New experiences

 It has always amazed me that my kids have found so many friends that are not LDS.  I don't have a problem with these friends, actually Im impressed that my kids have found such good friends and have had great missionary experiences.  But I must admit it is frustrating that they haven't had close friends that were LDS.  Why haven't my kids fit in with the "LDS" kids.  (Actually right now Avram has some LDS friends that have been great, this is honestly the first time he has had LDS friends)

Anyway, Briggs went with one of his friends to his church activity.  This was to an activity at a Christian Church, Im not sure the name of the church.  I love that Briggs had this experience.  We were able to have a fantastic conversation about his experience at this youth activity.  He shared about things he learned and questions that they had which he knows the answer to but they didn't understand.  Overall it was a very eye opening experience for him.  

Still there were a few things that were hard to hear.  First and probably the most difficult is that Briggs told me several times how kind and accepting the kids were at the activity.  I love that he was treated well but I wonder if he feels that same kind of acceptance at our church.  Seeing as how all his closest friends are not LDS, I doubt he has felt that same kind of acceptance.  

2nd, Briggs couldn't get over how much fun he had.  They have a game room at the church, upbeat fun music with instruments, and preachers that are "entertainers."  Despite the fun atmosphere it was shocking to Briggs to see so many "holes" and lack of understanding about God and the plan of salvation.  

Time

This was my mission president.  President Dean Davies

You may know him as Bishop Davies because he was in the presiding bishopric.

President Davies has been battling pancreatic cancer for the past 1 1/2.  Things were looking good.  He had a very tedious surgery that the doctors were very worried about doing but after President Davies counseled with President Russell M. Nelson the prophet told him that his work was not done here and he needed to proceed with the surgery.  After a successful surgery everything seemed to be improving until a sudden change happened and he has been given just a couple months to live.  

Many missionaries from my mission were able to meet for a "mission conference" over zoom with President and Sister Davies.  It was so difficult seeing him struggle and hearing about the current condition of his life.  Despite his weak state he shared some touching experiences with us, his testimony and bestowed a blessing upon us as an apostle of the Lord.  

I live just a few miles away from President and Sister Davies so I have run into them several times around bountiful.  I pray that he will not suffer and that the Lord will take him soon so that his struggles will end but this earth will miss him.  He has had a key role in helping to make it possible for many temples to be built through out the world.  He helped with the real estate transactions and finding the right locations.  He has so many miracle stories as he accompanied different prophets in finding the locations for so many temples.  

 

Birthday done

Ila has been asking for the past couple of years to go get her nails done at the salon.  I avoided it last year for her birthday but she didn't give up.  I kept telling her maybe for her birthday I would take her.  

I thought I could get out of it since her birthday was on a Sunday but she didn't forget.

So yesterday I took her into the salon to get a mani/ pedi.  She was so excited, just a little disappointed when she realized I wasn't going to pay for acrylic nails.  Overall Ila loved every minute of her "girl time" 

 

It was my fault

It was spring break and beautiful weather so I took advantage of the situation and tried to get a few hours of work out of my kids.  

We took down the old rickety swing set, trimmed the fruit trees, took lots of garbage to the dump, and spread mulch through out the yard.  

I had this beautiful peach tree out front that Adam had complained about from day one of planting it.  I thought I could keep the tree from being a problem from blocking our vision when backing out of the drive way but it was a healthy and full tree so it had become a problem.  

I gave Avram a chain saw and told him to go out front and cut down the tree that blocked our ability to see when backing out of the drive way.  Avram agreed but then asked me to point out exactly which tree he should cut down.  I was in the middle of doing something so I told him, Avram it is the tree by the drive way that blocks the road so we can't see when we are backing up.  

Avram was hesitant but said, "ok." 

A few minutes later I walked around front and Avram had nearly completed cutting down the WRONG TREE!  I had a beautiful flowering pear tree out front.  The tree was six years old and was quite large.  Sigh, it was my fault.  I should have been more specific and taken the time to point out the tree.  

It ended up adding a lot more work to the week but I am happy that I have been able to replace the tree with an asian pear tree.

So below is a picture of one of my sprinklers.  Is there anything I can do to stop this kind of build up on my sprinklers?  

 

Life and Death

Elder Rasband spoke about miracles in our lives.  He talked about things that happen in our lives and we don't even realize they are miracles.  It reminded me of a miracle I witnessed in my life a couple of weeks ago.  

I was at Costco.  I had parked in the back of the parking lot so that I wasn't near anyone that might hit my new car.  I was loading some groceries in the truck of my car.  I suddenly heard some kind of small explosion/ loud pop.  Just two stalls away there was, what appeared to be a large pile of glass.  I assumed someone had thrown a glass bottle.  This obviously bothered me a little but luckily it didn't land too close or hit me.  There was a Costco employee collecting baskets a short distance away.  He asked me what had happened.  I answered that some kind of bottle had just exploded.  He was curious about what it was so he walked over to see what it was.  After observing the pile of what appeared to be glass he said, "this isn't glass, this is ice."  Both of us looked around trying to figure out where a piece of ice that large could have come from.  It was a warm day and there wasn't any snow or ice to be seen.  

We both looked around and realized a helicopter that had flown over us just seconds before had dropped a huge ice chunk.  We saw another smaller piece of ice fall from the helicopter as it disappeared into the distance.  

This may not sound like a big deal but the ice that had fallen was big enough that it would have left a large dent on a car had it been hit and could have seriously injured someone had they been hit.