tulip festival

The Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival

It's Spring and the Tulip Festival is here !

I took 93 pictures, so consider yourselves lucky that you're only getting 12 pictures here!

This is seriously one of the most beautiful places in the world. Of course I've never been to Europe or anywhere really, but still, it has to be.

The boys taking a break by the river

I needed a break too! This place is HUGE. There had to be millions of tulips.

Isaac had fun running up and down the mock Spanish steps while Grandma fed Noah some baby food.

The only picture we could get of Grandma (in the Secret Garden, our favorite place)

Me and the boys in the Secret Garden

The coolest thing--you can't really tell because of the big bush in the way, but this is called the butterfly garden. You can sort of see the right wing is hidden but you can see the left wing better. Sooo cool.

Pretty! I wish Dave and I had taken our engagement pictures here. Maybe our next family picture?

I couldn't get Isaac to look at the camera if I paid him a million dollars.

Isaac ran down this gigantic hill right as we were about to leave. Of course he refused to walk up it so I had to go get him. A pleasure, especially after walking for hours through this monstrous garden.

I guess the boys are worn out! (us too)

It was such a beautiful day and we had tons of fun. There were a lot of people there this year. The first year we went mom and I were literally the only people there--granted it was raining, but still, the secret garden is much cooler when you're the only one in it, instead of standing in line to get inside! We still had a great time and I can't wait 'til next year's festival!

Lemonade Anyone?

Luke saw an "Arthur" this week where they sell lemonade so he's been driving me crazy to sell lemonade outside. Finally today Jared took him out with some lemonade to give away, but contrary to what our neighbor across the street thinks there isn't a lot of traffic on our street. A little boy did ride by on his bike and they gave him some and once he left Luke turned to Jared with a smile on his face and said "our first customer!" Well after an hour in the 90 degree heat and only one other bike rider we finally made him come in.

Gob (pronounced Job) from Arrested Development never had to wear a helmet...



Have any of you guys ever tried these Segways? They are fun as DEATH. I want one so bad now! (they were doing a free demo at Thanksgiving Point tulip festival today)

Isaac's Favorite Things

Whenever I'm on the computer he says "Let's watch the babies laugh!". So, I thought I'd share with you all what we watch over and over and over every day. Enjoy!

I'm so crazy-excited for new summer movies. It's a sad commentary on my life, but I'm seriously ready to book a babysitter, buy my tickets, popcorn and milk duds and actually see an awesome movie...in the theater. Can't wait for Bourne Ultimatum but it's not released until August...
So, I'll wait it out watching Johnny Depp as "Captain Jack." Charlie pretends to be him all the time.
And I'm pretty excited about Spider-Man III too. I just remembered that I forgot to include Ocean's 13 and the new Harry Potter too. Wowzers - it'll be a summer to remember eh? Why do I care about movies so much?

I love Isaac.

My poor Isaac has a stomach bug and 104 degree fever and there's nothing like a sickness to make me love him more than ever. It's very strange, but he is so sweet when he's sick. Noah was fussing and Isaac calls from the couch "Hey Noah, I'm right here, no fussin'" in the sweetest voice imaginable. Then he wants me to hold him and cuddle him, which never happens. He takes naps, he doesn't argue or fight with me, he takes sips of water when I ask and is pretty much an angel. The laundry and throwing up is obviously not fun, but the whole time he's sick I wish it was me instead and I feel so bad for him.

Poor little guy!

I hate light switches.

I HATE LIGHT SWITCHES.

They meet my arm right where my short-sleeved shirts end. I walk into them a minimum of 17 times a day. It KILLS. I'll be carrying Noah or Isaac and somehow lose my balance or something and my arm ends up ramming into these stupid light switches. Why does it happen so much? I'm a known klutz. I spill/drop/fall constantly. But it's not even when I lose my balance. I'll just be walking out of a room and somehow smash into them as hard as humanly possible. I have gigantic bruises on my arms from these stupid light switches constantly. If I ever have enough money to build my own house, I am getting the type of light switch that just clicks up or down--like we had in our Albuquerque house. I will never have light switches like the ones in the picture if I can help it.

I HATE THEM.

I stole this "What's your style" quiz from Natalie's blog but it was kinda fun. I'm loving HGTV lately. So what's your design style? Here's mine:

Sweet

What's sweet is chic. Nothing stark and modern for you! You're drawn to cozy interiors and a welcoming palette (think soft, sun-bleached hues). You like your patterns whimsical and your buildings quaint. you enjoy heirlooms with sentimental value, like a rocker that once graced your grandmother's nursery.

Snow!

It wouldn't be April in Utah if we didn't have a little snow. Brrrr!!!

On a different note, I was just reading dad's will (he's checking it over before they go to Israel) and it's so old Grandpa is listed as the trustee and me and James didn't even exist yet. He better update that! It says if Mom doesn't survive him his assets should be divided equally among his four children! That means me and Gym are just left out in the cold. Sad!

Oh, that sweet 1979 Datsun Z. Isaac calls it the race car. Delos gave Isaac a ride around the block. No carseat! Don't tell Dave....
Fill 'er up, bup.


This is what you're all missing out on by living elsewhere. Jealous yet?

Our big news:

Isaac got a haircut (finally), and Noah finally rolled over! I know this is a feat usually accomplished around 3 months, but not for our kids!!

Here's Noah's Chocolatey picture like Kate's. Cute.

This is cute Rachel the day I took her to the Dr. and he told me both of her ears were infected. She just looked so cute to me that day... Here's a picture of her in the tub. She loves the little sponge I got her to lay on...

After realizing I hadn't heard Kate in about 10 minutes I went in search of her and found quite a mess! She'd found Luke's Easter candy and gotten into several things despite the wrappers. She was happy as could be though.

I tried to get a cute Easter picture (Kate stayed home with me) but Abby refused to do a normal face, this is the best I could get. (How do you like the Easter vacuum? heh heh)

Kate finally walking

Happy Easter! Our fun Easter Egg Hunt!

Isaac got an Easter tie that he LOVES. He says he looks just like Dada.

Easter morning before church

Charlie made weird faces in every picture. This was the best we could get...

Funny dog

What famous photographer took this beautiful picture you ask? Well I did, of course. (: The West coast is just beautiful and we miss it a lot. So I decided to share a few pictures of James' favorite place on earth, Cannon Beach. James wanted me to post something on the Larson family blog and remind you guys that "our blog is better" and to check it out every day. We haven't forgotten about you, just putting our thoughts on OUR blog, so don't forget we're still here.

Here's James takin' a lick of some good ice cream--

our new house

This week for Family Home Evening we drove up to the new Draper temple site. It's about 2 minutes from our house...sometimes it's so cool to live here. Anyway, it looks like they're really coming along. Isaac likes to watch the cranes working and he learned you have to be obedient to go to the temple. A little ways up the street from the temple is the site of the house we've decided to build. I let the cat out of the bag because it's all framed so I thought I'd take some pictures to show you all. You can see it up above the already-finished houses:

Here's a closer view of the main house and children's wing: Here's a picture from farther back so you can see almost the whole house. My camera lens isn't quite wide enough to get the whole monster in one picture. On the left you can see the servants quarters:

Okay, so this is obviously a joke, but can you guys believe the size of this house? It must be 10,000 square feet. I swear it looks bigger than the entire temple site when you're there in person. It'll have a great view of the temple and the valley. Anyway, people have too much money if they can build a house like this! It has to cost millions. Utah is becoming the new California for real estate and it's insane. This is why we still live in my parents basement. Too many rich people move here from California!

This is the steam engine. Below are pics of the family (and conductor) on our great ride!