Bavaria

Hi family. Geof., your stories were hillarious. Mike especially liked the new dog one. That's right, my husband is home from the field- a couple of days before I expected. Very nice!!! He's just in time for our ward Christmas party which he is absolutely thrilled about. If you believe that you haven't spent enough time with my husband.

Cameron, I'm really glad the wedding went well. I just got my invitation a couple of days ago and they look really cute- by the way- it probably came about two weeks ago but Mike normally goes to the mailroom for our mail on the way home from work and so I only went once. There isn't too strong an incentive when you pay your bills online and no one we know sends letters.

We are having Christmas early here to minimize what we are taking back and forth to the States. Mike thinks we should have it tomorrow so the kids have time to play with their toys before we go. That stresses me just a little bit. We have the main things but not really the fillers. I will have to see what I can get done today. It may just have to be in a few days. I'm afraid that it might be a bit of a let down because Santa isn't bringing tons of stuff because our trip is our big present. Besides that they won't have their presents from family and they are so used to the huge piles Christmas morning. While they might understand perfectly well, they might still have a little bit of a feeling of disappointment. We bought some really neat things that we know they will love but we have tried to steer clear of toys. We have SOOOO many. I just hope they are happy with it all. I'm stressing, can you tell?

Well, we leave next week. I can't believe it is already here. I have so much to get done. We have several Christmas parties between now and then and a million loads of laundry and stuff to get to our ht/vt families and teachers. I know, just the normal stuff that everyone else has as well.

Ellyn finally slept through the night again last night. She didn't sleep through the night once while Mike was gone. Actually, she did wake up last night, but she didn't cry. I could here her babbling for a bit and then she went back to sleep. I don't know if it's because Mike was home or we went for several long walks in the sunshine yesterday or what.

Okay I have to go get my kids dressed. Sorry, this is a completely boring blog. I love you all. love, Brooke