Potato Salad

Although common knowledge in my family, the rest of the world might not know that I have an extreme distaste for potato salad. Was there ever a girl who looked upon hot weather with such trepidation as I, knowing that as soon as the grill was fired up the potato salad season was also upon us. More than once was I tempted as a child/teenager to destroy the boiled potatoes and eggs chilling in the refrigerator before they could be combined into the side dish I spent many a long lonely nights sharing the dinner table with.

But today marks the beginning of a new era in my life: I found a potato salad that I enjoy. I have included the recipe for all the other people who don't like potato salad in the world. I can only imagine that there are many of you.

Bacon Potato Salad
(Adapted from Simple & Delicious magazine, july/aug 2009)
serves 8
4 c. cubed red potatoes
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/2 t. minced garlic
2 bacon strips
2 T. minced fresh parsley (ours came from our garden)
1/2 c. mayonnaise
2 T. Parmesan cheese
2 T. ranch salad dressing
1 T. mustard
2 t. white vinegar
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil; reduce heat and cook covered for 10-15 minutes until tender. Drain.
Cook bacon strips in fry pan over medium heat. Remove, drain and crumble bacon. Add onion and garlic to 1 T. bacon grease and cook until tender.
In a large bowl, combine potatoes, onion, bacon and parsley. In small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Pour over potato mixtures; toss to coat. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled.

Johnson Sister Campout 2009

The Johnson Sisters & Co. took Giant City State Park by storm last week! Tucked away in the hills & forests of southern Illinois, this unassuming little park had the honor of hosting the all the Johnson grandkids and their parents for 4 days of camping fun. You name it, we had it - bonfires, s'mores, scraped knees, thunderstorms, leaky tents, kickball, horse rides, one toad, two hikes, five+ tics, and nine cousins under age seven absolutely bursting with energy. Click on this link for the photo album or watch the slideshow below. And when you've finished, list your favorite moments from the campout in a comment. Enjoy!

Svenska Flaggans Dag (Swedish Flag Day)

A Happy Swedish Flag Day to everyone! Continuing with our blogging theme of saluting the homelands of our ancestors, yesterday, on June 6th we celebrated Sweden's National holiday, a.k.a. Swedish Flag Day.

So what happened on this day? In 1397, the Queen of Denmark formed a union between Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. It seems that Sweden was okay with this arrangement as long as it still made most of it's own decisions. In 1520 the King of Denmark tried to take more control of Sweden's affairs by sending in troops and ordering the death of all the nobles in Stockholm. Sweden fought back, kicked out the Danes, crowned it's own King, Gustav Vasa, on June 6th, 1523, and became in independent nation that we know today, 486 years later.

Where were Michelle's Swedish ancestors on this day? We're not sure, but the genealogy work done by Michelle's grandparents trace the Beckstrand line back to 1570 in Jönköping, Sweden (located southwest of the capital Stockholm, at the southern tip of Lake Vattern). And that's only 50 years after Gustav Vasa was crowned king on the first Swedish Flag Day.

As Michelle is a hearty 34.375% (11/32nds) Swedish, we decided to celebrate with Swedish Meatballs. We then called on Grandma and Grandpa Johnson for a good Swedish dessert and they recommended fruit soup: 1. Boil dried fruit 2. Add a little bit of sugar 3. Add quick setting tapioca 4. Top with cream or canned milk.

Helen decided to wear her new princess dress to celebrate.

Happy Birthday Helen

Today was Helen's 1st Birthday! As you can tell she was quite excited. We have included for your enjoyment a picture of my 1st birthday and Ryan's first Christmas when he was a year old. I think that Helen looks a lot more like me than I get credit for.

Helen's cake was chosen because she loves bath time. Whenever we say "bath" she hot-tails it for the bathroom as fast as she can saying, "ba, ba, ba," the whole way there. She then proceeds to giggle the entire time she is splashing around. Click on any of the pictures to see more.

Oh, and here is a little video we made of the eating of the cake.

Weekend in Nauvoo

We met up with Ryan's Mom and brother, Nate, in Nauvoo this weekend. We had a great time camping at Nauvoo State Park, right across the street from the Old Nauvoo sites. We anticipated rain (as well we should because since Ryan and I always get wet) but not this time.

Helen had a great time sneaking up on Nate in the hammock.

Ryan and Nate were great chefs!

The sites were great! We especially loved the oxen ride and the song-and-dance show that the Senior Missionaries put on at night. They sure do a great job serving the Lord and teaching us.

We also got to go to the rebuilt Nauvoo temple. Here is a video that explains why there are temples again. We got a couple of great, postcard quality shots - click on the pic to see more.

Syttende Mai (May 17th, in Norwegian)

A happy Syttende Mai to everyone! Don't ask me how to pronounce that - this is only my first year celebrating the Norwegian Constitution/National Day. I've known of the Norwegian heritage of my Gunderson ancestors for some time, but only since my brother, Regan, did some genealogy work on this family line have I learned more about Norway. In the process, I decided to put their National Holiday on the calendar and celebration. And just in case any of our ancestors/relatives are jealous, I can assure you we have other national holidays on the calendar (Sweden, Ireland, England, Wales to name a few), and we'll do our best to commemorate their respective holidays in turn.


On May 17th, in 1814 (194 years ago), the Constitution of Norway was signed, making Norway an independent nation - well, sort of. It seems that prior to 1814, Denmark had ruled Norway for 400 years. Denmark sided with Napoleon as he attempted to conquer the world, and when he was defeated, Denmark was forced to give up Norway to the king of Sweden. In response, the Norwegians wrote and signed a constitution, declaring themselves independent. Sweden wasn't happy with this and attacked Norway that same year. It wouldn't be until 1905 that Norway was 'officially' independent.



So where were my Norwegian ancestors in 1814? Two of my Great(x4)-grandparents, Mari Torgersdatter and her husband, Gunnof Ostensen, were likely children in Norway at that time. Mari was given a small psalm book at her birth that has been handed down in our family. Writing in the cover of her psalm book says she was married in 1829 (in the village of Tinn, Provence of Telemark, Norway - located southwest of Oslo), to Gunnuf Ostensen, also from Norway. Gunnuf and his son Osten eventually sailed to the US, settled in Minnesota, and 5 generations later here I am in Omaha celebrating my 1/16th to 1/8th Norwegian heritage.

We decided to celebrate by making a Norwegian Hazelnut Cake (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Norwegian-Hazelnut-Cake/Detail.aspx?prop31=1). I'm suspicious it's not an authentic recipe, but it sure was delicious. Maybe next year we'll be brave and try something very traditional like Lutefisk - codfish prepared with lye. Then again, there's a good chance we won't, since it's famously unpalatable. Garrison Keillor describes it as "gelatinous fishlike dish that tasted of soap and gave off an odor that would gag a goat". Here's the delicious Norwegian Hazelnut Cake in all it's glory - complete with detailed map of Norway made out of hazelnuts and Norwegian flag marking the home of the Gundersons.

- Ryan

The Incredible Edible Egg

In honor of National Egg Month we did a highly controlled and evaluated experiment. I decided that I wanted to compare some locally grown eggs (brown) with some regular (white) eggs. Someone told me that the locally ones tasted much better and were so much fresher. I admit that I was dubious, as far as I could tell the only differences were the color and the amount of chicken poo on the outside of the shell. As I do not seek after egg eating experiences, Ryan graciously offered his services.

Here we have the first randomly selected egg in the cooking process:

Here is the second:

Our esteemed judge and egg conisseur:

The results are...

No Difference in Taste!

FYI: The first egg was the local one.

Hippo Overalls

Helen recently inherited Ryan's old Hippo overalls. Although Ryan doesn't recall how he felt about these pants, it appears that he liked them. Clearly, 25 years of washes took it's toll on their size, but that doesn't bother Helen one little bit.

This weekend we went to the Lauritzen Gardens for their spring flower show and plant sale. The admission fees were a bit high, or so we thought until we realized it included a visit to the Wonders of the World! Here I am pointing to the famed Taj Mahal way off in the distance - amazing! I might also note that it doesn't smell nearly as bad from this far away. Click on the pictures to see (and be jealous) of the other historic places we saw.

A stitch in time...

Here is my quilt as of yesterday. I got the quilt top from India (it's really supposed to be a sheet- I don't know how anyone could sleep with elephants marching around).

I figure if I were paid $5.00/hour to work this quilt would

already cost around 500$. Luckily for me it takes up a lot of time. That way I won't be tempted to buy more fabric and start any more big projects.

Spring has sprung and other fun

"Ooooh, Mom look what cupboard I found. I think that I will make some cookies." Here Helen and I are in our beauty parlor. Between the mirror, lotion bottles, toothbrushes and hair pretties, Helen almost sits still.

This is our first tulip, we got the mystery tulip packet last fall and I was pleasantly surprised with this red and white mix. I admit that I checked on it all day yesterday because I was so excited. Hopefully none of our neighbors drove past frequently and noticed this borderline-odd behavior.

Trip to Peoria, Illinois

Last week Helen and I drove to Peoria to play with Emily and her family. Helen and Chloe went to beauty school, or rather their mothers did. It didn't take long to learn that we had to embrace the potential of Helen's hair and not fight against it's tendency to stand straight on end. Here are the results from our work, you can click on the pictures to see the whole process.

We also had fun playing trains, cars and making treats. The biggest challenge was not the rough terrain or the high demand for specific track patterns and destinations, but rather a giant baby destroying trains and chewing on innocent passengers.

Helen in Style

Here is Helen in some sweet overalls that Sarah brought her back from Guatemala. I think that she looks fabulous, Ryan worries about Helen's hairdo.
Now that Helen is pulling herself up, it is harder to get things done. This is the quilt that I started working on this winter. I think that it is going to get done before our love seat reupholstering project - things are not looking good for our love seat. Maybe if it was our only seat in the home we would work faster...