Announcement (Non baby)

We have 5 more days until the end of the world. It's so exciting!

What are yall going to do on Dec. 21, 2012? It's a good day to celebrate life.

Here are some valid ways the world may end that day:
1: Zombies (either previously dead ones or currently living people become zombies and come out to eat the rest of us)
2: Meteor, should we really trust that the star gazers would warn us?
3: Super virus/bacteria eats our brains
4: Nuclear bombs melt all the ice on the north and south poles and we all get flooded
5: All the techtonic energy is released and volcanoes pop up everywhere
6: Aliens laser us all
7: The government harvests too much steel from the earth's core and we implode
8: Apes become more intelligent than us and enslave us
9: The sun explodes.
10: The internet spawns robots determined to delete us.

But lets not think about this. We still have 5 days to pretend that life will go on.

So with baseless hope in our hearts, we now reveal some of our future plans.  A future plan assuming our peaceful world continues to function.

Amy, Isaac, Luke and I are planning on selling our Houston Texas house so that we can move BACK to Utah and be closer to family.

We've felt that this is where we're meant to be and although Utah is not an ideal place for private practice optometry, we do have faith that God will prepare something for us.

But don't be surprised if we end up living in Salt Lake City with a big fat Lone Star carved into our house, or our lawn. We may fly a Texas flag in the front yard.  Luke is a native Texan and we've all been changed thanks to our amazing time in the greatest state in the world.

We still have 1 more year to enjoy Texas, but we'll be spending a lot of that time preparing to move back to Utah.

Hope all you family and friends in Utah can celebrate a little today.  For my Houston friends, hey, most of yall are leaving Houston after graduation anyways so you can't be too mad at me.
-Brad

Moving on...

The election is over. I've written my response regarding this about 5 times.  Then I erase it.

So we as a country wanted change. But there's practically no change in the senate, house, and presidency.  Oh well.

The real changes coming in the future are more exciting if I talk about our family personally.  Today is my almost my last day as a 27 year old.  I have been hanging onto my youth very nicely.  I'm still young and beautiful. I can run up and down stairs without running out of breath. I can eat ice cream and steak without gaining a pound. My hair is thick and full with a partial golden shine.  My mind is active and has never been more full of information.  My kids and wife love me and we have everything we could ever wish for.

But there's one problem, that has devastated me.

Last week, I looked in the mirror.

And notice 2 hairs growing out of my right ear.

OH THE HORROR! I am old! I am hideous! Death is at my door!  I am so ashamed! Oh the pain of the end of youth! How frail is life! No one can understand the state of the elderly until it consumes you! It is all become dark.

At least I'm married to a beautiful young lady. Sorry Amy, but you're stuck with an old man, ha ha.

More about me.  I'm finishing up my 6th semester of Optometry school.  There's only 4 more to go, and happily half of those semesters are NOT in school, they're at externship sites outside of Houston.

In case you didn't hear, I'll be in SLC next summer, in Carthage Texas next fall, and then back in Houston at school for spring of 2014.

If you haven't heard about Carthage Texas I recommend watching the movie "Bernie" there's some bad language in the movie but it's really fun to watch knowing we'll be a part of that small town for a few months.

After all that I'll be a doctor. Can you believe it?

Amy is really enjoying our two boys.  Isaac and Luke are ten times more entertaining then they have ever been. Amy has been able to do a little less survival parenting and a little more behavioral parenting as the days go by. She enjoys being a mother but has also been very busy with working with the young women of our ward.  They are a great bunch of girls and Amy loves meeting with them and teaching. It keeps her busy every week and I love watching how much Amy actually cares about them and their personal spiritual progression.  I really have seen a lot of growth from Amy especially since they took her out of serving in the Primary.  And the most impressive surprise of all was the Gandalf costume she made. It's amazingly impressive. Amy managed to create a perfect replica of the costume that Gandalf the grey wore in the movies.  I sort of asked her to help me do it but she took on the project herself and succeeded greater than my best expectations.  I know I'm  a nerd and Amy doesn't disagree but her hard work combined with her previously hidden talents have really convinced me I'm the luckiest husband ever.  I don't know what i could do to even out the score.  Something tells me that maybe a hundred pounds of chocolate might do the trick.

Isaac is a good boy.  He has a lot of energy and certainly would benefit if we only had a safe place for him to go outside and play.  Our backyard no longer has deathly heat and humidity, nor does it have mosquitos that especially love Isaac's blood, but we still and forever will have mean fire ants.  Luke isn't quite big enough to play out in the dangerous ant hills yet and so Amy can't monitor both boys if Isaac is outside, so for the majority of time, Isaac is trapped indoors and has become addicted to movies.  He loves all movies all the time.  He isn't so obsessed with any one thing anymore, sorry Spiderman but you're becoming old.  Isaac spends more than half of his time playing with Luke rather than by himself.  He likes to be with mommy and ask her questions and do what she's doing. He's definitely a mommies boy.  It takes a lot of hard work to get him to admit that he loves daddy too.  Amy's starting to discipline him more, we've decided to switch roles. Since I've been bad cop for the first 3 years, Amy's going to take the job for the next 3. That way Isaac can learn to love me more. If it weren't for his severe speech problem I'd say he's ready to be sent off to school!  He's talked about going to preschool and he's very very excited about it.  It won't be long until we take that first step of letting him out to begin life outside the home!  It's exciting that as I finish up my last year of formal education, Isaac will be begining his!

Luke is no longer a baby.  But we still call him baby Luke.  I dunno how much longer we'll say that but I just can't help it. He's my precious little snuggle boy. While Isaac often hold grudges against me for being punished for his naughty behavior, Luke is always definitely a daddy's boy. When I come home from school or work Luke is definitely the first one to be waiting at the door (or running towards it) as soon as he hears the garage door closing.  I'm always greeted with a very quiet but very energetic "Dadda!" every time I open the door, and if I'm not fast enough to pick him up, he'll quickly coil himself around my leg and bury his face against me with one of the sweetest hugs I've ever had. It NEVER gets old and continues to be the best part of my day.  Luckily Isaac is starting to copy luke some days. It's funny because when Isaac runs up to hug me, he makes sure that Mommy is watching him as if he's putting on a silly show.  Luke is saying a few more words, he's finding that he has preferences with movies and stories.  He definitely loves copying Isaac.  And from what I see with food, Luke has still yet become picky to tastes of food. If he's picky it's due to general distractions and not due to flavor. I can still get him to eat absolutely anything as long as I'm entertaining him and keeping him in a good mood.  My only sorrow is that most family don't know Luke very well at all.

And that wraps up everyone! Or does it?  No no no, we're not pregnant. The optometry school class of 2014 accidently got a wonderful email this week finding out that Amy isn't pregnant. I know that some of you are thinking that we're trying to have another baby and you're wondering if Amy is secretly pregnant, well I'm sorry if you were hoping but we are not secretly having another one.  Amy is open about her hopes to someday have a baby girl. She really really does want one of those, but right now just isn't the right time for it.  So we all get to be content with the two crazy boys that we do have.  We're so happy to have Clarissa and Ada in the family and also all the other new cousins and babys that are coming into the lives of our friends, we're so happy for you guys.
Ok
and the next blog that I do will have pictures.

And for those of you that are still feeling down because of the lack of change in our government, well just be glad that you're not stuck in mordor.  Obama's not as bad as Sauron. Perspective.

Obama and Romney

Why did I vote for Mitt Romney? (brad speaking here)

That's right, I voted today. Spent a very long 75 minutes in a line feeling slightly uncomfortable seeing as how I was the only white person and the purpose of the line was to get a turn to either vote for a white guy or a black guy as our next president....

So Why did I vote Republican?

I consider myself an extremist. I do not agree with any of the parties. Therefore I am forced to vote for the party that comes closest to what I’d dream for. I hold my views based on principles. Principles that I believe if followed yield prosperity of a nation and if neglected yield destruction of a nation.  Due to the fact that these principles are unchanging, they are relatively boring. Turn on the news, “hey lets hear more about those thousand year old principles!” Nope. Not happening. The media would much rather entertain us with who said what, who was caught doing this and that. Attack ads are everywhere, but they rarely attack principles.  In my opinion, about 90% of what’s reported on TV is not important.  I personally don’t care what the president said in his first press conference in response to a strike on an embassy.  I don’t care what Romney left out of his Republican National Convention speech.  I definitely never care about what the polls are telling us, nor do I care about Obama’s beer factory or Romney’s dog.

Here’s what I do care about.

I care about freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedoms of due process, and all the other freedoms guaranteed in the constitution.

I do not care about freedom to avoid parental responsibilities, freedom of food, freedom of healthcare, freedom of education, freedom of employment, and freedom of tax exemption.

Note the words, “I do not care about” are not equal to the phrase, “I am against…”

The first freedoms I mentioned are very expensive, however I believe that they’re worth paying for at ALL COSTS.

The second list of freedoms is also very expensive, but they are not worth paying for until we become a very very rich nation.  I would love to buy anything I wanted, but the trouble is that I have a brain. If I can barely afford what I have now and attempt to buy more, then I risk losing all that I have. It is the same with our country. 

Always remember that a Democracy is the most expensive form of government.

I enjoy the famous quote by Francois Guisot (1787-1874): "Not to be a

republican at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is

proof of want of head."

This idea that the young dreamers with big hearts vote Democrat and the old realists with life experience and knowledge vote republican was just the case for myself.

When President Obama ran in 2008, I was just beginning to care about politics. I was beginning to be convinced that many aspects of the Republican party were old and irrelevant, while on the other hand many other aspects were old yet will forever be relevant.  Due to my Christian faith many social issues were Republican (abortion and traditional family).  However, since I was a student of science and thoroughly educated, I saw a few problems.  I distinctly remember an enormous amount of passion which I felt for alternate forms of energy, specifically nuclear energy.  Obama was definitely on my side here.  It just bothered me that old people and ignorant people could be so frightened of nuclear energy. It’s the greatest invention of all time! How could we not harvest it? Why do we continue to ruin our planet with dirty fossil fuels? One other topic close to me was immigration.  I didn’t understand the politics of immigration, but it seemed like Latinos liked Obama more, and since I love Latinos, then I also thought Obama could do something more for them. One last thing about republicans is that I didn’t like war. I believed that we were only in the Middle East for oil. I thought that Bush was never getting us out of there. I was honestly tired of war.

So I headed to the polls ready to vote in a presidential election for the first time in my life. I was ready to vote for Obama.  But then I told my wife, and she said no. I couldn’t cancel out her vote.  So I displayed wisdom, Happy wife=Happy life, and voted for old man McCain or whatever his name was.

Now it’s been 4 years and I’ve learned better.  And perhaps it’s thanks to president Obama.  Indeed he did many things as President, and in doing so it has never been easier to see the difference between our nation's two parties.  The left has moved very near to socialism and the right has responded in realigning itself to the rebel ideals of free market capitalism and independence founded by really old men from the 1700’s. 

Obama created the Affordable Care Act and the Tea Party arose out of nowhere in defiance.

Suddenly nuclear energy and immigration did not matter. These two parties were squaring off against each other over a much greater set of ideas.  A second did not pass until I knew which side I wanted to be on.

I’m young, but I have some international experience that few people get.  Add to that my formal education in Spanish and Latino-American history and I can tell you without a doubt that socialism is not only a path to poverty of freedoms but poverty of all temporal needs. Look at history, look at the present day Venezuela and Cuba.  Look at this old cartoon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVh75ylAUXY

And when I saw the pathway Obama was leading America, I didn’t like it.  I finally realized the difference between the fundamental way of thinking between the two parties.

We both want free healthcare, we both want to let kids be on their parents plan until they’re 27. We both want pre existing conditions to be irrelevant.  But the republicans say no.  Why? Well a Democrat will say “because they have no soul,” and the Republican will say “because we can’t afford it, because it gives government too much power, because it’s unconstitutional, and because this leads us one step closer to socialism and loss of freedoms.”

This same argument repeats itself for more issues:  We both want food stamps to be available for the poor, We both want Medicaid, and Medicare for all who apply. We both want all senior citizens to retire and live wonderfully at age 65, and we both want everyone everywhere to be rich. We both want everyone to have an equal chance at achieving the American Dream. We both want to judge everyone and if someone has a statistical lesser advantage for financial success well by golly we should give them a handout and equal the playing field.  But the Republicans often say no. And is it because they have no soul, or as I believe, they know better. These are dreams that aren't possible without putting our more important freedoms at risk.  This is eating our dessert instead of our vegetables.

And here is where the Democrats fail to understand the Republicans. How they can just let suffering occur? How can these heartless republicans ignore the suffering, the old, the poor, and the veterans?

This is where one of my extremist principles come into play. Specifically this is the principle I am most passionate about. Here comes some religion.

One of the fundamental reasons we are placed on this Earth by God is to experience Charity, the love of God. Although the Democratic party boasts to have more Charity, it literally destroys it. Charity is the responsibility of the individual and not the government.  If you vote for someone because they’ll take care of the poor people for you, then they are inherently stripping you of your ability to feel one of the greatest joys in life. Real charity is never experienced by voting to have money taken from the rich and given to the poor.  Real charity occurs by working extra hard so that you can sustain yourself and have some leftover to donate to those less fortunate. It  is an opportunity that nobody should ever shrug off.  Charity and love holds families together and it can hold a community, a city, and our nation together.  There needs to remain a bond between all of us if we want to stay a United States of America.  When we give up that responsibility to the government, letting it become the steward of charity, then perhaps the poor get fed but the love that individuals feel is gone, only rarely being echoed in the hollowness of political speakers. I would like to have the right to give 20% of my earnings to charity, instead of having the government take that same 20% by force to feed the poor and support the elderly.  And now to consider those who are in need of help; consider the difference between waiting in line for the government to give you what you HAVE A RIGHT to receive versus being visited by someone who is willing to give of his/her own earnings to help you for the time being.  Who is more grateful? Which situation builds a greater country? And in which situation is there CHARITY? 

I watched a documentary about the changes made in Iran only a few years ago. A woman from Tehran said that before Iran became a religious state, she would wear her veil. It was a symbol of her commitment to God. It was sacred to her. Now all women are required by law to be veiled.  She said that this new government had robbed her of her religion, in the name of religion. What once was sacred is now despised.  It is the same with Charity.

But wait, you say, I don't want love. I want food. Love doesn't feed my babies.  Well of course it doesn't! Family must feed your babies, Religious organizations feed your babies.  There are non profit agencies all over the place where good people are volunteering to save those in need. Where the government to allot this responsibility to it's people and give them the opportunity to feed themselves and feel charity then do you think we could do it?  I not only believe we could be more productive than the government, I believe it would save our souls.

I have much much more to say. If anyone has any specific requests for me to describe my views on the family, abortion, immigration, foreign policy or anything else, then send me your opinion first and I will send you mine later.  (Oh and by the way my opinion on renewable energy has changed) These things take time to explain and that is not something I have much of.

Remember that understanding yields peace, not contention. My purpose is to help you understand me, and why I voted for Mitt Romney.

Love yall!
-Bradly Larson

Isaac's dream come true on the worst night of his life

Warning:  If you are squeamish, and take no joy in gross stories- go back to facebook.  This post is not for you.

Isaac loves movies.  He calls himself a movie boy.  I seriously have to monitor and limit his movie time or else he becomes addicted, and that is all he wants to do.  So what is his dream come true?  To stay up ALL night long watching movies!  He got to do just that a couple nights ago.  Not because he has a crazy nice mommy- but because he had a mommy desperate for sleep.  Under normal circumstances Isaac is a lovely sleeper who is quite obedient.  So even if he isn't sleeping, he knows that night time is time to be in bed.  So why would I need to resort to movies?

A couple of nights ago was Sunday.  It's so nice to have daddy home on Sunday.  We all ate dinner- I'd snacked all day so decided to just eat salad.  The boys had pasta and grapes with their salad.  We put them to bed as we usually do, then went to bed ourselves.  At about midnight, Isaac starts crying.  Brad goes to see what the problem is.  I continue to sleep  :)  about 30 minutes later I realize lights are on, washer is going, and Brad still hasn't come back to bed.  Brad then informs me that Isaac had puked all over.  I got up to give Isaac some love and comfort while Brad finishes up remaking his bed with new sheets.  Isaac seems just fine- we all go back to bed.

Not 20 minutes later, Isaac starts screaming again.  I go in to find puke all over him and all of his new bedding- again.  Another bath, another new set of sheets later I get him back into bed.  This time I'm smart enough to stick a bucket next to him.  He tells me he doesn't want to go to sleep, so I tell him just to lay on his pillow and relax then.  I sing him a song.  Go back to bed.  10 minutes later- Isaac comes walking in saying, "I puked in my bucket."  So I get up, empty his bucket for him.  Put him back to bed.  10 minutes later, he starts screaming again.  I go in- and am relieved to see no new puke.  He just isn't sleeping, and let his imagination run away from himself.  The closet door was open and it was freaking him out.  I close the door.  Go back to bed.  After a couple more times of being called back to his room, I realized that this kid is really not planning on going to sleep.

Movie time!  By this time it was 3 or 4 in the morning.  I wanted to sleep.  A movie was the only way that was going to happen.  So I set him up on the couch with his bucket.  Went back to bed. After that, he puked a tiny bit in his bucket a couple times, and I think I put in another movie after the first ended.  It's all really just a blur.  Long story short- it was a LONG night.  Morning time hits, and I'm still trying to get some sleep, when Luke wakes up.  I hear him screaming in his room.  So I go in to find- you guessed it- puke all over him and his bed.  Another bath, another load of laundry.

Both kids were starved after their heavings, and at breakfast I was surprised to see them eat as much as they usually do.  I was just really hoping I wouldn't be cleaning it off the floor in a short while.  A little while after breakfast, both kids were acting like their normal happy selves.  Not sick- like at all.  It'd been a few hours since a puking episode.  So I thought I'd run to the store with them to get some Gatorade.  Help rehydrate their little bodies.  We went to Target- not 5 minutes into our shopping trip, while walking down the isle, Isaac stops.  He gets that look on his face.  No time to run to the bathroom!  Seconds later he's decorated the isle in orange puke.  I notified an employee (I felt so bad), grabbed the gatorade, and left.  Luke fell asleep on the way home.  I put him down for his nap, put Isaac down for his.   Aw, a break.

Not for long.  Well ok, they did have some decent sized naps.  When Luke woke up, he woke up screaming again.  I go in to find a stinky mess.  This time he decided to explode out the other end though.  His diaper did not do so well of a job in containment, it was all over him, all over his bed.  Another bath, more laundry.  Luke had one more explosive diaper needing a bath about an hour later.  Then he had "contained" explosions for the rest of the night.  Poor guy got diaper rash by bedtime from so much poop.  Isaac had one more mishap, but his also came out the other end.  Finally got the kids to bed, and sighed a sigh of relief.  What a day.  I lost count of how many extra baths and loads of laundry  I did.  At least the carpet stayed clean!

I don't know if they got a stomach bug, or if it was something they ate?  I'd guess it was something they ate just because they were both sick at the same time.  But then Luke woke up this morning with a small fever.  He puked during breakfast, but then went right on eating.  I'm just so thankful I wasn't suffering along with them, made it a bit easier to take care of them.   Poor boys.  In the 3 1/2 years I've been a mom, I've gotten away with not having to clean up puke (except baby puke).  I've now been officially initiated.

ETA: Never mind about the carpet staying clean.  Luke left a nice little surprise for me, that I'm pretty sure he pushed onto the floor.  It'd be a talent to puke through the rails of the crib.  What was I thinking buy PINK gatorade!

I Love To See The Temple

A couple days ago an awesome friend from the ward took us to the temple.  She was so nice to watch the boys for me while I ran in to do a few names  :)  When it was her turn to go in, both boys thoroughly enjoyed walking around the temple grounds.  You could feel the spirit so strongly with these 2 precious children that so recently left heaven's arms!  It was such a nice way to kick off this Conference weekend.  

The boys appreciating the beautiful temple flowers.  I love how Luke copies everything Isaac does.  Everywhere Isaac would stop to smell the flowers, Luke would do the same.

My attempt at getting a cute picture of both boys in front of the temple.   1 and 3 year olds don't comply very well  :)

Cutie Pie Isaac

Another attempt at getting a Luke picture.  I thought he'd run back to me, and I could get one

Yeah right, he's outa here!

They loved the water fountains

Best temple pic of Luke  :)


Hope you all watch and enjoy General Conference this weekend, and feast upon the words spoken.  Conference weekend is my favorite!

Concert by Isaac

Isaac loves to sing.  He sings all day long.  So I thought it would be good for him to put on a little concert for everyone that doesn't get to hear his sweet voice very often  :)

And yes, Luke likes to play with Isaac's underwear.

Mormon Night at the Astros

Last night was mormon night at the Astros, so we thought we'd show up  :)  We went with a few other couples from Brad's school.  We started the night off by going up 3 huge escalators in a row.  You could see the anticipation grow on our boys faces through their huge grins.  They love escalators, and it was the perfect way to start off a night of fun.  Unfortunately we were too late to see the primary kids sing the National Anthem, but from what we heard, we didn't miss out on anything more then what you experience at a Mother's Day Sacrament Meeting.  The actual game was classic Astro's.  They lost.  They did however get 2 home runs in a row, and we got to watch the "Minute Maid" train move down the track on the other side of the field.  Both boys did amazing, and stuck it out the whole game.  By the last inning Luke was done, but then we found out there would be fireworks afterwards!  Isaac's been wanting to see a good fireworks show. So we stayed. At the end of the game, we were able to watch the giant roof open up, and feel the humidity rush in.  We were then treated to an awesome fireworks display.  My restless Luke calmed right down, and really enjoyed the show.  It kept his attention the entire time.  It was a late night, and we  I am paying for it today with a grumpy clingy baby (Brad got to run off to work).  It was all still well worth it though, and hopefully Luke will go down for a nap soon  :)

Intently watching the fireworks

I thought it was really cool to watch a fireworks show with a backdrop of  huge Houston city buildings.

August 2012 VIDEO

This movie is mostly all about our Utah trip. My favorite parts are the shots from the mountains. It's just great to get up there where the air is clear and you get that fresh tree smell that you can't find elsewhere.

Anyways I also poked fun at Amy going down the slide, I repeated a few scenes on purpose just to exaggerate :-) love you amy!

We had lots of fun with the family and hope to see them all again maybe for Christmas (cross your fingers that we don't have any major expenses between now and then).

Utah August 2012

We went up to Utah for Christelle's (brad's sister) wedding. That was awesome, she married a cool dude.  And then they ran off to Hawaii and we spent the week playing with old people (grandparents and great-grandparents)

Luke is getting so big! Here he is playing at a city park in Orem, Utah.  He can climb up the stairs, through the tunnel, and go down the slide ALL BY HIMSELF

Well I guess he needed help sometimes...

And then after he'd get down the slide he'd try to ESCAPE!!! 

Run

Run RUN

RUN AWAY

Now here's a monumental photo. Isaac's first time entering BYU's Wilkinson center.  May the brainwashing begin!

How do you get two young boys to like BYU? This is how.
(later the girls will be of greater motivation)

This is Great Grandma Larson's garden/backyard. She's been hard at work making it look great. Straight ahead wearing green is Isaac, he loved that pathway, he'd jump from stone to stone.  To the left wearing red is great grandma, and in yellow is great grandpa and in brown is Amy. Can you spot Luke hiding anywhere?

Great Grandpa Larson's hill. They built a fountain that you can't see on the other side of the hill. As you can see, Isaac is king of the hill.

Here we have Luke and Great grandma Geddes playing in the all famous Toy Room. I think that's a Barbie doll that's caught Luke's attention

Again, in the toy room all the walls are painted by my grandma. the boys LOVED it down there. Isaac felt a little too comfortable down there and we had to rush him to the toilet!

Luke is showing off his ability to stack 2 little cups together. He's getting smart. At other grandma's houses he was building things with blocks and even putting legos together!

For fun, amy and I drove by the houses where we grew up. This is my old house.  I lived here for 18 or so years. Some peope bought the house from us back in 2007 and they express their differences by not trimming the bushes or trees and with special pro-Obama stickers on the garbage can.

Amy used to live here. The current owners take a little better care of it than those in my old house. She spent the first 14 years of her life here.   Both these houses were in the same neighborhood, can you tell that thursday is garbage day? We had to take these pictures and run cause we looked like creeps driving around with our phone cameras.

Overall the trip was busy busy and fun. Amy says that I need to say that Utah was really cold. She wishes she had brought a jacket. Of course we managed to eat at Cafe Rio, and Betos (who by the way decided to paint their roofs all brown which I don't approve of)
With my parents running off to BYU education week after the wedding we got to see Provo and that was fun.  We got to see some good friends, and their babies. Little Ada is georgeous and slowly growing bigger every time we see her. Little David has big fat blue eyes, something I doubt any of my kids will inherit.

We have more pictures of us going up to the mountains, and going to the wedding, if anyone requests to see those then we'll post them for ya!

And now we're back in Houston. One more semester to begin. I'm excited to begin it because the sooner it begins, the sooner it will end, the faster I will learn and the sooner I'll be a doctor.
and speaking of church, our new bishopbrick has turned the ward upside down! Almost all presidencies have be re-done. everyone has new callings, it's exciting!

Amy says I gotta get off the computer now. Time to put the kids to bed!

Spotlight: Optometrist

Good afternoon to you.
I thought that today might be a good day to sit down and discuss something important with you.  There are many things of importance in life. When you meet someone new and you want to know what's important about them you may begin to ask questions of importance. First you'll inquire of their name. This is a simple yet necessary question so that you may build up a confidence in which you may dive into more important matters.

The second question you may ask is, "how are you doing today?"  This question, though seeming to be a simple courtesy, is in fact key to the interpretation of much of the upcoming important answers. Knowing the current state of someone will allow an understanding of what reasonings and explanations comes out of them. An answer along the lines of "good" or "fine" is suitable to suggest that all such other important questions will be alloted suitable answers of acceptable quality.

And now to properly begin this post I'd like to be clear concerning my own name and state. I'm Bradly Larson, and I am doing well.  As well as I have previously implied in my first introduction concerning the "good afternoon" which I extended to you.

Now of all the many questions which might branch off of such an introduction from someone who you have not met, might I suggest that one of the most common if not most defining questions ever asked to a person is, "what do you do?"  With a name, you discover initial identity, but with this question you uncover the most up-to-date identity. This answer will help you interpret so many more important things concerning this previously unknown individual.

And now we can go back to the very first thing I said to you today. The very important thing that I had on my mind to discuss with you today is what I do, and what I will do. I'm going to be an optometrist, and it wouldn't surprise me if there's at least some honest confusion if not a little misunderstanding concerning what this really means.

I couldn't help but attend to the many ideas of what an optometrist is. So forgive me for the trendy all too frequently used presentation:

What society thinks I do:

What Ophthalmologists think I do:

What my familiy thinks I do:

What I think I do:

What I really do:

Ok jokes and stereotypes aside here's the truth.

An optometrist is... well back to the name.  All optometrists have OD written after their names.  This stands for Oculus (Eye) Doctor.  Optometrists are trained to be eye doctors that specialize in vision.

So what's with the simple stereotype of "what's better 1 or 2?"  Well that was your daddy's optometrist. You see like many professions, optometry is legislated.  Years ago optometrists were only allowed to sell glasses.  Later they began refracting (finding your prescription).  Later they invented contacts and they have continued to move into entering the health of the eye.  Currently in some states optometrists are performing eye injections, cutting off lumps and bumps, prescribing topical and oral drugs, managing glaucoma, macular degeneration, Lasik, and the list goes on and on.  The scope of what an optometrist can do has been expanding more and more into the field of Ophthalmology, and they don't like that one bit.

What do Ophthalmologists do?

Ophthalmologists have the letters MD after their names, which stands for Medical Doctor.  Their education focuses on the medical side of the eye instead of the vision.  They are mostly surgeons (while there are some who do still perform refractions and deal in primary care of the eye).  Ophthalmologists perform cataract surgeries, eye injections, Lasik, and deal with rare eye disorders and eye trauma that require special surgeries.

Ophthalmologists say that optometrists are stupid and should never touch the all gloriously complicated eye ball.  Here is a comparison of their education.

Optometrist: 4+ years Bachelors degree + medical prerequisites 

Plus 4 years of Optometry school (2 basic medical academics +2 clinical/ocular academic years)

It is optional for optometrists to go on and do a 1 year residency in order to obtain a specialty in for example low vision, pediatrics, pathology, specialty contacts etc...

In contrast and Ophthalmologist: take the SAME 4+ years Bachelors degree + the same medical prerequisites.

Plus 4 years of medical school (the SAME first 2 years of medical academics + 2 more years of medical plus clinical academics) None of which have any focus on the Eye nor on vision.

After all this the Ophthalmologist must begin a 3-4 year residency where they begin to learn about the eye.  They are placed in a clinical setting where they begin observing and practicing surgery hand in hand with an attending established Ophthalmologist.

Ophthalmologists argue that optometrists are so naive that they'd kill you if they were allowed to inject you with any kind of drug. However dentists receive an almost identical education and yet they perform injections on nearly every patient.  In reality, it all comes down to money.  There's money to be made in the eye business.  (99.9% of people would rather lose a tooth than an eye)

I'm going to graduate from Optometry school in 2014. I will be part of a new breed of optometrists which will not be known for asking "which is better 1 or 2?" I will be dealing with maintaining healthy vision in conjunction with managing disease.  This is called the new medical model of optometry.

And as optometrists evolve so might opticians.  We haven't talked about opticians.  They are only allowed to make, sell, and fit glasses.  The day may come when they are allowed to refract, and when that happens, optometrists will have to survive by becoming the only existing professional who can link ocular vision with ocular health.  Ophthalmologists are notorious for prescribing the worst glasses, and they implant monocular IOL's into as many medicare and medicaid patients as they can because it's the most profitable.  They fish for surgery because that's where the money is.  Someone has to be primarily responsible for vision, and in the United States of America the profession that centralizes in this is the optometrists.  We are living in a time where there is a tremendous difference amongst optometrists who have been practicing for 30 years, 15 years, and the optometry I've been describing to you today is mostly known by those who've been practicing for less than 7 or so years.

I'm sure that I'll explain more in the future about my profession, but for now I'll conclude this short introduction of a very complicated topic.

PS... with obamacare and the up and coming most unhealthy Americans that ever lived, medically practicing optometry just might be the only answer to eye care in the overwhelming problems of socialized medicine. (optometrists outnumber ophthalmologists 4 to 1) 

1 year 1 month

Today I checked something I've been excited about for a while.

You see, we moved into a new city, into a new house, ready to go to a new university, and start a completely new life.  Naturally we were excited and wanted to start new traditions for ourselves.  One tradition that I always wanted to do but never was allowed to do at home was mark my height on the wall.  So right after moving in I marked Isaac's height on the wall.

Throughout the next couple years I'd call Isaac over to mark his progress on the wall. Often he'd scream and cry through the entire thing.  I'd wonder what made him so sad.  I'd ask him and he wouldn't say why and so I'd make him tuff it out, stand there, and let me mark his height as he sobbed.  One day I called him to mark his height and he cried again.  Suddenly it dawned on me.  He was naughty earlier that day and as punishment he had to stand in the corner.  It just so happened that the wall markings were near the corner of the room too.  I tried to explain that he wasn't in trouble. But sometimes you just can't get through to a child's brain, and so I just had him stand there as I marked the wall again.

Isaac has grown so much over these 2 years. He's turning into a funny little toddler/big boy brother to baby Luke.

And now, baby Luke is no longer a baby.  It's hard to quit calling him a baby but even Isaac is starting to correct us that Luke is not a small baby.  Isaac sees babies at church and he sees Ada and people are teaching him to ask us to have another baby.  He likes that idea and tells Amy and me that we need to have a little baby, but not a girl baby.  I want a boy baby he says.  And then the next day he'll change his mind and ask for a girl.

But anyways the point is that Luke is not a baby.  He's repeating so much of what we say too.  Today he was blabbing on and on about the word "no."  I interrupted him saying si si si si si. He smiled at me and started saying si si si si (spanish for yes) right back at me.  Yay his first Spanish word today!

After watching him copy me I looked at him, seeing how good his balance is.  He's all big and walking and standing as if it were nothing.  He's so big. He's so tall. And that's when I remembered the height markings on the wall!

I went with him into the room, (holding him by the hand instead of carrying him, is still a strange thing to do) and we went into the corner where the markings from 2 years of growth is scribbled along in pen on the white paint.

I had Luke stand with his back to the markings and sure enough my guess was dead on!  Luke is exactly the same height that Isaac was back when we first moved into this house.  He's technically 2 months younger than Isaac but he's exactly the same size.  Now there are no gaps between the Luke markings and the Isaac markings.

How exciting!  As I looked above Luke I saw how 2 months would pass by and he'd grow another 2 inches, 3 months would pass and he'd grow another 2 inches, on and on, up and up following Isaac until he'll be as tall as Isaac is now.  But we can't give all our attention to Luke's growth or else we'll miss Isaac zooming by. Who knows where that boy is heading.  Both boys growing.  They grow so fast, it's like when Luke sees Amy across the room with chocolate, he bolts towards her faster than he can barely manage, or like when Isaac runs screaming and stumbling as fast as he can away from the tickle monster.  Both boys, fast as can be, are growing out of control.

And for the moment, they're happy about it.  So happy, they dance.

Happy 4th of July!!!

This morning our ward had a 4th of July celebration party.  Here are a few pictures from the event:

Luke just wanted to run around the whole time

Isaac being silly

A fire truck came!  Isaac got to go inside  :)

Isaac got a lady bug painted on his cheek

Attempted balloons.  That's all Luke would allow.

The finished product

Isaac took this picture for me


Every one stay safe, and have a awesome day!!