The Olson Family: Catch up time!!!!

It has been WAY too long since my last post! I decided I better get caught up before Damon's birthday and Christmas, otherwise I may never catch up. So I will just start where I left off...

Labor Day Weekend

Every Labor Day since I was a kid, our family has had a tradition of going to an amusement park. It was always kind of a family reunion on my Dad's side of the family. Back then we lived in Louisiana, so we would go to Houston's "Astro World." Now that we are grown and have families of our own, we wanted to keep the tradition alive. So my siblings and I have started taking our families, along with our Mom and Dad, to Lagoon. The kids have loved it, and its fun to let them do the same thing we did as kids. Well unfortunately this year things were different. My sister Jenna and her family moved to Peru, and my sister Aja and her family had other things going on this year, so we didn't end up going to Lagoon. Instead, Terry and I took our kids camping with his parents. The day we were supposed to leave to go camping, Damon was running a fever and was acting cranky. So before leaving, Terry took him into the doctor to get checked out. They ran all the test and they came back negative, so we decided he would be ok to go camping. So we did. While there we did alot of 4 wheeling, and a little bit of fishing. We all had a pretty good time. Damon had quite the trip... While fishing at this little creek, Damon was sitting really close to the water, and it was really pretty, so I thought I would grab my camera off the 4 wheeler to take his picture. Just as I pulled the camera out, Damon dove in head first. Terry had to yank him out by his foot. (Unfortunately I was not quick enough with my camera.. I missed the shot!) So I put Damon on the 4 wheeler and drove him back to camp to change his clothes. (His clothes were completely soaked!) A little later in the day, I was in the camping trailer with Damon when I suddenly heard him crying. He had pushed on the door of the trailer, and the door had popped open, and he fell out of the trailer head first, going down on the 3 or 4 metal steps of the trailer. Luckily he only got scratched up. It could have been much worse. Finally, before leaving to head back home, Terry's mom got a call on her cell phone. It was Damon's doctor office. I had left my phone at home on accident, and the office had been trying to call me all weekend, and finally decided to call Bonnie cause she is listed as the emergency contact. The swab they had taken of Damon's throat turned out to be strep throat. Poor baby! We had taken him camping with strep throat, and he had fallen into a cold creek with strep throat. He was such a trooper though. He didn't act sick at all while camping. No worries though... we were able to get home in time to get his medicine from the pharmacy, so he was just fine. Although we were sad to have to miss Lagoon this year, it was nice to be able to take the kids camping one last time before it got cold. Here are some pictures taken over the weekend...

The kids on Blake's 4 wheeler.

Damon on the horse swing.

Ashlyn on the horse swing.

Blake on the horse swing.

The creek where Damon went for a swim.

This picture was taken on the top of Sawtelle. The drive to get up here was the scariest drive ever! I for sure thought we were going to slide off the edge of the cliffs to our deaths. I was such a baby!!! The whole time we were up there, all I could think about was the dreaded drive back down. I did not like it at all. It was pretty though!

Another view on Sawtelle.

Blake playing Lasso golf. A camping regular.

Damon's face after the fall from the trailer.

Halloween

Next on the list is Halloween. We went to several different Halloween festivities this year. First was the annual High family/Daniels family Halloween party. Then we went to Trick or Treat street. (Local businesses line the street and fill up the kids' bags.) Then on Halloween we went to the Iona city Trunk or Treat, then to a few neighborhoods for door to door Trick or Treating. The kids got tons of candy!....

Terry and I at the Halloween party.

Blake and Ashlyn at Trick or Treat Street.

Blake the karate kid at his school costume parade.

Ashlyn the Geisha at her school costume parade.

Damon the angry cowboy.

Thanksgiving

We had a really good Thanksgiving this year. We drove down to my Mom and Dad's house in Utah, and got to spend the holiday with them, my brother Ricky, and my sister Aja's family. We were sad my sister Jenna and her family couldn't be there, but we were able to chat with them on Skype. We drove down on Wednesday and then celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday. Next was BLACK FRIDAY. We are big BLACK FRIDAY shoppers, and were really excited that everywhere we wanted to shop was open Thanksgiving night. So rather than waking up early, we just stayed up late. (I hope they do this every year!) Shopping was a little disappointing this year. They really didn't have any amazing deals like they normally have. But I still walked away with plenty of stuff, and it was still alot of fun and crazy!! On Friday we took the kids on a train ride from Layton to Salt Lake City. The kids were all really excited cause this was their very first train ride. Once in Salt Lake we found a place to eat dinner, then went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was really crowded and really cold. We rode the train back home and then enjoyed some hot cocoa. On Saturday we drove down to Terry's brother's house in Riverton and spent the day with them. We really enjoyed ourselves on this trip and it was really a bummer to come home!....