As most of you know, I do a lot of family research and I try to distribute temple names to family members and friends so that everybody can share in doing the temple work. I have tried to keep track of who has what names, but I had so many that I lost track of quite a few. Over a hundred names disappeared for a few years. Slowly, I have been able to find most of them and get them back. Many have been reprinted, too. To catch up, I quit having temple cards made and I have turned in about 500 names this year directIy to the temple for any patrons to do. I was getting closer to feeling totally organized.

Then I got an email from a girl in Arizona. She had found this blog site by googling my name on the internet. In the email she sent me, she told me that she had gone to a thrift store to donate some items and she found nine of my temple cards scattered on the ground, in Mesa, Arizona. My name and Oceanside address were on the cards. The girl just happened to be LDS and she knew what those cards were and figured that I would like them back. So she made the effort to find me. I gave her my new address. I was so excited to get those cards back! And she was excited that she found me. How the cards got there is a mystery. They were gone for 3 years. And how this girl found me is a miracle (with help of technology).

I have had so many wonderful miracles and answers to prayers in so many different areas. God watches over us all and loves us all.

 My husband, Ed, has known for a while that he needed a another blockage fixed in his heart. He had a heart attack last December and had three stents put into his heart then. The heart attack totally changed his life: eating habits, exercise, taking lots of medicine religiously and he lost lots of weight. He felt great. Then a few weeks ago, he had some tests done and they discovered he had another blockage and he was told not to exercise hard and strain himself in any way. It was devastating,  but he slowed down a bit. He did notice that he was getting more tired and he was really worried. He was also told by the doctor that open heart surgery was a possibility but they wouldn’t know until they went in there and checked it out.

After some delays, he finally had the angioplasty today and they put in another stent. No open heart surgery. And the old stents are holding up fine. He is very relieved. Now he just has to take it easy for a few days until the cut in the femural artery heals. There is another blockage in his heart that they are keeping an eye on. If it gets worse, the only solution is open heart surgery, but the doctor feels that with the direction Ed is going, he should be fine. He will just have it checked every six months.

It is amazing how a heart attack can change one’s life. I look at pictures from before the heart attack. Ed looks totally different now. 30 pounds lighter and much younger. Quite handsome, if I may say so. He is so good about what he eats and doesn’t eat. At the hospital today, the nurse couldn’t believe how young he looks for his age. I am not complaining, that’s for sure.

Ed also has a good heart in other ways. And this part has always been good. He is very generous with everything he has. Our home is always open to anybody who needs help. He will always share our food and our home. And he is generous to homeless people and others who are having a hard time. There is a Swedish saying which goes: Finns the hjärterum, finns det stjärterum. It sounds better in Swedish, but translated losely it says something like: If there is room in the heart, there is room for another person.  And that is true. If we have love for others it makes it so much easier to share.

Hopefully, we will have him around for a long time to come.

To all the men in my family: my father, my husband, my sons and sons-in-law, A Very Happy Father’s Day. (For you in Sweden: in the US, Father’s Day is the third Sunday in June, so that is this Sunday).

I appreciate you all. Thank you, Ed, for doing such a good job providing for us. And for being a great father and husband. Thank you to all who are taking great care of our grandchildren and future grandchildren, teaching them and being good examples to them. Thank you to my dad who has taught me so much and especially the gospel, caring for others and hard work.

 Today, as my dad and I unloaded our fifth trailer load of garden soil (three today and two a couple of weeks ago)  into the top part of our garden my dad built for us, I thought about how he is approaching 80 and he is still working hard and he likes to create and accomplish things. The last few weeks, he has built a wall and some stairs, moved big rocks and railroad ties, rototilled, shoveled, planted, fertilized, built a small fence and so much more, and he watches over that garden as a great watchman. He leaves for Sweden in a few days and I know he worries about who is going to do his job after he leaves. I told him when he started the project that I really didn’t want him to overdo it and die on me, but he really wanted to do the job and he was really excited about it. He was out there one day a while back and came in with a drawing of how he would like to do everything. So he just went to work on the project. And while we were in Oceanside, he planted lots of plants, since we by that time were really too late to start from seeds. How he works so hard at his age, I don’t know, but besides aches and pains, a limp, and a hearing problem, he doesn’t have any major health problems.

Anyway, I am grateful to him for always caring so much about his family and for being totally unselfish with everything he has and so forgiving. I am grateful that he and my mom accepted the gospel 110 %. I am grateful for all the experiences we had as children, for learning how to work, for learning the importance of the gospel in our lives, missionary work, family history, serving the Lord, caring for others, standing up for what is right, and so many other things.  Happy Father’s Day and may you enjoy many more!

As I was driving today, I was just in awe of the beauty around here. I am actually in awe all the time. I am not very good at describing things but here is a try: The mountains are sharply rising thousands of feet right behind our home. There is still snow on the mountain tops and where the snow has melted, it is so green. We live at 5,100 ft. but the mountains rise to 10-11,000 feet or more. 

We are also not far from the very large Utah Lake. There is such an awesome view from up here and we even have a view from our yard. It is blue and beautiful and fills a very large portion of the valley. We go boating and water skiing there when we have a chance.

Then there are more mountains all around the lake, south and west as well as east. Still snow capped. But probably not for much longer. It is getting warmer. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 80s. (Although, the weather played a trick on us just a few days ago and it actually snowed in some places). Then in September, you start seeing a few orange and red patches starting at the top of the mountain and spreading down. It is like a fire spreading slowly down the mountain. And that is breath taking, too.

The next thing  you can see is the Mt Timpanogos temple. It is so beautiful and sits there as if to beckon us all to go there. It is closed this week, though, but that is one of my favorite places to be. From the High School below, it looks as if that temple is floating in the air.

A large canyon is not far from our house. Each season brings its own beauty to that canyon. There is a very large cave is up there. There are also places for picnics, hiking and camping, sledding, snowmobiling, riding fourwheelers (ATVs), swimming, cross country skiing, fishing etc. The views are spectacular. Flowers in the summer, the colors in the fall, the snow, all make for a beautiful place.

Contrast all this with the beauty of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. We were just down there, enjoying that part of the world. That is breath taking, too. I love the sun setting in the ocean. I love walking on the beach and on the pier.  We enjoyed a lunch at the end of the pier. Ed did some surfing even. The palm trees everywhere are so majestic. 

The trip to Arizona a few weeks ago was also breath taking in parts. Beautiful scenery most of the way down there. It was pretty green, too, which made it very nice, to say the least. I am not a desert person, but I have to admit that there is beauty there also. In Arizona, we hiked a high mountain in Scottsdale. You could see the whole valley.

Three different places, different beauty. Heavenly Father loves us all so much that he gave us all these beautiful places to enjoy and appreciate. How greatful I am for all he gives us.

I have started this blog several times and then deleted it. There is so much going on and my emotions are going crazy at times. So many changes in our lives. Not to mention that I have worked hard and that I am sore and tired.

Here are some of the changes around here:

First, Sean and Heather are gone with their children. They moved to Puerto Rico. Sean left last week and Heather and the children left this week. I have cried so much and just the thought of them leaving us was hard. We were hoping up until the last minute that it wouldn’t happen. But they left and they are excited. They are renting a house with a pool and I am sure they use it every minute they can. The  LDS members in Puerto Rico have been so wonderful to them, welcomed them with open arms, took time off work to pick them up at the airport, donated or sold very cheaply all the furniture they could possible need. So they seem to be all set.

They did send a few boxes by mail, which was the least expensive way to get things there. The people in line at the post office were probably going crazy when they saw all the boxes. We just kept bringing them in. They were also totally loaded with things on the airplanes, such as a surf board, guitars, golf clubs and car seats, besides all the regular bags. And there were quite a few adventures associated with it all.

 I am sure this will be a great experience for them. The children will learn Spanish and it is a new adventure. Their house here isn’t sold, yet, and they are trying to rent it out for now. We were there mowing the lawn and pulling weeds today. It was also a lot of work to get everything sent out, given away, sold etc. They worked at it for several months, but there was so much to do even at the last minute.

I will miss not having my three little grandchildren here. And I will miss the whole family at our Sunday dinners, playing games and Saturdays boating on the lake, and everything else. I am just glad we moved here to Utah when we did so that we got to have this time together. We still have other childen and grand children here but Sean and Heather and their children will be so missed by all of us. We will just have to make trips to Puerto Rico now and then.

Ed has done so well, eating right and losing weight and getting plenty of exercize. He looks great. He does get tired a lot and needs a good nap every day, but that is nothing new for him. He just transfered from Orem High Seminary to Lone Peak High Seminary, the school Linnea and Kayla go to and it is only a mile and a half from the house. So we have been very excited about that.

But then he had some medical tests done the other day and he came home all excited because he felt he did so well. The next day he went back for the results and the news were not good. He has some blockage in his heart. He should do it earlier, but he has an appointment for June 24 to have another angiogram. At that time, they will either put another stent or two in, if they can. If they can’t, because it is in a difficult spot, they will do open heart surgery. He has now been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He was in shock. He is afraid to do anything too hard. But we do go for walks every day. He has really looked forward to going to Oceanside and stay in our new condo there for a few days, so we are going next week. He is also playing with the Stingers for our friend, Lori Wilson, for her retirement party. He is excited about that, too. We just don’t know what will happen with our Hawaii trip in July. Hopefully, everything will work out for the best.  I know lots of people live a long time with heart problems and he may live a long time still.

My parents are here with us, still. They are planning on going back to Sweden to live for a while. They have lots of their things stored here in our basement and they are going through everything and getting rid of some things. We will miss them when they go, but we will keep a room or two for them here. My dad is working in the yard and has built a wall and stairs etc, for a great garden area. He loves to work and create things and we are benefiting.

I got to visit Eddy and Heather in Arizona for a few days. That was the first time I had visited them in their home. I had a great time. And I will go back again soon. Heather is expecting their first baby about Oct 1. Their home is great. Heather, especially, has decorated it so nicely. I also got to visit with Marta, my mother-in-law and see how she is doing. It was great to see her again, too. She lives very close to Eddy, so they see each other now and then.

A couple of weeks ago we drove to Oceanside to fix up our condo there. I mentioned it earlier. Ed just missed the beach so much that when the opportunity knocked, he bought a small condo. My mom and I worked on it. Lots of cleaning, lots of decorating, lots of fixing things. Danny and his Swedish girl friend, Natalia,  was with us, too, but since it was her first time in California, there was plenty of other things for them to do. The condo will be a place where we and our children can go any time and enjoy the beach and the nice weather and of course visit friends. We furnished it and we have the necessary items there to be comfortable.

Danny left for Sweden the day before Sean left for Puerto Rico. Danny is planning on staying in Sweden until Aug 6. He went to Sebastian’s wedding, and he is planning on visiting lots of family over there. He also has Natalia, whom he met online, that he is visiting. She is a cute LDS Chilean girl from Uddevalla, Sweden. She was here for a month and then they both left for Sweden. We’ll see what happens there. It is a little quieter here without Danny and we miss him. Linnea is enjoying not having to share a car or a bathroom with anybody. Danny worked hard learning Swedish and I hope he is learning lots more over there. Natalia speaks Spanish, too, so they have three languages to choose from.

Linnea is done with school, and all of the grandchildren, too. Before school ended, Linnea found out that she made the chamber choir at the school for next year, so she is very excited about that. She also got her first job. It is a new restaurant that will open soon and she will work as a waitress. I just don’t know how she will do everything this summer. She is one of the stake youth leaders for girls camp, she is going to EFY later in the summer, and she wants to go to Oceanside and also to Hawaii if we go. And she is busy with karate and their exhibition team. She is growing up. Only one year left of high school.

Aaron had shoulder surgery and his shoulder is quite immovable, and he is in the middle of taking his CPA tests. I know he will be so excited to be done  with the tests.

Lisa did quite well her first year of school. Not easy with a broken leg and trying to take care of five children. I am very proud of her that she did not give up. Her Danny is not living at home again. I am glad we live close by.   

I am sure I forgot lots of things that have happened but I am getting tired.

Ed wanted to go camping last night, but to make things easier, we just put the tent up in the back yard and Ed and I slept in it. Lisa and her kids slept in the trailer. We live in such a beautiful place and have the mountains right behind our house. We also have a fire pit in the back yard to enjoy any time. We did notice that the birds are sure loud in the morning.  And Ed discovered that his air mattress didn’t hold air. We are sleeping in our bed tonight.

Today is Mother’s Day in the US. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in the family. Thank you for all you do. I appreciate you all sooooo much. So here is a special greeting from me. OOOOOXXXXX

Thank you to the mothers who are doing such a great job raising my grandchildren.

 Thank you to my mom for always being so loving and caring, for teaching me the gospel, and helping me have a love for the gospel and also how to manage life and how to work. We are glad you are here with us right now. Too bad it won’t be for long. (But that can always change). Thank you for always remembering any special occasion. 

Thank you Marta for being such a great mom and grandma to our family. A thank you to you also for always remember special occasions. And sorry that we are so bad at it!! We wish we could see you more often. But we know you are now being a wonderful grandma and greatgrandma to your beautiful family in Arizona.

Thank you to all the rest of the family mothers who are a great example to me in all your are doing.

So to all the moms, pat yourselves on the back. I read somewhere the other day that a housewife is worth $117,000 a year, but also that that amount was not high enough. I agree. And it doesn’t take into account the influence we have on our children’s lives. That can’t be measured in money. What a blessing to be able to raise some of our Heavenly Father’s children and hope that we don’t make too many mistakes.

To you in Sweden, I know Mother’s day is not for another couple of weeks, but you might as well enjoy two Mother’s days.

Today, my parents are speaking at church. We look forward to hearing more about their mission. We appreciate them and all their service and for the good example they have set for us in serving the Lord and others.

Spring is here, finally. Back to mowing the lawn, doing yard work, but also enjoying the beautiful flowers everywhere, and the trees turning green. There is still snow on the mountains, and there was more the other day, but it will melt soon, as the days get warmer all the time. I actually love the snow capped mountains as long as possible. It is so beautiful!! 

I love you all!!!

MOM (Gil)

I don’t know where the time goes, but it just flies by. I have been home from Sweden for a month already. April brought another trip, this time down to Oceanside and Mexico, mostly Mexico. Not as relaxing as my Swedish trip. Since we have two homes just north of Rosarito in Mexico, it is mostly work going down there.

The renters moved out of our Calle Mitla house, the one closest to the beach, and we needed to rent it out again. We did get some new renters that will move in at the end of June. The renters are moving out of the other house, too, Calle Tula, so we were trying to rent that out. But it is quite messy and it was hard to show it to anybody and get them excited about it. Besides, we had plumbers working on that house all week, to find the plumbing back up problem. They had to dig up a bunch of concrete, but they finally found it and put in new pipes. Right next to our Calle Mitla house, there is a house being built now, after having been an empty lot for 30 years. Not only that, they are building within a few inches (centimeters) of our house. Apparently, our house was built too close to their property line. So they moved our water lines, our gas lines that were all on their property actually, they tore out our side walk and the part of our roof that was hanging over their lot. Luckily, they were good people and did the work for us. They didn’t just tear everything out. They could have. Our renters kept a close eye on everything, and we kept a close eye on the work while we were there. There are no rules how close you can build houses down there, but if we ever dropped anything between the houses, we could never get it back, and if we need to do anything to our house on that side, forget it.

We did manage a little beach time down there, and a daily walk. The weather was very nice except for a couple of windy days. We also went to a wedding in Oceanside, and Linnea got to hang out with a couple of friends in Oceanside and Carlsbad. She also had the adventure of taking the bus to Tijuana from Oceanside. She was nervous, but she does speak Spanish well enough and we met her at the station.

So now we are back home, back to work and back to school. It snowed here the day we left for Mexico, and it has snowed a couple of times lately, but it doesn’t stay long on the ground. It is time to put in the garden and get our lawn going again. We have mowed it twice. I really like the winters when there is no yard work and no watering to be done. Just shoveling snow now and then.  

Danny is done with school for this semester. He is very excited to be done with school for a while. We have Natalia visiting from Sweden for a month. She is a cutie and Danny is very excited to have her here. We are also excited to have my parents return from their mission this week. Everybody looks forward to seeing them again. I know all of you in Sweden will miss them, but I am sure they will be back there before you know it.

Sean and his family are getting ready to move to Puerto Rico, where he will work as a Federal Prosecutor. We will miss them so much, but we will just have to “sacrifice” and go to Puerto Rico now and then on vacation.

Until next time, Gil

I had a great time in Sweden! And I so appreciate all who made the trip so nice. It was wonderful to see family and friends. I told Mari that I could get used to being pampered, someone cooking my food and doing my laundry,  letting me use their car or driving me around, and also not having a watch or a phone. Special thank yous go to my parents for making me feel special and spoiling me and showing me around Gotland and thanks to all their wonderful friends there; to Richard and Marie for picking me up at the ferry and for letting me stay with them although they were very busy opening their first store; to Louis and Angelica for their hospitality and rides even though they had their hands full with children and work and for Louis helping me set up this site; to Mari and Sigge for totally spoiling me to death, Mari for letting me use her car, doing my laundry, and going for walks with me; to Per and Eva-Li for good food and sight seeing tour to places I had no idea existed; to Lizette for being my guide; to  Eva and Janne for spoiling me and driving me around everywhere, Eva walking and reminiscing with me, for sharing the exciting family history treasure chest with me, and to her children for their food and good company. I love you all!

I am sorry I took the snow with me to Sweden, but it made it very beautiful there. I have some great pictures. It just prevented me from seeing some sights and some family and friends. I think I took the snowy weather with me back home, too. It was warm and nice here while I was gone, and now we have had two days of snow. It is really storming right now.

There are some things that fascinated me about Sweden, things that I know about, but that I thought about a lot more as I actually experienced them. One was how diverse it has become, so many immigrants in recent years. To hear a black or an Arab person speaking “skånska” or “stockholmska” or another Swedish dialect perfectly sounded so weird to me. I also really noticed the different dialects in every place I visited. How two towns so close together can have such distinctly different dialects is amazing. On Gotland, I had to really concentrate sometimes to understand what they were saying. The building style of homes was another thing I thought of. And also how well preserved even very old homes and buildings were.  Historical sites everywhere, such as viking graves, or “runstenar”, castles,  all of Visby, so many old, preserved churches everywhere, etc. I tried to take it all in. I also noticed that in the church congregations I visited, the members really sang well and with gusto, compared to the US wards I have attended. I loved it! I also liked the ease of getting around, great trains and buses.  I had forgotten how much Swedish people “fikar”, that is having coffee, tea, or ”saft” (fruit drink) usually with sweet rolls or cookies. I must have had 10 gallons of herb tea while I was there. It was great! Even though I was royally fed, I was able to keep my weight down, and maybe all that tea had something to do with it. I love cheese, so the practice of eating bread with sliced cheese with every meal is great, too. The prices of everything was more of a shock. I know the dollar is down, so that makes it worse, but how do people survive? Food, clothes, gas, etc. I guess you just have to really aware of tremendous bargains. But that is how I do it here, too.

I don’t think I have ever had such trouble with jet lag as I have had this time. I just can’t sleep. An hour or two here and there and then I wake up. I can’t wait until I get normal again. I couldn’t sleep on the planes, either, as they were very full. I am up at 3 in the morning, even though I might have gone to bed very late. Crazy! But I am managing just fine.

My second night home, we had a big party at our house. Our dear friends, Dennis and Lori Wilson, are here in Utah visiting. We had a big birthday party/barbecue dinner/musical evening for them, and invited lots of family and friends. Our home was packed with people, probably 60 or more. That was with just a few hours notice. While I was gone, Danny had a birthday party and made the  large family room in the basement into a band/dance room. So it stayed that way. Ready for a party any time. Everybody had a great time, even though it was crazy with kids and adults everywhere, playing music and singing and dancing, kids playing dress up and chasing each other with (wooden) swords, playing war, and working on our “fort”. I am grateful for a big yard that is great for kids, and a big house, and that it wasn’t very cold that night. I was a little stressed before hand but we were able to get everything ready, food prepared, and some  house cleaning that didn’t get done while I was gone. I was also worried that I would be too tired, with only 3 hours of sleep in 48 hours, but I wasn’t at all.

The next night, we went out for dinner and a movie with the Wilsons. We saw 10,000 BC. Don’t waste your time on it. I also made it to the temple on Saturday. It was great being back to “my” temple again, almost my second home. I did enjoy the Stockholm temple, too while I was there. That was the first time I had ever been to a session in Swedish. The other times I have been there, they were in Danish or Russian or other languages. And this time in Stockholm, it was also special because I got to see and visit with my “old” friend from school, Elisabet Bautista. What a sweet experience that was!  We haven’t seen each other for 20 years or so. She joined the church as an adult, living on the Canary Islands, but then moved back to Sweden with her husband from down there, and they have been pillars in the church in Sweden for 30 years now, raising a large family. We were just hanging on to each other, thankful for the gospel in our lives and for each other. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Everybody survived just fine without me at home. In a way that is good. But I did get lots and lots of hugs. My grandkids told me that it just wasn’t the same without me, and I know Ed missed me a lot.  I know I spoil them all too much.

Life is good!!!!

I spent 4 days with my parents in the city of my birth, Visby, on the island of Gotland just east of mainland Sweden. My parents are there as missionaries for the LDS church just for another month. I just couldn’t miss that opportunity. My dad had a job there at the newspaper Gotlands Allehanda from 1952 until 1955. So I was only 3 years old when we moved from there to Sollefteå. I was back there in 1961 for a week with my dad, but that is the only time. So I was very excited!!!I spent a lot of time walking up and down the streets, taking in all the sights. It is a very old historical city with a wall around the original city. The wall was built in the 1100-1300 and most of it is still standing. There are also lots of old churches and church ruins from the same time period and some very old homes. All three homes (apartments) we lived in are still there, but many others are hundreds of years old. The first home of the Mormon church in Visby in 1861 is still there. It is a beautiful city. My parents’ missionary apartment is within the city walls, close to the south entrance. The streets are all cobble stone streets. This is not the most beautiful time of the year, but the city is called the City of Roses, with roses and flowers everywhere.

The Botanical Gardens, close to the beach, was a favorite place of mine and my mom’s when I was young. We lived right behind it and my dad needed to sleep during the day, so we spent all day there, or walking along the strand or the city. Now, there were some beautiful Crocus and Snowdrops. And the leaves where just starting to come out.

I got to see some of my friends from when I was little, including my first boyfriend (best friend), Yngve. I also got to meet just about all the members and investigators of the church on the island, and other friends of my parents’. I also got to attend a Genealogical conference and had my picture and a little write-up in the same newspaper my dad used to work for.

To get to Gotland, you have to take a large ferry from Nynäshamn to Visby. I left Gotland today and now I am back in Södertälje with Louis, my brother, and his family. But I am staying with Richard’s family tonight. They just opened the first LimitedToo store in Sweden and are planning on opening a lot more. It is a girls clothing store. They are really busy right now. I have been down at the store a lot, too.

In a day or so, I will leave for Göteborg to see my family there.

This is Clara, Louis’ baby girl, who is almost 2. Isn’t she cute?

Another one. I will add some more pictures later from the trip.

Hi everybody, I am now in Södertälje, Sweden with my brother, Louis. He is helping me set this up. So there will be more on this site as soon as I learn how to do it. I just arrived in Sweden a couple of hours ago and will be here for two weeks. I am excited to be here and look forward to seeing everybody in the family and also the city I was born in. The weather is typical for Sweden this time of the year, gray and gloomy. I am not here for the weather, that is for sure. But seeing family is great!

This is not Sweden. This is Cedar Hills this winter. We had lots of snow. It really was beautiful but required lots of shoveling.