we have been busy

And I have been a slacker!!! Sorry! Its really hard to have the desire to hop on the computer when you are on it all day long at work! And the weekends have been full of trips, family, and fun little projects. Usually, when I take a while to blog something, I cheat and just back date it. Well, I am just meshing all our recent adventures into one giant blog, so sorry if this is really long (and it is really long).... like I said, we have been busy!

Going back to May.....

As a quick update, Eldon's family names their cars. Not sure why exactly why, but they do, so we thought we would follow tradition. It took a little bit to come up with the name but then we found the perfect one! The Black Pearl!! :D

If you know me, then you know that Pirates of the Caribbean is like my all time favorite movie... All of them. And it just fit so nicely. It is black, its a treasure (pearl) and like Jack Sparrow, I have been after the pearl for a very long time!

Ok, now to the events

Our sweet little niece Olivia had her Honor Choir concert. She did an amazing job and even though I may be prejudice, she was by far the prettiest girl up there.


My Grandfather (my Dad's Dad) passed away.

It was very sad, but (and i know it sounds morbid) a little happy. My Grandpa had been sick for quite a while and was really suffering from Alzheimer's to the point where he learned his beloved wife had passed away several times a day as if it were the first time he had heard it. Can you imagine your heart breaking with the worst news ever multiple times a day. He also physically was to the point of being dependant on others for pretty much everything. My grandpa was too proud to ever want to live like that, and he missed my grandma dearly, so for that sake, it was time and i am glad he is reunited with the love of his life. We went to California for the funeral. It was really hard, but got even harder when I saw my uncles and my Dad and how hard it was on them. My Grandpa was a great man, and I love him very much. He will be greatly missed!


On a happier note, a week after the funeral, we made a trip up to Snowflake to see our 2 Nieces graduate from 8th grade.

In Snowflake, Jr. High graduation is almost as big of a deal as the high school, so we wanted to be there. The weather was kinda crazy that weekend. While we were driving up it was raining like crazy but the Black Pearl (my X-terra) made it through like champ.... Eldon's driving helped too. :P The graduation ceremony was awesome, my nieces looked beautiful and all was good....until we got a terrible phone call.... well i guess it could have been worse, but still not fun. Hollis (Eldon's brother) and his family were also on their way up to the graduation, but their vehicle lost control in the bad rain storm, hydroplaned and spun right into a guardrail, broke through it, and drove down the cliff into the ravine.


You can see from the pictures it was a scary drop!! Thankfully everyone was OK... A few bumps, bruises and frightened kids, but no permanent damage! The car was totalled completely, but everyone was OK!

Once everyone finally made it safely to Snowflake, the family fun began. Nothing special, just good times together. The kids always love jumping on the trampoline

and the newest form of entertainment is a dual bike that Eldon's dad built from 2 separate bikes.

He is pretty freakin talented! It was pretty fun to ride.

That same weekend (it was Memorial Day weekend so we had a 3 day weekend that we turned into 4 for the graduation) we went camping with my family.

We got to break in our new tent,(not pictured) and see how Zeus did in the wild. I definitely think he enjoyed it....He was very dirty and not my white clean little pup anymore.
The X-terra did great as well! I am still really loving it!

at the end of the May (yes all that above was in the month of May) was the Brett and Angela's twins (Payten and our angel baby Zoe) birthday. It is definitely a bitter sweet day! We had a blast celebrating with Payten. She was super cute, loved her cake and her gifts and she especially loved Zeus! She just wanted to hug and squeeze him all night. Then we went to the graveyard to remember and send our love to Zoe. It was really cute, we let Payten send the first balloon and told to her give it to Zoe and she walked right over to her grave and let the balloon go. She was trying to put it on the ground, and was a little sad when the balloon floated off, but she knew that when we spoke of Zoe, that is where she is. I think the picture of all the balloons looks really cool and really shows all the love we have for our angel baby and how much she is missed!



PS....doesnt Zeus look funny. He just chills and is content to be held.

Our Dog has class

At least that is what our bumper sticker says. Zeus graduated from obedience school yesterday. They had a little ceremony of sorts. We got to take pictures with a little graduation hat on and they played musical paws...like musical chairs but you have to get your dog to do a trick before you can sit down. It was a little lame, but the classes were great! Zeus learned how to sit, lay down, shake, come, stay, do push ups (sit and lay down over and over again), and he is just a more obedient dog over all. We still have our struggles...like he wont leave one of my decorative pillow alone (he likes to eat the buttons) and rarely we will have an accident :( but it has been a long time. He still chews on fingers when he is really excited but he doesn't really try to hurt and he is getting better at that. We are taking a break from the classes for a bit, but the next class we are going to put him in is a trick class. He will learn to play patty cake, crawl, take a bow, and jumps and stuff. We are excited for that, but are glad to have our Saturdays without a class in the middle of the day. Good Job Zeus!

The only way to ride

We have been wanting to work out more, but we feel really bad leaving our dog in the evenings and on weekends since we are gone at work so much. So we were at Walmart and saw this cute little basket and thought we would try it out. He loves it. he just sits in it while we do all the work. It is pretty funny. I think he enjoys it and it accomplishes our purpose to work out and not leave the poor puppy home. The neighbors think it is pretty entertaining as well.

My little boy

Poor Zeus!....Again! We are just mean puppy parents, but our little boy (as cute as he is) has been growing up and starting to present some of the undesired male dog qualities that tend to come around his age....so we had him fixed! I know, like I said, we are mean, but its for the best hopefully. The vet did a great job. They fixed him, pulled out 4 teeth (baby teeth that were not coming out and the adult teeth were already in), and made him a cyber puppy (we had him microchipped). We are very glad everything turned out ok. He looked pretty funny though with the cone and his leg. Its kinda hard to see in the picture but they had to shave one of his legs to put in the IV, so one leg looks like a poodle. :P We will see if it works.

My poor Baby!

Poor Zeus... he has mean parents. We got his rabies shots and left out of town...he developed a huge lump on his back from the shot and it is really tender (of course we didnt know until we got back)....we get back from our trip and take him to the vet for his other vaccinations..... and those makes him sick too. And then 3 days later, he is super sick again. The vet isnt sure what is wrong but at best....he ate some weeds or something that made him sick...at worst Parvo!!!! Scary!!!! He has to be on a special diet for a few days and is just resting (he doesnt even want to play....sad :(

My question is....what the heck are we going to go when we have kids.... we are dying watching our little puppy be so sick and so sad, i cant imagine watching a child!

Christmas Mania

This was a very full and very happy Christmas! Christmas Eve we spent with my family. My Grandma, her husband, uncle and aunt and cousins came over to my parents house for some yummy super chicken rice and gravy (inside joke....but soooo good!!), opening a few presents, and playing some games on the Wii. My grandma even tried to play Wii bowling which was probably the most entertaining part of the evening, she just couldnt grasp the concept until right at the end, and then she was done.

We got to open one present on Christmas eve and as protocol goes it was ......Jammies! you gotta love Christmas Jammies, at least I do!

Doesnt he look cute!

The next morning we woke up really early to a phone call from our niece and nephew. They were told that when the first number on the clock was a 5 (yes 5 in the am) they could get up and open presents.....so we got a call at about 5:03 or so, saying that their clock said 5 and it was time to open presents, so we bundled up, grabbed the dog and went over to watch them open their presents. It has been tradition for Eldon and I to visit family with kids on Christmas morning and watch them open presents....it just helps to bring the excitement for the day.

They kiddos were so cute opening their gifts and were super good about taking their turns. I remember having such a hard time waiting for my brothers to open theirs! After that we went back to my families house to see what Santa brought. We were expecting the traditional "im gettin nuttin for Christmas" deal but Santa delivered again ( apparently he is recession proof ;) We got some wonderful gifts and had a blast playing with them with my siblings.

Wake up....Santa came!! Ha Ha

I felt like a little kid again! Santa even remembered Zeus and brought him a big bone and a laser light to play with. Just Watch....

Then we made the trip up to Snowflake to spend the rest of the weekend with Eldons Family. We had a blast with the White Elephant Gift exchange, and there is never a shortage of good food, great family and lots of laughs. Unfortunately, i was dumb and didnt take any pictures in snowflake, but we had such a wonderful time! Thank you to everyone for our great gifts and even better family memories! Merry Christmas!

Disneyland Family Adventure

Our Family just got back from a 3 Day family reunion at Disneyland and California Adventure. It was a lot of fun! My little brother and younger cousins hadnt been for a very long time (or ever) so it was really neat to see their faces and my parents and other siblings had never been to California Adventures so that was new to them. I had been to both a few years ago with work, but there were still a few things that I got to do that I had never done.... Tower of Horror, Toy Story midway games, Speaking with Crush the turtle (that was awesome!!), the haunted mansion (changed for Christmas to the nightmare before Christmas), and the Finding Nemo submarine ride. My favorite has always been and will always be Pirates of the Caribbean...it was fun looking for Jack Sparrow in the rides...he pops up a bit, but they really didnt change much of the ride. I also really liked Crush the turtle, the Toystory midway games, and California Screamin. It all was a very good time and I am really glad we got to see our family. I wish it could have been longer and we could have spent more time together, but we had a lot of fun! Thanks Grandpa for making it all possible! We love you!



Zeus also had an adventure while we were gone in California. He went and stayed with our good friends Jason and Kristy and their pup Bella. He played with a bunch of other dogs and got to wrestle and tease. But at first....he wanted to go to California with us and put himself in my suitcase. I thought it was so funny! We missed him very much, but are so grateful to awesome friends who took such good care of our baby while we were gone. Thanks Jason and Kristy!

Its Christmas Time at the Larson House...

And we are decorating our very first house....We need a bigger tree, but we still like it! Here are some of our Christmas decorations including the first gift under the tree. We are still working on the outside. Its a bit more difficult than we first imagined...but those pics to follow soon. Enjoy! I did!