A Christmas we will never forget!

December 22, they made it!!!!! Welcome to Germany Johnson family!
We were so happy to see them. Mike had been to the States and had seen them, but Soni had not seen the family in over a year and a half and she could not believe how tall and grown up the boys had become. She bugged and annoyed them for two days in a row with comments like: "When did you get so tall and handsome?" But they were sweet as always and loved their aunt SOMILA like Zenock used to call her 4 years ago.

 We stopped for a quick break at the food court in Ramstein Air Base

 I love my sister Melanie!

 Soni finally got to meet and hold the sweetest baby in the world, Avery. She loved holding, hugging and kissing her, and Avery was just hanging along with that. She is the strongest baby. Her brothers do all kind of stretching exercise to her and she does not say anything except smile.

 We took the Johnson's downtown so they could enjoy the last day of the Christmas Market, but also to keep them awake.

 Aunt Soni and the boys.

 Johnson family.

 After 2,5 years of living in Germany, thanks to Dwight now we have a picture in front of the big pyramid.

 Boys eating bratwurst.

 This was the coolest tree.

 After walking down the hauptstrasse, we came back home for some delicious caramel popcorn and a movie. I love their faces how focus they are in the big screen.

 Isn't this the sweetest moment? So precious and tender.

 Uncle Mike and the boys making treats. This was probably around midnight. Yes, we had long and fun nights!

 The next day Dwight and Melanie went to the the Frankfurt Temple while Soni watched Avery and waited for them. Those hours made Soni's day. Avery is so sweet and adorable. We read magazines, talked to people that wanted to see how beautiful Avery was, looked at pictures of Jesus and took short napes.

Dwight got to drive on the Autobahn. Check out the speed!
On the other hand, uncle Mike took the boys swimming. They had a blast together.

Aunt Sonila took them for a treat! Authentic italian gelato.

Late the night of the 23rd, the Muca family came from Merate, Italy. We love them so much. We took everyone shopping the day of the 24th for some more white elefant presents.

 But the best part of that evening of Christmas eve, was going caroling. For the Muca's and Soni was their first time experiencing and it was amazing. We loved going to our friends's homes and surprising them with treats and hymns. And of course we had the best singers in our midst!

We ended that evening by playing Ticket to Ride.

 Our friends, Jessica and Gage, brought Cotton to meet the families and the boys just loved him. I think Greta still holds a grudge because Cotton peed on her last summer:) She loves him though.

 This is the Christmas morning. Was so crazy and so much fun. Just to let you all know if you haven't made the calculations. We were a total of 16 people and we absolutely loved having everybody in our home.
Uncle Mike had an episode the night before that scared us all, but he is doing much better. So Hunter was Santa's assistant. Thank you so much Hunter.

Avery was the only quite one! So cute!

 After the opening of the presents, we had to run to go to church for the sacrament meeting. The spirit was so beautiful as we listened to the talks from the bishop of our ward and the german bishop.
These are our Christmas pictures.
                                                                      Mike and Soni

 Johnson family

 Muca family

 Aunt Soni and Avery

 The boys and Avery

 The girls

 The boys and Aunt Sonila

 The boys tired of having their pictures taken:)

 Even though Mike didn't feel great he still found a way to come and help in the kitchen. He is so awesome! We had delicious food, a mix of American-Albanian-Italian cuisine!

 Our Christmas dinner. Thank you all for your help and making this Christmas the best one to remember.

To be continued...
Love, Mike and Soni

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012!

We hope you all have had an amazing Christmas, like we did. We have Melanie here with the family and Soni's cousin, Berti with his family. We love having everybody here and will be sad when they leave.
We are still hoping to send our Christmas cards, but meanwhile here is our letter for the year and our Christmas card.
We love you all.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

            Soni and I love being in Germany. We have had the most incredible adventures this past year that have taken us down the Adriatic coastline to Albania, up to England, out to France and across to Prague.

    January We started year 2011 with an adventure in London, England, celebrating our friend’s birthday. We saw “Les Miserables” on London’s Broadway—fantastic—then saw another play, which we promptly ran from.  After a cross dresser became the theme I said, “this stuff isn’t for boys from Carbon County” so, I picked up my wife and we wandered to Buckingham palace to meet the queen.  However, we didn’t feel up to the formality so we blew her off and wandered around her beautiful royal gardens. 

   February and time for our 3^rd anniversary. Mike surprised Soni with a trip to Kos, Greece, where they hung out with Hippocrates and bathed in ancient history. We absolutely loved the off season atmosphere and prices. We stuffed ourselves with gyros and delicious feta cheese. We rode bikes all over the island to burn off the extra calories.

   March We started this month by purchasing a rare German peace of perfection, a 1979 Mercedes campervan full with shower, toilet, sink, stove, heater, 2 beds, table, with the most distinct European cartoon characters painted on the exterior. We suddenly became the most popular people in all of Germany. We could try to escape the incessant praises of our German neighbors but 1-60 in 10 minutes isn’t exactly a get-away.   

Mike stole this year’s costume fest as the most well robed Moses in all of Heidelberg at the vampire ball. The best part is that Mike found a use for an outdated curtain and the beard cost him only 5 dollars…people can spend up to 200 euros for a costume.

Richard, Grace and the kids came to see us all the way here from Arizona. We had a wonderful family time together. We enjoyed spending time with the kids and hearing all their fun stories which Mike keeps quoting all the time.  Thank you so much for coming to see us.

   April We received a Skype call from our favorite family in Merate Italy. It so happens that over the course of the last 2 years the 2 oldest girls, Brixhilda and Klara decided to join the church through baptism and they wanted Mike to do the ordinance. Of the many spiritual experiences in his life this is among the most wonderful of his adult years. The ceremony was peaceful and tender, the family was unified and kind, and for a day it seemed as though life could not burgeon beyond the cloudless limits of eternity.

Soni also became a big girl. She turned 30 years old. Everybody knew that she wanted to have a big party because she kept telling her husband, “I turn 30, we celebrate big in Albania…this and that”, so Mike and our amazing friends “tricked” her into a big surprise birthday party with lots of food, dancing, fun games and great company.

   May-June We had been planning to drive to Albania since we got to Germany, but work and schedules did not cooperate; so this year, we put our foot down, and we said, “We’re doing it!” We believed that Albanians may not have the same respect for cartoons, rather, undo attention may just turn into another, “Taken” video. So we painted our van and were off on summer vacation to drive the beautiful Adriatic coastline. We crossed through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Monte Negro and finally, Albania. We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends. The second week there, we took Mom and Dad Muca and drove south to Saranda. Southern Albania has an amazing coastline. We stopped several times for a swim in the Ioanian Sea, ate delicious sea food and enjoyed each-others company. Albania is full of exquisite ancient, and middle age architectural treasures. Among our favorite was the ancient Greek city of Butrinti, later Roman, then Turk and now a splendid, “maybe we should excavate.” We ended this great trip taking a ferry to Bari, Italy and driving home, with an awesome stop in Rome.

   July-August The Muca girls decided to spend some summer time with their favorite cousins in the world, Mike and Soni. Mom and Dad Wood also made it out to Germany to relax to accordion music and eating cheese that can’t be spelled. It so happens that we tracked down one of our favorite foreign exchange student, Vincent Beniot, and traveled to his legendary Marvejols to meet his wife, 3 beautiful children and extended family.  The reunion was extraordinary, we again had the chance to enjoy Vincent’s refined French cuisine—it was frog legs till midnight and the best French company we have ever had.  Even now, as we think of our short time in his presence, we sit back and savor the memories of a treasured friendship.

   September This fall we decided to pull up our big boy pants and seek an adventure sought after but seemingly risky, and we headed off to the Czech Republic, to see the Hapsburgs imperial city of Prague. With quick money calculations in our heads we ended up getting a fair price for one of the most professional quintet’s we have ever seen. Commonly the community opens its many cathedral doors to allow some baroque praises amidst its ethereal spires. We were truly in awe by the wonder of classical music.

   October Soni’s parents came to Germany this year on their temple trip, and stayed one month. At the temple we had an amazing time with the Albanian members. As Frankfurt temple workers, Soni had the privilege of translated ordinances into Albanian. We saw friends coming to the temple for the first time, other friends getting married and sealed as a family. Our experiences at the temple have been a blessing that we will cherish. We also had friends visit from Utah, Lance and Brenda Oscarson. Brenda taught the Muca family almost 16 years ago, when serving a mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We absolutely enjoyed having them in our home and hope they return.

   November We rested, we actually rested.

   December It’s official. We are staying in Germany until August of 2013 and Mike just got notice that he will be promoted to Major. We love the season of Christmas and feel it an opportunity to reminisce on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. As we see the extraordinary change of heart during this favored season we see the awe inspiring plan of Christ, to change the hearts of man to good. He is our Redeemer, Savior and friend. We hope that this month we can show our love and appreciation for Him through our words, actions and deeds.

 Merry Christmas to all of you; may this new year bring joy, health and happiness!

Love, Mike and Soni

Let it snow, let it snow in Heidelberg Germany!

Yesterday we had the first day of snow here and it was beautiful. I was able to take at least one picture.

Christmas Markets and amazing rainbow!

We decided to spend Thanksgiving with some friends from our ward. We really enjoy them, we have been so blessed with some great amazing friends here in Germany.

 The next morning we drove to Merate, Italy to spend the weekend with family. We had a great time!

 Christmas Market in Heidelberg...

 ...Strasbourg, France

 ...Nurnberg has the most famous Christmas market in Germany...sorry for the bad picture but I was using my Ipod.

 Just a couple of days ago, as I was fixing the christmas light by our window, this is what I saw: the most amazing beautiful rainbow. I had never seen one like this. It just made me smile! Don't you think is beautiful?