this is pretty boring, but.

i realized that...

gjo = gregory john olsen
gjo = greg & jess olsen

j-mo = my highschool nickname
jmo = jessica moffitt olsen

looks like it was fate.

a cuisine that is lean.

i am currently obsessed with lean cuisines.

like lots of people, my appetite fluctuates with the weather. when it's cold, the last thing i want is a cold sandwich. i crave something warm, but a warm lunch can be hard to find unless you are willing to eat out everyday. i cannot afford such a luxury.

lean cuisine's are kind to my budget and my waistline & fulfill my warm lunch craving. plus, 90% of them are delicious. promise.

the sesame stir fry with chicken is my ultimate favorite, although the butternut squash ravioli is great, too. and don't forget to try the roasted garlic chicken pizza. diet food never tasted so good.

and just for the record, i once served a lean cuisine to gjo for dinner & he didn't say a word. the trick is to serve it on a plate.

happy lunch.

off to a bad start.

did i really say that was going to have an "accident-free" week yesterday?

this morning, husband drove to work with my car key's in tow.
i tried calling him 30 times when i realized they were missing
but alas, his line was busy. every. single. time.

by the time i got a hold of him, i was late for work & fuming.
convinced he didn't have them, the poor guy started rattling off random places for me to look.

his jeans. his nightstand. the hamper.

and then, out of no where, i suddenly KNEW where they were.
"check your car" i demanded.

bingo.

husband promptly made the trek back to our igloo to rescue me,
but of course, i was already very late.

he felt bad.

i sat in our warm kitchen and watched him scrape all the snow & ice off my car and warm it up for me the way he used to before he had to be to work at 7am (ahhh, the good old days).
and then, when he presented me with a toasty warm car & a kiss,

i felt bad.

it's okay, husband.
i break everything & you drive away with my keys.
it's just who we are.
it's just so us.

and i like us.

so, those dogs.

does it offend you that i do this to my dogs?
ober o wears a sweatshirt from october to april & jacky b. owns 15,000 toys.
they both sleep in the bed & take up 90% of the room.
we wake up in impossible positions and with mind-blowing neck-aches & yet still, night after night, we welcome them in.
i think somebody needs a baby.

this weekend i...

• screamed bloody murder in my sleep, which normally isn't a big deal, only now it's super awesome when i do it, because not only does it wake up g, it wakes up our downstairs friends, too. sorry, guys.

• witnessed g break his first glass & celebrated when he did it, because it meant that i am obviously not the only cluster in the family (but we all knew this, right?)

• finally did all the laundry. blah.

• climbed inside the freezer at smiths in search of a low fat ben & jerry's only to have my loving husband close the door behind me. being locked in the freezer in front of strangers is awesome. really.

• polished off previously mentioned ben & jerry's with b & k. who make me laugh so hard i cry.

• saw this movie with some lovely ladies. (it was good)

• finally spent some quality time with our lovers, the burbanks. (they rock my world.)

• thought long & hard about doing pilates. but didn't.

• and knocked a huge decoration off the wall (it fell on my pup & gashed a whole in the baseboard) in the middle of a lovely dinner party. i know how to make a good impression.

hope your weekend was full of less embarrassing moments.
cheers to a happy (and accident-free) week ahead.

dear g.

thank you for leaving the lights off in our bedroom and getting dressed in complete darkness every single morning, so i don't have to wake up as early as you do.

thank you for never leaving the house without telling me you love me. thank you for saying it even though i am too sleepy to ever respond.

thank you for calling me at work, just to say "hello". thank you for listening to me type, when i am too busy to carry on a conversation. thanks for staying on the line anyways.

thank you for being SO excited about the fact that i wanted to attempt to make you meatloaf. thank you for seasoning the meat & adding garlic and offering to help me 18 million times.

thank you for remembering to thank me for dinner and for always doing the dishes afterwards.

thank you for being my favorite person ever.

rad.

a big congratulations to my own mother who's handmade broaches were featured on channel 14's morning show today. in case i haven't mentioned this, all of her broaches are now available at your local whimsy clothing boutique. she has had tons of success with these darling broaches & i am so proud of her. and just in case you thought they were cute before, watch out, because they are about 50 times cuter now. she just keeps getting better.

dear summer.

i really really miss you.

i know i always say that autumn is my favorite season. and i'm sure it hurts your feelings to hear that (i apologize), but right now you are my favorite season. and i want you back.

remember our hot, sunny, football games?
they were so lovely.
thank you for always burning my face.

i miss our midnight shake runs with gjo.
(why is it that midnight shake runs only happen in the summer?)

i miss days on the beach with you.

and i miss the way you leave my face tan
or burned
either way is cool with me.

i miss my braid (which permanently died when i cut "the bangs")
and is more of a summer time look anyways.

(this is the kill-me-now face. not sure why i wanted to die)

i miss your berries and cream....

our roses from the backyard (rip beautiful rose garden)

and i miss wearing flip flops. so very very much.

please forgive me for the few times that i complained about your limited clothing options (post-temple marriage, of course) and pleaded with you to morph into fall. i don't know what i was thinking.

come back soon, summer.
you are dearly missed.

we look hot.

Tonight, I pick up my first pair of real glasses. (I had a pair a few years ago, but I got them more-or-less because I wanted them-didn't really need them).

G picked up his first pair on Monday.

After aching eyes at work, we went in for check-ups & discovered we are both slightly farsighted, which explains why it hurts both of us to look at a computer screen all day. Besides G having some kind of rare & fatal eye disease (more on that later) we shocked the doctor by having the exact same prescription and pupil size (distance from one pupil to the other). Every single number was exactly the same, down to the decimal points.


Apparently, that almost never happens.

"Are you twins separated at birth?!", she asked.

We sure as hell hope not.

lady hookers.

ps. what's up with all the average looking, trashy, dramatic & man-face bachelorettes this year?
g & i watched last night & we only swooned over a couple of them.

(yes, it is common for my husband & i to discuss the hotness of other women together).

we both agreed that if we were jason, we would have knocked out a solid 12 women last night.

can you imagine??
"ugghhh chris, instead of eliminating 2 tonight,

i've decided to go ahead and get rid of 12 of them"

it would have been the best moment ever.

but really, is that seriously the best they could do???

i can see the whole city from my bedroom window.

we're in! we're in!

Can you believe it?

I unpacked the last box on Saturday night & G and I settled into our new home this weekend. It's even almost completely decorated & I am head over heels in love with our new home.

There are still a few things to finish up, but for the most part, it's back to our normal lives. I can't wait to cook dinner, relax in the evenings, take the dogs for walks again, see my friends again, sleep in on the weekends and hang out on Saturday like we used to. Ahhhhh, life is sweet.

I have to give a huge thank you to both of our families for all the help & support they gave us. Thank you Geir & Margaret (who did everything & made this whole thing possible), Ty & Jennie (who helped us move, came up many nights to work & offered a ton of support), Erik & Heidi (who did the same & even moved us TWICE), my Mom & Dad (who let us stay with them for almost 3 months, when we promised 2 weeks tops & helped pack and move all our stuff), Ry & Christy (for helping us move), and Andy, Jon & Scott (who helped us move & let us stay with them-we had so much fun!)

We are so lucky to have such supportive families, we wouldn't be anywhere without them.

Now, come visit us, all of you!
and stay tuned for the before & after pictures....

moving/remodeling/doing it at the same time

Was not made for someone like me.

Someone who hates clutter, dust, messes of any kind, obsesses over the cleanliness of her house & the placement of everything in it's correct spot, is as impatient as the day is long, wants everything done immediately, but cannot even nail up a picture for fear her G will just do it over again (and he will; he uses the level for even the tiniest of pictures).

Moving was made for the laid back folk. When it comes to my home & it's tidiness, laid back, I am not. As a bonus, all this stress has turned me into a little ball of anxiety (one which G would like to kick over the fence, I am sure).

I unpacked my kitchen last night & seriously almost cried when I took out my cake stand, my mixer, my cocoamotion. I could have kissed those crisp, beautiful cookbooks. Oh, how I've missed them.

I also threw away 2 garbage bags full of crap. Not garbage, but actual stuff. Stuff that just sits there and doesn't get used & makes me want to kill myself. Yup, I didn't think twice, just threw it all away. It was fabulous.

Last night, after we assembled our cabinets, I finally started unpacking our kitchen. It was a big moment. And later, G cleared out all of the trash in our breezeway (well he moved it to another area in the yard, so i couldn't see it anymore-fine by me).

We are getting there, people! And once we finish, mark my words, we are never moving/remodeling again. We will live here forever! I don't care if I have to tuck my future babies into dresser drawers.

my mo.

My tiny Morgan Ana turned 4 on "danuary fif" so I am a little late in posting this, but I have been without a computer for the past couple days, so hopefully everyone can forgive!

This little lady is so close to my heart. My first niece, my McDonalds buddy, my "yittol" sister (as she likes to pretend), and every one's favorite tiny baby princess. I couldn't love her more.

I remember the day she was born, when I went to see her at the hospital; she was the tiniest little baby I'd ever seen. I used to beg her parents to let me babysit & take every opportunity I could to see my little Mo. I like to think we had a special bond, right from the start.

Now she is 4; complete with full sentences, writing her name, a backpack & a lunch box, a first crush at school & that little bit of sass we can't help but love. She is growing up way too fast.

Mo & I have shared so many fun times & special moments and I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to be so close to her. The one-on-one time I've had with her is a gift her Mom & Dad have given me; one that I will always cherish.

Happy Birthday my special girl!
I love you so much.

this year i hope to...

-call more often (sorry to my friends for my recent absence in the world, i should be back soon)
-answer my phone more often
-pray more often
-study more often
-exercise more often
-slow down
-use spell check less (darn thing has ruined me!)
-send more thank you cards
-and thoughtful, random emails
-wear my retainer
-keep my nails tidy
-downsize my stuff
-focus less on the stuff
-take more walks with the pups
-cook more
-hold date night weekly
-not be afraid of my new ward
-embrace my age
-strengthen family relationships
-make more of my job
-focus on the good
-avoid gossip
-keep my negative thoughts silent more often (poor g has to hear them all)
-make more of an effort to be a good friend
-do the laundry
-crate train my dogs, once & for all
-babysit nieces more often
-try a new cake recipe
-celebrate more often
-write more often
-read more often
-teach g to sort & open his mail
-recognize g's efforts more often
-make better use of my down time
-get to level hard on drums in rock band
-take weekend getaways more often
-create more traditions
-start writing in my gratitude journal again
-wear more color
-see friends more often
-call my grandparents more often
-host a party
-cultivate my passions
-strengthen my testimony

how about you?

j bub goes nuts.

earlier this evening,
mr. j bubba olsen
snuck into his uncle jon's room and ate between
15 and 20 bite sized snickers bars.

as we all know, chocolate is not good for pups
so i have been monitoring him closely waiting for the vomiting to begin.

surprisingly, j bub doesn't seem to be feeling the least bit queasy...
instead of a losing his dinner, he seems to have lost his mind.

he is currently sprinting laps around the house as fast as his little legs will take him
with his new gingerbread man in tow

i just turned around to see that the gingerbread man has been shredded alive
(sorry jennie & m)
his guts strewn all over the house.
{may he rip}
earlier, i am pretty sure j bub tried to do a back flip.

i looked up the symptoms of chocolate consumption in canines and sure enough it said:
hyperactivity & restlessness.


now, i apologize, but this will have to be the end of "j bub goes nuts",
i'm off to go rescue his next victim (the slinky dog)

hey, at least he's not dead!