Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We did not have a large traditional feast yesterday, we are saving that for Saturday since the kids are still in school. Instead we took a ride on the metro for a family night out. We went to Delfshaven which is an area in southern Rotterdam and visited the church that the pilgrims worshiped in. We gave the kids a short history lesson and then went out to eat.

So here is how the story goes....back in 1608 a group of people fled England to the Netherlands. They had left the Anglican church a few years before and had founded their own religious community. Then in 1620 they decided that they should cross the waters to America so they could still worship the way they wanted to and still be Englishmen because they watched their children become more and more dutch. They hopped on the Speedwell and started to make their journey only to start leaking (later found to be sabotage) and switched boats to the Mayflower in England.

We did not make it to the church until after dark because I was in Sweden in the morning on business and once getting back to the Netherlands, decided we had plenty of time to go shopping at IKEA (we really did not). Oh well, we still had a good time anyway.

Here is a picture of the church from wikipedia so you can actually see it in the daylight:


and here is a few of our pictures, you may have to click on them to see them bigger:

Abby's Baptism

Last Saturday Abby was baptized. She was very excited about this special day and even had a poster up to help count down the days. The program was very short and simple (we planned it) and we had a very good day. Ain't she beautiful!

Who do you select as the bada#$ of the year...

Jack Bauer in 24


Michael Scofield in Prison Break


Kistal & Hannah do not really agree with either of the above choices so they wanted to submit their own choice:

Buster in Arrested Development

8 Things

I have been tagged by Lisa Peck. Not big on the whole tag thing, but I feel like I owe her for not keeping in touch better. Don't anyone else get any ideas that I will ever do this again, but it's not because I don't care. I am truly just bored and putting off things like cleaning and all of that other fun stuff.

8 Favorite TV Shows
1. IT Crowd
2. Psych
3. Chuck
4. Keeping Up Appearances
5. Office
6. Dirty Sexy Money
7. Arrested Development
8. The Tofus

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Spent most of the day writing a talk for next Suday
2. Went to church
3. Rassled with my kids during sacrament meeting, we all had a hard time being reverent, didn't we Hannah?
4. Finished a birthday calendar that I am making
5. Destinkified my kitchen
6. Watched a little TV
7. Went to bed way to late
8. Worked out the music for Abby's baptism on Saturday

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Seeing all the people I love and miss in the US
2. My bed
3. Getting my talk in sacrament meeting over with
4. Thanksgiving (bittersweet, please refer to #1)
5. Christmas
6. Meeting my new step-mom
7. Meeting all the new nieces, nephews, brother-in-laws, etc.
8. Having a really long talk with my bestest friends in person, not over the phone or through blogs and emails

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. The fish cart that comes to the market every week. Give me a break, I don't pay attention to names, just locations.
2. The chinese restaurant that Chris brings food home from every once in a while, never been there, so I don't know the name.
3. Bram Ladage-best fries that I have ever had
4. Don't eat out much here, too expensive and the food it not that great.

8 Things On My Wishlist
1. Some really nice art supplies
2. Somewhere in our house that was just mine that I could use for art that would not get overrun by everyone else's junk
3. More education
4. A full understanding of the Dutch language
5. For the rest of my family, the same as above
6. A nap
7. A clean house
8. For my kids to turn out to be well adjusted adults with a strong testimony of the gospel

8 People To Tag
1. I am not tagging anyone, but if they want to do this they can. It would be fun to read what other people have to say on these topics. Love you all!

Great upcoming Movies and TV

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Released July 17th (16th in the Netherlands)


Angels & Demons - Released May 15th, 2009 (14th in the Netherlands)


Twilight (for Hannah and Kristal)- Released November 21st


24 - Season 7 - First episode airs in January with TV a movie "Redemption airing on November 23rd

Our New President

What's wrong with this picture? Something seems a little off: