Our Trip to Burger King

Last Wednesday, Ali had a flute concert. Life was a bit crazy that day, so I decided that fast-food would be the best for dinner. We don't often actually wonder into a fast food place. If we have it, daddy usually picks it up on his way home from work.


As we were leaving, I heard Luke ask if they could play on the toys. Kat told him not to bother asking because of the "flesh-eating-bacteria" on the toys. The question at this point is not IF my kids are going to need counceling, it is only HOW MUCH.

We actually won a free Whopper and breakfast sandwich. Luke, of coarse, wanted to redeem the free Whopper right then as he is always hungry.

Ali doing ketchup shots :)

The best part of Luke's evening was that he got to sit by his crush, Sydney, at Ali's concert. Hopefully, on a real date he won't sit there and pick at his toes!!!! He likes her so much, he has even invited her to watch him play baseball!

Kennacott Utah Copper Mine

Yesterday was my BIG day. I was finally going to see what the big was about "that" copper mine I have driven past all my life! I got my steel-toed boots and hard hat ready, but then Kat burst my bubble by telling me we didn't actually get to do any mining on her field trip. Blast!!!

When I was about 5, we moved to Rexburg, Idaho. For holidays, we would drive from Rexburg to Provo to see our Grandmas and Grandpas. Well, back then, before people started traveling 80-90 MPH, it took about 21 hours to make that trip. The only highlight for me would be to drive past the copper mine. Not only did I dream about getting a lot of pennies from it, but it also signalled that we were almost to Grandma's house.

Boy, was I sad to learn yesterday that they don't actually take pennies out of the ground. But, it was all pretty darn amazing. Sadly, I think I was the only one out of 65 students and 8 adults, to be having a great time.

Look, they welomed, ME, personally!!! The copper mine has been around since the 1800's.

You can see Kennacott from space. Isn't that mind-blowing?

Ok, I must admit, I didn't realize that Kennacott was an "open" mine. Since I lived in Price, Utah growing up, I assumed all mining was done undergrown! Kennacott is 2.5 miles across at the top and .75 miles deep, and going deeper.

If you stretched out all the roads in the open pit mine, you'd have 500 miles of roadway - enough to reach from Salt Lake City to Denver.

Humongous trucks, 255 to 360 ton, haul the ore out of the mine. If you look closely it the picture above, you can see the huge trucks, being followed by a "normal" vehicle. Each wheel on the mammoth trucks cost $18,000-26,000 and only last 9 months. Below is a picture of one of the tires with a 4th grader standing beside it.

I must admit, I had a great time, but the kiddos were bored. I asked them if they would have rather been back at school doing work and they all resonded, "YES." Go figure!!!

A Sad Farewell

Duchess
Today we say a sad and fond farwell to our Kitty, Duchess "Dutch" Olson.

Duchess joined our family in August of 2003. Katelyn mentioned to Aunt Mani that we "needed" a kitty. 2 hours later, Uncle Denny and Aunt Mani brought us a kitty. (We have some pretty darn cute pictures of her as a baby, but they are stuck on our old computer.) We all fell in love with her right away, including Shu Fu. She was a perfect addition to our family.

About a week ago, Duchess started acting very lethargic and the kids told me she wasn't eating or drinking. Finally, I broke down and took her to the vet. I was afraid of the worst and didn't want those fears confirmed. I was crying by the time I walked through the vet's front door. She did some basic tests and surmised that she most likely had Leukemia. We decided the most humane thing to do was to put her to sleep.

Afterwards, she let me bring her home. I was going to bury her at our rental house. But, I didn't really want to have to leave her there when we moved. When Dana called and asked if Duchess really was sick, they offered to come and get her and bury her at Nana and Papa's house. It was the kindest thing anyone could have done for me that day. Thank you!

Kitty loved to be outside. Not so sure about snow, however!

Kitty loved to drink out of anything that wasn't her water bowl. Here, she is drinking out of a 7-up bottle. In Texas, Daddy spoiled her and got her in the habit of drinking ice water out of a glass on the table.

Here she is "hanging" out with Kat.

Here is a little memorial we created for Duchess on our mantle.

Ali created this video for Duchess.

We love you Duchess and will miss you!!!

laker fan in jazz territory

so, as you all know, we are deep in the NBA playoffs. i married into a lakers loving family. the olsons lived in LA until chris was around 12. so, they are LA teams all the way. even when they move to st. louis :)

friday luke had a baseball game. so, of coarse, i wore the Malone lakers jersey (i was trying to be a little sensitive by including a former jazz player!!). boy, did i get some teasing. actually, most of the time NO ONE would sit by me. our team's parents chose to sit, facing the sun, with the other team's fans. at one point, luke hollered from the dug-out, "hey mom, no one is sitting by you!!" yes, it was a moment of pride. kat begged me the whole time to, "take that thing off." she wouldn't even sit by me.

later that night....lakers beat the jazz, which put the jazz out of the playoffs.

saturday. i wear the malone jersey again and chris wears his lakers three-pete tshirt. people at the library, of coarse, felt the need to make comments like, "you have a lot of nerve." one guy told us that at least we had on "old" lakers stuff so he knows we didn't turncoat this year. he was wearing a cubbies hat, so it was all good.

now, for luke's baseball game. talk about a bunch of sore loosers!! ha ha. after giving me crap for 15 minutes, one guy whispered to me that he picked the lakers to win in is office pool. i told him at least he wasn't totally stupid, or something like that. why would you vote in favor of the jazz of the lakers? kat stopped asking me to take the jersey off. good girl.

this is kat's summary of being a lakers fan in jazz territory. a theory that she was sharing at school. "technically the lakers are better than the jazz. technically i like the lakers and you like the jazz. so, technically, i am better than you." i told her she might want to keep that whole process to herself!!!

the best hometeacher ever

on sunday, our hometeacher, brother bateman, came to visit. he had a large envelope full of things. of coarse, luke zeroed right in on the goods. brother bateman said he had heard we were lakers fans...GO LAKERS!!!...but that he wanted to try to get us to come over the the jazz side. he brought a picture of thurl bailey. he actually had thurl sign it FOR luke. it says, "to luke, you rock! thurl bailey" pretty cool, huh? good try, but, GO LAKERS!!!!!
he also brought a CD of jenny oaks baker for the girls. she is elder oaks daughter. she is an amazing violinist.

how was my morning, you ask?

this morning i planned to get up about 6 am so i could get ready and go to the temple. well, ali's alarmed blared me out of bed at 5:45 am, ugg. after getting myself ready, vacuuming the house, scripture time, finding kat's shoe (it is a pain now she has her foot out of the boot and she needs TWO shoes!!!) and jr high car pooling it was time to get the younger ones to school. as we were getting their bags together, luke remembered he needed bubbles for school today. so, i rushed us out the door to so we could stop at Ream's on the way to school.

as i was leaving the house, headed to the van i heard kat say, "mom."

i was like, "i know, got to get bubbles."

kat, "mom."

"i know, get you to school on time."

"MOM!"

"what, kat?"

"you don't have any shoes on!"

i wonder how far into my day i would have gotten if she hadn't told me?!?!?!

Spring Soccer

Now that it is actually warm...spring soccer is over.

Could I Get a Dictionary, Please??

OK, my kids need a few words looked-up. Let me tell ya....

Last night, Chris, Luke and I were playing Risk. After one of Chris' turns, he said, "OK, I fortified I'm done." After Luke's next turn, he threw his cards down and said, "I fortify." I told him to go ahead and fortify if he wanted. Then he said, "But, I am done with my turn." His very next turn, he threw down his cards (is Kat giving this boy drama lessons?) and said, "I forfeit." I told him there was no forfeiting in Risk. Again, "But, I am done with my turn." After a few more times of him alternating between forfeiting and fortifying, all the while throwing something, we decided those were just his verbs of the day.

This weekend, Kat was listening to the Broadway recording of Les Miserables and the Off-Broadway recording of Forever Plaid. She asked me what the difference was between on and off Broadway. I gave her the basic definitions of each. She thought for a minute and then announced, "Well, I guess Provo Theatre Company is Off Broadway." I told her PTC was probably off, off, off Broadway!

$19 Anyone?

All that know and love me know that I am a thrift store junkie! Here is what $19 got me today!

6-Pairs of slacks for Chris (Docker's & Gap)

2-Skirts for Ali & Kat

1-Suit for Luke

1-White Shirt for above suit

It is now all laundered and in our closets. Chris isn't a HUGE fan of thrift stores, but if stuff just shows up in his closet, he doesn't ask where it came from!!

Dutchess and Sunni's 'New" Hair

I can never pass up cute pictures of the kids or pets :) Can you see Dutchess??

Here is the much anticipated picture of my "new" hair. My hometeacher told me on Sunday that he really liked my "new" hair. I teach primary with Chris, so I didn't have to face the relief society!!!

hair trama

yesterday i decided that i would like a fun summer cut, shoulder length. i know, i know, tonia told me NOT to do it. well, i did it and got a horrible, horrible cut. i went back to the same place this morning and asked someone else to fix it. well now, i have no hair. i can't even talk about it. but, she had to go pretty short to fix the damage that was done yesterday.

so, if you see me, don't say anything about my hair....please!!!!

update on "kat's" jordan

i guess "kat's" jordan did not end up being cast for Tuacahn this summer. kat was obviously not in on the casting meetings. i am not sure, at this point, if she will speak to papa again in the near future. but, papa is holding a secret weapon that he may, or may not, choose to play :)

my great friend, amy, in arizona, knew exactly which jordan i was blogging about. how crazy is that?

this is him...

http://www.jordanbluth.com/

isn't that amazing that amy knew who we were talking about??

most embarrassing moment this week....

we have 4 library cards in our family. each card can have 30 items checked-out on it.

i try to check out all of our items on MY card so i can keep better track of everything. i had recently placed a bunch of holds using MY card. when i went to check out a book, that had been held with my card, they wouldn't let me cause my card was full. so, i whipped out one of the kid's cards for i had seen others do this. well, they told me i had to have my kid's permission to use their card!!! since when do i have to have a minor, child's permission to use the card that i got for them?!?!?!?!? sheesh. so, i had to go pull luke off the computer game he was playing and have him tell the nice lady that it was ok for his mommy to use his card.

talk about embarrassing!

frequent sunday dinner conversation

a couple of months ago, i took kat to watch papa hold tuacahn auditions. well, since then, this has been a reoccurring sunday dinner conversation....

m: mom
d: dad
k: kat

k: mom, do you know who papa cast for the captain?
(since we have had this conversation a half a dozen times, i know where this is going)
m: no, kat, i don't. but, i know that he didn't cast jordan.
(also, note, this conversation never takes place in its entirety like it is written here. kat goes back and forth to it.)
k: mom, why didn't papa cast jordan. he has such an amazing, wonderful, beautiful voice.
m: papa, and the others, felt like jordan was too young to play the captain.
d: how old is jordan? (he is feeling if is daughter has brought this up SO often, it is quite possible that a casting error has been made.)
k: jordan is about mom's age.
(if jordan was, if fact, mom's age, he could have played the captain!!)
m: jordan is mid-to late 20's.
k: why don't they just slap some make-up on that boy??
time passing.....
k: mom, do you know what songs i would ask jordan to sing?
m: no, which songs would you like to hear, today???
(she then lists all the songs she would like him to sing for her today. i should note, they are not all broadway songs. many of them are primary songs.)
k: mom, why can't papa cast jordan as rolfe? don't they HAVE anyone doing make-up down there??
(heaven help the director and make-up artist of the plays that kat helps casts!!!)

i only hope, that when jordan meets kat, this summer, for the FIRST time, that he falls as madly in love with her as she is with him. regardless of their ages!!!

world tilting

each week, usually tuesday, since february, i have gone to the salt lake temple. i have the roads and lanes memorized that i need to drive on and in to get there. i also usually recognize quite a few of the temple workers when i do actually make it on tuesday mornings.

last week, due to multiple scheduling conflicts, i did not make it to the temple for the first time since february. let me tell you, this morning, i felt like the stars has crashed in the heavens or something!!!

first, the lane i usually take, in down town salt lake, was closed. actually, there was a portable building on it.

next, the sidewalk i use was closed; hence, so was the crosswalk.

finally, not one temple worker looked familiar to me!

is someone playing a joke on me? if all that wasn't enough, last time i went to the temple, it was winter, today, it is summer.

more true confessions...honestly, i will soon have no secrets!

OK, now that I have it worked out, I can confess to Nana what happened...

The morning of pictures I convinced Luke to wear Sunday clothes. But, I had to concede on the church shoes. I told him not to let them take a picture of the shoes. I guess you shouldn't put that much responsibility on the shoulders of a 7 year old! So, I got these picutures back....


Very cute, BUT THE SHOES!!! Ugg. When I posted last night on the blog, I had cropped the picture to this. I didn't want my mom to see the shoes!!!
Well, I contacted the national offices of Lifetouch, who put me into contact with the local office. I had asked them if they could sell me a zoomed in shot of the picture. Well, the local office is going to give me a copywrite release since they can't alter the picture.

Now, I can legally crop the picture and show Nana the ugly shoes!!

Stay tunes, I am sure I can come up with more dirt on myself!!!

new addition to the family

I finally came across a copy of Risk that wasn't $30-50. Plus, we all know how I love previously loved items! This edition is from the '70s. Pretty cool, huh?

Dutchess even approves. Well, she loves any and all box lids. So, she is happy.

I have added a couple of examples, just to support my point...

spring school pictures

true confession time

hello. i have two confessions tonight.

the first is that i think that books have feelings and i hate to see them sitting there for sale at the library book sale. aren't they sad that no one loves them? i felt so bad, i even bought a book about barack obama!!

my second confession is that being a mom is the hardest thing in the world. it breaks my heart into a million pieces when my kids come home from school crying because of thoughtless kids. i know we all go through tough times, i just wish i could ease their sadness.

Lukie

Scriptures in Style
Blister from the monkey bars, ouch!

Rain, rain

Why didn't someone TELL me it was going be pouring by 10:30 am before I decided to was "take care of the yard day?"

Photo Book

I created a photo book!

http://www.mypublisher.com/bookshelf/bookviewer.py?d=tq%3Ey-cppl%60je%3E3319846

gone are the days

Gone are the days that Luke brings sticks into the house. He has moved onto logs. Lovely. But, to his credit, it is a pretty cool looking log!!

Ali YouTube Videos

This past week has been a big one for Ali. She had a big project due for her English Lit class. They had to act out a scene from The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Everyone but her friend Kelsi bailed out on her. At the last minute, I was typing up her script. I asked her who would play Aunt Rachel as she had the most lines. She informed me that I would be playing Aunt Rachel. I asked her why I had to be Aunt Rachel.

"Cause you are old, just like Aunt Rachel."

To Kat's delight, she also scored a part. She quickly memorized her lines, as a true actor would.

This scene was acted out in our living room, with the fire going. Outside it was 85 degrees and we were all dressed as Puritans, in black. When we finished, we were all ripping our clothes off and opening all the windows and doors.

The funniest part was trying to keep Duchess, our cat, out of the camera. You see, cats were thought to be evil back then. We wanted no evilness!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRLYN0HoIFg&feature=user

Yesterday, Saturday, Ali had her first Suzuki flute recital. When I was young, I had Suzuki piano lessons. I love the music of Suzuki. It is truly beautiful. Some of the other stuff about Suzuki is kind of strange, but I love that she is learning the classics.

One the way to the recital hall, I told her not to worry about being the only one that was not memorized and that she would be memorized next time. But, no one, and I mean no one was memorized. Eileen Wilcox would have died!!!

She did a beautiful job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeA9g5ysw08

Funny story....

Afterwards, Ms. Perkins, asked on of the dads to take a picture of all the students that performed that day. She said she would then email a copy to all of us. Well, we got the students up there and about 8 parents pulled out cameras to take pictures. She declared we probably wouldn't need to email pictures around after all!!

These are the students who performed yesterday. Ms. Perkins does have other students, but these were all the performed. As far as I could tell, out of these students, Ali was the second best to Kegan, the tall young man. He is amazing. Ali informed me that men make the best flute players. I guess the top two players in the world are men.

Alyssa Taylor Olson and Karen Perkins May 3, 2008. Isn't she beautiful. She is becoming quite the amazing young lady. I love her.

End of the day...

Gaming Weekend

Our family loves games. We recently aquired a Wii (thank you Dana!). But, thankfully, we still love the old fashion games.

Tonight Luke and I pulled out a bunch of games we had not played since we lived lived in Dallas. We played Slamwich, Blink, Zigity, Skip-bo, Disney Uno, Parcheesi and Qwirkle. And of coarse, we played our current favorite: Ticket to Ride.

A few weeks ago, I found an older version of Parcheesi. It is awesome. A great addition to our collection of games. Each person has their own dice and dice cup. Daddy, Luke and I had quite a cut-throat game this moring before church. I think it riled us up too much, we weren't very quiet if sacrament meeting. It was a day we should have sat in the back, not in the front!!

I remembered quite quickly why we hadn't played Slamwich in a LONG time. It is a long game that is very frustrating. But, we did finally have a successful game.

Blink is awesome, easy and fun. I actually won! Each round takes about 1.5 minutes.

Skip-bo and Uno are always winners.

Qwirkle is great. It is a bit like Dominoes. But, Chris always wins.

We did get a month game pass to Blockbuster yesterday. We started by renting Monkey Ball. We tried very hard to play it, but then Kat announced that it wasn't fun without Hannah from Texas. That ruined the whole mood of the evening (sob, cry) and Chris went and rented Tiger Wood's Golf.

I have a ton more games. I will probably write about them all soon.

If you have games to recommend to those of us who love games, please do!!!

Kat's Goal

Tonight at dinner, for which I had prepared breakfast, Kat announced that before she died she was going to try putting syrup on all food.

Please never say that Kat does not set goals.

Ali, the soccer player

Ali loves soccer. Well, loves any sport that she is currently involved in, but her true love is soccer.

A few weeks ago we (meaning me) had a run in with a ref that felt like Ali was intentionally throwing herself on the ground and getting trampled. If you know Ali, and have watched her play any sport, you know that she plays at 1000% capacity. She does not intentionally fall. I actually called her coach and asked him if he had issues with the way Ali played. He told me if she is less of a player by staying up-right, he would prefer that she fall.

Anyways, today another ref started hunting her down after the game. I was like, "Here we go again." I was getting my Mother Hen shield up. But, he walked up to her and told her that she is one of the best defenders he has seen in a LONG time. I am sure it make her feel good, but, mommies love to hear nice things about their kiddos.

"It's May, It's May, the Lusty Month of May"

Raise your hand if you heard Lancelot sing the title of my blog!!

But, wait, it is too cold for Lustiness!!

These two pictures were taken from the exact same spot. Just facing different directions. I hope the sun comes our way! But, wait, it has started snowing again.
I often take my camera with me when I walk the kiddos to school.

Someone either told the flowers to come up too soon, or the snow to come too late.

The following two pictures are an anti-drug ad.
Kids, drugs are bad!!
Why won't they just smile for me???