April 2006
Monthly Archive
Sun 30 Apr 2006
Hi guys,
We got up and went to church today. We were in a beautiful little chapel
where we went to the Spanish Ward sacrament and then the international ward
sacrement. The hotel had the Church down as …of alter day saints. Kind of
funny. We got that corrected and also fixed the times that they had listed.
I had to go to church in my flip flops, but singing hymns in Spanish and then
in English was nice! The missionaries in the ward were really cute and they
are so excited to meet us wherever we go. We seem to always run into
missionaries from Sandy, so they like talking to us.
We then had lunch out on the beach and it was a beautiful day. The little town
is called Fuegirola and is close to Malaga. I am pretty much ready to come
live in Spain—the people are really nice that we have met.
Connor is going to do soccer camp this week and the other day he was playing
wiffle ball with a couple English kids. They were pretty much retarded with
the bat and Connor stepped up and started launching! He was showing up the 10
year olds and then threw a ball back to the counselor and literally hit him in
the chest. I was a proud dad.
Love you guys!
D
Sat 29 Apr 2006
We finally made it out of the Czech Republic and our last couple of days there
were really nice. It was great not to have the stress of school and just enjoy
the place for a while. The weather turned into Spring and was wonderful! We
left a lot of our belongings over there trying to lighten our luggage. Connor
has been key in getting through the airports because he have taught him to go
up to the check in people and say hello in whatever language.
It warms up the workers and they have been waiving our extra luggage fees! So
far he has used Dobre Den, Bonjour, Buenos Dias, and ´ello.
We went from Prague into Paris and then took the Disney bus out to Disneyland.
Andrea had worked her magic so it was free to head out there for the day and
we booked a super cheap hotel that included breakfast! It has been fun trying
to get around Europe as cheap as possible, using Andrea´s business cards and
an assortment of credit cards. Disneyland Paris was ok, but a little lacking.
It was nice to have some Americana though! We were laughing because we went in
to Frontierland and went straight in for some American food!
Then we went to a hotel in Paris that we found an great deal at. We saw the
Eiffle Tower, walked all the way from the Louve to the Arc de Triump, ducked
the lines at the Musee de Orsay and saw some art, saw Notre Dame, ate some
serious crepes, and Andrea took us around looking at DeVince Code stuff. It
was fast and furious, but the weather was great and we had fun.
We then flew to London and caught a flight down to the South of Spain with
this discount British tour group. Spain is fantastic and it is so nice to be
in a country where I can understand what is going on. Connor is practicing his
Spanish and having fun playing with some British kids in the kids clubs. We
will be here for a week until we fly home on May 5th into LA. We are trying
to decide if we are going to take this tour that goes to Morroco for the day.
I think Andrea just wants to have “Africa” on her passport! She said it is
worth not eating this week to do it, so we might loose some serious weight as
well. 
Possibly the best part of this time is that the rest of the T Birds on campus
are still in school. I guess the stress of the compacted semester in Prague
is worth it now and we are enjoying spending this time together as a family.
Love you,
Danny, Andrea, Connor
Thu 27 Apr 2006
So Mickey does not have a French accent, just in case you were wondering. Disneyland Paris however felt like home sweet home. After arriving we made a B line for frontier land and found us some good old fashion American food. It was delicious, we could not stop smiling!! The park had its own unique flair, but overall we decided nothing could top our favorite, Disney World. We stayed at a great hotel that was more like a castle and Connor had a bunk bed with curtains that he loved. We could have stayed in the room and he probably would have been happy just jumping off the bunk bed all day instead of going to the park. Great day. Tomorrow we are off to the real Paris!!
Sun 23 Apr 2006
Danny and I have both remarked about how this past four months have been some of the best times of our lives. We have had more quality time together here as a family than perhaps any other time I can remember in the past few years – excluding of course the last three weeks for finals where I was not sure if I still had a husband. Danny has had to study a lot, but living so close to the classrooms, (down the hall and one flight of stairs) has been great for our family. He has been able to come home for breakfast, lunch and is usually home by four or five. He took fewer credits this semester so we could spend more time exploring and traveling and it has been well worth it.
We have met fabulous people and have had great experiences. Here are some of our friends we are saying goodbye to…
Above is Peter, Denek, and Merek. We leave with sad hearts knowing we will miss the friends we have made, but we are looking forward to the next adventure life will bring. Speaking of that adventure we are saying goodbye and packing like mad, getting ready for our first destination: Disneyland Paris! We figured we (being a Disney family) can’t be all the way around the world and not check out another Disney castle. Here is our itinerary:
April 24th Fly Prague to Paris
April 24th Disneyland Paris – Stay at the Vienna International Dream Castle
April 25th Check in Paris Hotel -Explore Paris
April 26th Explore Paris
April 27th Fly to London check in Hilton at Airport
April 28th Fly London to Maliga Spain
May 3rd Bus and Boat ride to Morocco
May 5th Fly Maliga Spain to London
May 5th Spend day touring London
May 6th London to LAX and home to USA!
Here we go…….
Fri 21 Apr 2006
Posted by admin under
Prague Log[3] Comments
So it finally happened. Danny took his last final and …the snow melted!! The next day our jackets came off and the entire city was sporting t-shirts! Seriously, Prague just turned so beautiful, what a great place. It’s so funny because all the locals kept saying “this is the longest winter in 40 years,” but the ex-pats tell us locals say that every winter and it’s always this long and this cold.
After Danny’s last final we took the bus into Prague, got off the train and Danny said; “This is amazing, I don’t feel guilty for being here, for the first time I don’t feel like I should be studying or something.” It was a great day. Most of the students took off to travel right after their finals but we decided to stay a few days to explore the city, and are so glad we did because the weather is a perfect 70 degrees! Enjoy the photos. -A
Thu 20 Apr 2006
Posted by admin under
Prague LogNo Comments
The roof tops of Prague are something to see before you die. It is so romantic and looks like something out of a movie. Now that spring is here the city has come alive and it really feels magical. We are having a blast and wishing you were all here to share this with us!
Wed 19 Apr 2006
Hi all,
I took my last final today!! Andrea and Connor made me a big sign and put it on the door for when I came home. It feels really nice to have another semester behind me.
Last Saturday we took a little study break and played touch football. I was very impressive and we had a blast! Threw lots of TDs as I ended up quarterbacking for both teams. Here is a photo of Connor crying when he had to take a break and let the big boys play for a while, poor guy!
Tonight we are having a big farewell dinner in Prague. It should be a nice send off. Now we just have to figure out how to get all our stuff back to the states without losing it in our travels! We are giving away stuff like crazy and lightening the load.
Tue 18 Apr 2006
Morning…
We had a fabulous Easter. We awoke early in the morning to “the Easter bunny
came!” Then Connor hunted for eggs. The day before he was full of questions,
“Mom, is there a Czech and an American Easter bunny? How does the bunny get
through the door? Is their lots of Easter bunnies etc.” So when Connor found
the Easter candy in the closet the day before Easter we decided that the Czech Easter bunny is different from the American bunny. Here you have to layout the candy and eggs and then he comes and hides them all. It worked great! Oh yah, and because Czechs don’t do Easter baskets, neither does the Czech Easter bunny, so that was a new one for us. Connor did however get to find lots of Kinder-Surprise Eggs, his favorite thing in the whole world. They are chocolate eggs with toys inside for kids to build, almost like little lego sets. We could not find food coloring here, so we found out that purple Triaminic cough medicine dyes eggs (don’t eat the eggs). Mostly we colored the eggs with markers and crayons.
Church…
Church was great. I love our meetings. If I have not mentioned it before, the
whole service is in Czech and then they translate it into English for us through headsets. The Czech people in our ward are so kind.
Communicating is difficult, but sign language goes far. Just knowing a few
words really helps break down barriers. There is an American couple in our ward
who is working in Prague and they sang a duet for Easter. When they got up
everyone just assumed they would sing in English but they sang the whole song
in Czech. Everyone was so moved, I don’t think there was a dry eye. I’m sure it
must have been very difficult to learn all three verses of this song (Czech is
really hard to learn), but it was so beautiful. Danny was the closing spea
and he did such a good job. This was his first time giving a talk using a
translator (which can be kind of tricky) but I thought his talk was wonderful
and perfect for Easter.
Great Friends… We have made friends with a group of ex-pats here in our ward that have made us feel so welcome. We get together for play dates with the kids and get together often for dinner.
Easter…. The Glenns one of the invited the Americans in the ward over for Easter dinner, it was the best!
I’m not a huge meat person, but when you have not had an American meal for 90
days a grilled hamburger is really, really good. They staged an
egg hunt in the back yard for the kids. We all had a blast!
In attendance at Easter Dinner:
The Glenns: Rich and Holly, kids - Anna and Ellie- The Glenns are in Prague working for the US Embassy. They have been wonderful, always setting up playgroups on Fridays so Connor has someone to play with and opening their house to us at any time. They have given us so much, but most of all friendship and we are so grateful!
The Wickers: Nathan and Morgan, kids - Martin and Veronica, -The Martins are an Expat family here on assignment with a US company building a factory outside of Prague. The Wickers just had a new baby, and are a really fun family to get to know. They have all kinds of fun stories to tell. Nathan has a story about getting kidnapped in Mexico that made me decide Danny will never work in Mexico, hence the reason I now want him to start learning Chinese.
The Hmciriks: Cory and Rachelle, kids - Juliana, Joseph and one on the way – The Hmciriks came here about four years ago after BYU. Corey has been working with a corporate real estate company, and he is heading back to the states to start his MBA at Chicago in the fall. I remember one rainy night Cory was in America interviewing for MBA school and Danny was studying all night long so Rachelle and I hung out and took the kids to McDonalds. I had so much fun, and remember thinking how much I had in common with Rachelle. We talked about everything and because instant friends. We hope to see them in Chicago.
The Marchants- Christian and Jenny, kids - Emma, and new baby - The Marchants are usually at the American parties (most likely hosting them ) but missed Easter dinner because they just flew back to the states to have their new baby.)
Congratulations Marchants! The Marchants have been in Prague for about six months and work for the US embassy.
We have made friendships here that will last a lifetime, we will miss you!
Fri 14 Apr 2006
Boy, things have been nuts here for the last week. Lots of stuff going on as I get ready for finals. We did our big Disney presentation and it went really well. Andrea came and watched and she said that she was proud of me, so that is the most important thing! We also turned in the 20 page paper to go along with it—-We got an “A” on it!!!! ( Well, we don’t actually know yet, but like I am going to post any other grade on the blog after all the help everybody gave me!) Sadly, a park visitor just died on Mission Space a day after we talked about DisneyWorld being such a great vacation resort.
On another note, there is this really good Chinese restaurant here in our little town that makes really good food. The Chinese T-Birds say that it rivals the best restaurants they have ever eaten at. The owner has a 5-year-old boy and they invited Connor to come play the other day. They had a great time and then invited us back to the restaurant to have dinner. They are our new best friends now!
Well, we are going to see if the Easter Bunny can find us here in Celokovice. I am speaking in Church on Sunday and am very excited to speak on such a special day.
Love to all,
Danny
PS..another new blog under this one
Sat 8 Apr 2006
Connor had a Primary activity today and it was my day off (really I was not feeling well,) so Danny took Connor into Prague to meet up at the church and they had a great day.
The kids put together scripture power bags, made pizzas, learned the apostles’ names and had a fun time. Danny enjoyed watching the Czech and English kids play, mingle, and communicate together. I take Connor to a Czech play group while Danny is in school, so I get to see this more than Danny does.
In primary Connor is learning how to sing “follow the prophet” in Czech. One Sunday Connor was getting frustrated and said, “I don’t want to sing in Czech any more,” so one of the teachers came over and was sitting by him to try and help him along and encourage him to sing. The teacher told him, “let’s keep practicing, then you can sing it for your dad and he will be so proud of you”. Connor thought about it for a while, then agreed and started singing again. Soon after he stopped singing and turned to the teacher and said, “well it doesn’t matter if I sing it to my Dad because he does not understand Czech either.”
The Czech and English teachers started laughing, they thought it was pretty funny. They also told me this one. One of the first Sundays that we got there it was Juliana’s birthday (one of Connor’s friends). In primary they were trying to guess who’s birthday it was here is what happened:
Teacher: Someones birthday was last week, can we guess who’s it was? This person has long brown hair.
Connor: (Hand up in air) I know!
Teacher: You do?? Already?
Connor: Yes, Jesus!
I guess with all the snow around here Connor thought it was Christmas time, again!!
Love you all-Andrea
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