Friday, August 5, 2011

Same Old Tricks~

Now that we are back in Colorado 
Cody is back on the diving board again
and up to some of his same old tricks!
It was great to be at the Boulder pool
enjoying the great weather and views!

 Here is Cody doing a back hollow...


 Front twister

 Another twister

 This is Cody's diving coach Kevin.
 Don't worry he's legit...

 Inward one and a half

Practice makes perfect...

Seattle Sights~

Coreen took advantage of being in Seattle for the
wedding by also spending time visiting with her 
longtime friend Risa who lives in this lovely state.
While Jim headed back to Colorado and then on to
Utah to pick up Cody from his activities, Coreen
stayed to play for a couple of more days.

 It's not a real visit to the Seattle area unless
you get a glimpse of the Space Needle.

 ~Risa and Coreen~
We knew each other growing up and once we were old 
enough to go off to BYU we enjoyed being roommates 
and having some fun times together for a couple of years.
Then I became Jim's roommate. ;-)

 The flowers in the fish market were beautiful!
I wish I could have taken a bouquet home!

 I loved the darling sunflowers decorating the 
shops along the street as we strolled through.

 This is a fun spot to stop at.
There were fish sellers looking for a sale and most
of us were waiting and watching for one.  
We got lucky and saw a purchase.  
When a purchase is made the fish is tossed by
one seller to another to show how talented they
are that the fish wouldn't be dropped.
It was a good toss!  And a BIG FISH!!!



 If you kept your distance you would almost think you 
were looking at some unique flowers being strung up.

 A closer look shows all sorts of fresh 
vegetables and other goodies displayed in
a very colorful and appealing way.

 A pretty fun place to enjoy in Seattle.

A view of the harbor was lovely.
A great trip to enjoy with great company!
THANKS RISA!


Wedding Bells Ring in Seattle~

Thursday, July 28th 2011 was the BIG DAY for
Andre' and Michelle Kaiser!!

 They were sealed at 11:00am for time and eternity in the
Seattle, Washington Temple.
Here they are just exiting the temple as the new
Mr. and Mrs. Andre' Kaiser!

 A few details to attend to before taking those wedding photos.

 Everyone gathers to take a group photo
with the Seattle Temple in the background.

 The Bride and Groom had so many attendants as 
 they moved around on the temple grounds for photos.

 Kendra and Kirk happy for their son and new daughter-in-law.

 Jim and Coreen were pretty happy as well to
have another great family member join the clan.

 A fun shot of us girls!
Grandma Chandler, Coreen, Chelsea, Kendra

 The best day EVER if you asked this cute couple! 

 Andre' and Michelle's wedding gift from 
Tyson and Savanna was to be chauffeured
around in this beautiful luxury car.

 Let the "journey" begin!!!

 So happy at the family wedding luncheon!

 A charming reception for...

 ...a sweet couple!

 Nice and easy does it. 

 The bride and groom's first dance.

 A cute nephew decided to move in on Andre' and pulled 
the bride out into the circle to be HIS dancing partner.  
No shy bones about this little cutie! :-)

 Happily married and...

 ...off they go on their honeymoon!!!

CONGRATULATIONS 
Mr. and Mrs. Andre' and Michelle Kaiser!!!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Handoff~

It was time to bring our Yana girl home!

My sweet friend Kris was Yana's "mom" the past two years while
we lived in Germany.  We are so grateful for her love and care she
gave our Yana girl while we were gone.  It was a great two years
for Yana and the Larsen's dog Sequoia.  Sadly Sequoia passed away
in May, due to old age.  She will truly be missed and we sensed Yana
felt the loss of her sweet doggie friend of the last two years.  Yana will
also miss her Larsen family but we welcome her home with open arms!

Birthday for Chandra~

Chandra had another birthday!!!
Since I would not be here in Chandra's official birthday, 
the 16th of July, we celebrated it early.  Mostly because
I was really excited to give her the birthday gifts I had for her!

 Her favorite gift was the sweet flower "milk jug vases" I gave her.
I told Jim they would be a hit!  He had been in disbelief about this!!!
Mom's know everything...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET DAUGHTER!!!

Without a place of my own Chandra was a Sweetie 
and made her own"birthday cake."  
Actually it was a very delicious Yogurt Pie.
I had not had one in ages!

Family, Friends Equals Fun~

The day after Cody and I landed in Colorado I was headed
down the road to Utah to see family, friends and get our doggie!

 My week was busy enjoying time together with some
 of my friend Kris's family and some of my family.

 Later in the afternoon we had a fun, quick visit at Chandra 
and Tyler's apartment with Kelly and her girls.  They had been
to Provo to the fun water park and wanted to stop in to say hello.
As always the visit was buzzing with cute girls talking and
hugging everyone willing to listen and snuggle.

You would have thought I was in Germany with the company
I kept this night!  All these wonderful ladies had lived in 
Germany with me and were in Utah either to live or visit
so we planned a fun get together to chat and catch up.

Couldn't If He Tried~

Before I explain this post let me explain why my photos have
been so dark and lousy.  Basically I dropped my camera the
last night we were in Greece and ever since I have been limping
along using my camcorder to take photos.  No quality at all,
but you do what you gotta do to record those memories.

 So, this is a photo of Bryce's keys in the tree...
He tossed them in the air once and they didn't come back.
We looked up and realized they were nicely hanging on the
most tiniest new branch ever!  Bryce couldn't have done 
that trick if he had worked at it all day!

Not the best place for a key hook.

The Journey's Done~

Our one last photo of our home in Bonn, Germany.

We have great memories of living here.
We learned to appreciate the German people and their culture.  
The country is beautiful with it's charming old villages.
We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to live here.  
We leave with many lovely, wonderful friends and memories to treasure!

Farewell Day~

The inevitable last Sunday in Geramny had finally arrived.
Though we were sad to leave such wonderful friends 
in Germany, we are grateful to have spent a wonderful 
amount of time with each of them.

 Alex and Nicole Schaub were such wonderful host's
inviting several other family members over to spend one 
last afternoon together talking and sharing a meal together.
Here are the children eating a delicious, traditional German meal.

 There was plenty of good conversation as 
well as good food to go around the table.

 Here we are with the Grunke Family.

 The Harman Family

 The Schaub Family

 Maiya's Family

Our evening shrunk down to the Schaub's and us
playing a great game of "Settler's."
Unfortunately Alex won, we learned this is not uncommon.
We need a rematch, which Jim had twice more before
he flew to Colorado.  Happily Nicole won at least one game!