NEXT RAG QUILT

Here is a sneek peek of my next college quilt, for Stacie.
Don't you just love the pop of pink color coming out from
the black. OOHH I am loving watching it come together.
The pink is minky. I really love that fabric. It is so cozy
and comy!

Kinsie's College Quilt

So we went and picked out Kinsie's fabric the week before she left, and it didn't get made before that. However, it is now finished, just in time for the cool weather! :) (in Thatcher anyway)

I love how it turned out. The backing is brown minky fabric, that is soo dreamy! Seriously it is so soft and cozy and velvety. The front is two prints from the Fandango line by Kate Spain.

Now I'm ready to start #2 college quilt. It will need to be finished before Christmas. I'm not shipping it to Idaho. :)

baby snuggle blanket

I made 2 of these cute snuggly baby blankets, using brown
minky(aahhh) and put different colors of ribbons with different
textures all around the outside. I love it. It is so cozy.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

The anticipated day arrived! Everyone was excited, a little bit nervous. My baby would be leaving for Kindergarten this day. As I said earlier, I have my had children home with me, for over 20 years. It is a bit weird, (I know I'll get used to it) to get all the children off for school, get my morning routine done, and then look around and listen to all the empty spaces! I usually turn the piano on and enjoy listening while I work around the house. No little questions, contentions, disputes, or laughter. It is all so new. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty that I can do, plenty that I want to do, but sometimes...I'm not sure what to do! :) Anyway, the first day went off with out a hitch. Davis is in Kindergarten and had a wonderful day. He returned home the first day at 2:30 and was asleep on the couch by 3:45. It is so cute to hear him talk about his day, and about things he does in class, and things he is learning. Bracken is in 3rd grade. He loves it also. He and Davis ride their bikes to school, and he likes to be their early in the morning, as to get as much playground time before school as possible. Ashleigh started Jr. High. Her school starts at 9:05. That always feels so late! She is loving her new school adventure. They are swimming in PE right now, because we are still having excessive heat temperatures! It doesn't bother her at all. When I was in Jr. High and we had swimming, I purchased a butane curling iron so I could have my hair done, before going to my next class. (we had a shortage of outlets available to us, so I solved the problem with the cordless curling iron) She loves being around her friends all day. Hunter started 10th grade this year at the high school. He has some hard classes and rounds it off with guitar class, which he really enjoys.

The cub scout pictures are of Bracken getting his Bobcat award, and several belt loops. He loves going to cub scouts. I hope he will follow in Hunter's footsteps and be excited and get things done all along his scouting journey. Hunter just earned his Basketry meritbadge. This makes 46. It also gives him his second Gold Palm. Way to go Hunter!

Just a little bit of 12 year old attitude, showing through. :)

being crazy
the bike rack
Davis heading out to the playground before school

Earned his Bobcat

LARSON FAMILY REUNION

July 30-Aug.5th we had a Larson Family Reunion. We stayed at a time share a little under 2 miles from our house. We had a very eventful week. Here were some of the hightlights: making flip flops, sewing slouchy bags, kickball with a beach ball in the cultural hall ( I like all the rhyming) designed t-shirts with cricut and bleach, made snow cones, made homemade donuts, scones, minute to win it games, paper air plane throwing, ROOK, Settlers, Celebrated Stevens b-day at the Sutherlands, boon doggle, cereal necklaces, bubbles, decorated sugar cookies, swimming swimming swimming, Larson duel in the Pool at Kino, homemade macaroon ice cream!, and we topped it off with Find Grandpa at the mall. (Kinsie and Stacie were the first to find him) The children had such a great time with all the cousins. If that sounds exhausting to you just reading it, We lived it, and loved every minute of it! It was so great to be able to see all of Ginger's siblings. All the cousins were there but 1 who was finishing summer at BYU. Aren't families great! We left Friday night, then Sat. morning, we packed up Kinsie and her stuff and headed over to Thatcher where she is enrolled for college. She went a week earlier than all her room mates, so she could start her job. She is having a BLAST! Classes started this week. They organized the ysa wards, and had a meet and greet. She is loving that. We can feel the empty spaces around here with out her. Of course, we are all trying to convert her bedroom, to our new favorite spot. The little boys have currently taken over with a table and their legos, and Hunter has moved a chair and music stand along with the guitars to practice everyday. I had grand plans of turning it into my sewing and scrapbook room. I guess we will see what happens.

On Aug. 7th, 2011 I was sustained and set apart as the R.S. President in my ward. (thus nothing happening with my sewing room yet :) ) I've been saying that when school started it would be the start of my new life (all the children in school after 20 years!) and it sure is, just not how I had planned. You know how Heavenly Father has a way of changing things for good though. So I will hopefully, get organized and familiar with everything soon, so I will be able to still quilt and do my fun things. I have great counselors and secretary!

FAMILY REUNION AND FUN

The beginning of July we headed to Utah. We started in St. George. We stayed for 3 days. The boys had a blast at the hotel. They especially like having their own key, and going down the elevator and the stairs and back into the room about a zillion times. Good times. While we were there we went and picked up a permit to Bloomington Cave. It was a great cave. We followed the green route, and it was very well labeled. There was a long crawl area that got a little tiring, a couple tricky tight places, but all in all a great time. The boys were great climbers and had a good time. The children started teasing me about caving, and that I loved it more than quilting. Hahahaha. Then we went to Snow Canyon, and checked out a lava cave. Steven was in caving heaven! Then of course we went to the cutest quilt shop--Lazy Daisy Quilt shop. I purchased a cute fabric bag pattern, and fabric to match Ashleigh's Easter skirt we made. It turned out totally cute. Picture will follow. Stacie decided to make one also. And as it turns out, we are going to make them for our Larson Reunion. Great little summer bag. We also went to the movies to see CARS 2. It was a great movie. Then we headed to the Hill's house. We were able to visit with our friends Kym and Anne from Australia, along with all the other wonderful family that lives close in the Orem area. We ended up staying at Justin and Shawna's house and had a fabulous time. On the 4th of July morning, we went to hike Battlecreek falls. It was a beautiful hike and very enjoyable. It is right by the G on the mountain. (which is what I want to hike next) We went bowling at BYU, and played air hockey. I must say that Steven was the winner this trip! Then we finished off at the BYU Creamery on 9th. Delicious!!! That night, we had a huge BBQ at the Shauers, and had plenty of great family to go around. Then we watching fireworks in the cul de sac, with some raining on and off. It was so nice. Such cool weather! We were in heaven. The next morning, Steven, Hunter, Brian H. and I went and Hiked the Y on Provo Mountain. That was also a great hike. I've wanted to do that for a while. Of course Hunter cruised right up and was the first one there. Then we headed to Park City for Alpine Slide rides. They added a new ride this year a coaster ride. They were both awesome. The children also enjoyed the trampoline attraction, which they harness you in and you can jump and flip till your hearts content. Next we headed to Springville, Hobble creek camp ground for the Hancock reunion. What a beautiful site. The children got to know new cousins, and old and had a most enjoyable time. Ultimate frisbee, games, talent night, hiking, human battleship, and Safari group for the younger children. The next quilt shop I planned on visiting was on the main road heading to the camp ground, the Cornwagon. It was also just as great as I thought it would be. I purchased my Surf quilt pattern, and some red, white, and blue fabric for my yo-yo flag. If you can see the big blue dome in some of the pictures, that is ours. Steven made this geo-dome for us to camp in. It is a pretty big project to put together and takes us about 2 hours, however, since we knew we would be there for 4 days it was worth it. It is 10 feet tall and 23 feet in diameter. Before we left, Michelle Wall got to our truck windows. She is pretty funny. As you can see, we celebrated Steven's birthday while we were there also. He let everyone know too. He had a fun day. When we went back home to the Shauers Sat. night, we went to dinner at this Brazilian BBQ. It was amazing! We also took the children to the new Provo Beach resort that just opened up. It is an indoor family play place. They have bowling, miniature crochet, a rope course, games, and a flow rider. The children had a great time, especially on the ropes. I think that about sums up our wonderful 10 days. I love Utah in the summer time. As you can see, Stacie and Kinsie were not with us, and stayed home to work, (and play). That's the hard part about your children growing up and having responsibilities.

QUOTE

Today, I was working on a flag yo-yo project. Davis comes up to me and asks "How many more round-abouts do you have to make"? It was just too cute. I'll post a picture when I finish. I missed 4th of July, but I'm OK with that. It'll be ready next year. :)

BRACKEN'S BAPTISM

Saturday was Bracken's BIG Day! ( June 18th, 2011) He was Baptized by his Dad. He was so excited! It was wonderful to have family come and support us and be together. After, we came to our house and had nachos and otterpops. Thanks to Bracken for making it easy on me.

2 peas in a pod
Grandma and Grandpa Larson
Aunt Becky and Uncle Sean
Mom and Dad
Aunt Mary
Uncle Bruce
Grandma Peterson
Aunt Christy, cousin Marion, cousin Emery, and Uncle MG