Where Are We Going?

We turned in our rank list for Residency today! Ahhhh....so crazy to think that it is done! Aaron and I are SO indecisive, which made it difficult to decide the order to rank the places. So many factors in deciding. Good Orthopedic program, cost of living, family friendly, school systems, weather, outdoors, ShOpPiNg, safety, ease of traveling to family, etc.

It feels good to finally not have to stress about it anymore though. I think every time I started researching places on the internet, I'd get anxiety because I would read all these comments of people's "opinions". I decided that I may just like it more going blind wherever we go. I did that with Iowa and I've absolutely loved it here (except the blasted winters :)) Anyways, it's out of our hands now and I know that we will end up wherever we as supposed to be. I'm not worried. I know that I can enjoy wherever we end up. March 19th is the big Match Day!! SO crazy.

We are going to leave you in some suspense and not tell you the exact order of our rank list but some of the top programs we like are: Oregon, San Antonio, New Mexico, Grand Rapids, Iowa and Wisconsin. Almost all the programs we are looking at would be fine to go to, so where ever we end up, we'll be happy.

I LOVE MY GIRLS

I feel like I have been so emotional lately, but I just am so thankful for my sweet little girls. They bring me so much joy and I'm so lucky to have them. This all probably sounds more like one of my journal entries but I don't care. I'm just going to write it all so I don't forget it. Hallie has been cracking me up with some of the things she's been doing/saying. Here's some of my fav's:

• "WAY COOL" is her favorite saying. It started when she got a package from Grandma. She opened it up and said, "My present is way cool!" Now she says it about everything. "Mom, you're WAY cool!" (Glad someone thinks I am. So what if it's a 2 year old!) "Mama Rodin's (grandma Robin) toys are WAY cool." "Peyton is WAY cool."
• "Mommy, guess what! I know my's numbers! 1..2..3..4..5..6..!.7..8..9..10! yeah! " She probably tells me this 3-10 times a day.
• If I ever tell her she's going to go to TIME out, her reply is always the same, "No, I don't want to go to NUMBER out!"
• The other day I looked out the window and said, "oh...it's snowing again!" Hallie said all concerned, "Oh mommy, don't dy (cry). It's otay (okay)." Guess I should be more discreet about how I feel :).
• I love that she is always asking me to "snuggle" lately.
• She loves pretending. Basically loves to mimick me with the way I take care of Peyton. Everyday she has something new (a baby, stuffed animal, zebra, elmo) and it is always "baby Peyton". She's the mother and it comes with us and does everything we do throughout the whole day (eats, goes potty, gets buckled in the carseat, has stinky diapers,....). Luckily "baby Peyton" like to take naps in the car while we go inside places :).
  

Waiting to decorate cookies at a church activity. Chels, she still LOVES the jacket. Wants to wear it all the time. Thanks!

This picture makes me smile. Hallie talks to Peyton like a little mother. She is so sweet to her. She's trying to get her to smile. Displayed is her "WAY COOL" zebra. Grandma Robin told Hallie she'd send her a present for being such a big girl and using the potty. Here's their conversation:
GRANDMA: Hallie, what do you want Grandma to send you?
Hallie: a aminal (animal)
GRANDMA: What kind of animal?
HALLIE: ummm.....a yebra (zebra)!!!
GRANDMA: oh crap! (Not my fault you were so specific mom! j/k. Were you thinking she'd say something easier to find? ha ha)



Then, there is this little cutie...
who is growing up way too fast! She's our little mobile mover. At 5 months she was sitting up, and now at 6 1/2 months, she is seriously so close to crawling. She scoots and rolls all over the place. She says, "mamamama" and "dadadada" all the time. She LOVES attention. Completely opposite than Hallie in this area. Hallie likes to sit back and watch and Peyton smiles at everything and stares at you, just waiting for you to look back at her so she can smile. She adores Hallie and they are so cute together. I love my girls.


Valentines was fun. We made our yummy Valentine's sugar cookies. I love how excited Hallie gets to make cookies with me. It's so fun. And Aaron and I were able to go out on a date! That's always exciting. I love my husband!

Chelsey & Jared's

Aaron had to take the Clinical Skills Step 2 Boards in Chicago, so the girls and I tagged along with an excuse to go see Chelsey and Jared. It was so fun and I was so glad to see my adorable sister (and bro-in-law). Hallie just absolutely LOVES Chelsey and was so excited to see her. Of course, she carried her suitcase around the house for a few days and packed it all by herself (tinkibell pillow and sleeping bag, phone, panties, and Peyton's pj's). It was a quick trip but so much fun. I forgot my camera but had my little one in my purse, so not too many pics. Here's what I enjoyed though:

• Seeing their cute apartment with the most amazing view and feeling like I was in a hotel.
• Getting a taste of their yummy homemade ice cream and delicious dinner.
• Watching how sweet Chelsey was to the girls. She had presents waiting, checked books out at the library for Hallie, made waffles and cookies with Hallie, painted nails, played at the park, etc. etc. When we left Aaron said, "Chelsey is going to be a great mom."
• Meeting Marteen. Seriously...there's no way to describe it. He's the best.
• Having an "ultimate smack-down" of pacman. Too bad Jared totally wasted my trash and got the high score. He's been practing way too much. Are you sure you study Jared?
• Talking with my sista. I LOVE her.

Thanks Chels and Jared for letting us come stay! Can't wait to see you again.

Painting the nails. I don't know why, but for some reason whenever we're going to see Chelsey, Hallie talks about how "maymee (maybe) Chelsey will paint my's nails, mommy!" She gets so excited for this event.

Here We Go Again

Oh Aaron...thinks he is SO funny. I have alot of catching up to do! I think I'm a seasonal blogger. I hate winter. Anyways...after being in Utah for a month, having 2 sick kids (Hallie had a bilateral ear infection, with one rupturing, and a respitory infection~Peyton had a viral rash all over and the beginnings of Hallie's), me being super sick with the flu and potty training Hallie (is that enough excuses :)), I think I am ready to begin the good old blogging again. So...here we go again...

As a disclaimer..I know that nobody really cares about December in mid February, but I have to post it all for my record. So I'm starting where I left off and will work my way up. Stay tuned. And P.S. I am going to be THE BEST blogger ever now. Just you wait and see. P.P.S. Happy Love Day tomorrow!

Other Highlights

There was alot more things we did that I don't have pictures of. But here were some more of my favorite parts of our trip:

• Playing cards/games with our families.
• Having a Rock Band/ Wii party. I am seriously the BEST singer. j/k.
• Drinking all the Diet Dr. Pepper I wanted and having my morning fix all ready for me when I woke up (thanks Dad!).
• Spending lots of time with Aaron.
• Seeing my Grandpa and spending time with him.
• Going to lunch with some of my friends.
• Learning to knit. Someday I will finish my scarf. How's yours coming Cho?
• Going to Stockton's wrestling match.
• Seeing Aaron's family.
• Shopping New Years Day sales.
• Taking Hallie over to play with Grandma Gayla and Grandpa Bill and seeing all the fun things she'd done when we'd come to get her.
• Taking Hallie and Nat's kids the the Aquarium with my mom.
• Having endless people to hold Peyton and pay attention to her. She was spoiled. And we are paying for it now :0.
• Hanging out with my sisters. They are the best. I love them
• Going to Body World with my family~DUSTIN included :). It was way cool.

Hallie's Sleepover & Baby Kate

My mom, Chels and I babysat Nat's kids while she had her baby. Hallie was SO excited for them to sleep over. I don't think I've ever seen her so happy. They ate popcorn in bed, watch movies, read stories with Grandma and then TRIED (tried is the key word here) to go to bed. Where Grandma fit with all these kiddies in bed, I'm not quite sure. Everyone was sound asleep except Hallie. She was just too excited she couldn't sleep. I tried to come in a few times to peek at her and she'd say, "Mommy, go out!" It was so fun.

Welcome Baby Kate to the world! She is SO adorable. Natalie is such an amazing mother. I can't believe she has 4 kids! I need to step it up a notch (no, I'm not announcing anything :)). I have so much to learn from her. She was laughing at me because I was literally taking notes on how she does everything and stays sain. Seriously...



I took some pictures of Kate while I was in Utah with my NEW camera! I am so excited to be able to finally start pursuing my hobby (yes I know I am a very beginner). Isn't she just ADORABLE? Oh I love her. Her and Peyton will be such good buds. They are only 5 months apart.

Christmas Day

Peyton pretty much slept through her whole first Christmas. We saved her presents though and Hallie helped her open them later. She is such a cutie.

Anytime Hallie was asked what she wanted for Christmas, the reply was "a choo choo". She's been having so much fun with her 2 trains she got. Lucky duck! Thanks Grandma's and Grandpa's. They all spoiled the girls rotten. We are so thankful for everyone!

Hallie and Carter having some ice cream. This was the first year they sorta played together and they were so cute. Hallie loves Carter because he likes Swiper from Dora and goes around saying, "Oh, man!".

We had a wonderful Christmas. My mom made a huge yummy breakfast, and we just hung out together. Then Gayla and Bill made a wonderful dinner and we spent the evening with them. We missed Brandon, Nate and Nichole's family this year though. I just love spending time with family. It's the best.

Olsen/Briggs Christmas Parties

Hallie (Wisemen) and Peyton (baby Jesus) at the Briggs Party

I love my brothers! Jordan is SO sweet during Christmas. He is so thoughtful and loves to give so generously to everyone. And he's so cute to the girls. This is us playing Bingo at our anual Christmas Party. He makes sure to remind us that the game is called "SANTA" not Bingo. I love that he is the one to always get this game going and make it fun.



Jenny and Matt were so nice to plan the Olsen Christmas party. It was so much fun. We had it up at the Conrad Ranch. It is always fun getting together with family you don't see that often. Family is the best, and I'm so lucky to have so much.

Bowling

It is a very rare occurance when my entire family (brothers included) get together to do something. We had so much fun bowling. This was Hallie's first time. And I'm sad to say that she beat me!

Snowman & Sledding

Aaron and I babysat my sister's kids one day and we "attempted" to build a snowman. The snow would NOT pack! But we were going to get a snowman. So heck, it may be a wiener one, but we built it :).

My cute mom with Peyton watching from the car.

It was so fun to be able to go sledding this year. Every Christmas it seems like I'm pregnant. Guess that didn't stop Natalie from going at like a week before she's due :). Hallie had fun. She hesitated to get on the sled everytime, but once she got to the bottom she would always want to go again.

Gingerbread houses & Cookie Decorating

Natalie is miss wonder woman. Seriously, I don't know how she does everything. She was 9 months prego while we were there and still managed to plan all our activities, do more than I could ever imagine and bake a bazillion sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. We spent the night decorating and eating. They are the best sugar cookies ever! There was some MarioKart too. My Grandpa has some mad skills.

We broke tradition a little this year and made our gingerbread houses from a kit rather than with graham crackers. I liked how meticulous Avery was in placing her candies on. I liked that Grandma was trying to refrain from making Carston put his where her "interior decorating" conscience was wanting them. I loved how Jared and Chelsey's house completely collapsed, but Jared didn't care because the gingerbread man still tasted good. And I liked how Heather kept telling Hallie that "that is the last piece of candy you can eat. If you eat another one then we can't do it anymore." And then Hallie spilled her candy all over the floor. Good times with the fam. (Yes Nat, I stole this from your blog. Thanks!)

Pre-Utah Christmas

My husband is the sweetest! He spoils me to death. He had been being pretty sneaky and I wasn't quite sure what he had up his sleeve. The night before we headed to Utah for Christmas he had me go look in the garage, and this is what I found! He made me this Vanity! I was so excited. Ever since we've been married, I have either sat in the bathroom sink or on the floor with the cheap old Walmart mirror that's been plastered with hairspray and crap all over to get ready every morning. He always asked "how do you even seen out of that mirror?" or "Can we PLEASE find a place to put all your stuff?". So now we are both SO happy! I love it.

"I ready to go!" This is Hallie the day we were leaving to DRIVE to Utah. She was so excited, couldn't sleep all night, and got herself all packed to go. Poor thing probably didn't quite realize just how long it was actually going to take to get to Grandma's house.

We had a Christmas party for our church and Santa came. I had been preparing Hallie for this event for days, because I knew that she would need to mentally prepare herself to see him. Well, she had been SO excited and kept asking when he was going to come so that she could tell him she wanted a "choo choo" for Christmas. As soon as he came walking in the door saying, "ho ho ho", Hallie's automatic faucet of tears begin and she starts bawling saying, "Let's go home!". Well...I finally convinced her to "take Peyton to see Santa". So we were able to get "Peyton" a candy cane and tell santa what "Peyton" wanted for christmas. Not quite sure where Peyton is under that beard. ha ha.

"Mommy, my socks no fit!". These are our Christmas stockings. I love Hallie's age because she is so curious about everything and trying to figure it all out. Couldn't understand why these "socks" wouldn't fit and why on earth Santa would put presents in them.

Heather is Still Alive!

I know there are a lot of worried people out there, but I just wanted to let you know that Heather is in fact still alive. I've heard the rumors: "Heather lost both arms in a bad accident with the washing machine." "She slipped on the ice hitting her head and now has forgotten how to even turn on the computer let alone post a blog." and my favorite, "She got so upset at how ridiculous those stupid girl on the Bachelor were acting that she ran up to the TV and punched it with both hands breaking every bone in both arms up to her elbows."

I just felt it was necessary to set the record straight and although all of the rumors seem very possible none of them are true. If you were to ask her, she would probably give you some mumbo jumbo about how after she takes care of the two girls, cleans the house, makes me dinner, runs all her errands, and rubs my feet each night there is just no time left in the day. But somehow she still finds time each day to make it to the gas station to fill up her mug with DDP.

The questions must be asked: Heather, where are you? What has happened to your priorities? Do you not know that there are fans out there who wait by their computers day and night just hoping that you will finally post a blog?

My purpose in posting this blog is to let you know that there is an end in sight to that tedious checking this blog every 5 minutes. Heather has informed me that she will post sometime in the next two days. And just to give her some incentive, I am putting the beautiful picture of my face up. She should want to replace it pretty quick

-Aaron