Our trip to Idaho

On Thursday Amanda, Hollie and I flew back to Idaho. Hollie and I went because Amanda had a ultrasound and doctors appointment and we wanted to be there for them. I just have to say that being able to be a part of this whole pregnancy as much as I can has been an amazing experience. Seeing a baby on ultrasound was one of the most amazing experiences of my life along with hearing his little heartbeat. I tell ya, technology is amazing and I love every bit of it. I could sit here and type for hours about my experience but I will leave that for my journal. I will instead tell you about our trip to Idaho. Yes, it was FREEZING COLD!!! We survived and actually enjoyed seeing and playing in the snow. We got to Idaho Thursday night and ofcourse it was cold and windy. Friday morning we had the ultrasound and our little Ethan is doing fantastic! He currently weighs about 5lbs and is just the cutest baby ever. We got a few 3d pictures which is normally hard to get being that he is due the end of next month. You can see his face so clear and his little fingers. He was already showing his personality because he wasn't cooperating and was being a bit stubborn. He loves his hands over his face and wouldn't move them. We tried everything to get him to move his hands and then next thing we know he had a foot over his face too. We were laughing and it was super cute. We are so excited for his arrival and cannot wait to see him. The ultrasound shows his due date as February 22nd, but the doctor says to keep it the 26th. So I assume he will come sometime between those dates. Here is a picture of our cute, adorable little angel.

On Monday night for family home evening we went sledding. It was freezing cold, 19 degrees and a wind chill. We were bundled up and had a blast. Hollie went down 4 times and loved it! By the end of the 4th time we were freezing and so off to the church we went and got hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies.

It was a great way to end a fun evening!

Tuesday morning Hollie and I were off and headed back to Salt Lake to fly home. The drive to Salt Lake was a bit interesting and not something I drive in often. It was snowing, the wind was blowing (wind gusts up to 50mph) and it was hard to see the road. We made it safe and my sweet princess slept the whole way which made it easy for me. We are glad to be home and missed the warmer weather. We will be back in Idaho towards the end of February and look forward to the new and fun adventures that will arrive then.

Where do I begin...? This last week and a half has been awesome! We had Amanda come into town to visit on the 4th of January and boy did we have a great time. There was lots of relaxing, shopping, talking, more shopping, decorating and sudoku (I finally learned how to do it and I love it. Amanda says I am now a nerd like her, haha). The week was lots of fun and we all enjoyed spending time together. Some of our highlights were that we painted and put a nursery together for our little angel who is on his way. I just don't know how to explain how cool it was for the 3 of us (Amanda, Ryan and me) to paint, decorate and pick out bedding. By the end of Saturday night the room was painted blue and brown and chair-rail was up around the room, yes we worked fast. We had a blast and our end result is adorable. We still have to get a dresser, blinds and curtains but other than that it's all ready and very boy. Amanda, Hollie and I did some fun "boy" shopping at Babies R Us and got a few of the necessities that we will be needing. He's not even here and will be the best dressed boy, just like his sister was the best dressed girl. Oh, I cannot believe our little princess will soon have a brother, I am sooo excited. Here are a few
pictures of his room.





Okay, back to our week. Amanda really enjoyed the weather here and even got to wear some capris and short sleeve shirts. I guess 60 degree weather is nice and warm for those who are from Idaho where it's ice cold. Ofcourse, I was in pants and a long sleeve shirt because it was cold for me. One day we went up to Scottsdale and walked around the mall there and that was fun. Just observing people was enough entertainment for us. Other than that we hung out here, went to the park and had a day where we pampered our feet and got our pedicures, it was great!!
Having Amanda here was the coolest experience and I am so glad that we have the relationship with her that we do. She is amazing to me and I truly feel like she is my sister. We actually had quite a few people ask if we were sisters and we said no, but kinda. It was lots of fun and we love her so much and are so grateful she is a part of our life. Oh, I forgot to tell you that we finally figured out a name for our little angel. His name is going to be Ethan. We don't have a middle name yet but we do have a few ideas. Amanda and I sat on babynames.com forever looking for a middle name and let me just tell you there were some hillarious names on the list. Here are a few for you, frick, innis, McLovin, Dong and Nimrod. So, if you know my husband you know we had lots of fun with these names and there was LOTS of laughing. Mind you these were only a few.
Anyway, our time with Amanda was amazing and as you can see we had lots of fun. We love her so much and are grateful that she is a part of our life.

Too Much Fun...

Just a cute picture of the 5 of us I had to include. Me, Hollie, Ryan, KC (my brother) and Brookie.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

I first have to tell you about our Santa visiting experience. As you can see Hollie was not very excited to see Santa and we kinda figured that would happen. Our main goal was to get a picture with Santa. It was accomplished and is the cutest picture ever!

Onto Christmas day. It was wonderful and we had a great time. Hollie was really cute this year, still didn't understand but loved what Santa brought her. He brought her one of the spring loaded horses, oh was she in heaven. All she said all morning was NaeNae, it was so cute, good job Santa! Ofcourse there were a few other things for Hollie like a pink tricycle and Dora big wheels (one of Ryan's patients bought that for her), and she got 2 my little people sets. That's a lot for one little kid I think she is set with toys. Now all we have to do is find room for all this. After opening gifts and enjoying our morning we packed the car and were off to California to be with family. This made for a long day, but it was great.

We arrived at Ryan's families house and had a great time visiting with them. It's been awhile since we have seen them and we had so much fun together. Nana had every toy possible to play with and Hollie was in Heaven. Thanks for the fun time guys. We were with them till the day after Christmas and then over to my dad's house we went. Oh, boy once we got there it was like Christmas all over again. Santa visited Hollie there too and I couldn't believe it. This girl has more than she knows what to do with. We had a great time there and enjoyed visiting with them too.

My dad is a Harley man and I got him a Harley picture frame for Christmas and I wanted him and Hollie to get their picture taken on the motorcycle so he can put it in the frame, well, this is what I got. How about that.

Friday was Disneyland! Ya, we were crazy and went 3 days after Christmas it was packed, but we still had a fun. Hollie's favorite ride was the carousel because she got to ride on a NaeNae. We watched parades went on some rides and enjoyed the day.

Saturday was Ryan's 32nd birthday, Happy Birthday Ryan! To him it was just another day and a year older. We did get away that night and left Hollie with my dad and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and just relaxed and played games, something we don't do very often. Hollie had a blast with Papa and learned to say "all right", oh it's so cute.

Sunday we were on to Whittier to visit our good friends the Howards. I tell ya after running around from family to family it was nice to get there and just relax and play. We had a blast. They are like family to us and I am so grateful for them. Hollie, ofcourse, loved all the attention and had lots of fun with all their pets. She loved the doggy and the bunny and was very soft with them both. We had New Years Eve there and we relaxed and visited with friends, great times! Then New Years day we were on the road back home. It was a great vacation and we really enjoyed being with family and friends. We figured it would be the last time to California for quite some time because the baby boy arrives next month, Yea! We are getting very excited for his arrival and Amanda flies in today to be with us for a week. We cannot wait for her to get here and this next week will be lots of fun.

Brooke (the one giving hugs) is the cutest little girl. She just loved Hollie and wanted to give lots and lots of loves. This was in the middle fo Sams Club and I am so glad I had the camera!

Sorry this sounds quick, I am trying to hurry and wanted to post before I got to far behind. Have a wonderful Day, we will!!

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.