Strasbourg, France

Funky hotel room

Strasbourg Cathedral, or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg

Rick and Dorcas

Pack of wild Polar Bears

Impersonation of Charlton Heston

Gingerbread factory

Black Forest - Germany

This hat makes Rick look really smart

The Bollenhut is a ladies' hat topped with pom-poms and has been part of the traditional costume worn by women in three neighbouring Black Forest villages (Gutach, Kirnbach, and Reichenbach) since around 1750. Young unmarried girls wear hats with red "pompoms" (hmmmm) and married women hats with black ones. Traditional costumes are still worn today on certain public holidays and in processions and folkloric events in many places in the Black Forest.

Shop in Triberg

Another shop in Triberg

Hotel in Triberg

Annette's tall friend

Where we bought a Black Forest ham in Triberg. We also got some Black Forest Cake and Black Forest Gummy Bears. We did not buy a cuckoo clock.

"Germany's Highest Waterfall"

Germany's highest waterfalls have an overall drop of 163 metres over 7 cascades.

Annette performing an ancient German Black Forest trail dance ritual

Triberg

Clock Museum in Triberg

Valley in the Black Forest

Cool way they make beds here

Storefront in Baden-Baden

Trier, Germany

Founded by the Romans in 15 BC, Trier is the oldest town in Germany and some say the oldest north of the Alps. The Porta Nigra ("Black Gate") is the dominant landmark of the city, dating to the second century.

Main Market

Amazing flower arrangements at a great price!

Annette in a sea of advent calendars.

St. Peter's Cathedral, the oldest Christian church in Germany.

Porta Nigra

Halloween at Burg Frankenstein - Darmstadt, Germany

We spent Halloween Eve at Frankenstein's Castle in Darmstadt, Germany, which was full of monsters, ghosts and scary sights. Annette was attacked by many monsters, who seemed to be attracted to the fact that she wanted them to stay far away from her.

Honey, do I look fat in this outfit?

I'm gettin' married in the morning...

When I said spiked, I just meant my hair!

Burg (Castle) Day - Germany

Burg Lichtenberg

Burg Lichtenberg

Near Burg Hohenecken

Burg Hohenecken

Our New Burg

We recently moved from Fredericksburg, VA to a furnished "chalet" in Germany. Below are some pictures of our new cozy abode...

Sleeping Quarters

The throne

Domestic Engineering Center

Mess Hall

Living Room

10-10-10

Today's date is 10-10-10...pretty cool!

On Our Way to Germany

I just entered the mobilization processing site in Norfolk, VA today. I found it surprising that the first presentation to deploying personnel was by a chaplain on the importance of spirituality and faith in relation to being deployed. He talked about how having something higher than ourselves to believe in and rely upon has a tremendous impact on our ability to weather tough times and come through stronger. Many in the room were on there way to places a lot more dangerous and austere than my destination, and without the benefit of family visits. I was especially glad for them that those in charge of the process chose to begin it this way.

Also interestingly, today is the anniversary of the day that I entered the mission training center in Provo, UT thirty years ago prior to serving a church mission in Hong Kong, which was the last time I left the USA for an extended period of time.

I was processed in less than a day, and found myself on a flight to Germany the same day. Here starts this new adventure for me, and Annette who will follow soon.

For now, this blog will serve as a way for us to chronicle our journey for our friends and family.

Tschüss.

Living on the Edge

For Father's Day, my wonderful children gave me the item pictured to the left, which is one of the greatest inventions known to mankind. I have always been a fan of the "edge" pieces of brownies, especially the corners with TWO edges; but what to do with all of the edgeless middle pieces? Well, thanks to the Baker's Edge brownie pan, every piece of the brownie batch has AT LEAST two edges...a few pieces even have THREE edges! We made brownies last night, and needless to say, I was in brownie heaven. Thanks, Skids!

We Stand Up for the Honest Man

by Homer Hickam. author of October Sky and We Are Not Afraid

A dishonest person is nearly always frightened. They lie to keep the truth at bay and use whatever verbal gymnastics they can to cloud the issue they are forced to confront. Conversely, an honest person is someone who isn't afraid of the truth and lays it out as simply as possible. It's easy to tell the truth teller because the truth is always simple. As soon as you have trouble following the reasoning of a fellow, you can pretty well figure they're lying about something. That means they're probably scared, too.

Two honest men can solve anything. One liar can foul up the works. To get rid of fear, admire and support the honest person, and be one yourself.

Friends Forever

by Elder Marvin J. Ashton (1915–1994)

My wife and I were in the front of our yard one day when the newspaper boy came down the street on his bicycle. His bicycle was loaded with papers. About 20 or 30 yards in back of him, there was another boy following him on a bicycle. I was not sure at that time what their relationship was, but I did notice they were coming down the street at a pretty good clip.

When the newspaper boy came to our sidewalk entry, he was traveling too fast to make the approach to our home, and, as a result, he went one way, the bicycle went another way, and the papers went everywhere. Noticing the boy had fallen on the lawn and was not hurt, but realizing that he would undoubtedly be embarrassed from the fall in front of his friend, we moved toward him.

At the sight of this perfect three-point landing, if we may refer to it as that, his companion shouted his pleasure and laughed heartily with complete and full enjoyment at the misfortune of his associate.

Trying to relieve the embarrassment of the paper boy, knowing he didn’t want help but he wanted to have his pride repaired a little, I took a few more steps toward him and said: “It’s kind of a low blow to have your friend laugh when you’ve had a bad spill, isn’t it?”

He went on picking up his papers without even looking up. Finally, he had the papers back in place and got on his bicycle; and as he started out away from our home, he made the remark: “He isn’t my friend—he’s my brother.”

His words have been ringing through my ears with a great deal of significance ever since then. I sincerely feel that one of the great purposes of family evenings and home teaching is to have family members realize that a brother can be a friend, and that a sister can be a friend, and that a father and a mother can be more than parents, they can be friends.

I would hope and pray that we may catch the wisdom and the inspiration of building a home so that our members in that sacred unit can look upon a father and say, “He is my best friend,” or “My mother is more than a mother, she is my friend.” When we realize that parents and family members can be more than blood relations and are in very deed friends, then we will have a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father wants us to live, not only as brothers and sisters but as very close friends.