MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Our little Ms. Claus
Wow, I guess I have not posted anything in quite awhile, sorry about that. As most of us, life has been crazy lately. We have been enjoying the Holiday season so far and are excited for Christmas to come, it's only 4 days away!! I feel horrible because I haven't had a whole day to sit and bake this year. I am sorry to all those who have not gotten any treats, it's not because you weren't good, I have just ran out of time. We still love ya.
Okay so I am going to complain for a minute. Hollie and I have both had cold's and that hasn't helped. Mine has been lingering for a week now and I don't feel like I am getting any better. Hollie was doing great until she woke up this morning and since has thrown-up twice. Oh my goodness!! We cannot be sick for Christmas there are parties to go to and family to travel to. Well, I guess we just make the best of it and hope that Ryan or I don't end up with the flu. I also have a story for you. On Tuesday night the office had an office party and took everyone to Joe's BBQ, YUMMY, and to the play A Christmas Carol. It was so great and even better to be together on a date. We had a fun evening and really enjoyed ourselves. As the evening ended and we got in the car (Ryan's car) to drive home there was this weird sound. As many of you know Ryan is very particular about his things and if he hears anything abnormal or a rattle it's got to be fixed. Well, to make a long story short we find out that his back left tire is completely flat! Okay, it's 10:15 at night and now we have to find a gas station with air. Not only that, but the same tire had a flat last week and Ryan took it in and got it fixed and now he's thinking they did a crapy job. We find a gas station with air and fill up the tire. As he's filling it up he can hear the air exiting out of the tire. As he was examining his tire he found a new screw, what bad luck!! So, he jumps in the car and speeds off so that we can make it home before the tire is flat. Oh, what an adventure. We made it home and just after we got home it was flat. I tell ya, we have not had good luck with his tires. I guess that's what we get because they are low profile tires. So, to finish my complaining Wednesday both of our cars were in the shop because mine had an appointment for warranty work and his well, we know why his was in the shop. That made for an adventurous day, but it all worked out. Anyway, thanks for listening. Life is just crazy and all I can do is laugh. When his car got a flat Tuesday night I just smiled because as I say, there is ALWAYS something new happening in the Larson family and it keeps us on our toes.
Well, after my complaining I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year. There are many exciting things happening here this new year and I will definetly make sure to keep you all updated.
I have attached some cute pictures of Hollie and don't mind the bruise on her cheek, she decided last week to take a dive into the table. Oh, she's a busy one and I love her so much. I am so grateful for my family and for my wonderful husband who I love so much. Thanks for all your friendships and love. Merry Christmas!!

Big Girl Bed

This weekend we decided we needed to start Christmas shopping and included in that was getting Hollie a "big girl bed". We found a really cute daybed, Ryan put it together and seconds later Hollie was loving it. I am so lucky to have such a handyman that can pretty much do anything. He was so excited and wanted Hollie to sleep in it Sunday night but we didn't have any sheets for it. So, Monday we went to Target and found really cute Shabby Chic bedding and last night was her first night to sleep in her big girl bed. She did fantastic!! She woke up once and then went right back to sleep. We were so proud of her. She got up on her own and came in at 6:30am to wake us up because she was ready for the day. Ofcourse we heard her moving around, but it was so cute to have her come right into our room and climb into bed with us. Since we started our morning so early we decided to go downstairs and make daddy his favorite breakfast, so french toast it was. He really enjoyed it and even got to eat breakfast with his little girl. That is a treat because usually she is still sleeping when he leaves in the morning.

As you can see we still have some things to do in Hollie's room and once I figure that out it will be complete. I am debating on wether or not to re-paint the top. I think I probably should and use just a solid light pink. I have seen a few cute ideas in magazines and I may just use one. I am having so much fun with her room and like Ryan says, it will probably only stay this way for a couple years and then we'll change it again. I am hoping to keep it for awhile, but you never know.

In the midst of changing Hollie's room we are also preparing for our little boy. I told Ryan this weekend that he can pick out what he would like for this little guy because it's his boy. I have had lots of fun with Hollie and now I want him to have fun picking things out too. He decided he wants a Hawaiian theme so we are getting ideas for that. We are so excited and cannot wait. February is right around the corner.

It's Raining!!

Can you believe it, it's raining? I am so excited. It is finally feeling like winter here in Arizona and I am loving it. Today Hollie and I put some Christmas music on and we decorated the house for Christmas. It was so much fun and Hollie was a big helper. She did decide she wanted to take a 3 hour nap in the middle and so that allowed me to get lots more done. I love having our tree up and it's finally starting to feel like Christmas. Hollie loves to look at it and she says pretty lights. Oh, she is just the cutest thing. It has taken me awhile to realize Christmas is here because we have been on the go and so much has happened the last couple of weeks. I now can finally relax and enjoy the holiday's. We are starting our Christmas shopping tomorrow and we'll see how much we can get done. It shall be an adventure and we are looking forward to it.
Oh, and an update on the little guy. He is doing great and continuing to grow. We are so excited and cannot wait till he comes and joins our family. Only 3 more months!!

Lake Tahoe

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know we did. We were up in Lake Tahoe for the week with my dad, KC and Brookie and we really enjoyed ourselves. We were sad that there wasn't any snow but a little fake made snow, but we still had fun. Our little Hollie is quite the outdoors girl and eventhough it was 40 degrees she still wanted to play outside. It was the most relaxing week we have had in a really long time. We watched football, played games, talked, read books (Brookie and I) and ate and ate. We drove around Lake Tahoe and boy was it beautiful!! It was a great time! I really enjoyed being in the company of my family and am so grateful for them. I love them all so much and I am truly blessed with the best family. Many lasting memories where created and I am so grateful for that and for my family.

Ofcourse, our little Hollie loved being with her papa, aunt Brookie and uncle KC. She is talking so much and is ofcourse, growing so fast. My dad loved everybit of it and got the joy of putting his "little princess" to sleep. She got the chance to show off all she knows and how fast she can learn. Hollie learned to say her name and it's just the cutest thing. I cannot believe how fast she is learning things, she is definetly a sponge.

We had a great Thanksgiving and look forward to the Holiday season. I have lots of shopping to do because I have yet to do any. I guess I better start.

IT'S A BOY!!!!

Boy, oh Boy, can you believe it? A little man will be joining our family before we know it. We are so excited and what more can we ask for, a little princess and now a little prince. The due date for this little guy is February 26th and we cannot wait. Hollie and I took a last minute trip up to Idaho so we could be there when we found out what it was and let me tell you, it was the best experience ever! I have never seen a baby on ultrasound and it was amazing. We even did the 3-d ultrasound and that was so cool. To hear his heartbeat was also amazing. I tell ya, technology can make so many things possible. He is so cute and very, very active. Tonight we are going to sit down and watch the DVD with Ryan so he can see his new garage buddy. Oh my, Ryan is so excited he is no longer going to be outnumbered anymore and he will have his little pal. Hollie has done a great job being right there with dad in the garage, but there's nothing like a father and son playing in the garage and tinkering around. We do not have a name, but have a few in mind. And we'll let you know once we decide.
Well, we will be busy around here getting things ready and bringing some blue into our home. We are so excited and will definetly keep you all posted on what's happening.

Good News!!

Hello Everyone!!
Wow, life has been adventerous over here lately. I tell ya, there is never a dull moment and we love every bit of it. I have to tell you a funny story. Our little princess is just the cutest thing and keeps me on my toes. The other day we were on our way home from Ryan's office and I knew before I got home I needed to get Hollie some lunch because she would fall asleep before we got home. So, I went through the Wendy's drive-thru and got her some chicken nuggets. She was very happy and was eating them quite contently. She started to fuss a bit so, I turned around to find, our little princess covered in poop!! Yes, you read that right, poop. It was the most disgusting thing ever!!!! I was totally confused as to how it happened and allthough I was only 5 minutes away from home it felt like it was forever away. She had it on her hands, down her legs and on her face and on the chicken nugget she was about to eat!!! Ah, it was just disgusting! I wiped her off as much as I could and tried not to gag. We finally made it home and it was off to the bath and then nap time. I cleaned her seat and used many cleaners to sanitize and get the smell out. It was quite an experience and we lived through it. I am still boggled at how it all happened. Hardly any of it made it in the diaper. She was wearing an overall dress with a onesie under it and the only thing I can think of was that somehow her diaper got moved over, I don't know and will never know exactly how it happened. I guess it was just something we had to experience and thank goodness I just laughed.
Well, on to the good news. Our family is going to be growing by one more come the month of February! Yup, you read that right too, we are going to be adopting a baby the end of February. We are very excited and cannot wait. I tell ya, we waited three weeks for Hollie and that felt like an eternity and now I can only imagine three months. Thank goodness the holidays are here because that will help things go by quicker. Oh my, I can only imagine a 9 month pregnancy, that would feel like years.
This came at a perfect time for us. We have done two rounds of intra-uterine insemination and we have had no success. I was telling Ryan that I would like to take a break through the holidays and try our last one in January. Ryan said, that sounds good and lets pray about it and we will know what to do. Well, we did and we got the call for this baby the next morning. I know that the Lord works in mysterious ways and answers to our prayers can come in ways we may not think of. I am so grateful for this special blessing and that this little baby will be joining our family. I am so grateful for adoption and how it has allowed Ryan and I to be parents and to enjoy the blessings of children. I am so glad that our little princess will have a playmate, but we are definetly going to have to work on the sharing thing. She has a few baby dolls and is very gentle with them and we will just hope that that gentleness will continue. We do not know if the baby is a girl or boy yet, and we are hoping to find out soon. I will definetly keep you all updated. Ryan and I are just so excited and are so glad we get to be parents of two very special children. I am so excited I cannot even tell you. We will have lots of fun preparing for this little one and I am so glad I have a great shopping buddy!

Our little Ladybug

Our little Hollie was the cutest ladybug for Halloween. We took her trick or treating and she had a fantastic time. Ryan said we shoud have made her the energizer bunny because all she did was run. It was so funny, she was running everywhere!! She took a little break and sat in her stroller and then she was out running again. I tell ya, she is just the cutest thing.

She would go to the door get the candy and then run back to put it in her bag, filling the bag was so exciting to her. After Hollie was given the candy she either said thank you by sign language or by waving and saying Bye. We had a really fun evening and when we got home our little ladybug was out like a light. We hope you all had just as good of a time as we did.

Pumpkin Patch

Wow, it's Sunday! This week was one crazy week. To re-cap, Hollie ended up with the flu on Monday afternoon and it was horrible!!! She threw-up about every 20 minutes for 6 hours, it was the worst!!! My heart just broke and when she would throw-up all I could do was wish it was me and not here. Well, that wish came true and on Wednesday morning about 4am I woke up with it and, oh my, it was bad. I couldn't tell ya the last time I was that sick. Thank goodness Hollie was feeling better by then because that day she had full reign to the downstairs. When Ryan got home that night he was so good. He cleaned up all the messes from Hollie and gave her all the attention he possibly could and just let me rest. Boy, am I blessed with an awesome husband!! Love You! I was glad that day was over and we all felt better Thursday but still stayed home and rested.

Come Saturday we were ready for some fun! So, in the afternoon we took Hollie to the pumpkin patch and she just loved it. She helped us pick out a big pumpkin and also picked out one for herself. I tell ya, she is getting cuter and cuter by the day. We think she grew about and inch this week because she seems so much taller. After that we were off to our first visit to Chuck E Cheese. Our friends were in town visiting family here and we all went to Chuck E Cheese. The second we walked in her eyes were big and she took off. She loved it! She really liked trying to help other people play their games. Ryan and I were trying to help her understand that she could play it when they were finished but that's kind of a hard concept to understand when your little. We're still working on that. She loved all the toys and things you ride on and her favorite part was trying to put the token in. She did do it all by herself, way to go Hollie!

Well, that was our fun and eventfull week. We are excited for Halloween and Hollie is going to be our little ladybug. We will take lots of pictures and post them for you all. Have a great week and Happy Halloween!!

Beauty Queen

What a doll.

Okay mom, I've had enough!


Ofcourse we had to play in the dirt. Going outside isn't the same if we don't have some dirt time.

Okay so I couldn't help but post these adorable pictures of Hollie. I couldn't believe it, she actually has enough hair to do pigtails and boy does she look cute. So, ofcourse, I pull out the camera and I couldn't help myself I just snapped away. We then went outside and took some and before I knew it she found the mud and dirt and started to play. All I could do was laugh and let her play. She is so cute and I am having way to much fun.

It's cooling down in Arizona!!

Wow, I guess it has been some time since I have posted. Well, the weather here in Arizona is absolutely beautiful. It's been in the 80's and we have lived outside. Hollie is loving every bit of it and let me tell you how nice it is to open your windows and have fresh air run through your home, I love it!

We have been doing a lot of work in our backyard recently and it's finally all coming together. We got plants in this weekend and are hoping to get grass in the next week or two. We are waiting to get the rye grass so that we don't have to overseed. I cannot wait for grass because I am through with having dirt and the mess that comes along with it. Ryan and I talk of the day that we will be able to sit in the backyard with our lawn chairs and just relax and play, oh it sounds wonderful and hopefully it will happen soon. Ryan has been working so hard in the yard and has done a fabulous job, I am so proud of him. He has done everything himself except for diggng the trenches for the sprinklers and I tell ya he has done a dang good job! Way to go Ryan!

I on the other hand have been totally addicted to the series of books beginning with Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Oh my heavens, what a good book! I read the first book in 5 days and I am almost through with the second and will then be on the third. I am not a reader, matter of fact I hate reading but these books are great and the way they are written is phenomenal. I would highly recommend this series to anyone.

Well onto the most important part and the reason why I do the blog our little princess. She is doing great and of course growing as usual. She is starting to speak a lot more and trying to make words, it's so cute. Today she decided to try and little trick and that was to climb out of her crib. Yup, you read that right, climb out of her crib. I layed her down for a nap and like usual she fussed a little bit and then all of a sudden I heard this thud. No crying afterward just a little fussing and then the fussing started to get quiter and quiter and when I got upstairs her door was open and she was standing in the guest room in the corner. I couldn't believe it I thought she was to little to do this. When I saw her I couldn't help but to laugh and I had to turn away for a moment and then look at her and be serious. I put her back in her crib and closed the door, so there was barely a crack, and I sat there and watched her. And she could get her leg on top of the bar and pull herself over the crib, she is amazing! Now what do we do, go to a bed? She is only 18 months and she's not suppose to know how to do that yet because that means she is getting older. Well, I guess we will have to figure this one out. We don't want her falling and breaking a bone that would be horrible. Anyway, other than that she is doing great. She loves to climb up the slide and slide down, she loves the swings and her newest favorite thing is to watch Barney and dance. She has great dancing moves and it's so cute to watch. She is growing up and I will keep you updated on our climbing adventures. Oh, you will see the little brown scab on her nose and that's where she took a dive into our fireplace. Ya, it was very sad. She was playing on her "rowdy" a littel red horse and fell forward into the fireplace. Neither Ryan or I moved fast enough to try and catch her, it all happened in slow motion. I tell ya, she was one tough girl. She let out a good cry and then was back to playing in no time.

Better late then never

I am finally gettting around to blogging some of our fun activities in the last week. I need to get better at sitting down and putting in pictures right when I take them. I will try harder in the upcoming weeks.

Well, to fill you in on September 22 we took Hollie to her first Diamondback baseball game. She had so much fun and loved pointing to the ball and saying ball. She was so cute and was very much entertained the whole time by everything going on around her. We went with some friends of ours that moved to Oklahoma and came back to visit. It was great seeing and visiting with them and their family.

During the week we didn't do much, but just hang out and prepare for Papa Cowles to come and visit that weekend. He came on Friday and had a wonderful time with his girl. Boy, does Hollie love her papa. She just played with him and had so much fun. Papa was really good and even let Hollie put her pretty necklaces on him, it was really cute. We just hung out around the house and on Saturday afternoon we went to the mall and walked around and then played outside in the ampetheatre which had a water fountain. Hollie just loved the fountain and ran back and forth and up and down the stairs. She was so cute and is definetly an outdoors girl. Ofcourse we were there with the camera and took lots of pictures. I just cannot believe how big she is getting. On Sunday she turned 18 months and I just cannot believe we are now entering nursery. We had her 18 month doctors appointment on Monday and ofcourse she is nice and healthy and high on the charts for her height and weight. It was so scarry to me when the doctor said okay we will see you back when she is 2. I thought to myself oh my gosh, no way she is not going to turn she is always going to be a little baby. Time just flies and she will be 2 before I know it. Thank goodness I am enjoying every moment and having so much because she is only this age once. Enjoy the pics!

Smiling for the camera!

Yesterday our little princess was very excited to pose and smile for the camera. Usually it's a lot of work to get a picture of her smiling because as soon as we take the camera out she stops, but not yesterday. She was wanting to smile and then look at the picture afterwards. It's so cute when she sees the picture she looks at it and says baby, pretty. It's just adorable. I cannot believe it she is becoming such a girl and is so grown up. She loves to sit in front of the mirror in the mornings and get her hair done. Believe it or not, but she sits and plays with her necklaces and bracelets and puts them on her wrists along with my hair ties while we do hair. By the time her hair is done she has bracelets and hair ties lined up along her arms and wrists and a few necklaces on, it's so cute. Yup, she is growing fast and we all have so much fun.

Well, I will post again soon because our backyard toys are finally completed and I am sure that we will do some playing today. Have a great day.

Working in the yard with dad

I know I have posted 3 all in one day, but I had to do some catching up. Yesterday Ryan worked in the backyard and Hollie was right there by his side the whole time. She loves to be outside and hang out with dad. Hollie and Ryan even took some daddy daughter time and took a famous trip to the Home Depot. They had a great time and Hollie was a big help.

Hollie loves crayons

Friday Hollie and I spent the day together at home and just played, we had a great time. Hollie has figured out how to turn the radio on and will turn it on and start dancing to the beat, it's so adorable. She loves to get all of her bracelets and necklaces and put them all on and walk around the house, it's cute too. After her nap we decided we would do some coloring. Well, we found something else she loves. She loves to carry the crayons around the house and put as many as she can in one hand. She did do some beautiful art and it's all up on our fridge. She is such a doll and I am having way to much fun with her. She is at that age that you can interact and play with her and it's so much fun. Hope you all have a great day!
We are already good at multi-tasking. We talk on the phone and hold crayons all at the same time. Wow, I wonder who she learns that from?