Fall Break in Corpus Christi

This year we decided that we wanted to take advantage of the boys' week off for fall break. Finally, a last minute decision was made to buy some flights into San Antonio and to go and visit friends in Corpus Christi. It had been 4 years since we had moved away and we were excited to go back. We found that not too much with Corpus had changed in our four year absence - they were getting new Walmarts and Krispy Kreme had closed, but other than that it felt so similar to when we left it.

We had a lot of fun staying with Lamont's cousin Kevin and his family. It had been a while since we had seen them and it was so good to get together. Tanner had a great time playing with their little girl Kimball.

One morning Lamont, Carter, and McKay did a little deep sea fishing with our friend, Dave. They had a blast and it was definitely a highlight of their trip. They caught about a dozen fish, but just kept the good ones. While the older boys were gone, Tanner and I got our fill of fish at the aquarium.

No trip to Corpus is complete without spending some time at the beach. We enjoyed a hot dog roast there with our friends the Weatherston's. It was a lot of fun and it felt just like old times. In fact, we had such a great time that we decided to spend the next day at the beach as well. I realized that Tanner had never been to a real beach before and he just ate up every minute of it. Little Everett even got in on some of the action with his swim gear.

One night we spent some time with our friends the Bright's and Morse's. It was so fun to catch up. When we lived there, our kids were such good friends and we found it didn't take long for them to pick up right where they left off.

We also stayed at the Alexander's. They were so hospitable and we enjoyed spending time swimming in their pool (while there was a major snow storm at home in Denver), playing the Wii, and enjoyed a cajun fish fry courtesy of the boys's fishing trip. So delicious!

McKay's 6th Birthday

McKay turned six on October 14. He was very excited because this year he decided on a Halloween party. We celebrated with our own family on the actual day with a dinner at his favorite restaurant, Red Robin. This was followed by cake and presents at home.

On Saturday it was time for the friends to come over dressed in costume for the big party. It was such a cute group of kids from school and church.

We played many Halloween games beginning with dancing to spooky music and musical chairs.

Everyone then had a go at the ghost pinata. We started from youngest to oldest. So, by the time it got around to Carter for the second time we let him polish it off.

It was then time for some pumpkin bowling.

Last, pizza and ghost cupcakes followed by presents.

I think McKay had a great time and it was a fun party, but since we only do friend parties every other year, I have two years to gear up before the next one. Whew!

Day Out With Thomas

McKay and Tanner were so excited (I think Carter was excited too, but didn't want to admit it - we are at that age!) when we told them that Thomas was coming to Colorado and that we were going to spend a day out with him. Tanner prepared for the day by pulling all of his Thomas trains and tracks out and played with them nonstop for the two weeks prior.

When we arrived at the Railroad Museum in Golden it was a little crazy to say the least. We had to park a mile away and were bused into the area. As soon as we got in it was our allotted time to board the actual train. Of course, that was right about the time that Everett decided to have a major explosion in his diaper. Once we were passed the inital stress,and Everett was in clean clothes again, we were able to enjoy our train ride and the rest of our day. Tanner just kept staring at Thomas and talking to him like he couldn't believe that Thomas was actually pulling the train that he was in. It was about a 20 minute ride around the area.

After the train ride it was onto the many other activities they had available including storytime, train tables, coloring, and meeting Sir Topham Hat. Tanner was excited about meeting him since he is Thomas's conductor. So, we decided to wait in line for the chance to talk to Sir Topham. Much to my surprise as soon as we got up to him, Tanner had a complete meltdown. He started screaming and was scared to stand by Sir Topham Hat. I quickly scooped him up so we could snap our picture. When questioning Tanner later, he told us that he thought Sir Topham Hat was "big" and that he "did not like Topham Hat" and did not want to see him again. I guess we are not quite ready for Disneyland yet!

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed all the Thomas fesitivites as well as the train museum. Before we left we had to drive by Thomas one last time and honk and wave good-bye.

Blessing Day

September 4 was a special day for us when Everett was blessed. He is such a sweet baby, and who can resist those chubby cheeks?! It was so nice to have so much of our family in town to share this special day with us. My whole family, Lamont's parents and two brothers (and one fiance) all stayed with us at our home. I believe that, including our family, there were 19 of us all staying at our home! Our kids were in heaven to have so much family here, and despite what you may be thinking, we had a wonderful time. We kept things busy with BYU football, BBQ, Thai cooking class, bowling, and going to see Les Miserables in addition to the blessing day. It was a very memorable weekend, and we feel very blessed and loved to have so much family to share it with!

Everett Taylor Larsen

Everett Taylor was born on July 21, 2011 at 8:34pm. He was 7 lb. 12 oz. and 20 3/4 inches long. He was born at 37 weeks, one day earlier than our planned c-section due to contractions after the amnio. The c-section went well and he is a healthy and perfect little boy. After some minor setbacks we are both doing well and trying to adjust to a daily schedule. His three brothers just adore him and want to kiss him all the time. McKay tells him that he has fluffy cheeks and a fluffy nose. Tanner wants to make sure that we all know that he is still "the little boy" and Everett is the baby. Carter wants us to note that he is a newborn and not just a baby. We all love him and are so blessed to have him join our family.

Fourth of July Celebration

For the Fourth of July we took a little family getaway up to the mountains. We stayed in timeshare/hotel in Fraser, CO. We had a great time fishing, swimming, and just spending time together as a family. One highlight for the boys was the continental breakfast each morning. The other highlight was the six rainbow trout fish that they caught. One of Carter's was even 15 inches! I enjoyed being in the outdoors and some relaxing time reading.

We also went to the local rodeo in Granby, followed by a great fireworks show. On Sunday we attended a local branch and then drove around Rocky Mountain National Park. It was beautiful! The elevation was so high that we could hardly believe that we were seeing snow right out our window in July! We were also able to see a lot of wildlife - moose, elk, and bighorn sheep. The Fourth of July brought more fun when we took the kids to the Granby parade. They brought in the full fire department, hoses and all, and threw out candy to the boys. It was fun to be in a small city and take in all the festivities including a BBQ in the park after the parade. We made it home later that day just in time to do our own fireworks. Below are the pictures from our fun trip.

Tanner's big accomplishment

Tanner's big accomplishment recently is that he is now potty trained! We made it into big boy underwear before the baby will be born. Tanner was our easiest child to potty train. He knew what it was about from the very beginning, the rewards of M&M's, Skittles, and Taffy helped as well. Another motivator for Tanner is that he has a Cars Potty Seat that he gets to sit on.

I know that some have a one day potty training method that they do, but that has never worked for our kids. It is a several month process to reach the point where they rarely have accidents, but then they are potty trained for good. We start with the little rewards like candy each time and then work our way up into bigger rewards. For keeping his big boy underwear dry for a week Tanner got a Leakless Car from Cars and for keeping them dry for a week he earned the Cars 2 shirt that he is wearing. As a reward for good behavior for all the boys we took them to Cars 2 the weekend that it opened. Above, Tanner is so excited to be at the greatly anticipated movie!

Carter - awards/end of school year

Carter was very busy at the end of the school year, so busy in fact, that we decided to take a season off from soccer. Besides his baptism and starting cub scouts, Carter was involved in Chess club. This ran for most of the school year once a week after school. Carter has become a better chess player and was able to participate in several competitions. The first competitions were very intimidating for him, but things seemed to improve with each one. His last competition was on the district level. Lamont spent the day with him at the competition. It was a good learning experience for Carter and he placed in the middle of his age group. He was very proud of the participation trophy that he was able to bring home.

During the end of the school year, Carter was also named Aurora Scholar. This came as a surprise to us, but of course we are very proud of him. The city of Aurora picks one child per grade at each school in the city of Aurora to receive this award. Carter represented the 2nd graders from Challenge School. Unfortunately, we were out of town when this award was to be presented to him by the city mayor and council, so it was presented to him at a later date from his principal and vice-principal.

Carter had a great finish to the school year. Here he is with his teacher Ms. Blakeslee. She is an awesome teacher that gets right down on level with the kids. She has been his teacher for the past two years. I know that I can speak for Carter when I say that she will be greatly missed this next year.