Yeah for Date Night

Last weekend we went out for date night! Yeah, I love those! It has been a while since the two of us actually planned to go out together and do something. We eat out all the time, but this one was planned. Eldon went with me to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a new garbage can for the bathroom ( i have been wanting a nicer one that matched everything and the dog has been getting into the other one, so the new one comes with a cover) and if you know Eldon....this is huge. He hates goign in this store, and he did great. We went out to eat at Rubios and then it was off to see the much anticipated movie Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3-D at the IMAX theaters by our house. We had been really wanting to see it. It was really funny! We really enjoyed it and the glasses are just the icing on the cake ;)

Happy Birthday to Eldon

Ok...so I am a little late posting this, but we have been busy. Eldon celebrated his 26th birthday this year on April Fools Day. Yep, my baby is an a fool! We decided to celebrate it right this year since last year he was in the hospital on his birthday. We had a bunch of friends and family over for some cake and ice cream.

It was really nice to see people we hadnt seen for a bit, and spend extra time with those we had seen. A bunch of our family was out of town, so they werent able to make it, but we had a great time eating yummy food, playing rock band, watching Zeus enjoy all the attention from the little ones and spending time with our loved ones.

Happy Birthday Eldon! I love you sweetheart with all my heart! I hope that you did have a very happy birthday and hopefully this year will be much happier than last!

The only way to ride

We have been wanting to work out more, but we feel really bad leaving our dog in the evenings and on weekends since we are gone at work so much. So we were at Walmart and saw this cute little basket and thought we would try it out. He loves it. he just sits in it while we do all the work. It is pretty funny. I think he enjoys it and it accomplishes our purpose to work out and not leave the poor puppy home. The neighbors think it is pretty entertaining as well.

Why Mormons build temples

The HBO series Big Love has stated that they are going to air a depiction of the ceremonies that take place in the Mormon temples. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and someone who has taken part in these sacred ordinances, I am beyond appalled and disgusted at the media udder lack of respect for religion and things that are sacred. It is very natural for people to be curious of something that they are not privilege to, however, it is not meant to be secret, it is meant to be sacred and special, and only for those who are worthy and ready to make and keep promises to our Heavenly Father. A main principle of the Church's teaching is to be loving and Christ-like, although I am sure everyone would love to just beat up the people to have created this disgusting mockery, the church has taken a difference stance and once again showed that would prefer to take the higher road and use this curiosity as an opportunity to teach and enlighten regarding the temple. This is a video that was recently created by the church regarding the purpose of our temples.

New Theme Song

We thought this was hilarious! This is our new theme song because we have become a little chunky since we got married. You have to watch the whole thing. It is so funny!!

MIA

Sorry that we have been missing from the blogging world for a few weeks. There really hasnt been a whole lot to blog about and i have been super tired lately, so sorry! I have gotten a few phone calls asking about how my new job is going. I made it through the first week of being an HR supervisor for the police department. It was definitely different from running a sports complex that is for sure, but it was good. The first week was full of pretty standard stuff....a lot of policy reading (especially since i am in HR now) and following people around trying to figure out what they all do. Everyone was very nice and very welcoming though. I walked in on my first day to flowers and a candy dish with M&Ms from my 2 supervisors to welcome me. I thought it was very sweet. My new staff are very nice as well. All 3 that i direct supervise and the additional 4 underneath one of them that fall in my chain of command are all older than me, which is no surprise....just makes it interesting! My old staff from the sports complex have called me several times telling me that i need to come back! I definitely enjoyed what i was doing, and i really appreciate being missed (its means i must have done a good job) but one of the things i am loving about this new job is the hours! I get to come home while it is still daylight outside. We had dinner with one of our friends this week during the week! Amazing! That hasnt happened in so long! and Eldon and I got to enjoy a weekend together! That part was really nice! All in all i think it will be a good change....so we will see.

As for Eldon, my dad pointed out that i never acknowledged that during all our stress and chaos of worrying about me losing my job, Eldon got a new job. He is an engineer for a custom furniture store, so he spends all day designing furniture in a CAD program of sorts (he can explain it better) but he is loving it. It is full time so the extra money is very handy and he really enjoys what is doing, he also had a great boss (my cousin) and gets to work with my brother, my mom, my dad, and my cousin (poor guy ;P) since they all work for the same company. He also has recently begun a new hobby of working on the backyard now that it is warming up. we finally went out and bought a lawn mower and he has been very diligent about watering, picking up weeds, picking out rocks, etc trying to get his lawn to not look so dead. It is still in the beginning stages since he just started this past week, but he already looks a million times better. Its not so scary to walk outside (you can actually see the ground). And since Eldon has been working on the lawn, he laid down some seed which means we have birds trying to eat the seed, so Eldon taught Zeus a new trick (sick em'). He is doing awesome with chasing the birds and as soon as he sees them, he bolts to get them off the lawn. Its pretty funny. Today he spent about hour outside just keeping them off. We are hoping maybe it will give him an outlet to not be so destructive while we are away at work.

Well that is our life in nutshell at the moment. Sorry we were MIA, we will try to stay more current.

My little boy

Poor Zeus!....Again! We are just mean puppy parents, but our little boy (as cute as he is) has been growing up and starting to present some of the undesired male dog qualities that tend to come around his age....so we had him fixed! I know, like I said, we are mean, but its for the best hopefully. The vet did a great job. They fixed him, pulled out 4 teeth (baby teeth that were not coming out and the adult teeth were already in), and made him a cyber puppy (we had him microchipped). We are very glad everything turned out ok. He looked pretty funny though with the cone and his leg. Its kinda hard to see in the picture but they had to shave one of his legs to put in the IV, so one leg looks like a poodle. :P We will see if it works.

Lots of prayers and lie detectors

Crazy title, but it fits for the past couple of crazy weeks. I will start from the beginning but its a pretty simple story. Back in November, I was told that the state of the City of Phoenix (where i work) budget was not good and to be prepared since i had very low seniority for pending cuts. Well I figured I would be proactive and started looking for a new job. I really liked my job but I have had terrible hours and it is over 40 miles from my house and there is alot of stress and alot of after work phone calls, etc. So I have been applying for jobs since them knowing that the potential Dooms day would be March 2! Well a couple of weeks ago, I still had not found a new job (even though I have applied for pretty much everything but Walmart (last resort)) and March 2nd was coming closer and closer. To top it off, I got the dreaded "phone call" from personnel for a meeting down town. Well the meeting was to tell me that yes, I was going to loose my job because of the budget cuts that would be happening. I was devastated!!!! We just bought a beautiful house and things were going so well and then...........disaster! So I came home and emailed all our family and said that we really needed some prayers because I was freaking out! Everyone was amazing. Even friends that knew of my situation said they were praying (even outside my faith, were just praying that something would work out). Well let me just testify that prayers work! The next day however, there was a bit of brighter news, the City told me that there was an opportunity for a job in personnel for the Police Department but I would have to interview and then i would have to pass the background check process which includes a polygraph test (lie detector), well the interview couldnt have gone better, I walked out with the job if I could pass the test. Well I have been a fairly good girl so I really wasnt too worried, until I got to the test. Can I just say that it is scary!!!! Every little thing that you have ever done like going potty on the side of the road (public exposure), fibbing to your boss about being late or being sick (dishonesty), taking a pen from work (theft), using illegal fireworks at the family 4th of July party (illegal use of fireworks), i mean everything....they even check your credit. So i was freaking out! Well, today, Heavenly Father answered our prayers soooooo much because I got the job officially!!!! We get to keep our house and continue to move forward with all our goals, and even better, this job is a Monday thru Friday, 8-5 kinda job so no nights, no weekends, no holidays and it is only downtown Phoenix so I dont have to drive near as far, and the job ends when it ends (no phone calls at all hours of the morning and night!) And it is a lateral move within the City, so my pay and my benefits stay the same! Can I just say that I am so very very very grateful for answers to prayers because I just dont know what we would have done. And thank you to everyone who offered prayers and good wishes on my behalf. It means so much! Thank you!!!!!

My poor Baby!

Poor Zeus... he has mean parents. We got his rabies shots and left out of town...he developed a huge lump on his back from the shot and it is really tender (of course we didnt know until we got back)....we get back from our trip and take him to the vet for his other vaccinations..... and those makes him sick too. And then 3 days later, he is super sick again. The vet isnt sure what is wrong but at best....he ate some weeds or something that made him sick...at worst Parvo!!!! Scary!!!! He has to be on a special diet for a few days and is just resting (he doesnt even want to play....sad :(

My question is....what the heck are we going to go when we have kids.... we are dying watching our little puppy be so sick and so sad, i cant imagine watching a child!

My Sweet Little Grandpa

Eldon and I got the chance to go to California to visit my sweet little Grandpa. He is getting pretty sick, so we wanted to make sure and visit before our opportunity passed. We didnt take too many pictures (pretty dumb of me, I know)...but we did get a cute one of 3 of us. We had a really great time hearing some old stories and spending time with my uncles, aunts and cousins in California. We also got the opportunity to go and visit my Grandmothers grave. I havent been there since her funeral, so it was nice to go and see her, especially after hearing my grandpa talk non-stop about the love of his life. I know he wont read this...but I love you Grandpa. Thanks for a wonderful trip!

I <3 Hobby Lobby

I found Hobby Lobby about 4 or so years ago in Ohio with my best friend Erin. It was an amazing store with awesome deals..... well its better (at least than what i remember). There is now a Hobby Lobby in Arizona and it happens to be about 3 miles from my house (YEAH!!!). I just wanted to show off a couple of things i found there for my house! I love it!

Happy New Year....Bring on 2009

This year we were bums a little bit in the fact that we didnt send out Christmas cards....this was for 2 reasons...first of all, life was just crazy and Christmas came and went before I even knew it...but second because i felt like we should send out Thank you cards instead and since i cannot thank every single person that has touched our lives in the past year, please consider this a personal thank you to everyone! When looking back at this year it is amazing to see the giant roller coaster it has been. I think it is safe to say that we have had some massive ups and downs this year. We have moved, searched for homes and been rejected (5 times), bought our first home, changed jobs, been in the hospital a combined total of 5 plus times (i feel like i am missing one or two in that count), both had surgeries, got a puppy, traveled to Vegas, Disneyland, Snowflake (on numerous occasions), totaled a car, bought a new car and been beyond blessed in all of these adventures. I simply cannot imagine having to endure all of these things both good and bad without the amazing gift of the friends and family that we have. almost every prayer has been answered through one of our many "angels on earth" and we are so grateful that you are part of journey and have hopped on to ride the roller coaster with us. I am sure we definitely do not take the time to say thank you enough for the blessing you are to us and for the fun memories, good laughs, tough cries, countless prayers, huge hugs, yummy dinners, help cleaning and thousands of priesthood blessings ;) that we have experienced with you all in the past year. I dont know if you can know the impact you have in our lives, even if we only keep in touch through these blogs or if we see you every day, you are important and have touched our lives and for that I say Thank you so very much!

Lil Jenny Got Hitched!!!

My old roomie and and one of my best friends Jenny got hitched last week. I am so excited for her to get to join the old married lady club :P She absolutely deserves to be happy and she seemed really happy that day. I am sure i am posting this before her because I am pretty sure she is still on her honeymoon, but i thought it was fun.... So Congrats to Nate and Jenny! We wish you all the best and welcome to the Club! Its the best club to join!

Christmas Mania

This was a very full and very happy Christmas! Christmas Eve we spent with my family. My Grandma, her husband, uncle and aunt and cousins came over to my parents house for some yummy super chicken rice and gravy (inside joke....but soooo good!!), opening a few presents, and playing some games on the Wii. My grandma even tried to play Wii bowling which was probably the most entertaining part of the evening, she just couldnt grasp the concept until right at the end, and then she was done.

We got to open one present on Christmas eve and as protocol goes it was ......Jammies! you gotta love Christmas Jammies, at least I do!

Doesnt he look cute!

The next morning we woke up really early to a phone call from our niece and nephew. They were told that when the first number on the clock was a 5 (yes 5 in the am) they could get up and open presents.....so we got a call at about 5:03 or so, saying that their clock said 5 and it was time to open presents, so we bundled up, grabbed the dog and went over to watch them open their presents. It has been tradition for Eldon and I to visit family with kids on Christmas morning and watch them open presents....it just helps to bring the excitement for the day.

They kiddos were so cute opening their gifts and were super good about taking their turns. I remember having such a hard time waiting for my brothers to open theirs! After that we went back to my families house to see what Santa brought. We were expecting the traditional "im gettin nuttin for Christmas" deal but Santa delivered again ( apparently he is recession proof ;) We got some wonderful gifts and had a blast playing with them with my siblings.

Wake up....Santa came!! Ha Ha

I felt like a little kid again! Santa even remembered Zeus and brought him a big bone and a laser light to play with. Just Watch....

Then we made the trip up to Snowflake to spend the rest of the weekend with Eldons Family. We had a blast with the White Elephant Gift exchange, and there is never a shortage of good food, great family and lots of laughs. Unfortunately, i was dumb and didnt take any pictures in snowflake, but we had such a wonderful time! Thank you to everyone for our great gifts and even better family memories! Merry Christmas!

Disneyland Family Adventure

Our Family just got back from a 3 Day family reunion at Disneyland and California Adventure. It was a lot of fun! My little brother and younger cousins hadnt been for a very long time (or ever) so it was really neat to see their faces and my parents and other siblings had never been to California Adventures so that was new to them. I had been to both a few years ago with work, but there were still a few things that I got to do that I had never done.... Tower of Horror, Toy Story midway games, Speaking with Crush the turtle (that was awesome!!), the haunted mansion (changed for Christmas to the nightmare before Christmas), and the Finding Nemo submarine ride. My favorite has always been and will always be Pirates of the Caribbean...it was fun looking for Jack Sparrow in the rides...he pops up a bit, but they really didnt change much of the ride. I also really liked Crush the turtle, the Toystory midway games, and California Screamin. It all was a very good time and I am really glad we got to see our family. I wish it could have been longer and we could have spent more time together, but we had a lot of fun! Thanks Grandpa for making it all possible! We love you!



Zeus also had an adventure while we were gone in California. He went and stayed with our good friends Jason and Kristy and their pup Bella. He played with a bunch of other dogs and got to wrestle and tease. But at first....he wanted to go to California with us and put himself in my suitcase. I thought it was so funny! We missed him very much, but are so grateful to awesome friends who took such good care of our baby while we were gone. Thanks Jason and Kristy!

Wii Want to play

My parents recently got the Wii video game system with Wii Sports. Its pretty fun. Eldon and my lil bro Christopher were trying out the boxing. The pictures dont do it justice, but its pretty funny to watch. We also took some informal family pics with our new addition Zeus ( and with my short hair). They turned out ok, i guess. We will have to try again though with a better background other than my parents couch. Oh well....Fun times on a Sunday evening.

Its Christmas Time at the Larson House...

And we are decorating our very first house....We need a bigger tree, but we still like it! Here are some of our Christmas decorations including the first gift under the tree. We are still working on the outside. Its a bit more difficult than we first imagined...but those pics to follow soon. Enjoy! I did!

The Emperors new clothes

We went up to see Eldons family in Snowflake the weekend after Thanksgiving and just had Zeus clipped-- well they cut him really short, we were afraid he would freeze so yes....we are now people who have a dog ....with clothes....but look how cute and dashing he looks in them.