V is already 4 months?!?

Well the title of this post pretty much says it all. I can't believe how fast my life is flying by me right now. My little baby is already 4 months old, rolling over, eating oat cereal...sheesh. Is it true that time goes faster with each child? Well I hope it slows down a little cause I want to cuddle her as long as possible! I just love every little roll (and there are lots!) on this chick! She has been such a wonderful baby. I really can't complain about anything (except for maybe the fact that she is the snortiest thing I've ever heard--as Nate so lovingly described it's like waking up to a warthog next to you!). And just in case you are wondering...she is NOT sleeping with us...don't worry. I just pull her into my bed after her 5 am feeding every now and then and often forget to put her back ;). We all love Violet like crazy. She even puts up with her big brother and for some reason thinks he's pretty dang funny, too! Here are little miss v's stats for her 4 month well-check:

weight--14.3 lbs (64%) height--24 in (40%) head--41 cm (52%)

A pretty average little girl all around. Sawyer came with me to her well-check and I was shocked to see how much better he did than the last time I tried taking him at her 2 week. I guess my little boy is growing up too :). He made sure she knew that she had gotten 'owies' and was obsessed with her bugs bunny bandaids. He was very interested in watching the doctor look over Violet, and was happy to take the lollipop in her behalf! Sadly, I don't have any decent pictures of Violet since we got back from the Ranch, and my camera battery was dead today when I decided I needed to post this blog so I snapped a couple with our Kodak Play Sport...not the greatest quality but it'll do. We are headed to Utah for another fun week with my family this time! I'm sure I'll have LOTS of pictures when I get back :).

Sawyer is quite the little monkey. You will most often find him on top of a counter somewhere or doing some acrobatics between the couch and the coffee table!
And yes, this boy LOVES cheese...
We've also been spending a lot of time in here...as you can see it's not going so well :) He thinks it's more of a jungle gym than a potty place. But I'm just getting him used to the idea...and we have had several successful moments so far!
Couldn't decide which picture of Sawyer racing his cars in the bathroom to post...I picked this one because I just love those lips that he makes as he says 'Vroooom'...such a cutie!
And here's a little video to show some sibling love. Sawyer really just LOVES this girl. He no longer calls her 'Vat' (although unfortunately the nick name has stuck)...but now refers to her as 'Videt'. He is very concerned when she's crying or spitting up...always tells me to go get the 'bitups wag'. And if she laughs or smiles at him he is simply overjoyed. As long as we can keep him from killing her with his intensity I think these 2 are going to grow up to be great friends!

Family Pictures

Nathan took pictures for the whole family while we were at the ranch this year. He did a fantastic job, if I do say so myself! :) Syd came up to help with a couple of the group shots and anything with Nathan in it. Thanks so much for doing that, Syd! I don't have a finished copy of the whole group together yet. It still needs a little tweaking (like adding in a couple of missing husbands :)). So that will show up some time in the future of this blog. For now here are some others to enjoy! (And our little family pic is the new header on the blog, so I didn't repost that!)

So hard to get a 2 yr old to hold up their baby sister for a shot! These two turned out sorta cute!

All the girls of the Larson family...

The Original Larsons :)

All the grandkids. Notice the helicopter flying above their heads. It was the only thing that worked at this point!

So proud to be part of this group of 'sisters'! Love you guys!

And I just love these ones of Nate and his sisters...great job capturing the 'real' side of them, Syd :)

Larson Ranch Trip 2011

Nathan took this awesome picture of Taryn and I just love it..so much joy

Here we go...the annual Larson Family Ranch Trip. Be prepared for an onslaught of pictures! It is so hard to narrow down the hundreds and hundreds of pictures from the week...but I think I"ve done it! We had such a great time, as always. Nathan and I were pretty excited for Sawyer to really experience the Ranch this year. He was finally be old enough to enjoy a lot of the activities that go on there. He totally had a blast! Between lots of cousins, tons of outdoor time, lack of bedtimes, and unlimited food and candy ...I think it was pretty much heaven for this kid. The four of us slept all together in the same room all week and I was pleasantly surprised at how well that went. It gave me a lot of hope for when I move Violet into Sawyer's room in the next couple months.

We drove up to Las Vegas on Friday evening (July 15th), stayed the night briefly, then finished up our drive on Saturday morning. The kids did pretty well on the drive. We met up with Sydney and Mitch for lunch before heading up to the Ranch that night. The following Saturday night as we were driving home we had a tire blow out while driving at 85 mph. Luckily there were no cars around us because Nathan had a tough time controlling the car between the two lanes available to us. He did great and we were able to pull off and change our tire and make it safely to Vegas where we bought a new tire the following morning. We felt very blessed that everything turned out the way it did. As for all the fun we had during the week...I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

One of our favorite activities at the Ranch--the giant slip'n'slide! Sawyer thought it was so much fun this year...

The guys built a rope swing into the pond this year. Here is Nathan taking the plunge!

Violet sitting on her Grandpa's lap while the kids played on the slip'n'slide...

So apparently I missed this little event below...when they told me Sawyer was hiding under the blow up pool as everyone crashed into it at the bottom of the slide, I was glad I missed it! Good thing he didn't DIE! Sheesh...Sawyer, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious.

Violet chillin' with her aunties

Even little Vi went down the slide with her aunt Andrea! This was pretty much her facial expression the entire way down. Just can't contain the excitement ;)

After the ride...

I just loved all these cute little pictures of Violet...so I narrowed it down to 3 of them!

Taryn and Sawyer getting ready to feed the horsey's. Those two were best enemies :)

A rare, but tender, moment

Julianne and Ned prepared a little Book of Mormon adventure for the kids. They brought costumes and we all acted out the Lehi & family adventure into the wilderness and then to retrieve the Gold Plates. It was a fun day of walking around the ranch and eating dried fruit. Sawyer was a grumpy face that day...so he fell perfectly into character with his Daddy as Laman and Lemuel.

I thought this was the cutest picture of Trenton helping Sawyer take a drink

I laughed so hard when I saw this picture. This is so typical!

Me and my little Lemuel

Erin and little Vat in her costume

Sawyer and his cousins catching baby water snakes

Andrea and I had on the same skirt in different colors on Sunday! Great minds think alike, I guess :)

Taryn and V in matching suits

Macie decorating the table for their little Hawaiian themed dinner...so cute!

Ashley made little 'surf-shacks' with the kids. They loved it! Sawyer especially loved picking all the candy off of them throughout the week!

So the last night before we left Marley discovered a rattle snake on the porch right by the door! Yikes! It was super scary, actually. It was hiding behind a duffle bag with sports equipment in it...probably looking for a warm place on the rock. She heard the rattle, saw the snake, and ran for help. We are so grateful that she noticed it before one of the younger kids got in it's way. It was litterally inches away from the door that everyone went in and out of all day. Super scary. Ned was able to kill the snake with a shovel as we all watched in horror and fear! Really hoping that we never see one of those around there again!