A German Visit!

You may recall that back in August, we went to Europe to see one of Robert's investigators get baptized. (Yeah, I've still never posted on that and need to)

Well this time, we got a wonderful visit from her!

Kornelia Ziehl flew to California for a wedding and then made the trip to Utah to stay with us for 8 days (January 17-25th).

She is family to us and we were so thrilled to have her here.

She's Oma (grandma) to Drake and the dearest friend to us.

We packed the week with all sorts of fun things which is why this post is so long!

 I really enjoyed showing her some of Utah. Her trip also made it possible for our family to do some local things that we probably wouldn't have done if she hadn't come so we are really grateful for that.

Here's some of the fun we had:

Rose Ranch

We went to my grandpa and uncle's ranch in Park Valley where my mom grew up.

Kornelia had never been to a ranch or really ever been around farm animals. She comes from a big city in Germany. She loved it! At the end of the week, she commented that the ranch was the highlight of her vacation.

It was a very chilly day, so we bundled Drakey up. I'm sure he was thinking "I can't put my arms down!" :)

The best part was riding horses!

Kornelia had never seen a horse....well she got to ride one!

She was nervous at first and said she only wanted to pet it. Then she decided she could handle sitting on it for just a moment to get a picture. Then once she was comfortable sitting on it, she decided it would be okay if Uncle Brent lead the horse around. haha. In the end, she was so glad she did it. It was a once in a lifetime experience for her.

I enjoyed being on a horse again. It's been years!

Drake's first time riding a horse. He was also a little nervous.

We are so grateful for Uncle Brent for taking the time to do this with us and to make a special memory for Kornelia. He was really great helping her with the horse and he even drove her around and showed her the ranch and explained what ranchers do. I know it was very special to her.

Kornlelia is one of the kindest, sweetest women I know. She has a quiet, special demeanor and is content just sitting around relaxing, yet she's daring and would try anything we put her way.

Drake loved her and they played a lot together. She has 3 grandchildren of her own.

Temple Square

On Saturday, we made a trip to Temple Square and Rob's parents joined us!

 First, we went to  the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Memorial Museum. In this museum is a piano that Robert's great, great, great, great, great grandfather brought across the planes. It's a very neat story.

Second, we went to the various visitors centers on Temple Square. We were fortunate to find a sister missionary who spoke German and she took Kornelia on a tour of Temple Square. Kornelia can speak English very well, but it's much easier for her to understand German so we were so blessed that this sister was there to help her.

The spirit was very special here, as it always is.

It was gloomy on this day, but the temple was still beautiful.

Drake was bundled up nice and warm.

Third, we attended on organ concert in the Tabernacle and went on a tour. It was beautiful!

And lastly, after a nice lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe, we went to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to take some pictures with the temple and look out over Salt Lake City.

Kornelia had many questions about the temple and the ordinances done there. It was very special to answer the questions we could and share with her our testimonies. She is preparing for her own endowment in a few months.

"I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday."

The place we were married...

Even though this picture isn't great quality, I just had to share so I could remember Drake's crazy fascination with this fountain. He got soaked splashing and playing in it and was very upset when we took him away from it. He loves water!

Utah State Basketball Game

We wanted to take Kornelia to a crazy USU game, but didn't know if she'd like all the noise. She loved it! She compared it to a German soccer game with all the crazy fans and cheers. We had so much fun!

Kinect Games

Like I said before, Kornelia was game for anything. She would try anything and all we showed her. We got her to play some Kinect games and she had a great time! My mom and her were hilarious to watch!

Hardware Ranch

We hadn't been to Hardware Ranch in several years and we had a great time taking Kornelia to see the elk. Rob's parents joined us again (they were with us lots of times throughout the week she was here).

The person who had the best time though was DRAKE!

He LOVES deer, elk, any animal really and called them all "Rarr-Rarrs".

He about jumped out of Rob's arms in excitement when we walked into the visitor's center and he saw this huge elk.

A shot of all the elk at Hardware Ranch.

Sleigh ride with the family.

I wish I could describe how hilarious Drake was. I'm not lying when I say he LOVES elk! It comes from his fascination with all the elk and deer my dad has in his house (he's a big hunter). He was going nuts looking at all of them!

German Food
Rob wasn't about to let a chance pass him by to have some authentic German food and Kornelia was nice enough to cater to his wishes. She made red cabbage and apple cake!
SO delicious!
Drake even loved it which was a surprise to me.

Cabela's
Kornelia's next stop was staying with a couple in Provo so we decided to meet up with them at Cabela's to drop her off. She had loved Hardware Ranch and so we thought she might enjoy all the animals Cabela's has as well. She kept saying "Wow! Wow!" :)
And...Once again, Drake was in Heaven!
Even moreso than when we went to Hardware Ranch. There are mounted animals everywhere in that store. Holy cow! And any animal you can think of. It really is a fun place to go.

There are many, many displays to look at. I really enjoyed it!
This picture shows that Drake never took his eyes off the animals, even for a quick picture.

Feeding the fishies...

Drake was very intrigued with the fish in the aquarium.

We had so much fun with Kornelia and loved the chance we had to spend time with her again!

Lots of nights we just hung out at home playing games and talking. It was all cherished time together and we love her very much!

It's really fun to have a second family clear over in Germany- we can't wait for the chance to visit them again. If only it were free!