Great April for Us!

Mayzie turns one tomorrow and she is walking!Myles is just as fun and cute as ever. He will have preschool graduation next month. I will let you all know on here if anyone would like to come. He's very excited. He has also been faithfully watching his plant grow and gets excited more and more the bigger it gets. He was put under general anesthesia last Friday for some dental work to be done. I was very never, but he did great. We told him that he was going to go on a rocket ride. Astronauts wear masks they breathe in so he would have to as well. By the time he was supposed to go back he was super excited and went back with no problems. But... then he came out of the anesthesia and he hadn't been on a rocket so Mom and Dad had to deliver. Luckily I remembered there was a park in PG that had a rocket in it so we went and played there. Then he was hungry because he hadn't eaten so we stopped to get him some fruit, but it was mixed with honeydew so the lady was so nice and gave him a cup up cucumbers. He was one happy boy with is cucumbers. :)

Travis has 2 more days left at the "trailer park"! Wahooo!!! I'm so every excited! He starts the academy this Friday. We'll let you know how it goes. There are going to be days of no fun when he comes home all beaten, tased, and sprayed with pepper spray. Pretty much they do all to him that he might ever have to do aside from shooting him. It will be a great raise for us though, as well as health insurance!

Tax season is over (well for me at least since I only worked weekends)! My internship paid me! I have finished all my credits to graduate. I graduate on April 30th at 11:00 at Noah's in Pleasant Grove. Travis won't be able to make it because he can't miss a single day at the academy. I'm very sad. I have been asked to speak and I'm really nervous. I haven't started writing my speech yet because I do much better under pressure. I'm going to keep it under 5 minutes, which is really only about a page and a half or two so it's not too bad, but I've never spoken in front of people before. ICK! Here's the problem. No one really cares or wants to listen to graduation speeches so how am I ever going to keep their attention? *Sigh*

Reupolstered chair

No pressure from Grandma, huh? Really, it wasn't worth all the hype.

Finally a picture of the chair......Good job Lisa!

Sunday Dinner up-date

Since some will have to leave early, we will begin at 4:00 p.m. this Sunday. But don't worry if you come later. We'll have plenty of food. Looking forward to seeing you!

OUCH!

So today Trek and his buddy went up for some Spring snowboarding. This is the result of one of his jumps. I'm relieved it was only his wrist. I've been expecting a call saying he broke his neck. Crazy boys!

chair

I'm trying to add a picture of re-upholstered chair but it won't let me do it. Can't add any pictures. Something wrong.
Help Karlene.

p.s. I am so hoping this isn't another humbling experience where I find out the something wrong is ME.

Elder Olsen coming home

I hope everyone knows that they are invited to come to the airport when Steve comes home! I am CERTAIN he will hope to see you all there!!! He flies in at 1:23pm on Friday, April 30. I totally understand if you can't be there(may a camel spit in your eye). The time has flown by and I can hardly wait to have him back!!!

A thought, imagine that.

I just had a thought, possible even a profound thought. So I'll share it.
"Children can't appreciate their parent's love for them until they also become a parent themselves." So kids, appreciate your parents! They love you more than all of your friends combined, and then some. Plus a parent's love lasts forever.

Yesterday we were watching Conference and Austin started watching it about the last 15 mins or so.... When it was all over and they had said the prayer Austin looked at us and said "Ok lets go to nursery now!!"

Professional looking re-upholstered chair

Lisa re-upholstered this chair. Did a great job of it!
(You ask what chair? Help Tom, need picture. Thanks)

SUNDAY DINNER 4-11-2010

Just a reminder -- we now start at 5:00 p.m.
Menu
?not sure yet, maybe Oriental Chicken Salad?
Rolls, Butter, Jam
Birthday Cake, Ice Cream & Toppings

sent our last letter to "Elder Olsen"

(click on picture to make it larger)

HEY! Where are the prom pictures from Whitney and Trek. You can't just flippantly mention they were at Prom during the monumental changing of the Grant and Mary odometer and then not put up some pictures...

love the birthday peoples pictures

CHANGES

This month is the 30th anniversary of when the LDS Church changed it's meeting schedule to the three hour block -- in March 1980.

Craig says that the Church has made another schedule change. All wards will follow the same schedule of starting Sunday meetings at 9:00, 11:00 or 1:00. Their ward now meets at 2:00 p.m. (a terrible time). Changes effective May first. Yeah!

In keeping with the tide - we are also changing our Family Dinner time to 5:00 p.m. Of course, we know everyone can't arrive at 5:00 so it's still "come when you can". We'll have plenty of food. Just that we'll plan on beginning and saying the blessing at 5:00 p.m. and end sometime before midnight.

We love having you all come here (hay, we used to live in Texas so it's ok to say "you all") and it's a great blessing that we all get along so well and enjoy each others company. A BIG plus is that the little ones enjoy playing with their cousins so much. We just love it.

Surprise!

Saturday night grandma called our house and said she had a big surprise for us and to come out and see it. Well, of course we all ran out to grandma and grandpa in their trailblazer (Me, Ron, Baylee and Brinley. Trek and Whitney were at Prom or else they would have run out too) and grandma says, "Look at the speedometer! 100,000 miles!" Smack dab in our driveway. Ron asked if they had been driving around. Grandma said, "Yes!" It was a photo op and I took it so all of you could enjoy the surprise too! You all know what a THRILL grandma gets out of this stuff. So cute.

EASY MONEY

I heard that the Check Cashing place buys gold jewelry. I was embarrassed to be seen going in it but I snuck in and sold an old gold necklace for $57.00 and a white gold ring for $83.00 and some old gold earrings for $1.80. Should have kept the earrings but they actually have to damage (discolor) the jewelry when they test for the quality of gold so I went ahead and sold them also. Check out your old neckless and maybe you'll find some easy money too.

Check it out.

Now is a good time to go to
time.gov
then click on Utah
the shadows are straight up and down
they normally are at an angle, depending on the time of year.

Mary's Wednesday Babble

Often when driving down the freeway and seeing the long line of cars that goes on as far as the eye can see, I think of something Isaiah wrote, many years ago, about our chariots (cars).
". . . neither is there any end of their chariots." Isaiah 2:7
A great description of what we see today, there is no end of our chariots. Pretty good proof that he actually did have a vision of our day.

Green uniform

Bureau Commander Chief Deputy Shane HudsonCorrections Bureau Commander Chief Deputy Rollin CookIntake at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail

What do all of these pictures have in common? The first two will be coworkers and the last will be apart of Travis' new job description!

Travis was offered the job as a Salt Lake County Sheriff Correctional Officer!!

The academy will start April 16 and goes for 16 weeks. When he graduates from the academy he will be sworn in as a Special Forces Sheriff. We are very excited and very happy!

Good job honey.

Good News

Grant had expected to fly to Portland on Sunday morning for his participation in the trial (BSA being sued for $14,000,000.00. An assistant scout master accused of sexual abuse of a scout - back in the 1980's, when Grant was the top guy in the council) but come to find out he doesn't have to leave until Monday morning. This means he will be here for our Sunday Dinner get-together! I say, Yeah!

SUNDAY DINNER 3-28-10

It's not Easter Sunday on the 28th but it's our Sunday to get-together so we'll do the Easter Dinner thing. Ham, Yummy Potatoes, etc, etc.
Lisa will do her traditional hiding of jelly bellies and "guess how many in the jar".
Hope everyone can come.

The other day Craig, Mike and Tyson were in Smith's and Mike went into the bathroom followed a minute later by Craig and Tyson. Craig called out to Mike, who was in a stall, and then held Tyson up to look down on Mike and said, "Tyson, who do you see?" Tyson didn't say anything and then Mike came out of the next stall. Craig, realizing he was holding Tyson over the wrong stall looking down on the wrong person, pulled Tyson down and said, "Oh, sorry guy!" and quickly left the bathroom!

Believe It or Not...

It's been ONE YEAR as of this Thursday, the 25th!!!!

Happy anniversary to me and Chuck!!! :-)

Cool Shades

I had to post Mayzie's shades. She didn't even try pulling them off! So cute!!!

Mary's Wednesday Babble

(click on picture for larger view)

Do you remember what you were doing four years ago today, March 18, 2006?
Well, some of us spent HOURS driving from fabric store to fabric store searching for just the right fabric to choose to represent us in our upcoming project of making "Family Quilts". Then we came back here to my house and spent more hours cutting, sewing and ironing. It was great fun and with such great results. We all LOVE our quilts.
Thanks Lori!

Pictionary FHE

A few weeks ago we played Pictionary for FHE. Grandpa was out of town, so we invited grandma to come over. See if you can figure out the picture:





Baylee: kidneys (thought for sure it was appendix)
Brinley: Sunrise
Whitney: Around
Trek: Jumper cables
Grandma: the word was defect, but she misread it as defeat(we didn't guess it)haha
Karlene: Mosaic (look close)No one got that either:(

Family Activities

Mark your calendars for June 21 and 22. On Monday (21st) we plan to go to Hogal Zoo and This is the Place Heritage Park . On the 22 we'll be at Seven Peaks. Grandpa's treat. Hope everyone will be able to come and join in the fun.

fun blog

KC and EM have a blog that is updated often with pictures of their triplets. Check it out at
www.teedle.blogspot.com

clever way to make an announcement

The chicks in the top picture are about five inches tall and two weeks old. Myles calls them "big chicks". The three baby chicks are just three days old. Myles will see them Saturday and hopefully let us call them "baby chicks".

We have new chicks at our house

Mary's Wednesday Babble

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
This comes from Plato (429-347 BC). Good advise.

Zebra Queen

(Zebra, meaning my floors are now black or white.)
I have been trying to clean the grout on my tile floor for the last couple of days!
I've rented a Sargent Steam cleaner that is supposed to be fantastic but it isn't so great. It's a lot of work which I wouldn't mind if it worked the first or even the second time but I am having to do it four times! Meaning steam it really good, let it dry and stream again and again and again! and it still isn't perfect.
End result = a zebra looking floor.
I have become a great fan of linoleum!
My mother never had so much trouble with her floors.

SUNDAY DINNER 3-14-2010

Menu
HAWAIIAN HAYSTACKS
dress Hawaiian (if you would like to)
P.S.
Hey Karlene I need a picture.
And how about you and kids teaching us the hula?

stunning!

Mary's Wednesday Babble

Actually, this week it's good stuff, not just babble.

After everyone left our house last Sunday, I found this written on a note paper.
When you can't sleep at night don't count sheep, talk to the Shepherd.
Good suggestion. Lisa said that Lori told it to her for a possible handout.

In keeping with the above message I thought I would include two of my favorite scriptures. D&C 84:88 and
I Nephi 21:14-16
Would love it if some of you would tell us a favorite of yours. You could add them in Comments.

The brethern at the BYU game

The other day at the BYU game, Pres. Uchtdorf and Elder Bednar were there. I had to zoom with my little camera so the quality is bad, but I thought it was fun! Next to Uchtdorf is Pres.of BYU and he usually has at least one of the well knowns there, but it was fun to see 2 of my favorite people!!

State Road 92

As you know sr 92 is undergoing new construction. There is a video that is kind of fun to watch that shows how the road will be when finished.
click here on www.udot.utah.gov/sr92/
then click on the middle of the picture, then the sound emblem (lower right of picture).
It's worth watching.
P.S. sr 92 is the road between Thanksgiving Point and Alpine.

B I G sale at Pepperment Place

(click on picture to enlarge)

My heck, I almost started to hyperventilate when I saw that I could purchase --
100 gingerbread men for $1.00
100 pumpkin things for $1.00
12 Valentine cookie cutters filled with chocolate for $1.00
a bunch of witches for 25 cents
a heart shaped box of chocolates for $2.00
etc. etc.
Treasures all!
So what does this all add up to? = Buyers Remorse.
What in the world am I going to do with all of this?

NAMES

We all remember with fondness when Trek couldn't remember Lucy's name so he referred to her as "the sitting down grandma". Well, yesterday Austin called Grant his "white haired grandpa". Love it!

I need HELP!

Can you believe I watched Pride & Prejudice again today?
At least it was only the 3 hours version but altogether that adds up to 18 hours of P & P in one week!

SUNDAY DINNER 2-28-10

MENU
Taco Salad
Dessert? Not sure yet but something yum.

Mary's Wednesday Babble

Still recovering from tooth extraction and a biopsy. I hoped it wouldn't take this long but it is. So, yesterday I felt justified in watching the SIX hour long Pride & Prejudice. All together I have watched the three hour version three times plus the six hour version once, which equals fifteen hours of Pride & Prejudice. I think I have it memorized. A good reward.

Hi everyone this is Brinley I am super bored at home so I decided to try and do this!!! I don't really know what I am doing but ok hey everyone! Love you guys! Bye

Glad your still among the living Mary...

But rest assured that if you do go, we will keep your memory alive for all the great grandkids

UPDATE

Well, everything went well at the oral surgeon's office yesterday. I was in the dentist chair for over an hour! Was given three prescription. Then back home, I enjoyed Pride & Prejudice - TWICE (just the 3 hour one).
About bedtime things started going downhill . I had an allergic reaction to the medicine (Percocet & possible Clindamycin) and ended up in the ER today. Not fun. We just returned home. Thank goodness for hospitals and competent physicians.

P.S. Karlene can you find a picture of someone who looks half dead? Actually 99% dead would be more like it.

I ran across these photos and thought I'd share

2000 with Grandma DeVere

Mary's Wednesday Babble

I'm having some minor oral surgery tomorrow. At first, I was kind of dreading it but then I took my own advice (see Babble on 2-3-10) -- "focus on something that's after the dreaded experience". Now I am focusing on coming home from the dentist and spending the next SIX HOURS immersed in Pride & Prejudice. It's hard to justify watching a 6 hour movie but since it's my reward, it's ok. Now I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow. Well, almost.

Hey,
I have a question for you all. Here in Thailand, they have shops that make sports jerseys for way cheap and my companion gave me the idea to get matching family jerseys. What do you think if I got some of those for us? Would that be something cool? They would look like soccer jerseys and we could put whatever we want on them. If you decide you want to do it, let me know of colors and sizes. For measuring purposes, I wear a size large on the jerseys. Well just let me know what you think. I think it could be a cool souvenir to bring back but it all depends on if you would all wear them.
Steve

Maybe Chuck could design us some kind of family logo or something, what do you think? Lori

100 things about me

Karlene was talking about "writing 100 things about yourself". She'll have to tell us more about it. Just one line somethings. Anyway, I started writing stuff about me and it's kind of fun. Sample to follow:
I love Utah
I never nag - never
don't like being barefoot
I fear I might be plump?
love the rain
haven't had a bath in over 15 years (but I do shower daily)
favorite color to wear - black
on time 99.9% of the time
feel "grateful" a lot

I had a second ultrasound yesterday (my big 20 week ultrasound)..... and it's 100% GIRL! Everything measures perfect to my due date so I'm still due July 3rd

Sunday Dinner (2-14-10)

MENU
Dutch oven dinner.
roast - potatoes - carrots - gravy - hot rolls
pretzel salad (we need something red for Valentine's Day)
I'll have to come up with something appropriate for dessert - maybe something red?

Great Performance!

Amy did GREAT in her performance Saturday night. Great I tell you! Great!

Mary's Wednesday Babble

I saved $200.00 yesterday -- maybe more! A couple of friends and I went to Gardner Village and there were many items that I loved. I practiced my 5 minutes rule (pick it up but wait 5 minutes before buying) and amazingly, the honeymoon was over within 5 minutes with each item. BIG savings.
P.S. I don't understand why Grant doesn't understand "savings".

there she is - Rail Robinson 1 day old