Graduation

Oh man...this is so overdue! I figure it is time to catch up on summer events before the holidays. Graduation was WONDERFUL! My whole family came (except Maeg of course) We did so many fun things!

Whit was the first to arrive. She had been in D.C. visiting her roommate Tara and took the "China-town" bus to NY - Despite her concerns she was not kidnapped ;) Sorry Sis

Me and Whit trek through Central Park with all her luggage- harder than we thought!


Enjoying the chaos


Cutie


Oh, and she won the lottery at "In the Heights" and we sat front row


The next night Mom and Al flew in and we met Dad and Grady in Philadelphia. They had been in Pittsburg watching the Pirates and met us in Philadelphia to watch them play the D-backs. We got trashed but it was still lots of fun! Note: you MUST try philly cheese steak sandwiches when in Philly!

We got a hard time for wearing our D-backs shirts but the crazy funs went completely nuts when they saw Nathan come in wearing his Dallas Cowboys shirt - so funny!


Grady's awesome poster!


Cute Girlies!


I love Whitney's appearance in this one :)


With my favorite boys!


Na was such a good sport to drive through all that traffic - we were on the road longer than we were at the game


Getting a little stir crazy in the car


The next day was graduation! Nathan and my parents got me beautiful flowers and sat through a long and quite boring ceremony.

The whole gang


They think my coat is cool :)


I have the BEST parents EVER!!!


Girls!


We LOVE Tiffany and Devin and will miss our fun Office nights :(


So, this is kind of random...I was telling Carly one day in class that my husband got a job at Alliance Bernstein - what do ya know - that is where Steve works too!


Some of my cute classmates


We go out to a nice dinner but really, we're just not that civilized






Playing in the rain (poor Grady had just run into the fire hydrant trying to wave at passing cars)


My Cutie Husband


On the last day we did some sight seeing and ended the night with a little Broadway.

Subway from the Bronx



Some successful shopping - of course!


Dinner at ESPN-zone in Time Square


She's either hiding from the paparazzi or embarassed to be with us. What a doll!


Dad was going to surprise Mom and take her to "Lion King" for their anniversary but of course we had to spill the secret when we caught her searching for tickets for the whole family. Thanks for letting us be part of your anniversary :)

Lake Powell

Wow! I'm so behind on my blogging! At the end of July, Nathan and I went to Lake Powell with my side of the family. After enduring many years of nagging sisters, Grady was excited to have our cousin Ryan come keep him sane. It was such a blessing to have my Grandpa and Grandma Hansen with us as well! Maegy was very missed but she is working very hard on her mission and touching many lives....8 more months and she'll be back :)
We had the most wonderful time EVER! I have done this vacation for as many years as I can remember but this was Nathan's first time going with our family and I think he was pleasantly surprised. Sorry for the world's longest post...This is also my best attempt at a journal.

The boys watching Napolean Dynamite on the drive up


A really cool storm came one afternoon and made tons of these beautiful waterfalls...don't mind Al


The whole gang (other than Dad) cruising through The Escalante River


The Girls at Rainbow Bridge


Our tough MEN!!!


Always an adventure when Grady's driving...love him!



I forgot to warn Nathan of the tradition...ok, maybe I didn't "forget"


Just enjoying the ride



At Dangling rope


WHIT!!


My 83 year old grandpa...pretty cool!


Dad!!! Ok, maybe we shouldn't have been out that late...oops!


Mamasita


Alex!


Grady! (haha, he's even smiling)


Ryan!


Me and Grams


He's Cute


And after a couple of hard falls...

He learned some cool tricks!


The boys playing Texas Hold 'em...Grandpa couldn't win so he told us Grady and Ryan kept cheating


The book club...always hiding from the rest of us :)


Al trying to get a signal...what's a poor teenager to do when she's deprived of text messaging!


Gramps teaching the boys how to fish...so cute!


Just before Dad nearly killed us


Don't let their smiles fool you...they were plotting how to use alka seltzer to blow up the fish...I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty cool


The best captain in the world!


These two were too cute!


Kayaking might be fun??? I wouldn't know, these two were trying to tip us the whole time :)


I'll give you a quarter if you can guess what we're playing


Everyone just doing whatever they want!


The whole Family!

We Moved!

Ok, it wasn't that big of a move but it has been wonderful! We decided it was important to stay in the same ward so we're only 2 blocks away. I will try to find a picture of our previous apartment but it was old and ghetto. We lived on the 4th floor walk-up in an apartment built in the 1920's. We lived there for 2 years and it was good but we were ready for a change. We found a couple year old duplex-type house with only one previous tenant. It is still only an 8 minute walk to the subway but in a more residential type neighborhood. The girls that live above us are my classmates and, I haven't met them yet, but I heard there is a couple with a baby in our building...Yay! I took some pictures to send my sister and thought I would share. I haven't really finished decorating - my Mom is coming for graduation and I really need her help.

View from the outside


Our old street smelled like dog crap...our new landlord plants pretty flowers right outside our front door :)


After you walk in the front door this is the long hall going to our kitchen and living room


The Kitchen...it's hard to tell, but this connects to the living room


Living Room...made especially to sleep many people :)


The Hall to the Bedroom


We love our new place...but mostly we love to have people come stay with us. So, if you want to come to NYC we'd love to have you!!!

Happy 4th of July

For the 4th of July we wanted to get away and do something relaxing. We decided to go to a little beach town in New Jersey called Cape May. It was so cute and quaint. We went with our wonderful friends the Smith's.

Car packed, drivers excited and ready to go!


Nathan snuggling with little Brody


I'm completely obsessed with this kid!

The Smith Family!

Headed to the beach!

Fun at the beach!



The town had a cute little flag ceremony at sunset, on sunset beach...where we found some Cape May Diamonds!

Brody "Aw man, this chick has got to stop squeezin me"

"Just kidding, I still love her!"

I've got to get myself one of these :)

Time to go home, what an awesome vacation!

Arizona Fun

Well, seeing as how Nathan and I are going back to AZ in a week, I decided it might be a good idea to write about the last time I was there :)
I had two weeks off between my clinical year of PA school and the summer research semester so I decided to go to AZ. Nathan didn't have enough vacation days and was still getting settled in at his new job so he didn't join me. I had such a great time! Grady took us to all the beautiful model homes that nobody is buying because of the wonderful economy and me and Mom got some decorating ideas. She was embarrassed to say she was looking for herself so she kept telling the sales people that I was living in NY but wanted to buy a house in AZ and move there...haha keep dreaming Ma! We did so many fun things!!!

Outside Grady's School after his band concert, he's so awesome!!


I'm proud to say the Olsen family finally beat the Smelser's at this year's baseball game!!! We were so excited the Lewis family decided to join us too. Now all we need is for Maeg and Whit to be there. Yay, for neighborhood reunions!


Grady's baseball team, the Yankees, had several play-off games while I was there - he is the greatest pitcher EVER!!! Go Yankee's!!!!






Me and Ma watchin Grady

Me and Al


Watching Alex dive was so scary - she's very brave and amazing!!!



Dad and his new pony


Dad's newest baby calf


I ended off the trip with a great day at the lake!

Kevin and Lauren's Wedding

We had a wonderful weekend! Not only were 2 of our favorite people sealed together but we also got to see some amazing family. We went through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky to get there and one speeding ticket later (it was my fault, I fell asleep and he can't control his speed unless I'm watching over his shoulder) we made it to Cincinnati! We stayed with Uncle Lyle, Aunt Janet, and Ashlee. We had delicious Norwegian pancakes, lots of snowies and a very fun time. The wedding was also so so so wonderful! I was planning to be very critical of Kevin to make sure he was good enough for one of my best friends and he was. He was so sweet to her and I could tell he was going to make her very happy! I forgot how much I missed being around Lauren and we had such a blast! Lauren was absolutely gorgeous of course! I also got to spend some quality time with Melissa (poor Target employee - never seen anyone blush quite like that). On our way home we stopped in Columbus to play with Adam, Amber and Shane! I think it was a perfect weekend! Sorry if the pictures look bad - I took them from facebook :)

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Easter was a nice day! The Badgers hosted us at their place for a delicious dinner with all our friends. Please tell me this picture of Breyton isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen? Poor kid woke up from his Sunday nap to a bunch of crazy adults in his house. He looks so confused! Haha, I'm sure he'll tell you he had a great time though because he had way more juice than his parents would have liked thanks to everyone there who just couldn't say no. Cute little baby Andy and Brody had a nice nap too (such little angels)!

Exciting Update!!!

It has been almost 2 months now but I'm so proud of my cute hubby - He has moved to a new position and will now be working in Mid-town Manhattan as a Private Client Associate for Bernstein! (same company cooler job) This is him doing the traditional pose, no he isn't going to second grade, he's going to his second JOB! YAY for Nathan!!!!

Craziness!

We had visitors - YAY - so much fun!!!! Mom and Grady came to NY and we had so much fun! We saw Wicked, again. All 4 of us sat in the front row again because Nathan and Grady won the lottery. We also won the lottery for Shrek (but almost everyone at that lottery won lol) We also went to the top of the Empire State Building, saw EVERY Trump building in NYC, visited the Natural History Museum and went to the Temple. Sooooo much FUN!!! Sorry - lots of pictures and not much to say other than too much fun!

Nathan turns 26!

Hmmmm it seems as though I can only manage to blog when it is Nathan's birthday - So, here's to another birthday for Mr. Faldmo. Our birthdays weren't quite as crazy as last year (what can really get better than a surprise party) - BUT we still had fun. I made Nathan a Texas sheetcake and decorated with his favorite team - the MAVS! We also had some friends over for enchiladas! Unfortunately I couldn't put cute little Brody down so I didn't take any pictures but Nathan did!

2008 Recap

I noticed that lately people are doing blogs that are a summary of 2008. Seeing as how the last time I blogged was February 2008, I'm thinking that I should follow this trend with the New Year's resolution in 2009 to be a better blogger. Living and working in New York leads to many odd and exciting happenings…usually on a daily basis!

APRIL:

Mom, Maeg, and Whitters visit NY

Whitney's account, "New York was amazing! I loved seeing where Nicki and Nathan actually lived because before I was just trying to imagine this tiny ghetto place, but it was actually pretty homey. The best thing was by far the broadway shows and going to church with the Faldmo's because I had never met a ward even close to that and it was a sacrament and teaching experience that I will probably never have again. I wasn't so much a fan of actually being in the city for very long because yes, it was cool, but really the noise, people and smoke just gave me a mad headache ha. Over all, it was freaking awesome :)"

Mom and Maeg said, "We had so much fun going to Regis and Kelly, broadway shows, and shopping on canal street. But, Nicki was right when she said the best part would be going to church with her. We loved sitting in her very humble Sacrament Meeting and teaching the "maniac 7 year old class". We were quite proud of how well we traveled the city all by ourselves! We miss Nicki and Nathan soooooo much."

MAY

Regis and Kelly with some classmates! There were 7 of us waiting in the standby line and they called exactly 7 names...how cool!!!

JUNE
I started my PA school rotations!!! Unfortunately, we were robbed a couple days later so the pictures Nathan took of my first day are somewhere else :)
Also...Nathan got called as Bishop!

Nathan and I with Elder and Sister Forman... a long awaited dinner after being stuck in traffic for a couple hours due to a fun storm that made lots of tall trees fall in the middle of the highway!

Lorri and David are such great hosts! They planned a wonderful bishopric dinner.

Nathan loves his counselor Elder Forman and Brother McDougal and the ward clerk David!

JULY
Our awesome friends Zack and Lauren moved to D.C. We miss them so much! These are some pictures of us at their going away party with the Smiths.

Lauren is so smart...she always wins!!!

I laugh when my husband attempts to punch me in the face :)

His new look!

Now they are gone but they had a handsome son named Whitaker and we can't wait to meet him!

AUGUST
Our good friends Tiffany and Devin invited us to comic strip. Adam is the first comedian I have ever met!!!


SEPTEMBER
Nathan and his basketball team at the 92nd street Y!

Best Buds!

My hottie husband

OCTOBER
Nathan and I won best costume. It was a close call but during the dance contest Nathan busted out some awesome dance moves as McCain that put us over the top.









NOVEMBER
Sister Maegan Olsen was called to serve in the Temple Square mission. She is going to be the greatest missionary EVER!!!

We took some pictures as a family before she left. Whit wasn't there but she took some with Maeg at the Missionary Training Center.

Cutey Landon and all of Maeg's wonderful friends that came to AZ for the farewell.

Caution 6 armed monster below!
We got to watch Grady pitch in one of his playoff games...he's amazing!

After going to AZ we went to Dallas for Andy and Haley's wedding and Thanksgiving. These are our fun friends Josh and Liz.

High School Friends!!

Everything was absolutely gorgeous!


DECEMBER
We spent Christmas in our cozy little Bronx apartment.

Nathan was excited for his new GPS.

We always take a picture of all the trash - family tradition!

Christmas done by webcam!!!

Our tree we got from the Bontorno's and lots of presents from Santa!

Our ward Christmas party. These 5 sisters were recently baptized and are super amazing!

Jaden with Santa, Mrs. Clause and his helpers.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Nathan's Surprise Party

I didn't think Nicki had it in her. I knew she would want to throw a surprise party for my cumpleanos since she loved being surprised, and I kept on catching her in her lies...it wasn't hard...leading up to my birthday. But I starting doubting as the day rolled on because we went into Manhattan in the morning and we filled our day with little "surprise errands." Then, when the night came she tried to blindfold me on the subway so she could walk me to our final destination; however, I was not about to let her walk me through Manhattan blindfolded - I knew it would have been filled with, "oops, I forgot to tell you about that step/hole/taxi..." Anyway, we arrived at Rockefeller Center where they had ice skating and I gave her props for the good idea. I also figured at that point that there is no way we were meeting anyone there because it would be hard to try and coordinate people meeting there. Then, when I was waiting to skate I saw Jovin (one of the little boys that Nicki teaches in our ward) and still didn't think that they had come for birthday. I thought, "wow that is crazy that they came ice skating, too!" Then I realized when someone else we know showed up right after them, that Nicki had pulled off the impossible...actually throwing me a surprise party in the city. We had "Serendipity Night," consisting of ice skating and getting dessert at Serendipity afterward. I was impressed with the people she was able to get in contact with to come...it was serendipitous.
--Nathan

Whitney Compete's in New Hampshire!

Last weekend was our very first road trip! We went to watch Whitney at her very first BYU gymnastics meet in New Hampshire. She looked great!!! It was such a fun surprise to see the twin Canadians Marie-Helene and Genevieve that I did gymnastics with at BYU. After the meet we went out to dinner at Olive Garden with the team and from there drove through the night to be back in time for Sunday morning meetings – we got home a little after 5 am. We took a picture as we drove into each state...Yay for our first road trip (other than the one across the country)!

Nathan Starts His New Job!!!

When we first moved to New York Nathan was still finishing up some general classes through BYU independent study so I could start class in June. Just a couple weeks before he officially graduated from BYU he was offered a job at AllianceBernstein in the Private Client Services department. This picture was taken on his first day of work. His Mom used to take a picture like this before each school year. The boys would hold up as many fingers as the grade they were starting that year. Now it stands for his 1st job!

Christmas/New Years

Christmas and New Years was wonderful. We got to spend time with the Faldmo’s before their big move back to Dallas, TX. We also went to Bryce and Elisha’s wedding just a couple days after Christmas. They were both just so excited and glowing. New Years was extra special because the Olsen’s and the Faldmo’s snowmobiled, ate a yummy dinner, and played games to bring in the New Year. We thought Christmas was great before…it’s even better now that we get to have two families to enjoy the holidays with!! Enjoy the slide show!

Madison Square Garden

Adam and Jess along with Mike and April gave us tickets to see the Mavericks play the Knicks at Madison Square Garden for Christmas. Before the game Nathan got to take a picture with Mark Cuban. There were a ton of Maverick fans at the game and sitting in the lower section was GREAT!!! Mavericks Won!!!

“Oh yeah, I thought Dirk was real hot, too.” –Nathan

Surprise!!!

Nathan threw me a surprise 22^nd birthday party. I don’t know how he managed to get a hold of all those people and make so many preparations without me having even the slightest clue. He told me we were going to some kind of show but he wanted to blind fold me. So we walked out to get in the car, then Nathan changed his mind and we started to run to the subway (b/c we were a little late) when he realized he forgot the tickets. So, we ran back home and as I ran in to grab the envelope that said “tickets” off the coffee table, everyone shouted “SURPRISE!!!” Everyone brought lots of snacks and we played some of my favorite games and had a great time! The greatest thing was trying to count up the many states people were from…Texas, Arizona, Oregon, Alabama, Virginia, Washington, California, Idaho, Utah, Vermont, South Dakota, Hawaii, New York, Connecticut, Ohio, …and South Africa! Oh, and how could I forget, my 3 favorite babies came too!

Checking

Testing, testing, 1,2,3...

Mom and Alex Visit NY

New York was so much fun and Nathan was a great tour guide. We went somewhere everyday until we thought our legs would fall off. We went to the statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, the temple, central park, China town, Little Italy, but best of all--two Broadway shows. We won front row tickets to Wicked and it was totally wicked! I cried for about an hour on the plane when I left Nicki in New York, but it was great to have her home at Christmas time.
~Mom

Nicki's Dad and Brother come to visit

When me and my dad went to NY we went to the Mets and Dodgers game. We saw the Geicko Caveman there. He was so cool. Also we went on a carriage ride in Central Park. We went by the ice skating park and other cool stuff. Also we went to the Natural History Museum we saw Rexy there from night at the museum. Also we saw Dumb Dumb. My dad and Nathan got to got to the Letterman Show and I got to meet one of the guys on it, Rick Reilly from Sports Illustrated. We had a great time.

By: Grady Olsen