Ring out, Wild bells

As the the new year approaches, those wild bells begin to ring out. We come to anew our journey persue. And the fugitive moment refuses to stay. Indeed, the year is dying in the night. But not yet. We still have a few days left in 2007.

We hope that everyone had a fantastic holiday season. Our thoughts were with you, our family, and meanwhile Ashley's family was with us.
We are going to start posting our adventures on our other blog so friends, etc can stay informed as our family grows and our escapades continue. Thus I have added the quick links section on the right hand side of the page. Free to check it out when you long to know what is going on in Richmond, and to read about our holiday hi jinx. If there are any other links that you wish to be added, let me know.

Here for your viewing pleasure is a little place I call Times Square- ever heard of it? But thanks to everyone for making this holiday season so special. We felt love from everybody and appreciated gifts and phone calls.

As you can see, the blog template has been updated to the New Year/Winter edition. Lets see... anything else? Nope, I don't think so. Thanks bloggers for your participation, communication, and dedication. Mark Olsen out!

strictly business

On behalf of Kristi and myself, we would like to welcome everyone into the Christmas season of 2007. With Christmas nearly here, it's time to make a few announcements regarding the annual program that will take place on the eve of the 24th:
This year's program is going to be a little different, but don't worry, we will guide you through it. We are going to be asking for participation from more members of the family than in previous years. So far, here is who we believe will be joining us for this wonderful evening: Mom; Dad; Jeannette; Heidi, Jarom and fam (Heidi, are you expecting your inlaws to come?); (Me); Kristi and Cade; Kelli; Danny; Kurt. Please let us know if there are any mistakes here. We will be contacting you on an individual basis in the very near future to let you know your assignment. It would be very great if you could practice and prepare a little. But above all, please do not discuss or disclose any information regarding the program with anyone else.
Wishing you a very merry Christmas,
Mer and Kristi
Event planners

a hamburger is

Just in case our family of bloggers is interested, We are moving on saturday or monday to our new home, aka, still no door to our bedroom, but closer than our current house. also, we hope we sell our contract so we don't pay two rents. even though it would be like we had a really nice place, but really we'd just be paying for two different places not one nice one. (just like my camera i got for christmas last year, its like i got a really nice one, but i really just got two cheaper ones)
peace out one and all,
humbug humbug
MERRY CHRISTMAS

Happy Birthday, Jeannette

OK bloggers listen up. This is Mark Olsen, east coast correspondent, checking in with the latest news on music, fashion, and popular culture that my fans and followers have been anticipating:

First item of business- Happy Birthday, Jeannette. I thought of you today as your name entered our home in the form of a popular Christmas carol. (Bring a torch! Jeannette is a bell, uh...)

OK next: some chirstmas hints for us. Ashley just fell asleep, so I will go out on a limb and say we want..........socks. Yep, socks. Stripes, plaids, argyles, spots, you name it. Of course I refer to the thinner dress sock, not an athletic sock. Also, a harmonica, DVD surround sound system, antacids.... on second thought, bloggers, I think it would be best if I finished this list with a little supervision. This seems to be going downhill.

I have a job interview tomorrow. Ha. I'm hoping to make it big in the world of seasonal telemarketing. I'm so nervous-psych. I should be fine if I remeber all my loyal readers rooting for me.

We did have a busy week. Ashley hosted a small part at our house on thurs, I had my last exam on fri, we had ward christmas party that night where we were in charge of the Germany room for Christmas around the world (I made some "paperhosen"), then on Saturday we had a christmas breakfast/white elephant with all the ward mission leaders in the stake; it would have been good to brush up on our "old people" humor a little bit. Oh well. The gift we came away with was some lame picture frame. Taking a risk, we tried to return it to Bed Bath and Beyond and were pleased through some glitch in their system to get $20! To the victor go the spoils indeed.
Welp, as you can see, the blog has been updated with a hip holiday look to keep up with other internet giants such as Google, Myspace, and Ebay. We anticipate a great season for ratings.
Alright kids, you'll have to wait until next time to hear about our zany adventures, reflective musings, and sage advice. Thanks for tuning in to the olsen-est URL ever invented. Mark Olsen out!

Christmas/birthday list

I'm home sick today, and I was talking to mom (calling mom when your sick, and having her be there to talk to you is so great, by the way), and she reminded me to post my Christmas list. So, here it is, in no particular order. Feel free to give gifts in installments, if necessary! j/k

(ok, how sad is that, my first post is a Christmas list!)

earings/necklaces/rings --basically any jewelry
yummy smelling lotion
lip stuff (the cool kind from bath and body works)
a temple bag
scripture case
trip to disneyland :)
weekend getaway to Heidi's house
any exercise stuff (jacket/pants/socks/earwarmer)
Rascal Flat CD (the one I own is "me and my gang")
computer lessons :)
recipes/recipe books
a good(non rusty) 9x13 pan
a good book
time with any of my family members
a piano--j/k
a nice card with a nice note
peace on earth

oh one more thing, as most of you know I enjoy celebrating the season with Krandall the Christmas beard.... Here is your update.

The most wonderful time of the year

Well well well, this blogging seems to be going wonderfully. Andrea and I have our own good news to announce.... at work andrea won the contest of the day and received "Transformers" for her efforts. She also got the top grade in her class on a presentation and therefore is exempt from taking the final in class. Great news for everyone. With that said, one week of school left and then its party time. We will have a party in my honor on saturday Dec. 15 and as are true of all olsen parties a good time will be had by all. I think that is all for now. Blog on one and all

A contest

What should the caption be? Submit your ideas in the comments!
Winners will be announced sometime.

The Party Post Three-peat

Now all other bloggers have got to admit that the Olsens Blog parties the hardiest!

ps- a christmas miracle: we got our channels back- now digital!
pss- a christmas menace: static cling on clothes. yuck!

Katherine's Party

Well, as you can probably imagine, Katherine's Princess party at Grandma Ricks's house was amazing to behold.

There were Games:

(stick the tail on the donkey)(and drop the clothespin from the height of your nose)Katherine felt like the Queen of the Day!

Lets not forget the Presents!!



Or, The CAKE!!!



Also, there were more presents on Sunday!


Overall, I'd say a good time was had by all!
(although Kristi and Kelli weren't thrilled with playing games).
And sorry, I really tried to get the pictures to be side by side (they are when I edit it and preview it, just not when it posts) so any info on how to make it not really really long would be nice.

Jeannette's very surprise Birthday!

Well, for all of you who didn't come or know, we had a surprise birthday party for Jeannette on Sunday. She came with the family to my house for a Katherine birthday dinner. On the way home she was riding with dad and he "needed" to pick up a check from Aunt Sue. They also had to stop and get gas on the way. Well, right after they left, we gathered things and left and went on the freeway to get to aunt sue's before them. When Jeannette got there Sue's fam, Greg's fam, us, and the Niedfeldts were all waiting in the family room and kitchen. Uncle Mckay answered the door and said "Jeannette! What a surprise to see you!" She and dad came in and when we all
said "Surprise!!" and started singing, you could
see it processing that there were a lot of
people there and they were all sining to her! It was so great!! I wish I'd had a picture of her face, but I do have video, as does mom. Well, as you can see from the pictures, it was a great success.

Party Pics!

Well, as you can see, the party was a success!

Frrrrrrrosted Windowpanes...

Hi there bloggers. Mark Olsen here, the beast from the east with another edition of tips and tricks, haps and snaps from richmond, Va. I know everyone has been wondering: "Mark and Ashley, when in the heck are you going to put up that darn Christmas tree?" (pardon my french). We did. Yesterday we got an appropriately-sized tree that we named "Stubbs" and decorated him-I mean it- today before the devosh. Fantastic. He sure is a thirsty little guy. Ha. Also, I'm sure you have all heard the rumors about Ashley's baby shower. Yes, she had it on Friday night and yes, a good time was had by all. She had a lot of friends that were generous and gave some cute outfits, onesies, blankies, dipees, binkies, and stinkies. Because the circle of friends grows so large in this ward the girls had it the club house of our apartment complex, and there was plenty of hot chocolate, chicken salad on croissants, pasta salad, and bread salad. How neat! Actually, not enough for me to have left overs, so almost plenty of food :(

On a lighter note, I have 5 days of school left, which should be nice. I am trying to find some type of part time job for December (maybe Baby Gap), but I guess nobody appreciates true greatness. Too bad.

In other news, Ashley is back with her Beau after being away out west for 2 weeks, and Lanie, Beau's mom, is having a girl at the end of the month. Which reminds me: Ashley will be 33 weeks on friday. This is the real deal, folks. I mean, this is legit. For real.

As you can tell, things are picking up into full gear for holiday season, and we hope you all are doing well. Until next time, fans and followers, Mark Olsen out!

Oh one last thing: I was a migrant worker for Halloween. Sorry so many pics.