Breckenridge

We are planning a Larsen family reunion over Thankgiving week in Breckenridge. So yesterday we went up to scout things out. We had a lot of fun in the meantime, and the sledding hill was the biggest hit. We can't wait till the reunion!!

*Dinostars*

Carter recently put on a class play called, "Dinostars." He had such a great time with it and made an impressive dinosaur. We practiced his speaking lines at home and he learned many dinosaur songs at school. It was fun to see him in the spotlight. His teacher recently commented when he was giving an oral presentation on coin collecting that, "Carter enjoys having an audience." So true! Here's a small sample.

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Cruise to Mexico!

For Christmas Lamont suprised me with a 3-day Cruise out of San Diego to Ensenada, Mexico on January 15. Cruises are very inexpensive right now and the airfaire was good, so it all worked out. The other fun surprise was that his brother Kimball and wife Marianne were to cruise with us as well. We all had a blast! My Mom was so great to volunteer to watch the boys on such short notice and we flew her out to Denver. The boys had a lot of fun with grandma, and it truly was a nice get away for us.

We arrived in San Diego early on Friday morning and hung out around town until it was time to board the ship. We ate at a cute local breakfast restaraunt, did some reading at Borders, and it was onto the ship. We first took some time out to check out everything on the ship. It was very large and elaborately decorated. That evening we set sail on the Carnival Elation. San Diego is such an impressive and beautiful city. I can see why so many people love it. It amazes me how their airport is right downtown and the airplanes just fly in between all the tall buildings.


Saturday was a day at sea. We ate, played some games, ate, saw some shows, relaxed, and ate some more. It really was an enjoyable day. We even saw hundreds of dolphins swimming in the ocean right beside our ship.

On Sunday we were ready to head out and see Ensenada, Mexico. That morning we went to church. It was very cool to see how other wards are run. I didn't understand anything, so it was a good thing Kimball was there to interpret for me. The talks were given by two recent converts. It was about 60 degrees that morning and it cracked me up how the members came to church in their wool coats and gloves. I guess they have never been to Denver!

After church we decided to rent a car and see the downtown market area. We did some barter shopping and ate some lunch at a good authenic Mexican restaraunt called El Charro. They grilled their chicken at the front of the restaraunt on a spit-grill and the tortillas were homemade - delicious! It was then on to La Bufadora. Which is an area along the Mexican coast where water is pulled down into some caves and the underwater pressure shoots the water into the air up to 70 feet. To me it was like Old Faithful Geyser of the water. There are only three in the world. It was fun to see. It was then a race to make it back to the Cruise ship before it set sail again.


Monday it was time to end our cruise already. I look back on our cruising time now and it almost seems like a dream. It was a wonderful 4 day weekend get away. We had so much fun catching up, laughing, and eating. Thanks Kimball for being the unofficial photographer. Thanks Mom for taking care of the boys! We are hoping to one day in future set sail again.

Christmas Festivities (part 3) ... and New Years

Grandma Moreton with all the grandsons!

The morning after Christmas we headed out to spend the next week in Utah to spend time with my family. To say the least, the drive there was an adventure. We usually go I-80 and saw that the night before it was supposed to be sunny along our way. Sure enough after entering Wyoming we found out that I-80 was closed due to high winds with blowing snow. We quickly looked at our map and decided to take a back road in hopes that when we again met up with the interstate that it would be open. The back road was much trickier to find than we antipated and when we finally met back up with the interstate we did not see the flashing sign that it was closed. We cautiously entered I-80 only to find that we were the only ones on the freeway and that it must not really be opened. We faced the dilemma of what to do next, and decided that the only thing we could do was to keep driving. We also quickly realized why the freeway had been closed as we drove through some pretty deep snowbanks. We went several miles and exited the first rest stop area. After being stranded by ourselves at the rest stop Lamont realized that we were only about 7 miles from Laramie and that the freeway was open after that. So, it was back on the closed freeway hoping not to get a ticket ($500 fine). Once we reached Laramie I could see the policemen ushering people off the freeway that were going I-80 East. We quickly exited and got some lunch at Carl's Jr. I have never been so happy to see Laramie in all my life. We made it into Sandy just over 10 hours later (it should have been an 8 hr. drive). We felt lucky and blessed to have made it safely-and without a ticket.

The rest of the week was very relaxing and fun. We opened presents with my family and just enjoyed our time together playing lots of games and catching up.
We took the boys to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point, watched lots of football, took in a movie, went bowling, did some shopping at the outlets, and went to a BYU basketball game.
We also rang in the New Year together after a tasty dinner at Tucano's Brazilian Grill and more game playing. Carter and McKay rang in the New Year a little early with some fireworks and cheesecake. It was a great way to start the new year off with family!

Christmas Festivities (part 2)

This was our first year to spend Christmas at our own home! We had a relaxing Christmas eve together. In the evening we went to Red Lobster and then came home to sing some Christmas songs, read from the Bible, the and watch the Nativity.
Santa came early the next morning. Lamont's family has a tradition of hiding from Santa which is really fun. McKay hid with Lamont behind the recliner, Carter hid under the kitchen table, and I hid behind the counter. Sure enough, Santa made it to our house at about 6am. Much to the boys surprise he carried in a new bike for Carter and a Cars scooter for McKay. Tanner got a little Ernie doll. They were thrilled. We then opened presents as a family. Lamont gave me a huge surprise this year. I opened a present with some suncreen, lei's, flip-flops, and a cruise guide that said we were to set sail on Janurary 15 to San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico. It was such a surprise and I am so excited to go on the cruise soon!

The rest of the day was spent talking to family and playing games. It was a quieter Christmas than we are used to and we are still deciding on many of the traditions that we would like in our family. However, it was nice to not have to travel in all the Christmas rush with all the presents and we enjoyed our time together.

Christmas Festivities (part 1)

Of course December was very busy getting ready for Christmas, but most of it was filled with enjoyable activities. We started off the month with our ward Christmas party. This year we participated in Back to Bethlehem. As a child, Back to Bethlehem was the Christmas party that I remember the most. It was also very memorable this year as we were able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and dress up like Bethlehem days (thanks Carmen!)and travel from room to room and participate in a program like we were of those times witnessing the events leading up to Christ's birth. It was a very nice evening. The Young Women leaders were in charge of the Inn.

Later in the month we hosted several gatherings at our home in preparation for Christmas. If nothing else, it made me get all my decorations up quickly and kept our home very clean all month. Carter and McKay both had their school Christmas parties as well. Although, Carter's was a "winter party" (I will not get started on the whole don't even mention Christmas thing...no candy canes, trees, ect.) which his grade did the winter olympics. I ran the paper airplane toss and all the kids had a lot of fun. McKay enjoyed his preschool party with cookie decorating and candy cane reindeer making.Let the games begin!

But, Christmas wouldn't be complete without a trip to see Santa. This year we visited Santa at Bass Pro Shop. The boys enjoyed the morning playing in Santa's Wonderland and loved every moment of it. They had guns to shoot, cars to race, and sports video games to play. I would definitely recommend going here next year. The best part was that everything was free!

Merry Christmas from the Larsens

Merry Christmas! It has been another eventful year for our family. Our biggest news is that our third child – Tanner Cole Larsen – was born on February 28, 2009. It has been wonderful having a baby in our home again. Tanner is growing so fast and has been a really good baby. He already crawls around the house and is into everything. Aside from being a mom, Melissa stays very busy at church as Young Women’s president. It is a lot of work, but very rewarding. Lamont continues to enjoy his law practice at Davis, Graham & Stubbs, and also serves at church in the Elders Quorum. Carter is in 1st grade and loves everything about school, especially art and math. He is a good student and only struggles with losing his jacket at recess. McKay is in a co-op preschool with all of his friends, and is learning to read and write his name. Both Carter and McKay played soccer this year. The fall season was McKay’s first and Lamont coached his team, made up of twelve 3 and 4-year olds. It was a lot of fun. We love the Christmas season and the chance to spend time with family and to reflect on the birth and life of Christ. We have been richly blessed this past year. Best wishes for a warm holiday season and a happy new year.

Love,

Lamont, Melissa, Carter, McKay, and Tanner Larsen

Thanksgiving

Christmas is almost here, so I better get to my Thanksgiving post. It was fun to have Lamont's brother Kimball here with his family all the way from Washington. Carter and McKay LOVED having their cousins here! This was my first year to actually make the Thanksgiving dinner. I even did the homemade rolls all by myself, which I have never done before, but did not want Rhodes Rolls for Thanksgiving. Lamont and Kimball did the pies and everyone just pitched in when needed and the dinner turned out fabulous if I do say so myself.
Voila! The Thanksgiving dinner

Carter and Aubrey made cute little placecards for our table.

It was a nice dinner with family

Tanner's first Thanksgiving was a success. He especially loved the pumpkin pie; he ate a whole piece all by himself!

Yum! The pies.

The next day we went to Hammonds Candy Factory and watched all the Christmas candy being made. The kids loved all the free samples!

Chance, Aubrey, McKay, Carter, Sydnee, and Jaxon

Afterwards, we walked around downtown Denver.

It was so fun to have Kimball, Marianne, and kids for Thanksgiving. Thanks for driving all that way to spend the holiday with us. Carter and McKay were so sad to see their cousins go!

November Visitors

We love having visitors and November was the month of lots of visitors. At the beginning of the month my sisters came out to go see the play Wicked with Lamont and I. It was fabulous; I think we all had the music running through our minds the rest of the night. We had a yummy dinner at Maggiano's beforehand and then had a little jog to the theatre:). While they were here that weekend we also got to check out the Denver Art Museum for the first time. It was a good musuem with a few Monets and some western art by Charles Russell. Carter and McKay loved all of the children activities that they had available and really got into the artwork. I thought they might be a little bored, but it was one of their favorite places they have been downtown and they talked about it for weeks. Boys after my own heart! My sisters, Melanie, Megan, and Michelle in town for Wicked!
Carter and McKay dressing up at the Denver Art Museum

My grandparents came the next weekend, also to see Wicked. It is the first time they have come to visit us in our home and the boys loved having them here. We went to the Butterfly Pavilion which was a lot of fun and ended the day with some BYU football and a trip to Texas Roadhouse where we were once again able to celebrate Lamont's birthday. Yum!Fun to have my grandparents in town
The Butterfly Pavilion
Tanner getting crazy at Texas Roadhouse

It was less than two weeks later when we were able to have Lamont's brother, Kimball and his family come and stay with us for Thanksgiving. We are always happy to have family come and stay with us it is almost like a vacation for us too!

Soccer Season

It has now been a month since soccer season ended, but I am just getting around to posting. This was McKay's first season to play and he loved it! Lamont was able to be his coach along with 11 other 3-4 year olds. It was a handful, but fun and rewarding. After watching Carter play soccer for several seasons McKay caught on very quickly. He has a good little kick and was very excited to get his first trophy. Lamont has signed on to be his coach again in the spring. Carter continues to improve his soccer skills and is becoming more defense minded. He did still score a goal this season, but his main focus was to keep the other team from scoring. He received the Toughest Defender award. For now we'll enjoy our break until spring season gets underway.

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Happy Halloween!

Well, the boys made a haul this Halloween! With pumpkins full to the brim with candy and three trick-or-treating trips to the outdoor mall, the church, and neighbors the boys had their halloween fill. Carter had a hard time deciding what to be this Halloween, but finally decided on a doctor since that is what he wants to be when he grows up. McKay on the other hand knew from day one that he wanted to be a cowboy and he stuck to his guns (no pun intended). My favorite part of his costume was his snake skin boots. On halloween he told everyone that he was a cowboy and to call him Bronco. He is such a funny little boy. Tanner was a bear for halloween. We called him Boo the Bear. He didn't mind the fluffy part of his costume, but did NOT like the cute bear hat. It was a challenge getting pictures before he ripped the bear hat off. The doctor

The cowboy

The bear

We had some friends over for some halloween fun and decided to dress up.Look who discovered the candy!

It's beginning to look at lot like....halloween?!?

Yes, this was our snow storm two days before halloween. We received about 2 feet at our house, it was crazy. Unfortunately many of our pre-halloween plans were cancelled. However, it was great packing snow and we had some fun building a very large snowman. Those were some large and heavy snowballs that about did Lamont and I both in!