Cheap Thrills

On Friday night we all went over to my parents house to celebrate my brother's and my dad's birthdays. As the tradition has become my brother bought over his Wii. For my brother's birthday Eric and I bought him a nunchuck controller so people can box against each other. I boxed Eric first and he did beat me but I was the one who knocked him down first. My arms were so sore for days after that. Then on Saturday night DMU hosted a dinner and got tickets for the Iowa Barnstormers. We had dinner with some of Eric's fellow students. The only bad part was Hy-vee Hall (where we had dinner) ran out of desserts before we got there! But when we went over to the game I could smell funnel cake so we found that to satisfy my sweet tooth. We ended up sitting in the corner pretty high up but we had a blast at the game. The Barnstormers won which always makes it more fun. Then on Sunday we had my whole family over for FHE and dinner. Eight adults and one baby in our small apartment was a little tight but it was fun to show the place off. So that took care of our weekend. It has been nice to be so busy on the weekends and to be making so many memories as a young married couple. This weekend we have an Elders' Quorum activity and stake conference. So life is always going going going.

The doldrums of life

I remember when Eric and were dating and I thought life would calm down once we were married. Well I was wrong. This past week we tried to get my new drivers license and social security card so I could change my name. Eric also needed a new social security card since he had lost his and an Iowa drivers license. So we started in downtown Des Moines at the social security office. Well they wouldn't let me get my card since the marriage certificate didn't have my name as "Kristelle Larsen" printed on it and I didn't have a photo ID with that on it. So Eric was able to get his card and then we drove to Ankeny to get drivers licenses. At first the DOT didn't want to give me a license for the same reason but one employee knew that some states don't print the name that way. So I was able to get my drivers licence with "Kristelle Larsen" on it. Well Eric wasn't able to get his because they needed proof of residency. He had a letter with the address on it but it was less than 30 days old and we had my car so he couldn't use his car registration and they wanted his social security card. So then we went back to the social security office to get my new social security card. It was a very time consuming afternoon but we only dealt with very polite people and were in and out very quickly. But Eric is still a Utah resident at this point.

The sad thing is that was the most exciting thing that happened this week. We are busy doing all the odds and ends that come with life. On Sunday we are having my family over for dinner and FHE. We realized my family helped us move in but haven't seen the apartment since it was a complete mess filled with boxes. And since we finally got unpacked this week we figured we would show the place off.

Our place 2

Our Place

The Winning Streaks Ends

After two consecutive weeks of beating Eric at the game we were playing for FHE he beat me last night playing Skip-bo. The sad thing was he was trying to be nice and kept helping me. I am in the mood for a rematch though. We will have to see what happens next week.

Also after living in the apartment for almost 2 months we got the last box unpacked and pictures up on the walls. Since it was so pretty and clean we took pictures to show everyone. I will have to add them later. Plus we needed photo documentation of the apartment being that clean and orderly.

Random Bits of Information

So not a whole lot of interesting thing have been going on with me and Eric the past couple of days. I had interviewed with the library for a full time position ( I only work part time right now) and found out today that it was offered to someone else. After the interview I had a feeling that it didn't go all that well so I wasn't all that surprised that I didn't get offered the job. But I am still loving my job that I have and now I get to go out and try and find a part time job elsewhere. But this means more variety in my life :).

Other than that still doing the same ole same ole. Our spare bedroom is still a pit and someday when we get all settled in we will take pictures and post them so everyone can see our apartment. Hope all is well with everyone.

Finding the Blessings

So the weather in Iowa has finally warmed up and there hasn't been snow for almost a week. So with spring comes flowers and open windows and sunshine and construction. Today we had the windows open but the grocery store just south of us has started construction with their major remodeling project. The wind had picked up and so did the dust and dirt that comes with construction. I was thinking then how grateful I was that with the grocery store south of us that our apartment faced north and while it was a bit noisy we didn't have any dust coming in the windows.

I love to see the Temple

Next Saturday is Stake Temple day at the Winter Quarters Temple. In order to help prepare people to want to go our ward had a temple fireside last night. I thought it was done in a really interesting way. They had ward members speak for about 1-2 minutes pretending to be one of their ancestors. At the end they asked if anyone had their name. When people had walked into the fireside we were handed cards with names on them. In the end a few more than half of the people had their names claimed and could move on but the people who didn't get claimed had to keep sitting on the stand. The part that really got to me was when they separated a family. All of the family members had been claimed but a little boy and the dad started crying when he had to leave his son on the stand. I thought it was a really touching way to get the point across about the importance of family history work. Eric and I have both mentioned that with my whole family being converts there is lots of work that needs to be done. Eric is excited to have the chance to help me since so much of his families work has already been done.

We also realized that we want to try and go to the temple whenever we can. This means even on vacations. In May we are going to Daytona Beach with my family. We won't be too far from the Orlando Temple and so we are making plans to go. Eric is excited to go do a session in the temple where his grandparents served their mission. There are so many wonderful things going on in our life right now and we are grateful to be able to share them with everyone.

Rite of Passage

On Saturday night the College of Podiatric Medicince and Surgery held their annual Recongnition and Rite of Passage. It was one of those long ceremonies where the students who did really well were honored along with lots of professors for things I didn't quite understand. Then all of the second year students put on their lab coats signifing that they had moved on to their clinical phase of their education. They also all stood and recited/read together their student oath, bascially promising not to cheat or kill anyone. It was very formal to to the point of being ridiculous but it was nice to see Eric and his classmates be celebrated for the hard work they have put into the last two years.

Wedding Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the wedding . These are all ones that Eric's dad took for us. We are still waiting for the pictures from the photographer. I do have to admit is that by the end of the day on the 22nd I was so tired of posing and smiling. But I am so happy that we have such wonderful pictures to document our wonderful day. Hope you all enjoy.

Sore Muscles

Eric loves to run, and run, and run and run. Me, well I like to think about running. So yesterday Eric decided he was going to go for a run and I was going to go with him. This sounds like a plan full of pain and lots of gasping for air. Well I was going to ride Eric's bike. Okay I haven't ridden a bike in year's but how hard can it be? Well first there are the special shoes. There is this little metal clip on the bottom of the shoes that attaches your feet to special pedals. If you know me you know I am a bit of a klutz and so riding a bike with me feet attached to the bike sounds like a bad idea (yes I was panicking at this point). So after a few minutes of snapping and unsnapping my feet I am starting to feel better. Then Eric breaks out his camel back ( a water bottle you wear on you back). So now I have to have my feet attached to the pedals and also have a tube that I have to bite, pull down on and suck on all at the same time while riding one handed; oh and not fall off.
Off we go on our adventure. I manage to only veer off course about three times turning it into an off roading bike ride for a bit, almost run over Eric once and not fall off. Eric after running five miles is sweating and breathing hard and wanting to throw up but me I am fine, I feel great! A nice little ride around the lake and I have nothing to worry about, or so I thought. After our ride we cleaned up and went to my parents house. Eric was jumping up and down excited since my brother had purchased a Wii and we were all going to play it. I must admit in real life I can't bowl to save my life (I even bowled a four once!) but in Wii world I am amazing! I totally won! This a great game! Then it was on to tennis :( There Eric and my brother both beat me but I was holding me own for the most part. After taking a break to design our whole family's Miis we started boxing. The boys (Eric and my brother) are doing okay. They normally have to knock the guy down two or three times to knock him out. Then it is my turn. I get up and start punching the guy goes down really fast and stays down! I had done better than the boys in boxing. Granted my form was horrible and Rocky would probably cry watching me try but I won. Of course the boys got back up and after trying my technique did a little better. So that ended our night of just playing video games, no physical strain right? Wrong
Between the bike ride and the Wii my legs are very sore this morning. Who knew a video game and a leisurely bike ride around a lake could cause so much pain.

Starting New

It is amazing how much more responsible I have to be with being married. I lived with my parents or was on my mission the three years before I got married so I am relearning how to be a grown up. Luckily Eric had been living on his own for two years so he knows what is going on. Today we went to Target to get odds and ends and Eric was the one who kept track of what we had picked up and how much it was so we knew how much more we needed to use our $10 off a $100 dollar coupon (which he remembered we had and remembered to get). With Eric going to school he gets to be home a lot as do I with only working part time at the library so we have had a lot of time together to learn how we want to run our home together.

Last night we had our first FHE with just the two of us. Since we spend so much time together it almost didn't feel necessary but we both agreed that we wanted to get into the habit of having a regular FHE so that when children come later we will be more prepared. We played Candy Land since Eric had no memories of ever playing the game. I killed him in the first game and during the second game while he was winning he suggested we do 2 out of 3. Well shortly thereafter I beat him again so I don't think he has any good memories of playing Candy Land yet.