They Grow Up

Both Tammy's youngest sister, and my youngest sister recently made some big, exciting steps in their lives, and since neither of them blog, I thought I'd write a bit about each.

Kimberly graduated from high school after a long couple of years being the only Olsen left at Hugh Sutherland school, besides their aging Vice Principal (Grampa O). This September, it will be the first time that school hasn't had an Olsen attending as a student in 30 years. The end of a dynasty you might say. We attended the award ceremony with the rest of the family, and watched Kimberly take home almost every award except the "I'm not the daughter of the Vice Principal" scholarship. That's an exaggeration, but she did take home a lot of awards. She deserved them though, she's the best high school student that the Olsens have produced, getting high 90's and sometimes 100% in her courses, and playing on almost every team that they put together. Tammy and Emma also attended the grad banquet held on the following night, and I stayed home with Ashley, as neither of us were feeling all that great. In the immortal words of Kimberly herself "Congratutilations! You past!"

My sister Samantha also took a big step in her life, and recently got on a plane. She had never been on one that left the ground with her in it before. It was no small move either, as her and a couple of her friends flew direct from Calgary to Frankfurt Germany. From there they met up with some friends they have who live in Dusseldorf, and from there, toured a good portion of southern Europe. When it was all said and done, they'd visited Germany, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy, and France. It was always her dream to see Paris, but she says she enjoyed Prague in the Czech Republic the most. We were there at the airport when she came home, and it was a good thing we came because she brought back a few bags of souvenirs, and enough chocolate to gag an Oompa Loompa. I'm really impressed with how well travelled she seems now, and how she's grown up a little after seeing a different side of the world. Keep in mind that previous to this trip, she had never even been to Banff before. Actually, she still hasn't been to Banff.

Both of these girls have something in common too. They've both decided to follow in Tammy's footsteps and become Massage Therapists. Kimberly starts at Mount Royal in the fall, and Samantha will start in January. Tammy is really excited for both of them, and so am I, because maybe now I'll get a massage once in a while. We wish them both the best with their college careers, and who knows, if they're lucky, maybe someday they'll continue to follow in Tammy's footsteps and marry handsome young men with golden personalities.

I'm Free!

Our little big girl had her 3rd birthday back on the 19th of last month (I'm playing catch-up again), and has been proudly telling everyone that she's "Free years old now, so I can do everything by myself! And soon I'll be four!" She's still such a good girl, but for a while there, after Ashley was born, she did everything short of issuing a written declaration of independence to demonstrate that she was no longer going to suffer under the tyrannical rule of her Mom and Dad. It was actually pretty comical most of the time, but I'm glad she's starting to grasp the concept that she can get a lot further using her smile and a gentle voice, than she can with clenched fists and war cries.

On the day of her birthday we made a family trip to the Zoo and the weather cooperated beautifully. Tammy and Emma also snuck in a trip to Calaway Park that week with the Masons for Amber's birthday. Emma's actual birthday party wasn't until the 28th at the Panorama Hills splash park, and again the weather cooperated beautifully. It's a great place to get wet, but they also have a pretty decent playground, a nice size sandbox, a beach volleyball court, some basketball nets, and plenty of green space for running or just sitting around. We spent a good bunch of hours there, and then went across the street to the Panorama chapel for pizza, yumcakes, and presents.

We had a great time, and it's always fun for Emma to be with all of her cousins. Thanks to everyone who came, helped out, brought gifts, and made the day an extra special one for our goofy little she-hobbit.

Lazy Sundays

Being released as the Young Men's President in our old ward sure freed up some extra time in my life. I especially noticed the difference on Sundays when I no longer attended PEC, Ward Correlation, or BYC early in the morning before church started. Although I enjoyed that calling a lot, I have to say, I've also enjoyed having that time back, even if it isn't always spent sleeping, due to some early rising midgets we live with.

Those lazy Sundays are behind me again however, as I've received a new calling in the 3rd Ward that will require me to be at Church a lot earlier than our usual 20 minutes after sacrament meeting has started. I've been called to be the Executive Secretary in the newly reorganized Bishopric. The calling was previously held by Wayne Clemmer, who was the assistant Executive Secretary to Kevin Way before he passed away in January. Brother Clemmer has been filling the role of Executive Secretary since then, but will now continue his previous role as assistant.

I'm looking forward to serving with Bishop Takahashi. He seems like a really easy fellow to get along with, and we seem to share a similar sense of humour, which often revolves around making fun of my Dad. The calling actually came to me from my Dad as he is the High Councilman over the 3rd ward, and he was also the one who set me apart. I know very little about the duties associated with this calling at this point. I kind of glazed over about 15 minutes into the list that my Dad laid out for me in our interview, but the one thing I do remember is that I'm supposed to make the Bishop look good. I imagine a steep learning curve ahead, but I'm excited for the challenge and I hope that I can help things run as smoothly as possible.

Ashley Unplugged

It's been a month since Ashley has been off of oxygen, and it's sure made a difference around the house having a cordless baby. Naturally it's made the daily routine go a lot smoother, and it's nice not to be changing tubes and cleaning filters all the time, but the real difference has been in her little disposition. She's always been pretty easy going, but since she's been free of the nasal tubes, she's been nothing but smiles and songs. We used to go through episodes where she would cry and scream herself pale when things would get especially uncomfortable for her, but since she's been unplugged, her ability to handle events like "snot suction time" have improved dramatically. She's still so cute and little, it's hard to believe that she's already 5 months old.

Edit: We blessed Ashley in church the same weekend we had Emma's birthday party, so she wasn't quite 5 months old yet, but she was still old enough to not want to be horizontal through it. We weren't really waiting for her to be off of oxygen before we blessed her, but it turned out that way as that particular Sunday worked best for everyone's busy summer schedules. We sure love that little monkey, and she looked so pretty in her little white dress.

She's been sick with a cough and a cold for ages it seems now. She had come down with something almost a month ago, and then she was over it for about a day and a half before she woke up with all the symptoms back in full bloom again. The poor girl isn't sleeping well, which means no one is sleeping well, but she seems to finally be coming out of the woods with it again. We took her to the doctor to make sure her congestion wasn't affecting her blood oxygen levels, and they reassured us that it probably wasn't, but we're going to take her back again, just to be sure.

I don't like talking about it much, and I'm not going to write much about it, but it looks like she is going to have to have her VSD's repaired in September, which most likely means open-heart surgery. That worries me to no end, even though I know it will be for the best. I just don't like the thought of her going through that kind of thing. Our cardiologist tells us that the recovery from that type of surgery isn't all that bad, and that some kids are out in a week, so we're trying to be as optimistic as possible. It just seems harder this time around because she's so much older now, and we've had so much more time to worry about it. Her first operation was performed within 24 hours of us learning that she would be needing one, and before we could even make it to the hospital in Edmonton, it was over. The surgery itself was such a blur, that outside of a scar under her arm, it almost doesn't seem like a reality. The recovery process has been very real, however. We just hope and pray that everything will continue to go well for her, and that this next surgery will be the final step for her little heart to get better.