We are really enjoying owning our own home. We love the fact we can do what ever we want whenever we want. The downside is the amount of money it takes to do what you want with a house. So, Emily and I have talked about what we should do. We decided we would start with our backyard. It was in some pretty bad shape. Not absolutely horrible but not the prettiest yard you’ve ever seen.

We started the new backyard with a couple of trees. In the fall we planted a peach tree and a honey locust. Those two trees were a nice addition to the yard. The second thing we added was a sandbox for the boys. I don’t mind the sandbox except when the boys come in from the sandbox and get in my bed. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a big fan of sand and especially when it is in my bed. The boys absolutely love the sandbox and spend a lot of time in it.

The next thing we did this spring was plant our garden. You can see part of it in the first picture. It is a large garden so we are planning on not having to buy any vegetables this summer. Just those three things (trees, sandbox and garden) made us feel quite accomplished but those were only the minor jobs. Today was started phase two. Phase two involves turning the backyard into a big dirt pit as you can see from the pictures. We pulled up all the old grass so we could get rid of all the rodent holes and prepare the yard for new grass. We plan on laying sod in the next week or so. We are excited that we will soon have a yard that we put together and can be proud of and enjoy.

I think that is enough for today. I’m going to go and join the fam!

Okay, so I know that my birthday was over a month ago but that just shows how bad we are at updating our blog. The reason I decided to back track was because Emily took pictures for this blog post so I might as well post and use those pictures.

So, for my birthday Emily wasn’t sure what to get me so we talked about it. She thought it would be nice to have a grill so we could have BBQs. Well, after more discussion and realizing I would need something to grill my birthday steaks on we went to Home Depot and bought at grill. We have had quite a few BBQs since we bought the grill. We like having our meet cooked with fire. Often times when we have meat for dinner I will go out and cook it on the grill. As you can see from the pictures the grill is a well loved gift.

I guess it is time to update everyone on what is going on in the Olsen family.

We had a good Easter yesterday. We started the day with Emily’s brother Jeff, aunt Patti and her aunt’s roommate Rosemarie over for an Easter egg hunt and breakfast. The boys loved picking up all the eggs and candy. After the Easter egg hunt Jeff and Emily crashed out for a nap in preparation for church.

After church we went over to my parents house and had Easter dinner and had another Easter egg hunt. All in all, we have a lot of candy at our house. I will need to get the pictures downloaded onto the computer and then I will post some of the Easter pictures.

Hope you all had a great Easter!

Update (March 31, 2008)

Well I finally got the pictures onto the computer and now I can post them for all to see the fun we had on Easter.

As you can see from this picture of Isaac he preferred to have egg soup instead of painting eggs. He was so funny to watch because he started out playing with the egg in the dye and then he started smashing it. I guess he wanted to dye has much of the egg as possible.

In this picture you can see that Jake wanted to dye all his eggs yellow. He is also wearing his Home Depot apron. It is always fun to watch how each of the boys have their own ideas and want to do things in their own individual ways.

As you can see from Andrew’s eggs, he chose the green dye. Of course in this picture you have a funny face in one of those hard to capture moments.

Emily is off to California for the weekend and I’m left home alone to finish my final thesis revision and paint our bedroom. Emily and the boys are off to the beach enjoying their time in California. From the sound of it, California is pretty hot (above 65 degrees). So, here is a message of loneliness.

On Tuesday I finally defended my thesis. Yup, that’s right. The told me that I “passed with qualifications”. That means I have another revision to do before they finalize my paper work. The extra revision was something I already knew was coming so I wasn’t too surprised by that. It felt good to get the defense over with. Emily is gone for the weekend so it gives me a good opportunity to sit down and pound out that last revision. I have to do something to keep myself busy.

Also, I am switching jobs on March 10th. I have taken a job with the state of Utah. I will become familiar with the busses again but at least the hours will be better. I am sad to leave Omniture because it has been a great place to work (other then the hours) but at the same time I am excited to start a new job without the weight of a thesis hanging over my head.

Last weekend we realized that we were running out of space in Jake and Andrew’s room. Especially since we plan on eventually putting Isaac in the room with them. So, we finally bit the bullet and bought a bunk bed. As you can see in the photos, Jake and Andrew helped me put the bed together. We had a lot of fun. However, Jake and Andrew eventually got bored with it so I was left to finish putting the bed together by myself.

Of course the best part came when the bed was all together and we put a mattress up on the top bunk. Jake immediately headed for the top. The funny thing is that the whole time we were setting up the bed we went over the rules of the bunk bed. Number one, no standing or walking on the top bunk. Number two, no leaning over the rail on the top bunk. Well, as soon as Jake go on the top bunk he stood up and leaned over the rail. Over the past week Jake has learned that he does not need to stand on the top bunk

The first time Andrew tried to get on the top bunk he fell of the ladder. He quickly decided that he was not interested in falling again so he never tried again until Friday night. He decided it was time to try again and he succeeded. He also got down by himself without a problem.

So at this point the boys still love the bunk beds. Isaac wishes he could play on them with the big boys but I’m afraid if Isaac did make it on to the top bunk, Jake and Andrew would try to throw him overboard.

Sorry to everyone who has been trying to access our blog. I had made some changes to the database stuff that the blog uses and forgot to update a file. For those who have no idea what I am talking about just know that I made a boo boo. Everything should be running smoothly again.

Yesterday Andrew had his 3rd birthday. He has been reminding us of his birthday for quite some time. He was glad that his birthday finally came. We’ll see how long before he starts talking about his 4th birthday.

For Andrew’s birthday we took a trip to Salt Lake on Saturday to Discovery Gateway. Discovery Gateway is the children’s museum found at the Gateway mall. We had to convince Andrew that he wanted to go there for his birthday instead of Chuck E. Cheese. We had a lot of fun.

One of Andrew’s favorite part of the museum was were they had costumes and a stage where the kids could act out different stories. Andrew decided to dress up in the pig costume and do the Three Little Pigs. The stage had backdrops you could pull into place and which Andrew enjoyed playing with.

Yesterday for his birthday he received two types of presents. Pretty much everything he got align=”right” had to do with Diego or Geo Trax. These days that is all he needs to be happy. Andrew loves to pretend he is Diego and that he is rescuing animals like Diego does.

Below are more pictures from Andrew’s birthday and from the children’s museum.

Yesterday we decided to go check out Home Depot since we had heard that had activities for kids on Saturday mornings. We didn’t anticipate it would be as cool as it was. When you first go they give each of your children a Home Depot apron with their name on it. Then they have something for the kids to build. In the picture you can see that they built castle banks yesterday. Once they finish the little project they give them a pin to put on their apron. Jake, Andrew and Isaac almost had as much fun as I did. I think Emily even enjoyed it!

So if you want something fun to do with your family on a Saturday morning, just head down to Home Depot from 9am – noon and enjoy something free. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it is all free! This happens at every Home Depot and I know most people have a Home Depot around.

Since we moved to Springville and didn’t find out about soccer sign ups until is was too late this fall, we signed Jake up for indoor soccer this winter. He has had a lot of fun! The first time we signed him up for soccer in Provo he was not really interested. However, this past fall when we told him that he could do swim lessons instead he insisted on doing soccer. We were a little worried at first that he still would not get out and play much but he quickly helped those worries disappear.

Yesterday we learned the trick to get him to focus more on the ball instead of focusing on talking to the other kids and coaches. Emily started telling him, “Jake! Go steal the ball.” Instantly Jake would take off and try to get the ball. At times he couldn’t figure out why the other kids wouldn’t let him steal the ball. We had to tell him that they don’t want him to steal the ball but that he should do it anyways. Now the fun part is teaching him when stealing is appropriate.

Jake has had two games so far and both have resulted in wins. They don’t really keep score but as I told Emily, dads are really good at keeping score. It’s what dads are good for. I don’t know if she believed me but at yesterday’s game I heard other dads from Jake’s team talk about the score from the last game and how the team won.

It has definitely been a lot of fun to see Jake get into soccer. I hope you all enjoy the pictures that are included in this post!