Köln/Cologne

One of the world's largest churches and Northern Europe's largest Gothic Cathedral - pretty amazing!!

We climbed all 509 steps up to the top - my legs wouldn't stop shaking for hours!

The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, a large gilded sarcophagus dating from the 13th century, and the largest reliquary in the Western world. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose bones and 2,000-year-old clothes were discovered at the opening of the shrine in 1864.


Say Cheese!


Our friend Ben who was staying w/ us for a few weeks came w/ us - hope we didn't bore him too much!

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

When Brody was 17 he came to Germany as an exchange student. Rothenburg was his favorite city by far. It is known to have the best well-preserved stone gate surrounding the city since Medieval Times.
We are now in our last week of being here...and were afraid we weren't going to be able to make the 2 hr drive...but gotta love waiting-'til-the-last-minute-spontaneous trips w/ the Willig's in an air-conditioned car!!! We had a great time :)


Masks of Shame - you can see the one on the far right best with the long ears, big eyes, and tongue sticking out. They made the women who heard, saw, and gossiped about everything wear these. Thought it was pretty funny.


ouch!!



Trying to look sad that we're about to get our heads chopped off...I don't know what kind of face Brody is making - lol



Picturesque

Happy Father's Day!

Ok - I did start writing this on Father's Day...but give me a break - it takes a long time to post even one blog as slow as our connection is.

However, I wanted to give a little tribute to all the hardworking and devoted Father's out there - and to 3 who have particularly shaped my life and been there for me whenever I needed them.

First, my father - I really appreciate the relationship that we have today after a few rocky years. Even through the worst of it, I knew that I could always turn to him for help if I needed it. He was always very involved in all the activites I did as a kid - including swimming (in which he was at every meet as the official), soccer (even coached me a couple of years), and went to several of my games for basketball & volleyball. I was reminiscing about a time in 4th grade where we had a project to make a musical instrument. He spent hours with me as we made a guitar out of a wheat tin, piece of wood and wires which you could really tune! (he did most of the work) - but it was the best one in my class by far! Things like that just don't get forgotten. Thank you dad for all that you do and have done for me!


































Second, my Uncle, aka Sir Uncle Sir. Since as long as I can remember, I feel that I have had a special bond with him. My Christmas & birthday gifts to him every year when I was younger, were Pringles (I thought that's all he ate or something). He didn't like onions, so I didn't like onions - he LOVES the Steelers, so I love them too - just a couple of examples - but anything he didn't like or did - I had the same opinion. After living with him for a little over a year when first leaving home to go to college, he welcomed me with open arms - and I feel like my bond with him and the family will always be solid. Can't you tell he loves me??










And lastly, but not least, Steve Salisbury. As many of you who know me, know that I have 'adopted parents'. If anything happened to Steve and Charlotte, I just don't know what I'd do. Steve has spent hour upon hours with me, counseling me and helping me try to figure out who I am. I will forever be grateful for all the love he has shown to me and to my family.

Trying to be creative...trying

Just real quick - thought I'd share this - (I've been taking a few pics of my ring lately) *notice the picture in the background is of the Frankfurt temple - IDK, I just thought it was cool :)

Little moments in Life

For the most part - the day was pretty insignificant. But through the precious time that goes by everyday, we can see how beautiful life really is.
Yesterday was homemade granola day. I have already tried to make it twice before, but now that it's not turning out like I want to...I'm more determined than ever to perfect it (3rd time's a charm, right?) Yeah! It's goooood :) Had some with milk this morning for breakfast, and a little later on had some in my yogurt for a snack. Delicioso!

So, today - post granola yumminess - I go to the couch and fall back asleep (can we say LAAAAZZZZYY!) Anyway - apparently Brody thought it'd be funny to take a pic. so I decided to share. ------------------------------------------------>
*hey! at least you can see I've been reading my scriptures :)~

So, the farmer's market runs every week on Tuesdays, Fridays, & Saturdays - and I love walking through and see all the fresh fruits and veggies they have. I pick up some cherries and a mango the other day - mmmmmm!

Since the clouds were telling me that they couldn't make up their minds whether or not they were going to ring themselves out or not today, I kept waiting to take my chances of going outside. Finally, I got tired of sitting around - backed my bag with my camera, a blanket, a book, and money (to pick up some groceries on the way back home), and took off on my bike to a nearby park which we love, love, love! *Volkspark - check out the pics (you may notice that it is the same park I took a million pictures in last fall when we got here - it's just so beautiful I couldn't help myself :)
but when I got home and was putting the bike back in the basement, I shattered my watch :(














...and what do I do when I'm feeling bummed? I cook! So, then I made homemade noodles :) yum!

When you buy LeMoNS at the store...make LeMoNAdE! :)

Nothin' like a cool glass of homemade lemonade after a...FIFA WORLD CUP SOCCER GAME!

Watched a game (Deutschland vs. Serbia) with some friends at the Kuz. What does FIFA stand for anyway? As our couch-surfing friend, Colin, would say, "Football Is Freakin' Awesome!!"
I couldn't agree more!!

Our friends: Cy, *Brody, Stefan, & Andre
O

London Bridge is falling down!

Just kidding - it's all good - we checked it out :)
So, we were able to go on our London/Cambridge trip with our 2 best friends here in Germany. We flew Ryan Air (a.k.a. Ryan Scare) in which the horn sounds once it lands and everyone claps in joy that we made in on ground alive - lol.

We arrived at Stansted Airport and took a national express bus to downtown London and walked straight to our Youth Hostel that we had reserved with 4 beds.


We were in room 18...and basically 9 floors up - it was quite the hike - but well worth it since we had the view of the London Eye, Big Ben, and Houses of Parliament from the window.



We were soooooooooooo shocked at how nice people were, and then tried to pin-point...at what time did we forget what it was like to have friendly people around you. We had a wonderful, wonderful time seeing all the sights, we were able to go see the Royal Mews (where they keep the Queen's horses and Carriages *Brody's favorite part), and were also about to go to an hour long service inside Westminster Abbey.











Just some of our favorites...but check out fb for the rest :)
Thanks for sharing!