Celebrations

We've enjoyed some wonderful celebrations the last 6 weeks.

We drove to Portland for Thanksgiving and to celebrate Gabriella Wood's baptism. I, actually, wasn't part of the "we" and flew up Thanksgiving morning after some late night work. The kids had the whole week off so we took advantage. 2008, among other things, will be the year that the Severson family finally learned to take travel in stride. Sure, a few "are we there yet's" and minor scuffles in cars and airplane this year, but as a whole we move pretty effectively. Big breakthrough.


While in Portland, we visited my grandparents and the kids all took turns riding on Great-Grandpa's tractor. Blake was super thrilled to have even taken the wheel.

"Mary" Megan

We've enjoyed a magical Christmas season. I was fortunate to have a very favorable work schedule and, for the first time ever, was able to make every Holiday gathering as well as Christmas eve and morning. The kids love their new Wii and do a great job of playing it all together but, I think, they also appreciated Christmas for Christ and time spent with family more than ever.


On the 28th, Blake celebrated his 10th birthday. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since Pam and I gathered up our things for a trip to the hospital. Most of a day later, Blake arrived and has been a source of joy since.

Sledding Fun

Pam and I have questioned if this would be the year we take all of the kids skiing. Instead, we took a one day trip up sledding. Pam's sister, Jackie, was a good sport and went up with us. I wasn't exactly sure where to sled but thought we'd strike out up Highway 50. About 15 minutes outside of Placerville, we came upon a gas station with about 200 sledders on the hillside and we joined the revelry.

The only incident (and every sledding trip has at least one) was Blake getting struck by a "human missle" from behind while retrieving his sled. Thankfully, no injuries.

Joshua refused his coat

Angel Meg

All that Glitters is not Gold

The kids had Veteran's Day off of school this week so we took a long anticipated trip up to "Gold country" east of Sacramento in the little town of Coloma.

A bit of history: We learned about a few members of the Mormon Battalion working their way back to Utah who had stopped to help build Sutter's Mill late in 1847. While digging to divert part of the river in order to power the water wheel, James Marshall, the foreman, found a pea sized piece of gold. On January 24th, 1848, two of the Mormons recorded the date and finding in their journals. Word spread quickly, for the times, and soon the "Gold Rush" was on.


We made quick stops in the museum and blacksmith shop before heading down to pan for gold and strike it rich on the banks of the American river. We had, unfortunately, forgotten our pans but were able to dig through the silt bottom for treasure. Abby was convinced we'd be filling our pockets with gold in no time and was quickly disappointed. The adventure was salvaged when Pam and I started helping, though. We found pyrite (not that the kids cared - it glittered) and some gold as well. Our total haul was a bit less than what you'd collect from running your fingernail along the edge of your Bible but that's just details. The point to all involved was that we came for gold and we found some.



Our last bit of fun for the day was spotting a bunch of geese in a field. I suggested to the kids we sneak up on them and give them a scare - which we proceeded to do. The geese weren't too skittish, though. Locals walking by laughed and told Pam (who was uninvolved in the mischief) that they'd been chased before. The geese mostly ran from us until they, reluctantly, took flight. The point - like the rest of the day - was the adventure, not the magnitude of success.

"No pictures, please"

Halloween 2008 started out with Joshua parading with his pre-school class and telling Pam, "No pictures, please." Not sure how he decided that but it's an instant classic.

It was a bit rainy so the crowds were down a bit. We had about 250 come to the door, down from a more typical 350. Good times were had, of course, by all.

Indiana Jones



Snow Queen



Cleopatra

Orinda Family Science Night

Last March I was tapped to organize the Family Science Night here in Orinda. This would be the third iteration that has happened every three years. I was greatly helped by Andy Sorenson and Sheila Yeh who had helped pull it off in prior years. We put together our steering committee and started to line up scientists to come and put on demonstrations for the local community. Beginning in September we intensified our efforts and were able to hold a great event on the 16th of October. We had about 1200 people there and about 30 scientists. Among other things, the kids made ice cream and slime, dissected (cat, heart, and eyes), and star gazed.

Saint George Marathon

We arrived in Saint George on Thursday full of optimism and energy. We left Saint George Saturday damp and sore. There for the big day with me were Pam, Jonathan Tanner, Heather Callister and other more extended family members. The weather was far from ideal for running with a stiff headwind and rain throughout. In the days leading up to the run I was actually encouraged by the weather reports calling for cool weather and 10-15 mph South winds. Since the marathon course runs generally southward, I thought that meant the winds would be pushing us along. It was a sad moment when I learned from a friend that wind conventions tell you FROM which direction the wind is blowing, not to. Needless to say, it was a challenging day for more reasons than just the 26.2 miles to be covered.

I was running my third marathon and Pam had finally relented and was joining me for her first. She had told me that she'd never be able to run that far. My mantra, though, is that it's not any harder to run 26.2 miles than to run, say 5, but just takes longer. She continues to disagree with my line of thinking, but did cover the distance in around four hours. She had to fight through the conditions like everyone did that day but also with a stomach aliment the last 12 miles. Even more important than finishing, though, Pam impressed me with her months of training.

My day started off with a 3 hour 15 minute goal to finish in. I started off well enough, although spent more energy in the first seven miles due to the wind than I would have liked. I spent the next five miles running up the hills at just under a 3:20 finish time pace. At mile 12 I decided to carpe diem and accelerated to get down to my 3:15 goal. The winds were too strong for me that day though and I could feel myself slowing my mile 18. By mile 23, people were passing me in droves and it was all I could do to hold on to the finish line. My hubris in the early and middle miles ended up braking me by the end. I finished in 3:26:36.


My Garmin:
Mile 1: 8:21 (Avg Heart Rate 153)
Mile 2: 8:01 (167)
Mile 3: 7:21 (167)
Mile 4: 7:18 (166)
Mile 5: 7:19 (168)
Mile 6: 7:02 (166)
Mile 7: 7:09 (169)
Mile 8: 8:25 (170)
Mile 9: 8:05 (170)
Mile 10: 7:47 (168)
Mile 11: 7:54 (171)
Mile 12: 7:34 (168)
Mile 13: 7:23 (166)
Mile 14: 7:33 (166)
Mile 15: 7:10 (162)
Mile 16: 7:04 (163)
Mile 17: 7:30 (162)
Mile 18: 7:45 (157)
Mile 19: 8:10 (159)
Mile 20: 7:37 (159)
Mile 21: 7:37 (152)
Mile 22: 7:59 (156)
Mile 23: 8:20 (151)
Mile 24: 8:34 (140)
Mile 25: 9:30 (143)
Mile 26: 10:12 (125)
Mile 0.2: 9:04 pace (143)



Even though it wasn't the day that Pam or I had dreamed of, I'm thankful for the opportunity to have the experience. Our health has been excellent and thanks also to my parents who watched the kids while we had our little fun.

Back to School

Ahh, guilty pleasures. For some it may be chocolate. For me this year, it was having the kids head back to school. We had lots of fun as a family this summer including trips to out family reunion in Oregon and to Calgary. We had fun swimming and just hanging out. But, for the first time this year, the summer seemed a week or two too long.

As you can see from the picture, Megan now has a pair of glasses. She'd been complaining the end of last year that she couldn't see things sometimes. I tested her around the house and found that she couldn't read letters as well as I could so we decided to take her in for an eye checkup. We had a good time and she did the full eye evaluation and Dr. Sorenson, in our ward, thought that she might like the extra help of glasses for a while. For the eye minded around, her prescription was for +075 on the right and +50 on the left which, apparently, is not very much. Since she's starting 2nd grade and working to improve her reading we agreed and she got to pick herself a pair of frames out at Costco.

Abby is joining Meg in 2nd grade - although in different classes again this year. Blake is starting 4th grade. Amazingly, he's back in the same class as his friend Bryan. They've done 1st -4th together now. Josh was very excited to be headed back to St. Mark's for his 3 day a week preschool. He's feeling rather grown up and told Pam the first day back that he was going to skip the project and play until it was time for gathering.

Blake and Josh are playing soccer this year as well, Josh for the first time. We don't have a picture of Blake yet but I think Josh is looking good here.