Memorial Day

Gosh it's such a nice day outside... too bad we have to keep the kids inside. I mean, there's nothing to... do... LETS HAVE A WATER PARTY!

It was Amy's idea. We pulled out the old rotting swimming pool and cleaned it up.  It was Luke's first backyard swim and he loved it.  Isaac had a blast too although in his own little way.  He has his way of going off into his own world where the most important thing is to be a responsible farmer and water the dying plants. Isaac has NEVER liked water in his face. Actually he's never like anything on his face... ever since he got it smashed up against Amy's pelvis and a pair of forceps. Luke on the other hand LOVES the water. If we ever left him alone he'd drown so fast but I'm pretty sure he'd be real happy dying that way.  These two boys are so fun to watch when they play. Usually because of these personality differences and a huge age difference you can easily be entertained by at least one of them at a time. And then when they interact and play together it's just priceless, and sometimes hilarious.  We didn't catch it on video but at first Isaac and Luke were enjoying the pool... both of them sitting down.  Luke then splashed and the water hit Isaac's face. Isaac started screaming in terror and Luke shrieked out in fun and immediately began a splashing rampage. Isaac had no choice but to escape and he never sat down next to Luke again. ha ha, throughout the day Isaac would show that he bore some grudge about it and I'd watch him sneak over to Luke and try to splash him in the face with water but every time Isaac would consequently get a drop on his own face, and fall back crying, mixing the water with his defeated little tears. Luke would just act like nothing happened and start splashing all over himself again.   Here's a video for your entertainment.  It's not of anything I just described. Sorry, but the laws of the universe always prohibit the best moments from getting on camera.

Here's to Summer! I mean, who says you gotta wait for memorial day to open up the swimming pools right?

Hair on the Head

When you have a child it's always fun to see what attributes come from mom and what comes from dad. It's even more interesting when mom and dad don't look like twins.  Amy and I have a few very easily recognizable attributes that are opposite from each other.  For example, I have long skinny feet and toes while Amy has short square feet and toes.  I have goldilocks and Amy had dark brown hair. I have blue eyes and Amy has brown.  And looking at baby pictures, I was the super super fat baby while Amy was just regular baby chubby. (as a side note, I don't believe in identifying noses and chins and eyes and ears on new babies because their entire head is out of proportion, plus they've just been smashed through the birth canal.  I wouldn't judge those super meticulous and tiny characteristics until they're much older, and even then, it's hard to tell unless the mom or dad have a pretty outrageous nose or something :-)

So here's a review of what Luke and Isaac ended up inheriting.

HAIR:

Who's THIS baby? He was born with light brown hair.  I (Brad) was born with no hair that eventually came in as white as snow.  So this baby was born as a hybrid with most of the hair genes coming from his dominant mommy.

This baby Definitely was born with his mommies hair. Much darker than his brother.  Have you guessed who's who yet?  Let's watch a video now and see if it helps...

Well as you can see... Luke is the one with the lightest blond hair, while Isaac's is just a shade darker.

BUT in those newborn pictures it was LUKE with the Darkest hair! So since it changes, over time I thought I'd throw another picture to compare them.  Here we have Isaac when HE was Luke's age.

...

I think... that Isaac did have about the same color hair as Luke has now. When will they make up their minds.  C'mon kids, who's your favorite? Do you wanna look like Mommy or Daddy? Just pick one please.

A few weeks ago, for the first time, Isaac realized that he had mommy's eyes.  He was staring in a mirror and told us about it.  Later this week he asked Amy while she was putting on eye make-up if he could paint his eyes blue like daddy's.  He's pretty cute, but it turns out that both boys DEFINITELY have their mothers eyes. I don't know why, I mean, I AM the one who's studying eyes. Plus Blue is the best right? Why would they choose to have their mom's eyes?  The only logical explanation is the Harry Potter factor.  Gotta have the mom's eyes, to torment her old boyfriends that end up being their teachers in school.

To finish up the other attributes... 

Luke got his dad's long skinny feet while Isaac has his mom's square feet (which poses an obstacle for me in finding shoes that fit him. Luckily I can let Amy be in charge of that. She's got a good eye for the extra wide shoes)

And the last thing

Isaac definitely got the super fat baby genes from his dad:

I'll spare you guys a comparative picture of me when I was a fat baby.  I don't have one on me but let me just say that as fat as Isaac got, I still was much bigger.

It'll be fun seeing Quynn and Chelsea's new baby girl... see how she was born and to watch if she gets the dark hair from her dad or the blonder hair from her mom!

Bigger Family

My kids have a COUSIN! I am an UNCLE! I'm married to Aunt Amy!

Thanks Ada. We sure do appreciate all that you've already done for our family.

So cute.

OK

Here's the real picture.

Our family is so lucky! Congrats Quynn and Chelsea. We love you guys.

Houston Tourists

Today we went out and pretended to be tourists.  After having so much fun being a real tourist in San Antonio, we thought, "why not do it all here at home?"

Today we found out about the FREE tourists boat ride up and down the Houston Port.  It was actually real nice. We stepped aboard a nice classy ferry, and were given a tour, complete with fancy facts about how the Port of Houston is the 10th most important port in the worlds etc...  And after heading so far out towards the ocean, they turn the boat around and all drinks are on the house! err. boat.  (lots of diet cokes but who cares cause it's all free!

Then since we were already way out in East Houston, we finally went to the San Jacinto monument.  There were only like 5 cars there... free parking by the way. But Holy Crap. This monument was amazing. I mean, I think only the statue of liberty is better than this one. Gosh it makes the washington monument look like a lego version of the pride and glory of what is this maddeningly amazing monument.   I dunno but you guys just need to go out and see it. It's in the middle of nowhere and it's one of those things that if you're not expecting much it'll blow your brains out... ok ok I'm exaggerating a bit but still, it was worth the drive.

Since we're on the tourist topic I'd like to add the other few things we've really enjoyed here for those of you living here or who plan to visit.

top 10 list:

10. University of Houston College of Optometry, it's such a fun destination.. jk don't come here.
9. Wildflowers. Someone went crazy and planted way to many flowers just up 290 about an hours drive. Sorry, but they've already bloomed and died I think. Better luck next March.
8. R A Vine Enviromntal Science Center

8856 Westview Drive, Houston, TX

(713) 365-4175 ‎

Amy endorses this one. If you enjoy taxidermy.

7. Traders Village: welcome to a south-of-the-boarder flee market, want puppies, a dishwasher, some colored contacts, or maybe just a churro? it's all cheap!
6. NASA (you go to this so that you can say that you went... it's not really that great)
5. Surfside Beach (you drive south and park your car on the beach, less crowded than Galveston)
4. Pay 1 dollar and take Metro to downtown. Just walk around, say hi to the folks at Occupy Houston (really you can't know a city unless you've walked around their downtown)
3. Go see a Texans or a Rockets game. Both stadiums and real impressive
2. Aquarium (The one downtown. Paying for the rides makes this way fun)
1. The Houston Zoo (easily the best all day attraction in the city)

Oh and another similarity between the washington monument and this one here... the big giant rectangle pool at it's base. It's almost a joke. Another evidence of Texas pride vs USA price.

Chillin. Waiting for the boat.

Notice another one of Isaac's shirts which Luke now owns.

This was taken on the inside of the ferry. Playing on the fun red spinning chairs next to the windows where we'd look out at the BIG cargo ships

Another photo taken in the boat. Cutie pie family of mine!

Isaac's Birthday, Mother's Day, and Learning how to sneeze

So my little Isaac is officially 3 years old!! I can't believe it.  He is growing up too fast.  On Friday we took him to the mall to get his 3 year old pictures taken.  We got him a new shirt to wear for the pictures, and while I was helping him try it on in the dressing room, he looked in the mirror and said, "I have brown eyes, just like mommy!"  It's so fun to watch your kids grow and learn and make realizations about themselves.    Here are a few pictures from his big day:

Isaac got some new sidewalk chalk!!  

Also some markers, and coloring books.  I especially liked this one, as we've had a few marker incidences lately, and these ones only draw on the special paper  :)  

New shirt #2!   Had we opened the package earlier, we probably wouldn't have bothered buying him a new shirt the day before.  But it's probably for the best, this kid's grown out of most of his other shirts, so another shirt is exactly what he needed.  And dang, it looks good on him too!

                               

Spiderman Isaac!!!!  He absolutely loves this costume.  The kid's been a bit obsessive about Spiderman lately.  Isaac spent the day dancing and singing "Spiderman Isaac Spiderman Isaac, does whatever a Spiderman Isaac can...."  He's not so fond of the mask though, a bit to claustrophobic for him I guess

So we tried it on Luke!  Luke didn't like it either.  I had approximately 1 second to take this picture, before he tore it off.  You can see the blur of his hand yanking it off.  I guess I don't blame him.  I almost got a cute picture though  :)

Isaac trying to play with his new golf set.  He's got a bit of practicing to do

And of course a ball.  Sorry mom, we didn't get a good picture of him with your present.  we took a video, but it cuts off too early.    He also got an airplane that can be taken apart and put together with that tool you see sitting on the table in this picture.  And I have to say, he absolutely LOVES it.  He just sits around trying to unscrew and screw that plane all day.    He got a few more knick knacks from brad and I, and those books. Overall, this kid made quite the haul.  He had a pretty awesome birthday.

It's tiring being Spiderman, taking a little rest.  Spiderman glasses were also a new birthday present.  (sorry the pic is upside down)

We wanted to get Isaac a Spiderman cake, but they said they didn't have one over the phone.  So we ordered a Thomas cake.  When Brad went to pick it up, they had a Spiderman cake on display.  Oh well... Thomas is cool too.  

And you can't go wrong with chocolate.  Isaac told me he wanted a "brown" cake.  That must be my child.

Luke enjoyed his birthday pizza and cake as well.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was amazing as well.  My boy's took care of me!  :)   Next year I get to share the day with Isaac for his birthday. 

Here are a few pictures of Isaac a Luke making some masterpieces to mail off to Grandma Larson and Udell.

Luke was a little more interested in trying to eat the paint then paint with it.  So handprints was mostly what he contributed.


And finally, what you've all been waiting for...... The cutest video you'll see in a while.  Luke thought it was HILARIOUS when Isaac would pretend to sneeze.  Of course it was better before I pulled out the camera.  Isaac sneezed a little better, and Luke had a heartier laugh. That's how it always it, by the time the camera comes out, the performance is over. But then Luke started sneezing himself.  SO CUTE You just have to watch..

2012

2012 is attempting to be the most exciting and eventful year ever.  Thinking back on your life, what year do you consider to be the greatest ever?  For the old people in my family, it was probably 1984 I'm guessing.  For the old people in Amy's family It was definitely 1987.  However for me, I'm thinking that I like 2012 the most for the following reasons:

Curtis and Marcie were married and sealed in the temple

Brittany and Bagie will have their baby and make me an Uncle

My brain grew 2 sizes larger during the hardest semester of my life

Isaac turned 3 (yay no more terrible 2's) Luke turned 1 (yay no more babies)

Quynn and Chelsea are having their baby and giving our kids a cousin

Camber and Allison had their baby, giving our kids their first 2nd cousin on the Larson side

Went to 6 Flags! Our FIRST EVER family vacation

Tegucigalpa, Honduras Temple will finally be finished after 6 years of "construction"

and the most important thing of them all (no offense)

The Hobbit-An Unexpected Journey will debut

I've no doubt that other big events will be added to this list that have yet to happen.  Did I forget anything?

Now here's some photos that I wanted to add that are related to our last blog.

At six flags their water park just had opened that day and so there were lots of half naked people walking around the park. Luke decided he wanted to get a little scandalous too.

It was HOT... well not too bad, but hot enough to make you sweat like crazy.  Isaac, who HATES drinking water  (he usually demands milk or juice during a meal)

 found it for the first time in his life to be rather refreshing. He wanted MORE so I took this pic.

This one is for Grandma Udell. It's a giant statue of a naked guy in the middle of the San Antonio. I'm sure Grandpa Bob would've taken a better picture, but I thought I'd make an attempt

Now this is something.  This is the greatest gas station... a glorified version of a gas station... how can I best describe it?  If Haiti is a 3rd world country, the USA is a 1st world country, then this would represent the gas station of a 1/3 country, one that is so great it doesn't yet exist.

Plus it has the greatest public restroom I've ever used.  They even provided cleansing foam in each stall to sanitize the seat with.

Caught them reading books together. No, they're not just making a mess, they really are looking at pictures in the books they have selected.

Luke is SO BIG. Not only is he standing up and showing off, but do you recognize those clothes?  They both used to be worn by Isaac. (Actually the shirt was worn by Isaac last week and I just decided it was too small for him) Do you recognize the shirt yet? Scroll up and check out Isaac drinking that water... :-)  

Isaac is 3 years old this Saturday!! We'll see all you Utahn's in a couple weeks too as we come to celebrate Ada's 0 birthday and Luke's 1st.

San Antonio

This is Amy, With Brad out of school, we decided we should celebrate by going to San Antonio, and Six Flags.  We also went for Isaac's birthday.    We started the trip off on Friday, arriving in San Antonio around 3.  After checking in to our hotel, we decided to go check out the River Walk.  I can now say that the mall connected to the River Walk is my new all time favorite mall!  The River Walk was beautiful, and it was fun seeing downtown San Antonio.  Afterwards we decided to drive up to the temple.  It was fun driving towards the temple, and finally seeing hills and valleys again.  Houston is so flat, you almost forget how much more you can see when there are hills involved.  The temple is placed at the top of a huge hill, with a beautiful view of the land below.  It was such a fun night!  That night Luke was overtired (we didn't try and get him to sleep until 10:30) and had a hard time going to sleep.  It's hard anyways staying in a hotel all in one room, in a weird bed.  After a couple hours, Luke finally got to sleep.  In order to get the cheapest hotel, we were left with a room with only a King size bed.  So Isaac went to sleep with me and Brad.  It was too bad.  I just got kicked and punched a few times throughout the night.  Over all I didn't get the best night's sleep.  At least Luke STAYED asleep til about 6:30.  When Saturday came, it was Six Flags day!!!!  It was so fun seeing Isaac ride a bunch of rides for the first time.  His first ride was a teacup spinny ride.  He loved it.  His second ride was an Airplane ride.  It went around in circles, and if you pushed the button, you'd go up high.  I was with him, and it was fun going up high, until after a couple minutes, Isaac decided it was too scary to be up high.  He made me go back down, and he got SO made at me for pushing the button for a second after that.  From that point on, there was no way of getting that kid on a ride that went up in the air.  After that Brad went on the Kiddie roller coaster with him.  That was a bit too scary for Isaac's tastes as well.  He was a good sport, but he sure didn't want to ride it again.  After a few more calm kiddie rides, I took him on a "rattlesnake rapids" type ride, called the "gully washer" at Six Flags.  He was barely tall enough to ride it.  There were actually quite a few rides he was barely tall enough to ride, but if he couldn't handle the kiddie coaster, there's no way he'd enjoy the bigger rides.  So I took him on the "Gully Washer" prepared with the idea that he may get mad at me for it.  I told him it was a boat ride, and that he'll probably get wet on it.  (This kid can't handle it when he gets water in his eyes in the bathtub).  We got on, and I gave him my sunglasses so that water wouldn't get in them as easily.  By the end of the ride, Isaac had ended up crying a couple times, but I think he was still glad he rode it.  Of course he didn't want to ride that one again either though  :)  I did protect him from most of the water so I ended up really soaked.    Brad and I rode a couple of the big roller coasters.  Luckily they have a parent swap rule there, so we only had to stand in line once for the both of us.   One of the last rides we rode was the Scooby Doo ride.  By this point both kids were grumpy and done.  But they both ended up LOVING the ride.  We were lucky they let Luke on, because technically he's supposed to be able to walk.  Luke enjoyed holding the gun (one of those rides that you shoot stuff).  That ended up being one of my favorite, simply because our whole family got to ride it together.  It'll be so fun when our whole family is big enough to ride all the rides together.  By about 6 o clock our kids had had enough, so we decided to go home.  That evening we went swimming in the hotel pool.  Isaac didn't have any interest in swimming so he just watched us.  By the time we were almost done, he decided he wanted to swim after all, but the water wasn't very warm, and it was cooling down outside too, so I knew he'd hate it.   Maybe next time he'll be more willing to swim with us since he didn't get his chance.  That night, Luke went to sleep much easier.  But then around 2 am, he decided he didn't want to sleep anymore.  I put him in bed with us, and he rolled all around trying to get comfy for a long time.  a couple times he seemed to be asleep, but then he'd start rolling again.  Isaac was a champ, and slept through all his whining, and rolling (even though Luke was basically rolling all over him, as he was in the middle.  All this time, I couldn't really sleep, or else Luke would roll off the bed.  It also didn't help that one of our neighboring hotel residents was just getting home and slamming their door open and shut, shouting at each other, then blasting their TV for a couple hours  Luke slept off and on until around 6, then he was done trying to sleep.  So not the most restful night.  I have no idea how some parents can co-sleep with their children on a regular basis.  It sure doesn't work for us!

Brad here: It's actually really hilarious to discover how crazy our two boys sleep. They practically require a wall to prop up their arms and legs. Luke is especially crazy because for no reason he'll sit up suddenly and then tip over backwards where his legs used to be, he'll do these 180's 5 times or more a night.  Isaac really does flail his arms around, I woke up with him slapping my pillow and then later my face. Finally just pushed him out of reach (sorry amy).  Oh and we can't forget the occasional Rhino Head Butt that Isaac would surprise us with as we'd hear this BANG as he rammed into the bed head board.  Are all babies this crazy? Judging that Luke and Isaac are similar I'm guessing Isaac's slept this crazy all his life. Thank goodness we have him away in his own room so we can sleep in peace. . . Well at least so Amy can sleep in peace.  You see, I actually slept pretty good last night. Why? because I'm used to it. We all know where Luke and Isaac get their midnight kicking and whacking tendencies.  Maybe now Amy will believe me about how crazy she is :-)

Amy again:  Hey, Brad, you slept just fine because I was the one taking care of the baby. Your welcome for keeping the baby quiet so you could sleep.  :)  For the record, I am a very calm sleeper.  Brad's lying about the the kicking and whacking.

Anyways, last but not least, we decided to stop by at The Alamo before we drove home.  You can't go to San Antonio and not go right?  Especially if you've never been there.  Brad summed it up nicely by saying it was "San Antonio's Temple Square"  A few historical things to look at surrounded by beautiful gardens and pathways.  

This video is hilarious, as mentioned earlier Isaac got really mad at me for pushing the "up" button in the airplane.  Brad caught it on camera  :)

At the River Walk

Here Isaac gazes off at the Ferry boat/gondolas whatever they are that tour down the river walk past all the yummy smelling restaurants.

More River Walk

Look here! A temple with a big golden Moroni! Also there's 3 Incandescent street lights illuminating long-red wavelengths and the beautiful white moon which reflects the equally distributed broadband white wavelengths of the sun. (A Brad description)  :)

  The San Antonio temple had beautiful stained glass windows all over.

I love this little boy!

Our hotel had a Texas waffle maker!

Luke at Breakfast

And cute little Isaac

Six Flags!!!

I think Isaac's official favorite ride was the "choo choo" train

Merry Go Round

Our family in front of The Alamo

Oh yeah, and Luke likes to practice his standing up skills now!  If only he could have walked by the trip, they would have let him on a bunch more rides.