Larson Clan

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Emma's Great and Eight!

Happy Birthday Emma! We sure love our sweet Emma.

Daddy and Emma with her cake. On her cake of course she wanted a horse on her cake......and not to mention a big, green shamrock.

We love Emma! Big 8!

Self Timer camera shot. Emma's Birthday Banner.

Emma's special birthday dinner. Yum!

Can't forget Momma Mindy's 29th birthday. Not sure why there is a "34" on the cake.

At Fort Irwin, Mindy was in charge of getting multiple book fairs up and running. She did a great job!

Monday, July 4, 2011

We hit sea world one last time in February 2011. Things were pretty much the same at San Diego Sea World as they always were, although they did add a new dolphin/people diving/swinging show which kept the kids attention. I'm firmly in the "San Antonio Sea World is the best Sea World there is!" camp, but we still had fun in San Diego. Shamu did some jumpin' and splashin' and what not. Didn't kill anybody.

We did do the "I'm likely to get wet"-ride and weren't disappointed. The boys (max and dad) were on one side, while the girls (Kimbyl, Emma, Tessa) were on the other side. Guess which side got drenched? Let's put it this way, my camera and iphone emerged dry and unscathed. The girls were pretty shocked with an early shower however.

Kids liked the Shamu-mobile.

Anxious downstream looks abound.....

.....rightly so!

Tessa's face says it all.

Kids always love climbing on the rope, jungle gym thingy.

Sea World Feb 2011 - slideshows

Laters Sea World!

"She got 'em both done at the same time!"

Some say she was crazy for doing it, but Gma Larson wanted to say hello to a pair of new knees and say goodbye to pain with every step. She tolerated the procedure well and today is getting around essentially pain-free. Still working on the range of motion, but doing great overall.

She had a birthday while at the rehabilitation facility. We were happy to be in town to offer birthday wishes to "brave" Grandma Gail.

Ode to Frodo, Braces Pioneer and At-home-buddies

We really enjoyed our lil' pup Frodo Baggins Larson during our time at Fort Irwin. With the great Belgium Unknown looming, we decided to let Frodo stay with another loving family to make things a little easier with the transition. Our awesome neighbors, The Coonfield's, were happy to adopt Frodo into their family and reports are that he is doing great, although he keeps sneaking out looking for the fires of Mount Doom.

Emma was the first member of our family to have braces (except momma mindy). She had these put on after having a few teeth "wiggled out"--not pulled. The braces worked well and she already has them removed. Were just waiting for when she'll need round two of braces in a few years.

Ian and Tessa were real homebodies when the other kids went off to school. They got to hang out together with Mommy. It was fun to see how they became really good buddies. They continue to have a special realationship. Most of the time without bloodshed.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

The Bright Lights of Temple Square

We went up to SLC to get illuminated at Temple Square. It was cold, but our hearts were warm and the kids were having fun. The lights were beautiful as expected. We also had some hot cocoa, to which the kids are addicted now. We decided to do the carriage ride as it'll be a while before we get back here, not unexpectedly the kids loved it, especially our "horse farmer-ette", Emma.

My brother Kirk helped construct the reflecting pool in front of the Temple.

Brrrrrr, where's the hot chocolate?!

Temple Square Fun - slideshow with music

Christmas in the desert--2010

Its funny that the first time we ever enjoyed a real live Christmas tree of our own was when we were living in the desert. We bought one in Barstow from a tree-peddler from Portland. Real symmetrical and scentsy-er than a car air freshener to boot. The kids had a lot of fun decorating it. The decorating sequence went something like this: 1. Mom or Dad applies ornament 2. Ian takes ornament down...repeated multiple times.