Top 10 Things I Have Learned the Past Two Years

I have learned a lot the past two years.  Not much German, but a lot of other things.  Some good, some bad.

#1  If you want your teenage daughter to spend time with you.  Take her to a new country, with a new language, where her friends are few, her activities are very limited, and she may get so bored that she wants to spend time with her parents and her brother.

#2  Trying to learn a second language is extra challenging when you already struggle speaking Einglesh.

#3  Kissing three times on the cheek, as Swiss do,  leaves room for mistakes.  I got a little confused when I first got here and kissed an older lady in the ward right on the mouth.

#4  I love America.  I always knew that, and I do love Switzerland, but America will always be               home.

#5  My kids can handle difficult things.

#6  I can not.
 I guess I can but not as well as my kids.

#7  Living for two years as if you are on vacation makes you fat.

#8  There are kind, thoughtful, caring, generous people wherever you go.

#9  Having more than one bathroom is a great luxury.

#10  I can survive two years with no decorating, little shopping, no car, no garbage disposal, and a small aprtment.  But I'm happy I don't always have to.

Good Bye Switzerland

I spent most of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday packing and cleaning.  The kids have been swimming with friends every day.  Today we went with the Brady's and the Reading's to Grindelwald and rode Trotti Bikes down the hill.  It was our last adventure and it was tough to realize - this is it.  Tomorrow the furniture gets picked up by those that have bought or been given stuff.  We will have dinner with Lori and her family.   Sunday we will clean all day and then go to my dear friend Monique's house for dinner.  Monday morning we will check out of our flat.  Keith will have a friend of ours take him and all the big suitcases to a hotel by the Zurich airport.  The kids and I will take the train because there will not be enough room in the car.  Tuesday morning we will fly to Iceland, then Denver, and then home.

I can not believe two years have gone by so quickly.  I will so miss my friends here and the things we have seen and experienced over the past two years, but I am so excited to return to my old life.  It has been more difficult than I ever would have imagined - mostly in the beginning.  But it has been more wonderful than I ever dreamed of.

Good-bye Switzerland, good-bye blogging

Josh and Romain

Two of my Besties - Renate and Lori

Josh and Nathan

THE END

Europa Park

Monday we spent the day at Europa Park with the Brady's, the Readings, and Becky.  We had a great time.  We got there when it opened and stayed until it closed.  Europa Park is in Germany just two hours from Bern.  It is divided into countries in Europe and each area is made to look like the country.  The sun was warm but thanks to all the water rides we stayed quite cool, and wet.

Scandinavia

dinner in Greece

toboggan rides in Switzerland

Alyna, Kelly, and Lara

Lori, Ryan, Nathan, Kelly, and Josh

We are going to miss these guys!

Sunday we were invited to my friend Renate's house for dinner.  We took the train out to her beautiful home in the country with the most amazing gardens.  We had a wonderful barbecue with the Readings, the Scott's, and the Sanderson's from Heber City.  Bill drove us back to Bern after dinner and it was crazy to think that nearly two years to the day we had spent our first week in Switzerland and had dinner at the Readings celebrating the Fourth of July.  A lot has happened in two years.

Lara, Alyna, Kelly, Natasha (standing)

Becky, Dru, Renate 

Our drive home

Two years earlier.

Josh, Keith, Renate, and Lara - two years earlier

Triftbahn

 Friday, June 28th the kids had a carnival at their school.  Josh performed with his class and Kelly painted faces.  The next day we had planned an outing with friends but it rained all day and we had to cancel.

The school has two pigs as mascots.


 The next week was the kids last week of school.  They had a lot of fun activities and good-bye parties. Tuesday after school Josh and I went to Kanderstagg where we picked up Nathan.  Nathan was with his parents and brother at scout camp and we brought him back to spend the night. We hiked a little, went on a ropes course and had dinner with all the scouts.

Saturday Kelly went to the temple and then had a barbeque and swam with all the kids in the ward.  Keith, Josh and I took the train to Gadman and then a cable car up the mountain, and then hiked two hours to get to the Trift Bridge.  The Trift Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the Swiss Alps.  We walked over the bridge, had lunch, took a nap, then hiked back.  The bridge is over a beautiful glacier and the views were spectacular.

The bridge from a distance.

Our last visitors.

Keith's cousin, Roy, died a few months before we moved to Switzerland.  He is one of the kindest, most unselfish men I have ever known.  In the middle of his cancer treatments he told me that before he died he wanted to teach Josh how to play the guitar in order to help him with his stutter.  He spent many hours teaching Josh.  His whole family is remarkable!   His wife Linda and her daughter Melissa came to visit us on Wednesday, June 19th and just left this morning.  I felt like Roy was looking over us because everything we did turned out perfect, weather and all.

Wednesday I picked them up in Zurich and we headed to Luzern and Mt. Rigi.

This is a picture of a drunk French guy who asked us to take his picture and send it to him.  As we did. he fell part way down a steep hill and had a hard time climbing back up.  So funny. 

Top of Mt. Rigi. 

Then we walked around and saw the town of Luzern and the Lion Monument.

Thursday it was suppose to be rainy so we took a train, then a boat to Chateau de Chillon.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.  We walked around Lausanne and had dinner at a great Chinese restaurant.  While having dinner, two girls at another table started screaming at each other and then one tried to turn the table upside down and broke all the dishes.  It was quite a scene.

view from the boat

After dinner we went to see the Cathedral and got caught in a torrential downpour running to the train.

Friday we went to Grindelwald and rode the trotti bikes down the mountain called First.  We stopped along the path and ate pastries.  We then headed to Lauterbrunnen, Trummelbach Falls, Gimmelwald, Murren, and then home through Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken.

Saturday Kelly had a dance in Zurich so the rest of us went to the Callier Chocolate Factory.  From there we went to the darling town of Gruyere.  Linda and Melissa treated us all to fondue. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the Medieval Festival that was going on.  There were fun reenactments, great costumes, musicians playing, and other interesting things throughout the castle.

The town of Gruyere from the train. 

Gruyere

Sunday we all went to church, then walked around Bern.

The bear pit in downtown Bern.

Monday it was suppose to rain in Bern so we took a train early in the morning and got to Stresa, Italy in only two hours.  The weather was perfect.   We spent two days walking along the lake, swimming in the pool overlooking the lake, eating Italian Food, and the best Italian pastries.   

Melissa on Lake Magiore

Did I mention we had a few Italian Pastries?

Wednesday we went to Zermatt and took the cable car up to the highest point where we enjoyed great views of the Matterhorn and went to the ice caves.

Thursday was our last day together.  We did a temple session in the morning.  Linda and Melissa stopped for a bratwurst on the way home.  They said they couldn't go home without having a brat.  Then the skies cleared and we rented bikes in Murten and rode around for four hours.  We rode around the entire lake and through some cute towns including Avenches with the amazing Roman Ruins.  We had dinner at a Turkish restaurant in Murten that was different than anything any of us had ever tasted and it was really good.  The owner was in love with Melissa and kept coming to our table to see if we were enjoying it. (at least that is what we thought he was asking)  Too bad he didn't speak a word of English.

Murten from across the lake.

Avenches from a hill.