Goodbye January!  I won't miss you a bit.  The almost daily doctors appointments, dark days without sun, the ice storm, strep throat, ER, MRI, gray and black snow, do not make me long for you. January I bid thee farewell and say..GOOD RIDDANCE!

Kindle

While in the city of Hämeenlinna, we went to the birth house of Jean Sibelius.  It really is a simple museum--he was not born into wealth.  His father was a doctor, but died when Jean was very young.  The family was then forced to leave that home and move in with his maternal grandmother.  Jean was originally discouraged by his family to pursue a musical career (i.e. find a career that pays!!), but they changed their minds and supported him as he showed such promise.  It was inspiring to see one of his pianos with the Finlandia score perched on it, while his beautiful music played in the background.  The guide even let our family tinker on the grand piano that was set up for concerts in the living room.  I plunked out the right hand of Be Still My Soul--but wished that my more talented cousins could have been there in my stead!  

A real moat!!!!

I don't know why, but I have always been fascinated with moats.  When I found out that Finland had several castles I was determined that we visit one.   I was ecstatic to see the moat--though it didn't seem all that forbidding with the seemingly shallow water and ducks floating by.  The Häme castle in  Hämeenlinna  was, well, awesome.  It was probably first constructed in the 14th century.  It was a very beautiful red brick structure as you can see.  I hadn't ever imagined red brick castles--but it is a sight to see against the blue sky.    It did conjure up images from Ranger's Apprentice!

King's Chamber

Queen's Room

Door to King's room as seen from inside the courtyard

Two cute page boys

Super steep stairs--can you imagine running up and down these without  a light helping you  to see?

Boats, Trains, and More

Our modes of transportation in Finland were widely different from our SUV at home.  It was boy heaven--we rode trains, ferry boats, sailboats, buses, and planes.  It was all fun for us--but I did have a big smile on my face when I hopped in my own car the first day back to go to Wal-Mart.

Traffic Park in Finland----super duper fun--and one of the only free activities we found.  We went back several times!

Sailing with Spencer's colleague Hekke

Ferry boat to Vikinsaari--An island 20 minutes away by boat with beaches, mini golf and  nature trails in the forest.

I love this train!

We flagged down buses like this almost daily.  Here, we are on our way home from church.

Helsinki Temple

We visited some very beautiful and interesting churches in Finland.  For us, the highlight was the LDS temple in Espoo--just outside of Helsinki.  On the outside, the landscaping compliments the dense forests and lush greenery of Finland.  On the inside, it was beautiful (of course!).  The temple also had a nice guest house where families can stay during a temple trip.  They also let you use the guest house facilities for day trips.  It worked out great for us--so that our whole family could spend time at the temple.  This was Leah's first time to go to the temple.  She and Anna did baptisms for the dead and Spencer was able to baptize them.  Anna brought some names of our ancestors for the baptisms.   It was a wonderful day--and thanks to the Golds and others that made the day possible!

Churches

In Tampere, we lived almost next door to the most famous Lutheran cathedral in Finland.  It was a safe haven during their  civil war and it is home to artwork from one of the most renowned Finnish artists.  We enjoyed visiting it several times--and we often walked through the property on our way to shopping areas.  I made a point of visiting just about every church possible--mostly Lutheran. 

I don't know the significance of young boys helping an angel--but I  know some  mighty fine  cub scouts that  showed considerable kindness yesterday at day camp.

The guide explained that the garland represents the burdens that we carry in this world--and each boy chooses to carry  his responsibilities in a unique way.  There were twelve boys around the room--but she did not know why they were all naked.

We enjoyed a couple of organ concerts--WOW!  The sound was incredible. Unfortunately, we will always remember the organ concert which ended with a sprained ankle.

Greek Orthodox church

Inside the Greek Orthodox church--the whole place glittered in gold.

Helsinki Lutheran church

O Finlandia!

Our family recently returned from a wonderful trip and work experience (Spencer) in Finland.  I never ever ever thought we'd take our family overseas...but we did it!  I'm not the most faithful blogger (e.g. my last post was Thanksgiving time of last year), but readers, if you are still out there, Finland is worth blogging about!  So, here's my first installment.

Two excited boys at the airport!

We left for Finland two days after school ended.  It was a hectic last week of school!  Spencer had already been there for  3 1/2 weeks, but he returned for a few days to help get us all over there.  He told us to pack shorts and a light jacket.  Well, when we got there, we admired the beautiful tulips and lilacs.  It was definitely tulip and lilac weather--and we quickly found a thrift shop so we could purchase pants and coats.  Brrr!  I don't think that we ever got to see a 70 degree day.  However, we did have some very lovely days that came close.  And, we caught on to the European style of scarf wearing--they come in handy year round over there.

Turkeys!

I have been teaching preschool for Alex's friends this year. It has been SUPER fun for all of us. We have the best kids in the group--and just the right number of them. Today, we had a bit of a crazy day, but at the end we had adorable hats and shirts to show off! Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween

Last year we happened to stop by Kmart right after Halloween. It was a brilliant move. The kids got to pick out some fun costumes at a super discount price. I wish I had remembered to go again this year!
Note: Anna is not pictured because she said she was TOO OLD. :(
However, it was fun to have her help pass out the candy, and she did dress up as Hermione for school.

Alex's Language Sample

Here's an old favorite of ours...Here is the Beehive.
Our baby reminds us all of the time that he is "not a baby! I'm a big boy!" And he's right. He tested this summer with high scores on his language skills. Unfortunately, that means no more services for Alex--not even an IEP is in order. I have mixed feelings about that-but I'm elated at his progress. I didn't think we'd arrive at this point so quickly! Here are some short language samples.

Alex's Language Sample Continued

Here is the Bunny!

Spring pictures

Lost and Found

On Valentine's Day I took my boys to play group and then came home and set my keys on the counter. That was a Monday. On Tuesday, I could not find my keys. I looked around for them some and assumed that they would soon show up. On Wednesday, I hunted up and down and around and under and over and finally Lance reminded me to pray about it. I did. I then went out to lunch with a friend that I am lucky to visit teach (our church asks all the women to visit each other once a month--so each woman is assigned 2 or three people to visit.) We had a great time visiting over some yummy Chinese food. Then, at the end I told her the sad story of my keys. She told me about the time that she had lost her work keys. She remembered coming home from the grocery store and putting things away, but her keys went missing at the time. They were missing for 2 weeks! Then, one day she opened the freezer--and there they were, next to the frozen peas. Well, I got home from our lunch date and decided I'd better look again for my keys. I remembered her story and also remembered that the kids had played with the play-dough they took home from play group as soon as we got home that day. I decided to check in the play-dough cookie cutter bucket--and there they were! Victory! I called my sister to spread my joy and she quipped, "Aren't you glad you didn't save your visiting teaching until the end of the month!"


About two months ago, one of Alex's rechargeable batteries for his cochlear implants came up missing. Our family searched and searched for it. We read the parable of the woman that searches diligently for her coin and then we prayed and searched and searched. No battery. I figured it would turn up eventually. Well, weeks passed and it didn't turn up. Finally, I told Spencer after about 8 weeks that we should just buy another one. I figured it was about $50 for a new one, but that we really needed it. The next day, I got online to order a new one and discovered, to my horror, that that sucker was $213. I called Spencer on the phone and told him that we were finding that battery--that night. So, our family tried again. We prayed again. We tore my room apart. We looked under dressers and beds in the boys room. Then Anna went in my bathroom and....found it! It was on a small counter that was cluttered with lots of tools for our reconstruction project. Hooray for Anna! Hooray for everyday miracles!

Changes

In December I was released from Primary and I now serve in the nursery and as the Wolf den leader in cub scouts. This has been a big change for me. I sure miss Primary, but I'm also really enjoying these new spots. I had thought that losing the responsibilites I had as Primary President would free up my schedule. However, that has not been the case. I am constantly amazed at how busy life can be. I think it just comes with having older children. We hosted Spencer's family for 3 weeks while they waited out the radiation in Japan--they live on the naval base there. It was very fun to have them--but the house always seemed to be shaking with the 9 children we had running around. My sister-in-law was a great help and seemed to be amused by all of our comings and goings. Now that summer vacation starts tomorrow, we're ready for another change. Hopefully, a nice relaxing one!

0-5dB

Last Wednesday we took Alex to the audiologist for a mapping appointment. He was very helpful this time in completing the listening tasks. Six more months of maturity went a long way! At the end of the session, we went into the sound booth for a speech recognition test. My little baby (2 1/2 years old) could repeat back words that were 0-5dB. Now, 15dB is the threshold for normal hearing. I was amazed that my little man could repeat back words that were so incredibly soft. Wow! Life is good.

What The Heck?

Alex came to me last week with some ripped up crepe paper and said, "What the heck?" I laughed and wondered who was using that phrase around the house. It also warmed my heart-not that my goal is to teach my children slang--but that he learned from overhearing. We were warned when he was an infant that deaf children have language delays because they are not able to learn from overhearing. Well, it seems that Alex overhears quite a lot, especially if someone says the magic "treat" word. I also caught him singing Jingle Bells two days ago. Aren't cochlear implants great?

Thanksgiving

I convinced the family that Moab at the end of November would be THE PERFECT TIME to visit. We had tried a brief stop in July on our way back from Texas, but we all thought we were going to die from the heat when we got out at Hole 'n the Rock. So, this Thanksgiving we packed bikes, fruit roll-ups, and coats and headed to the picture-perfect Arches National Park. It turns out that this was very brave of our family because there was a man-hunt and record cold temperatures. We bundled up and never ran into a guy with a bullet hole in his leg. We had a great time. The weather, of course, warmed up right after our trip. In fact, if this keeps up, we're going to have to do some yard work!

Texas Trip

Our Texas adventure is over--the laundry is done, the chigger bites are disappearing and now we just need to remember to develop our photos! We took 12 days on our road trip which included Carlsbad Caverns, a family reunion, the American Girl Doll store, visits with two sets of grandparents and a visit to our old ward in Bryan. We had a wonderful visit and we were actually not in a hurry to get home (usually I get homesick after a week or so.) Here are a few photos from our trip.
1) Carlsbad Caverns--nice to feel a little cool in July! Very exciting to see all of the stalactites, stalagmites, popcorn, columns, etc.
2)Mile High Strawberry Pie with Sandi!
3) Wilson Arch --a quick hike off the highway to a beautiful arch. Note--flip flops not recommended!
4) American Girl Doll Store--Note how nice Kaya looks after her $20 hair do! The girls saved and saved for this event. We topped it off with dessert at the bistro. Very fun day--too expensive to do again anytime soon!

My dear friend

About 3 years ago, I found out that one of my best friends, Karen, had cancer. It was scary and we just hoped and prayed that the worst would not happen, but it did. She died June 18, 2010. I've been missing her this past month, and I know that will continue. I have found that it's easy to make casual friends, but true bosom friends are harder to come by. Karen and I met in Texas at church. We quickly hit it off and shared a lot of late nights laughing as we worked on projects for church. After we moved, she and I called each other every few weeks--mostly on Sundays --to catch up. I miss her a lot on Sunday afternoons now, and I'm missing her tonight. Karen loved me and my family and we all loved her back. Here's a photo of me and my buddy from last summer. Love you Karen!

The tonsil pictures you've been dying to see!

Warning: These pictures are a little gross!
We have learned that getting tonsils out is PAINFUL! Anna is very brave, but earaches that last for 10 days are hard to deal with!
Note the before and after pictures!