272/365

Last week I went to the Relief Society Broadcast. It was such an amazing night. I learned so much and have felt the spirit of that meeting all week long. There were things said in that meeting that have truly changed the way I think about things. I know I was there for a reason. I know there were things that I needed to hear. 

One of the things that was talked about was to enjoy and celebrate the small achievements we see every day instead of always dwelling on the things we don't accomplish.  We were told to realize that the small successes that we see every day are so important and that we should be proud of them.  If we take things line upon line.... or one step at at time, each one of those small successes will be cause for great celebration in our life if we stop and appreciate them.  

Today, I understood that a little more clearly.  Kaden has been struggling with math a bit lately on these 5 minute timed tests he has to take.  He's been getting really low scores and we've been working really hard to practice these tests several times a week and teach him different tips to help him to them faster.  

Well today, we got to celebrate on of those "small successes".  He finished his timed test and only got 1 wrong!! I was so proud of him! He was so proud of himself.  It was great cause to celebrate.  

As I looked back on this, I thought of the talk at womens conference.  You know, this test was just a small weekly test. Nothing big or fancy.  We could have treated this test like another piece of homework that needed to be signed and returned back to school, but instead we cheered for joy! It was a small success, but brought us such joy because we KNEW how hard Kade had worked on improving his math skills.  

It must be a little like how our Heavenly Father feels when we sees true success in our lives.  He's seen how hard we've worked and He's proud of us.  Whether the accomplishment is big or small, it doesn't matter. All that matters is taking time to appreciate and celebrate those small successes we have each and every day and not focus on the other things in our life that may not be as successful. 

Kaden, I'm so proud of you! You worked so hard and you did a great job!

271/365

I wish I had a picture of Brian in a frilly little apron, but he would be even more embarrassed. 

This is the year my hubby grows a beard and looks like Grizzly Adams till the snow begins to fall, 

and he also turns into Martha Stewart and spends days canning. 

Hmmmm.. A bearded Martha Stewart? 

We just might have a talk show in the making right now!

Despite my teasing, I will reap the rewards:

15 bottles of peaches

18 bottles of pears

6 bottles of Dill pickles

30 bottles of freezer Jam

and 2 batches of Raspberry Ice Cream

yum. yum

Thanks for your hard work Bri.

270/365

Kaden has now been in cub scouts for a month. He LOVES it!!
We've been working hard to help him earn his bobcat.  Tonight he got his first award. Bobcat is completed, now he's working on his wolf. He was so excited. I think he reminded us of pack meeting about 10 times in the last couple days.
Way to go buddy!

269/365

I went into my room today to see Brighton and Connor watching a movie together. 

Bright was lying there with his arm around his little brother. 

Awwwwww!!

268/365

Avery loves to be girly.  And she loves to show off how beautiful she looks to her dad.  

Every Sunday after she is dressed and her hair is done, she goes into wherever Brian is and will stand there and sway back and forth with a cute smile on her face until Brian says, "Avery, you look so beautiful!' She loves the approval of her daddy. 

Today while I was getting her ready for school she looked in the mirror and said, "I wish dad was here to see me today".

I thought it was so sweet that she wanted to show her dad how pretty she was.  We snapped a photo on my phone and sent it to him right away.  Daddy was quick to text back how beautiful she looked.

Avery's smile went from ear to ear. 

There's something pretty special when it comes to the bond a daddy has with his little girl.

267/365

Isn't this beautiful? 

We love our Sunday getaways to the mountains.

A few days ago, we came up here for a quick lunch and hike. WE didn't want Kaden to feel too left out, so we brought him up with us this time 

Sadly, we are coming to an end of summer and I don't think we'll be doing too many more Sunday afternoons in the canyons for a while. 

Brian roasted the BEST marshmallows EVER!!

Oh my gosh... could this s'more get any better? Look at it's gooey yumminess.

We love all the fun little pets we find up here.

(Avery started getting a little nervous when the caterpillar started going down her shirt)

 I love Brighton's grubby little hands.  

 and this kids grubby little smile.  

265/365

My nephew Riley had his 9th birthday party today.  He had an angry birds party. I had a blast making his cake.  The best part was that I left off all the characters and structures and let Riley assemble them they way he wanted. His mom said he kept re-arranging them in different scenarios all day.  

I guess it's my first interactive birthday cake!

 Here's the characters.... all edible of course.

264/365

I've loved blogging every day this year and I'm glad I have, because I think this little guy would be jipped on documenting some of his major milestones. But that being said...... even with me blogging each day, I'm still blown away at what I've missed. 

In less than a week, this little guy has started to crawl and he pulls himself up on everything and he can entertain himself pretty good if there are toys on the floor.  

Man, he's growing up so fast.

His favorite trick is to crawl to the stairs, pull up on the railing and take a few steps.  What a show off!
 

263/365

Today we decided to leave the housework and yard behind and go on a picnic and hike up the canyons.  It was so nice to get away, even if it was for only a couple hours.

Sorry we left you behind Kaden. You were already at school. Next time you will have fun with us too!

262/365

We hung out at the park today after school and the kids found a "pet" they brought home and is now living in a jar in Kaden's bedroom.

Meet "Black head".... the water snake.  If he can stay in his cage, he's welcome to stay.  The first time I see him trying to escape, he'll be going back home to the pond.

261/365

Today we got our family pictures done.  Not just a little family picture, all 26 of us.  Like how Brighton is making a funny face? Avery is sitting in such a feminine way.  Kaden looks shocked that we are taking a picture, I look like a hippo and Brian's ski beard, (ok... he looks pretty hot) Wow... the Larsen's (minus brian) sure added humor to this picture.

260/365

Happy Birthday Shauna!! 

We love you. 

We had a great night with all of Brian's brothers and sisters as we celebrated Shauna's 60th birthday tonight. It was such a fun night. We had a yummy dinner at our house and enjoyed a night full of games and lots of childhood memories and even more laughs.

259/365

After my post yesterday, I felt a little better about things until I went to pick up Connor off the floor and saw he had pooped all over the carpet.  OH BOY! Let the melt-down begin!
I kinda freiked out, called a carpet cleaner and scheduled a time for him to come today, started gutting every drawer, cupboard and closet in my house and had my little self a crazy person moment.  I made it to the preschool thing, but the rest of the day was left to crazy Turia de-cluttering my house.
Today ended up being a good theraputic day for me.  I got to clean all day long. Usually that would not be my favorite thing in the world, but when my head is cluttered, my house is cluttered, I needed a day to just clear my head and clean my house.  It was a great day! I feel much better!!

So now, my carpets are clean, my cupboards, drawers and closet is organized and I'm back to being not so crazy.  Whew! Glad my little melt down is over.  Sometimes it takes being a crazy person to get stuffed cleared out of your head.  Sorry Brian. You chose to marry me :)

258/365

All year long I've been capturing moments in our every day life.  I have commented over and over again how I don't want my kids to grow up.  Today I felt a little hypocritical of that and it made me stop and think about my priorities a bit.

Like usual, we all have crazy weeks and days that we are just running here and there. The last few days have been like that for me. I've been working on wedding cakes (surprise, surprise) and have been trying to clean my house all week.  The more I try to deep clean specific rooms, the messier the rest of the house gets. So, needless to say, it's now Thursday and my house is a dive, I'm feeling like I'm living in chaos and I just want a few hours to myself where I can regain focus and clean and organize my house, so I can feel organized again.  Well, this afternoon was supposed to be my time to be able to get a handle on things.
 I got home from Avery's dance class with high hopes for a peaceful 3 hour break....But as usual, it never works out as smoothly as planned.

Got Bright off to preschool.
Got Avery on the bus.
Time to put Connor to bed, but Angie needed some help, so I ran over there for about an hour. That took some of my cleaning time away, which is fine because I love being able to help her in any way since she is ALWAYS there to watch my kids or let me borrow whatever I need.

So I get home and remember that I'm supposed to go to Brightons preschool class today the last 30 minutes to talk about family rules since that's their theme this week.  

                             Here's where I feel I'm needing to change my priorities a bit.  

So, all I want to do is get my dumb house clean.  Why is that such a difficult task?? 

I find myself playing the game in my head where you have the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other.  In my head, I'm having this little conversation with myself. 

Angel Mom: "I should really go to this preschool thing for Brighton"

Devil Mom:  "Just stay and clean your house"

Angel Mom:  "Remember he's only little once"

Devil Mom: "Oh my gosh, he's only 3... it doesn't matter."

Angel Mom:  "But I should take every opportunity to enjoy the things that matter most. "

Devil Mom:  "Seriously?? Does going to a preschool full of a bunch of 3 year olds and talk about your poster of family rules that you just made up 2 minutes before he left for school really what matters most?? JUST STAY HOME AND CLEAN YOUR HOUSE ALREADY!!!!! IT'S YOUR ONLY BREAK ALL WEEK!" 

Angle Mom:  "But............."

Devil Mom:  "It's preschool already! Geez!! He's your third kid.  It's not that big of a deal. You barely get him dressed each day, why go and listen to a bunch say they need to eat all their dinner and share their toys?  You can talk about rules at home with him. Go clean your damn house. "

Angel Mom: "ahhhh! Oh my!" (gasp!!)  (angel mom would never use the "d" word, but Devil mom can get a potty mouth from time to time).  "You are a terrible mother!" Focus on the things that matter most! Your house does not matter! Showing your kid that you have 15 minutes to be with him DOES matter.  

Maybe the lesson here is for you, Devil mom.... it's not about listening to a bunch of silly rules at a preschool class, but it's about YOU showing your child that they will ALWAYS come first... no matter what." THEY are what matters most.  Not your (uh, hum.... ) "darn" house."

Devil Mom:  (grumble.grumble) "I know, you are right. You win. I'll go get in the car."

The moral of the story is..... Many times as a mom I am struggling with my double identity, but more times than not, I hope Angel Mom wins out when it comes to my family.  Devil mom has her place too, but with the things that matter most, Angel mom needs to ALWAYS win!
Thank goodness she did today.

257/365

Sometimes it's the simple things that make the biggest impression on your kids.
Tonight Brian invited Avery to be his "date" to a wedding reception he had to go to for a co-worker.  We told her that the bride would look like a beautiful princess in a pretty white dress and their would be dancing too.  She was so excited, she ran in her room and got on a dress. We got her hair all done up pretty and wanted sparkles in her hair, so she got pretty sparkles.
When she was all dolled up, she went in to Brian and held the sides of her dress as she swayed back and forth and waited for Brian to tell her how beautiful she was.  She lit up and was ready to go on her date.

I'm glad she got to be something special with just her and her dad.  She felt pretty special.

256/365

This little guy is really starting to enjoy real food! 

He LOVED the corn Brian grew in our garden this year. 

He's also a little obsessed with peaches.  

It started out pretty good.

until we didn't give it to him fast enough.

You would have thought we were starving him to death.

Like I said, He LOVES peaches.

255/365

Went downstairs to get all the 12 month boy clothes today.  As much as it makes me sad that Connor is growing up so fast, I gotta admit, its great knowing I don't have to store old clothes anymore.  Those 3 boxes of 12 month clothes now is an empty space in my storage room!!!
 I love getting rid of things.

254/365

Kaden decided to do a little target practice with his sling shot today.  

This cutie took score. Wherever Kaden is, she is always close behind. 

She ADORES her older brother. 

253/365

Brian got home from his fishing trip with Dan today.  4 days in the high uintah's is the best 5 star resort in relaxation for Brian.  I'm glad he got to go to his happy place.
When you see places like this, how can you not be happy?

Couldn't have had better company this his bro.  

This is not fishing story... they caught 50 fish in a matter of a couple hours on Friday.  

Now, that's some fun fishing!

Were they trying to make a signal fire? What is this thing?

Yep.. they had to do a little skinny dippin in the ice cold snow run off.

252/365

Tonight was late over at our house. I had some great little helpers tonight.
Poor Camri broke her arm last night and ended up having surgery to put 3 pins in her arm just this morning.   Even though the kids have late over every weekend, they still love being together. Camri didn't want to hanging out with her cousins, so she came and chilled with us tonight.

Avery and Abby were so sweet to Camri. They got her food, kept her comfortable, read her stories, helped her draw pictures.

I hope they will always be there for eachother.

251/365

Huh????

Sometimes you got to wonder how things enter in your kids brains.
Kaden is our wiggler. Since he was a tiny baby, he has never stood still.  He flips and turns, spins and jumps, wiggles and kicks all the time.

Today I noticed him wiggling on the floor on his stomach, laying on his hands and pushing his but up in the air.  I didn't pay much attention to it because honestly, it's not too uncommon for him to be doing some type of wiggling :) But then he said, "Man, how do caterpillars not get tired doing this all day long?"

Seriously?  Was he pretending to be a caterpillar?  Just thinking about it makes me laugh in a sort of perplexed way.  I don't know about that kid.

250/365

Brian left for a backpacking trip today for 4 days.  The kids had a special note waiting on their beds for them tonight.

It made their night.  I wish I could have captured their smiles better.  It was priceless.

They sure love their daddy. Just look at that smile as Kaden is reading his note. How cute is that?

249/365

Today was a great day!

Kaden and Avery went back to school from being off track for 3 weeks and this little guy started preschool!

I can't believe it! How did this happen? It seems like just yesterday that Kaden started his first day of preschool, now we're on kid #3 turning into a big boy! Wow... time flies by WAY too fast.

Proud big sister. She kept asking Bright today if he was excited to go to preschool. When we dropped him off she said, "Good luck at preschool, Little Buddy!"

Kaden on the other hand was a little more conservative...

Last night he told me, "Mom, I'm a little nervous for Brighton to go to preschool tomorrow"

(luckily we didn't have a problem! He loved every second of it)

His teacher is Miss Amy.  When he sat down on his mat, he asked, "Do you have any toys?"

The cutest thing about the day was when we were on the way home. Brighton asked where Kaden and Avery were and I told him they were at school.  He sounded very disappointed and said, "ohhhh, I wanted to talk to them about preschool"  

247/365

Labor Day is bitter sweet between Brian and I....

Bitter for Brian because it's still warm
Sweet for me because we spent the day on the lake

Bitter for me because summer is over.
Sweet for Brian because winter is on its way.

Bitter for me because starting today, Brian starts growing his "snow beard"
Sweet for Brian because he gets to start growing his "snow beard"

Bitter for me because it's the last day we'll be on the boat taking cute pictures like this.
Sweet for Brian because it's just a few short weeks before he's on the slopes.

Why is summer so short?  Why is winter so fetchin long??? I'm already sick of it (and it hasn't even started yet)
At least we got to spend most the day on the boat. It was a good way to end off the summer.

246/365

Brian does some of the funnest family night lessons.
Today he taught the kids about Samuel the Lamanite.  He read the scripture story then we got to re-inact it.


In our family, there were three Samuel the Lamanites.  They all wanted a turn.

 

We were throwing "stones".  The object lesson worked. Thanks to my kids stellar aim, none of the marshmallow stones ever hit any of the Samuels.

But this guy grabbed the stones and ate them. Then he got into some chocolate.

What a cute mess.  I love his face. It's kinda like he's saying, "Oh, no! what have I done?"