Catching Up

Wow, the time is going by so fast this year. I'm way behind on my blogging. Since I got my new job where I'm typing for 4 hrs a day. I just don't feel like getting on the computer as much.
Anyways a lot has a happened in the past month or so. First of all there was Halloween. The kids and I helped with a trunk-or-treat sponsored by the mayor's re-election campaign. The kids got to pass out the candy to everyone who passed by. Then we had to stop and get more candy, since we gave a way most of what we had. Then we hurried home to go trick-or-treating. My brother Anthony's family came down to go with us, and my friend Loretta and her kids went with us also. I was so excited to see how Adam would re-act to it all. Once he figured out that all you had to do was walk up to the door and knock and people would give him candy, he was do excited, he kept showing me his candy and saying 'mom wook canny!" it was so cute! I thought he would probably only want to do one or two streets and then he'd be tired. But nope, he kept going and going, even Ryan got tired before Adam and went home. I think we were out for nearly two hours. He probably would have gone longer if we would have let him. Here are some pictures of the kids in there costumes. For some reason I didn't get one of Jason, but he dressed up as one of the "men in black".



Tad's Birthday:
We celebrated Tad's Birthday on Nov 19th. The day before we all went to dinner at one of Tad's favorite places. KFC it was yummy. Then we came home and open Tad's presents he got one of those retro Atari game systems (he's so old) it's even more low-tech than I remember but still fun. He also got tickets to the BYU vs Airforce game that Saturday. We had cherry pie instead of cake. It's Tad's favorite. On Tad's birthday, as soon he got off of work we went to Park City to stay the night at the time share. We still had a voucher for a free night, that we got after the whole fiasco there on our anniversary. It was nice and quiet there on an Thursday night, hardly anyone was there. It was nice. They even upgraded our room for free. It was so nice, it had a full kitchen, to big screen tv's, a steam shower and a jacuzzi. It was awesome. We went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, YUM. Then we spent the rest of the evening in our awesome room. The next morning we cooked ourselves some bacon and sausage for breakfast and then headed home. It was so nice to get away from life for a little while.

Thanksgiving:
We held Thanksgiving at our house this year. Tad's mom is having a lot of health problems and was unable to do it. It was a lot of work so I reallly appreciate what she did for us in past years. We had Tad brothers family and his parents come over. The turkey turned out great and so did all the other food. I was kinda nervous since I had never cooked Thanksgiving for Tad's family before. I have for my family, but for some reason it's different. It was nice to see everyone and visit and catch up on all the family news. Sometimes we feel so out of loop, so it's good be get updated on things.
We also had a bonus Thanksgiving at my brothers house on Saturday. It worked out good cause when it's the " in laws" year we don't usually get to together , but my sister was already in Utah with her in laws so we decided to do it. Friday my Sisters family and ours went to watch "The Christmas Carol" in 3D. It was awesome, it was scary in some parts though, Adam didn't want to wear the 3d glasses. But it was really fun. Then they stayed at our house that night and my sister and I stayed up talking till after midnight. It was so fun to see her and her family again. Thanksgiving at my brother Anthony's house was nice, cause I didn't have to do any of the work and mostly just got to relax and watch BYU beat UTAH and tease my brother - in law Ron about it. He is a huge Ute Fan, so its so fun glout when BYU wins.
Well now it's the countdown till Christmas. Oh I forgot to mention that I got up and 2:30am on Black Friday and when shopping with my friend Loretta. It was so much fun! And I got some awesome deals!! It was crazy but worth it. Well I guess that's about it for now.

Just Bragging

I just wanted to brag about Ryan. He has worked really hard over the past 3 yrs in scouts. And last Tuesday he earned his Webelos Rank Advancement, his Religious Square Knot and his Arrow of Light. We had an awesome pack meeting, where " Jungle Safari" was the theme. The leaders decorated the stage with all kinds of animals and they played cool "jungle music" in the background. There were four boys that got the Arrow of Light that night. They did this really awesome ceremony where they gave the boys an Indian Head dress with a few small feathers in it. Then they told a story (which I can't remember all of) but they gave each boy a different color feather for each thing like faith and courage etc. Then they had them walk across this yellow bridge to the 11 yr old scouts and their leaders who were waiting on the other side. It was so cool. I took some pictures, but as usual the quality is terrible. I really need to get a better camera. But you can still kinda see what it was like. My mom came so there's a picture of her and Ryan. We also invited our Home teacher, Brent Beckstrom and his wife Debbie. We are so proud of Ryan.

Ryan's Birthday Party!

So we just celebrated Ryan's 11th Birthday. The plan for him to invite a friend to go with our family to this place called Liberty Land. Dayna and Jason have both been there before and told Ryan how fun the laser tag was, he was so excited to go. We went the Saturday before his birthday, but when we got there, there was a lock on the gate and it said they were closed. I called my friend to look up the hours they were open and she found out that it was closed indefinitely due to lack of financing or something. Ryan was so disappointed. So we had to find somewhere else to go. After discussing many different options, we decided to go to Kangeroo Zoo. It's a place with tons of those big blow up slides and stuff. I think Ryan still had fun, but lazer tag would have been better for sure. On Ryan's real birthday we had a family party. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he told me he wanted a Strawberry Shortcake (which happens to be my favorite) He really likes Spongebob so I asked him if he was sure he didn't want a Spongebob cake, but nope he wanted Strawberry. I guess he's outgrown those character cakes, how sad, I wish my kids would stop growing up so fast. For his birthday he got a spelling game from my mom, a skateboard from Jason, 2 pairs of jeans from Dayna and Adam and a video mp3 player from Tad and I. He was a happy camper!

A Little of Everything

So much has happened in the last month so I thought I would blog about a little of everything. Just a warning this is REALLY long!
First off at the end of August we found out that Tad's Grandma died, she was 92 yrs old, Tad's Grandpa is still alive and is also 92. They mostly raised their family in Idaho and then they retired to St George, they lived there for about 5 yrs, when their health started to deteriorate there daughter moved them to Washington so she could take care of them. She wanted to buried in Idaho. After talking to family it was decided she would be buried there on Labor Day weekend, it ended up being two weeks after she died. I've never seen any one wait that long to bury someone, but the whole family was there. It was a really nice service, I was mostly just sad for Grandpa, he looked so lost. They had been married over 70yrs, I don't think he will live much longer without her.
On Sunday August 30th Tad & I had an appointment with our Stake President. We knew that they were probably going to release Tad as Bishop, since he had served just over 5yrs. The whole Stake Presidency was there when we walked in. They asked us how we were doing, and we told them about Tad's grandma, but that everything else was going well. The Stake President then said, the reason they asked to meet with them, was that they would like to extend a release to Tad. I felt my heart drop, even though I knew it was time. They said all these wonderful things to us and thanked us for our service. As we left the office I felt so sad for some reason. All the next week I just kept crying about it and dreading for Sunday to come, but of course it came. I walked to to the chapel and saw Tad and his counselors sitting on the stand. I knew it would be the last time I saw them there, and I started bawling like a baby, I couldn't stop. I cried the whole sacrament meeting, I knew I was going to have to bear my testimony and when it was my turn. I was still crying. I don't know what I said really. It was so hard to talk. Tad bore his testimony after me and he held it together much better some how. When they sustained the new Bishopric they asked them to take their seats on the stand. Tad came and sat by us. I just cried on his shoulder even more. After sacrament meeting we stayed in the chapel to watch the new bishopric be set apart. I am happy for them and I know they will do a great job. But I was still sad for Tad. The whole next week I was still sad. You would think I would be happy, I mean I get my husband back. He will be able to sit with us and not have all those meetings to go to Sunday morning. After much soul searching and talking to many supportive friends and family. I realized I was sad because, supporting my husband for the last 10yrs he's been in a Bishopric has been such a big part of my life. Now it is gone and it's like you mourn that life you had, because from now on things are going to be a lot different. You wonder who will still want to be your friend and who was just friendly to you because you were the Bishops family. I have to find my identity again, I don't know who I am anymore and I feel lost. I have to find a new purpose in life and become a different person almost. I'm slowly adjusting to it. It's definitely been nice to have Tad home more and having him sit with me last Sunday was nice. This whole adjustment thing is weird, but good weird if you know what I mean. I know it will just take time. Tad has done really well with everything so far, he liked just going to High Priests last Sunday and sitting with me in Gospel Doctrine class. I'm glad that he is handling everything better than I thought he would. Maybe it hasn't sunk in for him yet. So I'm trying to be prepared if he does start feeling lost. I hope they give him a new calling soon.
Next on to happier news. Dayna got asked to the Homecoming Dance. It was a boy named Chandler, she met a school. She said he was just a friend of hers. She didn't like him like a boyfriend thing just a friend thing. I found out that he liked her more the other way. So I thought it would be and interesting date. They had a group of 8 that went together. They do the whole day date and night date thing now. We never did that when I was in High School. But they went to movie and then went home and changed and then went to dinner and the dance. Dayna looked like Cinderella to me, she was so beautiful. She had a really fun time at the dance. I took a picture of her and Chandler before they left which I will post on here. I just can't believe my daughter is old enough to date. I starting to feel really old.
Next thing, I was talking to my friend Adelle (who happens to be the new bishop's wife) the other day. I knew that she dabbled in photography and asked her if she would like to practice by taking some pictures of my family. She said she'd love to and told me that there was this really cute park in Cedar Fort that we could go to. So we scheduled a time and went there. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the pictures turned out. She did such a great job. I have them posted on here also.
Also this September our little blue Honda Civic blew a head gasket and I thought that was the end of if for sure, it wouldn't be worth the money to fix it. So I put a little message on Facebook that my car was gone for good. My friend Tammy saw my post and said she might be able to help. This guy friend of hers was a mechanic and was willing to see if he could fix it for a lot cheaper than we thought, another mechanic had quoted $600-800. This friend of hers Mark called around. He ended up getting the crack fixed instead of having to replace the whole engine. He practically took apart the whole car to do it and spent probably 10 hrs at my house working on it. After all that he only charged us $300. What a blessing! I didn't know how I was going to survive without a car all day everyday. Also a little before this happened I was talking to my friend Tammy about how I need to find a job and that I wished I could find a data entry job I could do from home. She said she knew a girl who did something like that and home and that she would ask her about it. To make a long story short I applied with the company and a week later I had the job! I start on Monday and the training is only for a week and it's at night, so I don't have pay for a babysitter or anything. It couldn't be more perfect. It's another blessing. We have been blessed so much lately. I thought that once Tad got released all the blessings would stop too. But that hasn't been true. We've been blessed more than ever! I am so lucky to have the friends and family that I have. They are so good to me.

The Dentist, The Elevator & The Firemen

After procrastinating getting my kids into the Dentist before school started. I got them an early 8am appointment. I was really nervous about my boys teeth expecially because they don't brush them very often and not very good when they do. Dayna is pretty good at brushing hers so I wasn't that worried about her. After exams, I couldn't believe it but Jason & Ryan only had one cavity each, but Dayna had five cavity's and a broken crown. Dayna was so upset at how unfair that was, but unfortunately she has a small mouth and her teeth are really close together, my boys have bigger mouths and their teeth have space between them. Darn genetics. Anyway I was finishing up some paperwork and told Jason & Ryan to take Adam out the car. Dayna and I came out a few minutes later and got in the car. Jason said "where's Ryan?" and I said, "I thought he came out here with you and Adam". Jason said he went back in, so I told him he probably had to go to the restroom or something and to go in and get him. Jason checked the restroom on the main floor of the building, but he wasn't in there, so he went to get on the elevator to go upstairs, he pushed the button but nothing happened. Then he heard a noise coming from inside the elevator and realized it was Ryan crying. He told someone that Ryan was stuck in it, and they told him they would call the fire department. Jason came out to the car and told me what happened, so I went inside and talked to some of the employees, they said the firemen should be there really soon. I could hear poor Ryan crying in the elevator, so I talked to him through the door and told him that Firemen were on their way and he would be ok. He calmed down. I couldn't help but laugh a little with the other people there, we knew he would be ok, but Ryan was scared. When the firemen got there, they had this special key that opens the elevator, and Ryan ran right out into my arms, I hugged and told him it was ok now. The fireman asked him if it would make him feel better if they let him sit in the firetruck and see what it looks like. Ryan said ok, so we all went out to the firetruck, I took pictures of my kids inside the truck and then one of them outside the truck with the firemen who saved Ryan's life. I am really grateful they were able to get there so fast and took the time to try to cheer Ryan up. Ryan doesn't look to happy in these pictures though.

A Little Crying Can Go a Long Way

My hubby and I recently celebrated our 18th Anniversary. It ended up being quite the adventure so I just had to blog about it. First of all this summer has been pretty tight for us financially so I wanted to find a way to celebrate our anniversary without spending a lot of money. Traditionally we have always stayed at a nice bed and breakfast or hotel for our anniversaries. I didn't think there would be anyway I could afford that this year, but I started searching the internet for good deals. For some reason felt I should check KSL classifieds since you can find pretty much anything on there, maybe even a cheap hotel room. I came across an ad stating that this guy had some free hotel vouchers that he gets from this hotel that he and his wife frequently go to, they give these buddy vouchers and they still had a few left. So I called up the guy and the only stipulation is that you had to listen to a 90min time share presentation in order to get the 2 free nights. Sounded good to me. So he emailed to vouchers over to me, they were for the Westgate hotel in Park City--very nice. He recomended that I call and make a reservation so I did that so I thought it was all ready to go right? NOT!
When we got to the hotel to check in there was one couple ahead of us in line. We were standing pretty close so we could hear what they were saying and we heard the hotel employee tell them they were lucky since they just got the last room. I looked at Tad and said, don't worry I have our reservation confirmation email right here. So we walked up to the desk and the employee proceeded to tell us that there were not any more rooms. I asked her how that was possible since I had a confirmed reservation in my hand. She said that a bunch of the "owners" showed up at that day because of a wine tasting festival and that they have to give the rooms to them first. I was so mad at her! I started yelling at here and telling her how we drove a long way to get there and it was our anniversary and that they can't just tell people when they get there that they don't have a room, and what horrible customer service that is and how I would never buy into something like that if that's how they are going to treat people. She said the only thing she could do was give a voucher to another affiliate hotel, she said it was a 3 star hotel instead of a 5 star (rubbing it in our face i felt like) she said the vouchers were good for both nights since they didn't have any room the next night either. She also told us if we stayed at the other hotel and didn't like it, we could return the other voucher to them and the would give us $50 for it. I was really upset when we left for the other hotel and when we got there it looked old and dumpy. We checked in and when to our room which was equally old and dumpy and smelled funny. I put my bags down and when in the bathroom which was like a cracker jack box. Locked the door and sat on the toilet and just started bawling my eyes out. I was so disappointed and upset, this was nothing like I had planned or anticipated. Tad finally came to the door and asked if I was ok. I opened the door and told him I was sorry and that I would try to pull myself together. I was about 9pm and we hadn't eaten dinner, so I said lets go get something to eat, then maybe I'll feel better. Tad was so patient with me and he pointed out that even though we didn't get to stay at the other hotel, we were still together, and away from home. We just grabbed something quick from Arby's and went back to the hotel (by the way we ordered these orange creamsicle shakes, they were delicious!) I had brought a few DVD's to watch, but of course, there was no DVD player in the room, big shocker! So we watched some dumb movie on tv and tryed to make the rest of the night as good as possible. The next morning we knew we still had to go the the time share presentation or they would charge our credit card for the crappy hotel. On the way to the presentation, I told Tad that all I already felt bad for the salesman who got us, cause I was not going to be nice! I was expecting some young savvy salesguy to come out like the others I had seen. But and older mexican gentleman came out and called our names. He showed us a little buffet of food and drinks and pointed and a table to meet him at. We just grabbed a drink and sat down. I pretty much sat there with my arms folded and showing no interest. Tad was trying to be nice and listen. After about 10 minutes, the salesman asked us how we enjoyed our stay last night (obviously not knowing what happened) and that was it! I was going to go off on him! but instead I just started crying, and blubbering about what had happened to us. I was so embarassed! But I couldn't help myself. Carlos (the salesman) his face just dropped and you could tell that he is one of those men who can't stand to see a woman cry. He told me that he felt something was wrong but didn't know how to ask, so he appreciated that I would open and tell him what happened. He reached across the table and touched my hand and said" Mrs. Olson, I promise you that I will fix this for you and get you a night here a the hotel. I told him that if it wasn't that night then it didn't matter since it wouldn't be our anniversary anymore. I had mascara running down my face and asked him if he had a tissue. He left for a few minutes and came back with some. He told me that he talked to his manager and for sure they would get something worked out for that night. I started to feel a little better, and we went on the tour of the hotel, it was awesome, they have three pools, a fitness center, arcade game room, a restaurant a little grocery store and a Salon/Spa. When we walked in the Spa I told Carlos that I had never been to Spa before. He couldn't believe it. I said when you have 4 children theres just no extra money for stuff like that. We saw what some of the rooms looked like, there was one that had a jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom, I jokingly said "I want to stay in this room tonight" When we got done with tour. We sat down an talked some more about the time share, there was no pressure which was nice. I actually really wanted to buy into it by the end. The manager came over and said he need to talk to Carlos for a minute. When Carlos came back he had some papers in his hands. He handed them to me and said, there is a voucher in there to stay here tonight. I also felt bad that you have never been to a spa, so I gave you a $100 voucher to the spa, so you can feel special on your anniversary. They also gave us $75 voucher for dinner in their restaurant. As we left, he said I hope that you feel a little better now, I gave him a big hug--he was just one of those fatherly types. And told how much I appreciated what he did for us and how he saved our anniversary. There was still a little time before we could check into our room. So I went to the Spa and had my first pedicure ever, it was awesome! Tad played arcade games and checked out the fitness center. Then we met up and went to check in. When we walked in our room I couldn't believe how beautiful it was, and guess what was in the master bedroom, you guessed it a Jacuzzi! He got us the room I wanted. It was an amazing night. (I'm sure you don't want the details) The next morning we got up and made ourselves a nice breakfast since it had a full kitchen, and then we headed home. It was so nice to get away so you remember why you got married in the first place.

A crazy 4th of July

For the past few years we have celebrated the 4th of July with some friends of ours, they were the ones that introduced us to all the awesome things they do down in Provo for the 4th of July. This year they couldn't go with us so we invited my brother Anthony's family to go with us. Anthony ended up having to work , but the rest of his family came down. Our day started out early, we left at 5:00 am so we could get down to the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. We decided that it would be a good idea to save a spot on the parade route first and then go watch the balloons (we've been spoiled past years, our friends family always camped out on the parade route the night before and saved us a spot) we started driving up and down the parade route trying to find a spot anywhere. I couldn't believe how hard it was, but we finally found a pretty decent spot and set up our chairs and blanket. Then we headed for the the balloon rising. We barely got there in time, but it was awesome. We usually eat breakfast there in the park, but the line was so long we decided to get Krispy Kreme Donuts. My sister in law Jeanie and I and the kids went back to the spot on the parade route and Tad and Jason went to go get the donuts. Our spot on the parade route was kinda far back from the road so the kids found a spot right by the road that was big enough for them to put a small blanket down. Tad and Jason got back right before the parade started. The parade started out really well we were just enjoying it. Adam was sitting by us but kept wanting to go up by Jason and the other boys. I finally decided to take Adam up to Jason and let him watch the parade up there. I went back and sat down by Tad. Probably about 10 or 15 min later Jason came over to us and said, "where is Adam?" I said what do you mean? I gave him to you to watch a little bit ago. Jason said he didn't hear me. Adam was no where to be found. So we spread out looking for him. It is the worst feeling to know that you don't know where your child is. I was praying so hard that we would find him. After about 10 min we still hadn't found him. So I told Tad I was going to try and find a police officer, I started walking the sidewalk and I saw that Jeanie was already talking to the police. I gave a detailed description of Adam and said I was going to keep looking for him, Jeanie and Dayna stayed with the cop in case they heard anything. We just kept looking for him, after another 10 min or so (which felt like 10 hours) I ran into Tad & Dayna and Dayna said the police officer told her and Jeanie that they found someone matching Adams description and that he was at the Red Cross tent that was 3 blocks down the road. Tad and I just started running as fast as we could to get to him. As soon as crossed the street I could hear him crying, I knew he would be so scared being with total strangers. I ran right over to him and grabbed him out of the Red Cross lady's arms. I was just so happy to have him back. They made Tad show them a picture of Adam to prove he was ours I thought that was strange since it was obvious we were his parents cause he stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. I was just so grateful to have him back. Everyone paid extra attention to him the rest of the day. After the parade we went to KFC and had a picnic at the Scera Park in Provo. By then we were exausted, we decided to go home and relax for awhile. My sister in law and kids went to go pick up my brother, so they could meet us later to watch the fireworks. After a long nap we met up in Sandy near the city hall, where we watched some awesome fireworks.

Family Reunion

We just had an awesome Family Reunion this past weekend. We met at a nice park in Kaysville.

My mom has two sisters and so this reunion was for them and their families It's was fun to catch up with my cousins and aunts and everyone. It's always amazing to see how much the kids grow every year. All 6 of us kids in my family were there with our children, we haven't all been together in a few years so it was nice to see everyone. We all had a good time together, they had a trivia contest on my grandparents, to see how much we knew about them, I learned some new things about them. We also played beach volleyball, basketball and there was a big waterfight and of course lots of food. I wish I had taken more pictures, but this is what I got.

Aunt Esther, Aunt Mary, Mom

These are my siblings and my mom

Randy, Me, Mom, Malinda,

Jeremy, Zach, Anthony

Ron (brother in law) & Tad

Notice the hats.

Brother Anthony & his son Aaron

Uncle Mark

All the grandkids

Dayna, Zoe, Alex, Eric, Austin, Courtney, Dakota

Ryan, Jason, Adam, Tyler, Aaron, Jordan, Breanna

cousins, Julia, Lora, Alicia

The whole family

Back row: Randy, Zoe, Jeremy, Jeanie, Anthony, Aaron, Mom, Tad, Me, Dayna, Malinda, Ron

Front row:Breanna, Dakota, Eric, Alex, Zach, Jason, Adam, Austin, Courtney, Jordan, Tyler

Me and my cousin Lesa

My sister Malinda and I

Adam's 2nd Birthday

I can't believe my baby is 2! We decided to give Adam a Mickey Mouse themed party. He's loved Mickey ever since he saw him at Disneyland. . I dusted off my old mickey mouse cake pan, which I think I've had since Jason was a baby. I haven't decorated a fancy cake in awhile, I used to do it all the time when my other kids were little, but I got kinda lazy as my kids got older. I went to pull out my cake decorating stuff and both my frosting bags were missing, I couldn't find them anywhere. So I sent Ryan to my neighbors house who does cake decorating, but she wasn't home, her husband was and he dug around and found one, I was so relieved. I filled it with frosting, but soon realized there was a hole in the side and the frosting kept ooozing out. I tried to tape it closed, but it didn't work. I only had a few hours till the party so I was stressing out. I called several neighbors but no one had any. I decided to try the first neighbor again to see if she was home, and luckily she was and she had another bag. I was saved! The cake was done in time and turned out wonderful. The party was supposed to start at 3:30, but both my mom and my sister -in-law who were the only family coming called to say they would be late cause they were stuck in traffic and construction (stupid construction). My plan was to have the party and then go over to the church for our ward Luau (then I wouldn't have to make dinner for everyone) Our good friends the Johnsons that live across the street came over it was about 4:30 when everyone was there so we only had 30 min for the party. It ended up being enough time though. Adam tried to blow out his candles, but he wasn't blowing hard enough so Tad helped him. Adam ate some of his cake and ice cream and didn't hardly make a mess--what a difference a year makes. He opened his presents he was excited to open each one, although you can't tell from the pictures I took. He does not like to smile for the camera, he always makes funny faces. After he was done opening his presents, we all went to the church. We ate hawaiian haystacks and watched a cute hula girl. She annouced that she would need some volunteers from the audience to learn a dance. So she pointed to Tad to come up and Brother Gray and Brother Randall (The Bishopric) obviously this was pre-planned. She had three straw hats and grass skirts for them to put on & then she taught them the hukee-lou dance. It was hilarious! Afterwards they had the kids go pineapple bowling and we had dutch oven pineapple upside-down cake for dessert, Yum! It was a great day. Here are some of the pictures I took.