Craig & Belinda Olsen

Update!

2011-07-03T11:41:00.003-06:00

Dear Family & Friends,

Many of you know that I have decided to pursue my love of photography. I tried once to be an avid blogger and have a family blog and business blog. Despite my feeble attempts to be superhuman and do everything. I just cant. At the end of last year I quit posting on this blog and switched everything over to one blog.

On my new blog I post about my photography, things I'm working on, crafts and recipes I've made and my personal life with Craig. I post several times a week and have a good mix of all types of posts. As I check your blogs I notice that many of you still have this blog in your google reader/blogroll. I am hoping that you will update your address for our family to this new blog address: www.belindaolsen.com/blog

In updating your readers I am also asking for your help, love and support in spreading the word about my photography business. I know that I'm not a good fit for every person who is looking to have pictures taken! (that's why I share a lot of my personal life on my new blog. I want to find clients that are a good fit for me and I for them.) I am trying to develop my business to where I want it to be -- at the point that I am doing it full time. I figure who else to better ask for support from: My friends and family!

With much love,

Belinda

It's Time For Change

2010-08-27T21:07:00.003-06:00

I am not a prolific blogger. Anyone can tell you that who checks my blog and sees the lacking posts. I have decided to make my life a little bit easier and combine my family blog with my photography blog. I am starting to get with the times and have subscribed to the blogs that I can through google reader and the ones that I can't I have marked in my favorites :-) I am doing much better blogging there and will start to integrate a little bit more about my personal life there. I am also hoping that this integration will help me carry my camera around a little bit more. Visit www.belindaolsen.com to check out the update on how we are doing and read my funny story from today at the laundromat.

The 'Thuggets' Are Out!

2010-04-30T23:59:00.005-06:00

In our house we love the jazz! We've really enjoyed watching them play against the Denver Thuggets (Craig's name for them instead of the Nuggets...he he he) We have been cheering for each Utah player but I really like to cheer for D-Will! We are going to see if when Monday morning rolls around we'll get a chance to see the Utah Jazz take on the Lakers in round 2 of the playoffs. Go Jazz!

In Honor Of Earth Day

2010-04-24T08:38:00.002-06:00

Today I am driving down to a baby shower in Nephi and will be stopping by the tulip festival. I am REALLY excited to see over 250,000 tulip bulbs!! I will be super dee duper excited to post some pictures....hopefully tomorrow I will.

Regenerated and Rejuvenated

2010-04-04T21:46:00.002-06:00

I LOVE General Conference! I honestly look forward to it year round. There are so many awesome things about conference, here are just a few:

-getting to hear from the Prophet

-feeling inspired to be a better person

-hearing answers to questions

-church in your pajamas and treats too

-seeing your friends and their dads sing in the MoTab

-seeing the beautiful floral work and spotting the techniques we learned in a class together :-)

-Sunday dinner at my mom's

-talking to my husband about conference

Six months and counting to the next conference...

PS I am still collecting back your blog addresses since I failed to rescue my blog template

If Only I knew HTML and CSS Coding....

2010-03-28T23:41:00.003-06:00

Today I tried to remove the music from my blog. Easy. Deleted. No worries or problems. Next I tried to make my pictures larger on my blog. That is where all of the problems started. Almost an hour later I have no idea what I am doing to my blog, I barely remember changing the template and now I need to reload some things and find where to type others in. If you have ever seen the commercials (sorry I can't remember what company they were for) where they have household items that they photograph and several have frowny faces and then the tone of the commercial changes and they all have happy faces. Yeah....I'm not at the point where I have all happy faces about my blog. This motorcycle face says it all!

Not Very Exciting

2010-03-13T20:46:00.003-07:00

This is one of the lamest posts ever but I'm home sick after taking care of Craig who was home sick earlier this week. Hopefully we'll have a better week next week! This picture was taken over the summer in Magna as the sun was setting. I am really looking forward to seeing green grass soon!

5 Years Ago....

2010-03-10T22:29:00.002-07:00

Today at work we had our annual leadership conference. During one of our breaks I was chatting with one of the presenters who asked me what I was doing [professionally] 5 years ago. Back then I was working as a medical assistant for one of the best doctors ever: Robert Young. He asked me where I wanted to be in 5 years. I proceeded to tell him about my dreams of having a photography studio. As we continued to talk I really thought about where/who I was, where/who I am and where/who I want to be.

Tonight I spent some time studying my scriptures and thought of the same three questions: where I was, where I am and where I want to be. Wow! Talk about perspective!

At the time I didn't know why the Spirit kept prompting me to quit my job as a medical assistant, that I loved, to go back to school. Five years later I know that I wouldn't have met Craig if it wasn't for my job as a Store Trainer (aka human resources) at Maceys. My job has really pushed me to see a glimpse my own potential and to work toward that each day and to try to inspire others to see their potential.

If you have literally 2 minutes check out this awesome video on YouTube that I shared at our conference today. I promise you that you'll leave with a smile. :-)

I am extremely humbled....Thank you!

2010-03-01T20:42:00.002-07:00

Dearest friends and family,

I am extremely humbled by your support in the 'For the Love of Photography' contest that was held on Brooke Snow's Blog! It was a great reminder that I am surrounded by people who love, care and support me. I didn't win the weekend mentorship but was invited to a Q&A session with the other people in the top 10. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend because I'll be visiting my in-laws and cute niece and nephew over spring break :-) Despite all of that I am extremely grateful for each on of you!

Thank you for your support and encouragement!

Friends, I Need Your Help, Pretty Please!

2010-02-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

For those of you who want the condensed version:

Please vote for me here to win a weekend photography mentoring with an amazing local photographer Brooke Snow. The polls close Sunday, February 28th right before midnight and you can only vote once per computer, but please help me out!

For those of you who have a few minutes to ready why I want this opportunity:

I have loved photography since I was a little girl. My dad always had his camera with him. I was a little poser and enjoyed having my picture taken. I especially loved it when he would let me take a picture. He would hold the camera and I would tell him where to point it, how close to get and he would let me press the button. Back in the days before LCD screens we had to wait for the film to be developed. I would eagerly wait until the rolls of film would be developed and loved finding my pictures.

Years later I had the opportunity to be on our yearbook staff. I fell in love with photography all over again as I captured school trips, sports, events and more. The yearbook camera was something I often had with me. My senior year I put a dark room in my parents storage room. I was grateful for their patience as I had crazy supplies everywhere. They let me experiment and were extremely patient when I would show them image after image after image. One of my favorite images from this time period is simple: a black and white image of a calla lily. My mom hangs this image in her home and it brings a smile to my face to see the simplicity and beauty of that image that really reflects an inner piece of me.

Flash forward several years to the present. I am now in the first year of owning my own photography business. I love photography more than ever before. I love the way I see the world with my camera. Everything has a little bit more color and purpose to it. Despite all of that I am a rookie in this business. I have so much to learn. I have so many questions. This opportunity with Brooke Snow is an opportunity to have a weekend mentorship to ask, to learn and to continue to grow. If given this opportunity it will be something I will cherish and appreciate.

Like my photography blogsite says,

"My style is fresh, fun, and candid. I believe that photography is a way of capturing a moment in time. During your session as often as possible I try to melt into the background to capture candid, honest moments. My goal is to provide you with portraits that you will cherish for a lifetime."

Thanks for your time and hopefully your vote!

High Ho Silver...Away

2010-02-20T23:08:00.001-07:00

The day after Christmas we bought ourselves the best present ever...a car! We bought a 2005 silver Toyota Camry. We have loved it!!!! We had been grateful to have a reliable car (no worries about us and the Toyota pedal recall). Previously I drove a cookie cutter lame car.

It had no:

power breaks

power steering

power windows

A/C

cruise control

etc

I am really excited that this car has a reliable CD player...one of my favorite features next to the sunroof.

We feel really spoiled and lucky to have this car. We had a great family connection and were able to get an awesome deal. I am hoping that having this reliable car will result in a few more trips each year to see Craig's family in Fillmore. (we are really wanting to go there for spring break...fingers crossed)

Oh Sushi How I Love Thee

2010-02-19T22:36:00.001-07:00

If I could eat one thing nearly every day it would be sushi. You can get it with fruit, spicy, mild, cooked, raw, with fish, without fish, with egg......you name it and you can have it. I wish I could say that this is what I had for dinner but...it was from a couple of days ago. If you are hesitant about sushi but like fish there try a golden california roll. It is the traditional california roll (cucumber, crab, avocado) wrapped in salmon and cooked. YUMMY! Give Happy Sushi a try.

Here's to Hoping that I can be the 'Biggest Loser....'

2010-02-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

Each year I make the resolution that I am going to get healthier and lose weight. This year I had $20 and a healthy competition to motivate me. Several of my coworkers and I started our own 'biggest loser'. We started mid January and end April 1st. So far I've lost almost 30 pounds! Below you can see my host of characters that have contributed. For the first time I am actually exercising regularly and actually like it :-)

PS The winner of our friendly competition wins the entire pot of money!

I hope I'm not the only one with days like this....

2010-02-17T23:00:00.001-07:00

Lately I have felt like I have been pulled in many directions and have spread myself too thin. I put myself in this situation. I knew I had lots of things to be grateful for. One thing that has really consumed my thoughts has been my photography business. I have trying to improve my camera handling skills, creativity and really focus on where I wanted my business to go. As I was driving down the road having a crappy, awful, no good, very bad day I saw this sign. I drove past it and kept thinking about it nearly a mile down the road. I flipped and made a U turn and literally sat in front of the sign for a good 10 minutes. I thought a lot about the words 'Be prepared to stop'. I stopped dwelling on my crappy day and did some praying and meditation on where I should go. I have several things that I will be announcing over the next few weeks on my photography blogsite.....

A few hours later I went with my niece and brother in law to Hardware Ranch to spend some time with my camera. I saw the sun peek out through the clouds and saw beautiful blue sky and had to take this picture because it was such a stark contrast to my earlier awfully bleak day.

One thing I have decided to do be a better blogger ;-) and photographer is do a 365 photo challenge. I am going to take my beautiful camera with me each day in my gigongous purse and take at least one picture of something that I do or see. (despite the fact that I am somewhat cheating since this picture was from earlier in the week and not literally from today)

Here's to making a beautiful day 2 tomorrow............

2 years...Forever more to go!

2010-01-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Two years ago today I married my best friend! Today we had a great, simple day at work and then at dinner. Craig was even willing to give up his favorite: sushi for I could go for a low cal option...an awesome salad from Hamilton's! (the type of sushi I like is dipped in tempura and fried, I'm passing on fried food for now. More to come about that story later)

I love you Craig! I've loved the last two years and really look forward to lots more!

I Am Really, Really Bad At Blogging!

2010-01-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends!

I feel like every couple months I do one of these posts where I apologize for being a bad blogger for disappearing. I have been a better blogger at my photoblog and encourage you to check it out at www.belindaolsen.com. This summer I started pursing my own photography business. One of the things that I have wanted to do since I was in high school is to be a photographer for National Geographic. In the past I have often forgot how much I love photography. Well, I hate to break it to everyone but right now I am not shooting for NG, I photograph something else I really enjoy. PEOPLE. I love to work especially with babies, children and families. I love to capture people in a timeless way.

Everyone makes resolutions in January. One of mine is to have my camera with me more often! (I just have to wait until it comes back from its annual servicing with Nikon) This year I am going to push myself to feel comfortable in my own skin, try new techniques within my style, meet new people, and market a great photographer: Me!

(I promise that is not meant in an arrogant way, it's in my cheer myself on way)

My First Attempt at Cake Decorating

2009-11-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Recently I was called to be the enrichment counselor in my relief society. For one of our enrichment activities we learned how to decorate cakes. I had a lot of fun! I can't believe how hard it is especially after our beautiful teacher Jocelyn Samuelson made it look E-A-S-Y! All growing up my mom made such fun cakes for birthdays and a special occasions. My favorite cake she made when I was in kindergarden and had the chicken pox. She made a cake that had chicken pox (red hots) all over!

The Reason for my Absence....

2009-11-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

I have disappeared from the blogging world for the last month or so. I've been feverishly working on my photography blog: www.belindaolsen.com. I love the way that it turned out! I've been working on transferring some images from here to there and I've loved the clients I've worked with. Now that is up and running........

we'll see. :-)

Here are just a few of the projects that I've been working on lately.

One of my new favorite stores....

2009-10-04T13:46:00.000-06:00

I have fallen in love with Anthropologie! I love this store and love it the most when they have S-A-L-E-S! I have fallen in love with these jewelry pieces and am really excited for craft day next Saturday with my cousins to make jewelry and hair accessories. If anyone has any great ideas, tips, places to pick up unique pieces, websites with instructions just leave me a comment with the address.

Yellowstone

2009-09-27T16:13:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to head to Yellowstone with some friends, the Rodemack's. I have lived in Logan all my life, a few short hours away from Yellowstone and had never been there before. (gasp, I know)

Getting to Yellowstone was a drive that should have only taken 4 short hours but actually took us closer to 10. We had lots and lots of car troubles...well it wasn't our car but the Rodemack's car that we were driving there. The car over heated, the brake pads had to be replaced, ultimately almost the entire engine needed to be replaced. At one of our stops in tiny little town, Idaho with no real gas station, I saw this picture and had to smile. It was complete irony and fitting for our trek.

While the guys were trying to find a store with antifreeze I was wondering and explore through a lot of vacant, dilapidated buildings and stumbled across this...

Portrait photography is by far my main area of focus. It was really different and challenging to focus on landscapes. This is one of my favorite shots of the trip for some reason. It's different than the traditional shots you always see.

I couldn't decide if I liked it more in color or black and white.

I love rainbows! They always make me stop and smile.

I would love to be fishing here...

A completely different view of my favorite location, Fishing Bridge.

Joy in the Little Things

2009-09-09T22:45:00.000-06:00

Craig and I were invited by my parents to go with them on a drive to see the salmon spawning. There were zero fish to be seen running up stream. As we were walking back to our car I saw this thistle and fell in love with it! I think that so often we pass through life, and its challenges in autopilot. I know I am often guilty of this. I loved the opportunity to leave my cell phone and spend some time with family and just enjoy life. It really is the simple things that bring a smile to my face. =)

Kaylene Bridals Full Post

2009-09-04T07:48:00.000-06:00

Sorry I've been a blog slacker! School has official been in session for two weeks now. Wow! I can't believe that it is almost time to pull out the hoodies and sweaters. My favorite time of year is just as the leaves are beginning to change colors!

It's the perfect time to do family photos. Belinda Olsen Photography is running a special this month: book your family session in the month of September and receive a complimentary 8x10! Call today: 435-881-2184.

I have been working a lot lately on developing my business: licenses, URL, website, photo blog, logo design etc. As part of this process I have gone back through my own blog's archives. I realized that I never did a full post of Kaylene's bridals. Enjoy!

Let me know what you think!

TRA Plug-In Giveaway

2009-08-22T12:30:00.000-06:00

I'll be super honest, I'm really new at this trying to go 'pro' photography thing. I have loved photography and shot random weddings, bridals, engagements, senior portraits over the last 6 years. Over the past few months I have really started to set money aside to invest into a business, which quickly snowballs into more and more things. For me the list of 'needs' and 'wants' has become somewhat blurred. Several people have contact me and want to know how to get started and a few of my suggestions. This is very humbling for me and I am in no way an expert!! Take my advice/tips for what it is worth :-)

-take the time to sit down and ask yourself: Where do you want to be? How are you going to get there?

- time management and BALANCE! One of the things that is really helpful to save time while doing picture edits are Photoshop Actions and Plugins. My favorite actions that I want for my birthday (wink, wink) are by Doug Boutwell: Totally Rad Actions. This weekend there is a giveaway for a plugin (something you run in photoshop) which we add great texture and a varied emotion to your pictures. Head over to his blog and enter to win the Dirty Pictures Plugin. (all entries must be in by Sunday at midnight EST)

-be really familiar with your camera. The manual is your friend!! For you to really express yourself the way you want to through your pictures you need to learn how to shoot in manual mode. It isn't the camera that makes the pictures the way they are....it is the PHOTOGRAPHER!

-you don't HAVE to have everything the latest and greatest to be successful. One of my favorite photographers is Jasmine Star! She is hilarious and talks all the time on her blog about how she was not wanting to go into debt to purchase her equipment and upgrades and would put the money from each shoot into the next, and repeat the cycle over and over. She is one of the best wedding photographers in the nation!

-Most of all, a great cheering section! I am incredibly grateful for Craig!!! He has been great about listening to me and my non-stop chatter about business ideas, strategies, fears, hopes and dreams. I appreciate his opinions and when he asks the difficult questions that I don't always want to ask myself. He values each booked session and image almost as much as I do. One day I need to get him a camera so he can be my second shooter :-)

Since I think every post is better with a picture, here is one from a shoot I did for my brother in law, Ryan, for one of his side projects. Check out his blog to see his great recipes and pictures!

Look at how lucky I am...

2009-08-20T18:26:00.000-06:00

Today I went on a shoot with the Bracken family and I was so excited from our session that I came home and had to post these two edits TODAY. This little blue eyed doll had the most stunning blue eyes ever!

Julie, check back next week for your full sneak peek!

On a completely different note, today was our day off from work. For my dad's birthday a few weeks ago we gave him the gift of mowing his lawn through the end of September. It has been sooo long since I had mowed a lawn. It was funny to be riding the giant 'John Deere' to mow. :-)

Some people say 45 and we say 93, but who's counting?

2009-08-15T21:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went to have dinner with our ward at Cinnamon Creek. The instructions on how to get there said that it would roughly be 45 minutes to get there. We took Craig's car on this trek...the thing that I failed to mention is that it has a remarkably low tail pipe that doesn't like dirt roads with giant boulders in the way. It took us 93 minutes to get there because we had to go so S-L-O-W.

The best thing was that I found my desired mission call when I am older: cinnamon creek checker-iners. As we were driving past the gate to get into the campground there was an old couple sitting in lawn chairs reading. As we drove past Elder Simmons directed us to which campground we would be going. Can you imagine camping in a trailer for your mission?! Saweet!

Krystalee Sneak Peek

2009-08-13T19:04:00.001-06:00

If you saw my quick edit of this beauty earlier this week, you were able to see that there is something about Krystalee that simply brings a smile to your face. I was lucky enough to have her be one of my bridesmaids a few years ago and she came to the rescue more than once :-) If you have a chance to listen to her sing...you'll be amazed! Thanks Krysta for a great shoot, I had a blast! Good luck this last semester of school. I'll miss seeing you around work on a regular basis.

Sentimental Clothing

2009-08-12T23:21:00.001-06:00

I had the opportunity to do a shoot for Sentimental Clothing last week. These are some new shirts that were available for purchase at the Cache County Fair. The newest addition: shirt line for infants and toddlers. It was a lot of fun to work with these models!

Let me know what you think.

100% Beauty!

2009-08-06T19:08:00.001-06:00

Krystalee is one of those people that you can't help but be happy when you are around her. She is 100% beautiful and helps everyone else around her feel magnanimous! I came home from this photo shoot last night and was really excited to post at least one picture while I am working on the edits. While we were out shooting this amazing storm moved in and I was really excited to be out shooting in it. Thanks Krystalee for night full of lots of giggling and catching up!

Jacobsen Family Sneak Peak

2009-07-29T23:16:00.001-06:00

Last week I had a great opportunity to hang out with the Jacobsen family in Centerville. I had a lot of fun spending time with this cute crew! Most of all I had fun with little 6 month old Sophie. She was really skeptical about having a camera in her face.

This first picture says it all:

I absolutely love this series of Cory and Sophie, anyone can tell how much this daddy loves his little girl.

This little girl can make anyone's heart melt. Look at her gorgeous eyes!

When I have my studio, I look forward to blowing this image up and seeing it everyday. It is my favorite of the session!

New Calling...

2009-07-26T22:47:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday I was set apart to be the second counselor in the RS presidency. This is one calling in the RS that I haven't had yet which I hope I can do a good enough job at. I think that Craig is slightly bummed that I won't be helping him teach Sunday School. Today in our super small ward where there was only ten couples max in Sunday School and I think that he was really grateful to have a person to call on to help out. :-)

I am working on a sneak peak for my friend, Rebe and am loving the way the edits are turning out! (Rebe it should just be another couple of days and then you will have your peak of your pictures.)

Marchant Newborn Sneak Peek

2009-07-19T22:16:00.001-06:00

This week I had the opportunity to go visit my friend who had her first baby just a few weeks ago. Her daughter is beautiful and I was in awe over her tiny little fingers and toes. As a gift I gave my friend a complimentary newborn setting and had a blast! Thanks Lori for letting me spend a little bit of time with you and your new addition to the Marchant family!

Let me know what you think!

Brown Family Sneak Peak!

2009-07-12T11:16:00.001-06:00

Before Independence day and my appendix deciding it was tired of being a team player I had a family setting with the Brown family. It was a lot of fun to run around with this crew!

Jump for Joy!

2009-07-10T22:26:00.000-06:00

Today Craig went with me to the doctor's office for follow up to my surgery and he told me that I could go back to work today. I was really excited especially because last week I received a promotion to being our main HR person and I will still do training for the front of the store (cashiers, baggers etc)

I am really excited to go to work because day time TV is lame when you only have basic digital channels and Michael Jackson has been the only thing on the tube for the past three days. (I'm not a Michael hater I just wanted there to be something else on TV...selfish I know)

Who knew an appendix could cause excrutiating pain...

2009-07-07T18:27:00.000-06:00

This is a diagram of where the evil appendix is located. Yesterday I was experiencing pain and I just thought it was cramps. As the evening progressed I ended up laying on the couch crying due to the pain. (It is amazing how the pain quickly escalates) Craig and my dad gave me a blessing and then we ended up going to the emergency room at 1 am. A few tests and hours later I now have three small incisions and a missing appendix. The doctor said that he was surprised that my appendix didn't rupture as it was 5-6 times the normal size! I am really grateful for the blessing I received and how it was a great source of sustenance throughout being in the hospital. The lamest part is that I can't go back to work until MONDAY! SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?! Aurgh!

Thanks to all of my friends and family that came and visited me! I really appreciated it. If anyone wants to be my couch buddy while Craig is at work the rest of the week just let me know :-)

We love the TV show 'Bones'

2009-06-25T21:33:00.000-06:00

Today we were able to have a day off together and via Hulu we were able to catch up on 'Bones' Season 1 which was really fun. Also my mom gave us her leftover tickets to the cache valley parade of homes and we saw a really beautiful home in Millville. This home had beautiful tile inlay in almost every room of the house. Tonight for dinner we had Craig's cousin and his girlfriend drive up from Fillmore to come visit. I think that this was among the highlights of our day...especially because we played Mario Party 8 and I won! (okay well Craig and I won. Due to having a defective controller we had to be on the same team)

CALLING ALL SCENTSY INDEPENDENT CONSULTANTS: Does anyone out there sell scentsy?!?!?!??!! I ran out of my favorite scent and would like to buy some more but no one I know is having a party or sells the delightful stuff. If anyone is selling or hosting a party let me know ASAP!

Yeah for a day off of work and a weekend seminar!

2009-06-24T19:55:00.000-06:00

I am really excited that tomorrow Craig and I both have a day off! Things at work have been pretty hectic as I am training to help take over the HR position at Maceys. I am really loving work even though it is busy! I think that tomorrow we are definitely planning on sleeping in and having some time for R & R.

This weekend I also have a weekend photography business seminar which I am really excited for! After that check out my blog for same great photography offers. Let me know if you are interested in family pictures, children/newborn, weddings etc. I am working on putting up a portfolio for you to look at and then hopefully go from there.

Since all posts are better with a picture this from some bridals I did earlier this year. Thanks Kaylene!

She's home!

2009-05-27T23:07:00.000-06:00

Yeah for one of my best friends being home! Welcome home Hermana Holly Clark!!!!

New Camera

2009-05-26T18:47:00.000-06:00

During this long time that I have been really bad at blogging I got a new camera and equipment! I have always been very passionate about photography and look forward to the launch of my photography blog and business!

P.S. My brother in law will laugh at this but the first time I posted this the pictures were the size of stamps and now the are gigongous!!!!

We Made the Switch

2009-05-19T22:34:00.000-06:00

At the end of last semester I was accepted into the interior design program. Part of the requirements for next semester is I need to have a laptop (that meets a certain criteria). I looked at the computers on the market and made the switch from PC to apple and I LOVE IT!

We are still alive

2009-03-16T20:16:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry that it has been soooooooooo long since I posted. :-( School has been very crazy this semester and work has been pretty hectic too. On a good note, we sold our hot tub. We were grateful for spring break last week! It was great to have a trip to Fillmore and see some of our family. Pretty soon there will hopefully be TONS of posts full of pictures...I am getting a new camera this week!!!! It should be arriving on Wednesday and I can't stop smiling about it.

Over Christmas Break...

2009-01-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

I know that Christmas was a long time ago but I thought this would be a fun post. This year for Christmas I made these home decor frames for our sibling exchange. Now I just need to make one of these for our apartment.

One thing that we did for Christmas was give Craig's parents some tickets to the Utah Jazz. We of course thought that it would be a good part of the present if we came along too! We sat up in the section where I think true Jazz fans sit, a few rows from the back in the upper bowl. :-) We had a lot of fun at the game.

Here is currently my favorite Jazz player, D. Will. It was great to have my favorites not injured and actually playing. The Jazz one the game against New Orleans by over 20 points. It was a rediculously awesome game.Christmas at the Olsen's always includes games. This year we played Taboo. My sister in law offered some beef that they had raised as the prize. I had a lot of fun and won. We came home with beef! We had a steak dinner to celebrate! It was quite gormet in comparison to our salad and roman regulars. Thanks Wendy and Rob!

Hot tub anyone?!?!

2009-01-13T21:03:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to let you know that we are still alive and with an internet connection. The Christmas break was a lot of fun and very action packed! Craig won a hot tub that we are trying to sell. If you know of anyone who wants a brand new hot tub... Here are some pictures!

Craig won it through a radio contest. It was quite odd as neither of us are very lucky.
School started last week and we have both been slammed with things that we have been doing. More posts to fill in from the break later.

My Stampin' Up Month

2008-12-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

This month was my month to be the 'hostess' as part of my stampin' up club. I love our club and the many cute ideas that come out of it! These are the really cute Christmas projects that my demonstrator put together! You should check out Shelly's craft blog at http://mystampstuff.blogspot.com/. It is all SUPER cute!

Treat box:

A super cute ornament card:

Wreath card:

As part of being hostess I was in charge of treats. These are called cocoa mels, they are a toasted coconut, carmel, chocolate delight! I had a lot of fun at stamps this month!

This weekend we also went to one of our family Christmas parties where we did a cookie exchange. I had doubled the batch and made the cookies pictured above. It was a lot of fun! We brought 24 cookies and left with 20 different cookies!!! I saw a new side of my husband while all of the adults played musical chairs. It was with great thought that the adults played their own game and the kids played their own game. I think that the adults got way more into it than the kids!!!

Thanksgiving and a friend reunion!

2008-12-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Susan (first row, middle) is having a baby in April!!! We were super excited to see her for Thanksgiving-so a few of us threw her a baby shower! These are just a few of the ladies who showed up in the first few minutes. It was fun to have an 'excuse' to see everyone. I was really sad that I wasn't feeling well and didn't get to go to dinner that night with all of the spouses :-( Hopefully Christmas will be better, when everyone comes back 'home' again!

This is my cute card that I made Susan! This is one of the gifts that I gave Susan. This one was handmade. I love the frame with the boat on the bottom. I love checking out other blogs where I saw the tutorial for the boat!
This Thanksgiving we went to Fillmore where Craig is from. They do a fun tradition of making gingerbread houses. At first I was the only adult making one with my cute nieces and nephews. By the end of the fun I was at the table with all of my sister-in-laws! I had so much fun and look forward to this tradition next year!

This is my gingerbread house!

Parties & Apples

2008-11-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a crafty post for you! I needed to take something to a pot luck, so I decided on my famous caramel apples. Here are a few pictures: I did M&M, all chocolate deluxe, butterfinger, apple pie, coconut and symphony. Yummy!

Also this week I worked on invitations for a baby shower. I thought the final project turned out pretty cute! I'm super excited to see my good friend Susan come up from Las Vegas.

Here are a few of my favorites put together!

October fun: recipe and photography!

2008-10-25T16:26:00.001-06:00

October 18th is Craig's anniversary date of coming from Texas. We have made it a tradition on that day to have brisket, which is Craig's very favorite. He was very proud of how it turned out. This is the meat all seasoned to yummy perfection!
I made popcorn balls out of marshmallows and white chocolate to celebrate and tie in the colors in the Texas flag.

My brother and siser in law were visiting Logan and us yesterday. I was telling them about this yummy and easy Tiny Spicy Chicken recipe that an instructor taught back in my days of teaching cooking classes at Maceys.

Tiny Spicy Chicken

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into pieces

garlic salt

2 beaten eggs

cornstarch

2 tsp chili paste NOT powder

1 1/2 c sugar

1 c ketchup

4 tsp soy sauce

dash salt

1 c chicken broth

1/4 c brown sugar

Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt I do this very generously. Let sit for 1 hour in the fridge. After an hour dip chicken in eggs and then in cornstarch. Brown chick in fryer until golden brown. Put chicken in 9x13 pan. Mix remaining ingredients in medium size saucepan. Cook until sugars are dissolved. Pour over chicken. (the sauce is very runny at this point but it thickens while cooking) Bake @ 325 degrees for one hour, stirring the chicken every 15 minutes. YUMMY!

Also this month I took some engagement pictures for my friend's older brother. These are a few of my favorites. I wrote some new photoshop actions for their pictures which I love! Congratulations to the happy couple getting married December 5th!

Sorry Too Long!

2008-10-11T18:49:00.000-06:00

Sorry it has been a crazy month for us...It feels like we've been going non-stop when we can. Here are some things that we have done recently:

These are some of my interior design projects for my theory class where we talk about the different principles of design. These are my abstract butterflies... One of our assignments was to create a 3D project displaying an emotion. My project was 'glamour'.

This project was to design a 'modern' teapot...Mine was lime green with black flowers.

We talked about positive and negative. Here is my design:

Our first assignment of the semester was to design a tape dispenser within a certain time period. I did mine like a sculpture of a Russian designer in the Art Deco Era.

One of my favorite nights in the month is Stampin' Up! night. These are some of the projects that we made. I love to decorate for the holidays. One of my favorites is the spider made out of York Peppermint Patties! I think I need to make those for Halloween!!!!!

This is a random cute story about Craig. These flowers we discovered growing in our back yard. Shortly after I met Craig we went through the McDonald's drive thru. These flowers happen to grow on the path of the drive thru. Craig reached out and grabbed one as we were driving away and said something about a beautiful flower for a beautiful flower. I love that fact that we found these in our back yard!

One really fun thing we did the month was hang out with our niece. We were playing with BUBBLES!!!!!!!!! It was great to feel like a little kid for a few minutes, completely care free.

One crazy thing that happened this past month was my birthday! My work (Maceys) brought me a balloon bouquet to my house. Each of the balloons were purchased by some of my co-workers. They put their name on the balloon and a few dollars in it. It was really sweet since I've been really sick lately and some of my friends at work found out and they gave me this. It was really humbling for me. I cried when I saw the balloons. It was helpful for us!

WARNING: This is a scary picture. My friends in the floral department came to take me to dinner to celebrate my birthday. We love to go shopping together at Ross. One time we were there we saw these horrendously awful moo moos. They bought one for each of us to wear and we wore them to dinner and to see 'Mama Mia'. It was a ton of fun even though we looked REALLY SCARY!

New Calling...

2008-09-07T19:05:00.001-06:00

Today we were set apart as gospel doctrine teachers in our ward. Craig is super excited and I am slightly intimidated! Next week is our first lesson. We are in a small ward. Craig and I are also the ward librarians, Craig plays the music in priesthood and I am the ward music chairperson. Gotta love the joys of being in a small ward where people have multiple callings at a time.

School is going great. Craig just did really well on his stats quiz and I am doing ok in my interior design classes. Every single week I have at least one drawing project due.....I am working on getting more in tune with my inner artist. Hopefully I tap into that creativity SOON!

We're Aggies

2008-08-31T12:41:00.001-06:00

We survived the first week of school at USU!!! Craig is an accounting major. This semester he is taking accounting 2020, economics, business stats and more math. He loves it. (I'm sure grateful that's not me in those classes) He will have a ton of homework-YUCK. I am thinking of going into the interior design program. I have 3 interior design classes and two general ed classes: biology and humanities, where the bible is my only textbook. So far I really enjoy it all. I am really intimidated by the art/sketching aspect of interior design. Next semester I hope to take some art classes and I'm hoping this semester to 'practice' by taking some art classes by a guy in my ward, Jonathan Ribera. We'll see how it goes. Wish us luck this semester!

Catching Up...

2008-08-17T23:19:00.001-06:00

Sorry it's been a while since I blogged last. I pulled up all of our pictures and here we go!

A couple weeks ago we went to Bear Lake Raspberry Days. This is a picture of Craig wearing an $80.00 'Indiana Jones' hat. Needless to say with school getting ready to start there are many better ways to spend $80.00.

This weekend I went to IKEA. I know my brother in law hates it but I absolutely loved it! This was my first time there. I went with my step-mom and spent 3 hours there! I bought some really cute pillows for our living room and material to make a few more. When I have them all finished pictures will come. I am NOT having a baby but I loved this idea and had to take a picture of it. This is a wall from a nursery display. It has a family tree on it. I thought it was cool.

Stamp night is my favorite Thursday night ever! I love stampin' up and I love have fun with the girls. I can't believe that my friend and demonstrator said she didn't know what we were doing that night and I came home with these 3 beautiful cards that I made! I am so excited to get my order from this new catalog!!!

I saw this idea in another blog and decided to give it a try for my dad's birthday. This first picture is a crumbled cake mix mixed with one can of frosting. After that you roll them into small balls to fit a candy mold.

In the bottom of the candy mold you fill 3/4 way with melted chocolate almond bark and let it set up.
After that you color white almond bark and dip the top of the cake ball and decorate it however you would like. I chose sprinkles and m&m's. Here they are in a candy box. That's how I gave them to my dad.

I made 2 batches one with funfetti cake mix and one with devil's cake mix. We took a bite of each one so you can see what they look like. They are YUMMY!

Olympics

2008-08-11T09:28:00.000-06:00

I LOVE the Olympics. I was blown away by the opening ceremonies. They were awesome! For those of you who watched it my favorite part was the 'boxes' with people in it. They were all in complete sync with each other...WOW! This week/weekend I wasn't feeling too hot so we took it easy. My parents DDR'ed the first few days. We watched basketball, women's fencing, swimming (especially Michael Phelps) etc. It is always so cool to see an American standing on the medals podium singing the national anthem. (PS more of them need to actually SING it! As you watch other people win they SING their national anthem...come on Americans!!!) I look forward to watching more of the Olympics and especially the USA basketball team-Go Deron Williams!!

Oregon!

2008-08-02T16:08:00.001-06:00

Ofiicially all of the drivers in our computer are fixed and I can now use the computer and the internet!!!

We went to Oregon two weeks ago for a family reunion. We decided to venture out a few days early so Craig could experience more of Oregon. It was BEAUTIFUL there!

One thing we did was go to the Oregon State Aquarium in Newport:

A ginormous alaskan king crab. They look really gross but taste really yummy!

A sea otter swimming by casually after being fed.

Craig in a tunnel of fish like in the movie 'Jaws'. Du du. Du du. Du du.

We also went the Oregon State Zoo in Portland. For some reason they were having a dinosaur display. So we went to check it out. We went on a dinosaur 4D ride and got to wear these oh so attractive glasses. It was worth taking a picture of.

Another thing we did at the zoo was feed birds. When I say 'we', I really mean Craig. I was too afraid to feed the birds. You go into this huge exhibit and there are birds flying (and doing natural bodily functions from being fed too much) EVERYWHERE. At one point 2 birds landed on Craig's shoulders. I teased him that they were going to pick at his ears. It was cool still.

We also got a change to hike Multnomah Falls. It is about 30 minutes outside of Portland. It is amazing. You drive down the freeway and all of a sudden you see this beautiful water fall. It was a great hike!

Of course we went to the beach! We actually went to several which include: Nye State Beach, Agate Beach, Depoe Bay and Yacuina Bay to name a few. It was so fun to walk the beach! We were lucky and went to Cannon Beach at minus tide and were able to see some of the coolest sea life. Incase you are wondering Craig caught a small crab and is only pretending to eat it.

We also went to Seaside where we ate the best crab dinner ever! We went to Astoria and saw the Astoria Column (a lighthouse). While we were in Astoria we went to the meritime museum and learned a lot about boats and the coastgaurd. It made want to come home and watch the movie, 'The Guardian'. We went and did some Lewis & Clarke stuff: Fort Clackamas, Fort Stevens. We hit Lincoln City and went to the Tanger Outlet there. The only thing we came home with was some s'mores popcorn. One of my favorite places we went was to a candy shop called 'Aunt Belinda's'. Wonder why I liked it so much?! It was all wonderful! I highly recommend Oregon to anyone who is thinking of going on vacation!

Tagged...

2008-07-26T17:00:00.000-06:00

Okay this is a new take for me. My great friend Susan (who I miss! Come home and visit or maybe I'll come to Vegas.....) tagged me in her blog to do this tag.

My Man
1.What is his name? Craig Roper Olsen
2.Who eats more? Um, sweets me. Everything else Craig
3.Who said I love you first? Craig. It was one of the things that I'll never forget how I felt with those butterflies in my stomach :-)
4.Who is taller? Craig
5.Who is smarter? Craig knows the most random thing about seriously everything!
6.Who is more sensitive? 100% complete tie
7.Who does the laundry? Mostly me. Craig is great at helping me fold it and put it away.
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Well it depends if you are in it or looking at it from the foot. If you're in it: me.
9.Who pays the bills? Craig is much better at money management than I am. It's something I'm working on. We do finances together.
10.Who cooks more? I do and love it. My very favorite meals are when I come home from work and Craig has everything made and the table set.
11.Who is more stubborn? Here I have to copy my friend Susan's anser...Well, I would say Craig is more stubborn. And Craig would say that I am more stubborn. And neither of us would budge.
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? It flip flops.
13.Who has more siblings? We have the same if you count our blended families.
14.What do you like to do together? See movies. Play the wii. Go grocery shopping. Hiking.
15.Who eats more sweets? me by far....something I SERIOUSLY need to work on!!!!
16.Guilty pleasures? for Craig electronics. For me: Stampin- UP!
17.How did you meet? We met through our friend Dave Petersen. I invited Dave to come over and he brought his roommates, one was Craig. Craig later came into my work for a job interview a few weeks later. I had NO CLUE who he was. The girl that I was doing interviews with and myself were impressed and we hired him. As one of his ref's he put down our friend Dave. I asked Dave why this guy looked familiar. His response was so kind to remind me that Craig had come to my apartment a few weeks ago and that he had been in my ward for an entire semester!
18.Who asked who out first? Craig asked me out. On our first date we had already held hands and kissed...It was not really like either of us!!!
19.Who kissed who first? it was mutual
20.Who proposed? Craig
21.His best features? His dimples! I love to look at them when he smiles! :-)
22.What is his greatest quality? He has so many; that's why I married him! He is really concerned about me and make sure that my needs and wants are taken care of before his. He is such a people person and can strike up a conversation with anyone.

There is a little bit more about the two of us. I tag....Shelly and Anne-Marie.

Today we got home from Oregon but I'm still not at my house so I don't have my camera cable yet. Pictures still to come!

Family Vacation in Oregon!

2008-07-24T12:04:00.000-06:00

We are on vacation in Oregon for a family reunion and vacation. We have seen some awesome sites along the coast and are now in Portland. I forgot my cable to connect my camera...so the pictures will have to come later. It is BEAUTIFUL here. More to post after we come home this weekend.

Happy Belated Fourth of July!

2008-07-05T21:04:00.000-06:00

It has been way too long since my last post. Our internet connection was down for a couple weeks! :-(

Here are some fun things that we've been up to since my last post:

We went out for sushi at this great place in Logan called Happy Sushi. It is always so much fun to see how they present the food. It is always so beautiful! Craig had never had sushi before meeting me, now he REALLY loves it! (which is great with me because I love sushi too!!!) Sushi is something that we have on 'special occasions'. Craig decided that having the same day off of work was special enough for us to go. It was really cute!

Last week we also went hiking and fishing in both Logan Canyone and Porcupine Dam. It was so nice to be outside and enjoying nature. These are some of our pictures from those events.

One thing I'm sure that some of you don't know is that one day when I grow up I would LOVE to be a florist. Every couple weeks I get to work in the floral department at Maceys. It is always a welcome change and something that I really enjoy. I get to help with weddings, showcases and other events. This is a centerpiece that I made for our kitchen table at home. I absolutely love having fresh flowers around!

Last but not least we were able to go to see fireworks twice in one week. We went to Hyrum's fireworks on the 2nd and Logan's on the 3rd. We really enjoy watching the fireworks! I feel so grateful that we are able to have the freedoms that we have. This fourth of July I was reflecting on a billboard I saw that said, 'Land of the free because of the brave.' I am grateful for the sacrifices that have been made over many centuries for us to have the freedoms, opportunities and rights that we have. One day I want to be in Washington D.C. for the 4th of July!

Father's Day Weekend

2008-06-18T17:57:00.000-06:00

This weekend we went down to Fillmore, Utah for Father's Day. Craig's cousin, Jeff, also had his mission 'farewell'. Jeff is going to Montevideo, Uruguay. This is really fun for us because one of our really good friends dad is the mission president for this mission! We were really excited to hear that he is going there. These pictures were taken in Jeff's family barn. I've personally never seen a barn before with several fridges, freezers and a/c. It was a lot of fun to have this get together.

These are just two of our Olsen cuties! We have Carrie on the left and Luke on the right. They are both soooooo cute! I wish I could've gotten a picture of all of our nieces/nephews on the Olsen side. It is always so fun when we have our famly get togethers and we can see them.

This is the present I made and gave to Craig for Father's day. NO I am not pregnant (one day, but hopefully not too soon) but I think that Father's day is still a day for me to honor Craig even though we don't have little Olsen's running around. This is a wallet made out of paper that we did at our Stampin Up! club activity this month. (Thanks Shelly! This idea was sooo cute!) I also made one of these for my dad and filled it full of pictures and other gift cards. They were both so impressed and it was so much fun to see their faces when they got each of theirs. (I seriously have to work on the picture thing though....why didn't I think about getting pictures of them when they were opening their presents?!?!?!?)

On our way home we stopped in Sandy and went to this reptile/fish store. There are so many different types of fish/reptiles here. It is almost like going to an actual aquarium but it's FREE! One day when we have our own home we'll have an aquarium! Craig really, really looks forward to this day!

Date Night

2008-06-03T21:14:00.000-06:00

We try once a week to do a date night. Last week we had a fondue night. It was so much fun! Anyone have any good ideas for other dates?

Our Wedding Pictures!

2008-05-18T20:12:00.000-06:00

I love seeing pictures on other blogs!

I thought that I would start with some of our wedding pictures. Well...these pictures aren't quite from our wedding day. We had an interesting experience with our original photographer and did a 'reshoot' with an amazing photographer, Kellee Smith.

One day when I grow up....

2008-05-15T17:44:00.000-06:00

Today I took one of those 'career exploration tests'. It was interesting and frustrating. My profile results were that I would enjoy something in the medical field, administrative field, finance field, service field. . . I could've told you that before I took the test! I wish I had some concrete idea of what I would like to be when I grow up. Until then, more school and working at Maceys.

I never thought I'd do this!

2008-05-12T22:29:00.000-06:00

Honestly, I never thought that I would have a blog. Today I was online checking on my friends that I haven't seen in way too long and each of them had blogs up that I never knew about. It was so fun to read about how they were doing! I thought I'd try my hand at this. One thing that I've discovered is that Craig and I need to take more pictures!