INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - He smiles. He dances. He makes super cute faces. His name is Larson and his parents call him "A ray of sunshine." But before this ray of sunshine came into their lives, his parents found joy in cooking during some of those dark and difficult days.
“Everything is better when Larson is around,” said his mom, Sonja Overhiser.
Alex and Sonja Overhiser run a blog called “A Couple Cooks.” Their story starts the first day of their freshman year at Indiana University. At that time, they didn’t know anything about cooking.
“We were hot pockets, breakfast cereal, maybe some spaghetti if we were lucky,” Sonja said.
But as the years went on, they started learning. They watched cooking shows and experimented with different recipes. Then in 2010, they started a blog to document their trials and tribulations, not only in the kitchen but in everyday life.
"I am actually a cancer survivor,” said Sonja. “I was diagnosed when I was 27 with a rare form of leukemia called CML (chronic myelogenous leukemia).”
Sonja took medicine to kick cancer but eventually decided to stop taking it to try to have a baby. After a few years of trying and a miscarriage, Sonja's cancer returned. She got back on her medicine, and then they paved the path towards adoption, which also proved to be a long and difficult road.
"We had three adoptions fall through,” she said.
They waited.
“I realized that I was in the midst of my own liminal space,” said Sonja. “That is a term that's used in psychology and also in literature to mean that time where nothing is happening in the plot line.”
They cooked. They photographed. And they wrote.
"I am all about having a healthy distraction during tough times, so we were actually writing the cookbook all during this time,” Alex said.
Their cookbook is called “Pretty Simple Cooking.” The deadline for the manuscript fell two weeks after Larson was born in 2017. The Overhiser's adopted Larson and brought him home and then the following year, they brought home a book.
“Now, it's just so refreshing to be on the other side,” Alex said. "That we're in a springtime season where we're just enjoying new life and some really sweet special times.”
Now, Larson fills every season with love and laughter.
"He is like this ray of sunshine,” said Sonja. “He has the most sunny disposition.”
His infectious smile steals the show, too.
Alex added, “I think it's mostly this hair.”
“They always say that hair, and then he waves at them and gives them his big smile,” said Sonja. “And then, they just melt.”
Larson lights up their life, and the lives of the 70,000 plus people from all around the world that follow them on Instagram.
“People love Larson, which is really sweet because we love him, too,” Sonja said.
Sonja and Alex say they threw a dinner party right after their book launch in February. It consisted of 400 different hosts making dinner at the same time on the same night all around the world.
“We started a couple cooks as a hobby, “ said Sonja. “We had no idea it would turn into a business someday, and that we would be able to connect with people all over the world through food and through our recipes.”