8/30/16 Grammie and Grandpa Mangum Visit

    Today Grammie and Grandpa Mangum stopped by for an impromptu visit. Joseph and Peter jumped right up to visit with Grandpa. They were kind enough to watch the two little boys so Heidi and I could go and vote. 

     While we were out the dish fairy paid a visit to our house. Rumor has it that the dish fairy looks a lot like Grammie ;)

    Here is a photo of Heidi and I with our "I voted" stickers on. I'll have to remember to clean my case before using the front camera again. 

      Heidi also went to the Temple this morning and did initiatory. 

8/29/16 Family Team Work

     This afternoon, once the kids were done with homework, they started building with the wooden train tracks. Rebecca, Sarah, TJ and Joseph all worked together on the complicated track with decorations all around it. Sarah is holding a yellow ball she says represents the Sun. As a parent it is a joy to see your children playing happily together. 

     Joseph dressed himself this morning. He has cammo shorts on over khaki pants. He's got on a backwards polo shirt over another t-shirt and a tie as his "cape". I love his enthusiasm and creativity. 

     For FHE we played Unselfish Mother May I. If the kids asked to move themselves I had them move backwards. When they asked for a sibling to move forward they did too. It was a fun game and ended with all the kids tackling me in a hug. 

8/28/16 David's First Talk

      Today David gave his first talk in Sacrament meeting. He reported feeling even more shaky after he sat down than while giving his talk. You wouldn't have known he was nervous watching him though. He smiled and looked up. He spoke clearly. At least six different people stopped me to tell me how impressed they were. Perhaps the best part is that he wrote his talk himself. 

      So, for posterity, here is the text of David's talk:

                   ☺SMILE☺
                         !LOOK UP! 
Topic: how does going to the temple help me and others be closer to heavenly father.

      Good morning Brothers and sisters, my name Is David Connelly and I was asked to speak on how going to the temple will help strengthen my relationship with Our Heavenly father. I belive that through our Heavenly father's plan we can return to his presence.

      Thomas S. Monson said "To you who are worthy and able to attend the temple, I would admonish you to go often. The temple is a place where we can find peace. There we receive a renewed dedication to the gospel and strengthened resolve to keep the commandments."

         When I first went to the temple to do Baptisim's for the dead, I got lost. I went there with my parents, my Grandpa, my cousins Lauren and Anthony, and my friend Lincoln. Since it was my first time in the Gilbert Temple since the Open House I wasn't sure where to go once I was dressed.  I looked through a few different doors and started feeling overwhelmed. Then, my dad found me.  I was so relieved to see him!  It turns out I wasn't lost at all. I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  My dad led me to the room that overlooks the baptismal font.  While I was there my family and Lincoln helped reassure me that it actually was the right place. I think of this experience and how it is a lot like life.  Sometimes we feel overwhelmed and aren't sure which way to go, but, because of the blessings of the temple we can have our family there to show us the way.  We can learn from our ancestors as well as our current family.  The temple is a good place to learn from our ancestors and from the Holy Ghost. 

        As we left the Gilbert temple I could feel the spirit very strongly and you seniors in primary will experience this in the years to come. Hopefully you won't get lost like I did but I can promise you that you will be able to feel the spirit.  Throughout our lives we have many opportunities to strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  We can do this through scripture study, attending church, prayer, and Attending the Temple regularly.

       In D&C 127 Verse 4 it reads "And again, verily thus saith the Lord: Let the work of my temple, and all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not cease; and let your diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your reward, saith the Lord of Hosts.  And if they persecute you, so persecuted they the prophets and righteous men that were before you.  For all this there is reward in heaven."

       I like this scripture because it means Don't Give Up and to go to the Temple even when it is hard and that if you do you will be blessed in Heaven. I invite all of you, that are old enough, to go and visit the temple this month or next month. I know that by visiting the temple we will grow closer to our heavenly father.

       In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

     Way to go David! Your mom and I are proud of you. This evening was youth standards night. David and Heidi and I got to go. David helped with the lights while I ran the videos and power points. There were some great talks about making good choices and repenting when we make mistakes. Rebecca did a masterful job of holding down the fort while we were gone. 

8/26 and 8/27/16 Camp at Usery Park

     This morning Joseph was my big helper for watering Gram and Papa's tree. The tree is almost as big as he is. 

   A big part of today was preparing for a camp out at Usery Park. We found out about the camp Thursday morning. The troop tries to go camping once a month. This month was about to slip by.  

      One mistake I made was telling David about what I later learned was meant to be a surprise. We were going with another troop whose leader is David's science teacher (also a local reptile expert). He was going to show us how to be safe in an area where there are snakes. The surprise was that we would go "hunt for snakes". In the end this meant driving around the park at night looking for a snake warming itself on the road. We only saw one and boys who felt nervous could stay in the van. David did this. I wrongly thought that telling him about it early would be less scary than having it sprung on him at camp. Instead he could not sleep Thursday night and almost would not go camping. I promised him that I would not let him do anything I thought was unsafe and that we could come home if he was too scared. 

      The picture above is from a short hike we did Friday night picking up trash. 

    In the end we made it through. David was brave. He set up his own tent but joined me in the night when he heard coyotes making a racket. Heidi reports that she can't sleep with coyotes around either. He cried a little and thought about going home in the morning. He worried he'd be too tired for the hike the next day. 

    In the morning he learned that almost no one had slept well either. He realized that he wasn't so out of place and he decided to stay. 

    Next we cleaned up camp and ate Costco muffins for breakfast. We went on a slightly longer hike to clean trash along the trail. 

    Mr Morris even showed us the den of a desert tortoise. 

      After that we went to the visitor's center. They had a couple of snakes on display. David felt much better about seeing snakes through glass. 

      I'm proud of David for sticking it out and being brave. He may have even had some fun. 

      This weekend Heather also kindly gave Rebecca a pair of shoes she found on clearance. Her last pair had holes, she had loved them so much. Lauren came over and played with Rebecca and Sarah. 

8/25/16 A New Vitamin

       Heidi has a friend (the stake primary president) whose daughter used to struggle with everyday life. She had some pretty severe symptoms including anxiety. They found this vitamin and mineral supplement and it really helped. Lately I've been having a hard time getting myself to do some things that are usually not a problem for me. Sometimes my brain feels like a classroom full of Sunbeams (3&4 year olds) all commenting at the same time trying to be helpful, many completely off topic. Other times I feel discouraged when logically I know things aren't that bad. So this time when Heidi suggested trying the vitamin I was willing to give it a shot. Yesterday afternoon I took it for the first time. I noticed that I was able to focus on one idea at a time. I felt positive but not that euphoric high that I've learned leads to a crash just ahead. Too early to say if that's coincidence or not but it was a nice afternoon. 

     In the morning Heidi and I went over to Humanitarian. Heidi made blankets. I did some cleaning in the tech closet. 

      Today Heidi and I left Rebecca in charge for 45 minutes and bought some fruit. She is so great with the little boys. It feels so liberating to be able to go on a pseudo date for a few minutes and know the kids are going to be ok. 

      This evening Heidi went to her District Commissioner meeting. Peter napped for like 4 hours this evening. Rebecca soothed him when he woke just before bedtime. Heidi spent much of the night awake with him. Wish I knew what derailed his sleep train. He did fine last night. The joys of parenting. 

8/24/16 Alex Comes to Visit

      This morning the two little boys were paid a visit by their cousin Alex. His Mom

Sharon brought him so that she could go to a teacher conference. The three boys

Are good buddies and love to play together. 

      Tonight David had a Court of Honor for Mutual. He was awarded his First class rank and a handful of merit badges. Good job David. 

8/23/16 My Birthday

     This morning I got to celebrate part of my birthday by going to the Temple. First I drove David and the car pool kids to Heritage. Since it is our turn to drive on Tuesday mornings Heidi and I switched our alternating weekly Temple trips to Tuesdays after we drop the kids off. It's been amazing to me how well going has fit into our lives. I'll admit, the Adversary had me pretty convinced that we'd never be able to find the time. I'm so glad we decided to experiment with it for a month. After that it was easier to try another month. Now it feels like a habit that I enjoy so much. Today I felt many impressions about things I can do to improve our lives. I came home a told Heidi all about them. It's not easy to change but it is easier to do it a little at a time. 

    Today I got a couple of presents. My parents sent me the current BYU sports slogan shirt. Go Cougs! Now I have something to wear on Game Day. 

     Heidi got me a copy of the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth from a few years back. I like that version. I also got some new garments from the distribution center. 

      Of course for my birthday I got a wonderful family who loves me. Rebecca showed me her scores from last year's standard exams. She got a perfect score in language arts and near perfect in math and science. Sarah's teacher called just to tell us how much she adores having Sarah in her class. She and Heidi talked about ways to keep her challenged since she has already mastered the material they are working on. Not a bad problem to have. I love all my family members and they are all similarly great. 

     All that plus another CPE credit done and some other work. It was a good day. 

8/22/16 Birthday Eve

    Today felt like an oddly special day Heidi got tired of waiting to give me my birthday present. In the picture you can see David assembling my new "Selfie Booth". Heidi pictured it as a way we could add green screen tech to animation workshops. We haven't tried that out yet but it sounds fun. In the meantime the kids had fun taking pictures of themselves in front of the Eiffel Tower and in space etc. 

     After FHE we had ice cream and brownies to celebrate. I'm lucky to have such a sweet family. 

8/21/16 David the 2nd Counselor

     Today David received his first calling in the church. He is now the second counselor in the new Deacon's quorum presidency. Dason Jack is the President and Lincoln Phelps is First Counselor. It's exciting to see David growing up and taking on responsibility. 

      We were fortunate to have Grammie and Grandpa Mangum in town. They came to hear Anthony give a talk. He became the secretary of the Teacher's quorum today. David was also asked to give a talk next Sunday. It'll be his first real talk in Sacrament (not counting one liners from the Primary Program). He's plenty nervous about it. He spent a couple of hours working on it this afternoon. 

       I also had the chance to home teach the Porter family today. My companion Pierre went with me. They are a great couple. I found out that one of my other families will be moving in the next month or so. We'll try to help where we can. 

      This evening Rebecca organized a game of Monopoly. I think there was more fun than crying. It's not really a game where everyone wins. I felt guilty because I built three houses on Boardwalk and pretty much wiped out Rebecca in one turn. She put on a brave face though and we worked things out.

8/20/16 Church Clean and Temple Seal

      This morning we headed over to the church to help clean up. The kids emptied the classroom trash cans and cleaned windows. Heidi cleaned the bathrooms. I vacuumed in the hall and in classrooms. Happily we had a couple of brothers from the ward help this time. It felt like we got done quicker than usual. 

      This evening Heidi's parents went with us to the temple to do sealings. The temple was crowded (the Gilbert temple is closed for cleaning right now). We did the work for Heidi's ancestors that her parents have found. It was a good evening. The kids did well with David and Rebecca in charge. It is so nice that they are becoming so grown up. 

8/19/16 A Sweet Date

     Today David got to show his skill at taking care of his two youngest brothers. He does not have school on Fridays so this morning Heidi and I left him with a cel phone and we watered the tree and went on a date. 

     The little cactus, though small, has grown noticeably each time we visit. 

     To celebrate my coming birthday Heidi and I went to see the latest Star Trek movie. It was a fun flick. You probably don't want to think too deeply about the plot. It's not that kind of movie. It does have some cool special effects and the good guys stick together. We are grateful to David for holding down the fort so that Heidi and I could have a fun date. 

     This afternoon Heidi's parents came by for a visit. Later on Heather and the kids joined us. I met Jae Heiner at the Stake Center to talk about possible tech updates. When I got back home they were playing a board game. It was a fun new one called Skywampus. Unusually, it is a board game that requires you to do simple math quickly. It was fun. The kids have already asked when we can play again. 

8/18/16 Service with a Smile

      Today was a service day. Heidi helped make blankets at Humanitarian. I set up fixed IP addresses for the stake computers. After lunch I went to the cannery and helped make ketchup for needy families. This evening Elder Locklear and Elder Macbeth came over for dinner. Heidi made enchiladas. All around it felt like a pretty good day. 

8/17/16 Happy Birthday Dad

     Today is my Dad's birthday. He said that he celebrated by getting the Motorhome worked on and running some errands. That is so like him. He has always been an example of how to get hard stuff done. Before Dory said "just keep swimming" Dad said "what's 5 more miles? Five more miles ain't nuthin".  Thanks Dad for being a great example. 

8/16/16 Blocks with the Boys

     This morning, after the kids were at school and Heidi went to the Temple, Joseph and Peter and I got out the big Legos.  We built a tower that was taller than Peter. He and Joseph had fun adding blocks to it and knocking them down. I had fun getting to spend a moment just being dad. 

     Later on I did some professional development class. It was about different types of corporate reorganizations. Not exactly the most exciting stuff but useful to the right people. 

     This afternoon we started doing four for fun again. When the kids have homework that counts. When they don't we still have them practice math and reading. Just because a teacher isn't up for grading it doesn't mean it isn't helpful.

      This evening David went to a First Aid Merit badge class. He's close to being done. A few more things and he's there. 

8/15/16 Give it Your Best?

    I've been thinking about a common question "did you do your best?" It usually comes up when your results are less than you hoped for. For me this is sometimes a tough question to answer. Sometimes I fail at things I've succeeded at before. Certainly i didn't fail on purpose but was it my best effort? How do you measure that?

     Here are some things I thought about today. (Maybe, in the comments, you can suggest others). Did I keep a positive attitude? It's hard to do your best if you're not hopeful that things will work out. Did I learn from people who are smarter than me? We tell our kids they didn't really do their best if they didn't ask for help. How can I hold myself to a lower standard? Still, it can be hard admitting that there I things I don't know. Especially tough when I think I should know them by now. Did I work when it was time to work and play when it was time to play? In other words was I mentally present in the task at hand? If not it was likely not my best. The last thing I came up with this morning was, did I evaluate my results and look for what could be done better? If I don't then tomorrow's best will never be better than today's. In that sense it won't truly be my best. Of course I'm sure there are many other things. I count prayer with the "ask for help from Smarter people" item. Heavenly Father knows all things and can help us through any challenge. 

       Today was a good day. The kids went to school. Heidi and I got some work done. For FHE we had an age appropriate lesson on chastity. We hope our kids will be able to talk to us when they have questions or concerns. 

      We found our digital tuner today. As long as I sat by the TV holding the antenna we were able to watch the Olympics. We'd almost forgotten about how many commercials are on tv these days. It was like 3 minutes of racing then 5 minutes of commercials. Still, it was neat to see these people who had trained so hard get to compete on the world stage. It was pretty exciting. Fun to be able to watch for a few minutes. 

8/14/16 Quiet Sunday

    This morning we went to church. The talks in sacrament meeting were based on the conference talk "what lack I yet". If we ask Heavenly Father he'll let us know what we need to work on. 

     During 2nd hour I helped get a computer back online in the Family History Center. It was tricky but hopefully it will be better now. After that they asked me to be the second teacher for Brother Fletcher. He did a great job. He is a temple worker. The kids seem to respect him a lot. 

     The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Heidi got out the ukuleles this evening. It was fun to listen to her play and to sing along. 

8/13/16 Stake Activity Days

     Today was the culmination of many weeks of preparation by Heidi and the other members of the Stake Primary Presidency. Over a hundred girls and their leaders came. They listened to inspiring messages, played games, did crafts, and watched the video that Heidi has been making with all of their pictures in it. From where I sat, in the middle of the crowd next to the projector, I heard several girls pointing out friends. I heard, and saw some people sniffling. One mom said "that movie's a real tear jerker. Can I get a copy?"  Nice work Heidi. She has spent many hours creating that fun memory for the girls. 

     Rebecca and Sarah got to come and participate. The girls came early and helped set things up. After a bit Rebecca felt her stomach become upset. She figured she ate too many pancakes. She asked for a Priesthood blessing. The High Counselor over Primary helped me to give her one. After that she rested for a little bit. I noticed that by the end of the opening meeting she was smiling again. Both girls reported that Activity Days was their highlight of the day. 

     David spent the morning doing flag maintenance. In our ward the boys put out flags on certain holidays as a fundraiser for scout camp. They took worn out flags off the polls and reminded people to renew their subscriptions. 

      Afterwards he went to Aunt Heather's and found no one home. We had a miscommunication and Heather thought David was with us. She was kindly watching the three little boys. Her boy, Bradley, had football practice so, for fun, she had taken everyone. David knew how to get into Heather's house so he went inside. He used Anthony's email to send me a message asking what to do. I called Heather and learned about the miscommunication. Luckily the stake center is not far away. I went and filled him in on the change in plan. He opted to stay and wait a half hour for the kids to come back from the park rather than go with me back to Activity Days. I am proud of him for thinking creatively and being resourceful. 

      This evening our neighbor Anthony helped us clear a large branch that had fallen into our other neighbor's yard. He was a real big help bringing lights and tools. The branch broke the other day during one of the monsoon storms. It is great having good neighbors. 

8/12/16 Reverent Rewards

     Several months ago the Primary Presidency promised the kids that if they could fill a big jar with "reverent puff balls" they could have an ice cream party. Well, the kids achieved the goal and today was the party. Above you see Sarah and TJ with cousin Bradley. 

     Rebecca enjoyed her ice cream with marshmallows. Heidi is in the BG. She was visiting with one of the primary leaders which is why she's not looking at the camera. When I saw her there I couldn't resist getting her in the shot as well. 

     Joseph's ice cream was gone by the time I caught up with him. It's amazing to Heidi and me how much he's improved at being reverent since joining Primary. 

     David has graduated from Priamry so he didn't join in the treat. His new school does not have class on Friday. This, they say, is to allow time for doing homework. Today David went with and helped me water Gram and Papa's pine tree. He was a big help multiple times today watching the little boys so that his mom and I could get some work done. For those doing the math David watched Peter during the Primary activity. That's why he's not in the pictures. David really was a big help today. 

8/11/16 School Day 2

      The kids made it off to school just fine today. David even seemed to be feeling less nervous. At the end of school David seemed to have had a good time. Heidi and I took our car pool turn picking the kids up. In addition to David we have Anya Merrill, Cooper and Anthony and Lauren. They were all ready and waiting at the pick up spot when we got to the school. 

       This evening Heidi and I (mostly Heidi) trained Jimmy Christensen and two other brothers from Highland ward on how to use Scoutbook. They were fairly quick studies. 

8/10/16 First Day of School Fall 2016

      Today David, Rebecca, Sarah and TJ started a new school year. Papa Connelly requested to know what everyone' highlight was so here they are. 

     TJ said that he loved the books his teacher read to him. One was "The Night Before First Grade. 

     Sarah reported that her favorite thing was learning that her teacher's favorite children's book is "Because of Winn Dixie". Sarah also really loves that book. 

     Rebecca's favorite part was going to band class for the first time. The teacher, Mr. Trout, demonstrated all the instruments. Rebecca is leaning towards percussion. 

       David said "can I just do science for every class the rest of the year?" He came home and immediately collapsed on the floor. Soon after he went to bed. At first Heidi and I worried he had the flu. After a while we realized that he was sick from stress. The next morning, when he woke up, we had a talk with him and he seems to be doing better. 

      Rebecca, Sarah and TJ were excited to ride their bikes. David rode with Heather in car pool. 

     Once the kids were off to school I went to the temple. Later on Heidi's parents dropped by to say hi to the kids when they got home from school. Heidi and I tried to help them sync the stereo in their car with their phones. It didn't quite work out I'm afraid. The car system doesn't seem to play nicely with two phones at once. One at a time works just fine but they are hoping for two. Challenging. 

8/9/16 School Eve

      Today was spent in final preparations for the first day of school. Heidi helped the kids load school supplies into backpacks. Kids picked out clothes for the first day. I gave Priesthood blessings of comfort to Rebecca and David. Sarah and TJ felt like they did not need one for now. 

     The kids also had some last minute fun. David's friend Lincoln came over as did Sarah's friend Libby. Libby's little sister Scarlet also came over. The kids played the video game based on the movie Up. 

     As is typical the kids seem excited but also nervous. I'm sure they'll do great. 

8/8/16 Meet the Teacher

      Today the four school age kids got to meet their new teachers. David has 8 classes he'll be starting on Wednesday at Heritage Academy. He also got to practice his opening his locker for the first time. The other three are going to Entz Elementary. TJ, going into the First Grade, has Mrs. McDonald as his teacher. Sarah has Mrs. Cowan as her regular teacher. This is the year she starts being in the gifted and talented program (GTP). Her teacher is Mrs. McGee.   Rebecca also has Mrs. McGee for GTP this year. 5th grade GTP will be focusing on computer programming skills. Her home room teacher is Mrs. Davis. 

     This evening we had FHE and we talked about and practiced saying we're sorry when we do something wrong. The kids had fun acting things out. It wasn't as big of a production as last week but it felt like we had a plan. 

     For scripture reading we read Moroni chapter 10. That brings us to the end of the Book of Mormon once again. We set a goal to finish at the same time the youth finished the STOMP program. It took reading multiple chapters a day which isn't easy sometimes with sleepy kids and parents. Still, Heidi and I hope the kids are learning from the experience. 

8/7/16 Fast Offering Collection

     David continues his summer of firsts. Today David helped gather fast offerings. One of his duties as a deacon is to visit homes of the members and give them a chance to donate to help needy families in our area. He and Lincoln Phelps did something I never had to do as a deacon. They walked their route in over 100 degree heat. A kind member gave them each a water bottle. (That's a good thing to remember for next month). David reported that it was more fun than he expected. I think that was, in part, due to having a friend to go with. 

(Apologies for the shadow across David's face. It was hard to see my phone screen in the bright parking lot. )

8/6/16 Happy Anniversary Grammie and Grandpa Mangum

     This morning Heidi got a call from her parents. They wondered if it would be OK to stop by for a visit. The reality of heading to the MTC in a month is setting in and they wanted to see the family. Heidi got to talking plans and it was decided that we could do better than a simple visit with us. Heidi made plans for pizza and rootbeer floats at our house and Matt and Heather and families were invited. We decided that it was to celebrate Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's Anniversary that happened Wednesday and their revised mission call to the (correct me if I'm wrong) Washington DC south mission. Somewhat surprisingly everyone was able to make it to the short notice party. 

     Peter found a good friend in his cousin Alex. Even though Alex is 4 and Peter is not yet 2 they had a blast going up and down the stairs and taking turns hugging a stuffed dog. Heidi and I appreciated how gentle Alex was with Peter. I've noticed that is not always the case when little boys get to play with a boy who is smaller than they are used to. 

     On the whole it was a fun event. I think that Grammie and Grandpa Mangum felt loved that their three kids in town were willing to drop everything and come hang out with them. 

8/5/16 David Finishes Pre-Algebra Mission

     This morning David finished the Pre-Algebra mission on Khan Academy. That's the class he will be starting next Wednesday. Of all the kids he seems to have been the one who needed to learn the most unfamiliar material. I'm proud of him for sticking through it to the end. 

     This morning Sarah watered Gram and Papa's tree. So far it has proved resilient in the desert heat. 

     The little cactus continues to grow. The arm on the left now has three little circles. Fun to watch Heavenly Father's work in process. 

8/4/16 G5 Troubles

     This morning I dropped the family off at Humanitarian and headed to Scottsdale with the G5 computer. It hasn't wanted to start up ever since Peter turned off the power strip unexpectedly the other day. The computer is 11 years old but has been working just fine as our scanning station. It has software on it that would not run on our newer computers. The guys at the repair shop were very kind. They explained that it might cost more to fix our G5 than to buy a replacement G5. They offered to sell me one for $300. The main program we have been using is Photoshop. These days you can't buy Photoshop, you have to rent it for $120 per year. You can buy a watered down version, that probably would meet our needs, outright for $100. The question is do I give up the old versions of After Effects, Final Cut Pro etc that would cost more to replace. That's not an easy choice for me. The reality is that iMovie on our newer iMac is way easier and faster to use than Final Cut on the G5. If we replaced the G5 and did another workshop, could we use it as a second edit station? If we could $300 would be less expensive than buying a whole new machine plus software. Still, how valuable would it be for kids to learn to edit on 11 year old software? The basic concepts are still the same. Decisions, decisions, I think I'd like to replace the G5 but it's tough to justify when I haven't had a paid workshop yet. Oh well, I don't have to decide right in this moment. 

     Aside from Humanitarian and G5 repair choices Heidi and I did some work.  Sometimes it's not easy explaining to clients why it takes so long to do certain jobs. People naturally don't want to pay more than they have to for things. It's just that sometimes things are more complicated and take more time. More time means more cost. I have a ways to go as far as learning how to really sell the value of good accounting. 

      This evening David went to a getting to know you party for all incoming 7th graders at Heritage. It was hosted by he family of a 7th grader in the neighborhood. David reports that he had a good time with his friends Cooper and Lincoln. 

8/3/16 David Temple Trip the Sequel

      This morning before 8 am Heather and Doug's flight arrived back from Hawaii. Heidi went to the airport and picked them up. I stayed back and worked with the kids on Khan Academy. David is getting close to being done. I'm proud of him for sticking with it. He's been learning tough material for him and he keeps making mistakes and having to do more practice problems. I've been telling him that him finishing after a struggle is a bigger accomplishment than if he had simply known all the material and breezed through. I think it may be getting easier for him now that he can see light at the end of the tunnel.
     This afternoon, for Mutual activity, the Youth went to do Baptisms for the Dead at the Temple. This time David got to go to the Mesa temple. David's friend Lincoln Phelps came and showed him where things were. Anthony and Lauren were there too. It made David less nervous having familiar faces around him. It also helped that he had been once before.  Thanks to Grammie Mangum we had family names to take. Heidi pointed out that August 4th is the day David was baptized so this is almost an anniversary trip. We feel very blessed to have a temple so close by.

8/2/16 Last Night with the Cousins

     Today was our last day with Anthony, Lauren and Bradley before their parents get home. We decided to celebrate by playing Lego Rock Band. It was a little bit of a challenge finding all the pieces plus batteries but with a little prayer we did. We prayed again when the disc seemed like it might be too scratched to work. We were blessed and the game started up on the second try. Above you see Heidi and all the kids except Peter. 

     Peter wanted to play too so Heidi had me find him a drum of his own. 

     Over all I think the cousins had a good stay. We sure enjoyed having them. 

8/1/16 Brotherly Love and The Whole Armor of God

     Today, at lunch time, I turned around and saw Peter feeding part of his lunch to his brother Joseph. So kind of him to share and fun to see his coordination improving. You can imagine him saying to Joseph "Say ahhh".

       Today Heidi suggested that for Family Home Evening we talk about putting on the whole armor of God. She put together the "armor". TJ kindly modeled it for us. The missionaries stopped by unexpectedly and looked up a related church video. I drew a picture on our white board. Elder Locklear and Elder Macbeth also made paper airplanes that we used as "fiery darts". David willingly let us first throw them at him to show what happens in a non armored scenario. He was a good sport about it. Then we threw them at TJ with his sword, shield and helmet. Not surprisingly TJ came through with nary a scratch but David would have been mortally wounded had the darts been real. We talked with the kids about preparing now for when temptation comes. If we wait to put the "armor" on till temptation hits it'll be too late. It was the kind of lesson you wish you did all the time. The kids seemed to have fun and hopefully learned something valuable. Maybe it will encourage Heidi and me to be more creative in the future. 

7/31/16 Sarah's Cute Skirt

     Gram Connelly, Heidi and Sarah have been working on a skirt project for some time. Heidi described it as "the most complicated skirt she's ever made". Yesterday Heidi finished it and today Sarah got to wear it to church. They were both pleased by how it turned out. It is fun to see my loved ones using their talents. 

       Today Heidi and I got to teach Rebecca's class. The lesson was on the importance of following the prophet's counsel. 

      David passed the sacrament for the first time today. He was pretty nervous about it. Thankfully Samuel Phelps (the Deacon's Quorum President) and some of the other boys talked to him and said some comforting words. He did just fine and, now that he's done it once, he's a lot less nervous.