Someone stole all of our Halloween candy...

I was so excited to eat a Butterfinger... I was craving that buttery taste and the crunchy texture when Jesse came back inside saying, "Someone took the bucket!"
We really did have it in for ourselves though, to be honest. We wanted to watch a movie uninterrupted so we left the candy outside (and I was worried about Abby waking up to the doorbell) and left a sign inviting children to take a piece. I've done that the last three years because we've been at parties and nothing has ever happened. This year we didn't make it to our party because I've got a nasty cold and I feel like garbage... so we stayed home and were robbed of our candy. Lame. At least I can't eat it. So here's our Halloween in pictures:

Abby in her cute Halloween pajamas. We had a huge breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and hot chocolate. We decided we needed to walk Jesse to campus after that because we were so full of warm, steamy goodness.

I was doing dishes and I heard Abby playing in the drawers. I thought she was playing in the normal spatula and such drawer, but when I turned around, this is where I found her! The goober.

Abby the puppy.

The Larsen family. Gracious we're odd. In this other picture, Abby kept throwing herself backwards saying, "Fly!"

So that is the end of Halloween 2008 for the Larsens. Happy Halloween!
Quite honestly, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving.

Happy Halloween!

Part One: Mother's Group party

Mother's group is a group in our ward for moms to meet every Thursday at 11:00 a.m. We get together with our babes to give our babes a chance to play with others, and for the mom to receive some adult social interaction! So I volunteered for the party to be at my place. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the moms, but we did get some of the babes. However, my camera was retarded and only took one decent one.

Food... yum! Orange-flavored popcorn balls, sugar cookies (under the foiled plates), mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, candy bars,candy corn, and apple juice. Talk about sugar rush! Also, you can kind of see Jesse's pumpkin in the background. It's a sweet pumpkin!

Here are the babes. I think the group of moms with flashing cameras sort of overwhelmed them all because none of them would smile. And there's a cute ladybug named Laney that's missing from the picture too. But look how cute they are!

Tomorrow we'll add Part Two after the Ward Halloween party when Jesse and I dress up too!

14 months, 8 days, 6 hours, and 30 minutes later...

Also included in that title should be: a grilled cheese sandwich, half dozen sugar cookies, two apple cinnamon muffins, and hot chocolate later... I decided to blog. The title obviously refers to Abigail. The addition refers to my abundant consumption of garbage due to a grumpy mood. I'm hoping that by blogging about babe that my mood will lighten considerably.

This was our adventure to the Botany Pond. We tried again to release Galya, but she just won't hear of it. That's Galya behind Abby in the second picture. Abby is showing you how to appropriately quack like a duck.

Abigail's new quirk is that she likes to transfer items from one place to another. For example, she transferred all of the swimsuits today from the swimsuit bag to the toilet. Yay. I didn't catch that one, but I did catch the transferring of food storage to the couch yesterday.

She lined them up so neatly.

Dad and Abby pulling faces on the way to Centerville to see Grandpa Larsen.

Just as I was about to take a cute smile pose of Abby, Jesse jumped in and startled her. We were walking to the park. Abby knows how to get there herself. I'm positive that if she ever winds up missing, I'll find her at the park.

Abby likes to get a good read in before our morning walk.

Yay for cute babes! There's a brief update on her life. One of these days I might actually put a picture of myself on here--not likely, but you just never know.

Hey Thompsons!

Hey Thompson clan, you'll be getting this email soon. And hopefully a call too. It's just been too long since we've seen each other! It won't be anything amazing, but just something fun.
Let me know if you have questions!

The Girl Who Invented Romance

I've been "teenage-sitting" my sister for the last couple days. My parents flew to Chicago and so I came to stay with my amazingly brilliant and beautiful younger sister, Maryn. We have had some ultimate girls nights. Tonight we played a game called "Romance". It's a board game from a book called The Girl Who Invented Romance by Caroline B. Cooney. You are to pick six random boy names and then throughout the game you randomly get traits for each guy and you randomly pick dates to go on. At the end of the game, you roll to see who you end up with. By that point each guy has 5-6 traits and you've been on at least 2 dates with guy. I just thought Jesse would like to see who I ended up with:

Barney
Traits:
1. fixes car motors
2. reads everything he gets his hands on
3. Has a great family
4. His car is filled with CDs, tapes, and library books.
5. Has not learned his multiplication tables
6. Enjoys going to the orthodontist

Dates:
1. Took me to an Egyptian museum
2. Watched a sad movie at his mom's house

I'm not going to lie: Barney was my LAST choice. I was hoping for Caleb. He took me to the beach.

Maryn ended up with her absolute worst choice as well.
Franklin:
Traits:
1. Wears boring shirts with collars
2. When watching TV, he only watches golf.
3. Never puts you down
4. Takes his mother's money
5. Listens to country music
6. Sings in his church choir
7. Takes her bowling with his family

Dates:
1. Pizza with the guys
2. Hot air balloon

He doesn't sound bad, but he really paled in comparison to some of the others. This game was really funny. I recommend it to anyone! Especially Jenna Worwood. ;)

Here Lies Igor/Balrog/No Name

Today, on this cold Sunday, Igor/Balrog/No Name Larsen passed away. He/She was truly a happy fish. He/she enjoyed the beauties of nature (a plastic tree and rocks) and a good hearty meal of dried flakes. Unfortunately, it was his/her love of food that brought about his/her untimely death. Igor/Balrog/No Name, we'll miss you. Thanks for being a great fish for 36 hours.

(I really have no idea why it died. I just walked out into the kitchen to find it floating.)

A FABulously eventful day!

Well, Jesse is generally home on Saturdays, but he had to work the BYU game which meant he would be gone from 12-8. I knew there was no way I would make it through another day by myself, so I decided today would be a day of adventures.

First:


I bought a dog! Totally kidding. To my knowledge, you can't buy dogs at PetSmart. But there were tons of people there with dogs and Abby loved it! Instead, we bought the first family 26 cent goldfish. Huzzah! As of right now, he/she has no name. I suppose his/her gender will be determined upon our decision of his/her name. Right now he/she has been called everything from Igor to Balrog. Poor no name fish. Just like Holly's no name cat. So sad.

Well, literally 15 minutes after getting home and getting Igor/Balrog/No Name settled into his/her home, Abby and I took off for our first visit ever to ...



Ah, Sarah you'd be so proud of us. My super amazing parents and diva younger sister, Maryn, met us there for four hours of showrooms and Ikea dinner! Woot woot! We bought a blue mesh hanging toy organizer, a wooden push/rolling toy for Abby for Christmas, 10 jungle finger puppets, 10 sea animal finger puppets, heart ice cube makers, an red apple corer thing, and a 49 cent pink hippo that was supposed to entertain the babe while we were there (didn't work). That is a marvelous store. I could easily buy everything.
We didn't get home until 7:45 pm so I just put Abby in her pj's and then put her to sleep. She missed her afternoon nap so she was dreadfully tired. Once she was asleep, I set out for my new adventure: painting my rocking chair while watching Funny Face . I found this child's rocking chair at DI for $5.00. It called my name the moment I saw it! It was white with gold stenciling on the top, but I have repainted it andI have yet to add some personal touches.



Ta-dah! It's actually a peachy color. I haven't decided what I'm going to do to it yet. Abby LOVES it though. She climbs up in it with three blankets and rocks out with a huge grin. Finally something her size!
And that about sums up our day! It was crazy fun and kept me busy until my amazing husband came home. Here's a picture of me and Abby just for fun:

Love you all!

My adorable family

My friend threw this together fast for me today during our babe's playdate. I thought it was kind of fun.

Conference thoughts

I've started reading over the talk given at General Conference. Today I read the talks by Elder Perry and by Elder Wirthlin. These are the statements that stood out the most to me today:

Elder L. Tom Perry:
"Those of us who have been around a while—and Elder Wirthlin and I have been around for a long time—have recognized certain patterns in life’s test. There are cycles of good and bad times, ups and downs, periods of joy and sadness, and times of plenty as well as scarcity. When our lives turn in an unanticipated and undesirable direction, sometimes we experience stress and anxiety. One of the challenges of this mortal experience is to not allow the stresses and strains of life to get the better of us—to endure the varied seasons of life while remaining positive, even optimistic.... We can’t predict all the struggles and storms in life, not even the ones just around the next corner, but as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come."

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin:
"But the dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to each of us. At one time or another, everyone must experience sorrow. No one is exempt.

The first thing we can do is learn to laugh. Have you ever seen an angry driver who, when someone else makes a mistake, reacts as though that person has insulted his honor, his family, his dog, and his ancestors all the way back to Adam? Or have you had an encounter with an overhanging cupboard door left open at the wrong place and the wrong time which has been cursed, condemned, and avenged by a sore-headed victim? There is an antidote for times such as these: learn to laugh."

I feel like I'm just pulling out of a period of stress and anxiety. It's awesome to know that I can now potentially go through a period of joy. It's reassuring to know that we all go through hard times and that it's for our learning and growth and that we will come out on top. I love the title of Elder Wirthlin's talk: "Come what may, and Love it." Just love life as it comes to you. Anyway, just thought I'd share my thoughts.

Frozen Yogurt and a Salamander

Last night Jesse took me on the most amazing date. We first went to Yogurt Stop--a hip, new frozen yogurt place in Bountiful. You fill up your own cup with however much frozen yogurt you want and you can have as many flavors as you want and then you put any and all of the toppings you want on it. You pay by the weight. It's absolutely brilliant. So I enjoyed my pistaccio, cheesecake, and raspberry frozen yogurts with granola, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries (all for $3. 26) and then we went up to the Bountiful Temple to walk around. We walked around it three times to make a mile. The best part, however, was when we walked around the second time and Jesse noticed a salamander crawling through the street. It was beautiful! It almost had a camou pattern of black and yellow. We picked it up from the road and placed it in the bushes to the side of the street. And we continued walking. On our third round around the temple, we saw the salamander again. I scolded the suicidal creature for being in the road and again picked it up and put it in the bushes... but then I noticed that it was a good 100 ft. in front of where we had last placed it... and I realized it wasn't the same salamander at all. As we continued walking, we found and saved six more salamanders in the middle of Bountiful Blvd. all heading north. Unfortunately we noticed several more popped salamanders along the road. It was truly a bizarre, yet awesome, phenomena of nature. I assumed that they were out because of the rain, but why would they all be out on the Boulevard? Maybe they're adolescent salamanders and have noticed the trend of human adolescents to wander the Boulevard. Maybe they were proving their bravery for the female salamanders by crossing the treacherous street. I'll never know. But I feel good that we saved several from their untimely deaths.

Tragic endings

Sometimes there is absolutely nothing better than curling up on an old comfy chair surrounded by smothering blankets in your rattiest pajama pants watching an ultra-emotional chick flick. Generally the scenario would also need to include a bowl of ice cream, muesli, and/or cereal. I thrive off these wonderful nights. However, the last three movies have been absolutely fabulous and yet incredibly disappointing at the same time. In my opinion, the guy and the girl should ALWAYS end up together. It is always completely predictable, but the exciting part is watching the journey to that point. You know there's always going to be anger, heartache, betrayal, the old boyfriend, or what have you--you know there will be--but it's still so addicting to watch! But like I said, the last three movies have been incredibly fabulous and disappointing at the same time. I still think Laurie is a scoundrel for preying upon Amy when he was clearly in love with Jo. And Jo should have been with him! Who was this German man? I had zero emotional attachment to him. He wasn't good enough for Jo. And nobody told Princess Ann that she couldn't be with Mr. Bradley. I think she should have come back at the last moment as Mr. Bradley was walking away and they would have walked hand-in-hand back to wherever she was going. And it's utterly tragic that Jane didn't stay with Tom. Don't you think they could have worked something out? I know that story is supposed to be based on true events, but it's heartbreaking that the best romance novelist did not have a romance herself. Truly, my favorite chick flicks are those based on her novels (yes, I've read the books too). So there you have it. The beginning of my list of fabulous chick flicks that didn't end the way they should have.

1. Little Women
2. Roman Holiday
3. Becoming Jane

I welcome all to add to my list. Please do. It will give me more movies to watch. Or you could give me movies that work out wonderfully. Either way works.