Catch Up...

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.

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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.

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!