Friday, July 31, 2009

Until tomorrow

The flight leaves in T minus 5 hours, getting ready to eat lunch for the last time with my family, and running a few errands, and off to Minneapolis, then from Minneapolis to Amsterdam (a 9 hour flight) then to Gothenburg! I land 4:45 local time, so 9:45am Kansas time! Catch you then!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Days like today...

...are the days I'll miss the most. Spending time with my mom, sister, best friend Teryl and Aliza. Just joking around and drinking wine. Two of my favorite things. Those girls are the best ones I'll ever find, even if I go to Sweden and back. We can just go on and on with the same joke and laugh SOOO hard at each other. Today for example, was making fun of a Taylor Swift song, we just went on and on with it! I'm excited to meet new friends, but will definitely be ready to come back to the ones I already have.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Saying goodbye

Last night was the party, and boy oh boy, I had a great time! Thanks to all of the people who came, it really showed me how many people really care about me. It's so sad to think I won't see some of those amazing people for a year! But I'm so lucky to know the kind of people I have thinking about me, and after a year, to come home to.

The day started pretty slow, Whitney, my long lost friend, arrived. Thanks to my mom I got to share my time with her, which was great. We just messed around the house, getting this and that ready, and around 330 my cousin Jamie and her husband and 3 kids came! I couldn't believe it! So the party started a little early, but it was wonderful! Then around 7:30 more and more people arrived! I was all over the place, trying to be a good host and answer all the questions everybody asked me, but I probably skipped a few people here and there.

Today I was WAY too tired and yes, a little hung over, to go to Worlds of Fun. So I left that to my family and stayed home to sleep and clean up what I can. Mom, the amazing mom, already has cleaned up the outside! Could I be any luckier!?


This week I will spend being with my friends and family as much as I can. I just can't believe I have to say good bye this week. REALLY say good bye, to my mom and dad, Emma and Tanner, my sisters and brothers. I almost want to just...skip it and disppear!

With all my sadness and nervousness, I HAVE to remember how excited I am too. I get to spend a year in an amazing country and especially be close to my amazing and most of all, supportive, boyfriend. Make new friends and meet new people. I'm going on the journey of a lifetime! But I have to get over the anxiety and remember all the good stuff there is to come!

Next time I write, I bet my emotions will be flying high!




Not the best picture of me ever taken, but the cake is amazingly cute! I was sad to cut through it! But it was just as delicious as it was pretty!

Friday, July 24, 2009

To go with the theme

To go with the theme of my obsession with Sweden and not mentioning Fredrik in my posts, I thought this would be approrpiate.

Today my friend Dom and I went to the Nelson Atkins art museum in the plaza district, and there is a new exhibit featuring their famous shuttlecocks, to which I found out were designed by a SWEDISH sculptor, by the name of Claes Oldenburg. I remember going to the Nelson in high school and basically feeling at home at this museum. It's one of my favorite places to go, and today was no different. The new additions to the museum are amazing, and there is so much artwork. Dom and I walked around for nearly 3 hours and I definitely could have stayed longer...but we got hungry! And I definitely enjoyed our happy hour wine and happy hour hor d'ourves!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

100 years...minus a couple of days.

I have been SO busy

Trip to Wisconsin was exceedly pleasant. I had a really great time. I always forget how beautiful it is up there untill the day we arrive, and I'm always in shock how beautiful it is, and how much is has not changed. We celebrated Tanners 1st birthday, it only seems yesterday we celebrated Emma's first birthday, and there she was, helping her not so baby brother open his birthday gifts. I'm going to miss them the most. We went shopping, drank wine, ate great food, played games, talked ALOT, laughed even more, spent time with each other as family and good friends. It was a really great, and unforgettable trip. Thank you to my mom, who always works her tush off to make it great for all of us, and makes sure we all have sheets to sleep on! :)

...then we came home...

...then we start on the laundry. Wow. Mom has been doing laundry for 4 days now, I have been putting away as much as I can AND have started packing. PACKING, can you believe that?! My first post was 79 days...and now it's 9 days. Are you kidding me? NINE DAYS! It's starting to get exciting and REALLY scary at the same time. But, I have nearly packed all my "junk" away, storing it at my brothers house, along with my bed. And I have decided 3 bags is what I get to take with me, although I did send myself 20 or so pairs of jeans and skirts via snail mail yesterday. That only cost me $160!

The rest of my time in Kansas is busy busy busy. Plans with friends, going away party, a trip to Worlds of Fun, a trip to Seneca to visit my grandma, etc. etc.

...my goal before I leave, DO NOT LOSE MY PASSPORT!

One of my favorite, yet useless, pictures from the cabin. Only fits, a Swedish themed lawn chair.
...and one of the best from the cabin, a view of our lake, could it get any better than that?

Monday, July 6, 2009

Yankton

I got home today around 6ish from our family reunion in Yankton, South Dakota. The weather was COLD when we first arrived Friday afternoon, and it was cold AND rainy all of Saturday, so we ended up shopping and sleeping! But around 5:30 the sun came out and we ended up having a really great BBQ with the Huerters, Claytons and Pipers. All of my dads brothers and sister were there! It's always a lot of fun to see my dad with his 5 brothers and 1, poor, lonely sister! I love seeing my cousins, their babies and how much they are growing up! I have decided not to go to our cabin in Wisconsin, so these are the only vacation pictures untill the BIG day! I can't believe I'm telling people, "I move this month!"! It's come so soon and I can't wait for it to FINALLY be here!

This is only a few of my cousins, Shawn, Jamie (who are brother and sister), me and Emily (sisters of course!) and Katie and Meagan (sisters). There are A LOT of my cousins who didn't come, but it was fun to see the ones that did come!



This is Uncle Jerry, Uncle Rich, Grandma Darlene, my dad, Aunt Chris, Uncle Tim, Uncle Steve and Uncle Nick! My dad is the baby of the family, can you tell?! :)



Best picture from the vacation, it was so great to spend time with my dad and sister, especially when I'm about to be gone for a year.