Little boys are so sweet...

I feel like I've been sharing way too much negativism recently, which really isn't accurate anyway. Afterall, despite the ups and downs, I get to spend all of my time with an adorable little monkey! He always finds a way to make me smile.

For instance, he dug an empty toothpaste box out of the trash, and while I generally don't encourage dumpster diving, he's been pushing it around the house for the last hour making truck noises...he's a cute little cheeky monkey :o)Just seeing him play with the toothpaste box reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, courtesy of Marjorie Pay Hinckley--"there is always something to be grateful for. Even on a bad day, your toothbrush is a wonderful little invention."

Speaking of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, while we were in Salt Lake this weekend we drove to the cemetery by the capital building and visited the graves of the Hinckleys. They are buried at the top of a steep hill with a beautiful view over the valley, and the monument in front of the headstones explains that the markers were made from excess granite from the temple and the conference center. How perfect, after all the stories Pres. Hinckley shared about the podium in the conference center being built from his tree! I also love that Sis. Hinckley's stone says "Beloved Eternal Companion." If i have any model for marriage (besides my parents of course), it is definitely the Hinckleys. Eric and I decided long ago that we wanted to be "cute" when we got old, and never get tired of holding hands or exchanging winks.

There was also a sign and a ribbon barrier around the stones posted by the Hinckley children, thanking us for visiting their parents' graves but asking us nicely to stay back a little bit so the new grass could grow. I guess there are just so many of us who were touched by their lives and feel like somehow we knew them personally!

P.S. How can you not fall in love with a sweet little boy who nows says "please" instead of whining? This isn't the best or the cutest, but it is video proof of his newest--and definitely BEST--trick!

A Crazy Weekend

Wow, what a weekend. It all started when my parents' flight from Phoenix was delayed five hours on wednesday night and they decided to just go home and catch the morning flight out. I drove up friday with scotty and after picking up my dad, drove to the hospital in ogden to visit my mom's dad. He has fallen several times in the past week and on sunday was admitted to the hospital, where they discovered a substantial amount of bleeding around his brain. Basically, his brain is not really connected to his body at the moment and he has little control over his body. They moved him to an assisted living center for a week and half and will attempt surgery next wednesday. My uncle, who is a doctor himself, predicts the odds as 50/50 that my grandpa will recover enough to be able to go home instead of back to the nursing home. I have always been close with my parents family, so it was hard to see my grandpa like this, and even harder to see my mom come to terms with the situation.

From there we spent time with my dad's parents trying to get some genealogy done. My grandma has tons of pictures that need to be scanned and labeled--a fun project! Unfortunately, scotty completely skipped his nap, so I didn't get to be much help, though he was really sweet all weekend.
The initial point behind the entire trip was my cousin's wedding, which was saturday. The were married at the Point at the Huntsman Cancer center, which is gorgeous but a little crazy to get to--we were afraid we would miss the wedding driving in circles! It was beautiful up there and it was good to see family.

After dropping my dad off at the airport Sunday night, my mom came down to provo for hopefully a bit of vacation. Not that that really happened, but we tried! (sorry mom!) She had a horrible migraine all week and scotty was starting to show his true colors after a weekend of little sleep, so we tried to spend as much time lounging as possible. Still, we did take scotty to veteran's pool, and my mom and I got fabulous petticures before i dropped her back off at the airport! That made up for the plumbing fiasco...toilet spontaneously overflowing and backing up into the shower at 12:30 monday night...GROSS! Eric wanted to call a plumber and get it all sorted out, but i didn't feel like staying up till 2am, so we crashed and call the plumber in the morning. By the time that was sorted out it was time to get mom to the airport so i didn't even get a chance to clean the bathroom, let along shower, until much later yesterday afternoon!

In desperation I finally called Martha and she let scotty come play with marian...THANK YOU! He came home much happier and I was able to get everything clean and un-smelly!!! And yes, i finally got to shower.

Also, a huge THANK YOU! to Aunt Melanie and co for taking such good care of us this weekend, letting us crash at your place, and for all of the fabulous food!





One more THANK YOU! to my parents for their fabulous gifts from Scotland. Scotty loves his sheep and his bib is adorable, he is after all, my very own Scottland! The magnet is on our fridge, but out of scotty's reach because he likes to make it play music. Scotty's favorite gift is definitely my heathergem earrings...

Eric's Biking Adventure

So, coming home from a girl's day at the pool with our adorable babies, I discovered I had missed a call from Eric telling me he had been in a bike accident on his way back to work from lunch...fortunately, his brother Stephen (we owe you brownies or something!) left his job to pick Eric up and take him to the health center, gushing blood from his hands but otherwise fairly uninjured.

I rushed home, grabbed only the essentials (Scotty in his car seat, my wallet, keys, and Reese's for Eric) and raced to the health center, still in my swimsuit with only a sundress over it. Come to find out, it would take another hour for two nurses to remove all of the gravel from his hands, including some shots to the sensitive nerves in his hands that Eric says were worse than the digging. I sat somewhat self-conciously feeling TOTALLY IMMODEST in the waiting room while Scotty napped sweetly in his carseat, worn out from his adventures at the pool. They didn't want to bring me back into the room because they didn't want me to pass out...turns out that was a wise move, because just having Eric describe what his hands looked like on the way home was enough to make me have to pull over, put my head between my legs, and finally run out of the car and throw up on a random person's lawn! Quite the adventure...

Still, Eric was lucky in that he didn't sustain any injuries other than the gravel embedded in his palms, which are healing nicely and have been well bandaged to avoid infection. He had to go the the health center for 2 follow up appointments and was on preventative antibiotics and advil until the swelling went down, but all seems to be well now. He can even shower without having to wrap his hands in plastic bags...


He did play Wii boxing the other day because he felt inspired by his new look.

And for those who are squeamish, i made this small so you don't have to look, but it's really not that bad anymore. It's only bad if you imagine the rock burying its way deep into his hand and leave a three inch gash... OK, STOPPING NOW!


For you Martha, our decidedly NOT-squeamish friend, you can have a better if you click on the picture.

Another month older!

In honor of my parents coming up (next week! woo!) I thought I would post the newest slide show...Scotty is only a few weeks away from being a whole year old! I can't believe it. I think i might throw him a bday party when my parents are up next time (Aug 24?) and see if I can get mom to make him a Scotty cake...

The Memory Game

Ok, I'm joining in Deanna's memory game! Here's how it works:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Toothums

Well, I tried to get a picture of these little chompers. It's blurry, but hey, this is Scotty--would you expect any less?





But hey, don't we look cute? (ignore my lack of makeup and unkempt hair!)

That Pouty Face--NEW VIDEOS!

Well, so much for my happy boy! These past two days have been a little crazy and VERY whiny all over again, but I can only hope this is some weird fluke and he gets happy again...at least he's napping now.



Still, his pouting is good for something: cute pictures!

In other news, I started my Master's of Education program through University of Phoenix Online yesterday, and I think i'm really going to like it! Because everything except classroom observation and student teaching (it includes secondary education teaching certification) is online I can work it around Scotty's schedule. So much nicer than my chemistry program! I think this will be substantially easier too, which at this point I think is great--I've challenged myself a lot in the past and I'm proud of that, but i'm also ready for a break :o)

I have still learned that I can't leave Scotty to his adventures while I do schoolwork:

Husband Tag

1. What is his name? Lee Eric Larsen (though i think he would stop speaking to me if I started calling him Lee!)

2. Who eats more? Eric, but we both appreciate junk food. Especially late at night.

3. Who said, "I love you" first? Eric, to which I replied "thank you." He also said it first the second time, a few days later, and I said "I know". But the THIRD time it was me first! :o)

4. Who is taller? Well let's see....ERIC, as he's 6 foot and I'm maybe 5'3"

5. Who is smarter? Hmm...i guess I have to say me or he'll never believe anything I say about him ever again, but he is DEFINTELY a better accountant: he epitomizes the phrase "detail-oriented".

6. Who is more sensitive? Me. Especially post-partum!

7. Who does the laundry? he'll occasionally throw a batch in. And sometimes he even folds! But it's mostly me.

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me, except when I was pregnant last summer--I claimed the left to be closer to the air conditioner.

9. Who pays the bills? Eric--always early, and he always double checks and reconciles our bank accounts in quickbooks. He just shows me the nifty graphs and tells me everything is ok.

10. Who cooks more? Eric actually really likes cooking, he's discovered, and he cooked the entire time I was pregnant, but as I'm the one home more, it's usually me now.

11. Who is more stubborn? Tough call, but I pick Eric and he is the stubborn SILENT type, and I just can't hold out against that kind of pressure.

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Probably me, because I can't last more than ten minutes without speaking, but Eric's good about it too once he's had time to cool off.

13. Who has more siblings? Eric, he is the middle child of five

14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Scotty. :o)

15. What do you like to do together? play board games, watch movies, walk to the duck pond, go the NickelCade, play Wii (especially Mario Party late at night)

16. Who eats more sweets? Me, unless it's Reeces. That boy can finish an entire bag in minutes.

17. Guilty Pleasures? Eating out! And vacations...or even just sleeping in.

18. How did you meet? Um, he sat behind me at freshman orientation back in August 2002...after talking for hours everyday we started dating the second week of school, wrote his entire mission while I happily dated other people, and then got engaged at his homecoming.

19. Who asked whom out first? I set up two "group hangout/dates" but our first official date happened because his neighbor in the dorms asked me to go out with Eric to get him out of his room...course that doesn't mean Eric was too shy to hold my hand!

20. Who kissed who first? It was mutual, but Eric instigated and almost handed me a gallon of ice cream, as he knew I would owe my entire floor the second after it happened (hello BYU dorms!)

21. Who proposed? Eric, Aug 2005, by sending me on a scavenger hunt all over campus and making me re-enact all of our freshman escapades--including surfing on the tree of life statue by the SWKT...

22. His best features and qualities? his musical ability, though you'd never know it, he plays some amazing guitar and has a great singing voice to go along with it. He also keeps me from taking myself too seriously and can always make me feel happy and appreciated.

Happy 4th of July!

*we interrupt this post for an announcement: this is the 50th post on Larsenland!*

Ok, happy belated 4th of July, everyone! We had a great time with Eric's family in town for a reunion. Eric also sacrificed essentially all sleep for the weekend in order to stake out shady spots for the parade and to spend quality time with his brothers (i.e. computer Generals all night!)

I wish I had taken pictures of Scotty with his cousins--April, what were we thinking? Overall, it was a great weekend! Although Scotty decided he was not that into fireworks, Eric had a great time being a pyromaniac and we both came home smelling like smoke.

I also wish I could post pictures of Scotty's newest trick--probably the cutest and/or most hilarious yet: shaking his head "no". He gets a huge grin on his face and shakes his head so hard he almost falls over!

He does enjoy this game with Eric, however:

P.S. I start my first class for my M.Ed. program on Tuesday! Wish me luck--I'm really excited about this whole thing so I hope I love it...

My Happy Boy!

The Real Scotty is back--the happy, playful one! His fourth tooth finally broke through and the whining and craziness has ended. I don't know who is happier about this, Scotty or me!

I'd like to welcome my parents back to the country with a few adorable videos of their grandson--can't wait to see you in a few weeks! Scotty misses you too.

His new tricks include pointing, clicking, popping, bouncing, baby-squats, kneeling, and fishing things out of drawers despite the baby-proof latches. He can also unscrew twist tops...he recognizes the camera as one of the coolest toys ever invented just for him, so catching anything on camera is difficult!

He still loves the water, though, and has recently decided that he can drive the shower...
eric and i laugh everytime he sneaks away from us after his bath--his little white bum just cracks me up!