President Hinckley

I'm sure that most of you have heard that President Hinckley died last night. What a loss for the world! He was such a great man and was truly a prophet of God. I always appreciated his optimism-- he saw the best in people and situations. It seems that when you have a good attitude about things, they usually work out for the best. He was the prophet of my youth. I remember his teachings then as being very practical and applicable-- Be grateful, Be smart, Be humble, Be prayerful, etc. And in my few years of adulthood, his example and his wisdom have guided me through many situations. I loved his saying "Do the best you can." That fills me with so much hope, strength, and purpose. I felt like he never asked us to do anything that he wasn't willing to do himself. I truly know that he was a prophet of God, leading the Church through some exciting times, and bringing the blessings of the Gospel to so many.
I also find it comforting to know that the Church will move forward without him. It is the Church of Jesus Christ, and He really is at the helm. Earthly leaders may change, but the Savior still directs this church. What a blessing it is to be a part of it!

Sick House

I cannot believe it. My kids were sick over the weekend and I took them into the doctor yesterday. They have RSV!!! SUper scary!! Poor little Kate just laid in my arms moaning during the whole appointment and the doctor seemed especially worried about her. After some medication, they both seem to be doing better, but it's a week before they can be around other kids. We'll miss you all as we sit on the couch and watch movies this week!
It's especially humbling to me because I never thought I'd let my kids get RSV. I thought it was for formula-fed kids in daycare.... anyway I was wrong! If anyone has tips for helping them get through this, please let me know.

Look what I did!

Kate is 18 months already! We are so blessed to have such a little sweetie in our lives. She is the best!! One thing that Kate is really good at is giving hugs-- if you ever look a little sad, Kate is there with a hug to cheer you up!

Anyway, I was inspired to try digital scrapbooking (thanks to Michele and Jaclyn!) and this is my first creation. Everything came from shabbyprincess.com and it's all free to download!

house photos

here's our house. note that I haven't had the courage to hang up many pictures on the walls yet.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lntlarsen/NewHouse

Happy Birthday Trav!

Tomorrow is Travis's birthday. He is the best husband and father in the whole world and I hope he has a great day. Let me tell you some of the things that I love about him:

I married Trav because I was so impressed with his commitment to the Gospel. Being around him made me want to be better, and it still does. He is a great example of integrity and commitment. He is also a great example of being slow to anger (which is something I need to develop in myself). He is non-judgmental and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have ever heard him say a negative comment about another person. He does his best to ease other's burdens, especially mine. I feel like he is the most supportive husband ever.

Travis has a hidden, playful side that I just love. He would die of embarrassment if I posted some of the funny things he does, so we'll just leave it at that. He is a great dad and loves being around his kids. He puts his girls first, so much that if he gets home late and misses dinner with us, he'll just wait to eat till they're in bed so he can play with them. He is always the initiator of games like chase, hide and seek, building forts, tickling, wrestling, etc. Those little girls love him to peices!!

So do I!

Back in Action

After much delay (due to the fact that our street wasn't wired for internet for the first three weeks we lived here), we are back in blogland!
The summary of our past month will be brief, mostly because I still have a million things to do....

We moved! We love our new house! I'll try to post pictures soon. The kids love running around with wild abandon. I love being able to take a warm shower every morning, whether or not Travis has just finished his. Getting used to small town life has been interesting. There's not a lot of retail here in Spanish Fork, at least in the way of hardware stores. There was one day where I drove to Provo four times to go to Home Depot. The good news is that there are plans to build a Home Depot, Target, and Costco in the next year or so. The library is a bit pitiful, but the people there were SO nice! That's the thing I've noticed most-- everyone is super friendly and always wants to talk. My favorite so far is the produce manager at Macey's. He's pretty sure that we always get the best bananas out there.

Christmas was great. We loved having time with our family and friends. Anna really bought into the Santa Claus thing. A few days before Christmas as I was tucking her in bed, she sat up and said, "wait mom, we didn't put out cookies and milk for Santa." She was so cute. Poor little Kate was sick all through Christmas and didn't seem to enjoy herself much at all. She has since regained her love for life and her new rocking chair.

Our new ward is fun, and HUGE. There are 4 nurseries and 3 Sunbeam classes! Anna was thrilled to start Sunbeams this past week and came home demanding that we give her some scriptures of her own. She told us she was naughty for not having scriptures at Sunbeams..... guess we know what that lesson was about.

We have great neighbors.... pretty much everyone on our street has kids the same age as at least one of mine. I think that if we try hard we'll fit in.

T is busy at work, but is so great with the kids when he gets home. They love to hear the garage door open and rush to find him. He's been awesome to do all the man-jobs. (I didn't think of it that way before now, but since moving into our house, I have definite expectations of what a man should do in the home. These things include taking the garbage can out to the street and bringing it back in, shoveling the driveway, and moving heavy stuff. I know I could do it, but for some reason, I feel like he should do it. :)