Molly sporting her red, white, and blue...
Luke didn't like the noise very much but that's okay cuz Grandpa made him some homemade ear plugs. Grandpas are the best!
I managed to make a fool out of myself by taking surf lessons with Dylan this summer. Although I must say I think I did pretty good. Luke however made a point to tell me "you're doing it wrong mom!"
We made our annual trek to Yosemite with all the kids for some good old fashioned camping in the dirt. We even brought an extra kid to keep Dylan company. My sister Tami, her kiddos and my parents joined in the fun as well.
we bonded....
And where else can you go to church in your grubbies?
We made our annual trek to Yosemite with all the kids for some good old fashioned camping in the dirt. We even brought an extra kid to keep Dylan company. My sister Tami, her kiddos and my parents joined in the fun as well.
Lots of boys as usual...LJ and MJ will have a great bunch of protectors when they get older.
We hiked...
We soaked up some rays....
we bonded....
And where else can you go to church in your grubbies? Nothing beats good times in Yosemite!
We had plenty of great beach days. Jenny took her annual 3 week vacation in SD so the kids had a blast playing with the cousins.
I love these faces!
Good way to keep them contained. Of course, CJ would have no part of that. He's more of a free spirit and sometimes we would find that free spirit all the way down the beach stealing beach balls from a stranger!
My sister-in-law Melanie recently added baby Ian to their clan and Jenny threw her a totally cute shower. Here's a pic of the girls at that shindig...
I met my long lost niece Julienne for the first time. That's her in the purple with my two younger sisters. Long story...but here's the bottom line, my oldest sister Robin gave up her baby for adoption like twenty something years ago and she recently was re-united with her so we got to meet her too. Crazy thing is she lives like 10 minutes away from me and we are in the same stake and never knew it. Pretty awesome story!
Mark was a great sport with all my marathon training this summer, letting me get lots of long runs in while he played Mr. Mom. I loved running downtown and he made the most of it by taking the kids sight seeing at Seaport Village.
My niece Courtney....isn't she gorgeous? Sooooo jealous of that hair!!
Little MJ turned 1 in September. Still no hair though :( Maybe the next birthday we will get pig tails. She just started walking.......and screeching. I call her my little pterodactyl. She will let you know when she wants something... usually right in the middle of church!
I told everyone that we only wanted "girly" toys. No cars, trucks, etc.. Obviously mom is the one that wanted to see some girl toys in the house. She got a baby doll and a stroller and then quickly decided that the baby doll just slowed her down as she threw it out and proceeded to race around the house with just the stroller like the boys do with their trucks. I'm thinking that the sweet, nice, and quiet thing that Timmy does is a cover as you can see in the picture below:)
But little miss princess got even in the end as she has learned from dealing with her brothers.
So I have a thing about care bears. I don't know why...I think they just remind me of being young and carefree....that and they're just so cute and cuddly. I was very excited to finally do a girl cake. This is by far my favorite!
Molly gave her approval as well.
A couple weeks later we headed up to Utah for my marathon in Logan. I've been calling this one my "Post Molly Marathon" because I set a goal when I got pregnant with her to do this one a year after she was born. It was a much smaller race then I was used to. Only 2,000 people compared to 40,000. I was pretty nervous about the 5,600 ft. elevation I'd be running in....given that I had been training at 0 ft!
Well the elevation wasn't too bad, it was the POURING RAIN, THUNDER, LIGHTENING, and yes....HAIL that was a challenge! Once you got past the "SERIOUSLY ? It's hailing on my head? feeling, it was kind of fun and made me feel tough :). It wasn't very cold or windy so that was a plus. I loved having my kids out there giving me high 5's! I felt pretty good the whole way and even finished off the last .2 miles with a "cox kick" Here's a little evidence with a frame by frame just to prove it. Yes, I know I'm competitive....just can't help myself :)
Luke especially liked the rainbow colored port-o-potties
I love these faces!
Good way to keep them contained. Of course, CJ would have no part of that. He's more of a free spirit and sometimes we would find that free spirit all the way down the beach stealing beach balls from a stranger!
My sister-in-law Melanie recently added baby Ian to their clan and Jenny threw her a totally cute shower. Here's a pic of the girls at that shindig...
I met my long lost niece Julienne for the first time. That's her in the purple with my two younger sisters. Long story...but here's the bottom line, my oldest sister Robin gave up her baby for adoption like twenty something years ago and she recently was re-united with her so we got to meet her too. Crazy thing is she lives like 10 minutes away from me and we are in the same stake and never knew it. Pretty awesome story!
Mark was a great sport with all my marathon training this summer, letting me get lots of long runs in while he played Mr. Mom. I loved running downtown and he made the most of it by taking the kids sight seeing at Seaport Village.
My official "I feel old" moment was when I attended my niece Courtney's wedding in August up in Utah. I remember holding her as a baby and I was in College then! Yikes! My brother Kenny and his wife Jane also dropped the bomb that they were expecting baby #1. My mom wept :)
My niece Courtney....isn't she gorgeous? Sooooo jealous of that hair!!
Little MJ turned 1 in September. Still no hair though :( Maybe the next birthday we will get pig tails. She just started walking.......and screeching. I call her my little pterodactyl. She will let you know when she wants something... usually right in the middle of church!
I told everyone that we only wanted "girly" toys. No cars, trucks, etc.. Obviously mom is the one that wanted to see some girl toys in the house. She got a baby doll and a stroller and then quickly decided that the baby doll just slowed her down as she threw it out and proceeded to race around the house with just the stroller like the boys do with their trucks. I'm thinking that the sweet, nice, and quiet thing that Timmy does is a cover as you can see in the picture below:)
But little miss princess got even in the end as she has learned from dealing with her brothers.
So I have a thing about care bears. I don't know why...I think they just remind me of being young and carefree....that and they're just so cute and cuddly. I was very excited to finally do a girl cake. This is by far my favorite!
Molly gave her approval as well.
A couple weeks later we headed up to Utah for my marathon in Logan. I've been calling this one my "Post Molly Marathon" because I set a goal when I got pregnant with her to do this one a year after she was born. It was a much smaller race then I was used to. Only 2,000 people compared to 40,000. I was pretty nervous about the 5,600 ft. elevation I'd be running in....given that I had been training at 0 ft!
Well the elevation wasn't too bad, it was the POURING RAIN, THUNDER, LIGHTENING, and yes....HAIL that was a challenge! Once you got past the "SERIOUSLY ? It's hailing on my head? feeling, it was kind of fun and made me feel tough :). It wasn't very cold or windy so that was a plus. I loved having my kids out there giving me high 5's! I felt pretty good the whole way and even finished off the last .2 miles with a "cox kick" Here's a little evidence with a frame by frame just to prove it. Yes, I know I'm competitive....just can't help myself :)
Luke especially liked the rainbow colored port-o-potties
I told myself that I would be happy with a sub 3:40 marathon given the elevation and I ended up with 3:38. That works! This was probably one of my favorite marathons. My brother-in-law Kyle finished his first 26.2. Way to go Kyle!
I love my support crew! Of course my biggest support always forgets to put himself in a picture. I have the best husband! He sacrifices his stuff, watches kids, hides Gatorade along my routes, taxi's me to start lines, and never complains....all so I can have a little "me" time. Love him!
Well that concludes the Olson family picture palooza. Stay tuned ....in a few months I'm sure they'll be another one :).
I love my support crew! Of course my biggest support always forgets to put himself in a picture. I have the best husband! He sacrifices his stuff, watches kids, hides Gatorade along my routes, taxi's me to start lines, and never complains....all so I can have a little "me" time. Love him!
Well that concludes the Olson family picture palooza. Stay tuned ....in a few months I'm sure they'll be another one :).
Party over and two little boys all tuckered out in front of a movie. I love it when they play so hard they end the day like this!
It got a little crazy. Note to self: big heavy bowling balls and toddlers probably not the best combination. They definitely had a good time despite the chaos and I think I even broke 100 for my final score.
Next up on the agenda...a day at the beach
just a bunch of cute faces...
I love how the cousins seem to always find a buddy to bond with. 
Allie and Luke being goofy....
Luke is quickly becoming my competitive child which I must say I kind of like :). The 
I was very proud :). 
Then it was back to the house for the requisite 
Dylan got back from 
After all the week's activities these two win the prize of accomplishing the most bonding time. 
Molly celebrated her first 
It was an eventful week with lots of kiddos, the normal chaos (only one child got lost the whole week), fun times, and happy memories!
