Anniversary

Today is our anniversary.  I knew I loved Jonathan on our wedding day.  But I love him more now, even though I didn't think that was possible six years ago.  He is the best man I have ever known.  Being married to your best friend is the best!

Isn't he so cute?

So for our anniversary, I made us a new Family Proclamation picture.  (If you want to make one too, go here and download Brooke's template and fill it in with you favorite pictures. And ta-da! You need photoshop or an equivalent photo program.)

Family Pictures

We have awesome friends who are awesome photographers (Summerfly Photography).  Mike took some more family pictures of us on Saturday, and I just had to share some!  Thanks Mike, you rock!

As Mike pointed out, this piece of paper is worth more than our dream home.  Weird how that works. So proud of  you, J!

It strikes me as funny that the whole point of this photo shoot was to get pictures of the girls with J in his graduation attire, since the girls couldn't come to graduation.  But it was early morning, and we were asking a lot of the girls.  This is what we ended up with:

Oh well.  

I love these gems of mine!

  

Dr. Olsen is 30!

On Saturday Jonathan graduated from medical school AND turned 30!!

It was so good to be there with him! I am so glad I went. It was a crazy busy two days, with very little sleep. But it was so worth it.

It was so nice that Jonathan's dad could come celebrate with us. And I am so grateful to his mom and sis who watched my girlies so that I could be there.

Jonathan and friend Eric. As you can tell, they love each other. :) We had some great times with Eric and his wife.

Jonathan and friend Mike.

Jonathan's med school BFFs. These guys helped Jonathan so much through med school stress. I will always be grateful for them.

And I love their wives. They were my BFFs.

We love the Van Soests. They are so kind, generous, and thoughtful. He was my dentist. She is the stake YW president and he was in the bishopric. Good, good people.

And the Coggins. Where would we be without them? She was my piano teacher and in YW with me. Jonathan was their home teacher. They adopted their two children and helped me so much with adoption process. They eased our fears, shared in our excitement, and showed us faith in action.

And the Berrys. These kids have been through more than any kids should have to. Yet they stick together and have adapted. We love them.

Larry and I got seated early and when the med students walked in, Jonathan sat just down the row from me. I spent most of the ceremony taking bad pictures of him in a dark auditorium. But at one point I started choking up and felt the tears coming. Not because of the ceremony (that was kind of boring), but because of the realization that we made it! We sat in the same auditorium four years ago, not knowing anyone, and totally intimidated. But we did it. And we still love each other. We have a beautiful family. And awesome friends.

Our time in medical school was very hard and very wonderful. We had our second miscarriage. Jonathan's parents seperated and then divorced. I had a stressful job and Jonathan was often overwhelmed at the enormous amounts of knowledge that he was required to learn. But we adopted Samantha and I got to be full-time mom, the most awesome job in the whole world!! And then we were sealed to her in the Nauvoo temple. Janie came and we had an inspired doctor who knew how to help my body keep her. We now have amazing friends, all over the country. We grew so much together. I learned that the Lord truly is always there for me and I can always trust in Him. I'm so glad that I had this experience with Jonathan.

It's Summertime

This week was hot here in the Valley of the Sun. 96 degrees hot. Good thing we have a new pool! It's a luxury pool with a slide :). The girls were so excited when Jonathan set it up, they could hardly stand just waiting inside until Dad said they could jump in.

I love these swimming suits from Target. They make it so that I have less skin area to cover with sunscreen. Jonathan is really big into sunscreen. I guess seeing skin cancer multiple times in real life would make a person particular that way.

Once the pool was ready, Sami jumped in swam her little heart out. She didn't want to get out, even after she got so cold she was shivering. She LOVES the slide, and wants to go swimming every day. And she will probable get her wish most days this summer. Janie bug thought the water was too cold and watched Sami from the side lines. But as it gets hotter, I think she'll join her sister in the water fun.

Life is so good. Jonathan goes back to Kirksville on Wednesday for his graduation. I will fly out on Friday and come back Sunday morning. For a while I didn't think I would get to go, and I am so grateful that I get to celebrate with him. Jonathan's mom and sister are going to watch the girls for us. It's such a blessing because I think they would really struggle with the traveling and sitting through the ceremony. So we will make our final trip to Missouri this week. And we will be done with school. Forever. Hopefully.

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend we went to Becca and Preston's wedding in Salt Lake. It was a busy weekend, but our girls were amazing! We asked a lot of them and they were troopers.

On Friday morning, at 4 am, we got the girls up. We hoped that they would go back to sleep in the car. They didn't. BUT...they were so good. They watched Elmo and Baby Einstein for 12 hours (they did take a 40 minute nap before lunch). Jonathan rigged his laptop so the girls could see it in the backseat and it saved our trip.

We pulled in to J's dad's condo around 6 pm, got the girls some dinner, and then my old roommate and very dear friend, Jen, came to see us with her family. It was so good to see her!! I haven't seen her in five years and I am so grateful for their sacrifice to come see us. She has three girls and with my two, the kids had a blast running around (literally).

On Saturday morning, we got the girls up and dressed and headed over to the Salt Lake Temple. Jonathan's dad and his wife stayed with the girls while we went to the sealing. Words can't express how good it was to see Becca and her family, to meet Preston and his family, and to meet all the people who love them. The sealing itself was so amazing and beautiful. Of course I cried.

While we waited outside the temple for the happy couple, my Janie girl found her happy place. I am so glad she was able to sleep. Poor little thing was so exhausted that she could hardly walk.

Sami had fun meeting all the people that wanted to say hi. There is such special spirit on the temple grounds.

I love how in love Becca and Preston are. You can see how much they adore each other and how happy they are. It's so romantic. Sigh... And they are such a beautiful couple!!

This is Becca's mom, Mary Ann. Mary Ann is one of our all-time favorite people. She loves the Lord, loves her children and family, and listens to the Spirit in an amazing way. And she loves Sami girl.

When the photographer called Becca's family for pictures, Sami decided to climb up the temple steps and join them. When I realized where she was going, she was almost to Becca. As I ran after her, Becca and her family lovingly invited her to stay. So she got to hold the bride's hand and she felt so special that she wanted to be in all the pictures on the temple steps. It was hard to convince her it was just as fun to stay with Mommy and watch.

After the temple, we went to a gorgeous luncheon in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was on the ninth floor so we had a beautiful view of the temple. The girls got their version of heaven on a plate: chicken nuggets with ketchup, french fries in the form of a smiley face, grapes, and fruit punch with a straw. Later we got a delicious chocolate pie (which was my version of heaven on a plate.) The best part was when the beautiful bride and the new groom came by to say hi.

After the luncheon, we ran back to Larry's condo to get the girls changed and ready for pictures before the reception. I was a little tired and my focus was getting out the door so we wouldn't keep the photographer and the happy couple waiting. So I forgot a hairbrush and hair ties. When we arrived at the reception hall, Jonathan and I looked at Sami and realized her hair was coming out. So I took out her hair band and to my horror, it broke! (I know that's dramatic but that's how I felt.) So I took out Janie's hair and used her hair tie and tried to comb Samantha's hair with my fingers. I felt sick that I didn't bring a curling iron, hairspray, or even a brush! Gratefully Becca's mom let us use their hair spray, but the hair spray only worked for a little while because Sami was so happy that she got a little hyper and started running and jumping all over the place.

Here she is with Becca. Becca was so gorgeous, and so sweet to our little family.

One of our favorite memories was when Becca came over before the reception officially started and sang songs with the girls. It was so cute.

Like I said, Sami got a little hyper. And Janie didn't want to be left out of the fun, so she started running and laughing and jumping. At one point, Sami laid down and started rolling on the floor. We quickly picked her up and explained that that kind of behavior would make her dress dirty. But I was glad that they were happy. Once the reception started, we took them outside for a bit to let them wear off all the energy.

Sami was Becca's flower girl and she got to hold these beautiful flowers. I was pleasantly surprised that I got to wear a corsage and Jonathan got to wear boutonniere. It was so thoughtful and sweet.

Around 8 pm, Janie grew so tired she could hardly stand it. She started into a meltdown that I knew she wouldn't be able to pull herself out of. I was sad that we couldn't stick around for the cake and the dance, but I was so proud of the girls and everything they let us do. It was one the happiest, most beautiful days we've ever had. We felt of everyone's love of us, for Sami, and for the Becca and Preston.

Becca and Preston are a beautiful, wonderful couple. I am so happy for them! I can't wait to see where life leads them!! I am so grateful that we got to be there on this happy, happy day.

(And we came home on Sunday. Once again, the girls were amazing, thanks to unlimited snacks and a few Elmo dvds. It was fun to go and fun to be home. You know what they say, "there's no place like home.")