What we've been up to...

I have really fallen behind on this blog. My summer has been taken up with worry and planning for Girl's Camp. (I was called as the ward Camp Director) So now that camp is over, (YAY!) I can finally get something else done. The last post I made was about Blake's birthday, (which was way back in March) so I guess I will just pick it up from there. So here goes....

*Warning, what you are about to read is quite long! No hurt feeling if you don't read it all!*

Easter

We had a pretty fun Easter this year, especially cause we got to spend alot of the time with my sister Jenna and her family, who were in town visiting from Peru. They spent Easter day with Glenn's family, but they stayed at our house while in town so we got to see them for the most part while they were here. Before Jenna got here, we had a Easter party with our friends and their families. We got together and had a huge Easter egg hunt. The amount of kids that accumulate when we are all together is just ridiculous. Here's a picture of most of them all together...

I'm pretty sure there were more there that didn't make it into the picture.

Damon hunting for eggs

Ashlyn hunting for eggs

Blake at the egg hunt

The kids

Then on Easter the kids got to hunt for their baskets that the Easter Bunny hid...

Damon coming down the stairs to start the hunt

Blake searching

Ashlyn searching

Noone can find theirs. The Easter Bunny hid them good!

We finally give Damon some help and tell him to look out in the backyard...

He opens the curtain to look

Still looking

He fianlly sees it!!

Blake finds his in the oven drawer

Ashlyn finds hers in the bathroom

We had lots of fun hanging with Jenna's family. We wish they could have stayed longer.

Next, I did the unthinkable!!!

I CHOPPED ASHLYN'S HAIR OFF!!!!

Ashlyn had been complaining about her hair for quite some time. It was always getting tangled, and if it wasn't braided every night she couldn't sleep cause it would get stuck underneath her and get pulled. And lets not forget to mention how she would have to bring her hair to the front everytime she sat on the toilet so that she wouldn't poop or pee on it. She was just sick of it. I finally took her in and got 10 inches cut!! She even got to donate it to Locks of Love. She was really happy with it. Terry on the other had was not so happy, to say the least. Well, we've all gotten used to it, though I really miss her long hair!!

This year, Ashlyn decided that she wanted to take just tumbling instead of dance. So I signed up her with a lady who is the cheerleading coach at one of the local high schools, who teaches tumbling and cheerleading on the side, out of a gym at her home. It was a fun change, though she has already decided that she wants to go back to dance this year. She had an end of the year performance that I got a few pictures of...

Here's Ashlyn waiting for the performance to start.

(It's really grainy cause we took it from the top of the bleachers and just zoomed in)

Waiting some more

Doing a trick

Another trick

After the performance with her friend Ellie

(One side of Ashlyn's braid came out in the middle of the performance.)

Ashlyn with her friend Kinlee

Next on the list....

Soccer

Once again Ashlyn played soccer. She has gotten to be quite the little soccer player. Like most years, she was the only girl on her team, which doesn't seem to bother her a bit. I was really sad recently, when it was time to sign up for soccer for this upcoming fall, Ashlyn told me she didn't want to play. I'm really not sure why. The only thing I can figure is, this year is the first year where they split the league up with the boys in one league and the girls in another. She has played every year with her 3 friends who are boys (Cade, Charlie, and Max), and this year she was going to be on her own. I was really disappointed in the change. Not only does Ashlyn not want to play now, but if she had decided to play I wouldn't have my friends sitting on the sideline with me cheering our kids on. I actually asked the league organizer during signups if there was any way they would let a girl play in the boy league. She of course told me no. Regardless, I am hoping she will miss it once the season starts and will decide to sign up for the following season. She had just started to get good. Here is a team picture I stole while the photographer had them lined up for a picture. (I was too cheap to buy the photographer's picture this year!)

The two boys right behind Ashlyn are her friends Max and Cade. And the boy on the top far right is her friend Charlie. We will sure miss playing ball with them!

Next we had Ashlyn's 6th birthday.

This year Ashlyn wanted to have a sleep over for her party. I was a little hesitant but decided to go ahead and do it. We had to wait a week after her actual birthday (May 25th) to have her party because her birthday fell on Memorial Day weekend, and we figured not many friends would be able to come then. So on her actual birthday we decided to have a get together at Leo's Place and invite a few families to join us. My sister Aja and her family were actually able to come as well cause they were in town visiting some of her husband's relatives. I didn't get any pictures at Leo's, but I do have a picture of Ashlyn with the present she got from us that day...

Ashlyn got a brand new pink four wheeler!

She was super excited and loved that we got her a pink one.

A week later we had Ashlyn's sleepover. I was disappointed in the lack of how many girls showed up, but Ashlyn didn't seem to mind and still had a ton of fun.

Here is the super cute invitations that my friend Lindsey made for Ashlyn's sleepover.

Ashlyn with her treat table

I made the girls each a ribbon dancer. They had a ton of fun playing and dancing with these down in the basement.

(Ellie, Hailee, Ashlyn, and Kinlee)

More ribbon dancing

Opening presents

In June we started tball and pitching machine. Let me just say, I was so glad when the season ended. I signed Blake up for the Ammon league cause that is where he played last year and I really liked the league. I was going to sign Ashlyn up in Ammon but a friend of hers mom was coaching a team in the Iona league and wanted Ashlyn to play on it. I was hesitant to have Blake and Ashlyn in two different leagues but went ahead and did it anyway. What a bad choice! Alot of their games were at the same time, or right close together.  So I was running from one field to the other all season, missing alot of Blake's games. I won't be doing that again next year! And of course as crazy as it was I never did get any pictures taken.

Last but not least

4th of July....

We had a pretty fun and active 4th of July week. All of Terry's brothers were in town. So each day we had something going on. We had lots of sleepovers with cousins as well. Every single night we had either a kid staying over at Grandma and Grandpa's house with cousins, or a whole bunch of cousins staying at our house. It was alot of fun. The boys did alot of golfing. We went jet skiing at Blacktail. And we lit off fireworks. The last day that we were all there together, we took the kids up to Heise to golf, eat pizza, and swim. The kids had a great time with their cousins and were really sad to see them all leave.

Ashlyn and Sophie in their 4th of July outfits

Closeup of their hair. They wanted to be twins that day.

The boys

Blake hitting the ball

The prettiest golfer there ever was

All of the cousins

(Minus the "Georgia" cousins)

All the cousins with Grandma and Grandpa

All of our families



Blake turned 8 forever ago!

Yes, this post is way overdue!

Blake had his 8th birthday on March 4th. Rather than having a huge birthday party where we invite everyone, we decided to keep his party small and just invite a few of his friends. He decided to invite his friends Dallin, Colby, Austin, and Seth. Once all of the boys got to our house, we took them to Blast Off, where they played on the big playland, and arcade games. They had a ton of fun, and even included Ashlyn in on the fun!

Here's the whole crew playing in the ball pit.

(Dallin, Colby, Blake, Seth, Austin, and Ashlyn)

Here's the very handsome Damon, playing in the ball pit. He had a blast!!

After we had enough of Blast Off, we took the boys back to our house for pizza, cake, and presents.

Blake got tons of really nice presents, but there was one that was definately his favorite...

HE GOT A KINDLE FIRE!

Can you tell how much he loved it!?!

And just so that you aren't confused... No, he is not some genius 8 year old who loves to read, this gadget is all about the games for him. We debated over getting him this or a Nintendo DS, but we decided that he would eventually get bored with the DS, but that he could always use the Kindle, even when he gets older. And the above picture is pretty much what the rest of the night went like. At least he let his friends have a turn!!

Blake's actual birthday was on a Sunday, so we had Terry's parents over for a small little party.

Here's what he got from them...

Yes, he got super spoiled this year!! He loves his new bike!

Finally, the following Saturday was his baptism!

We were really excited for him. Only a few family members were able to make it, but we also had some close friends come to support Blake on his big day. We had the baptism in the morning, then afterwards we had a luncheon with all of the people who came.

Here is all of the family who came.

(Top row:Beau, Ricky, Dad, Mom, Me, Terry, Bonnie, Larry, Caleb, Daniel, and Aja. Bottom row: Ashlyn, Damon, Blake, Jaedyn, Joslyn, and Caitlyn.)

I was disappointed that I didn't get a picture with all of the friends that showed up!!!

Our family

We are so proud of Blake for deciding to be baptised. We have definately seen a change in is attitude since being baptised. And we are so grateful to those who came out to support him. And I know there are many who would have also loved to come but weren't able to. So thankyou to everyone!

Are you kidding me!?!

Today has been one of those days. You know... the ones where you would rather be anywhere but here! As if a normal day isn't enough to drive you into wanting to throw yourself from a window of a 10 story building. Between constantly cleaning up after Damon, to fighting with Ashlyn about actually eating some real food for a change, and glancing at the bathrooms that have needed cleaning for days. These are normal days... but today we had some things added to the bliss of our everyday lives. To start things off... Terry left us this morning for Boise, and won't be coming back til Friday night. (Thats right serial killers... we will be home alone for the next 3 nights.)  But as Terry drives away to what I can only imagine to be a quiet few nights without hassling with the kids, I am sitting at the table feeding Damon a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles. Terry had just finished telling Damon to "be good for Mom", when Damon gets this sweet little smile on his face, reaches over, and purposefully knocks the entire bowl of cereal right into my lap. I just sit there stunned. Its one of those things where you have absolutely no idea what to do next. I can't sit at the table covered in cereal all day, but if I stand up and try to make my way over to the sink, I just leave a trail of cereal and milk behind me to clean up. So I eventually get up and spread the mess across my kitchen. Once I got every thing cleaned up, I go and throw the clothes I had on in the washer, which consisted of one of my favorite softball t-shirts that I have held on to since highschool, and let them wait there until I was ready to put a full load in later. So the rest of the day goes on like normal, until about 3 when I realize that I need to wash Blake's new Cub Scout uniform cause he had Cub Scouts tonight. (this is a brand new shirt that he has yet to wear and has been quite excited about wearing.) So I grab it and throw it in, along with the rest of the darks I have laying around waiting to be washed. That consisted of a few things from everyone's laundry basket, but also every pair of jeans that fit Ashlyn right now. Later as I go to grab Blake's shirt out of the dryer so that I can put his patches on before he leaves to go to scouts, I am shocked at what I see! There was a bundle of crayons sitting on the top of the load, rubber banded together, and completely melted. And all of the clothes were sporting a new calligraphy of colors. I wanted to cry! Not only was Blake's brand new shirt ruined, but every last pair of Ashlyn's jeans were in there along with a favorite hoodie of mine, and a favorite hoodie of hers! I did not know what to do. I called a few people to ask if they knew what to do, and I looked online. I've tried a few things to try to get all of the stains out, with no luck, and I am making one last attempt at the moment with a washing solution in the washing machine right now. I sure hope it works!! And whether it works or not, I still have to clean out the dryer that is also sporting a variety of new colors. Fingers crossed that my kids and I survive these next few days without Terry!!

The Olson Family

This year Terry's brother Cordon, who lives in Atlanta, decided it was time to bring his 4 kids up here for a visit. They decided they wanted to come during the winter so that they could do snow activities. So the first day they got here, Terry's mom rented out the church and we had a big family get together with extended family. The next day, we decided to take the older kids skiing/snowboarding. I was super excited to go skiing cause I haven't been in years. Unfortunately, the morning we were going, I walk into Damon's room to find him and his bed covered in diarrhea. So that meant I had to stay home with a sick boy, while Terry and Blake went skiing with the other kids. I was disappointed, but Blake had a great time. He decided he wanted to snowboard. Terry said Blake had a bad fall pretty early in the day, and was ready to just quit. But Terry made him keep trying, and he ended up getting the hang of it and had a blast. Terry didn't manage to take any pictures though. The next day we all went up to Island Park and stayed the night in Terry's uncle's cabin. It is such a nice cabin and has tons of sleeping room. We played in the snow and snowmobiled the whole time we were there. It was alot of fun.

Ashlyn playing in the snow.

Ashlyn and Jackson.

They buried Jackson in the snow.

 Cute Bently

The beautiful Miss Kassidy

The handsome Taylor

All of the cousins that made it to the cabin.

The sweet Damon

The beautiful Miss Ashlyn

The day after making it home from the cabin, we had family pictures taken by my friend Julie Denning. We were hoping to get a full family picture, but unfortunately Terry's brother Trace and his family were unable to make it down for the weekend...

All of us.

(Excuse the pregnant looking girl on the right. Looks like she is retaining water or something, though I can assure you she is not pregnant even if she does look like it! UGH! Please tell me why my face looks so huge!)

Grandma and Grandpa with all the kids.

Our cute family



Valentines Day

This year for Valentines Day, we decided to keep it simple and spend the evening at home with the kids. The weekend before, Terry and I went out to dinner and a movie and decided to just count that as our Valentines date. The morning of V-day, my friend Mindy took all of the little girls in the neighborhood, and did there hair in this really cute french braid that was in the shape of a heart. The girls loved it, and were so excited to all be going to school with the same hairdo...

Here's the front view of the hair.

Hailee, Ashlyn, Ellie, Emma, and Danika

(this was the end of the day, so their hair got a bit messy before the picture.)

And the back view.

For dinner I decided to decorate the table all festive...

I made french dip sandwiches, and heart shaped rice krispy treats. And because there were candles on the table, the kids insisted on turning off every single light in the house so that we could eat by candle light. It was romantic!

Lakers Game!

A few weeks ago Terry was able to score his company's season tickets for the Jazz game on the night they were playing the Lakers. Terry has always been a Lakers fan, and has turned me into one as well. It was such a fun night! We stayed the weekend at my parents' house in Clearfield and caught the train at the Layton station and rode it down to Salt Lake. We were soooo excited when we got to the stadium and saw how awesome our seats were! We were on the fourth row from the court, and right to the side of the Lakers' bench. So we were practically right there by the Lakers. It was so fun! The dork that I am kept yelling out Kobe's name so that he would look at me, but he never did. I would like to assume that he just couldn't hear me, rather than he was just ignoring me. The kids were back at my parents' house watching the game and saw us on t.v. several times. So once again being the dork that I am, as soon as we got back to their house, Terry and I watched the game again so we could see ourselves. Yep, we are cool! We did see ourselves but weren't as up close as I had imagined. In fact, if I had known how far away from the camera we were, I wouldn't have been so self concience while eating my personal pizza, with fear of being caught on t.v. stuffing my face! Oh well, lesson learned. Anyway, here are the few pictures I was able to take while at the game. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of ourselves....

We pretty much just took pictures of Kobe. He's our favorite. I did get some more pictures, but they turned out pretty blurry.

Blake finally lost a tooth!

That's right.... my big 7 year old just barely lost his first tooth! This boy has been hoping and waiting to lose a tooth since he was 5. His front two bottom teeth have been loose for a while. In fact, his adult tooth is almost completely grown in behind it. I took Blake to the dentist for a checkup, and the dentist told us if these two teeth weren't gone by his next visit, (which is this month) he would have to have them pulled. Each costing $60. Terry decided he wasn't going to pay the dentist to do something that we could do ourselves, so he told Blake that if he could get them out himself, he would pay him $20. So Blake started working on getting it loose. Once it was ready to come out, Blake let Terry tie a string around it and pull it out. It worked! So his first tooth came out on December 23rd, 2011. So Blake had a pretty exciting couple of days. The Tooth Fairy came, then Santa came the night after! Since taking this picture, Blake, with the help of Terry and a string, has managed to get the other tooth out as well. Thanks to Blake for saving us a total of $120! Although, I'm pretty sure Terry still owes him the $20 he promised him. The Tooth Fairy brought him $5 a tooth, so by the time he gets paid by his dad, he will have made $30 for 2 teeth. This boy sure knows how to make some money. All I can say is, I'd rather keep it in the family than give it to the dentist!!