From building a truck, to building up the Kingdom

We all love Saturdays around our house. They are either jam-packed with yard work and projects, or incredibly relaxed with sleeping in and enjoying non-scheduled family time. This particular Saturday happened to be a rather jam-packed one. It started off with the little ones sleeping in and the rest of the family picking the weeds that have quickly over-taken our garden. Once it started to heat up, we headed inside to cool off with a breakfast smoothie before heading over to the Kid's Workshop at Home Depot. In case you missed the last post on it, the Home Depot sponsors free workshops for kids the first Saturday of every month.

This month the kit was to build a Penske rental truck. It was already super warm by the time we got there, so everybody was a bit toasty while they assembled their trucks. Despite being warm, they had a lot of fun. I love watching them all work together to figure out the directions and adore watching them sit by their Dad and use tools. Here they are, hard at work:

To cool off afterwards, we hit Macey's; home of the world's largest (and cheapest) "small" ice cream cones...love that place!

With the trucks made and the last ice cream licked, it was time to head home. We ate some lunch and relaxed for a bit. Then, we took little E to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. He has been asking us for months to take him to perform baptisms for the dead; we just haven't made it yet. The Provo Temple was closed for cleaning, but we are blessed to live in close proximity to several Temples. In our Church, we believe in performing saving ordinances for the dead, and we do these works in our Temples. If you would like to know more about my religion or our beliefs and practices, feel free to ask me in a comment, or visit this link here.

Our plan was to have Daddy Erik baptize and confirm little E and then have E wait for us while we went upstairs to do a Sealing session. Because of the closures, the Timpanogos Temple was very busy. There was an hour wait in the Baptistry. So, instead, we left E downstairs to wait his turn while we went upstairs and did a Sealing session. It worked out perfectly and it was a beautiful day to be in the Temple. I love having the opportunity to serve in the Temple, and build up the Kingdom of God; being there with our oldest son made it all the more special. I am excited to take him again, he was so happy to be participating and serving within the sacred walls of the Temple. It was the perfect Saturday! :)

Day #6 Spectacular Saturday

If the spectacular-ness of a day were based on the number of pictures taken in that day, then I would have to say today lived up to its name. As I sat down to transfer pictures from my camera onto the computer, there were 50 new pictures. It was a pretty spectacular day.
The big boys camped out in the back yard Friday night and although they woke up early, they were extra quiet when they came in. This meant a nice long sleeping in morning for us and the little guys. I was perhaps a bit too relaxed though, because I forgot that our plan for the day was supposed to include heading over to the local Home Depot at 9:00 a.m. Oops! No worries though, after a quick phone call we determined that 10:45 was just as good a time to go make the kids club project for the day. This was our first time, so we got our aprons and projects and set out to build our little organizers. I learned something about my children today...can you see what it was?

If you guessed that all of my children stick out their tongues while they are concentrating on something, you'd be right!

Look what we made, Mom!

The whole Olson crew with their finished product!

With our first successful Kid's Club building project finished, we headed across the street to Sam's to cool off with some Strawberry Lemonade Icee's. It's not unusual to draw a bit of attention to ourselves as we venture out in public with all 5 boys, but today we were a bit more noticeable; decked out in our bright orange aprons. A darling older lady stopped us on the way out and asked where we had been and what we'd been doing to be all dressed up so cute. She was very complimentary of our cute little crew; it was a welcome change.
Back home we decided the fun should not end just yet. So, while I washed some dishes and made sack lunches and crispy treats, the boys loaded up the van with camping chairs and the pop-up shade canopy. In no time, 2 hours later...we were on our way up the canyon to relax and fish at one of Daddy's favorite fishing spots. 

Catching flies to determine what to bait with

Loving fishing day!

Dad with the big boys, tying on a fly

Ready to catch fish

This cute little man was so exciting to go fishing!

Between the descent cloud coverage and the canopy, and the bit cooler weather up the canyon; it was the perfect way to beat the heat and enjoy the late afternoon and well into the evening.
Although the only fish we caught is best described as a large minnow baby cutthroat, we all had a wonderful time. None of us were quite ready to leave when it was time to call it a night. 5 building projects, 7 Icees, 0 fish, and 50 pictures later...it was a pretty sensational Saturday. Full of fun and most importantly memories.