An Early Birthday

Since Grandma and Grandpa Larson are going to be gone until close to the time we leave, we celebrated the kids' birthdays early. Here are a couple of pictures of their presents. You will have to thank Grandma and Grandpa for the mess of polly pockets and the giant lego dinosaur that walks and roars.

The Count Down Begins

Well, for those of you who haven't heard Mike and I shouting it from the mountain tops; we are going to florida at the end of July for three weeks. That being said, July is in full swing and we are still a long way from being ready to go. Let me just share some of the things that I have observed as we are preparing for our trip. First, one should never have to look at a website to tell them how and what they can pack for a trip... (example) I have had to check the number of bags that we can have, what products we can take, and whether our carry ons are the correct size. This is way too much, what happened to I pull the suitcase out of the closet, throw some clothes and toiletries inside, and get on the plane?! Apparently I know have to have a degree in physics, engineering, and chemical science to pack for a trip...throw the kids in the mixture and you have to include a jobs as zoo keeper. The second thing that I have learned is that giving yourself a list of projects three months in advance still means that the week before you leave you will be trying to get it all done. Third, I need to call a disaster crew with heavy machinery to clean my family room downstairs, the two little monkeys that play down there are apparently not enough. I am afraid at some point we are going to lose a family member to the mess that is down there. (Again see the above note about projects needing completed) Four, dog proofing your house before a trip is worse than kid proofing your house before they come home from the hospital. Finally, despite all of the stress that we go through before the trip begins and while we are there, and when we return home, we are still thankful that we have the opportunity to travel as much as we do and are happy to be going out to see Mike's parents after a couple of years without a trip to Florida.
In other happenings, we had a good fourth of July holiday. We had a BBQ and fireworks with my parents a couple of days before the fourth because we were all off work that night. On the fourth of July the kids and I went to fireworks in Riverton; this was an awesome display and we had the perfect seats (they were made even better by the fact that we could get right out and head home without waiting for an hour), unfortunately, Mike had to work and spent the night watching prisoners. The day after we went to a neighborhood block party where we barbequed and then had fireworks. The kids had a great time running around and playing with their friends.
Other than the holiday, the kids have been playing with their friends; and Mike and I have been trying to get things ready to go. We will let you know if anything exciting happens between now and when we leave. I am hoping to post some pictures while we are gone.

Later,
Michelle

LAX at the Y

Today both me and Damon got to experience a first. Michelle decided that I should get to learn how to post in our blog, so this is my first blog. Damon finished up his first day of lacrosse camp at BYU. The BYU lacrosse coach is running the camp along with some of the players. according to Damon it was "awesome" and "just like Football, only you get to hit people with sticks". Needless to say he loved it. We had him put on his equipment so we could take some pictures, throw in some blacklights and he could be trying out for Tron II. We will keep you updated as things progress, Madi will be starting a new sport for her as well this fall, she will be starting fast pitch softball.

Not Much New

This is just a little post to catch everyone up on what we are up to. The answer is not much. We have been busy around the house. Mike has had the last few days off and has been busy with yardwork and cleaning around the house. I have worked several of the days that Mike has been off which isn't much help for him. We have been working on some of the problem areas in our yard and still have a few to go, the problem is that it suddenly has become 100 degrees outside and too hot to work outside.
We went to Lagoon on Friday with our friends the Thuesons. We had a great time and the kids loved riding the rides. I think that was the first time that Madison has been there and Damon would have been about 2 when we last went. Needless to say, the kids were out before we could get on the freeway to come home.
Mike was hit by a tire the other day while driving. He was on his way to work and the truck next to him lost a tire, wheel and everything. The tire was then rolling down Mike's lane and he had nowhere to go. Thank goodness the tire hit the front of the car and then rolled up and off the side instead of up the hood and through the windshield. The front bumper has a big melted tire print on the bumper, the bumper is cracked, and the skirting in bent down. The guys insurance company is coming out tomorrow to look at the car. We are just thankful that Mike is okay.
Later,
Michelle

So We Didn't Win the Trophy

Well, I hate to say that Damon's team did not take first place. He did play the whole game and did a great job. It was too bad because half of his team was out of town. They did a great job and had a great season, now we are on to Football. Well, I guess that we have been doing football for a month because Damon has been doing camp. He also plans to try his hand at lacrosse. I guess that we will see how this works. I guess that since we didn't break anything in football we will try in lacrosse.

Baseball Update

Okay, so it has only been a couple of days since I last posted but I wanted to give everyone an update. Damon's team played their first playoff game on Saturday and they won, very convincingly. The second game was last night and they won 12 to 10, a little too close this time. However, this is the team that was first in the league (we never played them in the regular season). The next game will be on Thursday and that will be for the championship. I plan to post some pictures of Damon playing but will probably wait until the championship game so that we get pics from a couple of games.
Everything else in our family is good. We are just getting things in order for our trip to Florida and trying to keep the kids occupied and out of trouble for the summer.
Hope that all is well with you!
Michelle

Catching everyone up

Madison lost (had pulled) her first two teeth!!
The proud pinewood derby racer. (His car lost a wheel and didn't make it to the end of the track)
Madison's Dance group taking a bow in the finale.


The star herself, Miss Madison!!

Well, I haven't posted for a little while so I thought I would let the pictures do the talking. I have more that I plan to post sometime soon. Also check some of the other posts for pictures that have been added since they were first posted. (I am still figuring this blog thing out)

We love ya!!