Rachel's Blessing

So this post is almost exactly two months late, but whatever! I'm juggling three kids, a busy husband, and a part-time job--I'm impressed that anything gets done around here. Just don't look in my fridge; we've been out of milk for 2 days and we still have tupperware with Thanksgiving leftovers...

ANYWAY.

October 14, 2012
Our sweet baby Rachel Marie Larsen was blessed by her daddy,  and both sets of grandparents got to be there. It was so great to have Charlie and Leanne out here! Leanne was super woman, cooking freezer meals and helping with the kids while I worked even though she was down to one arm.

the Larsens

her sad face is adorably scrunched up :)

the Mary Poppins feet!

Love!

I love this little peach dress! It actually belongs to one of my mom's dolls and it was the dress I was blessed in as a baby.

Alyssa also got to wear it. See any resemblance?

Alyssa, 1 month: BIGGER eyes :)

and pointy ears

but they both do "that tongue thing"

More kids means decent looking family pictures are harder to come by :)

with Nani and Papa

P.S. for the curious, we all agree that Rachel looks more like Scotty as a baby, with the same furrowed brow and big ears. Her head isn't as round as his was and she has the pointy chin like Alyssa.

The Philosopher

Scotty asks deep questions. While driving home from church he started a very involved discussion.

S: "When my daddy gets old and dies, will I not have a daddy anymore?"
Meg: "Daddy will always be your daddy, no matter what."
S: "But when he's dead he won't be around to be my daddy."
Meg: "He'll be in heaven but he'll still love you, watch over you, and care about you--he'll always be your daddy."
S: "But if he's in heaven he's not here on Earth, so it's not really the same."
Meg: "Feel free to jump in here anytime, Eric."
Eric: "I'm not dead, so don't worry about it."

We had this one over dinner:

Scotty: "What does 'birth' mean? Is it a bad thing?"
Meg: "Birth? It means the day you were born--when a baby comes out of the mommy's tummy, and it's a wonderful thing."
Scotty: "Then why do we have to protect people from birth if it's not a bad thing?"
Meg: "What? Where are you getting this?"
Scotty: "Like in the song! 'to protect me from birth'."
Meg: (singing in her head) "My choice was to come to this lovely home on Earth, to seek for God's light to DIRECT me from birth" (thank you, calling as the Primary Chorister!)

Meg: "The words are 'direct me from birth'."
Scotty: "so we should stay away from it?"

Meg: "English is a silly language, Scotty."

Blessing Day!

Sunday was Alyssa's blessing day and she was a complete angel. She is wearing the same dress I was blessed in, which actually belongs to a doll.

My dad tells me her eyes were open and gazing up at her daddy during the blessing, and Eric did a wonderful job. We are so blessed to have this sweet girl in our family!

She fell sleep right after the blessing and all four of her grandparents got to hold a sweet baby during church.

Nani and Papa

We were fortunate to have Eric's parents in town for the weekend to celebrate with us.

Grandma and Peeta

hence the nickname "Lizard Lady"

getting love from her big brother

Scotty loves Alyssa so much!

Today marked a return to real life, where my amazing mother in law is no longer around to rock Alyssa in the middle of night, make pancakes and play baseball with Scotty, cook meals (including extra in the freezer for next week!), and clean my house. Did I mention that this sainted lady even scrubbed the grout on my tile floors? It was a treat to have her here to help with the kids and also just to stay up talking and laughing. I can hardly wait the two months until we'll be in Colorado with the rest of the Larsens.

Of course, I am extremely blessed to have my mom so close. I'm probably at her house two days a week! I love having someone to talk to, help with the kids, food, and occasionally some extra naps :o) Thanks, mom!

Phoenician Christmas

I've loved the posts on many of your blogs that say: "here is the view from our house right now" and usually depict feet of white, fluffy snow and buried cars. At first glance I think: wow, that looks gorgeous! and Christmasy! And then I remember that it's cold. And you have to shovel your car out everyday.

My view seems better and better everyday.


Scotty hangs out in the cul-de-sac with his big kid friends. Today they showed him how to use a walky-talky.

He can actually pedal from time to time but mostly walks his bike around. He usually wears his firefighter helmet so he matches the big kids with their helmets.

Doesn't seem like Christmas time to you? What more do you want? Christmas colored toe nails?


At least here you can actually see them... besides, we took Scotty to see the temple lights the other week and it was cold enough that we actually got hot chocolate.

Once a teacher

I've learned something over the past few years: I love teaching. I've had lots of different callings over the years and because I'm musical they almost all involved playing the piano. Now that I'm finishing a master's in education and teaching every day, suddenly, a whole new avenue has opened up for me! Anytime they don't have a teacher--ask Meg! Last week I filled in for the RS Yoga class. Since I've done yoga probably twice in my life it was a bit of stretch...but hey, I'm a teacher, right?

I did get the opportunity to teach RS this past Sunday and it was a wonderful experience for me. I really do love teaching and the benefit of teaching in church is that lesson planning becomes a spiritual experience instead of a burden. My mom is in the YW presidency and missed my lesson so I had promised her I would fill her in--figured I might as well post it here but don't feel obligated to read it.

The topic of the lesson was Elder Richard G. Scott's talk from last April Conference, "Temple Worship: The Source of Strength and Power in Times of Need."

Because I'm a chemistry teacher, you get equations and math :o) I divided Elder Scott's talk into this:

Showing + Going + Knowing = Overflowing

If we want more out, more love, more sense of overflowing with the love of the Lord and the spirit of the temple in our lives, we have to put more in. We can do more to show the importance of the temple in our lives and teach it to our children. We can go more regularly and prepare to get more out of our experience. We can grow in our knowledge of the purpose of the temple, of family history work, and of the deep personal symbols we find there.

Showing the Temple
Post pictures of the temple in your house along side people and things that you cherish. If you hang a picture of you and spouse at the temple on your wedding day in a place where you are most likely to feel frustrated it will bring you peace instead of frustration, understanding and love instead of anger. Teach your children about the temple--tell them where you are going and why. Take them to walk around the grounds and to the visitor's center.

"Always prayerfully express gratitude for the incomparable blessings that flow from temple ordinances. Live each day so as to give evidence to Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son of how very much those blessings mean to you” (Elder Richard G. Scott, April 2009).

Going to the Temple
"Set specific goals, considering your circumstances, of when you can and will participate in temple ordinances. Then, do not allow anything to interfere with that plan" (Elder Richard G. Scott, April 2009).

Make the entire trip part of your temple experience. Leave early enough. Listen to uplifting music. Let your spouse drive if you get frustrated driving in traffic! Participate in all the different ordinances. Be as prepared and aware as you were the first time you attended. Don't rush out immediately after.

"There are few places now that offer an opportunity to meditate in quiet reverence. Before entering some temple to begin ordinance work, the companies frequently assemble in the chapel in the annex portion of the building. Here the members wait until the full company is assembled. Generally in life we would become impatient in waiting. To be first in a room and then be compelled to wait for the last to enter before proceeding would in other circumstances cause irritation. In the temple it is just the opposite. The waiting is regarded as a choice opportunity. What a privilege it is to sit quietly without conversation and direct the mind to reverent and spiritual thoughts! It is a refreshment to the soul" (Boyd K. Packer, "The Holy Temple).

Knowing the Temple
Why the temple? Isn't church or prayer or the scriptures enough? The prophet Joseph Smith taught: "The Church is not fully organized, in its proper order, and cannot be, until the Temple i completed, where places will be provided for the administration of the ordinances of the Priesthood."

Elder Richard G. Scott says we must "understand the doctrine related to temple ordinances, especially the significant of the Atonement of Jesus Christ." He suggests starting with Doctrine & Covenants sections 88, 109, 131, and 132. I also recommend Boyd K. Packer's "The Holy Temple" preparation packet.

Elder John A. Widtsoe: "We live in a world of symbols. We know nothing, except by symbols. We make a few marks on a sheet of paper, and say that they form a word, which stands for love, or hate, or charity, or God or eternity. The marks may not be beautiful to the eye. No one finds fault with the symbols on the pages of a book because they are not as mighty in their own beauty as the things which they represent. We do not quarrel with the symbol G-O-D because it not very beautiful, yet represents the majesty of God. We are glad to have symbols, if only the meaning of the symbols are brought home to us. We live in a world of symbols. No man or woman can come out of the temple endowed as he should be, unless he has seen, beyond the symbol, the mighty realities for which the symbols stand.
"The temple ceremony will not be fully understood at first experience. It will be only partly understood. Return again and again and again. Return to learn. Things that have troubled you or things that have puzzling or things that have been mysterious will become known to you. Many of them will be the quiet, personal things that you really cannot explain to anyone else. But to you they are things known" (quoted Boyd K. Packer in "The Holy Temple")

Overflowing with the Temple
"What is there that is more important than attending and participating in the ordinances of the temple? What activity could have a greater impact and provide more joy and profound happiness for a couple than worshipping together in the temple?" (Elder Richard G. Scott, April 2009).
Elder Scott lists many blessings that come from making the temple central in our lives:

• find joy and comfort in the midst of all your sorrows
• enable you to have faith in God
• help you thank the Lord for the trust He places in you to overcome difficulties
• rejoice in the knowledge that your children are yours forever
• feel the influence of loves one through the veil
• have no reason to feel despondent
• find faith to never complain
• help you make difficult decisions
• free your mind from the burden of worry
• give you knowldge and wisdom
• feel the love of the Lord
  

Finally, President Gordon B. Hinckley made a powerful promise that was re-published in the October 2009 Ensign. "If we are a temple-going people, we will be a better people, we will be better fathers and husbands, we will be better wives and mothers. I know your lives are busy. I know that you have much to do. But I make you a promise that if you will go to the House of the Lord you will be blessed, life will be better for you."

I intend to test that promise. I want to be better! I want to be a better wife, a better mother, a better friend. I want to listen more closely, give more fully, and love more deeply. There are so many people I care about who don't have this blessing yet--how I wish I could explain what the temple means to me and my family! I only hope that they can see and feel the difference in my life and know that they also have a Heavenly Father who loves them and watches over them. And someday--someday--we will all be in the temple together.

Sent

Scotty has gotten really into primary songs and hymns over the past few weeks. He now requests a "mama song" every night as I tuck him in. His current favorite is "I am a child of God."

This week has been a little stressful: Eric is in LA for training, I am doing double duty between student teaching and writing papers for my class, and Scotty is displaying his own stress by not taking naps and waking up before 6am. Last night I was feeling a little frazzled and in a rush to get him in bed, so when he requested a song I wasn't thrilled about it. I sang the first verse of "I am a child of God" as I backed out of the room, with Scotty quietly humming along.

"I am a child of God, and He has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do to live with Him someday."

When I had my hand on the door he looked up at me with sweet baby eyes and said: "Mama, I'm sent! I was sent!"

Yes you were, my sweet boy. You were sent straight from heaven right to me. I think I needed that reminder.


I hope that someday you are as blessed to have me for a mother as I am to have you for my son.

A week in review

It has been a full week here in Larsenland!

Meg spent her whole week here,

reliving her high school experience (Go Thunder!)

and trying to look like a teacher instead of a student. For the most part the students can tell I'm not one of them, the teachers are surprised that I'm old enough to have a 2-year old without being a teenage mom, and the security guards are starting to recognize my face and stop eyeing me suspiciously in the hallways.

I've also done a little bit of this:

My favorite part :o) I'm lucky to have a great mentor teacher who gives me lots of freedom mixed with helpful feedback. I have 2 AP Chemistry classes and 3 Honors classes.

Eric is busting these out just about every spare minute:

He's taking the financial section of the CPA exam next Thursday and is feeling the pressure,
so I see a lot of this:

In other news, our testimonies of revelation and consistency in the church have been strengthened. It's amazing that anywhere you go you learn the same values,
hear the same lessons....

...and have pretty much the same callings. I am the official Relief Society pianist and Eric is the Elder's Quorum secretary.

Scotty turned 2 on Wednesday! We're celebrating with cake and a BBQ swim party with friends next weekend (hopefully we can find some friends by then) but we gave him a few things to open.
Unlike previous birthdays, he was actually able to open his own presents.

He is so into anything that moves right now, including trucks, trains, firetrucks, airplanes, helicopters, motorcycles, the movie Cars... Thanks Mom and Dad Larsen for the books!
(He's grumpy in this picture because Eric took the book away to hold it up)

We've all had the honor to read them at least 10 times already.

You are welcome to come read them to him anytime.

Nana and Papa got him this cool "bite" for him to learn to pedal.
He sleeps with it next to his bed.

There's also this:

Anyone want to give our talks on Sunday? We're speaking on charity and virtue.
Now we just have to decide which one of us is charitable and which one is virtuous.

Daddy Day

Scotty gave us the best Father's Day present yesterday: he slept in till 9am. Of course, I hadn't planned on that miracle, so I hadn't set an alarm. Still, I managed to make Eric french toast breakfast in bed, jump in the shower, mostly figure out how to do my hair without looking like a mushroom, and make it to church to accompany choir practice by 10am. Whew!

Eric didn't want any presents, so I practiced restraint. I finally found a nice bag to replace the duffel bag he currently hauls to the temple :o) Mostly I bought things for Scotty so he could look just like his daddy, including miniature black wingtips and a nice white button shirt.

This picture is a better summation of our day:

Check out that loving face!

We also decided to make a huge Father's Day card for Eric via a candy bar poster. Scotty helped me pick out candy as we walked around the store to write a creative message of love and appreciation.


Of course, Eric really only likes Reese's, and that's a hard word to incorporate, so we improvised.

We love you, Eric!

Just to keep it interesting.

There's always something that Scotty comes up with to keep his parents entertained or life interesting. He's a perfect fit for the Tigger song....

"The wonderful thing about Scotty's, is Scotty's are wonderful things.

Their tops are made out of rubber (conveniently, or we would have made many more trips to the ER by now!)

Their bottoms are made out of springs (well, you can say THAT part again. I've never seen a kid with more energy!)

They're bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! (four bounces and five funs--yup, about sums it up.)

BUT the most wonderful thing about Scotty's--you're the only one! (I don't think we could handle two. Or even one and a half.)"

Most recent factoids:

1. Scotty no longer has curtains in his room. A few days ago I heard him awake and giggling at 10pm and I got suspicious. I walked into his room and it seemed really light back there. Sure enough, he had got ahold of the curtain, used the leverage to pull down the rod, and was jousting his stuffed animals with it.

Our theory is that the first time something happens, it's an accident. The second time, it's on purpose. Eric put the rod back up but we couldn't move it out of reach--the room is only so big and Scotty has the arms of an oragutan.

When he did the same thing the next day (plus jumping up and down in his thus-far indestructible crib), he lost his curtain privelages. I'm just hoping it doesn't backfire by waking him up really early!

2. We have to ration the jam. We were on our way to church this morning when Scotty let out a distressed scream from the back seat. I noticed he was rubbing at his eye and I thought he'd gotten something in it, so I turned around in my seat to help him. What I discovered was that he had jam on the back of his hand left over from breakfast and by rubbing his eye he had sealed the lid shut. With jam.

I did the only thing a parent can do in a situation like this. Laugh, while I open the lid to his sippy cup and splash water onto his eye to un-jam it.

3. Scotty can now (finally!) drink from a cup! After months of thinking we would have to get a sippy cup specially labeled "Elder Larsen" to accompany him on his mission, Scotty finally figured out the cup. He requires supervision and I haven't let him drink anything staining, but it's definite progress. I look forward to throwing away the much chewed sippy lids, but for now, his one faithful cup still accompanies us on outings.

A better outlook

Now that I've slept off this weekend's exhaustion, I'm feeling much better about everything. I love Conference weekend because it always makes me feel so hopeful and motivated to do better!

Some days being a parent is really hard, and others, it's the best thing in the world. Today I love being a mom! Instead of trying to get my school stuff done early or trying to do "my" stuff, I decided to just love being a mom and play with my little boy while he still thinks I'm the coolest person ever.

He totally cracks me up! Funny morning moments:

* he loves this big purple bouncy ball his Grandpa bought him at the dollar store for Christmas. He's really good and throwing it and pretty good at kicking it, so we're working on catching. The problem is, every time I tell him to put his arms out, he carefully folds them! He'll stand there with his arms folded while the ball bounces off his stomach....so funny!

* this morning he decided to use his bouncy ball like an exercise ball and walked himself around the front room on his stomach

* after reading his Dog book (which is hilarious because he imitates all the dog sounds), he pranced around the front room on his hands and knees picking up cheerios with his mouth. Gross, but I clean my floors regularly and it was pretty cute.

* we watched a few minutes of Bambi before his nap, and while I'm old enough to realize that it is the slowest and most plot-less movie ever, he loves it! He loves watching the animals bounce around, and gets really concerned when they get scared of the hunters. He popped right out of his rocking chair and put his face against the TV and started yelling "go! go!" to the bunnies.

On a more personal note, I actually got to read my scriptures this morning! I usually only find time at night after he's asleep, which works, but sometimes I need a little boost to get me out of my morning funk and that just doesn't happen often with a toddler. It's not exactly peaceful or enlightening to study over screaming or fight over the book...but this morning, I asked him if he wanted to read books and instead of bringing me his touch and feel alphabet book (thanks, Sarah!), he brought me Eric's scripture case. Then he sat quietly in my lap for FIFTEEN MINUTES flipping through the miniature hymn book while I read out loud. It was so amazing and so nice! He's a great example to me :o) Having a son of my own gives me a totally new perspective on Easter.

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?

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....