Lane and Brittany Larsen

Alright, i've been slacking. Gosh it is so hard to bring myself to spend an entire naptime updating this thing! I always look forward to that hour, and have a million things to get accomplished in it. LEast of all the blog. But i must say my posts have still been a heck of a lot more often then they were! I actually write my Ten Things in a notebook upstairs every week, the problem is getting the pictures uploaded and everything all typed up...But i'm working on it. So here is my three week "catch up"

1. Locke is notorious for falling asleep in the cart, especially Walmart. And whenever Locke falls asleep, Jones becomes instantly board and this time chose a carrot to keep himself entertained.

2. I swear the sweeping of the broom is the same as a dinner bell for Jones! and the minute i see him come waddling around the corner it becomes a race between the bristles and his nimble fingers!

3. Recently Lane has been driving his semi for the oilfield and on Friday he broke the back end, or rear end, or something...something expensive. And he walked that night with these black hands. 

4. I'm afraid of how much food these boys will eat once they become teenagers. Already its hard to keep up with! Jones had blueberries and oatmeal, and Locke had a TON of watermelon and pistacios. 

5. Lane bought new boots 9 months ago and finally pulled them out of the closet yesterday. They looked out of place being so nice and new and all his other clothes so grubby! But they looked old and worn now, only a day later...

6. I love when the boys pick Lane to hang out with, since the warmer weather has came Lane is gone all day everyday! So they take advantage of the hour or two they get to see him before they go to bed. 

7. Jones fell asleep in his high chair for the first time ever. It was so cute i couldn't handle it. 

8. Peony and Plum sold out again this week! thats 8 weeks in a row!!

(some goodies i sent to Mackenzie, my cousin who just had twin girls!)

9. This gem is avaliable at our local thrift store for all those interested. only 100.00 too. I wonder if Lane would be impressed with this rhinestone bra! 

10. Jones doesnt like clothes!! he fights me every time i get him dressed, we may have a nudie on our hands...p.s. how cute is his little mini bottle??

11. We had the big RS dinner party two weeks ago, which is a big reason the blog got pushed back. This year i added a ton of burlap to everything because we called it "Heritage Night" It turned out so well!! i was so pleased! We had each sister bring an item from their heritage that they wanted to share - we had everything from old quilts to pins to scrapbooks to rusty pistols. It was such a neat way for us to get to know the sisters in our ward on a deeper level. Once again we had the sister sign up to bring all the food! we had soup, rolls, pie and ice cream. And some really fun 

Some of my favorite design elements were:

On the podium i stuck a poster up that i made super quick right before

On the stage we were able to find the past RS presidents in the ward and when they served, i printed them all off and cut them out and lined them on the stage, sorry i didn't take a pic far enough away.

The water! we did really simple flavored water, i just threw in some bags of frozen fruit with a bit of stevia. We had Rasberry Mint, Strawberry Peach, and Lemon Lime. It was a huge hit!

I finally used up the mint striped straws for that night. They were so freakin cute i love colorful straws!

12. Locke is completely obsessed with grandpa's "mo-bike". I take it as a bad omen...

13. I got all "pinteresty" for my visiting teaching ladies, because i haven't actually visited them in 3 months or so....

14. Locke went on his first easter egg hunt in Myton aaaaaaand....couldn't have cared less about it. It was pathetic. He seriously didn't care about the eggs at all. All he wanted to do was get up on the skateboard ramp and slide down! Even though i had to fight some of the older kids for his 6 eggs....

15. The cousins and Locke sharing their best "mooing" and Mad Cow impressions.

They seriously moo-ed for an hour in the corrals. Easiest babysitting day ever!

Me standing on the crud in my "inside" shoes (not anymore...) and Locke banging a stick to emphasize his mad cow impression.

Jones, super impressed with their antics, and another hour spent discovering a tunnel in the hay. Oh to be 3 years old again! 

16. The boys watching Lane walk in from work! 

17. Speaking of pinterest...I made some homemade corn dogs this week! they turned out fantastic, i froze a whole bunch so we can enjoy them for an afternoon snack in the weeks to come. (i'm a bit paranoid about hot dogs so i chop them up pretty fine before my kids eat em. But they're so GOOD. I also get the nitrate free ones - LOVE the sale that Stewarts had on them last week. You should see my freezer, I stocked up big time) 

18. Locke can climb up into any tractor now all by himself. So if he ever disappears when we're outside i know right where to look! 

19. Pretty self explanatory, especially since he did it right before some company walked in the door!

20. So if you couldn't tell in my last post i've been a bit reflective lately, trying to piece together this whole parenting thing. I found the most amazing quote a couple months ago and actually framed it to hang in my living room. It goes like this:

"There are random moments - tossing up a salad, coming up the driveway to the house, ironing the seams flat on a quilt square, standing at the kitchen window looking out at the delphiniums, hearing a burst of laughter from one of my children's rooms - when i feel a wavelike rush of joy. This is my true religion. Arbitrary moments of nearly painful happiness for a life i feel privileged to lead. Think of the way you sometimes see a tiny shaft of sunlight burst through a gap between the rocks, the way it then expands to illuminate a much larger space - its like that. And its like quilting, a thread surfacing and then disappearing into the fabric of ordinary days. Its not always visible but its what holds everything together."

Elizabeth Berg

I think that it's a beautiful quote for a stay at home mom like me, it really explains why i love being a mom! One of those moments of "painful happiness" happened to me Wednesday of last week when Locke uncharacteristically asked Lane to read him some books before bed instead of me. Lane's patient, calm voice reading Locke's favorite story, Dr. Seuss's "The Foot Book" hit me right to my core. I sat outside Locke's bedroom door trying to soak up every moment. Its those simple, special moments that make being a wife/mother so fufilling. I love it.

Here are a quick 10 from last week. With no pics, sorry. my camera battery died and i just found the charger this morning!!

21. Locke has picked up on saying "need" instead of "want".

I "need" my dad
I "need" chocolate chips
I "need" bubble guppies.

so. so. cute.

22. The warm weather/sun on my face is so addicting i dont' think im going to get anything accomplished till winter. we are officially outside junkies!

23. A couple of mothers and I have decided to teach each other's kids preschool this fall. should be interesting...

24. Ward conference was the week before general conference and Lane and I spent the combined class sitting at the back not making a sound while the stake president taught the lesson. We are trying to keep a "LOW PRO" over here.

25. Jones can suck out of a straw. makes drinking out of anything so much less painful.

26. Okay, so i'm a mom who thinks my kids are amazing and all, but when it comes to their intellect, i'm pretty sure they are very average. Except for Locke when it comes to numbers, they come really easy for him! Yesterday we were counting, and he got all the way to 50. I helped on 3 numbers. I have to admit, i was impressed!

27. Locke has a new "job" of folding dishcloths. Instead of yelling at him for messing up the folded laundry, i decided to get smart, and put his energy to good use. He folded 2 dozen cloths, and let me peacefully finish the folding! it was magical.

28. My favorite word Locke tries to say is Oil. It sounds like Olive.

29. I cut my hair wicked short. Pics to follow....

30. I also painted a dresser for our guest bedroom! one day when the house is finished i'll take all of ya on  a fun little house tour.