Welcome to Bornholm

On our first day on the island of Bornholm, we rented cars in Ronne, and drove to Bodelsker to visit the church where the Nielsons' ancestor was christened. It was open and we were free to explore and even sit and enjoy reading from the journal of great great great grandfather Nielson. (Our big group filled out the small chapel nicely.) The caretaker met up with us at the bell tower and gave us some interesting history of the area.

Alice played something perfect on the piano for us.

The night prior was one of those where I did not sleep. At all. Just look at those tired eyes. And man, I am sure getting the mileage out of that peach sweater!

 The Bell Tower.

The landscape of every little town was so beautiful. Farms and green pastures as far as we could see.

We got separated from the rest of the group, but found our way to one of the beautiful beaches with Christian and Stephanie. We discovered the most fine and soft sand. It was squeaky to walk on and felt so good on our feet.

Christian collected sand for his kids, but I was scared of the mess it would make in my suitcase, so I gathered some cool flat rocks instead. They were all over the beach. And most of them we could easily break in our hands. (These few resisted breaking, for whatever reason.) I want to know the story behind both the sand and rocks.  My basic college geology isn't really helping.

 Skipping rocks was a must.

We ate a delicious five course dinner at a restaurant called Le Port, overlooking the Baltic Sea. (But then, practically everything overlooks the Baltic Sea on this small island.) Mark and a few of the brother-in-laws took a little swim in the Baltic, earlier this day. I didn't have to do it, to tell you it was icy cold! Like the kind of cold where I was a little worried Mark would have a sudden heart attack or his body would seize up and sink. He not only survived, but repeated the swim the next day with a few others.

Polka dots. 

photo by liz

welcome home

Last week our nephew came home from a 2 year mission for our church, in Colombia.  We met him at the airport, along with his family.  {I wish I would have brought my good camera.}

Diane missed her missionary son. She was beaming with pride, and of course gratitude for his safe arrival.

Our kids are so used to praying for "Ben on his mission," they catch themselves saying it still. We're so glad he's home!

Perfect for Easter

We no longer have eggs in our nest.

We have baby birds.

Mark got the wreath down to show my parents the eggs and we found this instead. I don't know that they look like birds {yet}, but they are definitely not eggs.  This is crazy.  

Other exciting Easter news:  

1.  The kids colored eggs on Saturday.  We also had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  

2.  On Saturday and Sunday, we watched General Conference.  It was so good.  I especially loved the talks by Julie Beck, Jeffrey Holland, Russell Ballard, Henry Eyring, David Bednar and Neil Anderson.  That might have to be a whole separate post - I'll post links when they are available.  Seriously.  Awesome.

3.  Our parents came over for a casual Easter lunch:  Delicious ham and turkey sandwiches, pasta salad, fresh strawberries, chips and salsa, Martinelli's, pineapple cake, and chocolate/caramel covered apples.   

4.  We looked through the pictures of my parents' trip to see my sister in St. Kitts.  What a beautiful place.

5.  As Mark was out front saying goodbye to them, I looked out back and noticed the water in our pool sloshing around, splashing over the edge.  It was not windy at all.  But the water was moving, bigtime.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  I asked the kids if they had thrown something in.  They hadn't.  Mark came back in and briefly panicked, thinking someone was in there.  Seconds later, the phone rang,  it was Mark's mom who had left earlier and was already home.  She asked if we felt the earthquake.  Earthquake?  She said her house shook for 30 seconds.  I looked up at our chandeliers.  They were swaying.  None of us felt the earth move, but the pool and chandeliers confirmed her report.  

Sure enough, there was a 7.2 earthquake centered in Baja California.  We are 210 miles away from the epicenter. 

WOW.

in review

We spent the weekend watching and listening to our church's General Conference. I learned so much and renewed my resolve to be better. A few of my favorite talks were:

• Elder Hales - Debt and addiction and excess. "I love you" = 3 most important words. "We can't afford it" = 4 other loving words.
• Sister Lifferth - Self discipline. Reverence and respect start at home.
• President Monson - Perseverance
• And then the choir sang "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet" with a fantastic photo tribute to President Monson - WOW!
• Elder Oaks - Entitlement is contrary to the teachings of Christ.

All the talks were great! Afterward, my parents came over for homemade pizza and our friends, the Greenes, brought us the most delicious lime pound cake with raspberry sauce. It was soooo good!
What were your favorite talks?

2009 gifts

Our birthday gift to each child at church this year is a journal made from a junior legal pad (Costco). We added a primary-colored cardstock cover (adhered to the back with scrapbook glue dots). White pencils from Oriental Trading complete the gift. Both journal and pencil say "I LOVE MY FAMILY, to go along with this year's "My Eternal Family" theme. Cost per child: under $0.70. I'm happy with the way the journals turned out. We have lots more to make, but it's just folding and gluing. Not sanding and painting. Click photo to see detail.

no more sanding. no more painting.

These were our gifts to the Primary children last year. 3 of us made 150 of these blocks. They are even cuter in person. And even more work in person. Pictures coming soon of this year's gift.

Think less work. Less stress. More useful. Very cute.

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.

begrüßen Sie nach Hause* or Willkommen zuhause

UPDATE: "Willkommen zu Hause" gets the most votes. thanks for your help! Marcus is home! My brother in law has been serving a mission for our church in Germany/Austria for the past 2 years. He returned home yesterday! It was great to see him and listen to his experiences, with a new intonation in his voice. {german-speakers intonate differently than english speakers? who knew?} The kids were so excited to see Elder Nielson: handmade cards galore, hugs, and then on to eating fabulous mexican food! Because they make delicious pork roasts and chocolate in Germany, but not mexican food. We have prayed for Marcus everyday for 2 years and I was certain Grace and Jonah remembered when he left. They didn't. In fact, other big events that happened around the time of his leaving {i.e. Liz and David's wedding}, they also did not remember. 2 years is an eternity for children.

Marcus is a bit overwhelmed. And 2 inches taller.

a mother's hug!

  a nephew's hug.

  a sister's signs.

*I looked up "welcome home" on an english-german translation site. It seems to me there should be a much more familiar phrase for "welcome home" than this. Some sort of german colloquialism that doesn't translate directly. You german speakers, help me out. I know Marcus will not be popping in on my blog yet {if ever} so I can't rely on him.

beneficial

likely you already know about these events for Christian and Steph on Saturday. but just in case.... 1) Big Garage Sale in Gilbert. If you haven't been to Agritopia, you're in for a treat! New-ish neighborhood built the charming old school way: darling homes, front porches, low fences, detached garages, split-grass driveways (is that what you call them?), etc. etc. 2) Huge Sale at SOEL boutique in Provo. I went for the first time this summer and let me tell you, I drooled. Cuuuute and Hip. And a bowl full o' Good & Plenties at the counter for snacking while checking out. MMMMMM! 3) Also this Saturday, The General Relief Society Meeting Broadcast, from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Not a benefit sale, but you will certainly benefit. More info here.