Thankful

Thanksgiving was wonderful. No surprise, we forgot our camera, so no pictures to show for it. Its always fun to hang out with family, and doesn't hurt that there were 28 PIES!!! either. :) So here are my thankful lists. A serious one, and the every-day-life-practical one :) neither can ever be complete because there is so much to be grateful for, but here's a taste...

MY FAMILY
Ryan- is the best. What can I say, I married UP in SO MANY WAYS!!!
Olivia- my best-est girlfriend and example. She is really as good and sweet as she appears...no put-ons with her.
Grant- my little gentleman. Always helps me, always smiles, always happy.
Isaac- Brave, concerned and faithful.
Seth- Sweet as sugar, pure joy with eyelashes!

THE GOSPEL
Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ
My testimony
The Scriptures
Prophets
My kids primary teachers

EXTENDED FAMILY
We are blessed with wonderful families and are grateful for everyone one of you!

GOOD HEALTH
'nuff said



also I am thankful for....
nap time
Big Sexy Hair products :)
the stevia plant which produces natural sweeteners so I can have treats and still fit in to my size 3s :)
car seats
karate
gymnastics
inspiration
music
dancing
Christmas decorations
Penne Rustica (from Macaroni Grill)
Lost and 24--DATE NIGHTS
shoes
money to buy shoes
scented candles
Good examples
Hawaiian tropics suntan oil
Bulwark exterminating--scorpions?--GONE!
the smell of rain and clean baby
brand new crayons
snuggly pj's
vacations
Celtic women Christmas CD (how can I get in that group--I love their singing)
hugs
Ryan's LONG socks that he lets me steal when my legs hurt
memories
coupons
bubble baths
traditions
FHE


I could go on and on, but its Seth's nap time (which I am thankful for!)

Larson Reunion '09

It was our turn to host the Larson Reunion. I learned (and re-learned) something important...I'm not a very good party planner--I'm a good helper, I'll bring whatever and help set up or clean up, but PLANNING...not so much. We procrastinated the whole year, and had lots of different ideas come and go. We ended up going really easy and having a pot luck at the park. Thankfully, lots came, and we had fun. Family is wonderful. And also what is wonderful is that in 9 years when I'm in charge again, Olivia will be just the right age to take over for her boring mom!!! Thanks for all the fun and help family, love ya!

Marshmallows/Dress up

These past few weeks have been extra busy, but we still got some fun in too. Since Ryan had the big boys at karate and Seth was sleeping, O and I played some dress up. I have some super fun dresses (thanks to my super seamstress mom) and O really had fun trying them on. She even talked me into putting a few of them on. Here's the picture O took of me...hee hee
I couldn't figure out how to work the timer on the camera to get a picture of us both all dressed up. This was us trying to get a shot of us all fancy. I love this picture because O was giggling so much. :)

The "Belle" shot

She put her wings on for this one. So fun--

This dress was "itchy" to her, but she still wanted a picture

She LOVED this one, thought it looked like something Arial would wear

On to the marshmallows--

We have a complicated schedule that involves jobs, seating arrangements in the car, and which kid gets to choose FHE treat. Mostly I let the kids pick whatever they want for FHE. If for some reason I can't do it, then they get to choose a lunch treat (nutty bars, oatmeal cream pies etc) since they almost never get those. Anyhoo, it was Isaac's week to choose, and he wanted marshmallows. I stole an idea from the YW days and had the kids make stuff with the marshmallows in hopes that they'd make more and eat less. Well, they ate a ton of them, but we had a great time. I'll definitely do this again sometime. Lots of happy togetherness. :)

(Half of our pics of this are on our other camera, I'll post those later--very creative)

Happy Birthday Hubby

This is SO LATE, but these last couple of weeks were beyond crazy for me, and this is my first chance to blog...

Happy Birthday (late) to my handsome husband!!! Also happy 11th anniversary of our engagement! (Awe) We celebrated with breakfast pizzas, filibertos, and chocolate cake. Lots of fun and LOTS OF CALORIES! I'm the luckiest gal ever to have such a super sweet husband. Here are some fun facts about Ryan

-He eats 2 peanut butter and jam sandwiches and an apple every work day for lunch. This has been going on since before we were married. He switched from honey to all fruit jam shortly after his dad got diabetes (less sugar). He also switched from a granola bar to an apple about 6 years ago. But the P.B. never has changed.

-Thru our whole married life, I've only made the sandwiches for his lunch 3 maybe four times. He likes to make them himself.

-If there's a mountain, he wants to climb it

-If there's a canyon he wants to canyoneer it. :)

-He can still do back flips

-He still sweeps me off my feet--literally

-He tells the kids stories about scientists and explorers on long drives

-He spoils me rotten! :)

-He'll hopefully have his masters in DECEMBER. wahoooooo!

Happy birthday husband, Love you!!!

Halloween

Halloween was busy, but really fun. We didn't get around to carving pumpkins until Halloween morning, but it was fun to spend the morning together. This year I let Olivia and Grant use the little knives that come in the pumpkin carving kits. (yikes, the kids are growing up!) I thought they did great. Olivia made x eyes a y nose and a sideways z for a mouth. Grant made a dinosaur. Isaac drew the face he wanted and then I helped him cut it out. Ryan's pumpkin is bobo fet (sp?) Seth and I shared and stayed traditional. Good times. --note to self- don't try to take family pictures with costumes and pumpkins right before the trunk or treat--not the most cooperative when all they want to do is get to the party lol

Joni and Chachi (sp?) from Happy Days. (I know, no one got it :)

The Thing

The Hulk (Should have fixed his muscles before the picture LOL)

My little ones :)

Moon Night (he's a marvel hero)

Olivia-the pediatrician fairy

You betcha I'm playing the Christmas music!

Fall Break

We had a great fall break. We decided to take the big kids to Disneyland. We only had time for one day there so we decided Seth would get to enjoy some one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa (thanks again mom and dad). It was so hard dropping off Seth. We really missed him, but I'm glad we got to have a day with the big kids.

We first went to the La Brea Tar pits. They were pretty cool. It was crazy (and stinky)seeing the methane gas bubbles come up. We LOVE museums so it was a fun afternoon there. Next we went to Hollywood just to see the sights a little. That was an interesting experience. We didn't realize they have all those characters there trying to take pictures with you for tips. We must have REALLY looked liked tourists because we could hardly walk a step and another character would be there. I'm sure they target families with little boys that get excited over all the super heroes and such. Oh well, it was fun, just really crowded. I wish we had more time to look at all the hand prints out side Grauman's Chinese theater. Seeing all the history there was awesome.
The next day was Disneyland. We were there the WHOLE DAY, 9am-9pm (one of the main reasons Seth didn't come) Our kiddos LOVE all the thrilling rides, so we ran from ride to ride all day long and loved it. Thankfully the lines weren't long at all. The only problem with Disneyland is once you go, you HAVE to go again, and soon. Can't wait for the next trip!