Mom decided that she wants to start a collection of photos of cool benches from all around Finland.  Here is the first installation:

This was taken in the park about a block from our house.  There are a dozen or so just like this one scattered through the park.  Martha has her eye on several more she wants to photograph.  Keep watching this site.

     I thought that instead of mailing a year-end family update letter, I would just post it on this blog.  So here goes:
     Martha and I are thoroughly loving our mission experience in Finland.  Too much is going on to even try to start a list.
     Owen, our oldest son, continues to do well with his art business in Nibley, Utah.   He and his gorgeous wife, Ashlie, have four of the sweetest, most beautiful girls you could imagine.  And their lives recently became even more exciting with the birth of their only son!  His name is Gabriel Owen Mortensen, and it appears that he is being smothered by four adoring sisters and two delighted parents.  Now that I'm getting too old to fish (heaven forbid!), Owen will now be able to pass on the joy of fishing to the next generation.
     Wes, our second son, is a very happy, successful anesthesiologist and is married to an incredibly photogenic lady named Lorinda.  They, too were recently blessed with a baby son, named Joseph Young Mortensen.  Caleb finally has a little brother!  In all, Wes and Rin now have five children, just like Owen and Ashlie.  Wes is currently serving in our home ward bishopric.
     Scott, our third son, is married to a stunning woman named Kara.  Together, they are the proud parents of two amazing and energetic sons.  Scott is currently a hospital administrator at American Fork Hospital.  He has acquired some very impressive credentials on his way to where he presently works.  We are so proud of Scott an Kara.
     Jess, our fourth son, followed in the footsteps of his older brothers and also "married up"!  I don't know how my sons were able to snare such ridiculously beautiful girls to marry, but Jess did it, too!  They have two adorable children:  one daughter and one son..... plus a couple of horses, a dog, five cats, and I don't know how many chickens.  Some of these pets are going to have to go, because Jess was just given a huge promotion which requires him to move to Michigan from his mini-ranch in Greeley, Colorado.
     Tyler, our fifth son, has a couple of bachelor's degrees under his belt, and has great potential in whatever field he chooses to pursue.  He marches to his own drummer, and we are proud of his independence.   He is a thrill to be around, due to his infectious sense of humor.  We are expecting big things out of him in the very near future.
     Elizabeth, our only daughter, is married to an eternally optimistic professional golfer.  He really makes our daughter happy, which endears him to us forever.  They live in Arizona, where Liz works as a nurse.  Grandpa Glenn is expecting LITTLE things out of Liz in the future.... but no announcements yet!  I seriously can't imagine any father loving a daughter more than I love Liz!
     That pretty much sums up the current status of the Glenn and Martha Mortensen family.  "All is Well".  We are grateful for our lives and our blessings.  We also know that we owe much of our happiness to our incredible friends.  Thanks to each and every one of you.
     May you all have Peace and Joy during this special time of the year, and always.

 OK, now for a few more pictures:  The above photo is our post office, located one block from our apartment.  And the picture below was taken at night of the "Tuomio Kirkko" (The Judgment Cathedral).  There is a lighted statue on this side of the church (somebody famous... I didn't check to see who it was) and a huge lighted Christmas tree in front, which was brought in from elsewhere for the occasion.

This picture below was taken at a Christmas art fair held in a little town square a few blocks from our apartment.  Martha thought it was cute.

These are the REAL Santa and Mrs Claus with a couple of their elves.  They were at the art show, too.

Just a block away from us (across the street from the post office) is a large beautiful park containing a few statues and some playgrounds for children.  It also contains a cute little aviary where we go to feed the ducks, geese and swans.  Inside the fence, with the birds, is this cute little "cabin" which is lit up for the holidays.  In these pictures, unfortunately you can't appreciate the lights very well.

Right behind the park is a very large sports center, containing outdoor track, outdoor swimming pool, large playing fields for soccer, a large outdoor arena for competition, and also a very large indoor exercise facility complete with indoor track, all kinds of exercise equipment, a bowling alley, pool tables, saunas, etc.  We belong to the "gym" and we used it frequently until we got too busy with the big dance we were in charge of.  We have great plans for "New Year Resolutions", however.

Below is a picture of one of the government buildings located near that cathedral I showed you earlier.  When Finland first began as a country in the 1300's, Turku was the capital of Finland.  This building is beautifully decorated for the holidays.

Just in front of the big Judgment Church someone decided to make a piece of art in the snow, using candles.  We thought it was kind of cool, so we took a picture:

When the snow gets piled up on the side of the streets, the kids take advantage of the piles and use it for sliding:

This isn't the same pile of snow, and I think I already showed it in an earlier post, but here it is again:

When we held the big country-wide dance for Independence Day, we had one of the kids draw these Finns in their national costumes, and some of the youth and I painted them.  Then many of the people who came to the dance had their pictures taken in them.  This first couple was especially "twitterpated":

These are two of our missionaries:  Elder Pope and Elder Heki.

That's all for now.  Maybe we'll send more later.

Finally, some requested pictures!

Well,  I couldn't remember how to post on our old family blog site;  so I just made my own blog.  Now I hope I can figure this out!

A number of you have wanted to see what Finland is like;  so I'm going to try to post some pictures.  These first two shots are of the apartment building in which we spend countless hours sleeping, eating, and cooking for ourselves and others.  We live on the fourth floor, and our apartment is on the corner of the building facing you (the viewer).  It is the corner just above the addition to the building that protrudes to the left.  I don't think you can see it, but there is a lighted Christmas star in the window just to the left of the corner of the building.  That's our living room.


Now, believe it or not... right across the street from the entry to our apartment building is the "Pub" pictured below.  All the signs are in English, which is somewhat popular in Finland nowadays.  But we figured they put this one in just for us.  "The Best and the Oldest" pretty much describes Elder and Sister Mortensen!

The next picture below was taken out of our living room window.  It shows the corner right across the street.  That's how they handle snow... shovel it into a corner.  When the pile gets too big, it is carted off.

This next picture is of my backside as I'm heading into the grocery store where we spend entirely too much time loading up with goodies to cook for the young single adults or the missionaries.  Once again, you will notice the English in the sign.

And finally, a picture taken at night of the front of our church building in Turku, home of the Turku First and Second Wards.

I'll take a better picture during the lighted part of the day when it isn't snowing.. to get both to happen at the same time is difficult sometimes.

Well, I'm too tired tonight to add any more pictures.  Maybe tomorrow night?
We love you all!
Grandpa Glenn