Hugs for Nan

This year on Christmas Eve before anyone could open their gifts, we each had to share what our favorite Christmas gift we ever received was. Some had memories of a favorite toy or high tech gadget they had received. Some were sentimental about being together with family each Christmas. Nan's favorite gift to get are the hugs her grandchildren always give to her. So immediatley without prompting they all lined up to give big hugs to Nan. She is definitely amongst one of our favorite people to hug. We love Nan and Pop and the wonderful love that they always have for each of us!!!!!

Cute cousins celebrated Christmas Eve at Nan and Pop's like we always do. We had soup this year then all opened gifts from each other. The kids always love getting matching "Jamms" from Nan.

Melinda, Lana and Tayler.

The whole Larsen crew!

Christmas Day Breakfast

One of Matt's favorite traditions is to cook his family Christmas morning Breakfast. Here are a few fun clips of some of our family this year. Always adorable and oh-so photogenic, Lindsay and Travis above.

Colton and his friend Audrey.

Sammy, Copeland and Zach (the cousins).

Photo op for Caleb's last Christmas with us all for a couple of years- Travis, Lindsay, Caleb and Brad.

Rome Italy Mission

Thanks to all who participated in helping guess where Caleb might get called on his mission a couple of weeks ago. We had about 20-25 people guessing. Each chose a location in the United States and also made one foreign guess. The winners were my daughter Tayler and Matt's sis Lindsay- Both chose Italy which was the correct guess. Still so excited for him....I keep having all these Mom's tell me how sad it is to send your kids out on a mission. Maybe it's the adrenalin kicking in or maybe there is something not quite right with me (most likely the later). But I can feel nothing right now but pure joy and excitement for this new chapter in Caleb's life. What a wonderful thing to experience for 2 years of your life!!!!! Best of luck my boy!

Caleb's Mission Call

One Last Star Boost

So the other night as we were decorating the tree and it looked complete, we began to think about what next Christmas might feel like without our Caleb. It will be really different not having him here with us while he serves a mission for two consecutive years. Mimi our youngest started to get really sentimental and sad and when Matt went to pick up Caleb late from work she said, "Mom could we take the star off so Caleb can lift me up one last time?" I thought this was a sweet request and so we did it. Caleb gave Mikayla that last boost to the top of the tree for awhile. He hugged her when it was done and she proceeded to sob into his shoulder for the next 5 minutes or so. What a cute big brother he has been to her....we'll all truly miss him while he's away!

Stair Case Update

Okay after our wood floor makeover project, I decided our oak railings could also use an update. Let's face it after being in a house for over 13 years, you need some kind of a face lift.

I used a hand sander and a product called TSP to take off the shiny finish ... this took the most time. I had to do a little at a time so I didn't get to overwhelmed. The white spindles didn't need a complete strip. I just lightly sanded where I could and then wiped it down good again with the TSP.

I love the end results. We used the same Ebony colored stain we used on our floors for the newell posts and hand rail (it's made by a company called Bona) and 2-3 coats of high gloss white paint for the spindles. I am so happy with our new look, it paid to do it myself, it just took sticking with it.