A Visit from Margrethe

I am a little mad at myself for not taking more pictures when Margrethe visited us here in Texas.  She brought along her boyfriend and her mom, and it was fun to meet them.  They spent some time hanging out with us and some time exploring Dallas and Austin a little bit.  I'm glad we got to see them.  The only pictures I took were when we ate some ice cream at Braum's. 

Margrethe's Birthday

Margrethe turned eighteen while here in America.  Unfortunately, on her actual birthday, she was in Las Vegas with friends, but we celebrated with her when she got back, a couple of days before she left to go back to Norway.  The kids helped me design her cake.  They wanted it to be half the American flag and half the Norwegian flag.  We decided to divide the cake into quarters and do the half and half by making quarters that were kitty corner from each other the two parts of one half.  It turned out pretty fun.

Margrethe left on Tuesday, the 17th.  We really enjoyed her time with us and felt like she was part of our family.  I hope the experience was just as positive for her and we didn't scare her away too much from kids and family.

Norwegian National Day

May 17th is Norwegian's National Holiday. There was a small celebration in Salt Lake City for the holiday, which some of us attended. Corey didn't come because Westley and Travis had baseball pictures, and he kept Jonah and Annmarie with him.

Caleb and Eliza posing like they are dressed in traditional clothes

Eliza and Katie march in the parade

Viking picture

Caleb trying stilts

Biggest Sister

The biggest sister is Margrethe, our Norwegian daughter. The kids have been loving having her here. She has been a great addition to our family.

Annmarie loves playing with her.

So does Snoopy.

Homecoming

Having a teenager around is kind of fun because you get to know about the extra-curricular things like Homecoming. Margrethe was asked to Homecoming pretty quickly. She arrived in one of her classes to find a T-shirt on her desk with a note asking her to the dance. On the T-shirt were the names of all the boys in that class. The instructions were for her to wash the T-shirt and the name remaining was who had asked her. Then she had to wear the T-shirt to school signifying a yes answer. I thought it was pretty clever. She had a good time at the dance. I've been very pleased to see how easily and quickly she makes friends. She is a very easy-going fun girl and we have really enjoyed having her here this year with us.

In-N-Out and Pretty Fall Drive

We took Margrethe to  have her first In-N-Out Burger and had to commemorate the event.

One Sunday afternoon, while Corey was at work, we decided to go for a drive and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  We drove through Parley's Canyon to Park City and then through to Heber and then looped around through Provo Canyon and went home.  We stopped at a great park in Heber, probably the main city park, and let the kids stretch their legs.  Then we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls to look at the falls and take some pictures.  It was a nice drive.

A New Addition to the Family

No, it's not what you're thinking.  We are not having another baby, but we are having a foreign exchange student come live with us.  Her name is Margrethe and she is from Norway.  She is seventeen years old.  We are very excited about this opportunity to share our lives with someone new and learn about her as well.  It will be challenging but I hope it will also be very rewarding.  We will be hosting her for the entire school year, starting at the end of August and going through June.  I'm excited about the opportunity it gives us to become a better family and also learn about someone else and their culture.  I hope this broadens our minds a little bit and helps us become less judgmental and more understanding.