stage four of the journey currently in germany

i don't have a prayer of remembering everything i've been thinking of blogging. i have been reading, but by the time i get caught up i don't have time to blog.

1st thanks so much for the hospitality while in utah. the wedding and reception were wonderful and so was the company. jess and tony/cameron and monica thanks so much for letting me stay with you. it was so fun. alicia and kev you are brave souls to host the first of many i hope fondue parties. monica and cameron thanks for doing all the shopping for it. it was really convenient that you were at sam's club when kev decided that would be a good idea. adam and mindi great suggestion. joey and chelsea we were hoping to get to see your home--next time. it was so fun to see all the sisters and their beautiful children and grandchildren. you are all so cute. i love our family!!!

you can tell how old you are when you go to mexico not to lay on the beach or go scuba diving, but rather to have your dental work done. we (meaning ellery's brother, sisters and brothers-in-law) still managed to get in some golf, played lots of games and had fun terrorizing the wait staff of whatever restaurant we were in. they are all deaf and so talk loudly enough to be heard next door. which is great fun when rich is telling some of his jokes and val is telling one of his stories. my consolation is that everyone there is just as hard of hearing as they are. we laugh till we bawl.

richmond was awesome. cole and dayne were great fun. dayne kept saying "i love you g'ma! i miss you! and then would give me a big kiss or just make a kissing noise. it was just like she does it when she talks to me on the phone. darla was so sweet. she bought all this chocolate just for me. they are truely one couple that eats to live rather than lives to eat. she had also printed out all the directions to get everywhere i could possibly want to go to entertain myself. we met at the airport, unloaded her bags, loaded mine and darla left for her sister's. geof. made it home a couple of days later and our walk around richmond was definitely a highlight. it seems we haven't had much time to talk together forever. we walked and talked for about 5 hours. it was long enough that we got past the part where geof. lectures me which is normally all we have time for. to date hour for hour geof.and adam have lectured me more than i have them. perhaps because i listen more politely than they did as teenagers. geof. was pushing dayne in the stroller. they were having their record low at 28 degrees. i didn't care--it was sunny and no rain in sight. geof. took me several places including the jefferson davis hotel where they got the idea for the staircase in gone with the wind and ended up in the hollywood cemetary for a cold picnic. i told geof. that the last time we had picnicked in a cemetary together it had been in england and uncle sterling was feeding us blood sausage just for the experience. it was then that geof. noticed the time. we had to really move it to be on time to pick up cole from school. we figured it was about a 10 mile walk.

my favorite is reading about meags not wanting to be late to pick up kids and geof. driving a mini-van listening to lame kid's music. i appreciated my mom more and more as the years went on. that's why God has you become a parent. i did drive a mini-van, but pepe was and still is in a class by itself and no i never did listen to lame kid's music. "daddy aren't you glad that i'm a mormon," was not lame especially when you would sing it really loudly in public when we lived in denver. geof. i'm looking forward to the combover/mullet. everything comes back again eventually only with a new twist to it. the combo could be the twist.

last story: geof. and i are on another walk in these beautiful japanese gardens near their home. i'm pushing dayne in the double wide stroller and she is pretty much whining nonstop. dayne is not a morning person and is kind of a mess until after lunch and her afternoon nap when she turns into a pretty pretty princess. cole is running amuck and having a great time doing it. there is a very narrow rock bridge crossing the stream. geof. says i've got it mom. i say it's ok i'll just lift the back wheels--i've already started across. well there is this big rock on the one side. (this isn't as bad as it sounds because the rock bridge is water level) i clear the first part of the rock but catch the tire on the back part of the rock that sticks up just a tiny bit more. the stroller goes off balance and i literally throw dayne and the stroller into the pond. she lands on the bank mostly with the stroller on top of her. geof. quickly comes to the rescue. dayne's arms are wet but she is othewise unharmed and surprisingly quiet. she had such a funny look on her face i started to laugh and couldn't stop. eventually i was able to gasp out, you know geof. if this were adam he would never let me forget it. he says you think i'm going to?

geof. flew out darla and junie bug flew in. they missed being able to spend their anniversary together. i was going to babysit, considering the foregoing story perhaps it was best. anyway i got to spend some time with darla which is always way fun.

i'm done. i'll write about germany another time. love you all aunt le anne