Keeping up with the Larson's

The "What Could Have Been" Vacation

2011-08-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have my dad take the whole family on a Disney Cruise in June. We had been looking forward to this cruise for a year. Bella all year was talking about this cruise and how excited she was. She even got a phone call from Mickey Mouse telling her how excited he was for her to come aboard. We flew out to Orlando one day before the cruise departed so that we could spend a little time at Disney World. We met my brother Sean and his family there. We had so much fun. Bella was so excited to see Cinderella's castle. Lola loved the music and all of the characters.

Saturday: Bella and Andrew in front of the castle.

Bella and I driving crazy! It rained hard for a good hour while we were there at the park, but luckily it let up and we were able to do some more rides before we headed back to the hotel.

The rest of the family met us there that night and we were ready for the cruise the next day.

Sunday: The Disney Cruise Ship was amazing. It was so big and so clean! We were all excited to get on and had our picture taken in front of this portal. We had some great food that night and played in the pool. We also went to a comedy show that evening.

Monday: That morning we were at castaway cay. It is an island owned by Disney. It was a little hot, but the ocean was the perfect temp. Bella hung out at the kids club they had on the island, while Rick went snorkeling, and Lola and I hung out on the beach with my sister.

Lola loved eating the sand and throwing it in your face. She is so kind!

That night Bella and Brynn got to meet Lilo and we also went to a show called the Villain's (not so great, but still entertaining).

We all went to bed that evening and were exhausted.

Tuesday: At about 3 am we woke up to Bella crawling into our bed and then proceeding to vomit everywhere!! I was thinking "this cannot be happening!!!!" She threw up a few more times and then stopped. I was praying that it was motion sickness or that she just had some heat exhaustion. We were at the Bahamas that day going to Atlantis and swimming with the dolphins. Bella had to get better! We first of all did not want to lose our money on this excursion, nor did we want Bella to miss out on the experience. Luckily, we have a lot of health care professionals in our family so we were hooked up with Zofran (anti-nausea med) and Bella was doing okay. We headed off to Atlantis.

It was such a pretty hotel, but massive. It took forever to get where we needed to go and Bella still was not feeling the best, but as soon as she got into the water with the dolphin everything was better.

Our dolphins name was Brewster. Bella wanted to take him home.

Lola and dad had fun watching us.

After our dolphin encounter, Bella said that she did not feel well. I hurried and took her back to the hotel. I was so lucky that my dad's wife Linda came with me. It was such a mess trying to get both girls back on a shuttle taxi and back to the ship. Bella could not walk and Lola of course was to little to walk. We had a few accidents with both girls on the way back and needless to say I felt sorry for the woman who sat next to me. I stunk from both vomit and poop from the girls.

Bella got really sick when we got back and could not keep anything down. This continued on through the night.

Wednesday: I did NOT want to take her down to the cruise physician, but after two days of nonstop vomiting and diarrhea I knew that she was dehydrated. We took her down to the very bottom of the ship and she met with a nice old English doctor. He kept on calling her "scrap". They got her some fluids and then quarantined her and Lola to the room. Even though Lola was not sick, she was in the same room as Bella and could have been exposed to whatever Bella had so Lola was not allowed to leave the room either. This really put a damper on the vacation. They told us that they were not allowed to leave the room for at least 24 hours after the last throw up incident. They marked our electronic cards to follow us. Well that sucked to say the least.

Thursday: Bella's vomiting never stopped and she grew sicker and weaker. She missed out on everything. Rick and I took turns staying with the girls and going out. I, of course, loved the food and shows and Rick liked going swimming and the night activities. At least we had different interests and so this worked out well for us. I felt so bad for Bella! She was so sad and all she wanted to do was to meet Mickey.

Thursday Night: This was the last night on the ship. This picture was of Lola and Rick out on our balcony. We were saved by this balcony. It kept Lola from feeling like she was trapped.

Unfortunately this was Bella most of the trip. I felt so bad for our housekeeper....Disgusting!! But they were so nice on the ship and sent Bella a present and popsicles.

Friday Morning (debarking day)- Papa Warren and Grandma Linda felt so bad for Bella that they bought her a Belle dress. She LOVES this dress and wears it everywhere (Costco, grocery shopping, etc.). We left the boat and headed back to Orlando. We were supposed to stay another two days at Walt Disney World. Unfortunately, Bella started throwing up again that night. We had enough and at this point were ready to get home. We booked a flight to leave the next morning (American Airlines would not transfer our tickets :( Not nice) and we gave up our tickets for the next two days at Disney World to come home on Saturday.

Saturday Morning: The flight went great and we made it back to Dallas safely with no puking incidents until we entered into our car and then Bella just started puking her guts out. We called the pediatrician and were told to go directly to the emergency room. Poor Bella.

We were so disappointment with how this trip turned out, but we would do it again in a heartbeat. We loved the Disney Cruise and we are planning to do it again. You could not ask for a better ship or staff. Thanks to our dad and Linda for taking us. I felt really bad that Bella did not get to enjoy everything. To this day she still cries about not getting to meet Mickey :(. Oh well hopefully we can do it again soon.

PS I am sure that there are multiple grammatical errors in this, but I am too lazy to go through this again. Sorry!

Lola turns 1!!!

2011-05-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

Bella could not be out done by her little sister.

Our sweet little Lola turned one on May 2nd. I can't believe that it has already been a year since she became apart of our family. This is Lola at 1 year old:

Height: 31 inches 94% percentile

Weight: 20.6 pounds 35% percentile

Favorite Foods: Pretty much everything. She loves waffles, nuggets, mac and cheese, corn, beans, and fruit in a pouch.

Favorite Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Favorite Toy: Her stuffed animal kitty and toy kitchen.

Words: Titty (kitty), momma, dadda, ella (Bella), hello, and bye.

She can crawl and walk with assistance.

She has eight teeth.

She loves our cats, to climb up and downstairs, pretend talk on the phone, and dance.

She does not like her car seat, not being held, and doctors.

Bella's 4th Birthday

2011-05-01T16:36:00.001-07:00

What a great birthday celebration we had for Bella. She had her friend birthday at her gymnastics center and it was a Nightmare Before Christmas birthday party. As weird as it is, Bella is in love with this movie and constantly sings the songs from the movie. When I asked her what birthday party she wanted, she was very firm on that she wanted to have a "Jack" birthday party. We were so lucky that Bella's coach, Coach Janet, volunteered to host Bella's birthday party. We had such a great time. We also had a family birthday party for her at Rain Forest Cafe.

Favorite Color: Pink and Blue

Favorite Foods: Strawberries, mini pancakes, Boost drinks, Cliff Bars, ham sandwiches, cantaloupes, and anything with chocolate.

Favorite Activities: Gymnastics, preschool, dance, and playing with her toys.

Favorite Movies: Nightmare Before Christmas, Tangled, Aladdin, and Bolt.

Favorite Shows: Dora, Bubble Guppies, and Backyardigans.

Favorite Trip: To Disneyland and especially visiting Jack Skellington's home at the Haunted Mansion.

Big Accomplishments: Started preschool, asked to be on Team Pawesomes for gymnastics, moved to Dallas, and she can spell her name.

Favorite Books: Splat the Cat series, Fancy Nancy, and Pinkalicious series.

Bella is such a sweet and loving little girl. She loves animals and loves to play with Jinxy. She loves to color and ride her bike. She is quick to make us laugh and is always there to give you a hug when you are sad. We are so grateful to have Bella and look forward to watching her grow up.

Lola

2011-04-09T04:40:00.000-07:00

Oh Lola, L-O-L-A, Lola. This little girl is definitely full of spunk. She is always quick to flash you a smile when she knows that she is being naughty or about to do something naughty. She is, for the most part, a very happy baby. There is one BIG exception to her being happy and that is being placed in her car seat. To her, this is complete and utter torture. She will scream from the beginning of the car ride until the bitter end. Needless to say I don't think that we will be taking any long car trips anytime soon.

She is now a little over 11 months old. She is crawling like crazy and pulling herself up on things and walking around them. She has mastered the stairs and is now working on getting down them. She loves cats. If she is crying, I will just put her in front of the cats and she will always (without fail) stop crying. She is still on the Neocate, but we are transitioning her to the less expensive formula. She is an eater as well. She LOVES to eat and will eat just about anything. She looks a lot like Bella, but just a smaller version. She is getting some hair and it is a light brown and she has brown eyes just like her dad and Bella. None of our kids got my green eyes :( and since Rick and I agreed that we like one on one man coverage there won't be any. She has had more than a few ear infections and one more equals tubes. She can be so sweet and is definitely a "mommas girl". She can say momma, dadda, "titty" (kitty :)), and "Lella"(for Bella). She loves to play with Bella and right now her favorite toy is her kitchen. She is always quick to give you a high five and she loves to clap.

I must admit that I have been a slacker with taking pictures and I have made a commitment to myself to start taking more. We are so blessed to have Lola. She definitely has made our lives more fun but challenging at the same time. We sure do love her.

Gymnast in the Making

2011-03-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Her "pawsome" friends.

Ms. Bella has been doing so great at gym. She is so strong! She now is able to do a pull over on the bar, cartwheels, and is able to climb to almost the top of the rope. She truly is amazing. Her gymnastics team had a banquet and they all received an award. Bella received an award for being hardworking and precious. We love Bella!

Disneyland & Christmas

2011-02-02T16:43:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Disneyland

1st day and raining.

Of course she had to get a picture in front of the castle.

Lola was such a trooper and G-ma Ellen was a great helper!

Lola in her baby stroller cave.

Staying nice and dry while the rest of us were drenched!

Braving the rides!

Andrew and Bella...they were crazy drivers!

Bella and Brynn...BFF's. Bella has really missed her since the trip.

This was the last day and it was worse than the first. We were so wet and cold!

This was another favorite ride of Bella's. Small World was also loved by Lola.

Grandma and the grandkids.

Lola loved Small World and was actually singing along to the music.

Bella and Ms. Monica (her preschool teacher). She has grown quite the attachment to her. She is so sweet with Bella and I am so glad that she is in her class.

Her preschool's class Christmas party.

Christmas morning and she is pumped.

Lola had so much fun with the wrapping paper and watching Bella's excitement.

The week before Christmas we were very fortunate to be taken to Disneyland by my mom. We of course went the week that Los Angeles had severe rainstorms. It rained every single day that we were there, but we had so much fun. We were all so excited, because Disneyland is the happiest place on earth :). Rick thought for sure that Bella would love all of the big rides and so for her first ride he took her on the Matterhorn. Not such a great idea. Bella got really frightened and was afraid to go on most of the rides after that. In fact, on the Buzz Lightyear ride she hid under the seat and wouldn't come out. She was afraid of the rides for most of that day. One ride she was definitely looking forward to was the Haunted Mansion (I know you are thinking she was afraid of the Matterhorn, but not afraid of the Haunted Mansion?? yes that is correct). She loves the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas and is in love with Jack Skelington. Disney changed the Haunted Mansion for the Christmas season to have the Jack theme. This by far was her favorite ride and we went on it numerous times. Afterwards we went to the New Orleans section and she picked out an "I love Jack" tee shirt. Lola survived the torrential rain very well while hiding out in her well plasticized stroller. Amazing what you can create with a little plastic and duct tape.

What a great Christmas season we had! Bella was finally at an age where she truly understood what happens during Christmas time and why we celebrate Christmas. Every time she heard someone say "giving is what Christmas is all about", she would reply "no it's not, it's about Jesus!". Although Bella was very good this season, coal almost made its' way to her stocking a couple of times. The night before Christmas we loaded up the car with blankets, hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls and drove around to look at all the lights in our area. To our surprise, when we returned there were presents that the elves had left behind on their pre-Santa recon mission. Who would've thought that the elves would pay us a special visit ;0. Both of the girls fell asleep during the drive so we had to wake Bella up to see what the elves had left. She woke up on Christmas day and ran full speed to the site of Santa's leftover cookies, she yelled in disbelief "Santa came!" It was also fun to watch Lola roll around and suck on wrapping paper. She had some new toys from Santa and a few toys that Bella got in years past. We were blessed to have great friends here to spend the holiday with. We enjoyed time with the Camps and the Kraus's. It's always nice to have good friends when you're far from home.

Family Pics

2010-12-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

We finally got family pictures done this last November. I was so glad to finally get some updated pictures of Lola. Our friend Whitni came up from Houston and took our pictures. I think that these are great pictures of the kids.

Getting Caught Up

2010-12-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

Bella and Lola (6 months)

Bella playing soccer.

Brynn came out to visit with G-ma Ellen. They had such a great time together.

Bella's soccer team's name was Cats and they would cheer "1, 2, 3, Go Cats...Meow"!

Having a sleepover with grandma. This did not last very long. Bella is a crazy sleeper and had to go back to her bed.

Preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Her preschool class with her teacher Ms. Monica.

We went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch with grandma.

Growing so tall.

Preschool Halloween party that I was in charge of. It turned out so fun and the kids loved making "Splat the Cat".

Bella fishing at the Halloween Carnival at the First United Methodist Church (her preschool).

Bowling at the preschool party.

Her Halloween outfit that she picked out. She loved the sparkly shirt.

Getting ready to go Trick or Treating. Bella wanted to be Jasmine since early May. She was so excited to put on her Jasmine costume. Lola was our little black cat. She was a good sport and didn't cry until the end.

Trick or treating around our neighborhood

Preschool Thanksgiving party. A turkey actually came to visit.

Eating their Thanksgiving feast.

Lola who is such a smiler. She will always greet you with a smile, but then 5 minutes later will go all diva on you.

Bella got her first black eye. She was dancing on the table (I know, I am totally worried...not liking to wear pants and now this) and fell off and hit her eye on the edge of the table. She did not like looking at it until she started getting attention from it and then it became really cool to her.

We took Bella to see the ICE show at the Gaylord Texan on the day before Thanksgiving. The ice sculptures were based on Charlie Brown and Bella loves to watch Charlie Brown. She had a great time. It was really cool to see all of the characters made out of ice. It was amazing.

Bella is a big fan of "Snoofy" and loved going through his house.

We have been having a lot of fun and keeping extremely busy. Rick is working really hard and I am super busy with the kids and all of their activities.

Bella is loving preschool and loves her teacher Ms. Monica. She also has been asked to be a part of an advanced gymnastics class at her gym. She now is a part of "Team Possums". She is really enjoying it and has been doing pullovers at the bar by herself. She is so strong, unlike her mother.

Lola is growing up so fast. She was not gaining weight like she should and so we took her to Bella's pediatric gastroenterologist. They took a stool sample and sure enough there was blood in her stool. She has now been placed on the same formula that Bella was on "Neocate". She is now gaining weight and can finally bend over at the stomach. She seems to be a happier baby. She is rolling over like crazy now and can sit up by herself. She shows no signs of crawling anytime soon, but I am okay with that. She is so smiley and I love that about her.

Hope everyone is well!

1st Day of Preschool

2010-09-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Bella

Bella started her 1st day of preschool today at Stringfellow Preschool. Her teacher is Ms. Monica. She has been excited to start preschool for over 6 months now so it has been a long time coming for her. She didn't even shed a tear or even look up to say goodbye (which was a little hard on mom). Her preschool lasts from 9 am to 2 pm. This seemed a little long for me, but now that it is almost over for the day it has gone really fast. It was such a rainy day today when we dropped her off and of course our umbrellas have been lost somewhere in the move. I am now watching the news and it looks like there is some severe flooding going on her in Dallas which I can understand because there was some torrential rain going on. Bella was sad because she knew with the rain that she could not play on the outside preschool playground.

Lola

Lola is such a happy baby. She always greets you with a smile and likes to babble a lot. She is such a good baby. Bella was such a serious baby and so it is definitely different to have a baby that always has a smiley face for you. She had her 4 month check up yesterday. We were expecting her to be off the charts in height because she felt so long to us, but she was not as tall as we were thinking. Her are her stats:

Weight: 14 lbs 3.4 oz Percentile: 60%

Height: 25 1/4 inches Percentile: 80%

Head: 42 cm Percentile: 75%

Dr. Steve put up Lola's statistics next to Bella's at that age and Bella definitely trumped her. It is amazing what a $40 a can formula will do for weight growth. Lola's weight growth is definitely slow, but she is starting to eat better.

Hope everyone is well!

Lola and Bella

2010-07-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

We had Lola's newborn pictures and Bella's 3 year old pictures done by a wonderful photographer Suzanne Plant at Lookie Loo Photography. She did such a great job and I am so happy with all of the great pictures.

I love Lola's birthmark. It is literally a cross over her heart. I think that it is pretty special!

These were from Bella's 3 year old photo shoot. She loves the camera and surprisingly it was a fairly easy shoot.

Tiny Dancer

2010-06-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Bella had her dance recital on May 22. She has really loved dance and her teacher Ms. Cheryl. She made a lot of friends throughout the dance year and we are really sad that dance is over for the summer. Her performance was to Zippity Do Dah and it was at Cottonwood High School. Bella loves performing on stages. She thinks that it is so cool. She always has to end any dance that she does with a bow (as you can see from the video). She did such a good job and we are so proud of her.

Bella is the brunette in the red shirt in the middle.

Lola

2010-05-08T13:27:00.001-07:00

Lola Leigh Larson was born on May 2, 2010 at 7:40 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 22 inches long. She was born with a little brown hair and it is curly on top. She looks a lot like Bella did when Bella was born. She was such a good baby at the hospital and we were thinking for sure that she was going to be an easy baby and so far...she really has. She does get a little fussy at night, but nothing like Bella. We will see once we hit the two week mark. That is when the protein allergy usually manifests itself. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Bella has been really good with Lola. I think that she was a little disappointed that Lola couldn't come out and play with her (even after much discussion of how Lola was just a baby and wouldn't be able to do much). She loves to tickle Lola's toes and play peek-a-boo with her. She does not like it when Lola cries and tells me continuously "stop her crying". Other than that she is somewhat disinterested and only checks in on her every once in awhile.

My mom was here to help and she was awesome. She took the night shift so that I could recover and get some rest before she left. She was so great to have here. She left today and I am somewhat sad to see my helper go. Thanks mom for all of your help!

I am doing pretty well and am definitely much less anxious with this one. I remember with Bella being extremely anxious and nervous. I am grateful that it is not that way with this one. Rick has been doing well too and has already gone into protective dad mode :). These two girls definitely have him wrapped around their little fingers.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Easter and Birthday Fun

2010-04-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

The Easter Egg Hunt. Bella loved to look for the eggs.

Bella's best bud Brynn (her cousin that came up from St. George for the party)

Bella and her favorite princess Cinderella. She was so excited to have her at her party.

The party crew!

Getting help opening her presents.

Bella and her first time bowling! She did awesome.

Yes the score doesn't lie. Bella beat me 115 to 80. I am a horrible bowler. If you look closely you can see that she had 3 strikes and a spare. She is a natural :)

It has been a fun April!! We were able to celebrate Easter and then the next weekend celebrate Bella's birthday. Easter was a cold day and so we had to hold our annual picnic inside the house, but the Easter bunny did still show up in SLC. Bella loved looking for the Easter eggs and could careless about the presents that the bunny brought.

For Bella's birthday party I decided that I didn't have the energy to host a party and so I hired Cinderella to come and host Bella's party. That was the best idea. Being nine months prego and exhausted, it was great to sit on the couch and watch the festivities. Cinderella is Bella's favorite princess and she was so excited when she showed up at our door. The party consisted of a story, dancing, learning how to be a princess, crown making, and balloon twisting. The girls all seemed to love Cinderella and it was fun watching them be totally engrossed into what she was saying.
It was a great party and Bella really enjoyed having all of her friends over. We were also very excited that Bella's cousin Brynn and her grandma Ellen came up for her birthday party. Bella and Brynn had a sleepover and Rick and I woke up at 4:10 a.m. to Bella and Brynn giggling and laughing hysterically. It is hard to be mad when they were having so much fun. Needless to say, after the party Brynn and Bella took a 3 hour nap. They were exhausted.

Bella's birthday was a week long event. On Tuesday, both sets of grandparents and us went to Pizza Factory and then bowling. Bella had seen her Grandpa Rock and Grandma Linda bowl so she wanted to bowl for her birthday. She loved it and would pick up the 8 pound ball by herself and take it over to the rails. Sometimes she would push it down with her head and other times she would just throw it. She was so funny and she had such a great time. She beat me easily and was pretty close to her dad's score.

On that same day, April 13, 2010, it was Rick and I 8th anniversary. I can't believe that it has already been eight years that we have been together. How lucky am I to have married such a great guy. As you all know, I am not mushy or cheesy, but I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is the greatest. Sure do love you Ricky Lee!

On Wednesday, April 14, Bella officially turned three. Rick, Bella, and I just had her favorite meal and then had fruit pizza for dessert. She is such a special girl and I just love her. She has became my little buddy and even though sometimes she makes me want to pull out my hair, I couldn't have asked for a better daughter. Her are some of her favorites:

Favorite toys: Definitely princesses and dress up.
Favorite foods: Mac and Cheese, spaghetti, applesauce, Honey Nut Cheerios, and chocolate.
Favorite TV shows: Dora and Explorer, Sesame Street, and Word World.
Favorite Movies: Cinderella, Princess and the Frog, Up, and Little Mermaid.
Favorite Songs: Part of your world, Madagascar songs, Sing Sweet Nightingale, and really
any princess songs.
Favorite Activities: Dance and Gymnastics. She loves to go to bounce houses too.

Catch Up

2010-02-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

Bella in our backyard. It has been so great having a yard. Bye bye apartment living!!!

Going back to her roots :)!

Dance Performance

Getting her hair done for the Princess Ball with dad.

Getting her nails done.

All dressed up!

Daddy/Daughter Valentines Date.

Bella with Ariel and Tinkerbell.

Bella with Snow White.

Tea Party with her dance friends.

I have become super bad at updating this blog. I didn't even do Christmas. Shame on me :)! Everything is going really well with us. I am now 30 weeks and I wish that I was 39 weeks. It is taking forever! Bella is excited about her new baby sister that is on the way. She wants to name her "Bella Larson's Baby". She has been carrying a baby in her tummy too and tells me how big her tummy is getting. I am happy that she is getting a sister, especially since I love my sister so much.

Rick is keeping busy with work. He works at Brighton Dental in Cottonwood Heights 3 days a week and then is at Canyon River Dental in Provo for two days. He is liking dentistry, which is good because there is no turning back now. He also is really happy because our ward has ward basketball and ward football. He is in heaven. That boy does love sports as you are all aware.

Bella has been enjoying making new friends and playing with her old friends. She had a tea party with her dance friends at our house and she loved being the hostess. She is getting so tall and we now had to buy her 5T clothes. I think this is crazy since she doesn't even turn three until April. She definitely gets the tall genes from her daddy. She is still involved in dance and gymnastics. I posted some of her dance performance pics and then a video from their practice. I cannot figure out how to transfer the video from our camera to our computer yet. That will be a project for this weekend. For Valentines Day Rick took Bella to a daddy/daughter princess ball at our gym. Bella got her hair and nails done at the spa there and then got to dress up like a princess. All of the Disney princesses were there and she couldn't wait to meet Cinderella (unfortunately dad forgot to take a picture of them together). Rick says that she had a great time and that she just danced and danced.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Bella's dance that she performed at Christmas. She is the one in the center with the brown hair and pig tails.

So Much News

2009-12-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

So a lot has been happening in the Larson Family. We bought our first house in Draper and we are loving it. It is just our size and we love the area. It is a 4 bedroom 3 bath house with a great backyard that Bella can actually play in. It has a great playset and unfortunately we have not been able to use it much because of the snow that we have had. We are so glad that we found it.

We are expecting our 2nd child. I am due the first of May and so far the pregnancy has been fine. I am hoping that since Bella came four weeks early that maybe I will be lucky enough to go early with this one as well :). Bella was due on May 5th so their due dates are only a couple days apart.

Some more news is that it is a girl. Bella got her wish and is getting a baby sister. Rick and I thought for sure that we were having a boy, mostly because at our 12 week ultrasound the doctor said that she thought she saw something between the legs and Rick thought he did too. Obviously it was way too early to tell since it is for sure a girl. This is definitely our last child and we are both fine having two girls. I just had to promise Rick no more pink poodles for this baby.

We are still very much considering going back to Dallas. Even though we have a new house and a new baby on the way, Rick has been offered a job there that is very hard to refuse. We are constantly going through the pros and cons of moving back. One HUGE con would be leaving our families. We have really enjoyed being so close to them and that will be hard to lose, especially if I have another Bella. But the pro would be the stability of the economy and a bigger patient base (oh and I cant forget better winter weather). I hate being an adult and having to make such big decisions. Why don't you all just make them for me...

I will post some pictures of our new house and of Bella's 1st dance performance. She did great and loved being on a stage. As soon as I get our other computer up and running I will post them.

I hope that all of you are well!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-03T14:31:00.001-08:00

First Snowfall in Salt Lake

Wee Witches Day at Gardener Village

Our Wards Trunk or Treat

Dress up day at dance

Carving Pumpkins

Trick or Treating with good friends Lucy and Gracie

Witch, Tinkerbell, and Black Cat...So cute!

What a fun time of year it is! We have been busy celebrating the Halloween holiday with many parties, trunk or treats, and of course trick or treating. We also had our first snowfall in October. Bella loved it and with us being up on the mountain we got at least four inches. It has since melted, but it was fun while it lasted. I am trying to be a good sport about it (being cold and the snow) and it has helped to see how excited Bella was to play in it.

Bella loved trick or treating this year. She has had an overload of candy and the sugar is really getting to her. She has been super hyper and you can tell that she belongs to her dad with the love for chocolate. She decided that she wanted to be a witch over Cinderella which was very surprising with how much she loves Cinderella. Our good friends the Weidman's came up from Provo to go trick or treating with us. It was a lot of fun watching the girls get dressed up and getting so excited to go get candy.

We really like being back in Salt Lake and being so close to family. It is so nice to be able just to drive down to St. George whenever I want without having to plan months in advance and also having to buy a plane ticket.

I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Friends, Friends, Friends

2009-09-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

Bella and her cousins

Bella with her new friend Regan.

This was taken at Gardener's Village. Such a fun place.

Sugarhouse Park

Bella and her "old friends" Lucy and Gracie.

Bella and her friend Sophia at dance.

Anyone that knows Bella, knows that she is a very social person and loves to play with friends. Bella has made some new friends and has had one of her old friends move to Utah as well. Life has been crazy, but fun. The weather has been so nice here and we have been able to get out and do a lot of things. Bella has just started dance and gymnastics for the fall session. She loves gymnastics and is getting used to the dance. She is still suffering from a little separation anxiety and she has to go alone to dance so that has been difficult for here. I think that it will be really good for her, but it is a little hard being the parent of the child that cries when you leave. We are still working on the potty training and it definitely has its ups and downs. I have a feeling that this will be a six month process :). She is cracking me up with what she says. Her latest saying is, "Mom stop freaking out!" She loves the soundtrack to Madagascar II and has to dance to it every time it comes on. She has finally started to like one vegetable and that is broccoli. Weird I know. Anyways that is all of the news for now. Hope all is well!

My Tribute To Blue

2009-08-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

This was actually taken at the concert that we were at, I was right next to this girl.

I just love Blue! This was the 2nd concert that I have been to and it was so great to be able to be so close to the stage. Their music is so inspiring and has so much meaning behind it. We saw them in Austin while living in Dallas and were so excited to learn that they would be playing in Salt Lake. During the concert Justin sang to me and then threw me a guitar pick. I told Rick that he should be jealous :). After the show I got to meet him, he signed my shirt, and then I got a hug from him. It was so great and I can't wait to see them again. Thanks mom, Jackie, and Cari for watching Bella and letting me have such a great b-day present!

Life in Salt Lake is good. The weather during the summer months here is so much better than the hot and humid summers in Dallas, but I REALLY miss Dallas. This statement is so funny to me because I hated it there for the first year and I really wanted to move home, but it was such a great place to live and the people there are so friendly! Not to mention all of the great things that there is to do there. I wouldn't be surprised if one day we move back :)!

The house that we are living in is great and we love our ward. We are right smack on the mountain and the views from our deck are amazing. You can see the entire valley. I am sure the winters are going to be a nightmare, but lets not think of that quite yet.

Bella is doing great and has almost mastered potty training. Okay so that is a little premature, but we are on our 3rd day and the accidents are getting fewer. She is now signed up for dance and gymnastics. She has been wearing her ballet slippers to bed at night, because she is so excited to start dance. She is getting so big and her vocabulary is just growing. Her funny saying now is when we ask her what her name is she says "Bella Dr. Larson". We don't know where she picked that up other than maybe from Rick's graduation, but it is so funny.

Rick is enjoying work and is keeping busy. I must say that I love his four day work week. He is staying active with soccer, flag football, and cycling, which can get a little annoying :)...love you Rick!

I am just busy with Bella and work of course. It has been great to be around old friends and especially have Rachel move here.

Hope all is well!

Bella playing dress up.

This was Yancy. We had him for one day and I am tempted to go get him back. He was such a great dog and I just wasn't ready.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

4th of July parade with our friends the Gramse's. Doesn't Bella look enthused? She actually really loved the parade and she got to meet some real life firemen and get into a fire truck :)!

Bella with her friends at the splash park.

Rick and Bella tubing in the lake. We had such a good time with the Ence's.

So life has been crazy and great here in the SLC. I love hanging out with old friends and I have loved the weather here during the summer. It definitely beats the Dallas summers! Rick has been keeping busy with his new job and is mastering his dental skills :). I have been busy with work and taking care of Bella. Bella has been enrolled in swimming lessons and gymnastics. She loves swimming and has really taken to the water.

We have had some fun visits from our friends the Dorny's, Jepson's, and the Berry's. It was so great to have our friends from out of state come and see us. Bella loves playing with her "Texas friends".

Not much else is happening, or an other words, we are very boring people :). We hope you all are doing great and we will write more soon.

*I added our family pics that our good friend Whitni Parker did. She did such a great job and I was so impressed with how well Bella did during the shoot.

We Made It!

2009-06-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

So obviously it has been a long while since we have updated our blog. A lot has happened in the last few weeks; Rick passing his boards, Rick graduating, moving to Salt Lake, and getting situated in our new house. It has been a very exciting time, but it also has been very sad. It has been so great getting reconnected with my old Salt Lake friends, but I definitely miss my Texas friends.

Bella has been adjusting really well! I have been surprised at how well she has taken to the new house and getting to know new friends. She actually stayed in nursery all by herself yesterday, which as most of you know has been a constant battle for the last 6 months. She loves having a backyard and having her very own playroom. It has been so great, but I do miss all of the activities that we had to do in Dallas.

It was so exciting to see Rick graduate on May 13. What an awesome accomplishment. He was the 1st to graduate from College in his family and now from graduate school. He is amazing and I am so proud of him! All of our families came out to Texas to support him and I must admit that I got pretty teared up seeing him get his diploma. These past four years have definitely been the hardest and most stressful years of our marriage, but also the best years! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and darling daughter!

The move was easy thanks to family and friends. Getting all of the minor details down was definitely a headache, but it all went so smoothly! Thanks to all of our families for everything that they did in helping with the move. You all are the best!

I will definitely start posting more now that everything has settled down. I can't wait to get caught up on every one's blog! Talk to y'all later!

This is just a slideshow of what we have been up to for the last two months.

Anniversary & Turning the big "2"

2009-04-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

7 year Anniversary

Rick and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on April 13. As a present to me, Rick and I went to the Blue October concert in Austin. It was awesome! We were the 4th row back and I swear the Justin was singing to me the whole time :). It was such a great concert and I even converted Rick into being a Blue fan.

I can't believe that 7 years have already passed. As you all know, I am not a mushy person so I will just say this: Rick you know I love you and am so glad that we found each other. You are such a great husband and father! Enough said!

Bella Turns 2

Our little Bella turned two on April 14th. We had such a good time taking her to Build a Bear and letting her ride the carousel in the mall. It took over two hours for her to open up all of her presents. Thanks to our families for spoiling Bella so much!

Bella's Stats:

Weight: 29 lbs 2 oz 80%

Height: 35 1/2 in 90%

Head: 49.5 cm 94% (She has my big noggin, poor girl)

Bella's Favorite Foods: Milk, Mac & Cheese, noodles, pizza, nuggets, grapes, strawberries, ham sandwiches.

Bella Likes: Gymnastics, movies (Madagascar II and Horton Hears a Who), Dora, friends, jumping, bubbles, and coloring.

Bella Dislikes: Vegetables, most of her mom's cooking, bees, nursery, and naps.

Her Favorite Sayings: "More Milk", "Come on mommy/daddy", "Cleo off the table", "I watch a movie".

Favorite Books: "No David", "Llama, Llama Mad at Mama", and the Pigeon Books.

Favorite Songs: "Elmo's World", "Popcorn Popping", "Wheels on the Bus", and "5 Little Monkey's".

Personality Traits: Stubborn, loving, fiery, and playful.

We love you very much Bella and you are such a blessing!

Bella at two weeks.

Bella at one year.

Bella at almost two years.

Parties, Parties, Parties!!

2009-04-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Bella with her BFF Lucy having a sleepover :)

Bella with her close friends Lucy, and Mckenzie at their tea party.

Bella and Lucy at the zoo. They held hands most of the time, so cute!

The "Sprinkles" cupcakes that I made for Bella's party.

Dora and Diego party

The kids running wild!

Bella with her friends

Everybody jumping.

We have had such a fun month with parties! Bella went to her first tea party a couple of weeks ago at her friend Lucy's house! Mckenzie, Lucy, and Bella had so much fun dressing up, drinking from tea cups, and eating PB & J sandwiches. They were so cute together and they always have a great time with each other!

Our next adventure was the zoo. Bella's most favorite person is Lucy. She is Bella's best friend and they just love hanging out with one another. Rachel and I thought it would be fun to take the girls to the zoo for a day of animal watching. On the way to the zoo we were serenaded with the debut of Lucy's and Bella's first music single "We love the zoo...zoo, zoo, zoo-zoo!" It was great. It was a perfect day and it was a lot of fun to see all of the animals.

The most fun celebration was Bella's Dora & Diego Birthday Party! She was so excited for her birthday party and it was all she could talk about for the last few days. We had her birthday party at her gymnastics place and all the kids had so much fun. She even had her favorite coach, Coach Kelli, as the instructor for her party. It was great! Her friend's Lucy, Gracie, Lilly, Treyson, Mckenzie, Asher, Preston, Caleb, Jacob, Maddie, Sofia, and Randen were all there to celebrate the day. We are so blessed to have so many great friends! Bella's real birthday is on the 14th of April and so she will be really excited for more presents and more cake. The pictures are terrible from her birthday party and I apologize for this. We have a very old digital camera that breaks often and once we get an income a camera will be the first thing I buy :)!!!

NEWS

We are making it official, Rick has accepted an offer from Dr. Kelly Carroll in Salt Lake City. Rick worked with Dr. Carroll before we moved out here to Dallas and he has offered Rick a position as an associate for his practice. It is a great offer and we are so excited to move closer to our families and old friends. Dr. Carroll was actually the one that told Rick to apply to Baylor and we are so glad that he did. We have absolutely loved it out here in Dallas and will miss all of our friends so much. We have made great friends out here and it is so sad to leave them behind. We will also miss the great weather out here as well!!! We will be moving back to SLC on May 16 and Rick will start work soon after. We have found a great house in Draper and it has an awesome backyard, which I am so excited about!!! All of my SLC friends can't wait to see you again and also do any of you workout at 24 hour fitness? Just wondering....

I hope all of you are doing well and hope to talk to you all soon!!

Springing Forward

2009-03-11T11:34:00.001-07:00

Bella showing that she can play a little hoops too!

Rick showing us that he still has it even though he is 31!

Bella dressing herself. She loves the bling, bling!

It has definitely been spring here in Dallas. We have really been enjoying the 80 degree temperatures and being able to wear shorts and go to the park. Bella is following in her daddy's footsteps and loves to play soccer. She will just continue to kick the ball until she is stopped by a fence or until she trips and falls down. She is growing up so fast and it is amazing how fast time is flying by. What is also amazing is how bipolar the weather is out here too! It was a nice 83 degrees yesterday and now today's high is going to be 45. Crazy, but all I can say is that at least it doesn't stay in the low temps for very long since we will be back up to the 70's by Monday.

I was trying to potty train Bella this past week, but ultimately my lazy side won. Most of you know how much I hate dirty diapers and stinky bums, so the potty training failed after one missed poop in the toilet. I just love diapers!! I love the convenience of them, I love that I don't have to make Bella use a public restrooms, and I love how, for the most part, all the stinkyness stays inside the diaper. Bella has been asking to wear big girl panties and doesn't want to wear the diapers anymore so I am assuming I will have to start back up again soon...or maybe I will just wait until Jackie comes out for Rick's graduation and she can just do it for me since she has 4 kids experience :). Bella has been cracking us up lately and her "spirited" personality is coming out more and more. She now yells at us "No, be quiet!", "That's mine!", "Stop it!! Ow, Ow, Ow!" The last one is always my favorite saying that she seems to do at church or at the grocery store and she does it right in front of someone so they think that I am abusing her. It is great.

Rick is doing really well. He has only two months until graduation and can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. What a long and hard process it has been for him and we are all just so proud of him. He has passed his National Boards and his Mock Boards and so all he has left is the licencing boards in the middle of April.

I am still staying busy with work and Bella. I am still taking my tennis lessons on Tuesday nights and love it. Plus, being the enrichment leader keeps me busy as well. I am surprised at how much I have really enjoyed this calling, mostly because of the great people on the committee. Rick has also surprised me with tickets to my favorite band in April for our anniversary. We are going to see Blue October in Austin on April 11 and I think that it will be great. I will hopefully get to post pictures of me throwing myself on the stage.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Sorry about the wind blowing in this video.

Bella was delirious for this video, bad nights sleep and a poor nap.

Olympian in Training

2009-02-08T14:37:00.001-08:00

Bella just loves her gymnastics class on Saturday and she really loves Coach Kelly. Her favorite event is the bar and she is really good at it. She has been spotlighted for her ability to do "skin the cat" on the bar at such a young age. Of course I had to post a video of her doing it, because we are so amazed by her strength.

These family picture below are the pictures that my friend Whitni Parker took. These first two pictures really captured Bella's personality of being super high maintenance. I don't know if we really got her to smile in more then two pictures. On the picture that we are walking across the bridge Bella was freaking out and turning completely red with how angry she was. If we could have got a picture from the front it would have been priceless. The pictures did turn out great even with Bella being completely dramatic throughout the whole process.

Do not disturb!!

2009-01-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

The pediatrician has told us several times, "You just have to realize that you have a VERY spirited child", which in laymen's terms means "Good luck on trying to control her". Bella has kept us on our toes since she arrived in our home. She never ceases to amaze me with her determination and physical strength. As she gets older it is more difficult to coerce her into doing what I want her to do :). I know all you moms are saying "welcome to my world". I thought I had enough biceps strength to man handle a 21 month old, but that thought is dwindling.

She is getting cuter and bigger everyday and sometimes it is hard to remember what she was like as a baby...then we were quickly reminded by the three hour awakenings happening again!!

Bella found a new sense of freedom when she started crawling out of her crib and pack n' play in Utah. It continued on when we got back to Dallas and so we decided it was time to convert her crib to a bed. Nobody ever told me how difficult that transition could be. Bella decided that she could get up whenever she wanted whether it be at midnight, 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4:30 a.m., and finally the real wake up at 5:30 a.m. She was literally getting out of her bed 4 times a night and then would do the toddler run to our bedroom (loud enough to get the cops and apartment management called on us).

So we decided to try a new game plan. There was a "fairy" toddler bed at Babies 'R Us that she really liked so we thought we'd give it a try. She was very excited as we assembled it, which was entertainment in itself. I'm happy to report that she is mostly just waking up at the 5:30 am time. Though she wakes at 5:30 we are often able to get her to sleep another hour or two by walking her back to her room. She definitely loves her "big girl bed"!

I have attached some pictures from our family photo shoot. I think the pictures really capture the essence of Bella :). There is also a video of Bella singing some of her favorite songs. She has fallen in love with the video and song "Frosty the Snowman". I know that we will be watching this video all year round. I hope all is well with all of you!

Christmas Vacation

2009-01-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas vacation! It started out with my brother and dad flying out to see the Cowboy's beat up on the Giants (unfortunately the Eagles did the same to us a couple of weeks later). It's always more gratifying, especially for my family members that travel from afar, when they pull out the "W". Since it was the second to last game at Texas Stadium tickets were not cheap. Before leaving Dallas we found out Santa was getting some Reindeer hunting material at Cabelas so we snuck over to get Bella's picture with him.

We headed to Utah for a two week trip. First we went to Salt Lake where we got reacquainted with the freezing cold and big snow storms. Ahhhh, that is exactly what I do NOT miss about living in Salt Lake, especially when we left mid 70's weather in Dallas. However, it was fun to see the temple lights in the snow and it was also a blast to go sledding with Bella. She was obsessed with the snow and had a great time making "Frosty the Snowman". The house we stayed at was loaded with built in fun. We had a steam room shower, sledding hill in the back yard, ATV to ride up and down the drive way and 9000 empty sq feet for Bella to run loose in.

Down in St. George we enjoyed our time with family. Bella loved being with her cousins and went crazy every time she played with them. Sledding was also on the agenda in St. George (ok really it was Cedar City since there was no snow in St. George when we got there). Luckily there were no casualties to report. I got to enjoy the finer things in St. George, like Pasta Factory, Paulas (to Ricks dismay), Charlies shakes and Cafe Rio. Christmas was good to us and Santa was very good to Bella. We had to ship most of her stuff home because it wouldn't fit in the suitcases. Rick spent a significant time studying while in St. George and he took his National Boards right before we left to return home. Bella and I had a lot of bonding time!

It was a great trip and we thank all of our family for the accommodations along the way. As fun as it is to go on these trips it's always nice to get back to a normal schedule too.

A day after being home Rick took off again for New Orleans. He was fortunate enough to see one of the most renowned games in University of Utah football history. It was probably the highlight of his year hands down.

Elmo Live!!!

2008-11-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

On our way to see the show.

Bella and Lucy with their spinning Elmo toy.

Waiting "impatiently" for the show to start.

Bella's excited face when the show starts.

Poor Rach got stuck with Bella because she was the nice one. Not like Bella's mean parents or the scary usher who wouldn't let her rush the stage.

Bella and Lucy wrapped up in their towels after swimming.

Down at the Riverwalk.

Bella's favorite person in the world has to be Elmo. She sings and dances to the Elmo's World song and she watches him faithfully. Let's just say she is a huge fan. Someone who definitely competes with her for the biggest fan award would be her friend Lucy. Because of this loyalty and undying love for Elmo, our friend's Marshall, Rachel, Lucy, and Gracie and our family took Bella and Lucy down to San Antonio to see Elmo Live. It was fun to see the girls enjoy seeing Elmo in person. Bella became a crazed fan during the show and attempted to run up on to the stage, not just one time, but three separate occasions. The usher had to warn us a few times about our rebellious daughter and also about her out of control dancing in the aisle. They had such a great time and we are so glad that we got to go. We got to go swimming, play some Wii, and go down to the Riverwalk. It was a short trip, and other than me getting completely creamed in Mario Party, it was a fun trip.

We hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving. Rick's grandparents came into town for the holiday and we had a great time taking them around the city. Bella has been having a little bit of separation anxiety problems, but luckily she warmed up to her grandparents in no time. Hopefully this anxiety will all go away soon, but unfortunately it seems to be getting worse. Nursery has been a "no go" for several weeks now and gymnastics has become a little difficult for her too. Very weird.

Bella and her friend Lilly jumping in the crib. They were little jumping jelly beans.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

We had such a great Halloween this year, as well as a great October all together! Bella went to her first pumpkin patch and loved every minute of it. She got to ride a train, pick out her very own pumpkin, and play in the pumpkins! I asked her if she wanted to be Dora or Minnie and she chose Minnie. She loves her Minnie Mouse that she got from Disneyland and she carries her all over the place! I think that her favorite part of the whole costume were the gloves.

Our playgroup had its 1st annual trunk or treat and we had a great turnout!! Unfortunately since Bella has my grace and coordination, she biffed it twice within 15 minutes of it starting and tore her dress. That's my girl :)!

On Halloween night our friends the Berry's invited us over for dinner and to go trick or treating. She made a killing with all of the candy she got and really buttered up the people handing out the candy by saying "Tick or Teat" and "fank fu". She did a great job and didn't get scared when we went to a house that had "Leather Face" outside with his chainsaw. We are loving all of the candy, not to mention that I found my favorite new candy bar "white chocolate Kit Kats."

Other than that, we are keeping busy; Rick with school and me with enrichment. I had no idea how time consuming a calling could be!! Luckily I am not a primary president or a relief society president!! Bella just continues to grow and went to nursery for the first time yesterday (two weeks late due to sicknesses in the Larson household). I must admit that it made me a little sad to see her go in there. She is growing up way too fast!

Our little Nadia!

2008-10-09T06:19:00.000-07:00

Bella has now been to gymnastics three times and loves it! It is so cute to see her in her leotard and trying to do the different apparatuses. She really gets excited about the bar. I think that will be her best event :). Her teacher is so great with her and I am so glad that I found this class, it really helps get her energy out.

Nothing new is happening out here. Rick just finished a huge pharmacology test and passed with flying colors. A lot of people are trying to recruit Rick to join their practices from places like North Carolina to here in Dallas to Arizona to Utah and finally to California. It is a very exciting time, but also very scary to have to make this huge decision on where to live and where to raise a family. Rick, however, is not stressed, as I take on enough stress about it for the both of us.

My enrichment leader calling is keeping me super busy, but I am actually really liking it. I am not creative, but when you have people on your committee that are it really helps out. We just got our tickets to go home to Utah for Christmas and the best part of it is that we got a great deal on them! Too bad the baggage fee will make up for it.

Hope you all are well!!!

September Days

2008-09-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Bella at our church playgroup. Of course she had to dive into the fountain. She sure does love the water.

Bella with her friend Hayley at the mall. It was so fun to see our friends that had moved to Houston. They are just a couple of days apart and they just loved getting into trouble together!

Life has been so fun and yet crazy out here! I can't believe that it is already a couple of weeks into September and that Halloween is just around the corner. Bella is growing up so fast and is really becoming quite the show off. She loves to dress up and be girly, but at the same time loves to get dirty in the mud with the boys. I think that it is a great combination. There has been great news on the allergy front, Bella is now allergy free and is enjoying the new taste of milk products. This has been great for me not having to prepare a separate meal for her and plus, all of the choices I now have before me for her breakfast and lunch foods. This has been so nice and we are so lucky that it has been very short lived.

We got Bella a VW Bug, of course the Power Wheels model (like we have that much money :)). We found it off of Craigslist for a great deal and she loves it! She just drives around the house trying to run over our cats and us! We are so proud! I have attached a video of her crazy driving for you all to enjoy. She also has now signed up for a gymnastics class. Her little friend Lucy and her will now be gymnastic superstars. Look for them in the 2024 Olympics :)! She loved the bars and was really excited to be able to jump and walk on the beam. We will have pictures of this shortly. It will be so fun to see her wear a little leotard for her classes. She also has been enjoying her Kindermusik class. She loves to dance and loves music so this class has been great for her and especially me. These classes have been so nice in getting her energy out and also getting her out to play with other kids.

We are also so happy because the Dallas Cowboys season started up again ! We love the Cowboys and are going to miss going to the games out here.

Rick is still going strong in his last year of dental school. After all of the tears of him picking Baylor over UNLV, I am so glad that we chose Baylor and what a blessing it truly has been. This is a great place to live, I just wish that it was a little closer to home. If it was, we definitely would be staying.

I hope you all are doing well and I will be checking in on your blogs!

Summer Days with Bella

2008-08-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well life has gone back to normal now that Rick has gone back to school. I have been trying to find creative things for Bella and I to do while it is hot outside and I really have been coming up short! I have tried finger painting, dress up, and beauty parlor with her and for the most part the activities last, at most, about 10 minutes. It is amazing how long a day can be when naps are short and a whiny child sets in. She sure is cute though and is growing up so fast. Her vocabulary never ceases to amaze me. She is our little parrot now and we are really having to watch what we say. She just cracks me up with her smart Alec attitude and her independent spirit! We sure do love Bella!!!

I have received a new calling that I have been extremely nervous about with my lack of creative talent. I have been called as the Enrichment Leader and it has been so far a really fun experience. Last night we had to get our invitations ready for the upcoming activity and I think we spent about 1/2 hour on finishing the invitations and another 4 hours of talking. It was great. It is so nice to have adult conversations with my new calling instead of the last 3 years of talking to children (primary teacher).

I also have a confession to make! I apologize to all of you who I thought were dorks for reading "The Book". Yes I have fallen into the dorkiness of the Twilight Series and I must say I love it! I asked my sister if this would be a good thing considering that Rick does not have a romantic bone in his body, you know wondering if I would be mad at him for not doing the things that Edward does... But so far not bad and it is nice to finally have a book I truly enjoy. So my book choices of this summer would be these two:

I know that I am bias because one of the books is my dad's, but honestly I have really loved his books and they are really well written. He also has a medical mystery book that is really hard to put down. Take a look at his website at http://www.warrenstucki.com/ to see all of his books. The Twilight series are such girl books and that is why I have really enjoyed reading them. I was, however, extremely disappointed looking at the movie trailer. Could they have not found a cuter Edward??!!

Hope you all are doing great!

All Quiet on the Texas Front

2008-08-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

Yep, nothing much is happening out here in Texas other than the heat and more heat! Rick has been home with us for the last few weeks while he is on summer break. We have done a lot of cleaning, a lot of errands, and a lot of tag teaming Bella. There is not much to do out here when it is BlAzInG hOt!!! Today we did attempt the zoo. Bella really loves to be around animals and we thought that if we went early in the morning that we could miss the heat and crowds. We were wrong. It was half price Wednesday and school is still out for all of the kids. Not to mention that the heat was beating down on us and the animals were seeking shelter and we could not see them. Luckily, the white tiger did come out and play with Bella and she laughed every time it went by (see attached video). She also really enjoyed the bird area where she got to hold out a seed stick for the birds to come and eat off of it. Good Times!

Bella also had her 15 month check even though she is 16 months tomorrow. The pediatrician put it so politely when he said that "Bella is spirited and her spirit can't be harnessed". Isn't that the truth??!! He did give us some helpful pointers on how to try to get her tantrums under control, which was great. She also is sporting the 90th percentile for height and head! She definitely has her dad's height and for sure her mother's big head!

Nothing much is happening here other than Rick is now in heaven because he found a soccer league that doesn't play on Sunday's and I am still getting up at the crack of dawn to go running. The 1/2 marathon is now 6 weeks away! That should be comical and a good day for the Dallas EMT's :)!

Hope you all are well!

Two Weeks Vacation

2008-07-29T09:18:00.001-07:00

What a great vacation we had!!! We flew into Salt Lake on July 13th where we had so much fun visiting with family and friends. Bella got a kick out of going to the Gateway and playing in the synchronized water fountain. She loves the water and takes advantage by jumping in any chance she gets. Rick got to go on his yearly waterski trip with his grandparents and was dead for days later. I was glad to see some of my friends, unfortunately we missed some of our friends because of the short time we were there. Bella was excited to see her grandparents and also had a fun time at the Old Spaghetti Factory. She likes spaghetti a lot.

We then journeyed down to St. George to spend a few days with my family. Bella was a little shy around her cousins at first, but it didn't take long before she started going crazy with them. She absorbed all of the attention and it seemed as though she had a crush on Cole :)! Her older cousins took such good care of her and she loved every minute of it. We also went up to my dads house and got to swim in their fun pool. Bella loves to swim and also to be dunked. This is very weird considering that I hate being dunked and I don't really love swimming under water. She definitely gets that from her dad. She loved going down my dads slide and I have attached a video of her going down it.

Next, we took off to Disneyland. To be honest I was a little concerned about taking Bella to Disneyland, but to our surprise she really enjoyed it!!! She had such a great time and was not fussy at all. There was so much to do and honestly I could have stayed another day there. Rick was in heaven at the Princess Luncheon that we went to. Mostly because the princesses were all really pretty and they just loved the loving dad image Rick was putting off :). Belle even called Rick her Beast. Isn't that the truth??!!

Bella loved the beach and playing in the sand. It was such a relaxing day. What more could you ask for on your birthday Disneyland and the beach. Great day!! The day before we left we went to Legoland. Not such an enjoyable experience. Bella was tired and had gotten sick with a cough and a runny nose. She pretty much whined and cried the whole time there. We took off early from that park and to be honest I would have rather done one more day at Disneyland. Sunday we headed home and Bella surprised us by sleeping 2 1/2 hours of the 3 hour flight. Are we lucky or what??!! The transitioning back to normalcy has gone a lot better then expected. Bella does miss her cousins and the fun that they had, but the sleep has been much better!

Thanks to our families for such a wonderful trip and Mom thank you so much for the great time in California. You made the trip so much fun and what a great time we had spending it with our family! Thanks for the memories. We love you all and miss you all!!

Summer Days

2008-07-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last week was a really fun week. Since it has been so hot out here we try to find ways to have fun while still beating the heat. It's been 100+ several times. On Monday a group of us decided to go to the mall and let the kids go wild at the play area. What I love about Texas is that it is very family oriented, there are lots of kid friendly things to do such as play areas, great parks, and fun kid places to go. The malls out here have a play gym area that has slides, cars, trucks and all kinds of other contraptions. This makes a great indoor and air conditioned escape. Great idea right?! On Tuesday we went to the Lewisville community pool that has fun little kid areas that are made for toddlers and babies. Bella had such a blast and loved going down the water slide with me (even though I got injured on the toddler slide :)). Wednesday we went to a free petting farm down in Irving and it was perfect for Bella! She loves animals and was excited to be able to pet the goats, rabbits, cows, and deer! On Thursday, Rick and I took Bella down to the aquarium again, but it was very short lived because Bella had missed a nap and was not a happy camper. Friday was Independence Day and we headed on over to our friend's house for a bbq and some swimming. It was very fun as Bella has really taken a liking to the water. She loves to go underwater and jump from the side of the pool to me. She is definitely a water baby! Saturday we got to go to a 1st birthday party for Bella's friend Lilly! Lilly was so cute in her b-day outfit and Bella just loved to play with all the Balloon's. It was such a fun week and now we have less than a week before we head off to Utah and California! How quickly this summer is flying by!

Rick is staying really busy with school and he is really excited to be a fourth year! In less than one year he will be an actual dentist! I won't know what to think after we have been professional students for so long!

I am still waking up at 5:40 am to go running with a group of friends. We are training for a 10k in September and then possibly a half marathon in October! I have never been a fan of running, but it is growing on me!

Hope you all are having a great summer!

Dallas World Aquarium

2008-06-20T13:44:00.001-07:00

So we just love the annual pass that we got to the Dallas World Aquarium! Bella and I took an adventure down there and Rick met us there during his 1 hour lunch break (his dental school is super close to the aquarium so that is so nice). Bella loves it there and especially loves the floor to ceiling aquarium that holds the manatees, catfishes, and huge sea turtles. She just chases them around and it is so fun to watch her point at them and laugh when they get close to her. As you can tell there are hardly any pictures of her actually looking at me, because she is just too busy checking out the animals. It is so fun, I am so glad that we got this pass (thanks for your contribution Sean and Cari :)). These pictures are from the two times that we have been down there with our pass. As you can tell in the pics, those striped pink shorts on Bella are super tight. Yes our 14 month old is in 2T's and right now she is growing so fast that I am not sure if I want to spend too much money on getting her a lot of new clothes :)! I know...I am mean.

We are so excited for our trip to Utah and California in a couple of weeks! I must say I am a little nervous about Disneyland, but as much as I hate to admit this and be THAT parent, I did get Bella a backpack leash. I just know how much she loves to run and break free of her parents so I decided that was the best bet to let her have some freedom, but also be attached to us. Anyways, I am sure that I will have pictures of Bella on a leash so I am sure you all will be looking forward to that. Let me know, all of you that have been there, what rides I can take a 15 month old on. Any suggestions would be great. Talk to you all soon!

Happy Birthday/Father's Day Ricky Lee!

2008-06-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

So we had a very eventful weekend. First we celebrated Ricky's 31st birthday yesterday and today is Father's Day! Bella and I had so much fun preparing for this fun occasion. I thought I would take on the task of baking Rick a birthday cake and it turned out great except for the fact that the serving size was for 16 to 18 people. Yep, there is only three of us in our little family. I got a little carried away.

Rick also was surprised with the xbox 360, which all of the family members chipped in for and also, Rick and I were spoiled with a combined gift of Wii Fit! It is such a blast and if you have the Wii I would totally recommend it! Thanks to all of our family for taking such good care of us. We love you!

I also just wanted to say a quick appreciation to my dad, Rock, Don, and Rick on this Father's day! To my dad, I thank you so much for your willingness to help us out and to completely understand the financial hardship that occurs while putting yourself through school and raising a family while doing it! You have saved us so many times with Bella and her costly habits and we thank you so much! I love your sense of humor and you always know how to make me laugh! Thanks for being such a great dad! Rock, your wit and sarcastic sense of humor is so fun and I just love playing Hearts with you and beating you :)! Thanks for raising such a great grandson and for the support you give our family. Don, you are such a warm and thoughtful person! I still remember from my surgery you telling me how you felt like you needed to say a prayer for me while you were driving and so you pulled off the side of the road to do it. You are so kind and I appreciate all that you have done for Rick and I as well. And finally Rick, what a great husband and father you are! Bella just loves you so much and everyday cannot wait to have you walk through the door. She definitely is a "Daddy's Girl"! We love you and appreciate all the hard work that you put into our little family!

Happy Father's Day to Sean and Jeremy. What great examples you are to our family.

Happy Father's Day to all!

Some Fun Pics

2008-06-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post some pics of Bella from her birthday shoot! I just love these pics and my friend Whitni does such a great job. You can take a look at her work at http://whitniparkerphotography.com/ . Bella's personality really came out in this shoot and I think the pictures captured her personality completely.

Things are going great these days. Bella is still climbing, bouncing, and running! She is not one to stay still. Rick has now started his fourth year and is just waiting for some more root canals...any takers :)??!!

I just finished the first batch of tennis lessons and am starting up again this week! I love it and am so glad that I have gotten back into to playing. Megan, you and CJ better start practicing up :)!

Bella is now saying "two, Momma, Dadda, kitty cat, shoes, oh no, and oh shoot". Sometimes the "oh shoot" sounds like a bad word, but luckily she is a baby so she can get away with it. We are so excited to go home to Utah in a month to see our family and friends. It seems like it has been forever since we have been home! We also get to go to Disneyland and we can't wait for Bella to go to the park. It should be interesting, fun, and also crazy!

Hope you all are having a great summer break!

Fun with Daddy!

2008-05-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the pool with her dad!
Can you say swimsuit model?? What a poser!
Bella and Lilly playing with bubbles.
Horns on the head...so fitting!

So it has been so great having Rick home! He is now officially a fourth year dental student and I can't believe he will be done in one year! He has been so great at finding a balance with family and school and boy does Bella love it when he is home! Since Rick has been out of school we have been swimming and going to the park a lot! Bella loves to swim and put her face in the water. Bella had a very fun pool day with her friend Lilly today. She also ran into her friends Asher, Caleb, and Jacob at the pool as well. Also, her new favorite word to say is Asher. To be honest Bella has a huge crush on him and constantly wants to go and play with him.

Life is going good out here. We have decided to stay at our current apartment to finish out the school year. We have really enjoyed Lewisville and all of the parks. It really has been a great place to live. We do miss Utah a lot though and are hoping that we can end up back there to set up practice.

Bella is growing so fast and has developed quite the personality. She likes to talk on the phone, vacuum with me with her push popper, and beat up on little kids ( I am so proud :) )! We love her to death, but she sure is a handful.

Oh and on that video with her trying on the swimsuit as a cape... I am sure some of you ladies can relate to the stuffing. Hopefully Bella will get blessed with a little bit more than her mom has :)!

Just a Little Somethin'

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

Eating soy mac & cheese after a long and wild hair nap!
Playing in some flowers after church!

Just Chillin' in her chair.

So life out here in Texas is just movin' along. Rick is almost done with his third year of dental school and then we have one year left. It will be interesting to see where we end up a year from now. Rick is in finals now and it will be so nice to have him done for a couple of weeks until they start into their fourth year.

Bella is just as crazy as ever and we love it! She can find her bellybutton as well as finding my bellybutton in the most inopportune times (church, grocery stores, etc.). She is now saying two, mamma, dadda, and kitty. At one point I thought she was saying a bad word, but luckily if it was a bad word it wasn't used again. I don't know why she decided to start saying two other than she loves when we go up the stairs and we count. She will say two for the first step and I just pretend that she is right :)! She is getting her first molar in and she has been miserable. I thought it was because of her 1st year shots, but now I know what the real cause was for her moodiness. Her 1st birthday check up was quite hilarious. All of the nurses just thought she was so cute as she was walking back to the exam room and was babbling to all of them, but right when we entered into the exam room she through a fit and started crying hysterically! She definitely knew where she was. The nurses than proceeded to do rock, paper, scissors to see who would be the lucky one to give Bellazilla her shots. The poor sucker who lost had a tough time restraining Bellazilla, but luckily it was over pretty quickly. The conclusion after the exam was that Bella is a BIG BABY! She was in the 90th percentile for height, weight, and noggin! We were reassured that this Neocate was not going to make her a sumo wrestler so we are holding the doctors to that :)!

I am doing great too! I have decided to start finding things to do for myself and have started running in the mornings with Bella in a jogging stroller and with some friends and am starting tennis lessons tonight. I am way excited and Megan I am ready for a rematch when we get together again and hopefully I won't nail you in the head again when we play :)! Work is good too. I have just enough that I can get it done during Bella's naps.

Well that is it on the Larson Front... I hope everyone is doing great! The video is of some things that Bella has learned and of course of her just being Bella!

A Texas Tradition

2008-04-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well Megan and I thought we would be daring and take Bella and McKenzie to have their picture taken with the Bluebonnets, which is a Texas tradition. It was so much fun and Bella loved picking up the flowers,playing with them, and also hanging out with her friend. She has really become a lot of fun over the past few months and I have loved her walking! She definitely is a big girl now! She has always had just one speed and that is fast. She is loving to run (yes not walk anymore) and chase the kitties as well as keeping up with her bigger friends. Also, we have some good news on the food front, Bella has had no reaction to soy foods! Can we yell out a big YIPPEE!! We are so happy that she is doing well with it and we now get to start her on Soy milk. Hopefully this food allergy is going to be very short lived! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the spring weather!

1st Birthday...Party All Weekend!

2008-04-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Little Devil!

Little Angel!

Bella's Poodle Cake

Fun times with Daddy

Party Animal!

Opening gifts at family party

Fun pink chair that Grandma gave her!

Well the Pink Poodle Birthday Party was a success! Other than high winds, Bella practically getting a concussion, and then taking a nap for about 45 minutes at her own party, the party actually turned out to be quite nice! We have been so lucky to have made so many good friends out here! We truly have been blessed and we are so grateful for having such good people to be around when we are so far from our families. Bella's Grandma Ellen was able to come and we were so glad to have at least one of our family members here for such a wonderful occasion :)!

Bella was spoiled by receiving so many great gifts from family and friends! I have a video attached of her with her new steed! She will make her Papa Warren so proud with how comfortable she is with riding it. Now all she needs is a cowgirl hat and she will be all Texan! It is amazing how fast this year has flown by. I remember like it was only yesterday of me and Rick heading to the hospital through a few tornado's just to get there after the hospital had been evacuated. Oh the memories... Bella came in with the tornado's and she is still running like a tornado, how ironic! She is definitely a lot of fun, especially now since I have taught her how to give kisses and when I am mad at her she will lean forward and give me a kiss to stop me from being mad (how manipulative -huh-, but how smart because it works). She is so good at giving high fives and we have attached another video of her walking and giving high fives. Jackie asked me to send a video of Bella to her and I thought that I would share it with all of you since I thought it was so cute.

Sorry for the long post! I hope you all are doing well!

Short Birthday video!

Bella with her brand new steed!

Walking video

You're Invited...

2008-04-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would invite all of you to Bella's 1st birthday party. So if you all are in the Dallas area stop on by!

HAPPY EASTER!

2008-03-24T18:34:00.001-07:00

Bella got to lazy to walk so daddy put her on the ice cooler.

Bella trying to keep up with the rest and racing to get the eggs.

Bella and her many friends! They had such a great time!!

We had such a fun Easter with Bella this year. We went for our usual Easter picnic and then we had a fun time with our friends on Sunday for a yummy Easter dinner. The kids had an Easter egg hunt and then we just sat and visited, which is always fun:)! Bella unfortunately could not have any of the Easter candy, so we had to fill her eggs with soy free, dairy free, and gluten free snacks. Sounds delicious doesn't it??!! Bella was spoiled by her grandparents who gave her some fun books, clothes, bibs, and money! We are very fortunate to have family like we do. We sure do miss them during the holidays. We hope that all of you had a Happy Easter.

Bella is now walking more and more and our goal for having her walk by this weekend might come true! She has really become a spitfire and she lets us know when she is not happy. Her favorite thing to do is dance and she now has mastered the New Kids On The Block move from the Hanging Tough video (any of you who were NKOTB fans know what move I am talking about :)). Hopefully I can capture this on video so that you all can see it.

By the way this video is very long and do not feel bad if you do not watch it. It is intended for the family, but if all of you friends want to watch it, then knock yourselves out.

Bella at 11 months

2008-03-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

For all of you who get motion sickness...Caution while watching :)!

Bella at her lookout post! She loves this slide and so does mom!

One of her many adventures in the Dryer.

Bella and her friend Lilly at the park.

So Bella is finally taking some steps and is getting a little better at not looking like she is trying to walk the white line after having too much to drink :)! I am really looking forward to her walking! I know all of you mothers are saying "Oh you have no idea what you are asking for", but it would be so nice to get her off the ground. She is now throwing tantrums, which I think is sometimes hysterical! She will bounce up and down and then throw herself back onto the ground and proceed to cry out loud. I didn't think that they started this young, but hopefully it is not a sign as to what I am in for as she grows older.

Rick has been working super hard these last few weeks with all of his dental requirements and I think he is ready for this year to be over. I can't believe that we have already been out here for almost three years and only have one year left. Time is flying by so fast and Bella will be turning one next month. I am still working away and am glad that I have the opportunity to be at home with Bella. We are excited for Easter and can't wait for our annual picnic.

We went to Bella's GI Specialist and we are going to be able to start her on some soy foods. If any of you know any foods that contain soy for toddler's I would so much appreciate it. We get to try her on a next step soy formula at 13 months and am so looking forward to not having to buy the pure gold formula "Neocate". So everyone keep your fingers crossed that she can handle the soy. I hope that all of you are doing well!

Snow Day

2008-03-07T05:59:00.000-08:00

This week has been a very long week. Bella became very ill on Tuesday and had to be taken to the hospital. It was awful not only for her, but for me keeping her entertained for three hours. She is doing so much better now, and is finally sleeping a little. This week has also been a strange week out here in Dallas. We have had two snow days. This never happens here and yesterday we decided to take advantage of it and take Bella sledding. Well she hated every moment of it, which really disappointed her dad. But it was fun to get dressed up in snow gear and it reminded us of our many years in Salt Lake.

Bella is as crazy as ever. She really is a climber and likes to be adventurous. Yesterday, I always know that she is into trouble when she is silent. The first incident happened in the morning when I hadn't heard much from her and went to go check on her. Well she was sitting up on her toy box just chillin'. Are you wondering how she got up there?? Well she pushed the glider ottoman over to the toy box and then climbed upon that to get up there. The next incident was only about an hour later. Again there was silence and so I went to check on her. Well this time she had opened up the dryer door and had climbed into the dryer and was just sitting in there in her clothes and throwing them out. She is quite the "Curious George". She does make me laugh and never ceases to amaze me with her creativity.

Bella raiding the fridge.

Her infamous bed head after naps.

Fun Day at the Park

2008-02-28T09:01:00.001-08:00

We sure have been loving the temp out here in Dallas. These last few days have been in the 70's, which is the perfect park weather. The area that we live in has the best parks. The particular one that we go to has two big ponds, a 2 mile walking course around the ponds, bridges to go over, and a huge playground. Bella loves to look at the ducks and feed them. She will bark (not quack) at the ducks to let them know that she speaks their kind of language. She loves to go swinging and look at all of the big kids. I love that it is getting warmer because being trapped in a small two bedroom apartment with Bellazilla can make for a very long day. She definitely has her fathers "can't sit still" behavior.

She is getting ready to walk. She will step one step before figuring out that she feels a lot more stable on her knees. Yesterday she thought that she would climb into the shower with me by pushing the trash can to the shower/bath tub and then stepping onto it to get into the shower. I did not know that she had done this until I heard her land into the shower. She always has to be climbing. To make it even better, I thought "well she is already wet and she likes water" so I decided to get her naked and realized that she had pooped and it fell into the bath tub with us. If any of you know me, you know how easily I get grossed out (as you can imagine I had to wash multiple times to feel like I was clean after that). It made for quite the predicament and needless to say it was not a relaxing shower. This girl needs to be tied down :). She is always getting into trouble. She definitely is more than I thought that I could handle, but luckily my prayers are being answered and I am becoming more and more patient with her (which is another trait as you all know that I am not blessed with). She does make life interesting and can always make me laugh with her curious behavior. I sure do love her and am so glad that she is a part of our family.

I know this is shocking, but I have done two posts in one day. The next one is a tag that I was tagged to do. So if anyone would like to be tagged, please feel free to do so.

My Man

2008-02-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

What is his name? Ricky Lee Larson (Yes that is his real name :) )

How long have you been together? 7 Years

How did you meet? Our friend Brian set us up when I saw him on the soccer field with Brian. I
thought he was very cute and athletic.

How long have you been married? 6 years on April 13.

Kids? Isabella

How old is he? The big 30 and still going strong.

Who eats more? It honestly could be a toss up... I really do love to eat, but he does have me beat on most things except for chips!

Who eats more sweets? Definitely Rick. He loves his chocolate. If you ever saw that SNL with Mike Myers when he was pretending to be a kid at the park while having one of those leashes on him tied to a jungle jim (that spelling is for you Amy) with chocolate all over his face. That is what I picture Rick like with chocolate as a child.

Who said I love you first? Ricky over the phone while I was working at Special Olympics.

Who is taller? Rick He's 6'2" and I'm 5'5"

Who is smarter? Rick is smarter at sciences and politics while I am smarter at social sciences and history.

Who sings better? We pretty much both stink at singing.

Who does the laundry? We both put laundry in the washer, but somehow I am always the one that ends up folding it!

Who pays the bills? We both do and we both hate it!

Who sleeps on the right side? Me.

Who mows the lawn? Ha Ha that is comical, a lawn...What is that??!! Apartment living now going on 9 years. Love it!

Who cooks dinner? Me, Rick doesn't even know how to boil water... but Linda tells me that she taught Rick how to cook before his mission. Hmm, playing dumb are we :).

Who kissed who first? The Rickster!!

Who proposed? Rick at 1 am in the morning on the top of the Eiffel Tower (okay so it was the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower).

Who has more friends? Probably me, but he still has a lot.

Who is more sensitive? Definitely me, Rick is not a sensitive person. I can cry over those stupid Onstar commercials. Babies really do wreck your hormones.

Who has more siblings? I do 1 brother and 1 sister. Rick is an only child.

Who wears the pants in the family? We are equal :) Yeah right, it's me.

I tag Amy, Millie, Melissa, Megan, Katie, Liana, Karisti, Annilee, and Holly and anyone else who would like to do this.

HELP!!

2008-02-15T12:19:00.000-08:00

Okay so I love my daughter a lot, but recently she has become a real pill (my mom's saying)!! I need help from all of you experienced mothers. So here is my problem. Bella is now 10 months old and has become very clingy and whiney as well as disinterested in food. I can hardly put her down lately to play on the floor and when I do she will just cry hysterically until I pick her up. Like yesterday for example, she has never been afraid of the vacuum, but when I brought it out she started crying and shaking. Is this normal?? Also with the eating thing, she used to love eating (as you can tell) and just recently she will spit out her food and close her mouth real tight so that nothing can get in. She does this with her fruits as well and she used to eat those within seconds. Now it literally takes over an hour to feed her which I don't like to do. Have any of you gone through this? Can you tell me what is going on or some advice on how to handle it? I am already not a patient person and she was so good with entertaining herself before that it is driving me crazy! HELP! Can I really have more than one child??!!

On another fun note, Valentines was a bust. I spent it alone with my cats (totally sound like an old cat lady don't I). Rick said he was at the library studying for a big test he had today, but it sounds kind of fishy to me :)! So I watched deal or no deal and ate the desert that I made (pretty much half of the cake). He did get the usual flowers and I really nice card so I did forgive him. I hope that all of you had a Happy Valentine's Day! Bella thanks the grandparents for the great Valentine's.

Sharing

2008-02-07T18:07:00.000-08:00

So I know that Bella is only 10 months (in a few days), but I sometimes feel like she might be the baby that no mother is going to want their child to play with. She is not called Bellazilla for nothing. We had a Super Bowl party with our friends the Kraus's and their little girl Lilly. Lilly and Bella were playing on the ground together with some toys. Well Bella had a toy that Lilly wanted and Bella looked like she was going to be nice and share it with her. No such luck. Lilly grabbed onto the toy as Bella was handing it to her and then with all of her strength she snatched it right out of Lilly's hands. It was almost like she was taunting her. I am going to have a bully as a child :)!

She is getting to be so much fun and I can't believe how fast time is going by. She is now getting ready to walk and can take one step before she falls to the ground. She loves to drive around on her car and when the music comes on she starts to bounce up and down. I really feel like I have been slacking on picture taking and I know that I should be taking more. I will try to get better about putting more pics up here for you all (mostly speaking to my family who have been asking me where the pics are).

Also, I don't know if any of you are looking for some cute artwork for your kids room, but I love this website called farmhousefive.com . I have pretty much decorated all of Bella's room in it. I have put up some pics of her room.

Doing the laundry...

2008-01-31T12:29:00.001-08:00

So Bella has now entered into the climbing stage of her life. She loves to climb everything including chairs, toys, and people. Too bad we don't have stairs to keep her entertained. She also is saying a few words like ma ma, da da, and cat. Okay so she mostly says cat because she thinks that the cats are much more fun than we are. She likes to show me where my mouth is, but sometimes it gets a little side tracked and she pokes me in the eyeball or up my nose. She also has super grip strength, which it is very hard to detach her when she has her tree trunks around me. I do know where she gets it from. Yes, I know you all are saying Rick because he is so athletic and strong, but you are wrong. Let me take you back to the good old days of the fitness center at Dixie College. Many of you do not know this, but I won the strongest leg competition. I know you are all saying yeah whatever, but really I did. I leg pressed 340 pounds. Holly can attest to it. I know that it is crazy and all with me now being only able to leg press a feather, but it was true. I have the certificate to prove it (Rick didn't believe me either until I presented him with the solid evidence). So as you can see she does get her super power strength from me and not her dad, who is very athletic and goes to the gym pretty much every night.

Here is a little video of one of her many adventures around the house. Don't worry no babies were harmed in the making of this video. She was alright after the fall and got right back into the laundry basket to watch Sesame Street.

P.S. I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors. The spell check on the blog is not working and I am too lazy to read through this post again :).

Ode to Utah

2008-01-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

So even though I love the Dallas weather and also living in the same city as the Dallas Cowboys, I have been missing home just a little bit. Here is my top reasons that I miss home and the top reasons that I don't.

Miss...

1. I miss family (of course) and your right Amy I do miss my friends a lot too :)!

How could I not miss these guys!!

2. I miss the mountains. I hate when spring and fall come around and it is tornado season. Not so fun to hear the sirens go off and also living on the 3rd floor of an apartment.

3. I miss Pizza Factory, Pasta Factory, Cafe Rio, The spaghetti Factory, Paula's (I know I am weird, but they have good beans and salsa...Oh and they have that delicious orange delight), and Nielsen's Frozen Custard. And now I hear about an In & Out coming to St. George... looking forward to my visits so I can go there too!

4. I miss feeling like I am normal :).

5. I miss it only taking fifteen minutes to get wherever you need to get.

6. I miss watching the news and having the first 20 minutes be about a cute dog that saved a turtles life and not be about all of the murders that have happened over night (Ahh Dallas one of the most violent cities :) ).

Don't miss...

1. I don't miss Salt Lake winters!!

2. I don't miss brushing off snow and then scraping off my windshield in a skirt in -10 degree temperatures.

3. I don't miss St. George traffic where some people think that even though the speed limit says 40 mph it really means 25 mph.

4. I don't miss seeing the injury lawyer ad that says "One call that's all" by that weirdo lawyer.

5. I do not miss Utah's construction on roads that takes over 4 years to complete a 1 mile section.

Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

2008-01-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

I was so sad to hear the news of Pres. Hinckley's passing, but at the same time I think of his love for his wife and am so glad that they are together again. It makes me ponder about my love for Rick and how I am truly grateful for eternal families. Pres. Hinckley was a testimony to the truthfulness of this church. Even through my past inactivity and wondering whether or not this church was where I belonged, I always knew that Pres. Hinckley was a man of God. I am so grateful for his work and service for this church. He was everything that I needed in a prophet; he was caring, kind, light hearted, and spiritual. I loved hearing him speak and knowing that somewhere in his talk he would make me laugh. I loved when he spoke of his love for his wife and how it made me want my marriage to be like that. I remember when he spoke in the Dixie Center in St. George. I had purposely pretended that I knew how to sing so that I could be closer to him in the building. When he walked in using his cane and had his wife by him, I had chills and had a confirmation that he was a prophet of God. I will truly miss him. He definitely was a prophet for my generation.

Baby with Attitude

2008-01-24T19:47:00.000-08:00

So Bella is definitely a diva! As you can tell with the first picture, she views me as the paparazzi and does not want to be bothered with pictures. Today I went shopping with my friend Tiffany and Bella just lounged out in the cart with her leg propped up and her arm resting on the back of the seat. She loves to shop and as Tiffany and I looked around the store she played with her new shoes and did not want to let go of a Hawaii themed swimsuit. Rick is worried that I have corrupted her with too much shopping. But how can you not buy girl clothes, they are so cute! Anyone who is interested Target just got in some really cute spring clothes.

The second picture is a throwback picture to when she was three months old. That is Bella's friend Lilly. Why I post this picture is because we were over at the Kraus family's house and Bella turned into a Mini-me J-Lo. She was telling Liana off by almost shouting at her and pointing her finger at her and this lasted for about 10 minutes (no exaggeration). No real words came out, but she seemed to think that she was telling Liana what was up. It was hilarious. I think that she was jealous that Liana was paying to much attention to Lilly and not her (which is expected since Lilly is her daughter and all). Rick seems to think that she gets it from me saying that I am bossy and it is rubbing off on her and I respond by saying obviously it works, you married me right :)!!

I am so glad that I came into the blogging world. I have reconnected with old friends and I love seeing all of your great blog pages. Love it, love it, love it!!

Brushing Teeth

2008-01-17T16:03:00.001-08:00

Okay so I just love that I waited until my daughter was nine months old before I started brushing her teeth!! I was informed recently that I should have been brushing them at six months and yes I am married to a soon to be dentist! She actually loved brushing her teeth and she made her dad so proud.

Life has been kind of sad lately... the Dallas Cowboys lost and we don't know what to do without Big D football anymore! We are going to start cheering for the Packers! Go Favre! Everybody in Dallas, of course, is blaming it on Jessica Simpson, which is getting kind of old! You wanna know why they lost... because T.O. wasn't utilized, Crayton had butterfingers, and the defense could not stop crap! Yes, the Larson family is still very bitter! Oh well there is always next year :).

For all of you who have been asking me how to post without a gmail account, I don't think you can. I am not an expert at this blogging thing, but I don't see how you can. So you can just email me your comments.

Bella loves to climb stairs and thinks that she is such a big girl when she reaches the top. She is finally holding her own bottle, which is so great! She is getting huge (both weight and height)! She just seems to be getting so big and I sometimes have a really hard time lifting her up :). She is our "chunky but funky" daughter. We sure love her.

Dancing Bella

2008-01-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Okay so my daughter actually can dance despite her dad and mom being totally without rhythm. She cracks me up each day with the things that she does. I can say that this age is so fun. Her personality is really coming out. I will be honest and say that the newborn stage was not my favorite, maybe it was because all of her eating and choking problems, but this age when she is crawling and able to interact more is so much fun. So anybody who is willing to take care of my next child during the newborn stage and then give it back to me when they hit about six months to eight months that would be great :)!!

Life is getting back to normal being back in Dallas. We enjoy our walks and hanging out with friends and spending too much at Target. Her sleeping is still off. She now thinks that her new wake up time is 5 am, I don't think so!! Well I am not too good at this blogging stuff, so I better end before I keep on rambling on.

Christmas Vacation

2008-01-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

Whitni did such a great job on our Family Pic's!

Well after seeing how many of my friends were blogging, I thought that I better get my blog updated!! Christmas vacation was so fun! We got to see family, good friends, snow, and a lot of food! It is funny how much more you miss your friends and family after going to Utah to visit. It was such a great Christmas for us especially since it was Isabella's first Christmas. We were definitely spoiled by our families and feel very blessed by all of their kindness. Bella had a great time with cousins and friends. Santa found her in Salt Lake and in St. George. The plane ride that I had been dreading, actually turned out really nice when I sat by an elderly man from Scotland that was so nice to us. Come to find out by the end of the plane ride he was LDS and his grandson was in our primary. Crazy how prayers get answered.

Bella spotting Santa and attacking him!

Her first time being in snow.

Our little Rudolph!! Aren't we mean parents :)!

Bella is still on her steak and lobster dinner. We tried to transition her back to Nutramigen, but her body was unable to handle it. Kind of disappointing, but we are just glad that she is feeling better. She is crawling like a mad woman and is pulling herself up to stand on everything! We left Dallas with her just barely learning how to crawl and now return back to Dallas after Christmas with her crawling like crazy and being able to stand. She is just a fast mover and I am having a hard time keeping up with her! I love this stage!!! Her cute, but feisty, personality is so fun. She is laughing so much more, even though she still is a very serious and cynical. She still raises her one eyebrow up at us when she thinks that we have "no clue what we are in for". She definitely is a busy body.

Rick just started up his second semester of his third year. Only 1 1/2 more years to go!! It is so exciting, but yet soon we are going to have to be grown up. We have been students for so long, I don't know how we are going to fair as being real contributors to society :)! I am still working from home as a medical transcriptionist. It definitely has been a great job so that I can stay home with Bella. Well I better finish, but I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday.

6 Months Along

2007-10-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would get on board and do a blog page of the Larson's. We are doing really well out here in Texas. Isabella just celebrated her six months yesterday and had Pears to celebrate. Rick is still doing well in school. He is getting close to finishing his fall semester of his 3rd year. Grandma Ellen just came out over this last weekend and spoiled Bella rotten. She has her new fall clothes and now has more clothes then Rick and I combined! Couple weeks back the boys came out for the Cowboys game against the Rams. Luckily, it was not the same outcome that happened 2 years ago. Sherry and Lisa watched Bella while we went to the game and as you can see from the pics Bella just thinks that she is one of the girls! We sure do enjoy having our families come out. I am still dictating for 3 surgeons here in Dallas and am really liking it. I started a running class last week and am preparing to run an 8 mile race in November. We will see how I do, it might be ugly :). Bella is rolling over like crazy now and is getting ready to start crawling. I bet it happens in the next couple of weeks. She is a very determined little girl. She is still a diva and lets us know when she is not happy (mostly when she wants her food). She laughs more and more each day and is getting more fun everyday. I will write more soon.