I grew up the second of seven children in Pleasanton, California, having moved there in 1966 from nearby Oakland. My early life was immersed in youth sports and church activities. My father, Don Larson, was the Scout Master of our local Boy Scouts of America Troop. A whole generation of boys in Pleasanton learned to tie knots and hike remote trails throughout northern California under pop’s watchful eye, including my five brothers and I. My fortune to play collegiate football at Brigham Young University was the beginning of a sporting adventure that changed the way I lived, thought and prayed. I spent almost two years in South Africa during college days as a precursor to a professional life that sent me to Scandinavia, England, Asia and the Pacific. A mid-career assignment from BYU to Xi’an China for a year split a professional life in food products and chocolate making. My greatest pride comes from my four children; their goodness and individualism emerging from their coast-to-coast upbringing. I am amazed each day by the way my wife exemplifies motherhood in a way God truly must have envisioned. She is the great communicator and master nurturer of our family. Above all, my life was influenced early on by loving, creative mother who once hand-painted an Oakland A’s t-shirt for me to wear to school because we couldn’t afford to buy one. My mother encouraged dreaming, story telling and imagination playing as a substitute for the carnal media we have today. I love the great outdoors; our free nation; the goodness of the good; those who try to succeed and fail, but keep trying anyway. I love the innocence of children; the wisdom of the aged; the warm feelings from living right and working hard. I am not blind to evil, but I don’t allow it to overcome me. I am the silent majority who will defend freedom, be a good neighbor and care for the needy. I am your neighbor. I am a parent and grandparent. I am an American. I am a Mormon. As of this writing, I work in southern California for a Hawaiian-based chocolate company, but I spend as much time as possible at my ranch in McCall, Idaho.