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Very blessed to spend my birthday with my 4 biggest admirers!

Charlie's handy work with the camera

My best buddy!

Lincoln's a lover AND a fighter!

Lots of hugs and Eskimo kisses from Max

When it is time for bed or nap, Mr. Max says to me "lots a hugs, lots a hugs" over and over again until I peel away.

The boys had bought me a new camera a month ago as my present and let me open a new coffee mug and gift card to Barnes and Noble on my birthday.  Tim made homemade pizza and we enjoyed a really chocolaty cake.  Thanks to all of you for a wonderful birthday.

I was woke up by my dad at 5:15 with my 1st birthday message, followed by lots of others including an adorable pic from Izzy and Soph and a great phone conversation with my nephew Mak.  

I appreciated all of the calls (mom, tina, mary, heather, aunt colleen, and linda) emails, and messages.

We also had a pleasant surprise from Luke and Jake Banks who brought me dilly bars for my birthday!  I am looking forward to celebrating with my family in Rapid City very soon.  Birthdays aren't the same when you are not with your parents and siblings (my opinion).  My husband and sons make my day as special as ever though and for that I am grateful!  

Thank you EVERYONE for thinking of me as I get one year older :)

Roller Coaster?

I just wanted to let everyone know how we are doing and what we have been up to.  Tim's mom is now in remission and recovering.  She will stay in the hospital until her body is mostly back to "normal".  While she has been in the hospital, we have been working like crazy to make sure she will come home to a safe, serene, sanitized, and calming environment.  We don't want her to worry about anything but getting healthy again.  Tim feels like his compass has pointed him to the house and quiet visits with his mom.  He has tried to balance work, family, visits at the hospital, and house repairs for his mom.  This man is a machine!!  I am so proud of how he is handling the situation.  I think keeping busy is helping all of us cope with our emotions.  

Today, after finishing another weekend of work we ran to the hospital to visit Linda.  She has not seen the boys since she was admitted.  They put masks on and stood by the door so we didn't bring her any germs.  The boys were quietly observing the surroundings, sang Nama a song, and blew her lots of kisses.  They told her that her "hat" was pretty. :)  This road we have been on has been hard for them because they don't understand why Dad is absent etc, but they are handling it like champs.  We are teaching them a life lesson that my parents taught me when my Grandma Arlene was sick.  My mom was with her all the time, day and night taking care of her and her needs.  While my mom was doing that and dad was working, the five of us were taken to my Grandma Helen's house.  My dad tells us that we were crabby about the time we didn't have with our parents, which makes me sad (I was 7yr old).  Obviously we caught on to what they were teaching us...NO MATTER WHAT FAMILY IS ALWAYS 1ST!  Nama needs us now and that is where we need to be! 

I wanted to also mention here some of the many people that have helped us through the past month...

My parents, Uncle Terry, Aunt Colleen, Aunt Nancy, Heather and Aaron Banks for helping with our boys!

Marci and Dave Greisen, Ben and Natalie Baker, and Ben and Jeanne Oberle for "feeding us"!

Tate Mathiason, Jim Whittington, and ALL OF THE OLSONS/WHITTINGTONS/JERINS for helping on Linda's house updates and repairs!!

And of course, all of you wonderful friends and family that have constantly kept in touch with phone calls, cards, emails,caring bridge messages, etc with your prayers and kind thoughts.  Even if there isn't anything new for us to report on Linda's condition, it is still great to hear that people are still praying for her and thinking of us.

This was the end of this weekend (2 days at Nama's working wore them out)

Still making time for bike rides

Grandma to the rescue.  My mom stayed with us for a week to clean, cook, play, cuddle, and boysit so we could make trips to the hospital.

This was our hike yesterday at Nama's trail.  They were so restless so while Tim was painting I took them on a hike and yes we got lost!

One of our many trips to the library for storytime

This was yesterday.  This never happens but the boys worked so hard yesterday at Nama's that Max fell asleep while sitting up watching a show!  His head hit the pillow at 6:30 and he didn't move!

Papa's turn to rescue us!  The boys were crazy about Papa getting here!

 out for pizza at lunch

We are blessed to be supported in the hard times.  It helps us feel like everyone is going to come out on top, ESPECIALLY NAMA!!  

16th Annual Jon R. Olson Tournament

Monday was a great day for us!  Tim told his mom that his team would take the win home for her this year and....THEY DID!  We were so excited to hear that they beat everyone with 13 under par!  He had his original team back together this year and it couldn't have been better.  Tate, Chuck, and Ben, thank you for being there for Tim every step of the way!  My team consisted of Sheena (Chuck's wife), Jess (Tate's wife), Heather (Tim's sister) and myself.  We had a blast and I have to say we have gotten so much better over the years. :) 

Tim and I went to see Linda yesterday at the hospital to tell her about Tim's win.  With tears in her eyes and a yelp escaping her lips, she made Tim grin all night long.  She is so proud of "all her boys" and tickled pink that they won for her.  I don't think Tim will forget the reason that smile found her face once again.

MY TEAM!

Sheena Lucht, Jess Mathiason, Heather Jerin, and ME

Ready to hit the course with Heather

The only time we saw the boys but they were in the zone

Sheena and Jess 

The 2012 winners.  

Ben Oberle, Tate Mathiason, Chuck (Andy) Lucht, and Tim

Our 2 teams after the tournament.  Can't wait for next year!  Love you guys!

Congratulations Becky and Joe!

After spending a year in a war zone, we were overjoyed to see Becky Marie Zenzen come home and get married!!  We are so proud of her and couldn't have been happier to see her marry the man of her dreams.  Papa, Grandma, Aunt Tina and boyfriend Jason came with us to the wedding and reception.  It was an absolute blast and a weekend to remember.  

Grandma and Lincoln waiting for the bride

Papa, Max, and Yoda behaving in church

Jason and Christina happy...

Mother of the bride - Auntie Kathy waiting for her daughter to walk down the aisle

The beautiful bride Becky!  Gorgeous!

The "I Dos"

Becky and Joe sealing it with a kiss

Time to Party!  Linc and Aunt Tina

This man holds my heart!

Cousin Sarah and Tina having a ball

The groom Joe and new mother in law Kathy rockin' and rollin'

Tina and Tim doing what they do best

Love you sister!  Amazing night for us

Mom came back downstairs after helping with the boys to dance with us a bit.

This cute couple will say their "i dos" next summer (Sarah and Josh)

We love you Becky!  So happy for you and your future

Tina and Jason

Josh and Sarah (quite the night)

Haggars

Uncle Terry and Aunt Colleen came down for a visit while Papa, Gran, and Tina were here for Becky's wedding.  We had a great night playing games and having a few drinks.

Great Aunt Colleen with Charlie and Max

Max helping Tina open birthday presents

Great Uncle Terry and Lincoln make one heck of a team

DEFENSE!

Papa refinished one of Grandma Arlene's tables for Uncle Terry.  It looks amazing!

Time for yard games with Papa!

"This is how it's done!"

The One and Only NAMA!

Nama aka Linda aka Mom O. has been fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia for three weeks now.  The docs discovered this when she had her shoulder surgery blood work done.  She has just completed her second week of chemo, giving her a week break between treatments.  She is at United Hospital in St. Paul.  They will do another bone marrow biopsy in a week to see if they got all the cancer.  You can keep up with her story and her condition through the Caring Bridge site her kids have set up.  They are each taking turns visiting and updating the site -  http://www.caringbridge.org/ (site name is lindaolson2).  All the prayers are needed, appreciated, and working!  She is unable to have live plants/flowers in her room but cards are wonderful!

About 2 weeks ago the Olsons got together at Linda's house to get it ready for when she does return home from the hospital.  Her grandchildren had a blast being there but missed their Nama dearly.  Here are some pics of the day.  

Charlie and Claire playing games.

Max and Karlie enjoying water play

Sprinklers with all 6 kiddos!

Lincoln and Avery

Charlie showing support for Nama

"MAD KID in the fight against Leukemia because it messed with someone I love"

Max says "Somebody I Love this much needs a cure"

Linc says "This kid supports Leukemia awareness"