Mt. Rushmore or Bust

In May, we took our first real family vacation for the three of us. We've been to Washington, Utah, and to some other places, but this time, it was just the three of us and we were so excited! Living in the panhandle of Nebraska, we kind of feel like we are far away from everything, and we are...except for Mt. Rushmore! It was only a 3 1/2 hour drive, so we knew we needed to go! We planned up our trip for weeks, asked our friends about what we should do when we were there, booked a little cabin, and waited for the day to arrive. Around that time, spring decided that it needed a vacation too, and we kept checking the weather, hoping our vacation days would be filled with sun, not rain. It didn't change...but we were ready anyway, and left for our fun-filled trip.

We were a little surprised (and worried) when we drove through this on our way there...

Our plan for our first day was to go straight to Mt. Rushmore and see everything, walk around town, and then go back to the cabin around dinner time to roast hot dogs and smores. Well, things didn't go that way. The snow slowed us down and we made multiple stops along the drive to give Jessica a break and every time we did, we noticed her diapers weren't holding up like we want them to. She went through three outfits that first day, and we were a little worried we were going to run out of clean clothes! So, instead, we went straight to our cabin, and were thrilled to find that it was only raining and spent a lazy afternoon together. Andrew's birthday was the next day, but Jessica and I decided he should open one present then, so he did. 

Then, we realized the weather might be worse tomorrow, so we might as well go visit Mt. Rushmore, so we loaded up our rain gear and headed out. The people at the parking entrance said the cloud was just starting to part so we should be able to see the Presidents, and we could...through the haze of the clouds.

We wanted to make sure Jessica was warm and dry, so she stayed in her stroller and we wrapped a huge bag around her (her body, not her head...don't worry). She was thrilled!

We took a few pictures and headed back to cook our hot dogs inside the cabin instead. It was a great, wet day, and we were so glad we were staying in our warm cabin and not in a cold tent. The rain was pouring all night, but miraculously, the next morning, the sun came out for a little bit, so we thought we'd try it again. We drove through some more rain on the way there, but the clouds seemed to part just for us, and this was the view we got that morning. What a difference!

Even though the sun was out when we got there, we were still expecting the rain to begin, so we had all of our rain gear and cold gear on and bundled up Jessica in plenty of layers (leggings, pants, long sleeves, winter coat, hat, gloves, and a blanket wrapped around her). We were able to hike the trail, go to the Visitor's Center, and take lots of pictures. Throughout all of this, our extra layers slowly came off as we were roasting! Jessica rode in our backpack carrier and loved it. Andrew made a top for it so she would be shaded...and to keep out the rain just in case.

After we saw all we wanted to see, we had a picnic lunch and headed into town. We'll post more on that later. 

Oh, but in case you were wondering if Jessica likes family vacations, well, just look at that grin below. She loved it!!! 

Mommy's Little Helper

Jessica is the greatest little helper in the world!

She loves to help me decorate...

 

She helps me make the bed...

She helps me fold all the laundry...

And throw it into the dryer (she is the perfect height for this job)...

And, she always picks up her books, toys, and spices when she is done playing with them...

I love my little helper! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

Happy Easter

The Olsen family is ready for Easter! We are excited for Jessica to celebrate her first one, and she has loved it so far...

Actually, Jessica only enjoyed dyeing the Easter eggs for a little bit. They were more fun to eat, so she got a little sad when we kept taking them away to dye them. But, when all else fails, just blow some bubbles and the day gets better immediately!

Happy Easter! We are excited to teach Jessica about the true meaning of Easter and we are so grateful for our Savior and His sacrifice for us. We know that He was risen and we know that He lives.

I'm sorry the video is cut off...I made it as small as possible, but I am not great at this blogging business. You can watch it here as well.

You Know Better Than I

"Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we wanted them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come." - Joseph F. Smith

I love this quote! We loved it so much, we put it on our adoption pass along card. It is so true...but it doesn't always make the waiting easier. Lately, I feel like so many around me, whether I know them well or not, are dealing with infertility, struggling after a miscarriage, waiting to be placed with a child, or dealing with a failed placement. My heart aches for them because I know how much it hurts. I remember those empty arms and how I longed to hold a child in them...our child. Even though I have similar struggles, I never seem to know what to say. Sometimes, life is just hard. I've never seen the movie, Joseph King of Dreams, but I remember hearing this song (You Know Better Than I) from it last year, and I loved it immediately! There were many days that I would listen to it over and over, hoping to really help me believe them and understand Heavenly Father's plan for me. I still don't always understand His plan, but I am trying to, and I do know that He does know better than me...always, no matter what trial or difficulty I may face.



To those who are struggling, I am sorry. I hope you will feel His love for you and find peace.

Here are the lyrics, in case you couldn't see them all in the squished video. I think they are by David Campbell.

I thought I did what's right

I thought I had the answers
I thought I chose the surest road
But that road brought me here

So I put up a fight
And told you how to help me
Now just when I have given up
The truth is coming clear

You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
For You know better than I

If this has been a test
I cannot see the reason
But maybe knowing
I don't know is part of getting through

I tried to do what's best
And faith has made it easy
To see the best thing i can do
Is put my trust in You.

For, You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
For You know better than I

I saw one cloud and thought it was a sky
I saw a bird and thought that I could follow
But it was You who taught that bird to fly
If I let You reach me
Will You teach me.

For, You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
I'll take what answers you supply
You know better than I

We Were Featured!

Our adoption story was featured on Colorado FSA's website! FSA is for Families Supporting Adoption, and well, it is a great thing! We love FSA, and even though we now live in Nebraska, we are actually still a part of the Colorado FSA. If you are reading this blog, you've probably already read Jessica's story, but here is another version if you'd like to read it too.

And We're Back...kind of

So, November was our last post, and it is now April. Wow...almost 6 months. Okay, well, here is the thing, we moved to Nebraska. Did you know? Not a lot of people did. And until recently, we have had free dial-up internet, which doesn't work for blogging, so we went away from the blogging world.

Anyway, I just added a couple to our Hoping to Adopt list so I figured I would throw in a little post so I don't have to feel bad. Oh, and by the way, Jessica will be 9 months tomorrow. Is that amazing or what?

And just so you know we really are alive and doing well, we will leave you with some recent pictures from our visit to the zoo. Enjoy! And I will try to return before November.

A Tale of Two Years

This year, I kind of felt like a slacker for Halloween. I had decorated early, but that was about it.

I didn't know what I was doing for Jessica's costume until the night before when we had our ward Halloween party. Mine wasn't even a costume...just random clothes I once bought at DI for a dance at BYU. Andrew's was a partial repeat of last year's. We didn't even carve our pumpkins although we had some from our garden.

But, then, on Halloween, we were taking pictures of Jessica with our pumpkins and I remembered that we took some similar ones last year, and I decided to go look up our pictures from last year. I realized that maybe I was slacking (or going crazy from getting ready to move), but either way, our pictures and adventures this Halloween are much better than last year's. What do you think?

2009

2010 

how can she be this cute??



I'm so glad Jessica likes pumpkins as much as we do.