ZUR

So, David has created a new business. (Have to wonder at the timing...move away from home, start school at a crazy-hard college, start a new business in your spare time???)  Anyway, he has pulled his sisters into it as business partners.  The website is up and running (www.zurwear.com) and they are hoping to start making t-shirt sales.  Don't ask what 'ZUR' means... it's a creation from Dave's imagination...hoping it will one day be as well-known as Billabong, RUVA, etc, etc.  And no, he does not have any aspirations to be a model, in fact, he will be upset that this picture is being posted.  (I like it.)  Anyway, for those of you living outside of Utah and would be willing to wear a shirt and talk-up their business, the kids would be happy to send you a prototype shirt. Right now they have some extra men's shirts.  Just let me know.

Other than being thrown into a business venture, life at the Larkin household is pretty boring.  But, boring can be good.

Update from the South

Hey everyone, it's been a long time since we've posted anything. Mostly, we have yet to buy a new camera since our old one got stolen and so we haven't many pictures to post. We'll be seeing you all very soon but I thought I'd go ahead and put up some photos before too much time passes.  These were taken with my cell phone so the quality is low.

Life is going well. The kids are excited for school to be over for the year.  They're obviously heartbroken that we have to pull them out two weeks early to make it to D's wedding in Portland next weekend. Traci left this morning to head up early to the Northwest. That leaves me with the four kids and the dog for the next week. I also had a moment of weakness a couple of days ago and agreed to watch a friend's two additionally dogs while he is out of town.  That was misguided to say the least.  With the rainy season upon us, apparently the 3 dogs got into a mud hole in the backyard yesterday and were unrecognizable.  Traci spent hours cleaning the patio, house, and dogs after the mud Armageddon was over. Gratefully it all occurred while I was at work. Now it's a matter of surviving the few days without killing them. 

Last week Traci and I cashed in on some babysitting that we were owed by another family and took off for the weekend.  It was fantastic! I'll describe it a bit later with the pictures.

Anyway, here are some random photos from the last month or so. 

 Simon plays pretty hard at church and this is the typical after church lunch photo.

Traci recently finished painting Abe's room.  Abe opted for a Pirates of the Caribbean theme. I wish I had a decent camera instead of my crappy cell phone to do the room justice.  It turned out awesome!

These are my two favorite characters from the movie.

For Mother's Day the kids made their mom a cake.  They chose to make it a battlefield cake.  Why? Because "Love is a Battlefield"

For our weekend away we started about an hour north at a town named Ataco. It's a really cute little town. We loved this little church at the edge of town.

We spent the night at some hot springs. It is a series of pools and the water cascades from pool to pool. The top pool was almost too hot to enter, almost.  With each descending pool the water cooled slightly until by the time you reached the bottom is just a nice warm swimming pool.  We had a lovely romantic time.

We were the only guests there. The hot springs are right in the middle of a large coffee plantation.  I commented to Traci that I didn't understand how they could make any money with only us as guests.  Then the owner came out and chatted with us.  He was hilariously eccentric.  He is a wealthy coffee farmer and said his yearly income from the farm is about $4 million.  He told us that he built the pools because he likes talking to people and he thought they would attract people for him to talk to.
He then went on to tell us about a mineral mine that he has on the property. Apparently this mineral has been shown to be an effective anti-aging mineral and that it is being used to make lotions.  He has begun making another pool near the mineral mine.  He is certain that it is going to attract millions of "ugly women" from all over the world to come bathe in the waters.  He has made a website that promises that "ugly women" will enter the waters and when they leave the pool they will be sure to receive at least three proposals of marriage. He said he plans to have his 300 coffee farm employees line the road and propose marriage to all the ugly women so that he can keep his word.  Traci immediately fell madly in love with him.  I have to admit I did a little bit too.
We finished the weekend with a day at the beach without the kids which was beautifully relaxing.
Anyway, can't wait to see you all very soon!

Some pictures of my two favorite girls...

our new house

We are in the process of building a new home in Grantsville. This is whats gotten done so far. The house near us from start to finish took 7 weeks so hopefully we will be in the house in the end of May.

Cabin in April

Hello all! It's Carrie masquerading as Nikkie again. I was getting my car serviced in Orem yesterday and it was such a nice day that I thought I would drive up to Brickerhaven and make sure things were okay at the cabin. I thought I would post some pictures for those of you not able to do so. This really is the best place in the world!

It seems dark and dreary but give it one month and Stewart Falls will be gorgeous once again!

This was just pretty. I almost dropped my iPhone in this lovely stream so I'm posting the picture to spite my phone.

What's a trip to the cabin without a stop at the playground...

...And the fishing pond!

Kim, I added this picture for your boys. This is what the beavers have done. You can show Eliot and Ben real beaver dams. Not that theirs aren't every bit as creative.

I have seriously always hated this sign. It should say "Slow! Children Playing" Otherwise it just seems mean.

Crime, Puzzles, and Good Friday

So this past week we were finally victims of a crime.  We've been pretty lucky and haven't had any problems up until now.  Last Saturday we decided to take a new family zip-lining.  When we got to the zip-lining place I locked the car doors.  Shortly after we arrived Maggie asked me if I could unlock the car so she could get her stuffed animal out.  We were in a "secure" parking lot so I used the remote on the key to unlock the door from a distance and told Maggie to go ahead and get it.  The car was unlocked for all of 2 minutes.  In that short time, and while the car was within view, someone snuck in and stole our camera.  Luckily we had recently removed the photos so we didn't lose too many.  So, the photos that I'm posting tonight are from my cell phone.  I have a Blackberry, which I am convinced is the worst brand of phone available and the camera is just as bad as the rest of Blackberry functions so some of these aren't too clear.  Anyway here's a few photos.

Traci zipping through the jungle.

We've been living in the "Valley of the Hammocks" now for 8 months and just finally got around to buying a couple of hammocks.  The kids have made up for lost time.  I think there has been someone in a hammock around the clock for the last two weeks.  As a sidenote, San Salvador is called "Valley of the Hammocks" not because of the hammocks but because of the weekly earthquakes.  They're pretty small.  In a 12 hour period a while back there were seven earthquakes.  Here's hoping they stay small.

Last night we went to Pizza Hut.  With the kid's menu came a little puzzle.  Maggie started doing it with her mom.  After a few seconds Maggie turned to Traci and said, "Mom, I really miss Grandma, she always does puzzles with me."
It broke our hearts a little.  Grandma and Maggie have a special puzzle bond that Maggie has obviously not forgotten.

So it's Good Friday.  The entire country shut down for the festivities and rituals.  Tonight we went to one of the many neighborhoods around the country where a large procession takes place every Good Friday.  Prior to the procession the residents create beautiful larger than life religious scenes on the streets.  These scenes are called "carpets" and they are made from colored salt, sand, and saw dust.  Photos don't do them justice.  The sad thing is that a couple of hours after their completion they were trampled by the procession.  But here are a few photos I took before they were completed.

I was impressed by how members of the community are able to come out and work so well together to make these artworks. 

Here's a little photo that I like to call "Traci and the kids under hanging Judas".  I found it especially enlightening that Judas was wearing jeans and tennis shoes the night he died.

Wish Dad Was Here...

Lance and I went walking in Boston last week. As we walked through the Boston Gardens, I felt like I had been there before. Then we realized that this was the park where the story "Make Way For Ducklings" happened. There are even larger-than-life statues of Mrs. Mallard and all her ducklings. Some of my fondest memories are of Dad reading this story to us as children, and also as "Grandpa" reading this story at the cabin to his grandchildren.

Great Memories!