Nick's Endowments

Nick went through the temple for the first time and it wasa so great to have so many of us there in the temple together. No greater feeling! We celebrated afterward at Sizzlers.



Nick just barely left on his mission last week. We are so excited for him and will definitely miss him. We are excited to receive more "Nick-isms" in his letters. He's a great kid and will be an awesome missionary!

Gus' First Halloween

Gus definitely loved the fall. We would throw his frisbee into a big pile of leaves and he would dive in head first and crawl through the leaves until he found it.

We started early in October trying to decide what he would be for Halloween. I tried my coat on Gus and come to find out him and I are actually the same size around the arms and shoulders.

On one trip to the DI we found this awesome hat and decided he could be snoopy when he is flying his airplane. So we found some goggles and a flowing white scarf. On Halloween night gus stood by the door to show off his costume to all these strange people that stopped by. Some of them he barked at and others he wanted to pet him.

I had bought 100 candies thinking that that would be sufficient. At 6:00 we had already ran out of candy. So, I ran to the store and bought 100 more. We then ran out again by 8:00 but that was ok because Nate and I had a murder mystery dinner to attend. I was a stuck up rich Asian model dressed as a Geisha. Nate was a loud boisterous Key Grip dressed up as a movie director. He made himself a megaphone out of a poster board and used it to announce his arrival at the party and to talk to people in the room. It was so very hilarious. Even though I was supposed to sit back and be the quiet one in the room, it was so very fun to be there with our friends. No... neither of us were the murderer.

If you look closely, during Halloween our house had a terrible spider problem. Our whole front porch was wrapped in spider webs. It was very funny to see the little kids be scared of our porch but attempt the trip up onto the porch for the candy anyway.

1 Year Anniversary

For our Anniversary, Nate told me to pack up and get in the car, that we were going somewhere but it was a surprise. We were more than half way there when I finally figured out where we were going.... Zions National Park. The hike to Angels Landing is a special one to us because we went there with his Dad for spring break just before Nate left on his mission. That was when Nate talked to me about being around after he got home from his mission. So for our anniversary we hiked Angels Landing again and it was a neat feeling to be there and know that Nate had served an honorable mission and that we had reached our goal of getting married in the temple.

Drinkin' from my saucer cuz' my cup is overflow'd.

It's been awhile since I have written in the blog. School started and things got hectic, but we have done so many fun things in the past 4 months, I felt like I needed to post them.

Sometime in September we went to Star Valley, Wyoming to stay in a cabin with our friends Clint and Cheryl and my parents. It was tons of fun and the Valley was so beautiful.

We stopped in Jackson Hole for a little while to get a picture with the famous antler arches.

The cabin is owned by Clint's brother. It was so very rustic and cozy and a fun alternative to camping. It has bright red carpet throughout which adds to its uniqueness.

Our main purpose in coming was to spend the evening with the Bar J Wranglers at their ranch. To enjoy a good meal and be there for the entertainment. They put on quite a show and it is so very fun to be there on their home turf.


Nate and I walked around and enjoyed the many fun decorations and cute little shops and really enjoyed the dutch oven rolls.

We got to the ranch early enough to be able to sit on the very front row. During the show one of the wranglers threw a dirty sock on me. It was so unexpected that I tossed it on Nate and Nate threw it back at them. Then they started teasing that I had taken off my sock and had thrown it at them. It was such a blast, I laughed until my sides hurt. I also teared up at the truthfulness of some of the songs. The cowboy poem that I posted at the bottom says that He is drinkin' from his saucer 'cuz his cup has overflowed. I too have been so very blessed, with a wonderful family, an amazing husband, the best in-laws in the world, a job, and the gospel in my life.

Natural History Museum

About a month ago, Nate and I decided to go down to the University of Utah's Natural History Museum. It was a very fun and random adventure with tons of cool things to see.

Windriver Mountain Range

The Olsen family vacation this year was to the Windrivers. It was so much fun! This picture was taken during our hike to the natural bridge!

In a place with such a breathtaking panarama there was also amazing beauty right by my feet.

We made it! 4-mile hike and here we are at the natural bridge! It was so neat to see the river coming right through and under the rock.

Square top mountain reflecting onto green river lake was my most favorite place during the trip. So beautiful!

Gus came along on our 8-mile hike and he did very well but he sure was ready to drink the water out of the lake when we got back.

I think this might be my favorite picture - It could be on a postcard.

Sophie and Dad enjoying the river.

This picture rivals a close second on the favorite list. :)

What an amazing trip! We are already planning our trip back there someday. So much territory only accessible through high country trails. SO! Amazing!

That Famous Preston Night Rodeo

Two weeks ago Grandma Lou took the whole Owen Clan to the Preston Rodeo!

Good thing Ben & Alyssa brought a plastic drop cloth to the rodeo because the rain poured down on us making it a very memorable night.


Bull Riding! Crazy!

The little boy that happened to get hit in the knee by a horseshoe that fell off and came flying through the air into the audience. The clown came up and talked to him and let him keep the horseshoe as a souvenier. I don't know how lucky of a horseshoe that one is. :)

The clown was the highlight of the rodeo, so very funny! This is when he brought out his little dog that did tricks for us!

The whole night the clown made fun of the judges; it was hilarious. Everytime the judge had to run over to tell a score the clown would start inspirational running music and tell him that he would lose his weight if he kept it up. He also asked the audience to raise money for another judge because he didn't have enough money to finish painting his horse, and it was a paint horse.

My most favorite event of the rodeo is the mutton bustin' - I don't even know if that is how you spell it, but I love watching the little kids hang onto the sheep. The clown said that you can't beat your children but you can strap them onto a sheep. But, he thinks that if a parent makes their child ride a sheep, the parent should have to ride a bull. The funny thing about the sheep is in order to get the child off their back, they start running and then flop into a roll right over top the child... pretty effective!