How do moms just know?

How do mom's just know what you need? Last week we got the most amazing surprise! Mom sent us 2 packages and they arrived on the same day! I think I startled the delivery man because I couldn't contain my excitment and I was smiling from ear to ear. I couldn't wait for Chris to get home, so I opened up both packages and put everything out on the table so I could look at it all. Funny thing is I started to cry because I was so happy! Its amazing what kinds of things you start to miss when you don't have them and mom just knew what we would be missing I guess. I didn't know that just the sight of canned enchilada sauce and a bag of fish crackers would ever make me cry, but there you have it, a little taste of home. Its been so exciting because every day I reach into the box and pull something else out and get excited all over again. I keep thinking, "how did she know I would want this?" that's why we love them! they just know. thank you mom for all the wonderful surprises. We love you!

Finding Joy in the Simple Things

Well, my find of the day today was vinegar! I was going through some of my recipes looking at ingredients that I don't have and wondering where I might find them. I feel like every time I go to the grocery store I'm on a scavenger hunt. so with grocery list translated into Dutch in hand, I went searching and...wala! found all 3 vinegars I was looking for: red wine, white wine, and regular. Who knew that I could be so excited over such a simple thing as vinegar?

Weekend in Germany

On Friday I had a trade show in western Germany so Gentry and I decided to take a weekend trip and see what Germany had to offer. Germany was a beautiful country in the middle of fall and the drive through western Germany was absolutely amazing. The country side was full of color and picturesque villages sprinkled with castles. Here are a few pictures of our weekend.





We also visited the castle thurant.

Deventer, The Netherlands

ENJOY! We sure did.




Last weekend we drove to a near by city named Deventer and spent Saturday walking through the markets and around this amazing Dutch city.


The Market had so many neat things to see and typical dutch food.

A New Week

Ok, so I know that I have already failed miserably with keeping the blog updated. I'm tellin' ya, this is just not my thing, but its a new week and I'm going to try harder! there isn't a lot to say for this past week, because we really didn't do much. It was nice to just stay home and hang out together. About the only exciting thing we did was eat at McDonald's and shopping at the Chinese food store where there are some American products like Rootbeer! (how strange is that, American food at the chinese store?)But, this week is a new week and we are determined to make it a little more exciting than the last. For example, I'm actually going to try and cook this week. I think Chris is slowly wasting away because he hasn't had a complete meal since we got here. I'm armed with a new recipe and a grocery list written in Dutch this morning. I'm going to jump on my bike and be a good little wife and go get some groceries! I'll let you know how it all turns out. this will be my fist attempt at using my microwave oven thing. Should be very interesting...

Happy 5 years!

today marks our 5 year anniversary! It is amazing how fast time flies! I just wanted to tell my Christopher how much I love him and how fun the adventure has been so far. I look forward to the future and all the adventures yet to come.

Amsterdam through our lens

We will try and add more picture soon so keep checking in. Here are a few pictures of our favorite places in Amsterdam.