Oh my goodness gracious our little princess is keeping me on my toes. This morning I got out of the shower and found her covered in minty smelling tourquise stuff. Can you guess what it was, toothpaste! She got into the toothpast and put it all over her legs, arms and face and used it as lotion. Once again all I could do was laugh and run and grab the camera. She is just one funny girl. I guess that toothpaste needs to go up on the TOP TOP shelf of my closest along with my makeup. Hollie loves brushing her teeth and know's that what she had was toothpaste, but maybe she just felt like putting it on her skin instead of her teeth. What a funny girl. I just love all these new adventures. Hollie has always been a pretty easy girl. She never got into cupboards, drawers, never climbed until just recently and she has kept me on my toes! I guess it's time to pull out those locks to put them on the drawers too.
What Now?
What a CHUNK!!!
Princess Hollie
I just love my little Hollie. She can be the biggest sinker and she can be the sweetest most cuddliest and loveable girl ever! She picked this shirt out to wear today and then she wanted to put on her "cool" glasses and have me take her picture. How could a mom resist? We had so much fun and she was definetly sporting the little attitude with it. She is just the CUTEST girl ever!! Man, I love her to pieces. She is mommy's girl and I love it. We paint nails (every morning), do hair, pick out clothes, shopping (she loves to shop-thank goodness), play dolls and all the girly things you can think of. I am so grateful for you Hollie you are my princess and always will be. 
Bounce U
Last Thursday we went with a couple of our friends and 7 kids to Bounce U. We had a BLAST! There was nothing better to do to wear the kids out than take them to go bounce for 2 hours. Hollie LOVED every bit of it and bounced out all of her energy. She loved sliding down the slides, climbing up the walls, trying to climb the spider wall and just jumping and bouncing. It was a lot of fun and the kids all loved it.
As you can see the cast didn't stop her again. She was trying so hard to climb up the wall and used her right arm to help pull herself up the rope. I tell ya, she is amazing! I loved watching her do things and figure them out. She made it up the wall and slid down the other side.
This was the spider Mountain and as you could probably see it was for bigger kids, but Hollie was determined to get up and she did it! Good Job!
Makeup, WHAT!!!?
Oh, my goodness I have learned that complete silence in our home is not a good thing. A couple days ago Hollie asked to watch a movie in mommy and daddy's bed. I said that was fine, because I was trying to get dinner made and Ethan was taking a nap, so a movie for Hollie was great! We put in the "Princess Movie" and she was good and happy with a snack, juice and a movie. I went downstairs to finish up dinner and while I was finishing I had this thought that it was really quite upstairs and either Hollie was asleep or she was into something. When I got upstairs I just about died when I found Hollie putting on my makeup! At first I laughed, grabbed my camera and took a quick picture. Then I thought how in the world did she get my makeup bag. Well, she climbed up on the bathtub and then climbed up onto the counter and was smart enough to not sit on the counter so she took it all to the floor. I couldn't get mad because maybe I should keep it on the TOP TOP shelf of my closet and maybe she can't get to it next time. It was really cute and she just amazed me because she put the foundation under her eyes, that's where I put mine and she was starting to put eyeliner on her eyes, that scared me because we don't need her poking her eyes out. Lesson learned, don't keep your makeup bag on the counter of your bathroom, keep it up REALLY high. My cute, sweet, precious little Hollie who wants to be more and more like mommy everyday.
A Cast DOESN'T stop her!
Hollie continues to amaze me every single day. Although she has a cast on her right arm (what we think is her dominant arm) it doesn't stop her from doing ANYTHING!! She will find a way to do what ever it is she wants to do. She hits golf balls with daddy just about every night when he gets home, she climbs up the swingset and slide, she rides her bike, she runs, falls and still jumps on the bed!! I am not sure if she learned the leason NOT to jump on a bed, but time will tell. She is just amazing and very entertaining to watch. Well, the other day Ethan had awaken from his nap and was laying in his crib happy and playing, so I thought I would finish what I was doing and go up to get him. I could hear him over the monitor and he was talking up a storm, it was so cute to listen to. Well, I hear this "Mommy, baby awake" and I said yes, he is and we can go and get him in just a minute. Before I knew it Hollie was up the stairs and in his room talking to him. She gets so excited when he wakes up from a nap she just can't stand it. I quickly finished what I was doing and went upstairs and as I walked in his room I found Hollie IN HIS CRIB!! It was seriously not even 2 minutes and she was already upstairs in his room in his crib. That girl amazes me. Even with a broken arm she managed to climb up the crib and get in. Her and Ethan sat there for a few minutes and she was making him laugh and they were having the funest time, it was fun for me to watch. Then Hollie wanted me to take pictures of her cast so we did. She LOVES to have people sign it and it's one full cast. The other night we went out to dinner and our waiter was asking what happened to her arm and she put her arm out and said "sign cast" it was so cute. He went and got a marker and signed it, Hollie was very excited and wanted to follow him around the restaurant, but that couldn't happen. He did leave us with a very nice compliment and that was that we have 2 of the cutest kids he had ever seen. That made us feel good and ofcourse we agreed. Ethan was being so good too and was FULL of smiles. 
Pink Cast!!
This post should have gone in before our California vacation, but I forgot. So, here it is. On July 9th Hollie got her cast put on. The doctor gave her 2 choices of colors and it was between purple and pink and ofcourse she chooses bright pink. It was a good choice because it matches just about every one of her outfits. She was so brave and was such a good girl when she got it on. She should only have it on for 3 weeks and that means that, hopefully, we will get it off next week, Hurray!! She has done great with it and doesn't let it get in the way of her doing anything. She will get frustrated now and then because she can't do something but mom and dad always come to her rescue. She loves to have people sign her cast and now it is full of signatures. Here is a cute picture of our precious girl and her BRIGHT pink cast.
Our Trip to California
Last week we took a little vacation to California. Our trip started in Whittier where we spent a few days with our good friends Doni and Renee. We always have a wonderful time with them and this time we got to be there and watch their oldest son get married. I love attending weddings in the Temple because I love to hear the words of the sealer and reflect back on the most wonderful day in the world when Ryan and I were married. I wish I could do it all over again because it was so much fun and I loved every bit of it. Our wedding day was just perfect and I couldn't have asked for anything more. Back to our trip. Once we left Whittier we headed South to Temecula where both of our families are. Ryan and I were smart this vacation and sent out an itinerary of where we were going and what we were going to do. That's just what you have to do when you have so much family around and you want to have fun and a vacation at the same time. It worked out perfect and everything was great and it all went as planned. We spent some time with my dad and Janene and that was great! Hollie loved hanging out with her papa and janenenene (that's what she calls her) had lots of fun TRYING to swim in the pool with a cast on and drawing pictures on the cement with chalk. Getting her ready to swim and wrapping up the arm was eventful and a big experiment. We had Ryan's dad, stepmom and sister over and it was fun seeing them too. It works out great for us because my dad and his dad are good friends and so we can have them all over together and it's one big party. 
Monday we went to the San Diego Wild animal park with my dad, Janene and Austin (Ryan's brother) and had a great time also. Hollie loved all the animals but I think our favorite part was the water feature they had. We all got wet and it cooled us off. Let me say it was sooo humid and hot there. Yes, I know it's hot here, but not as humid as it was there. Anyway, the water feature was fun and we loved getting wet. One of the animals that we got to see was a lion upclose. It was amazing! Hollie loved it. The Lion came close up to the glass and all the kids where going crazy. Hollie just stood there and pointed and said, Lion. It was so cute and very cool. We have never seen one up that close. 
Monday evening Ryan and I got to get away for a date night. It was great! We went and looked at cars, yes we were looking for a new car, then we went to dinner and went and walked the mall because we obviously didn't do enough walking at the wild animal park, haha. It was fun and I loved being with just my husband and no kids. It was quite, we got to talk without any interuptions we just enjoyed our time together. Thanks dad and Janene for taking the kids. From what I heard papa and Janene had a blast with the kids.
Tuesday morning we headed off to the beach with Ryan's mom, brother, 2 sisters and his sisters two girls. We had a great time and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Your probably asking yourself, why did we take a girl with a cast to the beach? Well, because we wanted to go we LOVE the beach and were super careful with her arm. Her arm was all wrapped up and you couldn't even tell what it was. We had put a sock over her arm, wrapped it with some medical tape that was waterproof and then put it in the sling, it worked perfect! We were only there for a few hours and then we headed home. Hollie loved it and enjoyed playing in the sand and standing in the waves. No worries, her cast didn't get wet and there was NO sand in it either. Ryan did a great job at wrapping it up, thanks hun. That afternoon I got to get pampered a bit and went and had my hair done by a girlfriend of mine from High School. Everytime I go to California I get to get my hair done by her and it's great catching up and chatting about our kids. Thanks Katie. That evening we spent the night with Ryan's mom and loved hanging out with them and his sister and her 2 girls, Mckenna and Whitney. Hollie loved playing with her cousins and we just wish we lived closer so they could play more often. Thanks for the fun evening guys. 
Ryan's siblings
Well, Wednesday we were on our way home, but before we got home we had to stop and get a car. Yes, that may sound crazy, but our friends from Whittier have a car dealership and we wanted to trade out our Jeep. Well, by 5pm that night we were on the road in a new car and we both were so excited. Thank you guys for all your help we love our new car!
That concludes our trip to California. It was great and both kids where fantastic. Ethan did really good and we were so relieved and happy.
Our bed has been taken over!
Just lately Hollie has had this obsession of mommy and daddy's bed. Everything she say's is mommy's daddy's bed, it's so cute. She wants to watch movies in our bed, just lay in our bed, sleep in our bed, play with toys in our bed everything in our bed! How did this all come about? We don't know. We are not people to let our kids sleep in our bed because we don't want to deal with that battle. For some reason Hollie LOVES our bed. When she broke her arm we made her a really nice soft bed right next to ours because her nights were rough and we thought having her next to us would be perfect. She liked it and knew that that was her bed. Well, one night she wanted to lay in our bed and watch a movie and she wanted Ethan to lay next to her. Within 10 minutes both kids where out like lights and Ryan and I looked at eachother and laughed. Our nice compfy bed has been taken over by our kids. No worries, the kids were put in their own beds and we all slept great! We love this cute picture of our precious adorable children.
This was in the morning and ofcourse they are back in our bed for morning cartoons.
Thanks Nana!!
Nana (Ryan's mom) was so kind to send Hollie a great big care package! Let me just tell you that Hollie was in heaven! I think she got everything and more a little girl with a broken arm could ask for. Nana wanted to make sure that while Hollie had her broken arm that she would have plenty to keep her busy and she does. She loves all the coloring books, crayons, necklaces, bracelets, disney characters, purses, magnet boards, drawing pads, etc. You name it Hollie has it. Thanks Gayl so much. You made Hollie's day and she loves it all. 
Happy 4th
So, yes these pics are a little late, but hey, better late than never! We didn't do much that day. We hung around the house and got a few things done that we wanted to do. Later that day we headed over to my aunt and uncles house in Mesa. There we swam, ate lots of yummy food and visited. When it was time to head out to see fireworks we decided it was time for us to head home. Yes, we were bums this year, but when you have a 4 month old and a girl with a broken arm we thought the best idea was to head home and get to bed. It was a great day and we loved spending time with just our family and our extended family.
No More Monkey's Jumping On The Bed!!!
Can you guess what the adventures of today where? Well, if you can't just think it's only something that would happen in the Larson home. Like I said a few posts ago we live on our toes around here and we are always ready for something to come our way. Well, today has to deal with Monkey's jumping on the bed one fell off and broke her arm. Yes, that's right. Our little Hollie was playing at a friends house this morning and she and her little friend where jumping on the bed and Hollie fell off and broke her arm. Can you believe it? When I heard I just didn't know wether to laugh or cry, so I chose to laugh. Yes, that may sound mean but, trust me my heart was broken, and that's just what I had to do do get through the moment. We went straight to Ryan's office, thank goodness he has an x-ray machine, and we took a couple quick x-ray's and didn't see anything major. The x-ray didn't come out to well because we couldn't keep Hollie still, but we could atleast tell that it wasn't a complete break. So, Ryan got on the phone and called a pediatric orthopedist who he has a repor with and thankfully they said to bring her right in. Her elbow area was really swollen and it looked like the radial head was dislocated, but we weren't sure. Hollie would not move it and didn't like ANYONE touching it. So, off we were up to Phoenix to see this ortho. We got in the office, filled out the paperwork and returned it. While I was waiting to get my cards back, I was holding Hollie, and next thing I know Hollie is throwing up all over me, herself and it hit the lady at the desk. Oh my heavens, I couldn't believe it! I froze for a moment and thought to myself no way, neither one of us have extra clothes and this poor lady behind the desk, then came the tears. There was this one women who was in the waiting room with her two boys and she got right up and helped me clean up. Bless her heart. I wish I knew her name because I would send her flowers. She was so nice and helpful. Well, after we got semi cleaned up we were immediatley back in a room. I guess if you don't want to wait at a doctors office very long just have your kid throw up and you will get back right away. Within 15 minutes of being back in a room the doctor was there looked at Hollie's arm and wanted to take another x-ray. He said he has never seen so much swelling and that led him to think it was not broken, but dislocated. After the x-ray(thank goodness for quick digital x-rays, we had them back and a diagnosis in 10 minutes)we could see that her humerous just below the elbow was fractured. It's called a lateral condyle fracture. It's not a complete break just a small fracture, but very painful! The doctor wanted to cast it but because it was so swollen he opted to put her in a sling for 1 week and have us come back next week to see what we should do from there. Keeping a 2 year old in a sling and not moving her arm is NOT an easy thing! I feel so bad for her and I wish I could take all the pain away. The doctor wants us to keep her in the sling 24/7 and treat it as if it was a cast. So, we are doing our best and to sum it up Hollie is getting everything the she needs and more. Can you say we are spoiling her? Yes, spoiling her rotten, but she deserves it. Lots of ice cream, chocolate, Love, holding her, giving lots of kisses. I have to say I love the moments where she just wants me to hold her and sing, I am a child of God and Popcorn popping. She tries to do the hand movements for Popcorn popping, but it's hard to do it with one hand. When she is on my lap she always tells me, "mommy, Hollie sad," it's so cute and just breaks my heart. She is such a good sport and one tough cookie. I am so proud of her and how she is handling this. I know it must not be easy for her, but she is doing a fantastic job! We are watching lots of movies and just enjoying hanging out.
Well, I can't say what will happen next, but as you know stay tuned and you will find out. Here are a few pics of our little princess. 
Our Cute Kids
Just a cute fun day with the kids. Hollie was making Ethan laugh and it was sooo cute. Ofcourse, the pictures don't do justice, but we did get some on video. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these days where Ethan is happy and laughing. It makes me stop thinking about everything going on and I just lay there and focus on both kids. I think how blessed I am to have these two precious children and how much I love them. They are the highlight of my day and I look forward to every new day and the adventures ahead.
Swimming
Saturday we decided to take the kids to the pool. It was so hot that the water felt very refreshing. Hollie and Ethan both LOVED the water. Hollie was a little fish and loved going under water and then popping right back up. She was jumping/walking off the edge and would turn and swim to the wall. She didn't like any of us helping her because she was confident enough that she could do it all by herself. Ofcourse, we were right there to help her when we needed to. She was showing off all of the things she learned in swimming lessons and we were all very impressed with how much she remembered. Papa was especially proud of his little girl! Ethan also did a fantastic job and enjoyed himself too. Papa carried him around and he was so content and happy. Yes, I was a bad mom and forgot to bring the hat so we draped a t-shirt over his head and that did the trick. I will never forget the hat again!! It was fun filled day and we all enjoyed ourselves.
When we got home our little Hollie wasn't worn out just yet, so she decided to go and play in the splash pad for another hour and then played hard inside with papa and grandpa. Let's just say she slept great that night and woke up at 9:30am, I couldn't believe it. Hey, atleast she had fun.
A Weekend with both grandpa's
This last weekend was lots of fun. We had both grandpa's here visiting and the kids loved it. My dad is motorcycle papa and Ryan's dad is grandpa. It was so fun to watch Hollie interact with both of them and know who was who. I know the grandpa's had a blast. Grandpa made forts with Hollie and that has become her new thing. Motorcycle papa ran around with Hollie and I think by the end of the night they were both worn out. We loved hearing Hollie call their names and both of their faces would just light up and then answered her right away. We are so lucky to have such wonderful dad's who have become awesome grandparents. I am so grateful for both of them and want them both to know how much I love and appreciate ALL they do for us. Hollie misses you both and can't wait to play again. We had a weekend of fun, laughter lots more fun and a little bit of relaxation.
Swimming Lessons
Amongst our crazy life we have been trying to do a few fun things. Hollie had a few weeks of private swimming lessons with Rachel. Rachel used to work at our office and durring the summer she coaches swim team, teaches swimming lessons and also lifeguards at the Perry Pool. We had talked about putting Hollie in swimming lessons with her but in order for Hollie to be in her class I had to be in the pool also. Well, that was not going to work with having a little baby. So, I went ahead and put Hollie in swim lessons with Pam (a woman in our ward who teaches swim) because I didn't have to be in the pool with her. Hollie did great! There were 3 other kids in her class and the first few times she cried and then she was fine. That was 2 weeks of lessons and once those were over I received a call from Rachel asking if she could teach Hollie privately. Oh my goodness, I was so excited. I said of course, when do you want to start? Let me just say that Rachel was AMAZING with Hollie. Hollie loved it and looked forward to it. I couldn't believe how far she came along in 2 weeks with Rachel. I think a lot of it was that she knew Rachel and that she was one on one with her. Hollie now has no fear of the water and loves to go under and come right back up. She jumps off the edge, or shall I say, she just walks in. She kicks her legs and we are working on moving arms. I am so proud of her, she is our little fish. Thank you Rachel for teaching Hollie. We love you so much and are going to miss you lots when you move to Hawaii. Yes, we are jealous and will just have to come and visit.
