Christmas Update 2010

Wow! This has been a long year. I can safety say, I'm happy it's over. Tyler and I aren't really liking how time is flying by faster and faster as we grow older, however this years been a hectic one. I'm excited to see 2010 in the past.


If you're a frequent follower of of our blog, you'll most likely already know the ups and downs of this year; from Tyler being unemployed the first part of the year TO our trip to Greece in June. Below are a few 'important' posts from 2010 to catch you up.

RIP Puppycat

A few favorite posts from our Greece trip:
Athens

Santorini

Rhodes
Zakynthos

Norway

A little personal note...

Since I haven't posted much lately, here's a little update for you. Tyler started night school in January. He is studying a certificate program in composite manufacturing at the MATC in American Fork. He was blessed with a job at KLUNE industries in Spanish Fork. He was first hired on a temp, but in August he got on full time and promoted to the department that uses composites. He makes missile wings out of carbon fiber. He likes his job and is excited to be in a field he wants to excel in. He is still at the MATC and we hope he is done by February. Other than work and school he rarely has time for anything else! Tyler also totaled his Honda S2K this summer and we blessed by an even better replacement! So he still enjoys spending any spare time he can find working on his car, or fixing up his garage.

Lacey is still the Event Manager with Synergy WorldWide. She's been there 7.5 years so far. This summer she's began running and enjoying the gym more which keeps her busy while Tyler is at school. She's also been helping out with the youth group at our church (Tyler does too, but only on Sundays now). Life this year has been extremely busy with work -especially travel (Costa Rica, Maui, Las Vegas, & Norway). At least 1-2 weekends a month she works. She loves saving the remaining weekends for lazy Saturday mornings drinking coffee with Tyler.

Life hasn't been too eventful in the 'anything new?' area this year-which is strange because it's been SO BUSY! I think we all need to simplify and slow things down a bit. Which is why I assume next year will bring some changes. Tyler and I just today let the youth pastor of our church know that we are ready to step down from being youth leaders. It's been an amazing 6 years. Watching kids grow from 7th grade to college age has been a life changing experience for us. We wouldn't trade that time and investment for the world. We know God has something incredible for us in store and are just waiting for the doors to open. Keep us in your prayers that God will guide us to what ways he wants us to serve.

It's also been a difficult time with Tyler being gone for school so much. We are very excited for his certificate program to end in February! We are also praying that God leads Tyler in his education. Tyler's tossing the idea around about going back to get his degree-which would be an amazing but difficult journey. We are also looking to get another kitten soon-Tyler's just being picky about what kind. Hopefully you'll be bombarded soon with pictures of a new kitty. This year has been full of adventures, Godly works, family, and friends so we couldn't really ask for more. We have been blessed beyond measure and are eternally grateful to celebrate what Christmas is really all about-that God loved us SO much that he sent his son Jesus to Earth in the most humble way, to be born a of a virgin in a feeding troth. So we might be saved from our life of sin and adopted as a child of God. We truly want to celebrate what Gift God has given us. We pray that God blesses this Christmas season for you as well.

Many Christmas Blessings,
Tyler & Lacey Olsen

1st Blog Book Done!

I'm so excited to have finished my first blog book. I first started blogging 2 years ago when my friend Ashley informed me that a blog can act as a digital scrapbook. Since traditional scrapbooking sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me, you can imagine how fast I started my account with Blogger.

I loved going through the my first posts on my blog. I love how the first few posts were random and a little boring. Since then I think they have gotten better since I adopted the saying "Make Every Day A Blog Worthy Day". Ha ha, okay maybe I don't say that too often, but I do try to capture precious moments with friends, family, and a little of every day life including some randomness. What's life without a little randomness ;). I do have to add, that Tyler does not like the saying "Make Every Day A Blog Worthy Day". I think the photos get on his nerves :).

I wish I could have spent a little more time customizing my blog. However I do not like scrapbooking, so I didn't want to spend months on it. Plus, I'm too cheap and I wanted to take advantage of the $40 off coupon code (BLOG2010 on Blurb). I was able to get a really nice 152 page, 8x10, image wrap hardcover book and only paid $20. Yay!

I can't wait to get our book, so in the meantime I hope you enjoy the sneak peak.

This Is Our Life by Tyler and Lacey Olsen | Make Your Own Book

Rest in Peace PuppyCat

Our baby-PuppyCat passed away in March this year. I've put off posting about him because Tyler has made this way cute video about all of our fun times with him. He was the best kitty ever! He loved Tyler SOOOO much. I don't know if we'll ever find another kitty like him (but I'll try ;).

As Tyler was researching cat memorial videos, all the ones he found were so sad and depressing it almost made him not want to do it. However we decided that Puppy was such a happy blessing in our lives, we still wanted to make him a tribute video, but it would describe how we feel about him. We love this video. It makes us so happy (and sad) at the same time. He makes me laugh still. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.




Here are a few of my favorite photos of Puppy.



We miss him so much. It was really hard for us. He was like a child. He was always so happy to see us. He was so curious. He had such a personality!

Wierd Puppy

So I was getting ready one morning in the bathroom. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something furry move above me on the top of the cabinet. I got a little freaked out and when I looked up...I saw this:

Silly puppy.

Christmas Update

A lot has happened this year, and it feels like it all happened so fast. It feels like Christmas 08 was just here. If you don't see Tyler and Lacey a lot or just want a run down of the year, here is an update for you all.

Tyler is in the process of looking for a job, he was laid off in November. God has blessed him incredibly with side jobs and possible job openings. He's just waiting now for God to open the door to a new job-wherever he is supposed to be. In the meantime, he has improved his skill at installing windows with their awesome cousin Jason. He has also helped out a little at his Dad's laundry mat being a handyman. For being laid off, he hasn't had a chance to get bored. Tyler is very excited to start classes in January. He is going to learn how to make composites...his goal is to make car parts!

Outside of work, Tyler has been working hard all year on his Honda Prelude. He was able to race it quite a bit this summer. He is also really itching for a video camera (definitely not Christmas present scale). He has been researching making videos and still loves it. This fall he has spent a lot of time getting his garage in order. It looks so nice! He cleaned it all out, mudded, painted, etc. It's a whole new garage! He is also going to work more on the kitchen this winter. Yay!

Lacey was promoted to Events Manager this year. Work is getting busier and busier! She just returned from Japan in November and is headed to Costa Rica in January. She received her CMP in July and will finish the remaining class at Salt Lake Community College in March. After that--all done!

Lacey is still going to coffee once a week with Abby. God has blessed her so much with a new friend! The highlight of the year had to be the release of New Moon! However, she's only seen it twice so far. She always has her nose in a book. The Tale of Two Cities actually turned out to be quite good even if it took SOOOO long to read. She has a new favorite series-The Hunger Games- and is completely obsessed with it. She also read The Host and loved it too! Right now she is working on Jane Austen's unpublished works.-specifically Sandition. Photography has been very busy this winter and she can't wait to show you all the amazing photos of all of her amazing friends! Tyler and Lacey are still volunteering with the churches youth group. Those kids are so great. They love serving them and learning from them and hope to give them someone to look up to.

Puppy cat is adorable as always. He lost the weight from last year with the help of our new automatic feeder. It's amazing! They suggest it to everyone with a cat! They have tortured him quite a bit this Christmas with different outfits.

We love you all and pray that God blesses you this Christmas!

Tyler, Lacey and Puppy Cat Olsen

Can I transport myself back to the time of Jane Austen?

I guess not, but I'll try my hardest. As some of you know, I'm designing the back bedroom of our house to be my office (I'm thinking more of a small version of Belle's library in Beauty and the Beast with a late 18th century feel). I want it to be more of a Sitting Room :). I'm so excited to get this done! It will probably take a while-saving up the money and all. Thanks to my overtime from the last event, I was able to get a few more pieces!

Below you'll see one of the chairs that will be in the room-I'm going for that classic pattern and floral look. Tyler's parents got me the chair for my birthday, and I just got the cover and a cute pillow to go with.

As you can see, Puppy has already taken a liking to it. I can't wait for the rest!

Cute Puppy

Just another cute picture of our little boy...PuppyCat

Here's to 2009!

We brought in the New Year with a Bash! I cooked all day on Wednesday, and everything turned out great. Here's a pic of all the food. I think I'll scale it down for the Anti-superbowl party coming up.

We invited basically everyone we knew over and had a ton of fun! We played HorsePigCatDog on the pool table, foosball, played on the climbing wall, rockband (it took over the super nintendo this year-but no worries, I'm making up for it), and a ton of other stuff was going on.


Tyler, Justin, and Steve. Two of his oldest friends.

Even Puppy got dressed up for the night:

Christmas Update

I can't believe it's Christmas already! It seems like this year flew by sooo fast. Here's a quick Christmas update for you.

Tyler is still a Supervisor at Healthy Choice Vending. After working in the vending business for so long, it seems like a second nature to him. He does so well at it. He is still trying to decide what he wants to do though:). He was working on purchasing a Machine Shop, but that fell through, so on to the next project. He is currently looking into making Carbon Fiber Honda S2000 parts and selling them.

For fun Tyler is really enjoying making videos. He's created a few videos already. The one he is working on right now is a Rollerblading video of him and a few of his skate buddies. It has turned out really well! Hopefully we'll be posting it on here for all of you to see. Also taking up a lot of his time right now are home improvements. We're working on the kitchen right now. Tyler took down our awful drop ceiling and fluorescents and put in recessed lights and a new ceiling. It looks awesome!

Lacey is still working at Synergy WorldWide as the Event Planner. She has been really busy this fall with 3-4 events in a row. She also started school this fall to get her certification in Event Management at Salt Lake Community College. This will take a few years since it is only part time, but it has been fun. She is also working on getting her Certified Meeting Professional Certification with MPI this July. Spring will hold a lot of studying for her.

Lacey's hobbies include hanging out with some of her best friends. She's been able to have a few get togethers with Alisha and Ashley (friends all the way back to elementary). Every week she also gets Coffee (or sees Twilight) with her friend Abby. Lacey is always reading. Mostly Twilight lately, but she's still plugging away at A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Lacey is still doing photography on the side, not too much of it, but enough to keep up the skill. She still needs to update her photography website for this year, we'll let you know when it gets done.

Last but not least, Puppy Cat is doing well. He is really really fat lately. We think he ate too much when we were in Costa Rica last month. He's been on a torturous diet lately poor thing. He has a new friend/enemy that continues to encroach on his territory. Mr. Sophie welcomes himself into our home and to our food if we leave the door open long enough for him to sneak in. He's a really nice stray cat. I am currently in the planning process of how I can convince Tyler to keep him.

Anyway, sorry for the book. We wish you all a very safe and Happy Christmas. Jesus loves you all!

God Bless,
Tyler, Lacey and Puppy-Cat Olsen

Santa Claus

Today we met up with our friends Nick, Natalie, and their kitty Shrute. We all went to go visit Santa. It was a great activity and I think the kitties liked getting out of the house...well maybe not so much. But they enjoyed hanging out on Santa's lap and rambling off all the things they want :high potency cat nip(for Puppy-Schrute is immune), squeaky balls, and jingly toys. Puppy asked specifically for Dad not to buy the reindeer antlers that Tyler made him try on. Anyway, it was fun.

From L to R: Lacey, Tyler, Puppy, Santa, Schrute, Natalie, Nick.

Yay New Furniture

I about jumped from our moving car today as we were pulling up into our driveway, our neighbors were selling this beautiful piece of furniture. It is gorgeous. We got it for a great deal too! We love it so much, and it brings some desperately needed color into our living room!

Puppy thoroughly enjoyed this addition to our house. He spent quite a bit of time exploring it. I think it may be one of his new favorite places to hide under.

Carmel Apples, Pumkin Fairies, and the Dakota O'latern

So tonight was pretty fun. We love Oreo caramel apples and pumpkin seeds! The night started making these great treats!



Then the cutest little pumpkin fairy stopped by, escorted by a cop. They were so cute!


By that time, the Dakota O'latern was already in progress. Then Dakota and my Mom stopped by. The pumpkin was a surprise, so we turned off the lights to show them the pumpkin. Dakota was so surprised. It took him like 5 seconds-really fast- and he yelled out "That's Me". It was great!


We got to hang out with them for a little bit and had a lot of fun.




Of course we had to dress Puppy up. He was a Spider again this year...I think next year he'll be a bat! We didn't torture him too long with the costume, but he had to wear it at least a little bit ;)


Next Corinne came over and hung out while Tyler perfected the Dakota O'latern. We ate caramel apples, pumpkins seeds, and sipped our coffee. It was fun. And the highlight of the night? The Dakota O'latern of course. Look how awesome it turned out!


And to think, this was Tyler's first time carving a pumpkin...I think he has a future in the art for sure.

Like Father, like Puppy

So there is an odd thing that Tyler and I both do-and we've done it since we were little. I would always sit over the heater vent to warm myself up. Tyler would always sit against it in the mornings growing up. We were getting ready for bed one night and saw puppy laying up against the heater vent. You can tell he was loving the warm air! It was really cute.

Puppy kitty...

Isn't our baby cute!

The best part of waking up..

I love waking up to this. It's rare I can grab the camera and take a picture without them waking up.

Our litle baby

Puppy was taking a nap last night, and he looked so cute. So Tyler made me grab the camera to take a few photos of him.

He loves curling up on his little scratching tower. As you can see he is a little to big for it, but thats not stopping him. I remember when he was so little in it.





I think we started bugging him, so he moved onto the floor. This gave me an opportunity to take a picture of the 'Q' on his side. Its on both sides. A really fun marking.

Lacey through a baby fit??

I think those people giving away baby kittens should...well actually i have no idea what they should do. I just know when I see them, i just want a new baby kitty so bad! Of course we saw them today and I stopped to 'just look'. They were soooo cute and small and cuddly, and their little meow is heart stopping. I tried to beg Tyler to let me get another kitty. All the way through WalMart I begged and begged. I think I even worked up a few tears. Poor Tyler had to suffer through being the responsible one.

Tyler says that I am obsessed with kittys. Sad to say, but I really wouldn't mind being the cat lady-cleaner than reputation allow though. I could be happy with a few more cats running around.

In the end, we decided to get PuppyCat a bandanna. Poor Puppy, he is such a good sport. And don't get me wrong, I love Puppy, but you know the temptation of a baby kitten!

Here's Puppy sporting his new look...

King Puppy Tut

Tyler had a little fun with Puppy Cat tonight. He fashioned a king tut hat out of aluminum foil and forced our little cat into humiliation. You can see it in his expression.
He's cute though! He always puts up with Tyler and all of his odd ideas. Wonder how he still loves Tyler more than me, lol.

Okay, they're both cute

Puppy Cat

I woke up this morning to see our little kitty PuppyCat laying on Tylers chest with his head tucked in Tys neck. He loves Tyler so much-it's cute. Every morning he hops in the bathtub and waits for us to turn the water on to a drip so that he can drink it. Odd but a tradition.

We've been watching him play outside lately. He's so funny. He loves sitting in the gutter or behind our bush and waiting for people to pass-then he pounces. After he lets them pet him, he rolls around on his back and then does it all over again. He's not afraid of anyone. Our neighbors even told us they saw him going after some dogs last weekend. I do wish he was more afraid of cars though. We walks slowly across the street like its no big deal. He also knows when we are about to leave-he gets right behind our car and rolls around until we scare him off-little stinker.

Puppys First Birthday


Puppy with Mom and Dad on Halloween. He was a SpiderPup.