Picachu and Harry Potter

This and That

So, as you've noticed, we've been absent awhile. Partly because life's been busy, but partly because we haven't had a camera lately. Chris sold his and we haven't gotten around to getting a new one. And when you don't have good pictures to share, blogging isn't as compelling. But, here's some iphone shots of the past little while. 

We are leaving for the USofA in exactly one month from yesterday!!! We are so excited about it. I've been taking a couple classes this past semester, so my focus has been a little distracted, but when I realized yesterday there was only one month left, I started feeling a little giddy! It's supposed to rain here for the next 2 weeks. So, I think we'll be good and ready to leave this crazy, unpredictable Swedish summer weather behind and enjoy a dry, hot, summer in UTAH!!!!

Easter (yes, kids dress up like cute little witches during Easter's)

Giving out samples of American Pancakes and Maple Syrup at the local grocery market. 

Cool, eh?

Annual Secretary Training Meeting in Frankfurt! 

Sofia's gymnastik show

Birthday Party Fun! 

Emmy knows exactly what Daddy likes (should I be worried that my 3 year old strips every night before falling asleep?! She never has her pajamas on in the morning, and it's not even warm yet?! She's done this for awhile...)

My exciting new calling...YW!!!!! I love it! 

Emmy's 3!!!

Our sweet little baby has turned 3!!! I can't believe it! She is such a hilarious little girl and brings a much needed balance to our little family! We love our Emmy!

Some before and after shots of some of our projects

backyard when we first moved in summer 2010

backyard now 2012

basement before

basement before

basement after

basement after

Split our room into two - first stage

second stage

finished product - Samuel's new room! 

Sisters....sisters...there were never such devoted sisters...

(name that movie)

I was looking through some pictures I took on my phone the other day and found these. These two little girls are pretty good friends and like to take care of each other. It's heart-warming to see.

Our Christmas :)

There are way too many pictures I wanted to share and talk about, but don't have hours to sit in front of the computer to put each one up and describe and explain, so instead you get a slideshow of our past month.

A short synopsis: We had a great Christmas! My sister and two brothers came out and spent 10 relaxing, refreshing days together. Having my family around made me realize how much I love them. Being in a foreign country for so long, I've gotten used to feeling like the "outsider", but every time I get together with my family, it makes me realize once again who I am and where I come from and gives me a sense of belonging that I haven't felt in awhile. They are my roots, my people, they speak my language, share my humor, and it's nice to feel that every now and then!

While they were here, we were able to go on to the shark museum, play games, run a 10K, grill hotdogs in the forest, see the fireworks, watch movies, eat ourselves silly, go out for pizza and just plain relax! I loved every minute of it and I will be eternally grateful that they came out here to see us.

The first couple nights after they left, Samuel kept saying he missed them so much and would lay awake in his bed crying because of it. Luckily we'll be out there this summer. When they left, it felt more like a see-ya-later, than a good-bye. I love my family dearly and feel lucky that I get to be an Alder!

ps. not all the pictures in the slideshow are from when they were here. Some are from before and some after. (and sorry I don't have time to explain them all)

Christmas2012

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!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-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!