72 hours, 4 flights and 2 babysitters later

SUNSET MOUNTAIN taken by me =)


That is how long it took and what it took to get away this weekend! It in nutshell. We decided last minute to make a trip to SLC for interviews and checking out houses, schools etc! It all came to together which in itself is no small miracle. Our kids got their favorite babysitter for a few days and we got have a a much needed scouting trip. I will admit I did shed a wee tear over my kids. I missed them allot. We did keep ourselves insanely busy though so there was not much time for reflection over the mushy stuff! So many are asking about how the trip went so I will do my best to give you the scoop on the SLC weekend!
Saturday we went house looking and did find one we loved! See pictures below-4bed 3.75 bath in a nice new neighborhood with pool and playground. Very close to a good christian school.






Then we went out with Dave and Kari for supper and ice cream! It was a nice time of getting to know each other. They are fellow Minnesotans so we got along very well. Here is a picture of them and there oldest daughter. We went over to their place on Sunday nite as well.

Here is Dave Elshaug and family-not to mention he gave us a "free" (hehe) tour of K2 the church. Such sweet people (even for a Norwegian =)!)

Here is K2 the church. www.k2thechurch.com








Us outside K2 on Sunday morning

On Sunday afternoon it was off to Park City! A big ski resort town, here we are home at "Swede Alley" If you can't see the street is named Swede Alley!!!Can it be a SIGN?????





The summary of the trip is = AWESOME! We now have "friends" in Salt Lake City! We have found a school, a house and a church we love! Now for all those details to line up! And of course we have more than one funny story from the weekend...trying to get into a wrong house, leaving a message on a realtors cell phone without knowing it was recording...sorry man, and here is the funniest story........


As we sit and wait to push off the gate in Denver the stewardess calls a name Jim Naseum. No one reacted till a few minutes later She says " We are waiting for a "Jim Nasium" please press your call button if you are here." Then giggles go thru the cabin...what did she say...indeed "gymnasium" was who we waited for! Then strangley enough they called for a " Mrs. Hazel Nut please ring your call button if you are on board!" I love a good joke and burst out. Most passengers didnt know what to make of it....and last but not least we waited for "Mrs. Ginger Ale " . Now the plane burst out and knew that they were kidding. A poor young guy got on the plane and they said "Yes, now "Jim Nasium has arrived and we can push off" He didn't flinch I guess that was not HIS name! He got a round of applause at least! The stewardess's had a goog sense of humor and give me a good story. The trip that started with watching The Office reruns and me laughing way to loud on a plane, ended with me laughing again way to loud on a plane. At least I didnt snort-which has been known to happen from time to time with a good hearty laugh!

Hope you enjoyed the recap!

Open house..not so open

Why is an open house feeling more like a closed house? Everything is put away the kids are allowed to sit or stand, nothing else. I spend hours on end anywhere with a play area just so my children can move with out fear of time out just for touching something. I think they view an "open house" as a closed house. Why do we put everything in drawers, hide it in a closet, doesn't make much sense to a child that you WANT to make it look like no ones lives here??? That my friends isn't much fun! But it is fun that we are having them often, I have to admit I would love to get a "done deal" and move my toaster back on the counter top again.

Fun story of the day-in mom's style it involves poop.

Erik tries to steal Emma's candy. Emma is not happy, Erik starts a tantrum, I panic and say "Just give him some candy so he will be happy"!! Emma pauses then shouts " I HAVE DIARRHEA!!!!" then whispers in a hush to Erik "so that is why you can't have my candy". Needless to say the heads turned and my face was red. No one heard anything but the diarrhea part! Oh well, another day in the life.

Salvadorian Skies

I painted this for our good friend Edward. He is El Salvadorian and takes great pride in that. So I looked at pics from the beaches and a volcano in El Salvador, and got inspiration. Happy Bday Eddie. =)

Got house?

Not a bad view at all!


We wanted to give you the latest happenings in our lives!
After much prayer, we have started taking steps toward the next chapter. We will make a long story short for now and just say- we are moving to Salt Lake City, UT! If you want the whole story just email me and I can give it to you! We have always had a special place in our hearts for the western states and it became clear to both of us that it indeed was Salt Lake we were suppose to move to. Only about 10,000 details left to plan, and we have started checking them off the list one by one!
We are not sure of when the move will take place, earliest I think would be June. This summer will be an exciting adventure for our family, ultimately launching into ministry! We are living by the rule of being flexible-as to not get bent out of shape! So if you think of us or would like to pray for us we would appreciate it! We have started the process of either selling or leasing our home. That is a large puzzle piece that will need to come into place before we ride west! (I hear Smitty singing "go west young man" lot when I say any joke about going west! If not that song I sing S C Chapman's song Saddle up your horses!...I'm a loser) Obviously, you care otherwise you wouldn't be reading my blog to hear what is inside my head, in case you are wondering for the last 6 months I hear Joyce Meyer in my ear saying " If you going to do it and your afraid-ya just do it afraid then!!" So with butterflies in our tummies we go! What else to say than life is an adventure!

To all our friends in Tulsa-please forward this email to anyone who may be interested in buying or leasing our home! Spread the word =)

Here is the link to pictures of the house and if anyone is interested!

http://house.theholms.net

No mushy good bye stuff yet or words of reflection. I think that will have to wait!

To Andreas, the hero of the day

You know you have a friend for life when they scrap this ......for you.



The hero of the day-Andreas

Thank you doesn't do justice in this case! Today we were blessed with the gift of manual labor! Seriously, you know a person has a heart of gold when they offer hard labor-just to be a blessing. Not to mention the time, the gift you only give once and never get back-precious to us all because we seem to always run out of it. With the long of jobs we have left to do today we now are one step closer to finishing the slab on the front of the house, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ANDREAS FOR ALL THE HOURS OF HARD WORK!!

Ms. Toothless with a lisp

10 dollars less in my pocket, I fall easy into guilt which shells out cash or candy for my kids injuries. 2 teeth in 2 days came out. A little more blood and teeth than I would have liked to see but, Ms Tooth Angel came and left some big dough. Smiles all around.

Glad Plast..Happy Plastic

Emma hopes you had a Happy Plastic...(glad plast)! In Swedish the word is a little to advanced for Emma, so she choose the next closest word-plastic. Here are a few pictures from our very low key, wonderful, Easter! Glad Påsk...eller plast.