A mom and a dad

Today is Father's Day (even though I probably wont post this any time soon[Yep!  It's now the middle of August! Ha!]) and naturally I'm thinking a lot about my dad.  My sister has been here this weekend and she is very close to my dad.  So am I.  I talked to my dad more often than most of my college roommates did with theirs. 

But at this point in my life I probably talk more to my mom.  I text her pictures of my kids, call her about questions and concerns and just call to fill my day.  And in my thoughts today I realized the importance of both my parents.

My mom is home during the day when I'm alone.  She may not totally remember how she took care of babies, but she's good at comforting me when I'm scared or concerned about something silly.

My dad and I shared a career in education.  Most of the things I wanted to talk about a lot of people would probably find boring.  Not my dad, he was always there to listen to when I needed to talk about problems with my students or my lesson plans. 

It's so nice to have backup (two's not enough, you need three at least--name the movie!)

Birthday Buddies

I got to chose Olivia's birthday.  I chose it with my doctor on March 23rd.  I was due the next day, and the policy is to schedule induction for at least a week after the due date.  I convinced my doctor to schedule me a few days earlier and he gave me the options of March 28th and March 29th.  

The sooner the better.  March 28th is my brother Andrew's birthday as well, and he seemed glad to share.  And so my sweet girl was born on March 28th two years ago.

Here they are last year, the birthday buddies.  I don't have one of this year because by the time Andrew came over, Olivia had gotten her clothes so dirty that we took them off and let her go naked.  This year they both have more hair, Olivia on her head and Andrew on his face!

Andrew and Martha came to visit for a bit on Thursday.  Andrew hoped his son would also be born on the 28th, one day before his due date.  But by 8pm it seemed unlikely that would happen. 

The next morning I got a text that Martha was in the hospital!  I was so excited!  Wesley was born that afternoon, ON HIS DUE DATE!  Crazy, right?

We're so happy to have him here, another family member to add to the birthday buddies!

Guest Poster: My Dad

One thing I love about my dad is that we share the same profession, so we always have a lot to talk about when the topic of education rolls around.  He was great at giving me tips and encouragement, and of course a funny story every now and then.  For a few years he taught at an alternative school in LA County, which means he taught the kids who got expelled.  This is probably my favorite story from when he was teaching there.

My dad (dressed up for a church party) and Olivia

Classroom Profanity 

A couple years back I taught at an alternative education school. Many of my classes at that school had a habit of using bad language and this one was especially bad. I was determined to extinguish the ugly habit so I created a reward system. Students would receive a sticker each time they made it through the day without swearing. It was a small reward but to my delight it was working; the students were trying hard to earn the daily sticker. After weeks of using the system and praising their progress I succeeded in getting my class to stop using profanity.

For a few days I was enjoying our new found serenity, the fruits of my labor, when a new student was assigned to the class. He was a fairly calm young man and seemed to fit in well. But about midway through the day without any noticeable provocation, he shocked us all but cutting loose with a string of profanity. The whole class went silent. They looked at me and waited for my reaction. For a few seconds time seemed to stand still. Then one of my students came up to me and quietly said, “Mr. Hermansen, he be thinking we roll like that but we don’t roll like that!” I got such a kick out of his comment that I started laughing. Soon, Miss Debbie, the instructional assistant was laughing too and I don’t remember if the culprit ever got disciplined for his outburst.

One week ago today. . .

My "little" brother Andrew, me and my "little" brother Kenny

Last Wednesday my littlest brother (I have three "little" brothers) went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center).  After a short training session (1 month?  I'm not sure) he'll be on his way to Mexico to share the gospel with the people there!!  I'm so excited for him. 

Last Tuesday he flew in to Salt Lake and my grandparents picked him up, spent some time with him and then brought him to my house.  They left to spend time with one of my grandma Lois's grandsons who was also going into the MTC the next day (my grandpa is remarried so they each have their own grandkids to split their time between)

I made fajitas and my brother Andrew and his wife Martha came over for dinner.  We ate and played games and enjoyed time with Kenny before we had to say goodbye for two years. 

Adam drove Kenny down to Provo that night, where he stayed in his old dorm with his BYU friends.  The next day he walked down the block to the MTC and that was that.  So different from when we took Andrew to the MTC and it was this big fan fare.  Now it's just so simple. 

Its hard to believe that when Kenny comes home Axel will be two and Olivia will be almost four!

We'll miss you Elder Hermansen! 

My dad: The Original Hipster

Growing up it sometimes bothered me that my dad was so counter culture.  As a child I made bread in a solar powered oven in the backyard.  The wheat for that bread?  Ground it myself.  No one thought I was very cool (at least that's how I imagined it.  They were probably worried others were thinking the same thing about them . . . ) but now going against the grain is the cool thing to do.  Even better if you were the first to think of it.

My dad and I performing at my wedding dinner.

Nearly all of my father's clothes come from a thrift store. 

He doesn't drive a car, he rides a bike.

He built a solar oven from mostly cardboard and newspaper.  We made bread in our backyard for a couple summers.  On Sunday's we would use it like a slow cooker and make roast and potatoes.

No more Sunday roast for Dad.  Now he's a vegetarian.

He heats his home with a wood burning stove and cools it with an evaporative cooler.

He saves table scraps and composts them for his garden.

He's more of an environmentalist than most Democrats who preach it every waking moment.  My dad is a hippie Republican who lives it, and doesn't go around tooting his own horn (much).