Weissenfels Days!

Weissenfels is a town with a lot of history. Every year they have 3 days of celebration of their history. It is all day everyday. They have concerts, parades, and parties! It has been a really fun weekend. I stood at the parade with my friend, Sylke, and she explained to me everything that was going on. I don't remember everything, but here are some fun pictures that I took of the people dressed up. It was so funny, I told Matt when the parade was over, I felt like I was in the movie Beauty and the Beast at the beginning when she is singing and dancing through her town. I felt this way because 1)EVeryone was dressed up like that, 2) there are cobble stone streets, 3) They are speaking in a different language and it just looked like it. While I was walking back from my apartment, I just stopped and looked around and couldn't believe how one culture can be so different from another. It was really awesome to see it!
This was my favorite guy...haha.
I wish I had a good camera to show how it really looked, but I loved all of their costumeS!

Here is sweet Sylke, and her husband Christian! They are both so wonderful, and continue to make us feel welcome! Her husband doesn't speak English like she does but after Matt's game he ran up and put his arm around him and kept saying "Fighter, Fighter!" I guess Matt has a new fan!

Colton loved the parade as well, all of the little kids who were in the parade had candy in woven baskets, and they would go right up to him and wait until he opened his hand and place the candy in it!

So---this is the MBC (Matt's team) fan club! They are some good fans that's for sure!

This is Katrin, she is in the fan club and also speaks GREAT enlgish! She took me to the lake, and out for ice-cream and is such a nice girl! She got to march in the parade:)

More of the fan club.

They didn't have many floats in the parade, however, of course the basketball team didn't have to walk..haha, So they got to ride on one of the few floats there were. Matt is in the front trying to wave at Colty and all of his fans that I have won over for him :) Matt's games are going well. They have played 3, and are 3-0!! His home games are going to be So fun to go to, they have a VIP lounge which I am a part of :) where they have every kind of drink (and they serve them in nice glasses) and sandwhiches and deserts! It is open the whole game, so me and Colty will be making some trips up there:) Matt is playing well, everyone on his team is really good, so they are fun to watch.

So- I feel like All I have talked about is Germany and basketball, but I caN'T forget my little trooper baby! He has been So wonderful since we arrived in Germany!! He had a few hard days and I couldn't figure out what was wrong, and I looked in his mouth and he has another front tooth coming in and a fang (this will make 5 teeth), and his gums are bruised and bleeding-- I felt so bad that I was getting so irritated with him when he was in pain! Anyway, since the teeth broke through he has been nothing but happy!

He says DADA all day long, HE loves going to the basketball games where he gets SO Much attention!!, he goes with the flow all day as we have been kind of busy this weekend, and sleeps so great! I couldn't ask for a better sleeper! I have always had to lay down next to him to get him to fall asleep, but since we moved here I just started laying him in his little pack-n-play (his new crib) and he falls right asleep! He has still been sleeping 12 hours a night, in fact last night he slept 13 hours straight! I think he was a little exhausted from our crazy weekend!

Anyway, we love him soo much and are so grateful to all be in this experience together! It has not been the easiest, but definitely "An Adventure!" We are starting to get used to our lives here and I think it will be a great year!
Colton's many faceS!

Someone let us borrow their old high chair so we didn't have to go buy a new one and then leave it here!

So- Colton also has a new obsession with books. They are his favorite toy, he sits and flips the pages open and closed Forever!! It cracks me up!

So- here are some things so far we like about Germany!

-The people are wonderful (and they try so hard to speak English)

-When you walk into or out of a room, everyone shakes EVERYone's hand, and even sometimes gives a little kiss on the cheek!

-Trees trees Everywhere!!

-Cobblestone streets

-Historic Buildings

-Eis Cafe's (ice cream shops Everywhere, and AMazing ice-cream)

-The weather (75 degrees and beautiful)

Hopefully I will find lots more things about this country we are living in. I am not going to say it is better than America, America is my home and there is NO PLACE like home:) However, we are here for 9 months and are trying to enjoy this time to experience a different culture! There have been days where we wonder why we are here, but having great experiences makes up for those hard days:)

Our Journey to Germany

I have been prolonging this post because I feel like there is so much to say about this whole experience. We have almost been in Germany for 2 weeks now, and I feel like so much has happened! First, I am going to start with before we left! We went to the zoo a couple of days before and here is Matt as our tour guide:)
Carli (Tyson's girlfriend) with a little girl that she was babysitting for the weekend. Carli is an awesome girl, and just as I was getting to know her, we left! Hopefully they don't get married before we get back;)

Tanner and Colty:) I felt really sad when Colton had to leave all of his uncles. They Always makes him smile and give him all the attention in the world. It is so cute to see them with him!

Grandma and Colty! I think my mom has a special attatchment with Colty because she was there when he was born, and for the first 3 months of his life when Matt traveled. He loves his grandma and all the attention he gets of course!

Here began our journey. The night before we left we all sat down as a family and talked and cried (of course). I had mixed feelings about the whole thing, I guess I still didn't think it felt completely real that we were leaving. I was nervous about the plane ride with Colton because I have heard horror stories from everyone that has flown with a baby. So- the next morning we were off! The first flight was to Chicago (About 3 hours) Colton played for the first hour and then fell asleep in my arms for the rest of the flight. That wasn't the flight I was worried about. Our next flight was 8 hours long!! We got on the plane and Colton once again fell asleep and slept in this lovely bassinet that was provided for him for a couple of hours. It was soooo nice! We were in seats with a lot of leg room and the bassinet was right above our legs.

Anyway, then Colton woke up and ate and played and we decided to try something. We all had TV monitors right in front of us, so we put the headphones on him and let him watch for 45 minutes he sat there staring! I was amazed. Once he got a little bit fussy, we fed him and put him back in the bassinet for another 5 hour snooze until we landed. I don't think I could have asked for a better baby on this trip we were making across the country. The last flight we had was about an hour and he was the squirmiest on this one, but only because it was 3 am his time and I think he really just wanted to go to sleep (as did we). Anyway, we finally landed and someone picked us up and we got in the car and Colton fell right asleep, Matt fell right asleep and I just layed there looking at everything around me. Everyone was going soo fast down the autoban and I felt like I didn't want to miss anything. I was nervous, excited,and sad to be gone all at the same time!

Anyway, since that day SO much more has happened. We arrived at our apartment and Matt left quickly with the guy that drove us. He left me with no phone to contact him, No food and we hadn't eaten in forever, no money, and it was the middle of the night for me in a new world. I started balling laying there with Colton and he just kept looking at me smiling. I was soo grateful right then for my little baby who has been such a blessing in our liveS! Matt got home a couple of hours later with our new car and some money! Thank goodness. We went to the market (which you can walk to from our house) and tried to find something to eat, but it was harder than we thought! We figured out enough for the moment and decided to go to McDonalds which is down the road from us. It was about the same, but not exactly. One of the first things we noticed here is that they don't have water anywhere! No water fountains, no regular water at the store, anywhere! It is all bubbly water...so we searched everywhere and finally have found some normal water!

So- Sunday came around and we went to find our church. I was really excited to see what it was like and to meet some new people. We borrowed a GPS from someone and ended up driving around for 2 1/2 hours and NO CHURCH! The destination took us to a downtown street of a nearby city. Anyway, it was frustrating,and we began to question what we were doing here, why had we decided to come? It was a hard day for us. I think Iwas sad because I missed home and was SHOCKED at how different everything was/is. Matt hated seeing me upset and felt that it was his fault for bringing us here! I had emotions I hadn't felt before, although I moved across the country away from my family after high school, being in this country not able to speak to anyone where everything was different was on a whole new level. HOWEVER- we made it through that first week! Matt left for his training camp on Tuesday and that night I was supposed to have a phone but it didn't work so I layed here in the apartment alone and told myself if Icould make it through this week with no communication then everything would be fine! Well, sure enough the week went by quicker than I thought and I was able to meet some Awesome awesome people which I will talk more about later.

Here are a few pictures I have taken: This is Colty before Matt's first game this past weekend. He was in the Czech republic all week and we met up with him to go to his game and then he came home. I spiked his short hair and thought it looked soo cute!

At a friends house in the bean bag, which he loved!

It took him a few days to get used to his new bath (for some reason he was scared of it) and now he loves it again!

This is Sylke. Matt called her the Weissenfels Angel the first day we got here. SHe came to our house and took us to IKEA and helped us with everything! The week Matt was gone she cooked some amazing meals for me! I learned that German food is actually good if you know what to buy! She also showed me the "Ice Cafe" which is an ice cream shop basically in a garden--soo pretty! This is the only picture I got from it. They make their own homemade icecream and decorate it to look Really cool. MMmmmm...and since I am obsessed with ice-cream it was DIvINE!

Here is the river that runs through our town! I have been Walking Everywhere! We walked to the ice cafe and it took us an hour to get there, but I have plenty of time on my hands and might as well enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery!

I took this picture because I am fascinating by the way some of the buildings look. I wish I had an amazing camera so I could really capture what everything looks like!

This is from our apartment down to the town, the walkway.

Sylke pushing Colty:) He loves her already!

Before Matt left to his training camp we went to a basketball game where the German national team played Serbia!

The little family:)

He fell asleep even though it was SOOO loud in there! I think those first few days we all couldn't quite catch up!

Me and my baby:)

Colton met a Russian friend. One of Matt's teammates and his wife have a baby who is 5 months old. His wife speaks Russian and some German and even less English. She seems so nice, it is just so hard to communicate with the language barrier, but we try:)

So if you walk down the road a little ways from our apartment, there is a look out and it is such a beautiful view of Weissenfels!

All in all, I am starting to feel like this is home and obviously will be my home for 9 months! It is a beautiful town and the people are very friendly (or they seem if I know what they are saying) I think it will be a great experience for Matt and I. I think we never realized how much we needed each other until we are here and felt completely alone in the world. Anyway, I am thankful thaT I have him..and especially Colton on our journey!!

EAGLE

We had a celebration this past weekend for Travis receiving his EAGLE. Both sets of grandparents came and a few other family members. They all took lots of pictures..so I stole some.
I know--we had been there too long

Both great grandmas, grandma, me and Stinky (yes...we call Colton Stinky)

She is going to miss him!

He is thinking he is pretty cool.

Well-basically we are packing all day and tomorrow. It shouldn't be a long process but I am trying to decide what NOT to take. I was telling Matt that this was a really good thing for me, I could either sit here and complain about all of the things that I won't get to see for 9 months (Material things) , or I can pack IT ALL up and leave it behind and realize there are more important things in life than all my favorite clothes and stuff for my house, my favorite blanket, etc. I AM realizing that I really don't care as much as I thought about all of that stuff. So--I have one suitcase for myself packed and I'm leaving the rest and NoT looking back! O well if I get there and have nothing-- Guess I'll have to go buy new stuff:)

The next time I will be posting we will most likely be in Germany!! Wish us luck on our 24 hour long trip!

SuMmEr LOvIN :)

wE Are down to 3 days before we depart on our Adventure in Germany, and here I am blogging:) I look back on our summer, and it has actually been a lot of fun! This past week Matt and I went back to our teenage years and did a scavenger hunt on a group date with my brothers and their dates. It was so much fun because Matt was a good sport about it. We had to go around the mall and take pictures with everything that was on a list that we made up--and then come back and compare all of our pictures. So here are a few of the fun pictures we took...

Colton chilling in the tub for an hour...no Joke. It is pretty much his favorite thing to do. HE is such a good boy--he has been sleeping 12 hours a night since he was about 6 months or so, but because of all of our traveling he has struggled to sleep in his play pin. Anyway, the past 2 weeks he finally got back on track and has gotten used to his play pin. I am so glad, cause now that little boy will sleep just about anywhere-and he LOVES to sleep!

Lisa Kinghorn and her beautiful little baby..Ella! We went up to Rexburg for a wedding and were able to stop and see her with her baby. She was about a week and a half here-and Lisa looks so good already! We always joke that Colton and her are going to date when they are older, so I am sad we will miss them this next year!

So..I found this picture off of my camera from Bear Lake that I thought was cute. Here is Travis, Colton, and matt. Colton probably has the greatest uncles. Every time Colton comes into the room, all of my brothers run to him to talk to him, and he eats it all up!! They are so nice to play with him all of the time, even if he is cranky! We sure are going to miss them!

Army Crawler

So this morning out of the blue Colton started doing this...everywhere! Up to this point he has not shown much desire to move because he never liked being on his belly...kind of funny! P.S. I have video'd him soo many times but never knew how to post-I thought I would figure it out before we move to Germany so family can see all of his milestones:)