The Olsen's: December 2013

Christmas Letter 2012

Christmas always seems to sneak up on me. This year has just flown by I can hardly believe it’s almost time to start a new one.

It’s been fun watching Hayley grow this year. She turned one and has accomplished so much in her little life…sitting, crawling, walking, eating, and has begun to talk. She has a mouth full of teeth and loves to use them to eat anything and everything. She has a cute little personality-full of fun and charm. She loves to sing, dance, play with her dolly’s, and loves to talk on the phone. She is a little monkey and climbs onto, and gets into everything. We all adore her. I just wish she would sleep through the night regularly.

McKenna will turn 5 in February. She is such a good big sister and loves to play with Hayley. She takes ballet and tap, and is getting more confident in the water with her swimming lessons. She loves to play with her friends and cousins and is always asking me if she can have a play date. She is such a sweetheart, but sure is a stinker when it’s time for bed.

Ty will be 6 in January. He started Kindergarten this year and loves going to see his teachers, friends, and to learn. He is so friendly and has so much confidence. His teacher says he is always upbeat with a smile and is ready to take on anything. He loved playing T-ball in the spring and is excited to play again next year.

Nate will turn 8 this month and is so excited to get baptised in January. He is such a likable guy and has many friends at school. He has struggled a bit with anxiety the last few months but has been making good progress. He understands the world so well that it scare’s and overwhelms him at times. He has found a new love for dance as they learned a routine at school for Party Rock Anthem. He still loves to read and is doing well in grade two.

Having 4 kids has been a lot of work this year, and life is getting busier and busier. Ryan’s office has moved to a new building next to Costco, and he has had to travel to Fort McMurray a few times this year. I quit my job this Fall. It was sad to say goodbye, but I was needed more at home. I am serving in the Young Women’s (girls aged 12-17) in our ward, and Ryan is the elders Quorum President. We love our callings. We celebrated 9 years of marriage this year. We got a new van, and are getting excited about our family vacation to Disneyland this February. Life is good.

We love and appreciate all of you and hope you have a fantastic Christmas and Happy New Year.

Love the Olsen’s

Ryan, Kelli, Nate, Ty, McKenna, and Hayley

The rest of Christmas

Wow. We've been so busy enjoying our holiday I'm quite behind.

Christmas Day was so awesome. We stayed home in our p.j's all. day. I loved it. My siblings came over later in the day and we had some supper and just enjoyed the day together. very relaxed and low key.

Boxing day we had breakfast with some of my friends from high school and their families. It was so fun to see everyone and to catch up.The kids played so well together.

Here are some of the kids taking a DS break

Then we headed out to Raymond to my Gramma's for a yummy Chinese dinner. It was fun to hang with my family and eat a yummy dinner. Then we headed to Okotoks to spend a few nights with my Dad and Penny (yes boxing day was quite a busy day for us.)

My Dad was so excited for the kids to get there and open their presents. He had little head lights for all of them to wear and then in the dark they each had clue's to follow and find their presents. They loved it. We had a really nice visit, ate lots of yummy food, and did some shopping.

When we got back we had two weddings to attend in one day. My cousin was getting married, so we went to his family dinner, and then a friend of mine was getting married and I went to her reception.

New Years Eve we had our friends from Utah over for dinner. We had such a great visit and our kids played so well together. We don't get to spend a lot of time with the Smith's anymore so we really enjoyed our time with them. Lucky enough we get to see them in like 6 weeks again when we travel down to Utah for a couple of days. Then they are moving out East, so we're not sure when we'll get to see them again after that.

We had a really amazing holiday. Happy New Year everyone. Our Christmas letter soon to follow...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we went out to the Olsen's as we do every year. We always have such a fun time. This year the kids needed a little more entertaining as their cousin's were celebrating with their other family this year. Thank you Jody and Ryan for helping out with that:)

We visited Grampa Smith

We spent lots of time visiting

We had a fantastic turkey dinner

The boys doing the dishes (just the way it should be)

Gingerbread houses

We did the fish pond

The Nativity

New jam's that my MIL made

Then we headed home to hang our stockings. My brother has been driving our old van and they were coming home from Raymond and were having problems with it, so we told them (he was with my sister) that we'd meet him at Canadian Tire and pick my sister up (she was spending the night with us). They barely made it there. We told Cody to drive it home and we'd follow him up the westside hill. The van would only go like 10 km up the hill. It was losing power. We were so scared he would break down on the west side hill. Thankfully he made it home, but we didn't get home till late. Only Nate and Ty were awake to hang their stockings.

december so far

December hits and every year we get sick. We've had sickness at our house for the last two weeks. I think it is all over now. I am grateful it came at the beginning of the month instead of the end. In between the sickness we...