Ropin' Ridin' Fool, Wife, Wally & Madelyn!!!

My latest Crafty

2012-01-01T20:24:00.001-08:00

The semester after Harrison was born was brutal. I spent most my time feeling guilty, either about neglecting schoolwork/practicing or not spending time with my baby. I really enjoyed my classes and LOVED learning about music, but I couldn't help but feel like my time was best spent with Harrison. He grew and changed so quickly. Although I am sad to not have finished my degree, I am a million times happier knowing my time was best spent with my baby. And it was such a relief!! The guilt left and I felt more calm and confident in my role as a mother. And Harrison finally began sleeping for more than four hour stretches. Maybe that's the reason...

Anyway, this is a layout about us sharing time on the piano, something that happened very often during his first year. It brings me such joy to play the piano and I hope that this will inspire him later on to pursue musical talents.

Near the bottom embellishment cluster you can see Harrison's added drawing

I also tried to machine sew on this page. The stitch goes through the crepe paper and overlapping border above, although this picture doesn't really show it.

A simple card using a few of my fav items: Glimmer Mist, wash tape, and sticker labels.

Partially hydrogenated brain...

2011-11-27T10:39:00.000-08:00

The problem with running a small business, being a lawyer and having a small family is that sometimes I forget things, because the ole' noggin is just too full. The one thing I do not forget is that I have family and friends who love and care about us. We really are blessed beyond measure.
To kinda fill y'all in on what's been up lately: I had a felony jury trial that I was preparing for (I kept thinking "this really is a case that shouldn't be tried" until, at the last possible moment, we settled on a misdemeanor). That preparation really takes it out of me, its on my mind all the time and generally I get unhinged a little (just ask my office staff, they thought I was gonna shoot someone!).
Olivia has been getting the hang of being a mom to two kids. She does a great job! She has a lot to put up with, as sometimes I am here but not available, mentally. She is really enjoying her time on the design team for Keepsake Cottage. I give her a lot of guff, but I really am glad that she does it. I didn't know that I had married such a creative woman. She brings a lot of class to my life. The other night I mentioned to her that we should take up a hobby that we could both do together. She replied "You should learn how to do art." My reply was "You should learn to head. Then we could rope together." Oh well...
Harrison has been learning and growing. What a cheese ball! He is really fun to hang out with. He watches Ice Age ("Aiseage"), Toy Story 3 ("Sory"), The Cowboys ("Kaabys"), Ratatouille ("Tooey"), Wally ("Waee") and Dan in Real Life ("Dan"). He loves hanging out with grandparents, and plays no favorites, which is nice, he goes to everyone equally. One of the neatest things I have seen so far was Harrison climbed into the chair with Grandpa Brent and both of them fell asleep. They where snoring in concert... Probably my favorite thing about being the father to Harrison is putting him to sleep: he'll snuggle up with me and say "Kaabys songs." Which means he wants me to sing some cowboy songs. "Little Joe the Wrangler" is one of his favorites, along with "Streets of Laredo," and "Git Along Little Doggies."
One thing he is doing that makes me chuckle is wearing a hat that is clearly too big for him. He runs all over the house with it, adjusting it as needed. It is probably hazardous, as he runs into the walls and other parts of the house, but it is funny.
Baby Sis is growing and starting the gyrations common to her age. She is getting the army shuffle down, she will scoot clear out of her blankets and into the corner of her crib. Once she is at the corner she will scream and holler because she can't go further. She is a people watcher! She will stare you down and watch every move. She watches Big Brother and Mommy from across the room, she's even stared at me on occasion. She really is a good baby, and according to Olivia, she sleeps about 7 to 8 hours a night. I sleep through most everything now, so I am not the one who knows.
Well, I hope all y'all are doing well and staying safe. Until next time: May the Sun shine on your face, the Wind be at your back, and may the Good Lord take a liking to ya!

Projects

2011-11-13T21:11:00.000-08:00

I mentioned last Spring that I was chosen to be a designer for our local scrapbook stores Design Team. I also mentioned that my work would start to pop up on posts, but as we know, that hasn't happened. So I'm here to remedy that.

*I'm sorry for the poor lighting in most of the photos. I'm still trying to better my skills and understand all the lingo/settings, so please bear with me :)

The first 3 are the samples I submitted for the call.

A mini album created to fix inside an Apple iPhone box.

A cute little book with blank pages inside. The pages are sewn together in groups of three, and then adhered to the book cover.

TWINE!

Our Boy

2011-10-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Mr. Harrison is growing wildly. It must be this farming land. He loves it. He asks to go outside every morning, even if its freezing. And if the screen door is not locked (he can unlock the other door), he's out there. Boots on, no coat, and driving his trucks. Later in the afternoons we jump and play on the trampoline. Boots on, no coat, and chasing the bouncing trucks.

These photos are from a little photo contest my friend Summer put on FB. We didn't win but really appreciate everyone who voted! We could not get him to smile at all. He must have been in model mode :)

Here's what the little stinkbug has been doing lately:

- he loves chicken nuggets and frequently wants them for breakfast and lunch
- he also asks for ice cream at breakfast. We instead have an egg. He cracks them for me to put in the pan, and gets the bread into the toaster.
- loves apples and grapes with honey roasted peanut butter. I leave prepped servings in the fridge and he can get them whenever, although he still asks me to get them.
- loves to count and sing his version of the alphabet. Neither are correct, but the concept is growing.
- points out all the tractors, trucks, trailers, horses, and cows as we drive
- lines up all the toy trucks, trailers, and cars as he plays with them, resorting to throwing everything on the couches and beds to the floor
- will not wear anything but his cowboy boots
- and must wear a belt
- wears 2T clothes, mostly
- bites us or blows raspberries to get our attention
- he also grabs our hands to guide us or pushes our feet and legs to 'help' us get where he wants us to be
- watches 15 minutes of a video before taking it out to watch 15 minutes of another. Repeat 10 times with ten movies
- loves to brush his teeth with everyone's toothbrushes and comb his hair forward with a brush while trying to shave with McCord's electric razor
- does this fake 'hah hah' laugh when he thinks we should be laughing, usually at the end of one of his stories
- has come to be much more concerned about Madelyn's well being
- loves to snuggle and be swaddled. He'll bring us a blanket and say 'harson taco'.
- As he watches sports with Grandpa Brent he'll say 'C'mon C'mon' when the action gets exciting. It's hilarious!
- will identify family members in pictures. He gets especially excited about seeing mom :)

His clarity and vocabulary are starting to blossom, which has been awesome! He will often repeat something we'll say without prompting, so I know things are finally clicking in the speech department. I've finally come to realize he needs LOTS (as in more than the average child) of constant repetition in order to understand the concept I'm trying to teach. I don't think he's challenged or slow in any way, just needs that extra encouragement and security.

We love him so so much! And I am especially grateful for his love and patience with me. Being a momma to two is not all that difficult, but balancing time and priorities has been so hard. I always feel like some one is being neglected; Harrison, Madelyn, McCord, me, the laundry, dinner, craft time, quiet time, nap time, etc. I know it takes time, but I am seriously ready for that time to be now.

Harrison is such a blessing to our family and I am so excited to see what else his little character will bring!

Newborn photos and an Unwilling Harrison

2011-10-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

These are a few photos from Madelyn's newborn session:

He would not smile for us.

He finally decided to work with us at the very end.

His reward for being patient and mostly cooperative.

No, he did not get a brand new saddle for being good. We were going to use it as a prop, but Madelyn was done.

We took a few of Harrison to help him feel included.

As promised, Pictures :)

2011-10-19T14:03:00.001-07:00

Madelyn is now 2 months old and I can't believe it! She is such a good baby.

She sleeps for 7 hour stretches at night, and naps and eats really well during the day. She only cries when she's hungry or tired. And when she's awake, she is very alert to her surroundings.

Meeting Madelyn for the 1st time

Middle of the night cuteness

Harrison trying to hold her hand :)

Sweet little sleeper

Giving me 'the business'

Harrison has had trouble adjusting to having her in our lives. He often tells me 'Baby, Down!' or 'Bed!' in a deep angry voice. He tries to smother her with pillows, pull her off my lap, and generally despise her existence with mean attention. He yells and screams and flails on the floor until he is the center of attention and Madelyn is out of sight. One time he even threw himself on hot asphalt because he didn't want her to come in the store with us. I was blessed however by a sweet lady who offered to carry Madelyn in so I could take care of Harrison.

This is a normal and frequent occasion in our home

Although that has been the norm for the past eight weeks, I think we are finally turning a new page. His tantrums and all around disgust for her are diminishing, even to the point that he occasionally gives her kind attention. The other morning I found him climbing onto her bouncy seat to help soothe her. No it wasn't the best way to help, but I found the act endearing. He calls her baby sis instead of growling 'baby!'. And this morning he tried to give her a bottle when she was crying.

I have felt my love grow sooo much in these short weeks. It's absolutely insane! But I am extremely happy and feel sure that being a mother is my most important role. My heart leaps when I see my babies, and knowing that we will be a family for eternity gives me the butterflies times ten. I love these little stinkers so much!

Chubby cheeks and a double chin

This is a bassinet a neighbor gave us. Harrison has claimed it and 'sleeps' in it quite often.

Cheesy excited smile :)

She actually smiles more with her eyes (which I LOVE) than her mouth. And it's becoming more frequent - yay!

Madelyn's Birth and the Name Game

2011-09-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

It's one o'clock in the morning. I'm getting up to use the bathroom. Upon returning to my bed, I noticed a slight leak.

"Aww crap. Really?! I just went!" I silently said.

Trying to hold it in I attempt to roll out of bed when GUSH! my water broke. Within the next five minutes contractions had started. Knowing that the first stage of labor is forever long for me, I laid a pile of towels over the wet spot and went back to sleep. I woke about an hour later and decided my time would probably be better spent waiting for everything to drain. Back to the bathroom.

When I decided it was safe, I went to wake McCord. I shook his shoulder and told him to wake up; my water had broke. His groggy and surprised response was "Did I pee the bed?"

Yes hun, you peed the bed.

And it stinks.

Bahaha not really, but it was pretty funny to hear him so concerned about peeing the bed :)

And he must not of listened to the part about my water breaking.

Anyway, he got up and I began packing our hospital bag. I was not prepared for her early arrival, you see. He showered and then ran me a hot bath in the jet tub. It was glorious. But then I began to wonder if she would be alright without amniotic fluid and of course then the mommy worry set in. I got out, dressed, and put my makeup on. Can't be going in to have a baby looking like frumpy old maid. Mac called the hospital to let them know we would be there in a few hours. Oh, and I packed a bag for Harrison's stay with Grandma and Grandpa Larsen.

McCord called his parents to ask if they would take Harrison. They never answered. I called my mom and informed her of the impending birth. By this time it was 5 am. We pack the truck, wake Harrison and off we go! My contractions were pretty regular, coming every five-eight minutes and lasting nearly a minute. Not too painful, just slow and regular. We drop Harrison off at the granny's. Holly is just checking our messages as we walk in the door. Brent and McCord give me a blessing and let me tell ya, it was one of the most comforting blessings thus far. I really felt calm and confident about whatever would happen. It was all going to be ok, no matter the circumstance.

Around 5:30 the nurses hook me up to the monitors, and about thirty minutes later I am admitted. We hadn't pre-registered yet; that was on the to-do list the following week. So after a lot of business talk and paper work, I was left to rest until the doctor came around 7:30. I wasn't making much progress, maybe a two. So I was started on pitocin and given permission to walk around for a hour. We went and visited Aunt Sally. She was in for gall bladder surgery, but recovering well. Half way through our excursion we ran into my mom and sister! So they joined us in our small, but cozy delivery suite. By then I had dilated to almost a five!

We went back to the room and I laid down for a while after the nurse turned up the pit. I tried to mentally prepare for the increasing pain, but my contractions had started coupling (and that is exhausting!). Around noon the nurse came in and said it was my last chance for an epidural as the anethesiologist was headed into surgery for the next two hours. So I agreed and he came and hooked me up with the drugs. It was heavenly! My first epidural was not good, but this one completely changed my view! I slept for about two hours until I felt something fall out. I asked Mac to look and all he said was "Wow... that's a lot of blood... we better get the nurse." Come to find out, she was actually crowning. The nurse came in, checked, and ran to call the doctor. A minute later Dr. came running in and I started pushing. After about five pushes she was out!

She was born posterior (face up) and wasn't breathing well. She went into the warmer and called a respiration specialist. Mac was seriously concerned. I haven't seen him that scared in, well, ever... I think. Oddly, I was still smiling and confident she was just fine. The nurses also failed to tell us she wouldn't cry on the respirator. After 15 minutes she was good to go. She was weighed and measured, then brought to me. We snuggled skin to skin. Let me tell ya, that is the *best* way to bond after birth! Even six weeks later I can strip her down, snuggle skin to skin and she calms right down.

I'm hesitant to post photos other than what's on FB. She really was so bruised, smashed, and swollen its scary. Mac describes her as a jar of mushed grape jelly covered in a slimy white film. Poor thing was ugly, even from an unconditional mothers love point of view. As soon as everything smoothes out, I'll post lots :)

Now for the name game. We had talked about it for months, but nothing really felt 'right'. So we decided to wait until we saw her. And even after her birth, whenever I called her those various names, they still didn't fit. Five days later, she still remained Baby Girl. So after incessant talking and brainstorming, we settled on Madelyn Rosalie (pronounced like Rosalee). It's my grandmothers middle name. And I've loved the name Madelyn since my youth.

Sorry to bore you all with the details, but I need them because I know I'll forget nearly everything in a few months. If ya made it this far, Thanks!

Good Morning All

2011-08-18T05:31:00.000-07:00

So, it has been an awful long time since I have posted, but I am doing so to let y'all know that we are at Cassia Regional Medical Center. Olivia is okay. Her water broke at 1:00 am. She woke me at 3:00 am (I thought I had wet the bed...).

We are all checked in, the nurse, Linda, has put the monitors on. Baby Girl, herein referred to as "BG," has a good heartbeat and the contractions are about 5 minutes apart. Olivia just got her IV. She took it like a champ.

I will try to keep y'all updated, likely I will use both this blog and FB.

In the mean time if anyone has any good girl names, let us know. We have some ideas, but we're not too sure. Maybe when BG gets here, we'll know.

Very Quickly...

2011-06-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

We're alive and doing well. Since April we have:

Celebrated Harrison's 2nd Birthday
Gone to the library and (indoor) pool 4 days of the week
Taken lots of short weekend trips, mostly for family occasions
Visited Moscow for a day and ate the best BBQ in the world
Continually been amused and baffled by peoples stupidity
Been extremely blessed with good health and safety
Felt and experienced lots of changes with the new baby

I am exactly 30 weeks today and can hardly stand it! My hands and feet swell on and off, but continuously feel like fire all. the. time. I sleep without covers with the fan on high while Mac is wrapped in the quilt.

Harrison's vocal vocabulary is finally exploding and I am so happy that he is better learning to communicate with us. He's not forming short phrases or sentences often which concerns me, and he often talks just through his lips without moving the rest of his jaw and mouth. He also no longer cries when I set him on the potty. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Mac stays busy with work. Because of the (finally) warm weather, he's been roping a lot more. He also went to Reno with his Dad and friend Clint for the Reno Rodeo and Bob Fiest Invitational (200 of the Worlds Best Team Ropers) for Fathers Day. We're glad he had a great time, but also very glad to have him home even though he was only gone for three days :)

The View From Above....

2011-04-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

... Is getting quite large. At least I feel that way.

It's also a girl! YAY!!!!

We are very excited to have one of each. I'm still trying to get my head to believe it, but it will happen soon enough. I am also very excited for all the clothes! There are a few families in our ward that had baby girls last year, and each family is done with having babies. So they've asked me to be the recipient of tons of clothes! I am, however, still going to be shopping :)
Just don't tell McCord...

I ain't as young as I used to be.

2011-04-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

I realize that I am still pretty young, but, crud I don't feel young right now. It will be midnight before I finish this post. Olivia and Harrison are fast asleep, but I can't sleep. I had a couple of good wrecks today while riding Forrest and roping. One involved some good bucking and my untimely exit from the saddle. The other involved a steer being underneath us then Forrest being on top of me, particularly my left leg. Nothing is broken, I am pretty sure, but my left calf is sore enough to make me limp a bit. The first incident put me down on my right shoulder and the second I came down on my left leg, so I think all of me will be pretty stiff and sore tomorrow.
I ate some food so I can take some pain medication that I had left over from Law Skool, don't remind me of the hazards of taking old medicine, this stuff works great on pain and knocks me out.
The words of my dad kinda made me think: "You know, when those wrecks are happening, you can't say anything, but if a guy can walk away, its pretty easy to joke about." I am really glad I walked away. Dad promptly asked me why I didn't fill in my divot. Uncle Reed was there too and he had some wise cracks to offer. Its just amazing that no one in our family has made a career as a stand up comedian...
For those of you who don't know, I practice law with a gentleman who is 83 years old. He and I were talking about life insurance one day and he told me I better have a good plan if I keep riding "those damn horses." At one point we joked about me dying before him because of my desire to ride.
Well, here in a while I am going to have to get up from bed and I will, but I might be rolling out of bed and onto the floor instead of my usual "hopping out of bed." Lets just hope I can still do the roll...

Four Years! - The Celebration

2011-04-02T19:13:00.001-07:00

On February 24th, 2011 McCord and I celebrated our anniversary. It goes by so fast! I know four years seems simple, and for most, it is. But considering societies stance on marriage, I think every anniversary is something to be celebrated and cherished. I watched my parents marriage fall apart and disintegrate, and therefore, my family. I vowed to myself long before I considered marriage that that would never happen to me. I also vowed that my spouse would absolutely agree with my standards. Luckily, I found and married that person. It has never been an issue, and we continue to make sure that divorce will never be an option.

So anyway, we decided to take the weekend off and spend some child free time together. In a small, nearby out-in-the-boonies town called Almo, there is a little hotel, restaurant, and hot springs. They had a Love package for the month of February (ya know, Valentines Day) and we scooped it up for our anniversary. Harrison stayed with McCord's parents. Of course, the weather was awful. Snowing, blowing, drifting and COLD. We almost didn't make it out the driveway. But we made it to Almo just 40 minutes before the restaurant closed. Hallelujah! I was starving. We enjoyed a meal of salmon, steak sandwich, dutch oven potatoes, and pioneer puddin'. What the heck is that?
Pioneed Puddin' consists of spice cake, raisins, walnuts, and some type of caramel-y puddin' sauce. Topped with ice cream. Gross as is sounds, its actually quite tasty.

We then commenced to our hotel.

P.S. The couch was so fluffy! We just sorta sank into the pillows, and it consumed all desire to ever move again. Also, the sheepskin blankets hanging over the chair and arm rest are soooo soft!! I wanted to take one home.

The wood on the table and chairs were just beautiful. Standing on the table is a book/journal for guests to write about their adventures during their stay. Some were very interesting.

This tub was huge! And it was jetted :) Saturday morning I spent a good hour in there. I was feeling really sick, and the most comforting thing for me is a hot bath. I also didn't sleep well, so again, the hot bath is relaxing.

The only disappointing thing about our room was there was no Bible. It was the first thing I expected to see in the drawer, but no such luck. Just about all cowboys acknowledge the existence of a higher power, not all, but a lot. I just found it strange, that's all. *EDITED: Ok, nevermind. McCord says cowboys didn't read the Bible, just had faith and belief in a higher power.
I love the detail on this ottoman! Plus, it was huge and very soft.
They had some gorgeous artwork, and the books are real (in the basket on the floor). Interesting old western stories.

By now it sounds like I'm an advertising ad, but seriously, this is a great little stop in Southern Idaho. I would love to just spend a week there. The food is home grown fantastic, the rooms are comfy and again, very home-like, and the springs are fabulous. We didn't go to the springs because I was still fight an UTI. We've been several times before, and it is always enjoyable. If anyone is looking for a quick weekend getaway, this is it!

Some things that we learned: Make plans to be in Almo four hours before your intended ETA. Especially if there's snow.

Take food/snacks with you. Each room has a microwave and mini fridge, plates, silverware and cups. We had to leave a day early because I was so sick, partly from the infection and pregnancy, and partly from a lack of nutrition. The gas stations are sparsely prepared for meals.

Don't go unless you can absolutely get in the hot springs. That was a huge bummer.

We were also thinking that it might be fun to get a group of us a go together. The hotel set up is like an old 1800's building. There are 11 rooms, two of which are 2 story, and there are three separate cabins. The cabins have just one bed (queen) and a cast iron tub. I think the two stories have 5 or 6 beds.

So, who's in?

Conference Saturday

2011-04-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

Truthfully, I wasn't much looking forward to this weekend. Not because of Conference. Heavens no! I love listening to Conference. But it was because there are so many items on my honey-do list. Silly, little, insignificant tasks that were just crawling under my skin to be done. I don't like housework and chores to interfere with Conference. Since both require a substantial bit of time, one had to be sacrificed. Guess who won. And, the wind picked up and the clouds began looming. We had two beautiful days, and now, the gloom has returned. Blah.

On a happier note, we are starting to help Harrison handle his aggression and anger. He still bangs his head (which resulted in a black eye), and scratches his face, but we are learning what best helps to calm him. And unfortunately, we are also learning about discipline methods. I really thought that talking things through would be the best way to help him understand his actions and consequences. This time, experience is really the best teacher. Go ahead and laugh at my naivety. I still am. I also am giving him two options and letting him make the choice, but I think sometimes it confuses him.

The little stink bug LOVES to watch his 'truck' movie (Hatari!). It's a John Wayne film. Surprised? You shouldn't be. It's a good film. Go watch it.

His speech is also coming along. He won't speak in phrases, just a one word, or sometimes syllable mumble. He will say whatever word we ask him to, but somehow we never hear them unless we ask. But he certainly likes to tell stories about cars and trucks and Ba-BOOM BOOM!! Your dead. Then, car, truck BA-BOOM!!

At bedtime he loves to hear the story of Noah and the Ark. I partially believe it's because I cannot accurately and completely tell any other Old Testament story. I tried Joseph and Moses, but I still became a stuttering mess. Shame on me.

Harrison loves to help me cook. Every morning he stirs the egg and milk for scrabbled eggs, and puts the bread in the toaster. Any time I stand near the sink and oven he needs to be sitting on the counter, watching and helping. I really hope this transforms into a life long love for cooking; heaven knows I certainly did not obtain it. And the best part? I can cook a full meal with about three square feet of counter space. I thought the counters were slim in our first Moscow appt, but these are even worse! Actually, I would have more space if Harrison could 'cook' at the table, but really, that's no fun.

Well, Mac's home from the Priesthood Session. Night, y'all.

Short and Sweet

2011-03-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

As you may have guessed from our month long absence, I have not begun to feel better. Still nauseated, my veins are throbbing, and I get horrible headaches that sometimes leave me dizzy. Not to mention the exhaustion. I thought these things went away during the second trimester? Now, I'm not trying to sound whiny, but seriously, I'm am so mentally over this part of pregnancy. It's not enjoyable, nor do I look forward to progressing if these shenanigans don't stop. Two weeks after my first UTI a second came 'round. I kind of think the first one was never fully gone. Thankfully, I learned to act quick before things got out of hand. Another dose of antibiotics and I'm good to go. I called the Ob-gyn's office to make an appointment and guess what they told me? The doctor did not have a new ob patient opening until April 19th. I would be twenty weeks by then! This just will not do. I just need to see the doc and have him tell me everything is healthy and normal. I really don't think there is much cause for alarm, but somedays I do get a bit worried about the baby. I feel like it's right under my belly button, but that seems too high for how far along we are. I would just like some conformation for worries put to rest.

Harrison has been acting way out of whack. He won't put himself to sleep, and screams if anything does not go his way. Everyone keeps telling me it's the terrible twos, but I feel like it came outta nowhere! All he wants to do is watch movies, which is partially my fault for those weeks spent on the couch. The poor kid has been so neglected. But with the sun returning and warming temps, we have been outside more and we both feel better.

My sweet baby sister came over tonight and brought dinner. Mac is outta town for business until tomorrow, and today was a very nauseating day for me. So he sent her over to take care of me

Most excitingly for me, I have been chosen to be part of my local scrapbook stores Design Team. Each month I receive a paper packet and a challenge. I have two weeks to design four or more projects, to which they are turned in and displayed at the store. As an extra bonus, I get to preview all the new goodies coming in! Mac is a bit worried, because my crafting budgeting has been growing and growing. But I can stand within reason and still push the creative edge. So, you will see some of my projects posted here on the blog, and on their Facebook page. I will try to be better at taking pictures along the way so there's not too much confusion with instructions :) We will have blog hops and other fun challenges throughout the year. Feel free to hop in even if this is not your thing!

Next week, I am going to start working on a Halloween home decor project I've had brewing in my mind. I know it's early, but Halloween projects are due right around my due date, so the more I can do now, the better.

I just have to say again how excited I am for this! 2011 is going to be a great year! We have already been so blessed, and we continue to feel the optimism and hope we are striving for.

Four Years!

2011-02-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

Today is the Four Year Anniversary of Olivia and I entering into the most important contract ever: Marriage. Its been a wild ride and we've has some crazy good times along with some rough stuff. The best is yet to come, I am sure.

Baby news

2011-02-17T18:03:00.001-08:00

Before I get into the baby q & a, I just want to say a little something about McCord. Last night after a blessing and uncontrollable vomiting (TMI warning: I puked so hard it gave me a bloody nose. That's gotta be one for the books), I woke Mac up around 1:15 am and told him we need to go to the ER. It was happening again, and I couldn't stop. We got dressed, woke Harrison, and took off. After admission into the ER, the nurses took urine and blood samples. By this time it was about 2:30 and even the staff was looking a bit weary. The nurse told me that we had come just after they had three critical patients arrive around the same time, were stabilized, and released into another wing. This was a three hour process. She also said there were people waiting in line to be seen, but went home because they had waited for so long. I guess two in the morning wasn't so bad after all :)

Anyway, I again have a UTI but no other concerns. My fluids were stable and the baby is just fine. I'm taking antibiotics and a magical little pill to control nausea. All is well. And thank heavens for modern medicine. I can't imagine how women do without so much, how they survive without medicines. It is simply a miracle. I really thought if I monitored my food and water intake much closer that this would not happen. But I hope this is the last time I have to do that.

I just want to say how much I love McCord. I knew he was exhausted but still took care of me and the boy, even in the wee hours of the morning. We didn't get to bed until after four. Luckily, he had no appointments until the afternoon so he cared for us and ran to the store and pharmacy for me while I slept. It just really puts into perspective how blessed I am for finding such a wonderful man. Heavenly Father knew what we both needed and brought us together for the long haul. I love him so much, and I keep telling him how sorry I am for this. And I may even feel a little guilt for being so helpless. He usually gets upset and tells me to stop saying those things. But I really feel so much gratitude for his patience with me and willingness to care for me even when he's wicked tired. I love you muchos!

Ok, now on to the babe. I haven't seen anyone yet, but I'm due mid-September. That puts me around 11 weeks. The nurse searched for a heartbeat last night, but the darn thing kept moving around. I'm not too worried as this happened with H-bomb and he was perfectly healthy. So hopefully we will have some photos and more details to share in the next few weeks. We had to start telling family early because everyone was suspicious. The flu bug for four weeks and the prescriptions weren't helping? Yah, that didn't last for long. And of course, once one person figured it out, there was no secret any more.

I have been much sicker with this one than I remember with Harrison. Did anyone else get more sick the next time around? I keep telling myself it will all be fine and eventually I will feel healthy and energized again.

We are so excited to expand and bring another sweet spirit to the earth. I love being mommy to our funny little boy. I can't help but feel so much love for this one already, and really hope that I enjoy this journey more than I did before. I completely understand why some people choose to have so many children. They are truly the source of happiness and humility. My only worry is that one child may feel neglected over the other, and I won't notice. But of course that comes along with the usual stuff like, "Will I ever be able to shop again? Will I be able to have friends and a social life? There's noooo way these are gunna fit... Goodbye Nordstrom Rack clothes" and so on. I find confidence in watching other families, especially ones with small children. I really do love my family and the opportunity to be a mother. It is such a blessing to be able to bear and rear them, without too many health concerns :)

Harrison's big news...

2011-02-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

Harrison Walbridge Larsen is pleased to announce that he is going to be a Big Brother! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

The Above Photo...

2011-02-12T22:05:00.001-08:00

This post is to preemptively honor my wife for the four years she has put up with me. It is not hard to see the changes in our lives as we constantly grow together. I love you, dear.

Yes, it's true, I broke my resolution.

2011-02-07T12:37:00.001-08:00

As you have already guessed, my new year's resolution went down the drain. But, I am not giving up hope that I can still continue and be successful. I've decided Sundays are not good days to update. We're tired, cranky, and hungry. So, I'm going to update sometime during the week. Maybe shorter but more frequent posts will be better? Let's give it a go.

Mac has been getting up way too early for court and I'm about ready to call them and tell them he's not allowed to have court before 10 am. He wakes early, hence I wake early. Not cool.

(Two headbands, one shoe, my iPhone, and smeared chocolate. This kids livin' the life.)

H-bomb has been throwing all sorts of tantrums and most times I don't know how to handle them. It's quite frightening as a mother when you can't figure out how to calm your child. Moms, give me some discipline tips. We've got to find something that doesn't make both of us start screaming and crying. And he still bangs his head when he's mad. How do I get rid of that?

Other than that, he's a pretty helpful guy. He has emptied three tubs of baby wipes in his efforts to be a big boy. While I generally appreciate his desire to contribute, I don't like buying all those extra wipes. And he loves to clean with our toothbrushes. Those get expensive, too.

Most mornings he asks to watch "howrse". What's that, you ask? It won't be anything you'd imagine relating to most equine shows. And the strange part of it all, he will sit and watch the rest of the show. He loves to dance to all the music, and scorn all the actors. And he generally gets upset if I stop the movie short, as if he really follows the story line. So, what is this captivating movie?

Why, it's BBC's Pride and Prejudice of course. I think he calls it howrse because of the opening scene, where Darcy and Bingley ride across the field to view Netherfield. That's the only reason I can think of. I even tried showing other horse themed movies, but he was not impressed.

I have been chasing the boy around. And also my sister. She plays high school BBall, and the season (thankfully) just ended. So in between games, school, and work she asks to practice driving. Again, thankfully, she just got her license. Which is great because Harrison LOVES his aunt Sara. Two weeks ago she baby sat him while we went to the movies (In case you were wondering, we saw True Grit; it's a good show). For the next week, he would ask about Sara all day, everyday. At breakfast, he'll point at the window, squint his eyes and say "sawah" in a sad and longing voice. In the middle of crashing his trucks, "sawah". It's died down a bit, but every so often he asks about her. What a punk.

I've also been practicing a bit more because I have been called as the primary pianist. It's actually a fairly easy job, especially if I've practiced. And it's repetitious, so even if I'm not familiar with the song, I will be by the end of singing time. The only thing that makes me nervous is the Sacrament Program, but it's too early to worry much about that.

There's also this stray kitty that won't stop meowing at our back door. I let her in once and now she won't give up! Last night she climbed up our screen door and pushed through a small hole in the screen to get into the house. She was successful. Now, it's a big hole. And McCord might have permission to shoot her. Might. She is generally sweet and affectionate, but more annoying than anything. I will give her one point because Harrison can kick, pull, strangle, and otherwise maul her and she's still nice to him. No claws, no hissing, no swatting. I'm sure she would make a great pet. Anybody want a cat? Cause we sure don't....

2011-01-15T16:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a long week. Does anybody else feel that way?

Ugh. So glad it's almost over. Today, however, was great! Mac took the boy for the afternoon while I went to a little women's conference with the other ward. It was uplifting, hopeful, funny, filling (with lots of food, too) and all around enjoyable. The best part? My friend Kylie from high school who I haven't seen since graduation was there! Ack! So excited! We commenced chatting and almost talked right through the last talk. She is such a sweet gal, and has such a creative and thoughtful heart. It was sooo good!

I spent my week watching lots of movies and snuggling with Harrison. We haven't been feeling well. The flu bug is going around, so we (Harrison and I) basically quarantined ourselves and left only for the basics like milk and apples. I really do not want to get sick, nor have a sick child. And honestly, staying at home for days at a time was mostly enjoyable, although we did get a little cabin fever. I didn't do my hair, or put amy makeup on. The housework was minimal and it didn't bother me much that it was messy. But next time I think I'll just take lots more Vitamin C. It was great to not have errands or other items to attend to, but staying inside for that long drives everybody bonkers. The really bad thing is I didn't exercise much and now I feel lethargic and sluggish. I get out of breath walking up and down the stairs, but that's because I'm holding H-bomb. He has this thing where he wants to be a big boy and walk up and down the stairs while holding my hand. I guess the rail is too high? Anyway, I understand that it's important to help them be independent and encourage them to be proactive, but I get so impatient. Especially on our basement stairs because they are steep and narrow, and makes independent stair travel difficult for Harrison. So naturally he enlists my help. I almost patiently wait for him to take the first two steps, then the third, and by the fourth I've had it. I either pick him up or leave him to get there alone. Great parenting, huh?

Buuuutt, let's be honest. I really am out. of. shape.

Sad day.

Poor McCord has been working lots of long hours, and seems a bit stressed out. My only reply is that maybe it's time to go to the temple again. We had calming answers the last time we went. As soon as we can locate a babysitter, and the temple reopens, we are there.

My little babe fell asleep with me on the couch, so I left him there. He was so sweet and serene, I just couldn't bring myself to move him. Unfortunately that was a bad idea. All week he would get his horse and blanket and crawl up on the couch asking for milk. He seems to think that's his new nap time routine.

I know the focus is bad, but his hair was SUPER static-y. These dang couches create all sorts of static electricity and then shock the heck outta ya. It's getting to be very annoying.

I am finally remembering all the new words H-bomb is saying, so here they are: howse, milk, boot, yummy, candy, gum (or yum), coat, bum, poop, yuck, oh no, oo go? (as in 'where'd it go' complete with gestures), baby, howrse, kitty, puppy, the occasional amen, bootk, ah some? and a few others. Can you tell what we love at our house? Sweets and potty talk. Yup, we are starting the vocabulary and conscious realizations of bowel movements. He's had some constipation, so this has really helped us.

Harrison is attacking so I must retire to defend myself.

Week 2

2011-01-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

This is Sapphie. She was my kitty as a child. Unfortunately she had to be put down this week. I cried. Now before you go thinkin' I'm silly and a bit crazy, let me tell you about her. A good friend found her in the parking lot at work abused and abandoned. We took her in and a few months later she had kittens! Yay! We kept them around for a few years and even moved them across the country with us (New Hampshire to Idaho). And there she has stayed. She survived the evil neighbor's cat killings, five pesky children and their friends, and numerous other cats we adopted. She was one tough kitty. And smart, figuring out how to open doors and food packages, avoid the house during all hours of the day, and keeping the local mouse, bird, and squirrel populations at bay.

I know most people find cats annoying and downright useless *McCord*, but she was 14 years old, healthy, and active up until about a year ago. And she had the coolest lime green eyes! Plus, my first word was kitty. I spent the first years of my life chasing and terrorizing cats until their untimely deaths. Except for Sapphie. She managed to escape my wrath.

Goodbye Kitty.

H-bomb has learned some new words, but rarely says them. He has also started to fold his arms for prayers again, which makes a momma proud. I just don't understand why he stopped in the first place. But he's back at it and we are happy. He loves to help me clean and often pulls out the Lysol wipes or baby wipes to help with everything, including cardboard boxes and his clothes. It gets smeared across the couches, windows and mirrors, toys, chairs, cards, floors, doors, cupboards, etc. He loves to put the dryer sheet in the dryer and close the door. I think this is my favorite of all, except when he closes the door before everything is in, or out. We're both learning patience. He frequently takes his diaper off, even in public, loves toilet water, and all things that go Vrroom, bang, or boom. What a boy.

He fell asleep with the stick of jerky still in his mouth while en route to Boise two weeks ago. Baby son and I went to spend some time with my mom and Reed. We did lots of shopping and eating! I brought P & P with me to watch, but as fate would have it I left the second disk at home. Huge bummer. Reed was the greatest guy! He followed us around all the days and watched Harrison while we tried on clothes. No complaining or whining, just as long as he choose the food. Simple and easy to please. We had a great time.

McCord is working, and that is all he has to say. He's also been helping with Cody the horse. You see, he also has a brother named Cody, so it's important to be specific. The horse's hoof got an infection in the hoof wall and it swelled half way up his leg. The vet lanced and drained it, but the sore is continually swelling and draining, so the bandages must be frequently changed. Gross.

I have been chasing the boys, and enjoying much Pride and Prejudice, the Colin Firth version. We also visit my Grandparents quite a bit. Grandpa Mark has had some health issues that landed him in the ICU for nearly three weeks. Then they moved him to Park View Rehab Center, where he stayed for a week. And he finally came home this week. He's very medicated and weak, but we're hoping Grandma can whip him back into shape soon. It's been very stressful for her, and I think they are setting up home hospice care soon. My Aunt June is visiting from Washington for a while to help with all the transitions. It's been so fun laughing with her.

We spent the weekend in Boise for our nephew's baptism. I just love going to baptisms and being reminded of my experience. It was by no means great, nor do I remember a lot. But I love sharing the Spirit with them, and experiencing the growth and changes with them and their families.

H-bomb did not much care for sleeping in the toy closet while we were there. Don't worry, the closet it just shy of a small bedroom. He woke up screaming a few times, mostly because it was freezing in the room. After waking up several times, we brought him into bed with us. BAD idea. He kicked, punched and rolled all over us while taking away our precious blankets. We froze. He slept. All on a couch pull out bed. I am quite looking forward to our TempurPedic tonight.

Mac took Riley, his brother, shooting and brought along the Mag Research 45/70 revolver, and the Ruger Single Six. Mac will entertain you on the details later.

After the baptism and luncheon, Riley's wife Allison, took all the ladies to a new home decor boutique in Star called The Umbrella Bird. They have some great stuff! And best of all, it's very reasonably priced. A large china hutch was under $600 and made of real wood! All of their furniture pieces are made from wood reclaimed from old barns in Pennsylvania. If you live the Ada county, or visit, go see this place. It's not large by any means, but they do have some unique pieces for good prices. I bought two glass cake stands for under $30. And both have beautiful details.

In most recent news, our ward boundaries have changed. It seems to happen everywhere we go, usually after we've settled for a while. I understand that there is something to be learned and appreciated about these things, but can't we just stay in one ward for awhile? I just want things to stay the same for a while. Does anybody else feel this way? McCord suggested we move to Grouse Creek, but there is no way I am moving out there. Just see if you can find it on the satellite map. And then look how far away it is from any other town. No way Jose. Not gunna do it. We retained some friends and neighbors. Mac is just happy we're not in the same ward as the city prosecutor (he lives in the other ward). They are not the best of friends. Overall, I think it should be okay. A house we have thought about is now in our ward boundaries, so maybe this will be a good thing.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

Here we are, another year. Yahoo. We're not much for resolutions because in Mac's opinion, if there's something you want to change, just do it. You shouldn't have to wait for a New Year. And of course, this is cowboy philosophy from Hoggie (pronounced like the sandwich), an old ropin' buddy and neighbor.

In light of all that, I would like to announce that my determination for this year is to be a better record keeper. I think if I start blogging once a week, I should get most things covered, right? Right. And Harrison's scrapbook is about halfway done, so I want to be caught up by his birthday in May. Simple, and accomplishable.

The baby son is telling us 'no' and 'no'. You see, he has yes and no confused. It all depends on his tone. Sometimes it's yes, and others its no. Usually he will sign please if it's a yes. Then I know to proceed. But even then it's a struggle. His words are coming along, although it takes a week to finally understand what he's saying. I love that little stinkbug.

He LOOOVES blocks, in all forms. While making chocolates a few weeks ago, he emptied out the bottom shelves from the pantry and began stacking all the items one on top of the next. And even better, he unstacked them and put them back on the shelves. Yes! The kid is so smart! Unfortunately the cleaning experience did not last long, and I now have to drag him through the living room while he "puts" his toys away (read: throws them at me in anger). Oiy. This could be a long night.

Once we discovered his new fascination I emptied most of his toys in preparation for his Christmas Legos. I think I shall take the remaining toys and hide them. He just dumps them out and scatters them across the house. The Legos are all that matter. It's serious business, yo.

We still read quite a bit, and can even spend up to an hour going through his most favorites: Rainbow Rob, That's not My Reindeer, Red Tractor, The Foot Book, But Not the Hippopotamus and all other Sandra Boyton stories, Goodnight Johnny Tractor (it glows in the dark!), and anything relating to the farm or animals. I love it when I find him reading to himself. It makes a momma proud.

The other night we took a drive out to a house near Rock Creek to see all the lights. It is AH-mazing! Thousands of light and animated characters. Santa was even there with candy canes and Ho-Ho-Ho's. This welcomes you as you walk down towards the scenery.

The pretty Angel

A string of cowboy lights. Some others were martini glasses, cheeseburgers and fries, Coke glasses, farm animals, shotgun shells, guns, Pillsbury Dough Boy, etc. There were a LOT of these string lights.

Here are a few poorly done video's of our adventure. The first one is the house. It was COVERED. Top to Bottom. And I should mention, that these photo's and movie were taken with Mac's iPhone, thus the poor quality and small screen. Just watch it a couple times to see all the characters on the roof.

Oh, and they have a camel! He doesn't much care for the flash. But you can feed him a carrot. He's very friendly, and quite large, and is about to celebrate his twelfth birthday! Happy Birthday, Camel!

We had an excellent time, although both of us were exhausted. He had helped his parents rip out the kitchen and wall to remodel, and I had watched two kids from our ward who just welcomed twin girls a few weeks ago. The little boy and the twins are 18 mo's apart. Yikes. And they were in no way planned. Poor momma. But she looks fabulous and even wears makeup. Seriously my hero. But their 6 yr. old was a huge help, and actually took more energy to entertain than the two 19 mo. olds. She told me at church that she wants to come to my house again. I told her it's a date.

Well that's Larsen Land for December. Oh, I guess there is Christmas. Here's the breakdown: Christmas Eve Day Mac had to meet with a client while I gathered my wits for the weekend. Christmas Eve was spent eating lots of food with both families. Christmas Day we opened gifts at our house. From there we went to mi madre's to open gifts and eat brunch. Thence to the Larsen's to open gifts. And on to my great g-ma's for early dinner and an evening of self indulgence. I think I'm still full. We had a great time visiting and eating, laughing, eating, and eating some more. But I'm so glad that's over, and we shall never celebrate like that again. One day with one side, the next with the other. That was just ridiculous. And I'm still exhausted. Sunday I substituted in Primary while the chorister prepped for surgery. Christmas should never be on Saturday, especially when we had 9 am church. So let it be written; so let it be done. (Name that movie).

Addios, muchachos.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-24T05:40:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would take a quick second, before I start what might become a hectic day, to wish y'all a merry Christmas. It has been a great year and I am glad we are finally where we are. We have been blessed by family and friends, in ways too numerous to list. Let me just say that without all of you, none of what we do would be possible.
Quick update on the McCord Larsen Family: I have been helping Mom and Dad a little by tearing out the Kitchen in their house. When we are done, Mom will have a huge kitchen. It really has been a heck of a project. I am also training a new horse to rope, his name is Spooky, and he is about 14.1 hands and 10 year old. Jet black with the cutest little head ever. He is Darwin Jensen's horse, and a stud, but you would never know he is a stud, he is pretty flippin' gentle. I think he will come right along.
Olivia has been busy the last week making Christmas Chocolates with her mother. They made a metric ton of candy this year, which is always raved about by whoever receives it. She also has been busy with decorating our little home with the limited resources we have. She does such a great job.
Harrison has figured out that shaking his head means something, unfortunately, he thinks it means "yes." So, you can ask him if he wants more candy and he will violently shake his head and sign "please." It is a bit confusing, and very funny. He enjoyed the lights when we went to Rock Creek and he LOVED the camel. I think this kid has the same problem his parents have, but worse: he loves animals. (Olivia likes "pets" and I like stock animals, Harrison likes them all).
Pictures to follow, hopefully...

We're mobile!!!

2010-12-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

FYI: the reason for the text color change is so things can be read on iPhones, iPads and Blackberrys. Olivia didn't sound too excited about the deal, but now we can read it from mobile devices, so check us out on the bus, train or plane. Please don't blog and drive, I mean, I could defend you, but I'd rather you spent you're money on Christmas for the kids...

Some gifts...

2010-12-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

Not to sound ungrateful, but nobody told me that the little rider toy that Alison and Riley gave Harrison was a talking toy. Not only does it talk, but it is bilingual. I do not mind that fact, I think a little second language is good for the boy, but the damn toy is stuck in Spanish. He's only been riding it for 10 minutes this morning and I am ready to set it on fire!
Seriously though, life in the Larsen home has been good. We are safe and warm and you cannot really ask for more. I have been working like a red-headed stepchild and learning a lot. I have cases in all sorts of areas of the law, it really is fun not knowing what will come through the door next, but it does mean I have to say something most attorneys never want to say to a client: "I don't know..." There just is so much out there to know. The fun part is, despite what D-Mac at U of I Law said, that in a small town people are okay with that.
Just FYI to all those traveling through Southern Idaho this season: please feel free to stop by! We do miss our friends from all parts of our life together, those from childhood all the way through law skool. Just give us a holler, we can meet up for a meal out by the freeway if you want, or you can come way off the beaten path and visit our humble home.
Hope all of you are doing well this Christmas Season. I hope Olivia makes a post with her decorations, she is having a good time decking our halls, or hall, as it is.

CHEESE!

2010-11-24T10:09:00.001-08:00

So here we are, just before Thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for. Firstly, McCord passed the Bar and is working. A Lot.

Next, our families is taking such good care of us. Vance and Joan are letting us stay in the house until the spring so the business can get rolling. Unfortunately I am too lazy to unpack to boxes that have been sitting downstairs since May. We can deal.

We also are invited to dinners quite often, which means I don't have to cook and cleanup is minimal :)

Third, for this little stinkbug:

He's recently learned to "cheese" it. Don't know where, or how because I'm sure we didn't teach him that. Smart little kid will say cheese every time the camera or our phones come out. And he must use real utensils to eat. None of that small colored plastic stuff. Hence the splattering of chocolate pudding all over his face and clothes. Ahhh, but I love this kid. Every night we snuggle up before bed and identify facial features and body parts. He understands them all, except his belly button. It is regularly confused with mans unmentionables. I don't understand it. But we're learning. And I love it.

Last, but not least, the gospel. As we've struggled to make ends meet these past few months I keep referring to my patriarchal blessing for comfort. There's been a few weeks where there was nothing (in monetary terms). McCord's pickup has been in the shop for two months and still there was nothing. I honestly don't know how people can make it through without the knowledge that Christ lives, he loves us, and will help us if we are obedient and faithful. We have scriptures to guide and direct us, to find answers and comfort.

I really love our ward. They have been so sweet and supportive. I especially love their stories and testimonies. I find such comfort in hearing their woes and sorrows only to find that because of their faithfulness, all things came out ok. Not perfect, but just enough to grow. These little trails are preparing us for some big trial, or mid life crisis, in order for us to be more obedient and faithful. Heavenly Father has something waiting for us to receive and wants us to fully appreciate his blessings.

So there we are folks. In Burley and lovin life. But not this weather.

Really? It just had to be windy and snowing and freezing cold for Thanksgiving?

Ridiculous.

I guess it's time...

2010-08-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

For a new post. We're lame, I know. Since April we have done many a things. Mac graduated from Law school (hooray!). I am so proud of him and all the work he put in to provide for his family. I hope he knows how much I love him and that Harrison loves him. This family would surely fall apart without your level head (or at least I would). The real stress set in as he began to study for the Bar. Admittedly I think it went a lot better than I expected, but McCord tells me I'm crazy so... maybe it was that bad. He did really well staying focused (he studied at home) and keeping his cool. It was nice to have him around for lunch. We watched Arrested Development and King of the Hill and watched Harrison dance to the music of the opening and closing credits. That kid is nuts! The Bar is now over and now we get to play the awful game of waiting. September 16th come quick! In the mean time he is working with local attorney James Annest, who is 83 and thinking he'd like to retire in three years... yeah... So we'll see where that takes us.

Harrison loves being around his grandma's and grandpa and great grandparents (he has two sets of each within a 2 mile radius of eachother). They love on him and spoil him so much it's almost disgusting. Although I am quite impartial being his mother and all, so of course I love his kisses and hugs and almost become jealous when he doesn't share them with me. He's become quite the ladies man over the past few weeks. He runs around giving hugs and kisses and does he's fake cheesy laugh all the while. He's such a goof, but he my goof and I love it! I think I am finally starting to really enjoy being a mother. I miss the days of his smallness and neediness but am so thrilled to watch him play and learn and grow everyday. Sometimes I miss working, but being home with Harrison has been so fulfilling. I love this little man and want to enjoy all his quirks and giggles before he's too cool for me. He turned one in May and his birthday was actually kinda sad. We celebrated in the backyard after the graduation ceremony with our families. Harrison was so tired by then that he looked at his cake, poked it a few times, then started to cry. He didn't open presents, and was not in the least interested in having ice cream. I just took him up stairs, bathed him, then we sat down for a long snuggle. I think he was a bit overwhelmed with all the excitement, and really really tired. He had a few gifts from Pat and Tim and his cousins that we opened the next morning. I think his cousins were more interested in the toys that he was, but he's coming to really love his stick horse. It broke my heart to have such a disappointing birthday, but I guess it won't matter that much because he won't remember. Oh well. Maybe next year...

After the cake, everyone else headed down to the shed and loaded our stuff into the horse trailer. I had almost all of our stuff boxed and ready to load when everyone arrived. Mac's parents took the trailer down for us, and whatever else we had went into the pickup. And let me tell ya, it was a VERY full pickup. I barely had room for my feet.

So here is the long anticipated list of Harrison's latest and greatest:

loves his horse and kitty, and tries very hard to make their respective noises
he's really beginning to love books and pulls his favorites around all day (he'll bring them to me then turn around and wait for me to put him on my lap)
loves to play with: toothbrushes, paintbrushes, any of my crafting supplies, cups, the diaper bag, canned foods, books, horses, kitties or any other soft stuffed animal, sticks or anything resembling, the stroller, anything he can lift and carry or push/pull, his high chair, straws, our clothes, ropes, Grandpa's steers and horses, the dirt and all other ingredients found in the arena, swings, the slide, the trampoline, sprinklers, puddles, plastic Tupperware and mixing bowls, Great-G-pa's cane and oxygen tube, toy cars/tractors/airplanes/etc, marbles, fake fruit, pots and pans.... and the list goes on. But those seem to be his most beloved :)
his appetite is growing and now likes: banana's (it's the first thing he grabs when we go to Grandma Larsen's), watermelon, apples, peaches, pears, grapes, cheerios, trix, rice krispies, kix and basically any cereal, cheese, graham crackers, chicken, granola bars, lifesaver mints or any other type of mint flavored item/ingestible (which includes, but is not limited to lip gloss, floss, and cleaning supplies), beans, rice, pasta, spinach, carrots, celery, cranberry juice, potatoes, chicken nuggets, fry sauce all by itself; French Dip sandwiches; he will basically try anything we give him, but hose are the basics.
He likes to flush the toilet and throw things in the bathtub. It's a good last place to look :)
watch food in the microwave and oven, especially his milk
he has a demanding need to watch as I cook, even if he gets burned or hurt.
fans and turning the lights on and off
play with any electronic device, and get especially mad when we take it away
plays telephone and we're trying to teach him to say hello in Japanese
eat the tree seeds he finds outside. it's quite disgusting.
or anything else he finds, including bird poop (he has yet to actually swallow), sticks, bugs (dead or alive), regurgitated grapes, and pocket fuzz.
playing in his poop during diaper changes
squealing when he likes something, yelling when he's mad
opening and closing the blinds
playing in the bathroom drawers, and sneakily hiding my makeup and hair products

Dislikes:

bedtime
changing clothes, although he is being to be more helpful putting his arms through
changing diapers
the car seat
time out
coming inside from playing in the puddles, or the road
spicy foods
lightening and thunder (we've had a lot of random thunder storms the past two weeks)
getting poked in the eye with his sticks
putting shoes on

That's all I can think of right now for his dislikes. Of course, you all know how mean mommies can be and that's really where the dislikes begin ;) He's also learned how to throw a really good temper tantrum and we love listening to that. His speech is improving and that mouth moves faster each day. He has lots of things to say, and someday, it'll be interesting to know what it all means. But for now, I'll enjoy my ignorance of his language :)

He's stared spinning in circles when he's trying to show off or really hyper/tired, which is so funny to watch. We'll get a video of his spinning soon. When he's mad, he'll scream and start to back up. I think we need to get him a beeping sensor so he knows when he'll hit his head. That darn kitchen table gets him all the time. I also think it's time for his first haircut. He gets mistaken for a girl all the time. I just don't want to because he has the cutest curls in the back! But it's time, especially because he has a sweet mullet designed all by nature. It looks so silly, but cute at the same time. I just love this little guy!

As for me, I've spent my time reading blogs, doing housework, and scrapbooking. I've also started couponing, but that's another post entirely. I've gotten so many pages done for H-bomb's scrapbook these last two months! I think it's true that using creativity begets more creativity. It's like a muscle, if you don't flex it and keep it in shape, you lose it. It gets weak and flimsy and its just better to keep in toned. So, that is my goal: to keep my creative muscles in shape. as for my physical muscles, well..... they stay in shape by hoisting Harrison and chasing him around ;) Good 'nuff, right? Right. I have about 5 lbs left to lose from being pregnant, but I'm not really concerned with that as much as fitting into the jeans I bought right before I found out I was pregnant. I can't let those beauties go to waste! They're the last real pair I've bought in almost two years! Except for those jeans I bought for my birthday.......... Do they have rehab for addiction to jeans? I think I should apply at the Buckle again. Or maybe just get some kind of job. Mac would greatly appreciate that. But for know I will wallow in self pity and have some ice cream. And hopefully, add another page to the scrapbooks!

So that's the latest and greatest from us. Pictures to follow....

Final Finals Weeks...

2010-04-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

I never thought it would come, but my last final is fast approaching, it is on Monday. I only have this one final and I am having a tough time getting up the "give a darn" to study for it. Personally, I think that it should be policy of the U of I College of Law to waive all finals for third year students. Not possible, but it'd be nice.
In other news, and probably more newsworthy, Olivia and Harrison are in Burley, on vacation. Olivia is actually doing recon work, checking out our rental and getting things in order for our move back to B-Town. FYI: we are moving after finals to Burley. I will study for the bar there and take it in Boise. We have rented a home south of town, thanks to very wonderful people. We will be in a Pella ward. After I take the bar, I am going to open my own solo practice. It is extremely scary, but pretty exciting.
Olivia and Baby Son will be home next Monday. Meanwhile they are staying with Grandma Risa and visiting with some of our family that is in Burley. Hopefully, Olivia will update as to her trip to Clovis, NM to visit my sister, Kresta, and her family. It sounds like it was quite the trip.
Also, Harrison is taking steps and making lots of noise. It is fun when Olivia gives him the phone and he laughs at me, or he giggles because he finally gets to hold the phone. I miss my little family, but it is okay, this will be over soon.
Well, this is a short update, but not too much has changed. Feel free to ask questions in the comment section, if needed. Thanks!

Wednesdays

2010-02-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

I have come to love Wednesdays this semester. Why? No class, that is why. It makes the week go by a ton faster to have a day in the middle that we treat kind of like Saturday. Today I studied for the MPRE, yes, I am taking it AGAIN. Sonuva! I am not to thrilled, but I am trying to study more this time. After I studied, we loaded up and went to Lewiston. We tried out a dry cleaner, at Pat and Tim's recommendation, Busy Bee. Seems pretty good. Then we hit up the only LDS bookstore within a few hundred miles. Then over to Costco, in Clarkston. It never ceases to amaze me how much we spend there, and how much we DON'T buy. But, you gotta love the dadgum pizza. Good stuff.
Sunday was interesting. Olivia and I had been asked to speak. She woke up sick, so I went to church alone. The Dan Bell family was also speaking (they did a great job). I spoke last. It was good to share the thoughts that I had. My subject matter was service, a topic that is quite dear to my heart. I think we all have room to improve. There are opportunities all around us. we should use them and serve our brothers and sisters.
Things are moving rapidly. Before you know it, I will be a Law Skool Grad. Pretty frickin crazy. I sure am glad this is almost over. This has not been an easy task, and I don't think I would want to do it again, but I am glad that I have plodded along and done it. MOst of the credit should go to Olivia and Harrison. If not for them, I think I would have picked up and left about two years ago. To all my young 1L friends I say: you are not the first to feel the way you do, many others have sat in your chair and taken the crap that is law school. They persevered and so can you. I am thankful for good friends who were inspired to say words of encouragement. Thank you very much. I hope all of you are well and that life is treating you kind. May the wind be at your back, the Sun shine on your face, and may the Good Lord take a liking to ya'll.

Hey! Do me a solid!

2010-01-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

For the sake of our marriage, would ya'll check out the link on the sidebar titled "Paper Pals." This is Olivia's favorite store and we are trying to help them get hits on their blog. It really is a nice scrapbooking store, and they really like Harrison, so what's not to love.
On another semi-unrelated note: we traveled to Lewiston/Clarkston today. We took Spiral Highway, otherwise known as the spaghetti road. It was neat. Heck, at the top is a boot shop/souvenir store. Stop in and see Melvin. He is a nice feller. Then we went allover the twin cities. Stops at Costco, Orchard's Pawn, Lolo Sporting Goods and Primeland Co-operative. Then we took 195 to Pullman, to Paper Pals. I think Olivia should post, so I am outta here.

Ah, Sunday Afternoon...

2010-01-17T18:22:00.001-08:00

I love Sunday. Many reasons for this, one being its the day to go to Church and enjoy the society of my fellow saints another is its really the only day Olivia and I get to spend a whole lot of time together. Right now she is playing the piano and Harrison is playing with a set of old license plates. Fun to watch? Yes. That little booger, earlier today, crawled up stairs at church. Now we really have to watch him!
Had a bit of a mix up this week, almost thought I was graduated. I thought I was at least 6 credits short, but the school academic advisor told me she thought i had enough credits to be finished. Visions of leaving Moscow and heading home to the Magic Valley filled my head. We got pretty excited. But, alas, she was wrong. I am actually 3 credits short of graduation. So, I will lighten my load and start to study for the bar.
I am going to try to post more often, and encourage Olivia to post her thoughts, even her "scrappy" ones. I don't know if we mentioned it, but she now has a 24" Cricut. It really is a neat machine, even if it cost an arm and a leg. Well, I am off to go to town to do a little HT. Have a nice day!

Well, it has really been a while...

2010-01-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the hiatus, things have been a little crazy around here. Harrison is crawling everywhere, and thus the need to move things has hit. We have also started bathing him in the kitchen sink, he loves playing in the water and letting me hose him down with the flex hose. He is just growing like a dadgum weed. Harrison also attended quite a few law school classes. Just like dad, he paid attention mostly, until he would fall asleep to the droning of the professor.
Olivia finished up a trying semester, it was kinda tough to balance all her piano classes/practice with taking care of Harrison. She was pretty busy (and a little strung out), so this semester she is working at the Kid Care department of the North Idaho Athletic Club. She has also been working out, as membership to the club is part of her wages. For Christmas she got a huge surprise: a Cricut (the BIG one)! I think she likes it...
This is my last semester of school, ever! (I hope.) I had a fun semester, still yet to see grades, but I did calculations to know that only if I got all D's would I flunk out, so I am pretty sure I am okay. I took a bankruptcy class with a lab, and believe it or not, I kinda enjoy bankruptcy. I may think it is foolish that the remedy exists, but since it does, I am okay with helping people use it. I also took water law 1 & 2. Very fun. Water law 1 was the first A grade to show up on my transcript, so far. I was pleased. Steve Carpenter and I did a project for Negotiation and Appropriate Dispute Resolution that "forced" us to go to Lewiston and watch a livestock auction. It was quite entertaining and good clean fun, I think we may have had the liveliest presentation, according to our classmates.
This semester I am taking a law practice management course, Advanced Bankruptcy, Water Policy and Property Securities. It should be a fun semester, at least sorta laid back, as compared to the rest of school. We will be posting pictures, and hopefully Olivia posts her own update, so you get her side of the story...
Well, thats all the news from Lake Woebegone, were all the men are handsome, the women are strong and all the children are above average.

LOVE this Layout

2009-10-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Isn't it just beautiful? Inspiration courtesy of Prima Matketing, Inc. You can find their blog here. I'll post a picture when I make my rendition of this, probably at a much later date. I'm such a lazy scrapper. But I love it!

McCord's take on his recent vacation...

2009-08-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well, we just rolled back into Moscow last night. We had a good ride. While we were gone a lot happened. I helped my dad work on his shop. (The wood and the steel for the shop are all from salvage jobs. Some of the wood came from the old Overland School. Some of the wood came from a potato cellar tear-down. The steel beam for the overhead door header is from the old Murtagh bridge. It is probably over 80 years old. No, my dad is not green, but the cost on all this stuff was low, it has cost him less than $600 for the wood and steel, for a shop that is 30x40' with 12.5' tall.) I also worked at Burley Refrigeration. That was fun. Sometimes I miss fixing things, but I always remember why I left that field.
I also got Forest started roping. It was not without events... He bucked with Annabelle (my niece) and she stuck it to him like a pro, for ten seconds. Then she made a hasty exit. We put her back on and she was shaking so bad, that Forest bucked again, harder. She really stayed in the middle, but came of when he went vertical. What an experience... I got on him and worked him over. I started roping on him the next night. I roped about 50 head on him while we were home. I would have taken him to the Big Dog, but two nights before the roping Forest went vertical on me and I thought it would be better to take a horse that was really broke. So I borrowed one from Mikey, a cute little paint mare. She was really fun. I made it to the short go with my cousin, Brandon. Had I caught 6 feet instead of 3, we would have won some cash. As it was, my buddy John ended up winning a little. It was great to see that happen.
There is more to this vacation, and I am sure Olivia and I will update this soon.

Harrison Update and Pictures

2009-07-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

So, it's been awhile... McCord finished his summer classes, and I'm finally feeling normal. Harrison is getting so big!

And he's Strong! He's already tying to pull himself to a sitting position while holding him, or whenever seated and he needs very little or no head support. Most recently, he has started to fight the car seat straps while he's buckled in. Every once and a while, while he's on his stomach, he'll kick so hard that it flips him onto his back! and I usually find him on his side after a nap (he sleeps on his tummy. I know, I know. they say he should sleep on his back, but he just does better on his tummy). His two month checkup was a couple of weeks ago, stats are as follows:

Head Circumference: 15 1/2" - 50th percentile
Length: 23 1/4" - 75th percentile
Weight: 13 lbs. 4 oz. - 90th percentile

Yup. He's a big boy! And I'm sure he's put on at least another 6 oz. since then, if not a pound. He also had his shots :( but he did very well; little fevering and he hardly bruised, which was great because most of the recovery time was spent in the car.

We left for Burley right after his appointment. By the time we got to Missoula, all three of us we're exhausted. We set up camp in Dillon around 1 am. In the morning all the bikers (they were Canadian!) just loved to hold Harrison. One guy was holding a Mike's Hard Lemonade and the rest of them looked like they needed one. They were nice people and quite chatty. It was so fun to listen to their accents! So then we were on our way to St. Anthony, ID to visit the Garrett's. Mac went on a crazy ride with Tyson and AJ in demolition derby car through a gravel pit. They thought they were going to die! And I watched Twilight for the first time. It was pretty good, I think I'll have to read the books. We really miss them, Mac and Ty have been friends since they were in diapers. Mac's mom and Tyson's dad were born on the same day, in the same hospital, so they have known each other forever. It was so good to see them again!

Back to Harrison... He smiles and coos all the time, we even have little "conversations". I just love it! Motherhood is finally starting to feel like more than just being a milk cow. Harrison recently decided that he doesn't care much for naps, so now he takes a solid 1-2 hour nap in the morning, and the occasional 1 hour in the afternoon. Yay for me.

I think traveling has something to do with it. Last weekend my sister-in-law's husband competed in the Spudman Triathalon. He is a Physician's Assistant in the Air Force, and will be deploying for Afghanistan in December after a month of weapons training in November. Now, everybody in the military has weapons training, but he has to learn a few new ones because he will be with a Special Forces unit, which means he will be traveling and working through combat zones instead of in a hospital. Scary. So this was one last thing to do before leaving. They live in Clovis, New Mexico, so it became a family event. Mac's brothers family's came down from the Boise area, and let me tell ya, it was one mad house. There were 10 children, 10 adults, and one infant in a 4 bedroom house. Utter chaos. But it was so great to have them around.

Harrison was blessed on Saturday the 25th of July, and it was such a beautiful blessing. I am so grateful to have a husband who honors and is worthy to hold the priesthood. It was so nice to have family here!

So to finish this unorganized and choppy post, here are some of Harrison's likes/dislikes:

- he loves to be snuggled, which I love

- he likes taking showers, and baths are growing on him

- he still doesn't care much for a pacifier :(

- he doesn't like the drive from Missoula, MT to Dillon, MT, or any other travel for that matter

- he may or may not like his car seat

- he loves to coo and smile, especially when mom is around

- he likes whipped cream and jello (in very, very small amounts)

- he doesn't like to be on his back for very long

- he likes rodeo's and fireworks

- he loves to be rocked to sleep by his daddy

I cannot believe how big he is getting! My love for him grows everyday, and I am so elated that I have been blessed by such a beautiful boy! He really is a good baby.

AND NOW A WORD FROM McCord:

Ditto to what Olivia says about our beautiful son. I love that little buckaroo. It really is great to have him as part of our family. It is great to know that I have such a wonderful wife and fantastic son.

I really do not want to return to Moscow. It has nothing to do with school or the stresses that are coming in the next year, but it is more that I will be leaving the land that I really love. I will miss roping and watching Forest progress (I might take him to a ropin' before we head back to Moscow). If I didn't know that this was what the Lord had in the cards for my little family, and without the support of my wife and the rest of our family and friends, I don't think I could do it. Thanks to all ya'll. Pictures of Forest and some of the other events are forthcoming...

His cute, chubby legs during a nap.

Our first family photo :)

Eight Years Ago...

2009-06-03T08:12:00.001-07:00

Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
when you're perfect in every way.
I can't wait to look in the mirror
cause I get better loking each day.
To know me is to love me
I must be a hell of a man.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
but I'm doing the best that I can.
I used to have a girlfriend
but she just couldn't compete
with all of these love starved women
who keep clamoring at my feet.
Well I prob'ly could find me another
but I guess they're all in awe of me.
Who cares, I never get lonesome
cause I treasure my own company.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
when you're perfect in every way,
I can't wait to look in the mirror
cause I get better looking each day
To know me is to love me
I must be a hell of a man.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
but I'm doing the best that I can.
I guess you could say I'm a loner,
a cowboy outlaw tough and proud.
I could have lots of friends if I want to
but then I wouldn't stand out from the crowd.
Some folks say that I'm egotistical.
Hell, I don't even know what that means.
I guess it has something to do with the way that I
fill out my skin tight blue jeans.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
when you're perfect in every way,
I can't wait to look in the mirror
cause I get better looking each day
To know me is to love me
I must be a hell of a man.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
but I'm doing the best that I can.
We're doing the best that we can.
-Oh, Lord, Its Hard to be Humble. Mac Davis

I used to sing this song, with a good friend, at the top of our lungs while warming up our horses before rodeos. I miss that friend, but i am thankful for his friendship, example and his great sense of humor. I live in the present, but it is necessary to sometimes look back on the past. Just remember that most of the important things come out in the wash, and that one of the best things in the world is a good laugh. Take care Mr. Perkins.

By the way...

2009-05-24T09:04:00.001-07:00

Olivia and I have been married for 27 months! It is our 27th monthaversary. I have a habit of celebrating every month how long we have been married, usually by taking her out to dinner. Today's celebration might just be going to Church.

Wally is growing, he is an eating machine! Consequently, he has made some awesome poops. I will be posting pictures soon that show some of our most recent baby purchases, including a baby wrap carrier, one size fits all and it has sequins!

Well, off to get ready for Church!

Settling in...

2009-05-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

We are starting to get in a routine with Harrison. He is eating more and Olivia is doing quite well. Right now both are asleep. I am not tired (crud, it is only 9pm). I thought I would give a quick update on things.

Today we took Harrison to his first doctor's appointment. He passed with flying colors. He turned bright red when the nurse took off his diaper to weigh him. He weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. He left the hospital at 7 lbs 6 oz. so we are gaining. You should have seen him yell, though. The color of his skin was red enough that I would have thought we dressed him in a WSU outfit, seriously, he was mad.

Last night we (Harrison and I) stayed in the new glider-rocker (thanks Grandma Holly and Grandpa Brent) until midnight. This is one nice chair, pictures will be forthcoming. Anyhow, we rocked for about two hours while Olivia took a much needed nap. Then we all laid down for sleep and Harrison woke up. Apparently he woke up every hour until 5am. I slept through all of those except the 5am call. Olivia handled it like a trooper, the only time she needed my help was with the 5am problem. Harrison slept better today and we even watched a movie tonight: Benny & Joon. That is a classic, Depp did a great job in that film.

Things are going good and we are slowly getting adapted and learning lots each day. This may sound corny, but this is one of the neatest things I have done. I hope all is well for all of you who are far from us, we miss all our friends that just left Moscow, as well as all our friends whom we have not seen for a long time, that goes ditto for all our family.

This weekend is Yard Day at Grandma Marj's. I wish I could be there, it really is one of my favorite traditions. There is nothing like getting together as a family and working. It is quite enjoyable.

Hiccups?

2009-05-18T04:23:00.000-07:00

So it was 4 in the morning and Olivia was feeding Wally, however, he just wouldn't latch on. So I took him and started tapping the air out of him. He promptly began hiccuping. This is probably the cutest set of hiccups I have ever heard. Sorry I didn't get audio, but next time, maybe.

We will be checking out of the hospital today and going home. Sorry about not being very contactable, we have been trying to feed/rest the last 24 hrs. and it has been a trip. I promise we will catch up with all our voice mails.

Olivia is sore and stiff, but otherwise pretty good. Wally is getting this eating thing figured out. Risa has been a huge help. Nothing like experience to help see when a baby is full of air/won't eat, what a good grandma!

Thanks for all the support, verbal and otherwise. Thanks for your continued prayers. We hope Wally's cousin, Austin, gets feeling better. We love all ya'll!

Pictures!!!

2009-05-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

The News

2009-05-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

Harrison Walbridge Larsen was born at 10:25 am, P.S.T., after 2.5 hours of serious and intense labor. Olivia was such a tough girl! She missed a really good opportunity to beat me like a red-headed stepchild, she never did, nor did she cuss at me, even when I said "Well, this ain't as bad as I thought it would be."

He is 20 inches tall, and 8 lbs. When the nurse handed him to me I told her that he was probably 8 pounds, since he felt about the same as my 1895 Marlin 45-70. I was spot on.

Risa was here for the whole festivities. She was extremely helpful when Olivia was trying to feed for the first time. I was way out of my league. I mean, getting a calf to take a bottle is nothing to trying to get a little feller to start feeding.

His picture will be coming soon to the Gritman Stork Report.

All is well and we will have more news, and pictures, soon.

Morning Update:

2009-05-16T06:44:00.001-07:00

No baby yet. However, things are still progressing. Will keep posting as things change...

Update:

2009-05-16T01:21:00.000-07:00

We are in the hospital. Olivia just got done with the epidural. I was helping her and all was well, then I woke up. I dozed off for a few seconds, notice, that was not fainted, I fell asleep. Olivia didn't notice and when I woke up things were done. She is resting and we are gonna see some action soon. She is at a 6 and the nurse, Sally, just put down the rubber sheets. We are gonna have a baby boy here before morning. He must be his daddy's boy, since I like to work at night... More to come soon.

Here's to Mom:

2009-05-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all Mom's.

Olivia is ready to be a mom, but Wally is not ready to be out yet. Olivia's feet and legs are swollen and she cannot get comfortable at all. Poor girl. We got pre-registered at the Hospital and took a tour of the facility. Quite the deal. I hope we get to return to the hospital soon, for Olivia's sake. Of course, the nurse giving our tour said that the baby knows when it is time and there is usually good reason why they do not come until they are ready.

I know Olivia will be a great mother. She has good examples: Risa (Olivia's Mom), Lois (Olivia's Maternal Grandma), Holly (my Mom), Jean (my maternal Grandma), Marj (my paternal Grandma), Devonie, Michelle, Lindsay, Pat, and all our other friends and relations.

Be thankful for your mom today.

The Importance of Listening and Remembering

2009-05-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Often what I write on this blog is just me blowing off steam and making light of things. Today is not one of those days. Today is a bit more serious. Today is about listening and remembering.

Remember is probably one of the most important words in the English language and most definitely one of the most important in the Book of Mormon. Remembering is so vital to staying true to the faith and honest. One who remembers can reflect on things learned prior to the moment of need. If you remember where you came from and Whose you are, it is easier to live righteously.

Listening is important. Listening is more than just hearing. It is paying attention to what is being communicated. Communication can come from others or from the Holy Ghost. It is important to hear those words and then act on what is being said.

Today I had the opportunity to talk to Grandpa D. I miss him dearly. I grew up with Grandpa. Mom and Dad would drop me off and I would tag along with Grandpa all day. We had frequent trips to Milner, to town and good fishing trips. One of my favorite memories is when we rode the Oregon Trail together, Grandpa driving Freckles and Rainbow and me riding Tiny. What a time. I remember helping him around the house and in his shop. I love that shop and the smells of it.

Our conversation today was different, and I wish I would have said less and listened more. Usually we joke together and laugh a lot. Today, he seemed serious. Today, Grandpa was sharper in his speech than I have heard him in a long time. He asked me if there was anything I wanted to know from an older brain. He told me how much he loves me and that many people love me. He said that I need to stop trying and just do good. He also told me that he expects big things from me. He asked about Olivia and told me to tell her how much she is loved. He also told me that I would need to tell the baby how much he is loved by all of his family. He said he has finally got his head on straight, I told him it was about time, he said it was about time for me to do the same.

I wish I could have talked to him longer. I wish I could be there. I miss my grandpa. I have said this before, but I know that it is true: All that I am I owe to my family. Grandpa has been a huge part of my life. He and I have spent countless hours talking about life and how things are. He taught me how to serve the family and what it means to have good relationships with all the family. He used to tell me when I would depart from his home: "McCord, be a good boy!" I hope I can remember and listen to that advice.

Just in case Law School doesn't work out...

2009-04-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

I just fixed our oven. It took me all of 15 minutes. I will remind you that a few months ago I wrote about the oven beeping in the middle of the night and waking me up. Well, I finally got around to fixing the problem. Diagnosis was a bad CPU board. It took me two minutes to order the part and then about thirteen minutes to install it once it showed up. If this was someone else's stove, I would have charged 90 bucks for the service call and 155 for the CPU. Yeah, that is right, in fifteen minutes I would have made 128. I have no shame in this. That could be as much as 512 an hour. That sounds way better than a measly 200 an hour as an attorney... Too bad fixing appliances doesn't pay like that every hour. I would totally drop law and go home to Burley.

In other news finals start on Monday. 8 am is the start time for Constitutional Law. This is going to be fun. Then on Wednesday at 8 the Evidence final. Then I am officially 2/3 of the way to being a J.D. degree holder.

In more important news, Olivia is swelling up and the meat thermometer that was her belly button has popped. I think she is ready for Harrison Walbridge to be on the outside of her body. I am excited to meet him, he sure is a mover, thus far. He can do some crazy moves in a very limited space. It is pretty neat. Remember, the big day is May 15th. However, one of our nurses is pretty sure Olivia will go into labor on the 7th. We shall see. I have already filed a contingency plan with the administrative faculty in case Olivia goes into labor during a final. Luckily, a birth does actually count as an emergency, so if he comes before a final starts, I can delay taking it for a while... However, I would rather be done with this crap sooner than later, by crap I mean law skool.

Well, I am off to bed, hopefully to gain some needed rest.

Twnty For

2009-04-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

So, I was up all night writing a paper that was due today and I am writing this without using my backspace. I wasn t to see how good I can tyoe without correcting myself on 1.25 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours.

What I was most amazed is how fast time moves after on e oclock in the norning. I am here to tell you that when the closk struck one I was dragging hind end. However, as the mornig slid from night, I begant to workr with increased efficiency, I was genuienly impressed. The paper is howpefull a leiitel better than thia post. Woe, I have a topugh time operating withoug the delete button.

To update on the fanily, Oilvia is getting some swellling and we found out that she her family has a history of preeclampsia. Hopefully she will not have any problems, but any prayers on her bahalf, well, her and HW. would be greatfully apricieated.

Well , I think this experiemt has been a successes, I have proved that I would not make a good insomniac. Have a good day . I just got stopped in my typeinfg by a comment that my shirt made someone think they should be on vacation. I replied that I feel like I should be on vacation every day.

Tuesday Afternoon

2009-04-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

Just a quick thought: I miss working on appliances sometimes. Especially when I think of the fact that I am $50K+ in debt for doing what I am doing. Oh well. One of the things I miss a lot is driving all over Southern Idaho and jamming out to 94.9. In particular, when the Moody Blues song Tuesday Afternoon would play. It made life seem right. I am listening to MB right now, because sometimes I just need to.

How can you not like a song like this:

Tuesday afternoon,
I'm just beginning to see, now I'm on my way
It doesn't matter to me, chasing the clouds away.

Something, calls to me,
The trees are drawing me near, I've got to find out why?
Those gentle voices I hear, explain it all with a sigh.

I'm looking at myself reflections of my mind,
It's just the kind of day to leave myself behind.
So gently swaying through the fairyland of love,
If you'll just come with me you'll see the beauty of

Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday, afternoon,
I'm just beginning to see, now I'm on my way.
It doesn't matter to me, chasing the clouds away.
Something, calls to me,
The trees are drawing me near, I've got to find out why?
Those gentle voices I hear, explain it all with a sigh.

Peace out, while I go search for myself...

Happy Easter: Fukatu Sai Omedetou

2009-04-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

I still prefer the Japanese name for this day, it means The Day of Resurrection. Regardless of what you believe the day means when you think of Easter, I would hope that people can acknowledge that it is the day when Christ rose from the tomb. That is why I prefer the Day of Resurrection, there is no doubt of the meaning, it does not get lost in candies and stuffed toys. This is the day we celebrate the Lord's overcoming death! He lives! He rose from the tomb! Because He lives, we shall live also. The power of death lost its eternal sting on this day. Christ overcame that: Oh death, where is thy sting? Behold, there is none. We shall all live again! I know this to be true, and I am proud to have this knowledge! I hope all of you have a lovely Day of Resurrection.

In other news: Olivia is officially old enough to do all the things we don't do! Yesterday was her 21st birthday! She and I went to Sangria and had an early dinner and then we returned home and finished watching Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. You have got to love Heston as Moses!

Also, yesterday the sisters in our ward had a baby shower for Olivia. She got some neat presents and it sounds like they had a great time. Thank you to all who came, Olivia is blessed to have such good sisters in our ward.

"Everybody laughs at Rednecks

2009-04-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

until their car breaks down..." I heard that from Larry the Cable Guy, but I would have to say I think he is right. As I am a pretty good Redneck, I would like to point out that when something needs fixed, shot, or roped, I am usually the first man called to the job.

Be prepared to be amazed:

2009-04-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

Click here for some interesting news about PETA. This is the kind of stuff I cannot make up! Just goes to show you, everyone kills fuzzy animals, even PETA. Boohyah!!!

The Name Game

2009-04-03T23:19:00.001-07:00

So, we are about six weeks from the arrival of our new boy. Crazy! I bought him a .22, called the Chipmunk, it is made by a company in Lewiston, so it is kinda neat. No I won't be giving it to him soon, but the price was right.
We are thinking about using the name Harrison Walbridge Larsen. Harrison is a family name on the Matthews side and Walbridge was Grandma Jean's middle name. I really respected her and think it would be neat to have him carry her name. We are thinking about calling him Bridger, or Wally (my idea, not Olivia's). Tell us what ya'll think. Vote in the poll!
We might also be toying with the name Maxwell Cash, or Clarke or some variant. We will need to see him before we give him a name, but so far H.W.L. is kinda looking like the idea... More to come soon, including belly pictures...

What a day, huh?

2009-03-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the thing: I used to write and publish online whatever was on my mind. Some people like what I say, some don't I really have no problem with that. Most of what I have written has been a slight travelogue with me trying to find meaning to it. If you like what I have to say, feel free to keep reading, but if what I have to say bothers you: DON'T READ IT! I am not out to hack on anybody, I don't really care enough about what people think I think. I am not here to rag on folks and be negative.
The other day something that I said was taken out of context and used to show that I am an intolerant person. I am sorry that they were offended by what I said. However, I would like to quote Brigham Young: "Woe unto the man who takes offense where none is given, for he is a fool. But also woe unto the man who takes offense where it is given, for he is a fool as well."
If you want to keep up with Olivia and me on Facebook, search for Olivia and ask her to be a friend... Also remember that in communication with me (remember communication is the exchange of ideas, this blog is not an exchange this is just me, and sometimes Olivia, blabbering) face to face is best. In fact, I would like to leave this subject with a quote from my father: "Email is a chicken shit way to talk to someone. If you have something to say pick up the phone and call someone or do something novel, like talk to 'em face to face."
Now on to important stuff: Olivia and I are working on getting ready for the baby. We have the car seat, the crib and the stroller. Shopping for baby stuff is interesting to say the least. Everything is so little, but so dadgumm expensive. I wish I could say money is no object, but this kid might just end up sleeping on clean straw... Just kidding, please don't report me to Health and Human Services...
Life has been fun this last month. Tim and Pat (our landlords) have been in St. George, so Olivia and I have been Bentley sitting. She is such a funny dog, she just thinks she is one of the gang. If you are going, she wants to go. If you sit down, she wants to lay at your feet. She loves following me around as I hike all over the place.
Olivia is starting to feel better, other than her back. She is sore and stiff, but I think she is mostly happy. It is pretty neat to feel the baby jump and move around. He gets pretty active when we are going to bed at night. It is nuts to see Olivia's tummy jumping and moving around. It is friggin neat.
I am pretty excited to become a dad. I hope I can be a good one.

FB NO MORE...

2009-03-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

I just deactivated my account on Facebook. Some of you who are in Moscow might know why... I think I will stick to blogging, since not everybody knows my address. You will still be able to keep up with Olivia on FB, so feel free to.
More to come on this subject later...

WOW: 2 Years...

2009-02-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

Two years ago today I became the husband to the best woman ever. I am pleased to say that this has been the best two years of my life. We have had a lot of crazy experiences, not all easy, but I am so glad that Olivia agreed to marry me. What a wonderful woman.

News of February...

2009-02-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

We have been super busy with school and family. Olivia is doing well and staying afloat in her classes and I am keeping my nose above water. School keeps us really busy...
We had to make a quick trip to Burley to say farewell to Grandma Matthews. What a woman. She was Grandma to 79 great-grandkids, 27 grandkids and Mom to 6 kids. She was 91 years young. She taught me how to read and always taught us how to appriciate what we had and to work hard and get an education. I miss her. Her full name was Jean Jordan Walbridge Matthews. I had the opportunity to speak at her funeral. This is an experience I hope I never forget. It has been a long time since I have been that inspired. One of the cool things was being able to read family history notes that Grandma wrote. I am sorry to say, she did not write about me, but she wrote about my siblings (I wasn't born yet). She said Riley, my older brother, was a law unto himself (She nailed that, he really is his own man). Grandma had a neat veiw of the world. Two things she taught me was "It is hell to get old. Don't ever get old." And "Do the best you can with what you have." She would always say that she did the best she could with what she had, reffering to her family. She really did. I have a great family. We are not perfect, but we sure have a good time. As I write this, I am a little teary eyed, which is not normal for me, at least it wasn't until I went to Japan. It is amazing what you can learn from learning to love other people. I just want to let all those who read this that Grandma was one of the most important women in my life. All that I am I owe to those I love. I love Grandma.
Olivia's belly is growing. The baby is the cause of this growth. It is pretty cool. Last night he had the hiccups and her belly would move. It was just neat. I am pretty stoked to be a pappa. We will post a poll/list of names we are considering. One of my new favorite hobbies is making names. Olivia gets a tad annoyed because every couple days I come home with a new one... Oh well, what can I say, I have named all sorts of things, steers, horses, dogs and even vehicles, but I have never given a name to something that I thin will out last me...
Well, I hope wherever you are and whoever you are, all is well in your world. Just remember to say "I love you" to everyone you should. You never know when that chance won't be there.

It has been a while...

2009-01-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

We haven't updated the blog for a while, so I think we will take a minute to do so now.
We had a pretty good time on the trip home, lots of family time, work and a little play. My favorite part was getting to ride Forrest, the horse that I broke the first summer of our marriage. He is coming along nicely and hopefully will be ready to rope when we leave Hippieville. Another fun thing we did was watch Sarah, Olivia's younger sister, who is 6'3", play a basketball game. What a hoot! She kinda towers over the other players. If that girl gets too good she will have colleges knocking down the door by the time she is a junior!
As of today, we have been in classes for almost two weeks. Time flies everywhere but in the classroom. I swear it feels like all we do is travel back and forth to school... Oh well. Olivia has some fun classes (at least I think they sound a whole lot more fun that Law School), one of which is Japanese History. I get a kick out of some of the things she hears and is learning. My classes are going to be a bit of busy work in three, the other two I will struggle to stay awake for... Lecture classes pretty much bite the big one, but who am I to tell the school what to do?
Work has been fun. I am trying to talk Charles into changing the sign to read "Congratulations Mr. President: Gun Salesman of the Year." I don't know if he'll do it, but it sure would be a hoot.
Olivia is feeling a bit tired and her tummy is expanding. The other day I felt The Boy move. it was pretty freaking neat.
I am going to see if Olivia has anything to add, surely she will have something... I am getting the "Maybe later" look from her... So this will do for now...

IT'S A.....

2008-12-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

BOY!!!! Yahoo! More news to come later...

Happy Chirstmas Adam!

2008-12-23T02:25:00.000-08:00

This greeting comes from an old tradition that a few friends of mine had. We used to get together at Howel's Opera House and play games on the 23rd of December, Christmas Adam. You know, Adam came before Eve...
Anyhow, as you can tell from the time of this post, I cannot sleep. It is 2:30 in the morning. Sometimes this kind of thing is frustrating, but I have learned to deal with it.
These last few days have been hectic. Last week I had three finals (two of which were absolutely crazy difficult) and Olivia had all of her finals. To say the stress level in our normally easy-going home was high is almost an understatement. We are very thankful to those of our friends who were so kind to put up with us without trying to kill us. Luckily, finals are over for another semester and we can put them behind us, well, at least till the grades are published. The neat thing about this semester is I have officially reached the halfway mark in one of the most foolish endeavors I have sought to undertake: Law Skool. Okay, I will admit, this is not the craziest thing I have ever done, but this is definitely the most difficult, that is coming from a kid who learned Japanese without any prior foreign language training! What keeps me going? The answer to that is easy, a wonderful wife. Sometimes when I was single I would wonder why I was having such a difficult time finding a wife. The answer to that question is easy: she was still growing up and being prepared by the Lord to take on the task of becoming my wife. I love her with all my heart, and that love just keeps getting better every day. She is such a good wife. She not only puts up with all my crap, but she encourages me in what I am doing. She believes in me.
(Paron me while I un-plug the stove... More on that later...) We have survived a lot through our first (almost two years of marriage): our first apartment, our second apartment, moving to Moscow, the first year of Law School, a summer full of way too much roping, our reception and the worst first night of marriage, and being away from all our family way too long.
We are now getting ready to be parents, and I am not kidding when I say: I can't wait. I don't care if we have a girl or a boy, I just want a healthy baby. Olivia will be a great mother, she has learned a lot from her mom and grandma. She watches sisters in our wards, our friends and other moms and she pays attention. I know she is more than qualified to take this new job. Me? Well, I do not know, I don't think I am the best candidate for Fatherhood, but with such a great wife, it will be hard to really mess this up. I just hope or children can be patient with thier dad. I am sure I will have shortcomings, but I will do my best...
Now, back to the stove comment: our stove's control board is going out and it beeps randomly throughout the day/night. It is really annoying. I get annoyed enough that I unplug it and put power to it only when I need to use it. I might fix it, but it may take a while... Repair man's famous last words...
I hope all of you have a lovely Christmas and New Years. Enjoy Chirstmas Adam, gather some friends around and have some fun. God bless all of you, and may peace fill your life at this time.

And the Baby is.........

2008-12-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Healthy. hahaha. You thought I was going to tell you what the sex was. Well, this is one surprise that will just have to wait for a few more days. We've decided it would be a nice little gift to tell everyone on Christmas Day, especially since this is my Mom's first grandbaby. Now, if there is a better suggestion on how to break the news, I would love to hear. I just wanted something fun to do. In the meantime here is a funny little video of the baby practicing it's sucking reflex.

If you look at it's eyes, the dark spots in the middle are pupils. The baby is kind of freaky looking with it's eyes open, but neat at the same time. I hope you enjoy!

VOTE EARLY, Vote Often

2008-12-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

On the right side of this blog you will find a poll asking what is in the oven, feel free to vote early and vote often! Honestly I just hope that the baby is healthy. Olivia probably wants a healthy girl, but I will be fine either way. I have taught just as many girls to rope as I have boys! Look for updates coming soon! We will be heading back to the doctor in a couple weeks to know just exactly what is in there. My mom doesn't trust ultrasounds, my sister, Kresta, had one of her first and the doctor told them it was a girl. Jeremy is 9, and quite a boy... Mom just says to be sure and leave the tags on all the baby clothes purchased before the child arrives!

Been a while...

2008-11-17T08:24:00.000-08:00

Let me catch all ya'll up on what has been going on. Olivia is feeling better, although she is still pretty dang tired and wants to sleep most of the time. She has been very busy with school and doing a great job at balancing all the things she needs to get done. I am proud of her, and I hope she knows it.
From all accounts, Blueberry is healthy. I call the baby "Blueberry" because that is how big it was when we found out for sure that Olivia was pregnant. Olivia says she thought she felt it move the other day, which is neato.
I have been busy with school, but what else is new? The good news is that I am learning things. The bad news is that it is probably not enough. Work has been crazy busy, as people are stocking up for the new administration. Nothing like fear of your own government to help you purchase a high capacity firearm. But I don't blame any of our customers, if I had a few thousand dollars sitting around I think I would build an AR-10 and buy all the .308 that I could afford. .223 is nice, no recoil and it will go a ways, but I would rather punch a hole that knocks things down, to keep the fight at a distance. No, I am not afraid of a war busting out any time soon on our soil, but I do believe the motto of the Boy Scouts is not out of date. It is amazing to see how bothered people are on one hand and how elated others are. I could start a rant here, but I won't. For one thing, telling people in person what I think is safer for me and for those around me, and it is more fun to watch people's reactions.
We are not traveling home for Thanksgiving. We found out last year that when vacation hits, Moscow isn't such a bad town, and since we live further away from town, we don't mind all the students much anyhow. I plan on getting out into the woods to see if I can find a buck, whitetail season closes on Dec. 1. We also might look for some turkeys. From what I have heard, turkey huntin' is a downright hoot. I am also pondering getting a trapping license, but we shall see.
I would like to give a shout out to the Oakley Hornets for thier so far undefeated season! I am looking forward to seeing them play on Friday at the Kibbie Dome.
Well, peace out for now, keep your stick on the ice...

Exciting Night Out...

2008-11-03T20:12:00.001-08:00

Bentley and Olivia were so tired they both passed out. It wasn't even 8:30pm...

I wish the picture quality was better, but you get the idea...

Da Daa Da DAAA

2008-10-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here it is folks!
I should explain that this is just a short clip. I was lucky enough to get to watch all sorts of things while the ultrasound tech checked out how things were going. Olivia had to lay down and her angle did not let her see too much. It was soooo stinkin' neat to see that little body bouncing around. I really cannot describe the feelings that I had. It was just really neat.
Things are going well, but we are really friggin busy. Olivia is getting busy with her studies, practicing and studying. She gets pretty tired and is trying to keep up. Sometimes I might not be as understanding as I should. I am trying to be better. I still think that she is just doing wonderful things, and I wish that she could see all the great things that I see her doing. My schooling is getting busy, but that is Law Skool. Oh well, stuff happens.

Health, Hunting & Church: What a Weekend!

2008-10-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

We had some great fun this weekend! It all started with me, puking incessantly until I could hardly hold up my head. I had skipped most of my Thursday classes and all of Friday. Mac went to work and school like usual on Friday, until I sent a text that read: "I need you to come HOME ASAP". Unfortunately, he had left his phone at school while he went to work for a few hours. So, my desperate call for help went unnoticed, all the while I am puking every little thing that went down my throat. Finally, he went back to the school for his class and received my text and quickly began to head home. When he got here, I asked for a blessing. It helped calm me, but I still felt miserable. So, we headed into Quick Care. Little did we know we would spend the entire afternoon there. After about two hours waiting for a urine sample, I finally peed and the doctor produced the outcome: I have a cold and sinus infection (I already knew that), a very dehydrated body, and a urinary tract infection. Oh joy. While They were waiting for my sample, the doc came in and said that I could always have an IV to speed things up. I thought about it a couple of times, but I really don't like needles, especially when they poke me. It ended up that I had to have one anyway, and the poking began. It took three tries to set the needle and catheter. You see, because I was so dehydrated, my veins had shriveled so that they were not visible, or big enough to hold the needle. And I could feel every movement of the needle, catheter, dripping, you name it. Two hours later, the bag was finally empty and we could journey home. It took a while for me to recover, I was lying on my back the entire time, and was still nauseated. Mac said when I sat up, all the color in my face immediately drained, and I was extremely light headed. But, I had lots of fluids to get my body going, and soon I would have lots of drugs, too. Mac will pickup from here....
So I ran Olivia home in the Subaru, because driving that thing at night is dangerous, as it has no lights unless the brake is pressed. I jumped in the pickup and headed back to town, destination: Wally World's Pharmacy. As I drove, I thought the truck was pulling to the left, which was odd. I have driven that truck for over ten years, and it always pulled to the right. However, it had been over a week since I had driven it, and I just couldn't place why it felt so funny. When I got to Wally World, I found out: the tire was dang near flat. I procured the pharmaceuticals, then set to changing the tire. I had to be careful with my feet, I was wearing a brand new pair of boots and I didn't want to scuff them. I had the tire changed out and I was on the road in no time.
I arrived home to find Olivia in the capable care of Pat & Tim (our landlords). Pat had cooked up quite the meal and I finally had breakfast. Yeah, that is right, I had not eaten all day, mostly cause I just plain forgot to.
Saturday was another long day, but I did get to do some hunting, which was fun, even though I didn't see a dang thing. I took the tire in to Bruneel's, to have it fixed. I dropped it off with high expectations, because they are a local shop and were pretty congenial. I returned to find out they couldn't fix the tire. Now, I am not going to try to defame them, but they told me someone had patched the tire before, and that the patch was leaking. I didn't tell them that I had bought those tires new and had made records of when I bought them and rotated them and such. I have never had a flat with that set of tires. NEVER! I took the tire over to Les Shwab, even though I figured they would charge me, since it wasn't one of their tires. Luckily, one of the fellas that works there comes into the Sure Shot quite often and he recocnized me. He looked at the hole and told me that the problem was Bruneel's had tried to grind to deep for the patch. They were trying to stick the patch to nylon instead of rubber! They ruined my tire and wouldn't own up to it! So Shwab's mounted a used tire on my wheel: free of charge. I will be a Shwab patron for the rest of my life, because they have treated me good more than once (one time on a Sunday when I really needed to get down the road from Rexburg to Burley)...
Sunday was a bit bitter sweet. We finally made the switch to the Student Stake. The good news is that it was the right thing to do, and we know it. The bad news is that we will miss all our friends in our old ward.
It was ward conference in the Fourth ward, and it was great. Heck, that was the first Sunday in over a year that Olivia and I have sat by each other for Sunday School! She has always been in the Primary... At least one Sunday together.

Via Con Dios, Amigo.

2008-10-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

The first time I met Ed he was fat, lazy and just plain rude. We rationed his food, started him on an exercise program and watched his weight. He needed to lose about 200-300 lbs. He had been on pasture grass for most of his life. Ed was a horse.
Training Ed was kinda like riding a train that left the rails. You knew once you figured him out, you could control him. He had some crazy nervous ticks. He tried to buck a little, but he was too fat. He wouldn't break into his right lead, but that came with time. The one tick that stuck was the flapping. Ed flapped his lips and made a sound like an outta tune Harley. It was really annoying, at first, but then it got to where I didn't think about it, until someone would point it out to me. We weren't really sure that Ed could run very fast, but finally, one night, Ed showed his stripes. That booger could run. He even started looking at cattle and stopping like a heal horse. When I was home this summer, I roped off Ed and Simba. Both have ticks and niether was quite finished, but it was dang fun. By the end of my break, I was even roping like I normally should. The last time I rode Ed, he worked pretty dang good. Good enough that Dad said he was gonna start heading off Ed.
I called Dad to tell him about the great trade I made today. Dad sounded distant. I asked him how things was and he said, "Rough. The snow was bad, but its melting. This morning when I went out to feed, I didn't have to feed Ed."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because he was dead. He died last night sometime. Dangdest thing."
I was so stunned I didn't even cuss. Just a sad thing.
I hate to say it, but I felt worse off after that news than a whole lot of things that I have heard.
Via Con Dios, Ed.

My Grape Ain't no Sissy!

2008-10-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

With pregnancy comes the name game. What kind of crazy names can we come up with for our grape? (This week that is how big the baby is, in comparison.) Well, ya'll know me, I think a man oughta have a tough name and then he'll live up to it. My dad had a cousin, Steel. The guy was 6'4", 280 Lbs and tougher than nails. I have a buddy we call Virgil. He is a bit goofy, but he can drive a truck like nobody's business. My buddy Nacho is the craziest ropin' sunnovagunn, ever.
My folks disagreed about my name for a while. Mom wanted to call me McCord Brent Larsen. However, my dad thought it was too much. They reached a middle ground and just dropped the middle name. That is why my full name is McCord Larsen.
Now if we have a girl, we'll give her a fitting name, something cute and sweet. But I will be danged if the grape is a boy, we ain't giving him no sissy name that'll get his butt kicked every day. Unless we choose to call him Sue.

AS PROMISED!!!

2008-10-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

A new post.
We have been puttin this off for a while because we have both be extremely busy. Olivia is busy with her schooling and I am just trying to keep up with school, work and life on the ranch. We hardly have any time for much extra, so blogging has not been on top of the list. We have also been busy figuring out how to tell everyone that WE ARE GONNA BE A MOMMY AND DADDY!!!
Boohyah! How's that for a post? Olivia is roughly 9 weeks along. Right now she is not too sick, but she gets really tired, and she feels crappy. Apparantly the baby is the size of a blueberry, so I call it "Blueberry." (Sometimes when Olivia is mad at me, I talk to her stomach and say something like: "Blueberry, this is your dad, please help me tell your mommy that I am sorry I... (however I messed up)).
I hope all of you are doing well and we will keep everyone updated!

NEW POST COMING SOON!!!

2008-09-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned, fans, cause a new post is coming soon. We just haven't had the time to get all updated yet!!!

Thank goodness for good friends...

2008-08-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

Or thank goodness for people who owe you favors, cause that is really what friends are: people who like trading favors with you. Some you trade talking, some you trade odd jobs, and others you trade putting up with each other's bad days. Thanks to all out friends who came out and help put this piano where it is.

The Fortress of Solitude

2008-08-27T09:44:00.001-07:00

So, while my wife and most of my fellow law student friends are at class, I changed the oil in the DR and played with chain saws. Is that not great? Nothing makes you feel more like a man than dirty oil and the smell of burning fuel. I do sympathize with all you folks in class, and if you are reading this in class you should wake up and pay attention to what your prof. is saying, you may learn something!

In case you feel slighted, just remember that on Tuesday and Thursday I have classes from 9:30 to 4:30, the longest break in between my classes is 30 minutes. I realize I did it to myself, but I wanted to take these classes and they are all on Tues and Thurs... Oh well.

It is a little strange to have Olivia back in school, I know she will do well. She is an absolutely amazing girl. I am so proud of her!

I guess it is almost time for me to get cleaned up to go to town, so I can learn some more. You gotta love BA with Anderson...

Traveling Partners

2008-08-01T09:31:00.001-07:00

These are my nieces Annabelle and Adelyn. They are going to stay at Grampa Brent's, then they will be headed to California. Traveling girls, I tell you what...

What a Cutie!

2008-07-31T22:31:00.001-07:00

On my way to Burley, I had the opportunity to visit The Naylors. I had Jake snap this picture of Reese and me. She is just too cute.

Off to B-Town!!!

2008-07-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hot dang, I am headed back to Burley. I will be leaving early Thursday morning, to travel in the cool in the morning without the traffic. Olivia is not coming with me on the drive. She is staying in Moscow to attend Girl's Camp with our ward girls. She will then fly to Boise. We will be in Burley until about the 23rd of August. I am really looking forward to getting some work done. But anyone who really knows me knows that I am most excited about roping some steers and drinking root beers! Yahoo! Hopefully I will be able to cram enough roping in to satisfy my craving all the way through December. It will take a lot of work, but I think I am up to the task.
For those of you wondering what I have been doing the last few weeks since being done with Summer Skool, I will tell you. I get up with Olivia in the morning and she heads into town to work and I usually read the news. Then I kick it outside to see what I can get done. Washing concrete, watering plants, working in the garden, cutting trails with the D.R. and doing whatever else needs done. I have played a full round of golf thanks to Dave. Olivia and I did attend the ward Pioneer Day Celebration. It was a campout near Elk River. We just threw sleeping bags in the back of the truck. It was great. Our ward is fantastic. I have reloaded lots of ammo and enjoyed firing said ammo at various targets. I also make a trip into town every day to take Olivia lunch. I tell you what, this has been a nice vacation. Someone chidded me yesterday for not getting a job here in Hippie-Ville, and I thought maybe I was being selfish, but I have been working like a rented mule the last 11 months at this Law Skool thing, crud I think a little time to enjoy myself will help me in the long run. Besides, I will be back at banging my head against the wall soon enough. Hope all of you are enjoying the summer months. Take care.

What is in a name?

2008-07-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

Its just letters right? But tell me friend: What is the difference between an "e" and an "o"? I will tell you: one is our last name: LARSEN; the other is another family, LARSON. Dutch and Sweden, C'mon people! For hell's sake, if the newspaper can get it right, you'd think that the Federal Government could get this right. The name said LARSEN on the marriage license, LARSEN on BOTH my driver's license and Olivia's. AND ON THE FORM OLIVIA FILLED OUT SHE WROTE LARSEN IN MULTIPLE PLACES!!! Why in the world would we get a letter from the Social Security department addressed to OLIVIA LYNN LARSON?!? AWESOME, right?
Chalk one up for human intelligence in our government agencies...

Doubt Your Doubts

2008-07-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

and Believe your Beliefs. Whatever they are. I read a few stories today published by people who claim to understand what I believe and call people who worship the way I do "misguided," "brainwashed," or "uneducated." I wish that I could share the feelings of my heart with these who are my brothers and sisters. They deserve the same blessings in their lives that I enjoy. All I am I owe to my Church. I know that without the Church in my life I would be lost. I would not be married to the wonderful woman that makes me happy. I would not be attending Law School. I know that God lives. I know He is guiding me in the choices I make. I know that Christ suffered for my sins and He is my Savior, and the Savior of the world. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, whom through God restored the Gospel, in it's fullness. I know that God has called a prophet in our day, Thomas S. Monson. I know that God loves me, and you, and everyone on this earth, we are all His children and He wants us to be happy. To this end He prepared a plan, the Plan of Salvation. We can learn this plan and understand it in our lives. Following this plan gives us assurance and hope. I know these things are true. また日本語で僕の証を皆に話したい。永遠の父なる神様は私たちの天にいるお父さん。イエスは世の救い主です。救いの計画は幸福の計画。従うと永遠の幸せをえることができる。モンソン大根著は神の預言者です。ジョセフスミスは神の預言者として福音をこの世に回復されました。神の力をとしてジョセフがモルモン書を翻訳されました。モルモン書は真理です。末日聖徒イエスキリスト教会は神の教会です。これは僕の証です。真理です。

Just a Thought (We'll See...)

2008-07-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

So, Mac has had this blog for quite a while. When we married, it remained his blog, although I was mentioned several times. And it wasn't really that big of a deal. He loves eletronics and technology, and I enjoy them, but not like he does. It wasn't until recently (namely, when we were looking at our married friends' blogs) that he decided it might be alright to let me be a contributor. After, I am his eternal companion. So, he changed some things around, and here I am posting my first blog. Yay! In all this excitement, I decided that this blog was too much a bachelors blog, even though we've been married for over a year and he most certainly was not a bachelor. Around the Fourth, I tried new blog templates, and font colors, the whole shuh-bang. Mac wasn't so impressed. He said it was too frilly and he didn't like it. Not even the big fireworks exploding at the bottom of the page. After a bit of bickering and compromise, we found a template that we could both enjoy. However, the Fourth only lasts for one day, so, I changed the template again. He didn't like that, either. He doesn't really like any of the ideas that I have for "our" blog. I'm a girly girl, I like the frilly things. And while he likes that I'm a girly girl, I don't think he likes it seeping into his manly world (his blog). One day I told him that maybe it would be a better idea if I had my own blog. Besides, I've heard that once you have kids, your blog becomes a shrine to them. Not that that's bad, but looking around, it's true. So why should it be different when you get married? Isn't that a major change in your life? And shouldn't that be included in your personal blog? And really, nothing is personal after you get married, it's all shared. When I told him my idea, he gave me a funny glance, thought about it, and kind of agreed. I think the idea is growing on him. And me, too... We'll see...

Ahhh Summer, at Last:

2008-07-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

I took my last final for six months last Friday. I will tell you in a while how I felt about it. So what do I do now? I have no reading to do, no outline to make, no reason to go to the Maynard and enjoy the noise of construction. Olivia is working in town at a law office as a secretary, so I am alone all day, on my own recognizance. Yes, I can be trusted. I even clean and take care of our apartment.
The first day I loaded ammunition so that I can go shooting sometime this week. Then I took Olivia lunch. On the way into town, I ran out of gas. I turned on the reserve and off I went. I made it to the station and swore when I saw the price: $4.15. Just Saturday, it had been 4.04. Oh, well. Too bad I wasn't one of those oil speculators with a good chunk of Exxon in my pocket. I got to eat lunch with Olivia and then I visited the hardware store. There really is nothing like a good hardware store, makes me feel good to walk through one. My favorite hardware store is in Murtaugh, Community Building Supply. If they don't have what you need, or can't get it, you don't need it! I wound up the day by talking to my extended family on the phone and relaxing with Olivia.
Yesterday, I got the bug to clean. I cleaned all over! I hit the trail with the weedeater and cleared things up to make the walk to the pond more enjoyable. I accidentally hit a snake and cut him in two.
Alright, enough with the play-by-play. I just hope all ya'll are having as much fun as I am. But I highly doubt it. If I can I will get pictures of the twin fawns running around here.

The 4th July

2008-07-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

Chris LeDoux pegged my feelings about the 4th. So did Johnny Cash. I use the lyrics from their songs here, to give you some of my perspective:
4th of July Rodeos:
Just about two hundred years ago they signed that declaration
Tellin' everybody in the whole wide world they're gonna start a brand new nation
From that day on the 4th of July has been a holiday
To the rich man poor man and everybody but the cowboys in the RCA
Well I get on the phone and call the airlines rent-a-cars and Greyhound stations
Cause I've entered bout thirteen rodeos out across the great big nation
Got the car tuned up the tanks full of gas I've got money in my hand
And if I ain't overdrawn by the end of the week at the bank
I'm a lucky man
It's the 4th of July on the rodeo trail and it'll drive you insane
My wife's worried home by the telephone I'm on the road again
It's the Forth of July on the rodeo trail if I ever make it home I swear
I'm gonna to hang up my hat put up my riggin' sack
And for a month I'm gonna stay right there
Well I've been on the road about three days now and I haven't had a minutes rest
There's dark circles all around my bloodshot eyes and my face is now a whiskered mess
Boy I'd sure like a bath and a home cooked mean but for now I must be satisfied
With this double super-duper half cooked burger
And a side of grease soaked french fries
Well the week's nearly over and I wonder to myself will I ever make it home alive
When a bronc fell on me up in Calgary when he slipped tryin' to make his high dive
And the plane and the pilot that we rented looked like surplus from World War I
And I thought any times about suicide but I haven't found myself a gun
It's the 4th of July on the rodeo trail...
Ragged Ole Flag:
I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.
I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town".
I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that's a ragged old flag you got hangin' on it".
He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down,
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town"
I said, "I think it is"
He said "I don't like to brag, but we're kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
and It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it,
writing "Say Can You See"
It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson
tugging at its seams.
and It almost fell at the Alamo
beside the Texas flag,
But she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
That Ragged Old Flag

"On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp, and low, a time or two,
She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent
by her Uncle Sam.
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they've about quit wavin' back here at home
in her own good land here She's been abused,
She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she's getting thread bare, and she's wearin' thin,
But she's in good shape, for the shape she's in.
Cause she's been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don't let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought
I *do* like to brag
Cause I'm mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag"

GOD BLESS AMERICA: LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE!!!
May we never forget what this country really stands for.
I have only been to a little bit if the world, but I think I have seen enough to know that we really do live in one of the greatest countries in the world. Tonight, I walked out on my balcony and shot six .357's in the air. I can do that to celebrate our independence because I have the right to bear arms. I am writing this because my right to free speech. I stay informed of what is going on in the world because of the freedom of the press. I bow my head wherever I am and pray because I have freedom of religion. I vote for my leaders. I can be heard! What a great country. I love America and I am proud to be AN AMERICAN.

House Guest

2008-06-28T13:34:00.001-07:00

This is Bentley. She is a chocolate lab. She belongs to Pat and Tim, they went out of town and we are taking care of her. This picture was after a good game of fetch in the pond. She was tuckered out.

Projectiles...

2008-06-19T20:49:00.001-07:00

Fun fun fun...

Luke and I went shooting...

2008-06-19T20:46:00.001-07:00

So, this afternoon Luke and I headed out to find somewhere to go shooting, besides Helmer, since it is so far. Well, we ended up out there, because it is kinda the place to go. Luke was breaking in his new Browning .308. I was trying out some of the loads I worked up last night, while waiting for the bats to leave (pictures forthcoming).
We shot all we had to shoot by 7:00. Then a fella pulled up in a darn good looking Dodge Cummins. He had a bumper sticker that read: God Bless Our Troops, Especially the Snipers. He had a bench rest in the back of the truck and we figured he was okay. He asked us what we had been shooting and then said, "You wanna shoot a real gun?"
With trepidation, we agreed. I told him I would catch heck for being late, but he said it would be worth it.
He pulled out the gun cases. In his hard case was a AR-style .50. He told us he'd shoot one and let us. He flinched when he pulled the first time, w/o firing, then said, "I have to do that, just to get the jitters out."
"You see that rock in the sunshine above the bush?" "Yeah." (It was 120 yards). BOOOOOM!!!
The rock busted into peices and tumbled.
He handed it to me, with a smile. I loaded it, pulled it to my shoulder and then remembered the safety. I had no idea where it was. "Just like an AR-15," Mike says. Since Aaron has one, and I have shot it, I knew where the safety was. I clicked it off. Deep breath. I was aiming for a rock above a bush that I thought was 20 feet up the hill.
BOOOOM!!! I felt the kick, not too bad, but the concussion from the shot hit me right between the eyes. The feeling reverberated down my body.
The rock was actually about 40 feet up. What a rock slide! It was awesome!
Luke took his shot. BOOOOM!!! Dadgumm.
That was one fun gun to shoot. We thanked Mike, of course now we introduced ourselves. He was from Moscow. A native, and a darn good fella.
Our smiles said it all. Mike said it was almost more fun to watch people shoot the gun than it was to shoot it.
So, the load of his ammunition was 220 grains of pulled military powder with a 700 grain bullet. In comparison, I shoot a 130 grain bullet with about 4.3 grains of powder. In the picture above this post is one of Luke's .308's. The next round (middle) is the 50 BMG. The far left is a snap cap.
Way too much fun!

Here are two good articles:

2008-06-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

I do not generally do this kind of thing, but I found a couple of great articles on the 2nd Amendment.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
Carrying firearms a chance to educate public

Have you ever watched a Western movie and noticed the cowboy who looked out of place, but you couldn't figure out why? At some point in the movie it is pointed out that ol' Slim doesn't pack iron because he killed/nearly killed an innocent man/woman/child years ago and he swore he'd never touch another gun. How Slim deals with his demons is his own business; the point is that he stand out because he's not wearing a six-shooter.

These days the tables have turned and now most people are not seen with a handgun perched on their hip. When one sees someone carrying a gun, one usually assumes the armed person is either an off-duty police officer or someone up to no good. Most likely both assumptions are wrong.

There is a growing cadre of law-abiding gun owners who use their everyday interactions with others to educate them about firearms and our rights. According to a Los Angeles Times story, most states allow people who aren't barred from owning or carrying firearms to carry them openly. That is the way things should work in a free society; what isn't specifically forbidden is allowed. And government must have a good reason to forbid something.

Open carry is legal in Colorado, except where specifically banned. Locally, open carry was the subject du jour in 2003 when a man began carrying a shotgun with him as he went about his business. When his business included attending City Council meetings, council members took notice and banned open-carry in city-owned buildings. El Paso County has a similar law. Other than government buildings, including public schools and post offices, carrying firearms openly is legal most places in the Pikes Peak region.

Property owners have the right to forbid customers to carry on their property. We'd urge them to err on the side of freedom. When people see firearms owners as the friendly guy ahead of them in line at the grocery store or the woman sharing a joke with them at the coffee shop, they're likely to have a good opinion of firearms owners. Too often, the only thing non-owners hear about firearms is in connection to criminal activity. That unfairly casts legitimate owners in a bad light.

It's not just men packing iron these days, either. More women than ever before are attending firearms safety classes and carrying guns, openly or concealed. They know that firearms can be a safety factor for someone who knows how to use them. A 250-pound thug will think twice when he discovers his 130-pound intended victim is not inclined to do his bidding and has the ability to protect herself and her rights.

Firearms dealers and shooting clubs are presenting classes specifically aimed at educating women about firearms. Manufacturers are responding to this new market by rolling out firearms designed for women's smaller hands.

Open carry is not without its problems, though. Many police officers might not be aware of the legality of the practice and are apt to err on the side of caution when they come in contact with an armed citizen. Other people can feel uncomfortable in the presence of a firearm and might complain to management or call the police. Those who carry openly must be ready to explain their rights and let others know they don't present a threat.

It can be a dangerous world, and the recent budget cuts show there won't always be a police officer or sheriff's deputy around to protect everyone. Even if government had enough money to put an officer on every block, he could be at the other end of the block when some bad actor demands your wallet or kicks in your front door. Ultimately, each person is responsible for his or her own safety. And if gun owners can educate the public on positive aspects of firearms, everyone is better off.

Click here to read this on its original page.

Swiss prove guns not the culprit

Monday, 16 June 2008

Charley Reese

Niccolo Machiavelli, who was a sort of Karl Rove of his day, though with more integrity, said of the Swiss that they were "the most free and most armed people" of Europe. Get it?

The connection between arms and freedom?

That statement is still true of the Swiss. Many people know that they practice neutrality, but not many know that they practice armed neutrality. If the gun controllers' claim that the mere presence of arms leads to mayhem were true, the Swiss would have wiped themselves out years ago. There are guns and gun ranges all over the place. You would be hard-pressed to find a Swiss home without a firearm and ammunition. Yet, the Swiss have a very low crime rate.

If you were a robber or a rapist, who would you rather have as a victim? Someone who is armed, or someone who is defenseless? Even a stupid criminal knows the answer to that question.

If the police can protect us -- which is another claim the gun-control people make -- then why are so many people murdered, raped and robbed? Even the television fictional stories tell you the answer to that. The cops get there after the crime has been committed. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a crime scene. Nearly all the cop shows open with the police looking at a dead, unarmed body.

Do you really believe that the men who had just fought a long and bloody war against the British and were writing what we call the Bill of Rights had this conversation:

"Well, let's see. We've guaranteed freedom of assembly, of religion, of speech and of the press. Oh, my gosh, we've forgotten the duck hunters. They'll raise heck if we leave them out, so we'd better write an amendment for them."

The Second Amendment has nothing whatsoever to do with hunting. It states: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

The men who wrote these amendments were pretty darn fluent in English. If they had intended the right to keep and bear arms to apply only to the militia, they would have said so. They would have written "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the states to arm their respective militias shall not be infringed."

They didn't say that. The main sentence says "right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." "People" means everybody, not just the members of the militia. The subordinate clause, "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state," just gives one, but not the only, reason why all the people have a right to keep and bear arms. The militia, after all, was drawn from the people. It was not the Army. The first meaning of "bear," by the way, is to carry, bring or take. Americans have the right to keep arms and to carry them.

The word "regulate" in those days meant trained, and do you notice again the connection between arms and freedom? The subordinate clause refers to a "free state." Obviously, an unfree state would not allow the people to be armed.

The Founding Fathers were not urban neurotics like so many of today's politicians. They were almost all outdoor people. Guns were to them just tools, like their axes or plows. You couldn't survive in the wilderness without firearms, and at the time of our Revolution, there were only about 3 million people from Maine to Georgia.

Nor were there any police forces. There was no Secret Service, FBI or any of the other alphabet law-enforcement agencies. If you decided to travel, you traveled at your own risk, and you can bet people traveled armed. When I was last at Williamsburg, Va., they had a room in one of the historical houses arranged as if a traveler had just arrived and unpacked. There on top of a dresser was a pistol.

(Write to Charley Reese at P.O. Box 2446, Orlando, FL 32802)

Click here to read the article as it appears in the Malvern Daily Record

Amen!

Our New Home...

2008-06-14T21:32:00.001-07:00

The entry way...

The dining area/living room

The kitchen

So, yeah these pictures are kinda self explanatory, but oh well.

Tonight I tracked two deer all over the place. That was a heckuva work out.

You ever wonder where somethings come from, like just now, Olivia just asked if we can get a Christmas tree, in October... I think if we do that we may need to get one in October, then one near the end of November. An arbor I am not. In fact if it isn't a cultivated plant, I am not your man. (i.e. house plants and flowers...) Heaven knows that Grandma Jean and Gramma Marj tried to teach me.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. Call your dad and tell him how thankful you are for him. I tell you what, I am proud to have my dad as my father. He is a good man. He has raised four decent children; taught us how to work; respect ourselves and others; how to be a good husband & father; and he taught us all how to have a good time. I miss having Dad around, roping with him and working with him. I sure learn a lot from him (I almost put an "ed" on the end of learn, but that would be foolish, I learn new stuff from Dad all the time). One thing you should really see is my dad do back-flips on the basketball court during halftime when he referees... You ROCK DAD!!!

2008-06-13T18:54:00.001-07:00

This is our view...

2008-06-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

Looking west out of the living room, this is what we see. Sorry that the picture is not all too clear, when I find the real camera, I will post better pics.
BTW I just spent an hour or more stomping around in the woods. It was swell.

See the post below.

2008-06-10T07:38:00.001-07:00

GLOBAL WARMING MY @$$...

2008-06-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are "Green:" IT IS SNOWING HERE IN MOSCOW. NO, this is not a joke, and we are NOT in Moscow, Russia. I rode my motorcycle to skool and as I was going I thought, "Wow, that is a lot of white pollen coming off those trees." But then it hit me as the pollen melted on my helmet: that precipitation, in the form of snow. I tried to take a picture with my camera phone, but you just can't see it well enough.
In other news, we are 3/4 moved. We have a little left to move out. Then start the unpacking and organizing, Liv's favorite. We will get pictures on for everyone to see as soon as we find the camera... We think we know where it is in all the stuff we packed. At my request, we did not pack it in boxes, we packed it in trash bags. (They pack easier and there is less to clean up when your done, and we aren't moving across the country, it is only 5 miles).
Any how, I better get studying for today's classes...
Have a good one, and would someone get Al Gore's phone number for me, I have a somewhat inconvenient truth to tell him...

Did he just say that?

2008-06-04T14:01:00.001-07:00

Steve just bought this Izzo bag from Big 5. It is a golf bag, for those of you who don't know. Steve also bought balls and tees. The cashier asked him if he needed a bag for his stuff. I said "Isn't that the point of the golf bag?" I do not think he got the joke...

100th Postiversary!!!

2008-06-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

That is right folks, this is the 100th post on my blog! Those of you who have read all of them: WOW, congrats to you for following me on this crazy journey. I wonder if anyone has read all of them. I am pretty sure I have, but I wrote 'em!
Anyhow, guess who was smiling at the gas pump today: ME! I filled my motor bike up for $8.73. I am used to filling my truck, which, these days takes about $80-100. I have driven over 100 miles on the bike since I got it last week. It is amazing the excuses I can find to jump on and go. Driving that thing is way fun. Yeah, it leaks a little oil and the temperature control is speed, but is just like Old Blue. (For those of you who do not know Old Blue, she is a '72 Chevy step-side straight six, three on the tree. That was my ride in High School.) Heck, I even rode it today in the rain. I got a little wet but nothing like Steve Kun does during the rainy season, when he delivers the mail.
日本の郵便大好き。日曜日、僕は日本のため寂しくなったよ。日本へ戻りたい。モスコに雨がよく降ているので日本の梅雨のようなことだ。だけどイアダホを愛すろので大丈夫、それとも奥さんがいらしゃて下さているから、問題ない。
Well, this is short, but the above says most of it. Sorry to my friends who do not read Japanese, I just wanted to say something that some people in the Far East might like to hear.
Take care!

my veiw for the summer.

2008-06-02T11:18:00.001-07:00

This is what I see every day. Kinda depressing.

Here is my new ride...

2008-05-31T23:05:00.001-07:00

Yeah, it is a bit old, but I did get it up to 65 the other day.
For those of you wanting to know, the weather in Moscow has been pretty friggin awesome. It is different without the undergrad kids. No partiers running around drunk in the middle of the night. It is nice.
Summer school is neat. It is a whole lot of work, but I think it will be worth it. For those of you keeping score: I got a 2.26 this semester. That brings my overall to a 2.17. I am feeling good about that.
I hope all ya'll are doing well. There will be more coming on the blog since I can do it mobilly. BOOYAH!!!

2008-05-31T06:00:00.001-07:00

These are my feet. I am trying out the mobile blogging. I shot this picture with my camera phone and am typing this entry on my tiny keypad. This may not be the ultimate way to do this... We shall see...

Good News:

2008-05-10T07:51:00.001-07:00

I got an email yesterday that I have been accepted to the Waters of the West Masters Program. Yahoo! It means one more year of school past Law School, but it also means that when I graduate I will have both a J.D. and a Masters.
In related news: Olivia and I are moving! We are moving out of town into an apartment over a house. We are pretty excited to get out in the country, away from all the frat boys, sorority girls and the loud peeps who live behind us. The place is pretty, and quite nice. We will probably put pics up soon.
In other news: My Ruger is broken. I will have to send it away for repair, which means that I will be unarmed for the next three weeks (though I may convince Liv to let me get a lever action Marlin).
In World News: Congratulations out to Emi, she got married! The pictures she sent are gorgeous!
恵美ちゃん：美しいだよ!ご主人様はかっこいだよ!写真を送て下さたありがとう。
And finally today: We will miss all our school friends who are leaving. I hope all of you have some good times over the summer. Stay cool...

So this teknology thing...

2008-05-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

I am not too sure about it. Why? Because I just had the creepiest feeling that I might be being watched. I cannot explain it, but it is almost like how Marshall Dillon always wondered if someone was stalking him when he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye. I don't carry my sixgun with me, though, so it is not a huge deal. Just a little weird.
Today is my last final for my first year of law skool. The funny thing about these tests is it really isn't the tests that bother me, it is the grades. I could take these tests all day, but getting the grades back is enough to make me very crazy. You know, I have only developed three or four stress-based illnesses since starting here. Some have more and some have less.
Anyhow, I think it is time to get back to studying. I am, right now, knowing and purposefully avoiding thinking about people who are willfully blind. Such people are not reckless or negligent. I hope.

Compliments...

2008-05-05T21:53:00.002-07:00

I have been called a few things in life. Some things I have been called are nice and build me up and some aren't very congenial at all. Tonight I was paid a real nice compliment, a friend told me that he could always depend on me to tell him where the bear sits. I reckon that is pretty nice. For those of you not acquainted with country life, it means, in simpler terms that I am trustworthy. I have always believed it is better to be trusted than to be loved. Give that a thought.
I would also like to tell you that one word has been a complement to my life. That word is the one description I love to be called more than any other. More than "cowboy," "funny," "handy," or even "handsome." That word is Husband. I am glad that a good woman calls me husband. It does my heart good.
-By the way, I know the difference between "compliment" and "complement."

ENVIROMENTALLY FRIENDLY

2008-05-01T07:14:00.002-07:00

I decided to go green with my blog, seeing how that is the new hip thing to do. I tell you what though, truth is I was green long before this whole movement started. I grew up riding horses or my bicycle where ever I went. I even got a little green on my face when I got bucked off the horse. These days, though, everything is "going green."

To be honest, I don't know if I like it. What do all the other colors think? Has anyone considers that maybe blue and yellow are feeling a little over used and under appreciated? How about red, you never even hear red as an option any more. The only red you see zipping around is the firetrucks, what if they went green? That'd sure be a lot of towns needing new paint for the fleet. Black is simply out of the question, cause it is dark and scary, although some folks sure like to wear a lot of black, but I think they get balked at. Those folks aren't exactly wearing black cause of a funeral or cause they are in the Japanese mafia, I don't even think it is because they like Johnny Cash, although I haven't asked 'em. Heck if those folks started wearing green, things could go crazy! UPS lately has been driving brown trucks for as long as I have been alive, I sure hope they don't change to green, that would throw off the wildly popular marketing scheme of the white-board with brown marker. Those are good commercials, keep 'em coming!

If you sense a little bit of apprehension for all this going green, just remember that there is usually a reason why things catch on: money. Money is also green in our country, at least it used to be, till we got these new fangled bills with all sorts of funny pictures. They tell me its to keep folks from copyin' the bills, but who knows, I think its just cause some people like new wallpaper.

I think this green trend was started by Jim Hensen, with Kermit. I doubt he was thinkin' that it'd catch on like this, but it sure has. Kermit was right though, it ain't easy being green. Just ask the feller who ate organic food all his life; a pal told me a story about a feller who ate pretty much what all the cows eat, just stuff that was green. When the doc pronounced him dead folks asked what killed him. All's the doc said was "He died of natural causes."

Cold Pepsi

2008-04-12T12:44:00.002-07:00

I am downing a cold Pepsi right now, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and it is 66 outside. The only problem: I am in the Law Bldg. I am trying to wrap my head around the world of Contracts. This was my worst subject last year, and I hope I can pull my grade up a little.
The morning hasn't been all bad though, I changed the oil on the truck and installed a new fan clutch. In the last few days the fan has been making a neat whistling sound. Stuff like that bothers me, and I like to catch it when it happens, so I got it fixed. The clutch cost me about $90 and I payed $23 for my oil (I buy the five quart oil, keep some in the truck). How much is the labor? I dunno, I don't think I have been put on the payroll since my education has kicked in, so I must be worth about $1.295 an hour now. That is up from $1.00 a few years ago, I feel good about that.
By the way, I will soon be posting pics of the ammunition reloading process. In the short spare time that I have I have got 100 rounds done. My goal is to have about 250 done before finals. Then after every test take a drive in the woods and shoot some targets. It is a very therapeutic way to get through the finals around here.
Things have been good for Liv and I. It was her birthday yesterday, the big 20! She worked in the afternoon and then we went and helped some friends move. When I recovered from the moving, we went out to eat. The palce was called the Sangria, not too shabby. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, I prefer places like Bubba's in I.F., or the Helmer Store. I was the only hat in the place and people were drinking their hoity-toity wine and talking politics (the substance of which was limited to leftist crap, the tough decision between Obama and Clinton). I caught myself thinking about the time I pulled a three year old colt up and over on top of me and almost broke my femur. That seemed a pleasant thought compared to listening to people tell each other how the price of fuel needs to rise to over $5 so people will get away from fossil fuels that pollute Mother Earth. ANY HOW, it was good tasting food. I was also pleased to be there with Liv. I love her and whatever makes her happy is what makes me happy.
Well, I guess I had ought to get studying. I wish this stuff would work by osmosis, but I just get headaches when I try that...
恵美ちゃんへおめでとう！けこんしきの発表をうけました。いくことはできないけど、行きたいね。ご主人へよろしくを伝えて下さい。そのカドをおくるつもり。また、ね！

Soon life will be back to normal...

2008-03-29T20:51:00.002-07:00

I am happy to announce that I am sort of finished with my Appellate Brief. The reason I say sort of, is I am in the polishing stage of this gem. I am going to put it away, enjoy Church tomorrow and look at it afresh on Monday Morning.
Tuesday will be like a new life. I am certain almost all of my classmates will say the same thing, LETS GET PLASTERED!!! I don't even drink and that sounds like a good idea, almost. I have typed a lot today, so I am going to leave this post as is, and maybe post this coming week.

For those of you who thought I was perfect...

2008-03-14T13:53:00.002-07:00

I may have taken the plunge into the abyss of weirdness, I joined the social network utility know as Facebook. This is a strange new world that I am unaccustomed to. Hopefully I am not fully assimilated. We shall see. I felt like I was almost joining the collective known as the Borg, you know, from Star Trek. Kinda freaky.
In other news: I am becoming a grown up, had to change the cell phone plan to include Olivia, we are on a family plan. I am not a fan of such things, but we had to. I just hope we can keep our minutes tamed. I used to talk a ton on my phone, but now the one person I did most of my talking to sleeps with me, and I with her, so we don't eat up a ton of time. We did do the "My Faves" thing, so we shall see who gets those honors.
Spring Break has pretty much sucked eggs for me. I have been sick to the point of not being able to even write my paper. NOT GOOD, it is due next Friday, oh well, we'll see what happens
HOWEVER, I did get something done. I completed my first 50 rounds of reloading ammunition. I made up some 158 grain Lead Round Nose .38 Specials. They look pretty good, except two that got over crimped. I may not take the chance on firing those. Pictures of reloading will come, I assure you.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods, wherever that is. Have a good weekend and check out my profile on Facebook!
PS Thanks to the Todds for the awesome desk!