Christmas Card

Heather is so talented. She wrote up this poem to include with our Christmas card. It really is a gift she has. Hopefully she only uses it for good (not evil).

What a year this has been full of joys to remember
One that kept us busy from January to December.

Coby at 4 is energetic as ever but even more fun
He learns things so quickly and is always on the run.
Holding my hand he’ll look up and say
Best buddies right mom? It sure makes my day.

Our funny little Rett-ster has grown up a lot
Doing things on his own he’s no longer a tot.
He still is a sweet boy and mischievous too
Everything is “I do it”, you can tell that he’s two!

At UCSD Jacoby took schooling under his wing
Earning a Masters in electrical engineering.
He’s ever so busy with work, family, and school
With very little sleep, he’s still mister cool.

Heather turned 30 and is now in her prime
Crafting, & baking & writing silly rhymes.
She’s pregnant again and is sick as can be
June 2009 will bring baby number three.

Two weeks in Europe on an adventure we went
Our kids watched by friends who were heaven sent.
First stop was Venice, a maze of beautiful sites
Glass blowing, gondolas, so much to see in only two nights.

Ancient history came alive as we toured around Rome
Eating Italian food for a week sure made us miss home.
Paris was da bomb (Jacoby’s helping here) and the food was divine
Spending this trip together was a fabulous time.

By London our poor little feet were exhausted
We were missing our boys and our noses were frosted.
So after a little sight seeing it was off to the shows
Les Mis & Wicked brought our trip to a close.

Summer was full of the joys that are found
When you live only a mile from a beach year-round.
A student apartment is our new zone
Saving our pennies for a house of our own.

Up to Lake Hume for a family vacation
For camping, and swimming it was the perfect location.
Next on to Sequoia to see the worlds biggest trees
The boys loved to make s’mores and do as they pleased.

We have so many blessings, too many to tell
We hope this letter finds those we love as happy as well.
We are grateful this season for all that joy that can be found
In family, in friendship, in God’s love all around.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Jacoby, Heather, Coby & Rett Larson



Here were a few of the lines that I nixed:

First to Venice, so beautiful and serene
Some say that Jacoby is really mean

First stop was Venice, a maze of beautiful sights
The gondolas were very romantic at night (but we didn’t really go on one since Jacoby said they were too expensive. See other poem about Jacoby).

He’s a busy guy with family, school, and work
Sometimes we think he acts like a jerk.

Family, school, and work keep him busy
With too little sleep he gets in a tizzy.

This is using her powers for evil.

Apple Pickin' in Julian

So in the middle of October (my last weekend of feeling good) we went camping in Julian with some friends of ours, the Haltermans and then picked apples the next day. It was a ton of fun except that it was SOOOOO cold. And I mean cold. I always hate when it gets to cold camping because I wake up all night long thinking that maybe the kids are going to freeze to death. When usually I reach over to check on them they are super warm. They really should make those sleeper pjs for adults! I have wanted to go apple pickin for awhile now but whenever I bring it up to Jacoby he looks at me like I am a nut. (That's what you get for marrying a Washington boy who used to walk home through apple orchards.) So pickin apples wasn't exactly high on his excitement list but we had a great time anyways and the kids thought it was a blast!
Here's Rett playing with acorns. Shell & I loved to collect these as a kid. We would find the acorns who's "hats" had fallen off and make people out of them. Such fun!

Here's our new tent and a funny story all in its own. We had a small four man tent that we just no longer fit into since if it says four man it means two. Anyways, so we found this one brand new on craigslist for $85 but it sells new at Target for $140. So it was a great deal. We go to meet the guy to buy it and its kind of a back alley type area. Not the best part of town but maybe he works at one of the warehouses there. So he pulls it out of the back of his trailer covered by a tarp and we check it out. It's all new and sealed so we buy it. Then he asks if we need a sleeping bag and pulls out a really nice one for $20, also brand new. We didn't bring any other money so we said no thanks. As we are driving off Jacoby turns and says, you know I wonder if this is stolen property. I mean why else does he have all this brand new stuff on a trailer?? So we might have bought stolen property. But heck if I was going back to that alley to ask for my money back!!! And for camping it was a great tent. Being able to stand up the middle of them tent was awesome and it has so much space!!

Morning Sickness Musings.......

After another particularly bad day of a particularly bad week of a particularly bad month our bedtime conversation went something like this:

H: Know what I would do if I could go back to school?
J: Oh, oh, um let me think, you would do research and create a way to rid all pregnant women of naseua. Is that it? Since you've told me that 20 times at least in your pregnancies.
H: Yeah, well its a good idea.

A little later:
H: Know what is valuable? Marrying a woman who doesn't get morning sickness while pregnant.
J: No kidding.
H: I mean really that is like gold if you can find that. (Since currently our house is a mess, I can't ever make dinners, and somedays we never even get outside!)
H: So we would tell our boys to make sure that they find those girls. They say that those who get motion sickness when not pregnant are more prone to get morning sickness. (Flashbacks to all those cartrips I threw up after are reeling through my head at this point.)
J: Our boys could take their dates to the fair and go on all those crazy flip you all over type of rides that always make you super sick. The loop-de-loop rollercoaster, the zipper, gravitron, you name it. (Then he procedes to tell me about puking when he got off the gravitron and the octupus in high school. ) So, then when they get off they could ask their dates how they feel to test their motion sickness.
H: That's a great idea.
J: Oh, except our boys won't be able to go on any of those rides because most likely they will get sick like us.
H: Oh, bummer. Well they could just wait outside the rollercoaster and ask cute girls as they come off, "How'd you like it? Are you feeling well? Could you ride it again?".
J: Then when people ask where do they look for dates they could tell them at the carnival:)

Diets that work!

Heather and I have been losing weight lately. These diets really work! They might be considered a little extreme by today's standards, but tomorrow might consider them mainstream, you never know. Here's how we do it:

Jacoby has lost 5 lbs by maintaining a healthy exercise habit of biking to school everyday. They have a shuttle that would take him to school for free, but he likes having a bike at school to get around. He also gets an average of 5 hours of sleep and adds in an extreme amount of anxiety and stress from homework and lab due dates and big tests. Oh, and when he gets a few minutes of relaxing time, he spends it running around the block chasing kids on bikes.

Heather has lost around 10 lbs by the old tried and true method of throwing up a couple of times a day and having immense disdain for any type of food, day or night. This kind of diet doesn't require much exercise at all, in fact, it pretty much leaves you completely drained and exhausted so that you won't even be able to get off the couch. Lose weight by laying down on the couch, can you believe it?

These diets are so awesome, we thought we would share them for others who are also looking to lose weight.

In support of traditional marriage

I really enjoyed this proposition 8 video. I thought it set out the facts out really well and described my position on this issue.

Graduate School Musings

UCSD Geisel Library (named after Theodor (Dr.) Seuss Geisel and his wife). The views from the 7th and 8th floor are pretty sweet.

I started graduate school this Thursday at UCSD. I am in the Electrical Engineering Master's degree program, with an emphasis in Intelligent Systems, Robotics, and Control. My undergraduate degree was in Computer Science and to get a full understanding of the graduate level classes I need to basically take 2 years of undergraduate EE classes. I won't take that many classes, but at least all of the classes I'm taking this quarter are undergraduate courses. And although I have only had 2 days of classes, I am already swamped and wondering if I am ready to leave the familiar relaxed atmosphere of my current job and go back to school. Too late I guess.

So I had a meeting with my advisor and he suggested that I go for the Ph.D. degree (since I will have that option if I want) and put myself in that mindset right now. For those who don't know, I have a scholarship through the Department of Defense that will allow me to go to school full time, work part time, and still make my full salary. I get full benefits (retirement, health insurance, etc.) while I go to school. So for those of you who pay your taxes, thanks. I promise to make a difference in the world and use your money wisely. The scholarship will pay for my masters and my doctorate (if I so choose) and I will owe the government back 1 year for every year I am in school. Not a bad deal! Currently I am not extremely devoted to the subject and have that deep down desire to delve into one specific subject for the next 5-8 years. But I do like going back to school, I think I will learn a great deal, and am excited to do research in the field of robotics and write a thesis for my Master's degree. Although I am only planning on two years of school, I might like it so much and want to continue. That is something I will assess as time goes on. But I am still naive in the ways of graduate degrees and could use some sage advice. So my question to those of you who might read this blog and have opinions in this area is, should I go on and get a Ph.D.? What are the pros and cons? What do you think? What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Disneyland 2009

So I know I am way behind on blogging and all but I had to write and let everyone know that in 2009 Disneyland is going to be offering free admission on your birthday. How awesome is that?? Also if you already have an annual pass then they will give you a ticket for another day, or the equivalent in a gift card to spend in the park that day. Anyway around it (esp. those who live in CA) this is a sweet deal. My kids are going to be stoked! Hope everyone is doing great:)

Check it out here:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/disneyland/index?name=CelebrationsDLRFreeOnYourBirthdayPage

London

The fourth and last installment of my reports on our trip to Europe, only 5 months late. I previously wrote about our stay in Venice and Rome. In addition, I just finished the one about Paris but started it back in April, so it won't show up as a new post.

My favorite stop in London was Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London. Inside lies the White Tower, a square fortress built by William the Conquerer in 1078. Inside . It was royal palace and fortress, but it was also a prison and place of execution. Heather is proudly re-enacting a bit of history here by getting her head chopped off.

Heather cozying up to the cold stone walls of the Tower of London
The escalators for the subway system in London are extremely long. Thought I would take a picture and let everyone see it. Pretty exciting.

Buckingham Palace

It really exists! Harry Potter is real!

By the end of our two weeks in Europe, we were pooped. We did the smallest amount of sightseeing, and took a break by relaxing and taking in the culture of London, via musicals. Here we are at Les Miserables.

Wicked

Sequoia National Forest Family Vacation

We took a family vacation to Sequoia this year. However, because we booked the camping spots so late in the season, we could only get two nights at a place called Hume Lake and two more nights in the main Sequoia touristy spot called Lodgepole. Here are a bunch of pictures that tell the story much better than I can.

We didn't actually see any bears but they told us there was one with her cub near our campsite the morning we arrived
Our boys next to the largest tree in the world, General Sherman
The entrance to Crystal Caves. Rett kept calling it the Spiderman Caves. Heather asked him where Spiderman was and he would say "he's hiding, no he's sleeping". We didn't actually get to see Spiderman while we were in there, but we did see lots of cool cave formations and Jacoby saw a bat

Aren't these trees just huge!

The boys helping Daddy row the boat on Hume Lake

After Jacoby showed a good effort and got his picture taken, Heather rowed us all the way there and back

Who wants a candy?

Playing around on the rock we found on our rowing trip

The family

A bear box. You put all your food in it when you aren't using it and the bears can't get into it. Camping in California is crazy! (Jacoby)
Coby was so excited that he was able to roast marshmallows and eat smores every night we were there

Our boys. (not hitting each other)

Cute boy

Coby sang this song after the bees kept attacking our food

Book Of Mormon Stories

Yesterday for Fathers Day all the kids went up to sing in church. I really wanted Coby to go sing (he wouldn't for Mothers Day) so I bribed him with a piece of gum (his all time favorite treat) after church if he would go sing. Well he walked himself right up there and sang in the front row and it was the coolest thing ever. The moment that makes motherhood totally worth it and all you feel is joy and pride. He sang some of the worlds but mainly gave us a huge grin and traded between waving and giving us thumps ups. If only we could video tape at church......I think I would watch it everyday.

In lou of having a videotape of that, I did get on video the boys singing Book of Mormon stories together. We had practiced a few weeks in a row at Family Home Evening with Coby so he would become more familiar with Primary songs. Then a little bit ago we realized that Rett knew the song too and he loves to sing it just as much. His favorite part is the third line all about the sea. (Excuse my overly loud voice joining in. I always forget that I am really close to the camera so it picks everything up!)Enjoy!

Birthday Boy

29 things I love about my 29 year old husband....

1-He is geniunely good. Not for gain or popularity, just that is who he is.
2-He is very patient.
3-He is rarely ever mad and even when he is he will forgive you in a heartbeat.
4-He is a ton of fun to be around.
5-He is very handsome.
6-He loves to play games and have get togethers.
7- He's funny and makes me laugh.
8- He thinks I'm funny and even laughs at my lame jokes.
9- He makes killer pizzas.
10-He makes everything more fun when he is there.
11-He is a great dad. I am so blessed with how much he does for the boys.
12-He is a fantastic husband, he is always tries to put me first.
13-He puts up with me which on a long day with the kids is not an easy task!
14-He loves a new adventure and keeps our lives full of fun memories.
15-He can fix anything!
16-He is a loyal friend and is never one to talk bad or belittle someone else.
17-He is a righteous priesthood holder and is a great example of someone living the gospel.
18-He is really smart.
19-When he leans over the side of the bed and I push him off he laughs even though it's totally immature of me:) Funny thing to love I know but for some reason I find it so sweet!
20-He thinks everything I cook is the best meal ever.
21-He is the master at compliments.
22-He is a great singer and musically talented.
23-He has an awesome smile.
24-He is willing to go along with whatever new scheme I have cooked up.
25-He's a great dancer and loves to start hip hop parties in our living room.
26-He makes me want to be a better person.
27-He is the best thing that ever happened to me.
28-I love him and
29- He's my very best friend!!!

Doesn't my husband rock???

Since it is almost Jacoby's birthday I figured it was the perfect time to brag about how awesome he is. He can fix or make just about anything. It's amazing!!! I never knew he was so handy until we moved to this house and then he just does all sorts of things like installing a new garbage disposal or fixing a broken sink pipe. It's really fun to see this side of him. Check out all his recent fixes:

1.We have been looking for a new double jogger since the one we have is really hard to steer. The other day I found this one for free on Craigslist (okay so he has the fixing skills and I have the finding things free skils:). It's a BOB Sport Utility Duallie, that normally costs around $400. They were giving it away since the shocks were broken and the brakes didn't work. We bring it home and Jacoby takes apart both the shocks and brakes and is able to fix them both! Now it works perfectly and is such a nice stroller, so much lighter and easier to push (which means a lot when your kids weigh close to 80 pounds together!).

2. Last Christmas I found this exercise bike on freecycle that they were giving away because the power circuit no longer worked (or something like that). Jacoby took the wires apart then resaudered some stuff and got a new power plug and now it works awesome! Once again this thing would be like $300-$400 brand new but with my finding and his fixing skills it was free!
3. Last but not least, about a year ago Jacoby made me these awesome food storage rotating shelves. My mom actually wrote the book on how to make your own shelves if you want to check it out at http://www.spacesavvy.com/. She had given us a copy but her design is for front to back loading which when you have a basement with space works great. But we had no way to set it somewhere that we would be able to reach the front and back so we decided to make ours front loading. Using her book and the idea in our head we were able to modify the directions to make this awesome storage rotation which I have loved (except for the fact that the boys love it too and everytime we go in the garage Rett runs over to move cans about!)


You ROCK Jacoby!!!!

Back to school!

I got word today: I am going back to school! Above is the Jacob School of Engineering where I will be studying this fall.

This fall I will be attending UCSD to get a master's degree in Electrical Engineering. I received the Department of Defense SMART scholarship which will pay my schooling, allow me to go to school full time, work part time, and get paid my full salary. It was a deal that was too good to pass up. Hmmmm, lets see, that's 100% of my time to school and 50% of my time to work. How much does that leave for my family? Although Heather is excited for me and supportive of this plan, she is realizing that she might not see me much for the next two years. I guess all that studying for the GRE paid off.

Along with this change, we have applied for on-campus housing in beautiful La Jolla (the most expensive area in San Diego and right by the beach), which will save us a bunch of money because they keep the prices low for students, and will allow me to be very close to school. However, after living in a house with a backyard for two years, a small 800 sq. ft. apartment will be tough. The good news is that there are parks and playgrounds right outside the door and they even have garden plots we can use to grow whatever we want.

Mothers Day Cards

Today we were making Mothers Day cards. Coby kept saying, "When the three grandmas get to our house they are going to be so excited. So, so excited. " He was pretty proud of his handiwork! He was a little sad when I reminded him that we were mailing these and that all three grandmas were not personally going to pick them up from him! The first card he put glue all over the words so I had to remind him about just putting it around the words. The second card he did pretty well on his own and the third card I got up to grab something and he put glue everywhere! I think they just might dry in time for Mothers Day:)

H: Coby do you remember who all your grandmas are? There's Nana who lives with Papa Marty in Washington. Then grandma who lives with Grandpa Charlie in Utah (We like to refer to my mom as the slip n slide grandma since we did that with her last summer!) and then there is Grams who we just saw a few days ago.

C: Oh, I know who Grams is! Grams and Papa.

H: That's right, Grams is married to Papa.

C: Am I married to you?

H: No, I am married to Daddy.

C: Ahh, I wanted to be married to you.

The best is that when I was about Coby's age my dad was talking to me and somehow it turned to who was married to who. I asked if I could marry my dad and when he said he was married to mom and that I would have to marry someone else I cried and cried about it. He still likes to tease me about it to this day!

Suretrack

Christmas picture
Today making the worlds longest train


Suretrack has changed our lives. Okay, well maybe it's not quite that dramatic but I do love them. Our boys got an awesome train table for Christmas that never really gets played with mainly due to the fact that the tracks are always broken. We set it up and within minutes, sometimes even seconds Rett has either taken pieces of the track off or one of the boys has accidentally bumped it and the whole thing falls down. So within a week of owning it we gave up on having any levels or bridges (which make the whole thing more fun) and only made flat courses. Lately I have gotten so tired of always having to re-build that we had talked about gluing it down. And then suretrack came into our lives. Someone mentioned it at a playgroup and skeptical though I was about paying $14 for 14 little clips (I only paid $15 for the table and all the tracks!) it has been a miracle! Our track has been together almost three weeks now, bridges and all with only a few minor fixes now and again. The clips just slide under where the tracks connect to one another and hold them fixed so even if they get bumped or purposely pulled they will not disconnect. We only have enough for one upper level so we have them on the upper sections and a few of the upper/lower connections but they work wonders. If you have train tracks and little boys give it a try!!!!

Rachel's Wedding

Last weekend we went to my cousin Rachel's wedding. And no I didn't get a single picture of the bride! That's what happens when you have two rambucous kids contained in the same room for 5+ hours and you are trying to help. Here's some fun pictures though, I especially liked the short little clip of my grandparents dancing. They had invited all couples who had been married 60 years or more to come dance after the bride and grooms dance. It was pretty cute!

Rett & Coby dancing with cousin Jessica and Aunt Becca.

Paris

This is a continuation of my report of our Europe trip in March 2008. We visited 4 cities (Venice, Rome, Paris, and London). This post is about Paris

One of my favorite things about Paris was the food. I was tired of Italian food after being in Rome and Venice for a week. I mean, all they eat is pasta, nothing else: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And they are ok with it. Well I wasn't. So when we came to Paris and they had roast duck, steak with cheese sauce, delicious onion soup, pork chops with this fantastic mustard sauce, and sandwiches with so much flavor I was in heaven. The first sandwich I had was filled with mango and turkey and some cranberry sauce. It was like a blast of flavors in my mouth. It totally reminded me of the movie "Ratatouille" where Remi savors the taste sensation of Parisian food. I hear you Remi.

We made a stop at the palace in Versaille where King Louis the XIV lived and made the center of Europe. It was exactly what I thought a king's palace should look like: acres and acres of gardens with water fountains, huge ballrooms with frescos and paintings, giant fireplaces, and hundreds of fancy rooms and open space.

The hall of mirrors at the palace of Versaille

We spent 3 hours in the Louvre and saw the Venus de Milo, Madonna on the Rocks, some Michaelangelo sculptures, and of course the Mona Lisa, among so many other things, and we probably only saw 1/10th of the museum: this place is gargantuan. Here is the perfect reverse pyramid.

We visited the chapel St. Chapelle where they (the Catholic church) used to display the crown of thorns that was on Jesus' head (they say). Now they bring it out and show it at Notre Dame during Easter. We didn't get to see it at either place, but if it really was the crown of thorns, that sure would be something woudn't it?

Notre Dame was magnificent. Here is our token picture in front of it.

Heather losing her head at the Place de Concorde, where 1119 people also lost their heads during the French Revolution.

Eiffel Tower