First Meet

Olivia had her first gymnastics meet of the season.  She did great and had lots of fun.  You can't use the flash during competitions, so we don't have a lot of pictures of her competing, but here she is in an arabesque with her medal.  She placed 2nd on each event for her level, and 5th over all for her level.  Great job Livvi!

Happy Birthday Olivia

Our sweet daughter Olivia turned 10!!!!  Yikes!  We had a fun weekend celebrating her birthday.  She requested breakfast sandwiches for breakfast, I took panda express to her at school for lunch, and tacos with extra olives for dinner.  This year we let her have a "friend" party.  I'm not a big party planner, usually we just invite cousins over or something, but she was really excited for one, so I was really brave and we did it.  In honor of Olivia turning 10, here are 10 fun facts about her...

1.  Olivia loves to read, and she is really really good at it.

2.  Olivia is an excellent student.  I NEVER have to ask her if her homework is done.  Its always done.

3.  Olivia is a good friend.

4.  Olivia is a missionary.  :)

5.  Olivia is already an excellent babysitter. 

6.  Olivia is enthusiastic.  I love being around her because it makes me more excited about things too.

7.  Olivia loves gymnastics.  Her strength is her flexibility.  Not many people can do the stretches she can do.

8.  Olivia wants to be an author BEFORE she grows up.  Why not start sooner (her words)

9.  Olivia is selfless.  So many times I see her being a peace maker rather than take what is rightfully hers.

10.  Olivia loves trying new things.  We are in the middle of our first musical TOGETHER and she is doing wonderful!  She helps me with my lines because hers were learned months ago...She also started the violin--SO CUTE!!!

We love you Olivia and we love how blessed our family is because of you! 

Here are a few pics of the fun events...Her party was a watch-a-movie-in-p.j.s party--very fun.

New Belts

Someday I will be caught up, but until then, here is more old news...

Shortly after school started Grant and Isaac earned their Blue with Purple stripe belts, and two more kata patches each.  We are so proud of them.  They are in the advanced class (blue belts and above) and their class was so late in the evening.  They were so tired when they finished, but they stuck it out and did great.  They started the summer as solid blue belts and ended with skipping two stripes to move to their blue with purple stripe belts.  We are so happy for them.  Now they are working a lot with their nun chucks.  (SO CUTE!!!)  And the best part is now the advanced class is on a different day so they don't have to stay up so late.  Good times.

Isaac with a guarding block and Grant sporting a knife hand block.  (I think)  :)

First day of School

Still playing catch-up with the ol' blog. Didn't want to miss this very important day.
The first day of school was great. So far so good. The kiddos love there teachers and are happy to be back in the school routine.

Grantman, the mighty third grader.
Isaac, first grader MVP (at least to this MOM)

Olivia, my darling fifth grader.

It is truly scary how quickly the kids are growing up. It doesn't feel all that long ago that I dropped Olivia off for her first day of young learners kindergarten. I couldn't go home without her, so I took my baby boys (at the time) to walmart and we walked around for hours and ate a LOT of donuts. Since then I've learned not to drown my "I am going to miss my sweet kids" feelings in donuts and although its still a sad day for me, I am super happy that they love school and are excited to go.

Grand kids

We were in Snowflake for the Pioneer days celebration. We had a wonderful time as always. The kiddos got to be in the parade again riding in Uncle Nolan's trash cans. (made their summer). We took some family pictures while we were there. We had to photo shop a few in, so I can't post those yet, but here is one Ryan took of all the Larson grand kids. Sweet group!

Here is part of the trash can train...there are more on my facebook, I just don't know how to put them on here. :) In my atempt to win the mother-of-the-year award I took a ride in them too because Seth wanted a turn and he was a little too small, so I held him inside the trash can. -Pretty fun
All but one of the Larson grand kids with my mom and dad. (my little nephew Dax was napping, but we will put him in there)

Seth and I at the parade.

I just put this pic in because I love it. I came home from a rehearsal one night and found these too little buddies all snuggled up together. :)

Happy Birthday Isaac

While I have been on a blog vacation, my sweet Isaac turned six. He had a pirate themed birthday with krispy kremes for breakfast. In honor of Isaac turning six, here are six fun facts about Isaac...

1. Isaac is super scrappy--we love that about him.
2. Isaac has his own pronunciation for many words i.e. BAZOMBIES (zombies) RENUKE (nuke) CURRICULUM (kryptonite) KABOOZLE (kazoo)...I could go on :)
3. Isaac is very responsible with his glasses. He puts them away at night, and likes to wash them.
4. Isaac is a snuggle bug--LOVE IT!!!
5. Isaac is excited almost all the time.
6. Isaac is fearless. :)
Not the best quality on the pictures I know, but you have to have the age on the fingers shot.

We love our Isaac man. You are growing up SO FAST!

Dear Blog,

I have neglected you for far too long. I'm sorry. I've been too occupied with other fun things to update you. I will try and do better...

Hugs,
Me