Watching Curious George
Here is a picture of the kids watching Curious George before dinner.

Note the drop cloths on the family room floor. The beams aren't quite done yet.

Disneyland 2008
When we planned out trip down to Chula Vista, we purchased our airfare with the express intent of allowing ourselves time to visit Disneyland. We had a lot of fun and the kids (of course) had a blast. We hit Astro Blasters first which, I think, was Livy's favorite ride of the day. Olivia and I went on Astro Blasters a few times by ourselves (there were no lines to speak of) while Kristy took Eliana and Berkeley on Space Mountain. Eliana was crying by the end of the Space Mountain ride and Berkeley said he didn't like it. They did like The Matterhorn though. We hit most of the kiddie rides and all of the bread-and-butter rides (Pirates of the Carribean, The Haunted House, etc). We spent about two hours in Toon Town... here is a picture with Mickey Mouse.

Olivia is absolutely fascinated by Mickey Mouse. Upon seeing Mickey Mouse, she exclaimed "It's Mickey Mouses!" and would not take her eyes off of him the entire time.

Here are some random pics taken throughout the day:

And there are a few more here.

Farewell Chula Vista
We spent the day with Kristy's family. We attended Church and participated in the baby blessing for Jacob, Tom and Amber's youngest son. Afterward was dinner, Bertha-style, with all the trimmings, including her delicious home-baked rolls. We laid low, played games, and said goodbyes as each of Kristy's sibling left down and returned to their respective homes. We said our goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa as well. We return to Seattle tomorrow... but not before a trip to Disneyland!

This Is Your Life Nana! A Tribute
Kristy's brother Dan and wife Stacy prepared a wonderful video of Nana that was a composite of scanned photos. Stacy narrated the 30-minute long tribute by reading various excerpts from Nana's lifetime journals. It must have been a tremendous amount of work. Great job Dan and Stacy!

Here are a few stills I took from the video. Mouse over each picture to get a description:

Nana's 100th Birthday Party
In the afternoon today we all assembled at the local LDS Church in the gymnasium (one of the few venues around that can hold the Sorenson clan). We had a buffet-style dinner (ham and cheesy potatoes) and enjoyed each other's company. Here are some pictures of various members of the Sorenson family seated at tables and enjoying the meal.

After the meal, there was a musical program which predominantly consisted of Nana's great grandchildren singing and playing various instruments.

Following that, Dan and Stacy presented a wonderful video that celebrated Nana's life. Some stills of the video are available.

Candid Photos
While everyone was milling about waiting for their respective turns to be photographed, I walked around and snapped some candid photos of a few people:

2008 Berrett Family Portrait
We took advantage of the professional photographer today (hired to document Nana and her posterity) and had a family portrait taken (just like everyone else did):

Look for a hard-copy of the photo to be enclosed in an upcoming holiday card mailing.

Sorenson Sibling Family Portraits
As part of Nana's birthday activities today, everyone dressed up for some pictures that document Nana's prodigious posterity. While the photographer was here, we took advantage of the rare opportunity to snap pictures of all of Kristy's siblings and their families. Here is a picture of Kristy with her 5 brothers and 5 sisters (they are standing ordered by birth with the oldest on the left and youngest on the right).

From left to right: Tamra, Rick, Dan, Tonya, Kristy, Laura, Scott, Kathryn, Tom, Robert, and Karen.

Each of the sibling's family portraits (with the exception of Karen... who deferred iirc) are included below. My kids have 36 cousins on Kristy's side and most of them are present here today. The oldest cousin is 23 (David) and the youngest is Jacob (2 months). I have included the ages of each of the cousins:

Kristy's sister Tamra and her husband Windsor and their family. From left to right: Aaron (age 18), Andrew (age 11), Tamra, Kate (age 10), Windsor, Annie (Tim's wife), Tim (age 21), and Ben (age 13). Not pictured: David (age 23), Shellie (David's wife), Richard (age 20 and currently serving an LDS mission in Boston), and "little Tamra" (who died at age 8 of leukemia but would be 17 this year).

Kristy's brother Rick Jr and his wife Jill and their family. From left to right: Andrea (age 20), Korey (age 15), Ally (age 11), Rick, Jill, Darian (age 13), Jonathan (Sarah's husband), Sarah (age 22), Richard III (or "R3", age 18).

Kristy's brother Dan and his wife Stacy and their family. From left to right: Tyler (age 16), Lauren (age 7), Stacy, Spencer (age 9), Dan, Ashley (age 12).

Kristy's sister Tonya and her husband Jim and their family. From left to right: Ammon (age 7), Hyrum (age 2), Rachel (age 9), Tonya, Ben (age 10), Michael (age 4), Jim, Emma (age 11), Jeremiah (age 12), Rebekah (age 6).

Kristy's sister Laura and her daughter Jenna (age 8). Not pictured: Laura's husband... Spencer the slacker.

Kristy's brother Scott and his wife Angela and their family. From left to right: Isabella (age 4), Angela, Andrew (age 1), Nathan (age 3), and Scott.

Kristy's brother Tom and his wife Amber and their family. From left to right: Brandon (age 3), Tom, Madison (age 6), Amber, Jacob (2 months).

Kristy's sister Kathryn and her daughter Hinckley (age 6 months). Not pictured: Matt (slacker numero dos), Elizabeth (age 6), Emily (age 3).

Kristy's youngest brother Robert and his wife Jessica.

Nana's Posterity
Nana (Kristy's paternal grandmother) turned 100 years old today. Here is a picture of her and three generations of her posterity: 1 son (and 1 daughter-in-law), 11 grandkids (10 of which are married), 39 great grandchildren (of which 1 is deceased and 3 are married). And there are 2 great great grandchildren on the way.

Not pictured: Spencer, Matt, Tamra (deceased), Elizabeth, Emily, David, Shellie, and Richard (currently serving an LDS mission in Boston).

Nana's Grandchildren

Standing (from left to right): Tami, Rick, Dan, Tonya, Kristy, Laura, Scott, Kathryn, Tom, Robert, and Karen. Sitting (from left to right): Richard, Ardella (Nana), and Bertha.

Note: the grandkids are standing in birth order... from oldest to youngest.

Nana's Great Grandchildren
Nana has 38 living great grandchildren; 39 including Tamra (who died at age 8 of leukemia). Three of Nana's greats are married (David, Tim, and Sarah); David's wife (Shellie) is expecting and so is Sarah... these two babies will be the first two of probably 100 or more of Nana's great great grandchildren.

Not pictured: Tamra (deceased), Elizabeth, Emily, David, Shellie, and Richard (currently serving an LDS mission in Boston).

Halloween in Chula Vista
We flew down to the Sorenson ancestral home of Chula Vista last night. (We flew on JetBlue airlines... and loved it! Goodbye Alaska Airlines; we will not miss you!) The primary purpose of our travel is to attend Kristy's grandmother's 100th birthday party tomorrow. Every one of her 10 other siblings will also be here, which is a rare treat. In fact, pretty much everyone is here with the exception of Matt, Spencer, Kathy's two oldest kids (Ebey and Emily) and my oldest nephew David (attending to his pregnant bedridden wife).

Today we spent the morning and early afternoon at La Jolla on the beach, then we returned to Grandma/Grandpa Sorenson's house for some dinner and playtime.

After dinner we went trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Many more pictures that I took today are available here.

Welcome Home Daddy
I'm back at home. I arrived late; Berkeley and Olivia were still awake but Eliana was asleep. I was greeted with the following "Welcome Home Daddy" sketches.

Trunk or Treat
Kristy took the kids to the church for the annual "Trunk or Treat" Halloween party. Here are some additional pictures of the kids dressed up in their costumes. I'm home now, but I got in at around 9pm... so I missed the party.

Halloween Costume Trial Run
Kristy did a trial run on the Halloween costumes tonight and snapped some pictures. There is a church Halloween "Trunk or Treat" party tomorrow night that I'm going to miss:

Back in SLC
I drove back to SLC from Cedaredge today after I finished up of the little painting touch ups (and an early dinner). I left at around 5pm and made it back here at just past 11pm. I listened to six more of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater episodes. Fun stuff. I can't wait for the next road trip (from Sammamish to SLC for Thanksgiving) so I can listen to a few more. I'll be working down in Orem for the next couple of days, then I'll back in Washington again on Tuesday night.

Nathan's Birthday Party
Kristy and the kids attended Nathan's birthday party back in Washington today. Here are some pictures:

Grandma's Cedaredge Ranch Painting Project: Second Coat
I spent the morning sanding down the rough spots on the garage siding. Then I put a second coat of paint on the garage and the coal shed. The color of the garage and the coal shed matches that of Grandma's house. After the second coat dried as much as I could wait, I masked around the shop doors and then sprayed them red. The masking around the rear shop door pulled up some paint when I removed it, so I'll have to touch that up tomorrow (I ran out of light today). I painted the coal shed trim white with a brush to match the house as well (all of Grandma's house trim is white); so the coal shed looks like a mini-version of Grandma's house. It was Mom's idea; and it was a good one. The result is, as Mom describes, "very cute". Here are some pictures:

I wasn't able to hang the rain gutter back on the garage. It is a two-person job. Dad/Mark/Brent/Bryan will have to take care of that at a later date.

Sleepover with the Thurmonds
While I'm in Colorado, Kristy invited the Thurmond kids to our place for a sleepover. They pulled out one of the trundles in the attic:

Grandma's Cedaredge Ranch Painting Project: First Coat
I spent the morning masking off everything and then went over to Ace and renting an airless sprayer. The sprayer isn't quite as nice as the one I have at home... but it got the job done. The siding does not have a smooth finish where it was damaged by the pressure washer. I'll have to sand it down tomorrow in the morning and then try and paint a second coat in the afternoon (the sprayer rental rate is $80/day!). It will be a long day I'm sure.

Eliana at the Harvest Festival
Kristy snapped these pictures of Eliana signing at her preschool's "Harvest Festival" celebration:

Grandma's Cedaredge Ranch Painting Project: Scraping/Caulking
The garage siding was too waterlogged yesterday to work on it. But today I used much of the day to manually scrape down the siding. I also caulked between the siding joints as well as around the doors and the windows (items that have never been done before... but should have been). While I was out working, Mom snapped another picture of the progress I'm making:

Now that I'm just sitting here surfing the net (and managing my recently restarted fantasy basketball leagues), I can feel my leg, arm, and back muscles stiffening up. I'm getting old.

Grandma Kiser After the Stroke
I'm here in Colorado for the week; in part to work on the ranch here, and in part to spend time with my Mom and help her take care of Grandma (my Mom's mom). Grandma had a major stroke back in June; she was 90 at the time (she is now 91). Up until then, she had been an independent, vibrant Grandma... living alone on her 20-acre cattle ranch. Now she is unable to do much of anything without assistance (with the exception of being able to feed herself). She is unable to move her right side and can only feel sharp pains (that she describes as "lighting sparks") when we move her right leg and right arm for her.

She still is a sweet Grandma though. She always says "Thank You" after we help her in and out of a chair, her bed, or the toilet. She enjoys the company she keeps. On both of the days I've been here, she has had at least 5 social visitors each day (but that may be due to the fact that she is leaving for California for the winter next week). Grandma also has professional caregivers that stop by for her physical and speech therapy sessions. She stays quite busy for someone that spends much of the day in one place.

Grandma is optimistic that she'll walk again, but frankly... I don't see it happening. She was given a sling to wear on Monday to keep her right arm tight against her body. The physical therapist did this because the dead weight of her arm has been slowly pulling her arm out of her shoulder socket; her atrophied shoulder muscles are unable to keep it in place. Not a good sign.

Next week my Aunt Anadeane will take Grandma to the SF area for the winter. The climate is much milder there than here. Anadeane's oldest daughter Audrey (Grandma's oldest grandchild) lives with Anadeane. Another two of Anadeane's kids (e.g. my cousins) live in the SF area; so there will be plenty of folks there to wait on Grandma hand and foot and about a dozen great grandkids to keep her on her toes.

Since Grandma is leaving the ranch and may not be coming back (depending on her health). I have been meandering around the ranch as time permits and thinking about all of the time I spent here as a young boy... both by myself, with Grandpa, and with my brothers. This may be one of the last times I spend any length of time here. Frankly, I don't see my parents moving here after Grandma goes the way of the earth. Mom would fit right in here, but Dad is too much of a "city boy" to move to this small town (and I can't say I blame him really). Furthermore, the state of the structures on the ranch are - how should I put this? - not pristine. Maybe ownership of the ranch - if it stays in the family at all - will skip a generation (to, say, Bryan and Jess). Or it may all be a moot point. Health care costs may require Grandma to sell the ranch to pay for her on-going therapy, prescriptions, etc.

In any case, I've been walking around remembering all of the little adventures I've had here... the frog catching, the fishing, the rock jumping, the fantastic (and imaginative) exploring for pirate treasure on this huge private ranch, etc. It wasn't all play. There was also some hard work to do... getting up early with Grandpa to manage the pasture watering, cutting/bailing/loading hay, gardening, etc. All told it was a great place to come and play as a little boy. Great memories. I'll miss it when it's gone.

Grandma's Cedaredge Ranch Painting Project: Pressure Washing
I'm here in Cedaredge for the rest of this week. Since I'm the last grandchild to visit my Grandma since she had her stroke, I've inherited the assigment of painting Grandma's garage and coal shed (all the other grandchildren deferred I guess). Today I rented a pressure washer from the local Ace hardware and blasted the loose paint off of both structures. The wood on the coal shed is in pretty good shape, even the boards down around the base of the structure that are exposed to rain and snow. There are a few areas that need repair, but I don't have the time to that this week. The siding on the garage is not as sturdy as I had presumed. It is made out of some kind of fiber-based material. It doesn't seem like it would make material to withstand the extreme weather around here, but I guess it has been here for 30+ years. I had to be careful with the pressure washer, if I got the wand too close to the siding it would not only take of the paint, but damage the fiber material as well. If it were up to me, I'd have the siding completely replaced with something like vinyl or the hardiplank they use up in the Northwest so much. But, whatever, a new coat of paint will do for now... it's just a garage/shop right?

While I was working my Mom snapped a few pictures of the progress:

It took about 4 hours to accomplish. I started at about 10am and worked until 2pm. Due to a small leak in the connection between the hose and the wand, the front side of my pants were soaked by the time I was done. Climbing up and down the ladder umpteen times and using my arms so much to push against the backwards force created by the water left my entire body completed exhausted. After I returned the pressure washer to Ace, I drove over to Hwy 65 Burgers and grabbed a bite.

At the Ranch in Colorado
I'm here in Colorado now, I arrived late and everyone is already in bed asleep. I spent the day at work in Orem and then had a nice dinner with Brent (and Brielle) at his home in Provo. I left Brent's place about 5 hours ago and traveled (by car) along the route that I've driven several dozen times in my life through Price, Green River, Grand Junction, Delta, and then finally to Cedaredge.

During the drive I listened to the first 4 aired episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater ("The Old Ones are Hard to Kill", "The Return of the Morsebys", "The Bullet", and "Lost Dog"). All were entertaining. I loved listening to them and can't wait until the next opportunity to listen to more (on the drive back to Utah next week).

The mp3 versions of the episodes that I downloaded included the headline news blurbs and commercials from back in the day (January 1974). It is interesting to note that at the time these episodes original aired, the US Congress was holding hearings about whether or not oil companies were artificially inflating gasoline prices... the parallel to current events was uncanny. It was also interesting to listen to the news summaries of the then ongoing investigation into the Watergate scandal. The old commercials were just as entertaining and included spots for the LDS Church ("The Mormons"), Kellogg's Special K (the "ball and chain" series), and Budweiser ("When you say Budweiser, you've said it all!"). Listening to the old programs made the trip fly by.

Sourdough Pancakes with Bryon!
I'm in Utah now; I flew in this afternoon. Bryan picked me up from the airport and I attended Church with him (and Jess, and Rees, and James). Afterward I had dinner with them and they had quite a spread: sourdough pancakes, scrambled eggs, and hash-browned potatoes. We watched a few TV shows (a couple of old episodes of 30 Rock) that they streamed down using their Netflix on-demand service (which is pretty slick btw... can't wait until Netflix is available via the PS3 dashboard).

Dad stopped by on his way back from Colorado to pick me up and take me to stay at their place for tonight. I'll be heading out to Colorado tomorrow for a week and spend some time with my Mom and my Grandma Kiser. Grandma recently had a stroke and is unable to care for herself. I'll help Mom with Grandma while I'm there and I've been tasked to repaint some structures on Grandma's ranch. More later.

The Possessiveness of Chuck E. Cheese's
When my kids refer to the fine pizza establishment run by a rather large rodent (one Mister Chuck E. Cheese), it is always stated with a possessive apostrophe (Chuck E. Cheese's) but without including any possessive noun.

"Dad, can we go to Chuck E. Cheese's", Berkeley will plead.

"Um, no."

Olivia will join in, "Daddy... go Chuck E. Cheese's... pees."

"Maybe another day."

Well, that "another day" came today. I have three rules about Chuck E. Cheese's:

1. Do not go to Chuck E. Cheese's.
2. If you must go, then do not go on a weekend night.
3. Never go without a fresh copy of Coupons #198 and #347... ever!

Tonight (on a weekend night no less) I took my three kids plus one of Berkeley's friends to Chuck E. Cheese's; breaking the first two of my Chuck E. Cheese's rules. But the coupons softened the blow considerably. And how do I know about the coupons? Because I've been to Chuck E. Cheese's enough times to know that the place is a complete scam without them.

But, you know, the kids love going there and they won't love going there forever. It is enjoyable to watch them have so much fun in a nice confined space where I can keep my eye on all of them at one time... even if we are confined in the same space with about three hundred other persons.