We have been here a week now!

A good friend said it perfectly about our move....."We have been pulling this band-aid off for a long time now!" I can't think of a better way to describe the emotional exhaustion I have felt over the last couple of months. There has been so many goodbyes (and then more goodbyes) along with many tears. We have known about this move for a long time and to now finally be here is a mix of relief, sadness, but most importantly it is a time to toughen up and move forward. 
Here is an email I had written this past Sunday to help explain what has been going on....
The first several days we were adjusting to the time change so we were sleeping at all different hours. We are finally no longer walking around like zombies! I took the kids into the city several times and we are already establishing our favorite places. Last night we saw the Spider man movie and they do the assigned seating here which I love!!!! I don't know why Temecula can't get with it on that one! The kids have shown times of homesickness and times of excitement which is to be expected. It can feel a bit lonely when you are surrounded by tons of people who are speaking a different language than you and dressing a bit different but then I have to realize that you can feel that way in new York city as well. Today we went to church and it was a great day! We were made to feel very welcome and jaxon even loved it. He learned primary songs in Swedish. The girls had a good time though Ashtyn feels a bit odd being the oldest girl in young women's with most being at least 2 years younger than her. During the kids classes they would teach in both languages. In the adult classes I had a translator sit right next to me. During sacrament meeting we had headsets that we wore but they didn't always work. Almost everyone here knows sufficient English. However we went to a pizza hut yesterday and the waitresses gave us horrible service but I think it was because they didn't know English and so were scared to come around our table. The food was good though which was nice cuz we went to another pizza place a few nights before that and it wasn't very good. We went to Ikea yesterday and that place is so huge we could have spent the whole week there. We bought beds for Ashtyn and Darby because there beds back in the states are too big for their bedrooms here. Oh and by the way.....did I mention we are in a temporary apartment till we get our house keys on August first? Our apartment is pretty small a

So we are really looking forward to being in the house. I don't have a cell phone yet. It is a bit tricky and supposedly you have to have lived in the country for 7 months first!!!! However, Aaron found a way to work around that but it will be about 2 weeks to wait. The kids and I get our person numbers tomorrow which is like a social security card, which I need before I can get a debit card etc...so we are doing well, I have been to the grocery store everyday cuz everything comes in small packages, especially milk, so we probably look like hoarders! I made chocolate chip cookies today! I wasn't sure how to use the oven so I just had to guess! Ha ha

Now after reading that again, I must explain about the Pizza Hut waitresses. I DO NOT EXPECT THEM or anyone else to know English! I realize that I am in their country and I am the one that needs to adapt. What I had meant to say was that we can be pretty creative as to how to communicate and if the waitresses would have just come by we could have shown them what we wanted without having to talk!

Ok so now that that is out of the way....The girls have been having lots of fun taking silly photos and posting them on Facebook. Check it out if you want to. The things we do when we have nothing to do!!!!

Aaron is currently in Spain for work right now so this is the first time I am on my own with the kids. He wanted me to drive him to the airport so I could keep the car but honestly, I am a little to scared to drive her yet. I know it will be fine but I can get around pretty well on the subway so I would rather not risk getting lost or worse...a flat tire. Knowing me, that is what would happen with Aaron out of town!

Today I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to make for meals. The food is a little different and of coarse the packaging is in another language so I have been on google searching for things like...does Sweden sell sour cream? What is it called? It takes me an entire day to make a simple recipe! I know that it will get easier as I get the swing of things but for now it is a big pain!!!

OK so I am not sure how to post photos with text in between each set of pictures or if I have to just post all the pictures together. Let's see how this works......The pictures may be self explanatory anyway.

Ok I think I figure it out! Baby steps Krissy, Baby steps!

This is a picture of a palace we stumbled upon while taking a walk in the town "Solna" where we are staying temporarily. The name of this place is "Ulriksdals Slott" which was built in 1640. Slott is the swedish word for castle.

Here are the kids in front of the apartment building that we are currently living in. It is really small. Less than 2 weeks to go and then we can move out!

Aren't these pictures so beautiful and colorful? This is taken at "Östermalmshallen" which is an indoor market in Stockholm City. Hallen is the swedish word for Hall. 

This is a photo of the Sweden Temple. It is going to be about a 35 minute drive from our house which is closer than the closest one to Temecula. It is hard to capture on camera but the flowers and landscaping around the building was really beautiful.