Happy anniversary to us :)

I can't believe that we've already been married a year! At the same time I can't believe it's only been a year. Sometimes the wedding in Birmingham seems like a few months ago, but then it feels like I've lived in Sweden a lot longer than that. It's been kind of a crazy year for me, but I couldn't be happier I married my Swedish man:)

There have been so many things that have been so great this year, but one thing I have had a problem with since day 1 was our bed. For two people to sleep on a bed that's somewhere between a Twin and Full size has got to count as a test of the relationship. It also didn't have a bed frame, just legs, so it made a U-shape in the middle from lack of support. Needless to say, it had to go.

So guess what? Just in time for our anniversary we got a new bed! We don't have a car so we had planned to order it online from IKEA, but saw the estimated delivery date was mid-October. I suspect Bjorn didn't think he could deal with my grunting, tossing and turning, and general grumpiness about it until then, so we rented a van and made a trip to IKEA on Friday.

Bjorn with the beds and our memory-foam topper. You know how I've missed my memory-foam:)

We also got a bookshelf and some curtains, I'll have some pictures of those later

All of the stuff waiting to be loaded into our van.

We didn't want to get a van that was too small for our stuff. Better safe than sorry, right?:)

Finally all loaded in to bring to the apartment...

...then picked up the old bed to take it to the trash. Goodbye, old bed. You will not be missed.

Our new bed frame has 4 big drawers underneath for storage. It was not easy to put together.

After nearly a year of waiting, and many, many hours of work, our new bed is done! Sorry the picture is a bit dark, it was about 1:30 in the morning...

It's pretty awesome sleeping on a bed that's actually meant for two people. And one that isn't slanted. I guess it's bad that Bjorn's comment the next day after sleeping on it was that it felt so "level" Haha...I wish you were here to help me figure out how to decorate the bookshelf. This is so not my thing.

We went to dinner last night to celebrate at a restaurant called "Mississippi Inn". It had southern inspired food and was really good!

Waiting on his baby back ribs...

Delicious apple cobbler...

And strawberry milkshake:)

It was a great anniversary dinner and such a good weekend! Overall, our first anniversary was a great success:) Glad I got to talk to you yesterday too! Miss you and love you.

Allie

Tour de Sweden

Hello, Whiggle. It's me, your long-lost sister... You know, the one who mysteriously disappeared quite a few weeks ago. Sorry about that, I promise to get better. So this will be another photo filled blog in an attempt to redeem myself:)

Sooo... what have we been up to the last several weeks, hmmm...

Tove came to Stockholm a few weeks ago to visit. It was a lot of fun to see her here. We went on a long walk in Djurgården and had a picnic.

Then we ate sushi for dinner...

...And iSwapped our faces on the way home:)

The next weekend we went to Gothenburg because a friend of Bjorn's from med school, David, was having a bachelor party. We picked up another friend, Kalle on the way in Norrköpping who was going to the party too. We had a tiny rental car that wouldn't stop rattling, so Kalle fixed it for us....by stuffing paper in between the cracks.

David at his bachelor party

While the guys were at the party, Tove and I got to hang out in Gothenburg. It was such a fun day! We took a boat tour through the city.

This building is called "The Fish Church"

On the way back to Stockholm we dropped Kalle back off where he lives, in Norrköpping. It's such a pretty town. Really nice building with water all around.

Kalle and Bjorn posing for a picture before leaving.

The next weekend was pretty calm. Bjorn and I went to this island in the archipelago that's not far from Stockholm. We packed a picnic for dinner, and ate outside in the beautiful but slightly cold weather. Dad would have loved it:)

The next weekend it was back to the archipelago outside Gothenburg for David and Karin's wedding weekend. They had an amazing tent set up for the reception with with such nice decorations inside. You would have loved it.

Right beside the tent they had guest rooms to stay. It was pretty convenient at the end of the night to just walk upstairs and go to bed...

This is Isak- David and Karin's 1 year old son. He was probably worn out from a weekend with so much going on.

So I'm was a little bit in love with the place they had the ceremony. They were old church ruins set on a pasture with the sea nearby. So beautiful.

David and Karin walked in together

After the ceremony they walked out with Isak. He was pretty cute in his mini-tuxedo.

This was another outdoor sitting area for the reception. The area was totally empty and their friends worked on it to make it look like this... pretty impressive.

David and Karin at the reception

A little later in the night

My favorite part of dinner:)

After a very late night, I couldn't be talked into getting out of the car on the ferry on the way home. On a positive note, I would almost call myself a proficient stick-shift driver these days.

Thought I would leave you with another one of Naomi. She decided she would just stop and stare at me after she went down the slide, so I took a picture. I'm really glad I get to hang out with this kid:)

Have I redeemed myself yet? I hope so, because I've about had it with uploading pictures...just kidding:)

Loved your other blogs and I REALLY loved the card you sent today. So sweet. You're the best, Whiggle.

Love you.
Allie

Eric's Wedding

Hey Al....Hope you're weekend was great! We went to Eric's Wedding this weekend in Athens, GA and it was great! I can't believe he's finally married and to such a great girl! Megan looked gorgeous and the venue was very picturesque...an old renovated horse barn, with horses in the fields around it. We went up on Friday night to Atlanta and stayed at Sam's parent's house, and then Mom and Dad, and the rest of the gang joined us on Saturday night.....we had a great time visiting with Mark and Lynette! They were very sweet to have all of us on such short notice:)

I thought you would like to see some pictures of the wedding since you're stuck over there for the time being:) Enjoy!

Jonathan and Heather

Sweet moments between Megan and her Dad

I thought it was really neat that the Pastor switched from the traditional position behind the couple to the front so that we could see their faces.

Yay! Finally married! The ceremony was short and sweet and Eric looked really happy!

Eric asked Dad to make the introductions for the Reception:

Do you remember Jeff Dykes from Dothan High School? He's lost over 100 pounds and is now a certified personal trainer. He looks great.

First dance for the new couple:

Eric and his mom:

Mom decided to write Eric a novel card.....

2 hours later....Mom was still writing Eric a card. hahaha.

After the wedding ceremony, Eric came over and gave all of us some great hugs....you could tell he was a little overwhelmed with emotions from the day.

Eric and Megan's Moms

Alright! That's all for now....wish you guys could have been there! Put up some pictures soon!

Whiggle