Random

Here are a few other random things I wanted to blog about that don't need a post of their own.

1st Super cute tile we are making to give to our primary kids for their 2011 birthday gift. I am really excited and happy that they turned out so cute.

2nd Christmas countdown tree that I made. We had one of these in our house growing up and I absolutely loved it. I always looked forward to putting an onament on each morning, and because I was the youngest by quite a bit no one really fought me to put it up. He He!! I am really excited to start this tradition with our kids. I hope they like it as much as I did.

3rd Cute Camden coloring like a big boy!! So stinkin' cute!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was different but still really fun and special in it's own way. It was a hard holiday for me I really missed our families and the traditions we usually share together. It was weird not to be with them! Yet it was a really really fun day! We had thanksgiving here at our home. We had my good friend Tracy and her family here, the Sister Missionaries, Brandi, and Jamie and her 2 sisters. It was a fun group. We had way to much food!!!! I still have leftovers in the fridge! No one left hungry so the meal was a success! I was so grateful to be surrounded by so many great friends. We truly have been blessed with wonderful friends who help make it easier to be away from family.

Brenya and Apri

Some of our guests (some are hiding stinkers!!)

After dinner we played games and made flowers for our hair. Of course the boys enjoyed their football! :) It was a fun TURKEY DAY!! Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving too!

Sister Patterson

I should say Elisa Patterson because she is no longer a missionary but she will always be Sister Patterson to us!! Last week Sister Patterson came to Murray to speak at a funeral of one of her investigators. It was pretty incredible! Unfortunately she wasn't Baptized before she passed away. She was an awesome person her name was Barbie McClure and she was one of the happiest people I have ever met! She will truly be missed. It was so neat because Sister Patterson got to speak at her funeral which was at a Baptist church. The spirit was really strong when she spoke and she did a great job. I thought it was so neat that she took the time to come and do that! She is the BEST!!! While she was here she came and had dinner with us. It was fun to catch up!!

PJ Party

Last week Apri and I were invited to a Pajama party at our friends Whitney and Michelle's House! It was so much fun! Michelle did an awesome job planing the party! She had so many fun things for the girls to do. Apri was in heaven! The minute we left she was making plans to return the next day and do it again! If only we could have a PJ party every day. I had a great time I really liked spending some one-on-one time with just Apri we don't get to do that often and I really enjoyed it!







Because I didn't want any angry moms I respected the request to not post the pictures I took of you! He He! You shouldn't care because they are super cute pictures!

Thanks again Michelle, and Whitney!!!

Baptisms

We have had several baptisms in our ward this month and because Wayne is the Ward mission leader we get to be more involved. First our great friends the Bakes had their daughter Alli baptized. I am so mad because I forgot my camera that day!! The Bakes have become our family here and so it was extra special to be at Alli's baptism. She is such a sweet girl, Apri loves her!

Bakes Family (I stole this picture from thier blog :)Hope you don't mind)


Next Jamie McDowell was baptized. She has the cutest little girl named Emma. She has a very sweet spirit and a strong testimony of the gospel. She is going to be an awesome member. Wayne was lucky enough to be the one to baptize her.

Me and Jamie

Last Samantha Chilton was baptized. This was a really special one for me! I was able to go with the missionaries while they taught the discussions each week. Her family just recently started coming back to church and she is 9 yrs old. It was a really special experience! It made my desire to share the gospel grow because there are so many people out there that are ready to be baptized and all we have to do is simply ask them and they will join. That was the case with Samantha I sent her mom an e-mail asking her if Samantha would like to be baptized and 3 weeks later she was! SOOOOOO COOOL!!!! I love missionary work!!!

Sister Whitehead, Samantha Chilton, Sister Austin, and Sister Koferd


Thursday we have another baptism!!!! YEA!!!!

LOOK WHO"S WALKING

Camden started walking about a week after his first birthday! Isn't he a cute little stud!

Fall Festival

Every year in our ward they have a fall festival and the primary is usually in charge of planning. So we got to plan it! It turned out really really great!! I was sooooo tired and relieved when it was done! Last week was our primary program and that also turned out wonderful....but I am seriously worn out . I am glad we don't have anything else for a while!! It seems like everything always happens at once!! It has been a crazy month here at the Larson home but we survived! Anyway......back to the Fall Festival!

The party included...spooky maze(the kids favorite part, great job Brandi!), donut eating contest, bowling, pin the wart on the witch, cake walk, bobbing for apples, chili cook off, costume contest, and a trunk-or-treat. I was so grateful for all the help we had so we didn't have to do it all on our own! Here are just a few pictures from the party.....

Mini cupcakes I made...I had to take a picture because they looked sooooo yummy!

Me and Camden

The "kid table" we put up a little table just for the kids it worked out really good.

The Sisters gone wild!! :)

I have about 100 pictures from the party but these were some of my favorites! What I really should do is make a slide show but I am to tired....maybe tomorrow!! Hope you all had a great holiday!

Halloween

We had a nice Halloween. I was completely worn out from Camden's birthday and the ward party so we just took it easy. Actually it wasn't even Halloween because we celebrated on Saturday instead of Sunday. We went trick-or-treating at a neighborhood nearby. (We live on a dead in road and only have 5 neighbors) We only went for about an hour. Apri had fun but got worn out quick to our surprise. Camden had fun he just enjoyed being outside. The weather here was beautiful!! I am use to freezing to death on Halloween. It is almost always cold in Utah on Halloween. It was really fun to just be together as a family! We went out to eat after trick-or-treating and then went home. It was a relaxing evening.

Here are the kiddos in their costumes. Apri decided to be a Kangaroo again. So this year she was both a dragon and a kangaroo. Camden is a cute little giraffe. Such cute kids!!!

Camden at One

Camden loves
1. Balls...and he can throw them well too.
2. Cookies...he will do almost anything to get one.
3. Mom....he is still a mommas boy.
4. Crackers....if you say the work cracker he perks right up.
5. Outside....he loves to be outside, he will point to the door and say Out.
6. Walks....he about falls out of my arms trying to jump into the stroller.
7. Animals....he loves animals especially the neighbors dog. If we pass the neighbor's dog without saying hello we have a problem!
8. Bread and Grapes...it amazes me how much bread and grapes he can eat.
9. Apri...he wants to do everything she does. They also have fun chasing and tackling each other.
10. Phones...he loves to steal the phone and say Hi.


Words he can say....momma, dada, out, caka(cracker), uoh, no, wow, hi. He babbles non-stop. He will talk to you and have a whole conversation but we can't understand him yet!
Camden is such a fun little guy! He loves attention!! He loves to make you laugh. He has been such a good baby and we just love him! Can't wait to watch his personality come out more over the next year! We are so glad that Camden is a part of our family!

ONE!!??

Camden is ONE!! Can you believe it?? I can't! I am so sad that he isn't my little baby anymore. Yet, at the same time I am so excited for him to be growing and learning new things. This is my favorite age when they start talking more and more! He is just on the verge of walking to. Really he can walk he still just chooses to crawl because that way is still faster.
Yesterday we had a fun day to celebrate. We went to the park and had some fun. It was a little chilly but Camden and Apri had fun playing on the slide together.

He loves the swing

Daddy and Camden at the park

Then in the evening we had some of our friends over to carve/paint pumpkins and eat cake and ice cream.


The football cakes....I always have fun decorating the cake!

Another picture of the cakes!

Camden loved his little football cake! This boy is in love with balls! Ball ball ball ball ball....in fact I think that is favorite word! Wayne is hoping he will grow into a quarterback....we will have to see. Camden was a little timid at first and then he dug in as you can see.



It was a fun day! I am so glad our friends came over to join in the celebration. It was hard to be away from family. Halloween is a pretty big holiday for my family and we always had big family parties for Apri's Birthdays. I was grateful to be busy planning and getting ready so I didn't have to think of missing family too much!

Storytime Trick-or-Treat

Today at storytime Apri got to go trick-or-treating. Holidays get more and more fun every year! She really understands Halloween this year and gets so excited about all the treats. Camden didn't know what to think. I was surprised he kept his outfit on I thought he would get mad and want it off. He was interested in every one's costumes. He loves Apri's costume he laughs every time she puts it on. Like it is some sort of joke or something!? It was a fun start to a fun our Halloween week!!

Whitney and Apri

Rachel and Apri

Camden crawling around the library

Trick-or-treat!!

Camden checking everyone else out

Apri at storytime by some of her friends

Storytime circle

No more Visitors :(

That brings us to the end of our two weeks of fun! The morning Val and Elaine left Camden opened some birthday gifts from them. If I would have been thinking I would have made some cupcakes or something and celebrated more. Oh, well.... He got some fun new trucks that he loves. He found his motor just like Grandma said he would. Elaine told Apri that all little boys have a motor and Apri looked at her like WHAT?? But she was right!!

Hmmmmmm.....what are these??

Camden opening his presents.

Saying goodbye to the kids.

Thanks again for the fun gifts and the wonderful visit! We miss you already! Now every day Apri will mention something about visitors. "We need more visitors" "No one is visiting now" "Someone needs to visit us from Utah" I agree!!! Everyone is welcome let us know when you will be here!

Fort Donaldson

On our last full day with grandma and grandpa Larson we went to Fort Donaldson. Which is a civil war site. It was really interesting. If you want to learn more about it go here... http://www.nps.gov/fodo/

Apri loved the cannons. The funny part of the day was we had a map of all the stops you could see at/around Fort Donaldson. There were 11 or 12 stops listed. Apri insisted that we see every single one. Grandpa was particularly impressed with her persistence and endurance. We never would have guessed that Apri would have been the most interested in the civil war historic site!! Who knew?? Really I don't think she was very interested she is just very persistent when she has an idea. She always likes to finish what she starts. It is a really great quality most of the time....sometimes it is exhausting!

Grandpa Grandma and Apri by on of the Cannons

Camden crawling around!

Apri with a Cannon again.

Cannons by the river, this battle started on the river.

Trench around the fort

Everyone looking at the fort.

Fort Donaldson Cemetery

Val and Apri at the last stop!