April 2010: The Olers head to Disneyland

The past month has been so full and so exciting.

I remember clearly when Jerry was called as Bishop,
the counsel of our Stake President was
to be sure and spend time away as a family several times a year.


Wow...sounded great, but we have never been the 'vacationing' family.

We are always the ones helping others enjoy their
vacations by hosting them in our home as they enjoyed the
events or sights of Utah.



However, this year was to be different.
Thanks to Disney's "Give a day, get a day" program we were
able to receive a free day at Disneyland.

So at the beginning of April
we loaded up the suburban and headed to California - via Vegas of course.


We had a wonderful trip.
Jerry came back rested and renewed.

The kids and I really enjoyed having him to ourselves for a whole week!!!


The kids LOVED every minute of it, and so did I
(Insert huge grin here)

Well, after all that...I still didn't get more consistent. Here it is a month later and
I must now admit...
it wasn't only the lost camera or lack of fun photos holding me back.


If I am completely honest, I think the reason I hesitate
to write more often, is that the things I want most to write about may prove to
be embarrassingly personal to my family.

I remember reading an excerpt somewhere of Stephen Covey's writings'
on the habits of highly effective families.
It was good. It was true. It was hard to live up to...

One of the things I decided really applied to me was that I needed
to work hard on applying the habit of being loyal
to my children. Not loyal in the manner of loving them more than
all others - I mean, I've got that part down...believe me! I over-adore them.

No, that's not what challenged me.

It was to be loyal to them in keeping their confidences.
Yikes. Much harder!

When they go through struggles, so do I ... And the way I best
start to resolve struggles, is to share them with others and gather advice and
yes, even a little sympathy.

Hmmm....I now need to resolve within myself that whatever
I share via this blog is personal enough to remain interesting, yet private
enough to keep the trust of my children.

A delicate balance indeed.

...to be continued

I keep waiting for fabulous photos, or perhaps for milestone events,
in order to post something on this blog.
But I've decided that I can write a little here and there
even if there is nothing momentous going on...even if there are
no batteries in the camera.

This blog is about a year old now and I suppose it has been a little
disappointing thus far to readers. However,
I have had an epiphany, and shall no longer worry about all that.
I will simply write what I can when I can without any
guilt about doing less or more than I feel I can.
In this way, growing older is quite wonderful.
It is really a very freeing experience when you finally feel you
can dictate the whats and whens of your life.
Of course, I still have six kids living at home, so life is
not really all that free yet-ha.
But I can truly say: I love my life, and I love my age,
and life is generally very good!

Until next time....

Sorry the picture is so fuzzy...but we had a great Family Home Evening with the Logans' and the Su'aFilos'!

January 2010

Anna (Jarom's girlfriend), Jarom, Aunty Candida, Nate, Lauren
January 2010

Sequoia came out of his open heart surgery healthy, strong, and way ahead of schedule, so we got together to celebrate before the Logans' had to go back to Hawaii.

A few fall pictures...

Lauren and her friends from her old High School: Brooklyn and Jessica.
Brenz played for the 10th grade Westlake Thunder!
Ammon and Deighton and our preschool class on a Fall field trip.

In the Garden...

Checking out the map...as if!

So this has to be the worst photo ever...ha.

Deighton got soaked playing on Noah's Ark...Amona was a little more cautious.

Ah Nate...This was the day we were on our way to check him into the BYU dorms.

I love that I caught the little boys' feet in this photo. They were so thrilled with the way the fish would almost jump up at us to get the fish food pellets we were dropping into the water. There were bullfrogs on the lily pads too...just didn't get any on camera. Fun place to spend a summer afternoon. (Thanksgiving Point Gardens)

They're a crazy bunch, but we love them! We all love Anna, and are jealous of the time Jarom gets to spend with her - ha

Just hanging out on the porch on a warm summer evening...

Elder....

Well we haven't sent any of our own off into the mission field yet, but we've been able to experience the joy of it through other loved ones. Lot's of friends and family throughout the years have stayed at the Oler homestead for the nights preceding the MTC check in! We now have three nephews serving full time missions. Number three to go was none other than the very cool Elder Ephraim Manumaleuna. You gotta love this kid! He is so full of life, and was really prepared to serve. He already has a great work ethic established. He will honorably follow in the footsteps of his cousin (Ramon) and brother (Eathyn). Here are some pics for you all to enjoy :)
Sam Logo, AJ Logo, Penny Anae, and Tirae.

Two little monkeys!

Tirae, Faamika, Penny, Sam, Ammon, Elder Manumaleuna, AJ, Greg Unga, Uncle Jerry, Deighton

Today is the day!

Relaxing after Ephraim's Family Home Evening Lesson.

Cuzzies.

It's been almost three years, but no more braces!

Well you can't really tell that she had a tooth growing out of the side of her gum and all the bottom ones were crooked...he he he

She was so excited to get braces...even when she knew they would be on forever. This is about a year into the process.

The camera died after taking this photo so I cannot get anything better to show you, but her teeth look great in real life - ha. And it only took three years! lol

It's been a busy few weeks....

We said goodbye to Grandpop. It was such a great visit we hated to see him leave. I was kinda down for a while after he left...more homesick than I had been in years. Sad.

We wrapped up our T-Ball season. Our team was actually reeeeaaaalllly good! Even if I do say so myself - ha.

Umm...I don't know how to rotate ! Ha...help me Carly! This is my beautiful niece Carly. Lauren and I attended her baby shower. It was so fun and so great to see Carly and Sherrie again. Love love love them!

A visit to the Hogle Zoo with Julie's Grandbabies. It was so wonderful to have Christina, Kyle, Chanele, and Julie with us. The kids are so gorgeous - they won over everyone's hearts. Symone is missing from this picture though...

Big ambitious Eagle Project of painting the U.S. map on the playground of the new school. Julie and her clan extended their trip just to help us. Thanks so much you guys! The neighbors turned up also. Thank goodness. The weather rained off the first attempt..ha. This was take two later that day when the sun finally came out to stay~

BYU

At the end of the day Dad took the kids bike shopping...so spoiled!
This is where it's all gonna be happening for Nate! Can't believe it's almost here.
Subway at the Cougareat. Yumm.
I think Ammon could create something like this, no problemo! (Art exhibit on display)
The "I Spy" artwork on display. The kids (all of them) loved it :)


Monday we took Dad down to BYU to see where Nate will be attending school in a couple of months. While there, we toured the art museum and then had subway for lunch. Afterwards Dad took the kids bike shopping...he bought them new bikes! They have been loving it!! So spoiled.

Tibble Fork Resevoir

Fun times watching Jarom fishing at Tibble Fork Resevoir up American Fork Canyon. It was cooler up there. There was even a summer rainstorm with the big drops of water bouncing off the lake - we got a little wet, but the tree we were under did a reasonable job of keeping us from getting saturated. It was very busy up there, but the views still made it seem peaceful. Dad enjoyed seeing the critters all over the place...they were like ground squirrel things. Fun.