Thursday, April 30, 2009

GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY

While surfing blog land today, I came across a video that was made showing last nights ground breaking ceremony for the new Pasco Stake Center. Thank you JAN & HEATHER (and the family who made the video) for posting this video. For friends and family from afar, enjoy this inspiring video. Click here or here. Press Forward!!


On a side note, this is my 99th post since I started blogging. I feel a giveaway coming on for number 100. Hmmmmmm . . . stay tuned.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Happenings

I have not been in the blogging mood this week, but I have a few things I wanted to share so while I am still not really in a bloggy (is that a word) mood, here I go.

Jacob

Last Friday, Jacob was able to test for his purple belt in Tae-Kwon-DO. I, unfortunately, was out of town and was not able to be there. Kevin said he did a GREAT job and in the end he did receive his new belt. Like I said, I was not there hence, no pictures. Well, I take that back, Kevin ATTEMPTED to take some pictures, but you can't see what's going on in any of them. So I have no pic to post but Jacob is very excited!! He now has 4 belt levels left, the fourth one being black belt.

Okay, so Kevin was able to get one good shot. This is my cousin Rey's daughter, Savannah, with Jacob.


KAYLA

Mark this date in history. Monday, April 20, 2009. Kayla Amaya Olson was finally brave enough to let Kevin take the training wheels off of her bike and guess what? She did it! Right off the bat. Kevin held her for like 2 seconds, literally, and she was off!! The first thing she said this morning was, "Can I go outside and ride my bike?" Guess where she is at right now?







KELSIE

We have found more and more, that Miss Kelsie definitely has the Olson gene in her. See exhibit A below. Lorrie, how many pictures do you have of Kevin falling asleep in the most random places? Even some with a cookie in his hands, I believe. This picture was taken as I came out of my bedroom and Kelsie was waiting for me to get ready so we could go to good old Wal-Mart. The trip to Wal-Mart did not happen that afternoon.






ASHLEY

Ashley? you say. Well, Ashley has always been more of a daughter than a sister to me. Last Friday, I accompanied her to Pullman which is why I missed Jacob's TKD testing. She was accepted to WSU in the fall and is very excited. They were holding cheer tryouts last weekend, and this was something that she really went back and forth about. She has cheered since she was 12 years old on a competitive team and is very good!! She just wasn't sure if this was something she could do in college. She knew the competition would be fierce, and she was right. It was quite an adventure.

We stayed in Clarkston, WA because that weekend also happened to be Mom's weekend and all of the hotels in Pullman and Moscow were booked. We, Lisa, Ashley and I, headed out for Pullman from Clarkston at about 8:45 am with our GPS in tow. THANK GOODNESS!! If it wasn't for Jane, that is what we named her, we would never have made it. Tryouts started at 10:30. We arrived "on campus" at about 10:00. We parked bear Beasley Coliseum and then we thought, "Now what?" We knew what building she was suppose to be in, but know idea where it was. None of us had ever been to the campus before and we didn't know what to do. Luckily was ran into a girl who also was looking for the building, but she had a map. We followed her lead and after literally hiking across the entire campus we arrived at the right location at approximately 10:25!! It was a closed tryout so Lisa and I could not stay, but we walked in with Ashley as she checked in and took a look around. Our jaws dropped. There were 36 girls there. They were all equally amazing and beautiful!! I was instantly intimidated for Ashley. I looked at her and smiled and wished her luck, she wouldn't let me hug her in front of everyone, and Lisa and I turned around and walked out.

We were both VERY worried for her. We made our way back to our car and Jane told us how to get to Moscow to do some shopping. The tryout was to last until 8:00 pm. We got to see her at noon when we took her some lunch and when we asked her how things were going she just said "Good". You have to understand how nervous and sick to my stomach I was. "Good" didn't cut it for me. We left again and had to just wait the entire day, but Lisa and I had a really good time just waiting. At about 2:00 I got a text message, "Made the first cut." Fewww!! What did that mean? That meant that out of 36 girls, only 18 were left. She got past the tumbling and jumping part. Now it was on to stunting, dance and cheer. There was also and interview. After about and hour or so. I got another text, "Can't stick any of my stunts. Not doing well. I am the worst one here. Don't think I am gonna make it." How do you respond to that? I called her right a way. She only had a few minutes on a water break. I asked her what was wrong she said she had no idea, she just couldn't hit any of her stunts and all of the other girls were right on. She also said that there were 9 returning girls. So basically if there are 12 on the team and 9 of them are returning, there are only 3 spots left and 6 girls are going home. Odds aren't looking so good. I just told her to go out there and do what we all knew she could do. She's been to Nationals TWICE. She can handle this. Kevin also had given her a blessing before we left and he blessed her with the ability to do all of the things that she has worked so hard to learn. I just KNEW she had it in her. We talked for a while and I tried to just be as encouraging and positive as I could be even though I was dying inside. Lisa and I strategized about what to say and what to do and what not to do if she was cut. This would be a VERY long car ride home. We had it all planned out. At about 4:00 it was time for the actual stunting tryout, before it was all practice and warm up. I got a text at 4:30 - "Hit everything perfectly." Lisa and I screamed. We were so excited! By this time we had left Moscow and were now just walking around campus just waiting for some news. Now she had to wait for all of the other girls to go their turn. Two of the girls fell. By this time Lisa and I had wandered into the building where tryouts were being held and just walked around and sat in a few classrooms. Just waiting. 6:15 text - "It's really close. They are making 4 of us do the dance and cheer again." Uuuugghh! Who knew that cheer tryouts would be such and intense emotional roller coaster!! We could hear the music going, we could here them chanting. We made our way into the hallway next to the gym and waited and waited and waited. At about 7:15 we saw the coach come out of the gym. She walks past us. About 10 minutes later she walks back past us again, this time she has a stack of folders/packets in her arms. This was it! I just knew that those packets were for the girls who were on the team. She walks into the gym and again we wait, watching the door, listening very hard. We see and hear nothing, no screams, no cries, nothing. About five minutes later, a girl comes out crying. One. Then two more walk out very upset. Two and Three. My palms are sweating. Another one walks out. Four. Her mother says, "This is not going to be a fun trip home, is it." We stare down the hallway at the gym door very impatiently. Two more storm out while sobbing into their cell phones. Five and Six. Lisa and I stare at each other. Where's Ashley? What happened? What's going on? Did she make it? No. She must be really upset. She doesn't want to see us yet. Then finally after about another five or ten minutes more girls walk out and in the middle of them is Ashley walking towards us. She is walking slowly with her head down arms crossed at her chest. The hallway is dark so I can't see her face. She starts walking a little faster, I see something in her hands - the packet. We make eye contact. She finally reaches me, "So, did you make it?", I say very impatiently. She nods her head, YES!!!! I am blown away. Speechless. I burst into instant tears. I can't even stand up straight. I can;t even tell you how I felt at that moment. I was proud, full of joy, overwhelmed, jealous, excited, tired, you name it!! I hugged her and cried for what seemed like a very long time. She did it!! We made our way back to the car. She sent out ONE text. Her phone IMMEDIATELY starts BLOWING up with text messages from her friends. I am still in shock. This little girl has accomplished almost everything I have ever wanted to do myself, but never had the opportunity to do. I love her so much, I don't think she will ever really know how much. So now, Ashley is officially a WSU Cougar. We are all excited for her. Way to go Ashley!!




This is Ashley on February 9 when she opened her Acceptance Letter to WSU.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

SPRING BREAK

This past Spring Break our family took the best vacation ever. You know it was a good one when your kids are already asking when we get to go back. We went to Silver Mountain in Kellogg, ID. It was PERFECT! We stayed at the Morning Star Lodge, it's kinda like a condo, for the whole week. We had our own kitchen and even a washer and dryer. The bathroom was huge. We had a one bedroom suite with a queen sleeper in the living room area. The kids loved sleeping together on "the couch". If you have never been there or heard of this place, you seriously need to check this place out. It's not very expensive, and there is a Wal-Mart right down the road. The first night we got there we went to Wal-Mart and bought all of the basic groceries we would need for the week. And then on Tuesday the fun began.



Here are the three of them in their cool sleeper sofa bed.




Do I need to say anything?


This was the view from our balcony to the indoor water park. Yes, it snowed and snowed and snowed!! The boys were very happy!! You will see why.



This is us on Tuesday morning on our way to the water park. In our swim gear, in the snow. Nice!



I had to get one good group picture before they all ran off in different directions!



This water park truly ROCKS!! There is something for everyone here. A toddler area, three water slides, one of them being a family raft ride. A Flo-rider surf/boogie board area, hot springs, hot tubs, water basketball, lazy river. It was awesome!!



This is Jacob playing with Kelsie in the toddler area. Kelsie was a little overwhelmed by it all and was very timid about going in the water. The older kids were so good about playing with her and making her feel comfortable.



Kayla on the toddler slide. Do you love her goggles?


This is how Kelsie spent most of her time - Watching all of us on the Flo-Rider.



This is how Kelsie spent the other half of her time.

This is what the boys did on Wednesday and Thursday morning. They were running a special - Buy an adult lift ticket and youth were FREE if you were staying at the lodge. The adult ticket was only $10!! SCORE!



My boys!!




Jacob had a great time, he was very sore the next day.



Kelsie's "job" while at the water park was making sure that all of the tubes on the lazy river stayed neat and organized. It was hilarious watching her try to line them up and keep them straight while people kept taking them and dropping more off!!


They played and played . . .

. . . and played some more!!

Isn't he tricky!!??

Jacob and I on the lazy river.



They had a hot tub on the roof of our building. Kevin and the kids thought it would be SO COOL to sit in a hot tub, on the roof, while it was snowing!!

That water was REALLY HOT compared to the temperature outside!!


Relaxin' after a LONG day.


Everyone is exhausted . . .




. . . except for Kelsie.

It was a GREAT week and a very memorable vacation. It was so convenient to be able to go back up to our own space to have lunch and dinner. We made our own pizzas one night and spaghetti another night. We had ice cream and a Wii Tournament that, of course, Jacob won. Our kids have asked if we can go there this summer or for Christmas. We are definitely going to go there again.

Enjoy some video of us on the Flo-Rider. Of course every time someone had a "good run" we never had the camera going. Of all of us, I think Kayla was the best one and of course I only have her one bad run on video.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Look out MoTab

Pay no attention to the unfolded laundry on the couch, watch the ADORABLE 2 year old singing her new favorite song after she plays shy. ENJOY!


Monday, April 6, 2009

Catch Up

Spring break was GREAT and I have a lot to post about, but I thought I would take it one step at a time and start slowly.

Before we left on vacation, Jacob had his District Pinewood Derby Race. It was so funny to watch him before the race. He was so nervous. He knew there would be so many boys there with really great cars. He said he just wanted to have fun, I was just hoping he would win at least one race. Luckily, he did. He won two and lost two and had a lot of fun. He didn't place in the top three, but in his own words, "I had a great experience Mom!" Here are a few pics of the evening. Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Olson for making the trip down to watch!!







Can you see how nervous he is? It was so cute!!!



Three generations of Olson Pinewood Derby "Champions".

I LOVE this picture!!