Sleeping kids!

Nothing wears kids out quite like a fun vacation. Here are some cute pictures of napping kids! (How come I didn't get the picture of Tawnya and Tony on my disc) In these first couple of pictures, Holley actually fell asleep eating a Dorito on the way home!

Payton on the beach.

Logan

Payton at the beach again, tired boy!

Holley!

Holley's Braids!

Holley's cute braids, on a day that Derek did her hair cause I was out with some friends! I think he did a really good job.

IT'S ANOTHER GIRL!!!

Here are some pictures of Holley's Baby SISTER!!!!! The ultrasound said that it looks like we are getting another little girl! Holley is Thrilled! We were worried how she'd react if it was a brother, she wanted a sister from day one. Tara was so sure that it was going to be a boy that she would ask Holley "will it be ok if it's a brother instead of a sister?" and Holley would usually flat out say "NO!" Maybe she knew the truth all along. Holley is excited to share her room with her new sister, and yesterday she made a "card" for a friend, and she said it was a picture of her baby sister and the "stickers are the heartbeat" she said. (something I think she picked up from being at the ultrasound. Tara is thrilled too. It'll be so fun to pull all of Holley's cute newborn clothes back out again, and is really glad we'll be able to keep the 3rd bedroom as the toy room. (it sure keeps Holley's room cleaner!) Derek is happy too! He loves the idea of having girls as long as they'll still fish and play basketball with him, which Holley does! I think this little girl might be athletic or a Tom Boy, cause boy can she already kick!! I don't remember feeling Holley this much till at least 7 months! The only time Derek really wishes he had a son is when he goes to Priesthood Sessions! (but hopefully the next will be a boy!!) We are all happy and totally thrilled except for one thing! NO CLUE on names! Derek laughs at the ones Tara likes, Tara thinks the ones he likes are too boring, and Holley won't budge on nameing her either Rhees (after her cousin) or Olivia (after her best friend!) So now were accepting any name suggestions! So let us hear what you think, we need all the help we can get!

if you can't tell, the first picture is the bottom of baby's feet! the second shows the full profile of baby and body, and the third shows the gender and baby's bottom!

pictures grandma & grandpa sent from our Utah trip

Holley the Climber
Cousin Hug!! Holley and Rheesie

more pictures from Dax, and Steph's Wedding

Holley and Toodles playing outside!

For Easter, Derek built Holley a sandbox in the backyard. (It's the only thing we've even done in the yard yet!) Holley loves playing in the sandbox, and on Monday night Toodles got to go out with her while Daddy was grilling some steaks for Dinner. It was cute to see Toodles hopping around while Holley laughed at him, and tried to bury him in the sand!

Say Cheese!

Holley posing with Mommy! She loves to jump in the picture whenever she sees the camera, and then runs over to whomever is holding the camera so she can see the picture in the display! She loves to see pictures of herself! She likes to look over my shoulder while I'm updating the blog and tell me which pictures she wants to see again, and which ones are her favorite!

My Prego Belly!

4 1/2 months pregnant! Here's what my belly looks like now, for those of you who've been asking if I'm showing yet, or as my mom put it, "are you fat yet?" (My family knows I don't mind being called fat when I'm pregnant cause I get so excited for my belly to show.) The other day Holley bumped my belly, and then rubbed it and said "sorry baby!" It was cute! In less than 2 weeks I'm supposed to have my 20 week ultrasound and we should be able to find out if it's a boy or a girl! It's been driving me crazy not knowing for so long, I was spoiled when we were expecting Holley to be able to find out early cause we had ultrasounds more often. I still think it's a boy, but Holley and Derek both think it's a girl. (Holley really wants a sister!) and YIPPEE 20 weeks means halfway there! YEAH! The last half will probably seem longer though cause we didn't even know we were expecting til halfway throught the 2nd month. Still, it's a landmark that means we're that much closer. We'll let you all know when we find out what we're having! (Or maybe we'll wait to keep you in suspense a little longer! j/k) WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Holley riding a horse

Some friends in our ward invited Holley to come see their colts. Holley was nervous about getting on at first, but agreed when mom said she'd hold her while she was on it. She thought it was neat. She even fed one of the mommy horses, the mommy horse licked the grain right out of Holley's hand, she thought that was funny! One of the horses is pregnant, horses are pregnant for more like a year than nine months! I'm glad I'm not a horse!

Coloring Easter Eggs

Holley Had a Blast Coloring Easter Eggs! She was pretty upset when they were all colored and she couldn't do anymore! I really just didn't think that between the 3 of us we'd be able to eat more than a dozen and a half hard boiled eggs! Holley also got to meet the Easter bunny and give it a Hug! The Easter Bunny showed up at the ward Easter Egg hunt on Saturday! Holley is usually very afraid of big costumed characters, but she was thrilled to see the Easter bunny, and ask if she had gotten the picture Holley had drawn for her! We just had the camcorder but if we can figure out how to get a still off of it, we'll post a picture! It was really cute!

Holley's BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

No, it's not just a cheap t-shirt we bought at the DI. (Derek's dad thought, "why would you put that on a kid with no siblings?") It's Holley's big announcement! It's actually true! Holley is going to be a big sister!!!!! After a couple years of trying, we are expecting our second child! YIPPEE! It was actually quite a surprise. We actually found out we were expecting while Tara was on Birth Control. It was prescribed to help fix a problem the Dr. thought might be preventing a pregnancy. We planned to be on the prescription for a couple of months, and then try a fertility procedure. Needless to say, we were a little floored to find out we were pregnant! We were still worried about miscarriage, expecially with the 3 previous miscarriages, and the fact I was on the pill, but we are now just over 14 weeks along, and the Dr. is confident that the Baby is healthy and doing well. The baby is due around Sept 24th! We announced it to our families by having Holley in this shirt when we saw them in march while we were up for the wedding! It was great! Holley was so excited to show of that shirt, cause we told her all about it and she knew what it meant. It was so fun to see how all our family members reacted.

Holley says she wants to have a sister and name her Rheesie. (After her cousin Rhees!) She knows that the baby is in mommy's tummy, and says, "I don't want it in there, I want it to come out!" We are anxious to see how she will adjust after having us to herself for almost 4 years, but she's really excited about the whole thing! Tara thinks it'll be a boy, because she's been a lot less sick than she was with Holley, and Derek hasn't expressed an opinion yet. We are excited to know for sure cause Tara's already anxious to start setting stuff up!

We are SO Excited and Especially GRATEFUL! We know we had a lot of family and friends praying for this to happen, and we thank you all for your prayers,faith, and love. We feel so very blessed with all the Lord has given us. We continue to pray that all will be well through the rest of the pregnancy, but overall we really feel strongly that it is now "Gods time" for us to add to this family. In summary, we're THRILLED!

Another owie post!

Last week we were at the park for family night, and holley got hit in the face with a heavy wooden swing! (She tried to get off herself, and fell, and turned just in time to see it swing back at her!) The cute thing is that because of where the bruise is, when her eye is opened it just looks like she's wearing purple and yellow eyeshadow on one eye!

Pictures from Dax and Stephanie's Reception!

The Bride and Groom
Cutting the cake
Uh oh, looks like Jared found my camera just laying around!

Here are some more pics from Dax and Stephanie's Wedding!

Holley and Rheesie!
Holley!
The girls with the bride and groom!
The girls with Great-Grandma Pak!

YEAH SNOW!

Holley with the snowmen Daddy helped build in grandma and grandpa Larsen's backyard. (Notice there is a big one and a baby one!) She sure loved playing in the snow, she keeps asking when it'll snow at our house.

Here's a little update. . .

Hey all! I just thought I'd say a little about what's been happening in our life to keep you all updated! Things have been going great here. Derek has recently started a new calling in the ward as Elders Quorum President, (as if he wasn't busy enough!) His class that he is currently taking for his masters is on Tuesday's from 4-9 so we only see him when he comes home to change his clothes and grab a some food to eat in class. I think Holley thinks he doesn't actually live here, cause she has started saying stuff like, "I want Daddy to come to our house." When he is here though he's really good at catching us up on the attention we've been missing. I think he's anxious to find some time to take Holley fishing again, I think he's learned to stop asking mommy if she wants to go! :) We still never got the "winter" we were waiting for, but we are enjoying our arizona spring! We are excited to start saving on our gas bill before the rest of you! We've already started turning the heat off most days, and even opening windows to enjoy the nice "spring" air! By the time most of the rest of you start enjoying your spring we'll have our windows closed up to keep out the heat and start cranking our air conditioning!
We are looking forward to our trip to Utah in just a couple weeks for Dax and Stephanie's Wedding! YEAH!! We are so excited! Holley, has been begging to go back ever since we came back from Christmas, and still doesn't really understand that we can't just go whenever she wants! We are excited for Dax and Steph, and still just can't believe how amazingly perfect they are for each other! Holley can't wait to see her cousins Rheesie and Parker, and her Grandma's (whom she has now found own way of distinguishing between them, her "Skoshi Grandma" and her "Rheesie Grandma". We've even made her a countdown chain to help hold her over til Mar 4! And she keeps telling us "I want to go MARCH!" Soon enough Holley, soon enough.

Mommy and Holley at Mesa Temple!

When we first moved here it was really hard to figure out how to go to the temple, (it's about a 3 hour drive each way!) At one of our husband and wife CES Meetings in Mesa we were talking with another couple who live a couple blocks from the temple, and have a little girl exactly Holley's age, and they offered to watch her for us anytime. So now when we go to the temple we can take Holley along with us (thank goodness for the portable DVD player.) It's amazing how things work out when you are trying to do what the Lord wants. Here's a picture Daddy took at our stake temple day in January.

Man I wish I could fall asleep that easy!!

My first ever digital scrapbook page. I'm still not sure what I think about the digital! We'll have to keep playing with it and see! I'll for sure never give up the paper though, too much fun!!!!!