Blog in Bulk

The blog has hit the back burner lately. I'm not going to throw out promises of how I'm going to do so much better and I promise to post more pictures and you'll never miss out on a day at the Olson's ever again. I will, however, throw out that Brent is now officially in charge of the blog (are you reading this Brent?). I wipe my hands of it, I'm terrible at keeping up and I can't decide which picture Cash looks the cutest in out of 4032 photos.

How about this one?? See how sad he is and how concerned I look....is that a smile on my face?? I'm a bad mom.

Maybe I shouldn't have started writing this blog at 10:20 on a Thursday night....I wouldn't be giving up so easily. I had every intention to start earlier, but I got hung up on another blog. She's good....like really, really good....makes me look like some sort of amateur in everything that I do. I should despise her, her perfect life and her perfect blog (she posts almost DAILY!!). I don't. I love it, I love her. I can't stop reading it. I can't wait to finish this post so I can go read more. I wish that my life was this exciting -- maybe it is -- maybe if I 'blogged' more I'd see how exciting it is. I'll tell Brent to get on it. Check out Ree's blog if you have lots of time!!!! Seriously.

And what else have we been up to? Cleaning. Lots of cleaning. A nightly, 8:00 ish pick up. That usually starts with the kitchen. Holy crap. This is minor.

When we're not cleaning....we're playing.

Or reading with Grandma and Grandpa (sorry Grandma and Grandpa Olson, it seems the camera didn't work for the 3 pictures that were on it from Billings -- I'm sure you have 1 or 2 you could send our way).

Cash is a great driver.....hey, somebody had to drive us to Pullman (just kidding, don't turn us in) - isn't that why we have kids? So that they can take care of us.....do all the chores, drive us places, cook us meals, do the heavy lifting, etc.? Cash doesn't even know what he's got coming. Poor little guy.

Thank you to all for the Easter cards and gifts. I think that Brent had more fun with the new tent and tunnel than Cash did. In fact, we all had a great time and the thing is still in one piece. Amazing given the fact that Cash likes to throw himself on top of the tunnel more than he likes to crawl through. Can you believe that a 6'3" (give or take), grown man can fit into a tent/tunnel designed for a 4 year old??

I am officially done with trips to North Carolina for work....at least until July or so. This is wonderful news for the whole family. I was getting sick of being away from the boys and I think that Brent is now much more appreciative of single parents. I'm sure my turn will come. **sigh** I'm betting that things go much smoother for Brent when he has Cash by himself than it would for me -- it's gotta help when Cash likes his pops the most. I swear, all I hear around this place is, 'Dadeeeee, Dadeeee!'. I would much prefer 'Mama, I love you so much. Thank you for allowing me to work you over for 9 months, how can I repay you? You are my favorite and I promise to be the perfect little angel that you know I am....oh, and I promise to stop throwing my cup across the dinner table'. Is that too much to ask? Sheesh.

My boys tonight, after dragging the top pasture and moving some rocks. I think Cash still has one of the rocks in his mouth. I swear, you can't get the kid to smile once you pull out the camera. He's really a happy little guy.....really.

And don't worry. The blog will continue. I promise.

Steelhead

A successful fishing trip for the Olson's! We went on a runner to Salmon, ID this past weekend. Froze our buns off on Saturday, then had a beautiful day on Sunday. Cash wasn't overly thrilled with sitting in the backpack in the wind -- he seemed much happier when the sun was shining. I don't blame him, I felt the same way. On Sunday we met Jeff, the ultimate fisherman from Salmon and he got us on the right track for catching fish. Thank goodness -- a fishing trip is always better with a fish or 2 to fry! The fish will be smoked tonight and ready for some eating....then we'll know if we're going to go back or not.

Big bonus: We came home to a fully fenced homestead. Best fencing ever done -- go on a fishing trip, come home and it's done. It looks wonderful! I burned most of the back pasture yesterday and have a little burning left to do (I bought a weed burner and it's by far my favorite toy ever!)....I'll get some pictures up soon.

Why the blog has been so blah lately

WE'VE BEEN WORKING!

We have heat!!! Yipee! I think we're pushing 80 in the basement.....I have left the wool socks and the long sleeves in the 'winter closet'! :)

Sledding

We had a very small window of opportunity for sledding this year -- the snow just hasn't hit like it seems to have for everyone else. We decided that we would do some redneck sledding with the bit of snow that we had. So.....we put on our warmies (note Cash's -- 'I can't put my arms down!'), dug out the sled and hooked that little baby up to the 4 wheeler.

Brent and I had a great time. Cash seemed pretty indifferent. Alright. GO FASTER! So we did. Still nothing. At least he wasn't crying!

A Little Help

Cash has become quite the helper. You start pulling things for dinner....he'll make sure you don't forget anything.

You load the dishwasher....he'll empty it for you.

Our little helper!

Holidays and Cash's Birthday '09

CASH'S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY! Believe it or not, the Casher turned a year old on December 18th! We had his first birthday party up at Todd and Tracy's house in town. As you can see, he and his friend Maddox really enjoyed one of his presents. A toy that throws balls up in the air. YIPPEE!!!

Mommy and ol' Rudolph! Cash's day care hosted a Christmas party at the Missoula Carousel. There were about 25 kids and 50 parents who showed up for the event and everyone had a great time!

...That is a great time until Santa showed up. Cash did alright with Ol' Saint Nick for about a minute and then he decided he had about enough of the HO HO HO's and the strange man with the big white beard. Well, at least we got a picture of him with Santa!

We hope everyone's holidays were full of happiness and good cheer and we wish everyone a wonderful and blessed 2010!!!

Book Worm

Reading?? Not quite, but pulling them off of the shelf....all of them....got it!

How's my hair?

I wouldn't be surprised to see this picture next to the word "bedhead" in the dictionary!

Fun filled days

I don't even know where to start. We have had so much excitement through the month of November and into December. First of all, we had the big auction/fundraiser for our good friend Schaufi (http://www.teamschaufi.org/). We were able to raise around $25,000 plus! That was in less than a month and a half. Amazing.

The weekend after that, we headed out to Bozeman for an elk hunting/Thanksgiving trip. We met up with Brent's folks and bro for the turkey weekend at the old C'Mon Inn. We both shot a cow on Thanksgiving day....a wonderful addition to our already full freezer. We did lots of swimming and played lots of cards and just hung out for the rest of the weekend. Back to Missoula on Sunday and time to butcher, butcher, butcher. Maybe next year I'll be a vegetarian?? All of our meat is cut up and in the freezer...just a night of grinding burger and we're good to go.

Mine and Cash's Christmas present came early in the form of a cute little horse! :) His name is Fritz and he's a tiny little guy. We'll have to get a bigger one next spring for Brent. I don't know much about him, but I do know that he took me on a 30 mile elk hunting trip earlier this year and that he's a real sweetheart. I don't have any pics of him yet....soon.

Today was the Griz game. Holy blowout! I think that the final score was either 52 or 53 to 0! We're thinking that this was Cash's last Griz game, it was pretty cold. Once again, he slept right through the first half and was a great little boy for the rest of the game. Tomorrow is a big day of nothing....I hope. And if the weather is decent Fritz and I may check out a trail or 2. Yipee!

I know that I'm a little short on photos, but.....it's 9 at night!!! I can't sit up and add pictures all night. :) We have SO many pictures that they're impossible to pick from and it seems that I have been putting too many photos on my slideshows and slowing down the system (or showing the same photos over and over). So, this is it! Enjoy and keep watching -- I'll get more pics up eventually! Happy Thanksgiving late and enjoy your Christmas tunes....we are!

Brent's buck

Brent's buck looks just the tiniest bit bigger than mine....

Filling the freezer

I got a buck the other weekend -- one shot....standing up! I can't believe it! And no, I didn't even ruin any meat. Waiting on Brent to get home from his hunt with JW and hoping we have another deer to put in the freezer.

Elk Camp

Elk camp was a little short this year due to 'family dynamics', but was still fun filled in a day and a half! Brent, Joe and I loaded up horses and gear on Saturday afternoon and had the horses in their corral, the tent up and the cribbage board out by 6 or so. After a great steak dinner and a few games of cribbage it was off to bed -- a little different from years past....I think we were in bed by 9pm. Brent made me set 3 watches to make sure that we would wake up on time...5am.

Sunday morning we were up before the sun and had the horses saddled and were making our way into the mountains. We had a nice ride....a 27 mile nice ride....the kind of ride that makes you think you must be some sort of amazing cowgirl/cowboy to even be able to get back into the saddle, let alone ride another mile! It was actually great fun, minus the riding in the dark on the wrong road. We weren't technically lost, but we weren't exactly sure what road we needed to be on to get back to camp. Lost? Nah....

We made it back to camp late Sunday night after seeing a bunch of wolf and mountain lion tracks and a few mule deer. I must have shot the tail off of a muley buck, but nothing to bring home for the freezer. **sigh** Brent will be headed out to hunt this weekend and I'll wait till cows open up around Veteran's day. We'd better get something soon because our freezer is getting EMPTY and I don't do chicken!

Big Boy

I just thought that this was a cute picture to share. Cash is holding onto the furniture and walking and is doing a ton of crawling! Time to get our running shoes out.

Free dirt

Who needs dinner when there's so much free dirt to eat?!? Cash had his first taste of dirt (you can just see the bits of dirt on the corners of his mouth in the pic) and didn't seem too worried. I, of course, ran inside and got a glass of water so he could 'swish'. Yeah...babies don't 'swish'....they just swallow the dirty water. Oh well. He lived through it, we lived through it and the trees got taken care of that night.

Vaca pics

I hate to do this....but, I really had no choice. Cash got his haircut about 2 weeks or so before he was baptized in Fargo on Oct 3rd, then Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs swung through for a visit and finally we were off to Fargo. Lots of memories and lots of good times, not to mention 490 pictures taken. Holy crap! It's taken me forever to download them all and then weed through them and create a slideshow, but that long wait is over! Hope all the pics don't jam up your computer and make sure you have LOTS of time to watch. :)

I bought Vikings/Packers tickets for Brent and I for our 1 year anniversary, then once we got there, we stumbled upon Twins tickets and Wild tickets (hockey). Wow! What a weekend! We got to spend lots of time with family in Fargo, then in Minnesota (thanks Lyle!) and not to mention all the fun we had with friends. I got the pleasure of meeting a few of Brent's fraternity brothers and their wives....what a GREAT group of people. I've heard lots of stories and now I have a face to go with each story. Maybe we'll all get together again sometime -- we'll need a huge place and I swear next time I'll bring an entire purse full of pictures of Cash! :) Or maybe next time Cash will just get to come along.

We're back on track from vacation time now and getting back into the swing of things. I got to enjoy a dinner night with Tawni last night and Brent will go to the new scary movie tonight with friends. Yes, he did invite me along and no, there's no way I will go see some movie about a guy that kills people from jail -- Law Abiding Citizen? Then tomorrow is a day of football and fun with Aunt Steph, Uncle Wes, Molly and Casey. Should be a great time! We're crossing our fingers for good weather....I want to get the lawn mowed one last time before the snow comes. Double crossing.

Garage Wars

My big project this year while Brent was at elk camp was to tear down the existing shelving in the garage, build a new set of shelving, power wash and scrub the garage floor and use a concrete stain to 'spiff it up' and hopefully help keep some of the dust and dirt down. Sunday through Tuesday night I stayed up late after work and Cash's bedtime to tear everything apart and do some moving. Wednesday night Doug came up to the house and helped me get the frame of the new shelving unit up and Thursday night we finished the building. I used Friday to powerwash the garage and put the good cleaning on it, then primed and painted the shelving. The plan was to wait for Cash to go to bed and then it was out to the garage to put the stain on. Then....the plan went down the drain -- Brent came home early! :)

Turns out there was nothing but people, people and more people up where they were hunting. Not just people....but from the sounds of it, dumb people. You know the ones (I hope I'm not offending anyone who does this, but my guess is none of you would pull this)....the ones that walk right through everything, making as much noise as possible as they go and cow calling or bugling every 5 minutes. Yep, that's real natural, that's what elk do all day. Amazing.

Back to the garage. Now Brent has come home, I had just put Cash down....we got him up to give some loves to Dad and he just sat in his arms patting his face and smiling (Cash did that to Brent, not the other way around). I told Brent that since this was my project that I would finish it so he could just relax after a long week of hiking and hunting. I finished....at midnight I finished. Whew! Yesterday was a day of putting the garage back together and we are now back on track. Our house no longer resembles the Beverly Hillbillies with all of our garage contents thrown outside and now I can't help but to walk out and just take a peek every few hours. It's beautiful! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I didn't even imagine it being this nice when I came up with this project!

Now what?!?

9 months and counting

Cash is now officially as many months old as we had to 'endure' to get him here! Yipee! He had his 9 month doc appointment last Wednesday and the old doc said he's as healthy as a horse. He is officially 22 lbs 15 oz and 28 1/4 inches long. I think he said that puts him in the 80th percentile for weight and 50 for height. Oh, and he has a big melon. I can't remember the size off hand, but I think it was something like 48 cm....90th percentile? That's not the important stuff.....he got his flu shot....and I gotta say it was pretty funny. The nurse stabbed him with the needle (ok, she gently stuck it in his big ol' thigh), he kind of acknowledged that something happened, made a little noise, then giggled when she put the bandaid on and continued to laugh and chat while I got him dressed and we high tailed it outta there. Happy 9th month, Casher!

First bull

JW and Brent went hunting yesterday morning and came home with this:

JW's first bull ever....his first bow hunt ever....luck or skill?? :) Way to go JW!

Go Griz!

Cash went to his very first Griz football game this afternoon. We rode the bus in from Frenchtown and did a little tailgating with friends, then made our way in for the kickoff. Cash had a nice welcome from everyone in our section -- after seeing me pregnant all last season I think that maybe they were just going along with the whole pregnant thing and thinking that I was just getting really fat!

Cash slept through most of the 2nd quarter, but was back up and running for 1/2 time and the last 2 quarters. It was a pretty hot day, so I think we were all glad to leave the confines of the stadium and get back home. A nice steak on the grill and now we've got our feet up and are getting ready to pick out a movie. And tomorrow....NOTHING! :)