Happy 4th Birthday DAXTON!!!!

Happy Birthday Daxton!!! I can't believe that Daxton is 4 years old today. My big boy is growing up so fast. He is so excited to be going to school in the fall and can't wait for that. He is such a big helper for me. He helps make his brothers happy, most of the time and is always wanting to help me cook and clean. Hopefully that sticks with him when he goes to college and when he goes on his mission and when he gets married. I love Daxton so much. He has helped me to learn to be patient and taught me so much. He can always bring a smile to your face. Love you big boy!

Mommy, Daddy, Corbin and Hayden :)

Daxton's first birthday with cake all around his face.
After eating spaghetti and salad.

Larsen family photo 2006. 18 months old

Daxton April of 2009. Such a creative little boy with a big smile.

Happy 5th Anniversary!!!!

I can't believe that it has been 5 years already since Mat and I got married. Time sure flies by. First your dating and don't ever think that time will fly by quick enough till they day you are to get married and then the day comes and seems to drag and yet go by so fast as well. Then you move out all of your things into your own place together and then 3 kids and 5 years later here we are. Trials and tribulation has brought us very far from the people we were when we were first married, and thank goodness for that. It has made us strong and better people. I just wanted to let Mat know that I love him and these have been the best 5 years of my life and I can't wait to spend the next 60 years or so with you love you so much. :)

Love always and forever, Nikol xxooxxooxxooxxooxxoo

Mat, I also wanted to say thank you for always standing by my side and lifting me up through everything that we have gone through as a couple, as a family and individually. You are so strong and loving and an amazing person to be around. I love you so much! Nikol :)

Happy belated Birthday Mat!!!

Mat and I at Ryan Shupe Concert- his birthday present from me
Hayden at Applebee's for Mat's birthday

Me and Corbin at Applebee's

Daxton and Mat-- I love this picture!!

Mat,

I hope that you had a Happy birthday and I wish that I was able to do this sooner. But I don't stay up as late as you and things have been pretty crazy. WE did try to make your day a special day on Tuesday and we, me and the boys, just wanted to wish you a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY on our blog. We love you so much!

Love always,

Nikol, Daxton, Corbin, and Hayden

P.S. Daxton and I were able to go up to his work and give him a big poster card that Corbin and Daxton worked on that morning and cupcakes. Don't have pictures though, but the boys had fun coloring and putting foam stickers on the card for their daddy.

Happy 2nd Birthday CORBIN!!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Corbin Mathew Larsen!!!

Just 2 years ago you looked like this. Not a care in the world. You came into our lives 12 days early and still weighing 8 lbs and 20 1/2 inches long. You brought a lot of JOY into our lives. Then a little over 12 hours after you were born we noticed not all was right with you. And they took you up to Primary Childrens to do some tests and you went into to surgery not even 24 hours old yet. BUT they made it ALL better.

(Corbin 10 hours old)

You had to get your intestines back together and working again. You know what though. YOU PULLED THROUGH and exceeded what all the doctors thought would take weeks. You accomplished it in days quicker than we were expecting. You have such a strong soul that our Father in Heaven needs on earth at this time. Use to do good and you will ALWAYS conquer evil. During this time you also strengthen mine and your daddy's testimonies and our relationship as father and mother became strong. Thank you for that!

(Corbin the day after his surgery)
Seeing with all of the tubes was hard, but we knew that you would pull through. 4 days after you were in the NICU we were able to feed you a little bit of milk. You were mad when you only got a teaspoon. But you should the doctors and nurses that you could do it and 3 days later you were in the childrens unit and out of the NICU at Primarys.
A total of 9 days after you were born and the surgery was over you were able to come home with us and have not had any trouble since other than you getting yourself into trouble. Thank you for always bringing a smile to my face and giving me big hugs and kisses when I really needed it. Thank you for your strong spirit and loads of laughter.

(Corbin 6 months old)

Your such an angel and soldier needed on earth at this time to fight for the good and bring others to the gospel. Thanks for being so strong .
(Corbin 16 months old)
Corbin, we love you so much. Thanks for your example and all your smiles.
(Corbin 22 months old and yes always messy!)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORBIN!!!!!

We love you so much! Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Daxton and Hayden :)

cRaZY Weekend!!

OK!!! So this last weekend started off pretty well. Although we were greating really nervous that it was going to rain, we were VERY grateful that it didn't. It was very windy though. I took Mat to the Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband concert at the Sandy Ampitheater. It was so AWESOME!!! We were right on the front row, however they were a little off to the far side of the stage we were still able to be close the everything. We were vibrating most of the night from the big speakers that were right across from us, but it was so well worth it. Half way through the concert we noticed that the wind had stopped and it made it that much more enjoyable. I hope that Mat enjoyed his early birthday present. I know that I really enjoyed spending some time with him. Mat's parents were kind enough to watch the boys for us. Yes, even Hayden stayed. He slept the whole time and the boys were angels for their grandma and grandpa. I'm glad that they really enjoy spending their time with their grandparents.

Here is Mat and I before the concert started.

Here is kind of what the view was like for us to watch the concert. It was so worth it though. Ryan Shupe on the Encore song even ran right past us along with a few of the other members in the band. Oh, and the bass player had a video camera strapped to a dirt bike helmet and wanted to show us what it is like for them up on stage as a band member. To view it go to shupe.net and it is right on the front. Mat and I are on the righthand side of the stage. We are on the very end. It's hard to see us because it is so blurry, but we were there. FOREWARNING: it does kind of make you a little sick towards the end because he is moving so fast. Just for those who get motionsickness.

Ryan shupe and his band. They performed 3 or 4 new songs for us and they were AWESOME!

The next day I got together with a few of the girls that I went to high school with. Some I hadn't seen since the day that we graduated 7 years ago. Others it has been more recent, but it was really nice to see them all and get "reaquainted" with each other. It was amazing to see how we still had a few things in common and how life had taken us all on different journeys. About 8 of them there had gone on missions and only 2 of them had gotten married out those missionaries, well Coleen is getting married in July (Congratulations to Coleen and Bjorn!) 5 of us got married before we were 21 and had at least 2 kids. Some have less and some have more like me. We had a little potluck lunch and a small game to get reaquainted with each other. We played 2 truths and a lie. It was fun to see what all we have done the last 7 years of our lives.

Here (from L to R) Camille Ewell, Selena Downey Rakowski (spelled wrong), Bjorn Graham Coleen's fiance, and Coleen Murray soon to be Graham. Bjorn was the only boy there.
Karissa Echols, Camille Ewell and Selena with her little boy Cameron.

Ruth Shidler, Heather Jones, and Noelle Pehrson ? ( I don't know Noelle's new last name).

On Sunday Mat and our family were able to attend Mat's brother, Scott's baby Mazey's blessing in Sugar House. It was nice to be with family that day and to support Scott and Carrie with the blessing of their baby girl. We ended up getting to their church about an hour early. We were not sure how the traffic was going to be along with the weather. So I fed Hayden and he was having fun in the front seat of the car after I fed him.

He thinks it's his turn to drive the car.

Here is Scott with Mazey, Mat with Hayden, and Emily with Andrew.

Mat and his siblings with the newest grandkids in the family.

Here's little Mazey Miller in Scott's arms.

Last but not least Mat and I were able to go to Camp Jeremiah Johnson with our Cub Scouts. It's been one eventful ride to just get to the day of getting our boys up there, and I will spare you those details because all it does is make me upset. So I won't tell you because the day ended going pretty well for our scouts. We are over the Bears and we also went up with the Wolf group. So our total of boys was 10 and we had 4 leaders. It was raining off and on all day we were there. We got up that morning at 5. Got to the church at 6:10 am and left at 6:45am. Got up to the camp at 7:20 and left there at 1:10. Picked up our boys Daxton and Corbin from my sister-in-laws house in Spanish Fork around 1:30pm and got home exhausted.
Our boys did BB gun shooting, rafting on he little lake, made necklaces and did Native American games, made teepees, and had lunch, then they made ropes, did a lasso toss and got their leaders wet and then they did archery. They all had a good time from what I could tell. I couldn't get too involved because I had Hayden strapped to the front of me in the carrier and he tried helping out too much and so I did what I could. I was sooooo tired from getting up too early and worrying about it in my sleep and then just having to just keep Hayden happy. When we got home, both Mat and I had to take about an hour nap to kind of recuperate from the day.
Well that was our weekend. cRaZY but fun. I have a few other pictures that I need to add to our blog from when we went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago with my sister and her family as well as my dad came. Have a great week everyone!!!

I can't believe it's JUNE already!

Ah, June. The Birthday month for my family. It is a pretty crazy month for the Larsen family. All but Hayden and I are in June for birthdays, except that Mat and I will be celebrating our 5th Anniversary this year!!!! I can't believe how 5 years can go by so quickly. Anyway, the first birthday will be the 13th-- Corbin will be turning 2. He has already hit those terrible twos when he was a year old or so. He's a little stinker sometimes, but most of the time he does it in such a cute way that it is hard to be mad at him for long. For instance, he had kicked me one time and I put on the poutty lip and he went up to me and strummed his fingers up and down my lip and I couldn't help but laugh. He knows when I am always in need of a hug or a kiss. He's angel sometimes and so sweet. I can't believe he is going to be two.

Next birthday is on the 16th-- Mat will be 27 this year! He says that he is getting sooooo old. It just makes me laugh. For his birthday we are going to celebrate it a little bit early by going to the Ryan Shupe and Rubberband concert up at the Sandy Ampitheater tomorrow night. I got him tickets for his birthday and I am so excited to go to the concert with him. We haven't been for a few years and we LOVE Ryan Shupe!!!!!

Next event is Father's day! and then our Anniversary on the 25th. He seems like so long ago and not that we were married in the Manti Temple. Crazy how time flies so fast and yet not at the exact same time.

Next birthday is on the 30th-- Daxton will be turning 4 years old. He is so excited for his birthday. He keeps asking me if it's his birthday yet and I keep telling him not yet. He wants to have his birthday so that he can go to school in the fall. He is so EXCITED to go to school. Frankly, I am excited for him to go to school. I know that he will learn more there and he will be able to find friends there and I know that he will enjoy learning. He is also going to be in soccer this fall. He is very good about keeping the ball in front of him and sliding to kick the ball. We have been practicing at home. He is such a sweetheart and I love him dearly. We both have taught each other so much and he loves being in Primary. He knows that he is a big kid now that he is potty trained, goes to primary and will be going to school. He loves getting older and I can't believe how times sure flies. Next thing I'll know is that he will be getting baptized, ordained a deacon, graduating from high school and then leaving for his mission. WOW!! A lot of things to look forward to, but also a lot of stuff that I want to hold onto for right now and hold my little boy for just a little bit longer.