Partner's Group Christmas Party

70's theme, in case you couldn't figure it out.

Our 300 Euro Christmas Tree

We got a Christmas tree! We pulled out the adorable ornaments we spent WAY too much money on in Germany a few months ago (see Rothenburg trip), and in lieu of a star, donned our real cow bell (picked up at a flea market in Zurich this weekend). Then we boxed them all back up again as the new little "toys" proved to be too much of a temptation for our 2-yr-olds (stay tuned for photos of our cheap, unbreakable homemade ornaments).

Sledding in Arosa

We visited our friends, The Jenkins, at their adorable Swiss chalet in Arosa last weekend. We enjoyed sledding, relaxing and good company.

Here's the sledding

...and here's the relaxing

1) The boys lounging slopeside 2) Brooke, exhausted from running laps on the trampoline 3) Andrew double-fisting his newly-discovered treat: snow-dipped suckers 4) Matthew in his new expedition suit & Ashley with Emily's toasty "woolly mammoth" boots.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a nice relaxing Swiss Thanksgiving this year. They don't give time off work for obvious reasons, so we celebrated over the weekend. On Saturday we feasted with our American friends (turkey and mashed potatoes have never tasted so good) and watched the BYU game via the internet. On Sunday we explored our town on foot. We found an enormous rock, that looks like it is straight out of Stonehenge, but mostly just threw rocks, enjoyed peanut butter & honey, chased lambies and froze our little piggies.

Our little Knonau in the background

Friends

"Big Hugs"

Boots

The boot fetish is spreading!

A Beau Woodbury in the making

I think our little Matthew takes after his Grandpa. I see it most when he flashes those huge smiles, which is the way he is for most of the day. We couldn't have asked for a more easy-going, content and genuinely happy child. There is very little that can make this boy upset (tried and tested by his older brother and sister). He is a true joy to have in our family.

The end of a succesful weekend

Val Versasca

Airplanes

On the way home we stopped off at a small airfield near Val Versasca. Andrew was in heaven. We saw airplanes land and take off, a helicopter and even parachuters.

Bellagio, Italy

Lake Lugano, Switzerland

Southern Switzerland

It was a long weekend in Zug and we headed down to Lugano for a few days. We made a couple short stop-offs on the way:

Castillo di Montebello

Swiss Miniatur: model replicas of the most noteworthy places in Switzerland. A few of our favorites:
1) Anthony and Andrew in front of Old Town Zug 2) Luzern 3) Jungfrau 4) Riding the train (I've never seen all three kids so happy at the same time before) 5) Ashley and Andrew at Chateau de Chillon 6) An overall view 7) I can't remember, but it looks really cool and I hope we go see it 8) Andrew wanted to be Chick Hicks 9) Brooke was Lightning McQueen

A Swiss Halloween

Unfortunately, the Swiss don't celebrate Halloween like back in the states so we had to get a little creative with the costumes. As you can see, we didn't try too hard. We still enjoyed picking and carving pumpkins, and going to a Halloween Carnival our stake puts on for the American kids.


Brooke is supposed to be a movie star, but the feather boa and necklaces didn't last very long.

Lambies

We have some new next door neighbors! Not even the electric fence detered Brooke, who was determined to feed the lambs. (Don't worry grandparents, the voltage is very low.)

A Saturday spent in Zug

The Schaftboden playground on top of the Zugerberg. This awesome park was made to order for the mini-adventurer. The teeter-totter, tunnels and jungle-gyms are all made out of trees. There is even a zip line that unfortunately our kids were a little too little to enjoy. It was a surprisingly sunny day (albeit freezing!) and the drive to the top was gorgeous with colorful leaves and gorgeous views.

It was a little warmer underground. We drove to the Hollgrotten Caves to see 20,000 year old stalactites and stalagmites.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kiddos!

1) An easle with art supplies will hopefully keep them entertained indoors during a Switzerland winter. (Our kellogg friends will notice that Brooke's boot novelty has not worn off) 2) Some fun wooden toys we picked up in Germany 3) Admiring wrapped presents 4) Anyone who knows me knows I can never hold out all the way when it comes to surprises, presents or celebrations. So I had to let the kiddos open up at least one present the night before. They were almost as excited about Grandma and Grandpa's birthday cards as they were their new loveys. They made us sing "Happy Birthday" about 10 times before we could put them down!

The Romantic Road, Germany

We headed up to Germany this weekend to enjoy the changing leaves and beautiful fall weather. We spent Friday and Saturday nights in an adorable old medieval town called Rothenburg and slowly made our way back home on Sunday stopping at a few more towns along the Romantic Road, including a quick visit to the Neuschwanstein castle.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Brooke is already showing signs of a promising shopaholic

Playing with leaves

Neuschwanstein Castle