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.

Thanksgiving

Ok, So I am a little late with this post....i have been sick and we have been busy, but I just couldnt pass up the opportunity to publicly thank my Heavenly Father for all the amazing blessings he has given us and to remind myself that despite quite a rough year of 2008, We should never complain nor be ungrateful for we truly are blessed. So....I am reminding myself....in a generalized list. I thought about naming each thing individually, but my family takes up more than 50, so i will keep it simple for any readers, but mostly this is for me.

I am so grateful first of all for my savior, and for his amazing sacrifice so that we could repent and have the opportunity to return our Father in Heaven. I have done some stupid things in my life, and have learned the meaning of repentance and am humbled at the thought of the things the savior suffered for my mistakes, my sorrows, my pains. We do not know such love and I am so grateful for his gift and for the continuous gifts of love he gives in the great big and the small and simple things in my life.

I am so grateful for my amazing husband. I am absolutely head over heels in love and cant believe i have such a wonderful man to be my eternal companion. He is handsome, loving, sweet, loving, caring, helpful, patient, stubborn (when i need it), thoughtful, smart, hard working, funny, playful, and my everything. Eldon I love you!

I am grateful for the wonderful family that i inherited when I married Eldon. The Larson family is beyond words. It is crazy and perfect at the same time. Everyone gets along and loves being together and spending time together. We always have a blast together and I am so grateful to be a part of such a happy family. I never wanted to be an "in-law" nor to have any, and with this family, you are family just the same and that is exactly how it should be.

I am also so very grateful for my own amazing family, for the chaos, and the calm. I love the memories I have of growing up and the fun I had with my own brothers playing "super stef" and "super boog" on the trampoline. I love that we are still good friends now and have a great time together. I love that my parents are always there to support me in good times and especially in bad. I am grateful for the person they helped me become.

I am grateful for amazing friends who taught me so many valuable life lessons and who continue to love and stay in touch in various ways (yeah for blogs!). I wish we could spend more time together but I cherish all our time and our memories together.

I am grateful for the blessing of 2008- especially for our health. It has been a rough year healthwise but we are still here and probably better for all our trials this year and yet through everything, we have a beautiful new house, an adorable new puppy, a great new car and hopefully another new car shortly! We both have work right now and are able to pay our bills and even donate a bit to those less fortunate than us.

And From all our trials this year, I am especially grateful for the gift of the priesthood. We have had numerous priesthood blessings this year, and I dont think that we would be where we are without the amazing gift and blessing of the priesthood and the gospel as well.

And just incase i missed anything or anyone important....Thank you for the gift you are in our lives and the blessing and joy you bring.

Santa visited the Larson house early this year

Introducing the cutest little pre-Christmas present ever.....The mighty Zeus!!!

He he. We have been wanting a puppy for a very long time, but wanted to wait until we had a house with a yard, well we got one, and found the most adorable little boy online. He is maybe about a foot long and weighs just over 1 pound, which is mostly fur. He is just a big puffball. He has such a wonderful personality. He loves to cuddle, he doesnt bark unless he is playing and even then it takes a lot to get him riled up enough to make noise. He is great with children and other dogs and is just so freakin adorable. He would be perfect if he was totally potty trained, But we cant have perfection right away I guess. He is close though.

Congratulations Divers

For the past couple of months, I have been coaching 2 different High School Diving Teams- Red Mountain and Skyline. It has been a blast to be back in the diving world (blast from the past :P) But it was alot of fun and I had some really great kids. Last week was the state finals and I had 3 divers make it to the state competition. Ryan placed 7th, which is awesome for a sophomore, and two of my senior girls from Skyline, Lauren and Khazia placed 3rd and 15th. They did awesome and I am very proud of them, and proud to have played a small part in them getting to this point.

Bye Bye Blue....Hello Beautiful

Before.....




After.....


We got new granite counter tops!!! No more ugly blue (sorry Donna :P ) I am so excited. It has made such a difference in the kitchen! Now I just have to stain the cabinets and the kitchen will be beyond beautiful!!!! I just wanted to say thanks to Valerie and my Scot! They hooked me up with my beautiful new counter tops!! If anyone wants granite- Epic Renovations has the best stuff!! I would definitely recommend them to anyone!

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. I really enjoy this holiday but for the past couple of years we have been bums (not literally, bums as in, not really done much). This year my cousin August and his wife Melissa threw a Halloween party. It was a lot of fun. They had a costume contest (we were in second place by 1 vote), yummy food, a donut eating contest ( my sister Nauni won for the girls ), bowling with pumpkins, and just some fun times. Eldon and I were Hercules and Meg from the Disney version of Hercules,

but everyone thought we could be the couple from 300....didnt see it, but I will take their word for it. (Check out my hot hubby!! )

Nauni and my cousin Melissa were scary fairies

and my Brother and Cousin August were MAC and PC from the commercials.

I thought it was pretty creative. We had a blast hanging out with family and meeting new friends out on this side of town, but we were a little sad not to be at our house for trick or treaters for the first year....oh well. This year, Halloween was for us and we had a blast! Hope Halloween was happy for you all as well!