City of Rocks & Birthdays!

Yay!!! It's City of Rocks day! I have been bludgeoned with stories of how fun this place is, but I couldn't really believe it until I saw it myself, (yep people, I have no faith). Finally after seven years in the making Kelby held true to his promise that we would go, and so we did. What a great day! We had so much fun with Kelby's cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Brothers, Sisters, and Mom. I couldn't even list all that attended, so let's just say it was a good turn-out.

Some of the most exciting events included Ian landing his knee in a cactus and our canopy flew away with an unexpected gust of wind. In fact I think it was the only wind we had that day. We got the canopy back and the best part of it all was watching Kelby's sister Tysi run after it 7 months pregnant. Fun times. I also stepped in a cactus while running after the canopy. Those spindles went right through my shoes! Dang cacti! I figured out real quick why Ian put up such a stink. Here Taylor, Ian, & I are with Kris (Kelby's bro Brock's wife), Taylee (Brock's lil' gal), and Jill (Kelby's sister). Kelby took this pic of us. We had just climbed up the back of the rock everyone was climbing on. No ropes needed for this ascent, just a sharp eye on the little ones. I can now understand why my dad was always so nervous when we went hiking. I was terrified that my kids would fall!
Kelby's niece Taylee & nephew Kade (Tysi's boy) attempting the climb from the front.
Ian wanted to try rock climbing with such fervor that he just couldn't wait. In an effort to get the harness on he succeeded in getting it around his neck. Not exactly the safe way to climb. Patience is a virtue....
Katie (Kelby's cousin) & Skyler (Katie's spouse) helping Ian with the harness and last minute instructions.
A big boost from his dad and a tug from the rope by Katie and Ian is on his way.
Skyler is the pro here so he went up with Ian. I don't think Ian worked his way up to much. Between Skyler and Katie they got him to the top.
Here he comes, a pic from the top. Kelby ran around and climbed the backside to get this shot of Ian finishing his climb.

Now Taylor gets a try. He looked concerned in the beginning, but turns out I didn't need to worry. The kid did fine and loved it.
Kyler (Kelby's lil' brother) helped Taylor up along the way and guided him when necessary.
Almost there....
Taylor with Kyler & Shane (Kelby's cousin). Shane worked all day helping haul people over the edge. He even helped me when it was my turn. I hate ledges and going back over to repel down was so terrifying to me that he held my hand while I did it. Thank you Shane! He even took the pic of Taylor coming up since I didn't have the guts to sit on the cliff and do it. I would have had Kelby do it except he was busy helping Ian after he landed in the cactus. All in a days work I guess.

Going down. Taylor was the only kid who descended correctly. All the others found difficulty in trusting the rope to support them. You can depend on Taylor to follow directions if safety is on the line. He even came up to me when it was my turn and told me to listen and do what Katie and Skyler said.

Kelby and I took a stab at the whole rock climbing too. Kelby chose the challenging side while I did the climb all the kids did. To set it into perspective, I climbed up, repelled down, went to the car and got the camera, and then made my way back to take pictures of Kelby while he went up. We started at about the same time. I'll take my climb any day!
Woohoo Kelby! You made it to the top and you thought there for a minute or two that you wouldn't do it. Good thing Skyler lent you his rock climbing shoes. What a difference they make.

Later that night we celebrated birthdays. We headed out to Blaine & Lora's (Kelby's Aunt & Uncle). What a crew we had there. Everybody from City of Rocks and even more had arrived since Kyler's mission farewell was the next day. Nada (Kelby's mom) turned the big old 55. She chose a German Chocolate Cake and I chose....
...a delectable spice cake with white frosting for my 30th. Holy cow time flies!!! I'm glad I got to spend it with family. Notice the 3 is backwards. How funny! I don't know who did it, but they sure gave me a laugh so thanks!

Because I wasn't in Utah with my crazy fam they all called and wished me well. What a fun filled day. I am such a lucky girl!

Nat Soo Pah

Hanging with the fam out at the pool. Best antidote for a summer day! Everybody in Kelby's family was able to make it except Chad, Fran, and their crew. We missed you guys!

Each year Kelby's family gets together and we do something fun. This year it is Nat Soo Pah and City of Rocks. If a missionary farewell counts as fun we'll do that too. Chad had training for work in Seattle Washington unfortunately and he was lucky enough to be able to take his fam with him. Maybe next year they can make it. It will be the first year in along time since we were all together as Kelby & I haven't been here for 4 years and Brock is in dental school with his fam in Boston for the past 2 1/2 years. It just gets harder and harder to get family together the older we get and the bigger our families get!

The only proof that I was there. Kristina says my goggles are, "Hot, hot, hot!" I would have worn them even if they weren't since they were to keep my contacts in. I hate losing contacts in the water and I really dislike blindness. Kind of makes goggles a must.
The boys loved having Daddy along. Ian insisted that Dad take him down the slide instead of Mom once Kelby arrived. I'm losing my Mama's boy! Taylor still has goggle eyes in this pic. Poor kid! Taylor could take the slide on his own and took great pride in carrying his mat up to the top and setting it up for his twirling decent into the pool.
Taylor at the high dive. He jumped over and over again. For the first little bit we had someone in the water to get him just in case, but he never needed us so we quit that and just kept a tight eye on him.
Taylor's leap into the watery abyss. His 3 year old cousin Taylee went before him and you can see her making her way to the edge of the pool with her dad. Those kids couldn't get enough! Ian freaked out the first jump of the day so I wouldn't let him jump again. He refused to be towed on his back, but he wouldn't help swim. At least he had the slide!

A Day in Rexburg & Saint Anthony, ID

If you are wondering what has happened to us since we left our Cleveland abode we are still staying at Kelby's mom's house, (much to my chagrin). I must admit I really want my stuff back and I really miss wandering about my house in my underwear. Such a liberating pass time if you ask me. If you have never done it you should really try it. The best times are late at night after the kids go to bed and early in the morning. Watching TV in your skippies or reading a book is also enjoyable and I highly recommend it.

When we first arrived in Idaho we scouted out a practice in Pocatello and one in Idaho Falls. The one in Idaho Falls went off the market the day after we looked at it and the one in Pocatello fell through because there wasn't enough cash flow. How frustrated I felt! But then the best thing ever happened, we found another practice for sale and we loved it. Not just liked it, but LOVED it! This is great and now we are in what feels like a never ending process of paperwork and bank underwriting. If this doesn't work out I guess we will have to work for somebody and try again in a few years to purchase a practice of our own.

Today we tagged along with Kelby when he went up to Saint Anthony's for a second visit to the dental practice he is trying to obtain. Chart audits, ughhh. Sounds boring to me, so I rounded up the kids and we headed out of Saint Anthony to Rexburg so I could take the boys to the park. What a park they have there! I want this to work out so badly! I hope the bank sees it my way. We would love to live in Saint Anthony. We are more the small-town-folk type and yet we like convenience. Saint Anthony would provide our small town life, while Rexburg the convenience.

Taylor & Ian posing at the FREE kid's water park in Rexburg, ID. Can you believe it? You just show up and get to use it. This is great! Yes, I know that they are skinny. Yes, I do feed them believe it or not.
Doesn't this place look awesome? Taylor told me I could take him back anytime I wanted to. Thanks for the permission Taylor.

Ian was scared for the first little bit, but I got him out there a little and in so doing I got caught in the downpour of the water bucket. Not a good idea if you are wearing anything white, (oops). I then took the have-your-big-brother-show-you-around-approach while I tried to hide so people couldn't see through my wet clothes. They were so cute walking hand in hand with Taylor gently coaxing Ian up the steps to the slides. Ian eventually loved it, but I didn't see him go without Taylor once. Maybe next time.
My boys laying out after many water adventures. Yes my white little boy is wearing sunscreen!
The boys riding the Idaho Centennial Carousel. Only $1 per child per ride. So I'm cheap and they only went once, but they loved it! Thank you Miriam Pope for showing us such fun last time we ventured this way. Because of you we knew just what to do and where to go for good times.
After the water park and a carousel ride I introduced the boys to cotton candy. They weren't to impressed so I was forced to eat most of it myself.
A pic of the Snake River near Kelby's future dental office, (or so we hope).

After the time spent playing at the park and shopping in Rexburg we returned to Saint Anthony to wait for Kelby to get done with his chart audits. We headed over to the Sand Bar to see what that was like since we'd been curious about it when we saw it earlier across the river from the park. It seemed like a great place to play with a little playground and a sandy area by the water to play in. The river was sectioned off for swimming. I hope we end up living there so we can try it out.

We took the opportunity to have a picnic at the end of the day at the park near the dental office. It was such a nice evening. I loved every minute of it. We then checked out the local grocery store so we could get stocked up on drinks for the ride home. It was small, but chuck full of food. I could definitely see myself shopping there.

Lucky for us it was an uneventful ride home. We enjoyed our day immensely with just our little family. I'd forgotten what it was like to do fun things together. I hope this works out soon so we can get back to life as usual. Sounds boring to some, but I miss it something terrible!

Visiting Miriam & Her Gals

Well, seeing as I have no friends here in Burley, Idaho and Miriam invited us up for a visit I finally sidestepped my anxiety and headed up to Rexburg to see my fave VT companion ever, (sorry, not much hope for you future VT Companions unless you are Miriam's). What took me so long? I had a blast, and I really love the area. Rexburg has the coolest park with a carousel, water playground, and a regular everyday joe playground. The boys loved it! Miriam's mom also has the niftiest front door painted with automotive paint. It would gleem in the blackest of nights. The kids were excited to see someone that they actually knew. Poor Taylor thought we were going to Cleveland to see them and he cried a bit when I explained they were visiting their grandma. He got over it though and had a great day with the rest of them. Hannah was cute and put her arm around Taylor and told us that he was her friend. I am going to miss her wanting to ride in our van. I always did find that funny.
Our cute kids riding the Carousel together. They each got to ride it twice thanks to Miriam and her free ride passes from story time at the library.
Miriam with Hannah & Myah. At least Miriam is having fun.
I really love pizza, especially pizza at local restaurants. Miriam showed us Craigo's and I found heaven. The kids seemed to like it too. Hannah wouldn't even stop and smile for the camera.
Taylor took this pic for us. I hope I get another VT campanion as awesome as Miriam, (not very likely, but a girl can hope). Thanks for the great time!

Hanging With the Cowdens in Utah

Leaving Cleveland can't be to hard when good friends come out your way. The Cowden Family came to Utah to visit their families and took a day off from their hectic fam schedule to share with us. We went to the Children's Museum in Salt Lake City at the Gateway Mall. I've never actually been to the Gateway even though it was built before I moved to Ohio. Turns out I didn't miss much. They could use a little help with their maps because the inaccuracy sent us and then the Cowdens in the wrong direction. Aggravating, but we got over it, (not enough to go back there though).

During our visit the Cowdens enlightened us with a hilarious story about how they lost their luggage from the top of their van in Nebraska. We couldn't stop laughing while they recounted how they drove that stretch of highway again in search of their belongings. It wouldn't be life if something hadn't gone crazy in the Cowden family. They also had Caleb's arm in a cast. Of course he had to do that on vacation. Poor Cowden fam! Their craziness is one reason why we like them so much.
Below are our adventures for the day. The Cowden Fam consists of Jason, Katie, Cameron 6, Zach 5, Caleb 3, & Baby Luke.

Ian and Caleb riding the huge plastic horse. It took 4 pictures to get them to both sit still and even then Ian still wasn't looking. I guess they were to busy to be bothered with moms and cameras.
Waiting for Jason to get back from reparking their car. They weren't to happy about the wait, but they did really well for a bunch of small tikes.
Oh happy day!!! Taylor and Ian got to ride Trax in Utah. They loved the RTA and now they can love Trax. All the smiles attest to our future stop at McDonalds for lunch.
Despite our fate of a McDonalds lunch we are still happy. Amazing.
Back at the Children's Museum we checked out a helicopter and learned about life flight.
Taylor & Zach taking a turn at the controls.
My kid is nuts. Heaven help us.
Kelby and Jason ended up good friends after working together in church. It was so nice to see friends after a stressful move. See you guys next year?

Kelby's High School Get Together

Kelby's friend Tawna organized a barbeque for their old high school friends, (class of '97). Not everybody was able to bring their spouses, but all in all the turn out was good. Top row: Tawna, Travis, Me (Amy), Kelby

Bottom: Hillary, Sterling, Kevin

I am the only spouse in this picture, but Kevin's wife Alicia was there and so was Tawna's husband. I think Alicia was attending to a crying child and Tawna's man was operating a plethora of cameras. How lame that I'm in it! We attempted to get all the kiddos to sit together for a picture. Success? Probably illusive. Well, maybe better luck next time.

Kyler Ordained, Bathtub Boys, & 4th of July

Any special day for the Olson Family is a day to over do the picture taking and test patience. Kyler was ordained an Elder June 21, 2009 by Chad in preparation for his mission. Here are 2 pictures to prove we were there.....

Kyler with all his neices and nephews excluding Taylee & Porter who live in Boston.

Back: Kelsi, Kyler holding Landon, Kade, Jenna

Front: Taylor, Nathan, Tanner, Ian, Kalan

Our little fam.
The boys in the bathtub July 1, 2009. I suckered out at WalMart and bought them Lightening McQueen bubble bath. They wasted no time in trying it out. Taylor busied himself in replicating Santa Claus and Ian hurried himself to rinse that beard right off Taylor's face. He almost wiped Taylor's smile off too, but we worked it out.
On the 4th of July we watched the Burley City fireworks show. It wasn't much, but it was something and that is better than nothing. Afterward we headed back to Grandma's and the boys did sparklers and snaps. They had to sit on the porch occasionally so that Tysi's & Chad's families could light off the fireworks they bought. This is the boys lounging and waiting for their turn. Such funny little guys.