Finally Home

We are finally in AMERICA!!!!! We've actually been here for three weeks now. I'm finally getting around to writing a blog post! I can't begin to describe how great it feels to be home. A year and a half was way too long for this American girl to be away! Joel, Emma, and I left Sweden at 10 am and arrived in Utah 11pm, two hours later than we were supposed to. I can't believe how many compliments we received from people telling us how good Emma was doing on the plane! On our long flight from Copenhagen to San Fransisco (10 1/2 hours long), Emma had a bassinet to lay in! A friend of mine who is from Sweden recommended it, and I am so glad she did! Even though Emma didn't quite fit, it worked out well! Even if she didn't sleep in it a whole lot, the bassinet worked really well to feed her in.

Before our flight I thought, "I am so glad Joel is here with me to help take care of Emma!" Buuuut in the end she only wanted me, and I feel like she was nursing once an hour haha. We were a pile of a hot and sticky mess there for quite a while. She was definitely a little heater! She slept a little better in my arms, since the bassinet was closer to the aisle and people kept waking her up every few minutes. I now know to bring those ear protection things for Emma, so it won't be as noisy and she can hopefully sleep better next time.

This is how Emma was 98% of the time

Yeah... Joel snapped this picture because he thought it was funny ;)

When we finally got home everything felt so natural. I felt like I had never been gone! And all of the sudden I have a 9 month old baby. We were all sitting on the couch cooing over and watching Emma! I was in heaven, since my family finally met Emma! I am so proud of my little baby :)

Thus far during our visit we've been visiting lots of people and eating lots of delicious food! It has been a blast and a half. Our favorite restaurant at the moment is a place called Taggarts here in Morgan. When we first arrived Joel and I ate dinner with my BFF Heather and her husband Nick. We were sitting there waiting for our food when I got SO GIDDY. I was loving spending time with them! It hit me that Joel and I had never gone out to eat with another couple before. I guess since it is so expensive in Sweden, we rarely go out together as it is. Anyways I was in heaven spending all this time with them.

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to:

The weather was breaking records it was SO WARM. It was 60 degrees! Our eyes hurt from seeing the sun haha.

Our family was sealed in the Ogden temple to the two little girls my parents just adopted a few months ago. I know the quality of the picture is bad (because it was dark), but I just wanted to remember this very special occasion.

Joel was helping me warm up for my ballet photoshoot

CHRISTMAS JAMMIES!! These three have been inseparable since we've been home. Also... Emma weighs just as much as Berkley (on the left). Let's just say Emma doesn't look chunky but is SOLID, and Berkley is teeny haha.

Since coming home, I feel like I've been answering a lot of similar questions all about our stay and such. So, here are some FAQ's I put together:

How long will you be here? Two more weeks. We leave January 10th, and arrive back in Sweden the 11th.

When are you moving back to the states?? We don't know yet. We want to, but since Joel is the provider for our family we need to be where he can get a job. And right now he just got a promotion at his job! So we'll see. My dream is to move back within 3 years... I don't know how much longer I can live in Sweden. We definitely feel like we need to move back, we're just waiting for the right time. Thank goodness Joel has his American passport :)

How do you like Sweden? I love Sweden, especially the summers. I can go without the winter for sure. Anyone who has experienced them know exactly what I mean... I do love living there, but I also love being home and back to my familiar surroundings where I feel the most confident and secure.

How is the language coming? I like to say my Swedish is at a 2 year old's level, haha! I can communicate with my 2 year old niece! Simple things like, "Are you hungry? Do you want to read a book? Be careful!..." and so on ;) I do wish I was more confident in my Swedish. I know my Swedish would come faster if I spoke more! It is constantly a work in progress. It is nice now that I am learning faster and faster I am picking out more words! So it is getting easier, thankfully. Swedish is HARD dang it! Joel and I speak English in our home, and Joel speaks Swedish to Emma. We are going to try hard to keep the languages separate, so there isn't Swinglish going on ;)

Is your family loving having Emma around? YES. And that is an understatement. Everyone is obsessed with her, and I love it. Especially my two little sisters! They are seriously the best little helpers. I can kind of have a glimpse of what it will be like when Emma is 4, and to have a little baby. They are constantly asking if they can hold Emma, get a toy for Emma, and play with Emma. While we are sitting in Church, I look down the row to everyone staring at Emma dying to hold her. Tonight at dinner Emma was pulling faces at everyone while we ate and had us all laughing hard. Sometimes I feel like I rarely see her, because she is always getting passed around ;)

How can you visit the states for so long? Since we live in Sweden, we have an awesome maternity and paternity leave. Joel is using some of his paternity leave and vacation days from the summer, so we were able to visit for 5 weeks.

Anyways, I hope that answers some questions! Hope you all had a merry Christmas!!!