Matt's 30!

The weekend before Matt's 30th we had an Olsen/Isenbarger Ice Skating Party! Lots of fun, and lots of cake!

Com'n ride the train.

We love each other.

And we love the Isenbargers.

On the actual day of Matt's birth we were in Cincinnati looking at homes. We liked a few and loved one... So we bought it!

Casa de Olsen

Happy Birthday Matty! You got the girl, education, job and house all just under 30! Watch out American Dream, here comes Matt!

Our Month-long, Everywhere Christmas.

First of all, I think it should be known that we drove out to see our families over the holidays. We DROVE from Indiana, to California, to Utah, to Montana, to Fargo, and then back to Indiana. That is 4,759 miles of driving! Most of which Matt drove, bless his heart.

Our first stop was California. It snowed the entire drive out, even through Texas! It even snowed in L.A. just after we left. We had a great time in my home town. My mom took us all to see A Christmas Carol at the Glendale Theatre. It is such a fun production! The theatre is small with seating all around the stage. People were dancing in circles and singing in the isles, it was so great! After the play all the actors sing carols as you walk out and a bubble machine makes "snow".

A few days later we made Matt sit through my old Ballet studio's production of the Nutcracker too! He did so good. My cousin Sydnee was Clara and she did awesome! Being able to see my old dance teachers and having Matt there was really special to me.

We spent Christmas Eve at my Mom's house and feasted! We spent the night there with my brother Richie's family so we could be together Christmas morning.

We went to Disneyland with my brothers family, Travis and my Dad. The highlight of the day was watching Issac (my nephew) build his dream remote control car! He was so cute and even claimed that this "was the best day of his life." Haha, gotta love him.

We extend our California stay so we could have New Years Eve in warmer weather. We went out to dinner with the Budingers and Mcgees then went to the Swainston's house for a little celebrating.

We only spent a couple days in Utah. It was just enough time to have a day in the mountains, have an early anniversary at the Grand America and get some Cafe Rio with Chris and Randi.

We got to Montana later than planned but the storm that was there was right on time. I was so afraid driving through the mountains and trees in the dark, but to Matt it looked the second nature! Must be the North Dakota in him. I don't know what a California girl would do without her midwestern man. Well the next morning I learned! I drove Matt's mother's truck (Matt was in his car) from Bozeman to Fargo while it snowed the entire day. Although I almost started crying, I survived unscathed! But I'd rather not do that ever again if I can help it. I still need my midwestern man.

I love going to visit Fargo! Matt's parents gave us a belated Christmas morning the day we arrived. I'm so grateful for my breadmaker and kitchen knives! But I have to say my favorite is always the North Dakota treat, chippers. I think the most notable events of our weekend there were playing Wits & Wagers with Leeser, Seeing Matt do Yoga, and seeing the NDSU production of Forever Plaid! I had always seen flyers for that play around the theaters I've been to but never once bought tickets. Well I'm glad the Olsens know what they are talking about when it comes to Theater because the show was so great! I found my self with a silly smile across my face the entire show. If you haven't seen it, do!

And that's that. Our Christmas break in a little nut shell. Sorry about the lack of pictures, we are trying to be more snap happy.

Grand Cayman Thanksgiving

This trip was amazing! 20 something of our family and friends stayed in condos lined up right on the beach for the entire week. Pure Bliss!

When we arrived at our condo sunday night my amazing aunt Elaine had already stocked all 5 condos with food and supplies so all we had to do was put our bare feet in the sand and smell the warm salty air. She is such a gem.

Our typical morning in Grand Cayman began with slathering the SPF 30 on our white bodies and laying the heck out!

At around noon I got to put my SCUBA diving license to good use. 2 boats would pull up right to our beach to pick up our 12 divers and off we went! This was my first dive in tropical waters and I am hooked! In my life I have been sky diving, hang gliding, para sailing, and bungee jumping. Scuba diving in the Cayman Islands has topped all of those events! 100 feet under water and I was in absolute heaven. We swam through caves and were surrounded by beautiful colors and fish I've never seen before. We took our fins off and walked on sand 50 feet underwater! It was incredible, I can't believe that I got to have this experience for 4 straight days!

Since Matt is an MBA student he didn't have time to get his diving certification. So while I was gone Matt would take the jet ski out, snorkle around the reef and went to the turtle farm with the rest of my family.

At nights we would go on a walk down the beach and watch the sunset.

That amazing Aunt Elaine I mentioned earlier... She is a culinary artist and would put her skills to use every night for us! We ate delicious hamburgers, homemade pizzas, juicy steaks and fresh lobster. We are so lucky to have her.

A few nights after dinner we went to the local out-door mall. It was a fun place to walk around. They had a huge Christmas tree up and along the shopping boulevard the had christmas lights and snow machines blowing! They had a discovery center there and just outside of the store doors there was this bouncy bench thing we played on. Everyone on the island had enjoyed it for 5 years. That is until the Masons got ahold of it...

It snapped about 30 seconds later...

Thanksgiving Day in the Caymans was a blast! We all piled in rented vans and drove out to my Aunt Elaine and Dick's house on the other side of the Island.

I hadn't been there in quite a few years, it was sad to see her Beautiful dock gone after the hurricane came a few years ago.

While we finishing up with cooking, my boy cousins found this huge bug and kept pushing it in people's faces! They had everyone on the beach screaming like a little girl. We sat down to eat just as the sun was setting on the beach. Matt could hardly believe that he was eating mashed potatoes and gravy with his feet in the warm sand. After dinner we played games and goofed around and picked coconuts.

On our last day in the Caymans we went to Sting Ray City! Since there were so many of us, my uncles chartered a boat to take us there instead of going with the traditional tour group. It was awesome and ended up being almost half the price. We shipped off to sea in the late afternoon. Our first stop was a shallow spot where Conch were littered all over the ocean floor. We got to dive in the water with our snorkel gear and collect as many as we could find! The water was just shallow enough to dive to the bottom, grab the shell, and swim back up in one breath. Our Philippino captain picked the best ten conch and threw the rest back into the ocean.

When we arrived at Sting Ray City we were the only ones there! It was late enough in the day that all the tourists had gone home so we had all the sting rays to ourself! Sting Ray City is basically a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. But since the 1800's fisherman have been stopping here to clean their fish and throw the guts overboard. It turns out what my old Bishop used to say, "if you feed them, they will come," holds true! So although the sting rays are wild-with stingers and everything- they have been around humans for a very long time and have learned to play nice. Literally within seconds of the first person stepping in the water they started swarming! They would brush up against our legs, and swim up onto our backs! It was hard not to scream and run! But if you ran youwould risk stepping on a stinger! The lady helping on our boat even knew a few of them by name and would introduce us, haha. She made Matt kiss a pregnant one! They gave us pieces of squid to feed the sting rays. But we were given very strict warning to keep our thumbs tucked in while we fed them. Their mouths could suck up stronger than a vacuum! Grandma Higginson got a hickey on her hand from one of them!

When we climbed back into the boat we found our captain chopping up the animal that was inside the conch and making a dip out of it! He said that lime juice cooks it and the tomatoes, onions and worcheshire sauce make it delicious.So we all dipped our saltine crackers in and tried it! I loved it! It tasted similar to ceviche. I was only nervous to try it because he was wiping his knife with his t-shirt.

We sailed back to the dock just as the sun expired.

What a trip!

Marathon Man!

He did it!!! 26 miles in 80 degrees!

California Summer

Fourth of July

 Disneyland

Our Wedding Video

Thanks to the talented and handsome Eli Baird, here is our wedding video. And a big thanks to all of you who made the day so much fun!

Greece teaser :)

Ok, so it's been a couple weeks since we posted. Since then we've been to Amsterdam, Paris, and Greece; with more to come on each. But for now here's a sneak peak of Santorini.