I remember when

Well maybe I don't really remember this far back! Think about how much you are paying for gas right now. It seems like no big deal to go to the gas station again, actually it's kinda enjoyable. Well Safeway has this promotion that you get "gas pump rewards" for spending money at their store (we apparently spend a lot). So last week we decided to use our $1.00 per gallon off of gas and fill up Laif's truck, which we use a lot :), and my car. We only paid 78.9 cents per gallon and we bought 28 gallons (you can buy up to 35 gallons) We were feeling pretty good about this purchase. So a couple of days later I took my mom to the store and I looked at her receipt and she had $1.30 per gallon off. I have no idea how she got that much of a discount, I guess she spends more money than me at Safeway. Any how, the credit is going to expire on 12/31/08 so I really wanted to use that credit. We took Donna's big car down and Kent's car and put in 20 gallons and we only paid $8.78 cents! That was only 43.9 cents gallon. Unbelievable! We laughed all the way home.

SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW

So back about December 14th we had some snow and we thought it was pretty cool but then it didn't go away and it kept snowing and snowing and snowing. When Jennie and Mike came up on the 18th it took them 9 hours because Sea-Tac airport kept getting shut down because of the snow. By the 20th it was like a blizzard at our house in the evening and most of the men were out braving the elements to chain up some cars. It seemed to stop snowing about the 22nd but that was pretty short lived and by Christmas Eve & Christmas day we had more snow and ice. Finally by the 26th it has started to rain and warm up and it looks like we are finally past the "DECEMBER STORM" as noted by the local news. It has been pretty but I am happy it's done for now.

Family Christmas Morning

Katie loved her doll (once grandpa got it all out of the packaging!)

Next it was Steven's turn to figure out how to make things go together the right way.

Hazel was ready to play with anything she could get her hands on.


We had a great Family Christmas Morning. Steven, Janet & the kids made their way back over the river and through the woods in the white and drifted snow. We had pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, juice & delicious cinnamon rolls ready for the troops. There were presents every where and the kids seemed to love the excitement of it all. It was fun having so many little kids around again this year. At the Christmas eve party we had 8 kids and in the morning we still had 6 of them in the house. How fun!!!

More Christmas at the Olson's

As usual we had a pretty full house. Most everyone was able to make it even in the bad weather. Mark, Ann, Melissa, Kevin & Scott couldn't make it out of Redmond though so that was a little sad :( By the end of the night though we were chaining up cars in the blizzard like conditions. Michael, Rachael, Noah, Hazel, Kyle & Scott all ended up staying the night. It was so fun to have a lot of people around late for our family Christmas eve and then we had a big breakfast on family Christmas morning.

Have you ever seen 2 prouder uncles? Sophie seems to soak in all the love and attention these guys can give her.

Food food everywhere you turn there was food! I don't think anyone went away hungry!

Christmas at the Olson

Not everyone is happy to come to Aunt Debbie's house for Christmas. Actually once Katie gets warmed up she is a very loving little girl. Just don't cross her or tell her no or the "Katie" wrath comes upon you. (just ask her Grandma)

Who wouldn't love to find this under their Christmas tree? Uncle Erik took this beautiful picture of Sophia. She is such a good baby!

Even at 5 months old Sophie thinks she can do just about anything! She loves to be looking around. At home her favorite place is her walker so she can see the world.

Cookies & Fudge

Erik! Stop! That's the wrong bag!

Cookies everywhere. Since the weather has not been so great Erik, Kent & I have been home baking lots and lots of cookies and fudge.


Fudge too?

And then there was snow!

It doesn't look like much but there is a solid layer of ice under this beautiful snow.

The main street isn't bad but we have to try to get up our driveway which is on a hill AND has a turn in it. The good thing is there are guardrails on each side of our driveway to keep us from sliding down the "cliffs" the bad thing is there are guardrails and I always worry about sliding into them. We will see how it goes!

The snowmen are back!

Beware of large bears

I love Christmas decorations!

The Tree!

Which animal is stuffed?

Cooking for Spanish Class

Erik's Sponge cake - ask him about the Celsius vs Fahrenheit setting

Sitting down for the big feast of Taco's and Burritos

Frying up the meat

Now how do you seperate those eggs?

Grandpa teaching Sophie about fast food

Proud Uncle Erik!

Catching up a bit

So I'm finally getting around to adding some things to my post. Here are a few pictures from when Sophia was blessed at the end of September

Washington DC Mom & Me!

Sophia Emilee Beaird July 19th, 2008

She is here! She came into the world at 9:42 AM (about 15 minutes before Grandma could get there :)

She is 6 pounds 1 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. She has quite a bit of dark brown hair on the back of her head. Other than the fact that Jennifer had contractions for the last week when it came to the actual delivery they were only at the hospital about 5 1/2 hours and it was a very easy delivery. You can see how pround Mom and Dad are.

Erik's Bedroom

We decided to move Erik down to the "big" bedroom and get him a bed that fits his grown up body. At 15 1/2 he still had a twin bunk bed and a green forest animal bedroom. We had a great time decorating his new room. He got a new bedroom, nightstand, cubewall, pictures and a new computer!

Just getting Started

I thought that I should try this blog thing and see if I could really do it. I'm not good about a journal so I thought maybe this might work for me!