Things that I've been smiling about

Here are two whole months worth of smiles...

My parents

My parents a on their way to visit for the next 6 days. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I've been feeling all mushy about my parents and thought it would be appropriate to share that with...well, the internets.

I could go on and on and on about how much I adore my parents. I honestly don't think I could ask for better examples of joy, love, passion, sharing, forgiveness, honesty and dedication. The qualities that I most strive for are embodied in my parents. They love to laugh, and know how to laugh at themselves, but never at others. They have taught me to be thankful for all of my blessings, and to strive for greatness. They have given me the best example of a loving partnership in marriage that I could ask for. And besides all of that, they are seriously two of the coolest people I know.

It's been hard to have babies and not have my parents closer. There are so many little things that the girls do that I know my parents would love to see. I've been grateful that we have been able to get together 5 or 6 times a year, despite the fact that they live 1600 miles away. And, I keep scheming of ways to get them to move to Utah...it's not working quite yet.

I love this picture of my dad, before his first triathlon last week. My dad has been running marathons for decades. He has been the inspiration in the family for running, and now we all run, and we all love it. In true form to my father, when he decided to do a triathlon, he went straight to the big guns. Rather than starting with a sprint or Olympic distance, he started with a half-ironman. A 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. And, he did great! He beat his expected time by 20 minutes.

Well, now my lunch break is over and I'm about to cry thinking about how much I love my parents. Hooray - they'll be here just a few hours!

May Post

Dave's Birthday was in May. I told him we could do anything he wanted to. It was a testament of my love to him that I let him drag us down to Trafaga - in Orem, Utah - to play glow in the dark miniature golf.


Kirsti and Eliza were both visiting us in May, it couldn't have been more fun. They also love Dave, and went to Trafalga to play glow in the dark miniature golf on his birthday.


We made a failed attempt to put the girls in 'big girl beds'. We tried it because Helena Satu was climbing out of her crib. She was also climbing out of her clothes, which she continued to do when she was in her big girl bed. They are both now back in their cribs, with crib tents. Luckily, they love thier little 'crib forts'. And, luckily, they are sleeping during nap time again.

We went to the living traditions festival, here's a picture of me and my little ladies.

Dave has started playing every Saturday at the coffee shop around the corner from our house. It's from 3:00 - 6:30 every week at NoBrow coffee. If you want to hear some pretty music, you should come over. Here the girls watching Dave play.

My mom sent these cute little pajamas and the girls love them! Sofia Annukka wants to wear the pink skirt every single day, no matter what else she has on.

And just a quick family photo:

The May monthly ladies dinner was our best attended one yet. And we were so so lucky because Eliza played us beautiful music. If you haven't already checked out my sister-in-law's music, you will definitely want to. You can download her on iTunes, or you can look her up at http://www.elizawrenpayne.com/.

April Post

So, it's been months since I've actually posted a real update.

We've had birthdays (Dave and mine), mother's day, father's day, the arrival of summer, the visits of Eliza, Kirsti and Seppo. It's been a great couple of months.

In order to be fair to all of the months, let me start with April :)

Mexico with David - Once again, my parents were gracious enough to watch the girls so that Dave and I could have a little get away to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Romance, margharitas and the beach. It was literally the best vacation of my life.

Then, when we got back to my parents, and I ran the Nashville Country Music Marathon with my family. It was so much fun. And, please note that I ran the marathon in my new 'Twilight' shirt (thanks Mik & Tiff - it's my favorite new shirt!) I was uber popular among the junior high cheerleading teams that were every mile or so along the course. I got to run the actual race with my mama. I absolutely loved the chance to talk with her as we ran. I am amazed my how awesome my mom is, and also let me tell you - she is tough as NAILS!

Once we were back, we also had a wonderful time seeing my parents, my brother Mik and his family, and Kirsti, who returned from Guatamala while we were in Mexico. Thanks family!

If you missed it...

You can catch the podcast of the show on this link:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuer/news/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1518751/news/61709.Red.Bennies

The beginning of the show has a panel of local music experts, and then about 15 or 20 minutes in, they start talking to Dave. I heart the Red Bennies.

Listen up!

Dave and I are playing on our local NPR radio station tomorrow. You can listen to it live on the website www.kuer.org. The show we're playing on is called RadioWest with Doug Fabrizio.

Both Red Bennies and Glinting Gems are playing, starting at 11:00 am Mountain Standard time.

Fun, fun. Tune in.

Pic of the day...