Day 2

Day 2:

Brandenburg. This was one of Carson's favorite areas. We attended church here and the 

branch was so kind. This is a picture I took walking back to the car after church. 

We were with Matthew and Inette Smith and Simon Batzke. We ate lunch at the 

Batzke home and then later we had dinner at the Smith's. 

I will always be so grateful to these wonderful people. They were so good to Carson

and made him feel loved while he was away from home. 

 We got caught in a rainstorm and had to hide under an overhang until we got brave enough to

dash into a near by cafe where we had gelato and waited out the storm.

 Here is the smith home. The branch President and his family the Osbeck's joined us for dinner.

That is their beautiful daughter on the top right. She was so cute, I just had to get a picture

of her. Carson had a special relationship with these people. They had him over for 

Christmas and were his family when we couldn't be together.

 This is Brother Randow. He meant a lot to Carson while he was in Brandenborg.

 This is Maurice. We only stopped by for a few minutes and he favored us with a song on his

guitar. 

Doener's

Carson took us to a really great place that is famous in his mission for their yummy

doener's. This was definitely worth the search to try and find it. Since Carson

was a walking mission, he had a hard time finding things from a cars perspective.

We loved this place and might try to go back and get one more doener before 

we fly out on Saturday morning.

This was the view from across the street. I just love the streets here in Germany.

Return to Germany

Here we are, two years later! Carson is home and we are back visiting his mission. We love Germany! It is so beautiful here.

Day 1:

Berlin. Here we are at Brandenburg Gate. It's less than a five minute walk from where we are staying.

Here is the Holocaust museum that we visited. Really cool place.

We rented bikes and rode all over Berlin. Here you can see the victory tower and the

tier garten. It means animal garden. It was beautiful! I went for a run in this

garden the next morning. It was super cool!

Here is the cafe we stopped by to eat lunch.

Carson had some nasty drink. It was non alcoholic, but tasted and smelled kinda weird. 

Here is part of the Berlin wall that still remains. Really cool that it has come down

and that Germans now enjoy some freedoms that they didn't have before.

Here is a Palace in Potsdam. I kept thinking of Jane Austen and could just imagine

pulling up in a carriage and walking the extensive grounds. 

The gardens were beautiful!

Elder Carson Jenkins

We are enjoying our last few days with Carson. I can't believe he is leaving! He has been such a joy to raise. Not that he didn't give me a few gray hairs. :) Everyone keeps asking me if I am sad, but I have to say, I am not! I will miss him terribly of course, but there is no place I would rather have him be. This is what I have hoped and dreamed for his whole life. I am elated! Deliriously happy! And I pray like crazy that he will learn all that he needs to learn to come home and be a good man. I love everything about the gospel, and I love that he will be out serving. I love that this opportunity is provided. It is a remarkable blessing.

Disneyland 2012

Our yearly homage to Disneyland. Good times and good memories for all. I love being with my family at Disneyland. It is the BEST!

Carson's Mission Call

After all those years of messes and mischief, teasing and taunting his sisters, my Carson has grown into a fine young man. I remember rushing to the library to check out parenting books because I was sure I was ruining him. This is the best thing a mother and father hope for, a moment I will treasure forever. I am so proud of Carson, he will make a great missionary. We will miss him terribly, but I am so honored to have him worthy and ready to serve the Lord. This is what life is about. Life is good.

Labor Day 2012

We had such a great time camping this weekend with the neighbors. Halee says it was the "Best weekend EVER!!" We got rained on the last day just as we were getting into the lake. It started to thunder and lightening and the rains poured down. We tried to wait it out, but it just wouldn't stop. It was so beautiful up there on the rim. You could tell that there had been some good rain because everything was so green. The temperature was perfect and we had a blast.