Mortensen Family

Our New Cousin Amelia

2011-04-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world little Millie!

2009-09-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

I have tried to ignore the elephant in the room for too long. This is now my third attempt to post an update so I hope this draft makes it to the publishing phase. We really enjoyed our summer immensely, but how can I post all of the wonderful things we did without acknowledging the loss of one of the most important people in my life. In all honesty, this has been a summer that I don't like to remember, but also one I never want to forget.
Within the course of a month I watched my Grandma Mare go from cooking us all dinner and working in her yard- to suffering in a hospital bed as a result of a horrible fall- to struggling to be able to communicate from the effects of a stroke- to the very last moments of her life on her death bed. I loved this lady so much, and it is still so difficult for me to think of the past few months without bursting in to tears. It was a difficult struggle for my entire family. It broke my heart to watch my mom lose her own mother. I am amazed at how well she has handled it all. Despite the many tears that we have all shed, I know that we have been given many tender mercies. I am so grateful that all of my cousins were able to attend the funeral. We have been very close over the years and we all felt those bonds as we mourned together. Many had to travel on short notice and from great distances. For my own immediate family, we were so blessed that my brother Jim had already made plans to visit for that exact week. As a plastic surgeon resident, he would not have been able to get the time off on such short notice. It meant more than anything to me to have all of my siblings there. I have missed my older brother and sister so much as they have lived away from home. I was so grateful to have my big sister here for an entire month (and my little sister who is always around). The three of us girls were there to pull each other through this difficult experience. Despite the wonderful memories with my kids, husband and the rest of my family this summer, I will always remember it as the summer I got to spend with my sisters. Sisters are one of the greatest blessings in the world.
I am so grateful for the last moments I had to spend with my Grandma. It was as if she knew and my Father in Heaven knew exactly what memories I would need to carry me through the rest of my life. I hope I will be able to exemplify my Grandma in some little way. She loved her family and was always the life of the party. She taught me to work hard and not to be afraid to get dirty. But she also taught me to enjoy life and to enjoy getting all dressed up. I want my children to know and remember my Grandma through me.
Now that I have finally been able to release some of these thoughts and emotions, I hope I can get back to the regular updates. Next time I'll be able to post about the absurd without feeling guilty for neglecting the meaningful.

We're Back!

2009-06-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

So now that school is over, I feel like I can breathe again. I thought I had stopped procrastinating once I got out of school myself, but this is not true. Anna's school requires 30 hrs. of parental involvement and I left 22 hours until April. I have spent the past few months making preschool videos, cutting papers and mattes, separating Scholastic Booklets, making Kindergarten awards and calligraphying diplomas. (Don't tell the kids but their diplomas were actually signed by me, not their teacher.) When did graduating from Preschool and Kindergarten become such a big ordeal? I hardly remember kindergarten and never went to preschool--look how I turned out! Despite the big production, we did enjoy both Seth's and Anna's end-of-year programs. Seth played the role of the third little pig and Anna sang a darling song about moving on to first grade--put to the tune of "New York, New York."
Ruthie has turned into the embodiment of all personality. She walks around all day with something tucked under her arm and when she casually sets it down she exclaims, "Oh no! Where's the baby?" or "Oh, no! Where's the 'buppy'?" depending on what item she is currently torturing. She is still a total Daddy's girl. She won't even look at me anymore if Rob is home. She has all eyes for her Dad. Occasionally, I find myself turning a little green that Daddy is her favorite and not the Mama. But in truth, it is pretty sweet. I can't argue with her. She has great taste and we both absolutely adore the same guy.

Yes, We're Still Here

2008-11-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

I get a lot of flack for not posting frequently enough. Here is my explanation as to why: I have now killed two motherboards in the past three months. Both incidents occurred as I was attempting to upload videos or pictures to post on the blog. The computer glitched and crashed right in the middle of my uploading. I am married to a computer engineer who has built a real "screaming-machine" of a computer. But he is ready to have me quit blogging all together. I guess even though he does this for a living, it's not as fun when it is his own project that he has to work on in his spare time that doesn't exist. I don't know how the rest of the world deals with not having a working computer and finding someone to fix it. I have just about gone mad after one week and I have an in house expert. Anyway, there is my lame excuse. Now, to update:
Ruthie had her First Birthday back in September. Being the third child, she had a great party, but Mom and Dad failed to take one picture to remember the event. This is the story of my life--you'd think I'd be better about things like that. Luckily, Grandpa came through as he always does. So these pictures are brought to you by Jim. Ruthie really knew she was the center of attention. She loved having all of her family in her home. (We don't get very many visitors WAY up here in Syracuse.) I've always done a multiple-choice activity for the kids' first birthdays to re-cap what they have learned for the year. They are questions like: What was the nickname Ruth received when she was born and who gave her the nickname? What is Ruth's favorite tub toy? What does Ruth do when encountering a new object? etc. I think Anna got the most right--Seth was pretty close too. (By the way, the answers are: Roopie, Seth, the xylophone sticks, and says "hi" like she has encountered a new object to torture.)
Now that I have a third child I am beginning to understand a few things about myself that only another third child could see. For example, Ruthie is extremely possessive. That is because the other two kids are constantly attempting to take things away from her. But, she will hold on for dear life and let them have it with her shrills. I'm a little obsessive about my things. I have to have every piece to a puzzle, every part to a game, every matching pair of Barbie shoes. Yes, this could just be because I am OCD, but I think it might stem from those early childhood years. I love watching Seth and Anna interact with Ruthie. She really is the center of attention. They absolutely adore her. I always felt like "the neglected third child". I realize now how untrue that is. I'm sure, knowing how incredible my older siblings are, I was just as adored. (Until I got a little bit older and then they started ditching me and telling me there were invisible alligators to block my path.)
Update Number Two: We had such a fun Halloween. The kids loved visiting the Pumpkin Patch and pretending to trick-or-treat for the entire month of October. The kids wanted to be Wizard of Oz characters. Anna was a beautiful Glenda and would say her line on que with perfect intonation: "Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?" Seth was a darling scarecrow and Roopie was Dorothy. As I was making costumes, the kids decided their "pets" needed costumes as well. Anna's dog, Lady, became the wicked witch, Richard Parker the tiger was the lion, and Roopie's kitty became Toto. I am rather glad Halloween is over. Next year we're going as ghosts with sheets over our heads.Well, if you don't hear from me ever again in the blogging world, you will understand why: I've driven my husband to madness with a third computer crash during finals and busy season at work.

Anna's Dance Performance

2008-11-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Anna started dance again the first week in September. She has been taking dance from The Virginia Tanner Dance Co.'s satellite location in Ogden. They immediately began choreographing a piece for a performance at the Children's Dance Festival at Weber State. I periodically ask myself why I drive to Ogden once a week for a dance class. This performance reminded me why. I was so impressed with how much these girls--especially Anna--learned in a month. It was so magical to watch her. I was amazed at how well she remembered what to do and when. She looked absolutely beautiful. Anna and I got to spend the whole day in Ogden. She had two performances in the morning and one in the evening. During our break we went shopping and went out to a "fancy restaurant", meaning Chili's. We had a magnificant time together.
(Anna is in blue with bouncy, curly hair.)

Starting School

2008-09-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

We spent the last part of the summer getting Anna used to the idea of going to Kindergarten. We went clothes shopping, made a few bows and bracelets, and would drive by the new school to check the progress about once a week. Anna got especially excited when they put in the playground. Then we got a phone call that Anna's name had come up in the lottery for the charter school down the street. All of a sudden we were having to rethink a decision that we thought was already made. Oh, by the way, and they needed to know in two days since school was starting the next week--plus it was the two days that Rob was at school until the late evenings. After two stressful days of running to both schools, talking to everyone I knew about Davis School District, principals, and charter schools--in particular Syracuse Arts Academy, we decided to put Anna in the Charter School. This meant we had to find uniforms and readjust her to the idea of another school and of starting in four days. Anna was great! Her biggest concern was that she wouldn't be able to watch Playhouse Disney and what was Lady going to do while she was gone! Anna looked so darling in her knee high socks and khaki and navy uniform. Anna's first day of school was also her last day of swimming lessons, so we did the mad dash from one commitment to the next. Welcome to the life of Soccer Mom! She really enjoys her teacher, Ms. Beier. Her favorite part is recess and she likes sitting at the red table. She also loves riding to school with Dad every morning (she likes the smell of his car, which still smells like Grandpa Tidwell--it was his Honda).
Seth was ecstatic to start Preschool. After two weeks of asking where Anna was and when she was going to be home, he was so ready to start his own school. His "Lightning McQueen" backpack is bigger than he is, and he seems a foot too short to be a preschooler, but he sure looked cute walking to Miss Diana's. He created a master plan of having Anna come and pick him up after school on her Princesses Scooter and then he could ride his Spiderman Scooter back home with her. (Mom and Ruthie were in tote on this adventure.) Now I'm down to one twice a week for three hours! What a beautiful thing!

Ruthie: From Infant to Toddler

2008-08-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how much your perception of your kids can change in a week's time. Almost overnight, Ruthie grew out of her infant stage. Last Saturday morning I discovered a third tooth. Later that day, Rob said to me, "You didn't tell me about her new trick!" I walked in to find Ruthie standing in her crib. I hadn't known she could pull herself up to standing yet!
She is interacting so much more with the two big kids. She absolutely adores them. What is funny is she seems to be the instigator. She tends to egg them on to get them to play with her.
Ruthie is also communicating so much more. She says small words like "Mama" and "Ba" (bottle) and "Dada". She'll raise her arms up when she's done eating. She has also started throwing temper tantrums. Despite her few fits, she is still about the most pleasant and happy kid I know. Granted, she is very much a Mama's girl and really does not like strangers. I've gotten to where I get really irritated if people try to interact with her while we're at resaurants, stores, etc. She'll immediately break down and begin to cry. It's always with the sweet little old ladies too! When she is at home, however, and around her family, she is one happy soul --with the craziest hair you've ever seen!

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

We were so happy to be able to spend the 4th of July with the Mortensen Clan. Rob's sisters and Grandmother came in to town and we all had a big sleepover at Rob's parents' new house. We went to the Dinosaur Museum in Lehi, saw Wall-E (not worth the time or money, but the kids enjoyed it), spent hours on the slip n slide and riding scooters, watched John Adams in the theater room, enjoyed our own fireworks display brought to you by Rob, and had family pictures taken. These were some of our favorites of the kids:

Which one is which?

2008-06-22T15:44:00.001-07:00

We were just noticing today how much our girls look alike. I thought I would post these to see if anyone else can tell them apart.

Summer Beginnings

2008-06-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

Our summer began shortly after all of our daily activities ended. In other words, summer to us means lazy days. Anna had been in a dance class at Virginia Tanner. It was so perfect for her! Creative dance was definitely the way to go. Anna learned a lot and really enjoyed her teacher. The five-year-olds do not have a recital, but we were able to go and watch her in her last day of class. The rest of the year they do not allow parents to observe. It was so much fun to see her in action. They have a pianist that accompanies the girls as they dance. Anna did a solo dance for us that was so beautiful.

Anna also graduated from her preschool. They did a fun program and told the story of "Where the Wild Things Are." The kids had all made monster sock puppets to act out the part of the wild things. Anna is so excited to start kindergarten. We have been monitoring the progress on the new elementary school. We will see if she actually starts with the regular school year. We may be enjoying a little longer summer this year.
So as not to be too bored, we got right in to swimming lessons. Seth and Anna did so well this year. We were a little worried about Seth--last year he spent most of his time clinging to Mom and screaming, "I want to get out!" However, Seth really loved his lessons. He loved doing icecream scoops and superman. His teacher worked so well with him! Anna has turned into a little water bug. She spent all of her down time on the stairs dunking her head as many times as she could. That was unheard of last year!Ruthie has figured out she can roll just about anywhere. She can get across a room pretty quickly now. However, watching her roll looks almost painful. She pins one arm under her body and swings the other arm around in a wide arch to get her momentum going. The kids have taught her to verbalize with them, not in a quiet manner either. It is not uncommon to have a loud chorus of "AHHHHHHHH" echoing throughout the house.

I have discovered something about myself: I tend to move from one obsession to the next. It is rather sad, but there is a definite pattern in my life. For example, the past few months I've moved from quilting to High School Musical to obsessing over the closet, and now I am in love with a vampire. For years Rob and I have put off reading the Twilight series. I must say, when Jim and Jennie first introduced the books to us three years ago we mocked them ruthlessly. Jim, of all people, was reading a vampire romance novel! I take it all back. They are completely addicting and extremely entertaining. I now find myself counting down the days until the final book comes out (August 2nd for those who don't know.) I also find myself watching all of the news about the the upcoming movie in December. Lest anyone should think I have no life other than the twisting saga of Bella and Edward, I have recently come to grips with my love/obsession for ribbon. I have found I can blow more money on spools of ribbon than just about anything else. And if I happen to hit a 50% off sale, I tend to get a little crazy in the head. In the past, I've used the excuse of not being able to store all of my spools, but as of last night I have solved that problem, so Robert's and Hobby Lobby, watch out!

Organization is the Key!

2008-05-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

During the month of April we decided we had had enough with our closet. Rob and I being the obsessive-compulsive personalities that we are, we decided to design the mecca of organization. In all honesty, Rob just wanted some cubies. But we couldn't just stop there! If we were going to do it, we were going to do it right! Rob came home from work one day and Tawanda had struck. I took a crow-bar to the existing clothes rack/shelf and ripped it all out. We actually enjoy doing this sort of project together. We both cut the wood and install it all, (meaning I hold the boards and hand Rob the tools). Then I take over with all of the caulking and painting. The kids were so excited to help. They strapped on their tool belts and were ready to get to work. We had another idea for them: they watched Dumbo three times, Toy Story, and several other cartoons all in one day. Roopie found contentment in the exersaucer or on the floor playing. Eventually she would just fall asleep. What great parents we are! We are now almost finished with the dream closet. Rob is in heaven with his eighteen cubies and a shoe bench. I absolutely love my twenty-six slots for shoes and will thoroughly love having drawers in my closet if we ever finish them. I got burned out after 40+ hours of painting and I haven't wanted to look at another project since. I'm sure it will only be temporary and I will be nagging on Rob about our next home improvement. Will it be the basement or my dream craft room next?

I Have to Play the Leprechauns Too?

2008-03-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

March 17th Anna woke up early. I could hear her wandering around the house, but I simply rolled over until she aroused me with her usual, "Mom, I'm so hungry will you get me my breakfast yet?" Instead, Anna came in and said, "Mom, there is something strange going on here. The leprechauns have not turned anything in our house green!" I guess the previous year when we were living at Grandma Tidwell's "the leprechauns" had turned her milk green. So as not to destroy the imagination and dreams of a five-year-old, I quickly rolled my eyes and responded with some hoopla story about how they hadn't made it to our house yet. Then I sent the St. Patty's Day General off to preschool and wracked my brain over what I could turn green. I had overheard Anna tell her dad the night before she was worried the leprechauns would turn her dog Lady green. (For those of you who don't know: Lady is a stuffed dog that Anna bought at the dollar store when she was three. This dog is treated better than a real dog. She is truly a member of the family.) So as you can see from the picture, "the leprechauns" cleverly turned Lady's house green and gave her a lovely green bow. "The leprechauns" also attempted to dye the milk, but this leprechaun's dye was the gel kind and it took fifteen minutes to turn that milk a pale celery color. Anna was ecstatic to find that "the leprechauns had come!" Once I asked her to drink her milk she said, "Mom, it's green milk! That's so gross! I can't drink that!" At least Seth drank his milk so my efforts were not in complete vain. (If you look closely you can detect a green milk mustache on Seth's face!) We spent the rest of the day making leprechaun puppets and looking for little green men. I'm not Irish! I don't know how the rest of y'all celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but I guess from now on we're playing it like Old St. Nick!

Ruthie is still content rolling back and forth on the floor and playing with her "piggies." She could care less about rolling over or sitting up or moving period. Why would she need to when everyone comes to her! She really is darling and keeps the kids entertained with her giggles and squeals. She most particularly hates her rice cereal right now. She thinks waking up in the middle of the night with Mom is still great--why eat anything that will stick to her ribs! How did I end up with three poor eaters! Rob and I are NOT picky eaters--what's the deal with our kids! I even sampled the rice cereal with pears. It really isn't that bad! Come on Ruthie!

February Activities

2008-02-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

We have all found a "latent passion" for new things this month. (It has not included salsa dancing, however.)
Ruthie has discovered her toes and her voice. She spends much of the day rolling around and playing with her piggies. She also babbles and blows raspberries and drools like there is no tomorrow. When she greets someone, she beams up at you and then has to touch your face. It is just a Ruthie thing, a little bizarre.
Seth has discovered a new love. Puzzles are always number one, but Play-Doh is the new fad. Seth played with Play-Doh for five hours straight one day this week. He didn't stop for a snack, a show, a puzzle, or even a potty break--which doesn't really matter since he is clueless on this concept anyway. He only stopped to show you his new creation and then he was right back and the counter making something new. (Anna enjoyed it as well--notice her pink flamingo--but got bored after the first hour.)
Anna and I have shared the same passion this month: High School Musical and High School Musical 2. Yes, we are late comers to the fan-mania, but we have spent all month singing the songs at the top of our lungs and learning all of the dance moves. I'm so glad I have a five-year-old to share my hidden desire with of being the next American Idol/Dancing with the Stars hit singer/dancer. With Anna, I can just let it all go and she thinks I'm wonderful. The second Rob walks in the door, I mute up. (By the way, Hannah Montana is also a huge favorite around here.)
Rob has been into economics and politics. (How exciting!) Actually, we both completely ignored the kids on Super Tuesday and watched the polls come in. We also watched the State of the Union. When Seth came in and saw George W. on the TV he exclaimed, "That's my cowboy!" I guess they share a common background, both being Texans. I won't bore you with the economics details. However, Rob did get accepted to BYU's EMBA program and will be starting this summer. I guess we'll be having more economics discussions around here for the next two years. (Yeah, me.)

Snowed In

2008-02-03T19:41:00.001-08:00

I finally decided to get into the whole blogspot thing. I've been waiting for Rob to update our site, but after a very boring, very cold month, I figured I should find something productive to do with my time.

We returned from our marvelous trip in Mexico over the holidays to a very snowy and depressing winter. Vacation is wonderful, but it is always hard to come back to real life. Luckily we had a few things to look forward to. We celebrated Rob's 29th Birthday (next year is a big one), and Seth's 3rd Birthday. Rob's birthday wouldn't have been complete without a dark chocolate cake.
Seth's Birthday was quite the riot--a Backyardigans theme. We played musical spots and had a treasure hunt to find puzzle pieces. The puzzle, of course, made it a big hit in Seth's case. Grandma and Grandpa Tidwell were very good sports. As Seth was blowing out his candles, he began getting frustrated. The harder he blew the more spit he let fly. He finally yelled out, "Look out below!" and succeeded not only in blowing out the final candle but leaving a nice puddle on the cake as well. I don't know who started this marvelous tradition, but obviously it was not someone with children under the age of five. Next year we will be making two separate cakes.

Seth at Three Years Old

My only accomplishment for the month was to finish my snowman quilt, a project I started four years ago. It actually has been rather relaxing--a good break from the exercising and strain that my uncle Shane has been putting us all through. Despite the dreary winter, it has been nice to have an excuse to stay in my pajamas, stay home, watch shows with the kids (High School Musical has been the big hit around here) and just do nothing. Spring better come soon, however. I am not one to sit idle for too long.

Sweet Little Ruthie

2007-09-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ruth turned a week old today. How fast time flies. As promised, here are some pictures. Anna is wearing the stethoscope that Grandpa Tidwell bought for her. I've had to limit Dr. Mortensen to giving me one checkup a day.

Ruth is about as sweet as they come. I've only heard her cry a handful of times, and only when she gets really hungry. Most of the time she's content to just lie there taking everything in. We decided on Marie for her middle name.

Emily is recovering very well. We've had so much help from family and from the ward. My mom has been staying with us for a few days. The kids absolutely love having her around.

Seth came in the room when Emily was holding Ruth and asked, "is that baby Rupee?" (his th's aren't very good). Anna helped him out, however, by responding, "it's not Rupee, Sef, it's Rufee."

I've been able to work from home for a few days, but plan on going back to work next week. It's been fun to be home and spend time with the family, but I'm starting to miss my job a little.

Seth has become a puzzle fiend. He started with his two small, 24-piece Elmo puzzles, but after doing them about a hundred times each, we thought we'd better get him some more. His day is not complete if he hasn't put together at least a dozen puzzles. He got bored with doing them the regular way and started doing them upside down. No joke. He still needs a little help with the 100-piecers, but I'm sure he'll be doing them on his own soon.

Anna is loving preschool. Our neighbor around the corner teaches her class Monday and Wednesday from 9 to 12. She rode her scooter there today with Grandma Mortensen. Anna's day isn't complete without coloring at least four or five pictures. She's getting pretty good too. This isn't saying much, but she's better than me. Honestly. Here's a barn she drew the other day. You'll notice the barn complete with doors, hay and a rooster on top, the farmer gardening his carrots, the sun, a bird, a windmill and miscellaneous fields (I had to ask on those).

Summer Fun

2007-08-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

We've had a ball this summer. We planted a tree for both Seth and Anna to liven up our backyard. Daddy did most of the work, but the kids helped water them. Our yard isn't very big, but we have a lot of common grassy areas around for the kids to play in. They mostly spend their time riding scooters and bikes in the large circle in front of the house.

Anna was very brave and learned to do a back float as well as dunk her whole headThe kids also enjoyed their two week long swimming lessons. under the water. Seth wasn't as excited and spent a lot of time clinging to Mom and watching Anna swim, but he sure looked cute in his frog hat.

Cousins Eric and Rachel White came up in July and went to the Barker family reunion in Logan. Grandpa Barker took us all on a tour of his parents house.

Seth's new love is puzzles. He'll do the same Elmo puzzle fifty times in a day and still ask you for help with it just to have you be with him. We keep having to buy harder and harder puzzles just to keep him challenged.

One of Anna's favorite activities is coloring. She colored a picture for me yesterday of me baptizing her. Talk about breaking a parents heart! She then asked me to spell out "When I get baptized I receive the Holy Ghost." She wrote it down as I said the letters. Is there anything better than being a parent?

Little Ruth is set to come in a month. Emily is quite ready. Despite being so uncomfortable, she spent the whole day with me yesterday arranging, cleaning, and organizing the basement. We've got both our (auxiliary) desks set up in one room along with a desk for Anna, a play room for the kids, a storage room, and the eventual family room we're going to start finishing ourselves. It's so great to have a basement again! That's one thing I really missed in Texas.

Anna meets her preschool teacher this week. She is so excited to be a big girl and join the ranks of the big kids in school. I've been called to be Elder's Quorum secretary, and enjoyed teaching the Elder's Quorum lesson today. Work is going great; I'm loving it more than I could ever imagine. I spent last week in Austin for National Instrument's big conference NI Week. It was great to see all my old NI friends. When the humidity hit me as I stepped off the plane I knew I was home. I know it's strange but I sure miss it.

Hopefully next post we'll have some pictures of our little Ruthie to share.

Inspiration

2007-05-22T22:46:00.001-07:00

Todd Sierer inspired me today. We met somewhat unexpectedly at the LabVIEW Developer Day at the Hilton in Salt Lake. He told me to check out Katie's blog and I told him I wanted to get our family website up again. He asked me why I didn't just create a blog. When I started thinking about what I'd write, it kept flowing, so I decided to try it. Thanks Todd!

Emily has her monthly book club tonight, so after getting the kids down I finished watching the Jazz lose in solitude. We (meaning the Jazz, because I'm on the team) actually played pretty well but San Antonio is simply too good a team for us. My only hope is that we'll fare better at home and gain some momentum going back to Texas.

I then started playing around with iFolder. It's a really useful application that synchronizes folders on different computers. It's developed by Novell and is open source. They have some great directions on getting it working on Windows. I had to build and run the server for the clients to work, however, so it's pretty involved but is still pretty slick.

We're still getting settled into our new home. We love it out here in Syracuse! My parents and Rebecca and her kids came up to check out our progress.

We didn't realize when we moved in that we already had a tenant. This robin's nest is right on our front porch. We saw the three little baby birds stretching their little necks out for food for the first time on Sunday.