If the shoe fits... Buy it in every color.

I love you pieces and back!

It's so important in life to have a person or two that really 'get' you. Someone who understands where your coming from, even if they don't agree and is always rooting for you on the side lines. My mom has been on this team for as long as I can remember. Tonight as I was laying here in bed I couldn't stop thinking about just how much I appreciate her.

I love that she knows where I'm headed, before I finish my sentence or how I feel by the way I say 'Hello'. I love that I can tell her all my sorrows and fears and when I'm my worst self, she's still pulling for me.

When I was little, it was no secret that I thought the sun rose and set by her. It was no secret, because there at the top of each paper, in my 3rd grade hand, it read "I love mom" with a multitude of little floating hearts. My mom said she wasn't sure if she should feel flattered or a little embarrassed for fear the teacher would think she had taught me to do this.

I guess I'm not really sure where this late night post is going, except to say, Thanks to my mom for remembering my love affair with Red Vines each time she comes to visit. For being someone I can count on to leave me a billizion or more phone messages reminding me I'm dear. For not letting me off the phone before she tells me just 'how' much she loves me, Jess, Kyanne, Bridgey and Fin and for things like, secretly calling me every year since I left home to remind me of family birthdays and sending Mothers Day cards in the mail.

There's so many things I love and appreciate about my mom it would take up all the cyber space to tell. So, I'll just suffice to say:
Thanks Mom, for still taking time out to listen, understand, and 'get me'. For being so patient with your adult daughter who so often needs humbling and guidance, that you should win an award. Love you to pieces and back!

He Did...

This week I have been pursued by a geefully twirlng toddler waving an 8" Butcher's Knife and had a brick sized 2 x 4 happily chucked at my pinnie little head by the same assailant. Awh, Bridgey. That little guy with the 'melt my heart' smile in the picture below. I can't help it, everyone knows, I'm a sucker for that kid!

She said...

"Your pretty mom. I like your bum."

"Is your dad the, 'Man in your life'?"
"No, Nala (from the Lion King) is the Princess in my life."

"If you say "No" to me again, I will have to say "No" to you, Mom." - Yikes.

Finley's Blessing

Finley Nina Larsen

We blessed Finley in my mom and dad's branch in Shelby, Montana. The blessing was lovely and among the blessings she was given she was blessed with the gift of being self sacrificing. I can imagine that just in how she's such a peaceful and patient baby. She of course looked just lovely in the blessing gown her sister and cousin wore just a few years before. Grandma Maureen made this lovely gown for all the girls to be blessed in when Ky was born.

It seems so long ago that Ky was born and blessed. In fact it really doesn't seem like there was ever a time that Ky wasn't around. I can't believe how lucky I am to have all these little ones. After Kyanne I thought, I how much I would love to have more babies but, if she's the only one, I'm still the luckiest mom ever! And, now I have three, and they're perfect and sweet.

I am so fortunate to have the gospel in this life, a beautiful marriage and three sweet babies on top of that! It just makes me want to kick my self for ever complaining a day in my life.

Confessions of "That Mom"

"That Mom". It's such an versatile phrase full of cynicism and insinuation. Today as I used this ambiguous phrase, I couldn't help but contemplate which part of 'That mom' I am. I suppose...

I am "That Mom" who hangs the kids latest and greatest on the Fridge. The kind that has more than one cute expression for ugly words or body parts, ie. "baby's milk", "girl parts", "fort" & "squeak". I'm sad to say, this year I was "that mom" who planed the Preschool Valentine's Party but, forgot to supply my kiddo with Valentine's. The kind that teaches her 3 year old VCR skills, so she can catch more zzz's.

"That Mom" who serves cereal for dinner and cold pizza for breakfast and kisses her kids so many times in a day, they have perma-dention in their foreheads.

I am "That Mom" who wipes away dirt with a licked thumb and hold kids over public potties. The kind who buys xtra underwear to avoid laundry and has a "Company's Coming!" drill. I am "That Mom" who cries a little each time she folds the kids out grown clothes and wishes they'd never grow up and grow up quicker, all at the same time.

I am "That Mom" that sweeps crumbs under the stove and kicks toys under the couch when noone's looking. She who forgets to change the non-smelly diaps and every once in a while forgets a kid here or there. I am "That Mom" who throws the occasional and not-so occasional tantrum along side her preschooler, loves dress-ups, twirling, and polishing tiny toe nails.

I am "That mom" who blogs away her lifes complaints, loves to sew mediocre creations, and do "yo-go". What more can I say sometimes we're all a little bit of "That Mom".

Be of Good Cheer

"To be cheerful when others are in despair, to keep the faith when others falter, to be true even when we feel forsaken—all of these are deeply desired outcomes during the deliberate, divine tutorials which God gives to us—because He loves us. These learning experiences must not be misread as divine indifference. Instead, such tutorials are a part of the divine unfolding." --Neal A. Maxwell, "Be of Good Cheer", Ensign Nov 1982

If I told you these words:

• Toddler
• Nap Time
• Licorice
• Both Hands
• "Nigh, Night, Honey"

Would you know just how desperate I was today?

"Super Mom", take a hike already!

What to do when Chocolate won't fix it?

Due to Fin I'm short on sleep, the kids have contracted cabin fever along with every other fever floating around calgary, my house looks like a battle zone and my desperate attempts for order are seeming dismal and sad. At my breaking point last week Jess suggested hiring help. It was like the magic of an epidural all over again. A housekeeper, what would that be like? Heaven, mixed with a little bit of guilt, but I'm guessing more Heaven, than guilt.

Really, I know it's silly to feel guilty, or bad about not measuring up to the 'super mom' that nags in the back of my mind. Where did she come from anyways? In the cartoons there's only the little angel and devil that sit on your shoulders, there's no minature idealistic mom demanding perfection from good intending mothers.

Either way, I'm going to do my best to ignore 'super mom', who from here on out will be referred to as 'stupid mom'. The housekeeper comes for the first time on Tuesday. I know I'm the kind of woman that will be tempted to clean top to bottom the morning before she comes, but I'll try to resist that as well. In fact, that temptation comes from 'stupid mom' as well. To all the other guilt ridden women out there, relinquish 'stupid mom'! Send her on a permanent Hiatus. And, be thankful to just be you: a great woman because she does her best and chooses to be happy with that!

"Sooo Romantic"

Scarf for Two by The Black Apple










Shoe Lovers
by: Genevieve Gauckler

"We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet"

"Could any people have a greater blessing than to have
standing at their head one who receives and teaches the will of God concerning them? How thankful we ought to be, how thankful we are, for a prophet to counsel us in words of divine wisdom as we walk our paths in these complex and difficult times. The solid assurance we carry in our hearts, the conviction that God will make His will known to His children through His recognized servants, is the real basis of our faith and activity. We either have a prophet or we have nothing; and having a prophet, we have everything."

First Presidency Message “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet”

Yesterday was President Hinckley's funeral services. I really enjoyed hearing the sweet talks and especially the tribute to him after the services. One of his children said that "he never took himself too seriously" and that President Hinckley was not a worrier but a persistent optimist who liked to tell jokes at the dinner table but "never at the expense of others". Tonight as I was surfing around on the internet reading different things about his life, I found this great article about him and his wife. It's a bit lengthy but worth the read. Here's an excerpt:

A couple of years ago, when somebody asked President Hinckley what he would wish for his wife, he said, "That we might live together for as long as the Lord wills and that when the time comes for us to move on, that we might go together or very close together, without one lingering a long time after the other. We've lived together for a long time. I hope we'll continue to move on together."

Recently, while standing at the pulpit together in a church area conference, President Hinckley discussed the years they had been together and began to weep.

"Has it been that bad?" said Marjorie.

How wonderful it must be for him to be reunited with his sweet wife.

Thought Provoking Questions

• Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
• Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites?
• Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?
• Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink what comes out"?
• Why is it that when trasporting stuff on a car its called a SHIPment, but if transporting stuff on a ship its called CARgo?
• They say kids brighten the home. That's because they never turn the lights off.
• Whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have a "S" in it?
• Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?
• Why do we drive on the parkway and park in the driveway?
• The "Psychic Friends Network" went out of business... didn't they see it coming?
• Can you get cornered in a round room?
• If something "goes without saying," why do people still say it?

My Three Cuties!

“When God wants a great work done in the world
or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts.
The greatest forces in the world are babies.”
-E. T. Sullivan

Sweet Children

1. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2. Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your own children.

3. Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.

4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.

5. The main purpose of holding children's parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.

6. We childproofed our homes, but they are still getting in.

Bath Time: An Institution for Patience

Bath time is like an institution for patience.

"No Splashing"
"Turn the water off"
"Sit down"
"No drinking the water"

And, "I said, No Splashing", about 15 more times, sums it up.

I figure "Bath Time" is a success if the water stays in the tub, most the shampoo gets rinsed away and the kiddies get wetter than I do.

More Kyanne Quotes

1. "Mom, I'm sorry for throwing up raspberries on you." (next post for gooey details)

2. "It's Heavenly Father! Look, it's Heavenly Father." Refrence to the Columbia Pictures Statue of Liberty at the beginning of a movie.

3. "I want to give you a true love kiss." (A kiss with a twist!)

4. "Mom, I wish our house would turn into McDonalds."

Sick as a dog but, cute as a PUPPY.

Poor Ky is sick as a dog. She went to play with Grandma today and when they got back, she just looked ill. But, it wasn't until I offered her a "case-a-walla" (quesadilla) and she declined that I knew for sure.

So, Daddy carried the limp little thing down to her bed and that's when it happened, in an instance her face turned several shades of green and then red and then out it all came, more pre-chewed raspberries than I've ever seen in my life. I tried to catch them, but my hands weren't big enough, and her dad wasn't fast enough, so the carpet, after much scrubbing, is a very light shade of pink.

I feel sort of guilty admitting this but, I love sick kidlings. I love them not sick too, but there is something so precious about those big sad eyes, that makes you want to wait on them hand and foot and feed them terrible amounts of sugar. The sweet little whimpers, and all the snuggles, I can't help it, kids are teeth clenching adorable, when they're sick!

The Casserole. It's so Alias.

The Casserole. Such a clever packaging for dinner. It's like covert ops. in the kitchen.

With toddlers that balk at the site of anything green, trying to push veggies is like trying for world peace, right? ("If you're gonna ask a question, give me time to respond. Unless your asking rhetorically, in which the answer is obvious - yes.")

Casserole: avoids the losing, broccoli vs. kid face off, skips the mommy tantrum, and the wasted veggies. Not only is it a one step meal, with minamal amnt. of dish useage, and an economical use for leftovers, but it's a delightful packaging for vegetables.

It's so 'Alias' sneaking all that healthy veg into one meal.

"When I was an adult..."

Ky was puttin' on the naughty show last night with Auntie Meg, so I intervened. While I was explaining that Aunt Meggie was an adult and she needed to obey her, Kyanne interrupted to say with all the dramatics of a A-List actress, "when I was an adult and Aunt Meggie was a kid she obeys me!" There you go.

The Adoring Mommy vs. The Mommy Monster: Round 1

Today in church I can remember holding sweet little Fin and singing "As I have Loved You" and feeling the Spirit so strongly my heart felt like it might explode. I wish I could hold on to those sweet feelings endlessly.

Tonight as Jess and I tag teamed the 3 pips I felt anything but feelings of sweet peace, it was closer to borderline insanity. And, now as I reflect, I wonder why I can't hold onto those tender feelings of the Spirit during the witching hours of the evening when all the zoo animals need to be fed and watered.

Where does the adoring mommy go and how do I slay the "Mommy Monster" that too quickly takes her place?

Puppy Lovers. They come by it honestly.

Achievement Day 40's Program

The Achievement Day Girls did a fantastic job preforming in front of the elderly residents of McKenzie Retirement Home. They sang "Marizy Doats", swing danced to "Jump Jive n' Whail", did a pillow dance to Doris Day's "Pillow Talk", and sang some sweet primary songs. It was darling and the audience just loved the girls. Afterwards some of the ladies in the audience chatted, shook hands and even gave kisses to the girls.

Mattress Sledding

Christmas Holidays

Christmas was a blast! We went down to Raymond to for Christmas eve games and treats at Jess' parents. It was fun insanity all rolled into one. There might be a positive correlation between traveling with small children and psychosis, but the fam's worth it!

Then we headed down to Nana and Poppy's house where we spent Christmas Day and had a wonderful Christmas dinner and little family program. Here's some shots, including Kayla's newest hair style (she said too many people were copying her old style so she had to be more drastic. I wish I could say she gets her guts from me and style for that matter.)