Carmel apples and sticky taffy time...

Monday, January 5th was a big day for Lindsey!

She woke up with braces...
and went to bed with no braces!

What a happy day! After 3 years of braces Lindsey is finally free.

She got a permanent retainer on bottom and goes in for her top retainer today.
We will have to do a little bit of gum graph on top where she had her tooth surgery, but other than that she is good to go. Of course, now we want our teeth whitened. We will try the whitening strips first:)

All her friends and leaders were so cute last night at YW's. They made a huge deal of how pretty her teeth look, you all rock!

Our baby is a SUNBEAM!

Oh my gosh is it possible? Cole is in SUNBEAMS! Scary...he is my baby!

What an emotional day this ended up being.

This will be an interesting year in primary. I've already volunteered to help in anyway:)

He looked so handsome, I love how Erik does his hair!

This was also his first time to wear a tie!

Christmas day fun!

We feel so blessed this Christmas season. Many people are without work, we feel very blessed that Erik has a good job at UPS and that I have been able to work a little cleaning with Oma. Santa came and brought very fun gifts. Conner got a "Double shooter electronic basketball hoop". A huge hit with friends, cousins, siblings and Dad so far. Cole got a "Speed Racer bike" hopefully he can learn to use the pedals?!Lindsey got "Guitar Hero" for the X-Box 360. Very fun and entertaining!Carly got an "EASEL" she loves to draw and be crafty. Carly and Conner showing off their COOL pj's!We got Conner a new football game for the X-BoX 360, legos, a Queen Creek High School BULLDOGS shirt and some DVD's.Carly has been asking for PINK legos for a year. She also got the 4 High School Musical 3 barbie dolls, crayons, and some fun craft kits.Oh did I forget to mention Conner's ASU Jersey?! Go Sun Devils!! Lindsey cleaned up with clothes, new BLACK vans, make up, lotion and jewelry. Erik got an ASU hoody sweatshirt. Now he and Conner need to go to an ASU game!

Anyone have tickets they aren't using? Papa, Oma and Logan came to see what Santa brought. Lindsey even gave them a performance on her guitar. Christmas morning we go to Gramers and Papa Morris' for a delicious breakfast. More bacon is cooked than you can imagine and the yummiest pull apart cinnamon rolls. After that we go into the living room and open presents. Wow, each kid got a full everyday outfit, church outfit and a toy. Thank you Gramers, Papa and Nana.

(above: Marcus Webb and Conner)

Marcus is so good with kids, they love it when he isn't working and gets to come and hang out!

Cute dress Carly!Lindsey, Lauren and Sheridan love to hang out! Gramers and Papa, thank you for a wonderful Christmas!

Nana happy to have everyone over and excited about the chocolate she got as well as her new crossword puzzle book.
Around 5ish the Larsen group meets up to exchange gifts.

The Lopez girls all got new dolls that eat and wet.

Kylee, Ramie, and Sienna

We got to Oma and Papa's before everyone.

Uncle Logan helped Carly do her PIXELS craft. What a fun Uncle! Thank you! Erik was up sleeping with Cole (who wasn't feeling good) and I was laying on the couch trying to squeeze in a nap before everyone arrived.

Poor Cole woke up from his nap burning up (the start of the flu). He pretty much sat on Erik's lap the whole night.

WOW, the pink golf cart from High School Musical 2, thanks Oma and Papa!

The highlight of the night, Crew and Case took off their sweatshirts and this is what we saw! A new little one is on the way, due in August! Yeah, congrats Lance and Heather!

Jewelry, Oma ordered Lindsey, Kayla, and Courtney this adorable necklace!
More ASU attire! Conner is all over clothes when they are sport related! Thank you Oma, Papa, and Uncle Logan for all the fun toys, jewelry and clothes. You spoiled us like always. Merry Christmas! Our wish is that everyone has a wonderful New Year!

Christmas Eve Traditions...

Christmas Eve we either go to Oma & Papa's or Gramers and Papa's for a yummy dinner. This year we were at Gramers and Papa's house for our traditional Mexican dinner. The highlight was the yummy beans from Lulu's restaurant. We always get to their house early enough to light the luminaries before we eat. After dinner we play a really fun white elephant game. Gramers always makes it lots of fun!

Megan, Lindsey, Lauren, Jordan and Sheridan

Cole, Jared, Caleb and Conner

Marcus performing for us!

A monkey hanging from the tree!

Liesl and Shelene

When we get home we let the kids open one gift.

What could that be?

PAJAMAS
Cole got "CARS" pj's!

Lindsey got comfy pj's that she can wear all year round.
Conner ASU pj's, he is our sports FANATIC!

Sweet Carly, Tinkerbell pj's!

Jr. High and High School friends after 18 years...

What a fun day! Saturday, December 20 I got to meet up with some of my Junior High and High School friends. Some of them I hadn't seen in 18 years, WOW! Everyone seemed good and happy!

Update from left to right:
Sarah Barnes - a lawyer, amazing! She always wanted to be one, she was always so smart. I am so proud of her! She also has one son, Jalen. I guess he is quite an athlete.

Kristen Stabile Anson - an accountant! Lives right by our old house in Chandler. She has 2 beautiful daughters, Kami and Kate. Likes to scrapbook, one of my loves too.

Heather Cooper Braeutigam - a mother of 3 healthy and happy kiddos. Calvin, Emma and Caden who are very busy and active. Heather lives in Missouri and is very involved with her church.

Denise Nicolson Donaldson - a Southwest airline flight attendant and nurse practitioner. Lives in Tempe and stays super busy flying and supporting Arizona's sports. Recovering from a recent broken leg.

Corrie Brabec - an accountant! Loves to be active playing tennis, hiking and doing anything outdoors. Is an aunt of a beautiful nephew.

What a great time we had catching up! Sure hope we can make this a yearly tradition. Hope everyone has a great year. Can't wait to email each other and keep info. on life happenings.

Poor Oma!

Tuesday night Oma was changing and discovered a bruise with a bump on it. Showed Papa and Logan and they thought it looked like a blood clot. She called her dear friend Ruth (a nurse) and she told her to either go to the ER (and they would probably put her in the hospital and watch her for a few days) or put a hot compress on it and elevate it. Gee can you guess what she did? Yes, she tried to care for it at home. Well today after we cleaned 5 houses I insisted we go to Urgent Care and get it looked at. She had me worried, I guess her Grandma Allred died of a blood clot.

So we went to Urgent Care. Checked her vitals and her blood pressure was high. The doctor came in and looked at her leg said it wasn't the dangerous kind of blood clot, but he wanted to give her an antibiotic because it would probably open up and he didn't want an infection to occur. He checked her over her legs were a little swollen. Decided she was fine, but on the way out he wanted to check her blood pressure again. Well it was HIGH! He had us come back into the room and checked it several more times. It was reading higher every time. He had her lay down, he had her stand up, he had her sit up, her blood pressure continued to rise. He then recommend we go to the ER. Not only go to the ER, but told us he would like her to take an ambulance because of how high her blood pressure was. She and I started to get nervous then.

Decided that is what she needed to do. The firemen arrived first and were amazed that she had no other symptoms with this high of blood pressure (no heart pains, headaches, aches anywhere). In the ambulance her blood pressure hit a high. Larissa came and got me and we met Dad, Logan and Lance at the hospital (No Lisa because she had gall bladder surgery today)! Oh my what a day!

Once at the hospital they did blood work, EKG's, ultrasound (on her legs) and several test. She began having a little discomfort in her back and chest, but once they put her on oxygen she felt a little better. Every test so far came back okay. I feel so bad for her, she was tired, wanted to take a bath and go to bed. Around 10:00pm Larissa and I headed for home. She has to work at 3:30 in the morning and Lindsey needed to get to bed she has finals tomorrow (Erik's at work).

11:30pm Logan just called and said they are on their way home. Not sure why or what exactly was the cause, but all the test came back and no sign of anything. Weird...you never know why things happen. Doctors orders: rest and take it easy this weekend (I hope we can keep her down!).

What a week! Dad had 3 teeth pulled, Kurt strep, Lisa surgery, and mom trip to the hospital by ambulance because of high blood pressure, yuck! Next week will be better. Glad everyone is doing better!

Conner's Christmas Performance

Sunday, December 14 Conner performed in a children's choir at our stake Christmas Program, "Witness of Christ". It was an amazing program. They sang "How Far is it to Bethlehem and Christmas Bells are Ringing" wow! His Papa Morris sang with the adult choir. The spirit was so strong, a wonderful musical performance. Carly went to support him. Lindsey stayed home with Cole he has one of his horrible asthma coughs going on. Next year Lindsey and Erik hope to be involved in the performance, this time of year is hard for Erik. We are very proud of Conner and love that he is willing to share his talents.