The Larson Party

A summary of our year with LOTS of pictures from some of our favorite days.

JANUARY

Cheese!

I bought Nate cheese-making supplies and a how-to book for Christmas last year. This was our first batch. We were giddy with excitement and waited 2 long months to try our home-made cheddar. Our enthusiasm was dampened by the mold and nasty flavor of both batches of cheese. We'll try again one day.

All the dead animals in the Bean museum creep me out but the boys love it!

Snow fort

Nathan's photography

The girls I love and miss!

FEBRUARY

MARCH

They turn into tigers at a very early age in our house. Roarrr!

Nathan's photography -action shot!

My monkeys at the zoo

Nathan helping as usual :)

Lisa let me be part of her baby's delivery. I loved it!

APRIL

Lots of smiles

We love it when cousins come for a nice long visit.

Nate's very good at both telling and reading stories.

Andrew's love of greens started at an early age.

Big brother Max is so sweet!

Caleb, Max, Joshua, Andrew

Walking boy!

Nate came to the zoo for lunch. Nate makes everything more fun.

MAY

Nathan made treasures for Mother's Day but they also worked for my Bday.
I turned 30 and for a short while I felt like I should be more responsible and stuff like that but it didn't last.

Our most favorite summer fun involves water and more water.

The zoo again

Bethany was such a big part of our life before Sept. 2007, when she started Kindergarten. We love and miss her tremendously!

The water spray bottle helps fight the heat of the Utah sun.

Nathan turns 5!

Nathan helped decorate. I can't remember what all the red licorice was for... fire? You'll have to ask Nathan.

While I set up the dragon hunt, Nate played a game with the princesses and knights. I think it consisted of them running and dodging while he chucked balls at them.

Grandma's playdough

So... while in St. George, I walked into the bathroom and found Max playing Yahtzee on the toilet (like the other Larson boys).

Full of energy and lots of noise for the LONG trip home.

JUNE

Moving -the long version

On a Friday morning I drove around in a neighborhood in Murray. I saw a house for sale. I stopped the car and got a flyer -just for fun. By the time Nate came home I was seriously thinking about moving. Nate thought I was joking and kindly reminded me that he was going back to school and we would soon be relatively poor. He humored me by going to look at the house. The Petersons (owners) let us look through without an appointment. I was sold. I thought about it all Saturday. My greatest concern was leaving the wonderful and amazing people of Midvale we love. The Midvale 8th Ward has the highest concentration of genuinely good, humble, kind, and beautiful people I've ever encountered. How could we leave them? The next day at church I was looking for answers. It was very clear to me. When we got home, I told Nate I had the answer: we were supposed to move. He again kindly reminded me of the housing market, our upcoming financial situation etc. That's the closest we've ever come to a true argument. I was crying. I couldn't understand why he couldn't feel it. He couldn't understand why I couldn't think about it. We agreed to not talk about it until Monday. He committed to calling the bank to find out if it was even possible and IF it was, he agreed to discuss.
He called me from work the next day and told me to call and tell them we wanted to look at the house and we wanted to buy it. What?!!! Wihoo! The idea of moving was born on Friday morning. By Monday, we decided to buy a house and make an offer. We didn't hunt for houses or neighborhoods etc. We made a decision and never looked back -well, almost never.
They accepted our offer and the paperwork began.
All of a sudden, we had a house to sell. We started fixing all those little things that had been bugging us for years. I bought a For Sale sign and we waited for the crowds. When the crowds didn't come I wondered if we had made a mistake. Is it better to think it all out? What if we were the answer to the Peterson's prayers but there we be no one to buy our house. When I started to stress, all I had to do was visit the new house and I felt peace and knew it was right. One beautiful Saturday a nice family came to look at our house and then came back! The duplex they were renting had completely flooded with all of their stuff in it. They were desperate to move. Together our prayers were answered. We moved out, they moved in. We didn't have to pay 2 mortgages after all. I feel strongly that our move was directed. I am grateful. I still miss our old house sometimes. I often miss the wonderful people, especially the Y.W. I love.

We are happy with our new house and neighborhood.

The old house.