Been Too Long......

I know that it has been forever since I have posted anything so here goes a quick recap of the last 2 months.......................

Nothing has really changed. Cole started Kindergarten and likes it. He knew alot of the kids from preschool so that made going so much better. He goes full day everyday which is awesome for me. I spend my days with Izzy and Ollie. In between Ollie's naps Izzy and I play puzzles, read books, watch Thomas the Train cartoons, paint our nails, and go on walks. I still do not have the hang of going to the beach by myself with all 3 kids yet, so I wait for the weekend to do that. Colby's parents came for a long visit and it was nice to see them and the kids loved all the attention. It is HOT here. September and October are the hottest times of the year because there is not wind. The inside of the house can get up to 90 some degrees by late afternoon. Least to say, we go outside and play in the sprinkler. When Ollie naps, he does so in my room which is the coolest and he has 2 fans blasting on him the entire time. When the kids go to bed at night, they do not wear pj's and fans are on them as well. The crazy thing is, is that by 2 or 3 in the morning it has cooled down so much that I have to put blankets on everyone.

I got my hair cut all off. It was getting so long and it was always in a ponytail, so I cut it above my shoulders and colored it a dark brown. I will post some pictures later. The worst thing so far this summer is that last week right before we went to church, I felt some pain in my lower abdomen. By the time sacrament was over, I could hardly stand or sit and was sweating it hurt so bad. We pawned the kids off on some people in the ward and Colby took me to the hospital. After breaking several traffic laws we go to the er and after some tests..... I had kidney stones!! It was the most painful thing ever, worse than labor. I passed the stone with no problem and no I am a little paranoid because the doctors say that now that I have had one I will be prone to get more. I can't believe it.... I thought that kidney stones were something that old unhealthy people got. Least to say.... I felt old.

I am very excited about the next few months and all of the upcoming holidays and possibly getting together with all of the girls here in Hawaii in January.

Much love to all and miss you......................

I forget to say that Cole started soccer again and this time his coach is Colby. Cole is so much better this year and their team name is Orange Crush, hence the orange jersey.

Yes, We Have Bunnies

Just to prove that we have bunnies. Matt took the kids to pick some out about 5 months ago. Molly's bunny is brown and of named Rapunzel, of course. Jax's is the white one, and is named Lightning, short for Lightning McQueen.

In the picture, they're feeding Lightning. Unfortunately, Jax still doesn't get the concept that we do not eat the bunny's food. He says that Lightning likes to share. Trust me, when I seeing him doing it, I stop it. Gross! You can see Rapunzel in the bunny house at the top of the picture.

The Dog Days of Summer are Over!

Look who started school! This is Molly's 2nd year of preschool, so she attends MWF. Jax just started his first year today. He attends TTh. Both came home very excited. Molly has 4 boys in her class that are in her Sunbeam class. Jax has a little girl in his class that is also in his nursery class. I think it's going to be a great school year for both!

Olmstead Update

So, we've been busy! Before our week and a half trip to Utah, Molly started AYSO soccer. She of course is the skinny girl with the purple soccer ball. She cried for a second the first practice until Matt went with her onto the field and for the first part of practice. She now LOVES it! She really is the fastest one on her team, and a little bit too aggressive. I love it:) Jax always asks when he gets to play, and we remind him that once he turns 4 in March, we're signing him up for baseball (t-ball). He's excited b/c Matt bought him a t-ball set and they practice all the time. At first he couldn't hit the ball for the life of him. Matt was frustrated b/c he has always assumed his son would be good at baseball like him. Well, thanks to me, I realized the problem. Matt was trying to teach him how to bat right handed. I figured we'll try left handed b/c, well, I'm left handed. Bingo! The kids hits it over our fence every time:) Matt couldn't be more thrilled. He always dreamed of having a tall left-handed pitching son, and he just might have gotten one.

Right after Molly's first soccer practice, the kids and I hopped in my car (which was already packed) and hit the road for Utah. We loved our visit with Jenny, Marty, Jacob, and Ben. While there the kids played non-stop. They rode scooters, jumped on the trampoline, went to the park, played tag, ran around outside, and just wore each other out. The whole week Jax would only call Jake, "Big Jakey". It was a blast. Thanks, Jen and Mart.

After Matt arrived and did a little business, we drove to Park City/Midway. We met our friends, Ryan and Julie Hoke, and their 3 girls there. Ryan's parents have a house in Midway that we all stayed at. We went there to attend "Swiss Days". Basically, it's etsy on crack! I loved it! I plan to attend next year. I will have to take a few pictures of the goodies I bought. Seriously, it's the best family fair ever. I loved that we could buy the kids a lunch that included a cheeseburger or hotdog, cookie, chips and drink for $4. Awesome. Matt and I shared a scone for lunch. Yum. I have included a picture of the kids eating their awesome, cheap lunch.

While in Utah, we went to BYU, which sadly I did not get any pictures of. I just wasn't thinking. Too busy going crazy in the bookstore. Jax and Molly thought it was cool to go where Mommy went to school. We went on a the Friday of the second week of school. They were setting up for a dance just outside between the Cougar Eat and Library. They were setting up a ton of bounce houses and obstacle courses. It was perfect b/c as soon as Molly and Jax saw those, they both said that they want to come to this school. I lied and promised them that there will still be bounce houses there when they attend:) Anything to get them brainwashed into attending BYU:) We all got BYU shirts. I run in mine 3 times a week. I love it:) Go Cougars!!!

One Friday night in Utah, The Hokes and us met up with some of our friends that just moved there from here in Orange County. the Sunderlands moved to Farmington. We met them at one of those Brazilian bbq/meat galore restaurants at Gateway Mall in SLC. After dinner, we took the kids to Temple Square. It was a beautiful Utah summer night and the sun was just starting to set. We walked around reading all of the plaques and looking at all of the statues. Both kids kept calling the SL Temple the "Castle Temple". They noticed how much bigger it is than our Newport Beach Temple. It was a great time!

LABUAN!!!

Last week was holiday week in Malaysia. Everything was closed most of the week, as Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were national holidays. Most businesses closed on Monday and Friday also. So everyone had a week's vacation. Kate asked if we would like to take a day and go with her to her hometown of Labuan. We thought that it would be a nice change of pace for us and a chance to visit a new and different place. Kate was born and reared in Labuan which is an island off of the coast of our island of Borneo. It is part of Malaysia, but is a province and not a state. The only way to reach it is by ferry or speedboat, which we used because of the time factor. This picture is one of the home of the richest resident on Labuan. He is Chinese, of course and his business is trading.

This is a picture of E. Larson, Kate, and her little niece who spent the day with us. We drove for three hours to a small town on the coast to catch the ferry to Labuan. We decided to leave our car and take the speedboat to the island. It cost us 6 rm to park our car for the day. That's $2!!!! The speedboat ride was choppy going over but very nice coming back later in the day. One of Kate's brother pick us up at the boat terminal and we went to have lunch with her family at a small kedai(restaurant). BUT they had sold out of food when we arrived--because of the holiday everyone was eating out!! Kate is one of 8 children. She has 7 older brothers. This is a picture of Kate, her niece, and E. Larson a lovely waterfront park. Everything is waterfront in Labuan.

This is another one of the many gorgeous trees in Malaysia. This one was located in the park also.

We visited a wonderful WWII cemetery there. Kate says that the natives are very proud of this site because Queen Elizabeth visited here and dedicated the monument to the local,English and Australian dead who fought the Japanese. It was a beautifully done and inspirational site. E. Larson really enjoyed it. Every marker had a totally different epitaph. It really was quite moving. The UN keeps up the grounds and landscaping.

Since we had no food with Kate's family, she took us to a beautiful hotel dining room for lunch. This hotel used to be a vacation home for some rich Saudi prince. It was turned into a resort hotel. The grounds and place are fabulous!!

While we were waiting for our speedboat number, I took this picture of the ferry loading with cars and people going to Labuan. This was a huge ferry. Kate's second brother is getting ready to purchase one of these as one of his business ventures. All of her brothers except one, who live in Canada, still lives on the island.

We left at about 4 o'clock to go back to KK. This was on Wednesday, August 31 which is Malaysia's Independence Day. It also happened to be Hari Raya this year. It was like Christmas. The traffic was terrible going home and we got to see so many Christmas lights and fireworks on the way back. Just like Christmas at home, people spend the day visiting family and eating lots of food!!!

We were tired and happy by the time we got home. Thanks, Kate, for a wonderful day!!!

LOVE YOU MORE THAN WE CAN EXPRESS!!!!

DAD & MOM

Ben's First Day of Preschool (aka Freedom Day for Mommy and Daddy)

Wow! It finally happened. Ben started Preschool today. My baby is a big boy now. He was beyond thrilled to go today. Marty and I walked him up the street to embark on a new adventure: formal learning! Here are the pictures honoring his big day. Notice that he rode his scooter to school. He even willingly wore his helmet; that's how excited he was!

I love watching my kids grow. I love to watch them get excited for new experiences and to learn. I remember thinking when Jacob was a baby: "Just stay little. Stay a baby for a little while longer." I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoy every age and stage my boys have lived. Even though Ben is my baby, I love watching him grow. I love his little lisp. I love his expressiveness. I love his energy. I love what a "boy" he is. He loves all things cars, sports, road construction, motorcycles. He loves life! What a wonderful gift to have.

TEACHING, PLAYING, AND HELPING

We are always so happy to spend time with our full time missionaries. The sisters right now are going with us as translators to teach our lessons to the recent converts. Once the missionaries baptize someone, they have 8 lessons that they have to teach the new convert!! When they finish their eight lesson, then it's our turn to reteach the same eight lessons. We really love doing this because it takes us into the homes of the new converts. This first picture is of Fiona and her mom and two children. She and her Chinese husband have recently divorced and she is the sole breadwinner. She is also going to school at night to get her certificate in cosmetology. She stays tired and stressed but wants the gospel in her life. She made us a sweet pasta salad and bought a cake that she really couldn't afford. She did this for E. Larson and me because she wanted to serve us Western foods!!! Most families eat on the floor because they either don't have tables or they don't have room for them in their little homes.

I did not realize that Fiona was taking our picture as we were taking her's!! Notice her little girl pretending to take pictures. She played all evening with this old camera.

We like to invite certain families over to swim in the pool and just visit with a smaller group at a time. We had invited Sis. Helen and her family and also Leslie, her brothers, and her mom. Leslie and her brothers came in a taxi. Leslie is one of our YSAs. She lives with her mom and brothers. Their dad works in KL because he can have a better job there. He only comes home twice a year. Well no one wanted to swim at night, so we just ate Pizza Hut and played games. Everyone laughed and had a good time.

This is Kate and Sis. Helen competing in the "magic carpet ride". These two sweet sisters laughed so much that they just fell over on the floor!! Kate said she had laughed more in one night than she had her whole life.

We finally had the opportunity to repay some favors to Kate for all of her goodness to us!! She had to have surgery on her right eye not too long after E. Larson got out of the hospital. We were able to take care of her a few days while she recuperated. Beside her is Sis. Jensen, who spent the night with us while her companion, Sis. Hite, had a visa run to Singapore. Poor E. Larson suddenly had lots of sisters to contend with!! He was able to give Kate a blessing and help her. She had just gotten back from a trip to China where she still has lots of extended family. E. Larson has always wanted to go to China, so she wants to take us for a week!! I really think that we're going to do this as soon as the mission is over. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM CHINA????

Love you

DAD & MOM