4 generations

I was named after my Grandmother on my mother's side( well, both sides, she and I share a first name.) Shehas advanced Alzheimer's and now lives with my Aunt on the farm in California and spends her time crocheting doilies all day, hundreds of them because every few hours she forgets she was working on one and starts a new one.

She has no idea who I am, who my mother is. People would call my name at my Aunt's and Grandma would say "Hey! I'm Chris!" and I would say " "I know, you and I have the same name. I was named after you. I'm your granddaughter, Clarissa Anne." and she'd perk up and say "I'm Clarissa! pleased to meet you!"

We had this conversation at least a few times each day. The first time it was so upsetting to me, I had to excuse myself and cry. I am okay with her forgetting who I am, we were never super close and she and my mother were not close, but it is hard to see anyone this way, especially someone you love.

She had a very hard life and thew world was a cold place for her, life was always filled with hardship. I don't know how she dealt with things, I never knew her as a person all that well, she always reminded me of Edith from All in the Family, in fact, as a small child I thought that was our family, as Archie looked like and talked like my grandfather, and my mom and dad looked like Rob Reiner and Suzanne Feed- the -children- whats- her- face.

Grandma taught me how to crochet, I am the only grandchild who remembers and still does it, although my skills are limited. She use to play the piano and we'd sing "say say oh playmate, come out and play with me..." and "I am a Child of God." She canned cherries that I hated and peaches that I loved. She lived in a big farm that produced nothing but dirt and sorrow in Wendell, Idaho and we'd visit her there, but never stay.

Although I know her forgetting things was a blessing, knowing her life, it was hard to see her so helpless. To help her undress and put her to bed like a child was difficult to get through without crying, but to see her face light up every time "That pretty little girl who keeps coming in here," Romy-- walked in the room was nice and felt good. I told Romy something was sick in this Grandma's brain and every time you hug her, she will think it's the first time and she will forget a few minutes later that you hugged her,and Romy was so sweet, she hugged her every time she came past, stopped and made sure she looked Grandma in the eyes and said "I love you." And Grandma would say "I love you, too." The 10-15 minutes later she would do it again.

The happiest place on earth

And one of the most crowded.

I am wiped out.

The kids had a blast, we had a blast. Matt and I tend to do big events blitz style, with little planning and a big surprise of excitement and fun.

It's a great rush, but it leaves you exhusted. Good exhuasted. Sparkly exhausted.

Two days of driving, two days of Mickey Mouse, one day at the beach.....

Anyway--I may write more tomorrow, I may not. Tonight, I'm pooped.

Halfway over

Spring Break ended today for the Olson girls. We played outside a lot today and met Matt for lunch at a new place- a place I decided to have us go to based on a place I read about on Heidi Swapp's Blog-Italian Village. She is living in China right now and while on a recent trip to the states the two places she had to hit in Utah were Hires, which we have been to many times, and Italian Village for the "pizza benders." That sounded interesting and the place was just in Murray, so we decided to give it a try. I had garlic bread, the little kids had kid meals, and Matt and Kate and Em tried the Pizza Benders. It's like a big Calzone without sauce, you dip the pizza bender in a bowl of sauce served on the side. I didn't try any but they all raved and said they were yummy. It's something I can make here at home pretty easily.

The girls had a fun spring break packed with a few easter egg hunts, a trip to NickleCade, a shopping trip, Em's makeover, discovering Pizza benders. Janes family birthday party and lots of playing outside since the weather was nice.

Pictures

Pictures from Jane's Borthday party and Easter. The boys are now in Phoenix, the kids are all sugared up from Easter candy, and we are starting to pack for our trip we are taking on Tuesday.

Spring Break- halfway point

Spring Break is halfway over for the Olson girls, just starting for the other kids. The boys l eave for AZ tomorrow morning. So far it's been a load of fun, we've done a shopping trip, a makeover for Emma,Matt and I went on a real date, and we did an Easter Egg hunt with the ward today that the YM/YW hosted. All the kids won bonus prizes, with Romy winning one of the grand prizes. I learned after we got home it was because her big brothers led her to one of the eggs that held a grand prize ticket. They are rotten kids, but it kind of makes me feel good that they looked out for their sister, in a mobster family Sopranos kind of way.

We still have some more fun things in store for the weekend, but for the rest of today, it's errangs and getting ready for Easter. We're celebrating Jane's birthday tonight, she gets to choose to eat wherever she wants to go and she has chosen McDonald's.lol.

History

Yeah, I abandoned the tidbits, last week just kicked my butt too hard.

Spring Break starts tonight for the girls, we pick them up tonight, but they don't have spring break the same week as the other kids, so we'll be doing a lot of activiteis in the next 2 weeks. One top-secret plan we can't reveal until Sunday to any of the kids, but I am beyond excited.

One of the things MeeMaw gaev me along with the piano was the sign that once hung outside of her father's doctor's office in Texas. Her mother was a teacher- her father, a doctor and that sign now hangs in my kitchen. I love it and Matt even said it was by far the coolest thing we own,lol.

Back from the dead

I have been in bed since Wednesday. I haven't been this sick since the great Flu-nami of 2005. So for the past few days my life has consisted of Kleenex and Nyquil. I have had at least one child home from school every day for the past two weeks. Today is the first day I have been able to even get up and out of bed, and just getting breakfast pretty much kicked my butt. I'm alive, but only barely. Matt is trying to ignore the headache and sinus trouble he is feeling, hoping he is spared this plague.

While I was in my coma, the guys went and picked up Meemaw's antique piano that was her mother's. It is beautiful and I am excited to have it. The history that comes with it and the sentimental value I find in having things from my family in my home fill me with a sense of belonging and pride. It looks perfect in the living room and I will cherish it forever. Thank you, MeeMaw.

we've been sick

Tidbit March 10, Grey missed school Monday, he has a nasty cough. Last week Roe missed 3 days with this cough, but he doesn't have the fever she had. I am coming down with a terrible head cold. I don't know if I'll ever get use to this weather, but I have no desire to move to a warmer climate. Life is good here and this is exactly where we are supposed to be.

March 11, I uploaded the complete BOM onto my ipod, and for whatever reasons, it does not have the chapters in order, I'll have to manually fix that and with this head cold, I'll just have to play "magic scripture" if I want to listen to my scriptures that way. Been thinking a lot about my visit with the Bishop on Sunday and while the storms are always raging, I feel so much more secure in my relationship with God than I ever have in my life. I am starting to discover and find confidence in who I am in ways I know my Father in Heaven sees me. My feet are in a firm place and I know things I only hoped to know before. I have peace. I also have a good Bishop who looks out for and takes care of our family and protects us and our children. When I pray, I feel safe, loved and understood. I am glad to have a Bishop who does not cut corners and who is strong in his faith and understanding.

The weekend report..zzzzzzzz......

This tidbit thing is losing it's draw for me,lol- but I'll keep at it.

Did I do a tidbit for Friday? I'm going to assume I did and if I didn't, oh well. My tidbits are boring crap anyway.

So-- for Saturday March 8: We all woke up a little early and hit McDonald's for breakfast. It's something Matt and I use to do all of the time before we got married and he wanted to take the kids out and do it again. Surprisingly, none of them grumbled when they had to get out of bed before noon on a Saturday, although there was no way Parker was going to smile about it.

March 9 Baby Abbie got her name and blessing, afterwards we went to Shell's parent's house for brunch. The food was good and the company was great, we had a fun time visiting with everyone and seeing cutie baby Abbie. She's so stinkin cute. Unfortunately, we had kids who felt like crap and so plans to go celebrate my mom's birthday that evening had to be ditched. We did stop by my sister's house to drop off the gift- just Matt and I and my Grandma was tired and wanted to come back to our house with us. I was able to spend a few hours with her, just talking, hearing some of the family history ( which I love) and just spending time alone together. We don't get to do that enough.

Another bonus to having a hopeless romantic for a husband

March 7 tidbit--Romy is feeling better and despite my foul mood, a little pick me up arrived in the mail today. I'm not the biggest Police fan, but I am a Sting fan. Favorite Sting song-- a cover of Elton John's Come Down in Time. It's beautiful. It's one of those songs we dim the lights and dance in the kitchen to every time it plays.

In the quiet silent seconds

I turned off the light switch

And I came down to meet you in the half light the moon left

While a cluster of night jars sang some songs out of tune

A mantle of bright light shone down from a room

Come down in time

I still hear her say

So clear in my ear like it was today

Come down in time was the message she gave

Come down in time and

I'll meet you half way

Well I don't know if I should have heard her as yet

But a true love like hers is a hard love to get

And I've walked most all the way and I ain't heard her call

And I'm getting to thinking if she's coming at all

There are women and women and some hold you tight

While some leave you counting the stars in the night

BBBS and BBALL

Tidbit for March 5- Matt and I finished putting together the basket for BigBrothersBigSisters. Matt's on the Board of directors and they are auctioning off baskets in May, we signed up to do a scrapbook themed basket and I called for donations from friends, who sent in supplies as well. We ended up not having enough room in the biggest basket we could find, so we added on some tin baskets and attached them with wire to the sides. In total the retail value of the basket is well over $400 with about 2000 individual items in it. Hopefully it will pull in a good number for the organization.

Tidbit for March 6--Church ball fever has hit, our ward made reigonals. One reason why is because our team is incredible and nobody has beaten our guys yet. We have a good mix of guys, we have some short, super fit, super fast and aggressive guys, we have out tall guys who are great with assists and getting rebounds (like Matt) and we have some all around great athletes. Oh and we have 12-15 guys show up for every game when other wards struggle to get 5 to show up, so none of our guys even have time to get tired. By halftime the other team is feeling it, and because we have so many guys, we are barely breaking a sweat. Last week Matt got a black eye when he slammed into one of our own guys. I love going to his games and watching him play. We have 4 games for regionals in the next 7 days- Go Taylorsville 9th ward!

Item of note

Lawmakers pass step-parent adoption law
By Robert GehrkeThe Salt Lake Tribune


Posted: 3:53 PM- Step-parents could go to court and ask a judge to grant them custody or visitation rights, under a bill passed Thursday by the Legislature and headed to the governor. The measure addresses a Utah Supreme Court decision last year in the case of Jones v. Barlow, in which a lesbian partner was denied visitation rights to her former partner's biological child. But the court suggested it is up to the Legislature to spell out what rights to extend to non-biological parents, like step-parents. The bill passed Thursday allows a non-biological parent or blood relative to go to court and try to convince a judge that they played an important role in the child's upbringing and it would be in the child's best interest to continue the relationship. Conservative groups had fought the bill early on, arguing it would reverse the Jones v. Barlow decision and extend rights to gay and lesbian partners. The bill stalled until their concerns were resolved. A tearful Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, who is a lesbian, argued extending parental rights would be appropriate. "I know many people in my life who are loving parents to children and they are not biologically related. . . . They would love to have a continued relationship in this quasi-parental role they play," she said, her voice shaking. "The
House sponsor said that waits for another day. I am waiting for that day." The measure passed the House by a vote of 57-13 and will go to the governor for action.

Science Fair

Tidbits March 4- The boys went to scouts today, I cannot tell you how nice it is to live across the street from the church. I thought it would suck, because everyone knows when you ditch, but it is so nice to just send the boys across the street and not worry about driving them. We finished up Zane's science project, he did a project about how long certain structures would last if people disappeared and stopped maintaining things. It was a good project, but as always, the "which paper towel is the most absorbent" and "what gum lasts the longest" projects won. Turns out Zane didn't turn the forms in on time anyway. Oh well. I'm in a really grouchy mood today. Beware.

insert clever title here

Tidbits March 3-- Matt and I played Wii to decompress after a stressful realization. He player Guitar Hero and did great on "Slow Ride" but bombed during "Talk Dirty to Me" and we ended up playing Mario Party with Romy instead. The Wii system is hands down one of the best purchases we have made for our family, as everyone gets to play and it's interactive, unlike other game systems. To my kids, playing video games with them, means you understand them and you get them. It brings us into their world without having to listen to Green Day.
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The blanket is coming along fine, just doing it in my spare time. I use to do the bulk of my crocheting in the car while on trips or waiting to pick up kids from school,but we have no trips in the works and my wait time right now I have been working on re-reading the Book of Mormon, so we'll see when it gets finsihed. It's about 1 1/2 square feet right now. I think when I am done I am going to sign up for a cake decorating class and learn how to do that better, I really enjoy cake decorating, just never really learned how to do it and it's one of those things I always looked at and though "I could do that."
My posts lately have been pretty boring, but, in spite of the stroms brewing under the surface from the trials we have, life is pretty good. My marriage is good and strong and I am always- madly in love with my husband, but then, he is easy to be in love with, he has so many amazing qualities and is simply the perfect, ideal man. I just adore him. Even if he can't play "Talk Dirty to Me" on Guitar Hero.

March creative plans

I'm starting a new project, not as extensive as the page a day but the chalenge is to jot down a tidbit from your life that happens every day for a month and do a mini album based on this- sort of a "month in the life" project. We'll see how I do, I am officially back in a slump,lol. I have layouts in my head and in my sketchbook, but I trashed my scrap room so thoroughly during the LOAD challenge, I hate going in there. I am also starting on another crochet project-- I'm doing a blanket in BYU colors, not sure who I am making it for but I felt like I needed to start one, and in BYU colors,lol. I guess the person it goes to will turn up later.

Anyway-- Tidbits:

March 1st- we took the kids to the movies, to see "I am Legend" knowing it was a grown up movie and a scary one we had Grey and Romy prepped and ready for it- Roe does not scare easily- Grey is a chicken. Just as the movie stated to get intense, we had see the infected people, they were sufficiently scary- Will Smith had said to the dog "You can't go running off in the dark, Dummy"---just then-- the power in the theater went out. There were emegency lights so we weren't in the dark, but it was pretty funnt. Parker suddenly HAD to go to the bathroom, since he heard the lights were out there and we looked at him and said "Don't you listen? You can't go running off in the dark, Dummy." Romy was unphased, Grey said to me "Um, I'm kind of starting to get freaked out about this." We waited about 10 minutes, and gave up, got refunds and will return another night.

March 2nd- we went to church today and Parker ( Who was just called to be the Teacher's Quorum president) told the Bichopric who he was choosing as his counselors. I was reallyimpressed and proud because he told me the people he had picked, he didn't feel right about, so he switched it up and prayed again and felt right about THAT. It makes me happy to have kids who pray and who listen when Heavenly Father tells them something they hadn't expected or pushed for. I am proud to have a kid who lets the Lord tell HIM what to do, not the other way around.