Since We've Been Back . . . and a holiday!

We got back from our trip and took a few days settling in.  It was a little hectic.  We ended up closing the short sale of our old house last Wednesday!  We are so grateful for our awesome realty team who worked so hard to make this come together despite all the roadblocks we encountered.  Thanks Kris Bowen and Audrey at Zoom Realty!  Seriously if you are looking into selling or short selling your home give them a call. 

We worked on hanging pictures and finishing unpacking boxes all over the house.  It's finally starting to look more like we live here.  We hit up the Lehi library for some new summer books to read.  Talia enjoyed having a whole mini couch to herself to look at her board books.  She somehow managed to find a Duck and Goose book that we already own on the shelves of baby books.

 

We also participated in the Lehi Round Up Days celebrations!  This year that meant we attended the  mini float parade on Friday night and the actual Round Up parade on Saturday morning.  We had great seats thanks to our friend, Jackie, who invited us to hang with them in front of her uncle's house along the parade route.  The kids scored a ton of candy and other fun freebies during the parade.  It was a blast.  Maybe next year we will try to make it to the rodeo, carnival, and other fun events.

 

There have been a ton of fires around Utah lately and this last week one caught just across the freeway from us in American Fork Canyon.  It wasn't really close enough to us to be dangerous, but it scares me how quickly they start.  This is a pic of the fire I took from Talia's window.  Thankfully we got a full day of rain on Thursday and that really helped the firefighters put this one out.  It hadn't rained a drop since the day we moved into this house (Memorial Day weekend).

 

This last week was the 4th of July.  We had a really nice day.  Ian and I worked on getting more boxes unpacked in the morning, then in the afternoon we had our friends, the Bayles', over for a bbq and some water fun in the backyard.  We had so much fun catching up with them and the kids loved having the little pool to splash in. 

 

 

 

Around 8pm we headed over to Thanksgiving Point to get a spot to watch the fireworks show.  It wasn't super crowded and the show was wonderful!  I really liked that it was set to music that we could actually hear.  It made it feel so much more patriotic for me.  The kids had fun playing with their lightsabers and glow sticks and eating almost as much candy as they wanted. 

 

 

 Talia was miraculously pleasant the whole night!  She sat in her little camp chair and munched popcorn and candy pretty much all evening.  She even liked the fireworks!  No tears.  She oohed whenever she saw them until she got tired at the end.  Davin and Talia both fell asleep during the actual fireworks show.  The only thing that didn't go according to plan was our choice of parking spot, which ended up being the worst.  It took forever to get out of there!  Overall though it was definitely a fantastic 4th.  God bless America!

 

 

The Wedding

Saturday, June23rd, was Julianna and Rick's big day.  Notably it was also Joy and Jim's 11 year anniversary that day.  Pretty fun.  The day started off swimmingly with a mini miracle.  Talia slept through me getting ready from 6-7ish.  I then ran downstairs and grabbed muffins and yogurts for Talia and I for breakfast.  When everyone was up the boys went down to eat in the lobby with Ian and then we all got dressed for the wedding.

The kids just went up in their regular comfy clothes since they were just going to be running around outside while we were in the temple for the sealing.  My awesome cousins, Katie and Sara, hung out with all of the kiddos during the sealing.  It worked out really well.

The sealing was beautiful.  It was in the same room that all of us Olson girls got married in and our parents.  The sealing room was packed with family and friends.  Jules and Rick just looked so happy.  The temple is definitely the most beautiful place to be married and start your life together.

 

After the sealing I changed the kids into their wedding outfits for a few pictures.  I don't have many to share because they are all on the professional photographer's camera or Ian's big work camera that he was taking video with.  I apologize.  In my defense, my hands were full with keeping 3 kids looking good and getting them into the right photos.

Talia was completely uncooperative for pictures.  She wasn't even in the one of Jules and Rick and all the nieces and nephews because she would scream bloody murder if I put her down and walked away.  I'm pretty bummed actually because I don't think there is a single professional picture of her in her cute flower girl dress except the one of our family at the reception.  Oh well.  She also wanted nothing to do with her adorable fresh flower bouquet.  Silly girl.  The boys did fine and looked handsome.

After pictures I changed the kids back out of their wedding outfits and then we went to lunch at McDonald's down the street before heading back to the hotel for a little down time before the ring ceremony and reception.

The ring ceremony was very nice.  Well what I heard of it was very nice.  Talia clung to me until it started then wanted to get down and run around.  Figures.  The boys were part of the entrance and exit of the wedding party.  They did great and looked cute.  We did manage to get a family pictures before the party got too swingin' and I'm so glad.  Thanks Blake and Paige!

The reception went so well!  It was beautiful, of course.  They had a street taco bar for the food and it was delish (if a little spicy).  The cake also was yummy.  The kids went crazy dancing in front of the DJ and coloring and eating treats at the kids corner table.  I mostly had to hold Talia the whole time.  She was happier once I started feeding her rice.  Maybe she was just hungry.  We brought the pack and play and put her to bed in an empty classroom around 8pm.  It was great.  We also all took our turn in the photo booth.  Weston loved the photo booth and went back with Mimi later.  I really enjoyed getting to see so many of my cousins that I hardly ever see and meeting their newer children.  There were lots of family friends there to visit with too.  Definitely a fun time.

 

 

 

When it was time to send Jules and Rick off we all waved our cute wedding wands with bells on them and wished them well.  Mel, Brad, and Ian did a great job on their car.  It looked adorable. When they had gone the party broke up and we started cleaning up.  I helped for a bit, then when only big stuff was left we packed up the tired kids and went back to the hotel for some sleep.  It was a very fun wedding day and I'm so glad that we were there to be a part of it.

Sunday morning we took our time getting moving, but managed to get ourselves ready, packed up, and checked out of the hotel by 10am.  We went back to my parent's house for food and to watch Jules and Rick open their presents.  Rick's parents came too.  It was very low key and nice.  The cousins holed up in the back of the house with all the iPads, which was just as well.  Jules and Rick got lots of nice gifts for their new home.  Later that afternoon my parents dropped them off in Long Beach for their honeymoon cruise.  The party was over.

The Henshaw's headed home that afternoon.  Weston and Mimi were sad to say goodbye, but luckily we will see them again in just a couple weeks at the Olson Family Reunion.  They requested a picture.  And I managed to get a cute one of all the cousins (minus Talia) before they parted ways.  :)

 We had lost one of Davin's loveys, his dog Chocky, at the hotel, so Ian called one last time before bed to see if they had found it in the laundry, and sure enough they had!  It was a sweet reunion.

We spent the night at my parent's house Sunday night before getting up early and driving home on Monday.  I thought the drive home felt quicker than usual.  We were all happy to get back to our house and our beds.  It sure was a wonderful trip though!

Wedding Prep

Wednesday was a pretty slow day.  Ian and Uncle Brad took the boys to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana.  Our Thanksgiving Point pass is part of the ASTC Passport program so it got them in for free.  They had a blast!  Everything there was pretty high tech and totally perfect for their ages.  They both said their favorite was the Jr. Dino Quest.  I think Weston mostly just liked that the instrument for finding the dino objects looked like a Harry Potter wand, but that's ok.  There was a fun mini grocery shopping exhibit where you had to scan certain items and it taught you about how to eat healthy and be more environmentally friendly.  They also got to play simulated hockey goalies.  They both thought this was cool.  Weston was even brave enough to try the bed of nails!  It was definitely a fun way for the guys to spend the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

I stayed home and chilled all by myself at the house while Talia napped.  Everyone else was off doing pre-wedding errands.  A little after lunch Joy and the girls arrived.  It was super fun to have the cousins together.  Joy and I ran a few errands together that afternoon and then we got ready to go to the temple for Jules to take out her endowment.  The kids were all babysat together by a very kind neighbor.

 

The temple was wonderful.  Jules did her first session at the Newport Beach Temple.  It's smaller and it just felt so intimate being there with our family all together.  The only one missing was Joy's husband, Jim.  It was also special because all of the temple workers that night were old family friends that I have known since birth, the Sage's and the Boberg's.  Definitely a memorable and special night.

Ian and I with Grandma and Grandpa Olson at the Newport Beach Temple

Thursday morning Dad took Ian and Brad shooting and out to lunch.  While the boys were gone, Joy and I took all the kids over to another neighbor's pool to swim.  It was a really fun morning.  Unfortunately we forgot to bring sunscreen and Talia's back got burned.  Poor girl.  By the time we were done swimming it was time for lunch and some rest.  Later that afternoon we went and checked into a nearby hotel for the rest of the week since there were just too many of us to stay in one house.

Thursday night was Julianna's bachelorette party!  Melanie planned it and put it on.  She did such a great job.  It looked super cute, the food was great, the games were fun, and everyone had a blast.  She made veggie bars and also served fruit, brownie bites, mini eclairs and cream puffs, and had make your own Shirley Temple drink fixings.  We played a really fun game where everyone brought a wrapped pair of panties and then Jules had to guess who brought each pair.  It was hilarious and she got some fun stuff.  We also played "Kiss the Stud."  Kind of like pin the kiss on the cute guy, but instead of using the kissy lip stickers that came with the game we put on bright red lipstick and literally kissed the guy.  It was awesome.  Jules opened a few more presents and then we mostly just ate and talked and laughed.  It was a very fun night.

 

 

 

Mercifully the kids all slept in at the hotel on Friday morning until after 8!  It was fabulous.  We ate breakfast downstairs then I got dressed and took Talia with me to go pick up all the wedding flowers with my Mom.  We took them over to the church and worked on setting things up for the reception.  Luckily the rental stuff was mostly all up when we got there, so Joy and I spent most of the morning ironing the very creased table squares.  Ian took the boys back to the Discovery Science Center while I was busy decorating.  When he was done with them there they brought us lunch.  Ian took Talia and the boys back to the hotel after lunch so I could be more helpful.  It all came together beautifully in the end.  Here are the before and after pics of what the hall looked like when I got there in the morning and when I left in the afternoon.

 

 

I went back to the hotel to shower then brought the whole gang back to the church for the ring ceremony rehearsal.  It was nice and short, then Rick put on a dinner at the Fullerton Institute building for us.  It was nice to get to meet all of his family and enjoy some time to mingle.

The lucky/brave men who married all of us Olson girls.

Cousins and ping pong.  Life doesn't get better for a 6 year old.

Julianna with her bridesmaids (minus Paige).

We were silly by the end of the night.

I stayed up way too late that night doing laundry at my parent's house because I had forgotten I needed to wash Ian's white shirt for the wedding.  Oops.  It was a long day and I fell into bed that night needing a solid night's sleep before the big day!

The Vacationy Days

When you go on a trip that includes a family wedding it is generally less of an actual vacation.  It was nice that we were there for the whole week before the wedding though because we spent the first half of the week playing.

Monday was beach day.  We met up with Brad and Mel in Newport.  We got a late start, but it worked out well because the sun didn't burn off the marine layer until about 45 minutes after we got there.  My main goal that day was to not get anyone sunburned.  Peeling in professional wedding pictures just isn't pretty.  We had a good time despite our permanently grumpy Talia baby.  She didn't like the sand or water AT ALL.  She wouldn't even sit on the sheet on top of the sand.  It was my lap or nothing.  Her daddy took her for a walk for a bit and forced her feet to touch the sand while I got a little break to lay in the sun with Mel.  The boys loved the sand and water and had a blast.

 

 

If we didn't have a fussy Talia with us we probably would have stayed until dinner time.  As it was we lasted about 3 hours.  After we packed up our stuff and stashed it in the car we walked to a nearby Subway for a very late lunch.  There was a donut shop right there too so we got a donut for a treat.  Mmm . . . donuts.

 

When we got home everyone got bathed and showered.  While Ian was giving the boys a bath Weston was showing him his wiggly tooth.  It had been wiggly for several weeks, but by now it was hanging by a thread.  Ian told Weston to just pull it out, so he did!  And Weston officially lost his first tooth while in California.  He was so excited and felt so grown up.  He was definitely excited about the tooth fairy too.  Ian's tradition growing up was that you put the tooth in a cup with a little water in it and left it out in the kitchen for the tooth fairy instead of putting it under your pillow.  Convenient, right?  Weston also left the tooth fairy a note, which she thoroughly answered.  The teeth are used for building the city where all the tooth fairies live of course!  Anyway it was an exciting night.  I can't believe my baby's baby teeth are falling out.  Kinda sad.

 

 

On Tuesday my mom took us to the Santa Ana Zoo for our outing.  We ate a picnic before we went in and then wandered around checking out the animals.  It was a gorgeous day and the animals were very active.  Unfortunately I was not feeling well at all and spent most of the outing sitting on benches trying not to throw up or pass out.  The kids enjoyed it though and even Talia had some happy moments.  Luckily it's not a humongous zoo, so we saw it all in a couple of hours and then headed back home to rest.

Next post . . . pre-wedding preparation days.  Decorating, bachelorette party, and cousins!