Mom Mom Mom Mom

The kids let me take these photos for mother's day bc they know I love to.

Madison's ceramic "UP" guy came to visit for Mom's Day.

I got a lot of shoes for Mother's Day because I've developed plantar faciitis in my right foot.

Family Photo Time

 Christmas family photos for 2011 by the tower in our sideyard.

So Happy Together

First photo of the Largey 7.

Meet your new BROTHER

The kids absolutely loved meeting Wilson and didn't want to leave when it was time to go. The sticker James is showing off says: I'm a big brother.

Rachel's Baby Blessing

The main reason we went to Utah- despite my extremely pregnant state- was to be at Rachel's baby blessing. Isn't she the sweetest little poof!! We were so grateful we got the chance to be there for the event. Thanks to all the family that took such good care of us while we were there in Utah- We love you ALL! It also made that week of my pregnancy pass by really fast!

The Largey "High-Fives" of 2010

For those of you who would like a recap of our

Christmas letter HERE IT IS...

Jeremy: Going on a scenic car ride up coastal CA (stopping at beaches & Redwoods) with the whole family- Getting a free truck- Being offered “new” jobs at the shipyard about 4 times- Puking for the first time in 15 years at the fair (spinning rides did me in)- Watching a couple of major league baseball games with the kids (plus watching their games too).

Shauna: Blogging most of our family events (Jeremy says “If you don’t get a picture of us doing something… does that mean it never happened?”)- Spending 2 weeks with my fabulously fun Mom in CA (all by myself)- Watching Madison at her sixth grade promotion as I waved, videoed, hugged, and totally mortified her- Getting to see my 3 big kids play soccer as Jeremy and I hunkered down in the rain to watch them- Listening to James as he babbles to me all day long to tell me his deepest random thoughts.

James (2): Learning to open doors…this has been rewarding- Having mom dress me up as a GIRL and take me to the mall for “Where’s Malldo” (it was a game of disguise!)- Eating some of everyone’s Halloween candy (I can open doors)- Running with balloons all over the house for my 2nd b-day- Any time I got to spend with DAD.

Grant (7): Starting a new school (1st grader in the Montessori program) and making a new really good friend- Going on “Goliath” at Magic Mountain and loving it- Teaching myself how to do back flips on the trampoline- Winning first place on my sea turtle art at the county fair- Going to CA to have some summer fun.

Carter (9): Getting to play baseball and soccer (plus becoming a better goalie)- Earning my Wolf Badge for Cub Scouts- Being a Zombie at the Fall Festival at school- Getting my own room (Grant shares with James now)- Finishing the awesome Percy Jackson series.

Madison (12): Becoming an “official” babysitter (I get paid)- Watching Jaws with Hannah and my Dad- Starting Junior High and Young Women’s (a church group)- Falling off my Mom’s new treadmill and getting another face injury- Replacing my iPod after it went for an unintentional swim (babysitting helped with this one).

These were the top five memorable experiences from each of the Largeys for 2010. We hope you enjoyed the year as well and made many good memories of your own! Happy New Year!

Spring Flowers

Here are the shots I had to bribe the kids with park time to get. I love flowers and children together in photographs. The sun was too much for Carter while I was taking these pictures and he almost died from squinting, just had to let ya know...

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009 LETTER

We’ve enjoyed another year in the Northwest and we think ALL of our family and friends should move here to enjoy it with us. Here’s a bit about each of our endeavors, adventures, and awards for 2009…

Jeremy has continued to be a hard working engineer at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and as YM President he’s had loads of fun working with the youth of our church. Jeremy’s family awards include: Grill Extraordinaire, Busy Beaver, Best Wookie-Noise Maker, Electronic Whiz, Happy Camper, and World’s Greatest Dad (for the 12th year in a row!).

Shauna has been working with the Young Women at church, but has been asked to be the Stake Primary Secretary instead. Apparently the knowledge that she loves to organize overshadows the lesser known fact that she has no typing skills. Besides her family work, she also choreographs for a show choir in CA and does amateur photography. The awards she’s been given for ’09 are: Family Historian, Top School Volunteer, Coolest Chauffeur, Spontaneous Song Guru, Best Blogger, Craziest Mom, and Food Producing Machine (awarded by James).

Madison is enjoying her last year at elementary school and was elected as ASB VP this year. She had fun playing soccer for the first time this fall and she continues to excel at playing the piano. Madison loves to help me with James and is currently training to become a super babysitter. Madison’s awards are: Creative Cat, Book Eater, Aspiring Writer, Best Hungry Bob Voice, Most Stylish, Fun Socks Collector, and Great Game Player.

Carter got baptized in October and loves being a cub scout. He wants to check stuff off in his scout book every day. He played a second season of soccer this year and tried baseball for the first time. Carter throws his entire being into whatever he is working on and is a fireball of energy. Awards he’s earned for 2009: Most Energetic, Best Apologizer, Earnest Worker, Outdoor Enthusiast, Critter Collector, Pokémon Expert, Speediest Sprinter, and Hardest Batter (nicknamed “The Bullet”).

Grant got hit by a car while riding his bike this summer and ONLY broke his leg. Phew. He will be restarting gymnastics in Jan. Grant has enjoyed playing baseball this year, and has also been having fun being a Kindergartener. His awards include: Best Cheeky Monkey, Giggly Guy, Star Wars Expert, Most Improved Reader, Lego Architect Builder, and Movie/Video Game Fanatic.

Our sweet baby James, the joy of our family, is learning how to do everything by himself at the ripe old age of 1. He constantly entertains us, although we know that isn’t his sole purpose for being on the Earth. He really likes following people around and discovering new items of interest. James’s awards for 2009: Most Popular, Best Halloween Costume (Yoda), Greatest Growth, Walker AND Stalker Pro, Best Kisser, Deepest Thinker, and Snuggle Bean of the Year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

With Love from- Jeremy, Shauna, Madison, Carter, Grant, and James

Sunday Best

Since our Christmas photo this year was fun instead of formal, I still wanted to get a picture of our family dressed up fancy. My friend Jill snapped this one of us after church looking "spiffy". Thanks Jill- you saved me a tripod fiasco.

YUM YUM FUN

We combined force with the Christensens to feed the masses for Thanksgiving this year and had yummy food (thanks Jill) and loads of fun. Here we are playing some Killer Bunnies. My kids first played this crazy game at the Towers. We're officially addicted to it. I know bunnies should feel safe at Thanksgiving... but they were being slaughtered right and left. We also played some Spicy Farkle and some Wii.

Things That I am THANKFUL for:

Dressed Up & Real Smiley

Here we are dressed up and in a hurry to go somewhere. Is that always how it is with big families? Once everyone is looking nice we have to hustle because it probably won't last long! Actually we were on our way to a happy event- Carter's baptism.

Sparkling on the Fourth

We didn't go down to St. George for fireworks this year, we just sparkled at the cabin instead. James was asleep so he missed the pyrotechnics. Good news is- no trees caught on fire this year.

Family of SIX

Remember that post a while ago about my kids and photos...well here's some proof! We're going to try and snap an informal family picture every time we have General Conference. Thanks Layne for capturing this for us!

Largey Christmas Letter

My favorite talk of General Conference this past October was given by President Thomas S. Monson called Finding Joy in the Journey and a part I loved was...
"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly. Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know."

I'm smack in the middle of that child-raising time period and I'm trying the best I can to enjoy it while it lasts, although I don't think I'll ever miss the piles of laundry!

My children are growing too fast, as usual. Our newest baby- James Harrison Largey- was born in October. We are all in love with sweet baby James! We had forgotten how much fun it is to have a baby in the house. Grant is no longer our littlest Largey and at 5 years old he thinks he's his own boss. He loves to do gymnastics and we suspect he's part monkey. Grant is the biggest giggler in our family and is currently obsessed with Star Wars. Carter, our 7 year old, tried soccer for the first time this fall and he loved it. Since he runs everywhere he goes naturally, it was an easy transition to run towards a ball during soccer. He's working hard at school and soaks up new information like a sponge. Plus he occasionally leaks out a new thing he's learned spontaneously during the day. Madison is becoming quite the pianist and we're all enjoying the Christmas carols she's been playing this month. She's like a second mom to James and I am enjoying the help she gives me immensely. She will be 11 next month and I'm trying to get her to enjoy her last year of Primary instead of wishing she was already in the young women's program at church.

Jeremy and I are busy with our jobs (Engineer and Mom) and our callings (Young Men's Prez and Miamaid Teacher), but we're trying to find joy in the journey and appreciate each moment as it comes.

Love to you ALL and wishes of merriment this Christmas,
Jeremy, Shauna, Madison, Carter, Grant, and James Largey

October Fun

Largey Family in Tie-Dye

This is the beginning. My first blog attempt- hopefully to be followed by many more! Here's a summer photo of us after making our first tie-dye shirts (thanks Andrew and Nicole). In July we drove from WA to UT to CA on a road trip to visit our families and had a blast.