Home to See Hermana Rowley!!!

Logan and I got to hop on a couple of planes to Utah to welcome Courtlyn home!! She's been in Ecuador for 18 months, serving as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

Twenty-four hours before our flight was scheduled to depart, I was in bed with the worst stomach pain I have ever felt. I was about to change my flight, but after lots of prayers and blessings, my food poisoning ended after lasting 10 hours. Soooo thankful we were able to keep our original itinerary. I was definitely weak & not feeling my best, but we were getting on that plane to see Hermana Rowley.

I hadn't traveled alone with Logan since he was five months old. Surprisingly, this time around was much easier. He did so well. He had his toys, books, and the TV on the chair in front of him to entertain himself. He probably spent 50% of the flight standing up on his chair looking around at everyone. 

The only downside was out of 11 hours of flight time, sweet Logan slept for 40 minutes... I don't know how he managed because I was exhausted haha. 

Plus one more short nap when we landed in SLC! We had the pleasure of sitting on the runway for just under an hour because Customs didn't open until noon and we were early. :') At least Logan was asleep... & we were in UT!!

We hadn't seen these people since July and I was so excited to hug my dad. Seeing everyone interact with Logan is always my favorite. FaceTime isn't quite the same as being face to face with your family. <3

We headed home and got all settled. That night, Logan familiarized himself with the house and we made final preparations to welcome our Hermana Rowley home.

The next day, we got back in the car and headed to the airport to pick her up!!!!!!!!!!! We had been talking about this day for so long and I can't believe it came. I missed Courtlyn so much. I could count on her to call me almost every day when she was at USU. She's one of my best friends & lots had changed since we said goodbye two summers ago.

The airport was CRAZY. There were at least 30 families there to welcome home their missionaries on a Wednesday morning. They had lanes all taped off and a certain set of doors designated for missionary arrivals.

Family and friends gathered around us and we stood on our tiptoes trying to see our missionary through the cloudy glass doors. 

Then there she was, right in front of us, speed walking into Mom's arms while we cheered and cried. <3 It's a moment and feeling I won't forget. Truly like heaven seeing and hugging her. One cousin remarked how you could feel the Spirit as soon as you saw her. She truly was the best missionary and knows the Savior so well. 

We hugged and stood in awe, not really believing she was right there!! She got to meet her very jet-lagged nephew and finally felt like a real aunt. ;)

The best, best, best day.

We ran and got some pizza at Litza's with Grandpa and Grandma before driving home. 

Driving home from SLC felt like getting off of an emotional rollercoaster. There had been so much anticipation and excitement upon Courtlyn's arrival, when we finally had her with us I crashed haha. We all may have dozed a little in the car between Crumbl cookies.

We gave her a "tour" of the house and she told us everything that was different. Got in her comfy Sunday casual best & we soaked up every minute from that point on of being together. <3

Welcome home, Courtlyn! We're sooooo proud of you. 

Sights, Sounds, & Tastes of Our Berlin Holiday Season

 Writing this from Utah (!!!) while we're here to welcome Courtlyn home from Ecuador. 

Logan & Justin's birthdays are in the middle of November. As soon as those festivities were celebrated, we put up the Christmas tree & made a list of everything Christmas we wanted to do. Bought lots of candles to light, downloaded new albums to listen to, and added some cheesy Hallmarks to our watchlist. 

We also turned on The Christ Child & Light the World videos when we had some downtime to really bring the Christmas spirit. <3

Logan was pretty happy to have a new toy to mess with full of ornaments and things he shouldn't grab!! I will say he's done surprisingly well & hasn't pulled the tree on top of himself lately. 

Made some macrame angels for our tree & gave a few away to friends. 

Since Halloween, we've been saying we need to watch Harry Potter. Well, we FINALLY did and our biennial Harry Potter movie marathon has come to a close. Man, those movies are so good. 

Christmas market season officially began on November 25, and we've been to 9 markets so far. The food is unmatched & we enjoyed looking forward to certain things we loved from last year... Specifically the potato tornado! 

The Bahnhof down the street from us has the most beautiful wreathes and lights put up!

We took a night outing to see this beautiful tree up close. It was amazing!! There was even a free concert going on in front of it. Still deciding if the singer was drunk or not... Ha!

One of our bucket list items was Walli's Christmas concert at the Berlin Dome. Some friends watched Logan while we walked along the river and past some markets to get to our concert. I love where we live!

It was our first time inside the Dome and it is beautiful. There's a huge organ on the left side of the second level. Hearing the organ solos were some of my favorite pieces of the concert. Most of the concert was in Latin & we saw a few kids from our ward also performing with the Kennedy School. I definitely felt the Christmas spirit as we sang along to some of the hymns in English and German. 

It's moments like those that I can't believe we get to live in such a beautiful place and experience a new culture with all of the amazing people who come with it.

I definitely want to go back next year!

Justin and I headed across the street to a Christmas market & snagged some Nutella churros before going home. It was the best date night!! So grateful for friends who watch Logan and make those nights possible.

We had one last outing with some friends before heading to the U.S.A! Tried a new Greek restaurant and holy cow. I'm a converted fried zucchini fan and can't wait to go back. There are THOUSANDS of restaurants in Berlin. Like 7,000. So many different cuisines and authentic dishes we've loved trying. 

We had a great Berlin holiday season & were lucky enough to be home for a couple of weeks leading up to Christmas.

Pictures From the Car Window

I still find myself sticking my arms out the car window to snap pictures of this city that we call home. The architecture, history, beauty - all of it, is something I know I'll miss one day. Just trying to be as present as possible and take it all in before we blink & find ourselves in a new place and phase of life. 

The Reichstag  

Victory Column

Markthalle Neun 

Berlin Cathedral

Altes Museum (as seen in the new Hunger Games ;)

Beautiful Spree River!

Berlin Wall Memorial

A pretty special place to become familiar with and make memories with my little family. 

Is Jesus Christ your King?

One of my current favorite pictures of the nativity. I love the light around the Savior & Mary. <3

I had my second German lesson with Marlies! We played a round of Mensch Ärgere Dich Nicht! (aka the board game Sorry!) and worked on our numbers. 

Then we learned some Christmas words and started talking about Jesus Christ. She told me she's a Protestant and asked me which church I belong to. I told her the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

She asked me, "Is Jesus Christ your king?" I've thought a lot about that question this week & I'm so grateful to have the knowledge and testimony that yes, Jesus is my king. <3 

Slowing Down - Be Still

We had the best Relief Society discussion a couple of weeks ago. We studied Elder Budge's talk, Seek Him with All Your Heart. We talked about being still and how it's not about dedicating more time to scriptures and prayer, but making the time you already have more focused and centered on the Savior. 

A comment at the end really brought it all together for me. The sister mentioned how when she grew up, the only digital communication was email. 

The world was slower & waiting days for a response was normal. Life at times, can feel rushed more so than not. Pressure to respond and always be available to others seems to creep in. But the Savior never rushed. 

We discussed how when Lazarus died, the Savior waited. Martha and Mary even expressed how if the Savior had come sooner, he would not have died. Yet, God's ways are higher than ours. 

When Peter was in financial trouble, the Savior didn't rush to his aid. He didn't rush to heal the daughter of Jairus. 

It made me think about my life and how being still and not rushing around to do everything every day can help me to feel more connected to Christ. I can be "productive" by my standards and go, go, go 24/7 but I don't think that's what I need or what Heavenly Father wants for my life. 

Some of my favorite moments are when I take off my watch and put my phone in the other room. We're not meant to be connected and available to others all of the time.

So, when Logan wouldn't go down for his morning nap, we went to a part of Tiergarten I've been wanting to walk in before the seasons change for good. 

It was beautiful & perfect. I'll never get tired of the slanted sunlight and smell of leaves that autumn brings to Berlin. Logan was a little fussy during the walk and I walked fast to check this outing off my list. 

But then I noticed Logan fell asleep. 

I didn't want to risk waking him up by transferring him into his carseat. I slowed down and started to enjoy my time a little more. I took new trails & didn't care how far we wandered from the original plan. I stopped at a bench & was able to sit and read my scriptures in the peaceful surroundings of the Tiergarten. 

The whole experience was more meaningful once I slowed down. 

When I was a missionary, I loved the quote "work hard, walk fast". Now, I'm trying to walk slower. Even around my apartment! Things don't need to be done in a rush & if they don't get done, it's not the end of the world. One of my resolutions for next year is to be more still by slowing down. 

Life is good. God is good. I'm thankful for little lessons that I can hopefully learn from and be better because of.