Traveling Europe with the Young Marrieds

The fun began on August 3rd when Dennis and I went and rented a vehicle large enough for all 8 of us to travel for 10 days and the kids left the US and headed to Dusseldorf. The next morning we were off bright and early to pick up Lisa and Cameron, Mindy and Jeran, and Andrew and Lindsay from the airport. We headed to Koln where we spent some time visiting the magnificent cathedral there.


From there it was off to Marksburg Castle, a medival castle in the Rhine River Valley.

We got to Elst in time for Dennis, Jeran and Cameron to ride bikes to the market for a few things for dinner and to take on our travels.

The next morning we were off bright and early to Zanse Schanse and then Amsterdam. We saw most of the traditional sights for Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum, Ann Frank house and a canal ride) and had a nice rijsttafel dinner at an Indonesian Resturaunt. That night we headed back to Elst and made our final preparations for heading out of town.

Mindy is walking towards me. Andrew and Lindsay are on the M.

The following morning we headed out bright and early and drove down to Paris. We checked into our hotels and then drove out to Versaille but decided that due to the crowds and lines, it would be better if we went early the next day. We drove around and saw some sights in downtown Paris and then parked and went to see Napoleons Tomb and the museums associated with it.



From there, everyone split up and went and saw the things they wanted to see. Dennis and I went to the Rhodan Museum (sculptures- "The Thinker") and then the Orsay Museum (Impressionists).

The next morning, Dennis drove us out to Versaille and then he went into the Elitech office to work while we went through. He got back in time to see some of the gardens with us. That afternoon we dropped all the kids off at the things they wanted to see and we went to the "Museum of Modern Fashion Design and Retail - a.k.a. Galeries Lafayette" (Founded in 1893, Galeries Lafayette has always been a trend-setter in the Parisian fashion world. The multiple store complex is home to scores of famous luxury brands, but also serves as a launching pad for young and upcoming designers. Galeries Lafayette is not only well known for shopping, but also has a reputation for being one of the best sightseeing spots in Paris. The splendid glass dome of Neo-Byzantine style has been classified as a historical monument. It is an architectural landmark which attracts people from all over the world.It is a huge store with many of the big designer and high fashion names featured.) There were some really beautiful clothes as well as some pretty bizarre fashions. Then we went to the Arc de Triumph and climbed up all the stairs to the top. It was a beautiful view. We had dinner at a Thai resturaunt in the Latin Quarter.

The following morning, we checked out of our hotels early and headed to Normandy. We spent some time at the Musee du Debarquement in Arromanches and then drove over to the American Cemetary. It was a beautiful sunny day and everyone learned a lot enjoyed their time there.



From there, we drove up to Calais to catch the ferry for England. We had tried to leave an extra hour to get there in case we had problems - and our problem was the many toll booths that had traffic queing for miles. We were lucky that our boat didn't take off on time so we made it but were one of the very last ones on. It was a nice smooth ride and we had some time to play the dice game with those who wanted. Once on land, we made a brief stop at Canterbury Cathedral and then on to Gatwick to the Marriot there for the night.

Sunday, we went to a nice big ward in Crawley. In Sacrament meeting they confirmed a newly baptised family, a mom and her 6 daughters. I was impressed with how friendly the ward was and how organized it seemed. Afterward, we checked into our Hotel in London. I spent the afternoon in the hotel sleeping while Andrew and Lindsay went to St. Pauls for Evensong and everyone went to Westminister Abby for the organ recital.


While in London, Dennis and I went to the zoo and walked in both Regents Park and Hyde Park. We went into Westminister Abbey, the Victoria and Albert Museum (amazing!!), the Science Museum (lame) and the Natural History Museum (awesome). That evening was show evening but only Lisa and Cameron ended up seeing a show, the rest of us went to dinner. The place Dennis wanted to go to ended up being closed so we parked on a street with what looked like a lot of little eateries and finally ended up in a little place that had burgers, fish and chips and such. It was not very classy but it was filling and since it was 9 PM that was all that mattered at the moment. We picked Lisa and Cameron up and drove out to the Marriot at Heathrow.

The next day we headed out for a long day of driving. We went to Stonehenge, and Bath in England and Chepstow Castle and Tinturn Abbey in Wales.

As we got near our hotel we decided to go see Coventry Cathedral. That night we stayed in a nice Marriot on a big golf course called The Forest of Arden. We drove into Birmingham to have a dinner of Bangers and Mash although Lisa got Faggots and Peas and several of the kids got some kind of meat pie type thing. We were well and truely exhausted after that day. As I looked around the dinner table, almost everyone had big black circles under their eyes.

Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon were on the agenda for the following day. Warwick has turned into a big touristy place since the last time we were there. It was very crowded and there were some pretty lame shows that they put on but there were a couple of interesting ones also. The Falconry show was the best, but there was also jousting, and a demonstration on how the Trebuchet, a colossal catapultcatapult worked. Our stop at SuponS was quick due to everyone's fatigue. That evening we checked into the temple housing at the London temple.

Thursday morning we went through the first session of the temple and then headed down to the ferry and home.

There were several more pictures of the different venues I would have liked to add but I guess I'm maxed out. It was a wonderful trip and we saw lots of interesting places. All the kids arrived safely to their various homes so I guess the vacation is over. The fun may have ended but with the hundreds of pictures we all took, the memories will live on for years to come.

Alyna's Last Days as a Resident of Holland

We have just returned to Utah with 8 suitcases and a happy daughter. We were able to bring most of the things that Alyna had accumulated over the year while living in Holland. It was a blessing that we were all Delta medalion flyers because then it meant that we could each have 2 checked 70 pound bags which meant we could pretty well pack all the suitcases as full as possible.

We didn't do anything very exciting - like try to fit in a quick trip to Venice or Paris before coming home. But we did do a little site seeing in the Arnhem area.

One of our favorite things about Europe is all the interesting old churches and castles. Every village has it's church and they are all different.

This is one of our favorite roads to drive down. It is like driving through a tunnel made completely of trees. We had to adjust the lighting on this picture since we drove down in on a very cloudy day, quite late in the evening and it was almost to dark to see anything.We discovered this road last year since it is not to far from Dennis' office and it is just so awesome._

'this is the city sign in front of Dennis' office. Who in their right mind would name a town Spankeren? There are a lot of cities in The Netherlands with strange sounding names.

There were a lot of people that Alyna has grown to love that she had to say goodbye to -

Suzanne van ter Hoff, bestest school friend.

Mariella Fenstra and Emily Vermillion, the ward Young Women

Lydia Stckkinger, the Young Women's President

Bishop Boyd Bijkirk

The missionaries, Elders Crandall and Maurer

We were upgraded on our flight from Dusseldorf to Atlanta so all three of us
were able to fly first class. It was wonderful!!!

Of Rain and the 4th of July

It has been very hot and humid here this past week. I have been glad to see that it does get hot here and even sunny after the many months of cool and cloudy weather. It hasn't been all that fun though because of the humidity, something rather new to me. We have been blessed to have an air conditioner in one of the upstairs bedrooms and so by keeping doors closed and the bathroom door between the bedrooms open, Dennis and I have been able to be rather comfortable. (It's a good thing Alyna likes it a little warmer than the rest of us but even she has had to go in and cool off occasionally.)

On Friday, after their last test, Alyna and a few of her friends went to the beach that is at a lake that is between our house and the school. It was nice and sunny for a while and then suddenly a storm rolled in. It started raining and then pouring and then the hail started. It was a truly amazing sight and sound. The wind was blowing so hard that as the hail hit the house it was as if the whole house was being shot at with a bebe gun. The thunder would roll on for minutes at a time and then there was the occasional lightening bolt, one hitting the transformer or what ever it is called and knocked out our telephone/internet/TV service for the evening. I called Alyna in about the height of the storm to see if she had been able to find shelter someplace. She was at the bus stop and when she finally made it home she looked like she had just stepped out of the shower. I was just thankful she had made it safely home.


The plus side of the storm and no internet was that when we took Alyna up to drop her off in Arhnem for a "math class pizza party", Dennis and I went to lunch at a very nice restaurant. It was called Memories of Asia and the food was very good. It was interesting though because they don't have a menu. You just tell the host what kinds of things you do or don't like and they just bring out courses until you are full. We had a very mild fish, a very good shrimp and a very tender and delicious lamb.

Saturday was the 4th of July. We spent the morning helping work at the church cleaning the grounds. We were able to get a lot done and it looked much better afterward. It was kind of sad that only three of the "natives" came to help and the rest of the crew were us "foreigners".

Dennis got to wrestle with the trees and shrubs along the front of the building. It was a big job.Here is Gergona Demireva and her nieces (Bulgarian) and Mickey Vermillian (American).

The missinaries, Alyna and I rounded out the work crew.

The Bishop, Brother Baltason (in charge of the building and grounds) and Brother Stekkinger (always seems to get the loading of the trailer and taking it to the dump detail).

Afterward, Dennis, Alyna and I went to McDonalds for lunch which was about as Americanish as we could think of. There is the largest McD's that we have ever seen in Duiven. The day we moved here, or the next day we went to eat there because it is near IKEA and Makro were we bought all of our household goods. Alyna and I chatted a bit about how far we've come since those first few days when we arrived and everything was so overwhelming and difficult. The last few months we've begun to really feel comfortable with being here and appreciate the many experiences and opportunities we've had.

Sunday, we had dinner with Mickey and Emily. While Dennis helped fix her fan, Alyna straightened Emily's hair. Then they really looked like sisters. It's been fun for both of the girls to have each other and be almost like the sisters they never had - a little sister for Alyna and a older but closer to the same age sister for Emily.

It feels rather odd to be here and have it be such a "normal weekend" while we hear about fireworks and parades at home. I'm so grateful to be an American and for the freedoms and opportunities it affords us. I keep thinking that we need to be praying hard for our country, for our constitution now more than ever before. Our country has seen a lot of changes and challenges through it's brief history but it will see plenty more in the years to come. I just hope some of it is for the betterment of mankind and not for the destruction of a great nation. God Bless the USA!

What do these random things have in common?

Here are some pictures of things around the house that tell a story - can you figure it out?

It is a happy and sad story.

These were once full (along with many other boxes) and now they are all gone.

Each of the four big suitcases also has a smaller carry-on bag inside. How many will it take?

This is the happy part. Thinking about what lies ahead.

Fun with my Sister

My sister Kara, her husband, Sam and her friend, Shelli, came to visit for a week. They arrived the night before Jessica and Tina left so it was fun to have so much family here at once.

Kara, Sam, Shelli and I spent the next couple of days seeing various sites and just enjoying being together. We went to the Wine Museum where Kara shared her knowledge of how wine is made and some of the important things to know about wine - from the type of soil and climate to the pros and cons of cork vs. plastic stoppers. A lot of the things she told us about went over my head but I learned a lot anyway.
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The next day we went into Amsterdam. The tabloid headlines were all about the death of Michael Jackson. It was pretty entertaining to see all the different pictures that each paper chose to print.
We had a nice day in Amsterdam. Each time we go, I see lots more places than I've seen before. This time we did the hop-on, hop-off, canal boat tour and that was a very relaxing way to get from place to place - although not very time efficient. We did the normal - Rijks Museum and the Anne Frank House but we also saw the red light district on a Friday night. We just forgot to take a picture of Sam there. Sorry Sam.

We ate at some great resturaunts and tried many new and different things. It was always so much easier when Dennis was with us because he had a clue what some of the local things were and could also translate for us. I sat down to eat at more sidewalk cafes this week than any other time I've been here - thanks in part to the weather and thanks in part to Kara and Sam who believe in refilling the body's fuel tanks on a regulat basis. It was really nice to sit and relax for a bit in the middle of all the sight seeing and traveling.

They took off for a couple of days so that Elder Allred (who spent Halloween and Thanksgiving with us while serving in the Arnhem ward) and his mother could come and visit the area. We were also able to have Elders Chlarson (from Millville) and Ramussen (from Fillmore) come to dinner on Monday night. They had just moved in with our ward missionaries from Nijmegen which is getting closed out.) I came down with a pretty nasty cold, but thanks to Dennis who did all the cooking and entertaining on Sunday, all went well and we were able to enjoy all our visitors.


Thanks Kara for being a wonderful sister. You are such a sweetheart! It was fun to be able to share a little taste of our experience here with you and to just be able to spend time together.

Brugge 2009

Yesterday, Jessica and I went to Belgium with the Smith family. Geoff served most of his mission in Belgium so we got to see some of the cities he served in and the places he lived. It rained all morning as we drove to the various cities were he served. By the time we got to Brugge, our site seeing destination for the day, it had stopped raining but it was still cloudy.

One of the places were Geoff lived.

One of the things I love about Europe is that there are all kinds of old churches and great architecture that is tucked in with all the other building around. You are driving down a seemingly normal business street and all the sudden there is a beautiful church or castle.

The Smith family planning our day in Brugge. (Garrett is off taking pictures around the town square.)
Garrett, Becca, Jessica and Jamie outside a Choclatier looking at all the scrumptious chocolates.

Peggy is ready to see the sites.
It was so wonderful to get to see a beautiful city with a great friend!

This is probably the only place in Bruges where you don't have to pay to see a famous and rare piece of artwork. The marble statue of Madonna by Michelangelo at the right wing of the Church of Our Lady. The Madonna is the only Michelangelo sculpture that can be found in Benelux and the only artwork that has left Italy when the artist was alive. Originally made for the cathedral of Sienna, it was later bought by two merchants from Bruges (Jan and Alexander Moscroen) who apparently had lots of spare change.


The Cathedral also had beautiful stained glass windows, an amazingly intricately carved wooden dais and beautiful arched ceilings.

This lacemaker was sitting in the doorway of her home working with her bobbins and making beautifully delicate lace. She sold a few small items there from her home.
You have just got to love the canals of Belgium and Holland. They add such a romantic ambiance to the area. We didn't take a boat ride this year but we recalled with fond memories the sites and experience we had last year when Ivan was our tourguide and we did the canal tour.

The Smith family at the canal. So cute.

Yeah for mothers and daughters and time spent together. We had a wonderful day!

Fun with family and Friends

Our month of fun with friends and family began on Sunday with the arrival of Jessica and Tina followed by the Smith family and Kevin Mullen. We had a great evening with all of them and some friends from here.

Arrival at the Dusseldorf airport. (June 7)

Everyone visited and we sang some Dutch and American songs.

On Monday morning, Jessica and Tina took off with the Smith family to head to Austria. They had a great time. This picture was taken at the Cathedral in Cologne (Koln).