The flight to Florida: Matt, Brigham and Pa.

Each year my parents plan a big trip which my family, grandma and my siblings and their family go on. This year we went to Florida to meet up with my aunt and her family to go to Disney World. Traveling in a pack with young kids is pretty crazy and you get looks...

This year we split up- Matt, Brigham, and Pa caught a red-eye flight at 1 am to Florida. Matt and Pa thought it was a better idea to leave at that time rather than wait and get up at 5am to catch a Sunday morning flight like the rest of our group did. They could get some extra time in Florida that way, though they were going to be tired.

Apparently I missed all the fun on the red-eye because the pilots let Brigham go in the cockpit and he got the VIP treatment from them. Then as Matt was walking through first class to get to the seats, he couldn't help but recognize the faces of the two American Idol finalists- Scotty and Lauren. Matt shook their hands and said hi and congrats to them! Sorry no pictures, you'll just have to believe me! Matt said Brigham slept the whole ride and so did he and Pa pretty well, but they had to do a lay-over so they were interrupted and had to pick up where they left off on the next flight. Maybe I won't write off the red eye so quickly next time, having the kids treated like they are super special, not having to entertain a sleeping kid and getting to have a brush with fame doesn't sound too bad.

When the guys got to Florida, they spent their extra time going to church (catching up on sleep), did a Walmart run, and got the room ready for the rest of us. My Dad went to pick the rest of us from the airport while Matt, Brigham and my 5 cousins from Georgia played at the hotel's pool.

Sorry no pictures! There is a picture of Brig in the airplanes cockpit that I'll have to add later!

Scandinavian Festival and grumpy kids.

We went to the Scandinavian Festival together on May 27th, which is a weekend celebration of Ephraim's heritage. There were craft booths, storytelling and settler demonstrations. We ended up getting two new pet froggys for the kids (yes begging and begging can sometimes wear a parent down). Brigham named his "Kitchjo", he said that he didn't want to give his a name that belonged to something else. Yep, I think he did that. He keeps on correcting me and Matt if we mispronounce it too! Sarah's was named "Princess" with her approval.

The kids hated the storytelling so I missed out on that, it seemed like something they could have enjoyed if they would just give it a chance. The food at the festival was pretty good, I mean it's fair food so it's a given that fried stuff is great, but looking back I seriously got a better deal at Disneyworld for the same price....ouch!

The highlight of the day was the little settler village and demonstrations. There was a guy with a beehive display that had the kids mesmerized. I took a walk with Brigham on Snow College campus (where the festival is held) and it was fun to revisit where I went to school. Too bad both of the kids were overdue for some major naps when I finally broke out the camera. I didn't catch any of the festival itself, just some attitude.

Doesn't this picture say it all?

Oh wait, Sarah has something to add to that...

That look is just a preview of what could come. Did you know 5 yr olds can throw really big tantrums?

Brigham loves...

On his 5th birthday, Brigham got a hold of my camera and took about 100 pictures before I caught him. When I asked about why he took so many pictures, he said he wanted to get a picture of everything he loves. I thought it was sweet so I'll share some of my favorite pictures he took! Brigham Loves...

Cartoons

Firetruck

Our Truck

Picture of Daddy holding him as a baby

The computer

Banana Bread

His beanbag

Himself!

Dinosaur Book

And his sister of course!

May Birthday Week

There are two very special months in our household: May and November because all our birthdays fall in those months (even baby Larsen is scheduled for Nov.)! My birthday and Brig's birthday are 5 days apart. I really enjoy sharing a "birthday week" with my little boy because it makes all the celebrations better and even longer :)

Our little family on my Birthday (that's
my niece Mollie is in the foreground)

Sarah, Lucy, Mollie, Brigham doing silly faces.

My kids trying to get my candles!

We took Brigham out today to celebrate his birthday early since his birthday fell on Sunday. We took him out to BYU's Monte Bean Life Science museum since he has recently taken an interest in dead stuffed animals. He has been hooked on them since seeing the small collection Snow College has in their science building.

We came in time to see a little live reptile show where Brig was able to touch a boa constrictor and a large lizard. It was a really neat museum, there were animals there that I didn't know existed! Brigham was intimidated by the large bears and tigers, but seemed to warm up to them a little by the time we left and was already asking when we'll be back!












After that we went out to Chuck E.Cheese and of course he loved that too! It is amazing how in love he is with the little spider he got with his tickets! Unfortunately since we live out in nowheresville we had to make the trip somewhat practical and had to go to Costco for bulk necessities! Not a fun birthday activity!
But we made up for it by stopping by the Big Red Barn for ice cream to break up the drive and we kind of unintentionally had ice cream for dinner! But it's birthday week, so those types of naughty things are acceptable!









Tomorrow night we'll have birthday week grand finale with Brigham's cake and presents (oh yeah it's mother's day too, so it will feel a little bit like my birthday again)! Then we'll have to wait another 6 months until our three November birthdays will come!

Starting to finish the Basement.

With the new bathroom shelves completed successfully and Matt full of confidence, we have moved onto our next project: The Basement. We thought about using a contractor to finish it for us, so we got some bids in from contractors which pretty much made up our minds up for us that we were going to save a ton of money and finish the basement ourselves. And so it began.
Last weekend we spent a long day up in Provo with the kids buying tools for the project. I don't think Brigham and Sarah will let us go near a Lowes or Harbor Freight store ever again! I don't want to take them again either, there's a lot of stuff that they shouldn't touch or play with there!
This weekend Matt began getting the basement ready for it's big transformation with the sawzall, trimming the metal "pokey things" (proving my ignorance) off the walls and bought studs for framing the basement.
On Saturday Matt cut boards to size and when it came time to break out the air compressor to nail them together he discovered that the brand new air compressor was cracked. So that meant another trip up north (-gas money -lots of time) to exchange it for a unbroken one.
When Matt got home he jumped back into putting a wall together and 5 minutes later Matt sliced his finger with a box cutter. After the bleeding is under control he went to the hospital to get a tetanus shot and luckily didn't need stitches. So after a long day of trying to get a wall up there isn't too much to show for it. But so far we have put in a lot of time, money, blood, and tears into the basement. We are hoping to add some sweat and make better progress next weekend!



This is what we have done so far. The framed wall was already there, Matt was working on framing the cement wall.

New home: our view and the first project...

We've been slowly getting things in order at our house. the last thing that remains is the dreaded "stuff" in the garage! I hope once I go through that, it will never accumulate again so bad... or we never move again so I can avoid it!

Here's the view from our front room window. I love the mountains!

This is our first project on our home: building shelves in the bathroom!
This is the before.

In progress....

TA-Dah! The after.

I'm happy we got one project done on the house! Once spring comes, bring on the landscaping and finishing the basement!

Larsen Christmas Letter 2010

This has been a year of changes for the Larsens with lots of ends and new beginnings. Matt completed a bachelor's degree in Spanish at Weber State University this past spring. He worked various jobs while completing his degree including being a janitor at a movie theater, tutoring elementary students and delivering pizzas. He gladly accepted a job with the State of Utah as an eligibility specialist for the Department of Workforce Services in August. That means he takes a lot of phone calls from people who are applying or having trouble with various government welfare programs. He does a lot of tedious paperwork as well at his job, and he's content with it. He says he likes it a lot better than going to school.

With his new job, we moved from our home of 5 years in Ogden to Ephraim, a small town in central Utah about 2 hours away from Salt Lake City. Matt actually commutes from Ephraim to Manti (7 minutes away). We are currently renting an apartment but are hoping to be closing on a home a few blocks away within the next month.

Brigham is now 4 ½ and proudly writes his name on every piece of paper he can find around the apartment. He has started preschool and loves learning new things. He loves to collect pebbles, sticks, shells, leaves, etc. and puts them in a box for his “collection”. He has wanted to be a mailman, “a boy who cuts hair”, and currently wants to be a guy who fixes cars when he grows up. He is very helpful and kind to his sister Sarah Jane (most of the time).

Sarah Jane just turned 2. She loves talking on Erin's cell phone to imaginary and real people, intentionally and unintentionally. Sarah loves playing with her dolls, dancing, singing, and to say “Me too!” after everything Brigham says. She loves the color pink, which is the only color she knows and dislikes things that are not that color. Milk lids are switched on the milk in our household so that her milk has the pink lid. She is that picky!

Erin is still staying at home with the kids. She has discovered with Matt's new job she finally has some much needed free time! So she resolved this year to find a new thrilling hobby for herself... she'll give you an update on whatever she decides it will be next year, but she swears it won't be cooking or cleaning!

We hope that your family will have a merry Christmas this year filled with peace and joy! We are excited to start our new life down here in Sanpete County! Best Wishes!

Love,

Matt, Erin, Brigham and Sarah Jane