Praise to the Man

This year in Sunday school we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants and during Priesthood/Relief Society, we again have the privelege of studying the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith. What a great combination! So with that, I've been reflecting a great deal on my testimony of the gospel and specifically about the restoration and how much it means to me.

A few years ago, I heard a version of the hymn "Praise to the Man" that was arranged by Lex De Azevedo. I was driving in my car at the time and when the song came on, I nearly had to pull over as I listened to it because it hit me so powerfully that I was no longer focused on the road, but on the magnificent life of the prophet Joseph Smith. From the time I was a young boy, I have always had a really intense interest in and testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel that he was instrumental in restoring to this earth. I believe with all the energy of my soul that Joseph Smith was (and still is) God's prophet. I know that he was foreordained to do the work that he did and I am so grateful for his example, his energy, his work, his testimony and all that he did so that we could have the gospel on this earth once again. So the music became in my mind anyway, a soundtrack for the life of Joseph Smith. I would listen to this version of "Praise to the Man" over and over again and often I'd close my eyes and picture different times in his life, or events, or pieces of his personal history or the church history. Eventually I determined to make this movie in my mind into a reality, so I gathered every picture I could find that had anything to do with Joseph Smith and I got to work. The video in this post is the end result of the project and really is the ultimate expression of my own testimony of this incredible man. I love and appreciate him so very much and when I pass onto the other side, I can't wait to personally thank him for being such a instrumental part of the restoration and for making it possible for the world to know their Savior once again. In Amos 3:7 we learn that "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." It is a pattern that was set forth from the foundation of this world. To know Jesus, we must know His prophets and their teachings. Their whole objective has always been and always will be to lead us back to our Father in Heaven through the Savior. As I think of the prophet Joseph Smith, that's what I think of. I think of his life, but I think about it in the context of what he did for us to help lead us to Christ. I'm confident that if we learn about him, we will learn about Christ.

A couple of years after I did the video, I had an opportunity to visit some of the church history sites in Missouri and Illinois including Nauvoo briefly and Carthage. My favorite place on that whole trip was Carthage because I felt such powerful gratitude for the blood that was shed and the lives that were given there. I hope you enjoy the video!

Happy New year!

With the start of a new year, we thought it was a good time to give our blog a bit of a face lift. The red font highlights are in honor of the glorious Sugar bowl win by the Utes capping off a most triumphant 13-0 football season. Go Utes!!

We had a very nice December with plenty of parties and family fun time. As you can see, the kids were able to get past Santa's naughty radar in time to enjoy plenty of presents on Christmas morning. Brooklyn had a hey-day and before we knew it, her opening was done in about 10 minutes, so she had to help Spencer catch up. Notice that all our ornaments are on the top half of the tree. That's in honor of Spencer's curiosity and lack of self control! When all was said and done, Christmas was wonderful, our kids enjoyed it, and they can't wait for it to come again! Santa brought our family a video camera, so now we'll have to start blogging videos too. Now that December is done, we're in full-on baby preparation mode (only six more weeks until the stork visits us)!

Here's Brooklyn enjoying the traditional holiday gingerbread house














Spencer learning to ride a wild animal at Nana's house!














Here is Brooklyn's dollhouse with plenty of Christmas visitors



















Spencer finally conquered his fear of Dakota over the holidays! This was really cute and hilarious. He has always loved dogs (from a distance), but has been pretty nervous up close, but he was bound and determined to make friends with Dakota (Grandpa's dog) and he found out that Dakota is actually pretty nice! So much for Grandpa's built-in mischief preventor!



Brooklyn decided to practice what it would be like to be homeless. We hope it never comes to that, but if it does, she will know how to work it with the shopping cart for sure!















This reflects how we all felt after the holidays were over! After a fun day at Grandma's house, Brooklyn's energy was finally spent on the ride home. Fortunately, I kept my eyes open long enough to get us home safely.

October vacation to Monterey, CA (Pebble Beach)

I know we're way behind with our posts, but we had to share pics of our Pebble Beach trip from early October, so here they all are in the following slide show! More posts coming soon hopefully. Pictures are supposed to be worth 1000 words, so with that in mind, time for the video now:

It's been awhile since our last post, so we thought we better get going and share a few recent pics! The plan is to add a video this week of our October vacation to Monterey, CA, but this will at least get something on here. October was a very hectic month that came and went very quickly - capped off of course with a very warm Halloween! Interestingly enough, within 5 days, we had four inches of snow on the ground! Snow on the ground on election day. Symbolic? Are we heading for four years of winter now with (gulp) President Obama? Crazy and perilous times are coming to be sure, but one thing is also for certain - "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing! Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independently..." What great words from the prophet Joseph Smith and what a fitting description of all that has been happening with regard to prop 8 in California! We are extremely proud of all our family members and other members of the church in California who worked so hard to make proposition 8 a reality. That is one of the bright spots of last week's election day for sure. We appreciate your efforts and your endurance. May God continue to bless you as you stand up for what is true and right and good!