Recent adventures with little baby Peavy...

It has been several weeks since I have posted and there is a good reason for that. Baby Peavy and I have been travelling with work, which I truly enjoy. But I have to say that I am very thankful that I finished my last trip this week and will be home from now on. My little angel has already been in 4 different countries since she has been in utero. In February this year I travelled with work to Dubai, UAE and to Munich, Germany. Last week I returned from a business trip to Budapest, Hungary and yesterday I finished up a trip to London, England. I have to admit that I truly love travelling, even though I don't get to explore as much when I am travelling for business as I would if I were travelling for fun. I don't know what it is. I am mesmerized by seeing new places and architecture, experiencing new cultures, hearing new languages, and eating new food. 

Budapest was a beautiful city. We were in meetings all day each day, but we were able to see a bit of the city before dinner each night. On the first night, we took a nice walk from the hotel to the restaurant Nobu, which by the way was absolutely fantastic. There was so much life in the city, restaurants without outside seating everywhere, and people sitting in the parks watching the Euro 2012. The architecture was beautiful... 

On the second night we took a bus with a tour guide from the Telenor offices to a restaurant boat on the Danube river. We were able to see some amazing views on the way to dinner, and from the dinner we watched the sun go down over the river and the old palace. Breathtaking... 

After Budapest I was home for two nights, which is also how long it took to get my energy back fully. I was exhausted when I got home late on Wednesday night, but had to go right into the office bright and early Thursday morning. I can definitely tell a huge difference in the time it takes for me to recuperate these days. Although I am now over 6 months pregnant, I feel really great. The main difference I feel since being pregnant is my energy level. I have a lot of energy, as usual, but I need more rest than normal. When I first get tired, then I am REALLY in need of rest. Exercising is still great, but I can't workout with such high intensity and I cannot skimp on meals at all after exercising. 


Even though I love travelling, I miss my sweet Keith soooo much when I am gone. I wish that I were able to take him with me everywhere I go..... I mean how can you not love this cute hunk of a man??? Here is a pic of my sweet man before he went to play soccer! Such a stud! 

Anyways, then I headed to London for meetings on Saturday the 16th. I got there in the early afternoon so had a while before our team was going to meet for dinner at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. Although I was tired from the early flight, I get too excited to take naps during the day. I went right out and walked around for a few hours. Since Keith had been there before he helped me find my way around. The hotel was a short walk from a major shopping street, Hyde Park, and Buckingham Palace. It was a beautiful day and I ran into a parade celebrating the Queen's official birthday celebration. But let me tell you, there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of people in London. Of course I knew this before I got there, but it is really a different experience considering I live in Oslo which has a total population of around 600,000 people, while London has around 8 million people. Yeah, huge difference. I tried to browse in the shops, but failed due to my nervous nature. I stuck to just walking around outside mesmerized by the buildings, the people, and all of the land marks I had heard about so many times but never seen. 

That night the project team went to such an amazing restaurant, Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was laid back and truly fun. Here is a picture of the ladies on the team:)

My last night in London I met up with my mom's cousin Karen who grew up in London. She had the great suggestion of going first to Chinatown for dinner, then to the theater! What a great night:) Karen is such a sweet and energetic person and the food and theater were wonderful. There are not words to describe Les Miserables... I was so engrossed in the performance that I dreamt about it all night. Beautiful story, beautiful music, and amazing performance. We thought we had terrible seats because our tickets said restricted view, but we ended up being on the first row right in the middle. The only restriction in our view was that we couldn't see the glossy stage floor (I didn't miss a single facial expression). 

But the best part of this week was coming home to my Keith and the life we have together. I am so thankful for the life that the Lord has given us, for the Love that he has blessed us with, for the growing angel in my tummy, and for the blessing of seeing, experiencing and acknowledging the beauty in His world. Here is a picture of the growing belly, in my 26th week of pregnancy:-) Loving every moment of carrying our little angel everywhere I go!!  

PS. Send us a little update on your life!! We would love to hear from you!

A little taste of the unbelievable Norwegian summer...

During the last two weeks, we had our first real taste of summer. It has been really nice weather in April and the beginning of May, but by nice I don't mean that we have been able to walk around in sandals and shorts, and able to swim in the fjord (not until lately at least). The Norwegian spring is amazing in other ways. All of a sudden in April and May all of the flowers bloom, the trees get a burst of neon green leaves, and there are wild flowers all over the place, especially in the woods. All Norwegians come out of their shells during this time of year. People bike everywhere, there are always people out on walks everywhere you go, and if the sun is shining the Norwegians will find any way to face the sun so that they can feel the warmth on their faces. You will often catch others, and yourself, just standing in the sun with your eyes closed soaking in the warmth. This is a typical Norskie Spring Stance. Another fun aspect of the Norwegian spring is change in the length of the day. Slowly but surely, as we move towards June, the days get longer and longer. Now the sun comes up around 4am, and goes down around 10:30pm.

So back to the taste of summer we had during the last two weeks. The weather was between 68 degrees and 86 degrees. Although you might not be so impressed, in Norway that is what we call HOT! Every day after work Keith and I went for a long walk, and we grilled and ate dinner outside. If we didn't eat outside, we at least had our back door open to the yard so that we could feel the wonderful fresh air. We don't need air conditioner over here, there is no humidity, and the bugs are not like they are in Georgia to put it mildly. Life during this time of the year just feels idyllic. We went out on the boat with some friends one night and parked next to a little island where we grilled out and just enjoyed the sun. Then this past weekend, we were just in heaven. It was so warm that I was just craving a swim in the refreshing fjord water. The water was in the 60s and just amazing. I think I swam around 5-6 times in 2 days.

On Saturday, I had my girls from school over for supper club, and instead of staying at our place we walked down to the island and had a picnic and went swimming. Then on Sunday, Keith and I went for a long walk on a trail we had never been. It was such a beautiful place, and the trail led us to the water side where we just soaked in the sun, watched all of the sail boats in the fjord, and of course went swimming. We went home in the afternoon and ate a late lunch, and then decided it was just too beautiful to stay inside. We went back out to another beautiful area where we read in the sun and swam again. Mind you, that this last little escapade was at 7pm. Oh, I love the long summer days! I wish I could clearly describe the joy that I feel from those types of days here in Norway. There are really no words that can express how beautiful it is. You just have to experience it for yourself... So come on over;-)

So now, it is already June! I just can't believe how the time is flying. My baby is growing and I feel like I can see changes almost daily. Considering I am a only one week away from 6 months pregnant, I am not too uncomfortable yet. I have lots of energy, get to feel lots of little baby taps, get to see my sweet husband's loving anticipation, am able to exercise, and am just extrememly happy. Work has been really exciting lately, and June will be a really busy month. A lot of important decisions will be made in June, and a lot of milestones need to be reached. I am headed to Budapest for some meetings on the 10th of June, and then on the 15th of June I will head to London for meetings. Although I am really looking forward to being home with our sweet angel for almost 10 months, I am also going to miss working on this project and I am going to be excited to hear all of the details of what they manage to accomplish. Although this project will last until mid-2014, there is a small chance that I will end up on the same project after I return to work. Most likely I will be placed on a new project which will be exciting.

To end this little life update, I just want to share some thoughts. A good family friend passed away this week in a sudden and brutal way. We received an email giving us the whole story from his partner and I couldn't finish the email without bursting into tears. It was heartbreaking, brutal, yet unbelievably beautiful. The love that we are blessed to experience is the most precious, beautiful, yet dangerous thing in life (in my humble opinion). We experience the most completing, peaceful, challenging and joyful love from Jesus. We are created to Love and worship God, and to Love eachother. I believe that this blessing of being loved, and being able to Love is the greatest blessing in life. At the same time, one of the greatest risks is to love and to experience the pain of losing that love. I am not at all implying that this risk is not worth it. It is the most worthy risk in life. I pray that I can risk it all, all of my life. That I can love and worship Jesus to the fullest, that I can allow Jesus to love me fully, and that I can open my heart without worry or doubt to my family, my friends, my precious husband, and my precious children. I pray that I am reminded every day of the ultimate blessing of Love. My sweet Keith is the most precious person in my life and I am so thankful for every moment I am able to have with him. I cannot imagine the heartbreak, emptiness and loniness that our friend Bryan is feeling right now. I pray that Jesus places his arms around him and shows him the love and the peace that can only come from him.