Sweden

Brant and I went to Sweden for a week to visit my parents while they are on their mission. Our trip started at 9:30 pm on Aug. 6. We flew to New York (red-eye) and got in at 7:45 am. We checked in to our next flight and then headed in to the city for breakfast at one of my favorite places to eat breakfast/brunch... Sarabeth's!

On the way...Brant left his phone in the cab. After a million calls to his phone, the cabbie finally called back and said he'd drive back and return Brant's phone. We were both excited to get it back!

The plan was to do a little site seeing of the city during our 11 hour layover, but we were too tired (and grumpy). So we headed back to the airport to try and get a little nap in. It was a headache, but I will spare you all the details. We didn't get much of a nap in, but we boarded our plane to Sweden at 5:00 pm (NY time). Again, we flew all night and arrived in Sweden at 8:00 am (Sweden time - 12 midnight UT time). From there we got on a bus to the train station to meet my parents.

Once we met up with my parents we hit the road running. Literally. We only had a day in Stockholm so we packed in as much as we could. Here are some pictures from our day in Stockholm:

 My parents walking under the arch to enter the old city.

 Vikings!

 The Royal Cathedral. Royals still attend church, have baptisms, and get married in this building

 Stairs to the pulpit

 Where the Royals sit

 Some saint slaying a dragon. Good vs. Evil

 The pulpit

 The Old City. This is where we ate lunch.

 The Royal Palace

 The Vasa. This is a ship that sank before it could sail out of the harbor. Read about it here. It's pretty cool!

 What the back would have looked like:

After falling asleep while walking around Stockholm, we boarded a train for our 3.5 hour ride to my parents' home in Vaxjo (pronounced vehkshua).

In Vaxjo, we sure did a LOT! We went to a glass blowing place. 2 actually. At the first one, we watched two girls make a glass blown vase. At the second place (Costa Boda - a famous glass/crystal outlet), we saw some AMAZING blown glass pieces and my mom bought us a cute orange candy dish!

We went to a moose park. That's right...MOOSE! Apparently moose hunting is a BIG sport in Sweden. Throughout the country you can see stands for the moose hunts. This moose park has fenced off areas where you can see moose up close and personal. And let me tell you...we were UP CLOSE!

There were chickens at the moose park

 And goats

 On one of the moose hunting stands

 I told you we got close...

We ate godies (Swedish gummy & chocolate candies). One of the treats the Swedes love is this salted black licorice. Some of it isn't too bad, but some pieces are COVERED in salt. Brant loved the black licorice without the salt, but the salted kind was a bit strong...

One of the missionaries' favorite thing to eat in Vaxjo is Kebab (kay-bob). It is a pizza with kebab meat (the stuff you find in Greek food...YUM!), cheese, french fries, and a fry sauce. It might not sound (or look) very appetizing, but it was DELICIOUS!! We loved it!

We had a picnic and a BBQ next to two lakes. Sweden is covered in lakes. There are more than 50 lakes in my parents' small area alone!!

The water in Sweden in BLACK! It's very clean water, but has a high concentration of iron which leaves it a black/brown color.

Skipping rocks

We saw a super old church where I actually rang the bell in the tower. My parents were a little upset, but I thought it was cool! Brant was jealous :)

The door dates back to the time of the Vikings.

We went to Kalmar to see the castle there.

We got to pretend we were jousting.

The Queen's bed.

The King's room.

He had a hidden escape route. When the door is closed you cannot tell there is anything there but a wall.

The King's waiting room.

The church

The castle was built to protect Sweden from the Danish.

Brant ran into this post while he was looking at a giant anchor (see the next picture)

The cemetery next to the castle.

Then we went to the island across the sea from Kalmar, Oland, to have a picnic, see Borgholms Slott (an old castle), and the Royal Family's summer home. And my parents also took us on this awesome dirt road surrounded by trees.

A field full of poppies and daisies.

The first turnstile. (not really...but it was a surprise to see one at the old castle)

This castle was once used as a stable for livestock and later as a dump.

The entrance to the Royal summer home. We didn't go in to see the grounds.

A random ram we found by the Royal summer home.

Eating Magnums!

We toured the city of Vaxjo for one day. We saw Vaxjo Lake, shopped on the shopping street (no cars allowed), toured the Vaxjo Cathedral, sang in the echo water tower, and another run-down castle.

Inside the cathedral

The awesome candle tree. It depicted Adam and Eve.

It looked like the Tree of Life

Viking ruins could be found throughout Sweden. This is one behind the cathedral.

The domkyrka (pronounced dom sheerka). Also known as the cathedral.

Vaxjo Lake

Teleborg Castle. The prince had this built for his new bride as a wedding gift. She didn't like it so it was sold and turned into a hotel. She must have been crazy to not love this castle. It overlooks a beautiful lake and it so awesome!

Exploring and old castle that is now a ruin (I don't remember the name of this castle).

The old banquet hall at the castle.

The last day we were there we visited a couple in my parents' branch where we had lunch and were able to take their rowboat out on the lake across from their house.

We also went swimming in the lake. It was quite cold, but still fun!

We had such a great time in Sweden! It was hard to say goodbye to the country and my parents. It was so fun to see where my parents have been living and meet some of the people that my parents have told us about. I can't wait until we can go back! Neither can Brant. He's hoping next time he can shoot himself a moose!

Whew!

Wow! The past two weeks have been CRAZY! Brant and I just got home from a 2 weeks vacation and now I feel like I need a vacation from our vacation! We spent the first week visiting my parents on their mission in Sweden and the second week in New York City. It was such a busy couple of weeks! From the time we landed in Sweden it was Go Go Go!! So much so, that first day we were literally falling asleep while walking around. We had such a great time though! Seriously...so wonderful. One day I'll get to writing all about our trip and include pictures. I just need to go through the million pictures that I took before I can post anything. So hopefully one day soon you will be able to hear about our fun trip.

That Time Brant Got Arrested

Have you ever received that dreaded phone call from your husband saying that he had just been arrested and that he'll need you to come to the county jail and post bail?

No? That's strange.

Well, I got that exact phone call this morning at 5:45 am! Brant called to tell me that he had been pulled over and he was being taken to jail. Apparently there was a warrant out for his arrest because he failed to take care of a ticket he received a few months back for not having the correct address on his driver's license. So off to the clinker he went! They handcuffed him and all. Apparently those things aren't too comfortable while riding the back seat of a police car.

So my morning was spent bailing out my husband from jail. Not really what I wanted to do that early on a Thursday morning, but it sure makes a good story.

~ This is actually a huge blessing in disguise since we leave for Sweden on Monday. How bad would that look if we were fleeing the country when he had a warrant out for his arrest. Our fun couples trip would have turned into a fun trip for me and a long 2 weeks in the slammer for B. So thank Heaven that he got arrested today! HAHAHAHA! That still sounds funny to me.

Getting Old

Sometimes I forget that I'm 28 and NOT 16. I'm getting old and my body can't do what it used to be able to do.

This weekend Jessica, Tyson, Brant & I decided to go to Get Air Trampoline Park. It is a super fun place to go and it's a great workout! They have three areas - one dodge-ball/basketball arena, a place to do tricks off the trampoline into foam pits, and then a big area covered with trampolines where you can do any trick you want and can jump from trampoline to trampoline.

Well...in that third area, there are these platforms you can jump on and off of. We had been jumping on and off this one platform and having a grand old time. But then I forgot that I was old and I decided that it was a good idea for me to do front flip off the platform onto the trampoline.

Good news: I landed the flip!

Bad news: when I landed I heard a pop/snap coming from my leg and I collapsed. I wasn't quite sure if I had hurt my knee or ankle as both seemed to be hurting, but my leg was also a bit numb from the knee down. So when the helpful worker got me a bag of ice I didn't know where to put it. I opted for the ankle with a little bit of time for the knee as well.

Sadly I don't have insurance right now (I think it kicks in Aug. 1...) so I haven't been to a doctor. But luckily I have a great brother/doctor that I could text and get his expert advice. So yesterday I spent the whole day sitting on the couch with it wrapped and elevated hoping that my ankle and knee heal quickly.

You see...Brant & I leave for Sweden and NYC in just one week! And both those places require A LOT of walking. Not great timing on my part that's for sure.

Oakley Rodeo

Brant, Heather and I went to the Oakley Rodeo to continue our 4th of July celebrations. We got in our best western gear and all we were missing were cowboy hats. Luckily they had a little shop where both Brant & I found hats to complete our look.

Most of you might not know this...but Brant is actually part cowboy. And he's a pretty sexy one at that. Mmmmm baby! haha!

 We ran into Kent and his friends at the rodeo. They were just a few rows in front of us!

 After the rodeo they had a firework show!! Yay for more fireworks!