231/365

It doesn't matter how many times I watch the Disney Film Toy Story 3..... I always cry!!! Always.
I literally am tearing up right now just thinking about the dumb movie!

As I've thought about it, I realize it's not that I'm sad that Andy has grown too old for Woody and Buzz, but it's because I'm sad for these little guys... the toys that live in the Larsen home, and what is bound to happen all too soon.  Kids grow up, but the memory of their special friends never have to.

Meet Duck and Grottle:
Duck came to our family on August 22nd 2004. Kaden was one years old.  Duck has not missed a night sleeping with his best buddy kaden for 7 years.

Grottle, came to our family a few years ago, but has been equally loved. He's been to Disneyland, Bear Lake, Lake Powell, Yellowstone, just to name a few.  He too, has a special spot next to Kaden's pillow every night.
One morning Kaden told me that he had a hard time sleeping the night before because he had been crying. When I asked him why, he told me he was sad thinking about a time when he and Grottle wouldn't be friends anymore.  When I asked him what he did about it, he told me they just did fun things that Grottle liked to do all night, like sing songs, cuddle and tell eachother stories.

Meet Pink Horsey and Armadillo:

Pink Horsey has been a family friend for many years now.  Pink Horsey is also a world traveler.  She loves to cuddle, have fashion shows, and play with her favorite friend Avery. 

Armadillo.... who is really a ceramic hedgehog came to us via a White Elephant Christmas gift at a work party.  Avery fought really hard for this hedgehog... it was love at first sight.  For many months, she would sleep with her arm around Armadillo. Some nights she still does.  Who would have thought a ceramic garden toy brought as a gag gift would turn out to be a special part of our family?

And lastly, meet "Guankey" and Thomas.  

The magic of Thomas the Train for a three year old boy is just as incredible as a princess and castles for a little girl.  Thomas has been an amazing part of our lives for two boys now.  I once thought Thomas the Train was a boring PBS kids show, but seeing it through a 3 year olds eyes, changes your perspective.  

Then there's Guankey.  

What can I say about guankey?   Guankey came to our family  as a baby gift from the Relief Society when Brighton was born. 3 and half years later, he's seen better days.We've had him repaired once, but another hole has popped through.  The hole is actually a big part of why guankey is so special.  The thumb goes through the hole (it has to be the pink corner) then thumb goes in the mouth while the other hand holds the green corner... yes, it has to be the green corner.  

Guankey watches every movie, goes on every car ride, and even hangs out in the car during church until Sacrament meeting. Every Sunday, Bright and I walk to the car after nursery to get guankey.  There's not a night that can pass without guankey.  One time we left him at grandma's house and litterally had to go get him because Brighton wouldn't stop crying at bedtime.

 

Now, Connor doesn't have any special friends yet, but I'm sure soon enough, he too will have things in his life that are just as special.  Hopefully at that time, I will still be blogging and I will be able to introduce you to them as well.  

230/365

Tonight was cousin camp.  I wish I had pictures. I'll have to get some from my mom.
The kids had a cowboy party and the D&B Ranch and Bullseye Coral.  They were so lucky to go and ride Bullseye with a real cowboy... Grandpa K.

I am so thankful that my kids have amazing grandparents who love to spend time with them.

229/365

Oh my goodness.....
I got a call a couple weeks ago from a client who wanted a birthday cake.  I figured she was turning twenty something because she wanted a louis vouitton shoe box and tiffany boxes.  The total cost of the birthday cake was nearly $450.  She gave me her credit card number, (it was her name on the card) and I charged the card and all was good.
Well........ I went to deliver the cake and guess what???? The girl was 12 YEARS OLD!!! Seriously?? Who gives their 12 year old kid a credit card?? Who allows their kids to buy a $450 birthday cake??

If that was crazy enough, their nanny gave me a cake sketch of another birthday cake they want for next week for this girls 11 year old sister.  Who are these people?  I will never understand what it's like to have this much money.

Here's a picture of the two cakes I've made for the two sisters.  I have to admit, they were two of the most fun cakes I've ever made.  It just blows me away that they spent nearly $900 bucks in a week and a half just on cake.  Wow.....

228/365

We took the kids to Lagoon today.  I haven't been since I was 17 years old. There are a lot of new rides,  there are some crazy fun roller coasters even the little kids could ride. We all had a blast. My favorite part of the night was listening to Avery scream on the roller coasters.  After they were done, she would yell, "THAT WAS AWWWWWESOMMMMME!!!!"
Not quite as cool as Disneyland, but it's about 12 hours closer :)

The kids favorite show on TV right now is Phineas and Ferb. On one of the episodes, they build a huge roller coaster.  The whole day, they kept asking to go on the Big, white, Phineas and Ferb roller coaster.

Yes!!!!! Avery was tall enough to go on a lot of the rides!!!!
Sadly, she was 2" too short for the Phineas and Ferb roller coaster though. :(

I love Avery's face in this one.

Brian decided to be a druggist at the local apothecary in Pioneer Village, until he got yelled at for being behind the counter.

This is what a $6 slurpee looks like!! Seriously??? What's with amusement park food prices?
But, this is adorable little guy was worth it.  It's about as big as he is.

Brights favorite part of the whole day.

Kade was too cool to go on the merry go round with the other kids, so he decided to play in the splash park.

I remember these when I was a kid!!

Yes, this IS what you think it is.  When we stopped for dinner, Bright went to a near by tree, dropped his pants and peed for everyone to see. Instead of stopping him, I chose to take this picture instead.
(I totally made the right choice.... this is hilarious!)

227/365

Angie and I decided to take the kids (and a couple extra's) swimming today.
They had so much fun.

Oh my gosh, this is the scariest picture of Connor! Is he smiling or turning into a gremlin?

yes, I know....... he needs a haircut.

I am so grateful for amazing neighbors. The kids have so much fun together.

226/365

This month is party central.... with a birthday and baptism coming up, we've got lots of planning.... and a couple photo shoots to do.
Yesterday a missionary, today a ninja.  Being eight is awesome!



Here's his invite. I think it turned out pretty cool.  Took me till 2 am, but it's still super cool.

225/365

(bring on the tears)

Imagine me, a missionary, traveling through the land....
Imagine me, a missionary, doing what I can........
    

We headed up to the temple to take some pictures for Kaden's baptism invitation.....

when did he get so grown up?

I love this little dude. 

224/365

some days.... ok, most days, I just can't even think about making dinner.

today was one of those days. We grabbed the kids and took them to spaghetti factory.  They had fun. I didn't have to cook, and the food was good.

My only question is..... Am I a terrible mom that I let my kids go out like this? Yes, Brite is only half dressed for the day. Shorts. Pajama Shirt and Lighting McQueen slippers.  Everyone we walked passed laughed.  Why is it that when you are 3 years old you can get away with looking cute when you don't get dressed, but you look like a slob if you do the same thing at 30?

223/365

Today was yet another late over at the Larsen house.
I tried a new craft today.. I didn't take this picture, it was actually taken at a late over at Jana's, but I love it, so I'm stealing it.

These kids are the cutest little friends.

(kate, madison and bright)

222/365

Today was one of those days that was just blah..... nothing too special to report.
Not every day has to be full of fun and exciting moments right? Some days are just tiring.

But since I want to find something worthwhile to blog about each day, I did have some good news today.
I came across Brian's birthday present I had lost. (yes... it was 4 months ago.... and to top it off.... I actually bought it last December! I couldn't find it anywhere... who would have thought I would have put it in my cake drawer for safe keeping???)

It reminds me of a time when Kaden came running up from the basement yelling, "Mom, I saved the day!!" You see, about 6 months earlier, I had lost my car keys. I couldn't find them anywhere. Kaden went downstairs and came across some twinkies in a grocery bag in the freezer.... guess what was in the grocery bag with the twinkies?????  Yep... my lost keys.

So now, several months later, those same keys are lost.... again.  Maybe I need to go to therapy or something. I can't keep things where they belong. I seriously have issues. The good news is that Brian now has his season golf pass I got him for his birthday in April.  Too bad the seasons coming to a close now.
(I am such a dork)
Sorry bri..... Happy Super Late Birthday!

221/365

Connor was LOVING his dinner tonight. He started getting creative. He wanted to feed himself.
Don't you love how he thought he could DRINK his carrots and broccoli?

220/365

As I'm blogging right now, my house is a mess.
I was planning on just hanging around doing housework and laundry today.
Instead, I decided to be a mom....

I read stories to the kids.
I helped with homework.
I actually made dinner (ya, that's a real shocker, I know)
I even cuddled a sad little baby cutting teeth most the morning.
And, I spent a few hours at the splash park with this cute little guy.

It was a good day.

219/365

(cue music)   

Here's a story, of a lovely lady.......

218/365

Tyler and Jana blessed their most beautiful Meili today.  They have waited a long time for this little girl, she is so perfect. Tyler gave a wonderful blessing. I am so happy she is in our family.

217/365

Happy Birthday (yesterday) Grandma and Grandpa.
Today we had our family party to celebrate.  They are the proud grandparents to 15 grandkids and 35 great grandkids.  Quite a posterity.

This amazing couple has the same birthday.  They are two of the greatest people I know. I am so blessed to call them my grandparents.

You would never know it, but Grandma turned 90 yesterday and Gramps 89.  They still live on their own, they still come to every family get together, they still go shopping, grandpa still rides his horse every week with guys in their 40's, they are going to out live us all..... well, I hope so anyway.

I love you both so much.

216/365

We got to hang out at the Birthday Table with Kaden today.

Nothing is better than hanging out in a elementary school cafeteria eating with a bunch of 2nd graders.

Actually, I loved every second of it.  I dread the day when he is too cool for us to hang out with him at school. This year all he wanted was to have me and Brian there.  He loved introducing us to all his friends, showing us his classroom and what he did during recess. We even got hugs before we left school.                               

 How much longer do we have?????  

He just can't grow up. 

I don't want him to get too cool for us.

215/365

There was the most beautiful sunset tonight.  This picture doesn't even come close to how pretty it looked.

The kids had to do posters of some of their favorite things. I wish I could have taken better shots of them, but here they are:

 Kaden's favorite things: (from top to bottom)
I learned how to surf behind the boat this summer
I love Planet Play
I make the BEST brownies
My favorite place is Moab
(the other ones you can read pretty good)

As for Avery's:

214/365

 She made it!!! The day is FINALLY here!

 Here's a look on how the day went:

7:00 am :  I hear movement in Avery's room
7:27 am:  Avery comes into my bedroom fully dressed with her school bag on.
               ( keep in mind, school doesn't start until 1:00 this afternoon)
8:15 am:  I finally roll out of bed and walk in to see Avery just sitting on the couch with her bag still on
8:45 am:  Brian rolls out of bed and the first thing that is said is, "Daddy, I'm going to kindergarten today!"
8:55 am:  I take Kaden to school and Avery wants to come
9:05 am:  "Mom, can we go check out my classroom again?"
9:06 am:  We see her classroom. It's all ready to go. Avery goes in and finds her desk and giggles when I show her where her backpack will go.  Then she says, "I can't wait to come to kindergarten today!!"
11:30 am:  (mom) "OK Avery, we only have 5 more minutes till we have to go out to the bus."
                  (avery) "How long is 5 minutes?"
                  (mom)  "Count to 60, five times
                  (avery) "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, .........................etc. etc. etc)
12:39 pm:  Avery is jumping up and down as she sees the bus. She gets on, waves good bye and has the biggest smile on her face. She is one excited little girl. It is so fun to live that excitement through your kids eyes.  It makes the little things in life become really big things. It's these type of moments that are my favorite.
4:15 pm:  Avery and Kaden get off the bus. It is at this point that I realize how grown up she's gotten.
               She runs off the bus into my arms and says, "Mommmmmyyyyyyy!!!" (yes... it made my day)

The day was pretty great. Avery didn't want to even talk to me about the day. She was too excited I think to pin point what exactly she liked the best. I know she loved it though. When I put her to bed tonight she said to me, "We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow huh mom?  Because I have schoooool tomorrow!! It is so much fun!"

Oh I love this little girl.



She didn't want a backpack... she wanted one that looked like a purse.


We're sad she isn't on the same track as Sam and Carter, but these two cuties (Dax and Josh) will be her new buddies.


After a perfect first day of school. Kaden told me she wouldn't stop hugging him on the bus.

213/365

Tomorrow is the big day!!! Avery will start kindergarten.  She is so excited she can hardly stand it.  The last week she's been counting down every day.

We told her that today would be a good practice run for tomorrow, so this morning she came out of her bedroom brushing her hair and said to me... "Mom, I'm all dressed, my room is clean and my bed is made"

Then the cutest conversation with Kaden occured:

Kaden: "Avery, you want to go out to the bus with me?"

Avery: "You mean, like go out to the bus and practice for tomorrow?"

Kaden:  "Avery, that's probably a good idea.  That way you will know what it's like. I talked to Parker and he said it would be ok if I sat by you on the bus the first day of school."

Mom: "Kaden, you can sit by her for as long as you want."

Kaden: "Well Parker said I could only do it for one day, but Avery, if I'm not sitting by him I will sit by you whenever you want OK?"

Avery: "Thanks Kaden"

212/365

(ok... so I didn't take this picture, but this is where we were at. Isn't it beautiful?)

Dinner in the mountains was quite an adventure today. We invited our friends the Featherstones to come up with us. Avery was super excited to be with Carter! (as seen on previous posts.. Carter is the boy who gave her a rose for valentines day)

We headed up there and is began pouring rain. By the time we were to the canyon, everything was drenched.

Being the adventurous family we are, we decided to stick with it and find a place with a pavilion. We went all the way to the top of the canyon.... no luck AND it was still raining. So, we decided to head down the canyon and find a nearby park to eat where we wouldn't get drenched.

Wouldn't you know, we get out of the canyon and the sun shows up and the rain stopped. Ahhhh!

So we head BACK into the canyon and decide to stay rain or shine.

I'm so glad we did. The smell was worth all the driving and craziness alone. The fresh rain and pine needles combined.... it was like the best smelling Christmas ever! I love that we can be up in the canyons and enjoy the smells, trails, air, trees and views within minutes of our house. It made my day.