Wrap of 2016

Guest post by Mom:

Oh goodness gracious. In full disclosure, I did not actually write this blog post until March 2, 2017 which means 2016 is already starting to be a muddy memory. 

Our year didn't start out great. It was really hard to feel optimistic as it took Pete several months to find a job. Our financial security changed quite dramatically. It's been slightly touch and go the whole year. The blessings have been so profound though. From January to even April I was certain I was going to be moving and leaving my beloved St. George behind. We are still here. Living in our darling home that I adore. It's not large by any means, but it's my favorite space. What a blessing.

My work at Summit Athletic Club has doubled...even tripled. I work truly part time now and have seen my income increase quite substantially. Another HUGE blessing. I've been able to grow and get better in group exercise and personal training. There is daycare on site! I also got my job out at Red Mountain and while it does take up three hours on Saturdays, I really love working for their company!

Our big girls have continued to flourish at Panorama. I was devastated over the thought of having to leave this elementary school. Cara just HAD to have Mrs. Seegmiller for first grade. And she did! 

Pete has a cello studio and went from teaching three students to SEVENTEEN in a six month period. Another financial blessing. He is a fabulous cellist and that part of him didn't get to come out and play very often and now he's using his cello everyday again. He's such a great teacher too. 

We went to Disneyland TWICE despite the fact that Santa had originally wanted to bring us annual passes and realized we couldn't handle that. I guess, technically we went to California Adventure and not "Disneyland" the second time, but close enough!

Our faith in Jesus Christ grew. Our testimonies grew. We relied on each other a little more. We got stronger physically and mentally. 

I think initially I was ready to kick 2016 out the door, but now I'm seeing it a little more clearly. It was a year for GROWTH which isn't bad. 

New Year's Eve

Our New Year's Eve was extremely unremarkable owing to how exhausting our day turned out to be! But I did take a million photos of these two cute kids.

The big girls were there too! I have no recollection of us actually making it to any sort of midnight. Somewhat boring of us!

New Year's Eve Day

New Year's Eve was a Saturday. Years ago, three to be exact, Mom and Dad threw together a last minute party with friends and it was a BLAST. They always have grand ideas of doing it again, but somehow it never happens. This was another year that it DIDN'T happen. Mom had to work out at Red Mountain and so we were kind of in a holding pattern until she was done.

 We knew we wanted to do something, but we just weren't sure what. Things seemed expensive. Or busy. The weather was kind of iffy, but not rainy.

We ended up hiking in Snow Canyon (without Grandpa!) because Mom had accidentally taken home a key from the resort and had to return it! We started out on the old Johnson Arch trail and saw a sign that talked about the Scout Cave. We had never done that trail before and so we turned. This kind of turned into an epic decision! We didn't even have the backpacker for Sam. We were just carrying him.  We should have read the sign at the very beginning of both trails, but we didn't. There were people in front of it.

This photo of Mom and Cara and me was taken where we finally decided to turn back. After at least an hour.

Dad stayed back with the two littles and played in the sand. Sam was throwing a rock in this picture. That is something all little boys do apparently. 

We played around with taking pictures because Mom got an Apple Watch and she could use it to "press the button" and take a picture!

The ladies

We found this hole in a rock and started pretending it was the Scout Cave!

Sam seemed to understand that his fingers were cold and he kept trying to put them in Dad's ears!

You would think that would be enough of a day, but Mom and Dad surprised us by taking us swimming at Sand Hollow Aquatic Center! It was chilly but awesome!

Us big girls never held still long enough for a photo!

Another Hike With Grandpa

With us having no school and Grandpa out with a bum shoulder, we really did go on a lot of hikes. Cara and I were excited for the most part because it meant using our Camelbak's and normally some sort of treat after!

We even found some petroglyphs!

Nap Frustration

Mom probably has 20 photos just like this.....

Sometimes she takes it because it's so cute to look at how they both tilt to the same side and how much they look like each other.

But mostly she takes it because she's texting Dad about how she's sorry. If Iva naps, she doesn't go to bed! Mom spends a lot of energy trying to not let Iva fall asleep in the car. It's been going on for months. Mom gets up pretty early and so occasionally she will let Iva fall asleep on purpose and they will all snuggle up for a nap on the bed.

Dad pays for it every time since he's the one in charge of Iva's bedtime!

The messiness of Sam

Seriously...so messy! These photos are of him enjoying ranch dip. Very much.

He also loves to find cereal boxes and get into them anyway he knows how. That includes dumping them on the ground. In this picture, he knew he was being naughty so he wouldn't look at mom!

The beginning of many hikes....

Just before Christmas, a week before in fact, Grandpa had surgery on his torn rotator cuff. He was bummed because he knew it meant no climbing, but he couldn't climb with the injury. You can't keep our Grandpa down very long though and since they gave us new Camelbaks, we started hiking!

It was a gorgeous sunny day the morning after Christmas. It was cold still, but so pretty. Dad had the day off so we all joined Grandpa!

I got a kid version of a Go Pro from Mom and Dad. I was so excited to take it out and use it!

Sam and Iva were done after about an hour and so Mom and Dad took off and left Cara and I with Grandpa. We had fun looking for more hidden treasures!

Happy Christmas!

Mom and Dad are still mystified by our Christmas morning behavior. Mom seems to be the one waking US up each year!

Once again our tricky Santa left us a clue and sent us on a  treasure hunt all over the house. Mom does have video of it and we'll see if she can get it uploaded.

However, we also have a picture of the exact moment Cara realized what Santa had left us.

A WII U! Cara was the most fervent in her desires for this game console, but we were all pretty excited. 

Iva was a little bit bleary eyed and kind of out of it for most of the morning, but Santa came through for her and left her a pink candy cane just like she asked. 

Sam also thought the candy canes were awesome and tried to eat them all through the plastic.

The glorious aftermath.

We were done with presents fairly early because it was a Sunday and we had 9 am church!  We were slightly unkempt but we made it! Mom was surprised at how many people were there and on time!

Here is a picture of Mom's favorite gift from Dad.

This year's Sunday picture by the tree was done at Grandma and Grandpa's.

We had to take a picture of Logan and me because we were twinners!!

After church and playing at Grandma's, we spent lots of time setting up the Wii. You can use a picture to help create your Mii. Most of the time it left us crying we were laughing so hard. You felt slightly insulted with what it came up with. Sam's, however, was just the best. Look at those cheeks!

Later that night, we went back over to Grandma and Grandpa's and Cara and I got our first ever Pounce lesson. This is a beloved card game in the Larsen family. Most people call it Nertz, I think, and the rules are slightly different. It was hard, but we had fun!

Christmas Eve

We started a new tradition for Christmas Eve that I think we are really going to like! Last year, we went to Denny's with Aunt Angie for breakfast. So we did it again! Who doesn't want a Rudolph pancake?! It was kind of a cold drizzly morning, but we were nice and cozy. This year was much better too because no one got sick and lost their breakfast on their way out of the restaurant. (That was Cara last year!) 

Mom had to work at Red Mountain and teach her classes after breakfast which meant we had a very low key kind of a day. We played around the house and just generally waited for 4 pm when the festivities at Grandma and Grandpa's house could start!

We headed over there and waited on pizza by playing a few games and just generally hanging out. We had our usual traditions. Pizza and jacuzzi. It was a little strange though because Aunt Angie and Uncle Marty weren't there so we were the only grandkids!

As we got out of the jacuzzi, Aunt Becca discovered this roadrunner who had taken up residence on a light under the deck. It was kind of scary because it didn't appear to be moving and no one had seen it until we were all getting out. It eventually moved like two days later, but for a little while we were afraid it was dead!

After the jacuzzi, we headed upstairs and opened our new jammies! Taking a picture with Sam went really well as you can see.

Ahhh. There we go. Finding Dory and Monster's Inc pjs!

Mom and Dad even got new jammies. Dad's were just the bottoms. They seem really comfy though. And we all love Mom's jams because they came with a sleep mask that looks like Minnie!

We headed home quickly so that we could set out our cookies for Santa and get in to bed before he skipped our house! We are surprisingly good at going to bed. Sam and Iva went down fairly easily and then I claimed I wasn't going to sleep, but Mom and Dad tell me that I was out before 11 pm.