Playdate!

Earlier this week I got to baby sit our neighbor's 18 month old while his parents celebrated their 3 year anniversary. Weston is basically a perfect kid so it was so fun playing with him all day. Just saying...usually babysitting makes me less excited about having my own kids but now I want one just like Weston!

we started the day with sidewalk chalk.

Then we walked to the park with Britney and Olivia. (another pest control wife and her daughter)

Posing on the fire engine

His Zoolander pose!

He liked our new photo book.

We played baseball and with playdough then...

We made cookies as an anniversary gift for his parents.

We used this picture to make an anniversary card.

He kept sneaking the dough the little rascal...

Almost done...

Fun! I hope we have a playdate again sometime soon!

Fresno Family Fun

We had a great day yesterday in Fresno. Those crazy pest control boys have been working hard and the company decided to award them with a day at the waterpark for them and their families. We decided to leave early in the morning and attend a session in the Fresno temple. It was beautiful. Us after a session...Max gave me a watersliding hairstyle (Just in case you were noting the uniqueness)
We then took a lunch break. Max and I were the only ones who packed a lunch so we went with our team to in 'n out burger. While they ordered we lugged in our lunch cooler and pulled out our tastey homemade BLT and our fresh crisp bag of veggies.We felt like snobs in the middle of a busy burger joint while Max insisted on wiping of the table down in his suit and I crunched down on a bell pepper. We just laughed at how odd we must look.

Then we headed off to the park. We had so much fun. I was remembering the last time I went to a water park O didn't have my contacts yet and I couldn't bring my glasses so I walked around the park blind. It was all a blur (haha...I know i'm funny). Anyway...we loved going down the slides time and time again. There were even really steep drop off ones when we weren't touching the slide. Scary! I love that it's so hot here, it makes places like this more enjoyable.

So we didn't really want to take our camera down the slides and in the water to we took a picture at the end.

Everyone else had already left so our "group picture" consisted of us four.

Then, after we were worn out (Mostly from climbing up so many stairs to get to the slides) we went to an Armenian restaurant. I was talking to an insurance guy from Fresno and he told me that there is a big Armenian population in Fresno and that they have quite a few restaurants. He recommended George's Bar and Grill. We decided to try it out. This was the 3rd Armenian restaurant that I have tried since i've been home and I haven't been too pleased with the first two. And I can't say I was really pleased with this one either. I think the reason being that Armenian food realy isn't that great. While I was there it seemed that there was always a huge hype about having Խորոված or շաուրմա parties. It took me this long to remember the stomachaches caused by քյաբաբ և բոն չիկ. The լավաշ served at the restaurant was great however it wasn't լավաշ at all, it was merely pita bread. I think my Armenian cravings have subsided and I'm sure they will stay under control until I visit the country itself whenever that may be. Anyway, we have so much fun when the boys take a day off work. I love Summer!

4th of July

Happy Independence Day!
Every year it seems that we celebrate differently. This summer and last we have been "visitors" in random California cities. This can make it hard to decide what to do to celebrate when we are out of the local loop. This year we asked some neighbors and church members where to catch some firework shows. We were excited to know that there would be one at the high school down the streets from our apartments. We headed over when it got dark and much to our disappointment...the fireworks were lame...like a million fountains that all look the same...nothing big or explosive. To make matters worse...there was a man narrating the firework...aisinkin..."listen to the screeches this one puts of..." I don't need someone to tell me a firework is screeching thank you very much...We found out later that is was just a company advertising their fireworks.

Lucky for us that the high school event was on July 3rd so we were able to redeem ourselves the next day. We did some more research and found that there was an actual good show at a high school in a neighboring city. We went and found a big open field and enjoyed a good show!

We went with the other people in our pest control group.

So Romantic...

Our friends' little boy (Weston) enjoyed the fireworks and loves Max!

Weston really liked rubbing Max's head then seemed to think that Max needed more hair so he added grass.

5th of July...We were not done celebrating...seriously what's Independence day without pie.

I have been wanting to learn how to make pie becuase I never have before and Lemon Merengue is one of Max's favorites. So Marissa and I worked hard and made an amazing pie. We are just so proud of it so I'm posting several pictures of the pie!

It was so tasty!!

That's all!

Going Rogue

Warning: This entry is long and wordy and some details may seem to be pointless...However this is my memory...so enjoy!

This last week we were able to go on our annual family rafting trip. Max has had this tradition as long as he can remember. As for me, my first Olson Family Rafting Trip was several months after I graduated high school. I couldn't ask for a better vacation. The preparation that goes into these trips is very thorough and detailed. All the work and preparation is worth it to spend a week in Paradise. This year we rafted down the rogue river. This was my favorite river so far because of the beautiful landscape. I love the green everywhere! It all began on Friday the 18th when Max got off work early and we drove to Antioch to our friend Kelly's house. We spent the night there so her mom could take us to the airport. We got about 2 hours of sleep and left for the airport about 5am To make a long story short we missed our flight by a couple of seconds due to the busyness of the airport on a Saturday morning. We literally watched them close the gate and not let us get on the plane. It was incredibly lame and frustrating and we were extra grumpy due to the lack of sleep. We were lucky and able to get on the next flight a couple hours later. My dad picked us up with my little brother and we went out to Breakfast. Max's day consisted of loading up the cars and getting the camping gear ready while I got our camping meals ready then visited a bunch of family members. It was a great day.

Vacation Day 2: We woke up got our bags all packed and worked on loading the rest of the trucks. We hoped to leave at nine but pulled out at noon. Not too bad for this family!

It took about 5-6 hours to get there. The Rogue river is in Southern Oregon. Upon arrival we partly prepared the boats, ate dinner, then camped under the stars on the riverbank.

Day 3: Woke up early, packed up our stuff, ate breakfast, and loaded the boats. This is where the hard work is...Loading the boats can take several hours.

The gear being strapped down to the boats

After everything was secure on the boats, we rafted down the river for the next couple of hours. Max did the rowing so I just enjoyed the beauty and got pretty wet.

Day 3-6 We camped at Whiskey Creek. Our tent was beneath some trees near the bank of the creek. Beautiful!! While at this campsite...

~Max got creative with my hair
~We played games

Max would gather flowers daily and add them to my hair...

~Caught and released wildlife

~Max showed the younger boys how to make wood rafts out of branches

Then they raced their rafts down the creek, They were occupied for hours and only stopped when it got dark and their boats were lost.

Then, Uncle Jay said he would pay us 10 dollars if we carried him around the campsite. We totally agreed. It started out easy until we got to the sand...then we had to take him uphill. It was harder than we thought.

Up past the outhouse...

This was the hardest part...down a steep hill with blackberry bushes but we were almost to the finish line.

In the end he paid us 20 bucks, he said we earned 10 bucks each but I think he only had 20 dollar bills in his wallet.

Then Uncle jay made the same offer to Spencer but spencer (Who's 13 years old) carried him alone.

He just barely made it and earned 20 bucks!

We hiked up to an 100 year old cabin from the gold rush days...pretty impressive.

Jenna and I signed the visitor guest book

This out house had two seats...pretty classy...and romantic

Welcome to my kitchen!

Dinner time was fun...that's when everyone came together.

Delicious Chili-dogs!

Day 6-8 We loaded up the boats and rafted to our next campsite. This campsite was the coveted site of the Rogue River. There was a creek with a swimming hole, a huge grassy field with sprinklers and a huge ranch house with a museum and some other old buldings to exlpore. Our tent was far from any others in a huge beautifuil meadow.

This is the beauty we saw for miles as we traveled down river.

When we were in still water (not intense rapids) we would jump out of the boat and float down in our life jackets.

Exploring the old buildings on the ranch.

This was a bar.

Then we went to the old Tabernacle where Jay gave us an important sermon. Notice the confused looks on everyone's face.

In a room to the side of the Tabernacle there was a coffin up against the wall...I don't really know why but we enjoyed taking pictures in it!

After exploring the ranch we treded down the creek to our campsite.

I love my Max!

We danced on a Log...Just like in Dirty Dancing!!
So talented!

Later...we went on a hike to see the next rapid...It was a class IV so we needed to scout it out...For some reason we didn't take a picture of the rapid but we did see this neat waterfall on our hike.

That evening we tried to take a couple group pictures.

Then we just took some pictures with Jenna and Justin (this is a common pass-time for us)

Ugly faces...

Laughing...

Group shot #2 on the dinosaur/giraffe tree.

Picture time with Mum-Z

Grumpy faces

Lisa taught us how to make funny faces...

Max enjoyed this new opportunity to make an ugly face!

Day 8 we had to leave the river :( it was somewhat sad but the knowledge of a shower in the near future gave me great satisfaction!

On our drive home we stopped at a restaurant called Heaven on Earth!. Delicious!

Max was really good at keeping Jordan entertained while they waited for their food.

Day 9: Our last day in Oregon we had a family BBQ with my mom's side of the family. I was finally able to meet my cousin Stephanie's new baby Lexi

Ok...well that's our travel log. The family rafting trip is the highlight of our year and we are so appreciative of the many people that make it happen. we look forward to many more rafting trips.