509th Spooktacular Festival

The FRG from A Co 1-509th put on their first annual Spooktacular Festival this weekend! For those people not used to Army talk, they basically had a family day for all of the families in Ryan's Unit. :)

This was a fun way for us to meet new families, let the kids dress up and play, AND have a chili cook-off! Yum! Ryan played an important part in this day because he helped plan the Obstacle Course for the kiddos. I am not sure who had more fun on the course - the soldiers or the kids. Haha.  

Ryan explaining the course to the kids. They are all so cute!

Ryan and his friend Bryan going across the logs...backwards. It's only fair that way, right?!

Spinning around the bats.

Playing with our shadows on the pretty sunny day! :)

Wide Load - 25 weeks

For the past 25 weeks all I have thought about has been the baby's growth. Every week Ryan and I have read the new update for what is developing with our little baby. I guess I forgot that my body was changing too. I think its official to say that I have upgraded from a little baby bump to a total baby belly! I am in my 6th month of pregnancy and I am now starting to get into the maternity clothes. I have gained a total of about 15 pounds and I am on track for the set amount of weight gain the doctor has for me. Baby Blake continues to make himself known as his kicks and punches become stronger and stronger. He even woke Ryan up the other night with a nice little kick! :) Although we are healthy and happy, the large amounts of growth these days take some getting used to for all of us!

Ps- We purchased the nursery furniture last week. We will start putting it all together soon!


Pumpkin Carving

This is the first year that Ryan and I have been able to carve pumpkins together! Ryan went in search for the biggest pumpkins he could find...well, the biggest he could find in Louisiana. Ryan turned his into a skull. I did mine as a mummy, since I am a 'mummy' to be. Hehe... We had such a great time! :)

Fall, I think?

I am disappointed to say that Louisiana doesn't have a lot of Fall scenery. I am used to seeing the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains in NC having their array of colorful Fall leaves. Ryan is used to seeing the beautiful Fall season on the side of the gigantic mountains in Utah. We are talking reds, yellows, oranges - all so bright!

Yeah, well....apparently in Louisiana leaves just go straight from green to brown. LAME! It hurts my eyes everyday as I drive to work seeing the bland color. It's not even a pretty brown...if there is such a thing. I guess in this case we will just have to look at all of our cute Fall decorations and pretend that it is reality.

Please embrace those Fall colors if you live in a place where it is shown...that would be much appreciated by those of us being held captive in the brown Fall. Thanks! :)

BOO - tastic!

Having your first home can be so much fun! Each Holiday brings around a new adventure for decorations! Ryan and I had so much fun getting ready for Halloween - I guess because this is the first year that we will actually have Trick-or-Treaters coming around. Ryan wanted to go SUPER spooky - what guy doesn't want to terrify small children on Halloween!? :) However, for money's sake, we had to go for the small, yet boo-tastic decorations - cob webs, spiders, and ghost lights!!

We Picked A Name!

After many thought over weeks, we picked a name for our little man. Blake Ryan Larsen. The middle name is obvious...named after his daddy. :) Blake on the other hand, came from us being original. We both liked the name and it isn't all that common. Plus, we just think the name fits perfectly!!

Honestly, I am so relieved to have a name. It was what I was most stressed about. I was so worried that we would be rushed and not have a name ready or thought out. I even had a dream of the baby being 3-4 months old and still not named! LOL. Luckily, Ryan remained patient during all my identity worries.

Blake Ryan Larsen, we cant wait to see you!!! :)

DeRidder, LA Fair

Fall festivities are in full swing...football games, pumpkin spice candles, Halloween decorations, and of course, the fair! This year we attended the DeRidder Fair in Louisiana. Granted, it was not the NC State Fair that I am used to, but it was still fun! :)

I obviously couldn't ride the crazy fair rides...but I did ride the Ferris Wheel. We figured that was a safe bet. LOL. How can you go to the fair and NOT ride the Ferris Wheel?!!?

After the Ferris Wheel excitement we walked around and kept ourselves busy with other fair fun. Ryan conquered the games and I took on the food. :) Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Something Sweet

Taylor and I have the tradition of making holiday cookies. Normally they are just the premade sugar cookies with the design already on them...so I guess we can't take too much credit. However, this year we stepped out of the box (only because food stores in Louisiana didn't have our normal cookies. figures). This year we made our Halloween cookies when Taylor came to visit. We made regular sugar cookies and then decorated them with icing. A little messy and rough..but still good! :)

 Of course Ryan tested them out for us and gave us his stamp of approval! :)

Family Fun

This past weekend we had family come to visit in Louisiana - My Mom, Daddy Greg, Taylor, and Greg came to visit The Larsens and The McPhersons! All I can say is we had a blast!!

Friday we kicked the weekend off with a spaghetti dinner at Tiffany and Clints house. They just moved in and actually got the rest of their stuff when the family drove down. We unloaded some boxes and then enjoyed family time! It was so nice just to laugh and enjoy memory lane. There was so much to celebrate and catch up on!

We were all over the place on Saturday. We started with a Ft. Polk tour. If you know Ft. Polk, you know why the tour didn't last very long. LOL. However, we showed the family the highlights of our everyday life on post. We even got some fun family pictures at the memorial park. Everyone else had their cameras, so I didn't feel the need to take pictures with mine too. We will just have to get copies from them! After the tour we all headed to Alexandria. Sadly Greg had to fly back early in order to take care of things back home. We were so sad to see him leave early but so happy that he was able to come down. Last but not least...we got Outback!!!! Yummy!

Sunday was play day. Ryan took the family shooting with his new gun. They all loved it...except for Taylor. I don't think she liked the noise. She just wanted a picture. LOL! Then a weekend would not be complete without bowling. The whole family and friend group took up 3 lanes! We are a competitive family so of course we had lots of excitement! Finally we wrapped it all up with a cook-out at Tiffany and Clints house.

I love my family! It made Ryan and I so happy to see everyone. We can't wait until December when we get to have a take two! :)