Jacob and Abi Beutler Family

Just a quick post (more will follow) to announce the birth of our baby. He came to us three weeks early on May 28, 2009. 3320 grams. 52 centimeters. This meant nothing to me as they measured him after the birth, but I have since learned that 3320 grams equals 7 pounds 5 ounces. 52 centimeters is 20 inches. He is a cute little guy. We haven't decided on a name yet! We got home from the hospital yesterday (sharing a hospital room with three other moms just didn't suit my fancy), and are both trying to recover. Jacob has locked off the back of our house to give me and _____ some peace and quiet. Ben and Liz are not happy about it. Hopefully they'll adjust soon. Will post pictures later.

I have been obsessed with food lately. I think it is due to the baby being due in one month, and to the fact that going to the grocery store and preparing food in a completely different country takes a lot of brain power now. So I thought I'd clue you all in to what grocery shopping and food in general is like in Denmark. People here apparently consume a lot of open-faced sandwiches made with a variety of very dense breads, McDonald's (there are two or three in our city alone), pizza, and coffee/tea. In addition, everything is bought in small quantities. The only thing bought in bulk seems to be beer. A standard box of rice contains about 3 cups rice, enough for two dinners. We are trying to adapt our usual American shopping list to what we can find/afford in Denmark. The following is just a bit of Denmark food wisdom I've developed.

• Chicken: They have it! Chicken breasts are $5.00/pound on sale.
• Peanut Butter: It is a luxury here at $5.00 for a very small bottle.
• Yogurt: Is very yummy and tastes homemade. I can't recall the price.
• Baking Soda: I haven't found it yet. Anyone have any cookies recipes that don't reguire baking soda? I did find baking powder and yeast (which is very very smelly) though.
• Cookies: A bag of cheap store-brand wafer cookies goes for $4.00 here in DK.
• Apples: So scruptious and juicy here.
• Carrots: I got a steal of a deal (for real) at the farmers markets for $3.00 a bunch. They are very good.
• Juice: Very expensive. I have yet to break down and buy it. It is all bottled or boxed. No frozen juice concentate here.
• Milk: We are big milk drinkers, but appparently the Danes don't drink much of it, as it is only sold in liters. Milk is very good here. We buy it at about $1.00 a liter. So you math whizzes out there can figure what it would be for a gallon.

Hope that this wasn't too boring of post. I've got to go find something to eat now. Anyone else hungry?

• Our first flight out of Utah was delayed, so we missing our connecting flight at the Newark, NJ airport.
• The airlines in Newark put us up in a hotel that night.
• We got to the airport the next day in plenty of time to make our flight. BUT...had trouble locating our checked baggage. THEN...Jacob and I got separated. We finally found each other. Then we had about 10 minutes to get through security and on our flight. We were all running and Ben and Liz were crying.
• We rushed on the plane just in time and got settled. Then they announced that there was engine trouble with our plane and that we needed to exit the plane and get on another one.
• We waited for an hour or so at the airport and then loaded onto the new airplane.
• Once we were on that plane, we had to wait another hour to get a clearance for our take-off.
• Our flight to Germany was fine, and we picked up our luggage and rental car without any problems. Then we drove four hours to Denmark and got checked into the guest house here in Roskilde.

More of our adventures to come. We miss and love you all!!!

I just wanted to let you know a few of the things that happened this week.

• On Monday I spent three hours digging up dandelion weeds (part of our managing job), only to wake up on Tuesday to more. Spent half an hour on Tuesday, and then woke up to more on Wednesday. Then my dad told me that you have to spray them to get rid of them and that two more come up after you dig up one. So I've quit!
• I sorted through yet another part of our house (a job that seems to never end) and boxed up a good portion of the kids room.
• My parents (Brenda and Kerry) came to help Wednesday and Thursday and we all made a huge dent with our moving plans. We took four loads to our storage unit with my dad's truck. It was so wonderful to get to see them. We said our goodbyes to my parent's on Thursday, which was pretty emotional. For anyone who doesn't know, my parents are going to be serving a mission in the Pocatello Idaho area for one year, and we will be in Denmark for one year.
• Amidst all this activity, I took Ben and Liz to the dentist and the doctor for routine exams before we leave the country and went to the chiropractor.
• On Thursday I went to Ogden for my niece Sunnie's bridal shower and visited with her family. It was a great night.
• We got up early on Friday to take Ben to get two small cavities filled at the surgical center. One of those small cavities turned out to be a toddler root canal, and they doctor also found one more cavity to fill in addition to the others. Poor guy!
• Jacob spent all day Friday in Salt Lake getting Process Burner Operation Training. I sorted through the kids clothes a second time.

So step by step we are getting ready to leave the country and make our big move to Denmark. It has been a wild ride so far and is only getting wilder. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Roskilde, Denmark (where we will live)

Jacob is in the middle of getting his doctorate degree in chemical engineering at BYU. As part of his research/schooling, he will work with Dong Energy and Risø National Laboratory in Denmark for one year. He will take measurements in power plants. All of this work is focused on replacing fossil fuels (coal) with biomass (straw and wood chips) and waste in power and heat generation. Biomass is a CO2 neutral fuel.

We are all flying out on May 5th. Our Baby #3 will be born there. We are nervous about all the different adjustments of being in a new country, but we are also grateful for this opportunity to grow and see a different part of the world.

So Benjamin has been playing make-believe lately. He likes it best when he can combine all of his favorite characters and become Mr. Woody/Kung Fu Panda/Shrek. The other shots are after Jacob got the urge to cram one of my knee-highs over Ben's head. It was a bit quirky/freaky/funny. Jacob even fit the knee-high over his head, but that was way too scary to document.