Life Well Lived

I've just been thinking lately about how full my seemingly little life is. My mood ebbs and flows like everybody's. Sometimes I think, "Man, I am so tired of everyday feeling like that movie Ground Hog Day." You know that movie with Bill Murray and he gets stuck in time and wakes up to the exact same day every morning? Ugh. Sometimes Nic asks me in the morning as I pour cereal..."How are you?" And I say "Ground Hog Day." And he just knows. Then he'll bring me icecream that night or rub lotion on my feet or something.

Anyway, I received a precious tidbit of advice from Nic's dad once. He told me no matter how many pictures you think you are taking of your family...take ten times more. I now know why he said that. As I sorted through the pictures of the last couple of months I actually got leaky eyes and was so thankful for the experiences we have together as a family. Can everyday be amazingly exciting? No. But can everyday hold a little gem of worth? Absolutely. Here are some of our experiences.


Look What Love Did!

In case you didn't know, I've been growing a kid for the last nine months. Can you believe it? A KID! That's pretty amazing. This last weekend Nic and I enjoyed a staycation courtesy of my sister and her hubby watching our kids. We went out to a decadent dinner and sipped pina colada's, ate cake and basked in the grown-upness of holding hands and not mentioning poop, spankings, or time-out for a whole two hours. Then we went rented movies and layed in bed and ate more cake. We slept in, went for a drive up to the snow, ate out again...played board games with eachother and didn't pick up or clean one single thing the whole weekend. I stepped over the same motorcycle on the floor ten times in one day and didn't care! It was the best.

I caught Nic having a private breakfast with Evan at the teeny table. Evan's little face lit up like a lamp with the personal attention.

Can I just say how smokin' gorgeous Afton thought she was this day? I couldn't stop laughing. We curled her hair for church and I let her wear some perfume and pink lipstick. Oh boy, she was a vain little thing. I love the expression on her face.

I got out of the shower and found these. Notice the mutilated de-frosted cupcakes on the left in the round pan.

Then I found these faces. I like how Evan looks like he has a handle bar moustache.

I liked this picture of Afton. It seems symbolic and it tugs at my heartstrings everytime. We went to California for a week during New Years to visit our bff's and they took us to this place called Travel Town where there are a bunch of retired trains to explore and climb on. We loved it. If you are ever near Hollywood...go.

Evan in testosterone Heaven.

Sitting by the ocean, exploring tidepools, eating Chips-Ahoy which don't even taste good unless you are camping or at the ocean. Nic found this beautiful little blue crab. We also found an octopus and starfish.


What do you get when you put five or six families together on New Year's eve...ton's of delish food and a trunk of rediculous hats? The funnest New Year's party I ever attended. I was having a lot of contractions that night so I sat on the couch in my Princess Laya buns and turban whilst listening to Nic's buddies jam out on the guitars to Johnny Cash songs and other tunes that made me shake my head and say...This is friggin' awesome.

I experimented with the Napoleon Dynamite wig and glasses before settling with the buns and turban. I believe I was impersonating Napoleon here by saying "IDIOT!"

Here's Evan and Afton getting to take some sled rides down Papa Frank's driveway over Christmas Vacay. Priceless.

So the Larkins are good. Can't wait to see this baby in my tummy.

I need attention

Do you ever just wake up and think..."Dang. I need some attention." It would be the mature thing to just say so out loud, but no...I have other "ways". For instance, Nic's mom took him to a cool running store last night to buy him some new running shoes for his upcoming race in California. You need to know that Nic has some very specific pet peeves such as NEEDING to be the first one to put the spoon in a new jar of peanut butter or icecream. If you take a bite of his sandwich before he does...bad things follow. Nobody can touch his new thing before he does. So me putting on his size thirteen brand spanking new running shoes and wearing them around the house to make the beds while he was in the shower was the perfect way to get "attention". I made sure to wear no socks so the deflowering could be complete. I enjoyed the blood curdling "NOOOOO" I got when he came out of the bathroom and saw me tap dancing and doing the twist (as if that were part of my morning routine).

Another one of my "ways" stems from the mental torture his younger brother Sean used to inflict upon him. Sean was the king of being a bungholio without getting in trouble. So I employed one of his tactics while Nic was eating his cold pizza. I sat down next to him, extended my index finger and BARELY touched his bare arm. He shooed it away like a bug. Then I waited a few minutes and kept doing it again and again until I almost made him cry.

Then I followed him into the bedroom when he got dressed. I sat on the edge of the bed and waited for him to walk by me. When he did, I delicately extended my foot and totally tripped him. AT LAST! ATTENTION! If you've never seen an eight month pregnant woman get totally tackled...you should make a point to witness it. I got some hugs and squeezes and a few spanks and then Nic looked at me and said, "Do you just need some attention?"