Just a photo today of a gift that the Great Sky Ward Young Women gave to Bishop Olson and Sister Olson at the November fireside. It is a bowlful of "Warm and Fuzzies", each added to the collection as one of the girls completed an act of service or kindness. The pink strips are notes where they named things and people for which they are thankful. I am thankful for the great young people in our ward...

Halloween

OK, so Halloween this year was uneventful, but it was uneventful in a good sort of way. We started the evening with a "Trunk-Or-Treat" at the church. Then things got rolling when Tyler and Tanner showed up at the house dressed up as...Tyler and Tanner.

And Grandpa spent the evening posing as--what else?-- an ARCHBishop!

Mom's Birthday

Mom and Gimli (buds) celebrate her birthday with a sugar-free, flourless chocolate cake--it really was a lot better than it sounds.

Saturday was a typical beautiful fall day in Boise. We walked about a mile over to the park and watched Tyler cheer for her "White Lightnin'" team, then we drove out to Meridian to watch Tanner score his first touchdown in his flag football league.

Tyler clearly has cheerleading in her blood--she was having a great time. I think that most of the college cheerleaders I've seen this year could follow the lead of these 7-year-olds, who obviously have learned how to dress in public...







Tanner, on the other hand, was more interested in tossing rocks into the pond than he was in watching cheerleaders. Must be related to Grandpa Olson...



When we finally got to his game, though,
he came alive as a misguided tailback (the coach is explaining to him that he needs to run forward with the ball, not backward. We also see him taking his turn on the offensive line at center, becoming a vicious defensive lineman and contemplating the eternities while he rests during his turn on the, uh, bench.

Grandma Olson was inattentive to the ball game. In Hallie Mae's absence, she adopted Trace, Tyler and Tanner's new half-sister. In all, it was a pretty fine day.

Wallowa Lake, Oregon


Mom and Dad Olson took an early fall vacation to Wallowa Lake in Northeast Oregon. It is about 4 hours from Boise and the trip was well worth the drive--we had no idea this place would be so beautiful. The locals call it "America's Switzerland", and they could be right...

We spent a good part of Saturday Hiking in the mountains. We were fortunate to meet a Sasquatch on the trail who offered to take our picture. This is before we were exhausted by the climb and the altitude, combined with our physical condition.

Mom built us a bridge to cross the raging Wallowa river before we headed up the slopes. The day was perfect--sunny but cool, not too many people on the trail (and only one Sasquatch), and we managed early on to get off the horse trail and onto a foot trail where the footing was a bit less, uh, fragrant. Mom apologized for not putting a cover over the bridge like they do in Iowa, but we were, after all, not in Iowa, duh.

Along the way, we got some nice views of the valley and the lake,

and we made some new friends.

We saw this lovely waterfall. We hiked half way up stinkin' Mt. Everest to see this wonder of nature, and the trail took us to the top of the thing, so we really could not see much. Mom wouldn't let me get any closer to the edge than this-- I think it was because she was sure I'd jump off just so I wouldn't have to walk all the way back down the mountain. We never did find a way to see the waterfall from below, so, this is all you get:

On the way back down, we met Sasquatch again, and he let us take his picture this time. He's in this somewhere. You can find him if you look close enough.

After the hike, we visited the burial site of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe. No, this is not garbage scattered all over the memorial. They are gifts and offerings, and yes, those are real cigars and a real Beanie Baby Salamander--go figure.

We didn't do much else except sit in a hot tub and listen to the BYU-FSU game, which was neither pleasant nor noteworthy. Oops, forgot to mention the fresh German donuts we got near our lodge--the best ever!

Sorry the pictures look blurry--they're not really that bad--I just messed them up while I was moving and resizing them for the blog. I'll improve with practice.