cOnGrAdUaTiOn!!

This was then.... Weber High Graduation 2004 and aaahhh can't you just see the love :)

This is now... Utah State University Graduation with a Bachelor's in Business Administration. Brock worked really hard to get to this point and I am so very proud of him!! It is so fun to look back and see how far we have come together.

This is our cute nephew Jake who is like a mini version of Brock. He looks just like Brock did when he was a baby.

We celebrated the graduation by eating out with both of our families at the Logan Country Club.

The Winzeler clan trying to pose for a picture can be nearly impossible with so many distracted children.

Brock wouldn't be where he is today without his awesome parents. Thank you for everything you do for us!

Our latest...

So I do realize that we have become completely lame bloggers. I blame it on two things... 1- being stressed and busy and 2- our posts will never be quite as exciting since we came home from Germany! We are doing great amidst our schedules. I am still getting a grip on being a 2nd grade teacher of 29 and Brock is finishing up his last semester at USU. We hardly see each other throughout the week, but we still make time for fun. Here are some pictures of our latest get away to St. George to meet up with Brock's sisters who live in Arizona. We love any chance we get to see them and their adorable kids!




This is us at the Dixie football game. We went to watch our brother-in-laws brother. It was quite a game!

Brock with our nephew Jake.

We finally got to see, and hold, and kiss sweet baby Maylen.

I love this little cutie! She was so excited to see that we were both wearing my favorite color.

Back to School

It has been so nice to be home again, but my vacation is definitely over! I have been working hard and running around like crazy to get my room put together for the school year. I am so excited/nervous to teach 2nd grade. I really can't believe that I will have 27 of my own little darlings from 9:00 to 3:30 every day. So after lots of stress, work and A TON of help from all of my family, I think my room is finally ready for Monday. But of course, ready or not the circus will begin!


I made it through back to school night and I'm pretty sure it went so well because of my favorite purple dress that I had been planning to wear since June haha.

This rug is my favorite part about my room. I just love it.

My cute nephew sacrificed his fish kite so that I could hang it in my room. Well actually he doesn't know that he sacrificed it (his mom does), but what he doesn't know won't hurt him right? haha

Brock's sign that he made me fit perfectly in my room.

I went for an underwater theme and it was a lot of fun to put it all together.

This is me pointing to Germany. This nice parent told me to pose like that for a picture since they knew that is where I spent my summer. It will be nice to have Brock home from Germany in two more weeks! I have missed him a lot! We are both looking forward to this new school year. I'm just excited to finally be the teacher instead of the student.

All Alone!

As most know, Arrienne said her last goodbyes to beautiful southern Germany and made her way back to Utah this last week. It isn't always easy to be in a new place with different people, a different language, and different challenges, but Arrienne did awesome and I will always cherish our summer here together. We did so many things and saw so many beautiful places that we probably wouldn't have been able to do at any other time in our lives. Arrienne did great learning German and adjusting to the culture. By the end of the summer she could really communicate well and express many things to the Germans. What I was most proud of is that she bore her testimony in German the last two Fast Sundays we were here in Germany. I love you sweetie and am so grateful that I have such a beautiful wife that is willing to go out on a limb and be adventuresome!

Arrienne's last night over looking our beautiful village.

Taking Arrienne to the airport. I am glad we got this picture because on the train ride to the airport and at the airport it was all tears! Isn't she a fox!?!

So my supervisors here at work decided "conveniently" that they would take vacation right after Arrienne left, and since I can only take time off when they are gone, I also took a few days off. Another intern and I headed up to Berlin (the capital of Germany) and it was awesome!

This is at the Olympic Stadium. They had the 1936 olympics here. This the stadium that Hitler stormed out of after the American Jesse Owens won four gold medals.

We watched a soccer game at this stadium and it was hilarious. I thought there were some pretty crazy Jazz fans, but we've got nothing on these guys. I don't think I have ever seen so many Germans get emotional after they won!

This is a huge airport hanger that was built out in the middle of no where. It was built in order to manufacture the biggest planes in the world but it never became a hanger. Just to give you a better idea of how big it is, they could fit the Statue of Liberty inside.

So after they built it and didn't use it as a hanger, an Asian Investor came in and turned into a huge tropical "island" All of the plants and trees that you see there are real, and that it real sand as well. It is so cool! I took the picture from the top of the biggest water slide in Germany.

Here is a picture of a German father and son. Don't act like you dont like it! I hope my kids are in to this kind of thing.

The Berliner Bear.

Brandenburg Gate.

Here is picture of the Berlin wall. They let people come each year to repaint it.

To be short in writing, this city has so much world history and it is definitely a must see when coming to Europe.

Our visit to Holland...

This past weekend we drove to a lovely little town in Germany called Braunschweig. This is an area that Brock spent six months of his mission in. We got to stay with the Jobs family who are absolutely the most kind, loving, and practically perfect family! They had the most adorable kids and we just loved spending time with them. While we were there they took us to one of the coolest places we have ever been. It was a windmill park! There were giant windmills from all over the world in this one place. It was so beautiful! This was definitely one of our favorite places we have been this summer. We truly felt like we had stepped into Holland. The funny thing is that there were bus loads of people there from Holland because it is so rare to have this many windmills all in one place and they wanted to see it.

Us with the cute Jobs kids. The little one right in front of me held my hand all day and was reluctant to let go for pictures- it was really cute.

This is from the inside of the windmill looking up. It was so cool to be able to go inside all of them and walk up to the top.

This is the Spanish windmill.

This windmill is from Greece.

These are the water mills.

We were told it brings good luck to kiss across these tables so of course we wouldn't pass up a chance for some love and luck!

There is also a sentimental reason that the windmill park was so special to me. My mom absolutely loves windmills and tulips and anything about Holland. The reason is that when my cute sister Jayclyn was born with Downs Syndrome it was quite a shock for our family and especially my mom. This story called "Welcome to Holland" brought her great comfort throughout the many difficulties that come with raising a child with a disability.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome To Holland".

"Holland?!?" you say, "What do you mean "Holland"??? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy"

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills...Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned".

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things...about Holland.

We are so grateful to have Jayclyn in our family and windmills are one sentimental reminder of the great blessing she is in our lives! Love you Jay!

Packing it all in....

Oh my goodness! We have been doing so much lately it feels a little overwhelming to blog about. So here are some glimpses into what we have been up to. The time has gone so fast and I can hardly believe that I will be home in a little over a week. We have been so grateful for the many many awesome experiences we have been enjoying!


The vineyards are all blooming right now so our little village looks gorgeous! Our pictures don't quite do it justice. We have been wishing we could have Camille Garrison just come and take our pictures for us haha!

It is so fun to ride our bikes on the many trails around our house. I am trying to enjoy it all before I have to come home.

This is my new friend forever Esther. I just love her! She is the sweetest, most fun girl ever. I want to be just like her. She also speaks perfect English because she served a mission in the states. I just wish I could bring her home with me.

This is the Muller family. They are such a neat family and we love spending time with them. They have been so gracious to invite us over a few times.

Esther and her brother Micah. Both of them are so great! He speaks great English as well because he served a mission in England. So you can see one reason why I personally love hanging out with them.

This is me on an elderly field trip if you couldn't already tell that I am the only one without the need of a walker haha. The cute lady right next to me is Christa. She is Esther's grandma and since I have some extra time on my hands she likes to invite me to do things with her. So this was quite the adventure! I laugh every time I look at this picture.

We finally made it to the beautiful Frankfurt Temple. I was really grateful that we made this trip. I also realized how grateful I am to have so many temples so close in Utah. I definitely need to take more advantage of this great blessing.

While in Frankfurt, we also got to spend the day with one of Brock's favorite mission companions- Elder Dong. It was so much fun! This is the companion that I thank for teaching Brock how to make yummy Chinese food. We had a blast at this Chinese restaurant where you cook your own food on the grill in the middle.

I completed my German class with flying colors. I definitely understand so much more which has been nice during the moments that Brock talks and talks...and talks to people in German. So I can usually follow the conversation, but not participate as much. I can say a lot as well, I just get a little nervous to say much. As you can see, I was able to meet a lot of cool people from all over the world. Their are six more classes they all have to take to get jobs. So I only got the first introductory course.

We had so much fun in Hamburg hanging out with this awesome couple. This is Steve and Babett. Brock baptized Steve right before he came home and then Steve baptized his wife six months later. It is a really awesome story and they are still doing so great! They are such a neat couple. Babett is also an amazing clothes designer and she specializes in wedding dresses.

Hamburg is known as one of the most beautiful cities in Germany.

On the docks in Hamburg.

After our time in Hamburg we rode a train the the beatiful city of Luebeck. Brock spent seven months of his mission in this city so we had a lot people and places to see. We got to stay with the nicest ward members. I was so grateful that I could meet all the people that Brock had grown so close to throughout his two years.

I absolutely loved Luebeck! It is so gorgeous. Their are many buildings that didn't get ruined in the war and they are so neat.

This is the old hospital.

This is the devil outside the cathedral... can't really explain why I'm kissing him. Don't take it to seriously :)

We got a great tour of the city from the Lutter family. We were so grateful for their kindess while we stayed with them. This is their daughter Sarina and her husband Michael.

We came on the perfect weekend of the big ward party. So Brock got to see all of the ward members he loves!

We had lots of fun playing dominoes with the Lutters. I was proud of myself because even though I don't speak German I still beat everyone by a long shot- dominoes just happens to be one of my families favorite games.

We enjoyed a delicious BBQ with the Lutters and other ward members. Brock said it was cool because it was just like the BBQ they had put on for him before he left that area. We had such a fun weekend and we were sad to say goodbye to all the people we got to spend time with. It has been so neat to see how the church truly is the same all over the world and the members are just as loving and generous.