Luxembourg

Two weekends ago there was a father/son campout at the US Military Cemetery in Luxembourg.  Since my parents were here at the time, James, Ethan, and my dad went camping while my mom, Tybee, and I stayed in a hotel.  Then the next day we explored Luxembourg.  It was a fun little excursion since none of us had been there before.  That was Ethan’s first camping experience too and he loved every minute of it.  He now wants us to go camping as a family, but I’m so not a camper :/  We’ll see if he catches me at a weak moment on that one.

Here is the cemetery where they camped.  It is very eye opening seeing all of the graves.  This is just a very small portion of the soldiers that died during WWII.  General Patton is buried here as well.

 

Here are some pictures from the beautiful city…

This is outside the Grand Duke’s Palace.

I guess there were underground tunnels built in 1644 called Casemates.  Unfortunately they were closed when we tried to go in them.

We really enjoyed Luxembourg…the people were really friendly and it was a clean, beautiful city.

Tybee’s Blessing Day

Last Sunday on June 5th, exactly one month from when she was born, Tybee was able to receive her blessing.  As you can see in this picture, she was a little angel.  She was so good during the whole thing.  I think the fact that it was really warm in the chapel helped.  This little girl hates to be the slightest bit cold.

She sure does love her brother and he adores her.   A couple of days ago we were driving in the car and she was hungry and fussy, so I asked Ethan if he would try to calm her down.  He held her hand and sang to her and she quieted down and went to sleep.  It was the sweetest thing to witness.

I am so blessed to have two of the most amazing kids!

We have a 7 year old?!

I cannot believe that Ethan is already 7!  Where has the time gone?  He has really grown up this past year.  It is amazing all of the things that he has courageously conquered and endured…moving to a new country, starting a new school with a foreign language, learning the new language, becoming a big brother…and he has done it very patiently and maturely.

This year for his birthday he wanted to have a Lego party.  Since I have been having a difficult time recovering from having Tybee and adjusting to a newborn’s schedule, we decided to go the easy route…we held the party at the Lego Store.  It turned out to be the perfect thing because they did everything.  We didn’t even have to stay during the party.  They had all 8 kids thoroughly engaged the whole two hours.  It was great!!  Afterwards we walked the kids to the park for cake and presents. 

In these pictures the kids look a bit bored, but they were just getting started and getting to know each other.  Half of them were German kids from Ethan’s school and the other half were American from church.  I was impressed how well they did together.

 

While they were at the party we left and enjoyed a little lunch at the bakery around the corner…Can I just say again, that this was the easiest party I have every given and probably the most fun for the kids.  It was a win, win situation

 

Tybee Lily

Oh, wow!  It has been 3 1/2 months since I posted last.  So much has happened since then, but the biggest one for our family would be gaining a new member…Tybee.  She was born on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo), weighing 7.55 lbs., 21 1/4 inches long.  She is the sweetest, most beautiful baby (ok, tied with Ethan of course) and we are all in love with her.  Last night she even let me get about 6 hours of sleep, so I’m feeling really good today.

Here are a few pictures taken of her when she was a week old…

Washington Post article about Mormons in politics

Here is a very interesting article that I found posted on a friend’s blog.