We have been busy

Prepare, this post is full of pictures.  We have been in our house for almost 2 years.  We have been busy making it not look like a short sale.  We have worked really hard with the help of various family, friends, and of course HGTV (He he, i love that channel.  But Eldon says it gives me too many ideas.)  We have made some significant changes to the house and it is looking alot more like my vision of it.   I love when people from the ward come over and see the house because they knew the previous tenants (it was a rental before we bought it).  Everyone who has seen the house before, has a hard time believing it is the same house.  So since we are so proud of our house, i thought that i would share some of the before and after pictures.  We are not bragging, but definitely beaming.  The first big change we made was painting every room in the house.  I dont like white walls and now no walls in the house at all are white.  We also tiled the kitchen and entry way because the disgusting blue laminate flooring definitely was not working in my house.

 

The next big step was putting in granite counter tops because the ugly blue definitely had to go!

 

Next was getting our entertainment center, couch and book shelf to make the living room look comfy, cozy and stylish.  

 

Then we decorated the guest bathroom and bedroom.  I am really glad to have a nice and comfortable place to offer family and friends when they come to visit.  

 

Next I got a desire to texture the walls of the master bathroom.  It looks like venetian plaster.  i love it!!!  And I am so proud that I did it all by myself!  

 

The office and the master bedroom came next.   The master bedroom is still missing some beautiful art pieces that my nephew is working on, but he is holding them ransom from me, so once he finishes them, the bedroom will be completed!  

I also have been working on the Shadow Memory Boxes for my baby boys.  They are finished for now, but i am sure with how picky I am, and how precious they are, that this may change in the future.

The next big projects came after we lost the boys.  I needed something to occupy my mind and help to bring some joy into my life, so Eldon let me do alot of the projects that had been on hold for a while.  So i textured the kitchen and with the help of friends put in fake bricks.  I got a buffet and painted our table.  

I got my coat rack and bench for the entry way.

Then we put in carpet because the old carpet was beyond disgusting!  

 

We also put in french doors where the ugly and annoying sliding door was. 

 

It made a huge difference.  I added curtains, new light fixtures in the kitchen and hallway and master bathroom.    

 

Most of our changes have been made on the inside of the house.  We really havent done much with the outside, but after the boys died, we bought baby rose bushes to go outside the house.  They have only bloomed sparatically, but they are still growing.  

 

We will do more in the backyard and front in months to come.  Most recently for Mother's day, Eldon bought me cupboards for the laundry room, so that was finally painted and the cabinets added.  I absolutely love it!

There are definitely more projects that i would like to complete like the nursery, changing the cabinet colors through out the house, tiling the bathrooms, changing the countertops in the bathroom, adding canned lighting in the living room and then moving to the outside for grass and a pool.  Poor Eldon :P  Oh well, its a good investment, and I am having a blast discovering new abilities and talents as we transform our house into our home and into something we can be proud of.  

Larson Family Reunion 2010

It was time again, for the Larson crew to get together for the annual RH Larson family reunion.  As always, it was alot fun.  This year, Mack and Valerie were in charge, and our reunion fell days before their baby boy Dax's 1st birthday.  So it was only right that we throw him a birthday party.  The morning started out with fun games of capture the flag and then an interesting game that included shaving cream and cheeto puff balls.  The kids had an absolute blast. 

 

After a tasty lunch, it was time for Dax to have fun with his cake, as is tradition with the first birthday.

It took him a bit, but he finally dug into the cake and made an absolute mess all over.  It was adorable.  We all got to join in on the yumminess (a different cake).  After a tasty treat, the kiddos all had a blast on the slip n slide.  I couldnt resist taking pictures of them.  It looks like i only have a few pictures, but really there are over 30.  They were just too cute, so i couldnt resist their different poses as slipped and slid.  

Following that fun, we all went to watch our older nephews (Garett and Caden) play a pre-season football game against Red Mountain.  They totally won!  It was wonderful!  We had a blast and created wonderful family memories.  That is what good family reunion does.

Our Disneyland Anniversary Adventure

For our 4th anniversary, we decided to celebrate by going to the happiest place on earth.... Disneyland!!!  We had alot of fun for 2 days at Disneyland and California Adventure.  So much fun, that i really didnt take out the camera much :(  Oh well, i got a few great shots to share.  Since we had both been to Disneyland several times before, we decided to do some of the things that we had never done before.  We started out at California Adventure.  We did the normal fun rides like the Tower of Terror, and talking to Crush the turtle.  We had never done the Animation Academy, so that was a new treat.  We learned how to draw "Dopey" from Snow White.  We found on the back lot a Monster's Inc ride.  It was cute.  Eldon had never been to Muppets 3D, I think he had fun at that.  We rode on the Farris Wheel, that was fun to see the view of the park.  For a special treat, we had a fancy dinner at Wine Country Trattoria to get amazing tickets for the new World of Color.  The dinner was alright, definitely not worth the money, but the seats were!  Check out some video...of course I love Pirates of the Caribbean, so I was ecstatic when this came on....

Also, this one gives a better view of the show.... Amazing!!!  Sorry about my camera's focus, but still amazing!

 The next day we spent playing at Disneyland.  We went on the pirate boat, went to the pirate island, went and saw Michael Jackson's Captain EO...much better as child (definitely lame now).  For our anniversary lunch, we went and ate at the Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  Again, big fan of pirates, unfortunately, the lunch was much better in my dreams, but still something that i had always wanted to do.  We of course rode some of the awesome rides like space mountain, the jungle cruise, pirates, and Finding Nemo Submarine rides.  For Eldon's sake, we rode on the Chevron Race way, and because i am a nice wife.... i let him drive :) We had a really good time, and a very happy anniversary.  I think the best part was the buttons that Disneyland gave us.  Everyone in the entire park, including other guests were wishing us Happy Anniversary.  It was alot of fun!  It also got us a few perks, like cuts in a few lines.  Cant beat that.  Although we had a blast, I will say that by far, Disneyland is not the happiest place on earth, the happiest place on earth is at home in the arms of my loving husband.  I am so grateful for four amazing years of bliss.  They have been the happiest years of my life, even with the heartache we have experienced. I am so in love with you and so excited for a future full of love and happiness with you.  Happy Anniversary my Love!!! Thanks for a wonderful time at the second happiest place on earth.

He did it!

My amazing husband passed his real estate exams (on the first try no less) and is now licensed to be Realtor!  He is working for Smith Preferred Properties.  It is a great company that works hard to give everyone a quality and preferred type property for their money.  I am very proud of him and his efforts and we are very hopeful that this new career venture will provide us with some answers for our hopes and prayers.  If anyone is in need of real estate help in buying or selling a home, please think of Eldon and pass on his name to your family and friends in Arizona.  Thanks!

Families are like brownies...mostly sweet but full of nuts!

The only other titled that would be fitting for this post would be....you might be a redneck if....   Truly, that was the theme for the family fun that happened during this years 24th of July Celebration.  We had an absolute blast!  It was a weekend full of family, laughter, pranks, and crazy inventions.  We had every member of the family there except for a dearly missed brother Derrick and nephew JT.   So on to the redneck jokes. 

You might be a red neck if...

Your family rides around in garbage cans, or you park the family vehicles (garbage cans) on the front lawn.  Either way, both happened this weekend.  Eldon's oldest brother Nolan owns the garbage company in Snowflake and a good chunk of Eastern AZ.  Every year he is in the parade and the last few years, he has created a garbage can train, and lets our nieces and nephews ride in them in the parade.  All the kiddos absolutely love it and have an absolute blast!  After the parade, the garbage train was parked on the front lawn :).

You might be a redneck if....

that same garbage train tips over during the parade with your nieces and nephews inside...better yet, it tips over right into a pile of horse manure. Poor Jade was involved in the accident, but she showed how tough she was while showing off her boo boo

You might be a redneck if....

If your brother rides around in a mobile garbage can like he is oscar the grouch.   Ha Ha, again for the parade, Nolan and his boys created a monster garbage can by putting the motor of a four-wheeler onto a garbage can.  It is pretty funny to see move around, and it can even pop wheelies!  It was definitely entertaining.

You might be a redneck if....

If your son is also your great nephew, (long story, but true) and if you teach them young to ride a dirt bike.  Dax had fun getting rides on everything from the 4-wheeler, to the dirt bike.  Being on these vehicles is perfect for this little guy as he was beyond mobile since he learned to walk.  He is quick!

You might be a redneck if....

your father creates a monster bike for two!  Its Alive! j/k.  But RH really did create this tandum bike.  He welded 2 bikes together into one like a tricycle.  It is an interesting bike to ride, but is good exercise, and is good for a laugh.

You might be a redneck if....

Horse rides are given right out of your front yard :)  Our nieces rode in the parade on their horses for their school 4-H programs.  After the parade, the horses were hanging out just like the rest of the family at Mom and Dad Larson's house, so ponyrides were definitely a must during the day.  Sadie had a lot of fun!

You might be redneck if....

you create a swimming pool out of a garbage dumpster.  Seriously!   Nolan and his boys, once again were very creative and took a roll-off dumpster, made it water tight, filled it with water, and all the kiddos had a blast swimming in it!  The best part was seeing all the people's faces as they drove past.  Im sure they must have been wondering what in the world the kids were doing playing in the dumpster.   We joked that it definitely gave a whole new meaning to dumpster diving :P 

If you couldnt tell, everyone had an amazing time.  The Larson Family always is a joy to be around, especially when everyone gets together.  We really did miss Derrick and JT and wished they could have been there!  While we had the majority of the crew up there, we took some family photos.  We intend to photo shop our missing family members in for future pictures.   This is a picture of all the grandchildren except for Dax, who was napping and JT, who wasnt able to come up and our 3 little angels.  It is amazing how every single one of the grandchildren is so dang good looking!!

I think it is because of these two find people.  They are the ones who started it all, and made such a joyous family. 

 

And this is a picture of all the children and their spouses.  We are again missing Derrick, but we left a spot for him right up front.  Entire group pictures are coming soon, but I didnt get any with my camera.

And just because she is so dang cute and it sums up the feeling of the weekend.  Here is Payten enjoying her day with cotton candy and family.  :)  Happy Pioneer Day!

Its about Love

I am sorry that i have been a slacker in blogging.  I just didnt want to overload my blog with unhappy posts and while we truly are greatly blessed, it has been hard for me not to focus on the sad things.  This post does have a little bit of sad, but also some hope and a request for help.  First off, after several months of waiting, we finally got the headstone for our little boys.  They finally have their resting place marked so all can know they were here and now they have the proper place to put flowers, so now the gardner cant steal mine!  We are really pleased how it came out, and we are very glad that their plot is no longer just a mound of dirt!   Since losing our twins, my optimism for having a family has really decreased significantly, but our desires have only gotten stronger.  Unfortunately we have already suffered another miscarriage since our boys, which only brings more dismay.  So while we will forever try to get our own little ones here, we are turning to adoption to assist us with our desires to have a family until we are blessed to have our own.  We are looking into adoption with the State of Arizona.  This course began in March when we almost had the opportunity to get a cute little 6 week old girl through some friends.  The birth father ended up stepping in, so, now we wait to see if he changes his mind and decides to let us have her or to see what else Heavenly Father has in store for us.  All the websites I have read, have stated that many adoptions come through personal contacts, so I am reaching out to our family and friends.  If you know of a little one who is need of a good home, or have any recommendations or connections for adoption, we would really appreciate your help.  I know that we will be able to have a family someday.  Heavenly Father has promised both Eldon and I in our patriachal blessings the blessing of raising a family, but we may need help in getting our family here.  We ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers that we might be guided by our Father in Heaven and be able to know his will for us and to follow it, and if adoption is his plan, that we might be led to the little one/s that are meant to join our family.  We appreciate all the love and support we have recieved in our recent trials and heartaches and hope that future posts can be filled with more happy news.

Happy Birthday Eldon!!!

To the most amazing man in the world (and the hottest too), Eldon, I hope you have a wonderful birthday.  I know you are not looking forward to growing older, and while I am hating how fast times flies too, I absolutely love that if I have to grow old, I get to do it with you!!  I am sorry this birthday really hasnt been anything special, but hopefully you will have a better birthday weekend, then your actual birthday! I am so very in love with you!  I am beyond grateful for the blessing you are in my life.  You truly are the most amazing man ever and I dont know how i got to be so lucky to have you as my eternal companion, but i will forever be grateful that you chose me to spend your life with.  I love you baby!!!  Happy Birthday Sweetheart!