Wyatt Lewis Larsen It has been said, "Time Heals all wounds." I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone. `Rose Kennedy
Here is the schedule of events....
Their daily jobs consist of reading, cleaning room, writing in journal, practicing instrument, doing the "to do" job, and getting some physical exercise. Tyler and Emily will rotate between the 10 "to do" jobs each week. Hopefully the both of them will learn all 10 areas and the goal is that our house will be clean each week. I'm loving that!
Another of their Daily jobs is to write in their journal for 5 minutes. Emily and I made journals that stick to the magnet board for her and Hayley. In their journal I want them to focus on the positive things that are happening in their life....the good stuff and while they are writing I want them to really work on their spelling and penmanship. Hayley will spend some time doing summer school with me, Tyler and Emily to help her get ready for kindergarten. Here are the Journals we made. Tyler didn't want one.
I know things will come up and I will have to be flexible. I've already discovered that this week but at least I have a game plan and hopefully the kids will have a summer of FUN, WORK, SERVICE and LEARNING. That is my goal!
I'm in the process of doing a post about our summer schedule but wanted to add a few pictures of the fruits of our garden. I was so excited when I went to check on the garden this morning to see that we had our first crop of peas and beans and 1 red tomato. There is something so fulfilling for me to have a garden and watch it grow and then reap the rewards of yummy vegetables. Hayley was extra excited this morning when she saw the tomato and peas...her very favorite. I love these simply joys in life....the fruits of a garden.
Green Beans
" Juicy" peas(that is what Hayley called them when she had her first one this morning for breakfast. She then proceeded to tell me how much she LOVES them.)
This is the first year we have been home for memorial day since Wyatt died. It's been nice to be able to be here and frequent his grave. The cemetery is so beautiful right now with all the new flowers placed on loved ones graves. It's such a peaceful place. It's also nice to see others there. Most often than not we are the only ones there. It's nice to know we are not the only ones remembering a loved one.
I was looking through some of his pictures and found this one...it may be my new favorite. I love his expression on his face and his hand almost in his pocket. Oh, how we miss this little guy!
Sleeping on his dad's lap. One of his favorite places to be.
The flowers my brother put on Wyatt's grave...oh, so sweet and beautiful!
His grave so decorated."Everyone, including (and perhaps especially) the righteous, will be called upon to face trying times. When that happens we can sometimes fear God has abandoned us, and we might be left, at least for a time, to wonder when our troubles will ever end. As individuals, as families, as communities, and as nations, probably everyone has had or will have an occasion to feel as Joseph Smith felt when he asked why such sorrow had to come and how long its darkness and damage would remain. We identify with him when he cries from the depth and discouragement of his confinement: “O God, where art thou? . . . How long shall thy hand be stayed . . . ? Yea, O Lord, how long shall [thy people] suffer . . . before . . . thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?” (D&C 121:1–3).
That is a painful, personal cry—a cry from the heart, a spiritual loneliness we may all have occasion to feel at some time in our lives.
Perhaps you have had such moments already in your young lives. If so, I hope you have not had too many. But whenever these moments of our extremity come, we must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us or that He does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see us. He does love us. When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry “Where art Thou?” it is imperative that we remember He is right there with us—where He has always been! We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep He and the angels of heaven weep with us.
When lonely, cold, hard times come, we have to endure, we have to continue, we have to persist. That was the Savior’s message in the parable of the importuning widow (see Luke 18:1–8; see also Luke 11:5–10). Keep knocking on that door. Keep pleading. In the meantime, know that God hears your cries and knows your distress. He is your Father, and you are His child.
When what has to be has been and when what lessons to be learned have been learned, it will be for us as it was for the Prophet Joseph. Just at the time he felt most alone and distant from heaven’s ear was the very time he received the wonderful ministration of the Spirit and wonderful, glorious answers that came from his Father in Heaven. Into this dismal dungeon and this depressing time, the voice of God came, saying:
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes” (D&C 121:7–8).
Even though seemingly unjust circumstances may be heaped upon us and even though unkind and unmerited things may be done to us—perhaps by those we consider enemies but also, in some cases, by those whom we thought were friends—nevertheless, through it all, God is with us.
We are not alone in our little prisons here. When suffering, we may in fact be nearer to God than we’ve ever been in our entire lives. That knowledge can turn every such situation into a would-be temple.
Regarding our earthly journey, the Lord has promised: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88). That is an everlasting declaration of God’s love and care for us, including—and perhaps especially—in times of trouble.
...every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through that difficulty. These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our lives into temples—or at least into a circumstance that can bring comfort and revelation, divine companionship and peace.
I testify that the Father and the Son do live. And I testify that They are close, perhaps even closest via the Holy Spirit, when we are experiencing difficult times. I testify that heaven’s kindness will never depart from you, regardless of what happens. I testify that bad days come to an end, that faith always triumphs, and that heavenly promises are always kept.
Miss him...
Target was clearing out their school uniforms online so we took advatage of the deals and got a few clothes for Hayley for next year. She was soooo excited to have some Vista clothes like Emily's. She has been begging to wear them to preschool so I let her wear them this week. Before leaving for preschool she was out riding her scooter so I decided to take a few pictures. She is our sunshine and truly knows how to enjoy each and every minute. We don't know what we would do without our Hay bug.
She got to bring the snack for preschool and was so excited that I let her pick it out.
Posing with her scooter.
She loves life!
I love the new paint color and how it has totally changed the feel of the room. Though I love the yellow before I'm loving the blue even more. It's such a calming color that at times when the light is just right it will look blue, then sea foam green, to grey and then back to blue. It's been wild to see the different colors come out at different times of the day. I'm so grateful for my sweet husband and for all the work that was put into changing our walls. What a great birthday present. Though these things are truly not important and a couple of years ago I had no interest in any of this I do enjoy change like this and for me it's shown me that I can enjoy life again. Now I get to find or repurpose somethings to decorate above the cabinets and up on my big nook. Right now though I kind of like not having anything. I'm enjoying the simplicity of it all...less is sometimes more.
I put new fabric on my Grandma's chair along with some of the chairs around our kitchen table.
I need to get a curtain for the window. Most everything else though goes with the new paint color.
*** I've had a few people wanting to know the color of the paint. Here is the explanation on that:
Besides painting for my birthday we got to enjoy this yummy mint chocolate cake my cousin made for me. It was so fun to have a birthday cake. I can't remember the last time I had one. It was delish!
Besides birthday cake and painting the Ironman came to town and we were fortunate enough to have the biking portion right out our back door. So, Hayley spent time jumping on the tramp and cheering the participates on. Quite the amazing thing to watch. I can't imagine doing anything like that. It was really fun to watch them and cheer them on. I especially enjoyed hearing their comments as they saw the beautiful red rocks. Those that took the time to look up were astonished by the beauty that was in front of them. We feel so blessed to get to enjoy it each and every day.
Hayley saying "Good job."
We have been going hiking as much as we can the past few weeks. We are blessed to have some really neat hikes just 5-10 minutes from our home. It's the perfect time of year here for hiking so, we have been taking advantage as much as we can. I keep forgetting to take a camera on our hikes so last night I finally remembered. I only took our point and shoot camera and later regretted that decision. The desert is in bloom and there were some really beautiful flowers I would have loved to take some close ups of. 
Cacti in bloom
Petroglyph's
Sunset
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