The Crooner

So I am not sure why, but I have been in a blogging slump lately. It might be the craziness of Christmas and baby, but I just haven't had the time lately to blog. So here are a few posts to catch you up.

Our friend Meredith put on this completely awesome 40's themed Christmas dinner for the Relief Society. Part of the dinner was a radio show from the 40's complete with actual commercials and guest performers. Everyone was also asked to dress up. She called and asked Eric if he would be the radio host and sing White Christmas as Bing Crosby. So we both dress up and we go to the church for his debut. Keep in mind one thing, both of us really like being around and helping older people. So when we moved into the ward the older ladies kinda started to flirt with Eric, and I got the older men. We love it and we are so glad that they are comfortable around us. So Eric does an outstanding job hosting and singing. So outstanding that he is now known as the Crooner. The Ladies were all over Big E. He now has a fan club. Here are a few pictures of the night.

Pregnancy Surprises

Well, with a little less than six weeks to go, I was thinking about all the things that have surprised me about pregnancy. So here is my list:
1. I am stupid. Really dumber than a doornail. Words come out jumbled and incoherent, that is if I can think of them in the first place. I forget everything. I don't pay attention to details until it is too late... like going all day with my pants on backward!
2. I know pregos go to the bathroom more than they usually do, but before I was pregnant the bladder was incredibly small and I love water! My average nightly trips to the bathroom after we are in bed average four times! By the way, going back to number one, if I can't find my keys they are definitely in the bathroom.
3. Clumsiness. I am not naturally graceful, in fact my Mom thought about naming me Grace and then decided with her genes that would be cruel and unusual punishment. With the large belly my balance is totally thrown off. Tripping is just another part of my day, thankfully I haven't gone down yet. In fact I tripped and arched my foot so badly that I tore some ligaments or something and broke some blood vessels on the top of my foot. I really don't trust myself to chew gum and walk at the same time anymore.
4. The hind quarters. For those of you that know me, you know I have a booty that ethnically belongs to another race. In the beginning of pregnancy, it looked normal...huge. But as I come closer to the end I swear it is shrinking. Of course I know that the front has just gotten bigger, but take for instance what happened last night. Eric parked the Pilot pretty close to the side of the garage, so I kinds had to squish myself between the open door and the car to get out. I actually had to go on my tip toes to get the smallest part of me through the opening. And lo and behold, the smallest part was my booty. That has NEVER happened.
5. The cravings. I never really got the cravings except for one week when I ate an artichoke everyday. I kind of thought that I would be one of those that loved eating food while prego. Not the case, which I am happy for, I don't want to blimp out anymore you know.
6. The never ending exhaustion. Wow the tiredness, I was not ready for this one. The second trimester was not bad but oh the first and the third. I am shocked at the places I have dozed off at.
7. I don't mind the belly grabbing. Really I don't. It is a little odd when the bagger at the grocery store grabs the belly, but I really don't care. The only time when it is uncomfortable is when the person grabs the belly with both hands and shakes it. Yes this has happened. And really the only reason it bugs me is because it stretches my skin. I can simultaneously feel another stretch mark rearing its ugly head.
8. I am so thankful for my parents and Eric's parents as well. I have gotten a deeper appreciation for them and have been able to understand the amount of love that they have for their children so much better. I am thankful we were both raised my such remarkable people, and I hope we can become the kind of parents they are. I can't wait for Mack to have rockin' Grandparents!
9. I love this baby. I can't believe how much I love him and I can't believe how much I will miss his little (or sometimes rib crunching painful) kicks. I am so excited for him!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was good to the Larsen's this year. Really it was a great weekend and we had SO much fun! We were really bummed that we missed the Larsen Thanksgiving, but due to Mack being so close and some complications we were told to stay in Salt Lake. Since we missed that, we sent up a butter sculptured turkey and a poem up with Christie. By the way, to the Larsen siblings: I have been shocked about how much my brain function has gone down during pregnancy! I know that Mack will be number six, not five!!
We went to my family's house for Thanksgiving, which was so nice because we all had not been together for Thanksgiving for a few years. Eric and I were in charge of pies, so after much deliberation we decided to make an apple, pumpkin and chocolate pie. After I was told to stay off my feet more and chill out, Eric had to do a lot on the pies. But alas they were AMAZING! It was a lot of fun to have all seventeen of us at the same table chatting and eating away. The heartburn was pretty brutal that night, but dinner was SO good! It was a day full of relaxing and eating.
On Friday, we decided to go wild and put up all of our Christmas stuff. The house looks so great! I love that Eric loves Christmas as much as I do. Since I am kind limited on what I can do I assigned Eric to the garland above the sliding glass door. The first thing he had to do was loop ribbon in it, followed by hanging the ornaments on and from the garland. I totally thought that he would do it, I would live with it all weekend and then when he went to work on Monday I would "fix it". Holy smokes! I can't even tell you how impressed I was with the hubby! Amazing eye for detail, the garland looks amazing! I was shocked and to be honest a little turned on!
Saturday we went down to Temple Square to see the lights with friends and came back to have chocolate fondue and watch Christmas Vacation. Eric and I both had a VERY disturbing revelation while watching the movie. We are turning into Clark and Ellen Griswold. I even call Eric Sparky. This came to light at the very beginning of the movie when they are going to cut down the tree and are singing together with the kids in the back rolling their eyes, we are in trouble!
All in all it was a great weekend, way too much for Mack and his momma, but I am doing a lot better at taking it easy! Doctor's appointment is tomorrow so we will see how things are going.
And of course, we have so much to be thankful for! These posts are always a little cheesy to me, but I feel like we have been incredibly blessed this year! I am thankful of course to Eric, what a wonderful man! I couldn't ask for a better spouse or a better friend! We are both thankful for Mack and can't wait for him to come, and I am especially thankful that after warnings from Doctors about the back, my body has done so well carrying him. We have so much to be grateful for!

Suprise Party Continued

Okay, I was supposed to post this blog two weeks ago, but since I am a little technologically challenged I couldn't figure out the stupid slide show thing. So this is a good as it gets, I couldn't figure out how to zoom out of the pictures either.... but on to the party!!
It was such a success! Thank you so much to everyone who came, we were overwhelmed with the amount of people that came, and we can't thank you enough! There were actually 47 of you in that house at one time.
I had been planning the party for weeks, and I was so proud of myself and my pregnant mind that I didn't let it slip! My mom (who is going to be my partner in our party planning business) and I started planning the party as a smaller affair, and of course it grew bigger and bigger with the more ideas that we came up with. Our theme was a Surprise Tailgating party, since I am the only thing Eric loves more than sports (actually I am sure Toby comes before sports too). My parents were so great to let me use their house, there was no way that all of you could fit into our condo! The tablecloth was made out of AstroTurf with tape and stenciled letters, thanks mom and dad. The football cake was supposed to resemble a trophy, both my mom and I really wanted to have an ice sculpture Heisman Trophy but we had to draw the line somewhere.
Thank you so much to everyone that helped me, I couldn't have done it without you! Thanks to Mama J, my partner in crime for EVERYTHING! Dad for cutting out those little stencil numbers and cleaning the house, Merisa for the yummy hot dog wraps that people inhaled, Suzy for the football sugar cookies, Bri for the legendary brownies, muddy buddies and chex mix, Grandma for the toffee and fudge, Annie Swan for the queso and Kennedy for helping us set up! I am sure I left someone out, but really thank you all so much for coming!
As for Big E, (aka: the Toxic Avenger, Man-o-Man, Babe, Baber, Lars, Little Larsen, Erk, E-licious) it was so great to do this for you! I wanted to do something extra special that you would enjoy because I feel incredibly lucky and blessed that I get to be with you! You take such good care of me, and you will be the best Dad to Mack. I appreciate so many things about you. But I don't want our blog readers to puke because of the cheesiness factor. I love you and you are the BEST! I hope your Birthday was everything that you wanted it to be!

Eric's 30th SURPRISE PARTY

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Crazy Happenings!

Okay, I know I have NOT been the best blogger lately! Life has been hectic (I will post more on the main source of hecticness in just a minute). For this post I have decided to do more of my random rantings.

#1 Kamikaze Toby: Oh how I love the Beag! I love how excited he gets to do ANYTHING, really going outside, in the car, eating (well that especially), snuggling, frolicking in the snow and so on. So Eric and I were just get ready to go up to my parents house and every time we go we usually take Toby with us. So of course we tell him we are going and he freaks out, doing the tail wag, jumping all around, you know extreme dog happiness stuff. Well, he charges down the stairs and is waiting at the Pilot's bag end so he can jump in the back. I open the hatch and he is so excited that he doesn't wait. I kid you not, the dog leaped right into the tailgate.... hard. I was expecting to find a beagle head imprinted in the metal. This really didn't help me defend the dog's intelligence to Eric. Toby has recovered.

#2 Comatose Eric: Okay, if you ask Eric to tell you this story, it will definitely be different than my version. But I figure if he wants to be heard he can blog too! So we go to Prenatal Class, which is great and totally worth the money! Anyway, at the end of the class, the nurse goes over breathing for the last fifteen minutes or so. So we get in position, Eric sitting up with his back against the wall and me leaning against him, holding hands on my amazingly enormous tummy. This week she decides to have the men do the relaxing and breathing with the women so they will know what it feels like. Soothing music and a voice comes on and we are lulled into relaxation. The voice is telling us to relax every bone in our body from our toes all the way up to our necks. All of the sudden Eric goes limp... totally relaxed... hands fall to the floor.... neck goes slack and leans against my head.... breathing is incredibly deep. He will argue that there is no way he fell asleep, obviously I disagree. At least when Eric goes into labor he will be totally relaxed!!!

#3 Coke: Okay I have done such a great job laying off the coke since I got pregnant. This really has not been easy, oh the burn down the throat all the way into my tummy. But it makes me a little ill now and Mack gets way hyped up. So anyway, like I said I have been great at resisting. But for the love, there is one place where I have such a hard time resisting the Coca-Cola goodness. I was at Nordstrom at one of my favorite places the MAC counter. (No, I am not so disturbed and obsessed with my makeup that I would name my first born after it. Gimme a break people. Mack is a family name!) All of the sudden I spot it, the Nordstrom cafe see-through soda container, with a brown syrupy coke in it. These Nordstrom people are a genius. The fill the clear cups with the coke and from fifty feet away you can see the carbonation bubbles rising to the top! They even use the yummy small square ice, you coke drinkers know of the ice that I speak of. Oh how I wanted to run up the escalator and order one ASAP. You all should be impressed, I didn't break!!

Halloween and Yummy Nummy Goodness

So Eric and I LOVE dressing up for Halloween! This year Eric looked great as a vampire (no to all you ladies out there, he DID NOT get the inspiration from Twilight!!) Anyway, he looked great and whoever did his makeup and costume were amazing. Thanks Momma J! I went as a prego gypsy. I wore this outfit about four years ago with a little corset type thing and looked awesome!! Oh the waist that is now gone. I put on the costume without the corset and was the size of a barge (you know like Gaston). So anyway, we waddled to a few parties, special thanks to Pat and Annalisa, the party was great!!

I was reading on a Eric's cousin Marissa's blog about how she loves pumpkin, I am quite the pumpkin lover myself so I decided to put this amazing recipe up on the blog. Be careful though because the batter is the BEST I have ever had and every time I have made it I have eaten way too much and gotten ill.

Pumpkin Cream Trifle
1 (18.25 oz) spice cake mix

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding

2 c cold milk
1 c pumpkin puree

2 (3.4 oz) cheesecake instant pudding and pie filling
½ c water

½ c vegetable oil

2 c whipped topping
3 eggs

1 package English toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, combine the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin,
water, oil, eggs, and pie spice in mixing bowl and pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.
Cook cake for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature and cut cake into 1-inch
cubes. Whisk together the milk and the cheesecake pudding mix. Allow to set for two
minutes. Fold the whipped topping into the pudding mixture. Layer 1/3 of the cake cubes
into the bottom of a large bowl; top with 1/3 of the cream mixture and sprinkle 1/3 of the
bag of English toffee. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used. Refrigerate 1 hour
before serving. I have also used a can of sweetened condensed milk mixed with 1 cup of cold water and then added vanilla pudding mix, let it set and stir in into a small container of Cool Whip. AMAZING!

Mack is doing very well and moving all the time, most of the time into his mom's ribs or bladder. I got some limb in the bladder today as I was teaching Gospel Doctrine and almost had to make a beeline for the bathroom. We are getting so excited that he is so close, and we are amazed that we can love him so much already! The Nursery is still in transformation mode, but it is coming along nicely! Sorry I haven't been the best at blogging lately, I WILL be better!