GSJAK - bloggedi blogg

4 year wedding anniversary today :)

2009-09-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Today Joi and I have our 4th wedding anniversary. We both totally forgot about it until this evening and now we are lauging about it :) We are obviously very romantic ;) This is my favorite picture from our wedding day.

Sigríður Jónsdóttir Gunnarsdóttir 1928 - 2009

2009-07-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

My grandmother: Amma Sigga

My dearest grandmother passed away last Tuesday, July 14th, 81 years old. My grandmother was called Amma Sigga and she was loved so much by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She suffered from liver cancer for the last two years and her last two months were really hard on her.
I loved my grandmother so so so much. I have so many great memories from her. My first memory is when she was babysitting my older sister and I. She was baking "kleinur" and singing to us. She used to sing all the time for us. She taught me so many songs and I learned to appreciate music through her.
Amma Sigga babysat us very often when I was a little girl and when my mother went to nursing school she would take care of the home for her, cook, take care of us three sisters and make sure we all got dinner every night. My father worked very much at that time so Amma Sigga came and took care of the household. I also remember when both of my parents got sick in their back and had to lie in bed for several days. Then Amma Sigga came over to our house and took care of everything.
Amma Sigga lost her husband (my grandpa) when she was only 53 years old. That was back in 1981. I was only 10 years old. Amma Sigga never met another man. She dedicated her life to her six children and grandchildren. She was like a mom to us, the grandchildren. We could always come to her house and she would always welcome us with love. Almost all of us, older grandchildren, have lived with her for some time. I lived with her for a few months when I was angry at my parents. Disagreement.... I was 24 years old. She never said NO to us. If she could help, she did.
When I returned from living and studying in North Carolina I bought my first apartment. I bought an apartment in the same house that she lived in, right besides her. I wanted to be close to her. My other cousins and my sisters visited her all the time. We would drink coffee, they would smoke, we would laugh, we would tell grandma stories of us partying and tell her about boyfriend problems. She asked us all kind of questions regarding men and how we did things. She used to say:" I love being around you young people". We also loved being with her. She was so young in spirit. We always felt like she was one of us. The two years I lived besides her we would have parties, both at my place and at her place. Then we would drink, talk, dance and have so much fun...until the next morning.... and she was with us - ALWAYS. She was so much fun to be with :)
When she was around 73-75 years old she decided to start working out in the fitness center we all were working out at. She wanted to be a part of this and she wanted to work out :) I remember once when I was teaching a spinning class, two hour class, she wanted to come too. I asked her: " Amma Sigga, are you sure you want to come? - It is a two hour class". She said:" Yes of course". I told her she could quit any time, when she would feel tired. Did she quit???? NO. She sat on that bike for two hours and cycled with us. AMAZING WOMAN.
My family has lost an amazing grandmother. We thank her so much for everything she taught us. We thank her for the life she gave us and for the love she gave us and shared with us.
Thank you grandma for everything and I believe that you are now united with grandpa in heaven. You are the best grandma anyone could dream of having and I am so proud to be named after you and your mother.
Love,
Guðrún Sigríður

Happy birthday my beautiful GIRL

2009-03-10T01:37:00.001-07:00

Ásdís Hjálmrós is 5 year old today :)

I am alive and well :)

2009-03-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

From left: Birna, Ásdís, Jóhannes, and Amelía

I guess I have not been doing so well blogging lately huh :) But I have been busy as usual and happy. It is amazing that two months of this year have passed already and I feel like the new year just began!Life is treating my family and I very well, I must say.

The kids are wonderful as always, growing and becoming more and more independent every day. Little Johannes likes to go to the toilet by himself and does not want us to help. Asdis will turn 5 years old in 8 days and she is getting more and more loving towards her brother. They love to play together and she has started watching out for him (big sister). Time flies...I really have so little to report about :) Things are so easy and good in our lives now.

We are waiting for the summer, especially the children. Asdis keeps talking about how she is going to lay down in the grass and roll around in it, how she will pick flowers for her mother and then she talks about camping trips with us. I totally agree with her. I can´t wait for the warmer weather, the green grass, camping trips, and family vacation. It will be so nice when we will be able to relax all four of us together. Usually on the weekends now, Joi studies most of the time, so it is just me and the kids. This summer it will be different :) YEAH.

My new job is going well. I really really love it and how diverse it is. I love the people I work with and being able to help so many people out with their computers. Another big plus about my job is that I can go to the gym at lunch time. I love it. Now I am working out 8 times a week. I lift weights 3 times a week, do cardio 3 times a week and then I do Rope Yoga 2 times a week. I really really love it :) I guess I will let this do for now. Hope all my friends and family who read this blog are doing well and that you are all in good spirits. Much love, Gunna Sigga/Gudrun

Happy birthday my beautiful BOY

2009-01-08T08:00:00.001-08:00

Jóhannes Kristbjörn is 2 year old today :)

Merry Christmas

2008-12-13T13:26:00.000-08:00

Early christmas greeting to all. I know I will be too busy when it gets closer to christmas so I decided to post a "few" words here. I have been extremely busy lately. We got a virus on most of our computers at work late November and since then we have been running around the institution fixing computer and setting some of them up again. It is so time consuming to get every user ready and make sure they have all their software installed, printers, etc. This time has been so much fun for me though. I have learned so much and basically been thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to swim... as we say in Iceland. I have loved being so busy and learning so much and for once in my life I have not had time to eat hehehehe. Then after being so busy at work I have gone home to take care of the kids and prepare for christmas. Joi is doing his final exams so he is completely out of the home and studying all the time. He works so hard and I am really proud of him. He has now finished 3 finals out of four. His last test will be December 16th. YEAH.
The children are wonderful as always. November month was so good for us. Asdis had been a bit difficult in September and October and we decided to change our method in the upbringing. Instead of telling her "no this and no that, and giving her punishments for everything wrong she did -" we decided to concentrate on the positive things in her behavior and reward her for doing the right things. IT HAS WORKED SO WELL. Of course this is no news to us. We knew this before, but we had forgotten about it and we were stuck in the negative i.e. punishments. She is now like a dream to us and of course all our christmas lads are helping out now :) The kids are so looking forward to christmas. They started to ask me to decorate in the middle of November. So I started a little bit then. I have never finsihed decorating so early :) I also baked the christmas cookies early - of course also for Joi who needs something to nibble on while he reads.

Johannes jr. has also developed quickly in the last few months. He is now talking so much. He repeats everything we say and is starting to use two word sentences. Last Saturday, for example, I said "more beer" to Joi. That night the little Joi repeated this again and again. "more beer" "more beer". We laughed alot... He is also soooo stubborn and big tempered. Of course he is also so gentle and sweet - but when he gets mad....oooohhhh we hold our ears!

Well, I guess I will let this do for now. I hope all my friends and family who read this blog will have a happy happy christmas and a happy new year. I hope that the economical status in Iceland and in the world will not affect us too much. We need to continue with our lives and continue being happy even though things get harder and we won't have the same amount of money as before. As long as we still have each other and the love for one another, we will be ok. We must remember what are the most important things in our lives: LOVE, FAMILY and GOOD HEALTH. Much love to ya'll. Gunna Sigga - Gudrun

Good News

2008-11-07T00:39:00.000-08:00

My father is back home and his surgery went ok. They were able to fix certain things regarding his heart problem, but not other things. But time will determine if his heart will get better. The problem with it today is that it is beating in the wrong tempo. If I can explain it that way! The heart is very irregular and beats sometimes very fast even though he is laying down relaxing. So that has been going on for over 4 years now and his heart is now very tired. He needs to relax and make sure the heart gets enough rest. Sidnei - I hope you are reading this - perhaps I should send you an email :) hehehe

Thanks for the comments, especially Robyn and Juliana. Thanks for thinking of my dad :)

My grandma is also a little better. She is still in the hospital but she is now walking around the hospital and trying to get stronger, so that she can go back home and take care of herself.

My kids are ok. Johannes is healthy and we are looking into a good month of November :) My husband is never home and when he is home, he is actually still away. His head is into the books and it is hard to get through to him. But I know of one way to get through to him that always works .... hehehehe. I try to use that method a few times in a few, just to make sure he is still MINE heheheh. But seriously, I am really proud of him and how much work he is putting into the studies. I love him so much and I can´t wait for us to have a christmas vacation together. Wow... no school for 3 weeks. YEAH.

News about me... heheheh I am always doing the same things. I work, I take care of our kids, I cook, I clean, I work out 5 times a week, I try to read a book every night and so on. No seriously... I am actually really bad in my right hand and up to my shoulders. I think I have the "mouse desease"... I can´t remember what it is called in English. But it is because I spend too much time in front of the computer and using the mouse. Now I am trying not to get on my computer when I come home from work in the afternoon. No computer on the weekends either. I need to get better because I work with computers :) I am working on this. I go and have a massage, Joi gives me a massage once in a while, and I work out. Other than that I am extrememly happy and content in my life. I can´t complain about anything. So this blog of mine is probably super boring and super positive heheheh. Much love to you all. I got to go to a meeting. Bless bless, Gunna Sigga

Month of sickness and crazyness

2008-10-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

My two favorites: Johannes and Asdis

That is October. The first two weeks of October were crazy. I started to work at http://www.hss.is/ and was still working for Marel. I promised to release Marel's product catalog for quarter 4 of this year. That took 46 hours of work. I only had time to work after the children were asleep in the evening and on the weekends. I was so glad when this was over, October 17th.

After that the sickness took over. Or actually my father started his heart surgery preperation in the beginning of October. He was put in the hospital because his blood pressure was 120/200 - much too high. Then my grandmother got sick ( mother's mom). She has cancer and she got really sick... was hospitalized and is still in the hospital. It is pretty convenient to have her at the same place I work at. I visit her every day and hold her hand. She seems to be getting better now. We still have no results from all the tests she has had.

Then it was my dad...He has been heartsick for the past 4 years. Finally he got the approval to have a heart surgery where they fixed him. He had that surgery last Monday. Now he is in the hospital recovering. He is still very sick, has fever and it is really hard on him. I am praying for him and am really worried. But I don´t want to write so much about it.

My new job is wonderful. I simply love it. I love being back into the computer field. I love running around the hospital and helping the staff with their computers. I am learning a whole lot too and I feel I also have a lot to give and share. So I feel like I am in a place where I will be happy for many many years to come.

Iceland and it being bankrupt. I have so little to say about that. Joi and I have no debts, we own our car and we rent our place. So this won´t affect us as much as many people. Of course food and clothes and all kinds of things will get more expensive. Hopefully we will have enough for us to eat and buy gas on the car. We own everything and we don´t really need anything....So we will be ok. We won´t travel overseas though... that is sad. But hopefully not for many many years. We shall see.

Well. My son is sick today. Just like his grandfather - with a fever of 40°Celcius. I am going to lay down besides him and cuddle up with him. Let him feel that mom is close to him and protecting him. I am sending you all much love and piece. Please pray for my dad and that he will be ok. Much love, Gunna Sigga

New Job :)

2008-10-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am alive :) I am just extremely busy these days. Sounds like ME :) Yep. The thing is that I am still working for Marel and also working full time in my new job. I promised to release Marel´s product catalog in the middle of October and do all the work revolving the release. So I am soooo busy. I just wanted to do that and leave Marel in an extra good way. I am very very happy in my new job and I will blog about that later. The children are doing great and Joi is doing great at school. Actually he is now studying and I just finished 10 hours of work for Marel.. I am really tired and therefore going to bed now. More later, just wanted to let you all know that I am alive. Yes... I know... I didn´t talk about Iceland´s situation at all!!! Also, more about that later. I am just very glad that Joi and I are debt free :) Love, Gunna Sigga

Goodbye Marel

2008-09-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day working for Marel. I feel strange, I feel sad and I feel like crying. The thing is I don't want to say goodbye to my co-workers. I like them so much and they are really really good persons. I am going to miss them so much. I am ready to leave the job and I won't miss my job, i.e. doing what I do here at Marel. It is mainly the people here. The company itself will also be missed.
This company, Marel, is an excellent company to work for. I would recommend it for anyone to work here. They are so professional, they give you good equipment to work with, good office environment, very family oriented and they just take really good care of their people. Thank you Marel for taking such good care of me. I am so glad that I have worked here and I have learned so much from working here.

It is so sad to leave, but I have so many good reasons to leave also. Strange, isn's it? It is allright to have mixed emotions? I hope so. I feel that way. I hope I am not making a wrong decision in my life. In my life I have most of the time made the right decisions for myself. This time also, I hope. Anyway... I just wanted to blog about this and I am posting a picture of three GREAT co-workers. Lara, Jon and Tomas. Thanks for everything and good luck in your future. I will be in touch. Hugs.... Gudrun

Busy, happy days.

2008-09-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, time is flying by now. We are so busy now with our everyday life. Joi is back to school, I am working full time, children go to kindergarten full time, I work in the evening doing websites (when the kids are alseep) and I go to the gym 5 times aweek. Joi tries to go as much as I do to the gym, but sometimes he doesnt make it - school comes first :)

The children are good, though Johannes has been bitten three times this week at Kindergarten and has a bruise on his upper back. He is also peeing in his pants 2-3 times a day. He had stopped using diapers when he started kindergarten and was doing so well. I believe that he is not happy there and not feeling too good. I don´t know what to do! The teachers say that he is ok and I have seen pictures taken of him from kindergarten and he seems to be happy there. Also he does not cry in the morning when I leave him there. So maybe this just takes time. He is adjusting and learning to be in a new environment. We need to give it a little more time. I hope.

Well. I do not feel like blogging any more. I am posting one picture of my little son in Kindergarten, where he seems so happy :)

Wellness and Happiness

2008-09-10T04:01:00.000-07:00

September 10th 2005

Today is our wedding anniversary. It's been three years since Joi and I got married. Joi has been so romantic lately and he told me it was because he has been thinking about this day since September 1st. They day he said YES to me. He has been planning to do something romantic for us. I was so surprised! He has actually not been very romantic on any of these days, i.e. birthdays, anniversaries, engagement anniversary, etc. Now he remembers :) I am so happy. He has planned to take me out to a brunch this coming Sunday at Hotel Nordica in Reykjavik.

We have many plans for this weekend. Joi is going to a police "end of summer" party Friday. They will first compete in soccer, then they will get drunk together. Spouses are invited along, but I plan to stay home with the kids. Also because I am going to party myself Saturday night. Then we have a "girls cousin" party. It will be at my older sister's place (Dísa), cousins from my mother's site of the family. We have done this a few times in the past few years and always have a blast. It has been 3 years since the last time we did it. So it is time to party now. I am not going to get drunk though because I want to enjoy breakfast with my partner in life the following Sunday :) I will just be tipsy, that is the plan. In the last cousin party I passed out at midnight, and I am not going let that happen again heheheeh. I wish I had a picture of that...actually Thelma, my younger sister has some pictures of me passed out on my cousins bathroom floor hehehehe. NEVER AGAIN!!! Ciao for now. GSJ

Kindergarten, sickness, new computer

2008-09-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

Jóhannes Kristbjörn has started going to kindergarten school, the same one that Ásdís goes to. He is still in the adjustment period and does not spend the whole day there until next week. Today he was there from 09 am to 11.30 am. I don't know how it went but hopefully well. Joi took care of him today. Yesterday it worked out allright. I was not very happy with how the greeted him and they did not seem to be organized at all. I think a child that is starting school and in a new environment needs a special care and special attention from the staff. He was not really getting that the first two days in the school. Hopefully it will get better as the week prolongs. I did complain about this and they apologized and I believe they will do better.

I have been sick all week, actually since Saturday. Coughing and sneezing, with a stuffed nose. Terrible. Then my head is also full of this cold and therefore I have a headache all day long. I went to work today, but I am not feeling good at all. But I have to toughen it out.

I bought a new computer Monday and I received it yesterday. It is awesome. 17" monitor on this labtop and 3 gb RAM, 250 GB hard drive, web cam, etc. Very nice. Now I have to get some software on it. That will be tough because I do not plan to spend money on it. We shall see what happens. At least I will download Joomla on it and start learning how to create web sites in that web content management system.

My children in their school uniforms

Got to go now. I am at work and should at least try and do something these last days I work for Marel. Peace and Love.

TIRED WOMAN, MOTHER, and WIFE!!!

2008-08-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is hard sometimes being a woman, a wife, a mother, a stepmother, working full time, going to the gym at 5.45 am in the morning. Taking care of the kids after work and then working on websites in the evening when the kids are finally asleep. This descibes my last week and today, Saturday, was also extremely busy. I have also had a cold and I have been coughing so this has not been my best week. But I have enjoyed being back to the gym and I have really had more energy in the evening. That is amazing, having more energy when you are spending more! But that is how it works. When you start working out, you get more energy and feel better about yourself. I am a better mom, better wife and a better housekeeper! My life in a nutshell.

I am starting a new job in one month. I have to buy a new computer for myself since Marel won't sell me the one I am using now. I have to download Joomla on my new computer and learn how to use it. Then move my older websites to that system because I won't be able to use Dreamweaver any longer. I will loose all of my software... So I have a very busy time ahead of me. I won't have time for anything else. The order of my priorities are: My children, my husband, my job, my home, going to the gym, learning Joomla and working on websites, and my family. I will try to give some friends some time. I promise to try :) No quire this year. I have made up my mind.

Enough for now. Going to bed early. You may comment, please :)

JKJ in kindergarten school

2008-08-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Yes. My son is going to kindergarten. What a big boy. He will start September 1st and I am so excited. Now I will have two children in kindergarten school - the same school. Life will be so much easier and it is also going to save us more money. I love it. Also for his developing skills. Asdis is so happy to have her little brother in school with her. She will be a good big sister and take good care of him - watch over him :) I am sure of it. My big boy has stopped using diapers and is starting school WOW....

Big Boy and Big Sister

Home Sweet Home

2008-08-18T01:11:00.000-07:00

We are home safe and sound after a two week vacation in Spain, Dona Pepe (40 min from Alicante). Our vacation was wonderful and we shared it with our great friends Run, Trausti, Tanja Lif and Matthildur. Thanks guys once again for a wonderful time together. The children loved the sun and playing by the pool and we, the parents, loved the beer and the sun :) hehehe Our belly got a little bigger during the vacation, but it looks so much nicer with a tan on ;)

One special thing happened during our vacation in Spain = Johannes Kristbjorn stopped using diapers while we were there, only 19 months old. He is so amazing, our little son. He ripped it off and refused using it. That was the end of it :) We do let him sleep with the diaper over night though. Cheers for him :)

Asdis Hjalmros and Johannes Kristbjorn in the mall of Terravieja

Today we took the kids to daycare and decided to stay home ourselves and take one extra vacation day only for us. Joi won't start school until Thursday, so he has a few more days, but I am going back to work tomorrow. It will be strange going back to work knowing that I am going to quit my job in a few weeks and start a new one. I worry a little about telling everyone there about it and explaining.... But I don't have to make excuses for my decision. I am making a decision for myself and my life.

The plan for today is not to stay in front of the computer so I am blogging off... Will post some more later. Much love to everyone. Chiao, GSJ.

Blogg Vacation?

2008-07-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did not have to stop blogging even though I went on a summer vacation! This is my second week in my summer vacation and it has been pretty good an relaxing. Last week I went to grandpa Joi's summer house and spent two days there with the kids and my friend Rún and her two daughters. No husbands came along, it was just us two and our kids. We had a wonderful time. Then we went home on a Friday and had a good weekend at home with Joi. This week has been pretty quiet.

It is funny, but the kids seem to love rules and regulation! Maybe it is not strange, but during our summer vacation our rules have lessened and we have relaxed a bit on all the do's and don'ts. What does that do to our kids? THEY GO MAD! They have been really hard to handle some days and some times I have wished that I was back to work! Gosh.... I must be a terrible mom. I should enjoy being with my kids... of course I do.... but sometimes I am about to loose my mind. Maybe it is because I am alone with the kids all the time. Joi is at work and Iam at home with the kids. Of course I do things with them. We go out to the playground in the morning to play outside and then in the afternoon we try and visit some friends that are also on vacation.

We are going to Spain in 4 days. Yes. Then Joi will have a 2 week vacation and we will relax together, the whole family. I will enjoy that. I hope that my sun allergy will not be too bad. I have been eating all kinds of vitamins before going and I have also allergy medicine to eat while I am there.

I went to Laugar Spa last Saturday and got waxed all over... (NO DETAILS). :) The bad thing about it, is that I got burned on my eyebrows, more on the left side. It was really painful. I wrote them an email on the following Monday and they are going to refund me the wax and coloring on the eyebrows and I also get to go to their Spa with a guest with me - when I come back from Spain. I think that was a really good service. Joi and I are planning to go there together after we come back from Spain, go to the Laugar gym and work out together, then have a couples massage and finally go to the Spa. It will be soooo nice.

This will be enough for now. I will be writing again at the end of this week to tell you my BIG SECRET. It should be announced before I go to Spain :) Anyone curious??? Bye, bye, gsj

Rise and Shine at 05.45 am

2008-07-22T01:01:00.000-07:00

Yep, I got up at 5.45 am this morning to go to the gym. I did one hour of fat burning/cardio and I burned a whole lot of calories. Then I went home, woke up the teenager to go to work, did my stretches, abs, took a shower, had my HerbaLife shake, and guess what??? Now it is 8 am and everyone is still asleep!!! Joi had to work until 3 am so he gets to sleep in this morning and the little kids, who always wake up at 7am are still asleep. It is amazing. Typical that when I get up early that they decide to sleep in :) I am sure that if I would crawl into bed with Joi now they would wake up and ask for mommy´s attention. So I decided to enjoy my private time and do a little browsing on the internet.

Tonight I am going to the movies with my good old girlfriends, Iris, Petra, Baddý and myself. I am hoping that the other three that are missing will also come along. We are going to go out to eat first, vegatarian food and then we will see "Sex and the City". It will be my second time seeing that movie, but I´ll go again for the good company I will be in and the movie is fun to watch. Also, a night off from the household - of course I will enjoy that. I need my private time also :) Well, I am going to do a little browsing. Cheers, GUDRUN

Summer Vacation

2008-07-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

In less then one hour I will start my summer vacation. YEAH. It will last for four weeks, two weeks at home with the kids, and two weeks in Alicante, Spain. I have so much planned for the vacation that I am starting to think I will be tired when I come back to work hehe. I am going to visit some friends that I have neglected, play with the kids, go swimming with the kids, go cycling with the kids, go to the movies with my girlfriends, go to the summerhouse (hopefully), teach Asdis how to ride her bike without the support-wheels, and much more.

The kids, especially Asdis Hjalmros, are waiting for the holiday. Asdis has been counting down the days and she thinks that she is going to Spain as soon as the summer vacation starts. I have been trying to explain to her that we won't go until August 2nd. I will probably end up printing out a calendar for her where she can cross out the days and count down.

We have the fifth family member living with us for a few weeks now. Axel Solvi, Joi's son (18 years old) moved in last night. He will be staying with us until September 1st. He will be sharing a room with little Johannes Kristbjorn and hopefully all of us living together will go well. He is a working man and a grown up and hopefully we will not have any complications or fights. I am doing my best to be optimistic about this and I am sure this will be ok. He is very positive about this and at least it is starting out good. For me it means more laundry, more cooking and more cleaning. Of course he will help out with the kids and the kids really love him. They were so excited last night to have him sleep at home. We put an extra bed in Johannes's room and Johannes was so excited to have big brother sleep with him. Today, when we woke up at 06.30 am we hear that Johannes had woken up. His first words of the day were: Já (yes). I guess he was sitting up in his bed, looking at his big brother sleeping, afraid to say anything like he usually does in the morning... and all he could come up with was Já :) Joi and I were in the bedroom awake and listening. We thought it was soooo cute.

Hopefully we will have good times ahead of us, where we will get to be a BIGGER HAPPIER FAMILY. The little children need to get to know their older brother and he needs to get to know them better. Love, Love, Love as I wrote in my last blog.

A picture of our children and grandpa Krissi last Christmas:

Love Blog

2008-07-16T01:33:00.000-07:00

I got to work before 8 am today and like usually I start my work day by reading a little bit on the internet. The pages I visit daily are my sisters blogs. It is strange, but I felt such strong love for them after reading their blogs. I read my older sisters blog and saw that she got three comments on her blog yesterday, one from mom, one from me, and one from my younger sister. I felt that the four of us make a strong family and that nothing can take away our love. We stand strong together through thick and thin and yes, believe me, there have been hard times! It just seems that our love for each other is so strong that nothing can break it.

Three sisters: Ásdís, Guðrún, and Thelma (March 10, 2007)

It feels good to love your family like that. Of course I share the same feeling towards my husband and my children. But it is a different kind of love. I have been with my sisters and my mom since my life started and they know me pretty well. Then there is my husband and my children, whom I have spent most of my time with for the past 7 years. They know me better than anyone, who I am today. Also, the love for your children is unconditional. You love them no matter what they do or what they say. I guess I am big on love today. I love loving and I love my family, my parents, my sisters, my husband and my children. There are so many people around me that I love and I am loved back. I simply love it :)

Love: Jóhannes Albert, Ásdís Hjálmrós, Guðrún Sigríður, and Jóhannes Kristbjörn

Picture taken March 10th 2007 when Johannes Kr. was babtized and on Asdis 3rd birthday.

Love, Gunna Sigga

Good, better, best...

2008-07-14T05:06:00.000-07:00

I am feeling better and better with every day that I go to the gym and work out and make sure that my diet is good. It is so crazy to let go of yourself like this and eat like a pig and not exercise. But why do I let this happen again and again and again? I tend to loose weight and exercise for a few months and look really good and feel so good about myself. Have lots of energy for my kids, husband and work. Then one day I stop. I start allowing myself to eat more, eat sweets more often and bread and like a bang.... I have gained maybe 10 kg.

I usually say that I am like a Jo Jo. Don´t know if that word gets through to my English speaking friends. Jo Jo is a toy that goes up and down on a string. I have no clue what it is called in English. So I just write it the way we say it in Icelandic hehehe. Maybe Yo Yo! - Yes.... my weight goes up and down like a Yo Yo on a string :) It is about time to stop this. I want to have a flat line.... no change in my weight for a few years. I have stopped having kids and that is not an excuse now. So hopefully I will be successful now.

This past weekend was a wonderful family weekend. We spent Saturday at home with the kids and cleaned the apartment. We have not cleaned it for many weeks now. We always postpone it because the weather has been so good and then we have been traveling. This weekend it rained, so I said to Joi: "you know what we have to do now"? So it was cleaning day in the rain and the kids "helped out". Sunday we went to my mom´s house and baked and played Yatzy and the kids played outside in the rain with grandpa Hannes. He was working in the yard and it was so much fun for them. I need to post some pictures soon. They got so dirty in the mud and all wet and then Joi squirted water on them to rinse them off. They laughed so hard and loved it. The pictures I took that day were taken with mom´s camera so now I need to get them from her to post them on the kid´s website.

Enough of blogging. Lunch is coming and only 4,5 days until my summer vacation. Smooches to everyone. Love, GSJ

Getting closer...

2008-07-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

No, there is no new happy child on its way and there won't be. Just so that will be clear. Joi had a snip snap surgery after Johannes Kristbjorn was born so we will NOT create more beautiful and happy babies together. If I will get pregnant, then Joi needs to start worrying hehehe.

My little sister is closer to the guess this time. I can not write more because it is still a secret. I will write more when I can. I promise. I guess you can stop guessing now.

Hey, I am curious about who is reading my blog living in New Zealand. Please come forward you who are reading my blog in New Zealand. Now I am curious. Then to all the others. Please comment at least once so I can see who is reading my little writings... More later... GSJ

NERVOUS!

2008-07-08T06:49:00.001-07:00

Today I am soooo nervous. It is regarding my big news that I am still not telling you about. I have not gotten many guesses, just one from my beloved little sister. She thinks I am having a sex operation :) Not a very likely guess :) I will probably tell you more in a few days. Just wanted to make you more curious and let you know that I am having a bad stomach and have shaky fingers. I am so nervous and stressed. Yoga would help me a lot now :) Spinning will maybe do it for me tonight.

Yes, about that. My husband called me at work yesterday and asked me if I would start working out if he would buy me a membership in Lifestyle fitness center (in Keflavik). I said: YES, of course. Then he said: "That is good, because I already bought it" :) So now I have started to go to the gym again, after a few months away. So be aware, the fatso is fading away..... Love, GSJ

Happy Children

2008-07-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is what my children are. They are happy campers, like we say. Now we are going camping again this weekend and the children love it. Our first camping trip, last weekend, was successful even though it was a bit cold during the nights. The weather forecast for this weekend is much better and we plan to go to the hottest place in Iceland this weekend, Husafell. Very nice camping site.

This week has been without any big events (that I can blog about). Joi has been sick, coughing so much that I had to ask him to sleep in the living room. I had to get some rest before work. There is a BIG secret going in our lives now and I can not tell about it yet. But when the news are ready to come out, I will blog about it. I promise.

Am I making ya'll curious. You can of course leave comments on this blog and ask what the big secret is. I love to tease people like this :) So now guess, guess, guess. Of course I have to post a picture with this blog. This is a picture from last weekend when we went camping.
Love, GSJ

Jói and his mom at our tent:

Richard Haynes

2008-06-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

My dear advisor from Western Carolina University passed away last November. His name was Richard Haynes, Dr. Haynes as I always called him. I just found out yesterday.

He was so good to me and a great advisor. He is the one responsible for getting me into computers. When he met me he said: "Gudrun, or may I call you Goodie"? Then he continued:"I think you would be super in assisting people with computers." "Would you like to have an assistanceship here at the Grad school and work in the computer lab"? "Of course, I said". I liked computers a little but I didn´t know as much about computers as he thought. Then I started working in the computer lab in Killian Building, on campus, 20 hours a week. Got some money from that and LEARNED A LOT. Thank you so much for everything Dr. Haynes and leading me in the right direction. I love computers today. I have been working with computers ever since I graduated! Everyone who knows me, knows that. He also taught me one class, about World Class School. He asked to keep my final paper in that class. He liked it so much and wanted to keep it to show other students. I hope he got to use that. Here is a link to his Obituary. God bless him and his memory. He is hopefully in a better place now.

Going from one subject to another. We are going camping this weekend. This will be our first camping trip as a family. We once took Asdis camping overnight when she was two years old. It was fun but we have not gone since. We seem to always postpone it and not be the kind of outdorcy people... but I want to change that. We bought a trailer tent this spring and we plan to use that alot. It has nice mattresses and that is what I like the most about it. I do not like laying on the cold ground. It would kill my back. The weather is not so warm, at least compared to the heat overseas. I think it will be around 14°C during the day and 6°C during the night. So we have to make sure we won´t get cold :) We are Icelandic vikings and we are strong.

Have a good weekend everyone. Need to go home and start packing. Love, GSJ

Who is the cutest boy?

2008-06-24T02:32:00.001-07:00

My son, Jóhannes Kristbjörn. This picture was taken by Ólafur Hannesson at my mom's wedding. I just had to put it on my blog and show the world my cutie pie. GSJ

Sex and the City 2nite!

2008-06-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful weekend, my mom got married and we were all busy planning that and enjoying that. It was so much fun and we got wonderful weather - THANK YOU GOD .

The kids were up until 11 pm Friday night and until 10.30 pm Saturday night. So this was a really busy weekend for them. Yesterday we took the kids riding on the bikes, all the way to Hafnir. It was 26 km total and it took us about 40 mintues to bike each way. It was really difficult for me and I felt how OUT OF SHAPE I am now. I am miss fatso now and I need to stop this. I do not want to grow old and become a sloppy old woman. I want to have lots of energy and be able to keep up with my energetic children. So today I say stop to myself - no more fatso!

But back to yesterday. We had a wonderful time in Hafnir. My mother in law and her fiance came along with us, only riding their 4-wheeled motorcycle. I am not sure what they call that in English! We went to Hvammur in Hafnir and that is where Joi's grandma used to live and my mother in law was raised. It was so beautiful. Then we went to the shore and enjoyed walking on the cliffs with the children, picking shells and cochlea (kuðungar). Asdis got mad when we went home, she wanted to stay longer. We got home around 8 pm and Johannes fell asleep on the bike. Sooo cute.

Tonight I will have a fun fun fun time. I am hanging out with my friend Rún, and we are going to eat at Nings (chinese) and then go to the movies to see "Sex and the City". Girls night out. I look forward to hanging out with her. She is so much fun and we love to chit chat and laugh together. Her family and mine are going to Spain in August and spend 2 weeks in a town close to Alicante. That will be so much fun.

Well, this is enough for now. Just trying to be a good blogger :) Bye bye. GSJAK

Bad stomach

2008-06-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

I am never going to eat a hot dog again. Yesterday, on our Icelandic liberty day, I decided I didn't want to cook a fancy meal. I bought hot dogs and gave the kids and myself. I was ms. greedy and had two! I haven't had a hot dog for ages because I always get sick in my stomach after eating them. And what happened last night? Of course I got sick. I felt so bad and wanted to throw up. But I didn't. I forced myself to hold it in. Now there are two things I will never eat again. It is hangikjöt, which is a smoked lamb and hot dogs. I feel bloated and sick after eating this kind of food.

I feel strange being a blogger. I really don't know what to write about :) but I guess I will get used to writing here and putting down my thoughts.

As I said before, yesterday was Iceland's liberty day. Joi had to work and I took the kids down town. It was crazy. Having to stand in line to buy balloons and candy and then there was only one castle to jump in for the whole town! It had long lines and I told my daughter, Asdis, that she could not get in. It would have taken the whole day to wait in line. Then I took the kids to my mom's house, where she had her annual June 17th coffee and cake. It was nice. The kids started fighting and crying and screaming after one hour there so I took them home. We played outside for a while at home and Asdis did great. She was biking and I took one of the support wheels of the bike and she was able to bike with only one support wheel. Hurray for her. Had a quiet evening and enjoyed going back to work today after a few days off.

I was really grumpy yesterday and mom noticed that. There is a dark cloud over my head when I get grumpy. Mom called me last night to make sure I was ok. She is the same way as I am. People can always see if we are in a bad mood. I told her I was in a bad mood because Joi had to work and I was alone with the kids. She said I can expect that since he is working as a detective. I should not waste the energy being grumpy when I know that he needs to work. But... I just couldn't control it. I was just sooooo grumpy!

Today I am fine, a little left overs of grumpiness inside me. I am trying to control it here at work :) Hoping for a good afternoon with the family when I get home. Think we will try and go swimming.
Ciao, Gudrun

Gudrun´s first blog

2008-06-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is for you Dom!

It was so much fun seeing you in London mr. Dombastic. I am so glad we got the chance to finally see each other and hang out. I also loved for you to meet Joi and I am soooo glad that you do approve of him :) So important ;)

We talked about blogging and that I should write in English the website I keep for our children. But after thinking about it for a few days I decided I don´t want to change that. It feels strange to write about my children in English. So now I am going to blog about my life and hopefully I will get Joi involved too. This can be our mutual blog site and I will let my friends overseas know about it and now you can all get news from us on this site. Dom, I will promise to update my blogsite more frequently than you ;) (not very hard hehehe).

Now... any news? London was wonderful, the musical "We will rock your" was awesome, and WE LOVED coming back home to our wonderful little children. Now life is back to normal and we await our next trip to Spain. Hugs to ya´ll. Gudrun