Kirtland, Ohio Travel

Those that are familiar with the Church that I belong to may know that Kirtland, Ohio is a historic city for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). It is in Kirtland where the saints gathered for a few years after leaving New York. It is also where the first Temple was built by the Saints.

My family had the opportunity to travel to Kirtland this past weekend and spend a couple of days there. We first went to the Kirtland Temple which is owned by the Community of Christ church (formerly known as the Re-organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). This church follows similar beliefs of the Mormons, but believed after Joseph Smith was martyred that the next prophet should be a descendant of Joseph. They still believe in the Book of Mormon and most of the Doctrine & Covenants. The Temple tour was really neat to take, but not very spiritual. It left me and my wife thinking a bit about it and we went back to the hotel to do a bit of research regarding the history of it. However, it was really neat to be able to go inside the temple and see the beautiful workmanship that they did all by hand over 180 years ago. It did cost $2.00 per person to take the tour and the last tour that they did was at 4:30. The tour lasted approximately 1 hour.

The next day we went to “Historic Kirtland” where the church has a visitor center and tours of some of the old buildings (including the Newel K. Whitney store). This tour seemed to follow the spirit of the saints much better. We watched a movie of some of the early saints that lived there and then got to tour through some of their houses. It was a great experience to be able to see this site. For example, we got to sit in a room where the Prophet sat with many others and received revelations about the church. We sat in the room where the missionaries were taught how to be missionaries (the old MTC – Missionary Training Center). It was a great experience. This tour was free of charge and we also caught the last tour here at around 5:30. The tour lasted close to two hours.

Now one thing that I did before we left for Kirtland, was research where to stay while we were there. This seemed much more difficult than I imagined. However, we found a great little place in Mentor, OH at the Best Western. We had a king size bed with a pull out couch bed. It also had a refrigerator & microwave in the room, free continental breakfast, and a small outdoor pool. This place was only 6 minutes away from Kirtland.

Overall, we loved Kirtland… It was a wonderful experience to have with our family. I enjoyed the spirit there and would recommend to anyone.

Crash Course in Family History

For those that don’t know, my dad, Paul Larsen, has written a book called Crash Course in Family History. He just finished the 3rd edition. This book is for anyone that is trying to learn how to do family history for themselves. I takes you step by step and points you to tools that will make it easy for you.

I worked on a website for him located at www.EasyFamilyHistory.com. I haven’t had time to finish up all of the content pages yet. It is a work in progress. The website currently has login/registration, online store, blog, and forms. It will eventually be a subscription site and those that pay a yearly fee will have access to free downloads and presentations.

If you are searching for sites to help you learn how to do your family history, I would recommend this one.

Easter Pictures … New Sunday Clothes

What two handsome boys we have. We shopped all day the day before Easter and found some great deals on some new church clothes. Unfortunetely, we couldn’t find a suit for Tyce but he still looks adorable with his little tie on. We just wanted to share some of the pictures that were taken with them in their new outfits.

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Jamie launches new website for the City of Allen Park, Michigan

I recently launched a website for the City of Allen Park, MI. This web site project included all project management, design, development, forms and flash. The website before was very disorganized and information was very hidden. The strategy of the site was to organize content into categories that made sense for the end users. I believe that I accomplished this with great layout and design.

Another large goal was to prepare the site for a major press release regarding a new film studio to be built in Allen Park. This is exciting for the residents of Michigan. As you know, there have been thousands of layoffs due to the auto industry not doing so well. This bit of news brings excitement to people because it is another type of industry bringing brought to Michigan that could potentially help many of the layed-off workers find work.

It was nice to be part of making this happen.

You can check out the site at www.cityofallenpark.org.

Proposition 8 & Mormons

I have to admit that I didn’t hear much about Proposition 8 in California until shortly after the elections took place. For those that aren’t aware of it, Proposition 8 was on the ballet in California to reverse the decision regarding same sex marriage that was put into place months earlier. I read more about this in local California newspapers after the election took place on November 4th.

The stories were really disturbing to me. This is why I am writing about it on my family blog. (more…)

The end of an important era. Jamie sold his first car…

Shortly after I returned from my mission from Norway in September 1996 I purchased a 1995 Honda Civic Coupe. Two door, manual 4 cyclinder, cherry red with a spoiler on the back beautiful car. Of course I did small upgrades here and there (Added a nice stereo with rear speakers, automatic locks, tinted windows, black bra). I kept this car clean all the time. It was a great car.

Well, that era has now come to an end. For I sold the car to someone here in Michigan just yesterday. Although it is nice to have something a little larger for our family now, It was a hard thing to do. It was my first car that I worked hard for. So this post is for my car and I wish it happiness with it’s new owners.

Going to Utah

So I got a call from my mom the other day letting me know that my brother Dusty is getting married in December. Kaylene was sweet enough to buy Owen and I tickets to fly out out to be a part of it. So, we are flying out for a quick weekend. We will be there on Thursday December 11th and flyout on Sunday December 14th. We would love to see those that are out there.

I would love to take Owen snowboarding while we are there. I will probably bring my snowboard with me. If you know of anyone that has a small snowboard that might fit a 4 year old, please let me know.

We are really excited to come out and hope to spend some time with all of you. See you soon!

Halloween with the Larsens

This Halloween seemed a little crazier this year than in years past. It could be because the boys are getting older, or that we had the Church Halloween party two days before, or that Jamie had to get a work social put together for everyone at work. Whatever it was, it was crazy.

However, crazy isn’t always a bad thing. This year we decided to all dress up as pirates. At first, Owen wasn’t too excited about it (he really wanted a transformer costume), but he seemed to get excited once we all got dressed up as pirates. We did end up winning the best Pirate costume award at the church party. This wasn’t the only award that we won… Kaylene’s chocolate chili came in second place in the chili cook-off. Believe me, it was good. (more…)

How to deal with a 3 year old

So Kaylene and I hit a rock today with our 3 year old Owen. Owen is probably one of the most stubborn kids that I know (hopefully he didn’t get that from me). However, he can also be the most sweetest kid that I know. Today in church, we had a primary program. A primary program is when all of the kids from the age 3 to 11 get up and sing songs and tell stories during sacrament meeting. This is the first year that Owen has had the opportunity to participate. We didn’t have the highest hopes that he would participate, but really wanted him to. His part in the program was to say “I am Owen Larsen and I am a child of God”.

So it came time for all the kids to go forward. He did a great job walking up to the front on his own and sitting down with his teacher. Luckily his age group went pretty early in the program. His teacher turned to him and said “Are you Owen?”. Owen said, “Yeah… I am Owen Larsen and I am a child of God.” (more…)

Today I am 33

Boy how time flies… It just feels like yesterday that I graduated from High School and trying to figure out what to do with my life. Well, alot has changed since then and today I turned 33. What’s funny is talking to my siblings and they all asked how old I was. When I mentioned how old, I think it shocked them. That only means that they are getting older too.

Today I spent the day with my family. Kaylene made some wonderful burrito wraps for dinner and a delicious fruit pizza for desert. The best way to celebrate a birthday is around those that you love.

So, to celebrate my birthday on the blog, I decided to put a few pictures online of myself through the years. I hope you enjoy them as I did going through them. (more…)

Bedroom Makeover

When I asked my wife what she wanted to do for our 10 year anniversary, she said that she wanted to a new bedroom. So I took the week off of work and gave her a new bedroom.

The bedroom that we inherited from the previous owners was a bit outdated. The paint was old and the carpet was pink and a little run down. I started clearing out the bedroom on Saturday. This consisted of moving most of the furniture and clothes out of the room.

On Monday, we painted the trim, the doors (closets and main) and the cieling a bright white. On Tuesday, we painted the walls a nice sage green. Wednesday and Thursday tore out the old carpet and baseboards and replaced it with wood floors and white trim baseboards. This part was probably the hardest for me. I walked up and down the stairs everytime I had to make a cut. My legs were worn out by the end of it. (more…)

10 years and still strong

Kaylene and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary last weekend. What an amazing ten years it has been. Sure, there have been bumps and bruises along the way (much like most relationships), but am happy to say that I am still as in love with my beautiful wife as when we first started dating.

We first celebrated by going out to dinner to the Melting Pot. This was kind of fun experience for both of us. I was first introduced to fondue while living in The Netherlands. The Melting Pot is all about fondue. We had a great cheese fondue appetizer, an all meat fondue dinner and to finish it off, a chocolate fondue for desert.

I am eternally grateful for my lovely wife and am glad that she has been able to put up with me throughout the last ten years and hope that she can continue through eternity.

Spending the day with my family

You know, life can be pretty hectic now days (especially with two little active boys). The weekends never seem to be a time to relax and enjoy. They are typically the only day that I have to get things done around the house and run errands.

Well, yesterday was a bit different. The boys woke up from their naps and I really didn’t feel like doing the norm (grocery shopping, yard work, cleaning, errands, getting ready for Sunday, etc…). I decided that we needed to have a little fun today. Kaylene and I through around some ideas of things to do and then just decided to take the boys to the park down the street from us. (more…)

Our adventure in The Netherlands

In May 2002, Kaylene & I had the opportunity to move out to the Netherlands to work for Nu Skin Europe. I was brought out there for my job. I had worked for Nu Skin Europe in the states for a couple of years and they were trying to build a web team out there to help support their own site. I was recruited to help build this team.

We moved out and were told to find a place to live in three days. We quickly found a small (and when I say small, I mean small) apartment in the city center of Haarlem. Great city and great location. We moved in a week later. (more…)

How I met my love

I returned from my mission in Norway in September 1996. I started right into school at Utah Valley State College (just around the corner from where I grew up in Orem, UT). I also got a great job at Nu Skin working as a call center employee. I started dating a girl that I knew from before my mission. I wasn’t in a real hurry to get married, but thought that we would date for awhile. She then decided to go home to Las Vegas and get ready to serve as a missionary herself. While at home, she met a guy and got married shortly after.

During this time, a Norwegian family moved down the street from my parents. The mom and kids were all members of the Church, but the father was not. I started visiting them with the sister missionaries that were serving in my area. This is how I met my beautiful wife Kaylene Meldrum. She was one of the sister missionaries. I didn’t get to see her very often, because her companion had a crush on me and went with me to the appointments with another member of the church. I didn’t know at this time that Sister Meldrum (as she was called on her mission) would be my wife someday. Nothing happened while she was a missionary (it is against the rules to date while you are a missionary). Luckily, her mission came to an end shortly after we met. (more…)

Our family in Washington DC

We took a trip to Washington DC to visit Kaylene’s brother and his family. We took two days to get there. Driving through Pennsylvania was absolutely beautiful. Driving up and down all of the hills reminded me a lot of the mountains in Utah. However, it was so green with trees everywhere. I loved it.

We had the chance to go downtown in DC for the day. What an amazing experience. While there, I thought a lot about what this country was built upon. Even though we are going through rough times in this country, we are very blessed to live where we live. The freedoms that we have and the foundation that this country was built upon. I am grateful to have add the opportunity to see our nations capital and the memorials of the people that have fought for this country.

We also had to opportunity to go see the Washington DC Temple for the Church. It was amazing. Owen and Tyce both loved it as well. (more…)

Why Blog?

As I mentioned in the about me section of my blog, I grew up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a Mormon). If any of you are familiar with this faith, you know that we are extremely active in our religion. It isn’t a go to church a couple of times a year religion. We try to live and breath what is taught and generally try to be good people. Now I don’t consider myself perfect at all, but I try my hardest to live what I believe is right.

I think that there are a lot of misconceptions about the Mormon faith out there. Some being more to the extreme than others. I was a missionary for my church and had the opportunity to share what I believe is true with many people as well as learn from them what they believe to be the truth. I enjoy talking with others about religion and hope the things that I have to say on my blog can help someone out there understand a little more.

With there being so much bad in the world today, I am glad to have had direction in my life towards good. (more…)

writings

• Kirtland, Ohio Travel1 July 14, 2009.
• Crash Course in Family History0 July 14, 2009.
• Easter Pictures … New Sunday Clothes1 April 26, 2009.
• Jamie launches new website for the City of Allen Park, Michigan2 April 20, 2009.

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