Back to Spesbach!

Today we woke up to a little surprise...SNOW! My dad hates the snow but my mom and I love it. We decided to go for a walk through the paths in Spesbach and take pictures. We lived in Spesbach for most of our time in Germany. We like the trails there better than the ones we have here in Hutschenhausen. It was so fun going back to this place after so long. These are the fields I grew up running around in with friends all summer and the lake were we used to catch tadpoles and frogs. I miss those days times a million...but at the same time, I'm kind of glad they're over : )

A Walk in the Snow

It started snowing yesterday afternoon and I hoped that it would stick around until this morning. I wanted to get some pictures of it before it all melted! It never snows enough here and the snow we do get melts way too fast. It's funny to see the children trying to make snowmen out of a half inch of powdered snow.

I woke up early and bundled up. My dog and I made our way up to the farm fields. He had a tennis ball and I had my dad's camera. We were prepared :)

Early Morning Sun

Farm Fields

The Road Home

Always with a Tennis Ball

Oh My Bishop!

Ever since I began going to church, my mother has taken it upon herself to make sure I keep going and be good. If I say a bad word, I get the, "Emily Rose Rice. What did you just say?!" Meanwhile, she's swearing up a storm over some guy driving too slow. If I even start to crave coffee and tell my mother about it, she says, "Ah, I'm telling the Mormon God." I've asked her a few times about who she thinks that is. She doesn't know. If I wear a dress that's a tad short, she looks at me and says, "Would Jesus be seen wearing that?" Nope, don't think so but thanks for that image. So tonight, my mother was wearing a pair of jeans that wouldn't be allowed at the school I go to because there are holes in them. I took the opportunity to get back at her for some of the above reasons and say, "Mom, your jeans are against the dress code." She goes, "Well pardon the expression but they can bite my ass," which leads me to my next story.

My being home has led my mother to try some new things. One new thing is going to church with me. She has gone with me for two weeks and loves it so far. I'm also teaching her other expressions to say other than her usual, "Oh my God!" or, in some cases (most cases) her explicit phrases. So far, it's been pretty interesting. The other night, we were in the kitchen cooking whatever and she says, "Ohmygod!" and I said, "Mom!". She quickly says, "I mean ohmybishop!" I nearly died. I did not teach her that. Ohwell, I think we are getting somewhere at least.

I love her!

Capture the Fun

I've decided that I'm going to try one of those 'Photo-A-Day' challenges only I'm going to make it my own. I wasn't a fan of some of the things on their list. Who really wants to see the inside of my bathroom cabinet, my front door, or the inside of my closet? I'm hoping you don't because it's not happening. I will, however, be taking a picture of something that makes me happy each day in February. Hopefully this turns out to be fun. Wish me luck!

Oh, on a side note, my mother brought some gifts back from the States. She bought me some clothes and she brought me the Christmas presents my family was too lazy to send. She also bought herself a little present. It's a sensor that lets out a very high pitched noise that makes the dogs stop barking. Everytime they bark, the noise goes and the dogs stop barking. There's also a big button on this alarm that you can push whenever the dog does something bad and it makes the noise. At first, I thought this was a great idea. We would finally have well behaved dogs! Humans can't hear the high pitched noise so I didn't see how this could be annoying. Well, I'm going to tell you how it can get annoying. My mother has been walking around the house and everytime the dog makes a noise she says, "Don't make me push that button!" or, "I'm going to push the button!" or  "Where's the button?!" I have four dogs. They make a lot of noise. Put the pieces together. I feel like I should tell her that the dogs don't know what "the button" is.

Skype. My New Bestfriend.

Since I've been back in Germany, nothing exciting has really happened. There has been the occassional daytrip somewhere but that all came to an end when my mom left for her business trip. She was gone for two weeks and, during those two weeks, it was my job to stay home and keep things in order. Simple stuff. I took advantage of my time spent at home. My room is now spotless with all of my drawers cleaned out. My closet is now organized. Even my scarves are hung up nicely! I learned how to grocery shop effectively and plan *actual* meals out for the week. But, despite all of my accomplishments, there were some rough moments. Here are a few that you might enjoy:

My dad comes home one Saturday with a new movie. He says it's supposed to be really good such & such. He pops it in and guess what. It's all in Chinese. He bought a movie in Chinese. It had English subtitles but who really wants to read a movie? I don't even read books. He made it half way through it and then we shut it off. He looks at me and says, "Still, the only Chinese I know is '10 minute'."

My dad goes grocery shopping without me one day and comes home with milk, cheese, bread, a cake mix and tampons. "Did I get the right kind?!" Yes, dad. You done good.

After that awesome shopping trip where he obviously bought enough food for the whole week (sense the sarcasm) I went to the kitchen to make dinner. An obvious choice that stood out to me was grilled cheese. So I'm making the grilled cheese and I'm showing my dad how I make it and, when I finish, I say, "And that's how I make my grilled cheeses." My dad looks at me and says, "Cool. Now show me how to make this cake." That was code for, 'I don't want that, make this.'

For our next grocery shopping trip we decided to make a list of things we needed. A good idea considering how the last trip went. I tell my dad that we need lettuce and that I prefer iceberg lettuce. He looks at me and says, "Em, lettuce is lettuce whether it's made from ice or not." Good point? We did end up getting iceberg lettuce but it cost $3.57. Oops.

Then there were the nights. My dad works nights so I'm home aloooone. I was okay with this. I love being home alone. I'm so productive when people aren't around to tell me what to do. But then I was dumb and started watching Criminal Minds. And, after watching a disc of Criminal Minds, I was pretty much convinced that somebody was plotting my death. Every. Night. It doesn't help that our cat weighs a gazillion pounds and sounds like a man running up and down the stairs. But, luckily for me, when it's night time over here, it's day time in the States. And where do a majority of my friends live? The States! So I began skyping. A lot. Bedtime is now at 5am and I don't usually wake up until 11am.  

Now that my mother has come back (and with presents!) I'm going to have to change this little sleeping pattern. Why? Because we're about to take advantage of this long break! I'm so excited. So far, the plan for the next few weeks is looking like this:

Ireland/London

Florida

Italy

New York

:)

A Break from the West

Last Saturday, I flew home for Christmas break. It's so great to be home. There's a lot that I'm liking about being here. Especially the fact that I get to eat real food! So far it has been pretty relaxing. I've just been hanging out with my parents and baking TONS of Christmas cookies. I did get to have my first doner, which, for all of you that have lived over here know, was a pretty big deal. I was so excited for that first bite that I got a bit of paper in my mouth. I'm going to be honest. I was too happy to be eating that first bite that I didn't even bother to get that bit of paper out. So. I ate paper. Yum. I also made my first trip to base today. I got stuck in the "baggers only" doors at the commissary. It was so embarrassing! Ohwell. I can laugh about it now.
The only downside about flying from Idaho to here is the jetlag that comes along with it. Hopefully I get over it soon. Until then, I'll continue to watch movies and eat brownies until 4AM. Yay! Actually, I've been watching quite a few home videos. They make me smile. And how could they not? Just look at how cute I was!

My First Birthday : )