There's nothing like sittin by the fire...

Terry has worked REALLY HARD on our yard since buying this house. One of the projects that has been the hardest is our fire pit. He has collected stones and set them in one by one like a puzzle to create a beautiful stone patio with a fire pit. This took alot of time, and he finally got it finished just in time to use it a couple of times. We were able to roast marshmellows for smores one night and then another night we roasted hotdogs for dinner.

Here Terry and the two big kids relax around the fire.
Then Terry set the camera timer so I could be in it as well.
(Damon was naping so he wasn't in the shot. Love you Damon!)

Here is an upclose look at the pit. Isn't she a beauty!

Then a couple days after those pictures were taken we wake up to this...

Yep, snow came early this year! At least we got a little use out of the fire pit!

And the kids weren't too disappointed in the snow. They built snow forts and had a snow ball fight,

This snow storm was just the first of many to come, we've had lots more and the kids have been loving getting all their snow gear on to play in it.

I'm sick of it already and can't wait for it to melt so we can enjoy our backyard again! Spring can't make it here fast enough!

Oh how I miss...

So, don't get me wrong, I love my life (most days), I love living here in Idaho (most days), and I wouldn't change the way things are, but some days I just get a little "home sick". Most of you know that I was born and raised in Louisiana and lived there until I graduated high school. I lived in the small town of Westlake, lived in the same house, and had the same friends my entire life. And on some days, like today, I start missing some things and really wish I could just go back and visit....

Oh how I miss...

1. Maw Maw Fruge and her delicious cooking, like gumbo, crawfish ettoufe, and the best roast ever. I miss living a block away from her and getting to see her and hear her "oh so thick" cajun accent whenever I wanted.

2. Maw Maw and Paw Paw Nope. Every Sunday after church we would take a nap, and then get woken up to go have dinner at their house. I miss going to garage sales with them. Paw Paw always had bubble gum in his pocket and would hand it out at church to all of the little kids in our ward. Paw Paw also replaced the tooth fairy, he paid much better than the tooth fairy ever would.

3. Having holidays with both sides of grandparents. We all lived in the same town so they never missed seeing what Santa brought us Christmas morning.

4. Thunderstorms. Oh how I miss that sound! It seemed like we would get one every other day, and now I never get to hear them.

5. Warm weather. We never had much of a winter, mostly just cold fronts that would pass through and leave it cold for maybe a week or two, then go right back to being warm.

6. Tornados. Yes this is a weird one!! I never want to see people or homes get hurt or destroyed, but I would always get such an adrenaline rush everytime we had a tornado warning.

7. The Westlake warning sirens. Westlake was surrounded by chemical plants, and on every Monday at noon, the town tested the warning siren system that warns people if there is a chemical spill, and as weird as it may be, I just miss hearing it, probably because it was just a part of my childhood.

8. Night plan. As a kid, all of the neighborhood kids would do what we called the "Night Plan", which is staying out after dark playing games. Like hide and seek. It was the best!

9. Riding my bike to the snowcone shop.

10. The food. Some of my favorites were... Popeyes friend chicken, Casa Manana, Pronia's, Tony's, Picadilly, and I can't remember the name, but it was the seafood restarant that had the best smothered okra. Yum!

11. The bridges. There were two bridges you could use to get from Westlake to Lake Charles, and I guess I miss them for some reason.

12. Softball tournaments. Softball was my "big" sport, and there was nothing better than spending an entire weekend at the softball field with all of your teammates.

13. The accents. Most of you probably wouldn't believe that I had a THICK southern accent. I was probably the worse in my family. But living up north has taken it away. Sad I know!

14. Yes mam and yes sir. You would never hear someone NOT say mam or sir in their sentence. And if they did their parents would probably slap them across the head! It was very disrespectful not to use mam or sir. I miss that so much. When I first moved to Utah, I was obviously still in the habit of saying it, and I would get weird or rude looks from cashiers or whomever I said it to, almost as if I was implying that they were old or something. So I dropped that habit very quickly! Man how I wish Idaho could adopt that habit. Its just so very polite!

15. Trees. I never realized how many trees there were until I moved away. The interstates and highways were surrounded on each side with trees. My house had huge trees everywhere. Here you have to live in a very old house or up on the mountain if you want any trees.

16. Humidity. When we took a trip to Hawaii recently, I came to realize that I actually miss humidity! It kinda felt like being home at times when I would hear the wind blowing through the trees and feel the humidity on my skin. I really didn't know I missed it until I was back in it.

17. Crawfish boils.

18. Cajun/Zideco music. I didn't listen to it much, but I recently heard some of Wayne Toups old songs, and it just brought me back home.

19. Lightning bugs. (or you may call them fireflies.)

20. Summer nights.

Well, I could go on and on about the things I miss, there are so many, and mostly it just made me feel better to write a few of them down. The south is really a completely different world. The lifestyles are just so different. (Some of it good and some not so good!) There are lots of good people that I miss down there, though I have met tons of great people here. I love living here and raising my kids here. I just need to buckle down and plan a trip to visit my old town so that I can stop feeling so home sick!

Halloween

We had a good Halloween this year. We were pretty busy. To start it off we went to Blake's school for a Halloween carnival. The kids wore their costumes and enjoyed games and a spook alley. Here are a couple pictures we took before heading out.

Ashlyn is a witch and Blake is a ninja.

About a week before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. They turned out pretty good...From left to right...

Blake's: Skull, Terry's: 3 Skulls, Damon's: Happy Face, Aubrey's: Sad Face, and Ashlyn's: An Owl perched on a tree.

(I'll take autographs later for my mad modeling skills!)

Next we went with a couple of our friends to "Boo at the Zoo." It was really fun. They had the zoo decorated really cute and the kids got to get some candy. Normally when we go to the zoo, the lions and tigers just lay around, this time they were up and roaring, and kinda charging towards the fences. They were obviously spooked by something. It was pretty exciting!

Blake wore his Darth Vador costume from last year cause we heard that the Star Wars characters would be there. So we had to make sure little Darth got a picture with big Darth.

Next is Halloween night. I have been really disappointed with the way they do Halloween here. Everyone just goes to the church and "Trunk or Treats". I find this to be rather lame! Yes, the kids get tons of candy, but it just isn't the same as going door to door. It feels like you are just in a line the whole time (which you are), and then its over in like 15 minutes. Its great for the parents but not so much fun for the kids. So I think next year while my neighbors "Trunk or Treat" we are going to find somewhere to really "Trick or Treat". Nonetheless, here are pictures we took Halloween night of the kids...

A witch, sock monkey, and ninja

Close up of Damon.

The full costume

Sad little sock monkey.

And a scared little sock monkey. Terry was scaring him with the "infamous" gorilla mask! Ashlyn was terrified of the mask for years, now it is Damon's turn!

The Death of a Few Animals

*Warning, the pictures and discriptions below may be disturbing to some viewers...

It has been a slaughter house at the Olson's lately.

Everytime I turn around, another member of my family has killed something...

Meet Susie, Charlie, Sandi, and Roxie.

They were just swimming around in Henry's Lake minding their own business, when these two innocent looking kids came along, and snatched them up out of the water. We fried them up a few days later and enjoyed them with some yummy funeral potatoes!

Meet Stan and Dan.

They were galloping around in a beautiful meadow when yet again, this innocent looking boy and his dad came along with rifles. (I think you can imagine what happened next.)

They are currently at the butcher shop being turned into jerky.

Last but not least, here's Bob.
You can probably guess what happened to him.
But man, he sure looks happy in his pictures!

I appologize if I seem heartless in this post. I am actually a HUGE animal lover, and there is a reason why I am not seen in any of these pictures. I would never be able to shoot one of these animals, but the boys enjoy hunting, so I allow it as long as we eat the meat.

This has been a lucky hunting season. They were all killed within just a few days of eachother. (And I'm not complaining cause that means Terry is done hunting for the year. Yay!)

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...