2 weeks, 6 days!

Well, I love and appreciate our time here, and the friendships we're making...........
.......... that being said, I am getting SO excited to come home. And I'm sure by the end we'll be soooo happy to come back to Poland ha ha, don't you love how life does that to you :) But we're lucky, and so blessed, the way our timing splits up: 5months here, 4months at home.. Makes us appreciate the time in each area without missing the other too much that it's hard. SO, that being said, it's VERY HARD to focus on anything here these days; especially with Travis having headed into finals studying so he's here but NOT HERE, and the Mecham's are preparing to move so we've not gone swimming or done too much.
 I'm trying to fill the days with fun, memorable activities, but I just keep thinking about coming home! :) Here's some more stuff we've done to pass the last two days.

Once again found him reading scriptures to himself

Finally a new recipe: Chicken-Broccoli Alfredo! We enjoyed it!

This was our sunset last night

I think it was the prettiest thus far

Then this morning Maddix just wanted Daddy time, so Travis fit him in without missing a study beat. Maddix even did some studying with Travis:)

Then today Maddix went and played with Cole and Mckay while I helped Bailey and Becky prepare for their YW conference they're going to on Saturday by doing some Craft projects. Then tonight I faced some fears and taught my first ever Institute class. The lesson was over the Book of Numbers; yikes:) But I survived and they said they enjoyed all my pictures I drew, that it bridged the language barrier gap, ha ha.
Thanks for the rides Becky!

~And... We're Back~

Well, it's been awhile but today we got our internet back! IT was beautiful.
Here is a brief catch up on our happenings

Maddix mysteriously disappeared, and this is where I found him

Travis captured proof that I hog the bed

We've entered terrible two's, but we're learning a little on how to handle it

We've played with the Mecham's

Read LOTS of books... no, we've read the same books LOTS of times

Learned to tuck our knees in our shirts

Went to Branch FHE, found no one there to teach, so Travis came up with a lesson on the spot and we all had an awesome time!

Found out this retard was too lady like to let the stud do his thing so we WON'T be having puppies this summer :(

Again, found Maddix reading scriptures pleasantly to himself

Received another bruise from tripping and falling into the leg of the table. Don't know if you can see the bruise line down his cheek or the bruise under his eye. Poor boy was helping me set the table

And then TODAY... today was interesting. I received a text from Travis to look out the window and when I did I found a horrific scene. There was an unconscious body in the road laying in a pool of blood near the head. It made me remember when my mom  said she'd been the first to an accident scene and although this was not as bad, I know I'll never shake the scene.. and yet I couldn't stop watching.

The man in the car had tried to cut up in line and get into the turning lane, so he pulled into oncoming traffic at the same time this older lady had gone to jay-walk through the stopped cars and he just hit her. I didn't feel right taking pictures until the end and after they hauled her off they didn't even clean up the blood stain off the street. It's still outside my window!

THEN something else gross.. and a first. Maddix came to get me when he was supposed to be napping and told me he'd pooped. I got up to go change him and then looked closer. He'd stuck his hand in his diaper and "painted" a bit on his chest..................... SICK. That's all I'm saying about that.
Well I think that catches us all up!

Motel Internet

After many attempts to post this blog.... I think this time it might work.

We are without internet. Long story, but we don't know when they'll turn it back on. I'm currently streaming it from the motel down the street. It only works every once in awhile, and the computer as to be in the window to catch the signal :) But it's something. So I'll post a full update when/if we get our internet back!

The Trip (in much more than a nutshell)

I will not take offense if/when you cannot make it through this whole thing. Honestly I think the parents will be the ones to read it all on this one. BUT on facebook I've posted all the pictures and at least scroll to the very end and read the quotes from the trip if you can't make it through the rest :) Now here's the story:

The Drive-Thursday

• When Becky picked Maddix and I up in the morning she opened the trunk and the food basket fell out and food went everywhere! We lost half our pretzels, all our apples were bruised our jar of Italian dressing smashed all over the sidewalk. We discovering we only had one plug in the car so we had to rotate every 20mins with the GPS, the Plug in Cooler, and the phone, all of which would almost die by their next turn… much like the rotation of everyone getting a turn up front!
• ·         Lunch in Rotswav: Fighting, Maddix spilled yogurt all over my lap, Maddix laid down on sidewalk to poop better.
• ·         Lola avoided (all the toll’s were shut down so she got confused) all toll roads by taking us on the scenic route and took us 12 hrs instead of 9.
• ·         Discovered no German maps would pull up so Travis talked us all the way To Freiberg. Snacked on carrot sticks to ease the tension.
• ·         Becky had her picture taken by the speed ticket camera and we can’t wait to see how funny it looks because we didn’t know what was happening when it flashed.
• ·         When we arrived we discovered we were Not on Freiberg housing list, but they still pulled out an amazing room for us!

Friday- Freiberg Temple Day

• ·         Sessions were in Polish with English in one ear, and German people around us
• ·         Discovered no one in Freiberg spoke English so I ordered us lunch using my limited German
• ·         Toy room in temple housing was awesome and Polish kids were wonderful to Maddix. He even picked up a couple of little girlfriends
• ·         The temple charged us more for our stay because we were American

Saturday- Drove to Czech

• ·         Beautiful scenic drive
• ·         Took our photos in the yellow wild flower patches and got pollen all over our clothes!
• ·         Pulling up to the “Homeless hotel” as we named it, with a Hobo peeing right in front of our car and feeling like we were going to break down and cry!! We then realized we were at the wrong hotel
• ·         Visited Charles Bridge, Down Town Praha, had a Shop owner pick up on me, and happened to be there on the one day of the year they celebrate death day, so everyone was dressed as Zombies!
• ·         Had dinner at a TGIF’s and our bill ended up coming to 1910 korona’s or $107 (more than our hotel bill including internet and covered parking)
• ·         Had a man stop me on the street and ask for my picture for some modeling thing in which he needed 13 nationalities and I, feeling cornered, said “I’m sorry I have to catch a tr-bus.” And kept walking on. Kids thought it was a hilarious lie.

Sunday in Prague

• ·         Lost our phone service and had only God and Lola to get us around
• ·         Got lost on our way to the church and had to say a prayer to get there. Took directions from the police officer and got there at the end.  Stayed for Sunday school and sat next to my brother in law’s mission President and was able to sent letters and candy to him through the Elders
• ·         Ran out of diapers and had to go find an open store (which was difficult being a Sunday in Europe) because Maddix ate three bananas (one he stole from Cole) and pooped through his few day’s supply I’d had for him.
• ·         10 missionaries assigned just to Prague and there were so many American’s that there were classes in English.
• ·         The view of Prague from that park was Extremely memorable
• ·         My favorite was Holding the birds of prey: Cole held Juliette, Mckay held Sean, Bailey held Chiko, Becky held Alexandra, and Lacey held Artur. Coolest experience ever!
• ·         The rain started on our way back to the car and made the park come alive with smells of tulips, rich wood, and wet pavement!
• ·         Banged down the church doors so Bailey could go to the bathroom

From Prague to Dresden

• ·         Found our hotel…. It was dirty! It was the Aztec hotel and kids were terrified of getting Bed bugs (everyone was exhausted)
• ·         Everything was closed except this fancy restaurant that served their food from jars. Ended up being very unique
• ·         Becky took the wrath upon her children for fighting and complaining too much!  ;)
• ·         Had an awesome breakfast where Maddix pointed out the naked Aztec statue by using the word daddy taught him and pointing, “Penis” and then busted out laughing… which made us all laugh. And then he did it again.
• ·         Got lost in these remote roads on the backside of some hills and the fog settled in all over the rolling hills and then it started to down poor! We thought we were done for but somehow we made it out.

·         FACT: The weather was AMAZING. It down poured when we were in the car, drizzled when we were hot, and was sunny when we were out walking. The timing and convenience of the weather was a real blessing.

The drive from Dresden to Rothenberg

• ·         The kids really Enjoyed the Auto bahn
• ·         Got seriously Burned out from Adele and Tim McGraw

Monday in Rothenberg

1. ·         Walked along the wall that surrounds the hotel
2. ·         Visited the Torture museum
3. ·         Checked in out our AMAZING storybook-esk cottage inside the little town. Our front door opened right up onto the cobblestone streets. (See the pictures on facebook)
4. ·         Maddix’s  first HUGE fit at the pizzeria where I thought I took him out so no one could hear it, but later found out everyone could still hear him since the door was only 20ft from all the tables and it was open. Terrible two’s are starting so early!
5. ·         That night Maddix had HAD it and went on a rampage. He pushed a stack of three laptops off the table onto the floor, threw himself on the ground and started screaming, and then broke Mckay’s glasses all before I could get him restrained in his bed for the night. This is what comes of a 19month old running on no sleep and filled with so much yogurt it could squirt out his ears. I could tell he really needed me and this was the first time he’s ever held me and had me sing him songs until he fell asleep. It was a precious moment.
6. ·         Visited The Christmas gift shop where Becky purchased a gorgeous cookoo clock and we all got ornaments.
7. ·         Watched the RV (which became the theme and foreshadowing of our trip and the kids laughed the WHOLE movie. Some of the lines from the movie were literally things we’d been saying).

Tuesday to Heidleberg then to Leipsig

• ·         Started rotating seats to keep everyone happy, and it seriously saved us.
• ·         Didn’t want to leave Rothenberg (hadn’t seen it all, people were wonderful, breakfast was great except Maddix folded himself through the back of the chair and hit his head really hard)
• ·         In Heidleberg we got lunch at the Doner place and didn’t have enough cash (we were short a 2euro coin) so Becky found cash while we waited at the shop
• ·         Hiked up to the Castle with Maddix throwing major fits. Had to run FAST to the car to get the Leipsig by 7pm for our hotel check in.
• ·         Drive to Leipsig we were all CAR HAPPY. Mckay farted and then shoved Bailey’s head in it causing Becky to laugh SO HARD and SO MUCH that she couldn’t see and almost crashed us into a truck. Then we were laughing at Maddix’s laughing.

Arriving to Liepsig

• ·         Having had no working phone, we got to the hotel way after check in and found the gate locked. I crossed the street and used the phone of the gentlemen in his truck to call the hotel Manager (who was peeved from waiting 2hrs for us and that we didn’t call and said he’d come get us in about 20mins). When he arrived he was nice And apologized for having no tooth (which he then had the next morning)
• ·         Got checked in after a very long day and carried only the necessities up the 7flights of stairs to our room because we had no energy to bring anything else
• ·         Barely willing ourselves back to the car we headed out once again in search for the recommended restaurant “you’ll get BIG food, LITTLE price” he said. Looking for the place, with an 8^th of a tank of gas we found ourselves trapped in a maze of closed roads from construction like a mouse looking for cheese. The GPS took us to the right food place… but it was closed because it took so long to find it. So we continued onto a closed road where some police flagged us down and gave us directions to a… A McDonalds, as they laughed the whole time at us poor pathetic American people. Little did we know at the time the police were out because we were in the Ukrainian-Russian district of Leipsig. Oh goodness.
• ·         We drove through dingy, dark, roads, and always were led back to this construction site where we could see the McDonalds and the Gas Station on the other side of this long hole in the road! We kept getting led down roads that were dead ended and the blinking fuel light flickering at us added an ample amount of pressure to find a gas station; now it was a race against time. We opted out of dinner entirely and PRAYED we’d just find a gas station before we ended up on the side of the road, pushing the car, with no phone, the gps wouldn’t find us an open road, and who knows what sort of people were lurking in the shadows. Then like the glowing light of heaven we turned the corner and found a shell station (this is the part where you put your hand on your heart, and hear heavenly angels singing “Hallelujah.”) Our dinner then consisted of gas station food and our bill between that and gas cost more than our TGI Friday’s dinner. Becky called it the “Dinner of Champions.” Snickers, ice cream bars, Pringles, milk, two rolls, orange juice, drinkable yogurt, and a pint of milk… pretty much everything the station had left to offer just before they were closing!
• ·         And it was our first night with internet since Prague so we found out Travis and Nate had tried calling the hotel after not hearing from their families in days. (Side note: One of Nate’s co-worker’s kids heard about our disappearance and prayed every night we’d return safely!)
• ·         Thankfully Becky left a KILLER trail for people to find us so we couldn’t have a “Taken” Situation on our hands.

Wednesday- Leipsig to Berlin

• ·         After a wonderful morning of sleeping off our gas station hangerover/ diabetic como, we woke up with smiles on our faces. And THEN we looked at the clock and all heck broke loose. We had to be checked out in 30minutes AND still had breakfast to eat in their kitchen. After much rushing the manager (who now had his tooth, never mind that it wasn’t matching) allowed us extra time and also brought the food to our table so we could consume it faster!
• ·         Then it was back on the road to Berlin

Berlin

• ·         Saw the Missionaries get turned down three times while we were at a red light so we flipped around and offered to take them  lunch; they had an appointment and thanked us anyway.
• ·         We were extremely shocked in the parking lot of our hotel coming from our storybook type Germany to an industrial, dirty, free thinking, community. There was graffiti EVERYWHERE, the buildings were all brick and old concrete, there were kids sitting next to the car rolling their own cigarettes (or who knows what), and the elevator that took us upstairs was an old factory elevator where you open the doors then close them then RADDLE the whole way up! Can you say shell shocked?!
• ·         Once in the hotel it was extremely clean! Very new, and very modern; complete with a kitchen and lots of beds.
• ·         Visited checkpoint Charlie where the Mecham’s all received stamps in their passports. Then we saw the Berlin Wall while getting Gypsy beggers coming up asking for money and cursing our names when we said no. We saw the Brandinberger Gate and followed a tour group through the rest of the town which we found to have a Ghetto like quality with its industrial buildings everywhere and overall were not very impressed.
• ·         We did get stopped by a police escort taking someone extremely important to their destination equipped with four cop cars, closed roads, motorcycle cops, and four look alike decoy cars.

Thursday- Tropical Islands in Berlin

• In case you don’t know of this place, google it. It was an old Blimp hangar that had been transformed into a tropical oasis complete with blue skies, ocean fronts, breezes, humidity, and  real free roaming peacocks.
• ·         First view of walking in,I was wondering what to do with Maddix since I had no swim diaper and quickly had my question answered. We looked over to the beach in time to see a boy (probably 5 or 6 years old) running on the beach naked. If this wasn’t eye opening enough, he then ran to the water and began to urinate right in the path of water that separated the beach from the pool, oh gross. Funny thing is as we stared at him, everyone stared at us. We were in full swimsuits, wrapped in towels, or wearing sweatshirts, so fully dressed to these people and they thought we were the ones out of place.
• ·         During our lunch break I put Maddix’s diaper back on in hopes that he would do his business before getting back into his swimsuit. After we finished our food we found an immaculate playground with a go-cart track that circled the play area, ball pit (with a cannon and guns), a giant lego land, tramps, and a little double Decker bus where the kids had a ton of fun. Becky put a token in the bus for Maddix thinking he would love it, but the second it came to life and rocked around he had a panic attack! I jumped in the bus with him but it wasn’t good enough. When I pulled him out he was shaking like a Chihuahua and we had literally ‘scared the poop out o him.” Hurray! As I changed his diaper, I found him covered in ants from the bench, while I put him down and ran the diaper to the garbage he peed all over the concrete. Icleaned it up, then back into the pool we went.  A little bit later I ran to the top of the slides to snap some pictures and sent Maddix with Becky to the boats land. On the way I got invited to play a game of beach volleyball with six shirtless guys, but declined on account of Travis and what he might think. When I arrived to the boats I again found Maddix shaking uncontrollably and crying out in fear. When Becky and Cole drove the boat to the edge, to pass Maddix off, it hit the wall and the rubber sides bounced it backwards. This happened every time they tried to hand him off until they finally passed him to Lacey and only almost dropped him in the water in the transition!

The drive to Poznan

• ·         As we left the pool Lola took us down a road that we all found to be opposite direction we should be going in. This proved to be true 10mins later when the road (in the middle of a forest) turned from a road into dirt with broken trees all over the road.
• ·         Once again we were car happy and seriously contemplated skipping the stop in Poznan and just continuing on home. We decided that if we made it to the hotel in time for check in then we’d stay and if we got there to find it closed we’d just continue on (secretly our fingers were crossed that we’d have to take the drive home; especially after Becky’s phone received it’s service again!)
• ·         We reached Poznan and didn’t feel like we were really in Poland. Everything was still open! People were out on the streets, and there was life in the town… and it was 10:00 at night. The lady said that it was a college town and everyone partied all night. She also advised us not to leave ANYTHING in the car because the town had a high theft rate. But seeing as we just wanted to bed to sleep in, and it was up six floors again, we just brought in our valuables and left the rest; including the diapers, which I forgot. So Bailey came back down with me to grab them and as we went to go back inside we found our keys wouldn’t work. Groups of iffy people passed us on the street and still Lacey couldn’t get the key in the door. We tried and prayed, and prayed and tried again. Finally we buzzed every room in the building hoping someone would just buzz us in. While we were waiting the smell of alcohol filled the air and the next thing I knew there was a hand on my shoulder. I turned to find an extremely drunk man mumbling Polish and grabbing my building keys. I couldn’t be more blessed than to have this drunk man try and put the keys in the lock for me (and the key was nowhere near the lock while he tried this) When he couldn’t help he gave them back and excused himself as he swayed down the road with his buddy. Finally some grouchy old man came in his pj’s and let us in at which point a sick realization came over Bailey and I: we were in the wrong building. Moments later we opened the right door and made our way upstairs and just threw ourselves into bed.

Friday-The drive home!!!

• ·         Got on the road at six
• ·         Decided we wouldn’t stop for ANYTHING!
• ·         Maddix’s diaper got so full that the belt buckle split it in half and made a funny uneven seat causing his leg to rest upon it.
• ·         Some laughs, some not so happy moments.
• ·         Amazing toll roads that have cut the drive down a bit
• ·         And Lola, Bless her heart, took us on the shortest, least crowded roads, all the way home without any scary areas..
• ·         And that was our trip.

Favorite quotes from the trip:

·         “We had this conversation back in Lublin!” –Becky
·         “Go away!” –Maddix
·         “Pew- Pew!” (in a high-pitch voice) –All the boys playing Guns
·         “Don’t lay on my shoulder!” –All the kids fighting in the back seat
·         “I need a bathroom right NOW!” –Bailey every 20 minutes
·         “Penis!” –Maddix at Breakfast
·         “Really Lola, this road?” Followed by “Oh Lola, bless your heart.” –The car to Lola
·         “Are we going to go home, or are we going to be happy?” –Becky
·         “Yo’ my Mobil-homeboy!” –From the RV we watched one night
·         “ Just THREE more bites!” –Lacey every time it was time to feed Maddix
·         “Daddy’s going to have FUN teaching you not to do that.” –Lacey every time Maddix did his banchi scream or throw fits.
·         “Do we have 1-Both Maddix’s shoes 2-My sweatshirt and 3-Maddix’s binki?” Lacey every time we left and went to a new area.
·         “Gimme two pina colada’s… one for each hand.” –Becky while everyone is fighting around her.

A Farewell to Elder Kennedy

Let's just say that most of today I would like to forget. I've been saying this a lot, but honestly, I might not make  it through Maddix's TERRIBLE TWO'S!!! Travis and I are seriously wondering if we're doing anything wrong.

So the Highlights from today definitely were our dinner with the Elders... our last dinner with Elder Kennedy :( He'll be leaving this Thursday and we're so sad, but we are lucky enough to have some days this summer planned with him for when he visits Utah. AND thankfully we get to keep Elder Mikolesky! So tonight they came over and helped us make Taco's (as requested by Elder Kennedy) and homemade cinnamon french toast.

Our Favorite game: Settlers

Such an amazing Missionary and friend

Our Johnson Family sword from the Elders

This is the first experience I've ever had in getting to know missionaries, having them over, creating wonderful friendships with them, and then having to say goodbye. I have to say I'm not loving the goodbye part. Our wonderful Elders bought us a sword, wrote a scripture on it, and each signed it! Something I'll value forever.
After they left we then had to put Maddix to bed where he experienced a large fit as well some funny time with Daddy

Oh how I cherish the moments when that boy is smiling... since they're so far and few in between these days.

Our Saturday at the Baptism

Hi. It feels like years since I  posted last and I know that when I try to sum up my trip it's going to be so LONG! I'm currently waiting for the rest of my pictures before I post about our adventure. So here is a catch up on our lives, and I'll post about the trip a little later. So Friday the Mecham's, Maddix, and I arrived home in the afternoon and then that night Travis and I went on a date; Our first real date since arriving to Poland. Bailey babysat while we went to dinner and then to the new Avenger's movie; which was amazing by the way.
Saturday was amazing, Pawel finally got to be baptized. And Travis was asked to baptize him.

A beautiful day at the lake for a baptism

It was very sweet too when Pawel walked over with a clover and said, "I know that a four leaf clover is good luck, so how good of luck is it to have 5 leaves?"

As soon as the Mission President, his wife, and their visiting children showed up, we proceeded with the baptism and it was wonderful. The weather was gorgeous and there was no one else there, until the moment we walked out of the water. Then people showed up in large numbers and the weather started to really cool down. The Lord always blesses us when we're following his commandments

Afterward, while the weather still held out, we had some food, and enjoyed the day. Meanwhile EVERYONE wanted a turn with Maddix, and it seemed that no one could get enough of him. He ate up all the attention, of course, and was so exhausted on the car ride home that it was all we could do to try and keep him up until we got home; which we didn't succeed at.

Cole and Maddix off in the trees Exploring

Marlena, Maddi, and I trying to keep warm

Beata was smitten with Maddix

Mikolaj (Beata's son, and our branch translator) is Maddix's favorite

Maddix giving Jasmine some loves

These two pull faces unlike anyone else I know. They're priceless

The branch got a kick out of Pres. Mecham wearing 'the woman's' apron :)

Getting warm around the barbeque

Don't fall asleep! Quick everyone try and entertain him!

Nope, it didn't work:)

What a great day it was. Travis was so happy to help and be apart. He even memorized how to baptize Pawel in Polish! But Pawel ended up asking him to do it in English. Oh, and we just found out, since he couldn't find any work here he has to go back to England for two years. So we will really miss him... and our branch STILL stays at the same number:) For now.

Sunday in Lublin

THE HAMBURGER

So Lacey is off on her amazing adventure and I am left home to tend to my studies.  Tonight I had the elders over and thus decided it was time to make something manly like hamburgers.  I figure that the Elders would probably be pretty hungry and that the only way to solve their hunger would be through meat... 1 kilo of turkey burger to be exact (for those not familiar with kilos that is 2.2 lbs :)  So I am now going to describe how this wonderful masterpiece tasted.... this burger was the most delectable, tasty, bodacious,  delicious, mouth watering, tear to the eye bringing, appetizing, toothsome, tasteful, pungent, zestful, delish, smile to the face bringing, heavenely, flavorful, divine, savory, juicy, sapid, toothy, flavorsum, spicy, loosen the belt two notches, yummy, flavory, good-tasting, full-flavored, palatable, sweet to the core, luscious, piquant, scrumptious, making five guys and red robin look pansy, unhealthy, hearty, what was I thinking hamburger that has ever been known to exist.  Needless to say I think the Elders left full and I still have a smile on my face.  Let me also describe the thought process of this hamburger.  It all began when I placed the bottom part of the bun on my plate, next I added mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup.  After that I felt it lacked meat, so I threw on the first patty which had swiss-cheese melted on top.  The Next step was To add 4 pieces of lettuce, 5 pieces of tomatoes and then a ton of red onion.  It was still not looking like a proper hamburger for eating, so I decided to throw on a second patty, that had ementaler-cheese melted on top. Then I proceeded to add 5 more pieces of tomato, a bunch of red onions and 4 more pieces of lettuce.  I was a little worried the calorie count wouldn't be high enough so for good measure I added mayonnaise on the top bun as well as some more ketchup and mustard.  I feel that this is a good time for a poem...

Dearest Hamburger (A Haiku by: Travis)

Delectable you
You filled my belly so well
You make me need sleep

(Insert finger snapping of agreement here)

Well I'm going to get back to my post dinner duties (and don't worry I haven't gone crazy... yet), but everyone is invited to sit in the bliss of this hamburger and to stare in most certain awe at this radical creation for as long as they like!!!