Halloween...PROVO STYLE

First off, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  What a great holiday.  Pictures to come.

SO, as I have so quickly found out, EVERYONE has their own opinion on Provo, regardless of whether or not they have actually been here, let alone LIVED here.  HOWEVER, I am here to tell you that you don't know Provo until you have seen its DARK SIDE!

Let me introduce you to the POLICE BEAT of the daily BYU newspaper, THE DAILY UNIVERSE.  This will introduce you to PROVO's DARK SIDE!  No better to meet it than on HALLOWEEN!

The POLICE BEAT is a listing of the police reports from campus.  Read at your OWN DISCRETION! (This in ONLY a taste of what is out there EVERYDAY!)

Disorderly Conduct

Oct. 11: A 27-year-old former BYU student was causing a disturbance at the football game by spitting on people. He was arrested and escorted from the stadium after refusing to comply with police orders, detained and released, but banned from the university for 72 hours. No charges were found.

Oct. 11: A University of New Mexico football player, unhappy with the outcome of the game, had to be restrained by his coach and fellow players and helped onto the bus after kicking a door.

Trespassing

Oct. 8: Police discovered a woman on the third floor of the Jesse Knight Building at 4 a.m. She had fallen asleep on the couch and was asked to leave.

Suspicious Activity

Oct. 8: Police received a call reporting a masked female near the Harris Fine Arts Center who was scaring individuals.

Sept. 30: Female students in Helaman Halls complained about a man in a gorilla suit attempting to scare students near the Cannon Center. When police arrived, there was no sign of either the complainant or the gorilla. Students complained again early Oct. 3 about a man in a gorilla mask. The gorilla has not yet been identified.

Missing Person

Sept. 30: A male student was reported missing by his wife after he did not return from checking his mail. He returned roughly an hour and a half later and said that he had decided to go for a walk while he was out. (The part they are NOT posting is the FIGHT that ensued BEFORE "checking the mail")

AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE!  I don't know who would EVER have the audacity...

Welfare Check

Oct. 12: Police received a call reporting a woman walking near the Bell Tower in shorts and no shoes at 9:45 p.m. The woman was gone when police arrived.

SHE IS STILL OUT THERE!  Keep your children INDOORS!

Now you know JUST A SAMPLE of what we deal with EVERYDAY . . . BE YE WARNED!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

OH Unisom, your' re the ONE. You make bedtime lots of FUN!

Okay, so here's the skinny.  For the past five days I have had some kind of WICKED flu.  It started Saturday and has been in full swing ever since. (OH with the exception of Monday and Tuesday night when it thought it would play this CRUEL trick by saying, "Oh, you feel better.  Go and do and be excited that you feel better."  THEN WHAM!, those nights I was humbled,  humbled HARD.  BUT I did take advantage of a great Monday night with our cousins, Drew and Mary Martha (isn't that a fantastic Southern Belle name?  She is from Louisiana and is the perfect Southern Belle and I love it!). Thanks Drew and Mary Martha!)

ANYWHO, I have been in some intense pain.  Most of the time my brains feels as if gnomes (picturing high pitched evil cackle laughs) are attempting to DRILL OUT from the inside.  To my amazing benefit I have had an outstanding pregnant nurse.  Megs has been great!: making my Theraflu (which I LOVE), lifting up my head to eat/drink, nabbing anything I need, telling me she is going to wash EVERYTHING I have touched, washing her hands and popping Vitamin C on a regular schedule, and cheering me on.  Once again, I LOVE YOU MEGS!

The worst part of the ordeal has been how this flu has invaded my most precious commodity: my ability to sleep through ANYTHING!  I have really never had problems with my sleep and, being said, I am quite selfish about it (I know, I know, When the baby comes.....) I like my sleep and it has been interrupted and I am ornery. 

Last night was the final straw, I was going to fight back.  AND I DID!  UNISOM! When Megs and I laid in bed we talked, laughed, philosophized like we normally do for about ten minutes....then I was OUT!  The next memory I had was at NINE O'CLOCK this morning.  I didn't want to get up.  If there was an award for marathon sleeping, I would have attempted it. I feel FANTASTIC this morning, SO I sing:

"OH, UNISOM you're the ONE!  You make bedtime lots of FUN!  OH UNISOM I'm awfully fond of YOU!

Woo woo be doo

OH UNISOM, joys of JOYS. When I take you, I don't make NOISE.  OH UNISOM, you're my best friend, it's true!

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo

P.S. BOTH Megs and I got JOBS!  Megs starts TODAY as a substitute teacher!  She is going to do an amazing job!  I got the job in accounts receivable for a great company in Provo.  HOLLA!

Whistle while you work

Welcome to the Apollo Apartments

No, no, turn around. Those are the nice apartments that we live ACROSS THE STREET from.

When we first pulled up to the apartments, Megs said, "it looks just like West Side Story." Book....cover....NO! Once we got inside and took a look around, it was love at first sight.

We live on the far end, bottom unit. If we had lived on the other two floors, we would have sold half of our furniture. We love it!

Meet Mr. Davis. Mr. Davis is our landlord.

Mr. Davis served as a Mission President in New Jersey and Temple President in San Diego. He pretty much lives for his family and fixing apartments. He is such a good man.

Thanks to CameraPhoneSpyCam, I got these great pictures of Mr. Davis at work fixing our kitchen sink. The best part of Mr. Davis is his CONTINUAL whistling. When I say CONTINUAL, I mean CONTINUAL. He could be a professional whistler. The decibel level at which he whistles is truly outstanding. We can hear him coming from LITERALLY 30 feet away WITH OUR DOOR CLOSED. That's not all. What does he whistle? CHURCH HYMNS! WE LOVE IT! How much more "Happy Valley" can you get? His hymn of choice while fixing the sink was ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS. What a man, what a man. He motivates me to be a more positive and happy worker. Life is too crazy to do things ornery. (You read it here first, Megs. I am setting another personal goal.)

Now....(drum roll.....) our newest addition!

OUR NEW DESK!

We happen to live only three blocks away from the R.C. Willey Outlet store in Provo. We have had our eye on this little beauty for a while now and have been staking the price out for weeks. In my few years I have learned a few things about salesPEOPLE and how to get the best price.

• DON'T settle for the regular price. They can ALWAYS bring it down. If they couldn't, they would not have salesPEOPLE.
• Walk out at least once on a salesperson. It shows them that you are HARDCORE!
• Shop at the END of the month. Even if they say they don't, they have quotas they have to meet. They will bend over backward to move merchandise at the end of the month.
• Ask to buy the floor model. You can always get a reduced price and won't have to assemble it yourself if it requires that.

Knowing this will make you HARDCORE like us.

My newest goal

FIRST THINGS FIRST: SHE MOVES! Our little lady finally decided to let herself be know by kickin' her mamma the other day. THEN she kicked me (or my hand) last night! WOW! That is AMAZING!

Now onto the post

I really do enjoy setting goals. They make me feel like I am making the life progression that I aspire to. Although, my FOLLOW THROUGH leaves much to be desired. Maybe I need to make THAT my next goal...

This weeks goal is to begin the process of EFFECTIVELY and digitally cataloging all of our pictures. I have always been overwhelmed by this activity. Megs and I both have laptops and I have wanted to wait until we get a PC before I move forward, BUT I am waiting NO LONGER! (if any of you have come up with a great, fool-proof way of doing this, PLEASE SHARE)

Anywho, here are a few pictures of Megs and my happenings over the past few weeks. Enjoy.

Four and half months! HALFWAY! OHHHH!

Brooke and her kids came to visit up last week. We introduced them to our new "partment", walked down memory lane with Brooke and her BYU years, and met up with Grandma Shelley and Krista for the Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving Point.

With pictures of Megs and her family, I like to sing the song "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things is not the same." Where did she get her beautiful "black" (as Nate calls it) hair?

This past weekend we celebrated Shelley's birthday, as well as Joshua's 2nd birthday. Shelley loves french rolling pins and Joshua loves balls. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Now for my FINALE. Our REFRIGERATOR!

I believe that a refrigerator says a lot about a person....if it is not in our favor. I now tag those brave enough to do the same. Disobey to your own humiliation.

I like randomness on the exterior. We have our ultra-sound pictures, family/friend pictures (if you send it, they will be posted), Verse-a-tiles (our Book of Mormon based fridge sentence magnets) and calendar.

First, APPLES. Remember? We got apples.

Yogurt. We LOVE yogurt.

Our water filter! AHHH! All hail the filter!

Staples: ham, cheese (preferably block and shredded), APPLESAUCE, Gatorade, cottage cheese, leftovers, and milk (this gallon is old. For some reason it tastes like the cow got into the onion patch. Yuck) OH, and our BULK SOY SAUCE (this was purchased during our early marriage Costco craze. What were we thinking?)

The regulars: condiments, homemade jam, salsa, RANCH (that ones for you sweetie), aloe vera, and LIME JUICE. I be lovin' the lime juice!

Freezer: strawberry fruit bars, tater tots (Megs LOVES the tater tots), Mickey Mouse ice cubes, frozen chicken and beef and vegetables, PIZZA ROLLS (give me a break), and bread.

So there you have it. I have laid it ALL out. Judge me, dear reader.... I dare you!

How do you like THEM apples?

We got apples! For the past few weeks we have purchased apples faithfully at the store.  We DON'T run out.  Now, we have always enjoyed apples, but Megs has INSISTED lately that we keep our inventory up.  We run a clean cut FIFO method around these parts.

Specifically, we enjoy:

CAMEO APPLES

HONEY CRISP APPLES

and

GRANNY SMITH APPLES

Now I am QUICKLY learning that you DO NOT question a pregnant woman's motives when it comes to her and her food.  So, Megs wants apples; I get apples.

HOWEVER, this past week Meg's apple obsession seemed to be triggered by a "whiff of apple."  It would hit in the car, in the front room, and even in bed.  I couldn't smell anything, BUT when the scent hit (refer to the previous paragraph) I got myself up and cut an apple.

Yesterday . . . I discovered THE SOURCE.  Megs came and sat on my lap, wrapped her arms around my neck, and talked to me for a minute.  In the middle of our conversation she stopped and said, "I just got a whiff of apple...  Do you want one?"  Now I HAD to get the bottom of "the whiff."  JOKINGLY, I said, "Is it your armpits?"  Megs paused, took herself a curious sniff, paused again, smiled, and said (quite heartily), "YES, IT'S MY ARMPITS!

Reason #273 of why we LOVE pregnancy: Sweet smelling armpits.  My guess is Cameo.

Out of touch....THANKFULLY!

You see, I have been married to my best friend and most beautiful person I know, inside and out, for a year and a half now. Not only this, but we dated (with a "minor" break) since the month after I got home from my mission. In all, we have been dedicated to each other (I will just ignore the past elephant in the room named Megan's old boyfriend) for almost FOUR YEARS! I LOVE my wife and I would not change my devotion and love to her for the world. She is so much of my joy.

That being said, we can conclude that my ability to flirt with strangers of the opposite sex has, respectfully, SUBSTANTIALLY DIMINISHED. HOLLA!

This was apparent today. As I walked into my Doctrine and Covenants class I sat myself next to a guy (I shall name him "Chuck"). Two seats away was another student, a nice young lady (I shall name her "Nancy"). After a couple minutes of silences, Chuck leaned over and asked Nancy, "When is the test for the class scheduled?" Nancy replied, "I don't know?" This is when I, being as friendly and as informative as usually, stepped in and said, "Friday." Chuck thanked me.

Chuck then leaned over in Nancy's direction and asked, "What are you going to do to prepare for the test?" Nancy really didn't know what she was going to do to prepare. "HELPFUL I" stepped in and informed them both that there was a convenient study guide posted online that would answer all their questions. Chuck and Nancy thanked me.

Chuck now turned his body toward Nancy and asked, "So, do you think we need to study up on maps and such for the test?" Nancy didn't know. I KNEW! "You need to know dates AND locations for the test. Review of the maps in your scriptures should be sufficient." Nancy thanked me. Chuck, initially did not. Chuck just stared at me with heavy eyes. Chuck THEN softly thanked me.

I asked myself, "why is Chuck being so nasty? I am just being helpful.......OH, I GET IT!" Sorry Chuck. How I have lost touch with things of flirting. Chuck was just trying to get his groove on and I thwarted that effort. Chuck just wants some affection; what's wrong with that?

I took hint and allowed Chuck to work his mojo. Chuck asked Nancy, "So what are you doing this weekend?" Nancy replied, "Going to a corn maze with my fiance."

LADIES, wear your ring. It will save Chuck time.

Odds and Ends

Today, NO COHESIVE POST!  Deal with it!

Megs and I celebrated FHE with a walk to the grocery store, but more importantly the REDBOX!  On Monday I get a free code and tonight's (or Megan's) pick was The Other Boleyn Girl.  It was pretty good, yet depressing.  Now Megs and I are plastered to Google, reading up on Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth I.  They were NOT as pretty as they were depicted in the movie.  DON'T LET HOLLYWOOD FOOL YOU!  Anne Boleyn had SIX FINGERS on one hand and a large mole/goiter on her neck....

Another interview today.... Not half bad.

More interviews tomorrow...

JnK+8, new episode.

Have you seen the TLC show, 17 and Counting?  It is OUT OF CONTROL!  It's like driving past a car wreck; you know you are going to be grossed out, but you watch anyway.  We have bets on what religion they are.  I think Mennonite.  Hey, they make great bread!

Please enjoy some random pictures from our computer:

 

Well that's probably enough for now.  I am going to bed.

P.S.  Megs just explained why she doesn't blog: She contributes by editing my posts.  Hey, I just write it as I think it and think it just a little more simple than the rest.  Works for me.

But Google says...

So apparently you can google your personality based on your name. (Even if you parents admit it has NO significant meaning and they just enjoyed the name.  I may, or may not, have had issues with this.)  Technology has come so far and JUST NOW can I start to live.  I FINALLY know just who I am; at least one of the two.

Below are the two different DEFINITIONS OF GREGORY.  YOU DECIDED.

#1 - You are deeply philosophical and thoughtful. You tend to analyze every aspect of your life.
You are intuitive, brilliant, and quite introverted. You value your time alone.
Often times, you are grumpy with other people. You don't appreciate them trying to interfere in your affairs.

#2- You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.
You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.
You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

Did I even EVER have a chance?  OR was I just "handful" from the start like google says? I should text ChaCha!

-console me.

P.S. Yesterday I ran into an old friend at The Walmarts (Southern spelling) and we had a great talk.  When he asked me how school was going, I said "great."  THEN he said, "You know, when I found out that YOU were going to BYU, I thought 'Wow, GREG is going to BYU?' Kind of an odd match, don't you think?"... Does this put me into #2 territory?

P.S.S. The wife and I went to Jekyll and Hyde the other night. (IT WAS AMAZING!) MAYBE, just maybe, I am a little #1 by day and a little #2 by night?  Maybe I need a new NIGHT NAME!... That might help with the insanity that google says are my two personalities. I should google a good name.

Tagged

You see, I have this incredibly funny and talented cousin named Stacey. Stacey and I were pretty much best friends growing up.  She lived just two streets over and we had a BLAST in EVERYTHING we did.  Why do we grow up?

Each year we would go to St. George together for a week with Grandma and Grandpa Nichols.  They lived down there and grandpa ran the gold shop.  I have MANY stories about Hoola Hoops, Suspicion, and the gas station and some AMAZING pictures that will have to be posted later, but boy, those were the good days!

ANYWHO, I was paroosing around on her blog today and saw this list.  I thought that I would take part:

5 things I was doing 5 years ago
1 - Serving in Heflin Alabama, aka HELL FELL IN!  Listen, 4000 people IN THE ENTIRE COUNTY!... The town preacher knew about me BEFORE I met him.  It was like Mayberry meets...Mayberry.

2-5. HEFLIN.  I won't bore you with stories.  I KNOW that stoned, glazed, distant look that each of you get when I start up, SO I WON'T.

5 favorite snacks
1- Reese's Peanut Butter....ANYTHING!  WHY?!

2- YOGURT!...and granola.

3- Apples, cold, cut into four slices, and cored

4- Sour candy.  BRING IT ON!

5- Anything gummy fruit.  The bulk candy at the grocery store....AH....

5 jobs I have had
1- Wingers's host and server.  Three HARDCORE years.

2- JCPenny telemarketing.  After only two weeks of employment, my resignation was placed in the "suggestion box" with a note that said "I suggest you send Greg Larsen his final paycheck in the mail."  This decision was made MID CALL from yet another woman ordering a size 48 triple E extra elegant black lace bra all in such a thick Southern accent that not even Oprah could work her magic.  (Karma kicked in and I got my mission call to ALABAMA two months later...)

3- Danville Services as job coach for adults with mental handicaps.  I LOVED THIS JOB!

4- Specimen Processor.  OH THE STORIES.  I got ALL the lab samples from the Northern Utah area.  My hands were on things not even the owner should have had to witness.

5- Manager at Rodgers Memorial Theatre.  This is where I began the saga that is MANAGER/BOY!

6- Unemployment....if only I got paid for interviews...

5 things I would do with a million dollars
1- Mortgage a home one day, and then walk in the next day with a briefcase full of cash and say, "Oh, I completely forgot that I had this." The amount of interest accrued in one day would be worth it.

2-Pre-pay the utility bills indefinitely.  I HATE paying the utility bill.

3- Travel the world with my family and see the architectural marvels of the world.

4- Buy my own nice rental properties in Provo and provide them free of charge for young families who show dedication and faith in their studies and in their personal lives.

5-INVEST and set a perpetuity for my family that provides the funding for annual excursions to the greatest historical parts of the world.

5 things that made me laugh this week
1- When I told myself that I would be in bed by 10:30pm every night this week.

2- When I realized that I left my slacks at grandma's and the only pair of pants that I had to wear to church were an old pair of pants that are now BOOTY PANTS... SHAME!

3- When my wife and I sang the GOLDEN GIRLS theme song to each other. I am NOT ashamed.  It's just how I roll.

4- When I almost went to an interview for one of those mall kiosk jobs.

5-When an old lady was rolled out of a restaurant on a STRETCHER flirting with the EMT.  Good to the last drop.

Thank You.

I'm not ashamed, not ashamed at all

Have any of you ever heard of ChaCha?  If not, you are missing out!  ChaCha has ALL the answers to ALL questions and it rests at your fingertips AT NO COST TO YOU.  NO MATTER what question you have (and let me reiterate - ANY QUESTION) you can text it to ChaCha.  Have you ever wondered the lyrics to a song while in the car?  ChaCha.  Have you ever needed to know the price of oranges at Wal-mart while comparative shopping at Albertson's?  ChaCha!

Why do I bring this up?  I am EMPLOYED by ChaCha.  I am the one sitting at the other end of your questions.  I answer them ALL!  (Remember what I said about ANY QUESTION?  You can't be TOO conservative to answer some of these questions.  Trust me, I push the limits)

ANYWHO, ChaCha strives to keep up with answer accuracy.  In such a feat, a sampling my answers are reviewed for quality assurance.  Every now and then I get and email of "encouragement" to enhance my answering abilities.  Today I got one such email.

FROM:

TO:  Greg Larsen

RE: Quality Assurance.

Dear Gregory,

The Quality Control Team had the opportunity to review some of your answers and wanted to provide you some feedback.  Please review the assessment of your response and consider alternatives to answer future questions. 

(I.E. We don't approve!)

My ChaCha answer in consideration:

Question - What is the best way to grow marijuana?

My Response - The best way to grow marijuana is with an understanding that you could go to prison...ChaCha supports a drug free America. CHACHA!

.......

Honestly, THIS is under consideration?  WHAT'S WRONG?  Honest, true, accurate....What else do they want?...

I will give them a "reviewed answer".

My REVIEWED Response - The best way to grow marijuana is with an understanding that you could go to prison..... DUMB A**!

Thank you!

BYU is not LDSBC

I have been in classes at BYU-Provo for about a month and a half now.....NOTHING!  Do you remember my days at LDSBC?  They were GREAT!  I met some kind of crazy EVERY DAY!  BYU is full of intellectual, grounded, and normal people......Okay so not THAT normal, but they are not the LDSBC clan. 

I will say one thing about campus....I am SO glad that I am married.  MEGAN I LOVE YOU!  Have you ever seen those animal planet (OR even better PLANET EARTH) shows that talk about how animals attempt to attract a mate... The mating rituals, songs, and dances that flood BYU are overwhelming.  The stupid things that I have heard guys say and seen girls do make me queasy.  The even better part is how you announce to the campus that you are taken.  If you are dating you must AT ALL TIMES hold hands!  NO QUESTIONS ASKED!  This secures your territorial rights. It says to the rest of campus, "we are devoted to each other.  I am a dedicated, responsible, and loving individual that you should have dated when you had the chance, BUT you are still welcome to call me and see for yourself if this doesn't work out...."  I AM BEING SERIOUS!

HOWEVER, even with the madness I am loving this place!  Things are going great and we are having a lot of fun.  I double dog dare you to come visit us!

Target to the rescue....not much longer.

When Meg's and I got married we were very generously showered with duplicate gifts.  Many would consider duplicate gifts a pain in the side, BUT NOT US!  We made our duplicates work FOR US.  We decided to convert our surplus into gift cards.....oh the joy that are gift cards!

Target has been the recipient of the bulk of our gift card joy and has been for almost a year and a half.  This week we realized the finite measure of our "free" shopping.  As we invested in the odds and ends (FYI-and for my conscience-Megs and I are quite sensible.  We respected each dollar that was gifted to us and only bought the essentials.) needed for everyday living we realized that we were quickly running our endless cash cow dry.  SO what practical decision did we make?... MATERNITY CLOTHES! 

My wife is going to be one HOT PREGO MAMMA! all thanks to Target and duplicate gifts.  Now just to find out how Karleen's can work for us....doilies....crap!

P.S. There really is opposition in ALL things.  As explained yesterday, the wife loves herself some JnK+8, but what she doesn't like is "Little People, Big World."  The problem with this is that it has replaced the JnK+8 time slots the past couple of days.... it has NOT been pretty.  I don't think her dislike extends itself beyond the actual show, but I have tried to keep her away from little people in general.  It just keeps things less messy.

Meg's little obsession...

Since Meg has been pregnant she has picked a new weekly obsession.  Towards the beginning it was toast.  Then yogurt. Then things fruity.  Then she moved on to quesadilla's.  (You guys, we almost had to create a separate CHEESE budget) Each week or so it has been something new.  Since we have moved to Provo (maybe it's in the water here) she has become slightly obsessed with not any particular good item (well she is jonesin herself some ice cream), but she REALLY enjoys herself a little...

  

Now I would be lying if I didn't enjoy tagging along, but she will sacrifice sleep to get a glimps into the madness that is the Gosselin family.  Is this a sign?  We have left outings, all ready to get into bed and be refreshed for the upcoming day, and the following question is asked, "Do you think that Jon and Kate Plus Eight is on?"....It usually is and we usually partake for the next two hours....

Confessions of a missionary

So I was thinking today of things that I have done in my past that I think were funny.  I reminded myself of one of my shining moments.  When I was serving in Ensley, AL on my mission (comparable to Compton.....fo real) I had a little problem with disobedient Elders that were quite lazy (I know you don't believe it, but they are out there) and I decided to show them that ELDER LARSEN was not one to mess with. 

SOOOO at a district meeting I had explained that as a good district leader I had made them cookies......SUCKERS!

I used a classic family recipe, but added a few......CUPS of this!

MILK OF MAGNESIA!

For those of you who do not understand what this does....let's just say, with such a dose, constipation who not be an issue for YEARS and sneezing would put them into dangerous territory.

HOWEVER, the liquid made the cookies quite ugly (I now know that breaking the pills into the batter would be a much better alternative.)

I called to inform them that I took it upon myself to give them something to do while they were lazying it up in their apartment.  Keeping them productive, really.  AND I don't even feel bad about it.

Parenting my way is going to be a lot of fun.

Introducing.....

This past Tuesday was a GREAT DAY!  Not only did I not have class and I could be at home with my beautiful wife, we also we became more acquainted with our little fetus!

We headed to St. Mark's Hospital in SLC.  This trip was two fold: one, for the appointment; and two, the first of many trial runs getting us to the delivery room in the quickest time possible.  At this time we were about to bust with anticipation.  Not only were we excited to see our little baby and find out if all was well, but we were also going to find out the sex.  What a great day.

Well without further ado....

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are SO EXCITED!  I do not want to wait ANY longer!  I just want to bring her home NOW!  She is ADORABLE!  Take a look for yourself:

It is a little hard to see without explanation, but this is her ADORABLE little face.  You can see the top of her head and the bright white area are her eyes, nose, and lips!

This is her little backbone.  I know many of you are looking at this thinking, "what?" BUT I LOVE IT!  She is so cute!

HER HAND!  The tech tried to get a better shot of her face, but she was just moving around too much.  SO, we got this shot instead.  This is her flashing us a peace sign and saying, "Sup dawg." She has such a great sense of humor!  She really is quite charismatic.

SO, that's our news for now!  I can't imagine anything better!

Understandable

I feel like a broken record....so I am not going to apologize for not blogging in a while, BUT I WILL explain.

FIRST we MOVED TO PROVO!  After weeks of hellish landlords and sticky carpets we found (THANKS BETHANY-we are now making it up to her by cooking for her) A GREAT APARTMENT.  It is just a few blocks directly south of campus in a great neighborhood.  The exterior may remind Megs of West Side Story, but the inside is nice.  Our landlord is a hoot.  You can always hear him coming.  He whistles primary hymns everywhere he goes. 

Packing was a ROYAL PAIN IN THE....you know, but we made it.  After about three broken bodies we finally got everything in last week.

We have spent our remaining time hooking up the wireless, unpacking, trying to find jobs, studying, cleaning, trying to find jobs, studying, and trying to find jobs.  OH... and cooking!

Apparently Provo has been good for us thus far.  We have time to cook!  Last week I made a ham, cheese, and broccoli frittata, and soda bread.  We have also made Chicken Cheese soup and Doritos Chicken Fingers.  BUT, best of all was our VICTORY during SHAKE OFF 2008!  Couples had to get together and make the best shake/smoothie they could.  We made a STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE shake....AND WON!  Yup, the only "marrieds" at the shin-dig and we took FIRST PRIZE.  Are you surprised?...Answer responsibly.

Tonight we had people over to enjoy our first attempt at the Chicken Cheese Soup and watched VANTAGE POINT!  This movie was AWESOME!  Intense from the beginning and I definitely recommend it.  Our next movie is SWEENEY TODD.....on the ClearPlay of course!  I think we may make spaghetti.  It is reminiscent of guts, right?

Now I can say that I am caught up......whitiness to come later.