Christmas and SNOW!

If you didn't know, BOO is his favorite game! 

We had our first ACTUAL snow yesterday.  It hasn't snowed much the entire time we've been here. Riley loved it!

He loved it so much, he didn't mind when Elden threw snow in his face! :) 

Pictures in Garmisch

We went to Garmisch (Bavaria) for Thanksgiving again this year, and had some pictures taken. Honestly, I was NOT happy with the family pictures (which makes me sad!), but he did get some good ones of Riley! And you can't beat the beautiful background of the Alps! 

We didn't do a whole lot while we were there because I was sick basically the entire time, but we were able to go walk through Partnach Gorge.  These pictures don't do it justice!! The water is almost clear blue and it was a nice little walk.  It has a path carved out of the rock with some areas you have to duck through.  Riley fell asleep on the way up, but coming back down he woke up and loved walking through all the tunnels. 

Paris (Again) & Rachel's Visit

My old roomie from college came to visit us for 10 days and we took her to a few places here in Germany, Paris and Brussels.  It was fun, but exhausting!!

Finger painting

Today I tried finger painting with Riley.  At what age will kids stop putting everything in their mouth?

(Sorry-the quality is REALLY BAD!)

We love Brussels!

Yesterday we went up to Brussels because Elden had the day off work.  We've been there twice before, but never really did much sight seeing-just eating.  We did a little of both on this trip.
First was our standard stop at Maison Dandoy for waffles.  Riley had his first Belgian Waffle! He wanted Elden's though since it had strawberries and ice cream. Seriously-if you're ever in Belgium, it's worth a trip for their liege waffles!!!

Then we went over to Parc du Cinquantenaire.  It's a beautiful big park as well as several museums.  We stayed outside for this visit since it was such a beautiful day, but next time, we'll go to some of the museums.

We also visited the Atomium.  It's a structure that was built for the Brussels World Fair in 1958.  It was renovated a few years ago.  We took a lift to the very top sphere which has a panoramic view of Brussels, and then we went into a couple of the other spheres (on a crazy steep and long escalator ride!)

Update-Lots of pictures of Riley

It's been several months since we posted last.

End of January I turned 30! EEK!!! I feel so old. Elden made me this awesome cake (from scratch)! He used our delicious dutch cocoa from Belgium for the cake, and then the frosting was peanut butter. It had peanut butter cups on top and in the middle of the cake. Seriously the best frosting I've ever had.  The cake would have been better, but our oven is terrible and unless you're sitting on the floor in front of it adjusting the temperature continually, it doesn't maintain the needed temperature.  We burn a lot of food! :(

In February Riley & I (Gretchen) hopped on a cargo plane from Germany to Washington. It was a cold, loud, long flight, we were both sick, but being stretched out was much better than cramped in a seat on a regular passenger airplane! We took a sleeping bag, and once we got up, we were able to fold our seats back into the wall, and lay down and sleep and play. Riley kept trying to climb up the cargo netting that ran down the middle of the plane, but he definitely enjoyed being able to get up and crawl around.

These are the only two pictures I took, which were before take-off.  He only left his ear protection on for about 5 minutes.  He didn't seem to be bothered by how extremely loud the ride was!

My sister Penny picked us up from the base in Washington, and we drove to Oregon and spent a few weeks there with the Sheldon's. Riley's favorite thing to do at Penny's was play with Blake at the window.

He really loved his cousins (I guess i never got a picture of him with Caylyn)

Then we loaded up all of Kiley's stuff in a U-Haul and drove it down to Utah. Riley was a champ and didn't complain too much! :)  While we were in Utah, Riley turned 1! I'm ashamed that I didn't really do anything for him since I didn't want to without Elden. I still feel bad about it-but I know he won't remember that we waited a few weeks.  Elden Turned 30 while we were in Colorado, and I guess we didn't take any pictures of their party.

After Utah, Penny, Riley and I continued on to San Diego for Kiley's wedding. Riley wasn't so sure about the beach, but since he's related to Elden and I, I'm sure he'll love it eventually!

The rest of the Sheldon's, Elden, Mom, Dad & Mary met us in San Diego for the wedding. ( I guess we didn't take any pictures of that).  It was a beautiful sealing in the San Diego temple, Kiley looked stunning and it was a happy day! They had a little reception/family get-together at the beach. 

After that, we said goodbye to the Sheldon's and flew home to Colorado. Riley got his first official hair cut.

(Why are you touching my hair lady!)

And we got some 1 year old pictures taken. I swear this kid could not be any cuter!!! 

Elden's sister Carrie and her husband Jeremy drove all the way from Utah to see us while we were visitng, so we were able to see the entire Warner family, so it was lots of fun for Riley to get to meet and play with all his cousins, aunts and uncles.  

The last four days we were in Colorado, I got a stomach bug, and then the day before we left, Riley ended up with pink eye and a double ear infection! But he still tried to be happy! He's one tough kid!

Then we flew to Baltimore, stayed the night there, and then caught a space-a flight back to Germany. Hopefully I don't have to make the flight back to the states for a while! The time change kills me! It takes a good week-10 days to get Riley re-adjusted.

Now that its summer, the weather is getting a little nicer. Riley loves to be outside and on the go! 

He loves the car my parents gave him!

Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial

 His FAVORITE "toy" is an unused fly swatter 

This kid loves to vacuum!! I'll ask him if he wants to help me and he'll run to the closet where it is.

The picture is dark-but his face is so cute! He was so happy when Elden climbed into his tent with him.

He has recently discovered his ears and nostrils.  So this is the first time I ever saw him sticking his fingers in his ears.  Since-he will occasionally do that when i'm singing him a song before bedtime. (hint hint I guess). I'm trying to teach him NOT to stick his fingers up his nose!

When Elden walks through the door after work, Riley runs to him to be picked up and then grabs his hat. 

This little monkey is Marvin. His Auntie Trina gave to him before he was born.  Riley snuggles and gives him kisses if he sees him laying around. He always sleeps with him, and sometimes when we put him to bed and he's not ready to go to sleep yet, he will play "boo" with the monkey by turning his face away and then back and saying "boo!" 

Waffles are his main staple.  This particular time we had whipped cream and strawberries and he was eating the cream by the fist-full!