Family Mottos

7 Aug 2010

We are so excited for our new jobs. Jared says that he thinks it's cool that he gets to be a professional nerd. Tyler recently learned about mottos and has been asking us about our personal mottos all week. I posted them to the right (on the side bar). Now I want to know what your mottos are. Think of your motto and leave it in the comments.

Here is a picture of Derek watching a Nova special on dinosaurs with feathers. He really sat there and watched it for the whole hour. It was so cute.

Jobs Jobs Jobs, For All The Unemployed Slobs!

6 Aug 2010

We got jobs! Yay! Today Jared and I were both offered jobs at Mary Harper Middle School in Dilley, TX. I'm going to be teaching 7th grade math and Jared will be teaching 6th grade science. We are so glad that things are working out! And actually, after we accepted those jobs, we got two more job offers at Floresville High School! Can you believe it? We're so flattered. We took the middle school job even though it was a little further away because the high school job had required summer teaching and we really want to have next summer off. Jared got his orders last week and they indicate that he will be granted an honorable separation from the Air Force and relieved of the remained of his 3-year commitment on the 13th (Friday the 13th..ooooooh). That's supposed to be our first day of teaching so it looks like everything is working out perfectly.

Question: Where is Dilley? Answer: Half way to Mexico. I'm not kidding. It's about 70 miles southwest of where we live in San Antonio. It's a pretty long drive (just over an hour) but we're going to make the best of it. We're looking into trading our big Ford for a little Prius. It has 5 seatbelts so it will be fine for us and the three kids right? Truth is, that it would get 3x the gas mileage of our current car and the gas savings alone would be enough to make a car payment.

I searched high and low for pictures of the school and the city to put up for you, but Dilley is really small and there aren't many pictures on the internet. Maybe it's best - the school looks like a post-war era government building that you might see in Salina or Fayette, UT. I think they said that the town's population is 2,500 not including the inmates at the State Pen. The whole middle school only has 160 students and shares a cafeteria with the elementary school and the high school. We will each have 7 classes with 6-20 students in each class. We met with the principal, the assist. principal, a couple teachers, the superintendent and lots of district staff and they all seemed so nice and supportive. Some of the other schools I've interviewed at were up-tight and a little intimidating. These guys are all friendly and relaxed and we really like it.

This picture of a gas station was on the Wikipedia website. I know. It's a really nice gas station. I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was the "Best" gas station in "Tex"as.

Okay. This watermelon statue is a big deal I guess. It's all over the city website and from the looks of it, they decorate it all up for Christmas. Town motto (that I just made up):

"Dilley. We love us some watermelon."

Thank you so much everyone for your prayers and support. This is a really big deal for us and we're excited to start this new adventure. We love you all and hope that we can see you soon.

Dogs and Frogs

Sue's mom Pam is in town to babysit the kids while their parents look for jobs. Pam's presence has been a true blessing, we couldn't have done anything without her around! She's also teaching us about our local Fauna. We found a frog the size of a baseball in the driveway, and Pam showed us that you can pick it up by lifting under its arms.




Just for the record, we don't normally pick up our frogs.

Ralphie heard all the commotion, but he couldn't quite fit under the gate at the side of the house, so he just watched from afar.

Poor puppy.

Happy Birthday Pam, Harry and Paige

31 Jul 2010

Happy Birthday Mom! We love you so much. Thank you for being such a great grandma and friend. We hope that this was a great day for you and that we will see you soon. (Holly says that she wants some more eye drops.)

Also, Happy Birthday to Harry Potter and Happy Belated Birthday to Paige Brianne Tucker. This little cutie is Jeff and Rebecca Tucker's baby (Jared's sister). She was born on June 8th. I love how she's already learning how to escape from her annoying clothes.

I really want to see this cute little baby but Jeff and Rebecca are moving to London, England in September and so I probably won't be able to see them any time soon. That makes me sad. But, I did make this blessing dress for them and that makes me happy. Lots of luck you guys! Keep your blog updated so we can all see your adventures in the Motherland.

Suzie's Family Favorites

30 July 2010

My cousin jenny sent me some old family pictures this week. I don't know where she got them (if it was from you Mom, then thank you so much) but some are pretty funny. Here are a few of my favorites.

Grandpa Olsen doing his impression of James Bond.

Grandma Olsen doing her impression of a Halloween witch.

Dad doing his impression of Kevin.

Mom doing an even better impression of Kevin.

The Devil Wears...Thomas?

27 July 2010

Holly loves to copy us. She pulls things out of the bathroom drawer and pokes my toes with them. At dinner she begs to eat the same food we are - not just the same type of food, the same actual food from our plates. She brushes her hair with my comb. She tries to wrestle with the boys. And last but not least, she loves to put our clothes on her body. Once I found my bra slung around her neck and Jared's sock pulled over her foot and all the way up her leg. Today she did this and was more than willing to pose for several photos. I thought Derek would be mad but he thought it was hilarious. I think it's so cute that the boys love their little sister so much. They fight with each other all the time, but they have nothing but love and tenderness for this sweetie-pie cuddle-muffin. (You should be able to click the picture to make it bigger.)

Cooking Camp

Tyler attended Cooking Day Camp for 3 days this week. Our budget was a little tight, and we didn't think he'd be able to go, but he collected donations from Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents until he had enough (combined with money from his own bank) to go. We have quite the little entrepreneur (or possibly televangelist) on our hands! The class focused on baking, and he made cookies (day 1), breads (day 2), and pies (day 3). One of Tyler's favorite activities was piping whipped cream on a chocolate-caramel pie. He said his favorite thing to eat at camp was 'whoopie-pie,' which is actually an oreo-type cookie.

Tyler came home with a love of baking, and is looking forward to making delicious baked goods to send to all those who helped make it possible!



Tyler is helping to fill a muffin-tin.

Shredding cheese for Cheddar English Muffins.

Tyler became good friends with the boy who is sitting next to him. He had just moved to SA with his family from Hong Kong, and his mom enrolled him in Young Chefs Academy hoping he'd make a friend. They exchanged numbers (after introducing their parents to each other), and they hope to have a play-date soon!

Personally, I just hope Tyler bakes us some bread soon, because Derek is getting sick of using hotdog buns for his PB&Js.

Enough is Enough!

21 Jul 2010

Here is a cute picture of Holly.

Here is a not so cute picture of her mom. I love eating and being home with my food all day has not done my body good. I need some motivation. So, Jared took this picture and I'm posting it for all to see. I'm pretty embarrassed. However, we are coming to Utah for Christmas and by then, I want to look a lot different. Hopefully the idea of showing up at my mom's house looking like this will be enough to keep me out of the kitchen. Wish me luck!

Also, I just got this haircut today. It's super nice in the heat. I'm hoping that after I lose weight I won't look so old.

Sunday Lunch

18 July 2010

I feel bad that I haven't been taking many pictures lately so I haven't had many new blog posts. We're still working on getting jobs. We both have an interveiw with an alternative high school on Tuesday. They only have one math postition open, but we're hoping that somehow a miracle will allow us to both get jobs at the same school. Cross your fingers.

Tyler had tons of fun at cub scout day camp. They went for four days (home each night) and did archery, pellet guns, swimming, crafts, skits, and animal fun with the Sea World folks (how cool is that?). I didn't stay with him all day so we don't have any pictures, but you can believe me that they had a good time. I drove a car pool each day and I always made sure to have Sonic slushies waiting for my boys in the car at the end of the day. It made me a very popular ride and since I let Tyler pick who got to ride in our car, it made Tyler a very popular boy ;)

Jared is recovering from his hernia surgery just fine. He has three one inch long cuts on his stomach but they're mostly healed up. On Friday, the glue came off one and it opened up. We hurried to the hospital and they glued him back up in a jiffy. I guess they don't like stitches in Afgahnistan so the military doctors glue all the wounds closed. It's a really good idea.

Having Jared home so much has made me very lazy lately. He has completely taken over dish duty, garbage duty and most of laundry duty. All I have left is cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming and cooking. Now he's started cooking too. I have to admit, the kids really like the food he makes. Derek's new best friend is a hot dog that he named Octodog before he ate it. Poor Octodog. He had a good & hot, albeit short, life.

The New Dog Door

15 July 2010

Since we're getting ready to go back to work this Fall, we figured it would be good to put in a doggy door so that Ralphie can get outside while we're gone. After a little research we decided on this sliding door panel thing. Ralphie is still a little hesitant to use it without encouragement, but others in the family have taken to it quite well. Note that after I made this video I found my cell phone outside in the rosemary bush.