What happens when you neglect your garden the ENTIRE summer?

You end up with cucumbers the size of small zucchinis,

dill that is running rampant,

and peppers that are long past their prime.

There are however a few things that have survived my neglect.

Carrots in various sizes,

a pumpkin ready for Halloween,

and butternut squash for the ages.

Better luck next year!

what I can expect during sacrament meeting

Between the time we exit the house and enter the chapel someone will have a stain or wet spot on their clothes that was not there when they put them on. A few months ago I noticed that Bennett had dirt and rocks stored in the cuffs of his pants.

My feet will get stomped on at least 8 times.

The tupperware full of cereal will get dropped on the floor despite my attempts to keep an iron clad hold on it.

The boys will spend more time kneeling, laying, sitting or rolling on the floor than on the bench.

They will all want the only blue crayon that we brought, despite the fact there are a zillion other colors available.

Someone will need to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW!

Someone will need a drink RIGHT NOW!

Some or all of them will poke or tickle each other.

Scott and I will have to separate the boys at least twice when the poking and tickling occurs.

Scott and I will shoot dirty looks at them and threaten "couch time when we get home" at least four times.

Owen will ask in his normal voice if he is being quiet.

Someone will take off their shoes.

Someone will want a toy that another brought with them even though there are many toys available in the diaper bag.

Someone will whine, moan and complain until he can play with that one coveted toy.

Someone will making shooting noises.

Some or all of them will completely forget over and over how to whisper or how to keep their mouth closed.

And this is all with Chase sleeping quietly in his car seat. What is it going to be like in a few more months? At least I don't have to worry about falling asleep.

Olympic Enthusiasm

Taylor loves sports, and as much as he loves sports in general he loves to focus his attention on certain sports when they are in season. If it is football season, then that is all he will talk about and his football will never leave his side. When soccer starts then that is all he wants to play. He reads the sports section of the paper every morning to see how his teams are doing. Then he will either discuss with myself or Scott about the particular sport that he is currently following. He has learned that he gets a more intelligent conversation with his dad than with me when it comes to stuff like this. I love this about him.



I found this crumpled drawing of his in the van the other day. It comes as no surprise that right now he is all about swimming. He has been watching the Olympics on TV and talking about Michael Phelps non stop. He is even asking me to take him over to the pool so he can jump off the diving board and swim laps. But he only wants to go when there are no people there so they won't get in the way of his swimming. Freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke - it doesn't matter to him, but he prefers freestyle and breaststroke. This is particularly funny to me because before the Olympics started whenever we would go to the pool I would have him swim 1 lap just to make sure he wouldn't forget what he has learned from his swimming lessons. He would always grumble and pout and tell me it was too hard and he didn't want to do it. I am enjoying his change of heart while it lasts. Football season is nearly here and sooner rather than later his football will not leave his side.

Where to start?

Where do I even start, how can I even describe this past week. It has been a week of roller coaster emotions. I can't even imagine what it feels like to loose a child. I have been horrified at what Jaron and Michelle have been through and my heart breaks when I think of the grief they must be feeling. I have pictured myself in their shoes over and over this week and I just can't begin to understand how one deals with such a loss. It is every parent's worst nightmare.

Through all of this grief I have been surprised at other feelings that I have felt. I was expecting this past week to be so completely full of despair, heartache and sadness that there would be room for nothing else. I was wrong. For every minute I felt sadness I also felt and saw hope and peace and laughter.

One of my favorite hymns is "How Firm a Foundation." A few years ago I decided to memorize it, because I love the words so much. I have been thinking of these words lately.

How firm a foundation ye strength of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he has said,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

In every condition in sickness in health,
In poverty's vale or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land or the sea
As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

We have a firm foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When others despair we have hope. Gavin is Jaron and Michelle's forever. They will see him again and how great will be their joy when they can hold him in their arms. I suspect it will be greater than we can even possibly imagine. The Lord will never forsake us. He is there to strengthen us, help us and cause us to stand when we literally are unable to do it ourselves. Jaron and Michelle, I will be forever in awe of your strength, your faith, your hope and your laughter that you have shown this past week.

I wish I knew what to say

We love you Jaron and Michelle.

Gavin Jeffrey Larsen

http://thelarsenfiles.blogspot.com/

Gallery One

Gallery Two

6 unimportant things about me

Michelle and Amber this is for you.

1) My fingers are double jointed
2) I do not know how to whistle
3) My Dad says that I have "jap" eyes. I'm not sure if this is better or worse than moon eyes or sheep eyes. To be honest I don't even know what the characteristics of these eye shapes are.
4) When I was younger my family was over at my Grandparent's house for dinner. My grandma served us rhubarb pie for dessert. My brother and I (Jaron if I remember correctly) decided it was gross and we didn't want to eat it. So instead of choking it down we went outside and threw our slices into the bushes. We were so tricky.
5) And speaking of pie, lately I have been craving homemade fresh peach pie. Mmmmm
6) My favorite sappy song is "Love Me", by Collin Raye.

complete chaos

Have I mentioned that my house is chaotic? With 4 boys carrying on all day it is no surprise. We can't go 5 minutes without someone fighting, screaming or crying around here. I have seriously contemplated going out into the garage and getting some earplugs for myself. I haven't entirely rejected this idea yet.

Today Chase is 1 month old. That is hard to believe. I guess time flies when you are tired and trying to keep up with everyone and everything. I decided I would snap a few pictures of him since it has been about a week since I pulled out my camera. Then I decided that while I was snapping I might as well take a few more pictures of the boys so I can update my picture above. That didn't go so well.

It started out o.k. Chase doesn't fight me too much at this point.



Owen, surprisingly was in a cooperative mood.



The chaos began when I was trying to take Taylor's picture. Bennett and Owen decided that wrestling was a lot more fun than posing for a picture so they started rolling on the ground laughing and screaming.



In about 20 seconds Taylor joined in and we went from everyday chaos to full blown chaos. The sheet gets torn down, the dog starts looking nervous. By this point the photo shoot was over and I couldn't even get a picture of Bennett.



And of course, anyone that has boys that wrestle know that sooner rather than later the laughing and screaming turns to crying. Have I mentioned that my house is chaotic?