Developing Skills and Talents

Carter set some goals this summer and achieved them right before school started. The first one was to learn to swim, which after two sessions of lessons and a trip to Grandma's pool in Texas we saw some definite improvement. The second goal was to learn to tie his shoes. This came right at the time school was starting. Hopefully this will improve the condition of his shoelaces. The third goal was to learn to ride his bicycle - training wheels off! This goal took an entire summer of bike rides and a lot of work before he was able to achieve this goal. He now loves to ride up and down the streets with very few falls. Carter is also beginning to learn how to play the piano. Here is a clip of him playing "Ode to Joy" in our ward talent show after a little big riding demonstration.

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When it was time for the ward talent show we asked McKay what he would like to do. He told me, "maybe bounce a ball." This was a good idea, however, as we looked deeper into his talents we decided that his dancing and singing were pretty good. Here he is dancing to a t.v. show called Phineas and Ferb and then singing "I Lived in Heaven" for the ward talent show.

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Tanner is getting big so quickly. He is already doing an army crawl at six months! I don't remember my other boys being that young, maybe I have just forgotten. We have to watch out now with what we leave on the floor because if he spots something he wants then it is only a matter of minutes or seconds until he gets there. He has also started on solid foods. He loves all the fruit that he has tried, but is not a big fan of squash and we are still working on carrots. Here he is crawling and then trying rice cereal for the first time.

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BYU vs. Oklahoma

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BYU vs. Oklahoma

We just got back from spending a few days with my family in Texas. It was great to relax, swim and spend time with family. But of course, the biggest highlight was the BYU-OU game. We were dreaming of a victory, but in reality just hoping that BYU didn't get blown out. The whole game, from the stadium, to the LOUD and PROUD BYU fans, to the atmosphere was just awesome. Definitely one of the best BYU victories of all-time.

Back to School

We are now officially back into the swing of things with school. Carter is a big first grader and loving it. When he arrived home from his first day I asked him how his day was and he told me, "Wonderful! Even better than Kindergarten." He then went on to give me a detailed account of his daily schedule. At Carter's school they do grouping, so he is in a class with half first-graders and half second-graders. We'll see how that goes, but for now no homework and he loves being back. We have a great carpool this year which means that I only have to pick him up twice a week -which I love!


McKay started his preschool co-op again with some new and some old friends. He also loves it and asks me every day if he gets to go to school that day. He is one of the older kids this year and I think that he enjoys knowing all the answers. We'll see how much I enjoy the co-op when it is my turn to teach next week.

A Quick Trip...

Recently we made a quick trip to Utah and Idaho. My uncle passed away of Parkinson's Disease and it was a good time to be together as family. Due to the unexpected nature of a funeral we flew my sister, Michelle, out here to help me drive to Utah with the kids. It was a big help and enabled me to attend her graduation at BYU the next day.Michelle graduated in Psychology

Lamont flew in a couple days later and on Saturday morning we headed to Burley, Idaho for the funeral. Even though it was under sad circumstances, it was great to see everyone. My cousins live mainly in Idaho and Canada, so we don't see each other often. If it had been under better circumstances it would have been more like a family reunion. It was a good time to reflect upon the importance of family and to support one another.
Most of my cousins on my dad's side

Ward Campout

Two weeks ago we went on our ward campout. Carter and McKay had been counting down the weeks ever since the Father's and Son's campout. As it turns out McKay was a little under the weather on the day of the campout, but that did not stop him. With a little Motrin he was ready to go.

The campout was not too far away in the Golden area. It had great group facilities and we had a great turnout from our ward. I would say we had at least 25 families. In the evening we made dutch oven pizzas with some friends and for dessert made dutch oven cherry chocolate cake and homemade ice cream (the hand shaking way in ziploc). It was a lot of fun. Then it was time for some singing around the campfire. Carter and McKay are too funny. The minute it began to get dark outside they were ready to get in the tent and were begging us to let them go to sleep. After a little more socializing we finally gave them their wish.

*On a side note, Carter just cracks me up. That night at camp he came up to me and was holding a big stick like a cane and made me guess who he was. When I was unable to guess he told me that he was Theodore Roosevelt (Duh Mom, "I am carrying a big stick").

Anyways, Tanner did great through the night on a little pallet beside me (especially considering so many other babies were crying) and we had a great breakfast in the morning provided by the bishopric. The YW were in charge of some water balloon volleyball that ended up to be a lot of fun as well. Carter told me that he wished he could go camping every month!

On the way home we visited the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave. It was pretty interesting and worth the time and money. We did a quick tour since we were all pretty tired, but I am sure that we'll make it there again sometime.

Summer Fun!

We have had a very busy and fun summer since we have been home from our summer vacation. Here is a little bit about what we have been up to...

We had Reece, Grandma and Grandpa Larsen at our house over the fourth of July. We celebrated with some fireworks of our own and took in a Rockies Baseball game where there was an awesome firework show.



The boys took two sessions of swimming lessons which they really enjoyed. I noticed improvement with both of them. The first day of lessons McKay would not even get in the water, but by the end he was swimming away.



Carter enrolled in a soccer summer camp. Even though it was really hot he seemed to have so much fun. Once again it was great to see his skills really improve. He has come such a long way in soccer!

Both boys have been very involved in our library's summer reading program. They had a to read 15 min. a day for 6 weeks to receive all the prizes. One prize was a pass to Lakeside Amusement park. It was pretty ghetto, but I guess you can't beat free and Carter and McKay sure had a lot of fun. We are now working on the Barnes and Noble reading program.

And last but not least, I attended Girl's Camp with my Young Women for a day. I drove them up to camp and stayed the day with them. Since Tanner is still so small I did not stay the night - I have some great leaders who did. I'm sure next year, however, will be a different story. I have decided that I think camp preparation is almost harder than attending girl's camp and I learned a lot about how to do things next year.Heading up to camp with my Mia Maids and Beehives

Family Trip

McKay, just happy to be on vacation
Tanner was a trooper, but got pretty worn out.

Our family vacationed at the end of June with the Moretons. It was so nice to have all of the family together. We went on a church history trip. We started by staying in Kansas City and seeing the sites in Indepedence, MO. We also took in the whole area of Richmond, Liberty, Far West, and Adam-ondi-Ahman. We even had some time to enjoy to Kansas City BBQ. It was then off to Nauvoo. The temple is so incredible there. It is absolutely amazing inside and outside. It was a highlight of the trip to do a session there. We enjoyed tours of the replica homes in the city of Nauvoo. Carter and McKay especially liked going to the blacksmith and the brick maker. They also learned how to make cookies, shoes, and even rope there. The next day we went to Carthage Jail where the prophet Joseph Smith was martyred. It is such sacred ground there and a great place for reflection. It was then on to Winter Quarters just outside of Omaha, NE. There we were able to go to the visitor's center, temple, pioneer cemetery, and Kanesville Tabernacle. It was amazing to think of the trek that the pioneers made across the plains. Here we were driving a similar route in our air conditioned car. We thought we were going to die of heat exhaustion just walking around to the different sites. This trip was a great testimony builder to me of the truthfulness of the church. It was also a great time to be together as a family playing games and having fun together. It will always be a memorable trip.

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End of the School Year

Carter had a lot of festivities at the end of the school year. First he had what they call immersion week and learned about Mexico. One day they took a field trip to a fun Mexican restaurant and saw cliff divers perform. Later in the week they had a Mexican fiesta. I went and helped prepare all the food and stayed for the lunch, dancing, and pinata. It was fun to watch the kids do the Mexican Hat Dance, and as Carter told me, "Mom, I am very good at it." I would have to agree with him; you can judge for yourself.

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The next week his class put on a frog puppet show for all the parents. It was very cute. This year his class has also worked diligently on a personal narrative. Carter wrote his on a family trip to Nickel-A-Play arcade. He did a great job reading his book to the class and parents.
All of a sudden the end of the year was here. Carter had his last day on June 5. They had a little Kindergarten graduation. At the graduation each student was honored with a candy bar and certificates. Carter was awarded the Reese's Whip for "whipping up the most interesting conversation." That is definitely Carter! Carter had a great year and made many friends and learned so much. There were several tears wept by his teachers and some others as good-byes were said. I know Carter will miss being at school, but he is excited to get going with some of our summer plans.
Carter and his teacher Ms.Peppler

Tornado?!

The tornado at Southlands only a couple of miles from our home

Or "tormado" as McKay kept calling it, and yes we really had one here in Aurora yesterday. We were actually in church at the time and Lamont was teaching the Elder's Quorum and I was teaching the Young Women. I was just teaching away to what sounded like a serious rainstorm when the Bishop came busting into the classroom and told us all to get out in the hall. I had no clue what was going on until I saw one of our friends with a picture of a funnel cloud on his cell phone that was taken from the church parking lot. Lamont of course went to check it out and saw the funnel in the distance.
After rounding up the boys we headed into the chapel to wait out the tornado and hail storm. Luckily the tornado did not hit the church, but on the way home we noticed a fencing area torn to shreds about a half mile away. It is amazing to me how isolated tornados can be; one spot is untouched while the next is destoryed. We returned to our home to find it just fine. We made it through the storm with only some minor hail damage to the car (the hail was about the size of a quarter). Unforunately we can't say the same for our favorite shopping area, Southlands. We drove down there yesterday evening to assess the damage. From the reports and damage we knew which way the tornado had gone, which was right over our neighborhood. It just didn't touch down thank goodness. Many of the stores in the shopping area had some significant damage with trees being ripped out and shingles ripped off of roofs. Many homes around the area also received damage. I thought we were through with this sort of thing after moving from Texas. I guess I need to remember that we are on the Kansas side of Colordao. It was such a crazy day and we feel blessed to make it out with only minor hail damage.
Damage in the Lowes parking lot

Memorial Weekend

We did not go anywhere for Memorial day this year, but were lucky to have my sister Michelle come into town and spend the weekend with us. We decided to check out Golden, CO for the day and went to Heritage Square. It was set up like an old fashioned town with a little amusement park inside. We let the boys choose a couple rides to go on, but most of all they wanted to mini golf. McKay felt like he knew what he was doing and didn't even want any help. But, I would have to say the highlight was the Alpine Slide. We took the ski lifts to the top of the mountain and then went down on little bobsleds. It was beautiful up there and a lot of fun. McKay kept accelerating our sled - no fear! Afterwards we went to scope out Red Rocks Amphitheater. It was gorgeous and I can see why it is a hot venue for concerts.




On Monday we went to a Larsen BBQ up in Broomfield and then hit the Rockies Baseball game. Luckily we dodged the rain and all had a great time. Thanks Aunt Michelle for coming to visit and for giving us an excuse to do so many fun things!

Preschool Graduation!

McKay graduated from his first year of preschool in our co-op. It was a good year with a cute group of kids. The kids celebrated with a tropical themed swim party and BBQ. McKay became good friends with all the kids in his class and really enjoyed going twice a week. He is learning letter sounds and blending them together. He is also learning how to write his name. But, his strength seems to come with numbers. With a little help he can count to 100 and is always asking me to add numbers for him. In fact, he was given the Exceptional Number Knowledge award at his end of year party.