She really is 8 months along

Right Heidi? This time it's for real....

Fat vs Fit

Did you see the Yahoo report? SLC is the most fit city in the US! Miami is the most fat. Austin made the fit list. Charlotte made the fat list. Honolulu was also in the fit list. So I guess there is no chance you can be fat and fit. I know that the French are at least thin, I don't know about fit. The Belge? I have no clue.

Inaugural Ball

Tom and I were invited to attend an Inaugural Ball at the residence of the Ambassador to NATO. It was fun. Yes, Pres. Obama was there...ok, it was only a life size cardboard replica but the Ambassador has a little girl who danced with the 'paperdoll' on the dance floor. Quite entertaining. We talked to friends we hadn't seen in ages. Anyone remember Randy/Becky Hoag? Or Joe/Patty Stein? (This is for Dan and Seth who might remember these people.) We are all caught up with their lives. Strangely, the Hoags are retiring in Austin! and the Steins are retiring in Charlotte! Steins bought a house on Lake Wylie. The Hoags have a condo on Lake Travis.
Tom passed for James Bond in his pleated shirt and bow tie!

Facebook vs. blogging

Facebook is for young and old. Men and women. Blogging seems to be a woman thing. How anybody has time for both is beyond me. But I'm thinking that since Tom has Facebook and I have a blog, we are covered. Do I have my head in the sand?

Is it too late?

Hey, I found one more CLASSIC Christmas clip. First of all, may I just say that my mother-in-law was (is) a saint? Here she sits, so calmly, la la la la la. While all the kids run and jump and are crazy! I call it a Christmas clip because the music is
Sleigh Ride. I mean, she doesn't bat an eye and here are the kids leaping over the couch. Can you imagine if we would have had a dog. Truly a circus. Was Dan there? I think I saw him for a nano second.

Everyone loves Twinkle, twinkle

I ran into a girl from Steve's class from BAS. Know Liz McVicker? Anyway, we had a nice chat and we were laughing about the old days when she and Steve took dance classes from me. I came home and found a clip where both Steve and Liz are dancing side by side. Can you believe I made the boys do arabasque and tondu? (to Twinkle, Twinkle, no less!) Good for them. Made them better in their other sports. Some of the all stars in the line-up are :The Colonel (Nathan Usevitch), Evan Strohoffer, and then Steve and Liz. I hear myself tell 'Beanie' that he doesn't have to participate if he doesn't want to...that would be Calvin LaTour. Sure would be fun to know what these kids are up to today.

32 ways to live happily ever after

1. I put up the Christmas tree and the lights and all the decorations. He pays for all the gifts under the tree.
2. I handle all the Doctor visits and administration of medicine and play nurse. He pays all the bills and deals with all the insurance.
3. I cook, clean, shop. He pays VISA.
4. I arrange the flights, rental cars, hotel accommodations. He is the tour guide once we get there. And he pays all the costs.
5. I made sure all the homework was done and dealt with the school officials when needed. He only went in when it was too intense for me. Like when 4 teachers were mad at Natalie and he went to face the firing squad.
6. I navigate. He drives. I am NOT an ace navigator!
7. I like 'girl' movies. He likes 'cowboy' movies. Everything else we like to watch together.
8. I play the piano. He plays the guitar. Good thing they are in separate rooms.
9. I deal with the landlord. He pays the rent.
10. I am the support system. He has always done the heavy duty church jobs.
11. We both write weekly letters to our missionaries.
12. I do the family history. He is really grateful.
13. He attends all the stake meetings. I am really grateful.
14. I enforced FHE, family scrips and prayers. He was always grateful.
15. He gave Father's blessings and did the parent interviews. I was always grateful.
16. I made sure birthdays were always remembered and celebrated. He paid the costs.
17. I bought and paid for the furniture. He paid for the mortgage, food, and absolutely everything else.
18. I knew how to ski and taught him.
19. He loved the beach and shared it with me.
20. I dreamed of traveling and he turned it into a reality.
21. He dreamed of living in Europe and I was willing to give it a try. Wow, am I ever glad I gave it a try!
22. He trims the bushes and I do the weeding(and now the mowing)
23. He washes the cars and I vacuum the insides.
24. I love to play games, he hates to play games. We have come to terms with that.
25. He would love to entertain more. I don't like to entertain. We have the missionaries over as a compromise.
26. He loves to hash over sports. I am not all that interested. Luckily we have lots of boys to fill that gap.
27. I love to walk. He is always glad when I talk him into joining me.
28. He always remembers our anniversary and my birthday. I am always so happy!
29. He buys me roses. I buy him chocotoffs and Carrefour chocolate ice cream.
30. He sings beautifully, and I love to hear him sing.
32. When something breaks, I usually have to fix it. He pays for the repairman.
32. We both dreamed of a home with kids and lots of love and worked hard to make that a reality.
HAPPY 32nd ANNIVERSARY

Christmas has been changed

I think we all need to go on a crusade to make Easter the BIG holiday instead of Christmas. It would then allow travelers to travel in APRIL and not DECEMBER! The two days they give you...Christmas day and New Year's day should both be given in April for Easter and the resurrection. And school holidays? Give us the 2 or 3 weeks in the Spring! Why am I on a rampage?
Because Dad and I had to drive to Paris last night at 9pm and home at 3am to rescue Steve who was stranded. Seth and Heidi are stuck in Chicago....praying that their flight to SLC makes it today even though it is snowing. Steve is also on his way to SLC. It's snowing there too. Luckily Jake/Mel made it home ok. They were extremely blessed although they didn't know just how blessed!
Gotta go. There is another crises brewing. Nicole has had activity on her Wells Fargo account that is suspicious....I just got a phone call from her. Her President is allowing her to call so that we can get the situation under control.
And you are wondering why I am on my blog. Basically to blow off some frustration.

Rachel has her wish come true

We woke up to a major snowstorm! Rachel wished she could make a snowman, and her wish came true. Well, it looks more like a snowdog, but it sure is cute.


Problem is that everyone flew home today. We got them to the airport ok (slick roads and lots of traffic snarls), but I checked the airport website and the flights were delayed 4 hours for Seth and Heidi and 2 hours for Jake and Mel. I have no idea where Steve is doing because he took the train to Paris and flew from there to LA. So where they are, and just when they will arrive home is yet to be seen. Yuck! Pray for all of them and keep your fingers crossed. Seth and Heidi have Chicago and SLC to worry about as well. Poor guys! Natalie and Noel had problems last Christmas and will never come here again at that time of year. Now with this kind of luck, we'll probably never get anyone to come at Christmas again.
I took a walk this afternoon for some pictures. Usually the snow only lasts for a short time, but as you can see, it stuck! So unusual for Belgium. I guess we are going to have to rethink this Global warming theory.

Paris

Just a few shots from our couple of days in Paris. It was cold, but we were better prepared, so we did OK. We stayed out in the La Defense area, thus the picture in the high rise district. It was on the metro line, so no problem. Rach and I took the train together which allowed us to only drive one car to Paris. We had a super time. "Just Grammie and me". (That's a name of a book)

It is Freezing, we are not kidding!

Seth and I took a walk in Tervuren park today. The canals are frozen and the Belge are skating and sledding and having a ball. I have only seen the canals frozen one other time in all the 20 years we have lived here. What a winter we are having. Wonder how we will manage being outside all day in Paris???

BRRR....ugge

The snow and ice sculptures were amazing. There was a maze out of ice (like they do at Halloween with haystacks would be a good comparison) and around each corner would be an incredible ice sculpture. At the end was an ice castle that you could climb up and then slide down a slide made of ice. Stinkin' cold though....we almost turned to ice ourselves. Actually felt warm to go outside into the 0 degree celsius weather.

Happy New Year to Everyone. We celebrated in Antwerp and braved the freezing weather again to watch an amazing firework display all choreographed to music. A fitting end to a terrific 2008.