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