Little Brother

This post is to congratulate my brother Chris who just received his mission call. He has been called to serve in the Argentina - Rosario Mission. He reports to the MTC on March 23rd.

Chris, I'm so proud of you my 'little' brother :)

Recent Happenings

Well, it's about time I wrote on this blog and let everyone know that yes, we are still alive here in Germany. I would like to thank my friend Elisabeth for the very kind and tactful reminder to update the blog ;)

Thanksgiving is fast approaching which we are very excited about. The reason why is because I love pumpkin pies! Well, Jon does too. I get giddy when I see the ingredients for my pastry love on sale at the grocery store. When my family celebrates Thanksgiving, my Aunt Debbie and mother would always set aside a pumpkin pie for moi. It's because they love me...or as Jon sarcastically says because I am 'special'.

Anyways...over the next few days I will be writing posts that will focus on a couple of things I am thankful for and will try to incorporate things we've been up to lately :)


I am thankful for .... SUNSHINE

Last Sunday we had our first day of sunshine in a long time. How long may you ask? Well, we've had at least 10 days of consecutive rain. This is a conservative count. But isn't it grand when the sunshines and the heavens open it truly does illuminate the world and reminds me of what a beautiful earth we live on. So, yeah, I was really grateful for an uplifting Sunday, both spiritual and physical.

I am thankful for .... MODERN DAY MEDICINE

A few months ago Jon trained up for a high-intensity month long leadership school similar to Ranger School except shorter. It is called Sapper Leader Course. I drove Jon to the airport and was prepared to say goodbye for a month or so of complete 'radio silence'. Little did I know I would see him sooner than expected.

To make a long story short...Jon hurt his back pretty good. After multiple doctor visits, an ER visit (which included me passing out), and an MRI....we found out that Jon has a herniated disc on his spine. Having a hurt husband isn't an easy thing to deal with but oh how I love medicine. Especially a lovely pill one calls Percocet :)

It's been almost 2.5 months since the injury and Jon's back is making progress thanks to a good chiropractor and a physical therapist. He's on the mend and is expected to go with his unit on a year long 'vacation' to the mountains to the East in a few months.

And because there at least needs to be a picture or two on the blog post...

Setting up the tent for a Friday night camp-out a few weeks ago. We were the only ones crazy enough to be out there. Do not let the sunshine fool you...it was in the 40's at the time and dropped in temp at night.


I stayed huddled around the campfire for the majority of the night. Plus...I'm a pyro and enjoyed playing with the flames :)

Maine - Summer 2010 Part 2

Allison speaking. For part two I decided to focus on one of my side trips with A1 (Allyson). We went to Camden, a tourist favorite destination. I've been to Camden once before for Nathan and Jaimie's wedding reception but wasn't able to see the downtown area.

A beautiful day in Maine's Mid-Coast. Lovely boats sitting in the harbor. We enjoyed the nice sunshine. Luckily the rain started after we were driving home.

Another harbor shot.

A1 in her element in front of Camden's library. Pretty awesome building.


The sunglasses were a necessity because I was supposed to cover up my stitches

Moose!! Watch out.

To wrap up...we had a lovely vacation. Another highlight that was not mentioned in the earlier post is that Jon and I were able to meet up with Jaimie while she was in Maine and meet face-to-face our youngest nephew Aiden. Aiden wasn't too sure of Jon. He DEFINITELY knew that Jon was not his father Nathan but looked oddly similar. We video recorded Aiden's reaction to meeting his Uncle Jon-Jon but unfortunately my memory card decided to be troublesome. I'm hoping that A1 will be able to salvage the footage to the now defunct memory card.

Maine - Summer 2010 Part 1

Well here comes another picture intensive blog post. Allison and I went to Maine. It was high time to visit the family and for both us to get away from it all. As for me, I just wanted to get away from my bosses and the unit, just for a moment. Al and I spent two weeks in Maine and it was not enough. Our trip started with a flight on Friday, the 28th of May. Following this introduction is a 'carefully' selected bunch of pictures. Involved in all of our escapades in Maine were all the regular trouble makers: Papa, Mom, Ben, Amber, Meredith, Allyson (A1), Allison (A2), myself, Owen, Aspen, and Paytyn aka Princess PayPay. There were also some friends added into the mix. There were many highs, no lows, some torrential downpours, some great days of sunshine, and only one trip to the emergency room. At least this time, I was not the one in the ER. Pay attention and you will find out who got to be the lucky contestant.

We started photos on Saturday. Yes, we are pasty white, no need for skin cancer.
Ben and I start planning our schedule.


Allison will not let me get a gaming system. Any guesses why? Its cuz I might get into the game and get real competitive. Owen got me into it. I blame him. Although, I did have to say "Owen, SIT! You are in front of the screen, I can't see where I am going." He did this while we BOTH played together. He got into it just as much as me. We played Legos Indiana Jones 2.

This is Princess Pay Pay. At first, she was kinda shy around Auntie A2, but it soon became apparent that Allison was her absolute favorite and Paytyn always went to Allison.

Below is Ben. Now this was our .... 3rd time going to the range, which was Wednesday. We all wanted to do a little clay pigeon target shooting. As for the chosen 'piece', that is Allison's brand new 20 gauge. She picked it out. She bought it. I am so proud of her. Although she is a Dyer already, ..... she REALLY is one now.

Amber wanted to get in on the fun. So she did shoot some pigeons too. Note: Ben is using a hand thrower to throw the clay pigeons. More on this later.
Amber in your typical 'glory' shot. Yep, you can tell she is part of the Dyer clan.


I got to go for a bit as well. Being man enough to say it, Allison is better at clay pigeons than I am. Granted, this was my first time shooting clay pigeons, but humbling.


Here is my beautiful and talented wife. Posing with her lovely new shotty. Please pay attention that she did not have any marks on her face yet.Now she has marks on her face. This is approximately 15 minutes after Amber 'tossed' a clay pigeon into Allison's face. It all started when Allison and Amber wanted to shoot some more clays. So Ben and I went over to shoot some rifles about 45 feet away. I hear this "Jon, help!" Ben and I look over at the same and say, "What??" There is Amber holding A2 up. We couldn't see A2's face and we both started running over. Long story short, A2 got clipped in the face by a clay pigeon. No gun shot wounds, thank goodness. Bleeding from her nose, she was going to need some stitches. Her knees gave out from the 'blood'. I carried her to the Explorer and we set off for the hospital that was 1 mile away. Convenient, eh?
A2 held up a kleenex to staunch the bloodflow. She didn't know that I took this picture while we were driving. This is the preliminary cleanup at Miles Memorial Hospital. 3 Stitches. Way to go! Thankfully, the cut was not too deep. No broken bones and no bruising either! We are grateful that it was not more serious considering where we were, but A2 was completely safe and we are all proud of her for keeping her composure.

Allison let me use her rifle. I like it. Nice and light. She picked this one out too. Aww... true love. No, not me and the rifle. Me and Al. Duh!
This is Papa. And his 'little one'. The Dyers like to target shoot. Even Allison shot on Friday, two days after her incident. She was not going to stop because of one little scratch. Sidenote: stitches came out five days later, and she has a barely noticeable scare on the bridge of her nose. Anyways, back to Papa above. this was the last day we went shooting. So we had to get more pictures.
A1, aka Allyson Dyer is using Papa's toy. A little more technique and she would be good to go, but she did just fine. Lightweight.
Auntie A2 did some benchrest with Papa's little Ruger 10/22 rifle. Owen was excited to be with all of us, so he of course got some trigger time. He likes to shoot quickly. Aim comes later. He is six. Better watch out in a couple years, he will eat you for lunch and have leftovers for dinner and breakfast.


Here is Jason, longtime family friend. And yes, he is holding my 'baby'. Such a nice piece. Look at that smile, he was gonna take my baby away from me.

For some reason, when we have more than 3-4 people at the range, I shoot less. More off to the side, helping and instructing. Next time, I go to the range in the morning with Ben and we just nail targets and chew through ammo.
Allyson striking a pose. Camera friendly.

Owen with Papa getting down to business.

Owen again. Fast trigger puller but needed something lighter than my rifle, so we went with A2's. He liked it.


These are the creations of Allyson's. 1 came from scratch, the huge lemon tart on the left. 1 came from Moody's dinner, a 4-Berry pie.

PayPay cheesing it up for the cam.

Aspen displaying her lovely cover art.

Amber was the talented chef, constantly feeding everyone. We were most appreciative, I assure you. I know I was, I ate all the leftovers. Well not all of them, I had some help. Thanks Owen. Allyson below did quite a bit of cooking as well. She was more of the pastry/dessert chef. And she poses for the camera, can't ya tell?

Thats part 1. More to come, stay tuned.

Being Grateful

Lately I have been extremely grateful for many things...here's a list of my ramblings:

1. Having Jon home again. Jon was gone for about a total of 5.5 weeks for a training exercise on the other side of Germany. This has been the longest separation since we were reunited last summer after his deployment to Iraq. I love having him come home in the evening to share a quiet dinner, to hear who won the stupid award at work for the day (you wouldn't believe some of them), or talking about what our future may hold.

One day Jon was able to escape his 'day job' and go have some fun shooting this puppy. He loved it!


2. A job. I lucked out being able to work from home for Gryphon Airlines again. Granted, there are days when I have to deal with some very grumpy people, but on the whole I really do enjoy what I do.


3. Nieces and Nephews!! When I married Jon I became an instant Aunt to these 3 cuties :) Each one has such a unique personality. Obviously, Aspen is the oldest leading the Dyer Clan charge into the future. Then there is Owen. He is quickly becoming an inspiring young man with his constant motion especially in regards to all things mechanical. Last of the 3 Ben and Amber Clan kids, is Paytyn aka PayPay. I will never forget "my nanas" growl that she let out to Meredith.


Then about a year and a half ago, this little guy came into my life. A music man in the making, he loves to pound away at the piano, pick songs off of the family's iTunes, or strum on his electronic guitar. He takes after the Walker line with his musical talents :)



And last but not definitely least, this adorable 'little' tyke was born into the Dyer clan over a year ago. Jon speaking now, this 'little' boy is no mere Dyer. He is enormous! Taking after the 'big' gene trait of the male Dyers, with those blue eyes that draw you in to how adorable he is. He must get it from his Uncle Jon. Jon out.


I love looking at pictures of all of them as they are growing up. One thing that stinks about living over here in Europe is that I cannot see them more often. I'm so proud of my sisters in raising such awesome children!

4. Parents. Here is a late Mother's Day shout out to my two beautiful mothers. Again, the distance is crummy at times but I love how you are only a phone call away.

Jon here again. Allison and I have the best mothers we could ask for. Each possessing the grace and elegance that is passed to their daughters. We have their pristine examples to what we want our future daughters to grow up to be like. Jon out.

Marksburg Castle - April 2010

Well, three postings in a row. Please do not faint because of the big shocker :)

Jon was home for 3 days before he went back to training. We took advantage of the BEAUTIFUL weather and went for a lovely trip along the Rhine River. Both Jon and I love castles. So, after doing a little bit of research of castles we wanted to see, we both decided we wanted to tour the Marksburg Castle.


Located about 10 kilometers south of Koblenz, the Marksburg castle is one of the only castles along the middle Rhine that has never been bombed or destroyed. It has also never been breached or over-taken due to its location and their fortifications. I borrowed this picture from the web because this pic truly captures its magnificence. If you would like to know some more history about the castle, follow this link http://www.marksburg.de/english/frame.htm.


A pic Jon took while looking up at the castle while waiting for the tour to begin. We were able to have an English tour guide and only have about 8 people total in our group. We seriously lucked out. Most German groups had 20-30 people.


The Rhine river. Notice the train tracks that run somewhat parallel to the river.


Me looking at the AWESOME view. It was funny to see the cruise ship with all of the people looking up (with their cameras) and taking pictures. I wanted to strike a pose for them...:)


Jon, the stoic one.



Jon was drooling and able to answer a lot of the tour guide's questions about the weaponry.



An entrance to the only heated bedroom in the castle. As you can see, they didn't like tall giants back in their day.


A seriously teeny bed. The tour guide said that in medieval times, people were afraid to fall asleep lying completely down. Instead they sat up and slept. So that is one reason why this bed is so small.


The bathroom located directly behind the dining room table. The guide said that it would have been considered rude to exclude someone from the conversation, so they would leave the door open while someone went to relieve themselves during dinner....EWW!

Also, their plumbing back then consisted of a hole, a chute, and an area below where people avoided walking under at all costs...unless they wanted an unpleasant surprise.


I would be scared of this guy if he charged at me with that huge sword!


This helmet creeps me out. I don't know why, but those horns...yikes. Definitely used to scare or intimidate the enemy.


I must have felt the need to be channel some medieval warrior flair while this picture was taken.

Overall, it was an awesome day excursion. Jon will be home in a little over a week. We're looking forward to many more adventures now that the weather is better!