One Day Old

Yep........he has Michelle's sense of humor!!!!! (Either that or one side of the family is related to Popeye the Sailor Man!)

Meet SAWYER JARON LARSEN

Isn't he HANDSOME!!!!! Sawyer weighs 7 lbs. 10 ozs. , is 19 1/2 inches long, and was born at 9:45 am this morning. After 2 hours and 15 minutes of labor, and 3 minutes of pushing, he was here! His apgar scores were 9 and 10. He is nursing like a pro, and Michelle feels great! (The chocolate bunny is Gavin's favorite stuffed animal, and I suspect he will make his appearance in many family photos.)

Laguna Beach Cottage

Isn't this the cutest doll house! We stayed in Laguna Beach for a night on our recent trip to California and I spotted this while we were driving down to the beach. My friend Mary lives in a doll house like this several blocks away. (I don't know why I didn't take a picture of her cottage, it's almost as cute!) Anyway, she is going to Africa for a month this summer and asked if Jeff and I wanted to house sit for her and the only rent would be to feed her kitty and water her flowers. What a fun get-away!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDYE -THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

We have such fond memories of the years we lived in St. Louis, and this is partly because of our friendship with Gary and Sandye Muncy who lived across the street. Sandye and I became such good friends - we talked and laughed and ate sunflower seeds while waiting for the school bus to bring our kids home. We took trips to the park, and Busch Gardens, and went camping together, and did all the things that families with young children do. Not only did I love to be with Sandye, all my kids loved to be with her. Whatever the kids were doing, she was in the thick of it. Often when my kids were bored, they would tell me they were going over to ask if Sandye could come out and play with them. When Dalin had to have major surgery, Sandye was such a help and comfort to me. She came to the hospital every day with her three kids to visit Dalin and brought him a toy every day. One day they came with a huge, yellow smiley face balloon that would hardly fit through the doorway. What a friend! Then there was the time Jeff lost his job and we were struggling to make ends meet. It's interesting how right at that time, the Muncys needed cabinets built in their garage and, if I remember, some work done in a bathroom, and they wanted Jeff to do the work. We were honored when Gary and Sandye asked Jeff and I to be godparents to their son Sean, and now he is all grown up and was just graduated from college. Jaron, Matt and Dalin were all good buddies, and we thought it'd be great if Kelly and Tyler grew up and got married. But plans change and a great career opportunity required a move back to Utah. Jeff moved to Utah and I stayed behind to sell the house. It was not a good summer for me to be alone taking care of 5 kids, while trying to maintain the house and yard. I remember times when Sandye would come over and help me scrub my kitchen floor to get ready for a realtor bringing a buyer through. During the next decade, the Muncys came to visit us in Utah and we went on a vacation to Yellowstone, and then several years later we rented a house boat at Lake Powell. We wondered if the kids would be shy around each other, but it was like they had never been apart. Then one year the boys flew out to spend some time in St. Louis, and Jeff and I drove out to pick them up, (am I remembering this correctly??) Now all the kids are grown and making their own lives, but the memories of those years still remain. Thank you Gary and Sandye for making those years so fun. You are the best!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDYE, YOU YOUNGSTER, I'M THINKING ABOUT YA!

P.S. Hey you guys we now own a time share in a house boat on Lake Powell and would love to plan a reunion! It would be fun to see how many of our kids we could get together.

P.S. to Last Post.... & a Little Photography Philosophy

Jan asked if I took any photos of the house to share, which I did not. It looked so bad this time, that frankly, I didn't want any pictures to remind me of how sad I felt seeing it like this. I have many years of photos where the presence of the Albrechtsen family was still so evident. Now the land seems just about ready to reclaim its own while waiting for new memories to be made.

I wanted to make a note about the photo of the lane, and my photography in general. The sunset was indeed beautiful and pink like in the photo; however, this was taken after the sun had set behind the mountains, so the sky and clouds were lit but the land was dark. Knowing that cameras are incapable of capturing the spectrum of light to dark that the eye can see, in the 'old' days, a photographer would put a special split level density filter on his lens to compensate for this to bring out the light in the foreground to get a proper exposure of the entire scene. With digital, all this can, and is, done with a combination of camera settings and in post processing on the computer. Camera settings can make scenes more or less vivid in color, show more or less contrast, etc. Computer software gives a photographer even more control. Today, as in the past, all photographers have to define what their art is. Even the famous photographers like Ansel Adams greatly manipulated their photos in the darkroom by dodging and burning and using other darkroom techniques to turn out their masterpieces. Today, however, the sky is the limit as to what photographers can do with their work, from just slight adjustments to creating something that looks nothing like the original photo. So today, good photography still requires skill and talent, but even more than in the past, it is also combined with advanced technology to help the photographer convey what he wants the viewers to see or know or feel about his photo. In my opinion, only in the strictest sense of photojournalism is a photographer obligated to present a photo exactly out of the camera as the scene is, including the best approximation of color (unless it's a black and white photo), and everything else that gives the viewer the correct idea of what the scene is all about, and must not exclude anything that would mislead. For example, if I were photographing a picture of a luxury resort to advertise what a beautiful place and location this would be for a vacation, and my photo cut off the garbage dump that was right next to the resort and blocked the view of the ocean from the resort windows, I personally think that is misleading and wrong. But other than strict photojournalism, every photographer is an artist and instead of using oils or watercolors, uses a camera and 'brushes' from computer software.

Whew...after all that, you never have to wonder if I've 'done' anything to my photographs, because the answer is "YES". I don't want anyone to think that all my photos are just a matter of pointing the camera at something and pushing the button. When I look at a photograph, I want to experience a moment of joy, beauty, fun, happiness, spirituality, humor, love....all the positive uplifting things in life. This is what I want other people to see in my photos, too, so I post process my photos, (some just a little, while others more), to bring out my interpretation of the scene in order to convey these same feelings for others. There is enough sadness, evil and struggle that we all must face, and for the most part, I'll let other people photograph that side of life....well, maybe if there is something really compelling and there's an uplifting message I might pick up my camera.....but not usually. ....So, that's a brief summary of Karen's Philosophy of Photography 101. There will be a quiz next week! J/K

Down Memory Lane

We missed our annual Memorial Day trip to Emery and Calf Creek Falls, so yesterday we loaded up the RZR (Razor), and took a quick trip down there. We had fun exploring some of the back trails around the area. Early evening we went to the cemetery, and then walked around the house. Every year I don't think the house could look any worse and every year it does. Grandpa would be sad to see it like this. As we walked around, there were still rusted parts of old farm equipment laying everywhere, and Jeff could identify everything and would say, "I spent many hours baling hay on that", or he'd talk about some other memory another rusted old piece of metal had for him. It was dusk when we finally went down the lane to the fields. All of our kids first drove a car, (around age 13-14) on this lane, and we would always hunt asparagus here, before walking out into the fields and over ditches to where we would hunt for Indian pottery and arrow heads. Yesterday at dusk, the mosquitoes were so thick that I stayed in the truck while Jeff picked enough asparagus to have for Sunday dinner. While I was in the truck I watched these clouds change from boring to glowing with beautiful sunset lighting, so I got out of the truck long enough to take a few photos. This is how I want to remember this trip to Emery, rather than the dilapidated, abandoned house.

Phriday Phun

Hey, wait a minute....this was supposed to be Jeff's and my toy, and we're not even riding it! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we took it out for a trail run. Dalin, Emily, Jaron & Michelle have all agreed that it is great fun and are already making future plans.

LIBERTY means SACRIFICE

This Memorial Day we will remember all the warriors and heros who gave their lives so that we can pursue Life, Liberty, and Happiness.

Beautiful Birds

I am always amazed at how commonplace bird of paradise bushes are in California. They grow in alleys, on the side of the motel we stayed in, and other forgotten places. They obviously don't need a lot of care. Here at the San Diego Mission there were tons of them.

Flowering Frenzy

Second in my series of favorite 2009 spring flowers. Again, this was taken at San Juan Capistrano Mission.

Color Explosion

I can't seem to get enough of the beautiful, vibrant colors of spring. On our recent little jaunt to California, I was in flower heaven when we toured 3 of the 21 Spanish missions. This photo was taken at San Juan Capistrano, (where the swallows come back every March 19). There is nothing quite so dramatic as bougainvillea, (yes I had to look up the spelling), in full bloom. Here, contrasted with the textures and architecture of a mission wall, it presents a spectacular sight, (in my humble opinion). For those of you who love, love, love dramatic, prolific flowers, check back tomorrow. I intend to post a picture a day for several days of some of the most beautiful floral scenes I have ever photographed.

JJ's Baby Shower

I'm really slow in posting a few photos of the amazing baby shower that our neighbor and friend Hailey Kandell had for Michelle and JJ several weeks ago. (For those of you who read this blog and don't know, Michelle is the mommy of Gavin in the previous blog entry and is due to have another little boy in a few weeks. For now, we call him JJ, short for 'Joy in the Journey'). Back to the baby shower. Thank you Hailey for making this such a special day for Michelle. You thought of every detail, and we all agree this was the most elegant and fun baby shower we've ever attended!


If you want to see more photos of this fun party, here's the link:
http://karenlarsen.smugmug.com/gallery/8252567_K75XN/1/540010893_GofKE

Happy Birthday GaviBear!!!

Today is Gavin's birthday. We had a party to celebrate this beautiful little boy angel who brought so much joy to our family. For dinner we had his favorites: hot dogs, watermelon and blueberries. For dessert we had green rice krispie squares. (For his one year birthday party he also had green rice krispie squares with green frosting instead of cake because he was allergic to milk products.) We sang happy birthday, and his cousins blew out a Number 2 candle, then opened a few presents they got to keep. Then we watched some of our favorite videos of Gavin's brief life and laughed and remembered how cute he was, how much personality he had, and what a joyful little spirit he was. We then went to the cemetery and admired his beautiful gravestone and the tree Jaron & Michelle had planted to honor him. We all sent green and white balloons up to heaven. How blessed we are that Heavenly Father sent Gavin to our family and that he lived in our home for 8 months. We love you Gavin and look forward to living with you for eternity after this brief separation called mortal life is over. Here are some pictures of his one year birthday party, and a couple from today.

Phriday Phun

This really was a Phun Phriday! Here is our new Phriday night date car, and yes, definitely an old age/retirement crisis!!!!! And the most amazing part, it was my idea. So how in the world did this happen! A friend in the ward (Jeff's age), wanted to show us what he bought for his wife for their retirement. When we saw it, I said, "that's what I've been waiting for." I knew I wouldn't like straddling a 4 wheeler, and then there's the safety thing. This 4 wheeler side-by-side drives like a car, you are strapped in, has a roll bar and long arm suspension making it very difficult to roll over. Added bonus, can add a heater and sun top. I like that Jeff and I can ride together and talk about what we see, plus I can tell him when to stop for photo ops. We got it yesterday, and took it out for a trial run for our Phriday date! Yes, we have gone over the edge, but we'll be the coolest grandparents around !!!!!!!!!!!!!! (See link below)







Now check out this link to see what we will NOT be doing, (but the boys already have plans).
(I had a link with some crazy kids doing all sorts of not so safe jumps, but I noticed that the lyrics of the music they used to accompany the video were offensive so I removed it.)

Springtime In The Rockies

We have waited sooooo long this year to see colorful blossoms and warmer weather. Don't let this magical time slip by without taking a few minutes, (and a few pictures), to appreciate the gift of spring... the lilacs, the blossoming trees, the vibrant spring bulbs, the brilliant new greenery, the puffy clouds in the sky. I was leaning over the fence of my neighbor (and stake president's) orchard on the busy street in front our our house to take this picture a couple of days ago. P.S. This is how I like snow....far, far away as a backdrop.