Sweet Dreams Little One...

Charlotte Sophia Larsen

February 24, 2008- June 27, 2009

I can fly - for real!

As part of my 30th birthday celebration I wanted to skydive - but being a mom I thought I should play it safe - thus the fun little adventure of indoor skydiving at Ifly Hollywood at Universal City Walk in L.A.! It was a blast and although I missed the adrenaline I would have had from the real thing - I was able to have more control of my motions and feel how it really is vs being strapped to an instructor. Anyway, here's a pic of me flying and some video from some of it.

Fathers rule!

We had a fun Father's day yesterday celebrating Jon and his dad and grandpa at our home!

Besides having a great dad, I am thankful to also to have a great father-in-law! How did I get so lucky!
Jon's dad with 3 of his 6 grandkids!

Three generations of Nelsons!

Our little family!

Jon being a great dad - as always - to Shayla!


I am so grateful that my hubby is such a great dad to Shayla! He is still at the point where he can't resist anything she wants from him but it is oh so cute! (how can anyone resist that face!) He loves her and I love him all the more for the way he is a father to her! Thanks Jon for being an awesome dad to our daughter! We love you!

My Dad!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!

My dad is such a great example of how to be a father! I am so lucky to have had him as a dad growing up (it takes a very special guy to be a parent to 7 kids and to work with middle schoolers all day too!). I am so lucky to live close to him as well to be a grandparent to Shayla!

We love you and hope you had a great day!

My dad with Shayla

Always having fun with the grand kids - Dad with Anna!

My dad has always taught us how to be ourselves and to live moral, fulfilling lives.

Zombie Birthday Party...not mine!

What do you do for a zombie birthday party? You sing the Thriller song, dress like zombies and serve brain and tombstone cupcakes! My sister Amy had a Zombie Birthday party courtesy of her hubby Fox on June 7th!

Tombstone Cupcakes!

The nieces and nephews dressed as zombies!

Brain oozing cake!

Some of the kids sang and danced to the Thriller song. I got a little bit of it on video - here it is (:

She also got the book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" as a present - too appropriate - hence the opening picture of this blog entry (:

Happy Birthday from Disneyland!

So I took advantage of Disneyland's free admission for your birthday (Saved me $69!) and took Shayla for the first time and met up with my old college roommates and their daughters! What a better way to spend your birthday than with family and friends at the happiest place on Earth - right? It was great and you feel so special because they give you a birthday button and all day long everyone is telling you HAPPY BIRTHDAY so you don't forget it is your birthday. So, now I am 30 years old - any advice on what to do now?

Shayla's first Disney ride - Autopia!

We had breakfast with the characters including Pooh - Shayla loved them all but each time they left she would cry for them to come back!

Shayla with her daddy!

The girls rockin' it in their strollers - Annabelle, Shayla and Jessie!

Until next time...

Family Reunion Time!

I love the summer because we normally get to have some sort of family reunion and I get to see all my siblings and relatives! At the beginning of June I left for Utah to stay with my sister Amy for a few days prior to our family reunion in Wolf Creek, Utah. Shayla loved being on the airplane and visiting her cousins and playing with everyone! I loved seeing my whole immediate family and some bonus aunts, uncles and cousins! We rented two large houses and had lots of room for playinga nd sleeping! Here are a few photos of our trip - family I will finsih editing the rest and post alink to the Picasa album in the next few days. Enjoy!

Most of the Hulihan Clan - Wolf Creek, Utah

Shayla with cousins Cosette and Cash
One of the family rooms with kids galore dogpiling Grandpa!
My brother-in-law Fox threw my sister Amy a surprise Zombie birthday party - lots of fun - here we are being Zombies!

Shayla with cousin Asher

Larissa, Shayla and aunt Rachel in the pool

It was so beautiful where we stayed - we loved all our views!

Shayla helped out a lot moving her own bag through the airport!

Aunt Rachel came back to CA with us after the reunion to visit with us and soak in some CA sun (too bad it was gloomy most of the time she was here)!

Childrens Museum

Okay so last week we went to the Gulls Wing Childrens Museum in Oxnard with a few friends. I did not have overly high expectations for an Oxnard museum, but it was okay and something to do maybe once every 6 months or so...some highlights for Shay...


Touching big rocks...

Flying the space shuttle...

Her first game of checkers with buddy Jake - so cute!

More birthday fun...

(see blog below for Part I)
We had a small family get together for Shay's 2nd bday! Have to share frosting photos of course! Here was her take on the day:

"Yay, I get my party hat and party dress, now where is my bathing suit?" (she kept asking to wear it and I finally gave in!)

"I wish that Hank would kiss me back!"

"Mom - why are you making me wear this hat again?!"

"This frosting stuff is pretty good afterall!"

"Yay, more presents - everyone is so nice to me! I LOVE all my wonderful presents! THANKS!"

"This is one cool ride!"
(This is a rolling suitcase called a Trunki for Shayla - one of her gifts)

Shayla's Birthday Fun!

So Shayla is now two and the birthday celebrations are over! For those of you who were not able to share her birthday with us, here is a quick recap:

Birthday morning: Shayla opening presents from mom & dad! She loved this little piggy bank. Her big present this year was a Kitchen - I am sure I will have many fun photos to post of that in the days to come!

Mom, dad & Shayla in front of theater to see Sesame Street Live!
Shayla engrossed with the dancing and singing Elmo! She doesn't watch the show so does not know all the characters but knows Elmo (all kids do at birth I think), Abbey, and Big Bird from a few books toys and Elmo's potty video! So every time Elmo was not on stage she would keep asking for Elmo!

The Sesame St crew doing their thang!

Shayla giving "Elmo" a hug!