We made it to Iceland and it's WONDERFUL!

Two Red-Eye Flights in a row!

Oh my, it's amazing how fast two people can move when they are told their flight for tomorrow has been cancelled and you must leave tonight to catch your connecting flight in NYC. YIKES! Thanks to family and friends, we made it. (However, we would NOT recommend sleeping two nights in a row on airplanes.  

The best escorts and baggage movers, our adorable three daughters.

Thank you Ashlie, Tracie, and Katie. We're so grateful for you.

Yes, these are our five joys in life who we will

miss greatly and who we are so grateful they

said "go, we will take care of Grandma".

Then there is this bunch. No words to describe

the goodness they each bring to our home.

We love each one of you so very much!

Good-Bye Utah and U.S. of A.

 This is the view we get to look at every day for the next year from our kitchen window. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! We're not certain what we like the most: the city, the ocean, the mountains, the fjords, or the weather. It's all simply wonderful.

Hello Reykjavik, Iceland

We love our apartment on the 3rd floor, stairs and all (no elevator).  Elder and Sister Michaelsen picked us up from the Keflavik International Airport at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, February 18th. They took us straight to our apartment and then on to shop and get our new 'home' set up. We so appreciated their help with a smile and happy heart.

We are blessed to have our own washer and dryer in the apartment.

This is our kitchen, just perfect for the two of us.
(I might add the apartment was spic and span clean
and the previous owners left lots of kitchen appliances,
dishes, pots, pans, and gadgets. YIPPIE)

 This is our living room, nice and spacious.

Notices the radiated heater under the windows.

It is so warm and cozy, we love it. No forced air,

no sound, just warmth and comfort.

Ikea to the rescue and bless the two guys who carried

the new couch, two chairs, and foot stool up all

three flights of stairs (of course Terry gave them

a nice little tip, even though tipping is not common here).

Lovely and comfortable! Good thing I'm married

to a handyman and found it no problem to unbox

and put together everything. 

Front: Laurel Koyle, Julie Hall, Catherine Cloward,

Me, Calleen Argyle, and Jerolyn Beers

Back: Patty Hanks, Karen Larsen, Beckii Bandley,

Jolene Andreason, Judy Stanton, and Cheris Losee

And thanks to these precious 'Club' friends.

These are 12 girls I've been hanging out with for

the past zillion years. We meet the second Thursday

of each month, no matter what, unless there's a

darn good reason not to show up :)  

Some of them I went to grade school with, others

of us met in middle school or high school. While some 

joined us when they moved to Spanish Fork.

They gave us a very nice gift of cash towards our

mission effort before we left. We used the monies

to set up our apartment, which will be used for

many years to come from those who serve after us.

These are our friends and neighbors, the geese flock. They

hang out by our apartment daily, pick through the snow to

find something to eat, and fly around the neighborhood.

We enjoy watching them.

Getting everything set up would have been so much harder

if we would not have had so much help from this young man. His

name is Audunn Larsson. He met our son Tyler when he served

a mission in Iceland 20 years ago. He has visited our home several

times over the years, and calls us Mom and Dad. He said having

our names printed on the mailbox and door buzzer looks like

heaven to him. Thank you for helping us get settled in, Audunn.

These two vehicles are what Audunn thinks Terry

should drive while we're here in Iceland! Ha, Terry agreed. 

They are actually what Audunn uses for tourists to ride

in while when visiting ice caves, glaciers, etc. 

We took this picture for Tyler, he said to make sure

and have a Pylsur, or an Icelandic hot dog. It was

DELICIOUS, crunch onions and all!

THE REAL REASON WE ARE HERE!

This is the logo on the big front door of the

National Archives of Iceland.

Terry at the big scanner, one of our work stations

for the next year. We're just getting started and

it's AWESOME! We were welcomed with open

arms, everyone in the office speaks English, and

we feel so grateful and humbled to part of this

great project. I feel my Icelandic ancestors near, my

heart is happy and bursting with joy for this opportunity! 

The picture of this building is across from our office where they house some

of the records as well as preserve the damaged ones. It's quite the

process and we're enjoying learning about every step along the way.

We were told there are 25 kilometers of records that

need to be scanned. Wowser, that's a lot of family history,

lots of individuals who lived in Iceland, made a difference. and 

still very important today even though their mortal body is gone (for now).

I know they are grateful they are still remembered and being recorded.

The Archive office building is very nice and

newly remodeled. This is a picture from the third

floor lunch room. The massive and beautiful

Lutheran Cathedral is a great landmark and

can be seen for our viewing pleasure every day. 

There are cranes everywhere throughout all of

Reykjavik. This is another view from the lunch room. 

One last picture of our lunch room view.  Andrea,

one of the staff members told me this is 'their mountain'.

It is nicknamed 'the Santa Clause' mountain. 

Iceland has 13 Santa Clauses and they believe

they live in this mountain. They climb down from

the mountain and bring the good children treats.

Our First Sunday at Church

 It was great meeting up with Arni, a great young man who

was about 10 years old when our son Tyler served his

mission in Iceland. He has fond memories of Tyler

and was a joy to talk to.

Then this older gentleman, Sigurjon, with his wife, son, and daughter

in law. They are wonderful Icelanders, faithful in the gospel of Jesus Christ,

and have very tender memories of Tyler. When I sent this picture to Tyler

he said "Good old Sigurjon and his wife. They would feed the missionaries

waffles, blood pudding, and blood sausage". He was grateful for their

love, friendship, and tender loving care when he was a young man

so far away from home. He was also grateful to see their smiling faces.

First Saturday Outing

We will be spending Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm at the Archives. The evenings and Saturdays are ours to visit with others, shop, and assist where needed. Today we chose to travel to Selfoss. It's a farming community about a 50 minute drive outside of Reykjavik. It was a beautiful drive and we met up with some wonderful people.

 Elder McConkie and Elder Robertson

(Elder Robertson is from our hometown of Spanish Fork)

Elder and Sister Loveland from Farmington, Utah.

They greeted us last week with a phone call to let us 

know they would be driving in to Reykjavik for a training

and would love to bring us dinner to our home. It was

great to meet them and learn about them and their family.

 Our YUMMY salmon lunch!

Great food and even better company :)

 A Picture with a Thousand Memories!

In June 1996, my father, my sister, and I traveled with 40 other Western Icelanders to Iceland for the first time. We traveled from one end of the country to the other. It was awesome to walk on the ground where our ancestors once lived. To see the views that were once theirs before they left their beautiful homes and traveled to Spanish Fork, Utah.  We stayed in many hotels and guest houses.

The picture above is of Hotel Ork, which is in the beautiful farming village of Hveragerdi, which we had to pass on our drive to Selfoss today. Twenty years ago our group of 40 Western Icelanders stayed at Hotel Ork.  Do you see the big round blue pipe? That is a waterslide. Thora Leifson Shaw, who has since passed, challenged my father to climb up the stairs and go down the slide. Much to Thora's surprise, he did just that. It was his dream for 72 years to visit the land of his forefathers. He didn't want to miss one opportunity to make a memory, try a new food, see a new sight, and see for himself what he had heard about since he was a young boy. Vina and I loved watching him, as he pressed his nose against the bus window, taking in EVERYTHING! Yes, even the waterslide. God bless you Dad, and Mother, for sharing from your hearts to our hearts what this life is all about.

Last Post
I'm so sorry for the loooong post. It took us over a week to get WiFi and a lot has happened in our first 10 days here. I promise to make shorter and sweeter posts in the future. 

In Iceland there are not many trees, so the joke is, if you get lost in the forrest, just stand up. So hence the words in the quote below regarding 'the lack and sparsity of trees'.

The quote below was on a huge billboard outside of the international airport. How fitting for these words to greet us. Family trees, this is what life is all about. Always has been and always will be. Pass the word! Bless bless (good-bye in Icelandic)