My Secret!

I've had a secret the last several weeks. We are expecting another baby! It is due on Dec 27th. We had our first ultrasound today. It showed everything is going well so we are ok to tell people now. After having 4 miscarriages I have learned it is easier to put off telling people. I am 10 weeks and 4 days along. We told the kids today and they are all soooo excited! They all want a girl except Isaac. He is hoping for another boy.

Air Show 2012

We went to the air show at Hill Air Force Base over Memorial Day weekend. It was so awesome! We go every time they have it as a family and we all love it.

 This was the first plane we got to walk through.

 And this was the second plane we walked through.

 With how bad the weather was I was amazed that these guys actually jumped from the plane!

This year we didn't get to enjoy much on Saturday because it started to rain really hard. We came prepared for the rain. We all had raincoats and umbrellas for our chairs, however the rain that came was like flash flooding or a Monsoon or something. We had over an inch of rain in the cup holders on the stroller in about 5-10 minutes. Needless to say we got completely soaked and decided to go home when there were reports of lightning. We were parked near the front gate in Layton and had taken the shuttle to the show entrance. By the time we got to the shuttle pick up location the lines were huge! At first I was thinking maybe they would let us on sooner because we had little kids and they were completely soaked, shivering and turning purple, but then I looked around and everyone else was in the same boat. Some of the kids there were in shorts, short sleeved shirts, and sandals. We decided not to wait for the shuttle and just walked to the van. It was quite a walk, especially since the sidewalks on the base are not stroller friendly, but I am so glad we decided to walk. My cousin said they waited for the bus for about and hour before getting on and then it was another 1 1/2 hours before they got off base. We were able to get off base in about 45 minutes to to 1 hour from the time we decided to leave. We were all very upset that we had to leave so we decided to go back on Sunday. Normally we wouldn't attend something like this on a Sunday, but we felt it was important for us to go. Jared has been working a lot since his surgery and he had taken this day off so we could go and to have it canceled was upsetting to say the least. We came a little more prepared for the weather on Sunday and I am so glad we did! We each wore a tee shirt and a sweatshirt, and we took our warm coats and raincoats. We got to take some pretty fun pictures and the kids had a blast!

 This pilot was so awesome! He talked to all the kids who came to him. Ever since Jacob was old enough to talk he has told us he wants to be a fighter pilot. This guy talked with him for several minutes! He was on cloud 9!!!

 We found our stroller rain cover to keep everything dry, including the little one.

 The kids had a lot of fun with these guns!

 Then they all got to take a turn "driving the jeep".

Jacob

Isaac



John




Jared



 As we were getting ready to set up our chairs it started to rain so we headed for the hangar where they had a movie playing and took shelter until the rain stopped. Then we went and set up our chairs. We brought some plastic sheeting normally used as a painting drop cloth and clipped it to our umbrellas and chairs. I am so happy we did that because the rain came back... ...then it started to hail!! We stayed warm and dry this time!

Our shelter

Then we got to see the awesome show. It amazes me what these pilots can do with these airplanes and jets!

 Mig fighters

 THUNDERBIRDS!!! We LOVE the Thunderbirds!

I have a bunch of video's that I was going to insert, but I think I will just insert the one of the Thunderbirds for now. If people comment that they want the others then I will insert them later. Most of the music in the video's is obnoxious and they are made with clips I took with my cheapo camera and just put them together in windows movie maker so they are not professional by any means, but they show some awesome things these pilots can do!



We all had a lot of fun and eventually the sun came out and we got sunburned. Crazy weather.

CRAZY

It has been so crazy around here the past couple of weeks. On Sunday April 22 my husband woke up at 4:00 am with a really bad stomach ache. By 6:00 am we knew we needed to head to the ER. After being there for 7 hours and a CT scan they couldn't find what was wrong so they sent us home. After another 6 hours at home his pain got real severe again, so off to the ER we went. This time (and a new DR thankfully) they did a lot more tests and decided that it was probably his gallbladder. They admitted him at 3:00 am on Monday morning. The surgeon came in Monday morning and still wasn't convinced that was the problem for sure. We had been to the ER one month prior for the same thing (they found nothing) and sent us home with pain meds. The pain meds had slowed down his bowels and he had a blockage, so they cleaned him out real good on Monday and did some blood work on Tuesday morning. When the surgeon came in on Tuesday he said it was definitely his gallbladder and scheduled him for surgery later that day. We expected the surgery to take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When the surgeon got in there it was a lot worse than he thought and it was a tough surgery. It took twice as long as anticipated. I was getting way worried because no one came and told me what was going on until almost 3 hours after he went into surgery. The surgeon gave me some pictures of the surgery and explained that when he finally was able to find the gallbladder it was encased in tissue that he had to peel off it. Then whenever he touched the gallbladder it would squirt blood all over. After he got it out and opened it up, it was full of peanut sized stoned, was gangrenous, and eating away at his liver. No wonder the poor guy was in so much pain!! He stayed in the hospital until Wednesday evening. We got home around 5:30 only to remember Jacob had pinewood derby with the scouts at 6 and we still hadn't finished his car! It was painted yellow and he wanted it to look like a Mr. Goodbar so I got out a black Sharpie and wrote Mr. Goodcar on the top, hammered on the wheels and off we went to the derby. Jacob had a lot of fun and I am glad we were able to semi finish his car.

As if all this wasn't enough to deal with in one week, my landlord called Thursday morning to tell us he was having someone come and pick up the fridge he left here (that we have been using in the kitchen for almost 2 years) on Saturday sometime between 12 and 3. Yippee Skippy, now I get to figure out how to get the fridge from the garage into the kitchen and live without my "milk fridge". On Saturday Jared's aunt came over to help me and we managed to get it all cleaned out and moved around by 11:40. O and Thursday in the middle of the night my 3 year old came down with the stomach flu.

That was a rough week. On Monday I had an appointment in Bountiful that I had rescheduled from the week before and while I was there Jacob's school called and said that he had thrown up all over himself and needed to be picked up from school. WHAT?! I was so hoping none of the rest of us would get it! After we got all the kids home from school my other 2 boys started throwing up too! What a night. Well during the week we all ended up getting the stomach flu. I must say I don't remember ever being that sick before! I will spare you all the icky details and just say I lost 5lbs in 24hrs. NOT FUN!!

Now that it is Friday and we are all feeling better I get to tackle the mountains on laundry that I got so far behind in and consider calling a maid to detail the house, just once (although I probably won't), so I can get caught up and counted again amongst the living!

I must say how grateful I am for family, neighbors, and church members who have brought in meals, watched my kids, and the many offers of help they have given. I truly couldn't have gotten through these weeks without them!

Easter 2012

We have had a lot of stress the past few weeks so the secular part of Easter was kind of put on the back burner. A few years ago we started giving the kids fruit instead of candy in the Easter baskets.

This has gone over very well and we also have the Easter Bunny come on Friday night instead of Saturday night to help keep the real reason we celebrate Easter sacred and special. This year the note left with the fruit basket said, Thank you for the carrots Olson family. I have hidden one small thing for each of you. Love the Easter Bunny. He sure hid it well this year. The boys searched for about and hour before us older people got up, and then it took them another half hour with help from me to find the chocolate orange left for each of them. They actually thought it was pretty funny that the had such a hard time finding it!

Morgyn and I made Washi Paper Eggs. They were fun to make and turn out beautiful! I made the ones on the left and Morgyn made the 4 on the right.

Then on Easter, Morgyn got to speak in Sacrament meeting and told the Easter story of Jesus Crucifixion and Resurrection. She did a really good job! I am so happy my kids understand the true meaning of Easter!

I SURE LOVE THESE KIDS!



Happy 10th Birthday Jacob

Jacob had his 10th birthday on the 15th of March. Since it was so close to St. Patricks Day we had that be the theme. First Isaac had a Leprechaun Lunch at preschool the same day. We made green biscuits and cut them in half. Then we died the peanut butter and honey green and made sandwiches. He also took a green apple and green M&M's. He loved it.

Then I had to hurry home and finish Jacob's cake. He wanted a Lego cake so to fit it in the leprechaun theme I made it into a rainbow made of Lego's with a pot of gold (yellow M&M's) at each end. It turned out pretty cute, but it wasn't very stable so I had to support it before it fell over.

We had the Republican Caucus meeting the same night as his birthday so we had to get right to his party when the kids got home from school. Their dad had spent the day planning a treasure hunt. There were 24 clues and it took them almost 2 hours to complete, but they had a lot of fun!

This is the treasure they found out in our camper at the end of the hunt.

Then it was time to open the presents. John made this for Jacob all on his own at the neighbors house.

 Jacob now gets to go to Webelos in Scouts. He is so excited! He LOVES Scouts!

 This is the quilt I made him. He has known about it and been really excited about it. I am a little disappointed with it because it is way to busy, but I used the fabric he wanted and he loves it so I can live with it!

 He has wanted some handcuffs for a while and Grandparents Makin gave them to him with some play-doh. He was pretty excited!

I am happy that we are done with birthdays for a few months. Now maybe I can get some there stuff done. We don't have another one until September, then I get to start all over again!

Jared Had A Birthday, Shout Hooray!!

My baby just turned 3 so I guess he's not a baby anymore. At least that is what he keeps telling me. I have a wonderful husband who goes all out to make the kids birthdays a fun day for them. We played a bunch of games including:

Hoop-it-up



Touchdown Pass




Target Practice




Test Flight




Frog Flinging Contest




Zoo Keeper Surprise

  Then they usually have a treasure hunt of some sort. This year Jared's favorite movie has been Harry and the Hendersons. He absolutely LOVES Harry! So my hubby designed a treasure hunt around him. He told the kids he found this note on the door and Harry had been here and lost his toys. He left notes wherever he went so he would be able to find them.

 After finding all the little notes telling them where he had been they finally found Harry's toys! There was another note with the toys telling the kids they could each have some of Harry's toys. They totally loved it!



Harry's Toys

  Then hubby made balloon animals for the kids...and hats...and swords.

 Then little man got to open his presents. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said, "pants, and socks and you know that kind of stuff." I am so blessed with kids who are happy with just the necessities!

 I did have a surprise for him though! After saving points from all the diapers I have bought over the years it finally payed off. We got this bike for free! He was pretty darn happy about getting a bike!

He loves to play with cars so my mom bought him this carpet car mat. He loves it too!

 Then finally we got to the cake I made. He loved that he got to keep all the "worker man twucks" as he put it.

All in all, another happy birthday has come and gone. Another child gets another year older. Is there anyway to keep them little a little longer?