WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO LATELY

Wahoo!! We're actually here in Hawaii. After a quick dump of the luggage, we're back to the beach to check it out. Tomorrow can't come soon enough - we want to play.
(Friday)









Not enough time on day one to actually play, but we had to stop and soak it all in.
(Friday)







The biggest piece of coral I've ever seen wash up on shore. Makaha beach.
(Saturday)














Ross and Emma having some fun.
(Saturday)


Our morning wake up call. At 4:30am!!! (Strangely, I don't mind at all...)







The Temple is closed for renovations. It's not looking so pretty. All the white paint/parging is missing, so all you see is the grey crushed lava that it's built with - and boards in the windows. Hopefully it won't be long til it looks good again.
(Sunday drive)


A quick stop on the North Shore - I think this was Sunset Beach.
(Sunday)


Ko Olina lagoons. Did some snorkeling here too. Saw lots of cool fish (angel type, rainbow type, pencil fish, pretty yellow striped fish, big fish, see-thru fish... i love my fish names - unfortunately my book with the proper names is at home in Calgary), urchins, sea cucumbers, etc. Fun.
(Monday morning and early afternoon).


Makaha beach. Our favorite. The waves were in the 10-16 ft. range. The kids love playing in the waves as they crash on to the beach, and riding the waves on the boogie boards. That is Ross in the center, and a stranger on the left. I haven't figured out how to edit people out of our pictures yet.
(Monday)


Matsumoto shave ice in Haleiwa, North shore.
(Tuesday)


Bruce was a good sport at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We did so much there, that it will need its own post.
(Tuesday)








Coconut milk wasn't a huge hit.
(Wednesday at the Aloha swap meet)















We had a visitor on our beach. He was huge! (Wednesday)


We LOVE Hawaii!!

THEY WON !!

Yay! Marissa's basketball team at school finally won a game.

We couldn't believe how well the game was going, so we took several pictures of the scoreboard throughout the game.







(This one is the final score: 15 - 41)
Sorry the pictures are far away and fuzzy - I just had my cell phone, in a gym...not a good combination.









The team has come close to winning, and had many tight/ close games....but this time, they took the lead at the beginning, and stayed ahead the whole time.








Marissa is in yellow on the far left.













The BEST part was - Marissa played well this game, getting rebounds and being at the right place at the right time, and made 5 baskets! YAY!!






Getting a rebound. (Missy is Yellow #6)
















What a fun game to watch. With any luck at all, there will be many more fun games to watch. I don't know why, but it sure is more fun to win (I know that's not the politically correct response, but the girls just seem happier, and work better together when they're winning).

WHAT IS GOING ON ?!?

Marissa's junior high school went into lockdown again today! The second time in one month! Good grief! This time, rumor has it, a boy who goes to the school and has been in trouble with the law before, made bomb threats to the school. So they evacuated all the kids while the police came to arrest this boy, and search the school for a bomb. No bomb was found, the boy is expelled. I say it is rumor, because the school, and the news are very vague, and don't really tell us anything. I think the letter to parents said something like "there was an incident at the school today, causing us to take precautions, but all is well". And the news on tv wasn't much better. (I tried something new, if you click on the title to this entry, it should take you to the news clip with this story).

A couple of weeks ago the school was locked down because one of the boys was suicidal and allegedly had a weapon - either a knife or a gun. So again the police had to come.

Right before Christmas Marissa came out of school to see multiple fire trucks across the road, and one of the condos engulfed in flames. The next day, the kids were locked in the school while the police investigated a shooting (a man was shot in the stomach multiple times) across the street. It was actually next door the house the burned the day before. Hmmm, wonder if those two are related??

I'm starting to feel like I'm sending my little girl out to school in the projects of Harlem, or at least Forest Lawn.

What's a mom to do???

Marissa still has one year left of junior high, and Emma and Erica are coming close behind. The next closest school would involve me driving them to and from school every day, and to be honest, I don't know if it's a good school either. How do you know if a school is 'good' or not?

What would you do???

I AM SO BLESSED

I've been having one of those days, or weeks, where I've been feeling great, and like things are fitting into place nicely, and how blessed I really am! While I worked on computer stuff this afternoon, the music on my blog was playing. I once again enjoyed the two songs "Blessed" by Martina McBride, and "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. I've been so blessed!

I was born into a fabulous family, raised in the church - always actively involved, and still enjoy great relationships with each of my siblings, and my parents - they're all so important to me - I love them and I know they love me too. My brothers all married wonderful women, and have the best children around. I love all of them too, and feel like I am loved by them too. Christmas this year was great - to have everyone 'home' and around for a few days.

Then I married the most amazing guy I know! Bruce also came from a great family, which I was welcomed into immediately. I love this family too, and know they love us too - I just wish we could see them more often.
When I married Bruce, I hoped and prayed that he would be a 'good' husband, and a good father - and treat us well, and take care of us. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank my Heavenly Father for the wonderful gift that Bruce was for me. How did I get so lucky!? He's everything I dreamed of, and more.

Then our four kids have just been the cherry on top. Each one of them has been a delight to have in our home. Not that things have always been easy or smooth, but they are delightful, smart, talented, loving, humorous, and fun to have around. Ross is planning to go to U of A (in Edmonton) in the fall, and while I'm super excited for him, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it. I know I will miss him terribly, but I tell myself that it's a weaning process, preparing me for his mission the following year. (Plus, I'll still have 3 girls home to keep me entertained, and busy). I'm so glad that we've planned one more family vacation before Ross leaves home, and even happier that it will be in Hawaii 16 days from now!

I feel so blessed to be healthy. I know that technically I don't really fall into the healthy category, but as my brother said - I'm the healthiest sick person we know. Honestly, if the doctors didn't keep reminding me that I'm not well, I honestly wouldn't have a clue. I feel fabulous. I feel so blessed to feel stong and energetic (most of the time... if I don't stay up too late).

I'm grateful, and blessed to have a lovely home - and only one home this year! Nice to only have one driveway to shovel and house to take care of (well, only one that belongs to us).

I also have the best friends and extended family ever. I have had so much support and love shown to me and my family....they are so kind and thoughtful. I hope I can be as loving and supportive to them in return.

Well, this post could go on and on.... counting my many blessings. I'm just glad to have so many days in my life where I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for my many blessings. Do you ever have those kind of days?

A VERY LATE CHRISTMAS POST

Christmas Eve. Apparently Barb's magical sleepy soup hasn't taken effect yet.










New pj's on Christmas eve. Tradition.
















Christmas morning. Ready for kids.

















Keeping with Olson family tradition - as soon as the stockings were emptied, the feet went in. Can't break traditions, they must be passed down from generation to generation.







Fingerpaints from Santa to Ross. Santa must have heard Ross whining about his mom not letting him fingerpaint or play in the mud as a youngster (even though he did - lots!, including pudding finger painting). 32 colors of his own finger paints. Incidentally, Ross had some friends over tonight to play games, watch movies, and finger paint! You're never too old to finger paint.









I wonder if Santa has any idea how ironic this gift was for Marissa.....not speaking?!?
















Even Toby got in on the action.

















The most meaningful gift this year! Ross went shopping with his friends at the thrift store 'Value village', for another Christmas project, and hit the jackpot! He was thrilled to show me his 'find'. An old insulated mug from Green's Pop Shop. This was where Bruce worked thru high school, til he went on his mission, and again when he got home. Apparently Ross listened to stories Bruce told him, and when he found the mug, he bought this little piece of nostalgia for Bruce's Christmas present. How thoughtful!



Marissa wearing her gift from Uncle Craig and Aunt Steph. We all had a good laugh, and Missy was a good sport.














What could it be? We thought we got all our presents at home, but what's this one here at Gma and Gpa's??



The much hoped for and anxiously anticipated Guitar Hero 4 'World Tour'




The guitar hero was enjoyed by budding musicians of all ages.











A new experience for New Year's Eve. Apparently our kids have never tried using a real nutcracker before. They made quite a mess.

I LOVE CALGARY!

While we're waiting for me to make a post about Christmas fun, I just had to quickly say....
It's days like today that makes me love living in Calgary. On the news we keep hearing about how most of the U.S. and Canada is in a deep freeze, with nasty cold temperatures. But for the past 2 days we've been basking in a balmy +8 degrees celcius (i think that's about 46 fahrenheit). And there are some weather reports that say that on Sunday or Monday we will get up to 16 celcius (61 fahrenheit). I sure hope so.
The only problem is that with all the snow we've had, the roads are a mess, and my car looks like mud. People have been getting stuck in the loose snow, that never got plowed, all over the city. However, some of us are more skilled than others, and have been just fine :)
I LOVE chinooks!

WAY TO GO!!

Tonight we went on a field trip - it was a long 'way to go'. We left right after the kids got home from school, on the road by 4:20, which meant we were just in time to catch the thick of rush hour. 5:00pm on Deerfoot Trail is NASTY! About an hour later we were standing on the site for the new Calgary temple. The sun had just set, I tried to get some pictures of the view, but our camera isn't quite up to it. This is the best i could do.


Looking East toward downtown Calgary




South, the snaking brighter lights are the bobsled/luge run from the 1988 Winter Olympics




West. The beautiful mountain view got lost in the shadows of the sunset.



The views are far more spectacular in real life. Our camera doesn't zoom well, or pick up the details in the dark. I'll try to get daylight pictures soon, but with the sun setting around 4:30 these days, it's not so easy.

Just for the record, although it took us an hour to get to the temple site, the last time we went up to check it out (without kids), it only took us half an hour on the same road - granted, it was 11:00pm that time.

After that, we went for Chinese food.
A while ago I discovered a Chinese food place that does gluten free food - YAY!! I thought I was going to be restricted to only Chinese food I could make myself. It's way across town, close to the foothills hospital - a long 'way to go', but worth the drive once in a while. Plus, it's kind of on the way home from the temple site. As we pulled up I think the kids were a little nervous that we were eating in such a dive. It's not much to look at, but it's a family restaurant that makes pretty good Chinese... and besides, I don't have many choices these days, so we take what we can get. We took the kids there tonight to celebrate for their traditional 'report card dinner'. It's been so nice to have kids that are actually excited to bring home their report cards (it certainly wasn't that way for me, at least not all the time). 'Way to go' kids!! Keep up the good work.












It was quite humorous to watch them try to use chopsticks, they'll get the hang of it eventually.

The Great Pumpkins !

So, every year a day or two before Halloween, Bruce and the kids like to get creative. I can claim no credit for the pumpkins that are carved at our house. I think the first time this happened was because I was busy helping the kids with their costumes, and Bruce was delegated to pumpkin duty. But I think he enjoyed it as an outlet for his creative side, so Bruce and the kids now enjoy carving pumpkins together each year. Ross has reached the point where he requires no help, and even helps the young ones. It's soooo nice to be able to cross something off my list of preparations. Here are their masterpieces this year.



Emma's creation (with a little help from Ross and Missy)


Erica and Bruce's masterpiece


Ross and Marissa's awesomeness (as Ross likes to say)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Surprise! I blogged!
Ok, I didn't actually blog, my friend Lisa just downloaded her slide show for me, and told me to write a comment, hahaha. (As a result, lots of the pictures are of her kids, but that's who we were having fun with). I forgot my camera when we went out, so its pretty much all I have for halloween evidence. The girls stuck with the same tradition of the past few years, and we hit the mall with the Dunhams. So fun to be able to see so many cute costumes, and be warm. Although, I have to say, this was the best year ever as far as the weather is concerned. It was the warmest its been in 50 years, so they say. The kids even ditched their coats. It was so nice to not have to wear a snowsuit under the costumes for a change. Erica went as a cheerleader from High School Musical, Emma was a snowman, and Marissa wasn't supposed to be trick or treating, but wanted a costume anyway - so she threw on the Little Red Riding Hood cape from when the girls were little, and carried a basket while she 'helped' the young ones.
Ross went to Gma and Gpa's to hand out candy while they were away - I think it was a case of 'one for you, two for me'. After the mall, Marissa took the little girls to the Dunhams to trick or treat in their neighborhood (we had to share a babysitter since both our husbands were working). The kids have way to much candy - so we'll be finding somewhere to donate to.
Now if i can just get them off this sugar buzz!

Missy's Montreal Madness

My mother is too slow to post so i kinda took over her computer! so last week i left for Montreal all by myself! =) i met up with my aunt and uncle and have spent the last eight days in Montreal.during those days i did a variety of things including picnicing by the st.Lawrence



travelling to Quebec city



french cooking



hangin' out with the cousins



shopping, and much,much,much,much, more!!! i really had a lot of fun and i really enjoyed myself! i hope i can go again!!=)

Waiting at the airport.



A bit of culture...Notre Dame Cathedral



The best part of the trip - COUSINS!!




Blog owner's note: Even though Marissa hijacked my computer to make this post back in Ausust, I still didn't get the photos pulled for her until now - sorry Miss.