the title (which I probably will) I"ll probably have the top title look more like the bottom border...otherwise, this one to totally done!

First visitors: Totally done! Gotta love the photo of Makayla holding a 1 day old Allison. =)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Allison's Newest Trick

I love this trick! It's so much fun watching Allison grow up and learn to do new things.


Friday, April 11, 2008

More Scrapbook Pages

A few more of my scrapbook page accomplisments from the last week =). Maybe while Brian's gone (since I'll need a project to keep me from going too crazy) I can finish our wedding album in the evenings after Allison goes to bed. That would be a lofty goal...


This page was a redo... I originally did it 8.5x11 before I decided to switch to 12x12. I miss the paper I orginally did this page on, but I like the beach paper with the vellum overlay.

This one is actually 100% done... I think my wedding announcement gets to count at the journaling! I love the background paper... I think that paper it the one I want to be the paper that all my wedding pages have in common.


Again, this one if 100% done... all journaled and everything! I think I'm realizing that I like to have lots of pictures on my pages... embellishements tend to be my downfall and point of frustration. =) Is it creul that I love the photo of her screaming her mad little head off? =)

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Thanks, Grandma Thornock!

For those of you who have looked at the link to the Toddler Shirt Dress (thats what I call it anyway) and have wondered if they're really as cute as the tutorial makes them look, the answer is a resounding YES! My mother-in-law saw the tutorial and was inspired... she has made one for each of her granddaughters and they turned out so adorable. Now, granted, I haven't seen any of them except Allison, but just look how cute it turned out!




Thanks, Grandma! We love it!

PS - Pardon and ignore the not so cute mommy in the background... Saturday is lazy pajamas till 10 am day in our house... =)

Saturday, April 5, 2008

General Conference Peek-a-boo

Kind of like General Conference or General Authority Bingo, but for babies. Allison was playing during the afternoon session and it was too cute!