Competition

Meet my 5 year old niece, Emma. She is cute, funny, sassy, energetic, adventurous, she sings and she plays the violin. What is not to love about this girl with that adorable face?

Let me tell you ... she and I are in a competition for MY husbands love. Funny? I think not.

Case in point 

1) Every time the song "So Call Me Maybe" come on the radio Shawn says, "Oh I love that Emma sings this song."

2) Today's text message conversation

     S: Hey... I just met you

     S: This is so bad...

     C: You are a dork

     C: But here's my number so call me baby

     S: MAYBE

     S: Well... Emma can sing in correctly

3) Just three nights ago Shawn told me that he wished Emma was here.

4) I Skype with Ali and Emma gets on and says "let me talk to my boyfriend." To which Shawn promptly comes to the computer to talk with Emma. 

While in Utah, Emma and Shawn went on a date. They fed the horses, went on the swings, petting the chickens and even watched the stars while cuddling. Emma was the one that pointed out that it was like a date. 

She also told me that she would make a better wife than I. 

Who is this girl? At least we know that she has good taste. 

Derby and Deutschland

Anyone who knows me knows I live for the Heber Derby and to add the cherry on top ... my little brother was in it. Made me proud. Did you know that I once had the great desire to be in the derby myself. I even found me a boyfriend that would build me car. Laughable? I think so.
Did I mention I love Germany? I do. The language is my only problem, but give me 9 more months and I would totally have it down. I love the bread, cheese, chocolate, people, public transportation, apartment, cost of living, not working, culture, history and everything else.
When we first got to Bremen we lived a week in a hotel and still hadn't found anything. Needless to say I was stressed. In our nightly prayers we prayed that we would find something quickly and fit all of our needs (small, inexpensive, fully furnished and in a good location). The next day at school one of Shawn's colleague invited us to stay with his family until we found a place. We moved in the next day. A family with 4 children. They all speak english but the mother, who speaks german and CHINESE! We stayed with this amazing family for 10 days, all the while speaking 3 languages. It was pretty interesting but oh so great of them. Let me mention that while we were there they were getting married, going on vacation and also having two birthdays. They were so busy and still welcomed us and made us feel at home. We are ever grateful for them. The day we moved in we found a place that we could move into in 10 days. It worked out perfectly. We live in the "happening" part of town and it fits ALL of our needs. We are comfortable. Answered prayer? I say so.
I would upload pictures but internet is painfully slow.

What the....

I love this man. Right now he is working really hard, I think. I am sitting by his side using internet at school. If I could show you a picture of his screen we would all be lost. He is one smart, funny, interesting, hilarious, kind, thoughtful, adventurous and hairy faced soul. I am lucky. 

To all of you who thought you might be getting more. Nope! I am going to head home on the tram. Just know this. I LOVE GERMANY! I wish we could stay here and not go back to NZ. It is that wonderful and I don't even speak the language. 

List of things that I will blog about in the very near future:

• apartment
• living with a german family
• church in germany
• linds and denise visiting
• public transportation
• how i spend my days
• what to ALWAYS have when living in a foreign country
• why i love germany
• school trips and school friends
• funny things and thoughtful things
• if i get really ambitious i might fill you in on what we did in the usa, we'll see  

Lots to blog about. Stay tuned. I know you can. I mean honestly how long have you been waiting? You can wait a bit longer. 

Creating Ruckus

I am a peacemaker. Honestly, I am. Ask my husband. Actually, please refrain he may be unpredictable in his answer.
Here is a little article that was in the paper. Hope you enjoy and it softens your heart to pray for my registration to go through.
Speaking of ruckus. Did you know that nearly every morning Shawn and I create ruckus in our house?

Our toilet is too high and our legs are too short. We bought this blue step and it creates ruckus as you drag it across the floor. Don't worry though it makes the toileting experience so much better.
Educational tip: Completely and totally proper to say "Can I go toilet?" or "He is going toilet." Weird? I think so.
On a happy note... only 16 days.

Our Time

Trust us when we say... WE CAN'T WAIT FOR THE END OF THIS MONTH! Who are we kidding though? It will be a whole different kind of busy. We are so excited and can't wait to see you all.

In the moment

"If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it" Ferris Bueller. 

Shawn was able to baptize Zhang Tian Jiao (Tony). He is a 20 year old from China. I was able to meet him through the missionaries. He is so cute and we take him to church every Sunday. 

We have been in NZ for almost 6 months. Time flies fast. 

January 25th at 4 am I received a phone call. I was needed in the hospital to speak chinese. Shawn and I rushed to the hospital and spend the next 4 hours with a family that had just lost their little one. I hope to never forget the feelings I had and the spirit that was there. We made eternal friends that morning.

I am working and with that... doubled our income. WHOOH to answered prayers. 

I was asked to baptize a woman. I met her on her first Sunday at church and we instantly became friends with her family. We spent Chinese New Years and many other days with them. She was baptized the day before she went back to China, by her husband.  

I haven't cut my hair in over 8 months.

Shawn gave his proposal presentation. He did AMAZING! He is one smart cookie. All of the professors and advisors were impressed. Now the real work starts.

I am working and with that... doubled our income. WHOOH to answered prayers. 

Our landlord asked Shawn if I "molt". Aren't there 500 other words that he could of said? We still laugh about it. Some peoples children, I tell you what. I do lose a lot of hair in the shower... but I would never consider it molting.

To A Better Place

"She once said to my dad on my sisters birthday when my mom went to the store, that 20 dollars is to much for someone she does not know that much and 10 dollars cant bye a lot.

A lady at church gave my grandma a paper and said here is the news letter and my grandma told my dad after she left “I don’t have a new sweater”. 

We were eating at the table and my dad asked my mom the check the rolls and my grandma said “no I am all right”. 

At church we know a guy that my grandma says she use to dance with him but it was his dad so she goes up to him and says “I once danced with you”.

“Dr. Phil is from Heber”

She says to my baby niece when she is crying “just give her that nipple” but she rely means give her that binki.

She asks my dad or mom every night “So what are we doing tomorrow”.

She asks my dad if he is going to Vernal about every day but if he is we cant tell her or she will want to go to work with my dad but he has tried that once or twice and I don’t think he will do it again any time soon. 

When ever someone says Florida she says “I once lived in Florida”.

We have a big window in front of our house and she counts the cars that go by and she says “there have been at least 75 cars I wonder what is going on down the road”.


We got her a drink a McDonalds and she complains that there is too much ice so she says “I think that is cheap of them” and then she shows my sister and says “that is dumb”.

She told me “shut you mouth”.

She asks me every morning “so who is taking you to school”.

We went on a trip to west yellow stone and on the way she kept saying “look at that cute little tree we could dig it up couldn’t we and put it in our back yard”.

She also says “look at those rocks they would look nice in your yard”.
When we pass a tanker she says “look at that bus it must be coming from Vernal”.

She says that when we drive two blocks away from her house and she says “did you see that car in front of my house” we tell her you cant see your house from this road and she says “well their was to a car”.

She says that when my niece comes up and she has held her all day and you finally get her she says “can I hold her” we tell we haven’t held her yet and she says well you just don’t want me to maybe I should just go home”.

She always says “I don’t want to impose on you”.

When we asks hey how old is my niece she says “Oh….2 to 3 weeks” “when she is 7 months”.

My grandma thinks that ups really means “up’s store”.

My grandma says “Heber is a safe place because there is only three ways out of town” but there is really a lot.

When my grandma sees or hears byu she says “you know what that means bring them young and unite them” we tell her what it really means and she says it again.

I was on the highway getting up to speed witch is 60 and I am going about 30 and she tells me “that is fast enough”.

My grandma tells every one that her kids don’t want her to live home alone but she really does not want to.
Tennie was with Wells in the truck and she saw a license plate from Wyoming with a cowboy logo and she said that car must be from Kamas because it has a cowboy on the license plate.

Grandma was talking to Judy on the phone and said to Judy that she went to see her the other day. Grandma said that she drove in her driveway but there were no cars there. Judy asked her when did she come and she said I don’t know about 3 or 4 days ago. Hummm Mom or Dad can’t remember ever taking Grandma to see Judy. Maybe she took one of the cars without us knowing.

She always says I don’t want to impose but once she said I don’t want to in-poop on you I mean impose.

I was sneaking up on her not in a quiet manner and she says you better be careful I might pull that big thing that hangs in front of you.

She told me to go jump in a lake when I would not let her put her hands in the ice."   Case Barker


For the past nine years my parents have taken care of my grandma. She passed away last night with my family by her side. Growing up we visited her at least once a week. Grandma always had soda in her fridge, she made the best pies, when I was sick she would pick me up from school, she took us to plays, she let us have cousin parties, My family and I love you Grandma. I know you know we love you because we took care of you in your worst moments. We know you are happy and with Grandpa. Make sure you keep telling heaven all your sassy stories. Until we meet again.