Zack and Keri Larson

A little Bragging......

2011-04-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

So... Zack has been working really hard for the last week or two to finish our patio, and I just wanted to show off all the work he's done on our house/yard during the last two years.

The Pergola and the trellises (Which I have to add, he as also been the one taking

care of the vines. He babies them and constantly worries about them.)

The Shed

My Playhouse (Complete with a tiny brick patio)

The Sandbox

The Brick on our Patio. This is what he just spent many hours finishing.

This picture doesn't do it justice, it looks so great!

The crown molding in the front room.

The coat hanger/shoe bin in the entry way.

There is also a hutch he made for our computer desk, but the picture didn't want to load.

He has also added plywood to make more flooring in our attic to store all of our junk. He really has done a lot of work to make our house more homey (if that's a word).

I know, he's done a lot, right? And your probably thinking to yourself, "why can't my husband be like that?", and your thinking how super-duper and awesome he is. But don't be jealous, I mean, there could only be one Zack, right? So sorry ladies for making you think how un-Zack-like your own husband is, but I'm so happy with all the great things he's done that I just had to brag a little.

And this picture is pretty random, but I had to show you my new craft desk. I got it a few months ago at the thrift store for 6 dollars and 75 cents, and it is a big beast. I love it so much, and Zack was great enough to let me keep it and move it in for me, even though it is huge and beastly and barely fits in our office. It's so wonderful though, I can sew now without my whole table bouncing up and down. Hooray for underpants!!!!

Spring Break, and other stuff

2011-03-22T07:22:00.001-07:00

Spring Break!!

For Spring Break we went to Kansas City and spent two days at the Great Wolf Lodge. It's an indoor water park/hotel. We went with our friends, the Talbots, and we had a blast. The girls had so much fun, and were braver than I thought they would be.

Brinks taking a rest.

Ady and Mom in the lazy river.

Daddy and Brinks coming out of a slide.

Waiting for Ady to come down the slide.

Zack in the little waterfall.

Ady coming out of one of the big slides.

This is one of the big slides she went on. We were so impressed

with her, because they seem a little scary for a four year old.

Ady on the little slide.

Playing in the kids area.

Brinks on the little slide. We were also impressed

she dared to go on the little slides by herself.

Every 20 min. or so, a 1,000 gallon bucket would

dump down from the top of some of the tree fort.

Brinks on the other kiddie slides.

Soccer Baby!

We signed Ady up to play soccer this spring. I am her coach, and all of her teammates are in our ward. This was our first game....let's just say there was a lack of understanding on our part.

Ady standing in the middle watching the other kids play.

This was pretty much what our team did for the whole game.

More standing and watching....

And more standing....

Cute soccer buddies.

Future soccer baby.

Isn't she cute in her soccer gear.

On our way to the game.

The Brinks!!

This is Brinkley sleeping...but I wanted to add this picture to draw your attention to the cute purple panties. Brinkers potty trained back in February, and she did a fantastic job. She was easier to potty train than Ady, even though I was sure she wasn't ready. But she loves her undies and likes to call them "pinkie, stinky underpants!"

Ady's Birthday Party!

Ady had her fourth birthday in January! It's so crazy she's already four. Anyway, we had a dress-up party for her with lots of friends. It was so much fun and all the kids looked so cute!

Opening Presents.

Eating "Pinkalicous" cupcakes and ice cream.

Aren't they pinktacular!!

Ady got a Jeep power wheel from Zack's Mom and Dad.

They were so excited for it that we had to get bundled up

and go out and take it for a spin. Aren't they cute!

Ady eating her cake from our family party!

She is a goof!

Blowing out candles.

And both the girls got presents for Ady's birthday

from both Grandparents. Man, are they spoiled!!!!

Christmas!!

We went to Arizona and Utah for Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve and Day with my family, and were in Arizona for the few days before so that we could see Zack's little brother Josh who just came home from his mission! It was so much fun to see our families. We also got to go up to Brian Head with the Larson's and go snow boarding. This was Ady's third year skiing, and she's getting really good. She was able to go by herself for short distances. This was Brinkley's first year skiing, and she did great too. They look so tiny going down those big hills.

Opening presents Christmas morning!

They both got Pillow Pets and love them!

My nephew Kevin.

My nephew Raker.

My nephew Cooper, and my niece Emma.

Christmas in Arizona.

The kids had a visit from Tompta (Swedish santa) before we went up to Utah.

The girls got dollies that walk and talk.

The cousins waiting for Tompta.

Decorating sugar cookies and babies!

Ady, Brinker's, and Gaige all frosted up and ready to eat.

Thanksgiving!

We went to San Antonio for Thanksgiving to visit Zack's brother and his family. Zack's parents surprised us by showing up unexpectedly! It was so fun and the kids had a blast playing with each other.

My SIL, Jeannie, and I were so glad to have Zack's mom there to help us with food. We were a little worried about this being our first Thanksgiving doing all the food ourselves.

My New Bed!!

This is my new bed that I built with plans from ana-white.com. I love her website, we've used several of her plans. But this one I did all by myself and I am proud of it. The wood was mostly scavenged from our neighborhood, so it was a very inexpensive bed. I'm so glad to get rid of that yucky headboard we had before!

The past 6 months!

2010-11-13T08:53:00.001-08:00

Halloween!!

So much fun and lots of candy. Don't we look Incredible?

I was even able to get Zack-o-lantern to dress up with us. Yay for us!!

Ady's new baby!

Ady thinks Brinkley is her baby. She found her some bottles

and binkies and takes good care of her.

Happy Birthday Zack!!

Zack's parents came out for Zack's 27th birthday.

The girls had a great time. Their favorite parts were eating

their very own ice cream cones and going to Chester's Party Barn

and petting the baby goat, Vernon. Zack's favorite part was the

Lego train his mom got him. He and the girls played with it

all weekend. Thanks Nama and Papa, it was lots of fun!

They also love wearing Papa's boots!!

Happy Birthday Brinkley!!

Brinkley turned 2 on October 10th. She is so big! We had

Friends over to eat cake and ice cream with us, and Brinkley

got lots of presents (that Ady thought she should have).

We were so happy that Brinkley actually attempted to eat her cake

this year, instead of screaming and crying when I put it in front of her.

Yumm! Rainbow chip cake....

Nama and Papa got her a power wheels four-wheeler. It's a hit!

Summer Trip!!

In July we went out to Utah on a four week trip. It was lots of fun! We started in Logan, where we stayed with my brother, Brant and his family. The girls loved their guinea pigs. We also launched rockets and hung out and played games, it was so much fun. From there we headed to Cherry Hill, where we met the rest of my family for a little reunion. That was also a blast. The girls love playing in the water, and they were brave little sliders too! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of any of this, so you'll just have to trust me when I say they were super

cute in their little suits! After a few days there, we headed down to Cedar to stay with my parents. It was so nice. We relaxed, played in Papa's pool, and spent time with friends and family. Then we went up to Brian Head for a couple of days. It was a nice break from the heat! From there, we headed to Bullhead City, Arizona. Not a fun destination in the middle of the summer. But we had a really great time there too. Zack's Aunt and Uncle live there, along with his Grandparents. Bullhead is probably where we will start off after Zack graduates, and we are so glad we have a great place to go. After spending a few days there, getting to know the city and spend time with Zack's family, we headed to Paulden, AZ, to Zack's parents house. We stayed there for a week and had fun swimming, riding horses, and kayaking down the wash.

The only pics I really got were these ones, on the horses.

Lake Powell!!

In June, we flew out to Arizona and spent 5 days at Lake Powell

Zack's family. It was so much fun, and the girls could not get enough

of the lake, and the sand and the sun and the cousins!! We also

hiked to Rainbow bridge this year, it was amazing!

Hail Storm!

In May there was a huge hail storm. We were at church when it hit,

so we couldn't do anything to save our plants from the damage. Zack

was pretty devastated about the vines. It looked like someone had

taken a machine gun to all of our plant. It was crazy! We also had to have

our roof replaced a few weeks later because of the damage. Luckily we

didn't have any broken windows, or car damage.

Some of the hail stones were baseball/softball size.

Most were closer to golfball and quarter size.

Cute Girls!!

They are girls through and through. They love trying

on my shoes. Aren't they so cute. Now compare this picture

with the ones at the beginning of the post, and see how much

they have grown in the last 6 months!

Tubes

2010-04-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Brinkley got tubes in her ears. She has had about 9 - 10 ear infections in the last year. She was supposed to get them done two weeks ago, but she was so sick they didn't want to put her under. So we tried again this last Tuesday and it was a success! The dr. said that when he cut into her ears a lot of white gooey fluid came out, so she should be able to hear better too! She has been doing great. She was a little disoriented when she woke up, but after we left the surgery center she was fine. She's been doing great, and it's been a whole week without sickness! Hooray!!!!

She also had her 18 month check-up this week. She is 32 inches tall, which puts her right around the 55th percentile for height. And she is still not quite to twenty pounds. She weighs 19 lbs, 4 oz, which means she is less than 3rd percentile for weight. She hasn't gained weight for a few weeks, which is a little alarming, but the dr. said she is gaining height so that's good. He just said that we need to feed her high calorie foods and drinks. Hopefully now that she has tubes in, she'll be able to stay well long enough to gain weight!

She is so sweet and feisty. Her favorite word is still "NO". Which is the answer to every question, even ones we haven't finished asking. She is lots of fun and we love her!

Ae-ster

2010-04-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter, with lots of CANDY and lots of conference.

These ones are of the following Suday in some super cute dresses Nama sent them!

Marathon!

2010-03-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Yay, I'm done running! At the end of last month, I ran a marathon in FT. Worth, TX. It was an awesome experience. It's called The Cowtown marathon, and it was in downtown Ft. Worth. I finished the race in 5 hours and 4 minutes. That put me in 866th place or something like that, out of 1200 runners. I looked at a lot of other people's times, and I was totally out run by a 77 year old guy, by like an hour. Sad, but true. In fact, there were a lot of old people that beat me by a lot. I got 19th place in my age division, out of 29, and I ran a pretty steady 11:30 minute mile. Not long into the race, I saw an older guy taking a picture of another guy who had stopped to pee in the bushes. It was pretty funny!! I was also super excited to see my family and friends on the sidelines cheering me on.

Having some snackage around mile 6. Katrina was supposed

to run with me, but she couldn't because her knee was injured,

and I was so sad she couldn't run with me. But she still came

down with her family and cheered me on! Thanks guys!

Just before crossing the finish line!! And don't worry,

I know how super sexy I look in spandex. Don't be jealous.

Katrina and I after the race! She is the only reason I was

able to run the race, and I was so sad she couldn't do it with

me. And her cute baby Evelyn, who along with Brinks and

Ady, trained with us nearly everyday. They were troopers!

My sweet supportive family, I love them!!!!!

I'm not dead!!

2010-02-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I am the worst blogger. I just wanted to write this really quick to say that I am not dead. I even started uploading pics from Christmas and stuff, so that will be posted shortly. I've been busy with sick babies, and quick trip to Utah, and training for a marathon. I hope after the Marathon next weekend, I'll have some motivation to catch you all up on our lives. Wish me good luck!

Witchy Women

2009-11-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloweener!

We had a great Halloween. The girls and I all went as witches. They were so cute! We had tons of fun eating candy and trick-or-treating and partying. We went to our ward party on Friday night and Ady got to play in the bounce houses and trunk-or-treat. Then on Saturday we did a little old fashioned trick-or-treating and then went to a karaoke party at our friend's house in Norman. It was an awesome party, thanks JQ. The only sad thing was that I couldn't get Zack to dress up for any of it. Oh well he has an eternity with me, maybe some day...

Ady with her nursery teachers.

I know you think those tights are super sexy, right?

We went trick-or-treating with some friends from our

neighborhood. Aren't they all so cute!

Ady and Hannah

Ady showing off her Trick-or-treating skills, with Drew close behind.

Super Slacker

2009-11-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on us...

WARNING: very long and no pictures

We've had a pretty crazy month. To start of with, Brinkley got a really mild case of the swine flu. She had a low fever for three days, but she tested positive for it, who knew. Then Zack's parents and sister came out to visit for Brinkley's birthday on the 10th. It's hard to believe that she is already one year old! She is the cutest little one year old. I emphasize little, because she is so tiny. For weight she is less than the 3rd percentile, and for height she is around the 50th. She's just a skinny little baby. She's been crawling for just over two months, and is really starting to take her first steps by herself. She's been getting better and better at walking. She's really good and holding on to Ady's little car and walking herself all around the house. She is a fireball. Her and Ady have started to have some pretty funny little fights, she can be quite the ornery little fetcher. I'm all done nursing her; hooray!, but she won't drink milk, only drinkable yogurts. And she has to have the cutest little butt on the planet!

Just before Brinkley's birthday, Zack got bit by a tick in his belly button (we are true Oklahomans now, Zack got a tick in the backyard!). He didn't know what was biting him, so he reached down and yanked it out. Then he had to get tweezers to pull the rest out. It was really disgusting. Then like three days after that he started getting fever and chills. So he went to the doctor, who didn't test him for anything, and claimed he was getting Lyme disease. He prescribed him three antibiotics and sent him home. We are now fairly certain he didn't have a tick borne illness, but rather he had his bout with swine flu, because he gave it to Savanna while she was here. Anyway, Zack is plugging away at school and really not enjoying it. He has boards coming up around Thanksgiving, so he'll need lots of prayers.

Ady is getting so big and she is way to smart for our good. She talks like a four year old, but definitely acts like a two year old. She loves nursery and playing with friends. She loves nursing and changing her dolly's diaper. She really wanted to be spiderman for Halloween, but she's a witch instead. She likes to insult me and then hurry and fix it by saying, "you're cute mom". She is really good at pushing my buttons and driving me crazy, and she knows it. But she is a really good and sweet big sister; most of the time. She has decided to take up dancing with her daddy. Every night she finds some random clothing or blanket and tries to wear it like a dress. Then she walks up to Zack and holds out her had and asks him to dance with her. It's so cute!

She scoots

2009-08-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

It's true, Brinkley is finally mobile!! Last Sunday she finally figured out how to get around. She scoots so cute-like. She's getting really good at it too. In fact she's getting so good it's almost a real crawl. It's so fun to watch her scoot her tiny body all over the floor. She is also pulling herself up to standing on things. We thought she'd never be able too cause she's got such skinny legs, but she's doing it. It's so awesome. She is also the cheesiest baby ever. The last couple days she has had so much fun grinning at other people and scrunching her face all up and breathing hard. It's so funny. She will also dance on command now, which is so fun, and she's pointing at things. Her top two teeth are also coming in, so she's been mucho fussy. Oh, and I finally got her nine month pictures done; which it turns out are going to be ten month pictures because I'm a procrastinator. Anyway, she has been so much fun lately and we love her to death, and we are also realizing that she and Ady are going to be fighters. They already fight over like every toy, and Brinkley is not as passive as we thought she'd be. Oh well, I guess that's what sister are supposed to do.

Is it just me, or is Ol' McDonald a little crazy?

2009-08-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

So, one of Ady's favorite songs right now is Ol' McDonald had a farm. She calls it "i o i o" which is obviously really cute. But lately the farmer has had some pretty weird things on his farm. The other night at bed time she ask Zack to sing it (and when she asks for it she also tells us what animal to sing about on the farm). First she ask for an octopus, and told us it says "blolel blolel" (with a funky tongue thing). And we thought that was so funny, because like a farmer would have an octopus. But then she ask for it again, only this time he had a cookie, and the cookie says "yum yum". Next he had a princess that says "pretty pretty". And my all time favorite, he had a bucket on his farm that said "pick pick". I don't even know where she gets this stuff from.

Ol McDonald had a farm, e i e i o

And on this farm he had a bucket, e i e i o

With a pick pick here and pick pick there

Here a pick, there a pick, everywhere a pick pick

Ol McDonald had a farm, e i e i o

I get the princess saying pretty and the cookies saying yum, but I'm just not sure why the bucket says pick. If you ask me, it sounds like Ol' McDonald is a little tipsy. Ady is so funny, we just can't get enough of her.

Also, lately she likes to tell me I'm cute. At first I thought it was so cute and sweet, but now I know why. She only likes to tell me that after she has done or said something naughty. Like she'll say something mean to me and I'll say "what?" (you know, in the tone of voice so she knows she's done something wrong). And instead of repeating herself she looks and me and says so sweetly, "you're cute mom". What a stinker.

Can I just say that I love summer

2009-07-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

I am so great... at blogging!!! Well and other things too, but specially blogging. We have had a really sweet summer so far. Right after the semester ended for Zack we headed to Utah for my cousin's wedding. Congratulations Ali and Matt! They are so cute together.

The girls in Manti.

I love my family, and I'm so glad we got to be there for a week. Then we headed off to Lake Powell with Zacko's family. And can I just say that I love them too! We had so much fun. Our girls and Lake babies. They loved the water and the sand and the sun, and they really loved the boats. Plus we ate a lot of delicious junk food. Yum! I love junk food! The highlight of the whole trip to Utah was that I got to eat lots and lots of Extreme Moose Tracks ice cream! The biggest unhighlight of the trip was that we drove. Not so fun with two babies named Ady and Brinkley. We even drove at night so that they would sleep the whole way, except it backfired and they didn't sleep that great. So anyway, I vowed never to do it again, and yet we are, planning our drive back for Christmas. Anyhow, after Lake Powell we went to Moab for my family reunion. It was so fun to see most of my Mom's family, they are so awesome and sweet. All in all it was a great trip!

All the Grandbabies at Lake Powell.

In other news. Brinkley is now in the 5th percentile for weight, and the 50th-ish for height. She's so un-Ady. She is also starting to get pretty sassy. She gets a little fired up when the Ady sister touches her and bugs her. She is finally eating rice cereal, and other human food (as opposed to baby food). Cereal is the only baby food she'll eat with out gagging. She loves goldfish already and it makes her dad so proud. She is also really close to crawling. She's scooting around a little bit for now, and working on her crawling form. It won't be long now ...

The most incredibly awesome, cutest, sweetest amazing playhouse ever!

2009-06-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

For the last three weeks, Zack has been completely occupied with building a playhouse for the girls. It is so awesome. I've helped a little, just painting and planning, but Zack has done the rest. He did have help a couple of days from our friend Jordan; Thanks Jordan. It's also incredibly incredible because he has built almost the entire thing from scraps. We've been scavenging the neighborhood where they are building new houses and taking the scraps to build it. We even found some sweet carpet in one of the dumpsters. Anyway, see for yourself how awesome it is. Beware you may "go blind from over exposure to Pure Awesomness" (kung fu panda).

Both the girls love it. Brinkley thinks it's so fun to look out the windows

and play peek-a-boo with Ady.

It's obviously not done yet, but it's getting very close. I picked out the purple, isn't it awesome. The inside will be a sea foam green color when we're all done. There is even an upper level on the inside, it's so sweet. Enjoy!

It's Official...

2009-06-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Zack is exactly one quarter dentist today! He just finished his first year of dental school today. It's been a crazy year for him, but he did so awesome. In the last two weeks he saw his first patient. He was nervous about it, but he said she was really nice and everything went pretty good. He still has an amazing GPA, and is ranked pretty high in his class. I'm so proud of him!!

Girlie Trip!

2009-05-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

This last weekend me and some friends went on a fun trip to Dallas. My Aunt Gemie was awesome and let us stay at her house, even though there was seven of us plus kids. She was so sweet and watched the kids for us while we shopped. We stayed up late talking and eating junk food, and shopped lots during the day. We found an awesome outlet mall, and JQ's favorite, a three story Nordstroms. We were really excited to go to IKEA too, but we never made it there. No one got swine flu, that we know of yet, and our Husbands got to play lots of Star Craft (they were really excited about that). It was so much fun. Thanks Girls for going, I had a blast. And a HUGE thanks to Aunt Gemie for letting us stay at your house, you are so sweet.

Ady and Drew fought a lot on this trip, they love each other,
but they sure can't share with each other.

The Brinkers

2009-05-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

Brinkley is growing so fast! I can't believe she is almost already 7 months old. At her 6 month check-up she was in the 75th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. Talk about being completely opposite of Ady. Their faces do look a lot alike though. She is so much fun. She is also still very attached to me; won't let me out of her sight without crying. Her first tooth just broke through a few days ago. And she still isn't eating solids very well, but she loves orange juice! She and Ady are now sharing a room and doing really well with it. Brinkley falls asleep pretty fast even though Ady is sometimes awake for an hour or more talking or singing or banging on the walls. I love having them both in there together finally, and am so glad that it's working out. I love having girls, they are so fun. Here are some cute pictures of her and some of Ady too...

They both love their tubbies, even though
Ady doesn't share the toys very well

This is how much she loves solids

Easter morning

Both in their soccer jerseys from Brazil

Hooray for underpants...

2009-05-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

So Ady has been potty training the last couple weeks, and it's going pretty well. She likes that she can go "poo-poo and pee-pee in the potty just like Elmo." Anyway, the other day, while I was visiting teaching, she had to go potty. So we went in and she was sitting on the potty, and she fell in. I tried so hard not to laugh, but I couldn't help it. It only made it funnier that she was kind of upset. She saw me laughing and said in a really sad voice, "It's not funny." I busted up. It was so awesome. In the end she was laughing too, so she wasn't to hurt about the whole thing. Now if she falls in she just laughs.

She is such a big girl!

Panty-head

Lots of fun stuff...

2009-03-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

So I'm a really big slacker, and I'm sorry. I have a few things to catch up on so here goes (I'll try to keep it short and put lots of pictures).

3 Year Anniversary!!

Zack and I celebrated our third anniversary on Feb. 17th. We didn't do anything huge, we just went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, but we

did get a baby sitter which we don't do very often.

So it was fun to be just the two of us and a sleeping baby. It's been an awesome three years, and I feel like I've known Zack my whole life instead of just three and half years. I love being married to Zack and I wanted to write a few of my favorite things about him:

1. I love how he thinks bodily functions (burping, tooting, potty stuff) and toilet humor are the funniest things on the planet. He's just a little boy inside.

2. I love how he is a little OCD about things, it cracks me up.

3. I love how he makes me laugh when I'm crying.

4. I love watching him with his two baby girls! I think he is the best dad ever.

5. I love how much he helps out around the house.

6. I love how he goes easy on me when we play sports together.

7. I love his eyes, they are so gorgeous!

8. And I love when he smiles (a real smile, not the fake ones he does or pictures).

He's an amazing husband and father and I love him!

Wedding day in Manti

Our Honeymoon in the Bahamas!

Great news!

My brother Jason and his wife Paloma are expecting! They just found out and I am really excited for them. They are also buying a new house in Hurricane at the end of the month. Congratulations :)

Visit from Nama and Papa!

Zack's mom and dad came to visit us on March 12th. It wasn't a super long visit, they had to leave on the 17th, but we were so glad to see them. Ady had a blast bossing her Papa around for a few days, and he did what ever she wanted him to do. Poor Nama was sick the whole time, so it wasn't a lot of fun for her, but we were so glad to see both of them. Thanks for all your help with the girls and the yard, and thanks for coming to visit, it was lots of fun! We love you!

Papa took us to Chuck-E-Cheese! Zack and I won

lots of tickets so Ady got a pretty good prize.

Camping trip!

Zack had spring break this last week, it was so nice to have him back for a whole week. We went camping from Tuesday to Thursday with some friends. It was so much fun. We were really nervous about how the girls would do, specially at night, but they were amazing little campers! And the weather could not have been better for us. It was 80 degrees the first day and 85 the second. We went down to a place called Chickasaw and camped by The Lake of the Arbuckles. We also went over to an awesome place called Turner Falls on the second day. It was fun. We played in the water and the mud, we skipped rocks, and we roasted marshmallows. Ady loved it so much, and I've never seen such a dirty little person before. She was so filthy, but she loved every minute of it. She was so sad to come home.

Ady and her friend Drew playing in the lake. The water was really cold.

Ady taking a nice mud bath.

The sweet Brinkley girl. She was such a good sport.

Ady and Drew hugging. Ady was so dirty. The shirt she

wore was covered in dirt and leaves when we left.

While we were at Turner falls Ady heard a little boy speaking spanish and she looked at Zack and I and said, "Silly boy, he can't talk". It was so funny. So I tried to explain to her that he was talking, but in a different language. I don't think she quite understood.

This is Turner Falls. It was beautiful, and it was nice to

see some mountainous land formations again.

Meg and Drew

Jordan and Katrina taking a little nap

Brent sleeping, or saying a really really long prayer

Other stuff...

-We still haven't heard from the Air Force, but we are still keeping our fingers crossed.

-This weekend Zack participated in quite possibly the geekiest thing ever. Him and 12 other guys here had a star craft party. I think it's funny that they all get together and play star craft til like three in the morning. Geeks!

-We've been planting fun stuff in our yard. Our neighbor gave us one of his pear trees and we planted some big flowers too.

-Zack and I just got done playing session of indoor soccer, and I just started playing the next session. It's fun, and our team does pretty good!

-I finally started Brinkley on rice cereal, but she won't eat it. She seals her lips shut when I bring the spoon to her mouth, and then when I do get some in, she gags on it. I don't really know what to do about it. She's five and half months old and so sweet.

-Ady quote: she grabbed Zack's cheek and said, "chunky baby." She also says she doesn't want a dog any more because "they stink and they poop in the bath, and they are dumb doggies" according to her. (Zack brainwashed her into thinking that all dogs are mean and horrible, sad.) And I'm not sure why she thinks dogs poop in the tub????

That's about everything that's going on with us right now

Tornado mania

2009-02-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was a crazy scary day for me. We had our first tornado warning since moving to Oklahoma. I was home alone with the girls and I was a little freaked out. The day started out really nice and sunny and even pretty warm. Around 2 pm, I was feeding the Brinkers and the tornado siren by my house started going off. So I turned on the news and watched as they tracked a storm that was headed my direction.

For the next two or three hours I ran around not knowing what to do. They said on the news we should get in our shelters or closets, but I was scared to go down in the shelter alone with the girls. About ten minutes after that storm passed over me, it touched down about 5 miles north of me. It stayed on the ground for about 10 minutes and damaged over 50 homes but no one was seriously injured. While that one was still on the ground the siren went off again. They had another storm cell just south of me and moving my way. That one passed over without actually turning into a tornado. Then the first storm touched down again in the county north of us. Right after that, our siren went off for a third time. There were two more storm cells just south of me coming right at us. The first of the two touched down for only a few minutes, damaged some businesses and apartments and then weaked and disappeared. By the time it got anywhere close to me it was already just a thunderstorm again. After that the storms all weakened and pushed north.

The very first tornado that touched down about 5 miles from me was an EF-2. Around 7pm that night another huge tornado touched down in the southern part of the state. That one wasn't close to us at all, but very destructive. It was on the gound for over an hour. It was 1/2 mile wide, and it killed 8 people so far and injured many. They classifed it as an EF-4 (which is really huge), it had winds over 100 mph. They said it was the 7th deadliest tornado to ever hit Oklahoma. And all of this comes a month before the actual tornado season is supposed to start. Yikes!! It was scary for me, but we are fine. We didn't even get hit with the big hail.

Hail that fell during these storms. Up to the size of baseballs in some areas

The EF-4 right before it touches down.

some of the damage from the EF-4

This is a link to a video of the EF-2 (the closest one to me)
Link to this video

More destruction from the EF-4

Fun Facts: The movie "Twister" was filmed in Oklahoma in Wakita, Ok. And Oklahoma City has one of the highest rates of tornadoes.

Randomness

2009-02-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

Lately I've really been thinking how sorry I feel for poor little Brinkley and how neglected she is compared to how much attention Ady got (and still gets). Poor little dolly. She is so sweet and patient mostly, and it just makes me feel worse that I can't give her the attentions I want to give her. It also makes me feel sorry for myself...I mean I was the youngest of five. I have like two pictures from my babyhood days, I think that translates to very little attention. I'm so sad for me and for all children who aren't born first. I really do love my second one just as much, but it's so hard to give them equal attention (specially when the older one screams as loud as she does).

Air Force Update

2009-02-02T13:00:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know what is going on with Zack and the Air Force. We finally heard back from the recruiter, and Zack was picked up as an alternate. He's number 23 on the alternate list. What this means is that all the scholarships were already given away (he was late for the first deadline because of the whole being a women thing and having to have a "sex change") and so now if an incoming dental student doesn't get accepted to school, then that scholarship goes to an alternate. We're still hopeful that he'll get in; the recruiter said they got to alternates in the 50's last year, so we'll keep our fingers crossed and keep praying for the best.

Ice, Ice Baby....

2009-01-29T13:04:00.000-08:00

This last week the weather has been pretty crazy. Last weekend the weather was so nice. It was in the 60's and there wasn't even a lot of wind. It was super. Then on Monday morning a storm moved in. It was an ice storm. It was really really cold and windy and man was it i-cy. I couldn't believe how covered everything was. I looked out my window around noon and saw ice on the window. I thought it might just be water, so I went outside to check it out. Bad idea.... I nearly died. The back porch was covered in a layer of ice about a quarter of an inch thick, but I couldn't see it at all. The ground looked dry, so I stepped down from the step and started sliding all over the place. Took me completely by surprise, and I pulled my groin trying not to fall (poor Keri). After that I decided if I went outside I risked putting myself in mortal danger. So anyway, they canceled Zack's school Monday afternoon, Tuesday, and Wednesday (which was incredibly awesome but mostly unnecessary). It took Zack an hour and a half to drive home; a drive which usually takes 15 minutes. We could stand at the top of our neighbors driveway and slide all the way down without doing anything. It was crazy fun. It was supposed to get worse on Tuesday, but instead it just snowed this really weird snow (more like ice dust, or salt). So they could have had school on Wed. but Oklahomans can't drive in bad weather so they canceled it again, and all the schools except the Universitys were closed today. It's crazy. Anyway then tomorrow and Saturday are supposed to be really warm again. I love Oklahoma!

This picture is from last years ice storm
(which was way worse), but you get the idea.

My baby girl turned 2!

2009-01-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

Ady turned two last week. I can't believe she's already two years old! We had a fun day. First we went to the Omniplex science museum and played there for a few hours. Then we went home and had lunch with Daddy. After her nap we went to none other than Chuck E. Cheese's. It was so much fun. Ady had a blast on the rides, and was so happy to eat pizza and "hot" (soda). After spending three hours at Chuck E. Cheese's we went home and opened presents and had Cake. Ady got a trampoline (thanks to Nama and Papa Larson), a soccer ball, a basket of food, money (thanks GG and Grandma and Grandpa Haslam), a skirt, and we're going to get her a trike when it warms up. It was an awesome day. Here's some pics....

Ady painted her face at the museum

Ady and Chuck E.

Ady, Daddy, and "hot"!

Here's sweet little Brinkley.

And what would a birthday be without Rainbow chip cake. Yum yum!!

Catch Up...

2009-01-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

PICTURES FROM THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS

Brinkers on Christmas morning

Ady and cousin Emma on Raker's toy car on Christmas morning.

Brinkley in her blessing dress, November 30, 2008.

Christian, Ady, and Clayton in the bathtub over Thanksgiving break.

Ady sliding down Nama and Papa's stairs at Thanksgiving! The kids all had a blast doing this.

..................................................................................................................................................................................

I know I'm pathetic, I didn't even post once in December. There was lots to write about, but now I've forgotten most of it. Oh well. We had a pretty good Christmas break. It was kind of crappy too. The day before we left, we took Brinkley to the emergency room because she had had a fever going on like four days, and was puking a lot. They did some fun tests and discovered she had RSV. It was so sad. So she was sick almost the entire trip. Surprisingly she was really good about it. She even slept a little better than normal (probably thanks to all the drugs). But then I got it from her, and I was really ornery about it. I didn't handle it well at all. So I was almost sick the entire trip too. Then, one night while we were visiting our friends Justin and Monica, Ady decided it was her turn to be sick. She was just playing around and suddenly stopped to throw up a few times on their couch and Christmas tree. It was awful and really smelly. Poor Justin and Monica. Poor Ady. Poor Zack and Keri (we spent a good share of the rest of the night cleaning up puke). Luckily her's only lasted like 24 hours.

We did get to go snowboarding and that was a lot of fun! Ady skiied too. It was so cute. She had to be the cutest little skier in the whole world. Her Papa (Grandpa Larson) took her. His back had to be killing him after, cause half the time she would just go limp and ride down the hill with him holding her up. She also fell asleep twice on the lift. She loved it though.

Christmas morning was pretty good too. It was so fun to be there with my whole family. I'm really glad we got to spend time with everyone. Of couse Ady only liked all the other kids' presents, so I guess we picked wrong. Although she did love the candy in her stocking, and everyone elses stocking candy for that matter. She repeatedly snuck into Brant and Camia's room and ate their candy. Little stinker.

Now going back a little ways.... Thanksgiving was lots of fun. We got to go to Arizona and spend some time with Zack's fam. We also blessed Brinkley that weekend, and Zack was amazing. He was pretty nervous I think, but he did great.

After we got home from our trip to Utah, Zack swore we would never fly again. Not only was Ady a little difficult on the plane, but our trip home ended up taking like 15 hours anyway because of delays and such. Plus Ady won't be free anymore cause she is turning two this month. So I guess from now on we drive. Well you finally made it to the end, I hope I didn't bore you to death. Oh an here's some sweet pictures of the girls; I'll have to post holiday pictures later.

2008-11-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

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!!

2008-11-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-10-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-09-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

Pictures! (Well two)

2008-07-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-07-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-06-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-05-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

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.