Happy Birthday Helen

Today was Helen's 1st Birthday! As you can tell she was quite excited. We have included for your enjoyment a picture of my 1st birthday and Ryan's first Christmas when he was a year old. I think that Helen looks a lot more like me than I get credit for.

Helen's cake was chosen because she loves bath time. Whenever we say "bath" she hot-tails it for the bathroom as fast as she can saying, "ba, ba, ba," the whole way there. She then proceeds to giggle the entire time she is splashing around. Click on any of the pictures to see more.

Oh, and here is a little video we made of the eating of the cake.

Weekend in Nauvoo

We met up with Ryan's Mom and brother, Nate, in Nauvoo this weekend. We had a great time camping at Nauvoo State Park, right across the street from the Old Nauvoo sites. We anticipated rain (as well we should because since Ryan and I always get wet) but not this time.

Helen had a great time sneaking up on Nate in the hammock.

Ryan and Nate were great chefs!

The sites were great! We especially loved the oxen ride and the song-and-dance show that the Senior Missionaries put on at night. They sure do a great job serving the Lord and teaching us.

We also got to go to the rebuilt Nauvoo temple. Here is a video that explains why there are temples again. We got a couple of great, postcard quality shots - click on the pic to see more.

Syttende Mai (May 17th, in Norwegian)

A happy Syttende Mai to everyone! Don't ask me how to pronounce that - this is only my first year celebrating the Norwegian Constitution/National Day. I've known of the Norwegian heritage of my Gunderson ancestors for some time, but only since my brother, Regan, did some genealogy work on this family line have I learned more about Norway. In the process, I decided to put their National Holiday on the calendar and celebration. And just in case any of our ancestors/relatives are jealous, I can assure you we have other national holidays on the calendar (Sweden, Ireland, England, Wales to name a few), and we'll do our best to commemorate their respective holidays in turn.


On May 17th, in 1814 (194 years ago), the Constitution of Norway was signed, making Norway an independent nation - well, sort of. It seems that prior to 1814, Denmark had ruled Norway for 400 years. Denmark sided with Napoleon as he attempted to conquer the world, and when he was defeated, Denmark was forced to give up Norway to the king of Sweden. In response, the Norwegians wrote and signed a constitution, declaring themselves independent. Sweden wasn't happy with this and attacked Norway that same year. It wouldn't be until 1905 that Norway was 'officially' independent.



So where were my Norwegian ancestors in 1814? Two of my Great(x4)-grandparents, Mari Torgersdatter and her husband, Gunnof Ostensen, were likely children in Norway at that time. Mari was given a small psalm book at her birth that has been handed down in our family. Writing in the cover of her psalm book says she was married in 1829 (in the village of Tinn, Provence of Telemark, Norway - located southwest of Oslo), to Gunnuf Ostensen, also from Norway. Gunnuf and his son Osten eventually sailed to the US, settled in Minnesota, and 5 generations later here I am in Omaha celebrating my 1/16th to 1/8th Norwegian heritage.

We decided to celebrate by making a Norwegian Hazelnut Cake (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Norwegian-Hazelnut-Cake/Detail.aspx?prop31=1). I'm suspicious it's not an authentic recipe, but it sure was delicious. Maybe next year we'll be brave and try something very traditional like Lutefisk - codfish prepared with lye. Then again, there's a good chance we won't, since it's famously unpalatable. Garrison Keillor describes it as "gelatinous fishlike dish that tasted of soap and gave off an odor that would gag a goat". Here's the delicious Norwegian Hazelnut Cake in all it's glory - complete with detailed map of Norway made out of hazelnuts and Norwegian flag marking the home of the Gundersons.

- Ryan

The Incredible Edible Egg

In honor of National Egg Month we did a highly controlled and evaluated experiment. I decided that I wanted to compare some locally grown eggs (brown) with some regular (white) eggs. Someone told me that the locally ones tasted much better and were so much fresher. I admit that I was dubious, as far as I could tell the only differences were the color and the amount of chicken poo on the outside of the shell. As I do not seek after egg eating experiences, Ryan graciously offered his services.

Here we have the first randomly selected egg in the cooking process:

Here is the second:

Our esteemed judge and egg conisseur:

The results are...

No Difference in Taste!

FYI: The first egg was the local one.

Hippo Overalls

Helen recently inherited Ryan's old Hippo overalls. Although Ryan doesn't recall how he felt about these pants, it appears that he liked them. Clearly, 25 years of washes took it's toll on their size, but that doesn't bother Helen one little bit.

This weekend we went to the Lauritzen Gardens for their spring flower show and plant sale. The admission fees were a bit high, or so we thought until we realized it included a visit to the Wonders of the World! Here I am pointing to the famed Taj Mahal way off in the distance - amazing! I might also note that it doesn't smell nearly as bad from this far away. Click on the pictures to see (and be jealous) of the other historic places we saw.

A stitch in time...

Here is my quilt as of yesterday. I got the quilt top from India (it's really supposed to be a sheet- I don't know how anyone could sleep with elephants marching around).

I figure if I were paid $5.00/hour to work this quilt would

already cost around 500$. Luckily for me it takes up a lot of time. That way I won't be tempted to buy more fabric and start any more big projects.

Spring has sprung and other fun

"Ooooh, Mom look what cupboard I found. I think that I will make some cookies." Here Helen and I are in our beauty parlor. Between the mirror, lotion bottles, toothbrushes and hair pretties, Helen almost sits still.

This is our first tulip, we got the mystery tulip packet last fall and I was pleasantly surprised with this red and white mix. I admit that I checked on it all day yesterday because I was so excited. Hopefully none of our neighbors drove past frequently and noticed this borderline-odd behavior.

Trip to Peoria, Illinois

Last week Helen and I drove to Peoria to play with Emily and her family. Helen and Chloe went to beauty school, or rather their mothers did. It didn't take long to learn that we had to embrace the potential of Helen's hair and not fight against it's tendency to stand straight on end. Here are the results from our work, you can click on the pictures to see the whole process.

We also had fun playing trains, cars and making treats. The biggest challenge was not the rough terrain or the high demand for specific track patterns and destinations, but rather a giant baby destroying trains and chewing on innocent passengers.

Helen in Style

Here is Helen in some sweet overalls that Sarah brought her back from Guatemala. I think that she looks fabulous, Ryan worries about Helen's hairdo.
Now that Helen is pulling herself up, it is harder to get things done. This is the quilt that I started working on this winter. I think that it is going to get done before our love seat reupholstering project - things are not looking good for our love seat. Maybe if it was our only seat in the home we would work faster...

Aloha!

This week I felt like partying so we hosted a luau. Helen was very excited.

It is my birthday today, but we celebrated yesterday because Ryan is in the hospital today. Which meant one less day of the wrapped presents haunting me.Here are my presents. Helen's favorite were my new socks. I am really excited about the webcam. That means that grandparents and cousins all over the world can see Helen when we are talking on Skype. The book you see is fabulous. I have already learned all about lentils and lupines. The next chapter is on fava beans. If you have any questions about the previously mentioned legumes, you just let me know. I didn't realize that I was such a pulse fanatic until I paused and counted the types of lentils in my house. There are four: black, yellow, red and green. I am not sure if they come in any more colors.

Helen Claps

Sometimes you learn a new trick and it's so exciting that you fall over. This post is so that Ella-marie has a couple of videos to choose from.

Wild America!

Do we have a treat for you! We looked out our back window on Saturday afternoon and saw something amazing. We thought it would be perfect for "Wild America", so we called them up. Marty Stouffer must have been fishing on the Missouri, because within minutes he was at our house with the camera rolling. Here's a sneak preview of what just might be airing on public television soon . . .

If that wasn't exciting enough, Michelle found a great baby-backpack this week. After much searching, she decided on this one because it was the only one lighter than the baby (2lbs 9oz, and Helen weighs well over 3 lbs) and being a refurbished model, was 1/3 the cost of most others.