Matt's "Story Time"

The following story was penned by Matthew during Stake Conference today. I'm sure you will be as inspired as we were.

THE THREE LITTLE DOGS
A Story by Matthew Olsen [Editor's note: the true story behind the three little pigs]

Once there was a pig and a dog. The bad guy was a pig. The good guy was the dog. You know the three little pigs. But the three pigs were bad guys. They went to dog's home. They said "get me in with a huff and a puff oink!" The home with bricks fell down. The dog ran and ran to the home made with boxes. The dogs said "can I go in?" The dog said "no" so the dog ran away.

Next the pig was in the home made out of boxes. The pigs said "ha ha ha." It was a good thing the dog did not go in the home. It was a good thing it ran. The home made of boxes got broken and the dog got eaten. If the dog was in it he would be eaten.

The next home was made out of metal. The dog said "can I get in?" The dog said "yes." But the pig had the key to the house. The dog's had matches and burned the pig and eated it. "That was a good pig" one dog said.

One time the dogs went to cat's home and did the same thing.

Gossip Line

Welcome back to......................................

GOSSIP LINE
By Jessica Olsen

Flesh and Blood

In my resent gossip line,I told you about mom taking on many jobs.Not only now does she have many jobs and is still very tired but gives her own blood! But this is not enough,mom is now coming back to weight watchers.Since, in Wieght Watchers you lose wieght(or flesh)mom is technicly giveing her flesh and blood.In my opinion,I think mom is overdoing it.My last article on this subject ended with 'What would you do?' but now I will end with this: mom,your killing yourself.

Cailiforn Eye A part two!

As winter continues on and on and on, we thought it would be a good idea for sanity's sake to finish our blog on our trip to the sunshine state, including spectacular sunset cliffs beach:

We wish we had more pictures of Allison and the younger kids, but a local surfer informed Allison that they had recent problems with parts of the sandstone cliffs falling into the crashing surf below, so Allison was busy being very angry at Nathan, Adam and Jessica for venturing out on the cliffs just for a little thrill. Note the anger on her face in this picture:

At least Matthew was able to serenade her with his cheap Mexican guitar.

We spent another day at the La Jolla beach. Aaron graciously took some time at lunch to swing by and teach Adam and Nathan how to surf. Somewhere we have some pictures to prove it and will post them when we have it.

We then ventured our way down to the concrete mass known as Los Ang Elas, to vist the Jon and Deanna crew.

They took us to the most "hip" malls in LA, with bands, fountains, massive shiny ladder engine firetrucks called to the scene of a heart attack. Our dancing was so excellent that other people were taking pictures of us. We are stars!

Of course no trip to LA is complete without a picture next to the Hollywood sign:

Adam is left to contemplate when we will again be able to catch a little sun in the Eye of Californ A.

Californ eye A!

We recently returned from California where we decided to spend Spring Break (since we don't get any such thing in Idaho Falls). First we visted Mark and Shannon Olsen and their gang in Bakersfield. Adam, Jessica and I made a day trip to Magic Mountain, where Nathan had his internal organs rearranged with the obnoxious number of totally insane roller coasters. All one hears in the park all days is screaming.

Of course we got plenty of beach time!

The kids also had the opportunity to try clams for the first time.
Of course, like all sea food, they loved it! Christina shoved a bunch of the shells in her pocket as "new pets."

Next we stopped by Aaron and Carrie Olsen's house in fabulous San Diego! We decided to take our chances and head across the border to Mexico. What a mistake that was. As a fair white family of six, we were a blobular moving target mobbed by the local merchants. One can never forget the little Mexican kids and their tiny mom approaching with their little trinkets and big brown eyes desperately chanting "one dolla! one dolla!" Needless to say, we nearly doubled the Tiajuana economy on that day.

We tired of foreign soil quicky and began yearning for the red, white and blue of our beloved America. However, not before having to wait in a line several hundred yards long and almost being detained because Allison decided to argue with the border patrol officer about not having our birth certificates on hand. (I guess Nathan's horrific spanish accent was not convincing enough to prove that we were American.)

It was all poor Adam could handle. (Next time he will pose for the camera.)

Alas-- we did make it back to the homeland. The land of the free, and did kiss the ground. We soon thereafter made our way to Old San Diego, and enjoyed a much more relaxing "synthetic" Mexico, including an authentic americanized mexican food feast and serenade.

Part two of our exciting California adventure tomorrow!

Our Debut

Time to finally "get up with the times" and start our own blog. We are the "politicolsens" of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Nathan (38), Allison (just turned 37 -- happy birthday!), Adam (15 and only a few months shy of the "dating" phase except that he won't be able to take a girl on a date without his parents driving until November 18, 2008, more on that later), Jessica (11 and aspiring gossipist), Matthew (8 and prolific book writer), Christina (6 going on 14). We also have two dogs -- Cooper, who we also like to call "fatty" because he is about 20 pounds overweight, even though he thinks that he is a little dog and tries to cuddle in your lap with his 100 pound body causing your legs to go numb. And Sadie, a littler you-know-what who chews on everything and torments the squirels in the backyard.

We all lead very busy lives in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Generally, it is out of control. But we try to keep it moving in the right direction. We just finished our first lenghty family vacation by troopsing about California. We will try to post some pictures of that extravaganza.

Anyway, much more to come!