Thursday, September 25, 2008

The longest day ever!

I'm finally at Cymony's home. It was a long day and I'm afraid a stressful day for Danny, though he handled it all like a champ. I left Salt Lake at 9:50. I had to create my own little drama, just so I'd know I was flying. I was on the Park and Jet shuttle when I thought I had left my phone in the car. I wasn't carrying my usual purse, so I couldn't see it. I got off the bus and ran a long distance back to the car, only to discover that I had to have it since it wasn't in the car. A deeper look into the purse exposed the black phone in a black hole. Grrrr. I had stopped off at WalMart to pick up Desitin for Cymony. I knew my big bag was 50# and couldn't handle another thing, and without even thinking, I threw that 8-oz tube in my carry-on, so proud of myself that I had picked up everything she had asked of me. Well, that was quickly confiscated as I went through x-ray. Grrrr. It turns out Cymony really wanted the unscented deodorant too, so I'll be bringing that home with me as well. The flight from Utah to JFK was peaceful. As I was walking down the runway to my plane, I saw Greg and Amy Bengtzen who had just returned from Hawaii. They'd been there eight days. That was fun to get a quick run down of how they did it, etc. They looked rested.

I went with the intent to order a meal. It wasn't offered. I think I must not know how to do that, as others did get a meal. I ate my nuts and fruit and was happy enough with that. However, I did get a meal at the airport before boarding for Germany. They are so slow in getting the meal out, that I didn't want to risk getting a headache. I sat next to a pleasant couple headed for Italy. We had a nice conversation about Utah and its beauties and the beautiful skiing available. I personally can't see either of them skiing, but they talked like they do it a lot. I invited them to Utah. The flight from JFK to Germany was exactly what I was expecting - long. I fell asleep for about 45 minutes. That means, that with the exception of 10-15 minute catnaps from the airport until we arrived at Tarin's about eight hours later, I've been up 32 hours! I really feel a little loopy. I met up with Cymony, Danny and Micah as soon as I walked out of baggage claim. They arrived exactly at the same time I came out. My baggage had to be dead last off the plane. About 30 minutes into the ride to Niederscaufenvach (kneader stauffen bach), their car lost power. Danny inched along for about a mile until he came to an exit and pulled into a little village where he called his work looking for help. A work associated arrived about four hours later to transfer us to his vehicle and take us to a car rental place. That adorable Micah just entertained us the whole time in the car. I can't believe how patient she was with the whole setup. I had some licorice, nuts and dried peaches that kept her happy. When we got to the car rental place, we discovered Danny and Cymony had left their driver's licenses in their car. We were in a bit of trouble. She would rent to me without any bother, but I would have to pay in Euros without their vat discount (value added tax), which would have been considerably more. So, she took an imprint of my credit card (since I was renting because only I had a driver's license), and we raced 45 minutes back to their car to pick up the stuff from their car and race back before close (6:00 p.m.). We made it. This is the scary thing. After being away all that time, I was driving on the autobahn. Actually, the adrenalin flow made me quite alert. Once we got to the cars and Danny had his driver's license, he was legal to drive. I was glad to give him the wheel for the return trip. We made it just in time. Phew!

It was about 6:30 when we arrived at Tarin's home. They had no idea when they left at 9:00 this morning that they wouldn't be back by noonish. Micah's diapers were long gone, and she did nothing but eat treats all afternoon. We enjoyed a good meal. I was introduced to Kimchi, which wasn't bad mixed with the rice, and zuchinni.

I feel almost human after a warm bath and nice meal and I'm about ready to call it a day - hey call it two days.

Camber, I thought I'd be able to log into my Waldron website and also my email account. I left my Palm Pilot home which tells me how. I thought I knew it. Would you please forward this to Grandma and Grandpa for me. It would be nice if someone out there could comment on this and tell me how to log into Waldron site. If not, then Iguess I just wait until I get home.

I hope all is well in Utah. I'm tired and think I'll see if my body agrees with me. Take care. Love Mom/Connie

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Micah's baby

Okay Cymony, this is the baby doll. She really is cute.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tanner's Birthday




Well, I tried to do a repeat of the fun experience I had with Marissa, Desi and Tyler for Tanner's birthday. Somehow in his young eyes, he pictured that they had a better time than he had. So I failed something royal. You don't like to bring your grandchild home in tears. We had a fun time until we went to Chuck E Cheese's for pizza. My big mistake is in not notifying them that we are coming. He was fortunate that they did a birthday song, but it wasn't for our little party of two. Robyn and her boys were there with friends, and it was for their 3-year-old. Nonetheless, he marched around with them and joined in their little party. The hostess gave him a birthday crown after he told her it was also his birthday. I've decided it gets harder to "ring that bell" when the kids get a little older. I will need to set my boundaries before going in the future.

Cymony asked to see my walls

Okay, this is what I did. It's real simple still, but with room to grow as I get new pictures. I mostly put just the current family pictures up. I'm a little embarrassed that it cost me so much, but Jan's help was appreciated. A good friend (or daughter) could probably have accomplished the same for free. Heck, Dad and I could have done it. It was the grouping that was the big deal. Oh well. The picture of the Savior is called "Friends" by Liz Lemon Swindle.