Monday, May 31, 2010

3rd Annual Larsen Campout

For our family Memorial Day weekend campout we went to Chevlon Crossing along the Mogollon Rim (just before Heber).  It was a lot of fun to get out of the city and be up in the green mountains.  
This is our kitchen area. :)  Looking down from where we parked our cars.  

Here's a good view of Dad, Sam, Dave & Pheob sitting around the fire pit and the main area of the campground.

Here's looking down from the main camping area.  You can see Pheob & Cam's tent and the hammock spot.

Here's looking up from the bottom of the camp. It was on quite the hill.  It definitely slowed Joey down and gave us all a good leg workout!

That's our tent way out in the boonies.  Probably a good thing since Joey had a super hard time sleeping in the cold tent at nights.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Camping Kids

Joey was helping me unpack all the camping bins...he was oh, so helpful, let me tell ya! 

Jen & Dawson's hammock was a hit once again.  River, Maddy & Abby spent about 1/2 of their time camping swinging in it.  Abby absolutely loved playing with her cousins all weekend, getting as dirty as can be.

Jenny rocked Joey to sleep in the hammock that afternoon.  She was a lifesavor!  During the nights it was too cold for Joey to get much sleep (thus Dave and I didn't get much sleep either).  And during the day it was too hot in the tent for Joey to take a nap.  So...our zombie child had as much fun as his tired little body would let him.  And a nap in the hammock...even a short one, helped a ton!

Random Camping Shots

Marsha & Dawson hanging out.

This is my brother Sam.  He had recently sprained his ankle, so he was taking it easy after a little hike.  Crazy kid! 

What's camping without some serious hanging around the fire? 

There was no running water at this campsite. So Marsha came up with a brilliant plan to label our water bottles so we would be awesome and organized...and have water to drink.  Thanks Marsha!

This was one of our breakfasts...boiled omelets in a bag.  They turned out awesome!!  

My sister Heath reading a good book in the sunshine! 

On Sunday, Dave and I and the kids went and found a little spot along the very slow, small creek where we could dip our feet in.  It felt so good!  And we saw a bunch of crawdads too! 

Sam, Cam & Daws rosten stuff on the fire.  Oh ya, camping rocks!

The Swing at Camp

Jen and Daws brought an awesome swing and we hung it out of one of the huge trees in camp.  It was a hit! So much fun!  And it was just a piece of wood with 2 holes drilled into it.  

It was also used to try and rock Joey to sleep.  I love this sweet picture of Dave and Joey too.

Jen and River swinging.

Uncle Sam swinging away!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

All you need is Rope

Getting center set.
Tug-O-WAAAARRRRRR!!!!

PULLLLLL....
Jump the Rope is a classic Larsen time passer. Check out Maddies pig-tails!! 

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Visit with Em

Emily has been an incredible friend and example to me since I was 13 yrs old!  Her hubby surprised her for Mother's Day with a trip down to visit me for a few days...childless!!!  It was SOOO much fun!

  We went up to the Saguaro National Park while she was here and did a little walk and the scenic loop to get some good desert pictures.  It was a fun day!

We did the scenic loop right around sun set and just caught it perfectly!!
My little Joe-ster was a cutie that day!  He loved running around on the path, but it was a bit stressful to keep him away from all the cactus. 

Monday, May 17, 2010

Joey's Stroller

If you look closely you'll see Joey's stroller uses! :)  The doll that is furthest from being girly, and blocks.  I thought this was a cute representation of our little Joey.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

JPL Open House

This was at the annual open house for NASA JPL- Jet Propulsion Laboratory which is in California.  It was PACKED!  Had some pretty sweet stuff to check out.  This one was a model of a mars rover I think.  I won't try to go any further with the explanation.  lol


They had a little demo model they had roll over the kids.  The little one with the red stripe shirt is our nephew, Jacob.  

Silly Dave....RUN!!

The Beach

It was overcast and a bit windy, but we decided to hit the beach anyway.  It was really fun.  The kids LOVED it.   Huge sandbox and fun waves to play in! 

The boys played some ball...
...while the kids watched.

Some of us (including myself) bundled up and enjoyed just being there and watching. This is my sister in law Amy and her little boy, Gideon. 

I forgot Joey's jacket, so we borrowed Abbies...he did look like an ugly little girl, but at least he was warm and not crying! lol

This is our nephew/cousin out pretending to surf the waves!  :)

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Happy 5th Anniversary

For our 5th anniversary we got to park hop between DisneyLand and California Adventure! It was a BLAST!! Dave arranged to have our kiddos stay with his brother and sister in law there in L.A. for a couple nights (THANK YOU so much Amy & Tom!). It was awesome!

Batteries not Included!


When we got back to the hotel after playing all day at the Parks, there was a GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers, a balloon and chocolates waiting for me in the room. TOTALLY surprised me! It was so sweet! He spoiled me good. Happy Anniversary sweetheart! I love you!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

DISNEYLAND

Cousins!  We had such a blast going to D-land with Tom, Jacob & Allison!  What a great day!  Thanks guys!
I love this picture!  Allison is so cute! 


Ok, I think Abby liked this ride more than any of them!  Yes, she is in the drivers seat here...with no hands on the wheel!  She laughed nearly the entire ride! It was about time after crying on every ride in fantasy land.  


Just a little video so you can hear her laugh!  It is great!

Every kid's gotta get one of these while they are at Disneyland, at least once right??  There's just something hympnotising about them....they speak to children or something! lol  Good thing we had cousins there to share with!

This was the fun coaster hidden way back in Toon Town!  Abby loved it! She said it was only a little bit scary. :)

 

 
Of course the highlight of the day for Abby was meeting the princesses.  We only waited about...20-30 minutes. :D  She was in heaven!

Have any of you actually been to meet Mickey Mouse at Disneyland before?  You have to go through a maze of a house of his and then wait in a huge, mysterious, watch-a-movie line at the end of it that looks like it has no exit!  Then when it's finally your turn you go into a room with a small group of people and you get a short, hurry and take a couple pictures with Mickey time in this small room with the main man!  So...after all that, this picture deserves to be on this post for sure!  lol

No one else showed interest in going on It's a Small World, so Abby and I snuck over to it after meeting the princesses.  She LOVED it!  Slow, calm, lot of little things to look at with fun not too loud music.  It was a hit! 

Tea Cups are kinda a tradition to go on.  :) 

Aerial's Merry-go-Round was also a favorite.  

These two are in line to see Tinkerbell.  Unfortunately when we were 2nd or 3rd from the front of the line they closed the line down due to a bomb threat in Tomorrow Land!  We were SOO bummed!  
I snapped a shot of her just as they were making her leave so Abby could see her later.  She about cried when they made us leave right there in front of her. :(


Pull!!!  These two were so cute together!  They really tried to get that sword out.