Roxy the Wonder Dog!!

Today was the Dog Show Day at Tana's school. I was really nervous about how she would get along with the other dogs and being around all those kids. But she didn't bark even once!! I was amazed. She did all of her tricks and let most of the kids pet her. Then she started to get nervous and was trying to hide behind me. I was sooooo proud of her. She is such a great dog!!

Our New 4 Wheeler

We have really been living it up this Memorial Day Weekend. Our good friend Amber came over to BBQ for us. She is such a great cook. We had a great time talking "Dance, Dance, Dance" as my husband puts it. We had Eric's mom over too, but I guess Amber and I were yakin' so much they couldn't get words in edge wise. Well, too bad!! I haven't seen my girl for a few months and we had catching up to do. Well at the end of the night we got talking about her family's cabin up in Island Park, Idaho. They have canoes, four wheelers, fishin' poles, a fire pit, etc, etc. Well she invited us up for a weekend. We are really excited about it as it is real close to West Yellowstone. It sounds beautiful and so fun. We were so reved up about our conversation with Amber about camping- the next day we ended up at the four wheeler store. We were just going to see how much they were and what we would like to buy. But there was one model on sale and we just couldn't pass it up. We immediately took it out in the hills and all took turns driving it. We took my dad with us. Sierra did great with the clutch and switching gears. She is a natural. She had a big Cheshire grin every time she would come back. The little ones would just piggyback with daddy. Justice isn't too sure about it yet- he's a little scared, but Tana loves it. We had so much fun I forgot to take pictures of us in action. But here is a picture of Justice playing on it parked. So now we are scheming about more ATV's a trailer, a new truck- you know how it goes. But we are loving our new addition.

Trudy & Norrison Middleton

I have some sweet neighbors who have only been married for three years. They just had a son, Norrison, born earlier this month. They had been trying for two years to get pregnant so it was such a blessing to finally have this baby. Well, their little family was traveling to Logan and was involved in a serious accident. Sweet Trudy and baby Norrison who was only 12 days old, plus another bicyclist, were killed in the crash. This leaves Michael, the father and husband, alone. Today was the funeral for Trudy and Norrison. Some very interesting things were said at the funeral that I wanted to share. Trudy was one of those perfect people who could have been translated to heaven at any moment. She played several instruments, was in three choirs, taught music to disabled children, was very involved with our church. An amazing woman. Although the funeral should have been extremely sad- it wasn't. It was a pure celebration of someone who lived their life in a truly admirable way. Her father spoke, and said something that really stuck in my mind. Death is not a period in the sentence of our lives, it's a comma. We live on.
Of course her husband is consumed with guilt and loss. But I spoke with him and he seems to be holding it together and was even smiling today for a moment. I heard others say that he has turned this tragedy into a triumph. He is celebrating her life, looking forward to their future, and is trying to carry on in a way that will take him back to Trudy and Norrison. Here are some links to information about the accident and the obituaries. May God keep you both in his tender care.

ksl.com - Accident in Sardine Canyon Kills Three

The Salt Lake Tribune Obituary Notices

Life is so fleeting. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day details of life, the mundane schedules. We try to pack some fun in- but today I was thinking about what would be said of my life if I were to die. What have I done with this life that God has given me. There is so much more I would like to accomplish- but accomplishments are not my errand. Relationships are. I am going to focus more on establishing truly meaningful relationships with my kids, my husband, my parents, my students. I am so grateful for the chance I have to be a mother, wife, daughter. I want to make their lives better because I was a part of it. I love you my friends and family. I am thankful for the experiences of my life, the tragedies, and the sweet successes. The highs, the lows. They all come together for a meaningful purpose. Like polishing a rough stone.
On a sweet note, I helped at the luncheon for the family after the funeral. Justice ended up sitting by Michael . Michael said to him "Hi, partner. Looks like you could use some company. I'm here alone too. Wanna be buddies." I started to cry hearing him say that. Justice smiled at him and they had some cute conversation. Life goes on.

Tana the Artist!!

Montana has always been the artist of our family. She goes through reams and reams of paper, boxes and boxes of crayons, pencils, erasers, and markers. I decided it would be fun for her to take an art class. After looking everywhere for one with a kid program I finally found one. She had her first drawing class yesterday and LOVED it!! She got her special pencils, sketch pads for nice drawings, and newsprint pad for doodles and practicing. She made some real progress in her first class. I was so impressed. She was learning to draw in perspective yesterday ( a donut from the side instead of the top, and a round table instead of a flat table. Sounds easy but I couldn't do it even when I tried. She took right to it. It was amazing. After her 1 1/2 hour class, she came home and drew for two more hours. It felt good to be fostering one of her natural born talents. I will see if we can post some of her best work. Maybe someday she will be a famouse artiste and we can say we knew her when.

Tana takes off the training wheels!!!

My sweet baby Tana has been so afraid of taking off those training wheels. Well she finally realized that all the kids her age, and lots of kids younger than her are biking around without them. So she asked us to take them off. She has been practicing with Eric on the grass in the backyard and at the park. Yesterday we had a family date at the park. Tana was riding all over really starting to get the hang of it. She still doesn't have the confidence to go it alone yet, but it was sure thrilling to see her go 50 ft or so with no help before diving off the bike. I don't know what's funner to watch, Tana's face, full of excitement, or Eric rushing in to catch her before she crashes. It was one of those mom moments where I just love my family and their milestones so much.

London

Well I am back in Frankfurt after spending the night in London. What an amazing city. This is a place where you would have to spend a week or more to see everything. So much history. Here are a few shots.I know the one with the Tower Bridge in the background I look mad. I wasn't. The sun was in my eyes.

This is the one where I am eating fish and chips. It was good.

Big Ben. Was an amazing sight. It was huge. This has been a great trip but I am so ready to get home.

The meeting in London went very well. There was a lot of energy in the room. Which makes up corporate types relax a bit. We are putting the majority of our eggs in this basket so we want to make sure it sells well. Thus far all is going as planned. Tomorrow we launch here in Germany. They are planning to sell product on site which should be very interesting.

Last but certainly not least tomorrow is Mother's day. I wish I had words to explain how I feel about my mother and more importantly the mother of my children. I cannot put into words what it means to me to know that my wife is home taking care of my kids. She is such a blessing to me. She loves me and I love her more than words can say. So thank you my love for all you do. Thank you for always being at my side. Thank you for helping me to be a better person and thank you for supporting me in everything I do. You are an inspiration to me.

Thursday

This morning we finished up with a recap of what has been discussed and then we went on a sight seeing tour. Since we were in what used to be East Germany, we went to one of the old border watch towers. It was amazing. I can't imagine what it must have been like to live behind the Iron Curtain.

Then we went to lunch and said our good byes. We drove to Wiemar and walked around. It was beautiful. then to Wiemar Castle. Then 2 hours later we arrived in Frankfurt.

We are staying at the Radisson. I was booked in the Business Room Wow... I'm a big shot. Just kidding. The hotel is shapped almost like a circle. My room as all the way on the end and the windows face the city. What a view. We took the train into down town and walked to the old part of Frankfurt. Much to my surprise it is May Fest. So the Brats, wine and beer were flowing freely. What a time to be here.

Tomorrow is London and the flight takes off at 10:00am. So I better get some sleep.

Day 4

I slept good last night. Today we went to the processing facility. It was interesting to see. We had kabobs for lunch and we are planning on having dinner with the owner of the company. It should be good. This far I have had no beer mostly because the folks have been talking to don’t drink. However the guy we will have dinner with tonight loves his beer. So now will be my chance to taste some real German beer.

Tomorrow we will go on a sightseeing tour. It will be great. We go back to Frankfurt tomorrow then on to London Friday.

It is midnight here and we just got back from dinner. It was a gourmet meal and I have some sort of free range chicken from France and a black potato. There was a salad with thin sliced duck breast and finished it off with strawberries and flan. It was really good. The beer was good and so was the wine and the port with dessert.

The people we are visiting are so nice. We didn’t talk business at all during dinner. I spoke with Werner about hunting and living in the US vs Germany. It was a fascinating discussion. There was more talk about how life was in East Germany. Werner’s wife is from there and had some good insights. Also today we went to a tower that was built on the west side of the “wall” so people could wave at their relatives in the east. I can’t fathom how that must have felt.

This has been an amazing trip. I think a friendship has been started.

The Hills

Eric left out the part I love the most. He said that the building they are having most of their meetings in has windows all around. He said when you look out it's hills for as far as the eye can see. Some of them are covered with flower fields. All I could think of was "The hills are alive with the sound of music". That gives me a great visual and peaceful feeling of where he is.

Day 3

Today was nothing but meetings. We started at about 9:30am and we got back to the hotel at about 10:00pm.

Breakfast was great. It was eggs, bread, meat, yogurt,, juice and coffee. We were so excited about these products that before we knew it, it was 3:00pm. So we decided to keep working until dinner.

In the evening we went to a large store where I purchased 32 euros worth of chocolate. I don’t know how I am going to get it back. There is a ton of it.

First leg

Well the first leg is complete. We landed in Cincinnati at about 4:30 local time. The flight was good with one exception but I will get to that in a second. The movie was “Because I said so” with Diane Keaton and Mandy More (sp). It was a good movie. There have been several movies lately with the same plot like “Failure to Launch” but this one was good. I would give it 3 stars.

Because I am traveling with a person that travels more than I, I have been sitting in The Crown Room enjoying the quite, watching TV and sipping on complimentary drinks and treats. What a life.

Anyway back to the flight. About 1 hour before we landed somebody developed a case of gas. I am not talking about jet fuel. I am talking about the kind we all have but don’t like to talk about. I just kept thinking about the Sienfeld episode “Rusty,… RUSTY…” I really wanted to say something, offer some beano or something. My gosh. There is nothing worse then smelling something like that and not being able to get away from it. I looked around at the people around me and it was clear that everybody was feeling the same way.
The flight to Frankfurt leaves at 7:30pm and 8.5 hours late we will be there. Well it is time to have another drink. I will write more when I arrive in Germany

Second Leg

Arrived in Frankfurt at 10:30 Monday morning. The flight was good, hardly any bumps. The food was a bit rough but what can you do. I sat with my back to an exit row so I wasn’t able to recline enough to get comfortable. So I tossed and turned until the last 10 minutes of the fight. I woke up as we touched down.

I sat next to a young G.I. who was on his was to Rhiad. He is in the Air Force and was a very nice kid. He looked about 20 years old. He said he wasn’t nervous and to be honest at that age I would have said the same thing. When we got ready to get off the plane I told him thanks for putting on the uniform everyday and I was proud of him. I hope he will come home safe.

Anyway, back to me. The customs process in Frankfurt was easy. No forms to fill out. I just walked up to the agent and handed him my passport which he stamped and sent me on my way. I picked up my bags and we walked out where we were met by a guy holding a sign that said “Pro Tec Welcome Neways. Welcome Mr. Eric Nugent and Mr. Juergen Suckow” That has never happened to me before so I felt like a big shot.

After a three hour car ride and seeing where people have “major transactions” because they don’t want to pay to use the potty, we arrived at a very small village and got checked into the Guest House. The room is nice and clean. I have a great view of the hillside and part of the village. There is a small stream running outside my window and the birds are chirping. It is very peaceful.

We called Josef with Pro Tec and he came and picked us up and took us for a drive. We drove through many small villages and I got to hear about how things were before the wall came down. We stopped at a castle that is being renovated and I took some pictures. The view was breathtaking. After driving some more was stopped for dinner which was good but it was too much food. We also made plans for the rest of the week. It sounds like I will get to see some more stuff before we have to leave but It also sounds like I am going to learn a lot about the products. I will write more tomorrow.

Sierra the Dancing Queen!

Could a mom be any prouder of her kid! My baby was at her dancing peak this weekend. She performed her solo routine on Friday night. Her dad, my mom, grandma, Justice, Tana and I, were all there to cheer her on. She literally takes my breath away, and bring tears to my eyes. She has always been very good, but this year, you can feel the emotion in her moves and she has really worked hard on correcting herself and listening to her teacher to really improve from week to week. She won queen in her division. I have a hard time entering her into competitions because she has a room full of trophies- does she really need more? But watching her perform is such a joy- for her and us. Too bad they don't give a cash prize instead of trophies...hmmm. Anyhoo- her team performed on Saturday. They looked amazing each time they took the floor. They have some really talented teachers and dancers. They put on a first class show. The won first place in jazz, lyrical, entire team routine, and Best Show. They have really earned it. Way to go sweetie!!!