Gone With The Wind

is an amazing novel. I just finished it this week-all 733 pages in the smallest print imaginable. It took me a while because it is not exactly a light read, but it was absolutely amazing. My mom had been encouraging me to read it for a while, and I finally took her up on it and read it. She let me borrow her copy- an old, worn-out book that she got at an old used-book store. Reading an old copy of the book made reading it that much more fun. I absolutely love classic novels and I highly recommend this book to those who are searching for a good read. This is now probably one of my favorite books of all time-second to "Jane Eyre." I am now reading "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen. It's proving to be a great read as well. Happy reading!

Our Christmas Party

On Friday we had our "2nd Annual Larkin Christmas Party." We crammed about 20 people into our apartment and had a ham dinner, went on a hayride while caroling, and had hot chocolate afterwards. The hayride is always the best part. Eric decorates our trailer with lights and garland, then puts hay bails in the middle for everyone to sit on. We then went around and caroled to members of our ward and other people who were willing to listen to us. It was such a blast. The kids absolutely loved it and it was a fun way to celebrate the season with schoolmates, family, and friends!

Brandon and Kelsey with Kelsey's amazing fruit tree!

Kelsey, Jessica, and me

Riley and Jess

Brandon and Kelsey with Connor

Getting ready for the hayride!

The whole gang

Connor had a playdate with our next door neighbor Ally last week. They were so cute together and played really well.

This is how my table looked all last week before our Christmas party. My friend had a baby shower on Saturday, and I was determined to make her little boy a blanket. I didn't have much time, but I was able to pull it off!

I loved this fabric! I especially love the warm and soft "nubby" on the back.

Perfect for a baby boy!

Holiday Festivities

We've had quite week this week! We had many activities to get us into the holiday spirit. First of all, I got my Thanksgiving pictures! Thanksgiving was awesome this year. We spent the holiday at the Hutchison cabin in Brian Head, with my family. We had a white Thanksgiving, as it snowed the entire time we were there! It made the weekend so fun to play in the snow, go snowmobiling, and drink hot chocolate by the fire. We had the Yamane family come up and celebrate with us as well. This weekend we then decided to go and see the lights at temple square. Jane, Eric's sister, came in town to visit, so we brought her and our friends the Griffin's and the Floyd's up to see the lights. They were absolutely spectacular. It was fun to see the nativity scenes, the bagpiper, and all of the amazing lights. We also had our ward Christmas party this week. We thought it would be fun to have Connor sit on Santa's knee and take a picture, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He screamed and twisted until Eric rescued him. He is being extremely clingy to us right now, and he was not happy that someone else was holding him! We enjoyed celebrating with our ward members and enjoying one another's company.

Connor isn't quite sure of the snow!

Eric taking Connor on a rhino ride.

Connor loved going on rides with his dad!

We're ready for a ride!

Me and Eric on the snowmobile

Eric is always so good with the little kids. He thought it would be fun to make a huge train out of all of the snow toys and pull the kids behind the snow mobile.

It was so cute and the kids had a blast.

The Hutchison and Yamane family. We are getting ready to chow down on some great food!

The little girls! Devon, Sophie, and Gentry.

The boys! Weston, Chandler, and Logan.

The Larkin's in front of the huge tree of lights.

Eric and Connor watching the bagpiper play Christmas songs.

Me and my little man! He was not loving his hat...but it kept his head warm!

Brandon and Kelsey in front of the reflection pond.

Whitney, Eric, Connor, Jane, Cassie, Jessica, and Riley all in front of the SLC temple.

Our little family in front of the lights and nativity scene.

Eric, Jane, and Connor outside of the Conference Center.

The whole crew!

Connor did not like sitting on Santa's knee!

Eric trying to console Connor after the traumatic Santa experience.

Connor and Emily hanging out in the Santa line.

Jane and Connor.

Decorating for Christmas

I feel a little funny blogging about Christmas before blogging about Thanksgiving, but I have yet to receive my Thanksgiving pictures, so I think I'm justified! It took us a good two days to set up for Christmas this year. We started on Sunday afternoon by decorating the inside of our house and setting up the tree. For FHE on Monday night, we had some friends over and finished decorating the tree and the outside of our house. I am so excited for Christmas, and having all of our decorations up makes the holiday seem even closer. It was so much fun having Connor in the middle of everything. Last year he was only 5 weeks old when we celebrated Christmas, and I am so happy that he will be able to interact a little more with the holiday this year.

Although I did not want to have a huge blow-up snowman in our front yard, I let Eric have his little indulgence. I guess it doesn't look that bad...right!?

Hot chocolate was a must after all of that decorating!

Jess decorating the tree!

Funny faces!

Setting up the nativity scene.

Setting up the garland.

Connor loved crawling all over the storage boxes.

A Beautiful Fall Afternoon

Today was so beautiful! It's been cold for a little while now, but the past few days have been gorgeous. I love being able to take Connor outside so he can explore and play. When it's too cold to go outside, we get a little stir crazy because Connor just wants to walk and explore. Today he wanted to walk around and get into everything all by himself-if I tried to help him or grab his hand, he would push me away. He already has a strong and independent little personality! He also loved finding different shaped leaves and putting them in his mouth. :)