Where has the time gone?

This month has been full of fun and exciting changes in Elise's life, so I figured it was about time I did a post about her.

On May 11th, she turned 6 years old. I can not believe she is already 6, it really does seem like just yesterday she was born, and really how can she be 6, when I am still 27, I don't get it, but whatever. We had a Hawaiian themed birthday party with some of her friends from church and school. What a cute and really fun bunch of kids. There were 2 boys from both school and church that she really wanted to invite, so it was a bit of a challenge to come up with a theme that worked for both boys and girls and I think we succeeded, it was a blast.

We played limbo, beach ball musical toss, and had pizza and Hawaiian cupcakes. Elise got some really fun gifts and was a wonderful hostess to all of her friends.

Reagan jumped right in and had a blast with the kids, he was a great sport.

Fun Hawaiian stuff, the kids loved the umbrellas in the cupcakes as much as anything.

Ashtynn was in the middle of it all, and yes we were watching her very carefully as she chewed on the balloon.
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What a fun bunch of kids.

The other big thing was that she completed kindergarten. Interestingly, the school held a graduation for the kids with full graduation robes and a ceremony. Still not sure I agree with all of that, but it was kind of fun to go, and they put on a really cute program. Elise has loved kindergarten and is very sad to have the year end, and I can't blame her. She has had the most wonderful teacher, Mrs. Hart who is a jewel. We love her, but best of all, she loves the kids and loves being a kindergarten teacher.

Here are the "Graduates"

As part of the ceremony, they had all of the kids go to the microphone to tell the audience what they want to be when they grow up, it was too cute. There were a lot who want to be cops, professional athletes, but some of my favorites were the little girl who wants to be a princess, or the little boy who wants to be a pirate and the best of all, the boy who wants to be a police car.

I was very curious what Elise was going to say and Tyler and I were both a little surprised that she wants to be a "Teacher of ballet". Weird, she has never even taken ballet. I guess maybe that's an avenue we need to look into, who knew?

After the ceremony, the kids were kind enough to let me get a picture of them all. Wow, I sure love these 4!

It was such a gorgeous day yesterday, we decided to spend some time outdoors. In the morning we went to the Falls to Falls 5.3 mile race to watch my parents run. They did awesome, I am so proud of them.

Then we left Ashtynn with my mom and headed back to Dierkes lake for a hike with the 3 older kids. They are so adventurous and love to climb the rocks, I, however, am completely paranoid and get very nervous watching them. I need to relax and let them have fun, but I just can't stand the thought of something happening, so I will probably continue to be a nervous nanny.

Elise, Mollie and Reagan, this was their idea of hiking, climbing on the rocks

It looked fun, so we decided to join them.

Tyler and I wanted to continue, but the kids saw the playground by the lake and decided hiking was over, it was play time; which was fun too.

And then they found the park.

My little monkeys

Reagan was really good at this thing, I tried it, not so good.

It's time for an Ashtynn post

2 of my sisters have recently posted video of their babies reaching milestones and I realized I haven't posted any of Ashtynn, so I am being a copycat and following suit.

Ashtynn is 8 1/2 months old and is amazing. She is still a more fussy baby than the other three were and at night, there are times, I just really want to sleep, but most of the time, I can't get enough of her. She is so cuddly and a very happy baby, unless she doesn't feel well. I think she is going to be tall like her sister Elise, but at this point, she is looking the most like Reagan.

Here are some Random pictures of her.

Spring evenings outside, we love that!

The other girls were dressing up, I didn't want her to feel left out. :)

Her sisters love her too, Elise is the best little mom.

She is crawling really well and has been for about a month, which makes her my fastest crawler by 2 months. Reagan was the slowest at 12 months, so this is pretty new for us. She pulls herself up to the couch. I don't think walking is too far distant. She is a wonderful eater, which is so nice to have. What a blessing this little baby has been in our family. I just love to squeeze and hug her and she loves it.

Please notice how "helpful" Mollie is. This is pretty typical from Mollie.

I figured I would include this one of her sitting up, just for kicks and giggles.


I love this little girl and she loves me and that makes the world a happy place!

Spring Soccer

Spring Soccer has started and today was the first day we didn't have to bundle up in coats and blankets and it was wonderful. Both Reagan and Elise are playing and it is the highlight of our week to go watch them play. Reagan just gets so excited and you can see his mind working throughout the game. Saturday he played goalie for the first quarter and I was so impressed. He really saw the field well and was ready for anything, they didn't score on him and they tried a few times. The kid can boot it too, wow!

Elise is just as much fun to watch and the best part of Elise's game is her smile. Throughout the entire game she has the biggest grin on her face and it doesn't leave. She has a blast out there and she is really pretty good, I love it. Her defense tonight was impressive. After watching Reagan play goalie, she really wanted to, but in Kindergarten soccer they don't have goalies, but that didn't stop her, she positioned herself right in front of the goal and stopped about 3 goals. It was cool.

Bengal Triathlon

Triathlon season has started for Tyler and he did a great job. He has been taking a Triathlon class at the college and so training has been pretty intense, exactly what he has been looking for. They have actually turned the class into the CSI triathlon club, so as a club they headed to ISU for their first triathlon.

The CSI Triathlon Club: Tyler is on the far right on the very back row.

Hey there, Tyler

Lookin' good!

This is where they slept Friday night, in the gym at ISU under the rock climbing wall.

Here they are cheering on the last member of their team during his swim. Everyone else had already completed the swim.

The CSI Golden Eagles hanging out with the ISU Bengal.

It was a sprint distance with a 700 meter swim at an indoor pool on Friday night followed by a 13 mile bike ride and 3 mile run on Saturday morning. This was the shortest competition he has done, but it was a good way to start.

He has 2 more this summer that he will continue to train for. I love that he enjoys this sport and I really look forward the next ones.

Reagan's Baptism

Reagan was baptized this last Saturday, and what a wonderful blessing that is in for our family. We had a wonderful day and had so much family here to share this day with us, it was awesome. There were 4 other kids baptized that same day, so we met together and heard some great talks from 2 of the youth in the Kimberly ward and then Reagan was the 3rd to be baptized, so we headed in the Relief Society room and got to watch Tyler baptize Reagan.

My family

After the baptism, we headed over to the Hankins building for a family dinner. So much fun. We ate chicken salad croissant sandwiches, chips, fresh strawberries (from Costco that were huge and yummy, btw), and then cupcakes. It was just a really enjoyable day overall and I am so proud of Reagan, he is such a great kid and a wonderful example to his sisters. I couldn't ask for a better older brother for them.

My parents and my Reagan, I'm one lucky lady!

Reagan, Tyler and Tyler's parents

Uncle Allen, Aunt Krista, Mom and Dad

The Larsen crew: Ted, Cassie, Rhett, Julie, Britani, Shea, Vicki and Ashtynn

Larsen side grand kids

Morgan Crew: Mollie, Kya, Carl, Paula, Zander, Ashley, EJ and Tyler

Elise, Jenna, Alyssa (who also was baptized Saturday) Reagan, Evan and Melanie

All of the Larsen grandchildren.

Fancy Shmancy Easter Duds!

Last week I dressed the kids up in the new Easter clothes for church and yet completely forgot to take their pictures. Church is at 8:00 am so before church it is pretty crazy and pictures are the last thing on my mind. Then, of course, after church, let's face it, it's not going to happen.

So, although General Conference was today, I asked the kids to put their Easter clothes on and we did a quick photo shoot. They were so good and cooperated better than I imagined. It was great, so here they are as stinking cute as they can be.Oh my word, they are so cute!

I found these dresses at The Children's Place in Park City. I had not planned on getting Easter dresses since Conference was today, but seriously these were calling my name.

Saturday night we did an Easter egg hunt with Kya and Zander and then this morning, the Easter bunny came, the kids had such a great time. I love having Conference on Easter, what a great day!

Reagan, Mollie, Elise, Kya and Zander, such fun cousins.

Yay for the Easter Bunny!