Olsen-landia

Faye's Dance's Preview

2011-11-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a preview of Faye's Christmas recital dance number.

Halloween pictures

2011-11-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here are even more pictures from the fall, including Halloween. They are all in the same album as last time so some of the pictures you might have seen before. Fall is going good.

We went to watch the CSU and UNLV game last weekend and met up with Daren. We had a good time with Grandpa Floyd and Jill. We got to hangout with Daren a little. And we got to see a little of LV.

Halloween was fun Faye was a fairy and Lori was a clown. We did the trunk'r treat and did some neighborhood knocking too.

Church has been going well. Lori is still in primary and is also has a stake girls camp calling too. It has been lots of work, but it looks like it will be fun. Hopefully it won't include a Dalley meat mess... or the like. Oh, Bret still hangs out with the teachers.

Bret recently got a promotion at work. He is now the Operations Manager. He also finishes his MBA next week.

I think that is all from us...

Faye loves the blue face girls

2011-11-04T21:45:00.003-07:00

I just changed our video. Faye loves this song.

Fall 2011

2011-10-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

We have been having a very good Fall so far.

We have been working in the yard alot. In the slide show, check out our new front yard!

We volunteered at the marathon. THANKS DALLEYS! For housing the 4th ward's youth for the night in Pine Valley so we could man the starting line Aid Station. Most Dalleys will really enjoy that a BYU track student won the SG Marathon...

We visited the Corn Maze at Stahli Farms. Faye was so excited to meet Grandpa Stahli. We played in the corn slide, at the petting zoo, watched the pig races (complete with pig nose), we hung out with the witch that lives in the farm's old grainery, we walked around the pumpkin patch... oh, and we did the corn maze.

Some of the photos are garden pictures, we got a watermelon this year! We also have been eating our fair share of squash. We tore out the squash 1/3 of the garden on Saturday. That only leaves the tomatoes and peppers left (oh and the under-performing pumpkins).

Well, other than that we are doing good. I only have 4 more weeks of school left. Lori was in a recital put on by her voice coach. Faye is in dance and swimming right now and loves the two play groups she belongs to. Marley is frustrated by all of the sprinklers that have been running on our lawn during overseeding. She hates the sprinklers and sits far away from them and will whine.

We did do a Jim and Lori Olsen family reunion at the USU homecoming, but more on that later...

here is my star

2011-07-29T21:53:00.000-07:00

Faye was the star of her dance recital. (It was Peter Pan, and she danced with the "Second Star to the Right"). She loved dancing, but maybe enjoyed curtain call even more! Her teacher is in one of the pictures as Tiger Lily (the Indians did a Bollywood dance), and hip hop Tinker Bell is in another one.

v

Here's the pictures

2011-07-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the pictures.

-Bret

24th of July words only

2011-07-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hello world:

I thought I would do a post-Snow Reunion post. We attended the Snow Family reunion from July 20th to the 24th.

We started things off with The Little Mermaid production at Tuacan. Faye loved it. She was engaged the entire 3 hours. The weather was perfect and the show was very good. Faye loved to listen to her favorite songs especially. We went with Al, Nancy, Erica, Joe, Jessica and Tyson.

Afterward we did a meet and greet with some of the cast. Faye would not go anywhere near the Sea Witch or the two eels. She was afraid of the crazy chef at first but they became good friends after a little encouragement. She loved meeting mermaid sisters, Scuttle and Flounder. She was just giddy to take her picture with Eric and Ariel! We had such a great time!

The next morning I got to golf at Sunbrook with Warning and Holland. I really like that course. We met up with everyone (all 87 or so of the Snows) at the Veyo Pool for lunch and swimming. We love the onion rings and pronto pups (huge corn dogs). Faye especially loved borrowing cousin Paige’s pink tube (thanks Paige). We were the last ones out of the pool because the pink tube was so fun.

Friday Faye and I went fishing for a while with Cody and Parker. Jesse, Kelly and Joe were already there and had much better luck than we did. Later we played on the giant waterslide/bounce house combo and had a great lunch from Staheli’s too.

Saturday was the games. Lori and me won the licorice kiss for the 3rd year in a row. We also won at the balloon toss for the first time ever. Faye loved the stick-horse run and her foot race too. She thinks Cracker Jacks are great and wants to compete in more events next time.

I played at Ledges later the afternoon. I was teamed with people that I hadn’t every really got to know before and I was glad for it. Dallin, Cory and Jaron were a great group and I hope to hang out with them all more in the future. I collected the most animals, Warning won closest to the pin and longest drive, I think he might have been the best wolf too.

Sunday we went to church. Trevor gave baby Miles a very wonderful blessing. What a great think to do a blessing in the PV chapel like that! Faye loved PV primary too. She cried hard when we had to extract her from the old tithing house to get her to say good buy to Grandma Lori and the Cody Olsens.

Let’s see what else? During down times we played games (Lori and Faye) and talked about the benefits of wooden bats in junior college baseball (Bret). Marley got stung by a bee on the nose and her face swelled up pretty good, but some Benadryl helped her out. Faye and Lori made jewelry, a window hanging, a foam turtle, pipe cleaner crowns and lots of other crafts. Holland and me made pico-de-gallo from my garden’s veggies. We got to play Bean game with Holland, Cody and Kim.

Sunday night we got to hang out with just Charise, Chris, Al, Nancy, Scott, Amie, Scott’s girls, Charise’s girls and Stan. It was fun to just relax and get to catch up with them a little more. Faye thinks Paige and Brynn are the best (they got to feed the horses carrots and play imaginary dance class).

Hopefully I can pull the pictures off of my camera very soon. -Bret

2011-05-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the video promised in the previous post...

Easter Post:

2011-05-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Cody, Kim, Laney and the boys came for an Easter visit. Then Arti came too! Cody got a camping spot out at Sand Hollow Reservoir. We stayed with them for a night. They kids played (miles of sand box!). We had an Easter egg hunt with some of Kim’s extended family. We rolled eggs on the sand dunes (a Wilkinson/Langston tradition). Faye had a tumble in the sand that we caught on video. Of all of the video’s posted on the post this one is my favorite! It is a CAN’T MISS! She had to take a wash in the lake with all of the sand she got on her.

I also got some pictures of the Easter outfits. Notice I even have a matching pocket square. Faye got Grandpa Jim’s ‘we must have matching clothing gene’. Our stake had a big boundary change that weekend, so Bret is now the YM councilor with the teachers. He is pretty excited, but with the MBA-school, work and the house remodel… he has decided not to sleep anymore.

Bret and Cody went golfing at Sand Hollow that weekend. On the last hole (par 4) all Bret had to do was score an 9 or better to post his best score ever! He blew-up and posted a 10 on that hole! Out there somewhere Holland is saying, “What a head case…”

Lori's Birthday and the Kite Festival

2011-05-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

Kite Festival & Lori’s Birthday:

We went to the kite festival at Sun River. There was no wind, but there was crazy corn, BBQ pork, potato skins, ice-cream, tamales, and tacos. Faye loved the train rides and all of the singing and dancing entertainment. Uncle Bob: If you have any pull with Dixie Escalante, please let them know the kite festival is a must for our family.

Lori wanted a garden theme for her birthday. Faye and I made a pie with bugs, worms, mud and grass. We also made everyone eat it with Home Depot shovels. Lori got a new Humming bird feeder with juice, an AGGIE shirt (of course), and live Ladybugs. Lori also got grilled fish and a salad. Hey it was her big day, so it was… her choice of dinner. Like it mattered, the next day we hit the buffet in a big way.

The birthday party weekend continued in Mesquite. Bret won a trip to beautiful Mesquite Nevada with his NCAA tournament knowledge (he got lucky on a couple true false questions…). So we went to Mesquite with our friends the Dottsons. Matt and Amy have a couple girls near Faye’s age. Don’t worry no gambling or crazy stuff happened. We went bowling, we flew kites (that whole business about not trying to retrieve a kite from power lines is bogus by the way) we swam, saw Hop, and just wiped out the Buffet. We had a great time. The Dottsons sure know how to party!

We love you Lori! HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!

garden post

2011-05-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Garden Post:

So on this post I wanted to include some pictures of the Garden. We haven’t had the same success with our squash and zucchini this year, but you can see that we do have some stuff growing. Faye loves to eat the flowers off of the Bok Choy. Lori took a video of her stealing some and running away to her special chair to eat them.

There are some pictures of our strawberries, peaches and the beginning of some sunflowers (Lori is hiding in the background). Lori had a salad that she liked so much she had to take a picture… so that is included in the slide show too.

We enjoy the garden. Lori spent a lot of Sunday on our picnic blanket in the shade of the fruit trees reading a book today while Marley and Faye hunted for sweet peas. Hopefully by the time the snow reunion comes we have some veggies to share… Grandpa Alan style.

I also added some pictures of the Cottonwood fluff on Sunbrook GC when Faye and I went this weekend. Allergy suffers BEWARE! The fluff was about 1/4" thick on some fairways.

Faye's first stiches

2011-05-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Bret was in charge of getting Faye to her Dance class. He helped her dress in her leotard and left early with a pre-planned route that avoided the ironman traffic. She got to class a little too early so she and some of her friends in class began to fool around on a trampoline (the small exercise kind). She ended up falling of and hitting her head on the corner of a wall.

The blood started pretty quickly, so Bret took her to the bathroom to sort out her hair and find the cut. Faye was screaming pretty frantically. It was split pretty good so Bret rushed her to the insta-care for stitches.

The doctor didn't want to have to cut her hair and Faye didn't want that either. So They chose staples.

See what happens when Lori leaves Bret and Faye alone for a few hours?

Happy Mothers Day Lori! We love how you keep us out of trouble and out of the hospital.

oh yeah... today I was asked by someone, "who is Cee-Lo Green?"
Well in reponse here is some Gnarles Barkley, that means it is Cee-Lo + Danger Mouse (the guy that produced the Gorillaz beats). Check the awesome videos for a sample. The video is a promotion of the Odd Couple album and that is why Cee-lo is dressed as Darth Vader and Danger Mouse is dressed as Obi Wan.

Heavy Metal Wizard Christmas

2011-04-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

So this is another post, yup... two in a week! I just got our photo's off of the camera from Christmas so I thought I would share with you some of them.

Some notes... Yes there is a Christmas picture with a heavy metal wizard telling a Dungeons and Dragons style of story. There is a Christmas elf with a big, live bird. And a Greek, Red-head Mrs. Clause. There are a few of Holland, Arti and Jim. Oh and check out the matching dresses and PJ's that Faye got for herself and her doll/baby. Some snow pics with Marley and some tumbling class pictures also made the cut.

What happened in March

2011-04-10T20:41:00.001-07:00

First of all I missed the music player that I used to have on here, but often didn't work and was kind of annoying sometimes... So I have a new section of the blog called Sweet videos. You can find it in the top right corner of your screen. So go check out Jimmy T's "One More Try" and go ahead and steal the dance moves...

Here are some March Pictures. It was Bret's birthday. We had an AGGIE birthday and filled out our final four brackets, played pin the tail on BIG Blue and had Grandma and Grandpa Snow over for ice cream cake.

On the night before St. Patrick’s Day we rigged up a completely-functional trap at the end of a finger-painted rainbow complete with fake gold coins to try and catch a Leprechaun. We missed but he left us some candy in his pot and a pair of green gloves instead.

We've been having fun in the garden too. Faye is great at planting seeds and we are already eating our radishes, mustard greens and bok choy.

Bret bought a wood chipper because Lori wanted wood chips in part of the yard and the chipper would cost less than the chips... Well now he spends a portion of every week chipping wood that he gathers from around the neighborhood. A few pictures are included of him chipping up the neighbors trees.

He also decided that the string on the kite winder was not of good enough quality so he used a drill to remove the old string and replace it with new string. Lori thought this was a crazy idea...

Finally we found a dance class that was right for us. Faye will be a star (she plays a star in the night sky) in the troupe's (is that what it is called?) production of Peter Pan... I can't wait.

Baseball season is HERE!

2011-04-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

This week is always one of my favorite. The Masters, Baseball Opening-Day and The Final 4 all happen within 8 days of each other. It is only rivaled with the week where the World series overlaps the beginning of football.

What an Angel's game last night. It was nice to see former SLC Bees really come through (exept for Brandon Wood... what a head case). Bourgos (pete-ie-b) scored the winning run in the 14th! Walden, Bulger and Kohn really came through out of the bull pin too! Check out speedy Pete on his winning run...

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13640871

I'm so excited for our great outfield, Wells Hunter and Bourgos might be the best defensively in MLB... If our bull pin can keep the ball in the park we should do okay.

-Bret

Oh and did I mention it is always fun to rub it in Holland's mug when the Red Sox are doing HORRIBLE!

Lori is the Best

2011-03-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

I just wanted everyone to know how Awesome Lori is. She created the best birthday party ever. Faye was always asking what kind of birthday I wanted. She had a princess party and, so of course, all other birthday parties should have a theme. Well, off hand I would tell her that I wanted an AGGIE birthday, mostly because every year for my birthday candle wish I ask for an Aggie win in the NCAA tournament.

When I got home from work I was greeted with AGGIE signs in the windows, pictures of Coach Stew on the walls and even a scattering of “Wild Bill” photo’s in the living room! We had a “GO AGGIES” ice cream cake and played a game of pin-the-tail-on-Big Blue! She invited over Grandma and Grandpa Snow and we all filled out our NCAA brackets. Even the dog Marley did a bracket (picked all the ‘dog’ mascots and picked against all the ‘cat’ mascots). I got an AGGIE shirt and wore it later in the week when watched the Aggie game at Floyd’s.

The party it took some planning and some careful thought. I think that she is the greatest! She even puts up with me for the few days that I pout after the Aggies lose!

Spring time post

2011-03-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

So I thought I would do a quick update.

Faye is researching dance classes; she has tried one out already. She is trying to find a balance between the rigid snooty schools where the moms all wear matching track suits and the crazy go nuts schools with the teacher wearing a grateful dead t-shirt and leading the little girls in a modern interpretation of David Bowie’s Labyrinth and Lady Ga-Ga’s poker face mash-up. So if you have suggestions for a class that is organized, but not stuffy we are taking them…

She also is a great helper. She has been learning how to make toast, how to plant peas and sunflowers, how to feed Marley and does a great job at cleaning her room.

Lori got notice not to cut her hair from the church’s media department. She is being considered for some of the New Testament speaking roles in the new seminary videos that will be filmed in June. She auditioned a couple months ago and made the casting director cry a little during the women at the well scene, so hopefully she gets another call back soon. Anyway to be considered out of the 3000 people that auditioned for 6 spots isn’t too shabby.

In other news, she is working on toning-up and enjoying Zumba and Yoga lately. Until Bret began the newest sprinkler and landscape project she had paid off all the credit cards!

Beautiful, Talented and Smart!

She finally got the planter boxes that Bret has been working on for over 6 months and enjoyed this weekend’s sun pulling weeds and singing songs with Faye outside in the garden.

Bret just finished his Stats class. He struggled, but it’s over. He is looking forward to the NCAA tournament, especially since his Aggies just beat LA Tech 72 to 30! They seem to be warming-up at exactly the right time.

His garden is one-third in with the rest to follow on Tuesday. He purchased a wood chipper once he saw that wood chips were about $6 a bag. He chipped most of Saturday and accounting for labor, gas and cost of Dr Pepper he should break-even sometime in 2014.

He is looking forward to his Birthday which, much like Uncle Al’s birthday, will be a week long event. It starts with Golf on Thursday, new tenny-runners on Friday, The WAC tourney on ESPN 2 on Saturday, and Red Robin with Lori and Faye on Tuesday (with homework, baseboards and wood-chipping sprinkled in).

Speaking of sprinklers... it’s that time of year again when Bret hand digs trenches and does advanced trig calculations to figure out how to install a sprinkler system. Did you know you will void your home owners insurance policy if you install a backflow preventer on the inside of your coat closet? Even though it seems like a logical location to keep it from freezing. I don’t know, there’s something in the policy about flooding the entire house if the line looses pressure…

Marley had her pen moved. It is much larger now and not as close to the noisy ‘white dogs”. She has been sunbathing on the top of her dog house Snoopy style. She still hates sprinklers, black labs and noisy implements like wood-chippers. This spring she is looking forward to a dog-run surrounded by sunflowers and cosmos.

Happy Spring time everyone!

Bird fest house

2011-02-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Not much to report but we did have a good time at the winter bird festival. We made this cool bird house! Faye did the glue and paint, she is almost ready for the nail gun...

She also is practicing for tumbling class, she loves tumbling class.

USU bball, A Play, Trees and a toilet

2010-11-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

What a great weekend we had! First, Grandma Great (Nancy) Olsen came into town with Grandpa Jim and cousin Crystal. We went to Heather's (another cousin) performance in "Hello Dolly". Heather did a great job as did the rest of the Desert Hills cast. Faye enjoyed the singing and dancing, but enjoyed the costumes the best. She had to visit every girl during the meet and greet to talk about their costume.

On Saturday we went to the USU v SUU basketball game in Cedar City. USU was playing pretty well and looked pretty crisp after that horrible loss on Wednesday to BYU. We met up with a couple of Bret's friends from work and with Paul and Tara Mogle friends of ours from our Aggie student ward days. Faye was in heaven 4 little boys to tease and share popcorn with! We even got to do the "winning team, loosing team" chant.

Sunday night we went to the Jubilee of Trees. It is basically just like SLC's festival of trees. We have some designer friends that participated that did a great job that some of you might know, Mary Snow (as in Paul), Terri Spendlove, and the Marshals. We got to watch the Desert Hills Chamber Choir and Women's Choir, plus a belly dance group from Sun River. It was a pretty good Sunday activity.

The biggest event of the weekend was that Lori got a new toilet. Jim and Bret put it in on Saturday. Lori has wanted a new one for a while and the old one began to overflow in the middle of the night so we got a new toilet. A big thanks to Jim for all the help and being willing to make 4 Home Depot trips in 2 hours!

Once Grandpa Jim uploads his pictures we'll link them here.

We hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, full of Family and Friends.

San Diego Pictures

2010-11-14T18:28:00.000-08:00

We had a great time in San Diego here are some pictures.

ohh and here is Ben Crane again...

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.

we have been having a pretty great FALL. It is one of my favorite times of year in SG. We have been harvesting allot of our garden this week. We got about 10 really good pumpkins and ton of peppers, some sad corn, a ton of spaghetti squash and enough potatoes to think we broke even on the potato experiment. We have had some great stuffed bell peppers this year.

We had a great party with Amy and Matt Dotson to carve our pumpkins. They were great hosts and Faye loved playing with their two girls.

We had a bunch of rain lately so Faye and I spent an afternoon playing in the gutter. Earlier last month we played with Marley at Washington City's park irrigation ditch.

Lori and Faye went to another Halloween party as Dorthy and the wicked witch. Faye loved sneaking up on the relief society ladies and snarling, "I get you my pretty!" On Halloween she was a fairy princess... she is fascinated with princesses right now.

Faye has been learning to play with sticks from some of the neighborhood boys. Instead of using them as swords or guns she likes to play 'pretty umbrella', magic wand and microphone. She even was banging on the car trying to turn it into a pink pumpkin!

Faye got to go to a giant witch party in SLC with Auntie Arti and Grandma Lori. She loved the witch dancing and the pretty red witch... it sounded like they had a bunch of fun.

Bret got to go to the CSU vs UofU game. Floyd ended up staying home so Cody and his boys plus Jim all came to a rainy and cold ball game. We got soaked, but had a good time cheering for the green and gold. Hopefully this weekend at the CSU vs SDSU game we can at least show our colors out side of our snow parkas. (Yes, we are going to San Diego for the weekend)

This month Lori has been to the Tuaccan Shows including taking Bret to Thriller. She has been supporting Bret in his MBA pursuit and learning to make bows that she hopes to sell at some Christmas boutiques. She also has been working with Rich on his album, ready to drop by Christmas.

We hope you are all doing well. If you are passing though SG on your holiday travels let us know so we take you to Faye's favorite cupcake store.

-Bret

My new second favorite golfer (after Bubba Watson) is Ben Crane

2010-10-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

So I was disappointed when Ben Crane was left off of the Ryder Cup team, but after seeing how stuffy and nervous all the US players were... I just can't help but think that the world's 20'th best golfer should have been on the team. (12 players a team = 24 players total... how did this guy not get on the squad?)

I would like to see Philly MAC and Tiger be in this good of shape...

-Bret

Happy Anniversary Floyd & Marilyn

2010-09-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a video I made to remember Mom and Dad's anniversary. The song is the one Rich wrote to perform at their 50th anniversary party. I still miss Mom, but am so grateful for forever families.

love, Lori

june pictures

2010-07-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of our latest adventures.
Bret and Holland replacing the sliding doors with french doors is there.
Faye at the Gunnison parade.
Faye in Cane Beds AZ on the 4th.
Lots of garden pictures.
The first lawn mowing after we put in sprinklers.
Fathers Day with Floyd and Holland.
Faye's new Dora Bike.

Faye hurt her toe and we put a bandaid on it,
she freaked out until we put toenail polish on the bandaid.

-Bret

2010-07-08T08:44:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to write a little note about the 4th of July we had.

We left for Gunnison on Friday right after work. We got to the park in time to have dinner with Cody’s Familily and Mark Bucannan’s family. Faye loved playing on the playground with AO and PO. Mark has a 3.5 year old daughter that Faye took to and followed constantly for about 2 hours. We then got some shakes at Shelly’s and watched the fireworks and listened to a Neil Diamond impersonator with Kim, Cody and the boys. Cassie Brown let us crash at her home, she is so great.

Saturday morning we went to the loins club pancake breakfast at the park. Then we watched the parade. Faye loved the princesses, especially the rodeo and dairy princesses on horses. She got a ton of parade candy, once she figured out that she had to run after it and fend off the little boys that were faster and more aggressive. She called out for Jenny when the Browns walked their oxen up the street and got a big strawberry milk from one of Tanya’s boys! She also like to dance along with the drill team and cheerleaders.

At the carnival I got to meet up with Paul Mogle, Brenten Peterson Joe Mellor and Jared Young. We also got to hang out with Aaron and Tina Pickett, down all the way from Olympia, WA. Tina was a friend of Lori’s in college so they got to hang out. Lori also got to talk some with Nannette, that was good for them both. Faye liked the Dyreng’s mini train and the fish pond the best. She also got a snow cone and cotton candy… combined with some parade sugar she was wound-up pretty good.

We decided to skip the rest of Bro’s-day (sorry Mayfielder’s) and we headed to Cane Beds AZ, by way of highway 89. It was sure pretty going through the winding and green valleys on the way to Kanab. We did introduce Faye to the Ideal Dairy and punch bags!

Floyd was giving a speech on his families involvement with a historic school house in Cane Beds that his grandfather built and taught in during the 1910’s and 20’s. It sure was fun to hear Floyd reminisce about growing up (and liking it) in the sandy homestead (a literal homestead). We had a potluck there with a mixture of Polygamists, homesteaders, hippies, a Greek family, ranchers and some Native Americans. Faye collected rocks and played in the sand.

That night we parked in Paula’s Mexican Food’s parking lot and watched fireworks.

On Sunday David and Kendra’s family drove through town and we had fireworks in the street with them (outlawed in CA, crazy state). Lori’s Aunt Diana stopped by and said “Hi”. Little David’s and friend Alisa stayed the night and they both ate dinner with us on Monday night after a day in Zions NP.

Anyway it was a great weekend to see old friends and catch up with family!

We always seem to have great 4th of July’s.

Bret

Lori's LDS video

2010-06-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

Here is Lori's video. Isn't she great?

-Bret

pictures post

2010-05-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures from gardening and playing with Marly in the font yard. Lori did a photo-shoot for a head shot she needed. She is trying to get into some more church videos. I included a bunch that she will want me to take off later... We also have some photo's of cody and kim's last visit, but we didn't get any of cody or kim just the boys.

been to long....

2010-04-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hello all:

I just wanted to drop a quick note about our lives lately. I think I will start with the most current events and move backward.

My mom served divorce papers to my Dad this week. He moved out last weekend. I don’t have a very good vantage point on all of the going’s on, but I do want to thank all you that are in SLC and helping out and such. They both need friends, that’s for sure.

This weekend we are going to SLC to see my Mom graduate from the University of Phoenix with her Bachelors degree. We are very proud and excited about her completion of this big step.

Friday night we will be going to the BEE’s baseball game with a lot of my family (Siblings and Snows mostly). We love the BEE’s. I purchased an online radio package that allows me to listen to every major league game (2434 games) so I have been listening to baseball too much lately.

I started my MBA with the University of Phoenix last month. On Wednesday I will be finishing my first class. It is going pretty good, but it sure is taking up a lot of time.

2 weeks ago, Lori was cast in a MORMON MESSAGE and filmed a 6-8 minute section of an Elder Holland talk. She played the young Pat Holland stranded on the side of the road with a broken car and 2 young children. She loves to ‘practice her craft’ and she especially liked doing some film work. She’s pretty amazing.

Faye is talking and playing a lot. She and I spend most of Saturday outside working on the yard. We are putting in sprinklers in the back and she is my best helper. She especially likes to use the purple PVC primer as paint. She and Marley love to spend time exploring the backyard and getting into trouble.

Our garden is going pretty well. We ate our first radishes this week and hope to get some spinach and other greens before it gets to darn hot. I sure with Grandpa Alan was around for some gardening advice… Our Apricot and Peach trees had beetles pretty bad last year so we poisoned the ground around them in the hope of flushing out any remaining larva after we pruned last fall. So we will not be getting any fruit off the trees this year. We planted a Pear in the fall and Navajo Blackberries this spring. Ohh and my artichoke came back too, surprise, surprise.

We spent Easter and Conference with Grandpa and Grandma Snow in Pine Valley. Jim and Lori, Cody and Kim + boys, Arti, and Holland all came. Bob and Sharon+ Rex were in town too. It is always fun to get up there and just relax.

Our truck died, and now it’s gone. We are going to try to be a one car family until fall. Cody and Kim did it for much longer, so we think we can do it too.

Holland and I played some golf, once with Uncle Bob. I get smoked…

I passed a LEAN certification test with Society of Mechanical Engineers (SME), and had the high in the class. This is a certification that I have been working on since ’08. Now all I have to do is put together my peer reviewed portfolio… Lori has been calling me ‘black-belt’ ever since. Silly Lori… Black belt is SixSigma not LEAN… (I put that in just for you Brian M.)

Well that is enough about us. Remember we always have an extra bed in the guest room open if you are interested.

-Bret

RAM Company's new website

2010-03-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

SO this is the link to RAM Company's new website.

http://www.ramcompany.com/
Come take a peak.
Dick Norris does the voice-over in the video.
Hopefully this helps move us to the top of some search engines...

-Bret

finally an update

2010-02-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a while. Let me start with a Christmas wrap up. It was great. We spent it in Pine Valley with my (Bret) parents all my siblings and their immediate families. Grandma and Grandpa Snow (Stan and Betty) were there too. We had Mari with us and everybody very generous to her THANK YOU. It was a ton of fun; we played games goofed around in the snow and crashed our sleds.

Highlights in the photos are:

Grandpa Stan, Faye and the birthday tractor.
Faye and Mari loved pink curlers.
Bella puppies.
Snow tunnels.
Lori and the train whistle.

Soon after we came home it became evident that it would be best for us and Mari if she moved back in with her Aunt. So Mari is back living with her aunt for now. It was hard to admit (for us and her) that this was the best path. We hope she enjoyed her time with us and this newest change is going to work out. She really liked Grandma Lori and Holland.

Since then life has gone back to normal. We work on the house, we go to work, and we are active in the primary (Lori) and youngmens (Bret). Faye enjoys nursery, playing at Paiges’ house (her babysitter) and golfing with Daddy and Marley in the front yard.

Marley is getting very good at retrieving golf balls, we’ll have to do a video soon. She also is very athletic. Every weekend Bret works on her pen and after a few hours she finds a way out. She has proven that she can leap over 5.5 feet tall! She chewed through a nylon cable and broke a collar. She is unstoppable.

Faye is also being very cute lately. She is hiding things for us to find “Where is the pink book?” she will ask after she has hidden it under a blanket. She also knows that when Daddy isn’t home he is either “Daddy Golfing” “Daddy fix truck” or “Daddy working”.

Anyway finally I wanted to include the music video of a band from St. George that sings about the Twilight movies. Some blog readers (of their husbands) might relate. Lori thinks the line "... has the hots for teenage boys and thinks it's alright..." Lori is one of the only women I know that thought the books were "Lame".

christmas 09

2009-12-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS

New addition to our family

2009-12-03T20:48:00.000-08:00

Hello family!

I just wanted everyone to know what's new in our life this week. About six months ago we heard about Maridania and her cousin William. They are from Guatemala and needed a place to stay. We decided then that we would be willing to take them, but didn't hear anything else about it until just a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, since then William has been found a guardianship, so he's with another family, but Maridania still needed a place to go. She moved in with us on Tuesday night, and so far everything is going great. She's 11-years old, and as you can see, she and Faye get along great. Faye keeps asking for "girl" whenever Mari isn't here. We'll keep everyone posted on how things are going and be sure to check our blog! Love you all. Take care this holiday season, and we miss you!

love, Lori

Editor's note: I wanted to include Lori's email to her family here. I would better know how to address your questions on Maridrania if you posted them on the comments board. I'll try and get them by Sunday...?

I also wanted to add some pictures from Thanksgiving. We had Rob and Melinda stay at our house with their two boys. Faye and the boys got along well, especially with cartoons on the HULU. Dave and Kendra and their family were all here too, but they stayed at the Abby Inn. We had a great Turkey day at Floyd's. Holland even came, we (Holland and I ) took a football nap after the turkey.

My finger is feeling fine for those that have been asking.I cut it whittling a bolo tie for a scout that got his eagle. Pictures of some of my favorite scouts are included form that court of honor.

Also included is a picture of Faye still in her Halloween costume 3 weeks later, she loves it. Reminded me of the book "Where the Wild Things Are"

-Bret

Ramblings and Faye pics

2009-11-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

Well the World Series is over and I am going through withdrawals. Man the Yankees were good! I wish the Angels could have signed CC or Cliff, at least they tried.

Ohh and the Angels signed Bobby Abreu over the weekend, come on Lackey, and Figgins!

Faye and I enjoyed some of it at Red Robin. She loved it there, especially the Mac'n Cheese, the crayons with coloring book, endless stake fries, a special kids cup, balloons and a giant statue of a Robin that is easily mistaken for a giant DUCK.

We have been sick this week. Faye has been snotty and Lori missed 2 days of work and rehearsal, then I came home early today. Instacare said it wasn't the swine flu, so that's good.

Ohh and I don't think I have blogged about Lori's show. She is playing the Mom in the stage version of The Christmas Story. She is really enjoying the production and how organized and professional it is. It will be playing every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Here is a link to the website: http://www.manoftwoworlds.com/manoftwoworlds.com/Welcome.html

Ohh I took my stitches out yesterday, look'n good.

2009-11-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun on Halloween.

The night before we cooked Home-made Spudnuts (Donuts with a potato base). Floyd came, so did Stan and Betty, Holland came later and we had most of the kids in the neighborhood in our driveway. It has become one of our favorite Halloween traditions.

Halloween we went to our ward Trunk-r-treat. Faye was a Pegasus Unicorn, Lori was a witch and I was Tiger Woods. Faye really took the Candy in... Then we went to Holland's and watched the World Series game. It was a long night... thank goodness for the "Fall back".

I think I included a picture of my finger in the slides too so check out the Halloween scar.

TV is overrated

2009-11-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Tonight we are listening to the World Series on the radio. I have listened to the radio broadcasts of the majority of the baseball games this postseason. I have seen a couple games on TV too, but have really enjoyed the radio. Here are my top 5 reasons I like the radio.

1. I get my chores done with the radio.

2. Less beer commercials.

3. No shots of Kate Hudson.

4. No Melky-fake-out throw to the stands.

5. Joe Morgan is great.

I cut myself whittling

2009-10-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday this week I cut myself whittling a witch bolo tie for Halloween.
I cut deep enough to "nick" my tendon. It took 12 stitches and damaged some nerves. I felt pretty dumb, but here are some of the pictures.

10 reasons why America should be rooting for the Angels

2009-10-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

L.A. Times staff writer Bill Shaikin offers 10 reasons why America should be rooting for the Angels to beat the New York Yankees in the ALCS:

1The Yankees had their century.

2The Angels could become the first team to knock the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs in the same season, ridding us of both the teams that are force-fed to America all summer.

3What do the Yankees call a $1,250 seat? Half-price.

4Torii Hunter! Say anything! Down with the bland corporate personalities of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira!

5If the Angels and Dodgers win, how cool would it be to see Gail and Dave Weaver rooting their boys on, wearing those custom-designed, half-Angels, half-Dodgers jerseys?

6Can you imagine the disgusted looks on the faces of New Yorkers if Joe Torre gets into the World Series and the Yankees do not? Better yet: Jeff Weaver gets into the World Series and the Yankees do not.

7The Angels have the rally monkey. The Yankees have bleacher creatures.

8The Yankees charge $20 for a stadium tour. No game included.

9Biggest contracts in baseball history: 1. Rodriguez ($275 million); 2. Rodriguez ($252 million); 3. Jeter ($189 million); 4. Teixeira ($180 million); 5. CC Sabathia ($161 million).

10The Angels have won the World Series more recently than the Yankees. America loves a winner.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

NAMI WALK and CSU

2009-09-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend we traveled to Salt Lake City to participate in NAMI WALKS with my sister ARTI and the rest of TEAM VOLDEMORT (CODY, KIM, PARKER, AIDEN HOLLAND, LORI SNOW. Thanks to many of you we riased more than our team goal and the event total was greater than $50k!

I'll add pictures again later once we get some from CODY and ARTI.

Later that night we went to the CSU game in Provo vs. BYU. We were suprised to see that Ann had made it all the way from Fort Collins! We caught up, Faye ate peanuts, nachos, root beer and the neighbor's candy... ohh and snacks form the nice lady across the isle. She really liked to throw nut shells on the ground.

I was not too concerned about pictures so I only got 2 on my phone and missed pictures of Ann and Darren all together (Ann had a great be-dazzled CSU hat)! I will have to be better when we go to Vegas.

Before the game we had hot dogs and swam at Grandma Lori's! Thanks for being such a great host MOM!

Bret's plea for the NAMI walks... and some pictures in the middle

2009-09-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

About 7 years ago I was fighting a bought of depression. My grades in school fell, I lost intrest in most everything, and felt awful about who I was. I had friends, mission comanions and family members with mental illness issues, but it was hard for me to admit that I needed help myself. After waiting too long, and with some encouragment from my family, I finally asked for some help. I wish I could have overcome the stigma of seeking help for my problem earlier.

Just yesterday I was asked to walk in a fundrasier for a group that is helping to fight the stigma of mental illness. Arti, my little sister, used to intern/work for NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and has kept some ties with the group and the cause.

I am supposed to tell you everything in a form letter that I am attaching, but the most important thing I need to tell you is that I am well short of my NAMI fundraising goal of $100 (I've only had one day). If you can spare $5 here is where you can donate: http://www.nami.org/namiwalks09/SLC/breto. I can turn donations in the morning of, so if you want to pass me a contribution in person that is okay too, I'll come by and get it (my cell 773-3521).

The organization is very flat with no frills, I don't even get a t-shirt for walking, all the money goes to this important cause. You can check it out here: http://www.nami.org/ Ohh and if you don't donate now, remember it soon will be Friends of Scouting time so save up.

-Bret

Here are the promised pictures, with captions.

Here is the attached letter from NAMI!

Dear Friend,

I am writing you today to tell you about an upcoming event that I am participating in that is both very important and very exciting to me. It is NAMIWalks for the Mind of America, NAMI’s signature walkathon event that is being held in Salt Lake City, UT at Spring Mobile Ballpark (was Franklin Covey Field) on September 26, 2009.

I would like to ask you to come and walk with me or to donate to support my participation in this great event. Visit my personal walker page to sign up: http://www.nami.org/namiwalks09/SLC/breto. It features a link to my team's page where you can see who else is walking with me. There is also a link so you can donate directly to me online. Donating online is fast and secure, and I'll get immediate notification via e-mail of your donation.

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the largest education, support and advocacy organization that serves the needs of all those whose lives are touched by these illnesses. This includes persons with mental illness, their families, friends, employers, the law enforcement community and policy makers. The NAMI organization is composed of approximately 1100 local affiliates, 50 state offices and a national office.

The goals of the NAMIWalks program are: to fight the stigma that surrounds mental illness, to build awareness of the fact that the mental health system in this country needs to be improved, and to raise funds for NAMI so that they can continue their mission.

NAMI is a 501(c)3 charity and any donation you make to support my participation in this event is tax deductible. NAMI has been rated by Worth magazine as among the top 100 charities "most likely to save the world" and has been given an "A" rating by The American Institute of Philanthropy for efficient and effective use of charitable dollars.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,

Bret Olsen

okay so I removed the Hoff's playlist

2009-09-16T21:29:00.001-07:00

So after about 10 minutes of the Hoff I was getting really irritated at him so the playlist is taking a break...

Thats right America's Got Talent is over...

2009-09-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Thats right America's Got Talent is over but the Hoff lives on... Enjoy the new playlist it's Hoff-the hook, or plain Hoff-ul whatever...

Cadbury Eyebrows

2009-09-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

This British Advert reminded me of my brother Cody, who has quite amazing Eye Brows.

ohh and we got a dog

2009-09-02T16:55:00.001-07:00

We tried to get pictures before the sun went down while in Zions NP. This was as good as we got of just our family. It is our first picture of Marley, our new boarder collie, on the blog. She is a great dog and she and Faye get along famously so far. The picture would be much better if someone could keep his eyes open durring the red eye pre flash.

August 2009

2009-08-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great time with the family this last weekend in Zion's NP. We did Orderville Canyon into the Narrows. It was the first time repelling for some. We took Arti, Cody, Kim, Lori M, Bret, and my friends Brent and Ryan. Thank you Mom and Dad for watching the kids and dogs (they had run-ins with the cops twice while we were gone). Thank you Dad and Cody for the shuttle car trip. WOW we did allot of mud on the way back!

I just wanted to do a quick note on the passing of Lori's Mom, Marilyn. She passed on Tuesday, August 4th with Lori, Her sweetheart Floyd and sister Deanna in the hospital room with her. We had some very special and tender experiences over the first two weeks of August and are very grateful to our family and friends for their support.

We are especially grateful for the comfort of the Holy Ghost and its wittiness of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are also grateful for some of the tender-mercies allowed by our Heavenly Father as He prepared us for her passing. We know Marilyn is happy, safe and busy on important business for our Savior.

I've included the program here, click on it for a closer view:

A prescription from Dr. Spaceman

2009-07-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

havisupai hike, summer fun

2009-07-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our havisupai hike. I went with a great bunch of guys from the Sunset 4th ward. We spent 2 nights and 3 days in the Grand Canyon area. I hope to post more about it later.

These are some pictures from the splash pad downtown and also walking around up on the sugarloaf (red hill).

Belated "Happy Fathers Day"

2009-07-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day! I know it is a little late, but I wanted to share with everyone my great Father's Day gift from Faye. She is getting to be so organized. She loves to gather things and put them away, in this video she really puts her talent to good use. We had Floyd and Marilyn over for dinner this sunday and Lori made a great batch of pies. We also had shish-kabobs and potato salad. the weather was great and we relaxed on the patio. It was a great, lazy Father's Day afternoon.

-Bret

PS: Lori and I are hiking the Narrows and have a few remaining spots on our permit if anyone would like to come with us on August 22nd.

Happy 50th Floyd and Marilyn

2009-07-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Over the Fourth of July weekend Lori's parents had an open house celebrating their 50 years together. All of Lori's Brothers and their families traveled to St George for the event. The crowd was over 30 people strong and included Camden Marchant (great grand child) Marilyn's brothers Albert (WY) and Brent (Price) Langston and their families and many others from all over the West. It was the first time that some of the cousins had seen each other in over 6 years, and with Ryan Wilkinson (Mike's oldest) set to go on a mission it will be the last opportunity for that to happen over the next two years.

We had a reception on Friday night complete with singing and memories about Floyd and Marilyn. Rich (Lori's brother) was in charge of the music and program and even composed a song that he an Lori sang in honor of the couple. The daughters-in-law decoration and cake committee did a wonderful job turning park benches into a beautiful outdoor reception (the cakes and punch were awesome). We were so glad so many old friends showed to remember and celebrate Marilyn and Floyd.

We had a golf outing on Friday morning to Sky Mountian in Hurricane. Winners include:

Open Champion: Daren Wilkinson
Grandpa Division 1st Place: David Wilkinson
Mr. Congeniality: Rob Wilkinson
Long Ball Champion: Rich Wilkinson
Fox and Hound Division 1st Place: Mike Wilkinson
College Champ: Ryan Wilkinson
Women's Open Division 1st Place: Ann Wilkinson
Best-Ricochet-Off-of-a-House: Holland Olsen
Novice Division Champ: ("Little") David Wilkinson
Only One '3' Putt: Bret Olsen

The rest of the family did a marathon shopping trip in preparation for the party, 7 stores in 3 hours!

Thursday night we went to the temple for Ryan's endowment. It was very special to be there with all of Lori's family. We felt the spirit very strongly and it reaffirmed the importance of and our commitment to eternal families. Thank you Ryan for choosing to include us in this special occasion.

We had lots of fun playing games until 2 in the morning, playing a marco polo game for almost 4 hours, In n'out Burgers, Fireworks at Aunt Deanna's, Movies, pool, a great vacation house, yelling at Uncle Bruce, spending an extra 2 days with Rob & Mindy and their boys, and a whole bunch of other fun things.

Thank you to all those that made this such a great weekend!!!

west rim 09 4th ward preists

2009-06-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was able to go on a hike down the West Rim Trail in Zions with the boys in our new ward. Yes that is right after 3 years of scouts in the St George 16th Ward, I was called to be the YM secretary in the Sunset 4th Ward, only 2 sundays after moving into the 4th ward. I love being in the youngmens, it is the best calling.

Anyway here are some of the pictures of the hike. We did it in about 9 hours. Brother Stucki's(red pack)GPS says it took about 14.5 miles to do. We didn't do the Angel's landing section, but did leave the trail at potato hollow springs and cabin springs.

Our time was about 3.5 hours faster than when I went with the deacons last fall, because of the increased pace my calves are feeling it more this time.

Did I ever post that Lori was called to be the singing lady in primary? She loves it. She likes to make the props and practice the songs. Currently she is trying to mearge "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" with "Jesus once was a little child" for the july song. She is so talented.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

2009-06-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Two posts in two days

2009-06-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from our remodel and from Lori's 50th birthday celebration in SLC @ the Bees game double header.

BRET'S LAST HIKE WITH THE 16TH WARD

we're back on the net

2009-06-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

Cell Phone pictures from the last couple months:

From the slide show you can see how much we love our little one, and how much she likes the sprinklers, helping daddy at home depot, wearing her shirt like a hat, Memorial Day balloons, chaseing a tortise under the subaru and playing with daddy's trailer tie-downs. There is also a picture of the artichoke plant growing wild in the weeds out back and Bella (Grandma Lori's Poodle) helping out the day we layed our floor.

Closing Day TODAY

2009-04-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

Well we closed on our house Friday afternoon. It wasn't painful at all, there were nice comfy chairs and sodas and cookies with sprinkles. We were done in less than an hour. The seller still needs to sign, and the deed needs to be recorded, but we hope to get keys by Monday.

Lori has been packing like crazy. Faye gets anxious when we move things around and pack her stuff, but has been getting better at putting things in boxes and not taking them out again.

I hope we can find some help on Wednesday night because there are 3 other people in our ward moving on that evening too. Our ward has some student housing and with graduation happening this week there is allot of moving going on. We had hoped on closing a week ago (and before that a month ago)so we could do some work on the house. Ohh well we will just have to take it as is.

We helped Stan and Betty move in to their place on Wednesday night. We are very excited to have them in the area again. We will be living within a few hundred yards of each other once we move.

Lori's Birthday Candle

2009-04-19T21:07:00.001-07:00

My Dad Jim is a rep for a company that sends card and gifts by mail. By far the coolest gift they have are these crazy candles that light up and play music. Lori and the little one just love them. Here are some pics of the fun...

How superman shoud have ended

2009-04-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

bret's hike

2009-04-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

Come and see some pictures of bret's hike last Friday and Saturday.

Elder Holland Easter message

2009-04-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

This came from off of the LDS.org and is pretty good.

Have a great Easter everybody.

=Bret

Adam Ward

2009-04-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

Here is an article about a really talented friend of ours that just put out a CD, Adam Ward. Lori bought his album and she and the little one sure enjoy it. Congratulations and Good Luck ADAM! Hopefully we can attend your live concert this July in Yosemite NP.

The move is off... for now

2009-04-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

We have had a set back with the house. The bank won't be able to close until the 23rd of April, so we are living out of boxes in the Apartment still. We have an aggressive schedule to keep to get some work done on the house between when we close and when we have to be out of the apartments. I hope we can do some tile and Lori wants some painting done.

Good news is that the property managers of where we are now hadn't rented our place yet so we still get to stay where we are until we need to get out.

cousin Beth's youngest son passed away

2009-03-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

My cousin Beth's youngest son passed away on Monday night. Here is a copy of his obit from the Spectrum. We got to go to the hospital soon after he passed. It was pretty tragic. It is a parent's worst nightmare. Lori and I both pray for comfort for everyone involved.

I am so grateful for my eternal family.

Caden Rex Stubbs made an early entrance into our hearts on July 15, 2008. Full of strength and courage, he brought wonder and love to all who met him. Caden quietly returned to his Father in Heaven on March 23, 2009.

How very gently you tiptoed into our world, almost silently. For a moment you stayed, but what an imprint your spirit has left upon our hearts.

Survivors include his parents Curtis and Beth Stubbs of Colorado City, Arizona, grandparents Thayn & Marian Hansen of Leeds, Utah, and David and Sally Stubbs of Colorado City; siblings Kasey, Kaitlyn and Curtis "C. J."; and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

He was preceded in death by great-grandparents Rex Olsen and Arlene Hansen, and uncles Alex, Ritchie and Skippy.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 3:00 PM (Utah Time) at the Kaibab LDS Ward Chapel in Moccasin, Arizona, 5 miles north of Pipe Springs National Monument. Viewings will be held Friday evening from 7:00-8:00 PM in the Leeds Utah LDS Chapel, and Saturday afternoon from 1:30-2:45 PM at the Kaibab Ward Chapel. Burial will be in the Colorado City Cemetery under the direction of Mosdell Mortuary.

Muke a Western Lowland gorilla, has died after a yearlong fight with cancer

2009-03-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Kim sent this to me. We just visited Muke on Saturday.

Beloved Hogle Zoo Gorilla Dies After
Fight with Aggressive Cancer

Utah's Hogle Zoo is saddened to announce that Muke, their beloved female Western Lowland gorilla, has died after a yearlong fight with cancer in her reproductive tract. Within the last week, it became obvious Muke's quality of life was drastically diminishing and Zoo staff collectively made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize her on Monday afternoon.

Muke has lived at Utah's Hogle Zoo for thirteen years-since 1996, and was dearly loved and well known to not only Zoo members, but also the community. The efforts of those that have worked so closely with Muke and who bravely helped her through the last days of her life are greatly appreciated.

A memory book where Hogle Zoo visitors and staff can share thoughts and stories about Muke will be available in the Great Ape Building in the lobby near the gorilla exhibit.

"Ta Da"

2009-03-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

I got some more pictures from Valentines weekend from Arti so I am posing this album again. There are some new "Ta Da" ones of the little one that are pretty good. I don't think we talked about hiking around Snow Canyon ST park, well we did, and there are some pictures from that too.

I can't find my camera, have you seen it? Maybe with ARTI's phone?

I think there is a stray of a scout campout in there too. My scouts are awesome. On this campout we went with 2 other wards and my boys were the very best behaved. They sure make me very proud. Troop yell: "NOT IT". It drove the stake leaders nuts that anytime someone said, "16th ward" the boys would yell "NOT IT" at the top of their lungs.

Man was it weird having the weekend off from scouts. Ohh well, at least we have scouting for food coming.

Also did anyone catch the USU win over Nevada? Awesome! "Seasoned, Mature Grown Men" the announcer kept saying. Did you know that Gary Wilkinson is older than 200 of the players in the NBA? LDS missions are the greatest. "You think college is hard? Go get a job in a 3rd world country for 2 years." Was my other favorite quote during the half time show.

Anybody ready for the bracket-ology to begin? TIP ONE: Cody will take your money and not feel guilty.

I'm 30! So I went retro with the play list to a band I remember from the 80's. Oh and one of the songs features BILL SHATNER which is cool too. Birthday notes: Breakfast play time with villa, golf with Holland, Red Robin Bonsai Burger and Fries with Lori, USU game with Holland...What a perfect day.
Man can Holland hit a ball. 35 on 9 at Red Hills this week... CRAZY.

2009-03-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

We have made an offer on a home and if all things go well we will spending confrence weekend loading the piano down the stairs. Here is a picture of what we hope will be our home.

Lori has been working on paint, tile and carpet samples. She is ready.

Villa checked out the back yard and found ants, she's so excited.

Kuala Pork and Karaoke

2009-02-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day weekend is turning out to be so fun for us. Lori and I attended a show tunes concert of Broody Perry’s on Friday night. Lori takes voice lessons from him on occasion. He was very good. Best line of the night came from his violin soloist. The audience was mostly older and he said (before a Rockmonanoff piece) “let’s get it go’n! Open the piano lid all the way and turn your hearing aids down!!”

Afterward we met up with Arti, Holland and Carly at the Hawaiian Grill for some Kuala Pork and Karaoke. Everybody sang at least one song. Lori loves to belt out party favorites like “Oops I did it again” and “Turn around Bright eyes”. Villa just wanders around the restaurant and hung out with the great Polynesian families that are regulars on karaoke night.

Here are some pictures and the play list this week is a sample of our favorite songs we sang.

2009-02-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

As a family we went to see Holland participate in the Mr. Dixie Pageant on Friday night. Arti came in town to watch too and stayed the night. Holland was a very strong contestant, even in the dance number. His Talent was catching food (marshmallows and DOTS) in his mouth from distances and over his shoulder. It helps that his mouth is so big, it’s like fielding a baseball with industrial sized cargo net. He even was named MR CONGENIALITY!!! He is such a fun kid, we really enjoyed it.

Sunday we watched the Super Bowl at Paul and Tara Mogle’s home. They live in the Pine View Area, so they are pretty close. Their two little boys are a hoot. We cheered for the Cards, and they came sooo closssse! As far as Sunday evenings go, I say any time I get to eat Cheetos, Lil’Smokies and yell at Referees I am the real winner.

Our youngmen’s Basketball team won their first game this week, after being blown out by 20+ points the previous 2 weeks. I am still super involved in scouts, and because a non-member 12 year old in the area is getting baptized this month, he will have 3 Deacons, the most in the ward in 5 years!

Lori is teaching Villa how to blow kisses and say “NO”, well that second part she learned on her own. She has told Bret “no more kids until I get a house!” so she shops for homes on the internet and has new ones for Bret to see everyday when he gets home form work. She was completely opposed to the idea a year ago, but has had a change of heart. She is super cute and growing her hair a little longer. She has some auditions coming so hopefully a new show will be in the works soon (she even has been practicing her singing).

Very soon we hope to get more visitors, like Rob and Mindy and Arti again. We love In’N Out Burger so let us know if you are cruising through so we can get a shake or something.

Just an Update

2009-01-22T20:26:00.001-08:00

There have been so exciting things happening in our “friends column”. Arti and Mom Olsen hanging with the Liberal Elite in DC, Amber getting engaged (awesome), Camille and a little Warning (that no breathing thing really sucks), Michelle and Brian in a new home. We are so happy for everyone!

Little news here. Bret had his tonsils out. The operation took 30 minutes, but the anesthetic kicked his butt so much he was in Post Op/recovery for 7 hours. He took 3days off work, and went back this morning to a full desk and plenty of yelling to do without a voice.

Lori and VF are having fun in their play group. They went to the park this week and VF finally decided wood chips are okay to play in. Previous trips to the park yielded a princess that wanted to be held and not walk in the chips.

Bret got a Second Miler award during the Virgin River District’s annual officers/awards banquet. He is excited to start a new year with a whole new budget to blow through with the boys. Here is the link to the Troop Blog he has been doing: http://stgeorge486.blogspot.com/ Check it for Snow cave pictures.

GREAT Christmas

2009-01-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

We hope everybody had a GREAT Christmas season. Lori remarked today that we had too many blessings. I have to agree that we sure have had fun this winter so far. Thanks to all of you that visited, called and sent greetings, we loved hearing from so many of you.

Christmas we stayed at home. VF had too much great video, I'll have to edit it some before we can post it. We spent the latter part of the day with Floyd and Marylin. They also came with us to Pine Valley for New Years.

We got to see Rob and Mindy's bunch as they traveled to and from CA for David's Missionary homecoming (welcome back David). Then We saw Big and little Davids and the rest of the gang as Kendra and co took him to BYU for the Spring semester.

Hope to hear from all of you soon.

Bret

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2009-01-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

Birthday Photos

2008-12-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some Birthday pics from our get together at Floyd and Marilyn's. Thanks you for all of you that sent gifts and wishes of love. She was a very happy One Year old. Here Mom and the little one play with a See and Say gift.
She also loves to help her mom with the wash coming out of the dryer...

Misc November

2008-12-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

This month was great. We had a great time with all of my family for Thanksgiving in Pine Valley. Summer and Johnny came too! It was so fun to have all the kids around to play and have some pre-birthday fun. Arti, Cody and my folks have promised pictures, I'll post'em whne I get'em. Here are some photos that I do have from the cell phone.

I also had alot of activities with the young men/scouts; temple trip, Care Center FHE, Eagle project, Environmental Sci reports, etc. I'll be back again real soon... Bret

Nellis AFB show with the scouts

2008-11-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

On November 7th and 8th I went with the scouts to Nellis Air Force Base to watch an the yearly airshow. We stayed Friday night at Warm Springs near Moapa, NV. It has a great pool and camping accommodations.

The next morning we went into Vegas for the airshow. Because we had the scout trailer we had to park in ADA parking, saving us more than an hour exiting and entering the show by bus.

The show was great, but I only had a camera phone, so these are the only pictures that were even close to decent. The F-22 was my favorite, plus we have a part that goes on them that we buld at work.

halloween 2008

2008-11-13T16:08:00.000-08:00

These are some of our Halloween Photos. We went as Duck, Duck, Goose... We spent that night in Hurricane with Floyd and Marilyn. They were great hosts. Like Floyd, our duckling sure liked the boxes of Mike n'Ikes. Some of the photos are from our Apartment complex party, so those are the ones with the kids and the Spudnuts. What's that you say... What's a Spudnut? Well imagine potato bread fried and dripping with a sugary glaze... A favorite of mine. Ohh and we included a monkey, same little buddy from the give me back my toy video

Halloween Music

2008-10-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite Halloween music is by Danny Elfman, so I added some of my favorites (Edward Scissorhands, batman, Simpsons with the great Phil Hartman) to the blog...

Bret

the chair is not my friend

2008-10-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

I decided it's time for me to join in the posting fun. Bret took these pics with his phone one night while I was doing a show, and I think they are so funny....
Look daddy, I'm under the chair!
Uh-oh--help, I'm stuck!
I'll bite this chair!!
MELT-DOWN!!!

Farm visit and Colorado State football

2008-10-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

We recently went to the Staheli Family Farm Corn Maze as a family. Here are the pictures of our Fall photo shoot:

We also went to a Colorado State football game with Floyd and Marilyn Wilkinson, Rob, Mindy, Preston and Andrew and uncle Bruce Wilkinson. Darren W. survied a pretty ugly game on the side lines. We stayed at Lori Snow Olsen's and got to see Cody, Kim and the boys and Arti and Holland too. Here are some pics from the weekend (cellphone pics):

My pictures, 4th folder, 4th photo

2008-10-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Harmonie -Post the 4th picture from your 4th picture folder...

The first one is Lori's photo. It is of her nieces and nephews on a trip we took to Colorado. The second is Bret's photo, of course it is a scout one, a teacher skim boarding on the Virgin River.

Since Arti and Summer and Amber were tagged with us by Harmonie; we tag:
Cody and Kim
Holland, so he can have a new post...
Amy and Matt
and Lindy and John

september photos

2008-10-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

These are some random September photos: the little one sure likes dolls.

October fun

2008-10-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend. Bret took the Boy Scouts to the Greys Ranch area between Pine Valley and Pinto. He thinks the Snows used to do a deer camp there? It snowed slightly during the night, but really began to come down hard just as they were packing up.

Lori had her last weekend of shows. She has made some good Friends and loved doing a substantial 5 week run. She says that she "will miss the miss-understood Medlock". Recently we saw Big River with Floyd and Marylin. It was a great show, how does anyone else do this show without having a real river like Tuacahn? Plus they had real rain, and Black powder muskets to fire and horses and a pig... It was Lori's favorite of the season and that is saying something.

Faye is growing so fast. She is getting top teeth now and slobbers like crazy. On cleaning day (Monday) she and her mom play music really loud and do chores. Faye likes music a bunch and now bounces (see video) with the beat of the music. Her dad is calling her "stinky" as a nickname less and less, because she is so mobile and curious she is more of a "little Critter". She also loves to go watch Angel's baseball with her Dad and Uncle Holland, unfortunately Uncle Cody reigns supreme this year again (Red Sox fan). Faye can't wait for the Jazz to start up in Ernest.

We had so much fun last weekend with Stan and Betty Snow, Lori (Bret's mom) and Arti. We forgot to take pictures but Arti has a couple. We also went to dinner and saw Lori Michelle's show with everybody on that Saturday. It was the last Saturday the Snows would be in town for a while. They got out of the cold weather just in time too...

I had better get back to putting all of my smokey smelling scout stuff away...

register to vote

2008-10-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

Whats good for a Catholic ought to be good enough for a Mormon!

We only have one more week to register by mail to Vote!

Arti & Holland are Going to Mexico for Christmas

2008-09-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

Arti and Holland are going to Mexico for Christmas with the Tiny Tim Foundation. This is the same group Lori and I went with while in College. Arti has been before, but this will be Holland's first time with the group. The Thackers are great to take these two hard workers along.

If you want to help the cause let Arti or Holland know ASAP.

We can't wait to be able to take little one with us. We hope those 2 have a great time.

We have changed the pop-up player in honor of a Mexico Trip. If any of you have additional Mexico songs i should add leave me a comment with the song title.

Hawaii themed shirts

2008-09-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the whole fam at the ward's summer party. We wore Hawaii themed shirts for the occasion. Thanks Goudy's for the good picture!

Golf Tournament

2008-09-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

Today I played in my first Golf Tournament. I played with Matt D, Eric K, and Captain Collin W (he is a Captain in the National Guard and was in Iraq with 222 and lives in the next ward over).

The event was to benefit the ROTC at DSC and was held on the Wood bridge and black rock sections of Sunbrook golf course. We were poor and were not able to buy the necessary mulligans needed to really compete in this event, but I had a great time. I felt I pulled my weight (I played well enough), and I really enjoyed the company. Oh and Matt won a whole bunch of prizes from the raffle like a new camouflage golf bag.

Lori was great and watched baby right up until the curtain went up on her matinee. Thanks Lori Michelle!

Bret

Opening Night

2008-09-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the preview for Lori's show. It was great! Our friend Aaron Reap does a wonderful job as Archibald Craven. Lori is really enjoying her role as Mrs. Medlock come and watch her, check out show times: http://www.sgmt.org/

The Subway in ZNP

2008-09-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

The older Boys did The Subway in ZNP while we did west rim here are some of thier pictures:

skim boarding activity

2008-09-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of the youngmens activity we did in September.

fam letter 9/15/08

2008-09-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

This Thursday is opening night for Lori in “The Secret Garden”. She plays Ms. Medlock, the angry and stuffy housekeeper. She has been doing rehearsals for about a month and is very excited about the quality of the show. She says that there are some very talented people.

VF is crawling everywhere. She sure is a lot of fun. She and I have been able to spend lots of time together while Lori is doing the play. We golf a little, or watch sports and eat wings or go to scouts. Everywhere we go she makes friends. She waves and grunts at people until she gets their attention. She is a hit in line at the store or with the primary girls at church. She has a big sweet personality.

I have been doing lots of scout stuff lately. We had great big hiking event in Zions NP planned for the boys. I have a district training class that I am teaching next weekend. We have a Court of Honor on Wednesday and without a Committee Chair, Advancement Chair, or Assistant Scoutmaster getting that all set up has been a little more work then normal. Work is good. I am having a blast as a new Dad. VF and I are best buds.

We all had a good time at the Olsen reunion. Steve and TD are great. We wanted to thank everybody that made it a great time for us. VF even did great in her laundry basket bed.

We are looking forward to Conference weekend. Grandma Lori will be in town and so will Party Arti. We plan on going to Lori’s show Saturday and sleeping in Sunday and watching conference over mounds of chips and salsa with Stan and Betty.

Floyd and Marylin are doing very well. They are in Salt Lake visiting Bruce and Susan and seeing the Doctor. They are both feeling good and look great. We are so glad to live so close to them. Last week I got beef jerky for changing some light bulbs, a great trade.

2008-09-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went with the scouts on a 20 mile hike through Zions National Park. The boys needed to do a 20 miler to finish their hiking merit badge. The views were great and the sky was absolutely clear. Bishop Lance Greer attended with us and was a great support for the boys.

The hike took nearly 12 hours (average trail time from the trail guide was 10); we hiked from 9am to 9pm. We set up a shuttle by leaving a car at the visitor’s center near the park’s west entrance. Then we went with the older boys in our ward (Varsity and Ventures) to stay the night at Lava Point Campground. The Older boys went through the Subway.

We stopped at Potato Hollow for lunch and a water refill. The views from the scenic portion of the cabin springs loop were great. We finish refrigerator cabin just as it was getting dark. We did the last mile by moon light, it was full and absolutely gorgeous.

I am really pleased with the character and effort the boys showed. This was an incredible feat that they will always be able to say they accomplished. The way they each over came their own personal obstacles during the trip make them wonderful examples to me.

Austin's skit

2008-09-10T19:04:00.001-07:00

Originally on 9/3/08

My cousin Austin made up this clever skit, based on http://askaninja.com Austin won his election! Great Job.

Bret

Our little one sure loves Cell phones

2008-09-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Our little one sure loves cell phones. This is the first night that she learned how to scoot. she would only do it for Dad's phone and for a potato chip wrapper/bag, but look at her move...

Bret

Jaycee Carroll

2008-09-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

How do NBA teams let this guy go? You can't tell me CJ Miles or a rookie Ronnie Brewer are any better. He led the team in rebounding many games too. Ask Morris Almond to rebound or set a pick and see what he says.

Jaycee Carroll Signs With Italian Team - Sports

secretly-ish I wanted to name VF "Carroll"

no pictures of Bret Originally 8/13/08

2008-09-10T18:57:00.001-07:00

Lori is convinced that everyone will think that she is married to her brother Rob, because he has the only picture of a man on the blog. So here is one of me on the Colorado in June. Lori wants family pictures from a pro soon... I can't blame her.

bret you got it go'in ohhnn

2008-09-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

Originally 8/8/08

This is a good Flight of the Condors video I liked.
Thanks. Matt Dotson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMjgSkfQPSY

2008-09-10T18:48:00.002-07:00

Originally 8/8/08

Last night while Lori was at her rehearsal, Villa and I stayed home. We were in a period of play time after her dinner when she started to do this weird tongue thing. She didn't want to do anything but lay there and stick out her tongue. She did this for about a half hour, and then for about 20 more minutes today. Check out the video it was pretty funny to me. Bret

2008-09-10T18:48:00.001-07:00

originally 8/6/08

Faye and I just got back from Mt. Home, ID where we visited my brother Rob and his family. We had a great time. Faye loved to play with the boys and little doggy. Here are a couple photos and a great Beatles tribute.

I love the fan fare before the chorus...

2008-09-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

While Lori was out of town I took the oppritunity to do some hiking/backpacking. I tried to do the Dan Springs loop. I did about 4 miles in and missed the turn off for the loop. I had to back track some and spent the night @ spirit springs. The springs seemed to be running very strong for this time of year.

I made the trip up to Dans spring from from 4pm to 8 and down from Spirit Spring from 6am to 8. It was about 2 miles into Spirit Spring. You can see it on the Map... Spirit is in the deepest ravine between Dan Spring and Oak Grove (the trial head). I also crossed a heavy flowing Colombine Spring .5 miles from Oak Grove Corral.

I think I will take the scouts on this one. It took a while to find a place free of scrub oak large enough for the troop to camp in, but there is a good palce .5 miles beyond Spirit Springs, on top of a ridge before Dan Springs (which was not wet at all).

I get pictures later.

Bret

View Larger Map

2008-09-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

This summer has been great.

Lori has been busy with Primary, Cub scouts and now rehearsing for the musical "The Secret Garden". She is also the dialect coach for the show! She knows cockney from welsh!!!
Scoutmaster Bret took the scouts whitewater river rafting in Moab, UT on the Colorado River. He also has been teaching shotguns, canoeing, hiking and environmental science.

Villa loves to play with other kids, except when they steal her "busy bee" (Best in Show reference just for Uncle Bob) watch her tip her buddy over when he takes her toys...

We had a great time with the Snows and Jim Olsen family in Pine Valley for the 24th. Villa wore a pioneer outfit and cousin Parker was in the games. Grandma and Grandpa are such great hosts and Gpa Snow was a speaker at the festivities!Cody, Kim, Holland, Lori and Bret all went golfing while Jim and Lori babysat. Parker and Aiden are such handsome little guys, especially when they flex their muscles.

It was great to see Al, Nancy, Andee and Kelly (www.andeeandkellyhellstrom.blogspot.com) they are a lot of fun.

Work for Bret is good and Lori loves to be Villa's playmate.

God bless...

4th of July

2008-09-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

We had a great fourth. We played at the park with Floyd and Marilyn, and watched fireworks with Bruce, Susan (lori's uncle and aunt), Floyd, Marilyn, Deaun (lori's aunt), and Rich at Bruce's house in LaVerikin. Lori and Bret went to the driving range, and Bret did flags with the scouts. Villa is beginning to roll everywhere. Clear across rooms, around corners and down hall ways.

We don't have lots of news, but we do have some good pictures.

Wilkinson visitors from Colorado

2008-09-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

In June Marilyn and Floyd had four visitors from Colorado:
Amanda
Stephanie
Mitch and
Jake

We got to kidnap the kids a couple of times. Once we went camping and then to the Lake the next morning to cliff jump and snorkel. We got to feed our card game addiction while Jake took a nap in the hammock. We had allot of fun, especially Villa. She would laugh, show her two teeth and scream for joy whenever the cousins would be over to play. We really loved their visit and are grateful to Mike and Michelle for letting them come and hang-out.

First Ever Blog

2008-09-10T17:43:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone:

We have had a great Spring. St George got an In'n out burger. It's official, St. George is now a part of Southern California. We went and it was just as good as Barstow I suppose.

We spent Easter weekend with Family here in town. We went hiking with Arti, and Cody/Kim and family to the Red Cliffs Pools. There were a ton of people and the water was very cold. Then we had Sunday dinner with Floyd and Marylin Wilkinson. LM and I spoke in church for Easter, what a nerve racking experience. There are pictures attached of a sleepy VF and an Easter bunny, and hike pictures.

For conference we went to Pine Valley with Lori Snow and just relaxed. Bob and Sharon were there too, and we enjoyed their company.

For Mothers Day we refurbished the floor in Marylin's front room. The 2 day project quickly became a 4 day one, but we learned lot and they look alright. We then went to Pine Valley to spend the weekend with Grandparents Stan and Betty Snow. Holland came with and on Friday night we went to our ward's Fathers and Sons held west of town in a pasture, we were sure to be home for the Jazz game. Lori Snow arrived on Saturday and we all played Dominoes and watched golf. Sunday Jim arrived and we had dinner, chicken wings and some great salads and Crowshaw's pie. Everybody trickled out later that afternoon. We really are glad to have the Snows back for the Summer.

VF is beginning to teeth. She kicks and giggles most the time and is a very good baby. She loves shiny toys and Jazz games. She is about 15 pounds now (5 months in a week). She thinks her uncle Holland is hilarious, loves the vacuum cleaner and really enjoys bath time.

LM was recently called to be the 2nd councilor in the Primary. She is in charge of Cub Scouts and is learning to like it. She isn't working and is enjoying being a stay at home mom. He does watch another 5 month old, MX, for our friend Amy A. MX and VF usually have alternating eat, sleep, play schedules so she keeps ahead of them most of the time.

Bret was called to be the second councilor in the young-men's and the scoutmaster. He is excited about getting to do stuff with the older boys, but will miss primary, and blazer scouts. He has been planning a big river rafting trip to Moab this summer and is glad he didn't get released after he did lots of leg work to get it settled. He is contemplating graduate school, and took the LSAT (Law school entrance exam), but didn't get the score he wanted or needed. So there is still the GMAT (MBA school).

Summer plans are up in the air. Who knows how many vacation days Bret will have after scout camp, and youth conference. Memorial Day we will be in SLC to watch a Bees game (how about those Angels!?).

We hope everyone is doing well. We wish the best of luck to Andy, also to Bob! So many baby blessings, so little time congratulations Niki and Harmonie! Grandma Olsen, we hope you are feeling better! To all of you soon to be graduates or just graduated friends and family, we are proud of you!

Love Bret, LM and VF