Mmmmmm...

Fresh peaches with vanilla yogurt.

They've left :(

My aunts and uncles left early this morning to go back to Finland. I'm so glad they were able to come and visit us.
On Saturday we all went out to breakfast and then all the girls and kids went up American Fork Canyon for a drive. It was so pretty. There was about every shade of yellow and orange. My pictures aren't very good. It was PRETTY.


We stopped by the river for a bit to let the kids play and to smell the fresh mountain air.

Addie did NOT like being in this thing. She told me she was too old for such contraptions.

Ollie, my mom, and Marketta

Elliott, Ollie and Sinika

Ilmi, Essi, and Sini

Now she's happy! She thought the mountains had delicious rocks and dirt.

This was the van my mom rented to drive everyone around in for the 2 weeks. I thought I got a picture of the whole thing but you really can't see all of it. It seated 10 comfortably. It was big.

Marketta and Addie

On Sunday we had a dutch oven dinner at my mom's. It was very yummy. There were just some beautiful moments on our last night that I will always remember: My uncle Seppo playing catch (koppa) with my nephew Ollie; my aunt Marketta teaching Elli the Finnish words of things; everyone laughing at Addie as she babbled and laughed and smiled and marched all over the room; my uncle Kalevi starting to cry when we all were hugging goodbye (that made us all start to cry); my aunt Ilmi telling me "Sina something tule something Suomi." The three words I understood were "you, come, and Finland" and I love that she told me that in Finnish. I could just feel the love from everyone. I LOVE them all! 15 years is WAY too long not to see them. I don't know how my mom does it. Living so far away from her family. She is very strong. We will definitely have to plan a trip to visit them soon.

Ben's getting excited for Halloween

He drew this picture on the computer. (Well, I helped with the bat and pumpkin. He couldn't figure out how to draw them.) The yellow things in the tree are glowing eyes.

Weekly menu board

So, I know I am a nerdy nerd. I love to make lists of things. I have lists of ideas of what I could for dinner, then I have my list of groceries to buy for my dinners, and I have my list of what I'm going to make for dinner each day. (Of course there are those weeks when I don't plan and don't have anything to make for dinner.) But I just couldn't resist making this for our super saturday over the weekend. These boards always look like fun when I see them in restaurants. So now my weekly list is a little bigger than before but I'm excited to put it to use.

Future vegetarian?

I was telling Ben that hot dogs are made out of pigs and he gave a gross look and said:
"I been eatin' pig?!"

A family visit

I don't know if I've just been too busy or just super lazy but I haven't felt like journaling lately. My Finnish relatives came late on Friday night. Saturday we went to my mom's and had a dinner with everyone. I got a little choked up when I first saw everyone! I can't believe it has been 15 years since I've seen them. That is WAY too long. I was 16 when I went there last and the last time one of my aunts and uncles came here to America was 20 years ago. (One of my cousins, Maija, who is not here this trip, came for a summer 10 years ago.)

On Sunday we had a mini Thanksgiving dinner to show them what we eat during that holiday.

Here is my cousin Essi and her mom Maarit. Essi was 1 year old when I went to Finland last. Next to them is my American niece Stacey. Essi and Stacey are 1 month apart in age. By the way, Essi speaks English very well and sometimes has to be the interpreter when my mom isn't nearby.

Here are my uncles, Seppo, my moms younger brother and the husband of Maarit, then my mom's sisters husband, Kalevi, and my moms older brother Eero. (pronounced like 'arrow' with a rolled 'r')

Essi, Maarit, me, Stacey, my mom, my 'little' brother Mike in the front, my sister Lisa, her husband Troy, and my brother-in-law Adam. Addie on the floor in front.

Everyone loves Addie because she doesn't know any languages yet so they can just say whatever they want to her and she doesn't understand anyway.

Here is my uncle Eero, his wife Ilmi and my aunt Marketta (my mom's only sister). In the back is my step-dad and my sister Lisa and Troy. Every once in a while everyone pulls out their cameras and we all take pictures of each other.

On Monday all the Finnish girls (Essi, Maarit, Marketta, and Ilmi) and me and my mom and my sister Sinika (and our kids) went to the mall to go shopping. All the guys (Seppo, Eero, Kalevi and my step-dad) went to a tool store and then out to eat lunch at Golden Corral. I would love to have been there and seen how that all went down because all my uncles speak ZERO English and my step-dad speaks ZERO Finnish. Ha ha! I just wonder how he explained to them that you go back again and again to fill up your plate. Hee hee.

Then, Tuesday me and my kids went again to my mom's house after dinner to visit. My sister Lisa was leaving then next day so I wanted to see her one last time before she left.

It's been really fun to hang out with everyone. Essi speaks English very well and my Aunt Ilmi speaks pretty good so we can figure out ways to communicate. I have said anything that I could when I have known the Finnish words for it thanks to my neighbor Jessi who just told me to "DO IT". :) And we always have the 'sanakirja' handy. (dictionary)
Today my mom and all the Finns started driving down to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and a few southern Utah sites. So my kids can get better sleep for a few days until they get back. Then it's back to visiting every night! I love it!

Anteeksi, puhutteko suomea?

I'm trying to teach myself Finnish. I'm trying to study my book/CD set every day. I have 3 sets of aunts and uncles coming to visit this Friday! (They are staying at my mom's house, not mine.) So of course, I can't do anything unless it's last minute, so I just started this week. He, he. They will be here for 2 weeks. I know I'm probably not going to be able to hold a conversation with any of them with my last minute studying but I'm hoping that maybe I'll be able to guess a very small portion of what they are talking about. My title above is from my book and it says, "Excuse me, do you speak Finnish?" When really I should be learning how to say, "Excuse me, do you speak English? Because I won't be able to communicate if one of us doesn't." Oh my goodness! Why haven't I been studying for the 10 years of my adult life? I have always known that I have family who doesn't speak English, why have I not put all my efforts into learning their language so that I can hold a conversation with them? I'll probably do my best learning after they are gone. It's like when someone comes over unexpectedly and my house is a mess. I'm so embarrassed, that when they leave I clean everything up the way it should have looked before they came, but by then it's too late. Voi, voi, voi! (Oh dear!)

I swear they're not mating...

These were on my computer desk today. Elli just has this thing about stacking her toys. She does it all the time and she's done it since she was little. She seriously knows nothing about animals mating (as far as I know) she just likes to organize and put things in size order. But we are often suprised with different stacked scenes. At least this one was all the same animal...