Christmas

 

Hope you're ready for a big one.... Mostly consisting of pictures, but a lot of story time too :)

Christmas was a bit of a crazy day here in the Tensmeyer household. I wanted to be like my mom on Christmas morning so I invited the Elders over for breakfast (cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, the works) to be my children. After they left we opened our presents, so much fun doing that. The Tensmeyers are so awesome and gave me a sewing machine. I will post future projects of course. Becca gave  Dave and I matching running shirts and my parents gave me boots and Dave running shoes! Woot!






Then later a couple of the Elders came over to Skype. Then the sisters came over to eat dinner and Skype. Then the other Elders came over and Skyped! And I got to skype my own Elder Gifford in Denmark! We also Skyped the Tensmeyers and Giffords. It was a skyping party day. After we packed....for FRANCE!

The 26th started out in a whirlwind. Dave's alarm didn't go off when it was supposed to so we were an hour behind schedule leaving for our trip. It ended up fine and we picked up our lovely rental car and hit the road!

Liege, Belgium

 The excitement began when we hit Belgium and saw HILLS. It has been approx. six months since we've seen hills and how I love them! We were just snapping pictures left and right with excitement at seeing new places. We continued driving through Belgium and Luxemburg until we reached France! Our first night was spent in Nancy.

Excited Dave driving!

Earlier that day I started to notice I was getting an infection. I skyped my mom to ask her about it and she said to go to the doctor ASAP.
Nancy: What an adventure. The next day we decided to keep traveling until we got to a big town to find a doctor. At one of the castles my infection became worse and said I had to go to the doctor NOW or I was going to kill someone. So our search began. Thankfully we were in a rental car not a train or that would have been a nightmare. Eventually we found a GP and the system was just so interesting. So we entered the office and there was no receptionist. About 10 people were just sitting in a room. I didn't know what to do so I just sat there, following their example. Eventually the Dr. came in and whoever was there first went in with him. And then they left and the next person and then the next. After waiting about an hour it was my turn. The doctor didn't speak a whole lot of English, thankfully Dave speaks a LOT more French than I did. We were able to understand each other well enough and the doctor was so nice. Oh the doctor's room was different too. It was like a business office and we just sat in chairs on the other side of his desk. In the adjoining room he had a bed and all the 'normal' doctor stuff, so it wasn't too weird, but we never went in there, he never checked me out or anything. At the end he gave us a prescription and then we asked about paying, and he would not let us pay. Dave tried to insist but the doctor just wouldn't let us. It was the craziest thing!! Nicest guy in the world. We'll be sending him a fruit basket or something.

Street of my birthday! The French sure do love me

Future home???

Strasbourg: We woke up to a towed car. Adventure number 2! Dave took care of this one completely. The receptionist was the NICEST guy. He told Dave where he had to go, explained everything to him and then even lent him his bike! He was just a sweet heart to Dave. Really. Our trip really convinced me that the stereotype of French people is wrong. At least in the part of the country we were in. They were the most helpful and kind people. We were so blessed.

I thoroughly enjoyed driving through the Black Forest. It had to be one of my favorite parts. Part of it felt like I was back home in Utah driving the Alpine loop with Michelle. I love going on drives through the mountains, Love it!! The other part felt like we were Hansel and Gretel. It was just such a cool place.

Beginning of Black Forest

Driving through the wintry Black Forest

Awesome pavilion

Castle!!

Frankfurt!!!

My handsome dude

1/2 Marathon

Well this will be a quick one....

Today was the first day of training for my second half marathon! I've decided I have to start training with a goal in mind because this past semester I ran about once a week. Sarah started training for another marathon today too, so it's a Gifford start day. I'm super excited for another challenge! I'm using a different plan, it's a bit more intense, so hopefully better results.  It's Saturday April 20th in Driemond (little village outside of Amsterdam). I expect you all to book your flights now from the US! A special thanks to Vicki for my new running  shoes, they were half of my inspiration.

See you then :)

ThanksgivingBirthday

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and my birthday! It turned out to be a fantastic day! When I walked into my first class they all sang Happy Birthday to me. At school I got many hugs and congratulations, I felt so special! It was awesome. The only thing that threw me off was that people I've never even hugged before did the whole kiss on two cheeks thing to congratulate me! It was very sweet, I just hate being non-European and feeling awkward every time someone does the cheek kissing thing. But I felt so honored anyway! Dave joined me at lunch time at school and we had a nice little afternoon. I had school from 8:30 until 4:00 so it was a looooong day. When I got home Dave had made these delicious cupcakes and set up those nice little birthday treats on the table for me! (Oh and those really are treats. You can't get those things at the normal grocery store. He had to go to the 'American Store' to get them and I'm sure he paid a pretty penny.) He knows me so well :) Aren't those flowers just beautiful?! I love getting flowers! At 6:00 we went to Thanksgiving dinner at the church it was a dinner for the JoVos (Young Single Adults). I don't know if I've mentioned this but for a while Dave and I were going to the FHE and institute every week. They invited us to attend even though we are married, I guess as an example??? On a farther tangent, I'm so glad I'm from Utah/went to BYU because it is just sooooo much easier to find a husband there than here in the Netherlands where there are such slim pickings!! But anyway. We went to Thanksgiving dinner and it was so much fun and delicious! 

After Thanksgiving dinner we came home and Skyped my family and Dave's family. It was so nice that they took the time for me! It was so nice getting to see them all. I miss getting to be in the States for the festivities but Skype makes it a little bit better. Alright well that's all folks,

Love ya!!

Coat

Well I'm not usually one to blog about clothes, but today I got just excited enough about my new coat to do it! So there is this Esprit outlet that's near us and today I found this coat that is normally 180 euro on sale for 19 euro (approx. $220 for $25). INSANE!!!!! And it's not just a cute, thin coat. It's quality, warm, and comfy. I'm super excited. WHAT A STEAL! Well the pictures don't quite do it justice and I look a little scary, but hey. It's a good day :)








On a side note. I was looking at 'stats' of my blog. People in Malaysia, Poland, Thailand, Latvia, Italy, Germany, and Russia have seen my blog. If that's not a reason to celebrate I don't know what is!!

2 Lovely Years

 Well it has been two years since Dave and I tied the knot! Who would have known on our wedding day that our first two anniversaries would be spent in the Netherlands?!? Not me! So crazy how life turns out. Surprisingly enough, for newlyweds we're still a bit short on cash(sarcasm, sarcasm)! We decided to have a less expensive but still awesome anniversary! There was a carnival going on at Dam Square in Amsterdam. We decided that that would be our celebration! We were planning on riding several rides. Dave sporadically decided he wanted to go on the giant slingshot ride first. I was so surprised but totally down! So we did that and wow our stomach was in our butts and then our throats and all over the place! It was insane. But awesome! Sadly, since we rarely travel by car anymore our stomachs have become weak. Sitting in the back seat of a car makes both of us feel gross. So this ride was  unfortunately the first and last!

Not us, but an awesome picture of what we did!

After the ride we went out to dinner to this Italian place we've found and have been to probably 10 time since living in Amsterdam. Cheap and good!

Well I don't have a whole lot more to write about our anniversary, so I'll just post some pictures from the last little while!

Love you all!

Cute little guy we babysat

Here legally again!

Bike riding in the rain