Family Baby Shower

My mom and her sweet friends through a baby shower for my family members and family friends.  One of my favorite people in the world, Cherilyn offered her beautiful home for the shower and the food was beyond amazing!!!  Our family and friends were wonderful and beyond generous.  This little boy is going to be so pampered and loved!  I am so very grateful to all those who love and support us and our sweet little boy.  So much fun!

B A B Y P A R T Y !!!

We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful neighborhood and even more so, to belong to such a great ward.  Some of our sweet friends from our ward threw us a couple's baby shower.  It was actually more of a "last night out before having a baby" party.  It was amazing.  We knew about the shower (when and where), but everything that was going to happen was a complete surprise.  Everything about the night was about our favorite things!  For dinner, we had a variety of mexican food (my favorite).  On the tables were peanuts (Eldon's fav) and m&ms( my fav).   We played some great baby games such as who can drink the juice from the bottle first, the clothes pin game of who can not cross their legs the longest (p.s. eldon won that one!), who can dress a baby blind folded the fastest, which candy bar (poopy diaper) is which melted.  We also had a DANCE PARTY!!!  yep, its true.  A full on disco lights, balloon floor filled, dj music'ed dance party.  It was awesome!!!  And again, my fav!  And the best part was, our friends totally rocked out with us, and even Eldon danced!  It was a blast!  We truly had such an amazing time with our dear friends, and they were all so very generous that we got some amazing gifts for our sweet little Xander.  Lets just say that he will be rollin in style for quite some time thanks to the generosity of our friends!





One of the major highlights of the evening was the parenting advice we received from our friends.  I hope you enjoy as much as we did.  It was some amazing advice!!

We just wanted to thank all those that came and played with us and especially give a big THANKS to those who organized the night so that we could party and feel so very loved by those around us!!!!  We know we are so very lucky and we know that Xander will be all the more lucky to grow up surrounded by such amazing people!  We love you all!

With our Gratitude

 To our Dear Friends and Family;

First, we must apologize for the delay in this letter.  While our gratitude is abundant for the love, support, and generosity of those around us, we still find it very difficult to bring ourselves to finish projects related to our sweet babies.  Second, we must give a huge THANK YOU to our family, friends, and co-workers, whose generosity has allowed the memory of our sweet little boys to help and uplift so many others.

It is so amazing to us how quickly time goes by.  It seems like just yesterday we were entangled in the stress and sorrow of the loss of Ethan and Tommy and yet, it has already been two years!  During the past two years we have become ever so grateful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father who leads and guides our lives.  We have come to learn that while we do not know the meaning of all things, (especially related to this loss); we do know and feel our Heavenly Father’s love helping us through each day.  Just as with their 1^st birthday, it was very important to us to make Ethan and Tommy’s birthday a memorable one full of love and celebration for the joy they brought to our lives.  December 3^rd was actually a very dreary one.  It was raining off and on frequently throughout the day and we were incredibly concerned that the weather would ruin our plans at the cemetery.  Thankfully, the clouds parted from the exact minute we entered the cemetery to the exact minute we drove away and not a single drop of rain fell.  It was a sweet thought to think that the Heaven’s could pause for just a short time to allow us to honor our sweet little boys on their birthday and “send our love to Heaven” with a balloon release.  Following the balloon release, friends and family joined us back at our home for a birthday dinner.  It truly is so comforting to be surrounded by those we love during difficult days. We are very grateful for those who were there in person and were able to share in this special day and for those that were there in spirit and thought as well.

As part of the tradition for Ethan and Tommy’s birthday, we prepared bereavement boxes, similar to the gifts Stefani received during her time in the hospital.  These boxes were created through the love, time and talents of our sweet friends along with the generosity of so many who gave the needed items to fill the bereavement boxes.  These boxes were donated to the hospital that took such good care of Ethan and Tommy and will be distributed to other women and families who will suffer the tragic loss of a child.  We desperately wish gifts like these boxes were not necessary, and that there wasn’t a need, but unfortunately there is.  We are again, so grateful for the blessing to be able to take such a difficult trial in our lives and turn it around into an opportunity to help others who will experience our grief and know our pain. 

We know with a doubt that we have been beyond blessed during our struggles and trials, and with this specific one, this fact has been abundantly clear.  Words cannot accurately express our gratitude for the love and support we have felt and continue to feel on a regular basis.  We are grateful for the role each of you play in our lives and for your help in ensuring that Ethan and Tommy’s memory will be preserved and will help to make a difference to others.

Thank you for all that you do for us and our sweet little boys! All our love!

Eldon and Stefani Larson

Happy 2nd Birthday Ethan and Tommy

 It is crazy how quickly time goes by.  It seems like only yesterday that we were wrapped up in the heartache of losing the boys, and now we are remembering what would have been their second birthday.  It is our tradition to have a gathering of our friends and family to remember the love our sweet babies brought into our lives.   This year it was pouring rain.  I was so worried that our plans for the cemetery would be ruined by the rain.  It stormed off and on all day.  The entire drive to the cemetery it was sprinkling.  The second we pulled into the cemetery grounds, the rain stopped.  It was still cold, but thankfully, it wasnt wet.

 We were surprised and honored by the many people who showed up to show their love and remember Ethan and Tommy.  There were quite a bit more people than we expected which was a wonderful surprise!!

I love to see the balloons fly.  Sending our love to our sweet babies in Heaven.  Amazingly, the rain stayed away until the very minute that we drove away from the cemetery.  Our sweet babies held off the rain so they could have their balloon release.  It was very special and it touched my heart greatly!  Ethan and Tommy, we love and miss you so very much!  You have brought so much love to our hearts and to our family.  Just your memory makes us strive to be better people each and every day.  We are grateful for the lessons we learned from being your parents and strive to make you proud of us.  We love you babies!!  Families are Forever!

Girls Camp Fun

This year, I was privileged to attend Girls Camp with some amazing young women.  For those that do not know, Girls camp is a week long (4 days) church retreat for young women ages 12-18.  It is full of giggles, fun, spiritual experiences, life changing lessons, and dear friendships.  I went as one of the leaders.  Our group had 27 amazing young women.  I learned so much and hopefully taught some things as well.  We played silly games like "Big Booty" and "little Sally Walker" and I learned a new game called Ninja.  Yep, pretty much like it sounds.  You pretend to be a ninja and chop each others arms off.  Even the Bishop played!  lol.  He was actually pretty good at it.  We also went on a long and tough hike, completed the "enchanted race" challenges as a team, told scary stories, went on a snipe hunt, had many spiritual devotionals, shared stories and laughs and learned about our Divine Nature as children of a Heavenly King.  There is just something amazing about being in the woods, away from technology and the distractions of the world, and being surrounded with amazing bright and brilliant young ladies that helps to bring perspective to life, and brings about such a profound feeling of divine love.  I am grateful for the opportunity I had to go and to serve and learn to love these young women.  We had such a great time and I am glad for the new friendships and sweet memories that were made.

Bereavement Donations

It was very important to us to try to do something positive in Ethan and Tommy's memory for their birthday. We decided that it was most beneficial to "pay forward" the gifts of love and support that we recieved during the hardest time of this trial (right after the birth and the loss). When I was in the hospital delivering the Boys, I recieved a huge outpouring of gifts. Most of the gifts came from the hospital. The gifts were a variety of mementos and keepsakes to help us preserve the memory of our sons such as a scrapbook, pictures, picture frames, candles, beanies, blankets, etc. Those precious items have become very special and sacred to me because they remind me of my sweet babies. We decided that we would celebrate the Boys' birthday by making a donation in their honor to help show love and support to other Mothers and families that would have to endure the hardships that we have gone through. I was incredibly blessed to be able to request for donations from our Ward Relief Society, the entire Police Department where I work, and our dear family and friends. We were completely stunned by the outpouring of love and generosity we recieved on behalf of our sweet babies. Over several months we collected a huge amount of items to donate in loving memory of Ethan and Tommy.

This was a gift basket for the loss of twins

I was also able to make little scrapbooks to give as gifts to the Mother's so that the special moments and information might be able to be preserved in a way that was cute and ready to share.  Each scrapbook contained 5 tags that pulled out to reveal different poems about the loss of a baby.  These poems were my absolute favorites that i have found and helped to share my thoughts and feelings about the loss of my sons.

We are absolutely so grateful to everyone who donated items, money and time to help to make this possible and such a special event in our lives.  I truly hope that the loss of our Sons and our family's sacrifice may be able to bless and benifit others, even if it is in dealing with a tragic loss of their own. Thank you!

Happy Birthday Ethan and Tommy

It is hard to believe that it has already been a year since we lost our sweet boys.  The days approaching their first birthday were incredibly difficult ones as we prepared to celebrate their memory. Eldon and I decorated their plot.  Because it was December it was important that they have a Christmas tree and gifts, but we also needed the balloons for all to know it was their birthday.  On their big day, we a balloon release in their honor.  "Sending our love to Heaven".  In good Seals' family fashion it became a competition to see whose balloon could reach Heaven first.  It was actually quite sweet and entertaining and definitely lifted the somber mood. 

Following the balloon release, family and friends joined us for dinner at our home. It was a very sweet day and I am incredibly grateful for everyone who supported us, both on Ethan and Tommy's birthday and over the past year.  The love and support we received has made all the difference in the world to us, and we know that we are truly blessed with incredibly people in our lives.  Thank you to everyone and Happy Birthday to my sweet darlings!

Thanksgiving

Ok, So I am a little late with this post....i have been sick and we have been busy, but I just couldnt pass up the opportunity to publicly thank my Heavenly Father for all the amazing blessings he has given us and to remind myself that despite quite a rough year of 2008, We should never complain nor be ungrateful for we truly are blessed. So....I am reminding myself....in a generalized list. I thought about naming each thing individually, but my family takes up more than 50, so i will keep it simple for any readers, but mostly this is for me.

I am so grateful first of all for my savior, and for his amazing sacrifice so that we could repent and have the opportunity to return our Father in Heaven. I have done some stupid things in my life, and have learned the meaning of repentance and am humbled at the thought of the things the savior suffered for my mistakes, my sorrows, my pains. We do not know such love and I am so grateful for his gift and for the continuous gifts of love he gives in the great big and the small and simple things in my life.

I am so grateful for my amazing husband. I am absolutely head over heels in love and cant believe i have such a wonderful man to be my eternal companion. He is handsome, loving, sweet, loving, caring, helpful, patient, stubborn (when i need it), thoughtful, smart, hard working, funny, playful, and my everything. Eldon I love you!

I am grateful for the wonderful family that i inherited when I married Eldon. The Larson family is beyond words. It is crazy and perfect at the same time. Everyone gets along and loves being together and spending time together. We always have a blast together and I am so grateful to be a part of such a happy family. I never wanted to be an "in-law" nor to have any, and with this family, you are family just the same and that is exactly how it should be.

I am also so very grateful for my own amazing family, for the chaos, and the calm. I love the memories I have of growing up and the fun I had with my own brothers playing "super stef" and "super boog" on the trampoline. I love that we are still good friends now and have a great time together. I love that my parents are always there to support me in good times and especially in bad. I am grateful for the person they helped me become.

I am grateful for amazing friends who taught me so many valuable life lessons and who continue to love and stay in touch in various ways (yeah for blogs!). I wish we could spend more time together but I cherish all our time and our memories together.

I am grateful for the blessing of 2008- especially for our health. It has been a rough year healthwise but we are still here and probably better for all our trials this year and yet through everything, we have a beautiful new house, an adorable new puppy, a great new car and hopefully another new car shortly! We both have work right now and are able to pay our bills and even donate a bit to those less fortunate than us.

And From all our trials this year, I am especially grateful for the gift of the priesthood. We have had numerous priesthood blessings this year, and I dont think that we would be where we are without the amazing gift and blessing of the priesthood and the gospel as well.

And just incase i missed anything or anyone important....Thank you for the gift you are in our lives and the blessing and joy you bring.

Today....we had a miracle!

Seriously! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father today, because today, he loved me enough to keep me alive....and even more than that....basically unharmed. As you can see from the wonderful pictures. My beautiful yellow car is no more. It was crashed today! I was driving on the 202 to work this morning and the passenger rear tire lost its tread (which basically makes it like driving on ice). well since it was the freeway, it wasnt like i was only going 5 miles an hour. i actually did pretty good keeping it in control for a second or two and then i lost complete control of the car, it crossed 2 lanes of traffic to hit almost head on the freeway median. It then bounced off the median did a complete 360 roll back to its tires and stopped. Thankfully, no other cars were involved and an amazingly nice truck driver (which i do not have his name, but am forever thankful for) pulled his giant truck diagonal to stop traffic from hitting me and then rushed to help me along with about 5 other guys. They were helping before i was finished processing what happened. Well amazingly enough, after a visit to the hospital with a very caring LDS doctor in the E.R. the damages (besides the death of my car) was bruising from the seatbelt, cuts from the glass of my broken window and most likely a very sore steffi tomorrow. The cop asked if he could enter me in the demolition derby and my brother joked that i was "unbreakable". I dont know about that, but the guardian angel that kept me safe is probably pretty beat up or something!

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for his guiding hand in my life. Today could have been and probably should have been a very bad day, and it definitely wasnt fun, but I will take it over the alternative....and now....i guess i get a new car.... unfortunately because of timing, it probably wont be the car i wish i was getting, but my plans never quite go according to plan. So make sure

you remember Heavenly Father and his hand in your life as well, and Buckle Up! Cause it probably saved my life!

Piece of Humble Pie

Heavenly Father is incredibly good at reminding me how blessed I am....especially when I whine the loudest, which has been a lot lately! It just seems like I cant catch a break with any aspect of my life these days....minus my wonderful husband. Then my friend Brittney sends me this email......

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, “If I could only see the world, I will marry you.”One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend. He asked her ”Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?” The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him. Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: “Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.”

Life Is a Gift
Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to God for a companion.
Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven.
Before whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still around.

Even though it was a forward....it got me thinking and its true. Things are not going the way I would like, but I am incredibly blessed and probably more than others....and definitely more than I deserve by my actions!

I also wanted to share with you some words of wisdom from the past for anyone feeling like me. I have these goals that I am trying to obtain. I dont feel like they are selfish goals, i believe they are what Heavenly Father has been directing me towards, but they just have not been working out. So I whined to my dad and he had lots of similar stories and some far worse to show i wasnt alone....but he told me to look up this talk.
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=fa8318e7c379b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1
See Dad, I do listen sometimes :P
It is an amazing talk by Brother Hugh B. Brown of the Quorum of the Twelve. It talks about how the Lord is the gardener and he knows how he wants to shape and trim and mold us and he sees the bigger picture. Its not a fun lesson to learn, but definitely an important one! Anyways...my deep thoughts for the day since I obviously am still being taught and drilled with this lesson.