We've made it this far!
On Coronado Island in November 2013
Making faces at Christmas. December 2013
In Florida for the New Year! 2014!
Ever since I met Taylor, I heard about his cousin Camille. He was actually texting her during our first date! It makes sense when you know how big a University of Utah fan Camille is and how close she is with the whole Larson clan. They would discuss every football game even if they weren't watching together.
So from the first date, I knew Camille was special. She has passion, an amazing sense of humor and all-around fantastic personality. Camille's just the greatest.
When she met someone and got engaged in record time, there was some shock but we were all so happy for her! She knows what she wants and they went for it.
March 22, 2014, we made our way to the beautiful Salt Lake City temple. I loved everything the sealer told them about marriage and what it means to have started their new life together in the House of The Lord.
This girl didn't even want a wedding dress but she rocks it! What a babe!
Here comes the happy couple!
Natalie (about 6 months pregnant) and her husband David flew in for the weekend. I also had to post this picture because of Nick's face. The whole family performed the cheesiest song in history to fulfill a promise made 13 years ago when Camille visited the Larson's in Connecticut and heard the song playing.
You have to hear it for yourself. It was hard to get through the whole song without busting up. It's too much.
Love Moves in Mysterious Ways by Julia Fordham.
The Larson's can cut a rug. We had a great time on the dance floor.
Can't beat the view from the Manchester room in the Memorial Building!
In September 2011, I was serving a mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As the seasons are opposite in the lower hemisphere, it was spring. My missionary companion at the time was the dear Kailei Shelley.
The first day of spring rolled around, we were very pleasantly greeted by everyone with a smiley 'Happy first day of Spring!' Warm greetings are not unusual in Argentina since they greet with a hug and kiss but this was notably increased happiness. Not sure why.
The next day we were doing weekly planning in our 10-floor flat with the window open to the city.
Three consecutive sounds of a loud, ringing gun/cannon shots scared the begeebers out of us.
Kailei recovered much faster than I did (I was waiting for sirens and screaming and/or more shots) and shouted 'HAPPY SECOND DAY OF SPRING!'
Ok, maybe you had to be there but this is something that truly brings joy to my heart. I have been waiting to share this story on the second day of spring! :)
Several things make me happy about this: the laugh that followed the shock, Kailei and her everlasting talent of making the best of any situation, and the flashback from my mission. Serving as a missionary was the best decision for my life and it makes me happy today.
#100happydays
We still don't have solid dates but we are planning and preparing as best we can.
There are a few possibilities of when we'll be in New York now. It could be the first or second day of JULY. We expect to know more in May.
As for our arrival in London, Taylor was informed that we should expect to be training in New York through Labor Day. So maybe we'll get to see London in the fall??
New York for summer. London in September. We are probably going to be there 2-3 YEARS. No, this is not just an internship. It's real life. So if you plan to visit, let us know! We'd love the company.
WE COULDN'T BE MORE EXCITED!!!
Just in case anyone was wondering :)
We have been asking around about jobs and opportunities to get to know some people. I would like to find a job before we go. Anyone have any CONTACTS in London that you would like to share? We would greatly appreciate any information you can share with us and people we can talk to over there to make our transition as smooth as possible. We are ready for lots of bumps but we are so grateful for a large LDS community that has already opened up to us.
Taylor looooves to search the web for flats in our desired area of west London. I have looked through at least 4 what-to-know-about-London books as well as read articles and kept my ear to the ground. It's a special time and we are adventure loving folk.
We follow amazing Instagram feeds like
They post every day and everything is beautiful. The caption usually explains where and when the photos were taken. A fun Londoner-focused submission is geared toward London street life and places tourists don't see. It goes without saying that I LOVE this. Off the beaten path is where you'll find me.
I also follow these guys who are wonderfully talented.
And...
And...
As exciting as this is, we are aware of what a big move means. Again, if you have any info to share, we'd love to hear it! We love to make new friends!
I've seen this hashtag here and there lately. Lovely Instagram posts about gratitude and happiness in little things. And then this morning on Facebook a friend shared the link to the challenge. I understood the general idea before I stumbled across the website. But check it out.
http://100happydays.com
It encourages you to register. Makes sense. We all know when we're accountable to someone (or something) things actually happen. So I'm going to give it a try. I'll incorporate Taylor into it not just as something in my life I'm grateful for every day, but as a co-participant. :)
How awesome is this challenge? I'm excited!
This claim hurts my heart a lottle. That's a little but a lot. We're too busy for happy?? 71% won't complete the challenge once they start? There are so many more implications than lack of time that make me sad about where we have designated value in the world. Maybe it does take a little while to post a picture or write down what made us happy but why not do it?
I'm going to take the time to share what has made me happy every day for 100 days. Maybe it'll spread the happy. Maybe it'll annoy you. But while I would love for it to be a great experience for all, this is for me.
I believe in happiness and hope. I believe optimism is healing. I could use a little of that. Can't we all?
So we joined bloglovin. :)
I think it'll catch on.
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11865871/?claim=fnaknbs5snq">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
As we get older, I feel like we just celebrate birthdays whenever it's most convenient. I don't think that's a bad thing. It's practical. It also gives us excuses to have more than ONE party or birthday dinner.
So maybe it is actually better than a couple of hours at Chuck E. Cheese as a 3-10 year old... Even though I wished my sweet 16 had been filled with robotic animals singing songs at you. "I say 'happy', you say 'birthday'... Happy! Birthday! Happy! Birthday!"
I digress.
Birthday breakfast!!! We loooove Ruth's Diner. It was our naughty but oh, so good breakfast that we've been looking forward to for forever!
It's a cute little place with the most amazing biscuits!
They're the mile-high biscuits. Look how fluffy!
They are basically heaven.
Taylor was humoring me and smiling for ONE picture. He had been feeling crappy all morning.
The BEST hash browns EVER. I'm a tough judge. And these are phenomenal.
We drove down to Provo together because Taylor had class (I'm on spring break) and an intramural flag football game. Since we were eating naughty things anyway, we topped off the night with Carrabba's and a butter cake from CPK.
Carrabba's has the best bread. Served warm and with tasty olive oil and herbs.
If you've never tried butter cake, you have to. I know it sounds weird but it's actually the best thing that will touch your mouth.
Taylor got his gaming fix after the flag football game. I'm never going to have video games in my house. So he has to play with his brothers. Obviously there was something intense going on.
Taylor has wanted a place to keep his collar stays and cuff links organized for a long time. I found this men's jewelry box on Amazon and it definitely met my expectations. Taylor was so excited! Several hours after he had opened it and filled it with his things, his thoughts warmed my heart: 'I just feel so...accomplished.' Maybe that's not super romantic but I totally get it. I'm so glad he liked it!
Our friend Jon asked him for top 3 highlights of year 23. Taylor said:
-getting married
-getting a job
-brother nick came home from his mission.
Happy 24th, Taylor! Each year is a gift. May we have many, many more birthdays to celebrate together.
Crazy week and then a phenomenal weekend!!!
My in-laws went out of town and Taylor and I substituted at their house so they could have a few days to themselves before we shipped my brothers-in-law off to Arizona to join them.
It was all great. Learned that I cannot ever hope to go to school AND have kids. There is not enough time in the world for that. So I'm grateful that Taylor has encouraged me to push myself and finish this semester.
Funniest story from our time 'babysitting' actually came as I was seeing the boys off at the airport. I had to go in and check in with Peter because he was flying as an unaccompanied minor. When we were filling out the paperwork, the ladies behind the desk were super struggling to figure out how to get us taken care of. They knew a 16-year-old and a 13-year-old were flying and that was it. They got around to having us sign something and fill out some information. They handed the paper to Jake, my 16-year-old brother-in-law, honestly thinking he was dropping ME and Peter off. What?? I mean, I know I'm short but still look 16? Don't think so.
I need to take it as a compliment, I guess.
I had a massively difficult midterm and many other school and work things to deal with before we could take off to a lovely adventure to help our best friend Jon propose to the best girl. :)
I believe it had been planned to be a little more of a surprise than it ended up being but it was so much fun all the same!
We took the shuttle bus at SL international early in the morning. Anyone who was part of Juneau division summer of 2013 can appreciate how disturbing it was to see that our shuttle driver's name was Larry. *shudder*
A baby airplane. Thanks to this small plane, I was literally bawling as we landed in Long Beach because of the pressure in my poor little head. The descent was excruciating. I haven't had that experience since I was 3 (according to my dad because I definitely don't remember that). Taylor kept me calm and kept assuring me that my head would NOT explode and no, my eardrums would NOT pop.
I cried anyway.
Once everyone woke up (the rest of the gang drove from Utah through the night) we headed to the beach! It was gorgeous weather. The boys played football in the sand and attempted a sand castle while the ladies enjoyed the sun's rays (with plenty of sunscreen, don't worry)
Lunch at a small version of Ruby's overlooking Crystal Cove. Beauty.
Lunch was delicious actually. I love me a good Oreo shake!
We had to get sneaky. Jon arranged for Susanna to meet his aunt who lives in Newport Beach, 10 minutes from his favorite spot at Crystal Cove. We dropped them off then ran around looking for a lighter and roses to use to set the mood for Jon to pop the question!! It was a crazy race against the sun. We had to run to set everything up before sunset!
S + J
We 'hid' above this mostly secluded spot to document a magical moment!
Couldn't have been a more perfect sunset.
SHE SAID YES!!!
They were beaming. When everything started to calm down, Susanna realized this was real and very happy tears came.
They make my heart happy.
Bling bling! Way to go Jonny!
After many suggestions to go to the Crab Cooker, we made it happen. Sooo good. Jon's soft shell was awesome, cooked oyster nice and smoky, and Taylor's salmon was high quality. Almost as good as Tracy's crab cakes in Juneau, AK...almost.
I married a roller coaster junkie. So of course we had to visit a theme park while in sunny California.
The CREW! Sunscreen applied and ready to party.
This is the only ride I refuse to go on. And Taylor gets bored. Boo.
We had an amazing weekend.
We headed over to Balboa Island because we NEEDED to try the frozen bananas.
Just the chocolate dipped kind and Oreos for me! Delicious!
A walk along the pier at night. Both lovely and creepy. The house with teddy bears lining all the windows probably wouldn't have been as disturbing in the daylight. MAYBE.
Found our future home! Taylor tells me these windows are old lady windows but I have to remind him that someday I WILL be an old lady, so it's ok.
A REAL Ruby's. Not the street cart-style. Cute retro place.
The late night Ruby's run for a milkshake handed us the laugh of our lives.
All in all, a successful weekend. We had an amazing time and we bonded circles of friends. I am so excited for a lifetime of adventures with these people!
