Christmas 2012

This year Jared and I decided to go home for Christmas. We had such a great time visiting family and friends. Oh, and don’t forget how much we BOTH enjoyed shopping and going out to eat! Until you’ve lived here in Germany, you wouldn’t understand why we would say that. First of all, German food is very blah. None of it has much flavor. For example, one of my co workers went to dinner at a Germans house and took brownies for dessert. Her neighbors were quite blunt and told her not to bring brownies back to them again because they were way too rich. Second of all, there main food is schnitzel (pork) and bratwursts. We are not big pork fans, so we don’t enjoy eating out much. Lastly, good quality clothes and shoes are very expensive, especially when you’re dealing in Euros!

The famous 1/2 meter bratwurst at a Christmas Market

The Friday before Christmas, we had a Christmas party with Jared’s family. Jody and Kip graciously invited everyone to their house. Jared was so excited because he actually got to see all of his brothers. Mike was supposed to be driving a truck to California but was able to get off work at the last minute. We had yummy pulled pork sandwiches, salads, and pumpkin rolls. Afterwards, we did a small gift exchange.

Gabe, Mike, Jard, and Steve Jackson

The Jackson brothers and mom (Clara)

The Jackson brothers, John, and Clara

This year, since Christmas fell on a Sunday, mom switched things up a little bit, which was fun. On Saturday, Teresa, Adam and family came for Christmas and a short visit. We had our big Christmas dinner for lunch. Then while the kids were outside playing, all of the family gifts were brought out. We brought everyone back together and had CHRISTMAS! The kids were ecstatic that they could open gifts before Christmas day!

Thomas was so excited to get a Nintendo DS

 I have to tell you about this shirt.  Grandpa LOVES to play the "IT" game, especially with Rachel and Anna.  For Christmas he had grandma embroidery on shirts, "Anna/Rachel, You are IT forever~Love Grandpa.

Thomas sporting grandpa's socks!

Then on Christmas day, we opened the sock gifts that Santa Claus dropped off during the night. Needless to say, the grandkids were in heaven having two Christmases in a row. They kept saying, “Wow, this is the best Christmas ever!” Afterwards, we attended the Christmas program at church, which was wonderful. Then we came home, ate leftovers, relaxed, and enjoyed one another’s company. The way my mom and sister chose to do Christmas so was nice. It wasn’t full of the hustle and bustle that usually happens. I just may make this my new Christmas tradition.

Jared and his buddy~Benjamin

The remainder of the week was filled with shopping, eating out, visiting friends and old coworkers, playing games, and visiting grandpa Wren. 

Jared, cousin Buddy, and Tammy

Friends~Anja, Alison, and Tammy

Stephanie and Tammy

Tammy, Grandpa Wren, and Jared

It was difficult to come back but was reminded that this was my last year being so far away from home. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed living in Europe and being able to travel the world, but there is no place like home!

Tammy

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a long time since I've posted to my blog.  I love to read what is going on in everyone else's lives, but I have neglected to share any of the happenings in ours.  Many things have happened since March!  Easter came and went; Jared came home from deployment; we went on a cruise up and down the coast of Norway; visited Normandy and Paris France; we enjoyed a fun visit from my parents and Cindy where we went to Switzerland, Berlin, and many other places; we filled up our quarter jar, we just finished celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversay in London, England; and we have mourned the death of Jared's grandfather.  I will try to document each of these events in future posts as many people have been asking for pictures.

This year we started our Thanksgiving celebrations at  the Beck's house for the Night before Thanksgiving = Adults PIE NIGHT event.  Here's how it works: Most people get so stuffed from their Thanksgiving Feast, that the pies don't get the amount of attention and appreciation that they deserve. SO, one of our friends put together pie night the night BEFORE Thanksgiving so we can fully appreciate the PIE!   Here are the rules: 

1.  Each couple brings ONE pie to share.  I brought a Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake (it is one of my new favorite pies)! 

Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake from Our Best Bites!
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/11/layered-pumpkin-pie-toffee-cheesecake/

2. If you have any leftover pie at the end of the evening, you MUST take it home with you.  Jared was worried that we would come home with half the pie, but it was actually gone before everyone had shown up to try it.
3. If you are not here to celebrate pie night with them next year, you must host your own, wherever you are!  I don't know if we will be faithful in keeping up this new tradition, but we had  a great time being a part of theirs.  Jared and I left there having eaten so much pie that we didn't care if we had any on Thanksgiving.

For Thanksgiving, we went to one of Jared's coworker's house.   We ate some good food, played some fun games, let out a few laughs, and came home stuffed.  However, it just wasn't the same as being home with our family and  living in America where you can watch an afternoon/evening game of football.  We are looking forward to going home to Idaho to be with family for Christmas this year.

This past year, we have had our share of trials, but we have also been very blessed!  I could write a long list of things that I am grateful for, but I will just name a few.  It has been wonderful to be back together as a family again, to have good health to provide for our needs, to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, and to have such great family and friends who continually support us.

Tammy

The Final Coke Jar Posting

I've had several people ask me if I ever got our Coke jar filled up, and the answer is YES!  It took longer than expected, but it did happen by the end of September 2011.  We were quite happy with the results too.  However, it was a tedious process to complete.  First, we had to stack the quarters into dollars, then into stacks to $10, and lastly put them into the paper wraps and take them to the bank to trade for dollars.  I was so excited to put all this money into a heavy duty back pack and haul it up three floors to turn in until I started working with the cranky teller.  Once I told her what I needed, she started getting mad at me--telling me they were about ready to close (there was 20 minutes), that I should be bringing this money in each month so it could earn interest (a whopping $0.50), etc.  By the time I left the bank, I drove home in tears.  I couldn't understand why the lady couldn't just be happy that someone was actually saving money.  I was glad that I did it, but it really dampered my spirit on wanting to start saving again.

Month 1 and 2

Month 3 and 4

Month 5 and 6

Month 7 and 8

Month 9 and Final product!

Any idea how many quarters this jar can hold? To our surprise, we came home with $2,000 and some change!! We decided to save half of it and went to London, England, with the half of it for our anniversary.

Tammy

Trunk or Treat 2011

Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays to celebrate.  Dressing up is not something that I really enjoy doing, especially just to get some candy.  However, I didn't dare go trunk or treating at the church parking lot without dressing up because last year we attended the event and never heard the end of it.  Jared was gone with some friends to the gun range in the Chec Republic.  So I went to the Internet to look for easy dress up ideas and found something like this:

And believe it or not, I won the most creative award! But take a look at this little guy.  He and his twin brother won the overall award.  You wouldn't know it by this picture, but they were so excited over the flowers, it was hilarious!

Take a look at some of the best decorated trunks!

It ended up being a great evening because the company was terrific! 

Tammy

Deployment Homecoming!

Wow! The last month really flew by. The weather warmed up so I could do more outside, took my last few Saturday girl’s trips, and I got in a deep cleaning mode. Needless to say, I finished cleaning and decorating the last room in the house only moments before I went to pick Jared up from the Memorial Gym!

I couldn’t believe that DEPLOYMENT was finally going to be over and that Jared was coming back home for good! I was soooo excited to have him come back home but also a LOT nervous for how our reunion would go. We have both had several briefings where we have been advised that it could take time readjusting to one another’s quirks and personalities again. Even though we had regular communication with one another during the last year and were on the same page with how money was to be spent/saved, which goals we were trying to accomplish, etc., we have been living two completely separate lives and missing out on everything in between. We have missed out on an entire year of each other’s lives--(living together, eating together, making decisions together, the daily chit chats, etc. Would our reunion be EVERYTHING that we had hoped? 

First, waiting at the Memorial Gym for the soldiers to arrive!  Yes, the nervous jitters were there!

This is the quilt square that we submitted for Jared!

Me and my friend Merideth Marano

Second, the smoke and soldiers entering the building!

Third, waiting for the National Anthem to finish playing!

Finally, running to MY man!

Wiping away his tears!

Jared, me, and my batle buddies!

I must thank my friend, Dana, for coming to take these photos for me.  We will cherish these happy moments forever!

Tammy