while i was trying to get my video to upload

we did it. we are stoked for unlimited mushroom houses!

mermaid lagoon

today we went to john brown beach

probably the greatest day we've had

we actually saw starfish, lots of them.

i prentended to be little mermaid

but instead i just looked creepy
you cant really get a good picture of the starfish
because the tide was high and the waves were
coming in pretty hard. & these ones in low water
might all be dead, spencer touched one and it was hard.

dead patrick (sponge bob) spencer put him
on this rock and i thought it was mean...
round trip we ran about 5 miles today up and
over the bridge is a total killer. we celebrated
with an awesome brownie sundae then we
biked another 7 miles to a friends house.

i love having to walk and bike everywhere i go
it is so refreshing, the weather is impeccable
right now. i even got a little sunburned today
today was a real good day.


yeah those are totally bald eagles crying in the trees.
you can here them everywhere, it's the best.
one time at mcdonalds i was watching about
15 bald eagles fly over head, doing their little whistle
cry. so i started whistling like them and one swooped
down right by me! it was such a thrill. spencer told
me if i kept it up they were going to come grab me
by the back of my shirt and fly me to one of those
islands. what if? that would be the greatest ever.

p.s. i've been trying to upload the video i wrote

about up there crying bald eagles and such.

i've tried for 2 hours to get it to upload and it wont.

cross your fingers that it will tomorrow,

olivia and spencer as the photographer

the wow factor

that tote was colorless just seconds ago!!!

look at that color change, can you say WOW?

the "sun station" where the fun beings...

cute pink shades right?

woah they're purple!! vanessa that was for you!

today was a hard day at work as you can see.

we loved it so much i gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up.

days like this make me think,

"i wanna live here forever"

and then the rains come, but it is still ever so beautiful.

life is beautiful.

S&O

just call him charlize theron

spencer finally cracked the bike lock he's been trying to unlock for quite awhile. after only one thousand two hundred and twenty three tries he cracked the code. he immediately jumped into the air and did the arsenio hall rapid double fist pump and screamed his high pitched scream of excitement. i laughed and he commanded me to blog about it, so here i am. spencer cracked the code. i sure love him. we have too much fun here, the rapid double arsenio hall fist pump comes out a little too much around these parts. happy memorial day y'all, crack a code, ride your bike, let your hair down and try firing off a couple double rapid arsenio hall fist pumps, feels pretty good.

xoxo.
liv and marky mark

tillamook

or koomallit, however you want to say it doesn't matter to me. all that matters is that this is the most delicious ice cream on planet earth, period. tonight we savored the last of this guy, right after we finished watching the new narnia. we loved the movie so much we're just about to start round 2. i love spencer because he is just as nerdy as i am about fantasy, well lord of the rings and narnia in particular. those may be the only movies we'll ever own as a family (well hook for sure and maybe the fugitive too)

top 3 favorite movies or series:

1. hook/peter pan

2. all 3 extended versions of lord of the rings

3. all things narnia

today in church we learned that the time spent with our families is the best time spent. narnia, the shire and neverland, lulu, vanessa, you know what i am talking about. we learned great lessons about the world, change and the battles good vs evil on all those friday and saturday nights we spent watching these movies (who knew other kids "hung out" after school?) the times i cherish so close to my heart with my best friends.

to our families whom we love and miss so much

we love you.

spencer and olivia

why i couldn't bring myself to blog last night

i couldn't bring myself to move from the couch after i

devoured about 5 crab legs the night before,

remember me eating like it was my last meal??

that smile only lasted so long... the revenge of the crab is not gentle

but it was oh so worth it. i would do it all
over again if i could cough up that much dough.
and i will.

xoxo
S&O

p.s. i don't know why blogger always tries to double space my posts. gets pretty annoying if you ask me. i'm not doing it on purpose, i promise.

d-town came to our town

dustin came to town and today was radical. we made our goal so we each got a SWEET bonus. we all were super stoked. he also brought with him so awesome sunglasses and sweat shirts for spencer and i. spencer just about had a heart attack because his heart swelled with enormous amounts of love when he opened his new wayfarer polarized sunglasses that are bright yellow, turn to orange, again polarized, and guaranteed for life! can you believe that del sol guarantees their sunglasses for life, if you lose them, break them, they get stolen-whenever they come up missing, they'll send you a brand new pair for free. that is why i love working for del sol, and of course because they gave me the book "how to win friends and influence people" on my first day. good people. chuck who spencer refers to as "the man" took us all out to dinner tonight and i ate crab legs like it was my last meal on planet earth. spencer got halibut filets that were an over the top gold goodness rush. i gained about 6 pounds and waddled home. what a great day we had today filled with lots of loud laughs, meeting tons of new people, working side by side the dreamiest guy around, eating the tastiest seafood of our lives, and getting pepped up for the starting of busy season. our lives are just consumed with so much happiness, and it's only going to get better. now it's time for me to rest my eyes for another gorgeous day tomorrow.

nighty night world,
team sitka

the day that felt like a kick in the pants

my curly hair, don't mind spencer

i told spencer that we needed to do a kissing picture so everyone knows we still love each other (really i was just trying to steal a quick kiss) but of course he does something funny and i know elora will love this one.

he did it, he really did. he told me he "really tried" smiling for this one. he is so handsome.

us when i did my mane curly again, my curly hair loves sitka.

today we started off real hot when our computer shut down on us right when we were going to open the store. 1 1/2 hours later the computer was fixed, or so we thought. it broke down again like 10 minutes later. but alas it was really fixed and we started our day. the cruisers were a little cheap this go around but we still did pretty good in sales, we were satisfied. we cleaned the store like maniacs tonight, restocked, put new product out, the whole works. after work spencer and i decided it would be best for us to take the night off and go out for some fish. we had halibut tacos at the westmark diner and they were delicious. we walked to the store to buy milk and whole milk was on sale for only 3.99!!!! i wanted to buy 10 gallons and freeze it but spencer was suspicious of frozen milk. i've never done it but it is worth the savings alone to try! i cut spencer hairs tonight and we had a good time laughing and cutting some hilarious cuts before the finished product but he does look good. we're loving life. from the second story of 203 lincoln street in sitka alaska, our view on life is pretty good.

much love,

spence and liv

eternal sunshine of the sleepless mind

sherm and i went for a walk tonight around 10:00 &
the sun was still out so we snapped a few photos

i saw this the other day & knew i needed to get a picture.

all us non sitkans were talking at church how unnerving

it is when you get to the end of the one road

that drives through the island. then you turn around and

see one of these, it gets a little freaky. i totally forget i'm on

an island until this happens, then i pee my pants a little.

or when you go to buy milk at the grocery store and there

is none because the barge didn't come yet...

this is the harbor right by our house on the way to totem park

since it was 10:00 spencer decided to take a nap

then i just sat down for a minute and the next thing i knew...

it is really something trying to go to bed when the sun
is still up and wake up at 3 am and it's back up again.

i have now entered the eternal sunshine of the sleepless mind.

when you go big you have to hide your identity

just had to throw this in real quick. i was checking the blogs that i read, like i do everyday and spencer asks me "who is that?" i tell him i don't know their REAL names because i think they like to try and keep their identity private when they go big, but her name is nienie and she calls her husband mr. nielsen. i move on to my next blog spencer asks "who is that?" i repeat myself only their "blog names" are taza and husband. spencer smiles nods his head and tells me we should go by...

ringo
&
sherman

xoxo,
ringo and sherm

p.s. i was pulling for mr preferred/dr thunder/the male brazilian for spencer but i think that nickname good ol' kathleen from our scary apartment gave him is gonna stick. sherman it is.

tuesday afternoon

what an awesome day. a girl named bessie works for us here at del sol, i just love her. i will get a picture of her, she is beautiful and eskimo. let me set up the store for you, the door is always open and inside the open door is me with a smile i am the "presenter" i tell the cruisers to come on in and there they meet bessie. bessie is our "host" she excitedly tells them that in del sol everything changes color in the sun, how fun is that! she likes to be the wow factor, when she shows a cruiser a demo they always yell WOW! it's pretty funny, once a cruiser catches the del sol fever they love to show all their friends. like "oh betty come see my nail polish change color under the heat lamps" betty squeals with excitement "WOW" we see it everyday and we laugh like crazy everyday. our VP comes in tomorrow so we're excited to see him and show him around town, he is a really great guy. other than that the bulls lost which is a huge bummer but i'm hoping for the mavs to sweep the heat in the finals, that would be the best thing ever. go mavs and spencer says "go bulls"

-us in sitka

sandy beach

today the weather got above 50 so we headed off on our bikes to "sandy beach"

spencer was scared of the freezing cold water, everytime it would get close he would run.

i give sandy beach one thumb up

here are our footprints in the sand, it was such a beautiful day

what a beautiful little get away beach we have here in sitka! we felt like we were on vacation, digging our toes in the sand and even getting a little sun burned! it was our first time touching the ocean and it was great. on the way back to our pad we stopped at mcdonald's for a spicy mc chicken, after i gagged for about an hour while we watched about 50 bald eagles fly over head. where else in the world are there mickey d's on a harbor where you can sit and watch bald eagles? it is amazing. we went to a little league baseball game tonight and had the greatest time with our new friends from the ward. today i am grateful for the sun and for my body that functions properly so i am able to ride my bike into the wind and feel like a child.

olivia

p.s. i'm learning to cook and or bake... i've made no bake cookies AND rice crispy treats so far. spencer tells me i'm the best at baking treats that you don't have to bake, i think i've found a hobby.

maggie moo

we skyped with the swalberg's and lulu and madis tonight. i wish i would have gotten pictures of lou lou and may may. this little one was all smiles when i showed her the shishy nemo dory shirt that is waiting for her in sitka, all she needs are 2 plane tickets for mama and pappi. how can you say no to that face? maddie really wants to go to sitka to see her favorite aunty!!! i am so grateful for my amazing family, spencer and i are really blessed.

missing my loved ones,

aunt wussy and uncle batoo

wait, olivia what is that?

those are the words uttered from spencer's mouth at about 930 tonight. i looked up from the computer where i was youtubing ron artest fights then looked out our front room window in the direction spencer was pointing and i saw a whale!!!! spencer saw the whale jump 2 times, at first he thought his eyes were playing the usual tricks on him but this time he really did see something and it was fantastic! we even saw the whale spout the water out of its blow hole. we ran and threw on our water proof jackets and boots (me wishing i was pulling on a brand new pair of xtratufs) and ran outside to the ocean. we ran all the way over the bridge but they were gone. the view was still so beautiful though, the misty ocean and all the bald eagles flying over head was enough to remind us we aren't in utah anymore. i am so happy that we saw a whale and right from our front room window! sitka continues to romance me one day at a time.

in love,
olivia

friends don't let friends eat farmed fish

today sitka had a parade. the theme for the parade was

"friends don't let friends eat farmed fish"

it was right out in front of our store! they threw out swedish fish

and we were so excited. it was so fun! everyone knows

everyone in sitka! i am so jealous of all thier xtratufs.

here in sitka they dont do sissy rain boots everyone wears

xtratufs. i'm savin all my pennies for a pair, i love them.

aren't their costumes amazing? i loved the chinese dragon fish.

sitka is a beautiful breath of fresh air

we went to find the starfish

and after we had ran around the whole island of sitka, we still found none. other than that today was quite a nice day. i even made jello! spencer and i cleaned our whole house today. deep cleaned every nook and cranny and i couldn't be happier. after 5 loads of laundry a couple espisodes of modern family and a random movie from hulu with geena davis, the guy from jurrasic park, jim carrey and one of the damon brothers we're ready to hit the sack!

life is good.

olivia

wildlife spotting

sitka is known for their beautiful sea lions, we spotted one today

i don't think panda's are native, that might explain the sad panda.

and we saw the wildest party animals in sitka!

del sol means "the sun"

another day in the books ladies and gentleman. last night spencer and i decided to have a sleep over in our front room on the futon. at about 338 am i was awoken by a bright light coming through the windows, i stumbled to the closed blinds and turned one sidwards. with my sleepy eyes forced to squint i saw the brightness of the sun. the sun goes down around 10 pm and is up again by 330 am. how insane is that? this place is really something. i've heard in the heart of summer the sun will set at 1 am and is back up again by 330-4 am. these will literally be the longest days of my life! today was nothing special. i was anticipating it to be the busy day of our season, lets hope not. the sun did come out today (at 338) and during the day it was really nice. danielle worked today, she brought camryn her 7 month old baby girl and all the old folks were just eating her up. we had the most delicious turkey sandwich from the back door cafe around the corner for lunch, i went back to get a second for spencer and i but they were all sold out. we also ate about 17 1/2 no bake cookies and i made more tonight. these with less sugar and more oats to be a little healthier! we're looking forward to a day off tomorrow filled with laundry, hikes, hopefully starfish, water and biggest hopefully DEL SOL (the sun)

nighty night xxXooOxxO

livvy lu

p.s. elora... you cursed me with a bladder infection. but don't worry, i got my perscription filled at harry race's where they serve milkshakes at the pharmacy. doesn't sitka have it all figured out??

whew, we did it

hey you all, yeah you, out there reading
did you hear the news? it's pretty exciting
we did it guys. and we're still alive to tell the tale.
spencer & i made it to our 6 month anniversary today.
a very happy and very andventurous 6 months.
we've learned a lot and we loved a lot.
two lucky ducks, i tell ya
who love each other
a whole lot.
S + O

today was a great day. went by so fast.
2000 australians + 500 t shirts + 200 nail polish bottles + $$$ = 2 happy managers in sitka.
tomorrow two ships come in. wish us luck!
danielle is coming to help us out bless her soul, i think we'll make the
dream team.

fingers crossed,
olivia the ex newly wed

p.s.up ^ there that first paragraph the crazy one, you see it? i spent an hour shaping it to a heart, when i published this post it smashed my art into a broken heart. that's why it's so goofy lookin. but i'm still keeping it, for old times' sake.

20.00 for diarrhea, please.

i know my title is discusting but that's what happened today, spencer and i paid 20.00 at victoria's cafe for a nice case diarrhea. drew and danielle tried to warn us, they told us the quickest way to loose 5 lbs in sitka is to eat at victoria's, now we know. other than a good case of the hershey squirts i'm finally getting a taste of south east alaskan weather. i have not seen the sun once today, the rains haven't come in full force but the sun is gone. i really don't see how these people do it in the winter, they never see the sun for months! this is a sad thing. we got the day off today, which feels really nice. spencer went on a hike with drew and the dogs they estimated they would be gone for about 6 hours. so far i've sharpened up my skills on guitar hero & chatted with some friends on gmail chat. it's been a good day. liz and alli skyped me this morning with all the little ones that i miss so dearly. i loved when ethan was showing us his glow in the dark stick collection paigey picked up a dirty sock from the ground so she could have something to show off too, so clever. we finally mailed wanilda's letter and some pictures today! last night we had the most amazing peanut butter milk shake from the pharmacy down the street, spencer noticed they had a transworld snowboarding magazine. it was closing time so he couldn't look through it but i promised him we would come back. so today we walk there from victoria's and low and behold they have the photo printers right there! so we print off some wedding pictures, read a snowboarding magazine and shouted hooray! i love living in such a walkable city, like right now i'm off to stereo north to buy a DVD to watch!

don't be too jealous,

olivia

p.s. here are some pictures of spencer's hike. pretty awesome if you ask me. i bought prince caspian the narnia movie, we watched it tonight after dinner and then we went grocery shopping. at the grocery store 2 very drunk natives wanted to date me, they even had me feel their muscles and for 49 they were pretty strong, when i told them i was married they decided it was a good idea to tell me where i could find food stamps so i didn't have to pay for all my food, so very nice of them. when spencer and i went to check out the smaller native (who bowed to me and chanted then shook my hand) was in front of us trying to buy squash to eat raw the cashier told him that was squash and he goes "i thought this was a pear!" the owner looked at his taller friend who had his radio playing extremely loud in his pocket and said "leonard! you're lookin suspcious!" we laughed for a good half hour at that one! we walked home and i made no bake cookies they look pretty good. now time to drink a tall glass of freezing cold milk with cookies!

xoxo

sitka has newsies

today was a slow cruise ship day, a little depressing but there is always tomorrow!! we have the day off tomorrow! weather permitting we're going to do some major exploring. i wanna see the starfish, i hear there are starfish four feet big and all sorts of colors. i can't wait. today while working in the store a newsie came in (there are real life newsies in sitka, paperboys go arounds selling headlines) anyway, he came in asked me a couple of questions i answered he turned to leave got about 2 feet and turned around and asked hopefully if a spencer was working. i told him YES! and i went and got spencer from the back room. turns out spencer made friends with this cutest little newsie a couple of days ago, he wanted to show spencer some of his home made wood carvings. he is the cutest little thing in the world. he was asking if we needed him to give our coupons with his paper and just wanting to help out so much. i just fell right in love with him. he's our new newsie that we're going to buy our paper from now, we buy on wednesdays because that's when they print the coupons for groceries so we don't have to spend 8.00 on a box of cereal or 6.50 for a gallon of milk... you get the picture groceries are super expensive and the worst part is that oreo's are 10.00! off to play mario with spencer, who earned a 3.75 gpa this semester!!! i am so proud of my man, i sure love this life we're living.
xoxo,
liv & spence too

sunday, sunday

oh what a beautiful day of sunshine and rest. spencer and i biked to church yet again and still i complain and cry. one day i'll do it with out a peep, one day. church was awesome. it was fast sunday, spencer and i both shared our testimonies and others born were very powerful as well. the members in sitka have very strong and very clear testimonies, i love it. we taught margo's class for her the 12-18 year olds, they were the most awesome kids. i couldn't believe how much they loved each other, the girls were all older and really pretty and they boys are all 12 or 13 but they all had each others backs. in relief society the lesson was on talents, i have been thinking about talents a lot lately. talents take a lot of work. but the blessings that come are oh so worth it i just dont want to make a talent out of complaining and right now everytime i look at that bike of mine i'm doing really good at murmuring. new chapter, tomorrow we have 2 cruise ships coming in. i think it should be busy and i am excited. we have a few days of sunshine left until the rains come. it hasn't rained a single day since we've been here, some call us good luck charms but we know we're in for it. so for the last days of sunshine we ventured off to totem park, to the ocean, and the family favorite bald eagle spotting. our life is oh so wonderful.