Reflections

The prodigal daughter returned to the gym yesterday and was received with open arms and warm reminders that I had been missed and that they were glad I was back. There is something refreshing in the way that pain and sweat bonds women together, and so it was with me yesterday.
I'd been away for nearly 3 months and although I don't really know why I stopped going, I am glad that I got my backside moving and actually went. I had a fun, sweaty, fat burner session and am happy to report that although I have been absent for a few months, my body and brain still know what to do and function quite well. I don't have any muscle-ache today and that is my confirmation that I am okay :)
I just have to tone up that flab! ;)
I was tired in the afternoon and I imagine if I had been at home I would have probably crashed on the sofa for an hour, but perhaps luckily for my metabolism, I was expected at Stephanie's to look after Liora and Eleanor for a few hours, and couldn't nap. I was extremely tired at around 7pm and could have gone to bed right there and then. And this from somebody who hasn't reached 40 yet!!!

Looking back at my life during the past few years, I realise that I'm not as consistant in my doings as I would like to be. I stay healthy and fit for more than half the year, then relax to the stage that I've undone all the good work that I've achieved and have to start again. I'm now at a weight that I'm kind of happy with and the question is, "Have I learnt from my past actions to not fall into the same trap again?" I hope so. It's only taken me two big attempts/failures in the past, so hopefully "third time lucky"......right?
The same goes in other areas of my life with attempts in holding family home evening, or family prayer, journal writing, keeping in contact with friends, using my talents or even crafting. I can go for months where I won't create a thing and then months when I don't want to do anything else.
I wonder why I can't find consistancy and balance? I wonder if time management is the key?
Well, whatever it is, there is one thing I know I can't do and that is change the past. I can only do things better in the future.

I was reading the January 2010 Ensign this morning (while eating my super healthy chopped up apple in natural joghurt) and read the talk Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave at a BYU devotional last January called, "The Best Is Yet To Be"
Two things stuck in my mind while reading, one was a quote from Peter found in Philippians 3:12-13:

"I have stopped rhapsodizing about ‘the good old days’ and now eagerly look toward the future ‘that I may apprehend that for which Christ apprehended me. This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before..."

The other was:

"There is something in many of us that particularly fails to forgive and forget earlier mistakes in life—either our mistakes or the mistakes of others. It is not good. It is not Christian. It stands in terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the Atonement of Christ. To be tied to earlier mistakes is the worst kind of wallowing in the past from which we are called to cease and desist.

Such dwelling on past lives, including past mistakes, is just not right! It is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps at this beginning of a new year there is no greater requirement for us than to do as the Lord Himself said He does: “He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more”

The proviso, of course, is that repentance has to be sincere, but when it is and when honest effort is being made to progress, we are guilty of the greater sin if we keep remembering and recalling and rebashing someone with his or her earlier mistakes—and that someone might be ourselves. We can be so hard on ourselves—often much more so than on others!"

This is going to be my goal for 2010 - Forget about my past failures, learn from them and reach forth unto those things which are before me. I can look at the things which are working well in my my life, find courage and hope from them and put my shoulder to the wheel and get to work.

There are things that I can't change - like the horrific amount of snow outside my window - but I can take time to see the beauty in it. I can look outside my kitchen window, past the two baskets of laundry that I should be ironing, and see my neighbour sitting outside her house on a garden chair in her snow gear reading some magazines while her granddaughter plays in the snow.


Or I can look at the photos that I took yesterday on my way home from Stephanie's. The weather was gorgeous - clear blue sky and the afternoon sun reflecting on the snow on the trees. I had to stop the car and snap these shots. I may not like the snow, but I am able to see the beauty in it.


I am so very blessed and I am grateful for my life and the ability to change things for the better.

Well, enough of my reflections for today. It's nearly lunch time and Jordan and Daniel will be coming home for lunch and will be expecting a meal on the table in 45 minutes. So, duty calls......

Hugs all,

Rebecca

A busy week

This week has been busy. The two younger kids and the hubster have been off school and we have been enjoying the time together.
Sunday morning didn't get off to a great start as we were running late. Aaron got up at only 08.20 and we usually have to leave by 08.35, so you can imagine things were a bit hectic! As Aaron was in our bathroom, Mr D had to go down to the boys bathroom to fix his tie. I thought it was so sweet to see both father and son fixing their ties together. I just had to take a photo! (the quality is bad, I know!)


We got to church at 08.55 and I jumped out of the car and forgot about the snow and ice and promptly slid and fell over. I fell on my right side and hurt my shoulder. It has given me a bit of pain this week but it is managable; now it just aches. Church was ward conference, so I didn't have to do anything except listen - that was nice.
In the afternoon, (after making a batch of cookies) I went to Julianne's surprise baby shower. I could only stay a couple of hours as I had to pick Jordan up from the Conrad's but the time I spent there was fun. Julianne's due date was 7th February but the doctors decided to start things earlier. She went into hospital on Monday (1st) for a planned C-section on Tuesday (2nd) morning. Tini Lauener called us all up on Friday and she organized the surprise party for her.

Tini made a diaper cake - isn't it cute?

A ton of food - I imagine Etienne, Julianne's husband is still eating it some of it now!

Renée

Madelein and Courtney

Roseanne

Tini

Tini's son Joni

Roseanne playing the "guess what chocolate is smeared on the diaper" game. Even though we knew that it was chocolate, it was still kind of gross holding the nappy/diaper up to our noses! I got all them right - mars, twix and milky way! Yeah - I know my chocolate!!

Jasmin and Jenny having fun with their diapers/nappies! :)

On Monday I had to get Melissa's laundry finished so she could pack when she came home from work. I ironed for most of the day and my shoulder was really killing me! As I was housebound, Roland took the boys sledging and they were out all afternoon leaving me to get my tasks done in peace :)

On Tuesday we decided to go skiing and went to Krumenau in Toggenburg, a small family ski resort 45 mins. away from home. The weather was okay but the snow conditions were perfect; soft powder snow. We were there for about six hours and had a great time and I only fell over once!On Wednesday evening Melissa flew off to New Zealand. Can you believe it? My baby girl on such a big adventure? She and her friend Susanna will be in NZ for three weeks and will be staying at my brother, Keith's place in Christchurch. We decide to drive the girls to the airport and we picked up Susanna and her mother, Maria on the way. We left home at 17:45 and got to Zürich airport around 19:10. We met up with the Boos family who were saying goodbye to their daughter, Daniela who will be in Australia for the next 2 1/2 months to improve her English. All three girls were on the same flight to Dubai and even got to sit next to each other!
Susanna's luggage was heavier than her allowed 30 kg weight limit, so things got a bit heated while she had to empty out three kilos of "stuff" before they could check in. Luckily Melissa only had 26 kgs! We left home with plenty of time to spare but by the time they finally checked in it was 20.30 and it was time for them to make their way to passport control to be able to get to their gate in time. The gate opened at 21.05 and their flight to Dubai was planned to take off at 21.45. We said our goodbyes and off they went! Boo hoo!
I was so mad at myself that I'd left my camera at home on the table. I'd gotten it ready and with Melissa leaving everything to the last moment, things turned a little hectic and I forgot it! At least I had my phone with me and was able to take at least one photo of the girls while they were waiting in the check-in line. I took some photos with Roland's camera but Melissa took that with her, so I'll have to wait for those photos.
Melissa called us on Friday morning letting us know that they had arrived in Christchurch safely and that everything had gone well. There was no problem with any of the flights (stopovers in Singapore and Sydney) and that she was happy with the standard of Emirates. I am glad that she in such capable hands and am grateful for Keith and Sue for having them stay.

On Thursday the hubster wanted to go skiing again but I didn't want to. So he and the two boys went together. They went to Brand in Austria which is just under a hour away from here and had a super time. This time the weather was fantastic, and the hubster said that the boys improved their skiing techniques quite a bit. I love it when the boys spend time together.
I was happy to have the day to myself. No cooking for anybody and no specific time to be home! I read in bed until 10:00 and then got myself ready to go into town. I got the boys' present for their dad (a cd voucher) and also got one from myself; I got him a new pullover. He'd already got his new planner last week. After doing some grocery shopping I took advantage of my spare time and went to visit Julianne and baby Edison Taft at the clinic. He is so cute! All he does is sleep and she has a hard time waking him up and keeping him awake to eat. A mother's dream, right?!

I thought it funny that all of us are in blue/turqouise.

Friday the husbter turned 47! Doesn't that sound old? It may sound old but he isn't.
For his birthday treat, he wanted to go to the new spa in Bad Ragaz, so that is what we did. Aaron had taken a day off work, so we left all three boys together and we went to spoil ourselves.
It was so relaxing and it felt like a holiday. We were there for nearly 6 hours and we slept for at least 1 1/2 hours of that. We swam, we went in the saunas and steam baths and then relaxed on the beds that were there, then we swam some more. We came home thoroughly relaxed.


For dinner I cooked us all some rib-eye steak with green beans and a salad. For dessert, I'd made a mississippi cake (made on Thursday evening) and that was eaten with lots of fresh cream.
Roland in his new pullover.

Well that was my week and what a busy week it was. I am now looking forward to a lazy weekend. Perhaps I can finish my book........

Hugs all,

Rebecca

Capturing the moments of life

Doing this project of taking a photo per day has made me look at life in a new perspective. I am now taking photos of LIFE; the day to day little activities that wouldn't normally get noticed or documented. Seeing Daniel eating cereal is such a common occurence in our family life that nobody notices it, but that's exactly what I want to capture with this project - the moments of life.

When we look back in 20 years what will we remember? Now thanks to this project at least 2010 will be documented in detail.
It's fun to take photos and then decide which one will be the "POTD" (photo of the day). The kids are asked for their opinion and I'm glad they are interested in what goes into the album.


Monday's POTD
-->(Aaron watching TV with the family)
Friday's POTD
--> (Melissa's birthday roses)

On Wednesday I went to Stephanie's again to help out with the twins in Gais. She went shopping and left me with the girls. They were a little fussy and as I only have two hands I had to somehow sooth both of them at the same time, so somehow I managed to get both of them onto my chest where they settled down and fell asleep. The day was gorgeous again and I just had to take a shot of the Alpstein and Säntis. We live in a lovely part of Switzerland.






Saturday morning was spent making chocolate chip cookies for Christian L. He was in NY for a couple of months and I had some craft stuff sent to his place and he brought it home with him a few weeks ago. He was visiting his brother, Mark and I wanted to make some cookies to say thank you. The house smelled lovely and it was so hard not to eat any. I hate diets!!!!
There was only one left on Sunday morning - I have a lot of cookies monsters living in my house.



This was my POTD for Saturday


Thursday's POTD was my finished Tilda card. I'm very pleased the way it turned out. The stamps are so cute!


Saturday evening the hubster had a concert with his women's choir in Goldach. The evening was really entertaining and I really enjoyed myself. Roland is an excellent conducter and it was pure entertainment just watching him lead the women. They sang pieces like "New York, New York", "I will follow him", "Barbara Ann", "Haliluja" and so on. Of course, he got flowers, which meant I got flowers :) Aren't they pretty? The photo below is my POTD for Sunday.


After church Jordan invited his friend, Tizian Forrer back to our place for lunch and here they are gaming. Aaron is still in his suit!


Life is good and I am content.

Hugs all,

Rebecca

Melissa turns 19

What's so special about the 13th January, you might ask yourself? Well, it's the day that our baby girl was born. Melissa Anne Diezi was born on a Sunday at 5.10 pm after a very long 15 1/2 hours of labour weighing 3450g and 50 cm long. She had blue eyes and dark hair.
Here she is at 3 weeks:
Here she is at 6 months:

And now she is 19! Where on earth did the time go? It only seems like yesterday that we were celebrating her 18th birthday and what do you know, it's January 13 again!

She took the day off work and spent it leisurely. She got up at 9.30 and took a nice bath and then we had breakfast together - croissants! She's asked for mexican for lunch so I made some chicken tortillas and we made wraps. After lunch, we went into town to do some birthday shopping. She'd already had her main birthday present in November - some special shoes for work - Joya shoes to help with her back problems. Since wearing these she hasn't had any more backaches. They are a sister company to MBT shoes.

So after dragging a "screaming" Daniel out of the house, we went into town to do some girly shopping - poor Daniel. Well it's not my fault that it was Wednesday afternoon and he didn't have school. Jordan had gone to a friends house and I didn't want to leave Daniel alone.
She got some clothes and some make-up and some very expensive Estée Lauder Idealist skin refinisher. I hope it does its job! :)
When we came home we had some cake - a black forest gateaux - and then she left for Institute.

She is having a party/sleep over on Saturday and has invited about 15 of her friends. We're getting rid of Daniel and Jordan so we'll have the space to put people. It's Singles Ward on Sunday and they will all have brunch at our place and go together. I'll let you know how we survive - thank goodness I've got ear plugs! :)

I'm off to tend Stephanie's twins this afternoon.....I'm excited and anxious at the same time.

See you later.

Hugs,

Rebecca

Second Advent

This was an exciting week. Stephanie and Ephraim R. had their baby girls on Tuesday and Jordan and I went to visit them in hospital on Thursday. They are so cute and so tiny. Eleanor was 2,2 kg and Liora was 2,4kg. Momma and babies are doing fine.I managed to get all my christmas cards finished and after finding everyone's addresses got them sent off today. That's one thing less to think about! :)
I should have done my ironing this afternoon but couldn't help myself when I saw the cute countdown calendar by Heidi Swapp from House of 3 and made that instead.



Then while I was reading her blog and video for the calendar I saw the candles that she'd made and decided I wanted to make one as well.


There went my entire afternoon and my evening will be spent tidying up my office.