Bubbles and snow?

Okay so I still have a few minutes and wanted to share something from yesterday. I was watching Ryan and Sarah and we were playing outside with sidewalk chalk and bubbles. Can I tell you that there is something very therapeutic about blowing bubbles. I spent 30 minutes just blowing bubbles. I LOVED IT! So go out and blow some bubbles! Oh, and by the way it just started SNOWING! I am very excited about going to Florida!

A little time

Okay, so I have a little time right now in between laundry batches and I thought that I would share a few things with everyone.

1. For those of you frustrated with gasoline prices check out www.cngchat.com. Creed's uncle put this together and it is a great resource for those of you looking for a cheaper way to drive. CNG stands for certified natural gas vehicles. Creed and I are looking in to getting one-his uncle is working on getting a Chevy Impala conversion kit or something like that. Anyway, to go to a gas station here and get natural gas we are looking at 63 cents. That is it, see why we are looking to switch. If you have questions you can email me, I will ask Creed, his uncle, or his Dad, they are all becoming experts.

2. We are going to Disneyworld and taking a plane, I wasn't sure what to pack for Sarah so I bought a few books from Deseret Book by the Finch Family called Nursery Time, I figured she is 18 months on the 30th she is old enough for these games. I made some of them up and into file folder games. Then I bought the file folder game book by the finch family and made a few of those. I also found a website that had some for free, www.mormonchic.com/crafty. So if you are wanting some pretty cheap file folder games these are the way to go. I figure this way she can sort all the way to Florida without me having to run around chasing crayons.

Soccer Fun and Big Girl Bed

Warning this was written Tuesday:)

Ellen had a soccer game last night and we were able to attend. It was really fun, Sarah loved all the balls that were around and the puppies. She made friends with everyone sitting around us and she told them all sorts of stories. Not really quit sure what all she said, but she said a ton! The other exciting news is that last night Sarah slept on a big girl bed! Okay so we just took off a cushion from our chair and a half, because we didn't want to bother with getting the twin bed out and situated. She will probably sleep on this cushion for this week because it is just the right size. Last night she was very excited about the bed. I will see if I can get a video uploaded of her enjoying her new bed! In the meantime here are a few pictures from the game.

CHEESE! I have pockets? Daddy!

Tagged!

I have been tagged again, and I must say that I actually LOVE being tagged!

a - attached or single? - Happily attached!

b - best friend - Kristen Green, soon to be Valentine, Caroline Moore, Kirsten, Kiersten Metcalfe and of course CREED!

c - cake or pie - Cake-but really I prefer brownies

d - day of choice - Sunday, or Saturday-any day that Creed is home all day

e - essential item - Dishwasher- I hate doing dishes anyway so this just makes it a bit nicer, toothbrushes are great as well

f - favorite color - Blue or Red, I love them both

g - gummi worms or bears -Not a fan of either

h - hometown - Boise, ID

i - indulgences - Chocolate chip cookies, brownies, chinese food

j - january or july - January

k - kids - One little girl-18 months on the 30th

l - life is incomplete without... my family, friends, church, and laughter

m - marriage date. - February 14, 2004

n - number of siblings - one sister, and two brothers

o - oranges or apples - oranges

p - phobias or fears - gas station restrooms-GROSS!

q - quote - "Learn from the past, Prepare for the future, Live in the present" Thomas S. Monson

r - reason to smile - Countdown to DISNEYWORLD!=5 days not counting today

s - season - Spring-the flowers, cool temperatures

t - tags - Katrina, Caroline, Ellen, Valerie, Nancy

u - unknown fact about me - I am allergic to my wedding ring!

v - vegetable - Green beans, corn, potatoes, peas, beets, spinach

w - worst habit - not loading the dishwasher, not folding the clothes, both are pretty bad

y - your favorite food - chinese

z - zodiac - Aries-I think?

Questions for Mothers

Okay, here are a few questions for the Mom's out there, and I would LOVE it if you answered both.

1. This is the most important-do any of you know how to get crayon out of clothing? Sarah decided yesterday that instead of sorting the crayons, or coloring with the crayons that they looked yummy. Needless to say we have green crayon on her white and brown striped dress, which she wore for the 1st time yesterday. I haven't washed it or dried it. So if you have experience in this area let me know!

2. I saw this show the other night on TLC called The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom. It got me wondering. If you are a soccer mom, or just a stay at home mom, what would you do if you weren't? I would LOVE to work for LDS Family Services, or The Utah Foster Care Foundation, or even the Division of Children and Family Services. Anyway, I was just wondering.

Surprises

So this weekend was full of surprises. Val showed up at our house, she is suppose to be in Boston going to school! So we spent some time hanging out this weekend. Shopping and talking and movie watching, all different from the time with Caroline and my ward. She came out for an audition with the church, they flew her out, which is how she was able to surprise the WHOLE LARSEN Family! Way to go Val, what a great secret! YEAH! Then Ben, who is going to Law school in Oklahoma, flew in so that he could surprise his girlfriend with a RING! WAHOO, I love weddings! I love Ali and I love Ben! So we spent the weekend in Murray, starting Saturday and then we came home for church. I just LOVE surprises!

Girl Time!

So last Thursday my very good friend Caroline invited me to hang out with her mom and sister and cousins for the afternoon, and I LOVED IT! I loved spending time with girls! We watched the children play and then we had lunch and then Sarah took a nap, Ryan did too! So we got to chat. Then we went shopping when the children were awake and then we had dinner. OH, I LOVED IT! Then on Friday night, Caroline, her sister Kelly, and her Mother and I had pedicures and dessert. Then when I got home the primary presidency called and said that they were having a girls night movie and I went to that. I TOTALLY needed a girls night out and some time outside of my house. THANK-YOU, THANK-YOU Caroline and Susan and Kelly. You guys were so great and wonderful!

Wonderful sites and places

Okay here are a few of my newfound loves:

1. Costco-we recently had a problem with our printer-an eternal paper jam with no paper in the printer. We bought it at Costco last June. Didn't have a box or receipt. Costco let us return it. We were able to buy the newer model of the same printer for $30 less. WAHOO!

2. Pinchingyourpennies.com-WONDERFUL site. Has every state. Let's you know where the good deals are, and how to use your Sunday morning newspaper coupons (I don't get, but am thinking I will ask Elizabeth to share :)) Anyway, Monday we needed diapers, a quick look on the site let me know that at Albertson's they were on sale, and that if we bought two Protor and Gable items we would get a $5 coupon to use on our next visit, so I fished out our $10 coupon, from a previous visit, and we headed over there. Once inside we got our items and then noticed that a few mothers had their carts full of crackers and cereal-stables if you have toddlers! So we walked down the isles and found out that if you bought $20 of kraft made products you got $8 off instantly, and that the products were on sale! Needless to say we saved $31 dollars just in the coupons and instant cash back and with the items being on sale we saved another $40. So USE THIS SITE!

3. Skype-this allows us to call our family and friends who live far away from us for FREE! This is a video conferencing type thing. We call Ben in Oklahoma every week, it allows us to see him and to talk to him and for him to see us. It is AMAZING! Look it up!

Pictures!

I have posted pictures on the posts that I said I would, and now I am posting new pictures to show you all that I know the best photographer EVER! These pictures were taken in January, a little later than 12 months, but hey, they are dang cute! And you guessed it the photographer is none other than CAROLINE! THANK-YOU, THANK-YOU!

Conference

I LOVED General Conference, not that I don't usually love it, but this time I really enjoyed it. Sarah loved the music and loved "conducting" the choir. She was actually pretty quiet and good, so that we could get as much out of it as we could. There were a few talks that really spoke to me. Elder Ballard's on mothers was something that I really needed to hear. I have been having some hard weeks the last couple of weeks, see the last post, and I am going to be honest and admit that there has been a part of me that has wanted to go back to work. So hearing his talk was like an answer to my prayers, I know that I would enjoy working outside of the home, I LOVE helping others, but at the same time, I LOVE being a Mom as well. I love being the one at home with her when she says a new word, or wanders the room with her arms folded saying a prayer-she says "Ame" when she is finished. I love cuddling with her and watching her grow with her interaction with Ryan. I love being the one that Creed comes home to and being able to spend all evening with him. He is an amazing husband. I think that I just needed the reassurance that what I was doing was indeed worthwhile, sometimes it doesn't feel that way, and that this is what I am suppose to be doing. I also loved the talk about the things that we can "delight" in, I forget who gave it. It reminded me that I have tons of things that I love and that are noteworthy. This month one of my goals is to write in a journal 3 times a week, and this talk along with the quote Elder Ballard used about living in the moment has given me some topics to write about. I also loved the talks by the new Prophet, and his counselors. Their testimonies really hit me and spoke to me. All in all it was WONDERFUL!

Inspiration and such

So I have been inspired by a friend's blog. She wrote about how she isn't as bluntly honest in her blog as she may wish. I realized that it is the same for me. There have been times where I blog in my head, and then when I sit down I think, who wants to read that?!? Well, I have decided that you all want to hear it. I was also talking with a different friend about stuff and we were talking about someone and how thinks aren't always as they seem. So I am here to tell you that things at the Larsens are not always as they seem. Now no jumping to conclusions, we are all fairly healthy and happy, but sometimes there are days when I am not so happy. I like to think that it has something to do with a toddler who is very active and has been having a hard time sleeping, meaning I am not getting as much sleep as I need. And of course there are the hormones. Which are pretty awful for me as of late. Some of you probably don't know, but I usually have a cyst on my ovary, or more than one on both of them, which causes pain and hormone problems. Anyway, so I have just been a little crankier than normal. And blogging in my head about how rough it is sometimes. But really, when I do sit down to blog I realize that I really am blest in so many ways, so even though life doesn't work out the way that I want it to, and even though I get really cranky, and even a little depressed, and the house work doesn't get down etc. Life is still good.

So onto the such. Last weekend I had a lot of fun. First I got to spend most of Friday night with my sister, just us! It was great to have some girl time away from Sarah's yelling and such. Then on Saturday we went to the Baby Day Expo. Which was great, we are still waiting to hear if Sarah won the cutest baby contest, but part of me is really doubting! Then we had the Larsen Easter Celebration. Sarah was HILARIOUS! She wouldn't let anybody touch her easter egg basket even though by the end it was way heavy. She cried because I tried to help her carry it and she cried because she could carry it on her own. She was way cute! I loved it. Then Sunday was quite nice and relaxing.

Pictures to come when blogger lets me-silly blogger!