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.