Two Weeks of Snow

  It has been snowing or raining here for two weeks solid.  Normally this would make me quite grumpy, but these last two weeks have been great.   Here is a short recap.

Monday, November 26 the kids had the afternoon off so everyone in Bern could go to the Onion Festival, bang each other on the head with toy hammers, throw confetti at each other and buy things made from onions.  That evening our darling missionaries from our Ward came for dinner and had FHE with us.

Josh spending his life savings on bags of confetti

Missionaries being attacked by Nathan and Josh.

 Friday, November 30, ran a record 43 minutes with my friend Lori in the rain.  Had book club with ten ladies from many different countries and found their stories of their youth experiences to be fascinating.

Saturday, Josh hiked five miles in the snow with his scout troop from the International School. Then, all but Keith (he was sick) had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner that was prepared by my friend Kayli.  She made the most amazing dishes and the best candy and mousse pie I have ever had.

Kayli and Brett - She is pregnant with her sixth and manages to still do it all.

The beautiful table set up by Kayli in the back of our chapel.

This was one of the kids tables and I thought it was fun because it shows our chapel in the background.

Some of the great people I have met here.

My friend's baby who is just a month younger than Hadley and I hold her every chance I get.
(My surrogate granddaughter)

Sunday, December 2, we went to a concert where a friend from the ward was performing and we enjoyed a very unique experience.  There was a group of German speaking Swiss people singing american pop songs and it was hilarious.  They were really good but was unlike anything I had ever seen.

This was the director of the choral group and his voice was amazing.

Waiting for the bus to go to church.

View from the bus stop.

Tuesday, December 4, had friends over to make caramels and have lunch.  We made three batches and they all turned out.  That is a first.

Saturday, took a train to Geneva to tour Cern Laboratory. It is a 58 year old research lab, with 20 partner countries, where scientists do fundamental research in particle physics. They smash atoms, and think they have produced something called a Higgs Boson, whatever that is. 

Our train to Geneva left earlier than any of us would have wanted.

Kelly waiting for the train.

The Globe

The ATLAS nuclear particle detector is 95m below this building, and twice as big as this wall painting of it. 

World of Particles Museum, with lots of cool exhibits, like the NEXT computer used to invent the wwweb, and Ernest Lawrence's first particle accelerator from 1930.  

There are 1200 of these cryogenic superconducting electromagnets in the 27km Large Hadron Collider ring. 

Sunday, December 9, taught Relief Society and then spent the afternoon playing in the snow.

This is the cow pasture right by our house.

We stayed until it got dark and were one of the only ones left on the hill.