Goodbye Oklahoma, Hello Arizona

May 28, 2012

At the end of May we said goodbye to our beloved Oklahoma and all of our wonderful friends there.  As a parting gift, the weather produced a massive hail storm two days before we closed on our house and completely totaled the roof.  Again.  We were super worried the buyer would back out because of it, but everything worked out.  We made a claim with the insurance company and they paid us so we could pay the buyer to have the whole thing replaced after we were gone.  We miss Oklahoma and all the fun we had there!  We miss the city with all the fun it had to offer; we miss the restaurants, and the shopping, the zoo, the parks, the science museum, and Frontier City and White Water Bay.  We miss the crazy and unpredictable weather.  We miss the city shutting down for a quarter inch of snow, and the impossible slipperiness of the ice storms.  We even miss watching nervously as every channel displayed images of the latest tornadoes touching down and watching them near our location.  Most of all we will miss our ward family and all of our amazing friends we had to leave behind.  Oklahoma was such a great adventure!!

The next chapter in our life begins with this sign...  Arizona!  Bullhead City, Arizona to be exact.  Zack drove the big truck with all of our stuff, Ady and Brinks drove out with Papa a few days earlier, and I flew out with baby Keaton and Nama.  We stayed at Zack's Parents house for a few days before heading to Bullhead City.  Here we are arriving in BHC.  

We moved into our house on the "Loop" on Memorial Day.  Zack's uncle Kirk, who is also his new employer, let us live in one of his rental houses free of charge for 6 months.  Kirk and Carolyn live down the street from us and Grandma (GG) and Grandpa are just two houses away on the other side.  We just love living by family, it's so much fun!  They have really helped us get acquainted with BHC and life in the desert.  We cannot believe how HOT it is here.  The hottest part of the summer gets up to 125!!!  I hope we can handle it!  Zack started working at Jennings and Larson Family Dentistry just a few days later.  We are so proud of him, and so excited to start this next chapter in our lives!  

  

Back in the Saddle....maybe

My New Year's Resolution is to return to blogging.  I don't know if I'm making a really late resolution for 2014 or getting a head start on 2015.  Either way, I'm hoping to try to catch up a little from the last two and a half years by making a few posts each week until I catch up.  I've been really feeling like I need to keep a family journal so I can remember my kids while they are little.

We love this guy!

Yay for graduation!!  Zack is officially a Doctor!  We are all so proud of him.  He passed boards and finished requirements and graduated on May 12th.  I can't believe how fast it went by.  We are moving to Arizona this Saturday and are going to miss Oklahoma so much.  We have had so much fun here and made lots of good friends and we are really going to miss all of you!

Dr. Larson 

The girls with their friend Drew.  

The Newest Member of the Fam

I know it's almost been a year since my last post, sorry. I've just been busy making this cute little guy! Introducing Keaton K Larson. He was born March 3rd at 3:33 pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs and 14 oz and was 19.5 inches long. He is the sweetest little guy and we are so happy to have him here. The girls absolutely adore him and smother him with love and kisses!

A little Bragging......

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

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!