The Larsen Crew

Belated Christmas card and Letter

2012-01-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

The Larsen Express December 2011

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Another year has come and gone and I don’t know how it went by so fast. We can’t believe that it has been a year, almost exactly since we have moved into our new home in Logan to go to school. We have really enjoyed it up here in Logan, even the coldness. It really hasn’t been too bad, but anyway. Here are some brief summaries of the year for everyone.

Mat has been pretty busy this year. He was laid off of his job at Ziplocal on Christmas Eve, and that is why we are in Logan, for Mat to go to school at Utah State University. He has done very well. He has really enjoyed his classes. He started back for Spring 2011 and did the summer as well. He has mastered his skills on the grill and has been a great husband and father and taken good care of us. Mat’s major is in Business and hoping to go into Management Information Systems (MIS).

Nikol has been busy as well. She has taken care of the boys and started back to school this last fall semester. She is going into Geography Teaching with an English as a Second Language (ESL) minor. It’s been crazy around our house trying to manage the two schedules but we have done well. We have gotten to know our neighbors really well and have some really great ones. It’s been hard for Nikol to be away from her family, but our friends have done so much for us that it’s hard to repay them.

Daxton finished up Kindergarten when we moved up here. He had some struggles at first and was getting frustrated, but his teacher was willing to work with him and he excelled and now he is in the first grade!!! I can’t believe that my oldest is in the first grade. He is doing very well with friends, and has done much better in reading. He loves math, but art time is his favorite time. He has a great imagination and is very creative.

Corbin started this fall in Bear River Headstart. HE LOVES IT!!! He has some great friends in his class and is the girls’ favorite. He has done so well in school and doing well at recognizing his letters and numbers, shapes and colors. I’m enjoying it so much to see him love school. He is such a little ham, too. I turn around and he has a funny look on his face. He can always brighten my spirit. Some of his quotes of the year are: “Mom, your beautiful!” (Tells me that everyday at least 4 xs a day). “I need my bum tight pants.” (He hates wearing anything other than those). And there are many more, but too many to write them all down right now.

Hayden has grown so much since we have moved in. (All the boys have). Hayden can now reach our light switches without a problem. When we moved in he couldn’t reach them. He is now 38 inches tall, almost 39 inches! And 36 lbs! He is my big boy and has always been. He is my little goose. He has some of the funniest faces and looks on his faces, too. He is starting to recognize letters and colors. He is getting so big. I can’t believe my baby is 3 years old now. He is a little terror sometimes, but who could get angry at such a cute face. He is the little girl favorite, too. He has a few girlfriends around our area and he is pretty good about it. Hayden will be in Primary this next year and I won’t have anymore in Nursery.

Don’t worry we are not done yet with our family. We are just getting school done first before we think about another addition. It’s been a great year. Lots of trials, lots of learning and many blessings. We have definitely seen the Lord’s hand in our lives. He has guided us to where we need to live and what we need to be doing with our lives. He has also blessed us with great friends that we are able to help and them to help us. We miss being so close to both families, but our Ward and neighbors have helped us out.

May the Lord help you and yours this next year! We have seen his hand in our lives. May you all have a Merry Christmas and remember the true meaning: Our Savior, who came to this world in humble condition and yet done so much for us.

Love,

The Larsen’s

Mat, Nikol, Daxton, Corbin & Hayden

Quick Update....

2011-12-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

So I know that I haven't updated for about 3 months, but school has been doing great.... interesting but great. I have been able to learn so much and I am enjoying my Geographic Information Systems (GIS) class. I am just finishing up my final project for that class along with my final project for my Foundations of ESL. I have 2 papers to do for my ESL class and I am DONE FOR THE SEMESTER!!! I don't have any final tests, just projects.
Mat is doing well in his classes. He just started a new job last night, but I am a little worried for him. It is a very labor intensive job. Good, because it keeps him active, but BAD because he works from 6pm to 6 am. Last night the let him come home early around 3 am and he was nauseated and very worn out. It makes both of us nervous if he would be able to survive going to school while working at this job. We are just praying that if this isn't the right job that something will come up quickly for us to pay for our bills. Keep us in your prayers that things will work out with a job and all, and if this is the job for us that he will have the stamina to do this and school.
Daxton is doing GREAT!! He loves school. He is doing much better in reading that it amazes me everyday. We have him read a verse of scriptures every night and he getting better at that and recognizing words. He loves Math and reading, but not so much of his writing. He complains that he gets tired, so when it his the day to do penmanship... it's a long day to say the least... at least for homework.
Corbin is doing great in preschool. He is quite the ladies man. He has a few girlfriends that love to be with him at all times of the day. It makes me laugh. He is a very handsome young man, but to start this soon is going to be hard. He loves to come home and tell me about his day and is getting good at recognizing certain letters and numbers and knows most of them and most of his colors. He is so smart and is almost at the same level as Daxton, in most things. He is also my comedian and when I pull out my camera he always has a funny expression to give me. He keeps us laughing around here.
Hayden is a cutie and keeps us going. He is so much fun to watch. He is getting to the stage where he has a great imagination and talks with his toys. We have even had to put some of his toys on time-out. I guess this just shows me what conversations we are constantly having at home when I hear him playing. Some are good, others have me a little worried and know that things need to change a little bit. He so wants to go to school, but we are still waiting, but is constantly learning with his older brothers.
We are doing well and feeling very blessed. We have such wonderful neighbors that have helped us out with our washer not working. So thankful for all that the Lord has blessed our family with. It amounts to more than I could ever give back to him in full. Hope that you all have a wonderful Holiday season- Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

WAAAAYYYYY..... behind... schedule

2011-09-28T22:30:00.000-06:00

So if you haven't already heard, I have returned back to school at USU. (GO AGGIES!!!!) Things have been crazy to get all our schedules to mesh together, but now things are going well.
Daxton started 1st grade on August 24th and LOVES IT!!! Sorry I don't have a picture with him. I couldn't find my camera that day so sorry. He was so excited though and I cried this time. Not saying Daxton cried going to pre-school or kindergarten (neither did I either time), but this time I CRIED!!! My baby was going to be going to school ALL DAY!! How crazy is that? I can't believe it. Daxton love's it though. He does so well, and always has stories for me when he gets home.

Corbin is in pre-school. He goes to Bear River Head Start. We did Head Start with Daxton in Payson and loved it. Corbin's school is in Smithfield, which his school is about 15min north of our home in Logan. So it's a drive, but we carpool and he loves his teachers, Miss Karen and Miss Jami, as well as his new friends. He always has a smile on his face when he comes home from school.
Sweet Hayden is doing well. He isn't in any school that we were hoping for while Mat and I are gone to school, but we are able to get the help we need from our amazing neighbors that are willing to help watch him while Mat and I transition between classes where we overlap in times. Hayden doesn't seem to mind too much because he gets to see all of his friends, but I still feel bad that I am not able to with him all day and give him as much mommy time. He does get it, don't get me wrong, but not the same way that I would like to give it.
Quick summary of our summer....
We celebrated Corbin's birthday and Daxton's birthday with splash party with our neighbor kids and some family that was able to come up. Mat's birthday was right in between there and it was simple... we were able to go to the temple and enjoy a quiet lunch together. Our 7th Anniversary was in June as well ( a busy month for the Larsen family). We spent it outside with our boys playing with slipping slides and playing with water.
July was fun because we live across the street from the Stadium we got a great firework show! West Stadium has the best seats for the firework show in July (and during the football season we get to hear the crowds... which is pretty fun as well). We had my family's reunion at Bear Lake and although it rained on us most of the time, we still had a great time and it was very memorable.
August was a great time as well... we went back to Bear Lake with Mat's family at the KOA in Garden City. It was a different kind of camping and I don't think I like it. I like to in the woods camping, not around strangers who like to be clean all the time. WE ARE CAMPING FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!! It was fun though and we got to go in the Minnetonka Cave and the boys were troopers and climbed all 400+ steps in the cave. We also got to meet the USU football team and coaches. The boys thought it was the greatest thing ever.
I won't show a lot of pictures because it takes up a lot of space and my computer is being really funky, so sorry.
With September almost done, it's crazy to think how fast time flies. It was exactly a year ago that Mat called me to tell me that they had a meeting with his company and were notified that December 24 would be their last day. That's when this whole endeavor started and it's amazing to see how far we have all come. We have all grown from this experience and are continuing to do so. I have really enjoyed being up here in Logan. We have met some of the most amazing people and have made great friends. Not to say we don't miss our friends and family in Utah and Salt Lake counties, because we really do, but this is where we are needed right now.
Next month is full of festivities and fun, and I will hopefully post on them as soon as they happen, but homework first, right?

April showers bring and May flowers!

2011-05-22T16:43:00.000-06:00

( Forewarning.... LONG POST!! Be prepared for reading and pictures... Enjoy!)

I find that if I do 2 months at a time that I can get at least something accomplished! Right?!!? Anyway, the month of April was filled with my birthday and Mat finishing up the Spring Semester and preparing for finals. My birthday starts off the month and from there it usually is pretty good, even if the weather is normally pretty bad. We were able to spend my birthday with SUNSHINE!!! Nice 60 degree weather and lots of time outside. It was so nice not to do house work or anything like that, and it was on a Friday, which meant that Conference was that weekend also. That's right most of the time I get the Prophets and Apostles to speak on my birthday which is a nice treat (although, I will have to admit that I hated it as a kid because it meant that I couldn't play with my things outside, but now I enjoy it). It was a nice to spend the weekend with Mat's parents. Although it ended up raining and then snowing, I at least spent my birthday with SUNSHINE!! The boys were able to go to the swimming pool where my in-laws were staying and swim, while Mat and his dad went to the priesthood session. It was a good time to spend with Grandma, one on one and I know the kids enjoyed it too.

My Birthday Cake with a flameless candle.

Me and my boys after getting in jammies to watch a movie for my birthday.

Hayden playing a game on Mat's phone during Conference break.

Me and my sweetheart!

That next week was Daxton's Spring Break and although we didn't do too much, because of the rain, we were able to go down to Ogden's Children's Museum with Mat's sister, Emily and her family. We spent the night in Layton at their home and then headed up together to the Museum. It was such a great time and glad to spend with cousins and family. (Pictures will follow) The boys loved it. It was fun to see what their likes and desires were and their favorite places to play at the Treehouse Museum. The music area was by far their favorite, but they liked to go through all the cultural areas downstairs. They spent a lot of time with the Cowboy area and then, of course the trains at the end of our time there.

Hayden and Andrew played in the dirty water!

Daxton at the Tree House Museum

Daxton and Cami on the bull!

Best friends!

Map of counties in Utah

Inside a Mongolian Hogan

Nephew Andrew and brother-in-law Kyle seeing
reflection and fish.

The Coolest Tree House ever with the coolest sister!

Playing music

Drums are awesome!

Favorite place of all!

Hayden was cute to watch with the doctor area and playing
with the babies.

Landon and Daxton on the mast of the boat.

GOOFS!

My firefighters.

Cute picture

The next in the oval office is.....

Music makes me HAPPY!

Dr. Corbin

All is well.

Taking a break.

Finished the train!

Love this little one! Such a goof! :)

The rest of the month of April was filled with Daxton's soccer games and most of which was rained out because of all the moisture we received. But we did find a few good days in between to play outside and spend together. My brother was in town for a few days and we were able to get together a couple of times. He was helping train and get the Chuck-a-Rama in Logan ready to open at get through it's first week of business. It was great to spend a little time with him. And then his family was able to stay with us so my niece Madilyn could perform at a Dance Competition here in Logan. It was so much fun to have them with us. Anyone is welcome to stay with us. Our apartment is bigger than you would think. We fit 9 extra people there. Who could forget the trip to trip to the hospital? Yes, we had Corbin pass out on me at the WIC appointment, had a convulsion and a minor concussion. He was transported in an ambulance without me there because Hayden was with me, and it was the most scared I have ever seen Corbin. No pictures, but we were in the hospital for a few hours and it took Corbin a few weeks to finally eat his food without hurting and was bruised for about that long too. I felt so bad for him. But onto a happier note... EASTER!!! Who can forget about Easter? Not I! It was a little different to have it at the end of the month, but we made do. The boys were excited for Easter! They woke us up on Easter Saturday morning saying the Easter Bunny left them CANDY!! and other good stuff. They were excited for the eggs and candy, but most of all their new kites.

My niece Korryn with Hayden
Such two characters!

Easter!

Easter bunny at MASA Easter Egg Hunt

The greatest people ever! MASA friends

GOAL!!!!

So with all the rain showers in April we were able to go and play outside and get those May flowers to bloom. Here are a few things that we did. Start off, my cute new niece, Chloe Rebecca Gillen was blessed in Payson. We were able to go down for her blessing in my parents ward. Such a great day to spend with family.

My sister, Chelsea, her husband Casey and Chloe

My sweet Grandpa Anderson

Chloe! Such a cutie!

Then we went home and Mat started the next few days to study for his finals!!! FINALS WEEK WAS CRAZY!!! It was so hard to not have the extra help that I needed, but I know it was necessary to shut himself in his room and all, but the kids for some reason were the worst ever those few days.... so in celebration on Friday with his last final we went to a matinée movie.. RIO!! and then to dinner that night to Texas Roadhouse for Mat and Daxton. Daxton got a free kids meal to there for PERFECT ATTENDANCE!! and then the next week I got a phone call from his teacher saying how much she appreciated Daxton and his example in the classroom and always good to follow directions and be one of the first to respond. It made me so happy and please with how well he is doing in school!!! (and made me think... why doesn't he do it more often at home?!)

Goofy Hayden with 3D glasses on!

Last thing... I promise.... Now that Mat has started back to school... for the summer at least.... we love to spend every moment that we can together. We really enjoyed it the week in between semesters and fully took advantage of with spending it in the SUNSHINE most of the time. And this last Sunday we were able to go to the Logan Temple and walk around the block and take pictures of the kids. It was a lot of fun and very beautiful!

Just remember and stop and smell the flowers along the path of life.... it helps and brings comfort to you no matter the circumstances. Take in the beauty and enjoy life!!!

There's"snow" season like snow season

2011-03-15T16:14:00.000-06:00

I know it's time for Spring to come and winter to leave, but boy have my boys been having a lot of fun in the snow. We have these HUGE snow piles behind our apartment and in front and they love to climb them and slide down. The other day Daxton and Corbin climbed up and there was a little lip on it and it made them fly off it and slide down the rest of the pile. They were having a blast, and I was starting to have a heart attack so I stopped watching and Mat kept taping them.

The other day we were still able to go sledding from the last bit of snow that we got. It was a really wet snow and we were slipping a sliding trying to get back up the hill, but I have never seen all 3 of my boys have so much fun for something so simple as sliding down a hill. Hayden laughs every time and has the biggest grin on his face. It's been fun to be able to spend that time with them.

I will have to find Mat's video of the boys and show you their craziness! It has been fun so far in Logan. We have found some friends here and have been enjoying the time together. We do really miss being around all of our family and friends in Utah County though. We were able to go over President's Day weekend to see all of our family. My lil sister had her baby shower that weekend and it was fun to see her pregnant before she had her baby. Although she was pretty miserable, she looked cute.

There were a lot of family and friends that came to support her and it was so much fun. We played just a few games, and Chelsea's mother-in-law was starting to get nervous, she doesn't do the game thing very often, but it was nice to see that she and I are on familiar terms and she will kid with me. Chelsea's in-laws are great and they treat her well.

Chloe sure got spoiled at the shower. She got some WAY cute clothes and all the lil necessities that a baby needs. Lots of diapers, wipes, socks and even the cute sunglasses. She'll be stylin' for sure!! Chloe Rebecca was born March 4, 2011 and weighed 8lbs 6oz and was 19.5 inches long. Short and stout, but WAY CUTE!!! I haven't uploaded the photos yet. We made a quick, spontaneous trip to UT county to visit my new niece and see family and friends that we missed on our last trip 2 weeks earlier. It was a well spent trip!

Things I love......

2011-02-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this has been an interesting week. Last Sunday we were pulled aside after church and asked to speak for today, the 13th of February, on a talk President Monson gave back in Feb. 1998 called, "How Do We Show Our Love?" It got me thinking a lot about how I show my love to my husband and to my family and others around me. So I will give you a jest of what my talk was on today. Oh, can I just tell you that I miss sitting with my parents because it was a battle to give talks today AND sing in the ward choir and take care of the boys, but we did make it through sacrament meeting.

When I first found out the topic for the talk, I read the article and lots of thoughts were coming through my head. First, I thought of things that I love (and they are not in any particular order or all of, but I will do my best):

my husband
my boys
my family
being in the outdoors
camping
hiking
reading
my education
walking
cooking
cleaning
playing with my boys
my Savior
my scriptures
the Gospel
MUSIC- and singing
watching movies
family gatherings
taking pictures of my boys
the power of prayer
and the prophet and apostles

Next, I thought of how do I show my love? What are some of the ways that we can express our love to each other, either spouse, children, family, friends and/or even our neighbors? I found a list of 62 ways to express our love, although these are targeted to a significant other, this can totally be said/done to friends. (I will only do a few of the things on the list):

Say, "I love you!"
Be courteous at all times
Embrace the present moments without fear or guilt
Live by the Golden Rule (Do unto others...)
Give them full attention when talking
Toast each other regularly
Share funny quotes or events :)
Say you're sorry
Read together
Let go any bad experience and anger
Encourage health in all its forms
ACT SILLY TOGETHER ( my most favorite)
Ask questions about opinions, feelings and thoughts.
Encourage adventure and risks!
Bake cookies
Show gratitude for them
Listen to them
Give hugs and kisses
Take and show pride in them
compliment each other
Spend time with them
Make them laugh
Buy a "for no reason" gift
Pray and meditate together
Learn something new together
Hide a treat in their lunch
Say what you mean

There are so many things that I could say and keep going with that list, but these were the best of that list. I also thought of the scripture Pres. Monson used for his talk: Matthew 22:36-39 the 2 greatest commandments in the law, to love the Lord, thy God and to love thy neighbor as thyself. With this scripture the song from the Children's Song book came to mind, Where Love is http://lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=138&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=138&searchsubseqend=ZZZ Here is the link to look at the words. They are amazing, special and hit the point that where love is, there God is also. Along with this song comes the scripture, Mosiah 2:17- "... when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are in the service of your God." President Monson made a comment in his talk about this popular song at the time he and Sister Monson were dating and the words go like this, "It's easy to say I love you, easy to say I'll be true; easy to say these foolish things, but prove it by the things you do." We have a responsibility to prove to our Heavenly Father (and others), by the things we do, that we love Him. I thought that that is so true. It always makes me feel so loved when my kids help me out or when Mat does something, a service, to show me that he really cares.
To end I want you to think about President Utchdorf's talk in October, "Of things that Matter most," that "love is spelled T-I-M-E, time!" Love you all and have a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I will post pictures of our special family Valentine's Day we did yesterday.

2010 to the end...

2011-01-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting the last couple of months, but it's finally stopped being so crazy. Well, Christmas for us was amazing. Mat's mom and sister took over and did Christmas for us. That was a stress relief. I only had to focus on packing up and moving and not buying presents as well. Mat finished his job at Ziplocal on the 23rd and we headed up to Draper that night and stayed till Christmas afternoon and headed to my parent's house. It was fun to be with cousins and family for a couple of days and the kids loved it. Christmas Eve was fun. We had Mat's brother Scott and his family along with his 2 sisters over dinner that night at his mom's. It was delicious and tons of food leftover. After we ate, we decorated cookies, and had more than Santa needed. But the boys were able to get their pj's from the elf and have been wearing those jammies has much as they can. Daxton got Toy Story jammies, Corbin got Christmas Mickey ones and Hayden got Toy Story as well. They are nice and soft too. Christmas morning was fun, after reading the Nativity story and writing down what we were going to do for Jesus this next year we headed down stairs to open presents. Corbin got everything he wanted for Christmas: a dog pillow pet and a scooter. That's what he told every Santa and every person who asked and he got it. They were blessed with 2 new outfits, at least, new shoes and more toys for me to pack up for the move. Thank you Emily and Lynne for blessing our family and taking care of us when it was so crazy! We love you!!! After we got ourselves ready for the day and got all we received packed up in the car, what we could at least, we headed to Payson and then to Salem for my family's Christmas Bingo party at my grandpa's house. We had all my siblings there and all the grandkids. 19 and 2 on the way.
This year for Christmas I did the same idea for all the people we had for Christmas and made clocks. I used a template from Heritage Makers and actually cut out some masonite and attached the clock hands. It was a little more work than I was anticipating, but they turned out way cute!! I hope all they received theirs enjoys them. I hope to make one for myself. Anyway, we were able to move up on the 28th of December. We got the truck on the 27th and thanks to loving home teachers and great ward members and of course, family members, we were able to literally stuff all of our belongings into the truck and throughout the vehicles that were going up to Logan to help unload as well as take care of the kiddos. We were moved in by 4pm and there then started the work of making our new apartment our home.
We have been here for 4 weeks now and it seems kind of crazy to think how reality still hasn't set in. At first it felt kind of like a vacation home that we were just using for a week or so, but of course I was still unpacking and cleaning up box after box, but I still feel like I'm in a dream. Anyway, on to the rest of my holiday say, so we were up here unpacking for a few days and then headed down to our friends The Bean's for New Years. We were going to stay the night and spend the first part of the Year with them. It was great!!! The kids had a blast and the adults had a great time as well. Daxton was a funny boy and fell asleep on the couch in the middle of everyone playing rock band at like 10:30pm. I was a little shocked, but it was nice to not worry about our kids when the New Year came, because they were all asleep by that time. We played fun interacting games, that for awhile we were laughing our heads off and then you knew when we were tired because we were getting a little ornery.
The next morning we headed to Santaquin where my nephew was to be baptized. Such a great day! 1/1/11!! Amazing little guy, now not so little, but growing up! We spent part of the day there with my family and then we headed up north. We had to stop off to my parents house to get a few things and drop some off, and can I tell you it was really weird to walk into that house and not expect it to be the way it was when we were there. There is no way that it will be the same because our furniture and pictures and things are not there anymore. It seemed empty. My mom never thought that she would have such a hard time because she has been at my grandpa's house, but she was struggling more than my dad. I miss them! and I know that the boys miss them too. We made a lot of stops along the way back to Logan, including Mat's parent's house where Mat was able to receive an amazing father's blessing. We were all crying and the spirit was so strong. I'm glad that we were able to be there with them for a few days before and then have such a wonderful ending. Oh, I forgot to mention that we only brought our washer up with us, because we were told online that it was electric dryers only and we have gas. Sooo... we found out the day we moved in that West Stadium Villa (WSV) has both electric and gas and Mat's parents were able to bring our dryer up to us. Even though they were stuck in UT county traffic for about 3 hours (from Payson to Lehi) they were able to bring it up to us!!! I'm so glad that they were! Hand drying clothes in winter is not fun!
We were able to get Daxton registered at his Elementary school and found out that school starts at 8AM!!!!! I didn't start school at that time till I was in 6th grade! So we have Daxton in the afternoon Kindergarten for now because he gets up at 7:30am and it would be a struggle to fight him right now, so we will better prepare for that early morning next fall. Daxton is doing speech and he has an ABC club that he is a part of that helps him with letters sounds and putting those sounds into words. He has been doing that the last couple of days and really loves it. He has already made so many new friends and I'm so happy for him.
Mat has started into his 2 week of classes and really loves it. His busiest day is Wednesdays where he is on campus from 8am to 3:30pm. It's like a normal work day for me, but you know you get used to him at home and it can be a little bit of a struggle. The boys are adjusting well to daddy studying and doing homework and know that they can only do games and movies with daddy when daddy does his homework. Mat has his own office space where he can close the door, put doorstops in front and know that the boys will not bother him while he studies.
Corbin and Hayden are doing well in adjusting to the move. We are trying to get Corbin in Headstart, a government funded preschool, and are just waiting for word on if there is space available. Hayden is doing well and loves his new nursery class at church. Me, on the other hand, am doing pretty well. I have been able to get to know the girls in the area and have been on 1 girls night and another coming up tomorrow. The girls in the area are great, but I still miss you girls down South or where ever you may be. Well, this is what's going on with the Larsen's and photos are soon to come on what the place looks like and what we have been up to!

Update on Nikol and Family

2010-11-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all the updates. I'm trying to get caught up before the end of the year and before we move. We haven't been notified yet on if we have been accepted for on-campus housing and hopefully will find out before the end of the month. As for me and what the doctors have found...... Nothing really related to the pains that I've been having, at least that's in my perspective. They found hemorrhoids, which is probably caused from 3 children being born. Can they really cause that much pain? I have my own diagnosis though....... Extra stress on my body goes into shock. When I start stressing out over a project or thing that needs to be done my body tenses up and I start having problem. I'm trying to just take things one at a time and things have been better. Do any of you know how to better deal with stress? My body starts shaking and then pain..... so help and advice would be great.

Much to be thankful for

2010-11-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

My dad and I were able to go to Daxton's school for the Kindergarten Annual Thanksgiving feast. It was way cute! The kids were dressed up as Pilgrims and we, as parents and guests, were the Indians and they had feathers for us to put in our hairs. It was fun. We had a little dinner with rolls, turkey and carrots and olives. Then yummy pies after. The kids did a cute song called Children of Many Colors. It was really cute and if I can figure out how to put it on the blog I want you to see it.

But at this time of year I just want to write down a few things that I'm thankful for this year. (sorry if it gets cheesy).... I'm thankful for....
1) My loving husband who has done so much for me, with being with me when I've been sick or to emotionally help me through some pretty big struggles physically and mentally this year.
2) My boys. Even though they can drive me a little crazy and get into things and destroy things so quick, they also have soft hearts, warm hugs and great kisses that just melt ya.
3) The outdoors. This year we were able to do a lot of camping with friends and family and go to many different parts of the state. I'm thankful for the wonderful creations that God has given us to all look at and appreciate.
4) Answers to prayers. I just want to testify that our Heavenly Father answers prayers in many different ways and He knows our needs. Hence, why we are moving to Logan and Mat will be able to finish school and hopefully me as well.
5) My health. I know that that may sound a little weird since my health has been up and down, but I'm still here and kickin' and I'm grateful that I can still function.
6) The priesthood. It has helped me to get through the tough physical stress put upon me, especially the last few months and given me that added boost. I'm grateful that Mat is worthy to hold the priesthood.
7) Temples. I'm been blessed to be able to go the last 2 Saturdays with friends and family. It's been so nice to be reminded of the many blessings we have been given and renew those covenants with my Father in Heaven.

I hope there are a few things that you have been thankful for this year and take the time to write them down and remember them.

Hauntingly cold Halloween

2010-11-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well Halloween was extra cold this year, but thank goodness for the costumes that we had for the boys and they were able to wear nice warm winter hats. The ones that were cold were me and Mat. But we had a great time. Hope you like our theme we did. We had this planned since last year when my sister found out she was having her fourth boy, making 7 total between the 2 of us. The other pictures are from my sister's Halloween party that she does every year. We LOVE it, although our costumes were not ready by this point, so we are in different costumes.

Disneyland October 2010

2010-11-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

I know that I'm late with Disneyland photos and all, but it's been WAY too crazy around here. Well, we were able to start off the trip pretty well until we got outside of Mesquite and Hayden got sick from the windy canyon. (I think I spelled that right.) Anyway, so that was interesting, but I think he just got a little car sick and nothing like the flu. Then we stopped at my Uncle Steve's house and had dinner with them and stayed the night. I love having family to make the trip not so long. The boys were so excited to be there and excited for the adventure of driving another 6 hours the next day. Every time we stopped they would ask, "Is this DISNEYLAND?" and every time we would have to say, no. But we finally made it to Disneyland and our hotel to find out that our hotel was extra busy because of all the Utah and Arizona travelers and we couldn't park our car at our hotel and had to take it to a sister-hotel down the way, and we couldn't check-in till around 4 and it was 2. So we got all our stuff out of the car and put it in their storage area, drove the car to the other hotel, shuttled back to our hotel and then walked over to Disneyland. It was very interesting and one of the only downfalls to the whole trip. We were able to meet up with Mat's family and even a few friends from UT. It was AWESOME!!!! We didn't do a whole lot in the park, but the first character we saw was SNOW WHITE!! It was so cool for the fact that I was dressing up as Snow White for Halloween. The other problem was that we left one camera in the car and the other at the hotel in the storage area, so thank goodness for technology and we were able to use Mat's phone.
I won't go into the day to day details, but we were able to see more characters than we ever thought we would. During the week was better than on the weekends. There were too many people on Saturday and SOOO many lines that were more than an hour and that was too much for us. I definitely will go back during the week over the weekend. Friday wasn't too bad, but Saturday was AWFUL!! We were able to go to the new attraction, World of Color and it was beautiful and breathtaking. We got to the show that was really late, not the latest, but it was 10 at night when the show started and Corbin and Hayden were asleep and slept the whole time. There were times of frustration with family members and lots of miscommunication, but when is there a trip that doesn't have a lot of that. My favorite parade was the Pixar parade in California Adventures where you see all the Pixar characters and it wasn't as crowded as the Disneyland parades. The boys had a great time to say the least. They keep asking when we can go back, which is up in the air, but we will definitely go back. Hope you enjoy the pictures and see how much fun we were able to have as a family.

Abundance of Strength and Hope in Life's Journey

2010-11-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

As I have been getting things ready for our family to move in the next month or so I find this abundance of strength helping me, and pushing me along, and I wanted to share this article I found on Time Out For Women that totally describes how I feel and it was amazing and hope you find a little bit of peace and joy in your journeys of life.

Natalie Nyman

October 19, 2010

I look through my to-do lists and see evidence of the roles I play and the absence of the roles I want. There are articles to read, errands to run, sisters to visit, laundry to do, papers to write, spinning classes to attend, and scriptures to study. There are family members who need love, friends who need support, and decisions to make about dating. From the moment I wake until the time when my head returns to its pillow, life is constantly in motion. Sometimes I look at the schedule and post-it notes and paper reminders of goals I've set and feel like the apostles asked to feed the 5000. There is not enough time, not enough energy, not enough me. I look in the mirror and then back at my planner and wonder if the tasks of the day, week, month or year will ever translate into who I want to see in my reflection.

In these moments I find comfort in the life and example of my Savior. The Redeemer of the World, the Chosen Messiah, the Christ- my Perfect friend - had a moment of mortality when His cross was too heavy. Until He could carry it again, an unknown man shouldered His burden. I think of this man, of the privilege it would have been to serve the Savior between the bitter cups of Gethsemane and Calvary. And then I think of those who have likewise seen me struggling to carry my load and who have silently and tenderly walked with me, bearing my burden until my strength returned.

I remember family members, friends, teachers, and even strangers coming to my rescue in these times of need, people who understood and lived the covenants taught on the banks of the waters of Mormon. Truly, their hearts had internalized the principles of bearing others' burdens and mourning with those that mourn. But ultimately, I discover hope in knowledge born of experience and testimony that my Perfect friend, Jesus Christ, walks with me. He waits for me to drop my cross at His feet and pick up His yoke. "Even as He calls us to come to Him and follow Him, he is unfailingly running to help us. However halting our steps are toward Him -- though they shouldn't be halting at all -- His steps are never halting toward us" (Elder Holland, "Come Unto Me" April 1998 Ensign).

As I have run to Him, I have felt Him at my side, fulfilling promises uttered in ancient and modern times. I find hope not in my own capacities and successes, but in the realization developed over time that there is no righteous journey I embark on alone.

Nikol update!

2010-10-05T17:31:00.000-06:00

Along with all the changes that have been going on with the leaves changing and our lifestyle changing, my body continues to do things that totally CONFUSE ME!!! I went to the specialty doctor last Wednesday to find that I confused yet another doctor, which is getting really old and I really want to find out what is going on with my stomach. So he put me on some medicine that will hopefully help me out and in 6 weeks I get to go back for a little procedure to see if it is doing something to help out. So far, I feel the same and nothing has changed and its been a week. Maybe there is something they are not seeing and hopefully will be able to find it in 6 weeks.

Family life update!

2010-10-05T17:27:00.000-06:00

On Thursday Sept 30, 2010 I got a text from Mat. Something that happens everyday, right, but this was a different text. It said, "As of Dec 24th I will no longer have a job!" I thought that it was a joke or something, but it's true. Mat is being let go and now we are making choices for our family that will take us else where. He will be getting a severance of 2wks per year he has worked for Ziplocal, which is 2 years so all of January we get paid and after that we will have to see.

Mat is thinking of going back to school at USU in Business Marketing! So our family might be moving to LOGAN, UT!!! Back up to Logan after 5 years of being away, almost 6 years! Can't believe it! It will definitely be a change of pace for our family. We actually having been thinking of going back to school and the Sunday before Mat found out from work (which they could have done ON Christmas Eve) about going to school at USU. Funny how the Lord works sometimes. This was the needed push, almost, to get us going. We are a little scared for the change of pace, and being students again and being away from family, but this is where the Lord needs us and He will provide as long as we do all that we can.

OCTOBER!!!!

2010-10-05T17:07:00.000-06:00

I love OCTOBER!!! Not only is Halloween on the way, but it's officially fall and the color of the leaves is splendid, the temperatures are some what cooler and its time for wonderful fall, harvesting activities. Not only is canning pretty much done, but I get to enjoy more time with the boys outside having fun. Oh, and I can't forget that it's also time for CONFERENCE!!! The last few weeks have been really crazy, but fun!

First off, I was able to go to the Relief Society Meeting AT the Conference Center. Our Stake was given so many tickets per ward and I grabbed 4. One for me, my mom, my sister Apryl and my dear sister-in-law Leslie. It was AMAZING!!! We started off the evening picking up everybody so we could go to dinner before the meeting rather than after. We ate at the Olive Garden which was in walking distance from the Conference Center and then we walked on up for the meeting.

It was an amazing meeting!!! Very powerful on how to be better women in the church and better women in general! Awesome to spend it with 3 amazing women in my life. Wish I could have spent it with all amazing women in my life, but only so many tickets.

Second, FALL COLORS!!!!! I love living so close to a beautiful, scenic canyon. The Mount Nebo Loop is in my backyard, (well, technically in my front yard but you know what I mean)! We went up a couple weeks ago and saw the colors and then stopped off in Santaquin Canyon and roasted hot dogs and had fun playing in the dirt. That's what boys do best right?!? The next day Mat and I were able to go up the Canyon and hike the Mount Loafer trail and although we got onto the wrong trail at one point and never made up on top of Mount Loafer, it was still a great time to spend with my husband and in nature. LOVED IT!!!
Here are some of the pictures we took:

This is the stream in Santaquin Canyon and I had fun taking the picture and playing with the camera!

Finishing the hike!

Mount Loafer Trail

Top of Payson Canyon towards Camp KoHoLoWo

Me and my best friend!

Third, playing outside with the boys harvest style!!! We were able to go to the Rowley Farm in Santaquin, which we do every year, to take the hayride to the pumpkin patch and take lots of cute pictures!!! It was great this year! The boys look forward to every year!

The 6 boys! Too cute!

Cute lil Andrew Durrant!

My most recent family photo until this Saturday!

Finally, CONFERENCE!!! With our Stake getting tickets this year, our bishop let us all know in the ward that there were tickets for the Saturday Afternoon session and Mat and I took the opportunity to go!! It was awesome. Mat's mom watched the boys and took them to their cousin's birthday party. And Mat and I went to conference! It was amazing to say the least! It's amazing how you feel in the presence of the prophet and apostles. There were so many answers to our many questions that are happening in our life right now, but that will have to be in a later post. :) We were able to eat a sack lunch on Temple Square before the session started and then walk around Temple Square for a little bit. It was amazing to feel the unity of everyone wanting to listen to the prophet.

Temple Shot with the American Flag!

Outside of the Conference Center, it was nice and hot and VERY bright!

Us in the Conference Center

Quick Update

2010-09-28T07:45:00.000-06:00

So I forgot to update about my ultrasound and all came back good and no problems. Soooo... they still want me to see the specialty doctor on Wednesday. There is good and bad with this. Good I have no problems picturewise, and BAD because I almost wanted something there just so I KNOW what it is. I have been feeling better, but I do get an episode of sharp pain every once in awhile. Hopefully this specialty doctor can help me out!

Baptism!!!

2010-09-14T14:58:00.000-06:00

My cute nephew Trev was baptized over Labor Day weekend. I felt bad that Mat and the boys were not able to go with me. Money's pretty tight and we need to save ever penny we can for Disneyland in October. So I was able to hitch a ride with my mom and dad and my brother Josh came too, without his family as well. It was nice trip without the kids, to say the least, but I still missed them and talked to them as often as I could. We left Friday the 3rd and made it into Blackfoot, ID late that night to my aunt's house. The next day, the 4th, was Trev's baptism. I was soooo excited for him. He turned 8 back in June, but my brother and sister-in-law wanted him to be ready and have it be his choice to be baptized or not and he was definitely ready. You could just see it on his face and feel it from him that he was READY!! It was really cool to see and 8yr old look so mature. He was actually the tallest one being baptized. There were 5 in his stake being baptized that day as well. The program was wonderful and the baptism amazing. He was only dunked once, which is amazing because his 2 older sisters were dunked 2-3 times before it was right. It was a great day to be with family, and I was able to get some great shots. Enjoy!!

All the men who confirmed him!

Jared's family

(L to R) Daycia, Madilyn, Jared, Heidi, Sharylee with Korryn

Trevon, and Dalton

Mama and Trevon

Sharylee and Trev

Mama Lou and my mom

Mama Lou with Andrew and Apryl

My dad and his mom taking a nap! Too cute!

Sharylee and Heidi, their foreign exchange student from Korea.

Times flying by....

2010-09-14T14:46:00.000-06:00

So I don't know have any excuses of why I haven't posted lately.... other than running around crazy....!!!:) August went by tooo quickly. We had a lot of family come to visit that month and I'm glad to have family around. The one thing, well two, most eventful things happened in the month of August. First, Hayden sprained his foot by jumping off a 1 ft table in their bedroom. We didn't find out that it was a sprain until after 2 visits to the doctor and my 2 uncles looking at him. The story is that Hayden was trying to "go swimming" with his brothers in the bedroom and jumping off the table to land on the blue rug, "the water." Well, he had been doing this for sometime, and then we heard him jump, then cry, and so Mat went in to find him on the floor on his side. I thought that he had bunked his head, until the next morning and he was complaining his leg hurt. Didn't think much of it until I put him down to help Corbin go potty and he wouldn't stand on his legs and collapsed on the floor. That really worried me, especially since my parents were out of town with my brother and his family in San Diego. I called my mom and talked with her. She said if there is any bruising or swelling then take him in. There was nothing!!! So I called my lil sis to come and look at him and his hips moved fine and he was not giving us any indication of what was really going on and where he was hurting. FRUSTRATING!!! So I called and made an appointment to see the doctor and my doctor was not in so I saw the on call doctor there. They did x-rays and still couldn't find anything. They said if by a week he was still not walking to come back in. So I did. One week later we were back in the office with yet another doctor and took different x-rays but still couldn't find anything, so they put a splint on his foot and wrapped him up good. A few days later he was starting to crawl and by one week after his splint was put on he was walking again!!! and I took off the splint. My back hurt so bad to be carrying around a 30 lb toddler. He's pretty hefty!!!

Well during this time my Aunt Darla came back from her mission from Samoa. It was great to see her and my cousin Karma, her daughter. We had a great time and I was able to get my own lava lava to wear. :)

Here's Apryl & Dave Durrant, Mat and Hayden Larsen, and my cousin Karma Tucker

Aunt Darla

My sweet Grandpa Anderson My mom, myself and Apryl in our lava lavas!

We were also able to see good friends too and it is just so nice to visit!!!

The next big thing that happened was DAXTON IS IN KINDERGARTEN!!!! I felt bad that I wasn't able to post about this sooner, but as you can see my life has been kind of crazy. So.... here is my big Kindergartener!!!

Isn't he just handsome and ready for school?!?! I can't believe he's already in Kindergarten. And no I didn't cry when we took him to school, I was actually excited for him to be at school. Not like he's a bad kid and I want him away, but it is nice to focus a little bit of time on the other 2 kids. His teacher is Mrs. Thomas who was also my little sister's teacher too. So she knows my family and it's nice to know a familiar face. It is kind of weird to think that he is going to the same school that I went to and even some of the same teachers are there. CrAZy!!!

During the whole month of August my body has been shutting down and having problems. I won't go into all the details because they are kind of embarrassing, but for the most part my stomach has been cramping up and it doesn't matter what I do it hurts!! I have been passing out a lot lately and been really shaky and just plain hurt. I have been to the doctor a couple of times and they have tried me on fiber pills and that makes it almost worse. I did just go yesterday and had some blood drawn and my results came back this morning as everything is normal. No probs with the thyroid, kidney, liver, diabetes, not pregnant, etc. So that's great, but not sure what is still wrong with me. I've even fooled the doctor and he is a little scared. So on Friday I get to go in to get an ultrasound on my tummy to see what's going on with my stomach. Then I have an appointment with a specialty doctor later in the month. So pray for me and the doctors so that we can find out what's going on. I'm a little scared, but just unnerved mostly. I hate not knowing.

QUESTION?!?!?!

2010-08-02T16:53:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking about this for quite some time and would like my friends input. I have been deciding to go back to school and would like to do online classes, but not sure what I want to go into. What do you think? What are your views of online classes? Do you like them? Are they easier? Or harder? It's been a struggle for me. I really want to go back to school, but haven't found what exactly I want to go into. Nothing has really clicked saying, "Yep, that's it!!!" I hate it! Is it easy going to school with a family and a husband who might be going back to school, too? UGGGHHH!! I don't know what to do! I feel so stagnant and don't know what to think or do! Please help!

2010-08-02T16:49:00.001-06:00

Here are the photos of our busy, but wonderful day on Pioneer Day! That morning we went over to the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days parade with my brother and his family. It was a pretty good parade and it was nice to be with my brother and just talk with him. The boys were pretty good with the parade and were done when it was done. We didn't get too much candy which was fine by me, but we headed up to Mat's mom and dad's place in Draper and spent a few hours up there before we headed up to Layton to Mat's sister's home to have water games and dinner with them. The boys were EXCITED!!!! We hadn't seen our cousins since we went camping with them in June. It had been a month and they were excited to play in the water again with them. They played hard for 3 hours or so.... which meant at the end of the day they were out before we got on the freeway. We had a really good time... THANK YOU EMILY AND KYLE!!!!! Thanks Mom Miller for getting it all together. We love getting with our family!!! Enjoy the pictures!

Blessings come big and small!

2010-07-29T16:42:00.000-06:00

So I feel like I need to let you know how much we were blessed in July! We were able to be with our family a lot the last few months and we are so grateful that we are close enough to do that. But this is not entirely about family. Mat and I were able to go to the Manti temple with our ward for ward temple day. Since Provo was closed at the time the next available temple was Manti!!! Which was awesome for us since we were married there 6 years ago. Anyway, we were getting really excited and hoping the boys wouldn't get sick or have any injuries preventing us from going to the temple. All was well and Mat and I took the boys over to my sisters to spend the night since we needed to leave by 7 am the next day. So off we were to spend some time with ourselves. YEAH!!!! The next morning we got up bright and early and met the ward at the church and followed down. We had a really good turn out about 20 people came!! AWESOME! We didn't carpool with anyone else because we wanted to go and walk around Snow College's campus and visit Mat's grandma in Fountain Green. So we took a nice quiet drive down to Manti, got to the temple and hour before the next session started, which gave us ample time to think and ponder. While we were pondering we noticed a girl that was receiving her own endowment and realized that we knew her. It was our good friend's little sister and she was with her parents and grandpa along with her fiancé and his parents. It was really cool. We were hoping that we would see our friends, but they weren't there, although our session was really full and it was amazing. We were able to talk with the parents afterwards and it was just good to see them. After that I was in the dressing room waiting to get into my locker and another lady saw me, recognized me and it was my little sister's friends from growing up. She had just gotten married in the temple a month ago and was at her brother-in-law and sister-in-law's sealing. It was soo cool!!!! So we talked for a little bit and it was just awesome. We then waited outside for all our ward members and followed each other over to a near by park to have lunch. After lunch, and while our ward members were leaving I found some really good friends of ours from Logan which we hadn't seen for 5 years!!!! We talked for awhile and found out they were living in Orangeville and some of Mat's family is from there and were actually there in Manti at the park. So Mat ran over and talked with his Uncle Gordon and Aunt Carol. What a GREAT REUNION!!! It truly felt like heaven that day where we were able to meet and be with old friends and family again! I was on cloud 9 the whole day! Mat and I were suppose to be there that day to see so many old friends that some have been over 5 years since we have seen them.

We then walked around Snow College's campus and it was great! They have a new library there that looks like the Noyes Building! BEAUTIFUL!!!! Good memories were shared there at that dear college!

I loved my roomies!!! They were the best both years! I was hoping to find some other pictures and I need to fix some around and get them a little bit better, but here are some of the memories of room 218! Let the good times roll!

July a month of celebration!

2010-07-29T15:48:00.000-06:00

Here are our Fourth of July weekend Celebrations! We had our really good friends, Aaron and Chelsey come down and have some good ol' dutch oven dinner and dessert with us. It was so so nice! It's always nice to be in the presence of people that love and respect you. It's such a wonderful feeling. Thanks Aaron and Chels for the great time and all the great times we get together. On Sunday the 4th we had dinner with my little sister Chelsea and her husband Casey and had a great time with them. After that we went to the Payson Memorial Park and saw the summer annual band concert. It was great. The boys had a good time, I think. Maybe not listening to the music, but definitely wrestling each other on the blanket. Silly boys!! I guess that's what I get with having 3 crazy, lil boys!

These are photos of my family that has grown to 33 people!!! We have a growing family and it was a great time!! We went camping for our first annual Rick Lee Family Reunion up Bear Canyon, up Nephi Canyon. ALL OF US WERE THERE!!! How great is that. We had a great time with playing horseshoes that Casey and Chelsea brought up and games at night when the kids went to bed and doing lots of crafts thanks to my mom (aka Mama) she knows exactly what to bring to keep the kids out of trouble most of the time. Except for when Corbin fell in the river following the big kids and got his shoes soaked.... good times.... :O) We had no quarrels or fights.... except the lil bickering between kids that happens no matter what... we had a BLAST!!!! What more could you ask for a big family?!? I can't wait for next year! We are going to Paris Springs Campground in Idaho so it will be closer for my brother and his family to come. And we get to spend it at the beach! YEAH!!! The camping trip had it's ups and downs for our lil tent though. Our zipper finally gave out the second day into that trip and thank goodness it was the last camping trip planned. We ended up putting a tarp over the front door to keep us warm and hopefully keep the critters out. I have pictures in the slideshow. It was an interesting experience and hopefully we can get our tent fixed or get a new one entirely. We'll see! Well, enough of the boring talk. Our summer has been an adventure and a great one to with our families on both sides. My kids can't say they had a boring summer! We have had ample enough family time and things to do and the Lord has truly blessed us so that we have been able to make our relationships stronger with our family. We thank him everyday for it!!!!!

Summer time fun!!!

2010-07-29T14:20:00.000-06:00

Here are pictures of our camping trip we took with Mat's family in June!! It was over our anniversary so we celebrated our 6th anniversary on the beach at Bear Lake. What a wonderful day!! It was a great vacation and we had a BLAST! The kids were great and had a great time with family that they don't see that often. Well, I don't think this is all my photos, but most of them. I was designated the family photographer because everyone left their cameras at home or batteries were dead. I didn't mind though. Our meals were great and we did miss Kyle, my sister-in-laws hubby. He was in Germany for work. She did get to talk to him while we were camping though, only while we were on the beach though. We did try and had some success getting cellphone service at our campsite. Which was an awesome campsite in Paris Springs, ID only 10 minutes from Bear Lake. Great spot and where my family will be having their camping trip next year!!!! AWESOME!!! On to the next set of photos for you!

Picts of Daxton's 5th Birthday and OWLZ game

2010-07-05T15:02:00.001-06:00

Paris, ID camping Trip!

2010-07-05T14:51:00.002-06:00

June... a camping, busy, birthday filled month

2010-07-05T14:50:00.000-06:00

I know that I was being really good at the beginning of June with updating you, but I have failed. I can't believe that June is over and done. Thank goodness in some ways, and in other ways, I wish it could have lasted a little bit longer. We were pretty busy with watching nieces and nephews, birthdays galore, our anniversary and top it off camping 2 weeks in a row. BUT.... we had a blast as we were able to spend it as a family.

My sister-in-law had her baby at the end of May and to help out my mom and I watched her kids so that she could recover from her C-Section a little bit easier. So my boys were excited to have their cousins over for a few days straight. After that Corbin had his 3rd birthday!!! I can't believe that Corbin is now 3 years old and acting so much older than his age.

After that we were able to go to Bryce Canyon with my mom and dad. It was a GREAT trip!!! A very relaxing, do what you want kind of Trip!! We played at the pool at my parent's hotel, went and saw all the sites up in Bryce Canyon, played back at our campsite and laughed. What more could you ask for?!!? Time spent with my family was very special to my this last month. I got to do it a lot and enjoyed every minute of it. Some may think that I would get tired of having my kids and my husband CONSTANTLY around me, but I beg to differ. If anything else, it has brought us closer together and we have learned and taught each other many valuable lessons.

Playing in the tent. It was really windy that first night.

First day at Rainbow point.

My boys!! Natural Bridge

Cool stump we found and the boys thought it was fun! Old Bryce Town---JAIL TIME!!!

Cute pioneers, huh!!! hahaha Sitting around the fire!

Papa and Hayden at Inspiration point! Roasting Marshmallows!

Those are just a smidge of the what I actually took!! I didn't want to bore you with all my family photos so I just gave you a taste of it!! Our next adventure was Father's day weekend! Oh, did I mention Mat's birthday? Well it was spent that first day in Bryce Canyon, well the drive down to Bryce. It was definitely a different birthday present for him. When we got home it was Father's day weekend and we went up to his parent's home for a birthday celebration for his dad's birthday and all June birthdays. It was nice to have ALL of Mat's family there, well, at least all his siblings were together. Some of the nieces and nephews and son-in-laws were not there.

After that fun filled weekend of family and friends! We headed off to Paris....... IDAHO!!!! It wasn't as beautiful as Paris, France (from pictures I have seen), but definitely a little bit of heaven away from it all. We spent 3 days up there and out at Bear Lake, relaxing... who would complain about that... unless you were one of those that got really sunburned or eaten by the mosquitoes. Other than that, I had a great time and the boys had fun playing with their Larsen cousins. The Miller cousins don't like camping, but we still love them!!!

I was the designated photographer since everyone else either forgot their camera or their batteries for their camera had died. So I had taken almost 400 photos in 3 days time. While we were camping we ended up celebrating our 6th anniversary! Mat's parent's felt bad that we were camping over the time of our anniversary, but I would rather be doing something like camping than possibly nothing at all since money is really tight. So.... we spent it by going to the Lake and having dutch oven pizza for dinner with some yummy cobbler for dessert. It was a really great day!! My present for Mat was some quotes from songs that I thought described my love for him. So I got this idea from a friend who did it for her husband on their anniversary, so thank you Tildie for the idea!! What I did was take four songs that we both love and took exerts from them, pasted them onto some cute scrapbook paper, hole punched it and scattered them around in our luggage and places where he would be looking while we are camping, he still has yet to find 3 of them. But I hope that he really likes it!!

(There is a slideshow of pictures to show you coming soon!)

This last week of the 4th of July has still been crazy because it was Daxton's 5th birthday and it was his first birthday party. It was a good birthday I think!! We kind of elongated the celebration for a few days I think because of it falling on the 4th of July weekend. His birthday day was pretty laid back we just had homemade pizza, his favorite, for dinner, then I went to Eclipse with my Bunco girls!!! (awesome movie) Then Thursday the first of July we had his birthday party!!!! He had a slip and slide party and had a blast. For Corbin's birthday we bought a new Buzzlightyear slip n' slide and they had a great time!!!

After the party was over we headed up with our good friends Aaron and Chelsey to an OWLZ game for free!!! It was great! The kids had a good time and Corbin even got an official Pioneer League baseball from a staff member there. He thought that was pretty cool!

My parents a couple of my siblings with their families headed to Idaho for my dad's side of the family, family reunion. We were unable to go because of finances. (It would have been 4 weeks in a row of camping-- which is fine in my book, but the cost of gas would have killed us!) So we spent the 4th at home with just our lil family!!! We had a fun relay race in our backyard that Daxton beat us all at! He's so fast!

Saturday we had a fairly relaxing day at home. Got a few chores done around home and then we headed to what was a very empty Payson Park but great for us to have the boys just play without any worry. We headed home after playing, napped and had a great dutch oven dinner with our friends, did fireworks and watched a movie on the garage. Great day!! Sunday was fairly relaxing as well. We had my lil sis and her husband come over for dinner and then we headed to Memorial Park to listen to the band play and the Payson Chorale perform for the 4th of July!!! Fun filled summer evening! Great days to come in a few day with my family coming to Nephi Canyon to have a RICK LEE FAMILY REUNION!!

Memorial Day weekend

2010-06-01T14:44:00.000-06:00

So I feel pretty good that I'm staying on top of things,.... for now at least! I am actually posting about Memorial day weekend the day after it all happened, which is pretty good for me especially lately! Anywho, onto the weekend recap! So Friday we didn't do very much, but on Saturday I was able to get a lot done on some yard work and getting things organized in the shed that is storing all of our stuff. I had to do most of it because Mat had hurt his back, well specifically he slipped a disc in his back. So he has been in a lot of pain lately. I moved most of the boxes and found a whole bunch of pictures that I need to scan and I can't wait to start some new books especially those from my younger years and some of my favorite and not so favorite memories and stories of my life. We didn't do much after that. My mom and my grandpa went down to Monroe, UT to put flowers on my grandma's grave along with other relatives that were in the same area. After my mom got back we had a BBQ with grilled shrimp and zucchini, onions and squash. It was really yummy! My sister and her family had come over and we were able to eat outside and have a great time. We roasted marshmellows in our firepit and had a great time while my mom was telling of stories of my Grandpa Anderson and things that he remembered growing up as a kid. It was awesome! The only downer to the evening was that I found out that I'm allergic to shrimp. My lip started to swell in one spot like a blister. My mom thought it was a coldsore, but I was thinking it was an allergic reaction. So I took some benadryl and the swelling went away. Thank goodness it wasn't a major reaction, but now I know that I can't have shrimp anymore.
Sunday was a great day! Church was awesome and after that we got salads ready and headed up the canyon to have a family BBQ up there! I love BBQ's!!! I love my family even more though. I was able to meet my new neice, Sophia Rebecca Lee, my brother Ryan's newest addition. After roasting hot dogs and eating our dinner, my sweet Grandpa Anderson read us a story about Christmas service for our FHE lesson. I know it's not Christmas but the story touched my heart that even in the bleakest of circumstances we must serve others with all our heart and blessings will come in the end in many unexpected ways! After our family get together we headed back to our house where some of our closest friends met us and we were able to go camping in our backyard for the first time of the season!!!!! It was a great night! We set up the projector and watched a couple of movies and we learned a new card game, Hand and Foot. I've heard of it, but haven't played it until that night! The kids fell asleep around 10- 10:30 pm and we didn't get to bed until around 2pm. It was a pretty cool night, but at least the boys were warm. For breakfast we made blueberry pancakes with bacon and it was wonderful! We got a couple of pictures of the time when our friends, Chels and Aaron were here. Thanks for coming down and can't wait to see how the summer pans out for us!
The next couple of weeks we are pretty free, but towards the end of the month we are going to be camping almost every weekend!!! I'm excited to go camping, but I think I will be pretty tired over those 4 weeks straight!
Hope you all had a Happy and SAFE Memorial Weekend remembering all those before us!

Daxton's a BIG BOY now!

2010-05-28T13:29:00.000-06:00

Daxton just finished preschool on Wednesday and was so excited to now move on into elementary school. With it being his last day they were letting any parent who would like to come and eat lunch with them and help out at the school. So I went, had lunch with him and then they had a little program of some of the songs that they had learned that year. It was a really cute program. If I can get the computer to work I will try and get a video or two of him dancing his way through songs. He was very active during the program. He would sing and dance at the same time. I think he is going to be in show choirs later on in his schooling just like his daddy. He was a lot of fun to watch, so hopefully, keep your fingers crossed, that I can put a video of him. But I do have some pictures of him during his program and he is a hoot. Now he is going to be going to the same elementary school that I went to, now that's weird!!!

Hogle Zoo.... the perfect day!

2010-05-24T14:33:00.000-06:00

So May 15th we went to the zoo with our really good friends, Aaron and Chelsey and their family!!!! IT WAS A BLAST!! The kids a great time together and love to play... which makes it all the better and a lot more fun! We followed each other up to the zoo and had a great time!! The photos that I took can pretty much tell the story for you and I won't bore you with all the details, but I will tell you of a funny experience I had a couple of times while we were there. There were a lot of girls that were wearing a similar outfit that I was wearing. I had a teal blue shirt on and brown shorts. One girl even had a similar hairstyle, but a little darker in color. We were taking pictures of the kids on a statue of a rhino and the older kids were getting restless so I took them over to see the mandrills and Mat, Chelsey and Aaron look over to where I was and there were 2 other women there with similar outfits and Mat asked, "Which is my wife?" Chelsey took a picture of that event, but I found it interesting that that was a popular outfit for the day. Can I just ask you one other thing? WHY DO GIRLS WEAR HIGH HEELED SANDALS TO THE ZOO?!?!?!? It just hurts my feet just thinking about it! Who are they trying to impress? Countless times we saw women walking in high heeled sandals or shoes and it really baffled me! Wear something comfortable! I said my peace enjoy the photos!

Dad's wreck results

2010-04-30T13:31:00.001-06:00

April 2010- Easter & Bathroom Remodel

2010-04-30T13:26:00.000-06:00

Busy April!

2010-04-30T11:30:00.000-06:00

So I have been a really bad blogger the whole month of April! (BEWARE.... It will be a long post!)
To start off the month was my birthday and I had a really good day, considering it's April Fools and it snowed that day!! I was super excited for the weekend to come where I was going to be spending it with my family in SUNNY St. George and Mesquite, NV! We left Friday morning and drove down to St. George to meet my family there and start our trip! We were able to play around on the red rocks there and Hayden had a blast! Even though he was scaring me a lot of the time trying to "stay up" with the boys! Half the time he was not staying up with them and either Mat or I would have to hurry to help him out or carry him along. It was a fun time at our first stop and then we headed to this Dinosaur Museum there where the boys were able to look at fossils and dig around themselves at a site where the dinosaurs were actually found. It was a nice stop and the boys again had a great time. We had a decision to make for the next stop to either go to a place where one of our ancestors helped to build a mill with Brigham Young or go to the Jacob Hamblin home in Santa Clara. My sister-in-law is distantly related to Jacob Hamlin so we went there. She is related to his second wife, Rachel Judd. It was really cool house and we found out a lot about Jacob as well as his wives. The house was really cool and it made Mat and I want to live in Santa Clara! It was beautiful and not really in the city, but still close enough to "civilization" as Mat would put it. It was BEAUTIFUL...!!! We got talking to the missionary there and found out we had some little connections with him. His name was Elder Bryner, I think that was his name, anyway is from Price, which is where Mat's dad is from. It ends up that Elder Bryner, who is a Sr. Missionary by the way, dated Mat's dad's sister when they were going to CEU and knows the Miller family a little bit. Funny connects all around us to find, huh?!?! After the tour we let the kids play around on the grounds to get some energy out of them and then we headed back to my uncles house in Mesquite. It was fun to see the kids play with their cousins that they don't see very often.
We had a really good meal and the boys did fairly well, considering there was family around and they get easily distracted. Hayden of course did a great job. He loves food, most of the time. That night the kids pretty much crashed from playing so hard outside.
The next day was my favorite day!!!!! We ended up where it would seem out in the middle of the desert of Nevada, but it was a GREAT!! We went the Lost City Museum and looked at the Anasazi culture there. They have a whole collection of Native American tools, clothes, and even the pueblos that the kids could play in outside. The boys thought it was Awesome to play in a place where someone would sleep. They are not very big and it's amazing what the Native Americans did in such a HOT environment and survive. After that we drove a little further south and this is where the fun began. We went fourwheeling to a cave, where I think a lot of teens hang out, and had lunch. I didn't drive the fourwheeler, but Mat was able to and we had a blast. We had lunch in the cave and hiked around that area for a little bit. Then we drove back to where the cars were, the kids took a good nap (Hayden fell asleep on me on the fourwheeler on the way back to the car!), and we were able to drive around on the jumps, curves and everywhere out there in the desert. It was a blast!!! The last time I was on a fourwheeler was my Sr. year for Homecoming with Mike Haney. That was over 8 years ago!!!! Mat and I spent most of the time together doing that. Daxton came out with us once and told us that is what he wants to do for his birthday is to go fourwheeling rather than go to Chuck-E-Cheese. I thought that that was reasonable, don't you? At least I have family around that have fourwheelers that we can go with. After riding for about an hour or so, we headed to the National Park there to look at some AMAZING creations from God! It literally looked like someone grabbed a paintbrush and put a little yellow here, a little red there, a splash of purple here and a drop of pink there. The first hike we did was called the Mouse Tank. It's a place where the Natives knew where there would be water. It was not a lot of water, but an ample amount if it was in dier need. It was a fun hike for the fact that there were petroglyphs, paintings on the wall, that you could look for and at the beginning of the hike there was a map of what each petroglyph meant. It was really cool and a lot of fun!! Daxton was constantly look for them and would be able to tell you what each meant, or a close definition of it. Hayden was determined to walk all by himself on our way back. Even if that meant that we walked really slow and stopped a lot, he did it himself. Funny boy! We just went to a few other spots there and just took pictures, no hiking really. But they stops were beautiful, breath-takingly beautiful!! I will put together a slideshow of all the photos of our trip. I was able to do a book with Heritage Makers for my Aunt to show her our appreciation of all that she does for our family, all the places she takes us and the food she prepares for us and most importantly their home they provide for our overwhelmingly large family. Thanks Aunt Teri and Uncle Steve!!! Hope she liked it! I had a great time making it for her!
On Sunday we drove straight back to Payson, in the snow, ugh..... I'm done with snow!! Then we went to my Aunt Tina's and Uncle Tim's house for Easter.... Oh, wait, .... the Easter bunny didn't forget to stop at our house!! He came while we were gone... the boys were excited that when they got home there was candy and toys for them. It was so fun to see the expressions on their faces to see candy and toys at home!! We had a great Easter BBQ at my aunt and uncle's house. Had a great Easter lesson and spent a great deal of wonderful, needed time with my family.
The next day was the day I will never forget.... the day my dad got in a wreck on his way home from work in Mt. Pleasant!! He was coming home that dreadfully snowy night, blizzard like conditions and very icey!! He rolled his truck in Nephi Canyon just coming out of Fountain Green. Miracles occured that night and my dad came out with a scratch on his nose and a bump on his head. There was a perfect bubble over the driver's side of the car. He rolled on the passenger's side into the mountain side then it rolled back and landed on the driver's side door. My dad had a little bit of back problems that didn't show for a few days, but amazingly enough, he was unharmed.
I was able to see my good friend and former roommate at her baby shower that weekend on the 10th. Colette Day looks soooo cute being pregnant!! Hope all goes well for her and the baby. She's due any day now!
Not much else has happened. The boys have been growing so quickly and so fast. I think we went through a growth spurt because some of Corbin's pants are short on him now and Hayden is talking so much more and running around with the boys!
I did end up getting Strep throat a week or so ago, which was not fun at all. Ends up Daxton and Corbin were the carriers of it and so we were all on antibotics to get over it. If Daxton gets strep throat again this year we have to get his tonsils out!! Scary thought. He had strep already this year at the beginning of the year. Not fun to be sick. We have been getting a lot of things done outside. It's been nice to be able to play when it hasn't been snowing, which lately has been a lot. Silly snow needs to stay away. We need the moisture, but it would be nice to have rain, not snow!! Anyway, sorry for the really long post, but that is what's been up with our lil' family!

I'M........

2010-03-20T09:02:00.000-06:00

Excited for Spring!!!!!!!! You thought that I was going to tell you that I'm pregnant, but nope, I'm not! But, it is OFFICIALLY SPRING TIME!!!!!!! I love Spring! Not only is my birthday in Spring time, but all nature comes back to life and I'm so excited for NATURE!!!! Just thought I would do a fun post!

The old and new begin again...

2010-03-15T14:23:00.000-06:00

We were able to go to the Utah Flash Game with Daxton's preschool, Mountainland Headstart. It was AWESOME!! We were also able to take 2 of my nephews, Christian and Dalan. They had a great time too and keep asking me when we are going to go again. I'm glad that they had a great time.

The next thing we went and did with Daxton's school was see the play, "If you give a mouse a cookie!" It was a great lil book and an even better play. It's amazing to see how they get a 10 min book into a 45 min play. The kids were laughing and my boys were glued to the mouse. Corbin kept saying, "silly mouse!" It was a great way to spend family night together, popcorn and a play at the SCERA!! (They play is still going until the 19th of this month. Worth taking your kids to.)

The next day was our Relief Society Birthday PARTY!!! My mom and I were incharge of the food. They told us a party was the theme, nothing fancy so my mom and I did PICNIC food!!! We decorated our table with flowers, bugs, ants, picnic table clothes. Our food was fun and of course, YUMMY!!! We had fried chicken, potato salads (12 or 13 different ones the dear sweet sisters provided), baked beans (4 different ones the sisters also provided), chips and salsa/dip, carrots, pickles, and celery and had water. It was fun, easy and very relaxing. It was a fun activity to do and I thank my mom for the great ideas for the food table decorations as well as the food. She's wonderful!!! Love you mom!!!

We got the boys new bed(s). We got this bunk bed from IKEA and the boys love it!!! It's not too high and very low to the ground. Corbin's bed is on the ground so no worries about him falling out of bed any more. It fits really nice in the room and Hayden gets a crib now! He was not too happy about being in the crib at first. He cried for a total of 30 seconds, fell asleep and was fine was he realized it was his bed now. Silly boy!!

Speaking of sweet Hayden. He's getting so big. He is almost 18months old. YEAH!!! Next month we are able to put him in nursery with Corbin!!! I can't wait! But he is walking like crazy, running is more like it, to keep up with his 2 older brothers. He loves to do everything that they do. Although he is a bigger class clown and loves to just drop to the floor, roll around, make silly sounds and push himself were ever on the floor. He loves to make you laugh and smile all do. His other favorite thing to do is READ!!! He will come up to you, book in hand, and say, "Momma, READ BOOK!!!" Not kidding. He is talking so much. This morning Corbin said, "I love you mom!" and Hayden said, "LUV OO MOM!!" (it's hard to type baby talk!) It was way cute!

The boys are looking forward to our summer of camping and then definitely for October when we are going to DISNEYLAND over UEA (Fall break) pretty much for Hayden's 2nd birthday with Mat's family. They are SOOO excited as well as Mat and I. It's been 4 years since we have been and we can't wait to go back and experience with our boys. We definitely have a busy summer already planned with reunions back-to-back and camping on our own. We can't wait!!

Hope all have adjusted well to the time change. It will take some getting used to for us, but I think we might be able to handle it! Have a great day!

Bad blogger!!!..... here's our update!

2010-02-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, so much has gone on since I last posted. I have truly been meaning to post some of our updates, although there are not that many or so great, I have been bombarded with sick, ornery and frustrating little boys. I sometimes don't get a moment to sit down to relax, let alone get anything done around the house. Anyway, sorry for being a bad blogger. Here are a few updated pictures of my adventuresome, crazy boys. Daxton is always finding something to climb into and use that great imagination. This is his rocket. He used to diaper boxes and made himself a rocket. I hope that his creativity will serve him well in the future for his career.

Anywho, Hayden sure keeps me on my toes now. He has mastered the art of climbing onto chairs and benches. I found him on Sunday, well, I heard him saying "dada" and was wondering where he was. He was standing on the table in the living room looking a picture with "dada" in it. AHHHH!!!! I am just grateful that I am not pregnant and expecting a little one right now. This is what Corbin decided he could do 2 weeks before Hayden was born. Now Hayden is a sweetie and makes me laugh and smile all day, especially when he climbs into the laundry basket and smiles at you. Who couldn't love that face?!?! Silly boy!

For Valentine's Day we decided to spend it as a family. I didn't want to fight the crowds and find a babysitter so we made dinner at home, candlelit and all. The boys thought that it was GREAT!! We made our own Martinelli's with ginger ale and apple juice, had chicken cordon bleu, 4 cheese mash potatoes, green beans and asiago cheese bread. DELICIOUS!!! The boys had a great time with most of the lights off and having "fire" at the table. It was not romantic at all, but we had a great Valentine's day! (a day early, too!)

After our wonderful dinner that was all decked out and all, we went to my really good friend's wedding reception. I have known Jayni for a very long time. I think the first time that we met was playing softball in peanut league with my dad as our coach. Oh, the good ol' days! Since then we have played ball together, had classes together in school, stood by each other in choir( all choirs I think from 6 grade onto high school, and maybe even in college), and have been really good friends. She finally found our eternal best friend, Josh Kitchen!!!! I'm so excited for them to start their life together. It sure will be an adventure!

Oh, did I tell you Mat got me a car for Valentine's day!!

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....... A hot wheels car!!!! Silly man that I love. I had asked him one time what he was thinking about getting me for Valentine's day and said a car. I said, you better not without me. He just smiled. When I opened my gift there was a book, "Change your Questions, Change your life!" by Wendy Watson Nelson, Wii fit plus and a hot wheels car!

And Daxton thought it was for him. It now sits on my computer desk.

This next picture I thought was really cool. My grandpa came over yesterday to help us get all of his tools set up in our garage to have our Scouts come and get their pinewood derby cars cut out. Daxton was wanting to sit and watch his great grandpa and daddy work and get it all set up. We didn't have very many boys show up, but it was nice to see at least 6 of the Cub Scouts of 20 come. Oh, I got a new calling along with Mat. I am no longer the Bear den assistant. I am now the Bear den Leader!!!! And Mat, he is the new Gospel Doctrine teacher!! I know that Mat will do a great job. I am sure going to miss working with him in Scouts, but glad that he can teach again. He loves teaching and does a great job. Me, on the otherhand, am truly scared for my new calling. To be an assistant is one thing, but to have all the responsibility and control scares me. I would rather be in the background doing all the work than doing it in the front. That is probably why I have this calling is to get me out of my comfort zone and present, but ugh I don't know.....

Well, I hope you all had a great and Happy Valentine's day!

HAPPY NEWS!!!!

2010-01-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

No we are not expecting another child at this time. Our happy news is that we are going to be having a temple in PAYSON!!!!! I can't get over the fact that for more than half of my life there has been this silly rumor that there will be a temple in Payson, and it has never happened, until today!!! I'm so thrilled that there will be one so close to us and that we can visit often with our boys and that they will be able to help out in so many ways that it boggles my mind right now. I can't wait to help out with the open house and whatever else they need. I'm so excited if you couldn't tell. I loved having a temple really close when I was at school in Ephraim as well as in Logan were you were moments away. Not to say that Provo is sooooo far away, but to have a temple less than 5 minutes away is amazing!!! It's definitely an answer to my prayers and will be such a blessing to have, not only for me but for my family. Daxton is way excited for the temple and he loves the song, "I love to see the Temple!" Anyway, I just thought that I would share a little bit of happiness and pass it on to you!

“Temples answer those soul-searching questions of the purpose of life, of why we are here and where we are going. They are sanctuaries from the storms of life and bless the lives of members of the Church who worship within their sacred walls,” said President Monson.

What a month!!!

2010-01-21T14:00:00.003-07:00

I have some of the silliest boys around. They are constantly making "piles" of everything in their room. From blankets and pillows to stuffed animals and even their beds. I'm constantly getting after them for pulling their mattresses off of their bed, but doesn't always mean that they obey everytime. They now start to bring their "piles" into the front room, which I don't really like either, but it's hard to argue when they are playing so well. I'm glad that they love to play with each other and hope that they will always remember that friends come and go, but family will always be there. That's something that my mom taught me growing up and I want to pass that down, because I know that that little phrase and helped me and my siblings, especially my sisters and I, become the best of friends.

Bad picture of Hayden but he loves to walk around and show off. He's a sweetie!

Daxton makes me laugh. I was talking to my sister and I turned around and there was Daxton sitting in the basket on the chair. He's my lil gymnist who is very flexible and amazes me with what he can get himself into.

A rough day and he CRASHED!!! Lately I will talk to him and then for a couple of minutes do something else, turn around and BOOM he's asleep. He won't sleep in his bed anymore, but will sleep on the couch watching a show. Usually it's around 3:30 and wakes up around 4:30 to 5 pm and won't sleep at night. Lil stinker!

Hayden has been sick a few times this month. Poor guy!! He had strep at the beginning of the month along with Daxton. Then Corbin got it later that week. A couple weeks later, boom, he's got an ear infection. He has been so sick the last couple of days. It makes me so sad to see him in so much pain. He crashed around 7pm last night on the couch. Sweet picture!! I feel so bad for him. Now that he's got the antibiotic in his system a little bit, he's much better and sleeping a lot better.

Corbin Falling asleep at Wal-Mart!

2010-01-15T20:49:00.004-07:00

So we were shopping for a few items at the grocery store and Corbin was almost asleep when we got to the store, which was not good. But he was starting to nod off in the cart and it was HILARIOUS!!! Hope you enjoy!

Winter Break Adventure

2010-01-09T14:29:00.008-07:00

The day after Christmas is my nephew, Joseph's Birthday! So we were invited to go to Chuck-e-Cheese to celebrate with him. The boys had a BLAST!!! Sorry the picture below is so blurry, but that's the birthday boy blowing out the candle for his birthday.

The boys had a blast just playing around and having fun and picking new games to play. I even played the one were you try to stop the light right in front of you and you get a lot of tickets. Well that's exactly what happened (after the 5th or 6th time) but I got the lot of it and Daxton was amazed.
Here is Hayden, with a really red nose from falling off the couch and getting a rug burn. So sad!!

Corbin and Hayden on a little ride!

All 3 boys in a Jeep and not sure if they like it, except for Corbin who loves adventure and anything opposite of Daxton.

Hayden tired and exhausted after a LONG 3 days!

We watched my sister's boys for her so that her and her husband could have a little bit of a break and to celebrate their anniversary and get other shopping done. In return she watched our boys the next day for a few hours so that Mat and I could have a break and go on a much needed date. We went up to Orem on a snowy Tuesday and watched AVATAR!!! Such a great movie! Would love to see it again in 3-D. We went to Five-Guys, amazing! And then for dessert we went to Farrs Ice Cream place. It was a cool, modern, self-serve yogurt place and was really good. We picked up the kids and relaxed playing the Wii Sports Resorts! Thank you Apryl and Dave for watching our boys and letting us have a little break.

Wednesday, our BIG ADVENTURE!!!! We went up to see Mat's parents since we were not able to spend a whole lot of personal time with them on Christmas day and to give Mat's mom her birthday present. I made a book for her of our camping trip we did with them at Ferron Mountain this last August. It was amazing and very rewarding to see her face when she saw that I made her a book from Heritage Maker. We also brought up a present that "Santa" left at Grandma's house and we could see for Corbin. Corbin was upset that Santa didn't bring him any underwear for Christmas and so we bought him some, wrapped it up and quickly put it under Grandma's tree. Corbin was SO excited to get underwear for Christmas and was insistant that he put it on right away. And we had no accidents that day, however, the next day was a struggle and has been ever since. He's not quite ready for potty training yet. He will go, but not completely and only does for the treats that he gets. He knows that there is a bigger reward, a toy that he picked out with daddy, but yeah not yet. Anyway, it was snowing pretty good off and on that day and we were planning on going up to see the lights at Temple Square and take TRAX up there.

Well, we made it up there and had a great time. The boys loved the ride up on Trax and enjoyed the lights at Temple Square. We made it up there earlier in November, but we didn't take any pictures. We went with my brother and his family and my sister Apryl and her family along with my parents. We had quite the crew up there. The boys had a blast being up there with their cousins and it was right before my brother Jared went back home to Idaho Falls. This time it was snowing and snowing hard. It was a lot warmer this time, but boy was there a lot of snow.

We did get quite a few pretty shots with the camera. Here we are at the Reflection pool.

The Salt Lake Temple and snow. It was really pretty and we had a pretty good time.

Yes it's Daxton with Hayden. Silly boy! We were able to go into the Tabernacle and see a Polynesian dance program that was going on. It was really cool. I wish that my boys were a little less restless or else I could have stayed in there to see the other events that were coming up like, Japanese drumming, Hungarian Dancers and others. Oh well.

Trax on the way up to Temple Square. The boys had a great time. Corbin kept saying that it was not working every time they would stop at a different station. It was hilarious!

My boys!

All in all it was a great time. Hayden did get very onrey when we were about done and started just crying and we were not sure what to do. So we went inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and he was still crying. We got him out of his snowsuit and he just had his warm fleece outfit on and was still crying so we just were on our way out when the Sister serving there looked at him and he calmed down and looked at her. She asked what was wrong and then he grab his blanket, started sucking his thumb and calmed right down. I think it was that she was kind, gentle and loving and looked a lot like my mom with the short, gray, spikey hair. After that he was fine for the rest of the night. Corbin fell asleep on the way back down to the Sandy station and we came home!! What an ADVENTURE!!!

Love between Uncle and Nephew!

2010-01-09T14:20:00.004-07:00

Okay, Corbin has a very interesting relationship with my brother-in-law Casey. Corbin loves to play with Casey in a fighting way and loves to tease Casey, who inturn teases Corbin back. Well, on Christmas Day after we had a great meal and spent a few minutes figuring out what games to play and such we look over and see that Casey has fallen asleep on the couch. As part of Corbin's toolbox he got a drill with it and decided to try it out on Casey, who slept through it. It was HILARIOUS!!!!

Here is Corbin and Casey fighting. Sword vs gun?!?! Sword wins!

HE HAS CONQUERED ALL!!!

Corbin makes me laugh and smile everyday with just the littlest things he does and says! Thanks Corbin for making my day!

Christmas Update

2010-01-09T13:49:00.003-07:00

Alrighty!! Here we go reminiscing about our Christmas Break! It was such a nice break, too. Mat was off of work for the week and a half because his company was doing a furlough, but they were able to use their PTO (that wasn't going over to the next year anyway) to pay for the break. So Mat got a week and a half paid vacation. It was nice to have him around. Mat started the break with us on Christmas Eve. It was a fairly relaxing day, even though we were having most of my family over that night for dinner and Christmas Caroling. That's the tradition my parents started a long time ago to get my brothers tuckered out and ready for bed at a decent hour and it's been a tradition ever since. It was a lot of fun to go caroling. It was our biggest crowd ever!! We had 22 carolers (kids included). We were missing only 2 of my siblings and their family. We have a total of 31 until my sister and sister-in-law have their babies in the next few months. HOORAY!!! Anyway, after caroling we played a few games, had our ELF come and drop off our new PJ's and sent the boys off to bed after they put out the Reindeer food on the lawn so that Santa would remember to stop by our house. We set the cookies and juice out for Santa and UH, the boys were down!!!! Hayden fell asleep on my lap as we were driving around caroling and slept for a total of 12 hours. Tired lil boy!

Hayden on Christmas Day walking around and playing with the hammer that came with a toolbox for Corbin. Hayden is now walking around like CRAZY and started walking around more comfortable the week of Christmas and now is starting to run. It makes life more interesting.

On Christmas morning we got woken up by Daxton at 7am and was SOOOOO excited for Christmas! We had to wait until Corbin was up, though and that was pretty tough for Daxton who couldn't wait to see what Santa brought them. Finally, we told him that we would wait until 7:30 until we woke up Corbin, and right at 7:30 Corbin woke up on his own. The boys ran downstairs and were very excited to see what Santa brought them.
The boys in their matching ELF pjs.

Hayden with a new toy that lasted for about 5 minutes of his interest and that was about it.

Corbin with his new sword that he asked Santa for and Daxton with a BUZZ Lightyear toy from Santa.

The many presents for the boys and the smiles that came with them were what you look forward to seeing each time. It was a great Christmas! Mat and I didn't get much for each other, we looked forward and wanted more for our boys! The best part of Christmas is to see the smiles on the kids faces and them not complaining (until there are no more presents to open).

After we had our Sausage Bake for breakfast we got ourselves dressed and ready to head up to Mat's parent's house and spent a few hours up there with them and a few of their cousins. It was a great time and very relaxing. We came back and spent a little time by ourselves before my family came back over for our traditional Christmas Dinner at my parent's house, and then played games.

Heritage Makers video

2010-01-07T16:32:00.003-07:00

So many of you do not know what Heritage Makers is, soooo.............. I have a little video for you look at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TqeT8q80l8

This will give you a little insight to what I love about Heritage Makers and the benefits of preserving our memories into books much easier than scrapbooking, but just as beautiful in less time.

P.S. I will update you all on our Christmas holiday vacation, which was wonderful by the way.

Cute video of Hayden to show off from Baby Einsteins

2009-12-18T13:37:00.002-07:00

Here is a cute video from Baby Einsteins that I put a clip of Hayden in and it's ADORABLE and will definitely make you laugh!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2QYkLwEQqo

hope that this works. It's a great short clip to bring a smile to your faces!!!

Nikol :)

Update with the pictures

2009-12-11T14:49:00.003-07:00

We had a really great weekend last week. Sorry I haven't been able to post any sooner, but it's been crazy especially with the snow that we got this week.

Anyway, on Friday I took Mat to work so that the boys and I could pick him up and spend the weekend up in Sandy looking at the Festival of trees and then the next day Mat and I were going to the Snow College Bowl game at the Rio Tinto Stadium. HOORAY!!! GOOOOO BADGERS!!! Anyway, we got up to South Towne Expo by 3:30 and it was so crazy busy, but we had a really good time. We were specifically looking for 2 trees there because we knew who decorated them. One was the Star Wars one. Mat works with the mom of the guy who decorated it. It's interesting to explain, but it was a really cool display of many trees with collectible items of Star Wars. The second tree was one that my friend in my ward decorated, it was the Wizard of Oz tree, and she did a great job. It was really beautiful. It was amazing to see the different kind of trees and ideas people come up with. I hope that you enjoy some of the pictures that I took and provided for you to look at. It was fun. Corbin even told me thank you for taking him and that he had fun. Very cute from my 2 year old. He's growing up too fast. After the lights we went to dinner at McDonalds and let the boys just eat, relax and PLAY!!! Even Hayden had fun going up the slide and playing. It was a very good night.

On Saturday we had the freezing privilege to go to the Snow College Bowl game and watch the BADGERS WIN!!!! It was a very close game and not as exciting as last year, but still a lot of fun. We were wrapped up in blankets, coats and all that we could get on us and we were stilling freezing. The coldest part of me was my calves and my feet. I finally got feeling back in my feet when we were almost to our car. It was snowing on us the whole time. Most of it was just flurries, but it did snow on us from half time until about 6 minutes left in the game where the sun finally made its presences. I was just really glad that the Badgers won or else I would have been really mad that I sat there freezing and they just lost. But they pulled it off and beat the Grand Rapids Raiders 41 to 37. HOORAY!!! Go BADGERS!!!! Mine and Mat's voices were really sore the next day after screaming at the game. The funny part at the game was that the players, from SNOW, asked us as the crowd to not scream so loud because they couldn't hear the snap. Funny huh?!?! Anyway, thought that I would update you all on our family adventure last week.

We are looking forward to the Christmas holidays and have loved every minute that we can to teach our boys about the true meaning of Christmas. We have had fun making snowflakes and the links to count down to Christmas. I'm trying really hard to be more involved with my boys and let them know that I love them so much. It's helped out the spirit and relationship with all of us and made the bad things that would seem really bad not so bad.

Well, Merry Christmas and enjoy your holiday!!!

Festival of Trees and Snow College Bowl Game

2009-12-11T14:47:00.002-07:00

The holidays....!!!

2009-11-29T15:11:00.004-07:00

I hope that you all had a great, filling weekend with your family. I will have to tell you this that I had a great time with my family on both sides and ate WAY too much food.

We had a great semi-relaxing weekend. We were able to go to Mat's parent's home on Thursday on Thanksgiving Day and spend most of the day with them. We came home later that night and just relaxed and watched Polar Express with the boys.

Friday we were able to just stay home, get up some of the Christmas decorations and get ready for my family Christmas Bingo party that night. My brother Jared and his family were able to come down for the weekend and we had a great time that night. My mom started an old tradition that my grandma did when I was younger and have a Christmas Bingo party and I loved it as a kid and now I get to see my kids enjoy and have fun getting a few presents from their Mama!! It was a crazy night, but that's what you get when you fit 31 people into my parent's tiny house, but it sure was full of laughter and smiles. We also played games as adults while the kids were playing with each other. It was a great night! We didn't go to bed until late, but we had a wonderful time with family we don't see that much.

Saturday we were going CRAZY!!! On my side of the family we get together with my mom's side of the family and have a great big Thanksgiving together. My mom usually gets some of the food together and have it all ready, but she was called into work when she wasn't suppose to and went anyway. So..... that left me and Mat and my dad to finish the stuffing, gravy, ham and the turkey along with the salads that we made. We finished cooking them, putting them together, put them in our car and over to the church in Mapleton. I was about to cry and was very frazzled, but Mat was there to calm me down and we got it done and it turned out really well. We ate more food and had a great time getting together with family. We also had a great TURKEY BOWL!!!! Mat was able to play this year without hurting himself... YEAH MAT!!!! Now he is really sore, but he had a great time. I was able to watch some of the game, but then went back inside to visit with family..... for a little bit before going to watch.... the big DUEL!!!

Yes we are big BYU fans.... and sometimes UTAH, but ..... BYU ALL THE WAY!!! We had DVR'd it and wow... what a game. It was a crazy house again because we were all back over to my mom's house and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins. We sure got our fill with food and family.

Tonight we are going to Temple Square to see the ligths with my brother Jared and his family before they head back up to Idaho. We are so excited. Corbin has been asking when the next time he can go to the temple with Mat and I. He gets upset when we go to the temple and he isn't able to come, but today he got REALLY excited!!! We love going up to see the lights. It's been one of our traditions since we moved back from Logan.

Hope that you all have had a great weekend and are getting just as excited as I am for the holidays! I love this time of year! Happy Holidays!!!

Filled with bounty!

2009-11-23T13:45:00.003-07:00

I know that it has been a while since I have last posted. I have thought many a times that I needed to post today, and still have yet to do so, until now. I finally a small amount of time to put towards the computer for a little bit. So I thought since this week it is Thanksgiving that I would write a brief summary of the 10 things that I am most grateful for this year. (That way I don't go to long... hopefully.) (Not in any particular order)

#1 I am thankful for my husband. He has been there to support me and have confidence in me the last few weeks where I have been stretched outside of my comfort zone. And yet he has always known that I could do it so Thank you Mat!

#2 I am thankful for my boys. Although on some days they are a challenge and a stress, they do bring a smile to my face and always find some way to make me laugh and just feel so cozy and loved inside.

#3 I am thankful for my family. They are always there to support me and strengthen me in times of great need and even when I don't feel loved, I know my family is there for a shoulder to cry on.

#4 I am thankful for my mom. She has always been there to give advice and strength. Even when there are times I get frustrated she is there to reassure me that it will be okay.

#5 I am thankful for dear friends. Yes, all of you have a special place in my heart and have been there when I have needed you. You listen to me and can bring a smile to my face and we always have fun. Thank you!!!!

#6 I am thankful for the gospel. I would be so lost without the guidance of the gospel and the great opportunities for me to grow personally and most importantly spiritually.

#7 I am thankful for my testimony of the church and the doctrines that are taught. Although I do not share my testimony as often I am thankful for the Spirit that testifies to me so often of the truths and blessings of the church.

#8 I am thankful for the Mat's job and the help that it has given our family. Although we are still not in a place of our own, we know that Mat still has a job and opportunities to grow and progress there.

#9 I am thankful for the beauty of the outdoors. I love to just play outside with my boys and enjoy all that my Father in Heaven has provided for us. I love living so close to the canyon and be able to see the changes of each season and have the chance to go up the canyon whenever I want to. It's wonderful!

#10 Most importantly I am thankful for my Savior. He has always been there to listen, support, strengthen and forgive me of so many things. He loves me no matter what.

Thanks for letting me tell you some of the many things that I am thankful for this year. Most are the obvious ones but I don't think they need to be surpassed. Love you all and hope that you have a great and safe Thanksgiving weekend.

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-11-02T14:57:00.004-07:00

Festive little outfit that I got from my sister-in-law a couple of years ago. Isn't it cute?!?! Anyway, we had a really great, crazy Halloween weekend. My parents have been gone to Florida to Disney World with my brother and his family and spent Halloween there, while we were here in Utah celebrating with my sister and her family. We had a really fun day on Halloween. Well, I guess not all of it was fun. Mat and my brother-in-law were moving out my parents old washer and dryer and we are finally going to be using ours that we bought 4 years ago. HOORAY!! We have been also moving out all of our stuff from storage and getting it situated and looked through. We are donating a lot of our stuff to our ward's swap and shop. It will be great. So the whole morning we spent it looking through things and moving things here and there. My parents will come home to a garage of our things at least at the back of the garage. We don't have that much stuff.

After that we got into our costumes and headed to my sisters for a fun filled evening of TRICK-OR-TREATING!!! We had dinner with them before which was fun. We had "wrapped mummies" (hot dogs wrapped in crescents), "fingers" (french fries), and tombstones (chicken nuggets). It was a lot of fun and the kids thought it was great. We then headed off to my sisters neighborhood PARK and TREAT! You just sit down in the park and hand out the candy. It's a lot of fun and an easy way for the kids to get a lot of candy in a short amount of time. We went to a few more home in her neighborhood before heading to ours. We ended up at my Grandpa Anderson's house and then headed home. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast. It's fun to have the kids kind of understand the meaning of Halloween a little bit better each year. Oh, the funniest thing. We borrowed a lightsaber from my brother and Corbin would carry that all night and yet would not hold his candybag. Funny huh?!?! He wanted the lightsaber more than the candy. Hope it holds true!!

Yes I know that Corbin is bonking himself with the lightsaber, but he is such a ham and this was the best picture of our family as STAR WARS!!

My cute and adorable nephew, Easton. He went as a clown and was a trooper and walked the whole time carrying his bag of candy, that probably weighed more than any of the other boys combined. He kept grabbing more and more candy.

This is a normal look from Corbin lately. He loves to stick out his tongue. But here is my 3 boys as "STAR WARS" (not Jedi's, according to Daxton).

I had to show this silly picture of Hayden. He loves to attack the camera and he loves to get his picture taken. He is so silly and he is always making me laugh. Hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween. Now, onto THANKSGIVING!!! Looking forward to fun, family and lots and lots of LAUGHTER!!!

Pumpkin Decorating!

2009-10-27T15:20:00.005-06:00

Here is our tradition for the past 3 years-- DECORATING pumpkins!!!! We decided to wait until closer to Halloween so that they last longer. Although we got Daxton a pumpkin when we went to the pumpkin patch at the beginning of the month and it started to shrivel up, BUT it turned out to be a great OLD MAN pumpkin, toothless and all. The boys had a great time decorating their pumpkins. Corbin I think had the most fun with playing in the seeds, guts and all the fun stuff when doing pumpkins. I'm glad that we do have a few traditions of our own even when living with my parents. I helps make it feel like we are on our own.

Here is Corbin making silly faces and Daxton is decorating Hayden's pumpkin for me. It turned out pretty good too. Daxton loves to color and draw.

Mat wanted to do PacMan... so did you ever wonder what was inside PacMan?

Here it is!!!! EWWW and GOOO!

This is what they looked like outside. The top one is Corbin's and his mouth is like fire, the Daxton's old man, the mine with the O face then Hayden next to that, and on the bottom is Mat's PacMan scene with the Ghost and all. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

More birthdays in October

2009-10-27T15:10:00.003-06:00

To go along with the pictures of Hayden actually on his birthday we celebrated a week earlier when my sister-in-law came down for a baptism and we were able to celebrate her daughter, Korryn, as well as my nephew Isaac's and Hayden's that are all in the matter of 6 days (the 13th, the 16th and the 19th). So for our FHE we had a big birthday party with all the family that could come.
Here is my cute neice Korryn. She and Hayden were due the same day, but born 6 days apart.

Here are Hayden and Korryn playing with each other.
Here we are in garage where we ate dinner and had the cake and ice cream. If you notice my sister and her husband are in the background being silly. Love you sis!

Here is my cute sister Apryl and her adorable little boy Easton.

And who could miss this messy face!

Hayden's Birthday pictures

2009-10-27T14:46:00.004-06:00

Okay, so I know that it is a week later after Hayden's birthday, but things were crazy and it didn't occur to me when I was blogging the other day and uploading other photos of the month to put Hayden's birthday photos up. SOOOOO...................here they are. Of course I always forget to put the pictures in order of when they occured, but oh well. They are here and up and you can now look at them. The first one is of my dad, Hayden and my nephew Easton. Cute, cute Easton loves to climb all over my dad, or Papa, as we call him around here. It's the best, cheapest game ever and my dad loves it.

Here is Hayden enjoying his play camera that we got him. He's trying to take a picture of me. Cute!!!
He LOVED his cupcakes. He had 3 of them and downed them all. He was so much fun to watch.

Here is my brother Ryan, sister Apryl and my dad eating the cupcakes and ice cream. I was glad that most of my family could be there on such short notice. I think Hayden had a great time playing with all the cousins who could be there.

Here he is again, still eating...!!! He loves to eat.

When we went to the doctor for his check-up he

weighs: 22.8 lbs (50%)

height: 30 inches (50-75%)

head: don't know the measurements but (90%)

So he is average height, not as chunky anymore because he crawls around everywhere and starting to walk, but the poor boy has a huge head. Blame that on daddy!

Halloween Carnival 2009

2009-10-24T15:00:00.004-06:00

Today we went to a fun little Carnival for Halloween sponsored by Santaquin with my sister and her family. We had a really good time. We were able to dress up in our Halloween costumes and yes we are themed this year again. It is a very simple, easy and fun, not to mention comfortable set of costumes that will keep us really warm. We are the STAR WARS FAMILY. No I am not Padma or Princess Laia, but just a Jedi. Daxton is very funny and particular when it comes to mention what we are to anyone, we are not Jedi Knights, we are just Star Wars. He gets very upset if you mention Jedi. Silly boy that I have. Anyway, here are a few photos that we took today. They had fun booths for the kids to turn in tickets, do a game and get a prize. It was a lot of fun to see how the kids have progressed with their skills and have fun at the same time.

Here is Daxton going down the big blown-up slide outside.
Me and Hayden outside watching Daxton go down the slide.

Daxton and Corbin in their "Star Wars" costumes. Made them from the fleece blankets at Wal-Mart with the help of my mother. Thank you mom!

Hayden and Mat with their Jedi costumes on. Love Hayden as Yoda! He totally fits the part.

Daxton winning his prize at the beanbag toss and actually made it through one of the holes.

We had a great time today! and we will still be continuing our October Festivities with a Halloween Party tonight at my sister's house and then, of course, Halloween a week from today!

Country Farm Fest 2009

2009-10-24T14:50:00.005-06:00

Yes, that is Mat and I doing one of the photo opts at the Country Farm Fest last weekend. It was pretty fun for the kids to experience a little more country life. They were able to see a sheep sheered and see horses, ducks, bunnies, cows and a blacksmith working on some projects. There was a hay-maze and and a fun ride on a tractor to see the pumpkins that were in a contest. This was done all at someone's home outside of Payson's first exit and it was actually pretty neat to see it all done up. The boys had a lot of fun and we hope to go back next year.

Mat, Corbin and Daxton as sunflowers

Daxton as the moon, and Corbin and Hayden as pumkins. Cute huh?!?

Under a huge blown-up black cat.

Look at the size of those pumpkins?!?

October Festivities!!!

2009-10-24T14:40:00.004-06:00

This is our tradition for October for the last 2 years. This was our 3rd year to go to the Pumpkin Patch out at the Red Barn in Santaquin. The boys LOVE IT!!! Even though we don't get a pumpkin because we grow our own, we still have fun taking pictures of the kids at each photo opt and having fun looking for the biggest and smallest pumpkins and then go back to my sisters in Santaquin and have dinner and DONUTS!!! It's a lot of fun. Last year I was prego with Hayden and this year was a little more enjoyable other than the fact that Hayden wanted to be down on the ground crawling and playing in the dirt. Here are some cute pictures of the kids and my sisters kids at the pumpkin patch and on the tractor ride over there. This started off the month of October in all of our Festivities that we like to do to start off Fall in the right way.

only time Hayden got on the ground

my boys and their cousins

love Daxton in this photo-such a cool dude!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY HAYDEN KENDON!!!

2009-10-19T14:13:00.005-06:00

Hayden 2 weeks old

Hayden 1 month old

I can't believe that it has already been a year since I had Hayden Kendon! Look how cute he has gotten throughout the year. I am so glad that he has kept those blue eyes like his daddy's. I finally got a blue eyed baby, but no redheads yet. Hayden is blonde though. Anyway..... Onto the telling of how much I love Hayden. Honestly, when I found out that I was pregnant with Hayden I was not at all excited. I was scared and very upset because I wanted to spend more time with Corbin, but I know that Hayden was sent here to our family for a purpose. To constantly bring smiles to our faces. Who couldn't love this face?!? After Hayden was born I had a lot of struggles, but I am sooo grateful for the Lord in my life and opportunities that I have been able to go to him in prayer. Hayden has taught me to pray more often and rely more upon my Savior. He has also brought many blessings. Of course, one is his smiles and his happiness. He does have his moments of tantrums, sad to say already, I know. But that's what happens when he sees his older brothers and watches them. With that, though, he has grown up so fast. He is talking and understand more and more each day. He signs a little bit to us and will say "yes" or "no". It's very nice and I love it!! The other blessings that Hayden has brought is unity to his brothers. I see him as the peacemaker in our family. The boys love to play with him, and although he can't quite keep up with them yet, because of them running and him just crawling, it won't be long and I will have 3 boys running up and down and around the house. Hayden has an addicting laugh and knows when the attention is on him and soaks it all and is a ham, but I love him for it. There are so many things that Hayden has done for our family that I could go on and on with a list of things, but rather bore you with I will just wish him another HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN, my blue eyed boy! A spitting image of his daddy! Love you!

Love, Mommy, Daddy, Daxton and Corbin :)

After he was born. 8lbs 2 oz. 20 1/2 inches long

1 year old

Feeling like a bad mom...

2009-10-19T13:52:00.003-06:00

I was thinking the other day about Daxton and school and realized I have yet to post anything about him with school and such. I feel awful. Daxton has been in school for a month and LOVES it! He is constantly asking throughout the day and throughout the weekend when he is going to school. Glad that he is sooooo excited for school. He absolutely loves everything about it and loves to tell me all about his friends and the stories that they read and the snacks that he has. Of course, he is a true boy and tells me about the food that he eats. Anywho, soccer finished up on the 24th of September and he got a medal from his coach and had a really great time. Daxton is learning so much and wants to be bigger everyday like his cousin Christian. Here are a few pictures of him at school and his last soccer game.

Throwing the ball into play!

First day of school! SO EXCITED!

This is Daxton at his school and playing with the tools.

2009-10-12T14:50:00.001-06:00

Where has all the time gone to??

2009-10-12T14:13:00.003-06:00

I can't believe that it's October already and that Halloween is almost here. Where does all that time go? We have been pretty busy with finishing up the garage... which is all done..... HOORAY!!! As well as finishing up canning with apples... 140 bottles later and a really sticky floor... thanks Aunt Terry for the apples they are delicious. On top of that is school and Hayden's birthday which is next Monday and I can't believe how the time has gone by soooooo quickly.

That is the quick update of our family... but I did want to mention, even if it is a week later that I really enjoyed General Conference. Elder Scotts and so many others were such an answer to my prayers on how I can be a better person, but more importantly, a better mother to my children. I really felt the spirit testify that to me and the strength that it gave me. Now I just need to apply it and get going on it to strengthen my testimony in so many ways. But I know that it is possible.

I'm so thankful that it's fall.... the crisp morning air and the beautiful leaves that surround us. We were able to go up the canyon a couple of weeks ago and it was gorgeous. I'm so thankful for a Father in Heaven who lets us experience so much joy and love and fun each day.

Just this last weekend we were able to get our family pictures done, thanks to my wonderful, amazing and talented sister-in-law, Cindy. She did such a good job and really captured the joy in our boys faces and the fun that we do have as a family. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

And the winner is......!!!

2009-09-14T14:56:00.005-06:00

We were able to go to the State Fair on Saturday. We went with my sister Apryl and her family as well as my parents. We went in the first part of the afternoon and were still able to get a lot done as well as see the rodeo that evening. We had a great time. By the end of the rodeo the boys had had it and were done. We left a little bit early from the rodeo but were able to see the bullriding. That is my favorite part of the whole rodeo. I love the whole atmosphere anyway, but the bullriding and the bronco riding are my favs. The muttin riding was fun to watch as well. But I know that my boys would not do that at all. The would be crying the whole time. At least Daxton and Corbin would be.

Daxton at the rodeo with Mama behind him.

Me and tired Corbin.

Silly Hayden and Mat. Hayden was flirting with the girls next to us and they were having a blast with him. He is such his daddy's son. The biggest flirt ever, especially with girls that are way older than him. It was fun to watch. Hayden would laugh and then the girls would laugh and on and on it went. Silly Hayden and his cute girn.

Hayden was so tired before the rodeo that he crashed in the pack with him. He is not light when we falls asleep. He is almost 23 lbs and dead weight is not easy to carry.

The boys getting ready for the fun on the Little Hands on the Farm.

We were able to go to this Alligator show that teaches kids and adults about alligators. They told us of the dangers and life of an alligator. This man even wrestled the alligator to show us more about it. It was fun to watch, but Daxton was very scared and had a little bit of a rough time with it.

Here you see inside the alligator's mouth.

Here the professional worker is at work wrestling the alligator. (sorry that these pictures are going to be backwards, but my computer is being frustrating right now and won't let me fix it!)

Daxton waiting for the show to start in the hot, hot sun.

This was a creation of a guy that I thought was really cool and got a picture of my boys in front of.

The Pumpkin Spider!!!!

This is one BIG BOAR!!!! I don't remember how much he was suppose to weigh, but I do remember that he is 4 years old. That's SOME PIG!!! or Boar!

Corbin and Mat in front of some of the cattle. Corbin was so excited to go and see the cows and horses and sheep at the fair. He loves animals.

GOAL!!!

2009-09-14T14:51:00.002-06:00

Here's my little soccer player. He loves to play soccer and his coach is awesome. He works really well with Daxton, especially if Daxton has a little fit about not being able to kick the ball or if he falls and gets kicked instead. Other than that Daxton loves to play. He does really well for a 4 year old. He is a very good blocker and can kick it away from other players. He also loves to throw the ball in when out of bounds and kicking in as well. No goals yet from him, but he does help out a lot. Here's to my #9. We love you Daxton!!! TWO THUMBS UP!!!

Construction in and outside the house!

2009-09-14T14:32:00.003-06:00

Here are some of the projects that we have been working on this summer. Some of them are finished and others, well, they have a little while to go.... but they are getting done.

Here we were pulled out some of the old bushes that my mom planted 30 years ago and added a new curbed look and new shrubs. Doesn't it look nice?!?! It took us a few hours and some sore muscles to get the darn bushes out, but we did and this is how it looks now.

Here we moved the carports out of the way and demoed the old shed. It took Mat and I a little while to move the carports, but we did. We got really strong over the summer doing A LOT of moving heavy things around.
Here our stairs are demoed and ready to put new stairs in.

Here they are working on the foundation for the new garage. That was a lot of dirt and "castles" as Corbin put it that we dealt with for about 2 months.

Here is the starts of the foundation work. See the castle and it even has a moat.

Here is my dad and brother Josh puttin the new roof on the house. We finally got that done last weekend. HOORAY!!! It looks great!

Here is the half done driveway. We almost have a driveway again. We haven't been in our driveway for 2 months, almost 3 months now. But it looks amazing.

Here we have a whole in our ceiling from where the swamp cooler used to be in the hallway. It was all done by accident. The vent was not suppose to come through the ceiling and my brother-in-law has been fixing that up. But oh, that was not a fun day and boy was it a mess.

Here is another view of the whole in the ceiling. There was insulation all over the floor. Thank goodness no one was hurt. We were all outside doing other yardwork.

I just thought that I would let you know of the amazing things we have accomplished over the last couple months. It's been tough, but I think well worth it.

(more pictures to come later when more is finished)

Onion Days!!

2009-09-14T14:15:00.003-06:00

Happy LABOR DAY!!!!

For those of you not from around the Southern Utah County area we, in Payson, celebrate ONION DAYS!!!! No we don't really harvest onions anymore, but back in the day we did. But it's the last parade of the season and it's a lot of fun. We have a great time at the carnival not far from our home and all the fun things that they have going on in Payson. We were able to go to the Payson Community Theatre (PCT) product of The Wizard of OZ!!!! It was a lot of fun and done very well. Since we have been having so many projects going on around our house we were not able to do too much this year, but we did get to go the parade. Daxton and Corbin, along with their cousins, were able to blow kisses at the pretty girls, and every once in awhile they blew them back and the boys would just blush. It was really cute. We had a great time. After the parade we were able to go to my sister's house and have a lil' bbq after the boys finished putting up the last of the sheetrock in her basement. HOORAY!!!! Enjoy some of the cute pictures of my boys on Onion Days!

My lil boy is growing up...

2009-09-07T15:58:00.003-06:00

Hayden for the past week has been crawling on his knees now. He has been my little army crawler and just zippen through the house on his tummy like a little mop, but now he has been up on those knees. He also has been pulling himself up to stand and walking around things a little bit. Soon he will be walking and getting into even more trouble then he already is in half of the time.

Hayden also is speaking more and more. He says "Amen" or what sounds like amen at the end of prayers and he screams it for all to know. He is so hilarious. He is always smiling for everyone to see and making everyone laugh. He loves his brothers and is always trying to do what they do. Good and bad all at the same time.

He also has 5 teeth fully in and 3 more that are almost all the way in. Poor lil guy in a lot of pain, but doing really well. We love him to pieces and can't imagine him not being in our family. He makes it more complete.

I can't believe it's been 6 YEARS!!!

2009-09-01T14:20:00.005-06:00

Yesterday marked the day that Mat and I met at "Meet the Bishop Night" at Snow College 2003. I thought that he was cute and I found it interesting that his last name was Larsen, the same as my grandmother's maiden name. However, his family was from Emery County and my grandmother's from Sevier County. We talked and even danced once that night. The next day I saw him on campus and he remembered my name, which if any of you know Mat is a shocker because it takes him awhile to remember names. After that we saw each other every once in awhile on campus or at church. We didn't officially start dating until Conference Weekend in October. I just thought that I would give you all a "what happened on this day" in the Larsen history.

Little update on my boys

2009-08-28T16:06:00.002-06:00

So much has happened and so much is going to be happening within the next couple of months.

Daxton: He's four years old and is going to be attending preschool on Sept. 15. He is sooo excited to be going to school. Everyday he says, "I'm bigger today mommy! I'm bigger!" He is such a helper and is always playing with his brothers and helping me out when I needed.

Corbin: He's two years old and is so wanting to go to school with Daxton. He has such a vocabulary and is always making me laugh. He has some of the greatest facial expressions that you would never think that he is 2 years old. He definetly acts older than his age, most of the time. He loves nursery and loves playing with Hayden. He is also a big momma's boy.

Hayden: He is now 10 months and growing ever so quickly. He is still army crawling around the house because it is much quicker for him to get from here to there.
He says momma
dadda
nanight
and has said love you
He is now 22.7 lbs and is stil getting bigger. He is such a stocky boy and loves to eat. When we were camping with Mat's family his mom and brother-in-law called him sparrow because I would nurse him, feed him cereal and fruit and then give him whatever we were eating at that time.
Hayden really loves mommy but loves being with his daddy.

Hope you enjoy this little update on my boys.

Oh, and Mat is doing great. He is still at PDC (Phone Directories Company) in Orem. He is now in Spec where they get to design first new designs for companies. It's pretty demanding. He enjoys it a lot and will be with the spec until February and then will go back to what he was doing before.

A spiritual weekend!

2009-08-28T15:41:00.005-06:00

So I know that I should have posted about this earlier in the week, but it's been crazy. Last weekend we had an awesome weekend. We were able to go to the temple with my sister and her husband on Saturday and do a live endownment. We actually knew a few people in the session. It was fun to see the new missionaries all excited to be going through and it was really nice to just relax in the temple. I love going to the temple and wish that I could go more often, but it is so hard when we have young children at home. But I sooo needed to be there. Afterwards, my sister Apryl and I went shopping for a little bit and found some good buys at Susie's Deals in Provo. Later that evening we were able to go to my brother Josh's home and have dinner and play games with them and a few of my other siblings. It was much needed to get together as siblings and let the kids play with their cousins.

The next morning was kind of crazy trying to get the kids over to my sisters in Santaquin and me back at the church before 8:30am for the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Dedication, but we made it and the kids were great for my sister. Mat and I went to the morning session while Apryl watched the kids and we watched her kids while they went to the afternoon session. It worked out perfectly. Anyway, when I got to the church they were having technical difficulties and were possibly going to be moving us to another stake center for us to participate in the dedication, but we had faith that things would work out and they would get full sound. 15 minutes till the dedication was to begin and everything was working perfectly. It was an amazing session. The speakers talked to both the adults as well as the kids that were in attendence, and told all of us to always work towards going to the temple, either continually going or as a main goal to go in someday. It was a very uplifting and gratifying event. One of the funny parts was when President Monson was talking about Pres. Utchdorf after he had just finished speaking and mentioned that they walked in a 747. Pres. Monson said that Pres. Utchdorf knew every bolt in the plane and was talking about each part of the plane and what he would do and ended up at the cockpit where he said, "And this is where I sat." And Pres. Monson said, "Don't do it Dieter! Don't do it!" as Pres. Utchdorf looked like he was ready to have it take off. And then Pres. Monson said, " And he obeyed and listened to the prophet." It was so funny, especially since it was right before the dedicatory prayer.

I am so thankful that I am apart of this gospel and church. It is very gratifying to know who I am, where I came from and what part I am in the Lord's plan. I'm thankful for the power of prayer and the priesthood. I love the temples so much and am grateful that my family can and will be together forever.

Other happenings... The DINOSAURS

2009-08-27T15:52:00.004-06:00

Daxton and Corbin at the front of the museum with the DINOSAURS!!

Some of the other things that we have been up to is that we were able to go to the Dinosaur museum up at Thanksgiving Point with my sister and her family. It was a blast and the kids thought that it was awesome. They were constantly asking when the next time we would be able to go see the "ginosaurs" as Corbin would put it. Corbin had a much better experience this year than last because he was able to be involved with everything. Last year my sister and I went by ourselves with 5 kids and I was 7 months pregnant. We vowed that we wouldn't do that again and we would take our husbands and so we did. Mat and my brother-in-law Dave came with us and we had Hayden enjoying it too. Because the boys did such a great job they were rewarded with ice cream cones from McDonalds and they thought that it was awesome.

The famous jaws pose!

They boys all playing with the dinosaurs

My nephew Easton playing dinosaurs with his brother Christian

See Hayden is having a BLAST and is always smiling for the camera

Ferron Mountain trip Aug 2009

2009-08-27T15:38:00.002-06:00

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post of what has been on with the Larsen family, but wow has August been crazy busy. We have been camping, visiting friends and doing lots and lots of canning along with our calling as Scout leaders. Well I will briefly tell you about our trip to Ferron Mountain. For those of you who don't know, that is where Mat's family is from and where part of his growing up years were. Ferron is located 30 miles west of Price and is out there by Castle Dale and Orangeville. It is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, but it is where his family is. Well, we went camping with his mom and dad, and sister Emily and her husband Kyle and their kids Camille, Landon and Andrew and Mat's niece, Maddison was with his parents. We were so glad to be there. Lynne, my mother-in-law, said that it has been 25 years since she has been up Ferron Mountain. It was really beautfiul. It was also really cold. The first night was great, but the last 2 nights got so cold that Hayden had to come and sleep with Mat and I in the bed.

We didn't do a whole lot, but just play games, read books and hike around the campsite and go down to the lake. The kids were entertained with the logs and trees and sticks around us as well as the crafts that Grandma brought to do such as painting with watercolors and doing necklaces and bracelets. The kids had a blast, especially Daxton and Cami and Maddi who were always doing the beads and painting. Daxton has such a creative mind and is always coloring at home and making things up. I hope that he keeps it up and uses his creativity.

The most dramatic thing that happened was that Hayden got bit on the hand by Emily's dog, Sir Sparticus or Sparti. Hayden was just looking at what Sparti was doing and he snapped at him because Sparti was trying to protect the food that he had by him. Hayden was hurt too badly and just was scraped a little bit. He wouldn't keep on a bandaid and we just made sure that the cut was kept clean and there would be no infections.

We had a great time with Mat's family. It was so nice to be up there where Mat's family had once gone generations ago. The ranger even told us that the only people that come up the canyon is those that grew up in the area. No one comes up to Ferron Mountiain for just because unless you know where it is.

I hope that through the pictures I have posted you can see the true beauty of the place. It was amazing. I hope to go back another time and hope that it is much warmer for us.

2009-08-27T15:35:00.001-06:00

Jon Schmidt Love Story meets Viva La Vida

2009-08-07T15:58:00.001-06:00

This was an amazing video of two wonderful songs put together by an AMAZING artist! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

2009-08-04T14:33:00.001-06:00

Camping up at Maple Canyon

2009-08-04T13:56:00.004-06:00

Mat and I have been wanting to go camping with just our little family all summer and we finally just found a date that would work, went on line to recreation.gov and we got a campsite reserved for us up Maple Canyon. The last time that Mat and I went camping up there was when we were at Snow College and we went with our roommates and we just started dating. It was a lot of fun then. We went rock climbing, repelling and just hiked around there with all of our friends. This time it was a little bit different for the fact that we had 3 young boys with us, especially Hayden who is only 9 months old. But we still had a great, relaxing time. We just hiked around a little bit and the boys went with Mat and found little things to do a fun, quick craft on paper plates with all nature things. Daxton made a cute little doggy with flowers for eyes, rocks for a nose, bark for his ears, a twig for the mouth and a leaf for the tongue. It was really cute. And Corbin's was just a collage of everything that he had found.
We got to Maple Canyon on Friday night and first thing we needed to do was start a fire so that dinner could start cooking. Well all the stuff that we found was all green wood and it was having a hard time staying lite and was really smokey. But we got dinner going and the tent setup and finally ate around 7pm. Not too bad, but I was starving. Most of my food was not cooked all the way. We did tinfoil dinners and I had bigger portion of veggies for Hayden to eat with me. I ended up feeding up something else before ours were done. I ate some of Mat's veggies because most of mine were still really crunchy. Not my favorite. Anyway, the kids were so excited to finally be camping. They talked about it all week. We got them ready for bed and let them stay up for a little bit. But they were getting onrey so we put the younger two to bed and Mat and Daxton went looking for firewood. While they were gone I caught on video Corbin and Hayden just giggling away. They were not sleeping and it was funny to just hear them laugh and play in the tent. Glad it was laughing and not fighting and crying. Silly boys that I have. Once Daxton got into the tent, the other two settled down for a little bit and things were quite by 9:30pm. Mat and I didn't stay up much longer playing card games and just enjoying the beauty up there even in the dark and just relaxed and didn't have to worry about anything.
The next day after a sleepless night of the boys falling off their mattresses and crying because it was cold and having to go potty we finally got up after 7pm and got breakfast going. After a yummy breakfast burritoes we got everyone dressed for the day and Hayden went down for a nap. During that time Mat took Daxton off to go looking for more firewood while Corbin helped me clean up camp. Daxton felt very special to go and help daddy this whole last weekend and mommy couldn't help at all. He was very pleased with himself for helping daddy find lots of firewood. Corbin on the other hand wouldn't stay out of putting things into the firepit. NO matter how many times we would get after him for it. He still would do it because mommy and daddy were doing it. What do you do? The whole time there we thought he would get burned by the fire, but loal and behold Daxton gets burned on his hand after dinner when we put his hand where the coals from dinner had been on the griddle area. The coals were gone, but the heat on the metal was still there. Luckily we treated it right away and we knew just what to do especially after he had burned his feet last year at my sister's wedding dinner. That was unpleasant and this was a little more bearable. So we had one small injury along with Corbin constantly falling down on all the little things, yet still able to climb rocks and hills without any problems. Silly boy. Oh and during that day Corbin and I watched these squirrels ravage through our garbage that they made a hole into the night before. He named them Mo and Jo. They were fun to watch and kept him entertained for an hour or so.
We came home early Sunday morning. We were out of our camp spot before 9 am and got home about 9:45am Quick trip home. Nice to be so close to such a beautiful area. Can't wait to go camping with Mat's family to Ferron Mountain next weekend. I love CAMPING!!!!

Funny video of Hayden swinging

2009-07-17T22:50:00.004-06:00

So we had a lot of fun on Monday. We took the kids on Saturday to the Payson Scottish Festival and they had a great time. Daxton got his face painted with a big grizzly bear on it and the boys had fun dancing to the bagpipes and the drums. At the end we let them play at the playground and we just relaxed while watching them. Well they didn't get enough time to play so we decided to take them for part of family night. And we had a great time just letting the boys play around and get all tired out at the end of the day. Well, we had Corbin and Hayden in the swings all strapped in and just letting them have fun being pushed. Normally when we have put Hayden in he flips out and won't sit in it, even if Mat and I are swinging with him he just clutches on for dear life. Well he enjoyed it a little bit this time and we got him on video with the small pushes and just laughing and playing. Mat decided to push him a little bit harder and that's were this terrified expression comes in when he is going forward and it just made me laugh so hard. Excuse my laugh on the video I think that it's rediculous and just ignore me and enjoy watching the video of Hayden.

It starts..... the canning season!!!

2009-07-17T22:41:00.004-06:00

Wow!! I can't believe that it is already canning season for us already. I just seems that we just finished doing last years stuff and now.... tadah green beans are ready to be picked, snapped and processed. We processed 49 quarts today. We did our garden and got almost two 5 gal buckets filled and went over to my grandpa's and got the other bucket filled plus one more 5 gal bucket. THREE 5 GALLON BUCKETS!!!! I can't believe that that is how canning season starts off... with a BANG!!! So to reward myself, the boys (Mat, Daxton, and Corbin) went off to Father and Sons with our ward and I was left with Hayden. Well, actually I left Hayden with my parents to go play Bunco with my sister and some of the ladies from her ward. It was a nice way to remove all the stress of getting the green beans picked, snapped and processed as well as the raspberries picked and cleaned. Along with keeping the boys happy and not hurting each other or their cousins and getting everything else done plus all the other things that just happen when 6 little boys are around each other almost all day. YIPPEE!!! So it was a nice reward to play, chat, eat and LAUGH all night long with girls and just let it all out. AWWWW!!! So I get to wake up to one little boy rather than 3 screaming for me. I am so excited and hope and pray that all went well for Mat and the other 2 boys tonight. I'm excited that next year Mat is going to take all 3 boys with him. YAAAH!!! That is one benefit of having boys.

My amazing, superboy.... DAXTON!!!

2009-07-10T09:19:00.002-06:00

So yesterday Daxton went to the dentist for the first time yesterday, I know I am a bad mom for waiting until he was 4 to get it done, but I was honestly a little nervous on how he would do, plus he had to go to get into the preschool I have him signed up for. So he went and I kept asking him if he was scared. He would tell me no. We talked about what all the dentist was going to do and he wasn't scared at all, he was really excited. He knew that he had to do this to go to school. He was awesome. He sat in the "space chair" to have the dental assistant clean his teeth and he was able to watch a movie, but of course there was a bright light above him so she put on these really cool looking sunglasses that he loved and thought were his afterwards and enjoyed the movie, and smiled really big for the dentist. The dentist even said that the spacing in between his teeth are good because when he gets his big boy teeth in, the permanents, there will be enough room for them to grow in and there will be the unlikelyhood of him having to get braces, YEAH!!!! So far he has my teeth and not his daddy's. But he was excited to get that done and now he keeps asking me when school will start. I'm so sad that my little boy is growing up so fast and he is such a good looking kid since he got his haircut and he looks so much older than he really is.

Independence Day!

2009-07-04T15:38:00.003-06:00

I hope that all have a wonderful Independence Day. I am have had the privilege to spend it with my family. We had my brother, Ryan and his family come over last night for dutch oven dinner and we camped out in the backyard. The privileges of having the backyard very woodsy like. We had a lot of fun and we also did our fireworks last night, too. It was great. The screamers that are usually so loud and annoying and the kids get afraid of them didn't really scare my kids. They sounded just like my dad's truck when he starts it up and then it will just stop and Corbin kept saying: Papa's truck silly! And from that point on he wasn't afraid of the silly screaming fireworks and he was ok with them. However, my neice, Phebe didn't like and jumped right up into my sister-in-laws lap. We had a great time last night and we are almost done with our yardwork projects for this summer as far as us putting in all the work. We have moved sheds, pulled out bushes, put in new ones, built new sheds and moved all of our junk around and hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will have new concrete in our driveway and be done with all of our outside projects. YEAH!!! Well, again I wish you a safe, fun INDEPENDENCE DAY!! and Let FREEDOM Ring!

Cute videos of Hayden

2009-07-02T12:58:00.005-06:00

This is Hayden dancing to the music off of Daxton's Backyardagains guitar. He loves to dance to any music period, but lately it has been from the guitar. Isn't he just a cutie?!?!?!

Hayden trying to mimic me when I make a kissy face. It's so cute!! I finally got it on video.

Happy 4th Birthday DAXTON!!!!

2009-06-30T17:17:00.004-06:00

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!!!!

2009-06-25T21:22:00.003-06:00

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!!!

2009-06-19T06:18:00.005-06:00

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!!!!

2009-06-13T20:35:00.004-06:00

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!!

2009-06-09T13:39:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-06-04T13:26:00.003-06:00

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.

My baby keeps getting bigger.....

2009-05-21T11:15:00.002-06:00

Well I weighed Hayden when he turned 7 months old on the 19th and he is over 20 lbs. I can't believe how big he is getting. He is now rolling around everywhere and he is starting to army crawl. He loves to be on the floor, most of the time, and he likes to get into his brothers things, especially when they don't want him to. He always has a smile on his face for someone who really needs it. He's such a cutie!