Grand Adventures

A Little Walk in the Rain

2011-08-07T13:56:00.001-07:00

I have had a fabulous day today. I did not hoerer like that Simon læs sick today. He had to go home from church after the second hour. After churh i had choir ad the hadede home. Pia ssad that i lokkede ver summer-y since i had wavy curly hair and a white dress on. After church Simon and i just hung out and watched 2 Disney movies and the end of The Other Side of Heaven. We also went for a little walk in the rain. It wasn't raining until after we stepped outside. It was actually very cute and romantic. We swung together both alone and doubled up. It was a lot of fun. When it raining a little harder we took shelter under a little patio building roof thing. There Simon held me in his arms while we watched it rain. Afterwards we headed home. The park we were at is only like 2 minutes away so we were close enough. Oddly enough it stopped raining while we were walking home. It was a really fun and romantic walk. I am really happy that Simon is feeling better. I love him so much. Oh! I gave him a hair cut yesterday. He is SO hott! He looks fantastic with his new haircut!! I love him so much it's crazy. Well its almost time to head to bed.
Hugs
Rachel

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d. 2. august 2011

2011-08-06T04:06:00.001-07:00

so I got a new phone today. It's the samsung galaxy s 2. I really really like it. I've just been experimenting with a few things. I want to get a new laptop soon too. we had to get a bank loan today because we didn't have enough money for stuff. oh and I finished my book today. It was really good. it is called the assassins quest. I'm using the speak now feature of my phone and it is doing a pretty good job at recognizing my voice! my phone is so cool!!

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Being Sick

2011-08-06T03:05:00.001-07:00

So last night i went to bed around midnight and Simon said he wasn't ready to go to bed yet. So he ended up playing until around 3. I fell asleep sitting up by leaning on lure beanbag. I just could not sleep laying down. I ended up waking up around 4 am!! How annoying! Luckily i was able to get back to sleep. The next time i woke up i found myself laying flat. Ugh. I must have slipped off the beanbag. After 1 more attempt at sleep i woke up with Simon around 9. I feel LOADS better today. I am truly blessed! We do.t have much planned for today. I think we are just going to relax.

I am so happy it isn't raining. <3
I love my hubby!

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Sick

2011-08-05T14:14:00.001-07:00

I'm sick. Blaggh. I thought it was only allergies like I've had for the past week or so but this morning it was different. I felt worse. I am sure that it didn't help that i stayed up until 2 and got up at 730 to go to work. I was supposed to help Karl move but i needed a hot shower after riding the scooter in the rain. By this point I'm just miserable. Simon was very helpful. He got a lot of stuff for me. He got me water and even made me a sandwich (which i ended up not eating anyway). I love you him so much. He is so sweet.
After he went to work I txted my friend Line. She came over after she was finished cleaning the church. We talked, ate some French bread, and watched 2 movies. It was really fun and nice to have someone here with me. Simon came home a little time later. We've just been hanging out and we ate some dinner. We read scriptures and now I am watching scrubs while Simon plays some PS3. I am definitely looking forward to a good night sleep.

I just found out that I might be able to get 2 of my nursing books cheap! Yay for saving money.

I am signing off now.
Hugs and kisses xoxo
-Rachel

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Today :)

2011-08-04T08:07:00.001-07:00

I had an interesting day today. I had to work today but i didn't ant to wake Simon up, so I acted lime a ninja and snuck out of the house. I missed my goodbye kiss but Im glad i took one for the team. :P I worked for about 4 hours today. I came home to an empty house since Simon was out with one of his best friends Dennis. I started cleaning up for when Dennis and Simon would come back for lunch. We had sour cream burritos while we watched The Big Bang Theory. Afterwards i made a few quesadillas for them and their never-ending stomachs. :D I was told they were delicious so that's good! I just got finished getting ready for a church barbecue. I hope it is as fun as last time. Frisbee Interception!! Lol. We're going to be heading out in a little bit.
Hugs and kisses xoxo

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Accepted!!!

2011-07-31T13:10:00.001-07:00

I got accepted to nursing school. I am sooo excited. I waited to open the letter until Simon had a chance to call me from his work. I was so happy when I found out that I had been accepted.

After the happiness though came shock. I was starting to get really nervous the more I read about the first 4 days at school. I was most scared for the name-game that we would be playing. I'm good enough at danish but what if I can't understand and look like a total fool on the very first day. :/ I hope I can just laugh it all off.

Other than that first initial shock phase I was pretty much excited. I hope to keep writing on this blog throughout the school to tell y'all about taking nursing school in a foreign language (danish).

Wish me luck!! I start the 29th of august 2011 (på sygeplejerskeskolen i Randers)!!

Done with the language school

2011-06-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

I got a 12 on my exam!!!
(no it's not 12 out of 100 like in the states) Here it is a 100!!

I am so happy. I am all done with the language school. It feels weird knowing that I'm not going to be going to school tomorrow.

We are going to celebrate at one of our teacher's (Susanne) house. I'm looking forward to it!

Tonight Simon and I are going to celebrate by ordering pizza and maybe seeing a movie too!

Hugs
Rachel

Letter to Grethe #1 - Trip to the states

2011-06-18T01:16:00.001-07:00

Howdy Grethe!!

I got your letter!! Thanks Grethe. It totally made me smile. I have been really busy over here, but I now have a Saturday morning to just sit and write (well type) but you know what I mean. :P Simon says hi. He's working right now but he still says hi. :D

My trip to the states was AWESOME!! We were soooo busy. We did so much while we were there. In the first weekend alone we went paintballing, swimming and ate pizza!! The next week we stayed at my sister's house all week. The only problem was that she didn't have airconditioning. It was so HOT! She did have a little window unit that worked to cool the living room down so we stayed in the living room (where the TV and computer) was. During that week, my sister Becky and I went to Six Flags Amusement Park. It was a total blast!! We went early enough so that we didn't have to wait too long in all the lines. I was (by this point) already burned sadly but luckily it was too much to slow me down. Later in the week we went swimming again and played cards with the family. I went shopping a lot too but that was mostly in the second week.

The weekend of the first week Simon, Melanie, my mom and dad, and I drove up to Arkansas. It was like a 5 hour drive. We were going up to see some hot springs. We checked into our hotel (Mom had gotten Simon and I our OWN ROOM!! - this was the first one we had ever been in alone) and then afterwards go ready to go to some hotsprings. It ended up that we just went shopping and looking around. We didn't see anything that we wanted to pay for so we ended up just going back to the hotel at swimming at the pool they had there. Earlier in the week Simon had bought an underwater videocamera. It is soo cool! It has sound and everything. We played with that until it had no battery left. lol. That night mel hung out in our room until it was time to go to bed.

Oh and I forgot. Earlier on Saturday mel, dad and I did a treetop zipline adventure (which basically had a lot of ziplines to slide down). It was really fun!! Simon and my mom didn't dare try it. I thought it was fun! I'll have to send in some pictures too.

Well, Sunday morning we drove back into Texas and later had our big family game night. It was great to see everyone and we did our Sunday golf ball hunt... except it got dark so early that we couldn't really see any golf balls to pick up. It was still fun playing catch with becky, her husband ariel, melanie, and becky's two boys.

The next tuesday my sister Jenni, her husband Eric, and their 3 kids drove Simon and me out to their timeshare resort. It was AWESOME!! They own a presidential room right on the lake. They even gave us the lake room so that everytime we looked out our window we saw that lake. It was gorgeous. We went swimming a twice and watched some cartoons with the kids. It was a very relaxing trip.

We drove home (only 2 hours) Thursday around noon so that I could get to my brother's apartment (John) to do his fiance's hair (Lexie). She was getting married Thursday night and I had agreed to do her hair in an updo. They lived so far away!! I drove for like an hour before I got to their house. I will never complain about how far away you live again. :P I did her hair and made her a little late since I was done only 5 minutes before they needed to go (and she still needed to get dressed and put her make-up on... whoops). It was a private wedding (so only her parents and my parents) but they had a reception on Saturday that everyone was invited to. I did her hair again Saturday before the reception and i even put on some clear nail polish! I barely had time for that though since she needed to get out to greet the guests. :P The reception looked great! I'll have to send some pics of that as well. :D The food/snacks tasted great and I had fun seeing some of my aunts, my great uncle mike, and my Grandma. I also got to dance with Simon, my dad, and great uncle Mike. It enjoyed myself a lot! :) Funny story - Some of our clothes were at my moms place and some at beckys so that morning I went and picked up Simon's clothes and church shoes and took them to beckys before I headed up to Lexie's apartment to do her hair. Later at the reception Simon shows up in tennis shoes because he said that he didn't have church shoes (which I had put in a bag on the bed next to his suit) but he didn't see it. So he ended up walking around in black socks without any shoes on! he he. You could hardly tell though - luckily.

Oh that the night before the reception every on Ariels side of the family (Becky's husband) went camping so that gave Simon and I the house to ourselves. That night we drove our to Becky's parents-in-laws house and swam in their pool without all the little kids. It was very relaxing not having all the kids around. We got home afterwards (oh and we saw 4 cars parked under the freeway that looked way toooooo suspicious - so we called the police) and fell asleep (actually instead of sleeping in the hot room in the back we pulled their 2 couches together and slept right under the window airconditioning unit. he he. Well around 3 in the morning becky and ariel come home. They said that some ants found a dirty diaper in their tent and swarmed the tent. Luckily enough they weren't the kind of ants that bite. It was awful anyway. But they still had a good time.

We had some good talks on Sunday in sacrament but since we were so worn out from being so tired and busy we went home after sacrament. Later we had a family dinner and games. That sunday night we didn't go golf ball hunting but we did have fun throwing a HUGE frisbee and TINY football around. It was hilarious. Me and becky would run towards every ball trying to get to it first. We laughed so hard. Sadly enough monday came and it was time to start getting ready to go home. Luckily I packed most of monday so that we wouldn't have to do so much monday.... that didn't happen. We were SOOO busy. We had several stores to go to, we took my great uncle mike out, and met some of my family at the mall for some chinese. In the end I had forgotten to pack the last check-on luggage that all the food that I was bringing home but luckily enough mom had a box from the wedding in her trunk. I brought home Macoroni and cheese, some poptarts (the real kind :P), some sour patch kids candy, and some cream of mushroom soup. (oh and like 5 boxes of good ol' breakfast cereal and 2 HUGE jars of cruncy peanut butter) ha ha.

Overall it was a REALLY busy vacation. There were only 2 days were Simon and I were alone. :P I loved it. I'm so happy Simon got to go with me this time. Oh and the flights were ok. Sleeping in the airport was ok (not the funnest) and on the way home we slept the ENTIRE way. lol. It's crazy that we were still tired when we came home.

So I finished half of my Danish test. I got a 10 in the essay part and a 12 in the læseforståelse!! I'm soooooo happy!!! Yay!! I have my last mundtlige exam on monday. I'm a little nervous but not too much (yet :P). I had a practice test yesterday with the two girls that are going into the exam room with me. It went well and I have high hopes for monday. I'm praying that Heavenly Father will continue to help me. :D

Well, I know this letter is getting pretty long but i didn't want to leave anything out. :P I miss you and I hope you are having a total blast!!

I know that this church is true and I love how one could travel all the way across the world and the church would still teach the same principles and ordinances. I love my family and my Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I'll write again when I figure out what grade I get for my mundtlige exam! Have a great week!!

Med venlig hilsen
Rachel

PS This letter is so long that I haven't gone through to correct it. I hope you can understand it all. :P
PSS Say hi to Sister Brown for me!! :D :D

Final Danish Tests

2011-05-12T00:54:00.000-07:00

My 2 final exam tests for my Danish class are coming up. They are :
d. 24. maj - written exam
d. 20. juni - oral exam

I'm a little nervous for it but I also feel pretty prepared for it.

I'm also excited for our trip to the states!!! I'm soooo looking forward to being there and getting to see John's wedding!! :D

See y'all soon!!
Hugs and Kisses XOXO

Inspirational Program : Personal Progress

2011-03-26T14:46:00.001-07:00

I LOVE personal progress!! I was working on Virtue #5 this evening and I really felt the spirit very strongly. I was able to pray and receive an answer to my prayers. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and wants me to be the best I can. I know that I can receive a forgiveness for my sins through Jesus' atoning sacrifice.

Tonight I really felt the importance of Personal Progress. It is a program set forth to help the Young Women throughout the world learn of God. We learn that He is there and that He loves us all dearly. I felt very strongly that Personal Progress is a true program inspired by God.

I'm am grateful that I get to work with the Young Women of the Randers Branch. I am so blessed and happy. I love my loving husband and my caring family. Jeg er så taknemmelig for alt jeg har og alt Gud har givet mig. Tusind tak alle sammen for jeres kærlighed og hjælp.
Jeg ved at disse ting er sandt. I Jesu Kristi navn. Amen.

Translating Education

2011-02-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking of applying to nursing school. The only problem is that I have to translate my American Education over to Danish. They application deadline for nursing school is March 15 so I'm not sure if I can get my "Danish Equivalent" paper back in time to apply. If I can, I'm totally going for it.

Birgit, Ole, and Simon all helped to make sure I had all the papers I needed. I'm going to send it in tomorrow's mail. I'll let ya know how it goes! :D

Blizzard in Texas 2011

2011-02-05T00:39:00.000-08:00

There's a huge blizzard thing going on in Texas right now (oh and a cyclone in Australia - wet and winds up the 300km,/hr). It looks cold and snowy in Texas. I had a great winter here. We had the snow, ice, and ice skating. I am looking forward to Spring though. I have a bunch of capris I want to wear outside but it's still just a little too cold for that. I least we got out of the negative celsius numbers. :P

I love my family!!
-Rachel

Just Dance 2

2010-12-28T09:56:00.001-08:00

Simon brought home a surprise from work the other day! I was so excited!!

He bought me Just Dance 2!!

Last Sunday Birgit held a 2nd day of Christmas party and Benedicte brought over Just Dance 2. We had SO much playing it together. Almost everyone tried it too! Check out the pics!

It was hard, yet fun. I even went over to Birgit's again today to play it with her. It is a really great work-out since it's easy and fun.

Hugs and Kisses XOXO

Rachel Anne

Pre-Christmas Post 2010

2010-12-23T06:19:00.001-08:00

I think I'm ready for one more blog post before the holidays. It has been crazy busy here. Simon has been working this crazy long work schedule (usually 9:30am to 8:00pm if not more) and I had my receptionist job and my cleaning job with the language school on top of that.

Still that's all normal for us now. What's been so hectic is that we are having family over for Christmas. There will be 12 here tomorrow. We've had to plan out what we want to do and go shopping for presents and pakkeleg (christmas game) presents. I think I am mostly all done. The only thing I have not bought is something to go on the top of our Christmas tree.

Well for Christmas this year Simon and I both got a LARGE present along with a few small ones. I got a violin and he got a Brand New SLR Camera. He's going to get it today.

I'll post again when I find out all that we get for Christmas.

I still don't know what to do for the untalent show. I've been wracking(?) my brain and I haven't come up with anything spectacular. I hope I find something soon. :P

I hope y'all all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
XOXO

IKU Work

2010-11-18T03:19:00.000-08:00

I want to start off by just saying how blessed I truly am. I get so much help it is incredible.
So I had a cleaning job that I did for like 5 hours a week but then I got a call (while on the Temple Trip 2010) about maybe taking a 2 hour (monday-thursday) receptionist job. Their receptionist works until 14.30, so they would like me to work from 14.00 - 16.00. I was so excited and nervous at the same time. I wasn't sure if I understood enough Danish for that. Well I went in and it I talked with L.P. and we arranged a time when I could come for training. I met them Monday and it was Wednesday that I was to have training.
So I came on Wednesday and started training. It was easy enough. L.I. took most of the phone calls but then she had to go out and buy some koffee milk. I then had to take the phone calls. The phone rang. I was nervous but I had a job to do. I answered "IKU det er Rachel" and the words that I heard in response sounded like this... .............. . I couldn't understand a word of what he said. Not a word. I'm also totally new so I had no idea what he might be saying too. He was getting pretty angry with me too. Luckily L.P. came to the rescue. She answered the phone and talked with him. Later C.N. said that he apoligized for that. I understand now why he felt the way he did.

Later I teared up about it but I got over it. :) I love this job so much. I'm starting to get the hang of it. I've still got SO much to learn but I'm learning quickly.

(Little insert: I'm at work now. (I know... I'm working really hard.... or is it hardly working... lol jk jk) I just made a joke in danish!! I love when I can do that. There is a koffee machine that you pay 3kr for a cup of chocolate, tea, or coffee. The key was in so you can get free coffee and a man came up and put 20kr in the machine. Since the key was in he didn't have to pay for the coffee. He then turned to me to see where the 17 kr were (and 3 kr for the cup). I went over and pushed the return change and took the key out and I handed him the 20kr (He was expecting 17kr). He was a little surprised about it and I was like "you won! :P" He laughed. Ha ha ha. I know it's corny but it was funny and in Danish. Lol. I remember my mom and dad saying that you know you know danish when you can joke in Danish. (I'm on my way to understanding enough). There is one here that jokes in Danish a lot and it is so hard to understand if he is serious or joking. I'm slowly learning that he is mostly always joking. This was just a side note whle I was writing my update).

I come in to work every weekend except Friday. I love it! I take the phone calls and prepare the mail/stamps and things. I also great the kandidates when they come in. I love working here.

L.I. was sick so I got to come in earlier than I usually do. Tuesday I came in 12.08 until 16.18. I loved it. This morning they called again. I was supposed to clean but I called Grethe and she took my cleaning job. I hope that I don't get in trouble from my Cleaning boss. I tried to call her to ask but she didn't answer. :/ We'll see. :)

I've been here at work from 10.15 and will work until 16.00. I'm glad I had my work. I'm happy they called too. I missed my language school class but that's alright because we had a sub anyway.

Well time for a little more lunch. Just in case I didn't say it enough. I LOVE my receptionist job!!!

Knus
Rachel

Simply Put

2010-10-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

I love Simon Holm Bendtsen.

Cleaning Job

2010-10-12T05:13:00.000-07:00

I got a job!!!

The other day I went online to look at any jobs that I might apply to. I found one that looked promising enough. The other good thing was that I could just call them and talk to them about the job. I called Gitte and (in my broken Dan-glish) I asked about the job. She said that she only had a job for 5 hours a week (in my area) and said that I could send her my info over email so that she could send me more info on the job.

So I sent my info and after a little while she told me a little more about the job. Overall I found out that it's 3 hours on Tuesday and 2 hours on Thursday. I will be cleaning 3 different offices in Randers (and a little on my time schedule). She also said that Simon (the cleaning leader) would call me when he would pick me up for work on Tuesday to see if I want the job still.

It was a little embarrassing yesterday when work-Simon (we'll call him that so you don't think that it's my hubby) called yesterday for the first time. He spoke Danish so fast and I could not understand him at all. I asked him to speak english and at first I still didn't understand. By the end of the call I could understand what he was saying. I think was just sooo nervous that it influenced my hearing/understanding capabilities.

He called when he was like 5 minutes away from my house. I went downstairs to wait and it took only 2 minutes until he was there. I wasn't sure if it was him because I had no idea what he looked like and what type of car he drove. Luckily he rolled down his window asked if it was me and I asked if it was Simon. SO yeah, then we were on our way to our first cleaning place.

It was just a small little office with a little kitchen and bathroom. It was so easy to clean. It was nothing like cleaning in the Kindergarten (which was HARD work). It was funny when work-Simon told the office owner that I would be working there and said that it was good and that I was nice to look at (it's hard to translate it). Woohoo! :P (Don't worry this was an older guy who said this...).

So we drove a little bit and we talked about how Simon and I met and our marriage and things on the way to the next office. This place was also easy to clean. It was just one office and a few restrooms. It was easy as well. We finished and started on our way to our next and last office.

On the way I kicked myself for not having a pass-a-long card in my purse. We talked a little about the church but not too much (pretty much that I believe in God who is the same always (prophets) and how we are not like Jehovah's Witnesses. He said he didn't know what he believed in but that he wanted to figure out what he believed before going to church. (something like that). Anyway, I'll bring a pass-a-long card this next Thursday when I go again.

The last office was 3 times as big as the other ones. They had more rooms (but not too many). I think this last one will be the hardest to clean.

I'm excited for my new job. I'm happy that it's only 5hrs so it's not too much in starting out.
Knus fra (hugs from)
Rachel

The Two Trees

2010-09-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

I received an article from a church friend on the story of Adam and Eve. It is a wonderful way to show that men and women are equal and have definite roles that they each play. I'm going to attach a link from fairlds.org and let you have the opportunity to read it in full. I hope this helps give a different perspective (but same principles) on the events that happened in the Garden of Eden.

http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences/2010_The_Two_Trees.html

Just a note:
FAIR is not owned, controlled by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All research and opinions provided on this site are the sole responsibility of FAIR, and should not be interpreted as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief or practice.

Another Day At School

2010-09-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

So I had another great day at the language school. Right now we have a teacher called Annette Yde. She has been a teacher for like 29 years and she is so GREAT!! I have learned so much in her classes.

Simon made "oatmeal cookies" today. It ended up being to runny and turned into a cookie cake. It was SO sweet and of course we ate it anyway. :P

So my best friend Majorie is due December 4th 2010. Today, while waiting for Simon to get off work, we sat in the library (it's HUGE!!) and talked about her last experience. It gave me a little bit of baby fever. I think I'm starting to get ready to make an absolute decision about having a baby.

...I mean that up until now I've kind of not been sure if I was completely ready for a child but I think being around Majorie (who has an almost 2 year old and one on the way) had helped me stop freaking out so much. Thanks Majorie. :) Now I'm not freaking out so much and really looking forward to my turn.

Hopefully soon... we'll just have to wait and see. :P

Well, I'm going to go read the last chapter of my book. Love you all!

XOXO Rachel Anne

Brief Note

2010-09-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

I loved reading about Melanie's college life. It is great following all of that. I can't wait to start school now.

I just did a big presentation about my life,childhood and family. I loved being in front of the class. I can feel that my Danish is really improving. I hope to be able to work really soon. I'm probably going to apply at a Rema 1000 or Superbest (kind of like Albertsons but WAY smaller). I'll keep y'all posted on if I get a job or not. :)

I have posted a lot of pictures on facebook on my recent sailing trip, baking experiences among other things. Let me know if you have questions or anything! I love y'all and miss y'all loads!!
Rachel

Quick Blog

2010-09-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

I saw everyone posting and thought that it was my turn to post something.

Language school is going great. I made holiday bread and took it to school today. Everybody loved it and wanted the recipe. (I still have to type it up in Danish though...). I was called as Young Women's President and I'm excited to work with the girls! I have 2 - Amanda (Beehive) and Charlotte (Laurel). Simon is still really enjoying work and he is good friends with his boss.

I'm searching for a job right now but I haven't found anything yet. I'm crossing my fingers. It would be nice to get more shopping money.

Speaking of shopping... :D
I went shopping the other day with Birgit, her sister Jytte, and Majorie (from the language school). It was really fun. I bought a pink dress, a pair of shoes (the sandal type), and a really pretty light purple shirt. I went shopping again today and bought a lot of things. I bought 6 dresses, a pair of low heels, and a cover-up for one of my dresses. All that was for 200kr. That is incredibly cheap!! It was almost like being in the states.. almost, but not quite.

I'm about to start working out a lot.. I've eaten a few too many cakes (the problems of learning to bake delicious cakes and rolls and things...). My goal is 2 kilos in 2 weeks. I think I can do it.. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Simon bought a pair of roller blades last month and we are starting to get out more. I love going roller-skating with him. It's almost as fun as ice skating. :D I really enjoy ice skating.

Life is going great and having a great time together. This Sunday is our 1 yr 9 month anniversary! I can't believe it's almost been 2 years.

I'm not preggo but we do plan to have kids soon. I really want to finish language school (should be done by next June/July) before though so I don't have to go back to language school after the child gets old enough. We'll see how it goes.

I've really enjoyed keeping up with my family in Texas. I talk to Jenni almost everyday. I got to see little Jacob and Lizzie!! They are so cute!! I can't wait to hold them!!

I love my hubby and my family!!
With love,
Rachel Anne

New Bangs

2010-05-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got the nerve to change my hair again. I wanted to change it for a while but I am also trying to cut it out longer so getting a hair cut is out of the question. I watched some youtube videos (the one I like is made my candy?). I helped quite a bit. I had a hard time starting cutting so I just starting at the bottom of my bangs. Eventually I cut it shorter and shorter. Now I think it looks pretty cute and I'm happy I did it!
My next challenge is cutting Simon's hair. :D

Here's a little Danish now:

Jeg hedder Rachel. (I'm called Rachel)
Jeg kommer fra Texas. (Easy one - I came from Texas)
Jeg er gift med en dansk mand, der hedder Simon. (I'm married with a Danisk man named Simon)
Jeg kan godt lide ost. (I can really like cheese)
Jeg går på sprogskole. (I go to a language school)
Simon og jeg har ikke en bil. Vi går sammen. (Simon and I don't have a car. We walk together.)

That's just a few off the top of my head. I'm loving Danish school. :)
Simon is on his way to work. He'll be home around 4:30pm unless he gets off sooner. I'm going to take a little nap before I get up for the day.
I love my Heavenly Father and I know he hears my prayers.
I also love my amazing husband, Simon. He is the best!
Hugs and Kisses XOXO

Texas Trip

2010-04-20T23:45:00.001-07:00

I'm loving it in Texas but I my blogs are in my journal. Maybe one day I'll get around to typing it up. :D I love my family and friends!!

Love

2010-02-07T12:22:00.001-08:00

I love my husband so very very much!!

Sum Up

2010-02-02T11:59:00.000-08:00

Simon says hi. Danmark is great!! I'm loving finally being settled. It's a little more stressful knowing that now we have to get serious about work and school but we are so very and blessed to have everything work out like it has. My calling right now is 1st counselor to the young women's president. I know the Lord has blessed me through all this. :D I don't have a job yet but I'm still looking. Language school is going great and I feel like I'm really learning a lot. I feel more confident when I try to speak Danish. I hope all is well with y'all and wish you all the best!!
-Rachel

Danish Residency

2010-01-07T02:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got Danish Residency!!! I am so excited. So far what we understand is that I can stay for 5 years and then reapply. The one they give me after 5 years and indefinite I think. Idk. We'll just have to wait and see. :D

Yesterday Simon came home with a letter in his hands. It looked similar to the last one but last time they called first. We were so excited when we got the letter. We can finally settle in. Next stop, Danish language school, job, and maybe (hopefully) kids! :D

I love my family so very much!! :D

Hugs and Kisses XOXO

How Many of Me

2009-11-11T09:52:00.001-08:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There are

or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Snow In November.

2009-11-04T03:24:00.000-08:00

It is snowing!! Simon came in and told me it was snowing. I knew it was getting cold but not that cold. I guess I should have figured since the other day it was 5 celsius and it has been drizzling for a lot of the past 2 weeks.

Simon has been home sick the past two days. We think he caught something in Denmark. Although I feel bad for him being sick it was nice being together and re-watching to bourne trilogy. Go bourne! :D

I miss all of ya'll and Beck's party looked like a lot of fun. I'm sorry I had to miss it!
Hugs and Kisses XOXO

Weekend to Denmark

2009-10-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

In 2 days Ole is going to drive down here to Gemany and we, comprising Simon and myself, are going to head up to Denmark for a weekend visit.

During this weekend we are going on visiting Simon's family, playing Wii Fitness/Sports, and most of all ... drumroll please... turning in our Danish residency paperwork!

We already have everything printed off and we started filling them out. Tomorrow we plan and getting a lot more filled out... hopefully.

So we pray that our prayers are answered and that we are blessed with Danish residency!

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
Rachel Bendtsen

Quick Update

2009-10-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

I was in Denmark this past weekend and had a lot of fun. We played a lot of Wii fitness and had a great time listening to General Conference.

Gotta Run... more to come later...

Hugs and Kisses XOXO

Guh...

2009-09-17T04:09:00.001-07:00

I have lice...

Hair Styles (while being bored)

2009-08-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, Simon has been working almost everyday this past week and will even work through this weekend and won't get a break until next Saturday (...what a complete run-on sentence). He usually works around 7 hours but today and tomorrow it will be more like 10. :/

Since Simon, who is my entertainment committee (:P), works all the time I have been forced to entertain myself. What ever shall I do...

Totally Kidding.

I've been having a lot of fun dressing myself up and learning new ways for me to do my hair and make-up.

My first attempt at trying the smoky-eye look I looked like I had gotten punched in the face (no kidding). I didn't even let Simon look at it... (not that that really matters).
My next try took me a while but eventually I got it down! Woohoo!!

I also tried a new hairstyle. My inspiration with cute little Mattie and her pictures up on facebook. To do this hair style I needed to learn to tease my hair.
(Teasing is equivalent to ripping your hair out if done wrong :D )
Luckily I got it right and finished by styling and pinning some of the sides up. Here are a few pictures taken by Simon and myself.

I thoroughly enjoyed dressing up for Simon. It reminded me of our dating days.
Good Times.

Today after Simon left for a 10 hour shift I decided to try a few more hairstyles.
The first one was a complete disaster and I wish I had taken a pic of it. (oh well)

The second one turned out great!! Here are some more pictures.

It was relatively easy. After I learned how to do an outside french braid (rather than the one I usually did where the braid is hidden...) I was able to braid to the bottem. At that point I twisted the two ends together, flipped it up, and pinned it.

I loved the way it turned out (especially since today wasn't my first attempt at this and I finally mastered it).

I added a flower to distract from the pins just sitting in my hair.

The flower actually represents 'help cure cancer' as I bought it on our roadtrip to Utah. They were selling them at a gas station to help raise money to cure a family relative's cancer.

This is one of my favorites! :) (above)

I am having a great time playing with my hair and learning new styles.
Thanks for keeping up with my blog and I'll post again soon (hopefully).

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
-Rachel Bendtsen

Nervousness

2009-08-23T03:40:00.000-07:00

Man, yesterday I was so nervous.

It was Michaela Klinker's baptism and Elder Heyen and DaCosta asked me play piano. Luckily for me the two songs were both easy ones I had already played before! The two were Come Follow Me (#61) and Nearer my God to Thee (#63). I was nervous but I only made a few mistakes.

After the baptism one of the Relief Society sisters asked me if I could play in RS. I said yes and she gave me the song numbers. I practiced them for a few minutes before I left to go home. The next morning when I got to church I was readying my hymn book when the numbers were put up that we were going to sing... and they weren't the same ones. Panic...

I looked through the songs and realized that they weren't that bad. I knew one well enough for both hands and the other one was Because I Have Been Given Much (which I know on one hand). The other song was one that we had sung in Sacrament meeting 2 weeks earlier (or something) and that was the first time I had ever heard it. It went pretty well. It was't fabulous or anything but it was a disaster either.

I saw Michaela after Sunday School and invited her to sit with Simon and I during Sacrament meeting. There was hardly any room because another couple sat beside us as well. It wasn't too bad though. The last speaker went over time but not too much. I was going to practice piano but someone else had beat me to it. Oh well. We decided to just go home other than wait.

Simon and I are about to read scriptures and clean up a little bit before dinner.
I miss ya'll all so dearly and I'm sorry I missed Becky's shower and will miss Lizzie's B-Day celebration.

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
-The Bendtsens

In The Local Library

2009-08-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

It's been an uneventful last couple of days. Simon's been working and I've been reading 'The Name of the Wind'. It was such a great book!! I finished it this morning. After I finished it I made my way down to the library. It was nice that it was mostly downhill :) I immediately went for the language learning section.

Yesterday Simon and I saw that it was open and decided to look inside. Simon then proceeded to get me a library card. Sweet! I thought I was going to have wait for some paperwork from the government (because of something I had read on-line) but I didn't. Yesterday I found a new magic book to read when I finished 'Name of the Wind' (something called Magyka or something close to it) and 2 language CD's to help learn Danish. After checking them out back at the apartment I found out that one was for those who were Native Danes (definitely not me) and the other one was a kid's CD (I still enjoyed it though :P ) I returned them today knowing that I needed something a little better for my lack of knowledge of the Danish Language.

Today I found some beginner CD's to help me (eurotalk, talknow, and lær dansk 1). I'm hoping these work better for me than the last one's. I'm definitely looking to record my voice and comparing myself to what other natives sound like (aka how badly I sound compared to everyone in Denmark). I was walking to the English shelves (luckily shelves and not just shelf) and saw 2 guys on the computer... hmmm. I was too shy to try to use it myself but after realizing I already had 3 language CD's and the Magyka book I headed back over and shyly asked the gentleman working at a desk if I could use the internet. He said I could and pointed at the computers. Sweet! So I'm online now typing up my little blog trying not to make too much noise form the constant click clicking of the keys (luckily the guy beside me is even louder than I am even if not as frequent). I'm looking forward to checking out the CD's so I think I'm going to be on my. I'm glad that I could quickly update and let yall know how I'm doing!

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
-The Bendtsens

P.S. I think Birgit (and maybe Ole and/or Pia's family) might be coming for a visit tomorrow to see the apartment and come say hi! I'm excited!!

My Own Little Journal

2009-08-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

A few days back Simon bought me a little journal that I could use. (I had lost the one he bought me in the states).

It is soo cool!! I love it. I write in it all the time. It's sometimes hard to remember if I wrote something on blogspot or if it was my journal.

Last night we brought down the PS3 and the tiny TV so Simon could play Call of Duty 4 online with Dennis (one of his best friends). I had a lot of fun watching him play too. He is getting better everytime he plays. I can't wait to get his big TV down here. This tiny one is so hard to see on unless your way up close to the screen. Everytime I see Simon leaning in to read something or see I picture Caleb doing it as well. :P I miss him a lot (and his hugs).

Simon went off to work half an hour ago and I'm already bored with him gone. Thomas is gone on a vacation too so it really is just me. I need to go upstairs and clean but I really don't want to.

Dinner last night was soo good. Around 9pm I was so hungry I decided to cook food. We had instant mashed potatoes w/ some sort of gravy sauce and some canned corn. Hhhhm. It was actually really really good.

This morning Simon was going to go to the store and buy eggs and bacon and surprise me with breakfast but I ruined it by saying I wanted to go with him. Bummer.
The store didn't have eggs!! What?!? What grocery store has a (small) bakery but no eggs...

We bought some food for the next few days and headed up. Simon still made bacon and sausages while I read scriptures. We are started to make it a habit to read in the morning instead of at night because we get so tired at night and it's harder to get stuff out of it. So far it has been great knowing that we had already read scriptures when we wanted to go to bed.

I love and miss my family and friends. I definitely can't wait until we get flight benefits again!
(and maybe even go to Panorama!! ***hint hint Mom***)

Hugs and Kisses XOXO
-The Bendtsens

Office Visit

2009-07-31T06:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Simon and I went down to the City Center to try and work out residency papers. I already knew the way so I didn't have to stop for directions. (I didn't have to worry about getting anymore directions :P ) We stopped by where we thought we had to go but they redirected us to an office up 4 flights of stairs. Simon wanted to wait for the elevator but I didn't want to wait. So we walked up all the stairs. We got the office (huffing and puffing a little bit from the workout) and took a number. We only had to wait for like 6 people. They even had a little time clock that stated how much the wait time was. We looked at it and it said 11 minutes. Sweet! Not too bad. 2 minutes later though it said 14 and then 19. It got all the way to like 23 or something. What? We realized that everytime someone else took a number from the machine it would add on time for that persons wait time. Oh. lol. We got ourselves registered. Sounds easy, well not really. The lady we had didn't speak any Danish and only minimal English, so Simon tried his best to understand her German and she did her best trying to understand his English. After a while though we got everything filled out and she got photocopies of our passport and things. After everything was taken care of we went downstairs (back to the room we were in originally... luckily this time it was walking down the stairs and not up). We didn't have to wait long before our number was called... we were the next ones in line. They called us in and we realized that we were in the same anguage predicament as before only this time the Lady helping us knew even less English than the one before. Luckily (or blessed) the Lady working next to her knew Danish and came over and translated for us. We found out what we needed to bring in the next time we went in and were on our way. We stopped on our way home to look through shop windows to see if we wanted to go in. The ones we stopped at were closed since it was 9 or something and they didn't open until 11. One store had movies posters on the outside so we decided to stop and take a look inside to see if they had a movie we might want to buy since it was open. We walked in and then we walked straight out. (Me shielding Simon's eyes) We must have missed the German sign that said people only 18 allowed in. UUUUhhh. Lets just say we will NEVER EVER ever go in that one again. So after having our eyes scorched out we decided it was time to just go home.... (up the hill. Guh.) When we got home we decided that we were just going to relax for the rest of the night. We had pasta and spaghetti sauce for dinner. It was ok, it probably could have been better since we didn't have any meat to add to it. We still ate it though (we were hungry).

This morning Simon got to sleep in. Sleeping in for Simon was 7:40. Too early for me. I slept in until 12:00 at which point we had breakfast. Simon got ready for work and I got ready for shopping!! (Too bad it was only for food) Simon was on his way and I headed over to Penny Markt. Someone at Simon's work said that that store was one of the only stores open until 22:00. We got so blessed to be so close to it too. It is only 2 blocks away. I went and bought some pepper, fetticine dinner stuff, corn (with an easy open tab since we don't have a can opener), instant mash potatoes, and gravy mix. We've done our shopping for the weekend. After I came home I got on the internet and checked my e-mail and facebook (while downloading some music for me to listen to later while I wash our clothes). We are so old-fashioned. We don't believe in using washing machines or dishwashers. We prefer to wash EVERYTHING by hand ... not. lol. We don't have the conveniences of everyday life that we were used to before so now we get to use the bathtub to wash our clothes. Everytime I think about washing our clothes in the tub I think of the older times like Pioneers (or even before that) sitting outside using a metal slate to scrub their clothes on with an old western theme song playing in the background. lol

Overall, We still love the apartment and enjoying what we have and the blessings we have been blessed with.
Love and Miss yall,
The Bendtsens

Past 3 Days

2009-07-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

I do so much bike-riding here, it's insane. Yesterday I tried to find my way down to the City Hall to get some paperwork. It was a fairly easy way downhill most of the time. (Meaning that going home was going to be killer.)

On the way down I tried to find my way but couldn't really find it so I had to ask for help along the way. Most of the people I talked to knew little to no English. I got a lot of phlah pleham lehapfh fhel lema le and a lot of hand pointing. :P

Eventually I made it to the building only to find out that they were closed today (even though the guy I called 'said they were open' (I don't blame him, his English could be a little better- and I think I got confused). So I made my way back home... up the hills. It was hard. I was so tired. Especially when I passed this kid walking up the hill. I wanted to show him so I decided to ride past him...big mistake. I was soooo tired. Finally making my way home, I layed on my bad. I totally passed out. I was exhausted. I had been gone for like 2 hours... most of which I think was bike-riding.

When I woke up I got ready to go pick up Simon from work. He got off at 3 so I started about 2:50-3:00. It is a 20 minute bike ride there. Yesterday I met him on the way so I only had to bike ride halfway there. This time I didn't see him at all. I rode all the way to his work. It was already 3:30 when I got there too. It wasn't too much longer before he was ready to leave. We walked-rode together. It was still really nice even if I had to walk some of the 'hills' (more like slight inclines) but still.

We watched a little bit of anime (Trigun) and eventually he fell asleep. (I had already had my nap or else I would have taken it with him. I went online while he was asleep.

I love being here and I hope everything works out with the government. We won't really know until they open on Thursday. Thanks for reading this.
Love and Miss yall

P.S. I have done more bike-riding in the past 4 days than I have in the past 4 years put together!!! (and I haven't even ridden today... yet)

New Apartment

2009-07-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

27. juli 2009 (inbetween 10:00 and 11:00)
We drove down to Germany yesterday to check out our apartment. I thought that it was going to be a one room 'black hole' as mom and dad called it. I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't. When we arrived we did notice that they had a dog (or two...not sure yet) and also that they might smoke (really can't tell). After looking through the apartment we paid them 667 euro total (350 for next months rent, 67 for the 67 for this weeks rent, 200 for deposit (i think), and 50 for if they need to clean when we move out). They don't have wireless here (bummer) so we are going to go see how much it will be for a cheap connection. I can't really describe the place well so I'll just have to show you with some pictures. :D

After we finished pulling everything out from the car we took a car ride down to Simon's work so he knew where he had to go in the morning (and to hopefully prevent getting lost tomorrow). The bikeride is so beautiful. I haven't riden it yet but from the car is was so pretty. Attached a short way off the road is a bike bath that he will ride to and from work. The road goes through fields of wheat and corn, forests, and little house developments. I'm excited to one day ride with him to work and see it all again. After dropping Simon and me off at the apartment, we said our goodbyes and watched them drive away. Tear. It was kind of nervous-like to watch them go since we knew that we were in a foriegn country where we didn't know anyone. We did know that we had Heavenly Father watching over us though.

Simon and I then went on a bike ride. (Oh and earlier we found the church right down the street- SOO Awesome!) We went downhill through some apartment complexes down near an old church and decided it was time to turn around (we knew that it was all going to be uphill on the way back- guh) It was a fun ride up anyway. I stopped like 3 times but I made it! :)

After getting up the hill we took a detour through some of the other houses and neighborhoods. It was all still really pretty. After getting home we had some more salami and rejeost (shirmpcheese - like creamcheese but better) on my favorite bread, Swedish Bread. Mmmh. We set up Simon's playstation on this little bity incy wincy TV. (We will definitely have to ask Birgit and Ole to bring down our bigger one next time they visit). After playing just a little bit and finding that all the channels were German (I was hoping for English iwth German subtitles) we read scriptures and got ready for bed.

Going to bed a little harder than I expected. Our bed is a single mattress. Not like the singles in America but European singles. It was pretty small. So we pulled in close for bed. Simon almost fell right asleep while I tossed and turned a little bit trying to find the best position.

In the middle of the night I woke up and found that Simon had curled his knees up and since his knees can't go into the wall his body pushes over to my side. I am so close to falling off the bed. I rolled up over him and slept next to the wall to insure I wasn't the one falling off. Luckily after we switched sides there were no more near accidents. :P

Simon and I got up around 6:30. He got ready for work while I made his lunch. I wonder what he had... oh wait I remember... more salami. That will be our meal for the next few days until we get a little more settled and make some potatoes (w/ bearnaise sauce). Simon left for work (sadly) and I started de-dog-inizing the apartment. I was worried that I would be completely bothered all of the time with all the dog hairs and stuff. I pulled off all of the cloth products (pillows, table cover, and rug) and vacuumed all of the apartment (almost Grandma Quality too). I did not want to suffer the wrath of the dog hairs. While vacuuming this German worker dude (oh yeah, there is construction work happening all down the street) yelled up to me. After turning off the vacuum I was like 'what?' and he said the same thing to me in German... like I understand that. Luckily Thomas heard him and want to talk with him (I'm guessing it was something about electricity or bathrrom or something). After vacuuming I started unpacking. I'm really close to finishing with 3 of the huge checked bags done. Only 2 more (small) bags. I stopped to see if my computer could find any unsecured wireless but no luck. I got sidetracked and decided to write up this entry.

I'm glad that we have such a nice apartment and that we didn't have to haul all of our furniture out here (that would have been awful). I can't wait to see how Simon's first day went.
Love ya all,
-The Bendtsens

P.S. I'll blog when I find out how his work went (or when anything interesting happens - whichever comes first. Love and Kisses

Some MORE Great News

2009-07-25T12:47:00.001-07:00

We had a really busy day today.

This morning we got up around 6:35am and got ready to go help Birgit's Sister move. It was 45 minutes or so to get there but it was a fast ride. We arrived and found that there were 4 or so men there not including Ole and Simon. Sweet Deal! The other thing we found out was that she was moving less than 50 yards away in one of the next buildings over. There were even 4 Sister Missionaries that showed up as well to help do the cleaning. It was so nice!

After cleaning we went straight over to Valdemar's birthday party. It was a lot of fun and we got to meet a lot of Lizette's family. I had a great time. We ate outside on her really pretty back-front yard until it started to sprinkle. Luckily, we were mostly done when it came. The kids enjoyed jumping in the rain as well. We said our goodbyes and headed home.

We did some laundry and went to Christian's house to find some sheets and rags for our new apartment.

Now to the good news. Not only were we truly blessed already, later we went online to search for a nearby church and we found out that it was on the same exact street!! It was so cool! We are living in number 144 and the church is 101. We are so excited!!

Love and miss yall bunches,
The Bendtsens

Only a Week and a Half

2009-07-24T03:39:00.000-07:00

We got home from Texas a week and a half ago and we already have a place to live and Simon has a job. We are truly blessed!!

While we were in the US, Birgit had the impression to visit this store right on the other side of the Danish border. They said that Simon could come by later that week, except that we were still going to be in the US. Birgit told them that we were coming back soon and would come then.

During our trip to Germany, that was our first place to visit. This was the place that Simon got his job.

This morning we woke up to Simon's phone ringing. We were expecting a call from either Oliver (nephew) or Dennis (best friend) but it turned out to be neither of them. It was Morten from Fleggaard offering him a job!! Now that he has a job we just needed a place to stay...

Simon found the German translation for apartment and found one in less than 5 min for 350 euro a month and only 5 kilometers away. He called them but it was an ID-Concept place. So we decided that later we would maybe look in the yellow pages to try and find him.

While shopping, Simon got an unknown call and it ended up that this was the apartment guy. They talked for a few minutes and agreed to see the apartment Sunday at 7pm and to sign papers.

In less than 2 weeks back to Denmark we not only had a job but we had an apartment not too far away! We are truly blessed by our Heavenly Father. We know that he truly is watching over us.

The apartment is about 30 square meters. It is a one room place with bath-shower. It is also fully furnished with TV. It looks really good for what we were looking for.

http://www.immowelt.de/Immobilien/ImmoDetail.aspx?ID=14757860

So now it's time to pack up and move (again) but this time to our own place. We are so excited to be on the next step to our final goal.
Love and miss yall bunches,
The Bendtsens

Job Search via Road Trip

2009-07-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Simon and I had heard of an oppurtunity. Pia's Family were going to go down to Germany and go shopping for some cheap goods. Birgit offered to give us a ride down there and while down there we could search for jobs for Simon. So, yesterday Simon called ahead to several locations of Fleggaard. So today we woke up around 7 and started getting reading for the trip. Simon typed up a semi-formal resume for the companies to keep and printed up several copies. We started on our way.

The trip down was relatively fast since all I did most of the way was sleep and read my book Hero of Ages. Simon got through a good chunk of his book The Awakened Mage. Right after the border was the first stop for Simon. While we went shopping Simon had an interview. They said that they might have a postiion for him and would let him know by the end of the week. We tried 2 more stores each with about the same response. Then it was shopping time.

We headed over to a big shopping store-mall thing and took a look around. After a short bit of walking we decided we were hungry enough to stop for food. Birgit and Ole went to a fresh fruit stand and bought 2 bowls of mixed fruit. Simon and I went straight for the bread-pizza place. After seeing what they had we decided to get 2 salad type wraps. They were really good. Ole, after a few minutes of eyeing our wraps, went over and bought himself one. We then got a hold of Pia and family and found a meeting spot.

After we met up we spent most of our time slowly making our way through each department. Simon and I had 100 kr to spend on what we wanted from doing work around the apartment. We found some toffifee and licorice to fill our appetites. After a while of shopping we found out that Simon's brother Peter and his family were also there. They were on vacation and we just happened to be in the same store at the same time. Small world. It was fun to have everyone together to shop.

After making our way out of the checkstand we said our goodbyes and headed on our way. This time Mathias rode with us. The first hour I don't remember because I was asleep most of it along with Simon. I woke up to Mathias and Birgit playing 'name that tune' out of the Hymn book. I quickly joined in when I knew the tune. We went from Hymns to Disney movies. I made a list of all the songs I knew and had fun going through them all. Mathias had us beat when he sang the song from the Credits off of Bolt. We had a fun time and made our way to drop off Mathias. We said our goodbyes and headed home. We had bought several cases of really cheap 7up and sprite zero so we had to take a trip to the basement for storage (for now). After unpacking the car we were free to relax and just not do anything. It was a great day and fun experience.
-The Bendtsens

Traveling (back) to Denmark

2009-07-19T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we’re safe in Denmark. Yay! The trip home wasn’t bad. I guess we should start at the packing.

I am definitely a last-minute packer. I guess it’s half to do with the fact that I wear the clothes I pack and I’m just not in a hurry to get the packing done. We started-finished packing the night-morning before we left. It took most of the day and night but we were ready, packed, and the room was cleaned. It was a miracle all in itself. Aside from actually getting it all done in time, we fit everything we needed (minus a few clothes and socks), and cleaned up the room Grandma quality. Woohoo!

We had 4 checked bags, one carry-on, and a guitar. Mel drove us to the airport when the time came and we sat and talked seeing as how we were 2 hours early with a 50 min delay. After finally saying all of our goodbyes we headed on through security. We bought some Mcducks because we were starving and waited until our flight boarded. We didn’t wait long. We boarded as soon as we could. We wanted to make sure there was room for his guitar in the overhead compartments. There was… luckily. The flight had movies and we both watched Monster vs. Aliens. A little after that we were at our next destination. We had a connecting flight so we didn’t have to get our bags and go through security. We didn’t wait too long for a next flight.

We boarded again and again raced to find room for his guitar. We had little trouble. Sweet deal. This flight was our longest flight. It was a 777 so we had individual entertainment systems. Simon watched several that he doesn’t remember the names of (must not have been that good). I watched 17 again, Hannah Montana (It wasn’t as bad as you would think), and this one about being bullied as a 4th grader or something. It was actually really good. We had chicken plate for our hotplate and had yogurt, a muffin, and orange juice for breakfast. We landed shortly after that. I slept the last hour and 30 minutes. We landed in London and retrieved all our bags on those really really difficult to steer carts. Security was easy. We then had the hardest part of our trip coming.

After taking a national express bus from Heathrow to Gatwick, we searched out a place to camp ourselves for the next 12 hours. Can someone say Boring! We found a set of 3 chairs (one double and a single). We decided that we weren’t both going to be asleep at the same time (so that nothing got stolen). I had the hardest time staying awake while Simon slept. We took one hour shifts. I was so tired.

Both of us had only had 5 hours sleep total for the two previous days so were both dead tired. I almost fell asleep standing at one point. We bought meal deals from Boots, a store close by. We had different types of sandwiches, such as BLT, tuna and corn, meat and cheese, and this other really good sandwich. The meals came with a choice of snack and a drink. We got 2 yogurt things, one water, and one fruit water thing (whatever they are called). Later we went back and bought at least 4 bags of Salt and Vinegar chips. They helped to keep us awake.

Finally the time had come for us to go check our bags. We had to arrange a few things for weight this time but only because they checked my carry-on… oops. Lol. We got on the flight (we actually had our marriage license out this time for proof of my name change and stuff. Before I simply had my driver’s license…which really probably shouldn’t have worked, but did.) I slept most of this flight while Simon tried to sleep unsuccessfully. We arrived in Denmark around 10:45 or something, an hour earlier or so than we thought.

We walked off the plan and through the revolving doors into a crowded pile of people waiting for their passports to be checked. Simon got ahead of me and went through. I was close behind but they had to ask me questions since I was a non-citizen. He asked if I was travelling alone and I said no. I called Simon over and he rechecked his passport. He stamped mine and let me through. He didn’t even ask how long I was staying. Sweetness!! So we waited for our bags. One of ours was almost the last bag through…blah. Waiting for luggage isn’t the funnest thing. It turns out that our text saying we were early didn’t go through…bummer. We only had to wait like 30 minutes in gorgeous weather. I didn’t have a problem as long as we weren’t downwind from the group of smokers. The car was a little packed as our nephew Matthias came too. It probably wasn’t that bad, just that I was in the middle back. It felt cramped to me. Lol. The drive home was pleasant. Birgit and Ole had brought us cold homemade pizza. Mmmmmh. We were starving. After dropping off Matthias and saying hi to his family, we finally were home.

We couldn’t sleep until 8 in the morning. Stinkin jet-lag. Simon slept in until 13:00 and I was out until 16:00. We spent that day just relaxing. It was nice to be back home (and Simon to be with his PS3 again) :P The next day we almost fell asleep at midnight but couldn’t sleep until 4am. We were getting closer to being normal again. Lol. The next day Simon spent helping with Pia’s yard work but that’s a different blog update. Thanks for keeping up with us. We had a great trip and are happy to be done travelling (for now). Love all and Miss all.
-The Bendtsens

Utah Trip Part 1

2009-07-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back Simon and I went on a trip to Utah. We didn’t have the money to fly so it was going to be 24 hour drive. Woohoo. Lol. We started our trip Monday morning at like 2am. It was early. After filling up our gas tank, we were on our way. We drove for 5 hours and pulled into the back of the parking lot at Walmart. We slept for a few hours and continued to drive. We drove through Oklahoma City and headed up to North. We stopped for an oil change on the way. Mel’s car was way overdue. The drive at points went by really fast. We stopped to eat or sleep whenever we wanted to. We slept anywhere from Walmart parking lots to Rest Stops along the way. The hardest part of the drive would have to be Kansas. There is absolutely nothing in Kansas. We even took 4 pictures outside of each window to prove out point.

Entering Colorado almost looked like Kansas but we had high expectations for the mountains that were soon to come. We watched a lightning storm along our drive to. It never was over us but it stayed parallel most of the time. Then we hit the mountains. Mel’s car was having a hard time excellerating up the hills. We decided to let the car take a rest along with my eyelids. The next morning there was not as much traffic so I didn’t feel bad about going so slow. Going down the pass was very pretty and we got some really pretty photos.

After a ways we stopped at a Truck Stop for a little shut-eye. I slept in the car while Simon took our comforter and slept out on the picnic table. Simon didn’t think it was very funny when a truck came by blasting its horn. The nook where this stop was was very pretty.

Finally we hit Utah… and the desert. It was the same thing over and over. After a while we hit a prettier area and civilization. We were pretty psyched by this point.

Plato's Closet

2009-07-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Plato’s Closet. I took in a box of clothes to sell. I sold 4 of the items and got 7 dollars from it. Not too bad. One shirt I got for free from Jordan, one from Mel (I think), a pair of flair pants, and a shirt that looked funny when I wore it. I also bought one while I was there. It is red and gray I think. It has cherries on it. It’s cute and long enough. It was like 2.50 I think. (Originally 5, but with a 50% discount.) I love discounted clothes.

See ya next time,
Rachel Anne

Hair Color

2009-07-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m a brunette now. I got my hair colored a few days back. At first it was a shock because of the difference it was. I was strawberry blonde before now. I colored my hair in Denmark last and by last week it had grown out by 2-4 inches, not exactly sure. I also got a hair cut from Toni and Guy. I chickened out of having it cut short. I didn’t want it making my face look chubby or anything. So I got it cut just a few inches longer than my shoulder. It has grown out very nicely now. I love my hair.

Along with my hair, I have lost weight. I am 10 lbs lighter than when I came here. I think it was from working so much and not having the money to eat out too much (even though sometimes we still do…lol). It could also be from being so dehydrated (less water weight) lol. I hope that that is not the reason though. :D

Until next time,

Rachel Bendtsen

The Trip to Texas

2009-04-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

So after finding out that I only had 19 days left in Denmark we had some serious thinking to do. A week later we decided to travel to Texas and stay there while my visa re-starts. We were afraid the flight costs were going to be too much but luckily we found some that weren't so expensive.

We left Aalborg on Norwegian Airlines on April 14th (my last day I was allowed to stay in Denmark...we were cutting it close). We had seats directly over the wing...guh. Oh well it wasn't going to be too long of a flight. That first flight went by fast enough. After we landed in Gatwick we had to follow the signs to get to Heathrow Airport. We bought some cheap airport food and found the National Express bus. The bus ride was 40-60 min. It wasn't too bad and the seats were comfortable. After getting to Heathrow we looked around a bit and found that there was no really good place to sleep. There were a few good chairs but they were in the handicapped area. Luckily, the guy working in the handicapped area said that we could sleep there. Sweet! There were 4 seats in a row without armrests and I had two in a row. Overall we got like 5 hours each (I think). After getting up we went to check in with Air Canada. We waited by the gate and then loaded.

Of course we got a seat right above the window again. Luckily the flight was wide-open with seats of 3 in a row all over the place. We had the option to move but never took it because there were individual tv's in each seat and the window shades would probably be down anyway so we could see better. They had a some good movies on too! I only watched half of a movie and fell asleep. Later I woke up and it was Simon's turn to sleep. We only had 2 hours left at that point.

Something not right... how do seatbelts work again?
(Simon found two of the same side of the seatbelt)

These were the sandwiches we ate while waiting. They were ok and we were hungry so they worked.

It was great being with my hubby while we traveled.

We arrived in Canada and found out it was time to go through customs... sweating time. Customs has the power to deny Simon entry into the U.S. at the drop of a hat. Our only hope was in Simon's return ticket (hopefully proving that he doesn't want to stay for long-term). They didn't even ask about the return ticket! We told him we were staying for 3 months (he of course corrected us and said 90 days) and after that we were cleared! Phew... we were glad that was over with. We dropped off our bags for our last flight and waited at the gate. While waiting I went and bought us a bag of skittles (they don't have them in Denmark). We almost got sick from all the skittles we ate. Finally, we were boarding.

The last leg of the flight wasn't too long. They had individual tv's here too! I read my book most of the time though. We arrived in DFW and waited for our bags. Mom came in and greeted us and promptly left to make sure she didn't get a ticket for leaving her car unattended. Mom had forgotten how tall Simon really was when he got in the backseat and almost hit his head to the roof. :) We got home and were glad to see our nieces and nephews and sisters and brother-in-laws waiting for us! It was great to see everyone again.

We are glad that everything went so well without any problems. We truly were blessed to see this all work out like it did. It is wonderful to be in Texas and see everyone again. We do miss Denmark. While we are here we are going to be having loads of fun. Love to all,
The Bendtsens

Babysitting w/ Pia's kids

2009-04-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

I babysat Pia's kids one day and I took pictures of the day. Here they are:

Oliver(left) and Mathias (right)
We were watching Bolt on my computer and Mathias was doing the dishes!

Emilie and Mads played this online Scooby-Doo game.

The boys played their ps2 games.

While they played their games Emilie and I read a Danish book. It was fun to read with her. Matthias had to help with some of the bigger words that neither of us knew. :D

They are soo cute!!

I had a lot of fun playing with them!! Hopefully we will get to do this again!

-Rachel Bendtsen

Life's Venture

2009-03-31T03:06:00.000-07:00

(For me it's bold if I have done it and underlined if I think I have done but not sure)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland!
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched an amazing lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (oven pad making…it didn’t say it had to be hard :P )
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (does that include our plants in mom’s garden we picked out, planted and grew??)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (no idea)
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (from school)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (don’t think so but maybe)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (yes and no)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (when I was in high school (and working) and I went shopping and was happy… until I spent it all)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (Idk if it was Old Faithful… but I’ve seen a geyser)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (I’ve ridden in plenty of ambulances)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (music video… does that count?) (and I was in a satire video…)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (babysitting)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (even though I didn’t see any)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood
65. Gone sky diving (though I really really want to)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (I think so, I’m a packrate)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (I remember flirting with them…)
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (I tried… the guy’s pacemaker was firing and he had an unknown downtime so we were doing everything for him… I participated in the CPR… but he didn’t wake up)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (maybe not world famous but Branson Famous)
92. Joined a book club (I think so)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (no, but soon)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit (idk, kind of… they wanted me to testify in court)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

47 things I have done…

14 maybes…

And a bunch or want to’s

Kicked Out

2009-03-27T01:30:00.000-07:00

Well the government contacted us yesterday about my residency papers. They called Simon and said that my application had been denied. :( They told me I had to leave within 19 days (now 18) and if not I could be punishable by law. We have a lot of options to take from here...and we haven't decided what to do.
Options include:
going to the states (by myself) (for a time)
moving to Swedem (w/ Simon)
moving to some other EU country (with Simon)
Moving to Sweden or another EU country will trigger a law that might allow us to stay in Denmark.

The government said I could come back in 6 months and reapply for residency at that time. Otherwise, I'm not allowed back inside Denmark for another 6 months.
I'm sure everything is going to work out eventually.

I'll keep yall posted on whatever we decide to do.
-Rachel Bendtsen

Crazy Hat Party Sleepover

2009-03-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

I heard great reports from the last Crazy Hat Party so I decided to have one of my own! I invited all the Single adult women to come. All could come and most could stay the night too! So I cleaned up the apartment (even though later I knew we would all trash it again ... lol).
Here's a picture of my crazy hat!!

Here's the back...

and the side.

Grethe and Kamilla both forgot their hats so Grethe borrowed my bow and Kamilla used whatever I had and part of your jacket's hood to become the Queen of Iceland. (She is marrying Arnar from Iceland)

Grethe

Kamilla (above) and later dressing up (below)

I don't have a picture of Line's hat but this is Margit's.

We had a lot of fun waiting for Simon and his friend Dennis to leave. (Simon had just gotten home from work so he had to change before he went over to Dennis' house to spend the night.
The girls started a movie ('The Perfect Man') and Line and I played dress-up. (More like Line played dress-up in my dress...lol)

She had fun being in the dress.
After that we sat around and watched 'Next'.

The junk food we had was really good! :P

Grethe had to leave at this point. We then made some home-made pizza. We had fun making it. :D

We played cards while the pizza was baking.

The pizza was good and filling (and a little overcooked...oops lol)

After a lot of fun and talking and playing around we headed off to bed.

There were 4 of us with one bed, a couch, and a bean bag.
Line and her sister Margit shared the bed,

Kamilla slept on the bean bag,

and I had the couch.

The sleepover and party lasted until about 1:00 pm the next day.
It was a success!

3 Month Anniversary

2009-03-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

It was our three month day and Simon woke me up to breakfast in bed. Mmh. I sure love a good breakfast in bed. After that Simon got ready for school and left. I had a Danish lesson to go to at this point so I myself got ready and left. After the lesson I got a ride home and headed up to the apartment. I walked it but something was different. It was cleaner and there were candles lit. Something was definitely different. This is what I saw!

There were 2 presents on the couch when I walked in too!

Simon was nowhere to be seen. I looked around the rest of the apartment...

and found him!

He was reading 'The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith' just waiting for me to get home from Ole's lesson. After welcoming me home he let me open up my presents! The first one was easy to see. He got me a three-in-one movie. Here's a close-up...

And when I opened the other present it was 'The Innocent Mage' by Karen Miller. I was still waiting for the third book of the Magicians' Guild to come in the mail so he bought me this book to help keep me busy until then. It's a good book. Here's a close-up...

It was a really good day. Oh, and for Simon (and I) a few days earlier we got a cheap used TV. It is a 32". It was like 250kr ($50). It is a pretty good TV. Before he only had a 22" so for us it's an upgrade :D Here's a picture of it...

Later that day we went and saw 'Bedtime Stories' in the city. It was nice to get dressed up and go out to a movie. We even had snickers and licorice and this other sour licorice stuff. The walk home after the movie was great! I love late night walks through the city with Simon.

Simon made this day very special and I thank him for that. I love him with all my heart.
Our 3 month anniversary was great!

Trilingual

2009-03-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

I just found out that I am married to a trilingual man.

A while ago Simon and I were watching an episode of friends on my laptop and the language setting was set to German (we have to change it to English every time). So before I change it he starts to translate what was going on. I was like wow! We talked about how he had German in school and had to learn it well enough to get a good grade. I didn't think much about it until today. The same thing happened and I was like cool! Then I thought about it and asked him to speak some German to me and he did!

My husband is trilingual! I think that it so amazing!!
Hopefully soon enough I will be bilingual... not that I'm competitive or anything. lol. :P

I love him so much!
<3 <3 <3

The newest FAD

2009-03-03T02:58:00.000-08:00

So i went shopping the other day and i saw something truly hillarious and in a way also incredibly disgusting i took a picture on my phone so sorry for the low quality.

What this machine is really used for escapes me but you have to admit it is pretty hillarious.
At least i laughed.
School is going great and the first year is almost over. We are still waiting to hear if Rachel can stay in Denmark or not, we pray and fast regurlaly about it.
Well i just wanted to post a little note on the blog for the first time.
Simon

Young Women's Activity

2009-03-01T12:47:00.001-08:00

We talked about homes and the importance of homemaking. We talked about how we can be a homemaker now even if we don’t have our own homes yet. Then after we gave that lesson we used Familien GUF candy (my favorite so far) and made houses out of them. We were “making” our homes. We talked about homes too while we were making them. Then afterwards we got to eat it. Charlotte is my only young women but Line (single adult) and Kamilla (engaged) came too. It was nice so that it wasn’t just Charlotte and me. We had a lot of fun and then we got to eat our spoils. Here are some pics of us. We had a blast that night.

mmmh... det var så dejligt!

This is Charlotte and me.

There was a lot of concentration that night... he he

Line... hard at work...

Charlotte's finished home.

Bling Bling

My finished product.

Hey, look! Det er mig!!

Since I'm "still in young womens," I still get to act silly.

Ole's Birthday Party 7.2.09

2009-02-22T17:17:00.001-08:00

Saturday Ole held a birthday party. There was almost everyone there and their kids.
I have pictures of this party because I figured if Ole is always taking pictures at his party, who is taking pictures of Ole. So I pull out my camera to take a picture of him.

I turn around to take pictures of the sleeping Asta. (she is exactly as old as lil lizzie)

I turn back around to Ole and I find this...

The dinner was really good. We all sat around, talked, laughed and told stories.

Simon sat and translated anytime it switched from English to Danish.

Then we had ice cream!!
The kids ate first...

Then the adults grabbed some ice cream before it was gone...

It was so good. Later Pia and I exchanged back massages while watching TV. I had fun.
With love,
Rachel Bendtsen

Pro-Bowl 9.2.09

2009-02-22T16:45:00.001-08:00

About the date in the title... its really Feb. 9, 2009, but that's how they write it here. meh... it's going to get confusing when/if I ever go back to the states.

I missed the big superbowl tradition back in Texas but I wasn't about to miss out completely. Joachim (lil Samuel's older brother) held a Pro-bowl Party. Since the pro-bowl was on Sunday they waited until like 1 in the morning to start it.
Below is a pic of Jacob, Joachim, and Carsten... and Grethe in the other one...
(Carsten looks so enthused...lol)

There was a really good turnout.

We had a lot of junk food if you can't tell from the pic. he he.
We even had time for some silly pictures.

Now compare...

The view from seat wasn't too bad.

Me and Simon got to share the couch we were on.

Simon brought his laptop to keep him busy. He also got to show it off to everyone else too.

Later, I fell asleep (kind of- I still heard when they were talking about me "being asleep") and then later went into the other room where Grethe was. I began to read my book. This was the first book of the trilogy and I had like 20 pages from the end. I HAD to read it. lol. I'm a nerd, I know.

We had fun. :)
Much love,
Rachel Bendtsen

Unge Mænd/Unge Piger Sleepover

2009-02-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

So one activity a while back during the kids Winter Vacation was a sleepover for the young men and young women. Charlotte was with relatives that week and so there were only young men, Simon, and then me. It was still a lot of fun. We went shopping beforehand for some chips and stuff (the yummies) and then went up to Birgit's. (she was hosting the sleepover) Slowly the boys started to arrive.

We started up guitar hero and the boys were playing. One of the boys had heard about how I play and wanted to play me. We played a song called "One" I think. Anyway, I won. (what's funny is that he had been saying earlier how good he was... lol. I think he wasn't so vocal about his talents after that) he he. Oh and I heard Birgit saying that she heard one boy saying "is there anything Rachel can't do?" I laughed. I told her she should had said "Fly." lol. So the evening progressed and they read scriptures and said "family prayer." After that they decided to watch the latest James Bond movie. I was going to watch but the Danish Subtitles were on and there were crunching chip bags so I just went into a back room with Birgit and played on the computer a really fun game called Giza.
Here's a picture of our mess...

After the movie they hooked up another game system and played away into the night.

I had my laptop so I was happy :) When I got tired I went into the computer room where there was an inflatable bed set up (I think it was Ole who set it up) and I got ready for bed. Simon came in and read scriptures with me. He left and I fell asleep. Later Simon came in and fell asleep next to me. I'm surprised we both fit on that one person inflatable mattress. lol. Two kids managed to stay up all night... wow, I remember when I used to be able to do that. In the morning (while all the young men except two were passed out) Pia's kids came over. Birgit was babysitting them too!! There was a lot going on. Mads came in and we wanted a picture together. He was so cute.

After that we had breakfast and the boys headed home. I think we went home and passed out again. (I wouldn't be surprised) It was a lot of fun and it turned out to be a very successful event.
Until next time,
Rachel Bendtsen

Valentine's Day

2009-02-22T13:49:00.000-08:00

So I woke up Valentine's Morning and said "Happy Valentine's Day" to Simon and went right back to bed. Then I wake up again and Simon comes in with a plate full of eggs, toast, and bacon (with some milk on the side). It was yum, yum, yummy for my tummy.

After that we layed around for a little bit. Then it was time to get ready for the Valentine's Party.

I was so worried about what to wear. No one knew. I called around (a lot of people weren't going to go) and the people that were going didn't know either. Guh. It's a self-conscious, worried girl's nightmare. lol. After some advice this was what I decided to wear...

I decided to go all out. I wore my wedding jewelry. (I wanted more than just one use for them) I wore black stockings (it was really cold out) and black high heels. Here is a close-up of my make-up and my hair clips...

They almost looks exactly the same but the second one you can see the diamond clips from my wedding on my hair. They formed a little group around the hair clips holding my bangs back.
I wanted a natural beauty tone for my make-up... not too much, just enough.
I've lost weight... or so it feels like.
Simon of course looked just as dashing as ever...

(don't mind the mess...it happens sometimes...every now and then) lol
Pia and Kristian then came and picked us up and we traveled for about an hour in Horsens. When we got there it appeared as there was a good group of people there... a decent mix of older and younger couples (very few singles). We talked to some people and then went in to sit to eat. We had chinese type food including chicken-corn soup (really really good), rice, egg role, chicken, and this chicken/onion/something else stuff (really really good as well). Some people had chopsticks and others had forks. Simon and I both had chopsticks (Simon kept switching between forks and chopsticks) he he.

We sang a song as a group too, it was fun. Underneath the plates were little pieces of papers that said something to the effect of you clean after main dish or you clean up after dessert. It was genious. I want to tell Dad about that idea. It was so smart.

After dinner there was a dance. They played mostly older music but they had a few good ones and even a played "Friends in lowly places" ... I was like "Represent." I was happy and proud I was from Texas. lol. Oh and before the dance there was a short entertainment. You know those actors that do that thing... with the thing... and look like the thing... lol. Idk what they are called. Here's a pic...

She was actually pretty good. (especially when she slow ran)(she was before the dance... so after her we danced for a while)...
A few pretzels and chips later we were on our way home. It was a very successful day and we had a lot of fun.

I love Valentine's Day and I love Simon
Much love to everyone,
Rachel Bendtsen

Pay it forward

2009-02-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me (yeah for handmade!).

2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!

4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward.

Bourne Trilogy

2009-02-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, so so far we have watched as much of scrubs as we can... we are waiting for the next season. We started looking into another form of entertainment. Simon called me one day from work and said that we would get the born trilogy for like 70 kroner or something (usually movies can come from 50 to 100 kroner). It was a great deal so he got it. For the last two or three days we have been watching them. The first one I remember seeing before but then there were 2 more that I thought I had seen before. I was mistaken.

After the first one was over we switched over to the second one and I was totally awesomed out. It was so good. I couldn't believe that I had heard so much bout these movies and never seen the other two. I just assumed I had. Well, I have been missing out.

We finished the second one and today we finally got to start on the 3rd one. We got about half-way through or something and we had to stop it cuz we had to get to church for his meetings and ym/yw's... I can't believe we stopped in the middle.... what's going to happen, who's getting who, who's behind everything!! Gosh, never watch an exciting movie if you don't think you will have time to finish it all. We are going home after and whether Simon wants to or not... I am going to finish the movie. (but of course he wants too to). lol.

Much love to my missed family and friends.
-Rachel Bendtsen

Choice and Accountability #3

2009-02-05T01:27:00.000-08:00

I am called as Young Women’s leader (as well as branch chorister) and so last Thursday the 29th we had an activity for a personal progress value experience. We did choice and accountability #3. We read throughout 2nd Nephi 2 and D&C 82:2-10. In there we found numerous accounts of agency and how it was used. We learned that we make choices everyday. We followed along as Jacob made decisions in his youth to know of the truthfulness of the gospel. We also noticed that all the choices made had consequences whether they be good or bad. We wrote down some choices that we want to make that will have a good consequences. And since we were taught all this we know that it is our responsibility to share it with others. We also learned that no one is perfect. That’s why we have Jesus in our lives. He is there to help us return to Heavenly Father when we make wrong choices. We need to be aware of all that Satan does to try and destroy us and turn us away from the Spirit. We need to fight for what we know is right. We are blessed with eternal life when we strive to make good choices, choices such as praying, reading the scriptures daily, and going to church and all of its activities. We will be blessed with all that we need to return to live with our Father in heaven. We have the responsibility to choose Christ and stand as a witness to his name as we took it upon us at baptism (and renew it at Sacrament). We have a duty to be a good example for those around us (especially Charlotte in this case). I have an understanding of the importance of making good decisions. I know that my choices can have an eternal consequence and I am aware of the importance of making good eternal choices. I hope that I can live worthily so that I can have the opportunity to return to live with my Heavenly Father. I hope to be blessed with Exaltation. I hope that my actions will one day be a guide for my future family and generations. I love my Heavenly Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. I hope to receive their influence in my life everyday as I choose the right. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Scrubs

2009-02-02T07:52:00.001-08:00

Simon and I are watching scrubs together. We started watching them together when I moved over here. We are already on the 7th season (which I think is the last). It has been a lot of fun watching them together and being able to relax doing something we both like. It’s a lot of fun. We only have like 6 more episodes until we are all done. We have more inside jokes from things that happened in scrubs (like eagle!! Or the baby!?!) lol.

We finished Scrubs. It was really good. Now we just have to find something else to watch. We have smallville. Interest isn’t too high on my end yet… I guess I just need to wait for a really boring day and then it will seem much more interesting. Lol.

Laptop Talk

2009-01-30T15:19:00.000-08:00

Well it’s 7:45 am and Simon is off to school. This month Simon gets paid more than usual for his extra work he did over the holiday. With his money we decided we wanted to buy both of us a laptop. Mine is already bought and I am loving it and Simon already has his picked out. So this morning after I get some bank figures I get to set a budget for food for the rest of the month. I think it will be fun to be able to decide what to eat this month and how much to spend each week. The only fear I have is that we will be short and run out of food. I don’t want to buy our luxuries and force others to feed us, that doesn’t make any sense. So I really hope everything go according to plan and there are no unintended surprises that come our way.

We are discussing what we plan on doing for this month.

(…now past midnight) We looked through all the figures and talked to the bank and came to a decision. We bought his laptop. He is ecstatic. Its makes me happy to see him so happy. I can’t wait to see it on Tuesday or Wednesday or whenever it comes.

Branch Chorister

2009-01-22T04:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I got called as Branch Chorister. Simon had just come home from work. Before he took off his tie though he said he had some church business and would like to talk to me. We sat down on the couch and he asked me to be branch chorister starting the following Sunday. I was happy and a little surprised at the notion but nonetheless, I accepted. That Sunday I looked at the songs to be sung (of course all in Danish) and they had to pick hard songs for my first day. The first song started as a six beat and changed to a four beat in the middle. I got through the verses and sat down. But something was not right. No one got up to say the prayer and everyone was looking up at the pulpit. What I didn't know at the time was that they sang all the verses of the song, even the extra ones. I was practically mortified. Luckily, Joachim was asked to say the prayer so he (sitting at the Sacrament table) turned and asked Simon if he should just go up and say the prayer. He came up and said the prayer and after that Simon, luckily for me, took the blame for not telling me that they sing ALL the verses. The next song was a 6/4 song and I conducted it as a 2/2 song which made it hard to keep the tempo up. Oops. But it all worked out. The last song was a song I knew (but not like I would know The Spirit of God or anything). lol. The meeting ended and my first day task was complete. The next week went much much much better than the previous one. lol. It is quite fun to be the branch chorister. I'm loving singing in Danish. I find it easier to sing Danish hymns than to read Danish. I think it's because the words are sometimes divided with a hyphen (depending on the song) so I can seperate the syllable much more easily. I can't wait for next week where I will get to lead the congregation again in song.