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!

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!

Catching Up

Okay, so I know I have been slacking, I've got the hint mom, you'll get your fill of pictures of the kids. I keep thinking things will slow down but they don't, so today I am letting my house go in order to get a few things posted on our blog. If you know me at all I am going crazy to do this. I can see messes all around me that need to be cleaned up. If you don't have a lot of time I am warning you come back later!

Trip to Arizona

Jay had to go represent his residency program at his old school back in May. Jay's parents were kind enough to come and watch the kids so I could go with him. We had so much fun. I was beginning to wonder if loving Arizona was all in my head but it wasn't. I love it even more than I remember! So, yes I still want to move back there!!!

Jay's class was the first to graduate from his school and so they each have their name and footprint on a plaque hanging up in their school. We forgot our camera so we didn't get as many pictures as I would of liked because I was taking them with my phone.

Here is Jay standing next to his name and footprint. We were lucky enough to meet up with our friends the Biancamono's. We had so much fun catching up with them and hope we can move back to spend more time with them. Shannon took these pictures for us - what a great photographer!

I'm holding Phil & Shannon's baby Gavin. What a little cutie!

We were also met up with our good friends the Matson's but again I forgot my camera so no pics there. I am waiting for Jessica to send me the pics she took, hint. I am sorry for any of you that we didn't get to meet up with. Time was short and if you didn't respond to my email I figured you were busy.

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

My parents came out to visit for Brighton & I's birthdays. I realized I didn't take that many pictures. The following pics are when we stopped at the temple in Detroit.

Grandma & Grandpa Hoggan

Trying to get a pictures with the kids and grandparents. Brighton didn't want to cooperate! Here he is fighting.

He breaks free.

I am outa here! My dad just couldn't hold onto the little wiggle worm!

Jay finally was able to get Brighton to hold still.

Father's Day

We "surprised" Jay in bed with a new croquet set. It was really for the family. We have wanted a croquet set for awhile now but they were always too expensive. We found one in TJMaxx really cheap and so we bought it. We normally don't buy anything just out of the blue for no reason so Jay got it for Father's Day. I know you say it's not fair but he wouldn't have got anything if we didn't find this. Since things have been tight through this whole school thing, we have a rule - we don't get anything for each other for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Anniversary, Valentine's Day or Christmas - just Birthday's.

Jay trying to teach Brighton how to hit the ball.

Aspen setting up the croquet set after church.

Autumn showing off the fact that she gets the "red" ball.
Here comes Brighton - everybody watch out!

FHE

Our activity and treat for FHE was making pizza. This is the kids watching it bake.
Michigan Rainbow

Brighton had no shoes and has basically been running around bare foot. Shoes for boys are more expensive than girls shoes. We went out in the rain shopping and saw this beautiful rainbow.

The Beach

I was talking to a lady in our ward about how boring it is here in Michigan. She told me they have a yearly state park pass and go to the beach once a week. Well this was news to me! We found out that there is a beach 9 minutes away from our house. We have taken full advantage and have been there twice in a few days. We would go more but I refuse to go unless it is at least 74 degrees which doesn't happen a lot around here. At least the water is a lot warmer than I thought!
Aspen striking a pose.

Autumn showing off all the sea shells she found.

Brighton taking a breather and eating cheetos of course. Cheetos is the only thing that will get him out of the water.

Our New Friends

We had leftover food one night and so Jay threw it out in the woods behind our house for the deer and squirrels. Little did we know we would make two new friends. Ever since that night we have had 2 raccoons come onto our deck begging for food every night. The raccoon in these two pictures is Peanut. We named him Peanut because we found out he loves peanut butter. The other one we named Scrappy - he likes Peanuts leftovers and is too scared to get anything himself.

Peanut took this piece of bread out of Jay's hand.

4th of July

For the fourth of July we were invited over to a doctors house that Jay works with. He lives on a lake and has a boat and wave runners. Jay and the kids had a lot of fun but it was too cold for me. It was only 70, cloudy and the wind was blowing.

Jay getting ready to take Brighton on a ride. We thought Brighton might get a little scared but the faster Jay went the more fun Brighton would have. If Jay slowed down Brighton would start getting mad. I think Brighton has inherited the no fear factor from Jay. I am just waiting for our first ER visit.
The girls eating lunch with the doctors twins.

We also went to the fireworks but I left my camera at this guys house and didn't get any pictures of that. It was Brightons first time other than when he was a baby. We thought he might not like the loud noise but he wasn't even fazed. He was more interested in the treats that we brought.