Day 13 :: Something I Don't Leave Home Without

Shoes! 

A different shoe depending on the activity.

A walk in the rain or mud: Blundstones.

I tried many a boot that would perform in the rain since moving here and these are the best.

There is a reason everyone has a pair. ha. 

In the winter, I wear them to take Koda on a walk in the forest,

watch soccer,

grocery shop.

They are warm and waterproof.

This is one of the areas we are buying, so the boys go out and climb the "stick mountains". 

Evan brought a folding chair out there and sat it on top. 

For running/trail exploring - Altra Trailrunners:

I love a big toe box. I love a low profile. 

It took me a few pairs of runners to find the perfect trail run shoe, and these are it. 

I like how low to the ground they are - flat and wide to avoid ankle rolls on the roots and the rocks. 

For casual wear, I got my first pair of Birks:

I wear them to things like: Roxanne's institute class.

After the class was over, we were chatting in the hallway. I told them that Jim was at home caulking our roof. There is a bit of water leaking through the seam of the old house and the new house, so he sealed it off with roof caulk.

Then exactly as we were discussing that, there was an alert on our phones from the school saying they were on a "lock in".

That means there is a security concern outside of the school - they keep all the kids inside their classrooms and it's not too big of a deal. 

There were police officers and federal border agents surrounding the school, looking for the "threat".

About an hour and a half later, they gave the all clear and said it was safe - the police would debrief their findings soon.

That evening there was a post from the police officers saying the threat came when a student reported to a teacher that they "saw a man walking around the school with a gun".

After searching and watching some video footage of the timeframe, they found the the "perpetrator" was actually a maintenance guy walking around with a CAULK GUN. 

Isn't that just the best ending? haha 

FIVE YEARS AGO

January

I played a lot of legos this month. 

I finished the Gringotts Bank, and it was so fabulous I wanted to keep going.

It attaches to the rest of Diagon Alley.

Then I did the castle and moved on to some Ninjago sets. 

Lego projects are a form of meditation for me. I sift and I think and I make order out of chaos. 

Evan ended his season with the best game ever. He was working so well with his teammates, passing, blocking, shooting,  scoring. 

He ended up being the third highest scorer on his team. They only lost 2 games. 

His coach is so funny - he has the deepest voice that booms around the gym. The audience can hear every word of advice and strategy he has for the team. "Cowboy! Superman! No more goosey goo!" etc. 

We hiked Rockpile while the other half of the group mountain biked. 

So, new year, new book of scripture. We are working on the Book of Mormon. 

There's something so exciting about coming around to studying it this year. I feel like I know so much of the backstory now that I understand the OT and NT.

Every night we gather on my bed, discuss some specific verses, get a history/geography lesson from Jim, 

then we set the timer for 10 minutes and everybody reads silently on their own. 

Listen. When I set out to have everyone read on their own, I had LOW expectations. I expected complaining, pretending to read, disinterest...

We are one month in, and I am FREAKING OUT at how much the kids are into it. 

I think reading on their own phones and highlighting and looking at pictures helps with the novelty...

But they are really INTO it. Evan asked if we can read any time we wanted? or only in the alloted 10 minute time slot? 

(of course the Grandpa 100$ incentive is HIGHLY motivating, but there is so much more to it than that...)

The other day when we were reading about Nephi's vision of the coming of a Savior, Evan was blown away that Nephi was seeing into the future - "BUT IT'S ONLY 600BC!"

and Andrew asked "so what is this book - the Old Testament? Or New Testament?"

and we continue to explain how it is separate but equal...

Avery is over there highlighting and writing notes and thoughts. 

The fact that they are piecing these things out is something I never really did as a kid. 

(PS yes I also earned the 100$ incentive from my dad. I remember I was around 6th grade or so and I loved checking off the boxes next to each chapter on a piece of paper that got me one more closer to 100$. But I also remember how epic 3 Nephi was. The destruction and then the redemption. I don't remember understanding anything else.)

I'm just really loving it. We are about to hit the 2 Nephi hump though. That's tough to get through. But we can do it. 

Rainy day activity at the church.

Jim has been working on this bathroom for weeks. 

He works so hard to transform this house.

Woodwork, paint, wallpaper. 

PS did you know we are adding a TV room, master bedroom/bath, and a covered porch onto the back of our house? We have been planning on it for years, but we finally have a contractor and the prices are finally reasonable. We break ground in February and hopefully it will be done in June. 

We are all sooo excited to start. 

The other day we went to Intalco Archery Range.

Archery is Jim and Joe's latest hobby. Of course it has become a family affair. 

There are all kinds of cool things on the range - tree houses, frozen ponds, etc. 

Last week I got new eyebrows. 

I can't believe I went so long in my life without eyebrows. I love them. 

And finally, today my neighbor texted me that she found a dead rabbit on her sidewalk, and do we want to take it to the forest to the trail cam? 

And I said yes, I sure did. 

So I took a bag and scooped up the dead rabbit and laid it near the trail camera. I'll keep you updated on what creature takes it. My money is on a coyote. 

Oh yeah one more thing:

today in church - it was near the end of sacrament meeting - I found an invisible ink pen in my bag. You write and then shine a light on the writing to see the invisible message.

So me and Evan were messing around with it - we wrote a message in the hymn book "if you are reading this, send help!"

Then the bishop got up to end the meeting and a lady hustled up to the pulpit and whispered some announcement clarifications for him to make before we adjourned. Bishop let everyone know about the fireside, etc. then we sang the song.

As we were singing, Evan whispered to me "I thought she was going up there to snitch on us for writing in the hymn books."

haha I died laughing. It cracked me up to imagine if that was the real scenario. 

 

N is for NOT Even Close

The ending of soccer season and the beginning of daylight savings happens on the same weekend, so overnight our busy routine changes. It comes to a screeching halt.  

We are home with nowhere to be, and the sun goes own around 4:00 (give or take). 

 Suddenly we have one million hours of down time and it is GLORIOUS. 

Lately we play board games as a family.  

Like, we look at the clock and it's only 5:00, and we say "woah it's only 5:00?! who wants to play a game?"

 

Sunday we played Skyjo. Between turns, the kids went and made themselves cinnamon toast.

After the game was over, Jim went to the kitchen and saw what a giant mess the boys had left - crumbs, cinnamon, sugar - all over the counter and floor because they make their toast without using a plate to catch all those particles. 

So Jim gave a pretty good dad lecture about USING A PLATE, cleaning up after yourself. 

Then a few minutes later he quizzed Andrew - "So what are you going to do when you make cinnamon toast?"

Andrew responded earnestly: "Say thank you?"

Haha I DIED laughing. We all laughed silent laughs, fall to the ground laughs for 10 minutes. 

He obviously wasn't listening to a word. 

This is parenting. 

I is for Instagram

 

Here is a sampling of the memes we cranked out that last night in Fallon. 

I love them for so many reasons; they are perfect ways to sum up funny little things that happened. Anyone can contribute. Abbey and Ashley are the founders. 

You should go follow sorensen_memes for more. 

I forgot to talk about Alphabetical of Pain!

Like a million years ago, Brandon and Andrew had an alphabetical of pain. 

For every letter of the alphabet, Brandon would inflict pain:

A is for Atomic Elbow

B is for Bite 

etc

Andrew was little and he called it "alphabetICAL" of pain. haha

It was way back when he was in kindergarten and was singing Alphabet songs (Allie, Baba, Catina Cat...)

Anyway, they discussed having another round of alphabetical of pain, 2022 version. Then we were sitting around one morning, and Damon and Andrew just started a round.

It was so so funny to me because Andrew was inflicting the "pain" onto Damon, which is a reversal of what would be a typical match up. 

And they were being so cooperative about it. They would discuss the best way to perform the torture. 

When it was time for P is for Purple Nurple, Damon stood their patiently while Andrew purpled one nurple, then purpled the other nurple. haha. 

These pictures are from D is for Deadly Drop.

Damon literally climbed on top of Andrew to "help" Andrew drop him. 

Then Damon said, "now let me try you" and he easily picked up Andrew and deadly dropped him onto the couch. 

It was my favorite. 

Other Fall Things

We have two brace faces, so this is the train track version of caramel apples. 

I got granny smith apples, and they were so gross. No flavor at all. Boo.

Ok ok, this is going to be hard to explain...I might not be able to. 

But ok, I was watching old videos of my kids from when they were young (do you ever do this?). It's so bizarre to see them little because my brain must have been wiped, because I don't remember them at all that little. 

So there is a video of Avery doing a science experiment. It is a 30 MINUTE LONG video. I have never actually watched it before because it's 30 minutes loooonnnnggg, but here I was watching. It was so funny to see her pretending to be scientific. She was wondering about pop and what made it bubble/fizz. She would pour it into cups and listen to the sound and write down thoughts and questions. 

About 15 minutes in, she said that singing songs helps her figure things out, so there on the spot she made up a song and sung it - "why does it bubble? why does it foam? why is it brown?" etc. 

At this point I took my computer into her room to show her the rest of this video of her doing science. 

Then at about the 20 minute mark, she said she was going to ask her mom to help her figure out the science. She called me over. 

I was so nervous to see how I would react. What mom version of me was going to show up? annoyed mom? busy mom? patient mom?

I came into the screen and she asked me, "can you help us figure out why it bubbles?"

I immediately reply, "it has carbon dioxide in the pop...."

and she got so annoyed with me. 

Her shoulders drooped and she said quietly "you ruined science. I wanted you to tell me HOW to figure it out, not tell me the answer."

haha

So what is my recovery going to be?

I have never really watched myself "mom" before. And I have to say, I am impressed with this particular performance. I watched the wheels in my head turn. I watched as I looked around for an answer, swapping air in my cheeks as I attempt to say the right thing. 

I said, "Do you know the answer? because I stopped saying it right in time. How about you look at the ingredients to help you figure out why it bubbles?"

And from there we had a good give and take of scientific information about gas release and what makes it bubble, what makes it foam...

Then I said "well I'm going to moonwalk out of here now..." 

haha that made me die laugh on the ground.

Later when she needed me for more help, I was upstairs telling Evan to get out of the shower, so she hollered to me, "Mom moonwalk back here!"

and I didn't, so she said to the camera: 

"my mom did NOT moonwalk back here".

Anyway, what is the point of all this? To say, watching myself be a mom was wild. It was surreal and entertaining. It made me happy and proud and I wanted to pat myself on the back and say, that was great, let's see that moonwalk.  

The picture up there that Andrew drew..."Coke Conspiracy With Avery"...

he watched the video with us and was rolling on the floor laughing with us, then he got up and made a "movie poster" for the video. 

Monday Jim decided to go check out Scotland. 

He did a road trip around the northern tip. While he was there, Nettie texted from Norway!

Look how close they are!

I love my friends. 

On our way to eat some BARBEQUE.

Dang the other night Avery was playing an intense game against Meridian. 

The score was zeros for most of the game until about 4 minutes left Maddy bumped one in on a corner kick. We were all stoked. 

I yelled in desperation "everyone on defense! EVERYONE!"

And then with probably one minute left, Meridian shot in the most beautiful goal and we ended in a tie. It was so stressful. 

I don't ever want the season to end but Avery is DONE. 

It's a lot, but so so fun to watch!

This was after an away game at Mt Vernon Christian...

A couch in the parking lot. 

Last Saturday we went to hell. I mean comic con. 

We didn't know exactly what it was going to be like, but it was the worst. Wall to wall people (people who don't generally shower) in a small convention center. 

We thought it might be fun, so me Jim Lisa Joe and the little boys went. It turns out it's just a room full of people selling their comic art. We lasted about 45 minutes before we died and buried ourselves in the ground and then left.

EXCEPT Andrew didn't hate it. In fact, he signed up for the costume competition. And the competition started in one and a half hours. 

So everyone ELSE left, and I stayed behind with Andrew. 

I can't even explain how painful it was. Mostly because it was so crowded and Andrew kept talking to me, but I couldn't hear him, so I would bend down and try and hear, and my neck was getting sore and my body was revolting and my battery was dead. 

But then the costume parade started and that was better. There were chairs to sit on and Andrew went in the back part to line up with all the other contesters. 

He was so funny as he walked down the cat walk - doing a little jig and arm wave. He was not one bit shy.

Then Jim came to pick us up, but Andrew protested: they announce the winner at 2:00!

But there was no way I could stay another minute, so I said, "if you win, they have my email address. They will let us know."

PS he is Boris from Bendy and the Ink Machine.

(it's a video game...)

Lots of kids got excited when they saw him and asked if they could take a picture with him. 

Evan is SO CUTE in his uniform. I can't even stand it. 

Evan doesn't get to play a ton, but I love his hustle. He sprints on and off the field. 

One day back in the spring, Jim talked to the kids about how in his days he had to sprint everywhere he went during baseball - into the dugout, out to the field, over to the coach -  

Think about what that communicates to the other team and to the coaches when you sprint from here to there, versus walking.  Larsens are not walkers at practice! 

Evan, Cooper, Christopher. 

Here's a close up of my knee. I needed Jim to reassure me a few times that I was going to be ok. haha

This is me playing a board game that Andrew invented. 

I'm such a good mom. 

Bless my forest. It's my favorite and it's so pretty out there in the fall.