Incase You Haven't Heard...

I started a new blog which I will be blogging on from now on! It's linked to my Etsy shop so I can maintain the same name/brand for everything I do dealing with design. To continue keeping up with my crazy life, click here to go to my new blog!

I've been MIA!

Hello There!

Yes, I realize I've been MIA for a little bit now. This is probably the longest I've gone without blogging in a while! But I've been pondering about life (it's been more like soul searching!), and I've decided something. And now I have a goal to do something about it.

I want to start a lifestyle blog! 

Obviously not right away, but in the near future for sure. I want a blog that has all my interests separated into tabs for others to click on and enjoy if the share that same interest. And do you know what my interests include? 

Photography. 

Cupcakes.

Designing. 

And just living a happy and fun life. 

It's not enough for me just to write a blog post about these topics. I want to do more! I want to bake cupcakes and take mouth-watering picture of them. I want to design things that others will like and want to buy. I want to leave my mark and make an impression!

So yeah. That's my new life goal. I hope to get there someday.

In the meantime, I'll continue to blog like normal, or at least try to. I just have nothing interesting to blog about anymore! I work, eat, sleep, and talk to Geoff and that's about it. I'll play tennis and workout every so often too, but you get the point!

He's Home!!!!!

Finally... After two long years, my best friend is home from his mission! I'm pretty much happier than a clam. I was able to go to Ephrata for a few days to see him when he got home. We spent a lot of time together hanging out at each other's houses and with our families, going to Wenatchee to eat at Wok About, watching a movie at his parent's movie theater and just catching up on what's happened over the past couple of years.

The welcome home banner my mom and I made!

Wok About! Our favorite restaurant

Jaxon sure loved the fortune cookies!

Exploring Wenatchee.

Playing on Geoff's iPhone.

Brotherly love :)

Saying goodbye at the Spokane Airport.

I'm so grateful for the great guy he's become and being the best example to me and everyone else. I know his younger brothers and sisters look up to him greatly and it just melted my heart seeing how excited they were to have Geoff back. It's been great hearing stories about the places and people in Brazil. He really loves those he met and I hope someday he's able to go back and visit to see the fruits of his labors! 

I'm glad we have been able to pick up right where we left off two years ago. It's as if he never left and I am excited to see what the future has in store for us :)

Chlarson Family Reunion 2013

What a week last week! I was able to see lots of my Chlarson family at our reunion at Ensign Ranch. We played lots of games, went canoeing, horseback riding and ate until we we were the size of the horses we could see outside the kitchen windows! I even went to Leavenworth for a few hours with my Aunt Jana and her family. It was a great little vacation from work. It was also much needed, as I haven't taken a vacation since the end of March for Easter, and that was only a couple of days! I also have not been back to Washington since Christmas, and even though I was only home for less than a day, I figure I'll be back next week to see Geoff when he gets home from Brazil :) We took family pictures Sunday evening since it was the only time we were able to all get together before I flew back to Salt Lake the next day. All in all, it has been and is going to be a fun couple of months for this girl!

Here are some pictures. I apologize for the randomness of how they are placed... I'm too lazy to fix them!

Revealing of the shirts.

Family Talent Night - cloggers!

Shaila singing and playing the ukelele.

The great grandkids singing.

Derek and Dylan singing.

Cute nephew Abbott!

Aunt Jana, Uncle Alan and Cuz Dylan.

Dylan and Kristen...?

Nephew Acen... too cute!

Nephew Asher and myself.

Panorama shot of us!

Canoeing with Cuz Derek

Leavenworth with my Richmond Fam!

Minute to Win it Games

At home. Zoey being herself.

Wearing my glasses

They love their Auntie Kylie!

Message for Monday

I deeply apologize for my lack of blogging! My grown-up summer starts next week at my family reunion... So there will be more exciting things to blog about once that time comes!

On July 24th Utah celebrates Pioneer Day to remember all those courageous pioneers who came here and made Utah what it is today. For FHE, my ward went to the Salt Lake Cemetery to visit the gravesites of some prominent people in our church's history! I was so excited, as I have been wanting to go to Gordon B. Hinckley's gravesite ever since he passed away in January of 2008. 

This cemetery is probably the biggest ever known to man. I looked it up online and there are 130,000 burial sites there, with 121,000 of them already taken. It's 250 acres big! It sits right in the heart of Salt Lake, and the farther you go up, the more gorgeous view of Salt Lake you can see. Seriously it was breathtaking. What a place to be put to rest!

There are lots of people we know of buried there, including all the prophets except Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Lorenzo Snow, William Clayton, W.W. Phelps and many other apostles. We only went to the graves of four people that were spread out a ways from each other, but saw others along the way. I definitely got a good workout in walking up those steep hills!

Our first stop was the one I'd been looking forward to - Gordon B. Hinckley. His wife was buried there of course as well. We shared some memories we had of this beloved prophet of ours and some of the best quotes he said as well.

Directly in front of the Hinckley's grave was David O. McKay. His gravestone was huge! It was triple the size of the Hinckley's. Although this wasn't one of our stops, we still passed by it which was neat.

We then walked to John Taylor's. His was so tall and in the shape of the Washington Memorial, I couldn't get a full picture of it. Plus the sun was in the perfect (meaning worse) spot for a picture to be taken. But he was surrounded by family members.

Third was Wilford Woodruff. He had a gorgeous gravestone. 

Last was Mary Fielding Smith. Hyrum Smith's wife, and her sister Rachel. We stopped there and were told a really touching pioneer story of all that they went through during their life. It made me appreciate pioneers more than I already do! I didn't take a picture of their graves, but they were your average graves.

Near Mary Smith's grave was Joseph F. Smith's grave, not one of our stops but we stopped anyways! I have to say, it was weird seeing his grave then the graves of like four of his wives lined up right next to it. I know polygamy was needed back then, but I am so glad it's not needed now! I would be so jealous of my husband's other wives!

And that's that! That cemetery is a very sacred place and I'm glad I was able to go there. I definitely want to go back and see more graves, since it could take all day and then some to get through them all!

Message for Monday

Since my family is here in Salt Lake and I'm so excited to spend my evenings with them once I get off work, I thought it was only appropriate that I write something about families. I love that we have the opportunity to be with our families forever. This Mormon Message is a good one, and how can you not love the little boy singing "Familes Can Be Together Forever"? This video says it all!

And a special shout out to my sister Chelsey and Deseret News friend Sarah... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY! Hope you both have a wonderful day!

Message for Monday

This video has been pretty popular the last couple of weeks since it was posted online. And every time I watch it, I can't help but get a little teary-eyed. Although the wife must feel so helpless not being able to provide for herself or her husband, her husband loves her unconditionally and makes sure she knows how much he loves her through his actions. Their relationship is a special one, one with an eternal prospective. I loved the quote at the end by Richard G. Scott: "Marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered... Pure love is an incomparable, potent power for good, and the foundation of a successful marriage."

I want to experience a love like this someday, a pure love where I can put my husband and children's needs before my own. Love makes any burden bearable, as it is obvious in this video.