Olsens

Let it snow!

2011-12-21T23:04:00.001+01:00

Yay! We finally got some snow here! Last year we had a ton; this year not so much. The only problem is the girlies think it's free food that falls from the sky. The first thing they do when they get out side is eat mouthfuls of snow...which has caused them to have diarrhea all week. (Too much information? Don't care.) We had to have numerous talks with them about not eating the snow. Once London came crying to me because she had a mouthful of dirt. They will never learn. But it has been fun to see their excitement. They love the snow and check every morning to see if it has snowed. I guess the diarrhea is worth it.

While I was getting ready for church Sadie was living it up in the snow.

While Sadie and I were cleaning off the car London went missing. We called and called for her and she didn't come or answer us. That's because she was on the other side of the house stuffing her face with snow. Trying to get in as much as she could before I caught her in her crime. Busted!

Thank you Sadie for cleaning off the car. Best helpers in the world, they are.

Sadie had fun running and running all around in the snow while London was MIA.

This snow eating episode is not new. Check out this picture of them last year at this time. They have problems.

And this year... I guess the best tasting snow is right by the car.

And this was our backyard last year.

And a cute pic of the girls with their buddy Alyssa

A little Holiday cheer.

2011-12-21T20:17:00.001+01:00

This year we enjoyed Thanksgiving with 4 fun families. I guess everyone know what goes down on Thanksgiving. Great food, fun games, good times...

the kiddos...

One of our favorite Christmasy things to do out here is the German Christmas markets. They have them all over. This is the Trier Christmas market. It was way packed but always a pleasure.

If you ever come visit us we will take you on a food tour. Here Mark is modeling some Flammkuchen. One of my FAVORITE things that I have eaten since we have lived in Europe. But we usually can only find it at Christmas time. It may be the one thing I miss the most when we leave.

Here I am modeling the Flammkuchen before I completely devoured it in like 10 seconds. I really should learn to make it.

These girls love a good nativity.

carousel rides are always a must with our girls. We eat, they ride. Everybody wins.

A little Christmas shopping. Trying on hats at Rofu.

Proud homeowners of gingerbread/graham cracker houses they made at play group.

Picking out our tree at the local commissary on base.

The tree was too heavy for Mark alone.

Nothing brings more holiday cheer than the laughter of little children. Crazy mayhem going down at the Olsen home!!

Boys glued to the Wii. Girls rooting them on.

We had a fun little trip up to the Frankfurt temple. They have dorms you can stay at. Makes it nice for child swapping with some friends. You have to pay extra for this fabulous temple view. The temple view suite. I kid.

Sadie, Molli and London

Italy with the Thomsons

2011-10-23T22:07:00.001+02:00

September 11th-14th 2011

I have really good intentions of keeping an awesome, up to date history of my family on this blog of mine but I just can't seem to get with it. I want to update everything that has happened in the last year but that just totally overwhelms me. But I can't not blog about the fabulous trip we went on with our great friends the Thomsons. We had such a blast with them out here. We made a trip to Cinque Terre again. It is one of our favorite spots and are happy to report that it did not disappoint. We also went and explored Portofino which was way awesome. We decided that it's like the rich man's version of Cinque Terre. Very fancy. We saw some crazy 4 story yachts and day dreamed about catching a ride on one. We even saw some guy (the skipper, maybe?) getting his haircut out on the front of the deck.

We flew into Bologna and then took a train out to the coast with these two weasels. They loved everything about the train (except parental supervision).

This time we didn't attempt any zany hikes like last time. Just two sisters, hangin' on the beach, hamming it up to pose for the camera...

Sadie was a real fish and went for some adventuresome swims. Arggh, methinks London be more of a landlubber. And a sand-lubber.

We took the train/bus to get over to Portofino. We were there as the sun set, and it was really nice. The calzones and pizzas we ate there were really, really, nice.

We tried to come up with a five-meal-a-day schedule while we were there in order to accommodate all the awesome food choices. Is it okay if your fondest memory of something is a calzone?

This was a late night ice-cream stop. This nice old ice-cream couple was closing there shop and James literally crawled under the gate to beg for one more ice cream cone. Always worth it. Every flavor is a winner. It was really a beautiful night to stay up late snacking on gelatos by the fountain. It prompted sadie to say "I wish every day was summer and we could eat ice cream and stay up late". Amen to that, Sadie.

And we bid farewell to the Ligurian coast...

Thanks again for coming to visit, Thomsons. Needless to say, we had a blast; a real hoot. Come back any time!

Marks Birthday weekend

2011-07-04T00:11:00.000+02:00

April 9th-10th 2011

One of Mark's favorite things to do is ride bikes. And one of his most recent "life-long dreams" has been to ride in the Netherlands (I think because it's so flat there that pulling a trailer full of two enormous beasts is easy). Anyway, for his big #3-0 birthday bash we fulfilled his dream with a long weekend vay-cay. We went to Kinderdijk first for the windmills, then to Amsterdam for the... uh, culture; and finally to Kukenhof for some tulips. And so our magical journey began...

Kinderdijk

A lovely path that went through the canals and windmills.

Amsterdam

Didn't take too many pics in Amsterdam. Not sure what happened but we had a great time walking around the lovely city, checking out what they had to offer. One thing I will remember about Amsterdam is the gigantic bike parking lot. So many bikes one could not believe. Again, don't know why but I didn't get a pic. We loved seeing all the bikes everywhere. We went to a big flea market, Ann Frank house, flower market, cheese shops, ate yummy food, Rembrandt's house, beautiful canals...

We were very excited to tour the Anne Frank house. At the same time, the girls were very excited to not be strapped in a car seat or bike trailer. Boy did they have some energy to burn off. What began as a relaxing stroll through history and Miep Gies office quickly deteriorated into an exercise in damage control and getting the girls out quickly, calmly, and undetected. But the museum really had an impact on Sadie because she asked us to tell her the Anne Frank story about 50 times on the way home. She was really fascinated by the whole situation.

Amsterdam has a really big and really neat flower market.

cheese as far as the eye can see

Kukenhof

We had heard such wonderful stories of the Kukenhof gardens during the tulip season. We were excited to bike around the surrounding tulip fields for a nice authentic feel. We think that we just barely missed the peak of tulip madness; we must have been a week early :( But, still beautiful and very fun...and we'll be back. The girls being the flower-lovers that they are were in heaven to see the rows and rows of tulips. There were lots of daffodils and some other purple flower going on. We did a stealthy drive-by daffodil snag (on wild, public grounds) for a special treat for the girls. It was pretty intense. Afterward we had a birthday celebration and feasted on chicken salad sandwiches. In the car. The girls loved it. (Then cake later at home.)

The whole trip really was a huge success...until the end. We were about 1.5 hrs from home and our gas light went on. Uh-oh. We would have filled up earlier but we wanted to cross the border into Germany for cheaper gas. We were just sure we would find a station. We found several, but they were all closed and wouldn't accept our American debit cards! Aughhh! Plan B? keep driving. So we did. Yep, we really just said a prayer and kept driving further... further... still going... Mark's seat was drenched in sweat from the intensity. And you must understand we were out in the middle of Belgium or Germany or who knows where. There was nothing around for miles. Just some random, shut-down, ghost-town gas stations. We were all surprised, but we actually made it off of the Autobahn at our exit and were just about 4 km from home when the car died. Wow. What a miracle we made it so far! Did we unpack the trunk, load up our bikes, and drive home at 11:00 PM with sleeping girls in a trailer? Nope. We felt bad, but we called our good friends who were nice enough to come get us and take care of us until the whole thing was resolved. Thanks, Millers! You truly are the best! How everything turned out really was miraculous and we are very grateful. And we were reminded of what good people surround us in our lives.

Bok Bok Bok

2011-07-01T04:13:00.001+02:00

Imagine the scene in Napoleon Dynamite where there are rows and rows of caged-up chickens. Never in my all my days did I imagine myself in one of those places, but there I was, walking down a dark, creepy walkway with hideous cries of locked up hens begging for us to free them. And there we were, exchanging Euro for chickens with the Hühner Meister. The drive home was equally as frightening due to a box in the back of our new van full of wild beasts scratching and clawing to get out and meet us. Would they get out and attack us while we were driving? We didn't know. No one knew. But we finally arrived home and were anxious for our new family members to feel safe and secure in there in new coop. So the fun begins...

Why did we get chickens? For the eggs of course. Nice, fresh, healthy, practically free, organic, free range eggs. Good for the body and the soul. Also pets. The girls are in love! There is actually a Pet Show on Monday that we are thinking of entering Lady cluck into. How cute would that be... Everyone showing off their dogs and here comes Sadie on stage with a chicken on a leash with a bonnet and painted finger nails (well... claws). We would win for sure. No doubt. Also our garage has a room that used to be a chicken room with a door for the chickens to get out side and everything. Also we have a huge backyard. Also we live in the middle of the country, this is normal here. Also we thought it would be a great adventure and would teach the girls some responsibility. Also Mark got an idea in his head and wouldn't rest till it came true. Also Mark talked me into it. So far the girls love waking up in the morning and checking for eggs, feeding, watering and letting the chickens out to play or as Sadie would say "bok around". Their names: Lady Cluck, Henrietta, Madam Pecks-a-lot, and Sareesa (a name that Sadies made up and uses for everything.) I actually had these fine animals growing up. They are beautiful birds, as Mark would say. His new babies and our very first pet (besides a short run with a fish in 2004).

Don't worry about Sadie's out fit and hair. Sometimes it's just not worth the fight.

Preparing their new home

anxious to let them out

Mystified by their new pets

Such fine fowl.

The princesses of poultry

Mark constructed this outdoor portion all by himself.

Who says chickens don't make good pets? But experiments in flight can lead to family choas...

The ~~fruits~~ eggs of our labors.

Wazzzzzzzzuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppp

2011-06-30T22:08:00.001+02:00

Well, it's been awhile. Time for a little update, wouldn't ya say? To describe the last 3 months in one word I would have to choose the word crazy. We had some awesome times and some not so awesome times. But we are happy to say that we are all happy and alive and doing awesome. So, how about some awesome?....

A few items of business...

*We are now the proud owners of a mini van.

*We are now the proud owners of 4 chickens, yes I said chickens, real chickens.

*We started our very first ever garden.

*We had a sensational time with my mom, dad, and Hayley (sis) for a whole month

*We traveled to The Czech Republic, Austria, Southern Germany, Netherlands twice, Belgium, France, Luxembourg

*Discovered 3 cherry trees in our backyard that we didn't know were there, and they are bursting with the most delish cherries ever. Looking forward to our plums and apples come fall. We also discovered we have rhubarb, wild strawberries and black berries growing in our yard. I swear you can eat anything that grows in our backyard, it's a dream come true

*We are now BFF with all our older German neighbors

*Sadie finished up her 1st year of preschool, with honors I might add.

*Mark turned 30!!

...and it goes on and on and on.

First on the docket: The two sweetest girls in all the land... The Olsen sisters...

Here is just a bunch of recent pictures of the girls.

Thionville, France

Sadie Jean has recently turned from a little girl to a big girl. (She informs me all the time.) She has the wildest, happiest, funniest imagination and I love watching it develop. Did you know she has a real unicorn cave in my very closest. She no longer sleeps with her beloved blanket because ponies that live in the unicorn cave need it more than her. She all of the sudden will eat anything and everything. Which is a huge improvement from eating practically nothing. She loves to tell the craziest stories. She is soooo sweet. I love to just listen to her little mouse voice it seriously soothes me. She helps me cook dinner and is pretty good at the dishes as well. I can't believe I have a big girl now.

Okay. London seriously is going to be a comedian. She cracks me up. She has some of the best jokes I have ever heard from a toddler. She makes up these weird things and then laughs so hard about them. Examples: She will say, "Medicine for the bun?" and then say "nooooo!" and then starts laughing so hard. Another example she will randomly start saying "cow poop" over and over until we are all laughing. May not sound too funny in type but coming out of her mouth with her silly little voice it gets me every time. She is also the biggest copy cat and repeats anything Sadie says or does. She loves doing everything that Sadie is doing right now. She loves her sister. She is a little snuggle bug too. London is now 21 months old but I swear her and Sadie are the same age some days.

I could go on and on and on about these little sweeties but there is much to blog about. Maybe you are anxious to hear about our hens. Maybe not. Who knows? Peace!

When in Roma...

2011-04-27T06:22:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago we took a lovely little trip without the girls to Rome. It was amazing. Loved every minute of it. Really, it's such an amazing place. I felt like I was walking back in time. And to top it all off we met up with my friend from high school and her husband: Rachel and Brett Yerkes! They hooked us up and got us to tag along with their tour group. We had so much fun with them. It was truly a smash. We saw all the main highlights plus a few things off the beaten path. It's funny how much we missed our girls. We kept talking about them and looking at pictures of them on the phone. Don't get me wrong, it was amazing to go into a museum and not have to rush through right to the exit. We actually got to enjoy a lot of things we don't usually get to enjoy, but there was just something missing without them. Maybe I like pushing strollers up huge hills and down crazy stair alley ways.

Sunday we had not yet met up with our friends so we went and saw a bunch of really neat churches including one where there were two more churches buried underneath, and another one that claimed to hold the chains that held Peter when he was imprisoned. We walked past the Coliseum and Roman Forum, took a much needed nap at the hotel (we had to get up at like 3am to catch our flight there), got lost looking for our hotel, and finished with the Trevi Fountain and a lovely night walk in the Pantheon district.

Monday: Used every possible form of public transportation in our attempt to meet up with the Yerkes. But, we pulled off another successful rendezvous in Italy at the Bernini's Four Rivers fountain (or what the locals call "Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi." Magical. We got to spend the rest of the day catching up with our long, lost Yerkes friends while we toured the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and Piazza del Popolo.

Tuesday: This is where the tour group really came in handy. We got to skip the huge lines to get into the Vatican Museums. That we sure nice. We saw the Sistine Chapel (which inspired Mark to get our bathroom ceiling similarly painted someday), St Peter's Basillica, the Pieta, and some huge Bernini wood carving over what is presumed to be St Peter's tomb. Then our tour continued to the Coliseum and Roman forums, which were quite neat. Great place for a picnic or ancient civilization. Right outside was the Mamertine Prison where Peter and Paul were held captive. It was closed :( But we went back to the Trevi Fountain for a little slice of pizza and nightlife. And by nightlife I mean gelato.

Mark felt like the trip was pretty well planned, and it was... until Tuesday night. We took a bus from a somewhat scary bus station (Ashley made friends with some real characters while I was in the bathroom) to a smallish city 3 hours away for a cheap flight out the next morning. To make a long story short, we couldn't find any hotels near the airport at midnight so we spent the night in a freezing cold closed airport. They almost didn't let us sleep there; someone got special permission from a man simply known as "the inspector." Thanks, Inspector. What an awful night. Nobody got much sleep. All in all it was a great trip.

Four Rivers fountain

Behold, Michaelangelo's Pieta

Outside and inside the Pantheon. Raphael is buried here (Raphael is Mark's middle name and favorite ninja turtle). Which gave us a great idea: If we ever have a first-born son, his name will be MARKelangelo Raphael Olsen. Named after his father and other great artists of the renaissance.

The dome of St Peters. Designed by Michaelangelo. (If you can't tell, Mark is a big Mike fan and insisted that he get proper credit for the dome.)

Keepin' the peace alive for Kristi and Mer.

Happy Easter indeed.

2011-04-23T21:16:00.000+02:00

2011-04-19T22:57:00.000+02:00

It's now time for me to go to bed but I wanted to put up these pictures I took of the girls the other day. I wanted a cute one of them together for our wall. London was not in the mood really. Hence the over-abundance of Sadie. Oh well, her time will come. Hope everyone is doing awesome!

Biking it up

2011-03-30T21:10:00.000+02:00

Sooooooooooooooooo happy that winter is coming to a close and spring is showing it's face around here. It's starting to be so beautiful right now and it's getting me so excited for fun adventures with the fam. This daylight savings deal is not so bad, either. It's given us the chance to go on family bike rides after Mark gets home from work. We usually just ride around our little village but we decided to switch things up yesterday and rode a wonderful bike path that is ten minutes from our house. Loving every bit of sunshine we can get around here. It's not too common. Here's to a stupendous spring! May the sun be with you!

Paris: Day one

2011-03-27T19:22:00.001+02:00

Ahh, Pa-reee (please use accent)... Again this trip was forever ago but alas it was one of our finest. When we had just barely barely barely arrived here in August we hurried to Paris as soon as we could to catch Kristi and Cade before they left. We are glad we did because it was everything that we hoped and dreamed about since we were little children. We spent three memorable days in the city of romance, fashion, love, and croissants. We have said it before that Kristi and Cade are excellent tour guides and hosts and they sure did not disappoint. Cade served his mission in Paris so we had some real first-class tours.

Our drive into Paris started pleasantly enough, on the autoroute, but things soon got a little hairy: all of a sudden it was 10:00PM, we entered the city and were thrust into whirling, swirling traffic circles full of Renaults, Peugeots and scooters. Up was down. Left was right. The GPS went off-line. Mark has driven a 15-passenger van right into the heart of downtown Manhattan, and also quite handily negotiated San Francisco and Washington DC. Well, all that may as well have been John Denver's country roads compared to Paris. But we made it to their apartment, and we even found a place to park.

Cade introduced us to a "typical French breakfast," or, as we say in France, un petit dejuneur. The croissants were so good that we ended up eating about four petit dejuneur's the first morning. This little guy may be the best thing we have eaten in Europe (and we have eaten a lot in Europe). Our recommendations: apple or almond.

Our first stop was predictably the Eiffel tower, a nice short walk from the apartment. It was truly glorious. Beautiful day, a nice little breeze, love in the air...

Sadie climbed practically the whole stair portion by herself.

More commanding views

Ahh me, Le Seine...

We did a TON of walking... Our tour continued to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees.

Le Louvre...

Home of some magnificent feats of artistic ability, including the most famous resident, Mona herself: up-close and personal.

Let's just say that Sadie's education here went a little beyond art history... She was very proud of herself for learning to distinguish gender and quickly began running around pointing and showing off her ability to differentiate.

Question for philosophers: Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?

Our first day was culture-filled and action-packed. It left us hungry, exhausted, and thirsty for more! To be continued...

Brussels and Brugges

2011-03-27T16:34:00.000+02:00

This was a quick day trip we did way back in September. Hopefully I will be better this year at updating our trips right after we take them instead of months later when I can hardly remember them. But I don't want to forget them entirely; hence the blog. So, here is our trip to Belgium. I didn't take a bazillion pics like normally because honestly, we were too busy stuffing our faces with all the delectable foods that Belgium has to offer. I will tell you Belgian waffles are DEE-licious! And we would know because Mark stopped for waffles every chance he got. They were nothing like I expected. Nothing like the waffles you pour syrup on; these were decedent desserts. YUM! And I don't want to forget about the chocolates, but I have to say that I think the German chocolate is better. But you still did pretty good, Belgium. Well done, well done. We spent the first part of our day in Brussels. Explored the streets, checked out what the ol' Bruss had to offer: the little naked peeing boy, the beautiful streets and main square, and of corse the food.

Manneken Pis: that popular little peeing man... not sure what the big deal was, but whatev. It's culture.

Brussels was neat, but Brugges, in our opinion, was WAY better. Charming town indeed. We took a lovely boat ride along this beautiful canal and took in the incredible sights. CHARMM-ing. All the houses were so very quaint. The pics did not capture this city at all. We plan on going back some time with bikes in tow. Loved it!

Londy's new 'do

2011-03-26T23:20:00.000+01:00

I was doing Sadie's hair the other day for school and Londy insisted that I do her hair, too. She likes to do and copy everything that her big sister is doing. So we got out the hair spray and tried our hardest to get those little wisps to stick up and voila- she has a fabulous new hair-do. I think she rocks it. There is even enough now for a little bow. Very exciting over here! Sadie asked me if London was a boy because she said only boys have short hair I then whipped out a picture of her at the same age and asked if she was a boy. Anyways, here are some pics of our sweet little Londy and her beautiful locks of gold.

Fact: Londy has the sweetest little voice and her vocabulary is becoming quite extensive. Some of our favorites... Her favorite snack right now is "pep-its" (Pretzels). She roams the house calling out Sadie and dada's name over and over when they are gone. She loves her "ankie" (blankie) and her "unk" (Bink/ Binky). She laughs when she or anyone toots and repeats "toot" over and over again. "I hungry" is often heard throughout the day, and "I ont (wont) juice". She often points out all her body parts just for practice. She thinks that every letter is the letter "B". When ever music comes on she looks up and me and says dance and is not satisfied till you do a little booty shaking with her. She is an all around sweet heart and we can't get enough of our little Londy Loo.

Florence, Pisa, and Tuscany trip

2011-03-24T10:52:00.002+01:00

Two weeks ago we embarked on our second foray into Italia, which is quickly becoming one of our favorite destinations. This time around we went to Florence, Pisa, and some Tuscan cities and countryside. We even snuck back up into Cinque Terre to relive the glory days. You know, while we were in the area and everything. But really, this was a great trip. We flew into Bologna and rented a car which was almost a little problematic (Mark was pretty rusty at driving manual--russs-teee). Well, eventually we got out of the parking lot and were on the open road, headed down toward Impruneta, just south of Florence, where our hotel awaited perched atop a ridiculously steep hill (plus a free European breakfast... all you can eat salami).

Day one: Florence. The sights were spectacular. The dome was magnificent. When we arrived in the city we went straight on in and up to the top of the dome. We even got Sadie and London up there, with a little effort. 463 stairs might not sound like a lot to you, but with those two heavy little girls, it was like...926 stairs? Anyway, we got our workout.

The interior of the duomo is an imposing fresco depicting the judgement day. The part that really impacted Sadie was the "three-headed dinosaur dog" as she called it. The led to many questions and discussions over the next three days, and just might have been her favorite part of the whole trip.

The climb up the dome was ridiculous!!! My legs have never shaken and trembled with such magnitude. If the renaissance was so great, why didn't they invent an elevator?

Commanding views!

This here is tour guide "Mustache Mark-" with out him and the trusty Florence app our wanderings surely would have ended in disaster. Oh, about the mustache...unfortunately this trip coincided with and old Air Force tradition of "mustache March", so the family pictures are all basically ruined. Also unfortunately, it's still March and the 'stache has only grown longer. April has never looked more promising.

We got to see Michaelanglo's David, but there is a no-picture policy in the museum. It was awesome and a lot bigger than....we thought it would be. Seriously, though, the statue is very impressive when you first see it. As it came into our view, Mark uttered his best quote of the day: "that is one beautiful man".

Thank goodness for David replicas strewn about the city.

After a long day on your feet the only thing to keep you going is a nice cold Gelato (nutella flavored)...

...but it doesn't work for everyone.

Day two: Pisa. The day began (and ended) with rain, rain, rain. Our plan was to go explore Tuscany, but we could tell that it would have ended in disaster. So, we decided to drive to Pisa and see that tower (you know, the one that leans). We were not disappointed. This may sound silly, but it was actually quite leany. The dome and cathedral next to it were impressive too. The city of Pisa caused a few other driving incidents, but we made it out of there okay. Darn scooters.

We truly didn't know what else to do in the rain, so we settled on a road trip. Cinque Terre was so close, we couldn't resist but to drive 1 hour to check it out, even in the rain. The hills and cliffs were a little intense, but still beautiful. We admired it from the car, mostly.

Day three: Tuscany-San Giminano and Volterra. The weather was much better as we ate our last yogurt and salami breakfast and headed south to Tuscany. We heard some good rumors about these two villages, which are actually walled cities on the top of the Tuscan mountain-ish hills. And yes, a shout out to all Twilight fans would be in order as we visited Volterra, home of the evil but powerful coven of real vampires, the Volturri (spooky!). But we didn't see them, or Edward :( so we turned around and left, not even taking time to enjoy the beautiful scenery or charming villages. Well, just kidding. We had a lovely time. The Volturri are lucky to live where they do.

Have there ever been two girls who loved flowers more than these ones? I don't think so. They keep picking like they are getting paid. Looking at these photos, you'd think we withhold their dinner if they don't gather their daily quota of flowers.

"Back to work, you slugs! Piiiicckkkkk!"

This is where your EVOO comes from.

There is beauty all around!

"You have two minutes. Go Bella, go!"

2007 Gelato World Champions. Had to try it.

Bastogne, Belgium

2011-03-23T09:19:00.000+01:00

In Februrary we took a quick day trip up to Bastogne, Belgium to see the sights. Obviously this is a city of grand historical importance. General Patton, a siege, Battle of the Bulge, and Airborns, infantries, Panzers, and other historical figures all played some sort of major role here, of course. Sorry, history buffs, you'll have to get on Wikipedia to piece it all together. As you could have guessed by now, history is not our forte... but boy, do we love our country! So, off to Bastogne we went, also enjoying the company of good friends and good food.

The Washington-esque feel of the monument had us feeling right at home.

The good pals, all freezing together.

The cool cats

Not much to do at a monument... Make your own fun.

Checking out the creepy crypts with dad.

World War II relics

cutie pie

Fasching

2011-03-06T22:00:00.000+01:00

This weekend some friends in our ward gave us a heads up on a very popular carnival/parade/holiday/time of year called Fasching. Now don't quote us on this, but from what we gather this is a big party/celebration/parade before Lent begins; the equivalent of Mardi Gras or Carnival. There are several complicated cultural aspects to Fasching including Old Women's Thursday, Rose Monday, and it has possibly been going on since November 11th of last year. Anyways we met up in our friends front yard for a crazy parade. Most people were dressed up and we even managed to make 2 makeshift masks on the car ride over there. You can see our craftsmanship below. For some reason Sadie insisted on being a pink pig which I think she pulls off rather great. The eyes are a bit skiwampus but hey, this isn't a craft blog. The kids were quite popular with the locals; they got pretty hooked up in the candy department.

Sadie waiting for some freebees, enjoying the floats.

Surprisingly Sadie kept it on the whole time.

We made this bird mask for London but she of course wanted nothing to do with it. Luckily our little buddy Alyssa who is staying with us this weekend was quite fond of our mask-making skills.

These small villages sure put a lot of work into their floats. These pics don't really show it, but you can imagine. Taking pictures is hard when you are chasing 3 children around and have massive amounts of candy flying at you.

Germany truly loves their alky. Candy for the kids and Alcohol for the adults (and teenagers). Floats going by passing out booze... I don't think I have ever seen that at a parade in the States.

This weekend we have been experiencing what it is like to have 3 children, two of them being the same exact age, so... like twins, you could say. It's been fun and interesting keeping our watch on 3 little busy bodies. :) I guess we are just getting some practice for whenever we decide to take the plunge.

The Buda-Post (Budapest, Hungary trip)

2011-03-04T13:09:00.000+01:00

Never in my life did I imagine going to Hungary. Why would I? I'm not even sure I knew where it was on a map. But Mark's sister Kristi and her lovely husband Cade decided to live there for a few months (semester abroad) so we found ourselves knee deep in Buda land. I will have to say we are glad we had this opportunity because I'm not sure we would have ventured there with out their influence and hospitality. In November we stayed with the Buck's in their interesting apartment for 5 spectacular, fun-filled days. We tasted the local fares, sampled the regional customs, and partook of the cultural heritage. ...In other words we toured around Budapest like the tourists that we are. Kristi and Cade were such magnificent tour guides; you would have thought they were Hungarian by the way they maneuvered the streets and subways. So, enough jibber jabber; on with the goods...

Kristi and Cade warned us that Budapest was much prettier by night. I would have to agree. We loved our night strolls.

Fisherman's Bastion

Now Rick Steves is usually a pretty good source when it comes to steering you in the right direction, but he owes us some money. Seriously this place was the pits. We took a long bus ride to the outskirts of town where they moved all the old communist statues after it all ended. It was probably like 9 Euros a ticket or something to see a pile of old Lenin statues. But we made the best of it and still had a fine time. Of course Mark was in heaven because it was just like Russia. And as you can see Sadie spent the afternoon lurking about in the background...

They were pretty interesting statues though.

This was at the bus stop on the way home. When you go further from the city center, it looks more and more Russian according to Mark. The more Russian it looked, the less anyone wanted to travel to Russia.

The girls had lots of fun at the local parks.

and so did Mark.

Meditating is a great way to refresh and renew according to Rick Steves. You might find this picture on a travel brochure for Budapest.

Dined on the famous Hungarian Goulash

Ice cream break, I love that Sadie was sharing. Such a good big sister.

Sadie tends to get really curious with all the artful statues around Europe. You should have seen her in the Louvre. This is Kristi and Ash at some fancy opera house

Helping Auntie and Unkie make pizza. Sorry Kristi but you slightly resemble alien in the first picture. I think it's the silver eyes.

Outside the Bucks apartment. Pretty cool, huh? Living the high life...

This time we decided to throw the kids a bone and do something fun (we usually just drag them around the freezing cold), so we took them to the ZOOOOOO!!! They both loved the wide variety of Central European zoo animals.

Three sloths if you count London. Do they let these monsters run wild? Is that legal?

Plus we had some close calls with the leopard:

Would an airline called WizzAir make you suspicious? They were pretty good and the girls liked the pink planes at least. Eventually we got home safe and sound. Kristi came home with us for a fabulous Thanksgiving. We took her to some German Christmas markets and had fun cooking up a storm. Thanks Bucks for a great trip. We miss you guys. Come back.

London in London

2011-02-22T22:57:00.000+01:00

We named our daughter London because we like how it sounds... not because we have a crazy love for the city of London, not because we conceived in London, not because we met in London, not because we lived in London. We get these questions a lot about London. Don't get me wrong, we love London. But we love how London sounds more than the actual London. No we do love the actual London. Are you getting confused about what London I am refuring too? I am. So enough of that. Back in October we decided enough is enough London needs to see London. London needs to take on London. London needs to experience London. So we went and we took Sadie too. We took the easy 1 hour flight over for two days, stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast style hotel in the city and truly took in the sights and smells of London. We love London and I even bought a keychain to prove it.

"The London eye." Get it?

Sadie has a crazy obsession for horses she tells me almost everyday that when she is big she wants to ride a horse. Our neighbors have a bunch of horses and she stares out the window all the time dreaming of riding them. Anyhoo, she saw this giant horse head and almost lost it. She loved it.

There was a store on Portobello Road (THE Portobello road, like from Bedknobs and Broom Sticks) that had these old sewing machines lining the whole store it was really cool and very hip.

Her Majesty the Queen's royal palace: Buckingham palace.

The chicklets loved riding the double decker bus... well, kind of. It was FREEZING! We stayed on the bottom most of the time because they were screaming there heads off from near frost bite on top. And, we didn't want to look like lousy parents anymore so we moved them to bottom of the bus. We loved it I guess.

Waiting for the bus...

Girls bored to death; Mark in front of the thespian mecca Shakespeare's Globe

We had to try the fish and chips, of course. I went to London in High School and one of my favorite memories was the fish and chips. (Of course... my favorite memory was food.)

Trafalgar Square was a big hit with Sadie.

Hyde Park

We had an awesome time with our friends the Lemuth's. Austyn was in the same residency as Mark in Florida and they got stationed in England. It was fun catching up with them on the "other side of the Pond".

There was one "international incident" you should know about: once Ashley didn't mind the gap (gasp!!!). All joking aside, it was pretty traumatic as the stroller wheels got stuck in "the gap" and Sadie went down, leading to another head bump, as usual. Actually, pretty minor compared to previous bumpage... When you hear them repeating over and over to mind the gap, don't just stand there and laugh at their accents and phraseology like an American tourist. Do yourself a favor and mind it.

London's very own bridge. Now that is nice.

No need to say we enjoyed ourselves there. We asked Sadie what her favorite part of the trip was, and she said "the sharks" without hesitation. The sharks? Wait... oh yeah... We saw an aquarium advertisement on the tube wall as we were lugging strollers up and down. That goes to show how much the girls love these family vacations we plan. Next time: more sharks, I guess.

The budding photographers

2011-02-22T20:43:00.000+01:00

The other day after dinner Ashley got out the tripod for some night shots. Sadie was really getting into taking pictures (and London, as usual, was really getting into everything else).

Italy Part Two: Venice

2011-01-28T22:57:00.000+01:00

After our excursions at "the chink" we headed across the country to Venice for our last day en italia. I think Venice always gets this bad reputation for being so dirty or trashy or whatever. Personally, we thought it was a delightful city. Sure, I wouldn't drink from the canals or lick the sidewalks, but the only place you can do that kind of stuff is in Provo. Sometimes people ask about tips for traveling with kids. Well, here's a tip: don't take a stroller to Venice. I guess I always somehow imagined that all the bridges would be nice, smooth, ramps. I guess I should have know that they are all stairs. And with the frequency of bridge-crossing in Venice, it all adds up to bad news for mommy and daddy. Lucky we had one stroller and one backpack. However, this also poses unique challenges when taking pictures; I was usually too tired or lazy to unbuckle and rebuckle the girls every time we had a photo-op. Just a little tip, in case you were curious.

Anyway, we had a great time touring around the city, trying various foods and just feeling out the city. I guess there is more stuff to see like some glass factories and other islands, but we had a good time and our one-day Venice experience impressed us.

Between the girls, light rain, the stroller, and the $100 price tag, we never got around to an authentic gondola ride. If we ever regret our decision, you will find us on the canals in the Venitian in Viva Las Vegas. Mark did, however, take advantage of the opportunity and serenaded the passengers with his best Dean Martin as they passed. It was (a little too) memorable for everyone.

By the time we started our drive home Sadie's unicorn/avatar bump had slid, slipped, and drained its way over to her left infra-orbital space. Deep down we knew she was our same sweet little daughter, but it was getting hard to tell.

PS- Update: she's all healed now.

Rub a dub dub, 2 crazy babies in a tub.

2011-01-28T22:19:00.000+01:00

A few reasons why I like to take bath pictures of my babies...

1. They are cute

2. They are clean

3. They can't go very far while trying to get a picture of them and if you scream loud enough they will look at you and maybe crack a smile.

A small amount of proof that London's hair is in fact making it's debut.

There were never better bath buddies...

Italy Part One: Cinque Terre

2011-01-19T14:14:00.000+01:00

One of our first and favorite trips since we have been here was our visit to Cinque Terre in Italy. Cinque Terre means "five lands" and is named for 5 little villages along the coast that are connected by train and a hiking trail. We went with Mark's sister Kristi and her huz Cade. One of the most exciting parts of the trip was the secret rendezvous with the Bucks. I say secret rendezvous because they had been off backpacking and taking trains around Europe for the last week. No cell phones. No facebook. No means of verifying our meet-up location. They had gone dark. Hopefully you can picture the intensity and excitement as we chose a location and time to meet up: the train station in Levanto at 5:00 PM, a location we had never seen and only suspected it existed based on our best research on Google Earth. Once we set the details, Kristi and Cade went off the grid. We were trusting they could get there traveling through Belgium, Switzerland, Rome, and who knows where. And we were equally anxious that we would be able to make the 11 hour drive with just some baguettes and cheese sticks for the girls and our GPS to arrrive at the right date and time in the correct village. No room for error. Anyway, to make a long story short, we both met up there, and how great was our joy.

We camped in Levanto and took a train to the first of the "five lands". Our awesome plan was to hike from city to city as we explored the beaches, ice cream, and pizzas. Turns out that most people start from the other end and walk toward where we started. Turns out that most people don't hike with two huge babies on their backs (thanks for the help, Cade). Turns out hiking up and down cliffy vineyards was beautiful, but a little harder than we had anticipated. By the time we arrived at the beautiful second village (see below), our legs were about to collapse and we were a stinky, sweaty, mess. Luckily it was well worth it. That being said, we still decided to take the train from that point on.

Our view as we descended from our hike.

We love any form of sea life!

Oh... and then there was Sadie. If you see this picture and are thinking, "man, she sure looks like an Avatar," you are right. While we were camping, Sadie fell and got a little bump. It got progressively worse throughout the week as it drained, constantly altering her appearance. We were sure some sort or unicorn horn or something would pop through. Didn't :( .

Waiting patiently for the train.

This Avatar likes ice cream.

Sleepy, heavy hikers.

Awesome hike.

We never know what our girls are thinking... If you run out of raisins, just ask for more. Don't attempt to start some type of revolution or uprising.

Mark takes the plunge. Much to his dismay, he was the only one there not wearing a speedo. A mistake he vows never to repeat...

It was a real blast, and a very unique place to visit. Recommend. We spent the first two days of our labor day holiday there, and then off to Venice for a day. To be continued...

The Florist

2010-12-04T22:29:00.000+01:00

Sadie was having a blast identifying flowers. If you like daisies, roses, or Sadie, this is the movie for you.

Olsen Happenings

2010-11-06T21:22:00.000+01:00

I have great plans in store to update you all on the Olsen happ's over the last couple of months. Really I do. But to be honest though, thinking about all the blogging that needs to go down over here intimidates me. So for the time being here is a brief synopsis of our new Euro life:

First off I would like to inform you all that we are now finally in a house. A house to call home, a place of refuge from the storm. It is a lovely house nestled in a small German village about 10-15 minutes from the Air Force Base. All our neighbors are either Germans or livestock. The girls are loving all the animals. When it's not raining or freezing here we like to take walks around our cute village and visit all the animals. We like our house. It was not easy finding a house here. We came at the end of the big moving season so there was not much to choose from. But we found a cute house with a big yard that has a plum tree and an apple tree that completely drowned our little family with its fruits. We had a jolly time making applesauce, apple crisp, and apple everything. Let's see, what else.... Sadie started preschool which she absolutely loves. London turned the big 1 year! We celebrated with our usual Mexican nacho fiesta. Mark is loving his job and works with some cool people (yo Dave!). I turned 27 years; found a few wrinkles but no grey hairs. Phew! We have a great ward and are meeting lots of super nice people. Mark and I just got called to the nursery. Marks sister Kristi and her husband Cade are over here in Europe till December so we get to hang out with them sometimes. It's always nice to have family on the same continent.

We have been traveling a ton. I cant wait to tell you all about the time we took London to London. Or the time we drove our little family 10 hours to Italy. Or all about our adventures in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria and Germany of course. We are loving all this traveling! But it can sure be exhausting dragging two little girls everywhere. We have a few more trips in the making. One of which is to Hungary. Why would anyone go to Hungary? We will find out and let you know. Does anyone have a place they love over here? We will go there in your honor. We accept all and any ideas. Or heck, come over here and we'll all go!

Here is Londy modeling at a beach in Italy. We told her in was inappropriate but she just wouldn't listen. It's how the Europeans do it.

2010-11-04T10:05:00.000+01:00

So who knew that hooking up the internet here in Germany could take months? Goodness gracious! It's truly a miracle that I am sitting here connected to the world wide web. Miracle! WOW! I love it! With no internet and no TV I wasn't even sure if Barack was still our fearless leader or if California was still above sea level or if Lady Gaga is still producing horrible hits. So we cheated a bit having our iphone but please who wants to do all that work on such a itty bitty screen. I have much to share and much to tell. May take a few decades but we will get there. Together we will reconnect, friendships will be rekindled, emails will be answered, Skypes will be plentiful, it will be something alright. Here we go...

First on the agenda breathtakingly beautiful, bashful, butterflies. Also known as Halloween Costumes. We were knee deep in felt my friends. It was crazy.

Paris

2010-09-02T19:00:00.000+02:00

Paris blew our minds! Awesome trip!! More coming soon...

The great berry hunt

2010-09-02T16:56:00.000+02:00

One day we went out for a drive and nature walk and suddenly found ourselves deep in berry country. Apparently the real berry season peaks in a few weeks, so we had to search for the early ripe ones. When we found a bunch we told Sadie that we found the jackpot, so she referred to the berries as "jackpots" the rest of the day. Pretty cute. When we got home we didn't waste any time with pies, jams, ice cream, or cobblers... we got straight to work eating a delicious (but slightly tart) blackberry snack. Yum!

Pig Festival in Wittlich

2010-08-25T15:42:00.000+02:00

A city just east of us has a yearly "pig fest." It's probably called something else, but it commemorates some type of event that happened years ago in town legend where a carrot was used to hold the city gates closed. One night a pig ate the carrot, the gate opened and something bad happened (like enemies, wolves, or the French came in or something). Anyway, the next morning the mayor declared that all the pigs should be burned (or slow roasted?), and that tradition has carried on since. It now includes a parade, pig choir, carnival, pork sandwiches (which can be a nice break from the usual bratwurst), and is basically just a great event for everyone.

Don't want to scare anyone, but take a closer look at a pig in the crowd. I found him/her/it particularly frightening. This little piggy should have stayed home. I think this mask may have been used in a 70's Stephen King movie.

Sadie found several things to enjoy at the fest...

Bernkastel-Kues

2010-08-24T21:26:00.000+02:00

Ahhh... Bernkastel-Kues. As Rick Steves might well have said, Bernkastel-Kues is a charming village set on the banks beautiful Mosel River in the heart of the picturesque Eifel Region of western Germany's wine country. Apparently, if you fancy yourself a wine drinker this is the place to be. We ventured out on a whim on our anniversary. It is only 30 minutes from home, and well worth the drive.

Some old beautiful medieval castle.

So much good ice cream everywhere. Will it ever end?

Six years ago we were married in the San Diego Temple. So glad we decided to do that. Seriously.

Sadie is loving all the parks everywhere. She found a new love for teeter-totters/see-saws.

Our Travel to "Germally"

2010-08-24T21:06:00.000+02:00

5 suitcases, 4 passengers, 3 carry on's, 2 strollers, 1 car seat, 1 pack and play and a partridge in a pear tree! We were quite the show!

Sadie was very excited when we finally got to "Germally".

Sadie is in heaven with all the farm animals that are everywhere. So far we have seen lots of cows, horses, sheep, donkeys and chickens.

Lots of pictures coming very soon!

Wilkommen in Deutschland...

2010-08-22T19:01:00.001+02:00

Well, we made it to Germany. We have been here for about 10 days now. We are still in TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility-much bigger and nicer than the ones in Florida) and it looks like we are going to be here for a couple more weeks. We found a house, but it won't be ready for us to move into until about September 15th because they are renovating it. We are all looking forward to getting into our own home and getting all our stuff back. For right now we are living out of suit cases. We left Florida sweating and dying from the extreme humidity only to be surprised with cold weather here in Germany. We packed all shorts and Tee shirts expecting it to be summer but it was seriously freezing our first week here. It has warmed up a lot. The last minute I brought sweatshirts for the girls and I just because I thought it would be cold on the plane. I'm sure glad I brought them!

The flight over here went really smooth. We left Florida around 10 am and flew to Dallas and then from Dallas to Frankfurt was 9 hours. The girls were up for a few hours but once bedtime hit they slept the rest of the time. We got our very own row of 5 seats in the middle and we just all sprawled out. It was really quite comfortable.

So far what we have seen of Germany is amazingly beautiful. We are so excited to explore it more. There is so much to see here in Germany and in all of Europe that we are really not sure we can see it all in 3 years. But we will die trying! We have already been on a few very fun adventures. We don't have a car yet but everyone here has been super generous and very friendly and welcoming. Two people have even loaned us their cars, which helped us accomplish some major milestones. Like successfully driving on the Autobahn, going to work and church without getting too lost, and even finding our way back home. So the last few days we have been driving around checking out the area. On the 19th it was our 6 year wedding anniversary. We didn't have a babysitter so as a family we went and explored Bernkastel-Kues on the Mosel river. It was spectacular. We tried a very delicious doner, which we were able to purchase, eat, and pay for with several awkward moments. Moments that can be referred to as "international incidents". And yesterday we went to our very first Pig Fest! We tried the traditional Bratwurst. YUM! This time the ordering process went much more smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that we proceeded to venture out and buy ice cream, chocolate, more ice cream, and other various treats. Sadie is a big beneficiary of us learning to order treats in German. The food here already has exceeded our expectations.

One of our favorite things is to just drive around and enjoy the breathtaking sceneries. We came across this town that is called Kyllburg. It is a city built on a very steep valley around the Kyll river. It was amazing! All the towns here are little villages surrounded by beautiful countryside and farmland. But the towns have narrow, skinny little streets with very European-looking houses and cars.

Pictures and more about the Pig fest in Wittlich and Bernkastel-Kues later. We have some seriously slow internet right now!

Germany, here we come!

2010-08-11T06:22:00.000+02:00

The last couple weeks have been filled with lots of organizing, packing, consolidating, selling, cleaning, and shipping to prepare for our big move to Germany, and even some traveling mixed in the whole thing. A few weeks ago the girls and I took a trip to Cali, then we all went to Orlando to ship our car (and go to Disney), and then off to Utah for a week. We have barley had time to stop and smell the flowers. On top of all this we have been trying to sell one of our cars (Sal) for the last couple of weeks and no bites. We were starting to panic a little... or a lot. We really didn't think we would sell her. Monday we decided to say a special prayer that we would sell the car. And lo and behold, we sold the car today! The day before we move out of the country. Truly a miracle. Seriously the day before! Wow! Tonight as I sat on the beach and watched Mark play with our sweet girls in the water I thought about how blessed my little family has been. I feel like everything always works out one way or another. The Lord seriously always looks out for us. I really enjoyed pondering about all of the tender mercies that I have had in my life lately. I feel like I don't always get a lot of time to just sit there and ponder. I guess you have time for stuff like that when you have no car and are stuck on base and your husband is watching the kids.

So the last couple of days we have been staying at the TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) on base here. It is super duper small, we discovered a few cockroaches and have only a few raccoons scratching at our doors. Needless to say very excited to get to Germany and find a new place to call home. We are all packed up and ready for the long flight in the morning. I can't believe we are leaving tomorrow. It seems like we have been preparing for this for a long time. We are all very excited but also pretty nervous for the big change. Germany here we come!

helping mommy clean

Saying goodbye to the house we brought our Little Londy Loo home to

Help! There is no room here at TLF

I will miss you Salvador!! You were a good car!

Playing at the park on base

Dancing Queen

2010-08-06T06:03:00.000+02:00

At James and Carly's wedding, Sadie wasn't feeling her best. Long days on the road combined with refusing to nap created the perfect recipe for a Wedding Grump. But we learned that Sadie comes to life on the dance floor. This was basically the only part of the reception that Sadie liked... and the candy.

The River

2010-08-06T03:45:00.000+02:00

A little dramatic? probably not.

Bag-Baby Movie Project

2010-08-03T07:32:00.000+02:00

This is a cautionary tale of inner-city life.

In case you didn't read it in the Sunday paper...

2010-07-25T05:58:00.000+02:00

More summer time fun...

2010-07-19T19:53:00.000+02:00

Welcome to my crib

2010-07-16T03:39:00.000+02:00

Beatin' the heat

2010-07-15T04:08:00.000+02:00

Humidity really bites! Florida is HOT!! I don't like to go outside unless I am beating the heat. Because the heat here needs to be beaten. If not, it will beat you. True story.

P.S. you know that big oil spill everyone is talking about? Well we heard all about it. Trust us. But do you see any oil on these beaches? No Way! Now, that's not to say that we haven't had our occasional tar ball. In fact, Ashley stepped in one. Sadie touched one, and London ate one (just kidding about that last one). Well I guess we really don't know what is happening with the oil. It's here one day and gone the next. It's like magic, really. Magically, the beaches are still open. I heard that BP stands for Big Polluter, but so far that Bad Petroleum hasn't Been Prone to stop our Big Plans for Beach Partying. We're still here, beating the heat.

Don't want those embarrassing strap tan lines.

No oil here at the Blue Pad...

...but in case of tar balls, beat the heat in a Big Pool...

...or a Blow-up Pool on the Back Patio.

Memorial Day weekend: Disney World/ Castillo de San Marcos

2010-07-15T03:09:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago on a total whim (like within an hour) decided to go to Disney World, pack up and drive out. Disney World is 6 hours away from us so usually takes some planning and organizing but Mark had a long Memorial Day weekend and we didn't want it to go to waste. So we went. We did two days at the magic Kingdom. Sadie's favorite. It dumped rain on us most of the time we were there but we came prepared with ponchos and umbrellas. Some how we still ended up soaked. Sadie of course was really excited and loved it. We went on Small World 3 times per Sadie's request. Ever since she went on it she has been playing her CD with Small World song on it over and over on repeat and is constantly sing it. Her favorite ride by far. I love seeing my girls get so excited about things. It's so fun to just watch her at Disney World; that is my favorite part.

We decided to let the girls pamper themselves at a spa... with Pampers?

Castillo de San Marcos:

So after Disney World we decided to go check out this cool fort a few hours away from Orlando.

This was just getting us ready for all the castles that we will be seeing in Germany and Europe.

The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the United States located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun on the fort in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish possession (thank you, Wikipedia).

So it was pretty old. It was blazing hot and humid that day. Like way humid! But it was in such a quaint town and very interesting to see. So we tried to make the best of it considering the extreme temperatures. So glad I live in the day of air conditioning. Like, seriously.

Sadie had to read every little fact about the place. She likes to be informed.

London-9 months old

2010-07-14T03:48:00.000+02:00

London is at such a fun stage right now. She is such a happy baby and always smiling and giggling, except when she is tired you don't want to mess with her. She is such a little koala bear, loves to be held and snuggled. I feel like she is always on my hip clinging to me. When I hold her on my hip her arm is always on my back patting me; it is the cutest thing. She is not crawling yet, but is rolling all over the place. She rolls to get places and get things. She is still bald as a beagle but with a face like that, who needs hair? Besides, bald is in right now, I heard. She is a pretty picky eater just like Sadie was. Loves fruit hates anything green or vegetable like. She spits most food out and gives us looks of disgust frequently. Loves playing in water. The little plastic pool is a big hit right now. She loves music. When music is on she dances this little swaying dance. Super cute. She just started to wave. She loves attention. And hates playing by herself. She is Sadie's biggest fan and vice-versa. She thinks that Sadie is hilarious. Everyone that meets London loves her. I feel like London is such a tender little soul. She has such a sweet demeanor. I love when she snuggles her little head into me. She is just the sweetest little thing and I love her SO much. I am so blessed.

Hello blog. We are back... for now

2010-07-09T02:59:00.000+02:00

In case anyone was wondering, we are alive and doing well. We still find our selves in the USA. But only for a few more weeks then it is off to Germany. For some reason moving to a different country causes for much preparation and work before hand. Who would of thunk it? Well hence the no blog posts in like forever! And lets be honest, I'm lazy! We have been here and there and everywhere trying to say our goodbyes to family and trying to have as much fun as humanly possible in good old Florida and this beloved country before we say our goodbyes. We will be making one last pit stop in Utah for little-brother James' wedding to soon-to-be sister-in-law Carly. So if anyone in Utah would like to make their peace with us this is your last call! I am now accepting text messaging.

Starting backwards in the blog catch up...

4th of July

You either have to be wickedly awesome or slightly crazy to wear all matching tie-dye in public...

Bitter sweet, enjoying our last 4th of July fireworks on US soil for 3 years

I would blame the rain for the pink tint on our shirts but if you are brave enough please enjoy the informative how-to video constructed by Peter Frandsen made on the new iPhone.

We spent a fantastic long weekend in Mississippi with our pals the Frandsens. London and betrothed Will rekindled their undying love. Good food, good friends & good wholesome recreational activities= Awesome Freedom weekend! Thats what July 4th is all about.

Our little gymnast

2010-05-28T15:18:00.000+02:00

When we first moved to Florida I was looking for some fun things for Sadie to do around the area. One of my neighbors told me about a gymnastics place around here that you can go every Monday and Friday for $5 and let your kid run around, jump on the trampolines and use all the equipment. So for months I was taking Sadie there and then I decided to enroll her in a class. I am so glad I did. The girl loves it and always looks forward to tuesdays when we get to go see Coach Jean and learn how to do cartwheels, front rolls, handstands, triangles, pike, straddle legs, tucks, do tricks on the tumble track, swing on the rings, do tricks on the balance beam and so on. Hey, I have even learned a thing or two about the sport. I can't wait to see Sadie take Gold in the 2020 Olympics.

All the girls waiting for instruction from coach Jean

warming up is always a good idea before exerting your muscles

Sadie and her friend Katelyn.

waiting for her turn on the tumble track

goofing off on some bar we have never used

I think it is so fun to see Sadie use all these things she has learned at home. She has become a little monkey around the house climbing and swinging from everything.

Official documents (officially cute)

2010-05-28T06:15:00.000+02:00

One thing to check off the long list of things to do before Germany. Passport pictures. I hope they accept these, they are too cute not too. (Mark just informed me that they probably won't accept them due to cropping errors. He's the one that did them, but they are still cute.)

2010-05-25T05:10:00.000+02:00

I just have to say that I cried like a baby during LOST.

Best gift ever!

2010-05-08T05:20:00.000+02:00

For Mark's Birthday back in April I got him a bike trailer. It honestly is the best gift I could have gotten him. Not only does he get to do what he loves to do (ride his bike), but I get a nice little break all to myself. Genius!! And the girls LOVE it. So everyone wins here. We are planning on doing a lot of biking while in Germany So this was a must-get on our list.

Sadie thinks it is so much fun. She keeps asking to go on bike rides. And Mark even heard a little chuckle out of London while riding, even though she tried to look serious for the pictures.

The road lulled her to sleep...

You make think we stuff her cheeks with cotton balls or that she is holding her breath. But those are her legit cheeks right there. Those are pinching, kissing cheeks.

Sadie later fell asleep too. Looks like life on the road is hard.

This morning I realized how great this gift was. Sadie woke up at 5:45 this morning so daddy and Sadie went on a long bike ride to the park and ocean. Genius!!

Pretty little thang...

2010-05-06T03:16:00.000+02:00

Mark graciously took Sadie to mutual with him the other day so what did London and I do with out the little wild rascal?

Photo Shoot!!

I love how they turned out! Now if only Sadie was half as good as London while taking pictures (minus the grazing), I would have some cute pictures of her too. But noooo! I have to do cartwheels and buck like a bronco to get a smile or even a glance out of her. So thank you London for making this an enjoyable experience for me. Enjoy...

p.s. London is 7 months old now and is only a few pounds away from Sadie maybe the same now. They are actually fitting into a lot of the same clothes. I love it.

Graham crackers and prunes for good behavior.

I love you so much my little chub!

Our next great adventure

2010-04-15T04:40:00.000+02:00

We just found out some important and incredible news. We were very excited to learn that the Air Force will be be shipping us out to Germany! The AEGD program here ends in July, so we had been anxious to learn where we'd be headed next. We were hoping we would get something Europe-ish, and Germany was our top pick, so this is pretty exciting for our family. We will be near the border of France, Luxembourg and Belgium, Mark's uncle and his family live 2 hours away, Paris-4 hours away, Mark's sister and her husband will be in Hungary all of Fall. We are just so excited to get our travel on! If you were planning on visiting Europe you better do it in the next 3 years because you have a free place to stay at the Olsen home! We are definitely going to miss the good US of A but are super stoked for a big adventure before we settle down. Oh, Mark lived in Germany when he was 3. Sadie and London will also live in Germany when they are 3. I thought that was kind of neat.

Happy 6 months, Lundy!

2010-04-09T04:36:00.000+02:00

6 months so soon?
Your laughs are outrageous.
Your sweetness contagious.
Your looks advantageous.
You keep us smiling for ages.
Thank you.

We love you Lundy Loo!

Easter time

2010-04-02T15:18:00.000+02:00

More fur people...

I took the girls to this Easter village they had set up in town. Sadie LOVED the Easter bunny. First thing when we walked in she ran over to him. She always gets a little nervous when they hug or hold her but I still can't believe how brave she is with them. I swear she would run away with one of these guys if she could.

Sadie also loved the train ride around the shopping center and of course all the farm animals. She also got to do a little Easter craft and decorate a cookie. I love that she is old enough to get into the holiday stuff now.

So after the Easter village Sadie kept talking about the Easter bunny and how she wanted to go see him again. So the next day we headed over to Bass Pro shop for more Fur Fun.

This was Sadie's face when she saw the bunny...

She was so excited. She kept cutting in line to go see him. They had a little egg hunt but all she wanted to do was go see the bunny.

She is still talking about how she wants to go see the Easter bunny again. She also keeps telling me that it is almost Easter time. I don't have the heart to tell her it's over.

After we went and enjoyed this beautiful weather at the splash pad and play pad at the mall. Sadie was completely soaked in her beautiful dress by the time we left.

Easter egg dying fun... Messier than it should have been.

Just a little lick...

Easter was great! We had a lot of fun just lounging in our jammies watching General Conference all day. First thing the girls did when they found their baskets was break open the chocolate. Even London. Smart girl.

While watching conference Sadie kept pointing to Presedent Monson and saying "It's the prophet of the lord." As you can tell from this picture our children were very obedient and watched the whole thing and even took notes.

We had an Easter egg hunt for the girls in the back yard. Again, I love to see Sadie get into the fun holiday stuff. It really is my biggest joy to see my girls happy and and having fun. I love it!

I love my cute girls!

Furcon 2010/Atlanta trip

2010-03-30T04:19:00.000+02:00

Have you ever secretly wished to dress up like a furry creature? Have you ever had the desire to become a fuzzy dragon, furry fox or cuddly cat? Have you ever wanted to meet others who share your love of all things furry? We have NOT. But somehow, call it luck if you will, we ended up at the furriest of all conventions around. If this is what you are looking for then by all means next March book yourself a room at the downtown Atlanta Hilton and you will be sure to be surrounded with the creepiest of creatures. This is one of those things that you really had to be there for...

I am kicking my self in the tail for not taking pictures of these guys. Borrowed this from my friend's facebook. This shows a little of what our hotel looked like for the week.

Mark had a dental conference in Atlanta this past week and we decided to make a family vacation out of it. Like I said, at our hotel Furcon 2010 was taking place. I find it sad and a little funny that Sadie probably now thinks that it is completely normal to share an elevator with a Fox or Lemur. Hey, even I started to think it was completely normal. It made for some good laughs and great memories.

Atlanta was a lot of fun and a lot of work. Many times we uttered the words "last road trip." It was a long week with the girls. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up next week and I had gray hair. They really were good on the trip. I'm just having such a hard time juggling everything. It really is crazy I sometimes don't have time to eat or go to the bathroom because I am trying to juggle so many things. I guess it comes with having to kids so close in age. It is a lot easier at home of course. But vacations with kids... whew. Whole new world.

While Mark was the Dental Conference I took the girls to the Georgia Aquarium. Way awesome! This one blows the DC aquarium way out of the water. I love aquariums.

Sadie has a thing for dressed up character people . So imagine how stoked she was for all the Furcons. (She in fact uttered that she wanted to dress up like animals.) We told her that is for weird people. Anyways, she saw this whale from way far away and really wanted to go see him. She has no fear of these creatures. I thought it was really cute how she just went and stood by him and waited for me to take a picture.

Last known picture of beloved Blankie. Or what was left of her. This I will save for another post... Heartbroken!

When Mark wasn't at the conference we went with our friends the Frandsens who also were in Atlanta with us to The World of Coca-Cola. We spent most of our time testing 64 different types of sodas from all around the world. Some good ones and some nasty ones. Seems like all the South American ones were extra sugary.

Frandsens, London's future in-laws. Getting ready to watch some crazy 4-d Coke movie. London and Will chickened out and left at the beginning. I think they just needed some alone time.

London was all about impressing her boyfriend Will with all her sweet new skills. Like sitting up. She was really excited to show Will how it was done. So they had a sit off...

This one is their engagement picture. Everywhere we went people thought they were twins. Remember they are 2 days apart. Such a cute couple!!

Don't ask me why, but Mark watched some Hot Dog documentary on TV once and he said it was his life long dream to eat at the famous Varsity where they are known for their hot dogs. So Marks dream came true and we had a feast at the Varsity. Now we are true Atlantan's. I'd actually never heard of the joint before but Mark told me it is all the rage.

Hot dogs with coleslaw, chilli and cheese... Yum Yum

London at the hotel looking cute...

This is a little of what our 6 hour drive home from Atlanta looked like. Frequent potty brakes. Here is Sadie somewhere in the middle of Alabama. You know, when you just can't hold it til the next gas station...

We also took a little trip to see Mark's Aunt and her family who live an hour past Atlanta. No pics, just fond mem's!

I also loved that I was able to go shopping and out to eat at all the places that are not down here in Fort Walton Beach. Cheesecake Factory, you and your avocado egg roles were truly missed. Till next time. XOXO

Best friends

2010-03-23T03:55:00.000+01:00

Sisters, sisters there were never such devoted sisters... Name that movie??

This makes me happy...

I love how much these two love each other. They are going to have so much fun growing up together. London thinks that Sadie is hilarious. I swear London is so cranky when Sadie is taking a nap and once Sadie is awake London is all grins. And when London is fussy and sometimes I don't get to her pronto like I should Sadie tells me over and over again to take care of London. They look out for each other. I hope it lasts.

Copy Cat

2010-03-22T04:46:00.000+01:00

This is how it started: London scratched herself with one of her claws. It wouldn't stop bleeding, so we prescribed her one band-aid. Strictly for medical reasons, to promote platelet adhesion, clotting, and eventual healing.

Needless to say, Sadie came up with an injury of her own: I like to say that she got bit by the Copy Cat.

This is not her first instance of behavior modeling, or "copying". We find her copying our every move, the way we stand, the things we say, etc. This copy cat is one ferocious feline.

2010-03-19T19:41:00.000+01:00

Big girl is sitting up all by herself now. She gets really mad and a little offended if you lie her on her back. She wants to run around and be crazy with her big sister. I can see it in her eyes.

A Saturday to remember?

2010-03-15T02:48:00.000+01:00

On saturday we went with our friends the Ridgeways on a little tour of northwest Florida. We saw some fun sites such as the Florida Caverns, Falling Waters (not to brag, but it is the highest waterfall in florida), and Turkey Creek Nature Walk (sorry, no real turkeys). The bummer was that we got separated from our friends due to technical difficulties, but Sadie loved seeing Blaise.

However, don't think that it was all smiles and sunshine. The movie you see above glamorizes our mini-vacation; there is one aspect of our trip that did not make it on film: juggling two screaming crying babies deep in the belly of the earth during the cave tour. Little Blaise was smart enough to start complaining early, so he got to exit with his parents. We felt so bad at first, but our sorrow soon turned to jealousy as Sadie got tired and London got hungry. There were times when I'm sure that nobody could hear the tour guide because of our shrieking girls whose devilish cries echoed from the primitive formations in the tomb-like chamber. Both girls, full volume, OOC (out of control). I was sweating bullets trying to lug around that squirming weasel Sadie, and Ashley's arm literally almost fell off due to fatigue from feeding London on-the-go. Needless to say, all of our pictures are from the first three minutes before everything went downhill. We decided that it would be better for everyone if Sadie and Blaise had their next playdate somewhere normal like a park instead of a dark cavern in the center of the earth.

This is why we love family Saturdays!

More fun beach walks

2010-03-14T20:58:00.000+01:00

Mark heard from a boy a church a great place to go and catch crabs and fish when the water is warm. We went on an excursion to check it out so we will be all ready when it's time to get our crab on.

Sadie has an ability to find beauty in almost anything. Her favorite way to describe something is to say that it is "soooo beautiful". Even pinecones, I guess. She later brought this pinecone to church with her. Oh yeah, PS: everything has a "mommy," too. Sadie can assign mommy/baby status to any set of large and small objects (naturally large=mommy, small=baby). Such as a big and small makeup brush, a big and small soccer ball, and if we had found a bigger pinecone it definitely would have been the mommy. If Sadie sees any animal/person/car/thing leave, it can be assumed that it "went to go find it's mommy".

the beautiful pinecone

Helping Sadie learn the basics of crab hunting

2010-03-14T20:25:00.000+01:00

We have been checking out different local beaches trying to find the perfect one for this summer's beach-going. We can't wait for the hot weather so we can dive back into beach fun. Never thought I would be wishing for the horrible hot weather to return. But this was actually one of the coldest winters Florida has had in a long time. And of course we had to be here for it. One of the main reasons I was so excited about Florida is that I HATE winter. I thought I could escape it by coming here but boy oh boy was I wrong. They even got snow in some parts. Seriously?

We have enjoyed taking walks with the girls on the beach and Sadie really loves collecting shells and pine cones. We will miss our fun beach walks when we leave. But who knows, we could be heading to another beach somewhere else. We should find out in the next couple weeks where the Air Force will send us for the next 3 years. We move at the end of July or beginning of August. Pray that we will go somewhere AWESOME!!

Hooray! More visitors!

2010-03-14T05:10:00.000+01:00

Grandpa Olsen came to visit us on Valentine's Day. The girls had fun seeing their Grandpa. Sadie had fun making cookies, singing songs, and reading books with grandpa. We tried some classic grandfatherly activities like chasing birds at the beach and flying kites, but it was cold and windy and Sadie got a little bugged when grandpa tied her blankie to the tail of the kite. Pretty scary. But I guess that's why the old saying is true: it's always fun when grandpa comes.

Hooray for visitors!

2010-03-10T02:41:00.000+01:00

A few weekends ago London's life changed forever. Call it love at first sight if you will. We may hear wedding bells in the very, very far off future. London and Will...

BN-BFF: brand-new best friends forever-Good one Peter and Emily!

These two couldn't keep their eyes off each other...

...or their hands.

Will and London are only 2 days apart. People at the parade who asked if they were twins were very confused when we told them that they are 2 days apart.

We had a great time with our friends the Frandsens who drove from Biloxi Mississippi to spend some quality time with us. We did lots of fun stuff like chaperoning the babies and planning the wedding. Too bad they don't live closer; we could have more time to get together and talk about how cute our babies are. Hopefully we'll both get stationed at some awful base together.

checking out the freezing, blinding white sand beaches

Mardi Gras season around these parts = parades with lots of free beads. London and Will's baby cuteness earned them a fair share of beads...

Any suggestions on getting your child to slow down on the nose picking?

Destin Harbor festivities

Enjoyed some root brew-skis at an ol' Irish Pub, lad. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars strung all around McGuires. Pretty spectacular. I hope the joint never burns down.

Wii Shoes

2010-03-09T04:59:00.000+01:00

These beautiful jelly like flats are all the rage right now in Toddler apparel. Not only fashionably fabulous but comfort and versatility play a huge role in these fun-loving flippers. Wii shoes are available at all your local gaming stores. Seriously SO hot right now. Why play Wii when you can wear Wii? Catch a glimpse of Sadie sporting these right before nap time...

Sadie honestly thinks these are shoes. She puts them on all the time. For all you who are thinking I am crazy.. These are Wii remote covers.

Conquering the Potty...

2010-03-09T04:33:00.000+01:00

She did it!! She is potty trained! Day and night people! Wahooooooooooooooooooooooo! Yes, I am excited. I no longer have to buy 2 different sizes of diapers or wipe 2 booties. Oh, the money I will save. It only took a week of house arrest, constant stalking and lots and lots of special treats. I feel like I am the one that accomplished something here. Am I not the one that did all the dirty work? So where is my special treat? This proud face will have to do...

Showing her muscles.. So proud of my girl!

So I first had tried training her at 18 months and it was a disaster. She really was NOT ready. It's all on their own time people. Well that is at least what worked for us. Need tips? Ask away. I am an expert at this, you know. :) jk

2010-03-02T15:30:00.000+01:00

I have a lot of updating to do. Hayley this is for you. More coming soon. I promise.

My Funny Valentines

2010-02-09T03:08:00.000+01:00

Heigh-ho, readers, Mark here. With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, it seems approprite for me to chime in with some commentary. Truly Valentine's Day ushers in the end of a cold, cruel winter and the promise of springtime, when a young man's fancy turns to love. Ahh, me... young love. Yes, even I rememer what it was like. Someday, all of you younger readers will be where we are: seasoned hearts purged in the furnace of experience and subsequently forged in the fires of passion. And Saint Valentine himself, that delightful cherub who hath sailed in on the wings of love to light the spark of romance within humanity, has set aside this day as a celebration, nay, a living monument to the heart's purest emotion: love.

That being said, in the spirit of this upcoming holiday week I wanted to comment on some fun info and insider trivia about my three valentines. Here are some facts you may or may not know:

Ashley: my original, one-and-only true love and best friend.

Nickname: your highness -> majesty -> badgesty -> badger -> badgey (by this point in the evolution, she doesn't really like it. Actually, I guess none of those nicknames are that great)

Pet Peeve: New Jersey accents and loud cars.

Claim to fame: Supermom; Mother of two.

Fact: Everything Ashley does gets 100% effort. What a woman!

Fact #2: Ashley once spent four hours with Sadie on the potty, only to have Sadie run out and whiz on the living room carpet like a wild animal.

Pizza: Pizza Hut Pan, used to be pepperoni, but switching to sausage/pineapple.

Sadie: the fruit of my loins.

Nickname: The Beast, Saddlebags, sadis-dee (don't ask)

Fact: gets soaking wet 2 or 3 times a day from drinking water, dipping things in water, or giving utensils a "bath" in her cup.

Loves: anything with kethcup, babies, pulling her books and toys off of the shelf.

Fact: grape-aholic.

Favorite color: pink, but finally can actually name a few colors without calling everything yellow

Favorite store: Wal-Mart; she thinks that every store she goes in is Wal-mart.

Biggest disappointment: After Christmas we had to tell her that Frosty melted so we wouldn't have to watch that darn movie any more. She took it okay, but still wants to go "to the snow" to see Frosty.

Fact: chewed through a beautiful knit blanket like a rat. It is now a pile of rags that any hobo would shun.

Favorite policy: don't talk to strangers. Taking candy- not a problem.

London: daughter of my tribulations, born in the wilderness. jk; 4 month old baby.

Nickname: Lundy Loo, "the other beast", "da cheeks"

Pet peeve: tummy time.

Loves: silliness, weight gain.

Best move: trembling lower lip before tears.

Fact: London once lost her binky in the rolls of fat on her neck.

Fact: not nearly as serious as her big sister was at her age.

New skill: grabbing things, kicking legs

Loves: her daddy almost as much as her food and her mommy.

Sooooo sweet. You have to see it to believe it.

You can imagine what it's like being surround by these three girls. I used my experiences with them as the inspiration for my newest hit single, "Ladies' Man." Watch for it on iTunes.

Little Beauties

2010-01-30T03:18:00.000+01:00

Just some pictures... Because I like to take them, because I like to look at them, because I think my girls are little beauties.

Ahhhh... To be two again.

You should see the production I put on to get a real smile out of this girl. You may think I have issues after watching.

Check out our chunk fresh out of the tub. This may be a favorite.

Nothing like a good read from ol' Shel himself. I love that Sadie picks her nose in 80 percent of the pictures I take. And I love that London is so into the book.

Anyone who wears this towel in our family is designated as "the froggy princess." There is even a song that goes along with it. Oh I just love the chunky stage! I want to eat her up.

Sadie's big number 2!

2010-01-27T05:14:00.000+01:00

I can't believe my little baby is 2! Really, I can't believe it. Really! Sometimes I feel like I just had her or maybe I'm confusing it with London, I'm not sure. And then other times I feel like she has been with us for forever. I love this girl! She really makes everyday just a TON more fun! I love you Sadie!!

I know, like one million pictures, but my family really wanted to be there but couldn't due to the fact that we live so dang far away. This is my way of including them.

First off, today I took Sadie to her 2 year check up and she only weighs 19 lbs. 15 oz! London is totally going to pass her up in weight, like tomorrow. Oh and she still fits into her 1 year b-day suit. What a shrimp! I really hopes she passes the 5-foot mark.

So ever since December when I explained to Sadie that she would be turning 2 and that we were going to have a birthday party for her, she has been talking about her "Mickey Mouse party" ever since. Every morning she would wake up and say "My Mickey Mouse party, mommy!!" She would talk about who was coming and the plates, cups etc. Ever since Thanksgiving when we went to Disney World she has become Mickey and Minnie's biggest fan, so a Mickey/Minnie party was only appropriate. A week before the party we started to get ready for the big day. I made her a Minnie Mouse skirt. Big mistake. Showing her too early it made her even more anxious for her party and she had to wear it every day, even to bed. Here is a picture of her a week or so before her party sporting the Minnie mouse skirt in bed. She wanted to wear her Disneyland hat (which she wore to the store the other day) to bed but I tricked her into something a little more comfortable (a beanie).

So needless to say she was very, very excited for her party. We had a fun BBQ with Sadie's cute friends and there families.

whenever I can get her to actually smile for a picture it is this head turned up high cheesiness.

Mickey and Minnie everything. We even had Mickey-shaped cheese and Jello Jigglers.

Mark did a FANTASTIC job on the cake! Sadie couldn't believe her eyes. She especially liked that he had a pink tongue.

Mark came up with some cute games... Mickey skittles toss and Pin the nose on Mickey. No Pinata this year. Last year's pinata slaying was a little too hard on our tender hearted soul.

Sadie loved Pin the nose on Mickey. She kept saying "I did it mommy, I did it!"

Yummy cake! There was so much black die in the frosting. Let's just say Sadie's diaper was very, very dark the next day. Eww!

I helped her blow out her candle.

at the end of the day all she wanted to do was play with all her fun new toys.

I promised her Minnie balloon like forever ago and she loved it. She wants to take it everywhere. It's a little hard to drive with that thing in the car.

My big girl. She is so cute!!

Twinners!!

Birthday Girl

2010-01-24T07:13:00.000+01:00

It is 12:13 am and I almost forgot to give a big Birthday shout out to my precious Sadie. Even though we spent all day celebrating the big day. I still want it recorded...

Happy Birthday Sadie!!!!

Because I am tired, because I have been celebrating to my heart's delight, because I have Relief Society lesson for tomorrow on the brain I will make this short and sweet...

2 years ago today, (well technically 2 years ago yesterday since it is past midnight but anyways), you have enriched my life and have made me a happier and better person. You have made me a mother and I love being your mother.