Friday Flashback - Cook's Dairy

One of our very, most favorite places in Michigan is Cook's Dairy.  The week before we moved we went here for Family Home Evening.   The kids love to go see the baby cows and then eat the best ice cream!  They make their very own ice-cream from the cows on the farm.  

Whenever we come here we go and take a look at the cows and pigs.  When we get close to the pigs Autumn starts dry heaving and has to run past them quickly!  We have learned from past experience that we look at the animals first then get the ice-cream! 

Aspen petting the baby cow.

 Autumn feeding a baby cow.

 Brighton patting a baby cow.

Standing in front of a pregnant cow.  If you notice the scared look on Brighton's face it's because he was afraid the cow would eat him when he wasn't looking.  

Sitting on top of a wagon full of hay.

Brighton, Autumn and Aspen eating some of the best ice-cream ever!

Autumn eating away!

Flashback Friday - Grandpa Comes for a Visit

This past summer my Dad drove my sister in law and her kids back to Texas.  Rather than fly straight home, he came to visit us for a week.  We had a blast!  Everyday he was here we would have to wait until Jay was done doing surgery before we took off anywhere.  

Grandpa and the kids at a park by our house.

 We went up to Frankenmuth for a day.  It's a little German town.

Waiting for the Bavarian Belle River Boat Ride.

On the River Boat.

We visited the Chrysler Museum.  
I have to say I learned a lot about cars that day!

Brighton and Grandpa in front of an old car.

Brighton and Jay in front of an old army jeep.

Grandpa, Aspen, Autumn and Jay in front of some type of old Chrysler car.

I actually remember when gas tanks looked somewhat like this.  
Does that make me old?

Aspen thought it was pretty neat that they had a pink car!

Grandpa, Autumn and Aspen in front of an old gas tank.  The kids thought it was funny looking.  Aspen even asked where you put your credit card.

Jay got held up late in surgery one day.  We were going to the Henry Ford Museum and were trying to beat a storm, but failed.  We got caught in the worst rain storm I have ever been in!  There was water piled up on the freeway.  It was so high our van stalled a couple of times.

We went to the Henry Ford Museum.  This place was awesome!  They had so many cool things.  The chair Lincoln was shot in (you could still see the blood), the car Kennedy was shot in, the bus Rosa Parks sat in and tons of other stuff.

The Oscar Mayer wiener car.

The chair Abraham Lincoln was shot in at Ford's Theatre.

Aspen was on the bus, sitting in the same spot that Rosa Parks sat when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger.  She thought that was cool because she had learned about it in school.

The 1961 Lincoln Continental Limousine John F. Kennedy was shot in.  After he was killed they still used the car and put a armored top on it.

Our Family in front of the Huge GM building in downtown Detroit.  It seemed safe during the day but I would NOT go there at night!

Easter 2010

I know it has taken me awhile to post but I forgot my camera.  Lately I would forget my head if it wasn't attached, seriously!  Our good friends Jayce and Heather were kind enough to take pictures for us.  The Friday before Easter we got together with friends to let our kids have an Easter Egg hunt and dinner.  The weather was perfect, the only downside was the mosquitos were already out.  The kids had a blast.  We went over to Matt & Denise's house.  She had hid the Easter eggs and even put money into a few.  The kids were all about finding the ones with money! 

Aspen taking inventory of how many she had found.

Autumn took full advantage of the cast.  All the kids would find Easter eggs and bring them to her.  I think she had more eggs than anyone!

Brighton loves candy, he would find an egg and eat what was inside before moving onto find the next egg.

All the kids, you can tell trying to get them to all hold still was not gonna happen.  They ranged in ages 3 months to 12 years.  All the kids dads are either in residency or a medical student.

On Sunday we didn't even get out of our pajamas.  I love conference weekend!  We dyed eggs, Brighton did a pretty good job compared to last year.  He didn't like his hands to get dirty, unlike last year his hands looked like incredible hulk.

Picking Raspberries

We have been out of raspberry jam now for a few months.  My kids will not eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches, muffins, rolls or anything that you would put jam on.  They do not like store bought or regular canned jam - it HAS to be FREEZER JAM!  We heard a couple in our ward talking about this farm where you can go and pick raspberries.  We thought it was too late in the season but here in Michigan but they have fall raspberries.  We were so excited!!!!  I picked up the girls from school today and then headed over to the hospital to pick up Jay.  We were on our way to Spicer's Farm.  We hadn't been in the car for more than 10 minutes when Autumn was conked out.  I think this all day kindergarten will take her some getting used to. 

Here are a few pictures of our fun evening together!

Wow, look at all these red things!

Mmmm, tasty!

Look at this big one!

Autumn was being very careful because the bees also liked the raspberries.

Do you think anyone will notice if I eat just a few?

Look everyone my carton is almost full.

We had such a great time together picking raspberries & blueberries!  After we were done we rewarded ourselves with pumpkin cinnamon doughnuts (best doughnuts ever!).  This was a fun family project that everyone was excited about.  Aspen even said in prayers tonight "we are SO thankful we were able to go and pick raspberries together as a family, we had a blast".

Aspen's Baptism

Aspen Ashley Larson was Baptized and Confirmed on Autust 28, 2009.

When we lived in Arizona our wonderful Bishop Smith challenged us to read the Book of Mormon every day together as the family. The kids really got into this because if they read every day for a week on Sunday they could go into his office and pick out a treat. We set a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon before Aspen was baptized. We wanted her to make the decision to be baptized on her own and so we thought that she needed to hear the Book of Mormon in order to do so. We finally made our goal the night before she was baptized!

Aspen has a good friend, Hannah that lives down the street from us. Aspen really wanted to invite her to her baptism. We checked with her parents to make sure it was okay. She came over to our house to ride with us to the church. She brought a present for Aspen which happened to be ear rings and a thoughtful card on baptism, that I am sure they spent hours trying to find one that wasn't for a baby!

Display table outside the primary room.

Aspen & Jay right before baptizing her.

Sharly (our babysitter) was kind enough to keep an eye on Brighton during the baptism.

Aspen, Jay and I right after she was baptized.

For dessert we ordered a cake from sam's club.

Grandma Larson feeding Brighton. Why is it that he will eat for her but not for Jay or I? We had a wonderful dinner that turned out great despite the rain and change of plans. We had originally planned to have a barbecue at our house after the baptism but it had rained all day long so we completely changed the dinner menu and had it at the church.

Aspen and her friend Avery from the ward.

Aspen and her Grandma & Grandpa Hoggan.

Aspen and her Grandma & Grandpa Larson.

Autumn, Hannah, Aspen and Bella (she is a good friend of Aspen's who also lives down the street from us).

The day after the baptism my mom went shopping with me to get a couple of things for the girls for school. I hadn't done ANY back to school shopping. Jay, his parents, my dad and the kids went to the Detroit zoo. Doesn't Brighton look bored? I know he wasn't because when we met up with them the kids couldn't stop talking about how much fun they had.

Brighton trying to climb into the exhibit.

Brighton, Autumn and Aspen striking a pose.

This was a wall of ice. The kids could put their hands on it and it would melt leaving their hand prints.

Taking a breather.

Aspen flying down the zip line.

Grandpa & Grandma Hoggan & Aspen waiting for dinner to come.

Brighton finally shut up after dinner was all over when they brought him an Oreo cookie. AHHH peace and quite for a whole 2 minutes.

Thank-you to both sets of Grandparents for coming to Aspen's special day! We were so glad you could come and participate in her baptism. Thanks for all your help! We love you and already miss you!