MERRY CHRISTMAS! I got you some pics. :)

I finally decided to get these pics posted of our little tree. It's very humble, but I think it came out pretty.(Although there are a few more presents under the tree.) It definitely adds warmth to our little apartment despite its iciness. :) Right now it's snowing outside, and there is already a lot of snow out there. I'll take a pic real quick after posting these other two pictures.



Here's a pic of us sitting in front of the tree when we put it up. We took a second picture as seen below, but uh, it came out kinda blurry; which is a tragedy because Niklas looked happier in this one! So much for the self-timer idea. :P We're thinking we need to get a new camera eventually.



And now, here are some pics just taken for your viewing pleasure. :)



This is a common scene for me. Niklas on his wonderful laptop. I envy the speed it has compared to this iMac I'm using right now. Pics are not fun to download when it takes such a long time. :( But see the tree--more presents! Guess who's present is the large blue box and who's is the small blue box? That's right---the squirt is mine. :)


This is what it looks like outside of our apartment right now. Our Jeep and Ford are in the foreground in between the other two cars.


Usually you can see the Rexburg temple up on the hill from this view, but as you can see, too much snow to see much of anything out there.


Okay, I decided to take some pics of myself out in the snow. Yeah, just try to ignore the lopsided eyes and big nose. :P Wow, Kristine, no wonder you made fun of my nose growing up---I always forget how puggish it really IS... ;)


This is me trying to look happy being out in the snow, but I think all I really wanted to do was get back inside the warm apartment. Niklas came home late last night from work and said that it was -21 degrees or something insane!


My mom sent us a box full of yummy things to eat (CHOCOLATE) and this is actually part of what I ate for breakfast---cookies and fudge!! Old habits die hard. :P Thanks Mom! And looky below at what Niklas was able to get last night with his Christmas money:


Now he can deal with the temptation to play games instead of prepping for classes in January. ;) Actually, I'm not too worried about that.


Here is our little nativity scene thanks to my mom.

Here are some pics of Niklas, since I am bad about taking pictures and I should get better since you only have this time in your life once in this life. I love this face--it is one of the dearest ones to me now. And I love that I get to see this look on his face so often. I love my husband.


MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT! (Whenever bedtime is for you, I guess. :P)

Great Happenings

Sheesh, it's almost been a month since I last posted, and I don't even have a good excuse. All I know is that life has been busy, and when it hasn't been, I've wanted to play more than post. :)

A few fun things have happened since I last wrote (by the way, haven't seen a doctor yet but next year for sure---I'm probably going to try to get everything done like densist, optometrist, heart & kidney doctor for Niklas, etc. over the beginning months of January).

Number One: Niklas and I went to see "The Nutcracker" last night at the Civic Auditorium in Idaho Falls---being put on by a community ballet group. Turns out my Aunt Sharen and a few cousins were there as well, so we got to sit by them during the show. And I LOVED it!! I've wanted to see it for years now but never got enough gumption to purchase some tickets. Niklas has always loved the snow scene, and I think my favorite (although I really liked the snow dance also) was the waltz of the flowers. The dancer's costumes had a deep emerald green bodice that ended at the waist, where the pink fluffy&light skirt began, the pink being darker at the waist and fading into a lighter pink going down the length of the skirt. They really looked like upside-down flowers opening and dancing around on stage. It was beautiful. One of my co-workers played the grandma, and her daughter who is 9 was in a bunch of the dance scenes throughout. It was so cute to see all the little ballet dancers, especially the gumdrops (I think that's what they were, but could be wrong). The little boys and girls had to have only been 5, and they were bobbing their little gumdrop-capped heads up and down and nobody was in sync; but that just added to their charm. :)

Number Two: I FINALLY found a chocolate orange at Albertson's. It may not sound like a big deal, but to me it was! (I have been eating SO much chocolate lately. :P) Niklas and I have been craving those things since a few months ago, and I couldn't find a milk chocolate one anywhere recently---just dark and other flavors. Niklas was even waving his fist at the dark chocolate orange display at Walgreens a few weeks back for disappointing him. Needless to say, our lovely friends Bill and Linda Beck told me that they saw them at Albertson's, and so right before Niklas and I headed to "The Nutcracker" I ran into the nearest Albertson's and got one for our treat during the ballet. We had that thing gone well before the end of the show. :P So yummy!

Number Three: Niklas received a call to be the Ward Clerk in the BYU-I 20th singles ward in the 6th stake (Elder Eyring's son is the president of that stake, and who Niklas got to interview with). It was totally unexpected, but I am so excited for this great opportunity for him to serve. We will still be members of our married ward, and attend the activities, do my visiting teaching still, etc.; but we will be attending the meetings together of the 20th singles ward. It's going to be really odd to be in a singles atmosphere again. But I admit I'm a little intrigued about seeing what it's like now that I'm married. ;)

OH, and we got our tree up a few weeks ago, and I did take pictures, so I'll try to load those up tonight. We have been getting snow the past couple of days much to my dismay, and it's not going to get any better... :( It was really pretty last night, however. Large fluffy flakes---it made me want to push Niklas down into the inches of snow while heading home from our friend's (the Becks!) place. But I was nice...and made him give me a piggy-back ride instead. :P

Happy snow days to all! Hope you're surviving the craziness of the holidays.

Maybe "Twilight" Freaked It Out...

So I realize that I need to still type about our visit to the Godfrey's and the Powell's here in Rigby. We had a a lot of fun time at both places, in gist. :)

But something happened this morning that kind of scared me, and I'm still not sure what is going on with it. Basically a few months ago while making a visit to the doctor, I was told that I had an irregular heartbeat. To make sure it wasn't anything serious, my heartbeat was assessed via an EKG, I think it was. I was told that I was fine, just had that odd irregular heartbeat. No biggie.

Sometimes during the last several years of my life my heart would feel uncomfortable, actually get painful if I breathed in too deep. I still have no idea why, but it only happened every few months, and I would just sit it out, and then it was fine. The weird thing is these little painful/uncomfortable episodes are a lot more frequent now (multiple times during a given month), and I don't necessarily ever reach the painful part of it---just the uncomfortableness that my heart isn't beating right and that it could become painful any second. They last for a few minutes, or several.

Anyway, last night as I was reading "Twilight" I noticed that my heart was feeling uncomfortable again. It lasted for a long time---even when I went to bed I think it still felt a bit odd. But nothing that 6 hours of sleep won't fix, right? Yeah, let's just say the book was finished mostly last night because it got supsenseful and Niklas had to listen to my gasps of dread as I read the last few chapters, so bedtime was a bit late...

I awoke at 5 a.m. and got up to leave for the gym. My little monthly friend is visiting me, so I also woke up with horrible cramps. Feeling like crud, I did my ab workout and headed to the college gym, continuting my workout by lifting weights. Halfway through my routine I notice that my heart is hurting again---more so than it did last night. Knowing me, you would know that I don't listen to my body extremely well---so I just tried not to put any pressure on my chest and kept lifting. Once done with the weights, I headed over to the treadmill to do my 20-minute run with hills. The fatigue from lifting weights compounded onto the lack-of-sleep fatigue, but I went full speed ahead into running anyway, as always, reading the Epilogue of "Twilight" as I ran. The run felt awful overall---I was looking forward the whole time to the part where I could walk at the end---I knew it would make me feel better. Wrong, of course. During my run my heart started to hurt on the right side more than on the left---it usually always hurts on my left side.

I finally got done with my 20 minutes and began walking; and felt like hurling. I thought, "Okay, just walk for a bit and you'll feel tons better. Just have to walk it out..." Even walking was a chore at that point. I stopped the treadmill and headed to get a towel. Right when my feet hit the gym floor, I felt almost the same way I did when I had donated plasma one time a couple years ago...I almost passed out while my plasma was being taken, and at the time I had never felt that horrible all over my body before. Now, at the gym, I was convinced as I slowly made my way to the towels that if I wasn't red from the run, my face would be stark white right now, because that's how nasty my body felt. I was afraid that I might pass out in the gym in front of all those people, because even my eye sight was starting to get a little blurry. And my little cramp friend that didn't want to work out with me came back once I made it back home (how kind of it).

In brief, I got home and was scared at how horrible I felt and how my heart was hurting like this so often--and I actually started to cry a little as I took my shower. I was contemplating whether something really was and is wrong with my heart or if it was brought on by other factors such as not enough sleep, etc. Maybe both.

I thought I would feel better once I got into the work day but now I am still fighting a headache, and getting up at all and walking around was a chore. I feel really tired, not in the usual way, though. I believe it's from that episode my heart had. Niklas just commented before I left for work that maybe my heart wasn't pumping enough oxygen to my body, and that's why I felt like death at the gym. I have always had bad circulation---with the whole abnormal heart beat thing, it makes a little more sense now.

So my question is, heart problems seem to sorta run in the family---Do I have a heart problem that I am completely unaware of, or is this irregular heartbeat simply a mild case that will never amount to anything seriuos? I guess time will tell. Hopefully. And here I was feeling like the "healthy" one in Niklas' and my relationship! :P

P.S. I realize that I pushed myself too hard and that made things worse today for my body---that's a given. What I'm wondering, however, is if anyone else I know ever has discomfort/slight pain in their chest around their heart on occassion? I think it is something like an arterial clogging on my left side---otherwise, why would it hurt like that randomly? I can be sitting down for hours and all of the sudden it does it.

Childhood Magic

Right now I am sitting on our purple couch wrapped in the purple fleece blanket that I and my now in-laws and husband helped me to make---all nice and comfy. Well, except that Niklas is now a working man and is at Circuit City until 10 p.m., so I'll be here at the apartment to do whatever for a few more hours. I had good intentions to run today, but that didn't happen after all. Niklas and I slept in today (SO nice), and then got to head to a couple of crafty places to just look at some crafty stuff. Niklas started painting some miniatures again lately after getting some new paint, and after he was showing me his great paint jobs, it made me kind of eager to eventually do some more crafty stuff like I used to as a kid. Even cross-stitch, only, there's nothing out there that is that awesome-looking to me. I want to learn something new eventually, so we'll see what happens with that. A pic of some miniatures painted by Niklas (don't think they were recently painted though):

We also bought our Christmas tree a couple days ago! I keep calling it a squatty tree because it is only 4-feet tall. It's so sadly cute for being such a small fake tree! It already has lights on it, which makes it easier. We like real trees the best---but we would rather have a little one for now that we can enjoy for a few years in our little apartment for now. We looked at some Christmas ornaments also, but didn't get any today. I just love this time of year. It makes me want to go around all the stores and see all the Christmas things coming in. I know a lot of people hate this time of year for that exact reason---but Christmas time to me doesn't have a stressful connotation yet; only the magic and reverence.

Speaking of magic, once Niklas left for work a few hours ago I decided I really wanted to read a book, but didn't know which one. I picked up C.S. Lewis' first book from the Narnia Chronicles, "The Magician's Nephew." As soon as I started to read it brought me back to when I was a little girl and loved to be in the great outdoors with my sisters and by myself on occasion. Childhood had magic in it because anything was possible in my imagination, and it affected how I viewed reality. Reading (so far) about two children exploring a tunnel that runs through different houses, and having little hideaways in the attic, and finding a furnished room in an attic where the uncle of one child has magical rings that can transport one to another world was just what I needed right now. It made me remember how exciting it was to explore and learn new things as a kid---to always feel an adventure in the making, no matter how small. My sisters and I always made up stories and played them out, mostly about animals. We definitely had a lot of imagination that didn't go to waste. :)

I forgot about that "magic" in childhood until I picked up this book. Well, I hadn't completely forgotten it, but I had forgotten the actual feeling of that magic. Hope that makes sense---the wonder of a new adventure just beginning. I have only ever read "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" out of the Narnia chronicles, and now I look forward to reading the whole series and feel that wonder again about a new, magical world.

Anyway, after reading and feeling so wondrous about it all, I got super sleepy and took a nap---and didn't want to get up. I think I was laying here on this couch for two hours until I finally forced myself to just get up. I have been so tired lately. I know it's the late-to-bed, very-early-to-rise-to-get-to-the-gym-before-work that takes its toll throughout the week and catches up to me on the weekends. Ick.

And by the way, forgot to mention that I was finally able to buy the King's Quest games to play on Niklas' laptop!! We even got a monitor cable so the game screen will show on our TV instead. I started playing "The Perils of Rosella" a couple weeks ago and got up to the whale eating me part; but once I got spit out I realized that I had forgotten to get a fish to give to the pelican on the island. : / I haven't played again since then, but I'll have a desire again eventually. Niklas said he thought it was funny how jumpy I got at those games...but it's just from being a little girl and watching my siblings play them and getting freaked out when they died, or the troll was coming at them in the dark cave... It's just creepy, I can't help it! It doesn't matter if it's not realistic looking---it's the idea of something coming after ME... =: O They also have the Police Quest games and the Space Quest games for sale for the PC; so I want to get those eventually as well, but there's no way I'll want to play them by myself... So Diane, if you get back up here for winter, you'll have to come over on the weekends and play the classics. :) It would be like old times, and fun, and...creepy!

And also to Diane---I changed my settings also on this blog so you should be able to post and not have to verify with those stupid word things that you are human. Thanks for sharing the Frozen Hot Chocolate recipe!! I absolutely LOVED that stuff when Amber got it for us for Christmas one year---it was drinking that that I got my first-ever brain freeze. :P

Well, I'm off for the night. My next adventure is to go clean the bathroom. Yay...but it needs to get done. And OH, forgot to mention---Annie Godfrey emailed me last week and invited Niklas and I over to dinner tomorrow evening. She and Kory are living in Rigby now, so it will be fun to see them and their kids. I'll keep you posted! ;) I think I need to watch "Sabrina" tonight. That sounds like a great idea after the cleaning deal and making some dinner. Have a great night!

Phone Tones

See this phone? It pretty much looks like the one in my office. Unassuming, modest, hardly ever rings to bother me, and collecting dust is one of its hobbies. In short, it is my roommate that I have really no relationship with---I'm much closer to my computer, keyboard, and mouse.

We're looking at what could be my work phone's cousin because it is one of the key players in my little rant right now. What is it about getting on the phone that makes some people feel an urge to be not-so-nice to others? Is it because they can't see your face and just hear this disembodied voice? Do they assume you are just a voice??

And what is it about using your modest work phone to call up a county office in, of all places, Kitsap, to ask a few simple property tax questions and then feel like the county person thinks you're an idiot that has a brick for a brain??

Okay, so it really wasn't that bad. I am still new at my job, still trying to get information for all these companies I keep books for to stay on top of the day-to-day business. I just have never liked it when working people seem like they are annoyed at your very existence because you called them on the phone to ask a few questions---cause isn't that's part of anyone's job? And maybe she didn't mean to sound impatient or slightly condescending/cross---but if not, how can you not recognize how your tone comes across to other people when you are saying with slight inflection in just the right places, "Nooo, they are 2008," etc. etc. etc.? Nothing against her, truly. But I seriously said, "Sheesh...!" outloud once I got off the phone with her, after her very fast hangup when I told her thank you for the info. Must be like those other government jobs...they don't have to be nice to you if they don't want, so they aren't---mostly.

Ahh, gotta love an office job. The good thing is that tonight is ward temple night---seems that I always have a little bit more stressful, etc. day when I am going to the temple in the evening. But the stressful days allow me to appreciate the peacefulness of the temple that much more. :)

Come What May, and Love It

I just read this talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin while I ate my lunch, and it has such great counsel in it. There are a lot of points that I know I can improve on, but the one that especially hit me was learning to laugh. That one is hard for me, I've found out, when something happens to my detriment. For example...

One day I'm in a serious, not-so-fun mood and trying to make myself some stir-fry for dinner. Into the kitchen walks Niklas, who had been doing something or other in the living room---can't really remember because this happened a few months ago when I was still jobless. I think Niklas, being the kind soul that he is, wanted to help me out with what I was doing. On the counter was the famous hot Chili Garlic Sauce that you can get in the Asian portion of any grocery store, and for all I know I could have asked him to open it, as it was brand new and had that foil covering under the lid.

Niklas decided that the best way to break that foil covering was with, no, not a knife---but his forefinger. I looked over just as he was jabbing his finger into the foil covering and next thing I knew there was chili sauce flying everywhere, especially onto me. We'll just say I didn't laugh at that little incident...

But events like these are why I know I need to work on being able to laugh when things unfortunate come to pass, especially if I can laugh at others when something bad happens to them! (I don't laugh if it's something that actually hurts someone. Well, usually not...something about Niklas having a fire extinguisher land on his toe and then falling to the floor in a heap of laughter set me off just a little. :P He was laughing first!)

Anyway, the moral of this post is, Elder Wirthlin's mother said that when adversity, afflictions, or just plain trial-filled times come your way, "Come what may, and love it."

One Sword to Rule Them All...

Okay, if you think this is a post about my obsession with "The Lord of the Rings," forget it! I don't care to see those movies again as long as I live, but you can love them all you want (or the books for that matter). :P

The above picture was actually taken today at my workplace from the main IT guy who is fantastic with a camera. For those of us who dressed up, Ryan wanted to get a serious picture of each of us in B&W and then typed in random text, emailing the result for us to enjoy---and they were so awesome! For whatever reason, though, I feel super silly having a serious face in pictures---it's probably because I feel like a goofball in costume.

Originally when people at work asked me if I was going to dress up for Halloween, I said no because I simply don't dress up anymore. I can't remember the last time I had an actual costume for Halloween. It was one of my favorite holidays as a kid, more so than Thanksgiving, because I got to dress up into something I'm not, and then go around the neighborhood getting free candy, then coming home to gorge myself the next few days (trading out the nasty Tootsie Rolls to my sisters and neighbor of course--ick) on my spoil. Along with the ritual was to play Nintendo with my sisters. So as was tradition for each holiday as we grew older, whether it be Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, etc., we would eat the junk that was around the house, which was only natural that year, and play tons of Nintendo all day. That was how we had fun. And I have to say, it's still fun. :) But Halloween, since I no longer went trick-or-treating, had lost its charm...

But I'm totally getting off track. Anyway, a couple fun gals at work gave me a hard time about being a party-pooper when I said that I wasn't going to dress up, so the desire for a costume slowly grew on me over the next few days before the big day. I told Niklas about this, and somehow I started to think of costumes that would be an excuse for me to bring his medieval sword to work with me, since ever since my supervisor found out about it he always had to mention it in jest in conversation.

To my surprise, the evening before Halloween Eve, Niklas starts throwing out ideas about what I could be that could use a sword as an accessory. He thought of making fake armor, but that was pricey. So then a common medieval ranger came into view, and that became the choice costume.

The next day, on the 30th, while I accounted away at work, Niklas was scouring the abandoned lands of DI in Rexburg and Idaho Falls. He found a green dress that had the perfect top for a tunic. Next he found shoes, and then a pair of pants of the most hideous color, but perfect for the outfit, as well as a button-up undershirt. I was impressed, and so flattered that he would spend all this time and effort last-minute for a costume for me! What a guy. :)

Here was the final result, taken this morning before I left for work:


I'm not a fan of this picture, but it shows the costume pretty well. The cloak we found at Wal-Mart, and the green around the boats was cut out from the skirt part of the green dress found at DI. And of course, the infamous sword, which you can see in the first pic posted, of course.



Off to work I went, super tired like usual and having to go to the new sports bar in my get-up to help with the inventory count. I ended up popsicle-ized in a freezer for 1.5+ hours while another helpful co-worker tried to count things like prime rib, beer, wine, bread, etc. I was so glad to finally leave around almost noon and head back to the office. Oh, and did I forget to mention that we had a potluck today at work? So I signed up to bring pepper pork for sandwiches and Niklas ended up making it with crockpot magic the day before. I just had to warm it back up. Gold star for Niklas again!

Once I got back to the office, it was time for the costume contest. As I entered the sales room full of people, including Homer Simpson, a geisha, a jester (not sure what it's really called...), etc., my co-worker Darcie exclaimed that she was so proud of me for dressing up. :P And then I found out that we were supposed to do some kind of act for the judges, and it was my turn. Totally not what I was hoping for. So after hearing someone tell me to walk the runway, I did just that---I goofily pulled the sword from my sheath and started to strut with blade in hand down a make-believe "runway", making girly poses with the sword. After a few mild whoops and hollers, I was done, and glad of it, only to hear one of the judges say, "I wasn't looking---you'll have to go again." WHAT...? Once was bad enough! {:'( By that time I had lost my flourish and fake confidence, so I just did some lame sword poses and called it good. In short, totally didn't win; but it was fun to see what others did on the spot, and to know that I wasn't the only self-conscious one.

Life became quiet again in my little office as I tried to focus on work, and next thing I know the secretary comes in (totally dressed to the nines in a punk rocker outfit with blood-red and black eye shadow with a Guitar Hero guitar to top it off---she truly looked the part---freaky!) and says, "Someone here who wants to see you." I'm thinking, who would want to see me?? As I wait with a smile on my face, I suddenly see this tall cloaked figure through my hallway window---but not his head. Fear grips my heart, and...!


YES, Creepy Dude sweeps into my office, his skeleton eyes flashing red (literally) and coming at me in a frightening manner while other co-workers Ryan, Robb, and secretary Ashley look on gleefully. This horrifying grim reaper kept looking down at me, pawing at my face and hair and growling if I said anything at all to it! Talk about creepy!! And if you notice in the picture, I had left the sword resting against my cabinet, so I was helpless to fight back. I played it up, of course, but I was so relieved when that guy left. After freaking me out for a minute or two, he swept just as swiftly out of my office as he had come in, and headed into the sales room. A couple minutes later a young woman comes into my office and says how much she hates that costume and was hiding from him. I guess he is a friend of some people at work, and he comes every year to freak the office out. He also loves to scare trick-or-treaters on Halloween. How sad! After talking to Ashley a bit later about Creepy Dude, she said that she thought of telling me beforehand that he was coming; but then she thought, "Eh, nobody told ME when he was coming when I was new." I made sure to let her know how thoughtful that was of her---how sensitive. :P

If only I had taken a stance against Creepy Dude...


Ha, yeah right. If only.

After Creepy Dude left the premise completely I decided that I was Halloweened out. That's when Ryan took the B&W photos and then I was super tired after the day's festivities and junk food. (Yes, believe that I hunted down the chocolate in the potluck room and ate too much.) But I had to stick around for the cute little trick-or-treaters that would be coming through the office, the children of those who work there. So I got to give candy to a tiny ladybug, a couple of green fairies, Optimus Prime, Power Rangers, and even a little peacock among others. I love little kids in costume, so I'm definitely glad that I stuck around for that.

In the end, this Halloween turned out to one of the better ones, thanks to the workplace. After getting home I turned into a pumpkin and smashed myself upon the couch next to my pumpkin husband, and we enjoyed watching the ever-so classic movie "Short Circuit."

I had to make some dessert tonight for tomorrow's Visiting Teaching Conference that I have to attend tomorrow morning from 11 to 1. Also, lookey, I baked some orange crescents for the ward Halloween Party a week ago---here's a picture and a link to the recipe if you would like to try them sometime.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Orange-Crescents

Anyway, I'd better get off for now before I keep writing. Happy Halloween!!

A Peaceful Email

Just checked my email and Beka sent this out to everyone. I was so glad to read that she is so peaceful about Jacom (sorry for the misspelled name!). Email from Beka:

My Dear Family and Friends,

Early the morning of October 21, 2008 Jacom return back to our Father in Heaven. He fought a great fight with his cancer for over 9 years. His passing was very peaceful and calming. I have gained a great peace from the Lord. I know that Jacom is so much better and happier. I do hope that you all can get the same peace I have. Anyone is welcome to come to his funeral. The details are below.

I do ask that if you need to gain more information please call the house at ###. Also if any of you want to send flowers or other gifts please do a donation to The Trust. The account is set up at ***.

I love y’all so much and thank you for all you have done for Jacom, Me, and Hayden.

A Sobering Feeling...

I am actually at work right now, but wanted to take a quick minute to write. I've been wanting to write so much lately but haven't seemed to make it happen, or just loose the desire by the end of the work day.

This post is not a happy one, however. It would be happier/funnier news to write about the incident recently where Niklas found a gray hair on my head, or how we had family visit this last weekend, or even about the super fun baby shower I went to the weekend before last. But unfortunately, I received a phone call last night containing nothing but tragic news.

Jacome Larson, married to a former roommate of mine, Beka, and battling cancer most of his life, passed away recently. I was called by Liz Kirkman (former roommate) last night on our way out of Aunt Sharen's from dinner, who had to leave me a message about this as I didn't pick up just then. The fact alone that Beka (actually Becca, but we always called her "Beak-ah" to keep it from getting mixed up with Becca Kirkman) has just lost her husband is bad enough, but on top of it Jacome also left behind a little boy, Hayden. Although I know that he is in a good place and will always watch over his family, it has always pierced my heart more poignantly when I hear of such a young death, when that person is of a tender age, just having begun their family.

I didn't know Jacome super well, but I knew him. And I coudln't help but cry silently the whole way home from Idaho Falls as Niklas held my hand. And later as I sobbed in Niklas' arms, I coudln't help but feel so much compassion for Beka and Jacome's family. How lonely it will be and terribly painful at the start....even Niklas was speaking words of comfort, how this would be an opportunity of growth for Beka. But that doesn't stop the pain of the heart, the feeling of loss that must be felt for now. But how grateful I am for temple marriages, for I know that Jacome will be reunited with his family someday and it will be a joyous occassion beyond all measure. And it is also comforting to know that Jacome did experience the joy of being blessed with a wife, his best friend, and also the joy of receiving a precious little soul into his home. I know he will not be denied any blessings in the end, and it was for a wise purpose not known to us that it was his time to go.

God bless the Larson families. May you feel of the love God has for you through the reaching out of others throughout your lives.

Not Winterish Fall---it IS Winter

I just now heard from a co-worker that it's snowing right now, although not in the part of Idaho Falls we're in right now; I just hope it's not in Rexburg!! I used to love snow, but it hasn't been quite as magical ever since I've had to drive in it; but I still like its other aspects. I love the atmosphere of wonder and awe it creates. One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Still, Still, Still." How true that song is. :)

Back to work like ususal---just had to announce the first snow of the season!

It's Starting to Feel a Lot Like...Winterish Fall??

So I just need to take a break real quick from work and from Great Plains posting, etc. Ahh, that's nice. I have been working through lunch on a regular basis now, but that doesn't mean that I don't take breaks once in a while. (Too many, I'm sure.) But it's nice to have a moment to just think about other things besides month end entries that I need to do...

I woke up this morning to find it super chilly outside, and the cars starting to get a glimmer of frost on them at this time. I got ready like usual while Niklas (sweetie pie) made my lunch for today, and then I was out the door a few minutes late like usual (the Miller Curse). And I've noticed that drivers around here don't believe in turn signals or looking before you pull out/ merge into another lane, etc. But then again, who am I to talk? I've probably cut so many people off without realizing. So while driving lazily with cruise control on and eating a homemade breakfast cookie, I realized how drab it looked outside, and it truly felt like winter...but isn't it still fall? There is still a cloudy covering over the whole of my little world in Idaho, and today feels so much like a holiday, as if I should be at home right now drinking some hot cocoa and playing Gauntlet Legends with Niklas. :P (Okay, so kidding on that last part, although we did that on occasion in the past.)

Besides that, I really have nothing much to write on right now---just felt like writing. One dilemma, however---found out last night that Niklas will have to work on Black Friday, which means that we'll get to spend 24 hours in Utah for Thanksgiving and then have to head right back home. Another option is for me to stay the weekend and catch a shuttle later while Niklas goes home Thanksgiving evening. Not sure if I like this idea, although I looked forward to spending time with family. Because honestly, it almost feels wrong to have one of us stay while the other has to leave for work---but is that typical? I have no idea yet what we will do, but we'll figure it out soon enough.

Back to work...

I'm online, I'm online! :D

HELLO WORLD...!

You have no idea, but this is a great breakthrough for me---I have never in my life actually gotten set up on the internet because I figured (and it may still happen) that I would have a hard time keeping things updated. Anywho, I am actually at work and have a million and one things to get done---so goodbye for now!