Victoria in the news!

Check out the article and photo of Victoria ion the Tualatin Times, our local newspaper.

OOO SSSS UUUU !!!

Oregon State, fight, fight, fight!

A lot can happen in the next three weeks, but it's fun to enjoy the current position of the Beavs. Especially give the pre-season prediction (see below):

A Post-Election Moment

Whether your candidate won or lost, we live in a great place. For a little inspiration, I pass along this version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Faith-based individuals will appreciate this song:

Deleting Photos

Due to security issues my oldest daughter has asked that I delete all photos of her children from my FaceBook and blog so I will honor that request. It's sad for me because sometimes I just go to my own blog just to look at their darling faces.

I think I might also make my blog private for invited guests only but I will get back to you on that. I'm going to try to be more careful with last names on my blog as well.

New school year begins September 2008

Dimitri on the first day of his sophomore year at Tualatin HS September 2008

Happy Anniversary, Gretchen!

Today, Gretchen and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary. She should get a trophy, plaque, or some kind of reward for putting up with me for 33 years!

Sometimes, anniversary celebrations are elaborate or memorable. Sometimes, less so. Last year, was memorable — we went to Chef Tucker's for dinner, where Hillary had balloons and a card waiting for us. Tucker and Jenn served us some special, non-menu items. It was a wonderful evening. So much so, that we were remembering it, tonight, as we drove home from dinner (with Dimitri in the back seat!).

Unfortunately, there is no more Chef Tucker's. We miss it a lot, but we did get our son and daughter-in-law back in our "regular lives" (in fact, we had dinner with them, last night). So, what did we replace Chef Tucker's fantastic dining experience with, this year? Pietro's Pizza! Yes, that's right, we went out for pizza with Dimitri. You might say it was less memorable than the superb dinnere we enjoyed last year.

Believe it or not, this was Gretchen's request, so you'll have to ask her about it.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I love my wife, and I am so happy that she has put up with me for 33 years.

P.S. The only reason (well, at least the primary one) that I am taking time to post on our blog, this evening, is because Gretchen is having a lot of fun downloading and setting up Picasa. Guess after 33 years, a photo software program is more exciting than me! :-)

Dimitri's 17th Birthday August 5, 2008

Claim Jumper restaurant was the the location Dimitri chose for his birthday dinner. Grandpa Mortensen and Tucker and Jenn joined us for dinner. Victoria was there but you won't see her in any photos because she was either taking the pics or refusing to have her picture taken. After dinner we went home for cake it was ice cream cake.



Tucker and Jenn with the birthday boy





Grandpa Mortensen with Dimitri



August 5 is also cousin Hailey's birthday and the Levasa family just happened to also be at the restaurant for their family birthday dinner. Hailey is 19.



With Mom and Dad

Blogging Again! - Wichita July 2008 Part II

Victoria downloaded some photos for me so I have something to put on my blog. I really need to learn to do all this stuff myself, someday I will.

I miss my grandchildren so much so much! Hopefully before too long I will be going to visit.

10/24/2008 Okay this is where photos of the cutest kids in the world used to be so you will have to use your imagination.

I Hate Paper!

I remember about 10 years ago I heard that we would be a paperless society, I think not! I hate paperwork and mail, I am so overwhelmed by the paper in my life I want to scream! I came up to my home office to do a little paperwork before dinner and kid's activities but instead I read and replied to emails. I logged on to Facebook and played there for a few minutes, I read friends and family blogs (no updates by the way)because I just can't get motivated to get started. I still have unopened mail from when we returned from vacation mid-July and of course all the mail since. Sometimes I hide the mail box key just so the kids won't go get the day's mail to add to the piles spilling from the kitchen counter, every surface in my home office and on the floor of the office. I have a few organized piles such as mail to recycle, to shred, to read, bills to pay, paperwork and forms to fill out, filing and bank and investments statements to reconcile to name just a few of the piles. I have to step over the piles to get to my computer and usually have to restack a few piles about to fall onto my keyboard before I can waste time on the Internet. I have 4 children that don't even live at home but I get important mail for them I have to sort and mail to each of them (Adrienne the least of the four adult children). I receive all my father-in-law's mail so I have his piles to act on or get to him. This week has been a bad week for forms due to the start of school, sports and several new doctors this week for myself and Victoria. Okay I have vented now a little and wasted enough time it's now time to pick up Victoria from soccer, make dinner then of course clean the kitchen do a little laundry and watch an evening of the Olympics. I will fall asleep on the couch during the Olympics wake up just in time for the evening recap. I will then stumble up the stairs stepping over my piles of paperwork to check emails, blogs and Watch Prince sales before going to bed with the promise that tomorrow I will do at least a little on the paper piles. Tomorrow it starts all over again. Added bonus I get to go shuffle papers and do paperwork at The Watch Prince office part of each day too.

My Grandchildren Wichita July 2008

I am not very good at digital photography at all. I can't figure out the camera and I'm not very good at getting them on the computer let alone onto the blog. Therefore Victoria is my photographer however once she has taken the pictures I don't always see them. I have been nagging her to download the photos from our trip to Wichita to see Adrienne and her family but so far no luck. Well today I finally went to her FaceBook page and sure enough she had some of the photos there. I actually figured out how to get them from her FaceBook saved onto my computer and posted to my blog! I'm so proud of myself. she has more pics but at least it is a start. Maybe later I will attempt to get some of the photos on my Facebook page.


10/24/2008 Deleted photos

I Love My Cousins!

On our recent trip to Wichita we stopped in the Denver area for two nights on the way and one night on the way home. We had the privilege of staying with my cousin Christi and her husband Kevin on the front end of the trip and my cousin Brett and his wife Jenifer on the way home. We spent a day with cousins April and Harvey and his wife June. Cousin Alyssa and family joined us all for a dinner. Every time I see my cousins I have such fun. I simply love spending time with my cousins and seeing their great families. Every time we are together I wish we all lived near each other, we are simply too spread out, I hate that! Anyway I want all my extended family to know how much I love you and enjoy your company. We didn't take enough pictures while we were together but here are a few from Christi's blog. I haven't checked Victoria's camera yet but I don't think she took any pics in Colorado. I was too busy having fun to worry about photos but now I wish I had.


Doug, Andrew and April


Harvey, Devyn and Brandon


Andrew

My Amazing Grandchildren

I love these two kids more than words could ever express and I miss them so much it hurts. (Of course I also love the wonderful people in some of the photos). I thank God daily for my grandchildren and blessing Adrienne and me with them.

These photos are from our family beach trip in February 2008. Doug, myself our six children and darling daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren were there. Our wonderful son-in-law, Ken that works so hard to take care of his family had to miss due to a work trip.


10/24/2008 Photos that were here have been deleted

Victoria and teammates at Hoopfest Spokane June 2008

Spokane Hoopfest 2008

Below is information about the tournament Victoria participated in this weekend. Her team didn't do well and they are headed home but it looks like an amazing event. When she was asked by one of her school team mates to be on the Hoopfest team I had no idea of the scope of ages and numbers playing in the event. Pretty amazing really. I'm hoping the family she went with took pictures I will post them at a later date if I get any.


Hoopfest is a 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament

Actually, Hoopfest is the biggest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament on the planet. That means over 6,500 teams, 3,000 volunteers, 175,000 players and fans, 400 courts spanning 40 downtown city blocks, and that’s just on day one! Beyond basketball, though, Hoopfest is an outdoor festival chock full of concerts, shopping, food, interactive entertainment, and a zoo. Okay, we are still working on the zoo, but you never know what could happen next year.
Hoopfest is a place for players of all ages and abilities from all over the country to come together in pursuit of the ultimate goal: to become a Hoopfest Champion. It’s where friends and families gather and cheer at the top of their lungs for their favorite team. It’s the chance to see a college superstar, or your dad, hustle like he's in the final game of the NBA finals. It’s a place for your seven-year-old to score her first basket.
Hoopfest is a 3-on-3 basketball tournament with something for everyone. With the help of countless volunteers, staff, sponsors, the City of Spokane, and let’s not forget about the guy pouring water at the water stations, Hoopfest is an event like no other.

A thought for today

I took this from my cousin Ryan and wife Kari's blog:



A Thought


O Magazine has a feature of "A Million Ways to Save the World." This comment was in this month's issue:"Our culture has vastly overvalued the lives of the rich and famous. Our children no longer hunger to be good citizens, but merely well-known ones. In our misguided quest for heros, we've made fame the most coveted virtue. But when our heroes cease to do heroic things, and we still venerate them, where does that leave our culture? It is time to restore balance. Let's boycott celebrity and celebrate instead all the unnamed warriors trying to make a positive impact on our daily lives."--Lynn Nottage

Mortensen Family Life

• Victoria is in Spokane for a 3 on 3 basketball street tournament. Go to http://www.spokanehoopfest.com/ to check it out. You can even search on her name but it's misspelled so it is Victoria Mortenson (note the O instead of E).
• Dropped off the Prius for repairs, they will have it a week
• My great handyman, Johnny came today and measured the fence, he will be here Monday to repair fence and a couple of other things in the house.
• Plumber has been called and will be here on Tuesday for all numerous plumbing projects mentioned in prior blog
• We found a water exercise class three days a week for back problems just a few blocks from the office that Dimitri is going to start next week.
• Marina was home today to pick up a few of her things, I was at work so didn't get to see her, I miss her.
• Hillary called to be sure I am handling the crazy stuff going on around here, I am perfectly fine. I got to hear about the beautiful neighborhood she lives in, she is loving it but is discouraged about the job search.
• I drove by the water fountains by the Beaverton library and was thinking about the day I took Isaac and Annabelle there last summer and how much fun we had. I miss them so much!
• Weekends are when I miss my children the most. I wish I could have a pizza and popcorn movie night with Isaac and Annabelle tonight.
• I can handle burned fences, fender benders, plumbers, insurance companies etc what I'm not handling well at all is having so many of my beloved children move away in the span of three weeks.

Never a Dull Moment (Today's adventures in the Mortensen Family)

• Today Dimitri had his appointment with a neuro-surgeon regarding his back. It was been confirmed, he has a ruptured disc in his low back. We have two options, surgery to repair or time to let it heal on it's own. The doctor said it would heal that it is just a matter of time and how much pain Dimitri can bear. For now we are going to opt for time and will try to manage his pain with reflexology (which he had today and he is in less pain then he has been for weeks) and a few sessions of acupuncture.
• My doctor's appointment I had today to check and monitor my high blood pressure went well. My blood pressure is down some and the side effects I was having with the medication have lessened (dizziness, passed out twice). I am on a very low dosage so he would like to see me eat better, lose weight and exercise it lower it further.
• Our insurance company decided Monday's fender bender was 30% my fault and 70% the other driver. Of course that is our insurance company I'm sure his will see it differently. Regardless of how if comes out we have $1,000 deductible but if he is found more at fault maybe our rates won't go up as much.
• Victoria and I worked (volunteered) at the Horizon Christian High School girls soccer fireworks stand this afternoon. Very few sales but good bonding time with the assistant coach and I already have 8.5 volunteer hours toward the required 20 hours of volunteer time per family for the 2008/09 school year.
• This evening as we were sitting in the kitchen having our very late dinner there was a very loud knock at our door. A passer-by noticed our fence at the side of the house was on fire and had started to scorched side of the house. At this point this is where you have to remember the broken outside faucet mentioned in an earlier post. Still broken, I didn't do a very good job on Monday's to do list, I haven't yet called a plumber. The only other outside faucet is in the garage so as Victoria found a bucket and filled it with water and managed to extinguish the largest flame that was by now on the house. Doug and I were struggling with hoses and a faucet that was not working very well. I yelled for Dimitri to grab the shovel (which we just purchased a few days ago so we could plant the blueberry bush and apple tree the Teradas left behind) and go to the back yard and start shoveling dirt onto the fire. We finally managed it get a small amount of water to come out of the hose so between the dirt, buckets and poorly working water pressure we manged to completely put out the fire. Yeah for team work.

Now the dilemma and the hardest emotional part, why did a fire start in the first place? A stray firework? A tossed cigarette butt? Dimitri? I so do not want to believe it was Dimitri, however good chance that it very likely was. Since adopting him in 2001 he has started a couple of fires and was caught numerous times with matches and/or I have found evidence that he has tried to start a fire. Soon after adopting him he started a fire that burned a large section of fence and a row of the neighbors trees. The fire department was involved so Dimitri had to go be interviewed by the fire marshell (we had to hire an interpreter) since he couldn't speak English he didn't have to attend the classes. ($2,000 dollars worth of damage)A couple of years later I caught trying to start a fire in the neighborhood park. I knew something was up because he smelled like campfire and the way he was behaving. That time he was largely unsuccessful and no fire department was involved it could have been a disaster.

Off and on over the years I find matches in the laundry or in his room or back pack. ( I randomly search Dimitri and his belongings for this and other reasons). I have had to get rid of all butane lighters used to light grills or candles because he likes to play with them and I find them in his room. Soon after moving to this house I found a small pile of twigs and paper in the yard just waiting to be lit luckily I found it before he did start it because it was close to the house.

Nothing has happened in the past year to make be think he would light a fire but it seems every time I start to trust him something happens.

This afternoon Dimitri was home by himself for several hours and as mentioned above he wasn't hurting as much today as he has been so it is entirely possible he was at the side of the house playing with fire. It is the side of the house where there is nothing but a strip of bark dust several feet wide. There are no windows looking over the area and no reason for any of us to ever go there so he could go unnoticed there. In my haste to get the fire out I had Dimitri use the shovel in that area to put out the fire so none of us were able to see any evidence before it was buried if there was any evidence. I sifted through the mess a little but it was muddy by then and daylight was fading so tomorrow I will go investigate. So now I have nothing more than Dimitri's word but with his history of both fires and lying it's not much. Please pray for wisdom for Doug and myself as to know what to do. Please pray for our ongoing struggles with trying to love and parent Dimitri, it's not easy.

My poor little car!

I am now in the insurance loop and just have to wait to see what happens, Doug, Tucker and two different body shop estimators seem to think it is no question that I am the one at fault. I will just hope for the best because I am just sure it is the other driver that was in the wrong :)


I got two estimates one is for $1,750.00 with the disclaimer that it will probably be more due to unseen underneath damage. The second is for $2,450 with the assumption that there is underneath damage and they know what it will be because they just finished a Prius with the exact same damage.


We have a $1,000 deductible so most likely it will be that plus increased insurance premiums but I again why I am worried because it so clearly was not my fault!

My to do list for today

In no particular order:

• Call a plumber to fix the faucet that was broken off the house outside, to fix the ice maker, and to fix the loose kitchen faucet
• Take the car to a body shop for an estimate
• Call the insurance company about my little incident
• Go to DMV to file an accident report
• Process payroll at The Watch Prince and train Melissa to do it in case I am in Kansas the next payroll
• Go to my massage appointment
• Go for a bike ride before work
• Call the doctor about Dimitri's back X-Ray results
• Work on my never ending task of paperwork at home to prepare our 2007 tax return
• Check family and friend's blogs for updates
• Go to Victoria's summer league basketball games (two) this evening in Beaverton
• Caution Victoria about being careful not to worsen her already sprained wrist playing basketball
• Imagine Isaac and Annabelle playing and laughing at their new house and wishing I could read to them
• Watch an episode or two of Friends on DVD with Doug. (Since we don't have cable and there is nothing I want to watch Doug and I have been watching the entire 10 years of the series for a few months now we have a little over two seasons to go).
• laundry

Bullet Point List for Monday Continued

• Had an eventful evening
• Was in a fender bender in the Prius, my fault apparently but I disagree, I guess we will see what the insurance companies say
• Had an unexpected dinner with my parents
• Tucker and Jenn got enough unpacking done that Jenn convinced Tucker to have Game Night after all
• Had a great time at Game Night this time at Tucker and Jenn's.
• Laughed a lot playing Scattergories while Dimitri was swimming in the pool
• Had fun bowling on Jenn's brother Wii
• Enjoyed seeing Hillary's new photos on her blog
• Kept busy enough I didn't think about how much I miss Isaac and Annabelle ( well not much anyway, since I was at their old home it was hard to think about them running around and giggling there)
• Happy that tomorrow I have a massage appointment for my aching back
• Worried about Dimitri's back
• Hoping Victoria's sprained wrist is better, it's been hurting her a lot.
• Hoping I get up in time to go for a bike ride in the morning, but since it is 1:00am and I'm blogging we will see