Missing Grandma Pugh

I loved my Grandma Pugh. My family would often go over to her house Sunday evenings, where we always celebrated the holidays. She loved to decorate for them. She was an expert seamstress and kept an immaculate house. She was a talented artist who was willing to share her talents with others. She studied with several famous artists but she was also willing to give art lessons to local children and to donate a painting to raise money for a good cause. She died last week at Age 80 of complications from heart surgery. I wish she could have finished the piece she was working on. It was a portrait of a little Chinese girl with a handkerchief. She mostly did watercolors, and had started working with oils the past couple years. I was really looking forward to seeing what she would do with the portraits. Grandma Pugh was always thinking about what book to present next at her Book Club and this is sometimes what we would discuss at her house on Sunday nights. At her funeral, her Book Club was kind enough to give us a list of the books she had presented over the past 17 years, so I am posting them below. Eventually I will get a chance to read them. A discussion about books was the last conversation I had with her in July. I'm so grateful we were able to have the Fourth of July celebration on the property on 13th East and around 45th South in Salt Lake City that was sold to the city but has been in my family since pioneer times. It was a really fun night and the last time we were truly all together as a family. I was sad as we drove back to California because I had a feeling that something would change before we could do it again, but I didn't know who it would be or how soon the change would come. I'm grateful we had 80 years to enjoy her spirit and talents. I love you Grandma! I miss you!

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Oliver & Lael's 1st swim meet

Oliver and Lael had their first swim meet - the timed trials to set their starting times for the season. They both competed in four strokes and did great. They each did one lap of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and the butterfly. I was quite concerned about the last two strokes, and about battling Lael over wearing the swim cap but they did great. I'm not sure how competitive they'll be this year but so far they are having fun. We have a break for the holiday weekend and then we have meets almost every Saturday through the end of July. The only downside is that we have to be there at 7 am, which is brutal for us. This summer Erik will be dropping them off at 8:30 every morning to practice and then I'll pick them up at 9:15. Right now is a tad crazy with baseball and swimming, but we're down to our last four games. Yay! I think next year Oliver will be the only one doing baseball but we'll see how it goes. Gotta survive the last month of school first.

Easter Bunny lessons and other crazy stuff

So I played around on Picnik.com. What dya think? Not too bad for 10 minutes.


I made Oliver take this. Wish I had put makeup on because this could have been a really good shot but I have so few decent photos of myself that I'll take it!

The lighting was so good that I got some great photos, despite the weird posing.


Oh, yes, the joys of Easter.

This year the Easter Bunny must have been really tired, because when she hid the Easter Baskets, she decided to put Lael's on top of the wall heater and when Lael finally found it, she cried because her big chocolate Bunny was all melted. So we put it in the freezer, which worked pretty fast, but it didn't look quite the same. Lael also refused to wear her Easter dress and insisted on wearing the holiday dress we bought for the wedding. If we get brave enough to have another child, I hope it's a girl that lets me dress her cause Lael certainly doesn't accept fashion advice from me, although she does critique my outfits. We went to the Sr. Swanons for an Easter Egg Hunt in their back yard and a great dinner complete with a filet minion roast. It was sunset so the light was perfect and I got some great photos. We played the Clue game that the Easter bunny brought and decorated Easter eggs, which Lael of course really got into.

Last week both the kids' baseball games got rained out, which was just as well, because I didn't feel that great the beginning of the week and then I had the baby shower that I had to help set up for and do the game (I did the candy bar matching game - similar to Concentration but when you match the words, you get the corresponding candybar - like "Baby Girl" is the Baby Ruth bar and "Baby Boy" is the Oh Henry Bar (which is hard to find by the way), "Triplets" is Three Musketeers and "Twins" is Mike & Ike, etc. I had played the game several times in Berkeley but no one had played it here, so it went over well. We also did a clothesline with baby clothes on the wall, which turned out cute. I'm invited to another baby shower and two bridal showers over the next 2 weeks, but thankfully I just have to show up to those.

Lael had her fieldtrip to the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum and they had enough parents going that they didn't need me so I went separately and took Henry. It was way too crowded, which made it less fun, and I didn't end up sticking with Lael as much as I thought I would, and apparently she got sad about that, so I ended up taking flak from some of the moms (who only have one or two kids, by the way) that this was her special time and I ruined it by bringing Henry. First, I didn't need to be there at all. And second, she was fine, although I do think some of her bad behaviors are attributed to being the middle child and I am going to do something with just her this week. I may take her to see Hannah Montana - against my better judgment because she hasn't even asked for it. One of the funny things Lael asked me last week was, "Mom, can I say whatever I want on my birthday?" I sensed a trick question here and said, "What do you mean?" She said, "Can I say Oh My g-a-d like Abigail (next door)?" I said, "No you can't swear just cause it's your birthday. And you spelled it wrong." Now she has been obsessed with telling people not to say it and even wrote it in the birthday card she gave to a friend last week, but I made her take it out. Crazy girl.

Oliver made a really cool birdhouse in Scouts. Henry dribbled a ball for the first time, which was impressive for a 1-year-old. He also loves to hang from the rings like a monkey at his gym class, which is pretty impressive at his age.

Anyway, we sure haven't figured out how to relax on the weekends. On Saturday we went to the Ward Easter Egg Hunt at Golfland in Castro Valley (someone in our ward is the longtime manager) and it was fun. After the hunt, we played a round of mini golf. Then we went over to San Francisco and went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown. The kids made origami and we saw Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) and a Japanese sword collection and traditional Japanese dancers as well as bad modern music. Then we went and took pictures of Coors billboards for Secret Shops I had signed up for but we had to get a picture during the day and night, which meant we had to hang around until sunset, so we went to the Metreon for awhile and to Beard Papa's Cream Puffs. Then we got our night photos, came home and I entered them in and we were tired! Although this means my paycheck comes from Coors, it involves no interaction with people, so for $20 a billboard, I'll gladly take it! This will help pay for Lael's new bed. Now I just have to clear off and sell the desks to make room for it! Here's hoping for a very productive Spring Break week!

April Showers

Hola! I can't wait for the break that starts this Friday. Last week was tough because Erik had a meeting with India every night at 8 or 9, including Friday. Erik usually puts the kids to bed and it's pretty chaotic because Oliver and Lael tend to fight and we're often also trying to get Henry down. Basically, I don't wish our bedtimes on anyone. Since it's impossible for Erik to work in peace, he spent several nights taking his conference call in the driveway while sitting in the minivan using our wireless internet connection and his laptop. Yes, poor guy. The car is now his office.

Living in 925 square feet definitely has its challenges. Right now all three kids are in the same room and Lael and Henry are both on the bottom of the bunk in a double bed. So I sent Erik with Oliver over to Santa Cruz to pick up a twin bed that I found on Craigslist for Lael. During the spring break we are going to turn what has been the office into a room for her. It's quite the undertaking - it means I have to get rid of a lot of stuff and sell several large pieces of furniture (desks, chairs and a TV), which is always a huge pain because of flaky Craigslist people, but it will be worth it. We are going to get a 55'' flat screen TV that will go above the piano in the living room and we are going off cable because Erik has put up an antenna on the roof and has built a sage system that works as a DVR. We are going to get everything we can't pick up off the air from hulu or the internet. It sure will be nice not to pay that cable bill!

This week I was asked to make 80 bridal shower invitations and same-day baby shower invites, so I whipped these out the same day on the computer - it was the only way I could get them done on such short notice. I included the files for you to see since I had them handy. I don't know why but the bridal shower invite colors came out really funky in the html version - it's actually pink and gold, but I guess something got lost in translation. Also, I helped someone else design these or I would have made slightly different choices but we put pearls on the swirls and they turned out cute enough. The baby shower invite was simple because I had 30 minutes to get it done and it was mostly emailed out. Hope the event turns out well, since it's such short notice and there is general conference.

Just to add to this week's craziness, we were offered the same multilevel communications business opportunity by no less than 3 ward members within 48 hours. Makes me feel like I'm living in Utah. Don't fear – we are passing (like we have the time even if we were remotely interested or weren't horrible salespeople). We won't be hitting you up at any rate.

The kids each had a rare birthday party to go to. Oliver took the GATE (gifted and talented) test Saturday. He could have taken it during school the week before but they had him listed under the wrong teacher and his teacher didn't bother to call me until the test was over. When I dropped Oliver off, the district people were strange. The woman in charge told us parents to go ahead and buy the children whatever gifts we had promised the kids for "passing" because they had already earned them (What? Like I promised him anything). Then she said they didn't use the terms "pass" and "fail" but they prefered the word "achieve" to describe a high score on the "intellligence assessment test." Whatever. Oliver thought the test was fun and he said he got everything right except the two questions he didn't have time to finish. The extreme overconfidence stems from the fact that he gets 100 percent every single week on the spelling pretest and math is his favorite subject, so he does well there too. It's hard to tell where he's really at, though, since he's in a group of kids where English is obviously their second language. I'm interested to see the results but there really are no programs offered him at our school – not until middle school, so it doesn't matter that much how he does for now. And it's not the only way to get him into the GATE program. We'll find out how he did at the end of the school year.

We had the usual Tuesday and Thursday baseball games but it was so cold Thursday that as soon as Erik got there I left with Henry and went to Costco. (I know, many of you are not feeling bad for me because I think it's cold in the 50s.) Lael said lots of funny things but maybe I'll remember them for next week. Henry didn't make any horrible messes, although he did baby experiments on what fits into an electric pencil sharpener and lost the battery cover moments after it was found and repaired. (We cleaned the house while watching Conference today and found lots of little missing things). And the Senior Swansons are back from their cruise - yay! We missed spending Sunday evenings at their house and it's good to be back in the routine, even though we probably drive them crazy. Here's hoping for an uneventful week so I can get that room ready! OK, so there's no hope for me since I have a fieldtrip for Lael and two baby showers. Hope it's a calm week for all of you at least.

Hikes, messes and other crazy stuff

On Saturday, we went on a Cub Scout hike with Oliver to "Little Yosemite" in Sunol. The hills are always so pretty and green in the Spring in the Bay Area that it was past time we got out hiking. It was a 3.5 mile hike and we were quite the production with Lael and Lulu and Henry in a jogging stroller. As usual, Oliver and Lael couldn't hold their water and had to pee five times each. My favorite quote of the day was from Lael, who said, "I'm grateful for trees, so we can pee."



Oh, Henry. The first thing he still says every morning is "Awba" for Oliver (and Lael). And Erik and I are still "Mama." He also says "Wuwu" for Lulu and he belts "No!" quite often. He also repeats things and jabbers a lot. He loves to tell other babies no and is still figuring out his pecking order in the nursery at church, but he is a pretty friendly guy. His most recent discovery is that he can move chairs around and climb to reach things, which has caused no end of problems. Last week, he got to the water on the front of the fridge and flooded the kitchen a couple times. But his most destructive stunt was to move a chair to our utility drawer and get out a Sharpie, which he used to draw on the wall, door casing, cupboards and Kitchenaid Appliances. I ran out of Magic Eraser trying to clean it up and took a picture of him the next morning, which I've attached.

The sad part is, this happened while Henry was of course being quiet, and I was holed up in the bedroom trying to get the other two to sleep. This is usually Erik's task, but he was on a conference call for work. Erik has been getting up to check his emails, going to work, coming home in time to catch some of the kids' baseball games and then doing a conference call with India at 8 or 9, since it is the beginning of their workday. So it feels like he is working around the clock, with a few breaks. The idea is that the work continues in India after the workday here is done. He says that works great when communication is going well and can be very problematic when it isn't. With a house as small as ours, it's a challenge for Erik to work from home, especially on conference calls. He uses the mute button unless he is speaking. So it's been stressful around here. I just hope it all pays off someday! It is a high-profile job he's doing right now. The director (his manager's boss, who reports to the VP of Adobe) even brought him lunch last week. Of course, that was so Erik could continue working at his desk, but still. I do hope this pace doesn't last forever. He's got a companywide shutdown for Spring Break in a couple weeks. (And two more scheduled: for July, when we're going to Utah, and for October, when we're probably stuck here).

For Spring Break, we're sending Oliver to Tech ID camp, where he is going to learn how to make his own web site and design video games. Erik says it will help him start thinking like a programmer. Oliver is very excited. The summer camps are an outrageous $750, but they offer this Spring beta camp – where they test out tweaks in the planned summer programs – in Santa Clara only for $200, so we thought we'd take advantage of it since for Spring Break 2010 we're off to Las Vegas. This does mean we're stuck here this time, but that's OK. We have lots of home improvement projects to tackle and Erik wants to try to scuba in Monterey one of the days. It's easier to take just Henry and Lael to museums anyway because I can stay in the same areas. The stuff Oliver is interested in is often in a different section and it's hard to keep everyone entertained, so it'll be less stressful for me - and I'm all for less stress! I am really looking forward to the break - just 8 more days of school - because I'm losing it. On Friday, as I was dropping Lael off at school, I realized her whole class was coming out and I remembered it was an early day. You would think I would know this, since it was for an awards assembly - which I make the awards for. Thankfully she wasn't getting an award that day (or I'm sure I would have remembered), but still.

Lael had her last violin lesson Friday, where we turned everything in. She just wouldn't practice and didn't even want to go to the last lesson. It's sad because she was so excited at first. Maybe next year ...

We had the library Book Fair at school and it took me a week to recover. I am finally feeling "normal" - just in time to hold a Pampered Chef party for a friend – let me know if you need anything! – and I'm not doing another party for a loooong time. Last Saturday, I went to a Daughter's of the Utah Pioneers Camp Meeting, where I was the youngest member by about 30 years. The theme was the Ship Brooklyn and they had pulled out all the displays from the 1996 reenactment and sesquicentennial celebration. I am now working on using this for a Fourth Grade assembly for Oliver for next year and I would like to have an Olson family reunion out here with our Pugh cousins who want to come, since we have an ancestor who came over on the Brooklyn and who happens to be buried a couple blocks from my house. Why I'm willing take on these projects, I couldn't tell you. I like to think they are inspired, but sometimes I think it is just some personality flaw. I am also planning to be Boosters President one more year but then I would like a break. Anyway, next year, here we come.

Erik was released from his calling teaching Sunday School to the teenagers (this was ironic, since he was never actually called again after our ward merged and we were all released). But we're waiting to see what calling is coming next for him. His classroom had a broken clock, so he used our ipod as a timer to tell him when time was just about up and during his first Sunday back in adult Sunday School yesterday, a fire alarm sound went off and it took me a moment to realize it was coming from my husband's pants pocket right next to me. I guess he's still adjusting.




I bought the kids some Easter outfits and they wanted to wear them last week, so I attached a couple pictures of that. Lael asked me if I would put curlers in her hair. I guess it had been long enough that she had forgotten what they do and she was very distraught that her hair was so curly but I talked her into leaving it. Lael was also featured in the newspaper last week in a supplemental section put out by the school district about the bilingual program. Of course, they spelled her name Leal, which does pain me greatly as a copy editor, but since we put her into the Spanish program, this happens constantly.

In Olson family news, my sister Angie blessed her baby Alexis Sunday and my sister Sky has decided to go to BYU (yay!) and she has a half-tuition scholarship (congrats!). So say hi to her if you pass her on campus this coming fall. OK, I think that's probably more of an update than you wanted, but there you have it. Hope you all have a great week!

Another crazy week at the Swansons

Monday started out cRAZy with Henry hiding ALL the keys and me walking Lael to school and then walking to pick up both Oliver and Lael (Erik takes Oliver to school in the morning on the way to BART, thankfully). I took pity on poor Lulu, who doesn't get out nearly enough, and brought her along on the walk. Halfway there, while I was picking poop up off a lawn with a bag, she was attached to Henry's bike handle and led him off the curb. He got scraped up and Lael was late for school. So I let Henry play at the park and then came home for his nap and tried to make cookies for the dessert for someone in our ward who just had a baby. I must have added an extra cup of flour because they weren't even edible. At that point, I was ready to call it a day and end the torture and just go to bed. Erik ended up coming home early to find the keys and rescue me so I could get the dinner over.

The rest of the week is somewhat of a blur. Lael finally hit the baseball and made it on base (she's really young to be playing in Minor B and it took her 3 games, but it's so nice to have them both on the same team and she's doing fine). She got the team ball, so she was happy. Oliver got the first team ball on Opening Day the Saturday before. We let him take a one-day training camp taught by professional baseball players a couple weeks ago and he's doing great, so it's definitely paid off. When I told him he needed to work on his throwing arm, he told me, "It's just that I need to fully rotate and follow through on my throw ... something about extension and release ...", so I guess it made an impression! On my birthday on Wednesday, I took two friends up to San Francisco and showed them around Yerba Buena Gardens and took them out to lunch at a neighborhood I hadn't been to but Erik recommended. I took Henry, which worked out great, since both these church friends had babies around 1 year old, but they are in their early 20s (one of them was turning 21 that day too) and they were shocked I am 34. I find it more shocking that Erik is almost 40, but I do find it interesting that I gravitate toward 20-somethings. It's also because there's hardly anyone out here my age to choose from anyway. That night we had a $7.99 Trader Joe's ice cream cake that I had bought that was really good. It was a fun day and reminded me that I would like to spend a lot more time in San Francisco - but it's going to have to wait for summer.

Saturday I did a makeup class for Lael's gymnastics and took Lael and Henry to a Chuck E Cheese party while Erik took Oliver to the batting cages and bought him gum (more on that later). For my birthday I tried a mineral body wrap, which did about 25 percent of what I wanted it to (my stomach still hasn't recovered from having an almost 11-pounder) but I guess I'm going to have to try to work the rest off on my own because I could only afford the one! But I was exhausted the rest of the day and Chuck E Cheese nearly did me in. Oh yes, I remember what else happened Saturday. Our three little monkeys jumped on the bed too much and when Erik sat on the corner, it collapsed, so he had to run to the hardware store and fix it later that evening. The bed was repaired just in time for Lael to throw her gum at Oliver and for him to throw it "just on her shirt" which of course got stuck in her hair so we ended up cutting it out (Erik didn't want to mess with the peanut butter - I don't know why). We have of course found gum all over the house now and it almost goes without saying we won't be having gum again for a long time. Sunday at church I actually started getting pictures up on the ward bulletin board I have taken it upon myself to work on and then we actually rested. We usually go to Erik's parents, but since they are on a cruise, we stayed home, made one of our Dream Dinners meals, cleaned and didn't have anyone over and it was good to have a break. Now onto the next crazy week ...

It's baseball season again!

Opening Day was Saturday and Lael and Oliver had their first games of the season. They are both playing on the Giant's team in Minor B. They have a great coach and hopefully they'll both have lots of fun and improve a lot this season. They are the oldest and the youngest players on their team. Oliver should have a great year - he was able to hit the ball every time he was at bat and got the first game ball. Oliver will definitly move up to Minor A next year. Lael just turned 6, so she's a little young but she's got a great throwing arm and I think she'll do well. Thankfully the park they play at is about 2 miles from our house. There are two games and one practice a week, so it's pretty intense, and hopefully Henry will cooperate and stay off the field cause I volunteered to be our team's Safety Coordinator, and that's going to be a little awkward.

I've also signed them up for the Mission Valley Swim Team. They're going to be Barracudas. We'll try it for this swim season and see how it goes. Practices are every day after school and they should go to three each week and then meets are on Saturday mornings. When school is out, practices are in the morning through July. We'll see how the kids take having to jump in the pool early in the morning. At least they'll get good swimming skills out of it!

And, yes, I've heard all the advice about not overscheduling your kids and I've taken that into consideration. But my kids need to be active, or they become TV junkies. I would be more than happy to just stay home but that just doesn't work for us. And I do tire of the ladies in Relief Society giving their opinions about this issue. Gag me. Really what I'd like to cut out is the homework. We get insane amounts. Anyway, now you know what we'll be up to for the next few months!

Happy Inauguration Day!

We are fresh back from our trip to Washington, D.C., where Obamamania is going on. There were no lack of Obama souvenirs and "I Love Michelle" T-Shirts, though we passed on the shirts. We were in D.C. area over the holidays for our nephew Carl's wedding. It was great and we hope that Carl and Allie enjoyed it - we sure did! It was hit and miss doing things with the family, especially because we drag around three opinionated little people everywhere we go, but we had a lot of fun. The weather for the first couple days was awesome - in the 60s and then it turned bitter cold, with a windstorm to boot. So when the kids became fascinated with the ice in the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial and Lael stuck her foot entirely in the water, we sure heard about it. There were many other misadventures,like missing the family photos at the reception and Lael throwing up in the rental car as we were getting out at the airport (which cost us a $100 cleaning fee by the way), but overall we had a great time. We stayed in Alexandria for the first week, which was awesome. Then we stayed with friends, including the Fennimores. It was great to see them and fun to catch up, even if it was brief. So thanks for letting us stay with you! We saw lots of the national sites and Erik's sister Lynn set up a tour of the Capitol for us. Henry loved the trains at the Arboretum. The kids got to ride a carousel on the Mall on one of the warm evenings. We went to the Spy Museum and saw Ford's Theater and the house where Lincoln died. We about froze to death while watching the changing of the guard at Arlingon Cemetary. We saw the breathtaking view of the Potomac from Mt. Vernon. We visited both Air and Space Museums - Oliver's favorite experience was a simulated flight. Lael got to paint on a real canvas with a real artist at the Torpedo Art Center, which was awesome. One of my favorite events was New Year's Eve at the National Patent Office. We went out to dinner with the Lambs at a funky restaurant in Alexandria and we got to the Patent Office as they were wrapping things up, so the clowns kept shoving balloons at the kids and we ended up with way too many. They even made a leash for Henry's balloon slug and a sword holder that Oliver used around his head (something that would only be a good idea with a balloon sword). Then we went to a magic show that Henry wouldn't sit for and had to walk the 12 blocks back to the hotel since the buses were all full and Lael walked into a post office box and we had to hear about it all the way back. Sorry if we wore you out Melanie! Anyway, it was lots of fun to see the sites but it was even more fun to be with family and friends. Oliver and Lael had fun with the friends we stayed with and can never get enough of their cousin Melanie. So we are headed out to see the Lambs (at least the ones still at home) next month and to go with Melanie to Disneyland for Lael's 6th birthday.

my holiday top 5

The holiday season is upon us and I thought I would post my Top 5 list of holiday things that make me tick and things that tick me off. So here goes:

things that make me tick
1. the feeling of community
2. gifts that are useful
3. well-done holiday parties (that's been awhile!)
4. playing games
5. getting things that I wanted but didn't know about (this happening is very rare indeed)


things that tick me off
1. the greedfest when everyone opens tons of gifts at the same time
2. computers that run out of space while I'm in the middle of designing my christmas cards
3. curmedgeons
4. ungrateful children
5. lawn ornament snow globes

I also hate those blow-up snowman and santas that sit like empty colored sacks on the lawn during the day. These are pure blight, but they still don't top the snow globes. We have a lot of these because people around here shop at Costco and Lowe's, where they are located, and I suppose they are somewhat affordable, but darn they make our neighborhood ghetto. Sometimes less is more. For some reason, we also have lots of icicles. Erik finally had to go out today and buy hooks to drill into the overhang so we could hang our lights. Since we live in a flat-roofed house with no eves and no gutters, hanging lights was pretty darn near impossible. I made an attempt to tape them up but I can't recommend this method, since they all fell down on the ground after one night, where they have been sitting for more than a week. But in my defense, I have been busy - and we've had a cold spell (yes, I know in the 20s isn't that bad for most of you, but I actually had to use my credit card on the windshield this week!). Well, I better get back to designing those Christmas cards which are now going to be New Year's cards. Have a great holiday!

I can see! (and other updates)

These pictures are from Ardenwood Farms, where Henry and I went with Lael on her first fieldtrip last week and had a great time. We all spent two weeks in Utah for Thanksgiving break and had lots of fun with the cousins. I had Lasik surgery there and so far it's been a success! I have 20/15 vision in one eye and 20/20 in the other. Although it still goes in and out sometimes, which is a little disconcerting, and I have the expected dry eye issues, it's still been pretty good. I was able to do Lasik because I used the Hoopes Vision Center and they had the latest lasers, which took less tissue and corrected my vision with an impressive 10 seconds in one eye and 11 in the other (the lasers out here would have been around 45 seconds in each). Also, instead of creating a plateau, with light aberrations around the edges, the new lasers curve with your eye. I think I had better results because of the newer technology, so I am happy I had it done in Utah, even though it was definitely a factory.


We did a lot while we were in Utah, and it was good to have a break! I went to the New Kids on the Block concert with my sisters (yes, again!), we stayed a night in Midway and Erik went scuba diving in the Homestead Crater while Oliver and Lael swam with Grandma Olson (I couldn't swim because of my surgery and Henry was too young). We also stayed two nights in Wolf Creek. We had an awesome Thanksgiving Day at Dan and Clare's. It was definitely an eventful trip. I made a bad call on the way there and we ran out of gas, which put us back an hour because we had to call AAA, but we made it! We watched Clare's family slaughter their turkey, which was interesting. I do want the kids to know where their food comes from, and I guess that was one way to show them. It didn't deter them because that's about the only thing they ate was turkey the next day. That same day we sadly ran over a dog on the way to Wolf Creek. It was running down the middle of our lane and there was nothing we could do, so we were sad and tried to find the owners. But for the most part our trip was very good.

We met Allie, Carl's fiancé and had dinner with them and Caitlyn and Erika at the Mayan. We also got to see other friends we haven't been able to catch up with for awhile. We are back and things are in full-on holiday season (along with the usual craziness of the Boosters, overwhelming amounts of homework, Scouts, the dog ...). So I can't promise I'm going to be great at keeping things up to date but I'll try! We're going to Washington D.C. for Allie and Carl's wedding, so we're excited about that. Hope you are having a great December!

You know you live in the S.F. Bay Area when ...

A couple things have happened recently that have been reminders that we live in a very metropolitan area and made me laugh. First, I just can't seem to stop myself from volunteering. I need to learn to sit on my hands or something. But I was at the library with Henry for their free rhyme time and they announced that they will only be doing their program every other month since they are lacking volunteers. I had talked about having the few people with babies in my ward over to my house or the church and running something similar but this just sounded a lot simpler, so I signed up to volunteer and went to the first training meeting. A mother there said she would be willing to set up a yahoo group for the library volunteers. I said I had had more success with the google group I had set up and I liked using google docs and she said yahoo had something similar. So I asked if she worked at yahoo or something and she said yes. I thought that was very funny. I told her I really didn't care which one if that was the case, but she went ahead and set up the google group.

On Sunday we were at Erik's parents' house for dinner and I was telling them that I just bothered to take a look at Lael's classroom last week and see what the genetic makeup of the class was. I told them Lael was the only white child and there was one black child and the rest were all Hispanic (which is what you'd expect in a Spanish immersion class). And Oliver said, "No, mom. There is one black girl and all the rest of the kids are white." I think it's great that my kids are so integrated that they don't even notice, much less feel intimidated. I've come a long way from Utah, where it was 98 percent white through high school for me, although I doubt it would be quite that ratio now. I guess Oliver was right that Lael is the only one in the "non-Hispanic white" category. I really don't get the point in having to check this "politically correct" box, but it has popped up on many forms lately. Anyway, I think it's great we live in this culturally diverse area and I love that my kids are learning to speak Spanish, with a great accent to boot - although Lael just walks around talking gibberish with a Spanish accent right now. But it has worked out great for us and I know it will serve them well in the future. Now if I could just find the time to learn Spanish ...

I finally lost it

It's taken a lot to get there but apparently I have finally resorted to screaming at random members of the community. This past week after Scouts I took all three kids to Trader Joe's. Shopping with all three children is something I try hard never to do. Lael's chatter alone is enough to blast all thoughts out of my brain but it becomes very difficult when adding Henry, who is currently a menace when he's set free (and I never get more than 5 minutes before I have to walk around holding him or he protests very loudly). And then there's Oliver, who exists just to torture his sister and make her scream, which I admit doesn't take much. Anyway, I survived the store and we were getting in the car. I had the last two grocery bags in my arms and was putting them in the car when an approaching woman said, "Excuse me. You know, that's really not very nice." I looked over and realized my cart had rolled up against her car. I said, "I didn't realize it rolled." And then, as I processed her words and annoying tone of voice, something snapped, and I added, "Lady, you really need to get a life." And then I yelled, "I'm doing tHe BEST I CAN!" Then I got in my car and drove off with my children, who had of course witnessed the whole thing. So in the aftermath of The Incident, I have analyzed how I got to the state where I would yell at random strangers, in an attempt to avoid ever getting there again.

I admit I released my pent-up frustration from several issues onto this woman, but I think what drove me over the edge was her annoying tone of voice and her assumption that I had noticed and didn't care about her precious car. So, really, I think she is one of those people that's a harpie and she deserved it but I still wish I hadn't lost it. There were several contributing factors. The Journey concert we went to was frustrating because it was sold out so the lawn seats were pretty tight. Citizens were righteously indignant that the people in front of them were standing so the only way they could see was to stand. I expect this kind of thing from these events. It's life. What I found really irritating, however, was that when my chair touched the blanket of the party next to me, I was told, "Someone will be sitting there." And when that person finally arrived, he smoked and he kept it low so that it blew right in my face (Note to self: when smoking in crowded, public areas, make sure to put the cigarette higher so that the smoke blows over to annoy other people instead of the person right next to you.) So apparently it was rude to encroach on someone's physical space but forcing someone to eat smoke is OK. Next issue: I have been doing too many unofficial church callings and I need to extricate myself somehow without being condemned. So on Sunday when I said to a sister, "Oh my goodness! I didn't return your phone call." and she said, "No, you didn't." in a very sour tone, I thought, well, there's going to be a lot more where that came from if I continue to do this job, so get used to it or let me out! And then there's the Boosters Club. As my friend Jennette said about her house, it's like having another child, who doesn't love you. I'm working my tail off just to make progress at a snail's pace. I'm not even remotely thinking about giving up but I definitely need to work smarter. I've been doing the work of at least 5 people. I've neglected everything and given up time with my family to get this organization up and running and I will succeed but I am going to take a break. I haven't taken the time to blog or do anything extra because I've been giving it all to the school. Anyway, that's most of how I got to yelling at random people in the parking lot. I just hope no one from the school was there. And now I'm officially taking my break!

Oliver's been baptized!

Oliver's baptism was a big success (thanks to lots of family support!). Thank you to all our family and friends who came out to support Oliver. He had a great day. All my family except Aaron and Joni traveled from Utah to California for the event. Aaron and Joni had a good excuse, since baby Luke joined their family a week ago but we'll have to get the entire family together one day. It was fun to see everyone. I wish we could have spent more time with everyone individually. I was also trying to get the Booster Club started and basically I cut both a little short. I haven't had time to record life these past two weeks because it seems I've barely had time to live it! Thank you especially to Angie and Lynn, who rehabed my backyard in one afternoon and saved me endless amounts of embarrassment. Sarah also helped a lot in cleaning the house. Sorry this has taken so long to post. We had a blackout over the weekend and my computer's power supply bit the dust so a couple days and $185 later, I am finally back in business - and grateful to have a computer!

1st Day of Kindergarten

It was Lael's first day of Kindergarten. She is pictured here with Lulu the dog, our newest member of the Swanson clan (as if we needed more chaos, but she's already part of the fam and she's as good as dogs get). So, the battling to get her to school each day has begun. She picks different issues each day. This girl is just plain difficult. When we got to school, she didn't want to wear her nametag so I took her over to her teacher and said, "Lael doesn't want to wear this but you can make her." It was kind of like throwing down the gauntlet and saying, "Here. This one is your challenge now." She tried on many outfits that morning and finally decided this was the one. It was blazing hot but she insisted on wearing the jacket.


Oliver started third grade and has Mr. Flores, who he seems to really like.



I set up this display outside the kindergarten room for the Booster Club. It was a crazy day and I was up until 2:30 am getting it all done. Of course it didn't help that I decided to make cream puffs for the teachers and was making those at midnight. My friend Monica arranged for me to get Jamba Juice for the teachers and they were a big hit! Thanks Monica!



Lael has the same look of tharn Oliver did when she started school but she seemed to have fun.



This is Henry and me after a very long morning (and a weekend of camping and a very long summer spent entertaining the kids). This is probably the last post I will do for a week or so. My family is coming into town for Oliver's baptism. Plus I have the Booster Club to get going and all that. But I am really, really hoping with the time the kids are in school I can get stuff done. It's been about survival for so long that the house has really suffered and especially the office is a disaster. My sisters Sarah and Angie are coming out early next week and they want to help me finish the ceilings that we never got to (we ripped the popcorn off three years ago when we moved in and haven't done more since). Sarah got back from her mission to New Zealand last night so I'm capitalizing her while she's still in humanitarian mode. I can't tell you what makes me take on way more than is humanly possible, but I do blame it on the genes from my Dad's side of the family. I seem to thrive on the challenge. But I am getting burned out and need to cut back in some areas, like in my church service. Anyway, here's hoping the school year brings a more sane existence to me and the Swanson family (even with the dog)!

Cruisin' along

The summer is cruisin' along with only one week to go and I'm having trouble keeping up - partly because so much of my time is now spent entertaining kids and partly because I have been doing so much for others. I've finally got this one cruise photo posted. Oliver and Lael had a blast on the Disney Cruise. Although there were definitely fun parts for the rest of us and we are glad we went and grateful the rest of Erik's family (with the exception of one niece who was working) came with us, we are definitely ready to take a trip without the kids! We're considering a 10-day Alaska cruise in 2010 with some friends. We'll see ... I will try and get more pictures posted this weekend. Sorry it takes me so long to get to everything! We snuck off to the beach in Santa Cruz with the Englishes Wednesday afternoon and it turned out to be a beautiful day so I was really glad we went. We got there just in time to see the Chinese Acrobats, which was amusing but after watching so much Olympics coverage, I'm a little hard to impress. We're looking forward to Wente next weekend and then summer's over! I'm hoping to get the house under control while the kids are at school. Wish me luck!

The defiant one

Today when we got to the movie theater for the weekly kids summer $1 movie - today was Bee Movie - Lael got out of the car without shoes on. This happens regularly and I am sick of it. If we hadn't had an extra child along (I was helping his mom out), then I would have just sent Oliver in to the movie and I would have sat out in the car with her for the entire movie. As it was, I saw about 15 minutes of the movie because Henry was much more interested in running up and down the aisles and in front of the screen. But I made Lael pay Oliver one point per sock (that's 50 cents), so she wore his socks and he went in with just his shoes and with no socks on. But I'm obviously going to have to make her pay a price soon or this showing up places without shoes on will never end. Honestly, it's this kind of crap that makes me glad to have school coming up so I won't have to spend all day every day with her. It's hard to deal with her without a break.

I've already had to modify so many of my dreams, both because of her choices and because that's how life has worked out. I took these pictures a couple weeks ago on the day I could tell she was going to pull her front tooth out. It made me sad because I really wanted kindergarten pictures before she lost her front teeth. Erik and I have such cute kindergarten pictures and I was hoping the kids would have them too. After our front teeth came in, we both looked a little gangly for awhile. Oliver's kindergarten picture turned out OK, except that someone wetted and combed his hair right before they took the picture so it looks kind of funky. Anyway, so much for that dream.

My current plan for the kids for college is to ship them off to BYU in Provo, UT to be near my family for college. It's really hard to get in now but I think the kids are smart enough. I'm sure I've got quite a few battles to fight with Lael but hopefully she won't choose college as one of them. So far she is quite the defiant child. But darn if she isn't cute!

Heatwave!

I know I've once again neglected my blog, but as always, I have good excuses. We are still recovering from tent camping in an RV camp for the July Fourth weekend. This week brought oral surgery for me, babysitting for ward members who were in need of help, soccer, dance, the beginning of Jr. Giants baseball and scout camp for Oliver, all in the midst of a heatwave. Somehow that sentence doesn't even remotely cover how much stress this week was to get through.

Last night Erik and I went to The Police in concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. I have definitely had my share of second-hand pot smoke for the year between white trash camping and the concert, but the music was good. We have tickets to the Journey concert in September (Heart and Cheap Trick are opening) and I have tickets to go see New Kids On The Block (two sets actually - in San Jose and Salt Lake but I haven't made up my mind which one I'm going to). Calm down - it was the first concert I ever went to with my friend Tamra and I think it will be fun, although I know their new stuff is not that great. We're thinking of coming out in November for two weeks (driving out and flying Erik back and forth to work) so I can go to the Nov. 17 concert and we can spend Thanksgiving with the Olsons. We haven't worked out the details yet and we've been so good for the past three years since Oliver has been in school about not taking the kids out of school that I won't feel bad about doing it. But it does make things hard when they're in bilingual Spanish and we're not fluent.

This weekend we have a Giant's baseball game after the kids' games and Erik has to change the transmission fluid on the car before we drive to LA for the Disney Cruise. Fun, fun!