A Fun 5 Days!

Ben's sister Ericka, her husband Jeff, and their family, Justin, Brandon, and Darren made the 11+ hour drive West to Modesto. We had a blast and took advantage of the excuse to go do a lot of things. First of all we met them on their way into the State at Coloma State Park (aka Gold Discovery Park) and Sutter's Mill.

It was not as educational as we thought it would be nor was it like Ericka and Ben remembered as little kids but it got us out of Modesto and it gave the Olsen's a chance to get out of the truck instead of driving straight to Modesto. We played in the River and watched people pan for gold.

The kids enjoyed entertaining one another, riding in the same car, and singing to the radio and CD's. When we were home we watched movies, played the Wii, and played cards.

I am sure they were all tired of being in the car but Brandon took it the hardest. It was so painful he pulled out two of his teeth to help pass the time.

Yosemite, as expected, was spectacular. This picture is right in front of El Capitan where people stop and look at the rock climbers. I think Jeff located some.

We then went to Mariposa Grove - a grove of Sequioa Big Trees within Yosemite. The pictures don't do justice for what you see with your eyes. We took a 2 mile hike to get a better view.

This is us in front of the Grizzly Giant.

On our hike we saw a deer and walked through the Tunnel Tree!

Our camera batteries died at Glacier Point so this is one of the only pictures we got. One of these days we are hiking to the top of Half Dome. How can you live here and not check that off your list?

In addition to spending one whole day in Yosemite and watching the sun set while at Glacier Point (we arrived home at 1 am), we went to the Jelly Belly Factory. The Olsen's drove through San Francisco and across the Bay Bridge, Golden Gate, and Richmond Bridges. I guess they will have to come back since we didn't get to do some of the other things on our lists.

Thanks for coming to visit!

Back to School

Oh the First Day Of School! I still get butterflies in my stomach and can hardly sleep at night, and I am not even going to school. The first day of school was last week August 3rd. I can't believe it is time to go back already. I was sad at first because we had a great summer vacation. But I was also happy because then they don't have time to fight with each other. The past two weeks have been horrible. They play well together but they do have their moments and we defiantly had more and more of them lately. Anyways, they were so excited for their first day! Megan could hardly wait. She said all morning that her stomach hurt and we told her you probably have butterflies in your tummy and she said " I do , How did they get in there".
LOL. I warned the kids the night before that I would be taking lots of pictures but I won't bore anyone with them all but here are a few from that day.
Two Happy kids and One happy Mom, (Except for the first Day I do get a tear or two.)

Jaden going into Second grade.

He was excited to have some friends in his class .

Megan all ready for Kindergarten. She was so Happy !

Just look at that face, she had a great first day! This is Megan's cute hat she made! She also made a new buddy . They get along so well. We have already had some play dates this week. This is going to be a great year.( Even though we have had a few tears). The week went by way too fast! Before I know it they will be going into High School. Until then ,I am just going to SOAK it all in as much as I can. They are just both so energetic and love learning new things. This is a great age and I can't wait to have many more adventures with them in Elementary School.

It's Over -

Where did July go? For us that means summer is over. With living in California comes modified year round school. We may be complaining about it now but when we are sleeping in from Thanksgiving until after New Year's and with a month off in April we will deal with it. Too bad we aren't Teachers and get that time off right?


We had an enjoyable month of summer. A Trip to Utah was our getaway. We camped, played, rode the 4 wheeler, ate, swam, jumped off a zipline, golfed, played some more, swam some more, ran/walked a 5k/10k, and laughed while hanging out with family. Too bad we all don't get together more often. We had a blast and it was nice to relax!

Happy Anniversary!!

10 Years ago Today I married my Best Friend! It has been the best decision I have ever made=) Where does the time go? Ben is the Best Husband, Father and Friend. Ben, thanks for all the Good times and the Bad times that have brought us closer together. Here's to another great 10! Ben I love you so much!

As Promised -

365 Days Ago -

What can one family experience in 365 days? This month will be 1 year since we started this adventure in California? How long will it last? Who knows! Are we adjusted? Kind of. Can we believe it has been a year? No. When we started this adventure Ben's dad mentioned something a long the lines of WOW - you are experiencing the 3 biggest stresses in life all at once. A new job, a new addition to the family, and a move to another state. That is a lot to take on at once. We knew he was right and we knew this BIG Change would be an adventure so we didn't disagree with him. What we didn't know is that if you were to ask us how life would be after a year we would say it would be different then it is now. How would it be different? We still can't answer that, maybe we would have felt more at home? But the one thing we have said plenty of times the last 365 days, no matter what has come our way (which was way too much), and no matter what has happened (which was a lot), is that we knew we made the right decision despite it being a really difficult one (which it has been). Texas maybe just as big as California but they are different!



Anyway, we had a really good idea to put together pictures of what the last 365 days have been like but our computer is experiencing some viruses (imagine that) and all of our pictures are on a flash drive on vacation with the rest of the clan in Utah. Thank goodness for work computers right? So I am posting this message regardless with the promise that the pictures will have to come later and hopefully before an update of the summer trip to Utah!



We hope all of you are having an enjoyable summer.