Friday, September 4, 2009

Mmm, mmm good!

So I was at the gym this morning running on a treadmill and on the far right T.V. screen I see a commercial for food (somewhere around mid commercial). There were small cuts of meat, displayed one at a time, arranged on plates and surrounded by parsley, etc.

Now, I am currently on a modified form of the South Beach Diet for better blood sugar control, and I thought to myself, "That looks good, and the portion sizes are right, too! I could really go for some of that around lunch time."

Then....a little white cat entered the frame and ate my delicious meal.

Yep, you guessed it, I was salivating over a cat food commercial.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Family Tree

Hello All,
I write this post to my brothers and sisters. Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, I was looking in the office for something interesting to read, and I came across a book entitled "The Knud Nelson Family." I have a brief memory of Katie showing me this book in her kitchen several years ago. How it came to be in my possession, I do not know, but that's beside the point.

This book is an amazing compelation of information about our dad's ancestors that I have never known. I thought you might be amazed, like me, at the information and the testimonies in this book.

Knud Nelson and his wife Karen left Denmark in 1852 after nearly two years of conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They came to America and migrated to Utah. Three of their daughters married the same man. His name was Goudy Hogan.

I want to share a portion of Goudy's diary with you.

"Upon landing in America, we went to Chicago where we stayed a short time and then went to a farming section near Ottawa, Lasalle County, Illinois. Next we moved to Lee County, Iowa. It was here that Elder Goodman Howcus, A Norwegian missionary from Illinois, brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to our family in 1843. He stayed about two weeks and baptized my father and mother and neighbors and organized a branch of the church there. I had frequently gone with my father to Nauvoo to meeting and back the same day on foot to hear the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Patriarch Hyrum Smith and others speak with great power. I was then 14 years old, but I was very anxious to go to the meeting and listen to what the servants of the Lord had to say. On one occastion when I went with my father to Nauvoo to a meeting on April 6th, the same year of the martyrdom, while they held meeting in the grove not far from the Temple, a very large congregation was gathered. A few other boys and I climbed up on some boards behind the stand that was temporary where we could hear every word that was said. I was sitting so close behind the Prophet that I nearly touched his clothes. I had not been long in the Church and was somewhat superstitious and took particular notice of his manner of dress and actions. I remember that he had on a light colored linen coat with a small hole in each elbow of his coat sleeves. I remember thinking that he was not a proud man and that his very noble expression inspired me with confidence and faith that he was a prophet of the Lord. I also remember that while one man was preaching, the Prophet asked the elder to stop speaking for a moment. Joseph the Prophet rose from his seat and said in a loud voice owing to the large congregation that was assembled, that he wished some of those young men on the outside of the congregation that were making disturbances by talking loud to the young ladies would not do so, but wait and go to their homes and speak to them by consent of their parents. The speaker continued his discourse, and after a while the Prophet walked down from the stand through the alley to the further side of hte congregation where the disturbance was. Although the alley was densely crowded with people standing up, the way opened up so that he walked through and back without any hindrance, where it would have been impossible for any other man to do so. Such was the respect the people had for Joseph Smith, and you can see he was not above acting in the capacity of a deacon when it was really necessary. There were no more disturbances in the meeting. During the meeting he said that North and South America would become Mt. Zion and that the constitution would hang on a single untwisted thread and the Latter-Day Saints would save it. I well remember June 27, 1844. I was sixteen years old. Some of the neighbor boys and I were out in the road gathering wild strawberries when the report came that the prophet Joseph Smith had been killed. I left the crowd and went away and wept like a child. My father and I went up to Nauvoo and all the city was in deep mourning."

This man, Goudy Hogan, is our great-great-great grandfather. He married three sisters. The third sister he married was named Ann. She had nine children. Four died in infancy, but five lived, and it would surprise you to see how much we look like them. We have the same jaw-lines and cheekbones. One of her sons was named Alma. Alma married a woman named Rachael, and they had a daughter named Diana. Diana is our great-grandmother and married a man named Alex McGee Christensen, who I think looks a lot like dad. Rachel and Alex had "Dewey" Christensen, our father's father.

So, to make a long story short, our family tree looks like this (all of these couples had several children, so I am just listing our direct ancestors):

Knud Nelson and Karen Nelson are our great-great-great-great grandparents.
Goudy and Ann Hogan are our great-great-great grandparents.
Alma and Rachael Hogan are our great-great grandparents.
Diana and Alex are our great grandparents.
Margaret and "Dewey" are our grandparents.

And Finally....
Joseph and Wendy, our beloved parents.

Because of certain aspects of our family history, I have never really cared to find out much about our ancestors, at least until yesterday. I wish I had found this book before I came home. We could have all learned about some of our ancestors and looked at the pictures together. I just thought you might want to know, as I do, that we are descendants of some amazing people.

Love to you all!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Normal Day

This morning, I was pondering a question. Can my life really be so boring and ordinary that for almost two full months I have not been able to think of anything interesting enough to blog about? The conclusion I came to is that, yes, it is. However, it is a wonderful life, and I'm grateful for it and all the little moments that make it special, even if they're not worthy of a blog entry.

A poem was passed out in RS on Sunday that I really like. I thought one of my two followers might want to read it also, so here goes:

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return." --Mary Jean Iron

May you all have a perfectly wonderful normal day!

Friday, March 20, 2009

CELEBRATION!

Hello one and all,
It has been a very busy week around here, and I don't know quite where to start. Katie and Tom and their kids came back for Evi's adoption, a wonderful occasion. Our mom got here last Thursday (a surprise to the boys) and Katie, Tom and their kids got here on Friday (another surprise for the boys), and we attended Evi's adoption on Saturday morning and then hosted a party here at the house.

In a very special turn of events, the court-set adoption date was the Saturday before spring break for both my boys' school and Katie's kids' school, and so we have been able to spend a whole week together.

On Sunday, we gathered all the kids for a scavenger hunt. The final clue let them know that we would be spending the next two days at Disneyland! It seemed like the week was going to last forever.

In order for me to be able to go, I had to have all my work done before we could leave, and I had 48 separate jobs to do. This is the equivalent of 3 days worth of reports to get done in one day. I worked nearly straight through the night (with the exception of 2.5 hours of sleep), and I hadn't washed my face that night. My eyes took on that "mascara sinks to football player stripes" look. I walked out in the morning, and Beloved #2 looked at me accusingly and said, "Mom, you did NOT get your beauty sleep!" He is so funny! We have all been laughing about that one.

We had a wonderful time in Disneyland, and the week has ended all too soon. I don't even know where the time went. Emma and Levi are each like half of a person without the other, and it hurts terribly every time we have to watch them say goodbye. The goodbye's always hurt, but I was looking forward to this vacation so much for so long, that this goodbye is especially difficult. I suppose that will make the next reunion even sweeter.

This post is too long, and I apologize. I will post pictures eventually (I always say that, huh?!).

Thursday, February 26, 2009

OUCH!

Hello my three followers,

As you all know, I have two children. My eldest, Levi, is not a terribly coordinated child (a gentle depiction, in my opinion). He is at an age (9), however, when boys are suddenly expected to be good at all sports. Needless to say, this is creating a challenge for us. So, in an attempt to help my beloved, I tried to play basketball with him after school today. Seconds after saying, "don't be afraid of the ball", he attempted a bounce pass which landed directly in front of me and then flew up and slammed into my little finger on the left hand. I felt/heard something bad happen (I'm assuming a sprain at this point), and I instantly became nauseous from waves of pain.

The first thing I thought about was my job. I type, on average, about 400,000 key strokes on Wednesdays and Thursdays. So here I am, doing a test run on my blog to see if my finger still works. I guess it's safe to assume I'm going to be alright.

Another highlight of the week occurred yesterday. I went on a field trip with Luke's class to the Wildlife Zoo about 10 minutes from my house. It's actually a really neat little zoo. They have several different types of animals including lions, tigers, panthers, giraffes, and a rhino, and they recently added a small aquarium. This is not your normal zoo, however. You can get much closer to the animals than in other zoos, and it is very dusty as nothing is paved. It's about as non-San Diego Zoo as you can get. I was put in charge of four kindergarten boys, two of which have an apparent hearing deficit and/or ADHD. Luke was among my four (obviously). Luke is a class clown and is not afraid to draw attention to himself and, by extension, his mother. We had just come to the camel enclosure, when beloved #2 suddenly yelled out, "Hey, a camel, c'mon--FART ALREADY!", much to the glee of all the boys with him, who took up the chant of "FART! FART! FART!" Mother of the year material, I know.....

Love you all, and I love my kiddos too! Mothering really is like taking your heart out and letting it walk around on its own.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Devaluation

Nothing clever to say today. We paid 389,000 for our house, which was supposedly a "steal" when we bought it. Today, we got our official property value notice from the county, and our house, for tax year 2010, is worth 217,000!!! What do we do.....?

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Calling woes

Hello everyone, I used to think that everyone really meant no one, but then I noticed that my entries actually have comments posted beneath them! Why has the technology train left me so far behind?? Anyway, that's beside the point. I need your help. As my nearest and dearest, I want you to be honest with me.

Ryan and I team teach the Gospel Doctrine class every other Sunday. You know how there's one calling at church where you say, "As long as I don't get that calling, I can do anything else." Well, Gospel Doctrine teacher was/is "that calling" for me. For the first time in my life, I verbally questioned my bishop to his face and asked him how he had come to that conclusion. It took me 3 weeks to agree to it and 3 more before I could start teaching.

I get very nervous when I teach, and it seems to be getting worse instead of better. The other thing that is difficult is when I ask a question, and it is promptly followed by a dead silence. I can hear crickets chirping under the chairs in the back. This would be okay if it were once in a while, but it happens A LOT.

So, from all of you (unfortunately, that means about 4 people), I would like to know what you like and don't like about Gospel Doctrine. Are there teaching styles you respond to better than others. What makes you want to fall asleep (other than 8 a.m. church, our current block)? I know you all will give me good advice, and I promise to put any and all suggestions to the test.