finnish christmas in the house!

i miss finland so much - especially the food. tonight we had some friends over and i decided to prepare some joulutortut and we drank some glögi. it was so swell. and i was so happy to find some plum jam from a german market in salt lake yesterday!

mm m. finland, i miss you.

an addition to the family!

on tuesday, we received a healthy and perfect 7 pound baby into our family. we couldn't be happier! oh the bliss. (and i'm talking about my canon 5D mark II, just in case you're wondering!)

expect some new photographs SOON.

a few fall frames

the coolest kids on the block

...that's naturally referring to us. and why, some might ask. well, because we have an indoor s'mores campfire!!! 

we went a wee bit crazy when thomas' family was visiting, and could not resist this little miracle when it presented itself to us at sam's club. we have already camped out on our living room floor twice, and i must say... best.thing.ever.

housewife!

thomas' family is coming to visit us for a week today! and i am SOOOOOOO excited! in fact, so excited that i decided to be a good housewife today, and baked a pumpkin spice cake (recipe found here). our house smells uh-ma-zing, and now we just have to wait for a few more hours until we get to see lisa, tom, and nick! i hope this week will never end! 

oui oui pariiis - the trip that didn't go as planned in any way

oh boy, this will come like a month and a half late. but i still want to post it, since i already had it in my drafts, and well, i want to remember what was up.

well, on to our other vacation (on our vacation like my dear father-in-law would say)! since thomas served his mission in paris, it was kind of a given that we should go to paris on this trip. well, thomas had planned a wonderful road trip for us, and that plan included renting a car and driving to various cities along northern france. as it turned out, renting a car in europe - not an easy deal. so we ended up staying in paris for the whole time. in our nasty hostel, four nights in four different rooms. oh man! on the last night we had the wonderful (noooot) experience with bed bugs. i do not recommend trying that out. i still have nightmares of those. 

we had such a fun time with ruska and aki - they truly were our partners in crime! we spent such a joyous day in disneyland, filled with laughter and happiness - not to mention the awesome minnie mouse ears we got me (i still wanna just wear them each and every day). every day after disneyland seems like such a boring day. 

ruska almost got robbed in the metro, and the sketchy civil cops dragged them to the nearest police station to fill out some forms. we waited in line to go to the catacombs for three hours, and ended up being one of the last people who weren't let in. oh, but these things truly didn't stop us. we still had a blast, and i'd go back in a heartbeat. 

paris, the city of love! and randomness! we loved it.

life lately

can i just start by telling how awesome it is to be married to my husband? how he is the best friend and husband that anyone could ever find? i am so blessed! 

so, we've had quite a few little happenings lately. we moved into our new house (pictures coming up soon), started school (thomas' last semester wahooooo!), celebrated my birthday by going to the utah state fair (thomas also brought me breakfast to bed & made a surprise candle lit dinner on our porch!), and last friday we went camping to squaw peak! we had such a fun time making mac&cheese on our little camping stove, watching the sunset, cuddling up in our sleepingbag, and watching batman begins. i also took about a million pictures for an assignment for my photography class. i will share some of those here now! 

life is so good. i love it, and i feel like it loves me back. 

back!

i saw my dear, dear friend elena yesterday, and she reminded me of the importance of writing this thing even after the trip. i have truly been thinking about it - the problem has been that ideally a day would have at least 30 hours in it for me to get everything done! but now i am going to get better, and start posting again - probably more in pictures than in words. but i guess that's how it's always been. 

life is so good. school and work are keeping us busy, but we are loving the fact that thomas doesn't have to work during evenings anymore: it just means more time we get to spend together! we have enjoyed our new house thoroughly, and it is finally in the point where it doesn't feel like house, but like a home. it is so so nice to finally have a living room! and a bedroom! and a guestroom (not to mention big closets, a bed, and a couch)! after a year of a small studio, you start appreciating these little things in life a bit more :D 

i will be back soon with some pictures!

back in utah

hey guys!
we are back in utah, and just got our last box unpacked...so we are officially moved in. and now trying to get the internet to our new, gorgeous home.
i will be back soon!

bits & pieces of berlin

oh, i don't know where to start - it's been too long since i blogged last!  ever since then, we have gone to two different countries, and now we are preparing to go back to utah next tuesday. but first things first - berlin!

so, our anniversary and thomas' birthday was on the 5th of august, and as a surprise i flew us out to berlin! i had planned this trip about 6 months ago, and it took every bit of me to keep it as a secret from thomas. finally, the day before i revealed to thomas that we will be going somewhere the next day. i had packed our bags, and just told him to bring his hand luggage along. we woke up at 4am, and drove to the airport, and after our security check thomas finally started guessing where we were going! needless to say, i was pretty proud of my secret keeping skills at that point ;)

we spent four perfect days in berlin, just walking around and eating great brunches and lunches. our anniversary/thomas' birthday was just perfect - thomas got me the most gorgeous infinity bracelet, we went to get dinner at an indian restaurant in prentzlauer berg, and got some birthday cake at anna blume. and we enjoyed our time to the fullest.

no sound but the wind

can i just say how much i love the finnish summer cabin culture? well, we were reminded of this last night when we drove to my uncle's place, in the middle of nowhere in ristiina (where my mama grew up) and got to spend a fantastic night at the cabin with my cousins and uncle. we grilled, went boating in the lake for a little bit, swam, went to the sauna, and sat on the porch til late at night. it was amazing to hear nothing but the wind. a complete peace of mind. i love visiting that cabin - it has such many memories in it. i always remember how i used to go rowing with my grandma, and how we went through this tunnel that was on the way. we used to spend hours in the water with my cousins, and at least as much in the sauna. 

it was an absolutely perfect night. i wish we could go back again before we leave! mmmmmmmm.

the rest of kuopio in a few pictures

about my adorable husband...

today.... thomas finally shaved his beard!!! i have been waiting for this day for over a month now, and let me tell you how good it feels to kiss a husband that has a chin as soft as a baby's tushy!

anyhow, during his shavings this morning, thomas came to me and had a weird grin on his face. it took me a while to realize that that little minx had left his mustache....oh my. it's impossible to look at that face without laughing!


luckily, the mustache is all gone now, and my man is all shaved. thank you.

puijo tower!

we drove up to kuopio to visit henna and antti yesterday, and what a fun day it has been today! we have been chilling (=watching the olympics like crazy), enjoying the great weather, and tonight we went up to the puijo tower to see some pretty views of kuopio. it was fun, and windy - as you can see in the prego belly pictures. too bad henna's the only one of us who will actually have one of those in a few months ;) hihi, that has been one of the biggest surprises of the summer! oh boy!

these visits to henna's place always remind me (in mari's words) of the beauty of a lifelong friendship. henna and i have been friends since diapers, and we have one of those rare relationships where we can go months without talking with each other, and still feel like we just hung out the day before when we finally do talk or meet. we always understand each other, and now our hubbies just laugh at how similiar we are. especially being in utah has made me appreciate the gift of this kind of friendship so much - there i have learned that it is not everyday when people get to experience something like this. i can honestly say that i have the most amazing people around me. i feel so blessed. 

tomorrow we'll go and visit my grandpa & uncle. it's always fascinating to go there, since grandpa loves to tell his stories to thomas - and of course he doesn't know a word of english. i try my best to keep up with his stories and translate all sorts of war words. i love ukki, and i am so glad that we get to still go and visit him while we're here. i am also glad that my uncle is still doing alright - he was diagnosed with a brain tumor when we came here, and now he has patiently been waiting for a call to go and get it removed. he and his family are such champs for holding up during this time. thinking death and sickness makes me feel worried when i know that we are so far away from our families. but at this point, i am so glad we get to be here, close to my family, for this summer.

now it's time to go to bed! good night!