Best Buds!

It's been really neat to see Rylan embracing Bridger in a whole new way as Bridge gets a little older...Ry Guy is actually starting to think He's pretty cool and kinda fun at times... I hear more of  "Bridge c'mon let's go" and less of  "Mom.....Bridge is eating my toys again"....their 3 year age difference is starting to mesh together a little and they truly are becoming best buds!...I am really going to enjoy watching their relationship as they continue to grow, but for now I will just relish these days of them just being adventurous little boys together...

As I watch these two cuties I think about my relationship with my Sister who is 3 years older than me...We were best buds at their age....always playing together, sharing a room, toys...inseperable....then as we got older and in to our teens all I wanted was to be JUST like Her and all she wanted was for me to be...well....out of her hair!!....but the WONDERFUL thing about siblings is that we grow together, grow apart, then grow back together as we grow older, wiser, and realize that we NEED each other JUST like we needed each other when we were little. And that is just what has happened with me and my sis...around our early 20's our relationship blossomed in to a beautiful friendship having left all the jealous, fighting, clothes-stealing, friend-stealing, ratting on each other memories behind and moving forward to start celebrating each other as the women we were becoming....So now,  we NEVER go without pouring our hearts out to each other and talking about how important we are to one another...Our lives have taken different routes but the the depth of our sisterhood is there are will always be there..We understand each other in a way that can't be put in to words...I cherish the sister that the Lord has given me and pray that these boys of mine will always have the kind of relationship us sisters do..

Ps....we wouldn't nearly be the girls we are today without our big Bro Jeff looking after us but that will be another post!...oh and Jilly- aren't you glad I couldn't find any bathtub pics of us!!

Picnic at the overlook

   Here's a HOW-To on having a successful family picnic up the mountain :)!!

First you grill up some paninis...

                                       

you throw in some other goodies....

drive past a river and up a mountain....

munch on your lunch...

take a pic by a  scary sign so everyone knows you're rugged and tough...

climb out of the moon roof to catch the view....

take a family picture (remembering to set the timer longer next time)...

soak it in before you head back down...

spot a buck on the way down and say things like "nice rack, is that a 4x4?"

say hi to the Horse at the bottom and let the kids wave to it for five minutes before heading home!

Great times!!

Cupcake Time

I just HAD to share my first HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING SUCCESS SEMI SUCCESS!!!!

Everyone warned me before we got here how different and difficult it is to bake at high altutude (we sit at about 7000 ft).....well..........it's true. I wish i had pictures of my first few baking disasters but needless to say the first night I tried, we ended up at the Cowboy Cafe eating peach cobbler (which was very delish by the way)....but I was determined to work this out.... I searched for some cupcake recipes and tried one. Now I say semi-success for a couple of reasons- first of all- they actually rose up instead of puffing out of the pan and then turning in to a puddle. Secondly- even though they look yum I will never mislead you in my posts, I will always tell the complete truth even if it hurts......the taste was.....well.......somehwhat like dense, stale cake!!.....but thankfully, the boys are my biggest fans and their palate is not quite refined yet :)

OH BRIDGE!!!!

It's a good thing....

that you are...

Absolutely....

and completely...

irresistible!!!!

Winter Sports

I didn't think I'd EVER be a fan of winter activities after the imfamous sledding accident of  '97.....but.....I've been embracing many new things on this new journey and have conquered my fears in this area. (Not to mention that I've matured a little and would make smarter choices rather than tresspassing into a stone quarry and sledding down massive, dangerous stone hills just to impress friends :)Also, if you want to get any excersise in this town, you better strap on some skis or snowshoes and take a hike!!...

Which is just what we did the other day......There is this AMAZING couple that go to our church (Roger and Eleanor)....they are these spunky Kids that bought 9 acres of land about 3 miles up a mountain and built a beautiful log cabin ALL by hand....they are ALWAYS on the go and always willing to serve people...Eleanor cooks a lot of meals for the church and also teaches Rylan's 4 year old SS class...these two have a passion for doing God's will (did i mention that they are in their 70's!!!!!!)...yea...incredible......so they invited us for lunch the other day and told us we could have our first snowshoeing experience by parking our car at the bottom of their mountain and hiking up to their cabin.......we took the chance....it was awesome and something we will try to be doing a lot......p.s- i forgot how hot you can get when your doing winter sports so i left the house all layered up, looking a bit "stuffed"...as we got in to our climb, we had to stop every 2 minutes for me to frantically tear off another layer and pile it on the boys in the sled we were pulling them in....love it!!! 

Monkey Business

Don't let this tempt you to re-think Evolution :)

Forbidden Fruit

Our house that we moved to has been a true blessing...as we were unpacking last month, we notice that one cupboard in the kitchen had a TERRIBLE odor in it so we tried to figure out what it was...Let me try to describe it for you.....when i was in 3rd grade, our class had a pet hamster that crawled out of his cage one night and fell through the heater and burnt up real good and crispy...the next day as we got off the bus and opened the school doors and the smell of toasty rodent hit us like a mac truck and took a week to get rid of....are you smelling it yet???...well that is what we think is going on in our cupboard......anyway.....until we have the gull to investigate (thankfully we can't smell it when the door is closed)  we've left it empty and keep it shut ALL THE TIME.....

I was cooking in the kitchen the other day and Rylan came in and opened it up......with a bit of panic in my voice, I said "Rylan!! No!!...don't ever open that cupboard again"....DING....curiousity peaked...the questions began..."why mom, what's in there, why can't i look".... I began to explain to Him (using all the yucky faces i could) that it was gross, nasty, smelly and there would be no benefit to opening it and the rule is that it should be never EVER opened!! Pretty compelling argument i thought...but wouln't ya know that He stood by that cupboard the whole rest of the time I was cooking just looking, wondering, and asking about it.... still wanting to open it and look in even after knowing how unpleasant it was...Man it took me right back to the beginning when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil AFTER knowing the rule and being warned of the consequences!!.......

See, our tendency is to want to put the blame ALL on Adam and Eve (it DOES say in the Word that through one man ALL have sinned) but that's just it.....we were all born with that SAME sin nature, leaving all of us responsible in a way.....but thanks be to God for He demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were STILL sinners, christ died for us!!!!-Romans 5:8...even more... though our sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow- Isaiah 1:18

THANK YOU JESUS!!!

Scenery

                                                          

This is some wildlife and scenery we've been able to capture so far!!..                                                                                                     

Welcome ME to blog world and welcome YOU to our page!

Hey there...I'm excited to start sharing pieces of our life with those who visit..... For my first post what better place to start than the beginning (well at least the beginning of "us") and bring you up to now.....here we go

this is Brad, not too soon before we met :)

and then there's Me......

                                                  

We lived a bike ride away from each other most of our lives and started dating at the ripe ole age of 14

                                          

He asked me to marry Him on New Years Eve 1998 ( I was 17!!)... We ended up getting married in August of 2001...

                                          

He knows more about me than anyone else and vise versa..We have been through EVERYTHING together- high school, a little bit of college, beauty school (which means EVERY hair color on me..AND Him)...broken bones, tragedies, laughs.. a ton of laughs, trips, moving to Kansas City, then Atlanta, and now Wyoming!! It has been an amazing blessing and honor to have shared this many years with the man that God made for me...now it all sounds fabulous, which don't get me wrong, it has been, but we have also been through the worst of times together, lots of heart ache....and ok yes...a few silly mistakes!!!

                                       

The Lord blew our minds when He gave us Rylan in 2005 and then Bridger 3 years later.. the boys were both born in Kansas City and are truly made for our family...they both are just like us ( along for the ride, ready to experience new things, and easy adapters) which is great for the journey of travel the Lord has has us on....but they always LOVE going back to our home town to see grandparents and other family

                                               

Well that is the skinny on our Love story and family.....the best Love story is the one the Lord has written about our lives with Him...it is the reason why He put us together in the first place because all along He has had a plan for this family to love Him with all of our hearts, soul, mind and strength..and to take this Love and share with others our lives as He has so graciously given!!.....so that will be my attempt with this blog along with some great pics and probably some funny stories I'm sure......So here we are...The Olnhausen's....living out our calling to be in Wyoming and spread the love of Jesus for His glory................and bloggin it up!!!!!!!!