Disneyland Rocks!

Well we made it home from California and the kids and I decided we want to go back. Only this time Reagan doesn't want to leave Mollie with my mom, he missed her, we all did. The trip was amazing, had such a good time. Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

Our first day there we headed to Huntington Beach, loved it!

Elise and Reagan had a great time.

I love the beach, the water is great, but best of all, I love to lay out, it is my little heaven.

Woo-hoo, check out the Morgan Hotties!

Run, Reagan, I think I see a shark!

After the beach we headed back to the Hotel to get ready for Wicked. Can I say, I am in love with this musical, it was AMAZING!!! I would go back again in a heartbeat any day of the week. We went to the Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd.

Friday we headed to Disneyland and what can I say, it is truly the Happiest place on Earth!

Waiting in line at the New Finding Nemo Ride, so much fun !

Everyone seems pretty excited about Peter Pan!

Yea for Goofy, Give 'em 10 Elise

"Supercalafragilisticexpealedocious!"

Some N'Orleans cookin' for Dinner at the Blue Bayou, on the Pirates of the Carribean Ride, so cool!

The first day was long and the kids were maxed by the time we made it back to the hotel. So what do we do, we head out the next morning for California Adaventure and more Disneyland!

The "L"arsens at California Adventure. Wouldn't this make a great Christmas card, I will have to Photoshop Mollie in.

"R" is for Reagan and his little sister!

I am not really sure what we are looking at here, but alas we all look cute!

The last day in California, we had to do a picture on the way out of town!
Matt, Rachel, Hailey, Me, Reagan, Tyler, Elise, Jacque and Mark
Thanks all of you for a great time, what do you think, same time next year?

Larsen Family Pictures

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone. I love this holiday, I love America and I love our freedoms. This morning we spent having family pictures taken, I am so excited. Paula, my sister, was our photographer and she was awesome. Check out her photography blog, linked on her name. My kids did fairly well, Mollie was a bit on the ornery side, but Paula worked so well with all of them. When we get them, I will definitely have to post. This afternoon/evening we get to BBQ with some good friends and then tonight the CSI fireworks. Hopefully sometime in there we will get to watch the musical 1776, one of my favorites. I was introduced to it by the Larsen family and I love it, very patriotic and educational. If you are into musicals I recommend it, if not, it may be a little on the cheesy side. Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. God Bless America!

We Did It!

We all did it and I couldn't be more proud of my team. Here is a recap on the race. It was amazing, grueling, emotional, fun and exhilarating! Our team started at 8:00 am in Logan with our first runner, Mark (my BIL). Van #1 started us off; following Mark was Whitney (Rick's daughter), Rick (owner of Utah.com our sponsor), Sheri (a friend of Rachel's), Rachel (my sister) and Matt (Rachel's husband). They did awesome all morning and then around 2:30 Matt passed the baton to my dad at Eden City Park and Van #2 took over. Dad, Melanie (my older sister), Me, Paula (one of my younger sisters), Tyler and my mom. We ran our first legs until about 6:45 pm when we handed the baton back over to Mark. At that point we headed to Exchange point #18 where we ate pasta and bread and then "attempted" to catch some Z's. There was very little sleep happening, but it was a beautiful star filled night. Our next legs began at almost 1:00 am, and those were fun legs. I did my fastest time on that one even though it was my longest leg at 6.9 miles. We all loved running in the dark of night, it was crazy fun. To make a long story short, Van #1 started up again at about 6:30 am and then we took it back over at about noon finishing the race a little before 6:00 pm in Park City, 180.5 miles later.

Melanie, Me and Paula waiting for Dad to come in .

And here he comes!

Melanie is off and running!Look at me go

Here come Paula ready to hand off to Tyler

Go Tyler!

And Mom finished us off each time.

We met up at Snowbasin at Exchange #12, it was such a gorgeous, although hot, day!
Here are 8/12ths of the team.

Mom and 4 of her girls. We are missing Carrie who lives in Michigan and Jacque who was forced to back out of the race because of an injury, but she was there on Saturday with us at the end!

We saw some amazing scenery on the race, and even got up in the mountains high enough to see the snow!

I loved getting to run with Tyler and wouldn't have wanted to do it without him. My favorite times were when he came to give me water and a big smile of encouragement while I was running.

We all had our ipods raring to go!

Team Utah.com I'm proud of you all and thanks for the great weekend. Matt designed these shirts, they rock!

Busy, busy, busy

Once again, I have taking a brief hiatus from the Blogging world and so I thought I would do one big post to catch up.

Here is what has been keeping me busy:
1. I have been teaching a teacher Orientation class for IDLA and wow, teachers are tougher to teach than students, they are so over zealous, it creates a lot more work.

2. Training, training and more training. Last Saturday I ran 10 miles, this next Saturday I have three different 3.5 mile runs, so I will be going at 2:00 am with my mom and then get the other 2 in sometime between Tyler's work schedule and in between running, running and then a little more running.



3. Children, children everywhere. I am realizing having three kids at home all day when the weather is not cooperating is not so much fun. Please let it warm up!!!!!

4. Photo shop, OK this one is self-inflicted, but I am addicted. I made summer job charts for the kids and I had entirely too much fun making them, I just hope the kids have as much fun doing the chores as I had. (HaaaaaHaaaHaaa, to be read with a sarcastic, somewhat evil laugh!)

5. Memorial Day trips to Utah, so much fun, but all three kids had coughs, and Mollie added a runny nose, so that was not too cool. Stayed with Melanie one night, Rachel the next 2 nights, Tyler joined us on Saturday, so that was fun. We got together with Jacque and Mark, Jim and Melanie and kids, Rachel, Matt and Hailey and Mom and Dad on Monday for some yummy eats. On Saturday we met up with some of the family at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country and then we went to IKEA, that is not a quick visit, that is an event. I love that place and one day I want to go back without children.

This month is going to continue to be crazy, so I will jump in when I can, but isn't that what life is all about?

Upcoming Events:
1. Reagan's T-ball every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 6 weeks
2. Wasatch Back Relay, June 20th and 21st (180 mile run from Logan to Park City with my 12 man team consisting mostly of my family)
3. IDLA conference and training in Nampa (June 24th and 25th)
4. Morgan Family Reunion June 27th and 28th in Provo
5. Teaching 2 sections of US History 11B with IDLA about 50 students in a 9 week course.

A glimpse into my life

Raise you hand if you like Mollie's new outfit, it's bright, fun, and festive, right. She even has new shoes and those are cute too. So a new outfit, why am I posting that, you ask yourself? It isn't a very cute outfit when I had to buy it becasue she puked all over her other clothes.

Those who know my children will completely understand this story, those who don't, welcome to my life. My children, all three of them have intensely sensitive gag reflexes. When they get a cough, they throw up, when they smell something funky, they throw up, when they have too much food in their mouth or they taste something different, they throw up, get the idea. I have cleaned more throw up in my last 6 years as a mom than I care to think about.

Last night, Tyler had to do a mystery shop at the McDonald's in Burley, so we thought, let's make this a family outing, dinner at McD's, time together as we drive to Burley, nice right? As we were nearing the exit, Mollie started to cough and the cough got harder, I knew what was coming so I jumped into the back and she did it, she threw up all over herself. GROSS!, the worst part is, my other children do not handle this well, so we are frantically rolling down windows, and yelling, "Plug your nose, don't look!". I was not about to have more of this. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot of McD's I was yanking gagging kids out of the car and I looked across the street and there was Walmart. We ran over to Walmart and bought Mollie her precious new little outfit, a large box of handiwipes, and a bottle of cough medicine. Needless to say, our fun family outing, as usual, was full of surprises.

Alicia's Irony: 2 of my least favorite places in the world are McDonald's and Walmart, I am a germaphobe and a snob, so add a little throw up and you have entered my personal Hell. Someone slap me, the next time I get a bright idea like this one!

Trip to the Dentist

Today was a pivotal moment in Reagan and Elise's life. This was Elise's first trip to the dentist, and Reagan learned he has 2 loose teeth, that should fall out this summer. He is very excited. Both kids did outstanding and I am proud to report, no cavities, (which in reality my happiness is because I don't have to take them back to the dentist for 6 more months and I don't have to pay to have cavities filled, yeah!) Tammy, the hygienist, was amazing. She had those kids loving getting their teeth cleaned. Reagan got to use the suction thing on Elise while she was having her teeth polished and Elise used it on Reagan. They had so much fun and they love their new Power Ranger and Princess Aurora toothbrushes. Mollie even got to sit in the chair and she got a Piglet toothbrush.
Here they are, anxious with anticipation to see the Dentist.

Love the cool sunglasses, she let the kids wear them so the light was not as bright!

Elise was a hoot, she has a future career as a hygienist, she was asking all kinds of questions.

Cute toothbrush Mollie, and yes she still drinks a bottle and today I was very grateful for that bottle.