Olsen Family

4th of July

2011-07-18T08:42:00.006-06:00

This year we broke tradition. For the first time since I met Brandon we did not go to the ReAL Salt Lake soccer game to celebrate the 4th of July. It was kind of sad to not be doing what we have always done. Brandon was even more sad than me. But we did go to the West Jordan Carnival and got to see our kids enjoy the fun things a carnival has to offer. Then we did a few fireworks and put the kids to bed...that might be the new norm around here for a few years. Staying up late is just not a good thing for my kids!

Exciting news!!

2011-06-20T14:10:00.009-06:00

After much debate and persuasion Brandon and I have finally come to an agreement:

It is time for this little guy to get his first haircut!!

Before: This is Graham before. (I know he looks a little drunk in this picture, but I can guarantee he has consumed zero alcoholic beverages in his entire lifetime.)
You can really tell in this one how long it is. I am not gonna lie, I am in love with his little curls, but I also love how clean cut and handsome he looks without them.

It's too late to back out now!!

After:

See what I mean about handsome!?! I love his cute little round head!

Graham is one!!

2011-05-11T07:54:00.010-06:00

...Ok he has been one for a while now...like 3 months. Anyway here is my little guy from day one to year one...

Isn't he cute!?!

This is the exact second Graham turned one!! (Ignore the pink sheets, with #2 you don't worry so much about what color sheets your kid is sleeping on!)

Now for the party pictures:

This year we did cake pops instead of a cake. Graham got to have 3 different Birthday parties so I got to experiment with different colors and flavors, it was a lot of fun and now I crave these things!!

I am SO big!

That is as messy as he got!!

I guess he liked the cake pop better!

~Baby #3~

2011-04-13T09:02:00.004-06:00

No, this is not an announcement, but not that I got your attention I need your input.

How do you know how far to space your children apart? This has been a topic of discussion at our house for a while now and Brandon and I have a difference of opinion on the matter. How do we find a compromise where we are both happy?

He wants the next baby to be 2 years and 4 months after Graham because that is the space between Valerie and Graham. I think for the two of them that is perfect spacing, but I would like to give myself a little more space between Graham and baby #3. 3 years to be exact. Last night Brandon said to me "It seems like all of your reasons for wanting to wait are for you, you are just thinking of yourself." Is that so wrong?? If Mommy loses her mind and cant function because she is a crazy person will anyone in the house actually be happy?? Is it selfish of me to want a little more of a break in between kids? Going from 2 to 3 scares me a lot! It just seems like it would be so hard to have 3 kids. I am a wimp and have a hard time leaving the house with 2 kids, if there are multiple stops to be made I usually wait to do my running around when Brandon is home and can watch the kids. I can't imagine going places with 3 kiddos!

And, if we are being honest, I am worried about my body. I get so big when I am pregnant, and for some reason I allow myself to gain more weight than I should. I have been working my butt off...literally...and I am not looking forward to getting pregnant again and gaining a bunch of weight and being overweight for another year after the baby is born. Maybe with how health conscious I am now things will be a little different, but I don't see myself getting back down to the size I am now very quickly after I have another baby.

So help me out a little! How far is the spacing between your kids? Do you feel like the spacing between them is good, or would you have more or less space in between? Do you have 3 kids?? If so, how do you function!?! Is it as hard as I think it will be? Should I just have them all really close together and get it over with in a short amount of time?? What are your thoughts?

By the way, if we went with Brandon's plan of 2 years and 4 months that would put me getting pregnant in September...talk about soon!!

Angie

2011-04-06T17:18:00.009-06:00

For those of you that don't know, i lost one of my very best friends to breast cancer 6 years ago. If it is not too personal I would like to share my experience this morning straight from my journal.

Have you ever had a dream that felt SO real that when you woke up you were completely overcome by emotion??

The first thing I remember is walking down a hallway or a street. I was walking toward a building or a classroom and as I got closer I noticed people started leaving out the front doors. I was looking for someone, but I didn't know who until I saw her. It was Angie. I knew right when i saw her that this was a rare occasion. I knew that I hadn't seen her in a really long time, but for some reason she was completely unaware of our time apart. To me it was the reuniting of two worlds that have been torn apart. For her it was just another day. She was working or going to school, I am not sure which. I wanted to throw my arms around her, squeeze her so tight, and never let her go. For some reason I couldn't do it. Maybe it is because she was not a hugger...when we were roommates I use to make her hug me almost every day, she hated it! :) So instead of hugging her and telling her how much I miss her and how my life is not the same without her I just walked with her and listened to her complain about her day. I kept trying to talk to her but I couldn't get a word in. She was so stressed out and busy with her day that she didn't even have time to realize the situation that we were in. She didn't notice that we hadn't seen each other in years. She didn't notice that I was trying SO hard to tell her something. She didn't notice that for me this moment was all I ever wanted, to get to see her again, to get to talk to her again, and to get to tell her how much I love and miss her. It was almost like I was invisible, like she could care less that I was really there. I was getting more and more frustrated throughout the dream. I couldn't just keep walking with her and listening to her talk about stupid stuff anymore! I had to tell her how I felt before our time ran out and it was too late. Just then she dropped a bunch of papers on the floor and got so upset with herself for dropping them. She was about to bend down to start picking them up when I finally grabbed her arm and yelled her name. I had to get her attention. When I yelled her name my worst fear came true. In that moment she was gone. I woke up...it was too late. I laid in my bed, alone, my heart aching to be with her. I closed my eyes and tried desperately to fall back asleep. Then the tears came. Tears that would not stop for the next two hours. I felt all the pain of losing my friend all over again as if it had been yesterday.

When Angie was sick we talked for hours and hours about everything. One of the things she asked me jokingly one day was, "What do you want me to send you when I get to heaven? Money, a hot husband, beautiful kids??" I thought about it for a minute and answered, "I just want you to come visit me in my dreams from time to time. I know once you are gone all I will want is to hear your voice again." She was shocked by my answer, and said I was the only person with that response, but promised me that she would come visit me every chance she got. I feel like last night was one of those times. It was SO real, the message so obvious.

Is it possible that she is walking with me in this life? Am I too busy and stressed out by things that don't matter to listen and pay attention to the fact that she is there?? Is she walking with me trying to tell me that she loves me and that I am missing the big picture?? I believe it is not only possible, I believe it is happening. I feel like this has been a huge wake up call for me and I need to fix the areas in my life that I am failing because I do not want to fail!! I want to make it back to be with her and to be with my family. And with that said, I am off to play with my kids because I want them to remember me as a mom that played with them and had fun with them, and not as a mom that was stressed out all of the time over stupid crap that doesn't matter!!

Pretty profound dream huh!?! Thank you for letting me share this with you, I hope that I can be a better person, starting today I will do everything I can to be better!!

2011-02-21T16:53:00.001-07:00

My new BFF...

2011-02-08T12:34:00.002-07:00

Not the girl...the treadmill! I have been working my butt off to meet a goal I made for myself: To run a 5K on my 30th Birthday.

I only have a month left to train and don't really know what I am doing so I am just making it up as I go. I am currently running 20 minutes and just about 2 miles a day. This will be my first 5K ever and I am so excited for it! I never really believed people that said that running is addicting...I am now a believer!!

Blah...blah...blah...

2011-01-31T13:34:00.004-07:00

Ever have no motivation to blog?? That is me for the last like...oh 2 months! So here are a couple Christmas pictures...

New years eve with my awesome neighbors and friends... And last but not least, this little stud will be one soon!!

I will be posting about that one for sure!

Let it Snow!

2010-12-22T12:02:00.004-07:00

The previous post is what happens when your husband hijacks your blog. I guess he is bored with it again and wants an update so here is some fun me and Valerie had in the snow while Graham took a nap inside cozy and warm...

...But I really do want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas!

~ Stay Tuned ~

2010-11-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

2010-11-08T13:58:00.002-07:00

When Graham woke up this morning his hair looked like this...except he used snot in his hair!!

Anniversary get-a-way

2010-11-01T18:59:00.006-06:00

Today Brandon told me my blog was boring and that I needed to update it, you know you're behind when your husband notices! So here are some pics of our anniversary get-a-way last month. We had so much fun hanging out alone together. Sometimes you just need to take a break from the kids to reconnect and remember why you fell in love with each other in the first place.This is the cool condo that we stayed in, I LOVED it!!

(this picture doesn't do it justice.)

The view looking out our window.

This is what it looked like from the outside, the condo is above a cute little coffee shop.

Since Valerie was born we haven't taken any pictures of just the 2 of us so we set up a tripod and went to town!

And we even found a cool train to play on!

Swagbucks!

2010-10-18T12:53:00.005-06:00

Have you heard of Swagbucks? It is the coolest! I signed up a few weeks ago. What you do is you download a toolbar with a little search thingy on it (do you like my technical lingo?), then when you have something to google you swagbucks search it instead. Sometimes when you search for stuff you will earn "swagbucks" and when you save up enough you can redeem them for prizes and gift cards and stuff! (I usually do like 3 or 4 searches in a row and usually get swagbucks when I do that, I usually do it morning, middle of the day, and at night before I go to bed.) I already have enough for a gift card, but I am saving up for something big like an ipod or something.

So if you scroll down to the bottom of my blog there is a "swidget" if you click on SwagCodes and click "check if there is a swagcode" write down the code (case sensitive) then click sign up there will be a place you will enter the code and you will get 20 extra swagbucks, on top of the 30 you get automatically for signing up!

I hope this all made sense. It is totally worth signing up and downloading the toolbar so you can earn prizes for searching the Internet, which we all do all the time anyway! :) I get points for signing you up and you can get points for getting your friends to sign up too. For more tips on earning swagbucks see their home page, or let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for reading, and I hope you take advantage of swagbucks too!

Happy Birthday Valerie!

2010-10-12T10:26:00.004-06:00

We took Val to see Toy Story 3 for her Birthday.

Brandon's Mom helped me with the cake.
Then we played pin the tiara on Tiana.

Oh my how time has flown! I still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.

I am so grateful for my little Valerie and the joy she brings to our family!

{5 years}

2010-10-08T10:01:00.000-06:00

5 years ago today I married the man of my dreams. The last 5 years have been a crazy roller coaster ride of ups and downs and twists and turns. I am just happy that I have this amazing man to share the ride with! Here are some of the things that we have been through in the last 5 years:

4 moves

1 apartment

2 houses

6 months with the parents :)

4 vehicles

Vacations to: Spain, Hawaii, camping, New York, Caribbean cruise...

3 career changes

1 dog

1 car accident

2 pregnancy scares

1 miscarriage

and last but most definitely not least

2 beautiful little bundles of joy

Mister, thank you for the biggest most wonderful adventure of my life! I love you now more than ever!

-Day 27-

2010-10-04T16:09:00.003-06:00

While Brandon was home sick last week he:

Organized the pantry

Washed both the cars

Cleaned the kids rooms

Cleaned out the garage

While I was sick last week I:

Sat on the couch watching TV

Took a nap a day

!Day 26 I'm back!

2010-09-30T15:01:00.004-06:00

This week has been rough! Everyone in the family at some point had the stomach flu, and I got hit with a double whammy and got mastitis at the same time! (If you have had that you know how completely MISERABLE it is!) So I gave myself a free pass from blogging and decided I wouldn't finish my 30 days of photo's until I felt better. I am not at 100% yet, but doing much better.

So this picture is Valerie, she was the first to catch the bug, on the peak night of sickness she fell asleep on her mattress in the living room at 7:00. That never happens! Poor kid!

And the winner is...

2010-09-30T08:24:00.002-06:00

...#70 Hanna, congratulations!

Thanks to all of you for entering the contest by voting for SMA. I will let you know if we won once it is announced.

Shameless plug: If you didn't win and are interested in purchasing any of the items (they all sell for under $10) I don't have my website up yet, but you can e-mail me at lousheesh@hotmail.com and let me know what you want to order and I can tell you the colors available or send more pics if needed. Thanks again!

{Day 25 Happy Birthday Angie}

2010-09-25T16:00:00.004-06:00

I took a picture of a picture today. Today is Angie's birthday, she is one of my best friends ever. I don't get to celebrate her Birthday with her, she gets to celebrate it with the Angels in Heaven. But I will never stop celebrating her birth, and her life. I miss her very much and am grateful for the time I was lucky enough to have with her while she was on this earth. I really miss her sense of humor. We would literally laugh for HOURS at a time! She will never be forgotten! Love you Ang, tell Jesus I said "Hi."

Day 24

2010-09-25T15:57:00.002-06:00

Thursday we went to hear Brandon's brother Daniel play in his band Pink noise. They sounded really good and we all had a great time.

.Day 23.

2010-09-23T14:17:00.004-06:00

Are you kidding me!?! Could this picture be any cuter!?!

I tried really hard to wait until I got this picture printed to post it, but I just can't stand it! I got Graham's 6 month pictures done yesterday even though he turned 7 months...oops. Anyway this one turned out so adorable, it is by far my favorite!

Please ignore the HORRIBLE quality, I took a picture of the computer screen with my camera phone which makes for the worst picture quality ever!!

[Day 22]

2010-09-22T19:24:00.004-06:00

Indoor s'mores anyone!?!

I prefer to eat mine open face, it is a little less messy that way.

{Day 21}

2010-09-21T18:14:00.001-06:00

Obviously not a picture I took, but I am counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until I get to watch the season premiere of Glee, are you?

_Day 20_

2010-09-20T19:19:00.003-06:00

Its that time of year again!

What I love about fall:

Pumpkins

Colorful leaves

Drives in the canyon

Jacket weather

Celebrating Valerie's Birthday

Celebrating Our Anniversary

and Fires in our little fire pit

Clarification

2010-09-20T16:53:00.001-06:00

I just want to make sure no one is confused about the giveaway please see the Giveaway post for some more clear details.

Day 19

2010-09-19T19:13:00.002-06:00

I am pretty sure I have never had spaghetti and meatballs in my entire life...spaghetti with ground beef in the sauce, yes, but I have never had a real meatball (as far as I can remember). It looked a lot more appetizing in real life, I used my ghetto camera phone to take the pic. Brandon made the meatballs and they were yummy! Thanks for being a good cook Mister and making up for my lack of cooking!

~Day 18~

2010-09-18T20:54:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is national pirate day. We celebrated a day early by going bowling and then watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Good times were had by all!

..Day 17..

2010-09-18T20:50:00.002-06:00

Relief Society talent show...I don't sing, dance, or perform in any way so me and a friend in my ward decided to just be goofy and give everyone a good laugh. It was a fun night.

My first giveaway

2010-09-17T11:47:00.006-06:00

Wanna win one of these little beauties:

Well one lucky person will get to pick one item shown here (in the color of your choice) and since I am pretty sure that since I have about 3 followers the odds are in your favor!

Here are the rules: Go to http://www.voteforsma.com/, check the box that says Gwendolyn Strong Foundation and vote. Come back here and leave me a message on THIS blog post and tell me that you voted. You can vote and enter to win this contest every day between now and September 29th. Since there is no way to check on weather or not you voted this is contest is on the honor system, and since there are babies lives at stake here I am sure you will be honest! The winner will be chosen by random.org and posted on September 30.

I have been reading up on SMA (see previous blog post) a lot lately and I feel like I need to do something to help. Please share this contest with everyone you know and vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation every day, together we can make a difference!

*contest valid for US only.

*Update* Just so that no one is unclear of the rules, you can vote and enter the contest once a day. I need you to leave one comment per day that you voted or it will only count as one entry. So check back through the comments and make sure you have left one comment for every day that you voted starting September 17th. I also have unblocked anonymous comments so anyone leaving anonymous comments must leave an e-mail address or some way for me to get a hold of you if you win. If you have any questions you can e-mail me at lousheesh@hotmail.com. Thanks and good luck!

Day 16-SMA

2010-09-16T16:59:00.003-06:00

MaKenzie Rye Webster

7/18/2009-12/13/2009

Today bloggers all over the world are coming together for a cause, to end SMA. MaKenzie had a form of SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) called SMARD (SMA with Respiratory Distress). I wanted to spend some more time on this post, but am running around like a crazy person today so I will just jump straight to the point. This deadly disease must be stopped and YOU can help. I am not asking for your money, just 2 minutes of your time. I am asking...begging you to go to www.VoteForSMA.com . select the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, enter the two security words, check the Official Rules box, and then click “Vote Now!” The foundation that gets the most votes will receive $20,000! You can vote every day until September 29 at 5:00 EDT

I have been fortunate enough to meet MaKenzie's Mom and she is an amazing strong woman. She was kind enough to let me borrow a picture of her sweet angel for my picture of the day to raise awareness of the disease that took her baby WAY too early. Take a moment and check out Kendra's blog www.kendraandryanwebster.blogspot.com because she has much more information on her blog than I am able to post. Please don't disregard this request. We can make a difference! Please Please Please VOTE!!

-Day 15-

2010-09-15T12:46:00.003-06:00

Look who is getting around!

The other day I was in the kitchen making dinner and Graham was on the floor playing. When I looked in the family room to check on him I couldn't see him anywhere...how could my baby just disappear like that? He has to be in here somewhere! Oh look there he is hiding under his bouncy chair. (Not anywhere close to where I left him) He doesn't like to sit on that thing anymore, but apparently he loves to sit under it cause I fond him under there 2 other times that day! Silly kid!

{Day 14}

2010-09-14T16:11:00.004-06:00

Well I got behind on my pictures so here ya go, 3 in a row...be sure to read the one with the carrots to hear about our close encounter with Pres. Monson himself.

I really am trying to make an honest effort to not have every picture of the day be of my kids. Today I could not resist. Valerie found some stickers that I bought to put on her wall and decided to put them up for me since I haven't done it yet. I swear that kid gets into so much trouble when she is suppose to be napping!

Also I have been feeling guilty that Graham hasn't been in the picture of the day yet so tomorrow is going to be a picture of Graham...I love him just as much as I love Val, it's just that Valerie obviously does a lot more things than he does so she ends up in the pictures a lot more.

.Day 13.

2010-09-14T16:02:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we went to the Utah State Fair. Valerie got to ride the "wiggly worm" and was in heaven! Brandon liked the pig races the best, but got conveniently sick just as I was about to get in line for my fried oreo's so we had to skip it and go home. :( I guess next year I will have to get fried oreo's and a snickers bar to make up for it! :)

Right after we snapped this picture the Prophet rode by with his entourage all on golf carts. I debated weather or not it would be socially acceptable to chase after him to take a picture, but I decided I would save myself the embarrassment.

Day 12

2010-09-14T15:55:00.003-06:00

I got to watch these cute twins Monday for a few hours. I was VERY impressed by them. When I agreed to watch 4 year old twin boys I thought for sure they would tear my house apart, but the house was just as intact when they left as when they showed up.

~Day 11~

2010-09-11T10:05:00.002-06:00

I can't get enough of these two! I love everything about this picture, (except Valerie's hair in her face of course) I love the cute looks on their faces, I love that Graham looks like he is ready to take off crawling at any second, and I love that Valerie is leaning in towards him like she loves him. They are such sweet kids and I am so blessed to be their Mommy!

[Day 10]

2010-09-10T21:03:00.002-06:00

Today we took the kids to see Shrek at the dollar movie in Valley Fair Mall. Before the movie we enjoyed a five dollar foot long and then Valerie enjoyed a ride on this little thing. And by ride, I mean she sat on it completely motionless, and happy as can be!

_Day 9_

2010-09-09T19:19:00.000-06:00

How sweet is my husband!?!

Preschool

2010-09-09T10:15:00.005-06:00

Valerie started preschool today! I can't believe it, when did she get so old?? And why does everyone take pictures of their kids on the front porch on the first day of school? Is it because they are leaving the house for the first time as a little independent person? Well I guess that is the thing to do so I did it too. ;)

Valerie Halie Nate Brooks

{Day 8}

2010-09-08T14:00:00.002-06:00

Valerie is a puzzle master! She can now put all of these little puzzles together by herself (granted they are only 3 and 4 pieces each) but she can even figure out the order they go in with no help at all. She is getting so big!

Day 7

2010-09-07T20:33:00.003-06:00

I am hoping to make Valerie's room a little less ghetto. If the mattress on the floor isn't bad enough, she doesn't have any furniture at all, and until yesterday just had a random fleece blanket on her bed. Well I took advantage of a Labor day sale and bought her this cute quilt, now all she needs is a bed and maybe a dresser...and hopefully before next Labor day! ;)

..Day 6..

2010-09-06T18:29:00.004-06:00

Brandon spent all day putting these shelves in the garage. Can you see the little shelves by the door for shoes? He is so amazing! Thanks Mister!

~Day 5~

2010-09-06T08:12:00.002-06:00

Last night me and Brandon wanted to do something fun. We got the kids to bed early and I asked him what he wanted to do. He told me to write down 5 things that sounded fun to me. I made my list and then he said (without looking) #4. When I told him #4 was baking cookies he said "...I meant 4 from the bottom...let me see your list...ok well lets just do them all, I will write down the order." So last night we 1-Baked cookies 2-arm wrestled while the cookies baked 3-played pick up sticks 4-cuddled while we ate cookies and watched 3 episodes of The Big Bang Theory on DVD. What a fun night! I love my "Mister" so much! We don't always get along perfectly, but this is a great season of our lives and I am trying my best to love it and not take anything for granted.

_Day 4_

2010-09-06T07:57:00.002-06:00

You may know by now that I am probably the biggest BYU fan ever! My picture of the day for Saturday is the season opener against Washington...final score 23-17. In this picture is 7 of the 8 greatest quarterbacks in BYU history. Including my 2 favorite: Steve Young & Ty Detmer. I just had my crappy camera phone so sorry that you can't really see them, but they are there, I promise! What a great day it was, I love football season SO very much!!

{Day 3}

2010-09-03T15:40:00.003-06:00

Valerie thinks it is fun to unlace my shoes and lace them back up in weird ways...it entertained her for almost an hour today so I say more power to ya kiddo!

Day 2

2010-09-02T12:09:00.003-06:00

The last few days I have been obsessed with giveaway blogs and have been spending hours signing up to win all sorts of things. You may have noticed all of the extra buttons I have placed on my sidebar those are some of the blogs I have been addicted to lately. And the good news: I have already won something!!
I hope this counts as my picture today even though I didn't take it...anyway I won this fun little contraption(the bra thingy, not the pump) Ha ha can you just imagine me putting on my makeup with this thing strapped to me like a little milk cow...ok don't imagine it too long...

.30 pictures in 30 days.

2010-09-01T14:48:00.003-06:00

Awesome Kendra, I have talked about her before, found an awesome idea to do a picture a day for the whole month. (She did it last month, I am a month behind.) My blog has been lacking lately so I thought that was a great idea to get me blogging a little bit more. So check back every day in the month of September to see what crazy, and or boring things I have been up to.

Today's picture is of my order that just came in. :) This is one of each of the items I purchased. I think most things came in groups of 12. Disclaimer: I am really excited about this business so you will be hearing about it a lot. Please know that this is because I am excited about it not because I am trying to be pushy or make anyone feel like they have to buy stuff. That is not my style! I would never want anyone to feel like I was trying to push stuff on them I HATE pushy sales people!! So please feel free to not buy anything!

Also if you would like to do the 30 pictures in 30 days please feel free to join me. The more the merrier!

~Sneak Peek~

2010-08-27T18:22:00.004-06:00

I just placed the first order for my business!!! I am SO excited I can't even stand it! I just wanted to post a couple pictures of the fabulous stuff that is on it's way, I am excited to start wearing some of it, and you can get your hands on some too! :) Pricing and more information to come...

See, I told ya it was fabulous!

Condo

2010-08-23T08:27:00.002-06:00

We went to a condo up Beaver Canyon at the beginning of August with some awesome friends of ours, and of course as I am running around getting ever thing together at the last minute I find Valerie with my mascara!! I wanted to start crying too!

So the following are random pictures I took...I am kinda bummed that I didn't take more.

Tiffany and I watching the kiddos fish.

Hailey caught a fish...

and Hayden caught some seaweed! :)

Oh happy little Graham, I cannot get enough of you!!

Val caught a bunch of fish.

Hailey and Valerie, new BFF's!

~Why~

2010-08-15T07:33:00.005-06:00

Why do we do this to ourselves!?! Why do we as women limit ourselves? Why do we not believe in ourselves more? Why do we always compare ourselves and think "She is prettier, or more talented, or more creative?" Why don't we give ourselves a little more credit? Why do we think that everyone else has way more potential for success than we do? Why does the word why look so funny after writing it so many times? And finally Why have I been awake since 3:30 this morning???

Maybe my last question is the reason for my insane rant, but these questions have been on my mind a lot lately. I have been trying to find a way to make some money to contribute to my little family. I see other women starting businesses and making money and being successful and I am amazed at the things they accomplish. I have wanted to do something for a really long time but I talk myself out of it because I tell myself that I am not good enough to do it...I could never sell stuff online...I don't have a crafting ability worthy of an etsy shop...blah...blah...blah...

Today I change my attitude to say Why Not??? Why not try something I have never done before? Why not give it all I've got and see what the outcome might be? Why not try? What is the worst thing that can happen?

So with that I announce the beginning of a new ME. I will believe in myself and I will put myself out there and if I fail SO WHAT!?!

Tony Grove

2010-07-29T14:15:00.000-06:00

Every year we go up Logan canyon to Tony Grove and camp with Brandon's family. I have grown to love this tradition and look forward to it all year long!I lost track of Valerie and when I found her she was reading a book in the tent all by herself.Gotta love camping naps. (He is sleeping in a tent inside the tent.)The guys always go on an overnighter this is right before they left.Playing at the lake.

I love this smile!!

Hanging out by the fire.

Valerie's 2nd fish ever.

Cute cousins.

Birthday Celebrations

2010-07-20T22:21:00.008-06:00

This year for Brandon's birthday we celebrated by going swimming without him. He was on a business trip in Minnesota. We missed him a lot while he was gone, but tried to have fun on his birthday to celebrate him.

We were also able to celebrate the first birthday of a little angel baby named Makenzie. She passed away just before turning 5 months old. Her Mom put together an amazing carnival to raise money and awareness of the disease that she had.

I got to volunteer for the event and had a blast making cotton candy. We had a good laugh because it took some getting use to and we didn't always get it looking so attractive on the sticks...its the taste that matters right??

Valerie was very excited to meet Ariel and Tinkerbell, I think she was a little star struck!
She also enjoyed the bounce house, she is still talking about it!Makenzie's birthday cake was made and donated by an awesome lady in my ward named Jill, to see more of her work click on the Sprinklebelle button to the left.They let up hundreds of balloons for Makenzie.

This is Kendra and Ryan, Makenzie's parents. It was so tender to watch them hold each other and cry as they watched the balloons float away. I had to distract myself by taking pictures because I could feel myself loosing it! I have cried many tears for Makenzie and her family, although I never got to meet her, I know what an amazing little spirit she has! I am so grateful I was able to be a part of this amazing event!

..Summer Fun..

2010-06-28T14:21:00.002-06:00

I don't know about you, but we are loving the warm weather!

Don't worry Graham you will be big enough to play in the pool next year! :)

{4 Months}

2010-06-22T19:00:00.004-06:00

This little guy is 4 months today!

(I am not sure what this pose is!)

Words cannot express the joy he brings to my life and the love

that I have for him! He has a truly special spirit and I am SO grateful that I get to be his Mom!

He is such a happy baby and is always smiling and laughing for me.

I can't imagine my life without him.

I love you Graham!!

~Counting our blessings~

2010-06-15T13:08:00.004-06:00

If you are my friend on facebook you may have already seen these pictures. We

were in a car accident last Sunday and our car was totaled.

I cried real tears when I said goodbye to this car that has seen us through so much.

This is the first car me and Brandon picked out together.

It was decorated the day we got married.

We brought our babies home from the hospital in this car while we held our

breath the whole way worrying about our sweet and precious cargo.

This car has taken us to

Park City on our honeymoon

Idaho

California

St. George

Lake Powell

and on many camping trips.

I know it was just a car, but it holds all of my most precious memories and I

am very sad to see it go!

This is the other car.

The happy news is that now I get to drive this beauty. :)

And most importantly of all is that these two little cutie bugs are just fine!! We are so grateful that no one was hurt in the accident!! Thank goodness for seat belts and car seats!

Getting bigger!

2010-06-02T08:35:00.004-06:00

I feel like Graham is growing up so fast! He is

such a sweet baby! He smiles and goos at us all the time.

Here are some random pictures taken lately.

Zoolander?

I was taking pictures of Graham propped up on a pillow on

our bed and Valerie had to strike a pose

on the other side! Goof ball!

How cute is this!?! I love it!

~Sunday Salt Flats~

2010-05-24T21:07:00.003-06:00

We took a random trip to the salt flats on sunday afternoon. We

didn't realize how far of a drive it was.3 hours of driving for 1 hour of play. :)

Brandon found a ladybug and let Valerie hold it...she didn't

want to ever let it go!

What do YOU think?

2010-05-17T09:42:00.005-06:00

I know...she is going to kill me for this picture later! I just thought it was so funny that she was totally naked except for her shoes! Anyway I have been struggling with her hair for a while now, she won't let me do it half the time and the other half I don't feel like doing it. I feel like she looks like an orphan most of the time, her hair is so long and scraggly. I really want to cut it off in a cute little bob...

On the other hand, it is her thing, she was born with a full head of thick black hair and that is what she has always had compliments on her whole life. I might end up being really sad and missing her hair...Here is where YOU come in. Take my poll and let me know if you think I should cut it off or just keep letting it grow.

Here is a look back at Val's hair over time:

I love...

2010-05-14T13:31:00.007-06:00

...this goofy guy...

...this silly girl...

...this little sweetheart...

...when these 2 hang out...

...sleeping babies...

...moments like this...

...and...finding Valerie asleep like this!

Lately I have been spending a lot of my time reading blogs like this:

http://stakerzxposed.blogspot.com/

Where a 18 month old drowned in his bathtub and his mom recalls all of the

details of that horrible day...he ends

up making it just fine...

But this one:

http://www.kendraandryanwebster.blogspot.com/

Where this couple has a perfect little baby girl and then one day she gets sick,

and is diagnosed with a very rare disease and ended up

passing away a month later.

(Don't read this one without a BIG box of tissues!!)

I read these blogs and think about my life and my kids and I thank my Heavenly Father

for the blessings I have.

I love my family more than words can say and today I wanted

to let them know.

Thank you Brandon for being an amazing husband and

for loving me even when I am crazy.

Thank you Valerie for making me laugh and cry and love

more than I ever have in my life.

And thank you Graham for the sweetness you bring into our home.

I would not be the same without any of you!

Graham's Blessing

2010-05-03T15:56:00.002-06:00

Brandon blessed sweet little baby Graham Sunday. We had tons of support from family and friends. Thank you, we love you all!

Random Pictures

2010-04-23T10:55:00.000-06:00

Lisa and Lincoln, Me and Graham, at Lincoln's blessing.

Valerie and Baby Graham, Zachary and Baby Braelynn.

What a good Daddy!!!

Val in a box...silly kid!

~Family Pictures~

2010-03-19T19:10:00.007-06:00

Valerie's shirt says Big Sister and Graham's says Little Brother

(Thanks Amanda!!)

Which way to the gym!?!

He's Here!!!

2010-02-28T17:24:00.010-07:00

Graham Robert Olsen

Born February 22nd @ 2:19 PM

20 inches long - 7 pounds 10 ounces

Valerie has been so excited for her baby brother to c

Brandon catching the baby

Valerie wasn't supposed to come to the hospital but we snuck her in.

Family of 4

Time to go HOME!!!

More pictures to come

I'm still here!!!

2010-01-18T12:27:00.005-07:00

I am sure most of you think I dropped off the face of the planet...well that is just not true!! I have not had the Internet on my computer and have to go to my mom's when I want to use it and therefore have not been able to post any of my pictures for a long time. Here are just a few for now and there will be more to come.

This was taken in November...I think I have DOUBLED in size since then!!

My 2 favorite people!!

Our new house (still under construction obviously)

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!!!!!

One big happy family!!

2008-11-11T13:33:00.008-07:00

Well as promised here are the 5 things that kept me at home and away from the computer last week... Tracie...
... Carson...

...Emma...

...Katelynn...

...and Valerie!

We had our neighbors kids from Wednesday morning until Sunday afternoon with a break on Saturday for the football game. It was a crazy week!!

One day Brandon put in an old exercise video and told the kids to do what the lady on TV did...they actually did it for a while it was so cute!

They brought their Nintendo Wii and we all had fun playing it a bunch...Valerie had fun watching everyone play, in this picture she was sitting there cheering them on!

Emma didn't ever want to go lay down for a nap so I would put in a movie for her and she would fall asleep...even with all the noise...SO cute!!

Dinner time was always an adventure...I was not quite sure how to cook for so many people...luckily they were willing to eat leftovers when I made too much of something.

This is one of the few times these two actually played together...I don't think Katelynn was a big fan of Valerie because Val would try to steal her toys so she pretty much avoided her.

Don't these two almost look like they could be sisters!?!

A few things I learned about me this week:

I only want 2 kids (as opposed to the 4 I thought I wanted).
I never want 2 in diapers at once (between 2 kids and 1 dog that is a lot of poop!).
I can be (according to Tracie) "as mean as their mom."
When I have a couple kids I am going to have 1 room in my house that can as messy as the kids want it to be...but the toys and mess HAVE to stay in that one room.
I need to have all my "Me" time while I only have 1 kid cause once there is a few of them you never get to be alone.
When you are in a huge hurry to take a shower it's easy to forget to shave your arm pits!

Well that's about it...Thanks for the training lesson Jenny! I hope you guys had a great vacation! Happy 10th Anniversary!

2008-11-11T13:19:00.002-07:00

We took Oscar for his first professional haircut ever

This is Oscar before...

...I think this is Oscar after...I don't know if they gave us the right dog or not...

2008-11-08T20:29:00.005-07:00

Today at the BYU game I got to sit by Angie Larsen from Good Things Utah. My sister Janae is friends with her and brought her as her date. This was the first time I met her and I will have to admit I was a little star struck. I watch Good Things Utah almost everyday and all the girls on there are so dang cute! I was trying not to act weird and talk to her a ton, (even though that is all I wanted to do) but then I didn't want her to feel like I was being rude and not talking to her at all...so hopefully I was able to find a happy medium and didn't make a huge fool out of myself. Anyway in case you were wondering...yes she is even more gorgeous and skinny and perfect in real life!

P.S. Sorry about the lack of posting lately, on Monday I am going to post all about the 5 things that kept me stuck at home and away from my computer!

Tag catch up....

2008-10-30T13:18:00.005-06:00

I was tagged a while ago and I am pretty sure these are the only 2, if not and you tagged me feel free to leave me a comment chewing me out for not doing your tag.

Quirk Tag: This one has been going around a bunch I am sure everyone knows how it goes.

~I have to sort my clothes hanging in the closet from dark to light and within the colors they have to be short sleeve to long sleeve...yet the rest of my house is a mess...go figure.

~When I eat pancakes I have to put on a little bit of syrup at a time. I pour it on a section big enough for like 3 bites and eat that, then I pour it over another section and take 3 more bites. (I am pretty sure I use way more that way...but that's how I like it)

~The first thing I do when I get up in the morning and the last thing I do before bed at night is check my blog to see if anyone new has commented...I also spend hours checking other peoples blogs to see if they have posted anything new...I am pretty sure that is the definition of an addict!

~I always have to have the TV or radio on during the day...the house is too quiet without it and it creeps me out.

~When I get dressed to go out and I want to look good I have to change my clothes at least 3 times...when it is a really special occasion I take pictures of myself and download them onto the computer so I can look at what I look like in each outfit and can compare them side by side. Brandon makes fun of me when I do this. It probably makes me sound really high maintenance but I promise I am not! Its more the opposite, I want to make sure I don't look like a horribly frumpy old mom!

~I am obsessed with lists! I have to write a list for everything...packing for vacations, my to do list, cleaning list, grocery list, etc. I feel TOTALLY overwhelmed if I don't have everything written down in front of me to see. When it is all in your head it seems like you have 50 million things to do but then when you write it down you can see that there are only 6 or 7. I feel like life's tasks are so much easier if they are on paper, you don't have to remember stuff, its all on the list. If I couldn't write lists I would probably cease to exist!!

Well that is it...I hope you still want to be my friend after all that. I tag no one with this one because I am sure everyone has already done it...if you have not and you want to then feel free to consider yourself tagged.

2008-10-30T12:41:00.005-06:00

I have been tagged! I had to post pictures of the kitchen sink, favorite room, the fridge, a closet, laundry room, my self, kids, dream vacation, fav. shoes, and the bathroom. WITHOUT cleaning or making beautiful. So here goes....Ok ladies if this isn't proof that I didn't cheat and clean first I don't know what is! Don't judge me for my messy sink, our dishwasher broke and who has time to hand wash dishes!?!

My favorite room in the house Brandon likes to call "the reading room" probably because it is too small to do anything else in it but read! It is a tiny little room that you have to crawl into from our closet...fun huh!?!

I took a picture of Val's closet because its cleaner than mine!

And more proof that I didn't cheat...this is me, no makeup and all!

She is sleeping right now...Hooray for me!

Some day I want to go to Cancun and spend a whole week under this palm tree!

I don't wear these very often anymore now that I have to carry Valerie around!

I didn't cheat on this room, I just picked the cleaner bathroom of the 2. :)

So I didn't take a picture of the fridge because I forgot and am too lazy to go back downstairs and take another picture. I also didn't take a picture of the laundry room (on purpose) because that is in the basement and I refuse to go down in that spider infested place!! (Unless my life depends on it, or if Brandon's not home and my favorite shirt is in the dryer!!)

Now I tag anyone who wants to do this one...it is kinda fun I encourage you to do it...especially Tiffany, my new BFF!

Anniversary

2008-10-26T14:17:00.007-06:00

I am pretty slow getting these pictures up, but right after we got back from our anniversary get-a-way I got deathly ill and am just barely getting back to regular life. Brandon and I went to Midway to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. It was a blast! I would recommend it to anyone. And thanks to my mom and Dennis for watching Valerie while we went! I missed her, but was glad to have a night alone with my husband!This is our cool cottage that we stayed in.

Mountain House Grill....excellent food!!

Eating gelatto at a the Zermatt hotel it had a crazy room with lots of clocks and tea pots on the walls...I guess clock are normal...but tea pots??

Check out the ceiling!

Walking around the Homestead where we stayed.This is the "Crater" it is a natural hot spring thing...they described it as kind of a volcano, the hot water comes up from deep down in the earth. It is like 60 feet deep, that is why they made us wear funny life vests.

You can see some bubbles in the water...there were people scuba diving below us...creepy!

After we got back on Saturday Brandon had his last soccer game of the season. I took this awesome picture just after he kicked the ball, he is flying through the air...how great was the timing of that shot!?!

Ha Ha Ha

2008-10-24T09:18:00.000-06:00

She can walk!!

2008-10-17T13:12:00.003-06:00

Ok I realize she might be just a touch slow, but that does not take away from my excitement today when Valerie took her FIRST STEPS EVER!! I knew she could do it because she can stand for a long time by herself and walk really good holding onto things, she just didn't dare to take those first steps by herself. I always would hold toys up in front of her and she would reach out her hand and try to get them, but still wouldn't walk forward. Well I learned today that I had her motivation all wrong. I held up my cell phone for her and she took 3 steps forward to get it! I was so excited I grabbed her and started jumping up and down and screaming, "You did it! You did it!" Then I called Brandon right away and I'm pretty sure I was still screaming when I told him that his baby girl took her first steps. Valerie was very proud of herself too she was smiling and laughing....that might have been because of all the screaming and jumping, but I will say it was because she was excited reach such a huge milestone. What an exciting day, I am very proud of my little munchkin!!

Valerie's Birthday and Amanda's Wedding

2008-10-14T13:06:00.011-06:00

*Warning...this is probably one of the longest posts ever!!*

Did I ever mention how busy of a week we had last week?? Wednesday the 8th was our Anniversary, the 9th was Brandon's little sister Amanda's wedding, the 10th was Valerie's Birthday, and the 11th was Amanda's Carnival (reception). So I am gonna post pictures from Valerie's parties and Amanda's Wedding (we will celebrate our Anniversary this weekend I will post pictures of that next week). Also, I have been tagged by like 3 or 4 people and I promise I will get to those this week too just as soon as I have time. Party with my side of the family. She was trying to touch the flame! Crazy kid!

What a nice girl, she wanted to share!

Party with Brandon's side, this is my attempt at a fondant cake...I think I will let the professionals handle the cakes from now on!!

Please take note of the cute onesie I stayed up until 1:00 in the morning making the night before!

Valerie was SO spoiled by both families...we now need a bigger toy box!

Matt and Amanda sealed for time and eternity 10-09-08!

Sweet!!

I love this picture of Brandon and Amanda!

I thought this one was fun!

Matt and Amanda in the bouncy thing...I am not even sure what it's called.

Brandon and Val's turn.

How many receptions have you gone to that have a gigantic slide!?! If you can look closely in this picture there are about 8 of us at the top getting ready to go down all at the same time...I don't think that is recommended! Daniel and Ashley going down backwards!

They look so sweet and innocent...

....Yeah not so much...they were BRUTAL!!

They had a balloon guy...how cool is that!?! He made a Scooby Do for Matt and a flower bouquet for Amanda.

Happy Family!

Cute cousins!

The car

At most receptions people like to throw rice or blow bubbles. Not at a carnival! Nope they do silly string instead!

Notice me holding innocent bystander Valerie with silly string all over her? No one warned me about the silly string or I would have kept my distance.

Well 20 million pictures later that is finally the end. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, Brandon tells me I am a blog maniac...he is probably right!

Happy Birthday Valerie!!

2008-10-10T11:38:00.011-06:00

Wow where does the time go!?!?! I cannot believe that one year ago today Valerie decided to finally grace us with her presence. She was a week late and it showed in her whopping 8 lbs and 14 oz! It was one year ago today that I woke up at 4:00 in the morning with contractions and waited until almost 11:00 am to go to the hospital because I was not sure I was in labor (even though the contractions were very painful they were not regular). Well when they checked me and I was dilated to a 6 they promptly admitted me, and 3 hours later this precious little angel was out of my belly and into my arms.

Valerie Ruth Olsen born October 10, 2007 2:49 pm

A few minutes old...look her feet are still purple...Brandon kept asking over and over again why her feet were purple and if that was normal and if she was going to be ok!

A few days old

2 Months old

4 Months old

6 Months old

9 Months old

11.9999999 Months (Valerie's last day of being zero!!)

Valerie 1 year old (exactly to the minute October 10, 2008 2:49 pm)!!

Happy Anniversary

2008-10-08T10:57:00.004-06:00

I feel so blessed to have such an amazing husband!! I am more in love today than I thought ever possible! I thought 3 years ago today that I could never love anyone more than I loved Brandon on that day...boy was I wrong...it just keeps growing and growing! Thank you for 3 wonderful years of marital bliss you truly are the love of my life!!!

P.S. Sorry for the millions of pictures, I couldn't pick just one!