Adventures Elsewhere - Prague

On our journey to Prague, our GPS took us on some crazy back roads to get there.  We thought we were lost.  It was a tad unnerving, but after driving in what we thought was the middle of nowhere for an hour or so, we were able to find it alright.

Prague was amazing, but we had a rude introduction when the Prague police pulled us over for driving in a no parking zone.  He said our fine would be 1000 koruna.  I had no idea what a koruna was worth so my heart was sinking into my stomach.  Newel left to go exchange for koruna.  He took awhile to get back and the police started to question me about where my husband had gone.  I felt like crying.  I just wanted to enjoy Prague!  Fortunately, Newel came back.  He took longer because he went to our hotel to ask if the fine the police gave us was legit.  1000 Koruna is only about 35 euro so that worked out.  Ugh.  It was a bummer and I don't want to complain about it because it's over, but I still wanted to write about it.

Once we got the police out of our hair, we got to our hotel which was kind of like a step-up from a hostel.  Our room had twin beds and we shared a bathroom with the other rooms on our floor.  Here is what we did after we checked in to our hotel and ate some delicious Czech food:

Walked around Old Town Square which included the Astronomical Clock, Tyn Catherdral, St. Nicholas Church, Charles Bridge, Lesser Town, and Bethlehem Chapel.  I think I was a little peeved and maybe semi-traumatized from the police so my picture taking diminished somewhat while we were there.  Here's a good one of Newel in front of Tyn Cathedral.

The next morning, we walked to Prague Castle which had amazing views (see one of my favorite pictures I took below).  

Prague Castle included St. Vitus Cathedral, the royal gardens, and guards that don't move (like in London).  We later went to the banks of Vltava River, crossed St. Charles Bridge and walked through Old Town one last time before getting on the road heading to Munich.

Overall impressions of Prague: very touristy, tons and tons of people, major traffic - which Newel loved ;).  It reminded us of New Orleans; so many fun things to do and see but kind of crazy too.

What I want to remember:

1) Dinner with Newel including the waiter commenting that he must be the only man in Prague not drinking and then telling me he was a keeper - I've always thought Newel was a keeper for many reasons including him not drinking.

2) Walking around Prague, holding hands - that might sound silly, but I just felt grateful to get to hold hands with Newel in one of the coolest cities in the world. :)

3) The views from Prague Castle.

Things Newel wants to remember:

1) The details of our hotel - I forgot to mention that it was built in 1467.

2) The restaurant we ate at including our meal and the bread

3) The old buildings and architecture

Lessons learned:

1) Do more research before seeing Prague including background/history on all the attractions as well as places to stay outside of the city and so you can just take the tram to get to where you want to go.

2) Money isn't the most important thing (I was bugged about our driving violation fine),

3) Things are only as traumatic as you make them (again, bugged about that police incident, but it's all good now).

Adventures Elsewhere - Dresden

I know what you're probably thinking because I've been thinking it too - Is she ever going to finish blogging about her Europe trip?!  It was over 6 months ago!!!  I know, it will end soon.  I think my subconscious still wants to be in Europe so I'm dragging out my posts as long as possible. :)  My goal is to get all my posts about the trip up by the end of this year.  My track record for blogpost frequency makes it look like I won't be able to do it, but I shall!  You also might wonder how I can still remember enough to write about our experiences, but the good news is that I took notes about our journey as the travels occurred when we were driving from city to city.  So my recollections are pretty legit.

Anyway, so DRESDEN.  I loved it.  Newel said it was his favorite city he served in and it was my favorite city we visited in East Germany.  Here's some of what we did when we were there:

We walked around the Neustadt (new city) and saw Newel's old missionary apartment.  Then we checked into our hotel which was one of my favorites - Motel One.

 We then walked across Marienbrucke and caught this view of the Altstadt (old city).  I was so taken aback by this view when I first saw it.  I couldn't believe I was in such a beautiful place full of so much history.  Then we walked more along the River Elbe.

In the Altstadt we saw the old opera house, Dresden castle, and Fraunkirche (Church of Our Lady).  The Fraunkirche was bombed and destroyed during WWII and then was later rebuilt a few years after Newel finished his mission.  When he was in Dresden, it was still a pile of rubble so it was really cool for him to see it completed.  We climbed to the top and got these amazing views of the city.

We then walked and walked and walked and walked!  We saw the Golden Rider statue of August the Strong (major king of Saxony).

The next morning, we walked to the Zwinger - a massive party palace partly inspired by Versailles.

And then we went to the Praguestrasse where Newel did missionary work.

What I want to remember about Dresden:
1) How much Newel loved seeing it again and talking about what it was like to serve there.
2) All the moms with babies - and they all rode bikes and had baby bike seats in the front of their handle bars.
3) The view from Fraunkirche
4) Walking in the Neustadt down Rothenburgerstasse
5)  The unevenness of the sidewalks because of all the big cobblestones - this was a little detail Newel had forgotten
6) Sitting and people watching with Newel in the Praguestrasse

He is the Gift

This came to me via email at a perfect moment.  I was feeling stressed with all things related to Christmas and my never-ending to-do list, but then I watched this and now I feel all better.  I once again realized that my lists don't really matter and getting it all done doesn't matter either.  All that matters is that I remember the Gift of Our Savior; that I remember His love and that I remember to share it with others.  He is the Gift.

What is Happening to Me?

Hey y'all.  Might as well say y'all because people are telling me I sound SOUTHERN!!!  WHAT?!  Or should I say REALLY?  Ha ha.

When I was in Utah for a training, other people taking the course asked me where I was from, and when I said Alabama, they said, "Oh yeah, you sound Southern."

And then when I was in Cafe Rio I wanted to get a frequent diner card because I planned on eating there every day I was there and then give the card to someone before I left.  Anyway, without even thinking, I said, "Do y'all have one of those free meal cards?"  And right then I realized I said y'all without even trying!  I usually make a conscious effort to say y'all here because 'you guys' sounds too weird to people.  Anyway, I think I'm getting the hang of saying y'all and I guess sounding more and more Southern.

My sister (who is serving a mission in Texas) says sounding Southern is a good thing.  I agree. :)

I should add that the people who are telling me I sound Southern are from out West.  They need to come to Alabama and hear a true Southerner because then they'd realize I'm not even close to sounding like that kind of awesomeness.  I still get the occasional 'you're not from around here, are you.' from people that are from here so I think I'm still good.

Nashville - Round 3

A few weeks ago, Newel and I were able to meet up with my brother and his wife in... drumroll please... NASHVILLE.  Yesss!  We had lots of fun together.  Here are a few highlights:

First, we ate at Monell's (I haven't been to Nashville without eating there - yes, it's that good).  Maybe not good for the hips, but good for the soul!

Then we went to Centennial Park to check out the Parthenon.  We didn't stay very long and didn't take any pictures because it was raining, and I mean REALLY raining - like it does this time of year in the South.

We also walked around Opryland, but I didn't take any pictures again!  I think I got too distracted with having so much fun being with Andrew & Stacy.

Then we walked through the District, up and down Broadway Avenue, looked in some neat shops and ate Mike's ice cream.

The next day, we went to the Hermitage which is the home/estate of President Andrew Jackson.  It was really cool.  We got to tour his home, walk around the gardens, and the homes his slaves lived in.  We also happened to be there on Chocolate Day where a lady demonstrated how they made and used/ate chocolate back in Andrew Jackson's day.  There were also some samples. :)  I think it had a better name than Chocolate Day, but now I can't remember what it was.  Festival of Chocolates?  Chocolate Heritage?  Nope, I just looked it up because it was bugging me.  It was called Historic Chocolate at the Hermitage.

And that was about it.  Short and sweet.  After the Hermitage, we had to part ways and return home.  Can I just say that I love my brother and sister-in-law?!  They are so great and I think they're some of the coolest people I know.  When we were driving home, Newel said, "It's too bad they don't live closer" (because then we could see them more).  But we are SO happy that they're in North Carolina.  Eight hours driving distance is WAY better than twenty-seven.

13 Years Ago

This morning I went to the little gym at my apartment complex to exercise and while I was listening to the radio, the talk show host said, "We'd love to hear from people in a few minutes and tell us where you were 13 years ago."  For a split second, I thought that it was interesting that he wanted to hear where people were 13 years ago.  That was a little random.  But then the next split second, I remembered how not random that topic was.  Today was 9/11.

I decided to look at my journal because I remember writing in it on 9/11.  This is what I wrote:

This morning two planes hit the World Trade Center and a plane hit the Pentagon.  When I heard about it, it was at the end of Seminary and Bishop Brazier told us.  I thought it was a tragedy.  I want to share more thoughts but they'll have to wait because I need to go to bed early for Seminary. 

I was 15 years old when I wrote this entry, and I never did share more thoughts on it.  Maybe 13 years later is as good as any time to share a little more.

I still remember when Bishop Brazier told us the news.  We didn't know very much at the time.  I don't think anyone really did.  And then I remember going to school and watching news footage of the towers collapsing, and then later reading the newspaper and seeing images of all that happened that day.  It almost wasn't real to me.  As a 15 year old, I knew so little of the world and seeing all of that was a bit of a wake up call for me.  I saw a lot of the bad that was in the world, but I also saw the good.  I remember more people coming together, uniting to help others and reaching out to loved ones, especially those directly affected by the events of 9/11.  It was a sad day, but it gave so many people opportunities to express love for God and for their fellowmen.

Since I'm still writing about our trip to Europe, I haven't shared much about our Southern experiences, but I do want to say, that I feel like the South is really American.  I guess it's actually Southern American, but still American.  Go America!

Adventures Elsewhere - Freiberg

After Annaberg, Newel and I drove to Freiberg to visit the temple.  The story of the Freiberg Temple is a good one.  I would really love to tell its story, but it would be long and I wouldn't tell it as well as others have, but President Dieter F. Utchdorf tells it very well in "Seeing beyond the Leaf" (scroll down to the heading The Freiberg Temple to read about it). 

Visiting the Freiberg Temple was very inspiring to me.  Our visit was different than our visits to the temple in Birmingham because so many different languages were spoken.  We attended an endowment session that was given in Czech so Newel and I wore headphones for translation in order to understand it.  Newel listened in German and I listened in English.  There was also a lady listening in Mongolian.  As I was there, I had the most overwhelming feeling that the Lord loves all people, all are His children, He hears all languages, all hearts, and all prayers.  We all spoke/understood different languages, but the same ordinance was being performed.  I felt His love for me and for every other person I saw there that day.

Things I want to remember:

1) Feeling God's love for all people around the world.

2) The people working in the temple were very bright which was significantly different than others German we had been seeing.  I think it was because of living the Gospel and the change that happens when you devote your life to God.

3)  My first feelings of helplessness because of not being able to communicate in German.  It all worked out because the lady helping me saw my blank stares and switched to English.  I am so much more appreciative of people that learn to speak other languages!

4) The crazy never-ending drive to Brand-Erbisdorf (a town outside of Freiberg) due to construction - we had to take detour after detour after detour (at the time I wanted to forget it, but now I want to remember every moment... funny how life works that way).

P.S.  I used a lot of church language that may be unfamiliar to some people.  If you have any questions about things I said, please message me!  I would love to explain.

My Favorite Missionaries

My sister has been serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fort Worth, Texas.  She's been out for 16 months and our only contact has been through email and a few hand-written letters.  Despite, the minimal contact, I've come to know her on a deeper, more spiritual level than I ever would have experienced had she not left.  She's been able to share parts of her mission experience as well as her thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that have allowed me to feel close to her; closer than when we shared our room way back when and she'd leave chocolate candy wrappers in the bed. :)

I had the same thing happen with my brothers when they went on their missions.  When they were away, I wrote them once a month, and even if I didn't receive a personal email from them, I always received the email they sent to my parents to forward to family and friends each week.  I felt close to them that way.  I still remember one brother writing about singing hymns to the people in Chile and another brother always writing about how amped he was to be a missionary in Canada.  Just thinking about reading their emails makes me smile.

What I'm really trying to say is writing my siblings when they were/are on their missions has made me feel so, so close to them; even closer than when we're living in the same country and I get to see them in person every now and then.  My relationship with each of them has been strengthened and become more eternal than ever.  Missions are always a blessing for every party involved -- The missionary (of course), the people they teach/serve (of course), the parents, the siblings, and ESPECIALLY the older sister. :)

Adventures Elsewhere - Annaberg-Bucholz

After Leipzig, we drove to Annaberg-Bucholz which was probably the smallest town we visited.  It's tucked away in the Ore Mountains and is very beautiful.  While we were there, we were able to see a family that Newel taught as a missionary.  They made us lunch and then took us around their town and surrounding areas.  Here are some things we did with them:

Went behind their house and looked out over Annaberg.  See how pretty?

Climbed the tower of The Church of St. Annen.  It's one of the largest late Gothic churches of Saxony and was built from 1499 to 1525.  A family still lives in the tower and cares for the church and rings the bell.  (This is Newel and the Sengers at the top of the tower.)

Walked through the marketplace and then hiked the Poehlberg - the highest mountain in Annaberg.

What I want to remember:

1)  How much Newel and the Sengers enjoyed being together again.

2)  The hills and fields of Annaberg-Bucholz and other surrounding towns.

3)  Comparing the people in Annaberg to the people in the Southern United States - so friendly, simple, and their accents occasionally being difficult to understand in their respective languages. :)

Pizza

So for those of you who don't know, my favorite food is pizza.  I LOVE pizza.  Anything from authentic Italian to good ole Little Caesar's; from homemade goodness to store-bought frozen.  We've found some pretty good pizza places down here in Birmingham.  We also have all the usual places like Papa John's, Dominos, etc.  But there's been a special place, near and dear to my hungry heart, that they haven't had in Birmingham until just 2 months ago, and that special place is...drum roll please... PAPA MURPHY's!

For those of you who haven't heard of Papa Murphy's, it's a take and bake pizza place that makes your pizza with all the freshest ingredients and then you get to take the pizza home, bake it in your own oven, and eat it.  YUM.  I have so many good memories associated with Papa Murphy's--hanging out with friends as a student at BYU, brother-in-law's wedding rehearsal dinner, my golden birthday, Newel's nephew's 1st birthday, dinner & games with Newel's sister & brother-in-law... you get the picture.  If there's a good party going on, Papa Murphy's is probably there too.

Last week I was thinking about how much I missed it, and then as Newel and I were driving around on the 4th of July I thought I saw a sign that said Papa Murphy's.  I told Newel, "I must really miss Papa Murphy's because I think I'm seeing the signs for it".  And then I realized I really was seeing the signs for it!  YAY!  Today, I got a large barbecue chicken pizza for only $8 because it's their special pizza of the week.  It was delicious and worth every single yummy, savory, and probably fatty bite!

Birmingham friends, if you haven't had Papa Murphy's, try it!  There's a new location by the Publix on Caldwell Mill Road.  Utah friends, go eat some Papa Murphy's for me and count your pizza blessings. :)

Adventures Elsewhere - Leipzig

In Leipzig, we first drove by the train station that took Newel to Dessau.  One thing I learned from him was that the missionaries almost always took the train when they were transferred to different areas.

After driving around a little bit, we found this AWESOME parking spot right by everything we wanted to see.  This was a big deal because it seemed like there were no places to park but then we found this perfect spot.  We were living the charmed life.

Some other things we saw in Leipzig:

Nikolaikirche - This church became famous in 1989 when it became a center of peaceful revolt against communist rule. 

open to all

Thomaskirche

This church is famous as the place where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as a Kapellmeister.  He's also buried there but we couldn't find a grave site. We looked everywhere in and outside the church.  Oh well.

Market Square

Völkerschlachtdenkmal - Monument to the Battle of the Nations

What I want to remember:

1) Discussing the fact that most Germans do not have a belief or faith in God, but their ancestors had so much - you can tell they did because there are beautiful, old churches EVERYWHERE

2) Laughing at our GPS's pronunciation of German street names

3) Laughing at my attempts to pronounce German street names, sites, and various German phrases ('kirche' was especially hard and I tried to say it a lot in Leipzig)

What Newel wants to forget:

1) The super flat pillows and how it was really hot in our hotel room that night - he's still complaining about it. :)

Adventures Elsewhere - Dessau

After Berlin, we drove to Dessau, the first area Newel served in when he was a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It's a smaller town in Germany.  The best part about Dessau for me, and maybe for both of us, was seeing Newel see his first apartment again.  He just couldn't believe he was actually seeing it again and that nothing about it had changed (except missionaries weren't living there anymore).

 

Friedrich-Schneider-Straße 68

After seeing the apartment, we walked down the street (the same street Newel walked down everyday when he was in Dessau) and went to the grocery store to get some flavored milk (also something he did a lot when he served there).  It was fun having Newel take me on a tour of the grocery store.  Their groceries are similar but different compared to what we have here in the U.S.  They obviously had their own brands of milk, cereal, candy, etc. (except I did see that Pringles, Oreos, and M&M's had infiltrated the stores shelves - just say NO, Germany!), but they also had less of everything since Germans (and I think most Europeans) go to the grocery store almost everyday to get the food they need for that day.

We then walked a few blocks and saw the McDonalds Newel regularly ate at (again, just say NO, Germany!), the main square he taught his first discussion/lesson, and gave his first Book of Mormon.  Here we are in the main square.

After that we went to the Bauhaus School which was something I wanted to see after studying the Bauhaus movement when I took art history in high school 10 YEARS AGO.  Wow, don't get me started. :)

We also saw the train station that brought Newel to Dessau and where he & his companion took the train to church on Sundays since the building was that far away.

What I want to remember:

1) Talking with Newel about his experiences in Dessau - him seeing everything triggered so many memories that he hadn't shared with me before

2) Seeing Newel's happiness and awe to see Dessau exactly 15 years later

3) Everyone riding bikes (really EVERYONE - old people, young people, either going to/coming from work, leisurely riding, etc.)

Adventures Elsewhere - Berlin

Last month, Newel and I went on a really, really, REALLY great trip to Europe.  When we were there, we took A LOT of photos (1302 to be exact) and I kept a journal (really just notes I wrote on the backs of hotel reservations and maps/directions to places we were going in case the GPS wasn't working).  My next few posts will be about the vacation which will really just be pictures and notes I took.  Hope y'all enjoy. :)

We first landed in Frankfurt, had a short layover, then flew to Berlin.  Here we are in the Frankfurt Airport about 9:30 AM their time, 2:30AM our time. Can you tell how tired we were? :)

At the airport, I kept thinking, this is the first step I've take in Europe, this is the first toilet I've used in Europe, etc.  I just wanted to take everything in, and I couldn't believe we were finally there.  I had my first European breakfast sandwich and it was incredible.  Maybe I was just really hungry but everything about it was perfect.  The freshly baked bread, the cheese, the meat, tomato and cucumber; so YUM.  Okay, enough about the food.  I think I'll write a separate post about the food.  Then I won't get distracted from what we actually did which was way more interesting.

Once we got to Berlin, we rented a car and drove to our hotel which was close to everything we wanted to see.  Newel did a really great job with researching the location of all the hotels we booked so we didn't have to do much driving/parking around the city.  Anyway, the first thing we did was walk over to the Reichstag - a historical building that housed the Imperial Diet of the German Empire from 1894-1933.

Then we went to the Brandenburg Gate which is a former city gate turned Neoclassical triumphal arch and probably Berlin's most famous landmark.

Then we walked through the Tiergarten which I would compare to Central Park in Manhattan.  It was a really big and beautiful park filled with green trees, people walking, running, riding bikes, and/or hanging out with friends/family.  No people are in this picture but look how pretty it is!

Then we climbed to the top of the Siegessäule which is the Berlin Victory Column commemorating the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War.  At the top, you get a really amazing view of all of Berlin.

From the top looking down the street.

After doing all of this, and having not rested from the flight, we were so beat and headed back to our hotel to sleep.  The next morning we went to the Berlin Wall Memorial which ended up being one of our favorite parts of Berlin.  It was really cool to see parts of the old wall and to think about what it meant for/how it affected the German people.  The Berlin Wall ran just along a street right through the city, separating friends and family, dividing the country from 1961 to 1989.

Bernauer Straße 

What I want to remember: 

1) How excited I was to be there

2) My first European breakfast (more on that in the food post)

3) Appreciating what people went through being divided by the Wall

Rain

I know in my last post, I was kind of griping about the weird winter weather Alabama experienced, but I have been meaning to write about something I've loved about the weather here too.  The rain.

I love it.  It rains a lot here.  It's raining right now actually.  Sometimes in the middle of the night, I wake up and I hear it raining and I feel so peaceful.  There's not a care I have that I can think of.  I just lay there and feel completely safe and loved and happy.  I don't know how that happens by just hearing it rain outside.  Maybe that's how life sounded when I was in my mom's womb before being born and I probably felt safe there so that's why I feel safe when I hear the rain now.  I don't know.  I'm thinking crazy. :)

Anyway, the rain is wonderful.  It's peaceful and makes me think of God.  I really do love it.  Life in the South is good.

P.S.  General Conference was this weekend and it was amazing and uplifting, and I feel a bit more ready to take this life on again.  If you didn't get to see it or want to see it again, watch it here.

Bad Snow, Good Snow, Cold Day, Warm Day

Alabama has been so confused lately.  Most of you are probably aware of the crazy weather the South has experienced in the last couple months.  Now it's not so crazy and people are wondering why I'm just now writing about it, but I thought I would share anyway.

The main thing was the Snowpocalypse or Snowmaggedon or whatever other name you wanna call it that we had at the end of January.  It was PURE CRAZINESS.  I don't even want to go over the details because I'll have to semi re-live it, but I have to document this to some extent so here it goes.

On Monday, January 27th, the forecast said Birmingham would receive a light "dusting" of snow.  Usually, when there's a chance of snow, they close the schools and businesses (or at least have late-starts where they don't start/open until 11ish) and all the bread, eggs, and milk disappear off store shelves.  But this time, the weather forecasters were certain that the snow would be minimal, that it wouldn't stick, and that we could and should carry on with our days as usual.

On the morning of Tuesday, January 28th, I checked the weather forecast again before going to work to see if it had changed, but the "dusting" prediction remained.  So I drove to work and started seeing the preschoolers.  Then it started to snow, and the preschoolers were excited and it was a cute, magical moment because we don't get snow here and kids (& adults) love it when it happens!  Then it kept snowing and we noticed it was sticking. Soon after that we hear Jefferson County Schools were closing and informing parents to come pick up their children so Glenwood Preschool Program did the same.  I got a little excited because this meant I'd probably get to leave work early , make a yummy, warm meal and then snuggle up & watch a movie with Newel.

Once preschool parents were picking up students, I went up to Allan Cott School to work with the residential students since I knew they wouldn't be going anywhere.  When I got up to the school, the director said I didn't need to worry about seeing them for speech therapy because they were trying to get residential staff to come to work early and get the students to their houses.  I was thinking, "YAY!  Now, I only need to write progress notes for the preschoolers and then I can probably go home."

All the while, it's still snowing and sticking, and a long line of cars started to build up to get out of Glenwood.  I figured I'd wait until there was not a line and the traffic out on the main roads died down.

But it never died down, and people that left Glenwood as soon as it started snowing came back because the roads were impassable.  My heart sunk into my stomach when I found this out because I realized I'd be sleeping at work.  I thought, "SLEEPING at work?!  NOOOOOOOOOOO. I can't sleep at work.  No."

Yes.  I got stuck at work and slept there, but I was lucky to get stuck at Glenwood.  Since they have residential programs for children, adolescents and adults, they had extra food, blankets, toothpaste and toothbrushes.  I was also able to find a couch to sleep on.  And once I found out Newel got home safely (after spending 7+ hours in traffic), I was able to sleep.  I had a dream that night that the snow was melting and my supervisor, two of my coworkers, and I were walking out of Glenwood and heading home.  Oh, what a wonderful dream!

The next day, Wednesday, January 29th, the snow had stopped but the roads were iced over and the roads still impassable and it wasn't looking like anything was going to melt because temperatures were below freezing.  It looked like we'd have to stay another night.  But what about my dream?!

I tried to do work, but couldn't focus.  I just wanted to go home and be with Newel.  After lunch, some people decided to leave work and brave the icy roads.  They didn't come back and rumors were that they were getting home.  So my supervisor and 1 of my coworkers and I left in my supervisor's SUV and made it to the freeway.  My supervisor dropped me off the main road that was close to our apartment and I walked the rest of the way.  After leaving for work 30+ hours before, I finally made it home!  It felt so good to be with Newel and just give him a big hug.

The next day, it was impossible to get to work so I stayed home and took some pictures.  Here they are:

Our mailbox.

When we were still so happy to be together again.

The apartments behind ours.

Now looking at these pictures, it doesn't look so crazy.  But it was.  And everyone that experienced it has their own story.  I think we all learned a little something from it.  Being better prepared, having gratitude for all we do have, Alabama doesn't know how to forecast the weather, etc. :)

LOVE

Happy Half-Birthday to me.  Who cares about half-birthdays, right?  Wrong. :)  I don't do anything special, but I just like to recognize.  One year, when Newel and I were engaged, he made me dinner and bought me some German chocolate cake.  I think he was still trying to impress me, and it worked.

So this is not related to our happenings in the South, but I think this video is great.  Well, I think this man is from England and there's a Birmingham, England so kind of related?  Still not related.  If you haven't seen it, you should watch it, and if you've seen it before you should watch it again.  It touches my heart every time.

I remember seeing this when it first came out and it made me happy, and then I watched it again yesterday and it made me happy again.  I know what this man says is true.  Our Savior never gives up on us, and we should never give up on other people.  I think in some ways I'm the injured bird and need some rescuing and that's where Christ comes in, and then in other ways I know other people that are injured birds and I can help them by introducing them to Christ.  What a beautiful message His Gospel brings.  For more information on what I believe and love, go here.

More Heap Fam in Bham

Last month, my brother and his wife came to visit us in Birmingham.  Well, the primary reason was for Andrew to interview with UAB's MHA program, but staying with us and experiencing some of Alabama was a major plus.  Here is what we did:

Sorry, if you don't care for the details, but this is for me to remember and for my family (mostly Mom) to enjoy. :)

We picked them up from the airport late Thursday night, and stayed up and talked a little bit before we had to crash so Newel could go to work and Andrew could go with him to get to his interview.  Stacy and I got to sleep in (because I took the day off :) ).  We woke up and went for a walk in my favorite park but kind of froze because it was really cold that day - more on how this whole winter has been fa-reezing in a future post.  We went to Hobby Lobby to get some stuff to make my mom a birthday present and then we went to lunch at McAlister's.  Then we went home and showered and Andrew and Newel got home from interview/work and they taught us how to play the card game Finny (sp?).  For dinner, we went to Mugshots and ate really good hamburgers.  I can always eat at Mugshots - that's why I'm so happy in our picture below. :)

Then we went home and played Kinect Sports and Dance Central 3 and watched a BYU volleyball game where our other brother was caught acting like our dad. :)

 On Saturday, we went to lunch at Niki's West to eat some pure, Southern, home-style food.  Super good.  I even remember exactly what I ordered and it's a month later. :)  Then we went to Sloss Furnaces to check out the old boilers, railways, and creepy haunted tunnels.
 

Next we went to Kelly Ingram Park and gave Andrew and Stacy a condensed Civil Rights walking tour, trying to recall all we learned from previous tours and visits to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Then we went to Walmart. :)  We had to get some groceries for dinner and print off some pictures for my mom's present.  Andrew and Stacy made us Lasagna Soup and homemade pretzels.

On Sunday, Newel and I made breakfast, and since we had late church, we watched the rest of Count of Monte Cristo and then Pride and Prejudice which Andrew was really excited about.  Church was great, and then we came home, ate dinner, played more games and stayed up as late as we could before having to accept the fact that Andrew and Stacy had to go home the next day.

Monday morning came, we got up, exercised, went to Edgar's for breakfast and then I took them to the airport.  I was sad.  Being with family is one of the best things in the world.  Especially with Andrew and Stacy.  I miss them and I'm thinking about how much I miss them and all my family and Newel's family even more as I write this.  Life is so good.

It had been a little over a year since we had seen each other, but now it won't be that long since our other brother got engaged.  Hooray!  Looks like we'll get to reunite with all my family again soon.