Boys trip--Ross Lake

Canoeing Ross Lake had been on the YM bucket list for years.  This summer, Mike and the other young men leaders were finally going to make it happen for the priests.  The only problem, Mike got released as Bishop!  That meant another group of YM leaders would be taking Tyson and the other boys to Ross Lake.  Disappointing.

The good news, they still needed Mike to come along.  So, he and Tyson got to spend a week off the grid (seriously, there was literally no way to get in touch with them!) at the beautiful North Cascade mountains.  I'm just a little jealous.

The much anticipated Finland Trip {Helsinki}

Wow!  I honestly can't believe it really happened...actually sometimes I question if it really did.  It is strange finally going somewhere you have dreamed about going your entire life.  It is definitely surreal when you're there, and just as surreal when you get home.  

So...here it is...my trip to Finland...I'll start with Helsinki:

Everything went pretty smoothly on our first LONG day of travel...well, all except picking up the rental car...and the not sleeping.

We all got to sit in one row on the way to Amsterdam...of course my TV wasn't working for the longest leg of the flight!!  I managed to get a small selection of movies to work luckily, and the rest of the flight went smoothly, just hard to sleep as always on a plane. We had a quick layover in Amsterdam and then on to Helsinki.

We arrived in Helsinki at at around 1pm.  Walking through the airport we saw "slippers" (Karjalanpiirakka) which was super neat since my Dad had taught us how to make these when we were kids (they were not nearly as yummy as the homemade ones we have had)

It was also fun to see the rye bread selection at every grocery store.  

Definitely not something you see in America.

After the rental car debacle (first, we thought the rental car company was actually at the airport, but it was an offsite location so we had to take an Uber--with four adults and all our suitcases it was a tight fit!  Then once we got to the car rental (which was super hard to find), they tried to upsell us like crazy, then Mike's credit card had been cancelled because of fraudulent charges and they wouldn't allow us to switch cards.  We probably stood there for literally at least 2 hours trying to figure it all out.  Then we finally got our car and it was too small to fit all our stuff--haha.  So we had to upgrade to the bigger vehicle--oops.  What an ordeal),we drove straight to the Helsinki temple.

It was raining SO HARD.  But it was serene and beautiful and the gardens were all bright reds and yellows (snapdragons, begonias and sunflowers)

After Daddy Greens pizza (which was so yummy) we checked into our Airbnb (which was super hard to find again--oh and trying to read and understand street signs in a different language was tricky!  there was a lot of googling and hoping we didn't get a ticket) and got some much needed rest.  There was construction right outside our window that started at 7am every morning, so there was no sleeping in for us...not that we really wanted to sleep in since we were excited to explore.

(Our Airbnb was a little more sketch on the outside than anticipated...but super cute on the inside.   And we quickly learned that the elevator was called a Hissi:)

Tina and I braving the Hissi

We stared the next day at Suomenlinna (the sea fortress)

Then onto Market Square.  Everything in Helsinki was less "city" like than I was expecting.  Very few crowds and lots of understated buildings (except a few impressive churches).  I was just surprised by it's "small-town" feel.

It was fun to try some of the famous Finnish foods...although not the dried fish that was everywhere (Mike sampled that -yuck).  We had some reindeer and reindeer sausage, meatballs, and of course the salmon soup (which was a little too fishy for me, but the reindeer sausage was delicious)!  

It was fun to see the souvenir shops stocked with all the sauna staples.

One of the things we noticed being in Finland was that the language was really interesting.  Just about everyone spoke English, which was a lifesaver for us!  But we couldn't help but wonder how so many Finnish words were SO LONG!  Here's one example I just had to take a picture of (and listening to the GPS voice pronounce some of the street names was hilarious):

Tuomiokirkko or the Helsinki Cathedral was impossible to miss.  As we walked into the square where it was located, I smelled something that took me back to my Grandma and Grandpa Kurkis house.  I wasn't sure what it was, but there were some pop-up bakeries/coffee shops near by, so I am sure it was something they were baking (but it wasn't cardamom, because I know that smell)

Uspenski Cathedral (Eastern Orthodox) was another impressive church in Helsinki.  It was up on a hill and really stood out as different from all surrounding architecture.

Since we really only had one full day in Helsinki, we had squeeze in a lot:

The Oodi Library

The Rock Church

The Fazer Cafe

And the Jewish Cemetery

We found the graves for Ben-Zion, Salomon, Rasche & Fischel

The train station

After we were done in Helsinki, we headed north to Vaasa.  

We stopped at Pori on the way for a quick sauna on a house boat! 

(We were planning on going to the famous Loyly Sauna located right on the Baltic Sea in Helsinki, but didn't realize you had to make reservations.  So when we showed up, they were full.  I was really disappointed because that was one of the things I was most excited about doing.  After a bunch of research, we found this cute little floating sauna and thought it was worth checking out.  When we showed up, there was just a code to get in and that's it.  We started a fire and we had our very own sauna:)  Ted was the only one brave enough to jump in the river.)

After our sauna we finally tried Hesburger (they are everywhere in Finland).  We were not big fans...all their burgers had a type of tarter sauce instead of mayonnaise, which was interesting.

Look at those Finnish names of the hamburgers!!

And...on to Vaasa...the real reason for the trip.

Summer with Summer

With Tyson graduated, Kya taking a spring semester at college, and Jordan working full time, most of my summer plans involve one person, Summer. 

We started with a "Summer bucket list," and guess what?  We almost finished the entire list!   

Coloring our fuzzy posters

The beginning of our fairy garden

We added a few more birds to her leggo bird collection

We took a week-long trip to Canada

And had lots of ice cream/lunch dates

When the summer was over, I realized we actually did end up spending quite a bit of time with the other kids too!  But it's good to know that Summer and I can fill the entire summer with just the two of us...and have fun doing it:)

Limping Across the Finish Line

There is something about that last semester of high school...the kids just realize none of it matters anymore, and they kind of give up a little.  Tyson was no exception.  Once he decided he was going to BYUI, his grades didn't matter, his attendance didn't matter, and seminary?  Yeah that didn't matter either.  But somehow he managed to make it to graduation day! 

First Seminary, which I'm being honest, was the harder finish line to get through.  But "we" made it!  I guess Tyson was right when he said, "Do you really think I'm not going to graduate from Seminary?!" Yikes, I was a little uncertain haha.  Thank goodness for make ups:)

High School Graduation was never in jeopardy haha.  Tyson was a great student, and I am very proud of his hard work,  independence, and self reliance (even if he skipped a few classes that last semester) .  At his graduation, the principal spoke.  He reminded us that school was shut down because of Covid Tyson's very first year of high school, the next year it was all remote, the following year was masks, and senior year was their only normal year of high school.  I got choked up thinking about how much they all missed.  What a hard thing for teenagers to have to go through. 

(Dropping the kids off in their caps and gown gets me right in my mommy heart.  Watching them walk away is just such a heartbreaking visual.  I honestly feel like part of my heart is walking away with each one of my babies)

I am so grateful to have been able to watch Tyson grow.  He has come a long way from that little 4-year-old who cried every time I dropped him off at Kindergarten.  I am excited to watch what comes next!

First Day of Kindergarten

Graduation Day!!!

We both have changed a lot;)

And a full rack of ribs for the graduate:)  On to bigger and better things!!!

UW Grad 2023

I feel like I've been having a lot of "how can this be real?!"moments lately.  I think Jordan graduating from college may top that list!  I mean, she was AT MY college graduation!  

Looking back over these last 4 years, 

I am amazed that Jordan was able to graduate at all...let alone on time! I am so proud of her.

She started off at BYUH:

Almost as soon as she started, Jordan knew BYUH wasn't for her.  I remember many calls in tears, and just wanting to fly her home.  She powered through...until a pandemic called her home a month before the end of the school year.

She came home because of a pandemic:

Although Jordan was happy to come home, a pandemic is hardly an ideal situation.  It meant isolation from her friends (luckily Phoebe moved in with us when her housing closed down), finishing her classes remotely, not to mention the emotional turmoil of not knowing what was happening to the world.

She transferred to Cascadia College:

Knowing that she didn't want to go back to Hawaii (and Hawaii being closed to non residents), Jordan decided transferring to Cascadia and applying to UW would be her best option.  Attempting to transfer classes from BYUH was a disaster.  Jordan figured it all out, sometimes having to take double the amount of classes to fill the requirements.  She managed to complete her associates degree in business December 2021 all while working basically full-time as a nanny and completing her application for The University of Washington.

Applied and got accepted to UW:

In January 2021 Jordan started at The University of Washington.  Most of her classes were online, but a few professors were starting in-person classes again.  Commuting to and parking in Seattle was a bit of a nightmare.  Jordan had to leave her job as a nanny (which she loved) and move to Seattle.

Moved to Seattle:

Jordan found a house in Seattle in the U-district.  The amount of money she had to pay for a tiny room in the basement of a house shared with 8 other girls was ridiculous ($800 plus utilities!!!) She actually did amazing to pay for a lot of her school, all her housing, and buy a car all during the pandemic. After moving to Seattle, she found herself a job at Aritzia (at University Village).

I am exhausted just writing about these past few years of hers!  But she did it.  She got through so much hard and reached her goal.  I couldn't be prouder.  As I sat on the wet stadium seats and looked across the misty Husky Stadium, tears welled up in my eyes.  Jordan could have quit so many times and nobody would have blamed her.  But she didn't.  She persevered!  

I hope she knows how strong she is and how proud we are of her:)