He's a Wolf

Congratulations to Reagan. He received his Wolf Badge tonight at Pack Meeting. He still has 2 more months until his birthday, so I'm pretty impressed with his efficiency in getting everything done. Reagan has absolutely loved scouting and thrives on setting goals, achieving them and most importantly for him, receiving the awards. He loves awards and tonight he was pretty excited to get the advancement. I am very proud of him and now I have 2 pins for myself. Great work Reagan and I am excited to see you continue working so hard.

Vibram (pronounced Vee-brum) Five Fingers

I bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers today. I feel so granola, but I am so excited to break them in. I have been researching them and reading about them for quite some time and decided it was time. Since there is not a retailer in Twin Falls, we needed to go to either Sun Valley or Boise to get them. Thursday, we jumped in the car and headed to Sun Valley, but alas, it started snowing and we were on a pretty tight time frame to get back before kids got out of school and so we turned around 30 minutes out. I was so sad, but it was the right decision.

Well, since today was MLK day, Tyler had the day off and kids were in school, so we took the 2 little girls and headed to Boise for the day. First stop REI. I tried on three different sizes and finally found the right ones and they fit like a glove, literally.

They are so weird looking, but if I can avoid shin splints, stress fractures, numb toes, and any other ailment I have dealt with, I don't care how they look. Funny story, while trying them on, I asked Mollie, so do you think these look weird and she looked at them and said "No, I like them." Just then an older lady walked by, stopped, looked at my feet and said, "They do look weird, tell the truth." Mollie looked right at her and said, "No they don't" and continued playing. You go girl! That's my Mollie.

Since you are supposed to "ease" into them slowly, Tyler and I went for a walk/run tonight. I really like them, so comfortable. It was really fun, I'll keep you posted on how they work.

It's A New Year

My sister Rachel posted a New Year's post that I thought was pretty cool. Just a basic run down of the year 2010 for herself and her family, so forgive my lack of originality, but here is a look at The Larsen's Year in Review.

• Highlight of the year was our 4 week trip back east to visit my sister Carrie in Michigan and my sister Rachel in Boston
• Tyler continues his schooling in our efforts to get to PA school
• Switched from Surgical Tech to EMT to get certification with more direct patient care (it looks better for PA, so we're told)
• Mom, dad and I ran The Spirit of Twin Falls 1/2 Marathon this summer
• Ashtynn is almost in nursery and has really started to communicate quite well
• Reagan was baptized by Tyler, what a blessing in our family
• Reagan also joined the Boy Scouts of America
• Elise went to a full day of school when she entered the 1st grade
• She has also lost 2 teeth
• Mollie came into primary as a brand new 3 year old and did awesome, cutest sunbeam in the primary
• Reagan placed 2nd in the Idaho Invention Convention
• I was called into the Primary Presidency
• I have continued running despite a lengthy break to heal stress fractures in my legs.
• Hoping to do some racing this spring and summer if said injuries will stay at bay
• Have reached a weight I haven't seen since I was in high school
• Bought my first ever pair of Size 6 jeans
• Did quite a bit of catering and loved it
• I continue to work for IDLA
• Wrote 2 classes this year, can't decide if I like teaching or course design better
• Got to attend a BYU football game with Tyler and the kids, something I haven't done since I was a BYU co-ed
• Tyler competed in the Twin Falls triathlon
• He also earned an A in chemistry; something he claims he didn't think would ever happen
• Went to lots and lots of basketball, football, soccer, t-ball and baseball games with the kids
• Feel very grateful for all that we have been blessed with this year!
  

Christmas 2010

We had such a wonderful Christmas. We have done Christmas with just our little family the last 3 or 4 years, but were fortunate enough to spend Christmas with Jacque, Mark and Jack, EJ and Ashley and my parents. It was really fun. I was a little worried it would be too chaotic and that my children would um...dominate the morning, but they were awesome.

We did our traditional Gingerbread houses on the last day of school. So much fun and yes, I glued graham crackers together, don't judge me. I used to bake my own, but then I had 4 kids and realized hot glue and graham crackers still make them smile.

My mom, who rocks, organized a few fun activities while everyone was home. First of all, she took all of the girls to a day spa for either a massage, pedicure or facial, our choice. It was awesome, I went with the massage and it was so much fun. We got there early and spent some fun pampering time in the serenity room where we enjoyed glasses of Martinellis prior to our treatments. (Sorry, I forgot to take my camera so no pictures).

The next day we went to the Humanitarian Center where we spent time packing hygiene kits top be shipped all over the world. The kids were so into it and really had fun serving. We completed well over 200 kits. Loved this. Then my parents took us all out to dinner, awesome!

Kya and Mollie were so intense, it was really fun to watch as they packed combs and toothbrushes

The kids were asked to bring a toy to donate and they all thought this was pretty cool.

Christmas Eve, all of the above mentioned people and Paula and Carl and their family got together for the traditional dinner of clam chowder and egg nog. So yummy. Tyler and I put together the Christmas Eve program having the kids act out the nativity while we all sang Christmas songs which ended with Tyler singing O Holy Night. (Man, I love that he has the most amazing voice, so hot!).

The girls in their Christmas Pajamas from Grandma

Our Nativity; Reagan as Joseph, Elise as Mary, Jackson as Baby Jesus, Zander as a Wiseman, Mollie as a sheep, Kya as a cow, and Ashtynn, the Angel

Tyler singing for our listening pleasure.

Kids went to bed, all of us sleeping in the basement living room and then awoke to a fun morning. Santa was very generous and the kids were thrilled with their gifts. Tyler spoiled me, as usual, and he was pretty happy to finally have TiVo, I know, amazing we have now joined the TiVo world. It took us long enough, hahaha. We were spoiled and felt very loved by both my parents and Tyler's parents, you guys all rock! Thank-you.

Kids attempting to wake Tyler up, so funny as he torments them by refusing to get out of bed.

Grandma to the rescue as the girls were overly anxious to get up the stairs. (I love this picture)

Reagan's enthusiasm for breaking through the wrapping paper to see the tree cracks me up, with Elise hot on his tail followed up by the little girls.

Ashytnn spent the whole morning throwing the orange "balls" around.

Elise asked for Grandpa's help passing out the presents.

Ashytnn's reaction to this doll was priceless, so cute and was so worried every time it cried.

Mollie could hardy sit still all morning, bounced around the room the entire time we were opening gifts.

Santa came through for Reagan, all he wanted was the Wii game Super Smash Brother's Brawl, he was a happy boy.

What a blessing to spend this holiday with family again. Thanks everyone for a wonderful day!

Christmas Sunday

I love Christmas Sunday. I love getting my girls all dressed up, and my handsome boy looking so fantastic. I love the Sunday music in church and listening to Tyler sing in the choir. I love being in primary as the kids got to act out the Nativity today, but most of all, I love that we all truly focus on what Christmas is about.

Trip to Salt Lake

Last Saturday Tyler and I got to head down to Salt Lake, just the 2 of us, for a BYU basketball game, some shopping, eating and checking out the Christmas lights at Temple Square. It was Awesome. So much fun to spend some alone time with each other, and a huge thank-you to both Grandmas for keeping the kids and making it a fun day for them too.

Here are a few highlights of the day.

We stopped first at Caffe Molisse, a recommendation from my parents. I loved it, and it was really a quaint little place.

This was Tyler's dish. Had a lot of potential, but it was a little bland, bummer. But it looks really good, huh?

I had gnocchi and it was amazing. I loved it!

Tyler enjoying some yummy food. Look how skinny he looks.

Here we are at the game, such an awesome game. They played at the Energy Solutions arena, so it was pretty cool and they won beating Univ. of Arizona, Sweet!

A photo op after the game.

Then we headed over to the Gateway, that is one romantic fun place to go at Christmas time.

Then over to Temple Square. Can't beat that for holiday cheer. It was amazing and as much as I love my children, so much fun being there with just Tyler.

He's so cute.

The lights were awesome.

There were so many people there.

Isn't this beautiful?

Then we ended the day with dinner at Kneaders, so good. We each had a sandwich and split a piece of peppermint cheesecake. DIVINE!!!

Happy Birthday Mollie

Mollie turned 4 years old today, and what a fun day it was. You know birthdays are so much more fun when the kids are appreciative and not snotty about stuff and that was Mollie all day, just excited to be having a birthday and grateful for everything. I got so many sweet little kisses all day long.

Mollie rocks, it's that simple. She is fun and quite the little charmer. I thought I would mention a few things about her at this stage in her life for journal sake.

• She loves families; everything she plays with from marbles to stuffed animals, hair elastics to spoons, there have to be 3-5 of the item, so there is a family
• She is smart as a whip, and picks up on things that make us say, wow, didn't realize she was paying attention.
• She wished on a star the other night: "Wish I may wish I might, Oh, first star I see, can I please have a family of penguins, oh please, star, please for me...!" Thought I was going to fall over laughing, too funny.
• She is a picky eater unless it is tortillas with cheese, then she will eat 5 of them.
• She is surprising; as little as she is, she comes across so much older than she really is, she is very mature.

Here are some pictures from our fun little birthday party.


She decided a few months back that she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake, so that's what we did. I love how it turned out, so much fun. The strawberries are made from fondant.