The Passing of President Hinckley

It's been over two weeks since President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away and it's still so hard to believe. For anyone who missed the funeral broadcast, you can view the memorial services through the video player pasted below:

For many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he was the only prophet they had ever known. For Shane and I, he was the first that we remember being well enough to keep a regular public schedule -- Presidents Ezra Taft Benson and Howard W. Hunter were both quite physically weak from the time that we were old enough to pay attention to such things. I think his optimism is really what sticks out to me, which is probably why I love the photos of him swinging his cane -- to me it symbolizes his ability to see the bright side of tough situations (His counselor, Henry B. Eyering, explained this well in his tribute to the late prophet):
The church press office has put together a neat time line documenting significant events that took place from the time that he was called to lead the church in 1995 till his death at the age of 97 on January 27. He was definitely made the most of his remaining years on earth.

As sad as it was to hear of President Hinckley's death, it was such a relief to know that through the grand plan of our Father in Heaven he has been reunited with his sweet wife, Majorie, never to be parted from her again.

This article titled "How to Bury a Prophet" by Kathleen Flake explains so well the core doctrines of the church and how they played into President Hinckley's memorial service. I especially liked her closing paragraph:

Families are, as Latter-day Saints like to say, “forever.” What they don’t say is that the church is not forever. It is only the instrument for endowing families with the right and duty to mediate the gifts of the gospel to their members; thereby, sealing the willing among them as families in the life to come. This was Hinckley’s message as a prophet. As he would have it and as the best Mormon funerals do, his message was embodied and enacted by his family who blessed him in death, no less than in life. This is how the Latter-day Saints, at least, bury a prophet.

There is also such peace that comes in knowing that revelation continues today. Jesus Christ is still at the head of His Church and has prepared and called up a new prophet to guide us here on the earth: President Thomas S. Monson.

Casting the Non-Mitt Romney Vote

Not wanting to make this blog too political or anything, I will admit that Shane and I were quite disappointed to watch Mitt Romney drop-out of the presidential race last week during his CPAC speech. He was someone both of our bosses backed too, which was kind of interesting. We even have bumper stickers on our cars (we felt like we had to step up our support after Mike Huckabee took Iowa).

Anyway, that being said, I'm not sure who to vote for tomorrow in the Virginia Primary. Do I vote for a Democrat and hope that means Mitt has a fighting chance in 2012? Do I support Ron Paul, who doesn't have a chance but is definitely preferred over John McCain and Huckabee? Hmmm...decisions, decisions. Hard to get excited about casting a vote at all, actually.

In the meantime, here's a cheesy video a Mitt supporter put together to get his fans pumped up for 2012:

Even if you aren't a Romney fan you have to admit, his CPAC speech was pretty darn sweet.

Yes, We Finally Have a Table...

As some of you may know we waited nearly FOUR WHOLE MONTHS to get the kitchen table we ordered back in September. It arrived just before we left to spend the holidays with our families back West.

While we're happy with it now, we probably wouldn't bother doing it again if we had the choice. Next time it just might be Ikea all the way (which is where that extra red chair in the corner came from). We're still trying to re-train ourselves to eat at the table and not on the couch.

Murder Mystery, Italian-Style

Last night Shane and I went to our first Murder Mystery dinner party. Neither of us really knew what to expect but we ended up having a great time. The other three couples participating did a spendid job playing their parts and we did our best to keep up. Shane was Marco Roni, the soccer-star wannabe who waits tables at the family's Italian restaurant to please his father. I was a fortune-telling gypsy, the best friend and astrology consultant of Marco's mother Rosa. I won't give the outcome away in case you play the same game at some point in the future, but Marco's father, Pepi Roni, was the murder victim.


I was able to snap a shot of our costumes before heading out the door. You can't really get the full affect because we didn't have time to set up the shot but I'm wearing an array of mismatching clothing and jewelry while Shane was quite comfy in his English soccer jersey, running pants and tennis shoes.

Cute Cousins in Town

Earlier this week we had a quick visit from cousin Darla, her husband Geoff and their three little ones -- Cole (4), Dayne (2) and June (7 mos.). They came up from Richmond for three days to see the sights and go to the temple. We enjoyed catching up with them -- their visit sure made for a fun change of pace during the work work.

And their kids just keep getting cuter. Check out these pictures. I told Darla that we call the next one. ;)

Dealing With 'Office' Withdrawals

Most of you know that we are quite devoted fans of "The Office" on NBC. We got way into the show while we were dating and have been struggling through the week ever since the writers ' strike took our Thursday night treat away. Many of Shane's work colleagues are feeling the pangs of withdrawal as well. So much so that they've begun to reenact "Jim pranks" around the office.

First, Shane's office typed up a fax for their deputy chief of staff out in Idaho from himself from the future.

Then, Shane (with the encouragement of the other DC staff) decided it was time to put his chief of staff's stapler in -- you guessed it -- Jell-O:



I guess if we had though ahead more we would have thought it out a bit more, since we didn't really consider how we'd get the Jell-O out of the pyrex without ruining it. (If only we'd seen this nifty instructional video sooner. Instead, it went more like this.) So, we left it in, rather than make a mess.

As it turns out, Lindsay still appreciated our amateur efforts:

For those of you non-Office fans who think we must be completely off our rocker, I refer you to this video clip (for some reason I can't find the American version, which is the one we follow, but the British version captures it well):

Day in Philadelphia

Last Saturday Shane and I decided to take a day trip before school and work took over our lives once more. So we hopped in the car and two hours or so later we pulled up in the heart of Philadelphia to check out the birthplace of our nation.

Toffee-Making Party

We decided early on that there was no way we'd be sending out Christmas cards this year. It took us long enough to get all of our "thank you" postcards out after the wedding so we weren't about to attempt a second round anytime soon. As much as we love our family and friends, it seems the Larsens can only really handle one mass mailing per year.

That said, we did take the time one Family Home Evening in December to whip out some homemade toffee for our coworkers, landlords and a few others on our "nice" list.

Stir.

Spread.

Snap.

Wrap. (Or: Snack.)

Decking the Halls

We won't be sticking around DC for Christmas this year -- instead we are taking advantage of our offices being closed and heading for the West Coast to spend Christmas in California and New Year's in Idaho -- but we have made an effort to "deck the halls" around our little apartment to bring in some pre-holiday cheer.

Here's a picture of our Charlie Brown-like* Christmas tree:

Close-up of the angel on the top -- a gift from Colonial Williamsburg that Shane surprised me with last year:


And my attempt at being domestic by stringing Christmas cards along a wire:


*For those of you unfortunate souls unaware of what a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree is we're provided the following instructional video clip:

Introducing Ivy #2

Cousin Brad Erickson and his wife, Julie, welcomed their second child into the world this past week. Little Ivy Maurine has dark hair and skin, according to her dad, which means she's pretty much looks like her gorgeous mom.

7 lbs, 21"Born 12/13/07

I have to admit I'm excited to think there's someone else with my name around. I've met a few randomly in my life but never had a conversation with one. Even more fun -- "Ivy Maurine" sounds an awful lot like "Ivy Jeanne."

Ivy with her big brother, Bowman (19 mos.)