Oh Hello Little Dead Blog (Gazillion Pics at End of Post)

Sigh. Somehow I've moved my life to Facebook. I'm not proud to say this. It's just how things seem to roll these days. It's where I put the cute little things the kids do or say. It's where I post my complaints, and where I post pictures. Urgh. But I actually want to keep the blog alive. I want to keep writing here. And post pictures 'n stuff.

Life has just gotten so crazy. I have to say that Emilia pretty consistently has put me on the edge of sanity. Everything seemed fine with 2. Now I feel like I'm spinning in endless circle of cleaning, feeding kids, changing diapers, feeding, changing diapers, cleaning, and trying to do something marginally exciting with the kids inbetween. It doesn't help that Emilia is prone to crying (well, it's actually screaming), and that I frequently have to leave her where she is to help someone else. And that I'm drowning in mommy guilt, because I seem to consistently fail to keep her happy most of the time. It sucks.

In between my last post and the current sudden hell that motherhood has become, we've had lots of fun though. We flew to Germany the beginning of May, and stayed for 6 weeks. We spent one of those weeks in Southern Spain seeing the Alhambra in Granada, and Sevilla, and also got to look at Morocco from Gibraltar (ok, we were only on the Spanish side). We had a great time. Henry's parents joined us for this trip, which was, urm, occasionally fun, and mostly stressful. The kids enjoyed their time with the grandparents though, and seeing all their cousins. Henry enjoyed speeding on the Autobahn. All of us loved being at all the cool public pools all the time. Sophia busted her chin open once, but other than that it was a good time. The girls were also great on the flights - thank heavens.

Since we came back mid-June, we've spent most of the summer at the pool. Sophia has made great progress with her swimming, and LOVES to dive (she wants to be a deep sea diver). Alba has also gotten a lot more comfortable in the water, and right now both of them are signed up for private lessons. Emilia loves splashing in the water as well, but strangely enough screams if I rinse her off in the shower, or wash her face with water. Go figure.

The end of July I drove out to Utah with the 3 girls to go camping at the first ever Feminist Mormon Girls Camp. The camping alone with 3 kids part was really crappy. But the girls loved the camping experience, and it was great meeting so many of the wonderful women who make up the Feminist Mormon Housewives community, in which I've participated so much (and now get to moderate the FB group for). Good times. We had people like Joanna Brooks there (lovely family), and also Carol Lynn Pearson, Lisa Butterworth of course, and other great folks.

Then Henry joined us a few days into our Utah trip. We ate at Cafe Rio, went to Antelope Island and swam in the Salt Lake (which was really cool), and I went to one full day of Sunstone. We stayed with our friends Danny and Darcie, which was great, even though I lost at every single game we played.

Sophia declared that week our best vacation ever. She really loved the camping.

Henry is doing well with his practice, but is stressed about going live with EHR (Electronic Health REcords) in a few weeks. It'll be a crazy change. I just sent off my paper work yesterday to apply for dual citizenship to Germany. As soon as I get the "ok", I'll apply for US citizenship. It's my first step to get ready for continuing my education in a few years. I'm eyeing a Master's in Social Work at the Chico State University. We'll see how that pans out. I'm still not planning to apply for another 3 years at least. Just slowly preparing.

Life in Burney is...still the same. Lonely. Church still sucks. I had another lovely (not) run-in with the primary president on Sunday. It's hard being without friends here.

Anyway, I'll post some pictures from our trip etc. And then post some stuff I posted on FB. Just in case FB gets attacked by terrorists and I don't have a record of stuff anywhere else. :)

We saw a bunch of places in Germany, such as Goslar, the Dinosaur Park, and the Zoo

Then we went to Spain. Behind Henry and the girls, you see Gibraltar.

 

From our hotel, we drove to Granada to see the Alhambra. It was absolutely stunning!

Sophia was also really impressed, especially with the intricate ceilings.

During the vacation to Spain, Sophia and Alba shared a bed. We found them in the most interesting positions at times.

Now we're off to see Sevilla, and the beautiful Alcazar.

We travel well as a family because we have no shame to change a diaper wherever we are.

We stopped in Cadiz on the way back from Sevilla to see their famous Cathedral.

And you have to chase some pigeons when you can.

Then we stopped in Tarifa, to get a picture of Morocco right behind us. However, it was so windy, we just wanted to get back to the car asap.

But I snapped a few pictures once everyone was back in the car. Looking at Africa!

Hotel friends

 

Back in Germany

Visiting the Wartburg. This is where Martin Luther was secretly brought when he had to flee from the Church, and where he started translating the bible. This is also where a really amazing woman named Elizabeth lived, who was truly a Saint.

The very beautiful mosaic room here tells the story of Elizabeth's life.

This is the room where Martin Luther was translating. The corner we're standing in has all these names caved in, you know the "I was here" kind of stuff. But the funny thing is that a lot of these are hundreds of years old. I was surprised to learn we've been doing this for a longlong time.

This one is from 1730