The best 5 years of my life

We have been married for 5 amazing years!  It is crazy to me how quickly time goes by!!  Not everything that has happened during the past 5 years has been happy and wonderful (although most truly was) but I cannot imagine going through both the most joyous and the most painful experiences in my life without the most amazing man by my side.  Being lucky enough to have Eldon as my Eternal Companion is truly the greatest blessing and treasure.  We have been through quite a bit over the past few years, and I am ever so grateful for him as an amazing husband, a caring man, and as my best friend.  

To celebrate our union, we decided to take a fun little trip to FLORIDA!!!!

Our First day in Florida started out at Disney's Magic Kingdom.  It was similar to Disneyland in California, but still quite different.  It was interesting to think you know where things are and to head in that direction and then find that it doesnt look the same at all.  For those of you who know me well, you know that I love Pirates.  The Pirates ride here was definitely different.  The entrance is totally different and the ride is similar but shorter.  The best part that was different, was they had a Captain Jack Sparrow show and he let me up on stage to become part of his pirate crew.  It was AWESOME!!!!!  he he. 

Day 2 was the Epcot Adventure.  We went on a ride that took us on banked curves at 65 mph, soared over California, talked with a turtle and toured the world all in one day.  You cant beat that!  One of the funnest parts was in Japan where I got to pick an Oyster and found a pearl!  Oh and in France we had yummy treats including something similar to what Eldon had on his mission called Napolitanas.  He put it on facebook to tease his mission buddies and ended up finding out that one of his mission buddies lived in Florida, and the best part, he buddy and his family was able to join us for Day 4 of our adventure.

Day 3 was a break from Disney for the best Anniversary gift ever. (see post above)

Day 4 was Hollywood Studios.  This park was crazy busy!!! But had a lot of things we had never done before.  The Rockin Roller Coaster was pretty dang fun.  We also went on a backstage tour, saw a car stunt show, and Indiana Jones Stunt show, watched Beauty and the Beast as well as saw a Jedi Training sessions.  It was quite a day full of fun!

Day 5 was Animal Kingdom.  This was our final day, so it was only a half day because we were flying home.  We started out the day on an African Safari.  It was pretty entertaining.  Our guide was hilarious.  We saw some cool animals.  Next we ventured over to Asia and took a trip to Mount Everest to see the Yeti.  The ride was pretty good, but it was pretty funky to go backwards and loop in the dark when you cant tell which direction you are headed.  We saw a few more animals, including a bugs life show before the heavens opened up and it poured on us.  We were absolutely soaked by the time we got to our car to head to the airport.  I didnt get a pic cuz Eldon wasnt too thrilled at this point.  I thought it was pretty funny though.

All in all, we had a wonderful trip to Florida.  It was pretty hot, definitely humid, full of great memories to cherish and a wonderful way to celebrate the best decision we made... our marriage.

Pioneer Village

For a work retreat, I got the chance to take a walk back in time to the "Wild West" at a place called Pioneer Village.  It is in North Phoenix hidden away off the I-17.  It was actually a pretty neat place.  It definitely makes me feel spoiled to have things like central heating, and um, i dunno, a TOILET! we joked when we saw the outhouse, can you imagine potty training especially in the winter...ha ha.  "Hurry up honey, and just go, its freezing outside!"  ha ha.  We got to see some very old historic buildings and homes and we got to watch an old west gun fight.  We even got to dress up and take some cute photos, and some of my co-workers played "hold up" in the bank. It was a good time and nice to take a day out of the office and go play.

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.

Back from the Dead

Hopefully!!! Many of you may not know, we basically died (at least from our social lives) for the month of October. Eldon had his surgery to remove his giant kidney stone and then had to deal with a stint for a week (not fun, but he was a good sport). He kept me company while I was on bed rest- and no not for a happy reason like a baby.....for a stupid cyst that burst and caused internal bleeding and so much pain that I thought I was going to die, and resulted in my first ever hospitalization. I never want to go through that again!!! It was absolutely miserable. Hopefully that is all behind us. We are feeling much better and back to work and school and starting to pick up on some of the things that dropped off....such as the blog. (So sorry for the long time with no posts :) One of the good thing that came out of all of this was the great company we had. I am so grateful to Mom and Dad Larson for coming to our rescue when we needed some extra help (its no good to have both of us out of commission). We also had Mack and Valerie out for a few hours to visit and see our new place. They brought their dog and I thought it was so funny.

T

the dog (Damage....yes that is the name) apparently was cold at our house because he snuggled right up to my heating pad and blanket....please ignore the ugly pictures of me, i just had been released from the hospital, but i think it is funny.

We also had Misti's family out. They entertained us with Rock Band. It was a riot. The kids were really good!!!! Grant Man rocked it on the guitar

and Olivia hit every note singing.

Issac really liked the drums and liked that Uncle Eldon helped him win!!

Thanks for playing with us guys!! It was a lot of fun. We had some other wonderful visitors as well, but I didnt take any pics. Sorry! Anyways, that was our October basically. No fun...hopefully the rest of the year goes much better.

Time for some changes

So we are making some changes in our lives right now....new car (not planned), new house (wahoo!), we are both searching for new jobs closer to home that fit our family goals and desires better, so hey....why not add another!

Before....

How about a new haircut!!!!!

After......

K, if you know me at all, you know that this was a huge step! My hair was short in college but has been long for about 6+ years or so and i barely let Kristy (my wonderful hairstylist friend) trim my hair let alone take any length, but my hair has been making me mad, so it was time for a change. And my hair was long enough that i am going to donate it to Locks of Love to help children with hair loss. Makes it worth it, but i really am liking it now that i am getting used to it. And i have received some pretty good reviews so far. Let me know what you think!

Today....we had a miracle!

Seriously! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father today, because today, he loved me enough to keep me alive....and even more than that....basically unharmed. As you can see from the wonderful pictures. My beautiful yellow car is no more. It was crashed today! I was driving on the 202 to work this morning and the passenger rear tire lost its tread (which basically makes it like driving on ice). well since it was the freeway, it wasnt like i was only going 5 miles an hour. i actually did pretty good keeping it in control for a second or two and then i lost complete control of the car, it crossed 2 lanes of traffic to hit almost head on the freeway median. It then bounced off the median did a complete 360 roll back to its tires and stopped. Thankfully, no other cars were involved and an amazingly nice truck driver (which i do not have his name, but am forever thankful for) pulled his giant truck diagonal to stop traffic from hitting me and then rushed to help me along with about 5 other guys. They were helping before i was finished processing what happened. Well amazingly enough, after a visit to the hospital with a very caring LDS doctor in the E.R. the damages (besides the death of my car) was bruising from the seatbelt, cuts from the glass of my broken window and most likely a very sore steffi tomorrow. The cop asked if he could enter me in the demolition derby and my brother joked that i was "unbreakable". I dont know about that, but the guardian angel that kept me safe is probably pretty beat up or something!

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for his guiding hand in my life. Today could have been and probably should have been a very bad day, and it definitely wasnt fun, but I will take it over the alternative....and now....i guess i get a new car.... unfortunately because of timing, it probably wont be the car i wish i was getting, but my plans never quite go according to plan. So make sure

you remember Heavenly Father and his hand in your life as well, and Buckle Up! Cause it probably saved my life!

Its coming back finally!

For those of you who have read my blog for a while, or if you have been around me last year, you would know that one of my favorite shows is Heroes!!! Because of the writer's strike at the end of the year last year, the show pretty much died. I have been waiting to see if it would ever come back and there hasn't been any sign of when....until now!!! I was watching TV the other day and saw a commercial for the show! YEAH!! prayers really do get answered! j/k, i wouldn't pray for that, but I am excited!!! Its still a ways off, but I am just glad to know it is coming back! The last episode that aired, was not supposed to be the end of the season, so things were really left hanging!!!