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.

211/365

Here is the cute bike we got for Brighton this week during my shopping spree.

$70 bike for $7.00 bucks.   Not bad.

210/365

My turn for Late Over again....
(Don't you love how all the girls are posing cute and the boys are all making goofy faces?)

Tonight we went Frog Hunting.

I LOVE my neighborhood!! We were able to go to 4 out of the 6 ponds in walking distance from my house and find 8 frogs.  All the kids named their new pets.

Abby and Riley are the proud owners of Lilly and Lightning
Garrett and Camri are the proud owners of Frogger and Sally
Kaden and Avery love Lilly and Hopper

It was a fun night.

208/365

Avery doesn't start school for another week, but she did get to meet her teacher today and do some pre-kindergarten testing.  She was so excited, she could hardly wait till 2:00 (the time of her appointment)

I can't believe she's big enough for kindergarten. She was so proud to be in the classroom. She checked out her desk, looked at all the fun things in her new class, and even got tested to see how much she knew.
During her testing, she stopped her teacher and said, "Oh my gosh.. I must be really smart. I'm getting all the answers right".   (Avery, you are sooooo cute)

Avery and her kindergarten teacher, Miss Crane

207/365

After the worlds longest summer vacation, (ha. ha. ha) of a total of 3 weeks, Kaden started 2nd grade today. His teacher is Mrs. Wilcox.

Kaden was very nervous to go to 2nd grade because he was worried it would be harder than 1st grade. 

When he got back from school today, he ran in the house and said, 

"2nd grade is soooo much easier than 1st grade!!!)

(Kaden? why are you growing up so fast?)

 The new backpack for 2nd grade

these were taken later this week at back to school night

Here's Kaden's teacher... Mrs. Wilcox

 (nice kool aid mustache buddy)

206/365

DEALS. DEALS. DEALS!!!

Ok..... this could get addicting.

17 Shirts

1 Helicopter Toy

7 shorts

1 Swimsuit

1 Pair of Swim Goggles

5 Skirts

2 Bikes

1 Bike Horn

60 Crayons

2 pairs of leggins

1 pair of shoes

(97 items total)

Total Retail Value:

$915.35

Total Spent:

$216.87

Total Saved:

$698.48

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! 

I think it was a pretty productive day.

205/365

Happy Birthday Uncle Jordan.
This sunday was fabulous.  I took a 3 hour nap.  Ahhhhhh!

199-204/365

Ahhhhhh Beautiful Lake Powell.
This trip was so much fun! For the first time in the life of the Sohm Family Lake Powell Trips, we enjoyed the sand and the sun on a houseboat.

It was sooooooooooo much better than camping in a tent.  We're moving up in the world :)


Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful trip and always sacrificing your time and money to do special things together as a family.

Here's our boat... The SeaClusion

our youngest houseboat guest. 

Meilei is just 9 weeks old.

Gosh I have a hot husband!

I love this picture.

 Brighton surfing.

 Avery surfing

and best of all..... Kaden did it all by himself!!! Way to go buddy!!!!

 Stupid carp. They never learn.

And this is the reason my parents bought the houseboat.... and continues to do all these fun things for all of us. 

2 little monkeys jumping on the bed.......

yes... the baby is cute, but look at that water!!!

The me that was once skinny would have left my baby all alone to go get a ski run in.

I need to get skinny again.

(not to leave my baby alone in the water... but to have the confidence to ski again. I miss it)

Kaden was the best lizard hunter.  Isn't he cute? 

I miss my iguana.

Our house boat even had a pool.  We're living the high life.

(smile)

Two of the best moments on the boat.  I love that my dad is surfing with a broken foot! 

His face is HILARIOUS!!!

 Thayne and Nicole decided it would be a fun trick to see if they could surf at the same time.  It actually worked! Nicole, you are awesome! Way to stay balanced squatting for so long.