What Are Your Kids Hiding?

Invisible Mother

Here's a great story for all you mothers out there....

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously, not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.' I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England .. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me unt il I read her inscription: To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.' In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.' I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that They will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.' As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women. Great Job, MOM!

Hope this encourages you when the going gets tough as it sometimes does. We never know what our finished products will turn out to be because of our perseverance.

LDS Church Receives Support...At Last

“Like our friends in the Mormon faith, the Catholic Church has long championed and promoted the sacredness of traditional marriage and the importance of the family in our society. While acknowledging that this position is not universally held in our society today, our churches are committed to proclaiming the truth and we cherish our ability to participate in the Democratic Process.”

Rev. John C. Wester
Bishop of The Salt Lake Catholic Diocese

Photo Shoots

I have started to do more photography and as soon as school is over, will be doing it fulltime. Here are some of my favorites from recent shoots. Hope you like them! Stay tuned for more pictures and a link to view my new website.

Khloe Turns 1

Today was Khloe's first birthday! My little baby has grown up so fast. I love her so much. We went to her sisters house tonight for a quick party filled with dog food, candles and party hats. We gave them soft food for the first time and they devoured it in seconds! Here are a few pictures from today's party and Khloe's first year.

Are You Serious?

Our country made history last night. We elected the first black president of the United States of America. Well, I shouldn't say "we" because I certainly didn't vote for him. President Barrack Hussein Obama.

Honestly I'm a bit scared. I'm scared of a man who refuses to put his hand over his heart when the flag is raised. I'm scared of a man who thinks our flag stands for oppression and not freedom. And to tell you the truth, I'm terrified of his wife, who says that when Barrack was nominated as the democratic presidential candidate - "this is the first time in my adult life that I have been proud of my country." In her adult life, she has never been proud of our country?

I'm also a little scared that black people across the nation were shown singing "there ain't no stopping us now." (And they say whites are racist? If the white man won this election and we sang that we would be called racist.) These are people who want change; that's what they ran on - vote for change.

They want to change everything I love about my country. They want women to have the right to kill a fetus that is born alive (otherwise known as a baby). They want those who work their butts off to get where they are now, to "share a piece of their pie." Actually, they want them to share almost their entire pie. What about giving people a motivation to work hard, instead of a motivation to be lazy, sit around and wait for their hand out.

Soon, Obama will be president and I will pray for him and the other leaders of our country. I will continue to live my life the best way I can and hope that everything will be okay in the end. But in case it doesn't, I will be adding to my food storage and preparing for emergencies.

Good luck America.

Our Little Bumble Bee

Halloween isn't much of a holiday in the Olafsson household. It usually consists of working all night at the laundromats because it is the last day of the month, but now that we have another member of our family, this year had a little more excitement. I thought it might be a little korny to dress up our dog, but when I saw this little bumble bee costume at Walmart for only $7, I couldn't pass it up.

Khloe's sister, Zoey, came over to play and we took a few pictures of them in their matching costumes. It was the cutest thing ever!

The costumes even had a hat with little antennas and holes for their ears. It didn't fit very well and was hilarious to see them with it on (I liked it better with the hat off anyway). This picture is so funny with the two of them looking at each other. I'm sure they are both thinking, "what the heck did our parents do to us?"

I wish that all of my nieces and nephews lived close to us so they could have taken Khloe around trick or treating in her costume. How cute would that have been?!

"The Bridge"

How far would you go?

Khloe's Quirks

Khloe is very much a person in my eyes. She has her little quirks just like the rest of us. She always has to take her food out of the bowl and eat it off the carpet in a specific spot, she has a little snaggle tooth that sometimes gets caught on her upper lip, she can't raise her left ear so when she hears something only her right ear perks up, and she prefers to take naps on the hardwood floor unless the pillow in the office looks comfy. We all have our quirks and I wouldn't trade Khloe's for the world.

Baby Soren Moffat

Erik's sister, Liv, gave birth to baby Soren Moffat at 8:40pm on my birthday! Mom, Dad, and Soren are all doing well. This is Erik's first blood-related nephew. It was so cute to see how excited he got when we first walked into the room. The funniest part about the new addition is that he weighs 2 pounds more than Khloe. Soren came in at 9 pounds 2 ounces and was 22 inches long.

The poor little guy was crying quite a bit so I asked Steve if I could hold him. As Monica from Friends would say, it was "Super Aunt to the rescue." Remember the episode where she gets Rachel's baby to stop crying by bouncing/swaying her and saying "ooh, baby, baby....ooh, baby, baby?" Well, that was me tonight. Hopefully, my reign as Super Aunt will continue.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I turned 25 today! Woo hoo!

I don't care that I'm another year older, because what this really means is that there are only 9 more weeks until I'm done with school. YAY!

Pumpkin Carving

This weekend we carved pumpkins with our friends Bridget and Chase. Well, the guys watched football while the girls did all of the work. Carving wasn't that fun because our hands cramped up using the miniature tools, but the end result was worth it. The best part was putting Khloe inside of it when we were done. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Family Pictures

I finally convinced Erik to let us get new family pictures. For years, I have been wanting a "fall-themed" picture of us and it finally happened. Erik was a trooper pose after pose. Below are my top five; which one is your favorite?

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To view the rest of our photo shoot, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tanyaolafsson20/FamilyPictures?authkey=2hdzFaBDQss#

Fall Has Arrived

Today was the first wet, rainy day since the end of summer and I loved it! It brought back so many memories of growing up in Seattle. I went to the gym for about an hour and when I was walking back to my car, flashbacks of my youth began to flood my mind. I used to love playing soccer in the pouring rain even when mud covered my body and I could barely move my fingers. I remember the smell right after it rained. It was so fresh and clean. I love to hear the sound of a car driving by on a wet road; music to my ears.

Even though I was extremely tired from my workout, I grabbed my windbreaker, a hat, and Khloe and went out for a run in the rain. I didn't even bring my iPod because I wanted to be able to hear all of the sounds I miss so much. Poor little Khloe ran two miles with me and was sopping wet.

I can barely walk up the stairs, but having a little piece of "home" today was worth it. It may have been 55 degrees and rainy, but to me, it felt like I was running in paradise.

Utes WIN!

Yesterday was a great day for Utah football. The Utes kicked a 37-yard field goal with 1 second remaining to beat Oregon State 31-28.

It was a very tense game but the Utes stayed competitive. Even though quarterback, Brian Johnson, made a lot of costly mistakes, we still got the win. Oregon State previously beat the number one team, USC, so this was a very big game for the Utes.

After the game, everyone charged the field filled with excitement. Utah is now 6-0 halfway through the season.

(Erik and Spencer with defensive lineman, Greg Newman)

(Me with wide receiver Bradon Godfrey)

Hopefully we will remain undefeated and be able to compete in a BSC bowl at the end of the year. GO UTES!