Besther's Big Adventure

Fall Frenzy!

2010-11-14T14:36:00.012-05:00

We began our fall with a lot of illness. Ben and I took turns being sick through the end of August and into September and just as we were getting better, Rascal got very sick. Our poor little Katze. He had a bad urinary tract infection that required a 10 day Veterinary stay and a major surgery. But the long and the short of it is that he survived, got ring worm from his exposure at the Vet (healed much faster with apple cider vinegar than expensive drugs, by the way) and is now finally recovered and regrowing his fur on his ear, legs (where they shaved for shots & IVs) and his backside. Ben and I are also recovered from the shock, distress and fear of possibly loosing our little buddy. There is nothing like having a sweet German Vet tell you she has to do surgery on your cat to "amputate his penis and make him like a girl". Yikes, I don't think I'll ever forget that day! And we've learned that the Germans have a way of proving their point...you may be aware that in the German language everything is given a male or female article, Die (female) or Der (male) instead of the English use of "the". Well, in German, the dog is "Der Hunde" and the cat is "Die Katze". We thought that was funny a year ago because we had brought over a boy cat and a girl dog...but now, we will be taking home our girl dog and "Die Katze"...I still can't decide if it's funny or just sad. Either way, Rascal doesn't seem to mind.

A couple of days after Rascal returned home from the Vet, my sister, Kate and 3 of her friends arrived in Germany for a 10 day visit. I picked them up from Munich airport on a lovely Friday and we went right into Munich to walk around and have lunch at the Hofbrauhaus.

Kate calls this picture "Beer Sister and Soda Sister Reunited!"

Storm loves having guests in the house and quickly made our new friends feel like family.

Saturday morning Kate, Andy, Francheska, Rachelle, Ben and myself hopped a train to Salzburg, Austria to spend the night and sight see. Salzburg is a lovely city and we had a lot of fun enjoying the festival they had, eating a delicious dinner, visiting the Augustiner Brauerei, and hiking up to the Fortress for some beautiful nighttime views.

This shadow picture is sadly the only picture we have of all 6 of us, but it is a great picture. We are standing on an open terrace of the Fortress. There is a huge spotlight from the town below highighting this area and casting fabulous shadows on the giant walls. That night was so much fun, running around a medieval fortress and looking at the modern city below, encased by majestic mountains. I felt at any moment that Kevin Costner might come barreling over a wall and land in a haystack in an attempt to save Maid Marian.

This picture is actually out of order-this is the group having dinner at Renzo's Italian Restaurant in Garmisch later in the week. But it is a great shot of Kate, Francheska, Andy, Rachelle and Ben Prosting at the end of a meal.

Kate and I thought this statue reminded us of a Dementor (prison guards from the Harry Potter series) so we decided to pose for a picture for our brothers, pretending to be having our souls sucked out of us...but Kate's face was so funny that all I could do was laugh, which didn't get quite the effect we were going for. haha

I love this one of Kate on our climb up to the Fortress, looking out over Old City Salzburg just before sunset.

We stayed the night in a nice hostel before deciding to take the train to Burtesgarten, Germany to visit the site of Hitler's Eagle's Nest. It was a long train ride (best to go by car, we learned) and we were a bit disappointed in the Nest itself. I'm sure if it had been a clear day we would have had a lovely view but as it was, it was a couldy day, you couldn't see anything from the top, and we didn't have time to visit the museum or bunker (which would have been far more interesting) because we needed to catch the last bus to the train station so we wouldn't be stuck there. Oh well, at least we can say we were there. :)

Monday I drove our visitors to Neuschwanstein Castle and it was again a cloudy day, but it stayed dry and we were grateful not to be in the rain.

Being the last week of September, Ben could not take any time off as he was finishing up what needed to be done before the end of the fiscal year. So Tuesday, I drove the crew through Austria and Switzerland (my first experience in Switzerland) into Lake Como, Italy.

The drive was beautiful. Switzerland is truly picturesque. We were very excited to find a free bathroom since there were not many McDonald's or other easy access rest stops along the way. And I was particularly glad we found it because as soon as we got back into the car we began our descent into Italy on the craziest switchback road I've ever seen! The picture below gives you a small idea of what driving on it was like. You can barely see the sharp curve below us-but this was a gentle curve compared to most of them.

We stayed in another hostel in Menaggio, Lake Como which was a very cheap way to stay in a very expensive place. We shopped, walked (a lot!), ate, took a ferry ride to Belaggio (another town on the lake) and generally enjoyed ourselves in the warm air and sunshine!

Drinks at the hostel. Apparently they made very good sangria. :) I enjoyed the water.

Oh, did I mention the gelato? YUM! Kate had some called "LOVERS" and hearing the sweet Italian lady say that just made her day!

Most of the town is winding cobblestone paths through colorful buildings up and down the mountainside.

Our view on the ferry ride...I beleive the snow capped peak is Switzerland.

Searching in vain for a glimpse of George Clooney!

On our drive home on Thursday we decided to make a pit stop in Milan and visited Il Duomo. Francheska, Andy and I went to the roof for the view of the city and to enjoy the architecture from a different vantage point. It was a lot of fun!

We had lunch in Milan and then drove home.

The next day was Friday October 1st and we took the train to Munich for OKTOBERFEST!

We didn't quite know what to expect so we went into the first tent we found and had no trouble getting a seat at 11:30am on a Friday.

Kate's giant preztel and maas of beer (1 liter).

The group enjoying their Oktoberfest brew! I brought my own water.

Rachelle and I enjoying the music and general fun. I debuted my dirndl that day!

The rest of Kate & crew's visit included a visit to Ettal and Linderhof on Saturday, and a day in Garmisch on Sunday before taking them back to the airport on Monday. What a treat to have my sister visit me at my home in Europe. She had visited Europe on at least 3 different occasions before we moved here and it was so much fun to finally share the experience with her! Ben and I were sad to send them all home and hope they'll visit again...perhaps the Christmasmarkets next year????

The upside of their departure was that on Wednesday we would return to the airport to pick up Ben's Mom & Dad for their 7 day visit. :)

We started the trip off with a visit to Dachau Concentration Camp and spent several hours in the museum and roaming the grounds of this solemn place.

The message on the gate is "Arbeit Macht Frei" which translates to "work will make you free". This was likely meant as a cruel insult to the workers who had little or no hope of freedom. I learned that Dachau was a work camp not an extermination camp, but of course many died from the horrible conditions and many were killed there though not in mass execution as at other camps. You can view the gas chamber and ovens that are still standing at Dachau. It is believed that they were never used as they were intended, but it is a grim reality nonetheless.

We visited Neuschwanstein and Linderhof with Mom & Dad and took Storm with us. After all, what dog doesn't enjoy doing it's business on royal palace grounds? ;)

A day spent in Munich, also with Storm, included a walking tour so that we now know much more about the history of our closest German city. It is fascinating and we recommend you take the "Free Walking Tour" with New Europe in any city you visit that offers it. The tours are tips based, so you only pay what you think the tour deserves. We were very impressed!

We also visited Salzburg for a day and I finally got to see the city in the sun. It was a lovely cloudless day.

Here Ben and Debbie had their picture taken through the fountain featured in The Sound Of Music.

We enjoyed a coffee break at the Sacher Hotel. The hot drinks and desserts were lovely.

I love this shot of John & Debbie on the palace grounds in the old city of Dachau where we had lunch after our morning at the camp.

Here Debbie is enjoying the ambiance after a lovely meal at Zirbel Stube.

Ben and John from Marienbrucke overlooking Neuschwanstein Castle.

It was a true delight to have John & Debbie in town for a week and show them around the local area, eating delicious meals, seeing old and new sights and enjoying another miraculous week of no rain! Of course nothing compares to the quality time spent together with our beloved family!

After Ben's parents flew home to PA on Wednesday, we prepared to receive our last group of guests on Saturday. Jenny P, who we call JP, is a close friend of mine from my Geneva College days. She visited us in Utah in 2008, so we were thrilled to have her visit us in Germany 2 years later. She traveled over with her friend Barry and the four of us planned some trips together and others they took alone.

Our big trip together was to Prague, Czech Republic for two nights and then Berlin, Germany for one night. This was a memorable for many reasons including who we traveled with, it being our first time to Prague (although Ben was there 10 years ago-it was quite different then), our hotel reservation fell through and we had to go to plan B (which was not what we had hoped for)...and we arrived in Prague on October 22, 2010-the 5th anniversary of our wedding day!

Here are Ben and JP showing off their Czech money-4 euro was equal to 100 Czech koruna, so the bills were in 1,ooos instead of hundreds. :)

Prauge is a stunning medieval city with so much history. We again did the New Europe Free Walking Tour and very much enjoyed it. We also visited Charles Bridge and The Prague Castle grounds. Ben & I had dinner at a great Mexican restaurant that we look forward to visiting again. There is much to do in this city and we hope to return to visit the Communism Musem and the Holocaust Memorial which includes art done by children in concentration camps.

A night view of the city from the old clock tower.

The drive to Berlin was a bit longer than we anticipated since a chunk of the highway was being reconstructed and meant that we took a long detour through some Czeck villages. It was fun, but put us in Berlin later than we had hoped. We did make it for the last New Europe tour of that day and were introduced to Berlin's rich and tumultuous history by our tour guide who then also helped us find a lovely Italian restaurant for dinner. We were joined by our new Australian friends, Rob & Lauren who were very fun company for the rest of the evening. You might wonder why they chose to join us...they are on an 18 month tour of Europe, the US and possibly other places and said they have enjoyed making friends in many places and having company other then themselves when they can find it. haha We were very glad to be a part of their journey!

The night we were in Berlin was a festival of lights, so much of the city and it's monuments were lit up by different lights so we returned to the start of our tour (which we visited when it was still light out and there were no special lights) after dinner and saw the Brandenburg Gate lit up in many different colors.

Here are Barry, Ben, myself, JP, Lauren and Rob in front of the Brandenburg Gate around midnight. We were grateful for Rob's camera to capture a group shot in such a stunning setting. Another adventure we won't soon forget.

Summer as a Local Part 4

2010-09-01T17:56:00.007-04:00

It often feels like summer here is 66% rainy, cloudy days. I don't know how true that is, but it feels that way.
So, when a good day-especially a good weekend day comes along, we make the most of it. Ben has his mental list of hikes in the area that he hopes to accomplish while we live in Garmisch and he's off to a good start so far. He and Storm hiked the Kramerspitz on a lovely Saturday while I had lunch with a dear friend and began my dirndl shopping. Ben K, Andrew and Michelle accompanied Ben and Storm on this tough hike, which proved almost too tough for Storm-which is saying something! In the picture above, she is trying to find her way back to the trail after her "off-roading" attempts didn't quite work out.

Here Storm stopped for a rest-laying in the soft green grass and making everyone wait with her. Ben K didn't mind-he loves Storm. They have bonded when he has graciously house-sat for us on our various trips and she knows she is in good hands when he's around. Ben K has become a good friend to our family-if not Rascal ;)-and we're very sorry to have to say goodbye and send him home to the States. We look forward to seeing him at our small group during the week, at Chapel on Sundays where he leads praise & worship, and around town or when he stops by the house to check in. He is a blessing to our community and a good friend to the Hardy household. Plus, he's a hiking buddy for Ben and Storm!

The view from the peak of the Kramerspitz.

Each peak has a cross marking it...and I like this picture...the cross high above the Alps for all to see.

July brought a wonderful bonus day in which we met up with Darlene B in Innsbruck while she was traveling with a school group. Darlene's daughter and I are good friends and were college roommates. When Darlene would visit Beth, she and I would stay up talking late into the night even after Beth went to sleep. She's my Mom B! Love her and loved seeing her...a taste of home in one of my favorite European cities!

Summer in Garmisch means softball on post. Ben and I joined a co-ed team this year and had a lot of fun and met some great people! Our team started out pretty poorly but made vast improvement by the end of the season and actually became competitive. I was even asked to play on the post-season All Star team, but our game was rained out, so my 28 year dream of making the All Star team was only half-realized. ;) haha

Although I grew up playing softball and even played on a women's league team after college, I had never seen Ben play and was not surprised that his athleticism lent itself to this game! I very much enjoyed watching him and playing with him-sometimes even in the outfield together. His abilities far outweigh mine, but his generosity and sweetness helped give me confidence and enjoy a sport that I never imagined I would play "competitively" again. :) Our team, G-Force, certainly helped to make our summer more memorable and fun!

Ben and I invited two young friends, Victoria and Jacob to hike the Wankspitz with us on a Sunday afternoon...and we conquered this peak together! This is my first (and hopefully not only) major peak and I look at it with pride from the valley, remembering standing on the peak and enjoying the view with tired legs!

My friend Laura and her pup, Bearly, moved back to the States this summer, depriving Storm of her weekly playdate with a well-matched heavyweight and me of a weekly gab session with a wonderful friend.

It took Storm a few weeks to recover from the loss of her best pal...and I hope to see Laura the next time she visits friends in Garmisch. This was a sad goodbye for the Hardy clan.

So ends our first "Summer" in Germany. It wasn't much of a Summer as weather goes-much too much rain and cloudy weather, never enough sun or heat...but still eventful and fun! At least now we know what to expect next year and if we don't have the weather to look forward to, we know we have another softball season!!! :)

Summer as a Local Part 3

2010-08-18T08:40:00.005-04:00

Zach's two week stay in Garmisch meant that we got to do a lot of different things together including walking the dog, which for me often means hiking with my friend Jenny and her dog JD. On this particular beautiful day we hiked to the St. Martin's Hutte and had a drink and an early lunch. Zach tried the strawberry cake and learned that German taste buds have not quite acquired the sweet-tooth of the average American. :)

Zach ordered a smoked sausage from a vendor at the weekly Farmer's Market. I was VERY impressed with his German language skills!

I took Zach up to Neuschwanstein for my first visit while Ben had to be at work one day, and it was again GORGEOUS! Here he is filling his waterbottle from one of the fresh springs available to the public for drinking. King Ludwig's childhood home, his father's castle, is behind him and on another, higher hilltop is the famous Neuschwanstein that inspired Disney's Cinderella castle.

Here is one view of the castle...to get a picture of the whole thing, you have to hike a bit to a bridge that crosses a canyon and overlooks the castle. We didn't have enough time that day so I'll try it next time.

Zach, Ben and I took the train into Munich to do some sight seeing, which was actually the first day I'd spent in Munich. :)

There are some amazing builidngs to see and visit...you can't do it all in one quick afternoon.

We visited the BMW World exhibit and an international festival which was near the soccer stadium where thousands of German fans were headed to watch the World Cup game vs. Argentina on the big screen. So we got to experience a bit of German craziness when they won the game, which will be a lifelong memory for each of us I'm sure.

Another of King Ludwig's castles is not far from our home, about a 30 minute drive. Linderhof has extensive grounds that are so much fun to explore, and the tour of the castle itself is...well, there are no words. You just have to come and see it for yourselves. :)

We promised Zach a visit to Italy and so we took a day trip to Bolzano where we visited a museum, ate some fabulous (if expensive) food, rode the cable car up the mountain, and toured the downtown.

I hope Zach had as much fun and adventure as we did during his visit. We don't have anymore visitors planned until the end of September, but then we will have 3 different visits back to back that will be a lot of fun. So I can't wait to show pictures of those adventures with new friends and beloved family. But first we'll have some posting to do on more summer fun...

Summer as a Local Part 2

2010-07-31T10:18:00.002-04:00

June also brought our first family visitor...Zach is Ben's second cousin and we were thrilled to show him around southern Germany for 2 weeks of his summer break before his senior year of high school. He was quickly christened into our household by our lovable little Rascal.

Zach's first weekend coincided with the Ehrwald Fires (Austria), a summer solstice celebration.
We enjoyed the views of the fires from the Panorama restaurant with a group of American and German friends.

Before we settled in for dinner we hiked a bit up the mountain and took some pictures of the beautiful evening.

The fires are pretty indescribable. They make new shapes every year, and you try and guess what they are as they are being lit...it's amazing.

Summer as a Local Part 1

2010-07-31T09:43:00.004-04:00

Since we traveled out of Germany a good bit in May, we decided to spend more time in our own area over the summer, exploring and enjoying what is right in our own back yard. This will help us avoid the crowds of tourists as well as save some money in our travel budget so we can start back on our road trips when the fall rolls in. So most of what you will read about and see pictures of this summer is done in day trips.

But before we get into that...we have learned that summer will also be a time of goodbyes. Many military families move, or PCS (permanent change of station) over the summer. Since we have only been here since October, there were not many families leaving with whom we had made strong attachments...but there was one student teacher who we already miss a lot.

Danielle was a student teacher at the American school on base during her last semester of college. We got to know her because she attended chapel and became a member of our small group. She is a delightful young woman who I became attached to very quickly because of her open heart and ready laugh. She would often come and visit me before Ben came home from work during the time my foot was healing and I wasn't getting out much. So when it was time to send her home to Arizona, we were sad for our loss but excited to see what God had in store for her new life as an elementary school teacher. She is the first of many friends we will say goodbye to in our time overseas. I don't look forward to this part of life here, but we do our best to treasure the friends we have while we have them.

Ok, back to what adventures we've been up to this summer. Storm and I have been taking lots of walks and hikes...she loves the mountain streams and meadows just as much in the summer as she does in the winter.

Ben and I joined our friends the H family on a hike through the Höllentalklamm, another local gorge. It was a gorgeous June day, not too hot, but just warm enough to make the cool gorge feel refreshing.

The views were stupendous, even if we didn't reach any peaks.

I call the H kids "my smileys" because the three of them are always smiling, and have the most beautiful, sincere smiles of any family I have ever seen. They make any activity fun...especially cooling our feet in the freezing snow melt when we stopped for lunch.

Storm and I both needed to relax and cool off...it felt pretty close to paradise.

Here is Megan, Mama H, as we were leaving the gorge. You can see that the water came from everywhere and raincoats were a must!

Beautiful!

A beautiful way to spend 6 hours with wonderful friends and an exhausting workout just a 10 minute bike ride from our door.

The South of France with a Milan side-trip

2010-06-18T04:59:00.009-04:00

I don't remember first meeting Tasha when she and my sister Kate became friends in Jr. High. I only remember that from that point until I left for college she was as much a part of the family as I was. She had sleepovers in our room many weekends and sometimes what seemed like the whole summer. She teased and joked with the family as if she'd been around her whole life...we laughed a lot-and she and Kate laughed at me a lot. :) We also talked late into the night sometimes about serious things. I don't remember specific conversations, but I know she and Kate do. They bonded in a way few girls of their age ever did. And Tasha began attending church with us, then Young Life which is how she was led into a relationship with Christ. Although most of my memories of Tasha and Kate together have to do with their boy-craziness, I was honored to be invited to her wedding to Adam 5 years ago this summer. It was a little funny to be at her wedding with my own still a few months off since she was more like a little sister to me than anything else, but I was very happy for her and proud of her-the little I knew of the woman God was teaching her to be.
A year later, Kate was telling me that Tasha and Adam were moving to France to be missionaries...I was impressed, a little astonished but very distracted by the events of my own life.
So when we moved to Germany I had a desire to find out where exactly they were living in France and how we could arrange to meet up with them. I wanted to know what they had been doing, what their experiences had been coming as missionaries rather than US government employees and just to see some familiar faces when everything in Germany was so foreign and new.
Then Kate told me that Tasha and Adam were moving home to the States in July...so I better get moving if I wanted to see them before they left France.
Memorial Day weekend, Ben and I packed the car, left our house and pets in the capable hands of our friend Renee, and drove south toward Aix-en-Provence.
We left Friday morning and drove into Italy where we made a pit-stop in Vicenza at a larger US post where we could get some things we can't get in Garmisch...and then drove on to Milan to stay for the night.
I had found a great deal on a hotel right in downtown Milan for less than 60 euro for the night. God was gracious and provided us with a free parking spot on the street in front of the hotel-this truly was miraculous! And we enjoyed walking through their city park, window shopping and seeing the outside of Il Duomo before finding a wonderful restaurant where I had the best pumpkin ravioli I could ever have imagined. I firmly believe that if we lived in Italy, I would be in immediate danger of gross obesity and spending all of our money eating out. Truly amazing food. We could have spent much more time (and $) in Milan, so we hope to go back at some point.

(Milan city park)

(Kittens living in the dry castle moat)

(Castle front)

(Il Duomo)

(Night time view from our hotel balcony)

The next morning we had breakfast and got back in the car to finish the drive to Aix-en-Provence. We really didn't realize that we would be driving along the Italian and French Rivieras, even though we knew we would be close. The views were astonishing and have inspired us to plan a trip to stay on the coast there sometime.
After about 5 hours of beautiful countryside and seaside views, we found ourselves exiting the highway and pulling up to Adam and Tasha's apartment. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the gorgeous town with them, talking and catching up. They are experts after 4 years, at showing guests all of the important sites in town.

(Their cute French apartment)

Saturday evening we met many of their friends at a cookout in the apartment building courtyard. It was a little overwhelming to hear so much French being spoken since neither Ben nor I had ever been in France before...but also beautiful. We enjoyed speaking with people from all over the world-many university students-and learning about why they were in Aix. We met a young man from Afghanistan who is a translator for the French government. It was fascinating to talk to him about his job and his life and family in his home country. Sad, but hopeful.

Sunday evening we attended church with Adam and Tasha. They are on staff at an international church which is English speaking. They help run many ministries including youth groups and occasionally teaching at Sunday service. We very much enjoyed meeting more people here, worshiping with them, and hearing God's Word taught. We were struck by the international community, by Tasha's reading of the Bible with a Frenchman who is developmentally delayed...and by the plaque on the wall that referenced a letter that John Calvin had written to the congregation that was being persecuted while worshiping in that very building.

After church we had a fabulous dinner with Adam & Tasha where we each ordered something different and tried each other's dishes. It was good to talk and laugh and discuss spiritual things sitting together on the street in the South of France.

The next morning, before we drove the 9.5 hours back to Garmisch, we had breakfast together at a bakery-French pastries. YUM!!!

And then we bid farewell and bon voyage to our dear friends...they will be leaving for the States next month, where they have bought a home and will be busy with that as well as schooling and work. I know they will miss their French lifestyle but I also know that God has important and wonderful things for these two...and He will bless them in all things because they love Him and follow His Word.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip for me was getting to know Tasha all over again, this time as adults. She is still the fun-loving spunky girl I grew up with, but now she is also a Woman of God, holy and reaching out to others with His love. What a blessing!

Tasha and Adam, we look forward to visiting you next time, in PA, in your new house! We love you and thank you again and again for the wonderful visit you shared with us. xoxo

May busy-ness

2010-06-01T06:45:00.012-04:00

Ben and I started May off with a Mediterranean cruise. We drove from Garmisch, Germany to Vicenza, Italy where we took the train into Venice, Italy and boarded the Norwegian Gem for a 7 night cruise to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Athens, Greece; Izmir, Turkey; and Naphlion, Greece. We had two days on board with no ports so we could lay out on deck and relax...and eat. :) We enjoyed the buffet, some good old American comfort food dining or poolside, and the upscale restaurants (for when we decided to get out of our swimsuits and dress nicely). During lunch one day we saw a school of dolphins swimming and playing in the waves. We enjoyed the on ship entertainment, including the karaoke. No, we didn't sing, but we were great spectators, especially for the Chinese Canadians who took karaoke very seriously and often chose songs in the Chinese language-very beautiful, but a bit difficult to understand. ;)

This picture made us laugh so hard...they took a green screen shot of everyone boarding the ship, but Ben was wearing a green shirt which didn't show up, so it looks like he is wearing the boat/ate the boat/wearing an invisible T-shirt...we didn't pay the $11 for the picture, but couldn't pass up the chance to take our own of it...haha

Upon exiting the Venice train station...what a site!

Leaving the Port in Venice, we watched the city pass by from our room.

St. Mark's Square in Venice was PACKED on the European Labor Day holiday.

We were able to get a last-minute upgrade to a balcony room at a great deal, and very much appreciated the ocean breeze and sounds in our own room!

Our first Port of Call was Dubrovnik, Croatia. A beautiful coastal city at the southern tip of this culture-rich country. We enjoyed the views from our balcony as we docked.

Dubrovnik has an old city that is still completely walled.

There are fun paths around the walls outside of the city that take you right along the water where you might see some locals swimming or jumping off of rocks.

The old city is charming (once you get past the souvenir shops), it is all stone buildings and narrow pathways.

We opted not to pay to walk the tops of the city walls and instead walked the city streets...and then ventured out of old city and climbed to the cliffs with amazing views just beyond the city walls.

Here is Ben above the Sea, with old city Dubrovnik behind him.

Beer on the ship is expensive, so Ben opted to find ways to purchase local beers and enjoy them in each port. So we sat along the outside of the walls and watched the water, surrounded by history.

Town Square

A sandy/pebble beach a few blocks from the old city which you can see curve into the water behind the beach.

There were plenty of cats in each of the ports we visited, this is one of my favorite shots.

One night dressed for dinner on the ship after a day at sea. The blue water is magnificent! Resting up for the next day in Athens, Greece.

Walking out of the train station in Athens, Greece...we are headed up the hill to the Acropolis that you can see on top!

We wound our way up the hills and neighborhoods to find the entrance to the ancient Greek ruins. We found this pretty little chapel along the way.

With the Parthenon behind us.

There is still a lot of detail to see in these ancient places...some of the statues and carvings have stood the test of time high atop this hill, completely exposed. It is amazing.

With the pillars behind Ben, you can get an idea of the magnitude of these pieces of rock, put together to form these buildings and artwork.

You can get an idea of how big and crowded the city of Athens really is spread out behind this theater. It looks the same 360 degrees around!

Local musicians during our lunch on Souvlaki Row.

Greek lunch. Pita, Tzatziki, Cucumber & Tomato Salad (the real Greek Salad) and Souvlaki (Greek grilled meat). Tasty and healthy!

Izmir, Turkey

Izmir is a large, modern city with plenty of history. We saw ancient mosques AND a full size Starbucks store.

A wonderful Mediterranean meal-kabobs, tea, a sandwich with yummy meat and veggies.

Ben enjoying Baklava in front of a store window displaying one of many many gowns sold in this shopping city. I didn't know that Izmir would be as big OR have so much shopping available.

Nice Turkish Gentlemen who work in the bakery where Ben got his Baklava.

This is one entrance to the Grand Bazaar-a maze/labyrinth system of alleyways with thousands of shops selling anything you can imagine. This must have been an older entrance b/c the tiles here are much prettier and older than the patchwork concrete through most of the bazaar.

A view of Izmir's city sidewalks, lined with palm trees.

Our last port of call was the small town of Naphlion, Greece and it's historic buildings were fun to explore at a leisurely pace. This was probably our favorite of the ports b/c the size made it easy to navigate as well as light on tourists (besides our whole ship of course). It felt like the kind of place you could really get to know the modern Greek culture as well as it's history. I guess we'll have to go back someday to find out. :)

A small lunch in the port of Naphlion, Greece was a treat for both of us-fresh bread, veggies, olives, feta cheese, and of course, Ben's beer.

The lovely streets of Naphlion, Greece.

Enjoying a little gelato before going back to the ship. The climb to the hill top fortress behind Ben was our exercise for the day-and the views of the city and the sea were beautiful.

Our cruise friends, Mary and Graham (mother and son) were from Scotland and we enjoyed spending a few evenings with them eating dinner and seeing some shows. We learned a lot about the pride of the Scots, and now have friends to visit when we travel that way. It was fun to make good friends so quickly-who we otherwise never would have met!

After our last day at sea, we docked back in Venice and took advantage of our time to explore the city before heading home.

A nice stroll through the labyrinth of Venice.

The detail of the carved stone and paintings is beautiful on the buildings in St. Mark's Square.

As you can see, it wasn't very crowded-so early May (but not a Euro holiday) is a good time to visit Venice!

After too little time exploring Venice (there is MUCH we didn't see or do) we headed back to Vicenza to stay the night, get our car and drive home to Garmisch the next day. What a blessing to be so close to so many amazing places-and to take advantage of the travel opportunities while we are living here.

The following weekend, I drove to Willingen, Germany with two other women for a conference, and Ben and I just returned from a weekend trip to Milan, Italy and Aix-en-Provence, France where we visited with friends who have been living there for 4 years but are going back to the States this summer. We had a fabulous time, but we'll have to post about that trip next time!

Making the most of what Spring we get

2010-04-15T04:48:00.006-04:00

Spring in the mountains can be gorgeous or dark and wet...or both in the same day. So, with my foot on the mend and getting around better everyday, we've been venturing out when we have nicer weather and enjoying what we can while we can.

Storm has a regular playdate with a 10 month old Black Russian Terrier named Bear. She is a sweet dog at over 100 lbs. and a good playmate for Storm. When they first started playing, Storm had the height advantage but now, Bear is a bit taller and at least 25 pounds heavier. They can really throw their weight around with each other and have a lot of fun running, jumping and eventually relaxing a bit together.

Bear's "mom", Laura, and I enjoy getting together and watching our pups play. And boy, does it burn off their energy!

Easter weekend we drove a couple of towns over to Murnau, about 25 km away. It has a lovely town square and pedestrian zone. It's much smaller than Garmisch, but we enjoyed the lazy pace and watching the same people stroll up and down the lane several times just to be out of the house. Storm liked meeting all of the dogs and even slipped into an Apoteke (drug store/pharmacy) without our knowing and took a drink from the dog water dish they had just inside the automatic door. When we realized she wasn't by our side, we found her and the owners of the store having a good laugh at our independent dog. :)

Easter Sunday we had a Sunrise Service outside. It was a little chilly, but mostly due to the fog in the air. So we didn't get to see a sunrise, but for most of the service, the mountains were clear...it wasn't until the end, when we were cleaning up and I took a picture, that the fog rolled over the Zugspitz. It was glorious to see the mountains, hear the birds and cry out in worship together over our risen Saviour.

One weeknight, Ben drove Storm and I about 15 minutes away to this hotel and pond where we walked around the pond on the path while Storm tried to chase ducks without actually going more then knee deep in the water.

One day, while waiting for a friend to pick me up for a lunch date, I snapped this shot of our German home. We live in an apartment building with 3 other apartments. You can see the mountains, our CRV parked out front (since it doesn't fit in our Euro-size garage) and our lane that we walk to blocks down to get to the main gate of the Marshall Center, where Ben works. I miss my house in Utah, the space, the closets and the dry climate, but we are becoming more and more at home here all of the time.

This past weekend we were getting a little cabin fever and needed to find some sunshine...so a quick hour drive south into Austria brought us to Innsbruck, which was Ben's first big city day trip in 6 months. And we did find sun, which we lost again almost immediately when we re-entered Germany.

We did a little sight seeing, walking around old-town and snapping a few pictures.

And of course, we ate. Our friend Renee joined us for the day, since she had a day off from housekeeping at the hotel, and we enjoyed the chance to get to know her better!

We started our trip with some crepes, had pizza for lunch, and gelato before getting in the car to head home. There were gelato places everywhere, but the one we found on the way out was in the Galleria Rathaus where we had parked. There are some smallish indoor malls in the bigger cities, so it's funny that one minute you are looking at historic buildings and the next you are ordering gelato next to a budget hair salon inside a 2-story mall. :)

There was some sort of race and art festival happening, so we took a seat, enjoying the sun, mountains, Austrians, and steel drum band (made up entirely of young white men and one young Asian woman). It felt a little surreal.

So, that gives you a taste of what we've been up to the last few weeks....we head to the Mediterranean next...so we should have lots of pictures of the sun, the sea and the sand!

Doktor Doktor

2010-04-04T12:34:00.003-04:00

Some of you know that I, Esther, hurt my foot while visiting the States last month. It actually happend while picking Ben up at the Philly airport. My brother Travis and I drove down with my nephew Logan to pick Ben up. We planned to get there early, park and see if we could see any airplanes taking off and landing. As Travis, Logan and I crossed the parking lot, I happened to look up and see Ben standing across the way, waiting for his ride. It turned out that his flight was early. So as I was stepping on the curb with Logan in my arms, I yelled out "Hey Ben!" and watched as he turned toward me and smiled. It was then that I noticed that he only had a backpack with him, which was weird because I had packed a suitcase for him before I left (10 days earlier than him). Just as I was beginning to process what that meant, my left foot didn't quite make it onto the curb as my right one already had, and I was falling. I quickly decided that the most important thing was to be sure that Logan wasn't smooshed between the sidewalk and my weight, so I gripped him closely and tried to brace the fall with my left hand, which really just caused the weight of both of us onto my left knee and foot, causing serious pain as we sort of collapsed together. Logan, thank the Lord, was not hurt at all, but it was all I could do not to frighten him by crying out in pain as I handed him up to Travis who watched all of this happen as if in slow motion. Poor Logan just looked at Travis and said, "We fell" and then looked at me with a little scared face...I felt so bad. By then, Ben had reached us and was trying to help as I gingerly turned myself to sit on the curb I had just fallen over. With tears in my eyes I tried to greet my husband who I had missed over the last week and a half, and then said, "Where is your suitcase?" His face was so confused, because he believed I had brought his suitcase with me, when in fact it was sitting behind the door in our bedroom, still packed with clothes for PA and FL. He only had the clothes he was wearing, an extra pair of jeans, 2 t-shirts, some underwear and socks and a sweatshirt.
Needless to say, we had a dramatic reunion at the airport and then battled traffic back to the Phoenixville Hospital for Ben to meet our new nephew Cole, who had been born the day before. My foot was hurting me badly, but I was confident there were no breaks, just a really bad sprain, so we iced it and moved on with our trip...which included quite a bit of walking in Disney World...but like i said, we just moved on and enjoyed ourselves even though the swelling, bruising and pain was a lot to bear by the end of our days happily but slowly traipsing all over the theme parks.
By the time we returned to Germany, I decided it would be best to spend a week or so trying to stay off of it and give it time to heal. After 2 weeks of boredom (and a little sun bathing), it was still not feeling better, so I decided it was time to see a Doctor.
Two of Ben's co-workers were planning a trip to Mittenwald, where there is a Germany Army base that we are allowed to visit for medical treatment, free of charge. I traveled with them on a snowy Tuesday morning into a building under construction with signs all in German...I was really quite glad I had not attempted this on my own since I would never have found where I was supposed to go-especially in the fresh snow. We were walk-ins, so we waited while others with appointments were seen first and finally a Nurse walked by, poked her head in and in English, with a strong German accent, asked us what we were doing. We explained that we had checked in at reception and were told to wait here to be seen. She disappeared and came back a minute later to explain that none of the Nurses had called for us because no one knew we were there. So then we took turns walking down the hall and into rather large exam rooms (4 or 5 times the size of exam rooms in the States) with a Nurse and Doktor waiting there. The Nurse didn't seem to know much English, but the Doktor did and asked me a little about my injury while she quickly examined my foot. I knew that they probably couldn't give me an x-ray there, but would refer me to someplace in Garmisch, which was exactly what she did. Feeling overwhelmed by the new experience, I left before realizing that I hadn't really gotten any medical advice about my foot. They had wrapped it for me, put some creme on it and sent me home with a tube of the creme (all of which is in German, so I can't read what it is, what it's purpose is, or how often I should use it) with no other explanation or advice. I didn't let that worry me too much since I would see another Doktor when I had my x-ray, but still, it was weird not to get a laundry list of things to do until my foot healed.
I called the X-ray Doktor's office and should have know what I was in for right away, when the receptionist knew only enough English to tell me what day and time to arrive and a store that the office was located near as a landmark. But I found the place easily, found parking and then had to find the button to push to enter the front door that looked like a back door of a shady bar.
Once inside, the same pleasant receptionist greeted me with the Bavarian "Gruss Got" which i returned with a smile, and then said "I'm Esther Hardy, here to see the Doktor for an X-ray." I got a blank stare. I handed her my paperwork and ID. She looked at it and then asked me some questions in broken English that I wasn't sure I understood. I did my best to answer and then was asked to sit in the waiting room. I walked into a room full of elderly Germans with obvious hand and foot injuries, smiled and found a seat to read my mystery novel. Once the room was cleared out, I was called into a smaller, but still large by US standards, exam room where the Doktor followed immediately. There was no Nurse to ask preliminary questions, just a Doktor, asking me to take my shoe and sock off quicker than humanly possible, especially considering my injured foot. :) He did a quick exam, told me to go back to the waiting area to wait for my X-ray and walked out. This all took, literally, about 2 minutes. After having 2 x-rays taken of my foot, I waited again. The Doktor asked me into the exam room a 2nd time, showed me that the x-rays showed to breaks or fractures, handed me a prescription (for the cream I was already using-not that he would know since he didn't ask me how I was treating my foot) and told me to "come back in a few weeks if it isn't any better". He walked out of the room and down the hall. This took about 90 seconds. So there I was, back at the receptionist's desk, asking if I was free to go or if they needed me to sign anything. She just smiled and said "Auf Wiedersehen".
And so concluded my first experience with German medicine. I was proud of myself for seeing two Doktors on my own (expect for the ride to the first visit), but told myself that next time, I would make sure to ask questions and get answers...no more taking for granted that I would be told exactly what I should do with my "not broken" foot.
I have since been told that this is what is to be expected from socialized medicine, and that if I were to see a Doktor through my health insurance I would have a better experience. I guess I'll find that out at some point...and I hope it's true. Because, really, I got what I needed-a confirmation that nothing was broken-but I didn't get what I wanted. Some advice and reassurance would have been very helpful. And there is no way I would want to go back to that second Doktor even if my foot wasn't getting any better...which, I think it finally is. ;)

Too Cute!

2010-03-18T13:19:00.003-04:00

Our newest nephew, Cole Edward.

World Travels...to the USA

2010-03-18T12:40:00.006-04:00

Ben and I were blessed to be able to travel back to PA for a visit with family and a few friends. There were many wonderful moments and memories so let me name just a few highlights here.

Logan Mark, 2.5 years old...need I say more? :) (He is wearing the German hat we sent him at Christmas...he calls it his dancing hat. hehe)

The birth of Logan's little brother Cole Edward...to the delight of everyone...well, Logan wasn't so sure at first...:) Cole was born 2/22/10 9 lbs. 10 oz. 23 inches long. Megan did great and when we left PA, they were all still a little tired, but otherwise healthy and happy! We are so thrilled to welcome Cole to the family. He is a bundle of joy, a big bundle of joy...and I think he looks a lot like his Uncle Travis, so this nephew might carry some of the stronger Holler traits...but we'll see as he grows...I can't wait to see!

The Hardy family vacationed together in Walt Disney World so Ben and I flew from Philly to Orlando with them to enjoy 5 days in EPCOT, The Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and The Animal Kingdom. We had pretty good weather, two actual sunny days and no real rain to speak of. We walked right on some of the biggest rides and attractions with little or no wait and ate some wonderful food together. It was a great week spent having fun with people we love!

Just a few characters. :) Logan happens to be a huge Toy Story fan right now, so we couldn't pass the opportunity to have this pic taken.

Ben and I were able to add a day onto our Orlando trip so that we could drive to Sarasota, FL and visit my mother's parents, siblings, etc. which was an answer to prayer since we couldn't fit a trip in to see this part of the family before moving to Germany

My cousin John and his wife Kristi had their baby Savannah just before Christmas and we were able to meet her and see how she was doing after her heart surgery. Honestly, as joyful as it was to meet her and see our cousins, it was heartbreaking to see little Savannah in a big hospital bed being fed through a feeding tube because she wasn't eating enough on her own.

The good news is that our prayers were further answered when Savannah and Kristi were sent home the day we left and baby girl is now eating on her own!!!! Praise God!

Another personal highlight was seeing some of my college roommates who I haven't had the pleasure of visiting in a few years. Yvonne is pregnant (due any day now) with her first baby and had a baby shower scheduled while I was in town. With Bethie in cahoots, we were able to show up and surprise her that I was visiting from Germany. It was priceless to see her surprised face and her pregnant belly. I was thrilled to share the memory of her first baby shower as well as a good part of the day with her...and with Bethie. I am blessed to have many good friends in my life and love when it works out to spend time with them while I am home.

Ben and I were also very honored to stay as a guest in my sister's new home. She bought a beautiful townhome in the Collegeville area and she has worked very hard to make it cozy and comfortable for visitors and guests. I am very proud of her!

Rascal's Friend, Snowy Saturday

2010-01-30T14:04:00.005-05:00

We've all made some new friends on this adventure, whether it's been on walks, at work, or at Chapel. Storm even has a buddy that she meets up with a few times a week to work out her puppy energy. Early one morning, we got a visit from Rascal's new friend, who we didn't even know! This guy drops by once in a while and it looks like they've really hit it off.

We awoke today to our biggest snowstorm yet in Germany. We think we ended up with 10 inches or so on top of the other snow we had. We spent the day on cross-country skis, heading toward a nearby village to stop for lunch. The going was a little slow, but we had a great day with lots of exercise. Just an amazing, snowy, beautiful winter's day.

We passed a few villages as we originally headed towards Grainau, but a few wrong turns and we ended up in Hammersbach!

Fortunately Hammersbach had a nice hotel/restuarant with cozy fires going.

And a cool chapel next door.

And dessert!

Our friend Brian, who I work with, went with us and we had fun getting to know that Jersey Boy a little better. After skiing, he invited us over for hot chocolate which was well-deserved. Overall, an exhausting and fun-filled day!

Partnach Klamm, Ski Stadium

2010-01-24T11:13:00.006-05:00

After church today we hiked up to the Partnach Klamm, which is a beautiful gorge carved dramatically into the rock by an alpine river on the edge of Garmisch. To start you park just outside of the Olympic Ski Jump stadium built for the 1936 Olympics.

After leaving the stadium, the trail starts out along the river, very broad and with lots of shops and huts to get some food. Our friend Jennifer invited us to hike for the day, and like lots of things in Germany, we were able to take Storm to see her natural habitat.

Suddenly, the trail enters a series of tunnels and narrow ledges suspended above the rushing water. Lots of beautiful icicles and pools of blue/green water.

After leaving the tunnels and ledges, the trail broadens again and leads to many intersections. You can continue on towards the Austrian border, or towards small German towns like Mittenwald, or just continue on to the closest cozy Hutte or Alm restuarant.

We hiked onward for a few more minutes, and then headed back to town to call it a day.

First Ski Day!

2010-01-21T13:26:00.005-05:00

On Monday we got our first ski day in the Garmisch Classic area. With the snow getting really crusty down in the valley, it was great to find smooth soft snow on most of the mountain. Below is a 6 person chair above the Hausberg lift that ended up being Esther's favorite. A lot of other runs ran all the way from up top down to the valley. The downside was that once you got low enough, the conditions got very icy and more difficult. We're trying very hard not to be UT ski snobs. They really do have the greatest snow on earth out there, but Garmisch and the Alps make up for some less stellar conditions with lots of cozy, hearty atmosphere and tradition.

The "D9" lodge has fire places and lots of cozy knooks and tables to grab a beer or meal.

We met up with some people from work, so we split up. Esther cruised her favorite slopes with Ben's boss, while Ben headed up with the guys for some more advanced runs including the famous "Kandahar" downhill race course. Up there, you're amidst the peaks and cruising through trees, rocks and small canyons like this one.

When you take some of the longer runs down to the valley, you get some good views of downtown Garmisch.

Below, you can just bearly see a building at the top of the mountain. They guys told me this is King Ludwig's huting lodge.

Some friends invited us along that evening to an amazing meal at a local restuarant in Partenkirchen. Although it's hard to top a meal out at a place like that, we've learned to cook some great schnitzle at home. Once you figure out how to buy the cuts of meat, you add some sauce that comes in packets and is mixed with water and cream. It's REALLY good. Add a vegetable and some liquid bread, and you're good to go!!

Recent Adventures

2010-01-14T15:25:00.004-05:00

The furthest our Eurpoen travels have taken us so far is a 3 hour drive away. First to Stuttgart to pick up our car (POV=Privately Operated Vehicle), then to Salzburg which we actually traveled by train to see, but driving would take about 3 hours...then 2 weekends ago we drove to Grafenwoehr to do some shopping at a larger American base. On the way we drove through three different snowstorms and sat in a lot of traffic, due in part to the weather but mostly people returning from holiday. From the Autobahn we saw villages and cities...one which really caught my interest, so after shopping, on our way home to Garmisch we took a quick detour to check out Regensberg. It was amazing to see this little city that was once enclosed and had a main entrance that reminded me of Robin Hood or the Three Musketeers when they go racing in and out of the city on horses to take care of some important business. I grabbed this photo as we were stopped at a traffic light, just before driving through it. Sorry, it was dark, so the pictures weren't spectacular...especially from the car.

The thing that originally caught my eye from the Autobahn as Ben drove was the cathedral that you could clearly see from a few miles away. It took some searching in the old city with lots of one way streets and pedestrian only zones, but we finally found it and got out of the car for a few minutes to investigate. I definitely plan to go back and learn more and hopefully see inside.

If you follow us on Facebook you might have heard that we went night sledding last Friday. What a riot! They actually open easy ski runs and take you up in a gondola so you can sled down the partially lit ski runs. They don't use saucers-that would be a BAD idea. They use mostly 2 kinds of sleds. Ben was able to borrow a couple of "bobs" to use. You sit down, with your feet in the air in front of you and hold onto a joystick. You have to learn to shift your weight and use your arms and legs to steer and stop. It took us a few runs to catch on, but we had good teachers. Ben's supervisor, Sonya and her Husband Matt and kids Sara and Adam were there as well as a few others from their floor at work. I followed Sonya down the hill and watched her not only stay on the "bob" but take one of the kids on her lap...she's a pro!

So you get off the lift, get in a line, and go in small groups so that you don't create big mobs for crashes. It really was fun-and nobody got injured!

Below is an example of the other popular kind of sled. It looks like and old school wooden toboggan on rails. In winter you will see adults pulling children around town on these all the time. It's pretty cute. I didn't try this kind-I wanted to master the "bob" but Ben did, he said it was just as hard to maneuver...so, he went back to the "bob" too.

Here you can (barely) see what part of the sledding hill looked like. I would say there were about 5 different segments or hills connected together. Some spots were steeper or curvy and some spots were so flat you might have to push yourself along a bit. It was really fun until the end-it became really icy and there were moguls and jumps that it appeared people had dug on purpose-but if you couldn't see them you were at the mercy of the hard plastic slamming the ice as you landed on your bum, hopefully without falling off. We both fell off plenty of times but were not hurt except for some sore muscles the next few days. We also enjoyed a stop at the lodge (or Hutte) at the top of the run for some drinks, bratwurst and cheesy music. It was a fun night that I'm sure we'll repeat.

I can't remember if we mentioned that we had to take a driver's test to get a European driver's license. Well, we did. The Army requires that you sit in a class and take a test in order to have a German driver's license during your stay. We did that a few weeks after we arrived. Then we found out that you should get an International Driver's License also so that when you drive to other countries you will not have any problems. So we went to the German DMV with our licenses and our Euros and got our IDLs so we could drive into Austria which is right over the mountains. Sledding, by the way was in Erwald, Austria.

I had been looking forward to driving in Austria because Innsbruck is only an hour away. So, when my friend Corie had a day off last week, we drove down for the afternoon and enjoyed some shopping, food and sightseeing. Obviously, in one afternoon we didn't get much further than the Swarovski shop, but lucky for us, right outside was the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof). It is amazing to see things that are centuries old. Americans have such a unique history compared to places in Europe. What we think of as old has nothing on these cities.

The arcitecture and ornateness of it all is astounding. You really have to stop and think about what you are looking at and realize that people have been looking at and using these buildings for longer than you can imagine. How many people in history have had this exact view from where I stood as I took these pictures? Royalty, Peasants, Soldiers, Farmers, Merchants...Tourists. :)

Corie and I had a fun girls day out and really enjoyed the winter wonderland exhibit at the Swarovski shop. I'm not exactly sure what the chair had to do with it, but it sure was fun for taking pictures and goofing off.

One of the cool things about Innsbruck, and Austria in general, is that the buildings tend to have bright colors. This picture was taken late in the day with little sun, but you can imagine the bright blues, reds, yellows and greens that liven up the city.

So we still have a lot of Europe to explore, but considering what we've seen in just a few days and hours of sightseeing so far, it almost exhausts me to think of what we have planned for the next few years. Almost. Really, I can't wait!

International New Year

2010-01-01T14:15:00.003-05:00

When we moved into our apartment we were a little nervous about meeting our neighbors. They are all German, of course, and we had no idea whether they would speak English or be interested in befriending us at all. Well, we are very pleased. The people above us keep their apartment as a vacation home and come only on weekends and holidays (we have yet to meet them and since they are rarely around, we are not likely to be a bother to them at all or vice versa!), the man next to us does not speak English, but Ben can communicate with him and he has been friendly and polite when we see him. But the jackpot are the other upstairs neighbors. They are a sweet couple who have been married for 43 years. They have no children but are very social and seem to know everyone in the neighborhood. They gave us a warm welcome...in English because he was an English translator for the German Army before he retired and she speaks very well also. Herr and Frau Fehler have traveled to the States many times and have been to Utah. They are very outgoing and fun people to be around. Many Germans may be friendly on the street but might never invite you into their home. The Fehlers have invited us in twice. The first time was when we first moved in and introduced ourselves (new neighbors introduce themselves in Germany) and the second time was at their invitation.

They invited us up to have a glass of champagne for New Years Eve even though they had good friends visiting. Their friends were also wonderful English speakers who had been to the States and included Utah in their travels. We had lots to talk about since they have known each other for 40 years and we were just getting to know them. At times Ben and I had to remember to speak slowly and not use too much slang so that it was easier for them to understand us, and they at times relied on each other to help translate a word, phrase or idea, but all in all I don't think much was lost in translation. :)

At midnight we went onto their balcony which faces part of the mountain range and the Marshall Center (where Ben works) and Edelweiss Lodge (American resort). At around 11:45 pm the fireworks began...not only the official fireworks at the Edelweiss but the fireworks in everyone's yards...yep, real shoot up into the sky and explode fireworks-the ones that are illegal in the States. Literally, almost every yard was setting them off all around us...and when you looked up to the mountains, the different lodges were setting them off as well, so you could see what looked like colorful sparks shooting up into the sky from the mountainsides and mountain top. The fireworks lasted over 30 minutes and were accented by the Blue Moon. Absolutely amazing. It was breathtaking...and noisy. Storm hated it and hid in her crate under our stairs. Poor thing.

But for us, it was an amazing New Year. Totally unexpected, totally exciting, and one we hope to continue enjoying all year with good friends: German, American, who knows...

Happy New Year friends.

Herr and Frau Fehler, Esther, Oswald, Irene, Ben

Christmas in Germany

2009-12-29T13:40:00.003-05:00

While it is still the Christmas Season, we wanted to answer some questions about how we spent our first Christmas in Germany. We were able to move into our apartment on December 17th so that we could have a Christmas at home with our own stuff...but we didn't get as far as decorating or getting a tree. So all of the great after-Christmas-sale stuff I got last year will have to wait yet another year. ;) On the bright side, I didn't have to buy anything new this year and by next year I will have forgotten what I bought last year and just decorating will be like an early Christmas, surprise after surprise. haha

A lot of Americans, as you can imagine, head back to the States for the holidays, but a few are like us and had reasons not to leave. We felt that we were not yet settled in enough to leave and didn't know how to make plans for the animals while we were away...so, we'll head home to PA for family visiting later in the winter. We started talking to some of our American friends who were sticking around to find out what people do for Christmas here, secretly hoping to not have to cook at all...and had several lovely invitations to dinners, activities and parties. We also learned that the Army Base Chapel, where we attend on Sundays, has a Christmas Eve service annually. So we started to make plans...

We planned to attend Christmas Eve service, where we were asked to participate by reading and lighting the final advent candle, the Christ candle...then we planned to go home and open our gifts from family so that the next morning we could take our time getting ready to go on a hike to a hutte/lodge where we would eat Christmas dinner with friends who Ben works with and then sled back down the hill...get home, shower & clean up, go to Ben's office to call home and talk to our families (we still don't have our own phone line...any day now!)...before we headed off with more friends to join a dessert party up the mountain in Ettal.

PLANS CHANGE.

We did attend the Christmas Eve service, AFTER we had what can only be described as an emotional meltdown resulting from the changes, adjustments, stresses and sadness of missing our family and friends. But God is good and we were able to pull ourselves together and make it to the service. Being a part of it felt really special since we are so new here, but it also felt natural-after all, we were with God's family. The Chaplain, Larry Pundt, gave an excellent sermon on how God fooled the devil at Christmas...reminding us all of God's sovereingty. If you google that title, you can find this sermon, apparently it is popular, but Ben & I couldn't remember hearing it before...and Larry is a man of God with a passionate heart and certainly made it his own.

We did open our presents Christmas Eve. :)

Christmas morning it was raining. So we didn't hike. We did stuff around the house, watched a couple of movies, made nachos and talked more about what had caused me in particular to breakdown the night before...but Ben was able to share a lot of what he is struggling with too. Mostly, the hardest thing has been not having good communication with our support systems. I know we have each other, and that is a true blessing...but when you are both feeling crummy about things and aren't paying enough attention to the feelings of the other...or expressing yourself properly, things get mixed up pretty quickly. So after talking about what we were each having a hard time with, we agreed to help each other out, made some goals and we both felt a lot better about our new life here...when you know someone else is missing some of the same things, it helps!

We did get to talk to our families (except my dad who we left a message for)...and our nephew Logan sang to us...something about his bicycle has no handlebars...he is Brook's son, afterall. :)

We did go with friends to the dessert party and had a fabulous time.

So, our Christmas wasn't a happy or spectacular or fun adventure like we had hoped...but it was certainly a time of reflection...reflection on God's love in the form of the Christ-child, reflection on how we are doing after moving to a new country, a new culture, a new life...relfection on the goodness that God shows us-as undeserving as we are. And it was fun!

Have a fabulous New Year...and remember to reflect on God's goodness in your life!

Confessions of an EisBaer

2009-12-21T16:55:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I think it is about time that I get to put my 2 cents in about this whole move to Germany thing since no one ever really stops to ask the dog what she thinks-I'm gonna tell you anyway. Thus begins my first-ever blog entry.

I have to admit that at first I was not so keen on this whole idea of leaving my house, my yard, my dog park buds. In fact, the week of the move, my "people" made me sleep in this small one room house they called a hotel-so I found a secret hidden room that they did not seem to notice and slept in there. I heard them call it a closet, but I think they just didn't know that you could easily fit in there to sleep comfortably...I didn't tell them b/c I wanted it all to myself.

After they let all of those men steal my bed and my toys they made me ride in a big car with all of the stuff they managed to save threatening to fall on me at any sharp turn, just to stay in another hotel that didn't even have their so-called "closet" so I had to bunk on the floor next to their bed...for like 5.5 hours before they made me ride in another big car to this giant place with lots of lights and nice people who I wasn't allowed to sniff. They put me in my crate and then put my best friend (inside of his crate) on top of me and wheeled us around until they let these men in blue shirts steal us away...I can't even tell you what happened next...I have erased those memories...

...but soon enough Rascal and I found ourselves in another big place with lots of lights and people. We were thirsty and scared b/c the people in the blue shirts just left us sitting under a sign that I think said "Odd Baggage"...until my people finally came and got us. They took a while figuring out what to do with me though b/c my crate was too big to fit on any of the carts...so finally they let me out to walk through the big place until we found the USO. I liked that walk-not only b/c it was good to stretch my legs, but I guess I am a celebrity in that big place b/c people were pointing and staring and smiling and even laughing at me and my people. I wish I could have stopped to meet them all, but my silly people don't let me do that-I guess they think it increases my myseterious quality to not meet EVERYONE who I pass on a daily basis. I can't think of any other reason.

My people seemed very pleased to find the USO in the land of Chicago O'Hare but immideately I was taken outside to find a nice grassy place to do my business. It was exciting b/c not a lot of dogs had been where I was so I got to claim a lot of territory.

Just as I was getting used to the USO and the walks, they put me back in my crate and gave Rascal and I to Calvin. Calvin was very nice. He gave us water and was gentle...but he put me back in that loud, cold place that I refuse to tell you about b/c I don't want to scare any little kids who might read this.

We had one last stop in another big place...but this place was different. It had a lot of nice people, but they talked funny and they just left Rascal and I out in the middle of the floor on a cart with suitcases, so my people didn't find me right away. They walked right past me and I was worried that they wouldn't see me and I was too scared to bark at them. But they did find me and they took me to a quiet room where a nice funny talking man met me and petted me and said something like "Welcome to Munich, Germany" but I just hoped that they would let me out of my crate soon so I could run around.

Lucky for me, two nice lady people named Katharina and Arlene had a really big van to take us away from the scary big place and they petted me and drove me to a new house.

The new house what NOT what I was used to. It had no big yard and my people put me on a leash everytime they took me to the little yard. BUT, I did get to walk in fun new places and try to meet new friends. Some of those funny talking people called me EisBaer which always makes my people laugh...I don't really get it b/c I don't know what a polar bear is, but apparently I look like one. EisBaer is not the only new word I have learned. I have also learned HUND and SCHON and NEIN. I am now a bilingual pooch!

Over time, I learned to like the new house but I didn't know where my bed or toys went or why we had so little room-it sure seemed like my people had made a MAJOR DOWNGRADE.

Oh, I didn't even tell you the worst part. SOMEONE STOLE MY CAR. Seriously, one day I was riding around in it, the next it was nowhere to be found. In Germany, my people made me walk everywhere or else ride the bus, which I hated waiting for. I never had to wait for my car.

So I made the best of it and enjoyed my walks and especially the river-ice cold running water. HEAVEN.

I guess Germany isn't all bad. They let me go into a lot more buildings here like shops and restaurants. Once my silly people figured it out, they started taking me with them to dinner most nights. Here I am waiting to see if I will get any scraps of burger or fries...I love mustard.

It has been a long adjustment, but I think Germany is growing on me. I like the mountains-after all, I am a mountain dog. I also like the snow-a lot. And my people finally moved me into a bigger house where I have a yard right outside of the door next to my bed...and yeah...some other men found the men who stole my stuff and they brought it all back to me...my bed, my toys, even my car! So, it feels a little like home now.

Now I take big long walks in the snow, like today, and I am still a celebrity...people stare at me everywhere I go, they want to talk in their funny talk about me. If my man is there, he will funny talk with them, but if it is my woman, then she just smiles and says a few funny words until the funny talking people walk away. But, they must really love an EisBaer here in Germany, b/c they sure love me.

Winter, Christmas, and German customs

2009-12-20T02:57:00.004-05:00

Winter has finally come to the Bavarian Alps! Just as we received our car and moved into our apartment the snow and REALLY cold temperatures blew in. Before that all happened, we found a War Memorial up in a pasture on the mountain. Storm found a fountain to take advantage of. It was sad to see all the plaques with pictures of young men, and the place where they died. Most were from WWII, and most died in Russia.

The view from the Memorial is a good one- you can see all of Garmisch and the ski jump from the Olympics.

After we got our car in Stuttgart, we came and left for a quick day-trip to Salzburg. It was a great starter trip- we'll definitely want to go back for a few days to explore the narrow alleys.

Every other vendor at the Christmas markets sells sweets! The roasted, sugared and cinnamon almonds are our favorite.

Partenkirchen, which is connected to Garmisch, also had a Christmas market. The end of it had a really cool view.

On Dec 16th we moved into our apartment and received all of the houshold goods that we decided to bring along. Since then, and for the next few weeks, we'll be opening boxes and figuring out where to place things. It is a great feeling to settle into a place and know that it is yours for a long time. It's also quite a challenge with absolutely NO closets! It's wonderful to experience what is better in Europe, but challenging to miss the things that are certainly better in America. Closets being one of them. The other is the abundance of laws and order.. sometimes to extremes here. The one we're getting used to is the fine you will likely get if you leave your car running while you scrape the frost off your windows. And don't think that there's no way the authorities will catch you!! We've heard that many neighbors will have no problem dropping the dime on you.

I think we'll catch on fairly quickly, enjoy the good things and cling to some of the things that make us distinctly American. Our grill also arrived, and we'll be using that thing every day no matter the weather!

2009-11-28T05:54:00.006-05:00

Here's a bunch of pictures, kind of out of order, covering the food and adventures over the past few weeks. If you're interested in seeing an apartment we liked, see previous post below.

Above, a view from the bus stop on a rainy day.

Esther and I at our favorite place for pizza, "La Mamma".

The booths serving brats and gluhwein are just starting to pop up for the Christmas season. Last night, Nov 27, a band played along side.

It never takes Rascal long to find ways to be a Rascal.

This is Esther's apple strudel with cream and vanilla ice cream, served at the mountain hut. It was definitely as good as it looks.

Storm has found her sleeping corner.

On her walks, Storm loves wading into the alpine river. It has a blueish/green color, I guess because of the glacier up on the Zugspitze peaks.

In between German and Italian meals, we found an all-you-can-eat rib dinner.

This meal was served at a mountain hut after an hour hike. It was amazing!

One of the frescoed buildings in Garmisch pedestrian zone.

From Left To Right: DUNKLE WEISSE !!! (Can you tell that Storm likes Beer??)

More and more Christmas decorations are going up in town.

I look horrible, but the bratwurst is in focus!

A welcome sign during a hike.

Apartment we like

2009-11-28T05:30:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago we viewed an apartment we like. We're hoping to settle here, and working on our patience as the housing office is taking a while with people out on leave. It's not a huge rush, but we're really missing easy yard access with Storm. Sometimes it gets us down.... but the food sure helps! So here's some pictures of the apartment. Please see the other post about food/adventures... That combination sure helps to cheer us up while we wait for permanent housing (and our real BED!!)

The yard is really nice, plenty of room for grilling and hillbilly golf!

The dining/living room windows face south and west, which is great for light and sun.

Laundry and other adventures...

2009-11-22T06:38:00.003-05:00

Living in Germany for 30 days now has had it's ups and downs. There are wonderful things about being immersed in a different culture and there are difficult and frustrating times as well. We are having a hard time with learning when things are open. First you have the American amenities on the base that all have different hours-some daily, some most days and others only certain days. Then there are the German stores and restaurants. Some things close in the afternoons, others don't open till evening...trying to find an early dinner at 4pm is a challenge and hoping to find an open store after 8pm is nearly impossible. I think this is part of what they mean when they tell you it will take 6 months for you to start feeling comfortable. It will take at least that long for us to figure out when things open and close. In the mean time we are trying to stay flexible...but we are more used to the stores and restaurants being flexible 24/7-not us.

Laundry is a different subject here too. Staying in our temporary apartment-our "ferienwohnung"-is I guess comprable to staying in a vacation condo in the States. We are responsible for all of our own cleaning and laundry. The landlady will clean our bedding for 5 euro a set (that is $7.50) or we can do it ourselves. BUT we can't use her facility. So she recommended I take our laundry to the Waschsalon-German style laundromat-that is a couple of blocks from our ferienwohnung. So, I did. I packed up our dirty clothes, towels, etc. in a suitcase and rolled it down the street to the only-German-speaking wasch-frau at the Waschsalon. Upon learning that I knew as much German as she knew English, she proceeded to put my dirty clothes in the washing machines for me (wierd), put in the soap and run them (3 loads). She instructed me to come back in one hour. I was confused by this point but willing to go with it-practicing the art of flexibility-so I left and came back an hour later. She had moved some of my things by then to the dryers so I quickly went through to make sure nothing shrinkable had made it in and then moved the rest myself. Once things were set, she started the dryers (at what heat, I have no idea) and told me to sit and wait. So I got out my wordsearches-thank you 3rd grade teachers!-and proceeded to wait. 15 minutes later I was pulling my warm, dry clothes out and folding them nicely into the suitcase. I then went to the counter and waited for the wasch-frau to take my money. I didn't know how much it would cost, so I was prepared for anything. She got out her calculator and added up 3 loads of wash and 2 dryers running for 15 minutes....total=20.80 euros. WHAT? Could that possibly be correct? Ok...being flexible, I paid her (all in coins b/c she wouldn't take my 20 euro bill) and left with my clean laundry. I cannot describe the feeling of shock I had walking the 2 blocks back home realizing that I had just spent $30 on 3 loads of laundry!!! THIRTY DOLLARS!!! Unbelievable. A few days later a friend on base told me that there are laundry facilities on the base camping grounds that take quarters that I can use. So, my second laundry experience was packing the suitcase, taking the bus, walking on base to get American Dollars from the ATM (you can choose Euros or Dollars), walking to the campgrounds, finding the laundry, putting my bills in the change machine, starting 3 loads of laundry myself, putting them in the dryer myself, and then folding it and returning home. All of this for less than $5...go figure. A little more effort and a TON of savings. Some things will just always be better in the States. :)

Language Issues

2009-11-05T05:40:00.002-05:00

Something that I have learned is that German students take 6-7 years of English class, so many of them understand and/or speak English. The problem is more that I don't understand any German-yet. There is a Rosetta Stone Language program at the garrison library. I haven't started it yet, but hope to before the end of the week. Ben has been great at translating important things and at communicating with German waiters, shopkeepers, etc. Also, our current landlady is German with as much English as I have German-so Ben has been asking for help from collegues when he needs help communicating with her. Most Americans here don't seem to bother much with the German language, but I am looking forward to learning a new language...it feels very helpless to not be able to communicate basic things with people. I will often get comments or questions about Storm when we walk and it is so awkward to try and express that I only speak English when someone is looking eagerly at you to respond to whatever they just said. I am trying to learn phrases, but when I have to use them I just freeze up...or I want to respond in Spanish, which is the only foreign language I know. Isn't that funny? Someone speaks to me in German and I want to answer them in Spanish-if I can pick up on what they said in the first place. HA!

Have you ever been in a restaurant with someone that you know so well that you don't even have to talk much b/c there isn't much to be said-especially if he is your only friend on the whole continent...well, that is Ben and I every night at dinner. And normally, I would enjoy a little eavesdropping to pick up on local interests but when they are speaking German, that is out of the question...so many meals, we sit quietly, chatting about our days, making plans and me, trying to pick out words or phrases I recognize that I can ask Ben to translate-if he can. I wonder if I will ever be good enough at German to eavesdrop in the restaurants here...? Should that even be my goal? haha Maybe not. ;)

Adjustments

2009-11-05T03:09:00.005-05:00

So we have been here in Garmisch, Germany for 11 days-it seems longer than that even though several of those days were spent mostly just trying to stay awake. The first adjustment to conquer was definitely the time change. An 8 hour change from Utah time was significant. For instance, it is 9am as I write this but in Utah it is 1am. Try telling your body to be awake and stay awake for another 12 hours when it is used to being in deep REM...Ben was better at that than I was, but then again he had to be at work Monday morning after our Sunday arrival...and I have always needed more sleep than him. ;) Anyway, by now, we are in good shape. I have even gotten up before 8am the last few days and left the house with Ben for work-oops, does that sound braggy? (Any The Office fans out there?)

So now that we have adjusted our sleep schedules, we are still adjusting to not having our own place. The apartment we are in is a comforatable enough place for a one week vacation spot, but to live in....not so much. So we have resorted to sleeping on the futon which is more comfortable than the bed and cannot wait to have our first shipment of goods arrive with REAL pillows...they have these feather pillows here that you have to bunch and bunch just to get like a 1/2 inch of height out of them. I don't mean to complain, but I think I'm gonna need some serious chiropractic care if our own pillows don't arrive soon. ;)

Not having a car yet has been interesting. Our apartment is about a 20-30 minute walk to the base (where Ben works, computer/internet access, commissary/grocery, PX/shopping, library) so we have had to figure out other modes of transport b/c the walk is just a little too far for some of the back and forth our schedule has required. One of Ben's co-workers has lent us 2 bikes which are awesome, but in the rain/snow, we have learned to use the bus which is much more efficient. I still walk the dog during the day, giving us both exercise, as long as weather allows. Most rainy days it clears up by afternoon so that hasn't been a problem. There are tons of pedestrian only walkways even besides the shopping district in Garmisch, which is only 2 blocks from our apartment.

Storm and I have been having fun finding new places to walk. They have a walking/bike trail right by the river that reminds me of the Ogden River Parkway. It has little covered bridges that cross...very pretty, quiet and perfect for our walks. We may have arrived a little too late in the season to get any real hiking in before winter really sets in-especially with our limited clothing options at this point.

Yesterday and today we had appointments to start looking at long term housing. We looked at a very large house in Garmisch that is old, not at all updated and too big for our little family. So that won't work. We also saw an apartment very close to Ben's work that we liked. It is a ground floor and basement apartment with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, new wood/laminate floors and a fenced yard for the dog to roam in. The bedrooms are "snug" so we would have to make that work with our furniture but the living room space, kitchen, bathrooms and guest space are all great. The patio has a mountain view and there is plenty of light. There is a faint smell of smoke from the previous tenant, but we think that if the landlord takes out his curtains and we put our own up that might help with the smell. So far it is our best option. We are anxious to get into our own place but don't want to jump the gun, either.

Another adjustment has been not having internet in our apartment...I didn't anticipate that since most hotels, B&Bs, etc in the states have wireless. But, there is a cafe on base (where I am now) and a pub close to base that have free wireless so I am figuring out their hours and how best to lug our new (bigger) laptop around safely and efficiently. I guess I have been spoiled. :) But since we don't have a phone yet the internet is our best connection to friends and family in the states, so it is pretty important to work something out...and I think we have. The bus runs from 1 block from our apartment right to the gate of the garrison where the cafe is. So, if I load the laptop up in the backpack (that we had to buy when we got here b/c Ben's messenger bag wasn't cutting it) and hop a bus, I can sit and drink tea and enjoy my happy connections to home. :) Hopefully that will mean more frequent blogs.

Speaking of connections to home, we have German Cable TV in the apartment but the only english channels are MTV and CNN, so we are either learning all about world weather and politics or we are watching disturbing music videos or reality TV shows-so the TV is not often on...which is pretty typical since we didn't have Cable TV in Utah. It is helping me to learn some German, though...the commercials crack me up!

The last adjustment is the fact that we are eating dinner out everynight, which is fun but a lot of work finding good places to eat and then changing it up often enough. There are plenty of restaurants around and we have returned to some of our favorites a couple of times. There are a couple of good Italian places in Garmisch-and I had really good pizza for the first time since our Philly trip in July. The German cuisine has been like American cuisine in that if you are in a good restaurant, you may get some really good food, but if you are in a bar/cafe you may get great drinks and ok food. Ben is, of course, loving the beer, while I am learning to drink hot tea with dinner or Coke with no ice or tap water if we are in an American-friendly place. :) There is a McDonalds in town, and I hate to say we have been there a couple of times-but it is the only take out place we know of and sometimes we just want to sit home and watch a movie instead of enjoying the long lingering dinner experience that is common in Europe. Eventually we will be in our permanent housing and will be able to cook-also, we will have a car so we can buy more groceries to take home-now it is whatever we can carry, which isn't much.

Be sure to comment and ask questions-there are lots more things I want to blog about, but I am curious what kinds of questions you have that I can answer. I'm sure I am leaving out plenty of things.

Settling in in Germany

2009-11-03T05:34:00.005-05:00

We made it! I'm not sure how this post will turn out, as we're trying to attach pictures from a new laptop, at a new WiFi spot here on the small Army base in Garmisch. Ourselves and the animals all arrived safely, smoothly, but very worn out. Our last week or so has been adjusting to the new time (much harder from UT than the East Coast), getting our personal lives in order, and keeping track of our animals as they also adjust to apartment life! Below is a pic from our balcony of the Zugspitze and the Alpsitze mountain peaks.

And below is our apartment from the outside.

Here is Ben's new office building:

And here's a quick picture of the pedestrian zone in Garmisch.

Sorry for the short post- we're still settling in. Much more to come!!

Ben and Esther

Strange....

2009-10-14T19:10:00.002-04:00

We went to buy milk yesterday, so of course we routed through looking for the latest possible expiration date..... and then we realized that they all expired AFTER we leave the country!...... Strange....

We found a great doggie crate for Storm and have devised a plan for her to play with a really energetic buddy for a few days before our departure. Hopefully she'll be exhausted and will sleep most of the flights. Rascal will hopefully just go with the flow. It'll be interesting to see if we can get him litter access during our 7 hour layover in Chicago.... maybe we can bribe somebody to let us in a closet somewhere.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

2009-10-03T10:17:00.004-04:00

Esther let the word out on facebook, so we better put it up here- We're moving to Germany!!!

Over the summer we saw a job opening at a dream location I've had my eye on for years, right on the Austrian border in the Bavarian Alps. Under the logic of "What could it hurt?", we went for it.... after several months of being on the edge, we received travel orders with a report date of 26 OCT!

Ben is really excited about the change in job (more of a diplomatic cooperation mission instead of aircraft support), and Esther is excited about the adventure (REALLY sad about the great colleagues and students she'll be saying goodbye to). Although we're able to take Rascal and Storm, we also made the tough decision that Harley and Stella are much less likely to handle the stress of an overseas flight very well.... Although we love them, we found an AWESOME couple who are happy to give them a new home. They've been married for a year and a half, are fixing up a house and looking forward to some companionship (sounds familiar!).

So we have a few weeks to sell our beloved Honda Accord and rent out our house. It's been a really tough, busy summer getting the fixer-upper into rental condition. More to follow....

What do teachers do when the students aren't there???

2009-08-23T20:39:00.003-04:00

Some of you will laugh at that question b/c you are educators and know exactly what teachers do when students aren't there...others of you will be reading with anticipation of some really juicy stories.

Sorry if I disappoint you, but teachers mostly work when there are no students in the building. We put up bulletin boards, make copies, plan lessons and homework, arrange furniture, clean, meet about new curriculum, meet and welcome new co-workers, decorate our rooms, make name plates for student's desks...mostly mundane and uninteresting types of things. It is true that we play our music much louder (without worrying if it is appropriate for our students), we eat lunch in our rooms or maybe even out of the building instead of in the faculty room at our assigned times, we laugh and joke a lot, even play a few pranks sometimes...but mostly, we work really really hard to prepare for our students' return.

But wait, you might be thinking that I'm not a teacher, I'm a counselor...surely I don't have to do most of those things. And you are right. I don't have a classroom to arrange or 20-some students to prepare for...so why do they send me back a week before the teachers???

I remember wondering the same thing last year when I had NO IDEA what I was doing. Granted, I did have to set up my office for the first time, but still, I wasn't sure what to do with all of my time.

This year, that has not been an issue. Now that I have been on Lakeview's faculty for a year, I have more than enough to do. I plan lessons in two different curriculum (character education and violence prevention/anti-bullying) for 7 different grade levels (K-6) including planning the dates for the lessons in conjunction with other school wide activities, I work out schedules with 22 different teachers to actually teach the lessons, plan the morning announcements for all 180 days of school, and plan for and help lead our first faculty meeting of the year.

Perhaps the most exciting project I worked on this summer for the new school year is our new school wide behavior management plan. We have adopted a plan being used in other Title 1 (low income neighborhoods) schools across the nation that allow for continuity across grade levels and flexibility in dealing with individual student needs instead of a one-size-fits-all plan. I am super excited about this b/c our school needs this! This new program will help students think about their behavior and what other choices they have when faced with social dilemmas (which is most of what gets kids in trouble)...plus it will give adults the opportunity to give meaningful consequences to negative choices. AND it is the same basic program K-6th grades, so all students will know and understand what they should expect when they choose not to follow our code of conduct, not to mention that all of the adultsin the school will be able to step in when those choices are made and not just the classroom teacher (IF he or she happens to be there, which is unlikely since most stuff happens at lunch and recess). This project required hours and hours of preparation for me to be able to present it to the faculty in "ready to use" form. So tomorrow is the first day of school and we will have to give it all a little time to see how it goes, but I have high hopes that it will help decrease office referrals for our students. :) The less time they spend in the office, in time out, in In School Suspension or at home on Suspension...the more time they spend in the classroom learning what they need to be successful members of society!

I did spend a lot of time last week on some AWESOME bulliten boards which I will try to get pics of so you can see and have a better understanding of my programs. And I hope to have some really fun back-to-school stories...about teachers and students...we really do have great jobs...but I have the best of them all!

Update

2009-08-20T01:08:00.003-04:00

Wow, it's been a long time! Nothing too major is going on. Esther is thrilled to get back into the swing of school prep for a new school year. Ben's been knocking out a few more house projects, the biggest of which is repairing the crumbling concrete steps that are an eyesore from the curb. It's been a great summer in UT, with a few really cool days in between all the hot weather.

Without much exciting to post, we saw an interesting tidbit on Yahoo news.... about American paper currency. Apparently most of it is contaminated with at least trace amounts of cocaine, due to its contact with the drug in its use and transport. Some places have higher concentrations than others. The average was something like 60%, and the highest was Washington DC where it was 90%. I love reading these stories, because you know what city they'll mention last.... the one city with the lowest bad thing....... which is, of course, Salt Lake City. It's crazy living in UT. While I guess it is nice to have much less bad stuff like this, low DUI rates, etc, it still stinks to lose out on real pizza, hoagies and wings and stuff. Everyplace seems to have some really good stuff going on.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a great summer. Ben is ready for the first few cool storms to move through, and seeing the colors change up on the mountains. Esther's pulling for a few more heat waves.

Adventures in Philly!

2009-07-15T15:04:00.005-04:00

Ben and I just got home from a 13 day trip to Philadelphia. Most people consider that a long trip but when you have as much family and as many friends to visit as we do, the time just flies. In fact there are a number of friends who we didn't get to see at all, so we tried to make the most of our time with the people we did get to visit with and had a wonderful time.

We arrived at the Hardy's house first and enjoyed 4 days of family picnics, friends and fireworks. Thank you Mom and Dad for hosting us and to Stacey & Chris for spending the extra time...and to all of the other wonderful friends and family that made a point of making time to visit while we were in town. We always have so much fun catching up on everything we have missed while we are away.

Sibling time in New Hope, PA. We had GORGEOUS weather for PA in July!

I consider myself a saint for being in PA for 14 hours before eating any pizza...haha...you can't imagine how good that tasted to me!!!

Ben considered himself a saint for waiting that long for a Yuengling Lager...and no better way than with pizza!

We were able to see my mom, sibings and nephew before heading down to visit with my dad for a few days. My sister Kate turned 26 so we had pizza and ice cream cake to celebrate! I was very happily suprised by an enthusiastic "Hi Esther!" from our nephew Logan when I walked into Kate's apartment-they had been prepping him for our arrival-and I was thrilled to hear him say my name since we hadn't seen him in almost a year!

The Holler kids...(in age order) Megan, Brook, Ben, Esther, Kate, Travis, Jake, Alec, Logan, and (arriving in February) a new baby for Brook, Megs and Logan!!! We are so excited to add a new baby to the family. Praise God!!!

Megan and Brook were very sweet to let us babysit Logan at my dad's house during our visit. It added 2.5 extra days with him to get to know him and make some memories-like visiting the Herr's factory tour! "chips! chips!" hehe During our visit with my dad and his wife, Ginger we relaxed and enjoyed the PA countryside...and had a wonderful bonus visit with Amy Hoffman...thanks for driving down to see us, Amy! And thank you for hosting us Dad & Ginger.

We spent some time in the pool and lots of time on the deck and in the yard playing with Logan before we drove back up to Phoenixville. My dear friends Carrie and John were our gracious hosts there while we visited with friends and family in my hometown. Thanks again guys, we love you and appreciate you! While in town, we ate more pizza, spent time with good friends like those from our former church in Roxbourough (where we ate the traditional Chubby's Cheesesteak and met everyone's beautiful babies), I walked with Kelly & Carrie in Valley Forge, and celebrated Logan's 2nd Birthday!

Of course, we couldn't be in town and not see the World Series Champion Phillies play...

This is the only pic that I took at the Phillies game. I was having way too much fun...this is Adam, I think he was having fun too!

So we are home in Utah now but are missing everyone already. Thanks again to ALL of you who made a point of making time to visit with us. We wish we could have seen more of you but are so blessed to have seen who we did!

Here is a quick video of our sweet nephew, Logan. He is so much fun and so sweet...enjoy!

Grace Church (our shameless plug!)

2009-06-15T22:53:00.005-04:00

Hello friends and family!!!

As you know, Ben & I have been in Utah for 2 years now and are loving the climate, the scenery, the adventure, and experiencing God's grace in our lives in new ways all of the time.

One of the major ways we have experienced God's amazing grace has been through our church family here. Grace Presbyterian Church is a PCA church about 15 minutes from our home in Ogden, UT. Since we have been in attendance our church has met in a wedding reception center that although beautiful, is not our own. For 10 years the church has been praying for an opportunity to move into a permanent building in order to enhance our opportunities to build God's mission in the predominantly Mormon/LDS culture of our state. (There are less Christians in Utah than in Egypt!)

We are currently seeing God's hand leading us to an answer to those prayers. There is a Lutheran congregation within a few miles of our current meeting place who is looking for a buyer for their property. We have made them an offer and they have accepted it! This is a very exciting time for our church!!! We praise God for this opportunity!!!

Ben & I are writing to you to inform you of this development with the hope that you will join us in praising God as well as in praying for the continued success of this endeavor. Although we are confident that God has led our church on this path, we are also aware that our small congregation cannot raise the funds on our own. After praying together as a church, and as families, the Grace congregation came forward with their offerings and pledges for this campaign. With some outside support added, we are nearly halfway to our goal of $425,000!

We are praying for God to work in the hearts of our friends in and out of Utah to support us either in prayer or in prayer and financial gifts to help close the $225,000 gap. (That is only 225 individuals, families, churches or organizations giving $1,000 each in one lump sum or pledged in monthly amounts for up to 3 years!)

The church website http://www.graceutah.org provides lots more information and details if you are interested in learning more or in making an investment in our church building fund. There is also a site specific to this building fund at http://home.netcom.com/~sdkelley/gracepresbyterianchurchofutah/

So, what do you think???? Do you have any questions...or would like to encourage us by telling us that you are praying with and for us in this? Will you join us in making an investment in our church building fund??? We are excited to see what God provides for us in this new adventure!

This is what they pay me the big $$$ for!

2009-05-28T23:18:00.003-04:00

Check out what I did at work on Wednesday morning...

http://spotted.standard.net/photos/index.php?id=105825

I love my job!!!!

(sorry, you have to click my title or copy and paste the link into your browser...it won't show up as a link...weird!)

Natta says: "Pretty blog!"

2009-05-26T22:03:00.003-04:00

So you may have noticed that I finally figured out how to make our blog cuter! When Natalie and her boys were visiting I asked her about how she got her blog to be so cute and she showed me...so if you are like me and need these things spelled out for you...here it is...
visit the link in the top left corner (thecutestblogontheblock.com), choose a background, follow the easy directions and enjoy your new cute blog.
yep, it really is that easy...so why did it take me so long to figure it out???? thanks for the help, Natta! oh, and you all should check out her blog so you can see some of her pics from their visit. http://www.nattascattachatta.blogspot.com/ i haven't gotten so far yet as to upload our pics. i'll get to it-maybe next week when school is out!!! just pray for me to make it through this week. :)

Why we volunteer with Youth For Christ Teen Parents

2009-05-19T18:43:00.008-04:00

We received this email this week and I wanted to share it with all of you so that you might understand why we volunteer with and financially support YFC Teen Parents in Utah.

Please pray for a teen parent. She is 17 and is a few weeks pregnant by her 22 year old boyfriend. She has told no one other than him and her best friend. The baby's father is pushing for an abortion and the mother is against that. This pregnancy is a result of failed birth control pill. She plans to come to our meeting next week. I also referred her to Pregnancy Care Center for help if she wants to talk to a counselor about the pressure for an abortion. Please continue to lift her up. She will graduate from High school in just 4 days!

Can you imagine the fear, anxiety and pressure this young woman is facing right now? She "should" be rejoicing in her graduation with friends and family but is more likely feeling alone, isolated, scared and confused. Please join us in praying for her and the other teen moms that we help to serve. Your prayers mean a lot!

Storm's first road trip and other Besther adventures

2009-05-16T18:53:00.006-04:00

So I know it is already May 16th-Happy Birthday Dad-but April was busy and fun so we wanted to be sure to fill you all in on what we were up to. :)

I had a short Spring Break so we decided to take a trip to St. George, UT to save some time and $$$...It was about a 5 hour drive down and we took Storm with us which made it her first real road trip. After about an hour in the car (the longest we've ever taken her at once) she started to shake and pant a lot so we were kinda worried that she might be sick. So we pulled over, let her out and walked her around a bit. She was quickly back to herself so we put her back in the car and she was fine for about 10 minutes. Then it was back to the shaking. We decided that I would just try to comfort her until we stopped in a half hour for a short lunch. She was able to calm down before we stopped and stayed calm the rest of the trip. It was a bit of a "shaky" start to our trip but we were proud of her after all...we think she may have been worried that she couldn't get out if she wanted to, but we made frequent enough stops to make her comfortable. We left plenty of space in the back of the CRV for her to sit on her seat or lay on the floor, but she refused to sleep in the car.

We would frequently turn around to see her dosing like this or in some other funny position that did NOT look comfortable...but she refused to sleep on the floor...Silly puppy!

We drove through some rain in our own area to get to this-the gorgeous city of St. George where palm trees sway and the sun shines! We were only about an hour from Las Vegas but didn't head that way since we "saw" it last summer. Our first meal was at In-N-Out Burger, our favorite fastfood burger joint...even though the one in St. George is the closest one we have-so far! We settled into our room with Storm at the Super 8, which was suprisingly nice and allowed pets, even 90 lb. puppies! We took Storm to the dog park in town (the major reason we decided to bring her with us) and did some exploring.

The next morning we left her in her crate in the hotel and headed out for the 50 minute drive to Zion National Park.

We didn't have much of an idea of what to expect but we were not disappointed. We hiked and saw some beautiful rock formations in this legendary canyon for the Virgin River.

We got to do some fun climbing on red rock and took the shuttle all over the park to see the different amazing views.

Saturday was rainy so we took a day off to explore more of St. George and do some shopping. We found a great breakfast place and awesome thai food. We also found out that just above town there is a "park" with red rock bluffs that you can hike and climb for some great views. We did that on Sunday before leaving town.

We were able to take Storm with us which was nice since we couldn't take her to Zion NP. I love this picture of one of my best buddies...she really is a sweetheart-even if she can be a huge pain in the neck. :)

After packing the car and leaving St. George we got back on I15 North back to Ogden but Ben wanted to take a detour to see Brian Head ski resort just outside of Cedar City, UT (go firgure ;). So we got off of the highway about an hour into the trip and drove about 12 miles up to 10, 420 feet!

After just having been hiking in the red rock bluffs and sun, it was a little weird to be in the snow watching skiers but it was a worthwhile detour.

We noticed some red rock in the midst of the snow-very pretty!

And then we drove back down-in 2nd gear.

Storm finally got too tired to stay awake-we caught her like this after hours of trying to stay awake. So Cute!

So we spent a good bit of our Easter Sunday in the car, but we read the story of Christ's life, death and resurrection to each other as we drove and had some good discussion and reminders about who Christ is and why He is not only our God but our Friend. It was neat to worship together in the car in the midst of such natural beauty as we were able to see.

We didn't "celebrate" Easter with any friends or family, but Storm did get a present.

Which she immediately destroyed.

Sorry, Easter Bunny, but you look even worse NOW...it is inside out and unrecognizable.

Storm's friend Buster was a little gentler with the bunny. Buster's family travelled some in April too and asked us to dog sit which we gladly did b/c he is a sweetheart, and kept Storm exercised which gave us more time for other things-like Spring house projects.

Aprli 26th marked Ben's 30th birthday and we celebrated at home with some good friends, chinese food and ice cream cake. Later we went bowling and had a blast. Originally I planned to take Ben and some friends paintballing but the weather and some schedules didn't allow, so we took a rain-check on that, but Ben's birthday was a success anyway. :)

Last weekend we replaced the back panel of our fence, so we'll have to fill you in on that a bit later. It was a lot of work, but it looks great!

Spring Honey-Do

2009-05-05T23:26:00.002-04:00

Ding Dong the Birch is dead! Well actually it has been dead since we bought the house but now it is gone! No more dead trees in our front yard!

Ben had fun with the chainsaw. I was ready nearby with my phone handy-just in case. :)

Now we just have a big tree stump in the front and a TON of firewood in the backyard-oh, yeah, you know Storm is having a ball dragging it all over the place!

Safety first-no injuries! So we got the old tree out and have planted a new tree-a flowering pear. I hope it is as pretty as we expect and that it will help shade our west-facing front rooms. We also planted a new maple in the backyard. Ben would like to plant one more tree in the front yard by the driveway to help shade the front of the house and the car in the driveway. Anyone have any suggestions for something that grows up to 35 feet high and only 20 feet wide? That is what we want!

This weekend we are replacing our back fence. It is supposed to be gorgeous so hopefully things will go well. The front gate we replaced turned out really well, so we'll wait and see...

We have a lot more to catch up on (Storm's first road trip to St. George, UT, Zion National Park, Ben's 30th Birthday, and Buster the Boxer-don't worry we were just dog-sitting)...we'll catch you later...Happy Cinco De Mayo!

A Snowy April Day...

2009-04-05T18:20:00.003-04:00

Ben & I drove up to Powder Mountain last night to close out the ski season and we were hit with several inches of snow while we were there. :) It made for a cold night but some really great, soft snow. At first I was a bit shaky and unsure of skiing this type of snow since I hadn't really seen it since our first ski day in December 2007 (some of you may recall that I had a really bad experience that day). But it didn't take me long to figure out how fun it is to swish through a top layer of powder snow and let it catch the edge of your ski as you glide along. So before I knew it Ben was saying "I think you're ready for a blue." (For those of you who don't ski, a green circle is an easy slope, a blue square is steeper and then a black diamond is expert or very difficult.) I started out a bit concerned when I stood at the top and couldn't see much further than 10 feet b/c the drop was so steep but was very proud of myself when I made it to the bottom (almost) unscathed. I did take one turn too wide into a couple feet of soft powder and landed squarely on my butt! That was my only fall of the night (and only my second fall of the year) so I feel confident that beginning next season I will be able to ski more WITH Ben instead of only riding the lift together (he gets very bored of the green runs that I like). So we had been skiing for about 5 hours when the cold finally got to us and we decided to head home where there was NO snow.
I am proud to call myself a Utah skier. Now I will look forward to next year's season to continue to learn and improve. So, who's gonna come skiing with me next year???

Do you ever watch Rachel Ray?

2009-04-03T20:15:00.002-04:00

Well, I don't watch Rachel Ray, but my good friend Jamie does and she was on the show this week. Check her out http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/500th-episode-giveaways/ Jamie is mother of Micah and Lydia and is pregnant with twins. She and Nathan moved the family from Utah back to Wisconsin in November and I haven't seen her since, so you can imagine how fun it is for me to see her ON TV! Doesn't she look great-especially for being severl months along with twins???? She also blogs about the whole experience at http://fivefikkerts.blogspot.com/

Miss you Jamie!!!!

Is it really March already?

2009-03-21T10:11:00.008-04:00

Ben and I are surprised at how quickly 2009 seems to be passing us by. Here we are in March, the second day of Spring, Winter on it's way out and making Summer plans.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we want to tell you all about what we've been up to since our last post in early February.

On President's Day, Swanson's North Fork Environmental Center invited all Weber School District Employees to come and try out their cross country skis and snow shoes. We had never done either and were excited to try it. We arrived at the very same time as a co-worker, Susie, and her two boys, Cameron and Zach, who are students at Lakeview. It was a lot of fun to be able to spend the day with them, getting to know them better and seeing them outside of school. :)

I really really enjoyed the cross-country skiing. You can see so much of your environment moving around on these very lightweight skis in the tracks they provide for you. You can go uphill and downhill, and if you are at all used to regular downhill skis, they are very easy to use. We were tucked back in the valley away from any real "civilization" so it was very quiet and definitely relaxing-a good way to spend a day off.

The snow-shoeing wasn't as much fun, but to be fair, I got a fever and a terrible cold within a couple of hours of being home, so I just may not have been feeling very well by the time we tried them.

So, after that big adventure we are excited to go again next year. Anyone who happens to visit over President's Day is welcome to join us!

I spent the next two days in bed, sick, and then we started getting ready for the arrival of Steve and Kristie. Steve was Ben's roommate during our engagement so we spent a lot of time that summer with the also engaged Steve and Kristie. He was a part of our engagement story, the boys were in each others weddings (2 weeks apart), they taught us to play Canasta, and we have travelled to Vermont and Mexico with them. So we were thrilled when our good friends from New York State planned a ski weekend with us in Utah. And skiing we did! We spent a day together at Powder Mtn and the boys spent a day at Snowbasin while we girls went shopping. :) It was great to hang out with old friends in a new place. :)

Da Boys!

Kristie & I meet the boys at the lift.

It was a GORGEOUS bluebird day.

Steve at Snowbasin, Ogden and the Great Salt Lake in the background.

Thanks for coming Steve & Kristie...let's do it again!

In local news, Storm is enjoying the warmer weather. We had a week of shedding her winter coat, right before the arrival of Steve and Kristie (thank goodness), when there was white fur EVERYWHERE and we were cleaning constantly to keep up with it. Huge chunks of undercoat would come out at a time and it would look like we had a snowstorm inside the house. Just another reason she has the PERFECT name. :) Saturday she had her first riverwalk of the year.

She also had her first non-snowy playdate of the year...after which she looked like this...

So we had to give her a bath...

So she could look like this again...

The cats are glad that we have had 60+ degree days so we could open some windows up again. What do you think they are looking at?

Could it be Storm, taking a nap in her chair???

Happy Spring ya'll! We hope it is as fun for you as it is already for us!!!

The Rocks Cry Out

2009-02-07T11:46:00.003-05:00

As I expected, my buddy Mike was able to spread plenty of Baltimore flavor all over vanilla-bean UT during his 5 day visit out here at the end of January. Mike is a whirlwind of energy, and I had some trouble keeping up with him.

Mike's visit also happened during a 3ft dump in the moutains. I would sometimes voice my need to slow things down a little bit, and I think this pic above shows a brief moment where Mike may have realized that I was right in trying to call it an early night prior to our big ski day. We were due for men's prayer breakfast at 6AM, followed by a full day of skiing at Snowbasin. No matter, Mike picked himself up and still lifted weights at the gym that night while I sat in the sauna.

We got to goof around a lot, Mike picked up his ski skills very quickly. Our only trouble was when the groomed trails suddenly ended, and we found ourselves off trail amidst deep powder that we couldn't ski on well, and was exhausting to walk through.

Up top, Mike reminded me of the scripture of the rocks crying out in praise to God even if we are silent. I hadn't pondered this thought, and it was stirring in front of the rocky bowl of Mt Ogden soaring up above 9,000 ft.

Thankyou Mike for your perspectives, energy and brotherhood!

Birthday Shoutouts!

2009-01-12T22:43:00.003-05:00

Well, the first 2 weeks of the year hold a special significance in our family. Esther's brother Brook celebrates his birthday on the 6th of January and Ben's dad, John, and Esther's cousin, Rhea, celebrate their birthdays on the 10th of January.

Happy Birthday to all! Here is to another wonderful year of blessings and fun! Sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate, but we know you had fun without us anyway. haha

A special nod to Brook who turned 30 this year and was thrown a surprise party by his wife Meg and my sis Katers. Looking good for 30, Brook...I mean, really, what has changed?

Love you all and miss you tons...we'll be home this summer, but we'll be here until then and LOVE visitors!!!!

A Unique New Years

2009-01-03T20:19:00.004-05:00

So Ben and I decided that since we were spending the New Year in Utah, what better way to celebrate than to go skiing! Powder Mountain (a local resort, 30 minutes through our canyon and valley) had a New Years ski special-$2o.09 for skiing from 3pm-12:15am including a pasta dinner and party favors. So here is Ben, looking out at the view from the top of the lift.

We had several runs in and got off the lift just in time to see the sun setting across two mountain ranges, the Great Salt Lake and Ogden.

We usually get to see amazing sunsets because of where we are-out west, on a mountain, etc. And I have had the pleasure of seeing many beautiful Manhattan Beach, CA sunsets but there is nothing like this view. The clouds above were a deep purple and the snow below our feet was bright red.This view is just after the sun set. It doesn't do justice to the glory of it all.

I like this shot because you can see the wind blown trees and the peak of Snowbasin ski resort.
This is Wolf Mountain Ski resort several thousand feet below. They have night skiing also and some fun (if few) runs from the top. You will always see dads teaching little ones to ski at Wolf Mountain because it is smaller, cheaper and less steep. I am fond of Wolf Mtn but am growing to love Powder Mtn as well. They both have some "easier" skiing for those of us who are still building our skills and confidence. :)

All of that to say that we enjoyed our New Year celebration at Powder Mtn-although, truth be told we were home for midnight b/c we couldn't stay out on the trails long enough. We were both really tired and didn't want to push it. So Ben had a beer at the "Powder Keg" bar before I drove us home at 10pm to watch a movie with our pets and go to bed just after midnight.

We hope you had a nice New Year full of fun, excitement and lots of hope for what God will do for you in 2009!

Anyone have any resolutions to share? I hope to have a day of skiing with no falls :) and to help make changes at my school/job to improve the learning environment of our students.

Plans for 2009 will include plenty of travel as usual. :) I will be attending a conference in San Diego, CA later this month, we are definitely planning a trip to Philly this summer, possibly a trip with old friends somewhere out this way (Arizona?) and other more local trips like to visit the Shaws in Idaho!!!! We must meet little Benjamin Shaw soon! (See Natalie's blog http://www.nattascattachatta.blogspot.com/)

We will also expect some visitors who are already planning trips...we have lots more space and time open so let us know if you want a Western Vaca this year! :):):)

Christmas 2008, first big Ski day

2008-12-28T17:15:00.006-05:00

It's great that Christmas and New Years fall on Thursdays this year. That way, you pretty much have a whole, long, holiday weekend to hang out with family, go out to eat, go to the movies, etc. Unfortunately, we REALLY miss that being out here in UT. The Hardy parents were going out with friends to a Mexican place last night, and we really wish we could have be there. As a small consolation, we got a really white, Christmas snow storm to enjoy. The next morning, I went out to shovel and saw the morning sun hitting Ben Lomond peak which was beautiful.

All the snow also made for a great day skiing on Saturday. Snowbasin is a great place because it is not immediately close to Salt Lake airport like Alta, Snowbird, or any of the Park City resorts. So going skiing during Christmas week wasn't too crowded at all. I was able to walk on the lifts without waiting in line. Esther stayed home, keeping warm with cats and a dog at her feet.

Above: This is how crowded Snowbasin can get Christmas weekend.

Above: This pic is from the top of the Strawberry lift, looking down into Ogden. It was 5 degrees, and I think the winds were going about 30-40MPH. I could only stand it long enough to snap this picture before skiing down low enough to be sheltered by the wind.

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Christmas itself was a blast. Somehow Rascal managed to "wrap" himself. He was parading around in his bow, and we both asked each other if we had put it around him. So I guess he did this himself.

Having our first Christmas together with our dog was also great. I grew up balling up the wrapping paper to throw for a dog to chew up, and Storm proved that doing so is just instinct. She left a perfect Christmas mess on our living room floor.

We hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas. It still is Christmas too. As my mom would say, it's a season, and before you take down the lights, remember that historically, the wise men haven't even shown up yet. :)

Merry Christmas!!

Stay tuned for Happy New Year wishes and what we chose to do for our first Utah New Years....:)

My Daily Goodbye

2008-12-23T17:31:00.004-05:00

I'm usually the first to leave the house while Esther finishes up breakfast. Each day, this is my last view of the house:

Sometimes it's a cat, Rascal or Harley, but most of the time this is the close-up puppy face I see as I'm pulling away:

The snow piles are growing..... last year they ended up taller than me.... can't help but hope they get even higher this year!

Snow's been falling almost everyday, and it may snow on Christmas, which we're very excited about.

An Appealing Idea...

2008-12-12T23:31:00.011-05:00

Since moving to Utah, the topic of starting a family is raised daily in one way or another. Currently, we are caring for our pastor's 16 year old son while he and his wife are away for a week...so we are overnight "parents" to a teen. This naturally gets us talking about parenting and how we see ourselves as prospective parents.

When we are not housing teen boys under our roof or babysitting
younger children of our friends or talking to our TEEN PARENTS about their kids, we are talking about all of our friends who are starting or growing their families. Since moving here, our friends at home are having babies at a somewhat alarming rate (SO SO sorry to miss all of those baby showers folks ;). And of course, living in Utah, most of our friends here have kids-even our younger friends. Not only do we talk about these things almost daily, but our friends (and family) are known to ask us about our intentions in this area on a regular basis...it seems it is the thing to do.
So, what are our thoughts and intentions?

Well, while the idea of having a baby is very appealing, I have to admit that
the idea of raising a child is not. We have plans to pay off debt, save $ and
travel more before starting down the one-way road of parenthood. Not to mention that my career is just starting and I'd like to have some real experience and make a name for myself before taking time off to be a full-time mommy. After all, how will we ever pay off my school loans if I don't work them off myself?
Ben's take would be only slightly different. He would add MORE SKIING to the list of things we would like to do before parenthood. :)

So, while these are all good arguments to delay starting a family (of babies,
not pets-we are already on that road!), I will expound on the appeal of having a baby. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a mommy. I have wanted to know the connection to the child growing inside...and then watch as that child grows into the person God has planned, using myself and Ben as His #1 agents of love and grace in the child's life...being examples of His love and yet a constant reminder of why His perfection is found only in His Son's life, love and gift of salvation.
Then there is the flip side of that appeal-the fear I have of this sin-riddled world and the toll it can take on even the youngest of souls. I witness it daily in the children I encounter in my job and in my own sinful life. Do I really want to bring another child into this world as I know it?

The answer is difficult, yet simple. It is in God's hands. I am not ready to
plan on being Mommy, but I know that God's plan is ultimately what is best and I trust in that. It doesn't mean that I will not be scared out of my mind when (or if) that day comes, but I will find comfort, as I always do, in my God's promises to love me and do what is best for me...and any little ones that He entrusts to Ben and I. He has proven Himself to be my Father, my Mother, my Saviour and Lover of my soul...if He will be that for me, He can be that for my children...if He calls them and they respond with open hearts...
So, this is not a usual light-hearted or silly post about snow, mountains or wonderful pets...but as I said, this is a daily topic of conversation, contemplation and concern in our home and in my heart. And I don't see it changing anytime soon...but please give us a few years to work out some things before we start planning a pregnancy...
Now I am off to read Psalm 139 because it speaks to this topic and to my heart each and everytime my eyes fall on the page.

Finally Winter

2008-12-07T13:07:00.004-05:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. Katers dropped in to bring family to the Holiday, which we were greatful for! We REALLY miss the big family get-togethers in general, and over the holidays especially.

We toured Snowbasin which had some great fires goin in the fireplace. We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner with Kate, and our buddy Adam.

The cold weather and snow are finally on their way, after a fall of t-shirts and light jackets. Along with the colder weather, the animals in the household have featured some strange "growths" as of late- just in time for the Ogden holiday parade.

It was a great parade, although we were surprised at the reserved nature of those lining the streets. Evidently, if you cheer for the floats in UT, you are an official wierdo and you receive stares from those around you. This is a far cry from the flavor of a parade back home, but it was a really nice parade with great floats- even if people just stared at the cute kids in costume and didn't cheer. To make up for it, we had our recently weighed, 87 lb puppy there to bark and be a general pain in the butt.

Family visit, the Tetons and Yellowstone

2008-11-22T10:33:00.008-05:00

A lot's been going on over the last month. Mom and Dad Hardy came to visit for a long weekend, and we had a great visit with good weather. Dad and I got to check out an old dodge at a ranch on Antelope island.

Antelope is an island in the Great Salt Lake connected by causeway. Besides antelope and mule deer, there is a thriving herd of bison that you run into often along the roads. Each year they round them up, count them, and send extras throughout the west to replenish what was once a huge population.

Mom and Dad and the salt lake.

We had a great visit, and miss you mom and dad! Every once in a while, I think about our visit home next summer, how great it will be to see everyone, and how many Hoagies I will eat.

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In late Oct, Esther and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary in Jackson, WY. It's a cool little town, pretty expensive though! Just outside of town is Grand Teton National Park, and just past that is Yellowstone NP. Wow, everything you heard growing up is true. These places are amazing!

One of the hightlights was eating breakfast at a Park Service lodge. My instinct said it wasn't going to be good, being Government run and all! But they really make these lodges special, authentic and hearty. What a great breakfast staring at the reflection of 12000 ft peaks on the lake...

Old Faithful in Yellowstone was awesome, pictures just wouldn't do it justice. Back in town, we found a store that had a mounted, world record Polar Bear that was over 9 feet high. Esther was so busy shopping, she jumped and screamed when she turned around to this guy! We are wondering if this will resemble storm when she is full grown...it could happen. :)

We sure miss everybody. Heard it's cold back east! Been pretty tropical in these parts, in the 50's everyday. I'm a little worried about ski season....

Why we need a condo......

2008-10-20T23:16:00.003-04:00

Ok, we really do love this house. But man, so much work! We were marginally lazy this summer, and now that winter is looming on the horizon, we've been cranking out the work, replacing a fence/gate, cleaning out the gutters, etc. But our big accomplishment over the summer was refinishing the floor of the last upstairs bedroom. Since Esther was here to take pictures, we figured we'd post about that.

We learned that some rental places have MUCH better equipment! Using this sander was way better than the last one. Unfortunately, there are plenty of horizontal lines left in the floors of some of the other rooms from the beat up drum of the last sander.

When you're done with the drum sander, you get a really well-defined edge along all walls. That's where the edger comes in!

This thing is fun to use, but after bending over around the periphery of the room, it's really hard to straighten back out. Definitely the hardest part of the job.

Staining is the most rewarding. You get to see the floor dramatically change to the color you like (hopefully).

Ahhh... the polyurethane.... They say you should use one of those really good filtration masks, the kind that really protect you from the chemicals you're breathing.... I do highly recommend those. But my limited home-repair experiences have been short on the protection side of things. So learned that if you don't use the proper mask, ever 200 square feet or so of spreading polyurethan is like 1 beer. Last summer, I did about 1200 square feet while Esther was away.. .and felt it!

And yeah, we forgot to get one last picture of the room complete. We'll get it on here someday. It's great to have this room done and really feel like we're in a bigger place than our 1 bedroom apt in good ole Lafayette Hill PA!! We miss everybody. I've been able to take in some of the Philly sports action at Iggy's sports bar in Ogden. I ordered a beer there, and when I finished it, the waitress came up and said, "If you want another beer, you'll have to order food. I was able to serve you the first beer, because of your 'INTENT' to order food".... Ahhh Utah. Mind you, this is 3.2 beer, limited in alcohol content. So silly.

Great October Utah Snowstorm

2008-10-12T16:48:00.005-04:00

Woke up this morning to quite a snowstorm at our house.

Storm and I went out on the trails to hike around, and got to see some of the aspens that still had their leaves. This was the trail that we hiked. (Esther stayed home and drank warm things!)

Storm loved it, and now it's obvious that she's not quite as white as we thought.

It is a little wierd to get all this snow, and we haven't even raked up leaves or had Halloween yet. I had to go out and pick the last tomatoes before tonight's hard freeze, which just felt wierd. We ended up with about 6 inches of snow. Fortunately, we didn't lose power with all the leaves still on the trees. Our last big rose bloom looked great in the snow. We'll miss it!

Hangin with the locals

2008-10-05T00:13:00.009-04:00

So, it's been great that Esther's been able to keep this blog up and running. Through the long, Utah summer, Ben kind of went off the radar. So I'm figured I'd jot a few thoughts down. It was a good summer. We re-finished the last upstairs bedroom floor, got the room painted, and then filled it in with all the stuff that got thrown into the guest room. So it feels really good to have an upstairs that is functional, and is actually bigger than the 1 bedroom apartment we left in Philly!

And we just had our first big fall storm, that brought snow down to 7500 feet. Always exciting! Which brings us to.... anticipating.... Ski season!! Snowbasin, the big ski resort next to Ogden, didn't fair too well according to Ski Magazine's rankings this year. It was listed as the 30th best resort in the country. 30th???? Are you kidding? They said it had a lot to do with the fact that it only features skiing, and there are no on-mountain amenities like hotels, bars, or places to hang out with locals. Apparantly, they failed to notice the warm and comfy confines of our home here on good ole Van Buren ave. We have to say "ave", like you would if you were talking about NE Philly. It just feels better.

Anyway, should you feel motivated to visit Ogden, and the ski resort that inherits the basement of Ski Magazine's rankings, we must point out that there are lots of crazy, interesting locals here to hang out with in town for your complete apres ski enjoyment.

As follows:

Harley: Kind of a tease, tickles you with his feather-duster tail, but he's all heart and likes beer. Well, he sniffs the cap when you pop it off.

Stella: Well, if you even see her, she'll have the most attitude. Which will make Philly people quite at home. She's not Utah-shy, and well, we won't comment on her driving. She's really enjoying the ongoing remodeling we've been up to.

Rascal: He will purr at 80 decibels, and then (affectionately) BITE you.

Storm: She will sniff your crotch.

So there you have it. Don't be fooled by any shallow journalism. Snowbasin rocks, and hopefully will be blessed by another banner snow year.

our weekend in Philly

2008-09-16T23:18:00.007-04:00

Ok, so some of you may not have known we were home in Philly for a weekend...that is because it was just a weekend and we were focused on visiting with family and celebrating Ben's sister's wedding. Sorry we couldn't fit any friend visits in on this trip...hopefully next time! Stacey and Chris were married on Sat Sept 6th and although the weather was INSANE, the day was lovely. See our Flikr site link below and to the left for pics of the day.

Stacey, Chris and company planned an elegant and fun day. The dancing did not stop...even when the DJ said the night was over...and the guests were really fun. Congrats to the new Mrs. & Mr. P!

Another highlight of the trip was our visit with Logan...our 13 month old nephew! He is crazy cute and has the sweetest personality. I was really sad when he was shy at first b/c he doesn't know us, but he quickly warmed up and we were new best friends for two days! He is not just walking but climbing and running...he is working on talking and I was blessed to hear him say "moon" when we were standing outside just the two of us and pointing to the sky. He is such a delight and I am so proud to be his aunt! I will post one of my favorite pics of him and a video that is just so cute.

This is Logan with Uncle Travis...they will obviously be lifelong friends...so cute! Enjoy!!!

politics....hmmm

2008-08-30T11:24:00.002-04:00

With this being an election year, and being married to a man who enjoys following politics, and living in Utah where everyone thinks Mitt Romney is the only man for the job, I cannot help but pay attention to what is going on. I was surprised but not shocked when McCain announced his running mate yesterday...fascinated is the better word. Ben & I were laughing together as we discussed yesterday how a year ago we would have thought it so strange that a woman would be a hunter/fisher/moose burger eater. Now, it just seems barely out of the norm but certainly acceptable. I have heard a lot of commentary on "McCain is too old, he'll die in office" "Obama will have to up security while he is in office" "I'd vote for him just to have a first black President", etc. I don't follow much of the early campainging because it makes me sick. They seem to have no character and just be out for one another's blood. So, when a friend posted this video on her blog, I thought, "it's not worth the time. these things are always editorial anyway." But, like any good blog reader, I pursued. I'm not sorry that I did. I do not believe that any president, pro-choice or pro-life will make any major changes in our laws for better or worse. I think it has to be more local than that. But, I do beleive that how a politician votes on these matters shows what he believes are core values. And how life is valued is very important in a world leader. I should say that I believe in everyone's right to life and that no one should have a right to compromise that life at any age or stage from conception to deathbed throws. I believe in the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, and (now more than ever, that I live in Utah) the seperation of church and state. I believe they can all work together if people would stop pushing agendas and start looking at what is best for our society and others and stop thinking of ourselves first.

Ok, enough of the soap box. Check out this video on how Obama has voted in relation to abortion. You will be shocked. I hope you are scared and sad as well, but this is important, not because of what he will do about this issue as President, but because of how he values life, the lives of American people and soldiers and how he values lives of countless unknowns who he will effect as a powerful world leader.

Where to start...

2008-08-18T18:58:00.006-04:00

A lot has happened in the last month. We have been busy...and it isn't going to stop anytime soon. I want to blog about the Dog Park, Storm and the Cats, my new job, remodeling the last upstairs bedroom, other fun summer things like the Raptors Baseball game, the Hot Air Balloon Festival and the upcoming camping trip this weekend....

So for now I will tell you about my new job. I love being a school counselor. My new school is Lakeview Elementary in Roy, UT and it is a Title 1 School, which basically means we have a majority of low income families in our community. I love my new Principal. Her name is Cami and she is so fun and really cares about the students...and wants the staff to be connected and working together to create a safe and fun learning environment. The staff is amazing...I am so excited to actually have my own school and staff this year...instead of moving around like a gypsy. They have all been really supportive and friendly. I think I am going to have a great year!

One of the things that I am doing with this new job is to have my own blog, so you can check out Mrs. Hardy's Happenings at http://blog.weber.k12.ut.us/eshardy/

I don't know how often I will write, but if you are interested in what I am doing at school, that will tell you! Of course if you want to hear the "good stuff" (all of the stories of crazy things kids do), you will have to keep checking here. I hope to have lots to tell about this year. K-6th grade promises to be fun and exciting everyday. The students start on Monday the 25th and I can't wait...although there is plenty to be done before they arrive! I don't have a real office yet. I have a conference room with no desk or office furniture yet...but I am excited to get set up and make things fun and kid-friendly. I'll let you know how that goes and try and get a couple of pics when I get things up and going. My first counselor's office! :):):)

Ok, so the Ogden Raptors Baseball game we went to a couple of weeks ago was kinda boring the first few innings, but it quickly picked up and was tied at the bottom of the ninth by a 3-run homerun. 3 innings later, the Raptors pulled out another homerun to win the game. It was a late night, but seeing everything so close is always fun and then the view is just incredible as you watch the sun set and the light hit the mounains and slowly disappear.

This baseball stadium was ranked 1st for best view of minor league parks...not hard to understand why. We enjoyed a really nice evening with our friends the Ooseterbans, the Fikkerts, the Kraffts and Ashley & Duane (who are getting married in November!)

And I cannot believe I almost forgot about this...

If you have never been to a rodeo, I highly recommend it. It is so fun...and hysterical. They actually have kids ride on sheep for as long as they can and call it Mutton Bustin'...yep, crazy! And seeing all of the animals and riders...it is very impressive, especially for us "city folk". This was the 2008 Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo the week of July 24th. Utah celebrates Pioneer Days as the days the pioneers settled the valley and it is bigger than the 4th of July...with events like parades, rodeos and all kinds of stuff going on all week. You wouldn't believe it! Anyway, this was our first ever rodeo and now I am hooked. One of these days I'll actually get on a horse myself. I hope!

One of the biggest rodeos in the US is in Cheyenne, WY every summer...maybe we'll hit that one in the next few years...that would be so fun...anyone want to join us?

What I did on summer vacation

2008-07-17T21:41:00.009-04:00

Natta visited and we saw some really cool Irish Dance

There are always the Mountains with the gorgeous wildflowers
Took Storm to the Dog Park

Drove from Ogden to Manhattan Beach, CA

Sat on the beach and played in the Pacific Ocean

Visited with Grandma, Grandpa, Katers, Jake, and a bunch of other Hollers!

Saw a horizon of fireworks on the 4th (cause we were too late to find a parking spot to see just one show up close...oops)

Spent Katers' 25th Birthday with her at Redondo Beach and the Hermosa Saloon. We definitely observed some middle-aged drama...as my cousin Rhea likes to put it. :)

Drove from Manhattan Beach to Las Vegas and stayed a night on the Strip in the Stratosphere!

Drove from Las Vegas back to Ogden to see my 3 cats and puppy!!! The desert is HOT

Took Storm to the Dog Park...again and again and again. :) (we see everything from toy greyhounds to st. bernard's, it is SO FUN)

Had an Ice Cream Party with our Church

Went to the first Ogden Farmer's Market of the summer!

Taught about original sin in Children's Church...yep, 4 year olds don't quite grasp it, but what are you gonna do? haha
LOGAN MARK HOLLER turned one year old on July 11th!!!!!! (we were so bummed to miss it)

Took Storm to the Vet to be spayed...no worries, she is already back to normal after only 2 days...that's our girl!

Went shopping with Jamie and her kids Micah and Lydia (Lydia is 2 and learning to talk and her name for me is Atu...hehe)

Clean the kitchen, Laundry, Vacuum, Costco run, the usual stuff for Esther when not working...also hanging out with "My Friends"

Ben is working on painting and refinishing the floor of the last upstairs room! yay!
Reading lots of books like The Kite Runner, Ragamuffin Gospel and the Narnia series
Only turning the AC on from 4 to 9pm! LOVE the dry climate!!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

2008-06-21T12:43:00.009-04:00

So I will show you lots of pics and use only a few words...well, relatively few. :)

Here is the puppy being a sleepyhead in her X-large dog crate. Yep, I think she'll be a big one!

She likes to see what we are eating for dinner. MMMMMMMMMM....sorry, only puppy food for you Storm!

A friend of Ben's at work gave Storm a toy pacifier to chew on, it is mint flavored and she loves it! So funny to see our dog with a pacifier...but cute too, huh?

I just love when animals lay down and roll on their back. Rascal does this a lot and it always makes me smile...so here is Storm showing us her belly...and below is her face while she lays like this...she looks like a totally different dog when her ears point up like that...and how cute is her pink puppy tongue?

Ben and our pastor, Don, went on a bike ride on the Saturday morning before we picked up Storm. They ran into some weather in the mountains that they were not expecting.

Yep, that is snow. It snowed on them and got them all gross! This pic above is the view they had of Ogden from the top of the trail. Not much of a view that day.

The end of their ride. They look tired and gross but very pleased with themselves. :)

I couldn't help myself with this one...check out the feet. His socks were gross, but his feet stayed pretty clean. As for the rest of him, well....that is no farmers tan folks.

Some of you know my dear friend Jenny Porter. She lives in Maine and we became very close friends in college where we lived in the same dorm and became prayer partners (with a couple of other girls too). We have stayed close and I was THRILLED when she told me she was using vacation time to visit us in Utah. She arrived the Monday after we got Storm and was such a trooper about the new puppy in the house. In fact, I took Storm to the airport to pick JP up and to greet her she tried to climb in the front seat. JP took her right in her lap and didn't even flinch. What a friend! We had a blast while she visited. This pic is at the Ogden Riverwalk. Yep, we all matched. Not intended at all, but funny once we realized it.

Storm's first visit to the river was funny b/c she was scared to go to the water until we all went with her. Such a baby.

Here is the meadow of the hike we did which was the same as the bike ride above. We had MUCH better weather. Check out the meadow and view. This is about 1/2 way up the trail.

One view from the top of the trail. I love that you can see the rocks jutting out and the snow left on the mtn top. So pretty.

Our triumphant group at the crest of the ridge. Thanks for visiting JP! You rock! I can't wait for your next visit when you bring friends or family and we do Yellowstone and Southern Utah! In the meantime, these memories are classic!

And lastly, yes this is Storm in snow. JP & I took her on a drive to Wyoming and back and trooped through the mountains up to 9,000 some odd feet. There was still a good covering of snow there so Storm got what we think is her first romp in the snow. She enjoyed eating it and laying in it but was a little cautious of it too. We are thinking about spending the afternoon on a similar drive to find snow. It may reach 97 degrees here in the valley. Snow would be welcome!

New Doggie!

2008-06-16T21:08:00.005-04:00

Wow, we've been busy with a new puppy! Our new pal is 4 months old, and we're told it's a Great Pyrenees/Collie mix, although we are completely convinced that the mix is with Lab, not collie.

She's a sweety, no accidents in the house after a week, and her only flaw is the desire to chew EVERYTHING! So, Esther has me convinced on the merits of "crating" the dog.

It's certainly fair, she gets lots of exercise and play time and time outside. Over night, and when we can't watch her inside, in she goes to her "lair", and she sleeps and chews her rawhide. Since I got to name our last cat at our zoo, Stella, Esther got to pick this one out. So say hi to "Storm", like the chick in the X-Men movies with white hair.

So, that's the big news here. We had a really great friend visit us last weekend which I'm sure Esther will blog about soon. She came from Portland, Maine, and endured many connections and a cancelled flight in Chicago.

I'm looking forward to switching up from a more humble Defense Department agency (Air Force, or average Joe's), and going over to the Defense Logistics Agency (Globo-Gym). Esther's kicked it into summer gear now that she's not in school, and I catch her each night when I return home, bent over the stove, with apron on, house in order.

Life is good.