The Olson Family: July 2012

Sunday, July 1, 2012

2012 (not so annual) Girls Trip.

When we went on our girls trip in 2010 to Seattle...we swore we would make it an annual thing. That didn't quite happen. But we did go almost exactly 2yrs later. Mandi wasn't able to come with us this year so me and Tanya hit the road ourselves. Mandi isn't quite as into pop culture as we are so we figured since she couldn't go, we might as well do a trip she would miss less...so we went to Los Angeles!:)

We went to a taping of the Jimmy Kimmel show while we were there. No cameras are allowed inside so pictures of his signs outside were the best we got. It was so much fun. I'm not sure if Jimmy is a bit of a diva, or was just running late that day or something but he didn't come out and talk to the audience at all. He showed up, did his stuff and took off...also, he doesn't look it, but he is super skinny in real life.

Sorry for the blurry photo, we were taking pictures in between people walking on the sidewalk and had to be quick.

The El Capitan Theater where Jimmy Tapes.

Graumans Chinese Theater.

Don't underestimate our ability to find something Twilight related anywhere we go!!

We took a tour of Warner Bros Studio

This cabin is used as the outside shot for Merlottes. I am keeping mum on what Merlottes is, but if you know then great:)

Also, I've decided I can't stand next to Tanya in pics anymore because the height difference just makes me look like I'm with one of my kids:)

This house, well the stairs and landing just inside the door...is where the famous prom video episode of Friends was filmed.

The tour guide told us that Friends has been off the air for 9yrs but still makes the network over a billion a year! That's cuz it's the best show ever!

These next 6 photos? The highlight of my trip!!:)

This menu changed every episode, this is how it read on the last episode of the show.

Where Ellen films her show. We decided we have to go back sometime in the fall to catch all the shows that were on hiatus while we were there.

It was such a fun tour. We saw so much more stuff but you are very limited as to where you can take pictures. We were able to tour the set of The Big Bang Theory but couldn't take pics because it's an active set. We also saw a museum with all the actual costumes from movies and tv shows. That was fun because it gave perspective on how big all the actors are, you can never tell on tv.

We went to a taping of The Tonight Show while we were there. Again, no cameras allowed but Jay was kind enough to have a cardboard cut out for pics:) He was a really cool guy, came out before the show and talked to us, took pics with a bunch of people. It was so much fun.

We were trying to get a picture of the roller coaster as it went overhead cuz I was so brave and rode the roller coaster on the Santa Monica Pier...that's a BIG deal for me:)

Hanging out at The Grove. We were so sad to find out that Extra was on hiatus while we were there:(

And we drove down Sunset Blvd just to get a picture of The Viper Room:) (just ignore the random pedestrian caught in our photo)

Trying to get home...trying being the important word there. We spent ALL DAY at LAX trying to get on a flight (standby tickets are great for the wallet but not for actually getting home) after 8ish hours we realized we were not going to get out of LA on a plane. So we rented a car and drove to the Vegas airport. Thanks to an accident at Stateline, it took a looong time to get there. We got there in time to try and grab an hour or so of sleep before returning the car and catching an early flight home. We were exhausted and grumpy but we made it! It seems like getting home from these trips is always an adventure.

I brought these home for the kids and it was soo funny when they ate them. I don't think they realized what they were until Devin put an earwax one in his mouth:) Then they just made Peter try them all and tell them if they really tasted like vomit etc... :)

Our photo from our WB tour. We stood in front of a green screen and they put us by the Harry Potter train. My kids thought it was pretty cool, I told them I was actually by the train:)

Spring Craziness!

So spring is always insane at our house. More so than usual this year because the boys did more sports than usual. Devin did soccer and baseball. Hadley did soccer and baseball but he also made the accelerated baseball team so he was on 3 different teams. Between the two boys we had 9 practices and 8 games a week for two months! Plus school, and scouts and all that regular life stuff. It was crazy here! I tried to get on to blog a few weeks ago but found that Blogger had changed it's set up and I didn't have time to figure it out, I'm still not sure I have:) None of the pictures are in any sort of order (I finally had their old picture loading figured out and they changed it)

Lexi graduated from her little preschool class. She still has one more year of preschool though thanks to her fall birthday.

Hadley getting up to bat for his Blue Jays team.

These were the teacher gifts I made for the kids' teachers this year,

the next picture is a close up of the card

Devin up to bat on his Braves team.

Hadley had a down syndrome boy on his Blue Jays team. at the end of their last game

they let him hit and the whole team lined up to give him high fives on his way to home base.

the other team played along, over throwing the ball and letting him get all the way home,

it was sooo cute, made me cry!

Devin waiting to run home

Devin going after a ball

Devin's 3 best friends were baptized, sadly I can't find his picture with Nate

but this is him with Brigham and Tyler. Such a good group of boys!

Devin made the Allstar team at the end of the season, this is him at closing ceremonies

with his trophy and goodies.

Closing ceremonies was held at Deseret Peak and the kids thought

it was so fun to go swimming at night afterwards.

Devin and his friend Tyler after their last soccer game. They are so hard to tell apart when they are on the same team. They are the same height, the same build and the same coloring and even us and Tyler's parents get them mixed up:) Their basketball coach finally quit putting them in at the same time cuz she couldn't tell them apart:)

Hadley getting instructions from his coach before heading up to bat for his accelerated team.

Hadley leading off the last Stansbury cheer after their last accelerated game.

It was such a fun season, he had some great coaches.

Lexi had Birthday parties with friends....

And started her first dance class...she doesn't look excited at all:)

Peter unpacking his new "toy", he has wanted a pitching machine for years and he finally got it. I went on a girls trip last week and he wanted it so he could play with the boys while I was gone.

He claims it's "for the boys" yeah right:)

Many days spent at the lake, where the boys have decided they are brave

enough to jump off the bridge this year.

And that was a snippet of our crazy lives this spring. It is so much fun, one of my favorite times of the year. All sports, including Allstars is finally over now though so I'm excited to have a few weeks of nothing...then I'm sure I will be bored and ready for school/sports to start back up!:)