Two truths and a fraud--ANSWERS

Wow, we really kept you guessing! Here are the answers:

Eric:
has never been off the North American continent (true). We've taken a few excursions to Mexican border towns and a cruise off the coast of Florida. He spoke Portuguese on his mission--in Toronto, Canada. He has never even had a passport!

has been skydiving (true). He went with a friend after graduating from high school. I'm sure he would do it again if he didn't have responsibilities like a wife and son.

has NOT already filed our 2009 tax return (fraud!). This is tricky, because he began working out our taxes in December, but he hasn't been able to actually file yet because he's still waiting for a single W-2. He anxiously checks the mail daily.

Meg:
has never read a Jane Austen novel (true). Crazy, isn't it? Even more bizarre, I have never seen any of the movies either! Barring the LDS version of Pride & Prejudice, which I don't think really counts as Jane Austen. I AM in the middle of Pride & Prejudice right now, so this one will likely be untrue as of next week. The verdict is still out on whether I like it or not.

canNOT do the splits all three ways (fraud!) I'm sure this comes as a surprise to anyone who's known me forever, because I always could! BUT, I just checked last night and with a thirty second warmup I can do right and left splits, but not middle. Not since having Scotty! For the record, I could still do middle splits when I was seven months pregnant.

wants to get Scuba certified (true). I love snorkeling and was obsessed with the ocean growing up--my amazing mom even let me paint my walls blue/green and stencil sea life all over my room. She even painted a 3 foot-long orca and it's calf on my wall! So yes, I want to get Scuba certified before Eric and I take another cruise so I can really see what's out there. No, I do not EVER plan to dive with sharks.

Scotty:
hates mashed potatoes (true). He's picky about textures and can detect any hint of mashed potato no matter what I've mixed it with. He does, however, like french fries as long as he has something to dip them in.

hates getting his hands dirty (true). One of his first coordinated gestures--before clapping his hands or waving goodbye--was brushing his hands off. As much as this kid loves food, if he gets jam on those little fingers he drops the sandwich immediately and freaks out until they get wiped. He doesn't mind food on his face, however!

Scotty dunking his breadstick in ketchup...and getting his fingers in the process!

LIKES going to bed (fraud!) Who would have thought, after all our creative parenting techniques when he was tiny (involving swings, swaddling, radio static, flashlights, pacifier catchers, etc.) that he would voluntarily put himself to bed almost every night? He'll pick up Ruffles, the dog he sleeps with, wave us goodbye, blow kisses, and go try to climb into his crib. Sometimes he plays for awhile and occasionally he still needs to cry himself to sleep for a few minutes, but he loves his routine and he likes sleeping at night. Naps are often a different story!


Thanks for playing! How did you do? I'm curious to see how well I know any of you...anyone else want to start Two Truths and a Fraud?

Two truths and a fraud.

This semester Eric is taking Business Fraud (the sequel to Business Ethics...anyone else see the irony here?). To celebrate his education in deceit, here is the Larsen Family Two Truths and Fraud game.

Want to play? Just pick which statement is a fraud.

Communicating.

It's official. Scotty communicates. Don't misunderstand me--he doesn't talk. He occasionally says mama, dada, nana, baba (for his Papa), he "yows" for cats, and "YAWR"s for lions/tigers/hippos. He says "yeah" and "no" and gets them exactly backward.

But he communicates. Teaching this kid baby sign language was the best thing I ever did. He usually strings two or three signs together, with his favorite phrase being "more" "candy" "please". Here are scotty's words:

please
milk
more (again)
food
candy/sweet
all done
thank you (he blows kisses, actually...)
drink (sometimes)

and we're working on "change" (as in, change my diaper!) and "dirty". Is it a bad sign when you're daydreaming about potty training?

Still, it is SO nice that he tells me what he wants. Now he'll walk up to me, give me a hug to sweeten me up, then take my hand and walk me to the kitchen and sign "food please". Hard not to fall for that one ;o)

"Life is the Bubbles" (aka) Childhood Role Models

Scotty's current thing is watching The Little Mermaid. Yes, this was my favorite growing up, but I have tried to expose him to other classics, including Finding Nemo, Sword in the Stone, Oliver and Company, and Toy Story. Still, he picks The Little Mermaid off the shelf every time, and will happily sit in his rocking chair during the ENTIRE thing.

It got me thinking about role models we create for our children. Nursery rhymes and disney movies: what are we THINKING?! I've devised a little guessing game to illustrate my point. I'll sum up the plot, and you identify the movie/story/song.

1. Children out for a walk, trip and fall, and break their heads open.

2. Teenager thinks she's ready to make her own decisions, disobeys dad, convinces friends to keep hiding the truth, and tries to kiss a man who doesn't even know her name. No mother in this story.

3. Mom is killed. Gets shot at. Throws his competition off a cliff. Dad says two words to him during his entire life.

4. How to recognize if you're dying of the plague.

5. Child born with birth defect. Mother is jailed for trying to protect her child. Best advice comes from a mouse.

6. Person falls off a wall and is too mangled to ever be fixed.

7. Girl is loved by her father, who dies tragically young after remarrying. Unless you have mice friends who can sew, you'll be stuck as family slave forever.

8. Parents have a beautiful and beloved child, but give her away to be raised by three strange women in a forest.

9. Have a wonderful mom and dad, but people sneak into the house anyway and steal you away. New parents want to skin you to fashion their fall wardrobe.

10. Stealing is ok if you're in a big city, and you can sing.

11. Available men in town are so undesirable that it's better to marry a different species.


Ok, in actuality, I love disney movies, and I find nursery rhymes a great way to keep Scotty entertained. But it does make me think...

Belle--great dad, no mom
Cinderella--great deceased dad (we assume), evil stepmother and stepsisters
Jasmine--doting dad, no mom
Snow White--no parents, 12 short men
Ariel--great (if stern) dad, no mom

I guess you can't be a princess if you have a mom. Oh, well. My mom is too great. I'd pick her over a princessdom anyday :o)

Gould trip to UT

Meg's family came to UT this holiday weekend! Mom, Dad, brother Andrew, his wife Misty, and their two boys, Adien and Max. Thanks for coming to visit :o) Check out the slideshow at the bottom of this post for more great pictures!Friday we met up for the Draper Temple open house. It was beautiful, particularly the celestial room, and we had a wonderful experience being there all together as a family. It was the first time my mom had all of her kids together in the celestial room! Someday I know we'll all be there together again.

Friday night we went to a family party with my dad's side. Two of my cousins on that side are pregnant! Both due the same week in July.

Saturday, we all went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. If I lived closer, I would totally buy a membership--hours of endless entertainment for Scotty and the adults had a good time as well. Scotty's favorite was the bridge, especially when his Papa Brian found hand puppets that made tremendous bridge monsters.

Eric, Scotty and I came back to Provo on Saturday night for the ward activity at Spring Haven. I don't have any pictures because we were way too busy having a blast! We played Guitar Hero world tour, volleyball, pool (in the dark...?), Wii sports, and hung out on the slides. Ok, Scotty did most of the sliding, but he also played a bit of ping pong (aka he carried around a paddle for about an hour).

We missed the family get together on Sunday at my grandpa's nursing home, but we did stop by to see him. Scotty loves the duck-themed room! I'm also hearing that my cousin is pregnant...congrats! We had babies together last time around but sorry--no fetus here :o) Her sister Cali is due in March.


On Monday the whole crew came down here and we went to the Bean museum north of campus. "It's just like a zoo--only all the animals are dead." Scotty had the most fun he's ever had there as he is now old/big enough to run around without a stroller.

We love you! Come back soon!

A doubly historic day.

First, we watched the Inauguration today--and while I didn't vote for Obama and I'm not terribly enthusiastic about politics, I think he is a great public speaker and I'm glad people are so pumped about a President. I also read his autobiography a few months ago (the one he wrote after being elected president of the Harvard Law review) and was impressed by his intelligence and charisma.

Second, we WATCHED the Inauguration today. As in, on TV. In our own home. As in, the first time we've gotten TV reception in our entire 3 year marriage! My parents were in town this weekend and my dad made it his project to get us reception. It's still not perfected (i.e. you have to stand next to it holding the antenna box) but what it does pick up is crystal clear! Thanks, dad :o)

P.S. there are several places giving out freebies in celebration--including Krispy Kreme! I posted a list and some links on Meg's Magic

Sweet Candy

The sign language increases--today's word was "candy" (or sweet) as in, would you like food or sweets? I didn't decide to teach him this because I really wanted to give that choice (which would you pick, Mac & Cheese or a brownie?!) but because I'm curious about how quickly he can learn a new sign and I wanted something distinctly different.

"Sweet" is signed by placing your index finger on your cheek with the rest of your hand in a loose fist, and twisting back and forth, as in "ahhh, dimples..."

I demonstrated a few times at lunch today and picked it up during the volleyball game we attended tonight when Scotty was begging for pieces of my mint. He got the finger to the cheek thing on the first try, but the twisting motion seemed to escape him. He tried the wormy caterpillar. He tried the repetitive poking. Finally, it clicked, only by this time his finger had slid forward.

He looked at me happily and signed "pick my nose." I've never seen a boy so proud!

With the exception of the time he tried to give himself a wet willy, he's been pretty good at it since then. In case you were wondering, the sound effect he's given to "sweet" is a lot like "please"--very melodic and singsong. Might as well whistle a happy a tune while you pick your nose, cute boy!

Wonderland

Well, the snow still hasn't completely melted around here...it's practically impossible to push a stroller around!

We've had a few fun adventures since we got back in town. First, we went to the BYU women's gymnastics home opener which was a lot fun. The team is really young this year so we'll see how the season turns out, but we had a good time with friends and Scotty got to meet Cosmo!
He was mesmerized and fascinated...but a little hesitant to be so close to such a vicious animal ;o) Notice the death grip he has on Eric's shirt!

Scotty has also picked up some new tricks since we got back. He still doesn't talk much (except he gets "Yeah" and "no" exactly backwards...) but he signs a lot now so I'm getting picky. Now I won't give him food unless he signs "more food please" He has added sounds to each sign that he sings without fail--too bad they don't sound anything like the words! He's also cutting the last molar and his final front tooth! Still totally crooked and i'm sure we're headed for braces down the road.

He's perfecting his punk rock look to match his teething attitude.

He is also teaching himself to swim in the bathtub. It involves lots of splashing and giggling, as well as seeing how long he can hold his face under water...and give mom panic attacks!









He also likes to stand up and sign "all done"--but when I reach for him he belly flops back down in the water laughing!

A Funny Family History Moment...

So to support me in my new calling, Eric has been indexing a batch a week--meaning, one census page image of 50 names. We often sit down together to sort through the "what letter is THAT?!" moments. Today's page was the most interesting I've ever seen. It was one page from Worcester county in the 1920 Massachusetts census. After a half page of fairly routine names and information (meaning, mostly from Massachusetts or surrounding areas, a few Swedes, and a few boarders and sister-in-laws), we starting seeing very distinctly French names.

All of these French names were female, all unrelated to each other, various ages between 18 and 46, and all single. They stuck out because their relationship to the head of household was listed as "inmate."

As we finished the page, we began speculating about how we stumbled across the women's penitentiary in Massachusetts, and how all of the inmates happened to be French Canadian by birth. Maybe they tried to smuggle across the border?

After we finished the sheet, I checked the "occupation" column just to see what was listed for all of these inmates. "Non" it said, which I guess makes sense, as inmates pretty much just sit around, or occasionally make license plates.

THEN it hit me.

N-U-N.

Think they could have developed a better classification for a convent of religiously devoted women than INMATE?

Friends for Scotty

So I have discovered that I love watching my friends kids...yeah, it's all about service and giving and friendship--NOT! Really it's because they keep Scotty so entertained that I actually get things done during the day!

Scotty is such a social bug that he loves people (especially little ones) and doesn't even mind sharing his toys most of the time. There is only one thing that crosses the line: food.

I watched my neighbor's adorable little girl today and Scotty crawled around with her and showed her all of his toys. He helped her push the button and move the cars.

Then it was snack time.

I made two little piles of Kix--one for each munchkin. Every time I turned around, Scotty lunged over to grab handfuls of her pile before she could get to them! He was like a dustbuster on turbo, scarfing both piles as fast as he could to avoid having to share any food...

All picture SlideShow

If you want the highlights and the stories, check out the post below.

Happy 2009, everyone!

Pictures galore!

WOW I have lots of pictures and videos from our many adventures, but I know most of you aren't that interested in every detail, so I'll just post a few...but yes, mom, the next post will include a slide show of EVERYTHING just for you.

Uncle Drew and Aunt Misty gave Scotty a whirly-go-puke for Christmas...he even had fun putting it together. So far he likes to dance to the music and surf...

Scotty started to figure out "Christmas presents" by the end of the week and would tear the wrapping paper by himself. He also though stockings were pretty cool, especially when they contained cookies for him. He even helped us decorate (and undecorate) the Christmas tree. Because Charlie bought such a tall tree, Leanne had to do a decent amount of hacking to fit the angel on top. Scotty kept finding pieces of Christmas tree on the ground and trying to put them back on...

We got to spend good time with family, including crashing with Grandpa Don and Grandma Gay a few times to watch football. We also taught them how to post comments on blogs, so this is your chance to strut your stuff!





Of course, we watched lots of football. Our favorite games were TCU vs. Boise State and the Sugar Bowl.






I had to post this next picture, but it requires a good explanation first. We headed over to Reed and April's to watch the BYU game and eat fabulous homemade pizza. Eric's dad, Charlie, worked late and grabbed some munchies from the store on his way out. Walking down an aisle he saw lemonade and grabbed a six pack to share. When Reed went to open it he noticed it wasn't just any lemonade, it was "Mike's Hard Lemonade"--meaning it's alcoholic! For the rest of the night we had to keep stopping unsuspecting football watchers from cracking one open...


We got too busy to return it right away, so the boys decided to wrap it up for Christmas and put it under the tree. So here you are dad, happy Holiday Five-pack :o)


We took advantage of the relatively warm weather and lack of snow by seeing lights at a local botanical garden. Charlie bought these awesome 3D glasses for $1 that made all the lights look like snowflakes. Plus, you look really cool wearing them. It was a fun little date for Eric and I as well.

Saturday, Charlie took the big boys to a hockey game, where the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Red Wings in a shootout. We took the little boys to see Zoo lights, and after convincing Scotty to keep his gloves on, had a great time.













Scotty's favorite part was the giraffes--he craned his neck all the way out the door to keep looking at the really tall spotted things with lumps on their heads. We also got to meet an elephant up close...he actually sprayed water at our feet! We all gasped and jumped out of the way, as it was WAY too cold for a shower.

Scotty also had a great time eating at "A Perfect Landing" the restaurant at the local small-plane airport. Great food and the kids love watching the planes take off. It was also nice to get to get a whole family picture.


Eric and I also celebrated our third anniversary! We headed to downtown Denver and stayed the Capitol Hill Mansion bed and breakfast. We also ate at Rodizio's, watched some football, and toured the Capitol building.

Well that about sums up a great two week break! Just a few more videos and one last comment: I was officially crowned the Nerts Wizard, and I'm wearing that sash proudly until one of you gets good enough to dethrone me!


April helping the boys ice skate:

Uncle Stephen is so rad:


Grandma Larsen taught me a magic trick:

New Calling!

I got a new calling (though I don't think I've been released as a ward pianist) : Assistant Stake Extraction Director. I guess that's what happens when you include familysearch indexing on your gratitude list and your bishop reads your blog...;o)

ACTUALLY, I'm really excited about it. If you're looking for a cheerleader for family history work, I guess I'm your girl! Still, the next time I do your searching, mama, you're taking me to Scotland with you! Though the pictures were great :o)

If you don't know what family search indexing is, you're missing out, and don't worry--I WILL recruit you! Just think of it as family history work without the hard "looking and probably not finding anything" part.


Pictures of our adventures in Colorado to come tomorrow, after my camera batteries are charged....

I'll admit it...

We cheered for Utah the entire game.

and suddenly all of the commentators are Ute fans...