Auntie this one's for you

Contest

I have decided to see how well my non speaking Norwegian friends (Uncle Gunt we consider you Norwegian speaking also!!) can read these signs. Ok get ready set go read the sign then comment on what you think they mean. (I am not sure I know what they mean, but don't worry our daughter is the Norwegian speaking expert in our family so if in doubt I will refer to her!!)

Some of my favorite Photos

This is one of my uncle's. My aunt died and this was her funeral. She and my uncle shared such a special bond. My heart just ached for him in knowing that he had lost one of his best friends in the whole world. I really felt this picture speaks a thousand words.

I took this one because I loved the contrast of the tree. The old dying and the new coming up around it. It is similar to life.

This is my Honey Bun

I just love watching my son with his horses. He so easily becomes one with them.

We have a family tradition that each one of our family carves their name in a tree in a special spot on the ranch. Each year it is fun to go back and watch the carving get older but also get higher as the tree grows.

I love this picture of my daughter. She is walking in the rain after a funeral. She just loves the rain. Everyone else had either gotten in a car or had a rain coat. She just loved not having a coat on and staying out in the rain.

After the long dark winters in Norway, I just love spring and what it brings.

This one was taken by my daughter. I love her style of photography she has such unique angles and perspective.

My daughter took this one of my dad. She entered it in a contest and won best of show with it. He hated it he felt he looked like he was dead!! I think he just looks really peaceful. We were up camping and that is only time that he relaxes in the summer.

This is my wonderful aunt who I love sooooooooo dearly. She is always full of surprises and so much fun. I just love her positiveness. She is always so full of life. She loves me dearly and takes such good care of me. She and my uncle had come to see us. We took a trip to do some sightseeing. We stopped to get some pictures and it was pouring rain. We all jumped out and I turned around and she had a bag on her head with this great smile. She said I didn't want my hair to get wet.

It is so HUGE

Every time this monster comes into the harbor I am so intrigued by it. It calls to me. I drive from my home and can see it's tall towers over the hill tops. It only comes home in the winter. It steals in quietly and sometimes leaves quietly. It is a city all to it's own. I am at a far distance in taking these pictures. One time it was docked very close to shore. There was a giant catepillar backhoe to the side of this monster and the catepillar backhoe looked like a small children's toy. (My uncle was with me and can back me up on how huge this thing is) I am not sure what pulls me to it. But every time it comes into the harbor I have to go gaze at it. It is called the Saipan 7000.

This is a close up photo taken by KEITH WOOD (www.keithwoodphotography.com) of the chains on the Saipan 7000. When you look at the men compared with the chains you really get an idea of the hugeness of it all.

I had to recruit my Honey Bun( since he is the oil man in the family) to put all the details together for me about this monster.
The Saipan is called a Heavy Lift Vessel(HLV). It is one of the 2 or 3 largest barge cranes in the World. The HLV is used to lift massive offshore oil and gas platforms and install them in the North Sea. These platforms weigh 10's of thousands of tons and need to be precisely set on top of jackets (or pilings) that have been driven into sea floor. These jackets provide a strong base for the platform to rest on so that the platform can withstand very harsh weather conditions in the North Sea. An oil company has used these heavy lift vessels many times for it projects through the world. In fact, for the last five years my Honey Bun has been working on major projects that will involve installing several mega sized platforms over the next 5 to 10 years.

This is a picture of a platform that I got off the internet.

These platforms will contain new oil wells, processing facilities (like mini refineries), and even hotels that can accomodate over 500 people in single hotel rooms. Talk about a 5 Star hotel- after a 2 hour helicopter ride out from the shore of Norway you can be staying in a luxurious suite! You just have to wear a astronaut- looking offshore survival suit while you travel in case your helicopter crashes into the North Sea. Without a survival suit, you would die of hypothermia in only a few minutes!
(The people who are going to be going offshore have to go through an extensive training before they can fly out to the platforms.)
The platforms are installed in up to several hundred feet of water. The Heavy Lift Vessels require pretty calms seas to work effectively, so typically the Saipan 7000 works in the Norther Hemisphere in the summer time and goes to the Southern Hemisphere in the Winter time (when it is summer down there.) This vessel moves at a snail pace so it can take several weeks to move these HLV's. The Sapian 7000 is truly a remarkable vessel and an engineering design feat.

I just want to get onto this thing just to check it out. I wondered if they offer rooms for the night. Maybe I could talk our oil company into having their Christmas party on this thing. Probably not. I am just going to have to gaze at it form a distance!!
You can tell by the writing that he is the professional in our family!! Thanks Honey Bun!! He is my biggest fan when it comes to my blog!!

Winter has Arrived

Remember how beautiful it was this spring out my kitchen window!! The apple tree was blooming, the sea was turning the beautiful blue it does as the algae starts to grow, the birds were singing, I could have my kitchen window open with wonderful fresh air coming in...

(No this picture was not taken in black and white this is right out of the camera!!)

Well it is winter now and guess what... I still love looking out my kitchen window. The air is much fresher, the only sound I hear is the wind blowing and...

The snow plow

Norway's version of a snowplow. There are a few snow plows but mostly heavy equipment like backhoes and tractor with scoops on the front do the work. They even plow the sidewalks because they are used so much by walkers and bikers here.

Remember that beautiful lettuce field from a posting a couple of months ago. Well here it is now!! I added the picture below to remind you!!

Today I went to visit a friend. (Another posting on another day!) she lives out on an island. Right by the school at 11:15 was a group of children out with their sleds sledding down the hill into the school yard. They all had their snow suits on and were having a ball.
We will have to enjoy it because it will only last for a couple of days and then we will be back to the rain!!! That I don't like!!!

Sometimes you go through your day and it seem ordinary and then you have those few glimpes of moments when you go AHHA I get it and the feeling that you have inside is amazing. I had two of those moments these past couple of days. One was with my daughter and the other was with someone who I have seen but never had a chance to get to know.

I was supposed to pick Alex up from school so that we could go to the church for her to practice piano. I waited at the school and thought she must have forgotten. Being a little upset I started back home. Just as I came down the street the bus had pulled over so I pulled onto our road and waited for her to come down the sidewalk. What I saw brought tears to my eyes and really humbled me for my selfishness. There was Alex helping a young girl with crutches get off the bus, picking up her backpack and helping her down the street. It brought tears to my eyes as I watched her handle this young girl in such a Christlike manner. It was an AHHA she really gets what life is about and helping others.

My second moment was when a lady approached me about looking at my home. She is having to move from hers and had heard that ours would be up for rent. For the few moments that we chatted I thought I like how I feel when I am around her. Her family came into our home that evening to have a look at our home and we found we had many things in common. The next day at the jumble sale (that is a garage sale here only it was held at the school) I noticed her family putting up a sign saying that all their proceeds were going to a group in Uganda. I ventured over and asked her about it. I could tell as she told me about it how touched she was by her experience there. Then we shared a couple of more really tender moments about some other things. I left her with tears in my eyes and she had tears in hers. I thought why hadn't I got to know her earlier. In her email to me yesterday she said the same thing and said that God has a plan. The AHHA moment was it always amazes me that it only takes a brief moment for someone to come into your life and you feel changes in yourself because of that person and what they stand for. I want to share with you the Uganda video that this group of three woman put together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNEyEM32POk

(Ok I am not smart enough to tie you directly into this so you will have to cut and past but please DO IT)

Alex and I( Icried while I watched it) watched it together and decided that we are going to go with this group of ladies next spring. It instilled in us a desire to reach out and to help to make a difference in someone's life. After watching it I thought I know why this person really touched me. She is trying her hardest to be so Christlike and to reach out to those in need. May we all reflect on those AHHA moments and what we are doing to reach out and be more charitable in our lives.

Dinner, Good Friends and a Concert

This weekend we had a chance to have dinner with three different set of really good friends. Friday night we had an amazing Tai dinner with two sets of friends. (I will post some of those photos when my friends send them to me!!) If forgot my camera that night.

Last night we had dinner with another set of good friends. They have been here with us for almost 4 out of our 51/2 years. They have four darling, intelligent, talented, cute and just funny little girls. Our friend fixed a lovely dinner with China place setting, epplemost, chicken a dumplings (of which I love and haven't had for years) and truffle brownies. But the best part was we had a concert afterwards. 2 of their daughters play insturments, he plays, Alex took her instrument and yes Steve broke out the trumpet!!

He played several folk songs on his violin. They really reminded me of Scotland and the music that you would hear over there.
This is their precious baby girl. She is just starting to talk. She woke up from her nap just after we finished dinner and was not a happy camper until her Dad let her drink some Epplemost and then she was happy. She is so cute and adorable.

This is their oldest daughter. She played the french horn for us. She had a song from Star Wars on the stereo and then she played some bits and pieces with it. She is really good!! The fun part was watching her foot tap to the beat of the music.

This is their 2nd daughter she played the violin. Her violin was sooooooooooo tiny but she is a tiny girl. Their dad practises with them each night.

This was a picture of all the instruments lined up for the concert. In the background is the french horn, clarinet, and trumpet(being held by Alex and Steve).

But the funnest part was the closing number of the concert. We were singing a song together and their 3rd daughter was conducting or was she?!?! Either way she was darling. (She didn't have an instrument that she could play so she got her swim suit on and was our dancer. She danced to each one of the songs. It was such a great evening!!

Thanks guys for the dinner, company and concert.

What's Unique!!

They have all kinds of public drinking fountains. You are able to drink the water from any one of these fountains.

This was our one view of the Alps. It were spectacular. Our Uncle emailed us Monday and said he wished we were there that day. It was crystal clear and you could see them all in their glory.

These are mums. They are grown specifically for the purpose of hanging from the window seals like this. I have seen other flowers hanging but not the mums.

In this little park are these Roman columns. They date back to BC.

A winding staircase leading up to a Chateau with a dog waiting patiently for his master.

The inside of our restaurant, in the basement.

Almost all buildings and homes have shutters on them. In earlier times they would close them every night. Some people still do. Alex had just made the comment wouldn't it be cool if they painted them all different colors. We walked around a corner and look what we found!!

We had such a great weekend with our family. We are grateful for the sites we saw, the food we tasted, the sounds we heard, but most importantly the love we shared!! Thanks family until we meet again!! Hopefully at the Ranch in 2009!!!

We Interrupt the Reguarly Scheduled Holiday...

To bring you a morning with my Seminary students.
This morning was a great morning. It was a scripture mastery morning(a morning where they study specific scriptures)
We played chase games where they had to match the clues to the reference.
Then I had them take a break and they had to all hop on one foot, rub their tummy, and pat their head while I counted to ten!! That was great entertainment for me!!!!!
I was going to take more pictures but was having too much fun with them.

I am just amazed each morning four days a week(at 6:30 am), as I walk into that church building that there are 17 kids from age 14-18 there and ready to have a gospel discussion. Never complaining. They want to be there because they like what happens and how they feel after. What a blessing it has been in my life to be able to be a part of this whole thing. This is the first time ever in our area. I have felt privileged to be apart of the history being made.

Putting the primary room back together after our fun morning.

Every Friday morning one of the student's parents fixed breakfast for the kids. Today was our day and since I was teaching Steve took over the duty. We had Cheesy eggs (eggs with chunks of ham and cheese scrambled), and pumpkin muffins that I actually made into a cake shape and cut into squares. This was the first morning that a parent had set up tables and the kids loved it. They just sat and chatted!!

I sure love these kids.

Olympic Museum

This plaque was my most favorite part of the whole museum. I love this saying. It could apply to so many things in our lives. Think of how great each and everyone of us would be in our lives if we lived by this motto.

It was an amazing museum. Instead of old stuff it showed personal things of some of the athletes. We did an audio tour so that we wouldn't miss anything.

Alex is look at and touching the medals in those little cubbie holes.

Is this guy thinking of his victory on his bike race, is he thinking at age 47 I can maybe get myself fit to compete in the next olympics, or is he thinking man those guys must have been exhausted after their bike races, I know I sure am. (Steve actually rides one or two bike races a year. One is usually 85 Kilo (52 miles) and the other 90 kilo (55 miles) He is my hero each year as he gets fit and rides these races.)

They had an area set up to show each category of sport. They also had display and video of the athletes taking oaths, drug testing facility and housing for the athletes.

The gentleman who brought back the Olympics in the early 1800 also had the idea for this area. It is kind of like the Olympic headquarters.

This is in the park leading up to the museum.

This is the ever burning flame.

It was fun to see how equipment has changed over the years. At one stage it said some athletes just come up with ideas to improve things, also some companies try and design equipment to make things better. Apparently some ideas and things work and some fail.

It was a great tour and a great day!