Organizing

I got on a little organizing kick this weekend and decided to attack my laundry room. I'm not a very organized person, I put things where it makes the most sense to have them, and put them back in that same place once I've decided that's where it goes. When it comes to organizing I usually look for other people for ideas. I surfed the net before I tackled this task. The most helpful idea for my solution was to get bins for my junk. I found some great bins at Big Lots. My towels were a big problem as you can see in the before picture. I found the perfect bin that fits all my towels and it fits on my shelf. The other bins hold all the other junk that needed a new home. Jeff was very impressed with my new skill. In fact his exact words were, "Wow you CAN organize". Yep that's me the one with a huge grin on my face because I finally made this small room look good after being here for over a year. My next project will be my scrapbook stuff. This will take me a while and it will take a little something extra. There will another post on this in the future. But for now I'm going to enjoy my laundry room one last time before I go to bed. Ta Ta for now.

Before.....Can you say YUCK!

After......Whala a whole new room!

Happy New Year!

I have been such a slacker with keeping our blog updated, I'm sorry! I will make that one of my new year resolutions, keep blog updated. I probably don't update as much because there just isn't a lot of exciting stuff going on in our lives right now. One thing I wanted to do was write a Christmas letter and reflect on the things that happened in 2008. So I dedicate this post is our "Christmas/New Years" Letter.

I hope you all had a nice Christmas and a happy new year! It's been an eventful year for Jeff and I. To start the year off we moved out of his parents basement and into a place of our own. It's a little small but it fits us just right. With moving out also meant moving into a new Ward. We are now living in the Lafayette Ward in the Boulder Colorado Stake. The ward had split just 2 months before we moved in, and it wasn't split evenly. The Lafayette ward went from an overflowing chapel to a very empty chapel. It was a little different moving into a smaller ward, but nice at the same time. We have been able to get to know almost everyone in the ward in a short period of time. We are pretty much guaranteed to have callings, maybe even two. In less than 2 weeks of being there I was called to be the 1st counselor in the Young Women Presidency. I have loved serving in this calling. It has been so much fun to get to experience Young Women's all over again. I love all the girls, they are a blast to be around. We only have 6 active girls but it makes it fun to be able to get to know them on a more personal level. Jeff didn't get his first calling until about August. He is the Cub Scout Master, and in November he got a second calling as a Ward Activity Member.

In April Jeff and I took a trip with my parents to Cancun, Mexico. It was our second time in Mexico, our first in Cancun. We had a blast. We snorkeled, body surfed, saw awesome ruins, ate good food, got sun burnt, got suckered into one of those lame time share presentations, relaxed, got ripped off by a bus driver, and best of all did NOT get Mandamus's revenge, YAY! We did all that in 4 fun filled days! That's about the only exciting vacation we had this past year, we hope to have more this year.

Two major things happened to Jeff this year.
#1- In June he finally decided to go under the knife. His "raptor" toes were causing too much discomfort, so he needed to get them fixed. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of seeing Jeff's feet, he had a pinkie toe that looks like a "Raptor's toe" from Jurassic Park. So his friends gave him the nick name "Raptor Toe". The medical term for it is "Hammer Toe Cock Up". It was an outpatient surgery which meant he was in and out the same day. The doctor said that he needed to stay off his feet for 4 WEEKS! So because of this he advised that Jeff just do both his toes (one on each foot) at the same time. They drugged him up, cut him open, stuck pins in his toes, wrapped them up in very stylish booties, and sent him on his way. It was quite entertaining to see him hobble up the stairs when we got home. His 94 year old grandfather could of get up the stairs faster than he did! I took pictures just so he could see what he looked like. He didn't think that was funny. These pictures are on the blog under "Raptor Toes" if you'd like to see them. So with Jeff needing to be off his feet for 4 weeks what do you think he did with his time? Yup Video Games! LOTS of Video Games. Needless to say I was glad when it was time for him to return to work, less brain cell frying there.

#2 thing that happened to Jeff-
He switched jobs/careers. He had been work at Sears Grand for over a year and decided it was time for something new. He was introduced to the world of Financial Advising and Life Insurance. He has been working with a great company called World Financial Group. Until he can get his business going he got another job at the same hospital that I work at. He doesn't have the best hours for "us time", but it's the best hours for him to build his business. He works every weekend and Mondays. We actually work together one day a week, so that's nice. The ultimate goal is for him to be able to support a family so that I can be a stay at home mom. Since there are no kiddies in the picture yet, I am more that happy to be working and supporting us, and supporting Jeff with his new career path.

Jeff had a more eventful year than I did. Nothing truly exiting happened to me, at least not exciting enough to share in this letter. I love serving with the Young Women, that keeps me busy. I love spending time with Jeff, he keeps me entertained. I was hoping to post something like "I'M PREGNANT!!", but that just hasn't happened yet. But thanks to the " I really want to be a grandma, so read this" Christmas present from my mom, we should have some luck in no time. Thanks for the book mom, I've started reading it and it has a lot of useful info. Other than not getting pregnant and staying busy with work and church not much to report.

I thought I would just share some pictures from our Christmas "vacation". I had about 10 days off around Christmas and enjoyed every minute of it. Jeff's sister Jo and her husband Sean flew in from Seattle and stayed for a week. It was tons of fun to have them here. Jo is due February 14th with their first baby. It's a boy, and we're excited to have our first nephew! Since she grew up in Colorado we decided to throw her a baby shower. I had a fun time planning it, and it was fun to see ladies from the old ward that I hadn't seen in a while. We got in plenty of Rock Band playing while they were here. That was also a big hit in Laramie on Christmas Eve. It was fun watching my dad get in on the action. My family stayed with us in our teeny apartment for two nights. I loved it. I can't wait until we have a house and we can fit everyone comfortably. Cameron (my brother) got us tickets to the the Jeff Dunam show for Christmas. We all went to that in downtown Denver on the 26th, it was HILARIOUS! We also ate at the Cheesecake Factory, ummm yummy! Like they say, all good things come to an end. The first day after everyone had gone home, I already wanted to do it all over again. Time flew by way to fast. I wish that my family and Jeff's sisters lived closer so we could have good times like this all the time.

That pretty much wraps up our year for you. We hope that you have a fine 2009 and that all is well.

Love Jeff and Nicole Larsen

This is Jeff's Christmas present, birthday present, anniversary present, and Christmas present for next year.