The Olsens: Our Bonneville Runs on Sunshine!

Chicken on a bike

2011-02-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Hiedi on the bike.

Airplane pictures

2011-02-06T11:27:00.001-07:00

I love my Flight Instructing job. Here are some pictures from some of my flights. I really wish I had brought a camera for all my flights, cause I could have had some really neat pictures.

Building the Coop

2010-09-26T14:03:00.000-06:00

This is the Chicken Coop that I have been building! I still have a lot of work to do, but It has come a long way. So far everything that it is built out of was all free stuff, except the metal roof panals. (I got stuff from the city clean up garbage piles, left over stuff from neighbors, paint from the junk yard...) It has been interesting to build, because I had to use what ever I could find and kind of piece it together like a puzzle. It has been fun.

The purply pink color on the coop is actually exterior primer. I got it for free from the dump, and thought it was white. Ha, it was pinkish purple! I am going to paint over it. It is just primer. The light grey is a really tough exterior paint i got from the dump as well.

Toby in the Truck

2010-09-26T13:52:00.000-06:00

Nicole took this photo of Toby in Malaki's toy truck.
I love it.

Malaki's Fun Summer Afternoon

2010-07-25T17:33:00.007-06:00

One of Malaki's favorit things to do is play in the water. I think the only things Malaki likes more are basketball, kitties, and trucks. These pictures are from Sunday, July 17, when Scott took Malaki outside and let him run around with the sprinkler. After the fun in the water, Mom made Malaki a smoothie.

To finish off a wonderful summer day, we had gingerbread waffles with berries and whipped coconut cream! YUM!

Malaki's First Birthday

2010-07-18T23:03:00.016-06:00

Happy Birthday Malaki!! This year has been a blast and has flown by!

"I'm number 1!!"

Yes, this is the face of amazement! Dan Zanes books!!!

We gave Malaki the greatest Birthday party! We had balloons, balls, and bubbles. The atmosphere was perfect! Our yard was a paradise for a 1 year old.

We also got Malaki's favorite foods. We had hummus, pita, dolmas, falafel, rice, and fruits and vegies of all sorts.

Nicole baked a really neat cake. It was a strawberry and blueberry coconut flour cake. It was really tastey. No sugar, no wheat, and no dairy. When Mandy brought the cake out, we all sang "happy birthday". He got really shy and snuggled mom. He quickly got over being shy, and grabbed and ate one of the berries.

He loves to share his food. He is sharing his strawberry with Kennedy.

Nicole also made a really neat "ice cream" It too was sugar and dairy free. It was a mango strawberry ice cream made with coconut milk. It seriously was amazing.

Cake and Ice Cream Time!!

When we sat him in his chair he laughed and laughed. He looked up at the balloons and laughed. He was also so excited to have a bite of his cake and ice cream.

He insistsed on feeding himself. As well as everyone within arms reach.

The party was great. We were so pleased that so many wonderful people came to celebrate our little Malaki.

After the party he was exhausted, and WAY excited to get into bed. Here he is when we took him into the bedroom. He rolled around and squealed with delight.

After about a half an hour of trying to sleep, we realized he was too wound up from the party. We decieded to relax with a stroll through the neighborhood with some left over pita. Here he is kicked back and relaxed. What a wonder way to end a magical day.

The Boy and the Bonneville

2010-07-18T22:53:00.004-06:00

While listening to the radio a couple months ago I heard about a good deal for a brand new windsheild for $130. The add said it was only for select models though. I took my chances and called to see if I could replace the windshield on the 66 Bonneville for that price. Luckly, the Bonneville was one of the "select models". So I pulled the car out of Nancis garage, got the windshield, and parked it in our yard. Now all it needs is a radiator and we can get her back on the road.

The gas in the Bonneville has been there for like 5 years, so I am trying to start it up and drive it around abit to burn off the gas before it goes rancid. When I go fire it up, I bring Malaki with me. He loves it! He puts the key in the ignition and turns it. He gets all excited and makes cute noises. He loves driving around the yard. He plays with the steering wheel. Which is kind of a problem when I am trying not to crash into things. It is tons of fun. You can see in the bottom picture, he is putting the key in the ignition and firing it up!

Compost!

2010-07-18T22:44:00.003-06:00

Nicole is awesome! She decided that we should try composting this year. So far it has been a sucsess. Next year we are going to have a lot of compost for our garden. The picture isn't that great, that big pile is from our kitchen waste and yard waste through out the year. It has been kind of tricky to turn at times. I have had some problems with the grass clippings turning into big hard clumps, but I am finding out if I mix the grass in, it turns out better that if I just throw it on top.

Some New Old Pictures

2010-06-18T09:35:00.016-06:00

Berry Time!! In January

Nice Boots Miss K!

February = Kitty Love.

We played the drums and sang our heads off!

Anything stick-like was a favorite toy. Grandma Chris' cane was the BEST!

Malaki's First Apple!

2010-01-10T18:18:00.005-07:00

Malaki had his first apple the other day! He loved it. He mostly just gummed it, but every now and then you could hear his new little tooth biting into it. Today, Nicole got an apple for herself and Malaki took it away and ate that one too!

Holiday Photos!

2010-01-10T17:51:00.011-07:00

Go Katy! Ring that bell!

On Christmas eve we rang the Christmas Bells. We made dreams come true. Mandy was helping Malaki with his bell.

Malaki and Grandma Chris Spendlove (don't tell Chris we published her picture!)

Malaki and Kylee

Malaki LOVED his new stacker toy he got for Christmas. When he first got it he sat and played for a really long time.

Old Halloween!

2010-01-10T17:39:00.007-07:00

These are pictures from Halloween 2009. Kennedy had a ton of fun decorating the yard. You can see she did a very good job! Mandy and Katy came over and we went trick or treating. It was all good fun. Happy first Halloween Malaki!

Malaki at the Farm

2009-10-18T20:09:00.006-06:00

Look Mom! Look at them animals!

OOOO! I want to touch him!

And him too!!

I love the Farm!!

Look what I found in the road!!!

2009-10-18T20:01:00.003-06:00

Scott went to the bank earlier this week. As he was pulling out he saw the strangest thing. There was a small turtle running into the road. Scott put the car in neutral and set the e-brake and dashed out in the road to save the little guy. Luckly neither Scott nor the turtle got hurt. Scott sent messages to Nicole and Mandy to see what he should do with it. He was pretty sure it was not native to the area.

Mandy ended up wanting him. Latter that day, Mandy took him to the pet store and found out that he is a painted turtle. He lives in the water and on the land. He eats fish. Mandy named him Atibon Legba.

Final Multi Engine Blog

2009-10-12T22:46:00.003-06:00

Well, tomorrow is the last day of Multi Engine ground school. I took my end of course oral test today and did well. I take my final for the ground school tomorrow, and then if weather is good take my end of course flight Wednesday.

I have loved the Multi Engine Rating. This is the first time that I have ever read an entire text book. Although Kennedy is partially to credit for me actually finishing the text book. Over the course of my class, I have learned alot. I am assigned to blog about 2 things that I have learned. I'm sitting here trying to think of the two things that had the most impact on me.

One thing that we have talked about in this class that I have learned alot from is situational learning. As you learn to fly aircraft, you find out that there are alot of grey areas, and you as a pilot have a lot of responsiblity. A light twin airplane brings even more grey areas. Do I take off when I have less runway available then my accelerate and stop distance? How about an IFR flight with a MEA above my single engie absolute cieling? Learning the procedures and how to fly the aircraft is only part of the big picture. Taking time to think about each situation and evaluating it is a real skill that must be developed as a pilot.

Another thing that I have learned to think about in the class is engine failure emergencies. I came into this class with the ignorant opnion that multi engine aircraft were safer, because they had two engines. A real eye opener to me was that having two engines just doubles the chance of an engine failure and doubles the chance of an emergancy. With this in mind, you need to almost be twice as ready for an emergancy in a twin engine aircraft. It is always on my mind when I fly. What will I do if I lose an engine in this stage of flight?

My favorite part of the class was the sim session that we did in the Frasca. It was fun. It was also really great to help salidify the engine out procedures. I was great to fail the engine right after lift of and see what would happen without having to put myself and others at risk by actually doing that in the real airplane. Loved it.

The trip to actually look at the Seminole was great as well. I was glad that Frank had removed the floor panels and that we could take a look at so much stuff that you usually can't see. I was great for helping me retain the information as well as gain new insights on things like the flaps and hydraulic system.

I have enjoyed the blogging portion of our class as well. I have to apologize to Nicoles friends who keep checking our blog hopeing to see cute pictures of the kids and instead finding all this aviation stuff. It's helpful to sit and write down you thoughts and really contemplate a subject.

Cute Baby + Mutant Cat = True Love

2009-10-11T16:03:00.007-06:00

I (scott) was laying down the other day with Malaki. Toby decieded that we looked comfortable and jumped up on the couch to join us. He layed right next to Malaki and snuggled in close. Malaki was thrilled. He was giggling and laughing. Malaki even put his arm around Toby. They layed there for about 5 minutes. Both Toby and Malaki enjoyed it very much. Malaki loves the cats so much that we think his first word is going to be Kitty.
.

Malaki's Potty!

2009-10-11T15:45:00.004-06:00

I have to admit, a couple months ago when Nicole was looking for little potties online to buy for Malaki, I thought she had gone off the deep end. At the time he could barely hold his head up, let alone use a potty! Well, I was greatly mistaken.

Malaki has been usuing his potty for about a month now. Everyday he uses it. He loves to use it in the morning. Nicole will set him on it and say, "go potty", and he goes! I was amazed. Nicole tells him, "good boy!", after he goes and Malaki gets so excited. He is very proud of himself. He doesn't use only the potty, he still goes in his diaper, and he is NOT potty trained, but it does save us a lot of diapers and keeps his little bum from getting rashes. And besides, we think it is cute.

Multi Engine Observation Flight

2009-09-22T16:43:00.003-06:00

Flight training can coast a ton. Especially learning how to fly a multi engine aircraft. Flight observations however are free!! That's why I love 'em. For multi engine ground school, our teacher has required us to go on another students training flight and blog about our experience.

Kyle was kind enough to let me tag along on his flight to Ogden today with his instructor, Brad. During the pre-flight, Brad showed me the "poor mans hydraulics" on the rudder and Adam taught me about the purpose of the mass balance horn attached to the ailerons.

To begin the flight we took off from Salt Lake. On takeoff roll, Brad killed one of the engines and the plane violently yawed to the left. Kyle was quick with his reflexes and immediately closed the throttles and maintained directional control of the plane. Kyle seemed as if he practiced this several times because it was as if he didn't have to think about it at all, it was just reflex.

After we climbed out, Brad put Kyle under the hood for instrument flight. Kyle had wanted to tune in his nav equipment and set up his GPS while on the ground, and Brad had told him that although that is a good idea, and should do that if he was really flying IFR, he wanted Kyles workload to be increased for the purpose of the training flight.

Kyle began to tune in VOR's and set up the GPS, get ATIS information, and brief the approach, all while talking on the radios and maintaining altitude and heading. It seemed like we were getting vectors for the ILS in no time because the Seminole is so fast. So fast infact that Kyle really had to work hard to stay ahead of the airplane. While we were approaching wolfe intersection at 150 kts, Brad suggested to Kyle that he slow the airplane down. This would allow more time to be ready for the approach, get before landing checklists done and be at a manageable airspeed for the final. I found this tip to be extremely valuable. I am going to try to remember to slow the aircraft down to insure that I can stay ahead of the airplane. During my instrument training , I was so used to throttle full forward for everything except for after the final approach fix. Even with full throttle in the Alarus, we were lucky to get airspeeds of 90 kts. In the Seminole, if you are not managing airspeed, things come at you twice as fast.

Runway 3 in Ogden was closed, so we circled for a touch and go. It was interesting to see a circle to land and give you an idea of what the challenge would be like if it was IMC weather. Because we were circling to land, Kyle used only one notch of flaps and used some throttle to maintain altitude as we circled.

After the first touch and go, Kyle entered the traffic pattern again to do a short field landing. The short field landing in the Seminole seems to be a bid easier than short field landings in the Arrow. Because of induced lift, when you reduce the throttles, the Seminole can really come down. Also, I assume because of the weight, the Seminole floats very little. Kyle was impressive as he touched down about 10 feet past his point.

After the landings, we headed straight for the VOR. Once again, Brad pointed out how fast the Seminole can fly, and you may need to slow it down so that you will have time to enter a hold properly, or prepare for an approach. Kyle played with power setting and found that 20" map and 2500 RPM gave him a manageable airspeed for setting up for the hold and approach.

Kyle flew the VOR RWY 7 approach with the north arc. Flying the arc helped remind me about how to set up an arc. Turn, time, twist, talk, and throttle. Good stuff. We flew the approach and went missed to hold at the VOR and then headed home.

The lessons that I went away with today is that the Seminole is MUCH faster than what I flown IFR in the past. You need to stay ahead of the aircraft. I want to have the before landing checklist done before my final approach fix. Slowing the airplane down is a good idea to help you have time to set up for the approach as well as help to not shock cool the engines. It was a great flight and I'm glad that Kyle and Brad let me tag along.

Multi Blog #3: Aspen at night

2009-09-21T21:58:00.007-06:00

For the third blog post for multi engine ground school we were given an article about at accident at Aspen Colorado. You can read the article here: Aspen Arrival.

Assignment: Read the accident report on Landmark Accidents: Aspen Arrival. Blog about what you thought of the accident. What ere the contributing factors? Where was the error chain? What should they have done differently? How would you deal with a passenger if your job was on the line?

Answer:
Honestly, I was expecting more from this article. Especially from the setup. You had demanding passengers and late departure into bad weather, and the accident boiled down to descending below minimums at night in mountainous terrain. Seriously. If I was in the aircraft, I would not have been comfortable descending below minimums at an airport like that. I understand that there were a lot of contributing factors, however, I think the real important thing on this error chain was simply going below minimums. If they would have flown the approach as published, then everything would have been fine. Shoot the approach, go missed, and head to the other airport. You can always refuel and try Aspen after the snow has passed.

Considering the error chain, the first mistake was the timing. Late passengers showing up, as well as no grace period for bad weather really put the pilots in a pressured situation. I would hope that when charters such as these are scheduled, that the customer is informed that this is flight is not a guaranteed thing. Weather and maintenance can de-rail plans. I would hope that we would have learned this lesson from back in the airmail days.

Allowing the passenger in the cockpit at such a crucial point in the flight was also part of the error chain. Hearing this was like nails on a chalk board! If I was going to shoot one the most difficult approaches in the country in the snow, I would prefer a sterile cockpit!

What would I do differently? Honestly, I probably would have taken off late. I would have taken grief from the passengers, and I would have probably shot the approach. However, I am fairly confident in saying, I would not have gone below minimums and I would have gone missed at the missed approach point when I was not certain to have the runway in site. The article is a bit confusing on what had happened. I am not sure why the first officer said the runway was in sight, when he obviously didn't see it. As the Captain, I would want to see the runway before I continued down. After going missed, I would head to the other airport. I could refuel and possible deliver my passengers later that night if weather clears.

I would attempt to deal with the passengers in as professional way as possible. I would try and educate them on the risks that there "boss" was proposing. I would tell them what the regulations state, and inform them that I will put safety and there lives first, and then dinner parties second. If they didn't want to hear it, I would not argue, however, I would not give in and fly dangerously. I never want to have a job that encourages me to break regulations and take risks. If my boss was saying, "you WILL fly to Aspen," I would be looking for another job.

Take that cat out for a walk!

2009-09-17T22:31:00.003-06:00

Such a lovely night for a walk. Scott and I sure thought so. Well appearently, we weren't the only ones! Nicole put the sleepywrap on and got Malaki all snuggled up and hunkered down. As we started on our walk, we noticed that both Zero and Toby were following us. This wasn't too surprising because they usually will follow us for the first 100 yards or so. Well today they just kept on trooting along on the side walk right behind us. We got to the point where we kept coaxing them on so they would come back home with us. They seemed pretty happy to be coming along for the most part, but by the time we were just past the half way point they started to get a little spooked. They were walking up closer to the yards and sniffing bushes. Anytime a car would drive by or a stick would snap they'd get all low to the ground and look around. Zero even made the crying noise cats tend to make in cars at one point. But that did not last long, because they soon recognized where they were and started leading the way home! We were so proud of them trusting us, that we gave them a can of tuna as a reward! We don't know how much they enjoy the walk, they were extremely exhausted once we got in the yard, but we had a great time! We hope they join us more often!

Would you fly single pilot IFR?

2009-09-08T21:52:00.006-06:00

This is the second of 5 blogging assignments for my multi engine ground school. For this blog I had to read an article by AOPA safety foundation, "Single Pilot IFR". IFR is Instrument Flight Rules, which is flying off the instruments, not off of reference to the ground. Which can be really tricky. Imagine driving your car without being able to see the road. That's kind of like what IFR flight is like, plus a 3rd axis, plus talking to ATC, etc... This post will contain a lot of aviation jargon, so I'll start by defining a few things.

VFR - visual flight rules - type of flight by flying "visually" with reference to the ground.
IFR - instrument flight rules -- type of flight by flying in clouds with out reference to the ground. Flying off of your flight instruments.

VMC -- visual meteorological conditions - Weather conditions that allow visual flight

IMC -- instrument flight rules - weather conditions prohibit visual flight (fog, clouds, ect..)

When you fly, you are either VFR or IFR. You can fly IFR in both VMC and IMC, however, you may only fly VFR in VMC.

Assignment:
Read the article "Single Pilot IFR." Blog about whether or not you would consider flying single pilot IFR? Why or why not? Blog about at least 1 tip you gained from reading the article.

Would I consider flying single pilot IFR? I have flown single pilot IFR. Well, at least I have filed single pilot IFR, but never in instrument conditions. When I was working on my commercial, we would file IFR for some of the cross countries, but the weather was always above IMC. In fact, my personal minimums were above VFR minimums. I was instrument rated, but I never felt proficient. Considering that I only have .2 or so of actually flying through the clouds. So, yea, I would consider flying single pilot IFR, but I would need to have weather minimums that I could cancel IFR and for VFR if I needed to.

IFR is a challenging thing. Two IFR flights can vary quite greatly in skill needed. It's one thing to say, yea I could fly single pilot IFR on a flight that's familiar in good weather, and it's another thing all together to fly single pilot IFR in an unfamiliar area in icing or turbulence. I hear stories about people flying cargo at night single pilot IFR through icing and terrible weather. That is far from my comfort zone now. I really love to fly IFR, so I think that I will in the future file IFR, however, I am going to make sure that weather is great. The more I fly IFR, the more comfortable I believe I would become. However, I don't fly IFR very often, and never in IMC, so I don't see my comfort level rising anytime soon.

Why? The first reason is Murphy's Law. Flying is one of those things that I just don't feel comfortable taking risks with. If something can go wrong, it very well might. Sure, I could fly a lot of single pilot IFR flights and be just fine. However, there could be that time that I start picking up ice and ATC is asking me to do a challenging hold, and I can't find the right approach plate and my attitude indicator fails and I'm running out of gas and the airport is near minimums. I never want to be in that situation, especially not alone. Flying in IMC straight and level can be tricky enough. Trying to find things, brief approaches or tune radios can make it even harder. Having a second pilot makes a world of difference. Also, it gives you protection because it gives you someone to catch your mistakes, and another mind to help with situational awareness.

Another big factor is aircraft and it's instrumentation. Do you have auto pilot and GPS? Do you know how to use them? Is the aircraft simple or complex? All of this can factor into weather or not you would want to fly single pilot IFR.

The tip in the article that I enjoyed the most was about bringing a handheld com radio. Especially if it can use the aircraft antenna. It's a good idea to save money by getting clearance and listening to atis with out having to turn on the aircraft, but it is even better if you have an electrical failure or com failure.

BYU beats Oklahoma

2009-09-06T18:44:00.002-06:00

BYU takes down #3 Oklahoma! I remember reading a Salt Lake Tribune article from earlier in the week talking about how BYU was absolutly crazy for scheduling Oklahoma. The article said that BYU would have been better off playing the Cinncinatti Bangals. BYU did it though. They scheduled OU and they beat them. It wasn't luck either. BYU simply out played them. In fact, BYU made quite a few mistakes. Mistakes that I thought would have killed them. Fumbling on the goal line, silly delay of game taking away a field goal. BYU didn't even have Unga. The defense saved the day. I don't think anyone is questioning BYU's defense now.

It's seems like just a little while ago, Nicole and I were walking away from Sam Boyd stadium with our heads hung thinking what happened? Honestly, I didn't think they were going to pull off a win yesterday. After what Oklahoma did last year, it just didn't seem possible. You never know how a team is going to look until they play a game though. BYU looks good. They played with confidence and passion. It was fun to watch.

The best part of the game for us was watching the defense play. Nicole and I were talking about how in 2006, if BYU's offense fell short, we just knew the defense would stop them and possibly get us the ball.

It was also great to see how well Kariya played for Unga. I know the stats don't show it, but he ran hard and he broke tackles. At one point he carried 4 Oklahoma guys on his back for 5 extra yards.

Now we will have to see how the rest of the season goes. All of thier tough games are at home. BYU has a defense! BYU has a great offense. GO COUGARS!

Multi Engine Blog Post #1

2009-08-29T19:50:00.006-06:00

For fall semester, I have enrolled in Multi Engine ground school and flight lab! It is going to be tons of fun. Just like my CFI ground school, I have been assigned to make some blog posts. Enjoy.

Assignment: Blog about what you want to get out of the class. Your expectations, and anything specific you would like to learn. Also blog about what your expectations are for blogging and what prior experience you have.

When I first started flying, I wanted to be a crop duster. I imagined my life living in some rural town barnstorming all over the farms. It sounded quit lovely. However, family life can change your goals. Between trying to keep Kennedy in SLC, Nicole wanting to stay close to Salt Lake, and the idea of having flight benefits, my goals have shifted. My goals now involve me gaining a multi engine rating as well as becoming a multi engine instructor.

Currently I have two goals that I am working on. One, getting a great CFI job, and two flying with SkyWest. In order to fly for SkyWest you must have a certain amount of flight hours and being a CFI is a great way to obtain them. However, I have been leaning to the idea that I might prefer to flight instruct as a career. I love teaching. Today, I was helping Militza with her homework, and she told Diana that I should become a teacher. I told her I was, I just didn't have a job yet. My concern about flight instructing as a career is being able to make enough money so that Nicole doesn't have to work and we don't have to live in poverty (although, we have become quite good at it). If I could find a flight instructing job in which I could afford a humble home, food and be able to pay the medical bills, I think I would prefer that. I would be able to be home most evenings. I love flying the small planes.

So anyway, back to the Multi Engine thing. If I am ever going to get a CFI job in which I would be able to make a decent living I would most likely need to be a multi engine instructor as well. Also, If I am ever going to fly for SkyWest, yup, need to have those Multi hours. So with the multi class, that's goal #1. Learn how to fly these multi engine aircraft. I want to know them inside and out. I would like to gain the knowledge and skill from this class so that I may quickly become a Multi Engine instructor.

I expect this class to be alot like my other ground schools. I expect that I am going to have to do alot of reading from the text book and the Seminole Information Manual (that's kind of like a owners manual for a car except about 20 times more in depth). I expect to show up to class and have activities and lessons to help me retain what I have read and to understand it. I think that I am going to learn alot about systems and emergencies. I have heard once that training in a multi engine aircraft you rarely actually fly with both engines. I imagine that I will do a lot of stuff with one engine shut down.

During my CFI I enjoyed my blogging assignments. It's kind of like writing in a journal. I just sit down and express myself. I kind of stepped out of what was asked for this assignment, but I find it nice to write down my thoughts. Obviously I have blogged before. The rest of my blog kind of speaks to that.

Kennedy Through the Years!

2009-08-24T22:12:00.009-06:00

I scanned in all of Kennedy's school pictures today. I thought I would share them. I love to look at pictures and see how she has changed. It's fun. Enjoy!

Scott is now a CFI

2009-08-23T22:34:00.005-06:00

The day has finally come! I have finally become a CFI. I have been working on this for way to long. I took my test on Monday the 17 of August. I packed a lunch, brought 3 bags stuffed with books, and carried my enormous binder of lesson plans into the Flight Standards District Office. I had my test (in aviation we call it a check ride) with Burney Connolly.

The first part of the check ride was on the ground. He asked me lots of questions and I also taught him lessons as if he was a student. We then went to the airplane were I showed him how to do a preflight check and he quizzed me airplane systems. The flight was almost two hours and I taught him several maneuvers and he pretend to be a student flying and I had to critique him and point out the common student errors.

The check ride turned out to be a lot of fun. I did really well, and believe that I was VERY prepared. I did really bad on my end of course test at Westminster. I think the end of course went bad because I got really uptight and stressed. On my check ride I relaxed and tried to have fun. Nicole told me not to worry about passing or failing, but to just be a good flight instructor and enjoy teaching. So, that's what I did and I passed!

Now it's off to find a job and start putting all this training to use! I am so excited to be a CFI! I think it is going to be so fun to teach people how to fly!

Remembering Malaki's First 2 Months

2009-08-23T14:38:00.014-06:00

Malaki is now 12 weeks old and we have a TON of pictures. Here are various pictures from June & July. Hope you enjoy! Kennedy has been an awesome big sister! She gives him lots of snuggles, sings him songs, reads him stories and can even calm him when he is upset. She is an excellent "shhhhh"er. Malaki definately loves his big sister, when ever she talks to him he automatically smiles. Sometimes they just lay in bed next to eachother and giggle.

Bath time has been interesting! It is always a surprise when the water first touches his skin. He gets this look on his face that exclaims "...I don't know about this..!" Whenever we sprinkle the water on him he gets pretty intense. For the first few weeks Malaki thought that bath time was a great time for potty time! But now he is getting the hang of things (& so are we!) and it has gone much smoother..and cleaner. He usually is pretty calm during the actual bath. He lays there and looks around, kicks his feet and munches on his fingers. He loves to just lay around and giggle in his towel. He very much likes to be without his clothes. He squiles and yipes, and says things like "aroo, and geeee!!" Even when he just needs a change, he loves to lay on his changing table and talk to Mom and Dad about all sorts of things. These are some of our favorite times with Malaki. Malaki already loves to learn! He constantly studies his surroundings. Within the first week he had a favorite book and a favorite page. The moment we would lay him down he'd look for his lion. He and this lion had some wonderful conversations together! He loves to study pictures and look at flash cards. Mom even had to go out and find "ready for school" preschool flash cards to keep him entertained! At this rate he will be reading in no time!

The best place to study and learn about new things is out side! There are so many colors and sounds. The best part are the bright green leaves against the blue sky. Malaki loves to be out side and loves to be moving! Our sleepy wrap is the best thing to keep him comfy and give him what he wants, lots of walks. There are many days that we would go out 3 or 4 times! June had been abnormally WET! It rained almost EVERY day after Malaki was born for 3 weeks straight! The wrap was very useful for protecting him from the sudden rain showers that we would wait out under a near by tree. The sleepy wrap is also great because it gives Scott the sensation of being pregnant, which has been fun for Nicole! He says he even gets a little indigestion.

Life at home has been pleasant, but Mom was itching to get out after 3 weeks at home. Grandpa Nolan had a specail trip to the Zoo planned for him and Kennedy, so we decided to see if we could tag along. Mom had a great time look at all the animals, and Malaki enjoyed the movement and the sleep!
We even went on Vacation! We atteneded the Atkin annual family reunion, "The Atkinder" at Bear Lake from July 11-14. Malaki and Mom mostly stayed in doors eating and sleeping and trying to relax. Malaki got to met a lot of his relatives for the first time and enjoyed socializing. He was the youngest to attend. Here are some pictures from that weekend:

Malaki thinks his Mom is really funny. Somes he'd rather laugh at her then eat. He will even try to laugh at her WHILE eating. The above is a picture of him taking a break from dinner to laugh.
Malaki loves his Dad. He already takes him on lots of adventures. We have gone up Big Cottonwood Caynon to roast hot dogs and marshmellows, went to Bear Lake and explored Minnitonka Cave. The picture above is of Scott and Malaki playing in St. Charles Canyon. Scott keeps saying he can't wait until Malaki is old enough to ride in the bike trailer and go on the bus. When Scott and Malaki are together, Scott never stops singing. He makes up songs about everything and anything. Malaki seems to enjoy it.

Malaki was very pleased to find out his aunt Mandy and cousin katy would be coming with us to the reunion. His aunt Mandy can always get him smiling! He loves to play with her and tell her stories.

Just Right Already!

2009-08-17T01:08:00.007-06:00

Here I am sitting here with SO many things in my head wanting to come out. There are so many stories to tell, so many things to share. So I open up a new post, and start typing. I write two or three sentances, stop, go back and read over everything and decide that it's all wrong. That it doesn't convay what I want it to say. I erase it all and try again. No, still not right. I sit there. Think awhile. And then there it is. I am stuck. Well, looks like I am done for today! And thats it. What is stopping me from writing? My overwhelming need for perfection? Possibly. But I know I will never be perfect. And really, is there such a thing as perfect? Do I want to believe in perfect?
No.

...So what is imporant to me?
I want a record of my family's life. I want to document all of the burnt muffins, basketball injuries, kid quotes and animal stories. I want to be able to look back at the pictures and have the REAL story that goes with them. I want to remember how bueatiful and perfect my life is. I want to see how blessed I am and share that with others. I want to laugh at my mistakes and learn from them. I want to be write about being right in my imperfections. So when times like this come around I can remind myself of how insane it is to not get what I really want because I am too busying being right.

So here's where I am. I am going to take time each week to create a new post. Share pictures and stories, or even just nonsence. But I am going to write. And it is NOT going to be perfect. And there are going to be errors and it is not going to flow. It is going to be messy.
And it will be perfect.

The Olsens are ready for Fall!!

2009-08-16T00:21:00.010-06:00

Last night there was a brilliant thunderstorm that lasted through this morning. It was actually cool enough for me to mix up a long awaited steaming cup of pumpkin spice hot chocolate! Today had the crisp smell and great feeling of Fall. Fall is definitely my favorite season. Fall's crisp cool air means hot soup, hot chocolate, warm hoodies, snuggling in blankets, sitting by the fire, thunderstorms, the changing leaves... all things I love! With fall comes Halloween and Thanksgiving, two of my favorite holidays! But the one thing that is dominating my Fall Fantasies is FOOTBALL!! I am WAY too excited for BYU football this year. I love to go to the games and even watch them on TV all the while yelling things like "Rip his head off!!" The thrill of a good run, a tackle that levels the guy, the unbelievable catch, and of course a touch down is something I look forward to all week. Now some of you may have assumed this is Scott who is writing this post. And you could be correct, because Scott is always thinking about BYU football, that is a given. But today my friend, you are wrong. Nicole is now officially a die hard BYU Football fan.

Nicole worked extra hard getting the whole family ready for football season this year, here's the picture:

Posting in CHUNKS

2009-06-30T23:44:00.002-06:00

This is a quick post to let you know that we are posting in Chunks. What does that mean for you? Well, every time you log on, make sure you scroll down to the last post you read and go up! That way you won't miss anything. We apologize for the illogical order.. is that even a word? Either way, we know it is a mess. But the mess is worth it to get all of it in! So.. read on.

...Also.. we LOVE comments on our posts! Please feel free to comment anything you like on as many posts as you wish.. even if it is nonsense. Especially if it is nonsense!

Malaki's Birthday!

2009-06-30T21:27:00.010-06:00

Now that Malaki is a month old, we decided to write about the day of his birth. Or maybe, now we just have time!

As you may have read in an earlier post, we had been waiting "patiently" for Malaki for what felt like quite some time. The day before his birth, we got to the point where we figured he was going to come when he was ready, no matter what we did. So that night we figured he wasn't coming anytime soon. Scott went to play basketball and Nicole watched a movie at the church and had a lovely walk.

Scott got home from basketball at like 11:30. Usually Nicole and Scott go straight to bed, but for some reason this night they decided to stay up late and ended up watching a movie about compost. At 1 am, they finally wondered what on earth they were doing, turned the movie off and went to bed.

After a long rest of 1 hour and 30 minutes, Nicole woke up in labor. However, she was tired enough that she was confused went to the bathroom and went back to bed. At 3:20 am Nicole woke up again when she couldn't quite get comfortable in bed. She thought that maybe she needed to go to the bathroom again. After 20 minutes of first confusion, then pacing and timing she had finally realized that it was go time. During this time, she discovered that her contractions were less than 3 minutes apart lasting about 1 minute. Malaki was finally ready!

After a phone call to the doula and midwife and 20 minutes of Nicole grabbing random fruits and and things to take with them they headed out to the birth and family center. Running red lights (not because they were in a hurry, but because it was 4 am!) and telling the hypnobabies lady on the ipod to shut up along the way.

We arrived at the birth center at 4:45 with Nicole dialated to a 5. Nicole spent time in lots of different positions. The whole time Nicole had an amazing attitude. She was loving every bit of labor. She was very focused and breathed like a pro! She refused to get frustrated and did a fabulous job of allowing the midwives and doula to give suggestions.

When Nicole was in transition, she commented after a contraction that it didn't even hurt and that it was just intense. She kept telling everyone how grateful she was and how she loved everyone! She told us how labor was beautiful. This is much better than the cussing that Nicole's mom had assured us would come. However, Nicole never cussed, never said anything negative, and enjoyed her birth! It was a truly amazing experience.

At 9:37 am., after about a half an hour of real pushing and some rope pullling, Malaki was born. He was pink and healthy. He had lots of long hair, and it looked really curly. Nicole's mom was pleased to announce that she thought that his hair looked African American.

Nicole says that Scott did really well during the birth as well. She says he was incredibly supportive and made all the difference. I think she is just being nice to him. How can Scott not be supportive when Nicole had such a great attitude? What should he say, No Nicole, this isn't beautiful, birth is hard! Ok. So, Scott did hold the barf bowl. That was a little traumatizing. Scott's favorite thing he did to help was pressurizing Nicole's hips when she was on the birth ball. He enjoyed that because in between contractions, he was asleep on Nicole's back. He always woke up when the next contraction came and Nicole said, "pressure!"

Malakis birth was a splendid event. It was terrific. YES SIR REE!!

Malaki is now 1 month old!

2009-06-30T21:07:00.010-06:00

Cloth Diapering!

2009-06-30T20:59:00.005-06:00

When Nicole was pregnant, she looked into cloth diapering. Honestly, I was scared. I was didn't quite know how it would turn out. However, it has been great! The diapers were a little more soggy than the disposable ones, but the more you use them the more absorbant they get. With the right cover (we use Thirsties) we have had NO problems with leaks or blowouts! We like them a ton better than disposables, and they are better for the landfills. He looks way cute in his cloth diapers, too! So, if you are thinking about going cloth, do it. Nicole can help.

The finished living room

2009-06-15T18:36:00.003-06:00

It's actually been finished for a month. Oh my, it looks 1,000 times better than it used to. You really had to have seen the living room before to appreciate it. Nicole didn't want to post this picture because the room is all messy. When we get a picture of the living room when it is clean, I'll put a different picture up.

Waiting For Malaki

2009-06-04T22:00:00.018-06:00

Nicole's due date was May 23. We know that a due date is actually just a guess of about when the baby will be born, and very unlikely that that would be his birthday. But, none the less, we became quite excited and restless as that day approached.

May 23 was a Saturday. The Saturday before that, Nicole had been very content and patient. People would always ask her if she was ready to pop, and she would say, "no, I can wait tell he is ready. I am enjoying being pregnant." The next day, Sunday, Nicole, Kennedy, and Scott went to the park to get organized for the birth. We put together a hypnobirthing folder worked on Nicole's "special place." A special place is a hypnobirthing tactic to have the mother think about and visualize a special place during labor to help them relax. Nicole's special place is the park. The park that day was so beautiful. We had a great time as a family. Scott tried to find a bird that had the most beautiful song. We think it is a little gray bird with a red head. Kennedy played in the sand and on the swings. Kennedy loved the park. Scott baked chicken and made mashed potatos to eat while there. It was just a great day at the park. It was a start to a wonderful week out in nature as a family. After the trip to the park, Nicole decided, "Ok, I'm ready for Malaki to come."

On Wednesday, we payed a visit to the midwife for a check up. Nicole was really swollen. Her ankles had completely disappeared. Her toes even had fat rolls on them. Nicole had also been having lots of braxton hicks contractions. The midwife was very pleased with Nicole and thought the baby would be coming very soon. She then did a check up only to discover that Nicole was dialated to a 3, almost 4. Honey, our midwife, told us she would be surprised if Nicole made it through the week without having the baby. We were very excited. We thought for sure Malaki would come during the weekend.

Nicole continued to go to work through out the week. On Thursday, during the Youth City celebration Nicole began to have regular contractions and was certain she was going into labor. After she got home, at about 9, the contractions went away. Nicole is very proud about the fact that during the contractions at the end of the Youth City celebration the kids had a dodge ball game. Kids vs. Parents. Nicole of course played for the kids team, and did awesome. She stayed in for a long time and got several of the parents out, and ultimately helped the kids gain victory!

About this time, Kennedy began to become very excited. Scott and Nicole were thrilled that she was so interested. Up until that time, Kennedy kind of seemed a bit nervous, and at other times apathetic. Kennedy did not want to leave Nicole or Scott's side. It was as if she thought that the second she left, the baby might come.

Nicole woke up Saturday morning, the 23(her due date), more swollen then ever, and puked. Nicole felt very different. Even her face was swollen. She was continuing to have braxton hicks contractions every 6 minuets. She was certain that today was going to be the day. While she was shopping at Toys'R'us she thought she was in labor. Because Scott figured that this would be the last Saturday before Malaki came, Scott took Kennedy up to Neffs Canyon in the late afternoon for some good time together. Just the two of them. Neffs Canyon was absolutly beautiful and Scott and Kennedy had some great bonding time. On the way home from Neffs Canyon, Scott and Kennedy stopped at Little World Chinese Food and picked up some fried rice and picked up Nicole to go to the park. Kennedy wanted to know when ever Nicole had a contraction. She kept asking how long her contraction was, and how long it had been since the last one. Scott and Kennedy laughed and played on the swings while Nicole enjoyed her fried rice. We all had a great time at the park

After the park we decided to go for a walk to help the contractions continue. Kennedy was very excited to go for a walk. She was willing to do anything to help Malaki come. She kept asking about the contractions. "Tell me when you have another one. What time is it? How long has it been since the last one?" She was just glowing she was so excited. The braxton hicks contractions continued to be about 5 minuets apart. Nicole was unsure of what a labor contraction would feel like, but she had never had one so she thought that the braxton hicks might be real contractions, and they might get stronger and come closer together. As we walked, we ran into neighbors who seemed to certain that we were going to have the baby tonight.

After the walk we put Kennedy to bed. Kennedy would only go to bed on the condition that if the contractions got to be 4 minuets apart, that we would wake her up and let her know. Before Nicole and Scott went to bed, they packed everything and got all ready to go to the Birth Center thinking that they would be heading in that night.

Nicole woke up at 7 am on Sunday. No contractions. No baby. Kennedy was a bit frustrated. Scott and Nicole were surprised, but Nicole knew that Malaki would come when he was ready. Scott was kind of glad that the baby didn't come on Saturday, because Sunday, the 24 was Grandma Barbra's 90th birthday. He thought that it would be really neat.

After church, Kennedy went to her moms to watch a movie, and Nicole and Scott thought they would go out to nature again and enjoy some time together. Scott decieded to return to Neffs Canyon. It was gourgous again. We hiked around a bit. Took some pictures and found a nice place to relax in the woods. Eventually a thunderstorm chased us back home. Later on Sunday, we sat down to dinner. Nicole decided to eat dinner while rocking on the birth ball. The contractions had started back up. Kennedy was so excited now that she had gotten out pencil and graph paper so she could graph the contractions. With Dads help she graphed the contractions for almost 2 hours. She ran to Nicole and said, "according to this graph you are going to have the baby tonight!" We told her he might not come today, but Kennedy had confidence he was coming. We had a really hard time getting her to bed again. We finally got her to go to bed telling her that she needed to be well rested for the birth and that we would wake her up if we were going to head in to the birth and family center.

Monday came, and no baby, and again, the contractions had gone away during the night. Ok. We were going to get serious about having this baby. We knew that he would come when he was ready, but we decided it wouldn't hurt if we helped a bit. So we (Scott, Nicole, and Kennedy) decided to climb Ensign Peak. Nicole was dialated to a four and having regular contractions (braxton hicks) and we decided to climb a mountain. Ok, it's more of a hill, but still, it was great. We started our hiked close to sundown and it was absolutly beautiful. Kennedy had never been before up there before. Both Nicole and Kennedy did really great climbing. We got to the top just as the sun was setting over the lake. We took some pictures of us at the bottom after the hike.

WOULD YOU WELCOME: One of the Greatest New baby boys, MALAKI SCOTT OLSEN

2009-05-31T13:18:00.010-06:00

Malaki Scott Olsen!
Born: Thursday May 28, 2009; 9:37 am
Joining Scott, Nicole and Kennedy Olsen as the newest member of the family!
Momma and Malaki are doing fabulous and wonderful, as are Daddy and sister Kennedy!
Life is sweet; expect details very soon, when Scott and Nicole have 2 minutes to update the blog! Meanwhile....enjoy the pictures!

a regular day here on the farm...

2009-04-26T13:11:00.007-06:00

Scott thinks hes a pirate, and sequehenna thinks she is a parrot.

Kennedy loves to get her picture taken.

CFI assignment #3

2009-04-15T11:26:00.003-06:00

Question

You have a brand new private pilot. On your very first lesson with them you do a "expectations" talk so they know what you expect them to do and what they can expect you to do. What items would you cover?

Answer

We learned in fundamentals of instructing that one of the principles of learning is readiness. Readiness implies a degree of single-mindedness and eagerness. Outside factors, such as schedule, finances, or outside responsibilities can quickly deteriorate a students ability to learn. It is my responsibility as the instructor to get the student ready to learn.

Expectations I would have for the student:

I would discuss with the amount of time, money and effort that is needed to become a pilot. Learning to fly is an investment. Like any investment, you can't get a good return unless you give towards the investment. With flying, it takes money, time, and hard work. But like an investment, can be well worth the sacrifice. However, if you are if you only invest the money, and not the time and hard work, you are probably better off not flying as flying will be difficult and expensive if you are not fully applying yourself to becoming a pilot.

I would expect my student to be willing to study on there own. I would expect them to read assignments and do research. I would expect them to show up for lessons prepared and ready to learn. I would expect the student to fly at least 2 a week, weather permitting. 3 or 4 times is more optimal. I would expect the student to be open and willing to learn. I would expect the student to be excited to learn to fly as well. I would expect the student to be on time and cancel lessons only when necessary. I would also expect the student to have the financial capabilities to meet their goals.

The student can expect me as an instructor to be professonal. I would be expected to be on time and be prepared for each lesson and only cancel lessons when absolutly neseccary. I could be expected to guide the student by suggesting study assignments, answering questions, and guiding the students learning procsess. I could be expected to take my students seriously and understand that they are investing alot to have me teach them. I will not take advantage of the student and "use" them for flight time. My primary goal will be to help them accomplish there goals. I could also be expected to be honest and follow the laws and regulations.

House remodeling update

2009-04-05T14:17:00.004-06:00

CFI Assignment #2

2009-04-04T22:10:00.007-06:00

Here is another blogging assignment for my CFI class.

Question #2

You have a new student that you picked up from another flight instructor. What are you going to be looking for in the students folder to give you an indication of where they are at? what questions are you going to ask the students previous instructor? What questions will you ask the student? What techniques will you use to figure out where the student is in their ground knowledge?

Answer

This is a really tough question. During my instrument, about half way through, my flight instructor landed a job with and airline and was gone. It was a difficult transition as a student to make. My new flight instructor had to re-asses me and try to jump in with training where ever I was.

You may think that being part 141 would make the transition smoother. However, you need to be careful thinking you know where a student is by looking at there folder and seeing how far along in the syllabus they are. Just because my old flight instructor and I had gone over everything in the syllabus, doesn't mean that I learned everything, or that I even remember covering somethings. To make matters worse, my old CFI had marked everything we had gone over in the folder with a 3. If I did really bad on a maneuver, I got a 3. If I nailed a holding pattern, I got a 3. So my new instructor really didn't have an idea from my folder how I was doing with different areas.

So, if I was looking in a folder of a newly transfered student, I would check to see what marks the student had been recieving so far. I would check how far along they are in the sylabus. I could look over the paper work as well. Is there medical or student certificate expiring soon? Maybe look over the airplane check out quizes or pre-solo quiz. I would not use the folder as a crutch. I would be sure to asses the student myself and ask the student and the old CFI questions.

If I have get a new student from a flight instructor, I am going to make sure that I have a talk with instructor that is transferring me the student. What were the students strengths and weaknesses. What might have not been gone over very well. Were do they feel the student is in the training? Also I would ask questions that don't pertain to how far there training has come along. What are there career goals? How is the students attitude? What are the students goals with flying? Have you picked up any diffence mechanisims? What type of learners are they, visual, kinesthitic...?

I would also ask the student several questions. Many being the same. What are your goals with flying? How much time do you devote to your training? What do you feel some of your strong points are? How about areas you would like to work on?

Discovering were the student lies in knowledge areas seems to be the hardest. After a couple of flights, you can quickly find out what kind of motor skills the student has developed. I would start finding out were the student stands in there knowledge skill by doing some oral quizing. Maybe have the student explain some things to me. I would let the student know that I wasn't testing them, and if they can't answer some of the questions or explain things, that is ok and expected. I'm just trying to get a feel for were they are.

You may be able to find out alot by taking a flight as well. Ask about airport signs. See how well they can handle the radios. Can they set up a traffic pattern, or do they know what airspace we are in.

Overall, I think this would be an extremely difficult situation. I would need to be completly objective and not assume anything in my assement. I would need to make sure that I don't assume the student already knows something and leave a hole in there training. Although, as in instructor it would be my job to do this quickly and efficiently, as the student does not want to waste money while I am attempting to make sure there are no holes in the training.

Pictures from Mandy

2009-04-02T15:14:00.007-06:00

Tom and Lorna were sealed in the Logan Temple.
Mandy came up and took tons of pictures.

Kennedy helping "the round one" down the hill.

Mandy and Katy!

2t! Sweet!

Miss Kennedy! I don't know what that look is for. Maybe I asked her if she wanted to help me take the chicken to the vet

Heidi goes to the Vet

2009-04-02T14:55:00.014-06:00

The new chicken, Heidi, got bit by a dog. Kennedy tells the story in her blog. If you haven't read it, you must. These are some pictures the Mandy took of Heidi's trip to the vet. At the time, Scott was worried that her leg might be getting infected because her wound turned all black and funky and she wouldn't walk on her leg. The vet gave us some antibiotics to kill the infection and said that she should be just fine. If you don't know how much fun in is to give a chicken a pill, then you must come over and see.

Buckle up chicken bird! Yee haw!!

"I'm ready to roll!"

Nesting! Ole!

2009-03-15T18:48:00.004-06:00

Lots to be done at the Olsen home! Nicole is nesting, and it is tons o fun! Some how, she convinced Scott to start dry walling the living room. It is looking very nice. Even the plain sheet rock looks better than that hideous panelling! After the sheet rocking, we will try to put the new wood floor down. It is going to look so much better!

Nicole also went crazy yesterday and completely re-organized the kitchen and back closet.

Also, Nicole bought this solid wood dresser! We are going to use it as a changing table. We desperately need more storage space in our house, so the dresser will provide a much needed place to put Malaki's clothes.

The babies room is almost totally ready. We got the crib, now the dresser/changing table, and Nicole's glider rocker chair. We have also painted the room and cleaned the carpet!

Stray Chicken Update

2009-03-14T11:13:00.004-06:00

It turns out that we are keeping the stray chicken we found. The boy who owns it has been having trouble with someone opening his fence and letting the chicken out everyday, so he asked if I could watch her at my house untill he built a proper coop for her. I have been watching her for a couple weeks now, and the boy came over and told me that he was moving and that I could keep the chicken. So I think I will. I like her. I need to come up for a name for her.

On other news. I had a fun new basketball injury. Here is a picture for you to enjoy.

CFI Blogging Assignment

2009-03-05T09:40:00.004-07:00

As many of you know, I have been working on my CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) Certificate. I have been taking ground school for it at Westminster. My professor has giving me an assignment to answer some critical thinking questions in a blog. Instead of creating a separate blog to complete this assignment, I figured I might as well use the on that I already have.

Question 1:

You have a private pilot student on lesson #8(the lesson just before the first stage check). They are really struggling with landings. What are some different techniques you can try to help them get over their landing plateau? At what point do you tell your supervisor they are struggling? After how many reviews or how many hours do you have "maybe aviation isn't for you talk?"

Answer:

The first thing I am thinking is that a learning plateau is normal. This will happen to most students at some point in their training. I remember it happening to me at a very similar point in my training. Landings were espeically diffucult and I was thinking at one point that I would never solo.

I would begin by talking to another CFI or even my supervisor. It is possibly that just by talking to another CFI, they might be able to identify what is holding the student back and aliveate the problem. If the student has been really struggling for a while, I may even ask that the student go up for a lesson with another CFI. Sometimes another CFI can give the student a different perspective that can help get them over the platuea, or often another CFI can find out an area in which I, as the instructor, had been diffeciant.

I would also look back on the training and look for any building blocks of learning that I might have skipped over, or that the student didn't entirly grasp. For example, if the student is really struggly managing airspeed, landing will be very difficult. I could take him up to altitude and do some practice constant airspeed desecents in a landing configuration at final approach speed, or simulate a landing patteren focusing on how to manage airspeed.

I would also need to take a good look at the student. Are there any defence mechanisims in place and what can I do to counter act them? Are there outside factors affecting his ability to fly? If the student is not coming prepared for lessons because he has too much on his plate, I could talk to him about devoting time to aviation, or possibly posponing his training to a time when he will be more able to focus and devote time for flying.

Flying is an expensive thing, and as an instructor, I need to be sensitive to that. I need to inform the student that if he is not prepared, or dosn't have enough time to devote to flying, that the costs of his training could really go up. Also I want to be prepared for a students learning plateau. It won't be very cost effective for the student if I have him repeat lesson 8 over and oever again untill he gets it, when it very well could be my deficiancy that is holding him back.

I would save the "maybe aviation isn't for you talk" for very last. In my opion, most people, given the opportunity, have the physical and mental abilities to become a pilot. As an instructor, it is my job to look for the things that take away that "opportunity". I would be a really bad instructor if I told a student that they were not cut out for flying, and have them leave aviation for life because I was a bad instructor and didn't identify what was standing in thier way.

The Stray Chicken!

2009-02-22T19:01:00.004-07:00

Most of the cats that we have owned in our lives, have been strays that have found there way to our house and claimed us. So we very familiar with strays. We have seen stray cats and dogs, but never before have we found a stray chicken! It seemed especially strange, because I already have chickens.

Today after lunch, we received a knock on the door from a neighbor informing us that one of my chickens were in there drive way. We checked our backyard real quick, and both of our chickens were back there. Knowing that it wasn't our bird, we were excited to see this chicken. We went to the neighbors drive way and there was a red hen searching for bugs. We had no idea whose chicken it could be. We were afraid it might get eaten by a dog, so I picked it up and took it home so it could be safe with my chickens. The chicken was wonderfully friendly and enjoyed Scott to hold it and pet it. Our chickens don't enjoy being touched, so Scott quickly bonded with his new found friend. We fed it and showed it the chicken coop, and it followed Scott around the yard for a while. Our chickens, Susquehanna and Laroo, were a bit upset with Scott bringing home a new lady. They voiced their discontent with angry little clucks. Fortunately, only one little fight between our chickens and the stray broke out.

We were not quit sure what to think. The neighbors were certain that she had been abandoned at my house because I already have chickens. We thought that she could be someones dearly loved bird, so we set out to find it rightful owners.

To Scott's great disappointment, we found the owners searching for their bird. It happens to be owned by a new kid that moved on to the street. He had just gotten the bird and doesn't have a coop for her yet. We look forward to staying friends with the little red hen as Scott had become quite attached.

Pie Time!

2009-02-22T18:56:00.003-07:00

Nicole has never ever made an apple pie, and she always has been a little bit afraid of crust. This weekend, she has over come her fears and created a wonderful apple pie from scratch! The crust has a moon, a star, and a bat. I will be the first to say it was a success!

Scott loves the pie and keeps eating out of the dish with the knife.

Peanut Butter...GONE!

2009-02-22T18:49:00.003-07:00

A while back we made post about Scott buying alot of peanutbutter at Target. Well, it is all gone. He finished it off. He even got two of the huge skippy peanutbutter jars for christmas and he ate all of those as well. The good news is now we bought Adams peanutbutter for a change because is much more healthy. (No sugar and oils)

Kennedy can blog!

2009-02-19T22:12:00.002-07:00

Kennedy has decided that she too will be blogging. This weekend while we were in Logan with Mandy, Kennedy made a blog. It was totally her idea, and the blogs are unedited Kennedy material. I only helped her with questions she had while she was setting it up. She called her blog Kennedys Adventures!

Old Mandy Pics!

2009-01-13T22:08:00.016-07:00

I have had these pictures of Mandy for a long time. She has been asking for them for like 2 years, and finnaly I have scanned them in. The picture of her in the drawer is my favorite!

Double yolk egg!

2009-01-10T22:25:00.003-07:00

Ok... This is pretty cool! I was cooking Kennedy breakfast and cracked one egg into the frying pan, but instead of one yolk, there was two!

This happens rarely with chickens, 1 in a 1,000 I hear. This is my first double yolk egg I've tried to cook, so I was excited.

I guess that it is possible, if the egg was fertilized, for it to hatch 2 chicks. They say the chance of both chicks surviving is slim because the unborn chicks will fight in the egg before it hatches! Crazy. Unborn chicks battling to the death. I never thought of that before. I also read that one lady had a hen that laid double yolk eggs for 8 straight days!

EEG! Super fun with neurology!

2009-01-10T22:09:00.007-07:00

Nicole got to have and EEG! It's kind of like an EKG, but for your brain. When Nicole was little, she used to have seizures, and they were never quite figured out although the doctors said it wasn't epilepsy.
Because we are expecting a new baby boy in May, the doctors wanted to assess the possibilities of Nicole having a seizure during labor. The good news is that the EEG turned out normal and that chance of having a seizure is very very small!
In order to perform the eeg, Nicole had to stay awake all night. Oh, fun. She went and played at a friends house and then came home at like 5 am and got in bed. Luckily, she woke Scott up enough that he would not let her go to sleep. After some arguing, Nicole reluctantly got out of bed. We ate McDonald's breakfast and shopped at the grocery store to pass the remaining time before the eeg.
By the time we got to the hospital and started the eeg, Scott and Nicole were so tired that they were a bit crazy. We laughed and laughed while the technician drew on her head with a red pen and attached little suction cups and wires to her head. At some point Nicole told the technician that she would like to own a robot.

Back to Nicole's health... The baby and Nicole are doing great!! It turns out that Nicole's pregnancy is not labeled high risk. The High Risk OB that we saw even said that her midwife and the Birth and Family Place would be perfect for Nicole and the baby.

Skippy

2008-12-07T20:42:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, Scott bought every jar of Skippy Natural that Target had. They were on sale. How long do you think it will take him to eat all of them?

The Kitchen!

2008-12-03T15:07:00.003-07:00

Welcome to our kitchen.

It has been forever ago that Nicole and I painted the kitchen and fixed it up. However, I thought that it would be great fun to film the kitchen. The video is not very good quality, but you get the point.

Mandy gives Scott a Birthday Present

2008-12-03T14:52:00.004-07:00

Here is Toby. He is beautiful. Look at his crazy tongue and toes!

Birth and Family Place

2008-11-27T21:29:00.012-07:00

On Wednesday, Nicole had an appointment at the birth and family place to check up on the baby! Kennedy and Scott went along for the fun. We heard the baby's heart beat and the baby kicked a lot! Very active baby! Nicole is excited to have the baby at the Birth and Family Place. Kennedy even exlaimed, "This is the perfect place to have a baby!"

Above is a picture of one of the three birthing rooms to choose from. Nicole hasn't chosen a favorite yet. They all have big wonderful tubs to use and queen size beds. Here is a picture of Kennedy and Nicole having fun with the blood pressure machine. Below is a picture of Kennedy playing in the "forest" just outside the birthing center. Please go to http://www.birthandfamilyplace.com/ to learn more about this amazing place to give birth!

We will find out if we are having a boy or a girl right before Christmas! Nicole is very excited so she can buy clothes and things for the baby. We have tons of things to get. We are a bit overwhelmed. Nicole has been looking for a bassinet and a stroller and a car seat and a crib and clothes and blankets and toys.... lots of stuff. If anyone has advice and/or hand me down baby stuff, it would be very much appreciated!

nolsen's secret bump cookies

2008-11-24T22:04:00.005-07:00

23 March 1980

"Here is my recipe for nolsen's secret bump cookies. Nobody likes them except me...

at least 3/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
a little bit more than 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flour
no salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
a lot of oats and some corn flakes or other cereals

Beat together shortening and sugars. Add egg water and vanilla. Stir until creamy. Add flour and soda. Blend well. Stir in oats, cornflakes, and chocolate chips until they won't mix in or at least hard to stir. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They should come out flat and a little crumbly. Save the crumbs and pour over ice cream...

...Why don't you make some for a party now. Your friends will be amazed."

I stole that from my Dads journal. Hope you don't mind. It is my favorite entry in one of the journals of my Dad that I possess. Did you know that I have one of your journals?

Anyway... Kennedy and I love these cookies. Diana (K's grandma) does as well. Diana had been asking me for some time to make them, so Kennedy and I thought it would be a lovely Sunday activity to make some and deliver them to our friends throughout the neighborhood. We didn't end up with a lot of cookies, so if you didn't get any, I'm sorry. You'll have to ask me to make you some. Kennedy had lots of fun and made up this song. Enjoy.

Nicole can predict the future!

2008-11-02T21:43:00.002-07:00

We were looking at our blog today and noticed that we have been blogging for almost a year. Since February. I don't know if you can remember, but when we first made our blog, we had a put baby widget on our blog. We were kind of just making fun of how weird the fetus's looked floating around on peoples blogs. When Nicole made the baby widget, she put that she was due in 15 months. May of 09! and lo and behold, she is due in May of 09. She knew 6 months before she was pregnant that we would be having a baby next May.

Halloween!

2008-10-31T22:19:00.004-06:00

Kennedy dressed up as a vampire this halloween! She made a great vampire! Scott was a lucha libre wrestler, and Nicole was a witch.

In Remembrance of Mr. Cat

2008-10-24T17:51:00.003-06:00

When I (Scott) was in 5th grade, Mandy had a black cat. She was a friendly cat. Every time I went out my back door, I would see a black cat dart under the porch. I thought, "what is wrong with our cat? She never runs and hides." After a couple weeks of this I decided to crawl under the porch and see what was wrong with our cat. To my surprise, it wasn't our cat. It was a small stray. I got some cat food and coaxed her out from under the porch, and sure enough, it was not our cat.

Over the next few weeks, I would go outside and feed her and slowly I gained her trust and she wouldn't run away anymore. She was a very pretty cat with the softest fur I had ever felt. Since she wasn't our cat and I didn't know we would be keeping her, I called her Mr. Cat. (at the time, we thought she was a boy) After a few months, she was always at our house, and somehow or another, she had claimed us as her family. Since I had been calling her Mr. Cat for so long, it just kind of stuck as her name, even though it is not a good name for a cat.

One of the first surprises we had from Mr. Cat is when she gave birth to a litter of kittens. Remember, we thought she was a boy. She ended up having several litters of kittens. I think three, but I can't remember because it was so long ago. Every time she would have a litter of kittens, we would take her in to get fixed, and she would be pregnant again so we had to wait until she had the kittens.

During one of the litter of kittens, we had a small baby white rabbit. I think it was Mandys rabbit, I don't know why we had it. Anyway, Mr. Cat took it in as one of her own kittens and even nursed it. Notice the picture below! It was very intersting. Kind of odd, but very sweet at the same time. You would think that a cat would just kill the baby rabbit, like it would a mouse.

When I was in high school, I remeber one night, Mr. Cat keept bugging me while I was trying to sleep so I shut here out of my room. About an hour or so later, after I had fallen asleep, I herd a thump againts my door. A second later, another thump, and then another. I felt bad, and decided that she must rely want in my room, so I went and opened the door and there she was tossing a dead bird against my door. She looked up at me so proud as if to say, "Look what I have caught! I have brought it for you!

Mr. Cat was the only cat I had growing up that really loved me. The other cats all liked me, but they all LOVED Mandy, and were kind of Mandys cats. Mr. Cat loved me. She almoast always slept on my bed. She was a great friend for me. I have had her sence 5th grade. I have lived with her longer than I have lived with anyone else except for my dad. I lived with my dad 18 years, and my cat for almost 16 years.

This is my wonderful cat, Mr. Cat. She passed away this week in her sleep. She died happy and content, so I am thankful for that. She was 16.

Fun with Mandy

2008-10-24T17:46:00.003-06:00

Mandy came up to visit last weekend. Amongst other fun we had, we carved pumpkins and made a cartoon. Here a picture of Scotts pumpkin. It is a bull. Here is a link to the cartoon we made! hooray!

Katy and Kennedy

2008-10-24T17:42:00.005-06:00

I got this picture from Mandy of Kennedy and Katy from this summer. The picture is from when Katy, Kennedy, Jason, and Scott went bowling for Katys birthday.

Mcdonalds

2008-10-05T17:49:00.001-06:00

Due date May 22

2008-10-02T08:47:00.003-06:00

Nicole and I went to the University Hospital yesterday and had an ultrasound done. Nicole is not as far along as we thought she was. They estimate her to be 6 weeks and 5 days. Her due date is May 22.

The ultra sound was really quite neat. We got a short video and a picture. In the video you can't see much, but you can see the heart beating.

After the ultrasound, Nicole's mom treated us to lunch at the Point, at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. If you have never eaten there, you should! It is the highest building at the University up on the hill, and the restaurant is on the top floor. When you are eating you have a 180 degree panorama of the Salt Lake Valley. Very impressive. Also the food is really good, and it costs as much as a regular hospital cafeteria.

The wrist is healed!!!

2008-09-28T18:08:00.003-06:00

GREAT NEWS!!! Scott's wrist is finally healed!! The bone has healed!! He injured it in JANUARY!! and now it is finally better. He is currently rehabilitating the tendons and ligaments that have not been used much since last winter. It still hurts, but it should not be long until he is shooting 3 pointers again and acting as his normal self again!

K falls in the river!!

2008-09-28T17:49:00.002-06:00

For family night on Monday, we all decided to go to the Jordan River to go for a walk and enjoy the outdoors. Kennedy brought her scooter and Scott and Nicole walked. After we had gone about a half mile, we stopped and rested by the side of the river. We went down to the bank and saw muskrats! Or something things like that swimming in the river! They were really neat. One of them came and swam right past us. Scott could have reached out and grabbed it it was so close. As the sun was setting, Nicole and Scott got up and told K that it was time to head back to the car. Kennedy totally ignored them, so Nicole started walking back to the car, and Scott got and the scooter. Scott told Kennedy that we were leaving and started scootering away. A second later, Kennedy started screaming! Scott thought she was throwing a fit that because he was leaving her behind, but quickly he relized that those were some very serious screams. Scott hurried back to her on the scooter and found her climbing out of the river, completely soaked and covered in mud.

Scott took off his sweater to give to Kennedy and took off on the scooter for the car. Nicole got kennedys wet clothes off, Kennedy put on Scotts sweater as a shirt, and used Nicoles sweater as a dress! We are so sad that we did not get pictures of Kennedy.

Although Kennedy was pretty traumatised at first, she took it pretty well, and on the way home we were even teasing her about how the muskrats must of helped her get out of the river.

Maple Canyon

2008-09-21T21:33:00.005-06:00

Kennedy had wanted to go camping lately really bad. I don't have school on Monday and I'm all caught up on my homework, so I decided that this weekend we could go on an overnighter. I told Kennedy and Nicole more than a week ago that we should go and everyone seemed to enjoy the idea. But when the day came, Kennedy decided that she was going to stay home because her mother was having a baby shower for her new baby boy Ethan. Cole and I went any way.

We were going to go to the San Rafael Swell, but as we were climbing Fairview Canyon to cross over the mountains between Ephraim and Castledale, the Subaru over heated and the radiator broke. We turned around and cooled the car down as we coasted down the canyon back to Fairview.

Once in town, I got some radiator stop leak and bought some more coolant. (all the local mechanic shops were closed) Surprisingly, the radiator stop leak worked, so we headed back up Fairview Canyon, but about 1 mile up we started overheating again, but now the radiator wasn't leaking. We drove back down and asked one of the locals if there was a place to camp that was close by that didn't require us to climb up over the mountain. They said there was a really cool place just west of Moroni called Maple Canyon that was only a small climb.

We head off and sure enough Maple Canyon was awesome! The fall colors were amazing. The Subaru stayed within temp range just long enough to make it to the first campsite and than overheated.

The canyon walls were really neat. It almost looked like someone had cemented these giant cliffs with cobble stones. I don't know how well you can see in the pictures, but the cliff walls were made of small stones with the biggest stones being about a foot in diameter.

Another interesting thing was

these HUGE nests of caterpillars that looked like big spider webs. The were everywhere. While we were making breakfast, the caterpillars kept falling from the trees on to us. They were really fuzzy and cute and because Nicole missed Toby, she took a liking to them. Nicole found one caterpillar, I guess they are called Wholly Bears, that was black and orange and really fuzzy. She really liked that one.

Even though we missed Kennedy dearly, we still had a great time. It is nice to go and enjoy being outdoors from time to time.

There is a bun in the oven

2008-09-21T20:53:00.005-06:00

About week ago, Nicole decided at 12:30 a.m., to take a pregnancy test. Bad Idea. Nicole had already taken several pregnancy tests that week, and all of them had come up negative. She was so disappointed, but we didn't really expect that she would get pregnant on the first try either. So, she told me, "the test will come up negative, but I want to take one anyway." I told her to go ahead. That was a mistake, because we ended up getting very little sleep that night.

The test came up positive. We are expecting in May. It took awhile for the test to come up positive, and she said that she hadn't been waiting that long on the previous tests before she threw them away. We took a couple of the old tests out of the trash, and sure enough, they were all positive.

Nicole has been acting pregnant as well. All of a sudden, she hates garlic and she can smell things from a mile away(I now have to shower more often). She was craving ground beef so I baked her a meatloaf and she was very excited. That is not at all like Nicole to crave ground beef. She has also been craving bell peppers which is good because I love them.

We have plenty of boy names, but currently no girl names. So anyone who would be so nice as to suggest girl names would be very much appreciated. So far Nicole doesn't want to use a girls name that is really popular. She like M and A names, but your suggestion doesn't have to be one of those. Leave your suggestions by leaving a comment.

Mandy and the Clay Pigeon

2008-08-31T22:04:00.001-06:00

Mandy can not throw a clay pigeon.

Blueberries for Breakfast

2008-08-31T12:30:00.003-06:00

Scott woke up this morning and decided to make a lovely breakfast. We thought it was worthy of a picture. Scott loves blueberries a lot. We are very happy when the price of blueberries goes down!

Kennedy went to Washington with grandma Diana. So she will be gone until Monday. We have missed her all weekend and are very excited for her to return.

Scott started school at Westminster College. He is taking Trigonometry, Airline Management, Aviation Law, and a Political Science class.

This is a picture of Converse hall at Westminster. That is were Scotts math class is.

We have finally finished the basement for Kennedy K. I took a picture of it, but it didn't turn out so well. The basement looks great though, and Kennedy loves it. We painted a big rectangle on the wall with chalk board paint so K could color on it with chalk. It turned out really cool. Scott and Nolan sheet rocked the ceiling in the basement and it made a huge difference so it is not a scary place anymore.

Kennedy, Hannah, and Olivia Camping

2008-08-06T19:27:00.003-06:00

Dustin took Grandpa Nolan, the girls, and I camping a few weeks ago. Here a couple pictures from the camping trip. Kennedy and Hannah are swimming in Payson Lake

Kennedy Starts 4th Grade

2008-08-06T19:20:00.004-06:00

Kennedy has been doing gymnastics. She is awesome!!! She is incredibly flexible. She is not even trying in this picture of her doing the splits. She goes to gymnastics every Tuesday.

She also started 4th grade on Monday. She is very excited to go back to school! Her teacher seems like she is going to be great.

A bat at Payson Lakes.

2008-08-01T18:26:00.003-06:00

While Kennedy and I (Scott) were camping at Payson Lakes, I found a bat!! He was crawling along the path and jumping and trying to fly. He never could quite get airborne. We thought that he must be hurt. We were not sure what to do, so we thought that it would be best if we just let him go on his way.

Later on though, I found out that if bats land on a flat place, they can not fly! Bats have to be up high like in a tree or the top of a cave, and drop themselves off to get enough airspeed to actually fly. They can't get a running start like birds can. So i guess this guy was just stuck on the ground until he climbed a tree or something.

He was very neat to see and I feel very lucky that we were able to take some pictures before he crawled off into the forest and foliage.

The best yogurt

2008-07-20T11:05:00.002-06:00

We haven't posted for a while, and there is lots to post about. Kennedy is in gymnastics, we remodeled the kitchen and I spent last weekend out of town having fun.

So, I will post about those other things latter when I get pictures. For now I will post about my love for yogurt! Mountain High yogurt is my new favorite food. It is up there with peanut butter and waffles. This yogurt is seriously way better than yoplait or generic brands. It is real yogurt! It has this splendid tart taste. It doesn't have tons of sugar and gelatin in it.
Almost every night I eat it with multi grain Cheerios.

Nicole loves it too because it is healthy for you. It is made with crystaline fructuse and natural flavors. It is totally natural. Not artificial anything. Oh yea, she also is happy about it not have rBST.

Nanci and Kennedy go to the ophthalmologist

2008-07-10T21:26:00.001-06:00

I copied this straight from Nanci's blog.

Kennedy and I went to the ophthalmologist yesterday. We went a little early so we could be on time. Her appointment was at 9:30 a.m.

We checked in and sat down and watched videos without much sound. It was REALLY loud in there besides. Kennedy checked out the play room but wasn't much interested in that. We looked at a few books but they were kinda kiddy books. There was one about planets (we thought) but only the first and middle pages were very educational. The rest of it was a bear telling us a bunch of stuff you can do on earth. I think we already know that after 8 years of being here. I tried to make her read a book about dinosaurs but she would NOT. I kept threatening to make her read it and she would just laugh at me.

We 10 minutes, maybe less, to see the nurse. She did a few simple eye tests with the eye machine thingy adjusted to her old prescription. I explained that Kennedy lost her glasses and we hadn't bought new glasses in anticipation of this appointment and her new prescription. She did pretty well with the right eye but the left eye was pretty bad.

We sat in the waiting room for a while longer. We were getting impatient as we had already done everything that was offered to us. We were both starving and Kennedy kept telling me we should just go down to the cafeteria and I told her we couldn't because we would miss her appointment.

The OTHER nurse finally called us back and we waited a minute for the Dr. Kennedy was making strange and loud noises. I think she must have been getting nervous or something. I told her people were trying to work around here and if I could hear them outside the door (and I could) that they could probably hear her. I told her she was going to be embarrassed when someone besides me came to tell her to shut up. Then the just said, "We have to dilate your eyes." So the nurse came back and put the drops in. I guess this is kind of uncomfortable. Kennedy didn't "make a noise" and the nurse asked her if it hurt so she must have thought she missed her eye.

We went back to the terrible waiting room. We were getting so grumpy. When Kennedy's eyes started to dilate she complained that she couldn't see very well. She wanted to see what they looked like so she went to the bathroom twice to try to see but she couldn't. I kept forgetting and I asked her about something on her pants and she got frustrated and said, "I CAN'T SEE, REMEMBER?" I almost burst into tears it was so pathetic. She said, "I can't even READ!" Oh it was so sad.

The Dr. called us back and looked in her eyes. He said that her prescription was "much different," for each eye and had changed quite a bit but that it was not like it was getting worse or anything bad was happening. He gave us a new prescription and then they wrangled us into making a new appointment in 3 months. Kennedy was picking her sticker and I had to tell her what they were. SAD! Then when we were in the car she had to ask me which way it went so she could put it on. OH NO ALMOST BURSTING INTO TEARS! Oh it was so pathetic I couldn't even stand it.

The doctor gave her those crazy sunglasses and she just hated them because they made her look like a dork. So of course I made her take a picture in them. I had to remember this terrible day!

Her eyes were still dilated last night before she went to bed. It was crazy. They were even still dilated this morning. So I took a picture of that too.

The Neighborhood Owls!

2008-07-10T21:06:00.005-06:00

The other day I (Scott) went to an open house for a house for sale in our neighborhood. As I walked out in the backyard, I looked up at the beautiful large apple tree. To my surprise there was an owl looking down at me! I looked around and there was actually 2 owls in the tree. A couple days later, I returned with my camera and got some pictures. I have visited them a couple times since then, and they have been there, so I think they live there. If you go to see them in the evening though, they are gone hunting.

Deseret Peak

2008-06-22T09:48:00.007-06:00

On Thursday, Scott hiked to the top of Deseret Peak with his friends John Coloum and Mica. Deseret Peak is the highest peak in the Stansbury Mountain Range just west of Grantsville. The peak is 11,031 feet high.
The big picture is looking up at the peak about half way up the trail. We started to encounter snow at about this point and the snow made the journey very difficult. We totally lost the trail at times. The toughest part was when the trail went to switch backs up the steep mountain side, and the trail was completely hidden by tons of snow. We had to climb up the cliff, making our own way, through the snow. At times we would sink into the snow past our knees. Most of the time though, we were able to stay on top of the snow.
It turned out to be a great hike. My favorite part was down lower, were there wasn't a lot of snow and we were hiking through beautiful aspen and pine trees. From the top of the mountain, we could see the Wasatch Mountains to the east, and the Salt Lake and the salt flats to the north, and the Deep Creek Range to the west. You could see for ever.
I was also amazed at how little oxygen there was up on top. As we descended the mountain I seemed to get more and more energy the farther down I went.

Father's Day

2008-06-15T23:04:00.002-06:00

Happy Father's Day!! This morning Scott woke up and Cole and Kennedy had cooked him the most amazing breakfast! We ate ginger bread waffles!!! YES!!! They were so good!! Nicole also go Scott an incredible gift basket. She made the gift basket of all sorts of intersting things Scott would love. Scott just finished his rum cake and real brewed ginger ale before posting.

Gardening!

2008-06-15T23:00:00.000-06:00

Scott has been doing some Gardening. He is so proud of all of his plants. This year, the Bakers are not going to be using there backyard, so the have aloud Scott to plant in there back yard as well! We have got pumpkins, corn, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, raspberries , and blackberries! Soon we will be planting the Okra! I know that the pictures are kind of boring, but Scott is excited to go back and look at them some time.

Lagoon

2008-06-15T22:45:00.008-06:00

This is Kennedy, The Vicster, and Nicole riding the Music Express, and the Tilt O Whirl at Lagoon. Scott is not on either ride because he would vomit if he rode them. Lagoon was great fun. Kennedy is finally getting to the age were she will try some grown up rides. I think next time she goes she will try the Wicked and the Colossus. Nicole and Scott did ride the Colossus 3 times. Nicole now wants a season pass. Scott thinks that a season pass would cause motion sickness, for more than one reason.

Hair Cut

2008-06-15T22:41:00.003-06:00

The time has come. Scott's hair is all cut off now. No more mohawk (mullet) Nicole and Scott thought it would be fun last Sunday to take out the scissors and hack away. Nicole had a great time and giggled and giggled.
The hair looks kind of funny in this picture, but you get the point.

Escalante! Day 4

2008-06-07T12:11:00.016-06:00

After rushing to get packed in the morning, one of the local outfitters came up in a big Suburban to pick us and a our gear up and take us back into town. We were all very sad to leave the cabin. It had been a wonderful place to stay. Once back in town, we got breakfast and waited for the news on the Charger. Luckily, the local mechanic was able to fix it. He did have to use Ford parts though. With the Charger back on the road, we were ready to head back home. We took our time leaving town, and had lunch with the Bakers on the banks of the Escalante River. On the way home we had to stop for more picture opportunities. Highway 12 has to be one of the most amazing highways in the world! After leaving the Escalante River canyons, you climb Boulder Mountian to enjoy some amazing over looks of the desert!

The Charger made it home great! Although all of us were very tired, we all made it home great as well! It will be a trip that we don't forget, and we are excited to visit that part of the state again. Here are some more photos from the trip!

Escalante! Day 3

2008-06-07T11:38:00.013-06:00

Scott woke up early in the morning and went for a hike hoping to see lots of wildlife. He did see a buck, but he was really hoping to find a turkey. After the hike, Scott cooked french toast and eggs and bacon. It was a great breakfast, especially because of the day we had yesterday.
Now that the Bakers had unloaded there gear, we all decided to cram into the Toyota and go for an adventure. All together there was 6 of us. Kennedy, Nicole and Scott, as well as Isaac, Wendy, and John. Kennedy is small enough that here sitting on a lap was not a big deal. Our destination was Calf Creek, but on our way there we discovered Hells Backbone! It was amazing. Again, this area of the world is crazy. Every turn there is something new to discover. I can not do it justice with words. The bridge you see in one of the pictures, has enormous gorges on both sides of it. I think that the picture with Scott in it is of the West side, and the other picture is of the East side. They are actually separate canyons!
We made a stop in at the Anasazi State Park and saw ancient dwellings. We had lunch and set out for Calf Creek.

We had a very nice hike at Calf Creek. Because to this point Kennedy had givin the hikes all she had, she was not in the mood for another big hike. She was not up for the 6 mile round trip to the falls. So Kennedy and Scott and Nicole, took it easy while the Bakers continued on. While we were hanging out enjoying the canyon we happened to meet a very nice swiss man. He was traveling across the United States by bike. From New York to L.A.! He shared his story with us. He had a heart attack and survived and was inspired to take this amazing bicycle journey. Here is his web site that tracks his progress.
Notice that in the last picture, you can see an ancient Anasazi cliff dwelling high up on the cliff.

Escalante! Day 2

2008-06-07T11:05:00.013-06:00

After a nice lazy morning enjoying the mountains, we headed out for our adventures in the desert. With lunch packed we headed out in the Charger for Hole in the Rock road. Our first stop was for lunch at Devils Garden! Because Scott forgot the can opener, we had peanut butter and applesauce sandwiches, not the tuna fish as planed. It tasted great though. Here is an arch we found at Devils Garden. We took tons of pictures! It was a very neat place to play. We climbed up hoo-doos and into narrows. Kennedy did not want to leave. This beat any playground she had ever been to.

We did convince Kennedy to get back in the car and we went to Dry Gulch, were the famous Spooky and Peek-a-boo narrows are! The hike was much more difficult than I had remembered! Kennedy and Nicole did awesome! Kennedy had the best attitude and hiked and hiked and climbed and hiked. She hiked to the point that I was worried she was getting heat exhaustion. Needless to say, she slept very good that night. I don't have words for how amazing these canyons are. You will just have to see them for yourself. We did find a lizard that had found its way into spooky, and was unable to get out. The canyon floor never sees the sun and the lizard had gotten to cold. We carried him out of the canyon and put him in the sun to regain his energy.

Hole in the Rock road was a great road driving to Devils Garden, but after we hit Kane County, on the way to Dry Gulch, the road fell apart! The washboard was like speed bumps lined up in the road! The charger started shaking so bad, that the rear view mirror fell off, Nicole kept having to put screws back in the dashboard as it was falling apart! As we pulled into Dry Gulch, the breaks fell apart. Literally. The back brake shook apart and the adjuster fell out and the brakes became completely useless. Because it was the back, the parking brake also was useless. Scott managed to drive the charger 30 miles back to Escalante. It was a very stressful ride back to town. With it being Saturday night, there was nobody in who would be willing to fix it until Monday morning.
So we were stuck in Escalante with all our gear at the cabin. It was about that time that the Bakers arrived! There tiny Toyota was completely full of stuff and there was no way that we would be able to ride in there car up to the cabin. We went out to eat at a lovely Mexican restaurant. There we met some very friendly locals who overheard our situation and offered to drive us up to our cabin!! So with the sun heading down, exhausted from our day, we hopped into there big Dodge truck and headed up the mountain.

Escalante! Day 1

2008-06-07T10:45:00.008-06:00

We took a wonderful trip last weekend. Kennedy, Nicole and Scott loaded up the 68 Dodge Charger and headed out for the beautiful and amazing canyons of the Escalante.
The ride down went very quickly as we made stops as we pleased and we enjoyed having a broken speedometer in the charger. (Scott thought he was driving at about 75-80 mph, while in reality he was going 85-90 mph) We stopped in Bryce Canyon for a hike. The hike was called mossy cave. Kennedy loved it!
Scott reserved a cabin in the Dixie National Forest just north of the town of Escalante. The cabin was a couple miles off of Hells Back Bone Road. The cabin was beautiful. We were all surprised to find out how clean and well stocked it was. It had a fridge, stove, beds, cookware, a hot water heater, and a wood burning stove for heat! It was next to a very nice little stream and meadow!
Day one went very well and every one was having a great time!

Nicole and the Cows

2008-06-07T10:40:00.004-06:00

While we all were up in Logan, we stopped to play with the cows! Mandy and Kennedy and Nicole and I. I love this picture of Nicole. We tried to get the cows to come close enough for us to pet them, but we were unsuccessful. Nicole did make friends with this one. She has a way with cows.

Mandy Visits from Vegas

2008-06-07T10:24:00.007-06:00

Two weekends ago we were lucky enough to have Mandy come and visit us from Vegas!! It was great! I made her a room down stairs in the basement so she could have a nice bed and private place to go. She didn't like it near as much as a had anticipated as she was very scared of my basement. In this picture she is looking down in to the basement. She knows there are zombies down there. She was a good sport and slept down there anyways. Here is Mandy doing here indigenous dance of the dolphin she learned from her Colombian friends.
We took the charger up to Logan to visit mother. We went shooting with Tom and Lorna and it was great! Mandy tried very hard to throw the clay pigeons, but was never successful.

2008-05-08T13:29:00.002-06:00

Fiesta!
Viva La Mexico!

Susquehanna goes to the Doctor!

2008-05-05T16:00:00.004-06:00

Diana owns a little dog named Peanut. Here is a picture of this small nice dog. He kept crawling under our fence and barking at and chasing the chickens. We thought that the little rat of a dog could do little more than annoy the chickens. We were wrong. A week ago Peanut decided that barking was getting boring, so he decided to start bitting. And Susquehanna, yes she is as dumb as a chicken, just sat there and let the dog gnaw on her. Luckily, Scott found them and quickly chased Peanut away. But, by then Susquehanna was already all bloody. Scott and Kennedy took Susquehanna and put her in the bath tub and cleaned up her wounds and put some antibiotic on her. She seemed like she was ok, but as the week went on, she started using her leg less and less. Even though it is cute to watch the chicken hop on one foot, we decided that we had better take her to the vet to ensure that she is ok and make sure she doesn't lose her leg! Scott put Kennedy in the back window of the Charger and took her to the vet to the amusement of all the cars that saw a 68 Dodge Charger with a chicken as a passenger. The vet said that she was going to be ok and gave us some antibiotics to give her. Oh yes, giving a chicken a pill is great fun! Not as bad as giving one to a cat though.
Scott had the chicken in a cat carrier while waiting for the vet in the waiting room. She was contently softly clucking, almost enjoying her trip, while in the waiting room. Scott remembered that he had left something in the car and asked the receptionist if it was ok if he left Susquehanna in the waiting room while he ran to the car. She said it was ok, so Scott ran out to the parking lot. On the way back in, Scott opened the door and heard Susquehanna screaming! The receptionist said that the second Scott left the chicken freaked out. Scott ran over to Susquehanna and she immediately calmed down and relaxed. I guess Scott's chickens really do love him.

No surgery!! yet...

2008-04-10T22:24:00.004-06:00

Well the good news is that after going to see the surgeon, my wrist looks aligned after all!! He says we don't need to operate... yet. He is worried that it isn't healing though. I broke it on Jan. 09 and I still can't use it!!! I have another appointment with him in one month. If it is continuing to heal than all is well and it will be a 1 to 3 months to finish healing. If it's not continuing to heal than he has to reconstruct my bone with a bone graft! hideous!! I had best hurry up and get some health insurance! It figures that of all the bones to break in my body I get the one that is the slowest healing!
scott olsen

2008-04-06T20:10:00.003-06:00

Nicole is so proud of her new video she shot of with her new Treo phone. She is very excited to do lots of cool things with her new phone. To bad after a day of having her new phone she had to take it in cause it was broken. Soon she will get it back or get a new one though. Uhh... the video.... well Nicole just loves her cat.

2008-04-06T19:56:00.009-06:00

So... Scott goes to the hand and wrist surgeon on Thursday. We will be excited to find out what the verdict will be for Scott's wrist. Scott also got the Beron Foundation scholarship! So it

looks like he will be attending Westminster College. Westminster is giving $8,000 a year and the Beron Foundation is giving $5,000 a year, and he still qualifies for federal aid!! Looks like we can afford it after all. He also got granted a full tuition scholarship at USU, but it looks like we will not be willing to move to Logan. We are in too good of a situation here in SLC and Nicole loves her job tons!
today between morning and afternoon confrence, we went to Lyndsey Gardens and the cemetery. Nicole was taking pictures. Here are two pictures of her.
There is also a picture of Kennedy in her Easter dress.
This last picture is off the snow we got last week. The snow was beautiful. By afternoon though, it was spring again.

Oh yea, there is a new basketball injury. Nicole will not allow Scott to post it as she is tired of gross pictures of her husband filling up her blog. We will send pictures of the new injury with an emailed request.

Scott and Colie

2008-03-23T22:12:00.006-06:00

Scott Nicole and Kennedy had a wonderful weekend!! We were graced with the presence of Katy Lockwood!! She spend all day Saturday with us. Scott picked Katy up in the morning after basketball and after pancakes, put her to work! First Scott and Katy cleaned the chicken coop. Then Scott and Katy went and filled the Subaru full of bricks. The bricks were to do some upgrading for the chicken coop. What a great niece to lug bricks around and pick up chicken poo. After the work Scott and Katy went to a yard sale were they purchased a Rock Trivia game. It was made in 1984! Scott Nicole and Katy played it. It was great, and Nicole didn't miss a single Bee Gees question.
After Katy went home, Scott and Nicole went downtown to play and take pictures. Nicole took this picture of graffiti. She said it was the cutest graffiti she had ever seen.
In other news, Scott has another basketball injury!! He got elbowed in the chin and bit his tongue. It bled like crazy! Luckily this time he hurt the part of the body that heals the fastest!

Typing Test

2008-03-16T23:55:00.004-06:00

83 words

Speedtest This first one is Scott's

I'm sure I'm in the low 30's (since I type with about 5 fingers.)

52 words

Speed test

Ok I am much faster than I thought. Not bad for someone who chicken pecks!!

Day Two of The Cleanse Complete!

2008-03-03T00:09:00.006-07:00

Here is an update on the previous post:
I am not doing this to lose weight or...for kicks. I am completing the juice fast to clean all of the toxins out of my body. (After last Sunday's toxic fire..I was sure I had my share of gross build up in my system.) I also am using this as a starting point to revamp my diet. Over the last few months I have reduced my sugar intake to nearly nothing, and I am planning on cutting out other harmful additives as well. I am not sure how far I will take it.. but I am researching tons to find out just what is healthy for my body.
The other aspect of this cleanse is in a way to cleanse my...being? Emotional and mental cleansing? I guess it is a way to demonstrate my control over my body cravings. I so often give in to things that are harmful for me because "I want them" Completing this helps me prove to myself that I do have a choice in what I do. I don't have to give in to the "natural man." It is my way of restoring my integrity in who I really am.
It really hasn't been toooo hard. Sometimes I get a little "yucky feeling" but that is supposedly the toxins exiting my system. I had to take a nap today, but yesterday wasn't really bad at all. I only want to eat the food mentally most of the time. Something would smell good and I would want the taste in my mouth. The juice helps with the calories so I'm not running off empty. I am really happy to be complete and have a nice piece of fruit and some nuts Tuesday morning. The fast is pretty specific on how to go about introducing food into my diet again. I am all stocked up on tons of fruit, veggies and nuts. I also have some hummus and sprouted pita waiting for me. ...mmmmm.. I want food. I'm going to bed now. That way I can wake up sooner to have a nice big glass of PRUNE juice tomorrow! I am actually excited about it. It will be my last one for a while. Woo Hoo!

Are You Looking For A Good Time??

2008-03-02T20:02:00.002-07:00

Required:
48 oz of Prune Juice
Something Like 9 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
And at least 3 gallons of Apple Juice

Instructions:
1. Eat NOTHING!
2. Drink 16 oz of Prune Juice in the morning remembering to "chew" your juice...which means swishing it around so it mixes with your spit.
3. Down 1-2 Tablespoons of Olive oil
4. say "eww gross!"
5. every 30 min. drink 8 to 16 oz of fresh apple juice
6. 30 min. later drink 8 to 16 oz of water... all day
7. 1 -2 more tablespoons of olive oil at noon
8. 5 pm 1-2 more tablespoons of olive oil
9. repeat for 3 days.
10. let the good times roll, or in Nicole's case, flow. hee hee.

Nicole is on a three day juice fast! It's very exciting. She couldn't even make it through writing this blog without having to take a break to use the restroom. Her stomach sounds like a diesel truck idling. (eat you heart out Larry)
Not only is Scott very entertained by the whole ordeal, but he is impressed that Nicole could actually follow through with her juice cleanse. Scott could never be able to accomplish this fast.... unless it was a waffle and cereal fast. Diana even took us to Little America for brunch to celebrate Tara's birthday, and she some how cheerfully resisted eating anything. Although, last night, Nicole wanted to eat so bad that she asked if she could smell Scott's Arby's sandwich.

Puberty. Fiction or Fact?

2008-02-24T20:31:00.003-07:00

This is, our neighbors, John and Wendy (the Bakers). John is just about to eat a taco. It is his "Congratulations, you just had a baby!" taco. They gave birth to a baby boy this week. He was 7(?) weeks early, but doing good. They named him Johann Isaac. (pronounced Yo-han)
Scott said this post in nuts, and I have lost it. That may be because I am now toxic liver Nicole. I started a muffin on fire today in the microwave. I put it in for 30 seconds. It some how caught fire and filed the house with thick toxic bright yellow smoke. I was on the phone at the time. I said, "oh, i burnt something in the microwave."Quickly shut the door to the microwave and kept talking. Scott came in freaking out and opened the door and nearly killed us all. The smoke engulfed us. We choked and gaged and Scott rushed the microwave to the porch. We opened the door again and found a very small black lump on a paper towel. I swear it was in there for under 30 seconds! We all ended up on the porch, even the cats. They knew the yellow haze in the house couldn't be good for them and followed us out. John and Wendy saw us outside and asked what the horrible smell was, they thought there was a fire nearby. Sorry we didn't get any pictures. I was already in trouble for staying on the phone too long through all this. I wasn't going to risk picking up the camera...I didn't want the evidence anyway.
Who knew a muffin could be more threatening then the dangerous sport of basketball!?
Scott's kidneys still hurt.

2008-02-24T17:35:00.001-07:00

Kennedy and Scott have been having great fun learning Spanish in a book that Nicole had bought for Scott. Here are some of the pages!! print and enjoy!

2008-02-18T17:25:00.001-07:00

Today Kennedy and Scott enjoyed the nice sunshine! The chickens joined in as well. Here is Scott's fabulous chalk drawing. Kennedy drew this lovely picture on the window to welcome in the nice weather. If you can understand what it says, you win a prize! click on it to enlarge.This is Susquehanna our prized black chicken of wonder!! beautiful. Fresh eggs are abundant at the Olsen home!
We have two other chickens as well, LaRoo and Latisha. Here Scott is holding LaRoo.

Scott crooked nose

2008-02-17T12:10:00.001-07:00

Basketball is not a dangerous sport, unless you are scott olsen. While playing basketball with only his left hand (his right wrist is broken, from playing basketball) He collided with another player and smashed up his nose. Cole is sad that his perfect face is now terribly flawed. Good news though, it's not broken and it will probably go straight again someday. (Unless he upsets Colie with another basketball injury....then his nose will have no chance.)

First post for us

2008-02-17T11:35:00.001-07:00

For our first post, you get two cats!!! This is Zero of our passion and love, and Toby Banjo Cat of Destruction!! Toby is the one on the chair. He has 7 toes on each paw!! amazing!! We love them and they bring a lot of sunshine to our home!! Toby got ran over by a car in the fall. It ran over his head! He survived, but it broke both jaws. His bottom one is still wired together. I think he got only a little brain damage. That just makes him a little bit more crazy.

Here is a picture of one of our big Toby cat's paws. Katy our niece who was 8 at the time, is holding his paw. I don't think Toby understands just how big those things are. Lately when he is hungry, he will jam his claws into the back of our thighs. (Sometimes into Scott's butt cheek!) We yell and scream, and he just sits there staring up at us with his big beautiful eyes, all innocent like. You know he's thinking, "What are you yelling about? I just want some food."

He recently has claimed this box that we had in our recycling pile. He will sit in it and howl. It's hilarious! He runs around in circles and attack the sides. He barely fits in the thing. The other day we found a roll of toilet paper in it that he had stolen. He tore the thing up and stored it in his box for safe keeping. I guess you can say he's pretty clever, for a mutant.