Marja's Finland Trip Continues in Juva

Sirkka is getting ready for the big Kirkkoherra celebration

All done with primping.

Mr. and Mrs. Pylkkanen

Ake and Sirkka

Sirkka's new work place. Juva Lutheran Church.

Helena, Kalevi, my mom and Kimmo are walking to the church.

Kalevi and my mom walking up the church steps.

Sirkka is arriving in a processional.

The Bishop of Mikkeli Hiippakunta

Sirkka is giving an uplifting and sometimes funny sermon.

Sirkka is blessed and "set apart" as the new Juva Kirkkoherra.

Introducing Juva's new Kirkkoherra.

Sirkka's brother, Kalevi and his son Kimmo were in the attendance.

My mother, Sirkka's husband Ake and the Bishop's wife Maria.

My second cousin Suvi and her husband Reijo.

My cousin's grandson, Miro. The sweetest boy ever. I finally got him to smile.

The church service is finished and Sirkka and others are leaving.

My lovely relatives. So somber.

Ake watching his wife. So sweet.

My cousin Pauli (Miro's grandpa) and his girlfriend Aino.

The Finnish flag is flying in honor of Sirkka.

The arch outside of Juva church.

Sirkka, the happy Kirkkoherra.

Marja's Finland Trip March 1-11, 2012

I was talking with my cousin Sirkka a few months ago about her future career, and she mentioned that she was applying to be a Kirkkoherra in Juva, which is a near-by town close to Savonlinna. Sirkka is a female pastor in the Lutheran Church in Finland and the congregation in Juva wanted her to be their "Church Master" or the head of the Juva congregation. During our conversation I said that when that day comes, I will be there in the church pew celebrating this incredible honor.

And so the planning started. The celebration was set for March 4 in the Juva church. I bought tickets to depart on February 28th and arrive in Finland on February 29th so I could get rid of my jet lag before going to Juva.

Monday, February 27th Rod got extremely sick with stomach pains and Google told us that it might be an appendicitis. That night we went to the ER. They did an ultrasound and probed and kicked the tires and took blood and nothing was found. He was sent home. In the morning I canceled my trip. I was very worried about Rod and stayed home and took care of him that Tuesday. I called my mom and told her that I wasn't coming and she was so disappointed. On Wednesday morning Rod said that he was bored and went to work even though he still had stomach pains. At the same time I received a text message from my cousin Tommi who told me to re-purchase the ticket and just go. So I did.


Sleepy patient (Morphin induced) in the ER.

I left on Thursday morning via Detroit and Amsterdam, and arrived in Helsinki on Friday morning, March 2. I took the bus from Helsinki to Jyväskylä and hugged my mother at the bus terminal around 6pm on Friday evening.

On Saturday morning Kalle and Kimmo came to pick us up on the way to Savonlinna. We ate lunch before we left and an hour later we stopped for coffee, drinks and pastries at a Pieksämäki café. 15 minutes later we stopped for ice-cream in the middle of nowhere at a creamery. You know you are in Finland when you eat at least every 2 hours. We continued our trip to Sirkka's house, where we ate before we left for dinner. After dinner we came back to Sirkka's house for dessert and then to a sauna. After sauna we ate again. I think I gained 10 lbs in one day. But it was all so wonderful. It was so nice to be with all of my relatives.


My mom with her ice-cream. This is my favorite picture of her.

When we drove to Sirkka's house, Suvi (my second cousin) and her husband Reijo were there already. They had arrived from Helsinki that afternoon. We piled into cars and drove to downtown Savonlinna for dinner.


Kalle (Sirkka's brother) and Kimmo (Kalle's son) at Majakka restaurant in Savonlinna.

Reijo, Ake (Sirkka's husband) and Suvi at Majakka.

Teemu (Teea's fiance) and Teea (Helena and Väiski's daughter)

Helena (Sirkka's sister) and Väiski (Helena's husband)

My mom Tuovi, me and Sirkka

My mom had gotten a family gift for Sirkka and here she gave a speech to Sirkka.

My mom and Sirkka

Sirkka's new Kalevala cross.

Sirkka and her new cross around her neck.

We went back to Sirkka's house for the night and the women went to the sauna first and then the men. It was so nice to chat with Sirkka and Suvi in the sauna. Then it was time for bed. Ake gave me his bed so I could get a good night's sleep. He slept on the couch with Illi and Pessi. Sorry Ake.

Ake and Pessi before going to bed.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for Sirkka.

End of Basketball Season

To finish up the basketball season with the rest of the JV games, this is how it went:

MV vs. Maple Mountain 59-43 Win
MV vs. Timpanogos 77-44 Win
MV vs. Orem 57-60 Loss (last second loss)
MV vs. Salem Hills 73-61 Win
MV vs. Springville 61-68 Loss

We had 8 wins and 6 losses.
Now we look forward to the spring and summer tournaments that start in April and go all through June.

Sweethearts' Dance Pictures

Thanks to Tyler's mom Jeselyn, I was able to get some of the pictures from the Sweethearts' Dance. She is an amazing photographer and so creative after taking the pictures. So, huge THANK YOU to her!


Hunter and Alex


The Boys: Alex, Austin, Tyler, Omar, Christian and Kyle

The girls with Omar. Kyla, Elyza, Lauren, Omar, Kylee and Louisa. Hunter is doing the splits on the floor. Ouch! Hopefully Jana's pants didn't rip.

Girls' closeup: Kayla, Elyza, Lauren, Louisa, Hunter and Kylee

The whole group

That's a fun background.

Groovy Baby!

Sweethearts' Dance 2.11.12

Today was the Sweethearts' Dance at the high school. 7 couples were in Alex's group and if you read my earlier post, Alex asked Hunter to go with him. Their day date was to Boondocks in Sandy, but before they went there, all the boys spent a night at Kyle's house. Alex came home around 9:15 this morning from a sleepover and looked quite tired. All the 6 boys had slept on Kyle's bed.

After Boondocks, the girls and boys got ready in their 70s clothes and then went to Tyler's house for pictures and then to dinner to the Olive Garden and finally to the dance at the high school. Around 10:30 the whole group came to our house to watch a movie because the dance was so "lame".

Alex is picking up Hunter. When Quinn saw Alex he said:"You look like me!" and "those clothes are nice". So funny. But I must say, looking at this picture, Alex looks almost identical to Quinn...except Alex has hair.

Taking the Twins to Dinner on their Birthday

Rodney and Whitney, the twins, turned 47 on Monday. Craig and I took them to dinner to Market Street Grill in West Jordan.


The birthday boy and birthday girl with their presents.


Beautiful and incredible people


Rod and I


Craig and Whitney


After dinner. Happy birthday Rod and Whit! May this year be the best yet.
We love you!!

The Old Man Turns 47

Happy 47th birthday to the most incredible man, husband and father.
We love you more than anything.

Sweethearts Dance 2012

It is February and time for Sweethearts to go to a dance. Alex decided to ask Hunter to go with him. Hunter is a daughter of our oldest friends and they have grown up together as best of friends. It was time for these two to go on a date...with other 6 couples.

The planning of the "question" started. The more creative, the better, right? We came up with an idea of stringing a maze around Hunter's yard with individual signs that said "Will you go to Sweethearts with me?" The first sign was posted on the front porch when Hunter walked out of the house at 6:20 in the morning. It said:"Hunter, hold on to my heart while I string you along". We put a red heart on a carabiner that she had to hold onto while she walked through the maze of string around her yard while stopping at each sign. The last sign was in her car on a steering wheel (that was wrapped in string) with Alex's picture. (Sadly we don't have any pictures of any of it because it was so dark when we set up the question).

Great plan.

We went over with Alex at 10:30 at night to set up everything. Jana had told me that they go to bed around 10 and it was safe to come over shortly after that. We tried to be quiet as church mice but noticed that Quinn was peeking through the shutters in the upstairs window. Alex was scared that he would come out with a shotgun. Later Quinn said that he would only do that when Alex came to pick Hunter up. Back to the story...We got everything set up and I texted last instructions to Jana and Quinn to make sure the porch light was on in the morning so Hunter wouldn't get clotheslined.

Then we waited until we heard from Jana in the morning.


Alex's picture taped to the steering wheel.

The first thing I received from Jana was this picture below. She said that she ran back to the house to get scissors so they could cut the string off the steering wheel, and she forgot that the string was still around the house and she got clotheslined. She said she felt like an idiot because she knew the string was there, just forgot. Ouch! So sorry!! This is dangerous business.


String marks on Jana's neck.

But other than that, they liked the question. When Hunter got to her car to see who asked her, she burst out laughing when she saw Alex's photo and said:"It's Alex!" with a big grin.

Then we had to wait for Hunter's answer.

On Monday night Jana texted me and asked if were home because they wanted to come and set up the answer in Alex's room. Luckily we were going out for Rod's birthday dinner, so they had enough time to come over.

When we came back from dinner, Alex walked into his room and all we can hear is "WHAT THE HECK?"

And here is Hunter's answer:


"What's that you say??? A blast from the past?"
The theme for the Sweethearts Dance is "Blast from the past" and Alex's group has decided to dress up as characters from "That's 70s Show".


Hunter and Alex were in Kindergarten together. This is Hunter from Kindergarten graduation.


"I wonder what we looked like in the 70s?"


"Them?" both us and Hunter's parents.


Alex at the Kindergarten graduation.


"Looks like we'll find out."


Emma, Hunter and Alex and then Hunter's parents, Hunter and little brother Carson.


"YES".


So cute and creative. I'm sure it took a lot of time to go through all the old photos to come up with the answer. Great job Hunter!

And now we wait for the actual dance which is Saturday, February 11.

Zija Leadership Summit in Utah

Mr. President and the First Lady of Zija. Yes, that's us.

Basketball Season Continues

We are a little past the mid season in basketball and the roller-coaster ride continues.

MV vs. Timpanogos 60-44 Win
MV vs. Orem 56-47 Win (big rivalry game)
MV vs. Salem Hills 59-52 Win
MV vs. Springville 60-61 Loss
MV vs. Timpview 40-59 Loss
MV vs. Provo 43-56 Loss

Alex on the free throw line. Nice form.

Alex's girlfriend, Halli, the cute cheerleader. I had to post the picture before those two broke up, but sadly, I wasn't fast enough. Alex has moved on. Nowadays the youth breaks up over a text message. Wow. What happened to "it's not you, it's me" face-to-face conversation? Why didn't we have texting 30 years ago??? Life would have been so much easier.