Happy Easter | 2015

Gorgeous Easter weekend celebrating with traditions. We dyed 3 dozen eggs and they were gone in a little over a week. They LOVE hard boiled eggs! Egg salad or just plain! 

Parker mastered the "ugly egg" this year perfectly! This is an Olson tradition that daddy brought to the family. He always combined the last of the colors to see if he could make a black/brown egg. This year we did!

This was the first year that silly bunny hid eggs outside. It was 11 degrees out and both boys had their Christmas jammies on! Emmitt was even in footie jammies!  

Another tradition is black jelly beans. We all love them! I ended up taking the leftover candy to work and I was surprised to see how many coworkers picked out and ate the black jelly beans too. You either love them or hate them..YUM!

I think they actually counted how many eggs they found...60 some a piece! LOTS of eggs and through out the week they would spot more! A few in a shoe or a drawer tucked away!

We headed out to Ray to Papa and Grandma's. It wouldn't be complete without a little more sugar! Mom made a lemon dessert with sticky frosting that was amazing! We had an egg hunt out there also. A little different and we all had to find 26 eggs, each with a letter of the alphabet on it. The "N" eluded us until Grandma called later to tell us she finally found it!

And since we got all dressed up it would be complete without Easter pics. I needed some newbies for the wall! Papa said it best, "they look so innocent here." When I was previously telling them to stop throwing rocks and whacking each other with sticks. The dirty knees show they were up to no good prior to the picture. Boys! Gotta love them.

On April 3rd we celebrated 18 years together. 18 years since our first date. It's been a crazy fun ride and I cannot imagine it with anyone else.

Oh Emmitt Jon...growing so tall and so fast! He truly hit a growth spurt this year and isn't much shorter than Parker. He's losing that baby look and beginning to look more and more like a big boy. His laugh still comes through in the pics. He has the BEST giggle and it comes freely. Don't ever stop little man.

And this one!? WHEN did he get so grown up looking. His hair is a daily battle with dad. I like it! He's made a deal with us...if he keeps it out of his face he can keep it long. There are mornings he needs to wet it down and has learned how to operate the blow dryer. While I was taking these pics my mom even told him he was "acting like a teenager." And she was right...some of his mannerisms and expressions were very grown up.

Young Living NEW 5-Day Nutritive Cleanse

It's HEEEERRRREEE! My NEW 5-Day Nutritive Cleanse by Young Living has arrived! I had to jump in and read all the info to prepare for tomorrow!! Barrett and I are both going to be doing this for the next 5 days! I am excited to kick start my metabolism, curb my cravings and lose some weight! I'll be posting video diaries for each day so you can follow along on our journey! Here's hoping we aren't totally crabby and angry with each other the whole 5 days. I think not eating real food may actually be the scariest part of this whole thing. But I love that we are going to try it together!

For all of the cleanse videos, visit: 

Day FIVE: http://becknbear.blogspot.com/2015/01/young-living-new-5-day-nutritive_10.html

Day FOUR: http://becknbear.blogspot.com/2015/01/young-living-new-5-day-nutritive_9.html

Day THREE: http://becknbear.blogspot.com/2015/01/young-living-new-5-day-nutritive_8.html

Day TWO: http://becknbear.blogspot.com/2015/01/young-living-new-5-day-nutritive_7.html

Day ONE Evening: http://becknbear.blogspot.com/2015/01/young-living-new-5-day-nutritive_6.html

Day ONE Morning: http://becknbear.blogspot.com/2015/01/young-living-new-5-day-nutritive.html

Happy New Year from the Olson's! Cheers to 2015! May it be just as FUN!

"Vegas Vow Renewal"

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We were blessed to have Kim join us for this wedding. Rich and Kim are two great friends who witnessed for us. Along with Rachel and Shawn. Every 10 years we plan to recommit to each other and celebrate somewhere new. Even with this time around being with Elvis, when you take your life partners hands in your own and say those special words, it does something to you and your relationship. As funny as this experience was, we both got a bit choked up. We don't take time for date night as often as we should and when we do, we do it big! We take our frustrations with life out on our easiest target...our spouse. But we really are each others best friends, our life partners, our therapists and the other half to complete ourselves. We've known since the moment we met, we had something special. It's hard work and we knew it 15 years ago when we met and 10 years ago when we married each other. It'll be hard work 50 years from now and we both know that. Those bumps in the road are what make it exciting!

The 10 Year Vow Renewal Elvis Style

The Renewal...Every 10 Years in a New Location

The Place:
The Date: 2/27/12 @ 6 pm
The Dress:

The Package:

Elvis "MEMORIES" - $195

"Elvis" will Sing 2 Songs of his choice

1 rose presentation for the bride (fresh rose)

"Elvis" will walk the bride down the aisle.

Special "Elvis Vows" will be included.

CD of 20 high resolution digital photos

Complimentary Limousine for 6 people. (from and to your hotel)

The reason: why not recommit to each other? Show each other that we would in fact marry each other over and over again. So every ten years, we plan to renew our vows somewhere different. This 10, I picked Vegas with Elvis. It is sure to be full of laughs. A special addition to this "wedding" is that Kim will be there. Her and Richie weren't married or even together when we had our "first" wedding. So this time, she'll be there. So when we return next week I will be Mrs. Olson Olson!
The guys want to see Criss Angel. And Kim has some crazy bucket list that involves zip lining. So we plan to zipline down Fremont street at night under the lights. And a few hour trip to a canyon somewhere to zipline for miles. And of course gamble. Wish us LUCK on all our adventures.
Vegas Baby!

the day we played hookie

Bear and I played hookie from work a couple of weeks ago. He asked me on a day date and we went out ice fishing. We dropped the kids off at daycare and headed out. Bear offered to pack the lunch and I simply said whatever you pack, I'll eat. We grabbed some supplies from the bait shop and tried to find a solid ice road. The first road was not what we considered safe so we went out past Island View.

We got a good ways out on the ice by carefully steering to keep the truck in the previous trucks ruts. We finally see a few houses and trucks and breathe a sigh of relief. Bear decides to pull off and set up. Well he pulled off the road a little too early and we got stuck. A bit of panic sets in for me as I hang my head out the open window wondering what the heck we do next. A few minutes of rocking the truck back and forth and we see another truck coming up behind us and the nice stranger offers to pull us out. THANK YOU NICE MAN! We go approximately another 25 yards and it's the glare sheet of ice that we should have pulled off on...not the 2 feet of slush that pulls you all over the place! Griswolds.

We decided not to set up the fish house, it was gorgeous out, a little windy, but nice enough to stand on the ice all day. Bear drills the holes for us, baits our hooks and we wait. Literally, we wait all day. I got one bite, didn't set the hook properly and the fish got away. That was the only bite all.day.long.

The hubs clearly enjoying his day date with his wife. He served me PB&J sandwiches and FunYuns. It was perfect. I had to "make" the lunch he packed but it was still perfect. We ate sunflower seeds all day and spit the shells on the ice. We would hang out in the truck if the wind got too cold. We would sit and watch the lines for any action.

The queen hanging out on her throne.

Since we didn't use the minnows what else do you do with them? You have two options: 1) dump them down the hole for the fish to eat for free and reward them for not biting our hook or 2) take the home for your kids and let them play with them in the tub until they all die. We obviously picked option 2.

When the minnows "went to sleep" we would just flush them. It was hours of fun.

Even though we didn't catch any fish, we had a great day spending time together, talking without interruptions and simply hanging out. We forget how important it is to do, but so worth it when the rare moment comes along.

14 years ago today...

14 years ago today...a super hot guy got down on one knee if front of the Rainy River Community College library and asked me for my number...ahhhh.

My favorite picture of the season

Because we are the Griswold family, Santa must have thought these shirts were just too perfect to pass up! And I love being married to Clark Griswold!

I know I'm spoiled, but...

I know I'm spoiled, but...doesn't it count for something when I admit it?

My Milo and the hubs mounted my shelves for me in the basement. There is not much that I love more than these two guys...but organization comes a close second.

After the "shit-geyser" went off July 1st, my basement was totally trashed. The new carpet went down in August. Then the dehumidifier quick sucking moisture out of the air but continued to run day and night. Bear and I both always thought the other person was dumping it out, when in fact neither of us was. Then the day came that I went to move the furniture back into the newly carpeted area and realized it was all covered in a fine layer of moldy fuzz.
(insert freak out moment here)

So the craziness began. I tore everything out of my laundry area. Sprayed every crevice of it with mold resistant cleaner, scrubbed, scoured and removed all particles of dirt, debris and mildew. Then enlisted Regan to help me paint my floor, complete with speckles. That took us about 45 minutes. Then I made the guys move my deep chest freezer (totally full of meat), not once, twice, but three times! Then I realized that I totally needed to paint the walls a fresh coat of white complete with mildew resistant additive. Then I wondered why the heck I painted the floor first? 10 drop clothes later and I was on my way to painting. I painted the basement walls the month of November. The hubs was hunting so at nap time and bedtime. I would pour a glass of wine, change into my painting clothes and head down to the dungeon.

Then I drew a map, yes a map of where I wanted shelves to go. I needed to get things off the floor in case the city sewer decides to come into my house again. Then I took my little map (5 pages) to Menards with 2 kids and batted my eyes at some poor kid and made him help me load up my cart and then the car. I drove through town with my hatch open, the little red flag a waving out the back and told the kids to hang on to the shelves!

Then Milo and Barrett spent a weekend doing this for me...spoiled I know.2 shelves for all our canned goods. The empty jars will be replaced with food from next years garden. This may have been the easiest section to mount since it went into wood and not cinder block!
The deep chest finally ended up on the left side of this little area with all my totes of seasonal decoration on the right. The top shelves are full of games, puzzles, cards, etc...

The big sink is the only part left to go. Derek and Bear are going to saw this bad boy apart this winter, remove it and replace with a new nice white one. This old one is made of concrete! Regan has one just like it in her basement, so that one will go too, the same weekend.
My laundry shelf. Extra sheets, towels, toilet paper, big things that don't fit in my kitchen, like the bread machine and the giant mixer.
Another angle of the decorations and game shelves.
Now...if I could just get that label maker I want from Santa...

Happy 9th Anniversary

Happy 9th Anniversary to the One that I love.

a night out...

My boys have a fabulous Auntie and Uncle that just so happen to live on a very cool farm. Parker begs to stay overnight down on the farm every time we set foot near it. Tonight, they get to have a sleepover at the farm with Auntie Casey and Uncle Blake. It happens to be my in-laws 45th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow and we are celebrating down at the shack with a BBQ. Romantic, right? But it's what they want. They would go running for the hills-knee replacements and all-if we told them we were throwing them a party! Auntie and Uncle are picking the boys up after work for the sleepover. I work tonight at the Spot on 53 and Bear has a night off. Not sure what he is going to do tonight. Tomorrow morning I am walking with the girls in the National Weight Watcher 5K and then we head down to the shack for lunch. My fabulous sister and brother-in-law offered to even keep them an extra night. Bear and I might actually be able to have a date night! Dinner, movie? Gosh...what to do with no kids.

Waking up in Vegas

Rich, Kim, myself and Bear headed to Las Vegas for the weekend. What.A.Blast. We left for Duluth on Friday afternoon to take our time to get to Duluth, return some Christmas stuff in Virginia and enjoy a relaxing dinner together before heading to the airport. We flew Allegiant and got a great deal on a flight and hotel. Grand total of $632 for both of us. Wish that's all the whole trip cost us! We brought X amount of dollars with us to Vegas and had enough to pay cash for our parking permit and dinner. So it wasn't a total bust. We had a great time and enough laughs to last awhile.

Bear had never been to Vegas before. Rich and Kim have gone a few times before and have experienced it together. I have only been there for conventions. I can't say that I really even like the city itself, but it's worth seeing once. It was definitely worth seeing Bear's reaction each time we saw something totally outrageous!

We checked in at the front desk around 10:30 pm Friday evening and all Bear could say was, wow! Then he followed that up with I've seen enough girls wearing short skirts that shouldn't be wearing short skirts! I told him he was in for a lot more.

We couldn't have picked a better couple to go with. Rich and Kim are so much like us that it made the trip that much more fun. We all had the goal of not really planning on doing anything, not following an itinerary and just going with flow. That's exactly how the weekend went. Just do whatever. We could contact each other whenever we wanted to via texting-even if it was Kim's first few times texting!

We would split up for awhile and do our own thing and then meet back up and sight see together. We were always putting $20 each couple into a machine and taking turns pulling the lever, well I pulled the lever, they just pushed the little re-bet button. I always feel luckier if I pull the lever. We put money in a huge slot machine and when I pulled the lever I actually jostled the machine and it got stuck! Oops...

We did a few of the must see Vegas landmarks. We saw the Eiffel Tower at the Paris, we saw the water fountain show at the Bellagio along with Gardens. We ate at a buffet one night. We posed with the tin man who scared the pants off of me when I walked by. Funny part is that I just told the group that that is what he does! We walked and walked and walked the strip up and down, popping into all the casinos to see what they had to offer and lose/win some money.Of course my favorite Vegas tradition has been seeing my girl Davina. This was officially my last time seeing her out in Vegas. Can't wait for her to move back to Minnesota and be closer to us all. The first night we got to Vegas we checked in to our room and headed right over to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill at Harrah's where Davina works. She of course was just getting done and we got to see her in her hot little outfit one last time! We hung out, ate dinner and I enjoyed my Whiskey Girl drink (for $12!).Me and TK just kicking back. Davina may be taking a job at a new TK Bar in the metro area and assured me that when it has it's grand opening and Toby is there that I could be her special guest! YeeHaw!By the end of the weekend we were all exhausted and almost broke. We had seen many crazy and amazing sights in Vegas. This by far is one of the funniest things-I positioned Rich's hands just right...The best $60 spent was at the Terry Fator show. Bear and I were both floored by this man's talent and in awe of all that he could do. If you get a chance to see him, just go. Guaranteed laughs and amazement.What happens when you wake up in Vegas? You drink Bloody Mary's for breakfast that's what. Rich got us to enjoy betting on horses, dogs and all kinds of sporting events. It was pretty cheap and we got to sit down and rest...

I always have stayed at Paris or Bally's in the past for conventions and as we were passing through, I pointed out the huge slot machine, AKA the Tourist Trap, and guess who had to stick a $20 in there? My husband. We had just watched some tiny Asian woman blow $50 in this machine and debate if she should put more in. She realized that there was a line forming and moved over. Bear puts his money in and on the first pull it starts dinging away and the pit boss comes around the corner to tell him he won! We had no idea how much since it quit counting at one point. The look on that poor woman's face was priceless. She was in utter shock in knowing that that would have been her next pull! It only amounted to $150 but $150 is $150. We'll take it!I changed my ringtone to Katy Perry's Waking Up in Vegas and Kim was calling my phone just to hear the song play. Randomly one of us four would bust into song as we were walking along, at a machine, in our room, at dinner...whenever! It is certainly a trip I won't forgot. I've already started getting emails from the Mirage about another trip, assuring me in getting a great deal.

Ahhh, Vegas...3 days is enough, but we will be back someday.