HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM...Game Day Also!
Love you and hope you have a great day! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you!! :)
We also have a game today vs. Visby at 15.00!! We play at home so I hope we get a good turn-out!
GAME TIME!!
Sweet Revenge!!
But now I think we may have started a mini-war! John and Andreas reacted kind of upset, but I think after some time and a nice car wash...they cooled off a bit and smiled a little over it all.
It was kind of funny because it was total mission impossible when we did it...haha!!
We thought it was pretty funny! And I wish I could of seen the clean-up.... :)
The FINISHED PRODUCT!!!
Moral of the story...DONT MESS WITH US!!!
Love the Comets!! :)
SWISS CHOCOLATE!!!
YUMMY!!!!!! I loved it!!
Got to love FIKA!!!
Sophia also brought some yummy christmas bread!! It was great conversation and some good times!!
Nothing else really going on...talk at ya later!
XOXO
Jamie is Coming to Visit...HOORAY!!!
SEE YA SOON JAMIE!!!
Taken this summer after Mary's wedding in Durango!
Jamie has the pose down...but I need some work! HAHA!!
Looking forward to your visit Jamie...we are going to have a blast!!!
KRAM!
FINALLY!!
Finally we have a new president!!! OBAMA swore into office today and is now officially our new president!! I am sure everybody is very excited back home and I wish I could be there to join with the celebration. It's very exciting to see the future of the USA and to see what Obama can bring to the table!! Looking forward to it.
Shannon and I were going to try and watch the inaugural speech, but we couldn't find it anywhere on the Swedish television. But perhaps they will re-play the speech later and we can watch it!!
Tomorrow evening we invited a couple of church friends over for some american pancakes that Shannon bought in Stockholm. Sophia is also coming over later to fika and share some swiss chocolate!! I'm really looking forward to that!! Should be a nice, cozy evening with some good friends as company. Well that's all I got for now...
RED, WHITE, and BLUE!!!
Back to Umeå!
Monday, Monday, Monday....My body is still a little sore from the game on Saturday. Think I will spend the day taking a rest before we coach at the basketball school at 18.00 and then practice at 19.30. We play this week at home which will be nice vs. Visby. A team that is very beatable and I hope the best for us.
Here are some pictures of my team and our trip home yesterday...
Notice the looks of "why are you taking a picture of me"...
Car ride home...I had to take some pictures of that...Shannon was hilarious!! There were four of us in the back of the car so Shannon had to lay on top of us. HAHA!!
New week...new beginnings...new start!! Let's get it going!!
LATER
Hanging Out in Stockholm...
Game Today!
Last night we went and watched Benjamin Buttons. Probably one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. And it was 2 hrs and 45 min long. I would not recommed to go see it, unless you have a lot of time on your hands and don't mind watching a slow story.
Well talk to you later! Hope everybody has a great weekend!!
Peace out!
Semlor in Da' House!!
WE LOVE SEMLOR!! It's the time of year to indulge in some semlor!! I love this swedish treat!! Bun filled with almond butter and topped with whipped cream!! And they take up half our faces...haha!! :)
Today we went shopping in town and came across these delicious treats!! Tonight I am going to fika with my friend Sophia before she takes off to Switzerland. WAYNE'S!!! Gotta love Waynes ;) Anna and Shannon are going to suana later after practice and I am still on the fence if I will go or not?? Practices have been good lately. This weekend we travel to Stockholm to play 08. Then I think we are going to stay the night in Stockholm and come home on Sunday. Things have been pretty calm lately. Nothing new and exciting really going on. Yesterday we did some strength testing. I improved in my weight/strength in everything...which I was pretty surprised with! And happy about!! Kind of sore today in the legs though. Well that's all I have for now. Hope everybody is having a great week!!
A BIG HUG TO EVERYONE!!
Pizzabuffe, Laserdome, Bowling, and Innebandy
What a busy weekend!! An eventful weekend packed with tons of fun!! Give you a little line-up of this weekend.
Friday Night...aka "Team Night"
It all started after practice when the team decided to go and eat at Schrinska at the pizza buffet. For only 50sek we stuffed our faces with some pretty good pizza. Shannon and I both agreed that we "over ate" FOR SURE!! But it tasted SO GOOD and we were SO HUNGRY!! It was really nice getting the whole team together for a quality bonding experience!
American Tough Guys!!
After the pizzabuffe, we did laserdome at Megazone!! Now that was extremely fun!! My team however, we werent so good at it. Came in last place both times...but it was my first time and I really had idea what I was doing...well enough excuses...it was still fun!! And Shannon wasnt messing around...check her out!!
LASERDOME!! 
Team Golden Oldies....we made teams based off age. Of course the oldies were the worst...haha!!
Very fun and exciting team bonding experience!! I highly recommend it!!
SO that was Friday night!!
Saturday night we went bowling. Shannon, Anna, Andreas and myself. Another competitive night! Shannon kicked all our butts. I didn't know she was such a pro when it came to bowling.
I was really impressed with how nice the bowling alleys are here in Sweden. Nothing like back home.
Here are some action shots of us bowling!!
Sunday...Innebandy Match
Dalen vs. Helsingborg
Today we went and watched Dalen play a game against a legendary soccer player, Henke Larsson . There was a good turnout of people to come watch the famous soccer player, turned innebandy player. It was like a bunch of paparazzi in the house with all the cameras. And of course we were just like everybody else taking pictures. So here he is...
It was an exciting game for Dalen with a score of 10-2. Including 2 goals by our friend John...yipeee!!
And then finally tonight...Shannon and I went over to John's to watch a movie with his friend Ida. We watched the X-File movie...it was alright. But the highlight was the bucket of godis Shannon and I had!! Can somebody say SUGAR RUSH!!
Tomorrow is Monday...oh how I love Mondays...NOT! We start up basketball school again and I coach the U16 team. Then we have our practice! This weekend we play in Stockholm vs. 08 on Saturday, who just lost to Sundsvall tonight. So anything is possible. That's all I have for now...
Later!!
SNOWMOBILING ADVENTURE!!!
The drive out to the land of snowmobiling...
We finally found a place and it was actually really beautiful there!!
So John is crazy when it comes to driving a snowmobile. I was the first one to ride and really freaked out from the start. He is crazy! But it was fun...as I'm holding on for dear life.
So then we attached some cool stuff to the snowmobile!
Christoph, Patte and Anna went snowboarding and Shannon and I went sleding from the snowmobile. Pretty cool ideas from us!! It was so hilarious watching but SO MUCH FUN!! We had some pretty good snow fights also!! Including some pretty good take downs by myself...haha!! Check out Shannon's outfit!!
Shannon and I being dragged from the snowmobile on our sleds...haha!! All I got was snow in my face!!
My favorite was driving it myself!!
Check out Patte's face right after he gets off the snowmobile with John...that's how scary it was!
It was so beautiful out there...here are some pics of the scenary!! Love it!!
TODAY WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! AND I LOVE MY ROOMIES!!!!
Check out our red faces...haha!! It was freezing out!!
Today we ran the beep test...I did my best so far and I know I could have done better. Last time I got 11.2 and this time I got 11.8. I know I could have gotten to level 12 if I didn't mess up on running the lines. Long story...anyway, I did better so I guess that is good!!
Later!!
PUNK'D
On our car! How embarassing...now we have to drive around with it because there are like stickers we can't pull off. But now we must get even, so they better watch their backs...haha!!
We lost our game on Tuesday 71-59. It was a crazy game that got out of hand. I know you can't blame a game on an official, but they totally dictated the style of play for the game and let a lot of fouls go by. Then players just started to get out of hand and fouling pretty hard, and by that point we were fighting so hard to even the score...too much focus was placed on th refs when it shouldnt have. But of course we made a lot of mistakes that cost us, so all blame can't be put on that. We should have played harder from the start, not when we were already down 10 pts. But we are getting closer and now we can only take each game at a time.
This weekend we have no game. We play the following weekend vs. Stockholm 08. I think me and the roommates are going to plan something easy going between us. Maybe go bowling or take a sauna...we will see.
Well that's all that is going on in my life now. Today we are doing some testing with our trainer and tomorrow is the beep test. That should be interesting...
PEACE OUT!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!
My loving grandparents!!
Grattis på födelsedag farmor!!
Just Another Day in Paradise!
It's all really hard to do when I have no energy.
Well enough procrastinating...better get to it!
Tomorrow we leave for Sundsval to play our second game of the week. Should be a good game between the teams. I hope the best for us. I really have nothing else to write anymore....life is kind of boring. It is however very FREEZING outside here!! Just so you know! Talk at ya later....
XOXO
1-12...Really??
We have an extremely important game on Tuesday vs. Sundsvall. This is seriously a MUST WIN game. We will have to do whatever it takes to win the game. I am dead serious!
It was really nice to have all our new innebandy friends at our game today!! Thanks for coming guys!! And good job cheering defense!! I liked it! Hopefully next time you will get to see a win! Let's hold our thumbs!! :) Good luck tomorrow btw! We are headed to Julias tonight for some pizza and movie watching. Nice relaxing evening where we can finally get some rest! That's all I got for now...
Vi hörs
Hej Hej 2009!!
WOW!! It is already Jan. 2...two days into 2009 already!! Time is flying by! New Year's Eve was celebrated with some of our innebandy friends!! It was a lot of fun and some lasting memories! My favorite was trying to walk up this snowy moutain in my heels. Which resulted in Sophia and me continually falling down. Never learning our lesson, we continued to try and then finally gave up. The rest of the party left us at the bottom while they lite fireworks and watched all of Umeå's firework display. Poor Sophia got the worst of it. She came back with a cutt on her nose (dripping blood) and a big, fat lip. All from doing a face plant o the ground because we couldn't walk...it was so slippery. I have no idea how I escaped that night without a scrap or even bruise. Now that is crazy!!
The party was fun! We turned it into a dance party and danced for a good portion of the night after 12. Finally around 3 in the morning...Anna and I decided to WALK home. That was the longest walk of my life and it was freezing out.
Now more on the party...
The dinner at the party included an italien buffet of food! It was fun experiencing a true Swedish celebration. One of my favorite things was when we got up in groups and sang a cheer. Unfortunately...I didn't know any and apparently there are a ton in Swedish and none that I can think of from America. So I thought that was cool how there are so many here! Then we played some games. Music trivia...I think my team ended up dead last and another competition where you had to answer the opposite answer of the question. I lasted about 2 seconds in that game. HA! But overall, it was really nice party and I really enjoyed myself!!
Tomorrow we play our first game back from the xmas break. We play Solna, one the number one teams in league. So it is going to be a really tough game. They are extremely physical and strong! They won the league last year also, so they are a solid team. I'm hoping we come to play!! I'm looking forward to playing again after about a couple weeks off. We also have another game on Tuesday away. We will travel down to Sundsval. We have put in some new plays this week and hopefully it pays off. Tomorrow will be interesting, I hope it works out for the best. Our game is at kl. 15.00!!
Goodbye for now...ttul!
KRAM
Happy New Year!!
Gott Nytt År!!
Tonight Julia, Anna and myself are going to a party hosted by Dalens innebandy team!! It is going to be a really nice evening...including a catered dinner!! Also fireworks!!
Hope everybody has a great night whatever you are doing!! I love the new year!! There is so much to look forward to each year...so I am really looking forward to 2009!!
Talk to you in 2009...late!
Lindsay is Gone = How Sad :(
Today is my 4th and final day of camp with the little kids. The last 4 days have hit me hard with basketball. On Sunday we started practice up again. Two girls are sick so it's hard to have a solid practice of 5 vs. 5. But we were able to shoot some and run up and down the court which was good. Yesterday's schedule is a lot like my schedule today. 10.00-11.30 morning practice with the team...then camp 13.00-16.00....and then practice again 18.30-20.00. Last night I was so exhausted I couldn't do anything. I just laid in my bed feeling like I had been run over by a truck a couple of times. HA!
Tomorrow I have the day-off for New Years Eve!! I have a feeling I will resting almost the entire day. Then later Anna, Julia and myself will be attending a party with the Dalen innebandy team. It will include dinner and probably some fireworks!! I think they are expecting around 30 people so it's going to be a lot of fun!
Well now it is time for me to get up and get ready for my crazy day. Coffee is always a good kick-start!
Peace out!
What a Great Xmas Break!!
CHRISTMAS EVE
Ok so know I will try and re-cap the events of the last week! First it started off with Christmas. Christmas is celebrated here on the 24th and we spent it with Julia (on my team) and her mother. During the day, Lindsay, Shannon, Kyle and myself took a walk around Umeå. It was actually a very nice day! Latter that evening, we went over to Julia's for a fantastic dinner! Her mom made some great quich. One with the Vasterbotten cheese (local cheese made here) and one with olives, feta, and tomates. Tasted amazing!! The best was her famous fish soup that left us all in food comas. It was unbelievably delicious! After dinner we opened presents!! I got a brand new coffee mug (which is gigantic!!) and the most exciting thing....a brand new dress for News Years Eve!!! I love it!! I got Lindsay some presents that I think she enjoyed or will enjoy. Some Swedish candle holders, a scarf, some great tea from my favorite local fika place and a shirt. I think Julia made out the best though! She recieved a brand new digital camera, some i.d. makeup, and some clothes. After presents we feasted on some cheese and crackers and a wide variety of fruits! And not mention ice cream with cloudberries!! It was a great evening and we didn't make it home until almost 12.30 at night!! Thanks Julia and Kerstin for a great day, especially during a time when friends and family mean so much to us!!
PRESENTS!!!
CHRISTMAS DAY
On Christmas day we decided to take a journey to the Baltic Sea...aka...the ocean (sort of)!! I'm sitting with Lindsay right now and the first thing she remembers or says, is that it was freezing. It was really cold but it was also very beautiful!! Us girls from Colorado think something like that is pretty cool since we are from a land-locked state. After our little visit out to Holmsund, we went and ate lunch at the hospital which consisted of only meatballs and tiny sausages. Haha...but seriously! Later that day we went to IKSU (work-out facility) and worked out. Julia and I went swimming, went in the hot tub and also did sauna. I felt very relaxed and comfortable afterwards. After IKSU, we went and had a fika at Waynes!! Lindsay's first fika in Sweden which she absolutely loved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the evening, Lindsay made us dinner and we just sat around and watched tv. A very cozy, relaxing XMAS!! It was great. I am so happy and greatful that Lindsay is here because everything just feels so comfortable.
BOXING DAY...ANNANDAGEN (swedish)
The day-after Christmas is kind of a celebrated day here in Sweden. Well exactly, it's more for the younger generation and it involves shopping and maybe partying later in the night. So that is exactly what we did!! I actually can't believe how much shopping we did! We started at 10:00am...when the stores opened...and last until about 3pm or so. 5 straight hours of shopping. We did take about a 30 minute fika pause at Schmäck! My favorite place to fika!! Then it was back to more shopping. I bought some new boots that I love, a dress, and a couple nice shirts. Lindsay purchased the most and I really can't believe how much she got. It's crazy!! HAHA! Then later, we hosted a dinner at our place! There were 8 of us total and Lindsay (of course) made the entire dinner! Sophia, Jonas, Mattias, Julia, Shannon, Kyle, Lindsay, and myself were the featured guests!! Sanna also stopped by for a little bit. Lindsay made an american meal of chicken with a mushroom sauce on top of brown rice, sweet potatoe fries, and a salad with homemade dressing. It was great!! It really turned out to be a great night, and I think it's very special that Lindsay and my swedish friends got along so well!! I am so happy for that!!
DECEMBER 27th
Now I am almost caught up...but I do have to write about one more thing that is so exciting!! Last night, Lindsay and I went out to dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant called Taj Mahal and it was soooooo good! After dinner, we went on a walk through the centrum and deceided to go for a fika at Waynes. As we were walking by the Sandic hotel, we ran into the top 3 contestants of Swedish Idol, including the winner Kevin. This is pretty exciting here in Sweden!! Lindsay didn't know who they were, but of course I knew them and their names and I quickly explained to her who they were!! She then went straight up to them and started to talk to them about American Idol and everything!! It was pretty funny how we were sitting there having a conversation with th 3 finalst of Swedish Idol. And Kevin...the winner!! HAHA!! They shook our hands and we introduced ourselves. Even got into a conversation about why we were all in Umeå...I told them I played for the Comets. I guess they have a concert today in town! But we did the crazy thing and took pictures with them...so everybody can get a look at some famous Swedish celebrities!! They were very nice and friendly and fun to meet!!
So now I am all caught up to today. Shannon and I have started a basketball camp for the younger girls in our club. I did the same thing last year. So we have camp for 3 hours a day for 4 days total. We finish up on Tuesday. Jan 2-5 we will also do another camp for the U16 team and also the U16 boys team! Lindsay has gone skiing today with our friends Sophia and Jonas. It's good that they were able to take her since I have a lot of basketball today. Today also marks our first day back from break with the starting of practice!! We will have our first practice back tonight for 2 hours. Anna arrives back from Stockholm also today!! I can't believe tomorrow is Lindsay's last day here :( It's really sad. We have been having SO MUCH fun together!! Well goodbye for now. I have to get some work done! This week has seriously flew by...and I have to get things back in order. Hope everybody had a great xmas!!! Love you all!!
GOODBYE!!
GOD JUL!!
God Jul everyone!! Today Shannon, Shannon's boyfriend Kyle, Lindsay and myself will head over to Julia's house to have dinner at 19.00. We will also exchange presents and spend a lovely evening together. Today has been a pretty boring day of just pure relaxing. We were up pretty early this morning and went for a nice walk through town. Down by the river and then looked at the stores (since they are not open).
Tomorrow we may take a drive down to Sundsvall and stay a day there! Do a little traveling while Linds is here. Well we should maybe start working on getting ready for the day. Talk to you all later. Hope everyone has a great xmas eve!!
God Jul!
