Day 1 of Family's Trip to Germany

As most of you know, my family came to visit in April! My parents and sister Amy arrived in Dresden on Sunday, April 15th. We figured they would be hungry so we took them to lunch in Dresden and then headed back to Chemnitz. We let my parents into Karen's apartment to put their suitcases and to get settled. There was a men's meeting going on at the Sullivan's so they also got to meet several of the men from church as soon as they arrived. Our goal was to keep them awake until at least 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. so that they could get a good night's sleep and get over jet lag quickly. Once my parents were done at Karen's we went over to our apartment. Even though my parents have seen the apartment before it is very different since we were not married then and Clint didn't get any of his shipped things until the week my parents visited back in 2004. Amy had never been to Chemnitz so it was exciting to show her where we lived. We tried to keep them awake and occupied until 5:00 when we went to a local gym to play volleyball with a group from church. I couldn't convince my Dad to get up from the recliner however, so he stayed and slept for awhile. :( Oh well, I think my Mom and Amy enjoyed watching us play volleyball and meeting people and talking. I think they had fun. We came back and ate dinner and decided that the next day we would go to Seiffen. It wasn't long after that when everyone was ready to go to bed.

My Nieces

It has been way to long since I have put up pictures of my nieces. It has been even longer since I have actually seen them. :( It has been over a year now since I have been able to hug and kiss the sweet girls. Ashlyn turned 2 in March and Claire is 19 months old now. They have grown so much since I last saw them and have learned many new things as well. I hear that Ashlyn is a little bundle of energy and she is never sitting still. Claire is picking up new words so quickly and at the moment she loves to say "uh oh". Lana told me that she dropped something in the car one day and she continued to say uh oh the rest of the way home. :) I just thought I would share some of the newest pictures I have of them. Aren't they sweet?! When Mom was here she bought Claire the backpack and necklace and apparently she loves carrying it around the house even though she doesn't know how to open it yet. Back in February Jonathan and Lana got to take a trip to Houston to visit Doug and Amy so the girls got to play together a lot and I heard they had fun, but were also wanting all the toys to themselves and didn't want to share with each other. I guess it is about time for that phase. If you can see Ashlyn's car, it says Princess on it and I think that helps define her pretty well. Look at her with her purse, baby and car. She is such a cutie. Claire loves to get inside the baby bed that is at Mom's house. She is still small enough to get in it. For Ashlyn's birthday she got a play kitchen and her grandma made her a little apron so that she could play "kitchen." I love you Ashlyn and Claire and I will get to see you soon... in August!

The Joys of Marriage :)

It all sounds too familiar...