This n' That

I've had a lot of things I've been wanting to blog about lately, but school, work, and my husband have been getting my attention lately instead.  So, I have a few things I want to talk about...

A few weeks ago, a friend of Jake's passed away from cancer after only a month of finding out he even had it.  A few days later another one of his friends died because he got buried by an avalanche.  His name was Garrett.  Garrett, along with his wife and several other expert skiers were skiing after one of our latest big snowstorms.  They took all the precautions needed to check the avalanche danger of the area.  They decided conditions were too risky to proceed their ski day.  As they were leaving, the ridge broke and caused him to get buried.  He was under for 20 minutes.  He died the next afternoon.  Garrett married a cute girl named Molly just about a month before Jake and me.  I've only met Molly once.  When I first heard of the accident, I thought wow that's too bad.  I felt sad but it's kind of hard to know what she is going through.  We didn't really talk much about it.  Well a few days later Jake and I decided to rent 127 Hours.  If any of you have seen it, it's an emotional roller coaster.  Such an incredible movie, but I think for both Jake and I, it really triggered a lot of emotions.  After the movie I think we were both feeling the same way- a little  lot bit shook up.  (We didn't really sleep that night either so I would recommend NOT watching it on a week night). We began talking about Molly and what she must be going through.  I put myself in her shoes.  Married about the same time as Jake and I to the love of her life, and now he is gone.  As Jake and I went to bed, it really hit us.  We both started crying. (Jake don't kill me for posting this because I know you RARELY cry).  All we could do is think about the hurt Molly is going through.  This was such a humbling experience for both of us.  It made us stop and think about what is really important in our lives.  I felt like lately we had been worried about buying a new lawn mower, what we need to do to spruce up the house, planning our next vacation, wanting a new camera, etc.-all things that aren't important.  We immediately stopped talking about those things and remembered the suffering that Molly is going through and what she is dealing with is incomprehensible.  I barely know Molly, but I want to thank her for humbling me through her trials and helping me remember what is really important in my life.   I have no idea what Molly is going through, but I can't even imagine her hurt and pain.  Life is so precious.  It's important to not let the small stuff get in the way of the big picture.

Ok, sorry if that was a bit on the sad side, but I wanted to share.  Here's a few things we've been up to.
I survived parent teacher conferences.  Always a joyous time in my life.
Last weekend while the boys went to priesthood, the girls went to Color Me Mine to paint dessert plates for Andrea (my future sister-in-law is getting married to Jake's brother Kyle).  If you haven't ever been to this place, you should.  We had a blast painting.  We even got graced with Uncle Jordan's presence.  Jake's hilarious awesome uncle.

Don't read the words on the plate.  This is a small dose of Uncle Jordan.  He is the greatest. 

Jake's cousin Anna, sister Alex, cousin Elizabeth, Me

Our private party room

My "love birds" plate

On Tuesday, Uncle Jordan took all the married cousins to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  Such a fun night, great conversations, and good company!  Thanks for a wonderful night Jordan! 

After months of begging, Jake finally cut his hair.  He hasn't had a full on hair cut since our wedding.  He "trimmed" it in December so it's been a while.  Gross.  Does anyone else have this problem?  A teenage husband who won't cut his hair and all I get is "Babe, I look good and when you look good, you feel good.  He's a jokester. 

And FINALLY, we got a new couch on Tuesday.  It's SOOO comfy.  I love it.  It's dark brown corduroy with leather on the sides and back.  

The cushions are a little disarrayed, but this is the only pic I have.

Yes, I know I just posted a lot of stuff, but now I'm good for a few more days right?  

Oh, one more thing...

This is the funny thought of the day.  Yesterday I was talking to my students about taking chances and taking risks.  If you take a high risk, you get high payoff.  So if I say high risk, they give a little fist pump and say "high payoff".  It's pretty funny.  I was mainly just trying to get them to take bigger chances at answering questions and that it's ok to get it wrong, but if you get it right you feel good about it.  So one of the kids in my class has a broken arm with a cast on it.  He came in from recess excited that he took a "high risk".  He said, "Mrs. Larsen, I took a high risk.  I went on the monkey bars!"  I thought oh no!  What am I teaching them!  Luckily, he didn't get hurt!  I felt so bad haha.  I had a little chat with them that we can take high risks, just not at recess or if it causes us to get hurt.  Hopefully they don't take everything I say into the wrong context?  First grade is the best.  I love my job.  I have the cutest class and I absolutely adore them!