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.

Radiolab and Mahler

Recently, Reed's been listening to the Radiolab podcasts. He has slowly introduced me to the show, and we both love it.  Reed found out that they were coming to do a live show at our local college, and at the last minute, we finally bit the bullet and bought tickets.

I had my doubts about how a radio show would translate into a satisfying visual experience, but they pulled it off! The first half was about a new theory of dinosaur extinction, and the visual elements did not disappoint. Several huge puppets made their way onto the stage…

...and the set was equipped with huge screens that projected demonstrations of small-scale physics experiments, all of which illustrated the plausibility of the new extinction theory. It was completely fascinating!

It was refreshing to attend a show where the presenters assumed we knew what they were talking about.  The audience was really responsive, and I had this moment where I just sighed contentedly and thought, "These are our people!"

And lest you think, "But what about the right side of the brain?", check out what was waiting for us only two nights later: The Stanford University student symphony, playing Mahler's 2nd.

This was my first concert in the brand new Bing concert hall at Stanford, at it was not a disappointment.  The space was beautifully designed, with perfect acoustics.  We will be making it a goal to return to concerts there as often as we can. We even got to enjoy a cup of cayenne cocoa with our friends afterward at a Venezuelan coffee shop downtown. And again, there was that feeling: "These are our people." 

With everything it has to offer, Silicon Valley is turning out to be a fantastic place for us.

Happy Halloween!

Cal loved trick-or-treating with a little group of his friends this year. We went around to about two blocks' worth of houses, with Cal eating his candy at nearly the rate of receiving it. As you can see from his full mouth, the candy consumption didn't stop once we were back at the house.

Happy Halloween from the Olsens!

Shots. Ouch. :(

Welp, I've done it. I looked the four-year-old vaccine schedule in the eye and conquered it. Well…maybe "conquered" isn't the right word. "Submitted to" and "lived through" might be more appropriate. I have always tried to tell Cal the truth about things like shots, because it's really important to me that he trust me, so when we went to the pediatrician's office and he asked me, "Is she going to give me a shot?" I bit my lip and answered truthfully, "Yes."

I feel strongly about being honest with him, but getting shots was a really hard ordeal for the both of us. I had to hold him so he didn't wiggle, and he cried and cried; the poor thing got 4 shots that day -- two in each arm. If there was any way I could've gotten the shots in his place, I would've. It's hard to see your kids go through that, but I really believe immunizations are crucial.

After he calmed down (which was not a brief period of time), we went to get his hearing and vision checked, which was adorable and hilarious. Here are a few shots from that little experiment. 

After even more time recovering and asking the nurses questions, we finally left the hospital, and headed to Kara's cupcakes for a good-job-getting-shots treat. (Incidentally, Cal got a LOT of treats that day. I started making a lot of promises when the needles came in on that nurse's tray!)

The little guy deserved the treats. His arms were very sore for nearly four days, and I kept accidentally taking him by the shoulder or lifting him up to the counter or into his carseat by his forearms. He'd give this desperate squeal of pain and then start crying. I felt terrible every time! :(

It was definitely a difficult week for the two of us, but we made it through, and I'm proud of us both!

More October

October has been filled to the brim with fun activities. Sorry if this post is a bit of a "captioned photo-dump" for the grandparents, but we had a busy month. I have so many photos on my iPhone that are seemingly random, but altogether, it paints a pretty accurate slice of life right now. Enjoy!

One of the things I loved as a child was writing letters to my cousins. I am so happy that Cal and his cousins Brandon & Carson have inherited that joy. Here's Cal opening a Halloween note from Brandon:

My little guy helping me make pizza for dinner one night. (That apron was the best Easter present ever!)

Cal is constantly singing songs or reciting poems, and he caught me off guard one night when he delivered the whole of "Five Little Pumpkins" by memory. I had to get it on video:

Cal is loving preschool, though I feel like we've missed more days than usual due do illness these past few months. Parents were invited to attend class one morning so that the kids could perform what they've been working on. It was pretty awesome watching him do his "zoo-phonics."

After the kids' presentation, we all walked over to a haunted pumpkin patch that the school set up for the little students. They even had a haunted Golden Gate Bridge:

It was so fun seeing how Cal interacts with his classmates and teachers.

That was not the only pumpkin patch we visited this month. Cal and I hit nearly all of them; he liked different things about each one. This one had a train, so I have a feeling it was the favorite.

It also had a pen where you could pet farm animals.

Cal loved this goat, but anytime it would come close, Cal would jump back and wag his finger at it.

Here is Cal as a toilet paper mummy, after a game at our friends' Halloween party. He went as an astronaut this year, and Reed and I were spaceship maintenance crew and NASA scientist, respectively. I loved his costume because it was very easy to see him in the dark -- just look for the kid in the neon orate jumpsuit!

He had a great time carving pumpkins with Daddy. I know I've said it before, but I'll ay it again: Reed is really such a phenomenal dad. Cal absolutely loves spending time with Reed, because Dad just has a way of making all activities more fun.This year was no different.

These next two photos were taken by Cal:

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, some pumpkin carving silliness:

Apple Orchards and Pumpkin Patches

We've been having a ball with Autumn activities lately. For the grandparents, here are some shots from the month so far. Happy October! :)

Dentist Visit

Cal had his first dentist visit this week! Look how excited he is to be in the fancy chair!

I know we should have taken him to the dentist before now, but for various reasons (including Cal all but welding his mouth shut when we've attempted a dental visit before) his first checkup was this month. 

He's old enough to understand when I tell him that dentist visits don't hurt. We've also been working on trust since he was little -- never lying or hiding things from him, even if I know he won't like the consequences -- so he believed me when I explained all about the dentist this time.

 Cal was so good. I was very proud of how well behaved he was for the dentist. It helped that they had a TV with cartoons playing in front of his chair!

 Here he is getting his x-rays. He was so interested to see the images when they showed up on the computer screen.

I was so please with him, I took him to the toy store and got him a new train track piece for his set. Now he keeps asking when we'll go to the dentist again. At least he's not scared, right? I'm so proud of my big boy.