No Shortage of Missionaries in Our Neck of the Woods

So there have been a lot of crazy emotions and things flying around here this past little while and this last week and this oncoming week are a bit insane.  Yesterday we had a HUGE meeting with our WHOLE mission here in Munich.  Elder Allen and Elder Teixeira from the seventies came as well as Elder Bednar.  (I didn't get a picture with him, so I thought this would suffice.)  But it was such an amazing experience to hear from them and just feel their authority, and I am SO grateful I had the chance to be there!

 The previous day Tanner had received his mission call in the mail, but was really tired from partying all night with his graduating class that he decided to wait to open it.  So by the end of the meeting, he was really excited to get home and open it.  So, for anyone who has not already heard, Tanner will be serving for 24 months in the Romania/Moldova mission speaking the language of Russian.  We were so surprised but are SOOO excited for him!!!  It was just the four of us together, so that was really nice and sweet, and even though I will miss him while he is gone, I could not be more proud and excited for this adventure ahead of him.

So the other exciting part of this week is the anticipation of Tosha's homecoming on Friday evening.  She has been serving a mission for eighteen months in Tokyo, Japan, and we are SOO excited to bring her back here to Germany with us.  She has had an amazing mission and really loved the Japanese culture, so stay tuned for more information!!!

Let's Make Things the Way I Want Them

Short post today, not much going on.  BUT, I am FINALLY getting my room into shape!  So it's been a long time now, but I got my bulletin boards and pictures up so my walls look pretty good. 

 Then I just got this adorable turquoise bookshelf!

 And Tanner assembled my new dresser!  So as you can see, I still need to get things in order, but I am really excited that things are getting into shape!  I am also waiting for a cute chair to come still.

 This doesn't have to do with anything, but we went on a walk today and it was fairly warm, and the sun was shining, and the birds were singing, and all the blossoms were out and it made me so happy!  In the words of Tanner, "Life is good everybody!"

Vienna Here We Come!!!

So these last two weeks we have had spring break, so for the first week we decided to go to Vienna (Wien in German) and do some stuff there.  For all who don't know this, Vienna is in Austria, NOT to be confused with Venice, Italy.  That is apparently a common misconception that needs to be stopped.

So our first stop was a place called Schönbrunn Palace where all these royal people used to live.  I kind of got mixed up in the family tree, but I just know that the people that lived there were royal.  While waiting for our tour we looked at the little Easter markets and that was really fun.  This just amazed me...

 Tanner and President, checking things out.

 This was a really cool and HUGE fountain behind the palace.

 The view from behind.

 A LOVELY picture of Sister Kohler and in the wind.

 Behind the palace again.

 Tanner and I practicing for when we become royal.

 A lovely view...

 A rarely found, drinking fountain.

 So after that we went to this cool place called the Hundertwasserhaus.  It is this weird apartment place designed by this weird guy that has done other stuff too, I guess.

 The next morning we got tickets to go watch the morning training of the Vienna, Lipizzaner Stallions.  Sadly we could not take pictures, but I got one after it was over in the really cool arena.  It was pretty much fancy horses walking around for two hours...but it was cool! 

 Then we did some sight seeing because every building in Vienna is just AMAZING!  I don't know what this building is, it just looked cool.  It might be the opera house...

 President sporting his new hat.

 This was a cool arrangement of flowers in front of a stature of Mozart.

 Here he is, he lived and performed in Vienna a lot, even though he was born in Salzburg.

 Some more cool buildings...

 Tanner and I inside one of the cool buildings.

 Inside this church.

 This picture doesn't show it very well, but this is a hotel, the Hotel Regina, and as we walked past, President pointed out that this was the exact hotel he stayed in when he came to Vienna as a boy.

 This is a really famous church called Stephansdom, or St. Stephan's Cathedral, I like the roof.  

 Inside

 That night we found a TGI Friday's to eat at.  It was so weird to see it!  But it was really good.

 You can't see very well in this picture, but right under the TV is a long clear tube, while we were eating there, these guys had this on their table.  It is like their own personal beer tap.  It was gone by the time they left...

 Enjoying a lovely hotel breakfast.

 The next day we went to a cool natural history museum so this was outside.  (To excuse my hair, the whole week was very windy.)

 The museum itself was just about as cool as the stuff in it, it was in an amazing old building, this is the ceiling.

 Here are the really old display cases that the minerals and things were in.

 This is a huge, dinosaur bone that is bigger than I could fit in the picture.  Where was it found?  UTAH!!  We were so proud.

 This was a funky lookin' bird.

 This is a room with HUGE dinosaur skeletons.

 Supposedly the largest turtle ever.

 More dinosaurs.  In this room there was a robotic dinosaur, life size, I think, that moved and roared and stuff. It was SOO cool, and a bit creepy.

 A really huge armadillo, you can tell it is big by the rat that is next to it.

 Such an amazing museum!!

 We even found Bambi!

 Here is one of my favorites, the skull and horn of a Narwal. 

 Tanner having fun with the animals.

 To accompany this picture we have a classic quote from Tanner, 

"I do have to say though, I still have a stirring in my breast when I see these animals."  

I love that kid.

 Later we decided to go ride this big ferris wheel that Vienna is famous for, called the Riesenrad, meaning "gigantic wheel"

 It is really old, and a while ago, there was a fire that burned it down, so they made little exhibits out of the original cars that did not get harmed in the fire.

 The view was amazing, but we were all a little scared because it was dark and rainy and windy, and the car was old and creaky and kind of swinging, and we all thought we were going to die.

 Luckily we made it out okay, and lived to tell the tale.

 This was the theme park that the wheel is in.

 This was a really cool church just across from our hotel.

 On our way home, we stopped at the Melk Abbey and took a tour.

 This is supposedly the largest wooden cross in all of the German speaking countries.

 There was a really amazing church there, too.

 My favorite part were all the Asian tourists, so I couldn't resist taking a picture.

 There was a really cool library there, that reminded me of "Beauty and the Beast", but sadly pictures were not allowed, so this is a picture of a picture of it that I took in the museum.

 Then we stopped for lunch and were on our way.

We had a pretty good time and Vienna will sure miss us!