Christmas Village

David has been adding to his Christmas village and it has doubled in size. I don't think anyone has a cuter village than he. He does such a great job and is so funny some of the things he adds, which are decorations for the tree. For example, Goofy on top of one of the houses tangled in lights. And it fits perfectly. No idea how he comes up with all of this. But isn't it cute!!!! We are having Disney withdrawals and keep wishing we were going again for Christmas.

Griess Soupe

I have become good friends with an Austrian family and they invited my mom and me over on Friday to learn how to make Apfelstrudel. It was a lot of fun. We always have a German Christmas Eve with German food and are going to make it for that. I made it yesterday with Phyllo dough instead of making my own because we think we like that better. It turned out really good but still not where I want it. I need to turn the temperature up on the oven. Still delicious though. While we were there they invited us for Abendessen and made Griess soup. She told me that she purchases the flour from Winco. It looks different than it does in Germany so we had no idea you could get it here. So easy to make and so yummy! I'm going to be eating a lot of this now.

Kate's Tree

Michael and I went over yesterday to put up Kate's Christmas Tree. We added solar lights again this year but wired them on as they were stolen last year after one day. What kind of sick person steals from a grave and especially from a child's grave? We are putting on ornaments with her picture in them but need to make copies of the pictures. It turned out really cute and she is all ready for Christmas. We also put Oma's wreath on hers.

10-17-11

Hey,

Nothing to really say about this last week either. Nothing has been going on here. Still going fishing on P-days but other then that nothing. We did do service at the mission office today and that took most of our p-day. WE are having an open house at church on sunday so we hope that goes well and that helps us out. well take care and see you in 9 1/2 months.

Elder Sanders

Harry Potter

Sister Rucka loves to go to the movies so on Monday we decided to take her to see the final Harry Potter before it leaves the theatre as she had not seen it yet. Unfortunately, the 12:30 p.m. time was only on the weekends so we went over to the Olive Garden for lunch and had a great time visiting and laughing. We then decided to go hom and grab David as the next show didn't start until 4:30. Sad that it is the final episode but we had a great time.

Park City

I went up to Park City with my mom and Michael. We managed to get some Christmas shopping in as well as purchase some basics. My mom found Tyler a great hat for winter at Aldo, which Tyler loves as it is already getting cold in New Jersey. The way up we stopped off at Kristina's and Fashion Place. Michael managed to miss to entrance to 215 so we had to circle around again. By that time I really had to use the restroom, after drinking a large drink on the way up. Michael just about killed me driving up: He was so slow! I finally had to make him pull over. I keep telling him it was all his fault! Afterall, it was his drink, he missed the entrance, had to circle back around and then went the long way, and then drove slowly up to Park City - okay, maybe the speed limit but who drives that in Utah?

BBQ

I met a family from Austria through Kiwanis. He is visiting as a mathematics professor at BYU and is a member of Kiwanis in Austria. I was talking to him one night in German after a banquet we had and offered him a ride home (was taking the bus) and met his wife and kids. A really cute family. I told them I would have to have them over at my parents have make smores. The kids were really excited about it. I had to plan it a couple of weeks ago because it was going to be one of the last nice evenings. We settled on a Friday so the kids would not have to be home early to go to bed for school. To be honest I almost didn't want to do it because I had a huge school project and a lunch appointment that day and so worried about getting everything done. But I'm so glad I did. I also invited Kia and her husband and daughter. Kia is a friend from Germany and her husband served in Austria and is from Norway. We also invited Sister Rucka, who is a family friend. It was the best evening and everybody had a great time. Every time I see someone they still comment about that night. The kids were not so fond of smores but love the marshmallows. Peter, the younger one (@ 4 yrs. old) didn't talk much but stood by my mom and made her marshmallows all night long. She was so sick of eating them but didn't want to disappoint them. They also love cooking hot dogs over the fire and ate them right off the stick. Sad that fall is over and we cannot do more evenings outside.