Our Cruise to Denmark, Norway, and Germany

We had a splendid adventure of traveling to Europe and boarding the cruise ship, The Vision of the Sea," for nine wonderful days of exploring Denmark, Norway, and Germany.

Here we are with our friends and fellow traveling companions (the Golds, Hansens, and Oyamas) on our arrival at the airport in Copenhagen, Denmark at 7 am in the morning. We had just completed 17 hours of flying and waiting at airports and so we were pretty tired but also excited to board the ship. While at the airport, we bought two small cups of hot chocolate from Starbucks and the total came to $20. Yikes! Denmark's sales tax is also .25%. I guess we won't complain about paying $2.50 for a similar cup of hot chocolate in Oregon.

We hired taxis to take us from the airport to the ship to check in our luggage. We had to wait until later in the afternoon to get on board.

Since we had quite of bit of time on our hands, we decided to take a sight seeing bus of Copenhagen that was picking up tourists by the port. We ended up staying on the bus for about three hours and seeing the highlights of the city over and over again.

Denmark is a pretty flat country with some rolling hills here and there but no mountains. It was very green and reminded us of Oregon.

Because it is so flat, many people ride bikes to get around (plus cars are extremely expensive). It was fun to see the many ways parents cart their children around on bikes. We saw children in carts in front of the bike and also behind the bike. Here's a clever one with a child sitting on a welded extension of the main bike.

This is Tivoli Square, an amusement park in downtown Copenhagen. We wished we had time to enjoy the park but it was closed and not opening until later in the day.

Down by the boat dock we saw a lot of wind mills producing electricity out in the ocean.

This is the famous statue of The Little Mermaid from the story by Hans Christian Andersen.

There are boat rides that you can take on the many canals around the city.

We loved how these trees were trimmed in a rectangle shape to shade the picnic tables below them.

We saw some very old buildings and . . .

some very new buildings. This is the opera house that is close to the port.

This is a popular area known for its graffiti. It's the "hippie" part of the city.

Here we are waiting patiently with the Oyamas inside the cruise ship boarding area.

Our second night on the ship was formal night and so we all dressed up for dinner. Dave and I enjoyed dancing to live music after dinner until 1 am.

Baby Kira's Arrival

Beautiful baby Kira was born a little after 6 am on Saturday, April 23rd. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. and has a lot of dark brown hair. Driel was amazing and gave birth at home. She truly labored from Friday night until Saturday morning with the help of Evan, Driel's mom, a midwife and the midwife's two assistants.

Darling baby Kira on her birth day. Moriah and Fiona liked calling her baby LuLu before she was born.

We watched Moriah and Fiona at Gram's house so Evan and Driel could get some needed rest.

Granddad getting to hold Kira for the first time.

It was great having Kira's GG with us so she could meet her newest great grandchild.

Reading some books with the girls.

Evan and Driel's family photo taken when Kira was a day old.

Driel looks amazing for just giving birth the day before.

I sure enjoyed holding our newest granddaughter. She is so beautiful!

Baby Kira is so fortunate to have her Auntie Aubrey, Uncle Brandon and Aunt Melinda living close by. They are so good at holding her.

Brandon's Graduation from BYU's Law School

Brandon and Melinda were so happy that Brandon graduated after three years of law school. Brandon is an amazing hard worker. We were so happy that we could be there to help celebrate this very important event in their lives.

Brandon and Melinda outside the DeJong Concert Hall where the graduation took place.

Brandon's purple and blue satin hood.

Brandon's parents, Mike and Dianna.

Brandon's older sister Melody and her husband Steven.

Brandon's Grandma Sue and Auntie Deb.

Dad and Melinda during the graduation. Later that evening, we celebrated Brandon's graduation by having dinner at a tasty Indian restaurant in Provo. Driel was unable to come because she had been having contractions off and on during the day.

The next evening, Melinda threw a graduation party for Brandon at their home. We brought some dark chocolate dipped mega strawberries for everyone to enjoy.

BYU's Art Museum

While we enjoyed seeing the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU, we also saw some creative art pieces like this huge stack of books.

Cody's Baseball Game

Aubrey and I were able to attend Cody's U of U baseball game against BYU in Provo. It was an exciting game with both teams playing well. The game went into overtime with BYU winning. After the game, we got to visit with Laura Faith (Cody's fiance), Cody, and Tina Sessions (a friend from Livermore) and her son.

Cody up to bat. His position is catcher.

Brindley's Blessing

Cameron and Kelli blessed their darling baby daughter, Brindley, at their sacrament meeting in Spanish Fork. We enjoyed seeing many family members after the meeting at a luncheon at their home. It was great to see niece Debra who got back from her mission last December.

Moriah's 4th Birthday

Our oldest grandchild, Moriah, celebrated her 4th Birthday on April 14th. The girls enjoyed blowing out many candles on the delicious chocolate cake with sprinkles.

Moriah was excited to receive a gift of Uno Blaster from her parents.

Moriah's gift from us was a painting easel with a white board on one side and a chalk board on the other. She received paints, brushes, and paper so she and Fiona could enjoy many artistic moments.

Moriah was very excited to get balloons from her family for her birthday. Here is Granddad with Moriah enjoying the sunshine on their front lawn.