Quick Trip to Phoenix

  

My niece, Makayla was baptized into the church last Saturday. I wasn't going to go, but my conference was cancelled due to the flooding, so purchased a plane ticket last minute and flew out to surprise her! 

The last time I was there, Kathryn, who is 3.5 months older than Ty, had just been born and Ty was in my tummy. Now these two are almost friends!

 The weather in Phoenix was really nice, especially in the morning and evenings, so we spent a lot of time out in the backyard.

 

 Mindy had previously signed up for the Super Hero 5k Run, so I decided to join her. I was about the only person there not wearing anything super hero-like, but I did get pictures with some awesome super heros.


I feel bad I didn't take more pictures, but here is Will.

 Ty was in heaven with all of the toys they had.

 Bruzer is almost like an older sibling to the kids. Ty liked him, but Bruzer didn't like Ty. He would growl at Ty, but Ty didn't mind.

  

 Ty slept on the way to Phoenix and was pretty good on the way home. He LOVED looking out of the airport windows at the trucks and planes.

 Happy to be back home!

Ty, Ty the Cutest Guy

 Need I say more?

 Chick Fil A Family Carnival:

 

 

 

 Just a little light reading

 Rocking the sandals. He couldn't wait for me to put his clothes on. He had a fit because he wanted to wear his sandals.

  Future missionary. So Handsome!

 I can't get enough!

"A Flood of Biblical Proportions"

Many of you have asked if we were affected by the flooding in Colorado. Fortunately, our house was not affected by the flooding, but we are very close to the damage. The picture below is a road less than two miles from our house.

 

 Our church has been working closely with FEMA to help with clean up both in neighborhoods on a smaller scale, and with community support (ie guarding dumpsters around town...but that's another story). Below is one neighborhood in Longmont, just 20 minutes north of us. This neighborhood was one shown on the news with water covering the entire neighborhood. The National Guard set up camp at the entrance.

 

 This was the sight in front of EVERY house in the neighborhood.

Most basements still had several inches of water because the ground was too saturated. If the water was pumped out, it came back in from underneath.

These stairs lead to 5" of water four days after the flooding started.

  My friend Breanne and I were able to help because her mom, who just lives up the street (literally), watched the kids for us. It was a busy day moving items, scraping, hauling, tearing out carpet, and ripping out baseboards.

This was one of the more lightly affected houses. You can see how high the water got on the toilet, but the houses with basements had water up to the ceiling.

 Breanne scraping mud from the closet floor.

 We are doing what we can to help, but it will be a long process for these houses to dry out. I realized how blessed I was to not have any house damage from the flood, and realized how easily disaster can strike, These towns had contaminated water and no electricity for days. It sure makes me want to be prepared.

More Ty

Today is Grandma Larsen's Birthday, so I told her I would post a few pictures of Ty. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

 New shoes from Grandma Diney. Ty LOVES them (and they look great with his little baseball outfit)!

The picture below is dark (it was dark in the room), but Ty was being so funny smiling at himself in the mirror.

 We've watched our neighbor's dog, Quakey, for the past two weekends. He and Ty are like brothers. They play, fight, and get into messes together.

August Activities

Just some random pictures from this month of this funny guy.

 Ty will now pick a book up and bring it to us to read it to him. These books usually have to do with Trucks.

Disney Store:

 We tried to go on a hike twice last week, but it rained both times. We made it to this bridge to hang out under for a little bit.

 I found an idea on pinterest to make this toy where you cut holes in a lid and push pom-poms through them. It was successful for at least a few minutes with Ty.

We finally made it to the Denver Zoo

(above: feeding penguins; below: riding the train)

Some families in our ward had a "canoe party" at a women in our wards HOUSE. Yes, this lake is in her yard. We had a picnic, rode in a canoe, and visited. Below: Ty being held by Annie, one of the young women in our ward who babysits him occasionally.

Tim's cousin Sarah and her family recently moved to Denver and we are so happy to have family close! Ty and I met Sarah and Shelby at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science last Friday. We didn't take many pictures, but they were sure cute together.

Girls Camp 2013!

I was called as the Camp Director for my church this summer. Usually, it is all the girls ages 12-18, but this year, it was only the 12-13 year old girls because the older girls participate in Trek (a Mormon Pioneer re-enactment, not anything having to do with Star Trek). You would think that living in Colorado, we could find a nice place to camp nearby, but we had to go all the way up to the middle of nowhere, Wyoming. It was always nice and sunny in the mornings, but cold, windy, and rainy by the afternoons. It hailed once and one night, I could see my breath in my tent before bed because it was so cold! Despite the crazy weather, it was fun!

Below: I'm the one in purple

 Shooting practice:

 The girls showing off their targets:

 This platform is part of a low ropes course. It is on a pole in the middle and you are supposed to balance it. The girls spent at least 90% of their free time on it.

 It was too cold to swim, but the canoes were fun:

 Archery was popular thanks to the Hunger Games:

15 Months

Ty's (Better Late than Never) Stats:

Height: 31.5 inches; 72%

Weight: 20.5 pounds: 18%

At 15 months, Ty is now walking like crazy (finally!). He can also wave, point, pick things up off of the ground while standing, and pick his nose or plug his ears. New words include "na na" (banana), "ca" (car, truck, train, etc), "tuk" (truck, train, etc), and "uh-oh" (something fell to the floor). Ty still loves eating fruit, but is picky about other foods. Somedays, he loves cheese or chicken and other days he scoffs in disgust at them. He is a good sleeper sleeping around 11 hours at night and taking 1.5-2 hour naps. His favorite toys are balls, cars, and magnets, although his magnet supply is slowly diminishing due to him putting them in the garbage. Ty still loves Elmo and Sesame Street, and he smiles and "dances" when any songs come on. 

Ty is also figuring out his personality.  He is learning to throw tantrums and occasionally bangs his head on purpose to get attention. He has decided he hates baths and recently wouldn't even sit down, but stood in the tub naked, holding on to me and screaming while I sponged him down.

I think Ty takes after his dad in the sense of humor department. He is a funny guy. When he is in a good mood, Ty will just start chatting away and laughing at himself. He loves to play peek-a-boo, especially if we do it behind a door he can knock on.  If there is a group of people around laughing, Ty joins in and thinks it is funny too. This evening, he was walking around the house talking loudly like he owned the place, so I started chasing him saying, "I'm going to get you!" and Ty kept trying to run away, but when I touched him he would scream in laughter. My favorite is when we whisper to him and he starts to whisper back to us. 

Ty is the most handsome, smiley, cutest, stinkerest guy I know and I just can't get enough of him.