3. The family in Sunnuhlíð

Petra and Nenni were only teenagers when they fell in love. Their relationship was typical of the life in Stöðvarfjöður at that time; Nenni was always out at sea and they didn't see one another for long periods of time. In the winter of 1941, when Petra and Nenni were about twenty years old, Petra decided to go to a housekeeping school in Blönduós (north Iceland). Her decision to seek more education was a part of her dream to become a nurse; a degree from a housekeeping school gave her the right to apply for entrance to nursing school. That same winter Nenni went to Reykjavík to work but when Petra came back home another dream had taken over. That dream was to start a home with her sweetheart.

Shortly after Petra and Nenni came back home, they talked about getting married. They started planning for the big day, but as things turned out, they had to wait a long time for that moment to arrive. Petra and her sister Margrét, had decided many years before that they and their brother, Björgólfur, should all get married on the same day. But then Björgólfur was taken seriously ill with tuberculosis and had to spend the next three years in a sanatorium in Reykjavík. It wasn't until August 1945 they all finally got married.

The year Nenni and Petra got married, they started building a house for their growing family. But few months after they begun the construction work, Nenni fell ill. Because of his illness they abandoned their plan of building a house at that time and instead bought a little house in the village called Sunnuhlíð. From the beginning the house was too small and as soon as Nenni recovered they started building a bigger one. Their method was unusual and inventive; they built the new house around the old one in which they lived the whole time. The new house kept the same name as the old one, Sunnuhlíð.

Petra and Nenni had four children. Ingimar was born in 1945, Elsa Lísa in 1946 and Sveinn Lárus in 1949. The youngest one, Þórkatla, was born in 1962. Life was a traditional one for a family in a small Icelandic fishing village in the middle of the 20th century; Nenni was at sea most of the time while Petra took care of the children and the work around the house. They were happy but in 1974 everything changed for Petra and her family. Petra and Nenni were on a holiday in Denmark when Nenni had a heart attack and died after a short stay in hospital. He was only 52 years old.

On the day of the funeral, Petra decided that from that day forward, her home would be open to everybody that wished to see her mineral collection. On this day of sorrow and regret Petra, didn't think about her own loss but instead gave us all this magnificent gift that her collection truly is. That is a testimony to her generosity and strength.