Concert love for my sisters

I come from a very big family, well I think I have a big family, I have three sisters that I love with all my heart, there isn't anything I wouldnt do for them, well almost anything :-). We have been through a lot together and its only beginning. We've had some great time together, especially when it comes to concerts. My sister Sandra had a thing for the boy bands NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. It was our first concert together, it was the best one I have ever attended, we had the worst seat, in the boonies, but our best one. I had bought tickets to the channel 933 summer concert in 98, I couldn't drive and the concert was in San Diego and we lived in Oceanside, so I got creative. The concert started at 6pm, we left at 9am. We took the bus to the coaster, took the coaster from Oceanside to Downtown San Diego, took another bus, then another bus etc, then we took a cab to the amphitheater in San Diego. They had a lot of different acts, NSYNC, backstreet boys, tyrese, 98degrees, Jessica Simpson, brittney spears, and few others. We couldn't see anything, I think we might have been all the way in the back, but I had so much fun. We had no ride home, and the busses stopped running, thanks to a wonderful friend of mine, that drove all the way from LA to SD to pick us up and took us home. We did another concert in Anaheim, that our dad drove us too, I waited in line starting at 6am for them to open at 9am, we had pretty decent seats, it was the only backstreet boys concert that we attended together. We took our other sister, soffia, to one of those concerts that channel 93,3 was hosting, they had few awesome acts, tyrese, ll cool j, Kelly clarkson, Frankie j, etc. It was Soffias birthday present, the good thing was that I actually had a drivers license that time, but nevertheless, awesome time.

My family

I have a very unique, interesting, and crazy family. I am the oldest of four daughters. I get along with all of them, they drive me nuts, but I love them very much. It's very interesting being the oldest, growing up it wasn't all that fun. Sometimes it felt like I was the guinea pig, sort of, I felt most of the pressure. I come from a very big family, my mom has 10 brother and sisters, so I have a lot of cousins. I grew up in a very small town, with about 200 or so people, about 15-20 kids. Me and my cousins used to get into so much trouble, but we fought like cats and dogs. Growing up was very different from the kids today. For example, Iceland only had two channels, channel one and channel two, tv didnt start until about 4:30pm, so we had to figure out a way to entertain ourself, and we did, boy was it fun. My life has changed in so many ways, I have been thru a lot, but it made me the person I am today, some people might say I am too nice to people, maybe I am, maybe not, but I wouldn't be here without my family, my big unique crazy family, one of my sisters wanted me to do a summary of my family, and that's what I am going to do. MY MOM: My mom is very outspoken person, it took her along time to get there, I don't always agree with my mom, but I will always love her. She has been thru hell and back, literally. She loves all of her daughters and her grandsons with everything she has, she would do anything for us. I remember when I used to work at Rob-May in San Diego, I got accused of giving a employee discount on clothes, and supposedly I got the same, which i didn't, anyway, my mom called the Loss Prevention people and basically cussed them out, yeah I didn't go back to that job. Me and my mom disagree on many many things, but she always supported me in my decisions. I have always wanted to make her proud, which I hope I have. MY DAD: What can I say about my dad, he was very strict with me when I was younger. I always tried to get away with different things, but forever reason he always found out, now I don't lie to him, because if I dad he would somehow find out :) I do appreciate everything he did for me, it wasn't easy raising me, I was 13 when my parents got married, I basically blamed him for splitting up my mom and biological dad, but somehow he got thru it. Up to today I always get advice from my dad, about anything and everything. He knows basically everything about me, I almost talk to him everyday. My dad was stricter than strict when it came to my school, manners, and responsibility. When I was in High school, he came and shadowed me ALL day in every class, talk about embarrassing. Hes one of the reasons why Im where I'm at today. SANDRA: Shes my best friend, I can tell her everything and she would never judge me. She had cancer when she was a junior in high school, she went thru a lot during her recovery, shes here and well, stronger than ever. I admire her in many ways, she's living the life I should had, she has an apartment, car, good job, and is free to do almost anything. When we were younger me and her used to fight, I mean fight, she used to scratch the heck out of me, but I deserved it, I wasn't always nice to her. I try what I can to be there for her today, whether she needs somebody to talk to, or just to vent about something. Shes my best friend, my everything. SOFFIA: Boy where do I start :-) soffia is a very unique person, she's very stubborn, but she's also very kind, when she wants to be. She has a very big heart, a very vunerable heart, I feel sometime people take advantage of her. She could do a lot better then where she is today, shes only 21, she has time to make things right. She's very good with kids, and she loves my boys, she calls them her babies, yeah right :) sometimes I just want to shake her, me and her have had many issues growing up, but I think she had grown a lot, but still needs some growing up to do. IRENE: My youngest sister, we are born in the same month, 15years apart, but we think alike a lot of times, there's been times when I text her bout something and shell go, "I was just thinking that". She's an amazing person, she has a lot going for her, she's about to graduate high school, then she's off too college. It almost seems like she had her life all planned out. She textes me 3-4x a day, which I love, she's so sweet, but she has a "bad" side, she loves family guy, just like my dad, it's so hilarious. I wish I lived closer to my family, I miss all of them a lot. Irene is very smart, it seems like she's always studying, she should talk to my son :) MY SON MICHAEL: I call him my "savior", he saved my life, I was heading in the wrong direction in life and there he came and changed my life. He's a pain in the butt, but he means everything to me. I am very overprotective over him, I have to know his every move(almost), me and him bumps head a lot but he confides in me a lot, asks me some very strang question, he wants to know EVERYTHING, how everything works, why people are the way they are, any question possible. He's 14, going thru some hormonal changes, we've all been there. He's a great kid, he wants to be a doctor when he gets older, an orthopedics surgeon, he's smart but lazy, but I couldn't ask for a better teenager. MY LITTLE MAN ALEXANDER My little one is very tempered, like his dad :) he's very funny, he's 19months, he sucks on his toes, all of them, basically sticks his whole foot in his mouth, yeah. He's still little and has a lot of growing up to do, I stay home with him, so we spend a lot of quality time together, which I missed with Michael. I cherish all the time I'm with my boys, because their growing up awful fast. MY HUSBAND he's very unique person, he has a lot of great qualities, he also has flaws, but nobody's perfect. It took us 10years to get married, but we did and we have a wonderful family together. He's the total opposite of me, he's older, shorter, and is a different race, but my whole family is blended so race is never a factor. I think we have a pretty decent life, Im able to stay and take care of my boys, he travel so during the week it's tough. He's a very kind and generous person, him and Michael bump heads quite often, they have a unique relationship, not always the best but it always works out. My family isn't always the best and dont always see eye to eye but there the best family I could ever ask for.

The English language-struggles, triumphs, and victory

Like many of you know I was born and raised in Iceland, came to the US in 1995. Before my journey here, I didn't know that much English, it took me a long time to read, write, and speak proper English, I'm not to say that my English is perfect, but I think I do a pretty damn good job. The school system in Iceland is very different than here in the US. In Iceland you graduate High School after 10th grade, cool huh. I graduated from High School in Iceland, should I have graduated, in my opinion, no. My grades were so bad, I'm surprised I learned anything. When my parents got married and we moved onto the military base in Iceland, When my dad registered me for school I didn't have enough credits to be a junior, so to my dismay I had to repeat 10th grade, which didn't make me feel good at all. I had to pay for my stupidity by being in class with people who are a year younger than me, but I made up for it. Being in a all American school was very hard for me my first year, I was basically grounded the whole year. My dad was really hard on me-which I'm truly grateful for. The teachers understood my circumstances and were really kind and helpful, really helped me pass with the credits I needed to be promoted. When I started my junior year at Oceanside High, I was ready as I was ever going to get. I manage to get good grades, with the help of my parents, their support and guidance. When I was a senior, my second semester I only needed two classes to get my diploma, but being the good student I was I took the full load, six classes. I also ran track my senior year, was in couple of school clubs. By the time for my graduation I earned few awards, I was on the honor roll, Athelete award, and principal award. It felt amazing that I've gotten that far from where I started. After high school, I got pregnant-that's a totally different story, but I manage to get two college degrees and half a masters :)which brings me to a little tiny thing that bugs the hell out of me, people not learning the English language. I have come with contact with various people that do not speak the language but is expecting us to learn their language. I feel that if your in America you should learn the damn language, I had to so why can't they.

Seeing US for the first time

I came to the land of freedom and opportunity when I was 16years old, the only thing I knew about the states is what I saw from movies, which more often than not was not good presentation of the US. I was so nervous and freaked out about coming, just because what I saw in the movies. When I left Iceland on May 20, 1995, it was a cold and rainy day, I was wearing a heavy jacket :). The flight took about 9 hours which was not normal. I was really nervous flying for so long. It wasn't until we reach Philadelphia they told us to get off the plane to wait for another one-we were going to Norfolk, Virginia, apparently the airplane we were on had mechanical problems, so that's why the plane ride took so long. We waited in the airport for almost 5-6 hours for another plane, which wasn't all that fun. We arrived in Norfolk, Virginia safe and sound. My dads friend picked us up in our new car-my dad had gone to Virginia four months earlier to purchase a car for us, it was a nice Nissan Quest. When we finally got outside, it was so freaking hot, we had to purchase some new clothes-shorts and tank tops, we don't usually wear those in Iceland :) it was so beautiful outside, we stayed in Norfolk for about two week, then we drove, yes drove, to South Carolina to visit my moms friend, it wasn't so nice in Sumter, SC. We only stayed for about 5 days or so then ran out of there. Next up was Washington DC, it was amazing, we went to the White House, museums, and just walk around. We only stayed about 2-3days, then off we went, driving. We drove all across the country, went thru Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, Ohio, we stopped in Waterloo, Iowa for one week, to visit my dads family, it was very interesting to say the least. Then we kept on driving, the scenery was amazing, we drive thru Nebraska, Colorado, Utah- we saw the most interesting thunderstorm, lightening was on both sides of the car, I was freaking out :). We stopped in Las Vegas for a day, man was it hot. Then California, here we came, the first thing we saw when we came in was fire, yes of all things. Driving across the country with my family was amazing, we got to see and experience a lot of different states and scenery. Many people that live in the US haven't visited than many states as we did, I am truly grateful for that experience.

My story

I was born and raised in Iceland, in a very very small town with about 200 or so people. I left Iceland at age 16, it was a huge culture change for me, I had to learn how to speak, read, and write English full time, it took awhile but I think I got it down :-) I graduated High School with honors, athlete award, principal award, and extra credits, not bad right? Right after high school I got pregnant with my oldest son, who's 14now. I call him my blessing, I had to grow up and grow up fast. Without him I wouldn't be where I am today. I graduated from college with two degrees, criminal justice and business administration. Now I am married with two wonderful boys, 14 years and 18months. I am a stay at home mom, which I am loving right now. I have great parents that live in San Diego, 3 awesome sisters, who I adore in every which way. I am truly blessed in what I have, wouldn't have it any other way.