Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a fun and busy Thanksgiving weekend. We had a lazy morning Thursday, then drove down to LA to Mark's brother Aaron's house. His brother Jon and family were also there, so we had 12 kids between us. It was a great, laid back day and the only thing I cooked was Dad's cheesecake, which turned out perfectly! I did miss having Dad's stuffing so I actually made it today with dinner!

Mark and I each took a turn battling black Friday crowds and got most of our shopping done. Walmart was a total bust, after fighting the throng of people I came up empty handed, but Kohl's, Target and Michaels were actually enjoyable. Mark figured out last year that the trick at Kohl's is to buy something at the jewelry counter and then you can check out there. So, I bought something inexpensive there and avoided the hour long line

to check out! For Friday evening, I had gotten discount tickets to winter wonderland at the the Ice Sports center. Mark brought all the kids (except Caleb) and a neighbor to go ice skating, play in the snow and meet Santa. They had a great time and Courtney came told me today that she thinks she has a future in ice skating! I'm sure she could, as she could have a future in anything she put her mind to!

Saturday we spent the morning working on banners for the girl scout float that will be in the Christmas parade this week. The afternoon was spent watching the BYU football game- a great one if you missed it- go Cougars! Then, Mark and I had gotten discount tickets to go to the David Archuleta Christmas concert. It was very enjoyable- his Christmas CD would be very good.

So,we had a busy and full weekend and are ready for a very busy week ahead with Christmas decorating, a visit to Meg and family, the girls in the Christmas parade, Courtney's school championship spelling bee, and all the normal activities! We get our family pictures back tomorrow, so I am excited to see them and will post some soon.

I just wanted to write a quick Happy Late Thanksgiving. We had our feast with Ryan's parents on Wednesday. It was crazy and busy because Ryan's mom likes to plan a ton of things to do in not a lot of time, but the kids had fun. The other reason in was a long and busy day was that we went to the eye doctor with Robert in the morning (his right eye has been pulling inward). We were there for 3 hours. He went through test after test. We were in 3 different waiting rooms, 5 different exam rooms and 2 different test areas. The poor kid went through everything imaginable and about half way through declared that he was not having fun anymore and needed a lifesaver to feel him better. Ultimately we were told he has accomadative esotropia. From what I understand he is farsighted and his eyes are trying to accomadate or adjust to that and his right eye is pulling in when they try to focus what he is seeing. The solution, he has to wear glasses. Most likely forever, but who knows. It may adjust as he grows and his eye changes, but we will not bank on that. He won't have his glasses for a couple weeks at least but he seems to think it will be Ok. He says that he gets to wear glasses like his grandmas and grandpas. I am not too excited that I get to fight with a three year old boy in glasses but we will survive. So, there is our family update. I shall now return to rehanging ornaments that Katelyn can not keep her hands off and picking up popcorn dropped while the boys watch the Grinch. I love you all and really missed you all on Thanksgiving and for Tree decorating.

Tis the season

With our tummies full and patience for Black Friday shopping shot, the holiday season is officially here! We had a wonderful time at Grandma and Grandpa LaVoie's this Thanksgiving before heading over to my parents house for an early evening visit. This morning, I braved the crowds, kind of, and headed to WalMart. It was so packed, it took me over an hour to get from one end of the store to the other. By the time I made it to the check out line, I realized it was going to take another hour just to check out. So I left my cart and walked out of the store empty handed. Most of the things I wanted to look at were already sold out, so I didn't have anything I couldn't get at the same price any other time. I don't think I will do that again.

We also just got a ton of wet, sticky snow in the last day or so, so we decided to get outside and play in it. Xavier and I made a snowman, but Scott had to come out and help us actually get the snowballs piled on top of each other. I think I may have made them a bit too big. After we played in the snow, we headed inside to get out the Christmas decorations. We set up our tree inside, but we have yet to put up the lights outside. That may be a project for tomorrow.

We hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and we can't wait to hear all about your holiday activities.

Go Memphis!

The past couple weeks have been busy sports weeks amongest our household. To start the week, Nathan went to a Memphis Tiger's Basketball game with his buddy Victor. Saturday the whole family went to a Memphis Tiger's Football game. One of the family's Nathan home teaches works for the athletic dept. and got us some tickets for the last home game. As not so enthusiastic I was about going, I will even admit that I had a good time. Let's just say that I didn't grow up in a football house. But I did learn a thing or two at the game. :) Thanks honey!



Then last Friday Nathan won 3 tickets from work for another Memphis Basketball game. That meant it was going to be a boy's night out. It just so happened to be Jaxon's weekend with his "Travelling Bear" from school, so Harley got to go to the FedEx Forum too. Since they had their boy's night, Keilee was asked what we were going to do for our girl's night. She informed the boys that we were going to paint our toe nails and go shopping! And that we did!


Saturday the whole family went over to a family in the ward's house, who hosts BYU football games with socializing and food. Straight from there, we dropped Andrew and Nathan off at the church to head off to a Riverking's hockey game. Andrew's cubscout troop all went together as one of their activities.

Whew! as time goes by, and the kids get older,...I thought they were going to be more independent, so I wouldn't be so busy, but in seems to be the opposite. It seems like there's always something going on!

Finally captured it!

Caleb has been smiling for a few weeks now, but he will never cooperate when I want to take pictures of it. This morning I finally got it- he is a cutie! He is such a sweet baby,though he still thinks night is from 4-9 pm, then wants to play when I finally get to sleep, but he'll figure it out soon enough.

In other news... not much out of the ordinary. We spent Saturday decorating a float for the Christmas parade that Courtney and Aubrey will ride on with their girl scout troop. It was fun and the girls are excited. Then, Courtney and I went and made cookies for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House. We went there in August for the kids to hang out while Mark and I visited Caleb in the NICU, so it was nice to go do something for them.

We were almost adopted by a kitten this week. An adorable little one showed up one day after school. The kids and their friends played with it all afternoon and each kid begged their parents to keep it. I said no and so did all the other moms, so it was outside all night, then the next morning it was crying at my door again. The boys played with it all day and when we went to pick up Aubrey, it followed us all the way to school. My defenses were weakening but I really did not want to keep it. Luckily, a little boy picked it up on the way home from school, but he must have been told no as well, so the kitten showed up at a friend of ours down the street. They could not keep it, but another neighbor boy took it and his mom said they could keep it until they found the owner. Well, they are now the owners! I am just glad that someone took it. Makes me appreciate more mom and dad letting us have kittens over the years...

Family photo Shoot

So we had some family photos done about a month ago, they didn't turn out as good as I was hoping, but they are not too bad. Between the infamous Rexburg wind, and 2 cranky kids the photographer was in for a challenge. She did well though and since we got them done for free we really can't complain! Here are some of the shots, sorry there are so many, I had a hard time choosing!

Other than that, not much going on here, Same old thing. I took Asher to his regular 6 month well child check and he gained a pound and a half in 10 days. I guess the formula is doing the trick. He also just started eating his baby food and he is loving the kinds he has had so far. Ayana is fun and wonderful as always, I am always amazed at what a good kid she is. Yes she has her 2 year old tantrums from time to time and she doesn't always listen as quickly as I would like her to, but she is a very wonderful and obedient child. She is also a lot of fun. She recently learned what Sharks are and now she loves to look at me from across the room and yell "SHARK" before running at me at full sped and biting my leg (playfully of course). Yesterday we got our first good snow and we took her out sledding and she had a blast. Even when she would trip or fall off the sled and get a face full of snow she would just jump up yell out that she is okay and keep on going. Asher is starting to love playing with toys and things, he is always grabbing everything he can reach and that kid has a grip you can hardly believe. Sometimes I have to really work to get things out of his grip once he has them. We are having a bit of a tough time trying to figure out what to get him for Christmas, so any suggestions would be great. Trever is off school for the week so I am excited to spend lots of time with him and get some extra sleep. This is the crazy week at work with Black Friday coming up we have loads to do, and then on Friday morning I will be there to see all the insanity first hand. It is really crazy to me how people act just for a sale. I love a good deal too, but I am not ready to sit outside a store for 5-6 hours and then practically beat down a door, then run screaming to the part of the store where my item is, just a little too much for my taste. Watching as a store employee is both scary and funny all at the same time. We are just going to have quiet thanksgiving at home with our little family (and WAY too much food). Then Saturday morning we are off on a mini vacation to Salt Lake to do some Christmas shopping and see the lights at temple square. It will be a short trip but we found a cheap hotel room, so we are excited for a little break form the hum drum of every day life. Anyway, that's all for now, love you guys!

As Thanks giving approaches I can't tell you how much I wish each of you could be here to share our turkey. You are all my greatest blessings and I am so thankful for each of you!!!!!!!!!!!

It has finally warmed up a little here after a week of well below zero temperatures. The daycare got crazier every day with the kids being inside continously. The furnace(at work) kept going off so several times a day we had to run down the basement and push reset. Luckily it always started. They finally got it going right on Friday, we hope. Anyway today it is about 20 degrees and it feels great. I am sure it will get windy so it will bring the wind chill back down below zero.

I am still working on projects in the garage and am hoping to be close to done by the end of next weekend. I keep thinking of one more thing I want to try to do so it is never ending.
The kids probably won't enjoy the things I have made nearly as much as I have enjoyed making them. I sure don't miss the shopping part. Hopefully, it hasn't been too much stress for you.

Dad is almost done with his fishing pole so he is really getting excited about trying it out in the spring. I still think a long stick would be just as good.

I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving.
I Love You.

Mom

Craziness!

Okay, so things have been crazy, but if you get past all the crazy life is pretty great!  Nates grandpa past away so we had the funeral and everything a couple of weeks, and the girls were surprising well behaved and Kyrie seemed really okay with it!  Arianna has had a nasty cold the last few weeks so she hasn't been sleeping so well, but she is still a little ball of non-stop energy whether she sleeps or not!  We have had a lot of fun the last couple of weeks. The weekend before Halloween we drove downtown and to the girls to the Seattle Pacific Science Center, and the girls had a blast exploring it all, especially the butterfly habitat where to get to go through a room where there are butterflies flying all around you!  

For Halloween it was raining, but we still got out to the trunk or treat at the church, and then we called that good.  Julianna (troys oldest, 3) was sick an couldn't go, but her little sister Chantel went with us and they all seemed to have a good time!

 Our ward had their fall festival this past Friday and they had it set up for all carnival games, and the girls had a blast with that, then on saturday we went to the car show and Kyire found what she said she will drive when she gets old enough!

 Kyrie is loving preschool, and her school has a free family night this Wednesday at the childrens Museum up north, so they seem to be looking forward to that.  Arianna has a blast playing with her daddy while Kyrie is at school, and Nates dad is great and helps out by watching them when Nathan has school so it has been working out pretty well.  I love hearing how everyone is doing and I'm glad that you are doing well!

Hello again - Winter has definitely made its self known this week. We started out with about 5 inches Monday morning and we have gotten a couple more inches two or three times since then. It has also gotten pretty cold with most mornings down around zero. I sure do appreciate my automatic car starter. Things at work have been pretty crazy- we may have set a record in the last couple weeks for the most new and different reasons for having to miss work - possible broken ankle, daughter in jail, had to find grandchildren, car problems galore. The list goes on and on. We have survived so I am sure we will keep on doing so. Dad is still working on his fly rod and now it is time for tithing settlement to start so I don't expect to see alot of him for a while. We had our primary presentation today and as I watched I thought of all our precious grandkids and how blessed Dad and I are. We are so proud of each of you and the awesome job you are doing with your children. Each of you is such a fantastic parent!
Thanks for keeping us up to date on what is happening in your world.
I Love You
Mom

update on our little guy

Just wanted to post a quick update that the doctor finally got the results on Asher's tests and they were all normal. So, it seems he just needs the extra formula. I am glad that it is not anything big, we will go back to the doctor in about a week or so and see if the extra formula is helping at all. Love you guys!

What has 4 wheels, 8 pedals and 7 Olsens?

We just got back from a great couple days at the beach. It is our November tradition for the last few years, to head to the coast for a night. Usually it is on a Friday, but Mark had to go to Oxnard for a site visit/consultation at Oxnard High, so the girls played hooky and we all tagged along. It was perfect weather, so the kids and I spent the day at the beach, then we stayed overnight and all played today. After some outlet shopping, we decided to rent this bike and cruise along the bike path in Santa Barbara. Quite a workout for mom and day, but we needed it an it was fun! The only complaint was that we didn't get enough time at the beach! A great couple of days and for me, the first time out of Bakersfield in 6 months!!

Our teeny tiny little guy

So, I had a Wic appointment on Monday and after they weighed Asher the lady expressed a pretty big concern about his weight and suggested that we take him to the doctor. So after we left there we went to the doctor's office and they squeezed us in for an appt. Turns out that he weighs less now than he weighed at his appt in July, he is only 10 and a half pounds! I knew he was skinny and at his 4 month appt he had lost weight, but the doctor said not to worry about it at that point. However, now they are very worried about it. The Doctor ordered some blood work done to check for any issues there, but I haven't heard any results on that yet. Also I have to start feeding him formula after I nurse him. I really did not want to do the formula thing, but I guess that nursing just isn't enough for this little guy. I started him on supplemental formula right after his appt on Monday, and the kid loves it and is much happier know even than before. I feel a little bad, because now I feel like I have been starving my son for the last 6 months, but I'm sure he won't hold it against me. All the rest of us are doing great, happy and healthy. Trever is busy with school and I am busy with the kids and work, but all in all life is grand!

A little late on the Halloween pictures, but here they are. The day started with pumpkin carvings, 4 of our 6 pumpkins were from out garden ( two were actually another type of squash that was over ripe!)- we were excited to use our home grown ones.

Later, we went to our ward party and then most of the kids were pretty wiped out. We went home and Aubrey opted to stay and pass out candy with me and Caleb, while everyone else went trick or treating around the neighborhood. Friends from our old ward had invited us to come to their trunk or treat, but only Mark and Courtney made it over there. All in all too much candy, but a fun day.

In other news, Courtney got a 4.0 on her report card, which means she made principal's list. She had a fun field trip for gate, where they traveled to the Orange County ocean institute. They went out on a boat and collected marine life, then came back and studied it. She had a great time, I will get her to write about it. She also competed in the written spelling bee and was one of the top 10 for the entire 4-6 grade and is now preparing for the oral competition in December- she has 900 words to study, most of which I don't even know! And, she competed in the oral language competition on Friday, she did not place, but we were very proud of the hard work she put into her piece.

Aubrey also had a perfect report card and was the only one in her class to get a + on handwriting. Her only lower mark was for not always completing her work as neatly as possible. Apparently, she is very competitive and always wants to be the first one done instead of doing it neatly- I wonder where she got her competitiveness?!

The boys and I have been spending most of our days this week at the park with friends, this is the best time of year here, with beautiful weather. We squeeze in some preschool here and there and have fun!

Caleb is doing really well. He goes to the doctor again this week to start his RSV shots, so I

am always anxious to see what his weight is up to. He is is smiling and cooing now, which is a lot of fun for all of us.

Hi again - Another week has flown by and I didn't accomplish half the things I had hoped to so now I really have a long list for the coming week. When I was working on some Christmas projects a few weeks ago I was feeling like I was way ahead of the game. Now I feel pretty far behind. Oh well, what I finish, I finish and the rest can be for next year.
I spent most of last week moving stuff around down stairs. I decided that Dad did not need all the food in his "office" so I emptied all those cabinets and had the missionaries help move them down stairs. After refilling them I decided it would be nice to set all my stuff up in one room instead of spreading out like I was doing so I started rearranging and now have everything under the sun in the big bedroom downstairs. It took pretty much all my time when I was home and not sleeping but it is finally all moved. Now I just have to remember where I put everything.
Dad has been gone a lot lately. He is building a fly rod on Mon. and Wed. evenings and then has church stuff and working at Paul's so I see him very little. He is building a fairly heavy flyrod and plans on going out to some village to fish for Kings next summer. You will have to ask him for details.
I have enjoyed the Halloween Pictures and look forward to seeing more. It is sooooooo nice to hear what is going on with all of you.
I Love You All
Mo

Too much Halloween

Halloween is only once a year according to my calendar, but that is not how it worked out around here. We started Halloween a week early by going to Ryan's parents ward party and trunk-or-treat. We then continued our Halloween fun the following Friday with our ward party (which I had to go to by myself since Ryan had to work). Then, we had the actual trick-or-treating on Saturday. All three kids have so much candy that I am going to have to just get rid of some but I feel bad throwing it away too. The boys of course loved all the events and Robert actually found his voice and was saying Trick or treat and Happy Halloween. Katelyn figured out this trick or treating stuff fast and would go from car to car sticking her little pumpkin bucket at people. One guy did not respond fast enough so she started patting and then hitting his leg until he responded and gave her a candy. Pushy little monster but cute just the same. I can't say that I remember ever loving Halloween ( I am sure that I did when I was real little, but I don't remember) but at least I get to watch my kids have fun and look cute. I will now attempt to add some pictures for you all to see. Love you guys.

OK, someone tell me if there is a way to rotate my pictures. Otherwise you will just have to look at things sideways from time to time. Man I am a behind the times dork sometimes.

(We got your back Megan. There isn't a way to rotate on this page, so we rotated them on the desktop first, then uploaded. Cheers. Trever and Amber)

Halloween seemed to creep up on us and then fly by. I can't believe that it's already November!
Our Ward had a chili cook-off and trunk-or-treating. Nothing too exciting...Kinda wish they would have had more activities for the kids, rather then a lot of just standing around.
Either way, the kids were happy that they got lots of candy. We have to watch Makeila espceially. cause she's a little sneak! Like yesterday, I saw her eating a pack of skittles. I asked her if dad said she could have that, and she said he said Yes. Not a minute later, she was walking out to the garage, and I hear him scold her and tell her to put that away! When she came in crying, and sadly putting the half eaten skittles on the counter, I asked her again,..."I thought you said that Dad said you could have it!?" She said " He did,..., I said, Dad, can I have candy, and he said sure." All of this was re-told to me in a kindof quiet whisper. I think that explains it,...she asked quietly, and he was probably answering sure to someone or something else. Silly/Sneaky girl,...gotta love her!

Well, as you can imagine Halloween was pretty calm and quiet here. We did go over to the church to hand out candy for Trunk or Treat but the wind was really blowing so they moved inside. The kids got their candy so they were happy. The missionaries came over later in the evening as they aren't suppose to tract on Halloween so they practiced on us for awhile. I think the wind has finally quit after three days of winds up to 70 miles per hour. It did take down a tree in the back yard ( no more golf ball on a string to shoot at) but no harm done. We still have no snow even though it has been well below freezing the last few days. With the change of time it seems really dark and it is only 5:30.
Dad is rather disappointed because they did not put in a buy out with that bill that he has been watching so he will probably have to work a few more years. Hopefully, it won't be too bad for him. I thoroughly enjoyed my time off last week. I spent alot of time working on projects in the garage and got several things completed. Of course, Friday back at work was a catch up day so hopefully I can get all the billing done in the next couple days. Natalie finally seems to be doing a little better health wise so that is a real plus. I hope it continues.
I talked to Grandma today and she was telling me that several schools have closed for a few days there due to the flu. She mentions all the time how much she looks forward to hearing from any of you so please call or email whenever you can. I have really enjoyed all your posts and pictures so hopefully this will continue to be a place where we can stay connected.
On a different note - we haven't used the second remote for the wii for awhile and it won't connect right. We have tried new batteries - the bottom lights light up but the 1 or 2 never light up. Do they just die? Is there anything else we should try or just buy a new one and toss it?
Any thoughts are appreciated it.
Love You All!!!!
Mom

Halloween Fun

So for Halloween our apartment complex did a little dinner and trunk or treat thing out in the parking lot. It was actually really nice and we had a lot of fun seeing all the kiddos, and a lot of the parents dressed up. Ayana was a blue Care Bear and Asher was a green dinosaur/dragon (we never did decide for sure what he was) Thanks to Aunt Shannon and Grandma Linda, we even got both the costumes for free, yeah! The only thing better than having fun is having free fun! Ayana did not feel like cooperating for pics, but here is some cute ones of Asher. As part of the halloween party they took pictures of all the kids so hopefully one of those of Ayana will be better, if so I will post it when I get it. Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!