McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

Last Saturday we planned a visit to the train park in Scottsdale since the weather was great and we hadn't been in a while. Growing up we used to love going to this park. We would often go after church and have donuts and we just thought it was the coolest place. It kind of is. A lot of the park can be accessed for completely free and the train rides are less than $2 a person and little kids are free. There is a lot of ramada space and benches and I feel like we might be having a birthday party there in the future. Everly actually ended up having a melt-down towards the end of the trip and then passed out as we were pulling out of the parking lot so apparently we wore her out. Other than that, it was a really great morning.



"Carouself"

 

 

Probably my favorite picture of the day. He thinks he is so funny! (He is)

 

 

 

 

 

He has always been a fan of going up slides.

Good catch, Grandma.

 

 





 



The beginning of a nearly 4 hour nap.



Wold Down Syndrome Day 2014

Last Friday, 3/21/14, was World Down Syndrome Day. We celebrated my sweet nephew, Cameron, by attending a little party in the park hosted by the Down Syndrome Network of Arizona. We all had matching shirts and my sister and I each ran 3.21 miles that morning. Cameron's favorite part was probably the bounce house and the dancing. Teddy and Everly were mostly fighting over the popcorn (those two!). Personally, I am still learning a lot about Down Syndrome, but I can easily tell how awesome it is to be surrounded by other kids and parents that are in a similar situation as my sister and her family. Every child is different, but organizations like DS Network put on some pretty fantastic events and we are lucky that we get to tag along with my sister. Also, any extra day to celebrate Cam is a pretty awesome idea in my eyes! Here are some pictures from our night:

 

 

This picture is Kim's life every day. Teddy grabbing and yelling "uppa" and Everly tagging along.
 

Family shot!

Last Weekend

Last weekend was a busy one! It usually is because we try to plan activities with Everly and her cousins since we all work full time. We started off with a Spring Training game on Friday night. Most of the spring training games fall during nap time so it was awesome to be able to get in a night game before Spring Training ended. The kids get in free and the lawn seats are $9 so it is a relatively cheap night. I am not going to lie, it is more fun when you can drink beer (especially if you don't really care about baseball). However, it was still a lot of fun and Everly and the boys loved playing in the grass. There were lots of other little kids in the lawn and it is so funny to see how Everly and Cameron both are so interested in the older kids. Teddy was content picking things up off the ground and trying to climb the fence.

On Saturday we went to story time at our local library. It can be hit or miss depending upon the teacher, but the Saturday teacher is usually really good. Also, the class ends with bubbles and stamps, so it is pretty much toddler heaven. Thanks to Grandma (my mom) we were also able to get in a little adult night after church on Saturday. Before any of us were married we used to go out on double dates and go to chili's and do all kinds of things. For obvious reasons that just doesn't happen much anymore so it was a lot of fun to be able to go out sans kids. We went to dinner (me as the DD) and then went miniature golfing. It was actually a lot of fun and I can't wait to go miniature golfing again. Why is mini-golfing so much fun?

This upcoming Friday (3/21/14) is World Down Syndrome Day, our community has a garage sale on Saturday, and then I have my last soccer game of the season on Sunday so we have another busy weekend coming up!

She was dancing all night.

 

 

Cousins

The cutest little brothers.

 

A very successful story time at the library.

 

 

Note for future: Don't bring your purse mini-golfing. We are blaming that on Kim's poor performance.

 

That time when Doug got his ball stuck in the structure on one of the holes and had to climb in to get it out.

Half Marathon #2 and Pregnancy #2

On March 1st, Justin and I completed our second half marathon. Our first one was the Phoenix 10k and Half Marathon last November. I trained for three months and my official time was 1:56:31. I was aiming to be under 2 hours so I was really happy with that. I knew that I would not run as fast this time. My official time for the Phoenix Half Marathon was 2:04:14, which I am still pretty happy with considering this time I was pregnant! I am now almost 16 weeks pregnant, but at the time I was 13 weeks pregnant and running 13 miles so I used that to announce the pregnancy on Facebook/Instagram. I hope to continue running throughout this pregnancy which I definitely did not do last time...just maybe not quite that far! Not quite sure when my next half marathon will be, but I definitely see some in my future.

Justin and I before the race. We had to take a bus to the start and it was in Mesa so we had to leave our house at like 4:00 AM. :(

I was lucky enough to train with girls on my soccer team, Claren and Aislinn. (Ashley missing because she got injured during the run).

 

13 Miles at 13 Weeks Pregnant. I like to think we planned it pretty perfectly!

 

Post-race and finish line photos.

And just because you need to see this, Baby Larkins #2.

Zoo Days

I know it has been a while since I posted. I am always putting off posting until I get all my real pictures off my camera but that is just not happening so we are just going to deal with iphone photos.

We have been zoo members for a couple of years now and we love it. We initially got it as a birthday gift for Everly and then as a Christmas gift so we have not even paid for it. The zoo can be expensive if you have to pay every time but as members it is an awesome free thing for us. In the summer our zoo has a splashpad and it opens early for members so we look forward to that. We usually pack lunches so it makes for a cheap day. We have actually been to the zoo 3 times since my last post in January, but our last zoo trip my sister and brother-in-law took Cam and Everly on a boatride (which is discounted for members) and I think they liked it. Lately, Everly has been OBSESSED with the carousel. She actually calls it "carouself" which is pretty much the cutest thing ever. Cam and Teddy both like it also but Ted was sleeping so Doug got to ride. I never thought I would like the zoo so much, but motherhood does that to you, I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disney on Ice

 

This past weekend we took Everly to her second time seeing Disney on Ice. This show was called Rockin' Ever After and was all about Disney Princesses. At every Disney on Ice Show Mickey and his buddies come out for a little bit so it was fun to see them too. Everly pretty much loved it. The four Disney movies they featured were The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Brave, and Tangled. Everly is not too familiar with Tangled but she absolutely loves the other 3 movies so it was a lot of fun. My mom got us the tickets for Christmas and then she also gave Everly money to get a toy. Everly got a Mrs. Pots (from Beauty and the Beast) piggy bank and loves it as she has recently become obsessed with coins. I can't wait till we can take her again (which could be as early as April)!

Ariel did some crazy Cirque du Soleil-ish acrobat routine that was crazy!

Her teapot piggy bank

 

 

 

Some of the props were really neat like this chandelier
from Beauty and the Beast and the lanterns from Tangled.

Shamrock Farms Tour

 

Back in December we took a holiday tour of Shamrock Farms right before Christmas. If you live in Phoenix, I highly recommend it. It is past Maricopa, so for us it took about and hour and 15 minutes to get there but if you live in the east valley it probably isn't nearly as bad. Kids or no kids, it was really cool. It is so fascinating to see how massive a production it is and how much milk they produce on a daily basis. This tour was a special Christmas tour so they had Santa there and some other fun games and Christmas crafts, but the actual 45 minute tour is always the same. You ride out on a little cart and make several trips along the tour. It can be cold when you are on the cart and it is moving so dress appropriately. Since it was a special Christmas tour they had some snow to play in outside when you arrived.

As much as I love to pretend this was all my idea, obviously it was my sister's idea. We tagged along on her trip and my mom came too. My sister had previously taken her students on this tour as a field trip so she knew how much fun it would be.



My nephews are the cutest, right?







 

The first stop was a little playground outside of the building where we later got to view the milking process.
 





I don't think that this picture conveys just how insanely huge and beastly these cows are. It is so crazy to see such a big animal so close (obviously I did not grow up on a farm).

 

We got back on the cart and rode around the farm and through where the cows eat. There are sooo many cows. They showed us where the "organic" cows are kept as well as all of the different stages the cows go through on the farm from being a baby to having a baby and to "retiring". We also got to stop and feed some baby cows. They were a little jumpy.





 

 

 

 

We ended up having to rush out of their at the end because I had to make it to my soccer game but it was really fun and I can't wait to go back again (also, you get chocolate milk when you finish the tour, so that's awesome)!



Shutterfly Photo Books: Norris Family Reunion and Disneyland

Two of our big trips for 2013 were a trip to New York in June for a family reunion with my mom's family and a trip to Disneyland in October for Everly's second birthday. It is no secret that I love making Shutterfly photo books to preserve our memories and do something with the hundred's of pictures I always end up taking.

Here is our photo book from the family reunion:

 

Click here to view this photo book larger





 

With the Disney photo book I used their new pocket feature so that I would have a place for all of our saved tickets and fast passes. I really like this feature.

Here is the Disney photo book:

Click here to view this photo book larger