Christmas Day at Deer Valley

Another tradition that we have is that we go skiing on Christmas Day. When others are opening presents and lying around, the Larsens hit the slopes (I have been known to stay behind and stay in bed and read while Rod and Alex go skiing...but not this year). Sohkanen family and us got up early, checked our socks and the rest of the presents and then drove to Park City so the Sohkanen family can rent some skis.

Then off to Deer Valley we went.


Group picture before separating for the day.


We celebrated Kari's 50th birthday on top of Bald Mountain in Deer Valley with Gatorade (we ran out of Sparkling Cider the night before). It was so beastly cold that the juice froze into the cups. What a glorious moment to remember.
Sini-Tuulia, Kari and Joonatan


Rod, Joakim and Jaana

Jaana, Jetro and Enni-Riia

Jaana and the beautiful Park City ski resort in the background.

Jaana taking in the sights and the sun.

Jaana at lunch at the "Beach"

At the end of the day, Mom and her two boys, Joakim and Joonatan.

Christmas Eve

As our Finnish tradition dictates, we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. We have the big dinner and open presents that evening.

This year we had a big party with 19 people for dinner. Sohkanen family (7 of them) from Mikkeli, Finland arrived on 12/23 for two weeks and then Riikka and her 4 kids from Draper and Rod's sister Whitney and her husband Craig and daughter Elle. We all fit around the dinner tables and the food was plentiful....the traditional Finnish food with carrot and rutabaga casseroles, Rosolli (don't ask) and ham galore.

Adults' dinner table before everyone sat down for dinner.

Kids' dinner table was set up in the living room.

Time for "Glögi" and appetizers.

From left, Dana, Alex, Elle, Craig, Enni-Riia, Sini-Tuulia, Joakim, Jetro and Joonatan.

Kari and Riikka catching up with news.

Kids having dinner. From the front: Yonah, Billy, Sedric, Elle, Jetro, Alex, Avalon

Adults' dinner: From the front, Riikka, Jaana, Sini-Tuulia, Enni-Riia, Dana, Joonatan, Joakim, Kari, Whitney and Rod's bald head.

Joonatan, Joakim, Kari, Whitney, Craig, Rod, Riikka, Jaana, Sini-Tuulia and Enni-Riia

Before opening the presents, we had some musical numbers.

Sini-Tuulia (violin student at BYU) played "Varpunen jouluaamuna" and "Whose child is this?" Beautiful!

Elle sang and played "Silent Night". She has such a beautiful voice.

Riikka and her kids singing Finnish Christmas songs. Or, maybe it was just Riikka who sang.

Craig and Whitney tried to keep up with the Finnish songs.

Sini-Tuulia singing by the fire.

Tip-Tap-Tip-Tap-Tipe-Tipe-Tip-Tap-Tip-Tip-Tap

Jaana, Kari, Enni-Riia and Joonatan

Then we opened presents. Everyone seemed to be so happy.

I got the biggest box of chocolates I've ever seen.

What a great Christmas Eve we had. It was so fun to have dear friends and family around to share a special evening with us.

Lakeridge vs. Oak Canyon 12/22/09

Lost to Oak Canyon 55-30. Pain continues...

Lakeridge vs. Diamond Fork 12/21/09

Lost to Diamond Fork 65-46.

Family Home Evening...Alex Style

After köttbullar (yes, meatballs in Swedish. I love to say it in Swedish because it drives Alex crazy) Alex entertained us with his mad skills at IKEA. Watch! We are so proud.

Busy Saturday

Our busy Saturday started with Skyping with my mom first. Then we ran out the door to deliver some "pulla" to my dear friends Riikka and Terhi.

Then we drove to the Salt Lake Hale Center Theater to watch the "Christmas Carol" with the Crowleys.

After the play, we had a quick stop at Training Table for some cheese fries and a wonderful visit with Matt and Michelle.

We hadn't planned to go to IKEA, except I needed some glasses from there, but we ended up spending hours there looking at kitchens and furniture and planned to do Alex's bedroom.

This is what Alex's bedroom will eventually look like except with blue walls and different bedding, of course, and no hanging price tags. Alex is excited.

The opposite wall.

Then we started looking at kitchens because we need a kitchen remodel so badly. White is nice, yes?

But I really like these medium brown color cabinets, too.

I quite like this look. Very modern and warm.

So, we checked out of IKEA with my glasses and two dresser drawers for our walk-in closet, and 5 stackable stools for our kitchen. We spent the rest of the evening putting everything together.

Until..

We went to the late show of Avatar.

It was a good movie. Lots of tall and blue creatures. Americans and military were evil.

And we walked out of the movie with the 3-D glasses and decided to pop the lenses out so Alex and I could look totally nerdy, like Urkel.


The real Urkel.

Lakeridge vs. Canyon View 12/17/09

Another loss for our boys. We played Canyon View Jr. High on Thursday. Our boys couldn't make a basket to save their lives. Final score 41-26.

Alex made 2 pts.

Tribute to My 83-year old Mom on her Birthday

Today is my mom's 83rd birthday. Hyvää Syntymäpäivää Äiti! My mom is the most incredible woman I know. She has always been the most supportive, loving and non-judgmental person. She has taught me how to care for other people. Many times I witnessed her helping her friends or neighbors in need. She still continues to do this on a daily basis.

My mom is the most busy 83-year old woman I know. You can hardly find her at home because she is always either at a luncheon with her friends, or at a lecture at the university or at a computer class learning how to use a digital camera and downloading pictures to her laptop.

Even though I haven't seen my mom since 2007, I Skype with her every Saturday morning to catch up with each other and mainly with her news because it seems that at 83 her life is much more exciting and interesting than mine.

My mom has the best sense of humor. She can say the funniest things that make you just crack up. I hope I have inherited some of her sense of humor.

When we were growing up, my mom always worked. She was a pharmacist and because of that, she was a vitamin pusher at home. My sister and I were never sick when we were little and hardly at all even now. I think we have our mom to thank, although I hated swallowing those vitamins every morning.

When I was growing up, my mom always put her needs aside and my sister and I always got the latest and greatest. If you look into my mom's closet, she still has a suit in there that she wore before my sister was born, with my mom swearing that "one of these days, I will fit into that suit". My dad used to say that he could wrap his fingers around my mom's waist and touch them on the other side. That's how tiny my mom was. HOW COME I DIDN'T INHERIT THAT??

My mom is the most wonderful and beautiful person and I love her so much. Kiitos Äiti kaikesta!

Rakkaudella,

tyttäresi Marja


My mom in 2007 at my nanny's house.


She can shoot too.


and fish.

And all we got was 4 crappy fish.

My mom, me and my sister Riitta

Can you say "TWINS". I hope I will be as beautiful as she is at her age.

Lakeridge vs. Orem Jr. High 12/15/09

Another win by our Lakeridge boys. This time we had a rivalry game against Orem Jr. High.

Final score 56-64 for Lakeridge. Go Leopards!

Another winning final score 56-64

Lakeridge vs. Willow Creek 12/10/09

Finally a WIN!!! Our boys finally were able to beat the opposing team and come out with a win. We trailed the game until 3 minutes before the game ended, and then were able to pull a 10 point lead. Great job boys!

Alex had many 3-point attempts but couldn't put them in today.


Our Coach Trent (in a yellow shirt) showed up to the game in a bow tie. Well, he IS the school librarian.


Alex warming up before the game.


Stevan Davis (Whitney's brother in-law) as the ref in our game. Finally we were able to get some good reffing. Alex, number 12, in the background.

Beautiful final score 48-38.

Lakeridge vs. Timberline 12/8/09

Another loss for our Lakeridge boys, this time against Timberline.

Alex made a 3-pointer towards the end of the game that was just beautiful.


Alex warming up before the game.


Another ouch! 46-63, and we could have won this game.

If I Was an Inventor....

I would invent an iron that had a water reservoir entry point the size of Texas instead of size of a pea with plastic stoppers in the inside.

Maybe you don't know this about me, but I iron everything. I found my ironing soul mate in my friend Kristine when she told me that when she was in college she used to iron her jeans. I was so relieved to hear it because I iron E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. T-shirts? Check. Jeans? Check. Tablecloths? Check. Napkins? Check. All of Alex's clothes? Check. The list goes on and on. When Rod was putting the Christmas village together and was in search of a tablecloth to put under the fake snow, he said:"Can I put it on the table without you ironing it and you not losing sleep over it?"

Yes, ironing is a serious business at my house. That's why the size of the water entry point is so very important to me. Ironically, I send all of Rod's shirts and pants to the dry cleaners. I don't have time to iron them. He accumulates too many pieces of articles for me to keep up with that madness.

Back to my dilemma.

This picture doesn't do justice on what I go through every time I try to fill the water reservoir. Seriously, I get so mad every time because it is like I'm trying to put the baby back in the uterus. It is an impossible task. I end up with more water on the ironing board than inside the iron.

Maybe it is time for me to get a new iron. Santa?

Lakeridge vs. Spanish Fork Jr. High 12/4/09

Another heart breaking loss at Spanish Fork Jr. High on Friday night. We trailed about 20-25 points throughout the whole game until the last minutes when we were able to catch up and finish with a 6 point loss. Eventhough I tried to sell the rallying to Alex, he said:"It is still a loss".

Next game is tomorrow, Tuesday at home. Go Leopards!



Austin, Alex and Chris receiving instruction from the coach.


Final score 69-63