Springing Forward

Bella showing that she can play a little hoops too!

Rick showing us that he still has it even though he is 31!

Bella dressing herself. She loves the bling, bling!

It has definitely been spring here in Dallas. We have really been enjoying the 80 degree temperatures and being able to wear shorts and go to the park. Bella is following in her daddy's footsteps and loves to play soccer. She will just continue to kick the ball until she is stopped by a fence or until she trips and falls down. She is growing up so fast and it is amazing how fast time is flying by. What is also amazing is how bipolar the weather is out here too! It was a nice 83 degrees yesterday and now today's high is going to be 45. Crazy, but all I can say is that at least it doesn't stay in the low temps for very long since we will be back up to the 70's by Monday.

I was trying to potty train Bella this past week, but ultimately my lazy side won. Most of you know how much I hate dirty diapers and stinky bums, so the potty training failed after one missed poop in the toilet. I just love diapers!! I love the convenience of them, I love that I don't have to make Bella use a public restrooms, and I love how, for the most part, all the stinkyness stays inside the diaper. Bella has been asking to wear big girl panties and doesn't want to wear the diapers anymore so I am assuming I will have to start back up again soon...or maybe I will just wait until Jackie comes out for Rick's graduation and she can just do it for me since she has 4 kids experience :). Bella has been cracking us up lately and her "spirited" personality is coming out more and more. She now yells at us "No, be quiet!", "That's mine!", "Stop it!! Ow, Ow, Ow!" The last one is always my favorite saying that she seems to do at church or at the grocery store and she does it right in front of someone so they think that I am abusing her. It is great.

Rick is doing really well. He has only two months until graduation and can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. What a long and hard process it has been for him and we are all just so proud of him. He has passed his National Boards and his Mock Boards and so all he has left is the licencing boards in the middle of April.

I am still staying busy with work and Bella. I am still taking my tennis lessons on Tuesday nights and love it. Plus, being the enrichment leader keeps me busy as well. I am surprised at how much I have really enjoyed this calling, mostly because of the great people on the committee. Rick has also surprised me with tickets to my favorite band in April for our anniversary. We are going to see Blue October in Austin on April 11 and I think that it will be great. I will hopefully get to post pictures of me throwing myself on the stage.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Sorry about the wind blowing in this video.

Bella was delirious for this video, bad nights sleep and a poor nap.

Olympian in Training

Bella just loves her gymnastics class on Saturday and she really loves Coach Kelly. Her favorite event is the bar and she is really good at it. She has been spotlighted for her ability to do "skin the cat" on the bar at such a young age. Of course I had to post a video of her doing it, because we are so amazed by her strength.

These family picture below are the pictures that my friend Whitni Parker took. These first two pictures really captured Bella's personality of being super high maintenance. I don't know if we really got her to smile in more then two pictures. On the picture that we are walking across the bridge Bella was freaking out and turning completely red with how angry she was. If we could have got a picture from the front it would have been priceless. The pictures did turn out great even with Bella being completely dramatic throughout the whole process.

Do not disturb!!

The pediatrician has told us several times, "You just have to realize that you have a VERY spirited child", which in laymen's terms means "Good luck on trying to control her". Bella has kept us on our toes since she arrived in our home. She never ceases to amaze me with her determination and physical strength. As she gets older it is more difficult to coerce her into doing what I want her to do :). I know all you moms are saying "welcome to my world". I thought I had enough biceps strength to man handle a 21 month old, but that thought is dwindling.

She is getting cuter and bigger everyday and sometimes it is hard to remember what she was like as a baby...then we were quickly reminded by the three hour awakenings happening again!!

Bella found a new sense of freedom when she started crawling out of her crib and pack n' play in Utah. It continued on when we got back to Dallas and so we decided it was time to convert her crib to a bed. Nobody ever told me how difficult that transition could be. Bella decided that she could get up whenever she wanted whether it be at midnight, 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4:30 a.m., and finally the real wake up at 5:30 a.m. She was literally getting out of her bed 4 times a night and then would do the toddler run to our bedroom (loud enough to get the cops and apartment management called on us).

So we decided to try a new game plan. There was a "fairy" toddler bed at Babies 'R Us that she really liked so we thought we'd give it a try. She was very excited as we assembled it, which was entertainment in itself. I'm happy to report that she is mostly just waking up at the 5:30 am time. Though she wakes at 5:30 we are often able to get her to sleep another hour or two by walking her back to her room. She definitely loves her "big girl bed"!

I have attached some pictures from our family photo shoot. I think the pictures really capture the essence of Bella :). There is also a video of Bella singing some of her favorite songs. She has fallen in love with the video and song "Frosty the Snowman". I know that we will be watching this video all year round. I hope all is well with all of you!

Christmas Vacation

We had a great Christmas vacation! It started out with my brother and dad flying out to see the Cowboy's beat up on the Giants (unfortunately the Eagles did the same to us a couple of weeks later). It's always more gratifying, especially for my family members that travel from afar, when they pull out the "W". Since it was the second to last game at Texas Stadium tickets were not cheap. Before leaving Dallas we found out Santa was getting some Reindeer hunting material at Cabelas so we snuck over to get Bella's picture with him.

We headed to Utah for a two week trip. First we went to Salt Lake where we got reacquainted with the freezing cold and big snow storms. Ahhhh, that is exactly what I do NOT miss about living in Salt Lake, especially when we left mid 70's weather in Dallas. However, it was fun to see the temple lights in the snow and it was also a blast to go sledding with Bella. She was obsessed with the snow and had a great time making "Frosty the Snowman". The house we stayed at was loaded with built in fun. We had a steam room shower, sledding hill in the back yard, ATV to ride up and down the drive way and 9000 empty sq feet for Bella to run loose in.

Down in St. George we enjoyed our time with family. Bella loved being with her cousins and went crazy every time she played with them. Sledding was also on the agenda in St. George (ok really it was Cedar City since there was no snow in St. George when we got there). Luckily there were no casualties to report. I got to enjoy the finer things in St. George, like Pasta Factory, Paulas (to Ricks dismay), Charlies shakes and Cafe Rio. Christmas was good to us and Santa was very good to Bella. We had to ship most of her stuff home because it wouldn't fit in the suitcases. Rick spent a significant time studying while in St. George and he took his National Boards right before we left to return home. Bella and I had a lot of bonding time!

It was a great trip and we thank all of our family for the accommodations along the way. As fun as it is to go on these trips it's always nice to get back to a normal schedule too.

A day after being home Rick took off again for New Orleans. He was fortunate enough to see one of the most renowned games in University of Utah football history. It was probably the highlight of his year hands down.

Elmo Live!!!

On our way to see the show.


Bella and Lucy with their spinning Elmo toy.


Waiting "impatiently" for the show to start.


Bella's excited face when the show starts.


Poor Rach got stuck with Bella because she was the nice one. Not like Bella's mean parents or the scary usher who wouldn't let her rush the stage.




Bella and Lucy wrapped up in their towels after swimming.


Down at the Riverwalk.

Bella's favorite person in the world has to be Elmo. She sings and dances to the Elmo's World song and she watches him faithfully. Let's just say she is a huge fan. Someone who definitely competes with her for the biggest fan award would be her friend Lucy. Because of this loyalty and undying love for Elmo, our friend's Marshall, Rachel, Lucy, and Gracie and our family took Bella and Lucy down to San Antonio to see Elmo Live. It was fun to see the girls enjoy seeing Elmo in person. Bella became a crazed fan during the show and attempted to run up on to the stage, not just one time, but three separate occasions. The usher had to warn us a few times about our rebellious daughter and also about her out of control dancing in the aisle. They had such a great time and we are so glad that we got to go. We got to go swimming, play some Wii, and go down to the Riverwalk. It was a short trip, and other than me getting completely creamed in Mario Party, it was a fun trip.

We hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving. Rick's grandparents came into town for the holiday and we had a great time taking them around the city. Bella has been having a little bit of separation anxiety problems, but luckily she warmed up to her grandparents in no time. Hopefully this anxiety will all go away soon, but unfortunately it seems to be getting worse. Nursery has been a "no go" for several weeks now and gymnastics has become a little difficult for her too. Very weird.

Bella and her friend Lilly jumping in the crib. They were little jumping jelly beans.

Happy Halloween

We had such a great Halloween this year, as well as a great October all together! Bella went to her first pumpkin patch and loved every minute of it. She got to ride a train, pick out her very own pumpkin, and play in the pumpkins! I asked her if she wanted to be Dora or Minnie and she chose Minnie. She loves her Minnie Mouse that she got from Disneyland and she carries her all over the place! I think that her favorite part of the whole costume were the gloves.

Our playgroup had its 1st annual trunk or treat and we had a great turnout!! Unfortunately since Bella has my grace and coordination, she biffed it twice within 15 minutes of it starting and tore her dress. That's my girl :)!

On Halloween night our friends the Berry's invited us over for dinner and to go trick or treating. She made a killing with all of the candy she got and really buttered up the people handing out the candy by saying "Tick or Teat" and "fank fu". She did a great job and didn't get scared when we went to a house that had "Leather Face" outside with his chainsaw. We are loving all of the candy, not to mention that I found my favorite new candy bar "white chocolate Kit Kats."

Other than that, we are keeping busy; Rick with school and me with enrichment. I had no idea how time consuming a calling could be!! Luckily I am not a primary president or a relief society president!! Bella just continues to grow and went to nursery for the first time yesterday (two weeks late due to sicknesses in the Larson household). I must admit that it made me a little sad to see her go in there. She is growing up way too fast!

Our little Nadia!

Bella has now been to gymnastics three times and loves it! It is so cute to see her in her leotard and trying to do the different apparatuses. She really gets excited about the bar. I think that will be her best event :). Her teacher is so great with her and I am so glad that I found this class, it really helps get her energy out.

Nothing new is happening out here. Rick just finished a huge pharmacology test and passed with flying colors. A lot of people are trying to recruit Rick to join their practices from places like North Carolina to here in Dallas to Arizona to Utah and finally to California. It is a very exciting time, but also very scary to have to make this huge decision on where to live and where to raise a family. Rick, however, is not stressed, as I take on enough stress about it for the both of us.

My enrichment leader calling is keeping me super busy, but I am actually really liking it. I am not creative, but when you have people on your committee that are it really helps out. We just got our tickets to go home to Utah for Christmas and the best part of it is that we got a great deal on them! Too bad the baggage fee will make up for it.

Hope you all are well!!!