Love, Laughter, Larsen

Monthly Pictures

2013-01-20T21:18:00.001-08:00

My sister did this really cute thing with her youngest, where she took pictures of her every month to document the change. She was nice enough to make some vinyl numbers for me so here are the pictures so far. Month 1-4...

Can't believe he is getting so big.....

Bennett Craig Larsen

2013-01-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

***THE VERY LONG OVER DUE STORY/PICTURES OF THE ARRIVAL OF BENNETT**

The story of getting him here started on September 12th when I went to my weekly doctors appointment. My doctor was a little worried that I was measuring a little smaller than she would like. She said that she would like to do an ultrasound to see if baby was ok. When we got to take a look she said that things were ok, but he was border line growth restrictive. My doctor was concerned that if we let him stay in there to much longer we could have some serious problems and even get into the territory of a still born. We set a date for me to be induced a week later and she sent us home. I was given instructions to count his kicks about three times a day. We wanted to make sure that he was still getting what he needed from the placenta. So the counting began and I was feeling really good. I was excited that my doctor was going to deliver him and I knew exactly when we was coming. It took alot of the stress away for me. However he had a mind of his own. Friday afternoon I was at lunch with Craig and my back starting to ache. It would come and go and I thought it would just go away. When Craig came home that night the pains had not stopped, in fact they were getting closer together. But, being stubborn as I am I was not about to admit I was in the early stages of labor, I kept saying that they would go away. We were planning to have a BBQ with some friends on Saturday so I was moving forward with those plans.

I made Craig get in the car and drive us to the store to get some food. So I was walking (more like shuffling) through the store with a death grip on the shopping cart. But, I was still determined that I was having this baby on Wednesday and my doctor was going to be the one to deliver him. As the night went on and the contractions got closer together I still was not going to admit what was happening. Around 8:30 Craig started packing the car just incase. Around 9:00 I gave in and we went to the hospital...ok skipping ahead things went pretty fast, my epidural was heaven and things went pretty smooth.

Since then things have been really hard but they have been good. Craig is a great dad and Bennett is just getting cuter. It is hard being away from family but we hope it is not forever. Ok, that is the kinda short/long story of Bennetts birth.

The drugs finally kicked in so I was a lot happier

Our sweet little boy is here!! He came a week early on September 15th at 4:18 in the morning. He weighed 5 lbs 9 ounces and was 19 inches long.

Daddy holding Bennett for the first time

Grandma and Grandpa Bingham came to visit! My dad was here for a week and my mom stayed for three! It was so nice

Going home

His first bath

Just an idea of how small he was. That is a new born onesie

My sister Audrey came to visit during conference weekend. It was so great, I loved having her visit!!

2 Weeks to go!!

2012-09-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

We have only two weeks left until the due date of our new little boy. We are super excited and just finishing getting everything ready. I will post a picture of the nursery as soon as it is finished. It has been more fun for me to get it decorated than it has for Craig but he at least acts like he cares about all the colors matching :)

Here is my attempt at using the self timer on my new camera. I also thought I should have one more photo of my being pregnant before the little guy comes.

Craig turns 33!

2012-08-31T20:30:00.001-07:00

While we were in Utah this summer there were lots of fun things that we had to celebrate. One of them was Craig's birthday. Since his birthday fell on a Sunday this year we celebrated at my parents house with a yummy dinner, cake and presents. In the Bingham family it is tradition to have fun themed cakes for each birthday. Some times they are a surprise and some times the person having the birthday gets to pick what their cake is.

This was Craig's first birthday since we got married so the cake was a surprise this year. I knew that anything Utah State would be a big hit and I was right! He loved his cake and his gift.

We always had to sit on the fire place to open gifts and Craig was no different.

I got him a pretty sweet gift. He had been wanting a Blue Ray Player with WiFi for a long time, so that is what he got. He can now watch our Netflix downstairs while he exercises.

We had limited luggage space so the actual gift was mailed directly to SD, but he opened a picture of what was waiting for him.

His first themed cake, right before he blew out all his candles.
Happy Birthday Baby!

It's a BOY!!!

2012-06-02T21:05:00.001-07:00

Yep that's right...we are going to have a baby!! We are very excited to welcome our little boy to the family. I am due September 22nd. It has been fun experiencing this for the first time with Craig. He has been great with all my changing moods and meltdowns. So far my favorite part is feeling the baby move. It is such a neat thing to actually feel the little life inside of me.

Craig is happy to be getting a boy and said that he could be done now. Not really, he wants as many as I will give him. We are going to just take it one at a time for now....We wish that we could be around family when all these fun things are happening, but it is really special just being the two of us.

I am a little nervous about having a boy and all the trouble that he is going to cause, but I'm sure it will be a great adventure. I love all my nephews and hearing about all fun things they come up with. It will be so great to watch him grow up. I am also excited to see Craig interact with him. My two boys will be so cute together!!!

Aberdeen, South Dakota

2012-04-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

After our fantastic trip to beaches and sun shine, Craig moved us to South Dakota. Yes you read that right South Dakota. He has worked with a company out here for about 7 years and around October he reached out to them. He had been pretty unhappy with his job in Salt Lake and needed a change. They flew him out in October and offered him something that he could not refuse. So after many tearful nights we decided that we could do anything for three years and here we are. So we are living here for the next three years while Craig is starting up a new Civil Engineering company.

The town has about 25,000 people and is in the middle of no where. There is one ward which is nice but the nearest temple is three hours away. We have not had to experience winter out here yet, something that I am not looking forward to.

It was really hard to leave our families and friends! We cant wait to come back and visit. My parents were great and drove out here with us and stay for a week helping to unpack. Now it is just Craig and I. We are making it work because we have each other and that is what really matters.

So in 2 years and 9 months will finally be back for good in the GREAT state of UTAH...but who is counting!!

Roatan

2012-04-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

In February all the adults of my family took off for the week and went to Roatan. We had not been on a tropical trip for a long time and we were all so excited!! My fabulous dad rented a house on the beach for all of us and it was one of the best weeks!!

We took the red eye from Salt Lake so when we got to Atlanta we tried to catch on sleep before the next flight.

Craig can sleep anywhere.

We finally got there will all our luggage and were so happy to start having fun

Since we were right on the beach they had to take all our bags to the house like this.
They had to take a couple trips. With ten adults we had lots of crap!

This was the view from the back of the house. The railing to the private pool is off the to left. Staying a week here was not going to be hard.

We hit the beach first thing!

Everyone wanted to go ziplining in their mountains, so we ganged up on my dad(who is afraid of heights) and made him come with us! He did awesome and actually enjoyed himself and we all had a great time!

My cute parents getting ready to go.

The scenery was so beautiful and everything was so green! It was a little rainy that day which was nice because it kept us cool.

We found an LDS church on the Island and went on Sunday. We about tripled their attendance numbers.

The church had metal fencing and barbed wire around it for protection.

We played lots of games

Took naps

and were even able to watch the Super Bowl

All the sisters and my mom

We went to this farm with tons of Iguanas. Craig was crazy and picked up all the big ones. I of course stayed far away.

Just before we had to leave :(

Obviously no one was excited to go home.

THANKS MOM AND DAD AND EVERYONE ELSE FOR COMING AND MAKING IT SUCH A GREAT TRIP!

Our First House

2012-03-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

About a month before we got married we found this cute little house to rent. I loved it was excited to move it and make it home. We are no longer there, but there were some great memories and it will always be our first.

Our kitchen

The Family Room

The bathroom

Our bedroom

New Years

2012-03-03T10:04:00.001-08:00

There is nothing like posting New Years in March... but better late than never. There has been a lot happening over the last couple of months so I will try to catch up as quick as possible.
This year we spent New Years up in Oakley. I love the traditions my family has for this holiday and it was fun to have Craig experience them for the first time.

My dad bought all the men and grand kids air soft guns so that they could have wars. It was pretty funny to see them get all suited up and run around the back field shooting each other. I don't know who had more fun, my dad, the sons in law or the grand kids.

We had the Just Dance X-Box game that was always going. Craig beat me the first time, but after that he did not even come close.

My mom, sisters and I had fun decorating the house for the big evening.

Matt could not just dance, he had to one up us all and pulled out this super sweet outfit.

Believe it or not we even got Robert to join in the dancing. He actually did pretty well.

Getting ready to count down

This was taken after the Bingham family confetti fight. Craig thought we were crazy to throw that much, but we love it and I told him that he better get used to it!

Parker really got into the party hats

Happy 2012! We hope it is as good as 2011 was for us

Sweet little Keslee was helping my dad vacuum out all the confetti out of his hair. She was enjoying it more than my dad, but we was a good sport.

It was a great holiday and we loved spending time with family!!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

This year we went to Logan to spend Christmas with Craig's family. We had a great time. It was fun learning some of their traditions and hearing family stories from when every one was young. Craig has such a great family I am so lucky that I get to be a part of it!

One of their traditions is to go caroling on christmas eve to some of their neighbors. Not all of is family were able to join us, but we had a good group. I had to have all four of my wisdom teeth out the the monday before christmas so I am not really smiling in this picture.

After we went caroling we went back and played games and wrapped presents. Some of us were up pretty late wrapping, but Craig's dad slept right through it all.

I was so excited to have our first christmas together. I loved setting up our gifts. Here is our fun little christmas waiting until for us to open it.

There are no pictures of me christmas morning as my puffy face and lack of smile did not need to be documented. It was a great day!! Best of all, we got to spend it together!

He is so happy about his chocolate donuts that were waiting by his stocking

Thanksgiving and Hike to Angels Landing

2012-01-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving it was our year to spend it with my family. Everyone went down to St. George and we had a great time! My parents even flew Audrey and her family in as a surprise! I loved having the whole family together! We did lots of fun stuff. We golfed, biked, hiked, played games, went swimming, shopped, ate and slept!!

My sisters got me out black Friday shopping again and, just spending time with them that early in the morning is so fun. The conversations we had and things we laughed about where pretty funny. I have a great family and this was a great trip!!

The first morning we were all there, Craig and Michael were playing hide and seek

With some help from me, Michael was found. He is the cutest thing I just love him!

One must have a weapon to do hiking with

The start of Angles Landing in Zions

The famous stairs. We were starting to feel the burn by this point

We finally made it to the top!

It was funny to listen to Craig while we were hiking. We took some of the nieces and nephews and the youngest was six. He could not believe that my dad would take the kids on such a hike. He was more nervous than their parents I think. He told my dad and they were not allowed to take our kids out of Oakley when they were watching them. It was all in good humor, but it is nice to know that he already cares about the safety of our future children.

Biking for Dad's Birthday

2011-11-21T21:24:00.000-08:00

It was no surprise my dad told us that for his birthday, all he wanted was to go on a bike ride with everyone. So, we went up for the weekend and had a great ride. There are so many different bike trails that are fun and so close to my parents house. You cant beat good weather, exercise and most of all company!

My dad, Tyler, Paul, Me and Craig. Emily is taking the picture

You can't tell but, this biking shirt that I am wearing zips up the front. Right before this photo Craig unzipped my shirt a little and everyone started laughing. Craig looked up to see that my dad had seen the whole thing. His response...."Robert you were not supposed to see that." It was pretty funny. Sorry if that was an over share but Craig is sitting here and thought it would be funny if I added it.

Bingham Halloween

2011-10-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is not even Halloween yet but the Bingham family party took place on the 8th. Every year my family has a big family party where everyone has to dress up. We eat lots of good food, play games and just enjoy family time.

When Craig found out about this, he took his costume very seriously and spent three weeks preparing. We had gone to see the movie "X-Men First Class" on a date night and after that he knew what he wanted to be. He planned out three weeks before the party and started growing a full beard. The day of the party he shaved and this is what the final product was....

Wolverine and Storm
We came up with the idea that to make my costume as cool, I need white contacts. They were pretty creepy and it took the family a little while to get used to them. Yes, those are REAL chops

My Uncle's family were BYU fans. He of course was the biggest fan

These two were the homecoming queen and football start. What a good sport Paul is! He is so pretty.

The Robbins had an 80's Barbie, the Irish Dancer and a really scary dead man.

Honeymoon to Cabo

2011-10-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

We got to take a quick trip to Mexico for our Honeymoon and it was great. We flew out Wednesday morning and came home Sunday afternoon. It was just the right amount of time. We slept in every morning. Craig and can sleep just as much as I can if not more so we really enjoyed ourselves. We were at an all inclusive resort which was awesome. We ate all the chips and fresh salsa that we could ask for and drank even more pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris, because they were free!!! Seriously they kept walking around the pool asking if we wanted drinks and Craig would order some every time. I have never made so many trips to the bathroom! We layed out by the pool, read our books did a little snorkeling and just enjoyed being together. We got two couples massages by the beach while we were there and it was heaven. I had never had a massage and I loved it. Just relaxing in the warm air, with the ocean in the back ground was fantastic!! We enjoyed it so much that it was Craig's idea to schedule another one two days later! Just one of the many reasons I love him!

One of the highlights of what we did, was on Friday night. We had found this hole in the wall electronics store when we were in town. We were looking for a cord that would hook the ipod up to the TV in our room. We found a really cool one that not only did that, but charged at the same time. Craig was really excited. So that night we ordered tons of room service(also free) and watched The Saint while we ate. It was perfect!!

Our First Night walking on the beach

The view from our pool chairs

Other view from our chairs looking at the ocean

Right after our snorkel tour out at Lovers Beach

Lovers Beach

View from the patio outside our room

Loved the lounge chairs in the pool!!!

Just one of the many drinks we had at the pool

Taking an afternoon nap right before our second massage.

After our massages

Out last night, we had so much fun!

Planning a Wedding in 5 Weeks

2011-09-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

**Long Post**
Trust me...it can be done! The first thing that helped us out was, we just wanted something small and simple with family and a few close friends. Second, I knew exactly what I wanted and which vendors I wanted to use. When we contacted them they were all available! That is something that rarely happens. Third, my fiance was fantastic and wanted to be involved but also would say, 'Whatever you want will be fine." Fourth my wonderful mother really stepped up and went above and beyond in helping me plan things because I had to be at work all day during the week. Fifth, we choose to get married in the middle of the week. We were able to avoid some of the August wedding craziness but doing it on a Tuesday afternoon. Last but not least things just seemed to fall into place. I could just enjoy the planning process and not stress out about anything because I knew it would all work out, and because I was so happy I didn't really care about anything except getting to marry Craig. So here is the timeline of how things went down:

Monday - July 11th - We get engaged

Wednesday - July 13th - Book date and time with the Salt Lake Temple. When I called the temple I was just hoping that they would have at least one spot open. SL is really busy in August with weddings, but when I called ALL TIME SLOTS WERE OPEN! We got to pick the time we wanted. That night we went to dinner with my whole family and told my sisters we were engaged.

Thursday - July 14th - Book the Memorial House in Memory Grove for the dinner. Look at wedding invitations on line to get some ideas

Friday - July 15th - Book Culinary Crafts as the caterer. Set up time to meet with Mary (the owner() on the 22nd. They were my favorite caterers when I worked at the Olympic Park and I always knew I wanted them to do my wedding. Call some leads on houses to rent for when we are married.

Friday - Sunday July 15-17th - Spend the weekend in Castle Dale with some friends at a cabin.

Monday July 18th - Meet Craig for lunch to pick out my wedding band and re size my ring. Make a reservation at the Bed and Breakfast where will go our first night. I did this so it was a surprise for Craig. Go to the printers to order the wedding announcements

Tuesday July 19th - See the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Hale Center Theater with Craig and my parents

Wednesday - July 20th - Meet with the florists during lunch to talk about the flowers. Approve the wording for invitations so they can start the printing. Site visit at the Memorial House to talk about set up, layout and flow of the dinner. Bees game with friends

Thursday July 21st - Dinner with my parents and Craig's Parents so they could meet

Friday July 22nd - Meet with the photographer in the afternoon. Meet with the caterer to talk about the menu. Get our engagement pictures taken in the evening.

Friday - Saturday July 22-23rd - Spend the weekend in Bear Lake with Craig's family for the holiday. I also found out that the roommates found someone to take my place in our house. So I have to out by August 1st!

Sunday July 24th - Stuff all 500 announcements in one night with the help of my parents in Oakley. It was a pretty good system. Me and my mom would but the announcements together and my dad and Craig would stuff them. As they were doing this they were watching Harry Potter #1, seriously I am not joking.

Monday July 25 - Go look at the house that we would really like to rent.

July 26 - 28 - Pack up my room, pick out a picture to send out with the announcements. Send the order to Costco to be picked up on Wednesday.

Wednesday July 27th - Finally fit in some time to go shopping for Craig's birthday present. Pick up the pictures from Costco.

Thursday July 28th - Move into the really cute house that we rented. Spent the first night in my new house all alone.
Friday July 29th - Craig's birthday. Meet with the cake lady and order the cake.

Friday July 29 - Sunday July 31st - Spend the weekend in Bear Lake with friends for Craig's big birthday bash.

Monday August 1st - Have my bridals taken in Oakley

Tuesday August 2 - Wednesday August 3 - Start to pack up Craig and move some stuff over to the house.

Thursday August 4th - Have a date night were we do non-wedding stuff and just enjoy time together

Friday August 5th - Took the day off to unpack my boxes and clean things up around the house a little.

Sunday August 7th - Interview with my bishop and stake president for my recommends.

Monday August 8th - Order Craig's wedding ring

Tuesday August 9th - Get my hair cut and colored

Wednesday August 10th - Work event that I had to be in charge of

Thursday August 11th - Work threw me Bridal shower in the afternoon. Dinner party with some friends

Friday August 12th - My sister Audrey who lives in North Carolina flew in with her WHOLE family. It was only going to be her and my brother in law Scott and their new baby. But... they surprised me and flew out their other three kids as well! It was a great surprise!!

Saturday August 13th - Family bridal shower in Logan with my sisters and Craig's sisters and sister in laws.

Sunday August 14th - Family dinner with everyone in Oakley

Monday August 15th - Both Craig and I were running around like crazy doing last minute errands. We both took the whole wee off so that we could have Monday as a day to get ready.

TUESDAY AUGUST 16TH - GET MARRIED!!!!

Wednesday August 17 - Sunday August 21 - Honeymoon in Cabo Mexico!

Wow it kinda makes me tired just thinking about all of it again. I am sure that I missed some things along the way, but that will give you a pretty good idea of the craziness. So, if I happened to neglect you or if your tried to get a hold of me and never called you back I am sorry I was just a little busy. On top of all of that we were both working full time. I think I only got 4-5 hours a sleep a night. I had to be running a pure adrenaline. Even with the craziness of it all I would not change a thing. It was so much fun!!

Were MARRIED!!!

2011-09-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

It's finally official! Craig and I are married! It has been almost 1 month and things could not be more perfect. I need to write out the schedule we had the five weeks we were engaged, because it was pretty crazy but that will have to be another blog. I never knew marriage could be so great! I knew it would be fun and that I would be happy, but this is so much better than I expected. The best part is seeing how happy Craig is! I love hearing him talk about being married to his friends. I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing him come home at night with a big smile on his face. I am so blessed! I thank my father in heaven everyday for the blessing in my life and for giving me Craig. The years of waiting were worth it. It's hard to believe that I am this lucky but my life could not be better!! I don't have all the pictures from our wedding but here are a few....

All my sisters were there! It was so special having them there to share this day with me!

My husband is one very handsome man! I am so lucky that he is mine!

U2

2011-05-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

One day before the big U2 concert in Salt Lake I got four tickets!! It was a total surprise. I have not been to many concerts, so did not have much to judge by, but think that I might be ruined for all future concerts. Craig and I went with our friends Joe and Brandi. It was a pretty sweet night.

It really was totally awesome, and I should probably mention the tickets were FREE!! Made it that much better!!

Lake Mead!

2011-05-18T19:25:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went down to Lake Mead with a group of friends. It is a traditional trip that Craig and his friends have taken for years. We had so much fun!!! The weather was perfect. The high was about 91 and the low was about 60, again....PERFECT! We went to Mesquite on Wednesday night and of course the boys had to hit the tables as soon as we got there. Being the gambler that I am, Craig talked me into joining their 21 table. Within about ten minutes I had already doubled my money and was cleaning house. Must be something to the saying beginners luck.

Thursday morning we got up and headed to the lake. But before we left, Craig got a special hair cut just for the trip.......introducing the Mullet
At least he fit in down there. That hair do was the talk of the trip. All the girls hated it and the boys thought it was "freakin awesome"

We wasted no time getting out on the water and playing around. I was pretty surprised that I was able to get up on my first try. I had not been in about a year and a half. I had alot of fun but took some pretty nasty falls. That is what happens when you are learning I guess. I could pass as a good wake boarder right?
Craig was awesome!! He loved being out behind the boat and has some pretty sweet moves.
I thought my Aggie jersey would be a cute cover up, and when he saw that I had mine on decided to put his on too. We were twiners for the day!
Saturday afternoon before we packed up everyone was just hanging on the beach and in the water. It was one of my favorite moments of the trip. Just hanging out in the sun and water is great.
I love this picture that our friend Anna took when we weren't looking.
I did not want to come back home. It was a great weekend just being on our own schedule with no where to be and nothing to do but have fun and soak up the sun.

Just Because.....

2011-05-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I came back from a meeting to find these sitting on my desk...

Two dozen long stemmed rose, with the cutest card just because Craig wanted to doing something to surprise me!

I have a Job!!

2011-03-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

Yes it's true! I have finally found a job and it is a great fit for me. I am the Events Manager at United Way of Salt Lake. I over see and plan all the community events as well as the donor/sponsor events. I had my first week last week and it was a lot of fun. I know that work and fun should not be in the same sentence, but they were at my last job and I am happy to say it will be the same with the new one. They threw me in the fire and I hit the ground running. I still feel like my head is spinning but I am excited to start getting familiar with everything and start working on their events. The office building is right down town so my commute is a breeze. Its nice to get into work and feel productive again. Although I know there will be same days I will wish I could go back to having all that free time. But that's to be expected right..??

Disclaimer

2011-03-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

Some people have been questioning my loyalty to the BYU cougars after my last post. To set their minds at ease....I still am and will always be a fan of the true blue cougars. USU games are just infectious and one cant help but become a fan when you are surrounded by so much energy at the home games. However, when Utah State and BYU go up against each other, rest assured that I will be cheering for BYU.

Aggie BasketBall

2011-02-26T23:19:00.000-08:00

I have become an Aggie fan. You cant go to almost every home game and not be a fan. They are so much fun!! I know all the names of the players and all the cheers that the students do. I even have an Aggie jersey that I wear to every game. Tonight was the last home game and it was crazy. The arena was so loud and full of fun energy. The Aggies won of course, it was GREAT!!

The view of the student section from our seats

There is a guy named "Wild Bill" that will dress up in crazy costumes and try to get the other teams to miss their free throws. Since tonight was the last game the whole first row dressed up in all the costumes he has worn over the season. It was hilarious!! Some of my favorites if you can pick them out are, Miss Potts, Pooh, Tiger, The Little Mermaid, a Christmas Tree and Barney.

Closer shot of the action. You can smell the sweat. It's funny to hear some of the things the guys say under the basket. Being so close we have heard some very choice words over the season.

Audrey this is for you...

After the game with my sister Natalie and her husband Matt. Me and Craig with his niece Leah. All wearing Aggie gear!

Valentines

2011-02-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

This year I had a great Valentines. I got lots of hugs and kisses, some yummy cookies and these pretty flowers. The great thing is that I have them by my bed and get to fall asleep to their wonderful smell every night.

Audrey, I know this is not a picture you will care about because you want a different one! I'm working on it :)

UOP Friends!

2011-02-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

On Monday I got together with all my favorite co workers from the Olympic Park. This was the back office gang and we have/had so much fun together. They made work fun and I miss seeing them everyday! Every so often we go to lunch to catch up and enjoy each others company. They are all great friends and I am so lucky that I got work with them for 3 1/2 years.

2011!!

2011-01-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

Wow!!! I cant believe that it is 2011 already. However, so far I am not complaining it has been a great year. Yeah it started off with still being unemployed and taking a trip to the ER in Logan at 5:00 am on new years day, but it could only go up from there right?? So a little catch up on me.......

The Job front: I have been interviewing with a company to be their events coordinator. It would be a great job and one that I would enjoy. I would be planning all their internal events and yearly sales conferences. I am now waiting to see if I will get the job so keep your fingers crossed.

Christmas: This was one of the best Christmases that I have ever had. To be honest the last couple of years Christmas has not been all its cracked up to be. Spending time with family was great, but that was about it. However, this year was the complete opposite. I was enjoying everything about the holiday season, because I was with people how were enjoying it to!! Those who know me, know that I like to give surprises and gifts to people. It makes me happy. I was actually able to give someone a gift that they were just as excited about getting as I was about giving it. It was fabulous!!

I wish that I had taken a picture of my cute cute tree, but I forgot! I got some new ornaments this year as well as some garland that matched and it was to die for. My roommates called it the Dr. Seuss tree. I don't know why, maybe because it was all color coordinated??? In my family we have what we call "Explosions" coming out of the top of the trees. That term was lovingly given by my brother in law Scott. Instead of a star, we have a bunch of really cute stuff in a cluster at the top of the tree. In all honesty does look like an explosion but a really cute one!! I had the biggest explosion this year. I might have to be careful, cause this was the first year I did it and if I keep adding to it I might be in trouble. Opps!!

New Years: Best new years ever! Even with the trip to the ER I had a great ending and start to the new year. I enjoyed myself the whole weekend!!! I would not have wanted to spend it any other way.

P.S. If you want to hear about the ER trip you will have to call me.....but I am still living and everything is great.

I am excited to see what this year has in store. I will get to welcome a new niece into the family, which is always fun!! I will also get to see one of my best friends have her first baby. By see I mean pictures when she sends them. Not, that I would actually be there when she has the baby. Love you Ash, but yeah....just going to stop right there. :) Hopefully I will get to start a new adventure with a job. It will be a challenge that I am kinda looking forward to. Until that happens I am thoroughly enjoying my free time. I take naps during the day, spend time reading books, I go out to lunch and dinner with friends and don't get out of bed until around 10:30 if I don't have to. So.... I will repeat that so far 2011 is starting out to be a great year!!