The Main Event: Lake Oroville

Monday morning we made our way to Lake Oroville for a week of waterskiing, fishing, sun bathing, wakeboarding, and relaxing. You know how by the end of some vacations you've had a great time, but are ready to come home? That wasn't the case for us this time- we were wishing that it would never end. Truly, we couldn't have asked for a better ending to the summer.

And Then We Paid A Visit To Mr. Hearst

Our next stop was in San Simeon at the famous Hearst Castle. I don't think you can appreciate the enormity of this man's "little ranch in the country" as he called it, unless you've seen it with your own eyes. Mr. Hearst hit it big as a newspaper tycoon and built a mansion late in his life in San Simeon. His family donated the castle to the state, and now tours are given of it several times a day. We're hoping to purchase it back from the state after we pay off Paul's student loans.

The Vacation Began With A Trip To Our Homeland

We've ended our summer in a great way- a week long family vacation on the water. We left LA Saturday morning, and since it was going to be a long drive to the Bay Area anyway, we decided to make a few stops along the way. Our first stop was in Solvang, California. It's a little Danish town tucked away in the mountains near Santa Barbara. We ate brunch at a Danish pancake house and then walked through the village. Paul kept saying he felt like he was finally among his people. After only a few minutes of being there, phrases like "Welkomen", "Privuet", and "Guten Taag" kept popping out of his mouth... over and over and over again. You may know that "Privuet" is Russian and "Guten Taat" is German, but that didn't stop my over-excited hubby.

Summer Lovin' 2008

The summer should be a season full of sunburns, running through the sprinklers, popsicles, lazy afternoons, marco-polo, cannon ball competitions and sun-bleached hair. Unfortunately, as both of us are full-time employees, there just isn't quite enough time to get it all in. Our summer break now is scattered over a day here and a day there. Here's a slideshow of what we've snuck in when we could.

Beloved Megan - A Eulogy

Thanks for this pic Dakin


Approximately two weeks ago, Megan went missing. The FBI was immediately contacted and a thorough search/investigation was conducted of the surrounding areas as it became their foremost priority. It is true her award winning potential as a show dog is astronomical and thus dognapping was initially suspected. However, she has yet to show up in any dog shows, so it is therefore believed that Megan simply fulfilled her earthly mission and transcended through the veil. Yes she had tumours, yes she had cataracts, and yes she was dangerously obese. But the Megan we will all remember will be the Megan that warmed our hearts as a dear friend through her kind acts of service and outreached paw. We will never forget the fond memories... when she came home from the groomer- completely bald save the tip of her tail and bottle shaped face, when she ate 3/4 of a large pizza, when she habitually tipped over the trash can as a puppy to find a lunch time snack, and when she territorially protected the family from dangerous onslaughts of wild squirrels. Megan, yours is an enormous kennel to fill... Please feel welcome to leave your feelings and memories of Megan as you wish.

What the Fjeldsteds do on a Sunday afternoon...

We put the leaves in our table and set up the ping pong set we got from Grandpa Norm and Grandma Sue for Christmas, and then things got crazy! Here's how it went down: Game 1: The first person to 21 wins. I started with a 5 point handicap. Paul won 21 to 13. Game 2: The first person to 21 wins. I started with a 20 point handicap. I won 21 to 9. Game 3: Actually, there wasn't a game 3. Paul wanted so badly to play "welt pong," but I had to put my foot down. Seeing how well I did in the first two games, people would have thought I was abused. Here's just a small sampling of our intense games.

The Defending Champ Strikes Again

Professor Snort Sauce did it again. On behalf of the late Dr. Garth Lee, the biochemistry dept of BYU was pleased to announce the recipient of the undergraduate teaching award. Although Courtney has since received tenure and retired, she was more than happy to accept the prize. Here she is in all her splendor and glory.