Fall happenings

Hey Whiggle, it seems as if I've been very bad this time with posting. So again... I'm going to try to make up for it a little bit.  I'll try to get you updated on our fall so far:)

A few weeks ago Bjorn's mom was in town for a conference and treated us to a nice dinner at a restaurant called AG. It's a place know for it's selection of meats, so we decided to try something a little different.

It's called a Cochinillo and is sort of a roasted pig that they separate to serve. Very soft and tasty, but not sure I was totally sold on it. I had sort of a pig eating moral dilemma/crisis that involved flashbacks of Maggie the pig.

A&B at AG

Then we went to Kopparberg. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, has only about a few thousand people living there, but manages to be somewhat recognizable by name here in Sweden for one reason- they are a major producer of cider in Sweden and to many other countries. Years ago it was a big mining town, but that's been mostly shut down.

Here's an example of their pear cider. You should check for it in the US, it's quite tasty.

Kopparberg as a town was pretty interesting. Although a sleepy country town, it's full of really neat old buildings. The town has been around since a little before the US existed as a country, so they really are old. This is the Courthouse.

And the post office.

Bjorn reading a little about the history of the town.

One of the main things we did while we were there was go mushroom picking. I know, it just sounds Swedish and I've probably never felt more like a native than when I was out there stomping around in the damp forest inspecting different varieties of mushrooms. You know, trying to find the ones that wouldn't kill us. I tried to be more observant than usual:)

Bjorn having a snack before the picking began.

Pretty to look at, bad to eat. 

Hard at work.

 The first day we went picking we just wandered out into the woods ourselves. After a little bit of searching we left with this: 2 chanterelles (the good, edible kind)

 The second day Bjorn asked some of the locals at his work where we should go and they gave him directions to a particular spot. Much more successful:)

We took a nice long walk through the countryside one day when it was nice outside. It's not a bad area at all if you want some peace and quiet.

 One of the few stores in the town. It's and antique store called "Old and Antique."

Our last day in Kopparberg was beautiful. It was blindingly sunny so before we left we went to the cafe in the middle of town to enjoy it.

I meant it when I said blindingly sunny. This is the best we could do. 

Next we went to Norrköpping for the baptism of little Harald Persson. He's the son of one of Bjorns med school friends, Kalle, and the mom's name is Maria. Seriously though, he's one of the cutest babies I've seen. And you know I'm not so easily impressed...:)

 Kalle, Maria, and Harald

Part of the family after the baptism

 There was a lunch at this beautiful house afterwards for those at the baptism. It had a great view over part of the town towards the lake.

Not a bad view for a really pretty house.

So that's about all I've got, consider yourself caught up:) I did take this picture of Naomi today after I picked her up from school. She didn't have a hat with her and it was cold so I rolled up the hat I got from Dad last year(which is wonderfully warm) and made a slightly odd looking kid hat. I think she looks pretty cute though:)

Thanks for posting pictures from the birthday weekend, I wish I could have been there! It looked like fun to be home with everyone. Annnnd, in LESS than a month I'll be around for the next family get together. Seriously can't wait.

Hope your job started off great, I want to hear about it!

Miss you Whiggle,
Allie

doing some celebrating.

Hey Al:) I'm assuming your still in Sweden (haha j/k. Blog when you can:)... Anyway....I thought you would like to see some of the festivities from the big birthday weekend we had at the beginning of October. Within three days, Abbey turned 20, Dad had the 22nd anniversary of his 30th Birthday, and Sam turned 27, (not to mention Sam's Dad, Mark, had a birthday the same day as Abbey.) That's a whole lot of birthdays in one weekend. We had already planned to go home for the weekend, so it worked out nicely that we could celebrate on Saturday for all three...but mostly for Dad.

Here are some pictures from that weekend. I will say we had some GORGEOUS weather, perfect for washing the big tank that dad borrowed to take his bike up to Birmingham to sell. Dad fell in love with this massive thing. I will say it's probably the nicest truck I've ever been in:)

After 10 hours of detailing, it looked brand new:)

While dad was washing, I played the guys in a friendly game of "HORSE" and pretty much whooped their tails....Austin was such a baby.....he cheated the last minute and made me lose. I had them crying almost the whole game though:) It was awesome.

Then Saturday night, Dad, "the Grilling King" as his birthday card read this year from me, cooked a delicious meal of BBQ chicken, and Mom made her famous Macaroni and cheese. Sweet Mr. John and Josie came over to help celebrate....they are such a great couple. Mr. John is still having treatment for his cancer, but you would never know by his attitude that he is sick at all....The Lord has definitely blessed this man with peace and they are always a joy to be around.

Mr. John and Mrs. Josie

Dad talking to you on the phone.

Abbey picking something off of Austin's face? 

The Grill Master on his Green Egg

After Dinner we made some time for cake, coffee, and Cards with Dad's favorite dessert, red velvet cake. It was soooo good Al! I could definitely go for a piece right now:)

Thank you Mary Katherine Smith:) You are quite the baker.

Abbey getting a birthday card.

And the dogs definitely liked the cake....although the DeHaven's didn't help that. They were basically feeding them cake the whole time..haha. It was hilarious.

All in all....it was one of the most enjoyable weekends we've had in Dothan in a while....we definitely missed you and Lindz though.... Can't wait to see you in a month! So glad you booked your ticket!

Love you,

Whiggle