Maria and Melissa Skills

I was having an interesting conversation with Maria about her work.  She is the highest paid Budget Analyst at her college now!!!  She also developed an Excel Assessment which she used to determine whether or not job seekers really knew Excel.  They all say they do but with this little test she really knew whether they did or not.  It is so good that it was adapted for the other CSU's to use also!!!!

Maria was always so detailed and dug deep to get the answers and figure everything out.  She worked as Richard's special assistant from the time she was a sophomore but she also worked on many projects for him for years before that.  And yet most all the higher learning she did was after she married and on her own or special classes.  She really is amazing.  She says Melissa is amazing, she understands all that and is so creative with her skills as well.  She says the Business graduates from college now really know the Excel program well but she is always having problems with her older lady assistants who either just don't get it or want to get it.  Computer skills are so important, I hope all the grandchildren realize that.

Ever Learning

Here I have tried to hard so figure out how to get the phone pictures to my blog and today I found there is button in my images in picasa and voila there are all my phone pictures.  What a ditz!!!

Here are some cute ones from Meagan!!

 "Annie"

 Goldfish and cotten candy from the fair.

Eden helps tend her auntie's puppy.

Beans from the garden!

A creation by Keira.


Here are some pictures from the Pulsifer trip to the Stewart Ranch.

Tanner and Marissa get engaged!

The Ranch!!

The cutie Stewarts,,,

Looks like a fun trip.

Picture from Melissa...looking good!!

The Hardys are Here!!

James called early Sunday the 21 and said they were in Yuba City and would be coming straight to church and how to get there.  They had sent some pictures from their trip up the coast earlier.

He had a meeting in San Jose on Saturday and talked about coming late.  I told Camber it was a very dark road and there had been a lot of deer hit and they should wait till morning but they stayed at a little motel on  the way.


Anyway they got there just as the first song was started and we left after Sacrament Meeting and talking to a Jean, Ann, Maryanne and Ron.  I put chicken enchiladas in the oven and the vacation began.

 

Jimmy got in a lot of computer time while he was here.  This is how we saw him most of the time except when gone or playing games.

They rented a boat a couple of days

 

Jacob fixed one of the skateboards and got a few runs in down the street.

Lea liked listening to her music and watching movies in her room part of the time and the hammock is always fun.

It was so fun having them here.  They boated twice, played golf, and played a lot of monopoly, chinese checkers and cards.

Even Lea and Kelsi played golf.

James was getting up early every morning and doing business calls on the hammock.  One day he accidently broke one of the supports.  Without missing a moment on the phone he finds a board and tools in the garage and fixes it still talking on the phone.  How does he do that?

Jacob did some cutting of weeds and Lea collected a lot of the branches in the wagon.

And here is where Jimmy was a good part of the time!

 James had a meeting Thursday night in San Jose so they left in the morning and headed to visit friends in Reno and then on to San Jose.  So glad they could come after nine years!!  The children all wrote in my book about the good food and fun they had had!

The Triplets and then Twins

I forgot to tell the story about Carl Jonsson!!  We could not find his parents but Cathie's genealogist did.

He was four years old when his mother had triplets.  She died a month later and one by one the triplets died, November, December, January. Very sad.  But it is interesting to know we have had twins and triplets in the family, so it is possible.   You can just imagine how hard it must have been for a midwife to deal with that back in 1818.  (We can also see that bald heads are popular in the family.  Chris F says his brother Dave has hair just like this!!)

Carl's father (my g, g, g grandfather Anders Longvist Jonasson) must have been the prolific one.  His wife dies from the triplet birth November 27, 1818.  The following June he marries a second wife (who he must have impregnated soon after his wife died) and the second wife had twins August 27, 1819 (who both died also).   This was often the case in Sweden.  They married after they had children or at least not until they knew they were pregnant.  Carl's parents had another child (who lived) a few years later so Carl was not an only child.  Oh, the stories that can be told from looking at the records.

In fact, I have heard that the marriageable daughter would often have her bed on the extended porch of the house so she could get pregnant and snag a husband.

John Gets a Puppy?

Hard to believe it has been 11 years since John passed away.  This is a picture from his 2nd Birthday but neither my sister Carole (who was there) or I can remember anything about this puppy, who brought it?, did we keep it? (I can't remember having a puppy in the UC house).  But this is a darling picture and a precious moment.  John was such an interesting and sparkly child.  Everything was fun for him.  I think at that age though trucks and such interested him more than animals.