November

November is the beginning of "The Holidays"

for the Olsen family.

***

Jason and his Veteran co-workers

had Veteran's Day off of work.

So what do a bunch of men-boys

do on their celebrated day off?

1.  They met at the gas station that was giving away

free doughnuts and soda.

2.  They went to the hills of Saratoga Springs

and shot things with guns (old pumpkins and such)

3.  They went to Applebees for free lunch.

4.  They played 9 holes of golf.

5.  They went out for a free dinner.

A full day of war-vets bonding time.

I wish I had a picture of their group.

But all I got was a picture of the aftermath

of the truck 4-wheelin through the muddy hills.

We got our first big snow.

I really don't like the cold,

luckily I'm married to Jason who

loves playing in the snow with the kids.

Lyla loved being in the snow,

but had a hard time walking from one place to the next.

Jason has his very own tradition

that on the first big snow of the season

he has to build the biggest snowman he can.

Lyla kept on patting the snowman,

she thought he was great.

Another one of Jason's "first snow" traditions

is that he has to build a big ramp for sledding down.

***

Jason ended up having the Wednesday

before Thanksgiving off.

I found out that the Disney "Tangled" movie

came out that day.  Jason said that I could

take the boys and he would be more than happy

to stay home with Lyla.

I loved the movie, it was adorable.

***

Our Thanksgiving weekend

was busier than normal.

It was my siblings turn to be with the in-laws.

So we had a quiet dinner at my mom's without any cousins.

I went Black Friday shopping with my sisters,

which is a Thanksgiving tradition

and Jason took Carter tree hunting which is another tradition.

This year we had the truck, so they went up farther

onto the mountain than previous years.

They hiked until they found the perfect tree

It was GREAT to be able to throw the tree

into the back of the truck

instead

of wrapping a tarp around it and

tying it to the top of the pilot.

After finding the tree,

Jason came and picked me up in Orem

so that we could get back up to Aunt Michelle's

for Thanksgiving with his Mom's side of the family.

Jason's sister was suppose to come in from Washington,

but because of all the crazy blizzards

they decided to post-pone their trip for another time.

She had tickets to the Utah vs. BYU game on Saturday.

She was kind enough to give them to Jason.

It was really cold this Thanksgiving weekend.

I really didn't want to find a babysitter to go and

sit in the cold for 3 hours,

so I suggested Jason take Carter to the game.

Carter got to ride Front Runner for the first time.  

At the game

They had great seats, on the 4th row

This was Jason's first game,

they had a great time and want to go back.

October

October was a busy one for our family.

We harvested all of our vegetables,

and our one little watermelon

(which was very tasty)

Jason had a weekend off

(never happens)

and we needed some family time.

So we went on a stay-cation to Orem

Why Orem?

Because my Dad was celebrating his

60th birthday at the ol' Golden Corral

Saturday afternoon.

Yup, that's Alice on TV,

we watched the Brady Bunch while waiting

for our pizza to be delivered

Carter received his Bobcat

and a bunch of belt loops

at Pack Meeting.

He loves Scouts!

We knew the bad weather was coming on Saturday

so Friday we took one last visit to the zoo.

Carter DID NOT want to go,

so we let him bring a friend.

(Carter was at school all day and wanted to stay home to play the wii,

Jason and I often comment that he has such a hard life.

His parents made him go to the zoo, seriously?

Rough Life!)

Dallin had his field trip to the pumpkin patch again.

We had to stay longer to go through the hay maze a few extra times.

Our annual pumpkin carving went like this:

Mom and Dallin and Lyla decorate the pumpkins

with our potato head pieces

while

Dad tries to get Carter excited to carve the pumpkins.

He wouldn't touch the seeds, but did do a bit of carving,

enough to satisfy Jason anyway.

I decided for Halloween, I wanted to have a little party.

So my sisters came up with their families

and we had yummy soup and sandwiches before trick-or-treating.

Everyone was telling me to put on a costume.

So I threw on a wig and a t-shirt.

I'm Clark Kent or something.

(funny how you throw on a wig and everyone is satisfied)

Jason is a mechanic

Carter is Indiana Jones with his shirt busting open from his muscles

(Carter is very embarrassed of his costume,

but I thought it was hilarious

I bought it and told him he was wearing it...again, a rough life)

Dallin is Venom or the black spiderman

and Lyla is Minnie Mouse.

We had a great Halloween.

This year my kids didn't count down the days like they did last year.

I was kinda bummed,

I think they're growing up a little too fast.

***

I've been busy in the scouts.

We had some big "Den Meetings" in October.

I've learned to like it.

I was hoping when I learned to like it they would release me.

That hasn't happened, so now I'm thinking

when I break down and buy a scout shirt they'll release me.

I don't have any plans to buy a scout shirt.

I wouldn't mind staying in until I get Carter in my group.

So here's to another year and a half!

And if I'm still in after that, I'll buy the scout shirt and see if that works.

Looking back to September

Sitting in my warm house with 8 inches of snow outside,

I was looking back at these pictures and really missing

going outside without a coat.

Here are some highlights of September

***

Our annual camping trip

with my family.

Jason & I took second place in the Ladder Golf Tournament



Kelly braided Lyla's hair, it stayed out of her face all day!

When we got home LATE Saturday night

we found Jason's car like this.

We don't leave our cars parked on the street anymore.



Jason's busted windows.



My sweet Dallin loves school



Dallin started his second year of pre-school



Jason tried to talk Dallin into staying 4 forever,
but he was ready to turn 5

After searching for the perfect cake
and only finding babyish options,
 we decided to make our own

Olsen birthday tradition says that you get to pick out
your own balloons on your birthday. 
Dallin chose Harry Potter.

September is always Utah's Governor's Day.

They have so many fun free activities for the kids.

Carter coming down the zip line at Governor's Day



The kiddos checking out the Blackhawk



Lyla jumping on the bouncy obstacle course.





August in an unorganized nutshell!

Here are our family adventures in August,

in a very unorganized sort of way.

***

August came with its hot weather

and we decided to get up

to them thar mountains

for some fresh air. 

We did luck out with a couple

of thunder storms that brought

lovely rainbows,

 which made for perfect weather for

practicing ninja moves.

The big event of August was hiking

Mount Timpanogos

I was nervous that Dallin would get tired

too quickly, but he hiked the whole trail.

If we stopped to rest for too long,

Lyla would want out of the backpack.

Once she's out, its hard to get her back in.

So our breaks were short and sweet.

Dallin was a trooper, I'm so proud of him!

When you get to a certain point,

you have to leave the baby hiking backpack behind.

Lyla loved walking, but she made me

nervous, getting too close to the edge.

Quick story...

We had to stop on the side of the trail for Dallin to pee.

We reached the bathroom, which was the last

chance to use the bathroom and we made him pee there.

(He had his own camelback and drank like a camel.)

After being in the cave for about 5 minutes

he had to pee again. 

We looked around and decided that

it wasn't appropriate to step off to the side

and pee on the stalagmites,

he was going to have to hold it.

Two minutes later Lyla pooped.

Our cave guide was quite the storyteller

and in our opinion and because of our circumstances

she was very long winded.

We made it out of the cave and the guide

pointed Dallin to an emergency bathroom

and I found a bench to change Lyla.

Hiking down the trail

we were all exhausted, but Lyla especially.

I am so proud of all of us for making it to the top!

Mount Timpanogos has made it into

my top 5 highlights of the year!

The next week we took the boys on their

first fishing trip to Pineview Reservour.

Dallin was afraid of the waves

and felt more comfortable sitting on the sidelines.

I decided last minute that it wouldn't

be a bad idea to throw in the life jacket

for Lyla. 

Good thing,

turns out she isn't afraid of water.

Dallin and I played in the sand

and I reassured him every time a boat went

by that the waves wouldn't get us,

we were safe on the beach.

Only one fish was caught on the trip,

and it was caught by the fisherman with the most experience.

I was thrilled I wouldn't have to eat it.

Then Carter started his first day of third grade.

I haven't heard great things about his teacher,

but so far everything is going good.

I was really nervous for him,

but decided after meeting her

I needed to give her a chance and not pre-judge.

The soccer season has begun!

Carter & Dallin's games overlap,

so Jason and I are taking turns

going to their games.

I didn't know how Dallin would do...

but to my surprise,

he's turning out to be quite aggressive.

So aggressive in fact,

when it was my turn to go to his game

I had to pull him aside during half time

and give him a talk about not

pulling the other kids down and

to stop pulling on their jerseys.

His reply was, "Dad said I could if they did it to me."

That reply has led to some family discussions on the matter.

Carter has done really well.

They have young kids referee

and it is a lot more organized.

He even scored a goal at his first game.

He's really good at controlling the ball and

passing to his teammates when they're open.

However...

he gets discouraged when he is open

and his teammates don't pass him the ball.

He informed us after his last game

that soccer is boring and he doesn't want to play anymore.

My $75.00 tells me that he's going to play

and he's going to like it!



I also turned the big

31

this August.

I'm not really sad to report that there

weren't any pictures taken of this event.

I'm bummed that I'm officially

IN MY 30'S

and not just 30 anymore.

It's pretty sad when you see someone

and think they're

WAY

older than I am

only to find out

they're my age.

Pretty irritating if you ask me,

not to mention

that I'm pretty sure my metabolism has taken a dive.

On a good note,

wait...

I forgot what that good note was.

I guess that's another bonus of

BEING IN MY 30'S

Our growing garden

When Jason asked what I wanted

for Mother's Day, I told him,

"A Garden!!"

So we picked out a nice corner

of the yard and got started.

We had to rent a sod cutter

to get rid of all of the grass.

After the grass was gone,

Jason started to build the boxes.

Then we had to haul in over 5 truck loads of dirt

We bought just a few starters

and the rest were little seeds.

And something crazy happened...

those little seeds started to grow...

and grow...

and even produce!!

We look forward to our,

"garden walks"

every evening. 

Dallin loves looking at the progress of the garden

and Lyla loves picking "bah-duh-bees" (strawberries) and peas

and eating them right away.

Carter likes watching the pumpkins turn orange

and our one little watermelon grow

(which I'm not sure what that

little watermelon is going to taste like)

***

If we leave for a weekend, we usually

come home to a giant zucchini.

We're pretty inexperienced

when it comes to gardening.

Our peppers just barely have little babies growing,

and the broccoli plants are huge, but no florets yet.

It has been so much fun for our family,

and I hope as the years go by that

our garden will not only produce

loads of good healthy food for our family,

but loads of fun family memories too!