christmas at the cabin, 2012.

Every year we go to the Olsen family cabin for a few days after Christmas. This year, with all the craziness that comes with twin newborns, we assumed we shouldn't go and planned to stay home for the weekend instead. However somewhere along the way Greg changed his mind and informed me we'd be going at about 10am on Saturday morning as he scrambled Evie's egg. I responding by texting him the list I keep on my phone of everything that's required to leave the house for more than 3 hours with 3 children under 2 and let him have at it (the list is AT LEAST 20 items long. I figured it would knock some sense into him, but he was feeling ambitious and I was feeling bored). 2.5 hours later we were on our way.

It was so nice to spend some time under a different roof and have help with the babies for a full 24 hours--Jennie and Margaret barely even let me hold them! I can't believe what a difference just one more person makes when it comes to managing my children. Maybe I'm just not good at it yet, but we're talking the difference between life and death. Sanity and suicide. I kid. But, it's huge.
 

It was a freezing, beautiful weekend at the cabin spent chatting by the Christmas tree and bundling up the kids to "play" in the snow (It was Evie's first time. She mostly cried). I'm finding I should never say never when it comes to what I will and won't do with 3 tiny kids in tow. We keep telling our families we won't be coming to this and that and then we get bored, get caffeinated and somehow show up after all. Sometimes I think my life might not actually be over. (wink)

I have taken this exact picture of Ty & Greg at least 10 times. I should compile all of them to prove it. They keep asking me to take it. You guys look SO COOL.

These babies. I am so in love. They are so worth it.

merry merry christmas.

Our Christmas this year was lovely.

Turned out to be one of my favorite Christmas' ever, which was a wonderful surprise considering I was thinking it might turn out to be the worst. Here are some of the faces we saw along the way (at least the ones we remembered to snap pictures of)...

grandma & kate.

makayla marie.the moffitt family on xmas eve.

heidi & erik.

and margaret & geir.

********************************************************************************
but, i do have to admit that the best part of christmas this year was spending time with my lover
(even though he had to work the day before & after christmas).
he is sort of my favorite person ever.

please ignore our extreme bed head hair & smooshy faces.
it was early.

now, i'm off for a few more hours of rock band in my pj's & sledding with the fam.
hope your christmas was magical & merry, too.

the olsen's official christmas update of 2008.

(this picture of me & my grandma has absolutely nothing to do with the below post.

but, i love my grandma & i love this picture of us together)

G & I had a really great weekend & we finally feel like this home remodeling project will soon be coming to a close. We have been working on remodeling the Avenues house since October, so we are both excited for normal life to return (especially G). We now realize how nice it was to both be done with work at 5 and have the rest of the evening to do whatever we wanted together. The fact that it hasn't been that way for the past several months has made both of us appreciate that time together so much more. I can really say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I love my husband & I love being with him.

On Saturday night, we went Christmas shopping & we had so much fun together. Normally, both of us hate the mall, because of all the crowds, so we were a little worried that we might not survive the mall during Christmas time, but surprisingly, we made it out alive & without any serious injuries! The lines weren't even that bad. It was amazing.

After shopping, we returned home to wrap all of the presents & watch The Grinch. I don't know why I am so in love with this movie, I think it might have something to do with Holley's influence? Anyways, I am totally in the Christmas mood now (finally)!

Yesterday, we got to make our 2nd gingerbread house of the season with G's family and I have to say that it is our best one yet! I am very proud of the little sucker. Anyways, I realize this is a boring post with no pictures, but I wanted to document our happy little weekend. I am so thankful for my husband, who is truly the hardest worker I know. He has slaved away at his job & at the new house and I am so impressed by his dedication. With that said, I hope he will slack off much more in 2009!

2008 has been an incredible year for our little family. We have changed jobs, moved out of our first home, had challenging church callings, grown up a lot, celebrated our 2nd anniversary, taken some amazing vacations (Hawaii, San Francisco, Newport, Lake Powell), welcomed a new niece into the world, said goodbye to my sweet grandpa, and enjoyed many unforgettable moments together. It's been a great year.

With that said, I can't wait for Christmas!

(Our family on Christmas Eve last year)

Gregory John Olsen, Jessica no-middle-name-how-sad-is-that Olsen, Toby Magoo Olsen (2) and Jack Bauer Olsen (2).

(PS. Obviously, I am in better spirits today than I was on Friday. For the record, that grumpy post was written after I got the news that my sweet Mom had slipped and fallen on the ice & was in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder. At that moment, it felt like anything that could go wrong this month, would. And yes, between car wrecks, injuries, death, work stresses and moving stresses, it has been a rough month, which is why I am going to leave my negative post up. It will make me even more grateful for the great months!)

a very grown-up christmas.

{GJO & I helped my Mom make these for her neighbors the other night & I'll I can say is I sure hope these goodies meet a better fate.}

Last year, for Christmas, I sort of made 87 billion of these caramel/chocolate dipped pretzels for all of our new neighbors. I dipped, drizzled and packaged for hours and topped them all off with a homemade card. I was so domestic.

When I finally finished, G and I bundled up tight and hopped in the car to make our deliveries. We started on our street and went to visit the first family. It was about 8:00 (too late?) when we rung the the doorbell and waited on the porch steps for about 5 minutes before anyone came to the door. Finally, as we were about to leave, our pajama clad neighbor opened the door with a confused look on her face. They were just climbing into bed & she apologized profusely for her outfit, making an awkward situation even more awkward (I'm not sure she knew who we were?). G (embarrassed for disturbing them) quickly handed her the package & mumbled a "Merry Christmas" as we escaped to the car. Our first visit hadn't been much of a success and G was convinced it was too late to keep delivering. I, however, wanted to make one more stop and so, it was off to another neighbor's house. This time, an elderly lady with a quick wit & sassy personality (love her). She, thankfully, was clothed & awake (a good sign) and welcomed us in to her retro home. G graciously made small talk, while i tried to pipe in with a lame comment every now and then (let it be known that I SUCK at small talk) and eventually our conversation morphed to the upcoming election and politics. It didn't take long before the political flame was blazing and they were both in the throws of a heated debate. Come to find our lovely neighbor disagreed with just about every stance my very opinionated husband held dear.

I tried not to make eye contact with either of them as a sat on that rickety sofa, eying her possessed cat and watching in horror as she shoved book after political book into G's lap. It was a long night in that teeny tiny living room. We never even took off our coats.

Several hours & a few political duels later, I awkwardly put and end to the "discussion" and wished our now upset neighbor a "Merry Christmas!"

As we trudged through the snow & back to our car, I couldn't help but comment on what a disastrous first attempt that had been & how I never wanted to try to be a grown-up again (delivering goodies to neighbors you don't know is a grown-up activity in my book). The pretzels (and all their lovely packaging) were thrown into the trunk of our car & we didn't see them again until February, when we re-discovered them & then proceeded to eat all 87 (or was it 87 billion?) of them ourselves.

And that, my friends, is the story of that one time Jessica tried to be a grown-up & wasted days of hard work & chocolate in the mean time. This is just a guess, but it might take several years for me to recover. Moral of the story: chocolate & politics don't mix.

Happy goody delivering!!!

i was called a "scrooge" today.

by my very own husband.

for the very first time in my life.

{our family christmas tree.
i wasn't home to decorate it, but i still think it is beautiful.
picture by k, he insisted i include that)

i admit i've been having a hard time getting into the christmas spirit this year.
i admit i've cried more often lately than i have in the past two years of my life.
i admit i haven't looked on the bright side of anything.
i admit i even once said, "let's just skip christmas this year" (can you imagine?)

for the first time in my life, i've have had a hard time getting into the christmas spirit. i don't know if it's my grandpa, or the new house, or the lack of sleep/free-time or a combination of everything, but i've been very down lately.

when thinking about this today, i realized that i've been on the receiving end of so many kind & thoughtful acts of service this past week, it's amazing i don't just have the christmas spirit oozing out of me.

for example:

-my family received dinner twice from neighbors this past weekend.
-meg & her parents showed up on a cozy, snowy night with a giant poinsettia in hand (i love poinsettias)
-we have more bouquets of flowers on our counter than we know what to do with.
-i've received many thoughtful texts from all my friends. i love you.
-i got to see long lost faces at the viewing and funeral.
-and felt loved when g's family & the bennetts showed up to show their support. thank you.
-i got to spend time with my darling grandmother and be uplifted by her strength.
-i had the opportunity to appreciate my life & the people in it.
-someone brought us poppy seed bread.
-and oranges.
-and caramels.
-and cards.
-g took a day off.
-and actually said, "lets just relax tonight". (yes! hasn't happened forever)

all of these things remind me of christmas and make me so grateful for this time of year. and i plan to spend the rest of the month thinking of ways to focus on christmas' true meaning. i'm going to start with my favorite christmas movie & go from there. who knows, i may even get a mini christmas tree & some twinkle lights for our current digs (brother's old bedroom).

see g? no scrooge here.