It has been an event filled "summer" for our family. It began in February with Jim starting his new job in Europe and leaving me on the home front to deal with all the impending changes that were soon headed our way. For the remainder of the school year things were pretty routine with the exception of Jim's monthly visits home through May. In May I flew back to Europe with Jim to look for a home to live in. We were successful in finding a comfortable place and enjoyed visiting some of the locations we would spend a lot of time at such as our new meeting house and Cody's new school. We also took an evening to walk around the Old Town Square in Brussels, a place we had visited 10 years previously, only that time we had four kids and my mom with us! As you will see from the pictures we had a fun, busy and fast paced summer. The only regret was not having any time as a whole family since May!!
This is the home we chose to live in
during our stay in Bonn, Germany.
It's a type of town home, and very near shopping.
A view of the chapel in the meeting house
we will attend while living here.
Cody will be attending Bonn International School.
We stopped by to see how close it was to our new home
and were fortunate to have a personal tour of the inside.
During our week in Europe we enjoyed some
of the sights. Jim has been living in Belgium
and while there for some of our trip we took
time to visit the Old Town Square.
I returned home from my house hunting trip
and was greeted by Cody with a shaved head!
He was greeted back with my scream and the
comment "You look like a cancer victim!"
Now this is a drastic change to deal with!!
(Especially after 15 years of a boy always
having a head of blonde, curly hair.)
Good thing hair grows back, hopefully Cody
thought the new look was worth the bribe.
Kent on his High School Graduation Day!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Broomfield High School has now sent off
three Engstrom children looking for
bigger horizons.
This is the last weekend this year that the
Jim and Coreen Engstrom Family
spent time all together in the same place!!
Jim was back in Europe a couple weeks later.
Bryce was living at home for the summer, sort of.
His internship, through Jim's company, sent
him to 3 states in the U.S. and Mexico and London.
Chandra returned to Provo to work for the summer.
Kent was gone by the end of June to attend summer
classes at BYU Provo. Cody was working two jobs
and had fun going on the ward high adventure trip with
his dad and brother Kent. He also attended EFY in Utah.
My family thought I was strange wanting to
take this picture of our family meal, but now
they can see I was "inspired" since it is the
last one we've had together since May!
Monday, May 25th, 2009
For some of our family one of our new experiences
this summer was running the Boulder Bolder for
the first time. Chandra had the best running time, Kent was
right after her and I feel good that I ran the whole way
and kept it under an hour! It is 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
Not bad for a 45 year old!
Happy 24th Birthday Bryce!!!
Having a child this age causes serious reflection
on how many years we've been parents!
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
Kent ordained an Elder in our church,
with some of his favorite family and friends
able to be there for the occasion.
Now that's a picture that makes a mom proud!
Jim with his 3 sons.
This is Coreen with her Grandpa Tucker.
Sadly he passed away this past June
at the age of 89. He was a wonderful man.
We were grateful for the last few months
we were able to frequently visit him.
Another BYU Provo Student has landed!
Kent is all situated in his Helaman Halls
dorm room. He is very excited for all
the new adventures ahead. I was just glad I
could get him situated before our move.
Knowing he had Chandra "just around the corner"
was fun to think about. They enjoyed their
summer moments together.
After taking Kent to BYU I returned to the
daunting task of preparing our home to be
packed up a week later. The movers
filled up plenty of boxes.
Yana, the dog, was my constant companion.
The rest of the family were all gone on trips or
away at school.
Sorry for the duplicate.
This is the study.
Here is the kitchen.
Cody's room all packed up.
The big container to haul it overseas.
One of the hardest things with this move was
leaving our dog Yana behind!!!!!!
Only the fact that we knew she would be in
such loving, caring hands made it tolerable
to leave her. The Larsen's generously
offered to take her in as part of their family,
knowing that living in Europe, trying to adjust and
travel would only be complicated by having
our dog to worry about.
This is Yana with Sequoia, one of her new
family members!
She couldn't have a more compatible companion!
Sequoai is the Larsen's sweetest black lab, just
a bit older than Yana. They are already great
buddies from the stories we hear at the
Larsen Dog Resort in Cali.
(Cody says he would trade places with Yana
knowing how much fun the Larsen's are!)
Here is Chandra with her Yana girl!
Cody and his snuggley Yana girl!
Chandra is 22!!!!!!
Such a beautiful daughter!!!
Chandra's celebrated quite a few bday's in Utah.
For this one she is in Provo for a summer job.
So we had a celebration with her cute little
cousins at her Aunt Kelly's home.
Monday, August 17th, 2009
This is our 25th anniversary and also the day
we moved part of our family to Bonn, Germany.
Pretty memorable anniversary day!
