Ryder wins again!

It was that time of year again, time for the yearly Christmas coloring book contest in Preston. Ryder grabbed the coloring book out of my mom's paper and started coloring that day. He was so excited. He ended up coloring quite a few, but being a slaker of a mom that I am I spaced getting them handed out until the day before they were all due! So since we were behind I told him to pick out about four or five really good ones and we'd hand them in. So he did. He then got a call that he had been chosen and won at Preston Dental. For his prize he got a spinbrush toothbrush! Yep, a dentist gave the kids a toothbrush for their prize! :) A little on the nutso side I thought considering they usually do something fun for the kids. LOL It was good though and Ryder was happy because it was a lot cooler looking then his he said. Brooklyn had finally decided to color a few pictures but then got ticked one day because she said Ryder had more then her and ripped them all up. So needless to say she did not end up getting any done to hand in. She realized after Ryder had won that maybe next time she would not throw a fit and do good with them. We shall see how she feels next year. :)

Here is a picture of him and the others who won along with the dentist. Ryder loves to sit and color and I was glad he won! WAY TO GO RYDER!

Ryder's Christmas Program

This year Ryder's Preschool class went over to the nursing home and had a short program for Christmas. They sang some Christmas songs and those kids were great. What a good group of kids. Miss Mindy is their teacher and she does such a nice job with the kids; they sang their hearts out! Ryder is my shy boy believe it or not and Nils and I were so amazed he stood up there and sang! He sang all he knew and danced to the one he needed and did actions for the others. I was proud of my boy! :) I had my camera being really stupid though for some reason so I didn't get very good pictures. (That would be why everyone looks like they have alien eyes.) LOL
Here are a couple pictures of him & his class getting ready to sing.


These next few are just him and his class singing. They are doing actions to the songs and then the one they are singing Jingle Bells and shaking bells. Ryder thought that was neat.



It was fun to go watch and boy was I a proud mom. Yes, I know strange being so proud of him singing. Really for Ryder though to be up in front of people he gets nervous and shy so for him to sing was a step I was happy to see! He sang his little heart out and did so well!! Two thumbs up for Miss Mindy and the hard work she did to get the kids ready. It was a good little program.

Ward Christmas Party

We had our Ward Christmas party the first part of December, I just am slow at getting the pictures up from it. We had a dinner and then following the dinner we had a short program on the birth of Christ. It was a very good program!! Then of course Santa came! Ryder and Brooklyn were so excited for a few days for it and had been super good so they could see Santa. The minute Santa walked in and Ryder got a glance at him he ran and started hiding under whatever chair he could. He was not having any part of that for some reason. He litteraly was shaking and pretty much in tears when we asked if he wanted to go up and tell Santa what he wanted. It was just plain nuts. I am not sure what hit the poor boy. Brook, after seeing I think how Ryder was acting, decided no way too. She didn't want to go see him either and started to cry. We found some good friends of ours in the ward, the Austin's, and their little boy was waiting in line. Their little boy and Brook are in nursery together and are best buds so she said she'd go with them. She waited in line and became happy and excited. It was finally her turn and I could tell she was a bit nervous, but she did it! She told him that she wanted a dollhouse. I then sat Gavin on his lap to get a picture and Gavin decided to heck with it and screamed. What a night! I did capture a few quick pics though. Crazy kids any ways. :)
Here is Brooklyn excited now and ready to see Santa!

This is the one of Brooklyn staring down Santa & telling him she wanted him to bring her a dollhouse for Christmas.

And here is the one when I sat Gavin on Santa's lap. He was not a happy camper and wanted no part of that. LOL ;)

Overall they had fun though I think. Ryder did calm down after awhile and just looked from way back in the gym at Santa. :)

JAZZ GAME!

Last night we were able to go to the Jazz game and had such a blast. Nils got four free tickets from a friend who has season tickets and couldn't go. We took our friends Kory and Jennifer Kofoed with us. The seats were great and we had a good view of everything. The Jazz won which of course made it that much better too. It was a good game and was a total BLAST! I am grateful for my mom for taking my kids for us so we could go and for our friends going with us. I was very happy as well that the weather was in our favor and good! Nils and I always watch Jazz games on TV, but man in person it's fun. Here are the pics I was able to capture. Some are not the best quality but work. :)

Picture overload!

It has taken me a bit to update pictures of Gavin on here. Sorry. Life just becomes NUTS when you have three kids. I am still trying to adjust. LOL I finally decided to just do one big slideshow and put a bunch of updated pictures of life here lately. There are some of the kids and a lot of Gavin. He has grown so much. It's hard to believe he is already three months old! Man how time flies.I think Gavin is coming out of his colic issues or else I am just getting use to it more. :) He is a fun baby overall though and I love him to death. There are still times where he just wants to sit and scream, but we deal with it. Some days are better then others. Sometimes the other two kids will tell me to make him be quiet because it obviously gets on their nerves. I feel bad, but sometimes you just have to let them cry. I have grown to really learn that and get use to the fact that they are fine for a few minutes to just cry it out. Gavin usually just cries it out too and then is fine.
Enjoy all the pictures. There are a lot, sorry. I just wanted to do one post with all the pictures I had instead of a bunch indiviual ones. I have them all mixed around too, sorry. Enjoy though and see just how big my Gavin has gotten...and of course how cute all my kids are. :)

Halloween!

Well, it was that time of year again. Halloween time. It came up on me WAY too fast this year for some reason and I just couldn't get in the mood for it. I only got a few of my decorations out and just moaned about getting costumes this year. It was crazy how fast it seemed to come for me. The kids decided this year that they wanted to be something that matched. So we decided (finally) on doing Batman and Batgirl. They thought they were just neat as heck and loved it. I then had our little Gavin be a monkey and what a cute monkey he was. :) We didn't do much exciting, but we took the kids around trick or treating to a few friend's places and the grandparent's house. We didn't do the trunk or treat this year. I kind of got burned out of it and am not a huge fan of it. I miss the old way I guess and just can't get into the whole trunk or treat for some reason. We did a few fun things that day with the kids and then off we went trick or treating and I think they had fun. They said they did and Nils and I enjoyed seeing them all dressed up having fun. Ryder asked Nils and I if we'd dress up with them next year so maybe we just will. We will have to see. LOL
Here are pictures that we took before Gavin started screaming his head off. He wasn't much of a fan of his poofy, hot costume. The kids did all have fun though and it was neat even for the Halloween grinch, me. :)

Gavin's Baby Blessing

We finally got the chance to bless our little Gavin. What a great day it was! We blessed him on Sunday; 10-10-10. He was blessed by Nils and Nils did a very nice job and I really enjoyed it. In the circle we had Nils, Kevin, Uncle Cleve, Ed, Pat, and Diego. I had a hard time not having my Uncle Twayne there with us as he is usually to everything for us kids, but I did feel him there in spirit and I know with all my heart he was right in that prayer circle with his hands on Gavin! He wouldn't have missed it and I know it. My Aunt did come down though and she brought my cousin Taylor with her. It was great they still made the trip and I know it was rough on my Aunt too. We then had some of Nils' family there and some great friends came and supported us. My Aunt and Uncle from Soda also came over as well. We then had a luncheon up at the Fire station and leave it to me I forgot the camera so I have no pictures of the people who came. Overall, a stressful day and yet it turned out so good and we felt the spirit through little Gavin as he was blessed! We love him to death and am so glad his dad was able to bless him and give him his name. Thanks to all of you who came and supported us as it meant a lot and we missed those of you who couldn't make it. Here are the pictures I had time to get before we ran out the door to church. Imagine that....me running late. Never. LOL :)

Misty's Senior Pictures

So Misty decided she liked the kid's pictures that I took so she wanted me to snap some for her Senior pictures. She had to get one turned into the Yearbook and the deadline didn't allow her time by then to get someone to do them. So, off we went to my dad's old sheds and what not and did a few pics. You can totally tell they were not done by a professional, but hey...they worked. She liked them and who knows which ones she'll actually use. Here is a sneak peak of some we took. We snapped a lot, but I really did have fun doing them. I just can't believe she is going to be graduating! YIKES....watch out world. LOL

Ryder's 5th Birthday!

Our little Ryder turned 5 on September 19th. I couldn't believe it. He is just getting to old and growing WAY too fast for me. :) I finally have some time to post pictures from his party we did for him. He had a dinner over here with just the grandparents and Misty and then he wanted his Aunt Piper with cake and icecream. He then really did want a friend party so the next weekend we let him invite three friends. We went bowling and then we took them to eat at Pizza Villa. He had a blast and so much fun with all his friends. They did so good too and all got along so well. It was a lot of work with four boys and Brooklyn, but was indeed fun. Here are the pictures from his birthday.

Ryder's new discovery of watching TV...

So a little bit ago we bought the kids a little play tent. I found it at Family dollar for cheap and they just totally LOVE it. They like to hide it in and play house in it together. It's just been a big hit. Well, the other day I came out after changing Gavin and doing a few things to find Ryder tucked away in it watching his cartoons. It was funny to me that he discovered it was so cool so I had to take a few pictures. He stayed in it like that for probably a good hour watching a movie that was on TV. Funny kid! I think he also enjoyed it so much because he was by himself and didn't have his sister bugging the day lights of him. :)

Ryder's PreK year has started.

Ryder started his PreK year now. He was sick for his very first day and it was drama at our house! He finally got to go yesterday though for his first day and he was so excited to go. He goes to Mindy Daley in town and this will be his second year with her. He got right up that morning and just kept asking how much longer. Finally he got all ready and we left and the whole way to town he just glowed he was so happy. Brooklyn had a little bit of a hard time and really wanted to go with. I could have had her go this year, but chose to hold her off until next year. Poor girl didn't know what to do without her brother for a few hours.
Here are a few pictures of him all ready to go.



I just had to take one of him and his sister. Poor girl really wanted to go and they really are quite the two little buddies! Brook then wanted to take a picture so I let her take one of Ryder and I. She did pretty well. lol


Below is now a picture of Ryder with his teacher Miss Mindy. Also, one of him waiting patiently with his class for pick up outside.


Ryder really had fun and keeps asking me when it's time to go again. The kid just loves it. I don't enjoy all the drives to town, but it's worth it. I just can't believe he's getting so big and will be in Kindergarten next year! He sure is a fun kid and my big helper with Gavin. I miss him when he's gone and I am just happy he likes school so much. I hope he keeps it up. Now here is to hoping next year doesn't come too fast....I'm not ready. :)

Our newest addition to the family!

Here is a slide show of pictures of our new bundle of joy. We named him Gavin Brigg Olsen. He was born on July 28, 2010 at 7:33 A.M. and weighed 7 lbs. 15.5 oz and was 20 inches long. He was my biggest baby out of the three. I was so happy to have him here after having been put on some bed rest before and just being extremly wore out and beat. My Dr ended up being out of town so another Dr. delivered him and all went fairly well. I did loose a lot of blood at delivery so I came home with Iron supplements, but am getting better now and healing fairly well from everything. All is well with Gavin and we love him to pieces. We are so thankful all went well and we got him here. :) Enjoy!

Preston Night Rodeo Weekend

This year for that Famous Preston night rodeo I was in the hospital having our new bundle of joy so it was not the usual out and about we usually do. I was sad to miss out on the rodeo and carnival with the kids, but I was happy to get my little Gavin here instead. My mom had my kids while we were in the hospital and so on that first night of the parade she brought them up to the hospital and Nils wheeled me out to the curb and we watched the parade together. The kids had fun! They thought that was neat to watch it and hey, I still got to watch it too. I did get a few weird looks though. lol We got rained on, but still had a blast. Here we are waiting ever so patiently for the parade to start. Yes, I look like poop, but remember I just had a baby okay? lol

I was then released from the hospital Friday afternoon so we didn't go up and see the Friday night parade. I was in no shape to go up there. I had my brother come up to visit from Arizona with his girlfriend and they decided to go watch it Saturday night. I felt pretty good (I thought) Saturday so I told them I would go too. We got a parking again at the hospital and I figured just getting out of the car and sitting to watch the parade I'd be fine. I was for only about the first 15 minutes. By the time that parade was over I was hurting bad. I was in a lot of pain and we headed home. It was probably a dumb mistake on my part, but I at least got to see the big Saturday night parade. We missed all else, but it's okay. It will be there again next year right? lol
Here we are waiting on Saturday night for the parade with the "gang." My brother isn't in the pic though; he was the lucky one taking the picture.

Little Gavin did great though and only fussed because he got hungry. Overall it was a good week/weekend. We got to see two nights of the parade, kids got their candy, and we got a new bundle of joy. :)

4th of July

Well, I am finally getting some things updated on here! Man, there is just not time for everything lately. For the 4th of July we took the kids to my parent's house and lit a few fireworks there and the kids had a blast.
Here is Ryder with one of his sparklers. He thought that was pretty cool.

Here is Brooklyn with her sparkler and yes, she thought she was big and tried to light it and all by herself and do as she pleased. She found them cool though too!

It was just an easy 4th this year, but I think the kids still enjoyed it.

Just an update on my world.

I decided I'd just do a post and update where things are at in our acre of the world. Nothing too exciting that's for sure. The weather FINALLY decided to work with us a little and we hurried and got our garden planted this last weekend. Yippee! So excited and now if only I could see it all start popping up I'd feel more accomplished. Hopefully things come in good for us despite the late start this year due to the massive rain we have had going on. We planted a good size one and I'm sure I'll kick myself in the rear later for it when it comes to picking, canning, freezing, weeding, etc. but for now I am satisfied. Grateful for a husband who is into the whole the garden thing and does most the work right along side me. He's the best! I also was able to get a few flowers planted and yard decor out. Just now am waiting for some wood chips to arrive from one of Nils' friends and then I'll fill the flower beds all in and make it better then it is right now.
I have been busy moving rooms around and dusting. Trying to make room for our new addition and decided I needed to cut down on my dust count. LOL I do have to say I was amazed at how much stuff I have accumulated over the last few years. Yikes! I ended up taking quite a bit of things to the DI and a fair amount of things found their way to the garbage as well. Feels good to have some more space. We did get the kids' some bunk beds to try and help open their room up and get another dresser in there for Brooklyn. Still need to do a bit more cleaning in there and hang up things on the wall. Still quite a bit to get done around the place before the baby gets here, but we are making lead way. A little at a time is about all I can do anyways and then I am hurting and tired.
I am counting down days until the baby gets here for sure! I can't believe it's sneaking up on us so fast though. We had a checkup today. All seemed well. The Dr. told us he will be leaving town on the 20th of July and returning late on August 4th. Bummer! I thus am stuck waiting until the 5th of August to have the C-Section on this baby done. Both the Dr. and Nils and I are thus hoping I don't come on my own during that time and that all will go well. Taking the baby early on the 19th of July just didn't make the Dr. too happy as he was really worried it would not be ready. I'd rather wait and have a big baby I guess instead of a sick one that wasn't ready! So, planning on about August 5th to have the baby. Everyone keeps asking me for names. No, have no names yet. Sorry. Hope to soon.
So there is a little jibberish from me about what's happened lately. I will continue to keep this updated with things the best I can and maybe snap a few pics of my moving and cleaning arrangements. Now here is to hoping it warms up so I can feel more motivated and get more done. :)

Kids' Pictures

Well, I finally got some pictures of the kids taken. The last ones I had were after Brooklyn turned one. Sad I know. Everytime I had some money to go down to Kiddie Kandids something always came up I needed the money for more. Then before I knew it they were closed. So, I decided I was going to take some to get by for now and when I had some money and time I'll go somewhere and get some actual professional ones done. :) I think for the most part they turned out good considering it was me taking them. LOL I have the hardest time getting them both to look at me and smile at the same time. I seriously had a ton of shots because they would look away, say something, close their eyes, SOMETHING. We just went over to the barn to the old sheds and that to get them done and I think that worked out fairly well too. Here are a few of them, obviously not all the takes I had to do. Crazy how big my kids are getting and to think we are having another one soon. Man how time does fly by! We are hoping this fall after the baby gets here we will finally take some family updated pictures too.

Ryder's Preschool Pictures

Ryder had his preschool pictures taken this last week. It's just crazy that he's getting so big as it seems just like the other day he was the one we were expecting and waiting for; now we are waiting for number three to come. Crazy how fast life passes us by! Here is the one of his whole class. Don't know why Ryder had to smile like a dork, but it kind of makes me giggle. LOL ;) The pictures on here are not real great due to scanning them in, but you get the idea.

Below are the two pictures of just him. Considering I wasn't there to make him smile like I usual, I think they turned out super cute. I love the second one; without the jacket!! He is such a handsome little guy and I love him to death.


He has one more year of preschool to go now and then he'll be in Kindergarten. Wow! Time does fly. I am hoping to get the two kid's pictures done together and some done of Brooklyn here soon if the weather would work with me a little.

Our New Car!

Yahoo! We finally found a car to buy. We got ourselves a 2007 Dodge Durango.We have been looking ever since we found out we were expecting another one. It's hard to find something I like, but I finally decided on this and hope it's a good car for us. We had to get something because there was no way you were getting three car seats in that Ford Focus of ours! It was just too little and no room. Here is a picture of the front and back view of it.


We ended up getting a steal of a deal on it and they gave us more for our Focus then we owed so that was an extra bonus to the package. We got the limited edition. It has the leather seats which I am SO excited for. With kids, forget the cloth! They destroyed the seats in the focus and we were constantly trying to keep them wiped off and nice. Everything just seemed to soak into them though. Another plus? The kids now can be seperated and have some space and not fight so much. :) In the focus they were so close to each other they would slap and pinch and take toys. It was noisy for sure with them. Here is a picture of the front dash and one of the back seat view. It's got my silver that I love. Yes, I have room finally. LOL


The car also has adjustable foot pedals which are way nice for me where I am shorter. I can have the pedals come out to me a bit instead of making my seat go clear to the wheel. With my belly getting even bigger not hugging the steering wheel is going to be nice. LOL In the car the front two seats also have heated seats. Yipee!! I can push a button if I am cold and my seat gets warmed up and I love it. Nils laughs because everytime I've gotten in it I have pushed the button to warm my tushie. LOL ;) We are excited to have it and I just need time to adjust to something bigger. A midget use to a little car now driving this has been a change, but I am excited. I will miss the Focus because it was a dang good car for gas and all that, but we had no choice and needed something bigger. One day I am sure I will love this and feel great in it too. Can't wait to have a new baby in it now.