Aasa Genealogy / Norway

Posting some pictures for my 2nd cousin, once removed. (And any other relatives out there.) It's always so fun to "meet" distant relatives, thanks to the internet and a common interest in our ancestors. If you have any information, pictures, snippets of anything that I don't have, I would appreciate you passing it along!

Olaus Andreason Aasa - my great grandfather



Olaus was a highly skilled carpenter and owned a carpentry/building business in Norway employing 35 people. After he joined the LDS church and immigrated to the US, he ran a ferry across the Snake River for several years, then later he built the spiral staircase in the Idaho State Capitol Building.

Fredrikke Marie Fredrikson - my great grandmother

Fredrikke Marie Fredrikson (went by Marie) had 10 older brothers. My favorite story of hers comes from her life story (written by her daughter, my grandmother Hannah Marie Aasa Hunt.) When she was 16, she was working for a woman doing cooking, cleaning, and washing. I'll quote: "They washed just once a month. They changed sheets every two weeks and had at least twenty-four sheets a wash and there were six grown people to wash for. The clothes were all rubbed on a board. In the winter they washed in the wash house and pulled the clothes down to a lake, about one-half mile from the house, on a sled and she chopped a hole in the ice and stood there and rinsed the clothes. When she went to the house for a meal her clothes were wet and frozen and stood around her like an umbrella. She stayed there a year, she was seventeen when she left there." Remember, this was Norway, where it's COLD in the winter. I think of this story often when I'm feeling sorry for myself for having "so much" housework to do (and all the modern conveniences to do it.) I usually decide I don't have it so bad, after all.

Aasa Family

Olaus & Marie with their 1st 2 children, Maggie & Fred (Magda Theresa & Frithjoff)



Hannah Marie (my grandmother)





Ben's Eggnog

This is for Ben, our resident eggnog-lover. Unfortunately for him, I refuse to buy eggnog because it's triple (or more) the price of milk! Fortunately for him, I found a recipe and make it myself. Here it is:

Homemade Eggnog
5 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cups sugar
5 cups milk
shake or two of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

In a saucepan, combine eggs, sugar, milk, salt. Cook on medium heat (stirring almost constantly) for 10-15 minutes, or until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. Do not boil. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and chill pan in a pan of ice water to help cool it quickly. Pour through a strainer into your storage container. Chill in fridge. If you like "fancy" eggnog feel free to add whipped cream and nutmeg when serving.

The Reason I Never Post Anything...

is named Logan. 'Nuff said.

Good thing he's so darn cute.

Who, me?

Health-o-meter

I wish I had a health-o-meter. You know, on some video games there's a meter showing how much "health" or "energy" your person has left. Then if you do something good, you see the health-o-meter go up, or if you do something bad, it goes down. (I do not actually play video games, but I have a 12 yr old son....)

I have been dragging lately. I want to get a lot done, but, I have zero energy. I feel like my health-o-meter is in the red zone. My mother has been anemic for the last 30 yrs, and on iron pills. I was anemic during pregnancy. Maybe I have whatever my mom's weird condition is and I'm anemic? Maybe iron pills would give me energy. Maybe I'm perpetually sleep deprived and just need some decent sleep once in a while. Maybe my diet is terrible and I need to lay off the cookies. Maybe I need to start taking vitamins. Maybe I could stand to lose 40 or 50 pounds. Maybe I need to force myself to exercise. Maybe I'm suffering depression. Maybe I'm just lazy. And cranky. Maybe (probably) it's a combination of all of these things, I don't know.

I guess it's time to start taking vitamins. Regularly, instead of the once-or-twice a month that is my usual. That would certainly be the easiest fix. If that doesn't cure me then I guess I need to work on the harder stuff. Exercise (although that might just kill me) and weight loss (ditto). Sigh...life goes on.

Bike Riding Lessons

*This post is actually from Aug. 23rd. I had saved it as a draft because I wanted to add a picture. The camera was dead but I videotaped everything. But...I have no idea how to get the pictures off there and onto here. Oh well.
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Last night 9 yo Natalie taught 5yo Olivia how to ride a bike. She probably could have done it loooong ago, but she has neglectful parents. Ahem.

So anyway, Natalie decided to do it herself! She was an AWESOME teacher, so patient & encouraging! I heard her tell Olivia "You just have to believe in yourself!" Awwww!  Natalie was giving her instructions, and prompting her on what to do. At one point as they passed by me, I heard Olivia say to herself "I just have to believe in myself!" Awwwww! Within 15 or 20 minutes, there was no stopping her. She was an EXPERT. She could make U-turns, go on and off the curb, and she was having a blast.

The next day my sister brought her 6yo over so Natalie could give her bike riding lessons, too. In no time, Olivia & Hallee were both zooming back and forth all over the street. I think Natalie was a little sad that they didn't need her anymore! Maybe she should go into business!

Refinancing!

We're joining zillions of other people taking advantage of super-low interest rates, and refinancing our mortgage. We're going from a 30 yr mortgage @5.25% (with about 21-22 yrs left) to a 15 yr mortgage @4%, a move that will save us tens of thousands of $$$. I figure that's worth the temporary aggravation of going through this process!

I had been watching interest rates for a while, and finally decided to take the plunge a few days ago. It has been a WHIRLWIND since then, gathering about a zillion documents they need. My advice to anyone considering doing this is to gather up as many documents as you can think of AHEAD of time. They needed the last 2 years of taxes, W2's, the last 2 of: pay stubs, checking account statements, savings account statements, stocks/bonds/whatever other liquid assets you have, retirement account statements, etc., homeowners insurance statements, HOA statements, & mortgage statements. We needed to sign a bunch of disclosures, the appraiser came (had to clean the entire house), and get everything overnighted to them - all within 48 hours of when we said "go." We are by no means done, but now is the easy part - waiting for them to do their part. They said it's currently taking around 45 days.

Every bit of interest you pay is money down the drain, money that lines someone else's pockets. I'd rather keep that money for myself!

Back to School

The kids started back to school this week! Natalie had made a paper chain and was counting down for weeks. (Needless to say, she was excited!) She's in 4th this year. Ben is in 7th and school's not as exciting in middle school. He's not looking forward to homework but he really needs the structure of school. Olivia started Kindergarten, so she was a mix of excitement and worry. Here they are on Day 1.

Ben on the way out the door. "I'm off to meet my doom" he said. He's getting pretty tall for 12 - I think he's about 5'2" or so. He doesn't tell us much about school or how his day went. His scout leader is always telling me about some funny thing Ben did or how much Ben enjoyed such-and-such an activity, but Ben rarely tells us anything!

Natalie on her way to the bus stop. I drove Olivia, but Natalie wanted to ride the bus with her friend. They've been best friends since they were 2. They were sad to find out they're in different classes. They've been excited to learn about Idaho history this year in school.

Olivia waiting for her first day of Kindergarten. She was all smiles - just beaming all morning, dancing around, happy as can be. Right after I took this picture, the teacher opened the door to let the kids in, and Olivia burst into tears. Luckily, she had a great day and was all smiles again when I picked her up. She told me all about Kindergarten, sang me the morning song, and chattered on and on about all the fun things she did. I'm so relieved that she likes it!

I hope they all have a great year at school and learn a LOT!