Prophets of God

I remember when I was younger, perhaps a little younger than Natty is right now.  I remember sitting in front of the TV watching conference and finding myself bored out of my mind.  I had some growing up to do.  Last night as I sat in the Priesthood Session of General Conference I was pondering the meeting and how great each talk was.  They were powerful messages, inspiring and lifting.  I thought to myself how wonderful it was to be in that meeting, to be spiritually fed and to be alert throughout the meeting.  It was a good meeting.  Today the sessions were also quite good.  The entire conference was uplifting and inspiring.  Doctrine was taught powerfully and  by the spirit.  I am grateful for living prophets on the earth. 

I want to note that I quite enjoyed Elder Perry today.  He spoke boldly and it reminded me of a talk he gave many years ago, I think is was actually 20 years ago actually.  In that talk he shared one of my favorite quotes. "What the Lord has declared to be true will always be true.  What he has declared to be right will always be right, rest assured that when the so-called enlightened doctrines of mankind contradict the holy scriptures, they will only bring heartache, disappointment and destruction to the souls of mankind".  That was a favorite to quote on the mission.  Today's talk reminded me of that one from 20 years ago.  It was shared with power and conviction.  I sure love Elder Perry. 

I am grateful for living Prophets on the earth.  I know President Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's prophet on the earth today.  I am grateful for Conference when we can sit at the feet of spiritual leaders and by lifted and strengthened.  I look forward to reviewing these talks over the coming months. 

Cedar City Utah Temple

When the kids and I moved to Cedar City 3 years ago I found myself falling in love with this quiet and beautiful place.  It has been such a blessing in our family to have our home here.  I have joked over the last three years that Cedar City needs two things to make it the perfect place to live.  Number one on that list, as should be the number one on any list, is to have a Temple.  The second, and as much as I love a good Costco dog it is a distant second, is a Costco.  Those are really the only two reasons I go to St. George.  Well, in coming years Costco will be the only reason I have to go to St. George accept that we are opening a Little Brick House down there.  This morning in General Conference President Monson announced the building of two new temples.  I was nervous that there were only two but the first announced was Cedar City Utah.  I was so excited that I didn't even hear the second. I'll have to find that out.  That announcement put to rest the growing number of rumors that a temple was coming. 

When the announcement was made I experienced a feeling of joy I had never experienced previously.  I have never lived in an area that had a temple announced.  I had experienced joy when Reno was announced as it would mean so much for my dear friends in Carson City.  I lived in Vegas at the time and so it didn't immediately affect me.  Today was a bit different.  We were all excited to hear the announcement and since the announcement was made I have had little moments when I have pondered it and just felt wonderful joy.  It is that warm feeling inside that we all love so much when the Spirit speaks to us and confirms the truth of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, of a living Prophet on the earth and that the work of God is rolling forth. 

I was standing and doing dishes and thought about constructing of church buildings and hearing about those who would labor on them.  How they would work their regular jobs and then go and work on church buildings or other church related projects.  I felt a desire to get started, to hasten the work on the Cedar City Temple.  I know things are a little different today and that opportunity will likely not come exactly as it did for other saints.  Whatever we are asked to do relative to moving this work forward I stand at the ready.   

The Brick is Back

I was in the shower the other day, it is the place for all good inspiration, and I had a thought that we needed to launch our eating challenge sandwich, the brick.  I started pondering the sandwich how we had last made it and then thought of a new way to do it.  We have lost a bit of our customer base by moving further away from SUU and I thought this would be a good way to take care of them.  An eating challenge would surely attract college students. 

Today we made one as a test.  It was huge.  Total deal is 6 pounds.  We cut it in 4 and Dave, Amy, Zack and I ate it.  That was 10 hours ago now.  I am still stuffed.  I don't think it is going to be an easy one to beat.  We got some great pics and now, it is time to price it out and get it out there.  I am pretty excited about it and have to say, with how full I was after a quarter of the sandwhilch I have no idea how one person pulls this off. 

Disaster Strikes Twice

My morning meal usually consists of a strawberry, or some other fruit, smoothie.  I am often carrying said smoothie to the car and drinking it on the way.  Such was the case today.  As I was opening the front door I was balancing my smoothie on top of my Kindle and a stack of papers.  The cup fell over spilling strawberry smoothie all over the entry way, all over my Kindle and papers, all over my shirt and I left a big trail as I walked into the kitchen to begin cleaning the mess.  What a pain.  I actually started pondering the movie Signs as I was cleaning and I wondered what that spill and my delayed departure would effect.  I laughed as I was driving up the road to head to work and there was our employee Max walking to work.  I stopped and picked him up and was thinking  there is no way I would have been in a position to give him a ride had I not crashed the smoothie.  I know what your thinking.  "Woman in California burns her hand, at the exact same time her mother in Arizona experiences throbbing pain in her hand.  Coincidence?  I think not..."  Okay, maybe you were not thinking that and maybe you were wondering what the heck I am talking about.  It was just some mysterious happenings thing they used to run commercials for all the time when I was much younger. 

Ahhh yes, I said Disaster Strikes Twice.  I had made the kids dinner and was preparing three hard boiled eggs for myself.  Well, we have three dozen hard boiled eggs in the fridge so really I was just peeling them and prepping for deviled eggs.  All was going fine, I was preparing to start refilling the eggs when Andy hands me a juicy drink thing and asks me to take top off.  I was giving it my best shot but it wasn't working all that well and then, an explosion occurred and there was red juice all over the kitchen.  My eggs were covered, the filling had juice in it and their was juice splatter all over the kitchen.  Peeling hard boiled eggs is not on top of my list of things I like to do so I just had to clean the juice as best I could and muscle through the other. 

It's late, I am fixin to turn in.  I'm afraid if I don't get to bed soon I could create another disaster.      

Conga Lines, Sword Kicker and Hero

Twas a fine day and when I got home from work tonight I went to Jay and Sara's to pick up Andy who was hanging out there.  We got to chatting and Jack ended up coming over also.  He came inside and was excited to see Nacho.  He played with her face, her ears, cuddled her a bit and whatever else.  The boy is a dog whisperer.  After a few minutes he says "Nacho, let's form a conga line".  My goodness, always good for a laugh.  The back story, I walked in and checked on him one day while he was watching AFV clips on Netflix.  There was a video that played of a family that was doing a conga line and suddenly their dog (looked like it could have been a great dane) jumps up runs to the back of the line, stands up and joins the conga line.  It was really quite funny and we laughed pretty good.  It sparked an instant love of the conga line for Jack who apparently assumed that all dogs dance the conga.  Nacho did not opt to join Jack in dancing the conga. 

During our nightly routine or as we were preparing to read scriptures anyway, Andy was playing with his little Nerf sword thing.  He pulled two chairs out of the kitchen, sat the Nerf blade across the chairs, stepped back and performed a very dramatic kick that sent the sword flying up in the air and behind him.  It was spectacular.  Natty wanted to get it on video so he set it all back up, stepped back to the wall, dramatically walked forward and with a big sweeping kick completely missed the sword and ended up straddling it.  We had a good laugh at that and I am quite happy to report that Andy enjoyed a great laugh at that as well.  He tends not to laugh at himself at all and gets very upset when he does something silly that makes others laugh.  I was happy to see this change and hope it is a sign of things to come as he continues to grow and mature.  Such a good boy and such a fantastic kicker.  Did I mention how good he is around swords?

In my visit with Jay and Sara, the congo line one, Sara shared with me a conversation she had with Natty who told her that I was her hero.  Sara said she was very sincere and shared how neat it was.  It's kind of a humbling thing to hear that.  When we were hanging out in the kitchen while I made some dinner Natty decided to share those thoughts with me directly.  I mentioned humbling, I think that is the best way for me to describe it.  I know how weak I am.  I know that I fall short in so many areas and how I wish I was able to do more and to be a better father.  Having her tell me I am her hero and to talk about why, humbling.

I am grateful for conga lines, dramatic sword kicks and kitchen conversations about heroes.  I am grateful for my beautiful children, my greatest friends whom I love so very much. 

Matter to Him

This morning during my routine of running on the elliptical and listening to General Conference talks I listened to a couple of talks from President Uchtdorf.  One of the talks was from October 2011 (if I'm remembering that correctly) and titled You Matter to Him.  It reminded me of a talk President Kenneth S. Armstrong gave when I served in the South Africa Cape Town Mission a number of years ago.  Both talks discussed the ever expanding universe and worlds without number.  They talked quite a bit about creation and just how big the universe is.  As I think about the great expanse of space and then consider the number of our Heavenly Fathers creations I am humbled when I think about his hand in my life.  We sometimes feel insignificant and unimportant in the grand scheme of things.  We are however known by our Heavenly Father, loved by our Heavenly Father and we definitely do matter to him.  I am grateful for the experiences I have had in my life that have helped me to know that I matter to my Heavenly Father and that He knows me personally.  It is my testimony that He knows each of us personally, that he desires our happiness and that he makes it possible for us to overcome the world, to be cleansed from sin through repentance and to return to live with him.     

Baths Are Better Than Showers

When we moved to Cedar City Jack was a shower man.  He showered before he went to bed at night and he showered when he got out of bed in the morning.  These were not quickie showers either, these were half hour to hour showers.  The kid was all about the shower and clearly showering was a much better bathing option than taking a bath.  How times have changed.  When we moved to our current home Jack shifted from showers to baths.  He no longer has to be bathing every morning and every night which I am quite thankful for.  That was pretty extreme.  Sensory issues, it's part of the autism spectrum and something we've always enjoyed with Jack.  Anyhow, our current house has a bath/shower combo.  Well, Jack must not like the shower curtain, perhaps it is too noisy...?    He has opted to take baths all the time.  I have tried to convince him to take a shower but he is not budging.  I really am not bothered by it though sometimes for time saving purposes I would prefer he take a shower.  Not happening.  He believes baths are better. 

At church yesterday we ran into a bit of a challenge when the Primary changed up their schedule.  Again, autism spectrum, Jack does not do very well with departures from the structure.  Jack had actually left for class, all was normal.  Andy on the other hand was having a rough day.  I went to his primary classroom with him and that is when we discovered they had changed the schedule.   I had to stand with Andy at the back of the Primary room when we got there because he didn't want to go sit with his class.  He thought he needed to be with me all day.  I was happy to hang with him and then I noticed that Jack was not with his class.  I left Andy with my back pack and told him I had to find Jack.  Fortunately Andy stayed with the back pack and eventually joined his class.  I found Jack sitting in the hallway with Sister Taylor who was trying to convince him to go to the primary room.  Sorry, not going to happen.  Unexpected change and Jack anchored himself to the floor.  I took over and managed to get him to go walk around with me.  That was an adventure in and of itself and after a few more challenges we managed to go to his class together.

When we got to the class I was hoping he would go in but he told me he was too embarrassed and wanted me to go with him.  I did.  We sat and tried to catch up on the lesson.  Well, I tried to catch up, Jack seemed to be up to speed immediately.  I was watching Jack complete a maze that was part of the lesson that he missed when a question was asked and Jack suddenly starts giving an answer that dealt with the manner of baptism taught by Jesus.  This sparked a big discussion on baptism and these 8 and 9 year old boys were really chatting it up about baptism by immersion and they were also discussing sprinkling and how it is less effective.  The teacher brought it all back around with the apostacy and how some churchs alterred the manner of baptism to sprinkling but through the restoration of the Gospel the Savior has revealed how the ordinance of baptism should be performed, by immersion by one holding the proper priesthood authority.  Jack stops, turns to me and says in all seriousness, "That is why baths are better than showers".