Olsen Family

It's a.....

2009-09-15T12:58:00.002-06:00

BOY!!!

We had the ultrasound yesterday and found out we are having a little boy. We are so happy (especially Brandon!) and excited to experience what joys a boy can bring to our little family. We have already been shopping to buy him some clothes, ( I don't think he would like to look back at pictures of himself wearing pink!) and have been thinking about little boy names. We haven't been able to agree on boy names yet so we will see if he ever gets a name! Wish us luck!

Is this really worth it!?!

2009-08-20T11:23:00.005-06:00

Last night I attempted to take away Valerie's Binky...well lets be honest...I couldn't find it, so I decided there is no time like the present to try and break the habit right? Well it took her a minute longer to fall asleep, but she did fall asleep. I was really proud of both of us. That wasn't so bad after all! :) Little did I know what we were in for later that night. 3:30 rolls around and Valerie starts crying, I go in and tell her it is ok and to go back to sleep. She was quiet for about 20 minutes and then the real crying began. About an hour and a half later I finally decided to give in and look for her Binky....and look....and look...and look. By the time I had given up looking for Binky Valerie had apparently given up too and fallen back asleep. I think I lost a total of 3 hours of sleep...worth it...I think not! If anyone has any great tips that would be very much appreciated. (keep in mind I can't go back in time and try to break her habit at a younger age). Or maybe she will break the habit on her own when she gets to college and none of her other roommates are still sucking on their Binky's!!

"WOW...when did that happen!?!"

2009-08-10T12:04:00.002-06:00

....this is a direct quote from Brandon a few days before Fathers Day when I had him open an early Fathers Day present...what was the present you ask...a positive pregnancy test! Yep...you heard right...we are baking baby # 2 as we speak! This came to us both as a huge surprise, as you can see by Brandon's reaction. We were not planning for, or trying for this quite yet, but we are very excited and can't wait to welcome the newest member of our family. :)

Both Mom and Baby are doing well. We got to see the little tadpole in an ultrasound last month and everything looks good. I feel very blessed to say that I have not been very sick at all, but my tummy has already started protruding quite a bit, so maybe that is the trade off. I will keep you updated on everything pregnancy related. And maybe some tummy pictures soon.

Livin' La Vida Loca!!

2009-07-12T15:50:00.003-06:00

How does anyone ever handle how crazy life is!?! I haven't even had time to post pictures from Hawaii yet...I am in the process but I have one hundred and fifty million pictures to upload first!! But here is a quick update on our crazy lives:

~We officially have our house under contract!! YAY!! We have decided to build a house and I am in LOVE with it!! It will be just west of Baccus Highway so it is kinda far out west, but I think it will be an adventure! It is basically going to be our dream house. It will have 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms...plenty big enough to stay for a VERY long time. :) I will post pictures of the model home soon.

~We are packing up all of our belongings and putting most of it in storage. We are trying to find a place to live for the in between time, we close on our house Aug 7th so I feel like we are already running out of time!

~We are playing non stop with our sweet little Valerie who, is getting so big I might add! We love going to the park, her favorite thing to do is swing on the swings. As soon as she sees them she says "Weeeee!"

~Last but not least, we are spending tons of time with our families and LOVING it! We went to a Bee's game with my family yesterday and are looking forward to spending a long weekend with Brandon's family camping at our annual Tony Grove Extravaganza! We are also planning a trip to St. George with my family in August.

So life is insane and we are loving every minute of it.

To be continued....

Helping the people of Kenya

2009-06-22T09:49:00.005-06:00

My little brother Jeff and his friend Colton are in Kenya right now doing service. They are helping people there start up their own businesses. This business will change their lives. The average income for the people in Kenya is $1 a day. With my brothers help a person can go from making $1 a day to $5 a day. In order to help as many people as he can he needs to raise $10,000. I have put a widget on the side of my blog for anyone that can donate, even $5 would help! Or if you would like to help me out by spreading the word and adding the widget to your blog I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

P.S. Pictures of Hawaii to follow...as soon as I can get all 20 million of them uploaded. :)

~The fun of homeownership~

2009-05-18T12:47:00.002-06:00

We have been trying to do a few things around the house lately. Here are just 2 of the many projects that we have been working on.

Brandon decided to replace our old nasty faucet in the upstairs bathroom...I should have taken an "after" picture...sorry!

Valerie wanted to help out.

And in the process of replacing the faucet we had a big water leak that required Brandon to completely replace a huge section of drywall...SO fun!!

I am so grateful for a husband that can do these things! I don't even want to think about how much money we would be spending on home repairs if my husband wasn't so darn HANDY!!

Murder Mystery & Easter

2009-05-05T14:25:00.004-06:00

My sister-in-law Amanda told me the other day that I need to update my blog, I am not sure if it was a request or a threat but I decided to get on it right away just in case. :)

This is a murder mystery party that Amanda and Matt put together. It took place in a 50's diner and each couple was assigned a part to play. I had never done one before so I was really excited about it. It turned out great, everyone had a fantastic time!

Everyone all dressed up

I walked in the kitchen and this is the first thing I see!! Amanda you are hilarious! I am just way sad that the picture is blurry!

It was to hard to choose between the above 2 pictures so I put them both.

Nice side burns!

..Easter..

Valerie's first Easter egg hunt...she loved it! Stay tuned for pictures of her wearing her Easter dress.

Dinosaur Museum

2009-04-11T12:02:00.004-06:00

If you haven't been to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point you need to go! It was so much fun!! I had no idea how interactive it was! The best part was watching Valerie...she LOVED it!

Biggest Loser Challange

2009-03-24T12:41:00.003-06:00

Ok ladies here is your chance to loose weight, get in shape, and earn a little extra cash...oh yeah and a new modbe swimsuit!!

I have been a part of a weight loss blog and we are doing a Biggest Loser Challange and it is not too late to join! The rules are as follows:

You get 1 point for each of the activities you complete each day. You can earn up to 8 points a day. The activies are:

30 minute workout
Daily Vitamin
Drink 48 oz of Water
No Soda
No Sweets
No eating within 2 hours of bed
5 servings of fruits/veggies
7 hours of sleep

The challange starts MONDAY MARCH 30 and goes for 6 weeks. So let me know right away if you are interested in joining! There is a $10 entrance fee that needs to be collected by monday. So who is with me???

messy messy!

2009-03-02T18:03:00.007-07:00

So my little munchkin has been into Everything lately! Today she got into my mascara and fortunately I caught her before she was able to make too big of a mess....at least she didn't get it in the carpet or on any furniture or anything. I can't ever get mad at her for things she does, I just tell her not to move and I run for the camera!

It is hard to tell from these pictures just how much mascara she had on her. You cant see her palms and they were Covered!!

Better late than never I guess...

2009-02-24T14:48:00.007-07:00

I never got around to taking pictures of Valerie in the snow so I was very grateful for the last snow storm we got, it was just enough snow to get some fun pictures...

I love the little trail in the snow...so cute!

Valerie minding her own business...

...and all of a sudden....*WACK*...

...the horrified look of shock......and then the tears!!

And the best part of playing in the snow...the warm bath you get to take afterward!

I am not sure what this wacko is up to so don't even ask!!

I'm back!

2009-02-20T09:22:00.002-07:00

My internet has been down and I have been going crazy!! I feel so cut off from the world! I am sorry if I didn't comment on any of your recent posts...I am trying to catch up. I also have a million things I want to post so we will see how soon I get around to doing it...I still need to catch up on e-mail, facebook, and online banking so I will get to it as soon as I can....life without the internet is a life that I just don't like living!!

Tagged...

2009-02-05T12:06:00.007-07:00

I have been tagged with the quirk and random things about me tag again and since I have so many quirks I don't even think I will have to repeat any of the ones I listed before.

I love sandwiches and hamburgers. Naturally the best part of the sandwich or hamburger is the middle (I am not a big fan of crust)! So when I eat them I always eat around the outside first and leave the middle part for last. It is sometimes a little messier that way, but I want the last bite to be the yummy middle, not the yucky crust!
Which brings me to my next one and that is when I am eating a meal I always save the best food for the very last. The last bite I take has to be whichever food tastes best to me at the time.
Like Juli and Jannda I am also always late! I always think "well we are all dressed and ready to go so we should actually be on time this time right?" then right before we walk out the door I remember that my baby is a baby and that she needs a bottle...and the diaper bag is out of diapers...and wipes...and I better pack a snack...oh and the camera just in case we end up needing it...opps I forgot my jacket...does Valerie have pajama's so we can get her ready for bed and she can sleep in the car on the way home...do I even have the diaper bag...do I even have Valerie!?! And so on and so on!
I am scared to death to have another baby! My poor husband wanted to start trying a long time ago so our children can be close in age. I feel really bad for him because I don't know how long it will take me, but I don't feel even close to ready yet. Every time I look at other people's baby's pictures and I get a twinge of baby hungriness...is that a word...anyway then I remember how hard it was to have a newborn and how tired and exhausted I was and how much harder it must be with a toddler and a baby and I freak myself out and don't want to even think about having a baby any time soon!
Which once again leads perfectly into the next one and that is that I require a LOT of sleep!!! I try to go to bed around 10:00 or 10:30. Brandon's alarm goes off at 5:30 and it takes me at least an hour to fall back asleep most days. Then Valerie wakes up at 7:00, I give her a bottle and we both go back to sleep. If she wakes up again before 9:00 I am totally grumpy!! She still wakes up in the middle of the night every once and a while and I think to myself "How am I suppose to do this 5 times a night again?? How did I handle it the first time??"
Last but not least...I am a textaholic! I am one of those people who will send 15 text messages back and forth and take 20 minutes longer than it would have if I would just call the person. Brandon always makes fun of people that do that, but I have to admit that I am one of them!

Well thanks for reading my random quirky list I am not going to tag people because I think most everyone has done this one....if you haven't and you want to do it then go right ahead!

~Also I would like to thank all of you that commented on my last post. Thank you for your help! I am hoping to have Valerie's car seat bought by this weekend.

Help!

2009-01-26T12:16:00.003-07:00

I don't know what to do!! Valerie is WAY grown out of her infant car seat and it is WAY past time for us to get her a new one. I decided I for sure want to get one that is convertable so it is the last car seat I will need to buy for her. I try to be a very frugal person and don't want to spend a million dollars on it either. I have been looking and looking online and reading review after review. I think reading reviews makes the decision harder instead of easier! I will read one review and the person LOVES the car seat so much that they are running out tomorrow to buy another one for their other kid...The very next review the person is saying what a huge waste of time and money the car seat is and they wouldn't reccomend it to their worst enemy!! AHHHHH!! What do I do!?!?!

I really like the one pictured above, but it is only available at babiesrus.com so I can't even price shop for a good deal. I want to get a good seat and get a good deal on it. Help me out by letting me know about your car seat expirence...do you like your car seat? Did you get a good deal? Did you pay a lot for it, and love it so much that you don't care? Is there something you know now about car seats that you wish you would have known before purchasing yours? How do I find a car seat that will be both safe and comfortable??

Thanks for your help!!

Family Pictures

2009-01-21T13:54:00.005-07:00

I forgot to post these family pictures. I didn't post them when we got them taken because we were sending them out in our Christmas cards. Brandon's little brother is the photographer in the family, he took these and I think he did a Fabulous job (he even photoshoped some of my fat rolls out!) so if anyone needs a good photographer I can get you his number!!

2009-01-14T09:03:00.005-07:00

We just barely took our tree down on Saturday because I wanted to get some pictures of Valerie in her pretty red dress next to the tree and it took me forever to get around to doing it. Well she found a candy cane that she would not give up and this is what I got:

*disclaimer: I do not in any way claim to be a great...or even good photographer!

So the one picture that would have turned out good...and without the candy cane was blurry because it focused on the tree!

The next few pictures are just random fun pictures taken the last couple of weeks.

I guess we should have known better than to put the crib right next to the hanging diapers!

Don't bug me...I'm texting!!

So much for that idea!

2009-01-09T16:44:00.002-07:00

Well we are no longer buying the house in West Valley that I posted pictures of so I had to delete the post so it didn't make me sad anymore. We are looking at our options at this point and feel we need to focus on selling our house first and then figure out where to go from there. We are looking into maybe building a home, my husband being the fabulous home designer that he is and all. It has always been his dream to live in a house that he designed, we just didn't know it was possible this early in life for it to come true! We know that the Lord has a plan for us and if we follow him everything will work out just fine!

Christmas

2009-01-05T09:09:00.004-07:00

I am a big blog slacker! I had my husband home for the last week and a half so I neglected my blog in order to spend time with him. It was fun having him home and now I am kinda going through withdrawals! I don't know what to do with myself.

Christmas Eve we spent with Brandon's family and Christmas day we spent with mine. I have a lot of pictures and I will try not to comment on all of them because this could turn into the biggest post ever if I do.

Olsen Family minus 1

Waking Valerie up on Christmas morning...can you just see the excitement!?!

If you know me at all you know I am a HUGE BYU fan...so of course Brandon's family got a huge kick out of watching me open this gag gift on Christmas Eve!! I say gag gift because I think I literally did gag!

We have a Porter family tradition of eating blueberry muffins and bacon gravy. I look forward to it every year! Don't knock it till ya try it! This is Valerie's first 4 generation picture with Gramps.

Ice skating at the Olympic Oval. We couldn't keep Valerie off the ice, she loved it!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-24T09:22:00.002-07:00

You have to scroll down to the very bottom of my blog to see my Christmas present to you. I have 2 blogs so I couldn't post it to this blog, it only went to my other one so I had to put it at the bottom of the page. We did this last year too and I couldn't resist doing it again, it is so much fun!! I encourage everyone to elf yourself!

Christmas Party

2008-12-13T13:54:00.005-07:00

We went to Brandon's work Christmas party this week and they always have dinner and then some entertainment. This year they had Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. These guys are awesome! If you have not seen them in concert you need to! They are so fun to watch and have so much energy. I couldn't find any of their Christmas music to add to my playlist so this song will have to do...I personally love it.

So we didn't win any cool prizes at the party like a flat screen TV or anything. But we had a great time.

Rockstar Valerie!

2008-12-08T21:32:00.005-07:00

Valerie got this guitar for her birthday and Brandon taught her how to hold it. I wish I had a video because she was dancing and rockin out, it was awesome!!I was doing the dishes and turned around to find Valerie on the stool holding onto the oven handle. Its a good thing I wasn't cooking anything hot! Check out her awesome hair!!

Now that is a sad face!!

I guess its time to buy new pj's when you wake up in the morning with your toes busted out of them!!

For Sale

2008-12-01T22:08:00.004-07:00

We have officially listed our house for sale. This is both a happy and a sad thing for us! We are excited about the opportunity for investment right now, but WAY sad at the thought of moving away from our wonderful neighbors and incredible ward. We love the people in our ward and will miss them so much! The thought of buying a new house and selling ours at the same time and having it all work out stresses me out too. We are just going to have to have faith and put it in the Lord's hands!

P.S. I got my phone back from the D.I. What a relief!!

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!!!

2008-11-30T21:07:00.002-07:00

I donated my phone to the D.I. yesterday and I am going crazy without it!! Let me be VERY clear on one thing and that is that I did not donate my phone on purpose! I had a stack of clothes that I had decided to get rid of and was putting them in a box to take to the D.I. and I am 90% sure my phone somehow ended up in the box. The last time I saw my phone was right before I loaded up the box and now I can't find it anywhere. I did the whole "call the phone with another persons phone" trick for about 30 minutes last night and searched the whole house, my car, my purse, and the entire front yard. I am not sure what the D.I.'s policy on returning donated items is....but I hope in this case they are ok with it. So basically I am totally bored and going nuts without my phone!! I really feel like I have cell phone separation anxiety!! I wonder if there is a pill I can take for that!!! So anyway if you feel like talking to me it looks like the computer is my only way to communicate at this point so if you are feeling generous you could log onto msn messenger and chat it up with me. Well everyone have a fabulous week and don't take your cell phones for granted!!

The Big Game

2008-11-22T20:58:00.008-07:00

This post depicts the many ups and downs of the BYU ~ UTAH game I hope you enjoy our interpretation of the way it all went down.

Before the game...

And the game begins...

The picture is blurry, but I am sure you get the idea! I hope this post was as fun for you as it was for me...you may have won this year UTAH....but there is always next year!!!!

This is us watching the game...Brandon thought it was funny!

And when all is said and done we are still friends...wierd huh!?!

Weight Loss Challenge is back!

2008-11-21T09:55:00.002-07:00

So I tried to make a weight loss blog and it never really worked out...well my friend Tiffany is doing one...and taking it seriously...so if you want to join let me know. She is posting before pictures with how much weight you want to loose so she needs a pic asap...the first weigh in is tomorrow (saturday). Lets get skinny!!

P.S. GO COUGARS!!!!!