no more growing up...please

I had never considered myself a baby person. I never made cooing noises and went all nuts about another person's spawn. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, I would tell Jimbo that I wanted one but I wanted it to show up about 1 1/2-2 years old. Well, this is me eating crow, I was wrong and now I am sick because my little bean is growing out of baby clothes and into toddler sizes and every time I look at the tags I get a lump in my throat. It is all happening too fast and in the words of Aerosmith, I don't wanna miss a thing!

So, here are a few shots of my baby...before she became a toddler.

nap time

this girl loves this cat

We want to go out side and play....

why is it raining, why?

Sarah: I am so upset about the rain Buster, hold me

Buster: I told you to stop messing with me kid

Sarah: I was just trying to give you a hug, sheesh!

Sarah's first piggy-tails!

Watchin' the Olympics with Grandpa Larsen...Thanks for a fun visit!

Water Baby

She didn't get that from me that's for sure.

My little bean loves to be splashing in the water, she loves the tub, the sink, the sprinklers and most of all the pool. I am lucky enough to have wonderful friends that have let us 'borrow' their pools to stay cool in the hot Texas sun.

Of all of the qualities Sarah could inherit from Jimbo I am elated that she has his love of water. If Jimbo is a fish I am the exact opposite, i possess the grace and talents equal to a beached whale! I try to be brave when I am in the water with Sarah because I don't want her sense my fears, but the truth is I am uncomfortable. I could go on about this somewhat irrational fear but I want to get to the photos of my little Nemo and her papa fish.

see what I telling you...10 month old fish!

Sarah can wave now but only for me and sometimes dad so I
don't blame you if you don't believe me!

yep, this makes me nervous too but that's what dad's do, well at least that's what Jimbo does!

i love that her cheeks look like they are full of water but nope, that's all Sarah!

contrary to what it looks like this is indeed a happy face accompanied by lots of giggles


and of course Sarah and her infamous tongue!

Stanley, you done me wrong

Let me introduce Stanley Scoot-bottom. Stanley is the best toy/friend Sarah could ask for, he gets her places in such a classy fashion that she will push him around no matter what direction
he is facing. In the 2 weeks Stanley has been with us he has never let us down, he sings fun songs, his nose lights up and he has an incredibly contagious, goofy laugh.

Today, as most wild animals do, Stanley turned on Sarah. He attacked. I saw Sarah spin and twirl and end up flat on her back under his ominous self all while he sang and giggled. Stanley, how could you? After this sweet little girl has taken you to places more exotic than the Serengeti, places like the bathroom, the nursery and the always forbidden dog kennel, how could you Stanley Scoot-bottom, how could you?

I know my little girl is resilient and she will make amends for this gross wrong but Stan, I am warning you, as a mother protecting her cub I won't go get the camera next time, I will come after you, I will go back to Target and get your whole family too. Stanley, I'm always watching.

Mental Blog

Wha?

Ok, it has been a month since I sat down to post but I swear I have had the best blogging intentions. Every morning when I "run" I compose a blog entry in my head...I have mentally posted about Memorial Day and the neat ceremony we attended where Jimbo and Maxx met a Marine General and the Governor. I also came up with a great one on Father's Day all about my own dad and how great he is and what I great dad Jimbo is and what a great dad my father in law is. I posted about how on Father's Day I spoke in Sacrament meeting and then did sharing time and singing time in primary and then came home and made Jimmy meatloaf, potatoes and Kristy rolls and then passed out from exhaustion. I have posted all of the fun pictures and stories we have had beside the pool and I have posted about what a super gal my friend Buffy is. I have posted about how I am in a book club and that makes me feel so smart and educated that I can actually read things that weren't penned by Dr. Seuss. I have posted about Sarah's 9 month check up and how Dr. Watson told me she was brilliant!

What I am trying to say is if you lived in my head you would know all about all of the fabulous things that have happened in my life and you would also hear a lot of crap like gas prices, house payments, hockey puck, monkey, monkey, underpants! But alas you do not live in my head and you rely on me to take a minute out of my day to invite you into my world. So, I have plugged the camera in and I am going to tell a few of my stories...enjoy!

I love the pool for the water, the sun and the adult conversation but
most of all I love it because it wipes out my kid!

Humm, I would never, I mean never let the dog lick my face
but every now and then Roxie sneaks in a lick or two
and I think it is adorable and it must tickle Sarah because she giggles like crazy.



I am not big on posting pictures of myself because I am one of those
girls who is never happy with the way that she looks
but this is a real treat. Sarah hardly ever falls asleep cuddling
like that and it was really special. Jimbo will later tell me how
beautiful I am and that is precisely why i married him and posted this picture!



My Houdini!
I have these great dining room chairs in my house that I can
strategically lay down all over creating what I lovingly
refer to as a Sara-cade. It is genius and it keeps Sarah out of trouble.
Well, at least it did for a little while and then she decided
to test the boundaries
(Remember, the Pediatrician said she was brilliant!)
Anyway, it used to keep her out of the dog food until she
learned she can crawl around the chair and under the
bakers rack and then have an all-access pass to the pet food....arghhhh!
(despite the empty bowls at the time of the photograph my pets are quite well fed!)

We're all safe my dad's a Marine!
Yep, that is what her shirt says. Another darling creation by
my friend Buffy. She made this for Jimbo for father's day
and I guess Sarah took it to heart because she curled up in his
lap and dozed off to sleep. Thanks Buff!

Sarah loves, loves, loves to help with the laundry...Jimbo not so much.
His job has always been the socks I do everything else and he
stacks the socks and I guess his job wasn't fulfilling
enough so he decided that he would put his socks on Sarah to
be funny and it was freakin' hilarious! She crawled around in
them and continued "helping" me by pulling the freshly
folded laundry onto the floor. The laundry took three times
longer than usual but it was the most fun I ever had folding undies.

The End.
Sarah continues to love life and doesn't want to miss a thing
by taking one of those silly naps. So, here she is playing until
the last second and then she gives in, toy in hand ready
to go the second she is awake!

our trip to Utah

we got trouble, right here in river city

I was cleaning the house today and talking to Sarah and if you spend any time with her you know that she is quite chatty. Anyway, she is crawling now and it is adorable and i am in the kitchen cleaning and i hear squawking and crawling and i am feeling pretty productive and then total silence. Not a coo or a dat-dat-dat nothing? So i look around the corner and i can't see Sarah, my heart jumps, she can't get far, she isn't crying so she must not be hurt, and then i find her. And i think to myself, oh crap. She is standing under our dining table with a very accomplished look on her face, she is pleased with her new situation, i however am not.

This kid has loved to stand from day one and up until this day she has always needed my assistance...well not any more. I am not happy with this new found independence but Sarah sure is so i guess i will have to make my peace with it.

Here is a little teaser of what is yet to come!

Don't you wish you looked this good in a swimsuit!

No time for losers, we are the CHAMPIONS!

Ok, so maybe you can guess that things are great around our house again! Jimbo is home from his three weeks of butt-kickin' training, Sarah is over what we thought was teething and turned out to be throat ulcers, and I can now cram my butt in my pre-prego jeans, however, I am not willing to leave the confines of my house in said jeans! All is well, yea all is well!

I think it is safe to say that Jimbo and I have done a lot of reflecting this spring. We are both in
"trim the fat" mode in every way possible. Myself having just reached the big three-ohhh, gracefully I might add, have been taking stock in my life thus far and I have to say that I am pleased. I am not where I thought I would be but I am right where I want to be and that in my book is success!

This is a great picture of Jim and I taken about a year after we were married. Jim stands tall and handsome in his Marine uniform and I am the very definition of newly-wedded bliss! A lot has changed since that photo was taken and I don't just mean our sizes! Yes, we are crazy in love with each other but our love has matured. We have changed, we have progressed, we have learned about each other, and most important we have remained best friends.

Let me tell you what Jimbo has been up to. Torture. He voluntarily signed up to let the Marine Corps do their worst and see if he was left standing in the end. While others went home with broken ribs and bruised egos my baby pushed through. I can't tell you every thing he went through mainly because I don't really want to know but I can tell you that they pushed my "big, dumb, jerk" to tears he was in so much pain. I've never seen that, I hope I never have to.

I took a few pictures of the graduation and despite all of the help I was getting from Sarah a few are actually in focus so enjoy!

Proud to be 'Salty'

For those of you who aren't lucky enough to be in the Marine Corps I will explain 'salty'. In this photo even though it is black and white you can tell that Jimbo's cammies are more fadded than the other Marines, this because he is salty, his cammies have been used for what they were designed; killin' the bad guys. Yes, he is salty and proud!

You didn't think I would take the time to post and not put a dozen or so pictures of Sarah, right?

I have made a resolution regarding Sarah's lack of hair. I used to lament over it, why can't she just grow hair, why do the few hairs she has keep falling out, why is her bald spot still bald? I just want her to have a 'do' and I have a drawer full of hair clips to prove it. The other day she woke up from her nap and I got my wish, she had a 'do', not what I had in mind but there is hair enough to stick out and that is all I can ask for!

Dad's idea of a 'do', the Alfalfa look!


My Baby Girl!