Jon stays and saves his crew.

Notice the feet Steve's!

Here is a great sequence! This is FUN!

We all had a wonderful time at the annual Memorial day camp out on the St. Joe river.  Rafting was cold (38 degrees), but spirits were high.  The usual 4 wheel riding, rifle and shot gun shooting, good food, good friends, church in St. Maries ward, cold water and sun made for a great week-end. No flipped rafts but a few fell out.  Steve as you can see had his feet only showing, and Jon had to save the other four in his raft on one run.  Another yummy dutch oven dinner on Sunday made us all happy to be there and to enjoy the beautiful place we live in.

Another Successful Memorial Day!

Beckett Leo Larson

Here is the newest member of the Larson Team! Beckett was born on 5/13 and was 8 lbs. 20 in. This is Andrew and Cassie's 3rd boy!

Mother's Day in St. Louis

Mother's Day in St. Louis was a little different, but turned out wonderful! I got to see all my kids except AJ, Dusty, and Spike, but got to talk to all but Dusty (Hope your cruise to Panama is going great!) I missed being with everyone and know that I love you all. As you can see we had quite the set up to be able to talk to Spike in Brazil. I called on my cell phone, set it by Cassie's computer which was on ichat with my home computer where Tim's, Mikin's, Brynne's and Brett's family talked to us with Steve and then we also had Tom's family join us on conference ichat from West Jordan, Utah. While that was going on AJ called our home phone and was able to talk to Spike through the home phone on speaker from the CD'A computer to the St. Louis computer. Spike was able to hear from my cell phone because we had speakers from the computer set up. I guess the photo speakers louder than words!

We went to church and then came home and had a ham, augraten potatoes, rolls, and brocolli....because it was Mother's Day and that was my favorite.

Talking to my kids is always a treat but on Mother's Day is is even better because they say such nice things! Ha! I love all you guys.

We spent Saturday at the zoo trying to get Cassie to get with it, but all she did was become really sore.
This is her profile on Mother's Day, 4 days overdue.

Spike, You sounded great!  We all loved talking to you. And I was able to spend some time right at the end of the call one-on-one, so I felt blessed.  You have grown so much and we are all so very proud of you!  Now we all get to take your example and really pray for missionary experiences in each of our lives.  It is time to start conversations with everyone about our son, brother, uncle, cousin, friend etc., in Brazil. Let us all make a commitment to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with at least one other person while he is in Brazil! That would be 35 new members of the church, just in our immediate family.  We can do it!!!  

Anyway, we will keep you all in the loop tomorrow after Cassie gets induced and little Beckett is here. Love to all. 

Mother's Day 2008

Our Mom, Jean, is such an amazing woman. Not only did she bear 9 of us, she reared us, taxied us, helped us, cared for us, and most of all loved us. She continues to care and worry about us every day. She is a woman of faith, and a great example.

She has such a fun-loving spirit and her laugh is very contagious. From coaching our little league teams to now enjoying her soon to be 20 grandchildren, she has always supported us and was the loudest in the crowd!

Thank you so much for all you have done and continue to do for us, Mom. We only hope we can be a fraction of the parent you were to us, to our children.

We also want to remember our wonderful grandmothers. This picture was found of Grandma Betty with Cade not too long before she passed. What an amazing woman of strength. It's no wonder why our Dad, Steve, is such a strong man. We miss you already.

Our Grandma Fay has been gone for a while now, and we miss her presence so much. She was so interactive and it's also no wonder why our Mom is such a good mom. It is because of HER mother. We miss you , Grandma.

It is so fun to see, now, what our mother and Grandmothers went through as we are currently experiencing it as the Daughters and Daughters-in-law.

Happy Mothers Day to you, Mom, and all of the other Mothers, mothers-to-be, and all those who are busy helping in mothering others'. You deserve every praise you get.

Spike's Letter 5/7

E aí família? como vocês tão? eu espero que tudo aí seja bonzinho! eu não vejo a hora até eu posso falar convosco. E ai ovir suas vozes. mas, só quartro dias e contando=) whats up family....how are you all doing? i hope that everything is super good. i cant wait to talk to you guys..and hear your voices,, but there is only four days left and counting! i started out with this cause i thought that tyler would appreciate it and would find it interesting. and maybe give him the urge to write me...jk. but it is spring finally! i heard the weather has been amazing this week. brynne even got sun burned while she was running. thats so funny. dont feel to bad though brynne cause everyone is as white as you are! im sure of it! before you know it your all going to be tan tan tan and sitting on the back of tim´s boat in the middle of the summer. choosing whether to ski wakeboard tube wake skate....tuff lives. ha ha. but the snow is melting and that is awesome eh? so what is it lookin like for the memorial day weekend wrafting trip to the st. joe? are the rivers to high or what? what about the camp grounds. i heard they might still have them close due to the snow. whats the word? it must not be that bad cause dad is going up there bear hunting this weekend i heard. mom said he was atleast. i am jealous i wont be there for the wrafting trip. i really started loving it last year and you could find me on about evey run. i guess i am finally growing out of being a big panty waste wossy. ha.i guess there is a time for everyone to grow up and to face their fears. it always seems to be also that the fears you once had beome your passions and you learn to love them. whatever they may be. i remember i would never get behind a boat. ha. things really have changed. but i guess it normal! so i heard that tyler and mikin had the blessing of Asa this last sunday in their home ward. that is awesome. who was able to make it there and such. who stood in the circle. how was it. the blessing that is. and i hear that everyone went to their house after! how was it? you guys eat and just hang out. had a sweet little sunday afternoon hangout! thats the best. i loved the nights when we would just hang out as a family and enjoy one anothers company. that is what we need to do. spend our time with our families. it is so important. i really have gained a testimony of it. i really just missed those days. its not like the time when we are spending money or doing something crazy that i remember when i sit in bed and think...its just being togeather....its the best. thats all i want. but sorry. ha. what did you guys end up doing at tyler and mikins? you shoot a turkey there yet tyler. i heard my dad almost wacked a nice one there. he needs another person with him. when your hunting turkeys you have to have two people-one to call and one to shoot, or your never going to get one. slim to none. they will do just what they did to my dad. they will come in and just stay out of range. they are so smart. one of the smartest animails that i have ever hunted. if you hunt alone, use a decoy. but i hope that someone ends up wacking one. you cant have dusty showing you guys up Washington style. ha ha. im sure you will end up killing one. plus a bear or two. you guys talk to jamie yet/ i am assuming that that is who your going up with right dad?....should be a blast. so dad went to a 3D shoot the other day! that is awesome. i miss those things. he went up with mike and jeff. that is awesome. he did good too. did not miss a target and shot like a dead eye. i know that brett usually wins by a couple points, but now we have to question whether he is that good or not cause he has not been practicing. it will show when its september though. sucker. just like when i missed that bull this last year. i had a nightmare about that the other day. it sucks. but how was the course set up dad? sounds like it was really nice. was there snow on the ground or not? you should shoot your turkey with the bow. glad you were able to get out there with the parks, the other family=) So tim is getting ready for a half iron man in oregon huh? that should be an amazing thing to do and a nice initiative to get into shape for the summer huh? cool. when is it? that will be fun. i think that tim is the only man in the family with the femanine body type that could do the funning and such. ha ha ha ha! its true. little boy. you dont have the big thick man genes like me or brett. i wis i was olike dusty though where i was like in between brett and tim. but anyways good luck with that tim. you know that i am joking! but brynne and liz and dad and everyone sounds like they are all gettin into shape and everything. that iso awesome to hear. it sounds like you guys want dad to do the swimming part of the competion...he told you guys no though huh? that is so smart of him i think he has just had surgery in novermber and is not feeeling on hundred percent. he said that he is just trying to get it into shape and get ready for the hunting season. that is something that i think you guys have to respect. he is not a young man anymore. he is getting up there and he is not able to do everything. he has to get his knee back into shape. but he said that you have to pick your poisin and his is hunting. he has to be careful with hi knee cause he does not want a relapse. that would be the worst. so just leave him alone. ha ha. he is gonna do what he wants:0 but it sounds like it should all be awesome. i am excited to hear how things go for it. let me know. i miss being there with you guys. i want to do one when i get back so bad. seriously. take my work i will do one. half iron man. yes! committment. but anyways sounds like everthing else at home is awesome. nothing new. i willl be able to talk to you all this sunday.
as for here things are going pretty awesome. the work is going good. we had conference here this last friday and that was really nice to have a short break and everything. the president called a couple new assistants and one of them is elder colton malone. he is from mesa arizona. i love him. he is sweet. his first cousin is MAX HALL. how do you like that tim. crazy huh. they played football togeather in high shool. they both had scholarships to byu but then he broke his leg an dlost it. crazy. his other cus is the shortstop for the baseball team too. cool. we talked for hours and had a great time. we have marked a baptism for a family the first week of june. it is awesome. i am so excited for them. i will tell you the story on sunday. it is really cool. the language is really coming along well. i feel myself really inproving leaps and bonds as each week passes now. i am learning alot and its good to notice. still neeed to learn SO much though. it seemed so much easier to see people go on missions and come back speaking another language. now i am in their shoes and its not easy. its hard work. this week has been crazy. our zone leader got transfereed today cause he is sick. pooping blood. also, i saw a women feeding her baby on the back of a motorcycle without a helmit. crazy huh? even crazier and yesterday i saw a young girl get hit by a car. i was walking down the street and saw people running to the middle of the road. we walked by and say this your 8 or so i guess year old girl. clothes torn off her and face down bleeding perfusly. screaming. ah. i had a nightmare about it. i just remember her cries fading into the backround as i walked away cringing. so sad.it really made me think how grateful i am for my life, my blessing and everything i have. i am so blessed. i know that situations like there really make you reflect on life. i am so blessed. i have a healthy body and such, i have the gospel i have an amazing women i love, i have a amazing family who i would do anything for at anytime no questions asked. i have most importantly the knowledge of the plan of salvation whickh makes those kind of situations bearable. it brings me back to this week after i recieved the packages from mom, one of them had the book of testimonies that we made in 2006, and i read brynnes testimony. if she does not mind me refering to it....she spoke about the points in her life where her faith has grwon and she has known that this is the gospel. one point was when she was at one years of girls camp and she was participating in an activityin which there is a horn that can sound off at anytime. during the time they have certain tasks to do and such and the point is to not procrastinate ansd to be ready for when the horn blow. she ended up, after the horn blew, on the bad side of the division of peopçle who were ready and who were not. this refers to the second coming. whether we will be ready and such. she said it hit her hard. and that from that day on she made a commitment to be ready for the second coming of our saviour jesus christ. i after seeing this young girl ....thought of this story, and thought how life is so fragile,short, and lightly lived. it made me think am i ready, am i really preparing myself for the eternities, am i doing all that i can to be prepared for that day, am i keeping my covenants, am i christlike, have i repented. ask yourself there questions. they are the same questions that you will be asking your self at judgment day. we neeed to prepare. it is part of the goospel. endure to the end. we must become a beter person everyday. read the scriptures, be missionaries, share the gospel, keep our covenants, say i love you to those you care for and be more christlike. that is our journey in life. become more like him who gave his life for our sake. i pray that we do this. we become enthralled in his work in his gospel, and ultimatly be found clean before him and live togeather forever with our families. i love you all. i cant wait to talk to you all sunday. i will call at 6 your time saturday to set it all up. i love you all. dad shoot a bear. CTR and remember who you are. start today doing the things that will make you better for tomorrow. i love you all
elder gatten

Spike's Letter 4/30 continued...

Okay now i am back from the interview and have like 45 minutes to write more. So don’t worry the interview went amazing. He just said that the work here seems to be doing good and that we are working hard and he knows that. He asked me about some investigators and things and it just went really well. Went by quick. I found out though that two of the missionaries from my group of 12 from the ctm have gone home. I am so shocked over it. I guess it was just things from before their mission. It is sad to see that happen. It happens a lot more than I ever realized. The two guys were from Utah also. It is sad. It is awesome though that they had the courage to confess and to make the things right that were wrong!It sounds like you guys are pretty concerned with my health and things there mom and dad. You do not need to worry…there is only one missionary from Ephrata WA who has this disease that he just caught here where he is constantly having blood in his stool and cannot balance himself to walk. Another missionary has a virus that he cannot get up without coughing up blood. They live in the same house! Good thing I do not live there! Seriously my health is super fine. I have not had any problems with anything. Only that it is hard for me to go to the bathroom but I am eating a lot of fruit to try and change that. If I need a doctor or help and things I will let you know for sure. You do not have to worry. If I need help and things I will let you know. I am running out of Vitamin C though. Have plenty of the other though. My health is fine. Just working out and staying active and watching out for my surroundings like dad always says. All I have to do is stay away from all the bum’s, and us my hand sanitizer a lot. I saw a guy in the street the other day that was sniffing cocaine…he had a huge wad of it and my companion said that it was like over twenty thousand dollars worth. That was pretty cool to see. Never seen it before. He was all shaky like he had some psycho disease or something. He probably did. But that is some cool story I will be able to share the rest of my life. The guy with a big wad of cocaine. There have been a lot of drug busts and things here lately. There is a ton of federal police here and tons of the federal police plans flying in all the time to try to put a stop to the smuggling and things. I am right close to Colombia and Venezuela and Guyana. Pretty nuts huh? Well it sounds like the trek and so on is getting really involving now. Your to the point now where you are spending hours on end doing the things to get it all ready. But you know what mom and dad, you guys may starve and be tired, but without amazing people like you two doing the behind the scenes work and things this thing would not ever happen. And you know why you were all picked to do and lead this is because everyone can count on you guys to get it one. You have work ethics and there is no doubt that it will be the best memories and stuff that the youth will ever have of YW or YM. Your guys work is not going to waste and I know that the endless hours that you are putting into it will be well worth it when you look back at it. I love you guys and I thank you two for doing now what the stake could not do when I was a part of it. I wish that I had that opportunity when I was in YM but I didn’t. now you guys just have to make it that much more special for the other kids, like nikell, who are going to be a part of it! You got to let me know how things are going on it and give me the details. When it it by the way?
So anyways I saw the pictures of mom, brynne, and mikin going to the park and heard about them walking and starting to get into shape. That is awesome!!! Mom you road your bike there to meet them too? That is awesome. What you probably think is even better than that is that you had a day that was actually nice that you could get out there and do those things. The kids had fun on the swing with nana too. That is cool you captured those pictures. Man I ca totally imagine everyone now. Walking around with you cameras looking for something to take pictures of and make a blog out of it. Ha. It is the GATTEN POPERATTI(spelling?) but seriously though. It is cool to see that you guys are actually getting into that. It looks like it is a lot of fun. It is especially nice to see the photos of everything that is going on. Yesterday we ate at this restaurant that is super amazing and it is a buffet. Well I have been trying to eat little amounts and to eat good, but I ate a ton. I ate so much I seriously could not work for like 3 hours after. In my whole life I do not think that I have ever been that full. I could not
think, or breath. I vowed never to eat that much again in my life. It really was not that much food I am just not used to eating anything actually. So I was super full, and I was walking in the street with my head down super tired, plus it was super hot, and I came along this concrete thing that was sticking out of this building for like air conditioners. I walked into it and split my head open. Then holding my head, walked over and rolled my ankle on the curb. I am such a klutz. I had a ruff day to say the least. But just forget I ever wrote this and that would be better. I really am loosing weight though and still working out and running daily so that is good, and I am improving somewhat I think. You can only do so much being a missionary though.
Well this week has been pretty crazy for me. Nothing to exciting happened. We have been teaching a lot and finding a lot of people to teach that have been inactive and such. Like I have said before the people just need someone to talk to them and to hear their concerns. It is a blessing being able to help them, this simple spike gatten can actually help someone out and influence the people for good and share the gospel with them. It is crazy. Sometimes I feel like I am still ten years old, and what I think and what I do does not effect others, and I am just insignificant. I can make a difference though. It has just taken me sometime to realize that I just need to decide that I can help people and just go and do it. We are starting to teach this older lady who is the girlfriend of a man in our ward. She is so excited about the gospel and for us to talk with her it is super cool. She will be baptized super fast. She is just one of those people who have been searching for something their whole life and now she has found it. It seems to be the case with many of the people that we are teaching. They are out there we just have to find them and put out the effort to share the gospel with them. We cannot be bashful or scared to do so. Sometimes I am and then I think why? If I know that these things are so true and I cannot deny them, then why not share my testimony. sharing your testimony is a blessing in and of itself. It gets strengthened as you share it, I have a testimony of that for sure. I have really been reading a lot in the beginning of the book of alma where amulek and alma are teaching the people and contending with Zeezerom. It is so awesome. They never contend with other with harsh words or actions, but they speak with the spirit and bear their testimonies. They quote the scriptures and they taught the gospel to the people who rebelled against god. What I learned out of most of it is that we need to have a firm testimony of the father and of his son jesus Christ. We must build our faith and our testimony upon this. Then we must nuture it by doing those things that we know we are supposed to do. All of the primary answers. Go to church, read the scriptures……as we do this our testimony grows and is strengthened. Then we must share it. Many times, especially before my mission I had a ton of opportunities to do so. As I talked with many of my friends about the gospel and why I had to go, sometimes I just basically shared my testimony with them. Many of them do not know what I believe and think that a mission is just something that I have to do. But when I actually share with them my beliefs and I know they feel the spirit everything changes and d then they understand. We need not be afraid of sharing our beliefs and our testimonies with others. There are many who will not or have trouble gaining a testimony on there own. They really wholly upon the testimonies of others. That is why it is important that we share ours so we can strengthen others. Who knows something you might say may be an answer to their prayers. So everyone, this coming fast Sunday, take the initiative and share your testimony. For some of you it may have been along time since you have done so, but I challenge you do so. I promise you that if you do you will grow spiritually and you will come away from it feeling so much better and have a new determination to do good. I love you guys and hope that you all have an awesome week. I am praying for every one of you and I hope that you know how much I love you. I will call not this Saturday but the next at 6 your time to give you details on the call for Sunday. CTR
I love you all
Your elder
spike

This week in Brazil

The red things he is biting are cashews.

Spike's Letter 4/30

Hey HEY hey!!!!

how is everyone doing? it sounds like things are warming up there in north idaho and its starting to look somewhat like spring. that is awesome! dont want you guys to suffer to bad of the cold even though i wish i could hav it all! mom said that the water in CDA lake is so cold that the ironman might be alittle interesting, and freezing. i think its awesome cause it throughs in another factor that people cannot get ready for really and then you find out who the real ironmen are! ha! i miss it already. i remember working at it when i was in highschool. crazy how the time flies. but i loved it and i have the memories atleast. is there anyone that we know of that is going to be running in it? jon and brynne and you guys should do it next year. is it really tuff? but anyways dad said that he went up to the tree stand and had a hen turkey come in. thats pretty cool. you did not hear any big toms though? i know that they are there though. but go wack one for me and put the meat on the table. but as for the duck and how you should mount it...i would get it flying like wings extended with the belly to the wall. like a flying wass mount is what it is called. or if you like the way that mine is, you could do it like that. just get on the internet and look it up on google. duck mounts and choose one. that will be neat to see how it comes out. did they say anything aobut my geese? well you guys finally got my cd with the pics and things. that is cool. the only bummer is that i have got a ton of more pictures since then. it took along time to get there didnt it? that is cool though. now you can all look at them! make sure you make copys of the cd for kate and the parks too. it sounds like dad is pretty upset with being 10 bucks to short on his application. that is horrible. but remember to apply for me for next year. i really want to kill something as soon as i get home. get out there and freeze my can off. ha. that will be the best. but, you guys are blessing ASA this sunday huh? that will be neat and i feel horrible that i am missing it. let katelyn know about it i am sure that she would want to go. that is neat. your going to have bradys in june? and cassie is ready to have her baby anytime now. she is due the 7th. crazy. the family is getting so big.
sometimes i feel like i am so old when i think of all the little nieces and nephews that i have. i am geting up there. 20 this year. crazy. but i will always be the baby right mom? i pray that cassie will be able to have an awesome delivery and that mom gets over there safe and everything. that is going to be wieird haveing to talk to you guys seperatly. it is the pits. but it will do i guess. ill call sat night to let you know the details around like 6 pm. well i have to go. this sucks i will write more another day. i have to head to the chapel here close to go to my interview with the mission prez. i hate how he jst takes the time that i have to write my family. it is the pits. but i love you all and you know that i wish i could write more. i cannot believe that kris is having a kid. that is crazy. i have some pretty stupid friends. tell him that i think he is a freakin idiot and he needs to get his head checked. messed up his whole life...wow. but i know that the gospel is true. i am making it. and i am working hard for you guys and making you proud for sure. i hope you all have health and happiness. i am so excited to call next week. so nervous actually. i have 6 hours to talk. i love you all. give kate a call and see how the carlee situation is going. love you all. dad go get a turkey, and hope that the trek things get going. sounds stressful
your elder
spike