Fa Fa Fa Frankfurt

I was sent to Frankfurt, Germany to demo the Slice for MM. I was sent all alone which at first scared the crap out of me, but ended up not being so bad. It was a great opportunity but TONS of work! Four days straight of standing all day long and trying to communicate with people that don't really understand what you're saying. Germans never take a break, so they pretty much expected me to never take a break. It was rough, but I made it through. We stayed about 30 minutes away from Frankfurt, I think we were in Rodermark... I think, I don't really know. The problem with staying that far away is that Germany had gotten the most snow they had gotten in 30 years. (In reality it was only about 2 inches of snow, but that was a lot for them) Soooo, the cities had run out of salt and didn't really have the equipment to take care of the roads. So what should have been a 30 minute drive to and from the show, ended up being close to 2 hours. It was awesome. And another thing Germans don't do, turn on the heat in their cars! So it was a freezing 2 hour drive, with people that didn't really know how to speak English. Slightly uncomfortable, but a great experience, none the less. Here's a few pics of the show.

This area where the man is standing, was where both Ruth and I stood.
The smallest workspace EVER.

Hyka, me, Wendy, Ruth

These were the girls I worked with. Hyka was pretty much the funniest person I've ever met. She was trying to teach me bad words in German and then would tell me to NOT remember them. She was so fun! Wendy is from Tattered Angels. She was the only other American that really talked to me. She and her husband were beyond kind and generous to Brett and I. Brett met me there on day 3 of the show, on day 4 we had a train ride to Prague that didn't leave until 1 am. Wendy and her husband were worried about what we would do until our train left, so they got a hotel room in the city, instead of staying where we had been, and let us hang out with them until it was time for us to leave. Then they drove us to the train station!! She even offered me a job if I ever want to move to Ft. Collins, Colorado. I love Ft. Collins, so you never know... The last woman is Ruth, she was my German translator. If someone came up that didn't understand me she would step in. She was so sweet and a joy to work with. She said that she never keeps her eyes open in pictures if she looked straight at the camera, so she looked off to the side. Funny.

This is the hotel I stayed at.

The company I was working with said they like to stay here because it gives them a traditional German experience. Funniest part about that is that they are mostly all Germans.

And here is my traditional German closet. I mean room.

It was so funny how small it was. And I didn't realize that they were booking me a single bed, so when Brett showed up we had to have a cot brought in. There was maybe 6 inches between the 2 beds.

The sun came out the last day we were there. The only day there was sun.


After the last day we went out with Wendy and Kyle and found this cute little area.


Dinner

We also found this cool bridge that had a beautiful view over the river.

And that was all of Frankfurt that I saw. Sad that I didn't get to see more, but we saw a ton in Prague. That post is still to come.

Look at banner Gwen

We made this cute little banner for her.

We also found this cute little dress that had a tulle skirt and a cupcake on the front of it.

Gwen is ONE! I can't believe that it's been a year since we had her. She is such a blessing and joy to have in our lives. Every week I get an email update from Babycenter.com titled "My Baby This Week." Well today's email was "My TODDLER This Week"!!!! WHAT? My little baby is now a toddler?!

To celebrate we had a little party for her. We invited our family and had a great time! I just wish we had a bigger house so everyone could sit and talk and enjoy themselves more comfortably. Maybe for her next birthday.... maybe.

Brett and I were up late the night before preparing for it and started early the morning of the party. It was a lot of work but it was a lot fun and totally worth all the work!

She is so grown up. Things she likes to do at age 1 are:

Walking! She has taken a few steps for the last few weeks, but just today she started walking around like it was no big deal. She still seems to like crawling better, but I'm guessing that will change while I'm in Europe for the next few weeks.

Talking. She loves to jibber jabber. Nothing makes any sense yet, but it sure is fun to listen to.

Scream, squeal and laugh. She is always laughing and smiling and making everyone happy.

Crawling up AND down the stairs. As I dropped her off at the babysitter's house this morning, she climbed up the stairs, no big deal. Well then she turned over to her tummy and slid DOWN the stairs!! As I'm freaking out about my genius baby, my friend was wondering why, because she has been doing that for a while now. Well she wasn't sliding down the stairs at home! So it was sooo exciting to see her do that.

Growing teeth. Number 5, her first tooth on the top, came in the other day!

She didn't really dig into her cake, she mostly patted the outside of it and got some of the frosting on her face and a little in her mouth.

She was SO excited about this baby doll!

Thanks everyone for all of the gifts! We had a great time and were so happy you could all make it.

**** If anyone can tell me why we titled this post what we did, you get a special gold star! ****

Firsts

Gwen took her first, unassisted steps tonight! Side steps, but still, STEPS! She's growing up so fast, it's so fun.

In other news, my first half marathon. I was training to run my first half in Carlsbad, CA on the 24 of this month. But then I injured my foot, my trainer was worried it was plantar fasciitis. So I took 3 weeks off (the most crucial 3 weeks) and iced it and took lots of ibuprofen, and the pain went away! So back to running I go.

However, last week I was offered the opportunity to go to Germany for a trade show at just about the same time as the race. So... I'm off to Germany! And training for the SLC half in April instead. Since opportunities for a free trip to Europe don't come around that often, we decided to splurge and pay for Brett to come with me! So he'll meet me there around the end of the trade show and then we are off to the Czech Republic... where he served his mission. We're so excited! G-dub will be staying with my friend, that is also her daily babysitter. I'm terribly nervous, since I have to travel to Germany all by myself, but I think it will be a great experience, and I'll only be alone for a few days before Brett gets there.

And lastly, Gwen's FIRST birthday is just around the corner! We're so excited to celebrate, we've just got to get on the ball and organize the celebration.

Year in Review

I've been a bit behind with my year in review post, but it's better late than never. So here we go...

Jan. 27, the morning we went into the hospital. I'm as big as a house.

15 hours later our baby was born

Gwenyth Lynn Shirley
8 lbs 20.5" long

Me and my perfect little one.

Ready to go home after 5 days in the hospital.

February: Oma came to help out.

Baby and Daddy... melts my heart.

Gwen's first Valentine's Day. Flowers from her Daddy.

March: First meeting with her cousin Addie.

April: One of their favorite places to sleep, in the bathroom while I showered.

Lots of time was spent with Daddy in the Snugli.

April 19, we blessed Gwen and had a party with all of our friends and family.

May: I had to go back to work. I get to look at this girl's face everyday.

My sweet Aunt Kay took care of Gwen during my first month back to work.

We started the garden.

Gwen was introduced to Big Judd's

and rice ceral.... didn't love either.

June: First time swimming.

July: We went to Rexburg for the worst parade in history. Our nephew Rafe didn't even like the cheerleaders! The content is awful, but it's still fun to watch the mess.

My brother Steve and his family moved away.

I had a trade show in Florida that I had to go to and Brett and G were able to come with me. They spent a lot of time exploring, while I had to work.

The 3 of us in Florida.

August: The first haul from our garden.

September: First visit to CA and the beach.

First tooth!


Brett turned 30!!!!

last haul from our garden.

October: Gwen started crawling.

I went to Portland and Seattle for work and had a blast.

The Gnome Family. I won funniest costume at work. And we were the ONLY FREAKING ADULTS dressed up at the ward Halloween party. Lame.


November: I turned 30, THIRTY!!

Annual day after Thanksgiving Christmas Tree Extravaganza with Brett's family in Idaho.

December: Brett and I celebrated our 4th anniversary.

And our first Christmas together with Baby Gwen.

We had a great year, with a ton of firsts! We can't wait for what this year has in store for us. It's starting out with a bang, hello Europe! More updates and pictures to come.