Coyote Kissing, Utah and Matt's Birthday

There is a stone coyote that sits at the exit of Fort Iriwn. It is a well known tradition at Fort Irwin, that when you move, as you drive away, you stop and kiss the coyote farewell or you will be stationed there again. We all kissed the coyote, except for the boys. It is fairly gross, hands were sanitized, but what do you do for lips?

Before moving to Germany, we spent almost two weeks in Utah. It seemed like a long time at first, but it quickly flew by! There never seems to be enough time to do all the things we would like to do. The main thing we wanted to do, but did not have time to do, was go to the Manti pageant. I was pretty bummed, I thought it would be awesome for the kids, and fun for the girls to see the temple where their parents were married. Someday we will get to the pagaent! We did get to spend lots of time with good friends, lots of family and doing some fun activities.
Grandpa Overton and Hunter playing "copy cat"

Great-grandma Gale spending some quiet time with the boys

Matt also celebrated his birthday while in Utah. It was a great day! We ended up being able to see most of his family that day, one way or the other. We also were able to do some fun things as a family. One of the things Matt has wanted to do for a few years now is go on the Heber Creeper. It is an old steam train the runs down Provo Canyon, purely tourist. We had never had time to do it before, but this year...for Matt's birthday, we made time. We got to the train station in Heber with only minutes to spare, but we did make it. Unfortunately, the train was so full that we were all in separate train cars, luckily we did find enough seats together that everyone had someone to sit by.

Great-grandma Gale was able to go with us. Grandma Overton came as well, they with the girls sat together in one car.

Matt, the boys, and I, were in another car. During one of the "breaks" the train had, we noticed this toddler boy in the row in front of us. He was about as old as our boys, and was playing with his mother's cell phone. All of the sudden he chucked it out the window!!! Luckily, with the train stopped, she was able to quickly hop off and retrieve it. Matt and I kind of laughed because it was so like something Jack would do, yet we vowed NEVER to let the boys play with our cell phones...especially by open windows!!!

The whole gang that went with us on the train. Now you know why we couldn't find seats all together. It was so neat to have everyone there. Along with my mom and grandma, Matt's mom, sister and two nieces were able to come too.

The girls in front of one of the engines.

After the train ride we stopped at "Granny's" for a world famous milkshake...at least famous in Utah. Anyone born and breed in Utah knows that you can't go to Heber without stopping at "Granny's" for a milkshake! Later I borrowed Matt's mom's oven and baked his favorite cake, yellow with extra chocolate frosting. And we conned his nieces into babysitting the kids, while we went out for a birthday dinner with his parents and sister and her husband at "Los Hermanos". It was a very fun day! One of the best we spent while in Utah.

Sadly, our time in Utah came to an end quickly. We found oursevles packing up for the drive back to California (yes we drove west to fly east...it is the army way! They wouldn't pay for us to fly out of Salt Lake...and we didn't want to pay when it would be free from California...so driving we went). It was a great trip. We feel blessed to have such wonderful family, and friends, and to be able to spend some time with them. Hopefully we will see them all again soon!

Thankyou Utah for a wonderful visit!

The Grand Canyon 2011

As part of our Memorial weekend excursion we stopped for a quick view of the Grand Canyon. We knew that with two toddler boys, we would not be doing any high adventuring. No long hikes, donkey rides to the bottom, or doorless helicopter rides. It was strictly a drive-by, sight seeing excursion; but well worth the drive!

Look at those views!
Truely amazing!

Here the girls are, at the old look out tower.
You may notice that their aren't many pictures of the boys. I wondered why that was for maybe a nanosecond, then it dawned on me. All the pictures I have of the boys are away from the view...next to shrubs, trees and the trail...well AWAY from any kind of edge to a seemingly bottomless canyon! Yes, I am a bit paranoid, but only because I don't put anything past these boys! They are much too quick, and there are two. It always seems like we are pulling one out of trouble, only to find the other in trouble and needing saving too.

Anyway, It was a fun trip. The girls were awed and amazed. Hannah didn't even want to get out of the car (pouting because we had entered a "scenery pause" where all electronics;i.e. Nintendo d.s., must be turned off). "Why do I want to see some dumb old canyon?" she says. Then she gets out, her jaw drops open and all she can say is "WOW"!!!

As a sidenote, I do apologize for any mispelled words. When I use the spell checker it selects all my words as mispelled. I think because I am on a German network, so all my words are mispelled in German! Still working on how to change that, just one of the fun quirks you encounter when international.

The 2010/2011 School year is finished!

The kids all did really well this year. We couldn't be happier or prouder. We wanted to give a special shout out to Anya. She recieved the "Presidential Academic Achievment Award", signed personally by the President of the U.S.A. . Way to go Anya!!!

Last California Camping Trip

We went on one last camping trip before we left California. There is a nice little area we like to camp at that is only about 20 min. from our house. It is called Rainbow Basin, and the rock formations there are really very beautiful. Our kids love to camp, and the boys are no exception. They really got into helping dad find firewood, set up camp, cook the foil dinners, stoke the fire. Mom almost had a nervous breakdown...but we made it through the weekend without any disasters, thankfully!

What is a camping trip without smores. Our kids (like most I am sure) are smore-aholics.
It was really windy that night, so windy that the wind was blowing our tent up even when staked. So we had put a cooler in the corner that was blowing around. Right at bedtime we realized the cooler had been leaking water all over Anya's sleeping bag. It was completely soaked to the point of being able to wring cups full of water out of it. So she got the airmattress and mom and dad's sleeping bags with the boys. Mom and dad got the hard ground with a few blankets. Luckily it was a very warm night!

Cora loves to camp! And snack!!

Matt and the girls went exploring for awhile, and they came across some interesting, yet gross, finds in the desert. Hannah's bones still have the claws attatched!

As we were driving away we came across a desert tortoise. We had seen these in captivity, there are some kept at Fort Iriwn, but never in the wild. They are an endangered species, so we thought it was cool that we got to see them. Fort Irwin has to obey all these different kinds of regulations because it is located right in these turtle's habitat. We saw this one on the side of the road, basking in the sun.

It was a fun adventure! My goal is to get my blog updated this week. We will see how I do! I know it has been slow going, but I don't have internet yet. Can you believe it! We had put in the request (here it is a request), and even got a confirmation letter in the mail. Well, we waited and waited and our phone/interenet was never turned on. Finally the translater (bless her) in Matt's office, called the company for us. Come to find out the canceled the request because there was an active phone line already from the previous tenant until July 19th. Well, instead of just hooking us up on the 20th, they canceled the request altogether and never notified us (we are finding out very quickly that customer service is very different out here). So we put the request back in, and supposedly it should be up and running the beginning of August. Crossing fingers! Until then, I have to go to the local USO if I want to use the internet....it is not far, but time consuming with kids. So we will see if I complete my goal!

We are now the German Jeppson Crew

We made it to Germany. We stayed in Grafenwohr for about 10 days, and then moved to our new home in Netzaberg. It has been glorious so far, I love being in Europe. We don't have a car right now, but we haven't let that stop us. We have some awesome friends here that are letting us borrow their Chevy Traverse, and we have also been taking the train. The German train system is amazing, and cheap! So far we have been able to go where ever we want to go for 15 to 30 Euro total! Awesome, and cheaper then gas! I will post more as my internet connection gets better. For now, this picture is the trademark of Grafenwohr. This is the "Forst Hause" and the water tower. Both were built in the early 1900's, and were the main residence for the chief forester. Now, the Forst Hause, houses the commander of Grafenwohr. It is gorgeous, and built using the romantic swiss style. I was hoping to find a house just like it...but alas, I had no such luck. Instead we are in a modern duplex...but that has it's perks too. That is for a later post! Just know we are here, and enjoying Germany!