The REST of the Story....

Okay, so what Derek failed to mentioned in the previous post on our GREAT (which it was) weekend is how it ended...not good! We left San Jose Sunday afternoon and all was well. The first several hours of the trip went just fine...I think at one point I even commented to Derek, "Wow, the kids have done REALLY well this trip, haven't they?" And there I sat, all smug and proud over my well-behaved, beautiful, healthy children. And then it happened....just after dinner as we were just headed up over the Grapevine on I-5, Trevor puked all over himself...I mean, COVERED. Yep, it was a couple of firsts...his first time puking and our first time having a kid puke in the car. Not good, not good.

So, picture this....NOWHERE to pull over, no place to stop for over 5 miles! I felt so sorry for him, having to sit in what seemed to be a half gallon of puke (no joke!). And once we did stop, we discovered we had only FIVE wipes in the car AND the restrooms only had air dryers. GREAT!!!( I'd like to send out a special shout out to that nice elderly couple at the rest stop who gave us a bunch of wipes and a beach towell to help us out...gotta love grandparents!) So, just after Derek had to ask a truck driver for a screwdriver in order to take Trevor's car seat apart, Kaylin started complaining that she felt like she was going to throw up. Of course, we didn't really believe her at first because that would just be too strange for them to both start puking right at the same time...on the Grapevine, with only FIVES wipes in the car. I mean, that kind of craziness doesn't really happen to parents, does it? Oh...it does!

So, to make a LONG story just a little shorter (Derek LOVES my long stories :), Kaylin continued puking and conducting other "business" for the next few days and even today (four days later, for anyone keeping track) is still not better. I was struck with it yesterday (in a milder form than the kids), Dylan and Dee Dee both got even slighter touches, and Danny (our 15 month old nephew) has puked 11 times in the past 4 1/2 hours. By now, Derek and Steve are the only ones in our house who haven't gotten it. Ahh, the joys of communal living!!

Just to give you an idea of the chaos caused by "the plague" in our house, here's what I looked down to find just a little bit ago. I can't really say for how long I've been wearing two different shoes on my feet, but it is indicative of life in the Nations-Olson household right now. We're hoping for a better week next week!!

Nice to be in NorCal...

This past weekend we took a roady to visit Grams & Papa. We arrived on Friday afternoon and left on Sunday. Aunt Jenni and cousin Avery (I must be a parent... I'm describing everyone by how they relate to my kids) came up and hung out with us on Saturday. Then, on our way back home, we stopped by Jaron and Jenni's to see Jaron & Liberty. Plus, we were excited that Chris & Kirsten were able to swing by on short notice. It was great to see everyone and we had a fun weekend! We do want to say that we really MISS our Santa Cruz area friends and wish we would have had time to see all you too!

Grams was taking lots of pictures but for some reason I didn't really get any while we were at their house. Once Grams sends me some of those pics, maybe I'll post them. Anyway, if I had pictures to post, there would be amazing shots of:
- Me beating my Pops at a game of horse
- Me beating my lovely wife at a game of horse
- Kaylin working on her ball-handling skills
- Kaylin and cousin Avery in the kiddy pool... it was a beautiful day!
- Everyone eating the "Fajita Fiesta" that mom served for my birthday.... YUMMY!

Then, we did get a couple pics at J & J's house:

In case you didn't know, my bro and family are taking care of Liberty for us while we're in transition... so we exercised our visitation rights!


Kaylin even took the opportunity to brush her!


Uncle J took Kaylin...

and Trevor for rides with Avery in the Burley. What a great Uncle!

32 Reasons Why We Love Derek....

Today is Derek's 32nd Birthday! I decided this was a good opportunity to sit down, in his honor, and think about just some (of the many!) reasons why we love him. Just as a special thing for his birthday, if you love him too, would you do me a favor and either leave him a comment on this post or email him separately and tell him one (or more) things you love about him.

Here they are...in no particular order: (note: Kaylin's reasons are in quotes)

1. He loves Jesus.
2. He love me.
3. He's the best dad EVER to Kaylin and Trevor.
4. He has more integrity than anyone else I know.
5. He's passionate about God's word.
6. He's VERY unselfish.
7. He's always the first to apologize.
8. He wears a funny mouth guard to bed.
9. He talks in his sleep and it's HILLARIOUS!
10. He loves my cooking.
11. He loves my family.
12. He never calls me "Tuff girl" (or at least, rarely :)
13. He's trustworthy.
14. He does not gossip about others.
15. "He reads me books" (Kaylin)
16. "He plays with me"
17. "He sings to me at bedtime...The Goodnight Prayer and Papayas"
18. "He tickles me"
19. "He sings me Walking on the Heavenly Road"
20. He's "The Duke"
21. He's good at yard work.
23. He's sensitive to God's promptings.
24. He's calm in stressful times.
25. He sometimes sings in falsetto...and it's hillarious. :)
26. He can read me by just looking at me.
27. He NEVER goes to bed angry at me.
28. He won't let me either.
29. He looks cute in warm-ups.
30. He's in touch with his feelings.
31. He never freaks out over a messy house.
32. He knows my love languages and can "speak" them. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEREK!!!!

Change is in the Air....

Since Trevor was born the relationship between our kids has been nothin' but love. Literally! Kaylin LOVES him to pieces, and he's quite fond of her as well. I've been telling people lately that I just knew this would soon be coming to an end...and...well...it has. The honeymoon has ended, and the fighting has begun!!! As I suspected, along with Trevor getting on the move has come Kaylin's frustration with her brother. He's now getting a hold of her stuff, and she doesn't care much for that. :) By far, her least favorite of his hobbies is taking fists full of her hair and pulling it...HARD! It seems the more she freaks out, the more he does it. Such a little brother!!! I'm sure, just the beginning of several years of sister and brother drama. :)

On the Move!

Trevor John is now 10 1/2 months old and a CUTIE PIE! He's now officially on the move, although not always crawling on his hands and knees...he goes back and forth between his knees and scooting around on his tummy. But he can definitely get from points A to B...and fast! A few of his other "new things" are being able to sign for "more" of something (he's done this a bit earlier than Kaylin did....I think because we live with 15 month-old cousin Danny who models it for him :), pulling up to standing (while holding onto something), and going back and forth between laying down, sitting up, and crawling. He's an active little guy!

A few other fun facts about Trevor.....he LOVES dogs!!! He calls them "duu duu" and gets mad when they go out of sight. He's usually really easy going about food and will eat just about everything (until this week...he's had a fever for about 4 days now and a bit more picky about what we're feeding him. teething???). Trevor LOVES his Mommy!! He's super attached to me (way more than Kaylin ever was...she's always been a bit more of a Daddy's girl) which is kinda fun and kinda frustrating at times. He definitely loves his Daddy too and gets excited when Derek comes home at the end of the day. And no one ever entertains him nearly as well as sissy Kaylin. But when push comes to shove, it's Mommy who always comes out a little ahead. :)

While parents are away...

We went to a couples event last night put on by the Talbot Wives Fellowship that Amy is part of. It was a Hawaiian luau theme complete with Hawaiian food and limbo and hula hoop contests! We enjoyed a nice evening together and meeting some new people. Meanwhile, Aunt DeeDee and Uncle Steve watched our kids for us. It seems that Kaylin had a very fun evening...

First, she got her toes and fingers painted by Aunt DeeDee! Kaylin is obsessed with make-up and nail polish. Dad is thinkin' "OH GREAT!"


Then, just to see what it would look like, Aunt DeeDee straightened her hair! As they got started, Kaylin said "I wonder what color it's going to be." =)


Kaylin enjoyed being able to actually brush through her hair! In fact, she was brushing it so roughly that Aunt DeeDee worried she was going to damage her hair. She would also tilt her head to the side and say "Look, it's touching my shoulders!"


Here's a picture of the final result of Kaylin with straight hair. We think it has a kind of retro flip look. Plus, she got to have dinner from McDonalds!


Here's Kaylin playing trains with cousins and Uncle Steve. Check out her new hair blowing in the breeze!

Then, Uncle Steve took her for a ride behind his bike with cousin Danny. Kaylin had asked to have her straight hair put in two pony tails. When she went to bed, she asked Aunt DeeDee to leave her ponies in so that she could look in the mirror at them when she woke up in the middle of the night.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody... and special thanks to Grams and Papa for sending the green shirt!

Birthday Celebrations - part 1

On Friday evening we had a family gathering to celebrate two birthdays... Steve Massey's was last week and mine is this Thursday. It was lots of fun (and chaotic as usual) to have everyone together. Steve and I enjoyed a great taco meal, playing with all the kids, opening presents and some tasty dessert! Thanks to everyone for my cards and presents... I appreciate it!

Splashin' Around!

What a workout!

Planting Strawberries...

This past weekend Kaylin got to help Uncle Steve plant some strawberries!

KK & TJ

Derek's New Job

So many of you have been praying for us in this time of transition and we so appreciate it. One specific prayer request has been for the Lord to show me how/where I could earn a living to support my family. Some recent news that is a step toward that is my new part-time on campus position. On Monday I started a temporary (this semester) job as the Distance Learning Coordinator, working in the Dean's Office at Talbot School of Theology. Talbot is about to launch two new extension campuses, one in Kiev, Ukraine and the other in New York City. Classes begin this month in Kiev and this summer in Manhattan. These exciting new ventures required the Dean's Office to seek additional help and while the position is temporary for now, the need for staffing in this area may continue after this semester. I'll post a bit more about what I'm doing when I can.

It's exciting to be a part of it, it will help us pay the bills while we continue to live with family, it's a great foot in the door to the campus community (I'm meeting tons of profs and staff), and it will buy me some time while I apply for some full-time positions. So that's the update! Thanks for both your past and continued prayers for us!

Big Girl Bike!

Kaylin is lovin' her new bike! We recently discovered that it was time for Kaylin to make the jump from her little trike to a "big girl bike" when she hopped on a friend's bike, did well and like it. So Amy suggested we check out garage sales. We did and at the first place we targeted, we found one! I added Disney princess tassles and bell to the handlebars to spiff it up a bit and Kaylin loves her new bike! Her cousin Clara got a new bike that day too from the same garage sale, they had fun riding together.

After Uncle Steve gave the bike a tune-up...

... off she went!

A couple of falls... no big deal... Kaylin got up and kept going!
Yep, Dad snapped a picture before helping her up =)

Kaylin and Clara on their new bikes!

At Long Last...

This post goes out to those of you that have been visiting OlsonWeb faithfully throughout the past few weeks but have repeatedly left unhappy, unfulfilled and unappreciated... or something like that!

Blogging should resume with some more regularity now that (and I'm proud to report) my sister-in-law and her family have moved into the 21st century after making the switch from dial-up to DSL. Plus, while things are still crazy, at this this blogger has settled into his new routine as a graduate student. Not much news on employment yet... but keep it tuned to OlsonWeb for the latest, breaking news!

Following are several pictures from the past few weeks...

Kaylin, who's always been a good helper for mommy, has recently taken particular interest in helping feed her brother. Notice that she, like many of us veteran parents, opens her own mouth in hopes that will help T.J. do so!


Cousins Kaylin and Jenna have enjoyed spending time together...


...and getting into trouble together! Here they are after raiding Aunt DeeDee's makeup bag!


This past weekend we enjoyed an RV trip with Amy's parents to Lake Elsinore. We also enjoyed the beautiful weather... Saturday was sunny, mid 80s and pleasantly breezy.

Here's Kaylin posing with some of the friends we made when we starting throwing bits of bread into the lake!

"I like the cold water on my toes!"

Sunny SoCal!

We made it safely to our destination! Four crazy long days of packing, loading, driving and unloading... we're pretty tired. And just to make things interesting, our kids are both sick. But we're doing well and glad to be here. Right now we only have limited internet access... so new posts will be less frequent... but I'll get some moving pictures up soon and updates on the transition whenever I can. Peace Out!

My Last Day at Mission Springs

Today is my last day at Mission Springs. I just packed up my desk... feels a bit weird. My family and I will miss our the Mission Springs community - staff, residents, and our church family. My fellow Program staffers put together a very nice going away party for me on Wednesday. There were a few rounds of "Duke Trivia," some sharing, some stories, and some food. I really appreciated it! One of the gifts I received was a memory book with pictures and notes from many people... very cool. Here's the group just after the party...

I'm very thankful for the time I had to serve the Lord on staff here at Mission Springs... and we will truly miss the people here! We also love the many amazing people that have served with us at Frontier Ranch in the past few years. Please keep in touch with us!

Amtrak & the Dentist

Kaylin had a very exciting day yesterday! She rode on a train for the first time and went to the dentist for the first time.

She and Grams rode the train to San Jose where Amy picked Kaylin up. Kaylin was coming home after enjoying 2 nights at Grams & Big Papa's house! When I asked her about the train she said she'd had fun and "then it got to San Jose and that was all."

Thanks for takin' a train ride with me Grams! And thanks for this picture!

Then, Amy took her straight to our dentist's office. After a bit of warming up, she did great! She let both Christine (hygienist) and Dr. Shively look in her mouth. They gave an excellent report that her electric Dora toothbrush (and mommy and daddy) are doing a great job... her 20 teeth looked great!

T.J.'s First Tooth!

Here's our cute boy... Mom spotted his first tooth today! Unlike his sister, cutting it didn't seem to bother him much... we hope that will become a trend. =)

Happy Birthday Avery!

Our niece Avery turned 2 on Saturday and we all had fun at her party on Sunday afternoon! Maybe this link to their blog will put some friendly pressure on her parents to put up some pictures! =)

Happy Birthday Cute Niecie!