How was your weekend?

Ours was FANTASTIC! We got good news.
Josh got his PROMOTION! We are so excited. He starts next week. Now he will be, as Josh puts it, “The boss of ALL the shoes.” we couldn’t be more excited. it includes a raise, and more hours. hooray! just in time for the holidays! Oh how I love Kohl's!

Also, the quarter is almost finished. Next week is our last week of school!!!! Finals for me are on Thursday and Friday! HOLY TOLEDO! I really just can’t believe it. The past three months have flown by. But I am excited because that means I get a whole month off from school before I have to start my really hard classes… :o)

Have a great day! It’s beautiful here: Blue sky, crisp autumn air, naked trees. I love it. :D

Black Friday, and a Call

My mom drove all the way out to Puyallup from Gig Harbor just to do some Black Friday shopping with me this morning. It was a lot of fun. We only went to Kohl’s because we were so tired. Like, exhausted tired. It was amazing how many people were actually awake and there. I got Josh new pajamas {it’s a tradition to get new jammies every Christmas Eve and sleep in them that night! So fun.} I also got myself some new leggings, and something special for Josh’s siblings. :o)
Josh had to work all night and so I was all alone without anybody to talk to or snuggle with, but it was okay. He slept all day today so I spent most of my time upstairs reading the Hunger Games {again. finished book two in one day.} played Just Dance 3 with the kiddos, and ate. a lot.

Something exciting happened today.
It came from here:

to my 19 year-old brother-in-law.
It was very exciting.

He will be reporting to the Brazil MTC the middle of April.
We figured he was going there because EVERYBODY is going to Brazil right now. There is so much missionary work happening in Brazil at this moment and it is super exciting, and even more exciting because John will be right in the middle of it.

Congratulations, John. You are going to be such an AMAZING missionary! I love you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought that instead of doing the ten things that make me happy like I usually do on Fridays, I would do the ten things that I am thankful for! :o)

But while you are reading them, listen to this please. Because I am mildly obsessed with it. :D

10 Things that I am Thankful For

1. My wonderful husband who works so hard to provide for me
2. My family, and Josh’s family who help the both of us so much.
3. The Gospel.
4. My oh, so snuggly cats! They are seriously the best friends ever.
5. Friendships. I am so grateful for the friends that I have and for the times that we have all shared together.
6. The opportunity to go back to school.
7. Food. All the time.
8. A warm place to live and call my home, and clothes on my back.
9. Books. Oh my word how I LOVE books! They are so great.
10. My health!

There are so many more things that I am thankful for in my life, these are just a few. My mom and I are planning on doing Black Friday tonight. I am a little nervous, I won’t lie. I have never done that before. I think that it’s going to be fun, though. :o)

I hope that everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that they have a GREAT holiday season!!!! Only one more month until Christmas! :D

The joy of the holidays

I love the holiday season. I love the crispiness in the air. And the Christmas music {that I will start playing the day after tomorrow!} I love that I am able to spend time with my family this holiday season, and that there will also be a wedding in the family just a few days before Christmas! {Christmas weddings are the best}

I love this time of year because… it’s when Josh and I decided that dating was probably the best idea the two of us could come up with at the time.
And look what happened… :o) 5 years of togetherness and still going strong. :D
{we celebrated our 5 year anniversary on the 14th of this month. woot! But we have only been married for 3 of those years haha}


This is a usual picture of the two of us, and this was taken 3 years ago… after we got married we were driving up to Whistler for our honeymoon! So fun.

Anyways! I am excited for tomorrow, it’s going to be so fun! :D Who doesn’t love stuffing themselves silly with food? At least it’s only once{ish} a year that we eat like this, right?!

Mission Statement

For one of my classes we had to write a personal mission statement. I didn’t know what to write, and the assignment is due tomorrow, but I think I came up with a pretty good one.
My mission is to treat others the way that I would want to be treated. I am devoted to living my life according to the way Jesus taught during his mortal ministry. I am going to show others what I value by the way I interact with others. I am never going to give up, and I will keep going through life’s challenges with a smile on my face.

AND! in my english class we were assigned a group essay and my group worked really hard on it… and guess what… we got a 96!!!!!!!!! SWEET!!! I am so, so, so excited! :D It really was the best Monday ever. woot!

Prayers

Today is Monday. It marks the beginning of the holidays… officially! Thursday is Thanksgiving! {what are you doing?!} We are going to my parents house for this holiday. I am super excited. Then Josh will be working an overnight at Kohl’s because they open at midnight. Super exciting!

Yesterday {Sunday} was a really amazing day. I had so much fun in my calling… which is working in the nursery. I was feeling sad about Josh and I trying to figure everything out with getting pregnant, and all the babies in the whole congregation were crying and being really loud and it made me even more sad. Like, really ridiculously sad. And I told Josh that I felt that I was never going to have a baby, and that we were just going to be that couple at Church that never had a child and never adopted. Needless to say, I was super bummed yesterday.
So, Josh said a prayer to himself {and while he was praying I looked at him and I was like “are you sleeping? you should wake up, you always fall asleep at Church” and when he didn’t answer I said “oh… are you praying…???” and he silently nodded at me and squeezed my arm haha} and after that I calmed down a little bit.
During nursery I was, again, feeling a little bummed because I wanted to have a little monkey running around the nursery because they are so cute! And hilarious. And then something happened. I started to get all warm and fuzzy. And then a little boy came over {he’s one of my favorite kids to play with}, and he looks at me while putting his tiny hand on my face and said something super cute that I can’t even remember. Then he smiled and in that instant my heart was burning and I knew without a doubt that sometime in the near{ish} future that would be my son. or my daughter. and it will be glorious. and I am so excited.
And then I wondered, is this what Josh prayed about? That I would feel this way today? That I wouldn’t be so sad? I have no idea, because he never told me. But if it was, his prayer was definitely answered.

Also, please read this. I cry almost every time I read it because I know that it is so true. Plus, I love this man so much. he is so cute and SNUGGLY!

Fantastic

I have had a great day with Josh. We talked about Christmas. And our future babies and home. And we went window shopping and real shopping. We paid bills {that’s not so fantastic, but… hey at least we were together…? haha}
It didn’t snow. the weather lied to me. how RUDE!

I am totally obsessed with this song right now. Thank you sister Chelsey.

 

Also, watch this. AMAZING!

Happy Friday!

10 Things that have made me smile this week

1. Helping my sister with her application for school
2. The weather report. It’s telling me snow this weekend. :D
3. Heaters
4. Getting accidentally called by my brother… well actually my 2 year old nephew.
5. Spending some quality time with my brother-in-law who will shortly be leaving for his mission.
6. Josh getting lots of hours at work
7. Umbrellas
8. My calling at Church {I get to work in the NURSERY! best calling ever!}
9. Skittles
10. The retirement episode of Regis and Kelly. I LOVE Regis Philbin with a fiery passion. He is so cute and snuggly. And seeing this episode made me happy.

It’s been a crazy week! I was lucky enough to work on a group essay! Yay me! And I was also able to become horribly addicted to another Facebook game… Castleville. Ugh.

Have a fantastical weekend! Josh actually has tomorrow off!! We are going to hang out, clean our room and… MAYBE go and get some pizza for lunch. Maybe.

let it rain

let it rain… let it rain! :o) I wish that it would snow, though. Oh how dearly I heart the snow.

Last night, I fell going up the stairs in our house. It was BEAUTIFUL I tell ya. I missed the step completely and fell on both my knees, my right elbow… and my left lady. {how that happened, I have NO idea… it was weird} but yeah. I was a sight to behold all sprawled out at a really funny angle, but I have amazing bruises, so it was worth it. or something. :o)

I am so ready for the week to be over. I am excited to start my final essay for my english class. I am excited to get some awesome math homework done! I am excited… to write another paper for my college success class. yeah. it’s going to be a fun weekend… I can tell. :D

I had to steal this picture from sister. She left it on my computer and I think it’s beautiful.

She took this picture… er… I think when she was in Provo recently. I THINK, but I am not positive.
She is amazing at photographing things.

See you tomorrow with my oh so happy list of happiness! :D

The weather outside…

is frightful, but not that frightful. we are supposed to be having a really intense wind storm in our neck of the woods starting tomorrow through friday. I wont lie, I am actually looking forward to it because I love wind storms. we had one here once that was so intense power was knocked out for days. like a whole two weeks or something ridiculous. I actually had to go to my sisters, who actually lived right down the street and had power, just to take a shower! ridiculous.

school is good. life is good. I know I sounded like such a downer with one of my last posts. I don’t know what’s wrong with me sometimes. I just get into a funk some days, and then I decide to blog about it.

on a happy note, though… I am all registered for classes for next quarter. woot! english 101, math 98, and geology 101 here I come! :D

Um, has anybody seen the show new girl? it’s seriously one of mine and josh’s favorites right now. it’s funny that josh even likes that show because it is so awkward sometimes and he doesn’t like awkward things. he can’t even watch the office, that silly boy.

we are still trying to er … not have a baby right now. maybe once the holidays are over and things calm down, and josh starts his new position {which I can’t say out loud, but I will once its official}, and his insurance kicks in --- which wont be until january! ugh!--- then we are going to start trying again. sometimes weird things happen and we just have to take a step back and look at things logically. and logically, right now, I would probably cry if I got pregnant – and not because I am excited about it. I mean, of COURSE I would be excited, but at the same time there are so many other things that need my attention first. And just because I said that, God is going to play a joke on me and I am going to get pregnant… right when I don’t want to. Ha! He’s funny like that sometimes, especially to me.

Anyhoo… I am going to make sure I didn’t have any homework due tomorrow! Have a good night!

Wednesday already?!

It’s way later than I thought it was. WAY passed my bed time. But I realized that it’s been a pretty long time since I have blogged. But I was working on homework for er… like 7 hours on monday night, and then on tuesday {which was 30 minutes ago} I was spaced out and playing Call of Duty {yeah, I heart that game}.
Had a math test Tuesday. Meet with my advisor in 11 hours so I can register for classes next quarter.

Also, husband was told {unofficially} he got a promotion at work.
Sweet! :D
But keep it quiet, he isn’t supposed to know yet.

Have good evening! … or morning!

Goin’ to the Chapel…

And Lizzy got MARRIED!!! 11.12.11
here are some pictures!

It was a beautiful ceremony!!! I cried a lot. And there will be a lot more pictures to come. I am so glad to have been part of this wedding, and to be there to share the joy with my best friend and her new HUSBAND!! :D
CONGRATULATIONS LIZZY AND KENNY!! I love you both so much!

Also, thank you to Scott Turner from Scott Turner Photography. He was amazing.

Change!

I was re-reading one of my blog posts… the one titled “babies” and I realized that I said this:
“When he wasn’t waking up I started to freak out, and I threw up onto his back and he hit his head again on the cement floor. He woke up. I cried a lot.”
When actually, I didn’t throw up at all. I really wasn’t paying attention to what I was typing and that looks really funny.
I didn’t throw up. Ha! What happened was, I threw him onto his back and in the process he hit his head again on the cement floor.

I just can’t stop laughing. I can’t believe I typed that.

Anyways, have a good weekend!

Happy Friday!

10 things that have been making me smile this week

1. Having an A in two classes, and a high B in another class!
2. Going to Gig Harbor tonight and staying there all day tomorrow
3. My best friends wedding {tomorrow}
4. Josh --- always
5. Getting my nails done :D
6. How frigidly cold it is here. That means it will probably snow this year!
7. Scriptures
8. Finding the answer to some questions through weird things
9. Going to a million different stores just to buy Josh’s siblings a video game toy
10. Sister Chelsey figuring out what she wants to do when she grows up. Amazing.

Today is a busy, busy day! But it’s going to be so fun. We have rehearsal at the Church where Liz is getting married tonight, then we are going to a big dinner at Spiro’s Pizza in Gig Harbor. Then it’s a slumber party at Lizzy’s house, and then TOMORROW HER AND KENNY ARE GETTING MARRIED! I am so excited for them. I am going to be crying a lot. I am so emotional. haha

Have a good weekend! :o) I will post pictures {hopefully, if I remember my camera} soon of the wedding and all that wonderful stuff.

Babies…

So, I’ve been thinking. About my blog. About life. About… a lot of things. I’ve been thinking about how I really don’t like living here. I despise this town. I don’t know why, but it might be because I know that sometime in the near-ish future, Josh and I will be leaving {that day can’t come soon enough} and hopefully it’s back to my home town… which is like 30 minutes away from here. haha really, they aren’t that far away from each other, but they are SO DIFFERENT! It’s weird.
Anyways, the title of this post is “Babies”, and I have been thinking about that. Josh and I have been having a hard time. A really hard time. I don’t blog about it because I don’t want people to think that I am really whiny {is that spelt right?} But I feel like we are stuck in a hole that we can’t dig ourselves out of. It’s so ridiculous. We are desperate to have a baby. It’s unbelievable how it consumes our every day thoughts, and pretty much everything that we talk about. Well, it’s mostly me, but Josh listens really well and nods his head a lot.
Let me give you a teeny tiny background story {I briefly mentioned this here}:
Once upon a time there was a missionary named Josh Larsen. He was walking on the streets of Scranton, PA after a blizzard with his mission companion and slipped on the ice and hit his head. Josh became disoriented and tried to tell his companion what had happened, but instead walked into the road. Unfortunately, there was a car going way too fast for the conditions and hit the missionary. Josh was hit in the knees and went face first into the windshield, then the car stopped really fast and Josh flew out of the car a very far distance {that I can’t remember} and landed head first on the road. Thankfully Josh’s mission companion had the right frame of mind to give him a blessing and then immediately got Josh the help he needed.
Because of that incident, Josh has bad health. All the bones in his face were pretty much broken and as a result his sinus cavities were damaged. He gets sinus infections like every other week and if they aren’t treated right away then it turns into bronchitis, and then he gets pneumonia. It’s really sad.
Because of all of this lovely-ness {now I am getting back to the point} we have been having a hard time. And because Josh changed jobs and didn’t have insurance for a really long time he hasn’t been able to get the help that he needs to take care of his sinus infections and he has been really sick. So sick that he has lost like 30-40 pounds. He is 6’4 and weights 159lbs. It’s not natural, and quite frankly he looks really scary. Josh collapsed a few weeks ago, just passed right out on the cement floor of the basement. Of course, silly me, I thought he was pretending when I walked into my room with my sister-in-law to grab something and poked and sort of kicked Josh with my foot. When he wasn’t waking up I started to freak out, and I threw up onto his back and he hit his head again on the cement floor. He woke up. I cried a lot. And he called out to work for a few days because he was so sick.
Now, I think that it is time for me to get the whole POINT of this post.
Josh and I are taking a break from baby making. We will… ya know… *wink wink* but not to have a baby. Josh needs to get better, and his insurance needs to kick in and then we can get back on track.
It’s been a weird few weeks, and I feel really ridiculous about all of this. I don’t know what my Heavenly Fathers plans are for me, or for Josh and I as a couple anymore. I feel lost and confused and it’s a little frustrating. But I know that things will work out the way that they are supposed to, and that I should just be patient. I am soooo not patient, though. It’s really not one of my strong points. :o)

Anyways. That is my life story right now! Sorry it’s so super long!

Have a good night! :D

Oh my word

All star cast.
Maggie Smith {Professor McGonagall – Harry Potter, Lady Gresham – Becoming Jane}
Judi Dench {Mrs. Fairfax -- Jane Eyre, Lady Catherine de Bourg – Pride and Prejudice}
Bill Nighy {Victor Maynard – Wild Target, Davy Jones – Pirates of the Caribbean}
Tom Wilkinson {Mr. Dashwood – Sense and Sensibility}
Dev Patel {Jamal – Slumdog Millionaire} ------------ a really good movie!

I like cried when I watched the trailer. Seriously.

20 Kids and Counting?

Hi. My name is Lara. I am addicted to 19 Kids and Counting. OH MY GOSH I LOVE THE DUGGARS SO, SO MUCH! And, I cried a little when I heard that there will be a 20th baby added to the brood. It’s exciting. And, also a little scary.
Obviously, I know nothing about having babies but I am a little worried about
Mrs. Mom Duggar, and her health, and having another baby when she could have died with her last baby who was born a preemie just to keep her alive.
Anyways, I do love that family, though. I feel like they live the principles of the Gospel {I know, they aren’t members of my Church, but they are fantastic people}, and one day I want to be their friend and hang out in their crazy loud home and play with all their super cute babies.
That makes me sound weird, but whatever.

SPEAKING of having a baby… I want to say Congrats to my friend Kennedy who is expecting her 4th baby!!!!!!!! you can read her blog here. And, she is also an amazing photographer! go here! She is amazing. I have only had the opportunity to meet her one time when husband and I went to Vegas to visit one of his old Mission Companions, but it was so fun, and she is one of the nicest ladies I know.

Holy cow, I am so sorry for posting so super late. I was watching a movie with sisters {a wildly inappropriate one, I might add. Yeah, didn’t think that it would be THAT bad haha}
I am going to bed now.

OH! Yeah, watch Cars 2 if you haven’t already. It was actually SUPER cute, and my husband even enjoyed it. :o)

Nighty night!

Time Change

I am so happy right now. Josh’s best friend was here this weekend and they had a great time together. Something exciting might be happening at Josh’s work. I am wearing a new shirt thanks to Josh’s sister. And, I am watching Grey’s Anatomy. There was something else I was happy about, but I totally forgot it.

Has the time change kicked anybody else’s butt this weekend?! I wanted to pass out yesterday because I was so tired. And today I felt like I was running late all day, but I was on time. Even now I feel like it’s almost dinner time, but I know that dinner is like two hours away! Oh my goodness.

OH YEAH! Has anybody watched the new show Once Upon A Time? Holy cow, I love it so much!

The picture is a little blurry, but it’s actually really, really good. I love it, and I have only seen three episodes. Totally hooked!

Have a good evening!

Yes, I live here

This picture was taken from Tumwater, which is sorta close to where I live. This is a picture of Mt. Rainier casting a shadow on the underside of some clouds. It’s pretty beautiful. I love Washington when I see pictures like this. :o)

I found this picture on MSN “the week in pictures”

Happy Friday!

10 Things That Have Been Making Me Smile This Week

1. Another A.
2. The cold weather. It’s almost time for snow! {hopefully}
3. Josh’s best friend coming to visit.
4. Going RUNING!
5. Ruby Gloom
6. My brother-in-law deciding to serve a mission
7. Knowing there is a 3-day weekend next week
8. Cinnamon Rolls
9. SNL – oh my word, it makes me laugh so hard
10. Setting Josh’s best friend up on a blind date.

Have a good weekend, everybody!!!!!! Be safe!

{p.s. for some odd reason last night this post wouldn’t upload to blogger. it was totally lame. thus you are getting it on Saturday very late in the afternoon. So sorry!}

winding down

Now that Halloween is over, I am feeling a little blue. It was so exciting getting all dressed up and being in a fun costume and having a fun time with my in-laws.
Now, I have to unwind from the excitement of last weekend {I know, it’s already THURSDAY! and this weekend starts TOMORROW!} and prepare for this weekend, which will also be exciting. Josh’s best friend, Kris, is coming to play with us all the way from Portland {remember, I really want to go there and play sometime soon!} and we are both excited to see him.

Today, though, I am feeling REALLY sad. Like, ridiculously sad. I am really missing my mom and dad, and I want to go out and see them really, really badly. I don’t know why. This doesn’t happen to me very often. I like to think of myself as independent {for the most part}, but today I just really miss them. I really just miss my family. And Gig Harbor. And I kind of don’t want to live in P-town anymore. I know that I shouldn’t be complaining because Josh’s family is so kind and letting us live here to save money and stuff, but I REALLY miss my home.
I think I just need to cry it out.
Eat some starburst, watch a girly movie, cry a lot, and then go to bed.

I do know that I have a lot to be thankful for. So much. And tomorrow I will have yet another post of things that have been making me smile this week.
I am really happy with life in general, school is going fantastically great, and my husband is pretty amazing.

Have a great night!

Oh, Wednesday

I don’t know what it is about Wednesdays, but I almost always forget to blog. I don’t know why. It’s totally weird.

I went shopping today, sorta. I bought something for my besties wedding. And then I did some window shopping at Charming Charlie's. I have never even heard of it until Halloween when we walked past it at the mall. It is super cute. Adorable. I loved it in there.

Only 10 more days until best friend gets married. I am so excited for her. I am so excited to wear my bridesmaid dress! I got it back from being altered. It’s really amazing! :D

It’s a blustery, windy, rainy evening over here. I really wasn’t expecting rain because it was so beautiful all day. Oh well.

Have a good night!

Happy Halloween! (# 2)

We had so much fun trick-or-treating last night!


It was crazy scary fun last night. The kiddos made out like bandits on the candy. I don’t even think that the pictures do it justice. It looks like there isn’t a lot there, but really they have a lot. Like, a TON!!

Just a few side notes:
#1. Happy birthday to my dad! He turned the big six three today! I love my dad, he is the bomb.com and I am glad that he is alive!
#2. Um, this might be weird, but I wanted to say Congratulations to Sydney from
The Daybook. She had her baby on Sunday, and I am really excited for her! {I don’t know her at all, never met her in my life, but I LOVE her blog so much, and I am just so happy for her!}

Have a good night!