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!

leaving...sucks

 as i am writing this, i am hurting so darn much. i have tears in my eyes, and i feel like my heart is shrinking - or bursting, i don't really know. i have realized that soon it is time for us to leave finland, and go back to our home, which is in utah right now. the thing is, that i have never felt this much at home in finland, and it hurts me so much thinking that soon we will have to say goodbye to my parents, to our little nephew, to all our friends, and everything that we are leaving behind here. it hurts me so much thinking that we won't be here when aaro says his first words. that we are so far away. 

now, don't get me wrong, i am so very happy in utah. i love our routines, i love going to byu (with the bottom of my heart) - i love having our own little place that we call home. and i will always know that wherever my sweetheart is, home will be there as well. 

but sometimes this just sucks so much. going through the process of saying goodbyes and see you laters over and over again, and leaving it all behind. i have never loved and appreciated these people and this country as much as i do now, i guess that's what it does when you go away for a little while. you start appreciating even the teeny weeny things that you didn't even notice before you left. and may i say, i kind of wish it wouldn't be that way. and now that i am listing my hopes and wishes, let's just say that i hope that someone will create a teleport machine soon that would preferrably be free and get us to finland in a second. so, all you future einsteins, please do your best to create one of those! i would be really, really, REALLY grateful! thank you! 

leaving is hard. and against all odds, it gets harder every single time you do it. you don't get used to it. and i am kind of happy about that. it's not supposed to be easy. but right at this moment, i wish it was.

st. petersburg

once again we are back from a lil trip - this time we went to st. petersburg! this trip was very exciting, since thomas had been dreaming for a long time to see this dear neighbor of ours. it made me really happy to see him so excited, and to be able to go with him to the places that he had studied about for years. he was the best tour guide we could have asked for. 

i got a russian nesting doll for our future house (i got one for you too, lisa!), and a street artist made me the cutest laura heart thomas necklace. the weather was raaaaainy, but it didn't stop us - and it was such a fun trip, especially since mom and dad were with us! 

it's good to be home now, though i am stressing my mind out about our fall housing situation. we went shoe shopping today, which was much harder than i thought it would be - but this time because i found too many pairs of shoes that i would have loved to add to my shoe collection.... maybe i'll post some pics of the ones i got tomorrow. 

now i have to go and get some sleep, and i must say that i'm so glad i get to sleep next to thomas tonight! those two nights on the boat were just torture :( good night!

bday party!

this little guy had his 1st birthday party last sunday! he is a pretty popular little man, since he got the house all filled up and a bunch of cute gifts! he personally loved (the taste of) the cards the most. 

happy birthday our sweetest aaro ♥

jönköping & cupcakes

here we are, back in good old finland. above are a few pictures of a sweet reunion of two good buddies, and a few new additions. niklas was thomas' swedish companion for quite some time in france while he was there on a mission - and ever since, niklas has gotten married to the beautiful sandra, and had a baby boy, lukas. they are having their second baby in august! how exciting! 

we had a lovely day with the salo family, and continued on back to stockholm in the evening. i made thomas drive our manual car, since i was half dead with this cold of mine. 

today we have been relaxing at home, watching chick flicks (yeah, since i'm sick, i get to decide on the movies ;)), and gone on a cupcake cup hunt - without any luck. i couldn't help but think how easy the hunt would have been in the us.. khrm. we came home and made cupcakes for aaros 1st birthday party, that will take place tomorrow. we have had an interesting time listening to our estonian neighbors partying all night long, and as i am writing this now - at 1am - they are fighting outside. and we're getting a bit scared. let's hope they end soon! 

hope you're having a great weekend!

stockholm

hello again, this time from stockholm! we arrived here yesterday, and had a sweet, wonderful reunion with our dear mari - she is such a sweetheart for letting us stay with her in her BEAUTIFUL (seriously, so beautiful) apartment. our boat trip went great, and we had a fun time, though i got sick on our way here. so, now i am one ill girl, with a high fever, a runny nose and a sore throat, and my energy levels are nowhere to be found. it might also be because we walked around stockholm today for about 60 kilometers, and decided that the theme for our day here was "walking around in big circles" - because that is exactly what we did. 

now it's time to just relax and gather up some energy for our trip to jönköping tomorrow - we are driving down there to see thomas' mission buddy niklas! super excited for their reunion :) 

let's hope these painkillers get this fever to go away (and stay away).