Us Olsons: May 2016

May was a great warmup to summer. We spent many days at the swimming pool and even managed to go on TWO vacations. It was a sign of good things to come! Other than celebrating Foster's birthday, we also celebrated Mother's Day, Scott and I managed a little getaway without the kiddos, we had a visit from cousin Elliot and Aunt Christine and then we rounded out the month in Las Vegas! May you are A Okay.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my boys. I was invited to a special Mother's Day tea at James' preschool which really meant donuts and lemonade...my kind of tea! James was so excited to have me come to his class and to be honest, I had to fight back tears of pride the entire time. When I arrived at the class, James greeted me at the door and escorted me to the rug on the floor. Once all of the parents were there, they sang us their mother's day song. James knew all the words and hand motions and to my surprise sang the loudest of anyone. I mean seriously, I nearly burst into tears. Then our preschoolers escorted us to a beautifully set table where they served us donuts and we listened to stories read by Mrs. Turner. I went home with a beautiful flower craft and a list of things James loves about me. He said that he loves when I make cold, salty pasta for dinner. To be honest, I don't remember making this glorious sounding meal, at least not on purpose but lucky for me, this accidental dinner was a hit!
On Sunday, I was so proud of James for going up with the rest of the primary to sing to me. It was a Mother's Day, I'll never forget!

Mother's Day Tea.

In our Mother's Day best.

James with the primary, singing on Mother's Day.

Palm Springs

Scott and I were so excited to get the chance to go on vacation, just the two of us. It had been somewhere around 4 years since we had been on a vacation without the kids and we were due for some carefree alone time. We spent our days at the pool, eating nachos and drinking diet coke (my personal dream come true!) We had some really great meals and even snuck in some shopping and a movie. But the best part was spending uninterrupted time together which we never get. We vowed to not wait another four years before we do this again. It might have to be an annual thing!

Our hot date to Tommy Bahamas restaurant which was delish!

The daily walk to the pool.

Luckily, Ninja Turtles was not the movie we saw.

Don't mind me, I'm just stuffing my face with Norma's waffles.

Now I'm stuffing my face with a date shake. I like food.

That little person is my husband running away from a T Rex. He's so brave.

This is how we felt when we had to pack our bags and head back to reality.

Elliot and Christine Visit

We had a fun visit from our sweet cousin Elliot and Aunt Christine. They escaped the scorching heat of Las Vegas and played with us for a couple of days. We made it to the Safari Park and the Farmer's Market but the real highlight was hanging in the backyard, sipping on soda and watching the boys play in the "mud hole". The mud hole is a literal hole in the dirt that they fill with water and then play in. Elliot was all over the water table and all three of them were pants off, shirts off, having fun together. Sometimes the best things are the simplest things and this was definitely one of those times! We can't wait for them to come back and visit.

The Olson boys.

Safari Park Selfies.

The boys picked out their very own pokey plants.

But seriously, is there something on my back?

Trip to Vegas

We had such a great time with Christine and Elliot that we decided to head to Vegas for Memorial Day weekend. It was great to see where the other Olson's reside and to spend some time with both Paul and Christine. We had an adult only dinner in downtown Vegas on our first night there and it was delicious! The meal included bacon jam and donut bread pudding....um yes please! We were able to visit the Las Vegas Temple and spend some quality time making dinner and hanging out with the family. On Memorial Day, we joined some of the Green Valley Ward at Cowabunga Bay, the waterpark owned by John Huish. It was the boys first time at a waterpark and they had so much fun. We loved the Lazy River and the Wave Pool although the waves were SERIOUS so we found a raft and glided right over them. There was a great kid area with small slides that made keeping track of Foster extremely difficult. Just when I thought I knew which slide he went down, he would come out the end of another slide. Slippery little fellow. But we left with all of our children who were tired and happy so that means it was a success!