Meet Nils

Nils Schwerdfeger is with a group of 18 foreign exchange students from Germany, who arrived at the Salt Lake Airport on Friday, March 27th. When we signed on to participate as a host family last January, he was assigned to us (poor guy), and we were able to get to know him a little through emails over the last 2 months.
You could tell we were new at this because when we were advised to make a sign with his name so he could find us, I did just that--wrote his name on a piece of paper. I was quite horrified to arrive at the airport only to find all the other "experienced" host families prepared with artistic welcome posters, banners, balloons, flowers, candy, gifts, you name it.

Our first excursion was to the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. It sounded really neat and is within a mile or two of home, and it consists of a mile long boardwalk over swampy looking grass.

It was a little cold and not all that exciting, so we decided to go for the ultimate experience and head on out to Antelope Island to see the wild herds of roaming buffalo.

Morris the Moose (at Erin's house), meet Boris the Buffalo. Yes, that dot really is a real breathing buffalo, and it appeared to be the only one on the entire island. We wondered if perhaps they had him tied to that spot near the beach just to satisfy the tourists because he never moved. We aren't quite dumb enough to get up close and personal and I didn't have my fancy camera with the zoom lens, so this is as good as it gets.

We did a little climbing around on the rocks and hiked up a few hills.

Sunday morning we had to work at Music and the Spoken Word and of course it had to be Fast Sunday, so we dropped Nils off at Damon's house and he was nice enough to fix a wonderful french toast breakfast--a first for Nils. He's never had syrup and thinks it is too sweet and sticky, but he still enjoyed the breakfast. Damon then brought Nils and Tim to the recording.

We took a mini-tour of the Conference Center, then jumped in the car and headed home for church, arriving about 10 minutes late. After Sacrament meeting, Dan found a pretty girl, Tara, that he home teaches to take Nils to Sunday School and the joint meeting that followed.

When the meetings were over we found Nils glowing in the hall surrounded by giggly, love-struck Laurels. We knew then then he would be just fine over the next 3 weeks of his stay. Tara provides his transportation to and from school each day. Tonight Nils went to the young men/womens barbeque, and tomorrow the boys are taking him rock climbing. I have to say, his schedule is filling up fast.

When we first arrived home from the airport, with the vocal canine welcoming committee ready, we could see the look of terror that made it clear Nils hasn't been around dogs much. I'm happy to report they have now made their peace and have become the best of friends.

I talked Nils into creating his very own blog so that his parents can keep up with his adventures here. He isn't supposed to contact them more than once a week, so I do hope that isn't cheating.

Thisiswhyyourefat.com

Breaded and deep fried Oreos. One is never enough.

Chili cheese bacon fries with thousand island dressing-----yum!

These two pictures are acutally from gluttonyisabliss.com, but the real winner has got to be http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/. Erin--you will really love this sight. It gives all new meaning to the word "food."

Suddenly our diets look ever-so-healthy. Bon appetite!!

A Fine Mess

Yes, indeed, it was quite a predicament. I believe it all started months ago when Ethan threw up on the couch. Try as we might to swab it all out from the back of and between the cushions, it has since been a spot of splendor for Radar. It never occurred to me that it might have run all the way down and settled in underneath. Not until Emily sat at the seldom used end of the couch, and nestled in for a cozy nap with the foot rest out did Radar get that great moment of opportunity to partake of the barf remnants that had aged like fine wine and now had the odor of bad blue cheese. When Emily began to notice mysterious movement under her cute little behind she sprang up to see what was the matter, only to find what we could lovingly call a square peg in a round hole. We can all attest to the fact that Radar was getting a little nervous by the whimpers. Now, logic would tell us all that if he got in there, surely he could get out, but he obviously had no recollection of his entry methods. It took a few trying moments of wondering just how easy that $3000 couch was going to be to dismantle, but with a few motivating chicken treats and a firm shove upwards of the seat he managed to squeeze his little body between the metal parts and cables to make his great escape.

Our other guests for the weekend besides Emily and Halle were "the boys." Patch loved sunning himself in the window. This is where he spent most of his time when he wasn't tormenting Radar.

Now doesn't he look comfy? Would you believe it took him a good 10 minutes of turning circles on top of these pillows before he could find just the perfect spot to plop? We were all exhausted when he finally settled in.

Halle thinks Grandpa is just the greatest entertainer on earth.

Gone fishin'.......................................?


Halle was so excited to hold Lillian. She had a hard time understanding why she couldn't cram the binky in like she does her doll, but other than that she was very sweet.