Blake's 1st sleepover

Blake's all grown up! He had his very first friend sleepover on Friday. His best bud Dallin got to stay over all night. I first called Dallin's mom to make sure it was ok before I mentioned it to the boys. When I broke the exciting news to them, they jumped up and down and screamed like little girls. It was pretty funny. I asked them if I could take some pictures and they were all for it and had all kinds of poses they wanted to do. I finally had to tell them I had enough or they would have been posing for me all night! Here are the pictures we took...

They had tons of fun, and were really good and went straight to bed when I told them to. (Though I did let them watch a movie in bed so that may have been the only reason!) I'm sure he will be begging every weekend to have sleepovers now.

My Girly Girl

Ashlyn sure loves her big brother Blake. She loves to do whatever he is doing. Whether its playing soccer, watching Star Wars, or playing Indiana Jones on the Wii, she is right there doing it with him. She even wanted to dress up like Batman for Halloween last year. So you can bet that anytime she wants to do something "girly" I get all warm and fuzzy inside. ;)

So here are a couple of Ashlyn's girly events that have taken place recently...

She had the opportunity to go to Cheer Camp with her two most favorite girls in the world (Hailee and Ellie).

The Cheer Camp took place last Saturday (September 18th) at Hillcrest High School. The school's cheerleaders put on the camp for a fundraiser. They had lots of fun. They were taught a cheer and a dance, and were able to perform it for all of the parents at the end of the day.

Here the girls sit and wait for the camp to begin. They were so excited and a little nervous.
Here is Ashlyn at the end of the day, performing what she learned.

I then had to get a shot of her doing a "cheer pose".


Her next girly event took place today. I babysat Hailee and Ellie and decided that instead of just letting them play around the house, we would go on a Girls Day Out. (Hailee had to go to Kindergarten at noon, so it was really only half a day, but still lots of fun!)
I took the girls to the mall, and below you will see what we did there...

Before leaving, I had to get a picture of the girls with a "Sassy" pose.

Once we got to the mall, we took Ashlyn to Claire's to get her ears pierced, YAY! I have been trying to get her to get them pierced, but she was too scared and told me that she would get them done when she is 17. (random, I know!) But a few weeks ago her friend Hailee got her's done. So that changed Ashlyn's mind, and she's been wanting to get them done ever since.

Here, she is anxiously waiting to get them done.

We had to get a shot with her two "besties"

Here, the lady is marking the spot to wear she will pierce them.

The time has come! Look at the terror on her face!

The big girl didn't even cry! Doesn't she look beautiful!!

And of course, a bunch of little girls can't go to Claire's without playing a little dress up!

Then it was home for some pizza before sending Hailee off to school!

I'm so proud of my sweet little girl. She was so brave! I love her just the way she is. Even though I love her girly moments, I love her for her "tomboyish" ways as well!

1st Day of School 2010

Yes, this post is way overdue, but I decided its better late than never...

Both Blake and Ashlyn started the new school year on Monday, August 30th. Blake started the 1st grade and is in Mrs. Hardy's class, and Ashlyn started preschool at Little Chicks Preschool, her teacher is Mrs. Long. Blake is enjoying 1st grade so far. He seems to like his teacher and is making new friends. (He is being forced to make new friends cause both of his best friends have either moved or are about to move. Thanks alot Dallin in Seth!! ;) ) Ashlyn loves school. She has two friends in her class and is making many more. So here goes to a new school year...

Mini Vacation

This year we never got around to planning a big summer vacation, so we thought we needed to do some kind of trip with the kids. So we packed up the car and drove down to Utah. We dropped off Damon at my parents house and stayed in a hotel in Sandy.

When we first got there, we decided to go to the South Towne Mall, which was right across the street from our hotel. Yay! We shopped around a little bit then we let the kids ride on the Merry Go Round that is in the food court...

Here are the cool kids waiting to get on the ride.
Blake on his dragon
Ashlyn on her kitty.

The next day we woke up to head to the "main attraction" of our vacation,
Seven Peaks Water Park in Orem.

Here is a picture of the main structure.
There were also some other big slides that weren't connected to this main one, but I didn't get a picture of them.


Here is Ashlyn hanging out at the wave pool. She enjoyed swimming but once the waves got started they were a little to rough for her, so she had to get out.
The kids and I pose for a quick picture.
And of course one with Dad.
Here is Ashlyn showing off her mad modeling skills!

This was Ashlyn's favorite part of the park. Though she was too scared to go down that teeny slide. She is such a chicken!




Blake absolutely LOVED the water park. He wasn't afraid to do any of the slides. There was one in particular that was really steep, that I'm not even sure I would have done, but he did it and wasn't a bit scared.
(He actually wan't even big enough to ride it, but Terry snuck him on it a few times!)
I wasn't able to get any pictures of him on it though!





That night after the water park, we took the kids to eat dinner at The Mayan. It is this fun Mexican restaurant that does a show while you are eating. They have these cliff divers that dive and do tricks into this pool of water. It is fun to watch though the food isn't anything to write about!

This snake statue is right outside of The Mayan, so the kids had to get a picture inside of its mouth.

Here the kids got to take a picture with one of the guys who are in the show.

(Ashlyn was a little afraid of this guy. But can you blame her? Look at that creepy looking smile!)

Here the kids and I are waiting for another show to start.

Same with Terry.

Of course, the best part about staying in a hotel is the swimming pool right! The kids got to swim both nights we stayed and enjoyed every minute of it.

Miss Ashlyn Jade

Here I kept trying to get an action shot of Blake jumping in, but my camera has too much of a delay, so this is the best I could get!

So that ended our Mini Vacation. We were glad we were able to make this memory with our two big kids. We already have our resort booked for Disney Land next year, so we have that to look forward to. So watch out California, the Olsons are coming!

Blake's T-ball

Blake played t-ball again this year. He was on the "Firecrackers".

Blake wanted to pose for me up on the fence.
Here he is at bat.
They had to move the tee and bases onto the grass for this game because the dirt was so muddy that the kids kept slipping.

Here he is after making it to first base.

I was able to get these "on the field" shots cause I was actually the fill in coach at this game. Sorry to the coach, but she was a terrible coach! She was never at any of the games and didn't teach the kids anything. I have decided that I am going to coach his team next year. If you want something done a certain way than you have to do it yourself, and she definately didn't coach the way I would have wanted Blake coached. Oh well, we have next year!

Summer Fun...

Here is more of the fun that we have been up to this summer...

The kids made several trips to the park this summer.

They love the park with the "big hill". They spend most of the time running down this hill.
Blake loves any kind of monkey bars/rings!

Ashlyn loves to slide!

Damon just hangs out watching his big brother and sister and looks forward to the day that he can join them!

We also had plenty of time playing in the water. Their friends came over tons of times for water parties and they got to do the same at their friends house.

First fishing trip of the summer...

I have been a HUGE blog slacker this summer. I really need to post everything that we have been up to this summer. So I have just decided to do one post at a time, and even though most of these things have happened months ago, I will be able to rest a little easier knowing that I am finally getting some of these things written down. So here goes...

To start off the summer, we took the kids on a fishing trip. We packed up and drove up to the Heise area (I think!) Not only was this our first fishing trip of the summer, it was also Damon's very first fishing trip ever! GO DAMON!

Here, Damon thinks he's "big stuff" holding onto the pole with Dad.

Here he is admiring the quality of his reel.

We really loved this spot! The fishing wasn't any good, but the view and the sound of the river flowing was the best!

All of that fishing sure wore Damon out!

I wanted to get a shot of the kids with the scenery in the background, but the pictures honestly do not do it justice. It really was beautiful here!

The kids always think they need to pose. Such goofballs!

And more posing!!

We had a great time out here. We fished, the kids rode their bikes, and we also played a little baseball. Once we get another camping trailer, we will definately be making this spot a regular camp spot. It was such a relaxing place, I didn't want to leave.