December

I got this ready before our teip was cancelled... but I am going to post it anyway... and will update soon!!!


I figured my title should be pretty broad since it has been a while since I've posted. I am going to try to keep this short and sweet, since I am supposed to be preparing for our big trip in 2 days!

I feel like I should especially update on Ashlyn!! It has been such a busy month for her! She has had a few choir performances (including one in the mall!) and she was Mary at the Church Christmas party (I didn't end up getting any footage of this. Yes, she was adorable... but she just sat on the floor behind all of the other children who were singing)! She was, however, by far the most animated child in the whole school choir! Here's evidence... (she is the 5th child from the right in the 2nd row)



It was also an exciting week for Canyon and Kailey... they got to see Santa! He came right into our neighborhood... and aside from the music, what tipped us off was the "reindeer" that were running across the neighbors yard and into the field. We were so excited to see them that we didn't even get our camera out... but we did get it out before Santa stopped by in the wo-wo!
Ashlyn is a great big sister and will keep the spirit alive for many years to come! This Santa did explain though, that he was just the firefighter Santa helper who would report to the actual big guy.
We can't forget to mention what fun the kids had in our first big snow too! We had several inches and thankfully we had gotten our... when I say our I don't mean me personally.... snow boots a couple of weeks before when it was a little less snowy out. I don't want the big person in this photo to be confused with me actually playing in the snow... it's Blake! I can't take the credit here!

I am really, really hoping I will get our Christmas cards out BY Christmas. It all depends on whether or not we make it in to get printer ink or not. Just in case here is our first attempt at a family photo. We wish you all the very best this Christmas and in the coming New Year. We hope to see many of you in Spokane in the next couple of weeks, and we hope that the others of you who are living in more tropical areas (I was going to add in this country, but decided that wasn't entirely necessary anymore!!) will send plane tickets...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!

Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and wish we could have shared it with everyone! I am so grateful for so much especially the greatest friends and family in the world (that would be you!!)

We had a great Thanksgiving! It actually started Monday when CJ's parents surprised us a day early, along with his sister Jessica and cousin Nick who were visiting from college. Then on Tuesday we were joined by Kandis, who had been gone all week working, her friend Mike AND CJ's brother Andrew and his wife Lisa who came all the way from North Carolina! We had a house full, but it was so much fun to be together! Wednesday almost everyone enjoyed a day of just hanging out and napping. Steve and Joanne enjoyed part of the day car shopping though! What better thing to do on vacation than car shop? Although before shopping Steve and Nick were able to take a 4 wheeler ride with CJ. Yep, the right of passage!

Then Thanksgiving Day!!! I, obviously, was in my bliss. You think I was cooking for 13, right? Nope! 18! I'll get to that later!

It was nice that none of our days had anything pressing to be done in the mornings, so it was always very laid back in the mornings and people just took their time getting ready. Steve and JoJo headed out on the car exchange and to do some last minutes grocery errands. CJ, Kandis and Mike took out the 4 wheelers (yes, they received the right of passage as well), Nick left the night before to visit a friend and to stay with his mom who had gotten to Salt Lake from Oregon. And Blake and Andrew caught up on some long sought after ping pong and chess playing.

(There was a lot of long sought after ping pong and chess playing that went on this week!

This was the families traditional round robin tournament!).

That left Jessica, Lisa and I, in a very quiet house, to get things ready for dinner... but not before Lisa, Kandis and Mike got everything peeled and cut for me! Jess, Lisa and the girls

prepared centerpiece turkeys for each plate, then Ashlyn and Lisa made name cards to go with them. They turned out so cute!!! And Jess did a BEAUTIFUL job setting the table!

With preparations well on their way CJ, Kandis and Mike came home, Steve and JoJo got back and the company started to arrive!! Four more, and Nick... Steve's Mom and 2 sisters, Shelley and Cindy, and Cindy's husband Paul! My fist Thanksgiving, if I do say so myself, turned out perfectly! I made 2 turkeys and neither was either frozen or dried out!! SUCCESS!! Our best friends in Utah, Spencer and Allison, live down on the corner of our street and had gone to Spokane for the holiday. I... we... owe a huge THANK YOU to them for letting us use whatever we needed in their house... and we ended up really needing their house for more than just the second turkey... and all of their silverware :) (more on that later too)!

I also owe a H U G E debt of gratitude to my dishwashers (especially Kandis who does them every day :0))! I DID NOT DO ONE DISH ALL WEEK!!!!! NOT ONE! Maybe, I might have put one MAYBE two into the actual dishwasher... but I did not wash ONE DISH! I can't imagine what would have happened if I would have. We probably... no we DEFINATELY wouldn't have had such a beautiful thanksgiving table! And thank you to the Thanksgiving clean up crew... I didn't do ANY of that either!!! I don't even know if I cleared my own plate off the table?!?! Thank you all!! Dishes stress me out!!!

Friday we went to Grandmas condo. The building she lives in has a game room and a theater. Unfortunately my kidney decided that it was time to become active again (we're still waiting for medical assistance) so I didn't have the greatest day, but it was so great to watch everyone have so much fun! I did attempt to play Foosball... that was way to intense for how I was feeling! I did manage to endure through a game of pool ~ though I have lost all the skills I had in the past, but it was fun nonetheless!! The theater room played The Muppet's Christmas Carol which Kailey and Canyon enjoyed part of while eating popcorn and drinking lemonade with aunt Shelley and aunt Cindy. Kailey also became an air hockey pro with Grandma, while Ashlyn became the Foosball champ of the world! CJ is contesting the ping pong and chess titles with every other man that was here, and I will proudly honor my Best Thanksgiving Ever title... ok, so that's being contested by both JoJo and Grandma too!

I am already looking forward to next year!
Saturday was one last day of rest before everyone started heading out in the afternoon. The highlight of that day was listening to the brothers jam together. I had never seen this before, but they sounded great!



We had so much fun and welcome as many guests as will ever want to show up! I have come up with a few statistics for our Thanksgiving week....

14 rolls of toilet paper

7 pounds of butter (YIKES!!!)

7 gallons of Milk

16 pounds of potatoes

20 pounds of meat

6 loaves of bread

3 pounds of cream cheese

AND

1 house evacuation!! Oh, did I fail to mention that?!?! Mom and Dad... stop reading now. No, REALLY stop reading now.

Ok, now that they're gone... What have I always said about us and drama?! Thanksgiving night we were playing games. The kids were all in bed. It was probably about 9:30. Blake went downstairs and decided to open a window (one of the brothers had been having "issues" earlier in the night). He then came upstairs and asked CJ to go back down with him... and a few moments later CJ came up and told us to get the kids and leave the house because they thought there was a gas leak!!! So a few of us grabbed a kid and we headed down to Spencer and Allison's where we called 911. The fire department showed up within just a couple of minutes and determined that yes we did have a gas leak, a significant gas leak, on the outside of our house which could be heard audibly! Thankfully it wasn't following any piping into our house. They did inform us though that the odor the gas company puts into the gas, so you can smell it, is so strong that the odor can be detected before there are any harmful levels of gas in the home. The fire dept. turned off the gas and the gas company showed up to fix the problem. It turned out to be a seal that was left off a few months ago when they came and changed the meter! It was so cold that night that all the pipes shrunk and caused the leak to become significant. We are very thankful for Andrews gas that night which caused Blake to open the window!!! Oops, I wasn't going to mention names! But I do think he is rather proud to have saved the family! We love you Andrew! (And no Mom, I didn't really think you would stop reading!!)

The happy family....

and the wonderful women who work all the magic behind the scenes!

A few more weeks and we'll be headed for Spokane!!! YEAH!! I am looking so forward to the clouds and gloom... ok, so maybe not that part, but I am very excited to be back "home" for a while. Taraka, I have the 27th reserved for you!! You better be there... or at least not forget ;0). Sondra, I havent heard back from you! Angela, Christmas Eve, right? Nita we've got a dinner to figure out!! Shaaaandiiiii.... ohhhh Shaaaandiiiiiii.........!!!!!!! Love you all and I CAN'T WAIT!!!

R.A.D.Kids

Ashlyn just graduated from a fantastic program at her school called RAD Kids. It teaches children how to keep themselves safe, and use force if necessary. It was chilling, the confidence that some of these children had at the conclusion of this.

They had this class for 2 hours a day for a week and practiced just like in this first video. They also did some simulations on a dummy. They are yelling "no!" and "stay back, you're not my mom!".

In the first "confrontation" the lady is telling her that her mom (that would be me) asked her to come pick Ashlyn up. Ashlyn then had to ask what her password is and run. In the second "confrontation" she is being grabbed by a stranger (the dummy). Then she got to practice all of her skills on "the red man". This was the first time they participated with "the red man" who is a member of our local police department. Once she escaped from him she ran to a "phone" and called 911. There was a lady there who simulated a 911 operator, but you can't hear that with everything else going on. It was more for skill practice for the children. Ashlyn said that after this run through, and once her helmet was removed, her knees were trembling. What a rush... and what an emotional thing to watch. We are very thankful she has learned these skills. Her school makes this program available to all 3rd and 4th graders, so she cant wait to take it again next year. You can find out more about it at http://radkids.org/ . There is also a program available for women and children over 12 http://www.rad-systems.com/ . Obivously we beleive very strongly in the program!

While I am talking about Ashlyn.... she received straight A's on her report card this quarter too! Good job Ash!!!

(If you would like to email Ashlyn she would love it! If you don't have her email let me know and I will give it to you, I just don't want it published publicly.)

Sorry... its been a while!

Well... what can I say... more drama!

Although first of all I will say that I realized I missed adding Ashlyns 9th birthday party!! She was able to invite a few friends over and we went bowling. I had honestly forgotten the importance of squeeeaaaling when you're 9! Apparently its a rule of some sort, at least I assume so because there was LOTS of it. I opted out of doing the sleepover thing this year, and thankfully so because there were actually no tears... once the party started. Its difficult being in 3rd grade you know! Thankful the tears were neither Ashlyn's nor Ashlyn caused so all is well!

Now for... HALLOWEEN! First we went on a field trip with the pre-schoolers. That was interesting. We stayed maybe a bit long to hold interest for the kids... even though there was so much to see! We ended up going through a corn maze... which was VERY interesting.... went down a GIANT slide saw a mini-farm zoo... and PICKED pumpkins! But best of alll... Canyon got to sit on a real tractor!! Good times! And we cant forget pumpkin carving! Canyon wasn't too terribly thrilled with the whole getting slimy thing, but enjoyed doing what the girls were doing. When he lost interest and I walked over to finish cleaning his out he let me know that I was entering his territory by yelling "that's mine... that's mine!" The girls had fun cleaning theirs out and choosing the templates we would carve. They were pretty detailed, and unfortunately, because I was on pain meds (you can read about that later) I didn't take any pictures of my fine craftsmanship! For the real event Ashlyn was the most beautiful candy corn on the planet and Kailey was a "poodle" (that's what she says). I asked CJ to draw a little poodle on her cheek and she ended up with a cool poodle, but it was over her entire cheek and down her neck. It reminded me, for just a moment, of Mike Tyson. But she was soooo cute... if I do say so myself! Then Canyon, he was a raar-raar, aka dinosaur. He was so cute. He caught on to the whole trick or treating thing pretty quickly and it was adorable watching his little tail wag as her ran after the girls!! And Ashlyn was thrilled to be able to do my make-up!!

We have another house guest... another semi-permanent house guest... and it's been great! CJ's sister Kandis has returned from another adventure and is going to be staying with us for a while. She is also searching for the perfect job, so until she finds that I will have someone to help out with the dishes!! I really enjoy having her here. She is the sister I never had. She is actually teaching me how to sew... well, actually I just watch her and pretend I am gaining knowledge when really I don't actually know what she is talking about :). She is also teaching Kailey a thing or two. The kids love having her here too, because Kandis loves to do crazy hair! I think she may be the last Larson to come live with us, although there has been speculation that when the rest of the clan comes for Thanksgiving they may decide to stay too. What can I say... we're cool (and they are really not going to stay!!!)!

Having Kandis has been nice for other reasons too. (Cue drama!) It has allowed for us to have a babysitter as I have had to have some tests for more kidney issues. 2 weeks ago I started having what I recognized to be kidney stones again. This was on a Sunday, so on Monday I went to the doctor. He did some blood tests and an x-ray, in which he saw 1 maybe 2 stones. So he scheduled me for an ultra-sound for a better look. He called me the next day and said my blood tests came back and my thyroid level is high. So he diagnosed me with hyperthyroidism and asked that I come back for another blood test and go in for a thyroid scan. SO I went in for my ultra sound and they did, in fact, see 2 stones. One was so large it was just hanging around the kidney and the other was way down, almost to my bladder, but too large to go any further. I won’t pass them on my own! Fun, fun! So he had me schedule an appointment with a Urologist to see what procedure they would have to use to remove them. On Wednesday I had to go to the hospital to take a couple of pills to get my body prepared for my thyroid scan which I was having on Thursday. Then after I took the pills at the hospital I went to the Urologist. He said that he thought the energy procedure to blast the stones should be sufficient. The machine uses sound energy to break up the stones, but only has a certain amount of energy each procedure, so the hopes are that the largest stone will break up easily so there will be enough energy to break up the small one as well, and avoid a more invasive surgery. Anyway, he wanted me to go in for 1 more x-ray (this in addition to the other x-ray and emergency visit last month when they did a CT scan). Soo, on Thursday I went in for a thyroid scan, which is another CT scan. I was kind of eager to go in there and be able to lay in a quiet CT room, little did I know I had to lay still with my head cocked back for 20 minutes! Try it... its not very fun! . I haven't gotten the results back for that yet. I asked how important it is to have the surgery right away or if we can wait a while, since we have to pay a portion up front. They said that isn’t an issue, but it is inevitable that I will have to get it done. Fortunately the stones stay in place most of the time so I am not in constant pain, but when they do decide to move the pain is significant! What they think happens is the large stone is moving in and out of the kidney. Whenever this happens I have pain. With the smaller one, that is further down the tube, they think that every once in a while it completely blocks the tube to the bladder. When that happens the stone floats, or moves, and causes pain.
I will let you know when I find out something more about the thyroid, and what the complete diagnosis and treatment is, and when the kidney stone procedure is scheduled.
As for now, I am trying to focus on the times when I feel good, and all of the other positive things in my life I am blessed with. the best "medicine" is to stay positive I have found.

More "good" news.... MY first 4 wheeler ride! I must say though, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the kids and the guys did. I will let them take my turns from now on!! :)

Company!

We love visitors! We were blessed this past week with house guests! Mom, Dad, GG (Grandma Sandy) and Choo Choo (Grandpa Jim) came and visited us for a few days and we had such a great time. The first day the ladies enjoyed a girls day out where I was VERY spoiled. It doesnt happen much, but boy did I make up for lost time! We felt it was only fair for the boys to get a day out too... so they (with the exception of Blake who got to go off-road jeeping!) took the 4-wheelers out for a day of mountain climbing. ThHey did, however get to have a little fun with the kids while the women were out playing. They took a hike up Mt. Timpanogas. CJ told everyone it was no big deal and that they would be back in a coulple hours... he never made the hike previously! Six, or so, hours later they finally made it back home! What a trek. They joined a group of our neighbors, none of whom had a clue what they were getting themselves into... but it made for great memories for them!

The following day we had planned to prepare Thanksgiving dinner since this willbe the only time we are together before Christmas. It was a great time for me to break out some of my new recipes that I have collected over the year! Fun for me! The guys managed to stretch their 4-wheeler ride to extend most of the day. We couldnt help but wonder how grandpa would make it through all the activity, but he was a trooper! He hung in there with the best of them... or should I say the other hung in with the best of him!!! They all came back... almost glowing! And the kids were just as excited to see them come back!

We were looking forward to a relaxing family day for the last day they were here. In all my spoiling Grandma realized that she wanted to go back and buy for herself a couple things she had gotten for me. I have always known that I didnt receive the shopping gene that my mother inherited from my grandmother... but now I have more evidence of that than ever! We promised the guys we were running in and would be back by lunch. We were out the door by 9:30... and back, promptly, by 6 PM!!!! UUUUGGGGGHHHH! I have to say that even this was too much for Mom, and I didnt think that it was likely possible for shopping to be too much for Mom! CJ and Papa did manage to squeeze one more ATV ride with Canyon and Kailey though...

By the end of the day we were really wondering about grandma.. (yes, that is a cell phone!!!) and how grandpa makes it through...

(you may have to take a close look to appreciate this one!)thankfully Mom is close by and like I said he's a trooper... but we did have fun!There were lots of laughs, and it was hard to see everyone go again.

CJ and Mom kept their rivalry going for yet another visit...

It seems to be getting more intense... I wonder what will happen next! (sorry for this picture, maybe I should have warned you to close your eyes! :) Maybe I should also mention that Mom and I are big Tony Stewart fans... and she pinned the picture on his shirt before she gave it to him... oh, and one on his hat... and pillow... and in his drawer!!!!)

Derrick, Marcy and Shyla... we missed you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish we could see you before Christmas... but we'll manage... I guess we'll have to!

We are looking at a group of close to 20 for Thanksgiving! The more the merrier! If anyone else would like to stop by we would love to have you!!