From My January Tucson Trip

I figure some back-blogging is in order, considering some of the big stuff I skipped over these past few months...

I FINALLY got to travel back to Tucson with baby Kai at the end of January. Most Tucson people hadn't met my baby yet and I hadn't been there since we drove out here almost 2 years ago! It was a wonderful, much too short, trip.

(Lovin' his Auntie Anja)

(AH! Inga driving!!.. she did exceptionally well)

I had such a blast hanging out with my family. I can't believe how big my sisters all are! Being on Ohio time, Kai and I were up early enough to drive my sisters, Inga and Anja, to early morning Seminary one day, and my other sister, Dora, to grade school the next day. It was so fun seeing a couple of my high school teachers and a bunch of younger siblings from friends I went to school with... I felt old.

(How do my sisters manage to look so dern pretty before 6AM??)

(Dora proudly showing off her nephew... Kai favors her)

My sister-in-law Heather is an aspiring photographer, so we managed to squeeze in a quick photoshoot of our babies who are only 6 weeks apart. Her little Lexie is SO dang cute! I was there the week of all that extreme weather, so we were lucky that it worked out at all.

(My favorite out of the bunch)

(heehee... my idea, her photographer skills)

I got to spend some time with my in-laws too, of course. I hadn't gotten adjusted in almost 2 years, so a trip out to my in-law's chiropractic office was DEFINITELY in order- I swear my father-in-law has some kind of 6th sense- he's amazing! That was the first time Kai got to meet his grandma Olsen... he was adored by all who were there.

(Kai actually liked his Grandpa Olsen's trembling chin thing he does to every baby)

Later that week we had a fun breakfast at my in-law's home where we also exchanged Christmas gifts. It was so cute seeing the 2 bitty Olsen's on the floor- I imagine they'll be a bit more interactive the next time they see each other.

(grandpa Olsen romping around with Kai and Lexie)

While there I placed myself in the hands of my sister Inga, allowing her to have her way with my hair. I've never been one to mess with my hair color, so I was excited to see what she'd do to it. I was VERY pleased with the end result!

We had so much fun just hanging out. We went to see "Leap Year" (my 2nd time) and we had some good ol' slappy happy laughs cruisin' the mall. It was so funny to see all the pimped out G-cars, we couldn't resist taking pictures... I'm sure a security guy watching the cameras somewhere had a good laugh at us.

One of our stops at the mall was to visit the over-priced pet store and play with a puppy :)

(The puppy gnawed on Inga's shoe the whole time)

We made sure to make visits to Eegees (a fast food chain exclusive to Tucson that makes AMAZING slushies) and to In-and-Out Burger- YUMMY!!

(Kai definitely became a fan of Eegees)

(at In-and-Out Burger)

The "official" reason for my visit was to be there when my youngest niece, Kimber, was blessed in Ajo. 2009 was the year of the Olsen babies, since all 3 Olsen boys added another little one to their families.

My mom and I drove out to Ajo for the blessing and then we had a great time catching up with family and gorging ourselves on Trish's yummy chili and corn bread at her house. We were so sad that we couldn't stay longer!

(all 3 Olsen SIL's with their respective 2009 babies)

(Trish's 2 oldest unwrapping Christmas presents from me)

When we got home from Ajo we went straight to my grandparents' for an open house. Since I wasn't able to go to my old ward for church, my grandparents opened their home for anyone who wanted to stop by to see Kai and me. It was SO much fun. I was flattered by all the visitors we had... I really do miss our ward.

(My wonderful grandparents, Carl and Carol Jensen- I love them SOOO much!)

(chatting with Sister Brown, one of many friends who came to catch up)

I squeezed in as much quality time with family as possible. I was sad to go, but also missed my other 3 babies plus hubby. I had the great fortune of having my mom along for the flight home. We knew I would be having a hernia repaired shortly after getting back from Tucson, so she has come to stay with us through the end of February to help me with the kids and house. It was SO nice to have her on the flight and we LOVE having her here with us... we'll be sad to see her go home next week.

(Whatever am I going to do when Oma goes home?? We will all suffer serious withdrawals!)

(one last random one from our trip, at In-and-Out Burger... I love my baby!)

A New Post, at Long Last

Ok, so I haven't blogged since Gregory's birthday. I'm a bad blogger. Hopefully I can redeem myself by being more consistent...

I just HAD to blog about the Valentine's date Fred and I went out on this past Thursday.

We did an Irish themed date. I ADORE the movie "Leap Year" and since it went into the cheap theaters this past week, I resolved to take Fred to see it. To get in "the mood" for some Irish-ness, I found a Irish restaurant/pub downtown called the "Dublin Pub." It was so neat! Definitely had a bar atmosphere, but there was live music that was awesome, there was rugby on the TV's, the structure was just cool, and (best of all) the food was AMAZING!!!

On the way to the theater we missed our turn, making us pull into the parking lot 15 minutes into the movie- I was SO bummed! We rushed inside, bought our tickets and raced into the theater... and the screen was blank. We were the only ones there to see it, so they hadn't even started it! We notified the staff, so they started it for us, and we had our own private screening! The manager even let us bring in our food we'd brought from the pub.


It was the 4th time I'd seen it, and I loved it all over again. Hopefully it'll be on video by St. Patty's day so we can host a date night at our house with Irish food and the movie :D