Catching Up

In April Riley and I went on our 10 anniversary trip to Hawaii(only a year and a half late).

My two baby siblings were married over the summer. They were 9 and 11 when Riley and I got married. I am feeling old.

The kids and I had a fun fall visit to Burley where we visited a pumpkin patch in Paul and made Halloween pillowcases with lots of help from my mother-in-law. The kids slept on the cases and then used them for trick-or-treating.

I participated in an amazing and FUN race up at Bogus Basin this fall called the Dirty Dash. We had a crazy team named the Fine Swine. Everybody was dressed up. We rolled through mud, climbed over walls, and went down the longest slip-n-slide I have ever seen. I highly recommend this race to everyone!

I am back

I am officially back after a brief break from blogging. My job managing at the gym is over so now I have time to catch up on all the things I have let slide over the past year of so. Stay tuned for some amazing new posts!

Adelyn's Baptism

Adelyn was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on
July 11, 2009.

Adelyn's family were all excited to attend.

Adelyn was baptized by her dad.

Adelyn posing with the men who stood in the circle for her confirmation. They include both grandpas, an uncle and a friend of the family.

What a beautiful girl. We are so proud of you!

Oregon with my best bud Jen

I went to Oregon with my best bud, Jen to help her find a place to live when she goes to school at Pacific this fall. the first night we stayed at a 5 star hotel in Portland. This is the lobby. I have never stayed in a 5 star hotel. It was fantastic, but a little crazy because I was unsure when and how much to tip.

Me and Jen. We have been best friends since we were six. It was great to have a girl's weekend.

I love sushi and I have always wanted to eat at one of those restaurants with a rotating Sushi belt. It was so cool!
We went to Multnomah falls on our way home. It was gorgeous.

We also went on a walk in a cool forest. It totally reminded me of Twilight.

Fathers

My daddy with his wife and four of his 5 children.

I am so thankful for my wonderful dad this Father's day. He has always encouraged me in all my endeavors and has helped me to become the person that I am today. I am also very grateful for my own dear husband that is a loving father to my children, constantly sacrificing of himself for their happiness. Since a picture speaks a thousand words.....

Playing games with dad.

Ridin' with dad.

Davis and his dad at Disneyland.

Hiking with his girls.

Davis ready to go to church with his dad.

Reading books with the boys.

Cuddling with Adelyn and Clancy.

Riding the roller coaster at Sea World with Davis.

Anna and her daddy taking a post Thanksgiving meal nap.

Taking Clancy on a motorcycle ride, or maybe it's the other way around.

Planting a garden with Annabelle.

Riley and Clancy picking pumpkins.

Rileu building a snowman with Adelyn and Lidia, a girl I babysit.

Clancy and daddy swimming.

Annabelle's baptism, 2007.

Graduation and 30

Davis graduated from Kindergarten last month. Here is a picture of him with his fabulous teacher, Mrs. John.Davis and his classmates participates in a wonderful program to commemorate their graduation.

May 20th was my 30th birthday! As we often do on our decade birthdays , I took a moment to reflect on the past ten years of my life. I have been so blessed! In the last 10 years of my life, I have given birth to 4 beautiful children, obtained a degree, moved 5 times, held several wonderful callings, celebrated 10 fabulous years of marriage, and gained many precious friends. I have an extended family that I am extremely close to and I feel so loved.

As fantastic as the last ten years have been, I am loving the stage of life I am in right now. I am able to play games and go on bike rides with my entire family. I no longer have to tote an enormous diaper bag with me everywhere I go, and I don't have to change diapers or wipe bottoms. I am able to work part part-time doing something that I love. I can go to the temple with Riley and not have to worry about high-tailing it back to nurse a baby. In fact, we can even get out for a few minutes, if it is just here in town, and leave the children alone.

In a nutshell, I am 30 and loving it!

Races

For Mother's day I asked the girls if they would participate in The Race for the Cure with me. It is a 5K and the proceeds are used for breast cancer research. We had a blast! Afterward we planted a garden with Riley and the boys.






Adelyn qualified and ran in The Dream Mile race at her school. She came in third out of all the girls in her school, and she is only in second grade. Way to go Adelyn!!











Clancy and his friends decided to dress up as super heroes last week. They were so cute that I couldn't resist throwing this one in for fun!

Learning to ride

So, despite the fact that he is probably one of the biggest kids to ever learn to ride his bike for the first time, Davis is only six. None of my children learned to ride a bike until after they were in kindergarten. They probably got a few too many of my "cautious" genes when they were in the womb.

Davis, however, is the tallest by far. He is 3" taller than Adelyn and is at least an inch taller than most of his eight and nine year old friends. The other day he tried to get on the little bike, the one with training wheels and he looked ridiculous! So, we went out the next Monday and bought him a big bike, which he promptly learned to ride within an hour!

Phew, one down and only one more to go. Luckily Clancy is a fast on his little Hotwheels. We have actually been able to go on a few family bike rides in the past few weeks, something we have never been able to do before. It is so great! I am really enjoying this season of my life.

Fitness and Frenchies

First, for the Frenchies. Adelyn and Clancy found some of Riley's mission things. Aren't they so cute with their little berets!

Now, for the fitness. For those of you who don't know, I own a small Personal Training business. I have a few trainers that work for me doing mostly in-home and on-site personal training, although there is a local gym that hires the trainers to do work at the gym. Up until now I have done all the behind the scenes stuff, like making phone calls, fliers, etc. I've had a lot of people ask when I was going to get my certification and start training. Well, I finally did it!

I got my certification earlier this week and I will start teaching a class on Tuesday. Right now we are teaching a class at local schools and the teachers can get a continuing education credit for it. I will be teaching one of these classes out in Nampa. I am so excited and I think it will be a blast! I am grateful for this opportunity, especially since I will only be teaching 2 short classes a week for now!

Challenge and Poems

This is me. Once a week on Wednesday I go to Challenge. I ride a bus to Eagle Hills Elemantry where we go to a portable for Challenge. I have two teachers, Mrs. Cox and Mrs. McDonald. Mrs. Cox teaches math. Mrs. McDonald teaches art and science. I had to take a couple of tests to see if it was the right fit for me. Those tests were impossible to get 100% on. You had to get 98% or more to get into Challenge. I like Challenge because every one there understands me and has the same interests as I do. The only other kid from Star Elemantry that goes to Challenge is my best friend at Challenge. Her name is Alexandra but she goes by Alex. She is writing books just like me. Here are 2 of my poems.

The Deer

The graceful deer leaps,
The hunters are oh, so near,
The deer bounds away.

Valley of Moonlight
Rivers blue and clear,
Lead to a valley of lakes,
Where, the moonlight shines.

My Valentine

Top 10 reasons why I know my valentine loves me
10. He lets me have the remote control when we watch tv.
9. He makes the bed almost every morning.
8. He cleans up the kids bathroom messes.
7. He always gives me a kiss before he leaves for work.
6. He brings me flowers, still!
5. He opens the door for me.
4. He has watched Pride and Prejudice with me at least 5 times.
3. He calls me lover.
2. He doesn't wake me up when he has to leave early.
1. He takes me to the temple at least once a month.

First Funeral

Riley's 92 year old grandma passed away and we attended her funeral last week. It was the children's first funeral and Grandma Jean was the first grandparent to pass away since any of the kids have been born. It was a very sweet experience. We were all sad, but we were only sad because we would miss her for a while. It was a great experience to be able to share with the children that we will see her again. As Riley's mother covered Grandma Jean's face with a veil before the coffin was closed, Clancy asked, "Mom, why is she covering Grandma's face?" I was forming a rather lengthly and complicated explanation when Clancy answered his own question. "It is so that she can see Jesus, right?" I was very touched and I thought of the scripture that admonishes us to become like a little child.

Clancy

Clancy just ended his indoor soccer season. The league is for 3-5 year olds and it consists of a swarm of really excited kiddos following the soccer ball in a tight cluster around a small gym. Every now and again the ball gets kicked towards the goal by one of the many unidentified feet and occasionally happens to go in the net. Most of the time when the goal kicker reveals themselves, they are a member of the team on which the goal was scored. Oh well, it is tons of fun for the kids and they are so cute!

Adelyn's Snow Fort

Adelyn's Snow Fort

Adelyn and I built a snow fort last week when it snowed a ton. It has snowed a lot this winter, but then it melts within a week. We thought we had better take advantage of the good snow while it was still around.

Here's what Adelyn has to say about it:
We piled lots of snow on the ground and dough a big hole in it.It was big! I could kneel in it! I dug a hole all the way through it! Adelyn

Birthday Boys

Three of my favorite males had a birthday last week. Davis turned 6 on December 30th and Riley turned 32 on the 31st. The next day my dad had his birthday! We went to Idaho Falls and Burley to visit relatives, had one continuous birthday party and rang in the New Year with lots of good food, family and fireworks! Happy birthday handsome boys!

Christmas 2008

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which is why I added a slide show of our Christmas morning. We had a wonderful day opening presents, playing games and just being together. The children didn't wake us up until almost 8:30, so we actually got to sleep in a bit!

A few highlights of the Larsen Family Christmas:

1. Adelyn was confused when she opened her DS game and case before the actually DS. "Mom," she said, "Santa must have gotten mixed up and thought we had a DS!"
2. Clancy loved all his presents, but he was most excited about the batteries that grandma and grandpa had wrapped up to go along with a toy. Who says that you have to spend a fortune to make a three year old happy?
3. Davis has spent at least 20 hours over the past few days setting up the two Lego sets he received.
4. Annabelle put in a lot of time crocheting a scarf for her baby cousin, Hannah. She was thrilled to give it to her on Christmas she came to visit that evening.
5. Riley was very confused when he found a present from himself under the tree. It was something he bought a couple of months ago and forget about. Hey, it was another gift to unwrap!
6. Allison and Riley slept in until at least 10:00 on the 26th, 27th and 28th and loved it! Our children are actually old enough to take care of themselves when they wake up.
7. We have played games as a family for a least 3 hours every day since Christmas.
8. We went sledding with our cousins in a blizzard. After an hour or so Clancy asked me why I drew on my eyes with marker and Davis told me my eyes were,"freaking him out." Ops, I guess I forgot the water proof mascara.
9. On Christmas Eve Annabelle called her friend and found out that her mom and dad were sick and they had nothing to eat but cereal. At her suggestion we cooked up the extra ham we had and brought it and some other fixings to their family. On the way home Riley said, "Now kids, that is what Christmas is all about." Thinking about the feeling we had, all I have to say is, amen. That feeling was better than anything I felt opening my gifts the next morning. I am thankful that Heavenly Father and Annabelle provided us with that opportunity.
10. We pondered on the birth of our Savior, played together and bonded as a family!

St. Nick's Day and Jim Brickman

St. Niklaus Tag
For those of you who don't know, I am part German. St Nicklaus Tag is a German Holiday that I celebrated growing up and now we celebrate it with our children. Instead of having their stockings filled on Christmas, St. Nick (aka Santa) come the night of December 5th and fills stockings with treat and small gifts. This year the kids were so sweet and put little things, like homemade ornaments and poems, in each other's stockings too.






Jim Brickman
Annabelle is an aspiring pianist and about a month ago she asked if we could go to a piano concert for one of her dates. Well, the only concert I could find in the area was a Jim Brickman concert. The tickets were quite spendy though, so I told her we could go, but that it would have to be her big Christmas present from us. She took a day or two to think about it. She finally decided that, "memories last a lot longer than things, so I choose the concert." I was able to arrange for us to meet Jim Brickman after the concert and he signed a pin for Anna and a program for me. It was really fun and I think I will always remember going to the concert with my precious Annabelle.