Larsen's Loop

Source: carianthony.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Miss Mimi was presented with this fabulous award along with 2 other kids in her class. They even had an assembly in honor of her!!! Her award states. This award is presented to Mikayla Larsen because she is a sweet girl with a quiet disposition. She always raises her hand and lets others share their thoughts and ideas. CONGRATULATIONS! We are so proud of our girl. Great Job!

I wouldn't normally steal Tayler's thunder, but since she may never get around to recording her sweet proposal story, she gave me permission to do so along with some great pictures and a real live video (if I can ever get it downloaded to my blog). Let me begin by saying Tayler and Jared have known each other for over 2 and 1/2 years and their relationship took a serious turn in August when they began talking about marriage. We knew this was going to happen. Jared had even came to our house the night before this took place to ask for our blessing, which is a very classy thing for him to have done (scored big brownie points with the parents)!!! Anyway he had dreamed up a great way to propose that was very personal and romantically sweet for Tayler. Better yet he kept it so secret that no one but his sister in Dallas knew for sure where or when this was all going to happen. Tayler and her friends Kajsia and Ashley had all left for a 5 day trip to Disneyland. (Let me pause her...

My friends have truly addicted me to the new hobby of yard saleing. At first I couldn't imagine myself rummaging through someone elses junk. But as my friends have proven time and again. If you know where to shop most peoples junk can still be like just like new and for a steal of a deal. I being a true frugal shopper have a couple of self imposed rule I like to follow. First I usually go out with no more than a $20 bill in my pocket, this way I'm not tempted to spend anymore. And it allows me to decide if I really want something bad enough and if so to talk myself a deal with the seller. I try always to come home with a dollar or two left in my pocket. I also generally don't go more than once a month, unless I'm really searching for something...like my cherrywood night stand I snagged this summer for $12. Here's an example of what I found last week: Hi-Ho Cherry-O game 5 like new books for my day care Toss Across Game Indoor Golf Game Brain Quest 2 stuffed ...

So the really great news is . . . our Tayler is engaged! Here's the cute couple above and below.... Soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Jared and Tayler Palfreyman. WOW! Their engagement story is very romantic. I will post it here soon. We can't believe by Spring time next year our Tayler will be married. We are very happy for them both they make a truly adorable and very much in love couple. To celebrate we had an engagemetn party and invited the whole extended family over. Congratulations to you both.                                                                      Tayler and Jared    Amber, Mackenzie, Suzy, Grandma Davis, Heather, Me and Tayle...

        Nan and Pop came to celebrate the happy news along with many others. . . Brad   Brent, Brian and Grandpa Davis      Matt, me and Colton.  We are all so happy for Tayler and wish them the very best!!!

Each year the season always passes and I once again have missed my chance to go to the Shakepeare Festival in Cedar City. But this year my sweet hubby surprised me for my birthday with two tickets to go and see a play there. He chose "A Midsummer Nights Dream". Which was very fun and light hearted. We were able to watch it in the Adams outdoor theater which was a great setting for this particular play. I loved being in the theater and also the green show just before where we bought tarts and sat on the lawn enjoying some great performers. It was a wonderful retreat for me. We went for three days to St. George and spent our last night in Cedar City. I'm now rejuvinated and ready to take on the world or at least my kids and household.

We are really missing our Caleb.  But are all so proud of his successes as a missionary.  This is one of his first baptisms.  He is now serving in his second area up in Rome.  We pray for his success there as well!  We really do love him and are proud of the work he is involved in.

Miguel and Mikayla were ready to start out the new school year. They both couldn't wait to meet their teachers and I was ready for us all to be back in the routine of school! They really had a great week and are both enjoying their new teachers too.

Last night some of my dearest  friends met up at the Park.  We started our lives out in the same neighborhood in Draper together and now after some 14 years or more many have moved to different places. It is so fun to get together and catch up on each others lives and share a few laughs. A funny thing happened, while we were still visiting someone noticed Elder Christofferson sitting at the picnic table next to us with some of his family.  He was gracious enough to come over and shake hands with each of us and visit a bit. He was very nice and personable.  I think meeting an apostle as a Mormon is a little like meeting a celebrity in our little world! ha ha.  We had such a great time, everyone's families have grown up so much now.  Three of us now have sons on missions (soon to be four when Michelles son Dallin leaves in November ) and  Our friend Marilyn brought her daughter Ashley...

We make the dusty trek from the house to the old mink sheds, just he and I. My small feet follow him as he pauses at his garden, taking me down each row to show me his latest production. He bends down with his arthritic knees and picks a few ripe tomatoes, a cucumber and then a of couple handfuls of beans. He puts them into a plastic sack for me to take home. I love eating things he's grown, they always tasted better than store bought stuff. We venture out of the garden and head towards the sheds. The mink rapidly bob their heads in and out of their cages, as if to see who's there. Grandpa helps me up onto his feed truck, already filled with a sloppy unattractive mixture. He climbs on and we ride from pen to pen dumping food into each trough. Once feeding chores are through we head back up to the house. We talk about things. When Grandpa tells you a story he seems to really get right down on your level, as if you were really his best friend and not just some little kid. He...

Yes-It's finally complete! After editing and arranging my pictures just like I wanted them, I had the first two years of my blog turned into a book and it turned out beautifully. I published it through Blurb. Their software was so easy to use. I just pushed a button and it did most of the work for me. Downloading each Post from my blog into pages of a book. I just set up the fonts that I wanted and chose how I liked the pictures to be displayed on each page. This part probably took the longest, but it's so worth getting it exactly like you want it before ordering. Luckily because the software was downloaded right to my desktop, I could work on a few pages at a time. I used to scrapbook but never again. I can order as many of these books as I would like and for a fraction of the cost it takes to put together a scrapbook the old fashioned way. I think with shipping and a coupon it cost around $54.00 for a book that was 133 pages. Plus it takes up so much less space on my book...

Our elementary school hosted an art show called "A Night at the Louvre". They featured all of the children's art work and had different displays featuring three international artists. One from France another from Mexico and one from China. It was a really fun night and as you can see the kids really liked showing off their creations! Above and below Miguel points out is works of art.  Both were very impressive! Mikayla is a real natural at art and is becoming quite good at it. Here is the works that she displayed, (her picture below is the bird painted on blue paper- sorry it was hanging high on the wall and a tough angle to shoot from).

So Tayler came home the other night with Wii's Just Dance 2. And we all had a riot trying to keep up with the moves. It's a fun interactive game that our whole family really likes. And even the people watching can sing along because the words to the songs are on the screen. So it can be a mixture of dancing and karaoke! We had a lot of good laughs with this one. Especially when Miguel performed "It's raining Men" with Tayler.

It's Easter again.... which means it's time for our Easter Egg Hunt. The weather held out for us and we all went to Grandpas property to look for the treasured grand prize eggs. Everyone young and old alike seek the coveted eggs. The other great incentive is that everyone comes home with a prize. The rules go like this: everyone who participates brings a prize and we number the eggs 1-however many prizes and people we have. If you find the 1 you are lucky because you get to pick first out of all of the prize loot. then the numbers to select proceed from there on up. My Dad and his brother both furnish the Adult cash prize of $50 and this year 2 kids cash eggs, both worth $25 a piece. Matt after much seeking near the wood pile found the adult grand prize, and Miguel won one of the kid prizes! Happy Easter!!!