Christmas Letter 2008

(Most of you who are reading this may have already gotten this letter, but for those of you who haven't here is a little bit of what we have been up to this year. It's been a busy year!)

Larsen Family Christmas Letter 2008

Here is a brief summary of what the Larsen Family has been up to this past year.
Mat quit Wal-Mart in February after graduating from Provo College in December and started work as a Graphic Designer in Payson. He quit there in June finding a better job as a Graphic Designer in Orem working with the Phone Directories Company and he loves it there. He and Nikol are Cub Scout leaders over the Bears and really enjoy it. The boys are awesome and we have learned a lot.
Nikol is staying at home with her now three boys. She found at she was pregnant in February and was scared to death, but now is still scared but really enjoying having three boys, Daxton, Corbin and Hayden. She does her best to stay sane, but it doesn’t always happen. Thank goodness family lives so close to help her out. She did nothing but can goodies all summer long with her family from green beans to salsa to peaches and even apple pie filling, yummy.
Daxton is now 3 years old and is really growing up. He is speaking more clearly and really can get his point across when he is upset with you. We have had a few issues where he has bit a few of the kids in nursery, but he is getting a lot better at that. He is now potty trained and mom is really excited so that she doesn’t have 3 in diapers. He will start preschool in the fall and mom is also really excited, though sad that her little boy is growing up. Daxton loves anything Disney, but loves Woody and Buzz. He also likes fire trucks, building with blocks, playing outside with cousins, reading books and singing rhymes and gives great loves and kisses to his little brothers. He is mommy’s big helper.
Corbin is 18 months old and is growing up too fast. He catches on to things so quickly and understands more than you would think. He decided to start climbing on everything a week or so before his baby brother was born and mom wasn’t too excited about that. He is another big helper for mommy. He loves to give Hayden kisses and sit by mommy when she is feeding the baby. He loves to read books with his Papa and his favorite word is “more.” He wants more of everything. He is hilarious and is always bringing a smile to our faces. He loves to do everything that big brother is doing, which is cute but frustrating for all. We love him and are very grateful for him to be apart of our family.
Hayden Kendon Larsen was born October 19, 2008. He weighed 8lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long, and weighs over 11 lbs now. He’s a big boy. He is a joy to be in our family. He gives great smiles to his mommy at the points in the day when she really needs it. We wouldn’t trade him for anything.
We want to let you know how grateful we are for our Savior to be in our lives and that this is why we celebrate this time of year is because He came to Earth to save us. He is such a wonderful example to us. We also want you all to know that we are very grateful for each one of you and we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. To keep up with our family see our blog: http://matandnikollarsen.blogspot.com/
Love you all! Mat, Nikol, Daxton, Corbin, and Hayden Larsen

Merry Christmas!!!

Winter Wonderland

Well, another winter storm has hit us again to help make a white Christmas for us. Daxton has been begging us to go play "snowball" outside. Well, after Mat got home from work we got the boys ready and went outside to let them play in the snow. It was not the greatest snow to build a snowman or snowballs with, but the boys had fun anway. Mat had this great idea to use the metal shovel of my parents as a sled for the boys. He had the boys sit down and he pulled them around the driveway like a sled and they had a blast. Corbin kept falling off because he wouldn't hold onto the handle, but he still wanted to get right back on. Here are a few of the pictures that we took that night.

Here is Daxton having a blast. Mat could go a little bit faster around the driveway with Daxton because he would hold on and it made Daxton just laugh and wanting more.
It was even snowing when we went outside and that made it all the better.

Mat trying to hit me with the camera with a snowball. Daxton kept trying to hit me too, and then he would run away because he knows that mom will get him back.

Cute Corbin in his snowsuit. Aren't they cute?!?!

Well, we are wishing you all a happy and Merry Christmas from us all. Travel safely and we will give you and update after the holidays are over of how they all turned out. I'M SO EXCITED!! Daxton is too, he keeps asking when Santa's coming. I'm glad to say that it's only in a few more days. Love you all and Merry Christmas!

Snows big game!!

So I wanted to tell you all that I'm proud to be a Snow Badger, and yes even a True Badger. But anyway, to show my badger pride I went to their National Championship game at the Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy with other Snow Badgers, my brother, sister-in-law, sister and brother-in-law, Mat and even lil' Hayden. We had a really good time and we just want to show you the pictures that we took while we were there. Even though Snow lost in double overtime it was still a really good game. We had fun talking to the family in front us that were Butler College fans, and we really annoyed the Butler Cheerleaders everytime we shouted just the opposite of what they were saying. It was a lot of fun. I hope that you enjoy these pictures. It was a good day to get away from the other two boys and spend some time with adults. The boys were with Mat's mom helping decorate for Christmas while we screamed and yelled and had a blast. YEAH FOR FOOTBALL!!!

Here is Hayden all dressed warm while we sat in the shade most of the day. It got cold but like I said we had fun. Hayden was really good. Even when we were screaming and yelling he slept the whole time. Good lil' boy!

Here is a hand-off that Snow's doing. And on the other side of the stadium was all of the other Snow College fans. I wouldn't trade my seats for anything though. We were in the really nice, comfy, cushioned seats that are apparently for REAL games about $175. They were also right on the 50 yard line and three rows from the front. They were great.
Here is a picture of my sister Apryl, Me, and my brother Ryan. 5 out of us 6 kids went to Snow College. And out of those 5, 3 found their spouses there, and that was who went to the game. My other two brothers were unable to make it.

Here is a picture of all 7 of us. From left to right: Dave and Apryl Durrant, Nikol, Mat and Hayden Larsen, and Cindy and Ryan Lee.

We went to the tailgating party before the game at Jordan High School and all us got our faces painted. Mat went all out and got his whole face painted. The boys thought that it was great when we saw them later that we got paint on our faces.

I thought that I would show you a few updated pictures of my lil' guy. This is about a week ago. Isn't he cute?!?! I sure think so. He looks a lot like Mat and the rest of the Larsen family. Especially with Mat's blue eyes. YEAH!!

Here he is on tummy time. See you can see his gorgeous blue eyes.

Hope all will have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Love you all!

Family Photos

Giving Thanks!

I thought that since it is the week of Thanksgiving that I would share with you what I am thankful for. There are so many things that I have been blessed with that it is hard to start, but I think that I will start with my husband. I am so thankful for Mat. He does so much for me and keeps me going, especially on the days that I just want to give up and can't go anymore. He helps me take care of the boys and fixes me wonderful meals and is always willing to let me take a nap when I have just about had it. He is always there to listen to me and make me laugh and smile. He is such a wonderful husband that I don't deserve, but am very grateful to have in my life. I am also thankful for my boys and the joy that they are, even when they can frustrate me they always seem to soften my heart and bring a smile to my face. Corbin is always there to sit next to me and give me a kiss on the cheek and a great love. Daxton is always there to bring a smile to my face for something silly that he has done and all the great "I love you mommy!". Hayden brings a smile to my face when he curls up on my chest and falls asleep and lets me know that I can keep going on. I am also grateful for the gospel that I have my life and the knowledge that I have of Jesus Christ. I know that He is my Savior and Redeemer and I am so grateful that He atoned for me. I am grateful for prayer. For that chance for me to get down on my knees and thank my Father in Heaven for all that He has given me, for all of the special blessings in my life. I'm grateful for my family that I have near by me that give me support and love. It is so nice to have almost all of my siblings here as well as with my in-laws and I am grateful that I can spend such wonderful times with them. I'm grateful for my friends. Although I'm not able to see many of you often I know that you care for me and my family just like we care for you. We think of you often and want you to know how much we appreciate your friendship and times that we have spent together and hope to spend more time with you. I'm extremely grateful for temples and the priesthood power on this earth. I would be lost without it. It brings such peace to my mind that I can be with my family forever and to know that Our Father in Heaven does love and care for each one of us. One more thing that I am thankful for is my freedom and this land that we live in. Even though things have been hard and many have lost their lives, I know that I live in a land that God has prepared for us and that He does watch out for us.Well, before I carry on to much I just want to say thanks again for all the you do and hope that you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Here is a slideshow of pictures that I have been meaning to put on of my family that my wonderful sister-in-law Cindy did for us.

We're off to see the wizard.....

Ok. So here is our family on Halloween. Both Mat and I barely finished our costumes before we went with the boys trick-or-treating with my sister and her family to a trunk-or-treat ordeal in their neighborhood. It was more that you sat on a blanket at the park by their house and then you passed out the candy to all that came by. Anyway, we had fun going with our family theme. If you couldn't guess already we went as the Wizard of Oz. This was all Mat's idea. He thought that since Corbin would be wearing Daxton's old lion costume that we could easily do the rest of Dorthy's friends. So that is what we did. I hope that you like our costumes. We had a blast and a lot of people took pictures of us and thought that we were a cute family. It was fun though.

Here is Daxton showing off his Scarecrow costume. He loved it and was always showing off to people. He kept loosing his hat so for most of the night I held on to it.

Here is the whole family. And yes we even dressed up Hayden. He's my little Toto. Mat had spray painted his hair and hands. He made his whole costume out of cardboard. It took him a couple of nights to figure out a good design so that it wasn't so boxy and I think he accomplished that idea.

My sister has a tradition to have a Halloween party during October with all friends and family. However, this year she was gone for most of October with some family to Walt Disney World and part of the southern states. So instead she had a All Hallows Day party or All Saints Day. It was a lot of fun and we always have fun at my sister's Halloween Parties. So here are a few pictures of the activities that we did. Well I guess one activity that we did, which was a donut eating contest where you see who can eat the donut the fastest without having it fall or without touching the donut. Some of the other activities that we did were BINGO, memory trivia about All Saints Day, and a guess how many. It was fun. It was the first year that my brother Ryan and his wife Cindy were able to be with us at the party.

Here is Mat and I again with Hayden.

Here is my mom and dad. My mom dressed up as a gypsy and my dad as Dracula.

Here is my sister, Apryl and her husband Dave with the donut eating contest. No they didn't win, but it was fun to watch all who participated get into it or some that were laughing so hard that they couldn't even do it. Apryl and Dave dressed up as Sandy and Danny from Grease.

Here is another picture of Sandy and Danny (aka Apryl and Dave).

Here is a picture of my brother, Ryan and his wife Cindy. They dressed up as Safari Mickey and Safari Goofy. Cindy didn't want to be Minnie, since that is what their little girl, Phebe, dressed up as.

Hope you enjoyed the picture from Halloween. We had a really good time. People were shocked that I was out trick-or-treating with my family, but it was a lot of fun. If it was really cold and bad weather I wouldn't have, but it was fairly nice. Hope that you had a nice Halloween and I am getting excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can't wait to finally meet my neice, Korryn Rebecca Lee. She was born 6 days before Hayden was born. My sister-in-law and I were due the exact same day, but she had her little girl just a few days before. Happy Holidays everyone!!

So much in two and a half weeks!

So much has happened in the two weeks that we have had little Hayden home with us. First we got our pumpkins decorated finally. I wanted to do them the week before, but I was in the hospital and yeah, kind of impossible to do it there. But anyway, the boys had a lot of fun. Corbin didn't want a lot of help from me or Mat because he wanted to be a big boy and do it himself. He is on this big kick to be just like big brother and do everything that he does. It gets frustrating at times, but what can you do. Anway, we got the pumpkins decorated with the help of Mat's designs and ideas and the boys had a blast.

Here is Mat and Corbin showing off Corbin's pumpkin.

Here is Daxton being his cuteself and posing for the camera while getting all the guts out of the pumpkin.
Here are my boys working on their pumpkins.
Here is Hayden at a week old and just as cute as can be.
Hayden is a pretty good baby. He just had his two week check up and is doing great. In just two weeks he has gained a little over a pound from his birth weight. When he came home from the hospital he was only 7lbs 10oz. But now he weighs 9lbs 3oz and is 21 1/4 inches long. He is a big boy. Not much has changed. I will show pictures of us from Halloween when my boys give me a chance. It's been fun, but crazy to have 3 kids. Sometimes I don't know if I can do it, but Mat is always there to pull me through.

Here is Daxton showing off his pumpkin. Mat wanted the pumpkin to be eating another little pumpkin. Daxton thought that that was pretty cool.

Here's our New Addition

I finally had Hayden Kendon Larsen Sunday October 19th @ 6:41 am. I went into labor Saturday night about 8:30pm and went to the hospital about 11 pm. The checked me and I was at a 3 and my cervix was tipped backwards (posterior). My contractions were about every 5 minutes and an hour later they checked me and I was at a 5 and my cervix was still tipped back. But they still admitted me to the hospital and I continued to be in labor but was trying really hard to be strong and not get an epidural. Around 2:30 the nurses came into check on me and I was having really bad contractions and decided to get an epidural and they came to check me again and I was at an 8. I almost didn't get that epidural. They hurried and got the guy to give me my epidural. I felt a lot better when he was done. An hour later I was at a 10, but my water was not broken yet, which was good because they let me rest for awhile until my water broke. At 5:10 am my water broke and it was the most painful thing ever. I think it was more because of my contractions were really strong and very painful. They started having me push at 6 am and then my contractions slowed way down and were not on top of each other (which happened with the other boys) and many pushes later came our little Hayden Kendon Larsen weighing in at 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. For being 5 days early not too bad. He would have been almost 9 lbs if he came on his due date. Wow!! Well I hope that all is well for everyone else. We are doing well here. The boys love Hayden and Corbin loves to give "baby" kisses every chance he can get. Love you all!! Hope that you like the pictures we have of Hayden. The pictures of Corbin and Daxton with messy faces is after we got eclairs from a ward member and they devoured them.

Pumpkin Patch adventure in details

Mat and I went to the pumpkin patch in Santaquin with my older sister, Apryl and her family. We were going to go with some of our friends, but things came up at the last minute. We still wanted to go, especially before the baby comes, so we called up my sister and we went. It was really nice. Not a lot of people were there and we were not crammed onto to the wagon like we were last year. We had a really good time. We just had fun with the boys just looking through the little picture booths and around all the pumpkins. Their challenge was to find the biggest pumpkin and we think we found it, but we didn't buy one because we have some in our little garden at home. On our way back to the barn we were singing songs and having a really good time. We got back to my sisters house and had hamburger soup and fresh rolls. Yummy!!! Then we promised the boys that we would have some ice cream, too. It wasn't much of an adventure other than keeping 4 boys that can walk in the same area and the two babies, Easton and Zach (Apryl's sister-in-laws little boy) happy and occupied. It was a good time, especially since it rained the next day all day. Thank you Apryl for coming with us and hope to keep this a tradition.

Our Pumpkin Patch Adventure

State Fair and playing the piano with Mama

On the 13th of September Mat and I went with my brother Josh and his family, as well as my sister Chelsea and brother Ryan to the Utah State Fair. We had a really good time. We were only up there for a few hours, but we were able to go and do what we wanted to do and had fun with kids. One of our favorite things to do is to go the "Little Hands on the Farm." This is where the kids can experience what it is like to be a farmer and get rewarded at the end. Here are Daxton and Corbin gathering fruits and vegetables from the garden as well as Corbin riding his "tractor" to get some of the work done. The boys had a blast and it was a chance for Corbin to get out of the stroller and stretch his legs a little bit.

Here is Daxton with my mom (Mama) one Sunday afternoon being Ray Charles and playing the piano. Daxton cannot go anywhere without those sunglasses. He's my real cool dude.

Canning with Mama (Grandma)

So this summer has been pretty busy with my dad retiring from teaching in the school district, to all my boys birthdays in June plus my anniversary, while at the same time at the end of June my parent's kitchen was being remodeled and all the family vacations, then my sisters wedding in July and major family reunion just before her wedding, then a couple days after my sisters wedding my mom fell and shattered her cheek bone which put her out of work for about a month, while at the same time I have been canning up a storm with my sisters and sister-in-laws. We have bottled over 200 varieties of vegetables and fruits for storage, including green beans, peaches, apples, corn, salsa, tomatoes, and zucchini pineapple (sounds weird but is really good- It tastes like pineapple but has the texture of a pear.) We have had fun, but man it tires me out even more since I have been pregnant. I thought that I would show you a couple of pictures of my boys helping my mom get started on some of the canning.

Above is Daxton and Corbin in their aprons helping Mama get the peaches ready to be peeled and put into bottles.
Aren't they just cute!! And they are my big helpers. Let's see how big of helpers when the baby comes.
Here is Corbin with Mama getting the apples peeled, cored and sliced to be made into either applesauce or apple pie filling. Both taste yummy!!

We didn't can as much as we did last year, but it sure kept us all busy for about 3 months this summer. I have really enjoyed doing this, especially when I have been able to spend time with my mom and sisters. We always have a good time and it also gives our kids the opportunity to play together.

My roomies wedding!!!!

Mat and I were so excited to get the invite to Colette and Brett's wedding. We had met Brett back in January and we went on a double date and found out some funny things. One is that Brett grew up in Orangeville, UT and Mat's family is from Huntington and Ferron, UT and Brett knows a lot of Mat's family. The other funny thing is that Brett is the same height as Mat and has the same color of hair. We are so excited for Colette and Brett and hope and wish the best for them. Here are a few photos that we took at their reception in South Salt Lake.

Here we are with the newly weds, Brett & Colette Day!!

Corbin, Nikol, Colette Day, Chelsey Bean and McKayla Bean

One of my other roomates Valerie Crawford and Me. I was so excited to see Val.

We saw a few of our other Snow College friends at the reception and we just had a blast being able to see so many people that we haven't since we have been first married. Love you all!

I finally did it!!!

I finally found a little bit of time to do a blog spot.  So many people have been hounding me to get it done and I finally did it.  Hopefully I can keep it up once the baby comes in the next few weeks.  But I knew I needed to do this BEFORE the baby came.  Hope that you enjoy our family site and see my cute boys.  I am totally outnumbered, especially once the baby comes.  ENJOY!!