2010 to the end...

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

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

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

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

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

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.