Surgery Smarts

This past Tuesday I went in for same day surgery to have my gall bladder removed. This was my first experience with a real surgery where they actually put you under and cut you open. This being my first time, I learned a few things. Of course, I hope to not be able to use my new found knowledge anytime soon or EVER AGAIN! For any future surgery goers, here are a few tips...

1. Bring someone with you! Even though it's same day surgery, you may find yourself waiting for two hours before they even begin to think about getting you ready for surgery. If you don't bring someone to keep you company, you'll be left all alone to ponder on all the things that could possibly go wrong and your only comfort may be cheesy Full House episodes.

2. If you get a male nurse who appears to be a cross between Hagrid and Santa, it's going to be ok. He is actually really nice and and expert at his job. He will even bring you an extra box of kleenex if you cry on his shoulder because you are just a wee bit scared.

3. Make sure only persons you are extremely close to are there when you wake up. You never know what you might do or say.

4. Only eat things you don't particularly love the first day or two after your surgery. For example, you wouldn't want to drink a Jamba Juice the same day of your surgery, because that just might come back up all night long and you'll never want to drink it again (anyone want my Jamba card?)

5. Never, I repeat, NEVER weigh yourself just after you've had surgery. After fasting for over 24 hours and throwing up for the next 12, it's easy to conclude that it might be a good time to get on the scale. So, despite the fact that I never wanted to move again, I hobbled to the scale just knowing that I would see some insane number that I haven't seen in maybe 10 years. After all my effort, what I saw was and insane number all right, just in the wrong direction. I gained 5 pounds! I'm sure if I wait about a week or two, I will see a happy number again on the scale. Next time, I'll just be patient.

Family Fun In Oregon

Aaahhh Tillamook...If you are in the Portland area, a visit to the Tillamook factory is certainly worth the drive.

We enjoyed THE BEST grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream EVER!

There was also the excitement of watching the workers make cheese. Although I still have a place in my heart for the Beaver Cheese Factory, Tillamook definitely steals the show.
Berry picking was another highlight. Have you ever eaten a blueberry picked straight from the bush? I is heavenly! Mmmmmm.

Life just feels more complete once you have visited THE Goonies house in Austoria. We're talking where the original truffle shuffle was performed. Cool.


My favorite part of our trip was the coast, especially camping at the beach with the family. It was our little nephew Jace's first camping trip!
It was great spending time with family!

Call it What You Will...

Some call it torture, some call it bliss. I call it a perfect mix of both. Lance hiked to the top of Timp with some friends to watch the sun rise over the valley. Photos don't do it justice, but are still pretty amazing.

Ily's Baptism

Ily was baptised on August 1. It was a wonderful, happy day and we had lots of family and friends there to support her (Thanks to everyone!).

Battle Creek

We had a great time this Pioneer Day with our cousins who just moved from Texas. We're so excited to have them living so close, and love hanging out with them. We did some dutch oven and Cajun cooking, then hiked Battle Creek, and finished with fireworks. Olivia was an excellent hiker and Ily was brave enough to light some fireworks!

Eight is Great!

Ily is officially 8! We had a fun family birthday dinner and later surprised her with a new trampoline in the back yard. She was out there for about 5 minutes before she noticed it! We love Ily and are proud of her. She does excellent in school, takes good care of her sister, and is always concerned about the feelings of others. We are so blessed to have Ily in our family!

Father's Day

We had such a fun Father's Day this year! Lance went to a father and sons camp out with our church group and I took Olivia to Salem Pond with our friends. The next day we all went to Cabella's, and the girls ended the fun by planning a surprise treasure hunt for their Dad. The treasure was a basket with 2 ties, a nickel, and a homemade shield that represents him.

Liv and Soph at Salem Pond

Watching the fish eat at Cabella's
Father's Day treasure hunt planned by Ily and Olivia

I'm Not as Well Read as I Thought and I Can't Die Yet

I had fun reading this list on Sox’s blog and thought it would be fun try it for myself. Color denotes completion.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (more times than I wish to count)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michaelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the Rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in movie
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Talked your way out of a ticket

54 completed, not bad, but I can’t die yet. There are still some things I wouldn’t want to miss out on.

100 books

The National Endowment for the Arts has listed their top 100 books. They estimate the average adult has read only six. Thank You Sox for posting this on your blog!

I have read the ones in color – only 31, and I read a lot! Some of the books on this list I will never read because I have already tried to start them a few times and knew they were not for me (Jane Austin Collection –Sorry!, Sherlock Holmes, Moby Dick – I think I “supposedly” read that one in High School for English class, Tess…, Anna, and Rebecca). There are a lot on the list though, that I will be checking in to.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling (all 7!)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

A Happy Face

Olivia did a great job of capturing our dog Sammie putting on her best happy face. Yes, it's her smile! It scared me to death when we first got her, but she is the most cuddly, loyal, fun-loving dog in the world and would not hurt a fly (in fact would probably be scared of a fly).

We're Back!

Yes, the Olsen Family is back in the loop. No, we have not fallen off the face of the earth. I promised myself a long time ago that when I'm 80, I will not be like one of those old people who are scared to turn on a computer. I vowed that I will always keep up with the times. Well, I text and I IM and all that, but I finally realized I can't keep my promise without blogging. I hate scrapbooking and anything like it, but I have to admit that blogging is different. I'm horrible at long distance communication, but I really do miss all you friends and family out there. So, hopefully starting a blog will help open the lines of communication because we're back!