3 weeks old already!

Tanner is already over three weeks old now. We have been very busy (hence the 3 weeks to get a video posted)! The recovery has been going great- the best one thus far. It was so wonderful to have both of our Moms in town to help. They were truly life savers and did so much; the whole family loved having them here.

Tanner is such a good little baby and only cries when he has to get his bath. That really wears him out! He is up once during the night on a good night and twice on a bad night; I am trying to catch up on some sleep. Carter and McKay love their little brother. McKay continually comments on how "tute" he is. We have loved having a baby in house again. Tanner is such a sweet baby and we are blessed to have him in our home.

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The New Baby is Here!!

Tanner Cole Larsen was born yesterday at 8:30 am. Everything with the C-section went smoothly and both Melissa and Tanner are doing well. Although a week early, Tanner weighed a whopping 8 lbs, 4 oz., and is 20 3/4 inches long. The boys are of course thrilled and are such proud big brothers. Melissa's mom is also here which is a huge help. We feel so blessed and love to see our family continue to grow.

Getting Ready for the Baby

Only one week left until the new baby is born!! We are all so excited, especially the boys. Tonight we looked through pictures of when Carter and McKay were born. It was so funny to see their reactions. I think they don't realize they were once a baby too. They'll make great big brothers and it will be so good to have a baby in our home again.

Carter's Blessing Day



McKay's First Day



The New Big Brother

Loose tooth?!

It is official that Carter lost his first tooth last night. This is not a posting that I expected to be doing today. In fact, I didn't even know that his tooth was loose. Yesterday evening he told me that there was something behind his tooth that was bothering him. I thought maybe it was a canker sore and told him it would be fine. Upon looking closer I discovered that he had a tooth half way in behind his baby tooth on the bottom. I am not sure how I missed this! I know, I know, thoughts of the bad mother syndrome start creeping in. I had just helped Carter brush his teeth the other day and he had never mentioned anything about this before. Once I saw this, I knew that his tooth needed to come out as soon as possible so his new tooth would have room to finish coming in.

Last night after brushing, his Dad got a good look at it and started wiggling it and pulling on it quite a bit until he thought he could get it to come out. I remembered that my grandpa used to tie a knot out of dental floss and attach it to my tooth and then pull. Lamont decided to try the same with Carter's and it was only a matter of minutes before it was gone.

Carter was surprisingly brave for Carter and was very excited to leave his tooth for the tooth fairy. I am happy to report that the tooth fairy left him two fifty cent pieces, which he thought was very cool. He was also excited that he would make the February calendar at school for lost teeth and couldn't wait to get to school this morning to tell his teacher.

One month and counting...

I finally feel like I am in the home stretch of this pregnancy. Since we know that we will have to do a C-Section we already have the date scheduled for (drumroll) Feb.28! We will deliver at 39 weeks. I feel about ready to be done with this pregnancy,normal fatigue and aches and pains, but I realized that have hardly done anything to prepare for his actual arrival. I have not even bought a single diaper and most of my baby stuff is still all boxed up. All of a sudden time is catching up with me! I guess it is a good thing that we have so much boy stuff already. It is just a matter of locating it and cleaning it. Also, I need to make a list of things to buy such as diapers, wipes, blankets, pacifiers, baby wash, ect. and then just go shopping. Yeah, I am starting to get excited for his arrival just thinking about it. Now for a name...

Holiday Whirlwind

It has taken me a long time to get our Christmas posting up; I think I am still recovering from all the holiday travels. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time and it was so nice to have a break from work, school, and church callings - but sometimes I feel like I need a vacation from the vacation. Also, it is just hard after a long break to get back into the swing of the things. So, now that I've had a moment to breathe here is a synopsis of our holiday break.

We travelled to Utah on Dec. 19 to attend Lamont's brother, Bennett's wedding. Everything was beautiful and wonderful, despite the anxiety of travel delays by many. It was so nice to have the whole family together for this important day.




The boys and I had one more day in Utah before it was off to spend Christmas in Texas. We had a Christmas brunch and present opening with my family before Lamont had to drive back to Denver that afternoon. The next morning the boys and I flew to Dallas.



Lamont worked another day and then drove all our presents down to Texas - he is quite the trooper with all the driving. When then spent a nice Christmas with his family in Sherman. We followed the family tradition and Carter and McKay hid from Santa Christmas morning. Carter was excited to see Santa bring in a kitchen for him (just like in his dreams he said) and McKay couldn't wait to ride the bike that Santa brought for him.




Following Christmas there was an open house to prepare for: lots of Cheesecakes to be made and decorating to be done. The open house was also beautiful and turned out really well.




It was then onto New Years. Carter was so funny about preparing a 2009 party for us all to participate in. The party consisted of Chinese food, games, ice cream, and fireworks. He made us all 2009 signs to wave about as we sang "We wish you a happy new year." The next day it was time to make the 12-13 hour trek back home, which brings us back to all the Christmas take down here. Whew!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas!! This year has flown by so fast - it’s hard to believe that it has already been a year since we moved to Denver. Much of the year has been spent getting settled into our new home, job and ward. Lamont has stayed busy with work. He really enjoys what he does and the people he works with. He also stays busy with his church calling in the Elder’s Quorum presidency. Melissa got a big surprise this summer when the bishop called her to be the Young Women’s president (fortunately after girl’s camp). That has been a big adjustment for her getting into the youth program and keeping up with all the youth activities. The balance of time management is a skill she is striving to master. Our big news this year is that we are expecting our third child, another boy, due in early March. Carter and McKay are really excited about the idea of having a baby brother. Melissa is doing great with the pregnancy so far.

Carter turned 5 this year and started Kindergarten. He really enjoys it, especially working on the computers, going to the library and eating in the cafeteria. Kindergarten has been much more of an adjustment for us, than for Carter. He goes to a magnet school about 20 minutes away, so all the carpooling, early mornings, and level of parental involvement expected can be a little overwhelming. Carter also played soccer again this year and continues to enjoy it. McKay is 3 years old and very busy and independent. He loves to read stories, play on his “playground” in the backyard, and do puzzles. The highlight of his week is going to a co-op preschool with 7 of his friends. He is learning so quickly and loves to share what he has made in preschool.

We love this holiday season and all the fun traditions that it brings. We are so grateful for the life and example of the Savior and to spend some time with family and friends. We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

You know that bone chilling cold, where the minute you step outside and breathe in the air the inside of your nose freezes, yes it is that time of year here. Actually we set records yesterday of a high of -6F and a low of -13F. I would have hardly believed it myself except that I can't remember the last time that I was so cold. Lamont was reminded of his mission days in Winnipeg. I love how Christmasy the snow feels, but here's to hoping for a little warmer temperatures (I guess we made it to a high of 12F today)... last time I checked we didn't live in Canada!

Thanksgiving = Family Time

I think Thanksgiving is the time of the year, maybe even arguably more than Christmas, to be around lots of family. Who wants to have a Thanksgiving feast by themselves? I realize sometimes that friends must step in for family, but we were blessed to be able to make the road trip to Utah this year.

It was such a relaxing trip full of good food and fun activities. My whole family was together and we had a really fun time. Some of the highlights included: playing games, going bowling (a big hit with the boys, McKay takes his game pretty seriously), a movie (Twilight for the girls, and Madagascar 2 for my Mom and boys), a scrumptious dinner at the Brazilian grill Tucano's, a trip to see Christmas lights at Temple Square, and a Jazz game. It was a busy five days and it always makes me realize how much I miss being with family. I'm glad we're on the countdown for more family time at Christmas!

BYU vs. Air Force

I know we are late getting this posting up, but a week ago we went and saw BYU play Air Force in Colorado Springs. It was a beautiful sunny day in the upper 40s. Lamont bought a very large amount of tickets to the game (59 to be exact)and we quickly sold all tickets to ward members to attend the game with us. Unfortunately, we were split into two sections. But, we had a great time cheering on the Cougars with many ward members. This is something that we may try and do each year they play in Colorado Springs. The fans were great, the drive was not too bad, and they had a fly over and parachuting before the game. We all had a lot of fun...and BYU won the game which made it even more fun! We also enjoyed having Lamont's cousin Sharee and family come and stay with us in preparation for the big game.

The Big 30!

This past weekend we celebrated Lamont's birthday. Even though the day started out slow with sealing the concrete in the garage and then a Stake Priesthood Leadership Meeting we hope it still ended up to be a good one. We love you!

Happy Halloween

It was a busy week of Halloween parties and trick-or-treating with a mild case of the stomach flu mixed in. Carter and McKay had fun getting several days of use out of their Halloween costumes. Carter decided to be a clown this year and McKay was Bob the Builder. They had a party at the church one day and two friend's parties other days. For one party even I had to dress up, and won second prize thanks to the use of my friend's Egyptian costume. Both boys did come down with the 24 hour stomach flu this week as well, but amazingly enough they were both healthy for all of the Halloween parties and the big day itself, which was a blessing! On halloween day we started trick-or-treating early at our outdoor mall (weather was in the high 70's and beautiful). They went from store to store collecting candy. We then grabbed a quick bite to eat at Rumbi Grill and headed over to the church for some trunk-or-treating. Of course the boys loved seeing all their friends there. It was then home to get some last candy from the neighbors on our street. Finally we were able to relax while watching Ichabod Crane and eating doughnuts and carmel apples.