European Adventure

 

What a grand anniversary trip we’ve had in Europe! After Switzerland, we flew back to England where we lived for three years from 1976-79. We served as volunteers for our church

there and had so much fun finding old friends and greeting former missionaries after 30 years!

Our favorite little castle is at Hever. It was the home of Thomas Boelyn, father of Ann Boelyn and was often visited by Henry VIII. The grounds are simply fabulous with an enormous man-made lake and moats to die for!

So much history!

How great it was to see our friends from so many years ago with kids all grown up and even sometimes grandparents!

From there we popped to Paddington Station and chatted with a couple of jolley English Bobbys as we headed for Scotland.

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It was such fun to speak at this fabulous old Hotel, a house first mentioned in history in 1213!  Here we did a three hour seminar with such lovely parents..

With very nice cars!

From there we rented a car and drove down through the gorgeous countryside of Scotland and England to the Lake District.

Here we visited the birthplace and other homes of one of our favorite people….William Wordsworth.  Here is Dove Cottage where he did most of his best writing!

By Lake Grasmere

Next it was on to York, where we had never been before. We were delighted to find the oldest Cathedral in England…The Minster:

And The Shambles, the street that inspired J.K. Rowling to create Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

Next on to Richard’s ancesteral ground in a little village in Lincolnshire called Dowsby..

That night we stayed at one of the most exciting spots in all of England….Cambrige University.  How amazing it was to see the spires of the colleges and the devotion to God as well as learning that was expressed in the architecture of that amazing place!

St. Johns College where the famous opening race scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed.  Richard tried to “beat the clock” but failed!

Here is the gorgeous River of Sighs:

The Landscaping was also breathtaking!  What a parade of fascinating thoughts and minds have passed through this incredible place!

Old Relatives and New Relatives in Switzerland!

  

What fun we’ve had exploring the stomping ground of our my (Linda’s) ancestors in Switzerland.  My grandmother was born in Schiedrued, Aargau, Switzerland and though we’d been there 20 years ago, it was delightful to see that gorgeous place on earth and even find some long lost cousins!  There can’t be a more spectacular country with kinder more welcoming people! 

My Grandparents were Samuel and Verena Goldenberger and we found their little village still full of Goldenbergers! Many were in the graveyard of the church

but many were alive and well!  One was the town electrician with a beautiful home and family. Here is Christian Goldenberger with his wife and mother:

Another was the Bergermeister (mayor) of the village…also with a lovely family. This is Martin and Marianne Goldenberger and their terrific kids:

The town museum was filled with things from my great grandparents’ era and a delightful 86 year old guide who was the director of the museum, Herr Steppen:

Our next exciting spot was to meet the parents of a darling girl to whom one of our sons has just become engaged.  They are set to be married on September 8th and we had a delightful time in her wonderful village meeting her amazing parents who speak 5 languages fluently!

Here we are excited to meet our new in-laws-to-be!

What a view from their front entry!

BEAUTY everywhere! 

There is no way to tell that this is a tourist train wending beside the Rhine River about 3000 feet below the platform we were standing on!

After days filled with the grandeur of mountain passes and overnight stay at Lake Como in Italy we ended our Swiss journey in Interlaken, Grindelwald and Zurich!

WHAT A COUNTRY!

We Love Paris in the Springtime!

  

Can you believe that on July 30th, Richard and i will have been married for exactly forty year? 

I know, I know this really dates us, and I have to pinch myself as I wonder how could that be possible!   It seems like just a few years ago, that Richard put that diamond ring on my finger at the top of Old Main Tower at Utah State University, where we both graduated.  But here we are 480 months later, ready to celebrate with a long journey through Europe.

We began in Paris at one of our favorite venues on earth:  Roland Garros!  It was the year of the early defeat of Rafa Nadal and three days of watching great matches even including seeing John McEnroe play in a senior’s match!

Of course Paris is one of the most magnificent places to visit and after long days of tennis, and since it didn’t get really dark until midnight, we loved visiting those most historic places:

Notre Dame always conjures “hunchbacks” towers, stained glass and flying buttresses!

Though we have been to Paris several times, I had never seen Sacre Coeur, which is magnificent and is a spectacular place to see the city at sunset.

The Arc d’’Triumph is always an inspiration

But my favorite day in Paris was the day we rented bikes and saw EVERYTHING!  It was a spectacularly sunny day and we just biked along the Seine and saw Paris from a new viewpoint!

Our hotel was near the Eiffel Tower and we had seen it “twinkle” on the hour twice, but we had never seen it from UNDER before:

Since we’d already seen the Mona Lisa and the miles of artwork at the Louvre and the fabulous artwork of the Muse’ de Orsay several times, seeing them from the outside on the bikes was great fun!  Plus the bike paths made us feel as though we were the king of the roads!

Something neither of us had seen was the Grand Palace which was built especially for the World’s Fair of 1900. 

Sadly it was closed for renovation and all we could do is peer through the giant doors at the stained glass entry that filled that gigantic clear glass building with color!

Luckily directly across the street was The Petit Palace, a fabulous building with more of the unending supply of gorgeous fine art in Paris!  One of my favorites was this Mary Cassatt, who was a contemporary of Monet and loved painting Mothers and Children!

We turned in the bikes and took a train to one of the wonders of the world….Versailles!  “What the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve” always makes me wonder how anyone could conceive of such a gargantuous place both in terms of buildings and gardens.

My arms below give you an idea of the scope of those backlit gates!

Tomorrow we get to drive through the French country side, through Dijon and on to the homeland of my mother’s side of our family: Switzerland!

Joy School Graduations!

 

Since there are Joy School graduations going on all over the world, I thought it would be fun to post our daughter Saydi's thoughts and some pictures of her own Joy School Graduation!  This is a little Boston crew:

 

"We had Joy School graduation last week, and boy, somehow over the past year these little girls have really grown up and got JOY. I love these girls (and luckily Charlie, our honorary member, has learned to behave himself more gentlemanly around them)."

 

"To her credit, I think Hazel really got the joy school concepts, and I love the Joy School concepts. I love the idea that kids should learn these important emotional skills before being pushed into the academic world of school. Joy School has given us a common language to talk about important things, things that she’ll hopefully draw on her entire life. I also love that Joy School has given Hazel a relationship with some amazing women. The other mom’s who taught with me have taught both of us so much. And I love that Joy School has taught me that I can do cool, crafty things with my kids. The lessons forced me to do things that I wouldn’t muster up the creativity or energy to do if I didn’t have it pushing me along."

Joy School does rock. (But I’m glad it’s over for now.)

 

Fun on the Road

Two weeks ago we hit the road again and had a wonderful time with parents in Fort Worth on my birthday!

 

Next it was on to Washington D.C. where we had so much fun seeing our Ukrainian Family and our dear friends from our neighborhood who have accepted a volunteer position there to take care of the Visitor's Center for the Temple there.  It was so fun to speak with a large audience bustling with enthusiasm about raising their families! 

We were inspired by a beautiful song from these magnificent singers to start the evening off. This young man is our daughter's age.  His mother and I used play in a string quartet together when we lived in D.C. and this guy was one of the babies crawling through our music stands which we were holding steady with our feet while trying to concentrate on playing!  Where did that time go???

 

On to Toronto...where Costco sells milk in plastic bags! 

Richard's brother lives there with his wife. They are there on a volunteer assignment for our church. We had such fun talking to local ecclesiastical leaders and two large seminars, giving tips on raising responsible children!  This group was especially interested in helping teenagers navigate a chaotic world!

 

What a great time we had speaking at the marvelous science center in Toronto!  YPO Families brought their kids from 5-12 and we had so much fun teaching them about a secret family code! 

 

And how to teach kids to make "Decisions in Advance"

Again we found wonderful , committed parents!

Well, somebody had to do it so we just went ahead and did a Couple's Seminar on a Pink Sand Beach on Harbor Island in the Bahamas!

In our committed couples was the owner of the Pink Sands Resort with his darling wife, both of whom are creative, totally committed parents! 

There's nothing quite like the aqua waters of the Caribbean. What a refreshing treat.  Now we are back to "barely spring" of our mountain home in Park City!

New Links to Media Appearances

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO OUR AMAZING VALUESPARENTING MOMS!  The launch of this our new book has been so fun.  Maybe the only thing more fun that have kids is to write a book with one of those kids about your dearest passion...MOTHERING! 

 

Richard and I have been on a two week speaking tour, which will show up in the blog next week, but for now, I thought you might like to have these links posted on our daughters' blog about the media things that have been going out this last week before Mother's Day. 

 

If there is anything I am truly uncomfortable with, it's self-promotion, but because we feel that this has become a great cause to help donate to research for Lucy's needs with this newly diagnosed Bardet-Biedl Syndrome, Shawni and I are unashamedly letting it all hang out!  Here is the information posted by Shawni. Thanks for all your support and love through this difficult time for the Pothier Family:

 

book links

 

I don't know why I'm actually putting these links on this blog because of two things:
1) my mouth is still crooked and I mumble
2) I have a bad haircut
BUT who cares...I still want to get the word out about this book and my cause.
So here you go:
Click here for the Studio 5 clip. (photography tips to capture kids)
Click here for more at Meridian Magazine
Click here for a Deseret News article
And click here for a podcast with my great friend Paige and her friend Gretchen who started this big deal "Mommycast" thing. Thanks so much for that you guys!
And click here to buy this book for your Mom or sister or friend or daughter for Mother's Day!
I also just want to thank from the bottom of my heart those who have posted this info. on their blogs and sent e-mails to spread the word. I can't thank you enough. All your help has helped this book get up to #4 on the top selling books which is so great. I'm feeling so empowered with helping our "cause" and trying to help empower mothers in the greatest "career" we will ever have.

Free and Fabulous New Website for Moms Just in Time for Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to Our Valuesparenting Family!
One of the most unique components of the new book that our daughter Shawni and I (Linda) just released (A Mother's Book of Secrets, Keys to Making Motherhood More Manageable, Meaningful and Magnificent) is a wonderful new website, just lauched for Mother's Day by our oldest daughter Saren who is a passionate banner-carrier for Mothers in need of some inspiration and mental stimulation to BE the best they can.  With a click to PowerofMoms.com, mothers who have read the book and have realized that they have a secret or two of their own they would like to share, can add to the pool of useful and inspirational secrets by just clicking on the picture of the cover of the book.  

 

Saren and several wonderful, resourceful and insightful friends who are accomplished women and outstanding Mothers have organized and are "manning" this unique new website that will help you become the mom you've always wanted to be.  The Power of Moms is designed to uplift and empower moms and offer them a new level of purpose and joy in motherhood and womanhood. 
The Mission of The Power of Moms:

• Developing YOU - the person inside the mom (through interactive articles, podcasts, webinars, etc.)
• Providing effective resources to use with YOUR FAMILY
• Helping you reach BEYOND your own home to learn and share with other mothers (through contributing your own writing and ideas, setting up mothers' groups, etc.)

Please check out the site by clicking HERE and SIGN UP for the free monthly email.  If you want to send an easy, free and meaningful Mother's Day gift to your friends, send this information on to them or make up your own email and send them a link to the website.