This weekend was a first—the first Larsen reunion without one of the four Larsen sisters—without my mom. We had a great time visiting around the campfire (I still smell like smoke when my hair gets wet) and roasting marshmallows, but it wasn’t the same without Mom. She’s been to every reunion since we began many years ago, and she usually coordinates everything for the potluck dinner as well as the craft. Needless to say, we did a little scrambling to organize our traditional potluck dinner (we all snuggled and ate under the canopy of one of the trailers during a rainstorm), and I grabbed a few of the convention Make & Takes for our craft.
The weather, other than the one time it rained, was perfect; the scenery was breathtaking; and I thoroughly enjoyed vegging. In fact, the first day I fell asleep while visiting because I wasn’t doing something with my hands. So, out came the projects, and I didn’t miss anything else.
I’d love to show you lots of photos, but do you think I took a single photo of the mountains or the trails while riding on the four wheelers? No, of course not! I did focus on the people though. That’s the important thing, right? Except that I’m not in a single shot. Usually I ask someone to include me in a photograph so I can prove I was there, but not this time. I hope I’m not the only one who repeatedly makes that same mistake. I took photos that I think will be meaningful to Shanna, and we all recorded a little something on a cassette for her to listen to because she couldn’t be with us.
That reminds me, one of you asked about Shanna. She is serving a mission for 18 months in Spain for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She’s been gone for 3 months, 13 days, and 12 hours (but who’s counting?), and I miss her tons! Please don’t misunderstand me; I’m thrilled for Shanna and know it will be a wonderful growing experience for her. I just miss her. Maybe I’ll adjust to her being gone, but it hasn’t happened yet, so beware of my blubbering!
And speaking of Shanna, I think I wasn’t as clear as I could have been and one of you thought Shanna wasn’t included in our Gardner Girls Gathering photos (the photos on the photo fan I posted last week). If you look close, Shanna’s the one on the far right. In fact, I didn’t notice it until today when I looked at the photo of the fan again, but the girls are all in age order (except me, of course) starting with Megan on the far left, then Sara, Shalae with Cooper, Sage (and me), and finally Shanna.
And I know my girls are reading my blog because I was reading one of the posts that commented on the photo fan and Washington weather. The comment noted that since I was making one fan, I just as well make five. As I read the post, I thought it sounded like something Sara would say, and lo and behold, it was her! I did laugh out loud, Sara!
I swore these wouldn’t be long posts, but once I get typing, I just don’t want to stop—kind of like the way I talk…
I’m signing off!