Day Six

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.

I know I know...I should pick somebody famous or rich right? Hmmm...like Vanessa Paradis! (just Google who she's married to and it will all make perfect sense)

But honestly? The person I'd love to trade places with for a day would be my husband Josh.

There are many reasons I wish this. How awesome would it be for him to see what I deal with on a daily basis!? (kids, working at home, cleaning, errands, shopping, appointments, blah blah blah)

And I'm being completely fair here, I would like to see what it's like for him to work full-time, always feeling tired, dealing with the kids, the yard work, dealing with me...haha...

Mostly though, I'd love to have the chance to really understand what goes on inside his head. Sometimes, and I know this sounds totally weird, it's hard for me to understand that Josh is a totally separate person from me. See, I told you that would sound weird! I mean obviously we are two separate people. What I mean is he DOES NOT think the same way I do! He and I are on completely different wavelengths when it comes to problem solving, emotions, opinions, etc. Have you ever heard that song "Opposites Attract"? Yeah, that's us. Now I'm not saying that one is better than the other. I'm just saying I would jump at the chance to really understand him better by switching place for a day!

And now I'll end this post with what is possibly my most favorite picture of all time:

Day Five

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory.

Oh boy, another tough one. I have a lot of favorite memories. I was going to blog about the 10 year anniversary cruise Josh and I went on last October. But I decided that deserves a blog post of its own.

One memory I do want to acknowledge is fishing with my brother. Let me start off by saying that I'm not a fan of fishing. My dad is an avid outdoorsman and we camped quite a bit while I was growing up. And one of the first rules of hunting/fishing is "you kill it, you eat it". Well, I hate eating fish. So do you see my dilemma? If I did go fishing, I knew that if I caught anything, I had to eat it. Um, no thanks! So instead, my brother Derek would fish, and I would find a "comfy rock" to sit on while we talked and joked around for hours and hours.

This picture was taken the Summer of 1998, but we had been "fishing buddies" for years by that point. Sadly I think this was the last time we got to fish together! This was the last Summer I came home for college, and after that Derek left for his mission, then I got married, he came home from his mission and then he got married, I had a kid, he got divorced and remarried, then joined the Army, I had a couple more kids, then he had a couple kids, then he deployed to Afghanistan, he came home safely and had another kid...now he lives across the country! Next thing you know, 13 years has gone by. I'll always remember the time we spent on that comfy rock though!

Love ya "little" bro!

Day Four

Day 04 - A picture of your night.

I almost missed today's post! See when I first saw the subject of Day 4, I thought, "Oh great, it's gonna be a picture of me sitting at the computer. How pathetic." But then I remembered, we had a date night planned for tonight! So I brought the camera along and...forgot to take a picture until we were picking the kids up from the babysitters' house.

So instead, I'll just give you a quick rundown of the evening. We saw this movie:

And it was AWESOME. In general, I'm not a huge sci-fi fan. However, I really liked this movie and highly recommend it!

Then we picked the kids up. We exchange babysitting with my old college roommate Liz (a.k.a. Boomie) and her husband Mark. Who would have guessed that Boomie would end up marrying a guy from my hometown and that 10 years after college we would end up living just a few minutes away from each other right? So I decided to take a picture of her putting my son's shoes on (a job which I probably should've been doing but oh well!):

Then she was nice enough to snap a pic of me, Josh, and Samuel:

Then we rushed home, put the monkeys to bed, and as we speak these bad boys are cooking for our tasty dinner:

We had big plans to get Chipotle after the movie, then eat it after we picked up the kids and put them to bed but we ran out of time.

Well, I'm off to go enjoy my dinner!

Day Three

Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show.

Hmm, another tough one. I have to admit, I watch a lot of TV. Which is weird, since one of my favorite things to do is READ, and the opposite of reading is watching TV. (according to my logic)

Anyway, I have MANY favorites but right now I will say I'm most excited to watch these two shows:

1. Cougar Town - DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT judge this show by it's awful title. Other than the first 2 episodes or so, it has nothing to do with older women chasing younger men. I promise you, this show hilarious. Favorite character = Ellie

2. The Community - We started watching this show last year when it first started. At first, I thought, "Meh.". It was funny but nothing special. Then came the Halloween episode of 2009. That was the turning point for me. I literally laughed so hard, I was crying. Tears were streaming down my face. When it was over we immediately watched it again. (we never do that) And ever since then, this show has been a favorite. Favorite character = Abed

I want to give an honorable mention to The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Outsourced, and Desperate Housewives.

Shows I still watch but am sick of but can't stop watching them until they're over: Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Survivor (even new seasons still get me).

President's Day

Who celebrates President's Day? Come on, anyone? Yup, just as I thought...NOBODY celebrates President's Day except maybe mattress stores or car dealerships looking for an excuse to have a big sale.

Well here in the Larsen household, we know how to give proper respect to our forefathers.

We started the day off right by having cupcakes for breakfast! Hey any excuse to have cake right? We even sang "Happy Birthday" to good ole Washington and Lincoln.

Josh worked very hard on the decor. I woke up to this giant face being stapled on my kitchen wall. (if you look closely, you can see those are 9 regular sized pieces of paper that he printed and taped together)

Josh also won the boys' "Parent of the Year" award for making the boys their own President's Day coloring books, and a President's Day word search.

Why did we go through all this trouble you ask?

I think the expression on Trey's face is explanation enough!

Day Two

A picture of you and the person you have been close with for the longest.

Hmm, this is a hard one. Do I pick Josh? We have been married 10 years so I guess that counts as being close right? Picking my husband just seems like a cop out though.

So I think I'll pick...my SISTER NIKKI! Come on down Nikki! You've just won a shout out on my blog!

Wow, this is the only picture I could find of just the two of us together. I think we need to fix that because that is just sad. Anyway, this was taken a couple of years ago in Utah at a family reunion. We hiked to this awesome waterfall (Stewart Falls to be exact). Look at us...looking all outdoorsy and stuff!

So yes, even though Nikki is 9 years younger than me, we still manage to keep our sisterly bond strong!

Day One

The 60 Day Challenge

I'm fresh out of blog ideas but saw one of my FB friends doing this and thought it would work for my blog.

DAY ONE: A picture of yourself with 15 facts.

Yuck, now I have to find a picture of myself.

Okay here's one from our cruise last October that I never got around to blogging about.

That's me, in Ensenada, Mexico. Yes, that wall is covered in bird crap.

Okay, 15 facts:

1. I hate wearing lipstick. It just feels gross and I think it looks funny on me! I'll do lip gloss but mostly I'm a chapstick girl.

2. I have a degree in Social Work. I hope to never work in that field ever again. I chose my major because I wanted to help people. But once I got out there and starting working in my chosen field, I discovered that...I don't really like people all that much.

3. I hate it when people clip their nails in public. What is up with that? Gross. There was a lady at one of my old jobs that would do this! In a professional office setting, she would just clip her nails and let them just fall on the floor.

4. I love to read and would read all day if I could.

5. I've had 3 last names but only been married once.

6. I can't sleep unless I have some type of white noise. Like a fan, or a white noise machine. I always take either of these with me when I travel.

7. I am DEATHLY afraid of all insects/spiders. I don't think you understand my fear. It's intense.

8. I refuse to buy anything unless it's on sale or I have a coupon.

9. I am totally and completely anti-tanning. In the summer I wear nothing less than SPF50 at all times, and a giant floppy hat. In fact, to my friends' husbands I am known as "the really white one". I find this funny!

10. I have recently discovered I am an emotional eater. No wonder I've gained 15 pounds over the last 2 years right? In related news, I always keep a supply of dark chocolate in my fridge for those really crappy days.

11. I'm not a big fan of animals. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate animals. I just don't want to be near them, I don't want them touching me, licking me, etc. I want to view them from a safe distance. I pretend to like animals for my kids, so they don't turn out like me.

12. I like to clean and organize.

13. I might have some OCD tendencies.

14. I'm done having kids. No, I'm not going to keep trying for a girl. I like having all boys!

15. I type 104 WPM.

WHY do I torture myself?

Do any of you read certain blogs (not mine of course) and then after you read it, you question yourself for the MILLIONTH time why you read that blog? Because this particular blog drives you INSANE and you HATE reading it, and are DISGUSTED with the author, and if you saw her on the street you would probably want to puke all over her? And every time you see a new post from this blog in Google Reader you dread clicking on it, then click on it anyway, and your blood pressure goes up, and it starts all over again? And yet...you CAN'T seem to unsubscribe because it's like looking at a train wreck. What stupid obnoxious subject is she going to post about now? What stupid words is she going to make up next? What AWFUL pictures is she going to post today?

What is wrong with me? DELETE this obnoxious blog already!

Okay I'm done.

** This does not apply to anybody who I know of that reads my blog, has ever commented on my blog, etc. I'm 99.999% sure this person has never set eyes on my blog and never will. And yet, I still felt the need to put this out into the universe.

3 things I want to blog about, in no particular order

1. Awesome friends! Do you have friends that you really feel have been "sent" to you for a specific time in your life, for a specific reason? Well, I have an AWESOME group of friends that I KNOW were sent to me when I needed them most. I could do an entire blog post on these girls and how they have literally saved my sanity. (And none of them even live in my state!) I'll save that blog post for another time though. For now, here's a public shout out to "L" to say thank you for the cute birthday card! RAWR! (in other news, I turned 32 last month...yikes!)

2. Next I'd like to talk about chocolate. I LOVE dark chocolate. I may or may not have a constant emergency supply of dark chocolate in my fridge. My family all knows about this about me and so when my BIL married a girl from Ukraine last October, she brought some Ukrainian chocolates and made sure I got some of the dark chocolate ones. And I can say this with confidence, that THIS:

was hands down, the BEST piece of chocolate I have EVER eaten in my ENTIRE life. I will dream about this chocolate until the day I die. Seriously. That good. So good that when I discovered a piece of it melted in the car on the way home, I almost cried. Then I put it in the fridge and ate it anyway. Whew! Crisis averted.

3. Next we have my boys. What is it about them all dressed up for church that always makes me want to grab my camera?

J.J. has developed an obsession lately. An obsession over the presidents of our great country, the United States of America! I'm not kidding, this kid knows more random facts about random presidents than I have even known, or care to know! An example? This morning we were watching Legacy (a movie put out by our church about the pioneers) and at one point on screen it said the year was 1838. J.J. pipes up, "Oh! Martin Van Buren was the president!" Um...what? What 7 year old knows that?! Oh yes...my 7 year old does.

Anyway, going along with this new obsession he has started collecting coins. He used some money he had received for his birthday to buy the first 16 presidential gold dollars released so far. See how happy he is?

Then of course we have Trey. Oh Trey... what can I say? I just love this boy. I spend more time stressing over this child and his ADHD than the other 2 combined. Like I recently posted in a Facebook status update, "Oh ADHD...you make my life interesting." And boy does it ever! Sometimes I don't know how it is possible to pack so much personality into one little body. I could probably have a blog just dedicated to the crazy things he says. He's my most difficult, most emotional, most sweet/loving/caring, most difficult (did I say that already?) child.

And then of course we have the baby, Samuel. Samuel is my quiet one. And I don't just mean because of his speech delay! He has always been my quiet one. He was the quietest, most well-behaved baby EVER. He's still quiet, but now he's also sneaky which usually translates into he's being sneaky AND naughty! Still though, I love his little face. I don't think it will matter how big he gets, he's my last baby so I think I'll always think of him as THE baby. He is rarely without his "blankie" and his "cozy" (milk).

And that is all for today. Thanks for reading!

Valentine's Day

I like to go all out for holidays. I've accepted this about myself. Josh teases me about it and thinks it's a little ridiculous...but I think he secretly likes it and I KNOW my boys love it. This year at Target I saw these SUPER cute mailboxes in the dollar section and immediately wanted them. But what to do with them? Then inspiration hit. I quickly snagged 5 of them and good thing because when I went back to Target the next day, they were all gone.

We put them to good use by leaving each other "love notes" throughout the weeks leading up to V-Day. Sometimes, the boys even found extra surprises in their boxes! One day some Valentine's snow globes, the next a little heart puzzle, heart cups, etc. Let's just say I went a little crazy clearance shopping the year before and this was the perfect way to deliver some of the things I bought.

Some of the other decor:

Another tradition I love is I give each of my boys (all 4 of them!) a giant decorated sugar cookie.

I also gave the boys some Pixos and Pez. What more could you ask for on Valentine's Day?

For my main Valentine, I made a candy message on a poster board. I'd post it in here but...it's kind of R-rated.

Happy Valentine's Day!