Time is a limiting resource

I've really been meaning to update my blog, since I haven't done that in about a week, but there never seems to be enough time.  Especially now, with the last two weeks of school and finals coming up, I really shouldn't be on the internet at all right now.  I should be doing homework and studying.  But for the sake of those who want to know what's going on in my life, I am procrastinating what really should be done.  

  

 Thanksgiving break was AWESOME!  It was so much fun seeing my long lost family (or at least my long distance family).  I don't know that I really caught up on much sleep or homework, but then realistically, I never expected to.  As for the rest of the trip that i have not yet written about, I can only remember two things worth talking about.  On friday night, Alyna and I taught Mom and Dad how to play Settlers of Catan while watching Scarlet Pimpernel.

 Alyna had a ridiculously good luck streak.  

On Saturday we went to this sweet music store (in some city I don't know the name of).  Of course, Alyna and I had much fun with the camera.

I flew home on Sunday, Nov 30.  I flew from Dusseldorf to Paris.  What an insane airport Charles De-Gaulle Paris airport is!  I had no idea what was going on and where to go, even though I could read the signs.  But everything worked out and I found my way around eventually.  The Paris-Salt Lake flight was 11h25m long!  Forever!  I watched Journey to the Center of the Earth, Mamma Mia!, an office episode, studied for my class, read some Book of Mormon, slept for a couple of hours, and I have no idea what else.  I really liked Mamma Mia! and i've had ABBA songs stuck in my head ever since.  

  

Now I have to try to make use of the limited time that I have and get some homework done. Yikes.

Hanging in Elst

For the last three days or so, I've just been hanging out with my family, mostly in Elst, although Mom and I did take a trip to Westervoort to run some errands on Tuesday. I loved driving though the Dutch countryside. It's so pretty here! Even if the trees have no leaves, and there's a thin skiff of snow - it's still pretty. For Thanksgiving, Mom invited many neighbors and church friends. The house was pretty packed. It was fun, except I didn't really know anyone, and that was just kind of awkward. The food was delicious, but it didn't quite feel like Thanksgiving because it was missing the whole big "Briscoe" get together. No bizarre dinner conversations this year. Instead, I think I explained at least three times to different people that I was going to college at BYU, not living at home, and majoring in Landscaping. It was fun to see some of the different foods that people eat here. I had to laugh when I got the whipped cream out of the fridge - it was in this huge metal canister and weighed two pounds or something.
My favorite food to eat was the stuffing. I haven't had stuffing in so long!!! And even if the sausage wasn't spicey, it was still excellent stuffing and made me happy to eat it. The rest of the food was pretty good, too.

Wandering around Nijmegen...or something like that

Today was quite entertaining, if not very adventurous. Mom, Alyna, and I took a bus to Nijmegen (sp?) around 11 am. Mom transferred buses and went to a doctors appointment, but Alyna and I got to go explore/wander around the city. I'd say our experience was less historically cultural than mother's previous visit, but permayhaps more currently cultural, and most likely much more entertaining. It was chilly and snowy in the morning, but cleared up later in the day. We started by walking through Kronenburger Park and taking many pictures. After growing bored of this activity (which took a while), we went into the shopping center area. We quickly put the city map into Alyna's purse and just wandered withersoever we felt like. Of all amazingly good fortune, it was Market Day! So we wandered around the shops and stalls for someting like 3 or 4 hours while waiting for Madre. My favorites were: my 5euro watch, and a fresh stroppe wafels (so much better warm and fresh than packaged!). Then Alyna and i made our way back to the park to meet mother. We were sidetracked by the deer and fat little goats in a pen. We fed the goats many leaves from the sidewalk, which entertained us for a ridiculously long time. We even named some of them. In this picture we can see Grandfather, Daphne, Rambo, and Great Uncle Aldo. Can you guess which one is Great Uncle Aldo? He's one of our favorites. Being bored is SO much more fun with a camera!