The Oregon Olson's

1st Day Of School! Sept. 6, 2011

2011-09-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hi All!

I am going to be doing a little working backwards here... these are photos of the 1st day of school and I wanted to post them because they are current. I will then go back in a day or so and catch you up on the happenings in the Olson clan over the summer.

My creative Mr. Wonderful took most of these photos which is why they are artistic and fun. I took the ones of the kids standing in front of the door. I did it because its what i do every year. I completely ignored the beautiful geraniums right next to me, that would have been a much more suitable background. When my husband tried to graciously point out that I was missing out on this most beautiful backdrop I of course snapped at him and said I need to do what I always do because its tradition. I'm kind like that. Well as you will see in a moment, he was right, as usual. One would think that after almost 11 years of marriage I would just concede to the fact that he is pretty much always right. But I can guarantee you that this will not happen anytime soon. I have to keep fighting for that one moment in our marriage when I might actually be right. Good thing he is stuck forever so I have lots of time to practice....

Enough about me, here are my offspring on their 1st day of school...

Yes... I left the all important door wide open...

Brand new cowboy boots... My boy is proud!

In true mommy fashion Bridger can't keep his mouth shut and is presently telling daddy what to do...

Don't know what this is... and yes it worries me a little... thank goodness for the plaid, the boots and the wranglers!

Camo is big this year...

Those beautiful curls? Lots o sweat and tears people! Lots o sweat and tears...

Notice how her smile is just a little pasted on? I think she is still mad over the curls. But in my defense she begged for days for those curls! It was not my idea, and believe me half way through I was truly regretting saying yes.

Bridge on the other hand still thinks I'm cool. I'm cherishing every moment cause I know his time is a comin...

Daddy was tickling Nat to get her to smile... he knows all the tricks...

Beautiful background huh?

Perfect for my beautiful girl!

Cause when she is not mad at you she is pure delight...

Bridgy... mommy and daddy r great! Sissy... mommy and daddy r soo lame!

Daddy's artistic shots...

Nat still thinks were lame... at least daddy is lame too...

There she is! We are at the beginning stages of only getting glimpses of this but man o man do I love that

girl! And when she truly grins it melts your world...

She's gettin good at silly as well...

Our best buddy Ian!

The Three Amigos....

Besties! They dressed exactly alike on the 1st day of school! It wasn't even planned...

Besties just know these things...

Here's to a great Kindergarden and Second grade year! I love you all my precious little people!

2011-07-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

My letter to Aimee, read by Mr.Wonderful on Saturday July, 16 2011

Aimee

Howdo I put into words all that you and our friendship has meant to me? At Mom’sgroup you were this beautiful, quiet, sweet girl who I thought would never befriends with someone such as myself, who doesn’t even know the definition ofthe word, quiet. We did eventually get the chance to hang out and I rememberbeing nervous that I wouldn’t be able to keep the conversation going… we endedup sitting on my back deck and talking for three hours! It was a really greattime and it was the catalyst to one of the most beautiful friendships I haveever had. This is the public vs. private quality of yours and it is the one Ilove the most… in public you are smiley, sweet and very quiet, in private youare open, honest and quite funny. Oh, the sweetness and the smiles are alwaysaround but it’s your wit, sarcasm, strength and determination that I mostadmire and only those who are really close to you ever get to see you in thatlight.

Aimee,you call it like it is, you don’t mince words and you say what you mean. Likelast year when I went a little nutso with the hair coloring kit and ended upwith black hair. You took one look at me and said “I love you way to much totell you that your hair looks good! You need to wear a hat until you can get itfixed.” Then you smiled that wonderful smile of yours, shook your head andlaughed at me! Mind you, we were sitting in church when this conversation tookplace, so you pretty much sat there for the next hour and half, glancing at me,shaking your head and chuckling. The sermon seemed to last FOREVER that day!!

Theseven of us or Olson2 as we have called ourselves has been the perfectcombination of friendships. We have shared Holidays, Birthdays and Friday NitePizza Nites. In fact for the most part, there hasn’t been a day or two in thelast 2 1/2 years that I haven’t seen your beautifulface. Its been a week now and I miss it soo much already.

I have asked you several times in thelast few years how you were holding up and your response to me was always thesame. “God has given me great grace to walk through this, I have peace and Itrust Him.”

Personally I was really trusting Himfor an earthly healing, one where you and I would spend our futures travelingaround and telling people about your miraculous cancer survival story. WhenGod’s plan and mine turned out to be different, I realized that I get to be theone who tells the story of your healing. The complete and whole kind of healingthat can only be found in heaven. Selfishly, I have to admit I was way more infavor of the earthly healing and one day when I can stop being mad that Ididn’t get my way, I will tell your story and I will tell people about and Hisgrace and peace that were given to you in abundance when you were here.

The only time I ever heard you cryabout your situation was that Thursday evening about 6 weeks ago. You were in Portland so we weretalking on the phone. You didn’t cry when you told me what was going to happen,you cried when you thanked me for being such a good friend to you and told mehow much you loved me. You, my dear Aimee are the precious friend, you havetaught me how to live, to love, how to be gracious, determined and strong. Ihave loved every single minute of Olson2 and I am the one who is thankful andgrateful to God that He moved both our families to Coos Bayand the same time so that we could be friends.

I will love you forever,

Tiffany

Aimee Marie Olson

July 10, 1980 – July 8, 2011

Bridger The Craig!

2011-05-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is our sweet boy Bridger... He is five years old and has more personality than we can handle at times. He refers to himself as Bridger The Craig.

This photo of him was taken just before he started wearing glasses.

(photo courtesy of Rachel Diane Photography)

This was a few weeks later... He was sooo proud to be wearing his new suit! We have recently become a little concerned with Bridger's in ability to express himself...

He can in a space of 30 seconds make you so mad you want to pull all your hair out and then have you laughing so hard that you almost pee your pants.

(I know, tmi, but these are the facts people!)

The other day he was supposed to be takinga nap... about and hour in he comes to the top of the stairs and says "Mommy? Um I've been trying with all my heart, with all my strength, with all my soul and all my might to take a nap. But I just can't do it!" I did not have a comeback for this soo, naptime was over.

Bridge is all boy ... all the time...

And I wouldn't change a thing...

Making the cut

2010-12-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

Making the cut

Check out this story.... It is about our towns local production of the Nutcracker. Natalie is one of the 50 who made the cut! She is one of the angels.

I am one proud mama!!

Have a good one!

2010-11-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Hi All!!! This is a little sneak peek at our photo shoot from last night!

And this is our Pre-Ballet Beauty!

More to come......

Natalie's 7th Birthday!!!

2010-09-30T12:25:00.001-07:00

My Baby Girl Turned 7!!!

Only yesterday we were at the hospital...

We were hangin' out with daddy...

Learning to ham it up for the camera...

We began to play dress up....

And then became Fancy Nancy....

You really began to grow....

And now your 7!!!

You know what i love most about you Natalie? Its your ability to effortllessly be both a super girly girl and a tomboy all at the same time.....

You fill all of our lives with sooo much joy ... I hope your 7th year is the best yet!

What we've been up to....

2010-09-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

Saddle up people this might take a while!

Seeing as my last post was in April and it is now September ... I got a little splanin to do!

Lets see ... Here are the highlights

Bridgy's Spring Program

Natalie Graduated Kindergarden...

And danced in her Outer Space Recital

And lost a tooth!

For Aimee's 30th Birthday we roasted a pig!

Daddy wore boobies!

And we all celebrated miss Aimee!

We had a few timeouts ....

Bridger played basketball

We camped in Powers (we go there to get warm)

Hiked to the waterfalls...

And went swimming ... (Bridge swam commando.. (-: )

We visited with family

And saw fireworks

Ok peeps it just doesn't get any cuter than this...

She makes me want another one just like her!

Grammy Beamed...

And School Began!

1st day of 1st Grade!

1st day Pre-K!

Well that is our last 6 months in a nutshell... i have many great stories to share which i will do in following posts. I just wanted you all to see what weve been up to.

Love u all! Tiff

Pioneer Woman!!!!!

2010-04-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

From 2010-04-1

I finally got to meet her! I was thrilled! I was sweaty!

(70 degrees in portland, i am wearing a long sleeve shirt and a vest (to cover the muffin top hanging over my jeans, which by the way my husband told me later (in much kinder words...) that he didn't like "(the vest) and that it made me look funny... this of course was while i was trying desperately to get some words of encouragement because all the pictures of me with PW turned out yucky...)

Anyway .... sweaty, nervous, anxious, excited... but ladies and gentlemen I am here to tell you it was all worth it. (-:

My friend Aimee and I arrived around 3:30pm on Friday, the signing wasn't until 6:00pm so we thought we'd just check things out. We go into Powell's Book Store and there are people already waiting in line! Soo we got ourselves a Starbucks and waited with them!

From 2010-04-19

This is my beautiful friend Aimee... She spent that whole day in various Dr.'s offices and she looks beautiful, peaceful, put together, and ready to roll... I on the other hand... need to take off that vest. (:

We waited... got our tickets... sat down...

From 2010-04-19

Cute Aimee...

From 2010-04-19

Me... with the vest

The crowd became very large, in fact i think the bookstore people were quite surprised at how many fans showed up. It was one of their biggest signings and they have had several famous authors. Us PW fans are a loyal fierce group not to be messed with.

From 2010-04-19

Although I do have to admit i was a little surprised that here in the good ole People's Republic of Oregon that there was soo much interest in a southern blogger who lives on a working cattle ranch, loves butter, meat, her church and her husband... I loved it!

On a side note... while we were waiting... i had to pee... for those of you who know me this is no shock because i always have to pee.. anyhoo.. i go... i come back ... i begin looking for my ticket (you have to have a ticket to get Ree to sign your book) we had ticket numbers 38 and 39... they quit giving out tickets when they got over 350... I begin to panic a little as does Aimee.. now i am really sweating.. i have waited all this time and now i am not going to get to meet her cause i lost my ticket! Aimee and i become a little frantic looking in all my pockets, my purse etc. The kind ladies around us notice the flurry of activity and say, "hey the guy, just annouced that someone had turned in a lost ticket found in the bathroom!" Sure enough it was mine! Yes i always like to add a little adventure to every situation. (:

She's Here!!!

From 2010-04-19

She is just as i thought she would be... nice, kind, funny... like a friend

From 2010-04-19

This is the look she gave while kindly responding to some not so wise persons question about how she explains "hiney tingling" to her daughters... Ree chose not to answer that one... Yeah Ree!!

She then began to sign books... Ree was so nice and patient with all of us wanting pictures and a chance to chat a little bit.

Then it was my turn!! Me and my vest....

From 2010-04-19

As you can see I was asking her a well thought out, very important question here, which made her have to pause to think of how best to answer someone with such great wisdom and foresight to have come up such a question.... He He He

And then... it was Beautiful Aimee's turn!

From 2010-04-19

Isn't she cute? I just love her! Ok Aimee's cute too!

From 2010-04-19

See? Look! Beautiful Aimee likes me even better than PW! PW's talkin to her and Aimee only has eyes for me! Ok seriously she was telling me with those eyes "enough pics already your makin us nervous!!"

It really was fun and i am super glad we made the trek up to ptown to meet Miss Ree. I feel like were buddies now and now maybe she knows who the psycho stalker is that keeps signing all her posts on the PW sight as BFF. (-:

Thanks Ree you make a lot of us regular folks out here very happy.

40!!

2010-02-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Yep! I survived! I made it! I turned 40 and other than a few hair debacles i am hangin in there!
We had an absoutely fabulous weekend! Good Food, Good Drink and Great Friends. Rod fixed a wonderful meal on Friday nite and Saturday the boys babysat while the girls went out! 15 Girls met up at a steak house down the street and we had a wonderful time!
Here is the final verdict on my hair... i really like it, its just a tad short in the front but other than that i am good to go!
Thank you to all my friends and family who helped to make this weekend so special it was a blast and i feel very special and very loved.

From Tiffanys 40th birthday

Old Friends...

From Tiffanys 40th birthday

New Friends...

From Tiffanys 40th birthday

and the love of my life aka... Mr. Wonderful

From Tiffanys 40th birthday

Thank you everybody for loving me and for taking the time out of your weekend to help me celebrate!

Hair Trauma Of 2010

2010-02-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I turned 40 yesterday. I really thought i was handeling it well. People would ask "how are ya doin with the whole "40" thing..." and i said ya know i'm really doin ok. Well turns out i guess i was havin a little angst because my hair has gone through a major reconstruction about 3 times in the last 3 months....

Tiffany at Christmas...

From christmas

I needed a change... Tiffany 3 days after Christmas

Tiffs black hair

Yes its shocking... i didn't know who i was for a few days

Tiffanys hair after grey grow out.....

From 2010-01-25

Yes i know you are getting jealous...

I then decided it was too long, getting too thin on top so i needed to fix the color and cut it off....

From 2010-01-25

Not too bad right? I mean its ok.. but it doesn't make you wanna say "Wow she's got great hair! Sooo three days later i cut it again...
Stay tuned....

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-21T11:00:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Trick or Treat!!

2009-11-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

The Fireman and his two kittys....

From 2009-11-01

Bridger called in a little backup.....

From 2009-11-01

again with the face... you can see now why the back up was necessary...

From 2009-11-01

OPEN UP! POLICE!!

From 2009-11-01

Ok lets just ring the bell...

From 2009-11-01

Buddies!!

From 2009-11-01

Batman Lucas was a tad intimidating....

From 2009-11-01

People... it doesn't get much better than this... hands down my favorite part of the whole night..

From 2009-11-01

It was a fun night all... thanks for the memories!!

Western Day!!

2009-11-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

Every year at the kids school they celebrate western day on the day before Halloween. This was Bridger's 1st time and he was quite excited.....

From 2009-11-01

And sissy celebrated the next day....

From 2009-11-01

i asked her to pose and this is what i got....

From 2009-11-01

i think she forgot we were not in ballet class...

this is the gun shooting pose...

From 2009-11-01

ok i have absoutely no idea where this came from.... but i distinctly remember this face quite a lot growing up thanks to mom, dad, Tabi, and Johnny soooo now the next generation has begun to carry it forward.... thanks guys.... i don't think we have seen the last of this face....

From 2009-11-01

taylor.... yesterday this was you and your buddies....

From 2009-11-01

ps... to those of you getting automatic e-mail updates ... to see the full blog go to rtnbm.blogspot.com to see the full blog...

Chopping Wood!

2009-10-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

So we headed up to the mountains sunday after church with our good friends the olson's (the other olson's) and spent an entire afternoon cutting wood and loading the truck....

From 2009-10-20

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The kiddos got tired...

From 2009-10-20

Daddy got tired....

From 2009-10-20

The Olson's are great people, hard workers and good friends....

From 2009-10-20

And after all this work they wanted us to keep ALL the wood!!
Nice try guys!

From 2009-10-20

It was a great and very tiring day.... i knew it was time to leave when i looked over and saw this...

From 2009-10-20

she was toast....

The thoughts of a 4 year old

2009-10-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

So Bridger was sitting at the breakfast table this morning and says..."Mom do you know what would be really terrible? It would be really terrible if for some reason you and daddy had to leave to go help someone and left us hear all alone and then someone came into our house and sneezed on our food. That would be really terrible..." I must say i have to agree with him....

Presents!

2009-10-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah we need to work on Bridger's inability to show emotion. He just doesn't get excited about much. Certainly not his birthday or presents....

Yeah he really didn't like this cars hat either.....

And the dvd? Hated it...

The legos? Totally bummed him out.....

We have a very happy birthday boy! Thanks everyone! We love you all!!!

The Spidey Cake!

2009-10-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Yes i know it doesn't look like much right now.... I used three round cakes and a wig head...

Yes he's leanining a little but he is frosted....
The webbing was a little tricky....
But the smile on the boys face made it all worth it....

i had many a sleepless night dreaming about not screwing up this cake.... Ahh its done ... must have wine (-:

My Special Card

2009-10-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

This was by far the best birthday card recieved this year. Nat was soo cute she ran upstairs right before we started opening gifts, wrapped up one of her stuffed animals and made this card. She was sooo excited to be giving him a special gift and as you can see he was thrilled to recieve it. They really love each other and its sooo great to see them do nice things for one anoother.

Bridgy Parties at School!

2009-10-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Mommy's attempt at spiderman cookies.... she used an easter egg cookie cutter.

They are by no means perfect but they do look kind of like spidey...

Miss Wanda helps Bridgey Bear pick surprize out of the birthday box... he chose a little soccor ball

He got to watch his favorite video at school while he at his snack. Its called the letter factory but Bridge calls it the "lettory Factory"

The Party!

2009-10-08T15:57:00.000-07:00

Natalie and her buddies (and Ryan) (-:

Presents!

$10 bucks says she is wishing for a kitty!

Very Special Girl. Very Special Day....

Super Heros Doing Battle

2009-10-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

Super Bridgy!

Cowgirl Natalie

An Epic Battle....

And the Cowgirl is Triumphant!

Natalie's Birthday Cake!

2009-10-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

The Barbie Cake!

The Cool thing about the barbie she chose for this cake is that it is the 1st barbie she ever recieved. Natalie named her Alice and she was given as a gift from my cousing Mendy when Bridger was born. Nat was 2 at the time. Cool huh?

2009-10-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

Sooo we were at the movies the other night and i had bought the kids some candy... Rod comes in and sits down next to Natalie and says "Daddy would you like some Reeces Penis?" I laughed so hard, coke came out of my nose!

2009-10-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

Soo yesterday i had a headache in the morning. I told Bridger and asked him to be patient with me. In the afternoon he says, "Mom, do you still have your headache?" I said no and thanked him for being so thoughtful and asking. He says, "I didn't really want to ask but I knew you would want me to."
Well at least he was honest right?

Bridgy's Big Day

2009-09-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

On Sept. 11. I didn't know if Natalie's school was going to talk about 9/11 or not. I wanted them to be a little prepared and informed about what happened on that day. I got out some magazines that i had saved and just gave them a quick overview of the day. I explained that all the people that had Jesus in their heart on that day went to be with Him in heaven.

To make a long story short Bridgy, Natalie and i prayed together to ask Jesus in Bridgy's heart. He really wanted to do it and repeated after me while i prayed. I told him that there was a big huge dance party goin on in heaven because of his decision, we called daddy and all the grandparents.

It was a euphoric moment. Bridge wasn't acting silly, he didn't take asking Jesus into his heart lightly. He was proud, i was proud. Soooo all in all very good day.

The end of the day rolls around, rod and i are working on some stuff on the computer and natalie comes in to tell us that she has built a tower and wants us to see it. We go into her room and she has tons of toys stacked up and her pointy cone princess hat right on top. She emphatically says "look at my tower!" and then proceeds to take one of Bridgy's toy airplanes and crashes it into her tower! rod and i looked at each other in complete shock and he said "honey i think you got some splainin' to do!"

Yeah i don't think i will be winning the Parent of The Year Award any time soon......

Photos from 1st day of school

2009-09-11T15:28:00.001-07:00

The First Week of School!

2009-09-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Yep! Both the kids entered school this year! Natalie into Kindergarden and Bridger Preschool. Last week we went to a teacher meet and greet and it really helped get them excited about this new adventure. Bridger liked seeing his name on a special hook, his cubby and on his desk. His teacher's name is Miss Wanda and his favorite part checkin out his desk.

Natalie's teacher's name is Mrs. Magill and she has a bunny and a fish tank in her class (huge hit!). Natalie found that she is going to have two of her friends in the class and this made the upcoming year so much more exciting!

Natalie's 1st day was Tuesday and she had her new dress all laid out, a special apple pancake breakfast and a ton of pictures taken. We got to school, took a few pictures with her friends, mommy, bridgy and daddy left. Mommy cried. But soon stopped when Bridgy so eloquently pointed out, "I know your sad cause were growing but Jesus and God are making us grow, so I think you should talk to them about it, cause I weawy don't think they are going to stop. Jesus and God just make us grow." So i dried my tears and we went shopping at walmart. After school we stopped by daddy's office where he presented her with a pink rose. (yes daddy scored some HUGE points on that one!)

Bridger's 1st day was Thursday (today) and he was over the moon with excitement! He had seen sissy go for two days and now it was his turn! He wanted to wear his wrangler jeans and white polo shirt with his blue sweater. But after he sat on one of his blueberries at breakfast and splashed milk everywhere we changed jeans, mommy took another ton of pictures, we headed to school, Bridger is thrilled, mommy cries (yes again and no he didn't see me).

They both had a wonderful time and are ready to take on this new adventure head on. We are excited to see what God has in store for them as "Jesus and God grow them up."