Reuben's First Pinewood Derby

Leslie's Mission Call.....

The guesses:

Apparently we were all right!  

She will be able to teach so many people from so many areas when they visit 

Nauvoo, Illinois!

October General Conference 2017

Sunday pix

Moving forward

Bob was released from the 8th ward bishopric.  He loved serving with Bishop Hayes and Brother Chavez.  When the stake realigned the borders of three wards, Brother Chavez was called as the bishop of the 11th ward.  Of course, Bob is deploying, so they had to release him as well!  They worked well together and we are thankful for the spirit they shared with our ward!

PacMan Youth Activity

Leslie was in charge of the combined youth activity for the month of March.  She chose to do a life-size PacMan, which was awesome.  We had masking tape, black lights, glowsticks, hats and bowls with pingpong balls to put in backpacks, and ghosts to chase down the PacMan.  Owen drew and colored the decorations.

She also had a spiritual thought to go with it, based on Elder Richard G. Scott's talk, Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority.  She listed the 4 faith promoting activities (prayer, scripture study, FHE, and temple attendance) as the "power pellets" that chase the ghosts away.  She's awesome.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

We had a special stake meeting on February 22 and were blessed to be visited by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.  When he walked in the room, I felt electrified by the Spirit that attested that he is an apostle of the Lord.  His talk was phenomenal and was precisely what I needed to hear.  It has been interesting to talk with others who attended and they picked up on other themes or moments of his talk.  That is the beauty of teaching and speaking by the Holy Ghost, everyone is edified according to their needs and desires!  He gave the stake of El Paso an apostolic blessing and then invited the children and youth to come and greet him.  My kids lined up quickly!  Leslie told him that he was her hero, and he replied, "Well, you're mine!"  And later on, when he was leaving, we happened to be in the hallway, and Troy exclaimed as he passed by, "You're awesome!" to which Elder Holland answered, "YOU are!" My kids were thrilled.  I thought I'd be upset that I didn't get to shake his hand, but watching my kids interact with him fulfilled me more than enough.

* Plenty of contraband pictures were taken in the chapel… but I obeyed the rules and didn't snap any!  My heart will just have to remember instead.

Jonas turns 16!

Jonas had a great day: a fantastic seminary class, Krispy Kreme Donuts, football screen time, presents including an iphone 5c and a new facebook account, an IHOP date with Mom, and a surprise get-together with friends for a game of football and time at the park.  Pizza and cake ended the day, and we really enjoyed hanging out with our new 16 year old!

On Sunday he was ordained a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood, and then was also able to assist in ordaining other priests in the quorum.  He is such a wonderful and righteous young man.  We have been so blessed to have him as our oldest child to set such a great example for our family.

HE!  IS!  AWESOME!

(Hmmm... 

Most of my pictures include Jonas eating or preparing to eat fooooooooood...  

Pretty typical of a 16 year old, I guess!)

Ooooooh, Donuts!

Sweet 16: 16 Lindt Bars

IHOP cinnamon stack pancakes with eggnog cream

iPhone cake

October 2013 General Conference

I love singing, sustaining, and savoring General Conference with my family!

Dance

This beautiful young woman is going to her first youth dance!  

Golly, she is gorgeous and growing up fast!

Micah's Baptism

It was so sweet to take the time while our family was visiting to have Micah's baptism.  It was an incredibly spiritual service.  Each prayer, song, talk, and ordinance invited the Holy Ghost to be in the room with us.  

After reflecting on the evening, Micah narrated his feelings to me to write down:

"I felt good.  When I got into the bathroom before my baptism I felt the Spirit.  After I got baptized I felt the Spirit when we walked into the room and everyone was singing.  They were singing "Stand for the Right."  I felt the Spirit when Dad said "Receive the Holy Ghost."  I also felt the Spirit when we sang the closing song, "I am a child of God." 

Yay Micah!  We are so proud of you and your excellent choice to follow our Savior and take His name  upon you.  We know you will be blessed as you focus your life on Jesus Christ.

best weekend ever

best

weekend 

in

my

life

underline

the best part was the 23 miles of mud, uphill roads and 1200 pound handcarts pushed by 6 youth each

whenever somebody asked me how I was doing, I followed dad's wise advise of:

"be annoyingly positive"

and responded with words like:

fantastic

superb

perfect

wonderful

brilliant

outstanding

excellent

terrific

fabulous

awesome

and

"best. day. ever!"

(some of my less positive "siblings" tried to kill me because I followed dad's advice to the letter)

and all of those were absolutely true  it was a fantastic experience, and a testimony and muscle- building trek.  I wish I had more pictures but dad will add more as he gets them from Facebook 

Gideon's Blessing

I am so thankful for this new little guy in our lives. We love him so much, and everyone who meets him is instantly in love as well. His blessing focused on Heavenly Father's love for him, as well as family who loves him. What a wonderful reminder to focus on love. When we remember those who love us, our returning LOVE defines us and makes us who we are.

Silent and Sweet Saturdays

We are interested in having our children learn sign language. Bob started a new tradition: every Saturday for two hours we can only communicate through sign language, gestures, pantomimes, writing, and lip reading. It has been wonderful! The quiet is a nice break, but even more importantly, there are little to no arguments because we have to be so careful with our communication! What a great reminder! Being disciplined in our communication helps us become more like our Savior Jesus Christ.

For more eloquent words on this subject of communication, see one of our favorite talks The Tongue of Angels, by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.

http://lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/the-tongue-of-angels?lang=eng&query=tongue+angels

Jonas becomes a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood

Today Jonas was ordained as as teacher!

He is excited to do his new priesthood duties.

Doctrine and Covenants 20: 53-55 explain these duties:

The teacher's duty is to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them;

And see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking;

And see that the church meet together often, and also see that all the members do their duty.

One of Jonas' favorite scriptures is found in Doctrine and Covenants 84:33-39

(the oath and covenant of the priesthood), which says,

For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.

They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God.

And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord;

For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me;

And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;

And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.

And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood.

We are pleased with his righteous choices!

He is a remarkable young man, a blessing to our family, and an example to all.

(Poor guy, that seems like a lot to live up to, but it is true, and he is handling it well!)

Young Women In Excellence

Leslie is an excellent young woman. I really could not ask for a sweeter daughter. She proved that by presenting her Good Works value project tonight. She babysat for a family in our ward for free and planned lots of fun activities for them to do. She taught them about volcanoes since that was one of the little boys' interests, and they had a blast (literally) blowing up the volcano.

Their theme centered on superheroes. She really is a super heroine!

Temple #49

Well, I have a totally unrealistic goal to go to every temple before I die. I will try, though I know they are building them too fast. Anyway, this past week I had the opportunity to go to the Oklahoma City Temple, which makes 49 temples I have been able to perform ordinance work. It was beautiful, as are all the temples. See how I am smiling?

What?!?! Already!?!?

How is it possible that this child of mine

is attending seminary?!?!?!

Oh yeah. He's older, and wiser too.

Does this make me older and wiser too? Let's hope so.

I am grateful that he attends a once a week evening class of seminary for two reasons

(three when I am being selfish...)

#1 More students in the ward can attend in the evening, including non-members

#2 He is learning diligence in completing his assignments every day

#3 I think we can all guess this one...

Although I do look forward to the day that he can have the complete early morning experience!

Way to go J! I am super proud of you! I love you!

All tied up in callings

Sometimes I feel like my two callings keep me pretty busy- primary chorister and scout leader. Other times I feel I could do more. Today was the 5th Sunday of the month, and that means I had the whole 45 minutes with the primary doing singing time. We had a great time. I brought most of my ties with me and laid them out for the kids to see. Then one by one they came up and picked a tie and a primary song to sing. I then put the tie on them. They really loved it. I couldn't resist at the end, so I got a picture of the kids (those that would) in my ties. I love my calling and I love these wonderful kids!

Unfortunately, and to their disappointment, I had to collect all my ties at the end of the hour.

Pioneer Day

This just says (or sings) it all. I love their enthusiasm and faith. They are modern day pioneers. The future is as bright as our faith!

To Be A Pioneer

(LDS Children's Songbook)

You don't have to push a handcart,

Leave your family dear,

Or walk a thousand miles or more

To be a pioneer!

You do need to have great courage,

Faith to conquer fear,

And work with might for a cause that's right

To be a pioneer!