First Week of School and Family Fun

Cal started kindergarten this week! Look how excited he is.

Our good friend Emily visited from Salt Lake for the week. We got all of the kids together for a little reunion.

Elliot had another check up. He was really happy before he got his three shots :( Poor baby.

I went with some friends to a local farmer's market. We got a lot of delicious food, including some cheese blintzes for Reed.

We finished off the week at the San Jose Giants game. Cal had a lot of fun in the kids area outside of the stadium. They had inflatable slides, and lots of baseballs to throw and hit.

After the game, they had a great fireworks show. Elliot was terrified/intrigued by the whole thing. Every time another firework went off, he would squeeze Reed's thumb tighter and tighter.

Dinner with Anthony & Tevi

One of Reed's best friends from college hails from a hometown only 45 minutes away from us, which is lucky, because it means we get to see him when he visits his parents. We had a wonderful visit with him and his wife Tevi, along with their adorable daughter. It's wonderful to reconnect and stay in touch with this awesome family.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, Aunt Heather treated us all to a Giants' baseball game at ATT park in San Francisco. On our drive up, we made a stop at the National Cemetery, where my great-grandpa, John Linebarger is buried. He served in WWI when America joined the war in 1917.

 Afterward, we got to watch the ball game with Heather. She not only got our tickets, but treated us to ballgame grub, and bought hats for both the boys. We LOVE living close to Heather!

Boston Trip

We had a vacation within a vacation this year! Early Friday morning we hopped on yet another plane, this time bound for Boston. It was a very quick trip, but we squeezed in a lot of meaningful activities. Just after we arrived, we drove out to the LDS temple and did work for Reed's ancestors. It was my first time doing sealings -- what a beautiful ordinance. We caught the last endowment session of the night, too. 

The next morning we hopped in our little rental car and drove out to visit Reed's cousin Jeff and his family. Just as we pulled up in front of their home, I hit the curb and popped our tire. (Ironically, we had just been joking about how aggressively the guy at the rental counter had tried to up-sell us on the insurance.) Reed and I just sat in the car staring at one another in shock as the tire let out a prolonged squeal, like the air leaking out of a balloon.

Thankfully, we had a maintenance number to call, and plenty of fun activities to distract us while the tire was switched out. It started with a lovely brunch of waffles, bacon, and homemade maple syrup with Jeff & Saydi and their awesome kids. It was so fun getting to hear about the goings and comings of the Shumway kids. Next, we set out to hunt for a Christmas tree! Saydi led the caravan to an awesome tree farm up north.

The drive was amazing. Massachusetts really did not get the short end of the stick when it comes to natural beauty. It was cold when we reached the tree farm. I've never had the experience of sawing down my own tree, but Reed took his turn along with the kids, and soon we were hauling our conquest via bobsled over to the tractor-trailor for a ride back down the hill to our car.

We ended our outing with popcorn & hot cocoa in front of the fireplace while Christmas music played. Perfect! It was a brief visit, but a wonderful one. I'm so glad we got the chance to check in with the Boston Shumways. Thanks for a fun (and incredibly merry) day, guys!

Family History Love

Something people might not know about me? I am a family history nut. I got interested in genealogy when we moved here -- a time when I had few friends and needed a serious hobby to keep myself sane. I'm happy to say that the hobby has turned into a pretty fruitful passion that will last the rest of my life. 

One of the things that has always held me back from getting involved in my family's genealogy was the assumption that all the work has already been done. Both my grandmothers are wonderful genealogists and family historians, and they've been working on our lines for years -- what hope do I have of making any difference?

The starting point for me was the realization that Reed's father's line was largely untouched. Richard is convert, so there are only a few people working on specific branches of the tree. I decided to start there, because it felt like a blank canvas. It was also easier to learn how to find sources, because I was working with more recent (20th- and 19th-century) census records. When I called Richard to ask a couple questions, it lit a fire under him. We both started searching, finding, and entering names. On a trip to Utah, we ended up scanning boxes of family records that had been in his possession for a while. He had been working hard on his line since I'd talked to him, and showed me this:

Look at that family tree! We looked at all the names, and decided where there were holes and where each of us would search. It led us both to interesting avenues of searching, including making letters to historical clubs in tiny rural towns in the south (no email).

Richard has even made trips to the sites himself, which is invaluable, since lots of the records we need are not digitized -- they're just in a storage room at the county office (a tiny building on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere). The search has yielded precious fruit. We've found photos, records, letters, graves, and even living relatives with memories of those we're searching for. Richard, Mr. Likeable himself, cold called distant Olsen relatives and was recounted a priceless oral history of August Olsen, the first Olsen of his line to come to America from Sweden. 

And after years of searching into Reed's paternal line, I've looked at mine, and realized that it has mistakes and holes. It was wonderful learning how to do genealogy with Richard's line, and I feel like I have a much higher level of discernment now, which I need, since being what I call a "proof-reading genealogist" is pretty nuanced and tricky. It has been wonderfully rewarding, though, to know that I am contributing to the accuracy and completeness of my own family line. I also appreciate the church's new family history system (familysearch.com) so much. The fact that we are all working on one live document feels so much more efficient that duplicating work privately and without connection. It is completely inspired, and makes me feel like my efforts make a cosmic difference.

I've also tried to make family history real in the here and now for my family. Cal had a cultural celebration at his preschool this year, where they asked each student to bring a dish from his country. I had him bring rosenmunnar (red lips) cookies, a traditional Swedish treat. The teachers loved it -- we are one of the only scandinavian-descent families, so we felt exotic amid all the other nationalities represented. What an awesome activity for all the children.

When we were in Boston, Reed and I took Olsen family names to the temple and did their work. It is so beautiful to feel connected to these people through ordinances. Names that need work from MY family tree are rare, but I have found three that need all the work done. I've mailed them around to my siblings, because I want us all to participate in the work. Family history binds us not only to our ancestors, but to each other, too. And as one of my local heroes, Julie Nef, said in ward conference a few years ago, doing the work for our ancestors frees them to bless our lives here on Earth.

I love that. I love genealogy, and I love how it transforms my heart.

Sunday in Salt Lake

We spent Sunday with Reed's parents and went to church in Salt Lake. Rosemary made a delicious dinner and Richard and I brainstormed over genealogy. The best was seeing Cal bonding with Grandpa. He absolutely loves the time he gets to spend with the Olsens. We were so glad Richard was in town this time around!

Richey Reunion at Bear Lake

The last stop on our summer roadtrip was Bear Lake in Northern Utah for the Richey family reunion. We arrived a day before the group festivities began, so we made the best of the wait by exploring the Minnetonka Cave. 

 There were a million stairs to climb between the rooms. Cal was a trooper on the way up, but a little bit of a chicken on the way back down.

 After the fun morning at the caves, we spent the weekend hanging out at the sweet condo my parents reserved for us (thank you, Mom and Dad!), playing at the lake (which was interrupted by a wild rainstorm -- head for the hills!), a hilarious show at the Pickleville Playhouse, and family meals all together. Cal loved the Pickleville show; here he is on Daddy's lap in the audience:

 One of my favorite parts of the reunion was the skit night. Each nuclear family put on a skit depicting a family story. The Mark Richeys acted out a typical cousin dinner at Grandma Richey's house, complete with a rendition of "God Bless the USA" like Grandma always loved. I also loved Suzie's skit, which reenacted the time Grandma faced off with a group of Hell's Angels while moving her sister-in-law out of her house.

Cal loved the "down time" moments, when he and Carson got to watch Scooby Doo or Marmaduke on the downstairs DVD player. These two are such good little friends.

Thanks for a wonderful reunion, Richey Family! Love you all!

Epic Summer Roadtrip

Epic. The word doesn't begin to describe the trip my family pulled off this summer. Just weeks after Hannah got back from a service trip to the Dominican Republic, and a day after my family returned from Nauvoo, Cal and I hitched a ride with my parents up to our family's place in Waterton, Alberta.I know I've posted about Waterton before, so I'll just hit some of the highlights of the trip.

Cal was anxious to try out his new binoculars from Aunt Meredith & Uncle Scott & Carson, so he took them everywhere we went. He'd say, "Mommy! Need my 'noculars!"

They were actually quite useful, and several other family members used them as the trip progressed. Anytime someone would spot wildlife, someone would say, "Cal, can I use your 'noculars?"

 Uncle Frank came to stay with us for a few nights, and got us set up with boating and kayaking. Here is Markie on the small skiff at Emerald bay. Look at the excited passenger!

 Hannah preferred to kayak. She and mom attempted to brave the open lake to get to Bertha Bay, but the wind was blowing so hard it blew them backward even as they paddled.

 Cal loved the hammock so much, and even told me he needed to sleep outside in his "special bed" one night. I tried to explain why he couldn't, without using the word "bear bait."

 My mom and sister and I climbed Crypt Lake one day while we were there. It's an intense 10.7 miles along steep shale cliffs, and then there's a cool part where you crawl through a tunnel in the mountainside before emerging at the secret lake at the top. I wish these pictures showed the drop off a little better!

 We were pretty worn out around mile 8, or at least I was! When we finally came around the corner of the last bend before the bay, we looked up, and like a rescuing angel, we saw Frank driving out to get us in his boat! Perfect timing! We ran down to the dock where all the hikers who'd taken the Miss Waterton ferry were waiting for their pickup. As my uncle pulled up to dock, a lady said, "Your ride's here? Lucky!" We felt like hiking royalty or something. Home, James!

 Cal actually got Frank to climb up into the treehouse with him. Super cute!

We saw TONS of wildlife while we were there, including bald eagles, deer, foxes, coyotes, buffalo, TEN BEARS, and even a white wolf! Here's a shot of one of the bears:

 We had a picture at Red Rock. Cal was very entertained with climbing all over the rocks and into the creek. He used his binoculars as a microscope to inspect the rocks, too!

 And of course, there were multiple trips to the candy store AND the big scoop.

On the way back to Utah, we stopped in Yellowstone, which I thought was completely fascinating! My favorite part was the "paint pots" -- totally alien-looking!  Cal whined A LOT about the stinky geysers.

We got to see Old Faithful erupt twice. I don't know who named that thing, but it was not "like clockwork." The second wait got particularly long, but we made it right with a trip to the ice cream counter after the spout.

 In between spouts, we all went in to watch what we hoped would be a scientific/educational video about the park. Turns out, it was more of a cheesy thing, with an excited host name Ranger Brandon suggesting activities we could do with our family. It was pretty boring, until the wildlife warning they tagged on the end, where everyone including my 4-year-old was treated to the visual horror of a woman being mauled and trampled by an angry bison. Everyone in the theatre was shouting, "OOOOHHH!!! OoooOOOoooh!" Thanks, Yellowstone!

Then, we were off to the Bar J Wranglers Chuckwagon dinner and show in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was AWESOME. They serve up a big, yummy BBQ dinner and then entertain their audience with fantastic singing and jokes. We loved it! And Cal got to go on a wagon ride while we were waiting for dinner.

We explored the town a little, and even tried on a few things, before heading down to Bear Lake for the Richey family reunion.

And of course, Cal immediately found a candy shop. :)