September/October

Seriously, I don't know where time goes! Sorry I don't have time to write down and explain things, but a picture is worth a thousand words, right?! So, if you click on the link below, you'll see what's been going on in our lives...Enjoy!

http://family.webshots.com/slideshow/581726659bHVMmi

Sofia-isms

Sofia: Mom, look a snail in the middle of the sidewalk!

Me: Hmm…

Sofia: Do you think I should pick it up and kiss it?

Me: If you want to, but it looks kind of dirty to me.

Sofia: Oh, but I already did kiss it. Should I put him back?

Me: Ya, but maybe you should put it back in the grass so no one will step on it.

Sofia: Mom, I put him on his back, so he couldn’t move.

Me: Why did you do that?

Sofia: Because he’s a snail, and snails move very slowly and I put him in the grass and if I would’ve put him the right way, he would’ve crawled out back on the road and then if someone came they would step on him because he wouldn’t be able to move so quickly!

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We had watched a short clip out of a movie where the parents of a one year old baby get in a car accident and leave their child in care of close friends. Samuel was a bit troubled by it.

Samuel: But, think mom, if you and dad died…who would take care of us?

Me: Good question. I think Grandma and Grandpa would be good at taking care of you guys.

Samuel: But, they live in America.

Me: Ya, that’s right. Maybe you guys would have to move to America.

Sofia: (all excited!) Ya, and if you and dad died and we had to move to America to live with Grandma and Grandpa, could we watch a movie on the plane?

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Me: Sofia, do you hear those church bells?

Sofia: Ya. Is that our church?

Me: No, that’s the church over there. It’s Ida’s church.

Sofia: So, does Ida go to church ever?

Me: Sometimes.

Sofia: Why not all the time?

Me: Her mommy and daddy just decided that.

Sofia: But it’s good to go to church a lot.

Me: I think so too. Maybe someday you could invite Ida to come with us.

Sofia: No, I don’t think she’d like that. She doesn’t know any of the songs or the people and I don’t think she’d have fun.

Me: But, don’t you have fun at church.

Sofia: No.

Me: Oh, okay.

After a couple minutes of silence Sofia: How did we start talking about this anyway?

Me: About what?

Sofia: About this with churches?!

Stories

The kids told these stories two years ago. I had written them down, and found them only again today as I was going through old files on the computer. Hilarious! Dripping with personality!

-Samuel Malm-

Once upon a time there were 4 turtles…Leonardo ,Rafael, Donotelo, and Michaelangelo. There were no more turtles. Master Splinter came and there were tons of super heroes. The Ninja Turtles said, ”who are you?” Then they were walking and walking and finally they saw a big balloon and they made a hole and fell in the balloon and couldn’t get out. But then the 4 Ninja Turtles finally climbed out.

Then a dinosaur came when they were walking home. It was a t-rex, so they got all their weapons and killed him. But, all of a sudden there were many t-rex’s and they pushed a rock on top of the turtles and the 4 ninja turtles got their heads hurt. And Michaelangelo said, ”ouch dude, that hurt. I want a pizza. That rock looks like a pizza.” So, he went home and made pizza out of the rock. So, he ate it, but here was poison in the rock, so poison came in him, but he didn’t even die!

Then a stegosaurus dinosaur came and Michalangelo screamed and ran away because he was scared. Then the t-rex came and he ran as fast as he could, but the trex was faster and opened his mouth and almost tasted him, but michealangelo took some rope and tied up his mouth. But, the trex was so strong he broke through it. So, michaelngelo ran fast. Then Donotelo came and Rafael said he would take the mouth and Micahelagelo would tie up his legs up. So they did and they won.

The End.

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-Sofia Malm-

Once upon a time, there was a princess named Wilma because that’s a girl. Then a dinosaur came but it didn’t get the princess because she was at home and the door was locked. So, the dinosaur didn’t ate the princess. And that’s the end.

(notice there was a dinosaur in sofia's story as well. It's just that Princess Wilma was so smart (her being a girl and all) that she simply went into her house and locked the door. End of story! Hilarious!)

Late 4th of July post

Just thought I'd share this picture of our fam taken on the 4th of July. :) Unfortunately Chris doesn't have an American Flag shirt. We'll have to have Grandma send us one next year! (gotta love Wallmart specials!)

Midnattsloppet

This 10K race weaves in and out of downtown Gothenburg and was the funnest 10K I've ever done. The Midnattsloppet (Midnight Race) started at 10:30pm, pitch black and in the pouring rain! At first the rain was bothersome, but after you're already soaked, you don't really feel it anymore. (I actually thought it had stopped raining until I looked up at the lamp post and saw it coming down faster than ever!) But, running in the rain is so refreshing and cools you right off.

Chris and I are fan's of the 10K run. As soon as it gets hard, it's over. I think I'm gonna stick to running 10K's from now on! No more long, strenuous, tiring, half-marathons! And it was fun doing it together (when I say together, I mean, we were there at the start together and then met up afterwards). There are about 14,000 runners, so it's quite big and is filled with energy the entire way. It was great! We are def. doing it next year!

After Race Pictures:

Goal was under 55 min and I got 54. (Next year, under 50)

Chris's goal was under 40min and he got 38!

(I promise those droplets on my head are rain and not sweat. Don't ask me why you can't see the rain on Chris's forehead.)

Cute little clip we put together yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSUMtTtBF14
(note: bussig=silly and kryp ut=crawled out. Sometimes we speak Swenglish)

Swedish Summer Update3

(Click on picture to come to slideshow)

Summer for us is now coming to an end. Chris has started work again this week, after a well deserved 4 week vacation and the kids start school next week. One thing that I love about Sweden is the long vacation you get. Swede's get 6 weeks paid vacation per year. Most take 4 in the summer (the month of July) and 2 during Christmas. It's WONDERFUL!!! This summer was a working-on-the-house summer. Although we didn't go anywhere exciting, we got A LOT done on the house (pictures to come). And the kids enjoyed a relaxed, long, summer. Although, the weather hasn't been all that summery here, every time the sun did shine, we dropped whatever we were doing and headed to the beach or the lake. It never got higher than 80F and is now already back down to high 60'sF! It already feels like Fall out there, which since moving to Sweden has become my new favorite season.

Anyway, here are some more pictures to enjoy. Chris's parents were here for a visit from Salt Lake and we enjoyed getting together with the family a little more often because of that. The second to last night they were here, we enjoyed a wonderful family gathering out on the islands with swimming, grilling, hiking and singing!

We miss our American family and wish so badly we could've come again this summer. Last summer was all too good. But, we're excited for Aunt Heidi and Uncles Dave and Steve to come out for Christmas!!!

Swedish Summer Update2

click on the picture to see a little slideshow of what we've been up to!

Beginners luck or skill?

A couple weeks ago, I had my first opportunity to go fishing. One a Saturday a month and whenever needed, Chris and I work extra as a Personal Assistant to a 68 year old fisherman. He was in a bike accident nearly 10 years ago which left him sitting in a wheel chair, totally paralyzed from his chest down. Obviously it has been adifficult transition for him as his entire life has needed to be readjusted. However, this past spring, he invested in a handicap-friendly motor boat and has been able to be out on the sea again since his accident. He has taken it a step further and has started a small sight-seeing business with his boat where he takes other wheel-chair-bound passengers on a tour of islands around Gothenburg. It's actually quite popular and the boat's big enough to fit 5 whee chairs!

So a couple weeks ago, I got to go on his boat with him as he took out 2 of his old buddies on a little fishing trip. Thinking, that spending the day on the ocean, fishing sounded quite easy and relaxing, I quickly told Chris I'd be more than happy to work this shift (since we're both employed, we can kind of just choose who goes. It's actually really nice). Little did I know that it was far from relaxing! Because I was the only passenger not in a wheel chair, I kept busy. From making sandwiches and coffee for everybody, to getting the bait, to pouring in more gas because we ran out, to opening the hatch to see what was wrong with the motor when the boat suddenly died. :( I even managed to throw up two times because of the choppy waters! However, amongst the running back and forth, I was able to actually catch 4 mackerel which we fried for dinner that night when we got home (at 10pm!). First time I've eaten mackerel. They're were really good!

Swedish Summer Update1

Last year Samuel and Sofia enjoyed swimming lessons for 2 weeks with sun everyday at the local pool across from grandma's house. This summer Samuel (Sofia's too young) is enjoying swimming lessons for 3 weeks in the rain everyday (minus maybe 2-3 days of slight sun) at the local beach 7 minutes away. I love that he is enjoying it just as much despite the warm-ups they have to do everyday so when they jump in the cold ocean water, they don't get muscle cramps, and despite having to bring a thermos of hot chocolate and sweatshirt so that after as they're shaking with blue lips, they won't freeze. :) Samuel has been quite the trooper!!! As has his 3 cousins who are in the same class. It's been a fun summer activity for them!

...some days can be like this one day...

...and this the next! So unpredictable!

Can you get more picturesque?! Have you ever "sauna-ed"? (noun: sauna. verb: sauna-ed.) The idea is to jump into the cold water, stay in until you're really cold, then jump out and run into the hot, nearly 160F sauna and warm yourself up, until you're dripping sweat instead of lake water and then do it all over again :). Despite the blue sky in this picture, it wasn't that warm outside, but I have to admit, I LOVED it. So did the kids. Well, all except Emmy who thought the heat-wave you felt from the moment you open the sauna door was too much and "Emmy not like hot". (She stayed in the water for a good half hour until her lips started turning blue and we made her sit in the sauna). It was fun though. First time in nearly 9 years of living here I've done this...definitely will not be the last.

This has summer written all over it! (It was just as good as it looks!!!)

Entrance and Kitchen done (pretty much)!!!

ENTRANCE

Before

After

KITCHEN:

Before

After

Here are projects number 2 and 3 done (and by done I mean, of course nearly done. Small boarders missing and loose cabling here and there! :)) Next two projects: Splitting our room into two so Samuel can have his own room, and our front yard (and when I say yard, I mean tiny spot in front of our house where we park our car). fun, fun...! (more pictures of the kiddies to come.)

click here to see progression and rest of Final Kitchen

2.01

Close to 60,000 signed up with high expectations. A mere 45,000 actually ran. Still one of the world's largest half-marathons! I crossed the finish line disappointedly two minutes over my goal. (Chris ironically finished 2 minutes quicker than planned with 1.28) :) Every time I run this race, I think it's the last time I'll do it. It's a tough race. Lots of ups and downs. The main thing that keeps me going is the crowd. This year, I might be serious. I might just stick with 10km races. Those are fun!

Make-up Fun

So, I have a make-up artist friend. She got a group together. Divided us into 4 teams. Had pictures and let us loose. Now, for someone who only wears make-up on Sundays (and even then, it's only eye-shadow and mascara), I have to admit, I was a bit intimidated by the smörgåsbörd of color and options on the table. However, i found myself slowly getting into it and having a lot of fun!


Our picture we had to recreate...



Final results...

(I had one with my eyes open, but it's too big and won't let me upload...:( )

Easter and BBQ's

I am in the YW presidency in our Stake and girls camp is just around the corner, so last Saturday we ladies in the presidency decided to have a little BBQ with our families at the place we'll be camping to scout it out and get some inspiration. It was great! I was reminded again how healthy being out in nature is. The kids LOVED being outdoors andit made Chris and I excited to take our kids camping this year!

For the first couple hours, Emmy refused to look up at anyone. She sat there either cuddled with mom, dad or staring at the ground with her "mad face" on. Finally, she warmed up and was the life of the party.

Someone brought fishing poles and the kids had a fun time "fishing" in the near-by swamp. They actually caught a little water lizard!

I forgot we had a couple more Easter pictures I never posted. After church on Easter Sunday the Easter Bunny had left some eggs in our backyard and the kids had a fun time finding all of them!

What kind of big sister would Sofia be if she didn't help shove huge chunks of chocolate in little Emmy's mouth?!

These dresses and Samuel's shirt was sent by grandma (of course!). The girl's LOVED the dresses and Samuel thought he looked pretty handsome in his new Easter shirt. These picture frames were also sent by grandma and grandpa last year for Easter. They've started a little tradition that each year they'll send a new little Jesus picture to put in the frame to remind the kids how special Easter is and how much Jesus loves them. (Emmy refused to hold her picture...she was too busy holding her purse and couldn't possibly hold both...).

I just had to add these two pictures as well. well. This is Emmy's bed-head. I love it! We'll be using these pictures for her wedding or some sort of blackmail someday. :) It just describes her to a tee.

again random!

So, again, time seems to move too quickly these days! Here is a quick update on our lives through pictures. Last week, I was in Frankfurt for a training meeting. I'm working 8 hrs/wk as a secretary for the CES coordinator and once a year all the secretaries in Europe have a training meeting! I look forward to this trip once a year. Hence, a couple German houses and the German Temple. Also, in connection to this trip, I was able to meet up with Chris in Berlin as our good friend was getting married. The family stepped in at the last minute to help with the kids and we were able to spend a wonderful couple days together down there. The other pictures are simply of different things we've been doing. Including Easter. The weather this week has been amazing! I think it even reached 70F today!!! We are basking in this sunlight and trying to soak up as much as we can, because we never know how long it'll last!

Anyway, hope everyone had a good Easter!

Emmy turns 2

Newborn

one year old

two years old

Wow, time flies!!! We celebrated Emmy's second birthday nearly 2 weeks ago. She turned two on the 12th of this month! Our little Emmy is getting big!! I've never had a two year old without being pregnant and I have to say, this age is A LOT more fun when I'm not dealing with morning sickness! Emmy is a complete mixture of her two older siblings. Somewhat easy-going, she's still got her will. She's easily comforted and loves cuddles. She's quick to laugh and is quite social! :) It's so fun for me to watch my children grow and get to know their little personalities. Two, Four and Six are perfect ages and I wish I could freeze time and keep my children at this age forever!