Updates! PART 2

Alright back to work...

We picked the snowiest day of the trip (not on purpose) to go see my good friend Beka who is about to have her first baby any day now!  Luckily driving in the snow came back to me like riding a bike.  It was a lot more tense having the kids in the car, I only drove 20 mph :)  We ate at Elements which was super tasty!  It was fun seeing Beka and her baby bump!

While in Utah I was introduced to Zupas by my cousin Kaeli.  The kids and I met up with her there for dinner and then got to go see her new apartment.  Zupas is one of my new favorites!  It was so good!!  They give you a chocolate covered strawberry.  How could you not LOVE it??  Also spending time with Kaeli is one of my favorite things.  I just wish I could have seen her more! 

Once Ben got to Utah we had a long list of things we wanted to do but sadly we didn't get to do all of it. One of the first things we did was go see great Grandma Scott.  She was so cute with the kids.  She kept saying "these kids are so cute!  My kids were never this cute" I love that lady! The second thing we did was go to the zoo.  We LOVE going to the zoo if you've read this blog before you probably already know that.  Ever since I was little I wanted to be a Zookeeper.  That dream died long ago but my love of animals didn't and was passed down to my little ones.  We met up with my friend Calli, her mom, and her little boy Nash.  Sadie and Nash had more fun kicking the snow and playing in the water fountain together than actually watching animals.  Despite the cold the kids held up longer than I thought they would.  It was a fun day!

We headed down to St. George for our GIGANTIC Larsen clan Thanksgiving!  This is the reason I decided to come in November rather than wait until February.  I missed the last Larsen reunion and hadn't seen some of my Aunts and Uncles in years.  It was fun to show off my kids to everyone :)  It was especially good to see Uncle Graig who is currently kicking cancer in the butt (YAY!). 

There's a lot of love in this family! 

After Thanksgiving Ben and I skipped town and spent a night in Vegas!  We have history there so it was fun for us to go back.  Plus we are basically awesome at roulette so it was a fun time! 

I wanted to make sure to take advantage of the mountains while we were there so the last Sunday we went on one of my favorite hikes (waterfall canyon).



While in Utah I worked on 17 photo shoots (PHEW!)  Which was exhausting but it paid for the trip!  You can (Eventually) find them all here http://chubbytoesphotos.blogspot.com/ (Oops I still need to update that one too!) or find me at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hp#!/pages/Chubby-Toes-Photography/283163307854 and like my page!! 




*Sorry my writing is so bad!  Hopefully some of the pics make up for it!?

Updates! PART 1

Being gone for a whole month really sets you back!  I'm finally feeling caught up on life here in NC.  My house is finally as clean as it can be.  When you have a 2 year old tornado running around its hard to get anything perfectly clean.  I've gotten back into a routine (for now).  Time to start blogging again!  Not that anyone has missed my writing but I feel like I need to do this.  It's fun for me :)  So here goes nothin'...

UTAH!!

The plane ride to Utah was awful.  But not so awful that I would never do it again.  Still now that Tyson is mobile I'm pretty sure he would not tolerate sitting in my lap for 5 hours.  He can barely hold still long enough to finish a bottle.  Oh well we'll worry about it when the time comes!  I was really lucky that there were so many people willing to help me carry my bags and hold the baby.  I only hope that someday I'll be able to return the favor by helping some desperate young mother thats in WAY over her head. 

When I saw the mountains and the beautiful fall leaves it was all worth it.  I went straight out into my parents back yard and took hundreds of pictures.  I miss it.  I get so dang sick of looking at pine trees and trailer parks here in NC.  Don't get me wrong there are beautiful places here too but nothing like home.

Sadie had her 2nd birthday while we were in Utah.  I was sad that I didn't get to do a big birthday party for her.  I don't know if I'll ever be good at making a big deal out of birthdays.  On the day of her birthday she woke up to a room full of pink balloons.  I made her her favorite breakfast (Oatmeal) and gave her a princess crown.  That day was really windy and cold so we weren't able to get together with any of her friends.  James came down from Logan and Stephney came up from Salt Lake so we had a nice family party.  She got spoiled big time and she loved all her presents.  It was a fun time.  I love that girl!

Potty trained!!

We got a chance to see my Utah bestee's Marilyn, Shelly, Bonnie, Eva, Beka, and Calli.  Sadie got to see HER Utah bestee's Wes, Parley, Olivia, Bryatt, and Nash.  Tyson even made a couple friends named Cody and Ambrie!  We miss them all! 

We went to the Kangaroo zoo & Dinosaur park with Marilyn and Wes.  Sadie took a while to warm up to the Kangaroo zoo but once she got comfortable she had a blast!  I had to force her to go down a slide.  I think that might have traumatized her a little!  I didn't get any pictures :(  Sometimes its just SO much easier to leave the camera at home.  I DID however get LOTS of pictures at the Dinosaur Park. 

This little sequence is named "Give me a bite of yo samich woman!"

I'm SO SO sad that I didn't get any pictures of Shelly and Parley :(  They came over and played one day and then I met them at Kirts for some lunch another day.  It was fun just chatting and catching up! 

Sleepover!  Bonnie had a great idea that we should have a sleepover :)  It was so fun!  I was a little worried that the kids wouldn't sleep in a new place but they did fine.  Eva, Bryatt, and Ambrie came for the night but didn't sleep over.  I love getting together with those girls!  I seriously laughed my buns off all night.  If 4 years ago you came into the plasma center and told me that I would be such good friends with Bonnie I probably would have laughed in your face!  I don't know how many times she made me cry but I know it was more than once :) 


Ok its 1 am so I'm going to have to say TO BE CONTINUED...

Christmas Eve!

Today we visited the Botanical Gardens.  Sadie loved all of the "Fairy houses" I think I would have liked it a lot more if there weren't so many people!  It was crowded!  I get a little stressed out in big crowds (like most people) and I had a killer head ache.  But overall it was a good time.  I learned that Sadie has absolutely NO interest in watching trains.  Good to know!

Funny day!

Sadie was hilarious today.  The fact that she had a smokers voice only enhanced the fun.  Yesterday I made her some play dough.  She wasn't interested in it yesterday but today she was watching Little Einsteins and then suddenly said "I bake a cake".  So she went into the dinning room and started playing with her play dough.  I was feeding Tyson so I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing until I heard her singing loudly "Happy Birdday to MEEEEE, Happy Birdday to Mom, Happy Birdday to ME!"  I got her some birthday candles and let her play birthday party all day! 

We were playing outside.  Missy was going crazy running and spinning everywhere.  Tyson and I were laughing.  I guess it was making Sadie jealous because she came over and said "Put him down!"  I said Sadie I can't put him down right now!  So she goes "PUT him DOWN in the DIRT!"

Later we picked up some pizza for our friends that are sick.  When I told the girl I wanted a cheese and a sausage pizza she flipped "I do I do!  I want pizza!  I want cheese!"  It was hard for her little self to understand that it wasn't for us.  Later when I was tucking her into bed and just about to give her a kiss goodnight  I heard her whisper "I want my pizza back"

While Sadie was going potty (this is after I had already put her to bed once) I accidentally knocked over Tyson's bathtub.  Once Sadie was done she said "Get in the corner mom."  I was like "huh?" (I didn't understand what she was talking about) "GET IN THE CORNER!!!"  Again I said "What?"  Then she said "Put your hands on the WALL!"  She was putting me into time out!  So I put my hands on the wall.  As soon as I touched the wall she grabbed my hand and said "Ok talk to me"  I said "What did I do?"  "Hit Ty's tub."  "Oh ok I'm sorry Sadie."  I gave her a big hug.  She just turns around without a word and walked to her room and put herself back to bed.  What a little goof!

On a side note:
Tyson is rolling around like crazy now!  My life is over...  He's also scooting.  When he's laying on his stomach he puts his bum up and pushes forward.  He's like a little inchworm.

Tyson 4 Months!

Happy 4 month Birthday my little man!  This past month was a little rough on Tyson.  First he got a really bad rash all over his body, then he was constipated for 5 days and he was colicky.  I was really worried for a while because he used to be such a happy baby and I was afraid I wouldn't get him back.  But luckily, He's back!  He still gets painful gas bubbles but for the most part he's back to his cheerful self.  Some things about this past month:
-He got really good with his hands.  He can grab his Binky and put it in his mouth.  Its pretty cute to watch!
-We buzzed his hair because he looked pretty silly.  He looked like an old man!
-He went to his first amusement park and water park.
-Sadie sings him "Edelweiss" to calm him down.  It works EVERY time!  Its so helpful when I'm trying to get dinner on the table.  He LOVES his big sister. 
-He's still in size 2 diapers.
-He smells like rotten eggs.
-He snores.
-He is a Mamma's boy!  I'm pretty proud of that one!
-He started using his Jumparoo.  He is pretty much obsessed.  If he sees it he starts wiggling like crazy to get to it.
-He tried his first solid food today.  I gave him some Whole wheat cereal with avocados in it.  He loved it!!
-Oh yeah...HE STARTED SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! (Usually from 10-7) So nice!

Sadie funnies...

This girl is so funny.  I wish I could record everything she does because I think we would probably be AFV winners by now.  Sadly every time I get out the camera she gets all shy :(  I'll have to do my best to describe it but some things you just had to have been there.

As you all know we are potty training right now.  Some days are good.  Some days are really really bad.  This was one of them...

Sadie had just had an #2 accident in her brand new mini mouse undies.  Usually #2's are not a big deal because she poops like a deer (Someone get this girl some FIBER!) so its really easy to clean up IF it stays in the undies. 

As I started to change her she FLIPPED out because she really wanted to wear those new undies.  She started to kick her legs right when I was trying to pull the dirty undies off and little pellets went flying everywhere.

Me:  "ARE YOU SERIOUS SADIE?  Are you SERIOUS?!"

So I clean up the mess and give her a bath.  LATER as I'm trying to get her dressed she is NOT cooperating.  I finally pin her down and attempt to put a sweater on her while she's struggling and I hear this...

Sadie:  "ARE YOU SERIOUS MOM?  Are you SERIOUS?!"

.......................................................................................................................................................................

Ben came home from work and gave me a kiss while I was cooking dinner.  (don't get too excited, this is a PG post!)
From below we hear a little voice say "NO!  Kiss ME!"

Now whenever we say "Sadie, Who should I kiss?"  She always replies with "Kiss ME!"

.......................................................................................................................................................................

We went to Busch Gardens recently.  While we were there it was their first night of their version of "Fright mares"  They did a good job!  It was pretty scary!  We were walking past the Werewolf section of the park.  They had werewolves in the trees and peaking out from behind signs.  I could tell that Sadie was getting a little nervous but "Miss Independent" wanted to walk.  It was taking for EVER because her little legs don't really go very fast and I wanted to go home.  So I said "Sadie!  I'm so scared!"  So she ran over to me, jumped up into my arms and squeezed me as hard as she could and whispered in my ear "Don't be afraid.  I got you.  I got you mom."  She stayed in this position the WHOLE rest of the way through the park.  Anytime I tried to lift my head up she would yank it back down and say "SHHH...I got you.  Don't be afraid."

Ty 3 Months!

This boy is HUGE!  People ask if he's 6 months old all of the time.  The best word to describe his personality is delightful.  He is always so happy and giggly and talkative.  I love it!  He is SO fun.  He likes to wake up at 3am just to talk.  He isn't even hungry most of the time.  He just wants to chat with me.  He gets so happy when I walk in.  He starts flapping his arms and kicking his legs.  Having someone so happy to see you feels really good!  Here are some highlights from this last month:

*He moved up from 1's to 2's in diaper sizes
*He's wearing 3 month clothes
*His hair started falling out in clumps!  I'm so sad!  I loved his dark silky hair.  Now he only has a little peach fuzz on top. 
*He still has extremely bad gas!  Luckily it doesn't seem to bother him too much.
*He still loves the bath.
*He watches his sister and smiles at everything she does.  He adores her.
*He has the most beautiful blue/sparkly eyes I'm so happy that I finally got a picture that shows that. (The one above)
*He shakes his head violently while trying to fight off sleep.
*He weighs about 15 lbs right now
*He is extremely tickelish.  Especially his feet.
*He giggles all the time.  All you have to do is kiss his cheeks.
*He is exploring his voice.  He copies the noises we make and he LOVES it when he feels like we are copying him back.
*He gets really sad when he hears loud noises.  His little lip pokes out and his eyes get all teary.  It's pretty dang cute!
*He can fit his whole fist in his mouth!
*He can almost roll over from his back to his stomach
*He spits up pretty much everything I feed him :( but he's still gaining weight so I don't worry too much about it. 
and...thats all I can think of right now! 
I LOVE this little cutie!!!