Abigail and Claire

I had my cousin take some pictures of my girls a week ago. These don't even begin to scrape the surface of the amazing cute pictures she took. But I had to share some of them. They are Abby and Claire as I see them everyday. Love love love these pictures.

And yes, Sarah, more will be emailed to you later.

This just makes me want to have more kids... so I can have super cute pictures taken of them.

Gracious, I need help.

Oh my lands.

How are you, blogger friends?

It's definitely been a while.

Let me update you on Larsen activity since our last post.

We moved home from Washington on August 14th. Or 15th. Take your pick. We left at 11 p.m. and drove through the night. It was a LONG night.... And I SUPER miss Washington. I miss the green, the overcast skies, the hilarious friends... ahh.. We made it to my parent's home in Bountiful and stayed there for a couple days to recover. Thank you mom, dad, and quack-quack for helping me remain sane after those 17 hours in car.

On August 17, Abby turned THREE. Can you believe it? She definitely sasses like she's three.

Birthday three rocked with a minor setback.

The story goes like this. Abby and Maryn (quack-quack) were out in the backyard playing. They were looking for ladybugs, patient the snail, butterflies, etc. My mom and I were in the kitchen getting hamburgers, salads, desserts, etc. ready for Abby's b-day party. Just then I heard a piercing scream from Abby... and somehow I knew what had happened. She had been stung. Oh, but not by ONE yellow jacket. Abby sat on yellow jacket nest and was stung FIVE times. One on each thigh, the back of one leg, her left arm, and the back of her head. She was screaming in pain for what seemed liked forever. And later we found the stinger in the back-of-her-head one. Maryn was stung once on the back of her ankle in attempt to rescue Abby. Jesse was stung once on the ear, inside the house, by a yellow jacket that was still on Abby when he picked her up inside.

Enough stinging, right?

Maryn's sting actually developed cellulitis--a staph infection. She was on a major meds and it's still red almost 12 days later. Holy cow.

After applying ice packs to the stings, taking a bath, and downing tylenol and benadryl, we attempted to have a birthday party.

Impressive that she's smiling. She was a benadryl-zombie most of the night.

Jesse was also a benadryl-zombie. He tried to stay awake after taking it, but I think he crashed at nine that night. That NEVER happens in the history of Jesse. He was hilarious to try to keep awake. He was falling asleep during dinner, present opening, everything.
Benadryl may be my new weapon against him. Hahaha...

Oh my chubby, lovely Claire. She's always in such good spirits. :)

On August 22, Claire was finally blessed by her papa bear! We partied at my mom's after.

This is my older sister.

PSYCH.

It's my mom. But would you guess? She's so beautiful and young-looking! When I grow up, I want to look just like her.

No, this is not her blessing dress. It was her after party dress.

Since then we've just tried to get settled in. Life is crazy. School starts tomorrow for Jesse.

One more semester.

Then Microsoft, here we come.

Do you ever have those days...

when you're too lazy to rearrange pictures on your blog so you leave them in reverse order? That would be me today. Too lazy to put them in the right order.

Actually, when I started this post yesterday (my internet wouldn't let me finish)I had in mind to say, "Do you ever have those days when you think that your child is the most beautiful child in the world?"

I had one of those moments with Abigail yesterday on the swings. So I wanted to post and be profound, but blogger wouldn't let me. Alas, you get this raw blob of a post.

Beach day!!
This is Lake Sammamish. Every Monday is beach day for our playgroup. Unfortunately, this is the first time we've been able to attend.
I love my playgroup.
I don't know if I can leave them.

Abigail, Kylie, and Evan. They were having a party dumping water on each other. :)

Abigail and Kylie. BFF.

She is so my daughter.

This was my moment where I was thinking about how beautiful my girl is. Even from behind she's adorable. Remember this dress, mom? It rocks.

Where did this ugly lady come from? Oh wait. It's ME. Scary. Our stake did a Stake Fair last weekend. We played on this inflatable slide over and over... and over.. and over..

and over.

But it was fun. We never did stuff like this growing up in Utah. It was a missionary tool. There were TONS of members of other faiths there and the missionaries were EVERYWHERE.
It was super neat!

Today is Jesse's birthday. He's 26. What an old dude! So if you think about it, harass him by telling him happy birthday.

Conversations with Abby

Playing at the playground, Abby stops to hear the birds.
"Mom, do you hear that? Do you hear the birds? They're saying (in a high pitched voice), 'Abigail, you're so cute! Abigail, you're so awesome!'"

As we were walking quickly home from the playground to find the potty, Abby is staring up at the sky.
Mom: "Abby, what are you looking at? We need to keep walking, love"
Abby (slightly exasperated with my ignorance): "Mom, I'm just looking up at the blue clouds that Jesus made."

Almost to the house, Abby hears a dog.
"Mom, do you hear that? It's a dog! He's saying (in a deep toddler voice), 'Abby, you are beautiful and I love you!'"

Wiggle time

More proof that she does exist.

Not the best pictures in the world, but hey, they work. And can you believe she's in long sleeves? The weather here is even more unpredictable than Utah!
My recent anti-day sleeper is still a doll.