Project Weekend: Fun!

Dad O, Tracy, Cal, Hannah and Baxter came for a weekend visit. On Friday the guys had the project of putting in the dishwasher.



It was a great father son project and they did such an awesome job!

Here is a picture of me putting in my first dish in our very own, installed dishwasher!

Zach, Cal and Hannah had a snowball fight.

The family drove to Hamilton to pick me up after school and see where I work. It was fun showing them where I spend my days. After that we headed to our favorite Canadian restaurant, Montanas! We stopped for some Dairy Queen on the way home- what a night of good eat'n!

When we came home Hannah and I danced to Kung Fu Fighting in the kitchen (a tradition) Hoo...Hah!
Zach, Hannah, Cal, and I had a slumber party in the living room together.

We recently had our home painted so on Saturday Tracy and Dad helped us tremendously by hanging our pictures/decorations. It is amazing how much a coat of paint and picture on a wall can change the feel of a room.

Tracy and I worked on several projects together like cleaning our coffee maker, hot water pot, and the stove. (Vinegar fixes everything!) Zach and Dad also fixed a leaky faucet. Cal, Hannah, Zach and I had tickle fights, boys verses girls, and the girls totally won!
Tracy and I took a break to eat our Super Blow Pops we bought at the store.

Baxter got a treat too!

Saturday afternoon we started making pasties, an Olson tradition, for dinner. Tracy and I cut up the vegetables...

while the guys made the crust...

Assembly station...

Putting on the finishing touch...butter!

Zach and Hannah...

They turned out awesome!

It was the funniest thing. I was taking out the dishes to set the table and I turned to get something out of a cupboard. When I turned back around this is what I saw...Cal was here. :-)

So was Hannah...

Saturday night we had a taste test to try the two new Doritos flavors. We weren't too impressed with either A or B flavor.

Thank you so much Dad, Trace, Cal, Hannah, and Baxter for coming for a visit. It was so great to spend time just hanging out and enjoying each others' company. Thanks for all the laughs and wonderful memories. Come back soon!!

Wake up to Water...

So, Friday morning while I was at work I received an e-mail from Zach. Here is a part of it:
Tonight you and I are going to have some good quality "together" time. And we're going to have it in the basement. Our basement flooded last night. I was going down to take a shower this morning and when I turned the light on I noticed about 2 inches of water at the bottom of the stairs. I took off my slippers and socks and waded around and found the whole basement was under water. For some reason, our sump pump (the thing that takes water out of the basement) wasn't plugged in. I plugged it back in and before I left for church there was no standing water except for a few puddles. So tonight, I'm going to vacuum out the water from the carpet and hopefully we won't have to replace it. Alot of our cardboard moving boxes are going to have to be junked, though. As far as I can tell, we didn't lose anything except the Guitar Hero guitars. Most everything else was above the water.
Other than that--I've had a great morning! I hope you are too. I'm very thankful that none of the power strips by my desk sparked and caught fire (don't worry...I unplugged them!). It could have been worse than what it was.

Yikes! I left work as early as I could to come home to help. We ended up spending the evening having our "quality time" cleaning the basement. Ahhh, the joys of home ownership.



Like Zach said, we are very thankful it wasn't worse than it was, and that my mom and dad taught me to use plastic bins to store items in the basement.

One Two Three...Eyes on Me!

One Two...Eyes on You!!
That is a phrase I have been saying quite a lot in the last week with my new class of second graders. Two weeks ago I was called in to interview for a maternity leave position at a school in Hamilton. (The teacher went into labor 9 weeks early!) Two nights later I found I got the job! God's faithfulness and timing are truly remarkable. So I resigned from the part-time position at the school in town and had to stop coaching the basketball team to make time for this new job.
I survived my first week of teaching: 22 eight year olds, 8 different lessons a day, recess duty, and no prep. period makes for one busy day...and one tired teacher. I do feel my teacher stamina coming back more and more every day. It's been a lot of fun to be back in a classroom full time again, and I'm having fun getting to know this new group of kiddos.


There is a Smart Board in my classroom. I have only used it to show short videos so far; I am eager to explore and learn how to use it!


Mrs. Olson...or as the kids like to say, "Yo Mrs. O!"

Aloha Christmas: Part 3

Our final stop, and my personal favorite island, was Lahue, Kauai. On Sunday we enjoyed an enormous feast for Sunday brunch at a super fancy hotel. The food was fantastic. We all felt we needed to be rolled out of there.

After brunch the weather cleared up so we stopped at a scenic overview to catch a picture with the beautiful blue sky.


We headed to a lighthouse with yet another fantastic view.


We then stopped to see a waterfall....lovely...


Another highlight was spouting horn. Check this out!

We traveled to a Waimea Canyon to see the famous view. Unfortunately it was pretty foggy that day. But we did manage to catch a few glimpses through the fog.


Zach teetering on the edge...careful hon!

Dad, Mom and Daniel held down the fort in the car.


We decided it would be fun to go whale watching. So we headed out onto our sturdy vessel for a three hour tour...The mighty ship tossed and turned and I felt sick and sicker. Thankfully I never actually got sick, no thanks to the 7 people ralphing right next to me. We did see some whales which was awesome, but I spent the majority of the journey with my eye on the port.

Daniel was enthralled.

There was a beautiful sunset; unfortunately I didn't see it due to the sea sickness. Thanks for taking the picture Zach.

We spent the mornings by the pool.

Daniel liked playing catch with his football.


Justin and Zach played a lot of catch. And we all had some pretty crazy games of keep away going. Mom has an awesome fake-out throw.

It was the sweetest thing. I turned to look at Zach and there he was holding sleeping Daniel under the towel. (My sincerest apologies for the speedo spotting in the background.)

Another delicious meal, another incredible view.

A huge highlight of the vacation was going on a helicopter ride to see the island.

Everything looked so beautiful from up above.



I am a huge Jurassic Park fan (at least I used to be when I was 13). It was so cool to see the waterfall that's in the beginning scene of the movie!





Waimea Canyon.

Dad pointing out our hotel to Zach.

Below are pictures of Na Pali Coast. You can only get to see the coast by boat or plane (or if you are an extreme hiker). So we were very privileged to see it with our own eyes. What beauty...




I just love the different trees that grow in other states and countries. Hawaii certainly had some pretty cool trees...

Look how tall that is?! To get some perspective, take a look at how small Zach and Mom are in front of it.

Slanty

These ones remind me of fireworks.

Unfortunately, that's as high as I climbed- that thing was covered in ants.

This one looks like it's about to crawl away!

One of our last nights we stopped for some shaved ice. Yummy!

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for this wonderful Christmas vacation. We had so much fun spending time laughing, sightseeing, playing games, and just hanging out with you guys. We love you!