Keeping Busy

Here's a little update on each of us...

Abby is doing well assimilating to her new life. We switched her over to a big girl bed without a problem. She will even play quietly there in the morning until daddy comes to get her. She really likes having such a fun backyard and chasing the dogs throughout the house. We broke down and bought her a ton of new toys to keep her occupied until our household goods get here (Aug). One of her favorite things to do is ride around town on the bus and people watch, so sometimes we’ll just get on and ride around until we both get bored.

She really misses all her friends in Japan and her Tuesday and Thursdays mornings away from mom at her daycare. She had a fun and full nursery at church in Japan, but here they struggle to find teachers for the 2-3 kids they have every week. I’ve managed to fill some of the void with our super fun international playgroup that meets up every other Friday. In one playgroup we had kids from – Canada, America, Russia, Italy, Germany, India, Croatia, South Africa, and England. Everyone speaks English but with crazy cute accents. There are a few ladies that I really adore and look forward to getting to know on a more personal level and hanging out with them more frequently.

Jeremy is currently taking German classes in the morning and heads out to his office in the afternoons. He is pretty excited to get traveling again and back to the daily grind. Jeremy is heading up to Italy this weekend to see his friend, Ricardo. He has a beach house that stands empty most of the time and has offered to let us stay there whenever we need to get away. I’m super excited he is going to get some “man time” after months and months of just us girls.

Jeremy signed up for dog training with Gracie twice a week for two hours a pop. Gracie seriously needs the work and Jeremy loves checking out the other pooches and learning all things dog. The people there are super interesting and really friendly. It’s a great way to get the insider scoop on things going on around town.

He just got a calling in Young Mens, which he’s a little nervous about. Adolescents aren’t his forte and he’s really not a huge fan of drama. Hopefully they take it easy on him!

I’m pretty excited for this baby – and all our guests -- to arrive! In the meantime, I’m keeping myself busy with my book club (this month’s novel is A Legacy) and Abby. I’ve volunteered to lead a weekly play group and monthly cooking class for my ward, which is always a great way to get to know people better. They have a fun walking/running group that is calling my name after the baby comes.

My visiting teachers are pretty awesome. One is from Michigan and the other is from Switzerland (fluent in English). My companion is a brilliant and hilarious lady from South Africa. We’re so naughty together and spend most of our teaching time laughing. Everyone has been super supportive in helping us find everything we need. We usually get a dinner date about once a week. One family has a generations-old family tradition to have only ice cream, popcorn and pop for Sunday dinner. It was fun having so many flavors of each to choose from. Abby thought it was the best dinner ever!

Gracie feels at home here in the mother land. We're working on getting her a boyfriend :P

Beth is slowing down but still as joyful as ever. We were finally able to find her food that she's not allergic to, which has helped clear up some of her skin problems. We still continue to spoil her every chance we get.

So that’s what’s new in our world. Keep us update on yours. We love the emails, blogs and phone calls! Berlin is fun, but we miss you all :)