We've dotcom'd it ~

We've done a little revamping on our blog.. to the naked eye you wouldn't notice it too much. Take a sec.. turn your eyes up to your address URL, I'll wait... do - do - do - do do - bomb - bomb. Okay time is up! That's right we've dotcom'd it!!

Here's the deal.. I screwed up once upon time. I used a sign in that was old while creating our Larson Lately blog and then for theHappy Birthday Christo blog, I used my new sign in that finally "no one" knew besides my husband and I. So basically I had 2 sign in's, both with their very own blog. I didn't like it.. Christo saw my frustration. He was going to do some magical stuff, that would join both blogs with one sign in that only he knows how to do, but it made me anxious that I would loose my "families journal" i.e. Larson Lately.. so with a flick of his wrist and some keyboard massaging, BAM!! Everything is still the same when you type inLarsonLately.blogspot.com and it will change to LarsonLately.comon its very own!! No RSS feed changes for you friends!!

Oh.. I was just notified from my IT staff, that our little trick didNOT in fact work.. so friends.. You WILL need to change your RSS feeds if you would like our blog post updates, updated on your blog roll.. sorry! We're good, we're just not that good ...

Get down girls - go 'head get down ~

Sassy and Reese have taken to their room for their play time.. its fine, a little sad that they think they don't need to be in my face for entertainment - bleh whatever.. Anyways they play, play, play in their room. They need tunes though, ya know..? So since I use my powers only for good, I have taken one of our iHome's into their room..where music of all kinds brings a bounce to their step and the lyrics that only Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, B.O.B. and Kanye can make you really get down and play too...

Now don't you shake your head at me for letting my young children listen to this music.. it was their Daddy's idea to have these colorful artist "sang their thang" to our children. However it was their mother's huge, impressive brain that makes sure these lyrics are only ringing through their precious little ears in the form of "KidZ Bop".. I know, I'm a damn genius!!!

Sissy-Pants

Holy smokes Reesey... you are just a titch away from being 8 months!! Do you know how wonderful it has been having you in our home..? Making everyone so happy..? Putting smiles on all our faces..?

You've gone from just a yiddle baby to "Gracie size" in 8 months.. you wear the same diapers and clothes, play with the same toys, each other wanting each others binkies. You love your Bubba.. when you are fussy, a rarity, you instantly calm down with your big brother. He will scoop you up and take you in his room and show you all his really cool stuff. I believe you have even done experiments and looked at spit through his microscope.. you are just cruising right a long with all the things your siblings show you.

Momma and Dad are in love with you. IN LOVE. When you see our faces, you smile, you do! You shriek and get all wiggly with excitement when you see us. You love to explore and we love to come find you by listening to your shriek. Just yesterday Daddy found you under Sassy's bed..you were just waiting for someone to come find you. You've been on a peek-a-boo kick lately.. you put a blanket over your little face and wait for someone to say, "Where's Reesey..?" and then BOO! you pull off the blanket and there you are...with a big cheesy grin!! When we feed you, after every bite you say, "mmmmm.." How do you know to do that? You watch your brother and sister like a hawk.. that's how you know to do that.

Reesey Piecey.. I love you. You make me so grateful for everyday I have with you. You with your brother and sister truly complete our family. You bring love and instantly brighten our day with your precious little spirit. We are so blessed that you are ours. You are the reason our lives have changed and brought us all together. You are kinda a big deal.

You can slow down with growing up though.. You give the meaning "time flies when you are having fun" a whole different twist.

Our Dad's the Greatest Dad

He's clean, cut and dapper..and silly. Mostly silly.

He's always so excited to take our kids everywhere, to see everything.

He'll be the first to start the wrestling matches..most of the time.

Makes sure everyone feels important..if he's holding one, you bet he'll try to hold one of the other ones too...

Perfectly happy to stop everything and just be where he's needed.

And he's my best friend. My girlfriends are an awesome bonus, but he's just as silly and interesting like they are.. he fulfills a niche that girlfriends or anyone - just never has. But I think that's the way its supposed to be.

We love you with all our guts, Daddy!!!

Mission Statement

Our mission is to put family first by showing love and kindness to one another.

The Larson Family promises to help one another achieve goals, show love and to respect each other. Willing to step in when someone falls short. Promising that nothing or no one is more important than our family and its members. To do what we can individually to keep our family together firmly. Helping to bring love and laughter into our home.

~And to always do it with a smile ~

A Raw Thought

Some days I get why lions eat their young ~

I'm not saying I would or was even going to.. I was just saying, some days I get it.. and I think some days - they aren't too impressed either.

My Madi

This is Madeline Jane.. she is gorgeous. And not just on the outside appearance.. she is gorgeous on the inside as well. I have never met anyone that takes the whole situation in, thinks about it in microscopic detail, decides what she thinks, not what the "world" thinks, but what she thinks and feels, and makes her own thoughts, decisions and judgements. She is the most honest, loving, caring, sincere lady I have ever met... and I love that she loves me.

Madi is Chris' little sister, the oldest of the twins. Besides Grandpa Chris, Madi was the first person in the family that really knew me. We would have some deep, sincere conversations. And they always were honest. Madi always says what she thinks, but it is never rude or degrading. I always love our conversations and time together. She makes me feel so comfortable, and when she leaves, I always feel uplifted and enlightened.

Madi is very religious. However she does not say what she doesn't know, and she does not preach what she does know. She is very sincere with her beliefs and loves to share them.. and I love to listen to them. Her countenance attracts so much attention.. She knows I am not religious, but she also knows that I enjoy talking about it, and learning what she says.

I love that Madi loves my babies.. she is excited to see them.. and she is one of the very few people that I trust with them. She is the one that watches our kids, while Chris and I steal a few hours of "us time". We never have to worry if everything is okay, because she wouldn't ever let us down.. and she would be devastated if one of the kids didn't adore her.. She was a huge part of Gracie's first months, and you can tell that Gracie knows and remembers that. Watching Madi with my babies, makes me oh so excited to see her with her own babies someday. And I can't wait to spoil hers like she spoils mine.

Madi is almost half way done with Dental Hygienist schooling..she worked really hard to get accepted and has done so well with her classes. She moved out on her own and is just thriving. We are all so proud of her and excited to see where her schooling takes her.

Madi.. I just want you to know that I really love you and I appreciate what you do for myself and for my family. You are a good person and I'm very grateful that I have you as family. I hope my girls will look to your example of living and loving. You have a lot of fans, my sweets, but I hope you know that I'm one of the biggest!

Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we want them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come.

Joseph F. Smith

My lesson learned.

The Love Shack Welcomes You ~

A little virtual tour of our families temporary "digs"..

Come on along with me..won't you??

Ahhh..Home Sweet Home, right? A full on monay..from a distance its great but close-up its a full on mess. Please focus on the 3rd car garage and the quarters below. And only the 3rd car garage and the quarters below.

Ahhh..this is my office. The kitchen. Big enough at least that I can still cook and not step on any babies or Jax and his tech decks. I do however, have to share my office with Christo. Yeah, we share offices. Good thing I love him and he loves me..cause its close quarters.

And we're walking..actually we just had to step one little, tiny step into the Living/Play/TV/Family room.

Oh here we are..to your left, my right, you will see this weird space of a room. Its the room where quit frankly, we put crap that we have no other place to put it. So basically its a car seat, some of Christo's office, and storage for toilet paper, paper towels, blankets and toys that I keep hidden from Sass and then reintroduce to her on days when she's going bonkers, room. Deceptive..?? You betcha!!

And we're moving towards the hall and...

to where all the magic happens...

NOT!! Cause Reesey bunks with us...

It's also the laundry folding room/linen closet. (The linen closet is the big blue rubbermaid.) Hey, I'm doing the best I can with the space I've been given.

Well, this room is a no brainer.

Big Brother Bubba's territory.

And then the girls room. Which means actually, Gracie's quarters. But baby Reesey's toys are in here, and Reese sleeps here when Gracie isn't home.

(*bonus game..where's Reesey in this photo?*)

And there ya have it. The Love Shack...hope you didn't blink!

Here is where we will be.. where we, ever so patiently, will wait until our home is done.

Bouncin'...

Hmmm..it seems when Gracie leaves it pulls on the far right chamber of my heart. The pulling goes up into my cerebellum and makes me ornery/sad for the remainder of the morning. The ritual of getting her ready to say good bye is always the last thing I want to do.

The step of putting her back into the clothes her bioMother sent her in, is the beginning of the morning.. she should be in her jammies still like her little sister and playing with toys that were forgotten while dreaming during the night.

The step of taming her crazy curls. The step of cleaning off the drool from her mouth. The step of her saying buh-bye to Reese. The step that has me telling her buh-bye with my kisses. Then its the horrible step of walking up the steps to the door, where her bioMom waits. She always wants "mommy and Reese to go" with her. Yep, do you see the right chamber being pulled from where you're sitting??

However we are extremely lucky. We have 50/50 joint legal custody. That means we have more time than normal dads have..which in the state of Utah is rare. The agreement is 5 days with us, 2 days with her bioMom, back to us for 2 days, 5 days back with bioMom and then returning home for 5 days of her family here. Again all this time we have is rare. Its proof that Chris is a wonderful father and the state of Utah recognized this. But everyone knew and continues to know, that Chris is a wonderful dad. He has been the biggest and most consistent part of Gracie's life since day one.

I constantly worry if Gracie thinks of us or misses us while she is gone, especially during her 5 days away. I know she is fine. But as her momma.. I still.will.always.worry. There isn't a switch that you can flip to just turn off being a mother to one of your children. I worry that when she gets older will she get mad at us for doing family things without her? Will she know that we DO think of her and that we DO miss her in anything we do without her? Will she know that I refuse to take family pictures wherever we are and she's not because I don't want her to think we are complete without her?

This is why I blog. So she knows.

Candidly Caught

Where's Reesey..???

Peek - A - Boo!!

I asked if she had any chocolate - and she said "nuh-uh"... hmmm??

Shirtless Joe Jaxon..always.

Her memory will remain ~

R.I.P

5/31/2010 - 12/29/2010

Let me sus'plain..

When I had Reesey Piecey, that same awesome day, I also received this mug.. a beauty in itself. We brought it home and I devoured the water that would fill it, 10 maybe 12 times a day. Jax and Christo who so lovingly took care of me while the re-coop of having Reese was underway, would fill it with ice and water and bring it to wherever I was .. such a sweet gesture of love and an instant refreshing treat for me.

The healing from Reese was super quick cause I had so much help .. so in no time I was up and at 'em - and so was this mug!! She came with me outside to pull weeds and water the flower pots.. she stayed by my side in the kitchen when I was cookin' and scrubbin' as well in the bathroom while I bang'd my hair and put on some rouge. She was still there when I went out for errands and if I was just simply rockin' away in the recliner she was on the floor next to me just in case I needed to quench my thirst.

My 2 oldest little kittens caught on to the happiness the mug brought me.. soon it was the mug that Bubba would guzzle out of after a skate boarding session. It was the mug that was much more fun than Gracie Girls Spongebob sippy.. and of course Dad needed a quick swig after mowing the lawn or to down some Ibu after a killer bike ride. In fact Grandma Terri was spotted wetting her whistle from the cherished mug while skiing the Beav on Christmas Eve.. ya, the mug has been around.

My mug, our mug has done its work.. its been through the dishwasher, where Cascade and Jetdry have tried to keep up her appearance, and I personally have scrubbed her to make sure the sharing germs were dead where they stood.. but we had to put her down last week.. I just didn't feel like I could clean her good enough anymore.

The community mug is gone..but the memories will remain.

NYE ~ from Layton

My big sisters family and my family got our groove on at the hot spot "MT Nesters".. there was food..too much food. There was wrestling, dart guns, food, house decorating magazines, food, a Panda who knew Kung-fu, masks, hats, blower thingy's, and food... the really good kind.

Our dad and mom were the hostess' with the mostestess'.. it was a very chill night, the kids had a ball dancing and running wild. They tried to stay up for the 2011 but didn't make it to 11 o'clock. My mom was super tired too, so she and Reesey rang in the New Year on eastern time with a kiss and then went to bed.. bless their little hearts ~

They were trying to stay awake til the ball dropped..

Uncle John dropp'n like its hot..

The best dad and funnest Grandpa

King Jaxon

Chris and I were the last 2 men standing at midnight..so we smooched in 2011 happily