Brett's First Goose

This Christmas break the kids have been either out shoveling snow or snowmobiling or hunting. Brett has been dying to hunt ducks because with wrestling he doesn't get the chance to hunt while they are in school. (He goes right from the Jr. High to the High School for wrestling practice or matches) so he asked if he could go out yesterday morning we told him that was fine but he needed to be careful. I got a phone call while I was a work letting me know that he had gotten a goose! He was so excited, I told him to send me a picture and the above picture is what I got :) I told him first of all it is really neat that you got a goose, BUT your outfit cracks me up! He told me I don't have any style and that he looks just fine. When I got home he had plucked the goose and had all of the feathers in a bag so that he can make a pillow out of them. I am sure glad to help him with that. Now I am hoping that I will be able to get him to clean his room. :)

Recap!

Wow, I can't believe how fast time flies. I am so far behind in things that I wanted to be able to remember, so I am going to have to do a little recap of things. We have been going and going everyday it seems like I run from one thing to the next these days. In November Brock and Brett both started wrestling and that has taken out a huge chunk of time and with school and work we are all hopping.

The day after Thanksgiving Colby and I snuck away to Park City for the weekend. It was so nice to be able to have some time to relax and be together. We had the best hotel, we had our own private hot tub right out on the balcony. It was so fun to sit out there and watch the snow fall and be warm. I am thinking that we will have to make it a tradition! While we where gone we got a text from McKaid (he was tending the boys) and the caption said BROCK'S first DUCKS!

They had all gone up to Scofield to hunt, Brock shot these two ducks as they where flying. I am not sure who was more excited McKaid or Brock. Brock has been going out with Colby, and Brett to do clay pigeon shooting. Colby had told me that Brock was doing really well and that just a few days before this, he told Brett he could say "pull" and that Brock would back Brett up. Brett said "pull" and before he could even get his shots off Brock had taken the shot and got the clay. It is so fun for me to see how much bonding the boys all do over hunting. It keeps them out of trouble and it keeps them all active.

Thankful

I wanted to do an entire month of things that I am grateful or thankful for, but it's not going to happen. But I think that I can do it all this week. (Hopefully) So today I am so thankful for Kaid and Brock's relationship. This past week Colby was working late and Brock had a wrestling match, his first guy he won and did really well, his next match was a kid who had been wrestling 7 year and this match was brutal. Brock was crying and the kid was choking him, and the other mother was screaming at her son to take him down and pound him. I know its not all about winning but I was really upset that a mother would be shouting that kind of stuff when the other person was crying. Any ways Brock lost that match and he was crying saying that he was never going to wrestle again how bad he sucked, basically just having a pity party. Kaid took him outside and next thing I know Brock walks back in and goes to the 100 lb. class and asks this kid if he wanted to wrestle....I said Kaid he is only in the 60 lb. class he cant wrestle him Kaid says it will be OK don't worry. So they get in line to get to the mats and the ref looks at them and asks Brock if he is really sure that he wants to take on the other kid, Brock says YES! So they go out and have 3 rounds and each round Brock PINNED the kid. I was totally shocked, his self confidence was restored and he decided that he did like wrestling and that he would continue with it.

I was so glad to have Kaid there, and for him to take the lead and help Brock out. I know nothing about wrestling and am not a ton of help. I am glad that I can rely on him to help me out when I am out of my element.

Family Pictures 2010

So it's about time that we get new pictures, I have been trying to get McKaid to tell me when he would be able to do them and he told me that he was booked until like January with hunting.... I told him that was not going to fly and that I wanted pictures now! And that I wanted him to shave. So I guess I only got one of the things I asked for, oh well! But I love them and happy that we are good for a little while longer. I love this one ~Brock really wanted one of he and Kaid and Brett ran in to give them a hug I was happy that she got the shot.

We went up the canyon and had them done, we had about 30 minutes before the rain started coming down. I am glad we got most of the shots that we wanted before the rain. Maybe next family photos McKaid will be clean shaved. I can HOPE right?!?!?

Happy Late Birthday!

I meant to have a shout out to Brett set to post on his Birthday and unfortunately things with school and work got really crazy! But I have to say Happy Birthday to Brett! Brett turned 15 this year! Time files, it seems like just last week I was pregnant with him and now he is taller than me and could take me down. :)
Here is my list of things about Brett:

1. He is the BEST student
2. He is such a great brother, to both of them
3. He is a worrier
4. He hates his curly hair
5. He is strong
6. He loves to tease everyone
7. He is very "book smart" (which we love)
8. He honors his priesthood
9. He is extremely tender hearted
10. He is a great friend
11. He is wise beyond his years
12. He has a great spirit and testimony
13. He is great at sports
14. He loves the Utes football team
15. He is a social butterfly

Brett ~ I hope you had a great birthday, know that you mean the world to us. Your a great kid and you always give 110% in all you do. We are lucky to call you ours!
Love,
Dad, Mom, McKaid, and Brock

Oh and to all of you who live in town--- he will have his learners SOON! So you might want to watch out! :)

Nickelback

The concert Brett has been waiting for has come and gone! Brett found out it seems like almost a year ago that Nickelback was coming in concert and he was counting down the days. So I promised him we would go when they came, so tickets went on sale and I was set to have some great seats and Colby said when is it again I said Oct 20th - he says don't buy Brett a ticket he will be hunting in Idaho. So I released the tickets and went on with life, Brett was really sad but alright because they would be hunting.....that ended up falling through so at the last minute we got tickets.
We actually ended up with some really good seats, here is Brett and Riley- it was tons of fun and glad we got to go. It will bring an end to the concert season for 2010. Unless Alan Jackson does a Christmas concert some where. Glad to have had some fun times with Brett and his friends. I hope we made memories that will last. We have a tradition of going to dinner before the concert both these two boys got talking some pretty deep stuff. Hope they know how much I love them and admire them for holding to what they believe.

Vikings Football

This year Brock was on the Viking's team, they were AWESOME! Brock loves football and everything about it so he was in heaven each game. His hair is wild because it was crazy hair day at school yesterday so we divided his hair into two sections one spiky and the other straight, and then we took purple hair color in it and made stripes. It was fun he was excited to have it that way for the game because it was Viking's colors. We had to laugh he plays so hard and at half time he can down his drink and then go right back out and play. If it was me I would be puking my guts out from drinking and exercising. :)

Brock has a great year they ended the season taking 3rd! He scored points in every game! And last night he scored 8 points he ran for a touchdown and then caught the pass for the extra points. He played quarterback a lot of the time so he also threw for a lot of the touchdowns. It was fun to watch him and see his excitement and enthusiasm. Keep it up Brock!

BYU Game

This past weekend we went to the BYU football game, Brett was working the booth so Brock got to invite a friend. He chose Jared, and Jared has never been to a college football game. These two where so excited!!! They talked the entire way there about how cool it was going to be and that BYU was going to win. This was right before the game, they think they are gangsters :) I wasn't sure if they where going to sit down or not. This is them during the game just entertaining themselves during a TV timeout. I love this picture of them--- they are too cute.

This next one was just as the game ended and BYU pulled out a victory- I don't know who was more excited Brock, Jared or BYU! These two started screaming and jumping up and down. It was so fun to watch them in their excitement. It was a fun game and nice to take Jared.

You can just see the excitement in their faces. I love these kids.

He has a brain!

So the past few weeks have been a little crazy at our house, Brock has been having"issues" for the past 7 or 8 weeks. He would kind of pass out. To say the least it was really scary, when we took him to his pediatrician he was extremely worried about what we where dealing with and sent us right to Primary Children's hospital to meet with a pediatric neurologist. They told us that they would be doing several tests to see if they could figure out what was going on. Brock was pretty nervous about if they would hurt or what they would do- the doctor told him that they were going to be looking at his brain and heart. Brock instantly perked up and said so you will see my brain, the doctor said yes we will be able to see all of your brain. Brock then said can we take pictures of it so I can show everyone how cool my brain looks. This is one of the first tests they did it is an EGG, they hook up all of these wires to your head to measure your brain waves. They glued them into his hair, he was not to happy when they went to pull them out. They then wrap your head with gauze so that you can move around and not loose any of the leads. Once he was ready to go they monitored him "normally" then had him exercise, and then go to sleep. Which they said OK Brock you need to go to sleep now- Colby and I looked at him a few minutes later and he was OUT! The last thing they do is to put a strobe light in front of his eyes and have it go off.

We got back his results and his "issues" are seizures, which they think are caused by stress....We are thrilled that this was the outcome for him. It was a true answer to many prayers. We are tyring to keep him from stress to prevent more of the seizures. :)

There goes 1....

Gone are the days of Colby and I telling McKaid what to do.........All of the pictures loaded backwards and I am way to lazy to fix it. McKaid has always, ALWAYS (did I say that twice) been a very independent person. Which don't get me wrong is great.....EXCEPT when he turned 18! McKaid turned 18 on the 18th of August, and shortly after his birthday he MOVED OUT!!! I had a hard enough time with him being old enough to graduate, now he is responsible for everything, on his own......I had a complete break down, I really just wanted to check out and not deal with any of it and Colby has been so OK with it all. I told Colby a few days later I figured out why I had such a hard time with it all......I had been McKaid's mom longer than I had been anything else in my life...I know I am still his mom but he just didn't need me any longer. That was a tough pill to swallow. McKaid told us on a Friday night that he would be moving out to a house he rented in Spanish Fork, he said it would be that next weekend. So he was giving me a week to prepare, I came home from a meeting on Tuesday and he had the truck on the front lawn with some of his friends loading everything up. I sat in the car for about 45 minutes just crying.....where did the little baby go, McKaid's entire life past through all of the tears. Yesterday I had him, how could he be moving out. Did I teach him enough, does he know what we expect from him, does he know how to cook, do laundry, clean a house, pay bills, the list was endless. We have made it about 7 weeks and I have to say he seems to be doing just fine, he is eating, cleaning, and even wearing clean clothes. Our family dynamic has changed and I can see he and Colby's relationship only getting stronger. It still kills me every time he leaves our house, and I haven't stopped worrying about him, I just have new worries. :)

This is when McKaid was probably about 14 out duck hunting with Sophie. I could tell him how to cut his hair at that age.

This is him with his "albino trout" he caught at Salem Pond. I think he was 7 in this picture, he let me do everything for him at that age.

McKaid and his "horse" he was two in this picture, he loved that horse he would spend hours riding it. Shortly after this picture was taken that he ended up getting his first set of stitches. The horse bucked him off. He was 18 months in this picture we where in California at my grandparents house having one of his many surgeries. This is right after his 1st birthday, with Grandpa Larsen they brought him up to us in Montana when we found a house. He LOVED Colby's hat, the second he would walk in the door McKaid had that and would not take it off. He was about 5 months old in this picture this was right after his 2nd surgery. My mom called and said it was school picture day at school and to bring McKaid over to get his pictures done. I remember sitting in her classroom with the gel and trying to tame his curls......he looked so cute. I remember sending Colby one of the pictures while he was in basic and his comment was why did you dress him like that-- Gone are those days. Time goes was to quick make sure that you take every day and every moment you can with your kids because it just goes way to fast. I know I would give anything to have my little kid back. I am so proud of the young man that he has grown up to be, I am proud of the choices he is making, and way he lives his life. I am so glad that he has such a strong work ethic, and a heart of gold. I love him with all of my heart and miss having him around each day. We all love you Kaid~

Summer Concerts ~ Brad Paisley

We went to Brad Paisley's H2O tour this past weekend, it was a lot of fun! We ended up deciding to go kinda last minute so we just did lawn~ but we had a total BLAST!
He had quite the show lined up, he had a small stage and then the big stage. The gates opened at 4:00 and there were performances with different people about every 45 minutes. We watched a few of them but some of them sounded TERRIBLE so we went and found a spot on the lawn, this is a picture of Brett once he woke up from his nap, not sure if you can see the lines on his face. It was pretty funny to just people watch and see what some people think looks good on themselves!

This is Brett and his friend Russell, it was Russell's first concert ~ I think he had a lot of fun. Once the show started we moved down and had great seats. It was one of his best concerts!
And just an FYI ~ that is Brett's happy face! He did have fun! He just doesn't always show it!

Russell, Brett and me.

Summer Concerts ~ Tim McGraw

I have been really bad at updating things but wanted to make sure that I had memories on here. So here goes.... This summer we had tickets to Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum, it was at the Usanna ~ and we had tons of fun! I have seen Tim several times, I think he puts on a great show!

We had pretty good seats, at least Cindy and I did. When I first bought tickets Colby was going to go with me so I bought seats then Brett said he wanted to go and take a friend so I got them tickets but we got theirs on the lawn.

Here Cindy and I are waiting for the concert to start. It was extremely hot that day!

I turned around and zoomed the camera in on Brett and his friend Riley. They actually got right up on the front row of the lawn seating, so they had a pretty good view. It was a lot of fun and I hope everyone enjoyed it, I know I did.

BYU Football

I had to post this, we have tickets to the games and if you know Colby BYU football is serious business. So at the season home opener we went to the game and it started at 5:00 and actually ran long so we did not get to dinner until rather late, and well if you know my kids then this photo should not surprise any one.

Here is Brock sound asleep at dinner, we tried and tried to wake him up to get him to eat but he was just not having it. I had to laugh because the next day he asked why we didn't let him have dinner. I told him that it was in the fridge and he could eat it when ever he wanted.

Another School Year 2010 Edition

Wow, summer has come and gone. What a sad day, this year was really different with McKaid not being in school it just made things weird. We went school shopping and got the kids what they needed, I thought with not having to buy clothes for McKaid it would be cheaper--- I thought WRONG! But oh well, I could not get pictures of the boys together because Brett has to catch the bus before Brock even gets up. I really don't understand why Brett's bus takes all of the Jr. High kids all the way over to Salem and then brings them back to Payson to the Jr. High-- doesn't make sense too me but I am not the district. Brock was so excited to start school he woke up around 2:30am and came in my room and said that he could not sleep any longer and could he get ready. I told him that he could go in the front room and watch TV while I slept but that he needed to go back to sleep because it would make for a LONG day if he didn't. With all reports in Brock enjoyed his first day of school and is ready to go back tomorrow-- thank heavens! I was not wanting another year like last year.

Here is Brett right before he left for the bus--- he has to be at his bus stop by 7:00am. I have offered to drive him to school so that he can sleep longer or not sit on the bus all morning- BUT he said he would rather ride the bus! Go figure, I guess I am not "cool" enough. I guess this way he gets lots more time to socialize.

Hope both of them have a great year and enjoy their school experience.

Family Renuion

This year we had a family reunion in Delores Colorado. We have not been able to make them for the past few years, this year Colby's mom was in charge of meals. She needed help so we where able to get away for a few days and take Brett and Brock. We decided to make a mini vacation out of it. On the first day we drove to Moab and stayed the night there. We decided to go to Arches since none of us had been there. It was a lot of fun. We hiked around on a few of them, I have decided that the boys are way too adventurous for me! I was panicked at they places they were jumping from and things they would climb on. The next day we got up and they played in the pool before heading out to the reunion. It was a couple hour drive to Delores, but it reminded me of Montana, it was bitter sweet. Once in Colorado we checked into our hotel (if you could call it that! It was more like the BATES MOTEL) got Colby and I settled and then drove out to the property where the reunion was being held. The property was so beautiful! I loved it and could just pack up my house and move there. They had a river running right threw the property and a beautiful house and barn. Brock and Brett (and everyone else) decided to stay there in their tent. We helped them set it up and they chose a spot right up from the river, so they could hear it all night.
They have tons of things to do most of the time the kids where in the water, weather it was floating the river, swimming, or wake boarding. This is Brock on the wake board they had tied to a tree, he could get all the way across the river to the other side. He did take a couple of spills and Brett had to save him once, but he had a blast! Brett even did it and he had to have Brock save him once. It was really sweet, Brett fell in and Brock was the first one running down the river to "save" him.

On Saturday most of us decided to float the river in tubes.........WOW it was an experience! Chelsey and myself ended up being in charge of Ethan. We only scared him once, he flipped over in a part where it was very deep and swift. He couldn't get his footing so I had to dive in and get him when we got him back in his tube he told me "your trying to kill me" I had to laugh, I told him that I was not and I would make sure that he didn't fall in again. We ended up going down again and the second time we had Brett and Brock in tubes with us rather than the canoe they went down in the first trip. We had tons of fun and got some great sunburns! But it was defiantly worth the drive and all of the bruises.

Here Kitty, Kitty!

I love living where we live, don't get me wrong! But lately we have had way too many cats, kittens, and more cats in the neighborhood. And for some unknown reason they all love to come into our yard. Normal that would be fine as long as they where just passing through. But these cats have decided not to pass through but to take up residency in our yard. Not only that, but a couple of them have had babies in our wood shed. Not only am I allergic to them, but they drive my dogs crazy! It seems that they (the cats) would only come out just as I was falling asleep and my dogs would then go CRAZY!!!!!! Not only causing me to get up and out of bed to go quite them, but I am sure it woke up the entire neighborhood! So after talking to some of the neighbors who were also frustrated with the ever exploding population of cats, Colby decided it was time to trap them and give them a new home. So he and Brock set a few traps and wouldn't you guess every morning we would find this Brock was so excited thinking that we where going to keep the kitten and have a new pet! I was so sad to have to tell him that there was NO way that we would be keeping the kitten. He named them all and found good homes for each one of them, this was one of the last kittens that he caught. I have never been more happy to have them gone. But we are hoping that soon Brock will forgive us and start talking to us again. :)
P.S. If you need traps let us know, I would be more than happy to help someone else out!

Baseball Season

This year Brock decided that he wanted to play in Salem, so we signed him up. He was on the Yankee's this year. He had a ton of fun. He was always the last batter in the line up which was a bit frustrating for him but he always did his best and would try to motivate his team. I would always forget my camera so I snapped a few pictures with my phone as he was in line to bat, we have the warm up and the swing. This year Brett decided that he did not want to play so we thought we would only have Brock playing because Kaid was going to be working at the scout camp at Scofield for the summer. Little did we know that he would not take that job and be playing baseball. McKaid played in Payson for the Red's again. He had a great year and got to pitch quite a few games, he did really well. It was bitter sweet to watch him play knowing that this would be his last year to play city league. His team starts tournaments this week and it will be fun to see what they can do.
Even with just having the two of them playing ball we still seemed to be at the ball park every night of the week and would typically close it down. (Which is fine by me :))

McKaid's Graduation

I think this was one of the best and saddest days I have had. I was so excited and proud of McKaid for graduating, yet I was not ready for him to be so grown up. I know that this is just all part of the circle of life, but can't it slow down a little! It was not that long ago that I was the one graduating High School. This is McKaid and one of his friends Taylor.

Right after they called his name, he was accepting his diploma holder :)

This was when it had just started (all of my pictures loaded backwards) they where all walking in the processional. The ceremony was held right at the High School out on the football field. It was really neat. Once they started walking out of the High School towards the field I started crying-- Colby looked at me and asked "Are you SERIOUS?" I know I should not cry at graduation BUT I am the mom so I am allowed.

This photo was taken while they where in the school waiting in line for the thing to start.

This is one of the announcements that we sent out for him. He did not want the traditional ones that you can order from the school, which was fine with me. I think they turned out really good.

McKaid we are all so proud of you and know that you will do great things in this life! Be true to who you are and remember your last name!!!

Love,
Dad, Mom, Brett, & Brock

Special Day.

Like I said I am going to be doing a little bit of catch up in the next few posts! Back in April sometime I was talking to my dad, he said that his sister Marilyn was taking the Temple Prep classes and she would be going to the Temple soon. I could not believe that she would be doing that, I did not think in my life time that she would go to the Temple. Not that she did not want too, rather with her health issues I just did not think that I would see her there.
Well on May 18, 2010 Marilyn Mae Larsen went to the Provo Temple, she asked myself and my cousin to be her escorts. What a neat experience to be able to share such a special day. Marilyn was so worried about things and it seemed that everything just "fell" into place for her to be able to enjoy the time. It was a very neat experience, it was neat to see all of my dad's family come to share in such a special occasion. We don't get to see them much, we all went out to lunch after and got to spend sometime together.
This is a photo taken just after Marilyn got out of the Temple with all of her siblings. L to R: David (dad) Birch, Vic, Marilyn, and Kay. It was so neat to be there and feel the spirit that was in the room. I know that the rest of Marilyn's family was there to share her special day.

Senior Pictures

I have been trying to get caught up with everything and time just keeps passing me by! But I wanted to record things on here for when I print out the book at the end of the year. So the next few posts will be catch up!

I love these pictures. He went up the canyon and over to a barn in Mapleton to get them taken. I can't believe just how quick they grow up. I really wish that they would stay little for longer. Kaid has always been a "cowboy" and he has always had the work ethic of one. I hope that he will always keep that and remember just how hard you have to work for things in life.