Mushy!!

Some of my friends publish these great posts about their husbands and how great they are and I always think that would be great to do for Lars so here it goes...

Things that I love about Lars - in no particular order and not limited to the following -

Sometimes I wake up to an empty dishwasher. It make me smile and my day better.

Lars teaches the kids to plant flowers. It would be so easy and much faster to do it himself but he takes the time to teach.

He can arrange flowers

He's tall and can get kites unstuck from trees

He takes pictures of me at the best times! This is the only one from the delivery room that doesn't show my cut open stomach. I'm glad I wasn't vomiting for this one.

He built our entertainment center, with lots of help from little hands.

He can build anything from legos.

I love you Lars!!

My Boys

This is a little out of order but isn't it too cute? Henry and Jack in the foyer of the MTC

How Firm a Foundation

Jack insisted on having the hymn book open and then he sat down and sang at the top of his lungs, "How firm a foundation..."

He is in his skivies because he had just spilled water on his shirt so we took it off of him. Since he just learned how to take his own pants off they were removed as well.

Brinley Mae

Nine months and growing strong

See - she was born with those cheeks

Gotta love those biter biscuits.

Cousins

We saw lots of cousins this trip - Some we get to see alot - others not so much.


With Felycia and Deric at the MTC with Grandma and Grandpa

Brinley with Joshua - our newest cousin (Julie and Cody Larsen's)

Jack with Hailey - I couldn't get them to both look at the camera at the same time.

Kayla and Henry playing frisbee with Nate (Milton's son) and Austin (son-in-law)

Henry with Nate. It has been said that they look quite a bit alike and Henry will look like Nate when he gets older.

Sunday Photo Shoot

Even though it was totally cold and windy - we were all dressed up and Uncle Milton has an amazing front yard with these huge bolders that are perfect for pictures.

Larsens, Larkins and Flinders

Larsens with Grandma and Grandpa Flinders

Our cute, all be it, wind blown family

After the pictures we went inside and my parents shared their testimonies with us and we had a family prayer before the open house started. It was a great experience. I am always amazed at how sensitive to the Spirit children are. Kayla and Henry were in tears. Later Henry said nonchalantly, "Me and Kayla feeled the Spirit". He's a keeper!

Saturday Afternoon

My cousin Flynt's daughter Aspen was turning 7 in March so they had a party for her at, my other cousin, Wendy's house. Kayla and Henry had a great time with cousins they don't see very often.
Jack slept most of the time we were there.

Dad was trying out his new camera.

Aren't these girls just cute? I'm sure I will spell their names wrong but here it goes from left to right - Kayla, Brinley, Nicole, Andi, Aspen, Ashely, McKinley

Saturday

The LOOT!

Frisbee Fun. The kids played frisbee alot. They had a blast.

Maybe she'll find front teeth in that egg.

Jack and Henry

Brinley's first Easter Egg

Silly Faces

We all stayed with Aunt Adel and Uncle Milton. They were so gracious to let all 12 of us come and invade them for 4 days. Saturday morning we played frisbee and had an Easter Egg hunt. We took lots of pictures. Enjoy!

Friday

We arrived today in Utah to see my parents off to their mission in Africa. We haven't seen them since December - we had a great time. Here is grandpa trying to make Brinley walk. Almost.

The Cheese Factory

You can't travel to Utah without stopping for cheese and an ice cream cone from the Cheese Factory in Beaver. YUMMY

Matching Shirts

This year we decided to give each of our kids a "date" with mom or dad. The rules are that they choose which parent, what activity they want to do and they can't spend over $25. March was Kayla's month. She chose mom and wanted to go shopping. She picked out these cute shirts for her and Brinley to match.

St Patrick's Day

We met friends at the park for play and picnic. The boys had a blast. Brin was fussy until I put her down and she pulled her hat over her eyes and went to sleep!

Jack and Jon - sliding ALL THE WAY DOWN!

A Monkey's Dream!!! They climbed and climbed and climbed!

St Patrick's Day Breakfast!

We started the day in our green shirts, eating green pancakes on green plates and drinking green milk our of green cups!

WEEDS!!

I will never understand how weeds grow up out of 6 inches of clay dirt that sits on solid rock. Good thing we have 3 willing weed pullers.

Week of Favorites

We keep a favorite thing journal. Every night each person tells about their favorite thing that happened that day. We began this years ago and the kids really look forward to it each night before we read scriptures, pray and go to bed. Some of our favorite things this week include; Lars getting hired by Rowley Contracting to be a concrete estimator (We are so blessed during these economic times to find a job, let alone in the construction industry), celebrating his job at Outback Steakhouse for FHE, Brinley standing up in her crib all by herself, riding bikes out front (Spring here we come!), Brinley cutting her 2 front top teeth - She beat Kayla, Our 9th anniverisary, Henry skipping school Wed. and being a couch potato with severe allergies, eating homemade cookies, Kayla learning to do a jump on her scooter, getting all the laundry done and put away on the same day, Brinley gnawing on a raw carrot, playing at the Rabner's house, bar-b-que with the Larkins to celebrate Deric's 19th b-day, and last but not least, going to the drive in last night and seeing Race to Witch Mountain and Paul Blart Mall Cop.

Hand Jive Anyone?

Kayla wanted to show us a "hand jive" she learned at school. I proceeded to teach the kids all the ones I knew growing up. The McDonalds Song, Miss Suzy, Pat a Cake, A Sailor Went to Sea... We had fun! My sister Becky and I were so fast!! I remember driving our parents crazy with Miss Suzy. GOOD TIMES!!

Sunday

Could she be any more cute!! Lars went in the house to get a hat for himself and brought one for Brinley too. The sun was so bright and so warm. So after a wonderful Stake Conference we came home and enjoyed a "Chicken Picnic". We take a can of chicken and mix it up with mayo. We eat it with cheese, crackers, pickles, chips, carrot sticks, juice boxes and olives. We've been doing it for years and the kids love it. It's a great tradition!!

Little Red Wagon

Brinley and Jack got this wagon from Santa and Brinley can finally claim half of it as hers. She loves riding with Jack. Her new trick is waving and she does it frequently.

7 Weeks

Lars has been out of work for 7 weeks now and he has perfected the art of relaxing. I'm totally kidding - He has been working very hard to find a job and we are hoping it will pay off soon. He had a couple of interviews on Friday that went really well and we'll see what happens.
Truth be told this picture was taken after he was up most of the night with Jack, Kayla and Brinley. He's a great Dad!!