We Made It

So we made it to our apartment in Luleå. It was a long journey and I was ready to die when we got here but we did it. We ran some errands to kill some time and then the whole family slept from like 7:30 PM until 8 AM. Owen was great for the flight and slept like a champ, he was a great little sleeper as well. I think he is still trying to get used to this new home but he is doing great. Just a quick update.

Update

I had a lot of changes this weekend. On Friday I got an office here in Luleå it has an amazing view and I wanted to capture a picture of it for you. In the summer all the white is replaced with just lush green. So don't think it is like this year round.

On Friday I also moved out of the hotel and into my apartment. I purchased a bed the first day I got here but they had to order it from another store so it wouldn't get in for at least a week. Luckily my co-worker (Allan) had some extra matress pads and a blanket. So here is a picture of my bed and bedroom. 

In Sweden they don't have any lights in the apartments for some reason. I don't know why, maybe Swedish builders are super cheap? Maybe Swedes just need a little variety and like their own lamps and fixtures. Anyways, I had to purchase a lamp and that is what you see in the corner. It is one of 5 light sources in my house. The other 4 are a half-hung fixture over the entry way, the bathroom light, the light over the stove, and an under cabinet light.

You may look at that bed and feel sorry for me, but luckily I trained in college for this when I lived in "The Factory". 17 guys. 1 House. This is the Ritz Carlton at Tyson's Corner compared to "The Factory".

I Slept in until noon on Saturday and this is what I woke up to. Beautiful blue skies and a brisk sunny day. I actually woke up because it was so bright in my bedroom. The next two pictures are views from the apartment in the day time.

On Saturday I ran around with Allan all day and he took me through his Saturday ritual. Part of that ritual was going to the branch house and dropping off the sacrament bread so it is there Sunday morning. This is a view of the branch house on Sunday morning. It is a small branch but they have a surprising amount of young people. The primary has 13 kids.

The entry way.

The Primary Room

Obviously that metric system isn't as easier to understand for truck drivers as it is for everyone else...

This was a moving truck, they were in the process of getting all of their stuff out of it when I drove by.

This is the sun setting at 3 PM after grocery shopping. That was quite the experience. I bought a bunch of food that I am pretty sure it will make good food but you never know because you can't read what you actually bought.

They have Dr. Pepper. I gave it a shot for Gin, it tastes the same as the states.

This is my work vehicle

One of them Swedish license plates.

On my first trip to Sweden the people I traveled with who had been here before kept saying, "there are some things the Swedes do a lot better than Americans." I laughed waiting for the punchline of a joke, but this picture is of one of those things the Swedes do better. It is my bathroom towel rack with built in heater. You put your towel on it when you get in the shower and when you get out you have a nice warm towel to wrap yourself up in. It is heaven sent.

The next seven pictures were ones I took on my way to church this morning. It was a beautiful morning.

 

 

Contrary to popular belief the sun exists in Luleå. It just can't get over the snow piles.

When I got out of church the sun was beginning to set. Since the sun doesn't get high in the sky it takes a long time to come up and a long time to set. It makes for some long beautiful sunrises and sunsets. 

So while I keep reading stories on KSL about inversion and air quality problems I am enjoying beautiful blue skies. Not only that, but it is about the same temperature in Sweden right now as it is in Salt Lake. And after the snow storm this weekend, we have about the same amount of snow.

This weekend was a huge shock for me. Until Friday night this felt like any other trip to Sweden other than I had all this luggage I was trailing. I kept eating out and hadn't cooked in my apartment. But Friday night when I realized I could sleep in all day Saturday if I wanted and I didn't have anything to do the next day work wise was just a complete shocker to me. (I ended up working just to keep myself busy) But on Saturday it was just weird being here. I didn't like the feeling. Today at church it was tough going without my family. There is a 1 year old in the ward who was walking all over the building and during classes and I just kept looking at him and thinking, I bet Owen will be able to beat that kid up, well not that but I kept thinking about Owen. 

I sat in church today just looking around and observing others. Like I said earlier there are a surprising number of young families and kids. I also noticed they are ALL girls. Owen is going to have his pick of the litter. One little girl who is 7 told me today that she is so excited for more boys in the branch because there are too many girls in it. I hope she doesn't have a problem marrying a younger man. Church was a lot of fun. It was in Swedish and some members and a missionary were incredibly nice and translated  all three hours for me. It was nice singing in Swedish though because it really helped me get a better grasp on the language. We sang for an opening hymn "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today", "There is a Green Hill Far Away" for the sacrament, "Choose the Right" for a rest hymn, and "Love at Home" for a closing hymn. It was nice to have something so familiar in a land where everything feels so unfamiliar. That is what I love about the church. All through this tumultuous week I kept thinking about how nice it would be to go to church and meet with complete strangers that share my same values and beliefs. I am extremely grateful to live so close to my little branch house.

One last note, there was a 15-year old Swede speaking today about going to Youth Conference and he gave an amazing talk. He had this semi-Bieber thing going on where he would flip his hair or run his hands through it and then smile out on the audience; he gave a really good talk summarizing D. Todd Christofferson's call for young men to be men. Anyways, after he spoke his mom spoke about how happy she was he went to youth conference. She said while he was there he met a lot of nice young people. She said while he was there he would tell girls, "I knew Youth Conference would be a spiritual experience, but I didn't realize I would meet an angel." I guess Youth Conference is universal for bringing guys and girls together.

This next week I am hoping to head to Stockholm, and then tour the Mine and Port. We'll see if I can get away from the office though. I love you all and thank you for your support. 

PS - I got a swedish phone number today, so if you text me and I don't text back it is because of that and not because I don't want to talk to you.

Life in Luleå Sweden (no there isn't anything wrong with the å)

After a long hiatus I decided to start blogging again.

So on Monday I moved across the pond for three weeks to get everything setup before Gini and Owen move over. It was really sad to leave knowing I wouldn't be back this weekend and would be gone for the two after that as well. However, I am married to the sweetest girl in the world who took the time before I left to create a note for everyday )and one for every layover on the way home) about memories she has of us dating to keep me company on my trip. They have been heaven sent reminders of how lucky I am to be married to such an amazing woman. 

Enough gushy stuff, I packed up three suitcases and had Gini drop me off at the airport. I traveled via Chicago and it was a pleasant trip. Salt Lake was in a horrid cold spell right before I left and when I landed in Sweden it seemed warm compared to where I was coming from. When I first got in town I was picked up at the airport by my boss, and then we went around and picked up my car, got the key to my apartment, and did some other necessary shopping (like buying a bed). Here are some pictures of my first day.

This first picture is from the balcony of our apartment and looks out over the city center. They have a ton of snow here so it is just so bright even at night because of the reflection. Even though it felt warmer than Utah that isn't saying much, it is still really cold. Since it is so cold frost and snow stick to everything; all of the trees usually have a good coating of white stuff all winter long. It makes everything look so pretty, like right out of a book.

This is another view from our apartment. That is the cathedral that is covered in frost it looked pretty neat at night. 

This is the road into my office. On the right side is the new server farm for Facebook, if you look closely at the top of the building you can see overhangs, those are vents. The have large fans on the other side and instead of paying for air conditioning they will just pump outdoor air in to air condition all the servers. It is a pretty big building. My office is on the left behind the trees.

One picture I forgot to grab was when we went to get me a cell phone and we were parking the car. We parked right by the local school. It was a typical European school with the courtyard being the playground. We peered through one of gates at recess (mind you it was pretty dark outside) and all the kids are out on the playground in snowsuits just playing with sleds and running around like it isn't 0 degrees Celsius out. It was neat to see. I don't think they believe in indoor recess here.

Next week I hope to manage a trip to the mine, the transloading facility, and Narvik. I hope to share more pictures between now and then but if these didn't make you want to jump on a plane and get over here I wanted to give you a little teaser of what is to come. I also hope to squeeze in a business meeting in Stockholm next week, as well as one in Norway the following so I'll be sure to document those trips. If anyone has any requests for pictures please feel free to post them in the comments.

Owen's Blessing

So we had a really great weekend that included Owen getting blessed. It went great and we had plenty of family and friends there that made it completely wonderful. I will add a few pictures.

So I had this post ready but I waited to post it because Gini wanted to post all the pictures first and so these are just some of my favorites. Owen is so much bigger than he was in these pictures it is crazy. He is such a good little sleeper though, and loves spending time with his Momma watching netflix. The kid will seriously roll and squirm and scream until he can see the tv.

House

So it is official, Gini and I signed all the paperwork necessary to purchase a home at 1130 East 5730 South. Right by Cottonwood High, or a better landmark would be the bog. Don't worry we'll detail everything with pictures soon. I just wanted to announce our new purchase :)

Owen's Day Out

So it was stake conference in our stake this past weekend. Gini's dad is the stake president and Gini and I have attended since we started dating. It is pretty sentimental and we often think about the time we were dating whenever we go. I was pretty surprised when Gini said she wanted to go but I was excited because she said we can be late, and leave early so no one mobs Owen.

We went to the Saturday night session and the Sunday morning session. It was fun and Owen looked so good in his white shirt and tie for Sunday. He slept soundly through both session and we were so happy. After Saturday night's session we went to In-N-Out to celebrate.

Here we are on Saturday night. He looks like he is crying but he is just waking up and stretching and yawning. He doesn't cry unless he is absolutely starving.

Here he and I are hanging out on Sunday, he was telling me all about what he learned and his favorite parts.

On a side note this kid is a sleeping machine. On Friday night he slept for 5 straight hours. Gini and I both woke up at 4 AM in a panic because he hadn't made a peep since midnight and we thought something was wrong with him. We love him and couldn't be any happier with him.

Owen Stanley Phillips

So Gini and I dodged a bullet. We almost had a Valentine's baby. Nothing would be worse for a Phillips man than having to be excited about Valentine's day every year. So we went in for a checkup Tuesday morning and they said let's just induce you tonight, no point in pushing it any longer. So we went out for a Valentine's date and were sitting on pins and needles all day waiting for them to call and tell us to come in.

Finally, we get the call and get to the hospital at about 9:30. Gini gets comfy and I get comfy and they give Gini an ambien, and some other drugs to help her labor and then we both go to sleep. I figured since Gini was treated to an ambien I was going to be treated to some Nyquil. So early in the morning Gini's water broke and they gave her her epidural shortly thereafter. She was in an out of sleep for the rest of the day. '

The labor moved at a good pace (it is hard for me to comment on the labor because to me it was a breeze compared to what we had read, but for Gini it was still REALLY hard). So about 2:45 Gini started pushing and then at 3:06 Owen joined us, weight 7 lbs 12 ozs and is 22 inches long. He has been a champ every since he came out, wanting to just eat sleep.

Here are some pictures of him.

This is him in the delivery room shortly after birth.

One of his many visitors holding him.

This was during his bedtime. He didn't want to take a picture but we had to get a family photo.

Owen just relaxing after a long hard day.

Me putting Owen to sleep. He is such an amazing sleeper.

We go home Friday and the fun really begins. Thanks to everyone for the calls, flowers, and visits. We even got a beautiful bouquet from someone who didn't sign the card. So whoever you are, thank you. They make the room smell beautiful.