Here are some new pictures of the girls...

Brinkley with Dr. Goff at 4 weeks old.

Brinkely's bath time.  She's about three weeks old.

Ady and Brinkley laying in Grandma's suitcase.

Brinkley at 4 weeks.

This is the first picture of the four of us together, and Brinkley is 5 weeks.  Pretty sad huh?

Ady and Brinkley in their Sunday best!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everybody!  Last night was lots of fun!  We took Ady trick-or-treating with her friend Drew.  We stayed in our little neighborhood and only found like eight or nine people at home but somehow still ended up with a bucket full of candy.  Ady loved it though.  We left baby Brinkley at home with Nama (Grandma Larson) because it was a little chilly and mostly dark before we got going.  Ady was so polite and told everyone thank you.  She also did really well saying trick or treat.  I love Halloween but unfortunately Zack-O-Lantern (he he he) doesn't, so we didn't dress up (sad huh?!).  Ady was a pumpkin witch and she was so dang cute.  Brinkley just had on a Halloween shirt, but she was so dang cute too.  After trick-or-treating we went to our friend's house and had a little party.  There was good food and lots of candy and great company.  I hope everyone else had an awesome Halloween!

Next I want to say Congratulations Jason and Paloma!  For those of you who know my brother Jason, today he got married.  I'm so happy for him and his cut new wife.  Paloma is from Manaus, Brazil, and it took them over a year to get her a visa and get her here so I am very excited for them that they can finally be together all the time now.  Jason deserves the cutest, sweetest wife, and I think that's just what he finally found.  So congratulations to them.  I'm so sad I didn't get to be there for it, but because of the timing and the new baby and everything, it just didn't work out.  I'm really missing all my family today but hope that they are having a great time together.  I love all you guys!

I also want to let everyone know that Josh got his mission call! (For those who don't know, Josh is one of Zack's younger brothers).  He actually got it like a month ago and I'm just really slow to post it.  He is going to the Montana, Billings mission!!!  He leaves December 17th.  Montana will be a great place for him because he is always so hot.  He also just celebrated his 19th birthday with us here on Oct. 30th.  So Happy Birthday Josh and Good Luck!  Oh yeah, and thanks for all your help.

In other news...Zack is trying to join the Air Force right now (because they'll pay for school, and he's always wanted to be in the military).  He went in yesterday for his physical exam, and they wouldn't even do it because apparently he is female.  That's right, according to the Social Security Administration Zack Marshall Larson is a female, and has been for the past 25 years!  I never knew I married a girl.  He was quite put out about the whole thing and ask his mom why she never told him he was a girl!  We had a good laugh about it, and now we have to go down the SS office and prove that he's not a girl before the Air Force will do his physical.  I told him he should have dressed up like a girl for Halloween after that, but he wouldn't go for it.

Ady is such a crack up!  She has started saying the funniest things.  These may only be funny to us, because we don't expect her to say them, but hopefully you will all enjoy them.  This is the list of quotes from just the last week:  

       -Zack was teasing her so she said "Be nice Dad!" and "No, no hit Dad."  She also spent a good part of last night telling the other kids to "be nice."  Apparently we say it a lot to her.

       -She knows we have candy in the house and so she keeps telling us "I need a treat."  I love it

       -Finally (this is my favorite) she walks over to me while I'm nursing Brinkley and lifts up the blanket to see what's going on and says "nummy booby."  I guess both her and Brinkley think boobies are delicious.  It was so funny!!  She also tried to nurse Brinkley the other day, it was great.  We frequently see her nursing her other toys too.

This is Ady in one of Nama's undershirts and Papa's cowboy boots.

Two Sweet Girls and a Birthday Boy!

I Love my girls, they are so much fun!  Ady loves her little sister and gives her kisses and hugs and squishes her.  It's so sweet.  Brinkley just sleeps most of the day, and not so much at night.  It's hard to believe she is already two weeks old.  We love having her here.  Her cord still hasn't fallen off, but I think it's getting close.  I can't wait for it to fall off so she can have a real bath.

Ady is getting so big!  She looks huge compared to tiny Brinkley.  She is learning new words everyday too.  Tonight at dinner she didn't like what we were eating and so she said, "my tummy hurts."  It took us completely by surprise; it was so funny.  She also just learned how to count to nine so that's exciting.  My other two favorite things she says: (talking to Zack) "here honey, drink it."  She calls him honey a lot.  And when we ask her a question she answers "yeah, sure" or just "sure."  It's so funny.  She is getting really bossy and sassy too.  She is so crazy and fun.  She cracks us up all the time.  She is too smart for her own good.

Happy 25th Birthday Zack!!!!  We can finally rent a car and not have to pay extra for being under 25!  Zack turned 25 on the 23rd of this month.  He got a sweet GPS system from his parents, a legos set from Josh, and golf stuff from me.  He is still plugging away at school.  The semester is half over, hooray.  But poor Zack is getting burned out.  He has to study so much there isn't time for much else.  But he is doing so good and I'm so proud of him; I'd never be able to do what he's doing.  We are doing great though and still loving Oklahoma.  We miss everyone and hope to see a lot of friends and family over Thanksgiving and Christmas break.

She finally made it....

Brinkley Lane was born on October 10th at 10:26 pm.  She weighed 7 lbs. and 5 oz. and was 20 and a half inches long.  (The hospital measured her at 21 and a quarter inches, but at her one week appointment I watched the nurse measure her and she was 20 and a half inches.)  Everything went really well, and my mom and dad even made it in time for the birth!  I ended up being induced because I was so far dilated (at a five and about 80% effaced) and because I was group B strep positive this time.  So on Friday I went to the hospital at noon and had to get at least two rounds of antibiotics (spaced four hours apart) in me before they could do anything else.  The plan was to get the antibiotics and then the doctor would just come and break my water and see if that would get me going.  But when they checked me, and baby's head was still floating up so they didn't dare break my water. So they started me on pitocin at 6 pm to push the baby's head down.  They steadily increased my dose until about 9:15 when I ask for an epidural.  At that point my doctor was there and told them to stop the pit because I didn't need it anymore and I was waiting for the epidural.  At 10:10-ish I started pushing and about 15 min. later Brinkley was here.  It went so well, and Zack even got to help deliver the baby and he didn't drop her:)  We are so glad she is finally here!  Ady has been so good with her too.  She gets so excited to see the baby every morning, and even more excited when she is awake.  She likes to hug her and give her kisses; it's so sweet.  And she hasn't even hit her on purpose yet!Yay!!!  Anyway she is super cute and sweet and looks a little like Ady's baby pics so far, just without the big cheeks.     

Pumpkin Patch and Petting Zoo

Today Ady and I went with some of the other Mom's in our ward to Chester's Party Barn.  It was so much fun!  Ady spent the whole first hour we were there feeding the goats.  She loved it, and I loved watching her.  We even got to feed and pet a llama.  After that she got to go on a pony ride.  She thought that was great too.  After the ponies we went to the pumpkin patch and picked out two pumpkins, then we went on a hayride.  She really liked the tractor that was pulling us.  The hayride took us to a small corn maze, which led to a gigantic slide and sand pile.  We went down the slide like six or seven times then climbed back on the trailer and rode back to the petting zoo area.  It was so much fun, and it wore her out so she took a good nap!  Then after she woke up, we went to the zoo downtown with some friends.  It was a crazy/fun-filled day.  I was hopeful that doing all that walking and playing and sliding and riding would put me into labor, but unfortunately it didn't.  I did have some pretty good contractions today, so maybe she'll decide to come soon.... I hope:)  

Here's Ady feeding one of the many goats.  This one 

escaped from the fence and was just wandering freely.

This is Ady on a pony.

Ady on sitting on the hay bales on the hayride.

Ady and her friend Lucy sitting on the Pumpkins.

No baby yet

I just wanted to let you all know that I still haven't had the baby; unfortunately.  I've had false labor two or three times, and I'm dialated to just over a four, and the baby only has to drop 5 more centimeters before she's crowning, but she refuses to come out despite my best efforts.  My body is clearly trying to get her out, but she just doesn't want to come yet.  The good news is I finally found a double stroller and got it all assembled and everything.  It's pretty nice.  Ady and I took it for a test drive this morning and it was so easy to push.  We both like it:)  Ady seems really excited that the baby will be coming out soon.  She is so cute about it.  We're excited to see her, and hope she will decide to make an appearance real soon!

I hate bugs...

I hate bugs so much.  And Oklahoma is definitely the wrong place to live for someone who hates bugs.  There are millions of bugs here; big bugs, little bugs, bugs who climb on rocks, and I really hate them.  I've sprayed the outside of my house with bug stuff like three times since we've been here, but apparently the bugs here have superpowers and are immune to bug spray because they are still getting into the house everywhere.  Anyway, the reason I'm on this subject is because we found a HUGE black widow spider in our garage yesterday.  It was actually down in our storm shelter, under one of the benches.  We think that the spider also killed the two mice that were living down there, which made it smell really nice.  So Zack spent yesterday cleaning out the shelter and catching the spider.  She is seriously so big.  It creeps me out a lot to think about having to go down there now.  But I guess if I'm about to get attacked by a tornado I might go down.  So I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I hate bugs (and the giant spiders).  Luckily we haven't found any black widows in the house yet, so I guess I should be thankful for that, which I am.  So if you hate bugs, don't live in Oklahoma.    

Exciting News!!

So I had my 36 week appointment today, and I'm dialated to almost 3cm already! The doctor also said I'm 50% effaced, and the baby is at a -1 station (which basically just means that the baby had dropped)!!! Yay. I'm excited. Now granted, I could still be pregnant until my due date or later, but it's not too likely. I'm really excited for the news. Now I just hope she won't come too early.

Our Life...

So things are going pretty good. Zack had his first test at school, and got an A! He is taking another one right now, so we'll see how he does. He's gone all day long, and I really hate that cause me and Ady miss him lots, but we are surviving. She and I go to two play groups a week, and then I have an institute class she goes to with me, so we are keeping pretty busy. I have five weeks left 'til the due date and that makes me very excited. I finally got a bassinet and got it all set up and everything. I'm starting to get really excited for this baby. More good news... Ady has slept in her big girl bed for the last three nights, and it's going pretty good. Right now she makes me stay in there with her til she's asleep, and she always puts up a little fight, but she knows that if she doesn't obey she'll have to go back into the crib. Hopefully within the next two weeks we can get her to go to sleep in it without me sitting it there with her. Now I have to tell you all about the funniest thing Ady did. We were eating dinner at the home of one of the guys in our bishopric, and Ady let out this incredibly loud toot. The table went silent and everyone was looking at Ady. Her eyes got really big and she said, "woa, froggy." Everyone thought it was so funny. She's quite the little chatter box.

Zack and I got our tickets to come home for Christmas, and I'm super excited!! We will be in Cedar from Dec. 21st to Jan. 5th. I'm excited to come home and visit everyone for a coupl of weeks, it will be great. Oh and if anyone has a toddler carseat they are not using that we could borrow for two weeks, please let me know. Sorry there are no pictures, but I've been really bad about taking them, I'll post some next time though.

P.S. If anyone has a really good recommendation for a double stroller it would be much appreciated.

The Big Belly

I finally got a picture of my pregnant belly to post, so here it is.  This is me at 29 and a half weeks.  Which means I only have like 10 weeks left.  Hooray.  I don't feel like I can grow any more, but I'm sure I will.  We have also decided on a name that hopefully will not get changed at the last minute like last time.  But because it might, I'll just wait and tell you all when she gets here.    

Here's Our House

Pictures! (Well two)

So I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures, but they're just of us, not of the house; I'm still working on those ones!!

Here's the sweet little Ady girl.  She wouldn't smile in 

hardly any of the pictures, so this is the best we did; not crying!

This is one of the family pictures we had done back in May

Ady wasn't very cooperative.

Everything is going pretty good.  Zack only has 2 weeks left of gross anatomy, and then a week break before the fall semester starts.  It's gonna be a tough semester, but I know he can do it.  

Ady is talking like crazy; learning new words and phrases everyday.  It's so fun.  We miss everyone back in Cedar and love you all!

Oh and I'll post pictures of the house and of my belly as soon as I have time to take them.

Update....

So things have been a little crazy around here the last few weeks, but I think we are finally settling down and finding a groove. To start with we had all the issues with getting the house finished to deal with, and we are still dealing with some of that. It's really annoying. Then our car got hit before I'd even been here a week. Some jerk backed into the front end and then took off. So we have been trying to get all that taken care of; what a pain! Then we found us a new car (this was obviously a much happier event for us). We got an '04 Mitsubishi endeavor. I love it. It's nice a roomy inside, plenty of room for babies!! But Zack did have to start school on the 30th of June, and it hasn't been pleasant for him. On top of that Zack got pretty sick and the beginning of this week. Had fevers off and on for like 24 hours, but he's doing much better now. We've had to deal with mice infestations and bugs up the gazoo. It's all starting to get better now though.

On this past Sunday Ady started nursery! It was so awesome to just be able to sit and relax and listen to the last two meetings! WOW! And I'll only be able to enjoy it for like three months. So sad. Oh well, I guess the trade off is pretty good eh?! It's hard to believe she is already 18 months. Well technically we did start her a week early, but still. Anyway, they said she did really well and she only cried for like two seconds when I left and then she forgot all about me. She didn't want to leave when we went to pick her up. She is so goofy, we love her to death. She is trying so hard to talk in sentences already, it's crazy. She's also really good at labeling things. For example when she lays on our bed she always points and says "daddy's pillow" or "mommy's pillow" and "daddy's/mommy's shoes". It's so fun. She's really good at talking already, but she can't say the "f" sound for some reason. Insead of a fork, she uses a sork. It's pretty funny.

Things are going a lot better. We love our ward, they are so nice. It's full of young families and a lot of other dental students. We love it. Anyway, we miss everyone and we love you all.

New Numbers

I just wanted to let everyone know that Zack and I both got new phone numbers. We'll try to text everyone and let them know what they are, but if you haven't gotten one or need it now just email us and we can tell you what they are. If you need our new address just email us also for that. Things are crazy, and I'll update you more later.

The Big Move

We made it to Oklahoma! Zack and Kevan made the long drive on June 12th and 13th. Then they were here in our house with nothing except what would fit in the car. On Monday afternoon Ady and Robbi and I finally got here too. The next day all of our stuff arrived and in good condition. We were a little worried, but short of a few scuffs here and there, and one bookshlef all of our stuff made it here in great condition. Unfortunately, after being here almost a week, I feel like we are not even close to being done unpacking. We've also been living without furniture, except our bed and the crib, for this whole time. The good news is that it's being delivered tomorrow afternoon. So far Oklahoma is great; really flat, pretty hot, a little humid, and really green. Our house is great. Ady loves all the room to run around. She also already calls it home. As soon as we turn into the subdivision she says "home". She also made a friend yesterday with a four year old named Madison accross the street. Our car met with some misfortune a couple of days ago. We had it parked in the street while the driveway and garage were being powerwashed and someone backed into it and took off. We weren't too happy about it, but what can you do. I miss everyone in Cedar and hope you are all doing well. We love you!

Big News!!!

Zack and I have big news for everyone. We are pregnant with baby #2! We have actually been pregnant since January. We just found out this week that we are having another girl. We are really excited for Ady to have a little sister. Originally my due date was November 7th, and I was only supposed to be 18 weeks on friday. But at my 18 week appointment this week we found out that the baby was measuring 21 weeks. So the doctor moved my due date up three weeks to October 15, 2008. That made me even more excited that I'm farther along than I thought I was. We still haven't come up with any names for this one, but we have a little time. Ady points at my belly and says "baby" and gives her kisses. She is so sweet. We also taught her to say "sister". We know she's going to be a great big sister!

Here's our new baby girl.

They told us she is definitely a girl. This proves it!

This is a 3-D picture of the baby's face. Pretty cool huh?! She looks just like me (ha ha ha).

We Made it Home!!!

Hey everyone we made it back to the States! After nine airplanes, one rental car, and over 17,000 miles, we have made it back home. We are in Arizona picking up Ady, but then we will finally be back home for a short two weeks while we pack and then move to Oklahoma. Everything was great and we are so glad that we were able to go to Brazil. We had a lot of fun, but we are so happy to be home. It took Ady a while to warm up to us, but she finally came around and she remembers us. We've had a lot of fun playing with her; we missed her so much! We are so thankful to Aroldo and his family for all of their hospitality and to Sara and Jefferson for everything they did for us. We had so much fun with all of them in Sao Paulo and we love them and their families. We are also so thankful to Jean and Merriellen for all of their help on the rest of our trip.

More on Brazil

Hello again everyone! Zack and I are now in Brasilia, which is the capital of Brazil. We are staying with one of Zack´s companions and his wife, Jean and Merriellen. They are so nice and take good care of us. I have had some problems adjusting to the food. Rice and beans twice a day is a little tough on my body, but other than that, things are great. The fruit here is amazing. It´s amazing how different Brasilia is from São Paulo. SP is covered with ugly graffiti, everywhere you look. The houses are stacked on tope of eachother, and it looks very unsafe. There are a lot of slum areas there too. Here in Brasilia, it´s a lot nicer. There isn´t nearly as much graffiti, and the houses look a lot less rundown too. I also haven´t seen as many slum areas. We don´t have as much to do here, but tomorrow we´re going to Recife, where it´s hot, and there are lots of beaches. We met the sister missionaries in this area, and one was American so it was nice to be able to talk to someone. We´ve had similar experiences with food. The Brazilians also keep telling me how I´m going to have to wear a lot of sunscreen in Recife and Natal; it´s pretty funny. We miss Ady, but she is doing great. We miss everyone at home too and we´ll see you soon.

Brazil

Hello everyone! We made it to Brazil! The 10 hour flight was long, but we made it. Our hotel is really nice and has an awesome breakfast. Zack's friend Jefferson and his wife Sara have been really great to us. They took us home yesterday and fed us, and today they took us all over town doing stuff. We went to the Brazil Independence museum and park. It was beautiful. We walked around looking for the monkeys they say are in the park, but we didn't see any. Today I tried coconut water (it's a little wierd tasting, but not too bad) and this stuff called caldo de cana, which is juice from sugar cane. When I first tasted it it was awful. Kind of like drinking water with grass in it and a little sugar. Then they added a little bit of fresh squeezed lemon, and it was delicious. It tasted like really sweet lemonade. It was so fun. And tomorrow we are hopefully going to the zoo. I am trying to learn as many words in portugese as possible, but it's difficult. We are missing Ady like crazy, but she is having fun at grandma and grandpa Larson's house. We watch the video we have of her everyday. Anyway, all is going well and we are safe. We love you all.

Thanks!

I just wanted to tell everyone who has left comments thanks. We are so glad that you have taken the time to look us up, and if any of you have blogs please tell us where we can find them. We'd love to keep up will all of you too. We appreciate all of you and we love you.

Our silly Ady girl!

Ady did the funniest thing the other night. Grandma Robbi was putting her to sleep in the rocking chair with a bottle. Then I remembered we needed to brush her teeth so I ask Zack if he could do it. She hates getting her teeth brushed, and she heard us say we were going to do it. When Zack got in there with her toothbrush she closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was asleep already. It was the funniest thing ever. We never realized she was smart enough to figure that out. It was so silly. She is also having a lot of fun with her two new cousins; Gaige and Raker (born just a week apart). She likes to hold them like her dollies, and points to their noses and eyes, and she loves giving them kisses. It's really sweet! She is mostly really nice and soft to them, but she has hit poor Gaige a few times when she gets mad at us. She is just growing so fast. She is nearly 16 months old and she weighs 24 lbs. She is in the 68th percentile for weight, and the 80th percentile for height. She is loads of fun and keeps us going all day long. She is also learning new words so fast. Some of her recent words are "nap", "fly", "Zack", and "Gaige". Both of these pictures are Ady giving Gaige loves. She's so fun, I wish everyone could see her!

Zack & Keri

Hey everyone, I'm finally starting a blog for Zack and I. There are so many things going on this summer. First of all, I graduated on Saturday, May 3rd! It feels so great to be done with school. Savanna also graduated, and we had a big barbacue out at my Mom and Dad's house. It was a blast. Now I finally have the time to do this kind of stuff, it's awesome. Zack and I have also been planning a big trip to Brazil this summer. We are leaving on the 14th of May, and we won't be home until the 30th. We are both excited, and I'm a little nervous. Zack and one of his companions that lives down there have been planning a lot of stuff for us to do. Ady will be staying in Arizona with Grandma and Grandpa Larson. It will be hard to leave her for that long, but we decided it was better than taking her on two 10 hour flights. Not to mention it's a pretty dangerous place. A week and a half after we get home from Brazil, Zack and both of our Dads will be driving all of our stuff out to Oklahoma. Robbi, Ady, and I will be flying over on the 16th of June. We are so excited to move into our house. We will be living in Oklahoma City and Zack will be attending Dental School at Oklahoma University (Go Sooners!). He starts school on June 30th, so he doesn't get much of a summer break. I will be spending my time at home playing with Adylin! She and I are currently trying to talk the Dad into letting us get her a puppy. That will keep us well occupied. We are also really sad to be leaving all of our friends and Family in Cedar. We love it here and we will definitely miss it. But we are very excited to get out and try something new. I will try to keep in contact with everyone, the best way is through this blog or through my e-mail: kerilarson17@gmail.com or Zack's email: larsonocara@gmail.com
We love you all and we wish you good luck and a great summer.