Traditions, Life, FALL

Traditions - 

One of my favorite dates in Logan was getting McFlurrys in the McDonald's drive thru. We found one and carried the tradition on to end one of our date nights here. <3 

When we visit a new place we like collecting watercolor paintings. Got our Ponte Vecchio painting framed and hung in its cute IKEA frame.

Conference cinnamon rolls!! Will be a tradition forever. 

One of our favorite weekends of the year. Where we get to listen to the inspired words of peace, hope, and Jesus Christ. 

& a new German tradition! This was our second year going to the Pumpkin Festival. Justin couldn't join us this year so Logan took his place. ;) 

The weather was perfect, the smells of different pumpkin dishes, fried breads, and chocolate were everywhere!! & we got a new ceramic pitcher from our favorite shop. 

Life - 

We were walking out of IKEA and spontaneously grabbed this guy out of a pile of 20 monkeys. Logan loves his new Ooh Ooh Ah Ah. He'll even grab him if you ask him to!

Walking through Berlin leads to pieces of history everywhere. This one about a boy trying to reach freedom where his father taught school. 

We got to help set up for our ward Halloween party. Logan was introduced to balloons and didn't seem to mind setting up!

A quick change into his Jack-Jack Incredible costume and we were ready! He looked sooooo cute!! Can't believe how big he is. 

Logan has been pulling himself up all over the house. One of his favorite spots is the bidet. Ha! Lately, he'll push his high chair across the floor walking behind it. We're getting him ready to run to Courtlyn in six weeks (!!!). 

We took an afternoon drive out to Potsdam. Our second time visiting the cute town of pastel buildings. 

We watched Prom the other night and the next day, Justin came home with flowers asking me to our very own Prom. :') Tender boy. 

Got to meet up with some ladies for lunch at Alexanderplatz. Grateful for so many outlets to be around different people. 

Sweetie baby is in the transition of 2 to 1 to 1.5 naps per day. I don't mind when he sleeps on my shoulder though too. <3

Logan loves his books. You'll find him anywhere in the apartment with five or six books spread around him. His favorite reading spot though is on his Dad's lap. 

Loves socializing at church.

& helping with all of the chores around the house. 

Fall - 

Fall is slowly fading away!! We've had a pretty good stretch though. Daylight savings came this week bringing our new sunset time to 4:40 PM. Bring on the Vitamin D pills and another Germany winter. We got this!! 

But first I'll back up to some of our favorite fall moments. 

Jogging home after dropping the car off to charge. 

Potsdam nook

Tiergarten 

Cemetery near our home & we found the Christus statue at one of the graves. 

Our courtyard tree went from this... 

to this in ONE week!!! Too fast. Its peak time is over and most of the leaves have fallen off. 

It's been a beautiful month and life is rich with so much goodness. So grateful!

A New Season & Paradigm Shift - Alba Berlin

I know basketball life won't last forever and I try to remind myself to really appreciate and enjoy all that is happening around us. 

It's a pretty cool thing to watch your husband play basketball in Berlin with German fans everywhere, pounding their drums, smacking paper fans against their legs, and cheering louder than you've ever heard at a basketball game.

I think I only went to five games last year. I was either extremely pregnant, trying to recover, or sleep-deprived due to the cutest baby. I did not feel confident going to games nor did I enjoy them when I went. My mind would race and worry about how Logan was doing, when we would get home, and a million other things. I liked watching from the comfort of my own home knowing I was completely in control. 

This year, I knew Logan was old enough to handle some late games and it was time for me to be brave and support Justin in-person. I've been blessed to have some good friends come with us to the games who have helped calm my nerves and take care of Logan. & you know what, I enjoy his games now!! 

Ever since our Utah State days ended, I put a lot of pressure on Justin's games in my mind to do well so we could climb the basketball ladder and end where we wanted to go. I was letting teammates, coaches, and managers choices and actions affect how I was feeling. The joy of watching him play was lost to me and I would come away drained as much was out of our control.

I had a complete paradigm shift and realized what I was missing. Our hard work had gotten us to where we are today & I didn't want to miss the potential enjoyment right in front of me! Our plans have shifted since 2021 & while our first end goal didn't happen, I'm so grateful that we get to do what we're doing right now, in Germany. 

Logan may not make bedtime or be on his best behavior at the games, but we still have fun cheering on Dada with some of our best friends. <3

& seeing interactions like this makes it worth it too. Justin is a light!! I know that he's sharing his + Christ's light and goodness in every interaction he has.

This last week we had two special visitors for Justin's games... Mema & Papa Bean! Logan (& I) were pretty content with some extra hands to help and love on.

It's an adventure & still early in the season but I know it's going to be a good one. <3 I'm constantly learning and stretching & I'm grateful for a patient husband who also supports me. 

& who orders McDonald's at 11 PM for us to eat while we debrief about our day post-game. 

Lake Como + Lugano

Our last stop! We left Cinque Terre and got to drive through La Spezia one more time on our way up north to Lake Como! The four hour drive flew by and I wish an iPhone camera from a car window could capture what we saw once we got to Como. Surrounded by mountains/alps and the most beautiful HUGE lake. It was stunning. 

We stayed a little past Como in Tremezzo. It was perfect!! We loved every inch of that small, fairytale town. 

THIS was my favorite place we stayed. Back story - it was listed much cheaper than normal due to construction work being done on the property next door. The upside... we were there for the weekend so we didn't see one construction worker until we were leaving. Blessings! 

This was our view from our private patio. I want to move here!! Logan was happy for some extra crawl space.

Such a beautiful home. Our host Mario, grew up here and his whole garden and yard was incredible. 

The "garage" where we parked. 

Garage view looking out over the lake. 

Headed out for our LAST grocery stop of the trip. By this point, Mom and I were pretty efficient at knowing which Italian yogurt, bread, cheese, and salami we wanted. Even heard some Myles Smith while shopping!

Then we headed for Villa del Balbianello. A gorgeous villa we walked about half a mile to get to. Lots of steep hills and gravel-maneuvering for Logan's stroller, but so worth it once we got to that beautiful villa and garden.

They filmed some of the Star Wars' here!

Oh man, we were in heaven with those views. 

Logan was grateful for some paved walkways so he could take a snooze.

Everything was green and tropical-feeling. It sure didn't feel like a late September day!

Another reason why Lake Como was one of my top places we visited: Free parking lots. Hallelujah! Even if they're on a grassy soccer field, it was nice to not search high and low for somewhere to leave our trusty car.

We took a walk and got acquainted with the ferry timetable before retiring for the night. 

The ferry is part of the villages' public transportation. How cool! I would love to take a ferry to work or school everyday. 

The sun went down and the city lights came on. It was magical being tucked away in those mountains. <3

The sunrise that morning did not disappoint. The whole sky was bright orange! We're keeping it real with the crane in the picture too. No editing that guy out. Ha!

Sweet Logan was on his fourth pack-n-play of the trip and did so well in each of our new places. 

Our nice host, Mario. Something that I really enjoyed was meeting our hosts at each bnb. Now they've popped up in my "people you may know" on Facebook haha.

We hopped on the first ferry of the day and rode to Bellagio. 

This was another highlight for sure. I love anything water related. Ocean, lakes, rivers, you name it. We saw a couple of water skiers the day before... It would be a dream to boat on that lake.

Walked all over that beautiful city. It was quiet and peaceful at 9:00 in the morning. Just an hour later as we were leaving, the streets were already filling with people.

We hopped back on our ferry and drove to...

Lugano, Switzerland! There was a funicular that would take us to the top of San Salvador. The town was beautiful! It still felt pretty Italian though. We later found out, if we had driven 30 more miles, we would've been in the heart of the Swiss alps. Next time!

We boarded two funiculars that took us to the top.

Lake Lugano!

Then back to Tremezzo and Lake Como for one more Italian meal and gelato. <3 

The faces of two happy, tired travelers. I can't believe we did what we did! So many prayers answered with no mishaps the entire trip. We felt so blessed. 

Angel baby woke up ready for one last travel day to Berlin. 

We packed up our tiny car for the last time!! I can still picture exactly where each carryon, backpack, stroller, and snacks went so everything could fit perfectly. 

Bye, beautiful Como!!! I will come back here one day. 

We drove to Milan and boarded our plane for Berlin. Justin was there to pick us up and had an enchilada dinner waiting for us at home. 

We took Mom to the airport the next morning for her last travel day. It took a couple of days to decompress and relax after what we did. It was the trip of a LIFETIME. I'll never forget it. So grateful that we were able to make it happen. <3