Olsons in Europe

At the end of August, Eric and I were able to travel to Europe.  We had such a great time.  We went to London, Paris, Amsterdam and Bruges, Belgium.  They were all so amazing and we had a blast.  Here are a few pics from the trip. 

Big Ben in London.

 Eiffel Tower in Paris

 Versailles

 Notre Dame in Paris

Arc de Triomphe in Paris

 Amsterdam

 More Amserdam

Windmill in Bruges

More Bruges

 A little more Bruges.

We had a great time and were able to see some amazing things.  Well that is all.

Very special addition to the family

I know, I know, you probably thought I had abandoned this blog long ago but alas I am back with a very important post.  More important than the post on what Karl should be for Halloween 2011, how could that be?  I know it is hard to believe that anything could take precedence over that but this does.

We have a new member of the family.  My sister Ashley and her husband Ryan welcomed their second daughter into the world yesterday.  Baby Penelope was born early in the morning on September 20th.  This little fighter did not have an easy go coming into this world.  A few months into Ashley's pregnancy she found out that baby Penny was diagnosed with spina bifida.  To explain what that is I'll go to the always trusty Wikipedia; 

Spina bifida is a developmental congenital disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. Some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain unfused and open. If the opening is large enough, this allows a portion of the spinal cord to protrude through the opening in the bones. There may or may not be a fluid-filled sac surrounding the spinal cord.       

As you can imagine that is a completely frightening thing to hear about your unborn child.  After getting the diagnosis Ashley and Ryan were set to go out to Philadelphia for a surgery on the baby while she was still in the womb.  That was the plan but as everyone knows sometimes plans don't work out like we expect.  While in Philadelphia they were told the baby was too sick and not strong enough for them to preform the surgery.  They told them that the baby was so sick that she may not live long after birth and they may want to consider terminating the pregnancy.

Ashley and Ryan decided to go to term with the pregnancy and see what happens.  It was a very long pregnancy with so many questions and so many conflicting answers.  After one doctor's visit they would say the baby was actually looking relatively healthy and then the next visit they were told the baby did not look healthy at all.

After months of flip flopping diagnosis the due date was finally here.  Penny was born via c-section and has been doing well since coming into the world.  Because of the spina bifia she had to go into surgery today so they could operate on her spine.  The surgery went well and she is off oxygen and breathing on her own.  She is at the hospital and hopefully can come home in a week or so.

It has been such a hard few months for the family and I am so impressed with the strength Ashley has shown through out this entire process.  She has stayed so positive and strong and Penny is lucky to have her as a mom.

Here is a picture of her right after being born looking just like her sister Sofia.

So you can thank Penny for bringing me back to blogging because this post is welcoming the latest Olson girl into the world (well technically Olson/Pedersen but you get my point).

This blog is going to have mommy issues with all the neglect it's recieved

Sorry for the long hiatus. It has been a bit crazy in the AZ yet I felt like I have had nothing to blog about. Here are a few bullet points of life lately.


· The summer is coming. Dun dun dun. This is a scary time in Az, like winter in Game of Thrones but with more perspiration.
· We have about a million birds in our back yard. Now this is a rough estimate but I don't think it’s far off. There was a dead bird was found in our pool this weekend and a couple days ago there was a dead bird in our hot tub. Now I don't want to point any fingers but I am pretty sure the pigeons are to blame. Now I am freaked out to go into the pool (and its 105 degrees!) because I am afraid I am going to contract the bird flu from the pool and create a pandemic a la Contagion. I am Gweneth Paltrow (that feels so good to say). My plan is to fill the pool with Purell.
· Please check out this tumblr account. Don't ask any questions just do it. http://andrewslittleinstructions.tumblr.com/
That’s all for now,  hopefully I will do better with the blogging now that it is over a hundred degrees and my will to go outside has seriously dwindled.

Our house is a very very very fine house.

So we have officially moved in to our new home!

It has been going really well but living in a new place does take some adjusting. For instance I now have gone from a 5 minute commute to work to a 25 minute commute. Now I now 25 minutes is not that bad but when you are used to 5 minutes it is quite a change. And now I have to deal with traffic. Before now I never really dealt with traffic on a daily basis. Now I do and I must say, traffic is the worst. I cannot imagine dealing with hours of traffic like some people do. I go through 20 minutes of it and I am pulling my hair out.

Okay, that's enough about commuting. Lets talk about Karl!

Karl is loving the new house but the doggie door we have that is the perfect size has left Karl completely baffled. We have tried to get him to use it but he refuses. We first tried just pushing him through it, thinking that after he saw that it was an entrance to the wouside world he would start using it. That did not work. Then we tried putting a treat outside the doggie door thinking he would go through to get the treat. That did not work either and we just ended up pushing him through again. I guess I thought the whole doggie door thing came naturally to dogs but I am finding that is not so, or at least Karl is an exception to that. He will get it eventually but at this point we have just put the doggie door training on pause.

Over all everything is going great, we still need to work on getting everything organized and put in its place but we will get there. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but i promise I will get some up.

I'm Back. Did you miss me?

Wow, its been a while since I have blogged. I could say it's because I have been busy, which is somewhat true, but really its just because I was not in the mood and I have not felt like much in my life has been blog worthy.

I now have something blog worthy. Ez, Karl and I have bought a house! We will be moving in at the end of the month and we are beyond excited. The fact we have a place where we can do whatever we want and a place that has a yard (and a pool and a hot tub) has left me giddy with excitement.

This whole experience is making me feel very adult. I have signed more papers then I ever have before, plus now I have to think about adult things like home owners insurance and getting my air conditioning unit serviced (Got to take care of that ac in AZ, if you didn't know it gets crazy hot down here).

We move in at the end of the month and I promise to post some pictures of the new house.

P.S. I have a new favorite show and I need to share it with the world. The name of the show is Portlandia and as you guessed, it is about Portland. It is very funny and I would highly recommend checking it out.

Happy New Year

So it is a new year and even more weird, I have been living in AZ for a year. In some ways I feel like we have been here much longer than that but in other ways I still feel like it is a very new place. It is starting to feel a little more like home and once we have a house to call our own I think it will start feeling a lot more like home.

Ez, Karl and I were lucky enough to have Dev and Beck come down for a visit. The weather here was amazing and so Dev was able to get in a lot of golfing which makes him happy and Karl was able to go on a lot of walks with Beck with made Karl happy. Beck is quickly becoming Karl's favorite person.

We were able to go out to restaurants and go shopping and have an all around awesome time. When they left I was defiantly feeling a bit home sick. The good news is now that up north is feeling a little cold and down here is feeling really nice we are getting a lot more people calling to get some warm weather and some MEK (Mal, Eric, Karl) time.

Tis the season,

So Christmas is over and this Holiday season was a whirlwind. We started out by going on a red eye flight to JFK airport and from there off to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with Eric's Olson fam. We had a blast there. Hung out at the beach and the pool and enjoyed some wonderful weather. The best part? Being around family that we don't see so much since the move to Scottsie.

After 5 days of soaking in the sun we were off to our new destination, Salt Lake City. We arrived in the SLC late on Christmas eve, had a wonderful Christmas then approximately 48 after landing in we were off again. Time to head home.

It was a crazy holiday season filled with a lot of flying but we had such an awesome time and we were so happy to spend so much time with our family.

The only downside to this Holiday Season? No KARL!

Airport with Hailey and Michelle

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Ashleys Pregnant! Yay!

Hailey (sis) and Alyssa (step sis)

Birds and Lydia

Eric, Me and a guy who worked at the resort

Eating hot dogs at a street vendor in the Dominican Republic. We live on the edge.

Maxi Dresses

Hand stand. Impressive, no?

Hailey and me

Back were we started, Airport

Getting reunited with Karl. Yay!

T.G.I.F.P.T.P. (Thanks Goodness I Finally Posted Thanksgiving Pictures)

Better late than never, right? Being that it is almost Christmas, I thought I would finally post some Thanksgiving pictures.

So here we are, Thanksgiving 2011-Salt Lake City, Utah

Thanksgiving morning, pre-cooking with Karl, Maggie, Abbey and Sofie.

I am the Shepard and Karl is my sheep.

Becks with her first grandson Karl.

Eric (looking like he just got up), Me, Dev and Uncle Kent about to enjoy TG dinner.

Family portrait (doesn't Karl look great in his bow tie from H & M).

Lil' Sissy Abbey relaxing after a long day of eating.

Later that week, going to our Salt Lake fav Red Iguana for a machaca chimichanga.

So to wrap it up, thanksgiving was great. I loved spending time with family in Utah.
This week were off to spend more time with family, but this time in The Dominican Republic.
So as they say down south and in the Terminator, hasta la vista!

Two weeks ago

So thanksgiving was two weeks ago and what a wonderful time it was. I will blog some pics of the actual day soon but for now I am going to post a few images from the drive, which, while long (10 Hours) and incredibly boring (listening to football) did offer a few lovely scenes that I captured.

Karl sitting on drivers lap, his favorite spot in the car.

Sun going down, somewhere in Nevada.

Amazing sunset, look at those colors (will stop there because I am dangerously close to sounding like Double Rainbow Guy).

Karl's 1st Birthday

So Karl's first birthday is on November 24th which happens to also be Thanksgiving, which is appropriate because I am very thankful for the little guy. I have decided to dedicate this post to all the great Karls that puppy has to look up to.

As a big time Jazz fan I must start with the Mailman, also know as Karl Malone.

I love Karl Malone as any good Jazz fan should, I mean he was MVP of the league twice and took the Jazz to the NBA finals twice. His final season was with the Lakers but it is easy to forget that when you think Malone would have won a Championship for the Jazz if it wasn't for that one player, whats his name? Oh yeah, Michael Jordan.

Next Karl on the list is one of the biggest names in Fashion and total icon, It is Karl Lagerfeld.


If you have never herd of him you have probably heard of the fashion houses he has worked. Karl Lagerfeld oversees the creative direction of both Chanel and Fendi. He is a fashion icon and makes every other Karl out there seem a bit more fashionable.

The last Karl I will mention on my list spells his name with a C but I wont hold that against him, I also wont let the fact that he is a fictional character in an animated movie keep him off the list. It is Carl Fredricksen also known as the old man from UP.

Up is such a sweet movie and I absolutely love Carl in it. The montage of Carl and Ellie's relationship is one of the greatest movie montages ever. Love that movie and I love Carl in it.

So there you have it. There are some pretty great Karl's out there. Lots of people for our little Karl to look up to.

(Look at him in this picture, he looks so grown up)

Happy Birthday Karl!

Its getting cold in here

Wow it has been a while since I last posted. Life has been about the same. It has started to cool down here in Scottsie. This has been a good and bad thing. Some days you walk outside and it is beautiful 70+ degrees with blue sky's and I think it does not get any better than this. Then other days you walk outside and it is cold and I cant help but think "Oh no, its not supposed to be cold down here, that's why people live here because it is never cold. I am not ready for cold weather yet. I still want to hang out by the pool and walk around without a sweater." Alas as we move closer to winter even Scottsie starts to get cold, I need to come to terms with that.

As the weather is changing, Eric and I are preparing for another change. We have started looking at house and are hoping to soon become home owners. We are really excited about buying a home and cant wait to move out of our apt into a place with a yard and a place for Karl to run around. I will keep you all updated with our status, we are just in the early stages but I will let you know when we get more serious.

Football and Royal Felines

So last week was pretty busy but very fun. Mike (Eric's dad) was in town. He came down for the University of Arizona vs UCLA game. It was really fun having him visit. Below are a few pictures from above mentioned game.


The game was really bad for us UCLA fans. Arizona (which is NOT a good football team) was able to get ahead by more than 30 points, and this was before halftime. There was a couple things that did happen that were quite interesting that made the game worth it.

This happened:



Then right after this happened:



While I do not condone fighting, this was pretty entertaining.

On Saturday we took Karl to a costume party at Petsmart. Karl went as a mail man.

And I went as mailbox. I was the only pet owner dressed up and as you can tell from the below picture my costume ripped right before we went to the party.

They awarded the best dressed animals and Karl got third place. Second place was a Boxer puppy dressed up as Batman and first place went to a couple of cats dressed up as Prince William and Kate Middleton. Below you can see the Prince William cat and the Kate Middleton cat was in a bride costume.

It was so funny seeing all the animals dressed up and some of the pet owners were real characters and this is from the girl who dressed up as a mailbox.

Karl + Halloween

As Halloween fast approaches I have been spending a lot of time looking for a Halloween costume for Karl. I have been scouring the internet to see what options I have out there to purchase. I would love to be super crafty and make an original costume but lets be honest, I really don't want to spend the time. Here are some of my favorite costumes I have come across:

Karl could be Bat Dog and I could be Cat Women.

Karl could be the Cowardly Lion and I could be the Tin Man, or the Scarecrow or Dorthy

Karl could be a Mailman and I could be a letter or a mailbox.

Karl could be a Dinosaur and I could be a Cave Woman.

You will have to wait to see what I choose but you can be certain that there will be pictures.

SLC Recap

Okay so my weekend in the SLC was great. I talked so much I lost my voice.
I was also able to go to some of my favorite restaurants just like I was hoping. I was able to make it to Red Iguana, The Park, The Dodo and Desert Edge (the pub). For those of you that do not live in Salt Lake, if you decide to visit, go to any or all of these places. You wont be disappointed.

I was also able to catch up with my friends and family. I got to spend time with my niece Sofie and the rest of the fam. Also got to see my friend Catherine's adorable baby Sam and catch up with friends that I have really missed.

All in all it was a great weekend and defiantly made me miss my home town. Its a good thing Iam going back for Thanksgiving and this time I get to bring the rest of my crew (including Karl which I am really Excited about). I am hoping there is some snow when I come back because I think Karl+snow could be amazing.

SLC Bound

I am heading to SLC for the weekend. I am so so excited for the trip and I cant wait to get out of the heat (102 today, its fall for goodness sake).

I cant wait to see friends and fam, but I also cant wait to eat! I have quite a list of places that I need to eat. To fit all the resturants in I plan on having 5 large meals a day. I think that will work.

Random though that I would like to share with you:
I have recently got into a few Bands/Musicians that I would like to share with you out there.

1. Band of Horses, Hipsters have been into this band for ages but now that I have listened to their music, I am a big fan and I can see why the Hipsters like them (although now that people like me like them the hipsters probably think their too main stream and are totally over them).

2. Jessica Lee Mayfield. She is a singer/songwriter type and really good.

And that is all I have to say.

Cats

I am not really in the mood to write anything, so enjoy these pictures.

I don't know what to say

I feel like I need to blog but yet I feel I have nothing to say. So I am going to force myself into telling you a few thought.

1. No one was meant to live in Phoenix in the summer. Today hit 116, yesterday was 112, this is too hot for humans and it is miserable.

2. When you have two jobs, cleaning the apt goes out the window. Therefore with Ez out of town my apt looks like squatters have taken over. Bottom line, I need a Zoila, and if you don't know what that is, check this out.

3. I have decided that I want to learn to make homemade doughnuts. First off I love doughnuts and second everything is better homemade, ergo homemade doughnut could possible be life changing. I also want to get an ice cream maker for the same reason. Life changing deserts for a girl who loves sugar, nothing could be better.

4. My last thought ends on a sad note, Karl has taken his first shoe victim. It was a wooden sole platform heel perfect for summer and very cute. He chewed the heel to a horrible state and there is no hope for saving it. I am sorry to see the shoe in this state although I have to admit they were horribly uncomfortable, so Karl could have done worse.

Back to school

Its back to school time, not for me but for sweet Karl. Ez and I have signed him up for obedience classes and last Wednesday was his first. Karl is not the worst in the class but he is also not the best.

It is so funny to see how all the dogs interact. There is this Rottweiler puppy in the class that Karl was having a great time playing with because they were about the same size, unfortunately for Karl, I don't think the playing will be as fun when that puppy grows to be about 5 times his size. There is also this Pug that is so funny and neurotic. He would bark at Karl then go hide behind his owner and just look at him.

I think this training is going to be a very good thing and seeing how some of those other dogs act makes me appreciate how good Karl is. Even if he does chew off all the buttons on everything within reach(sweaters, jackets, etc.).

Hopefully by the end of the six weeks we will have whipped him into shape (figuratively not literally).

Oh and thought would add this cat+school picture for good measure.