T minus 5 months till graduation QUESTIONS

We have recently been asked the same question by three different groups of people...

After graduation where will you go?

STAY IN HOUSTON WITH ME!

PLEASE STAY IN EAST TEXAS FOREVER!!

PLEASE, UTAH, PLEEEEEEEZE!

In 2010 we started school and did not know Texas. We naturally leaned towards Utah as being our final destination.

In 2011 we knew that Texas was amazing and realized that Texas vs. Utah was sitting at 50/50.

In 2012 we continued with the 50/50 opinion until the end of the year when we both were wrestling with the decision and finally came to a peaceful conclusion that Utah would again be our home.

In 2013 we continued feeling that Utah was our future.  However over the summer the cold hard reality hit us with doubts and the end of the year filled us with dreams and visions of a lovely life in East Texas. We felt very strongly a huge change in our hearts and all of our Utah plans were definitely uprooted.

Here's a list of what will lead us to making this decision.

Priority #1 is God.  He knows whats best. We're waiting for the heavens to open and a fortune cookie to fall from the sky with our destiny written on it.

Priority #2 is Isaac/Luke/Jonas.  We need them to be raised in the best place ever.

What's good for boys?

-The great outdoors

-Family

-The non Mormon community (long discussion)

-The Mormon community (long discussion)

-Safe neighborhoods/community/town

-Quality schools

Priority #3 is Amy

She says no to the COLD. so.... summers in UTAH and winters in Hawaii??

Priority #4 is Brad

I say no to the allergies. 

Pollen count

So I think Montana is looking very nice.

In all seriousness we've told folks a simplified story about how Family is in Utah but Money is in Texas. 

Utah has been our home and our family does call us there but here's what's not in Utah:

Financial success

Warmer climate for Amy

and...

I have a strong missionary spirit which I cannot shake and which is getting ahold of Amy a bit too. We are pulled away from Utah for that reason. 

Texas has done an amazing job of convincing us that Home is there for us.

I planned on making resume's and sending them forth and waiting for a job to land.

That's not gonna work. So I'm thinking up a new strategy right now...

Wish us luck in our decision making. We still have 5 months and who knows what could happen. That fortune cookie however would be the best if it came sooner rather than later!

oh C'mon!

Jonas's birth story

My pregnancy with Jonas was a crazy ride. I found out I was pregnant on the last day of January. We had been trying to get pregnant for months, so we were so ecstatic! That also meant that the timing was not up to us. As it turned out, with a pregnancy happening at this time, meant I would have to have 3 different doctors in 3 different cities. Brad' s schooling would take us to a new location with every new semester as he got the training he needed to become a doctor. So, first semester we were in Houston. During this time, we had to get our house on the market to rent, figure out what to do with all of our stuff, then pick up and move to Utah.  I'm not going to lie, it was not easy moving and cleaning, and doing everything with 2 little boys and morning sickness.  Luckily the majority of the work came when my morning sickness was starting to subside. And brad was out of school the last couple of weeks. I still had minimal energy and dizzy spells, but we somehow made it through. As the month of May began we packed up our little Yaris as full as it could possibly be, and drove to Utah.

The summer was spent with Brad working at the VA, and we spent our time having fun with family. I wasn't insured in Utah, so I made minimal visits to the doctor, and got my glucose test done.

The end of August came. I was 33 weeks pregnant. And it was time to drive back to Texas. This time to the small town of Carthage. There are no OBGYNs in Carthage, and the hospital does not deliver babies. This meant I had to choose a surrounding town to deliver in, and find a doctor in these last weeks of pregnancy. My insurance had to be changed as well. It was all quite the process, but I finally got into a doctor by the time I was 36 weeks along. The first thing they did was do an ultra sound. I found out baby was healthy, and doing great, but was breach. My heart sank. I really wanted to have a natural birth, and breach babies don't work into that plan so well. I still had 4 week til my due date, and still had hope though. I then went onto my exam, and found out I was already 3 cm dilated. This didn't surprise me at all. I had been having contractions like crazy, and the same thing has happened in my first two pregnancies. I dilate early, but no labor. I wasn't concerned.

Throughout the next week I had more contractions and could feel birth getting nearer. Knowing the baby was breach was very unsettling though. As I tried to mentally prepare myself for a possible c section, I got more and more anxious. I really really did not want a c section, the thought terrified me. Plus, what if I went into labor with the hospital so far away?  I finally had Brad and one of the elders give me a blessing. The main thing I got from the blessing is that all of my trials would be worth it. It wasn't exactly the comfort I was looking for. I wanted to hear that the baby would turn, and everything would work out how I wanted. But that's not how the Lord always works. Sometimes we need our trials to grow. It was a beautiful blessing, and I think it helped me prepare even more for the fact of probably needing a c section. I didn't want to believe it, but deep down I knew it was going to happen.

The next week I went to my second doctor's appointment. They didn't do an ultra sound, but determined through an external and internal exam that the baby turned! I was told that he was head down! I was so happy. Something inside told me this wasn't true, but I wanted to believe it, and I ignored that little voice. Plus I was dilated to a 4.

I spent the next week believing he was head down. I had my doubts deep down inside, but ignored those doubts. I just wanted to believe that everything would go to my plan, and that I wouldn't need a c section. Through out this week I continued to have crazy contractions, and felt as though labor was just around the corner.

My next appointment I was at 38 weeks. It was a normal appointment, I found out I was almost at a 5, and then the appointment was done. But that doubt of baby being head down was strong that day, so before the doctor left, I brought it up. She had completely forgotten baby had been breach, and decided we better do a more extensive internal check. It was the most painful exam of my life as she reached clear up there. She could feel his fingers, playing with her. She decided she better pull out the ultra sound machine. That confirmed it. He was in fact transverse. In the exam, she found my water bag was bulging, ready to break at any time. Because of this, and his position, she told me to go to the hospital right away. The biggest concern was if my water broke, the umbilical cord could easily come out first, cutting blood and oxygen supply to the baby. It could easily cause brain damage or be fatal.

The hospital was in a town 30-40 miles north of the doctor. Our house was 30 miles east of the office. I didn't want to go to the hospital all by myself with a 2 year old. So I decided I'd go home get brad, pick isaac up from school, finish my hospital bag, then we could all go to the hospital together.

My drive home was full of so many emotions. The strongest being sadness. That c section was coming. I shed a few tears and tried to obey the speed limit as I drove through the country side. I also felt excitement and joy that my baby was coming that day.

When we all got to the hospital, it was confirmed that I was going to be cut open.  We didn't have anybody lined up for sure to watch the boys. I did have a few offers from the ward, but I still barely knew anybody as we had just moved there. Luckily the nurses offered to keep an eye on them. They had a tv and snacks and it worked out perfectly.

They wheeled me into the OR. I got my spinal, all was prepped and ready, and then Brad got to join me. As they proceeded with the c section, I all of a sudden got a shooting pain underneath my right breast. Part of me wondered if I was going to die. But I was told it was normal to feel that. That made me feel better mentally, but it sure didn't feel good.   In the meantime I was also feeling lots of tugging, and pushing and pulling. Then all of a sudden I could see my new son across the room. I could hear his cry. He was beautiful. And then the nausea set in. I couldn't really even enjoy the fact that I had just given birth to a beautiful baby boy because I was puking instead.  If it wasn't for getting a new baby, the experience would have been awful. I couldn't help but compare it to how wonderful I felt after giving birth to my first two. I just had to keep telling myself at least my baby is here healthy and there weren't any complications. After they spent awhile putting me back together again, I was wheeled into the room with my family. I got to hold my baby, and nurse him for the first time. He latched on like a champ, and was perfect in every way. His big brothers adored him. I was truly blessed!

Recovery was harder then I ever imagined. But I survived, and am starting to feel normal again. One month later I get a twinge of pain here and there, and if I push myself too hard, it will ache.  But over all I'm doing great.

Jonas has been such a good baby, and we are so blessed to have him in our family. Any pain I endured was so worth it. Even though I didn't want a c section -From first slice through recovery was awful- I am so grateful that c sections exist, insuring that both baby and I were in minimal danger. Looking back, I can see the Lord's hand in every step of the way. We are so blessed!

Jonas Kendall Larson

On September 26th, 2013 we rushed over to Longview, TX and after a surprise C-section, we were greeted with a brand new baby boy.

Immediately he was a part of our family. He looked exactly like baby Isaac and especially baby Luke.  Amy wasn't feeling very well afterwards and so we didn't pick out a name for him until the next day. We narrowed it down to Asher or Jonas or Levi or Noah.  After a number of circumstances, opinion from little brothers, dreams, and picking a name from a hat we finally named him Jonas Kendall Larson.

He was 7 lbs and 1 oz.

This is Jonas a few days old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now today is his 1 month birthday and he is nearly 10 lbs!

 

 

 

We let him eat it ALL. Messy boy...

 

He's a beautiful child and we are so lucky to be his family.  We loved having Valerie, Janet, Rhone, and Jessica over to meet him but we can't wait to have everybody else meet him in Utah.

 

 

So we've been living here in Carthage Texas for 9 weeks now and we'll be here for another 6 weeks before the year ends.  We've LOVED it here. We've fallen in love with small town life. 

 

We're about 2 hours away from Duck Dynasty and although we've never seen the show, the culture of it is VERY familiar to this part of the country.

 

 

Someday we'll all die and go to heaven.  Heaven will be like Carthage, TX except all of our family will be living here with us.  Also there will be one mountain nearby, and there will be no allergies and it will snow for 1 month every year.

We are in Carthage because I've got an externship site to learn from out here.  For the first time in my life I feel like I'm finally getting a good deal for the tuition money that I'm paying.  It costs $10,000.00 for this semester so that means my experience here is pretty awesome.  I'm learning something new everyday.  I've been forced to improve on all my weaknesses and I'm finally becoming a competent doctor of optometry. It's wonderful.

Our future now lies ahead of us. Not the distant future, but graduation is now less than 6 months away. 
This weekend I am writing my grand resume. Probably one of the most influential documents I'll ever write in my life.  This I will send out to Utah and its surrounding cities. I will send it to optometrist and ophthalmologist offices whether or not they are hiring.  I'll be fishing for an opportunity.

There are no opportunities advertised in Utah and so I need to find them. 

But there are 2 advertised opportunities here in Texas and they are both tempting my attention.

If you're interested in the possibilities you can google option #1 in Onalaska, Tx and option #2 in Piggot Arkansas.

I'll be frank about the very very basics: In Utah we simply may not get a job. It's not that we will turn down a job in Utah and thus we may choose Texas, it's that we may have no choice.

The average salary an optometrist makes right out of school is 87,000 a year.
This salary is NOT dictated by the profession's ability to earn money, it's not dictated by the value of the optometrist, but it is fully the product of one simple fact: Student loans.

No optometry student can accept any job position will a lower salary due to the tremendous demand of the accumulated student loans from 8 years of college education. (and the demand of taxes)

If I want to take a job in Utah it must offer this much for a salary or else I'd have to live in a parents basement long term.

But we have faith that anything is possible with God. We are sending out our resume's and will follow any leads given to us because being near family is a huge priority.

At the same time Texas would like to demand our attention.  We currently have an opportunity which could offer us much more than 87,000 a year annually.  These offers, will hard work, have a tremendous earning potential of owning a practice which within 5 years may gross 1 million annually.

As far as family goes. I remember one of my favorite cousins was Camber, and although his family lived a thousand miles away, seeing them only a couple times a year was still very special. I enjoyed a great relationship with my cousins despite the distance. It was much better when they moved to Utah, but I know it's possible to know your family that live far away.  I need Isaac, Luke, and Jonas to know their cousins too, and I think that will enough success we'll be able to afford to visit Utah every 4 months at least, plus have room for visitors at least once or twice every year.

My heart is currently split on what we should do.  For the last year I've felt strongly that we should aim for Utah and so it still holds sway in the decisions.

God will help us decide.

I think that the video didn't work...

So.
I'll just post it on FaceBook.

But I wanted to add one more thing.

at 3 weeks old... I took Jonas into the office and examined his eyes. They were PURE BLUE. Absolutely no pigment anteriorly.

today I took him in again to see the progress and I don't know what to see.

Perhaps my eyes were tricking me but I thought I saw a light dusting of pigmented cells throughout the entire iris OU.

So this means that all last week we had a pure hope for Jonas being a blue eyed baby, but now I'm pretty convinced he'll be brown eyed. By next week I'll recheck again and let you all know. Please remind me to tell you.

Family Home Evening Lesson for today.

Let me tell a story. 

In the end of my 3rd year of Optometry school, I was preparing to finish up my academic preparations to begin my official externship clinical training.  I would soon be leaving the school where I had studied and memorized lecture after lecture, book after book.  Three years had been spent on campus, in one single building, and often in the same lecture hall, day after day. In a matter of weeks I would get to finally leave the school's cold dark hallways and barren study rooms and instead be out in the real world! I would soon be working under the supervision of a doctor and gain the experience that would culminate and complete my education.

All that stood between me and this upcoming freedom was one more week of final exams.

I organized my time. Scheduled my every waking minute and dedicated it to a specific class.  The most difficult class of them all was a Pediatric course.  It's exam was Wednesday.  I planned accordingly and at last I considered the last of the final exams which was planned for one day later.  Thursday would be the Low Vision Rehabilitation exam.  After much thought I felt that I could study sufficiently for that exam in the time after the Wednesday exam, and throughout Thursday morning. That's all.

I had felt inspired all semester long to take an interest in this Low Vision class.  I had considered applying for a Low vision residency.  Knowing that such an application would most benefit from a good grade in that course I was sure to pay extra attention to every detail of that class.  I was one of the few students who did not fall asleep during the lectures.  I took wonderful notes.  And because of my preparation, I felt that with a mere 12 hours of time in between exams, I would be able to be ready for any question.

After the terrifying pediatric exam was over, I went to my locker.  To my surprise, my Low Vision folder was missing.  I looked through my backpack, I called my wife and she looked through the house.  I went out and searched my car.  I checked the lost and found.  It was gone.  Surely no student would throw away such valuable notes.  Surely no janitor would toss it in the trash.  And yet it was gone.

I asked my friends for help.  They reminded me that many of the lectures were available online.  I had forgotten this and I thanked them.  While at school however I sat with my friends and began to study alongside them, using their notes.  There is a lot of math involved in Low Vision, and so I pulled out my calculator.

It would not turn on.  The battery was dead!  Now you tell me, how often do batteries die on simple calculators.  I had been carrying around calculators and using them in school for over 15 years now and this was the first time I was ever faced with a dead one. 

That night I drove home in the dark.  I got out to open the garage while carrying a handful of my things.  As I raised open the garage door something fell out of my hands, and I heard a very depressing sound.  A crackle.

I looked down to see my tablet. A device I had purchased one year ago to help me in school. I hesitated as I leaned over to pick it up.  I looked at the screen, and even in the dark I noticed a crack.  My absolute worst fears had just been confirmed.  And according to the horror stories of my friends who had also dropped their tablets, this meant the end. It would no longer work at all because it's functions were controlled by the touch screen. 

I suddenly realized a theme to all of my misfortunes.
My calculator
My lost notes
My lack of time
and now my Tablet, which was supposed to connect me with the online material for the night,
it all was gone. and it was all critical for studying for tomorrow's exam.
I had nothing left which to prepare. 
Inside our home we have a laptop. I would've used that but the power chord had died a few weeks earlier.  We replaced the power chord but that new chord had already broken just a few days earlier.

What was I going to do for this test?

I notified my classmates of my problem and one of them agreed to arrive at school early so that we could study from his notes together.

And so I was faced with the option to be grumpy, frustrated and stressed out.  However it was the eve of my wife's birthday and she didn't deserve a negative husband.  On top of that, both the sacrament meeting talks and the Priesthood lesson from the previous Sunday were about controlling your temper and looking on the bright side of trials.  I myself had participated in class and gave suggestions on how one should stay positive in such situations.

That helped.  Thankfully, I maintained my good attitude.

And then I went to put on my contacts.  Normally they sit in a conditioning fluid that preps them to be comfortable and ready for me to wear.  However somehow this was not the case.  I put on the contacts and began to feel an intense burning sensations in my eyes.  I removed them quickly but the burning did not stop.  I inspected the conditioning solution and it appeared a little cloudy.  The same cloudiness as the sanitizing solution that burns away bacteria and tear films. This was not supposed to ever get in your eyes.

"Great," I thought. "It looks like Heavenly father wants me to also be blind for tomorrow's exam."
Feeling a little flustered and amazed, I tried to go to bed.

As I lay in bed pondering, a scripture came to mind.  A story from the bible which I decided to look up the next day and read before my exam.

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/judg/7?lang=eng

Judges chapter 7:

 1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

 2 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is ^afearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from ^bmount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

 4 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too ^amany; bring them down unto the water, and I will ^btry them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.

 5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.

 6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

 7 And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

 8 So the people took ^avictuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

 9 ¶And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.

.......

 19 ¶So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.

 20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.

 21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.

 22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man’s sword against his ^afellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.

 

 

Why me?

Verse 2.

 

I have known for a long time now that the Lord had helped me throughout my education.  I was inspired by Him to pick this occupation.  I was blessed by Him to choose this school and get accepted. And as the semesters have all passed by with exam after exam, I have heard His whispers and felt to answer hundreds of questions in the way He has inspired.  I have required His help much more than many of my fellow classmates because I had 2 children and a pregnant wife to support on top of my usual demands.  I had put God first every Sunday and held off studying anything until Monday morning.  And as every exam score was posted, I would say to myself, "I'm the luckiest person in the world."  I would then remind myself that I did not do this, but it was with the Lord's help that I had passed.  And I could not deny it.

 

Gideon and I both are lucky.  We both also know that all of our success was thanks to the Lord.  And how important will this simple truth be to me throughout the rest of my life?

With every day that I work

With every patient that I see

With every penny that I earn

 

I will remember that it was the Lord who provided. 

And with the same adherence to His commandments and His whisperings which lead me up until this point, must I continue.

I know He will be there with my patient exams as much as He was with my academic exams.

And I will have success. 

But the truth is, the success is the Lord's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I'm done writing this, I'm going to take the Low Vision exam.
Amy just sent me an email wishing me good luck. 
I love good luck, I really love it.

 

 

 

Garage Sale

If you're in Houston and like to buy stuff we're preparing to move so...


7 fancy ceramic purple square PLATES with 4 matching mugs: 10 bucks

11 fancy square tall glasses with 6 fancy square short glasses: 8 bucks

4 different sized nice PYREX bowls with lids. FULL SET: 10 bucks

Asian rice pot thing. NEVER USED.  5 bucks

George Foreman Grill. (grease drips out at meat cooks) 10 bucks

BBQ grill smaller sized. 2 year old. Propane is out, but you can have the container for a cheaper exchange. 45 bucks

Jogging stroller. You'll look like you're rich AND you have kids: 25 bucks

Cooler.  it keeps your food cool for outings.. 7 bucks

Tent. Heavy Duty 2 man spring bar tent.  FREE. Cause we think there's a pole missing.

Van. 1500 bucks

Booster chair for baby 5 bucks

Scooter for kids 7 bucks

3 Wheeler bike for kids 5 bucks

Adult Womens Bicycle. Great shape! 25 bucks

Fancy spinning holder of 20+ spices. looks nice on a fancy kitchen shelf: 3 bucks

Fancy very very useful vegitable slicer: 10 bucks
Very cool looking vegitable slicer: 5 bucks

Tortilla holder/ keep em caliente: 3 bucks

Silver Platter: 5 bucks

Popcorn bowl with popcorn pictures on it 2 bucks

Christmas Tree with LIGHTS brand new(100 bucks) used only once: 80 bucks

All of our DVDs must buy them all for 10 bucks:
The dark knight, master and commander, maid in manhatton, rat race, sisterhood traveling pants, mission impossible 3, entrapment, you've got mail, XXX, the count of monte cristo, tommy boy, walk to remember, batman begins, Runaway jury, legally blonde. .. etc...

DVD stand. all swirly and fancy looking from bed bath and beyond, perfect condition 8 bucks

Very squeaky rocking chair. also kinda old looking  20 bucks

Small bed stand/ night stand shelf thingy to store things and rest your alarm clock on. 8 bucks

Shoe shelves. If you know what they are then you are the type of person to need them. 3 bucks each.

N64 with  lots of games and controllers 15 bucks

Gamecube with supersmashbro melee star wars game and no controllers 25 bucks

and that's just the beginning!

A day off

Well I had the day off today.  With my extra time I decided to thrill the entire world with more Luke and Isaac footage. Below you'll find an updated video that we posted last year.  Enjoy it.

New Toy

For Christmas, Isaac got a new toy. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger.

You may have heard that Buzz and Woody didn't get along well at first...

What about Spiderman? Isaac's favorite toy?

I'm Spiderman. This is my home. I wear red and blue, Isaac's favorite colors. You are green and purple. Like Barney. I give you a big fat thumbs down. I can spin webs. At your face. What can you do? Are those wings?

Let me see. What? these plastic things are so dumb. They must be so heavy you can't even jump, or swing,  or...

Listen here Spiderman! I would like to be your friend, but since you've  chosen to insult my colors...
WACK!

I must now teach you a face planting lesson.  I hope your mask had air bags.  Now you listen up, you bug.

I'm the official Ranger to these parts and you're just some creepy crawling vigilant who's just been replaced.  Isaac's my boy now.

Prepare to be lasered! No, please no Buzz Lightyear, I'm sorry about what I said, there's room for two of us here, there's.... ZZZZZAP!!!!!

Anyways. Christmas is over, Utah is over, and 2012 is over.  It's the beginning of a new day.

2012 was great: Curtis got married, Christelle got married, Ada was born, Clarissa was born, I didn't fail out of school, and The Hobbit came out.

Let me talk about that last one.

In 2001 I watched The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring (LotR FotR). After watching this movie I set out to read all the Lord of the Ring books.  Prior to this I had read mabye less than 5 novels of my own free will.  The Lord of the Rings books were so impressive to me that I immediately became a big fan.  

In 2002 I prepared to go to LotR TTT (The Two Towers) dressed as a Ring Wraith.  When I pulled up to the movie, I found one of my friends didn't have a costume, and so I let them wear my Ring Wraith costume.  Instead I put on my Boromir costume, I was prepared of course.  This was my first midnight showing I'd ever seen and I loved it.

The next year I graduated from high school and signed up to serve a mission for the LDS church.  I got my mission call in the mail and instead of waiting for my dad to come home, I called him on the phone and opened it with my mom sitting next to me. I opened the letter and began to read... I read, "You've been called to serve in the Tegucigalpa, Honduras mission.  You will enter the MTC on December 17th the day that The Lord of the Rings comes out."

That's literally what I said out loud while reading my calling.  

I couldn't believe it that my absolute favorite movie was coming out on the first day of my mission calling. I had prepared for years to dedicate myself to God and serve a mission.

I asked my church leaders if I could go to the midnight showing of the movie before I left for the mission.  They told me that I would be "set apart" or officially pronounced as a full time missionary on the night before the 17th.  I couldn't see my movie.

And so on the night before my all time favorite movie would come out, I went to the theaters.  All my friends were there standing in line.  I said my goodbyes.  Headed home, got turned into a missionary and wend to Honduras.

And that's when I went mad.

Well not technically mad.  I guess that's not possible.  What I mean is that is when I first began the process of going mad.

In Honduras I dedicated myself 100% to the missionary work. For 2 years I worked and didn't let myself even think much about home let alone the Lord of the Rings.  The months passed by and I finally fulfilled my time and came home.

Finally home I was free to watch my movie.  It was on my list of things to do:

My list:

1. See mom

2. See dad

3. See siblings

4. See the Lord of the Rings part 3 The Return of the King

5. See my friends

I made sure that it was perfect. I set up a viewing at my friends house, because he owned a projector and I could get the most out of the experience.

In total I waited 2 years and 12 days to watch that movie.  It was amazing and all my hopes and dreams and expectations were fulfilled.

My friends who gathered to see that movie absolutetly loved The Lord of the Rings just as much as me.  But that was back then in 2003 when it first came out.  Now in 2005 the movie was still awesome but kinda old news.  And as the years passed I discovered something strange... The hype for The Lord of the Rings did not fade for me. By 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, till 2012 I haven't stopped reading the books over and over again.  My excitement for Lord of the Rings conversation is as active as it was over ten years ago when it all started.

I even named both of my kids after important characters from the story.

I don't know if that's ever been done even among the craziest of fans.

And now as I think back on it all. Pizza makes sense to me.

In Honduras they eat beans, rice, eggs, and sometimes chicken.  I ate that food for 10 weeks straight and then I was invited to leave my area and travel to the nation's capital to enjoy a pizza dinner with my mission president.  

That pizza came from heaven.

Not because it was spectacular of itself, but because I had been denied it for so long.

The Lord of the Rings was practically on my plate before I was denied eating it.  And so although it's only a movie, and a novel, it's more to me because of my torture.

Simply put, my mind has been tortured into loving The Lord of the Rings.

So I hope that explains why I spent many years developing my Gandalf costume for the Hobbit, and why Legolas and Elessar ate dinner with me tonight.  

So let me tell you about my opinion of the Hobbit.

I watched it in 2D first.  That was the perfect thing to do.  That is how I fell in love with her and that's what she was like in my memories.  The movie was heart warming, exciting, and everything I ever hoped for.  Peter Jackson reflected the novel perfectly like I wanted him to.

A few weeks later I went again to watch the movie but this time in HFR 3D.  This was spectacular!  I love the new technology.  IHowever I'm so glad I didn't watch it this way first because it was a little strange.  I'm not used to middle earth like this, but it IS an improvement and it's going to take a little getting used to. 

I wish I could go back in time and tell this to all my friends.  Watch the movie first in 2D. Love it.  Then watch it again in HFR 3D, and get yourself adapted.  

I could talk all day about this as you can tell.

For those of you who have held out and are still reading, then you may be rewarded to know something. Amy and I have been trying to have a 3rd child for almost 1 year now with no luck. So that probably means we'll be a family of four forever.  If we still don't have any kids by the time we move out of Texas then I'm going to sell ALL our baby stuff and that will be a pretty big garage sale I'm telling ya.

Some updates.

Luke can repeat everything and copy everything that Isaac does

Isaac is old enough to go to Primary at church on Sundays instead of Nursery.  He'll have a teacher!

Amy gets to play with the two cutest boys in the world all day long while I'm at school.

Brad (me) has only 1 more semester of classes before leaving school on externships.

Other things to look forward to:

National Board Exam part 1 is in March, the same month as St. Patrick's day and the dedication of the Honduras Tegucigalpa Temple.

And in 241 days: