Holland: First Days For all of you who have been wondering, I made it to Holland in one piece and with both my children! Miracle, I know :) The airplane ride was very long and difficult, but it went relatively smooth and I have to say that the kids did great, considering the circumstances. Here is a picture of us at the Airport about to board our first flight (I have no pictures of us actually during the trip... I didn't have any hands free :).

 

I managed to forget Ella's paper tickets, so it took a while to get all that sorted out at the check in counter, but she was eventually cleared to go! talk about starting the trip stressfull. But as always, it worked out and we were happily on our way. After a little convincing, they printed Andrew a security pass so he could walk through security with me since I had no hands free to take the kids through. Then he walked me to my gate and we said goodbye. The kids played sweetly the first flight, and the long flight to Holland they slept almost the whole way. Luckily Benson was able to watch Toy Story 3 on the airplane, so he was happy (and so was I) about that. The downside was that my seats were not on the front row, as i was told when I booked my flight, so I was stuck in the middle 2 seats of the middle row with my two children! It didn't help that the man in front of me had his seat back the entire flight, and I had Ella on my lap, but we managed! I am grateful that benson stayed in his seat the whole way, behaved and listened very well. Ella slept almost the whole way as well.  It has taken us these full 4 days to get adjusted to the time change (8 hours ahead of Utah time). Jetlag hit all of us pretty hard, and it was especially hard on the kids. But I think we are pretty much adjusted now after some much needed room changes. Good thing my family didn't plan much these first few days because we needed to just chill and adjust. But here are some fun things we did do these last few days. You wouldn't believe it, but we had the worst snow storm in probably 40 years that hit the day after I got here. Had I arrived one day later I may not have been able to land! wow. There is a TON of snow outside. So we took advantage of the fun and took the little boys on a sleigh ride:

 

 

 

 

As you can tell they absolutely loved it! It has been so great seeing my sister's family and her cute children, 2 of which I had never met. Benson and Max have become good buds. Here is a picture of the 2 babies in the house, Ella and her cousin Elliot, who are about 9 months apart (there are a total of 6 kids here in the house!). This is my brother in law Sander:

 

Here are some funny pictures of us all trying to recover from jetlag:

 

 

 

We also celebrated my niece's birthday, Lara, on Friday. She tunred 7 years old. i think she is just the prettiest little girl! My sister made her ladybug birthday cake.

 

 

 

 

 

We all braved the snow yesterday and went to church. Many of my life long friends are there and it was wonderful seeing all of them again. I miss them and my family the most about living here in Holland. Our church building is currently under renovation, so the congregation has to meet in a local high school for about a year. It was a very interesting experience! But as always, church is church and I was uplifted and so blessed by attending. We took some pictures while we were all looking dressed up:

 

So thus far, it has already been a wonderful return to my homeland. I don't even feel like I am on vacation, I feel home, and I love that about being here. I have so many fun memories coming back by being here, and am enjoying all mu favorite Dutch foods. We still have a lot of fun things planned while we are here, like Christmas, an amusement park, a trip to Germany and dinner with friends. Can't wait. As for the Utah homefront, I have some sad news concerning my poor Andrew! He was so excited that he was going to able to play basketball as much as he wanted while I was gone, and the morning after I left he played and broke his ankle.... What a bummer! he is having surgery this morning so please keep him in your prayers. he had top cancel all his work trips, but I know that blessings come from every situation and that everything happens for a reason. I am sad that I can't be there for him right now, but luckily we have lots of loving family taking care of him, thank you! Well I think this post is long enough already. I will probably update my trip again after Christmas. I wish all of you a wonderfull holiday season from snowy Holland!! Anyone have any requests for anything they want from Holland when I return home to Utah??? let me know in the comments :)