Snow Bunnies~

January 16-19, we had a four day weekend, so we headed to the mountains. We had reservations at the Edelwiess Lodge and Resort where we had the best time. These pictures dont give the Austrian Alps any justice for just how BEAUTIFUL they really are. We drove down early Friday morning to get to the lodge, get settled in to our home away from home, and have things just perfect for the next day. We had dinner at the bar/restuarant letting time get away from us to looking down and seeing that it was already after midnight! Waking up bright and early Saturday morning, Ryan couldn't wait to hit the slopes. After getting all layered up we headed to the Zugspitz, which is the highest peak in Germany. You can literally see for miles and miles from up there. We both had several many bumps and bruises for days after this trip. As a matter of fact, I still have a bruise where Ryan and I crashed. I landed on his snowboard and thought i broke my leg. Not to worry, I was up and down many times after that. We could really tell we haven't been in about 3 years. We can say now that we don't ever want to wait that long between snowboarding again. Hope you enjpy just a few of the pictures from our wonderful little vacation.

Just before heading out!


~Just Us~

~From the top~

Our Date Night!

Ryan and I have been so busy that it seems like when we are home we are only sleeping, grabbing a bite to eat, and then out again. We finally had a date night and took a picture before we left. We had a great time meeting up with friends and just relaxing. I suggest all couples make at least 1 date night a week. We actually dressed nicely instead of our everyday uniforms and it felt great!

My my, what a handsome husband I have!

We are really looking forward to this coming weekend. We are headed to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort to do some SNOWBOARDING! This week cant seem to start and go by any faster. Here are a few pictures from when we took our white water rafting trip. So this is just a sneek peek of many more pictures to come.

This is the BEAUTIFUL fireplace inside the resort!

Happy Birthday to Chase!

Yesterday, January 10th, my nephew Chase Andrew turned 11 yrs old. He has grown so fast and I can't believe he is getting so big. This past deer season he was able to shoot his first deer with papa at the deer lease which has left him ate up with hunting. He loves loves loves it! Here is a few pictures of him from out and about at Granny and Papa's.

Man, I miss this boy. He is growing so fast. I have got to get home before he is taller than me. Happy Birthday Chase! We love you and we miss you! See you in May, we hope!

Happy New Year!

We have been pretty busy already for the new year so I have just been able to jump on see how everyone is doing and then get right back off here. We had a great New Year's night. We didn't do anything but stay home and watch the snow fall and then lots of fireworks from our windows. We also saw lots of cars coming through the gate that were sliding all over the road so we just decided to stay home. Germans and Turkish people seem to get a little crazy on New Year's thinking it is funny to shoot bottle rockets at people. Then, lots of fights break out and then it is all down hill from there. Of course we have no pictures from that night which is sooo unusual for me, but yep NO pictures.

Hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve and hope that 2009 brings happiness to all!

Fun weekend with Caitlin...

Seems like forever since I have been on here and love catching up with how everyone's Christmas went. Ryan and I had a great Christmas and even had a visitor for a couple days. Caitlin, Ryan's sister, made it here on the 27th safe and sound. We picked her up at the airport and headed straight back to the house. After getting "freshened up" we all jumped on the little strauss and headed into town. This really didn't take us too long since it was super cold and we had stayed up quite late then up early to get her so we were all dragging around 4 pm. We headed back to the house and we were all asleep by 5 pm. =)

Downtown Mannheim Water Tower

Inside one of the many BEAUTIFUL Churches

Just made me think of HOME

Sunday morning we were up early and out of the house by 8 headed to the Neuschwanstein Castle. It is the castle that Walt Disney mimicked for the Disneyland Castle. Let's just say it is ever little girl's dream to see the REAL Disney castle. So after the 3 hours there and then 3 back we were even more tired. King Ludwig II had two castles so we of course had to take the tour of both.

~Hope you enjoy all these BEAUTIFUL pictures~

From the Hohenschwangau Castle~The Neuschwanstein Castle~

Monday morning being back to work which was rather rough on Ryan and I. Not to worry we are on half days for the holidays, but since we left for Berlin after work we were a little worn out. Our 5 hour drive to Berlin to find our hotel and it turning out to be a Hostel, lets just say we weren't really too worried. We all headed down to the bar for a little while and had a good time. Caitlin turned 21 in July so Ryan HAD to get his sister a drink.

Tuesday, we took a little trip around Berlin but there was too much to see all in 1 day. We dropped Caitlin off at her hotel, making sure she was all settled in then headed on home.

The 5 hr trip turned into 6 1/2 after sitting in traffic. Gotta love these German Stau's!

Trying to make the trip as entertaining as we could but we were pooped!

Our Tree!

A few posts back I had started the Christmas Posts and said I would share our 1st tree pictures. Here are just a few of many. Ryan was just too cute and really got into it. So the day after Thanksgiving I of course had to go hit the sales on "black friday." I was out by 5 am and back home before he was even out of bed. Little did he know I had made plans to "let" him go pick the tree up since it would fit in my car. Yes, he loves me! Then we get it home to find out the wire had been sliced and the cord was in two pieces. If you dont know my husband, we are working on his patience. Let's just say this didn't help and really put him to the test. So off we went back to the store to get another one. By this time is was way later in the day and we put off putting the tree up til the next day. Then, the red ornament set I chose just happened to not have the little hooks in there. So he sat and tied every little short string and did such a wonderful job. I was so proud of him~did I mention he has NO patience? So this was HUGE for him to do. As he tied, I put them on each ornament...and there was 120...=) All in all it was great bonding time, so I like to call it and now we have a BEAUTIFUL tree to last us for the next 3 years. I HOPE! Then back to TEXAS we shall go!

My handsome husband being such a great helper!

Just rearranging a few!
There she is! So BEAUTIFUL!

Looking back...

I am just looking back at pictures from the same time last year and thought I would share our 2007 Christmas pictures. I love these pictures and the fact that we were back home in TEXAS makes them even that much better. I wish we were in Momma's front yard this year, but being in Germany is great for now.

It was very cold in this picture!