The last of our Summer 13'

 

 This last part kinda goes backwards.

We actually just got back last weekend from our last trip to the coast this summer. We went on a camping trip with 3 other couples and their families to Sunset Bay. And of course I forgot our nice camera and we had no outlets so I have this one phone picture from the whole thing.

 

Ellie and Connor got to help work in the Dough Boy at the fair this year. It was "the best thing they did all summer." :)

 

Our good friends the Coffman's have a cabin up at Lake of the Woods and we love going up there and playing on their boat and tubes. We have so much fun with them. Always relaxing.

 

Just like every Summer, we soak up every minute we have with Daddy! I remember how truly blessed our little family is to have him home with us in the summers.

 

 

We got a pet. A quiena pig. Her name is Piper and they are all smitten.

 

 

Scott was in the community play of Les Miserables this summer. He loved the opportunity and he of course loves that play. It was actually a pretty amazing performance full of amazing local talent. We are so proud of him.

 

Connor started cub scouts and he loves it. Me, not so much...but we have a super gung ho Grandma who wants to help him get everything passed off so were good.

We went to our first Gems game this summer. They are our local baseball team and we had a blast. Connor even got to go out on the field and play a little game and he WON! 
Sawyer had fun too after he got over his paralyzing fear of "Tater" their lovable French fry mascot.

 

The worst part of our summer was that Auntie Julie, Uncle Jeremy and all our cousins moved away from Klamath Falls. On the up side, they moved to Bend (2 hours away) and it is probably one of the coolest towns in Oregon. We love to visit them and see all different parts of Bend.

These pictures are of an amazing water area right next to Julies house and one of our favorite parks there.

 

 

Scott is super amazing and ran an Olympic Triathlon!! He did really well on the swim (which was first) and started really well on the bike right after, but sadly blew a tire 6 miles in and since it was his first Tri he didn't have a repair kit.

 So instead of giving up, he just kept going and biked 19 miles on a popped tire. He was sad that it added an extra 45 minutes to his time but glad that he didn't quit.

 

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More lake time.....

We are so sad to see it go but so happy it was such a good and memorable summer.

 

First half of our Summer 13'

We did so much this summer that I didn't blog at ALL! 

 So I am trying to get caught up on the pictures and details of some of the fun things we have been up to the last few months.

 (mostly for the far away family so major picture overload)

 

 

We lived at the lake this summer! Lots of friend, lots of fun, LOTS of swimming. 

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This year was a friend birthday party year for our kids so all of May/June was a celebration every weekend.

We wore out our trampoline this summer. They kids were on it every day and most nights as well.

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Ellie and I took a trip to California to see Uncle Garrett graduate college. It was a blast and such a fun girls trip for Ellie and I.

Ellie got to learn how to really scuba dive. She's a natural and Grandma Lynnie was thrilled about that.

 

We had an amazing Olsen family reunion and even got to have a girl cousin sleepover one night.

 

For my birthday a bunch of my friends and I went up to the lake and they surprised me with yummy treats. I kinda LOVE them.

Macie got to meet up with Grandma while she was on a dive rescue. She was more interested in pulling water skippers out of the lake and letting them jump around.

 

 

Forth of July parade was short and sweet but always fun.

 Oh yea, and Scott officiated a wedding renewal ceremony. So random.

 

Connor's Baptism

Connor was baptized on July 13th 2013. We were able to move it back a week so that we could do it when all the Olsen's were here for a family reunion. It went amazing!

 

 We asked his Aunt Niki to give a talk on Baptism and his Uncle Jeremy to give one on the Holy Ghost. Grandpa Olsen and Grandpa Mortenson said prayers and Grandma Pam played the piano. Most of his cousins and his sisters sang a song for everyone and Aunt Anne accompanied them on the piano.

They all did such an amazing job and really brought the spirit.

 

 

We are so proud of Connor. He really is an amazing kid and has such a sweet testimony.

 He tries so hard to be like a missionary.

 

 

On his baptism day he was given his own engraved set of scriptures from a Great Grandma (Nana) and a special tie tack from another Great Grandma (GiGi) and he treasures both.

He felt so loved and special.

In fact, Connor isn't a very emotional boy and rarely shares his emotions with others, but when he came out of the water and I was helping him get dressed I asked him what he was thinking and he said he just felt so warm. He mentioned it several times after that that evening.

 

 

We were so lucky to have Connor's friends come to support him and such a large group of family.

 

 

 

In true Connor style (he hates taking pictures) he made this face in EVERY group picture we took. I had no clue until I uploaded them all. grrrr

 

 

And this last picture I just love and had to put in.

 

summer organization

We started a new system this summer. Actually it's one my parents used for me as a child and I remember loving it and so we gave it a go. I wanted an organized summer, lots of fun, but organization!

So we started the "Bean System"  It sounds kinda lame and not exciting at all but it works for our kids because they are instantly rewarded for getting things done. Here's how it works:

 

 

I compiled a list of about 50 chores of things I wanted the kids to do around the house. They range from wiping down base boards, to organizing dresser drawers all the way to mowing the lawn.

I wrote all the chores down on individual strips of cardstock with a detailed explanation of the chore if needed and I gave them a "bean" value of either 2,3 or4 beans. I put the strip of paper with the beans they are worth in baggies and put them all in a jar.

 

When it is chore time the kids get to go pick their chore. THEY decide how many beans they want to earn by picking easy, medium or hard chores. After the chore is done, they come tell me and I check it off (make sure they did it). When it's checked and ok'ed they get the beans they earned out of the baggie and it goes right into their bean jar.

 

The kids keep a tally of how many beans they have and when they have enough they get to pick a reward from the reward chart.

Each reward group has two options they can pick, for example when they have saved 40 beans they can either have breakfast in bed or a large soda from Burger King. (My kids don't ever really get soda so this is huge to them)

 

This system is working like a charm in our family! The kids are excited to do chores and try to do as many as they can in the hour they are allowed to do chores.

 

We also started a slew of other new systems in our house, and to be honest I wasn't sure if they would go over well but it has turned out to be the best thing I've ever put into action!

 

We have a new weekly schedule.

Every day has a theme. Granted, we have a lot going on this summer and sometimes we don't stick to this chart because we are out of town or have guests. This has been fun for us to get creative at our house and try new things. Love it.

 

We have a new daily schedule.

As I was making this....I did realize that I was coming across as a crazy schedule lady but after doing this for even a week I was so happy we tried it. Life happens but if we don't have other plans that day we try to keep to this schedule. We did have to

 tweak it a bit as you can see. I found that because of this the kids play outside so much more and are reading instead of watching TV.

We have a new reading system.

The kids have a set 30 min a day to read but can also choose to read at other times in the day. They have a goal of a certain amount of books to read by the end of August and if they meet that goal we get to go to the Redding waterslides.

 After each book they read they do a book report on them. I was hand writing a book report form out for them with their name, book title, Summary of book, favorite part, how many pages, ect.  but then I was at Target and found a reading book log that had all that in it and more!

 

I posted this because I wanted to remember it for next year and because it has helped our family work together smoothly. They kids stay motivated and things get done!

Sunset Bay ~2013 Part 2

Sunset Bay is located next to big overlook where sea lions come and sunbathe. If you look close you can see a ton of them on that little rocky island. The kids loved that they all bark together so it got so loud.

 

Sunset Bay is also right next to Shore Acres. An awesome historical site that was once the grand estate of a pioneer timber baron named Louis Simpson. He planted beautiful gardens with plants and flowers from all over the world. Something is in bloom almost every day of the year.

 



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It was gorgeous! They have an impressive Japanese garden and plants and trees that Scott had on his mission in Chile.  

 

 

 

Macie loved how big the leaves were on this wild Chilean rhubarb. 

 

 

 This place has a huge rose garden. This picture does not do the size of this rose justice. It was the size of her head!

 

 

It was a beautiful end to our first fun family vacation of summer!

Can't wait to go back. 

Sunset Bay~2013 Part 1

In the middle of June, (over Macie's Birthday), we went camping over at the coast. We stayed at Sunset Bay which quickly became our favorite camping site EVER.

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The campground is awesome but the best part is the fact that it is on it's own personal beach. It has kind of a little niche that comes off of the ocean and is surrounded by bluffs and beautiful hiking trails.

 

 The first day we were there it was a little drizzly. They have all sorts of things for kids to do there. This picture was in front of an outdoor movie screen where they also have activities for kids.

 

 

Next to the beach is a little stream where the kids collected all sorts of shells and dead crab parts. Fun.

 

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The kids loved it. And because the waves weren't 4 feet high and there was no undertow I let them go out so much farther than they ever get to. 

 

 

More dead animal parts....

 



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 The next day was Macie's Birthday and the weather was beautiful. SO warm. We were on the beach from 9am-3pm.

 

 

This boy was so happy.

 

 Like, SO happy!

 

 

We had the whole place to ourselves until about noon.

 

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yet another creepy animal find.