Frogger

So I so so lucky to watch Trey Robinson two nights this week. He is so cute and I love just hanging out with him. Both nights he was dying to get in the tub and take a bath. He had the cutest bath towels and insisted that I wear it and take some pictures. It was hilarious.

In this picture he had his towel on pretending to be a frog and would not get out of the tub.

Not to mention that he has the cutest giggle. It is adorable. The best part about the nights was Trey kept farting and then saying " I tooted" and then giggle. It was the best. Boys will be boys.

Great Reads

So while in Switzerland I finished the book My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. It was a fantastic book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in need of a book. It was a book about a Jewish boy how has this amazing talent to paint and draw and his story of how he struggles to master his gift of art and not shame his people and family of his Judaism beliefs. Also while over there I read Night by Elie Wiesel. It is a book written by a survivor of Aushwitz concentration camp. At only a 117 pages the book was so moving and descriptive of his experience. I thought I would share of few quotes that I loved from the books. They really impressed me.

MY NAME IS ASHER LEV by Chaim Potok
I loved how in Asher Lev it was so descriptive. He used his words so preciously to paint this picture in your mind.

"I remember that night very clearly, the texture of its darkness, the echoing resonance of its sound. I lay in my bed in the enveloping night and felt myself one with all the vast and endless arc of the universe, felt myself raw flesh connected to near and distant pain...."

"...I painted swiftly in a strange nerveless frenzy of energy. For all the pain you suffered, my mama. For all the torment of your past and future years, my mama. For all the anguish this picture of pain will cause you. For the unspeakable mystery that brings good fathers and sons into the world and lets a mother watch them tear at each other's throats. For the Master of the Universe, whose suffering world I do not comprehend. For dreams of horror, for nights of waiting, for memories of death, for the love I have for you, for all the things I remember, and for all the things I should remember but have forgotten, for all these I created..."

As quoted in Asher Lev from the book The Art Spirit

" You can do anything you want to do. What is rare is this actual wanting to do a specific thing: wanting it so much that you are practically blind to all other things, that nothing else will satisfy you."


NIGHT by Elie Wiesel
I cannot even comprehend everything that the Jewish people had to go through. The physical and emotional torment. The pain and suffering. I feel a deep love for each and everyone of them. Reading their stories brings me closer to understanding it.. I loved the honestly in the book. I loved that this man relived his experience by writing this book and probably relives it each and every day. He truly is heroic. The New York Times called it- "A slim volume of terrifying power".

In the preface of the book he writes " I am not so naive as to believe that this slim volume will change the course of history or shake the conscience of the world. Books no longer have the power they once did. Those who kept silent yesterday will remain silent tomorrow."

".. the public knows that the number of survivors is shrinking daily, and is fascinated by the idea of sharing memories that will soon be lost. For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences."

" Sometimes I am asked if I know "the response to Auschwitz"; I answer that not only do I not know if a tragedy of this magnitude has a response. What I do know is that there is "response" in responsibility. When we speak of this era of evil and darkness, so close and yet so distant, "responsibility" is the key word.
The witness has forced himself to testify. For the youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow. He does not want his past to become their future."
- E. W.

Thanks for letting me share some quotes and my thoughts on the books.

Musica

So I haven't done a honorable mention in some time so I thought I would.

MUSICA
Honorable Mention: JOSHUA RADIN

Song: WHAT IF YOU

His story: Josh was living in New York and trying to make his way as a painter and screenwriter when the opportunity for the open mic night came up. The delicate and heartbreaking "Winter" was a hit with the audience that night. With some friends' encouragement, it led to Radin following a career as a musician. His friend Zach Braff (Garden State and Scrubbs), gave his music to the producers of Scrubbs and his song landed a spot on an episode. This launched his music career and the upcoming release of his album with Columbia Records.

Hey Lizard Lizard

So while in Arosa, Cooper and I helped Andy mow the lawn. Cooper was running the lawn mower and I was standing next to him. I looked down to find one of Coopers toys on the ground. I told Cooper to stop and bent down to pick it up. What I didn't know when I picked it up was that it wasn't a toy lizard like I though, it was a real thing. Now I am not afraid of most things. Besides spiders and snakes I am pretty good with things. Well thinking that I was picking up a fake lizard and to realize it was real and slimy, I let out a scream. Girls will be girls right. I Cooper let out a yelp too, probably because I scared him. Now how can you mistake a real lizard for a toy lizard. Well from the pictures below, these lizards that were in Arosa were so fake looking it was crazy. Once we started looking they were everywhere. This one particular lizard that I happened to pick up was missing an arm. It was so sad. He seemed to be doing well, but it made me sad. Anyway I thought it was pretty funny. We got a laugh about it later. Kennedy didn't know what to think of the little creature!

Tschuggen Grand Hotel Spa

While I was in Arosa, my sister-in-law and I had the opportunity to go to this beautiful six star hotel and get some wonderful spa treatment. The hotel was breath taking and their new spa was wonderful. I found an article so I thought it did better justice than I could...

"When the Tschuggen Grand opened its doors in 1929, it was a pioneering move that helped to transform the mountaintop village of Arosa into the prestigious family ski resort it is today. For decades, it was the best hotel in town. But these days, in the increasingly competitive arena of Alpine ski hotels, being a grand hotel with history isn’t enough. So last year, the Tschuggen added a 35 million Swiss franc (about $30 million, at 1.15 Swiss francs to the dollar), 43,000-square-foot spa designed by the Swiss architect Mario Botta. The futuristic stone complex, topped by nine dormer-like “light trees,” easily outshines the old hotel."
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/travel/30checkin.html

While at the spa I got a massage and my sister-in-law got a facial. It was just what I needed and was so relaxing. From the moment we walked into the building it was such a fantastic experience. The architecture was breath taking. The design of tree like windows made the whole spa feel modern and open. The natural light that came through accentuated the pools and lounges. So I want to thank Andy and Emily for the wonderful massage. It was heavenly.

Arosa, Switzerland

I spent the last part of my trip at my brother and sister-in-laws chalet (cabin) in Switzerland. It is up in the Swiss alps and it was absolutely beautiful. Their chalet sits at the very top of this small village. Looking out from their deck is like a picture in a magazine. It seems so unreal. It was a beautiful time of year with the mountains covered in wild flowers. I had so much fun with the family just relaxing and enjoying my vacation. There were some good stories from Arosa so I thought I would share a few of them.

The first day we were there it was kind of cold and rainy. It was so pretty. As the night grew near the fog start setting in. It was so nice to be in a warm place all bundled up in down comforters with the windows open. I slept like a baby all bundled down in the bed.

We did some farm work on the front yard while we were up there. It was a really good workout. Using the scythe we chopped the weeds up and mowed the area. In the country we basically just threw them over the road for the cows to eat. The neighbor guys Yurg showed us the tricks and let us use some of his tools.

My nephew took a few pictures of his own. He was so cute about it. He had each one of us pose and use his medals he received while in skiing classes. It was so cute. He picked all the poses and I couldn't help but laugh. He caught some great pictures of us that is for sure!

One of the best things about being in Switzerland was just being with my niece and nephew. They were a hoot to be around and we were constantly having fun. It was fun to be a kid again and play with Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, Jenga, Jumping on the Tramp, watching all the kid shows. Fineous and Ferb and Max and Ruby.

Times are Great...

Last night was Cooper, my nephews, play at his school. It was so fun to be able to go. It was all in German and the little kids were just adorable. Cooper had a speaking line and his German was wonderful!

I decided to touch of my nail polish and that caught the attention of little Miss Kennedy. So I decided to paint her little toes and fingers. It was so cute. She sat on the fireplace and held perfectly still so I could paint them. We let them dry and then she ran to show her Papa her pretty nails. It was so cute. She kept saying "Papa... Color... See" and then would hold up her foot and hands. She is such a girlie girl and it is so fun. She loves bows, babies, pink and pampering herself. Emily said she loves her hair done all that fun stuff.

Today we decided to go to the local Pool. It was so wonderful. It was probably the nicest pool I have ever been to. There were four pools that varied in size and each one had fun things in it. They had a diving pool and this kids pool with this slide. Then they had a lap pool and on the side of it all there was this blue water slide. Wednesday all the kids are done early so there were tons of kids at the pool and it was so much fun to see them all play. All of Coopers schoolmates were there and he was using his German to talk to them and it was so awesome.

When we left the pool I was telling Emily how much I missed a few things from America. One: Ice with drinks... they don't have ice here and it drives me crazy. Two: Dr. Pepper... you can only get a few drinks here Coke, Coke Light (Diet Coke), or Fanta. So I have been craving Dr. Pepper since I left SLC. Much to my surprise Emily whips out the comment that she has some in the basement. WHAT?? I was shocked. So for dinner tonight I have a chilled Dr. Pepper and it was a little bit of heaven here on earth. Can we say obsessed with it....

Prior to Dinner tonight Cooper insisted I play legos with him. I had just showered and all I really wanted to do was get ready. Well once I started playing I was hooked. I hadn't played legos since I was little with my brothers, but man was it fun. LEGOS rock. Check out the nice car I built. Cooper has gotten pretty good and here of some of his creations that are displayed in his room.

My Lego Creation

All Coopers Creations Displayed

Day Two: Zurich Lake and Football Game

We went to Zurich Lake and the swimming pool. It was fun to get out in the sun. The lake is really close and we drove down for a relaxing afternoon. Out about 100 ft from the lake is a three level diving board that we jumped off. Cooper jumped off for the first time and the deal was that I had to jump off the top deck if he jumped off the lower level. As I was standing up there being a chicken, I asked this kid how high it was. He went to an English school and was telling me it was 15 meters high. Being dumb I said how high is that in feet (stupid Americans)? He didn't know. So I got up the courage and jumped only later to find out that 15 meters is about 50 feet. No wonder I was hesitating. Anyway I did it and am alive. Also on the lake is a water trampoline and a blow up toy. It was a lot of fun.

Kennedy Arosa

Cooper

Downtown Zurich

The other night was the Euro 2008 Soccer (known as Football over here) championship game. It was between Spain and Germany. Since a lot of the tournament games had been played in Switzerland, there was a huge arena set up for the game last night. We went down to the festivities and had so much fun. There were so many people and everyone was dressed up. The streets of downtown Zurich were shut down and they had tents everywhere with screens to watch the game. Tents lines the streets with food and ice cream. I could not believe the amount of people there for the game. I got some pretty cool pictures.