I get to marry my best friend!

As of Tuesday, I am officially engaged to the most amazing Joel Marshall.  I love him so much and I can't wait to marry him in August!

We both live in Stadium Terrace (an apartment complex) and we're in the same ward (church congregation).  We met in the end of August/beginning of September at the end of the first FHE activity in our ward.  I thought he was nice and thought, "Oh! He's a mechanical engineer like my brother-in-law" and that was about it.  It was not love at first, or second, or third, or fourth, or even fifth sight.  It just gradually developed from there.

Over the next 2 months, we gradually became better acquaintances (for example, I eventually remembered his name!).  My roommate's boyfriend invited him over to a game night at our apartment, I saw him at more ward activities, and other stuff like that.

At the end of October, our ward had a Halloween activity.  At the end of this activity, there was a dance.       My roommates and I were dancing and I noticed Joel and his roommates were just standing at the side.  I didn't think too much of it, I definitely have been there.  But then, it was just Joel by himself at the side of the room.  I've also been there, and it is no fun.  So, I went over and invited him to come and join me and my roommates.  He was super uncomfortable and told me he really did not like dancing and that he and his roommates were about to leave (which they were).  Partway through this conversation, his roommates came over and also started pressuring him to join me and my roommates.  I could tell he was getting more and more uncomfortable, so I just dropped it, said don't worry about it, and wished him a good night.  I honestly would have forgotten about it--it wasn't a big deal to me.  But, what made so memorable was what happened the next day.

The next day, I got a facebook message from Joel, apologizing and saying he had felt terrible ever since. I was taken aback and super impressed.  I really hadn't been offended in any way.  I've been in similar situations before and no one's ever done anything like that afterwards.  It was very kind and considerate of him and it made my entire day.

Well, after that, things started building more quickly.  We went on two dates that semester (Although, I felt awful because I had to say no the first time he asked me.  I already had plans that night-I wasn't trying to avoid him.  Luckily, he asked again).  Between that, more dates, adventures with baking, accordions, donating hair, Tangled with hot chocolate, flute recitals, Smores granola bars, Chinese acrobats, ice cream, schoolwork, Star Wars parties, facebook messages, the Amazing Race, board games (especially Chess, Boggle, and Ticket to Ride), geology, dinosaurs, engineering buildings, photography, malfunctioning vacuums,  devotionals, a snowman named Sasha, lots of puns, YouTube videos, church activities, and other such stuff, we grew to be best friends, start officially dating somewhere in around the beginning of February, and fell in love with each other.

Last Tuesday night, we went on a date and I figured he'd probably propose that night (we'd been talking and planning for quite a while now).  We had dinner, then went to a band concert, and then we took a walk.  But, everything was pretty normal, so I figured he would just propose a different day.  We came back to my apartment, even visited my brother for a little while, and were just talking.  By this point, I wasn't expecting anything.  Then, he said, "Hey, Emily I have something for you."  Out of one pocket, he pulled out a Smores granola bar (a running joke between the two of us; you see, I happen to really dislike them when the rest of the world loves them).  So, I started laughing because I thought he was just teasing me.  Then, he said, "Oh wait, wrong pocket" and pulled the ring box out of his other pocket and proposed.  By this point I was super surprised and I very happily said yes!

So, I cannot wait to marry my best friend on August 16th in the Oakland temple.  Together, I know we'll have hard times, great times, and everything in between.  I know that marriage is a lot of work and so is raising a family.  But, I know that as we work together and through faith and trust in God, it will be the most important and worthwhile part of our lives.

Welcome Molly!

Last Tuesday, my first niece, Molly Irene Larsen was born: 7 pounds, 19 inches.  I'm so excited to get to know her!  Welcome Molly!  She's a sweetie and I love her so much:

It was so much fun to spend time with Elisabeth's family and see my parents who had come out to help out for a few days. I got to see my parents on Wednesday, then spend the day at Elisabeth's on Friday and Saturday.  I love spending time with my family!

Cutest nephew in the world!

Looking at "popcorn popping on the apricot tree"

Playing on the playground

Other, semi non-related highlights of the week include Becca's flute recital, Joel meeting my parents, watching conference with my family, and playing games with Joel's aunt, uncle, and cousins.  It was a great week!

So welcome Molly to the world!  We're so glad to meet you and get to have you as part of our family!

One Hungry Oscar's Baby Weekend!

Or in other words, a weekend with lots of fun stuff going on that happened to include the midnight premiere of Hunger Games, Oscar's night (a ward activity), and a baby shower!  Hence, a hungry Oscar's baby weekend!

On Thursday night, Kensey, Brittany, John, Joel, and I all went to see the midnight premiere of the Hunger Games.  It was my first midnight premiere ever and it was a lot of fun.  Probably not going to do it again (I was super tired the next day), but I still had a great time.  We got there about an 1.5 early and had a lot of fun waiting between playing crazy word games and ninja until the movie started.  Unfortunately some of our neighbors were making.....um......interesting comments during the movie itself, but overall it was a really good experience, besides being really tired the next day.

I really enjoyed the movie itself.  I was impressed by how similar to the book it was and I also thought they chose really good actors.  However, word of caution, please do not bring children to this movie.  It is PG-13 for a reason.  If you're thinking about seeing it and have any questions, just let me know!

Our Midnight premiere group

On Friday night, we had our ward Oscar's night!  Each family home evening group got together and created a movie to premiere that night.  Since it was a premiere, we all dressed up then watched the awesome videos.  Here's my group's movie.  We had a lot of fun making it and the audience seemed to really enjoy it.  This movie, however, brought down the house!  It was by far crowd favorite and it was so funny.  After we watched the movies, there was a dance which was also so much fun!  It was a great night!

Before the activity

Our fantastic paparazzi

Joel and me waiting for the premiere to start

The bishop and his wife hamming it up

On Saturday, my sister picked me up straight after work and we made our way up to Brigham City for my cousin-in-law's baby shower.  I loved getting to talk to my sister for the 4 hour car trip (there and back) and seeing other family at the shower itself.

Seeing my favorite nephew!

My cousins Paula and Maria and my Aunt Sharon

Overall, it sure was one hungry Oscar's baby weekend!

Monster Post!!!!

Contrary to what the title might sound like, this post has absolutely nothing to do with monsters.  That's right.  There are no Mike Wazowskis or Sulleys or even a Roz in this post (past that reference of course).  This is a monster post because I've been so terrible about blogging recently!  So here's a monster post about  my life as of the last 2-3 weeks.

Catching up with old roommates:  Towards the beginning of the month, I got to see my roommates from last year!  I love these girls so much and it was wonderful getting to catch up with them and eat delicious food at the same time!

Me and Chels

The dynamic duo

Camilla!

A sample of the delicious food we ate

My favorite things activity: So, right now Kensey and I are Relief Society Activities Co-chairs.  Along with our fantastic committee (Michelle, Yusse, and Jazmyn) we planned and had an activity earlier this month. We thought it'd be fun to have an activity that would help girls get to know people they don't normally talk to better.  So, with the inspiration from Sister Schoenfeld and our advisor Chelsea, we decided to have a favorite things activity.

For this activity, each girl brought their favorite recipe and a sample of it (the recipe's going into a Relief Society cookbook) and 2 other things that are their favorites.  As the girls came in, we handed them slips of paper that divided them into random tables.  Each table was decorated according to a part of the song from the Sound of Music (like raindrops on roses, etc.)

The night of the activity was kind of crazy.  Because of crazy class schedules and lack of keys, etc., we only had 15 to set up the activity before everyone got there.  But, we were able to get everything set up and looking nice before the girls got there.  Between me and Kensey, our committee members, and Joel (he had just finished a stake basketball game and was still at the church building) we got everything done in record time!

Once the girls got there, it was a great time!  We all got to know each other better and eat delicious food!  It was a crazy, but fantastic night!

The RS Activites Committee

FHE trip to Brick Oven: In order to support one of our FHE brothers who can't always come to FHE because of work, our FHE group went to his work for FHE.  It was a lot of fun and it was great to go support our "brother".

Getting sick:  Yeah, this was not the most fun part of the month so far.  Last week, I started getting a really bad cold and by Friday, it was a fever.  Brittany also got sick and had a fever.  You know the saying "Misery loves company"?  We both definitely experienced that.  Neither of us wanted the other person to be sick, but we were both glad that someone else was experiencing it with us.

Saturday Fun: Luckily, I started feeling better enough to have fun on Saturday.  I went over to Joel's apartment and we made delicious Indian food.  Then, we went to my old flute teacher's graduate recital.  She did really good!  Then, we went to our ward's activity.  It was super fun!  Especially the Korean dodgeball!  Overall, it was a great night!

Lunch with my sister:  On Tuesday, after work, I got to eat lunch with my sister and my nephew.  I always love spending time with them!  We had so much fun!

Miles showing me his artwork

My favorite sister!!!!

Babysitting

Yesterday, I got to babysit my favorite nephew Miles!  I always love seeing him and he was especially charming yesterday.  Here's some of my favorite moments from last night:

1.  Asking Miles about his soon to be born sister.  Miles got so excited talking about his sister! I asked him, "Are you excited to have a sister?" Then Miles said yes, then started smiling and jumping up and down with excitement. Then I asked what her name is and he responded, "Molly!"  It was so adorable!!!

2.  "I have a secret!" Miles will whisper and say "I have a secret".  Then if you ask him what his secret is, he'll whisper again and say "I love (fill in the blank)".  The cutest was when he said I love Mommy and Daddy.

3.  Tangled. Tangled continues to be Miles' favorite movie and he wanted to watch it.  So, it was playing in the background as we did other things. But, sometimes he would sit and watch it.  The cutest part was when "I have a dream" came on.  He started singing along with it. He knew every word!  He was amazing!

4. Taking pictures of just about everything. Miles has a new favorite game. Miles will show me something and say, "Take a picture of (fill-in-the-blank)".  What he didn't realize is that it meant I got to take pictures of my favorite subject at the same time: Miles!  He didn't want me to take any pictures of himself, only the objects in his hands.  But, it worked out pretty well for both of us.

For example, this is a picture of Blankie and Teddy, not Miles.

This picture is of Giraffey.

He's quite a charmer!

He eventually let me take a picture with him

Basically, Miles is the best nephew in the world.  He is the sunshine in my life!  I'm so glad I got to babysit him yesterday and also see Elisabeth and Gerrit.  Elisabeth is my favorite sister, an amazing advice giver, and one of my role models.  Gerrit is my favorite brother-in-law, hilarious, and such a good daddy and husband.  I love seeing my family!

President's Day Weekend

President's day weekend was a much needed 3 day weekend.  But, it is also a scary thought because that means that this semester is about half way over and there's no more days off (eek!).  I guess, that just means it's time to get my nose to the grindstone.  But, anyways......... I got to do some fun stuff this weekend!

Friday


My ward had an open mic night, basically a talent show where you sign up at the door.  It was so much fun!  The acts were fantastic, we have so many talented people in our ward.  Some of my favorites include Michelle's "I need a man", Jayne and Emily's "Break your heart", and Joy's "Rolling in the Deep".  Everyone did a fantastic job!

Also, Becca, Ashley, and I did something as well.  We decided to sing some of our favorite pop songs as Disney/other characters would.  Here they are:

Violet from the Incredibles singing "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls:

My family pretends that we're normal
But my dad calls my mom rubber band
In a family of supers, what's normal?
I just don't think that you'd understand.


And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I'm hiding from big, scary men
My force field's not meant to be broken
I don't want you to know where I am.


Sleeping Beauty singing "Breakeven" by The Script

I'm still alive but I'm deeply sleeping
From a magic needle my finger's bleeding
Cos I got an enemy of my kingdom
Cos when a spindle breaks no it don't break even


What am I supposed to do when my one true love was always you and
What am I supposed to say when I can't even talk and you're away
I'm falling to sleep, yeah
I'm falling to sleep


Lord Voldemort singing "Forget You" by Cee-lo Green

I see you flying round town on your Nimbus 2000
And I'm like "Kill you!" Ooo ooo ooo
I guess the scar on your forehead just wasn't enough
And I'm like "I'll kill him, and I'll kill her too."
They say he's chosen, and I say whatever
Dumb prophecy.
And after all that's been said I still wish you dead
With a "Kill you"


Needless to say, we might have had a bit too much fun with that.

Saturday.

After work Saturday morning, Kensey, Ashley and I went up to Salt Lake to see Brittany in her goalball tournament.  Goalball is a sport designed for people who are blind or visually impaired.  It is really cool and if you ever get the chance to go see it, you should do it.  It's kind of like two teams of goalies chucking a ball at the opposing with bells in it while blindfolded. A better description can be found here, or watching it on youtube also really helps explain it well.  Either way, it was amazing!  Brittany did a fantastic job!  It was also really cool to experience blind culture as I had never really been exposed to it before. Later that night, we had our weekly Star Wars party.  It was a good day!

Brittany throwing

Brittany blocking

She's a beast!

Her team won the round we saw!

We had a fantastic time!

Sunday.

We started working on "Remember the Lilies" in choir and it was so beautiful!  It made my morning so much better.  Church was also fantastic and I left feeling so uplifted.  We celebrated Becca's half-birthday (more on that in a different post).  After ward prayer, Joel and his roommates invited me and my extended roommates over to their apartment and we played an awesome game I've never heard of it before.  It's called the game of things or things in a box.  Basically there's a category of things and everyone writes down an answer to it.  Ex. Things that would be weird to write on a résumé.  Then everyone writes their answer to that and you try to figure out who wrote what.  It's a super fun game and I definitely would recommend it.

Monday.

Monday was pretty relaxed.  Work was super slow because of the holiday, but otherwise good.  Other than that, I got some homework done, went on a lovely walk with Joel, and then my FHE group went to the bishop's for FHE.

I have to say, it was a lovely, rather busy long weekend!

   

A few highlights

Well, there's been lots of things happening recently and I though I'd just give a brief highlight of a few of them:

1)Who knew that computers could have tumors? I definitely didn't.  But, they can!  At least Ashley's did.  We had quite an adventure trying to figure out what happened to her computer and then holding in the battery so she could print out a paper.

2) Watching North and South with Kensey, Shea, and Julia.  North and South is an awesome movie!  I'm so glad I finally got the chance to see it.

3.  A double date with Elisabeth and Gerrit.  It was super fun!  Me and Joel went with Elisabeth and Gerrit to Malawi pizza and got a delicious desert pizza (peanut butter smores pizza).  Then, we went to the Living Legends show.  It was really cool!

4.  I got accepted into the Special Ed program!  On Saturday, I got a letter in the mail and I'm going to be starting the program this fall semester.  I'm so happy and excited!