We Get Around

So Tuesday of this week we had our final anima concert of the year.  We were kind of crazy getting all of our music together at the last moment, but somehow the concert seemed to work.  Anyway, our opening song, was the one that can be found at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZpGe5rNJkI

So we did the patty cake part, and a girl in the choir who graduated last year arranged it for us to sing.  It was really fun and a good start to the concert, I think.

 I got to sing the same solo I sang in Amsterdam, O Mio Babbino Caro, and that went well.  (sorry I don't have a video)

 This is a solo part in another song I had

 And...it was a success!!!  Sadly we have to say goodbye to 5 seniors this year, and this one is Jodie, one of my good friends in choir.  she will surely be missed.

 Tacie also did an amazing job with her first solo, and will be missed not only in choir, but in all aspects of my life when she moved back to the states this summer.

 And Margaux and I were looking at this picture compared to one from our very first choir concert next year and how we both look older.

 And the whole group

 This was a short week at school, so Thursday morning we headed down to a town close to St. Gallen to stay for a few nights.  We stopped to see this cool building designed by the same man who did the one we saw in Wien.

 When we got to the hotel the view was gorgeous, overlooking the Bodensee.  The Bodensee directly translates to...floor...lake, but is also known as Lake Konstanz.  It is kind of cool, because it borders the three main countries of our mission, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.  The lake is ginormous, and so very beautiful.

 When we got there the weather was nice so of course we went to a little beachy place and took a dip and sat in the sun.  And...of course I took artsy pictures in the car afterwards.

The next day, Friday, we decided to ride a boat on the lake, so we rode from Rorschach (where the hotel was) to Romanshorn.

 Here we are on the boat.  As you can see from my shirt, "I'm a sailor!  I sail!"  If you don't get that movie reference, shame on you.  (Hint: it's from "What About Bob?")

 Let me put it lightly...there is nothing to do in Romanshorn, and we were stuck there for a few hours.  This is how we felt.

 We just walked around, and the view was beautiful.  We finally found a nice park and just played giant chess.

 Both evenings we were there we had dinner at the hotel, and it was nice and, again, the views over the lake were stunning.  Hard to capture, to be honest.

 Saturday we decided to head over to Liechtenstein and check out the castle before the St. Gallen stake conference.  So..we did.  We could just go in the courtyard though, so it wasn't THAT exciting.  But it looked pretty!...

 From the tope we heard all this music and stuff, and we looked down and there was like this mini carnival going on!  Maybe you can spot the booths and stuff.  But it was so weird!

 So...of course we went down to check out the carnival.  This sign shows you how messed up the Swiss-German is, that obviously carries over into Liechtenstein.  I have no idea what that says.  And my German friend didn't either...

 And we got some Eis.

 And saw a pony!  It was so cute I just had to take a picture!  It was also weird that like right by this mini carnival thing there were like mountains and horses and stuff...

 And, last but not least, to finish off this post....me on a mountain/hill/field, I don't even know what.  It just looks cool.  I may be guilty of frolicking...

Turns out that on Saturday we drove through the four main countries of our mission.  So yeah, we get around.

"Look up, smile, and say thank you"

So to be honest I don't remember if Mothers' Day was last week or the week before, but this picture is from then.  We all got adorable baby roses, yes even though I'm not a mother, and so of course I took a cool picture with it...I know I'm like the most narcissistic looking person in the world...

 ANYWAY, so Monday I had school off and it just so happened that there was this meeting in Switzerland that evening where President Uchtdorf was coming because he was already in the Europe area.  All the Bishopbrics and Stake Presidencies in Switzerland were invited, as well as other important people like my parents.  So we went to the meeting and heard him speak.  It was basically a big question and answer session, and although it wasn't meant for me, I learned a lot and felt the Spirit.  The whole thing was in German, which was also special to be able to here President and Sister Uchtdorf speak in their native language.  

After the meeting we drove up to Stuttgart to stay the night there so President could stay there and do interviews.  The next morning Sister Kohler and I got dropped off at the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof to catch our train back to Munich and got back in time for me to catch the last part of school.

 So between Tuesday and yesterday I had exams in school and such, so that's always exciting...But then yesterday we drove to Ellwangen and stopped at Dinkelsbühl on the way because I hadn't been there yet.  It's basically just an old and typical Germany town.  Very cute, and quaint.  We walked around and then got something to eat and the weather was perfect.

 I couldn't get over this tower, it looked like the one from Rapunzel

 In this picture we may look happy, and we were, but in truth I was being smashed against the wall

 I spy a tiny house of a house

 I looked at my pose in this picture and thought: that is something Tanner would do.  But I thought this was a cute picture.

 Post-dinner Eis

 After Dinkelsbühl we continued our drive to Ellwangen and stayed over night right outside of it.  This was on my parents' hotel bed.....weird

 Then we went to the branch there this morning and it was awesome.  The branch is so great and I felt so welcomed in all three meetings.  It was a good day at church.  On the way home we stopped at Nördlingen, a small town with an existing wall of about 3km in circumference.  We walked up the millions of stairs to the tope of this tower and it was so pretty.  Then we went into the connected church.

 These are the times when we are driving through the gorgeous spring fields of Germany with the windows all the way open, or walking through Dorfs eating ice cream, or going to a branch I've never heard of that I just look up, smile, and say thank you.

When the Weather is Fickle

Quote of the week: (not that I'm going to start doing a quote of the week or anything, I just keep finding great quotes for the week that describe my life.  So there you go.)

 Anyway, you could possibly be wondering why that is the quote of the week, and there is no great reason, just that this last little while I realized how much time I spend on the floor.  No matter what I'm doing; homework, watching a movie, making food, getting ready for bed....I just always seem to end up down there!  Well...here...I'm actually lying on the floor right now.

So Sunday was Mothers' Day and I think we all know how amazing my mother is so I don't need to write a lot, but I don't think anyone really understands how amazing she is and what kind of sacrifices she makes.  She is incredible and I love her.

 Because the weather was so schön, we thought we would walk to church, and on the way home Sister Kohler was so overwhelmed with all the beautiful blossoms, so the caption to this picture is "Wait, I just NEED to smell these!"

 And the all-time best part of the day was getting to skype Tanner-poo!!!  We got to talk for a good hour, us in Munich, Tosh in Provo, and Tanner in Balti, Moldova.  It was really nice and super comfortable and it felt good to all talk together.

 Another artsy picture...this is at a playground close to our house.  It has a few swings and sometimes I just go there when I need a break, and swing because I love swinging.  That day it happened to be a bit wet from the rain, so the swing was wet, but I didn't really care.

 Friday afternoon, we got out early from school, so Tacie and I headed over to Sneddons to hang out for the afternoon, and we had a good time, but by the time we walked to the train station the last time, the rain had gotten pretty heavy and we got soaked despite my green umbrella.

But a little rain never hurt anyone, right?  Only all the stuff in my backpack...