Good morning!

Have you noticed that it's actually more tiring to be at work with nothing to do, than to have more than enough to do? The last two days at work were Fall Break, and although faculty were supposed to be there on Thursday, of course no one came - except for one person. Big surprise! There were a couple of tasks for me - took me all of one hour to accomplish - but the rest of the time was just a waste. And there's only so much organizing and cleaning that one can do!
I was going to post something last night - Brian got me started - but right after we talked, I went to the viewing for Heather Christensen. Line was over an hour long, with people continuously arriving. Kay, and David and Jamie, said to tell you - those in MO and Rosie - hi for them. FYI, David and Jamie have a new little baby girl - 3 weeks old.
After I got home, went to the High Priest Social - don't usually go, but this one was a farewell for Dave and Emily Schultz, who moved out of the ward to American Fork. And for those of you who don't know, Dave Schultz was High Priest Group Leader before moving, and was a big support and help to me. We are sorry to see them move.
I don't know how many of you check this site, or how often - I'd like to know if this is a better way to communicate than the other avenues. My feeling is that there are too many ways to communicate - and it's not real communication; it almost seems like it actually has become counter-productive. There's little real "connection" any more.
Anyway, you all have a good Saturday, and weekend.
Love you all - forever.
And I would like to know how many of you actually access this blog - and how regularly.

Eagle Mountain Larsons in San Diego

Here are a couple pics from San Diego. At the end of September, we did the whole theme park tour of SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and LegoLand. We also made a stop at the beach (awesome warm day, etc.) and the temple grounds. It was a nice opportunity for a family get-away.

(The first picture is an example of Ryan's ingenuity and ability when it comes to getting at the chocolate chips.)

What's new with you guys?

Larson's skin...

Yeah, in Eagle Mountain, the Larsons have experienced psoriasis, excema, vitiligo, allergic reactions, milk allergies, undiagnosed skin breakouts/allergies (ie. the simple touch of peanut butter and chocolate to Ryan's skin), and other undiagnosed skin irritations. Whatever gene messes with the skin is in full force in our family.

Some teachers showed his speech, some did not (in Jordan District, the school board left it to the discretion of the teacher, requiring parental approval before showing it).

Anyone read any good books lately? I quite enjoyed OUTLIERS by Malcolm Gladwell (liberal alert! I disagreed with some of his premises) and COMMON SENSE by Glenn Beck and COMMON SENSE by Thomas Paine.

How is Everyone?

Just a little note to say hello to everyone! How is the new school year?
A little side note...I wrote on my blog about how Eryn has dermographism. She is just fine, it is a hives thing. A skin condition. I think the Larson's got screwed when it came to autoimmune disorders...anyway, you can read all about it on my family "blog" that I never write in.
Whose school showed the Obama speech? Mine did not...that was cool.
Brian, your kids are just the cutest...almost. Mine just take the cake of course, but yours are cute!

"cute as a bug's ear"

Brian - I see the picture - is the video also on the blog, and I just don't see it? Or is it not on the blog?

accident

Hi everyone - I'm testing this to see if it works
Quite the pictures Rosie. I didn't realize the jeep was damaged that much. I wonder how fast he was going??

Rosie's awesome car crash

Okay Fam! Here's some pictures of the wreck and then poor bruised up me!! :( The caption coordinates with the following picture. Enjoy!

The car and the ambulance. A happy family.

Much of that debris is still on the road, I believe. It haunts me every time I ride by. (Not driving because you KNOW I don't trust myself behind a steering wheel yet.)

Yep. Totaled.

I was turning at the time of the accident, and so my car was just in front of  where the front nose of the ambulance is. I ended up as shown here (I'm the little car closest to the ambulance).......
......so he was going fast enough to push me across an intersection, but it's still my fault. No worries.

Oopsie.

Ummmm I don't think the Jeep's front wheels are supposed to be at that angle.....

I definitely got the worst of it.

Here is my right forearm, no idea what happened - probably the steering wheel - but I had a nice little goose egg. This bruise got prettier.

OH MY GOSH WHAT HAPPENED??!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!

This is my right leg, this bruise also got a lot prettier as the days have gone by.

Here is my beautiful collarbone where I sprained my clavical sternal joint. It's been very pretty. You can also see the mole in this picture that I mentioned was ripped halfway off by the seatbelt, and the dangling remains are covered up by a pretty batman Band-Aid. It's big and square, so it looks like it's actually covering up a hickey. Oops!

This is my left knee on the right side that banged up against my other knee. This one's been pretty bad and I've had it wrapped the majority of the past two days so that it wouldn't hit anything 'cause when it did it hurt like ****. Yeah that's right.

And that's all!!! I didn't take the pictures of the car, there's a lot so you get the full effect. Won't this be a nice Thanksgiving story? 

Love you!

Rosie

Cute as a Bug's Ear...

Of course one thinks their own children are cute...cute as a bug's ear, in fact.

:-)

The picture and video are both from Nicole's school's bug concert.

Our corn, and maybe cabbage, if we remember correctly, is up. The grub infestation has yet to hit our lawn. Maybe the monthly application of season-long grub-killer is the fix to the problem out here. (Please don't tell the feds that I am not using the product as required in the directions.)

Christopher, Tycho askes, "Is anything happening? I am going to the hobby store to get a flying object. My pinewood derby car is almost done. Write back soon!"

Between the alligator pool and the repaired trampoline, the kids are enjoying the season change occurring in Utah. (Apparently, it is detrimental to a trampoline's health for a daddy to jump on the tramp with the kids.)

Loving the Springtime. Hope you are, too.

Brian

Spring

We had milkshakes tonight because the kids got "blackout" on the Bingo game that they played for conference (thanks, Mom, for emailing that packet; it was an excellent way to keep the kids around and somewhat connected).

This week is looking pretty boring because we are waiting for a brake hose to come into Checker Auto Parts so we can replace the busted one on the Chrysler. Derek, wanna trade your Explorer for a minvan?

We're looking forward to April 24th and Rosanne's graduation. Also, we planted the garden (probably a little too soon), so we'll see if any plants come up anytime soon.

Ryan's growing up, and walking now. The difference between 0-7 year-olds and 8-99 year-olds is starting to become apparent as we watch our children pass over the age of accountability. More is required to keep things appropriate and well-taught to those over 8, while "The Three Littles," as Karyn and I call them, are still basking in innocence.

Love y'all, hopefully all is going well. Here's a picture of Ryan that's fairly new...

New Callings

Rosanne's leaving college, I'm leaving my stake (see below), Trent is receiving indications that he might be a terrorist, how is your life changing?

I have been released as stake executive secretary so I can fulfill the role of Young Men President (eh, Derek?). Karyn is teaching a financial class in the ward, as well as chairing the Cub Scout Committee.

What are you doing in your ward?

Brian

I just want to announce that I graduate in 44 days!!!!!

Life is otherwise slightly dull. I'm super excited to finish this semester and concentrate fully on Paul Mitchell and finding a nighttime job to keep an income. I'm interested in working at a bookstore or a salon. Any suggestions on other good places to work?

Ditto, congrats to the Olsens! I'm super excited to meet him :)

I'm starting to get more involved with Paul Mitchell - I just got accepted to join their student council, and I plan on joining a team that does makeup and hair for theater and group productions. I always wanted to get more involved, but BYU is so huge that I got overwhelmed, and in high school I was too insecure. Now, I'm still scared because I've never done anything like this before, but I've decided that I can't let simple fear ever keep me from doing something I think would be good for me. So I'm way excited! :)

Sorry I don't check this much - my other blogs email me when someone comments but for some reason this one is slacking, so I never get updates and I'm not on here very often. I do enjoy reading everyone's updates, so keep them coming!

Rosie

PS I let it slip to my friends that my nickname among my neices and nephews is "Ro-ro" until they can say Rosie, and now my nickname among them is Ro-ro. Awesome

Congratulations, Olsens!

We heard through Mom that the number of her grandkids increased by one tonight. Woo-hoo! We hope the mom and son are doing well tonight. Send us some pictures, and get some rest. :-)

Taxes & Feds

So, we ended up not paying federal taxes again this year.

With what's going on in California...

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_11475776?source=rss

...we took the plunge suggested by financial gurus and marked "Exempt" on the W-4 form, no tax to be withheld anymore.

We're gonna try to manage the tax liability ourselves, and then pay at the end of the year if there happens to be a tax debt, rather than a tax credit.

I've always been afraid to save the money myself, but seeing California pull that stunt and Obama grow the federal government gives me greater concern.

We'll see how it goes.

(I'm obviously just posting blah on here. Anything new with any of you?)

2009

New Year's Resolutions!

We were planning on taking a family vacation this year (ie. Southern California, or something big like that). Now we're planning on hunkering down and maybe doing less.

I put the decimal in the wrong place on our Utah taxes to begin with, so I thought we were going to have to pay additional taxes on top of what was already withheld. Thankfully, I just happened to catch my mistake before finalizing the forms yesterday. It was about a $1500 turnaround. Woo-hoo! (Work slowly and watch the new percentages if you are filling out a Utah return.)

This year we want to fix up the house (for no other reason than to have it be a little nicer). From the hole in Tycho's door from slamming it, to chipped paint on our half-walls, to needing touch-up painting or re-painting, there's plenty to do.

I thought I was going to write some major goals for this year, but nothing much is coming to mind.

I would like to build on commonalities amongst the Larsons. I've enjoyed the recent video chats we've done with some of you. I've sent a few emails saying hi. I'm hoping to take to task two general conference speakers' advice: [A] build Zion by (1) unity, (2) holiness, and (3) caring for the poor and [B] become unified by revelation, humility, being a peacemaker, speaking well of each other, and not judging.

We began discussing a Larson reunion in the year before Dad died. Maybe we can look ahead to see if we would like to hold a reunion in some near year from now, if that is a desire of others.

Love y'all. Eagle Mountain hopes you have a great 2009!