Easter on the Cote D'Azur

The meetinghouse in Nice, France on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008



Oceanographic Museum of Monaco



Chocalaterie de Monaco - We had a cup of cocoa and a chocolate croissant here


Monaco Plage de Larvotto


Dad jumped into the freezing cold Mediterranean Sea. Once a waterdog, always a waterdog.

Cake makes a party

[Note to Blogger Friends: How do I get the text and the photos to line up better? Please comment.]
I visit-teach Joy who is from the Philipines. Everyone says she makes wonderful
cakes, but I was afraid to
order one for a real occasion, when I hadn't seen her work yet. So for fun I asked her to make an Easter cake that I could take to John's office. Isn't this gorgeous! Now I'm looking forward to having a good enough occasion.

Here are some of the people who work in John's Church legal office.


Gudren (left) is German. Marina (right) is Italian. That's me holding the cake. John is with Katherine, one of the main legal coordinators, who is from Ireland.



Another piece of happy news is that Dad and I have been asked to be temple workers once a month. I've wanted to do this since we arrived almost 3 years ago, so I'm happy that we will now have a chance. This picture is of the Frankfurt Temple on our first day of training.

Keeping our Babysitting Skills in Practice

We babysat three cute bothers for 4 days while their parents had a get-away to London. Their mom and dad took the baby. Dad was a real help. I did the school runs on Friday, and on Saturday he helped run a trip to the pool and an afternoon at the movies for Horton Hears a Who.



They slept at our house Saturday night because we live close to the church. Dad even taught her Primary class -- what a guy!! Their folks got back Sunday night. How did it go? We think it is good that Heavenly Father sends you kids while you are young!


We wish we were close enough to do this with our grandkids once in a while.

MAKING A LIST: We like the way these things work in Germany

John and I have decided to make a list of things that we like in Germany. We see many examples of ingenuity all around us. Here is a picture of the farmer who comes to my door to sell me apples. He carries free samples in his pockets and lets me try them. Here is he van, too. A few times John has come home to see that I've bought more apples than we can eat before they go bad. This is a low tech thing that I like.

In February 2008 our USA trip took us to Virginia, Utah, Phoenix, and LA.

Aside from the technology, the hardest part of getting this blog going is knowing where to start. As I was composing the Christmas post, we had a great trip to Greece and Cyprus. So then I started imaging a post with John in front of the Acropolis when we headed to the USA for two weeks with family and friends. So where do I start? The best thing is to jump in and use a lot of flashbacks later.

Washington D.C.

Febuary 8-10, 2008 Our trip starts in Oakton, Virginia where Steve and Ie Li live. We like the plane ride from Frankfurt to the east coast because it is shorter and after crossing 6 time zones it gives us a few days to adjust before crossing 2 or 3 more.

The SAZband is a beautiful branch of our family. It was a treat to play with Mei Li and hold sweet baby Stephen.

Saturday, they took us into Washington, D.C. to see the World War II Memorial. Driving around a town that holds so many happy memories was a pleasure.

When Rachel arrived, we hoped to meet one or two of her east coast friends, but she said she thought we would be too chaotic!! What?!!

Saturday night Zack arrived in time to go to Reston with us for a great Mexican dinner. He came all the way from California to participate in Stephen's baby blessing.


Here is a picture of My Main Men.
There is a lot of strength and goodness there. Sunday was a wonderful day to be together and give thanks for the blessings of family and the priesthood.

Utah, Salt Lake City and Provo

Febuary 10-14 John's meetings of the Office of General Counsel took us to Salt Lake City. We enjoyed two nights at Great grandma Z's house.
Then we moved to Provo on Oliver's 5th birthday!! It snowed 8 inches!
Oliver had a birthday party with his other 5 year old friends. June loved her party hat.




That night the family got together for Oliver's birthday at California Pizza Kitchen. Christine and Rachel each brought friends.


Phoenix February 14-17

The JRClark Law Society Conference was held at ASU Law School this year. John was on a panel to tell of his Church legal experience in Europe.

Los Angeles February 17-22

San Elijo Beach at Cardiff by the Sea (just past Encinitas) was our spot for Presidents Day. Here are Linda Garrett, Jennie Townsend, Tina Jackson and me. We got caught up on the news and enjoyed the views!